Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume7 Chapter6 (section)

===Part 4===

After lunch, it was afternoon.

Konoha did not know if Haruaki intended to leave Kuroe to her for now, but he was shutting himself in his room again. Although it felt a bit lonely, it could not be helped.

Just as Konoha was wondering what to do next, Kuroe suddenly spoke emphatically in the middle of watching television:

"Life must be tough... for people with large boobs."

"E-Eh? Why are you suddenly talking about that? What do you mean, life must be tough... Although it is true that they do weigh quite substantially."

Kuroe's sleepy eyes turned to look at Konoha's bust.

"...Weight. In other words, the downward force of gravity. Even beings like us cannot ignore that physical law of nature. So bit by bit, bit by bit, it'll lower... and lower... Isn't that so?"

"H-Heeee~ P-Please don't say something so inauspicious, okay!? It'll be fine, probably."

The frightening word of "sagging" flashed across Konoha's mind again.

Next, Kuroe approached Konoha while maintaining a kneeling posture.

"May I help you confirm? Perhaps I can help."

"By confirm... You mean touching? Umm, I think that's quite embarrassing..."

"Don't worry, we're both girls. There's nothing to be concerned about."

She was not incorrect but the embarrassment was still real. However&mdash;This was a skinship opportunity she was proposing on her own initiative. Skinship, that was a word meaning the improvement of mutual relations, right? Perhaps by casting her shame away in trying to wear a fundoshi, some progress had been made. In that case, this chance must not be missed, to further improve their relations&mdash;Konoha instantly concluded.

"G-Got it. Well then, umm&mdash;Please be gentle."

"You can count on me."

Kuroe reached directly forward to touch Konoha's breasts. Her movements were very light, very light, like trying to use her tiny hands to cover them, as though confirming that smooth curvature.

"Hmm... W-What do you think?"

"Oh, this&mdash;maybe... a little worrying..."

"W-What do you mean by a little worrying? Impossible... umm... sagging...!"

"Relax. I know a massage technique that can adjust the shape. Like this."

The movements of her hands became slightly different. Not just touching gently but also applying some force on occasion. Pushing the two bulges closer and lifting up, then shaking her fingertips... Was what Konoha expected, but Kuroe proceeded to make them jump in her palms&mdash;

"Hmm... Does this really... work...?"

"Of course it works. My past owner was an expert in massages and taught me many techniques... Ahhh, I believe that if you could learn to massage yourself, Konoha-san, that'll be even better. Lemme teach you and you can try it out."

Grabbing Konoha's wrists, Kuroe overlapped their hands together to slowly move Konoha's palms.

"Like this, massaging inwards in a spiral motion. Yes yes yes, excellent. Then I'll release my hands now and you can try on your own... See, isn't your body beginning to feel warm? It means that the fat is shifting slightly, you're massaging quite well."

"Although I don't quite understand... Hmm, like... this?"

"Yes. You don't need to answer me. Just concentrate, close your eyes and imagine. Once you become familiar with the massaging, you can apply more force, focus on imagining... Massaging...!"

"O-Okay. Here I go&mdash;"

"..."

"Hmm... Guh... How's that? Like this... Am I getting the hang of it...?"

"..."

"Please watch carefully and tell me if I'm doing it wrong... Is pressing like this okay? Or would it be better if I do it more like this...?"

"..."

"&mdash;Eh?"

Konoha suddenly realized there had been no response for a while and opened her eyes.

Kuroe was not present in the living room. Instead, someone else was watching.

Feeling her entire body go stiff, Konoha wondered, if someone saw what she was doing without knowing the full story&mdash;What would they think?

To be frank, she had put a lot of effort into massaging. She also followed Kuroe's instructions and concentrated, putting effort into massaging to make the shape prettier. With her eyes closed, both hands firmly pressed against her breasts, she had massaged singlemindedly with full effort.

But her behavior&mdash;

Had been witnessed by Haruaki who had started standing at the living room doorway at some point in time.

"K-Kono-nee...?"

"Wah! Y-You've misunderstood, this is... simply a massage!"

"D-Don't you worry! I didn't see anything! Honestly, so... Umm&mdash;Sorry!"

Haruaki ran away and Konoha could immediately hear the paper door to his room sliding shut. Then just as the thought of "to think that he would happen to see that embarrassing scene" crossed her mind and she collapsed onto her hands against the tatami floor in dejection, Konoha saw that Kuroe had somehow reappeared. She was sitting in seiza by the table, writing something in her notebook again and nodding lightly to herself.

"Kuroe...san, where were you... just now...?"

"Oh sorry."

Expressionlessly, she shut the notebook and pointed to the tray on the table.

"I saw you were sweating, Konoha-san, and thought you needed a cold drink. But opening the fridge on my own felt a bit impolite but I didn't want to disturb you either, Konoha-san, so I went over to call the boy and ask him what I should do."

Hearing Kuroe's explanation, many feelings of dissonance surfaced in Konoha's mind.

Calling him over on purpose? So that was why he happen to witness the scene. This was almost as though it was calculated for him to see. Besides, whether that type of massaging was actually effective... However~ Konoha could only blame herself for listening to Kuroe so easily. And what was she writing in that notebook? How suspicious. There must be something suspicious inside.

But at this moment, Konoha deliberately stopped pondering and shook her head.

(No no no... I'm overthinking things. Suspecting someone without evidence would be far too impolite. Besides, that sort of thing can't be possible, right?)

Konoha wanted very much to become friends with her, so she should be able to sense that wish. Konoha could not recall doing anything to displease Kuroe. If she were playing a prank, she would not deliberately do something like this. So it must be coincidence. Everything was an unfortunate coincidence. Definitely beyond a doubt&mdash;

As much as Konoha tried to convince herself, she could not dispel that feeling of dissonance in her mind no matter what. Konoha kept staring at Kuroe, who tilted her head and said at this time:

"You're progressing rapidly with that massage so there's probably nothing more I can teach you. Also, I hope I didn't act out of line by bringing this out of goodwill."

"No... Nothing of that sort. Thank you very much..."

Konoha found her own expression a bit stiff but still tried hard to return a smile as she accepted the barley tea from the tray.

However, Kuroe's eyes remained emotionless.

For some reason, looking into her eyes gave Konoha a feeling like she was being treated as a laboratory animal&mdash;In other words, like being observed in secret, hence there was a strange sense of discomfort.