Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 1===

Her silver hair tousled by sleep, the girl sat up. Half opening her eyes, she stared blankly without moving. She was still stuck halfway in the world of dreams.

Suddenly, her vision captured a mysterious object. Slowly she blinked, tilting her head in puzzlement. Several seconds later, she inclined her head in the opposite direction. Then she mumbled the name of the object she saw.

"...A tent?"

Incomprehensible. Incomprehensible.

Sleepily, Fear continued to sit comfortably, swaying her upper torso as she approached the object with her face.

Then.

Poke poke.

"Muah...?"

The nearby snoring transformed into a strange moan.

Poke poke.

Fear murmured, still half asleep:

"...Hard."

Poke poke.

The sound of someone springing up suddenly.

"Stop poking—!"

In any case, the day began rather leisurely except for the moment of awakening.



"Hey, what on earth was that phenomenon just now—"

"Don't ask!"

Despite this sort of awkward conversation, breakfast ended rather unhurriedly because it was Sunday.

After that, just as they were enjoying their free time after the meal, a guest arrived.

"So, Konoha, is there something you want to talk about?"

"Just as I mentioned yesterday, we need a strategy meeting. To discuss our future plans. In actual fact, we should have discussed this sooner. But—too many things happened."

Sipping tea, she threw a glance at Fear who was hugging her knees, watching television. She seemed to be ignoring Konoha's presence and did not shift her gaze at all.

"Those people might not be coming again. After all, they not only failed twice but both of them are also injured."

"Rather than speculating they won't be back, wouldn't it be more appropriate to assume they will return? You can't bet your life on optimism."

"You're right. But even if you ask me what to do..."

Haruaki was facing Konoha as he drank tea.

"At the end of the day, the best solution is to 'make them not return,' isn't that right? If we contact the organization supporting them... That Frontline Gathering Knights Dominion, right? To convey our message clearly—"

"It'll be very difficult. Just look at that woman in a dress, clearly she is an opponent who cannot be communicated with like a human. Besides, we know basically nothing about that organization nor how to contact them. Only Honatsu-san would probably know?"

"My old man... I do talk to him on the phone from time to time, but just as usual, I can't reach him at the moment."

"Is he okay?"

"He is essentially unkillable. Anyway, relying on my old man is no good and we can't possibly negotiate with the backing organization. Then that leaves... What was mentioned last time, we go on the offensive? Once we find their base, perhaps we could also obtain information about their organization. But the problem remains the same, we don't know where it is."

"...Right. We must start with their hiding place but that presents many challenges. A blanket search would be foolhardy. Besides, it needs to be carried out in secret, which means I'm probably the only one who could undertake it. In that case, this home would become defenseless. Leaving Haruaki and this child alone at home would be too dangerous."

Fear's shoulders twitched. She was probably reacting to the mention of "this child"? By "dangerous," Konoha probably meant it in more than one way.

"Even if we know their location, what could we do to force them to submit? That is also quite a dangerous task, which makes me think Konoha is the only one we could rely on. I certainly can't bring myself to do it... In that case, we've gone full circle, back to waiting passively for them to come?"

"Sigh... It ended up being that again... Whatever, I expected it as the most likely outcome in the first place. The problem is we need to go to school tomorrow. What should we do?"

"I am also troubling over that. We can't leave her alone to watch the house, but neither can we take her to school. I guess we'll have to be absent from school for now..."

"But who knows if we need to be absent for a week or even a month? We can't just apply for leave indefinitely? So we're back to the same dilemma."

"That's true..."

Haruaki suddenly looked at the garden. He was reminded of the other tenant who shared the detached accessory dwelling with Konoha.

"Wait till Kuroe returns, then the situation would be different. How about we ask her for help?"

"Ah, I already called her shop yesterday, but she didn't pick up. I think she's probably wandering somewhere again."

"That's so similar to my old man, I guess she has vagabond tendencies too... This is really no good for an urgent crisis."

At this time, Fear who had remained silent until now, went "...Television is so boring today" and got up, intending to return to her own room. However—

"—Wait up." With a rather serious voice, Konoha stopped Fear from walking away.

"It's fine if you don't know what to do right now. But if you continue to remain clueless, it'd be quite meaningless. You should at least try to think."

"...I have been thinking."

"Liar. You have stopped thinking and turned to escapism. You are simply repeating 'What should I do? What should I do?" to yourself as you tremble in fear. Clearly when contemplation is the only choice left, but you do not even want to think—that is proof that you are still a child, completely hopeless."

"Uh—Konoha-san? I don't really understand, but could you be a little more calm, please?"

"Haruaki-kun, please be quiet."

For his personal safety, Haruaki chose silence.

Immersed in this prickly silence, Fear took a deep breath as if about to say something—

"..."

But she could not voice it out. Swallowing air, she started walking as if escaping to her room. At that very instant.

Konoha's eyes widened into a stare as she grabbed the dinner table before them.

Maintaining her sitting posture, she threw the table at Fear using just her upper body strength.

"Uwah!"

Haruaki was just about to place his teacup on the table when he frantically lifted it again. Konoha must be furious. Definitely furious. This was going to be pandemonium. To prevent anyone from getting hurt, Haruaki was just about to step forward to restrain the two girls when—!

The table's edge brushed past Fear as it flew into the garden in the distance, producing a cloud of dirt.

"Y-You, what are you doing! Are you trying to pick a fight against me again—"

As if she failed to hear Fear's angry shout, Konoha swiftly stood up and moved in front of Haruaki.

The sound barrier could be heard broken several times. Followed by the sound of an equal number of impacts.

As Konoha stood before Haruaki, several objects fell down between her legs.

Shattered bullets.

"I knew it, relying on lead bullets to defeat you isn't going to work... Though it'd really spoil the fun if such a toy was able to obtain victory so easily."

The voice came from the table buried in the soil of the garden.

Standing gracefully on one of the table legs like some sort of conjurer, it was a woman in a stylish black dress—

"It's been a while since we last met, bitches. Have you prepared yourself for your rotten guts to be splashed out in the open?"

Then she took a deep bow. With that, Haruaki and his group's strategy meeting became totally pointless.