“—Big Sis!! Asahi has returned!!”
Asahi Asahi, who had flown back by flying boat from the Telek Port City base, appeared at the entrance to the artificial beach.
“Welcome back—”
“I’m back, back!”
Just like that, Asahi dashed straight at Big Sis.
She had already changed into her swimsuit. She was completely ready.
“Jumping at that speed is dangerous.”
“Hoaaa!!”
<Ringo> moved.
Operating a doll-machine communicator, she blocked Asahi’s path to stop her charge.
Asahi, kicked up into the air, rotated vertically as if tangling around the doll-machine communicator controlled by <Ringo>, and then stabbed straight into the sand, toes-first.
“!?”
Eve froze, unable to keep up with the sudden movement.
Ichigo, hit directly by the sand that blew up, went wide-eyed and stopped moving.
“Asahi, charging Commander Ma’am with your body is out of the question. What do you intend to do if you injure her?”
“I-I had no idea it would turn into this!?”
Asahi’s body had been modified from the ground up to raise her survivability. A metal internal skeleton, high-output servo motors, powerful artificial muscles, multiple brain devices—Brain Units—backup power, and various other systems. Because of that, her weight was about three times what she looked like.
If that kind of heavyweight jumped onto Eve, a flesh-and-blood human, there was a risk of injury even if Eve had advanced body-control ability.
Therefore, <Ringo> had intervened to stop Asahi by operating a doll-machine communicator.
Naturally, Asahi tried to avoid it and planted off with that premium body of hers, but—
A doll-machine communicator that lost in weight, output, and durability could not catch Asahi head-on.
Instead of colliding properly, <Ringo> applied force precisely to Asahi’s body, manipulating her posture and direction of movement.
Of course, Asahi resisted. But <Ringo>’s computational ability had predicted even that.
The axis she tried to jump off was shifted, the arm she tried to swing up for posture control was taken, even the motion of trying to avoid <Ringo> was controlled, and she was popped up into the air in something like a forward somersault.
After taking away her freedom in midair, <Ringo> drove Asahi into the sand, toes-first.
“Lately, I feel like <Ringo> has been treating Asahi pretty roughly!?”
“I am handling you very carefully.”
“How is this careful!?”
Asahi relaxed her knees and flopped down onto her back.
“...Welcome home, Asahi. Let’s calm down a little, okay?”
“Hau.”
Eve crouched beside Asahi and brushed the sand off her face with a towel. Asahi went obediently still.
It was evening. The sun was about to sink beneath the horizon, and the sky was dim.
“Commander Ma’am. The tent preparations are complete. Let us move over there.”
Even amid the commotion, <Ringo> had everything properly prepared.
Operating another doll-machine communicator, she was setting up a bungalow-type tent.
Torches and firewood for a campfire had also been prepared, and the preparations for the night portion were complete.
“Right. Akane too—everyone should go take a shower. Asahi, can you stand?”
“I can’t stand!”
“Asahi, stand up yourself. With your weight, Commander Ma’am’s strength is insufficient.”
“Nooo...”
“Ahaha. Okay, come on, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ stand up, stand up.”
The group started moving in a line. They washed off salt and sand at the shower booths, did some light hair care, then moved to the front of the tent.
“This is... a campfire?”
“Not something that grand. It is simply a bonfire.”
When Eve asked from her chair, <Ringo> shook her head. According to her, a campfire would just be hot at this temperature.
Makes sense.
<The Tree> belonged to a tropical climate near the equator.
Even if it cooled a bit at night, if they built a huge fire, it would be too hot to even approach.
“This is a bonfire. <Ringo>, can I light it?”
“You may, Akane. Use the ignition torch and light the fire starter underneath.”
Akane acted as representative and lit the fire in the fire pit.
The firewood had been brought in from the United Kingdom of Aphrasia. It had been dried to a good level, and as everyone watched, the flame spread safely from the starter to the logs.
“Once the fire spreads through, we will place these thick logs on top.”
“I’ll do it!”
“I’ll do it too!”
Utsugi and Erika raised their hands energetically, and while being instructed by <Ringo>, the two of them stacked the logs.
Eve watched all of it while still sitting in her chair.
At her feet was Asahi, on her right Ichigo, on her left Olive, clinging to her—so you could also say she couldn’t move.
Akane observed the logs as the fire gradually spread, looking intrigued.
“For some reason, a bonfire draws people in. That is what the literature said—what do you think?”
“Yeah... I guess it really does. You end up just staring.”
Eve stared blankly at the flames.
They had done barbecues a few times, and Eve had tried the act of grilling with gas and charcoal.
But this was the first time she had seen flames roaring like this anywhere other than a gas flame.
“We have prepared marshmallows. It seems it is good to toast them over the bonfire and eat them.”
“Oh?”
“Marshmallows! I see—those seem like something even Asahi can eat!”
Asahi’s body had been strengthened in various ways, leaving no spare internal space, so her digestive organs had been heavily simplified.
Because of that, she could not eat normal meals, and could only consume snacks that were easy to digest and absorb.
<Ringo> had been thoughtful, preparing something Asahi could eat as well.
In that respect, she really didn’t miss anything.
“Then, shall we all try it together?”
◇◇◇◇
They made noise again around the bonfire, and once things settled a bit, they moved inside the tent.
The temperature and humidity were fairly high, fitting for a tropical climate.
If you asked whether Eve could sleep soundly in that environment, the answer was absolutely not.
So inside the tent—a circular, bungalow type—there was air conditioning.
“Oh, cool.”
“This is it!”
[js: “Glamping!”] (translator note removed?)
“Glamping.”
“Glamping?”
The five sisters must have had it in mind, because their faces lit up and they charged at the beds.
Eve, who didn’t recognize it, tilted her head.
“Glamping. It is a coined word combining glamorous and camping.”
Inside the bungalow, a table and sofa, a refrigerator, and a large bed had been prepared.
It was a lineup of furniture that had nothing to do with camping.
“A standard tent was also considered, but the environment is not very good, so we arranged various things for you here.”
“Hoeh...”
Imagining that this probably wasn’t what normal camping was like, Eve still nodded—this looked fun in its own way.
What separated them from the outside world was a single layer of fabric, and even inside, they could hear the sound of the waves.
If they opened the curtains, they could even observe outside through transparent vinyl.
Because they were under the canopy covering the artificial beach, they wouldn’t be able to feel rain, but Eve wasn’t asking for that much.
A fake outdoor experience was enough.
She wasn’t trying to have a harsh experience.
“It looks fun. I’m starting to get a little excited.”
<Ringo>, standing behind her, was also smiling happily at having captured Commander Ma’am’s interest.
By the way, there had also been Plan D (Deck), an overnight stay on deck, and Plan I (Island), an overnight stay on a deserted island, but they had been shelved because experiencing nature directly was too high a hurdle.
“Big Sis, Big Sis, Asahi requests a lap pillow!”
“Ah, me too!”
“Me too.”
“Okay, okay. Then let’s move to the sofa.”
Basically, when Asahi showed up, fox-girl piled-up snuggling happened.
Because Asahi was faithful to her desires, the other girls got pulled along and became honest too.
Even Ichigo, who was modest about everything, came pressing up close—Asahi’s effect was terrifying.
And the set always included Asahi overdoing it until Ringo held her by the scruff of the neck.
While they were all being noisy like that, a zaa-zaa noise seeped in from outside.
“It is a squall. It is expected to stop within thirty minutes.”
“Mmm. So this is what it’s like when you hear it outdoors. It feels kind of fresh.”
“Usually it’s the sunroom.”
“This might be my first time being outside during a squall.”
Rain striking the crystal canopy.
And a heavy bass rumble coming in, carried along the sea.
The girls, gathered into one lump on the sofa, entrusted themselves to the rain-noise for a while.
