Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume5 Epilogue (section)

===Part 1===

A sickroom on a certain night. This was not a shop in the cultural festival but a sickroom in an actual hospital.

There were two men. One was a man in a patient's gown with creepy long hair, sitting up on the sickbed. The other man had even longer hair and was dressed in a black lab coat. He was sitting in the pipe chair by the bed.

The man in the chair&mdash;Pakuaki&mdash;took out a mask from his bag and placed it on the bed.

"Let me return this to you first, Himura-kun. It turned out to be quite fortunate that I borrowed this from you. It did help me out a great deal indeed."

"Really? I'm happy that it came in handy, Lab Chief."

Himura nodded lightly as he answered quietly.

"Sorry for making so many visits. I hope I haven't hindered you from recuperating."

"Don't say that, I'm very happy you visited me personally, Lab Chief."

"This implies that I recognize your worth, as well as the exhausting work required of my sister's partner... Also, I appreciate your capabilities. Your observation reports have always been very accurate and I'm especially interested in that research report regarding «Il est dans Bastille». Compared to the beginning, our understanding of it has advanced greatly, such as only transmitting the voice, or the sense of presence manifesting when one is too forceful&mdash;like emanating murderous intent, for example. Looks like it cannot be used for assassination purposes, what a shame."

Himura's expression remained unchanged. The quiet and unassuming man, whose presence could easily be neglected if one did not pay particular attention, simply nodded lightly in response.

"However&mdash;I would advise you to pay more attention to its curse, okay? Because your sense of presence has already diluted to the point that you don't even need to wear the mask. We are researchers, not fanatical zealots like those from the Family. Once you acknowledge there's a risk, I will approve transferring all rights of ownership back to the Lab Chief's Nation."

"...Yes, I know."

"Good for you. That's it, so please don't worry too much. It's not like I'm threatening you that 'you'll instantly lose awareness of your own existence.' I'm simply warning you as your boss. If you're using it for observation or research, that's fine, but I hope you won't indulge in matters of amusement. Indeed, take for example&mdash;"

Pakuaki spoke in nonchalant tone of voice.

As though it were common knowledge.

"Helping Oratorie Rabdulmunagh escape from the branch lab, or anything of that sort?"

"Hmm&mdash;"

Himura was visibly shaken while Pakuaki began to giggle.

"If she were to regain her freedom, one would predict that she would attempt to locate Bivorio in order to obtain further orders. Hence you made a deal with her, right? If she proceeded to kill the boy you indicated, you will tell her Bivorio's location. Also, you'll let her roam free. And since I borrowed this thing from you this morning, hmm~ It really was quite tight in timing, how dangerous."

"..."

"Okay, what would be your reason for doing so? Of course, I also know why. The feeling of converting unknowns into knowns is wonderful&mdash;I knew about your infatuation with Kirika from a long time ago. Despite the accuracy of your reports, to this date, you've never written a single sentence regarding whom Kirika held feelings of love for, right? How very strange~ As Kirika's partner, always hanging by her side, you were supposed to report immediately if anything happened."

Pakuaki stood up from his chair and started pacing aimlessly in the sickroom. After wandering for a few rounds, he happened to stop in front of the window. Looking outside, he took out a packet of CalorieMate from his pocket and started eating.

"...You must have expected it all along. Once I came here to take Kirika back, she would play the hand of revealing her feelings of love. When that happened, what would I do? Haha, just as you predicted, I acknowledged her idea and relented. Because, isn't this very interesting? That Kirika, the Kirika who could not free herself from Wathes, to think she would actually fall in love with someone by her own volition."

Staring into the darkening sky outside the window, Pakuaki's hair and shoulders shook as he laughed:

"Then, this is probably what you proceeded to think, right? Once I found out about Kirika, I'd find it amusing and would try to fan the flames, perhaps even going as far as to help her feelings bear fruit&mdash;Hmm, regarding that, it's a little different. I am a researcher. Even though she is my little sister, I won't easily interfere in the matters of the subject under observation. Logically speaking, you should know that very well... However, if there's no further progress, perhaps I might consider it. After all, it's quite natural to add reagents to an unreactive test tube whose development is stalled."

He bit into the second piece of CalorieMate, thereby ingesting another 100 calories.

"This resulted in a sense of crisis for you. As to what kind of crisis, I won't say it out in consideration of your personal reputation. Due to that sense of crisis, you decided to use Oratorie to kill a boy. Doing the deed yourself was a no-go. Also, the aforementioned mask cannot be used for assassination. More importantly, you needed to find someone completely unrelated to you to kill that boy. In actual fact, that kind of ugly mindset is common to every person... But something must have happened to spur you to make that decision, right? For example, Kirika might have said something when she caused your injuries."

"..."

"According to my observations, her intent to kill you isn't extremely clear and well-defined. Probably on the level of 'if possible, I hope he'll die.' But that was still quite a bold move on her part."

At this moment, Pakuaki shifted his gaze to the glass window before him, because it was reflecting the image of the silent Himura in bed, staring at Pakuaki's back.

"You have questions? Go ahead, questions are very important. Students in recent times don't like asking questions. It's very troubling."

"Researcher... Ueno... Is it really true?"

"Indeed, hence she is now listed as a subject under observation and cannot be repatriated. Although under the Lab Chief's authority she still belongs to the Lab Chief's Nation, in actual fact, she's no longer one of us. As for your job&mdash;as the partner in charge of reporting on Fear-in-Cube, I think I'll need to replace you with someone else. However, I'm still considering who to choose, in any case, it'll all have to wait until you're discharged from the hospital."

Himura's eyes, reflected on the dark window, showed a gaze of doubt.

"...I won't be punished?"

"Didn't I mention already? You're an excellent researcher. Also, like in this incident, you also became a cause for new unknowns, isn't that interesting? So I won't punish you specifically, however&mdash;"

Pakuaki suddenly turned around. Leaning forward, he brought his face close to Himura on the sickbed, still wearing a faint smile on his face. However, his eyes were cold and merciless. Furthermore, he was so close that Himura could hear the sound of his breathing.

"From now on, I absolutely forbid you from making any attempts to kill Yachi Haruaki."

"...!"

"Of course, that includes indirect means as well. Because of you, I was forced to send Un Izoey to save him. Kirika herself can die any number of times, that's not a problem. But at least within my view, I absolutely forbid him from being killed. He is a very important research subject. I'm currently very busy so I'll set it aside for now, but sooner or later, I will probably research him seriously. A constitution immune to curses&mdash;Isn't that intriguing? How could I let such a rare and useful guinea pig go to waste just because of your personal lust, understand? Answer me if you understand."

Holding his breath, Himura looked down and remained silent. His long and swaying hair rustling.

After several seconds of silence&mdash;

"I... understand."

"Yes, very well."

Pakuaki smiled like a child and stood up from the bedside. Sticking his hands into his pockets, he walked towards the door with brisk footsteps.

"By the way, one final reminder. Although it should be totally obvious&mdash;"

Pakuaki looked back as he rested his hand on the door handle:

"&mdash;If you want to pursue love, then fight seriously. There's no secret trick to it."

Then he waved ostentatiously as the black lab coat disappeared outside the sickroom.

After the door closed, only silence remained.

Silence.

Silence.

Then the sound of a fist striking the bed hard.