Athletic Festival Arc
30 Drastic Treatment and a Promise

The closing ceremony was held.
They were on the sports ground where only the second years had been causing a fuss until just a little bit ago. Now, everyone was making a lot of noise as they chattered. Especially the female students.
Even with Shoutarou standing on the platform and telling them to quiet down, they didn"t.

"Kamishiro, stop them. It"s your d.a.m.ned fault."

Shoutarou said resentfully as he looked at the headquarters tent behind him.
After supporting Meru who seemed like she was going to collapse, Hayate picked her up. It was the so-called princess carry.
Meru put up a resistance of embarra.s.sment when he did that in the middle of the sports ground, but since she couldn"t hardly use her foot, she was dragged to the tent just like that.
Regarding Hayate"s actions, the boys were admiring while the girls, for various reasons like jealousy and envy, started an uproar.
Among the boys, the red team"s cheer head alone was roughly tousling his own hair while drooping down, saying "Hayate-kun crossed the bridge before meee!"

In the headquarters tent with an appearance that none of it mattered in any case, he smiled brightly while holding a compress in one hand.

"Supporting the president is the vice president"s job, no? Shoutarou."
"Just now, I realized that you are an incredibly selfish person."

Shoutarou realized that protesting any further was pointless, so he instead endeavored to quiet the students down.

While Shoutarou managed the closing ceremony alone, screams sometimes came from the tent.

"Hee…!"

Meru made her right foot twitch. Following her foot, Hayate"s hand finally caught up to it. Hayate tightly affixed the compress and pressed down.

"Ow, oww, it hurts!"
"Yeah. I"m making it hurt."
"Wh…!"

As she was about to complain, he touched her injury again and she screamed soundlessly.

Between the injured from the cavalry battle and the large number of girls who fainted during the following cheer battle, the medical tent was out of room. The staff in charge of it didn"t have any spare hands either, so Meru"s care fell to Hayate.

"…How should I put this, Aidou-kun, until when do you plan to do that?"

Meru looked at Yuuri who was sitting seizstyle next to the chair she was in.

Yuuri felt responsible and that he should have stopped her after all, so he"d been sitting seizstyle non-stop on the ground.

"We"re the champions, and all"s well that ends well, right?"
"But if I had stopped you…"
"Geez, this kind of injury isn"t that ba…nugyaaa!!"

Meru"s words changed into a scream. Hayate was merciless. This time, he was wrapping the bandage, but it was already to the point of constricting. That full-faced smile that instead looked to be one of anger made her scream further.

"Don"t say something like "It isn"t that bad," ok? I wondered when you"d come tell me about your injury, but you didn"t come to the end. You ran even though I warned you. You"re really an unmanageable child. Although it"s good that it didn"t develop into a serious incident…"
"S-Sorry."

It was the first time Hayate had gotten mad at Meru, so his concern sunk deeply into her mind.

"Yuuri. You can stop your seiza. Go help Shoutarou."
"…Okay."

Following Hayate"s instructions, Yuuri stood up slowly and left the tent.

Hayate and Meru were left alone in the tent. At that moment, Hayate stopped talking entirely, and Meru worried that he was seriously angry.

"Kamishiro-kun."

Hayate"s shoulder flinched in response as he wrapped the bandage in silence. Meru continued on without waiting for him to speak.

"I"m really sorry for troubling you."

Even though she had carried out her own self-indulgence, in the end, she ended up making Hayate take care of her treatment. Even though she didn"t want to cause trouble, she ended up doing so after all. Meru gave a heartfelt apology with a downcast look. After a little while of silence, Hayate heaved a large sigh. Meru waited for him with upturned eyes.

"What didn"t you tell me about your injury immediately?"

As though he was waiting for an answer, Hayate paused in his wrapping and rested the bandage against her foot.

Meru didn"t understand what Hayate was thinking. Even without her saying anything, he noticed her injury. Did it need to be said even with that?

"Because…it wasn"t a big deal."

She hesitated slightly because Hayate had gotten mad and said not to say something like "it isn"t a big deal" just a bit ago. However, it was because she truly thought that that she didn"t feel it was necessary to tell anyone about the injury.

"There"s no way it"s not a big deal."
"But that"s how I feel in the depths of my heart, right? It"s not necessarily that everyone feels that way. There are people who think that this injury isn"t a big deal. Besides, I"m the one who"s injured and in pain. Even if I told you about my injury, it"s not related to everyone, and it"d just be a bother."

When Meru finished speaking, Hayate sighed again. He began wrapping without saying anything. When she stared at him, pain suddenly ran through her foot.

"Who says it"s a bother?"

Hayate suddenly put strength into the hand holding the bandage and tightened it on Meru"s right foot. The pain made Meru twitch.

"Th-That hurts!"
"Of course it does. This is your punishment."

Hayate gave his ever-fearless smile. It was a dangerous, wicked smile, but for some reason, Meru felt relieved seeing it.

"Meru."
"Yeees?"

Meru pushed down on her thigh, bearing the pain. Because of the pain, she accidentally let out a rather loud voice, but she wasn"t in a position to worry about that.

"I definitely would never think that helping you is a bother. On the contrary, I"ll end up wondering if I"m such an unreliable person that you can"t rely on me at all."
"That"s not…!"
"Yeah. I know that you don"t think that way. But I made you a promise, right? I will affirm all of you."

Hayate had finished wrapping the bandage and faced Meru. When Meru looked at Hayate with teary eyes, finally released from the pain, Hayate laughed and said "Sorry, I went too far."

"Meru. That"s why, from now on, rely on me. Or even not me is ok, too. In any case, don"t take everything upon yourself alone."

Meru"s eyes widened.

The words "rely on someone" didn"t exist in Meru"s mind. Until she came to this academy, there wasn"t anyone outside her family who accepted her. No one helped her or took her under their wing. And so, she always managed by herself somehow or other. That was natural for her.

To that Meru, Hayate"s words were very fresh and kind.

"It"s a promise. Ok? Meru."

Hayate stroked Meru"s head. It was the same as at the time of the cavalry battle. Meru"s heart strangely felt warm with just that action.

"It seems like you"re a wizard, Kamishiro-kun."
"Eh?"

When Meru giggled, Hayate also smiled.

"Then let"s make an appearance."

Hayate held out his hand like a gentleman. Meru was a little hesitant to take his hand, but it was true that it was difficult for her to walk, so she smiled wryly and said, "I"ll be relying on you."

When they left the tent and made an appearance, their eyes immediately came upon Fuuga holding the championship pennant. Looking at Fuuga"s worried face, Meru gave him an ok sign with her fingers and grinned. When she did, Fuuga looked relieved and Laila, standing next to him, laughed at seeing his reaction.

Hayate led her by the hand and transferred her to Yuuri.

Yuuri still looked guilty, but when Meru pulled on his cheeks and laughed, he finally smiled thinly and said "It hurts" in his usual mood.
Hayate traded places with Shoutarou on the platform so that he could give the closing remarks.
Having come down from the stage, Shoutarou lined up next to Meru and began to complain, but Meru smiled from beginning to end.

"This concludes the Reiryuu Academy athletic festival."

Hayate"s voice sounded out from the microphone.
The applause from the visitors could be heard.

"Kusuhara. What have you been smiling at?"

Shoutarou was puzzled by Meru who continued to smile despite his endless expression of his dissatisfaction with her.
Supporting Meru from beside her, Yuuri was also looking at her in puzzlement.

"It"s nothing~"

Meru laughed.
The sunset was beautiful, and it had been the best athletic festival.

Ahhhhh, it"s been a while. I"m again so sorry, but please bear with the irregular releases for a bit. It won"t be as long a wait for the next one. I"m releasing this one as soon as I finished, so it"s not edited. Forgive any flubs. ;;
Also, jfc, sado Hayate.