Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume1 The Seventh Question

2011-10-06T20:42:30Z

Ziharker77: /* Seventh Question */

=== Seventh Question ===

'''Please answer the following question:'''

What are the comparative and superlative forms for the words "good" and "bad"?

'''Himeji Mizuki's Answer:'''

"good — better — best

bad — worse — worst"

'''Teacher's Comment:'''

Correct Answer.

[[image:BTS vol 01 195.jpg|thumb]]
'''Yoshii Akihisa's Answer:'''

"good — gooder — goodest"

'''Teacher's Comment:'''

I am surprised that you made such a common mistake. The comparative and superlative for good and bad is not just adding "er" and "est"; don't forget it next time.

'''Tsuchiya Kouta's Answer:'''

"bad — butter — bust"

'''Teacher's Comment:'''

The meanings of these three words are 'bad', 'butter', 'bust'.[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume1_Translator%27s_Notes#Question_7]

"I am going to use the hidden strategy that I mentioned yesterday."

This was the first sentence Yuuji said when he came to school the next morning.

"Strategy? It's still not time for the war yet, right?"

The time now was 8:30 a.m. and the war was scheduled to continue at 9:00 a.m.

"I am not using it on Class B; our target is Class C."

"Ah, I see. What are you planning to do?"

"I plan to let you, Hideyoshi, wear this."

Yuuji took a female uniform out from his bag after he said that.

The uniform used black and red as its base color. It was a rare piece of artistic work for people in society and students from other schools.

Come to think of it, Yuuji, how did you get hold on this? What had happened to you?

"No problem, but why do you want me to wear this?"

Hideyoshi, as a guy you should care a bit more shouldn't you?

By the way, after wearing it Hideyoshi looked more like a girl, almost like his twin sister in Class A---

"I would like you to act like Kinoshita Yuuko, and pretend to be a messenger from Class A."

I see, that's why he wants Hideyoshi to wear a female uniform!

Hideyoshi had a twin sister in Class A. They looked exactly the same, just like monozygotic twins. The differences between them were their test results and the way they spoke.

In other words, pretend to be his sister, and using the name of Class A, put pressure on Class C?

"Hideyoshi, quickly go and change your uniform!"

"Oh, OK..."

Hideyoshi took the uniform from Yuuji, and changed into the uniform in front of them.

What's wrong? What is this strange feeling in my chest? Although he is a guy, I just cannot take my eyes away from him!

"..." ''*Sounds of picture being taken*''

Silent Pervert used the speed that almost gets his finger on fire and kept pressing the button on the camera.

Luckily, I am not the only one having this strange feeling.

"OK, I have finished changing. Huh? What's wrong with you guys?"

Our faces must have looked very complicated I think?

"What should I say? I'm not very sure either!"

"You guys are so strange."

No, it is your outlook that is strange! Why do you look so pretty?

"Then, let's go to Class C."

"Yeah."

Yuuji left the classroom with Hideyoshi.

"Ah, I want to go as well."

I quickly followed them.

I had been thinking about this yesterday. There was a very long distance between Class C and Class F. Although this was mostly due to the different sizes for each classroom, I still hoped the school could build it in a simpler way.

We continued walking, and eventually stopped in front of Class C classroom.

"I am sorry, Hideyoshi. You need to go in alone."

Since he needed to pretend to be a Class A messenger, Yuuji and I who were Class F members couldn't stay beside him. Therefore we planned to hide somewhere and observe how things went.

"I don't really feel like going..."

Hideyoshi looked very unwilling to do it. That's understandable, pretending to be his sister and cheating the enemy is not a good experience to go through.

"We are counting on you."

"Ah...There is no other way..."

"Sorry, but please provoke them as hard as you can. Make them hate Class A from the bottom of their hearts. I think you should be able to do it."

Hideyoshi is a genius in acting, with the nickname of 'Star of the Drama Club'. Although he is not good at studying, his performance in other areas is pretty impressive.

"Ah...Don't put too much hope in me..."

Hideyoshi sighed and powerlessly walked towards Class C. He looked very unhappy. Could he really cheat them in his current condition?

"Yuuji, are you sure Hideyoshi is fine? I think we better switch to another plan..."

"I think there should be no problem."

Really? I kept on feeling that Hideyoshi looked like he didn't want to do it at all. I just hope that his acting skill weren't affected by his mental instability.

"I'm worried..."

"Shhhhh! Hideyoshi is going into the classroom."

Yuuji put his finger to his mouth. We were so far away; they shouldn't be able to hear us. However it was better to play it safe so let's just follow what Yuuji said.

''*Sounds of door opening*'' We heard the sound of the door that Hideyoshi opened.

"You dirty pigs, shut up now!"

...Wow.

"Hideyoshi really lived up to his name."

"Yeah, there is no better way to provoke them than this."

Even if he didn't say anything, Class C's hatred toward Class A should rise dramatically I think?

"W-What did you say!"

The shout must have come from the Class C class leader, Koyama. I could feel the anger in her words without looking at her face. This was expected, they got scolded like pigs without knowing what was going on...

"Don't talk to me! Or your disgusting pig smell will spread to me as well!"

You walk up to them yourself and then blame them for spreading pig stench? Wow, aren't you overreacting?

"You're the Kinoshita from Class A right? Don't think that you can be so arrogant just because your test results are good. What are you doing here in our classroom?"

In terms of notoriety in the school, Kinoshita Yuuko was more famous than Hideyoshi. Also, Hideyoshi was wearing a female uniform now; there was no way they could see through him. Besides that, he had successfully provoked them, which has lowered their judging ability. This was just perfect.

"For me, the most unacceptable thing is that Class A's classroom is built beside this ugly and smelly classroom! For people like you, a pig sty is more than enough!"

"What! Are you trying to say that we are on the same level as Class F?"

Oi, Koyama! He never said anything about Class F!

"Although I don't feel like dirtying my hands, I will give you a special offer and let you go straight into the pig sty."

Is this the minimum level of acting skill required to get into drama club? Or is our school just too weird?

"You guys are preparing for a Test Summoning War right? Make sure you are well prepared, as we are going to clean out all of you dirty pigs later!"

After Hideyoshi said that, he purposely stomped hard onto the ground while he was leaving the room.

"Was that ok?"

Hideyoshi looked refreshed and walked towards us.

"Yeah, you have done well."

"We have no time to bother with an opponent like Class F! Everyone, prepare for the war against Class A!"

The scary shouts came from the Class C leader Koyama. It looked like the plan was going very smoothly for us. Still, why was I feeling a little bit guilty?

"The plan is successfully done. We should start our preparations for the war against Class B."

"Ah, OK."

There was no time to get distracted by minor things. The Test Summoning War was going to start in ten minutes.

We quickly walked back to the Class F classroom.

<span style="font-size: 200%; border: "><center>☆</center></span>

"Make good use of the doors and walls! Do not make the fighting area bigger!"

Hideyoshi's instruction echoed in the battlefield.

At exactly nine o'clock, the war against Class B officially started. We resumed from the position we were in the war yesterday, which was right in front of Class B's classroom, and started attacking.

According to Yuuji's instructions, our aim was to keep the enemies in the classroom.

While we were following those instructions, there was a new problem.

Something was not quite right with Himeji.

Although she was supposed to be the commander, she hadn't given any instructions at all. Besides that, it seemed that she was not willing to take part in the war. What happened to her?

"Try to use only one subject at a time to defeat the enemy! Keep an eye on the backup!"

Therefore the person who was leading the troop now was the vice commander, Hideyoshi. He followed Yuuji's instructions and achieved several objectives in just a few hours.

"The left entrance is under counter-attack by the enemies!"

"We are lacking in the Classical Literature force. We need backup!"

The left entrance that was under enemy attack was supervised by Takenaka-sensei right?

That didn't sound good at all. There were a lot of students in Class B who were good in literature related subjects. If we didn't counter their attack with our strong fighters, it might give them a chance to break through our troops.

"Himeji, please provide support to the left wing!"

In Yuuji's plan, Himeji had an important task to do in the afternoon. Although I felt sorry for troubling Himeji so early, it couldn't be helped.

"Ah, th-that..."

At this important moment Himeji didn't join the fight immediately. She looked like she was going to cry; panicking and walking around. That was not looking good; the enemies were going to break through!

"Haaa!"

I shouted, pushed through the crowd, and dashed towards the left entrance.

After that I whispered something to the supervising teacher Takenaka-sensei.

"Bla~bla...if this is announced...your image..."

"!"

Takenaka-sensei pushed my head low, and started to look around.

I never imagined that I would need to use the threatening information I prepared in case of emergency--- Classical Literature version! This was not part of the plan.

"I-I need to leave for a while!"

Just as I expected, we had a bit more leeway now.

"Those who still have some classical literature marks head towards the left entrance! Those who consumed their marks immediately go to replenish it!"

This was just a temporary solution, but it should solve the problem for now.

Now is the time.

"Himeji, what's wrong?"

I quickly asked Himeji what I was wondering. I didn't know what happened, but it looked like there was something wrong with her. Not knowing the cause would put us at a disadvantage in the war.

"A-Ah, I am fine!"

Himeji quickly shook her head, her long hair also swung around according to her action. Her action was so exaggerated.

It was obvious that there was something wrong with her.

"There must be something wrong right? Can you let me know if there is anything? Maybe what you say might affect our plan."

"R-Really it's nothing at all!"

She kept on denying it, but she looked like she was going to cry at any time. There must be something wrong with her!

"The subject at the right entrance has been changed to Modern Japanese!"

"What happened to the mathematics teacher!"

"Maybe kidnapped by Class B!"

Even the right wing's subject had been changed into one that Class B was good at, we were in serious trouble now!

"I am going to fight!"

Himeji quickly ran out and planned to join the fight after she said that. However---

"Ah..."

She suddenly stopped moving and turned her head down.

What happened? It looked like Himeji saw something and then behaved like that.

I looked towards the direction that Himeji was looking at.

At the end of the sight was a bastard leaning at the window and looked down on us--- Nemoto.

What did Nemoto do?

It was not very clear from where I stood, so I started to look carefully but I didn't see anything special---

"!"

Suddenly, something in his hand jumped into my sight.

It was a very normal item. It was not hard to get it, but it was also something that you could not buy.

The item in his hand was---

The letter that the shy Himeji wanted to hide from me three days ago.

"I see, so that is what happened!"

I was wondering when I heard about the treaty with Class B. That cheap and cunning Nemoto would never suggest such a fair treaty.

It seemed that he was planning to paralyze Himeji. If that was the case, then it was reasonable for him to suggest such a treaty. If Himeji couldn't fight, that treaty would be very beneficial for Class B.

It really was a good tactic. There was neither any loss, nor any risks involved.

"Himeji."

"Y-Yes..."

"Since you are not feeling well, don't force yourself to join the fight. The Test Summoning War hasn't ended, you need to take care of your health."

"Yes."

"OK, I have something else to do and need to leave now."

"Ah..."

Although Himeji looked like she wanted to say something, I just turned away from her and ran away from the scene because I had something more important to deal with.

"Nemoto, you have done something very interesting."

I couldn't stop myself from saying something like that.

That bastard, I must kill him at any cost!

<span style="font-size: 200%; border: "><center>☆</center></span>

"Yuuji!"

"Huh? What's up, Akihisa? Are you running away from the war? If you are I will use scissors to stab you!"

When I rushed back to the classroom, Yuuji was writing something on the notebook. When I took a closer look, it had all the information for both the enemies and our sides remaining forces.

"I need to talk to you."

"Then I shall force myself to listen to you!"

Now I had no time to reply his joke, and it seemed that Yuuji realized that my attitude was different from normal. He looked at me seriously, so I looked at him with a serious face as well.

"I need the uniform that Nemoto is wearing right now."

"What happened to you?"

D-Damn! This sounds like I am a pervert!

"Ah, no, that, er..."

Actually I wanted the letter in the uniform, but I couldn't explain it... what should I do? If I don't clarify, I will become a guy who is a pervert that wants a uniform that is worn by another guy. I would definitely face the destiny of cruel questioning.

"Sure, no problem. When we win the war, I will think of a way to get it for you."

He agreed? Don't give me this reaction! It was just like saying "It's not surprising that you have such interests!"

On the other hand, I couldn't explain the situation. Darn... Although it was painful, I could only accept this misunderstanding for now.

"Is that it?"

Yuuji looked at me with a helpless face. Of course that was not all I wanted.

"Also, I hope you don't send Himeji into this fight."

"What is the reason?"

"I can't say."

Although Himeji was going to tell him later, this was not something for me to let him know.

"I can't send her no matter what the situation is?"

"Yes, no matter what the situation is."

Yuuji used his hand to support his chin, considering the request that I had just made.

The request I made now was really unreasonable.

Not using Himeji in the fight against Class B did not just greatly reduce our fighting ability, it was also a suicidal action. It was very possible that we would lose this war because of this request, and Yuuji would need to take responsibility for the result.

"I am begging you, Yuuji!"

I bowed deeply towards Yuuji.

I also understood that this request was too selfish. Not only would it fail to give Yuuji any benefit for accepting my request, he would need to bear a huge amount of danger. Honestly if I were him, I would not accept such an unreasonable request like this without explaining the situation.

"I can agree only on one condition."

"A condition?"

"You will take the mission that is planned to be done by Himeji. I don't care how you do it; you must accomplish it at any cost."

However Yuuji accepted my request, he really was made of a higher caliber than me.

"Of course, leave it to me! I will definitely complete the mission!"

The corner of Yuuji's lip slightly rose.

"So what should I do?"

"Attack Nemoto at the right time with any subject."

"Any backup?"

"None. The class B entrance needs to be blocked."

"Your requirement is really hard to meet!"

I am in big trouble now.

The fight now was at both entrances of the Class B classroom. Because of the location, the fight could only be done one by one. This was a key step for earning more time in order to achieve Yuuji's plan. To get close to Nemoto, who set up a formation in the classroom, one must have a very strong individual fighting ability. That's right, someone with similar power as Himeji, and I did not have such power.

"What happens if I fail?"

"Failing is not an option; you must accomplish the task even if it costs your life."

He spoke in a very strong tone that was totally different from normal. It seemed that this mission was closely related to the whole strategy.

What should I do? How can I accomplish this mission?

"Well, I am counting on you now."

Yuuji stood up and prepared to leave the classroom, leaving me who was in deep thought just now.

"Huh? Where are you going?"

"I am going to Class D to give them instructions. It is about the agreement last time."

Class D... Most probably about that air conditioner machine outside their classroom.

It was not important. What should I do, how can I accomplish the mission for Himeji...

"Akihisa."

Before Yuuji walked out the classroom, he turned his back to me and said:

"Your test results are really bad; however, just as Hideyoshi and Silent Pervert, you have something that others can't compete with. That's why I can trust you so much."

"Yuuji..."

"Do it well, I won't change the plan."

After saying that, Yuuji left the classroom.

What I am good at? My adept syokanju controlling technique is useless when fighting in a confined area.

"Ah!"

Although it was not really an advantage, I still had one special technique compared to the others. There was a way to complete the mission which could only be done by someone who had scores as low as mine. However it needed a lot of determination.

"It must be very painful!"

Just imagining what was going to happen caused a huge pain to go through my body.

The amazing thing was that I gathered my resolution easily.

"OK! Now is the time to teach the evil person a good lesson!"

I gave my cheek a few good slaps to cheer myself up.

Now there is a way, with a high success rate, and it can be done if I have courage! I have no reason to run away. Consequences? Who cares!

"Minami! Muto and Kimishima! Come and help me for a while!"

I shouted to the three people who were in the middle of testing to replenish their score.

"What happened?"

"What for?"

"I am in the middle of a test now."

The three of them have consumed a lot of marks in the battle yesterday, so their mission was to take tests to replenish their scores.

"Stop the test, come and help me. It is a mission that will decide the result of this war."

"It sounds pretty important."

"Yeah, no joking from now."

"What should I do?"

"Duel against my Syokanju."

<span style="font-size: 200%; border: "><center>☆</center></span>

"Are the two of you serious?"

The supervisor for syokanju duel from Class D--- English teacher Endo-sensei, reminded us again.

"Yeah, of course."

"I am going to duel with this idiot sooner or later."

Minami and I stared at each other.

"But there is no need to come all the way to Class D and fight, is there?"

Just as the teacher said, we purposely came to Class D to duel. Also both of us were Class F students, around us were Class F students as well. This must be a very strange situation for Endo-sensei.

"There is nothing we can do about it, this idiot is 'Kansatsu Shobunsha.' If we are fighting in the lousy Class F classroom, the power of the Syokanju will definitely make the whole classroom collapse."

"Both of you, please think about it again!"

"No, I have decided. If I don't repay what she normally does to me, I can never sleep peacefully."

"Alright. There is a saying: two might understand each other better after the fight, it seems that this is also part of education!"

Endo-sensei deeply sighed and stayed away from us after saying that.

Now we can summon our syokanjus.

I took a deep breath, and spoke loudly.

"Syokanju Summoning---"

The familiar syokanju appeared in front of my eyes. Although there were a lot of troubles for being a "Kansatsu Shobunsha," this was the first time I felt thankful for having this title.

"Go!"

Minami's syokanju appeared in the scene to reply my fighting will. I made my other self hold it's bokuto tightly, so tight that the bokuto almost became one with its hands, and dashed towards the enemy. Go!

Facing the enemy that had the wall at its back, my syokanju made use of the inertia produced from the dash and swung out a strong punch.

''*PONG*''

"Darn!"

The act was too obvious and the enemy dodged it easily.

After that, the pain from the Syokanju's punch on the way bounced back to me.

"OHHH!"

I commanded my Syokanju to give a more powerful hit.

The enemy easily dodged to the side and the punch landed onto the hard wall again.

"Ouch..."

My fist suffered a great pain again.

The hit that was enough to shake the whole classroom, would also have a huge reaction force. There was a huge amount of pain going from the top of my head to the bottom of my leg and it gave me a sickening feeling.

"Aki, we are running out of time."

Minami looked at the clock on the wall and said.

It was now two fifty-seven in the afternoon, only three minutes away from the starting time of the mission.

"Isn't it about time for you to give up? Using so many people to block the entrance of the classroom, it makes the classroom so hot."

The voice of Class B's class leader, Nemoto, came from far away.

"What? The gutless Lord Class Leader of Class B is planning to surrender now?"

The familiar voice that replied belonged to Yuuji. Since Himeji couldn't join the fight, so he needed to use our main troops and commanded them?

"HA!"

The Syokanju moved again.

That huge move still failed to hit the enemy.

It looked like the syokanju lost the ability to learn and kept on hitting the wall with full power. Before the pain faded away, a new pain appeared immediately.

"What? It should be you who needs to give up right?"

"It is none your concern."

"Oh really? Even though the condition of your savior, Himeji, is not looking good?"

"For opponents like you, there is no need to bother Himeji. I left her to rest at the back."

"Hmph! It seems you are pretty good in talking, loser class leader."

"Loser? If you are talking about Class F, you will be enjoying that feeling very soon."

"HA!"

This is the fourth attack.

The warm liquid dripped down from my fist.

When I looked at it, it seemed that I had lost quite a lot of blood. There was a small pool of blood on the ground now.

"There is a loud noise from the wall for a long time, what is going on?"

"Who knows? Maybe you are too disgusting and cause others to give you some trouble?"

"Hmph, say whatever you like, the winner will be decided soon. Everyone, dash out together!"

"Reform the ranks! Step back first!"

"What? Boasting and running away at the same time?"

"Aki, it is about time."

"Yeah, I know."

I gave the comrades around me a signal with my eyes.

Everyone nodded silently.

"Yoshii, Shimada, what are you planning to do?"

Endo-sensei suddenly turned back and looked at us.

I needed to finish the job before he realized our fake duel and recalled the syokanjus.

"OHHHHHH!"

I used all my force and roared.

It must be done in the fifth time! There is no turning back!

"I will leave the rest to you, Akihisa."

After luring all the main troops away, Yuuji used his usual and clear voice to make the announcement.

It is exactly three o'clock in the afternoon, the mission starts now!

<span style="font-size: 200%; border: ">'''"HAAAA!"'''</span>

[[image:BTS vol 01 219.jpg|thumb]]
I concentrated all the syokanju's power in it's fist, and punched at the wall.

Our aim from the beginning was the wall that separated Class D and Class B. The duel with Minami was just an excuse to summon the syokanju.

"Urgh!"

The pain that ran through my whole body was stimulating the nerve.

However, only I could do this. With the price of suffering the pain that bounced back, my syokanju had the ability to touch physical objects.

<span style="font-size: 200%; border: ">'''*Sounds of wall collapsing*'''</span>

A clear collapsing sound opened the way to Class B.

"What?"

Beyond the collapsed wall was Nemoto's face, distorted due to extreme shock.

Almost all the enemy's troop had left the classroom to chase after Yuuji's main group.

It is a rare opportunity now. Since the main troops have gone, the defense force around the class leader is extremely weak now, it is now the time to win!

"Die, Nemoto Kyoji ----"

We dashed forward and prepared to challenge Nemoto, who was still stunned because of all the sudden changes.

"Endo-sensei! Class F Shimada wants to----"

"Class B Yamamoto accepts the challenge! Syokanju Summoning!"

"Damn! It is the personal guards!"

The personal guards that remained in the classroom blocked the way in front of us.

We were only twenty meters away from Nemoto, however we were inside a small classroom which made this distance look extremely long.

"H-Hahaha! You really surprised me! However it is so unfortunate! Your surprise attack plan still failed!"

Nemoto Kyoji purposely laughed loudly in order to cover his action just now.

It was true that our surprise attack plan had failed. The personal guards already surrounded Nemoto. Since we have lower scores, we couldn't really break the current state anytime soon. However we achieved our goal.

I know this is a sudden change of topic, but let me explain the characteristic of each subject!

Every subject has a different teacher teaching it. Depending on the teacher, the situation of the test will differ as well.

For example, mathematics teacher Kiuchi-sensei marks the paper very fast.

For example, world history teacher Tanaka-sensei is very loose in terms of marking.

For example, English teacher Endo-sensei, which is in the scene now, tends to give away some marks when he is marking the paper.

Then, how about health education?

Health education teacher isn't very fast in marking papers and his marking criteria is not really loose. Also the summoning area is not very far and the teacher doesn't run very fast.

The characteristic of health education, is the teacher's---

''*Sounds of people landing*''

The entrance was blocked. The classroom was filled with unimaginable heat. Suddenly a student and a teacher appeared in the scene; a clear landing sound spread all over the classroom.

Because the air conditioner was broken, the windows were opened to let the air flow.

Two people climbed down from the roof using the rope, then jumped into the classroom and landed right in front of Nemoto Kyoji. That's right, the characteristic of health education was his extraordinary ability to move around.

"Class F Tsuchiya Kouta."

"You..you bastard!"

"Will challenge Class B's Nemoto Kyoji with health education."

"Silent Pervert----"

Because the personal guards were fighting us, Nemoto Kyoji had no bodyguard to protect him. Now he had no way to run.

"----Syokanju Summoning."

Class F Tsuchiya Kouta VS Class B Nemoto Kyoji

Health Education 441 marks VS 203 marks

The short knife in Silent Pervert's syokanju hand flashed, and instantly killed the enemy.

The war against Class B officially ended here.

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume1 The Sixth Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume1 The Eighth Question}}
</noinclude>

CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1 Chapter1

2011-09-23T11:03:42Z

Ziharker77:

===Chapter One: Night of Rubik's Cube===

"...What is this? Custard pudding?"

The girl said as she poked the yellowish-white object in front of her with a sulky expression.

"Have a taste and you'll know."

"Hmmm... hm?! T-this...."

She guided the spoon into her mouth, then froze up.

"It's not sweet! This is a fake! What a nasty food... When you say a soft pedestal and a black sauce, it just has to be a pudding!"

"Don't call food nasty. It's just tofu, a solidified soybean soup. You didn't like it?"

Haruaki sat just opposite of the girl after removing the apron he had on.
The girl's ill temper was obvious as she chewed the Yakko-Doufu. She was now wearing a borrowed shirt and hot pants.

"Hmph, it's not bad. It's inferior to the crunchy snack I was munching earlier, though."

"Poor tofu, being compared to a rice-cracker."

"So, that was called a rice-cracker. Now, that one had a unique food texture. It was sweet but spicy at the same time, and that feeling while crunching at it... h-huh?
Why are you looking at me?"

Haruaki simply answered that it was nothing, and looked away from the face that said she was caught off-guard. He started eating too. Haruaki thought that this situation was just like what the old sayings said: To eat while you can, since you can't fight a war on an empty stomach.
The girl who sat opposite of him unnecessarily checked that the food in front of her was a fish, looking at the broiled mackerel pike as if she had never seen one before.
After her thorough observation, she placed down the spoon and fork she was holding. Haruaki imagined what she was going to do and initiated a warning before the girl's
bare hands got the mackerel.

"Wait. You'll have to go over my dead body first before you can eat something with bare hands in front of me."

Haruaki reached for the mackerel plate to prevent her hands from grasping it, but for some reason the girl suddenly backed off the tatami space she was sitting on.

"Hey wait. I just misunderstood things earlier. I was a little confused at first, but I'm alright now. I even lent you those clothes, didn't I?"

"I-I'm not sure.... I mean, you recently played with THAT part of my body earlier in front of the gate..."

"But I didn't know I was touching THAT part of your body. Oh hell, I'm sorry anyway. Just forgive me already, 'kay?"

Haruaki asked her a cliched apology while he started on the mackerel pike with his chopsticks.

"Watch me, I'll show you how to dismantle this mackerel. Just do it first like this, then grab its head, and then pull it away with those nasty fishbones. It's easy, isn't it?"

The girl watched with interest for a while, but she quickly recovered her wary face. After a few seconds, she snorted with an ill temper as she sat back in front of the table.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"...I'm called Fear."

Fear quickly shut her mouth, as if she were surprised that she'd told him her name.

"Fear, is it?"

"Well, yes. It's none of your business though... you can just call me whatever you want."

"Unfortunately, you're part of my business now. You just became my top priority. In fact, the way you became my top priority was almost foul play. So, what are you anyway?
What kind of box are you?"

"Er..."

"Er?"

Without warning, she raised her eyebrows in outrage and started making holes in the broiled mackerel, just after Haruaki raised a question mark at her answer.

"Shut up! It's none of your business, you fool!"

"Whoa! What kind of cursing was that?! I haven't heard them for a while. Anyway, are you a brat, having an outburst like that?!"

"W-Why you?!"

"I haven't heard that for a while too... wha, hey! Stop attacking that mackerel and close your mouth!"

"Digging up a lady's past like that! You should learn some respect, you shameless brat!"

Haruaki thought that he didn't want to hear that from HER. But being the sensible one, he decided to give up.

"Whew.... Well, I won't push you if you don't want to tell me about your past. I know it's not exactly filled with happy memories."

It seemed that her temper had somewhat cooled down because of Haruaki's honest words. She was at a loss for words and turned her face down.

"I... hate that appearance. I wouldn't want to turn into that form unless its absolutely necessary. Someone told me coming here would be easier with that form. So, I had no choice but to give up..."

"Who told you? My old man?"

"He said his name was Honatsu... Are you his son?"

"Yeah. And my name's Haruaki. How's my old man doing?"

"I don't know. He said that he still had something to do over there."

"As much of a freeman as usual, I see. Geez, I'm tired of complaining about him though. As long as he keeps sending money for my living, I'll keep up with his game."

"I don't understand you two... I mean, you and your father. I thought an ordinary man wouldn't try to understand the likes of me."

"We've been receiving cursed tools like you since I was a kid. Usually, tools that we accept are those with a slight curse in it, but there are rare occasions where a tool who
can assume human form like you comes here for help."

After a brief silence, Fear let out a sigh and placed down the fork she was holding. Her serious gaze pierced Haruaki as she looked up, her silver hair swaying slightly.

"I'm going to say something serious."

"....Go ahead."

"I... I was placed in some dark dungeon, thrown away long ago by my last owner. Yachi Honatsu came one day and found me. He tried to talk to me, and I told him my wish."

"A wish?"

Haruaki already had an idea what her wish was. But, cursed tools who came here with their own will were often the ones who needed to confirm the purpose of their existence
by putting them into words. Knowing that, he chose to let her say it out loud from her own mouth.

The girl who was not human answered in a whisper, biting her lips softly,

"I want to free myself from my curse."

"How much do you know...? About the curse, and about tools like me?"

"Well, here's what I know; First, a tool changes its quality in a negative way if it continues to receive negative thoughts.
Second, a tool that receives negative thoughts often affects the owner and the people around it.
And third, in exchange with the negative effect it brings upon the people around it, it may show a mysterious charm and function..."

"Is that all?"

Haruaki narrowed his eyes and looked at Fear, who was speaking with her eyes looking down at the table.

"To add one more, I know that after receiving all the negative thoughts and curses from humans, an item would become... something that's in front of me right now."

Yes. A tool which received too much grudge from humans will earn a human quality----

Haruaki didn't know the specific details, but he knew that an item gains a personal thought which affects its essence as a tool. It was a result of receiving grudges from people
over and over again. In the end, they'll possess their own mind, soul, and an ability to change forms with its own will.

"That's right. It started with a single grudge. I was made to harm people and because of it, I had received much hatred, grievances, and murderous intents. From those grudges,
I was branded with the abominable curse of [driving my owner into insanity.]"

Haruaki noticed that the girl was gripping her hands tightly. He thought it was better not to ask more about her about concrete details of the tool that she was and
about what she meant by driving her owner into insanity.

"My curse doesn't end there. The grudge I received gave me [human qualities] and my own will. To me, who was nothing but a tool in the beginning. Let me correct myself, I was not given those capabilities; I was forced to have those capabilities. Have you ever thought about how bad the affinity between a will and a curse was? I envy those tools which only have a slight curse. They won't realize by themselves that they were burdened by a curse. How fortunate it is to be blessed with ignorance!"

For a moment, she took a deep breath.

"I came here believing in Honatsu's words that I can free my curse here in this place. That's the reason why I came, but I was not told about the details of what I have to do. Tell me
honestly---- Will I, will I be able to lift the curse from myself without affecting the people around me? Remember that Honatsu sent me to you, so that makes you my current owner. If you're
just lying about here being a place to free one's self from a curse, you would be the first to receive the harmful effects that come with it."

Her eyes looked straight into his. But those eyes reflected undeniable fright and doubt.
That was why Haruaki simply told her,

"Yes, you can."

"....Huh?"

"I said you can free yourself from your curse here. You see, I don't have strong spiritual sense or special ability like my father, but it seems that I have a unique body constitution which
repels curses, which makes me unaffected by them. So, whatever your curse is, it doesn't work on me. Hahaha! Fear me, you violent little girl!"

"What the...?! Wait, you said that I could lift my curse here, but how?"

"I'm not sure about the details, but this place has been a very pure land for a long time, and the area where this house was built was the center of the pure energy that comes from the land.
That's why just being here would fill you with positive energy. They say that this place is protected by some kind of force field, though the rate of cleansing is kinda slow. Just leaving the tools here would eventually lift the curse."

Haruaki remembered the woman who set the force field around the house. Her outfit caught many eyes, and she said that the force field would last for the next hundred years. He supposed that
there won't be a chance to see her again, if the force field would really last that long.

"And, there's another way of lifting a curse. The mechanic is simple; if a curse comes from negative thoughts, you just have to receive positive thoughts by helping people around you. If you keep on
receiving them, the curse will be neutralized eventually."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean to say that you have to vaguely perform acts that people will be thankful for, I suppose. You just have to live here and work as a part-timer or volunteer for public events... I think?"

"W-Wait, why was there a question mark in the end?"

Fear leaned forward, which sent the mackerel bits flying at Haruaki's face. He wondered if Fear did that on purpose.

"Well, it's not as if I've actually tried lifting a curse from myself. That was just what I've heard."

She puffed out her cheeks like a child, making a sullen expression.

"I can't believe it... I mean, I don't think that simply sleeping or working here would lift the curse. Besides, I doubt that my curse could be lifted in a leisurely phase..."

"You're right about going leisurely. Being able to assume human form would mean that many curses have been gathered in your body, so it would take years to free yourself. I don't know any
other ways of lifting a curse, so maybe you'll just have to be patient about it."

"Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I still can't believe it."

"Don't worry so much about it. Even if you can't believe for----"

Ding dong. The door bell rung suddenly. Fear seemed to be frightened by it, so Haruaki told her that it was just a bell that said there was a visitor. He stood up and pointed at the table.

"The food'll grow cold, so eat it now. Especially the mackerel pike."

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

"Good evening, Haruaki-kun."

A familiar smile greeted Haruaki as he opened the door. The smiling girl was wearing big round glasses like ones that you'd see in a manga. She had an apron around her well-endowed
body and it was impressionable. The pot that she was holding reinforced the familial impression that shrouded her.

"Hey, Konoha. What is it?"

"I've made too much Nikujaga for myself, so I thought that I'd share some with you. It's a bit late already, so maybe you can have it for your breakfast tomorrow."

"That'll be a great help. I was just having my dinner right now... Oh yeah, it's just great that you came now. I have a favor to ask of you."

Konoha slanted her head in question. At that exact moment, Haruaki heard footsteps coming toward him.

"Hey, Haruaki. The food was kind of lacking in quantity. Isn't there any left? I would like to request for a rice cracker if there's still any left."

"You eat too fast!"

Needless to say, the person who came behind Haruaki was Fear.

"Um, Haruaki-kun? Who is that child?"

"Oh yeah, the favor I was going to ask you was about---"

An openly belligerent voice came from Fear as she broke into the conversation.

"Hey, you there! We've just met and you started calling me a child. How dare you speak to me like that, you unfortunate-looking woman!"

"Unfortunate-looking....?!"

Konoha was still smiling, but Haruaki sensed a dangerous aura coming out from her. Fear stood behind him with arms crossed, looking aggressively at Konoha.
Haruaki thought he saw a lightning bolt run between Konoha and Fear.

"You two there. Why are you raising a hostile aura in front of my house?"

"I think you're just imagining things. I'm not angry, really. After all, they're just words of a CHILD."

At that moment, Haruaki felt a violent aura rising behind him. He sensed danger, so he quickly changed the topic.

"Er....Oh yeah! Hey Konoha, have you made anything else besides this? I mean, have you eaten your dinner? Why don't you eat here for a change? It's been a long time since the last time you ate here.
It seems that I have to cook more food anyway."

"Well, if you say so... I think I will. Come to think of it, it has been a long time since the last time we ate together, Haruaki-kun."

"My cooking skills haven't improved though."

"It was great, so don't worry. I think I'm getting hungry just thinking about the dishes you make."

Konoha smiled and entered the house. Suddenly, an insulting snort came out from nowhere.

"Go ahead and eat. Hah, I think that being able to send all the nutrients you eat to your breasts is some kind of talent. I bet that your brain's very light."

Haruaki heard a clashing metal sound. Almost at the same time, he saw Konoha kneeling on the floor, catching the pot that almost fell from her hands.
He looked at the floor and saw the handle of the pot, which was cut cleanly in half.

"...I think it's very sad when a person eats, but the nutrients don't go to their breasts... Oh, I was just talking to myself."

"W-Why you?!"

"Ahahaha-- I'll go ahead now."

Konoha let out a feigned laugh and went into the living room. Fear was staring at her back and was murmuring with hatred;

"What kind of character does that woman have...! Maybe I should curse her!"

"She's not usually like that. In fact, I have this feeling that you were the one who started the fight. Why are you being so hostile anyway?"

"It's none of your business! I just didn't like what she said when she saw me. That's enough reason for my hostility. Besides..."

A weird smile came from her angry expression.

"I just realized now that bullying that cow-tits woman is going to be fun. She'll see, I won't lose the next time...!"

Fear went back into the living room, letting out an evil snort as she walked to the living room.

Haruaki was worried about what could happen if he left those two together in the living room. But, he had to cook some food for Konoha and the hungry juvenile so he had
no choice but to leave those two together in the living room.
Haruaki made a plate full of an easy saute dish. Adding together some rice and miso soup for Konoha, he brought the food into the living room.
He was greeted by a view of two girls throwing dry laughs at each other. Only God knows what happened while he was in the kitchen. He didn't even want to know.

"I only sauted what was left in the fridge. Is that okay for you?"

"No problem. I've made quite lot of Nikujaga anyway."

With a "Ta-da" sound effect, Konoha lifted the lid of the pot she brought with her.
Inside the pot was a steaming soup of brownish broth and beef, letting out a fragrant smell of soy sauce. To put it simply, it looked delicious.
If you'll take a good look at it, you'll notice that an excessive amount of beef was covering all the other ingredients like potatoes. The beef formed a great pile,
just like a mountain sitting on a pot. If you ask me, it's more of a Niku-Niku-Nikujaga instead of a simple Nikujaga.

"Um, so, doesn't that look good?"

"It looks delicious, just as always."

Meat-demon Konoha's face lit up with a smile.

"I see, this definitely looks delicious. You can easily see that it was made by a gluttonous incarnate of appetite."

With that remark, the round lid that Konoha was holding fell on the table, cut into half. Without a word, she picked up the half circles and threw them behind her.
After that, Konoha mouthed an Itadakimasu and started eating with a cheerful (that was how Haruaki interpreted Konoha's expression) face.

"I've no clue why or how this meal has turned into a tense atmosphere, but I guess I have to make an easy introduction at least. Konoha, our visitor here is called Fear.
As you might guess, she was sent by my old man."

Konoha sent a look at Fear while she took loads of beef from the pot. Fear, on the other hand, completely ignored her.

"Fear, this is Konoha. Well, what can I say... er, she lives in the room inside the house's outer building, and we're also in the same school level though our classes are different.
She'd been like a childhood friend since I was a kid and----"

"And she's not human."

Fear said without a pretense. It was followed by few seconds of silence and,

".... That's right. She's like your sempai here in this place."

"I thought so. A lid would never break into half by itself. I know that tools who could assume human form could usually keep the nature of their original form even if they turn
into human form----I suppose you're some kind of blade aren't you?"

"Would you answer me if I asked what was your original form?"

Konoha asked with a smile pasted on her face. Fear replied with a snort.
Uncomfortable silence went on as they ate their dinner. All of their plates were almost empty when Fear spoke to Haruaki.

"So, you wanted to say earlier that I could believe what you said because there's a precedent."

"Er....Yeah. that's right. Konoha did a lot of helpful things like working part-time since when she first came here."

"He's right. Thanks to my deeds, I'm almost free from all of my curses."

"Almost, you say. What would happen if you become completely free from curse?"

"Tools with only a slight curse would just turn back into a normal tool. But according to my old man, the negative energy that built up inside the tools who could assume human form
went over the original nature that it had so even if you were able to neutralize those negative thoughts, their human form will be kept. That means that you two will just be
free from the curse that you have."

"So, I won't turn back into my original form..... I see."

"To be honest, I don't know much about it. Just ask my old man once he comes back."

Fear wasn't even listening to Haruaki. She just kept silent and nodded, murmuring "I see... I wouldn't...I see..." as she did.
It was as if she was trying to hide the expression of relief on her face.
Fear finished up the remaining food on her plate and asked a question to Konoha.

"Haruaki said earlier that you've been together with him for more than ten years now. Does it really take that much time?"

"I think it also depends on the degree of your curse, but..."

Two empty plates covered the table. For a moment, two eyes----one silent and one with a hint of hostility----looked at each other.

"The amount of grudge that we'd accumulated within ourselves are so great that whatever you do, we can't easily forget, throw away, or repent for them... You get on my nerves,
but at least, in that aspect, we could have something in common. This is something that could be shared between you and me, as a same ruined state of mind."

Fear started to say something, but just looked away and said;

"....It's the same for me, you know. You get on my nerves too...."

"Well, you just have to take it easy. I think there's nothing I could help with though."

It was a composed statement of a senior. Konoha had said those words with a lot of ease. Fear, of course, just snorted.

After that, Haruaki also finished his meal, so he cleaned up the table with Konoha and went to the kitchen to wash them. When he came back, Fear was hugging her knees and was looking up
at the ceiling with a blank stare. He brought an after-dinner tea, so he handed one to Fear and started drinking his.

"Oh yeah, Konoha, could you bring some of your old clothes? I wouldn't say right now but I just thought that it would be better if Fear had something to wear. I know that the size won't fit though."

"...Sorry for having small breasts!"

"I didn't mention any part of your body that wouldn't fit!"

Haruaki almost dropped the yunomi that came from the opposite side of the table.

"I guess that can't be helped.... Alright, I'll bring some as soon as I can."

"I'm counting on it."

"Say, what are you going to do for tonight, like where'll she sleep?"

"Huh? Well, I suppose she's gonna spend her night here. I'll just lend her one of the Japanese rooms."

"S-She'll be staying here?! Isn't that a bad idea, since I think it is!"

"But you see, the outer building's already full... Kuroe isn't home and her room is locked."

The outer building was made like an apartment, with two rooms inside. Konoha was living there with another housemate, but she was always away for about half a month, so Konoha
didn't really feel that she had a housemate living next door.

"By the way, make the guest room as luxurious as possible. That way, you can compensate for what you did to me."

"Compensate?"

Haruaki asked Fear, and he received a reply with a threatening attitude.

"Don't say you already forgot what you did to my body earlier! Playing with my body like that... I've never had someone put his finger [there]! My face was burning with
embarrassment!"

Haruaki was about to say that Fear was just a box at that time, when he heard a sound of yunomi rolling off on the tatami. He saw that Konoha was trembling as she stood up.
A false smile covered her expression for a while but it eventually broke into tears.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe it! Have you two already done THOSE kind of things?!"

Konoha ran away from the living room covering her face with her hands.
They just heard the violent sound of the entrance door being shut. Fear just nodded with content and said,

"I'm not sure what happened, but I've won. I feel great."

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

Dull-colored stone floor was all that there was. The room smelled of metal and of metal-like stink. The air was congested but it wasn't stagnant.
The air was clear. Clear like the air inside a tomb or a casket.
There wasn't anything that could tell time. There was only a dead space, without a trace of any living things.
The only thing that you could feel from there was the constancy and blockade.
The mass of steel that was left there didn't have anything to do other than to whisper the same words over and over again.
It wasn't even said aloud. It just made circles within its mind. Like an endless loop.
When it's awake, while it's asleep, when it opened its mind, and when it closed its mind.
It's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark.
It went on and on-----

She opened her eyes. There was nothing inside the Japanese room. She raked up and embraced the futon that was given to her. There was only the sound of scraping futon.
There was some warmth left in the futon but it was a false warmth... It was just an accumulated heat from covering someone. So, it was the same as having no warmth at all.
Shards of her dream sent a chill down her spine. She knew that there was a difference between this room and the dungeon room where she was kept.
But, even though there was a slight warmth and sound inside this room, she couldn't help thinking that this room was the same as the place where she was kept.
She silently opened the sliding door and walked along the porch. Moon light illuminated her path as she arrived in front of another room. She entered.
A boy was sleeping. He was laying in an odd position and his futon came off below his waist. A slight snort came from a faintly smiling face.
The girl kneeled down before the rolled-up futon and slowly reached for it. She stroked it for a while, then she brought it up to her cheeks.
It was someone else's smell.
Someone else's warmth.
That, perhaps, was the first time that she felt those things.

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

Next day, during lunch break at school. Haruaki opened the lid of his lunch box and thoughts about the problem he left alone in his house came to his mind.

(I wonder If she'll be alright alone. I left her a note and some leftovers from my lunch box, but... Wait, what if she can't read?)

When Haruaki visited the girl in her room this morning, she was still sound asleep with a happy expression. He tried to wake her but she didn't wake up
so he just left her a note that says he's going to school and he'd left her some food.
Haruaki wondered if she was still asleep. When he woke up this morning, his futon was gone. When he entered the girl's room, he saw that the girl was covered
with HIS futon while hers was abandoned on the corner of her room. How it happened was still a mystery to him.

"Hey Haruaki! What's with you? You petrified all of a sudden after you opened your lunch box... Maybe you should be moving your body more, not just for cooking and housework.
Baseball is great, if you'd just give it a try!"

A classmate whom Haruaki always had his lunch with spoke to him. His name was Hakuto Taizo.

"His withered expression is nothing new, but it does have a different glow compared to his usual expression. Maybe---- he made some girl pregnant? Hahaha!"

"Kana! Enough of your vulgar jokes!"

A girl with healthy sun-kissed skin, Miyama Kana, followed Taizo's teasing with her own.
The class rep, Ueno Kirika, remonstrated Kana about her vulgar remark.

Kirika let out a disgusted sigh and turned to face Haruaki.

"Forget Kana's reckless remark. But, I too think that you lack the concentration that you usually have. Is there some thing that makes you anxious?"

"Huh? No, no, I don't have any problem. Maybe I caught a chill last night."

"Did you hear that Taizo-san? Kirika-chan just said something like this: I'm always looking at Yachi so I know something's wrong with him! Ohh, If there was something I
could do to comfort him..."

"What a villain you are Haruaki! Since when did you steal the class rep's heart? Did you save a princess? Have you set a fire to a forged bill factory? Did you kill someone
in a clocktower with pair of scissors?"

"Both of you! Stop s-saying nonsense! How foolish!"

Taizo and Kana had been Haruaki's friend since his junior high years while Kirika became his friend in high school.

Kirika was a formidable class rep. She was calm and composed at all times and her grades were top-notch. She always wore a knee-length long skirt, which gave her an impression
that she was born two decades later than she should have. She also hated to expose much of her skin, and was always wearing a jersey during physical education classes and
even at summer, she wore a long-sleeved blouse.
Because of this, only few people tried to get close to her and she was often alone during her first few days. It was only Kana, who was friendly to everyone, who forcefully
brought Kirika with them.
There was a specific reason though, why Kirika started to take her lunch together with them.

"Setting aside those worthless remarks, let us proceed to our daily showdown. I'm confident with my fried eggs today. I'll get back for all my previous losses! I'm counting
on you two for the judge."

Kirika opened her lunch box and brought it to Taizo and Kana's table.

"So, Kirika-chan. Do you think you have a chance of success today?"

"I've tasted it several times. Plus, I got hold of the fact that Yachi might have caught a cold... that means his taste organ might not be working well. I decided that today
is the day."

A spirited glare pierced Haruaki.

"Oh...where is she getting all that motivation...?"

"Well, they say that maintaining health is part of the battle. We only care about the taste, so don't worry. After all, we are the judges. Alright, here I go---!"

"I'll have this first! ------Wow Kirika-chan! These fried eggs are just great! I love the crunchy bacon bits!"

"Really now? So, it's great huh? Hehehehe.....!"

Kirika saw the two gave her food a good evaluation and smirked. But, that smirk was off her face immediately since the battle was still ongoing.
The judges reached for Haruaki's lunch box and-----

"Akki's fried eggs are delicious too! It's soooo good! .... Hmm I wonder where this strange taste comes from?"

"Haruaki, what did you add to your fried eggs?"

"I've put some avocados in it. Hehe, I based it from an old cooking manga."

Taizo and Kana looked at each other and nodded. They grabbed the winner's lunchbox and raised it above their heads, looking like funny symmetrical statues holding a
lunch box.

"Um, the tastes were both great but we decided that Haruaki won for his novel idea!"

In that moment, Kirika lowered her head, both her hands shaking.

"Ugh....! Novelty.... They're right. My attention was tied to the taste and I failed to give a thought about an original idea....! So I learned today that a conservative
idea alone is not enough to go against the ever-changing idea these days!"

".....Hey, class rep, I keep telling you that you shouldn't be THAT serious with the battles."

Haruaki tried to reassure her. Kirika raised her head and said;

"I can't keep on losing to a man especially when it's about cooking! I'll win for sure next time!"

He'd already heard that line many times. But, telling that now to the class rep would be suicidal so he kept his mouth shut and just returned a bitter smile.

After that, they proceeded on having their own lunch for a while.
A little later, Haruaki heard a classmate calling out to him that he had a visitor. He looked at the door and saw a familiar face.

"It's Konoha-san! She's just as...well, you know, as always! Damn it Haruaki, please tell her that I, Taizo, send my appreciation for her being as beautiful as
a belladonna!"

"I don't know why Hakuto would choose a poisonous flower to compare her to. It's plain stupid."

Haruaki ignored the conversation behind him and walked over to the door. It was his first time seeing Konoha in school today.

"What's up?"

"There's nothing important, really... It's just that I worry about that girl..."

"I tried to wake her up but she wouldn't so I just left her alone with a note."

"What?"

She froze.

"Was it ok to leave her alone?"

"From what I saw last night, I think that she's harmless enough but, hmmm... now that you mentioned it, I'm starting to worry about her. After all, we didn't talk that much."

"Have you seen her.... original form?"

"Just a little bit, when I saw her for the first time. She was a big mysterious box."

He started to think about something for a moment but decided that he had no idea what she was and shook his head in surrender.

"Well, if you say that she's alright, I guess she is. I suppose there's nothing to worry about."

Konoha bowed her head in good bye and went back to her classroom.

(She said there's nothing to worry about, but....)

When a person starts to worry, it won't leave him until he checked on what was worrying him. It was like having second thoughts about your answer in an examination when you
checked it over for a correction. Haruaki had no choice but to stare at the slow-moving clock inside the classroom and wait for the time to go home.

After the classes, Haruaki and Konoha met in front of the school entrance.

"Don't you have a student council meeting today?"

"I've passed for today. I felt like it."

There was an understanding between the two. Haruaki hurried back to his house together with Konoha who was publicly known as his related cousin.
They arrived at the gate, opened it quickly, then entered the house. There they saw----

"What the?!"

They saw that the inside was horrible. Turned back table was standing in a slant position, its leg piercing the sliding door. The cabinets turned over. On the floor was
unnecessary things that should have been inside the closet scattered all over.

....Just in a half day, his place of rest became a place of chaos. Something extraordinary must have happened here.

Haruaki searched for the silver-haired girl, his heart beating wildly. He found her immediately.
She was lying face-down on the porch. Not a movement from her. He kneeled over her and picked her up.
He tried to talk to her while he shook her body. Her eyes opened and she blinked with a blank stare.
Konoha went to the kitchen to get some water but hurriedly came back.

"We've got a problem! The kitchen too is in wretched condition!"

"Just what in the world happened here... Fear! Come on, Fear!"

"Ugh...... Stop shaking me... I'm alright..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Oh, you just don't know what I've been through."

Fear sat up and held her head. Her head was drooped as she breathed in and out, as if saying that she was about to say something very important. She raised her head and said;

"Listen... A light green-colored alien with three legs came here a while ago and----"

"Haaaa!"

Before Fear could finish, Haruaki's hand went to the back of her head. A good sound came out from his strike.

"W-what are you doing all of a sudden?! You want me to curse you?!"

"I should be the one asking you what were you doing! I get it, you had nothing to do so you tried to destroy the house didn't you? Look at what you did!"

"Y-you're wrong..."

Fear faced away.

"Then how can you explain my collection of rare dishes being sucked by the vaccuum cleaner?! I could only take it as a presentation of malice against me! Have I done anything
to you?!"

Haruaki cornered her. Fear just made a sullen face and glared at Haruaki.

"Shut up! I don't care what you say about me! I'm feeling sleepy so I'll go get some sleep! Don't even try bothering me!"

She ran away to her room. Haruaki was taken back by her sudden outburst and lost the will power to follow her.

"That little... tsk, she should try to be the one who'll fix these things up! So this is how she repays me for my kindness!"

"...Um, excuse me?"

Konoha was the one who was poking Haruaki's shoulder. She said to Haruaki in an awkward manner;

"I think that in that situation, you have some faults too, you know."

"Why? I can't explain what she did other than playing a prank against me."

"Well, if you try to look at things around you, maybe you'll see what I mean. Try to look over there on the garden. Or at the kitchen"

Haruaki tried to look at where she pointed out. It was totally different from how he left them this morning. He still couldn't see anything other than Fear trying to play a-----

"....Huh?.... That girl... was she trying to...?"

What Fear did first when she entered her room was to mount on a pillow and punch it to get some stress out of her body. The moment she got out of breath, she took the futon out
and covered herself with it. But, that didn't completely take out her anger.

"Hmph....Hmph! That idiot, that shameless brat....! He doesn't have to be so..."

He didn't even try to listen to my explanation. How annoying.
Well, to tell the truth, she wasn't that enthusiastic about trying to explain things to him...

"There's no way I could tell him what I've been up to."

She can't explain THAT to him. It was too embarrassing and too disappointing. She had that much pride, at least. She couldn't help it but----it was annoying.
After letting out a big snort. She rearranged the futon and covered her head again.

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

For the few days that Fear spent together with Honatsu, she was taught by him the basic Japanese reading and writing, as well as the common knowledge about the modern world.
That was why Fear was able to read the note that Haruaki left for her. She thought that leaving her alone here was impertinent but there wasn't anything she could do about
it so she just ate the breakfast/lunch that Haruaki left for her. After the meal, Fear murmured to her self.

"..... Phew. How boring."

She was sitting at the porch and looking up at the sky. That was when the "urge" hit her. It was a refreshing experience since it was her first time, but it was kind of
embarrassing thinking about it------The call of nature.

"Being a human wasn't as comfortable as I thought."

She went to the washroom, making a face. After a few moments, her mission was completed.

"Now that was convenient. Haruaki said that it was called a faucet. I was quite amazed."

Fear stood before the wash stand, washing her hands and thinking about the great changes of the world around her. She mastered the use of faucet. Though she was amazed
sometimes at the technology, she thought that it was not enough to make her afraid.
While she was shaking the water off her hands, something inside the room caught her eye.

"Hm. I know that machine. It's called a "Washing machine". You put water and detergent to it and it will wash the clothes automatically."

Fear remembered what Haruaki said last night. She had to do something that [people would be thankful for] in order to lift her curse. Now, she thought about her current
condition. She had nothing to do. Maybe she should start doing something that would be helpful for people. Haruaki also said that it would take a lot of time to lift the
curse. If so, she should start early to finish earlier than it will originally take.

"....Hehehe. Thank me for what I'm going to do. And marvel at my true capacity...!"

First of all, she grabbed the clothes in the laundry basket and put them inside the washing machine. Next, she searched for a box of laundry detergent and found a box of powder
besides the washing machine. She tried to smell and it smelled like soap. She thought with confidence that this was the laundry detergent. Finally, she put the detergent inside
the washing machine-----one whole box of it. After the procedure, she tried to push different buttons and saw that the machine started to operate.

"I can do this...hehehe. I'm amazed by my adaptation ability. Well, maybe I should clean the house next!"

The thing that she needed was called a vacuum cleaner. According to Haruaki, it was a box with long nose attached to it. She found the vacuum cleaner inside the closet.

"I know too that this machine requires electricity. There should be a nose-like hole on the walls. Hm, this should be it. It does look like a nose hole. But, hmmmm this
fork at the back of the vaccuum machine won't reach those holes......Wha?!"

The cord extended as she played with the plug. She was surprised by the unexpected movement.
She coughed, held her head high, and looked at her left and right.

"......It was just a feint. I knew about that."

She inserted the plug into the consent and tried to push all the buttons of the vacuum cleaner. It revved up and started to suck in dust. Perfect.
Fear slowly moved the vacuum and cleaned the whole room. She started to enjoy using the vacuum, so she proceeded on cleaning anywhere that she pleased.
She gradually got used to it and became faster as she cleaned. Though, there were some unknown phenomenon where the cord became heavier and crashing sounds resounded
behind her. Fear tried to look back but something more important entered her sight. It was a black eight-legged insect that was crawling above the tatami.

"A s-spider?!"

Goosebumps rose all over her. Fear asked herself why did it have to appear in front of her.
She vilificated her luck and tried to run away but she quickly turned back in self denial, thinking that she shouldn't back off against a spider.
Grabbing the vacuum cleaner, Fear rushed to the spider. The machine she was holding wasn't a convenient vacuum cleaner anymore. It was an advanced weapon that could
send that wretched spider into another dimension.

"Turn into ash with the power of electricity!"

The spider quickly changed its direction and was able to evade the attack. It went inside the open closet where the vacuum cleaner was placed.
Fear couldn't hold back so she inserted the vacuum inside the closet and tried to suck in the spider. The vacuum hit other things inside the closet while
fear was maneuvering it. They came crashing out of the closet.
The vacuum must have sucked in something big since the vacum suddenly stopped working after raising a weird sound.

"What the?!"

She was the one attacking a while ago but now the table was turned against her. She backed a few steps and quickly shut the closet door. She sat down, let out a sigh and
thought of letting go of the closet door.
What should I do? Should I attack again? No, there's no need. he won't be able to get out unless I open this door. That's right, I'll just keep it shut. I'll just have
Haruaki terminate it when he comes home.

"I didn't see anything..... Yes, that's how it is."

Fear saw an object familiar to her rolling near her feet. It must have come from the closet. It was a cube in a size where one could hold it in their palm, having a surface of
3x3 tiles. Every tile was painted with different colors.
She slanted her head and tried moving the cube. The colored tile shifted. She thought that if the tiles are moved right, the color on surface of the cube would be uniform.

"...... ...... ...... Oh! I forgot that there are things that I should be doing right now."

Fear placed the cube back on the floor. That moment, she heard a buzzing sound coming from the washing machine. She remembered that she was washing clothes.

"....Well, it certainly is showy. I wonder if it was necessary to do that much."

Bubbles were bursting out from the washing machine like a mountain. Not only that, the overflowing water made a pool on the floor.
Anyway, if there are washed clothes then they must be hung to let them dry.
Fear rescued the washed clothes out of the washing machine and placed them in a basket. She got out into the garden and went to the drying pole. The garden was carpeted
with green grass and it felt good to her bare feet.
Fear stood before the drying pole, wrung the clothes and set them on the pole to dry. There were triangular beak-like things on the pole but she didn't know what its used for
so she put them away. Maybe it was a charm or something.

"This is the last....one. Phew. It's perfect."

The clothes waved like a flag. Thinking that she was the one who did it caused a strange sense of fulfillment course through her.

It came when she tried to turn back, confident about her victorious feat-----A gust of wind.

There was no way she could go after it, and the towel went up over the roof. She made a wry face and jumped high onto the roof.
She heard a sound of something breaking below her but the towel was more important at that moment. She collected the towel and jumped down to the ground.
At that moment, another gust of wind came, as if it was playing a prank against her. Because of this, some of the clothes flew high up onto the branch of a tall tree.
She clucked and placed the collected towel on the pole. The moment she let go of the towel, the gust carried it up again, on to the tree branch. Damn. It was endless.

"..... Er, well. Clothes will dry faster if there was a wind to dry it. That means that those clothes over there on branch will dry faster. When viewed from a broad
perspective, it was better that it went up there on the tree.... or at least, I think that way."

She forcefully convinced herself and turned back to the house's direction, trying not to look at the waving clothes on the tree
a strange thing came into her view. And it was....

First, there was the living room. The cabinets were turned over and the table on the center was slanted into a weird position. Its foot pierced through the sliding door.
The cord constricted around the table. She didn't notice because of the appearance of the spider and the cubic toy. Somehow, she thought she knew what that caused weird phenomenon earlier.
Adding to that, many things which came from the closet were scattered on the floor and the vacuum cleaner was lying dead on the floor.
Fear also noticed that something fell from the roof and saw that it was a gray-colored roof tile. It must have been the breaking sound she heard when she jumped over to the roof.

It was the first time that fear thought that something was strange. It seemed that the house became disarranged, more than before she started cleaning. In fact, she had a
feeling that it was completely wretched. She wondered why.

"Could it be that I have done something wrong?"

Two people's footsteps answered her question.
Fear slowly went over the porch and laid on her stomach, thinking.
A poltergeist or an alien. Which would be more credible if she were to reason out?

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

"Hmmmmmmmmm. I have this feeling that what she tried to do was too predictable but, could it be really...?"

Haruaki murmured to himself while looking up at the laundered clothes swaying on the branches of the tree located in the garden.

"If she was just playing around, she wouldn't think to put laundry detergent into the washing machine.... Except for the amount she put in it. If you go to the washing machine
right now, you'll see for yourself that it's throwing out bubbles like a crab."

Konoha raised her hands and formed a "scissors", trying to imitate a crab. Haruaki picked up the Rubik's cube that was laying on the floor.

"Really. Where did she find this thing?"

"Um, Haruaki-kun...? Do you remember the time when I first came here?"

"I can't remember much of the details, but I do. You did some strange things back then."

She came to this house when Haruaki was about to enter grade school. Of course, he didn't remember the clear details but he could still remember Konoha's impression.

"I thought so. Well, I wanted you to forget all about it at first but thinking about it it now, I'm glad that you still remember how I used to be."

"Why?"

"Hehe. You just have to tell Fear-san what you told me back when we first met. With that, I bet all the problems will be solved."

"I don't remember what I told you. What did I say back then?"

"Well, Haruaki-kun didn't change a bit so you just have to tell her what's on your mind right now."

After that, Konoha offered to help cleaning up the house but Haruaki politely refused. He felt that it was something he had to do, and not anyone else. Konoha didn't argue
with him.
Later, after Konoha went back to the outer building, Haruaki left the Rubik's cube on the table and looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh hell. What am I supposed to do...."

In that evening.

"Hey. Are you awake?"

He waited patiently for the answer. After few moments, it came to him.

"Shut up. I'm asleep."

"No you're not. You answered my question."

"Shut up and be silent if you don't wanna be cursed."

"Alright, alright. So, don't you have something to say?"

After an interlude of silence, Fear replied that she didn't have anything to say to him. Haruaki said never mind and sighed. Talk about being stubborn.

"You might not have anything to say to me, but I do. Well, er... I'm sorry."

There was no reply. There wasn't anything he could do for her silence so he just continued speaking.

"I already knew what I should have done, but I forgot. You look like a human but you aren't-----but in reality, you're a human so you might have some difficulties at first. There might
be things that you wouldn't understand, and there might be times where you bother other people. There also might be times where you have a quarrel with someone. Konoha also
went through all of that."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about but don't compare me to that cowtits. It's unpleasant."

"Yeah, okay. Well, what I want to say is... that you don't have to hurry trying to lift your curse. And, if there is something that you don't know, just ask me and I'll teach you
so long as it is something that I know. I left your dinner at the kitchen so you can have it when you get hungry. I'll be going now. Oh, I forgot, here's my present for you.
Take it."

Haruaki left the paper bag he was carrying onto the floor in front of the sliding door. After that, he went back to his room, yawning as he walked away.
After a few minutes, the sliding door silently opened. After some minutes of observation, a white hand came out and took the paper bag. The sliding door moved silently as the
sliding door closed.

Inside the paper bag was some clothes. They were kind of big but most of them were universally fitting one pieces. There was also new underwear that was wrapped in a plastic.
A note fell from it saying "Only underwear should be brand new for infants"....

"Drop dead!"

Fear threw the note on the floor by reflex. She noticed that behind the paper was another note addressed to her. It said, "If you want a bra, try to work part-time and buy it yourself. You'll be able to do so when you get used to living here..... Well, we're cursed tools so our bodies won't grow. That means that there won't be a need to, I mean, it would
be just a waste of time if you...."

A heel drop struck the paper before Fear could finish reading.
There were other things inside the paper bag other than the clothes. It was the cubic toy from earlier. And, there was also...

"....a rice cracker."

Her stomach growled. Haruaki said that she ate all the stock so he must have bought it for her.

"H-Hmph. I won't be bribed that easily. Does he think I'm such a child that I'll fall to his scheme?"

Despite her muttered complaints, her hands opened the snack and dug-in to the treat. Her other hand played with the Rubik's cube. Sound of creaking plastic filled the room.

"Hm. Sesame seeds. It's coated with sesame seeds. How fragrant..."

Fear thought about Haruaki while two sounds resounded inside her room.
Well, I'll forgive that shameless brat for now. He should thank my merciful heart. First things first-----I should ask him where this wonderful snack is being sold.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[CubexCursedxCurious|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1_Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1 Chapter1

2011-09-23T10:56:39Z

Ziharker77:

===Chapter One: Night of Rubik's Cube===

"...What is this? Custard pudding?"

The girl said as she poked the yellowish-white object in front of her with a sulky expression.

"Have a taste and you'll know."

"Hmmm... hm?! T-this...."

She guided the spoon into her mouth, then froze up.

"It's not sweet! This is a fake! What a nasty food... When you say a soft pedestal and a black sauce, it just has to be a pudding!"

"Don't call food nasty. It's just tofu, a solidified soybean soup. You didn't like it?"

Haruaki sat just opposite of the girl after removing the apron he had on.
The girl's ill temper was obvious as she chewed the Yakko-Doufu. She was now wearing a borrowed shirt and hot pants.

"Hmph, it's not bad. It's inferior to the crunchy snack I was munching earlier, though."

"Poor tofu, being compared to a rice-cracker."

"So, that was called a rice-cracker. Now, that one had a unique food texture. It was sweet but spicy at the same time, and that feeling while crunching at it... h-huh?
Why are you looking at me?"

Haruaki simply answered that it was nothing, and looked away from the face that said she was caught off-guard. He started eating too. Haruaki thought that this situation was just like what the old sayings said: To eat while you can, since you can't fight a war on an empty stomach.
The girl who sat opposite of him unnecessarily checked that the food in front of her was a fish, looking at the broiled mackerel pike as if she had never seen one before.
After her thorough observation, she placed down the spoon and fork she was holding. Haruaki imagined what she was going to do and initiated a warning before the girl's
bare hands got the mackerel.

"Wait. You'll have to go over my dead body first before you can eat something with bare hands in front of me."

Haruaki reached for the mackerel plate to prevent her hands from grasping it, but for some reason the girl suddenly backed off the tatami space she was sitting on.

"Hey wait. I just misunderstood things earlier. I was a little confused at first, but I'm alright now. I even lent you those clothes, didn't I?"

"I-I'm not sure.... I mean, you recently played with THAT part of my body earlier in front of the gate..."

"But I didn't know I was touching THAT part of your body. Oh hell, I'm sorry anyway. Just forgive me already, 'kay?"

Haruaki asked her a cliched apology while he started on the mackerel pike with his chopsticks.

"Watch me, I'll show you how to dismantle this mackerel. Just do it first like this, then grab its head, and then pull it away with those nasty fishbones. It's easy, isn't it?"

The girl watched with interest for a while, but she quickly recovered her wary face. After a few seconds, she snorted with an ill temper as she sat back in front of the table.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"...I'm called Fear."

Fear quickly shut her mouth, as if she were surprised that she'd told him her name.

"Fear, is it?"

"Well, yes. It's none of your business though... you can just call me whatever you want."

"Unfortunately, you're part of my business now. You just became my top priority. In fact, the way you became my top priority was almost foul play. So, what are you anyway?
What kind of box are you?"

"Er..."

"Er?"

Without warning, she raised her eyebrows in outrage and started making holes in the broiled mackerel, just after Haruaki raised a question mark at her answer.

"Shut up! It's none of your business, you fool!"

"Whoa! What kind of cursing was that?! I haven't heard them for a while. Anyway, are you a brat, having an outburst like that?!"

"W-Why you?!"

"I haven't heard that for a while too... wha, hey! Stop attacking that mackerel and close your mouth!"

"Digging up a lady's past like that! You should learn some respect, you shameless brat!"

Haruaki thought that he didn't want to hear that from HER. But being the sensible one, he decided to give up.

"Whew.... Well, I won't push you if you don't want to tell me about your past. I know it's not exactly filled with happy memories."

It seemed that her temper had somewhat cooled down because of Haruaki's honest words. She was at a loss for words and turned her face down.

"I... hate that appearance. I wouldn't want to turn into that form unless its absolutely necessary. Someone told me coming here would be easier with that form. So, I had no choice but to give up..."

"Who told you? My old man?"

"He said his name was Honatsu... Are you his son?"

"Yeah. And my name's Haruaki. How's my old man doing?"

"I don't know. He said that he still had something to do over there."

"As much of a freeman as usual, I see. Geez, I'm tired of complaining about him though. As long as he keeps sending money for my living, I'll keep up with his game."

"I don't understand you two... I mean, you and your father. I thought an ordinary man wouldn't try to understand the likes of me."

"We've been receiving cursed tools like you since I was a kid. Usually, tools that we accept are those with a slight curse in it, but there are rare occasions where a tool who
can assume human form like you comes here for help."

After a brief silence, Fear let out a sigh and placed down the fork she was holding. Her serious gaze pierced Haruaki as she looked up, her silver hair swaying slightly.

"I'm going to say something serious."

"....Go ahead."

"I... I was placed in some dark dungeon, thrown away long ago by my last owner. Yachi Honatsu came one day and found me. He tried to talk to me, and I told him my wish."

"A wish?"

Haruaki already had an idea what her wish was. But, cursed tools who came here with their own will were often the ones who needed to confirm the purpose of their existence
by putting them into words. Knowing that, he chose to let her say it out loud from her own mouth.

The girl who was not human answered in a whisper, biting her lips softly,

"I want to free myself from my curse."

"How much do you know...? About the curse, and about tools like me?"

"Well, here's what I know; First, a tool changes its quality in a negative way if it continues to receive negative thoughts.
Second, a tool that receives negative thoughts often affects the owner and the people around it.
And third, in exchange with the negative effect it brings upon the people around it, it may show a mysterious charm and function..."

"Is that all?"

Haruaki narrowed his eyes and looked at Fear, who was speaking with her eyes looking down at the table.

"To add one more, I know that after receiving all the negative thoughts and curses from humans, an item would become... something that's in front of me right now."

Yes. A tool which received too much grudge from humans will earn a human quality----

Haruaki didn't know the specific details, but he knew that an item gains a personal thought which affects its essence as a tool. It was a result of receiving grudges from people
over and over again. In the end, they'll possess their own mind, soul, and an ability to change forms with its own will.

"That's right. It started with a single grudge. I was made to harm people and because of it, I had received much hatred, grievances, and murderous intents. From those grudges,
I was branded with the abominable curse of [driving my owner into insanity.]"

Haruaki noticed that the girl was gripping her hands tightly. He thought it was better not to ask more about her about concrete details of the tool that she was and
about what she meant by driving her owner into insanity.

"My curse doesn't end there. The grudge I received gave me [human qualities] and my own will. To me, who was nothing but a tool in the beginning. Let me correct myself, I was not given those capabilities; I was forced to have those capabilities. Have you ever thought about how bad the affinity between a will and a curse was? I envy those tools which only have a slight curse. They won't realize by themselves that they were burdened by a curse. How fortunate it is to be blessed with ignorance!"

For a moment, she took a deep breath.

"I came here believing in Honatsu's words that I can free my curse here in this place. That's the reason why I came, but I was not told about the details of what I have to do. Tell me
honestly---- Will I, will I be able to lift the curse from myself without affecting the people around me? Remember that Honatsu sent me to you, so that makes you my current owner. If you're
just lying about here being a place to free one's self from a curse, you would be the first to receive the harmful effects that come with it."

Her eyes looked straight into his. But those eyes reflected undeniable fright and doubt.
That was why Haruaki simply told her,

"Yes, you can."

"....Huh?"

"I said you can free yourself from your curse here. You see, I don't have strong spiritual sense or special ability like my father, but it seems that I have a unique body constitution which
repels curses, which makes me unaffected by them. So, whatever your curse is, it doesn't work on me. Hahaha! Fear me, you violent little girl!"

"What the...?! Wait, you said that I could lift my curse here, but how?"

"I'm not sure about the details, but this place has been a very pure land for a long time, and the area where this house was built was the center of the pure energy that comes from the land.
That's why just being here would fill you with positive energy. They say that this place is protected by some kind of force field, though the rate of cleansing is kinda slow. Just leaving the tools here would eventually lift the curse."

Haruaki remembered the woman who set the force field around the house. Her outfit caught many eyes, and she said that the force field would last for the next hundred years. He supposed that
there won't be a chance to see her again, if the force field would really last that long.

"And, there's another way of lifting a curse. The mechanic is simple; if a curse comes from negative thoughts, you just have to receive positive thoughts by helping people around you. If you keep on
receiving them, the curse will be neutralized eventually."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean to say that you have to vaguely perform acts that people will be thankful for, I suppose. You just have to live here and work as a part-timer or volunteer for public events... I think?"

"W-Wait, why was there a question mark in the end?"

Fear leaned forward, which sent the mackerel bits flying at Haruaki's face. He wondered if Fear did that on purpose.

"Well, it's not as if I've actually tried lifting a curse from myself. That was just what I've heard."

She puffed out her cheeks like a child, making a sullen expression.

"I can't believe it... I mean, I don't think that simply sleeping or working here would lift the curse. Besides, I doubt that my curse could be lifted in a leisurely phase..."

"You're right about going leisurely. Being able to assume human form would mean that many curses have been gathered in your body, so it would take years to free yourself. I don't know any
other ways of lifting a curse, so maybe you'll just have to be patient about it."

"Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I still can't believe it."

"Don't worry so much about it. Even if you can't believe for----"

Ding dong. The door bell rung suddenly. Fear seemed to be frightened by it, so Haruaki told her that it was just a bell that said there was a visitor. He stood up and pointed at the table.

"The food'll grow cold, so eat it now. Especially the mackerel pike."

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

"Good evening, Haruaki-kun."

A familiar smile greeted Haruaki as he opened the door. The smiling girl was wearing big round glasses like ones that you'd see in a manga. She had an apron around her well-endowed
body and it was impressionable. The pot that she was holding reinforced the familial impression that shrouded her.

"Hey, Konoha. What is it?"

"I've made too much Nikujaga for myself, so I thought that I'd share some with you. It's a bit late already, so maybe you can have it for your breakfast tomorrow."

"That'll be a great help. I was just having my dinner right now... Oh yeah, it's just great that you came now. I have a favor to ask of you."

Konoha slanted her head in question. At that exact moment, Haruaki heard footsteps coming toward him.

"Hey, Haruaki. The food was kind of lacking in quantity. Isn't there any left? I would like to request for a rice cracker if there's still any left."

"You eat too fast!"

Needless to say, the person who came behind Haruaki was Fear.

"Um, Haruaki-kun? Who is that child?"

"Oh yeah, the favor I was going to ask you was about---"

An openly belligerent voice came from Fear as she broke into the conversation.

"Hey, you there! We've just met and you started calling me a child. How dare you speak to me like that, you unfortunate-looking woman!"

"Unfortunate-looking....?!"

Konoha was still smiling, but Haruaki sensed a dangerous aura coming out from her. Fear stood behind him with arms crossed, looking aggressively at Konoha.
Haruaki thought he saw a lightning bolt run between Konoha and Fear.

"You two there. Why are you raising a hostile aura in front of my house?"

"I think you're just imagining things. I'm not angry, really. After all, they're just words of a CHILD."

At that moment, Haruaki felt a violent aura rising behind him. He sensed danger, so he quickly changed the topic.

"Er....Oh yeah! Hey Konoha, have you made anything else besides this? I mean, have you eaten your dinner? Why don't you eat here for a change? It's been a long time since the last time you ate here.
It seems that I have to cook more food anyway."

"Well, if you say so... I think I will. Come to think of it, it has been a long time since the last time we ate together, Haruaki-kun."

"My cooking skills haven't improved though."

"It was great, so don't worry. I think I'm getting hungry just thinking about the dishes you make."

Konoha smiled and entered the house. Suddenly, an insulting snort came out from nowhere.

"Go ahead and eat. Hah, I think that being able to send all the nutrients you eat to your breasts is some kind of talent. I bet that your brain's very light."

Haruaki heard a clashing metal sound. Almost at the same time, he saw Konoha kneeling on the floor, catching the pot that almost fell from her hands.
He looked at the floor and saw the handle of the pot, which was cut cleanly in half.

"...I think it's very sad when a person eats, but the nutrients don't go to their breasts... Oh, I was just talking to myself."

"W-Why you?!"

"Ahahaha-- I'll go ahead now."

Konoha let out a feigned laugh and went into the living room. Fear was staring at her back and was murmuring with hatred;

"What kind of character does that woman have...! Maybe I should curse her!"

"She's not usually like that. In fact, I have this feeling that you were the one who started the fight. Why are you being so hostile anyway?"

"It's none of your business! I just didn't like what she said when she saw me. That's enough reason for my hostility. Besides..."

A weird smile came from her angry expression.

"I just realized now that bullying that cow-tits woman is going to be fun. She'll see, I won't lose the next time...!"

Fear went back into the living room, letting out an evil snort as she walked to the living room.

Haruaki was worried about what could happen if he left those two together in the living room. But, he had to cook some food for Konoha and the hungry juvenile so he had
no choice but to leave those two together in the living room.
Haruaki made a plate full of an easy saute dish. Adding together some rice and miso soup for Konoha, he brought the food into the living room.
He was greeted by a view of two girls throwing dry laughs at each other. Only God knows what happened while he was in the kitchen. He didn't even want to know.

"I only sauted what was left in the fridge. Is that okay for you?"

"No problem. I've made quite lot of Nikujaga anyway."

With a "Ta-da" sound effect, Konoha lifted the lid of the pot she brought with her.
Inside the pot was a steaming soup of brownish broth and beef, letting out a fragrant smell of soy sauce. To put it simply, it looked delicious.
If you'll take a good look at it, you'll notice that an excessive amount of beef was covering all the other ingredients like potatoes. The beef formed a great pile,
just like a mountain sitting on a pot. If you ask me, it's more of a Niku-Niku-Nikujaga instead of a simple Nikujaga.

"Um, so, doesn't that look good?"

"It looks delicious, just as always."

Meat-demon Konoha's face lit up with a smile.

"I see, this definitely looks delicious. You can easily see that it was made by a gluttonous incarnate of appetite."

With that remark, the round lid that Konoha was holding fell on the table, cut into half. Without a word, she picked up the half circles and threw them behind her.
After that, Konoha mouthed an Itadakimasu and started eating with a cheerful (that was how Haruaki interpreted Konoha's expression) face.

"I've no clue why or how this meal has turned into a tense atmosphere, but I guess I have to make an easy introduction at least. Konoha, our visitor here is called Fear.
As you might guess, she was sent by my old man."

Konoha sent a look at Fear while she took loads of beef from the pot. Fear, on the other hand, completely ignored her.

"Fear, this is Konoha. Well, what can I say... er, she lives in the room inside the house's outer building, and we're also in the same school level though our classes are different.
She'd been like a childhood friend since I was a kid and----"

"And she's not human."

Fear said without a pretense. It was followed by few seconds of silence and,

".... That's right. She's like your sempai here in this place."

"I thought so. A lid would never break into half by itself. I know that tools who could assume human form could usually keep the nature of their original form even if they turn
into human form----I suppose you're some kind of blade aren't you?"

"Would you answer me if I asked what was your original form?"

Konoha asked with a smile pasted on her face. Fear replied with a snort.
Uncomfortable silence went on as they ate their dinner. All of their plates were almost empty when Fear spoke to Haruaki.

"So, you wanted to say earlier that I could believe what you said because there's a precedent."

"Er....Yeah. that's right. Konoha did a lot of helpful things like working part-time since when she first came here."

"He's right. Thanks to my deeds, I'm almost free from all of my curses."

"Almost, you say. What would happen if you become completely free from curse?"

"Tools with only a slight curse would just turn back into a normal tool. But according to my old man, the negative energy that built up inside the tools who could assume human form
went over the original nature that it had so even if you were able to neutralize those negative thoughts, their human form will be kept. That means that you two will just be
free from the curse that you have."

"So, I won't turn back into my original form..... I see."

"To be honest, I don't know much about it. Just ask my old man once he comes back."

Fear wasn't even listening to Haruaki. She just kept silent and nodded, murmuring "I see... I wouldn't...I see..." as she did.
It was as if she was trying to hide the expression of relief on her face.
Fear finished up the remaining food on her plate and asked a question to Konoha.

"Haruaki said earlier that you've been together with him for more than ten years now. Does it really take that much time?"

"I think it also depends on the degree of your curse, but..."

Two empty plates covered the table. For a moment, two eyes----one silent and one with a hint of hostility----looked at each other.

"The amount of grudge that we'd accumulated within ourselves are so great that whatever you do, we can't easily forget, throw away, or repent for them... You get on my nerves,
but at least, in that aspect, we could have something in common. This is something that could be shared between you and me, as a same ruined state of mind."

Fear started to say something, but just looked away and said;

"....It's the same for me, you know. You get on my nerves too...."

"Well, you just have to take it easy. I think there's nothing I could help with though."

It was a composed statement of a senior. Konoha had said those words with a lot of ease. Fear, of course, just snorted.

After that, Haruaki also finished his meal, so he cleaned up the table with Konoha and went to the kitchen to wash them. When he came back, Fear was hugging her knees and was looking up
at the ceiling with a blank stare. He brought an after-dinner tea, so he handed one to Fear and started drinking his.

"Oh yeah, Konoha, could you bring some of your old clothes? I wouldn't say right now but I just thought that it would be better if Fear had something to wear. I know that the size won't fit though."

"...Sorry for having small breasts!"

"I didn't mention any part of your body that wouldn't fit!"

Haruaki almost dropped the yunomi that came from the opposite side of the table.

"I guess that can't be helped.... Alright, I'll bring some as soon as I can."

"I'm counting on it."

"Say, what are you going to do for tonight, like where'll she sleep?"

"Huh? Well, I suppose she's gonna spend her night here. I'll just lend her one of the Japanese rooms."

"S-She'll be staying here?! Isn't that a bad idea, since I think it is!"

"But you see, the outer building's already full... Kuroe isn't home and her room is locked."

The outer building was made like an apartment, with two rooms inside. Konoha was living there with another housemate, but she was always away for about half a month, so Konoha
didn't really feel that she had a housemate living next door.

"By the way, make the guest room as luxurious as possible. That way, you can compensate for what you did to me."

"Compensate?"

Haruaki asked Fear, and he received a reply with a threatening attitude.

"Don't say you already forgot what you did to my body earlier! Playing with my body like that... I've never had someone put his finger [there]! My face was burning with
embarrassment!"

Haruaki was about to say that Fear was just a box at that time, when he heard a sound of yunomi rolling off on the tatami. He saw that Konoha was trembling as she stood up.
A false smile covered her expression for a while but it eventually broke into tears.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe it! Have you two already done THOSE kind of things?!"

Konoha ran away from the living room covering her face with her hands.
They just heard the violent sound of the entrance door being shut. Fear just nodded with content and said,

"I'm not sure what happened, but I've won. I feel great."

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

Dull-colored stone floor was all that there was. The room smelled of metal and of metal-like stink. The air was congested but it wasn't stagnant.
The air was clear. Clear like the air inside a tomb or a casket.
There wasn't anything that could tell time. There was only a dead space, without a trace of any living things.
The only thing that you could feel from there was the constancy and blockade.
The mass of steel that was left there didn't have anything to do other than to whisper the same words over and over again.
It wasn't even said aloud. It just made circles within its mind. Like an endless loop.
When it's awake, while it's asleep, when it opened its mind, and when it closed its mind.
It's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark.
It went on and on-----

She opened her eyes. There was nothing inside the Japanese room. She raked up and embraced the futon that was given to her. There was only the sound of scraping futon.
There was some warmth left in the futon but it was a false warmth... It was just an accumulated heat from covering someone. So, it was the same as having no warmth at all.
Shards of her dream sent a chill down her spine. She knew that there was a difference between this room and the dungeon room where she was kept.
But, even though there was a slight warmth and sound inside this room, she couldn't help thinking that this room was the same as the place where she was kept.
She silently opened the sliding door and walked along the porch. Moon light illuminated her path as she arrived in front of another room. She entered.
A boy was sleeping. He was laying in an odd position and his futon came off below his waist. A slight snort came from a faintly smiling face.
The girl kneeled down before the rolled-up futon and slowly reached for it. She stroked it for a while, then she brought it up to her cheeks.
It was someone else's smell.
Someone else's warmth.
That, perhaps, was the first time that she felt those things.

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

Next day, during lunch break at school. Haruaki opened the lid of his lunch box and thoughts about the problem he left alone in his house came to his mind.

(I wonder If she'll be alright alone. I left her a note and some leftovers from my lunch box, but... Wait, what if she can't read?)

When Haruaki visited the girl in her room this morning, she was still sound asleep with a happy expression. He tried to wake her but she didn't wake up
so he just left her a note that says he's going to school and he'd left her some food.
Haruaki wondered if she was still asleep. When he woke up this morning, his futon was gone. When he entered the girl's room, he saw that the girl was covered
with HIS futon while hers was abandoned on the corner of her room. How it happened was still a mystery to him.

"Hey Haruaki! What's with you? You petrified all of a sudden after you opened your lunch box... Maybe you should be moving your body more, not just for cooking and housework.
Baseball is great, if you'd just give it a try!"

A classmate whom Haruaki always had his lunch with spoke to him. His name was Hakuto Taizo.

"His withered expression is nothing new, but it does have a different glow compared to his usual expression. Maybe---- he made some girl pregnant? Hahaha!"

"Kana! Enough of your vulgar jokes!"

A girl with healthy sun-kissed skin, Miyama Kana, followed Taizo's teasing with her own.
The class rep, Ueno Kirika, remonstrated Kana about her vulgar remark.

Kirika let out a disgusted sigh and turned to face Haruaki.

"Forget Kana's reckless remark. But, I too think that you lack the concentration that you usually have. Is there some thing that makes you anxious?"

"Huh? No, no, I don't have any problem. Maybe I caught a chill last night."

"Did you hear that Taizo-san? Kirika-chan just said something like this: I'm always looking at Yachi so I know something's wrong with him! Ohh, If there was something I
could do to comfort him..."

"What a villain you are Haruaki! Since when did you steal the class rep's heart? Did you save a princess? Have you set a fire to a forged bill factory? Did you kill someone
in a clocktower with pair of scissors?"

"Both of you! Stop s-saying nonsense! How foolish!"

Taizo and Kana had been Haruaki's friend since his junior high years while Kirika became his friend in high school.

Kirika was a formidable class rep. She was calm and composed at all times and her grades were top-notch. She always wore a knee-length long skirt, which gave her an impression
that she was born two decades later than she should have. She also hated to expose much of her skin, and was always wearing a jersey during physical education classes and
even at summer, she wore a long-sleeved blouse.
Because of this, only few people tried to get close to her and she was often alone during her first few days. It was only Kana, who was friendly to everyone, who forcefully
brought Kirika with them.
There was a specific reason though, why Kirika started to take her lunch together with them.

"Setting aside those worthless remarks, let us proceed to our daily showdown. I'm confident with my fried eggs today. I'll get back for all my previous losses! I'm counting
on you two for the judge."

Kirika opened her lunch box and brought it to Taizo and Kana's table.

"So, Kirika-chan. Do you think you have a chance of success today?"

"I've tasted it several times. Plus, I got hold of the fact that Yachi might have caught a cold... that means his taste organ might not be working well. I decided that today
is the day."

A spirited glare pierced Haruaki.

"Oh...where is she getting all that motivation...?"

"Well, they say that maintaining health is part of the battle. We only care about the taste, so don't worry. After all, we are the judges. Alright, here I go---!"

"I'll have this first! ------Wow Kirika-chan! These fried eggs are just great! I love the crunchy bacon bits!"

"Really now? So, it's great huh? Hehehehe.....!"

Kirika saw the two gave her food a good evaluation and smirked. But, that smirk was off her face immediately since the battle was still ongoing.
The judges reached for Haruaki's lunch box and-----

"Akki's fried eggs are delicious too! It's soooo good! .... Hmm I wonder where this strange taste comes from?"

"Haruaki, what did you add to your fried eggs?"

"I've put some avocados in it. Hehe, I based it from an old cooking manga."

Taizo and Kana looked at each other and nodded. They grabbed the winner's lunchbox and raised it above their heads, looking like funny symmetrical statues holding a
lunch box.

"Um, the tastes were both great but we decided that Haruaki won for his novel idea!"

In that moment, Kirika lowered her head, both her hands shaking.

"Ugh....! Novelty.... They're right. My attention was tied to the taste and I failed to give a thought about an original idea....! So I learned today that a conservative
idea alone is not enough to go against the ever-changing idea these days!"

".....Hey, class rep, I keep telling you that you shouldn't be THAT serious with the battles."

Haruaki tried to reassure her. Kirika raised her head and said;

"I can't keep on losing to a man especially when it's about cooking! I'll win for sure next time!"

He'd already heard that line many times. But, telling that now to the class rep would be suicidal so he kept his mouth shut and just returned a bitter smile.

After that, they proceeded on having their own lunch for a while.
A little later, Haruaki heard a classmate calling out to him that he had a visitor. He looked at the door and saw a familiar face.

"It's Konoha-san! She's just as...well, you know, as always! Damn it Haruaki, please tell her that I, Taizo, send my appreciation for her being as beautiful as
a belladonna!"

"I don't know why Hakuto would choose a poisonous flower to compare her to. It's plain stupid."

Haruaki ignored the conversation behind him and walked over to the door. It was his first time seeing Konoha in school today.

"What's up?"

"There's nothing important, really... It's just that I worry about that girl..."

"I tried to wake her up but she wouldn't so I just left her alone with a note."

"What?"

She froze.

"Was it ok to leave her alone?"

"From what I saw last night, I think that she's harmless enough but, hmmm... now that you mentioned it, I started to worry about her. After all, we didn't talk that much."

"Have you seen her.... original form?"

"Just a little bit, when I saw her for the first time. She was a big mysterious box."

He started to think about something for a moment but decided that he had no idea what she was and shook his head in surrender.

"Well, if you say that she's alright, I guess she is. I suppose there's nothing to worry about."

Konoha bowed her head in good bye and went back to her classroom.

(She said there's nothing to worry about, but....)

When a person starts to worry, it won't leave him until he checked on what was worrying him. It was like having second thoughts about your answer in an examination when you
checked it over for a correction. Haruaki had no choice but to stare at the slow-moving clock inside the classroom and wait for the time to go home.

After the classes, Haruaki and Konoha met in front of the school entrance.

"Don't you have a student council meeting today?"

"I've passed for today. I felt like it."

There was an understanding between the two. Haruaki hurried back to his house together with Konoha who was publicly known as his related cousin.
They arrived at the gate, opened it quickly, then entered the house. There they saw----

"What the?!"

They saw that the inside was horrible. Turned back table was standing in a slant position, its leg piercing the sliding door. The cabinets turned over. On the floor was
unnecessary things that should have been inside the closet scattered all over.

....Just in a half day, his place of rest became a place of chaos. Something extraordinary must have happened here.

Haruaki searched for the silver-haired girl, his heart beating wildly. He found her immediately.
She was lying face-down on the porch. Not a movement from her. He kneeled over her and picked her up.
He tried to talk to her while he shook her body. Her eyes opened and she blinked with a blank stare.
Konoha went to the kitchen to get some water but hurriedly came back.

"We've got a problem! The kitchen too is in wretched condition!"

"Just what in the world happened here... Fear! Come on, Fear!"

"Ugh...... Stop shaking me... I'm alright..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Oh, you just don't know what I've been through."

Fear sat up and held her head. Her head was drooped as she breathed in and out, as if saying that she was about to say something very important. She raised her head and said;

"Listen... A light green-colored alien with three legs came here a while ago and----"

"Haaaa!"

Before Fear could finish, Haruaki's hand went to the back of her head. A good sound came out from his strike.

"W-what are you doing all of a sudden?! You want me to curse you?!"

"I should be the one asking you what were you doing! I get it, you had nothing to do so you tried to destroy the house didn't you? Look at what you did!"

"Y-you're wrong..."

Fear faced away.

"Then how can you explain my collection of rare dishes being sucked by the vaccuum cleaner?! I could only take it as a presentation of malice against me! Have I done anything
to you?!"

Haruaki cornered her. Fear just made a sullen face and glared at Haruaki.

"Shut up! I don't care what you say about me! I'm feeling sleepy so I'll go get some sleep! Don't even try bothering me!"

She ran away to her room. Haruaki was taken back by her sudden outburst and lost the will power to follow her.

"That little... tsk, she should try to be the one who'll fix these things up! So this is how she repays me for my kindness!"

"...Um, excuse me?"

Konoha was the one who was poking Haruaki's shoulder. She said to Haruaki in an awkward manner;

"I think that in that situation, you have some faults too, you know."

"Why? I can't explain what she did other than playing a prank against me."

"Well, if you try to look at things around you, maybe you'll see what I mean. Try to look over there on the garden. Or at the kitchen"

Haruaki tried to look at where she pointed out. It was totally different from how he left them this morning. He still couldn't see anything other than Fear trying to play a-----

"....Huh?.... That girl... was she trying to...?"

What Fear did first when she entered her room was to mount on a pillow and punch it to get some stress out of her body. The moment she got out of breath, she took the futon out
and covered herself with it. But, that didn't completely take out her anger.

"Hmph....Hmph! That idiot, that shameless brat....! He doesn't have to be so..."

He didn't even try to listen to my explanation. How annoying.
Well, to tell the truth, she wasn't that enthusiastic about trying to explain things to him...

"There's no way I could tell him what I've been up to."

She can't explain THAT to him. It was too embarrassing and too disappointing. She had that much pride, at least. She couldn't help it but----it was annoying.
After letting out a big snort. She rearranged the futon and covered her head again.

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

For the few days that Fear spent together with Honatsu, she was taught by him the basic Japanese reading and writing, as well as the common knowledge about the modern world.
That was why Fear was able to read the note that Haruaki left for her. She thought that leaving her alone here was impertinent but there wasn't anything she could do about
it so she just ate the breakfast/lunch that Haruaki left for her. After the meal, Fear murmured to her self.

"..... Phew. How boring."

She was sitting at the porch and looking up at the sky. That was when the "urge" hit her. It was a refreshing experience since it was her first time, but it was kind of
embarrassing thinking about it------The call of nature.

"Being a human wasn't as comfortable as I thought."

She went to the washroom, making a face. After a few moments, her mission was completed.

"Now that was convenient. Haruaki said that it was called a faucet. I was quite amazed."

Fear stood before the wash stand, washing her hands and thinking about the great changes of the world around her. She mastered the use of faucet. Though she was amazed
sometimes at the technology, she thought that it was not enough to make her afraid.
While she was shaking the water off her hands, something inside the room caught her eye.

"Hm. I know that machine. It's called a "Washing machine". You put water and detergent to it and it will wash the clothes automatically."

Fear remembered what Haruaki said last night. She had to do something that [people would be thankful for] in order to lift her curse. Now, she thought about her current
condition. She had nothing to do. Maybe she should start doing something that would be helpful for people. Haruaki also said that it would take a lot of time to lift the
curse. If so, she should start early to finish earlier than it will originally take.

"....Hehehe. Thank me for what I'm going to do. And marvel at my true capacity...!"

First of all, she grabbed the clothes in the laundry basket and put them inside the washing machine. Next, she searched for a box of laundry detergent and found a box of powder
besides the washing machine. She tried to smell and it smelled like soap. She thought with confidence that this was the laundry detergent. Finally, she put the detergent inside
the washing machine-----one whole box of it. After the procedure, she tried to push different buttons and saw that the machine started to operate.

"I can do this...hehehe. I'm amazed by my adaptation ability. Well, maybe I should clean the house next!"

The thing that she needed was called a vacuum cleaner. According to Haruaki, it was a box with long nose attached to it. She found the vacuum cleaner inside the closet.

"I know too that this machine requires electricity. There should be a nose-like hole on the walls. Hm, this should be it. It does look like a nose hole. But, hmmmm this
fork at the back of the vaccuum machine won't reach those holes......Wha?!"

The cord extended as she played with the plug. She was surprised by the unexpected movement.
She coughed, held her head high, and looked at her left and right.

"......It was just a feint. I knew about that."

She inserted the plug into the consent and tried to push all the buttons of the vacuum cleaner. It revved up and started to suck in dust. Perfect.
Fear slowly moved the vacuum and cleaned the whole room. She started to enjoy using the vacuum, so she proceeded on cleaning anywhere that she pleased.
She gradually got used to it and became faster as she cleaned. Though, there were some unknown phenomenon where the cord became heavier and crashing sounds resounded
behind her. Fear tried to look back but something more important entered her sight. It was a black eight-legged insect that was crawling above the tatami.

"A s-spider?!"

Goosebumps rose all over her. Fear asked herself why did it have to appear in front of her.
She vilificated her luck and tried to run away but she quickly turned back in self denial, thinking that she shouldn't back off against a spider.
Grabbing the vacuum cleaner, Fear rushed to the spider. The machine she was holding wasn't a convenient vacuum cleaner anymore. It was an advanced weapon that could
send that wretched spider into another dimension.

"Turn into ash with the power of electricity!"

The spider quickly changed its direction and was able to evade the attack. It went inside the open closet where the vacuum cleaner was placed.
Fear couldn't hold back so she inserted the vacuum inside the closet and tried to suck in the spider. The vacuum hit other things inside the closet while
fear was maneuvering it. They came crashing out of the closet.
The vacuum must have sucked in something big since the vacum suddenly stopped working after raising a weird sound.

"What the?!"

She was the one attacking a while ago but now the table was turned against her. She backed a few steps and quickly shut the closet door. She sat down, let out a sigh and
thought of letting go of the closet door.
What should I do? Should I attack again? No, there's no need. he won't be able to get out unless I open this door. That's right, I'll just keep it shut. I'll just have
Haruaki terminate it when he comes home.

"I didn't see anything..... Yes, that's how it is."

Fear saw an object familiar to her rolling near her feet. It must have come from the closet. It was a cube in a size where one could hold it in their palm, having a surface of
3x3 tiles. Every tile was painted with different colors.
She slanted her head and tried moving the cube. The colored tile shifted. She thought that if the tiles are moved right, the color on surface of the cube would be uniform.

"...... ...... ...... Oh! I forgot that there are things that I should be doing right now."

Fear placed the cube back on the floor. That moment, she heard a buzzing sound coming from the washing machine. She remembered that she was washing clothes.

"....Well, it certainly is showy. I wonder if it was necessary to do that much."

Bubbles were bursting out from the washing machine like a mountain. Not only that, the overflowing water made a pool on the floor.
Anyway, if there are washed clothes then they must be hung to let them dry.
Fear rescued the washed clothes out of the washing machine and placed them in a basket. She got out into the garden and went to the drying pole. The garden was carpeted
with green grass and it felt good to her bare feet.
Fear stood before the drying pole, wrung the clothes and set them on the pole to dry. There were triangular beak-like things on the pole but she didn't know what its used for
so she put them away. Maybe it was a charm or something.

"This is the last....one. Phew. It's perfect."

The clothes waved like a flag. Thinking that she was the one who did it caused a strange sense of fulfillment course through her.

It came when she tried to turn back, confident about her victorious feat-----A gust of wind.

There was no way she could go after it, and the towel went up over the roof. She made a wry face and jumped high onto the roof.
She heard a sound of something breaking below her but the towel was more important at that moment. She collected the towel and jumped down to the ground.
At that moment, another gust of wind came, as if it was playing a prank against her. Because of this, some of the clothes flew high up onto the branch of a tall tree.
She clucked and placed the collected towel on the pole. The moment she let go of the towel, the gust carried it up again, on to the tree branch. Damn. It was endless.

"..... Er, well. Clothes will dry faster if there was a wind to dry it. That means that those clothes over there on branch will dry faster. When viewed from a broad
perspective, it was better that it went up there on the tree.... or at least, I think that way."

She forcefully convinced herself and turned back to the house's direction, trying not to look at the waving clothes on the tree
a strange thing came into her view. And it was....

First, there was the living room. The cabinets were turned over and the table on the center was slanted into a weird position. Its foot pierced through the sliding door.
The cord constricted around the table. She didn't notice because of the appearance of the spider and the cubic toy. Somehow, she thought she knew what that caused weird phenomenon earlier.
Adding to that, many things which came from the closet were scattered on the floor and the vacuum cleaner was lying dead on the floor.
Fear also noticed that something fell from the roof and saw that it was a gray-colored roof tile. It must have been the breaking sound she heard when she jumped over to the roof.

It was the first time that fear thought that something was strange. It seemed that the house became disarranged, more than before she started cleaning. In fact, she had a
feeling that it was completely wretched. She wondered why.

"Could it be that I have done something wrong?"

Two people's footsteps answered her question.
Fear slowly went over the porch and laid on her stomach, thinking.
A poltergeist or an alien. Which would be more credible if she were to reason out?

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

"Hmmmmmmmmm. I have this feeling that what she tried to do was too predictable but, could it be really...?"

Haruaki murmured to himself while looking up at the laundered clothes swaying on the branches of the tree located in the garden.

"If she was just playing around, she wouldn't think to put laundry detergent into the washing machine.... Except for the amount she put in it. If you go to the washing machine
right now, you'll see for yourself that it's throwing out bubbles like a crab."

Konoha raised her hands and formed a "scissors", trying to imitate a crab. Haruaki picked up the Rubik's cube that was laying on the floor.

"Really. Where did she find this thing?"

"Um, Haruaki-kun...? Do you remember the time when I first came here?"

"I can't remember much of the details, but I do. You did some strange things back then."

She came to this house when Haruaki was about to enter grade school. Of course, he didn't remember the clear details but he could still remember Konoha's impression.

"I thought so. Well, I wanted you to forget all about it at first but thinking about it it now, I'm glad that you still remember how I used to be."

"Why?"

"Hehe. You just have to tell Fear-san what you told me back when we first met. With that, I bet all the problems will be solved."

"I don't remember what I told you. What did I say back then?"

"Well, Haruaki-kun didn't change a bit so you just have to tell her what's on your mind right now."

After that, Konoha offered to help cleaning up the house but Haruaki politely refused. He felt that it was something he had to do, and not anyone else. Konoha didn't argue
with him.
Later, after Konoha went back to the outer building, Haruaki left the Rubik's cube on the table and looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh hell. What am I supposed to do...."

In that evening.

"Hey. Are you awake?"

He waited patiently for the answer. After few moments, it came to him.

"Shut up. I'm asleep."

"No you're not. You answered my question."

"Shut up and be silent if you don't wanna be cursed."

"Alright, alright. So, don't you have something to say?"

After an interlude of silence, Fear replied that she didn't have anything to say to him. Haruaki said never mind and sighed. Talk about being stubborn.

"You might not have anything to say to me, but I do. Well, er... I'm sorry."

There was no reply. There wasn't anything he could do for her silence so he just continued speaking.

"I already knew what I should have done, but I forgot. You look like a human but you aren't-----but in reality, you're a human so you might have some difficulties at first. There might
be things that you wouldn't understand, and there might be times where you bother other people. There also might be times where you have a quarrel with someone. Konoha also
went through all of that."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about but don't compare me to that cowtits. It's unpleasant."

"Yeah, okay. Well, what I want to say is... that you don't have to hurry trying to lift your curse. And, if there is something that you don't know, just ask me and I'll teach you
so long as it is something that I know. I left your dinner at the kitchen so you can have it when you get hungry. I'll be going now. Oh, I forgot, here's my present for you.
Take it."

Haruaki left the paper bag he was carrying onto the floor in front of the sliding door. After that, he went back to his room, yawning as he walked away.
After a few minutes, the sliding door silently opened. After some minutes of observation, a white hand came out and took the paper bag. The sliding door moved silently as the
sliding door closed.

Inside the paper bag was some clothes. They were kind of big but most of them were universally fitting one pieces. There was also new underwear that was wrapped in a plastic.
A note fell from it saying "Only underwear should be brand new for infants"....

"Drop dead!"

Fear threw the note on the floor by reflex. She noticed that behind the paper was another note addressed to her. It said, "If you want a bra, try to work part-time and buy it yourself. You'll be able to do so when you get used to living here..... Well, we're cursed tools so our bodies won't grow. That means that there won't be a need to, I mean, it would
be just a waste of time if you...."

A heel drop struck the paper before Fear could finish reading.
There were other things inside the paper bag other than the clothes. It was the cubic toy from earlier. And, there was also...

"....a rice cracker."

Her stomach growled. Haruaki said that she ate all the stock so he must have bought it for her.

"H-Hmph. I won't be bribed that easily. Does he think I'm such a child that I'll fall to his scheme?"

Despite her muttered complaints, her hands opened the snack and dug-in to the treat. Her other hand played with the Rubik's cube. Sound of creaking plastic filled the room.

"Hm. Sesame seeds. It's coated with sesame seeds. How fragrant..."

Fear thought about Haruaki while two sounds resounded inside her room.
Well, I'll forgive that shameless brat for now. He should thank my merciful heart. First things first-----I should ask him where this wonderful snack is being sold.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[CubexCursedxCurious|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1_Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1 Chapter1

2011-09-23T10:36:28Z

Ziharker77:

===Chapter One: Night of Rubik's Cube===

"...What is this? Custard pudding?"

The girl said as she poked the yellowish-white object in front of her with a sulky expression.

"Have a taste and you'll know."

"Hmmm... hm?! T-this...."

She guided the spoon into her mouth, then froze up.

"It's not sweet! This is a fake! What a nasty food... When you say a soft pedestal and a black sauce, it just has to be a pudding!"

"Don't call food nasty. It's just tofu, a solidified soybean soup. You didn't like it?"

Haruaki sat just opposite of the girl after removing the apron he had on.
The girl's ill temper was obvious as she chewed the Yakko-Doufu. She was now wearing a borrowed shirt and hot pants.

"Hmph, it's not bad. It's inferior to the crunchy snack I was munching earlier, though."

"Poor tofu, being compared to a rice-cracker."

"So, that was called a rice-cracker. Now, that one had a unique food texture. It was sweet but spicy at the same time, and that feeling while crunching at it... h-huh?
Why are you looking at me?"

Haruaki simply answered that it was nothing, and looked away from the face that said she was caught off-guard. He started eating too. Haruaki thought that this situation was just like what the old sayings said: To eat while you can, since you can't fight a war on an empty stomach.
The girl who sat opposite of him unnecessarily checked that the food in front of her was a fish, looking at the broiled mackerel pike as if she had never seen one before.
After her thorough observation, she placed down the spoon and fork she was holding. Haruaki imagined what she was going to do and initiated a warning before the girl's
bare hands got the mackerel.

"Wait. You'll have to go over my dead body first before you can eat something with bare hands in front of me."

Haruaki reached for the mackerel plate to prevent her hands from grasping it, but for some reason the girl suddenly backed off the tatami space she was sitting on.

"Hey wait. I just misunderstood things earlier. I was a little confused at first, but I'm alright now. I even lent you those clothes, didn't I?"

"I-I'm not sure.... I mean, you recently played with THAT part of my body earlier in front of the gate..."

"But I didn't know I was touching THAT part of your body. Oh hell, I'm sorry anyway. Just forgive me already, 'kay?"

Haruaki asked her a cliched apology while he started on the mackerel pike with his chopsticks.

"Watch me, I'll show you how to dismantle this mackerel. Just do it first like this, then grab its head, and then pull it away with those nasty fishbones. It's easy, isn't it?"

The girl watched with interest for a while, but she quickly recovered her wary face. After a few seconds, she snorted with an ill temper as she sat back in front of the table.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"...I'm called Fear."

Fear quickly shut her mouth, as if she were surprised that she'd told him her name.

"Fear, is it?"

"Well, yes. It's none of your business though... you can just call me whatever you want."

"Unfortunately, you're part of my business now. You just became my top priority. In fact, the way you became my top priority was almost foul play. So, what are you anyway?
What kind of box are you?"

"Er..."

"Er?"

Without warning, she raised her eyebrows in outrage and started making holes in the broiled mackerel, just after Haruaki raised a question mark at her answer.

"Shut up! It's none of your business, you fool!"

"Whoa! What kind of cursing was that?! I haven't heard them for a while. Anyway, are you a brat, having an outburst like that?!"

"W-Why you?!"

"I haven't heard that for a while too... wha, hey! Stop attacking that mackerel and close your mouth!"

"Digging up a lady's past like that! You should learn some respect, you shameless brat!"

Haruaki thought that he didn't want to hear that from HER. But being the sensible one, he decided to give up.

"Whew.... Well, I won't push you if you don't want to tell me about your past. I know it's not exactly filled with happy memories."

It seemed that her temper had somewhat cooled down because of Haruaki's honest words. She was at a loss for words and turned her face down.

"I... hate that appearance. I wouldn't want to turn into that form unless its absolutely necessary. Someone told me coming here would be easier with that form. So, I had no choice but to give up..."

"Who told you? My old man?"

"He said his name was Honatsu... Are you his son?"

"Yeah. And my name's Haruaki. How's my old man doing?"

"I don't know. He said that he still had something to do over there."

"As much of a freeman as usual, I see. Geez, I'm tired of complaining about him though. As long as he keeps sending money for my living, I'll keep up with his game."

"I don't understand you two... I mean, you and your father. I thought an ordinary man wouldn't try to understand the likes of me."

"We've been receiving cursed tools like you since I was a kid. Usually, tools that we accept are those with a slight curse in it, but there are rare occasions where a tool who
can assume human form like you comes here for help."

After a brief silence, Fear let out a sigh and placed down the fork she was holding. Her serious gaze pierced Haruaki as she looked up, her silver hair swaying slightly.

"I'm going to say something serious."

"....Go ahead."

"I... I was placed in some dark dungeon, thrown away long ago by my last owner. Yachi Honatsu came one day and found me. He tried to talk to me, and I told him my wish."

"A wish?"

Haruaki already had an idea what her wish was. But, cursed tools who came here with their own will were often the ones who needed to confirm the purpose of their existence
by putting them into words. Knowing that, he chose to let her say it out loud from her own mouth.

The girl who was not human answered in a whisper, biting her lips softly,

"I want to free myself from my curse."

"How much do you know...? About the curse, and about tools like me?"

"Well, here's what I know; First, a tool changes its quality in a negative way if it continues to receive negative thoughts.
Second, a tool that receives negative thoughts often affects the owner and the people around it.
And third, in exchange with the negative effect it brings upon the people around it, it may show a mysterious charm and function..."

"Is that all?"

Haruaki narrowed his eyes and looked at Fear, who was speaking with her eyes looking down at the table.

"To add one more, I know that after receiving all the negative thoughts and curses from humans, an item would become... something that's in front of me right now."

Yes. A tool which received too much grudge from humans will earn a human quality----

Haruaki didn't know the specific details, but he knew that an item gains a personal thought which affects its essence as a tool. It was a result of receiving grudges from people
over and over again. In the end, they'll possess their own mind, soul, and an ability to change forms with its own will.

"That's right. It started with a single grudge. I was made to harm people and because of it, I had received much hatred, grievances, and murderous intents. From those grudges,
I was branded with the abominable curse of [driving my owner into insanity.]"

Haruaki noticed that the girl was gripping her hands tightly. He thought it was better not to ask more about her about concrete details of the tool that she was and
about what she meant by driving her owner into insanity.

"My curse doesn't end there. The grudge I received gave me [human qualities] and my own will. To me, who was nothing but a tool in the beginning. Let me correct myself, I was not given those capabilities; I was forced to have those capabilities. Have you ever thought about how bad the affinity between a will and a curse was? I envy those tools which only have a slight curse. They won't realize by themselves that they were burdened by a curse. How fortunate it is to be blessed with ignorance!"

For a moment, she took a deep breath.

"I came here believing in Honatsu's words that I can free my curse here in this place. That's the reason why I came, but I was not told about the details of what I have to do. Tell me
honestly---- Will I, will I be able to lift the curse from myself without affecting the people around me? Remember that Honatsu sent me to you, so that makes you my current owner. If you're
just lying about here being a place to free one's self from a curse, you would be the first to receive the harmful effects that come with it."

Her eyes looked straight into his. But those eyes reflected undeniable fright and doubt.
That was why Haruaki simply told her,

"Yes, you can."

"....Huh?"

"I said you can free yourself from your curse here. You see, I don't have strong spiritual sense or special ability like my father, but it seems that I have a unique body constitution which
repels curses, which makes me unaffected by them. So, whatever your curse is, it doesn't work on me. Hahaha! Fear me, you violent little girl!"

"What the...?! Wait, you said that I could lift my curse here, but how?"

"I'm not sure about the details, but this place has been a very pure land for a long time, and the area where this house was built was the center of the pure energy that comes from the land.
That's why just being here would fill you with positive energy. They say that this place is protected by some kind of force field, though the rate of cleansing is kinda slow. Just leaving the tools here would eventually lift the curse."

Haruaki remembered the woman who set the force field around the house. Her outfit caught many eyes, and she said that the force field would last for the next hundred years. He supposed that
there won't be a chance to see her again, if the force field would really last that long.

"And, there's another way of lifting a curse. The mechanic is simple; if a curse comes from negative thoughts, you just have to receive positive thoughts by helping people around you. If you keep on
receiving them, the curse will be neutralized eventually."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean to say that you have to vaguely perform acts that people will be thankful for, I suppose. You just have to live here and work as a part-timer or volunteer for public events... I think?"

"W-Wait, why was there a question mark in the end?"

Fear leaned forward, which sent the mackerel bits flying at Haruaki's face. He wondered if Fear did that on purpose.

"Well, it's not as if I've actually tried lifting a curse from myself. That was just what I've heard."

She puffed out her cheeks like a child, making a sullen expression.

"I can't believe it... I mean, I don't think that simply sleeping or working here would lift the curse. Besides, I doubt that my curse could be lifted in a leisurely phase..."

"You're right about going leisurely. Being able to assume human form would mean that many curses have been gathered in your body, so it would take years to free yourself. I don't know any
other ways of lifting a curse, so maybe you'll just have to be patient about it."

"Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I still can't believe it."

"Don't worry so much about it. Even if you can't believe for----"

Ding dong. The door bell rung suddenly. Fear seemed to be frightened by it, so Haruaki told her that it was just a bell that said there was a visitor. He stood up and pointed at the table.

"The food'll grow cold, so eat it now. Especially the mackerel pike."

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

"Good evening, Haruaki-kun."

A familiar smile greeted Haruaki as he opened the door. The smiling girl was wearing big round glasses like ones that you'd see in a manga. She had an apron around her well-endowed
body and it was impressionable. The pot that she was holding reinforced the familial impression that shrouded her.

"Hey, Konoha. What is it?"

"I've made too much Nikujaga for myself, so I thought that I'd share some with you. It's a bit late already, so maybe you can have it for your breakfast tomorrow."

"That'll be a great help. I was just having my dinner right now... Oh yeah, it's just great that you came now. I have a favor to ask of you."

Konoha slanted her head in question. At that exact moment, Haruaki heard footsteps coming toward him.

"Hey, Haruaki. The food was kind of lacking in quantity. Isn't there any left? I would like to request for a rice cracker if there's still any left."

"You eat too fast!"

Needless to say, the person who came behind Haruaki was Fear.

"Um, Haruaki-kun? Who is that child?"

"Oh yeah, the favor I was going to ask you was about---"

An openly belligerent voice came from Fear as she broke into the conversation.

"Hey, you there! We've just met and you started calling me a child. How dare you speak to me like that, you unfortunate-looking woman!"

"Unfortunate-looking....?!"

Konoha was still smiling, but Haruaki sensed a dangerous aura coming out from her. Fear stood behind him with arms crossed, looking aggressively at Konoha.
Haruaki thought he saw a lightning bolt run between Konoha and Fear.

"You two there. Why are you raising a hostile aura in front of my house?"

"I think you're just imagining things. I'm not angry, really. After all, they're just words of a CHILD."

At that moment, Haruaki felt a violent aura rising behind him. He sensed danger, so he quickly changed the topic.

"Er....Oh yeah! Hey Konoha, have you made anything else besides this? I mean, have you eaten your dinner? Why don't you eat here for a change? It's been a long time since the last time you ate here.
It seems that I have to cook more food anyway."

"Well, if you say so... I think I will. Come to think of it, it has been a long time since the last time we ate together, Haruaki-kun."

"My cooking skills haven't improved though."

"It was great, so don't worry. I think I'm getting hungry just thinking about the dishes you make."

Konoha smiled and entered the house. Suddenly, an insulting snort came out from nowhere.

"Go ahead and eat. Hah, I think that being able to send all the nutrients you eat to your breasts is some kind of talent. I bet that your brain's very light."

Haruaki heard a clashing metal sound. Almost at the same time, he saw Konoha kneeling on the floor, catching the pot that almost fell from her hands.
He looked at the floor and saw the handle of the pot, which was cut cleanly in half.

"...I think it's very sad when a person eats, but the nutrients don't go to their breasts... Oh, I was just talking to myself."

"W-Why you?!"

"Ahahaha-- I'll go ahead now."

Konoha let out a feigned laugh and went into the living room. Fear was staring at her back and was murmuring with hatred;

"What kind of character does that woman have...! Maybe I should curse her!"

"She's not usually like that. In fact, I have this feeling that you were the one who started the fight. Why are you being so hostile anyway?"

"It's none of your business! I just didn't like what she said when she saw me. That's enough reason for my hostility. Besides..."

A weird smile came from her angry expression.

"I just realized now that bullying that cow-tits woman is going to be fun. She'll see, I won't lose the next time...!"

Fear went back into the living room, letting out an evil snort as she walked to the living room.

Haruaki was worried about what could happen if he left those two together in the living room. But, he had to cook some food for Konoha and the hungry juvenile so he had
no choice but to leave those two together in the living room.
Haruaki made a plate full of an easy saute dish. Adding together some rice and miso soup for Konoha, he brought the food into the living room.
He was greeted by a view of two girls throwing dry laughs at each other. Only God knows what happened while he was in the kitchen. He didn't even want to know.

"I only sauted what was left in the fridge. Is that okay for you?"

"No problem. I've made quite lot of Nikujaga anyway."

With a "Ta-da" sound effect, Konoha lifted the lid of the pot she brought with her.
Inside the pot was a steaming soup of brownish broth and beef, letting out a fragrant smell of soy sauce. To put it simply, it looked delicious.
If you'll take a good look at it, you'll notice that an excessive amount of beef was covering all the other ingredients like potatoes. The beef formed a great pile,
just like a mountain sitting on a pot. If you ask me, it's more of a Niku-Niku-Nikujaga instead of a simple Nikujaga.

"Um, so, doesn't that look good?"

"It looks delicious, just as always."

Meat-demon Konoha's face lit up with a smile.

"I see, this definitely looks delicious. You can easily see that it was made by a gluttonous incarnate of appetite."

With that remark, the round lid that Konoha was holding fell on the table, cut into half. Without a word, she picked up the half circles and threw them behind her.
After that, Konoha mouthed an Itadakimasu and started eating with a cheerful (that was how Haruaki interpreted Konoha's expression) face.

"I've no clue why or how this meal has turned into a tense atmosphere, but I guess I have to make an easy introduction at least. Konoha, our visitor here is called Fear.
As you might guess, she was sent by my old man."

Konoha sent a look at Fear while she took loads of beef from the pot. Fear, on the other hand, completely ignored her.

"Fear, this is Konoha. Well, what can I say... er, she lives in the room inside the house's outer building, and we're also in the same school level though our classes are different.
She'd been like a childhood friend since I was a kid and----"

"And she's not human."

Fear said without a pretense. It was followed by few seconds of silence and,

".... That's right. She's like your sempai here in this place."

"I thought so. A lid would never break into half by itself. I know that tools who could assume human form could usually keep the nature of their original form even if they turn
into human form----I suppose you're some kind of blade aren't you?"

"Would you answer me if I asked what was your original form?"

Konoha asked with a smile pasted on her face. Fear replied with a snort.
Uncomfortable silence went on as they ate their dinner. All of their plates were almost empty when Fear spoke to Haruaki.

"So, you wanted to say earlier that I could believe what you said because there's a precedent."

"Er....Yeah. that's right. Konoha did a lot of helpful things like working part-time since when she first came here."

"He's right. Thanks to my deeds, I'm almost free from all of my curses."

"Almost, you say. What would happen if you become completely free from curse?"

"Tools with only a slight curse would just turn back into a normal tool. But according to my old man, the negative energy that built up inside the tools who could assume human form
went over the original nature that it had so even if you were able to neutralize those negative thoughts, their human form will be kept. That means that you two will just be
free from the curse that you have."

"So, I won't turn back into my original form..... I see."

"To be honest, I don't know much about it. Just ask my old man once he comes back."

Fear wasn't even listening to Haruaki. She just kept silent and nodded, murmuring "I see... I wouldn't...I see..." as she did.
It was as if she was trying to hide the expression of relief on her face.
Fear finished up the remaining food on her plate and asked a question to Konoha.

"Haruaki said earlier that you've been together with him for more than ten years now. Does it really take that much time?"

"I think it also depends on the degree of your curse, but..."

Two empty plates covered the table. For a moment, two eyes----one silent and one with a hint of hostility----looked at each other.

"The amount of grudge that we'd accumulated within ourselves are so great that whatever you do, we can't easily forget, throw away, or repent for them... You get on my nerves,
but at least, in that aspect, we could have something in common. This is something that could be shared between you and me, as a same ruined state of mind."

Fear started to say something, but just looked away and said;

"....It's the same for me, you know. You get on my nerves too...."

"Well, you just have to take it easy. I think there's nothing I could help with though."

It was a composed statement of a senior. Konoha had said those words with a lot of ease. Fear, of course, just snorted.

After that, Haruaki also finished his meal, so he cleaned up the table with Konoha and went to the kitchen to wash them. When he came back, Fear was hugging her knees and was looking up
at the ceiling with a blank stare. He brought an after-dinner tea, so he handed one to Fear and started drinking his.

"Oh yeah, Konoha, could you bring some of your old clothes? I wouldn't say right now but I just thought that it would be better if Fear had something to wear. I know that the size won't fit though."

"...Sorry for having small breasts!"

"I didn't mention any part of your body that wouldn't fit!"

Haruaki almost dropped the yunomi that came from the opposite side of the table.

"I guess that can't be helped.... Alright, I'll bring some as soon as I can."

"I'm counting on it."

"Say, what are you going to do for tonight, like where'll she sleep?"

"Huh? Well, I suppose she's gonna spend her night here. I'll just lend her one of the Japanese rooms."

"S-She'll be staying here?! Isn't that a bad idea, since I think it is!"

"But you see, the outer building's already full... Kuroe isn't home and her room is locked."

The outer building was made like an apartment, with two rooms inside. Konoha was living there with another housemate, but she was always away for about half a month, so Konoha
didn't really feel that she had a housemate living next door.

"By the way, make the guest room as luxurious as possible. That way, you can compensate for what you did to me."

"Compensate?"

Haruaki asked Fear, and he received a reply with a threatening attitude.

"Don't say you already forgot what you did to my body earlier! Playing with my body like that... I've never had someone put his finger [there]! My face was burning with
embarrassment!"

Haruaki was about to say that Fear was just a box at that time, when he heard a sound of yunomi rolling off on the tatami. He saw that Konoha was trembling as she stood up.
A false smile covered her expression for a while but it eventually broke into tears.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can't believe it! Have you two already done THOSE kind of things?!"

Konoha ran away from the living room covering her face with her hands.
They just heard the violent sound of the entrance door being shut. Fear just nodded with content and said,

"I'm not sure what happened, but I've won. I feel great."

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

Dull-colored stone floor was all that there was. The room smelled of metal and of metal-like stink. The air was congested but it wasn't stagnant.
The air was clear. Clear like the air inside a tomb or a casket.
There wasn't anything that could tell time. There was only a dead space, without a trace of any living things.
The only thing that you could feel from there was the constancy and blockade.
The mass of steel that was left there didn't have anything to do other than to whisper the same words over and over again.
It wasn't even said aloud. It just made circles within its mind. Like an endless loop.
When it's awake, while it's asleep, when it opened its mind, and when it closed its mind.
It's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark, it's freezing, it's cold, it's dark.
It went on and on-----

She opened her eyes. There was nothing inside the Japanese room. She raked up and embraced the futon that was given to her. There was only the sound of scraping futon.
There was some warmth left in the futon but it was a false warmth... It was just an accumulated heat from covering someone. So, it was the same as having no warmth at all.
Shards of her dream sent a chill down her spine. She knew that there was a difference between this room and the dungeon room where she was kept.
But, even though there was a slight warmth and sound inside this room, she couldn't help thinking that this room was the same as the place where she was kept.
She silently opened the sliding door and walked along the porch. Moon light illuminated her path as she arrived in front of another room. She entered.
A boy was sleeping. He was laying in an odd position and his futon came off below his waist. A slight snort came from a faintly smiling face.
The girl kneeled down before the rolled-up futon and slowly reached for it. She stroked it for a while, then she brought it up to her cheeks.
It was someone else's smell.
Someone else's warmth.
That, perhaps, was the first time that she felt those things.

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

Next day, during lunch break at school. Haruaki opened the lid of his lunch box and thoughts about the problem he left alone in his house came to his mind.

(I wonder If she'll be alright alone. I left her a note and some leftovers from my lunch box, but... Wait, what if she can't read?)

When Haruaki visited the girl in her room this morning, she was still sound asleep with a happy expression. He tried to wake her but she didn't wake up
so he just left her a note that says he's going to school and he'd left her some food.
Haruaki wondered if she was still asleep. When he woke up this morning, his futon was gone. When he entered the girl's room, he saw that the girl was covered
with HIS futon while hers was abandoned on the corner of her room. How it happened was still a mystery to him.

"Hey Haruaki! What's with you? You petrified all of a sudden after you opened your lunch box... Maybe you should be moving your body more, not just for cooking and housework.
Baseball is great, if you'd just give it a try!"

A classmate whom Haruaki always had his lunch with spoke to him. His name was Hakuto Taizo.

"His withered expression is nothing new, but it does have a different glow compared to his usual expression. Maybe---- he made some girl pregnant? Hahaha!"

"Kana! Enough of your vulgar jokes!"

A girl with healthy sun-kissed skin, Miyama Kana, followed Taizo's teasing with her own.
The class rep, Ueno Kirika, remonstrated Kana about her vulgar remark.

Kirika let out a disgusted sigh and turned to face Haruaki.

"Forget Kana's reckless remark. But, I too think that you lack the concentration that you usually have. Is there some thing that makes you anxious?"

"Huh? No, no, I don't have any problem. Maybe I caught a chill last night."

"Did you hear that Taizo-san? Kirika-chan just said something like this: I'm always looking at Yachi so I know something's wrong with him! Ohh, If there was something I
could do to comfort him..."

"What a villain you are Haruaki! Since when did you steal the class rep's heart? Did you save a princess? Have you set a fire to a forged bill factory? Did you kill someone
in a clocktower with pair of scissors?"

"Both of you! Stop s-saying nonsense! How foolish!"

Taizo and Kana had been Haruaki's friend since his junior high years while Kirika became his friend in high school.

Kirika was a formidable class rep. She was calm and composed at all times and her grades were top-notch. She always wore a knee-length long skirt, which gave her an impression
that she was born two decades later than she should have. She also hated to expose much of her skin, and was always wearing a jersey during physical education classes and
even at summer, she wore a long-sleeved blouse.
Because of this, only few people tried to get close to her and she was often alone during her first few days. It was only Kana, who was friendly to everyone, who forcefully
brought Kirika with them.
There was a specific reason though, why Kirika started to take her lunch together with them.

"Setting aside those worthless remarks, let us proceed to our daily showdown. I'm confident with my fried eggs today. I'll get back for all my previous losses! I'm counting
on you two for the judge."

Kirika opened her lunch box and brought it to Taizo and Kana's table.

"So, Kirika-chan. Do you think you have a chance of success today?"

"I've tasted it several times. Plus, I got hold of the fact that Yachi might have caught a cold... that means his taste organ might not be working well. I decided that today
is the day."

A spirited glare pierced Haruaki.

"Oh...where is she getting all that motivation...?"

"Well, they say that maintaining health is part of the battle. We only care about the taste, so don't worry. After all, we are the judges. Alright, here I go---!"

"I'll have this first! ------Wow Kirika-chan! These fried eggs are just great! I love the crunchy bacon bits!"

"Really now? So, It's great huh? Hehehehe.....!"

Kirika saw the two gave her food a good evaluation and smirked. But, that smirk was off her face immediately since the battle was still ongoing.
The judges reached for Haruaki's lunch box and-----

"Akki's fried eggs are delicious too! It's soooo good! .... Hmm I wonder where this strange taste comes from?"

"Haruaki, what did you add to your fried eggs?"

"I've put some avocados in it. Hehe, I based it from an old cooking manga."

Taizo and Kana looked at each other and nodded. They grabbed the winner's lunchbox and raised it above their heads, looking like funny symmetrical statues holding a
lunch box.

"Um, the tastes were both great but we decided that Haruaki won for his novel idea!"

In that moment, Kirika lowered her head, both her hands shaking.

"Ugh....! Novelty.... They're right. My attention was tied to the taste and I failed to give a thought about an original idea....! So I learned today that a conservative
idea alone is not enough to go against the ever-changing idea these days!"

".....Hey, class rep, I keep telling you that you shouldn't be THAT serious with the battles."

Haruaki tried to reassure her. Kirika raised her head and said;

"I can't keep on losing to a man especially when it's about cooking! I'll win for sure next time!"

He'd already heard that line many times. But, telling that now to the class rep would be suicidal so he kept his mouth shut and just returned a bitter smile.

After that, they proceeded on having their own lunch for a while.
A little later, Haruaki heard a classmate calling out to him that he had a visitor. He looked at the door and saw a familiar face.

"It's Konoha-san! She's just as...well, you know, as always! Damn it Haruaki, please tell her that I, Taizo, send my appreciation for her being as beautiful as
a belladonna!"

"I don't know why Hakuto would choose a poisonous flower to compare her to. It's plain stupid."

Haruaki ignored the conversation behind him and walked over to the door. It was his first time seeing Konoha in school today.

"What's up?"

"There's nothing important, really... It's just that I worry about that girl..."

"I tried to wake her up but she wouldn't so I just left her alone with a note."

"What?"

She froze.

"Was it ok to leave her alone?"

"From what I saw last night, I think that she's harmless enough but, hmmm... now that you mentioned it, I started to worry about her. After all, we didn't talk that much."

"Have you seen her.... original form?"

"Just a little bit, when I saw her for the first time. She was a big mysterious box."

He started to think about something for a moment but decided that he had no idea what she was and shook his head in surrender.

"Well, if you say that she's alright, I guess she is. I suppose there's nothing to worry about."

Konoha bowed her head in good bye and went back to her classroom.

(She said there's nothing to worry about, but....)

When a person starts to worry, it won't leave him until he checked on what was worrying him. It was like having second thoughts about your answer in an examination when you
checked it over for a correction. Haruaki had no choice but to stare at the slow-moving clock inside the classroom and wait for the time to go home.

After the classes, Haruaki and Konoha met in front of the school entrance.

"Don't you have a student council meeting today?"

"I've passed for today. I felt like it."

There was an understanding between the two. Haruaki hurried back to his house together with Konoha who was publicly known as his related cousin.
They arrived at the gate, opened it quickly, then entered the house. There they saw----

"What the?!"

They saw that the inside was horrible. Turned back table was standing in a slant position, its leg piercing the sliding door. The cabinets turned over. On the floor was
unnecessary things that should have been inside the closet scattered all over.

....Just in a half day, his place of rest became a place of chaos. Something extraordinary must have happened here.

Haruaki searched for the silver-haired girl, his heart beating wildly. He found her immediately.
She was lying face-down on the porch. Not a movement from her. He kneeled over her and picked her up.
He tried to talk to her while he shook her body. Her eyes opened and she blinked with a blank stare.
Konoha went to the kitchen to get some water but hurriedly came back.

"We've got a problem! The kitchen too is in wretched condition!"

"Just what in the world happened here... Fear! Come on, Fear!"

"Ugh...... Stop shaking me... I'm alright..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Oh, you just don't know what I've been through."

Fear sat up and held her head. Her head was drooped as she breathed in and out, as if saying that she was about to say something very important. She raised her head and said;

"Listen... A light green-colored alien with three legs came here a while ago and----"

"Haaaa!"

Before Fear could finish, Haruaki's hand went to the back of her head. A good sound came out from his strike.

"W-what are you doing all of a sudden?! You want me to curse you?!"

"I should be the one asking you what were you doing! I get it, you had nothing to do so you tried to destroy the house didn't you? Look at what you did!"

"Y-you're wrong..."

Fear faced away.

"Then how can you explain my collection of rare dishes being sucked by the vaccuum cleaner?! I could only take it as a presentation of malice against me! Have I done anything
to you?!"

Haruaki cornered her. Fear just made a sullen face and glared at Haruaki.

"Shut up! I don't care what you say about me! I'm feeling sleepy so I'll go get some sleep! Don't even try bothering me!"

She ran away to her room. Haruaki was taken back by her sudden outburst and lost the will power to follow her.

"That little... tsk, she should try to be the one who'll fix these things up! So this is how she repays me for my kindness!"

"...Um, excuse me?"

Konoha was the one who was poking Haruaki's shoulder. She said to Haruaki in an awkward manner;

"I think that in that situation, you have some faults too, you know."

"Why? I can't explain what she did other than playing a prank against me."

"Well, if you try to look at things around you, maybe you'll see what I mean. Try to look over there on the garden. Or at the kitchen"

Haruaki tried to look at where she pointed out. It was totally different from how he left them this morning. He still couldn't see anything other than Fear trying to play a-----

"....Huh?.... That girl... was she trying to...?"

What Fear did first when she entered her room was to mount on a pillow and punch it to get some stress out of her body. The moment she got out of breath, she took the futon out
and covered herself with it. But, that didn't completely take out her anger.

"Hmph....Hmph! That idiot, that shameless brat....! He doesn't have to be so..."

He didn't even try to listen to my explanation. How annoying.
Well, to tell the truth, she wasn't that enthusiastic about trying to explain things to him...

"There's no way I could tell him what I've been up to."

She can't explain THAT to him. It was too embarrassing and too disappointing. She had that much pride, at least. She couldn't help it but----it was annoying.
After letting out a big snort. She rearranged the futon and covered her head again.

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

For the few days that Fear spent together with Honatsu, she was taught by him the basic Japanese reading and writing, as well as the common knowledge about the modern world.
That was why Fear was able to read the note that Haruaki left for her. She thought that leaving her alone here was impertinent but there wasn't anything she could do about
it so she just ate the breakfast/lunch that Haruaki left for her. After the meal, Fear murmured to her self.

"..... Phew. How boring."

She was sitting at the porch and looking up at the sky. That was when the "urge" hit her. It was a refreshing experience since it was her first time, but it was kind of
embarrassing thinking about it------The call of nature.

"Being a human wasn't as comfortable as I thought."

She went to the washroom, making a face. After a few moments, her mission was completed.

"Now that was convenient. Haruaki said that it was called a faucet. I was quite amazed."

Fear stood before the wash stand, washing her hands and thinking about the great changes of the world around her. She mastered the use of faucet. Though she was amazed
sometimes at the technology, she thought that it was not enough to make her afraid.
While she was shaking the water off her hands, something inside the room caught her eye.

"Hm. I know that machine. It's called a "Washing machine". You put water and detergent to it and it will wash the clothes automatically."

Fear remembered what Haruaki said last night. She had to do something that [people would be thankful for] in order to lift her curse. Now, she thought about her current
condition. She had nothing to do. Maybe she should start doing something that would be helpful for people. Haruaki also said that it would take a lot of time to lift the
curse. If so, she should start early to finish earlier than it will originally take.

"....Hehehe. Thank me for what I'm going to do. And marvel at my true capacity...!"

First of all, she grabbed the clothes in the laundry basket and put them inside the washing machine. Next, she searched for a box of laundry detergent and found a box of powder
besides the washing machine. She tried to smell and it smelled like soap. She thought with confidence that this was the laundry detergent. Finally, she put the detergent inside
the washing machine-----one whole box of it. After the procedure, she tried to push different buttons and saw that the machine started to operate.

"I can do this...hehehe. I'm amazed by my adaptation ability. Well, maybe I should clean the house next!"

The thing that she needed was called a vacuum cleaner. According to Haruaki, it was a box with long nose attached to it. She found the vacuum cleaner inside the closet.

"I know too that this machine requires electricity. There should be a nose-like hole on the walls. Hm, this should be it. It does look like a nose hole. But, hmmmm this
fork at the back of the vaccuum machine won't reach those holes......Wha?!"

The cord extended as she played with the plug. She was surprised by the unexpected movement.
She coughed, held her head high, and looked at her left and right.

"......It was just a feint. I knew about that."

She inserted the plug into the consent and tried to push all the buttons of the vacuum cleaner. It revved up and started to suck in dust. Perfect.
Fear slowly moved the vacuum and cleaned the whole room. She started to enjoy using the vacuum, so she proceeded on cleaning anywhere that she pleased.
She gradually got used to it and became faster as she cleaned. Though, there were some unknown phenomenon where the cord became heavier and crashing sounds resounded
behind her. Fear tried to look back but something more important entered her sight. It was a black eight-legged insect that was crawling above the tatami.

"A s-spider?!"

Goosebumps rose all over her. Fear asked herself why did it have to appear in front of her.
She vilificated her luck and tried to run away but she quickly turned back in self denial, thinking that she shouldn't back off against a spider.
Grabbing the vacuum cleaner, Fear rushed to the spider. The machine she was holding wasn't a convenient vacuum cleaner anymore. It was an advanced weapon that could
send that wretched spider into another dimension.

"Turn into ash with the power of electricity!"

The spider quickly changed its direction and was able to evade the attack. It went inside the open closet where the vacuum cleaner was placed.
Fear couldn't hold back so she inserted the vacuum inside the closet and tried to suck in the spider. The vacuum hit other things inside the closet while
fear was maneuvering it. They came crashing out of the closet.
The vacuum must have sucked in something big since the vacum suddenly stopped working after raising a weird sound.

"What the?!"

She was the one attacking a while ago but now the table was turned against her. She backed a few steps and quickly shut the closet door. She sat down, let out a sigh and
thought of letting go of the closet door.
What should I do? Should I attack again? No, there's no need. he won't be able to get out unless I open this door. That's right, I'll just keep it shut. I'll just have
Haruaki terminate it when he comes home.

"I didn't see anything..... Yes, that's how it is."

Fear saw an object familiar to her rolling near her feet. It must have come from the closet. It was a cube in a size where one could hold it in their palm, having a surface of
3x3 tiles. Every tile was painted with different colors.
She slanted her head and tried moving the cube. The colored tile shifted. She thought that if the tiles are moved right, the color on surface of the cube would be uniform.

"...... ...... ...... Oh! I forgot that there are things that I should be doing right now."

Fear placed the cube back on the floor. That moment, she heard a buzzing sound coming from the washing machine. She remembered that she was washing clothes.

"....Well, it certainly is showy. I wonder if it was necessary to do that much."

Bubbles were bursting out from the washing machine like a mountain. Not only that, the overflowing water made a pool on the floor.
Anyway, if there are washed clothes then they must be hung to let them dry.
Fear rescued the washed clothes out of the washing machine and placed them in a basket. She got out into the garden and went to the drying pole. The garden was carpeted
with green grass and it felt good to her bare feet.
Fear stood before the drying pole, wrung the clothes and set them on the pole to dry. There were triangular beak-like things on the pole but she didn't know what its used for
so she put them away. Maybe it was a charm or something.

"This is the last....one. Phew. It's perfect."

The clothes waved like a flag. Thinking that she was the one who did it caused a strange sense of fulfillment course through her.

It came when she tried to turn back, confident about her victorious feat-----A gust of wind.

There was no way she could go after it, and the towel went up over the roof. She made a wry face and jumped high onto the roof.
She heard a sound of something breaking below her but the towel was more important at that moment. She collected the towel and jumped down to the ground.
At that moment, another gust of wind came, as if it was playing a prank against her. Because of this, some of the clothes flew high up onto the branch of a tall tree.
She clucked and placed the collected towel on the pole. The moment she let go of the towel, the gust carried it up again, on to the tree branch. Damn. It was endless.

"..... Er, well. Clothes will dry faster if there was a wind to dry it. That means that those clothes over there on branch will dry faster. When viewed from a broad
perspective, it was better that it went up there on the tree.... or at least, I think that way."

She forcefully convinced herself and turned back to the house's direction, trying not to look at the waving clothes on the tree
a strange thing came into her view. And it was....

First, there was the living room. The cabinets were turned over and the table on the center was slanted into a weird position. Its foot pierced through the sliding door.
The cord constricted around the table. She didn't notice because of the appearance of the spider and the cubic toy. Somehow, she thought she knew what that caused weird phenomenon earlier.
Adding to that, many things which came from the closet were scattered on the floor and the vacuum cleaner was lying dead on the floor.
Fear also noticed that something fell from the roof and saw that it was a gray-colored roof tile. It must have been the breaking sound she heard when she jumped over to the roof.

It was the first time that fear thought that something was strange. It seemed that the house became disarranged, more than before she started cleaning. In fact, she had a
feeling that it was completely wretched. She wondered why.

"Could it be that I have done something wrong?"

Two people's footsteps answered her question.
Fear slowly went over the porch and laid on her stomach, thinking.
A poltergeist or an alien. Which would be more credible if she were to reason out?

<span style="font-size: 300%; border: "><center>* * *</center></span>

"Hmmmmmmmmm. I have this feeling that what she tried to do was too predictable but, could it be really...?"

Haruaki murmured to himself while looking up at the laundered clothes swaying on the branches of the tree located in the garden.

"If she was just playing around, she wouldn't think to put laundry detergent into the washing machine.... Except for the amount she put in it. If you go to the washing machine
right now, you'll see for yourself that it's throwing out bubbles like a crab."

Konoha raised her hands and formed a "scissors", trying to imitate a crab. Haruaki picked up the Rubik's cube that was laying on the floor.

"Really. Where did she find this thing?"

"Um, Haruaki-kun...? Do you remember the time when I first came here?"

"I can't remember much of the details, but I do. You did some strange things back then."

She came to this house when Haruaki was about to enter grade school. Of course, he didn't remember the clear details but he could still remember Konoha's impression.

"I thought so. Well, I wanted you to forget all about it at first but thinking about it it now, I'm glad that you still remember how I used to be."

"Why?"

"Hehe. You just have to tell Fear-san what you told me back when we first met. With that, I bet all the problems will be solved."

"I don't remember what I told you. What did I say back then?"

"Well, Haruaki-kun didn't change a bit so you just have to tell her what's on your mind right now."

After that, Konoha offered to help cleaning up the house but Haruaki politely refused. He felt that it was something he had to do, and not anyone else. Konoha didn't argue
with him.
Later, after Konoha went back to the outer building, Haruaki left the Rubik's cube on the table and looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh hell. What am I supposed to do...."

In that evening.

"Hey. Are you awake?"

He waited patiently for the answer. After few moments, it came to him.

"Shut up. I'm asleep."

"No you're not. You answered my question."

"Shut up and be silent if you don't wanna be cursed."

"Alright, alright. So, don't you have something to say?"

After an interlude of silence, Fear replied that she didn't have anything to say to him. Haruaki said never mind and sighed. Talk about being stubborn.

"You might not have anything to say to me, but I do. Well, er... I'm sorry."

There was no reply. There wasn't anything he could do for her silence so he just continued speaking.

"I already knew what I should have done, but I forgot. You look like a human but you aren't-----but in reality, you're a human so you might have some difficulties at first. There might
be things that you wouldn't understand, and there might be times where you bother other people. There also might be times where you have a quarrel with someone. Konoha also
went through all of that."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about but don't compare me to that cowtits. It's unpleasant."

"Yeah, okay. Well, what I want to say is... that you don't have to hurry trying to lift your curse. And, if there is something that you don't know, just ask me and I'll teach you
so long as it is something that I know. I left your dinner at the kitchen so you can have it when you get hungry. I'll be going now. Oh, I forgot, here's my present for you.
Take it."

Haruaki left the paper bag he was carrying onto the floor in front of the sliding door. After that, he went back to his room, yawning as he walked away.
After a few minutes, the sliding door silently opened. After some minutes of observation, a white hand came out and took the paper bag. The sliding door moved silently as the
sliding door closed.

Inside the paper bag was some clothes. They were kind of big but most of them were universally fitting one pieces. There was also new underwear that was wrapped in a plastic.
A note fell from it saying "Only underwear should be brand new for infants"....

"Drop dead!"

Fear threw the note on the floor by reflex. She noticed that behind the paper was another note addressed to her. It said, "If you want a bra, try to work part-time and buy it yourself. You'll be able to do so when you get used to living here..... Well, we're cursed tools so our bodies won't grow. That means that there won't be a need to, I mean, it would
be just a waste of time if you...."

A heel drop struck the paper before Fear could finish reading.
There were other things inside the paper bag other than the clothes. It was the cubic toy from earlier. And, there was also...

"....a rice cracker."

Her stomach growled. Haruaki said that she ate all the stock so he must have bought it for her.

"H-Hmph. I won't be bribed that easily. Does he think I'm such a child that I'll fall to his scheme?"

Despite her muttered complaints, her hands opened the snack and dug-in to the treat. Her other hand played with the Rubik's cube. Sound of creaking plastic filled the room.

"Hm. Sesame seeds. It's coated with sesame seeds. How fragrant..."

Fear thought about Haruaki while two sounds resounded inside her room.
Well, I'll forgive that shameless brat for now. He should thank my merciful heart. First things first-----I should ask him where this wonderful snack is being sold.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[CubexCursedxCurious|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1_Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 The Silent Phone

2011-09-18T21:14:32Z

Ziharker77: /* The Silent Phone */

===The Silent Phone===

The third day of summer break.

"Hey, you guys. Why didn't any of you come yesterday?"

I, who had just arrived in the clubroom around 3 o'clock, asked my fellow club members.

By the way, today both Yozora and Sena got here earlier than me.

"Kodaka-senpai, were you lonely because you weren't able to meet Rika?"

Said the girl wearing a white robe over her school uniform with little smile on her face for some reason.

Rika Shiguma, Freshman.

She's apparently a genius, though you'd never guess it by how crazy she is about ero doujinshi... especially how she acts like an insane person when it comes to mecha x mecha stuff.

She's one of the members of the Neighbors Club.

Yukimura was also in the room.

Kobato was being a hikkikomori as usual, and Maria wasn't here.

"I wasn't really lonely or anything, just wondering..."

"Hmph, I had things to do yesterday."

Said Yozora unconcernedly.

"Stuff to do huh... Guess there's no helping that..."

Next was Sena (whose eyes were bloodshot for some reason) who said something.

"I was really busy yesterday too."

"Busy?"

"I figured I'd reach the ending soon and then go to the clubroom, but it ended up taking four more hours than I thought it would. It was a really moving ending though, so it evens out. That scene where Mikan scores a goal was just so..."

Her eyes started to water up, and she sniffled her nose as bit.

I'm not really sure, but I guess she got so involved in her game she didn't come here.

"I'll lend it to you sometime, so you better play it Kodaka. You'll be wasting your life if you don't."

"...Sure, if I feel like it."

Now that I think about it, I got the Masaru (the protagonist's guy friend) end in that "Tokimemo" game she lent me (made me take home) and never played it again.

"Also, the theme song is super good. We should make it our national anthem! When you start the game again after finishing once you can totally feel how it connects to the last scene, and-"

"B-by the way!"

I quickly tried to change the subject, since if I don't stop her now who knows how long I'll have to put up with her going on and on about her galge.

"What."

Sena made an annoyed look on her face.

"Hn?"

Yozora looked over here too (as she put on a face that looked like she thought Sena's ramblings were annoying as all hell, and quietly reached out for her fly swatter).

Rika and Yukimura both looked over at me too.

"To make sure nobody ends up coming here and killing time when nobody else is going to show up, I think we should come up with a way for us to know when everyone else is coming."

"...Hmph. You may be right."

Yozora gave her approval of what I suggested.

"Not a bad idea considering it's you, Kodaka." said Sena.

"So, what specifically should we do?"

"Eh? Hmm, I'm not sure..."

I didn't really think it out farther than that.

"What about using a BBS on the web? We can get one for free, right?"

I threw out the first thing that came to mind.

"Rejected." "No way."

Yozora and Sena said at the same time.

"You hardly even thought about it!! Why can't we use one!?"

Yozora and Sena both made faces that showed a deep disgust from the bottom of their hearts.

"...It's my personal rule to not use the internet for anything other than researching things and shopping."

"It is?"

That was kind of unexpected, but at the same time maybe it wasn't.

"That's how I do it now...... I'll never do that again."

Yozora said, with a sad little look on her face.

"...I won't bother asking what exactly it was that you did."

"...Thank you."

Yozora gave me an honest thanks.

She must really regret whatever it is that she did.

"I've had bad experiences with them before too."

Sena said.

"...Ahh... Just remembering it pisses me off! Those guys... that damn 'Yasuo' and 'Parko' and 'rikiya' and 'Mai-tan(*´Д`*)HaaHaa'...! I hate that damn moderator who banned me from that one fansite because he thought I was a troll too! Those assholes can all go die!"

"...Did you get into a fight with them on some BBS or something?"

"I had to, those damn morons called my lovely Natsumi and dumbass muscle-brain! Like hell I'd let them get away with that! You know, Natsumi might seem like that, but she's actually really delicate!"

Sena was getting louder and louder.

I don't have a clue when you mean if all you tell me is "she might seem like that".

The one thing I can say for sure is that it's some character from a galge.

"Well, people are going to have their own likes and dislikes. Not much you can do about it..."

"Haa? That's fine if you to keep it to yourself, but if you're gonna make fun of Natsumi in front of a fan of hers like me, that's the same as a declaration of war! If someone does that, then all I can do is get them to shut up and admit how stupid they were, or die trying!"

It's not like I don't get where she's coming from, but she gets angry way too easily.

"...My battle still isn't over with those damn morons... If I ever meet them in real life I'll kick the crap out of them!"

"A-anyway, BBS's are a no go, right!?"

I interrupted Sena who was quickly reaching critical levels.

"Then how about that thing... nixi. We can send messages to each other without any worries that way, right?"

nixi is a social networking service, and you can use it to write stuff that other people can read and comment on... At least, that's what I think it's like anyway.

Since you can keep the things you write limited to certain people, it'd be a good choice for us all to use to communicate with each other... I think.

"Eh, Kodaka you're on nixi? Then give me an invite." said Sena.

nixi runs on an invite-only system, and thus you can only join if an existing member invites you.

"No, I'm not, but..."

"Hmph, like hell I'd ever join that site."

Yozora looked me in the eyes and gave a reply that was full of pride for some reason.

"Rika isn't on that site either~"

"Neither am I."

Rika and Yukimura both said.

That makes sense, nixi is based on the assumption you have friends to invite you after all...

"So we can't even join nixi..."

A heavy atmosphere filled the room.

"But, you know, nixi isn't the only SNS out there! We just have to pick one that doesn't need an invite!"

I said, but then Rika stopped me.

"Hold on Senpai. If Rika asks her acquaintances in the game industry, I think we can get an invite to nixi."

"Really? Then let's do that..."

"That's fine with me, but..."

Rika said, with her head tilted in confusion

"But why can't we just use our cells to talk to each other rather going out of our way to use something else?"

Yozora, Sena and I all stood shocked.

"Cells... Are you talking about cell phones?"

I asked, still stunned.

"Huh? Well, yeah."

The wild idea that a cell phone could be used for anything other than calling home hadn't come within a mile of my thought process.

"...I see, cell phones... Rika... You really are a genius... That's an amazing idea."

"Yeah... I never even considered doing that... So cell phones aren't just for looking up karaoke shops... Rika Shiguma... it would seem I have no choice but to recognize your genius..."

[[Image:Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai_Vol3_Ch04_Img01.jpg|thumb]]

"...It's nice to hear you all think my idea is so good."

Yozora and I showered Rika with praise, calling her a genius and stuff, but Rika looked like she was a little creeped out by it.

"Anyway, why don't we exchange addresses for now?"

Rika took out a cell phone from her lab coat's pocket.

I followed her lead and opened my bag, taking out the cell phone buried within its depths.

I bought it when I got into high school. It's a folding type that doesn't have any particularly amazing functions to it.

By the way, both Kobato and I have had cell phones since we were in grade school, and I'm currently on my 3rd one (I bought my 2nd in middle school).

I gave a quick look at my call log, and every call and text I got was from "Home" and every one that I sent was to "Little Sister".

"Here, I took mine out too."

Yozora hesitantly showed her phone to me.

There wasn't a single ornament or strap on it; it was just your run of the mill black cell phone.

By the way, it seemed like Yozora's phone was at the bottom of her bag too, so it took her a while to take it out.

"Ok, send your infra-red rays this way please."

Rika said, and stated casually hitting buttons on her phone.

"Eh- I-infra-red rays???"

Yozora confusedly stared at her phone's LCD, as did I.

What's she talking about?

Is she really trying to say these little phones can shoot out infra-red rays?

"...I do feel like I've heard people talk about how more recent phones are able to exchange data via infra-red rays... So that was all true... Hrmm... W-which is it?"

Said Yozora as she furled her brow while hitting buttons on her phone.

"You're kidding me... When did phones get that advanced..."

Rika looked at me and my astonishment as though I were some kind of Neanderthal.

"Here you are."

The one who said that and turned their phone towards Rika was... Yukimura.

"Yukimura...!?"

"Ah, thanks Yukimura."

Rika and Yukimura pointed their phones at each other for about 2 seconds and pulled them back soon after.

"Yes! Yukimura address get!"

"I have confirmed yours as well."

Said Rika and Yukimura.

An utterly shocked expression rose on Yozora's face.

"I-it can't be, you're done already...? That quickly...?"

"Oh man... Kids these days are something else... I can barely keep up..."

"Ahh... So this is the virtual generation of this digital world we live in... I hear everything is like a game to them..."

"...This must be what people mean by children who don't know the meaning of hard work..."

"That's quite a lot to say considering you're only a year older than us, Senpai..."

Rika made a pitiful face at the three of us shaking in awe...

"People like Aniki who only rely on their own strength don't pay heed to things such as cell phones, do they?" Yukimura said.

...Actually, high-tech girl Rika aside, the fact that even Yukimura can easily use infra-red rays was simply shocking.

I figured he was the type to be bad with technology.

Though, now that I think about it, he didn't seem to be confused at all when we were all playing that "Romancing Saga" game...

"Arghh.... I don't get it! Besides, it's weird for people to know how to use this machine when they don't have any friends! Kodaka! I'll just have to do it normally so tell me your address."

Yozora finally gave up on the infra-red rays.

"Ok. I'm pretty sure that'll be faster for me too."

Uhh, my address is............ about 30 seconds later, I managed to pull up my phone number and e-mail address on my phone's screen.

"Here." I said as I showed it to Yozora.

"Hm.........Ah, went too far. Mu..."

Yozora clumsily fished her way around her phone's buttons, trying to enter my address.

"...Hrmm... This is a pretty complex address you've got here..."

"Yeah, it's because I never changed it since I bought my first phone..."

"......Hm... where are the special characters..."

..................

............

After a full two minutes, Yozora finished entering my e-mail address and phone number.

"Phew..."

Yozora wiped her forehead, and let out a sigh as though she'd just completed some insanely difficult task.

"O-ok... I'll send you something now Kodaka. An e-mail. An e-mail using my cell phone."

"O-ok...!"

Yozora nervously pushed a few buttons, and then hit send.

About a second later, the words "Receiving Mail" popped up on my screen.

Then, 2 seconds later it went "Ding di~ng" as the default ringtone played.

"I got it!"

"You got it!?"

Yelled Yozora in a happy voice.

The e-mail was titled "E-Mail" and "E-Mail" was written in the message itself as well.

Uhh, I guess this is Yozora's e-mail address.

eternalfriendship2@codomo.ne.jo

I went and added "Yozora Mikadzuki" to my contacts list.

"Ohhh... My first address from someone other than my family...!"

This is almost like, some kind of momentous occasion or something!

Yozora made a surprised face after hearing what I just said.

"I am? What about the addresses of the people from the schools you were at before...?"

"...I never put them in. At the farewell party there were some guys who said "Gimme your address later," but I never did end up exchanging addresses with any of them..."

"........."

Yozora had a look of sympathy in her eyes, and then murmured,

"Oh, I see... so I'm your first non-family address..."

A tender smile rose to her face for a single moment.

And then she said, triumphantly for some reason,

"By the way, I've never even added my own family's addresses before. You're the very first ever, Kodaka."

...I don't know what you want me to say to that, Yozora.

"Muu~. I wouldn't have minded teaching you how to use the infra-red rays, but when Rika sees you two having so much fun it feels like we're the ones who lost here..."

Rika said with an unsatisfied look on her face. Then, all of a sudden,

"Hmph, it's just a stupid cell phone."

Said Sena, who had been unusually quiet up until now, as though she were spitting the words out.

"...? What are you mad about?"

"I'm not mad!"

Said Sena, who seemed to be in a bad mood.

"If you say so... Anyway, come on, give me your address too."

I said, which only made Sena look even more angry.

"...ave a..."

She mumbled with her lips pursed.

"Eh?"

"I don't have a cell phone!"

Sena yelled at the top of her lungs, which startled Rika and Yukimura.

"O-oh, you don't have one..."

Sena glared at me and said,

"Just so you know, I'm not jealous of you or anything!! It's not like not having one is a problem for me, and even if I did have one it wouldn't do me any good! Cell phones are what those annoying retard girls in my class use! A noble like me doesn't have any use for one!"

"...Uh-huh... O-ok. Yeah, there's plenty people who say they don't need a cell phone, right?"

"Exactly! Forget a cell phone, I don't even need a normal phone. No matter where they are or what they're doing, lowly commoners should be able to gratefully accept the angelic voice of a goddess like me!"

"Uh, that's a little bit..."

as I started talking,

Ring ring ring... all of a sudden the phone in my hand started ringing.

"Eh!?"

I fumbled the phone around and saw a number I didn't know on the screen.

I figured I might as well answer it.

"...Hello?"

" 'It's me.' "

I heard a voice from the phone and from behind me.

I turned around and saw that the one who called my phone was Yozora.

" 'Enter my phone number into your contacts.' "

"Ah, yeah ok."

Talking on the phone with somebody right in front of you is so weird.

Yozora kept on talking to me over the phone like that for some reason.

" 'Since we just got it all set up, let's talk over the phone for a while.' "

"Eh... Sure, I guess."

" 'Good. Then let's talk about dinner last night. What did you eat, Kodaka?' "

"Uhh, what <em>did</em> I eat..."

As I was thinking I happened to look over at Sena again, who looked even more pissed off than she was before to the point I could almost see her veins popping out.

"Y-you two! Who gives a damn about what you ate yesterday!? Why do you have to go out of your way to talk about that over the phone now!?"

" 'Shut it, Meat. Can you not even shut yourself up while people are trying to talk on the phone?' "

Said Yozora, waving her hand at Sena telling her to go away.

"Khhhhh!"

" 'Still, these cell phones are quite handy. We can even talk when we're not together.' "

"Then use them when you're not together!!"

Yozora completely ignored Sena and continued,

" 'We can let everyone know when we're coming to club with them. Also, let's talk about all of our plans via e-mail from now on.' "

"S-sure..."

"Ghhhhh..."

Sena was about to burst into tears.

Yozora still kept on talking too, although this time it was with a much quieter voice that you could barely hear.

<small>" 'By the way, about my dinner last night, I had</small><strong> meat.</strong><small> Specifically, it was curry with chicken</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, and the</small><strong> meat</strong><small> was incredibly tender and tasted so good.' "</small>

She carefully made sure to only say the word "meat" at a normal volume.

"Uu~... What are you talking about...!?"

" 'Something that has nothing to do with you Meat. <small>The store I went to didn't have just chicken</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, but also had pig</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, cow</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, and a bunch of other stuff that was so cheap I think we should all </small><strong> meet</strong><small> up there sometime. I'm sure you'll all love the</small><strong> meat</strong><small> they have th-' "</small>

"Gaaaahh! Shut up, stop saying meat!!!!"

Sena roared all of a sudden, and took my phone away.

"Hey!!"

Sena brought my phone to her mouth and then yelled at the top of her lungs,

<div style="font-size:250%">"Idiot! Jerk! Retard!!!"</div>

"Kh!?"

Yozora cringed and pulled the phone away from her ear.

Sena shoved my phone back into my hands, and told Yozora "Go die!" before running out of the clubroom.

"...God damn, stupid piece of meat..."

Yozora ended the call while holding one hand to her ear.

"You really know exactly what to do to piss Sena off, don't you..."

I have to admit, I was a little impressed by it.

<div style="font-size:250%"><center>☺</center></div>

On the bus and train ride home, and even after I got home, I kept opening my cell phone and looking at my contact list.

After Sena ran out, I exchanged addresses with Rika and Yukimura (I even learned how to use the infra-red rays).

Up until now I've only ever had home, Kobato's cell, and Dad's work phone in there, so my contact list easily doubled today.

Crap... I can't stop smirking...

That night, I went to sleep in a good mood,

but...

Ring ring ring...

The phone ringing woke me up.

The phone that was ringing wasn't my cell, but rather our home phone.

I checked the time using my cell I left near my bed, and saw that it was just past 2 in the morning.

"...Who the hell is calling at this time of day..."

I thought about ignoring it, but I figured it might've been one of dad's overseas contacts so I got out of bed to answer it.

I headed downstairs while rubbing my sleepy eyes and picked up the phone.

"...Hello, this is Hasegawa speaking."

It felt like I was being a little quieter than usual.

<div style="font-size:250%">"H-HEWOO!!"</div>

A voice that sounded like the person talking held the receiver right next to their mouth and yelled as loud as they possibly could rang through my ears.

I reflexively pulled the phone away from my ear and cringed.

W-what the hell...!?

As I thought that,

Ca-lick!

.....They hung up.

"...What the hell, a prank call...?"

Still pissed off at the annoying person who'd make a prank call in the middle of the night, I went back to bed. However, right as I was about to fall asleep again, the phone rang again.

I'm ignoring it.

I told myself that and closed my eyes, but the phone didn't stop ringing even after 20 seconds had passed.

Oh yeah, I never set the answering machine...

Annoyed, I got up again and went downstairs to pick up the phone.

"...Hello."

Even I could tell how pissed off I sounded.

"Eek!?"

I heard a shriek from the receiver.

Huh, where have I heard that voice before...

"...Hello?"

I asked again, and then heard someone gulp and say,

<div style="font-size:250%">"U-umm! T-this is Sena Kashiwazaki, i-i-i-i-is Kodaka, I mean, Mr. Kodaka available!?"</div>

She was obviously nervous, talking as fast as she could.

"...Eh, Sena?" I asked.

"H-huh? Is this Kodaka?"

"Yep."

I could hear Sena breathe a sigh of relief over the phone.

"You idiot! Geez, don't scare me like that you idiot! Your voice is scary idiot!"

Not holding back on the insults are we?

...This doesn't even make any sense.

"Do you have any idea what time it is right now...?"

"H-hey, more importantly, Kodaka!"

Sena rambled on, perfectly ignoring my complaints.

"What kind of cell did you get?"

"...What kind? It's just a normal one..."

I answered, unsure of what she was asking.

"That. Is. Not. What. I. Meant! It's gotta have the name of the company or a serial number on it somewhere!"

"Eh... The company is ∀Ｕ. I don't know what kind it is."

"Then find out."

"Huhh?"

"Just do it!"

"...Fine, wait."

I put down the receiver and went back up to my room and flipped on the lights.

I took my cell in my hands, and found something that looked like a model number.

"Uhh, it's a M61b, I guess."

"An M61b by ∀Ｕ?"

"Yeah." I could hear her writing something down.

"Ok, I got it. See you later."

Ca-lick!

Announcing the end of her business she quickly hung up.

Just what in the world...

<div style="font-size:250%"><center>☺</center></div>

The next day.

Just before noon I got an untitled message from Yozora that said nothing other than "2 o'clock." so I sent a mail to Yozora, Rika, and Yukimura my own mail titled "Today" that said "I'll be there around 2 o'clock too."

After I finished lunch, I left home so I'd get there around two.

While I was on the bus, I got a mail from Rika titled "Waiting Naked" which said "I'll be waiting for you naked, Kodaka-senpai♥ Ah, you just imagined Rika naked didn't you? Senpai you pervert♥"

"...Is she retarded?"

I gave her a quick reply of "retard".

A few minutes later yet another mail from Rika came.

The title was "Ass"... pushing the line with that one.

It read: "By the way, Yozora-senpai is totally naked too (*丿丿)kya~ As proof, I've attached an image of Yozora's cute little butt for you."

"Wha!?"

I let my voice slip in surprise, but after taking a good look at it I could see it was just a picture of her elbow.

...How old is she? 12?

Right after that, I got a mail from Yozora that said "That was Rika's arm just now." in the title field and nothing in the actual body. She must've been flustered when she wrote it. I also got another weird mail from Rika that came at nearly the same time as Yozora's with the title "Iyan♥" that said "Yozora-senpai hit Rika's butt with her fly swatter, Rika can't take it anymore s-stop itttt~~♥"

I sent Yozora a mail that said "I know." and ignored Rika.

I then got another mail, this time from Rika's laptop, with the title "The Truth" that read "Eh? Yozora-senpai, why are you taking Rika's panties off? Ahn~ I can't stand it, this is too embarrassing! Ahh, Don't lick me down thereee! I can't stop twitching each time I feel it! Yozora-senpai then whispered into the moaning Rika's ear, 'Here? Do you want it here? You dirty little girl.' She then gently blew on Rika's ears which caused Rika to lose all the strength in her body and (etc.)" I was reading her stupid mail, but the bus reached the school so I got off without finishing it.

Today was as hot as ever.

I entered the clubroom, where Yozora and Rika (who were obviously not naked) and Yukimura were waiting.

Yozora looked exhausted as she lay on the sofa.

Yozora pointed at Rika, and turned only her face to me as she said,

"Watch out Kodaka... she's, a freak..."

She barely managed to get even that out.

"Yeah, well... I already know that." I said.

As for the freak in question, she was currently typing away on her laptop.

It looked like she was writing a novel.

"Ah, Kodaka-senpai! Rika just recently discovered that yuri might not be all that bad! Rika thinks she might be ok with anything as long as it's erotic!"

"You're sure full of energy..."

I sat on the sofa, pitying Rika who seemed like she was about to launch herself into space.

"I have prepared tea."

Yukimura handed me a glass of barley tea.

"Thanks!"

I thanked Yukimura and happily took the drink from him.

Glug glug... I gulped the whole thing down at once.

...It wasn't hot or cold, just lukewarm tea.

"Would you like another?"

"Eh? Yeah, sure."

I took another glass of tea from Yukimura.

...It was warmer than before, but I still gulped it down pretty quickly.

"Here you are, Aniki."

"Thanks. Ah! That's hot..."

The third cup of tea was very hot, and not something I could just gulp down.

I looked at Yukimura, who was looking at me as though expecting something.

He was probably trying to imitate how Mitsunari Ishida gave Hideyoshi Toyotomi a cup of warm tea, then a slightly hot cup, and then a relaxing hot cup of tea to drink.

"...Umm... Mitsunari was a pretty thoughtful guy."

"It is an honor to receive your praise, Aniki."

I praised Yukimura, and he smiled bashfully.

"...But I still think cold barley tea is best. I won't let that one go."

"Is that so..."

Yukimura got a little depressed.

While relaxing and slowly drinking the hot tea from Yukimura, the door to the clubroom flew open all of a sudden.

"Heh heh, so you're all here, lowly commoners! Your goddess has come to you!"

It was Sena who opened the door.

"Ahh, hey." I said while sipping my tea.

Yukimura was stone faced, as usual.

Even Yozora, who'd usually make fun of her, only gave her a little glance as if to say she couldn't care less.

"You're letting the cold air out, can you close the door now?"

Rika coolly said, while still typing on her keyboard and not even looking over at Sena, to which Sena replied "Ah, sorry..." and quietly closed the door.

"I'm gonna get some sleep."

Yozora crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

"Uuu... W-why are you all so lifeless!?"

Sena ground her teeth, annoyed, and then said,

"I wonder, will you be able to stay like that after you see this!? Here, look at it Yozora!"

Sena quickly walked over to Yozora and held out a cell phone as though it were Mito Koumon's seal case.

"Heh, what do you think now? I asked Papa yesterday and he bought it for me!"

Sena said with the face of a delighted child.

"Hmph..."

Yozora opened her eyes a little, and then closed them again, uninterested.

"Huh, isn't that the same as mine?"

Sena's model matched the one I had. It was even the same gold color as mine.

"O-ohh... it is? W-what a coincidence!"

Sena's face turned a little red.

"Uh, no, not really..."

You called me in the middle of the damn night and asked me about it... before I could say that,

"...the same as Kodaka's?"

Yozora angrily said, and glared at Sena's cell phone.

"Hehe." Sena chuckled as though she'd just won some battle.

"Anyway, come on let's exchange addresses! Come on, hurry!"

"Eh? Ok..."

I took out my cell phone.

Yozora groaned as she looked at and compared our phones.

I got ready to use the infra-red rays I learned about yesterday.

"By the way, do you know how to do it this way?"

"Of course!" Sena said triumphantly and pointed her cell at me.

We quickly exchange addresses.

Sena had a big grin spread across her face as she stared at her phone's LCD.

"Haha... Here Yozora, I'll even do it with you."

"I have no need for your address."

Sena got caught off guard by Yozora's refusal.

"Hey! I went and bought one so just tell me your address!"

"...Do you want my address that much?"

"I-it's not like I want it or anything! I don't want to know it at all, but I figured I'd let you exchange with me since we're in the same club! You should be grateful!"

"I see, thank you. I'll make do with your feelings alone."

"I can't call you using my feelings alone!"

Yozora looked at Sena with her eyes full of disgust.

"...Hmph, making such a greedy face... look at this bitch. If you want it so badly then prove it to me."

"Prove it...? Ah, I'm not going to lick your feet, got it~? Uuu~ Fine, forget it, stupid Yozora!"

Sena ran out of the room with a few tears in her eyes.

"...She gives up so quick..."

Whispered Yozora, who looked just a little bit sad.

After Sena left, Yozora and I began reading like we always do.

About 15 minutes later, I got a message on my phone.

...it was from Sena.

"I'm gonna send that idiot Yozora a bunch of spam mail so tell me her address (^_^)"

"...So this is the first mail you send me...?"

And on top of that, Yozora, who was sitting next to me, peeked at it.

"...That stupid Meat..."

A smile found its way to Yozora's face for some reason.

"...Kodaka, let me see Meat's address. I might as well just tell her what mine is personally..."

...It was roughly 30 minutes later when Sena came running back into the clubroom, half in tears, to talk to us about a bunch of mails from an unknown address she kept getting that simply said either "Death" or "Curse".

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 History|History]]
| Return to [[Boku_wa_tomodachi_ga_sukunai|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 Sealing Technique, Release!|Sealing Technique, Release!]]
|-
|}

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 The Silent Phone

2011-09-18T20:48:55Z

Ziharker77: /* The Silent Phone */

===The Silent Phone===

The third day of summer break.

"Hey, you guys. Why didn't any of you come yesterday?"

I, who had just arrived in the clubroom around 3 o'clock, asked my fellow club members.

By the way, today both Yozora and Sena got here earlier than me.

"Kodaka-senpai, were you lonely because you weren't able to meet Rika?"

Said the girl wearing a white robe over her school uniform with little smile on her face for some reason.

Rika Shiguma, Freshman.

She's apparently a genius, though you'd never guess it by how crazy she is about ero doujinshi... especially how she acts like an insane person when it comes to mecha x mecha stuff.

She's one of the members of the Neighbors Club.

Yukimura was also in the room.

Kobato was being a hikkikomori as usual, and Maria wasn't here.

"I wasn't really lonely or anything, just wondering..."

"Hmph, I had things to do yesterday."

Said Yozora unconcernedly.

"Stuff to do huh... Guess there's no helping that..."

Next was Sena (whose eyes were bloodshot for some reason) who said something.

"I was really busy yesterday too."

"Busy?"

"I figured I'd reach the ending soon and then go to the clubroom, but it ended up taking four more hours than I thought it would. It was a really moving ending though, so it evens out. That scene where Mikan scores a goal was just so..."

Her eyes started to water up, and she sniffled her nose as bit.

I'm not really sure, but I guess she got so involved in her game she didn't come here.

"I'll lend it to you sometime, so you better play it Kodaka. You'll be wasting your life if you don't."

"...Sure, if I feel like it."

Now that I think about it, I got the Masaru (the protagonist's guy friend) end in that "Tokimemo" game she lent me (made me take home) and never played it again.

"Also, the theme song is super good. We should make it our national anthem! When you start the game again after finishing once you can totally feel how it connects to the last scene, and-"

"B-by the way!"

I quickly tried to change the subject, since if I don't stop her now who knows how long I'll have to put up with her going on and on about her galge.

"What."

Sena made an annoyed look on her face.

"Hn?"

Yozora looked over here too (as she put on a face that looked like she thought Sena's ramblings were annoying as all hell, and quietly reached out for her fly swatter).

Rika and Yukimura both looked over at me too.

"To make sure nobody ends up coming here and killing time when nobody else is going to show up, I think we should come up with a way for us to know when everyone else is coming."

"...Hmph. You may be right."

Yozora gave her approval of what I suggested.

"Not a bad idea considering it's you, Kodaka." said Sena.

"So, what specifically should we do?"

"Eh? Hmm, I'm not sure..."

I didn't really think it out farther than that.

"What about using a BBS on the web? We can get one for free, right?"

I threw out the first thing that came to mind.

"Rejected." "No way."

Yozora and Sena said at the same time.

"You hardly even thought about it!! Why can't we use one!?"

Yozora and Sena both made faces that showed a deep disgust from the bottom of their hearts.

"...It's my personal rule to not use the internet for anything other than researching things and shopping."

"It is?"

That was kind of unexpected, but at the same time maybe it wasn't.

"That's how I do it now...... I'll never do that again."

Yozora said, with a sad little look on her face.

"...I won't bother asking what exactly it was that you did."

"...Thank you."

Yozora gave me an honest thanks.

She must really regret whatever it is that she did.

"I've had bad experiences with them before too."

Sena said.

"...Ahh... Just remembering it pisses me off! Those guys... that damn 'Yasuo' and 'Parko' and 'rikiya' and 'Mai-tan(*´Д`*)HaaHaa'...! I hate that damn moderator who banned me from that one fansite because he thought I was a troll too! Those assholes can all go die!"

"...Did you get into a fight with them on some BBS or something?"

"I had to, those damn morons called my lovely Natsumi and dumbass muscle-brain! Like hell I'd let them get away with that! You know, Natsumi might seem like that, but she's actually really delicate!"

Sena was getting louder and louder.

I don't have a clue when you mean if all you tell me is "she might seem like that".

The one thing I can say for sure is that it's some character from a galge.

"Well, people are going to have their own likes and dislikes. Not much you can do about it..."

"Haa? That's fine if you to keep it to yourself, but if you're gonna make fun of Natsumi in front of a fan of hers like me, that's the same as a declaration of war! If someone does that, then all I can do is get them to shut up and admit how stupid they were, or die trying!"

It's not like I don't get where she's coming from, but she gets angry way too easily.

"...My battle still isn't over with those damn morons... If I ever meet them in real life I'll kick the crap out of them!"

"A-anyway, BBS's are a no go, right!?"

I interrupted Sena who was quickly reaching critical levels.

"Then how about that thing... nixi. We can send messages to each other without any worries that way, right?"

nixi is a social networking service, and you can use it to write stuff that other people can read and comment on... At least, that's what I think it's like anyway.

Since you can keep the things you write limited to certain people, it'd be a good choice for us all to use to communicate with each other... I think.

"Eh, Kodaka you're on nixi? Then give me an invite." said Sena.

nixi runs on an invite-only system, and thus you can only join if an existing member invites you.

"No, I'm not, but..."

"Hmph, like hell I'd ever join that site."

Yozora looked me in the eyes and gave a reply that was full of pride for some reason.

"Rika isn't on that site either~"

"Neither am I."

Rika and Yukimura both said.

That makes sense, nixi is based on the assumption you have friends to invite you after all...

"So we can't even join nixi..."

A heavy atmosphere filled the room.

"But, you know, nixi isn't the only SNS out there! We just have to pick one that doesn't need an invite!"

I said, but then Rika stopped me.

"Hold on Senpai. If Rika asks her acquaintances in the game industry, I think we can get an invite to nixi."

"Really? Then let's do that..."

"That's fine with me, but..."

Rika said, with her head tilted in confusion

"But why can't we just use our cells to talk to each other rather going out of our way to use something else?"

Yozora, Sena and I all stood shocked.

"Cells... Are you talking about cell phones?"

I asked, still stunned.

"Huh? Well, yeah."

The wild idea that a cell phone could be used for anything other than calling home hadn't come within a mile of my thought process.

"...I see, cell phones... Rika... You really are a genius... That's an amazing idea."

"Yeah... I never even considered doing that... So cell phones aren't just for looking up karaoke shops... Rika Shiguma... it would seem I have no choice but to recognize your genius..."

[[Image:Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai_Vol3_Ch04_Img01.jpg|thumb]]

"...It's nice to hear you all think my idea is so good."

Yozora and I showered Rika with praise, calling her a genius and stuff, but Rika looked like she was a little creeped out by it.

"Anyway, why don't we exchange addresses for now?"

Rika took out a cell phone from her lab coat's pocket.

I followed her lead and opened my bag, taking out the cell phone buried within its depths.

I bought it when I got into high school. It's a folding type that doesn't have any particularly amazing functions to it.

By the way, both Kobato and I have had cell phones since we were in grade school, and I'm currently on my 3rd one (I bought my 2nd in middle school).

I gave a quick look at my call log, and every call and text I got was from "Home" and every one that I sent was to "Little Sister".

"Here, I took mine out too."

Yozora hesitantly showed her phone to me.

There wasn't a single ornament or strap on it; it was just your run of the mill black cell phone.

By the way, it seemed like Yozora's phone was at the bottom of her bag too, so it took her a while to take it out.

"Ok, send your infra-red rays this way please."

Rika said, and stated casually hitting buttons on her phone.

"Eh- I-infra-red rays???"

Yozora confusedly stared at her phone's LCD, as did I.

What's she talking about?

Is she really trying to say these little phones can shoot out infra-red rays?

"...I do feel like I've heard people talk about how more recent phones are able to exchange data via infra-red rays... So that was all true... Hrmm... W-which is it?"

Said Yozora as she furled her brow while hitting buttons on her phone.

"You're kidding me... When did phones get that advanced..."

Rika looked at me and my astonishment as though I were some kind of Neanderthal.

"Here you are."

The one who said that and turned their phone towards Rika was... Yukimura.

"Yukimura...!?"

"Ah, thanks Yukimura."

Rika and Yukimura pointed their phones at each other for about 2 seconds and pulled them back soon after.

"Yes! Yukimura address get!"

"I have confirmed yours as well."

Said Rika and Yukimura.

An utterly shocked expression rose on Yozora's face.

"I-it can't be, you're done already...? That quickly...?"

"Oh man... Kids these days are something else... I can barely keep up..."

"Ahh... So this is the virtual generation of this digital world we live in... I hear everything is like a game to them..."

"...This must be what people mean by children who don't know the meaning of hard work..."

"That's quite a lot to say considering you're only a year older than us, Senpai..."

Rika made a pitiful face at the three of us shaking in awe...

"People like Aniki who only rely on their own strength don't pay heed to things such as cell phones, do they?" Yukimura said.

...Actually, high-tech girl Rika aside, the fact that even Yukimura can easily use infra-red rays was simply shocking.

I figured he was the type to be bad with technology.

Though, now that I think about it, he didn't seem to be confused at all when we were all playing that "Romancing Saga" game...

"Arghh.... I don't get it! Besides, it's weird for people to know how to use this machine when they don't have any friends! Kodaka! I'll just have to do it normally so tell me your address."

Yozora finally gave up on the infra-red rays.

"Ok. I'm pretty sure that'll be faster for me too."

Uhh, my address is............ about 30 seconds later, I managed to pull up my phone number and e-mail address on my phone's screen.

"Here." I said as I showed it to Yozora.

"Hm.........Ah, went too far. Mu..."

Yozora clumsily fished her way around her phone's buttons, trying to enter my address.

"...Hrmm... This is a pretty complex address you've got here..."

"Yeah, it's because I never changed it since I bought my first phone..."

"......Hm... where are the special characters..."

..................

............

After a full two minutes, Yozora finished entering my e-mail address and phone number.

"Phew..."

Yozora wiped her forehead, and let out a sigh as though she'd just completed some insanely difficult task.

"O-ok... I'll send you something now Kodaka. An e-mail. An e-mail using my cell phone."

"O-ok...!"

Yozora nervously pushed a few buttons, and then hit send.

About a second later, the words "Receiving Mail" popped up on my screen.

Then, 2 seconds later it went "Ding di~ng" as the default ringtone played.

"I got it!"

"You got it!?"

Yelled Yozora in a happy voice.

The e-mail was titled "E-Mail" and "E-Mail" was written in the message itself as well.

Uhh, I guess this is Yozora's e-mail address.

eternalfriendship2@codomo.ne.jo

I went and added "Yozora Mikadzuki" to my contacts list.

"Ohhh... My first address from someone other than my family...!"

This is almost like, some kind of momentous occasion or something!

Yozora made a surprised face after hearing what I just said.

"I am? What about the addresses of the people from the schools you were at before...?"

"...I never put them in. At the farewell party there were some guys who said "Gimme your address later," but I never did end up exchanging addresses with any of them..."

"........."

Yozora had a look of sympathy in her eyes, and then murmured,

"Oh, I see... so I'm your first non-family address..."

A tender smile rose to her face for a single moment.

And then she said, triumphantly for some reason,

"By the way, I've never even added my own family's addresses before. You're the very first ever, Kodaka."

...I don't know what you want me to say to that, Yozora.

"Muu~. I wouldn't have minded teaching you how to use the infra-red rays, but when Rika sees you two having so much fun it feels like we're the ones who lost here..."

Rika said with an unsatisfied look on her face. Then, all of a sudden,

"Hmph, it's just a stupid cell phone."

Said Sena, who had been unusually quiet up until now, as though she were spitting the words out.

"...? What are you mad about?"

"I'm not mad!"

Said Sena, who seemed to be in a bad mood.

"If you say so... Anyway, come on, give me your address too."

I said, which only made Sena look even more angry.

"...ave a..."

She mumbled with her lips pursed.

"Eh?"

"I don't have a cell phone!"

Sena yelled at the top of her lungs, which startled Rika and Yukimura.

"O-oh, you don't have one..."

Sena glared at me and said,

"Just so you know, I'm not jealous of you or anything!! It's not like not having one is a problem for me, and even if I did have one it wouldn't do me any good! Cell phones are what those annoying retard girls in my class use! A noble like me doesn't have any use for one!"

"...Uh-huh... O-ok. Yeah, there's plenty people who say they don't need a cell phone, right?"

"Exactly! Forget a cell phone, I don't even need a normal phone. No matter where they are or what they're doing, lowly commoners should be able to gratefully accept the angelic voice of a goddess like me!"

"Uh, that's a little bit..."

as I started talking,

Ring ring ring... all of a sudden the phone in my hand started ringing.

"Eh!?"

I fumbled the phone around and saw a number I didn't know on the screen.

I figured I might as well answer it.

"...Hello?"

" 'It's me.' "

I heard a voice from the phone and from behind me.

I turned around and saw that the one who called my phone was Yozora.

" 'Enter my phone number into your contacts.' "

"Ah, yeah ok."

Talking on the phone with somebody right in front of you is so weird.

Yozora kept on talking to me over the phone like that for some reason.

" 'Since we just got it all set up, let's talk over the phone for a while.' "

"Eh... Sure, I guess."

" 'Good. Then let's talk about dinner last night. What did you eat, Kodaka?' "

"Uhh, what <em>did</em> I eat..."

As I was thinking I happened to look over at Sena again, who looked even more pissed off than she was before to the point I could almost see her veins popping out.

"Y-you two! Who gives a damn about what you ate yesterday!? Why do you have to go out of your way to talk about that over the phone now!?"

" 'Shut it, Meat. Can you not even shut yourself up while people are trying to talk on the phone?' "

Said Yozora, waving her hand at Sena telling her to go away.

"Khhhhh!"

" 'Still, these cell phones are quite handy. We can even talk when we're not together.' "

"Then use them when you're not together!!"

Yozora completely ignored Sena and continued,

" 'We can let everyone know when we're coming to club with them. Also, let's talk about all of our plans via e-mail from now on.' "

"S-sure..."

"Ghhhhh..."

Sena was about to burst into tears.

Yozora still kept on talking too, although this time it was with a much quieter voice that you could barely hear.

<small>" 'By the way, about my dinner last night, I had</small><strong> meat.</strong><small> Specifically, it was curry with chicken</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, and the</small><strong> meat</strong><small> was incredibly tender and tasted so good.' "</small>

She carefully made sure to only say the word "meat" at a normal volume.

"Uu~... What are you talking about...!?"

" 'Something that has nothing to do with you Meat. <small>The store I went to didn't have just chicken</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, but also had pig</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, cow</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, and a bunch of other stuff that was so cheap I think we should all </small><strong> meet</strong><small> up there sometime. I'm sure you'll all love the</small><strong> meat</strong><small> they have th-' "</small>

"Gaaaahh! Shut up, stop saying meat!!!!"

Sena roared all of a sudden, and took my phone away.

"Hey!!"

Sena brought my phone to her mouth and then yelled at the top of her lungs,

<div style="font-size:250%">"Idiot! Jerk! Retard!!!"</div>

"Kh!?"

Yozora cringed and pulled the phone away from her ear.

Sena shoved my phone back into my hands, and told Yozora "Go die!" before running out of the clubroom.

"...God damn, stupid piece of meat..."

Yozora ended the call while holding one hand to her ear.

"You really know exactly what to do to piss Sena off, don't you..."

I have to admit, I was a little impressed by it.

<div style="font-size:250%"><center>☺</center></div>

On the bus and train ride home, and even after I got home, I kept opening my cell phone and looking at my contact list.

After Sena ran out, I exchanged addresses with Rika and Yukimura (I even learned how to use the infra-red rays).

Up until now I've only ever had home, Kobato's cell, and Dad's work phone in there, so my contact list easily doubled today.

Crap... I can't stop smirking...

That night, I went to sleep in a good mood,

but...

Ring ring ring...

The phone ringing woke me up.

The phone that was ringing wasn't my cell, but rather our home phone.

I checked the time using my cell I left near my bed, and saw that it was just past 2 in the morning.

"...Who the hell is calling at this time of day..."

I thought about ignoring it, but I figured it might've been one of dad's overseas contacts so I got out of bed to answer it.

I headed downstairs while rubbing my sleepy eyes and picked up the phone.

"...Hello, this is Hasegawa speaking."

It felt like I was being a little quieter than usual.

<div style="font-size:250%">"H-HEWOO!!"</div>

A voice that sounded like the person talking held the receiver right next to their mouth and yelled as loud as they possibly could rang through my ears.

I reflexively pulled the phone away from my ear and cringed.

W-what the hell...!?

As I thought that,

Ca-lick!

.....They hung up.

"...What the hell, a prank call...?"

Still pissed off at the annoying person who'd make a prank call in the middle of the night, I went back to bed. However, right as I was about to fall asleep again, the phone rang again.

I'm ignoring it.

I told myself that and closed my eyes, but the phone didn't stop ringing even after 20 seconds had passed.

Oh yeah, I never set the answering machine...

Annoyed, I got up again and went downstairs to pick up the phone.

"...Hello."

Even I could tell how pissed off I sounded.

"Eek!?"

I heard a shriek from the receiver.

Huh, where have I heard that voice before...

"...Hello?"

I asked again, and then heard someone gulp and say,

<div style="font-size:250%">"U-umm! T-this is Sena Kashiwazaki, i-i-i-i-is Kodaka, I mean, Mr. Kodaka available!?"</div>

She was obviously nervous, talking as fast as she could.

"...Eh, Sena?" I asked.

"H-huh? Is this Kodaka?"

"Yep."

I could hear Sena breathe a sigh of relief over the phone.

"You idiot! Geez, don't scare me like that you idiot! Your voice is scary idiot!"

Not holding back on the insults are we?

...This doesn't even make any sense.

"Do you have any idea what time it is right now...?"

"H-hey, more importantly, Kodaka!"

Sena rambled on, perfectly ignoring my complaints.

"What kind of cell did you get?"

"...What kind? It's just a normal one..."

I answered, unsure of what she was asking.

"That. Is. Not. What. I. Meant! It's gotta have the name of the company or a serial number on it somewhere!"

"Eh... The company is ∀Ｕ. I don't know what kind it is."

"Then find out."

"Huhh?"

"Just do it!"

"...Fine, wait."

I put down the receiver and went back up to my room and flipped on the lights.

I took my cell in my hands, and found something that looked like a model number.

"Uhh, it's a M61b, I guess."

"An M61b by ∀Ｕ?"

"Yeah." I could hear her writing something down.

"Ok, I got it. See you later."

Ca-lick!

Announcing the end of her business she quickly hung up.

Just what in the world...

<div style="font-size:250%"><center>☺</center></div>

The next day.

Just before noon I got an untitled message from Yozora that said nothing other than "2 o'clock." so I sent a mail to Yozora, Rika, and Yukimura my own mail titled "Today" that said "I'll be there around 2 o'clock too."

After I finished lunch, I left home so I'd get there around two.

While I was on the bus, I got a mail from Rika titled "Waiting Naked" which said "I'll be waiting for you naked, Kodaka-senpai♥ Ah, you just imagined Rika naked didn't you? Senpai you pervert♥"

"...Is she retarded?"

I gave her a quick reply of "retard".

I few minutes later yet another mail from Rika came.

The title was "Ass"... pushing the line with that one.

It read: "By the way, Yozora-senpai is totally naked too (*丿丿)kya~ As proof, I've attached an image of Yozora's cute little butt for you."

"Wha!?"

I let my voice slip in surprise, but after taking a good look at it I could see it was just a picture of her elbow.

...How old is she? 12?

Right after that, I got a mail from Yozora that said "That was Rika's arm just now." in the title field and nothing in the actual body. She must've been flustered when she wrote it. I also got another weird mail from Rika that came at nearly the same time as Yozora's with the title "Iyan♥" that said "Yozora-senpai hit Rika's butt with her fly swatter, Rika can't take it anymore s-stop itttt~~♥"

I sent Yozora a mail that said "I know." and ignored Rika.

I then got another mail, this time from Rika's laptop, with the title "The Truth" that read "Eh? Yozora-senpai, why are you taking Rika's panties off? Ahn~ I can't stand it, this is too embarrassing! Ahh, Don't lick me down thereee! I can't stop twitching each time I feel it! Yozora-senpai then whispered into the moaning Rika's ear, 'Here? Do you want it here? You dirty little girl.' She then gently blew on Rika's ears which caused Rika to lose all the strength in her body and (etc.)" I was reading her stupid mail, but the bus reached the school so I got off without finishing it.

Today was as hot as ever.

I entered the clubroom, where Yozora and Rika (who were obviously not naked) and Yukimura were waiting.

Yozora looked exhausted as she lay on the sofa.

Yozora pointed at Rika, and turned only her face to me as she said,

"Watch out Kodaka... she's, a freak..."

She barely managed to get even that out.

"Yeah, well... I already know that." I said.

As for the freak in question, she was currently typing away on her laptop.

It looked like she was writing a novel.

"Ah, Kodaka-senpai! Rika just recently discovered that yuri might not be all that bad! Rika thinks she might be ok with anything as long as it's erotic!"

"You're sure full of energy..."

I sat on the sofa, pitying Rika who seemed like she was about to launch herself into space.

"I have prepared tea."

Yukimura handed me a glass of barley tea.

"Thanks!"

I thanked Yukimura and happily took the drink from him.

Glug glug... I gulped the whole thing down at once.

...It wasn't hot or cold, just lukewarm tea.

"Would you like another?"

"Eh? Yeah, sure."

I took another glass of tea from Yukimura.

...It was warmer than before, but I still gulped it down pretty quickly.

"Here you are, Aniki."

"Thanks. Ah! That's hot..."

The third cup of tea was very hot, and not something I could just gulp down.

I looked at Yukimura, who was looking at me as though expecting something.

He was probably trying to imitate how Mitsunari Ishida gave Hideyoshi Toyotomi a cup of warm tea, then a slightly hot cup, and then a relaxing hot cup of tea to drink.

"...Umm... Mitsunari was a pretty thoughtful guy."

"It is an honor to receive your praise, Aniki."

I praised Yukimura, and he smiled bashfully.

"...But I still think cold barley tea is best. I won't let that one go."

"Is that so..."

Yukimura got a little depressed.

While relaxing and slowly drinking the hot tea from Yukimura, the door to the clubroom flew open all of a sudden.

"Heh heh, so you're all here, lowly commoners! Your goddess has come to you!"

It was Sena who opened the door.

"Ahh, hey." I said while sipping my tea.

Yukimura was stone faced, as usual.

Even Yozora, who'd usually make fun of her, only gave her a little glance as if to say she couldn't care less.

"You're letting the cold air out, can you close the door now?"

Rika coolly said, while still typing on her keyboard and not even looking over at Sena, to which Sena replied "Ah, sorry..." and quietly closed the door.

"I'm gonna get some sleep."

Yozora crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

"Uuu... W-why are you all so lifeless!?"

Sena ground her teeth, annoyed, and then said,

"I wonder, will you be able to stay like that after you see this!? Here, look at it Yozora!"

Sena quickly walked over to Yozora and held out a cell phone as though it were Mito Koumon's seal case.

"Heh, what do you think now? I asked Papa yesterday and he bought it for me!"

Sena said with the face of a delighted child.

"Hmph..."

Yozora opened her eyes a little, and then closed them again, uninterested.

"Huh, isn't that the same as mine?"

Sena's model matched the one I had. It was even the same gold color as mine.

"O-ohh... it is? W-what a coincidence!"

Sena's face turned a little red.

"Uh, no, not really..."

You called me in the middle of the damn night and asked me about it... before I could say that,

"...the same as Kodaka's?"

Yozora angrily said, and glared at Sena's cell phone.

"Hehe." Sena chuckled as though she'd just won some battle.

"Anyway, come on let's exchange addresses! Come on, hurry!"

"Eh? Ok..."

I took out my cell phone.

Yozora groaned as she looked at and compared our phones.

I got ready to use the infra-red rays I learned about yesterday.

"By the way, do you know how to do it this way?"

"Of course!" Sena said triumphantly and pointed her cell at me.

We quickly exchange addresses.

Sena had a big grin spread across her face as she stared at her phone's LCD.

"Haha... Here Yozora, I'll even do it with you."

"I have no need for your address."

Sena got caught off guard by Yozora's refusal.

"Hey! I went and bought one so just tell me your address!"

"...Do you want my address that much?"

"I-it's not like I want it or anything! I don't want to know it at all, but I figured I'd let you exchange with me since we're in the same club! You should be grateful!"

"I see, thank you. I'll make do with your feelings alone."

"I can't call you using my feelings alone!"

Yozora looked at Sena with her eyes full of disgust.

"...Hmph, making such a greedy face... look at this bitch. If you want it so badly then prove it to me."

"Prove it...? Ah, I'm not going to lick your feet, got it~? Uuu~ Fine, forget it, stupid Yozora!"

Sena ran out of the room with a few tears in her eyes.

"...She gives up so quick..."

Whispered Yozora, who looked just a little bit sad.

After Sena left, Yozora and I began reading like we always do.

About 15 minutes later, I got a message on my phone.

...it was from Sena.

"I'm gonna send that idiot Yozora a bunch of spam mail so tell me her address (^_^)"

"...So this is the first mail you send me...?"

And on top of that, Yozora, who was sitting next to me, peeked at it.

"...That stupid Meat..."

A smile found its way to Yozora's face for some reason.

"...Kodaka, let me see Meat's address. I might as well just tell her what mine is personally..."

...It was roughly 30 minutes later when Sena came running back into the clubroom, half in tears, to talk to us about a bunch of mails from an unknown address she kept getting that simply said either "Death" or "Curse".

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 History|History]]
| Return to [[Boku_wa_tomodachi_ga_sukunai|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 Sealing Technique, Release!|Sealing Technique, Release!]]
|-
|}

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 The Silent Phone

2011-09-18T20:40:24Z

Ziharker77: /* The Silent Phone */

===The Silent Phone===

The third day of summer break.

"Hey, you guys. Why didn't any of you come yesterday?"

I, who had just arrived in the clubroom around 3 o'clock, asked my fellow club members.

By the way, today both Yozora and Sena got here earlier than me.

"Kodaka-senpai, were you lonely because you weren't able to meet Rika?"

Said the girl wearing a white robe over her school uniform with little smile on her face for some reason.

Rika Shiguma, Freshman.

She's apparently a genius, though you'd never guess it by how crazy she is about ero doujinshi... especially how she acts like an insane person when it comes to mecha x mecha stuff.

She's one of the members of the Neighbors Club.

Yukimura was also in the room.

Kobato was being a hikkikomori as usual, and Maria wasn't here.

"I wasn't really lonely or anything, just wondering..."

"Hmph, I had things to do yesterday."

Said Yozora unconcernedly.

"Stuff to do huh... Guess there's no helping that..."

Next was Sena (whose eyes were bloodshot for some reason) who said something.

"I was really busy yesterday too."

"Busy?"

"I figured I'd reach the ending soon and then go to the clubroom, but it ended up taking four more hours than I thought it would. It was a really moving ending though, so it evens out. That scene where Mikan scores a goal was just so..."

Her eyes started to water up, and she sniffled her nose as bit.

I'm not really sure, but I guess she got so involved in her game she didn't come here.

"I'll lend it to you sometime, so you better play it Kodaka. You'll be wasting your life if you don't."

"...Sure, if I feel like it."

Now that I think about it, I got the Masaru (the protagonist's guy friend) end in that "Tokimemo" game she lent me (made me take home) and never played it again.

"Also, the theme song is super good. We should make it our national anthem! When you start the game again after finishing once you can totally feel how it connects to the last scene, and-"

"B-by the way!"

I quickly tried to change the subject, since if I don't stop her now who knows how long I'll have to put up with her going on and on about her galge.

"What."

Sena made an annoyed look on her face.

"Hn?"

Yozora looked over here too (as she put on a face that looked like she thought Sena's ramblings were annoying as all hell, and quietly reached out for her fly swatter).

Rika and Yukimura both looked over at me too.

"To make sure nobody ends up coming here and killing time when nobody else is going to show up, I think we should come up with a way for us to know when everyone else is coming."

"...Hmph. You may be right."

Yozora gave her approval of what I suggested.

"Not a bad idea considering it's you, Kodaka." said Sena.

"So, what specifically should we do?"

"Eh? Hmm, I'm not sure..."

I didn't really think it out farther than that.

"What about using a BBS on the web? We can get one for free, right?"

I threw out the first thing that came to mind.

"Rejected." "No way."

Yozora and Sena said at the same time.

"You hardly even thought about it!! Why can't we use one!?"

Yozora and Sena both made faces that showed a deep disgust from the bottom of their hearts.

"...It's my personal rule to not use the internet for anything other than researching things and shopping."

"It is?"

That was kind of unexpected, but at the same time maybe it wasn't.

"That's how I do it now...... I'll never do that again."

Yozora said, with a sad little look on her face.

"...I won't bother asking what exactly it was that you did."

"...Thank you."

Yozora gave me an honest thanks.

She must really regret whatever it is that she did.

"I've had bad experiences with them before too."

Sena said.

"...Ahh... Just remembering it pisses me off! Those guys... that damn 'Yasuo' and 'Parko' and 'rikiya' and 'Mai-tan(*´Д`*)HaaHaa'...! I hate that damn moderator who banned me from that one fansite because he thought I was a troll too! Those assholes can all go die!"

"...Did you get into a fight with them on some BBS or something?"

"I had to, those damn morons called my lovely Natsumi and dumbass muscle-brain! Like hell I'd let them get away with that! You know, Natsumi might seem like that, but she's actually really delicate!"

Sena was getting louder and louder.

I don't have a clue when you mean if all you tell me is "she might seem like that".

The one thing I can say for sure is that it's some character from a galge.

"Well, people are going to have their own likes and dislikes. Not much you can do about it..."

"Haa? That's fine if you to keep it to yourself, but if you're gonna make fun of Natsumi in front of a fan of hers like me, that's the same as a declaration of war! If someone does that, then all I can do is get them to shut up and admit how stupid they were, or die trying!"

It's not like I don't get where she's coming from, but she gets angry way too easily.

"...My battle still isn't over with those damn morons... If I ever meet them in real life I'll kick the crap out of them!"

"A-anyway, BBS's are a no go, right!?"

I interrupted Sena who was quickly reaching critical levels.

"Then how about that thing... nixi. We can send messages to each other without any worries that way, right?"

nixi is a social networking service, and you can use it to write stuff that other people can read and comment on... At least, that's what I think it's like anyway.

Since you can keep the things you write limited to certain people, it'd be a good choice for us all to use to communicate with each other... I think.

"Eh, Kodaka you're on nixi? Then give me an invite." said Sena.

nixi runs on an invite-only system, and thus you can only join if an existing member invites you.

"No, I'm not, but..."

"Hmph, like hell I'd ever join that site."

Yozora looked me in the eyes and gave a reply that was full of pride for some reason.

"Rika isn't on that site either~"

"Neither am I."

Rika and Yukimura both said.

That makes sense, nixi is based on the assumption you have friends to invite you after all...

"So we can't even join nixi..."

A heavy atmosphere filled the room.

"But, you know, nixi isn't the only SNS out there! We just have to pick one that doesn't need an invite!"

I said, but then Rika stopped me.

"Hold on Senpai. If Rika asks her acquaintances in the game industry, I think we can get an invite to nixi."

"Really? Then let's do that..."

"That's fine with me, but..."

Rika said, with her head tilted in confusion

"But why can't we just use our cells to talk to each other rather going out of our way to use something else?"

Yozora, Sena and I all stood shocked.

"Cells... Are you talking about cell phones?"

I asked, still stunned.

"Huh? Well, yeah."

The wild idea that a cell phone could be used for anything other than calling home hadn't come within a mile of my thought process.

"...I see, cell phones... Rika... You really are a genius... That's an amazing idea."

"Yeah... I never even considered doing that... So cell phones aren't just for looking up karaoke shops... Rika Shiguma... it would seem I have no choice but to recognize your genius..."

[[Image:Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai_Vol3_Ch04_Img01.jpg|thumb]]

"...It's nice to hear you all think my idea is so good."

Yozora and I showered Rika with praise, calling her a genius and stuff, but Rika looked like she was a little creeped out by it.

"Anyway, why don't we exchange addresses for now?"

Rika took out a cell phone from her lab coat's pocket.

I followed her lead and opened my bag, taking out the cell phone buried within its depths.

I bought it when I got into high school. It's a folding type that doesn't have any particularly amazing functions to it.

By the way, both Kobato and I have had cell phones since we were in grade school, and I'm currently on my 3rd one (I bought my 2nd in middle school).

I gave a quick look at my call log, and every call and text I got was from "Home" and every one that I sent was to "Little Sister".

"Here, I took mine out too."

Yozora hesitantly showed her phone to me.

There wasn't a single ornament or strap on it; it was just your run of the mill black cell phone.

By the way, it seemed like Yozora's phone was at the bottom of her bag too, so it took her a while to take it out.

"Ok, send your infra-red rays this way please."

Rika said, and stated casually hitting buttons on her phone.

"Eh- I-infra-red rays???"

Yozora confusedly stared at her phone's LCD, as did I.

What's she talking about?

Is she really trying to say these little phones can shoot out infra-red rays?

"...I do feel like I've heard people talk about how more recent phones are able to exchange data via infra-red rays... So that was all true... Hrmm... W-which is it?"

Said Yozora as she furled her brow while hitting buttons on her phone.

"You're kidding me... When did phones get that advanced..."

Rika looked at me and my astonishment as though I were some kind of Neanderthal.

"Here you are."

The one who said that and turned their phone towards Rika was... Yukimura.

"Yukimura...!?"

"Ah, thanks Yukimura."

Rika and Yukimura pointed their phones at each other for about 2 seconds and pulled them back soon after.

"Yes! Yukimura address get!"

"I have confirmed yours as well."

Said Rika and Yukimura.

An utterly shocked expression rose on Yozora's face.

"I-it can't be, you're done already...? That quickly...?"

"Oh man... Kids these days are something else... I can barely keep up..."

"Ahh... So this is the virtual generation of this digital world we live in... I hear everything is like a game to them..."

"...This must be what people mean by children who don't know the meaning of hard work..."

"That's quite a lot to say considering you're only a year older than us, Senpai..."

Rika made a pitiful face at the three of us shaking in awe...

"People like Aniki who only rely on their own strength don't pay heed to things such as cell phones, do they?" Yukimura said.

...Actually, high-tech girl Rika aside, the fact that even Yukimura can easily use infra-red rays was simply shocking.

I figured he was the type to be bad with technology.

Though, now that I think about it, he didn't seem to be confused at all when we were all playing that "Romancing Saga" game...

"Arghh.... I don't get it! Besides, it's weird for people to know how to use this machine when they don't have any friends! Kodaka! I'll just have to do it normally so tell me your address."

Yozora finally gave up on the infra-red rays.

"Ok. I'm pretty sure that'll be faster for me too."

Uhh, my address is............ about 30 seconds later, I managed to pull up my phone number and e-mail address on my phone's screen.

"Here." I said as I showed it to Yozora.

"Hm.........Ah, went too far. Mu..."

Yozora clumsily fished her way around her phone's buttons, trying to enter my address.

"...Hrmm... This is a pretty complex address you've got here..."

"Yeah, it's because I never changed it since I bought my first phone..."

"......Hm... where are the special characters..."

..................

............

After a full two minutes, Yozora finished entering my e-mail address and phone number.

"Phew..."

Yozora wiped her forehead, and let out a sigh as though she'd just completed some insanely difficult task.

"O-ok... I'll send you something now Kodaka. An e-mail. An e-mail using my cell phone."

"O-ok...!"

Yozora nervously pushed a few buttons, and then hit send.

About a second later, the words "Receiving Mail" popped up on my screen.

Then, 2 seconds later it went "Ding di~ng" as the default ringtone played.

"I got it!"

"You got it!?"

Yelled Yozora in a happy voice.

The e-mail was titled "E-Mail" and "E-Mail" was written in the message itself as well.

Uhh, I guess this is Yozora's e-mail address.

eternalfriendship2@codomo.ne.jo

I went and added "Yozora Mikadzuki" to my contacts list.

"Ohhh... My first address from someone other than my family...!"

This is almost like, some kind of momentous occasion or something!

Yozora made a surprised face after hearing what I just said.

"I am? What about the addresses of the people from the schools you were at before...?"

"...I never put them in. At the farewell party there were some guys who said "Gimme your address later," but I never did end up exchanging addresses with any of them..."

"........."

Yozora had a look of sympathy in her eyes, and then murmured,

"Oh, I see... so I'm your first non-family address..."

A tender smile rose to her face for a single moment.

And then she said, triumphantly for some reason,

"By the way, I've never even added my own family's addresses before. You're the very first ever, Kodaka."

...I don't know what you want me to say to that, Yozora.

"Muu~. I wouldn't have minded teaching you how to use the infra-red rays, but when Rika sees you two having so much fun it feels like we're the ones who lost here..."

Rika said with an unsatisfied look on her face. Then, all of a sudden,

"Hmph, it's just a stupid cell phone."

Said Sena, who had been unusually quiet up until now, as though she were spitting the words out.

"...? What are you mad about?"

"I'm not mad!"

Said Sena, who seemed to be in a bad mood.

"If you say so... Anyway, come on, give me your address too."

I said, which only made Sena look even more angry.

"...ave a..."

She mumbled with her lips pursed.

"Eh?"

"I don't have a cell phone!"

Sena yelled at the top of her lungs, which startled Rika and Yukimura.

"O-oh, you don't have one..."

Sena glared at me and said,

"Just so you know, I'm not jealous of you or anything!! It's not like not having one is a problem for me, and even if I did have one it wouldn't do me any good! Cell phones are what those annoying retard girls in my class use! A noble like me doesn't have any use for one!"

"...Uh-huh... O-ok. Yeah, there's plenty people who say they don't need a cell phone, right?"

"Exactly! Forget a cell phone, I don't even need a normal phone. No matter where they are or what they're doing, lowly commoners should be able to gratefully accept the angelic voice of a goddess like me!"

"Uh, that's a little bit..."

as I started talking,

Ring ring ring... all of a sudden the phone in my hand started ringing.

"Eh!?"

I fumbled the phone around and saw a number I didn't know on the screen.

I figured I might as well answer it.

"...Hello?"

" 'It's me.' "

I heard a voice from the phone and from behind me.

I turned around and saw that the one who called my phone was Yozora.

" 'Enter my phone number into your contacts.' "

"Ah, yeah ok."

Talking on the phone with somebody right in front of you is so weird.

Yozora kept on talking to me over the phone like that for some reason.

" 'Since we just got it all set up, let's talk over the phone for a while.' "

"Eh... Sure, I guess."

" 'Good. Then let's talk about dinner last night. What did you eat, Kodaka?' "

"Uhh, what <em>did</em> I eat..."

As I was thinking I happened to look over at Sena again, who looked even more pissed off than she was before to the point I could almost see her veins popping out.

"Y-you two! Who gives a damn about what you ate yesterday!? Why do you have to go out of your way to talk about that over the phone now!?"

" 'Shut it, Meat. Can you not even shut yourself up while people are trying to talk on the phone?' "

Said Yozora, waving her hand at Sena telling her to go away.

"Khhhhh!"

" 'Still, these cell phones are quite handy. We can even talk when we're not together.' "

"Then use them when you're not together!!"

Yozora completely ignored Sena and continued,

" 'We can let everyone know when we're coming to club with them. Also, let's talk about all of our plans via e-mail from now on.' "

"S-sure..."

"Ghhhhh..."

Sena was about to burst into tears.

Yozora still kept on talking too, although this time it was with a much quieter voice that you could barely hear.

<small>" 'By the way, about my dinner last night, I had</small><strong> meat.</strong><small> Specifically, it was curry with chicken</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, and the</small><strong> meat</strong><small> was incredibly tender and tasted so good.' "</small>

She carefully made sure to only say the word "meat" at a normal volume.

"Uu~... What are you talking about...!?"

" 'Something that has nothing to do with you Meat. <small>The store I went to didn't have just chicken</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, but also had pig</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, cow</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, and a bunch of other stuff that was so cheap I think we should all </small><strong> meet</strong><small> up there sometime. I'm sure you'll all love the</small><strong> meat</strong><small> they have th-' "</small>

"Gaaaahh! Shut up, stop saying meat!!!!"

Sena roared all of a sudden, and took my phone away.

"Hey!!"

Sena brought my phone to her mouth and then yelled at the top of her lungs,

<div style="font-size:250%">"Idiot! Jerk! Retard!!!"</div>

"Kh!?"

Yozora cringed and pulled the phone away from her ear.

Sena shoved my phone back into my hands, and told Yozora "Go die!" before running out of the clubroom.

"...God damn, stupid piece of meat..."

Yozora ended the call while holding one hand to her ear.

"You really know exactly what to do to piss Sena off, don't you..."

I have to admit, I was a little impressed by it.

<div style="font-size:250%"><center>☺</center></div>

On the bus and train ride home, and even after I got home, I kept opening my cell phone and looking at my contact list.

After Sena ran out, I exchanged addresses with Rika and Yukimura (I even learned how to use the infra-red rays).

Up until now I've only ever had home, Kobato's cell and Dad's work phone in there, so my contact list easily doubled today.

Crap... I can't stop smirking...

That night, I went to sleep in a good mood,

but...

Ring ring ring...

The phone ringing woke me up.

The phone that was ringing wasn't my cell, but rather our home phone.

I checked the time using my cell I left near my bed, and saw that it was just past 2 in the morning.

"...Who the hell is calling at this time of day..."

I thought about ignoring it, but I figured it might've been one of dad's overseas contacts so I got out of bed to answer it.

I headed downstairs while rubbing my sleepy eyes and picked up the phone.

"...Hello, this is Hasegawa speaking."

It felt like I was being a little quieter than usual.

<div style="font-size:250%">"H-HEWOO!!"</div>

A voice that sounded like the person talking held the receiver right next to their mouth and yelled as loud as they possibly could rang through my ears.

I reflexively pulled the phone away from my ear and cringed.

W-what the hell...!?

As I thought that,

Ca-lick!

.....They hung up.

"...What the hell, a prank call...?"

Still pissed off at the annoying person who'd make a prank call in the middle of the night, I went back to bed. However, right as I was about to fall asleep again, the phone rang again.

I'm ignoring it.

I told myself that and closed my eyes, but the phone didn't stop ringing even after 20 seconds had passed.

Oh yeah, I never set the answering machine...

Annoyed, I got up again and went downstairs to pick up the phone.

"...Hello."

Even I could tell how pissed off I sounded.

"Eek!?"

I heard a shriek from the receiver.

Huh, where have I heard that voice before...

"...Hello?"

I asked again, and then heard someone gulp and say,

<div style="font-size:250%">"U-umm! T-this is Sena Kashiwazaki, i-i-i-i-is Kodaka, I mean, Mr. Kodaka available!?"</div>

She was obviously nervous, talking as fast as she could.

"...Eh, Sena?" I asked.

"H-huh? Is this Kodaka?"

"Yep."

I could hear Sena breathe a sigh of relief over the phone.

"You idiot! Geez, don't scare me like that you idiot! Your voice is scary idiot!"

Not holding back on the insults are we?

...This doesn't even make any sense.

"Do you have any idea what time it is right now...?"

"H-hey, more importantly, Kodaka!"

Sena rambled on, perfectly ignoring my complaints.

"What kind of cell did you get?"

"...What kind? It's just a normal one..."

I answered, unsure of what she was asking.

"That. Is. Not. What. I. Meant! It's gotta have the name of the company or a serial number on it somewhere!"

"Eh... The company is ∀Ｕ. I don't know what kind it is."

"Then find out."

"Huhh?"

"Just do it!"

"...Fine, wait."

I put down the receiver and went back up to my room and flipped on the lights.

I took my cell in my hands, and found something that looked like a model number.

"Uhh, it's a M61b, I guess."

"An M61b by ∀Ｕ?"

"Yeah." I could hear her writing something down.

"Ok, I got it. See you later."

Ca-lick!

Announcing the end of her business she quickly hung up.

Just what in the world...

<div style="font-size:250%"><center>☺</center></div>

The next day.

Just before noon I got an untitled message from Yozora that said nothing other than "2 o'clock." so I sent a mail to Yozora, Rika, and Yukimura my own mail titled "Today" that said "I'll be there around 2 o'clock too."

After I finished lunch, I left home so I'd get there around two.

While I was on the bus, I got a mail from Rika titled "Waiting Naked" which said "I'll be waiting for you naked, Kodaka-senpai♥ Ah, you just imagined Rika naked didn't you? Senpai you pervert♥"

"...Is she retarded?"

I gave her a quick reply of "retard".

I few minutes later yet another mail from Rika came.

The title was "Ass"... pushing the line with that one.

It read: "By the way, Yozora-senpai is totally naked too (*丿丿)kya~ As proof, I've attached an image of Yozora's cute little butt for you."

"Wha!?"

I let my voice slip in surprise, but after taking a good look at it I could see it was just a picture of her elbow.

...How old is she? 12?

Right after that, I got a mail from Yozora that said "That was Rika's arm just now." in the title field and nothing in the actual body. She must've been flustered when she wrote it. I also got another weird mail from Rika that came at nearly the same time as Yozora's with the title "Iyan♥" that said "Yozora-senpai hit Rika's butt with her fly swatter, Rika can't take it anymore s-stop itttt~~♥"

I sent Yozora a mail that said "I know." and ignored Rika.

I then got another mail, this time from Rika's laptop, with the title "The Truth" that read "Eh? Yozora-senpai, why are you taking Rika's panties off? Ahn~ I can't stand it, this is too embarrassing! Ahh, Don't lick me down thereee! I can't stop twitching each time I feel it! Yozora-senpai then whispered into the moaning Rika's ear, 'Here? Do you want it here? You dirty little girl.' She then gently blew on Rika's ears which caused Rika to lose all the strength in her body and (etc.)" I was reading her stupid mail, but the bus reached the school so I got off without finishing it.

Today was as hot as ever.

I entered the clubroom, where Yozora and Rika (who were obviously not naked) and Yukimura were waiting.

Yozora looked exhausted as she lay on the sofa.

Yozora pointed at Rika, and turned only her face to me as she said,

"Watch out Kodaka... she's, a freak..."

She barely managed to get even that out.

"Yeah, well... I already know that." I said.

As for the freak in question, she was currently typing away on her laptop.

It looked like she was writing a novel.

"Ah, Kodaka-senpai! Rika just recently discovered that yuri might not be all that bad! Rika thinks she might be ok with anything as long as it's erotic!"

"You're sure full of energy..."

I sat on the sofa, pitying Rika who seemed like she was about to launch herself into space.

"I have prepared tea."

Yukimura handed me a glass of barley tea.

"Thanks!"

I thanked Yukimura and happily took the drink from him.

Glug glug... I gulped the whole thing down at once.

...It wasn't hot or cold, just lukewarm tea.

"Would you like another?"

"Eh? Yeah, sure."

I took another glass of tea from Yukimura.

...It was warmer than before, but I still gulped it down pretty quickly.

"Here you are, Aniki."

"Thanks. Ah! That's hot..."

The third cup of tea was very hot, and not something I could just gulp down.

I looked at Yukimura, who was looking at me as though expecting something.

He was probably trying to imitate how Mitsunari Ishida gave Hideyoshi Toyotomi a cup of warm tea, then a slightly hot cup, and then a relaxing hot cup of tea to drink.

"...Umm... Mitsunari was a pretty thoughtful guy."

"It is an honor to receive your praise, Aniki."

I praised Yukimura, and he smiled bashfully.

"...But I still think cold barley tea is best. I won't let that one go."

"Is that so..."

Yukimura got a little depressed.

While relaxing and slowly drinking the hot tea from Yukimura, the door to the clubroom flew open all of a sudden.

"Heh heh, so you're all here, lowly commoners! Your goddess has come to you!"

It was Sena who opened the door.

"Ahh, hey." I said while sipping my tea.

Yukimura was stone faced, as usual.

Even Yozora, who'd usually make fun of her, only gave her a little glance as if to say she couldn't care less.

"You're letting the cold air out, can you close the door now?"

Rika coolly said, while still typing on her keyboard and not even looking over at Sena, to which Sena replied "Ah, sorry..." and quietly closed the door.

"I'm gonna get some sleep."

Yozora crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

"Uuu... W-why are you all so lifeless!?"

Sena ground her teeth, annoyed, and then said,

"I wonder, will you be able to stay like that after you see this!? Here, look at it Yozora!"

Sena quickly walked over to Yozora and held out a cell phone as though it were Mito Koumon's seal case.

"Heh, what do you think now? I asked Papa yesterday and he bought it for me!"

Sena said with the face of a delighted child.

"Hmph..."

Yozora opened her eyes a little, and then closed them again, uninterested.

"Huh, isn't that the same as mine?"

Sena's model matched the one I had. It was even the same gold color as mine.

"O-ohh... it is? W-what a coincidence!"

Sena's face turned a little red.

"Uh, no, not really..."

You called me in the middle of the damn night and asked me about it... before I could say that,

"...the same as Kodaka's?"

Yozora angrily said, and glared at Sena's cell phone.

"Hehe." Sena chuckled as though she'd just won some battle.

"Anyway, come on let's exchange addresses! Come on, hurry!"

"Eh? Ok..."

I took out my cell phone.

Yozora groaned as she looked at and compared our phones.

I got ready to use the infra-red rays I learned about yesterday.

"By the way, do you know how to do it this way?"

"Of course!" Sena said triumphantly and pointed her cell at me.

We quickly exchange addresses.

Sena had a big grin spread across her face as she stared at her phone's LCD.

"Haha... Here Yozora, I'll even do it with you."

"I have no need for your address."

Sena got caught off guard by Yozora's refusal.

"Hey! I went and bought one so just tell me your address!"

"...Do you want my address that much?"

"I-it's not like I want it or anything! I don't want to know it at all, but I figured I'd let you exchange with me since we're in the same club! You should be grateful!"

"I see, thank you. I'll make do with your feelings alone."

"I can't call you using my feelings alone!"

Yozora looked at Sena with her eyes full of disgust.

"...Hmph, making such a greedy face... look at this bitch. If you want it so badly then prove it to me."

"Prove it...? Ah, I'm not going to lick your feet, got it~? Uuu~ Fine, forget it, stupid Yozora!"

Sena ran out of the room with a few tears in her eyes.

"...She gives up so quick..."

Whispered Yozora, who looked just a little bit sad.

After Sena left, Yozora and I began reading like we always do.

About 15 minutes later, I got a message on my phone.

...it was from Sena.

"I'm gonna send that idiot Yozora a bunch of spam mail so tell me her address (^_^)"

"...So this is the first mail you send me...?"

And on top of that, Yozora, who was sitting next to me, peeked at it.

"...That stupid Meat..."

A smile found its way to Yozora's face for some reason.

"...Kodaka, let me see Meat's address. I might as well just tell her what mine is personally..."

...It was roughly 30 minutes later when Sena came running back into the clubroom, half in tears, to talk to us about a bunch of mails from an unknown address she kept getting that simply said either "Death" or "Curse".

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 History|History]]
| Return to [[Boku_wa_tomodachi_ga_sukunai|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 Sealing Technique, Release!|Sealing Technique, Release!]]
|-
|}

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 The Silent Phone

2011-09-18T20:22:25Z

Ziharker77: /* The Silent Phone */

===The Silent Phone===

The third day of summer break.

"Hey, you guys. Why didn't any of you come yesterday?"

I, who had just arrived in the clubroom around 3 o'clock, asked my fellow club members.

By the way, today both Yozora and Sena got here earlier than me.

"Kodaka-senpai, were you lonely because you weren't able to meet Rika?"

Said the girl wearing a white robe over her school uniform with little smile on her face for some reason.

Rika Shiguma, Freshman.

She's apparently a genius, though you'd never guess it by how crazy she is about ero doujinshi... especially how she acts like an insane person when it comes to mecha x mecha stuff.

She's one of the members of the Neighbors Club.

Yukimura was also in the room.

Kobato was being a hikkikomori as usual, and Maria wasn't here.

"I wasn't really lonely or anything, just wondering..."

"Hmph, I had things to do yesterday."

Said Yozora unconcernedly.

"Stuff to do huh... Guess there's no helping that..."

Next was Sena (whose eyes were bloodshot for some reason) who said something.

"I was really busy yesterday too."

"Busy?"

"I figured I'd reach the ending soon and then go to the clubroom, but it ended up taking four more hours than I thought it would. It was a really moving ending though, so it evens out. That scene where Mikan scores a goal was just so..."

Her eyes started to water up, and she sniffled her nose as bit.

I'm not really sure, but I guess she got so involved in her game she didn't come here.

"I'll lend it to you sometime, so you better play it Kodaka. You'll be wasting your life if you don't."

"...Sure, if I feel like it."

Now that I think about it, I got the Masaru (the protagonist's guy friend) end in that "Tokimemo" game she lent me (made me take home) and never played it again.

"Also, the theme song is super good. We should make it our national anthem! When you start the game again after finishing once you can totally feel how it connects to the last scene, and-"

"B-by the way!"

I quickly tried to change the subject, since if I don't stop her now who knows how long I'll have to put up with her going on and on about her galge.

"What."

Sena made an annoyed look on her face.

"Hn?"

Yozora looked over here too (as she put on a face that looked like she thought Sena's ramblings were annoying as all hell, and quietly reached out for her fly swatter).

Rika and Yukimura both looked over at me too.

"To make sure nobody ends up coming here and killing time when nobody else is going to show up, I think we should come up with a way for us to know when everyone else is coming."

"...Hmph. You may be right."

Yozora gave her approval of what I suggested.

"Not a bad idea considering it's you, Kodaka." said Sena.

"So, what specifically should we do?"

"Eh? Hmm, I'm not sure..."

I didn't really think it out farther than that.

"What about using a BBS on the web? We can get one for free, right?"

I threw out the first thing that came to mind.

"Rejected." "No way."

Yozora and Sena said at the same time.

"You hardly even thought about it!! Why can't we use one!?"

Yozora and Sena both made faces that showed a deep disgust from the bottom of their hearts.

"...It's my personal rule to not use the internet for anything other than researching things and shopping."

"It is?"

That was kind of unexpected, but at the same time maybe it wasn't.

"That's how I do it now...... I'll never do that again."

Yozora said, with a sad little look on her face.

"...I won't bother asking what exactly it was that you did."

"...Thank you."

Yozora gave me an honest thanks.

She must really regret whatever it is that she did.

"I've had bad experiences with them before too."

Sena said.

"...Ahh... Just remembering it pisses me off! Those guys... that damn 'Yasuo' and 'Parko' and 'rikiya' and 'Mai-tan(*´Д`*)HaaHaa'...! I hate that damn moderator who banned me from that one fansite because he thought I was a troll too! Those assholes can all go die!"

"...Did you get into a fight with them on some BBS or something?"

"I had to, those damn morons called my lovely Natsumi and dumbass muscle-brain! Like hell I'd let them get away with that! You know, Natsumi might seem like that, but she's actually really delicate!"

Sena was getting louder and louder.

I don't have a clue when you mean if all you tell me is "she might seem like that".

The one thing I can say for sure is that it's some character from a galge.

"Well, people are going to have their own likes and dislikes. Not much you can do about it..."

"Haa? That's fine if you to keep it to yourself, but if you're gonna make fun of Natsumi in front of a fan of hers like me, that's the same as a declaration of war! If someone does that, then all I can do is get them to shut up and admit how stupid they were, or die trying!"

It's not like I don't get where she's coming from, but she gets angry way too easily.

"...My battle still isn't over with those damn morons... If I ever meet them in real life I'll kick the crap out of them!"

"A-anyway, BBS's are a no go, right!?"

I interrupted Sena who was quickly reaching critical levels.

"Then how about that thing... nixi. We can send messages to each other without any worries that way, right?"

nixi is a social networking service, and you can use it to write stuff that other people can read and comment on... At least, that's what I think it's like anyway.

Since you can keep the things you write limited to certain people, it'd be a good choice for us all to use to communicate with each other... I think.

"Eh, Kodaka you're on nixi? Then give me an invite." said Sena.

nixi runs on an invite-only system, and thus you can only join if an existing member invites you.

"No, I'm not, but..."

"Hmph, like hell I'd ever join that site."

Yozora looked me in the eyes and gave a reply that was full of pride for some reason.

"Rika isn't on that site either~"

"Neither am I."

Rika and Yukimura both said.

That makes sense, nixi is based on the assumption you have friends to invite you after all...

"So we can't even join nixi..."

A heavy atmosphere filled the room.

"But, you know, nixi isn't the only SNS out there! We just have to pick one that doesn't need an invite!"

I said, but then Rika stopped me.

"Hold on Senpai. If Rika asks her acquaintances in the game industry, I think we can get an invite to nixi."

"Really? Then let's do that..."

"That's fine with me, but..."

Rika said, with her head tilted in confusion

"But why can't we just use our cells to talk to each other rather going out of our way to use something else?"

Yozora, Sena and I all stood shocked.

"Cells... Are you talking about cell phones?"

I asked, still stunned.

"Huh? Well, yeah."

The wild idea that a cell phone could be used for anything other than calling home hadn't come within a mile of my thought process.

"...I see, cell phones... Rika... You really are a genius... That's an amazing idea."

"Yeah... I never even considered doing that... So cell phones aren't just for looking up karaoke shops... Rika Shiguma... it would seem I have no choice but to recognize your genius..."

[[Image:Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai_Vol3_Ch04_Img01.jpg|thumb]]

"...It's nice to hear you all think my idea is so good."

Yozora and I showered Rika with praise, calling her a genius and stuff, but Rika looked like she was a little creeped out by it.

"Anyway, why don't we exchange addresses for now?"

Rika took out a cell phone from her lab coat's pocket.

I followed her lead and opened my bag, taking out the cell phone buried within its depths.

I bought it when I got into high school. It's a folding type that doesn't have any particularly amazing functions to it.

By the way, both Kobato and I have had cell phones since we were in grade school, and I'm currently on my 3rd one (I bought my 2nd in middle school).

I gave a quick look at my call log, and every call and text I got was from "Home" and every one that I sent was to "Little Sister".

"Here, I took mine out too."

Yozora hesitantly showed her phone to me.

There wasn't a single ornament or strap on it; it was just your run of the mill black cell phone.

By the way, it seemed like Yozora's phone was at the bottom of her bag too, so it took her a while to take it out.

"Ok, send your infra-red rays this way please."

Rika said, and stated casually hitting buttons on her phone.

"Eh- I-infra-red rays???"

Yozora confusedly stared at her phone's LCD, as did I.

What's she talking about?

Is she really trying to say these little phones can shoot out infra-red rays?

"...I do feel like I've heard people talk about how more recent phones are able to exchange data via infra-red rays... So that was all true... Hrmm... W-which is it?"

Said Yozora as she furled her brow while hitting buttons on her phone.

"You're kidding me... When did phones get that advanced..."

Rika looked at me and my astonishment as though I were some kind of Neanderthal.

"Here you are."

The one who said that and turned their phone towards Rika was... Yukimura.

"Yukimura...!?"

"Ah, thanks Yukimura."

Rika and Yukimura pointed their phones at each other for about 2 seconds and pulled them back soon after.

"Yes! Yukimura address get!"

"I have confirmed yours as well."

Said Rika and Yukimura.

An utterly shocked expression rose on Yozora's face.

"I-it can't be, you're done already...? That quickly...?"

"Oh man... Kids these days are something else... I can barely keep up..."

"Ahh... So this is the virtual generation of this digital world we live in... I hear everything is like a game to them..."

"...This must be what people mean by children who don't know the meaning of hard work..."

"That's quite a lot to say considering you're only a year older than us, Senpai..."

Rika made a pitiful face at the three of us shaking in awe...

"People like Aniki who only rely on their own strength don't pay heed to things such as cell phones, do they?" Yukimura said.

...Actually, high-tech girl Rika aside, the fact that even Yukimura can easily use infra-red rays was simply shocking.

I figured he was the type to be bad with technology.

Though, now that I think about it, he didn't seem to be confused at all when we were all playing that "Romancing Saga" game...

"Arghh.... I don't get it! Besides, it's weird for people to know how to use this machine when they don't have any friends! Kodaka! I'll just have to do it normally so tell me your address."

Yozora finally gave up on the infra-red rays.

"Ok. I'm pretty sure that'll be faster for me too."

Uhh, my address is............ about 30 seconds later, I managed to pull up my phone number and e-mail address on my phone's screen.

"Here." I said as I showed it to Yozora.

"Hm.........Ah, went too far. Mu..."

Yozora clumsily fished her way around her phone's buttons, trying to enter my address.

"...Hrmm... This is a pretty complex address you've got here..."

"Yeah, it's because I never changed it since I bought my first phone..."

"......Hm... where are the special characters..."

..................

............

After a full two minutes, Yozora finished entering my e-mail address and phone number.

"Phew..."

Yozora wiped her forehead, and let out a sigh as though she'd just completed some insanely difficult task.

"O-ok... I'll send you something now Kodaka. An e-mail. An e-mail using my cell phone."

"O-ok...!"

Yozora nervously pushed a few buttons, and then hit send.

About a second later, the words "Receiving Mail" popped up on my screen.

Then, 2 seconds later it went "Ding di~ng" as the default ringtone played.

"I got it!"

"You got it!?"

Yelled Yozora in a happy voice.

The e-mail was titled "E-Mail" and "E-Mail" was written in the message itself as well.

Uhh, I guess this is Yozora's e-mail address.

eternalfriendship2@codomo.ne.jo

I went and added "Yozora Mikadzuki" to my contacts list.

"Ohhh... My first address from someone other than my family...!"

This is almost like, some kind of momentous occasion or something!

Yozora made a surprised face after hearing what I just said.

"I am? What about the addresses of the people from the schools you were at before...?"

"...I never put them in. At the farewell party there were some guys who said "Gimme your address later," but I never did end up exchanging addresses with any of them..."

"........."

Yozora had a look of sympathy in her eyes, and then murmured,

"Oh, I see... so I'm your first non-family address..."

A tender smile rose to her face for a single moment.

And then she said, triumphantly for some reason,

"By the way, I've never even added my own family's addresses before. You're the very first ever, Kodaka."

...I don't know what you want me to say to that, Yozora.

"Muu~. I wouldn't have minded teaching you how to use the infra-red rays, but when Rika sees you two having so much fun it feels like we're the ones who lost here..."

Rika said with an unsatisfied look on her face. Then, all of a sudden,

"Hmph, it's just a stupid cell phone."

Said Sena, who had been unusually quiet up until now, as though she were spitting the words out.

"...? What are you mad about?"

"I'm not mad!"

Said Sena, who seemed to be in a bad mood.

"If you say so... Anyway, come on, give me your address too."

I said, which only made Sena look even more angry.

"...ave a..."

She mumbled with her lips pursed.

"Eh?"

"I don't have a cell phone!"

Sena yelled at the top of her lungs, which startled Rika and Yukimura.

"O-oh, you don't have one..."

Sena glared at me and said,

"Just so you know, I'm not jealous of you or anything!! It's not like not having one is a problem for me, and even if I did have one it wouldn't do me any good! Cell phones are what those annoying retard girls in my class use! A noble like me doesn't have any use for one!"

"...Uh-huh... O-ok. Yeah, there's plenty people who say they don't need a cell phone, right?"

"Exactly! Forget a cell phone, I don't even need a normal phone. No matter where they are or what they're doing, lowly commoners should be able to gratefully accept the angelic voice of a goddess like me!"

"Uh, that's a little bit..."

as I started talking,

Ring ring ring... all of a sudden the phone in my hand started ringing.

"Eh!?"

I fumbled the phone around and saw a number I didn't know on the screen.

I figured I might as well answer it.

"...Hello?"

" 'It's me.' "

I heard a voice from the phone and from behind me.

I turned around and saw that the one who called my phone was Yozora.

" 'Enter my phone number into your contacts.' "

"Ah, yeah ok."

Talking on the phone with somebody right in front of you is so weird.

Yozora kept on talking to me over the phone like that for some reason.

" 'Since we just got it all set up, let's talk over the phone for a while.' "

"Eh... Sure, I guess."

" 'Good. Then let's talk about dinner last night. What did you eat, Kodaka?' "

"Uhh, what <em>did</em> I eat..."

As I was thinking I happened to look over at Sena again, who looked even more pissed off than she was before to the point I could almost see her veins popping out.

"Y-you two! Who gives a damn about what you ate yesterday!? Why do you have to go out of your way to talk about that over the phone now!?"

" 'Shut it, Meat. Can you not even shut yourself up while people are trying to talk on the phone?' "

Said Yozora, waving her hand at Sena telling her to go away.

"Khhhhh!"

" 'Still, these cell phones are quite handy. We can even talk when we're not together.' "

"Then use them when you're not together!!"

Yozora completely ignored Sena and continued,

" 'We can let everyone know when we're coming to club with them. Also, let's talk about all of our plans via e-mail from now on.' "

"S-sure..."

"Ghhhhh..."

Sena was about to burst into tears.

Yozora still kept on talking too, although this time it was with a much quieter voice that you could barely hear.

<small>" 'By the way, about my dinner last night, I had</small><strong> meat.</strong><small> Specifically, it was curry with chicken</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, and the</small><strong> meat</strong><small> was incredibly tender and tasted so good.' "</small>

She carefully made sure to only say the word "meat" at a normal volume.

"Uu~... What are you talking about...!?"

" 'Something that has nothing to do with you Meat. <small>The store I went do didn't have just chicken</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, but also had pig</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, cow</small><strong> meat</strong><small>, and a bunch of other stuff that was so cheap I think we should all </small><strong> meet</strong><small> up there sometime. I'm sure you'll all love the</small><strong> meat</strong><small> they have th-' "</small>

"Gaaaahh! Shut up, stop saying meat!!!!"

Sena roared all of a sudden, and took my phone away.

"Hey!!"

Sena brought my phone to her mouth and then yelled at the top of her lungs,

<div style="font-size:250%">"Idiot! Jerk! Retard!!!"</div>

"Kh!?"

Yozora cringed and pulled the phone away from her ear.

Sena shoved my phone back into my hands, and told Yozora "Go die!" before running out of the clubroom.

"...God damn, stupid piece of meat..."

Yozora ended the call while holding one hand to her ear.

"You really know exactly what to do to piss Sena off, don't you..."

I have to admit, I was a little impressed by it.

<div style="font-size:250%"><center>☺</center></div>

On the bus and train ride home, and even after I got home, I kept opening my cell phone and looking at my contact list.

After Sena ran out, I exchanged addresses with Rika and Yukimura (I even learned how to use the infra-red rays).

Up until now I've only ever had home, Kobato's cell and Dad's work phone in there, so my contact list easily doubled today.

Crap... I can't stop smirking...

That night, I went to sleep in a good mood,

but...

Ring ring ring...

The phone ringing woke me up.

The phone that was ringing wasn't my cell, but rather our home phone.

I checked the time using my cell I left near my bed, and saw that it was just past 2 in the morning.

"...Who the hell is calling at this time of day..."

I thought about ignoring it, but I figured it might've been one of dad's overseas contacts so I got out of bed to answer it.

I headed downstairs while rubbing my sleepy eyes and picked up the phone.

"...Hello, this is Hasegawa speaking."

It felt like I was being a little quieter than usual.

<div style="font-size:250%">"H-HEWOO!!"</div>

A voice that sounded like the person talking held the receiver right next to their mouth and yelled as loud as they possibly could rang through my ears.

I reflexively pulled the phone away from my ear and cringed.

W-what the hell...!?

As I thought that,

Ca-lick!

.....They hung up.

"...What the hell, a prank call...?"

Still pissed off at the annoying person who'd make a prank call in the middle of the night, I went back to bed. However, right as I was about to fall asleep again, the phone rang again.

I'm ignoring it.

I told myself that and closed my eyes, but the phone didn't stop ringing even after 20 seconds had passed.

Oh yeah, I never set the answering machine...

Annoyed, I got up again and went downstairs to pick up the phone.

"...Hello."

Even I could tell how pissed off I sounded.

"Eek!?"

I heard a shriek from the receiver.

Huh, where have I heard that voice before...

"...Hello?"

I asked again, and then heard someone gulp and say,

<div style="font-size:250%">"U-umm! T-this is Sena Kashiwazaki, i-i-i-i-is Kodaka, I mean, Mr. Kodaka available!?"</div>

She was obviously nervous, talking as fast as she could.

"...Eh, Sena?" I asked.

"H-huh? Is this Kodaka?"

"Yep."

I could hear Sena breathe a sigh of relief over the phone.

"You idiot! Geez, don't scare me like that you idiot! Your voice is scary idiot!"

Not holding back on the insults are we?

...This doesn't even make any sense.

"Do you have any idea what time it is right now...?"

"H-hey, more importantly, Kodaka!"

Sena rambled on, perfectly ignoring my complaints.

"What kind of cell did you get?"

"...What kind? It's just a normal one..."

I answered, unsure of what she was asking.

"That. Is. Not. What. I. Meant! It's gotta have the name of the company or a serial number on it somewhere!"

"Eh... The company is ∀Ｕ. I don't know what kind it is."

"Then find out."

"Huhh?"

"Just do it!"

"...Fine, wait."

I put down the receiver and went back up to my room and flipped on the lights.

I took my cell in my hands, and found something that looked like a model number.

"Uhh, it's a M61b, I guess."

"An M61b by ∀Ｕ?"

"Yeah." I could hear her writing something down.

"Ok, I got it. See you later."

Ca-lick!

Announcing the end of her business she quickly hung up.

Just what in the world...

<div style="font-size:250%"><center>☺</center></div>

The next day.

Just before noon I got an untitled message from Yozora that said nothing other than "2 o'clock." so I sent a mail to Yozora, Rika, and Yukimura my own mail titled "Today" that said "I'll be there around 2 o'clock too."

After I finished lunch, I left home so I'd get there around two.

While I was on the bus, I got a mail from Rika titled "Waiting Naked" which said "I'll be waiting for you naked, Kodaka-senpai♥ Ah, you just imagined Rika naked didn't you? Senpai you pervert♥"

"...Is she retarded?"

I gave her a quick reply of "retard".

I few minutes later yet another mail from Rika came.

The title was "Ass"... pushing the line with that one.

It read: "By the way, Yozora-senpai is totally naked too (*丿丿)kya~ As proof, I've attached an image of Yozora's cute little butt for you."

"Wha!?"

I let my voice slip in surprise, but after taking a good look at it I could see it was just a picture of her elbow.

...How old is she? 12?

Right after that, I got a mail from Yozora that said "That was Rika's arm just now." in the title field and nothing in the actual body. She must've been flustered when she wrote it. I also got another weird mail from Rika that came at nearly the same time as Yozora's with the title "Iyan♥" that said "Yozora-senpai hit Rika's butt with her fly swatter, Rika can't take it anymore s-stop itttt~~♥"

I sent Yozora a mail that said "I know." and ignored Rika.

I then got another mail, this time from Rika's laptop, with the title "The Truth" that read "Eh? Yozora-senpai, why are you taking Rika's panties off? Ahn~ I can't stand it, this is too embarrassing! Ahh, Don't lick me down thereee! I can't stop twitching each time I feel it! Yozora-senpai then whispered into the moaning Rika's ear, 'Here? Do you want it here? You dirty little girl.' She then gently blew on Rika's ears which caused Rika to lose all the strength in her body and (etc.)" I was reading her stupid mail, but the bus reached the school so I got off without finishing it.

Today was as hot as ever.

I entered the clubroom, where Yozora and Rika (who were obviously not naked) and Yukimura were waiting.

Yozora looked exhausted as she lay on the sofa.

Yozora pointed at Rika, and turned only her face to me as she said,

"Watch out Kodaka... she's, a freak..."

She barely managed to get even that out.

"Yeah, well... I already know that." I said.

As for the freak in question, she was currently typing away on her laptop.

It looked like she was writing a novel.

"Ah, Kodaka-senpai! Rika just recently discovered that yuri might not be all that bad! Rika thinks she might be ok with anything as long as it's erotic!"

"You're sure full of energy..."

I sat on the sofa, pitying Rika who seemed like she was about to launch herself into space.

"I have prepared tea."

Yukimura handed me a glass of barley tea.

"Thanks!"

I thanked Yukimura and happily took the drink from him.

Glug glug... I gulped the whole thing down at once.

...It wasn't hot or cold, just lukewarm tea.

"Would you like another?"

"Eh? Yeah, sure."

I took another glass of tea from Yukimura.

...It was warmer than before, but I still gulped it down pretty quickly.

"Here you are, Aniki."

"Thanks. Ah! That's hot..."

The third cup of tea was very hot, and not something I could just gulp down.

I looked at Yukimura, who was looking at me as though expecting something.

He was probably trying to imitate how Mitsunari Ishida gave Hideyoshi Toyotomi a cup of warm tea, then a slightly hot cup, and then a relaxing hot cup of tea to drink.

"...Umm... Mitsunari was a pretty thoughtful guy."

"It is an honor to receive your praise, Aniki."

I praised Yukimura, and he smiled bashfully.

"...But I still think cold barley tea is best. I won't let that one go."

"Is that so..."

Yukimura got a little depressed.

While relaxing and slowly drinking the hot tea from Yukimura, the door to the clubroom flew open all of a sudden.

"Heh heh, so you're all here, lowly commoners! Your goddess has come to you!"

It was Sena who opened the door.

"Ahh, hey." I said while sipping my tea.

Yukimura was stone faced, as usual.

Even Yozora, who'd usually make fun of her, only gave her a little glance as if to say she couldn't care less.

"You're letting the cold air out, can you close the door now?"

Rika coolly said, while still typing on her keyboard and not even looking over at Sena, to which Sena replied "Ah, sorry..." and quietly closed the door.

"I'm gonna get some sleep."

Yozora crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

"Uuu... W-why are you all so lifeless!?"

Sena ground her teeth, annoyed, and then said,

"I wonder, will you be able to stay like that after you see this!? Here, look at it Yozora!"

Sena quickly walked over to Yozora and held out a cell phone as though it were Mito Koumon's seal case.

"Heh, what do you think now? I asked Papa yesterday and he bought it for me!"

Sena said with the face of a delighted child.

"Hmph..."

Yozora opened her eyes a little, and then closed them again, uninterested.

"Huh, isn't that the same as mine?"

Sena's model matched the one I had. It was even the same gold color as mine.

"O-ohh... it is? W-what a coincidence!"

Sena's face turned a little red.

"Uh, no, not really..."

You called me in the middle of the damn night and asked me about it... before I could say that,

"...the same as Kodaka's?"

Yozora angrily said, and glared at Sena's cell phone.

"Hehe." Sena chuckled as though she'd just won some battle.

"Anyway, come on let's exchange addresses! Come on, hurry!"

"Eh? Ok..."

I took out my cell phone.

Yozora groaned as she looked at and compared our phones.

I got ready to use the infra-red rays I learned about yesterday.

"By the way, do you know how to do it this way?"

"Of course!" Sena said triumphantly and pointed her cell at me.

We quickly exchange addresses.

Sena had a big grin spread across her face as she stared at her phone's LCD.

"Haha... Here Yozora, I'll even do it with you."

"I have no need for your address."

Sena got caught off guard by Yozora's refusal.

"Hey! I went and bought one so just tell me your address!"

"...Do you want my address that much?"

"I-it's not like I want it or anything! I don't want to know it at all, but I figured I'd let you exchange with me since we're in the same club! You should be grateful!"

"I see, thank you. I'll make do with your feelings alone."

"I can't call you using my feelings alone!"

Yozora looked at Sena with her eyes full of disgust.

"...Hmph, making such a greedy face... look at this bitch. If you want it so badly then prove it to me."

"Prove it...? Ah, I'm not going to lick your feet, got it~? Uuu~ Fine, forget it, stupid Yozora!"

Sena ran out of the room with a few tears in her eyes.

"...She gives up so quick..."

Whispered Yozora, who looked just a little bit sad.

After Sena left, Yozora and I began reading like we always do.

About 15 minutes later, I got a message on my phone.

...it was from Sena.

"I'm gonna send that idiot Yozora a bunch of spam mail so tell me her address (^_^)"

"...So this is the first mail you send me...?"

And on top of that, Yozora, who was sitting next to me, peeked at it.

"...That stupid Meat..."

A smile found its way to Yozora's face for some reason.

"...Kodaka, let me see Meat's address. I might as well just tell her what mine is personally..."

...It was roughly 30 minutes later when Sena came running back into the clubroom, half in tears, to talk to us about a bunch of mails from an unknown address she kept getting that simply said either "Death" or "Curse".

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 History|History]]
| Return to [[Boku_wa_tomodachi_ga_sukunai|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume 3 Sealing Technique, Release!|Sealing Technique, Release!]]
|-
|}