"I apologize for the delay. Changing proved to be a bit more of a struggle than I anticipated, forsooth!"
Yugo found himself at a total loss for words as he stared at Sakura. The girl who had called out so innocently stood before him in an outfit that defied all logic.
Seeing his stunned expression, Sakura blinked in confusion. Then, as if a lightbulb had gone off, she nodded and gave him a beaming smile.
"Ah! I suppose this attire is unfamiliar to you, Yugo-dono! In Yamato, this is the traditional garb for water training!"
She performed a light pirouette. Watching her from such a short distance, Yugo sputtered, nearly choking on his own breath.
And for good reason. Her current "swimsuit" consisted of a sarashi and a fundoshi—a combination that was beyond scandalous in a modern setting.
"S—Sakura?! That... that’s really not okay, is it?!"
"Hm? Whatever do you mean? For that matter, why are both Setsuna and Lord Ryuga dressed so strangely...?"
Setsuna, witnessing her best friend in an outfit that was simultaneously traditional and yet utterly inappropriate, lost her usual cool. She began frantically lecturing her, but Sakura remained oblivious, unable to grasp why anyone was upset.
Ryuga, who was currently shielding his eyes with one hand, spoke with a voice full of weary exasperation rather than embarrassment.
"...Even in Yamato, nobody practices swimming in that anymore. Your family is just an outlier."
"What?! Is that so?! Then I have truly made a spectacle of my own ignorance...!"
"I think you're making a spectacle of something much more significant than ignorance..." Yugo muttered.
He had suspected as much, but the House of Amamiya was clearly traditional to a fault. It was one thing to cherish the old ways of Yamato, but when those teachings were funneled into someone as pure and simple-minded as Sakura, the result was a legendary airhead who was dangerously out of touch with reality.
However, the "why" didn't matter right now. The immediate problem was Sakura’s current appearance.
The upper body was, perhaps, manageable. The sarashi was wrapped so tightly that it created a deep cleavage when viewed from above, but in terms of pure skin exposure, she was actually one of the more modest girls in their group.
The problem was her lower half. Specifically, the rear.
The fundoshi, which had its front apron removed for the sake of "water training," was effectively a T-back. No—it actually exposed even more skin than that. The strings, pulled taut just like the chest wrap, emphasized Sakura’s curvaceous, well-toned buttocks to an extreme degree. They were so pale and round they could have been mistaken for a pair of oversized white peaches.
He had only caught a glimpse when she spun around, but the impact was devastating.
Because Sakura was completely unconcerned with such matters, she moved with total freedom. From behind, her appearance was nothing short of provocative. It was, quite frankly, dangerous.
The entire group stood frozen in terror at the realization that this view—this specific rear end—was being shamelessly broadcast to every student of Luminous Academy and every tourist on the beach.
Unaware of the turmoil in her friends' hearts, Sakura turned her problematic backside toward Yugo and pointed excitedly toward the ocean.
"Now, Yugo-dono! Since we have come all the way to the sea, I challenge you to a long-distance race! I shall show you the water training techniques of the House of Amamiya, the very ones used to worship the Water Dragon!"
"Stop! Sakura, stop right there!"
As she challenged him, Sakura slapped her own exposed rear as if to psych herself up for the swim.
The sound was a crisp crack. As Yugo watched that ample flesh tremble from just inches away, his mind momentarily filled with the image of a certain hero with a psychic gun for an arm. Then, his consciousness simply dissolved into the silent, infinite void of the cosmos.
Even Anhel—who had successfully made Yugo forget about Melt and Setsuna despite her own explosive proportions—was wiped from his mind by the sheer force of Sakura’s arrival. The group felt a fresh wave of dread.
Doing all of this with zero malice made her a truly terrifying girl. Since she was completely innocent, it was hard even to get angry at her.
As Melt, finally pushed to her limit, stepped in to physically restrain the girl, Yugo snapped out of his trance. He suddenly became aware of the countless eyes converging on their position.
(These stares...! These are the looks of every bastard on this beach...!)
The boy who had been oblivious to the attention focused on himself earlier could not ignore the myriad of gazes now filled with naked lust directed at his companion. Looking around, he saw the male students of Luminous Academy and the local tourists alike, all stretching their necks and leering, waiting with bated breath for Sakura to turn around again.
(This is bad...! If even one thing goes wrong in this situation...!)
A naive airhead, a crowded beach, and a "swimsuit" that left nothing to the imagination—it was a recipe for disaster.
While the students knew who she was, the random tourists had no idea Sakura was a VIP from Yamato. If some rowdy group of guys decided to approach this beautiful, fit girl and "accidentally" lay a hand on her exposed backside as a joke, it wouldn't just be a fight—it would be an international incident.
Furthermore, there were plenty of untrustworthy characters even among the Luminous Academy students. Specifically, the group calling themselves "Hero Candidates."
If they tried anything stupid, Yugo knew heads would literally roll. And given the circumstances, the odds of them trying something stupid were dangerously high.
The moment Yugo spotted the Hero Candidates casting predatory glances at Sakura, he moved on instinct.
He would stop any trouble before it started, even if it took every ounce of his strength. With that silent vow, Yugo swung into action.