Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume13 Chapter3

"It's ended... Everything's over..."

In any case, crossing the finishing line as second place, Konoha and Fear both hung their heads dejectedly. At this moment, the member of staff who had served as the hostess for the whiteboard Q&A happened to pass in front of them.

"A-Are you two okay? Did you get hurt? Should I call for the paramedics?"

"No, it's alright... Ufufu. Everything is futile by this point... To think we even pretended to be lesbian lovers for the sake of entering the contest..."

"Pretended? Oh, that explains why I didn't think you looked like a couple. But dear customer, why did you do that?"

"For... the legend. Those two who won first place this time... Ahaha, they're actually not going out at all... Yes, indeed, totally not at all!"

"Ah~ ...I think I understand what's going on now."

The staff nodded with sudden comprehension. Then after looking around suspiciously, she swiftly brought her face by Konoha's ear and said:

"Uh... Dear customer, since you seem to be someone who can keep secrets and because I sympathize with you as a fellow woman, I'll tell you this. But you must keep this to yourself. Actually, the legend about the Couples Battle was made up by our CEO to bring in customers. It was spread out only recently. It's actually completely baseless rumor without any effects at all. So please don't get so depressd—"

Konoha looked up suddenly.

"B-But, there's that! I heard that it became a legend on the internet and there are those wedding photos too!"

"Internet legends are just legends after all. It could very well be written secretly by the greedy CEO himself to lure in customers. Although the wedding photos on the event poster are real, those winning couples already intended to marry in the first place, so this event wasn't the cause... Wah! D-Dear customer, are you really sure you're not into girls!?"

Spontaneously, Konoha hugged the staff in a mad fit of joy.

Time was approaching dusk.

After a simple ceremony similar to a prize presentation, the audienc and the other contestants left on their own.

Haruaki rotated his neck lightly as cool down while watching the scene. Fear, Konoha and the returned Kuroe were also watching the same scene.

"Umm... This..."

Shiraho had changed back to her original clothing and was swaying awkwardly and unsteadily in unease. Hugged against her chest was the first prize conferred by the organizers, the super giant MeltyCat plush doll. She was hugging the doll like a child, looking up from time to time but timidly casting her gaze back to her feet. This repeated cyclically.

Shiraho's lover was standing in front of her. Sovereignty had changed out of his dirtied clothing into a set of cat pajamas (Kuroe probably told him where to buy it when accompanying him) and was pouting slightly, looking at Shiraho with displeasure.

Despite obtaining the tool for reconciliation, this did not mean that the issue could be instantly resolved with just the tool. After spending a great deal of time, Shiraho finally mustered the courage to speak.

"Th-Thank you... for helping me. Then, umm... why..."

"Hey Shiraho, I am currently a bit angry. Do you know why?"

Sovereignty interrupted Shiraho and said something that was obvious to any observer.

"That's..." Shiraho's gaze wandered, lost. Her attitude was full of hesitation as though saying she had thought of many possibilities and that she felt she was responsible, but did not know where to start. Given her usual intimidating arrogance, it was hard to imagine she had this kind of side to her.

Hence, Sovereignty sighed deeply in exasperation. Then puffing out his chest, he said face to face:

"Let me say this—no matter how good my temper is, Shiraho, I'll still get mad if you join a couples only event together with Haruaki-kun! Because Shiraho, your lover is me! Starting from before, continuing into the future, always!"

"Eh...?"

Shiraho looked up in disbelief.

"Y-You're not mad? You're willing... to forgive me?"

"Like I said, I am mad~! Jeez, why didn't you join the contest with me...? But I know I'm a little at fault for taking too long to change. If you waited for me, you'd probably have missed entering the event. But even so..."

"N-No, it's not like that! Before entering the event—Weren't you sitting on a bench, saying that my constraints are too burdensome, that I'm too constraining...?"

Sovereignty tilted his head in puzzlement.

"Huh? Did I say something back then? I wasn't mad back then, right... Oh, I remember now. It's because there was a doggy running around in the park and its collar looked like it was put on too tight and very painful. So I was discussing with Fear-chan what we should do. Are you talking about that?"

"!? Y-You also said something about starting over..."

"Yeah. That's why I said things had to start over again by taking the collar off and putting it on properly, right?"

"You said it was the owner's fault, and that you don't care anymore—"

"Yeah, that's right. Since it's his own doggy, he has to take care of it more thoughtfully! I think after that discussion, Fear probably made suggestions to the owner on my behalf... I wonder if they managed to put the collar back on properly."

Shiraho stumbled.

"No wait, not just these things—Right! The milkshakes! When I spilled the milkshakes on you, clearly you ran off with a displeased look without saying anything...!"

"Oh~ That? Shiraho, you must have ordered randomly without thinking! I know I definitely said that any flavor was fine, but not to that extent... The 'Kitty's Favorite: Horse Mackerel Flavor' is quite a B-class milkshake exclusive to this Woof Meow Friendship Park! I could still accept the 'Doggy's Favorite: Beef Jerky Flavor' or the 'Bunny's Favorite: Carrot Flavor' but that one is really too terrible. After it sprayed into my mouth accidentally, the fishy smell was really bad. I was thinking it'd be dangerous if I opened my mouth so I had to find a place to wash the milkshake off as quickly as possible—Wah!"

Shiraho suddenly hugged Sovereignty's chest tightly.

Her hair was quivering while she seemed to whisper something. Hearing that, Sovereignty suddenly relaxed his expression and gently caressed Shiraho's hair.

The rest of the group was standing slightly further away, watching the two of them. Konoha shrugged lightly.

"I guess this has finally reached a conclusion. It feels like I've been jerked around today by a ton of things... But no matter what, thank goodness there's no being bound together forever!"

"Although it's a shame I couldn't get that giant MeltyCat plushie, in the end, I can go see it any time whenever I go to Shiraho's house to play. It's true that I lost, so I'll let them have it without a fuss. However, I still want more MeltyCat merchandise—Before we head back, don't forget to visit the gift shop along the way!"

"Argh, my body hurts so much all over and even my mind seems to have suffered quite a lot of trauma... Ugh, I get the feeling that I'm the victim suffering the most harm this time. I hope the rumor of perverted cicada-eating guy doesn't start spreading in town..."

"Speaking of harm, I've incurred a huge loss too. Although I won't resent Sovey-chan for this, but to think there was such an amusing event as the Couples Battle, I can't believe I missed out on more than half of it. There must have been many rare and priceless scenes for everyone!"

The members of Haruaki's group each grumbled on their own while watching the scene with a faint smile of wryness on their face.

Watching the scene of lovers.

Progressively sinking west, the setting sun gave off an orange glow, enshrouding the two of them.

This sort of scene must be part of Shiraho and Sovereignty's everyday life together, Haruaki thought.

Arguing, getting stuck, anxious, worried, angry for trivial things.

But in the end, in a most natural manner, matter-of-factly, they always return to the closest position to each other.

How resilient, how unstable, how unbelievable, how inexplicable.

So this was probably what was known as love.

Hence, perhaps Fear was currently watching them with eyes of longing.

Hence, perhaps Konoha was currently watching them with eyes of admiration.

For these girls who were not human, for these girls who wanted to become human, this was a milestone in their eyes.

Haruaki would be very happy if they could carve this brightness into their hearts, if they could treat this as mental nourishment for the long road ahead of them. Initially, they had only come here for the purpose of spending the holiday, which was why they indulged Fear's impromptu whim, but right now, Haruaki believed from the bottom of his heart that it was really a wonderful decision. Although many painful memories were made, it seemed like he could easily toss them aside into the back of his mind.

Burying her face into Sovereignty's flat chest as a boy, Shiraho straightened her back awkwardly and embraced her lover again. This time, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, allowing their faces to stay at the same height.

Shiraho was still holding the giant plush doll in her arms.

Hence, from the viewpoint of Haruaki's group, the two's faces happened to be blocked out of sight by the plush doll exactly.

"Hmm, although it's a shame I missed so many rare scenes, but—Never mind. I think this is more than enough to make up for my regrets. A great shutter chance~ Here I go."

The instant of memory was framed by the sounds from the shutter of Kuroe's camera.

Behind the plush doll right now, what the two faces were doing, drawn near to each other—

Even without seeing, surely everyone knew.