I wake up the next morning to knocking on my door.
"Honey, are you in there?"
"Yeah, I'll be right there," I slur out.
I roll out of bed with the grace of a newborn, paralyzed baby giraffe, then after another minute I, reluctantly, separate from the floor.
I make it to my suitcases, but with my sleep addled brain I can't remember what I put where, so it takes a while for me to find a spare set of clothes and my toiletries. I stumble into the shower which slowly wakes me up.
After I've brushed my teeth, which they really needed, and gone through my routine I get dressed in a tube top and skirt, with a bikini underneath. I find a pair of sandals and slip them on.
It takes a bit, but I also manage to find my phone on the floor, and I slip it down my cleavage, then I answer the door. Mom is still waiting for me on the other side.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"Don't worry, I was just sleeping. The past few days have been a lot," I smile.
She wraps me in a hug that I return.
"Dad went to scout the breakfast options, let's go," she offers me a hand that I grab.
We make our way downstairs and find dad. My parents talk about their plans as we eat, and I feel content.
"What are your plans?" dad asks.
"Probably the beach a lot, else checking out the town," I pause in thought for a moment, "maybe the hot springs at one point. There's gendered options, right?"
"There is," dad nods.
"We'll be back today in time for dinner if you want to eat with us?" mom offers.
"Sure, that sounds great."
I give mom and dad a hug as we part, then I return to my hotel room.
I strip out of my top and skirt, then find some sunscreen and start covering myself. I run into a problem with my back as I can't reach properly. Maybe tomorrow I can ask mom to help, and hopefully I can get someone to help me at the beach. Someone female.
I pack a small bag with everything I'll need: A towel to lay on, towel to dry myself even though I won't go into the sea, manga, sunscreen, my clothes and spares. I've brought a nice enough purse, so I fill it with money, condoms, and my phone, then put it in the bag as well. I take a minute to go over a mental list. Oh well, even if I forgot something the hotel is only a short walk away.
I slip on a pair of sunglasses and consider myself in the mirror.
The bikini for the day is a nice white one, and perhaps the most modest I own. It got a pass from slut brain thanks to the faux bow at the front between my breasts. It gives the illusion that with a small tug I'm left topless, which is apparently good enough.
Satisfied I have everything I grab the bag and start making my way.
The beach, as promised, is nearby, so I don't feel off making my way there wearing a bikini. I take a moment to admire the beautiful, blue sea, with small waves sparkling from the sun, as people run around on the sandy beach and play in the water. It's perhaps not a very unique view, but it's still beautiful.
A content and happy smile finds its way to my face.
I find a nice spot, spread out my towel, set down my bag, pick out some comedy manga, and make myself comfortable with my head resting against my bag.
After an hour or so I'm interrupted.
"Hey beautiful, I haven't seen you around here before."
I lower my book and give him a considering look. Even if I was in the mood, he is a bit too scrawny and not handsome enough.
"No," I raise my book again, and thankfully he gets the clue.
Another half hour, and I'm starting to worry about the evenness of my tan, so I put my entertainment and sunglasses away, then I start looking around.
I catch the blue eyes of a woman with long blue hair, and as I prepare to get up she beats me to it by running over to me. She has a similar build to me, with a face that lends her a mischievous charm. Visit NovelPing for the full chapter.
"Hey, Yui ran off and we need an extra, do you want to play beach volley?"
The conclusion is obvious. Clearly the gods have blessed me for finally being sexually active.
"Sure, if you put some sunscreen on my back first," I smile and get up, picking the bottle out of my bag as I go.
"I don't mind," I feel her grab the bottle from my hand, and soon enough I'm welcomed to the soothing sensation of the cold cream on my back, "I'm Keiko by the way."
"I'm Akane," I introduce myself.
"Me and my boyfriend Minato each grabbed two friends and went on vacation together, but Yui is getting entangled with a local boy, so now we're down one person," she chatters as she rubs my back.
"I'm very glad to be of assistance then."
"The other girl on our team is Chizuru. The cute, blonde is my boyfriend, the redhead is Haruto, and Kenji is the brunette."
"I came here with my parents, but they are letting me run loose to do whatever I want while they tour the country side."
"And all done!" she claps her hands.
I gather my things to move them closer and follow after her to her friends. Considering there's only one unknown girl present, I assume it's Chizuru.
She reaches forward with a hand as I make it to what appears to be our side of the net, and I take her hand in mine.
"I'm Chizuru," she introduces herself. She is more slender, with a serious face and short, green hair.
"So Keiko told me," I smile, "I'm Akane."
The boys shout something slightly rude, so we quickly get the game started again.
The house rule is quite easy to pick up: No one knows what points are, but whoever scores relentlessly mocks the other side. I'm not a volley player, but athleticism does carry you far, so our side fares fairly well. It might just be because Chizuru has a venomous mouth so our insults count for more though.
Kenji is not quite my type, Haruto is far more in my strike zone. If someone accuses me of getting slightly distracted by the sweat glistening on his muscles and as such allowing them to score, then I deny all allegations. I notice his eyes on me as well. I'm still uncertain about things, so I ignore it though. It's not as if I have to go after every attractive man there is, and I would quite like a few days to just completely unwind.
The game has its ups and downs in activity, but it comes to a definitive end after a bit more than an hour of play, and I let Keiko drag me in the direction of my towel, while Chizuru follows.
"You were so good, Akane," she chatters happily, "do you play volley professionally?"
"Thanks. I don't, I'm an athlete though, hoping to go pro when I'm older," I explain.
She starts carefully looking over my figure, and Chizuru joins her. I suspect Chizuru only joined her because she picked up how I was slightly uncomfortable. I do my best not to squirm as she carefully inspects every inch of my body.
"That's sexual harassment," I protest, which thankfully makes her stop.
"Ah, sorry, but your figure really is great. You must have a lot of great tips for dieting," she smiles widely.
We make ourselves comfortable on my towel.
"Not really?"
"Don't athletes need to be careful with their diet?" she asks with confusion.
"Yes and no? Athletes don't diet like normal people," I carefully go over my coach's instructions in my head as I speak slowly, "at least athletes rarely diet with the goal of lowering the calorie intake. As an athlete, if the choice is between being flabby or not getting enough, it's best to be flabby. Sure, your performance suffers, but if you're not getting enough you can't perform at all."
Keiko nods along at my explanation with a serious look in her eyes. I glance over at Chizuru and she just shrugs, so I decide to continue.
"As an athlete it's more important that you eat the right things and remember your vitamin supplements. If you're concerned about your figure, then exercise is really the best option. I wouldn't worry too much though, you look good," I reassure her.
"Yui!" Keiko shouts and waves a hand, and the new girl comes over to join us.
Well, technically I'm the new girl. Yui has long, voluminous, pink hair, and a cute, heart shaped face. And a pair of truly prominent features, only becoming prominent as she jogs her way to us.
"Sorry to leave everyone," she says as she gets comfortable, "I hope things went okay."
"It's fine it's fine," Keiko waves her concerns away, "we managed to recruit Akane here. She's an athlete! We totally crushed them," she waves a fist around with excitement.
"Ah, I'm Yui, nice to meet you," she makes a little bow, and I return with a wave.
"Akane, nice to meet you."
"So you can't eat anything fun?" Chizuru asks me.
"Akane was telling us about her diet," Keiko shoots in a quiet explanation at Yui's confused look.
"Usually yeah. I just finished a tournament, so I'm absolutely going to pig out though," I smirk.
"Aha, hoping we can lead you to the junk food?" Chizuru returns my smirk.
"I'm in your care, wise master," I mockingly bow.
"Yes, you shall be my greatest student yet," Chizuru strokes her fake beard.
"I'm just going to interrupt her before she gets weird," Keiko butts in, "what sport do you play and what year are you in?"
"I'm in second year of high school. I assume all of you are in the same year?" I ask.
"Yeah, first year of college. This vacation was sorely needed," Yui says, "school is bad for the soul."
"You say that after you enter college," Chizuru rolls her eyes, and Yui puffs out her cheeks in indignation.
"College is an evil you accept as part of life," Keiko nods.
"I hope to skip it," I join in.
"I'll never forgive you," Yui stares at me with death in her eyes.
I share a look with Chizuru. Well, it seems Yui is the disaster girl of the group. I politely don't say that.
"Do none of you do any sports?"
The general mood more or less settles on 'used to'.
"College is just busy," Keiko shrugs, "it feels almost impossible to find the time for it with studying taking up so much time. Haruto got in as a swimmer though."
"I can see it I guess," I nod thoughtfully.
It makes sense with how everything is structured. While colleges do offer places for athletes, it doesn't have the best reputation necessarily. Polite words and phrases are used, such as 'needing more time to mature', but the sad truth is that Japanese college athletes are commonly considered dregs that won't ever make it to the top of their sport. The competitive viability of the scene is further called into question considering how much talent leaves the pool between high school and college.
The high school sporting scene is very intense, and once you graduate you are 18. There's the idea, that if you have the talent needed, why not enter the professional scene now?
Not all sports though. Baseball and basketball as examples, it's considered a good option to go to an American college to directly enter their pro leagues afterwards. Baseball has a very solid domestic foundation though, so you can also go pro right after high school. The hope would then be that an American team scouts you, if you want to play in the most competitive scene.
End result is that Japanese colleges lose a lot of talent though.
"Enough about that, I'm starving. Let's go find some junk food for our new friend," Keiko exclaims.
"Should I bring my things or can I just leave them here?" I ask.
"Just put your stuff with ours and it will be fine," Keiko reassures me.
I thank her, but I do still bring my purse along which carries my money and phone.