"But this was the kind of high tide I knew." In her previous life, the tide had already weakened considerably by the time it reached Shiko's hometown, and she had never seen the spectacular sight of "the vast sea turning into empty sky" at its peak. In fact, she had never had the chance—or much interest—to witness such a scene. Only now, seeing a similar sight in a completely different place, did she suddenly feel a trace of nostalgia.
"So does that mean we're almost at the seaside?" At the time, Kita's attention was completely different from Shiko's.
Indeed. Since there was a high tide, the sea couldn't be far away.
However, while chasing a large monster, they gradually strayed away from the river. After that, they never saw the high tide that came twice a day again.
"Sorry, we really can't find the way back..." Kita felt somewhat guilty toward Shiko. Everyone had been focused on the fleeing monster and forgotten to remember the route. Ryo scratched her head, looking a little embarrassed. For her, that was extremely rare.
"It's fine, it's fine." Shiko looked unconcerned.
In the end, they never got the chance to see the high tide at its peak.
They continued traveling between plains and hills, trying their best to find areas with water sources. The horizon turned orange-red. Another day's sunset had arrived. They had spent the entire day flying at low altitude, but Kita could clearly feel the moisture in the wind.
"Maybe we'll reach the seaside in a few days," she guessed optimistically. "Gotou-san, I'll design a swimsuit for you when we get there~"
"Huh, a swimsuit?" Shiko looked surprised. "Why?"
"To have fun, of course?" Kita looked at her incredulously. "We finally made it to the seaside. How could we not have some fun?"
"Exactly. Since we're at the seaside, we should at least relax a little, right?" Lisa fully agreed. "What about you, Yukina?"
Everyone looked at Yukina, waiting for her decision.
Under so many gazes, Yukina seemed about to say something, then gave up. "All right. We'll stop for one day when we reach the seaside. Just one day."
"Yay!" Ako jumped up inside the basket. The basket swayed violently, as if it might fall the next second. Lisa hurriedly pressed Ako's shoulders down and glared at her.
As they fooled around, the hot-air balloon drifted through the sky, searching for a place to land.
Suddenly, Kita spotted a glimmer of golden water between the mountains. The golden light hurt her eyes, but she quickly leaned out and examined it carefully.
She turned around excitedly and was just about to shout when she realized that no one else seemed to have noticed what she had seen. On a sudden impulse, she quickly covered her mouth and lowered the hot-air balloon slightly, hiding the golden glimmer behind the shadows of the mountains.
Before dinner, she excitedly grabbed Nijika and Lisa. "I saw the sea!" Although they were far from the others, she still lowered her voice.
"Really?" The two of them lowered their voices too, but could hardly hide their excitement.
"I saw it! We'll reach it soon by hot-air balloon!"
"What, what? Something happy seems to be happening here!" Shiko came running over, speaking in Kokoro Tsurumaki's voice.
Kita waved to her. "You came at just the right time! Shiko, come on, let's discuss something..."
Midnight.
Shiko's face was dark. "Why do I have to do the work for the plan she discussed with you? Hurry up and knock me out so she can carry people."
Across from her, Nijika looked apologetic. "No one knew when you'd switch personalities~"
"Keep your voice down. She's waking up!" Lisa whispered from the other side, pursing her lips toward the stretcher between them and Yukina, who was sleeping soundly on it. Yukina turned over on the stretcher, mumbling something about cats. Shiko barely managed not to laugh.
"She really does mention cats in her sleep..."
Kita's plan was to use the hot-air balloon to take everyone to the seaside while the others were asleep, then surprise them when they woke up.
With the four of them carefully carrying everyone, they got them all into the basket. The basket was large, so it didn't feel crowded. Kita took off her shoes to avoid making footsteps, walked to the center of the basket, and silently lit a flame. The hot-air balloon slowly rose, and the sleeping people remained completely unaware.
"What about propulsion?" Lisa asked quietly. Ryo usually powered the hot-air balloon, but at that moment she was the one sleeping most carelessly.
Shiko shook a transparent jade slip in her hand. It was a copy of Ryo's strongest attack. She pressed it against the basket and slowly released the sound waves. "It'll be enough to hold us up for a while," she said.
Everything was ready. In the dead of night, a cluster of lights slowly flew toward the seaside. From time to time, dark shadows approached the light under cover of night, but they all silently dissolved in the flames.
As they crossed one mountain peak after another, they heard the sound of waves.
After crossing the final peak, the ocean appeared before them beneath the starlight.
Brilliant stars filled the sky around the tranquil sea. Nothing existed between them, only leisurely clouds drifting in from the horizon, freely changing shape as they gathered and dispersed. For a moment, no one spoke. The waves struck the beach, becoming the only sound between heaven and earth.
"It feels like... being set free," Nijika said blankly.
The others felt the same. Shiko drew in a deep breath.
Then exhaled heavily.
Beach House
Everyone woke to the sound of waves.
"Mm... What's that sound?" Sayo woke first. Still bleary-eyed, she pushed herself up from the mattress, rubbed her eyes, and looked around.
"Where... is this?" She stared blankly at the blue sea.
A figure jumped out. "Surprise!" It was Shiko. Her voice sounded energetic, but she looked somewhat strained.
"Ah, that didn't work. Let's try again." She stepped back, put on a cyan wig, and jumped out again. "Surprise! Big Sis!"
It somehow looked much more natural. Even Sayo couldn't fully control her expression.
Another fiery-red figure jumped out. "That's right! The sea!" Her energy, at least, came straight from the heart.
"So, what's going on?" Sayo still hadn't figured out the situation. Hearing the commotion, the others crawled out of their bedding one after another, all looking around in astonishment as Kita had hoped.
Kita then happily explained what they had done the previous night.
However, most of them seemed rather uninterested. Ryo lay back down. "So that's why I didn't sleep well. Good night."
"If we've reached the seaside, that means they probably aren't in this river basin..." Yukina's focus was completely different from Kita's. Although they hadn't searched the area around the river's mouth, given Poppin'Party's nature, if they had already reached the estuary, they would definitely insist on coming to the seaside. They needed to focus on searching the coastline over the next two days. If they found nothing, then the others weren't there. The search plan ahead needed to be rearranged.
"The seaside... I'm... a little nervous..." Rinko curled up. Ichiri nodded in agreement. "I get it. Even though no one else is here, beaches come with an innate youthfulness. A gloomy person gets a terrain penalty in places like this."
Ako squeezed between them. She was the only one who could be considered genuinely "surprised." "Then let Archdemon Ako give you an ultra-ultra-ultra-powerful buff! Today is a holiday!"
Kita unhappily watched Ako embrace the two of them. She forcefully pulled Ichiri away. "Come on, Gotou-san. Didn't I say I'd design a swimsuit for you... Come on..." Taking advantage of Ichiri's inability to resist, she dragged her behind a large rock.
"What are you doing?" Two hands landed on Kita's shoulders. She jumped in alarm and turned around. It was Shiko. Shiko stared teasingly into Kita's eyes, making her feel rather flustered.
"I-it's just... taking measurements... You see, if I'm going to design a swimsuit..." Her fingers gestured in the air, and her voice was unusually stammering.
Shiko looked toward Ichiri. She had already lost the ability to move and was staring at Shiko pitifully, seemingly asking for help. Shiko looked back at Kita. Kita clearly had no measuring tape or anything similar in her hands. Besides, why would they need to go behind a rock to take measurements?
Shiko nodded at Kita in satisfaction. "Come find me when you're done." Then, with impressive tact, she left to find someone else.
To review once again, Shiko was a loyal supporter of the RyoIchiri ship.
Behind a rock on the beach where no signal could be detected at all was Ichiri's place.
Ichiri's wails came from behind it.
"Quack, Shiko, save me!"
Shiko pressed her palms together.
Wishing you happiness.
Their little world attracted no one else's attention. Some of the others went to wash up, some approached the sea to admire the view, while Nijika laid out cooking utensils outside the tent, took several vegetables from a crate, and began preparing something. Shiko walked over to Nijika. An iron pot sat beside her. She craned her neck to look at the ingredients beneath Nijika's hands.
"Curry?"
"That's right," Nijika said. "You came at the perfect time. There are still some ingredients I need you to find."
Potatoes, curry roux, and other ingredients sat on the cutting board before Nijika.
"Someone doesn't like carrots, so I left them out." Without looking up, she focused on cutting the potatoes into chunks. "Little Shiko, could you get us some fish? Since we're at the seaside, we should have fish curry."
"Me? What do you mean? I didn't go fishing." Shiko's face was full of confusion.
Nijika glanced at her, then realized something. She blinked and came up with an excuse. "I-I mean, since you're free, do you want to see if you can find somewhere to get some fish... Ahaha..."
Shiko looked around, then pointed into the distance. "In that case, should I go check that Beach House?"
Nijika whipped her head around and saw that, at some unknown point, a wooden hut had appeared in the direction Shiko was pointing. A blue flag bearing the words "Beach House" stood in front of it. Several people had already gathered at the entrance, curiously peering inside.
When did that appear? Did Shiko make it? She turned to look at Shiko, whose face was the very picture of innocence. Shiko took a few steps toward it, then hurriedly retreated. "I'm a little scared to go..."
"Then let's go together." Nijika was curious about the place too. She set down the knife, covered the ingredients with a dust cover, and walked over with Shiko. Shiko unconsciously hunched over as she followed behind Nijika. Nijika could hear her muttering continuously to herself. "Just pretend the person inside is Shizuku... Just pretend the person inside is Shizuku..."
Who was Shizuku...?
The Beach House was not far from them. When she saw the two of them approaching, Ako hurriedly ran over in a pair of slippers that had seemingly come from nowhere and whispered something in Nijika's ear. Nijika's brows gradually furrowed. She said to Shiko, "Wait here for me." Only after making sure Shiko had stopped did she follow Ako to the entrance of the Beach House. The wooden floor at the entrance felt no different from an ordinary floor beneath her feet. The front door was tightly shut, and there was no sound from inside. Nijika grasped the doorknob.
She gently opened the door.
There were no tables or chairs, no windows—only a chaotic darkness. It wasn't dark because there was no light. The light itself was being swallowed. The inside and outside of the door were sharply divided. Although she felt no suction, Nijika thought of one word: boundary of vision.
She closed the door. At some point, her back had broken out in a cold sweat. In the sea breeze, the sensation of her sweat-dampened shirt clinging to her back was especially distinct.
"When did this house appear?" she asked Ako.
"Just... now," Ako replied uncertainly. The house definitely hadn't been there when she first woke up.
Although the early-summer sea breeze was blowing, the atmosphere was oppressive, as if they had been sealed beneath the sea.
"Um, everyone, what's going on?" A timid voice intruded without regard for the atmosphere.
It was Shiko. At some point, she had walked up behind them.
"Didn't I tell you to wait?" With the situation still unknown, Nijika couldn't be gentle, and her tone carried a hint of reproach.
"Standing there alone... There were so many people, and I got a little scared..."
Nijika looked at the empty beach, then at Shiko, who had only relaxed after reaching the familiar people beside her. Guilt welled up inside her. She hadn't considered Shiko's special circumstances.
"Sorry..."
"What's wrong inside?" Now that Shiko had relaxed, she became proactive too, directly grasping the doorknob and pulling the door outward.
"Wait—" Before they could stop her, Shiko had already pulled the door open.
Inside was bright and spotless. Several low tables were arranged neatly, without a speck of dust.
Chicken White Sauce Curry
After Shiko opened the door, the inside was completely like an ordinary Beach House.
"Huh?"
The others thought they must have been hallucinating.
"What's wrong?" Shiko asked. The others exchanged glances.
Could what they had seen before really have been a hallucination?
There was no one inside the Beach House. Shiko leaned against the doorway, afraid to enter. Nijika swallowed and walked over beside her. "Are there a lot of people inside?"
"Yes," Shiko replied, nodding.
"Then—" Nijika reached out, wanting to pull her back. Shiko suddenly shuddered, planted half a foot inside, and addressed the air. "Shizu... Shizu Shizuku-senpai!"
What was this? Nijika froze for a moment. But the next second, Shiko's entire air changed. She turned around with a puzzled expression. "Where is this?"
"...Come out first. We'll talk slowly."
Shiko stepped back outside, and the group explained what had just happened, each adding a few words.
After listening, Shiko didn't seem particularly surprised.
"So we've reached this stage..." She turned toward the open doorway and walked back inside. Then she turned around and said to everyone, "It's simple. My two personalities are influencing each other."
At first, while sleeping, Shiko could only sense a timeless darkness. Recently, however, she had begun dreaming. Everything in her dreams gradually faded as she awoke, but the happiness she felt in those dreams lingered for a long time, allowing the withered branches in her heart to slowly regain life and sprout new buds.
She knew who she was in the dreams. She also knew what such dreams foretold. She just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Her other self could already use her abilities unconsciously.
"So this is Shizuku's Beach House." She found a suitable vantage point and stood still. The image before her immediately overlapped with her memories. It was as if she had returned to the dormitory, spending a quiet moment playing a visual novel while her roommates were away.
She spotted something on a table and walked over. It was three dolls lined up side by side: a duck, a teddy bear, and a calf. Her gaze swept over them, lingering a little longer on the teddy bear. She picked up all three dolls and returned to the doorway.
"Could you please pretend that I built this house and go about your business? As for my own problem, let me figure it out myself first." She made the request sincerely.
The personality switches that had appeared from time to time before had only caused minor trouble. But now that her other personality could use her abilities unconsciously, the problem had become serious. It was the same principle as the psychic entity on the track next door. At present, she had only created a wooden house. What about later? Could she suddenly produce a car on the hot-air balloon? They had to solve this problem quickly.
But this matter was different from the others. Shiko had to resolve it herself. Only Nijika, Ako, and Rinko were present. Making everyone else worry about it would be meaningless.
After some hesitation, the three of them nodded.
"If there's a problem, just tell everyone directly," Nijika said.
At that moment, the others also gathered around.
Shiko smiled faintly. She took the calf from her arms and changed to a gentle voice. "Then, the Beach House is open for business. Today only."
Shiko didn't leave the Beach House all day. She prepared curry in the kitchen with Nijika, forcibly naming the fish-based creation "Chicken White Sauce Curry." The others curiously entered the Beach House and ultimately enjoyed a nostalgic, filling meal surrounded by the atmosphere of civilization.
Before you continue