With a splash, the Second, now clad in a school swimsuit, jumped into the cloud pool. A coolness instantly crept over her porcelain-white skin, sending a shiver through her body. As her toes curled, every pore on her body seemed to scream in unison: "So cool and refreshing!"

"Take this!" Jashin-chan, brandishing a water gun, aimed at the Second and started "firing" with a series of pew-pew-pew sounds, clearly enjoying herself and even providing the sound effects.

"Hey!" The Second instinctively blocked her face with her hands, then immediately turned and swam towards an inflatable boat to grab a water gun of her own. A moment later, the scene had devolved into a full-blown water fight: the Second and Kouji versus Jashin-chan. Wielding a water gun in each hand, Jashin-chan's firepower was in no way inferior to theirs, and the three of them were having a blast.

Minos, in her black-and-white cow-print bikini, cut through the water like a shark. Her fair, slender arms alternated in powerful strokes, carving two churning white wakes in the cloud pool.

Pekola, her eyes closed in blissful contentment, floated on a pool ring, enjoying the rare coolness. Poporon happily munched on a fruit platter beside her.

Yusa, wearing a dark blue bikini with a snowflake pattern, swam an elegant backstroke like a mermaid.

Ryohei Tanaka, Yurine, and Lucoa were all leaning on the edge of the cloud pool, which was contained by an invisible barrier created by Lucoa.

"This feels like a dream... swimming in the clouds," Yurine murmured, looking down at the city below. "And to have such a huge space all to ourselves, it's pure bliss."

The city's layout was clearly visible, each building like a meticulously crafted work of art. The sprawling network of roads resembled ribbons weaving between the skyscrapers, with cars flowing like a constant stream. In the distance, a patch of azure sea was visible—Tokyo was, after all, a coastal city.

"For me, this is like a childhood dream come true," Ryohei said, extending his right hand and reaching for the sky.

Yurine and Lucoa, on either side of him, looked at him curiously. He relaxed his gaze, looked into the distance, and smiled. "I remember watching a cartoon when I was a kid that had a swimming pool in the clouds. I used to fantasize about how great it would be to swim in the clouds one day. I never thought it would actually happen... By the way, is something flying over here?"

Ryohei squinted at the distant sky. Yurine followed his gaze, and when she saw what it was, she gasped. "There's a dark green Western dragon flying this way!" She was just starting to wonder if it was friend or foe, if a fight was about to break out, if dragon meat was tasty, and what kind of dish Ryohei would make with it, when Lucoa spoke up.

"It's Tohru and the others," she said.

"Huh?" Ryohei was quite surprised.

"Your friends?" Yurine asked, also surprised. She remembered that Tohru was Lucoa's friend and had visited the restaurant the previous night.

"Mmm," Lucoa hummed in affirmation.

Just then, a "plump" dark green dragon came flapping its wings towards them.

"I felt a familiar magical fluctuation. It's you, Lucoa, just as I thought," Tohru's energetic voice rang out. She tilted her head, pointed a claw at the cloud pool, and asked curiously, "What kind of magic is this? Can you teach it to me?"

"This isn't magic," Lucoa replied, tilting her head up slightly and waving a hand at Tohru. "Ryohei-kun got an item that can temporarily turn clouds into water... I just set up a barrier around and below it to prevent anyone from accidentally falling through."

"Oh, is that so?" Tohru took a closer look and saw that it was indeed the case.

As they were talking, Kanna-kun, wearing a cute swimsuit with a yellow cartoon-themed floatie around her waist, flew down from Tohru's back. She held onto the floatie with her left hand to keep from falling and pointed a short, slightly chubby finger at Ryohei with her right. Her face was expressionless, but her voice held a hint of pleasant surprise. "It's the Culinary Sage whose food is super delicious!"

"Is that your impression of me?" Ryohei chuckled. He then saw Kanna-kun looking at him with an expectant gaze. "Uh... would you like some fruit?" he asked, involuntarily turning and pulling a floating tray of sliced fruit towards him.

"Yes, please~" Kanna-kun said happily, her tone light. As she spoke, she and her floatie had already landed in the cloud pool. Ryohei handed her a slice of watermelon, which she held with both hands and began to nibble on like a greedy little squirrel, though her movements were surprisingly elegant.

"What's going on?" Minos and the others, noticing the commotion, swam over. They looked at Kanna-kun, who was eating watermelon, then at the "plump" dragon outside the pool.

"It's nothing, we just ran into Lucoa's friends," Yurine explained simply.

"Souka—!"

...

Actually, many of them had already guessed. Although they were startled by the sight of such a large dragon at first, they soon noticed its aura, which was similar to that of last night's guests. The sight of Kanna-kun further confirmed their suspicions, and they had mostly relaxed.

"By the way," Lucoa said, glancing at Kanna-kun in her swimsuit before turning to Tohru, "where are you guys headed?"

"We were on our way to the beach," Tohru replied, shifting slightly to reveal Kobayashi sitting on her back. Kobayashi was wearing a two-piece swimsuit with a shirt over it.

"Hello," Kobayashi said, kneeling on Tohru's back and giving them a wave. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she looked at the sparkling, half-football-field-sized cloud pool. It was like a fantasy brought to life! Amazing!

'Come to think of it... they're all girls! And they look familiar, like the people from that restaurant?' Kobayashi thought Ryohei was a bit of a flirt, taking so many girls swimming. She knew he had a girlfriend and that he and Lucoa had a somewhat ambiguous relationship. But then she reconsidered—maybe it was a team-building activity, and she was overthinking it. When her eyes landed on Kouji, Kobayashi felt a pang of shame. 'I shouldn't have thought that, I really shouldn't have!'

...

(・・?)

Kouji keenly sensed that the way Kobayashi was looking at her was a bit strange. It wasn't an unpleasant gaze, but it left her feeling puzzled. She tilted her head, unable to figure it out, and instinctively retreated behind her older sister.

~~~

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