“Done…!”
I managed to create eight swimsuits before sunset.
Even I was surprised by my own speed. It’s not something I notice in my daily life, but comparing myself to my previous world made the abnormality even more apparent.
Normally, one wouldn’t be able to make multiple articles of clothing in just a few hours.
It was all thanks to the unfair benefits of Status and Skills.
I put away the scattered needles and threads in my own room into my Inventory. I had originally bought them thinking they might be necessary in a labyrinth, but they proved useful in the most unexpected way.
Finally, I put the last swimsuit I made into my Inventory as well.
It’s a simple, unadorned swimsuit, but I’m confident in my work.
After all, mistakes don’t exist for me anymore.
I’ve reached a certain pinnacle in the way of the sword, and my concentration and thinking skills are far beyond those of ordinary people. My hands are probably faster and more accurate than any machine now.
And the “Dimension” skill, which measures sword range in sub-millimeter units, can also measure the area of fabric in the same way. Therefore, tools like rulers are unnecessary. Furthermore, since three-dimensional designs can be completed in my head, there’s no need to write them down. Being able to do all eight swimsuits simultaneously while moving my hands with “Parallel Thinking” drastically shortened the time.
However, I had a bit of trouble with the materials. My modern knowledge of clothing suggested that elastic was essential, but there was no elastic in this other world. I might have found something similar if I looked hard enough, but I didn’t have any in my Inventory.
After much thought and trial-and-error, the swimsuits ended up with a rather old-fashioned design where the swimwear was tied with strings. That said, the size is definitely perfect, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
They are sturdy items prioritized for functionality, so they will absolutely not come off while swimming. I’d stake my life on it.
“I’m a little tired, but it was worth it.”
After packing everything into my Inventory, I checked my Status.
–Acquired Skills: Martial Arts 1.56, Dimensional Magic 5.25+0.10, Sensation 3.56, Parallel Thinking 1.47
Magic Combat 0.72, Deception 1.34, Knitting 1.07, Sewing 0.68, Blacksmithing 0.69–
The “Sewing” skill had increased.
Now I can confidently say I’m good at making clothes. I always enjoyed making things, so it makes me happy that my Status officially recognizes my talent.
If all of this is over, a job related to clothing wouldn’t be so bad.
I smiled, watching my skills gradually increase. It gave me a collector’s sense of accomplishment, like collecting stamps or completing item sets in a game.
To show off my work, I headed to the deck.
The moment I emerged from the ship, everyone who had been fishing to pass the time while waiting for their swimsuits gathered around me. Apparently, the fishing tournament’s time limit was until I finished making the clothes. Snow, who had caught the most fish, was joyfully raising her fist in the air at the center.
Everyone ignored Snow and began looking at my creations spread out on the deck.
“Whoa, Kanami’s taste is showing… So plain…”
Rustiara immediately started criticizing.
I was a little annoyed and was about to retort. However, as I looked around, I saw mostly grimaces.
Sera-san picked up her swimsuit and shook her head.
“Kanami. Never mind mine, but remake the others.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“They’re too crude. You should prepare something more elegant for the esteemed ladies and Dia-sama. And something cuter for Maria and Reaper.”
She’s making unreasonable demands.
I was already at my limit just preparing eight swimsuits in this short time, and now she expects me to handle design as well.
“No, isn’t it fine as long as we can swim? Besides, are these really that bad…?”
Although the fabric area was large, they were bikini-style swimsuits. I thought that was quite fashionable.
However, Sera-san listened to my rebuttal and began to lecture me as if I were an idiot.
“They are bad. We have such cute girls assembled here. Isn’t it only proper to prepare something fitting for them?”
“Eh, eeuh…”
My confidence in being able to work in clothes making was disappearing. Of course. No matter how much better I got at sewing fabric together, my design sense wouldn’t improve.
“It’s completely lacking. Your skills are good, but you have no sense. Why are all the swimsuits brown? Are you mocking us?”
“No, it’s just because I had a lot of brown fabric left over…”
“In other words, you gave the esteemed ladies leftover materials?”
At this point, there was no hope. Sera-san, who was devoted to Rustiara, wasn’t listening to me.
I had no choice but to ask everyone else for help.
Rustiara, noticing my distress signal, stepped in to help.
“Sera-chan, let’s wear these this time. We can get cute swimsuits next time, right?”
“However, such things are not befitting for the esteemed ladies…! Ugh, if this were the Great Cathedral, I could prepare the finest silk immediately…!”
“This is not Fuziaze, it’s the Living Legend. We’ve become Explorers, so we have to make do with what we have.”
“I suppose so…!”
“Hmm, then wouldn’t it be good if Sera-chan helped you next time?”
Rustiara seemed to come up with a brilliant idea and suggested Sera’s cooperation.
“That’s right. Sera your coordination for the Dance Battle Tournament was excellent. I’ll leave the design for the next time to you.”
“Hmm, very well, I shall tolerate it for now. Kanami, you promised.”
“Yes, I absolutely won’t forget.”
Finally, it seemed we had overcome a hurdle.
Then, everyone picked up their swimsuits that were spread out on the deck.
Dia, who had been sleeping, was among them. She must have woken up while I was making the swimsuits. However, Dia froze when she picked up her swimsuit.
“Ah, Dia, you’re finally awake.”
“Ah, ah. The boat’s rocking makes me a little uncomfortable… And lately, I’ve been feeling strangely sleepy…”
While the women went inside to change, only Dia didn’t move an inch.
“That’s for you, Dia, so feel free to wear it.”
“No, this is…”
Dia trembled, holding the swimsuit in her hands.
“Kanami… This is women’s clothing…”
“Well, naturally.”
“I, I only wear men’s clothes…!”
She shook her head, trembling, and clutched the swimsuit. Seeing her, I understood what Dia was concerned about. However, I thought that had been resolved long ago. I cautiously confirmed.
“…Hey, Dia. Are you still continuing with that cross-dressing? Isn’t it about time you stopped?”
“Wh-wh-what are you talking about, Kanami! I’m a man, so it’s only natural that I dress like this!?”
Dia turned bright red and brought up a long-forgotten story.
“No, that excuse doesn’t work anymore… Honestly.”
If I admitted it here, I wouldn’t have grown at all.
I slowly began to persuade Dia.
“I saw you in a dress at the Great Cathedral, and I saw you wearing girls’ clothes in Laura Via, so I know Dia is a girl–,”
“–Ah, that was, that was! It was cross-dressing!!”
“C-cross-dressing…?”
However, Dia stubbornly clung to her argument.
“In Laura Via, I had to disguise myself! At the Great Cathedral, it was, well, that, … the priests’ hobby! Those guys are the worst! They enjoyed making me cross-dress!!”
“No, that’s absurd…”
Before I knew it, the adults of Fuziaze had been labeled as perverts who loved boys in drag.
“I absolutely refused, but they forced me to wear women’s clothes! Back then, my position was weak, so I had no choice but to wear them in tears–!”
“If that’s the case, it makes the priests seem like they have very perverted tastes, so please retract that statement…”
If Dia’s story continued to escalate like this, Fuziaze’s honor would be ruined.
Just as I thought that, Maria emerged from the ship in her swimsuit. As usual, she was quick in everything she did.
She wore a revealing bikini and stretched her long, slender limbs. Although she was a bit thin and her ribs were slightly visible, thanks to her recent healthy diet, her body was gradually taking on feminine curves. It was a world of difference compared to when we first met.
However, my design was so plain that it detracted from Maria’s charm. Come to think of it, it was indeed a shame to put such a plain outfit on a woman. I should have added some flower embroidery.
“Diablo Sis is a girl, Kanami-san. There’s no mistake, I confirmed it when we bathed together.”
Maria betrayed Dia from the outset.
“–Hey! Maria!!”
Dia’s face turned red, and she rushed towards Maria. It felt like they always bickered when they met.
However, since she mentioned bathing together, it was hard to tell if they were on bad terms or good terms.
I stepped between Dia and Maria to mediate.
“Dia, let’s stop. I don’t want to see you pretending. If there’s a reason for that male attire, tell me. I’ll help you.”
“Kanami…!”
Dia stammered, flustered.
“B-because, Kanami, you invited me as a companion thinking I was a boy, right? If Kanami was looking for companions of the same gender and age, I couldn’t say I was pretending about my gender… I thought I had to continue being a boy for Kanami’s sake, so… that’s why…!”
“No, I never trusted that Dia was a boy from the start.”
However, I bluntly cut off her suffering.
“E-eh!? Didn’t I properly say I was a male swordsman!?”
“Besides, when I first met Dia, your hair was long…”
“Are you talking about that night!? But I put my hair inside my hood back then, didn’t I!?”
“I have ‘Dimension’.”
“Oh, right!”
The innocent Dia seemed to believe she had been successfully deceiving me all along.
However, the discrepancy was my fault. I had been postponing the problem to prevent Dia from escaping.
“I’ve decided not to keep secrets, so I’ll be honest. I always thought, ‘What a strange person, a girl claiming to be a boy.’ I’m sorry, Dia.”
“U-uuuuaaaaahhh. Rustiaraaaaa.”
Dia cried out with tears at the corner of her eyes.
The sudden wailing startled me, and I stiffened. To put it simply, it triggered a trauma, and I almost fell into a Status Ailment: Fear. However, I gathered my resolve and pushed back the fear.
In response to Dia’s cries, the door leading into the ship opened.
“I heard it all! Don’t bully Dia!!”
“Stop eavesdropping, hey.”
Rustiara, who had clearly been waiting, appeared.
Rustiara was also wearing the same swimsuit as Maria. However, the impression she gave was completely different. The shabby swimsuit wrapping around her fresh limbs was blasphemous, like putting a work of art in a crude frame.
What caught the eye wasn’t the swimsuit, but Rustiara’s body itself.
Annoyingly, in front of Rustiara, the culmination of feminine charm, my humble creation seemed like mere mist.
“Oh, there, there. Dia is so cute. Kanami who bullies such a cute child should just burn.”
Rustiara hugged Dia and stroked her head.
“R-Rustiara, Kanami didn’t believe I was a boy…”
“Ah, Kanami, you are truly horrible. To not believe the words of such a cute child, you’re a disgrace to manhood. …Well, I would think the same as Kanami in the same situation.”
“S-so it’s true after allll!”
Dia started pounding Rustiara’s chest repeatedly.
Due to the sudden surge in her strength from leveling up, her playful taps had evolved into formidable attacks. Rustiara coughed as her lungs were hit.
Maria, trying to stop Dia from going wild, spoke calmly.
“Honestly, I think it’s too much for you to claim Dia is a boy…”
“It’s not impossible!? No matter how you look at it, I’m a boy!?”
“No, no matter how you look at it, she’s a girl.”
I added my words to Maria’s calm statement.
“I’ll say it again, Dia. You just look like a cute girl to me.”
“N-no way!?”
I steeled my heart to clarify Dia’s gender. I knew that compromising here would have repercussions later.
“K-Kanami-san? That way of speaking is also a bit… Kanami-san needs to be a bit more tactful right now… Anyway, Dia, let’s listen to everyone’s opinions. That way, you’ll understand how unreasonable it is.”
Then, everyone else emerged from the ship.
Everyone was in swimsuits, which made me feel a little awkward. And at the same time, I felt a sense of emptiness seeing everyone wearing the same crude brown swimsuits. Finally, I understood what Sera-san was saying, not just with words, but with my heart.
First, Reaper cheerfully called out Dia’s name.
“Dia ‘Big Sister’!”
Then, Sera and Snow replied while gauging the surrounding atmosphere.
“…Dia-sama can only be seen as female.”
“Apostle Sis is female, right? …Was she?”
Dia’s mouth hung open, and she trembled.
She had thought she was interacting with her companions as a boy, but no one had believed her. She was crushed by this harsh reality.
Dia collapsed to her knees.
Rustiara, with a wide smile, approached her, holding a swimsuit.
“Alright, Dia! Let’s wear this swimsuit, it’s the same as ours!”
“C-damn it…”
Dia, having lost her strength, staggered and turned to me.
I averted my eyes slightly and spoke with a determined expression.
“…Hey, Kanami. Even if I’m no longer myself, will Kanami remain unchanged?”
“Of course, that’s a given…”
After all, I spent less time thinking of Dia as a boy. Even if Dia acted like a girl, I wouldn’t feel the slightest bit of dissonance.
“Really? Even if a boy named Dia turns out to be fake, even then, will Kanami still call me Dia?”
Is she worried about her name?
Even if it was a trivial matter to everyone else, it seemed important to Dia. She confirmed it with a desperate look. To alleviate her anxiety even a little, I forced a smile and nodded.
“Dia is Dia. To me, only Dia is real.”
“…No, if that’s the case, …then it’s okay.”
I chose words that I thought would reassure Dia, but her complexion was still bad.
“Dia, it’s okay. Everyone here is the same as Kanami!”
Rustiara, unable to bear it, added a word of support. Dia looked around and nodded, acknowledging her kind companions.
“Thank you, everyone…”
“Alright! If that’s settled, let’s change quickly! When it comes to things like this, it’s best to get them over with quickly! No gloomy talk!”
Hearing her clear-headed way of thinking, Dia gave a faint smile. Then, she was dragged by Rustiara into the ship.
Finally, I confirmed.
“Ah, and can Dia swim…?”
“…I can’t swim.”
Dia shook her head, wiping away tears from the corner of her eyes.
“Then, let’s practice with Maria and the others. It will surely be fun.”
“…Yes, let’s do that. It will surely be fun. …Surely.”
After that, Dia disappeared into the ship.
Then, the five of us, excluding Rustiara and Dia, remained on the deck.
Snow, confirming that the conversation was over, pulled my hand.
“Um, the talk is over, right? Right? …So, I was wondering if you could teach me to swim first! Kanami, is that okay? It’s okay, right?”
“Hey, don’t try to drag me into the sea. I haven’t changed into my swimsuit yet.”
“Then, after you change, will you teach me–?”
“–It’s Maria first. I already promised.”
“Eh, eeuh!?”
Snow stumbled backward. Then, she looked at Maria with eyes like a rejected puppy.
“S-even if you look at me like that, it won’t work, Snow-san.”
Maria distanced herself from Snow, avoiding her pleading gaze. Realizing that Maria wouldn’t budge no matter how much she fawned, Snow sulked in a corner of the deck… This is what happens when you misbehave.
Later, as Dia came out after changing, I went inside the ship.
I changed into my swimsuit in the shade of the ship, and the seven of us began practicing swimming.
