Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume13 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 12===

Casually leaving the thief without moving him, Haruaki's group left the bath house. This was because they did not really want to get involved with the local authorities. Furthermore, someone among the customers on scene was probably going to call the police anyway.

After leaving the bath house, it was still not time to go home. They had to complete their original objective, i.e. shopping. Due to Sovereignty and Un Izoey heading in the same direction for part of the way, they all traveled together for a while.

Un Izoey and Sovereignty were walking side by side in front of the trio of Haruaki, Fear and Konoha. The plush doll was standing on Un Izoey's palm, performing a strange dance under Sovereignty's smiling gaze from the side. In combination with the doll's own bizarre cuteness, those movements were so weird that young children would probably end up traumatized if they saw them in the middle of the night, but Un Izoey continued to gaze at the plushie with overwhelming joy in her eyes, nodding repeatedly in satisfaction.

"Isn't this scene unbelievable...? I never thought there'd come a time when she'd be walking together with us like this. My past self, back in the cultural festival, surely would have charged to attack her without hesitation."

"Perhaps. I honestly couldn't have foreseen things to have developed to the current state."

Fear whispered and Konoha quietly concurred. Looking at the two girls walking in front, Haruaki said:

"Yeah... But speaking of impossible to foresee, the same goes for you two as well. After Fear arrived, then we met Sovereignty and Shiraho&mdash;I wouldn't have expected things to end up like this at all. Nowadays with everyone gathered together, it's become perfectly natural and matter-of-fact, turning into the 'usual scene'... Whenever this crosses my mind, it feels very incredible."

"After some time... Will the current scene turn into a 'usual scene' as well?"

"Who knows. But wouldn't you like that to happen?"

Fear crossed her arms and went "hmph," turning her gaze away.

"I don't know. After all, that girl belongs to an opposing organization and Kirika has many past grievances with her. But she's about to become a student in the same school... As long as she doesn't pick fights for weird reasons, if I think of her as just a country girl who's studying in the same year&mdash;Hmm, there's no need to be hostile and nervously staying on guard against her, I guess, probably."

Fear muttered in a roundabout manner. Konoha also sighed and said:

"At least for today, I also feel that there doesn't seem to be a need to be too wary of her... To think she'd be so airheaded that she'd forget about her underwear and even performing leg techniques in that state, also making such a happy look while staring at the plush doll. It'll feel totally stupid to be staying on guard against someone like that&mdash;Or rather, starting tomorrow, she will be hanging nearby all the time, so who knows what's going to happen?"

No one knew what changes Un Izoey's arrival in their daily life was going to bring. Neither did they know if any changes were necessary. In the end, Haruaki smiled wryly to reach the following conclusion:

"Anyway... Let's just go with the flow. It's pointless to overthink things, so just do the same as usual."

They already knew that she was not a villain to the core. From now on, she was definitely going to be a student in the same school, spending their school days together. In that case, even if they might enter into conflict due to differences in ideology and standpoint, getting too hung up on this matter all the time would not help.

"Right, Fear, how do you feel about your first time at a bath house?"

"Ohoh, although so much happened, it was very fun! The bathtub was huge and the water was very hot, it feels different from home. I can relax my body and mind so it's really a great place! But the only drawback today was the presence of those eyesores from the enemy faction. Haruaki, did you know? I can't believe those girls have to lift those things up with one hand while using the other hand to wash the inner side. That's just a total pain. Seeing them like that, I finally understand that the saying 'better too big than too small' is totally wrong&mdash;"

"H-Hey&mdash;! Fear-san, what are you talking about!?"

"I'm just speaking the truth. Anyway, I want to visit next time with Kuroe. Although we went there as a natural development, I feel bad that we didn't include her in our bath house trip."

"Just invite her next time. She'll definitely join in without a moment's hesitation... Speaking of which, we've already used up a lot of time and we still need to get groceries before going home. I hope she won't complain about us being too slow."

Haruaki took out his cellphone from his pocket to check the time. Due to this action, a certain object in his pocket also fell out.

"Hey Haruaki, you dropped something."

"Hmm? Oh, you're right. But did I ever put this kind... of thing... in my pocket...? Ah...!"

Haruaki picked up the object that had fallen onto the street. Without thinking, he spread out the small piece of round fabric. Instantly, he remembered. He completely recalled the matter he had forgotten until now. Indeed, after discovering this in the male changing room, he originally wanted to hide it in the washroom first. But he ended up discovering the wig and forgot in their haste to apprehend the thief. But wait, why did this happen? If someone was still missing their panties, they would have brought it up, right? As much as Haruaki could not comprehend what was going on, he was in big trouble in any case. This was totally bad!

"Hey, shameless brat... Why do you have something like that in your pocket...?"

"Ha~ru~a~ki~-kun~...?"

With twitching faces, Fear and Konoha approached step by step, intending to encircle him. Probably noticing their strange behavior, Sovereignty and Un Izoey looked back from their position walking ahead. Seeing the object in Haruaki's hand, Sovereignty cocked her head in a puzzled expression.

"Eh? That looks kind of familiar..."

Then she touched her bottom as though remembering something. After confirming a certain fact, she laughed "ehehe" in embarrassment and said:

"Uh... I'm sorry, but that's probably mine! I only noticed now but it looks like I forgot to put it on. Well, it's because I was in a fluster when exiting the bathroom..."

(You simply forgot&mdash;!? You should've noticed earlier! Besides, how is it possible to forget!?)

The final mystery was unraveled. This was simply a lost item completely unrelated to the incident, due to Sovereignty's usual airheadedness working its effects. Since Sovereignty was in female form to begin with, transforming into a boy only after entering the male side, leaving a female pair of underwear in the male changing room was not surprising.

"Th-That's great, I get it now. I understand this is Sovereignty's. But even if that's the case, I haven't done anything to be guilty about at all. It just so happened that I forgot to mention that I found this in the male changing room&mdash;"

"Oh I see... So you happen to have a habit of putting female underwear in your pocket as soon as you find them? And keeping quiet about it. I see, I see."

"If you pointed it out earlier, I would've realized instantly I wasn't wearing any... Umm... No way... It's just a possibility, but Haruaki-kun, you..."

Sovereignty went red in embarrassment, looking up to glance at Haruaki.

"Umm... You want... my panties...? If that's the case, I still have many other cute panties at home, so... You can have this pair... I don't mind..."

"You've gotten the wrong idea! As I've said already, this only happened because of an unfortunate series of coincidences!"

"No, don't say anything more, Haruaki. I understand. I understand very well."

"Indeed, you don't need to explain any further. There is nothing for you to worry about either."

Fear's hand slammed down on Haruaki's shoulder. Konoha's hand also slammed down on his other shoulder.

Then a strange creaking noise resulted.

"My shoulders are making weird noises I've never heard before! Ouch, it really hurts!"

"In other words, this is what happened. The culprits in the theft incident are not just the male pervert and Sovereignty... But there's a third thief too!"

"Don't worry, I have already thought up what punishment of the highest level ought to be carried out. What a shame, Haruaki-kun, that this will be your final memory for the winter vacation..."

"Wait, Konoha, what kind of memory are you forcing me to make!?"

Haruaki was firmly immobilized by Fear and Konoha. Looking around, he could only see Sovereignty still murmuring in awkward embarrassment: "Will Shiraho get mad? But if it's just one pair of panties..."

In addition, there  was Un Izoey, nodding repeatedly with an impressed look on her face while hugging the plushie.

"My comment: everyone looks so happy, how wonderful. I already know this proverb from this country. I decided that now is the right time to say it. In other words&mdash;harmony is a virtue."
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