"W-where did that come from!? And why do you have something like that!?" Riveria yelled in shock.
"Is that important?"
"It is!"
"Well, whatever," Kisuke just shrugged his shoulders, "In any case, if it's this swimsuit, you'd be able to wear it, right?"
Riveria couldn't help but take a step back, "T-that..."
With a big grin, Kisuke pushed more, "It's not about you being a High Elf nor Royalty, right?"
Giving him another glare, Riveria muttered, "You bastard... You were hoping for this."
"I have no clue what you're talking about, but I can assure you that these are brand new, so you shouldn't worry about anything regarding that."
"That's not the problem!"
"Geez, you've too many issues. And here I am, helping you out of goodwill."
"Guh...," Riveria closed her eyes in frustration, but after silently grunting, she opened them back up and said, "Fine! Give it to me!" Since the ship had sailed, Riveria didn't argue uselessly with him anymore.
Grabbing the swimsuit from Kisuke's hands, Riveria went towards the deeper part of the forest, however, before she fully stepped into it, she turned her head towards him, "Don't you dare peek."
With a smile, Kisuke answered, "I won't~."
Sighing, Riveria went on her way.
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It had been more than 15 minutes ever since Riveria started changing into the simple bikini, however, Kisuke didn't become impatient and waited silently for her from a distance.
It was then that he heard some rustling among the foliage and turned back to see Riveria emerging, "Welcome back~ Took you a while, huh?"
"S-shut it... This is the first time I've put on something like this," Coming out of hiding, Riveria revealed herself to Kisuke. As this was the first time she'd shown this much skin to the opposite gender, she couldn't stop her face from heating up. It's really too unfortunate that it was this hooligan who was the first man to see her like this. And despite her best efforts, she couldn't seem to calm herself down right now.
Kisuke, meanwhile, just silently looked at her while thinking about something. Extremely bothered by his stare, Riveria asked while using her arms to cover her chest and belly button, "W-what is it? Is there a problem? I knew it, it's not suited for someone like me."
"Ah, no. It's not about that. I'm just thinking of something. Mind lending me your hair tie?"
Riveria was confused but she complied. Removing her hair tie released her long green hair. Receiving her golden hair tie, Kisuke took out a transparent short white cardigan and a matching waistcloth and passed it to her.
"What's this?"
"A cardigan and a waistcloth. Try putting them over your swimsuit. It should alleviate some of your uneasiness."
Riveria thought for a bit before putting it on. Although it's transparent and everyone could still see the swimsuit underneath, it comforted Riveria with the much-needed hug of clothes, "...Thanks."
Kisuke nodded and said, "Uh-huh, you look great~!"
"Wha-!?... R-really?" But realizing her reaction just now, Riveria's face flushed even more, and she tried to brush it off with a feigned cough, "Ehem... Please do not tease me."
Chuckling, Kisuke took out another thing from his inventory, "I'm not teasing you this time. It's just my honest opinion. Here, put this on as a finishing touch." He then placed a wide floppy straw hat with a matching light-green ribbon on top of her head.
Riveria could only stay quiet and bite her lips as Kisuke placed the hat on her head. She then tried to hide her face using the brim of said hat.
Kisuke then turned towards the direction where everyone else was playing and said, "Now that you're ready, let's go to where everyone is."
"...Right," Riveria followed behind him.
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Since Kisuke was taking so long, the others decided to play among themselves. While the Hiryute sisters decided to swim with all their might since they wanted to move with their new level, the others were more interested in the beach volleyball that the sisters were playing.
Anakitty and four others had learned how to play it and started a match while the others joined the Hiryute sisters to play in the water.
Since she kept looking her way, Lefiya noticed that Ais was just sitting on the sand enjoying the sea breeze, "Ais-san! Would you like to go swimming with me?"
However, contrary to her expectations, Ais hurriedly backed off, "Um... I-I'm fine... really..."
"?" Lefiya was confused by her reaction and Loki suddenly appeared beside them, "What's up, Ais-tan? Don't tell me ya still can't swim?"
Ais was startled, but she still didn't move from her position, nor deny Loki's claim.
"Eh?" Lefiya questioned Loki's claims, "No way. I didn't imagine Ais-san of all people being the only one that can't swim..."
But thanks to the unreasonable expectations, Ais started panicking. It was then that Lefiya realized that Loki was saying the truth, '...Amazing... She's really distressed!'
Giving up, Ais came clean to everyone with a deadpan expression, "...When I try to swim, I only... sink..."
The others who were playing beach volleyball stopped what they were doing and reacted, "That... That can't be true right?"
Everyone from the Hestia Familia, especially Sona, Koneko and Aika were amazed at this new information, "That's really surprising. Who would have thought that one of the top Adventurers of Orario didn't know how to swim? Isn't it too dangerous for you to go through the Water City?" asked Sona.
"I can just jump from platform to platform."
Tiona then raised her hand and said, "How about I teach you how to swim?"
"Ah, that's a good idea. It's also a good opportunity," Tione pitched in.
After some hesitation, Ais nodded and agreed, "O-okay..."
Since they were interested, everyone from the Loki Familia also went towards the shallow part of the beach where she'd receive her teachings. Sona, Aika, Koneko and Yoruichi were also a bit interested so they followed to watch while the people left looked after Ophis and Claire, who were now building a sandcastle.
Wanting to test her current skills, Tiona asked Ais to swim by herself first to gauge her. However, it didn't go well because as soon as she went into the deeper parts, she immediately sank without a trace and had to be saved.
Seeing this, Loki finally realized it, "It's no use! The trauma from Riveria's special training is rooted too deep..."
"What did Riveria-sama do to her!?" asked Alicia in surprise.
But instead of answering, Loki wondered and turned towards the direction where Riveria was hiding, "Now that I think about it, where's Rive...ria?"
Wondering why Loki's voice trailed at the end of her question, Alicia also looked in the same direction and saw two people coming over. However, what caught her attention was the woman who was hiding her face behind Kisuke, "...That is..."
"Heya~ What're you all up to?" Kisuke caught everyone's attention and their sights inevitably moved towards the woman behind him.
"Who's that?" Tiona asked in genuine curiosity.
However, the waving green hair was a dead give away to the other girls, but they couldn't be so sure due to the atmosphere around her, "Riveria-sama?" Lefiya asked.
Instead of the strict and sharp aura that Riveria usually had, the woman behind Kisuke was emanating a very feminine aura. A shy girl in the middle of the beach.
Lifting her hat, Riveria revealed her slightly flushed face, "...What?"
Everyone froze and almost couldn't recognize her.
However, just as Kisuke had expected, it was Loki who recovered first and reacted, "I didn't know you had such a cute side in you!" She then jumped at her while shouting, "Screw reason! Prepare yourself, Riveria!"
Nevertheless, Loki only received a punch in the face from Riveria, "Get away from me."