“Haa… haa… where do you think you’re touching…”

Mina gasped painfully in bed, her face flushed, raising her voice in protest.

“Hmph, where’s your usual spirit now? See, you couldn’t resist much, so I’ve already finished unbuttoning your pajamas.”

Hayami-san, exuding a somewhat rough demeanor, pressed closer to Mina.

“No… it’s fine…”

“Be honest. It’s best to do this kind of thing between women.”

“Stop… you old hag…”

Mina, as usual, spewed insults, but her voice was weak, and her body barely resisted, contrary to her words.

As if her instincts or her body craved it, Mina had no choice but to accept what Hayami-san was offering.

(BEEP BEEP BEEP!)

“38.3°C… definitely a fever.”

Hayami-san murmured, looking at the thermometer she had placed under Mina’s arm.

“Ugh… I can handle a fever like this…”

Mina tried to stand up from the bed unsteadily, but she couldn’t muster the strength in her knees and couldn’t even rise from the bedside.

“My body is hot… but I’m cold…”

Though it was midsummer, Mina, shivering uncontrollably, reluctantly covered herself with the futon again.

“No cough or runny nose, just a fever and chills, and her skin is red and feels very hot. It’s likely severe sunburn.”

Hayami-san gave a quick diagnosis based on the symptoms, consulting a military medical diagnostic pocket manual.

“Mina, don’t push yourself.”

I crouched down by Mina’s bedside, looking at her face.

After measuring her temperature, buttoning her pajamas back up, and covering her with the futon, everyone gathered around Mina’s bed.

“Yeah… I did put on sunscreen properly yesterday…”

“Mina’s skin is lighter due to her foreign heritage. It seems the same sunscreen as everyone else wasn’t enough.”

“Ugh… I reapplied it every time I sweated…”

We underestimated the intense UV rays of Okinawa in midsummer…

During beach volleyball yesterday, we used stick-type sunscreen that was easy to reapply quickly, but Mina’s skin couldn’t withstand it.

“Treatment is a cold compress. If the ice pack feels too cold, a wet towel to cool the skin should help.”

Suo-senpai looked up sunburn treatments on his smartphone.

This means someone will need to nurse Mina, frequently changing the cold compress.

“I’ll take care of Kohou-san, so the rest of you can enjoy yourselves.”

Hayami-san was ready to fulfill her role as an advisor.

But I had an opinion on that matter.

“No, I’ll take care of Mina. I am the club president, after all.”

“What!? But…”

“If you, the only one who can drive, stay to nurse Mina, it’ll restrict everyone’s activities. Today was originally planned for free time, so please handle the transportation for everyone, Hayami-sensei.”

“Understood…”

Though a bit reluctant, Hayami-san agreed to let me nurse Mina, as my reasoning was sound.

“Thanks, Kamiya.”

“Suo-san and Marin-chan, you were planning to shop on Kokusai Street, right? Buy a souvenir for me too.”

“Got it, leave it to me.”

Beside the apologetic Suo-san, Marin-chan thumped her chest, accepting the task of buying my souvenir.

“Yuu, please take care of Kohou-senpai.”

“Kotomi, where were you planning to go?”

“I was going to shop on Kokusai Street too, but Dr. Kirigaya called me, so I have to go to the Soul Armor Research Institute…”

“Oh, it’s rare for Dr. Kirigaya to contact you directly. Kotomi, she really likes you, huh? But are you okay going alone?”

“Yeah, I’m a bit nervous, but… the message said, ‘It’s related to Soul Armor technology secrets, so come alone… guhihi…’ so…”

Kotomi showed me the message on her smartphone with a weary expression. Seeing it in text, Dr. Kirigaya’s tone was overwhelming.

Natori, the clerk, must have great patience.

“Hayami-sensei, you’ve been driving a lot during this trip, so why not take some time to relax alone in Okinawa?”

“That’s true… I have a good friend stationed at the Okinawa base, so I might visit them after dropping everyone off.”

Military personnel, especially officers, have peers scattered across the country and even the world. Okinawa, being close to national borders, has many bases, so Hayami-san likely knows quite a few people there.

“Okay, but since you’ll be picking us up, no drinking today, alright?”

“Y-yes… probably…”

“”””Probably!?””””

Why can’t she confidently say she won’t drink!? Everyone was exasperated.

“If you cover our taxi fare back, feel free to drink all you want. We don’t mind, right? Brother.”

“Three taxis for me, Marin, and Hinoura. It’ll cost about 20,000 yen in total.”

“Thanks for the realistic calculation… I’ll keep that in mind.”

Realizing further expenses would be tough on her wallet, Hayami-san deflated.

Seeing this, everyone smiled a bit, lifting the previously gloomy mood.

“Alright, those going out, let’s meet in front of the Shisa statue at the Kokusai Street monorail station at 17:00 as planned… huh? Game night tonight?”

“Uh… it’s the last night in Okinawa, so I thought we could have a card game night…”

The shy Mina, who proposed the idea, blushed, not from sunburn, and hid her face under the futon.

“Okay, then let’s be punctual for the game night. Everyone dismissed to prepare.”

“”””Understood, President!””””

Everyone saluted and left the women’s bedroom where Mina and I were.

“Yuu-kun… I’m sorry…”

Mina, weakly apologizing with her face covered up to her mouth by the futon, looked more blurred and droopy-eyed than usual, likely due to the fever.

“Relaxing in a pension is also a good vacation.”

When I gently stroked Mina’s forehead, she closed her eyes happily, soon falling asleep.

Now, I need to get a basin, water, and towels for the cold compress.

I headed to the laundry room to prepare.