Introductions went around in a circle. They took a bit of time, given how many of the people present who had never met the others.
Naruto knew Rias and Akeno. He had met Elmenhilde before too. In addition to these two, Rias had a Knight named Kiba, a blond, handsome boy who looked European and attracted the attention of women along the beach much the same way the girls were drawing male attention.
Rias also introduced her Bishop, who she explained was new. Asia had been a member of the church before until she'd been excommunicated.
"For what?" Griselda asked.
"I healed a devil," Asia said. She was a cute girl, hanging close to another of Rias's servants, looking a little overwhelmed meeting so many new devils at the same time.
"Fair grounds for excommunication," Xenovia said.
The guy Asia had been hanging out close to, with shaggy brown hair, took a break from leering at the swimsuits around him to glare at Xenovia, who ignored him.
Griselda swatted the back of Xenovia's head. It made Xenovia yelp with pain, so the blow was probably strong enough to cave in the skull of a regular person.
"Don't pass judgements hastily," Griselda said. "You were excommunicated too, unless you've forgotten."
Xenovia rubbed the back of her head. Reluctantly, she turned to Asia. "Why did you heal a devil?"
"I didn't know he was a devil. I was tricked." Asia touched the corner of her mouth and looked thoughtful. "Although… I think I would have healed him anyway?"
Xenovia looked baffled. "Why?"
"Because he was hurt," Asia said. "And now I know that devils can be good people!"
"Why are you badmouthing devils anyway?" asked Rias's Pawn, the kid with brown hair. He was trying to glare at Xenovia but kept getting distracted by her tits. "You're a devil too!"
"I'm not a devil," Xenovia said.
"You're a human?" Akeno asked.
"Is that a problem?"
"It isn't a problem," Rias said smoothly. "We're wondering what you're doing here, if you aren't part of Naruto's peerage."
"I'm going to the beach," Xenovia said.
She walked away, having enough of the conversation, choosing to saunter to the water instead of talking any more. Rias looked at Naruto and he KNEW she was going to ask for details once she got him alone.
The introductions kept going after that. Naruto's peerage were introduced one by one. Kiba showed a reaction to hearing Griselda's name, squinting at her to try and figure out if this was the real one, and if such a fearsome exorcist was really dressing like THIS. Kurama got bored and wandered off to sunbathe before long. The group started to break up and go in their own directions. Fujimai introduced herself last.
"I'm a Queen," Fujimai said. "I belong to Naruto's mother."
"I see. It's a pleasure to meet you," Rias greeted her, bowing and showing proper respect. By now it was just her and Akeno present from her peerage, while Naruto was with the Nekoshou trio. Shirone was wavering on her feet very slightly, with Kuroka standing nearby to steady her younger sister. The elder sister rolled her eyes, muttering to Shirone that she needed to shake off her drowsiness already.
"Just ignore this old lady," Fujimai said. "I'll let you kids have your fun. As long as you don't get too wild."
"Ara, there go my plans," Akeno said sadly.
"She's joking," Rias said when no one else could tell. "You won't have any trouble from us."
A loud noise made them look down the street. Kiba was being followed by a gaggle of girls that was slowly turning into a stampede, almost running people over in his wake while he smiled and tried to find a place to hide.
"We won't cause trouble on purpose," Rias corrected herself. "This seemed like a good chance to introduce our peerages to each other and foster connections. As long as they all enjoy themselves, I'll consider today a success."
Despite her polite smile, Naruto got the feeling that Rias was hiding something. Well, he actually KNEW she was hiding something, because while talking to Fujimai she never mentioned anything about the "idea" her letter had mentioned.
Naruto understood it. Fujimai was his mother's servant. While she was here to make sure he stayed out of trouble, she would no doubt report a plan about canceling the engagement back to Lady Phenex.
Rias made eye contact with Naruto and he understood that he was right. The way she cocked her head said: Later.
It would have to be, because Naruto's wrist was seized at that exact moment by Shirone.
"I'm hot," she said, while shivering for some reason. "I need to cool off. Ice cream. Gimme ice cream."
"Shirone! That's no way to ask for something from your master!" Fujimai said.
Shirone was past listening. She dragged Naruto away, who smiled at her mom.
"It's fine, Fujimai! I don't mind. I've never been able to stomach all that manners crap anyway."
"Still…" Fujimai said.
"Relax, Mom," Kuroka said. "They're fine."
A search party was formed for ice cream. Shirone led the way with Naruto. Akeno chose to come with them. Kuroka excused herself entirely.
"I have an errand to attend to," Kuroka said. "I'll be back later."
She'd teleported away after that, so wherever her errand was it was clearly pretty far afield. Naruto let it happen, just shaking his head. When Kuroka got up to trouble it was usually the fun kind, so that was probably alright.
They found a stall before too long. Shirone tried to order their whole stock but was convinced by Naruto to restrain herself to just ten scoops.
She insisted on getting those scoops stacked on top of each other into one massive and precarious tower, which she steadfastly refused to spill. Naruto marveled at her motor coordination, managing to balance all of that. Her tongue flicked out like a cat bathing itself, lapping up ice cream as if it was saving her from dying of thirst.
Akeno got a double scoop of vanilla. The three of them walked through the streets together, eating ice creams while Koneko held onto Naruto's hand, her eyes still half closed.
Naruto sensed attention on him. He looked around quickly to see if someone was stalking him; it was just Akeno. She was eyeing him from his head to his toes. He had unbuttoned his Hawaiian shirt to help deal with the day's intense heat. Akeno wasn't shy about looking at his muscles. She didn't really even try to hide what she was doing.
"Unless you find a way out of it, you and Rias are going to be married," Akeno said.
"Yeah… I know that," Naruto said. Of course he did. Where was she going with this?
"As her Queen, I'll be with Rias until the day that I die," Akeno said. "I belong to her. When she's married, you could even say that I belong to her new husband as well."
"It's not going to come to that," Naruto said.
He said it seriously. It wasn't often that he talked without any humor, this topic just brought that out in him. He hated the idea of parents making a choice like this for their kids. It went against everything love was supposed to be, in his opinion, ruining lives in the process.
"Never going to happen… I see. That's almost a shame," Akeno said.
"Huh?" Naruto asked.
Instead of answering, Akeno closed her eyes and licked her ice cream. She started at the bottom and ran her tongue up to the top. When she got there she slid her tongue in a ring around that scoop, swirling it in a sensual way. All of a sudden, she opened her mouth incredibly wide and gobbled up the top scoop. It disappeared so quickly that she couldn't have chewed it. She didn't choke at all as she swallowed.
Akeno finally looked over at Naruto, sucking her fingers clean of sticky bits of melted ice cream.
"Of course I'll help Rias in any way I can!" Akeno said. "I just thought for a second that there were worse looking men to belong to."
Naruto understood something as he looked at her.
"You're like Kuroka!"
"I would say that I'm noticeably bigger, actually," Akeno said, pushing up her size 40 tits and dropping them.
"Not like that." Naruto was unbothered. "You're a prankster. You like getting a reaction out of people, like how Kuroka loves to push Sona's buttons. You probably wanted me to blush and get all embarrassed, right?"
"I wouldn't have disliked that sight," Akeno said.
"See?" Naruto looked proud. "I've figured you out."
Akeno watched him hawkishly. "So you have…" She sighed. "I guess I'll have to use more extreme methods."
She walked ahead of him swaying her hips. The bikini over her ass was skimpy, narrowly covering the good stuff. Naruto couldn't help staring at it as she went past.
They got back to the beach and he didn't think about that anymore. There was some kind of a scene ongoing.
"H-H-H-Here I go!" Issei shouted.
His hands were smeared with something white. Sunscreen. Asia was laid out on her stomach on a blanket in front of him, the straps of her bikini having been undone so that her whole back was available to Issei.
"Be gentle," she whispered.
Issei reached down with trembling hands. He hollered like a howler monkey when his hands touched down. As soon as they stroked Asia's back, she reacted:
"AHN!"
Her noise sounded like a man had just inserted himself inside her for the first time. People all around them looked over. Blushing like a madman, Issei kept rubbing. He was torn between grinning like a lunatic and looking utterly mortified as a ton of strangers watched them, their attention attracted by Asia, who was still moaning.
He finally flinched and jumped back, standing with his legs clenched together suspiciously. "Done!"
Asia nodded, blushing as badly as Issei. She reached back and carefully connected her bikini top again. Before Issei could relax, someone called his name.
"Issei! Get me as well," said Elmenhilde.
The vampire had established herself underneath the biggest beach umbrella Naruto had ever seen. It was comically large, only carriable because of her supernatural strength. Right now it was planted in the sand, giving her plenty of shade to relax in. Her bikini was purely for show since she couldn't enter the water… And maybe had been worn to attract a certain someone's attention.
Naruto suspected this because Elmenhilde lay down, showing off her perky butt, assuming the position that Asia had just been in, undoing her bikini top and everything.
"But you're a vampire," Issei said. "You can't go out in the sun."
"All the more reason to use sunSCREEN, wouldn't you say?" Elmenhilde asked.
Her little smile gave Naruto the same impression he'd gotten from Akeno, the one that reminded him of Kuroka. There were tricksters everywhere.
"Mr. Angel." Xenovia appeared next to with supernatural speed, whispering directly into his ear. "I want to do that."
She wasn't the only one. When Naruto looked to the side, almost his whole peerage plus his sister were laid out in a row. They'd gotten an idea and they weren't hesitating. Even Kurama was in the row, laying at the very end and looking away from Naruto with all her might, but awaiting him to come apply sunscreen all the same. Ravel was the closest of them as Xenovia tugged on Naruto's arm, pulling him toward the row.
"Go on!" Akeno said. "Don't keep them waiting. If you'd like to practice applying it to more than a girl's back, just ask big sister Akeno for help. She's feeling charitable."
Naruto rolled her eyes. "You'll need more than that to get a rise out of me!"
"Noted," she said, unbothered, already planning how she would up her game.
One by one, Naruto gave the girls what they were asking for, applying sunscreen everywhere they needed it. For Xenovia and Ravel, that meant their arms and legs. For the others, he got their backs the way Issei had done for Asia and was currently doing for Elmenhilde.
It was a much calmer and quicker affair when Naruto did it. He just… Applied the sunscreen. No hooting her hollering about it, just handling it calmly. Naruto actually had a soft spot for perverts, given the brother closest to him in age in this life and his senseis from his past life. Still, hearing Issei yell about it made him sigh. He was just a high school student, sure, but that reaction seemed excessive. Issei really needed to calm down a little. Maybe Naruto could talk to him.
He gave Kurama's back a final few rubs and stood up, clapping his hands together to get sunscreen off. "Done!"
"Are you free, then?"
Rias's shadow fell over Naruto's lower body. She was standing close to him, which wouldn't usually be a problem, if she wasn't dressed this way. He wasn't as familiar with Rias as he was with his peerage, plus the idea that he was meant to marry her was stuck in his head, even if they planned to resist… So having her killer body this close in so little clothing was embarrassing. Not that he screamed about it. He just smiled to hide the blush that started to come out.
"I don't have plans!" Naruto said.
"How about lunch? I know a good place. But they only have tables for two," Rias said.
Fujimai was listening in. When she heard this, the elder nekoshou looked away and acted like she hadn't heard anything.
She was offering a private lunch to the "lovebirds". That was exactly what they needed, if Naruto was right about Rias looking for a chance to share her plan with him.
"Lead the way!" Naruto said.
Rias smiled. "It's only a few streets away…"
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