I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

The next morning.
“Wait! Shinji! Where are we going?! Today’s schedule was clearly…!”
“Just come along and you’ll see.”

After breakfast, the Student Council President was dragged out of the mansion by the Vice President, still completely in the dark.
The place he took us to was the garage behind the mansion, and sitting inside the same four-seater buggy from yesterday was Minami, who raised her right hand slightly in greeting.
“Welcome, Young Miss.”

“Even you, Minami?! Seriously! This is totally different from what I was told!”
“Plans are meant to change, Young Miss.”
Spouting what sounded like a cool line, the Vice President opened the buggy door.

Anyway, since we’d come all the way out here, she probably couldn’t say no now—so even while grumbling, the Student Council President got into the back seat of the buggy.
“Kim Yu-seong, you get in the front… no, actually, take the back seat.”
The Vice President abruptly changed his words and, before I could even answer, hopped into the passenger seat himself.

With only one option left, I naturally ended up sitting next to the President.
“Sorry. It’s kind of cramped, right?”
Even though it was wide enough for two normal people to sit comfortably, once I sat down, it was basically full.

“N-no! It feels kind of human—cozy, even! It’s fine!”
Her shoulder nearly touching mine, the President flinched and blurted that out, then quickly urged Minami to get going.
Minami lowered the sunglasses perched on her head and replied:

“Then let’s depart.”
***
The four-seater buggy carried us over a rough mountain trail, finally arriving at the same carved-stone dock from yesterday.
Floating in the sea was a different yacht from the one we saw before.

“What’s this?”
The President stepped out of the military-green buggy and blinked like a startled rabbit. The Vice President adjusted his glasses with his middle finger and answered:
“Yesterday, the Young Miss looked disappointed for not getting to enjoy herself properly, so I asked Mr. Meguro to arrange this. It’s apparently used when people from the mansion need to urgently head to the mainland.”

“Shinji…”
The President looked at him with a touched expression.
“There’s no need for both of you to just stand there—hurry up and get on. The supplies are already loaded.”

Minami, barging in and completely shattering the sentimental mood, climbed onto the yacht moored in the bay with long strides.
It felt like her way of protesting.
Like: “Why am I not getting praised too?”
“Sh-should we?”

The President, cheeks slightly flushed, followed after Minami and boarded the yacht.
Watching them, the Vice President and I got on right after.
***

—Bwoooooong!
With the hum of the electric motor, the yacht sped across the water.
Since we were going for a boat ride anyway, the Vice President suggested we take it out to open sea, and so we steered it far away from the island.

For the record, Minami was steering the boat again.
“When did you even learn how to pilot a boat?”
“I got certified as a hobby a while ago.”

Minami answered as she opened her wallet and showed me something.
Clatter!
A cascade of various certificates unfurled from her wallet all the way to the floor.

After checking them myself, I realized that aside from a regular car license—since she wasn’t old enough yet—she basically had every other license imaginable.
The most eye-catching one was:
“You even have a small engine license?”

“My birthday just passed recently.”
Minami proudly lifted her chin as she answered.
“She’s been obsessed with vehicles ever since she was little. If the Young Miss hadn’t taken her in, she probably would’ve ended up in a biker gang. She even unintentionally rides bicycles like a maniac.”

Listening to the Vice President, I imagined Minami in a black sukeban uniform…
…It weirdly suits her.
While we were chatting, the President was enjoying the cool sea breeze and staring at the horizon when she suddenly shrieked.

“Kyaa!”
“What happened?!”
Startled, I rushed out, only to find the President pointing frantically with her right hand.

“O-over there just now!”
I turned my head toward the sea naturally.
All I saw was white foam.

“A dolphin!”
“A dolphin?!”
I shouted without thinking, and the Vice President, who had been inside the cabin, came bolting out.

“A dolphin? Where? Where is it?!”
Even the ever-serious Vice President couldn’t resist dolphins, apparently.
***

Following the President’s sighting, we adjusted our course.
We were now in the area where she claimed to have seen the dolphin.
But even though we arrived at the spot where the white foam had appeared, the dolphin was nowhere in sight.

“That’s strange? I definitely saw it…”
Muttering in frustration, the President furrowed her brow. Minami, who was out on the deck, shook her head.
“It probably swam off to avoid our boat. It can’t be helped.”

“Aaah! Dolphin!”
The Vice President, full of anticipation, called out loudly in disappointment, but the sea remained silent.
That’s what happens when you expect too much. You get let down.

If you’d been like me, with no expectations at all, you’d be fine.
Watching her cousin’s pathetic display, Minami finally had enough and folded her arms.
“Since we’re out here anyway, let’s fish. If there were dolphins around, it means there’s plenty of fish under the water too.”

“Ooh…”
Her logic was so compelling that I let out a little gasp of admiration.
Just then, the President timidly raised her right hand and asked:

“But Minami, I’ve never been fishing before.”
“That’s fine. Sea fishing is something you learn as you go.”
Now fully decked out in a red fishing vest, cap, and long rod, Minami opened an ice box she’d brought out from the cabin.

“As someone once called the Fishing Prodigy of Izumo, I’ll teach you 1-on-1.”
With her sunglasses on, she looked a bit like a Marine Corps drill sergeant. Maybe that was just my imagination.
“Awwawawawa.”

Watching the President flail in confusion at this sudden sea fishing crash course, I let out a wry chuckle.
***
“Young Miss, when fishing, bait generally falls into three categories: dough bait, worms, and lures.”

Minami’s one-on-one lesson was so clear and precise that even someone who’d fished a little would find themselves nodding in agreement.
While she was tossing bait into the water and explaining, I half-listened and half-eavesdropped… then suddenly felt a tug on my rod and lifted it high.
“Got one!”

No struggle at all—the moment I reeled it in, a fish bounced out of the water.
It was a horse mackerel.
More popular in Japan than in Korea. Eaten raw, grilled, or deep-fried—this fish does it all.

If you go to a proper set meal restaurant, horse mackerel fry is practically always on the menu.
Kind of like spicy pork stir-fry in Korea.
The President, who’d been listening to Minami’s lesson, shrieked when she saw the fish flop onto the deck and clung to Minami.

That instinctively protective reaction brought a soft smile to Minami’s face as she hugged her.
Two pretty girls clinging together made for quite the eye candy.
While I was getting distracted watching the two of them, the Vice President next to me lifted his fishing rod high—he’d caught something too.

Just as Minami had guessed, this place was definitely a fishing hotspot. Every time we cast, we got bites.
Before we knew it, the Vice President and I had gotten competitive over who could catch more fish, and the President—having listened to Minami’s 30-minute crash course—was attempting her first cast.
That’s when it happened.

Screeeeech!
A strange squeal [N O V E L I G H T] echoed near the boat.
“Huh?”

Turning my head, I saw a shadow surfacing from the sea.
It was a dolphin.
“A dolphin!”

The Vice President leapt up in shock.
“Quiet!”
I quickly scolded him before he scared it off again, then motioned to the President, who was watching silently beside me.

Eeek? Eeeeeeek?
Fortunately, the dolphin seemed interested in us. It stayed with just its head out of the water, not fleeing.
I handed the President one of the fish we’d caught and said:

“Try feeding it yourself.”
She hesitated, holding the fish by the tail as it squirmed in her hand. But the moment she locked eyes with the dolphin peeking from the water, she gulped and shouted, “Take this!” as she threw it.
The dolphin, waiting just under the yacht with its mouth open, leapt up smoothly and snatched the fish mid-air.

The white splash that followed glittered like a jewel under the sunlight.
“Waaah─”
Mouth agape, the President stared in awe.

She looked so innocent and childlike—so unlike her usual self—that I found it kind of adorable.
“Yu-seong-kun! Did you see that?! The dolphin ate the fish I gave it!”
“Yes, I saw.”

“How can dolphins be so cute?! I seriously want one as a pet!”
I echoed her excitement, and then—suddenly realizing what she’d just blurted out—the President turned beet red.
After that, the dolphin hung around for about an hour, devouring more than half of the fish we caught, before giving us a bit of fan service and then letting out a long cry as it swam away.

Growl!
Still staring wistfully at the spot where the dolphin had vanished, the President chuckled at the sound of a stomach growling nearby.
“Well, we watched someone else eat their fill—time for us to have lunch too.”

Blushing slightly, Minami replied:
“Yes.”