"Sw-swimsuits are too much trouble! A beautiful girl's n-naked body is the best swimsuittttttttt!"
As Shidou shouted in complete despair, not only did Tenqi Sanluo in front of him freeze in shock, but even Kotori beside him looked utterly dumbfounded.
"Shidou, are you out of your mind? How could you say something so shameless? A naked beautiful girl—seriously? When did you turn into such a hormone-driven pervert? Wait a second—pervert… could it be…?"
Realizing something, Kotori suddenly raised her hand, yanked the earpiece off Shidou's ear, and yelled furiously into it:
"KANNAZUKI!!"
"Yes, Commander! Please punish me thoroughly once you return safely!"
Hearing Kannazuki's cheerful and overly excited reply, Kotori facepalmed helplessly.
This was her mistake.
She should've known better — letting Kannazuki handle the choice-selection system could only end in disaster.
And sure enough, instead of helping, he had made things even worse.
At this point, it might have been safer to let Shidou choose on his own.
"...Itsuka Shidou, you are quite bold."
Like the calm before a storm, Tenqi Sanluo spoke in a quiet tone, her face giving away no emotion.
"Your first time inviting a wo… a girl out, and you already dare make such an outrageous request. I can't even imagine what kind of indecent things you'd ask for next time."
"N-no, that's not what I meant at all…!"
Shidou flailed his hands in panic.
He had to smooth this over — otherwise, not only he and Kotori, but the entire city of Tenguu might not live to see the sunrise tomorrow.
Just then, a piercing alarm sounded in Shidou's earpiece.
It was a very familiar sound — one that always signaled disaster.
It was the emergency alert indicating a Spirit's emotional state had plummeted, and their mental stability had become dangerously unstable.
"!! Th-this is—"
Both Shidou and Kotori froze in terror when they heard it. They turned to look at Tenqi Sanluo, who was expressionless, and swallowed hard.
To them, she no longer looked like an ordinary Spirit girl, but like a volcano about to erupt.
"T-Tenqi-san, please calm down, what I just said—"
"I am calm."
"N-no, I mean, that's not what I meant at all…"
Even though Tenqi Sanluo's tone didn't sound angry, Shidou's panic only grew worse. He hurriedly put his earpiece back on and kept fumbling for words, trying desperately to explain himself.
Beside him, Kotori had already prepared to summon her Spirit equipment in case Tenqi Sanluo suddenly went berserk.
"...Little Shidou, we've got a problem."
"I know! I'm doing my best to calm Tenqi-san down—"
"No, not that."
"Huh?"
Shidou froze. If it wasn't about Tenqi Sanluo, then what else could be making a Spirit's emotions spiral out of control?
"It's Yoshino—"
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Before Kotori could finish, a deafening scream echoed from the pool area.
"W-what happened?!"
"Shidou, look over there."
Following Kotori's direction, Shidou saw—
Part of the swimming pool had frozen over into a sheet of ice.
At the center, Yoshino was crouched down, crying. The scream just now had clearly come from her.
And when Shidou noticed that Yoshino's left hand was empty — without her puppet Yoshinon — he immediately understood what had happened.
There could be no other explanation.
...
Twenty minutes later, Shidou let out a sigh as he used the portable battery-powered hair dryer Kotori had brought to dry off Yoshinon — the rabbit puppet that Yoshino usually wore on her left hand.
Fortunately, the commotion hadn't caused any major panic, and the pool had returned to its usual lively atmosphere.
But Yoshino still sat with slumped shoulders, clearly downcast. Even Tohka looked deflated.
"I-I'm sorry… Shidou…"
"Mm… how embarrassing. I was right there, too…"
"It's okay. Don't worry about it. Luckily, nothing serious happened."
Shidou smiled wryly and waved his hand dismissively.
"Exactly. All of this happened because you completely misjudged the situation, Shidou. So you two don't need to feel guilty."
Kotori spoke from beside them, then gave Shidou a sharp glare and added coldly:
"By the way—do you have any idea how much you scared me earlier, you spineless worm? When that alarm went off, I thought we were done for!"
Meanwhile, Tenqi Sanluo sat calmly by the poolside, wearing a black-and-red one-piece swimsuit, looking as if none of this had anything to do with her.
Even though Shidou, under Kannazuki's manipulation, had shouted something as outrageous as "A beautiful girl's naked body is the best swimsuit," she hadn't actually gotten angry.
For one thing, she had been male in her previous life and hadn't yet adjusted her mindset. Compared to most girls, she was probably less sensitive to Shidou's kind of "perverted" remark.
And besides, her mischievous personality made her more curious than offended — curious about how Shidou had the guts to say such a thing.
For another, Tenqi Sanluo's purpose here was to face her gender transition head-on.
This kind of sensitive situation, she thought, was actually perfect for forcing herself to quickly adapt to her current female identity.
By viewing things from both male and female perspectives, she could better understand the differences between the two.
Of course, she would never actually go naked.
Even bikinis felt far too revealing and shameful for her, let alone anything beyond that.
This black-and-red one-piece swimsuit was something she had carefully chosen—after much internal debate and after taking Kotori's suggestion—by transforming her outfit through spirit energy.
"Ah, right. Tenqi-san, I'm really sorry about earlier…"
Hearing Kotori's scolding tone, Shidou quickly handed the now-dried Yoshinon back to Yoshino, then stood up and bowed deeply to Tenqi Sanluo.
"Enough. You've already apologized more than five times in the past twenty minutes. That's plenty."
Tenqi Sanluo waved her hand dismissively.
"If I hadn't forgiven you, no amount of apologies would've helped anyway."
"R-right…"
Shidou wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Luckily, Tenqi Sanluo didn't seem intent on pursuing the matter.
And after a bit of explanation (or rather, creative persuasion), both Tohka and Yoshino accepted Tenqi Sanluo's participation in the date.
From their behavior, it didn't seem like they particularly disliked her.
"Phew~ What an exhilarating and dangerous adventure that was! I thought we were goners for sure this time!"
The puppet Yoshinon, now back on Yoshino's hand, was flailing its arms energetically again.
"I'm sorry, Yoshinon…"
"Ahaha, don't worry about it, Yoshino! As long as we can see each other safe and sound, everything's A-OK!"
"Mm…"
Yoshino nodded softly as Yoshinon patted her head.
Tenqi Sanluo gave them only a passing glance before speaking again:
"By the way, that mess earlier — it was caused by those people on the airship giving you orders, right? The one in charge was… Kannazuki, wasn't it?"
By the way, Tenqi Sanluo had already yanked off and crushed her earpiece earlier.
Though watching the airship crew's antics might've been amusing, that wasn't why she was here.
Her purpose this time was to confront her own gender transition and the issues that came with it — not to get distracted by nonsense.
Besides, having a whole crowd of people secretly watching and commenting on her so-called "date" was annoying, even for her.
"Yes, Kannazuki Kyohei — the deputy commander of the airship Fraxinus. Sorry you had to witness that disgrace."
Kotori quickly stepped forward to explain, eager to shift the blame away from herself.
At this point, she had already decided to sell Kannazuki out completely to save face.
She had also made a firm decision: once they got back, she'd send Kannazuki to dig hot springs in the labor camp.
"Oh, I see. Then when you get back, make sure to 'handle' that guy properly."
Tenqi Sanluo yawned casually, as if discussing the weather.
"O-of course! We'll definitely take care of it!"
Shidou and Kotori nodded rapidly, like pecking chickens.
Not that they needed convincing — they had already planned to punish him anyway.
"Make sure you hit him hard, but don't kill him. People with such interesting souls are rare. For example…"
"For example?"
Kotori leaned in closer.
"Branding, dismemberment, castration — all acceptable. Of course, if you decide he's no longer useful, you could also consider slow slicing or quartering."
Tenqi Sanluo said this in an utterly casual tone.
Shidou: "..."
Kotori: "..."