Editing NouCome: Volume 1 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 7===

“Yawakaze...you...”

When I reached our predetermined destination, I froze upon seeing Yawakaze who was the first to arrive.

“Um...Amakusa-san, do I look weird like this?”

I shook my head hurriedly. It wasn’t weird at all, in fact her current attire was a complete departure from her usual good-girl image. It was completely amazing. Although on this very day I guess I would have to rule her out of the competition. Why...why would you wear hot pants!?

The skin Yawakaze was showing today was nothing like anything she had ever done before, but this just won’t do. No matter how attractive her pearly white skin may be, no matter how illegal her soft silky thighs may be, as long as it eliminates any chances of her panties being seen, there’s just no use.

“Yahoo -!”

Just as I was plunging into the depths of despair, I heard Yuuouji’s carefree cry from behind me. I turned only to see her wearing an ultra-miniskirt that left me at a dilemma as to where I should divert my eyes.

“Hmm? Konacchi, what’s with the get-up?”

“B-because...”

As Yuuouji ran over, Yawakaze’s face became increasingly red.

“This own’t do, why didn’t you wear the semi-transparent skirt I lent you yesterday?”

“Who the hell would wear that out!?”

“Sob, Ouka, I really don’t dare to wear that thing out. Also after I saw that, I felt too shy to even wear something like a normal skirt, but, since I agreed earlier that I have to at least show my feet, I mustered my courage to borrow this from my sister...is it still no good?”

Oh my god, what a beautiful reaction, and factoring in her embarrassed gaze, her destructive ability is almost off the charts. After Yuuouji heard that -

“Y-you’re a natural guy killer. Konacchi...you’re scary!”

She rolled her eyes and began acting dumb.

“Oi, now what do we do, we’re bumping into obstacles right off the bat.”

I whispered softly in Yuuouji’s ear. Don’t even talk about her skirt hiking up by accident, now I won’t even be able to execute my emergency plan of lifting up her skirt manually.

“No hurry, it was exactly because something like this may happen that I picked this place, so just relax.”

Yuuouji somehow managed to remain confident.

“Alright, let’s go, let’s go!”

She promptly brushed me aside and dragged Yawakaze off into the distance with a slight hopping gait...this may be it for me.

“Ta-da~ here we are!”

Yuuouji stopped right outside some branded clothing store. I may not be interested in fashion at all, but I have seen this brand around quite a lot. I think this place is famous for having everything from the most prestigious types of formal clothing down to the most casual of attire, all within the same store. As I stepped in, I could tell that wasn’t a bluff. The store itself was gigantic with enormous amounts and types of clothings being displayed on shelves and racks, yet somehow managing not to give off a sense of disorderliness.

“Konacchi, over here.”

“Hmm? What is it, Ouka?”

“I’m sorry, but Amacchi, could you just wait there for a while~”

“Ah? Oh, OK.”

Before I got the chance to reply, Yuuouji had already dragged Yawakaze off.

I quietly stayed in the store for about ten minutes more -

“Amacchi, sorry to keep you waiting!”

“Whoa...”

I couldn’t help but utter a small cry of awe as I saw Yawakaze. What I saw before me was Yawakaze wearing a miniskirt of a length rivaling even that of Yuuouji’s.

“Sob...Ouka, this is awfully embarrassing.”

Yawakaze said embarrassedly. If one were to compare the current length of her skirt to her usual school uniform, it’s like she’s half naked.

“Whaddaya think Amacchi, isn’t it great?”

“Um, anyone who doesn’t agree with that definitely isn’t a man.”

I replied frankly.

“Oh...thanks.”

Yawakaze still seemed rather shy, but I guess she couldn’t turn down the compliment.

“Right, let’s buy it!”

“W-wait a second. Ouka, didn’t you say we’re just going to try this on? This is kinda pretty, but I don’t have that much money.”

I’m not that clear about clothing prices, but I could tell that with regards to the quality of the material, it probably wasn’t cheap. At least, I don’t think it’s something any normal high school student could just walk in and buy.

“Relax, leave it to me.”

Yuuouji said it as if it wasn’t a big deal, but then I remembered her family isn’t exactly liberal with their expenses either, considering she only gets about five thousand yen as allowance per month at most.

Also, Yuuouji isn’t the type of person who would randomly buy clothes for her friends just because she’s from a rich family.

“This place is actually a branch of UOG, but I’m not exactly sure of the details.”

Are you kidding me...UOG really has everything.

“The owner of this place wants to get a few models to try on their new products, then walk around this entire mall as some sort of live advertisement...but up until now there have been no applicants which is, of course, a problem to him...Konacchi, how about you consider it a favor to both me and the manager and wear this around for a while?”

I see, this tactic is incredibly cunning. This story may be for the most part fake, but her choice of words would leave Yawakaze no room for refusal.

“Oh...since it’s like that...then...I’ll help out.”

As expected, Yawakaze nodded shyly.

“OK! Thank you!”

Yuuouji cheered and whispered to me once again.

“Haha, now we just need to take her out in this and everything will be fine.”

“Yuuouji...nice one.”

I never thought that she would perform this well. It’s a foregone conclusion that Yawakaze will definitely trip and fall somewhere. I did say yesterday that I can’t rely on random chance, but today I have a strong tool to help me out. I looked at Yawakaze’s feet.	

Yes, I’m referring to her high heels. Yawakaze trips and falls over with a stunning tendency normally anyway, so considering that she’s wearing a pair of shoes that will only make her more unstable, her tripping over now is pretty much a guarantee.

“Now, we just have to wait.”

“Yep/”

Yuuouji and I were like those evil magistrates and their equally nefarious underlings you see in period dramas, with even the corners of our mouths lifted in a similar snarl. But -

“Ah~ this is great~”

I’ll put it simply, she didn’t trip at all.

Yawakaze didn’t fall over a single time, no matter how closely packed the crowd was, no matter how hard it was for her to walk, she somehow could remain completely stable as if through some divine help. She seemed to have noticed that as well, as she was expressing her joy and suddenly being rid of this problem...this miracle is just trying to screw me over, isn’t it?

Time trickled past us in this desperate situation, and before we knew it it was six in the evening. Considering that the sun isn’t up for all that long during this period it would be normal to think about going home by now.

The one fortune among our misfortunes was - Yawakaze’s stomach began grumbling - although she soon denied it furiously with her face completely red. So, we went over to a food court to look for something to eat.

After finding a seat on one of the publicly allocated benches, I sat down to rest my legs for a while.

“Alright, I’ll get some food and come back.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Yuuouji didn’t seem tired at all, and she dashed off with her usual grade-schooler spirit. At this time on a Saturday, every single part of the city would be congested by people with their families in tow, so I don’t think she’ll be back any time soon.

Right, now what should I do...since we’ve tried so many methods but to no avail, I guess we’ll have to try a different approach.

The problem is, we haven’t actually thought of the different approach, or else I would have done it long ago.

I became increasingly anxious. What should I do...what should I do?

”Snore~”

A small, cute exhale of air jerked me back to reality.

Not a minute after Yuuouji had left, Yawakaze was already collapsed on the table in a deep sleep, with her purse still hanging on her shoulder. She was a pretty weak-looking girl in the first place, so I guess this isn’t all that surprising after being dragged around town for so long.

“Mm...”

Yawakaze’s body twisted slightly, changing her position.

“Oh?”

This change hiked up the frills of her skirt, causing nearly her entire thigh to leak out of it.

T- this is...just a little more and I’ll be able to get what I came for.

Just then -

「Choose: ① Pull it open and have a look.

② Don’t do anything.」

...Of course, it just had to pick a time like this.

However, if you look at it from another angle, this might be a chance. If I have to do it the hard way later, if I have to take that first step which I have the chance to do so now, I guess there isn’t a better opportunity.

Do I go?

I hesitantly began inching my arm towards Yawakaze’s lower body.

Then I stopped once again right before actually touching it.

Is this really alright?

No no no no, what am I still thinking about? If I don’t finish these missions I’ll be plagued by these choices for the rest of my life, I need to get this into my thick skull!

But they want me to lift up her skirt, it’s just...wrong.

Well, we did get Yawakaze to put on a miniskirt and high heels to increase her chances of falling over and tripping, which is pretty much the same thing as directly lifting up her skirt, if you think about it that way.

Fine, I just wanted to create a situation where we could「Coincidentally」get a glimpse of her panties and hopefully create less guilt on my part.

As if to prolong my suffering by not hurrying me, the tendrils of pain that would usually be all over my head right now did not appear, instead what surfaced there was all sorts of thoughts and ideas, hesitations and coerces that made me doubt myself, blocking me from reaching a definite decision.

My pondering caused my perception of time to become blurred, so I think I spent quite a few minutes thinking. As the pain finally began assaulting me, I reached my conclusion.

“...I give up.”

I chose choice number 2 in the end. There’s not a definitive reason why I chose it, but you could say I just didn’t feel like it.

Even if I were to lift her skirt, I want to do it in a more honorable manner, then get scolded by her or something, because lifting her skirt while she’s sleeping just seems to low for my tastes.

The other reason was that I just wanted to protest against the Absolute Choices, I guess. Them appearing at this time seemed to be telling me “Oi, you can blame me for this, just lift it already”, which I’m not exactly happy with.

As I thought of the person sending down these choices giggling with glee as I picked choice number 1 in accordance to his wishes, it just made me sick. Thus, I silently retracted my outstretched arm.

“Hmm...huh? Amakusa-san? Hmm? Did I fall asleep?”

Yawakaze suddenly woke up as if on cue.

“Yeah, but just for a few minutes.”

“I-I’m sorry...ah, so...d-did you happen to see me sleeping?”

Well, at such a close distance I can’t say I didn’t. Just as I was nodding -

“Ah!”

A strange noise emitted from her mouth.

“I-I let a guy see me in such an embarrassing manner...”

As I saw Yawakaze’s face instantly exploding in virulent shades of red, the word ‘regret’ instantly crossed my mind.

You want me to lift up her skirt? Sorry, I can’t do it. If she’s this embarrassed just after having a guy looking at her sleeping posture, me looking at her panties would probably cause some sort of permanent trauma.

Maybe nothing would happen if I had looked at her panties while she was still sleeping. Everything that passed through my mind earlier was just useless self-consolation, i just threw away a chance that I might not get for the rest of my days...

“Stop, thief!”

A huge shriek suddenly rocked the food court, once again calling me to my senses.

I looked over at the direction of the sound, only to see a burly man wearing a dirty T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans making a mad dash away. Just my luck, he was heading in the direction of our seat...

“Give it here!”

The robber immediately spotted the purse on Yawakaze’s shoulder, or maybe he spotted her simply because of all the branded products she was wearing.

Even after grabbing someone else’s wallet, this greedy thief still didn’t happen to have had enough.

“Huh? Huh?”

This sudden drastic change in situation caused Yawakaze to freeze completely, and she just sat there motionlessly.

“Watch out!”

Before I could think, my body was already between that of the robber’s and Yawakaze’s.

I -

“Ugh!”

The robber slammed me aside viciously, causing me to fall hard on my back.

“Amakusa-san!”

“Cheh...give it to me now!”

My intrusion caused the robber to hesitate slightly, however his attention once again returned to Yawakaze.

“Yawakaze, let go of the - cough cough!”

I think I hit my windpipe or something during my fall, causing me to be unable to speak nor stand. Dammit, this is bad!

“Amacchi! Nice block!”

I heard a voice that instantly reminded me of a hero barging in at the last moment.

“HAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Yuuouji ran over like a sprinter, and leaped - her flying kick that she had apparently put all her weight behind struck the robber directly in the abdomen.

“Ah!”

He collapsed, and even skittered backwards for quite a distance. Coming to think of it, it was pretty comical. After that he was dragged away by some guards/

Yuuouji’s physical ability is incredibly amazing. Considering that she’s one of the more petite ones among the girls in my school, one can only wonder where she gets all that strength from.

“Phew, luckily I made it. Konacchi, you’re not hurt, aren’t you?”

Even in this situation, Yuuouji’s tone was calm, and her breathing had no hints of panic in it.

“Ah...yeah, because someone protected me. Amakusa-san, are you alright?”

Yawakaze ran over to me and crouched down, and she looked at me with a gaze containing gratitude and pity.

“Wow, you did great, Amacchi.”

“Pfft, it was nothing, I was just knocked away...”

As I lifted my head up slightly, I froze.

The scenery underneath Yuuouji’s skirt was displayed right before me in all its splendour.

Yawakaze was crouching by my feet, while Yuuouji was standing near my head in a completely defenseless fashion. Even though their skirts were equally short, I could only see that of the latter.

I could, in fact, see the whole thing.

The pure white color before my eyes had a mature texture that was one part sexy and nine parts elegant, somewhat in contrast with Yuuouji’s usual personality. I was expecting it to have, like, animal patterns or something.

But that’s beside the point.

This...why would you wear a garter?

As though to protect the white pair of panties beneath her skirt was a jet-black garter.

I had my suspicions towards that black strip on her leg since earlier, but she wasn’t wearing a pantyhose underneath it, just a normal pair of kneesocks. How strange.

She probably heard what I said yesterday and decided to have a go at it for a whim. Such a childlike person, wearing such a mature garter...children and garters...they seem to go well with each other.

(Ah!)

Whoa whoa whoa what am I thinking, pervert! Stop looking already! I hurriedly averted my eyes as I realized that.

Luckily Yuuouji’s attention was on Yawakaze, so she didn’t seem to notice my tour of the areas beneath her skirt.

There’s also a possibility that I merely thought I was looking for a long time when in reality it was only an instant.

I had struggled with myself regarding whether or not to lift up Yawakaze’s skirt for so long earlier, but for some reason in this accidental situation I’m not feeling any guilt.

In fact, this might even be considered a gift for those who love garters.

If it was Yawakaze’s, my life would be complete -

The cellphone in my pocket suddenly began ringing.

“Hmm?”

The sender was「God」, and the message was titled「Mission complete」.

What? I opened up the message while standing up with question marks peppering the inside of my mind.

「Congratulations on completing the mission, please wait patiently for the next task.」

The words were pretty much the same as the time I completed Yukihira’s mission. W-what exactly happened? I should have seen Yuuouji’s panties and not Yawakaze’s...

I looked at the mission briefing sent two days before, yep, the target is Yawakaze.

My phone began vibrating once again. The sender was「God」, and the message was titled「Just a brief explanation.」

「Good evening, God here. I’m sure you’re kinda confused as to how you managed to complete it.」

I guess I should say that God is incredibly powerful for being able to read my thoughts? Speaking of which, who exactly is this? It doesn’t seem like the flippant one from last time, and the previous God should be still on maternity leave, unless she’s the one giving me my missions?

「I’ll give ya a piece of good news. Now, I’m going to explain what happened...thank me.」

Pfft...annoying.

Let’s just ignore this for now, but every single time when I scroll to the bottom of the message new lines begin to appear. How the hell does that work?

「Actually, the pair of panties Yuuouji Ouka is wearing right now belongs to Yawakaze Konagi.」

...What?

「The captain of the Yawakaze Guard, Todou Sakura, broke a huge rule.」

Wait, what? This conversation seems to be heading towards stranger territories, he isn’t sending me the wrong message right? Also, to think that Todou-senpai has such a fabulous name...

「He’s a deserter. Sakura-chan ignored the other members of the Guard and began sending Yawakaze Konagi gifts.」

To think that the captain himself would break the rules, this really is unforgivable. Also, why are you addressing him as「Sakura-chan」...

「This may be unfair towards the other members of the Guard, but in a passing admirer’s position, there’s nothing wrong with his behavior.」

So that hairpin from yesterday was sent by him?

「In fact, he’s not satisfied with just sending presents. He attaches a self-written poem to every single one as well.」

Romantic poems, huh...feels kinda corny.

「Just look at it, romantic poems! ...Pfft, who still writes those things in this day and age?」

Is the sender still the same person? Look, he even wrote「romantic poems (www)」. (TL note: Japanese use the letter ‘w’ kinda like how we use ‘lol’, because笑, the Kanji for smiling or laughter begins with the letter ‘w’.)

That’s annoying! I mean writing romantic poems is kinda embarrassing but you can stop now!

「After which Yuuouji Ouka found out about it, and she began blackmailing the poor Sakura-chan.」

So that’s what she was whispering in his ear yesterday.

Something as embarrassing as writing romantic poems can only be done in an anonymous position I guess. Rather than letting Yawakaze herself or other members of the 	Guard find out, I guess running around the track naked would be lesser of a punishment.

「On that day, Sakura-chan had even prepared another special gift - a pair of panties. He couldn’t resist his manic love towards Yawakaze Konagi, and so he hoped that she would wear the pair of panties he sent her. Disgusting, isn’t it?」

Sending panties...huh? Why does it seem like we’re talking about Yuuouji’s secret admirers again?

「Yuuouji Ouka merely wanted Sakura-chan to agree not to get in your way, so when he was about to go according to his plan and send in the panties, he made a huge mistake - he put it in the wrong bag.」

I see...from yesterday the two girls went home together, so I guess that’s where he went wrong.

「Yuuouji Ouka noticed the pair of panties when she reached home. A normal person would probably feel uncomfortable and throw it away or something if they were to find a packaged pair of panties in their bag, but the next day - which means today - she decided to wear it out instead.」

Next time, don’t wear strange clothings, will you?

「Yuuouji Ouka has two main reasons for believing those panties actually belonged to her. Firstly, her admirers have sent her panties before.」

I see, so Todou-senpai had unwittingly done something Yuuouji’s admirers had previously done before. 

「Secondly, there was no romantic poem attached this time, unlike Sakura-chan’s other gifts to Yawakaze Konagi. Maybe he fed it to the rubbish bin because he doesn’t have enough balls to send both a pair of panties and a romantic poem.」

Todou-senpai...you wrote it anyway.

「Actually, we managed to regather the contents of the poem itself.」

How did you do that?

「Wind - It’s you		Benevolently embracing all the creatures of the earth		Angelic wind

Silk - The panties		Gently embracing the secrets of the wind		Seductive silk

The Knight - It’s me		Holding onto the wind and the silk with all my love		Brave Knight」

(TL note: This poem looks weird, I know, but that’s actually how it’s phrased.)

OUT OUT OUT OUT! I furiously mashed the「Scroll down」button, trying as hard as I could to avoid the continuously appearing lines of text. If I were to continue reading, Todou-senpai’s reputation may be ruined.

「Right right, after enjoying Sakura-chan’s (www) poetic skills, I think we can get into the main topic.」

This bastard is really too much...although I guess I won’t ever be able to look at Todou-senpai in the same way ever again.

「That panties was intended for Yawakaze Konagi, so ignoring any hiccups that might have happened during the delivery, and no matter whoever’s wearing it, it’s considered as Yawakaze Konagi’s property.」

Ignoring the finders-keepers rule huh. Never mind that, but why would this be considered a mission complete?

「Your mission was to ‘Look at Yawakaze Konagi’s panties when being worn’, and not to ‘Look at the panties Yawakaze Konagi is wearing.’」

...It can’t be.  

「Right, since I’ve got this far, I’m sure you understand now right? God’s explanation is complete, bye bisexual~」

The message ends there.

In other words, 「Yawakaze Konagi’s panties」only refer to the panties she「Owns」.

So as long as it’s her panties, even if Yuuouji Ouka were to wear it, it would still be fine.

Um, as long as the mission is completed, I suppose I don’t have a problem, but isn’t this just screwing me with wordplay?

Conversely, I may have completed this mission by pure accident, but there may also be a case in the future where I think I’ve completed the mission but in actuality I have not due to some catch in the phrasing that I may not have noticed. I have to be on my guard.

“Amakusa-san, you’ve been staring at your phone all this time, is something wrong?”

Yawakaze’s voice pulled me out of the realm of my thoughts.

“Ah, I’m sorry...whoa!”

Suddenly, a gust of wind brushed past me without warning.

The wind itself was strong and powerful, it could almost be a whirlwind, and what appeared before me was -

“Ah...whaaaaaa!”

Hello, pantsu-san.

Exactly the same. The panties I saw underneath Yawakaze’s lifted skirt was exactly the same as Yuuouji had drawn yesterday.

Only the color was different. Yesterday’s report said it was white, but the one I was staring at was colored a deep purple that threatened to completely reverse my impressions of Yawakaze.

“Ah, aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh...”

Yawakaze received a huge shock at this unexpected reveal.

“Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh....”

Oh crap, she’s going to yell, no, she definitely will yell. With so many people around -

“YAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

The scream came from a completely unexpected direction.

“Yuu...ouji?”

“Ouka...?”

That piercing shriek came from none other than Yuuouji Ouka herself.

Her face was incredibly red, and she was trembling all over. This reaction...what happened?

Yuuouji did have an accident earlier as well, but earlier...she didn’t notice.

“- embarrassing.”

Yuuouji was mumbling to herself, so I couldn’t exactly hear her.

“What is it, Yuuouji? You seem strange, are you alright?”

I stepped slightly closer to her and put my hand on her shoulder.

“!!!”

She jumped back instead, and her face that was initially red enough somehow got even redder, as if transcending the limits of humanity itself.

Could it be...she’s embarrassed?

“Never thought...embarrassing.”

She completely ignored me and just stood there for a while - then charged off like a bolt of released lightning.

“I never thought...having my panties seen by other people would be this embarrassing-AAAAAAA!”

She began howling manically and disappeared in the crowds.

“...” “...”

Yawakaze and I could only look at each other while at a loss for words.

Yawakaze didn’t seem embarrassed at all even after her...accident. After seeing something like that, I guess it’s kinda hard to stay embarrassed. A while later, Yawakaze finally said something.

“...Now what?”

“...I think we should head home.”

“...I guess so.”

Mission:「Get a glance of what Yawakaze Konagi’s panties look like when being worn」- Completed.

<noinclude>