Spinning the pistols in her hands, she returned them to their holsters and continued to flutter through the air. With the back of her skirt swaying back and forth like a pendulum, she flew over my head with a grim expression on her face—and with good reason. It was still too early to be feeling relieved. The back of her skirt wasn’t what I needed to be concentrating on. After all, it was my rear end that had an explosive attached to it, which could be used to demolish a building! I entered playing field number two in an attempt to distance myself from her.
“I-I told you to stay away from me! There are explosives planted on this bike! It’ll explode if I slow down! Y-you’re gonna get involved in the blast!”
“You imbecile!” The girl positioned herself directly above me and stomped on my head as hard as she could with her white sneakers. “Don’t you remember article one of the Butei Charter?! ‘Believe in your comrades and help one another.’ Get ready!”
The girl rode a current of air and ascended gently into the sky. Marveling at the magnificent display of paragliding skills, I forgot my anger towards being kicked in the head and watched her in awe.
She has such great reflexes. But she should at least wear some leggings. Not that I was able to see anything since her rise in elevation was so instantaneous.
Now that I think about it, what did she mean by “Get ready”? Is she planning on helping me? How?
The girl started another descent towards the playing field and made a sharp U-turn in my direction. She then proceeded to flip herself upside down, sticking her feet into the handles of the brake cords she was operating with her hands just moments ago, and came flying straight towards me at full speed. Conveniently enough, I was also pedaling right in her direction.
Are you serious…?! I went pale as I realized what she was intending to do. It would seem that she also figured out that I realized what her plan was because the next thing she said was, “Come on, you idiot! Pedal with everything you’ve got!” She yelled out this order to me with both of her arms stretch out to the sides, making her resemble an upside-down cross. You’re the idiot! Who in their right mind would attempt a rescue like this? But there isn’t any other way… I guess I have no choice!
Giving up on thinking of any other plan, I desperately started to pedal. I forced myself to simply pedal as hard as I could. And so, this girl and I sped towards one another, the distance between us rapidly closing. I recalled seeing a similar scene in the animated movie I watched yesterday. Only in that scene the roles played by the guy and the girl were reversed. Just as I made that observation, I found myself embracing this upside-down girl and being sent soaring through the sky. It was difficult to breathe due to my face being smothered by her stomach, and from it, I could smell a sweet-and-sour fragrance reminiscent of gardenia buds…
BOOM!!
There was a flash of light and a roaring sound followed by a blast. The bicycle I abandoned had been completely and utterly destroyed.
That bomb was the real deal! With the blast of hot air blowing against us, we were freed from the paraglider, which got caught on the branch of a cherry tree, and sent tumbling through the door of a storehouse for gym equipment located in a corner of the playing field. There was a loud crash, and I don’t know what we collided into, but for an instant, I lost consciousness.
……
…………
“Ngh. Ow.”
What happened?
As far as I could tell, I had landed on my rear end and was inside some sort of small box-like object.
Where am I? I’m pretty sure I came crashing into the gym storehouse…oh, I know. I’m inside a vaulting horse.
Apparently, I knocked off the upper section on impact and fell inside the lower half. But for some reason, I don’t seem to be able to move. The fact that the inside of this vaulting horse is so narrow is certainly a factor, but aside from that, there’s something on top of me giving off a sweet-and-sour scent.
What is this? It’s so warm and soft.
My sides were sandwiched between something comfortably elastic, and something was leaning against my shoulders. There was also something rather cushiony resting atop my forehead.
“Hm?”
Pushing aside that cushiony mass with my forehead and cheeks, I suddenly became filled with astonishment to learn what it was that I had been trying to remove from on top of me.
Cute…
I almost said the words out loud in spite of myself. What I was referring to was the face of the girl—the courageous girl who had just jumped off the roof of the girls’ dormitory, battled with the Segway while hanging from a paraglider, and swept me into the air, saving my life.
“…!”
That’s when I realized that the things squeezing my sides were actually her thighs and what was leaning against my shoulders were her arms. I have no clue what could have happen to get us tangled up in this fashion, but I was currently stuck inside a vaulting horse carrying this girl in my arms.
No way. This is unreal. I have a girl way too close to me. A surge of seething blood began to well up at the core of my body.
Oh, no. I’m gonna… I’m supposed to be abstaining from this sort of thing.
“H-hey.” I tried calling out to her but there was no reply. She looked like she was sleeping, as she lay there unconscious. She had long eyelashes protruding from her eyes lids, and her pink lips, which expelled sweet-and-sour smelling breath, were as small as cherry blossom petals. Her long hair, done in twin pigtails, glistened with a glossy sheen in the light that seeped through the narrow windows.
Pink hair. That’s rare. Is this what you’d call a strawberry-blonde?
My life was about to come to an end, so I hadn’t noticed earlier, but she was cute. Very cute. She was like one of those unrealistically lovely girls you’re prone to see in fantasy movies. However . . . the type of “cute” I’m describing is similar to the impression you get from children or a doll. In fact, now that I got a good look at her up close, she really did resemble a little kid herself. Judging from her build, I’d say she was a middle school student. Then again, she might be an elementary school student who came here on the intern system that recently started. This little girl is the one who just staged that dramatic rescue operation? Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Having said that…
“Ngh.”
This girl was straddling me above the stomach and putting quite a bit of pressure on my abdomen. It was rather difficult to breathe. That being the case, I struggled to somehow change the position in which we happened to be. In doing so, my nose felt a ticklish sensation when it brushed up against her nametag. Since today was the opening ceremony, her grade and the class she’s assigned to hasn’t been filled out yet, but I could see her name. Aria H. Kanzaki.
“…?”
But why is her nametag in such a high position? Puzzled by this, I lowered my gaze.
“…Ngh!”
The blouse of this girl named Aria was lifted up all the way to her neck! It would seem as if her clothing became disheveled when we came rolling in here. As a result, her white bra, elaborately dotted with hearts, diamonds, spades—all the marks you’d find in a set of cards—was plain to see. I came to another realization when I noticed the inscription on a weird tag sticking out from the hem of the bra. The inscription read, “65A(B.” It was a push up plunge bra. A so-called “Wonderbra” as it were. If you’re wondering how I knew this, it’s because my late older brother was knowledgeable on the subject; it’s definitely not because I research the matter of my own accord. Apparently, this “Aria” was trying to make her A-cup out to be a B-cup. I did sympathize with her, but I’d have to say it was a failed attempt. I call it a failure because what the push and plunge bra had to work with was just too measly, and there was no pushing or plunging for it to do. Having said that, this was the silver lining of an otherwise ominous cloud for me. If these breasts were larger and pressed up against my face, we would have had a big problem. I would have been forced to change against my will for breaking the taboo. I would have entered “that mode.”
“Y-… Y-…,” stammered the girl.