Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume6 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 4===

The part of the Coast Area near the outer edge of the building housed a swimming pool resembling an artificial ocean. Naturally, it produced waves periodically and the walls were painted to depict a tropical sky and ocean. Very thoughtfully, the land area was designed as a beach.

Standing there, Kirika lifted up something in her hand as she narrowed her eyes that were glinting eerily. Then&mdash;

"Pay attention now! Considered 'high-class food' since antiquity, both oriental and occidental&mdash;Caviar!"

The beach ball was struck high with a "smack" as Fear swiftly reacted to receive it.

"H-High-class rice crackers!" "Matsusaka beefsteak!" "Sea urchin! But I've never had it before!"

"...Let's go for sushi together next time. Shark's fin!" "Oumi beefsteak!" "H-High-class sesame rice crackers! Go and die, Cow Tits!" "Why do you keep picking on me? Fine, objection! Fear-san's choices have been weird since earlier!" "What are you talking about? I can't help it if I don't know high-class types of food very well! If you have any objections, why don't you treat me to something!"...

"How energetic of them..."

Haruaki sat idly on the artificial beach as he watched this beach ball battle. He had participated earlier but had to take a break on the side due to exhaustion. Currently still playing were Fear, Konoha, Sovereignty, Shiraho and Kirika. Kirika had picked a position on the beach nearby, safe from getting wet, and she looked like she was having a lot of fun. Meanwhile, Sovereignty and Fear were waist-deep in the water, splashing noisily as they played with the beach ball.

As for Satsuko and Kuroe, they had been casually going "Do your best, Fear-san!" or "If the ball goes near Kono-san, it instantly multiplies to three, so don't get confused&mdash;" to cheer for them, but soon stopped. Thinking "what are they doing now?" Haruaki suddenly looked to the side to find the two of them squatting on the beach like young children, building a pyramid out of sand. They are no longer young children, right?

"Wow... That's wonderful. Sacchi, let's build a classic castle wall, okay?"

"Oh, that's a a great idea&mdash;But Satsuko thinks it'll need a lot more sand... Oh!"

Scrape.

Just as Satsuko looked around her, Kaidou had started digging her shovel into the beach without saying a word. This was Haruaki's first time to see the tool being used for its intended purpose. He originally expected the nearby lifeguard to tell her to stop, but Haruaki found the guy glancing at Kaidou with a surrendering expression. Perhaps due to passing on the superintendent's name in the beginning, she was now receiving this kind of VIP treatment&mdash;Or perhaps, the staff were simply issued orders of "Danger, don't get involved with her."

"...Use this sand here."

"Th-Thank you very much&mdash;&mdash;! That makes things a lot easier!"

Satsuko exclaimed happily while Kuroe looked up at Kaidou with her habitually blank eyes.

"Thank you. Would you like to join us in building it?"

"No thank you."

Kaidou turned around as she answered. Kuroe bowed her head in disappointment and went "...Really?" However, Kaidou's next words that were uttered after turning away brought a slight smile to Kuroe's face.

"...I shall come over to have a look once you are done. I am actually quite interested in castles."

"Don't worry! I will put my heart and soul into it... And create an exquisite miniature of Azuchi–Momoyama Castle!"

"Yes."

"Eh? You two already reached an agreement, so this means that Satsuko's wish to build a western castle is in the minority...? Looks like Satsuko really is very useless...!"

Haruaki thought "that's not useless" to himself. Considering what happened here and at the jacuzzi earlier, Satsuko had been playing a facilitating role to help Konoha and Kuroe make contact with Kaidou.

In actual fact, Haruaki had asked for Satsuko's help when inviting her along. Since Kaidou-sensei might very well enter her hell guardian mode if no one paid her any attention, Haruaki asked Satsuko to try to engage her as much as possible if she did not mind, then that would be doing him a great favor. This was because Satsuko was the only one who could do this since Haruaki's group still could not manage it. In other words, she was to act as bridge for Fear and the others to come into contact with Kaidou and connect. Haruaki had not expected her to accept so joyfully, but it really was a great help.

Just at this moment, Haruaki heard from the artificial wave pool&mdash;

"C-Can I reach it? Oh! ...Th-This feels strange?"

There was a great splash accompanied by Sovereignty's voice. She had apparently submerged while chasing the ball. But there was something wrong with the situation... The ball finally bounced back up but Sovereignty was frantically searching by her feet. With her back facing the beach, she was crossing her arms before her chest for some reason&mdash;

"S-Sovereignty, what's the matter with you? Wah, no way...!"

"Hmm? What? Did you get hurt somewhere?"

"Of course not! She must have made some kind of cliched blunder again as usual, this is terrible!"

"A-Ahaha... I don't know where my top has gone&mdash;"

Only turning her neck to look back, Sovereignty was smiling politely. On the other hand, Shiraho's face had gone deathly pale as though she had heard news of "an incoming giant asteroid about to cause the end of the world." But an instant later, her eyes became filled with a sense of mission as though she were a lone pilot on a sortie to destroy the incoming asteroid.
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"Sovereignty, do not move from your current position no matter what! Don't even turn towards my direction! I will help you find your swimsuit! Glasses girl over there, check if her swimsuit had washed somewhere on the water surface!"

"Understood!"

"You there, check if it has washed ashore!"

"O-Okay, got it."

Unable to enter the water, Kirika nodded in acknowledgement. The only one remaining, Fear was infected with Shiraho's anxiety and asked uneasily: "W-What about me? What should I do?" This prompted Shiraho's gaze to turn even sharper&mdash;For some reason, she pointed at Haruaki and said:

"You will be responsible for blinding the depraved human's eyes!"

"Understood!"

"What the heck are you going 'understood' for!?"

Just as Haruaki got up to dodge Fear who was charging at him&mdash;

"Oh, found it&mdash;!"

Sovereignty rendered all of Shiraho's efforts wasted. Holding up the bikini top she had picked up by her feet, Sovereignty was smiling radiantly. Naturally, she had turned towards Haruaki and the rest of the group, which obviously meant that Haruaki's eyes were treated to the full view of her naked chest&mdash;

"Umm&mdash;On further thought, I picked this swimsuit so that it wouldn't matter which form I took. So there's nothing to get nervous about!"

Indeed, her entire chest was completely exposed, but it was even flatter than Fear's.

This was the chest belonging to Sovereignty's boy form.

Haruaki breathed a sigh of relief, but&mdash;

"...Why do I feel that this makes him even more unforgivable instead? Therefore, please continue and blind that human's eyes."

"Yes, even if considered a boy's, it still feels very shameless. Leave it to me!"

Aren't you girls way too unreasonable?



The back of the building was much messier than out front. For example, there were cardboard boxes waiting to be collected for recycling, weeds growing in the soil amidst thickets, advertising flyers that were blown here by the wind, etc.

"What are the cleaning staff doing...? Truly unforgivable. Although there's a broom on hand, time-wise..."

She muttered softly with displeasure.

As she neared the back door, there was a security guard stationed there, of course. The guard eyed her unusual attire and seemed to wonder if some kind of film was being shot. Just as she approached the man who was checking out the surroundings&mdash;

"&mdash;&mdash;«Geist»."

Accompanied by a glow, there was a popping sound.

By the time the unusual character passed through the back door, the security guard was nowhere to be found.

He had vanished completely.