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Chapter 114
Chapter 3 — Dry scrape, burn and perforate! • Episode 3–Rest — Pool ②
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
3.
After clearing the water athletics and joining Elephant-san and others, we headed next to a very large square pool with 50 meters on each side. The depth is not 50 meters, but it is so deep that two adult males standing side by side wouldn’t be able to stand on each other’s feet.
While I was reading the description of the pool, Elephant-san and Blade-san got in first, I didn’t get to read it all the way through because I was in a hurry to catch up with them, and apparently, it’s not only wide and deep, but also generates waves at regular intervals.
「I can’t reach my legs at all…」
I grab the edge of the pool and enter the water and try to stretch my legs down to the very edge, but I don’t feel like I’m reaching the bottom at all.
Now that I mention it, I have only been in a pool in elementary and middle school. And that is of course something I can get my feet on, and this is the first time I’ve been in a pool with a bottom deeper than my height. So what I am trying to say is that I don’t know how to swim.
I can do backstroke and doggy paddle by imitation, but I don’t know how to stop and float on the spot or how to swim in such a way that I can float back up after sinking.
I had never thought about that before, so I was completely unaware of it until the moment it happened. I might want to go up once and borrow a floatation device.
「Hmm? Syl-chan, are you perhaps can’t swim?」
「…Yes.」
Press-san, who was reading the description of the pool alongside me, was late along with me and swam slowly toward Elephant-san. But it seems she turned back when she saw that I wasn’t moving from the edge of the pool for any length of time.
「Okay, okay, I’ll carry you then!☆」
「No, I’ll use a floatation device so I’ll be fine.」
「Don’t be shy～! Besides, we seem to get along better this way, don’t we?」
「That may be true, but…」
I once turned down Press-san’s proposal, who was winking happily at me, but I couldn’t stubbornly object if she said it would be an effective way to show off our friendship, and in the end I gave in to her pushiness and pulled me along on her back to carry me.
…But, it’s not like we’re friends, it’s more like we’re parent and child. Am I being deceived?
『The water will rise soon! Please don’t get out of control!』
「…Floating water? This is a wave pool, right?」
「Ohh? You read the description, right? Every 30 minutes, the water in the pool floats in the shape of a ball, and then it falls down and becomes a wave.」
「I couldn’t read it all the way through. But how can water float like that?」
「Of course it’s magic. This is a magic pool in the Magical World, so it’s not a big deal, is it?」
That being said, it is indeed true. Maybe I was a little biased because the first thing I saw when I came to this pool was the big water slide, and the first thing I played with was the water athletic, all of which could have been in real life. In the Magical World, it is only natural that there would be attractions and services that would not be possible in a normal world.
When you think about it, the benefits for Magical Girls may be very generous, after all. As long as you can ignore the fact that you are risking your life, you will receive a high reward, and you can also receive special services only available to Magical Girls like this. For a girl who became a Magical Girl of my own volition, I think the balance of risk and return is balanced.
「Oh, it’s here, it’s here! We’re lucky～!」
「Eh!? Awawah, what is this!?」
As Press-san had said, large water balls began to float up all over the place, and at the same time, the surface of the water began to rise higher and higher, as if to lift us up.
「They said that there is magic in the water that floats up and takes the customers along with it.」
I understood it by listening to Press-san’s explanation and by the sight I could actually see. It wasn’t that the water level in the pool was rising, but that we were in a floating water ball.
「I–I didn’t heard anything about this!」
「What is that, are you scared, Syl-chan? You’re always flying, so you can afford this, can’t you?」
「That and this are two different things!!」
There’s no magic in this park, so there’s a big difference between flying under my own control and being forcibly hoisted to a great height!
「I told you don’t have to hold on so tight, I won’t drop you. Come on, it’s not scary, it’s not scary.」
「Are you not afraid of it, Press-san? You almost drowned in similar magic from back then…」
「Ahaha! I’ve already forgotten about that!」
I don’t think it’s something you can normally laugh off like that…
Does she have a hair on her heart…?
「Magic is amazing, isn’t it? Not only can you fight, but you can also do dreamy things like this. It’s a waste to just be afraid of it, I think.」
「…You’re positive.」
「I’m sure someone will give me a hard time about it! Like, “Don’t forget about it, use it in the future.”」
「Fufu, are you imitating Blade-san by any chance?」
I was caught off guard by Press-san, who suddenly changed her tone and voice and began to imitate someone else, and I couldn’t help but laugh a little.
「Ahaha, did I imitate her?」
「Totally.」
But I’m a little less scared now than I was earlier.
As I look around, I see sights that I couldn’t see if I were just in the pool normally. This is certainly fresh, and I thought for a minute that Press-san was right, that it would be a shame to just be scared.
『Let’s go with the falling water count then～! 3～ 2～ 1～ Zero～!!』
「Eh? Eh? Uwaaaaghhh!?」
「Hyahoooooh!!!」
A large amount of water was then poured into the pool, which caused a rough wave, causing it to squirm around a lot and nearly drown.
I knew it, I already had enough of magic pools!
4.
I wasn’t the only one who was exhausted by the wave pool, which was much rougher than I had expected, and Elephant-san and others also looked a little tired, so we took a short break and when we had recovered enough energy, we came to the big water slide.
There are still other attractions unique to the Magical World, but my body won’t be able to keep up with them if they continue like they did earlier. In this respect, water slides are a staple that can be found in all large swimming pools, so they should be safe and secure.
The entrance to the waterslide is located at the top of a flight of stairs, and there is an explanatory sign in the space before climbing the stairs. Glancing at it, it appears to be a two-person rubber boat ride that slides downhill.
Today, I could not stick to only Elephant-san because of the appeal of friendship among Magical Girls in Sakira Town, so I was paired with Blade-san and Press-san, but Elephant-san should be next in the order.
「What’s the matter, Sylph-chan? Are you not close to me?」
「That’s not true. Elephant-san, this water slide is for two people. Would you like to ride it with me?」
「Yeah! Of course, we can!」
As we were climbing the stairs, I casually positioned myself next to Elephant-san and succeeded in getting her to make an appointment.
「But it’s rare that Sylph-chan actively invites me out. Perhaps you were lonely?」
「N–Not really… just a little, bit.」
The slightly ridiculing smile seemed to prove that she thought of me as a friend from the bottom of her heart, and I was too embarrassed to deny it, so I ended up looking away and admitting it.
Because I can’t help it. It’s my first time to come to the pool with friends, and I couldn’t play with Elephant-san at all… How can I not be lonely like that? I want to play more with Elephant-san, too…
「Ugh, you’re so cute, Sylph-chan!! I wanted to play with you too—!」
「E–Elephant-san, you’re too close! Please stay away from me because they are watching us!」
Elephant-san was so moved that she hugged me, and then Blade-san, Press-san, and then the other Magical Girls saw it, I resisted out of embarrassment, but in the end Elephant-san kept her arm around me all the way to the entrance of the waterslide. I mean, we arrived at the entrance, received explanations and precautions from the attendant fairies, watched Blade-san and Press-san slide down ahead of us, and were stuck with them all the way until that moment when it was our turn.
「Elephant-san, it’s our turn now.」
「Then, Sylph-chan, can you go in front?」
「I’m smaller than you, and I’ll be fine.」
Finally, Elephant-san, who has finally moved away from me, sits behind the rubber boat, and I follow her to the front. I know it’s just an image, but in this kind of situation, the big guy is in the back and the small guy is in the front. If it were the other way around, the view of the person in the back would be blocked.
「The people in the back are a little too far to the edges～ Please sit a little closer to the front～」
「Oka—y.」
「!?」
The attendant fairy urged Elephant-san to shift her position a little forward, and as if in the process, she put her hands on my stomach and pulled me along with her.
But in this state, it just hit me right on the head! Uhh, it’s a very soft one, but…!
「This is good～ Well then, have a good ride～」
「Elephant-san! Ah, I’m hit! Please let go!」
「It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s not safe to leave, so I’m just gonna keep going.」
「Hey, wa——」
My protests were blown out of the water and I was rather hugged even tighter when we started to slide out. But I didn’t have time to complain about that anymore either.
「Ahahahaha! This feels good!」
「Whoa! We’re so fast!」
You can slide down steep slopes with splashes of water, go through a spiral staircase-like winding course, or sometimes swing from side to side like a pendulum on a wide course, I enjoyed myself so much with Elephant-san, cackling and shouting, that at the end we were thrown into the pool with such force that the boat tipped over.
When we managed to reach the edge of the pool, caught in a rubber boat, Blade-san and Press-san were waiting for us.
「That was so powerful.」
「Yeah, the course is quite long, and it’s like the Magical World, isn’t?」
「Ah, it was so fun! How was it, Sylph-chan?」
「C–Can we ride it, one more time… Is it not possible?」
Aside from the wave pool, the athletic activities on the water were fun, but the water slide was so pleasant and exhilarating that I almost became addicted to it. I should have innocently flirted with the idea of one more time like a child, but my pride got in the way, but I couldn’t resist the temptation, so I made such a request interruptedly out of embarrassment.
「Of cooouuurrsee, it’s fine!! Let’s go!! Sylph-chan!!」
「Ah, Elephant-san, it’s dangerous to run!」
It seems that Elephant-san felt the same way as I did, and she started running, more excited and excited than usual. I followed her, running after her.
「That was a little dangerous for me too～! Looking up at her with such a bashful face is against the rules, isn’t it?」
「…I guess it’s inevitable when she have Elephant by her side.」
「Nhn? What did you say?」
「No, it’s nothing. More importantly, do we need another ride too?」
「Oh, you’re in a good mood today. Shall we go, too?」
Blade-san and Press-san were talking about something in the back, but I was too focused on following Elephant-san to hear what they were saying.