Chapter 9 Demon Astaroth’s Arrival!!
The afternoon of the day after we went to the pool.
I got a text from Yozora that read, “Bring your swimsuit with you,” and while I thought it sounded a little suspicious, Kobato and I brought our swimsuits to the clubroom.
We ran into Sena on our way to the chapel, so we ended up walking with her.
“That idiot Yozora said to bring our swimsuits, but did you guys really bring yours?” asked Sena.
“Yeah, figured I might as well. Wonder what she’s up to.”
“I wonder if she’s gonna have us go to a pool other than Ryuuguu Land’s or something.”
“I’m pretty sure it’ll be just as crowded anywhere else though.”
As usual, today was a scorcher as well.
We quickly walked through the chapel, and opened the door to the clubroom.
There was a horse monster inside.
““A horse!?””
Sena and I both yelled at the same time.
Inside the clubroom was a freak with a horse’s head wearing a full body swimsuit with black and white stripes that made it looks like something a prisoner would wear.
The head looked ridiculously realistic.
Rika was sitting on the sofa nearby in her usual lab coat, and Yukimura was spacing out in his swimsuit.
A cold sweat ran down Kobato’s face upon seeing the horseman.
“…Kukuku… To think I’d run into you here, Demon Astaroth… You must have broken free from the gaol of the underworld after being lured by now released power of darkness… However the Evil Gate should’ve been destroyed in the last great war between the demons and the gods… Did you open a new gate to get here? Kukuku…”
“No, kinda really doubting any of that happened.”
I made a quick remark on her ramblings, and then stared at the horseman.
There was some long, flowing black hair sticking out from the horse’s neck.
“…Yozora?”
“Indeed.”
Horseman, aka Yozora Mikadzuki, answered in a voice muffled by her mask.
“What are you doing? Are you an idiot? Brain damaged?”
Sena bluntly asked, and Yozora quickly drew her face closer to Sena’s.
“S-stay away from me! You’re disgusting!”
Yozora shook her head in front of Sena, who looked pretty grossed out.
“That hurts! He- Sto- I said that hurts!”
Sena had tears in the corners of her eyes after having Yozora hit her on the head with the nose of her horse mask.
“Today is Swimsuit Day.”
Rika calmly said after getting off the couch.
Normally she just leaves her lab coat open, but today the buttons on the front were actually buttoned.
From the little opening near her neck, I saw neither our uniform or a tie, but her bare skin.
“…Swimsuit Day?”
I asked, even though I pretty much knew what she was getting at.
“It’s a day where we do all of our club activities in our swimsuits.”
Yep, I was exactly right.
“…And why are we doing this again?”
“Because it’d be a waste to have bought this new swimsuit and not have a chance to wear it.”
Horse-Yozora said with a sharp tone to her voice.
“It’s your own damn fault for going home early.” said Sena.
“Well, not like we lasted much longer… It was so crowded in there we couldn’t have any real fun.”
As I said that, I thought I heard a muffled “phew” from inside Yozora’s mask.
“Then this is perfect. You should all change into your swimsuits too.”
Yozora said, full of pride.
“…Uh, Yozora, Swimsuit Day aside, why are you wearing that horse mask? And why are you wearing that swimsuit that looks like something a professional swimmer would wear?”
“Is it not embarrassing to show a lot of skin out in public?”
“That stupid outfit of yours’ll get you more attention than any amount of skin ever would.”
“Hmph, that’s what the mask is for. Nobody can see my skin or my face, so it’s not embarrassing at all.”
So that’s how the crazy horse woman was born huh…
“…Good thing you went home right away yesterday. The park staff probably would’ve kicked you out if you showed up wearing that.”
“What? There’s no rule that says I can’t swim with a horse mask on.”
“Maybe not, but I’d bet there’s a rule that says you can’t bring any weird stuff into the pool.”
“What… are you serious…?”
I can’t tell what her face looks like, but it sounds like she’s actually shocked to hear that.
Anyway moving on, I looked over at Rika.
“…Well, can’t say I didn’t see this coming.”
I said, and then Rika let out a laugh full of confidence.
“Heh heh heh, I wonder if you’ll be able to say that after you’ve seen what’s underneath this lab coat…”
Rika began to slowly undo the buttons on the front of her lab coat.
“This is Rika’s swimsuit… I call it the ‘Idiots Can’t See it Swimsuit’!!”
“So you’re totally nude then!?”
“You always comment on that kind of stuff so fast, that’s Kodaka-senpai for you! Now then, feast your eyes on this! On the form Rika was born into this world in!”
Rika threw off her lab coat as if she were some kind of deranged flasher.
“Uwa- C-cut it out you creepy deranged flasher!”
I hurriedly closed my eyes and turned my back to her.
Rika then mischievously whispered into my ears,
“Just kidding~ I lied♥”
“Eh…”
I opened my eyes and saw Rika in front of me.
If I had to say what it was she was wearing, I’d call it an incredibly normal looking one piece.
Not that that’s a bad thing.
“…So it’s a normal one.”
I said, to which Rika gave a wry laugh and said,
“Even Rika isn’t a big enough pervert to show up naked at a public pool.”
“Is that so…”
I totally fell for her lie, since she always acts like one.
“By the way, this is a special swimsuit that’ll turn transparent when it gets wet. Rika can now go to a mixed bathing hot spring with Kodaka-senpai, and then catch him off guard when my swimsuit suddenly vanishes and I become totally naked! Then, having lost control of himself after Rika’s surprise attack, Kodaka-senpai will give into his ever growing lust and slowly take off his swimsuit before pouncing on Rika!!”
I take that back.
She really is that big of a pervert.
“Well you don’t have to worry about that, since I’ll never go to a hot spring with you.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“No way…”
Rika purposefully hung her head.
Then, the door to the clubroom flew open, and in came Maria.
“Onii-chan!”
“Hey.”
Maria came flying over to me, and I pat her on the head.
“Ehehe…”
Maria warmly smiled.
By the way, about Maria’s food problem from a few days ago, for some reason Maria herself said that she doesn’t need expensive stuff, so now she’s having normal lunches of vegetable sandwiches, rice balls, etc.
“Kh. So you finally show yourself, abominable pawn of god… Remove yourself from my clansman…!”
As usual, Kobato tried to peel Maria off of me.
But, before she could,
“Gyogyah!?”
Maria let out a scream all of a sudden, and jumped away from me, falling onto her butt.
Maria was looking at something behind me.
It should go without saying that that “something” was Yozora in her horse mask.
“A-a monster! There’s a monster in here!”
Maria was shaking with fear.
“Relax, that’s just-”
“Yozora” was what I was going to say, but before I could Yozora quickly walked up to Maria.
“Gyaaaaaa!?”
Yozora kept on drawing closer to the screaming Maria.
“I, you, devour.”
Yozora said in a deep voice, causing Maria’s face to become twisted with fear.
“Don’t eat me! You can’t eat me! I’m too raw! You can’t ‘cuz I’m too raw!”
“I can eat you if I cook you right.”
“I-I-I-I’ll still taste bad even if you cook me! I’ve been eating my vegetables lately! I taste like grass! Like a bunch of vegetables!”
“It’s ok. I’m… a vegetarian…”
“Ehh!? Wahhh! I wouldn’t have stopped eating steak if I knew this was gonna happen! I should’ve made myself meat-flavored!!”
“Kukuku… Now go, Demon Astarott…! Devour that accursed pawn of god…!”
Kobato took advantage of Yozora’s act… also wait, wasn’t it Astaroth?
“Ghhh! S-so you’re with that vampire huh!? Stupid, idiot, moron, poop vampire! Go die!”
“Kukuku… The one to die shall be you, oh foolish nun… I’ll make you into a tonkotsu soup…”
“I, you, devour. You’ll be like a good snack.”
“W… Wahhhhh! I’m not a piece of pork or a snack! Save me Onii-chaaan!”
She looked like she was really about to burst into tears, so I lightly hit Yozora on the head.
“That’s enough for now, Yozora.”
“…Ok.”
Surprisingly, Yozora listened to me and took off the mask.
Her long black hair came tumbling out all at once.
“Phew.”
It must’ve been pretty hot with that on even in here with the AC, since Yozora’s face looked flushed and there were big drops of sweat on her forehead.
“Wa- The horse turned into Yozora? Why why why!?”
To Maria who was shocked, still not really getting what was going on, Yozora calmly said with a serious look on her face,
“…This is a cursed mask. When you put it on the demon Astarou takes over your mind. I almost lost myself to him.”
“Ohh, you have a terrifying thing like that huh~… It must’ve been scary!”
Maria was staring at the horse mask.
“Oh, my hand has been taken over by the power of darkness.”
Fwoosh!
All of a sudden Yozora swung the horse mask down onto Maria’s head.
“Gyaaaa!? It’s dark, and I can’t see a thing!”
“Kukuku… That’s proof that the power of darkness is slowly eating away at your holy powers…”
Kobato said to Maria, who was staggering around the room with the oversized horse mask on her head.
“Uuu~! I don’t want to turn into a horse monster! Save me!”
“Kukuku… If you want me to save you then swear you’ll never go near An-chan again…”
“No! I love Onii-chan!”
Kobato puffed out her cheeks after hearing Maria’s immediate reply.
“Sheesh. T-then fine, go and turn into a horse monster for all I care, moron!”
“I don’t wanna do that either! I’ll just have to beat you until the curse is lifted then!”
No sooner had Maria said that, before making a charge at Kobato.
Bang!
“Bogeh!?”
Kobato looked like she was about to cry after having the horse mask hit her square in the stomach. That impact also caused the mask to fall off of Maria’s head.
“Yay! The curse is gone! Kuhaha! You got what you deserve, you little turd!”
“Ghh…… You little, umm… Moronnnnn!!”
Kobato made a lunge at Maria.
“The one who calls others morons is the real moron! You poop vampire!”
“Shut up you poop nun!”
“Ok, you’re a moron! You said poop too, so now you’re a poopy moron!”
“Then that makes you a vampire since you called me a vampire!”
“Ah, that’s right! Then I’m a vampire and you’re a nun!? Huhwah? I-I don’t even know what’s going on anymore!?”
“Shut up moron! As if I can tell what’s going on with your stupid rules either you moron!”
“Then I’ll beat you down while you’re confused!”
And as usual, Kobato and Maria began fighting with each other.
“Ehehe… Kobato-chan you’re so cute, getting all mad at a 10-year-old♥”
Sena was making a creepy grin while watching the two of them fight.
Also, as if she just remembered it, Sena turned to face Yozora and asked,
“So hey, Yozora, if you don’t want our swimsuits to go to waste why don’t we go to the beach?”
Yozora made an irritated face.
“The damn beach is going to be full of people.”
“It’ll be fine if we go to a private beach then.”
Sena coolly said.
“…And just how are we going to get one?”
“Eh? I have one, did you not know? I’ve got a private beach and a villa.”
Sena, who again said this as if it were completely normal, made Yozora say, “…Tch, this is why you damn bourgeois are…” in a voice full of hate.
“Of course, I only went there once when I was little. It’s far away which means we’d have to spend the night, but Mom and Dad can’t since they’re so busy and all, and going alone wouldn’t be any fun.”
“So you’re saying we can go to your villa and have a training camp of sorts there, Sena-senpai?”
“Training camp!?”
Rika’s words made Sena’s eyes sparkle for some reason.
“A training camp… it reeks of normals……Well, it could be useful for us to get some experience with it for when we become normals too…”
“So we’re set? We’re all going to the training camp?”
Sena said, her voice full of glee.
“I can go whenever, and Kobato’s probably the same.”
“…Hmph, same for me.”
“Rika’s OK for whenever too.”
“I also have no problems with those arrangements.”
“Ok, then it’s settled.”
Sena quickly said after hearing our responses.
It feels like we just got caught up in the moment and decided to do this, but I suppose we can just do a training camp like we’ve done with the pool, karaoke, and all the other stuff.
…It almost feels sad how easy it was for a group of us with no friends to arrange our schedules for this.
And so, we decided to go have a training camp out of the blue.
We ended up talking about it and decided to go after Obon was over.
…Honestly, I was pretty excited about the whole thing.