It was just another day of playing around in the lab when the door swung open with a bang, and a woman with white hair rushed in.
“Levitan is back!”
~Back-! Back-! Back-!
After passionately singing about her return for a bit, Levitan jumped right onto my body, which was sprawled on the sofa, and lay down on top of me.
“Oof-!”
“Hey there! Long time no see!”
“…Levitan, you’re heavy.”
“It’s the weight of love-!”
“I’m telling you, it’s heavy…!”
Once I kicked and pushed Levitan off me, I could finally breathe. I glared at her as she pouted, clearly upset about being pushed away. Honestly, I had removed all her unnecessary muscles during her treatment, so she shouldn’t be that heavy compared to an average adult woman…
But for some reason, it felt like she was gaining weight every single day. Was her body reverting to beastkin every time she used the genetic sphere? Further testing was definitely needed.
“So? Where’ve you been all this time?”
“Huh? I just quit my job and came back.”
“Quit?”
“Yup! Levitan- I’m a cop, you know? Cops are public servants too, so we can’t just quit on a whim… I had to wrap up my work, hand over everything, and write up confidentiality contracts and all that. Finished all that and then came here!”
“Even so, you were gone for a pretty long time.”
At my remark, Levitan blushed and shot a sly glance at me.
“Ugh- right when I wrapped everything up, I got into heat…”
“…What? You mean, heat?”
“If I had met you back then, you would have already been a baby daddy! That’s why I avoided you and went elsewhere!”
“No, people don’t have heat, do they…? Did something go wrong with my experiment?”
“Dunno-? After that, I was busy with my period.”
Since it was her first time experiencing a period in her life, she muttered about how tough it was. I was left speechless, not knowing what to say. It was a thoroughly awkward conversation for a guy to chip in.
Of course, there was something even more pressing than that. The heat. The fact that Levitan, who had become human, still had that beastkin heat was really annoying.
‘Whether it’s a period or heat, it’s still a hormonal reaction… Does this mean her brain still thinks she’s a beastkin and not a human?’
This was worth researching.
While it’s not like humans don’t have periods, none of them suffer to the extent that Levitan described as ‘hardship’.
In the midst of my contemplation about the additional experiments I would conduct on Levitan, she had somehow climbed up on the desk, crossing her legs in a seductive pose.
“In that sense, there’s something I want to do to celebrate Levitan’s quitting.”
“What is it?”
“The sea! I want to go to the sea! I’ve never been there while working!”
At that, I recalled Levitan’s background. She was born an orphan in City Z, lived as a test subject, and ever since escaping from there, she hadn’t left City E.
Both City Z and City E were inland areas, so she wouldn’t have had any chance to see the sea.
“Let’s go to the sea-!”
Thanks to Levitan’s passionate insistence, we ultimately decided to take a trip to the sea.
To Ocean City, known for its beaches.
It was the end of summer.
* * *
“Th-there’s the sea-!”
Ayle shouted, leaning her head out of the window.
Of course, after that one declaration, she shrank back into her shell like a turtle.
As she said, the vast sea sparkled a bright blue in the distance. An emerald-hued beach. The beach known to be the most beautiful in the world. The scenery of Ocean City grabbed my attention instantly.
It was easy to understand why this city was so famous just by glancing at it for a moment. Such a sea was hard to find even on Earth.
“Boss, is this really okay?”
“Hm- We can do work here too, so it’s fine. Besides, building cohesion within the organization is more important.”
“If that’s the case….”
Surprisingly, Regalia joined us on this company trip. What started as a celebration for Levitan’s resignation gradually ballooned into an evil organization vacation.
The boss said she couldn’t back out on a day like this and insisted on joining, even if it meant handling work remotely. Watching the boss work even after arriving at the vacation spot made me realize that staying attached to her was a very good choice.
‘If I had gone out on my own, I would have ended up like her….’
I felt grateful for staying as a scientist in the evil organization when our grand bus finally arrived in front of the hotel. As the executives disembarked the bus, a hotel employee approached us with a cheerful smile.
Seeing his smile, I wondered if he didn’t know our true identities or if he was just an extremely professional guy. After all, everyone here was high-risk villains treated as S or A rank by the Hero Association.
If he could smile like that even knowing who we were, his professionalism was outstanding, but normally, one wouldn’t know.
“─I will guide you inside.”
Following the hotel employee’s lead towards our respective rooms, we, as evil organization villains, promptly checked the security of our rooms first. After ensuring there were no hidden cameras, listening devices, or bombs, we set up additional security measures in each room with my safety devices and Arima’s magic.
“…We came all the way here, but it’s not a private room?”
“We can’t help it due to security, can we? If you don’t like it, you can share with Galm.”
“No, I think Arima would be better.”
Due to security concerns, we paired up as follows: Regalia and Vira, Ayle and Levitan, and finally, me and Arima. The beastkin, who would probably be fine on their own, was told to take a room by themselves.
Thus, we each packed our swimsuits and headed towards the emerald beach of Ocean City. True to its reputation as a famous tourist destination, it was already packed with people.
Perhaps among those people, there might be villains like us. Vira, dressed in her rash guard, was darting her eyes around.
“Hey, A-!”
“W-what is it, Scientist…?”
As we were setting up our parasol and chairs on the beach, Levitan and Ayle, who had changed into their swimsuits, cautiously approached us. Wearing a pure white bikini and a jet-black one-piece swimsuit, the two had an extraordinary figure, drawing everyone’s attention.
“You both look great!”
“Really-!?”
“Do you really mean it…?”
“Of course! Guys will totally fall for you.”
Receiving those compliments, the two of them were unusually giggly and promptly urged me to jump into the sea with them. I pointed to the parasol and sunbed I was still setting up and said I’d go in later.
They said to come later and then jumped straight into the sea. The fact that Ayle, who generally dislikes sunny spots, was acting that way shows just how alluring this sea was.
After setting up all the sunbeds and comfortably lying under the shade, Regalia naturally settled down next to me and started fiddling with her pad.
“Aren’t you going to join them?”
“What about you, Boss?”
“I still have quite a bit of work left to do….”
“Then I’ll take the role of watching over you.”
“Haha- you, watching over me? Now that’s reassuring.”
As the weakest of the evil organization bantered with the second weakest, we were enjoying the sea breeze when Galm, soaking wet, trudged over from a distance.
He walked all the way over just to shake off the water and smacked his lips, grimacing slightly.
“The water tastes strange.”
“…Well, it’s the ocean. Haven’t you seen the sea before, Galm?”
“Of course, I have. But that’s not what I mean. Just go try and taste it.”
“Huh? What do you—oh, oh no-?!”
Saying that, Galm picked me up and walked me towards the sea. My body was firmly held in his thick, adult male arms, and there was no escaping his grip. In the end, I was unceremoniously dunked into the seawater before being released.
As I surfaced after being forcibly dunked, I oddly found the taste of the seawater wasn’t bad and looked up at Galm in confusion.
“Why? Isn’t it decent?”
“Decent? This?”
“Yeah. It doesn’t seem that polluted….”
Seawater that wouldn’t upset a person’s stomach? How clean could this water be? It must be managed by the city itself.
However, hearing my words, Galm looked down at me in disbelief.
“What on earth… It’s common sense that it shouldn’t be polluted at all.”
“Really? Pollution due to scientific advancement is an unavoidable issue, isn’t it?”
“…?”
“?”
We looked at each other, tilting our heads in confusion.
