Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume2 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 3===

"Hmm... I don't know if I should exclaim how fortunate, or how regrettable... No wait! Of course it was fortunate! It's not like I was harboring some sort of indecent desire, so there's nothing regrettable about it...!"

Walking along the porch, Haruaki seemed to be muttering as if justifying himself to someone. He left Konoha to continue sleeping as a sword since he had once heard that when cursed tools were unwell, it was less stressful to return to their original forms. That said, helping a Japanese sword to pull up the covers was quite a new experience.

In any case, Konoha's issue was temporarily handled. The problem was the other person&mdash;

Fear was sitting on the edge of the porch, still in school uniform, hugging her shins, chin against her knees, blankly staring at the garden. Had Haruaki left her in school, who knew what sort of ruckus she might cause, which was why he had her retire early as well.

Haruaki sat down beside her. Without shifting her gaze, Fear asked:

"...How is she...?"

"Much better apparently, she'll probably make a full recovery given more sleep."

"I see."

Having left Fear alone for roughly an hour, Haruaki expected her to ridicule him and say: "You must have been doing something shameless together with Cow Tits!"&mdash;but she seemed quite distracted. From Haruaki's perspective, although being interrogated what happened would be a pain, seeing Fear so uncharacteristically gloomy was even more troubling.

"What's the matter, Fear? Do you have a stomach ache? It must be the counterattack of all those rice crackers you devoured mercilessly!"

He deliberately spoke cheerfully and poked Fear's knees through the kneesocks covering them. This resulted in Fear falling over on her side with a crash. However, she still maintained her curled in a ball posture, completely immobile. Clearly her problem was no minor matter.

Now what? &mdash;Just as Haruaki worried, he heard a faint murmur from her curled up figure.

"I... am so useless..."

"..."

"I gave my promise. Someone even said she looked forward to it. I wanted to do my best&mdash;but failed. I could neither catch the doll nor protect my classmates... And even Cow Tits was..."

No matter how poorly they got along, Fear and Konoha approved of each other on a certain level. Nevertheless, out of a matter of pride, Fear refused to display such sentiments outwardly. Always trying to ridicule her&mdash;but now that Konoha had fainted, Fear insisted on being responsible.

(...She really looks like she's disheartened.)

Perhaps due to excessive confidence&mdash;Haruaki thought. Due to the incident happening immediately after Shiraho cheered her up, her determination to try harder was probably transformed into a sense of helplessness instead. Haruaki recalled Fear's personality&mdash;usually so arrogant but always falling into a bottomless valley of depression on her own&mdash;at the same time, he was reminded of what it felt like to jump into the sea.

"What have I achieved till now? Is it really hopeless... Am I really hopeless at helping others? I guess that's right, after all, I'm just a tool for harming others. All I can do is gouge, crush and shave off human flesh&mdash;a tool for torture and execution, guh...!"

"Oh yeah! What about a simulation of a rice cake's stretching form, how amazing!"

Haruaki examined Fear's expression and began to pull on her cheeks. As her cheeks stretched, Fear's face was also lifted up.

"You, what are you doing!? I'll curse you, dummy&mdash;!"

"I forbid you to use the term 'after all.'"

"...What?"

"You only need to continue acting as yourself. A term like 'after all' only serves as an excuse for giving up. Besides, didn't you help an old lady yesterday? Cabbage master!"

Haruaki loosened his grip and withdrew his hands. Rubbing her cheeks, Fear replied:

"But that's totally different, in terms of level..."

"Maybe. There are times when even more troubling challenges surface. You find yourself powerless and tempted to say 'after all.' During times like these&mdash;Just rely on others! What's wrong with that?"

Fear stared back into Haruaki's eyes with surprise but immediately diverted her gaze, muttering "But... I want to do it on my own..." She did not understand. This girl still did not understand.

"Like I said~ You should learn how to rely on others more. Of course accomplishing things single-handedly would be ideal, but isn't it meaningless if you end up helping no one because you refuse to compromise your pride? People won't mock you just because you ask for help. Neither will anyone look down on you, say you're worthless, or dismiss you with an 'after all' comment."

However&mdash;Fear's insistence was only natural in a certain sense.

After all, tools were created with purpose. They were created to fulfill a purpose. Conversely, a tool that relied on outside assistance to fulfill its intended purpose would be no different from a "failure."

Perhaps Fear instinctively felt terrified of such a pronouncement.

Seriously&mdash;it should already be obvious she was no ordinary tool.

"Hmm... But..."

"Ah&mdash;Really! By the way, I'll let you in on a secret. When you seek others for help, this in itself could also be a good deed because it sometimes makes other people happy."

"How so?"

"&mdash;If the person feels happy for being relied on, isn't that a good deed? So&mdash;"

Haruaki scratched his head.

"I already said I wanted to help you. I want to be relied on by you. If you show such a gloomy expression, it makes me feel troubled."

"I see... It's... Okay for me to rely on you...?"

"Yes! This is the assistant's revolt, having reached the limit of his tolerance! From now on, I will stand on equal ground with you as a shareholding partner! Prepare yourself!"

Fear's eyes instantly relaxed but then she immediately pouted.

"How arrogant. But... If you really refuse to compromise no matter what, I will promote you from assistant to shareholding partner! So&mdash;You will work for me with full effort! Don't slack off!"

Smack! She slapped Haruaki on the back, perhaps to hide her embarrassment.

Sitting properly on the porch, Fear finally straightened her hunchback posture. Arms akimbo, she knelt with her upper torso raised up high, going "hmph!" complacently.

"So, what's next?"

"What's next...? What do you suggest?"

"In any case, I have to do something first."

Just as Haruaki expected her to continue speaking, Fear pulled his cheeks.

"Owwwwww... What are you doing!?"

"Hmph, just a return favor. Also, let me remind you, my hearing is superb."

"So what&mdash;"

"Just now, from Cow Tits' room I heard what sounded like moans&mdash;What did the shameless brat do with her...?"

"Eh!? Finally it comes!"

"Those sounds, I heard them! The strange sounds she made! Your irregular breathing! Even though I have no idea what you actually did, in any case... Completely shameless!"

"Wait! I understand how you feel but it's just a misunderstanding! Ah! Woohoo! Did you hear that just now? The doorbell, someone arrived! I must welcome the guest, so let me take my leave!"

"What are you going 'woohoo' for!? Hey, stop, you're not allowed to escape...!"

Haruaki escaped.



As he arrived at the entrance, the bell rang again. Yeah yeah I'm here&mdash;Haruaki opened the door to find...

"Oh it's you, Class Rep."

Kirika stood outside. Probably on her way back from school? She was still in uniform with her school bag.

"Sorry for the sudden intrusion."

"No problem at all. What's up?"

"I heard Konoha collapsed. So, how should I say this, I came to visit&mdash;Also there's the fact that you all left school early. In other words, I'm a bit concerned."

Hesitantly, Kirika alternated her glances between Haruaki and her feet. It was quite rare to see her in such a state of indecision.

"Oh okay, she's fine now. It's just like a flu so she should recover soon. She should still be sleeping, so would you like to have a glimpse of her in bed...? Oh, please wait for me a bit."

Since Konoha had returned to sword form, there was no one to see her face. Restoring her to human form was probably a tall order... No, but since Kirika was privy to the truth, it should be okay? Then again, he already promised her to feign ignorance... What should he do? Just as Haruaki agonized over the complicated situation&mdash;

"No, it's fine if she's asleep. So long as I know she's okay, I don't have to worry. By the way, there's also the matter of you two&mdash;"

"Us two? We're actually fine. Just that we left early to take care of the patient."

"I know. I know, but... Damn it, I'm asking if there's any way I can help out!"

She defiantly added emphasis to her tone.

"Eh? But Konoha's only sleeping so there's no need to take special care of her. I don't think there's anything in particular to trouble you, Class Rep... Umm... To help..."

Why was she angry? Haruaki shrank back.

Kirika became even more displeased and rested her forehead against her hand as if suffering a headache:

"Tsk, why you little... I never expected things to come to this... Yes, your principles are admirable... That's right, but you are really good-natured to a fault&mdash;Damn it, Yachi, you're such a frustrating guy!"

"I-I'm listening, Class Rep. Did I say something wrong?"

"Hoo... The problem lies in the fact that 'you said nothing wrong'&mdash;Enough, I understand now. In order to get this through your thick skull, I have made my decision."

While she was speaking, Kirika raised her right arm. With a slithering sound from her sleeve, a leather belt extended out. Haruaki knew this was her self-defense equipment. An object she called a Wathe.

In other words, a cursed tool&mdash;the «Tragic Black River».

"Wah!"

The belt wrapped around Haruaki's neck and pulled him. Although the force was not enough to strangle him, he could not resist. Just as he was about to fall over forwards, Kirika used her other hand to grab the belt on his neck, thereby maintaining Haruaki's forward leaning posture. This was like having someone pulling on a necktie.

Kirika's prim and proper face drew near and Haruaki could even feel her breath. He felt rather unsettled.

"Uh... Class Rep, what is... Going on?"

"You still don't get it?"

"I'm very sorry, but no."

"Seriously... I am deliberately displaying the object 'I hope you pretend you never saw,' at least you should know what that means? Currently, I am neither 'someone belonging to the Lab Chief's Nation' nor 'the class representative who wants you to feign ignorance of her identity,' got that?"

"In that case... who are you?"

"&mdash;Isn't it obvious? I am purely myself, Ueno Kirika. The Ueno Kirika who doesn't mind her own business and helped you previously. What absolutely ridiculous word games I'm playing here."

"So... Does that mean..."

Kirika helplessly curled the corner of her lips as if exhausted. She withdrew the belt back into her sleeve.

"Yeah... So you guys are facing some sort of trouble, right? You really suck at concealing the matter. Since I already know something is going on, getting ignored makes me quite mad, okay? Don't forget, feigning ignorance also builds up stress!"

"In other words, you still want to help? But... Are you allowed?"

"Same as last time. As the class representative, I cannot ignore the troubles faced by my fellow classmates. Besides&mdash;"

Kirika pouted slightly as she glared at Haruaki.

"If trying to feign ignorance of my secret alters your attitude towards me, we might as well go back to interacting with shared secrets. I've changed my mind. To be honest, the way you were treating me today and yesterday, it's like there's a wall between us. So frustrating."

"Hmm, I'm actually aware of that... I'm sorry. The more I tried to pretend, the more it seems to weigh on my mind."

"Never mind, I understand you're useless in that way. So, as long as we go back to the way it was before&mdash;there's no problem, right?"

In contrast to her unforgiving words, Kirika's face seemed to be relaxing as if she had been looking forward to reassuring resolution.