Infinite Stratos - Side Story 1 Page 2
Coming out of the surface of the water, Charl stares at me with her arms crossed over her chest as if in a guard position.
“…..........”
“Ah… uh.... sorry.”
“Ichika, you pervert.”
“!??! It wasn't on purpose! It was an act of god!”
“But... you touched them.”
“Ugh...”
Even so, there's nothing I can do about it now.
But, still...
They were soft....
…
Self-introspection.
“You're slow!”
The awkward atmosphere between us remains as we return to the entrance of the slide, Laura scolding us as she was very sick of waiting.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry about that.”
Charlotte and I quickly bowed our heads to her.
There was still an awkward atmosphere between me and Charlotte thanks to what just happened, so we ended up placing an odd distance between us.
“Hm? What is it? Did something happen to you two?”
“N,no!?”
“Nothing at all!?”
“?”
Laura made a suspicious looking face, and without saying anything more she hurried me over to the slide entrance.
Holding her like this, Laura does have the small body...
A delicate physique.
Her skin is so smooth... no, this is bad, let’s hurry up and get going.
Beautiful silver hair and smooth skin, and not to mention the special touch of a woman assault my senses head on.
Anyway, I squeeze Laura in the same manner as I did Charl.
“You fool! Don't do it so tightly!”
“S,sure!”
“Ah… no… it’s all right...”
“Eh?”
“Just do it! Hold onto me! That’s an order!”
Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it looks like Laura is blushing.
Indeed, even Laura would get nervous when she is in close contact with someone of the opposite sex.
I felt weird not being sure whether or not I wanted to know such a thing.
“All right then, have a good trip!”
The staff lady pushes my back once again, and Laura and I started sliding down.
Uuuuoohh?!? It really is fast…….
I close my eyes once again to the splashing water and harsh increase in speed.
After that Laura’s water soaked hair starts to hit me in the face.
“Waaa!?”
This is bad, it actually kind of hurts!
To get control of her hair flying around, I embraced Laura’s small body as if to conceal her.
“Wh-whaa-What are you doing!?”
“You'll bite your tongue if you talk!”
“Mm...mmm”
I realized that we were approaching the curve where Charl and I got separated at before, so this time I squeezed Laura even tighter so it doesn’t happen again.
“Ah....uhhh....”
Oh yeah! We got through the curve! Did you see that!?
And then the final bend comes, after which Laura and I splash into the pool.
“………..”
Laura and I didn’t separate upon the shock of hitting the water, so she remained in my arms.
So all I could do was princess carry Laura out of the pool.
“Ffuuuu...”
“.......”
Laura looked like a timid and well-behaved cat in my arms.
� “Something wrong? Does it hurt somewhere?”
“N,no...that’s not it... that’s not it....”
“Hm?”
“K-keep this up, a little longer....”
“Ah-ahh!! Laura! What are you doing!?”
“--!? L-let me go! Ichika!”
“Ohh?? What!? Don’t get all violent all of a sudden!”
“Put me down! Down! Down! Down!”
“All right, all right already!”
What?????????
“Haa…haa...haa…”
“Laura, that's sneaky...”
“I-I didn't want that to happen! Ichika just went and did it on his own.”
Eh? This is my fault!?
“Muuu---“
Charlotte was puffing her cheeks out. I guess she is upset.
“Okay! Let’s take a break! I'll treat you to a drink, yeah?”
“Fine, guava juice.”
“I'll have the same as Charlotte.”
“Right! Two guava juices then. Could you get a table?”
I moved out, as if to get away from Charl staring at me.
Adding in my portion, I ordered 3 guava juices at the drink bar, and headed back to them at a slow relaxed pace.
I pray this cheers them up...
“Welcome back Ichika.”
“Ah, yeah.”
I handed the juice over to Charl, who didn’t appear to be angry.
After that, I handed the other one off to Laura and sat down.
“Ah, this is good.”
“Really?”
“Yep, it's sweet but not too sweet, it’s refreshing.”
While feeling relieved from seeing Charl brighten up, I have a taste of the juice as well.
“Ah, this isn’t so bad!”
“Hmph, certainly.”
The three of us drank our juice in silence for a while.
While doing that, the PA system started up.
“Starting now, we are taking applications for participation in today’s main event: the best couple contest. The couple who takes first place will enjoy a 3 day 2 night trip of leaf viewing during the Fall.”
“Ichika!”
“Ichika!”
Charlotte and Laura stand up in unison.
“Let’s enter!”
“We're doing this.”
“Huh!?”
Chapter 3: (Sparkling) Fireworks are a Maiden's Color
How did it come to this…
Below the sign with “Best Couple Contest” written in gigantic letters, I stood with Charl on my right and Laura on my left.
“Um… Dunois-san and Bodewig-san, are you both forming a couple with this man…?”
Both of them said that they wanted to participate, and this is what happened.
Sure, the prize is quite appealing… but seriously?
It’s probably not worth thinking that I don’t necessarily have to participate in this contest in this way. Yeah… not worth it.
“Hey… Charl?”
“We are definitely going to win, Ichika!”
“Um… Laura?”
“If I take this seriously, winning the whole event will be no trouble at all.”
“You know, both of you are representative candidates and you get a sizable wage for that, don’t you? So what’s the point of being so picky over this prize—“
“That isn’t the issue here.”
“That’s not the problem.”
...Is that so.
Disregarding me hanging my head sadly, the two take a step forward in an energetic manner.
“Hmm. To be honest, something like this is beyond my expectations…”
Yeah, see!? You’re causing trouble for the lady hosting this event.
“But no matter, it seems interesting, so let’s go with it!”
---What!?
The host lady flashed a victory sign with a smile towards the energetic crowd.
Wow, what an amazingly carefree person. The mood must be important for her.
“Now then, the best couple’s contest is starting! First up is the aquatic three legged race!”
This is like a competition…
“…What are you doing?”
“Ichika, you’re combining your right leg with mine.”
“Your left leg is with me.”
Laura and Charl quickly tie their legs with mine while speaking to me.
“Hey, wait! This isn’t ‘three legged’ anymore!”
“Nothing we can d
o about that.”
“Can’t help it.”
I wonder why, these two are supposed to be on friendly terms yet I can see fireworks sparking between them.
“Everyone, please get to your respective starting lines!”
Carefully walking along, we somehow make it to the starting point.
After which, exactly 10 seconds later, a pistol resounds signaling the start of the race.
“Start!”
� “Let’s go, Ichika!”
“Go Ichika.”
“Hey, wait, wait— uwaahh!”
My left and right legs get pulled at simultaneously and I take a magnificent fall face down.
My face hits right into the water. It seriously hurts.
“What are you doing Ichika!”
“Ichika, what’s with you!”
Eh. This is my fault?
“S-sorry…”
I should say that both Laura and Charl fell into the pool as well.
There’s no way we could be able to run over the mats intended for two people to go with the three of us anyway.
The two get out of the pool ahead of me after skillfully removing the ties to their legs in the middle of the water.
“Special-couple team, unfortunately for you, that’s last place.”
That’s alright, we’re not aiming for the top place anymore… at least I’m not.
Maybe I’m a little disappointed, but I’ll go with it just being my imagination.
I move towards the edge of the pool in order to climb out.
“Here, grab on Ichika.”
“You should hold on Ichika.”
At the pool side, both of them offer their hands to me at the same time.
One of them is definitely going to get mad here depending on who I choose…
“T-thanks.”
I grab onto both their hands and climb out of the pool, and the next event is already being announced.
“The next event is the love-love Frisbee throw! The couple with the best coordination between them and who can continue the longest wins!”
Oh… well, at least it doesn’t seem like anyone will get injured…
“Here Ichika!”
“Take this, Ichika.”
Whoosh swoosh.
“Whaaaa!? Don’t throw it at the same time you two!”
Somehow I managed to catch them in each of my hands, and throw them back one by one.
“Ichika, I’m increasing the pace so we can increase our count.”
“I’m going faster.”
“No, wait, wait!”
I manage to deal with the Frisbees flying at me. However, Charl and Laura at the same time unintentionally mess up their aim.
“Ah.”
“Ahh.”
Right and left, they are both way off.
To get these I have to…!
“Ahhh!”
I catch Charl’s frisbee with my right hand, and Laura’s using my left foot.
But obviously since I took such a big jump, I end up falling that way into the water.
� “Haa…haa…haa…”
“Ichika, are you okay?”
“Yeah… I think.”
“I see, there’s the next match then.”
“N-no. Let me rest… please.”
“No.”
“Not happening.”
“…..”
What the hell is with this!
After, a variety of contests are held, with me suffering each and every time.
And hey, ‘Cabbage Cutting Contest’ and ‘Water Rocket Launching Contest’, just what do those have to do with being a couple?
As far as Charl and Laura, or rather the representative candidates’ physical ability was by far the best. Even with me weighing them down, in a nearly frightening way we had jumped into the top spot.
And then the final contest that would decide it all was announced.
“Here we go! We have reached the final contest in our competition! The final event is a competition involving the couple’s level of happiness: shaved ice speed eating!
The shaved ice speed ‘ahhhn’ show down!
“What!?”
“If a man is fitting of his loving girlfriend, then he should be able to eat any amount of shaved ice! Participants please go over to the table now!”
I’ve got a bad feeling about this. No. I’ve got nothing other than bad feelings.
“Ichika.”
“Ichika.”
Gikun. Sound of surprise.
“Come on over here.”
“Sit down here, Ichika.”
Two evil demons are beckoning me! Ahh, I wish the nearly 10 servings of shaved ice that are already on the table is a mere illusion.
“Ichika, you aren’t going to say no to doing this are you?”
Charl was smiling. I don’t sense any ill will there, but it’s become clear that it’s a sensitive land mine.
“Ichika, you bastard, are you declining my invitation!?”
Laura took a criticizing attitude, or to put it better she was being honest. Frankly speaking, her honesty on this situation just causes me trouble.
It’s like yelling “Why won’t you get caught in the trap!” to a wild rabbit.
Ugghhhh.. I want to run away! I want to run away, but…!
This is what someone said long ago.
‘If you run away today, you will need twice the amount of courage to fight tomorrow.’
Then if you run away tomorrow, the day after tomorrow will not come for all eternity…!
Yeah, that’s a good line! It’s cool! Right, I’m not going to run away!
So, I take a seat.
“Ready, start!”
Pow! The sound of the pistol echoes around.
� “Ichika, aaahnnn.”
“I’ll f-feed you, ah…ahhnnn.”
I have spoons of shaved ice held out at me from both sides. The strawberry flavor is somewhat of a relief, the melon flavor’s not bad either.
‘munch, crunch’
“Here! Here! Here!”
“Eat! No holding back!”
‘mmmnggg!’
A rush of shaved ice gets poured into me in quick succession.
I’ve already past the stage of my mouth being cold and heaving a headache.
Breathe, I can’t breathe!
“Laura, slow it down a little.”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one that should slow down Charlotte.”
‘Bang, crackle!’
Fireworks scatter between the two of them.
“Ichika!” “Ichika!”
Two heaping spoonfuls of shaved ice get shoved into my mouth at the same time.
“gueh..”
‘Thud.’
“Eh? Ichika…”
“What’s this. It’s too early to be sleeping.”
I collapsed from oxygen deprivation!
I yelled that in midst of my fading consciousness.
Chapter 4: At the End of Summer
Maybe that went a bit too far…
While reflecting on the idea that she let herself get carried away, Charlotte peered at Ichika sleeping on the bed.
“…………”
Charlotte nervously looked around her.
The doctor suddenly got called away, and Laura went to go get drinks so she isn’t around.
I should be all right for just a little…
The bed creaks from the added weight.
Charlotte slowly moved towards Ichika…
“nn…..”
Surprised to awaken to a pleasant feeling, I experience a moment of haziness.
“Lala… La…”
Is this a… lullaby?
The sweet sound of the melody gently permeates into my body. In addition to that, my pillow is unusually soft and makes for a comfortable sleep.
What is this… it’s so relaxing.
The feeling of my hair being softly caressed.
With my mind still unclear, I indulg
e myself in these sensations.
“You bitch! What are you doing!”
I open my eyes to a sudden piercing cry.
In the next instant, something forcefully pulls at my neck.
“L-Laura? You came back quickly.”
“I can’t leave you two alone! Ichika! How long are you going to sleep on Charlotte’s lap!”
I realize what’s going on now that she says so.
It would appear that Charl is giving me a lap pillow.
“Ah… ummm… Ichika, you see… this is…”
“Who cares about that! If you want a lap pillow then I’ll give it to you!”
“Uwaa, Laura, don’t pull him!”
What a horrible mess.
**Assessing the Situation: Start**
…
………
…
**Assessing the Situation: Finished**
“So, I lost consciousness and was carried here. After that, Charl kept an eye on me and Laura went out to get drinks.”
While drinking the tea Laura bought for me, I look around at the others.
In the first aid room with their swimsuits on, it’s kind of unusual.
“Charl.”
“Y-yes.”
“Laura.”
� “What is it?”
“Got something to say?”
“…”
“…”
The two were silent.
After a period of silence, they both lower their heads.
“I’m sorry.”
“I was mistaken.”
“Good. Besides, why did you take it so seriously?”
“Eh? Well, that’s because … Laura…”
“W-what!? I was only competing against Charlotte!”
“Ah, sure sure. It doesn’t matter.”
It didn’t seem like much would come out of hearing this, so I cut the conversation short.
“What time is it?”
“Umm... 4:00 PM.”
“Gotcha, well let’s get back to the Academy.”
“Eh?”
“What do you mean ‘eh’? It’s a long way back, it’d be best to get going early.”
“That’s true but… mmm…”
Charl and Laura seemed unsatisfied. I have to do something.
“I got it, I got it. Let’s have dinner out somewhere then.”
“Okay!”
I finish drinking my tea as I stare at them nervously fidgeting for some reason.
“Let’s get changed then. We’ll meet at the front gate.”
. . .
Damn Charlotte, getting affection for herself alone.
Laura enviously thought back on the earlier lap pillow incident while getting changed, and stared at Charlotte.