Chapter 312: Sumo

By evening, once the air had cooled, we moved outside.

From here, we planned to transition into watermelon splitting, then enjoy watermelon and fireworks.

But before that, the sumo match between Drake-san and Waruf-san—mentioned earlier—was about to take place.

After Waruf-san learned the rules, we formed a simple ring on the ground to serve as a dohyo.

There was no sacred rope boundary, so they couldn’t rely on the usual edge footing, but this was just for fun anyway.

Once the rules were understood, Drake-san and Waruf-san stepped into the ring.

“So I just have to make him fall or touch the ground with anything other than his feet, right?”

“Exactly! Waruf, come at me with everything you’ve got!”

With that shout, Drake-san clapped his hands loudly, then raised one leg straight up and stomped into a powerful shiko stance.

Even just that movement showed incredible core strength. And of course, he was a monster in raw power.

It reminded me again that even if I held a weapon, I would still lose to him in bare-handed combat.

“Alright, I’ll call it! Ready—start!!”

At Joel-kun’s signal, the match began.

The first to charge was Waruf-san, his movement sharp and animal-like.

He gained the initial advantage in the charge, but Drake-san absorbed it perfectly, lowering his center of gravity and holding firm.

Waruf-san tried to throw him with brute force, but Drake-san stayed low and unmovable, refusing to be lifted.

It looked like Waruf-san had the advantage in both speed and raw power, but sumo isn’t won by those alone.

At the moment Waruf-san overcommitted to force him down, Drake-san read the movement and executed a sweeping leg technique, sending him tumbling effortlessly.

“I… lost?”

“Hah-ha-ha! You’ve got talent, but you’re still green!”

“Let me go one more time.”

“Oh? Sure thing! Come at me anytime you want!”

They fought three more matches after that, but the result was a complete victory for Drake-san every time.

As expected from someone who regularly trains sumo among the Dragonkin, the difference in skill was obvious.

“I can’t believe I lost in a pure strength contest…”

“Sumo isn’t just about strength! Of course strength matters—but still! So? Did you get hooked?”

“I don’t know if I’m hooked yet… but I can’t end this having only lost to you.”

“Hah-ha-ha! That’s the spirit! We do sumo often in the Dragonkin village, so come visit after work! You’d make a good wrestler!”

“Yeah. If it’s allowed, I’ll come.”

Waruf-san’s eyes were burning with determination now—he had clearly found a new target in Drake-san.

I had worried he might feel out of place, but seeing them connect through sumo like this was reassuring.

Now, we should move on to watermelon splitting.

“So, shall we start the watermelon splitting? Who will go first this year?”

“Me! Me! I shall do it!”

“I want to do it too!”

Yato-san and Joel-kun raised their hands immediately, but since they had both done it last year, they were passed over.

Instead, I chose members of the beastkin group.

“My name is Loris! P-pleased to meet you!”

“I’m Tama, nya. Nice to meet you, nya.”

Loris, a dog beastkin girl, and Tama, a cat beastkin girl.

Tama looked relaxed, while Loris was visibly sweating with nervousness.

“Loris-san, you don’t need to be so nervous. Just swing the stick down where we guide you.”

“Y-yes!”

Even with my reassurance, she still reacted tensely.

For now… I decided to let Tama go first.

She placed the stick on her forehead, spun around ten times, then started walking toward the watermelon.

Normally, we would set a time limit, but since they only arrived yesterday, we left it out.

“A little more to the right, ja!”

“No, too far! Left!”

“No, no! Walk forward!”

“No, go right, ja!”

“All this shouting is too noisy, nya! Take this, nya!”

Flattening her ears, Tama shut out the instructions and swung at what she thought was the right spot.

Of course, with such a rough swing, she missed completely.

“Aah! That’s no good, ja!”

“Your instructions were too noisy, nya! Especially the little one, nya!”

“Little one?! Are you talking about me, ja?! I’m not noisy, ja!”

The two of them started arguing in their quirky speech patterns—“nya!” and “ja!”—so I moved on to Loris.

Having understood the process and seeing Tama fail, she now seemed calmer.

“Ah, not that way, nya! Loris, right, nya!”

“That’s wrong, ja! Right, ja!”

While Tama and Yato-san argued, Loris calmly advanced toward the watermelon.

Then, in a perfect strike, she brought the stick down cleanly.

“Loris-san, that was amazing. Perfect hit.”

“Thank you. I succeeded by moving while listening only to that person’s voice. Thank you very much.”

“Huh? Me?”

Velvet-san tilted her head in confusion as Loris approached her wagging her tail and forcefully shook her hand.

Velvet-san looked puzzled, but at least everything went well.

After that, we ate the split watermelon and enjoyed handheld fireworks.

The newly arrived guests also blended in smoothly.

All in all, this year’s summer gathering was a huge, huge, huge success.