Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume2 Epilogue (section)

===Part 5===

Carrying her notebook, Kirika was walking along the corridor in the staff block. Arriving before the mathematics staff room, her target happened to walk out from inside.

"Himura-sensei, I'm sorry to disturb you. There's a few things I don't understand in today's lesson..."

"Oh okay... No problem. Which parts did you not get...?"

The gloomy and introverted teacher asked timidly. After Kirika flipped open the notebook and pointed the questions out to him&mdash;

"Hmm&mdash;I see... These are rather difficult questions. Let's talk as we walk, shall we?"

"Yes."

Kirika chased after him as he walked nonchalantly into the materials reference room. Entering the room as well, Kirika shut the door behind her. Clearly he wanted to answer her questions in this location.

At this moment&mdash;Himura gazed at the notebook with a amusement and heckled:

"I see. 'Were you the one who released the doll?' A sharp question indeed."

"Keep your amazement to yourself and answer the question, Himura."

"Oh my, how scary. Although I really like your eyes, could you turn down the hostility? Researcher Ueno."

Unlike his usual timid attitude, Himura's face was filled with confidence, even to the point of arrogance.

Currently in this place, he was not the mathematics teacher.

Instead, he was someone who researched cursed tools&mdash;a member of the organization researching Wathes, Lab Chief Yamimagari Pakuaki's Nation.

Ueno Kirika's partner, Himura Sunao.

"Why are you asking this kind of question?"

Obviously, because there was a need to confirm. Kirika normally avoided him as much as possible, which was why she initially tried to dissuade Haruaki and the rest from asking Shiraho's homeroom teacher for a look at the contact network. Class 7's homeroom happened to be this man. Particularly when Wathes were concerned, approaching him or letting Haruaki's group make contact with him would be unwise decisions.

Nevertheless, she felt compelled to ask him this once&mdash;

"It was only due to the convoluted series of events that they failed to notice, but as a third party observer listening to their story, I found this question so obvious that it was absolutely ridiculous. If Sovereignty had escaped the suitcase on her own, then the intact lock on the suitcase would be very strange indeed. After all, she does not possess any special skill for escaping. However, they only discoverd the doll was missing after unlocking the case&mdash;With that, the implication was obvious, that someone had unlocked it from outside and then restored the lock to its original state."

"Oh? So what?"

Himura twisted his lips in delight. Is he toying with me?

"Immediately following that, the next point of suspicion that occurred to me was the Indulgence Disk. Sovereignty was deliberately vague back then, but she did mention that she heard about the Indulgence Disk from someone other than the man who inserted it into her body. Then who could have told her? In my opinion... You must have told her when you helped her escape, right?"

"Haha, although you lack evidence, your conclusions are correct, full marks! Because she was puzzled by why her curse sped up in progression, I explained it to her, kind as I am. I even told her as well: 'Places like schools are full of people harboring feelings of love!' &mdash;Naturally, this came from the kindness of my heart as well."

"Benevolence? Absolutely ridiculous. I am only speculating, but Sovereignty would rather be destroyed than harm Shiraho. She deliberately refrained from resisting when captured because of suicidal thoughts. Yet you took this opportunity to entice her with a glimpse of remaining hope. Stated more directly, what you did was equivalent to telling her to drain students of their feelings of love!"

"Zero marks for this answer. She is the one who made the final decision. Out of the kindness of my heart, I simply released her from the suitcase, gave her some information and asked her to keep my involvement a secret."

The doll was innocent and trusting. Since it was true that this man rescued her, that was probably why she upheld the promise of secrecy. Or maybe&mdash;she was afraid of retribution for breaking the promise. Indeed, it would be a poor move since Sovereignty had someone she wanted to protect.

"Why did you have to do such a thing!?"

"Haha... You ask me why?"

"!"

Slam! Kirika was shoved against the wall by her shoulders. She glared at Himura who drew near right before her face. In combination with his expression of complete confidence, his gloomy long hair now served only to highlight his transformation into a gigolo's appearance.

"You should understand very well, partner? Our job as researchers is to 'study' Wathes. I am simply obeying orders. Indeed, from the very moment the Sovereignty Perfection Doll entered Japan, it was already a target for investigation. A prime investigation target like an antique shop can't possibly be missed out, right? I not only watched her but also listened to what she said, which is how I knew about the feelings of love etc."

"You... Installed an eavesdropping device?"

"Of course. Then&mdash;when the doll was delivered to the superintendent's office, I was assigned a research theme."

"What research theme?"

"Simply stated... 'How will Fear-in-Cube react to a hostile Wathe?' I originally thought she would choose destructive means&mdash;but the end result exceeded my expectations in various ways, allowing me to collect a lot of interesting data."

"Tsk&mdash;For that kind of purpose...!"

Sovereignty and Shiraho were backed into a desperate corner?

One misstep and one of them would very like be dead now.

Kirika was just about to lose her temper when Himura's face pressed near.

"That kind of purpose? Painfully obvious, zero marks&mdash;As a member of the Lab Chief's nation, it goes without saying, doesn't it? Kirika, Ueno Kirika, the younger sister of His Excellency, our dear lab chief! Not everyone is free to do as they wish like you. That's right, you do realize that you are tolerated to do as you please only because of a certain someone, right? Someone who helps by tampering with your reports in various ways, turning a blind eye to various questionable activities, handling all sorts of mundane details for you? Yeah, that's me!"

"...!"

"Why would I help you in all these ways? I must have repeated myself so many times, your ear must be rotting off? Kirika, isn't it time you became mine?"

Himura touched Kirika's skirt with his hand. Kirika remained expressionless without putting up any resistance.

"I think it's time for you to give up. Listen carefully, Kirika, you are no ordinary woman. Beneath those clothes, you are wearing a bondage suit like a queen, a cursed prisoner's uniform that cannot be taken off for the remainder of your life. Who else would love you but me? To love a person like you, forever stuck in a black leather outfit?"

Lifting up the skirt, Himura glanced down. Expressionless, Kirika did not resist.

"Do you really think a man would cherish a woman who cannot engage in a fully naked embrace? I dare assert: you will never be able to pursue a romantic relationship like a normal person. Indeed, not even that guy whom you're so obsessed about, not even he can possibly accept your feelings&mdash;"

"Shut up immediately and take your hand away. Otherwise, only death awaits you."

A voice that seemed as if it froze the air.

Himura did as told and shut his mouth, raising both arms with a wry smile to indicate surrender.

Tightly wound around his neck was&mdash;the ominous black belt&mdash;the «Tragic Black River». Used in the same manner as the previous owner, it was constricting the flighty man's breathing.

"Cough... Hey, that's enough... I beg you, cough, huff, I'm really going to die..."

"..."

"Cough! Gah, ah, arghhh, cough cough..."

Before a freshly strangled corpse could be created, Himura was finally released.

Collapsed with his hands against the floor, he coughed and wheezed intensely as Kirika looked down at him dispassionately.

"Cough cough... Oww... Hah, went too far, huh... Haha..."

"..."

"Ha, never mind, I'm not in a rush anyway. Even in the future, your situation is not going to change. One day you will give up and become mine. I will wait until the day you despair, but before that, I don't mind you owing me favors for now&mdash;In fact, please feel free to continue increasing your debt."

Expressionlessly, Kirika picked up the notebook that had fallen by her feet. Turning back, she said:

"Then let me say this first, dismantle all eavesdropping devices in the Sakuramairi residence!"

"Because it invades privacy? How nice of you... Oh well, this bit of thing is trivial. Seeing as their situation has stabilized, there shouldn't be anything new of interest. I'll just have to satisfy the branch office with regular observation reports. But Kirika, you should understand very well, don't you? This is merely hypocrisy."

As Kirika halted her steps, Himura made a sinister smile behind her.

"I don't care about the Sakuramairi home, but in regards to monitoring the important site, namely the Yachi residence, I will not back off no matter what&mdash;Unless Lab Chief Yamimagari issues a direct order. From the moment you decided to overlook this arrangement, you entrenched yourself unmistakably as a member of the Lab Chief's Nation, and unavoidably became my accomplice."

Kirika resumed walking again. Opening the door to the research materials room&mdash;

"A member of the Lab Chief's Nation? Accomplice? Absolutely ridiculous&mdash;If I needed a label, it would only be&mdash;"

As if telling it to herself, she spoke in a composed voice:

"The ordinary class rep of Year 1 Class 2, Himura-sensei."