After school. The classroom.
Their beach plan had ended in spectacular failure, leaving the girls slumped over their desks in defeat.
"...I still can't believe Takuma rejected us that hard."
"No, seriously. Being that resistant is almost a talent."
"But... I don't wanna give up..."
"Come on! Summer events are supposed to involve swimsuits!"
Then Mikiko Izumi suddenly stood up.
In her hand was— a free admission ticket to the Machida Municipal Pool.
"...Look at this. Free admission to the pool. And the facility has seriously powerful air conditioning."
Everyone's heads shot up.
"!!"
Mikiko grinned.
"There's no way Takuma can turn this down. And besides—"
Her grin widened.
"Don't you want to see us in swimsuits?"
The next day.
"...Okay. I'll admit, the air conditioning is tempting."
Mikiko's eyes lit up.
(YES...!!)
"But..."
Mikiko froze.
"...Pools are really humid, right? I hate that. Makes everything feel all sticky."
"WHAAAAAT?!"
Shiori stared at him in disbelief.
"...Swimsuits... actually lost to air conditioning...?"
"Whaaat?! Come on, at least look forward to seeing us in swimsuits!"
"You seriously never change, do you?!"
At that moment, the Tachibana sisters quietly appeared.
"...This is it. We've reached the ultimate form of the King of Obliviousness."
"Any normal teenage boy would pick 'swimsuits over air conditioning' without even thinking about it."
Momiji sighed.
"But this guy prioritizes air conditioning so much that he destroys every romantic event before it can even happen."
Hina tilted her head.
"...Wait. Was that supposed to be a compliment?"
In the end, the girls desperately threw every argument they could think of at him.
"We can smash watermelons!"
"We can play with inflatable rings!"
"Think of all the amazing photos we could take!"
Takuma thought about it for a moment.
"...Can't we do all of that in an air-conditioned room?"
"............"
Every argument— mercilessly neutralized.
Mikiko collapsed onto her desk.
"...Seriously... How the hell are we supposed to get this oblivious idiot to move...?"
And so, another legend was born.
Takuma Kunimi— the man who, once again, chose air conditioning over swimsuits.