The azure sea, but a lonely, fulfilled life.

To find such friendly companions in this kind of society, it seems they will definitely have a happier life in the future.

Watching the group comforting Kohei, the shopkeeper felt a strange sense of relief.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Come Home Often

No matter what difficulties you face, you should remain calm. Regret and anger will never lead you to success.

-

Crouching at the bottom of the pool, Hachiman Hikigaya held his breath and looked at the plastic ladder not far away. Having gotten used to the water flow, he could still open his eyes normally and see everything at the bottom of the pool even without wearing a swimming mask.

Sure enough, the ocean and the swimming pool are two completely different places. Here, he had no hallucinations at all, and he didn't hear any delirium.

"How about it?"

Long, slender, fair legs appeared before him, and a glimpse of pink lace trim on a bikini-style swim trunk caught his eye. Hachiman choked on his breath and immediately stood up.

The splashing water landed on the newcomer, and he instinctively wanted to apologize, but the girl waved her hand, indicating that it was okay. She picked up the towel around her neck and casually wiped her face, but the towel was not completely dry. A few drops of water ran down the girl's chin and onto the white, tender mound in front of her.

Hachiman's cheeks flushed slightly, and he looked away.

"very nice."

"Really? That's good."

Chisa Kotegawa nodded. Indeed, everything had to be done step by step. Once she learned to swim, perhaps she wouldn't be so afraid of the ocean.

"Do you want to continue?"

"Let's rest for a while."

The two swam to the edge of the pool, and Hachiman grabbed the ladder and climbed onto the platform. He planned to buy a drink, as staying in the water for too long made him thirsty.

"I'm going to buy a bottle of water. What would you like to drink?"

"Coconut juice, please."

Squeezing the water off his pants slightly, Hachiman walked to the vending machine inside and bought coconut juice and soda. Max coffee didn't seem to be popular in Izu; he was only lucky enough to buy it a few times.

He twisted open the coconut juice can and handed it to the girl in the pool. He squatted down next to the ladder, pulled the plastic ring off the metal can, tilted his head back, and gulped down the soda. The skylight above the pool shone a bluish-white light from the outside in. In the empty environment, there were only the two of them.

Sure enough, Monday mornings are always busy.

However, they had taken leave, so they were able to come to this swimming pool to practice their preparations before getting into the water, under the envious gazes of Iori and Kohei.

We have to keep our word. If we've promised to make changes, then we must take action.

Hachiman looked at Chisa, who was leaning against the pool. She was sipping coconut juice and tilted her head slightly to meet his gaze when he looked over.

"what happened?"

"It's nothing," Hachiman hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "I'm just worried that Nanaka-senpai might blame me for leading you astray if she finds out."

After all, unlike his half-hearted attitude towards learning, Chisa has always been very serious about this subject. Even so, she actually took the initiative to accompany him when she heard that he planned to come to practice on Monday morning.

Could it be that she really likes me?

Haha, impossible, impossible.

This is definitely just a storyline about developing rapport between potential partners. Wake up, Hachiman Hikigaya! Have you forgotten that embarrassing memory from middle school? Beware of narcissism, beware of gentleness, beware of wishful thinking!

"My sister probably wouldn't; she'd still be happy to see me being enthusiastic about diving."

Chisa relaxed and leaned against the edge of the pool. Fortunately, her hairstyle was a neat shoulder-length bob, so she didn't have to worry about her long hair getting caught.

“However.” As if remembering something, she looked up, her cat-like round eyes reflecting Hachiman’s face. “Did you do something that made your sister dislike you?”

She was referring to the incident not long ago when he was bound naked to a cross. Iori didn't mention it for the time being, and perhaps her father was just getting old and slow to react, but why did her sister just ignore it?

Generally speaking, an older sister would strongly stop such a prank that has clearly gone too far. Moreover, she even received a stun gun from the other party!

This is wrong; she doesn't seem like a sister at all.

Chisa couldn't think of anything like soul-swapping or body-swapping in the world, so she figured that Hachiman must have angered her sister, which was why her sister wouldn't save her from dying.

She didn't want to see such a scene, because both her sister and Hachiman were equally important to her.

"What nasty thing did you do?"

Hachiman's memory returned to that night. After he finally cleared himself of the suspicion that he didn't have a girlfriend, Nanaka-senpai coincidentally came to his room and took out the commemorative photos he had left behind. She casually mentioned that there were many photos of him with girls in them.

All these coincidences seem to conceal unknown connections.

"...All I can say is that you two have a really good relationship."

Hachiman answered, his words carrying a sense of relief.

His words left Chisa completely confused. Isn't it normal for the sisters to have a good relationship?

"Let's not talk about this."

Hachiman tried to change the subject, after all, he couldn't really tell his sister Chisa that Nanaka-senpai was actually an ultimate siscon, because their relationship might break down, and then he would definitely have no good days ahead.

"Let's talk about something else. I heard that after discussing it, Tokita-senpai and the others decided to go to Okinawa together in two weeks."

"Okinawa?" Chisa remembered a magazine she had once seen about Miyako Island. Since she was going to Okinawa, she was sure she could see it too. "That sounds nice."

"Yes, and I heard that the seniors take turns teaching diving courses there, so you might meet a lot of like-minded people."

Hachiman cleverly brought up the matter, noticing the obvious surge of emotion in Chisa upon hearing the news. He smiled, thinking, "As expected, Chisa is always happy whenever there's good news about diving."

"In that case, we might encounter someone in a similar situation to you, Hachiman."

Qian Sha smiled gently. If there were successful cases, it might give him and her even more confidence to complete this task.

"...Yes, it will happen."

Seeing her so excited, Hachiman didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm, even though he felt that his situation was extremely rare.

"Let's go see the ocean off Miyako Island then, it's beautiful there." Chisa looked at Hachiman with bright eyes, seemingly already imagining the scene.

"..."

Hachiman remained silent, a strange behavior that puzzled Chisa. She had assumed he was still afraid of the ocean and was therefore avoiding the topic.

"I'm just going to take a look; I won't go into the water."

Chisa said that she thought seeing the beautiful sea view might put him at ease and help him relax his tense emotions.

"Oh, it's not because of that."

Hachiman replied that he knew the other party had misunderstood him.

"Why is that?" Chisa asked, puzzled.

Hachiman looked at the girl with a blank expression and spoke.

"I plan to take this time to go home and visit my family."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: I'm a Homebody

As everyone knows, Hachiman Hikigaya is an otaku.

The place he spent the most time in his life was his dimly lit little room. He didn't like to open the curtains; sunlight would corrupt his laziness. And perhaps he really had penguin genes, he liked cold air, so keeping the curtains closed made him feel cooler.

-

"go home?"

Hearing this, the girl in the pool turned around and looked at Hachiman, who was squatting down. To be honest, she didn't know where this penguin's hometown was. Antarctica? Could humans live there? She only knew that there was a group of people called Inuit who lived in such frozen places, but it was obvious that the other person was not a descendant of that group.

"Ah."

Hachiman nodded. Recently, his allowance had been taken away again. He knew very well that it was his mother expressing her dissatisfaction that her son had forgotten about home since going to university, not only not returning home on holidays but also not even sending a single text message.

He did make a mistake, but it wasn't intentional; there were reasons for it.

The reason was that two jerks kept getting him drunk, day and night, sometimes even all night long, until he was so confused that he couldn't remember to send a text message.

As for going back, forget about it. I opened and closed my eyes, and hey, what did I do? I went to bed at three in the morning and woke up at five the next evening—

Going back like this? Going back to where? To the embrace of Mother Earth?

Now that things have come to this, simply sending a text message won't change anything; he can only go home and accept his punishment for a while.

Furthermore, he also needs to replenish his sister's energy.

Seeing other people hooking up with girls every day, he wanted to hook up with some too.

...It sounds a bit sleazy, doesn't it?

As an outsider, Chisa certainly wouldn't try to dissuade him from going home. After all, he had come all the way to their place to study at university, and his family would definitely worry and hope that he could come home to visit often.

only……

Chisa clutched her chest, feeling inexplicably empty.

A wonderful holiday doesn't feel complete without spending time with good friends; a photo with an empty space in it just doesn't look as good.

She bit her lip slightly and tentatively asked the question she had been wanting to ask: "Do we have to go back at that time? Can we go back later? Wouldn't summer vacation be better?"

"This one……"

Hachiman had carefully considered when to return. First of all, his allowance had been reduced to 25000 yen a month, a figure that was clearly ambiguous. If he didn't return soon, he would probably receive a remittance of 14250 yen and some loose coins next month.

Secondly, a troublesome guy sent him a text message saying he wanted to ask for help from the Service Club, where he and Komachi were, to handle something.

Logically speaking, this kind of request for help should obviously not be something he, as a former member of the Service Department, should do, but that troublesome guy gave him a reason he couldn't refuse.

Komachi is currently very troubled, but there will be a large sum of money after the job is done. With this money, plus some more that she can shamelessly beg her mother to give her when she gets back, it will be enough to help them go to sea many times.

Another crucial point is that when he heard about the decision to go to Okinawa, he searched online to prepare in advance and unexpectedly found information about Miyakojima.

If others go to Okinawa to enjoy the beautiful scenery and swim, the seniors who decide to go there are almost certainly planning to organize their own event.

Although he's gotten used to drinking strong liquor, it doesn't mean he enjoys it. He tries to refuse whenever possible, leaving this good fortune to Iori and the others to enjoy.

Seeing his predicament, Chisa turned her head away and muttered softly, "Just pretend I didn't say anything."

"Thank you, Chisa."

Even though she was a little unhappy, the girl's expression brightened considerably upon hearing his sincere words of gratitude.

"Did you tell Senior Tokita and the others?"

"not yet."

After all, he only received the news a day or two ago. After their tennis practice with Tinker Bell, the two seniors were deeply caught up in the vortex of part-time jobs and were working hard to save money for their accommodation in Okinawa.

"Have you thought about what to say?" Chisa asked, looking up. Her beautiful face, even without makeup, was reflected in Hachiman's eyes. Her eyes were actually quite cat-like, though not as obviously as Azusa's.

"Yes, I plan to tell the truth."

Both seniors were easy to talk to. He had previously planned to cancel the postponed social gathering, using the excuse that he was looking for a place to stay, and successfully got their agreement.

Therefore, it seems that the older generation still has their own principles. If something really happens, they will not force you, and may even take the initiative to help you.

However, that's impossible this time, since they can't afford two accommodation fees, and their own home isn't big enough to accommodate so many people.

"You're not one to lie about things like this."

"I rarely lie."

Heaven has eyes; the probability of him lying is the same as the probability of Kohei never calling out "Lara" in a day—it's infinitely close to zero.

While it's true that everyone lies, there's no need to betray your principles for some unnecessary trifles.

“Since you’ve made up your mind, I won’t say anything more.” Chisa reached out her hand, and Hachiman looked at her, slowly placing his hand on hers. Then, a gentle force pulled him into the water. “You’ve rested long enough; it’s time to get back to training.”

"Just getting used to being underwater isn't enough; you also need to learn to swim," Chisa chuckled. "But seeing how quickly you were able to open your eyes and go underwater, you'll definitely learn to swim very soon."

"What if I don't learn it?" Hachiman laughed.

"You'll drown here if you don't learn it," Chisa joked mischievously, pressing his head down until it was parallel to the water's surface.

"Well, there really are reasons why you absolutely have to learn it."

Hachiman reluctantly began practicing swimming under the other party's instructions.

It's tough for beginners. During practice, he swallowed a lot of water, and even when the time was up, his doggy paddle was still not up to standard.

It seems that even if I was very good at diving when I was young and could dive without anyone knowing how, after more than ten years of not practicing, I would still become a piece of scrap metal.

Change is a difficult thing.