No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 106
EP.106 Summer and the Sea (2)
The sea.
Yeah, the sea’s nice.
When I was a kid, I loved the beach in the summertime.
Because it was fun.
Because playing in the water was fun.
When you're little, you’re full of energy. You don’t even need a swimsuit—you just run straight in, splash around until you’re completely exhausted, then climb out, stuff yourself with snacks or a packed lunch your parents brought, and then dive right back in.
Your clothes get filled with sand, you accidentally swallow salty seawater more times than you can count, but you never get tired of it.
And when it’s finally time to go home, you’re drenched, your pockets are full of sand, everything sticks to you, and you’re so exhausted you start getting cranky… but you still do it all over again the next time.
But as an adult?
Not so much.
At some point, all that aftercare started feeling like more of a hassle than the fun was worth.
Watching from a distance, relaxing, and then escaping into a nice, air-conditioned building? That seemed like the way to go.
I still knew playing in the water was fun. I just cared more about how much of a pain it would be to deal with afterward.
…
And yet, here I was.
Logically, I knew all those things that used to bother me—sand in my clothes, being weighed down by wet fabric—wouldn’t even be a problem if I was wearing a swimsuit.
Besides, women’s swimsuits don’t even have pockets. There’s less fabric to get wet, and they cling to your body, so it’s not like they’d weigh me down. Even if I got covered in sand, a quick rinse in the shower would fix it.
…Well, except for my hair. That was probably going to be a nightmare to wash out later. But that wasn’t just a woman thing, that was just a long hair thing.
“Are you getting changed or not?”
“…I am.”
I answered without thinking, then turned around—
—and forgot how to breathe.
Because standing there was Ria.
Wearing the red bikini I had personally picked out for her.
The color perfectly matched her hair, making it look like the swimsuit had been designed just for her.
And, well… Given my gender and position, I wasn’t sure I should be thinking this, but—
I was glad it didn’t cover too much.
It suited her perfectly—bold, confident, and completely unapologetic.
And those little details—
Like the strings tied at her hips. They were purely decorative, but they looked like they could come undone with a single pull.
The ones at her back were the same way—thin, teasing little ties that looked way too easy to undo.
They had to be fake. Right?
…Right???
I glanced up at her face.
She was looking at me, her cheeks tinged pink with the slightest hint of embarrassment.
And then I noticed—
Slap.
That was the sound of me smacking my own forehead.
“…What the hell is that on your head?”
“Hm? Oh, it’s my veil, obviously.”
I know it’s a veil.
“No, I mean why are you wearing a veil with that outfit?!”
My voice rang through the changing room.
“Because I’m a nun?”
“NUNS DON’T—!!”
I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples.
“That’s not part of your holy attire anymore. That’s just… sexy cosplay at this point!!”
“Huh? And how exactly would you know that?”
“Ah.”
“What, don’t tell me you’ve actually seen something like this before? You don’t even have a phone or a personal computer, so where exactly would you have seen it? Are there… illicit magazines secretly being passed around the convent?”
“No!! That doesn’t happen!!”
…Actually, it might.
It’s just that I never really socialized enough for anything like that to reach me.
But even if it did exist, would there really be anything as specific as a nun-in-a-swimsuit cosplay floating around?
Unless it was from one of those, uh… extra spicy romance novels…?
Wait, no, that’s not the point!
“N-no, that’s not it!!”
“Come on, come on, just hurry up and get changed already. Even I was embarrassed, but I still changed.”
“……”
“What, are you not getting in the water?”
“Ugh, fine, fine! I’ll change, okay?! Just—stop making that face!”
Ria had started giving me that sad, pitiful, rain-soaked puppy look again, so I quickly shut it down.
If she did that while wearing that outfit, I really wasn’t sure I’d survive.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I wouldn’t survive, but… whatever it was, it definitely wouldn’t be good.
I sighed deeply and turned around to start changing—
“……”
“……”
And then I slowly turned back.
Ria was still standing there, staring at me.
“…Uh. Could you, I don’t know, turn around? Or maybe, like, leave?”
“Why?”
“Why?? Because I need to change!”
“So? Just change.”
…Was the heat messing with her brain or something?
No, that couldn’t be it. The dressing room had excellent air conditioning—almost too good, in fact.
“…Look, even if we’re the same gender, you don’t just stare while someone else is changing. I didn’t stare at you when you were changing, did I?”
“I wouldn’t have minded.”
“…Are you sure you’re feeling okay? The AC’s right there—why don’t you go cool off a little?”
I took a step toward her, but—
…
Something told me I shouldn’t actually touch her.
Maybe if she was wearing something over her swimsuit, it would’ve been fine.
But right now, with all those suspiciously flimsy-looking ties, her outfit felt even more dangerous than if she were just in underwear.
Ria watched me hesitate, then suddenly smiled.
A smug, triumphant smile that said, I win.
“…You know what? I don’t even care anymore. I’m just going to the beach like this. Not changing.”
Ria snickered.
“Alright, alright. As long as I don’t stare, it’s fine, right?”
Still grinning, she turned around.
“……”
Hmmm.
As she turned around—
Well, technically, she was wearing something on the bottom…
But the back—
Aside from that single, ridiculously thin ribbon tied at the back, it was basically bare.
Even after all that arguing, the smooth expanse of her back looked impossibly soft—like if I reached out, it would just melt under my fingers.
I cut that thought off immediately.
Then, with stiff, robotic movements, I turned around and hurriedly changed into my own swimsuit.
Compared to Ria’s, my yellow bikini was definitely more modest.
The straps were a bit thicker, and the fabric covered more—at the very least, my entire lower chest wasn’t just out in the open.
Still, it was… embarrassing.
I wasn’t as curvy as Ria, but that was only because my point of comparison was Ria.
Compared to the average person, I was still plenty curvy.
And, well…
Certain areas looked noticeably soft.
Squishy, even.
Having fabric cling so tightly in certain places just made me more aware of my own body.
…Not that this was Ria’s first time seeing me like this.
We’d practiced swimming together plenty of times before.
Back then, I hadn’t thought much of it—probably because we’d just picked out our swimsuits together, so we’d already seen each other in them.
But now that it had been a while, I was suddenly very aware of it again.
“Phew.”
I let out a deep breath, then turned around—
And—
“Gah.”
I was met with Ria’s grinning face.
Not only was she staring at me, but she was way too close.
Oh.
Right.
Ria was my age, sure.
But she was also the daughter of a hero—someone with incredible natural talent.
A top-tier hunter, even among the elites.
Sneaking up on her prey?
Child’s play.
Ria reached out with both hands.
I instinctively clenched my teeth, freezing in place as I braced for—
Click.
“…?”
Cautiously, I cracked my eyes open—
And there was Ria, holding out her phone.
“…Huh?”
At some point—
She’d put my veil on my head.
And then she’d taken a picture.
Of me.
Standing there in a yellow bikini, with my usual veil perched on top.
“…Wow.”
“Wow?”
“WaaAAAHH!?”
I lunged at Ria.
But she just laughed and lifted her arm high above her head.
Unfortunately for me, Ria was taller and more flexible than I was—so no matter how much I stretched, my hands could only swipe at empty air.
“……”
“……”
And then, suddenly—
We both realized the situation we were in.
Right.
We were both in swimsuits.
Which meant a lot of bare skin was exposed.
Sure, we'd hugged before. And, sometimes, we’d accidentally ended up in each other’s arms.
But never like this.
Never with this much skin touching.
A split second later, I felt it.
The places not covered by fabric.
Warm.
Soft.
And… kind of squishy.
Chest, stomach, thighs…
I immediately wiped the expression from my face and took a step back.
“That phone—who does it belong to?”
“…Don’t worry. It’s mine.”
Ria twirled it between her fingers, grinning.
“I stopped by home on the way here to pick it up.”
That made sense. She had needed to check something while renting this place. We hadn’t run into her father, though.
But still—
“How does that make it okay!? My picture’s on it!”
“Relax. I’ll be the only one looking at it.”
Then she smirked.
“Besides… you’re gonna be showing that look off soon enough, aren’t you?”
“AAAH!”
And that was when I remembered.
We weren’t here alone.
“…Come on, now.”
Ria chuckled as I crouched down and covered my face, then crouched next to me and ruffled my hair.
“It’s summer. We should be enjoying our youth.”
“…I’m already exhausted.”
But—
I had made a promise.
I couldn’t just spend the entire day hiding in the changing room.
So, after taking a deep breath, I forced myself to my feet and stepped outside.
And then—
That was when I finally realized.
I was still wearing my veil.
Right as the realization hit me, I collapsed onto the sand.
For the record?
Ria had already taken hers off.
Sneaky little—!