Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 6===

Bathed under the pouring rain that flew sideways from the wind, Haruaki and Konoha finally arrived at the shore on the south side of town. Nevertheless there were still no signs of Fear. Trying to ward off ominous premonitions, they ran along the road which followed the shoreline. From ahead, a car slowly approached with its headlights lit up. One would have expected it to simply pass by but—

"Hey wait, you two... Are you searching for someone? If not, then never mind."

"Did you see anyone? Uh, we... Yes—we are searching for someone, a foreign girl with silver hair!"

As expected—the man in the driver's seat and the woman beside him looked at each other.

"You did see her?"

"Ah yes. Roughly ten minutes ago... She was walking ahead of here listlessly as we passed her by. She wasn't even carrying an umbrella and looked quite strange. We felt concerned so we turned back to look for her just now... But couldn't find her."

"Ahead of here... If I remember right, it's a dead end...?"

"That's why we felt troubled. What should we do? Should we call the police?"

"A-Ah yes—No no, there's no need! We were just playing some sort of punishment game... I think she probably went to hide somewhere! Really, that child, always acting out excessively... That's right, acting out excessively! Ahahahaha..."

Behind Haruaki, Konoha made a fake diplomatic smile and tried to smooth things over. What, it turns out to be something like this—the man forced a smile.

"That's right! How could something so terrible happen in real life... Really, this kind of shock is bad for the heart. You guys shouldn't play such dangerous punishment games. We almost called the police!"

"Yes, that's true, you are completely right... Sorry! Then we'll be on our way!"

They were finally near their goal. Haruaki and Konoha ran towards the direction where the car came from. Beside them, the beach gave way to a rocky shore. As they passed through the windbreak plantation, they quickened their pace as they made sure there were no signs of people. The road narrowed and as they ran, the paved path disappeared. At the end of that small path, the endpoint—was a vast space with only minimal street lighting.

The sea lay ahead with tall cliffs on the right. On the left, the rocky shore ended here with the wave breaker extending perpendicularly towards the sea.

This was all there was. All that could be seen was this.

"...Not here..."

Haruaki walked unsteadily onto the wave breaker. No one, there was no one there, only the sea.

"...Why...?"

The answer was simple, but he refused to believe it. If there was only the sea here—then it meant she was somewhere in the sea.

Somewhere in this vast expanse of water.

At the front end of the wave breaker, Haruaki collapsed on the ground.

The rain was so noisy. The sounds around him suddenly changed.

"Haruaki..."

He was unable to respond to this voice. Clenching his fist, he gritted his teeth. Clearly his body still had strength, but a sense of emptiness filled him. The sounds from all around penetrated his hollow body.

Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. 

Clink.

Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. 

Clink—

Haruaki raised his head with surprise. Crawling over to the limits of the front edge of the wave breaker, he extended half his torso over the sea. Then he saw a certain object.

"Ha... Haha..."

"Haruaki...?"

His shoulders trembling, Haruaki took out his cellphone and wallet from his pockets, tossing them to Konoha who was puzzled by his actions.

"...I forgot the most important thing. First of all, that girl is heavy. Secondly, she is very stupid, a fool, and very naive. Therefore—she definitely did not give much thought to where she jumped into the sea. Her first choice must be a spot that resembles the sea the most, this place. Yes, definitely. And there's evidence... The people just now said, she was seen roughly ten minutes ago, so this thing couldn't have drifted far."

The corners of his lips rising into a smile, he said lightly:

"I'll be right back."

"Eh? Umm, wait!"

Haruaki jumped into the sea.

The little toy cube struck the wave breaker as it bobbed up and down from the splash.


Was it because he had been splattered by rain all this time? Unbelievably, the seawater felt warm to Haruaki. The saltwater made his emergency bandaged hand hurt, and even though he had prepared himself, it was unexpectedly painful. Within his virtually dark view, he could only dive deeper by using the faint light above to orient himself. As his arm strokes plowed through the water, his fingers suddenly struck sand, surprising him slightly. But now was not the time to be surprised. He proceeded to search his surroundings.

The current situation was, that "thing" should have fallen from the wave breaker like a cannonball, a human-sized cannonball which could neither turn nor swim—surely he could find it. Based on logic, the probabilitiy could not be low. Haruaki persuaded himself in this manner. After a while, his fingertips suddenly touched seaweed. Seaweed? —Searching further, at the root of the seaweed was a hard yet soft and round object—hair and a head! Found her!

Next all he needed to do was float back to the surface. Embracing what appeared to be her shoulders, he kicked his legs with all his strength.

(Not good... So heavy!)

Anxiety consumed his oxygen. Was that direction really the surface of the sea? He could not be certain. Perhaps he was advancing towards the seabed. In fact, was he really advancing? Could his legs be kicking emptily at the bottom of the sea?

Just as he felt himself in a crisis, an unexpected water current could be sensed all around him. The body he held in his arms felt lighter and his kicking legs seemed to be propelling harder. Several seconds later—

"Puwaaah! Guh, cough... Oooh..."

"Huff... Huff... You... You are way too reckless! Seriously!"

"Sorry... Thanks for saving me."

The one floating beside him was of course Konoha. Haruaki thanked her from the bottom of his heart as he examined the tiny body they embraced between them.

"Our kind shouldn't be able to drown. She should wake up if you leave her for a while."

"Hoo... Honestly, I was really worried. Goodness knows what would happen if this evolved into a drowning incident of another victim! This girl is super heavy, if you hadn't helped it would have been dire."

"Seriously, what if you drowned! If it's heavy then at least come up for air first. This child is not human. Leaving her there a few more minutes would not have mattered."

"Now that you mention it, you're right... I forgot. All I could think of was getting her out from the sea as quickly as possible."

"You forgot? ...Sigh~~"

Konoha sighed in amazement.

"Seriously, if you say it that way, I can't even get angry anymore. Haruaki-kun is really Haruaki-kun... Sigh. Though this does count as one of your good points too..."

As he listened to Konoha's murmurs, Haruaki decided they had to move over to the wave breaker first. However, there did not seem to be any spot to use as a foothold. As he grabbed the Rubik's Cube floating before him, he wondered how to climb back up—Suddenly, someone extended a hand.

"You couldn't have possibly thought... You could get away with things just by offering me an explanation tomorrow, right?"

"Class Rep..."

Extending herself from the wave breaker was Kirika, who looked both angry and relieved. Sweat and rainwater slid down her face—she was holding an umbrella with one hand, and her clothes were not particularly drenched, so it was probably sweat. This meant she must have run all the way here.

"You have to explain properly, Yachi... And Konoha-kun."

"Aww..."

Konoha turned her gaze away, greatly troubled.

"I don't think this is an interesting topic... Could you pretend you didn't see anything?"

"No way. Even though it has only been a day, Fear-kun is already a classmate. I have the right to worry about her, right?"

Troubled—Haruaki shook his head.

He grabbed onto Kirika's outstretched hand.

In any case, they should enter the windbreak plantation for shelter first. Although the trees could not block the rain completely, it was still much better than being fully exposed to the wind and rain out on the wave breaker.

Late night diving was quite exhausting after all. Laying Fear down to let her sleep, Haruaki sat down on the ground.

"Hey, is Fear-kun okay?"

"Yes... Nothing to worry about, I think."

"If you say so, I'll believe it... But you are really useless, you know, look how energetic Konoha-kun is."

"Eh! Uh, I, umm..."

Because I am not human—it was impossible to tell her that directly, hence Konoha tried to dodge the issue ambiguously.

"Achoo! Ah, I feel terrible. Is this my punishment for not exercising regularly enough..."

"You suddenly jumped into the sea, that is too reckless! This is not an issue of regular exercise!"

"...Sorry."

Suddenly hearing the sound of swaying branches, Haruaki frantically turned around—

"Uwah!"

Before his eyes, a figure was suspended upside down from the branches, giving Haruaki quite a shock.

Like some sort of bizarre and strange entrance scene in a horror movie, it turned out to be a bizarre and strange human after all. It was a tiny figure shrouded entirely in black fabric. A rope-like object extended out from the figure's waist. Tied to and suspended from the branches, the sight resembled a bagworm.

"...I am an auxiliary belonging to the Frontline Gathering Knights Dominion. Mummy Maker."

"You two, please step back!"

Konoha nimbly stepped forward. However, the bagworm who called herself Mummy Maker slowly shook her head.

"I am an auxiliary, with virtually no combat ability. My purpose here is not for battle."

"...Then why are you here...?"

Haruaki positioned Fear and Kirika behind him and questioned. The girl answered simply:

"A proposal."

"Proposal?"

"The matter of our mission being 'Destroy Fear-in-Cube.' Hence I have a proposal."

A bandaged hand extended out from the mantle and raised a single finger:

"One, you people can destroy Fear-in-Cube yourself. Or two, you can incapacitate her and hand her over to me. Three, you can promise me you will not protect Fear-in-Cube and not hinder us. As long as you agree to one of the three, I will swear that we will not harm any unrelated humans and Wathes in exchange."

"That's completely stupid... If such a proposal was acceptable, I wouldn't have interfered in the first place. Isn't it so obvious you don't even need to ask?"

"Wait a minute, Haruaki-kun... I am very concerned why she still came to ask at this stage."

Konoha glared sharply at Mummy Maker.

"What you mean is—If we were to refuse you, you will target the lives of Haruaki-kun and me? Not simply because our protecting Fear leaves you no choice... But as part of your purpose, even if we do not stand before Fear, you will attack us?"

"...You are free to interpret as you wish."

Seeing Konoha's severe gaze unfazed, Mummy Maker softly supplemented:

"As a further note, this is a friendly offer."

"Friendly? Don't make me laugh... Are these the words of the companion of the lunatic who appeared during the day? Unbelievable. And the proposal itself is so stupid, it is impossible not to be suspicious whether there is a trap."

"I have no conspiracy. This offer comes from me alone. I think it is advantageous to both sides."

In response to Haruaki's voice, her answer sounded slightly guilty. But she immediately went "Sorry I have misspoken" and shook her head.

"I will give you a day's time to consider. Use it to think it through carefully. As for the method of contact..."

Taking out from beneath her mantle something that resembled flashcards, she flipped through it. However—

"...Hmm, method of contact, I seem to have forgotten to prepare..."

Apparently she failed to find what she was looking for. Instead, she searched the inside of her mantle, took out a cellphone, then started operating it with unfamiliarity, producing a noisy series of tones. Then using an adorable voice that did not quite match the scene, she read out the numbers "090..." and copied them on a card.

Having finished her task, she nodded with satisfaction and tossed the card towards Haruaki.

"Telephone number. Please contact this."

"I'm sorry you spent the effort, but like I just said, I won't accept the proposal."

"...Even if your personal safety is at risk?"

"I will permit no one to harm him. Absolutely no one."

Konoha lightly brandished her hand in a karate chop, splitting cleanly in half a leaf that had fallen from a branch.

"Hmm... Well, I am just a nuisance here. It is plain to see, there is a very reliable glasses girl right here. I have no intention of getting taken out right here."

Mummy Maker sighed with disappointment. As if on cue, her body began to rise as well.

"...I have communicated what I intended. I hope you will make a rational decision."

The black-clad figure disappeared amongst the leaves and branches. With a rustle and heavy shaking of a tree trunk—only the sound of rain remained. 

"Yachi, just now that was...?"

"Ah— ...Let's leave this for the explanation later as well. I still have many things I haven't figured out yet."

Haruaki casually picked up the card at his feet. It was not something he would ever use. However—

(This is the only method of contacting those unidentified people. Even though simply knowing a telephone number isn't going to be of much use... Throwing it away would be a shame.)

That's right, that was the only reason.

The enemy's proposal was absolutely meaningless. Completely unnecessary.

Abandoning Fear as an unneeded tool, was definitely impossible...

Suddenly, he felt someone's gaze. Konoha was looking at the card. As Haruaki looked up, she laughed as if trying to hide the seriousness in her eyes:

"...So, let's go home?"

"Ah, yes. That's right. I'm going to catch a cold unless I take a warm bath as soon as possible. As for Class Rep—"

"Naturally, I will have to take advantage of your hospitality. The questions keep piling up."

Looks like things were getting more troublesome—Haruaki slumped his shoulders dejectedly and placed the card into his pocket.