"This spot's pretty good. Let's just settle here."
Led by Seiun Sky, and minus Grass Wonder who'd already gathered with Rigil, Special Week and King Halo had both rented fishing gear and little stools, tagging along as they set their stools in a row and sat down.
One by one, hooks were baited and cast into the water.
Although it was Special Week's first time fishing, after watching Seiun Sky and Barbatos' movements, she was able to pick it up right away.
"Barbatos, what are we gonna do with the fish we catch later?" Special Week asked curiously. "Same as at the start of the term?"
She was pretty concerned about food-related matters.
She'd heard Grass Wonder mention it—the day she was late for the opening ceremony, Seiun Sky had used her "catch" to give everyone an extra meal.
"Not the same," Barbatos denied.
"Back then we were at the academy; now we're on the beach. If we still just went to a restaurant and had a chef cook it up for us next door, wouldn't that take away some of the fun?"
Even though it was her first time at the beach, she had plenty of theoretical experience.
"This evening, after we've fished enough, let's rent a grill and barbecue the fish right on the beach."
"The sun won't be so harsh by then, we can all grill fish together on the sand, buy some other ingredients to throw on the fire—should be pretty nice, don't you think?"
This had been the plan she and Seiun Sky cooked up before coming.
Now there were just three more people, but beach barbecues were always better with a bigger crowd anyway.
If Special Week and the others hadn't been around, Barbatos would've called Urara and the gang over too.
After finishing the grilled fish, she'd planned to take a stroll along the moonlit beach with Seiun Sky, and scope out the nearby routes while they were at it, to make morning training easier tomorrow.
Although summer training camp was meant to be a break after the first half's races, you couldn't totally let loose—training couldn't just completely slide.
"Grilled fish? Heck yeah!" Special Week lit up. What foodie could resist the lure of good eats? "Then I've gotta catch a whole ton of fish!"
"No worries, if we run short, we can just buy more other ingredients," Barbatos said casually.
Even though King Halo had declared they were having a fishing contest, she knew her own limits—her fishing success relied entirely on the fish taking a liking to her; it was the total "by-chance" fishing method.
Seiun Sky was a skilled angler, and King Halo seemed like a fishing pro too; they'd probably haul in a decent amount.
Special Week, being a fellow newbie like herself, was likely just as much at the mercy of luck, and Grass Wonder was an unknown quantity.
Normally, with Seiun Sky and King Halo around, the catch would probably be enough, but they had a "Special" eater on their hands!
"Leave the fishing to me; Special will definitely get her fill," King Halo declared confidently, despite her broken leg.
Barbatos didn't say anything to that. She hadn't seen King Halo fish before, but glancing up at the blazing sun overhead, she secured her rod to the side, reached into the backpack she'd brought, and pulled out two baseball caps she'd bought last year.
She put one on herself, then reached over and plopped the other onto Seiun Sky's head.
Next, she fished out some sunscreen from the backpack.
Facing sunlight like this, she'd come prepared!
She shared the sunscreen with Seiun Sky, making sure neither of them would end up "fully darkened" by the end of summer training camp.
After they'd applied it, Barbatos turned to Special Week and King Halo.
She shook the sunscreen bottle. "You guys put any on?"
"Sunscreen?" Special Week looked at the stuff, a bit puzzled. She didn't know much about it.
Even so, she accepted Barbatos' kindness, squeezing some out and rubbing it on her face.
Then Barbatos looked at King Halo, who was seated past Special Week. "Applied some? Or does King believe she can triumph over the sun?"
Barbatos seriously suspected that if she asked normally, King Halo would answer her exactly like that, so this time she chose to preempt her!
King Halo's mouth opened slightly.
She felt like Barbatos had just stolen her line—it was exactly what she'd instinctively been about to say.
Nevertheless, her body was honest enough as she reached out her hand. A King's dignity shouldn't take after that Hishi Amazon style anyway.
Back at the Rigil meeting point.
Hishi Amazon sneezed violently, rubbing her nose. Why did it suddenly feel so itchy just now?
"Catching a cold?" Fuji Makoto asked, looking a bit worried.
If she was getting sick, trying to study for make-up exams would be even harder to remember...
Half an hour later.
Seiun Sky's bucket already had five saltwater fish swimming around inside, truly showcasing a fisher's prowess.
Barbatos, on the other hand, had a lonely single catch. Special Week's count matched Barbatos'.
Only King Halo remained empty-handed after half an hour.
Yet, she seemed to be playing the long game, as if her rod simply refused to deign catching any small fry.
Barbatos fiddled with her phone while keeping an eye on her fishing rod.
The screen displayed various online comment threads about Japan's number one Uma Musume. Reading the evaluations of herself was quite entertaining.
Whenever she came across particularly amusing comments, she'd share them with Seiun Sky.
"Ding~"
Both Barbatos and Seiun Sky's phones chimed simultaneously.
Already looking at her phone, Barbatos tapped the notification pop-up and saw a message in the Canopus team group chat from their trainer Minamizaka, @ing everyone.
"Everyone, please be careful during summer camp. You can contact me on LINE anytime if something comes up."
So, it seemed Canopus didn't have any group activities planned for now; it was just team members forming their own little groups.
Below the @everyone message was a specific @ for Twin Turbo, but no further messages followed.
Though Urara and the others were sending "received" messages in the group, Minamizaka, who'd just @ed Twin Turbo, didn't send anything else, and the @ed Twin Turbo hadn't surfaced either.
Barbatos was starting to guess what was up.
Right after exams finished, Twin Turbo had been so confident, so cocky and untamed.
Seeing that @, Barbatos even felt a little bad about teasing her earlier.
The lure of that "+" was just too strong.
As she watched her teammates acting as message repeaters in the group, even Twin Turbo joining in—who wasn't a repeater, really?
Just then, she heard a strained "Oysters!" from beside her.
Special Week's face contorted in a pained grimace, her rod nearly splashing into the water.
Her face fell. "I... I've gotta go to cram school..."
Expected as much. Barbatos wasn't particularly surprised and offered some comfort, "Cram school leaves you free mornings and evenings. We'll save you some grilled fish tonight."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.