Humanity’s Extinction Happens During Summer Vacation?!

by Tsuyoshi Fujitaka

  “You sound like a guy, Takeuchi!” Yuichi said.

  Natsuki was wearing a concealing pair of indigo separates, their school swim uniform. She clearly didn’t care about having fashionable swimwear.

  “Fine. What did you actually want to do, Sis?” Yuichi asked, giving up.

  Mutsuko glared. “I just associated going to the beach with fun! But now that we’re here, I can’t help but feel disappointed! I was all, ‘It’ll be just like the swimsuit episode in an anime!’ but just putting on a swimsuit doesn’t actually make this enjoyable!”

  “Fair enough,” Yuichi conceded. But another part of him still strongly objected to the idea of packing everything up right away. “We only just got here, though. Can we find a way to stick around awhile?”

  Mutsuko’s lithe body twisted through the air. She brought her palm down in a wide arc and slammed it into the ball.

  Crouching on the other end of the spike was Natsuki, who received the ball with locked forearms and sent it rocketing upwards. Then she jumped after it, aiming to spike the ball that she had received herself.

  This time, it was Mutsuko who blocked Natsuki’s fierce blow, and she sent it flying back at her.

  The rules of the game were completely opaque, but they were both clearly taking it very seriously.

  “Um, I don’t think this quite fits the image of ‘beach ball play’...” Yuichi murmured.

  Both girls were extremely athletic, so the match was heated, but it was hard to tell how they were ever going to finish it.

  The two of them were on Team: Beach Ball Play.

  Yuichi had assumed they’d be blowing up a beach ball and batting it around, but the ball Mutsuko had ended up producing was a beach volleyball. It was slightly softer than the kind used in indoor volleyball, but otherwise no different.

  Why were they doing this? Because they had decided to try some typical beachgoing activities.

  Mutsuko had said that she wasn’t enjoying the beach, but she’d apparently agreed that as long as they were there, she should find something to do. They’d used rock paper scissors to assign teams, with each team performing one traditional beachgoing activity.

  Aiko and Yoriko were standing in the shallows, splashing water at each other. As one might guess from looking at them, they were Team: Splashing in the Water. They weren’t actually doing very much, but the fact that they were both beautiful girls certainly made the sight pleasing to the eye. Whether they themselves were enjoying it was another question entirely.

  Ibaraki was making a sandcastle. He was Team: Sand Sculpting. Ibaraki seemed surprisingly artistic, and was making a very nice-looking sandcastle with the nearby children.

  Yuichi was dubious. Ibaraki may like children, but he was still a man-eating oni, and Yuichi couldn’t completely wipe away the fear that he was foraging for ingredients.

  Kyoya and Akiko weren’t dressed in swimsuits, so they couldn’t participate in true beach activities. Instead, they had gone off to the beach house to buy provisions. The vampires in the straightjacket and maid uniform made for a terrifyingly mismatched pair. Yuichi didn’t want to think what kind of stares they would be getting from those around them for disrupting the beach environment.

  The final two were Yuichi and Kanako, who remained under the umbrella.

  Yuichi was watching Mutsuko and Natsuki’s beach volleyball to distract himself from his current situation, but he couldn’t remain like that forever.

  Kanako was lying face-down on the vinyl sheet they had placed under the umbrella.

  “Um, you don’t have to do this if it makes you uncomfortable...” Yuichi said.

  It was quite an incredible sight to see Kanako lying face down. Her breasts, crushed beneath her, jutted out to the side. It looked like it couldn’t be healthy.

  “But we decided these teams with rock paper scissors...” Kanako said, not sounding bothered in the least.

  There was suntan oil in Yuichi’s hands. In other words, Yuichi and Kanako were Team: Suntan Oil Application.

  “I’m not very athletic, so I like being able to just lie here,” Kanako said. “Would you rather have a different job, Sakaki the Younger?”

  “No, it’s not that I don’t like this, but...” He felt a little rude saying the words “I don’t like this,” even if it was part of a denial, but it really did make him self-conscious. As far as he could see, no one else on the beach was doing anything like this. He couldn’t remember ever being alone with Kanako before, either. He just didn’t know how to deal with it.

  But sitting there stewing over it wouldn’t solve the problem. Yuichi steeled up his nerve and squeezed some oil into his hand. Once he had enough, he started massaging it onto Kanako’s back. Her skin was smoother and softer than he imagined it would be.

  “Eek!” she shrieked.

  “Ah, was that too cold?”

  “No, it’s all right,” she said. “You just surprised me.”

  A moment later —

  “Eek!”

  “Um, it’s really awkward to have you keep screaming like that.”

  “I’m sorry, but it tickled,” she said.

  How long do I have to keep doing this?! Did he have to spread it over her whole body? Did they just have to go through the motions? Well, now that he had started, if he did a half-baked job, she’d end up getting patches of burns, wouldn’t she? As Yuichi thought about all those things, his eyes strayed to where her breasts had squeezed out on either side of her. He was fairly sure seeing a woman naked wouldn’t faze him, but this was against the rules.

  “Sakaki the Younger!” Kanako burst out.

  “Y-Yes?” Yuichi started in shock, thinking he had been reprimanded for his straying eyes.

  “Just putting the oil on is boring, isn’t it?” she asked. “Let’s talk about something.”

  “Oh, all right.” Yuichi was a bit relieved by the suggestion; just putting lotion on her in silence was a getting awkward.

  “Have you heard of Potalaka?” she asked.

  “Potalaka... is that an isekai, too?” he guessed. Kanako generally only talked about two subjects: her stories, or alternate worlds.

  “I’m not sure. It’s said to be where the goddess Kannon lives,” she said. “There used to be a ritual where people would go out to sea in boats searching for Potalaka, so I suppose it must be across the ocean?”

  He thought about that. “I don’t really know, but if you can get there by crossing the ocean, it’s probably not an isekai. It must be a part of this world, right?”

  “In the ritual, you’re shut up in a box and set adrift on the sea, so it’s like you’re being sent to the afterlife,” she said.

  “Wouldn’t that just be suicide?” he asked.

  “Yes, it was an act of self-sacrifice. It was considered the ultimate act of penance in Buddhism. Although you can’t really train if you die, can you? But since they went to all the effort to go out on the ocean in boats, I just wondered.” Kanako trailed off for a moment, then offered, “What about Nirai Kanai?”

  “I have heard of that one,” he said. “Isn’t that part of the Okinawan religion?”

  “It’s said to be across the sea, too... though I don’t think I could make it there.” Kanako gazed out at the ocean. Maybe she was letting her mind drift out to an isekai that lay far beyond.

  “Um... Orihara, why do you like alternate world stories so much?” He decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for a while. He had known Kanako for several months now, and while they weren’t particularly close friends, she was a daily part of his life. Maybe it was too forward of him, but it seemed like an okay question to ask.

  “Sakaki the Younger, don’t you ever want to go somewhere else?” she asked.

  “I... guess not,” he said after a moment’s thought. He couldn’t think of anywhere in particular that he might want to go.

  “I see. Do you enjoy your life, Sakaki the Younger?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure... I never really
thought about it. It’s never boring, I guess.”

  “Do you ever suffer?” Kanako asked.

  Yuichi thought for a moment about his training with Mutsuko. But he was doing that voluntarily. While Mutsuko did force the training on him, if pressed, Yuichi couldn’t say that he hated it. Despite all he said, he thought Mutsuko was a nice person deep down.

  “I’ve faced hard times before, but it’s usually nothing I can’t handle,” he said. “Well, maybe that’s just because I’m still a kid...”

  “I see,” Kanako said. “I... for a long time, I’ve wanted to go far away... to a place where nobody knows who I am...”

  “Orihara... you aren’t enjoying your... um... self?” Yuichi asked. “Enjoying your life” sounded a little too harsh.

  “I don’t know. Things changed a bit after I met your sister, and I do sometimes enjoy myself... and yet, something still feels wrong. I don’t know why.” A distant smile formed on Kanako’s lips.

  ✽✽✽✽✽

  “There! What about that? Hey, Noro! Hey! Hey!” Yoriko said as she splashed Aiko with seawater.

  Mutsuko had insisted that characters splashing each other in the water was a necessity in a swimsuit episode, and rock paper scissors had determined them both to be on that team. But Yoriko seemed to be pinpoint focusing her splashes at Aiko’s eyes, and Aiko was getting a little annoyed about it.

  “What can you do?” Aiko asked. “It’s how things ended up.”

  Aiko followed Yoriko’s gaze to where Yuichi and Kanako sat on the vinyl sheet. Kanako was lying face-down, and Yuichi was crouched beside her, massaging her back. They were on Team: Suntan Oil Application.

  “What was that? That! I can’t believe... ahh, curse my horrible rock paper scissors luck!” Yoriko complained. “No, I mustn’t rely on luck! Destiny must be forged with one’s own two hands! My rock paper scissors technique is insufficient. I should have trained it!” She was beginning to splash at Aiko even harder than before. “Look at him! He’s humiliated! Why must my brother be subject to such mortification?!”

  “It doesn’t seem that bad...” Aiko did feel a little bit jealous, but being on the suntan oil team would probably have been too embarrassing for her. She was a little grateful to be safely on splashing duty.

  “What are you talking about? Look closer... oh, he’s so dreamy!” Yoriko’s tone changed halfway through her statement, suddenly sounding deep in the throes of infatuation.

  “I’m not going to stare at him...” Aiko muttered.

  Yuichi, apparently one for modesty, was wearing a parka. But his body was still well-muscled enough that you could tell at a glance. He wasn’t bulging with muscles, but he was very toned. Aiko blushed as she remembered the times he had held her in those arms.

  “That’s not what I meant! It’s... you know... Orihara!” Yoriko complained. “Big Brother, he’s... he’s very interested in Orihara’s breasts!”

  “Huh? No, he isn’t...” Aiko remembered the date the three of them had gone on together. He had said he didn’t want a girlfriend.

  “Noro... you can’t take things at appearances,” Yoriko scolded. “Maybe he’s serious about not wanting a girlfriend. But that’s different from harboring lusts of the flesh!”

  “Lusts of the flesh?” Aiko gasped. What a graphic thing to say. Was that really something a girl in middle school should be talking about? Aiko was at a loss for how to respond.

  “Listen to me,” Yoriko said sternly. “He may not want a girlfriend, but that’s different from feeling sexual urges. He’s a pervert, deep down!”

  Aiko still wasn’t sure how to respond. “Um, is that why you get changed in front of him, Yoriko?”

  “Huh?” Yoriko looked at Aiko like she was an idiot.

  “Uh?” Aiko fell silent, uncertain. She had assumed that Yoriko was trying to seduce her brother, but apparently she’d been wrong.

  “What are you talking about?” Yoriko asked. “That’s so gross. He can’t react to seeing me naked. What kind of gross brother gets turned on by his little sister? You hear me? I only love my brother because he’s good and wholesome and has no interest in my naked body!”

  “Ah, I’ve heard that logic somewhere before...” Aiko said. She seemed to recall Natsuki saying something like that once.

  “That’s why it’s so difficult,” Yoriko said. “I’m overflowing with these ambivalent feelings I can’t let out.”

  “Um, where did that come from, all of a sudden?”

  “Oh, nothing. Pretend I didn’t say that. As I was saying, my brother likes big breasts.”

  Aiko looked back at Yuichi. Now that Yoriko had mentioned it, Yuichi did seem to occasionally cast glances at the way Kanako’s chest bulged out beneath her.

  Aiko cleared her throat. “Speaking of which... when we were searching my brother’s room, he immediately homed in on his busty girls magazine collection...”

  It had happened after her brother had gone missing, and they had searched his room for clues. There had been books scattered over the room, and the fact that Yuichi had immediately picked a big breast photo book out of the lot was very suspicious.

  “Anyway!” Yoriko declared. “I feel like he and Orihara could be developing real chemistry right now. Do you really think this is the time to be splashing each other?!”

  “Well, I thought it was okay before, but now...” Aiko said slowly.

  The two decided to stop splashing each other and climb back up onto the beach.

  Chapter 3: There’s a Hot Spring at the Noros’ Summer House!

  Things were, for the moment, proceeding as planned. But Yuri Konishi still felt a slight pang of anxiety. Would they continue to go this smoothly?

  Her first priority had been to restore Takashi’s beast form, and he had already undergone the lycanthropy ritual at Kurokami Island.

  To think that Aiko Noro and her group might also come there — that she could settle things with her, just as an afterthought — seemed almost too much to hope for.

  Yuri Konishi’s gaze remained focused on Aiko Noro, splashing around off the shore.

  That girl — the “bookseller” — had said that she would set the whole stage. That she would even lure them to Kurokami Island. Yuri didn’t know how she had gone about it, but clearly, she had been successful. From Madono Island, Kurokami Island was just a short boat ride away.

  “Really, why look a gift horse in the mouth?” Yuri Konishi laughed, shaking off her worries.

  She was currently monitoring Aiko Noro and her retinue from up in a tree. Climbing trees was easy for her half-bestial form, which also extended her vision and hearing range.

  She was currently in a pine tree about three kilometers away from Aiko and her group. She had cat ears and a tail, and was dressed in a swimsuit. It looked more like a black dress than a swimsuit at first glance, though; the A-line skirt that came off of the waist hid everything down to her ankles. It was probably hard to swim properly in it, but Yuri always put appearances first.

  “Now, is it going well for him?” Yuri wondered, turning her eyes out to sea.

  She could just barely make out the island. Kurokami Island, the cornerstone of her current plans. By the time Yuri returned there, Takashi’s bestialization would likely be complete.

  Yuri gently stroked the notebook in her hand. She had received it from the “bookseller” girl, and it contained information about anthromorphs. It was from this book that she had learned how to restore Takashi’s powers.

  “I do hope it works, of course...” She hadn’t told Takashi this, but Yuri knew that the chance of success was only about 50%. She desperately wanted him to succeed. He was her only henchman at the moment, after all.

  Of course, she didn’t really believe an anthromorph army of one would be enough to change the world. But it would be the first step. The first step to changing everything — to a world of darkness over which she would reign.

  Kurokami Island. Once Aiko and her friends went there, it would all be o
ver.

  They would have no way to fight back. Of that much, Yuri was certain.

  ✽✽✽✽✽

  Noro’s family villa came with a large bathhouse. The bath was an open air hot spring.

  Naturally, since it wasn’t a commercial facility, there was no divide for men and women. There were also no directions for what to do if a large number of people were using the house at once.

  “I think the most natural thing to do would be to break it into shifts. Men’s bath time, women’s bath time, family bath time,” Yoriko proposed.

  “Huh? Wait a minute. One of those sounded a little bit odd...” Aiko tilted her head.

  “No, it’s all perfectly normal,” Yoriko insisted. “Ibaraki will use the men’s bath time. Orihara and Takeuchi will use the women’s bath time. Family bath 1 will be me, my sister, and my brother. Family bath 2 will be you and your brother.”

  “...Yoriko... that’s ridiculous...”

  They had returned to the house after a full day of playing on the beach. The survival club members had agreed to each take a turn at cooking. As Aiko and Yoriko were on cooking duty for the first night, they were currently making curry in the kitchen.

  “Is it really? I think it’s natural for families to bathe together, don’t you?” Yoriko asked.

  “Yoriko... do you bathe with your brother every night?” Dubious pictures were beginning to form in the back of Aiko’s mind.

  “C-Certainly not! He would never allow that! He’s very fastidious in that regard! Don’t make fun of me!” Yoriko shouted, her cheeks bright crimson.

  “Right. I never know what’s going to embarrass you, Yoriko.” Aiko didn’t know what she was so flustered about, but it was rather cute regardless. “But he’d agree to family bath time?”

  “Yes. If that’s the rule of the household, it’s okay to enforce it. ‘When in Rome,’ after all. So, what do you think?”

  “No way. I don’t want to take a bath with my brother.” Aiko thought back. She had vague memories of bathing with her brother, but that had been before she was even in elementary school. There was no way she could go back to that after all this time.