I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

We ended up swimming and playing in the sea for about another hour or two.

It felt like we crammed in all the water activities for the entire year into this one day.
There were a few moments—like when the class rep blushed after seeing my body—but that was entirely because she wasn’t used to seeing a guy’s physique.
When the others saw my body and reacted with things like “Wow! Ryu-chan! Your body’s amazing!”, the class rep muttered, “...Am I the weird one?” and let it go.

The tanned foreign ghost floating behind Ryuji’s back commented, “Truly, a body sculpted by the gods,” in a cheesy voice, but still.
Once we came ashore again, we gathered around the parasol and let the cool sea breeze wash over us.
“Ah~ this is the life~”

“Japan’s beaches really are nice,” said Sasha.
Yaguchi tilted her head and asked curiously, “Are Russian beaches different?”
Sasha nodded.

“I was born in Vladivostok, a port city. One of the few ice-free ports in Russia. But unlike here, the water temperature is freezing cold. You’d never dream of jumping into the sea like this back home.”
“Ah…”
Yaguchi nodded, looking enlightened.

It made sense that people from different places would have different ideas of what ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) “the sea” means.
That’s when Ryuji, sipping water, spoke up.
“But shouldn’t Satoru be back by now?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, what’s taking him so long?”
It’s not like he planned to flirt with girls all day, but it had been hours without a single sign of him.
Just as the mood was shifting toward genuine concern—

“Hey guuuys~!”
We heard Satoru’s voice from afar.
Relieved that we’d worried for nothing, I turned to look—and blinked in disbelief.
Because walking next to him were three women who all looked like full-grown adults.

I stared at him, wondering what the hell happened, and Satoru winked at me with a smile.
It looked like some kind of signal.
I asked Ryuji beside me, “Did you know anything about this?”

“Nope.”
Ryuji seemed just as clueless.
Soon, Satoru reached our parasol and said cheerfully,

“Ladies! These are my friends!”
“Oh my, they’re all so handsome.”
“They look way better in person than in the photos.”

“Look at those bursting muscles!”
Caught off guard by the sudden compliments, we thanked them politely but kept glancing at Satoru like, what the hell is this?
Satoru came over grinning, pulled me and Ryuji aside, and whispered,

“Guys, please help me out. It took me hours to finally charm these ladies, but they said if the numbers don’t match, they’ll go hang out with someone else.”
“Right now? At this timing?”
The way the girls under the parasol were staring at us... yeah, this was definitely a poisoned chalice.

But Satoru looked desperate in his own way.
“I just… I wanted to make some unforgettable memories this summer! Please, help me out!”
My eyes met Ryuji’s.

What do we do?
I think we should help, at least for now.
What about the girls?

We’ll just explain things honestly, right?
That was the conclusion we came to. So Ryuji and I told Satoru and the college girls to wait a moment, then went to explain the situation to the girls under the parasol.
As expected, the mood immediately turned cold.

“Hee~ So Ryu-chan wants to ditch us and hang out with some older ladies instead?”
“Kim Yu-seong. I’m disappointed. I didn’t think you’d actually say that out loud.”
“If you didn’t want to hang with us, you could’ve just said so. We would’ve stepped aside.”

“Haa, disappointing. I thought you were better than this.”
“Ryuji, you and I need to have a little ‘talk.’”
Yeah. Just as expected, public opinion was brutal.

No one’s going to take it well when their supposed buddy suddenly announces he’s ditching them for some random girls.
We reached the only possible conclusion.
Sorry, Satoru.

We wanted to help him with his love life, but the situation was just too far gone.
“Ah, sorry. It’s just that we came with a group, so it’s hard to split off right now.”
“Really sorry. Maybe next time, okay?”

“Wait, hey! Hold on a sec!”
Satoru looked at us with a desperate face, but the bus had already left.
The three college girls he’d barely managed to pick up glanced at each other, scoffed “Whatever,” and walked off without even a backward glance.

Having lost his last ray of hope, Satoru collapsed face-down in the sand and screamed.
“Did you really have to reject them that thoroughly?!”
Sorry, Satoru.

Let’s just hang out with the boys next time.
***
Thanks to cutting Satoru loose quickly, we managed to recover our reputations.

Of course, he got a bit sulky over it, but he’s a good guy—he’ll be fine after a quick apology.
After rinsing off the salt and sand at the showers, we regrouped in front of the beach house.
“So, what now?” Karen asked.

At that, the class rep checked the time on her phone.
“It’s 4:30 p.m. From what I remember, the swimsuit contest starts at 5:00 on the special beach stage.”
“Oh, that contest the shopkeeper mentioned earlier?”

“If we’ve got nothing else to do, want to check it out?”
As the class rep looked around at us, everyone nodded without objection.
We’d spent hours running around; now we just wanted to sit and chill.

Following her lead, we headed toward the special stage set up at the edge of the beach.
***
Maybe because the swimsuit contest was starting at 5:00, the area around the stage was already packed with people.

Still, local events like this are part of the charm of traveling.
Besides, the 100,000 yen prize for first place wasn’t exactly pocket change.
We found an open spot and sat down in a neat row.

The contest hadn’t started yet, so stage staff were still running around setting things up, carrying props and equipment.
Soon, the remaining empty seats filled in, and the stage crew quieted down. A man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and black sunglasses climbed on stage and shouted:
“Alright~! Thanks for waiting, everyone! The pride of Onjuku Beach! The 17-year tradition! The Onjuku Swimsuit Contest is about to begiiiin!!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fireworks shot up from the stage, and even the people who had been ignoring it stopped in their tracks and looked over.
“I’ll be your host today—comedian Saruyama! Let’s get this contest rolling and make sure everyone leaves with some good summer memories!”

With slick delivery, the host introduced the event and explained the rules.
“All participants will be wearing swimsuits. In the preliminaries, each gets about three minutes to appeal their charm. Based on audience reactions and the judges’ scores, we’ll pick finalists. From there, we’ll do interviews and a popularity vote to choose the ultimate winner!”
Not bad, considering it’s a contest that’s been running for 17 years.

Apparently, audience reactions matter more than judge scores.
Well, at least that means no one will accuse them of rigging the results.
“Now then, all contestants, please come up to the stage!”

At the host’s prompt, the swimsuit contestants waiting backstage began to appear one by one.
Surprisingly, there was no division between men’s and women’s categories—it was all lumped together.
Even Satoru, who’d been sulking all this time after his failed pickup attempt, brightened up visibly at the sight of the swimsuit-clad beauties.

Isn’t this just gonna funnel all the male votes to the female contestants?
Well, I’m sure the organizers knew what they were doing when they decided to make it co-ed.
We were checking out the lineup of contestants on stage when—

“And now, at this moment! We’ll be accepting on-the-spot participants!”
The audience started to murmur.
No one had expected that they’d take additional participants this late.

Karen crossed her arms and muttered, clearly unimpressed.
“Who’d sign up for something like that?”
The class rep nodded in agreement.

“Exactly.”
The MC had stepped off stage and was walking around the crowd.
“Anyone want to join in? We’re taking nominations too!”

The crowd watched, intrigued—but no one raised their hand.
Yeah, unless you’re a massive attention-seeker, no one’s going to volunteer with all eyes on them.
Or so I thought—

Suddenly, Sasha raised her hand high.
The MC didn’t miss a beat.
“Yes! The foreign beauty over there!”

He walked right up and offered her the mic.
“Are you interested in joining the contest?”
But Sasha shook her head firmly.

“Not me. I’m nominating this man.”
And then—her finger pointed straight at me.