Hey everyone. This is the prologue and epilogue to the 3rd Community Event (Waifu Wars 2: Summer Splash Symphony) we did on the Kamihime Project Official Discord Server. If you want to read what happens between the first part and last part, I highly recommend you go and visit that one. I uploaded this for archive's sake.

With that said, enjoy the read.

You heave a heavy sigh as you lay back in your comfy beach chair under the scorching hot sun of the beach. It was only after a long, exhausting week of constant working that Alyssa finally allowed you and eight other girls to finally take a vacation, courtesy of Sol.

This, however, hardly felt like a vacation at all. With so many girls on the beach, each and every last of them wanting to spend most of their time with you, it grew difficult to be with everyone at once. It's only been a weekend so far, but you still have another week ahead of you like this.

Emotionally drained and ready to fall into a nap any moment now, you lay back with your eyes closed, feeling the sun's warmth practically lulling you to sleep. Were it not for someone calling your name out in the distance, you surely would've drifted off into a nap.

You turn your head towards the voice and look for whoever called out to you and find out that it was Venus. With graceful steps, she nears you, looking down at you with a soft smile. Her body shadows your sunlight, making you feel a little cold all of the sudden. "Are you alright, Master? You seem a little exhausted."

With a quiet sigh, you explain to her that the past weekend at the beach has been rather draining. In a good way, certainly. But still draining. Venus nods at your explanation, crossing her arms over her stomach. "I see," she began. "I'm sure you understand that it isn't our intention to cling on to you specifically. But I can see why it can be so exhausting to constantly be doing something."

Venus hums thoughtfully before speaking again. "Perhaps you could narrow down how many of us tug your sleeve by holding another one of those contests. You know the one. The, umm…" She glances over into the distance for a moment before snapping her eyes back to you with a questioning look. "Wife War? I'm not quite sure what it was called. But it was that contest everyone said was cheated by Sol, even if she did not enter."

You already understood what Venus was talking about initially, though you were unaware of the fact that, apparently, there had been foul play last time. And by Sol, no less… You dismiss the idea. Even if Sol is just there in the water, playing with Aten, you doubt she'd dare cheat again.

With a nod, you agree to Venus' proposition and sit up straight into your seat. After all, it could be quite fun to have a friendly competition between each of these girls. With a grunt, you stand up and call everyone's attention. Let the voting begin!... Again!

…

"Oi! Hold on a second!"

A single voice rises above the others. Every girl present turns to it and finds Alyssa stomping towards you. "You've got those ulterior motives, huh? I know you took Nuwa to the bedroom after she won!"

There's a long, awkward silence in the group, only broken by the circling seagulls and calm waves crashing against the sand. You have no idea how to justify your actions at the moment without giving off the wrong idea.

"Like hell I'll let you do something like that again. If anyone's gonna help you judge, it's gonna be me!" With her thumb, Alyssa points at herself, holding a stern glare aimed at you.

Unable to deny her request when she's so up in your face about it, you reluctantly nod and tell her she can join your side. Alyssa gives a low 'hmph'. "That's what I'm talking about… Alright then. For real this time. Let the voting begin!"

Once again, you have reached the end of a 'Waifu Wars'. And like last time, you were stuck between the finalists. Not to mention the sudden appearance of a third, Cybele, who suddenly announced she would be participating as well.

Your arms crossed and your face hidden under the shade of your boater hat, you look between all three girls one last time. The ever so optimistic Djehuti, the seemingly innocent Cybele... And then there is Nephthys… who wants you to teach her how to swim.

You take a deep breath and hold it before exhaling. Only one of these girls is allowed to win, after all. All three gaze at you with anticipation as they watch you raise a hand. "Alright," you began. "I think I've decided. The winner of this time's 'Waifu Wars' is going to be…"

With a deliberate pause, you leave all three in awe just a little longer before gesturing at Nephthys. "It will be Nephthys, I think. My vote goes to her!"

The group before you offer varied reactions. Djehuti appears saddened but forced a smile on her face regardless. Nephthys seems to have trouble processing that she actually won for a good minute before she finally sighed happily. And Cybele? She seems… unsatisfied. As a matter of fact, you don't remember her bringing those scissor blades of her along, yet here she was holding both crossed over her head with your own reflection shining back at you through the steel surface. "Maybe you should reconsider your vote, kyu~!" she proposes, allowing a cold gust of lime wind to flow over her blades.

You gulp audibly and turn to Alyssa for help. "Hey, don't look at me," she shrugged with a smug grin, "this is what you get for forcing me into this stupid competition! Game's over, so I don't have to be your referee anymore. Go nuts, Cybele."

Cybele takes a single step forward. "Kyuuu~!"

It finally dawns upon you that Alyssa did, in fact, pull a fast one on you. Taking two steps back, you create some distance between yourself and Cybele. She advances on you quickly, both blades aimed to snip you down. You turn heels and break into a sprint, running across the wet sand as fast as you could. Fortunately for you, Cybele only has tiny legs… unfortunately for you, Cybele is a Kamihime of wind and significantly faster than you.

Luck was on your side today. You managed to evade Cybele's wrath by hiding behind a nearby palm tree and the Kamihime of wind had dashed right past your hiding spot. Sighing, you step out from behind it and look around. There's no sight of anyone. You're not sure how far you've run off, but it couldn't have been that far. Slowly, you begin to make your way back the way you came.

To your surprise, after you turn a corner by a large boulder, you bump into a small girl with pale hair dressed in a blue swimsuit. On her chest, the name "Boreas" is written. It's Nephthys in Boreas' swimsuit.

"Ah! Successor! There you are. I was worried Cybele had done something bad to you."

Still a little shaken by her sudden appearance, you suck a breath of air through the corners of your mouth before asking her where she got that swimsuit from. Even though you could clearly see Boreas' name on it…

"This? Oh. Boreas let me borrow this… She said it was a 'Boreas Borrow™' or something like that. Anyway. Um… H-Hi!" Nephthys spreads her arms and takes a step back. "Here I am. Ready for-... My swimming lessons. From-... Master.."

Her brow furrowed and both fists tightly clenched, she gives off a clear air of anxiety. Naturally, so. Nephthys has never been in the water before. So, as a first-timer, this must be rather nerve-wrecking. That. Or she is simply excited to spend some time with her prince after winning the Waifu Wars.

You lay a hand on the shoulder strap of her swimsuit and offer an assuring smile as you tell her she shouldn't worry too much. You will be by her side at all times to ensure nothing bad will happen. This gets you a rather nervous smile out of her. "Right. I'll do my best too, Master."

You slide your hand from her shoulder over her bare arm—the fingertips tickle her skin—and take both wrists in hand. Your fingers slip into her palms as you pull both hands into the hold of your own. Gently, you guide Nephthys to the water until her toes dipped into the calm waves.

"C-Cold… " she whispers, shivering on the spot for a moment. "Master. I-I'm starting to think that-... maybe I shouldn't swim. What if Kuro gets wet?"

You turn to Nephthys and tell her Kuro isn't with her at the moment.

"I know, but-... he could've gotten wet!"

In response to her rather flawed excuse, you shake your head and laugh it off. Once more, you tell her that everything should be perfectly fine as long as you are here. Something sparkles in Nephthys' eye as you repeat those words again. With a more determined expression, she takes a deep breath. "Alright. If you're doing your best, Master… Then I'll do my best too!"

You guide Nephthys to the deeper ends of the water until it reaches thigh-high. For you, it is knee-high.

As you turn to Nephthys one more time, you tell her to slowly lower herself into the water. She didn't take kindly to such a command. "But the water's so cold… I'll catch a cold if I do that!"

You inform Nephthys that, alternatively, she could just dive in and let her body get used to it more quickly. After all, once you're in, it's not so bad.

Even after that you say that, she tenses up even more. A look of disgust on her face, she uncurls her fingers within your palms to let go. You didn't stop her from pulling her hands back. As a matter of fact, this only made things easier. In an attempt to convince her, you spread your arms and tell Nephthys that you'll go first.

"Wait…! Master, you don't have to—"

Before she could finish, you dive to the side into the water, gliding under the surface for a moment before coming up again. Saltwater drips from the ends of your hair as your hands run across it. With the back of your hands, you wipe your eyes clean and turn to Nephthys again, showing her that you are perfectly fine… as long as you keep your body underwater.

Nephthys muses about this. She still seems relatively uncertain, but it was hard to deny that you were perfectly warm in the water when you showed no signs of the opposite right in front of her.

"Alright… I-I'll try it. Here goes." She claps her hands above her head and, rather than dive, falls down like a board, clapping strongly against the water with her whole body. A large splash stops you from getting too close. You shield your eyes from the water with your lower arm before looking past it again. Nephthys is flailing and slapping at the water. For a moment, you both forgot that Nephthys does not know how to swim.

Quickly, you dive to her side, placing a hand on her stomach to help her float. As she gains her footing again, you ask her if she's alright. She responds with a series of coughs.

"N-No… I'm not sure if-... I want this anymore. Can't we do something else? I won, right? And-... because I won, should I be allowed to pick something different?"

Despite her clear discomfort, you tell her that it does take some getting used to. Added to that, you tell her you won't be letting her go any time soon to avoid another accident like that. You move to her frontside and take her hands again. Squeezing them gently, you tell Nephthys to lay herself on the water and try to keep herself afloat in your hold.

Nephthys reluctantly agrees and stretches her arms as she tries to let her body float in the water. You feel her putting a lot of weight upon your hands. Rather than keeping herself afloat, she's keeping herself up with your help. Still. You can see her rear sticking out of the water for the most part. This is good enough.

You nod and begin to pull her along slowly. As you do, you explain to her that she should try and get all of her body afloat on the water.

"That seems a little difficult. This is already kind of s-scary. Please don't let go? Please?" she quietly added.

Of course, you don't let go. But you press the topic that she should at least keep trying her best. Nephthys clenches her eyes shut and purses her lips. With a strained look, she quickly paddles her feet to try and keep her body straight. She's splashing plenty of seawater around, but as time goes on, she gets more and more comfortable with her motions.

Soon enough, her body remained afloat and you felt less weight being put into your hands. And Nephthys didn't seem exhausted at all yet either. You envy the limitless strength of a Kamihime like herself for a moment before telling Nephthys to stop for a second.

"Whew. Alright…" Nephthys looks up at your face and smiles. "This is… quite fun, actually. With you… What's next? Is there something next?"

Nephthys' excitement makes you eager for more as well. Slowly, you loosen your grip on her hands and tell her to try and swim by pushing the water down with her arms on her own. You're still in the shallow part, so even if it doesn't work out, Nephthys should be able to walk here.

Her expression suddenly shifting, Nephthys shakes her head. "Wait. But-... I'm not sure if I'm ready for that! Maybe we should keep-... doing this… with you?"

You tell her that she won't ever learn if she'll keep relying on you for this. After all, how will she ever learn to swim on her own if you keep holding her hands?

These words got a little gasp out of Nephthys. "Master… You're right… I-I won't rely on you forever..! I'll become strong too!"

Perhaps your words were taken a little too far by her. But you laugh at her resolve regardless.

For the rest of the afternoon, you and Nephthys continued with the lessons until she was all tuckered out… At this point, you personally carried her back to the beach and allowed her to fall asleep on your shoulder.