In a corner of the dressing room, there was a child who sighed as if the world was ending.
“Haaah…”
It was Luke.
It was already an unknown number of sighs.
It wasn’t because changing into a swimsuit was difficult.
Well, after all, Luke was already wearing a swimsuit.
But the problem was that the swimsuit, according to Luke’s standard, wasn’t serving its purpose at all.
When choosing the swimsuit, one had to trust Sorbi’s words.
Instead of picking something haphazardly under the excuse of it being tough, one had to be a little more careful until the very end.
“I really have to go out like this…”
In the mirror was a girl wearing an outfit utterly unsuitable for a child, looking infinitely embarrassed in such an indecent (?) attire.
And above all, the most troubling part was that the reflection in the mirror was none other than Luke Irushi herself.
Luke muttered while pulling on the frill covering the tail.
“Isn’t it too short…?”
The frills, which were not a skirt to cover the body but merely served a decorative role, were naturally far too short to hide the tail or the rear.
Moreover, even if she tried hard to pull down the frills, they would simply ride back up along the thick reptilian form of Luke’s tail.
Since she was already sensitive about having a tail thicker than others, Luke preferred to cover it up when it wasn’t hot.
However, being in a state of complete exposure made her feel truly mortified.
No matter how one looked at it, it resembled underwear, as she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.
Moreover, there was nothing to cover her navel at all.
It was indeed a level slightly better than wearing nothing at all.
Five thousand years ago, this wouldn’t have been an outfit to wear outside.
But now, one couldn’t deny the fact that it was common culture, as she had seen countless people at the beach exposing their navels and enjoying the sun without a care.
Logically, she thought it wasn’t a problem, but something unknown within Luke kept asking, “Is that really right?”
Luke closed her eyes for a moment, lost in thought.
A mage is a rational being; there’s no shame in exposing the body if necessary.
So why was she feeling shy?
If so, when her past self was in such a situation, could she have really displayed such a form without a care?
Of course, she wouldn’t have.
Because there would have been no need to do so “at all.”
An unavoidable situation?
Hah.
There weren’t many beings who could impose such a situation on her past self.
If there had been someone to bring up such a suggestion, Luke would have chosen to use a few spells to instantly burn them away; she would never have chosen to comply with that suggestion.
“If so, it’s explainable why I feel shame now.”
Right now, she was truly ashamed of her “weakness!”
Feeling ashamed of her weakened self was by no means a wrong thing.
Realizing one’s true weakness is the driving force towards growth.
If being ashamed of her weakness, then all she had to do was become stronger.
Thus, Luke concluded for herself while looking down at her fist.
She would definitely become a great mage.
One who had nothing to be ashamed of and was never forced into any situation.
“Luke, what were you just doing?”
“Yah!”
When she turned her head, Yerna was looking at her with a wonderfully joyful smile.
————–
Yerna, who had been waiting at the exit of the dressing room, began to worry.
“Luke isn’t coming out.”
At first, she thought it was understandable that Luke would want to change alone in a corner because she was embarrassed, but no matter how long she waited, Luke did not come out.
Luke still had her identity as Luke Irushi, and it wasn’t just embarrassment; she also thought it was rude to look at other girls’ naked bodies.
Yerna folded her arms and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall in the dressing room.
Plenty of time had passed.
There was no reason for Luke to take this long just to change clothes.
“Diana and Pyris must have already changed and are waiting outside.”
What if she had fallen somewhere?
With that worry in mind, Yerna ultimately pulled herself away from the wall she was leaning against and began searching for Luke.
“Lu, where are you?”
The dressing room was quite spacious, but she was able to find Luke quickly.
In a more sparsely populated corner, a child was clenching her fist, staring at her reflection in the mirror.
Luke seemed to be trying to muster some courage for herself.
It was so cute that Yerna wanted to talk to her right away.
“Luke, what are you doing right now?”
“Yah!”
Surprised, Luke’s tail, shoulders, and ears perked up in alarm.
“Uh, uh, it’s nothing!”
Seeing her stammer made it clear that she was quite startled.
She was even unable to make eye contact.
This fresh, childish reaction from Luke, who usually acted so maturely, made Yerna’s lips curl up in delight.
Of course, it was only natural that she would feel shy wearing a swimsuit for the first time.
Still, Yerna never expected her to be this shy.
Yerna looked at Luke and said, “Are you really that embarrassed?”
“…”
Luke nodded silently.
——
Soon, Luke arrived right in front of the dressing room exit.
As she reached there, she felt tremendous tension at the thought that in just a few steps she would go outside, completely exposed to the many gazes.
Above all, it was the thought of exposing her navel to so many people that was the hardest to endure.
Seeing Luke was holding her stomach with her hand, seemingly at a loss, Yerna asked worriedly, “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Does your stomach hurt?”
Luke quietly shook her head.
But still, her hand holding her stomach did not go down.
There definitely seemed to be some reason.
“Then why are you holding your stomach like that?”
“Well, it’s….”
Luke hesitated to continue.
“This swimsuit, it’s embarrassing because my navel is showing…”
“Navel?”
Ah, it seems Luke is embarrassed about her navel being seen by others.
Is it a physical complex?
But Yerna didn’t think Luke’s navel looked particularly unattractive.
If anything, it was quite cute.
Yerna held Luke’s hand and encouraged her, continuing to say words of support.
“It’s okay, Lu. Your navel isn’t strange at all! It’s pretty and cute! So have some confidence!”
Yerna even made a fist as she cheered for Luke, but hearing those words didn’t bring Luke any courage.
“…”
Even being complimented about her navel didn’t make her happy at all.
Pretty and cute?
What kind of praise was that?
The words Yerna offered to boost her morale felt more like harassment to Luke.
Thus, she couldn’t even reply with a “Thank you” that was typical in response to compliments.
Because she didn’t feel particularly grateful.
How could she lie about something like this?
As a result, Luke’s cheeks flushed even more, and her ears drooped further.
Though only a little, she felt tears welling up.
Fortunately, the Circle was weak enough that even though her mana was raging like a mad horse, she could stabilize it quickly.
Luke focused on stabilizing her Circle as she thought.
Really, do people in this era think nothing of the navel?
However, explaining to Yerna what her navel meant to her wasn’t a pleasant task either.
Especially since Yerna was currently wearing an outfit that exposed her navel as well.
In fact, not just her, most people were doing so.
That made it even harder to bring it up.
No matter how much she elaborated, it would only seem like she was the one with the strange sexual preference.
Luke simply stared at her toes with a perplexed expression.
Before she knew it, they had reached the outside, and the golden sand began to show beneath her sandals. At that moment, Luke suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Truly, this was her limit.
“Hey, I really don’t think I can go any further. This is nothing like me… Can’t I learn to swim later?”
“It’s fine, you really look good, and no one will think it’s strange! Let’s hurry, everyone is waiting for you outside.”
“But…”
Luke’s toes were squirming beyond the sandals.
Her tail was sadly swaying too.
How much was she tensed up?
Yerna sat down in front of Luke, holding her hands together, and adjusted their eye levels as she said.
“Is it really that tough? Should we skip swimming then?”
Meanwhile, Luke, who had lost the hand that could cover her navel and was extremely tense, couldn’t even meet Yerna’s worried gaze.
“Um, Yerna. Really, I…”
Unable to articulate her thoughts properly and shaking her gaze all over the place, a lifeline appeared before Luke.
“Luke big sister! Look at this! With this, they say you can float even if you can’t swim!”
“What?”
Seeing Pyris fastening something around her waist, Luke’s eyes sharpened.
“Give that to me right now.”
