Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume7 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 5===

"O-Oh~ ...I see now. Truly shameless. Anyway, I already understand the whole story. Truly shameless. I can tell that Kirika does look quite strange. Truly shameless. If the cause really is a cursed tool, that's truly shameless. This must be handled calmly. Truly shameless. Go and die."

"C-Completely exposed! Your true intentions are completely exposed in between those sentences of yours, Fear!"

Arms crossed before her chest, Fear went "Hmph!" and turned her face to the side. While explaining the circumstances to Fear, Haruaki also managed to pull Kirika out from inside the kotatsu&mdash;But rather than improving, the situation had deteriorated subtly. Kirika was now leaning her face against Haruaki's thigh and rubbing it furiously while he sat cross-legged. Meanwhile, she kept purring happily. If anyone tried to pull her away by force, she would made a sad expression. The situation was extremely tricky.

Haruaki rubbed the still aching back of his head while sighing. As a side note, the tragic remains of the fibrous murder weapon was now lying on top of the kotatsu.

"How troubling, but we must handle this calmly. Why don't you settle down and help me, Fear? Otherwise, I'm completely out of ideas by myself."

"Jeez&mdash;it can't be helped. For now, I'll pretend I never saw you taking advantage of the situation to enjoy the shamelessness earlier... Umm, anyway, it's undeniable fact that we must find a way to solve the problem of Kirika turning into a cat."

"Rather than a cat, I think she's closer to a hybrid between a kitten and a human. What happened just now gave me a thought. She seems to be able to understand what we're saying. However, she only answers... in cat language... H-Hey!"

Kirika placed her head on his lap and started rolling about. Since she was wearing the school uniform, her skirt was curling up slightly and it looked quite dangerous. In many ways, it was extremely concerning.

"Hahaha. She really likes to stick to you, Haruaki."

"Y-Your cold laughter only fills me with terror... Hurry and come up with a solution, okay!?"

"Even if you say that, I can't help it. Hey, Kirika Cat, do you wanna play with me&mdash;? Come~ This way this way!"

Fear clapped her hands and tried to get Kirika's attention. Curious, Kirika went "Hmm hmm?" and looked up towards her. Fear continued:

"This is a special privilege for you. I allow you to play with my silver hair&mdash;Okay, come here now&mdash;"

Fear started to shake her silver hair lightly. Perhaps curious about the hair, Kirika slowly turned her upper body and stared straight towards Fear's hair that was dangling over the tatami floor. She had a hesitant expression as though wondering whether she should play with it or not.

"M-Muu~ This might be disrespectful towards Kirika, but don't you find her especially cute the way she acts like a cat...? Oh, so the number one culprit candidate is this pair of cat ears?"

Fear looked downwards at Kirika's head as she approached, frowned and spoke:

"...Well, I can feel an ominous aura from it for sure. If you say it's cursed, I don't think that's likely to be wrong."

"Really? I knew it. So things should be solved by taking it off... But like I said just now, it doesn't come off no matter what."

"Hmm..."

For a few seconds, Fear stared straight at the cat ears that were waving back and forth before her eyes.

Suddenly, she grabbed the cat ears and pulled upwards.

"H-Hu myaaaaaaah!?"

"Hey!"

It must have hurt a lot? Originally intending to reach into the silver hair, Kirika was so surprised that her entire body jumped outright. After performing a somersault, she leaned against Haruaki's body again.

"Hey, didn't I just tell you that it can't be pulled off!?"

"I-I just wanted to confirm for myself! S-Sorry, Kirika. It's my fault just now. I won't do that again. I'll be very gentle. Okay, come over to me~"

Fear's cat-soothing voice only sounded terrifying to Kirika. Whimpering softly, Kirika only dared to peer hazily at Fear with her tearful eyes while hiding behind Haruaki's back.

"Guh... S-She's really too cute. But she only sticks to you, Haruaki, I'm so jealous... No wait! You shameless brat, that's so underhanded of you! What shameless means did you use to entice the Kirika Cat? I won't forgive you! Looking at the way she sticks close to you so obediently, you must have tamed and broken her through utterly shameless means for sure! I'll curse you!"

"Stop saying weird things like broken! It's just she met me before you, so she's more familiar with me, okay!?"

"Hmph... Like anyone would know. Whatever, anyway, those cat ears can't be taken off by force apparently. In that case, the remaining method is&mdash;"

"Hmm...? Wait a sec, I've got an idea."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it's actually quite simple. Since it can't be taken off, why not just break it? If I asked Konoha, I'm sure it can be cut safely whether she did it in sword or human form... But the problem is that she needs to work until night. If I call her and asked her to get off early... I dunno if that'll work or not... Hmmmmmm."

As the saying went, sacrifices were unavoidable when trying to get out of an urgent situation.<!--背に腹は代えられない--> However, Konoha's part-time job was also quite important. In any case, Kirika's affliction only seemed to be acting like a cat, so there should not be any major problem in leaving her in this state until night came... No wait, it might be too late to react once something damaging happened...

Thinking to this point, Fear nodded forcefully.

"I see. Breaking is not a bad idea indeed. But&mdash;"

"But what?"

"...There's actually no need to wait for Cow Tits to return. Neither do you need her to get off work early. Her help is not needed at all. Just let me do it. Fufu, let's just use this... Mechanism No.20 slashing type, great blade form: «A Hatchet of Lingchi»&mdash;Curse Calling!"

The Rubik's cube taken out by Fear instantly turned into a metallic cube, then it transformed rapidly, finally presenting a vicious hatchet. The blade glimmered brightly. Simply by looking at its long and massive shape, one would feel their life was endangered.

Hiding behind Haruaki's back, peeking at Fear from over his shoulder, Kirika was so frightened that she curled herself further into a ball. Haruaki could feel the sense of terror she was exuding as she hid behind his back&mdash;

"No, wait, I think that's too terrifying! You need to be more gentle. So I think it's better to get Konoha's help instead!"

"What are you talking about? We can't possibly wait until night. Besides, that means I'll have to keep watching Kirika intimately stuck to you until tonight. No wait, you're asking me to watch from the sidelines while feeling jealous of how you're monopolizing the adorable Kirika Cat&mdash;Arghhh, I can't tolerate this any further! So I must destroy it right now, let me do it!"

"Calm down! Look carefully, it's possible that not only the ears but you also need to be precise enough to destroy the headband portion together at the same time! Y-You wouldn't happen to be thinking that just because she's Class Rep, injuring her a little wouldn't matter, would you?"

"Stop looking down on others. My intentions are not that awful. I'm confident that I won't harm her at all! What~ I just need to destroy it precisely, right? Leave it to me... Fufufu."

Fear smiled confidently and malevolently while approaching slowly with the axe in her hand, meanwhile gesturing with her free hand in an attempt to summon Kirika.

"Okay, Kirika, come on over to me, okay...?"

"H-Hu mii..."

Kirika sounded even more like a kitten while her shoulders trembled nonstop.

"You don't need to be so afraid, this is to help you..."

"...(twitch twitch)."

"Just close your eyes and it'll be over in an instant..."

"...(shudder shudder)."

"Ahhh~ Look how you're trembling so much, you really look quite pitiful. Don't worry..."

Moving in a floating manner like a ghost, Fear took another step forward.

Then she slowly raised the hatchet.

"That's right, don't... worry... I won't hurt you! Fufufufu!"

"Eee... Eee meow&mdash;!"

"Hey&mdash;! You're deliberately scaring her, right? I can tell from a single glance! Eh, Class Rep?"

Accompanied by a loud scream, Haruaki's shoulder suddenly felt lighter. As he looked back, he saw Kirika's hair swaying as she rushed out of the living room and disappeared from sight.

"Aww crap! She ran away!"

"That's totally obvious! In that situation just now, even I wanted to run away!"

In any case, they had to chase her. Haruaki and Fear ran out of the living room together but did not see Kirika in the corridor.

"Hey~ Class Rep, where are you&mdash;?"

Thud!

Hearing the noise, Haruaki and Fear exchanged glances then slowly made their way towards the apparent source, the kitchen. They ended up finding Kirika who was trying to hide like a cat.

If one had to sum up the scene in a single sentence...

She was in the cupboard.

Hiding in the lowest shelf. Naturally, the cupboard was filled with stuff while Kirika was a human-sized cat, which meant there was no way she could hide completely... She was simply concealing her head while exposing her rear, and rather than rear, it would be more accurate to describe the outrageous scene as her lower half poking out of the cupboard.

"Class Rep...?"

"Mew..."

"What kind of hiding is this? I've found you."

"Meow!"

Kirika responded to Haruaki's calls and exposed her face, but as soon as she spotted Fear's presence, she immediately scurried away and fled. Due to moving bipedally, her speed was quite fast... But even if she moved on all fours like a cat instead, there would be other troubles. First of all, the most dangerous part was her skirt which would further increase the feeling that he might see something that he should not.

"Woah, she ran away again! Anyway, Fear, put that hatchet away first!"

"Muu, I forgot."

"Jeez..."

After waiting for Fear to put away the torture tool, Haruaki left the kitchen together with her. But again, Kirika's trail was lost. Further delays might end up with her running outside, hence they had to hurry and find her&mdash;

But at this moment, an extremely ominous feeling surfaced in Haruaki's mind.

He asked himself:

...Generally speaking, escaped cats were never that easy to catch, right?



Haruaki's prediction proved to be correct as their fruitless chase persisted for quite a while. Kirika ran randomly all over the place inside the house, crouching behind the shoe cabinet, burrowing into the futon that Fear had not put away after getting up from bed, or entering the kotatsu again, or charging into a cupboard&mdash;

"Guah... Lost her again... Where are you?"

Haruaki groaned while searching the corridor. Fear was not with him, for she had fled screaming, scared off by a spider that came running out of a cupboard. Once she recovered from her shock, she was probably going to resume helping with the search. Although he would be sorry to say this to Fear, judging from the reason why Kirika was running away, Haruaki felt that he would have a higher chance of catching her by himself alone...

Advancing casually, Haruaki was thinking "it'd be nice if I found her during this time"&mdash;He heard a noise again. This time, it came from the changing area of the bathroom. Tiptoeing his way into the changing area, Haruaki did not see Kirika. Neither had she covered herself with the dirty clothing. In that case, she was probably in the bathroom.

"But why didn't I see her... Could she be over there?"

Haruaki pushed open the bathtub lid and looked inside, the result was&mdash;

"...M-Meow."

He found her. Kirika had curled herself up to hide in the empty bathtub. Although he startled her the instant the lid was lifted, as soon as she discovered that it was Haruaki standing before her, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fear has incurred your dislike already huh... But let's put that aside first. Class Rep, it's okay now. Anyway, please don't flee again. Come with me."

"Hu mii..."

"Don't worry, relax. Okay, I'll protect you from getting harmed by that silver demon."

Haruaki smiled as he spoke to her. Only after a long while did Kirika slowly extend her hand from the tub. Just as Haruaki gently held her hand in return&mdash;

"Seriously, that damned weird creature... So good at running. Hey~ Haruaki, where are you&mdash;?"

"...!"

"Woah!"

As soon as she heard Fear's voice, Kirika withdrew her arm forcefully. Left without a choice, Haruaki was dragged into the bathtub. Kirika even closed both her arms tightly around the back of his neck. During this time, Haruaki heard a thudding noise behind him as his view grew dim&mdash;Kirika had probably used her feet to close up the bathtub lid.

(This... is...)

Perhaps afraid of being discovered by Fear, she wanted Haruaki to hide together with her. As much as Haruaki could sympathize with how she felt, having their bodies intimately pressed together like this was really quite problematic. Due to the closed lid, Haruaki could not see clearly but not only were his ears feeling Kirika's breath, he could also feel something soft underneath him and even his legs were being clamped immobile by something&mdash;As soon as he calmly pondered his body's state, Haruaki could not help but think "this is quite terrible."

Just as Haruaki remained frozen there, Fear's voice came closer and closer.

"Hey, then is it the bathroom...?"

At this moment, Kirika suddenly applied greater force to his neck. In other words, something was pressed completely against Haruaki's body. Haruaki had no choice but to focus like an ascetic monk and avoid thinking.

Their pounding heart beats sounded in unison for a few seconds&mdash;

"Hmm~ Not here..."

Fear did not continue speaking. Apparently, she had not discovered the two of them here. Haruaki exhaled with relief and spoke softly in the darkness:

"S-She seems to have left. So Class Rep, could you please let go of me..."

"Suu... Huff~ Mew..."

"Y-You're sniffing scent...?"

"...Meow, mmm&mdash;!"

"Woah, why are you hugging me tighter and tighter? Wait a sec, okay, the danger has already left, calm down! Class Rep, wah! Why are you pressing that spot against this place&mdash;?"

Just as Haruaki struggled desperately, trying to free himself from Kirika's embrace, his dark field of view suddenly became bright, allowing him to see Kirika's ecstatic expression while hugging him. This situation meant that someone had lifted the bathtub's lid&mdash;

"Ah... Ah..."

With stiff motions, Haruaki looked back. Standing over there, obviously holding the lid, smiling at the sight of Haruaki and Kirika entangled together in the narrow space&mdash;Fear.

"Fufu... Thinking you were probably here, I bluffed and wouldn't you know it, I caught you red-handed... Fufufu."

Then Fear smiled like an executioner&mdash;

Silently, she took out the Rubik's cube from her pocket.

"You misunderstood, Fear! This isn't what you think..."

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter, Haruaki. I already know everything. You don't need to explain anymore..."

Just as previously, the toy clicked and transformed into a vicious hatchet.

"I really made a mistake. The first person this hatchet needs to chop is you instead of Kirika! I will teach you a good lesson, you shameless brat! Just sit there obediently&mdash;!"

"Eeeek!?"

"Hu meow!?"

Fear's expanding aura of murderous rage was enough to send Kirika into an even more serious state of panic. Hence, she desperately struggled in the cramped bathtub, finally standing up.
[[image:C3 07-259.jpg|thumb]]

"Wah~ Class Rep, please calm down... Ouch ouch!"

"Meow&mdash;!"

Stepping on Haruaki's shoulder and head as a foothold, Kirika tried her utmost to escape Fear who was right in front of her. But because Fear blocked the way to the rinsing area, she ran in the opposite direction... In other words, she noisily opened the window above the bathtub and escaped outside. Thinking "Oh no!", Haruaki frantically poked his body out of the window and looked outside. Perhaps bringing out primal instincts due to desperation, Kirika displayed cat skills even further and instantly climbed up to the roof using a nearby drainpipe.

"Oh man, things have become even worse...!"

"Th-That's not my fault, okay? Everything just now was your fault for being too shameless!"

Fear spoke while putting on her shoes to go outside. Looking up at roof from the garden, they could see Kirika curling herself into a ball on the tiles, her body trembling.

"Cl-Class Rep..."

"Hurry and come down&mdash;I'm really sorry for earlier. Look, there's nothing in my hands anymore&mdash;!"

The two of them tried to call her down, but only managed to make Kirika even more afraid. The instant she heard the noise, she became frightened and frantically tried to dash to the other end of the roof to find a place to hide. Peering from highest point of the roof to reveal half of her face, she looked down towards them with worried eyes of trepidation.

"It's not working... It'll be bad if she fell down. We must hurry and protect her."

"I can jump that kind of height, leave it to me!"

Haruaki narrowed his eyes in derision and tightly grabbed Fear's collar just as she crouched down in preparation to jump.

"Hold it right there for me. I haven't forgotten how you damaged the roof tiles when you first arrived here. If you break the tiles again, I'll definitely need to call someone in to fix it... Also thinking back now, it's quite a miracle that only the tiles were broken at the time. If you end up making a huge hole in the ceiling as a result of believing in another miracle, it'll drive me nuts."

"I-I'm not that heavy, okay! I'll curse you!"

"By the way, I think if you go, you'll only scare her into running all over the place. In this kind of state, the same could happen if I went, but at least the chances are much better than yours. So I'll go up and you wait here. Uh&mdash;I remember the ladder being in the storeroom..."

"Muu... No other way, I guess."

Despite her reluctance, Fear seemed to be persuaded after all. Hence, Haruaki took out a foldable ladder from the accessory dwelling's storeroom and used it to climb to the roof top. Perhaps because the sun was about to set, at this unsheltered location, the wind felt especially chilly.

"Well... then..."

He checked out the roof top and found Kirika looking towards him from the other end of the roof, her eyes still filled with terror.

"A-Aren't you cold, Class Rep? We can go back to the kotatsu to warm ourselves&mdash;"

"..."

Haruaki took a light step forward. Kirika swiftly moved to the side. Whenever Haruaki tried to circle over to her side, she would move in the opposite direction to increase their distance. Perhaps due to the excessive terror caused by the earlier murderous aura, her wariness was unprecedented.

"It's really okay. See, I'm alone."

"Meow..."

Although Haruaki spread his hands to show that everything was safe and alright, Kirika still refused to lower her guard. She simply maintained a fixed distance and stared directly towards Haruaki.

No good... Haruaki sighed. Seriously, how did things come to this? Naturally, it was entirely the fault of the cursed cat ears&mdash;

Haruaki thought "oh right." A cursed tool&mdash;Due to their obvious existence, he had forgotten that this home was that kind of place, a house where cursed tools were gathered. Although he had no recollection of those cat ears, it could very well have come from somewhere in his own house. Just by chance, Kirika came upon it, and just by chance, she had put it on, probably. Simply put, the reason she became like this was&mdash;

"Class Rep... I'm sorry."

He muttered.

Indeed, his home was to blame. Upon reflection, Haruaki remembered that this home was used to keep large numbers of cursed tools. Although he was fine due to his constitution, to others, to ordinary humans like Kirika, this kind of place was far too dangerous.

Were this an ordinary household, Kirika obviously would not have suffered such a fate. She would have visited this home normally, drank tea normally, then returned home normally after borrowing the cookbooks normally. Nevertheless, none of these matter-of-fact imagery could be witnessed in this home. Because it was this kind of home, those imagery could not exist.

However&mdash;Haruaki narrowed his eyes.

That sort of normal life would require everything here in exchange. Were it not for this house being the place where cursed tools were gathered, Haruaki would not have gotten to know Fear, Konoha and Kuroe. As for Kirika, perhaps their relationship would not have grown so close either.

Actually, thinking over these hypothetical situations was useless, because right now, only this kind of life and this kind of home was "normal." There was absolutely no way of changing predetermined reality.

Hence, hence all he could say to her, sure enough, was&mdash;

"...S-Sorry."

Repeating the same word, Haruaki could only smile wryly as he watched Kirika make a slightly doubtful expression of "...?" while he slowly sat down on the spot. Haruaki felt the hardness of the tiles from his bottom.

"Hmm... I will accompany you until you're willing, Class Rep. Before you calm down, I'll be right here waiting for you. I won't force you to do anything and I absolutely won't do anything excessive. I promise you... So, anyway, we'll just wait here leisurely."

"Meow...?"

"Haha, you can understand what I'm saying...? Oh well, it's been quite a long time since I last visited the roof, so it's quite refreshing for me too. It'd be better if only I had brought tea or something up here&mdash;Ow!"

Just as Haruaki mentally prepared himself for a long haul and his hand reached behind his back to support himself, he felt a slight pain on his palm. The roof tile at that position was already cracked so his palm was cut by the slightly protruding edge of the broken tile. Seeing the continuous bleeding, Haruaki frowned.

"Hmm, how unlucky, is this caused by the destruction Fear wrought last time? Looks like I better not be stingy with the money and get someone to fix the tiles as quickly as possible... Woah!"

His body suddenly felt an impact and was pushed over with a slam. If he were not sitting, surely he would have been sent flying and fallen off the roof. Feeling terrified, Haruaki looked at the object that had charged at his body&mdash;Naturally, it was Kirika.

"Meow... Meow~ Meow..."

Her voice sounded sad. Her expression likewise. Having pushed Haruaki down, Kirika lightly brought her face against Haruaki's hand&mdash;

Then she stuck out her tongue.

And licked the wound.

"Meow... Mmm... Mmm, meow..."

"W-Woah~ Class Rep?"

There was a slight sound of moistness. The blood flowing down the palm was carefully licked clean by Kirika's mouth. Haruaki could feel surprising warmth from her tongue. Perhaps due to the pain of the wound, he could no longer distinguish her temperature. Calmly and without hurrying, she continued to move her little tongue nimbly. Lick lick, lickety lick.

"..."

Although this situation was absolutely embarrassing, Haruaki could not move his hand because Kirika was gripping it tightly. Neither could he shake her off forcefully. In any case, he had no choice but to acquiesce to her wishes.

At this moment, an unimportant question of "do cats have this kind of habit?" crossed his mind while he sighed slightly wryly.

"To think I had such a tough time catching you earlier, yet once I decided to wait patiently, I ended up catching you successfully instead. What is this?"

"...Meow?"

Reacting to Haruaki's muttering, Kirika looked up at him.

"Oh~ It's over? Uh&mdash;Thank you for licking my wound... Should I thank you first for that? Okay, the bleeding's almost stopped, it's already okay."

Haruaki lightly clenched his fist and opened it to show that his hand was already fine. Kirika also smiled happily, purring vaguely in cat language, then she pressed her entire body against Haruaki tightly. He was once again cornered with no way out.

"How troubling... I guess I'll have to stay like this for now."

Hearing her answer with a meow, Haruaki made a wry expression. He could hear a cat's purrs by his ear. Kirika's warm body weight was resting on top of him, as though trying to protect him from the chill of the blowing wind. The view before his eyes was still the familiar and peaceful sky, generously displaying a wondrous and picturesque sunset. On further thought, Haruaki realized that the last time he had lain down like this to watch the sky was already a long time ago.

"Mmm meow... Hoo&mdash;..."

Suddenly, what entered Haruaki's ears were breathing noises following a regular rhythm. Bringing his gaze back from the sky, he found Kirika sleeping with a blissful expression on her face with eyes closed. Furthermore, she was using his stomach as a pillow.

"Doing as pleased, nothing less expected from a cat... Woah!"

"..."

Haruaki almost jumped out of his skin. Without him noticing, Fear had climbed up, standing on the top of the ladder, she leaned her upper body forward onto the roof to look in his direction. Fear's vicious expression looked as though she was about to break out in loud cursing but immediately, she noticed that Kirika was sleeping. Hence, she reluctantly shut her mouth, probably deciding that there would be no benefit in waking her up at this point in time.

Instead, Fear pouted with displeasure, gesturing with one hand repeatedly while standing on the ladder. Was she trying to convey some kind of message?

(ʞ... i... l... l...? W-What kind of secret code is this...?)

She kept repeating the same motions. Haruaki finally figured it out. It was mirror-reversed because he had not realized that his position was opposite to hers. In that case&mdash;

&mdash;I'm gonna kill you.

(You've got to be kidding, right!?)

Just as Haruaki tried to gesture in response that "You've got the wrong idea, it's Kirika who hugged me on her own until she fell asleep"&mdash;

The motion of his arm ended up causing his fingertips to touch Kirika's cat ears lightly.

"...Eh?" "Hmm?"

Haruaki stared in wide-eyed amazement while Fear frowned and leaned forward in puzzlement.

The cat ears that originally could not be pulled off no matter what, unbelievably... What on earth was going on?

The cat ears easily separated from Kirika's head and rolled over the roof tiles before their eyes.