Chapter 96: Beach Crisis C
[At your urging, Caenis punched you once with solid force.]
"Haa, I feel much better now..."
Eikou pressed the can of iced beer against his burning cheek.
Although his cheek was stinging from the punch, his mood immediately improved by a lot.
Compared to carrying a sense of guilt and tormenting himself, honestly taking a punch from her felt far more comfortable.
"What on earth is wrong with you today..."
Caenis looked at him with a speechless expression, then lowered her head and took a bite of grilled oysters.
"It's nothing. Everyone has their own way of relieving stress."
Eikou said calmly.
"In that case..."
Caenis's blue eyes glanced at him. "Is it because you feel guilty about something, so you suddenly wanted me to punch you?"
"Ehm..."
That was indeed the case, but unfortunately this was something he could not say. If he said it, the level of trouble would increase by another layer.
Seeing him hesitate and stammer, Caenis simply bared her teeth in a grin and did not pursue the matter further.
"Forget it. I'm in a pretty good mood today anyway, so I won't argue with you!"
Caenis said casually, lowering her head and taking a sip of beer. "But if you really want to make it up to me, then compared to grilled oysters, I like that box of egg tart more."
"So you like sweets?"
Eikou suddenly remembered the camera footage from last night when Caenis secretly ate in the kitchen, and thought to himself that he should have bought ice cream for her earlier instead.
She clearly gave off a strong, fierce tomboy vibe, yet she liked eating sweets—what kind of gap-moe was this supposed to be?
"That's fine too, I really like beer as well!"
After saying that, Caenis took another big gulp of the ice-cold, stimulating iced beer. She could not help but let out a refreshed cry, as if she were drinking some kind of divine nectar.
"Hey, kid, if you really have something bothering you, drinking a bit more alcohol isn't a bad idea either."
She wiped the white foam from the corner of her mouth.
"It's not exactly something that's bothering me, just a bit of self-reflection,"
Eikou also lowered his head and took a sip of beer, then continued.
"It's just that I feel I'm still not refined enough. In dealing with people, I still haven't done things thoroughly, and I'm still very far from the ideal image I have in my heart."
"Why do you have to make everything absolutely perfect? What kind of ideal image do you have in mind, anyway?"
"Um..."
Eikou paused for a moment.
"The most ideal image in my heart is to become a teacher,"
he said frankly. "Since one is a teacher, they should be more perfect, more refined, able to observe and respect the feelings of students. Only then can they set a good example for them, right?"
"No wonder you seem to respect Chiron so much."
"I also really like Kakashi-sensei."
"Who is Kakashi-sensei? Is there such a person in Chaldea?"
"Ha ha, in short, I'm still far from their standards."
Eikou let out a bitter laugh.
"Well, I'm not good at comforting people or doing psychological counseling..."
Caenis scratched her white hair. "But I'm not exactly easy to deal with either. Even in the Greek class, I'm a problem student. And yet you can still get along with me, so that proves you do have some talent in this regard too, right? Uh… right?"
Eikou smiled faintly, feeling her rough yet sincere consolation, and said:
"Because you're actually a pretty good person by nature."
"Huh? Me? Don't joke around."
Caenis turned her head away and took a sip of beer.
"Embarrassed?"
Eikou raised his eyebrows and teased.
"No! Don't say such weird things here! I just thought you were a bit lost and said a few words! It's just social courtesy, you idiot!"
Caenis's beautiful face flushed red as soon as she heard that, and she retorted angrily.
"You were clearly saying those things on purpose just to tease me, you idiot!"
What kind of classic tsundere remark was that...
Come to think of it, back at the public bath, she did not blush at all even after he saw everything, yet being properly praised a little made her react this strongly—this tsundere point was a bit too strange, wasn't it?
"In any case, thanks."
Eikou raised his can of beer.
"Caenis, I'm really glad I got to know you, and I'm also very happy that during this seaside training, I got to be on the same team as you."
"That's right, because I'm strong."
Caenis revealed her gleaming white fangs and laughed as she spoke.
"At this moment, shouldn't you be saying 'I'm also very happy to be on the same team as you'? Well, whatever, someone as strong as you really is quite charming too."
The sun gradually sank below the horizon. The white seagulls and the pink clouds disappeared at the far edge of the shore. Stars and the moon quietly appeared within the dusk, gently embracing the world within Eikou's gaze.
The two lightly clinked their beer cans together.
"From now on as well, I'll be relying on you a lot, brother."
Both of them spoke that sentence almost at the same time.
[You sense that the relationship between you and Caenis has grown closer by one step.]
[Your relationship has improved to the point where it is normal for the two of you to ask each other out to hang out.]
[The foundation of affection has been established. It seems it may be possible to develop from a friendship into the next stage...]
"Hey, what do you mean by the next stage? We just called each other brother, and now you're already hoping the friendship will change nature?!"
Eikou hurriedly shook his head, thinking that this would not do. He had already regarded Caenis as a good brother—how could he possibly ruin this pure friendship? He had no intention of pulling a romance route into the Greek class at all!
Although it was true that he had quite a few times looked at her dark, alluring, heavy-tank-like body with the eyes of a man, he had absolutely never thought about making a move on her.
Besides, this matter was not simply about whether he wanted to or not. Eikou thought to himself that Caenis did not even consider herself a woman in the first place. With that kind of gender identity disorder, Disaster With Women probably would not work either, right?
Could it be… that such a possibility really existed?
Eikou could not help but shiver.
If even a woman with a gender identity disorder could be forcibly "turned straight" by him, then perhaps there truly would be no safe place left in this world!
[On Caenis, you notice several distinctive traits...]
[You have comprehended a new skill, [Beach Crisis C]!]
[[Beach Crisis C]: A well-liked youth like you faces the risk of being "packaged and taken away" by women even just by strolling along the beach. Simply walking around normally can cause coastal areas to fall into a state of chaos.]
[When fighting in environments near water, your bearing can inspire the morale of female allies.]
[And in daily life, when near water you will more easily encounter romantic events, more easily cultivate women's affection, and the probability of triggering Disaster With Women will also increase.]
"Hiss..."
Another skill that sounded both wondrous and terrifying just from hearing about it.
Most terrifying of all was that Eikou's inner state was actually rather calm. It was just Beach Crisis, after all—what was there to make such a fuss about!
[You and Caenis drank beer together until very late.]
[Time gradually passed, and soon it was time for the party to begin...]
[Next comes the moment of battle for you!]