With the greeting segment over, the rehearsal continued~
Next up was the pre-diving health questionnaire!
Since diving can be a risky activity, instructors must first understand customers' physical conditions and have them sign a liability waiver.
This time, the supervisor took the initiative to guide Aina personally, both to give Maki an example and to avoid Shiro…
While Shiro and the others were still brainstorming how to play the role of a "difficult customer," Aina had already come up with an idea as she looked at the health form.
She pointed to one of the clauses and asked the supervisor beside her,
"I see there's a part here… I get really seasick, so…"
"Would I still be able to dive?"
Despite Aina's heavy makeup, the supervisor calmly smiled and replied,
"Of course, we have specific protocols for that."
Her calm demeanor made Maki's eyes sparkle in admiration as she watched.
As expected of a supervisor—so composed even in front of that much makeup!
Maki slapped her cheeks lightly and silently encouraged herself.
This time, I won't mess up again!
Meanwhile, Shiro and the others had learned from Aina's example and figured out what to do.
Basically, just pick a clause and ask questions about it.
Shiro quickly found one that somewhat related to him.
He looked at Chisa and said,
"Sorry, I have a bit of a psychological issue."
"What kind of psychological issue?"
"I keep feeling the urge to dive into the deep sea and search for my palace!"
Shiro said this completely straight-faced.
Surely it's fine for the Sea King to want to find his underwater palace, right?
"..."
Chisa's mouth twitched. She took deep breaths to calm herself and replied with a smile,
"We don't recommend separating from the group~"
"But…"
Grab!
Chisa placed her hand firmly on Shiro's shoulder and repeated,
"No separating from the group~"
Gulp.
Shiro swallowed hard. Feeling the pressure from her grip, he looked helplessly at Aunt Kotegawa.
Unfortunately, she simply met his eyes for a moment and then looked away.
With that, Shiro understood, and obediently nodded.
Solid advice!
On the other side, Kouhei was still with the same male staff member and also picked a somewhat relevant clause.
"Sorry, I actually have asthma."
—Specifically, the kind where seeing RaRako makes his heart race!
"How long have you had asthma? Are the symptoms frequent? It's okay to cough underwater, but if it's too frequent, it can be dangerous."
The smooth and polite response earned a satisfied nod from Manager Kotegawa Sayaka.
She then turned to the final two: Iori and Maki.
Just then, Iori spotted an amusing clause and raised his hand.
"Excuse me."
"Yes? What's the matter?"
Maki, who had been watching Iori closely, asked with a beaming smile.
Her turn had finally come!
This time, she'd surely impress everyone!
However…
The next moment, Iori's words left her speechless with laughter.
"Actually… I'm pregnant."
Pfft!
Maki couldn't hold it in anymore.
Come on—a guy seriously saying he's pregnant? That's comedy gold!
The supervisor tugged on Maki's cheek, frowning.
"You can't burst out laughing in front of customers."
"Sorry, I just couldn't help it."
Maki still had tears in her eyes from laughing.
This group is way crazier than I thought…
Shiro gave Maki a sympathetic glance.
Poor girl… she picked the worst possible choice both times.
But then again, it wasn't entirely her fault. Three out of the four people here were disasters.
Looking at the trio beside him, Shiro—being the only "normal" one—suddenly felt a sense of superiority.
(︶.︶)
Still the most reliable here!
Even though there were some small hiccups, the health screening segment was ultimately a success.
Next up: the diving suits!
"Are you all choosing to rent suits?" Maki asked.
"Do you have one that belonged to Nanaka-nee?"
"I want one worn by Lady Maya!"
"..."
Maki's mouth twitched. She pretended not to hear them and continued,
"Then I'll check your sizes~"
"Nanaka-nee's will be fine."
"Please, I must touch the one Lady Maya wore!"
Seeing how obsessed they were, Aunt Kotegawa went in with a karate chop.
Smack!
Smack~!
"This is a new store. We don't have that kind of thing."
Even if we did, we wouldn't bring it out!
Under the oppressive aura of the boss, the two quietly covered their heads and shuffled back to their instructors.
This shop seriously lacks hospitality!
The staff quickly measured everyone's sizes:
Iori: L
Kouhei: XL
Shiro: XXL
Aina: M
Gotta admit, the staff were pretty professional—after changing into wetsuits, everything fit perfectly.
Except…
Pfft!
Seeing how Aina's wetsuit clung so tightly that her chest bounced up and down, Maki burst out laughing again.
Of course, this wasn't due to the suit selection—it was just that Aina had rushed and put the suit on with her chest pads crooked.
Aina, unaware of the situation, blinked at Maki who was now on the floor laughing.
This senior guiding us doesn't seem all that professional…
Even the supervisor and manager couldn't stand watching anymore and reminded Maki.
"Maki, this won't do."
"You'll definitely run into situations like this during real work hours."
Leaving aside earlier slip-ups, issues like crooked chest pads are pretty common in diving shops!
"Sorry!"
Maki slapped her face repeatedly, trying to shake off her embarrassment.
No more laughing!
Seeing her like this, Aunt Kotegawa didn't push her further and instead turned to Chisa.
"Chisa, go help out, will you?"
"Eh?!"
Being suddenly called out made Chisa freeze.
This…
She'd never dealt with this kind of situation either…
How was she supposed to help?
Her expression gradually grew flustered as she muttered to herself,
"I need to make her realize it on her own..."
"What are you dawdling for?"
Seeing Chisa like this, Aunt Kotegawa immediately knew that it was too much to expect her daughter to handle this.
Even if she did manage to get the message across, she was taking way too long.
So, she summoned her most reliable staff member!
"Supervisor!"
"Here~"
In this situation, the supervisor didn't panic. She simply walked over to Aina and whispered softly in her ear,
"Your padding's crooked~"
For girls, this isn't really something shameful to talk about—just a discreet and casual heads-up does the trick.
"Thank you!"
Realizing what was wrong, Aina quickly ran toward the changing room, hoping Iori hadn't noticed…
Seeing this, Aunt Kotegawa nodded with satisfaction. As expected of her trusty supervisor—handled perfectly.
Though… a little too easily swayed by beauty.
She might need to strengthen her training in resisting beauty-based temptations next time!
As she jotted down a note, she looked at Chisa—still flustered—and commented:
"haaah, so useless."
"..."
At that moment—
Chisa completely cooled down. A real crash-and-burn kind of chill.
As for Shiro and the boys?
They were already sitting off to the side, waiting.
They had actually noticed Aina's chest pad issue from the beginning.
But since it was just a rehearsal, and they didn't know how to bring it up, they missed the chance to say anything.
Shiro fully agreed with the supervisor's approach.
After all, for a girl, saving face is super important. And not all customers would be familiar faces during business hours.
If something like that were seen by a bunch of strangers… it would be social death.
More importantly… she would've embarrassed herself in front of that person.
Of course—
Not everyone agreed with that method.
Take Iori, for example.
He looked at Aunt Kotegawa with a puzzled expression and asked,
"Isn't letting her realize it herself without saying anything also a valid approach?"
Iori's thinking was that if Aina noticed it herself, she'd avoid the embarrassment of someone else pointing it out.
In most awkward situations, that is a decent strategy.
But!
He overlooked one critical point!
"You're wrong. You're not truly empathizing with the guest's feelings."
Hearing this, the three boys (minus Shiro) were confused.
Wasn't that exactly what they were doing—considering how the guest might feel?
"Why do you think that girl is wearing padding in the first place?"
!!!
That one line froze them all in place.
Yeah…
They'd been so focused on the fact that Aina was using padding, they never questioned the reason why.
Well…
To be fair, Aina doing weird things wasn't exactly new.
They didn't even understand why she liked wearing heavy makeup sometimes.
"Sigh…"
Watching them stand there like a bunch of idiots, Aunt Kotegawa sighed.
Compared to Shiro, their emotional intelligence was lacking.
No, that's not quite right—it's not that they lack EQ.
Because someone with no emotional intelligence would've just blurted it out earlier without thinking of others.
What they're missing… is awareness when it comes to romance.
Apparently, none of them had ever been in a relationship.
That Shiro kid should really rub off on them a bit.
Not keeping them in suspense, Aunt Kotegawa just came right out with it:
"Of course it's because the person she likes is here."
!
The three boys' pupils dilated slightly.
The person she likes...
Unconsciously, their eyes all turned toward Shiro—the most likely candidate.
"..."
(¬_¬)
Shiro had no intention of talking to them and silently opened a beer.
These three… are way too slow!
How could it possibly be him?!
Never mind their conflicting views on love—there's also Kiyoko to consider. No way it's him.
If Aina did like him, Kiyoko the expert flirt would've noticed immediately and locked her in a small dark room for training by now.
Shiro took a swig and looked over at Iori.
Seriously... this idiot. Why do both of the girls in the club seem to…
Sigh…
Just as Shiro raised his beer, hoping to elevate the dramatic vibe of the moment—
WHACK!
A hand chop landed squarely on his head.
Aunt Kotegawa's cool voice rang out,
"No drinking before diving!"
She then swiftly snatched the bottle away and handed it to Maki to pour out.
|(￣﹏￣;)
Shiro stared longingly at his precious beer being carried farther and farther away.
He'd been allowed to have a little back in the PAB club…
I mean, it was basically barley juice, right?
The health guidelines never said anything about juice being banned!
But faced with Aunt Kotegawa's sharp glare, Shiro dared not speak up.
True fear: disobedience means instant death.
Let's not forget—this woman is Miss Keiko's best friend.
In the Kotegawa household, she's basically the top authority!
Not to mention—she's also his boss.
Can't risk losing a paycheck over a single drink!
After dealing with the contraband, Aunt Kotegawa turned back toward the three pondering boys.
"That's why you have to act before the guy she likes notices—then get a female staff member to handle it."
"Got it."
"That actually makes a lot of sense."
Iori and Kohei nodded.
As divers, they had just acquired a new piece of useless knowledge.
Ignoring the two dummies, Aunt Kotegawa walked over to Chisa.
"This is something most girls handle easily."
Smack—
She gently tapped Chisa's head with her clipboard.
"But you're completely hopeless at it."
"..."
Chisa's face was full of disappointment, though there was more defiance and hurt than anything else.
The kind of hurt that says, "Even though we haven't seen each other in so long, why are you being like this?"
Mixed with a stubborn refusal to be looked down on by her mom.
Off in the distance, watching the mother-daughter interaction, Shiro propped up his chin and sighed,
"What a pair of tsundere mother and daughter~"
Chisa had inherited her mom's personality—bad at expressing emotions.
In times like this, she should just throw herself into her mom's arms and act all cutesy.
Maybe then we'd get to see Aunt Kotegawa panic a little.
Too bad Chisa's not like Nanaka—she'd never do that kind of thing.
Chisa and Aunt Kotegawa…
Kitahara and Aina…
Two difficult pairs.
Creak—
They didn't have to wait long. Aina, now back to normal, pushed open the changing room door.
This time, not only had she properly adjusted her chest padding—she also wiped off her makeup.
But…
Something felt off.
It was like her face and body didn't match.
A delicate, girl-next-door face paired with a mature woman's figure?
Too weird!
Everyone had gotten used to Aina's usual flat figure, so this transformation was jarring!
The outfit didn't help either—before it was just a skirt, now she was in a tight-fitting wetsuit, which made the mismatch even more obvious.
And it wasn't even curvy in a balanced way—big up top but no hips!
Maybe she should buy a butt pad next time…
"..."
Aunt Kotegawa didn't say anything. She just unwrapped a lollipop and popped it into her mouth.
After all, she'd seen way worse.
Not just mismatched face and body—she'd even had to accommodate gender mismatches.
Thanks to her experience serving Thai tourists, she'd specially renovated three changing rooms this time!
She was genuinely terrified of dealing with the third gender again!
Thus concluded the rehearsal on land.
Aunt Kotegawa placed the clipboard on the counter and said,
"Alright, let's head out to sea then!"
"Eh?!"
"We're really allowed to go out to sea?!"
"On the first day?!"
Everyone was a bit shocked—this employee benefit was way too generous!
"It's just that today happens to be a good time for it. Starting tomorrow, you'll be stuck doing chores the whole time."
"Thank you so much!" ×3
Shiro and the other two didn't care one bit about chores or anything like that. The fact that they got to dive was more than enough to make them happy!
To the sea, to the sea!
Nothing beats diving into the ocean!