Suddenly, a young girl bursts out from the crowd.
At a festival, elementary school kids must be in high spirits.
I can’t bring myself to blame such a lively girl.
Hinata-chan, who nearly collided with her, gracefully avoids her without a word of complaint, ice cream still in hand.
I can’t help but applaud her elegant movement.
“Oh, as expected of the Winged Guardian Exia.”
“Hehe. This much is nothing—Eek!”
The moment Hinata-chan puffs out her chest, proud of the praise.
Once again, a child comes rushing out.
Perhaps a friend, it’s a girl about the same age as the previous one.
Though she barely dodges, she ends up letting go of the ice cream she was holding.
“Ah…!”
—I focus my vision.
I reach out my hand, and the moment the cone touches my hand, I use 《Divergence》 to cancel its inertia.
I scoop up the ice cream part, careful not to drop it.
Thinking “What a waste of the divine gift Lux,” I come back to my senses and offer the ice cream to its owner.
“Here, Hinata-chan. …Hinata-chan?”
When Hinata-chan doesn’t take it, I look at her to find her staring intently into my eyes.
“W-What is it? Is something wrong?”
“No, that was your divine gift Lux just now, wasn’t it, Onii-san?”
“…Yeah. And…?”
“Fufu, it’s been a while since I’ve seen it.”
Smiling happily, Hinata-chan takes the ice cream, saying “Thank you.”
Thank goodness, I thought for a moment something had been revealed… Like my affiliation, from my divine gift Lux…
When you have even one thing to feel guilty about, you start to worry about everything.
If I’m going to continue my relationship with Hinata-chan, I guess I’ll have to get used to this kind of thing.
—While I was thinking about this, my attention was scattered.
“Whoa, there. Third one.”
Following the previous two, this time it’s a boy.
And he’s coming towards me.
He looks timid and seems to be chasing after the other two, almost in tears.
I can kind of see the relationship between the three of them…
As I avoid him while he’s stumbling, the boy disappears wobbling into the crowd—
“Ah.”
“…!”
—and the back of my hand [touches] the back of Hinata-chan’s hand.
Half-unconsciously, I slide my hand and grasp Hinata-chan’s left hand.
“!?!? !?! !!!”
“─────”
This is bad, bad, bad!
It was just 《Divergence》 on an ice cream, and the compensatory Umbra itself isn’t that heavy.
However, the problem is the method of payment.
Just as the degree of 《Divergence》 changes the degree of compensatory Umbra, the way of [contact] also changes the degree of compensatory Umbra.
If the degree of contact is high, like [hugging], the time becomes shorter.
Conversely, if the degree is low, the time becomes longer.
Holding hands like this is the minimum unit in terms of compensatory Umbra.
Last time when I hugged her (by accident), it only took about 30 seconds even with that much use of the divine gift Lux, but this time it will probably take almost a minute even with just that little use.
In other words—This is bad, I can’t let go of my oshi’s hand, what should I do, this is bad, bad, bad!
I need an excuse!
“W-We have to hold hands!? T-The crowd, yes, the crowd is terrible!?”
Argh, what a forced excuse!
“Huh, ah, hahi!? Y-Yes, we have no choice but to hold hands???”
Wait, Hinata-chan is saying incomprehensible things too!?
Well, I guess that’s natural when you suddenly have your hand held!
“…………”
“…………”
And with that, silence suddenly falls.
Unable to bear the awkwardness, I point to one of the stalls that caught my eye, trying to say something.
“Ah, that balloon, it looks kind of, soft and smooth!”
“I-Is that so? It might unexpectedly be bumpy and warm!?”
What are we even talking about!?
—Just then, feeling a gaze from behind, I turn around.
There stand the trio who had rushed past earlier.
“””…………”””
“”…………””
Our gazes meet as they look at us as if we’re some strange sight.
“Those older guys are saying incomprehensible things.”
“I wonder if they have no shame.”
“They seem dumb…”
It’s because of you, you damn brats!!
And that last boy, despite looking timid, has quite a sharp tongue!?
“～～～〜!”
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Directly receiving the gaze and words of the trio, Hinata-chan, still holding my hand, was trembling with embarrassment, her eyes watering.
After a while, the trio said whatever they wanted and, once satisfied, disappeared back into the crowd.
I won’t forget your faces…!
“Uuu, this is so embarrassing…”
Hinata-chan, who seems to have taken considerable mental damage, squats down as if on impulse.
As she does so, our joined hands naturally separate.
It seems the compensatory Umbra has ended.
Whether this timing should be considered good or not…
Hinata-chan, still squatting, starts eating the rest of her ice cream in big bites as if to vent her frustration.
“Uuu~ “
“H-Hinata-chan, I understand how you feel, but for now, let’s move to the side—”
As I look around, thinking we should move to the side of the road since we’re in the middle of a crowd,
I see something I can’t believe, or rather, don’t want to believe.
At the top of a building.
The one-winged angel Utsurugi Rui, dressed in Exia uniform, glaring around with a fierce expression.
“~ ~ ~ ~ !?!?”
It’s a miracle we haven’t been spotted yet.
It’s only because Hinata-chan is squatting and hidden by the crowd that we haven’t been noticed.
The moment even a single strand of Hinata-chan’s hair becomes visible, that troublesome otaku will recognize the presence of his oshi.
There’s no doubt about it.
Because I would do it too.
Having quickly assessed the situation, I,
“—Excuse me for a moment.”
“Hyah, O-O-Onii-san!?”
Slip my hand under the squatting Hinata-chan’s side, supporting her waist as I quickly move to the wall.
Since the positioning was bad and we couldn’t enter the building, I hide both myself and Hinata-chan in the gap between buildings.
“Aah, u-um…”
“Shh, be quiet for a moment.”
“~ ~ ~ !?”
I place my index finger on her lips to silence her as she tries to say something, and poke just my face out from the shadow of the building to watch Rui.
As expected, the one-winged angel was emanating a fierce aura like a demon from her entire body.
No matter how you look at it, she’s angry.
Yet, it’s still a mystery how she remains so beautiful that it’s captivating.
After looking around for a while, Rui seems to give up on this main street and quickly flies away.
“Phew, that was close… Hinata-cha—Ah.”
As I try to call out to her, I become aware of our position.
The position where I’m embracing Hinata-chan, pressing her against the building wall.
I hurriedly raise both hands and step back.
Hinata-chan is—,
“Huu, huu~ …!”
With large tears in her peach-colored eyes, she’s gently biting her bent index finger as if trying to hold something back.
I avert my eyes from her feverish expression.
“Um, well… I’m sorry, Hinata-chan.”
“…………”
After several seconds, the girl turned on her heel.
“Let’s go, onii san…”
She stumbled slightly as she returned to the main street.
Unable to grasp what she was thinking, I had no choice but to follow Hinata.
However, after this…
I would come to realize that the real battle was yet to begin.
Hinata couldn’t help but praise herself for her unbelievable self-control.
From the start, when Ibuki had strongly insisted on “going just the two of us,” her head had been in a daze even on the day of the event.
Then suddenly, he held her hand, pushed her against the wall in a secluded spot, and filled her mind with thoughts of ■■■■.
With such a melting mind, that is.
She managed to suppress her body’s instinctive urge to cling to him as he moved away, through sheer force of will.
It really was unbelievable self-control.
She tried to calm herself down, telling herself that it must have been some kind of accident, that it had to be.
“…………Hah”
As her flushed cheeks began to cool, Hinata suddenly rubbed her stomach.
—Somehow, I’m hungry…….
She mentally directed her cute complaints at him, thinking it was his fault for doing such things, and that he had always been like this…
—I’ll definitely order a lot from the food stalls.
Hinata secretly decided—and a few minutes later.
“—Hinata-chan”
“………!”
While she was browsing the street.
Suddenly, ■■■ person entered her field of vision.
And at quite a close distance, too.
She let out a silent scream and glared up at him, intending to complain this time,
“………?”
As she looked up, something like a black bird shadow passed by the top of the building.
Just as she was about to follow it with her eyes, at that moment.
“—Hyaa!?”
■■■ person’s hands cupped her cheeks.
And he whispered.
“I want you to look only at me.”
“~ ~ ~ !”
Hearing such a cringeworthy line, she was confused, thinking, “Aren’t you saying this to the wrong person!?”
—His face is, his face is too close! T-This kind of thing should be for Kushina-chan…!
“……, ~ ~ ~ !”
No matter how much she thought in her mind, her mouth just moved meaninglessly without making a sound.
—You useless thing!!
After complaining to her throat several times, he finally moved his face away.
“Phew……. Are you okay now……”
“W-What…! ~ ~ ~ ~ !!”
—Nothing is okay at all!?
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