Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume13 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 10===

Once Fear and Konoha passed the cow mascot couple, there would be no one else in front. Then all that was left was to rush past the finish line, thus accomplishing the mission of preventing Haruaki and Shiraho from winning first place&mdash;Just at this moment...

Fear noticed.

"...Hey."

"What's the matter?"

"I almost forgot, but if we win first place like this, and that legend turns out to be true&mdash;Then aren't we bound together forever?"

"...Oh dear! Come to think of it...!"

Due to excessive panic, the two girls' pace was disrupted a bit. Not enough for them to fall over, but their speed did go down.

In that instant, the surrounding audience could be heard entering an uproar.

What had happened? Hence, Fear looked back and saw.

A figure, dressed as a rabbit mascot, had caught up and passed her and Konoha all at once after they slowed down.



Shiraho was feeling quite perplexed.

"Hold on, this... What is going on...?"

Swiftly getting up, in the manner of a martial artist dodging a follow up attack, she then started to dash powerfully like a sprinter.

However, none of this was done intentionally by her own body.

It was her body that moved on its own. No, more accurately&mdash;

It was the rabbit mascot costume, wrapped around her body, which was moving on its own.

In other words&mdash;

Shiraho turned her head. In the corner of her eye, she could see amidst the audience.

"Shiraho~! Do you best, you're almost at the finish line&mdash;!"

"Sovereignty...!"

Hands cupped around her mouth, cheering for Shiraho was the lover whom she loved more than anyone in the world. Probably to replace the clothing that was soiled by the milkshakes, he was wearing a cat mascot costume, the same as Kuroe's.

Why? Why are you cheering for me? Didn't you hate me?

But Shiraho instantly cast these insignificant questions far away. Her lover was currently cheering for her. This was the only thing that mattered in the whole wide world. The sunlight's warmth was at a perfect level. The Earth was rotating around the Sun without anomaly, the universe was cooling down but not destroyed, all this must be thanks to him.

Hence, Shirao abandoned all doubts, simply running, running, running nonstop.

The lover was not only cheering for her but also using the «Sovereignty-Perfection-Doll»'s power&mdash;helping her by controlling the human plush doll. As long as she moved in concert with the plush instead of resisting it, the costume was equivalent to a second body, a second set of limbs that supported her.

It was almost like she was running while merged with her lover.

Hence&mdash;

"We... can't possibly lose...!"

At a distance of only several meters before the finish line, she caught up to and passed the silver-haired and bespectacled duo.

Then before everyone else&mdash;

Shiraho broke through the ribbon at the finish line.

The cheering was deafening. The host announced the result noisily.

Dazed for several seconds, Shiraho finally felt a sense of reality returning. Victory. Victory!

But unpleasantly, there was a groan coming from near her feet, sounding like a squashed toad, instantly destroying any lingering euphoria her triumph awarded her.

"Guah... Y-You finally realized? For the last half, you've been dragging me the whole time while running..."

Stuck to her foot was something resembling a tattered rag, looking up at her with eyes full of resentment. Thanks to Sovereignty's power, she had been able to forget this being completely and sprint forward nonstop.

Consequently, Shiraho spoke honestly straight from her heart without any pretense, looking at the tattered rag with eyes one would show when viewing a tattered rag.

"Oh my, you're actually here?"