"Are you okay?"
Shikime Natsu stood at the riverbank, watching the girl who had just tumbled into the water, and couldn't help asking out of concern. He'd instinctively wanted to reach down and pull her up, but his hands were full.
Nishikawa Ryouko pushed herself up with her palms against the smooth river stones, the cold of the water soaking through her in an instant. She gave an involuntary shiver.
"I-I'm fine..."
She shook her head. Her twin braids had drunk up the river and now hung heavy and dripping from her shoulders, beading water with every movement.
"I just slipped, that's all…. Though being soaked through is pretty miserable, I won't lie."
As she spoke, Ryouko slowly pushed herself to her feet, rising out of the river.
But the moment she straightened up, Natsu's gaze paused — just for a fraction of a second.
For the special exam on the uninhabited island, the students had all been issued matching athletic wear for ease of movement. Ryouko had the standard red track pants on her lower half, but she hadn't bothered with the thick long-sleeved jacket over her top. Even without Natsu's weather adjustment, no one in their right mind would have been bundling up in a jacket — it had been sweltering earlier.
All she had on her upper half was the white short-sleeved T-shirt issued by the school.
Ordinarily, the fabric was reasonably thick. But now, soaked through completely, it clung to the girl's body — a figure that, while not exactly voluptuous, had certainly begun to fill out — and what had been opaque was now very nearly translucent.
Her fair skin showed through the clinging white fabric in hazy outline, and even the color and shape of her underwear were plainly visible, carrying a kind of soft, hazy, yet undeniably striking appeal.
"Nishikawa-san."
Natsu figured she might react strongly when he said it, but he decided to speak up anyway.
"I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but you might want to pay a little attention to how you look right now."
"…?"
Ryouko blinked, visibly not yet understanding what he meant.
Natsu pointed toward her chest, his voice still perfectly even.
"You're, uh… showing a little more than you might want to be."
At those words, Ryouko instinctively looked down.
The next second.
Her pupils contracted sharply.
The fabric over her chest had gone completely see-through, plastered tight to her skin, and through the white cloth, that pale blue outline was unmistakably, glaringly visible.
"Yah——!!!"
She didn't quite manage a full scream, but Ryouko sucked in a sharp breath — and that pretty face of hers, which had only moments ago worn an expression of impish mischief, went from zero to beet red in an instant, steam practically rising off her like a boiling kettle. The flush spread all the way to the tips of her small, fair ears, which turned an adorable shade of pink.
She snapped both arms up in a frantic cross over her chest, desperately trying to shield herself from view.
"D-Don't look!"
All that smug brat energy from before had evaporated without a trace. In its place: pure, undiluted flustered mortification.
She'd come into this planning to fluster him with a verbal offensive — to finally see that perpetually polished, composed guy crack and show an awkward or embarrassed expression for once.
But...
She had absolutely not seen this reversal coming, and certainly not this fast.
One careless slip, and she'd been dropped straight into this catastrophically awkward situation.
Any other time, getting wet would've just meant going back to the dorm to change. No big deal.
But right now...
This was an uninhabited island!
And at this very moment, her thoroughly soaked — one might even say wet-and-enticing — state was on full display in front of Shikime Natsu, with absolutely nothing to hide behind.
The wet clothes were cold against her skin, leeching away her warmth — but doing nothing at all to cool the scorching heat blazing across Ryouko's face.
The logical move was to head straight back to base, find somewhere private, and change into dry clothes.
But...
The moment she thought about Katsuragi Kouhei, Hashimoto Masayoshi, and the rest of the Class A boys back at base, Ryouko's expression darkened several shades further.
If she was only exposed in front of Natsu, that was one thing — humiliating, sure, but at least it was just one person.
But if she walked back to base like this...
She'd be on display the entire way!
Ryouko may have had a sharp tongue and a bit of a mean streak, but that didn't mean she was shameless. She didn't think she had nearly enough nerve to stroll back into camp looking like this while everyone stared.
"This is bad... this is so bad..."
She bit her lip, those pale golden eyes of hers filled with dismay, the smile that was usually perched at the corner of her mouth completely gone.
Natsu watched the girl curl in on herself and felt the corners of his mouth tug upward in quiet amusement.
He'd honestly half-expected that, given how boldly Ryouko had been speaking earlier, she might lean into the situation — use the soaked look to go on the offensive one more time. Walk right up to him, arch forward slightly, and ask in that deliberately alluring tone of hers: "Shiki-san, want a closer look~?"
Or maybe: "Does Shiki-san prefer this kind of… suggestive ambiguity over seeing things outright?"
But as it turned out...
He'd overestimated this particular little devil's defenses.
She was a classic case of glass cannon. All offense, zero defense.
She could run her mouth with the best of them — but the moment something sudden and genuinely embarrassing happened to her directly, she fell apart completely.
Looking at Ryouko's pale golden eyes now, there wasn't a shred of that earlier playful mischief left in them.
Especially once it had dawned on her that every awkward, humiliating second of this had played out right in front of Shikime Natsu — the shame multiplied exponentially.
Ryouko opened her mouth, as if trying to say something to salvage a little dignity, or maybe ask for help.
"Um... Shiki-san..."
Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
What she actually wanted to ask was whether Natsu could head back to base first and bring her a dry set of clothes — or maybe dig out a jacket from her bag.
But the words stuck in her throat, and she swallowed them back down.
No.
Absolutely not.
Leaving aside whether it was even appropriate for Natsu to go rummaging through a girl's luggage — "Shikime Natsu fetches clothes for Nishikawa Ryouko" was a story that, if it got around class, would be a nuclear-grade bombshell.
Natsu had girlfriends in Class A.
Asking a guy with a girlfriend to go fetch clothing for another girl — that read as way too intimate no matter how you looked at it.
Ryouko liked watching drama unfold. She liked stirring the pot. But she had absolutely no interest in being the one who got burned.
But...
If she didn't ask Natsu for help, what were her options exactly?
Stand in the river forever? Walk back with her arms crossed over her chest like that?
Ryouko tilted her head back and looked up at the sky, a wave of quiet resentment rising in her chest.
The weather right now was perfectly calibrated — Natsu had used an item card to set the temperature to a comfortable twenty-four degrees, neither cold nor hot.
And yet, at this particular moment, Ryouko found herself desperately missing the brutal, merciless sun that had been blazing when they first came ashore.
With that kind of heat, she could've stood at the riverside for ten minutes and been dry. But this gentle sunlight and cool sea breeze? She'd be waiting until nightfall for these clothes to air out on their own.
Her situation was, in a word, abysmal.
She had to think of something.
Was she really going to have to walk back like this and die of social embarrassment in front of everyone?
Compared to that public humiliation, asking Natsu for a favor was risky — but it still seemed like the lesser of two evils.
While Ryouko was locked in this internal war, her feet moved on their own. She started edging her way toward the riverbank.
Staying in the water forever wasn't doing her any good either.
She carefully lifted one foot, ready to take a step toward the bank.
And then——
Splash!
Maybe it was the distraction, or maybe the riverbed stones really were just that slippery.
Her foot slid out from under her, and she lost her balance all over again.
"Ah!"
With a short, sharp yelp, Ryouko toppled backward and crashed into the river for the second time.
Splash!
A huge spray of water erupted around her, drenching her head to toe all over again.
Natsu, standing nearby, blinked.
He watched the girl sitting in the water for the second time, a trace of genuine surprise flickering through his eyes.
Wait…
This girl — who came across as so sharp and cunning in everyday life — was she actually, fundamentally, a bit of a hopeless klutz?
"Nishikawa-san? Are you all right?"
Natsu called out again, his voice carrying a note of genuine concern this time.
"...I'm— I'm fine."
Ryouko closed her eyes in something close to despair, letting the river water trickle down her face.
Had she done something to offend the fish in this river? Or had she just forgotten to check her horoscope this morning?
She'd fallen in the exact same spot twice in a row.
This was a profound and unforgivable humiliation.
And now — well.
The clothes that had been merely damp before were now soaked through as if she'd been dragged out of the deep end, hair and all plastered to her face. She was a complete disaster.
The water had soaked through everything, cold and clingy against every inch of her skin, that clammy, wet, freezing sensation making Ryouko feel like she was about to cry.
"I r-really am fine."
She gritted her teeth, drew in a slow breath, and tried again to push herself upright.
This time, she'd learned her lesson.
First, she locked both arms firmly over her chest to keep herself covered as she rose. Then she lowered her head and fixed her eyes on every single step, moving with painstaking deliberateness, terrified of making the same mistake a third time.
If she went down again for a third time...
She might as well dig a hole and bury herself on this uninhabited island.
After what felt like a small eternity, Ryouko finally made it to the riverbank without incident.
Dripping from head to toe, looking like a drowned cat, she stood there with her head bowed, muttering under her breath:
"...This is an absolute disaster."
"Um, Nishikawa-san."
At that moment, Natsu spoke up from behind her.
"The front is covered now, but..."
His gaze had settled on her back.
Because the shirt was soaked completely through, the white fabric clung to her back just as it did to her front — and through it, the position of her bra straps was just as perfectly, clearly visible.
"The back is just as see-through, you know."
"!!!"
At those words, Ryouko went rigid — and nearly jumped out of her skin.
Her face, already red, turned an even deeper, more violent shade of crimson, nearly the color of blood.
"D-Don't look!"
She spun around, then immediately realized the front was no good either, and ended up twisting sideways, hugging her own shoulders, curling herself into as small a shape as possible, trying to minimize how much of herself was on display.
This was hopeless.
If it was this obvious from both front and back, she genuinely couldn't go back.
Was she really supposed to just stand here and wait for the clothes to dry naturally?
But...
A gust of wind swept through.
"Achoo!"
Ryouko sneezed, her whole body giving a slight shudder.
If she stood here in the breeze waiting for her clothes to dry, she was absolutely going to catch a cold.
And once she was sick with a fever, stuck on this island with no real medical resources — she wouldn't just be suffering herself, she'd become a liability to her class, and ultimately be forced to withdraw from the exam.
For Nishikawa Ryouko, being dead weight — being the one who held everyone else back — was something she simply could not accept.
What to do... what on earth to do...
As she stood there floundering with no idea what to do next, her eyes landed on Natsu.
She remembered clearly — earlier, when Natsu had waded into the sea to catch fish, he'd been soaked through too.
But how much time had passed since then?
Granted, he'd spent some time crouched by the campfire grilling the fish at midday — but looking at him now, his clothes were almost completely dry, with barely a trace that they'd ever been wet.
She knew a campfire helped speed things along, but this fast?
Did this guy come with a built-in clothes dryer or something?
Ryouko bit her lip and looked at his dry outfit with naked envy.
Natsu caught her gaze and raised an eyebrow.
"Nishikawa-san, if you keep staring at me like that, I'm going to start getting the wrong idea."
"I-I was not staring at you!"
Ryouko yanked her eyes away, face flushing, and shot back:
"If you keep looking at me, I'll scream pervert!"
"All right, all right, I get it."
Natsu smiled and, like a gentleman, turned around, putting his back to her.
Seeing this, Ryouko quickly shuffled around to stand behind him.
With his broad back in front of her, she at least had a shield against the wind — and against any stray glances. It gave her a tiny, tentative sense of security.
But that cold, clinging feeling wasn't going anywhere.
Another gust rolled through.
Ryouko pulled her arms tighter around herself, and her teeth began to chatter.
"Achoo!"
Another loud sneeze.
Hearing the sounds behind him, Natsu let out a quiet sigh.
The girl was a little mean-spirited, sure — but this was far more punishment than she deserved.
He turned his head and looked at the shivering Ryouko, then made a suggestion.
"Nishikawa-san, do you want to swap clothes with me?"
"...?"
Ryouko stared at him.
"Sw-swap... clothes?"
"Yeah."
Natsu nodded and pointed to the T-shirt he was wearing.
"Mine are already dry. It'll be a bit big on you, but at least it's dry."
"It's another ten-plus minutes back to base. If you keep walking in wet clothes in this wind, you're going to get sick."
"And besides… once you're wearing my shirt, you won't have the wardrobe malfunction problem anymore."
Ryouko froze at his words.
Wear a guy's clothes? Clothes that had literally just been on him?
Under normal circumstances, this was something Ryouko would never agree to in a million years. She and Natsu were classmates, sure, but today was genuinely the first time they'd had any real interaction. Exchanging actual clothing — worn clothing — was an intimacy that felt firmly in the territory of couples, not classmates.
But... for some strange, inexplicable reason.
Maybe it was some oddly instinctive sense of trust she'd built toward Natsu without quite realizing it. Or maybe she was simply too cold to care.
After a moment's hesitation, Ryouko gave a small nod.
"...Okay then. Please."
The words left her face even redder than before.
Upon hearing her answer, Natsu didn't waste any time.
He set down the large leaf piled with fish and shrimp on a clean flat stone nearby, then grabbed the hem of his shirt with both hands and pulled it off in one smooth motion.
And with the removal of the shirt——
Shikime Natsu's upper body was laid bare to the open air without reservation.
Broad shoulders. Clean, taut lines of muscle. Nothing exaggerated or overdone — just the kind of body that spoke of real, functional strength and carried an undeniable aesthetic quality of its own.
"!!!"
For a girl on the cusp of adulthood, the impact of this was considerable.
Ryouko went completely blank for a second, and her face — which had already been red — flooded all the way down to the base of her neck.
She snapped back to herself a beat later, spun around in a panic, and covered her burning cheeks with both hands, her heart hammering.
So that's... what a guy's body looks like.
It was... unexpectedly nice to look at.
A moment later, a shirt carrying a trace of body warmth was held out to her.
"Here."
Ryouko took it with trembling hands. She told Natsu to keep his eyes forward, then quickly peeled off her own soaking T-shirt and pulled his on.
Natsu was so much taller and broader than her that the shirt hung off her like an oversized dress — the hem falling well past her hips, the sleeves reaching down to her elbows.
But...
It was warm.
And it didn't smell the way she'd braced herself for — no stale sweat, no salt-and-sea smell from his time wading earlier. Instead, it carried a faint, clean scent, something like sun-warmed fabric fresh off the line. It was pleasant. It felt, inexplicably, like a deep breath you didn't know you needed.
Ryouko couldn't help herself — she sneaked a quiet inhale. The warmth wrapped around her all at once, chasing away the chill that had settled into her bones.
"Th-thank you..."
She turned back to face him, ducking her head shyly as she said it.
In that moment, wearing his oversized men's T-shirt, she looked unexpectedly small and delicate — the kind of soft, tucked-under-your-wing adorable that was a world away from the sharp-tongued little devil she usually was.
Natsu looked at her and smiled.
"Don't worry about it. Shall we head back?"
As he spoke, he bent down to pick up the leaf piled with fish and shrimp.
At this point, his upper half was still bare, gleaming in the sunlight with a kind of effortless brightness.
Ryouko caught sight of this, and something suddenly occurred to her. Her expression shifted.
"W-Wait a second!"
"Hm?"
Natsu paused, looking at her in puzzlement.
"Um..."
Ryouko pointed at Natsu's bare torso, then pointed at the dripping wet T-shirt hanging in her other hand — the one she'd just taken off — and managed to stammer:
"Shiki-san... y-you should put on my shirt."
"It's wet, I know, but... if you walk back like that without a shirt on, Shiki-san, you'll be..."
"If you walk back looking like that and any of the other girls see you, there will be a riot!"
"I am not going to get mistaken for someone who's trying to steal another girl's boyfriend!"
If Natsu walked back to base like this, he'd be a walking hormone event, drawing every girl's eyes whether he meant to or not — and if Kamuro Masumi happened to catch sight of it, Ryouko would be beyond mortified. Sure, wearing a shirt that was a touch small wasn't ideal — but it wasn't like she was asking him to put on a dress. It would still be a lot less conspicuous than Natsu shirtless, that was for certain.
"Fair point."
Natsu nodded and reached out to take the small, damp T-shirt from Ryouko's hand.
"It might be a little snug..."
He muttered as he tried to pull the tiny girl's T-shirt over his head.
Unsurprisingly.
Ryouko's shirt was simply too small for him.
Luckily, the fabric had decent stretch. With some effort, Natsu managed to work himself into it.
And...
The shirt still held a lingering trace of the faint, delicate scent unique to a girl — along with the warmth she'd left behind in the fabric.
Natsu rolled his shoulders once against the mildly restricted range of motion, and remarked offhandedly:
"Mm... it smells really nice."
"Wha——!"
Ryouko reacted like a cat that had just had its tail stepped on — instant, volcanic outrage.
Face blazing, she pointed a finger directly at him and shouted:
"D-Don't smell it!"
"Pervert! Creep! Shiki-san is a total creep!"
"Okay okay, I won't, I won't."
Natsu held up both hands in surrender, that enigmatic little smile still firmly in place as he stepped forward.
Watching him, Ryouko was both flustered and indignant — but the embarrassment and panic that had been coiled up inside her had, without her quite noticing, mostly unraveled.
"Honestly..."
Ryouko was self-aware enough to realize that Natsu's little comment just now had been payback — she'd been teasing him nonstop this whole time, and of course he'd grab the first opening to toss it right back at her.
Shikime Natsu really was a piece of work.
She'd already decided: the moment she got back, she was changing clothes and swapping back with him as fast as humanly possible, before anyone could see and start jumping to conclusions.
Just thinking about the awkward hurdle still ahead, Ryouko let out a quiet sigh.
At least she'd make sure to eat fish at dinner tonight — she was going to get some satisfaction out of this day, one way or another.
Still... the moment she'd slipped into Natsu's shirt, Ryouko had felt a strange, vaguely guilty warmth she couldn't quite name. She was wearing the boyfriend's shirt — a shirt that belonged to someone else's boyfriend.
"Let's go. Time to head back."
Natsu picked up the leaf laden with fish and shrimp and started walking.
"...Mn."
Ryouko gave a quiet, compliant reply, and fell into step behind him. The two of them walked one after the other, making their way back toward base.
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And other Chuunibyou Brats
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