Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume4 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 6===

Is it there yet!? Not yet!?

Strength gradually faded from her hands that were thrusting the sword of petals forward. All the muscles in her entire body were screaming in pain.

Ominous anxiety was beginning to fill up her heart. Not good. If this... continued... Then&mdash;

At this moment, a black object entered the corner of her view. It had reached in from outside the window, a bundle of hair that had hardened into a spear. Fear merely swiveled her eyeballs to confirm. She saw Kuroe on the tree, observing both the situations in the corridor and down below the tree&mdash;apparently using half of her hair skillfully to do something at the bottom of the tree&mdash;She made a thumbs up gesture.

Discovering the sneak attack of the hair, Bivorio clicked her tongue lightly and used a small portion of the darkness to intercept. Kuroe's hair was deflected in the clash with the black spear. She instantly withdrew her hair as though she were afraid of getting caught. However, this did divide Abyss' attention in controlling the darkness. The shield's density should have decreased&mdash;Hence, Fear pushed harder with her arms, burying the flower sword deeper by millimeters, centimeters, almost piercing it&mdash;

But that was as far as it went.

She sensed Abyss' sneering. Feeling despair, all Fear could see was darkness. It was a rare opportunity with Kuroe offering assistance between all the things she was doing, was it not enough? Fear already had no more strength to spare. Were she to take a breath, her whole body would probably lose all power, right? Just a bit further, clearly all she needed was for the sword to pierce just a bit further!

Fear's body began to falter.

Everything was about to end. The warning signs of collapse.

Next&mdash;


"Liar."


Nikaidou Kururi buried the «Returning Kukri of Childbirth» into Abyss' center.

She aimed for the back where there was no darkness acting as a cushioning material.

This was an act of pure&mdash;

Condemnation.

"Kururi, you bitch!"

"Family, yeah right... You made me forget about Yutaka! This thing here, if I had still remembered that incident, I never, ever, would have..."

"Oh? You recalled it? Now that's truly extraordinary... such bonds... But it was what you wished for!"

Liar&mdash;Fear thought to herself. You merely wanted a pawn who loved cursed tools, that's all&mdash;She murmured to herself. This man's insanity and depravity were sufficient for her to make such a conclusion.

What did Kururi actually think?

The answer was given by her trembling hands that pushed the blade of condemnation deeper.

Even so, Abyss was not yet destroyed. A single kukri knife was not enough to break that cross.

"O&mdash;oooh!"

The darkness writhed and moved towards the back, sending Kururi's body flying. The knife remained embedded in the cross while the girl's petite body rolled into the depths of the corridor.

Fear did not miss this excellent opportunity. The shield of darkness became even less dense. Abyss was distracted.

(Right here!)

Fear concentrated the last of her strength and shoved her weapon with reckless abandon. Penetrate&mdash;Penetrate&mdash;Penetrate through!

Clack! The teardrop-shaped tip of the sword made a sound like chipping stone as it stabbed into the cross&mdash;However.

That too, was as far as it went.

The darkness remained. The tip of the sword had only barely managed to penetrate its defense.

The sword remained motionless, unable to pierce any further. Body strength, grip strength, arm strength, Fear's power was reaching a limit.

"Ku... Kukuku! Owing to Kururi, I was worried for a moment there... But it looks like this is the end...!"

"Yeah, this is the end."

Fear admitted honestly.

Because this was enough.

"Then you should give up! I asked that boy to make his confession, thereby using the divinity called a curse to bestow salvation upon him. He no longer needs to waste his efforts on the troublesome task of lifting curses from Wathes. Hence, even if you join the Family, he won't care at all!"

"You're still going on about that? «Narrow Narrow Abyss»&mdash;You and your curse cannot save people! You're just a mere cross, stop falsely claiming to be God!"

Then she infused her will into the sword of petals whose tip was embedded inside the cross. Fear infused her will of "Okay, let's do it!"

How foolish, she thought. In the cube that harbored all the sadism humans could conceive, how could there possibly exist a tool whose usage ended with a simple stab?

"You will die because of me, who is merely a cross. You will witness clearly this cross of mine that is as merciless as God!"

&mdash;Blossom.

The flower sword's blade was split apart into four pieces with the tip opening up in a cross shape. The tear shapes at the tip popped out as hooks for stabbing into and ripping open a human body effortlessly. This sword of a flower blossomed in the shape of a cross, causing torn flesh to roll up and the flower bud known as the human body to blossom.

Blooming forcibly, the sword carved a cross-shaped wound on top of Abyss' cross form. Creaking, grating, the cross gradually ruptured from the gouging.

"Ugh... Gh... Uh..."

"Abyss!"

Bivorio's voice was full of anxiety. Serves you right&mdash;Fear thought to herself as she felt all strength suddenly sucked out from her body. She had exhausted all her power in penetrating the darkness.

Losing strength in her knees, she collapsed into a sitting posture on the floor but without letting go of the weapon in her hand. Within her rapidly darkening view, she could see Abyss' darkness, darker than that from any other source, disappearing from around him&mdash;

Hence.

The condemnation carved by Kururi from behind&mdash;

And the stigmata carved by Fear from the front&mdash;

Combined to dissect the cursed cross into an ordinary rectangle.


From beneath her eyelids that were about to close...

At the same time as Fear watched Abyss' darkness disappearing, the dress of darkness covering Bivorio also dissipated. Perhaps due to the disappearance of the armor that allowed her wounded body to move forcibly, Bivorio was now vomiting blood, pressing her hand against her abdomen, collapsing with her eyes out of focus. Shattered into quite a few pieces, the remains of the cross also fell onto the floor of the corridor, its broken fragments scattering.

Ahhh&mdash;It's finished. I succeeded, Haruaki&mdash;

Amidst exhilarating exhaustion and relief, Fear heard female laughter.

"Ahhh... Ah... Ha... Aha..."

Sobbing as she laughed.

But it was extremely hollow. The hollow laughter of a girl who had lost everything.

"Aha... Haha... Haha... Ahhh... Ooohaaaaahaha... Ooha... Hee... Ooh..."

Blown away, Kururi slowly got up to her feet. Kicking away the cross fragment that had rolled over to her feet, she did not seem to notice and walked unsteadily into the depths of the corridor. Towards where? Did she want to go somewhere? Or like a lost child, looking for a direction&mdash;Ambiguous footsteps.

What should Fear say? No idea.

What should Fear tell her? No idea.

But she knew she had to say something.

Thinking that, Fear decided to speak out. However, she could no longer withstand the heavy weight of her eyelids. Drowsiness overwhelmed all her thoughts. The instant she lost consciousness, the last thing she saw was the figure of the girl disappearing into the dark depths of the chilly school building, laughing as she sobbed, as though she were walking into the abyss of hell.



Fear did not know how long her eyes remained shut.

As her limbs gradually regained strength, she sat up. Bivorio remained collapsed on the floor. There were no signs of Kururi in the surroundings. Although there were still many things to be done, Fear decided to check out the situation outside which had gone quiet.

Peering out the window, she discovered that the battle had concluded as suspected. With unsteady steps, she jumped out the window. The rain had greatly diminished already, but her body was still greeted by icy-coldness.

Hearing a patter of footsteps, Fear found Kuroe standing by her side.

"I really have to say this, you helped me greatly there."

"Because I had to pay attention to Kono-san's side too, I was only able to help you a little... Anyway, you're welcome. Of course, it'd be better if you could repay me with your body."

Gazing blankly as usual, Kuroe remained aloof as always.

Konoha was also standing nearby. Fear frowned at the sight of her.

"Hey Cow Tits, it's that whatchamacallit, right? Whatever 'cliche' or 'signature move'? Every time you defeat the enemy, you have to go full naked."

"Eh... Uwah!"

Throwing a glance at Konoha who frantically ran towards her clothes, Fear surveyed the surroundings. To be honest, she did not care one little bit about Cow Tits the eye sore. 

What mattered was&mdash;The two remaining people.

Aiko was lying sprawled on the ground. For some reason, Haruaki was kneeling before her, his hand extended into Aiko's pocket. Fear understood that there was no danger and the situation was not going to worsen.

Clutching Haruaki's other hand, Aiko rubbed it against her forehead and simply cried.

Fear called out to Haruaki from behind:

"On the way home, what are you going to buy for me without a doubt? It's my favorite food, that tasty thing."

Without turning his head, Haruaki laughed lightly and wryly through his nose:

"...I forgot to ask you: has the ranking between rice crackers and roasted sweet potatoes changed? You looked so touched back when you were eating that sweet potato."

Fear felt something overflow from the depths of her heart.

Something massive and comfortable, an emotion that made her want to laugh, cry and yell loudly all at once.

But Fear suppressed that feeling and squeezed words out of her throat:

"...Hmph, rice crackers remain unshakable as number one. Although roasted sweet potatoes are not bad, how should I put this? ...It feels like I'll get tired of the taste if I eat it every day. But I won't tire of rice crackers even if eaten on a daily basis. This difference is huge."

Understood&mdash;Haruaki shrugged in amusement. In his view, the status quo was fine.

As for Aiko, whom Fear could see over on the other side of Haruaki's shoulder, something needed to be done.

Fear felt that there were words she had to tell Aiko.

Although she did not get a chance to tell Kururi, she felt she must tell Aiko right now no matter what.

"The Family... Do they have anything warmer than the hand that is filling up your heart right now?"

Fear's voice flew over Haruaki's shoulder.

There was no response for quite a while, but finally&mdash;

Aiko's shoulders shuddered slightly. An answer that was obvious even if she did not voice it.

"If you ever forget what you are, won't you repeat the same mistakes again? After all, you're a pot of curses, a cursed pot, a pot that has been cursed. Once the Family has you in their possession, how could they possibly not make use of you? Even if you forget your past, only new curses await you in that future. Didn't you notice this logical and inevitable outcome? &mdash;Or perhaps, you didn't want to notice?"

Phew&mdash;Sighing, Fear continued:

"I've also thought about it before, about forgetting the fact of being cursed. Like daily, for no particular reason, wanting to forget, unable to deceive myself&mdash;But it is not something that can be forgotten."

"...That's... very painful..."

"Yes, it is. That's why I need to say it. I need to tell you."

Cruel words.

Extremely cruel and icy-cold words.

"&mdash;You must suffer."

Aiko's body trembled.

Ahhh... Because&mdash;

If one were to forget, then one would not be too unworthy of salvation?

Those victims who died because of the curse.

As well as herself who had been born from their cursing.

One could not pretend it never happened. That was not acceptable.

No matter how many tears were shed, that could not be allowed.

"But&mdash;"

Fear looked lightly towards Haruaki's back. Konoha was frantically putting on her clothes. Kuroe stood standing, her blank gaze carrying a vague sense of gentleness.

"I say this to myself as well. So let us suffer together. Even if it's hopeless alone, if we have companions, we can surely endure it. It goes for me and it goes for you as well. We must suffer repeatedly, again and again, but we will still live as ourselves. Doing things for the good of others, lifting our curses, living as our ordinary selves."

"...I... can't do... anything, but... curse others..."

"Haha. Fear couldn't do anything either."

"Muu."

Haruaki laughed. He laughed cheerfully. Then quietly taking Aiko by the hand, he stood up and said:

"Even if you can't do anything, all you need to do is practice and try hard. These small things can start from the ground up. What special powers, those don't really matter. To be honest, I don't even want to make use of them. However~ If using those abilities can help save someone, it can't be helped either."

Indeed, just as Fear had told Abyss, curses could not save people.

In that case, how could her earlier actions be explained? In order to save everyone in school, what did wielding those torture tools constitute? &mdash;Faced with this internal question, Fear immediately got the answer.
[[image:C3 04-258.jpg|thumb]]

My wish is not using a curse to save people.

Instead, it is me, who bears a curse, who wants to save people.

It was a minute distinction, but also a profound distinction.

"Ultimately, the power obtained from being cursed is just a replaceable inheritance. Whether me or you, no matter what abilities result from being cursed, no matter what those abilities can achieve, it doesn't matter. There's only one thing that bugs me about you&mdash;When can I challenge you to a dishwashing rematch again? Only that. If there's a trick to dishwashing, please tell me. Otherwise, it'd be too unfair."

Hearing Fear's words, Aiko looked up in surprise. Through her dripping wet bangs, she looked at Haruaki who was supporting her by the hand, looked at Konoha who was finally dressed, looked at Kuroe, and finally looked at Fear&mdash;

"...Hweh~"

That was the sound she made.

Perhaps there was something that made her happy.

Or perhaps everyone's gazes were making her embarrassed.

Or perhaps she felt troubled, not knowing how to react.


Or just maybe, it was because of the flying knife that stabbed into her chest.


&mdash;Curses could never save people.

&mdash;Those who thought they were saved, ultimately could not be saved.