Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 11===

The rain continued nonstop. The lunch break had already passed. The announcer had just proclaimed that the afternoon events were postponed for now.

The students' tent where Haruaki was staying was packed full of students. Starting a while ago, the same meaningless dialogue repeated again and again&mdash;I'm getting drenched, squeeze it further, it can't be helped... etc etc. Naturally, everyone was forced to stand helplessly. It was evocative of passengers packed like sardines in trains. So stifling. Furthermore, Haruaki was facing the additional hardship of people staring at what was above his head.

"Ahhh, damn it... This is really the worst."

"Sorry Haru. If I stayed down there, I'll surely get crushed."

Riding on Haruaki's shoulders, dressed like a cheerleader, Kuroe answered blankly. The pompoms that tickled his head occasionally were unimaginably annoying.

Naturally, this situation did not arise from Haruaki's volition. Back when the tent was starting to get crowded, Kuroe had climbed onto him on her own accord. Then instantly, the packed train passengers state resulted and Haruaki could no longer let her down even if he wanted to.

"Say, why did you run over to the students' tent... Even if the girls asked you to..."

"If I'm not by your side, I won't be able to do anything if something unexpected happens, right?"

Arching her back, Kuroe lowered her face upside down in front of Haruaki's view as she murmured. Haruaki could feel something pressing on the back of his head. The sensation was quite warm. Trying hard not to think about it, he said:

"But anyway, this is really taking a while."

"So slow."

Haruaki directed his gaze towards the entrance of the tent in front that was used as the changing room. Kana had poked her head out a couple times to survey the surroundings. Worried about whether the rain would stop&mdash;It must be more than that.

"I have a bad feeling."

"Hmm?"

"A bad feeling. Although there's no basis, I have this kind of feeling..."

"To be frank&mdash;It's not like I don't have that feeling either."

In that case&mdash;

"Could you go over to them? I should be fine here."

"Even if you say that... I was asked to protect you, Haru. If something were to happen in spite of your 'should be fine'..."

"On the other hand, this time I'm begging you to go over to them&mdash;I'll do anything in return. If they scold you, I'll defend you. If you ask me to do anything next time, I promise to do it. Look at this situation here, nothing can possibly happen."

Kuroe's blank gaze dropped down in front of Haruaki again. Perhaps he was imagining things... But it felt as though her gaze contained slight shades of surprise.

"Why would you go that far?"

"Why... Isn't it obvious?"

Having said that, he could not articulate a reason instantly. For "his current self," the girls were merely strangers he had met only yesterday. He did not understand. He had no impression at all.

Ahhh, however, however...

The gazes they cast towards him, the words they said to him, all that was telling him that he was ''dear'' to them. Hence, for himself, they too, must be&mdash;

"...Because they are very dear to me."

Somehow, saying this felt very embarrassing. Haruaki turned his face away after finishing his sentence. This resulted in Kuroe's thighs clamping down tightly on his cheeks. With the supple thighs pressed hard against his face, Kuroe could feel the pulsation of Kuroe's arteries from an unusual place.

"Puwah... Hey!"

But she was not doing this to toy with Haruaki. Kuroe lifted her knees from her sitting posture and nimbly stood up on Haruaki's shoulders. Looking up, Haruaki found himself staring straight at the bottom of her athletic bloomers, making him at a loss on what to do. Those are not panties, don't mind them! But it's not like I can keep staring, right? Why am I embarrassed? Damn it! Now is not the time to be thinking of these things! Just ignore them in any case! &mdash;Instantly, he ended the conference in his mind.

"Are you willing to go?"

"Because you asked me, Haru. So, I'm off~"

Answering in her blank tone of voice that was excessively relaxed, Kuroe used Haruaki's shoulders as a springboard and took a leap. Flying over the students' heads, her jump instantly landed her outside of the tent. As the patter of footsteps receded in the distance, Haruaki sighed for two reasons.

First of all, Kuroe had left two clear footprints on the shoulders of his gym clothes.

"Ha~ruakki-kuun? Can you explain this~? Of course, what we want to investigate is the 'Cheerleader Beauty Sitting on Your Shoulders Incident' that just happened~!"

The other reason was the fact that the surrounding students were grabbing him by the arm, their eyes staring with murderous intent.