章 32: A Little Detour

I'll be honest with you, the following is not an imagination nor a hallucination, even more, just a dream.

We all arrived on a southern tropical island in Palawan Island, Philippines. How'd we end up here is not what most people would plan to go on vacation, although you might never think of it as real these kinds of scenes seem to drift through one's mind:

swimsuits, a beautiful ocean, coconuts, tribal dances, etc. This is what paradise should be about.

The members of the 'Mangaka Club', ended up here for one reason and that is,

Back at the studio where the mangaka club is temporarily making their manga,

"Something bothers, I can't seem to find a perfect reference to make it." I, Kenji Yoshikawa am struggling to find the perfect scene reference.

"Kenji, Oy, Kenji, what's wrong, you have been staring at the ceiling for an hour already." Nagi wonders why I am spaced out.

I guess I have no choice but to ask the girls, my dignity, my pride, I'm sorry!

"Everyone, first I would like to apologize."

Everyone stared at me surprised.

Bowing deeply, I took a deep breath and said, "Girls, I'm really sorry! WILL YOU WEAR A SWIMSUIT IN THE STUDIO FOR A REFERENCE!"

"WHAT THE HELL!" Everyone synchronically replied,

Hanako smugs, "Ho! You blatantly asking us to wear a swimsuit, and cheating right upfront your girlfriend."

Fumi still in shock, "K-Kenji, you can just ask me if you can't hold your urges anymore!"

"WHAT?" The girls were outplayed by Fumi's positivity and willingness.

Yasuyuki stood up as if he found a golden egg, "I have an idea since we are talking about a beach scene here in the manga, and I understand Kenji's reason."

"So you mean?" Nami inquired,

"Yeah, exactly….He means let's go for a beach outing for a scenery reference." Kozue replied and took a sip of her freshly brewed coffee.

"So, what's your opinion? Should we go?" Yasuyuki asks.

"Well I could use some fresh air, I'm also quite in a cage of my imaginations." Nami approves the idea.

And so we set out for the beach outing, that's the reason we ended up here today.

Back to the present at the beach,

As I lay on a beach chair enjoying the sun, my attention turned toward the sandy beach.

A middle school girl happily building a sandcastle. The girl who looks to be about twelve; the one with red eyes, red hair, and a school swimsuit; is Kanna Yoshikawa. She really looks so young, like she is someone's little sister who got tagged along to go with their sibling, as you can see, she really is a loli. Kanna is my, Kenji Yoshikawa's, blood-related little sister.

"Kenji, would you like some juice?" I looked to my side and to the person talking to me.

The person is wearing a cute, two-piece pareo-style swimsuit. In the person's hand is a very tropical-looking glass of juice with decorative fruit. This cute girl with a very gentle smile on her face is Fumi Sugawara, I met her in some sort of awkward situation on the very first day of school when she dragged me all through the school without her noticing it, and she started the mangaka club, also she became my girlfriend without me realizing it.

"Ah, thanks." I accepted the glass of juice from her and started drinking from it.

Lying on a chair not far from me is a girl wearing glasses. On one hand, she has a drink and on the other is the book she's reading a BL doujin featuring Shoya Rotodoki and Izuno Mirodiya of MY HERO ACADEMY... This girl, with her ponytail and one-piece swimsuit, is Hanako Enomoto.

"Ahaha, take this!"

"Kyaa, it's cold!"

At the edge of the sea, two girls are happily splashing water at one another.

The girl with the beautiful patterned bikini, light eyes, grey hair, and a great body is Nami Mabeyoshi.

Her companion is the sharp-eyed, grey-haired girl, Nagi Mabeyoshi her twin sister.

Nagi's swimsuit is, how should I put it… It's something that you could never imagine seeing on the beach out of the ordinary. Her whole body is shining with glitters on her swimsuit. The sight of twin sisters playing and laughing together could be a scene on a canvas! Looking at it is enough to make your heart pump faster.

On the shoreline, is a girl beating up a boy for ogling too much at other girls on the beach is Kozue Aoyama with green short hair, flat-chested, oh forget I said that… and small in stature and the boy is her boyfriend, my childhood friend, blue long samurai styled hair, physically fit, is Yasuyuki Okamura, well he deserves a beating, not just today, but every day, for being a son of politicians he is quite a wild child.

Lunch break,

"Aren't things starting to get tough? You might want to surrender now; it's for your own good, Kozue…" Nagi Mabeyoshi said with bloodshot eyes.

"Fufufu… It should be you who's about to give up, right? You're already choking." Nami Mabeyoshi is as excited as Nagi.

Crazy smiles appeared on both of their faces. Suddenly both of them launched their chopsticks into the bubbling hotpot, simultaneously snatching unknown meat out of the pot.

They immediately stuffed the 'meat' into their mouths.

"Ugh… Delicious!"

"Guh…Superb"

It looks like both of them evaded successfully; they yelled on the verge of a breakdown.

"Ga gah gah, so spicy, gah!" Nagi clutched her throat with a pained expression.

"Uuh… Uuuuuuh… spicy… nom… my mouth feels so tingly. My throat, it feels like it's burning… ugh…" Nami's eyes rolled up into the back of her head while tears streamed down her face like waterfalls.

All this happened in this small, beautifully furnished, western-style cottage. All seven of us were sitting around the small round table in the center of the room. In the middle of the table was a pot.

"I thought you can handle much spicy so I added extra spice." Kozue crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows while looking at the twins in despair.

To my right is Fumi, and to my left is a loli which my little sister Kanna. They're both have collapsed on the floor together. They both have odd, expressions on their faces and are murmuring to themselves as if they're in the middle of an inescapable nightmare.

Yasuyuki was silently moving his chopsticks back and forth. Even though the motion didn't stop, he was no longer grabbing food from the pot. Yasuyuki's eyes were all white; he was dead.

"Yasuyuki… I wish you to rest in peace, my childhood friend…" I whispered sadly.

"Here Kenji, you eat some as well…" Passing a bowl of rice to me is Kozue with fire in her eyes.

Yes, indeed this was a massacre in the making, not the ideal scenery we wanted to be in the manga.

"Fufufu… hurry up and eat." Kozue with insanity clouding her eyes said this to me.

I looked back at everyone, cold sweat dripped from my head down to my neck, cold air brought chills down my spine, So I, with a defeated look, lowered the ends of my chopsticks into the bubbling pot.

"Hey, are you sure no poison was added…?"

"Good luck." Hanako lying down on the floor slowly taking in deep breaths replied.

"Hurry up and take a bite, there is nothing strange about this food right everyone?"

Everyone looked like kittens cornered in fear.

I took a bite, "The meat was delicious, stringy, and juicy." I said to myself, now for the soup, "All kinds of spice are in here, it's not that bad. It is just too spicy, I can handle this." I grabbed again and again, emptying the pot.

Kozue in her surprise, "We got a winner!"

Nagi grabbed my arms and raised them, "Congratulations!"

So how did we end up in such a state? Here is why,

The idea started a few hours ago.

Nagi said that she wanted to have a hotpot party with all of us in the mangaka club.

Coincidentally Hanako saw the idea great and commented that "eating a hotpot together is perfect right now for our situation and would be a great addition to the scene."

We all agreed.

When we were deciding what sort of hotpot we should make, Kozue said "a little spicy hotpot is good."

"A little, are you joking? Make it extra spicy!" Nagi commented and suggested.

"Sure you can handle much spice?" Kozue asked for confirmation.

"Yes, we can!" Hanako replied.

And that's how we got here, the end result was a massacre with me the sole survivor, and the chef who made it.