Nico and Chami try to make the most of their summer vacation in Witch Watch chapter 187 with a spot of swimming, but things inevitably take a turn for the worse.

As of the time of writing, it’s currently 12 degrees here in Tokyo: hardly deep winter weather, but not exactly the kind of temperature you’d want to go swimming in. The fact that I’m currently sitting in my room wearing a big sweater with the heater on only makes the experience of reading Witch Watch chapter 187 that much more bizarre, because wearing a bathing suit outside right now would probably land you in hospital with a bad case of hypothermia. Having seasons sucks sometimes.

In any case, it’s summer vacation in the universe of Witch Watch. Chami is doing exactly what kids should do and using her time off to do absolutely nothing, but her mother isn’t exactly pleased about that. To make matters worse, she could do with practicing her swimming for an upcoming shoot: the motivation to go to the pool doesn’t quite present itself, however, until the idea of inviting Nico comes up too. What could possibly go wrong?

One interesting theme that runs through Witch Watch chapter 187 is Chami’s treatment of her genie familiar, Slump. While this is mostly intended as a joke, it is true that Chami essentially uses him as a servant to fetch drinks and perform other menial tasks. His position is then further paralleled with that of Morihito, who is acting as Nico’s father while she makes her way back to being a teenager. All of this made me wonder: is Kenta Shinohara trying to make a serious point here about how guardianship is essentially indistinguishable from servitude?

The main driving force of Witch Watch chapter 187, however, is another one of Nico spells gone wrong. Unlike previous chapters that featured familiar spells as Nico gains them back, this one is new: Whoa Whoa Water, which makes the target act like they’re floating in a certain amount of water. This means that Chami can practice her swimming in the comfort of Nico’s home without being recognized at the pool, but everything changes when Nico accidentally increases the volume of water to 100 meters instead of 100 centimetres.

Quite neatly, the climax then requires Chami to swim to a faraway apartment block across the sky to ask for help, thus fulfilling her need to practice her swimming. All in all, Witch Watch chapter 187 is yet another example of tight writing by Kenta Shinohara and something of a welcome palette cleanser following a rather intense flashback arc. While the series might have a problem with balance as of late, including more light-hearted stories is ultimately fine provided that there is a certain amount of plot development to go along with them.

You can read Witch Watch chapter 187 in English for free via VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump.