Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume10 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 3===

The next day, in the classroom, it was break time.

"Sigh..." In the neighboring seat, Fear was sighing listlessly. Haruaki cocked his head and asked:

"Are you okay? Why do I feel like you've been low in energy all day?"

"Hmm... No, nothing. It's just that I didn't get any sleep last night."

I guess it can't be helped&mdash;Haruaki thought. Indeed, so much happened yesterday. Perhaps her defeat by Elsie hit her so hard that she was unable to sleep.

Whenever Fear became depressed in stark contrast to her usual energetic self, it made Haruaki feel uncomfortable all over. In order to cheer her up, Haruaki suggested:

"I feel sleepy too right now. To drive away the sleepiness, let's go buy some drinks."

"Only if it's your treat."

"You leave me no choice. Understood!"

Haruaki originally intended to invite others along the way but Taizou and Kana were chatting with other classmates while Kirika was not in the classroom. Haruaki and Fear exited the room.

Just as they were walking in the corridor, making their way towards the vending machine near the shoe lockers, Fear suddenly stopped.

"Nuu, Himura."

The teacher with the long bangs was approaching from the opposite end of the corridor. Soon, he seemed to notice them in turn. Himura turned his head to inspect the surroundings before stopping just as they passed by him and whispering:

"...It's you two. Perfect, could you please gather on the roof after school? We'll hold a strategy meeting."

"Eh? Ah... Oh... Is it everyone?"

Since Himura was giving off his usual aura as a gloomy mathematics teacher but suddenly speaking with his original voice, Haruaki could not react in time. Having confirmed there were no other students nearby, Haruaki whispered in return.

"Yes, please tell Kirika and the others for me."

"Since it's a strategy meeting, that means you've come across new information about the enemy?"

"Precisely."

"Ohoh..."

Fear grinned, presumably interpreting the arrival of new information as a chance to counterattack. It also felt like she finally had a chance to vent her stress.

"My, how hardworking you are. Let me praise you a bit."

"That is truly my honor."

Beneath his long bangs, Himura seemed to be smiling wryly. At this moment, several female students passed by Haruaki's group.

"Oh, it's Himura-sensei. Hello~"

"...Hello everyone..."

"Sensei is still the same as always~ You've got to hold your head higher and stick your chest out! That way, you'll definitely look much cooler!"

"Yes... I will try my best..."

"Like I said, you're not doing it right~" The girls giggled while walking towards the other end of the corridor. Despite the gloomy airs he exuded, Himura was quite handsome upon closer examination. Due to this simple reason, he was unexpectedly popular with the female students.

"Yes, you're still a man who can put on a new face rapidly."

"Should this be called putting on a new face...? Anyway, it's already a habit. Originally, people used to tell me that I speak too coldly. In my efforts to speak more politely like a teacher, it became like this."

"Polite like a teacher huh...? That said, you're totally lacking in commanding presence. They won't respect you at all."

"Fear, weren't you arrogantly saying 'let me praise you a bit' just now? You totally have no right to say this..."

"Yes, although that isn't the proper attitude towards the teacher, I believe it does count as love an esteem in a certain way. I don't think there's anything bad about it."

Himura glanced at the direction where the group of girls had left, his shoulder shaking slightly with laughter. Then in an inexplicably self-deprecating voice, he said:

"Especially among the students whom I teach, there are those who hate me utterly, let alone offer love or admiration. How troubling."

Naturally, Haruaki knew who he was talking about and could not help but exchange glances with Fear. Since earlier, he had been very curious about Kirika and Himura's relationship. Fear apparently felt the same.

"Hey, why does Kirika hate you so much?"

"I feel like Kirika will hate me even more if I ended up being the one to explain. Since she hasn't mentioned it, that probably means she doesn't want you to know... Anyway, many things happened in the past. My rights and wrongs. Her rights and wrongs. These were all mixed together complicatedly."

Himura whispered while gazing afar.

"I don't get it but indeed, if Kirika doesn't want to talk about it and we still ask you, it'll cause many problems. Then it doesn't matter. After all, it's not something I need to know no matter what. Just cancel my question from just now."

"A lot happened in the past... Uh... I'm only asking out of curiosity, but how long have you actually known Class Rep, Himura-sensei?"

"If it's just that, I think telling you should be okay. Let me think... It was back when she was in middle school. I was still in university at the time but I had already joined the ranks of the Lab Chief's Nation. Then&mdash;"

Himura's voice was very gentle as though waxing nostalgic about the past.

Indeed... Haruaki had found it quite unbelievable for some time now. Compared to the masked man he had encountered back when kidnapped by Bivorio, there was something different about him.

He was now very ordinary.

Very ordinarily, using a reminiscing tone of voice with eyes that looked like they were browsing through a nostalgic photo album.

Since he was a member of the Lab Chief's Nation after all, there were indeed areas where he could not be trusted completely. But apart from that, what about the rest?

Himura was putting in full effort for Amanda who was completely unrelated to him. To save her, he was running about sincerely without pretense. To defeat the enemy who sought to kill Amanda, he was gathering all sorts of information&mdash;most likely risking his own safety to do so. Whether the fact of investigating a knight of the Dominion or using a cursed mask for these ends, there were surely inherent dangers.

Perhaps like Un Izoey, he was not such a villainous person at heart. Perhaps there were only occasional aberrations due to the standpoint of the Lab Chief Nation's ideology. Haruaki wondered.

"Then the first time I met her was when the Lab Chief brought her to the research facility&mdash;"

"Himura!"

There was suddenly a large shout. No sooner had Himura started recounting the past, the end came immediately.

It was Kirika. Probably having gone to the washroom just now, she was now walking towards them in the corridor, glaring sharply. Then stepping in front of Haruaki and Fear as though shielding them, she glared viciously at Himura.

"...What are you talking to these two about?"

"Nothing much. I was just contacting them to hold a strategy meeting and happened to engage in casual chatter."

Kirika's glare did not relax. Himura shrugged as though surrendering.

"How could you glare at a teacher with these kinds of eyes? It'll be troublesome if someone gets the wrong idea. Yes, in any case, I've said what I needed to. Then see you all later after school on the roof&mdash;Oh wait, there's math class during fifth period. Please remember to revise properly. I will be calling on you."

Then Himura turned back into his guise of the gloomy mathematics teacher and left the scene. Without saying a word, Kirika continued to glare at his back until his figure disappeared. Only then did her shoulders heave once from a sigh.

"I can't believe you were standing around, chatting with him. How absolutely ridiculous. Didn't I say to be careful of him?"

"Uh... Umm, sorry. It started with him calling us to tell us about the strategy meeting."

"Yes, then we just went with the flow. We didn't say anything important."

Haruaki and Fear were not lying but still felt guilty. After all, asking about Kirika and Himura's past in Kirika's absence was perhaps a bit underhanded.

"I see... Very well. It's almost time for class, let's head back to the classroom."

Due to standing around chatting, they ended up unable to buy drinks, but that could be done during the next break between periods. Haruaki and Fear followed Kirika while staring at her back. Haruaki thought to himself: at least try asking her directly once. To relieve my unsettled feelings and guilty conscience, asking just once would be fine. He was simply curious and had no intention of getting to the bottom of things. Just an attempt to ask should be enough.

"Umm, Class Rep... It's fine if you don't want to answer, but why do you hate Himura-sensei so much? Umm... Did something happen in the past?"

Kirika halted in her steps. Without looking back, she said:

"Sorry. Umm... To me, it is something that I find repulsive even to recall. So... If possible... I don't want to talk about it. Knowing that, do you still wish to ask no matter what?"

Haruaki's answer was prepared already, of course. Regardless what it was about, he did not want Kirika to suffer. He did not want to hear her speak in such a pained voice again&mdash;

"N-No, it's totally fine if you don't want to tell us. After all, it's not like I need to know no matter what. I'm just asking 'why~?' out of simple curiosity&mdash;Ooph!"

He ended in a painful grunt, because Fear had elbowed him in the gut.

"Jeez, you're such an insensitive and shameless brat. Everyone has things they don't wanna tell others. Kirika, don't mind him."

Kirika looked back slightly&mdash;

"Sorry." Her forced smile was incomparably forlorn.



Hence, after school, Haruaki and friends went to the roof.

Walking beside him, Konoha also seemed a bit off.

"You don't look too well. Are you okay?"

"Eh? Yes... Well, due to taking turns with Kuroe-san to keep watch last night, I didn't get much sleep. But don't worry, I've already replenished my sleep during class."

"That doesn't sound like something you should boast about so openly... Hmm, so both you and Fear didn't get enough sleep. I'm very grateful for you keeping watch during the night, but please don't push yourself too far. If you fall ill, the costs will outweigh the benefits."

"Fufu, I'm not that frail. But in any case, thank you very much."

"Yawn... To be honest, I'm very sleepy too. Are we going to hear some uplifting news next?"

"Who knows. We'll find out when we get there. Amanda, don't move... Here we go."

Fear switched positions with Kirika, who had been pushing the wheelchair, and carried the wheelchair up the stairs. When they reached the roof, Himura was already waiting there.

"You're here."

"We've arrived. If there's any news, hurry on with it."

Fear did not even try to find a place to sit but simply cut straight to the point.

"I'm glad we don't need to beat around the bush. But first of all, I must tell you all that I still haven't been able to find Hinai Elsie's hiding place."

"So there's no way to take the initiative and attack? Then? You couldn't have gathered us all here just to listen to depressing news, right?"

"Of course not. Since we cannot bring the fight to her, as things stand, stopping her from storing up time should be the best countermeasure. Furthermore, while hindering her in this period, we must also work hard to find her location then defeat her. But concretely, how does she store up time? This question still has no answer."

"Then we're still out of options, so what's the point of this meeting&mdash;"

Fear frowned and was getting more and more worked up when Himura extended his hand to stop her.

"Zero marks. You should listen to the teacher until the end. Although the specifics are unknown, I have obtained key hints. But there's no definite proof that it's linked to her."

"Hints... huh?"

"Indeed." Himura nodded at Konoha's question.

"Last night and today, there has been quite a few incidents of clock vandalism. Every clock was quite large and located at conspicuous locations. It's probably not a coincidence that clocks at different places were all damaged."

"Clocks... huh... Considering that she owns a cursed pocket watch, it is quite suspicious indeed."

Haruaki suddenly recalled.

"Speaking of which, wasn't there a large clock at the park? It was also broken."

"Yeah, it was completely by chance that we happened to pass by that park, so Hinai Elsie probably wasn't lying in wait there to ambush us. In that case, due to certain reasons, she made her appearance at that park. Supposing she was there to break the clock, then it all makes sense. Afterwards, playing together with the children&mdash;Hmph, probably just on an absolutely ridiculous whim, or could there be some other reason as well...?"

Kirika murmured softly while pondering then looking up slightly to glare at Himura, she asked in a businesslike tone of voice:

"&mdash;The quantity and locations of the broken clocks?"

Himura took out a notebook from his breast pocket, reading as he answered. A clock at a downtown shopping mall, a clock on a department store's outer wall, a clock on a comprehensive hospital's outer wall. Confirmed to this date was a total of three... Including the clock stand at the park, there were four.

"Every clock is quite large. If there's some kind of condition, it's probably that."

"Possible. If it only needed to be clocks of any type, attacking a watch shop would probably be the top choice. Have you confirmed this yet?"

"Of course this sort of trivial matter has been confirmed. No watch shop has been broken into or suffered vandalism of merchandise."

"Hmm." Fear crossed her arms and tilted her head.

"Assuming that girl needs to destroy large clocks in order to store time. Then what we need to do next is&mdash;"

"Prevent her from breaking more clocks. Since she has already broken quite a few, it means that she probably can't refill that quickly. If that's the case, her fighting time may still be quite short. If we guard a large clock and she shows up to destroy it&mdash;Perhaps it'll be to our advantage instead."

"But even if it's just large clocks... There's many of them in town."

"That girl probably isn't very familiar with this town's streets, so I think she only targets clocks that she encounters by chance. Assuming she continues to wander randomly in search of large clocks, then the biggest, most visible, most striking one is probably&mdash;"

Haruaki desperately searched his memories from the last ten-odd years. As the one who had lived in this city the longest,he quickly found the answer&mdash;

"It'll be the one in front of the train station You see, that's the one embedded in the train station building."

"Oh~ Speaking of which, that one is quite big. The possibility is very high."

"There's too little we can do, so we should try anything that seems remotely likely&mdash;Okay, tonight we will keep watch in front of the station!"

Perhaps reviving her spirits due to having a clear target for what should be done now, Fear clenched her fists forcefully and her voice recovered in energy. Then she glanced at Himura.

"Himura, I guess I should say thanks to you. Thanks to your information, we finally have something to guide us."

"&mdash;I'm glad to be able to help. But who knows what might happen next. I'll keep gathering information."

Himura spoke in a lively tone of voice then turned to leave as though things were finished. Haruaki originally wanted to thank him but missed the chance. Besides&mdash;

Haruaki somehow got the feeling that the figure silently leaving the roof did not want their thanks. Himura simply stared ahead with sincerity and solemnity while making his way forward.

However, even if he did not desire words of thanks, he was probably seeking something else instead. There must be a very pure wish driving Himura to behave in this sincere manner. What exactly could it be?

Fear and the girls were already starting to discuss their planned schedule for tonight. Apart from Haruaki, only two others kept their eyes on Himura until he vanished. The gaze they cast towards Himura was virtually the same, even though there was the difference between active and passive.

With completely emotionless eyes&mdash;Amanda and Kirika watched as Himura departed.