Chapter 117: Medusa, I Won't Allow You to Be More Excellent Than Me!
Swish—!
The curtain of the fitting room was pulled aside. Minos, the first to pick out a swimsuit and try it on, stepped out onto the soft carpet with her snow-white bare feet and called out energetically, "Well? How do I look?"
Her voice was clear and pleasant, filled with a hint of confident anticipation.
Ryohei Tanaka turned his head curiously. His eyes landed on Minos and widened slightly, before he unhesitatingly gave her a thumbs-up, a smile of approval on his face. "Very nice!"
Minos was wearing a full-cup, black-and-white cow-print bikini that was both cute and sexy. The top was adorned with a delicate black satin bow, adding a touch of sweetness and elegance while cleverly accentuating her ample bust. Her curves were exquisite, exuding a captivating charm. The tie-side bikini bottoms highlighted her slender waist and long legs, the knots of the strings dangling casually at her hips and swaying gently as she posed, adding an air of effortless allure.
"It's very beautiful, Minos," Medusa said, clasping her slender hands together. She looked at Minos with admiration, her voice sweet with praise.
"Well, it suits you," Jashin-chan commented, walking over from the other side and giving her a casual glance.
"It's great, but you really do have a thing for cow patterns," Yurine remarked, her gaze lingering for a few seconds on Minos's chest. Her tone was subtle as she turned to look at Ryohei. She saw him standing with one arm crossed, the other hand stroking his chin, nodding at Minos like a judge at a beauty pageant.
"Indeed," he said, then broke into a silly grin. "Minos, your character design is really distinct!"
As if sensing her gaze, Ryohei looked over, confused. Yurine rolled her eyes at him but was secretly quite satisfied—at least he wasn't staring so intently that he was oblivious to everything else.
"Tanaka-kun, give me a score!" Minos's energetic voice rang out.
"Huh?" Ryohei said, looking over in surprise. A score for what?
Lucoa, who had been passing by, suddenly appeared. Draped over her left arm were the swimsuits the shop attendant had recommended, and in her right hand, she held out a small, erasable scoreboard, a marker, and a matching mini-eraser.
"Seriously, what are you doing?" Ryohei asked, looking at her, completely speechless.
"Providing prop support," Lucoa replied with a sunny smile. As she spoke, she gently nudged the scoreboard against Ryohei's chest, urging him to take it.
The shop attendant who had followed her over tilted her head, a look of utter confusion on her face. 'Wait, where did you even get that from?'
"..."
In the end, Ryohei took the scoreboard. He mainly thought it would be fun to play along. He looked up at the confident, posing Minos, then wrote the number "9.5" on the board and held it up.
"Eh? 9.5? Out of 10?" Minos blinked. That seemed like a pretty good score. She was quite satisfied with it and decided on this swimsuit without trying any others. She pulled the curtain closed to change back into her clothes.
The store had two fitting rooms. Soon, Lucoa was done changing. She pulled back her curtain, making a "Ta-da-da-da!" sound effect for herself. She raised a snow-white arm and grinned at Ryohei. "Professor Tanaka, please give me your score!"
Fitting rooms in Japan have a few unwritten rules, one of which is taking off your shoes. Unlike many places where you can walk right in with shoes on, most fitting rooms in Japan are carpeted, and you are expected to enter barefoot. As such, Lucoa was barefoot, but even so, she was still astonishingly tall.
"What's with this 'Professor Tanaka' thing?" Ryohei quipped as he looked over.
Then, his heart rate uncontrollably sped up, and his breathing slowed. The sight before him was truly breathtaking. The visual impact from Lucoa was far more intense and shocking than Minos's.
She was wearing a black two-piece bikini, a full-cup style that she somehow managed to make look like a demi-cup. The two cups were connected by a black tie, and where the halter strap met the top, a set of three interlocking metal rings gleamed under the lights, adding a unique and fashionable sexiness to the look. The high-waisted bottoms cleverly accentuated her waistline, making her long, voluptuous legs seem even more slender. Just looking at her legs, she was at a world-class level. The sides of the bottoms also featured the same three-ring design, creating a cohesive and stylish look.
Yurine, who had been secretly competing in her mind, turned to look and her jaw dropped, her eye twitching. She was clearly in shock.
"Tch!" Jashin-chan made an indecipherable clicking sound from the side.
Medusa, however, lightly covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes sparkling as she gave genuine praise. "Lucoa-san, you have such an amazing figure! That swimsuit is very stylish too. It looks fantastic on you!" A good swimsuit not only enhances one's figure but can also elevate their entire aura, and Medusa felt this one was a perfect match for Lucoa. The shop attendant also began to shower her with compliments.
"Mhm, mhm!" Lucoa walked out of the fitting room with the aura of a "world-class powerhouse," her hands on her hips, nodding as she basked in the praise. She then turned her gaze to Ryohei. "Professor Judge... Tanaka-kun, praise me too!"
Stare—!
Feeling Yurine's sharp gaze from the side, Ryohei looked at Lucoa and said with a calm, composed expression, "That's a really nice swimsuit."
"I asked you to praise me, not the swimsuit!" Lucoa said, slapping a hand to her forehead in exasperation.
Ryohei didn't reply. He looked down, thought for a moment, and, against his conscience, wrote "9.7" on the board. In his heart, the score was a 9.8.
"Eh?" Minos peeked out from her curtain and immediately saw the 9.7. 'I lost?' She instinctively walked over, circled Lucoa once, then let her shoulders slump. "I lost!" she said, dejected.
"...You're surprisingly competitive," Ryohei said, looking at Minos in surprise.
"She's like that sometimes," Jashin-chan said, walking past with a swimsuit in her hand. "Now, allow me—the great Jashin-chan—to dazzle you all! I will definitely be the best!"
"You're certainly... confident for how average you are," Ryohei said, narrowing his eyes at her.
"What's that mean?" Jashin-chan stopped, not understanding the term, and looked back at him.
Ryohei smiled. "It means 'ordinary yet confident'."
"Pfft—!" Yurine burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as her shoulders shook. "Hilarious! But she really is 'ordinary yet confident'!"
"You bastard! Are you trying to pick a fight with your own subordinate? Do you want me to kill you?!" Jashin-chan's fur stood on end. She clenched her fists, her face twisted in a snarl as she glared at Ryohei, looking like she might lash out at any moment.
"Sorry, sorry," Ryohei said, holding up his hands. He gestured with his chin toward the empty fitting room. "Why don't you go change first, Jashin-chan? I'm actually looking forward to seeing your swimsuit."
"I'm looking forward to it too, Jashin-chan," Medusa added, trying to smooth things over.
"Hmph!" Jashin-chan grumbled and stomped into the fitting room.
By now, Minos had recovered. She was very good at regulating her emotions. She asked the attendant to wrap up a new cow-print bikini for her.
Seeing that Lucoa wasn't heading back to the fitting room, Medusa asked, "Lucoa-san, are you using the fitting room? If not, I'd like to use it." She had already found a swimsuit she liked and wanted to try it on.
"Go ahead," Lucoa said with a smile, gesturing for her to go.
"Okay," Medusa nodded eagerly, went to a display case to grab the swimsuit she had her eye on, and went into the fitting room.
"Lucoa, are you going to try on any others?" Ryohei asked casually.
"Mhm, there's one more I want to try on. After they're done..." Lucoa answered with a smile, her hands on her hips. "Are you looking forward to it, Tanaka-kun?"
"I suppose I am, a little," Ryohei said, then quickly scurried away. The woman was too good at flirting; he couldn't handle it. He went over to Yurine and asked with a smile, "Yurine, have you found a swimsuit you like?"
"Mhm, this one," Yurine said, pointing a slender finger at a swimsuit in a display case.
Ryohei looked over and saw a cute, black, skirted two-piece. The shoulder straps and waist were trimmed with reddish-brown ruffles that matched her hair color. There were black bows on the chest and left hip, each decorated with a reddish-brown flower. It also came with a matching halter strap and a thigh ring.
"It's very cute. The ruffles are the same color as your hair. I think it's a great match," Ryohei said approvingly.
"Mhm," Yurine replied, the corners of her mouth lifting in a slight smile. "I think so too."
As they were talking, Jashin-chan finished changing. She admired herself in the mirror for a moment, then dramatically threw open the curtain. "First time wearing clothes—well, a swimsuit—but it doesn't feel half bad."
Ryohei looked over and saw Jashin-chan stepping out excitedly in a light blue, skirted two-piece. It was clearly the same style as the one Yurine had chosen, with large white bows on the chest and left hip and cute ruffles on the straps and skirt. It didn't have the halter strap or thigh ring, though Ryohei couldn't tell if that was because Jashin-chan wasn't wearing them.
"Ooh, not bad, Jashin-chan!" Minos said with a cheerful smile. "That swimsuit is really cute and suits you well."
"It really is quite nice," Yurine agreed, grabbing the correct size of the swimsuit she wanted as she walked past Jashin-chan.
"Ehehe!" Jashin-chan beamed, scratching the back of her head happily. It was clear she was thrilled to be wearing clothes for the first time.
Ryohei erased Lucoa's score, thought for a moment, wrote the Arabic numeral "9" on the board, and held it up.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Seeing the score, Jashin-chan's good mood vanished. She slithered over, pointed a finger at the board, and protested, "Did you make a mistake? How can I only be a 9?! You forgot the number after it, right? It's 9.9, isn't it?"
"You've got some nerve, asking for a 9.9..." Ryohei said, speechless. Where does she get this confidence?
He had initially only wanted to give her an 8. But seeing how happy she was wearing clothes for the first time, he decided not to spoil her mood or discourage her from wearing them in the future, so he had added a point against his better judgment.
"It's mainly your tail," Ryohei said, looking down at it. "I just can't really appreciate it."
"HAH?!" Jashin-chan's eyes flew wide open in disbelief. "You idiot!" she screeched. "The tail is clearly a plus point! What kind of aesthetic sense do you have?! How can you not appreciate it!" She was furious, her tail slapping against the tiled floor with a rapid thwap-thwap-thwap.
Ryohei almost lost it when she said the tail was a "plus point." His face darkened. "A normal human's aesthetic sense," he said dryly. If that tail was a plus point, humanity was in deep trouble.
"Tch! A mere human obviously doesn't understand true beauty!" Jashin-chan huffed, crossing her arms.
"So sorry I can't appreciate your beauty!" Ryohei shot back, rolling his eyes.
...
Soon, Medusa was also ready. She pulled back her curtain.
She was wearing a white bikini with a beige floral print, with a matching sarong tied at her waist, giving a tantalizing glimpse of her long, beautiful legs. Her skin was fair and radiant, like polished jade, and her full curves were perfectly accentuated by the bikini. Her facial features were exquisite, and her light makeup and rosy lips held a hint of unintentional allure. She looked like a goddess who had just walked out of the sea breeze—pure yet sexy, making it difficult to look away.
Ryohei's heart began to race again.
If Lucoa's appeal was a direct, powerful visual shock, then Medusa's beauty was like a spring breeze on the face—refreshing, heart-stirring, and captivating.
'Come to think of it, wasn't Medusa the winner of the Demon Realm's beauty pageant?' Ryohei was now seeing the proof.
He looked down at the scoreboard, hesitated for a moment, and finally gave her a 9.8.
"Sh-She's 0.1 points higher than me?!" Lucoa's eyes flew open in shock. Her world-class figure had actually lost. 'No way! I thought the only one I might lose to was Yurine!'
"Haha! That's Medusa for you!" Minos said, laughing happily. This time, there was no dejection or jealousy, only pure happiness for her friend.
Jashin-chan stared at the scoreboard in disbelief, then looked at Medusa. She clenched her fists and charged.
"DAMN IT—!"
"Medusa, I won't allow you to be so much more excellent than me!"
"Jashin-chan Coil!"
With a whoosh, Jashin-chan was in front of Medusa. As Medusa let out a cute gasp of surprise, Jashin-chan's green snake tail slithered around her body, and in the blink of an eye, it was tightly coiled around Medusa's upper torso.
"Hmph, hmph. Now all I have to do is squeeze, and I can finish you off!" Jashin-chan cackled, hanging off Medusa's body. "Scared now, aren't you?"
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