Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume15 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 13===

The second floor of the villa had a balcony with excellent exposure to the wind. Leaning his upper body against the railing, Yachi Honatsu looked out into the distance. Under the sunny weather, he was dressed in swimwear with a parka on top. The breeze felt very comfortable.

The balcony offered an expansive view of the scenery. A very open feeling. The sea and the sky both extended to the far reaches. The two shades of blue remained absolutely distinct but leaned close together along the horizon like a pair of inseparable twins. Once sundown came around, those twins were going to dress up glamorously in wonderful colors, holding a fashion show with just the two of them.

"Hmm~ What a great villa. I'm so jealous... By the way, this villa must be very expensive, right? I've been wondering since a long time ago, did you engage in some sort of villainy to make so much money, Gab-chan?"

"Hahaha! Whether past or present, I have never made any money in a manner that would bring about divine retribution."

Closing one eye as though winking, Honatsu smiled wryly while turning his head to look behind him.

Walking towards him was the man in a gas mask, dressed in a suit as usual despite the sunny weather. Following behind him was his secretary, Houjyou Zenon, transporting his suitcase by rolling it. As a side note, there was one more person in view, currently lazing about, having an afternoon nap indoors, her older sister Houjyou Ganon. In order to welcome Haruaki's group into this villa, she had been waiting for them since early morning.

"My apologies, the flight was delayed."

"There's no helping that. Though I've no idea where you went."

The awaited one who had arrived later than expected&mdash;Sekaibashi Gabriel&mdash;continued to walk forward and stood beside Honatsu. Like Honatsu, he leaned against the railing and looked outside.

Amidst the girls who looked like they were enjoying themselves, there was only one person looking bored with nothing to do&mdash;the son. More accurately, he looked distracted. This too was part of youth. Honatsu smiled wryly.

"I heard today is Haruaki-kun's birthday? Is this why you returned to Japan after such a long absence?"

"Hmm~ I suppose, something like that. After all, it's my only child's birthday~"

Honatsu giggled and said:

"I've also prepared a wonderful present. But even after I told him that, Haruaki made a very wary look, what a lapse from good manners~ However, however, I also told him the proper rules as his parent, that I won't give him the present unless he behaves as an obedient child&mdash;"

"Although superficially, it looks like I'm talking very normally to you, I'm sorry, my curiosity and other questions in my mind are killing me. Honatsu-san... What happened to you?"

"Many things. So, where should I start~?"

The dear and longtime friend seemed to sigh before shaking his head in exasperation.

"Given how far we go back, there's no need to force yourself to mimic a woman's tone of voice to match your appearance."

Honatsu relaxed his tense face, then immediately&mdash;

"...Sekaibashi-kun, I'm not forcing myself, you know? I just feel that ''it'd be less troublesome if current developments continued''."

Although it was still a woman's voice, these words definitely sounded like the long-absent Yachi Honatsu to Sekaibashi's ears. After a moment of silence, he shrugged with slight relief and said:

"Fine, since you have made your decision, this is fine too. I don't really mind either way."

"Me too&mdash;Or should I be using feminine pronouns instead? I feel that either way works if I'm facing you. Well, in any case, I'll just adjust according to circumstances."

"Let it be so."

The two of them turned back to looking out from the balcony, shoulder to shoulder.

As though mixing into the silence, as though waiting for the moment when the wind would blow away those words, Sekaibashi asked briefly. Honatsu also gave a brief answer.

"Is it a curse?"

"Nope."

"Voluntary?"

"Indeed."

"Painful?"

"Already used to it."

"Well then&mdash;"

Honatsu smiled wryly and waved at the man in the gas mask beside him.

"I've already promised Haruaki and the others to explain everything together. Also, since it's not a particularly amazing reason, let's wait until everyone has gathered before I explain."

"The way I see it, the benefactor whom I've not seen for a very long time has had a sex change. I really can't imagine there could be no particularly amazing reason..."

"Once you hear it, you'll only think 'what, it's just something like that?' On my end, I'm now starting to worry if it really was necessary to call you, Haruaki and everyone else out here specifically to give a solemn explanation. If I end up getting punched, you have to save me. Especially since he seems to be hating me recently."

"If you've refused to explain so far, it's not like I can't understand. So, allow me to ask one more question just as the advance payment for serving as the bodyguard... Was this matter related to Haruaki-kun?"

"Oh? Why do you ask?"

"Purely intuition."

"Haha! Then I'll answer you&mdash;Yes, I suppose it counts for half the reason."

"What about the other half?"

Honatsu moved his body away lightly from the raling and shifted his gaze that was originally directed at the beach. The most striking girl. Looking at the girl with beautiful, glittering, silver hair, he said:

"Naturally... ''It's for the girl whom I found''. I have to take responsibility for her future."

Hearing Honatsu say such a pretentious word, "responsibility," Sekaibashi was probably trying to hold in his laughter.

Seeing him not say a single word for quite a while, Honatsu could not help but conclude that. His silence was getting long enough to make one feel it was too long.

Puzzled, Honatsu turned to look at Sekaibashi beside him. For some reason, he was staring motionlessly at the surface of the sea, stunned with surprise.

"Im&mdash;possible!"

Then suddenly, he moved all at once, leaning violently towards the railing, gripping the railing hard enough to be audible. Honatsu followed his gaze to the horizon in the distance where the sky met the sea.

In a certain sense, what had appeared there was something perfectly commonplace.

Something that was perfectly natural to exist on the sea, without anything unusual about it.

Ships.

However, it was not just any ship. The ship was massive enough that even from land, one could tell how gigantic it was.

Furthermore, there was more than one ship. Although shaped differently and varying in size to some extent, these similar ships were all gigantic&mdash;Roughly ten of them. These ships were arranged side by side neatly in a row, silently approaching this shore.

As though trying to calm himself, Sekaibashi was breathing hard under the gas mask.

Then he looked back into the villa, towards Zenon who was staring at the same scene in astonishment. In a voice that could not disguise his trembling, he said to her:

"Zenon-kun, could you please go outside and gather Fear-kun and everyone else immediately&mdash;Of course, we are going together. A very important guest seems to have arrived."

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