“Oh, is Airi going to stand in line with Ryouta instead of us?”
“Yep! You guys can go ahead and play, okay, Yuria? I’ll call you on your phones when our turn comes!”
Airi’s sudden proposal left us all baffled. Airi, who was usually so flighty and lived for having fun, was actually volunteering to wait in line... with me?
“Airi, are you pushing yourself for our sake? Besides, I’m certain Ryouta-kun will find a way to sexually harass you if you’re left alone with him.”
“Hey, Rui. Don’t make me sound like some kind of predator.”
“Kuroki-san is right, Airi-tan! Nothing good ever comes from being alone with a total pervert like Ryouta-kun!”
“Tanaka, you brat! Stop running your mouth!”
That girl... I wondered why she was being so quiet, but it turns out she was just waiting for the right moment to roast me.
“Honestly, everyone is worrying too much. Ryouta won’t do anything weird to Airi, so it’s fine! So go on, go have some fun and kill some time!”
Airi didn’t back down at all, physically pushing the three of them away by their backs. Yuria, Tanaka, and Rui eventually walked off, though they still looked plenty worried.
(Actually, I’m more worried about whether Tanaka can even speak properly while being sandwiched between Rui and Yuria...)
“Geez, everyone has the wrong idea about Ryouta.”
Airi shrugged her shoulders with a sigh, her massive breasts jiggling with the movement.
“Well, it’s not exactly a misunderstanding. I think what they’re saying is pretty much on the mark.”
“Eh? Why?”
“I mean... you know I’m a creepy otaku pervert, right, Airi? That’s why they’re worried I’ll just stare at your chest the whole time.”
“But we have a promise, don’t we? That Ryouta is allowed to look at Airi’s breasts as much as he wants. In exchange, you have to call me Airi.”
It was true. We had made that deal back in my room.
“Besides, Ryouta... you’re doing it right now. You’re totally staring at Airi’s chest.”
“Th-That’s...!”
“Ehehe, is it because Airi’s swimsuit is just that cute?”
She caught me red-handed. Standing right next to her, my eyes were fixed entirely on the sun-kissed expanse of her cleavage, which took up way more visual real estate than the actual swimsuit.
(Well, what guy wouldn't look? There’s no way to ignore tits this huge!)
“Ryouta, you’re so lewd.”
“Oh, come on! If you keep teasing me, maybe I’ll just start staring at Yuria’s thighs instead.”
“Wait, no! You can’t! We made a promise at Grandma’s, remember? You can look at mine, but no one else’s!”
Had we? I think we had. Though in reality, I had already been staring at Yuria’s thighs and Rui’s navel at every opportunity. I was breaking that promise left and right.
“Besides! I’m sure Yuria doesn’t want to be looked at with such perverted eyes anyway!”
Actually, Yuria had told me to only look at her... I suppose this was what people called a "harem sandwich" situation.
“So, do you understand? If you direct those eyes at Yuria or Rui-chan, Airi will get angry!”
“But it’s okay for me to look at you, right?”
“Eh? Well... yeah. Since it’s Ryouta, I’ll give you a special pass.”
Airi’s voice trembled as her cheeks flushed. A light sweat broke out on her skin, glistening particularly in the deep valley of her cleavage.
(God, that’s hot.)
“Enough! We’re done with this topic! Grandma says you shouldn’t talk about stuff like this during the day! Let’s talk about something else!”
Embarrassed, Airi flailed slightly, her chest bouncing as she tried to change the subject. The line was still long, and if we kept talking about suggestive things, her childish sense of shame would probably hit its limit soon.
“Alright. So... Airi, do you come to the pool often? You seemed really prepared for this today.”
“Yeah, I go pretty often. The air conditioner at our place is a piece of junk, so it’s miserable staying at home. My mom’s been taking me to the pool on hot days since I was in elementary school.”
Her mom... I remembered hearing she was a gravure idol. I’d wanted to find out her stage name back when we were at BB’s place, but the timing never felt right. I really wanted to know.
“Speaking of which, your mom used to be a gravure idol, didn’t she?”
“Eh?! How did you know that?”
“Your grandmother told me.”
“Oh, of course! Honestly, Grandma is always grumbling about Mom, but then she goes and brags about her like that.”
Airi beamed.
“My mom became an idol when she was in university. She’s just a normal lady working at the supermarket now, but she was a total star back then! She’s slimmed down since, but she used to be even bigger than me in all the right places!”
Bigger than Airi?!
(That puts her at, what... a K-cup? A gravure idol with K-cups...?)
This was it. I just needed to get her stage name, and I’d be hitting the search engines the second I got home.
“S-So, what was her name back then?”
“Her name? Um... wait.”
Airi’s brow furrowed. She turned a suspicious, narrow-eyed gaze toward me.
“Wait a minute. Why do you want her name? Ryouta... do you want to see my mom’s sexy photos? What exactly are you planning to do with them?”
“Guh...!”
Damn it. Why did she have to be so sharp at the worst possible moments? I couldn’t exactly admit I wanted to use her mother’s photos for... research.
“No, it’s not that! I just thought that if I saw what your mom looked like back then, I’d have a better idea of what you’ll look like when you grow up.”
“My future self?”
“Yeah. If your mom had such a 'beautiful' body, I figured you’d probably follow in her footsteps.”
“...Oh.”
The suspicion faded. Crisis averted.
“But if that’s what you’re interested in...”
“Yeah?”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you just stayed by my side until I grow up?”
Airi murmured the words while looking up at me through her lashes.
“S-Stay by your side? Me?”
“Yeah...”
“Well, if I’m allowed to keep watching, then yeah, I’d want to stay.”
“Really!?”
I honestly wanted to keep a growth observation log of those breasts.
“Then it’s a new promise! From now on, you have to stay with me through university and everything!”
“Wait, that’s a bit of a leap...”
“It’s a promise! If you break it, I’m cutting off your boob privileges!”
“That’s a life-or-death threat... fine, I get it.”
“Yay! I’m going to study super hard so I can get into the same university as Ryouta!”
I’d gone and made another reckless promise. "From now on, forever," huh?
(Well, it’s Airi. She’s probably just caught up in the mood. I doubt it’s a promise she’s going to take that seriously.)
“Ehehe, I can’t wait.”
“Yeah. Same.”
I was talking about the water slider, of course.