Waves lapped against their ankles one after another.
Imaizumi Keita followed behind Yanami Anna into the shallow water that reached their calves.
The sunlight made the sea's surface glitter like gold, and her yellow-and-white striped bikini looked even more dazzling against the reflection of the waves.
He watched as Yanami clearly slowed her pace, waiting for him to catch up, and finally asked her the reason for calling him out.
"I say, Anna-chan."
"Hmm?"
Yanami Anna turned her head back with a nonchalant smile, but a glint of successful cunning flickered in her eyes.
"You specifically used the excuse of 'wanting to play in the water' to call me over here alone,"
Imaizumi Keita's tone carried a hint of helpless teasing, "it couldn't be because you saw me chatting with Lemon just now and got jealous again, right?"
"Huh?!"
Yanami Anna's voice suddenly spiked in volume.
"Who's jealous!" A flush appeared on her cheeks, but she immediately calmed down to retort, "I'm not that petty!"
Then, Yanami Anna stiffened her neck and pointed toward the distant beach with righteous indignation.
"I just went over there to look and found that there weren't any new food stalls at all, so I was a bit disappointed!"
She complained huffily, "I thought there would be grilled squid or takoyaki or something..."
"Oh? So it was just because there were no food stalls."
Imaizumi Keita nodded, accepting Yanami Anna's answer for now.
Since Yanami Anna didn't want to say it for the time being, he would leave it at that.
After all, Imaizumi Keita wasn't a monster who insisted on forcing a girl to show her unsightly side.
Imaizumi Keita followed Yanami's lead and steered the conversation in another direction.
"Speaking of which, although having things to eat is great,"
He glanced at Yanami's curves, which were perfectly outlined by her swimsuit, and said slowly.
"But Anna-chan, you should also pay a little attention to your weight."
"If you keep eating without restraint like this, be careful or you really will grow a little belly."
"I-I will not!"
This sentence accurately hit Yanami's point of concern, making her cheeks turn rosy all at once.
She put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, retorting to Imaizumi in shame and anger: "I-I've always been controlling my weight properly! And... and I've even lost half a pound recently!"
"Half a pound?"
Imaizumi Keita raised an eyebrow, a look of surprise appearing on his face.
It was hard to imagine that someone with Yanami Anna's eating habits could actually lose weight.
Was Yanami Anna really the type who naturally doesn't get fat?!
"I really did lose weight!!"
Seeing his disbelief, Yanami Anna couldn't help but throw the beach ball in her hands toward him.
"Keita, you jerk!!"
Imaizumi Keita dodged easily and then scooped up the beach ball that had landed on the water's surface.
Looking at Yanami's cute, huffy expression, he batted the ball back toward her.
"Catch."
"Who wants to catch it!"
Yanami Anna said so, but her body was very honest as she clumsily hugged the ball to her chest.
The two of them continued like this, batting the beach ball back and forth in the knee-deep water.
They didn't bicker anymore, nor did they engage in any more conversations filled with testing and pulling.
The sea breeze, the waves, the sound of splashing water, and the blurred conversations on the shore became the background noise for their time together.
Perhaps because the previous play had exhausted her energy, or maybe just because she felt tired, Yanami Anna hugged the ball and slowly sat down in the seawater.
The cool seawater instantly submerged most of her body, leaving only her fair shoulders and head exposed.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, letting out a long sigh, seemingly enjoying the feeling of being gently washed by the waves.
Imaizumi Keita also sat down beside her, letting the waves lap against his chest.
"Do you want to go back to the beach to rest?"
He turned his head and asked Yanami softly.
Yanami Anna didn't answer, only shaking her head.
After a while, Yanami Anna slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him quietly.
Under Imaizumi Keita's somewhat puzzled gaze, her fair arm parted the seawater, and Yanami reached out under the water to grab his wrist.
Then, Yanami gently placed his hand on her smooth, rounded thigh, which was being soaked by the seawater.
"...Anna-chan," Imaizumi Keita's body reacted slightly, his voice full of surprise and confusion, "what are you doing?"
"Hmph."
Yanami Anna turned her face away, not looking into his eyes, but said nonchalantly, "Wasn't it what you said, Keita?"
"You said... you said you didn't just want to look, you also wanted to touch it with your own hands..."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller, but she stubbornly continued.
"Now... now that I'm letting you touch, you say things like this... you're really just a coward who's all talk and no action."
Listening to this invitation that could be called "self-abandoning," Imaizumi Keita calmly shook his head, unmoved by Yanami.
"Of course I'll touch. But only to this extent. The beach is a public place after all; I won't do anything that could easily lead to trouble."
Yanami Anna paused for a moment, clearly not expecting Imaizumi Keita to respond like this.
"So, just tell me clearly."
Imaizumi pressed her hand back obediently against the side of her thigh. "Are you worried about Lemon?"
"I'm not... I just... don't want you to leave just because someone gives you a few casual compliments."
Yanami's hand gripped Imaizumi's wrist again, trembling slightly from nervousness.
This time, Imaizumi Keita didn't push her hand back. Instead, he followed her lead and pressed his entire palm against her fine, smooth skin, gently stroking it.
"No wonder you suddenly became so aggressive, Anna-chan."
An indescribable sense of grievance suddenly welled up in Yanami's heart.
"...Hmph."
She responded dully to Imaizumi's teasing and spoke about what had just happened.
"When we went to the other side of the beach just now... Lemon kept praising you to me."
"Oh?"
"She said that although you usually seem cold, you're actually very attentive, good at taking care of people, super reliable, and so on..."
Yanami Anna's speaking speed grew faster and faster. "As I listened, I felt like... Lemon, she seems to have fallen for you too."
This conclusion made Imaizumi Keita feel caught between laughter and tears.
"I say, Anna-chan," he sighed helplessly, "how did you reach that conclusion?"
"Lemon only sees me as a reliable confidant because of her status as a loser, and she was just putting in a good word for me in front of you."
"So what!"
Yanami Anna's emotions suddenly flared up. Her eyes were a bit red, and her tone was full of grievance and resentment.
"That's because you're also very good to her!"
Her gaze fell on his face, her voice carrying an interrogation. "Even if you say you and Lemon are just ordinary friends, who knows what you're really thinking!"
"Like before in the equipment shed, Shioyaki... she was lying on top of you naked! Do you dare say you didn't have any thoughts at all then?!"
"You, Imaizumi, in the end, you just like girls' bodies!"
"When you introduce me to others, you'll definitely only say 'Yanami and I are just ordinary friends'! Then while saying that, you do those... those things only couples would do to me!"
She spoke with increasing agitation, her voice getting louder and louder, finally even carrying a hint of self-abandoning sob.
"Fine! I don't care anymore!"
Yanami Anna seemed to have made some kind of decision, her eyes burning with an unprecedented, resolute flame.
"I'm telling you, Imaizumi Keita!"
"Even if... even if you're really a philandering jerk! A scumbag who only likes pretty girls' bodies! A rotten person who will abandon me eventually!"
Her voice trembled slightly from excitement, but every word was spoken with exceptional clarity.
"I... I'm going to get you!"
"I will, I absolutely will fight for you myself! I won't be like before, foolishly watching and then humbly giving up the person I like to someone else!"
The moment her words fell, she grabbed Imaizumi Keita's hand again.
Only this time, it wasn't a tentative gesture or an invitation, but a declaration full of possessiveness.
She pulled down hard, trying to tackle the man she both loved and hated, to completely drag him into her own salty yet gentle ocean.
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