"I did pretty well, right? But Meiji was bound to lose this time; having a bigger chest was really a disadvantage."
Jiutiao Meijie’s hand brushed his cheek and lingered on his ear, "You mentioned her measurements, right?"
"Eh? Did I say that?"
Jiutiao Meijie traced the contours of his ear, as if teasing him.
"Wait, wait, your Honor Meiji, I have something else to say."
"Go ahead, I’m listening."
Dubian Che swallowed nervously, "My grandma once told me, no, taught me how to visually estimate a girl’s measurements, so..."
Jiutiao Meijie abruptly grabbed Dubian Che’s ear.
"Your grandma taught you? Why don’t you say it was me who taught you?"
Though his ear suffered a bit, Jiutiao Meijie didn’t seem to mind the talk of measurements and let Dubian Che off the hook lightly.
However, it could be for an uglier reason—knowing that Kiyono Lin’s chest measurement was only 78, she felt so delighted that she didn’t care about anything else.
After swimming so fast earlier, Jiutiao Meijie was tired and lay down on a lounge chair under a coconut tree, wearing sunglasses.
Her lovely body was like a mermaid ashore.
"Do you want something to eat?" Dubian Che asked.
Today, as usual, the overpriced food court was open, but now staffed entirely by women.
Dubian Che glanced at the menu, ordered a pineapple flavor, and a colorful fruit flavor recommended for the day.
"Please wait a moment."
While waiting for the clerk, Dubian Che idly watched the pool.
Members of the Wind Instrument Club were sliding down the water slide one after another, screaming and shouting.
He wondered if there would be any swimsuit mishaps when he noticed that Kiyono Lin was nowhere to be seen.
He looked around but didn’t find her until he saw Kiyono Lin emerging from the café area, holding a bottle of green tea just purchased from the vending machine.
The bottle was cold to the touch.
Kiyono Lin, frowning, tried to twist open the cap, but seemed unable to due to wet hands.
Kiyono Lin glanced at Dubian Che and said, "I can do it myself."
Dubian Che snatched the bottle from her hands and easily twisted it open.
"Thanks. But I could have done it myself."
"Sometimes it’s okay to rely on someone else."
"No need. I can do everything myself," Kiyono Lin took a sip of the cold green tea, "I could have opened it just by wiping my hands."
"Kiyono, you know about ’the people being in charge,’ so you should also know the meaning of the ancient Chinese saying, ’A gentleman is not special in nature; he’s just good at borrowing from others,’ right?"
"Are you looking down on me? I’ve been studying classical Chinese in my textbooks."
"Did you get the direction wrong? Was my point about understanding that saying?"
"That’s what I got from it."
"..." Dubian Che ignored her, "Even a person like Xunzi needed the help of others, and Confucius said, ’When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers.’ So, Kiyono, you don’t have to insist on not accepting help from others."
"It was just opening a bottle cap, how can you talk so much nonsense?"
"...You are really not cute at all."
"Just now someone kept staring at my legs."
"Eh? Wait a second! You noticed? I thought I was being discreet!"
"You were actually looking? I’m so disappointed. You leg-fetish pervert."
"..." Dubian Che felt the sun burning hot and his face started to feel scorched.
"I told you I was just studying legs, studying doesn’t mean liking, like work doesn’t have to be a hobby, you get it? Research isn’t perverted, it’s disrespectful to gynecologists."
"Stop it. You talk nonsense all day long."
"....I have nothing to say to you."
Dubian Che, feeling unjustly wronged, took the finished slushie and walked back to Jiutiao Meijie.
After handing her the colorful fruit flavor, Dubian Che said, "Meiji, I’m challenging Kiyono Lin to a match!"
"Huh? A match in what?" Jiutiao Meijie took a sip, found the flavor so-so, and switched to the pineapple flavor from Dubian Che’s hand.
"Swimming! I’m going to crush her pride!"
"Don’t embarrass me." The pineapple tasted mediocre, but she was too lazy to switch again.
After reporting, Dubian Che started looking for Kiyono Lin.
She was again riding a dolphin ring, following the artificial waves and drifting in the ring.
As she floated past a coconut tree on the shore, the tree blocked the sunlight, casting a few sparse rays through the gaps in the leaves, creating a pattern of light and shadow on her skin.
Dubian Che was some distance away from her; shouting would be too much of an effort.
So, after telling Jiutiao Meijie, "I’m going to avenge you, watch closely," he plunged into the water with a "splash."
Jiutiao Meijie sipped her crushed ice drink intermittently from a straw, watching the water surface through her sunglasses.
By the time Dubian Che surfaced again, the dolphin ring had flipped over.
Kiyono Lin screamed, panic-stricken as she sank into the water.
Jiutiao Meijie laughed heartily.
"Kiyono, it’s my turn to challenge you this time. Let’s see who can swim to the other side first!"
Kiyono Lin, burning with anger, glanced at the distant Dubian Che, looked around, grabbed the dolphin ring and threw it at him.
But the throw was too weak and floated gently, perfectly caught by Dubian Che.
"Starting now, this is mine!"
"Give it back!" Kiyono Lin held her breath, "Aren’t you being childish?"
"I’m a childish high school student. What’s wrong with doing something childish? If you swim faster than me, I’ll give it back to you." Dubian Che half lied on the ring, kicking the water, and started swimming away.
Kiyono Lin stayed in place, infuriated yet amused, almost suffocating.
She had no choice but to dive to the bottom of the water, laughing while she chased after him at a swift pace.
"Dubian! If I catch you, you’re in for a punishment!" Jiutiao Meijie called from the shore.
"Catch up to me? No way! Eat my wake!" Dubian Che kicked up white froth with his feet.
Hearing this, Jiutiao Meijie, watching the relentless pursuit of Kiyono Lin, laughed even more joyously.
Even the cheaply made but expensive pineapple-flavored slushie started to taste better.