Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume4 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 3===

A mere ten seconds or so after Haruaki had left to buy drinks, Fear felt a gaze.

Looking up, she found a figure on the the nearby bridge. Elbows resting on the railing, a girl was gazing down at their group with a bored expression. Although her face was well proportioned, her eyes looked a bit violent and part of her hair was uneven in length.

Noticing Fear's gaze, the girl spoke without changing her posture of elbows on the railing:

"Hey, does that taste good?"

Still eating slowly, Aiko inclined her head. Konoha also blinked suspiciously but instantly displayed a perfectly courteous smile and replied:

"Yes, very delicious."

"Oh~ Very delicious huh?"

Regurgitating Konoha's words in a halfhearted manner, the girl nodded.

Then she smiled at Fear and company who were below the bridge&mdash;

"However, it seems to smell of extreme incompetence."

Offensive words.

Konoha's smile stiffened:

"Just now&mdash;What did you say? I didn't quite catch it."

"I said: it smells incompetent. In other words, totally useless in stuffing your bellies. To put it bluntly... Trash, I'd say?"

"...What right do you have to say something so excessive when you haven't even tasted it? How contemptuous. Even if you beg me, I won't share any with you. Go scram to somewhere else."

Although it was Haruaki's cooking that was being insulted and not herself, for some reason, Fear felt her anger flaring up as she retorted and glared at the girl. However&mdash;

"Taste? I know even if I don't try it. A bunch of people bringing their packed lunches, chatting and going 'Wow~ So tasty'&mdash;The sight of that is enough to make me conclude: incompetent. I hate this the most."

"Ufufu, what should I do? How exactly should this be handled~?"

While Konoha was smiling stiffly, the skewer sticking in a piece of fried chicken was sliced to pieces by her.

"Hey girl, are you trying to pick a fight? If you don't behave, we have our own ideas too!"

"Yes yes, indeed. You understand, after all... I am picking a fight, so let's get it on! I'm coming over right now!"

"Wha&mdash;"

The girl spoke nonchalantly and stretched lazily&mdash;Then jumped off the bridge. Her skirt fluttering, she landed on the ground with her legs spread wide. Although the height was roughly two stories high, she landed without any loss of balance.

The girl slowly straightened her knees and stood up. Similar to the uneven length of her hair, her attire was unbalanced as well. Her feet were wearing mismatched boots, but in contrast to the rough image of her footwear, the light and fluttering skirt seemed especially cute. If anything, despite her petite and weak looking figure, the girl had eyes that glinted with violent intentions.

Fear had a premonition. Was this girl so simpleminded as to pick a fight out of ill temper? No&mdash;

"&mdash;Who are you?"

"Nikaidou Kururi. It's fine even if you don't remember it. After all, it's just an incompetent name."

Saying that, the girl&mdash;Kururi&mdash;fished out a pendant from her front collar. It was a very heavy looking cross, even bigger than one's palm. As if showing it off, she raised the cross up high, then bit the longer side with her mouth. Holding it between her teeth like a cigarette, she licked it once with her tongue&mdash;Meanwhile using her hand to pull the shorter end. The pendant was split into two with a clack, thereby producing a knife in her hand. It was a concealed knife disguised as a pendant.
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"What...?"

In the instant of their surprise, Kururi suddenly charged towards them, her posture leaning forward, almost as if licking the ground. So fast! Having readied herself for battle before Fear, Konoha used the outer edge of her wrist to block Kururi's thrust of the knife and executed a palm strike with her other hand within a hairbreadth. However, Kururi simply evaded by a slight bow of her body. Konoha's palm ended up brushing past her abdomen without incident.

"...?"

"Heya!"

Frowning, Konoha kicked, causing Kururi to duck in evasion. The ankle flew over her head. Her uneven hair fluttered lightly. As if getting swept up into the leg's motion, the knife went for Konoha's abdomen with lightning speed&mdash;But Konoha lowered her elbow and blocked. Using this impact between bodies, she distanced herself from Kururi.

Konoha's glare became extremely sharp.

"...You don't seem surprised."

"Although the motion only lasted for an instant&mdash;But a normal person would probably wonder 'is there something like a metal plate hidden in that elbow?' in surprise, right?"

Kururi shrugged:

"What, so you're actually worried about that? That explains why you only made average attacks."

"Cow Tits, this girl, sure enough..."

"Indeed&mdash;she must be an 'interested party' involved with our kind. And she's carrying a knife whose shape is reminiscent of unpleasant memories. Could it be..."

Kururi smiled maliciously and bowed her head in an exaggerated manner.

"Greetings, dear incompetent assholes. I am a member of the Bivorio Family... Although I only joined recently. I am the newcomer whose only forte is being fresh and brand new."

The Bivorio Family. A name Fear could never forget even if she wanted to. She was just starting to feel relieved that they had not resurfaced for some time&mdash;But it turns out they haven't given up yet?

"Aiko, you stand back. This girl is very dangerous."

"...Hweh~"

Rushing to shield Aiko who was cowering in confusion, Fear took out her Rubik's cube and stepped forward. Since the enemy belonged to that organization of insane fanatics, there was no reason to show any mercy. Besides, since their opponent was currently under the bridge, there should be no risk of being seen by passersby, right?

"Fear-in-Cube plus the cursed sword Muramasa... Right? Let me carry out my orders and bring you two back, by force if necessary. Pleased to meet you."

"Hmph, to think you can still brag in a two-against-one fight. Hey, Cow Tits, how are you faring?"

"What should I say.... All I know is one thing, that knife turns out to be pretty sharp."

Glancing at the cut in her sleeve causing by her block just now, Konoha murmured:

"Basically, so long as you're careful, hard objects like you or me cannot be penetrated by ordinary blades. But if you're caught off guard and stabbed in an unexpected location, it's a different matter&mdash;Vitals, such as the brain or the heart, still correspond to irreplaceably critical components of our true forms, yes? Damage to those parts will be fatal, so please be careful."

"Hmph, who are you talking to? You worry too much."

Their opponent slowly pressed near. Kururi held the T-shaped pendant, or perhaps one should call it a sheath, in her mouth while waving the knife in her hand.

"But this person's movements seem a bit strange? Yes, she's very fast&mdash;But her dodging ability is uncanny. For a human, it's on an abnormal level. Even back in the Warring States period, very few master swordsman could dodge the way she keeps evading with the slimmest of margins."

"Even making comparisons to master swordsmen, are you talking about the olden days, old hag?"

"Aren't you several centuries old as well yourself!? In any case, don't go rushing forward mindlessly to create strange openings. Also, if you could neutralize her without bloodshed as much as possible, I would greatly appreciate the help."

"Tell that to the other me&mdash;Mechanism No.20 slashing type, great blade form: «A Hatchet of Lingchi», Curse Calling!"

The Rubik's cube turned into a cube-shaped object. Creaking, grating, it gave off a nostalgic yet contemptible noise. Further transforming the cube into a slashing blade, Fear held it through the controlling chain of cubes. She sneaked a glance behind her.

Aiko is looking at my form. How is it? Have you ever seen a tool whose purpose deserves hatred and curses and as much as me?

Casting these notions aside, Fear held the back of the blade towards the enemy and rushed forward. She was not doing this in consideration for Konoha, but were she to split a human into two with the bladed edge, Fear would probably have trouble sleeping at night even when the victim was an enemy.

The axe was swung upwards. It hit? Dodged by a margin so slim that one might mistaken it for a hit, there was only the sensation of brushing past hair. Always dodging successfully with the minimum motion required, Kururi counterattacked with speed that had all redundant movements eliminated. The knife was even too fast to react against.

"Didn't I already remind you just now!?"

Konoha rushed forward and intervened with a karate chop, crossing blades with Kururi's knife with the sound of metallic impact. Rather than blocking directly, Kururi had parried using by a gentle wrist motion. Otherwise, Konoha's karate chop would probably have sliced through the knife or sent it flying away into the distance.

"Oh my, how dangerous... Come to think of it, Muramasa is that very famous one, right? The Muramasa blade which is quite popular even amongst foreigners. Have you ever met famous figures? Like Nobunaga or Hideyoshi."

"You've been using it so many times&mdash;I hate being called by that name!"

While they were having this exchange, Fear swung the axe horizontally. If only it could hit. A solid hit was all it would take to smash them, whether that cheap knife or the girl's slender arm&mdash;!

The hit missed. But there was contact. More accurately, the other person touched it.

Parrying Konoha's karate chop while engaged in the intense close-range battle, Kururi jumped up and stood on the axe.

"Wow, I really did it, just like a manga scene... Oh no, who's gonna take a photo for me? Pretty please."

Her joking tone of voice caused Fear to rage in embarrassment. What kind of joke was this!?

"Mechanism No.19 gouging type, spiral form: «Human-Perforator»!"

Kururi lost balance the instant the transformation took place. Taking advantage of Kururi's inability to dodge in midair, Konoha performed a high kick. To be honest, Kururi had no recourse except to defend using her knife&mdash;Accompanied by a metallic screech, her body flew into the air. Although she twisted her body and landed nimbly, she now had her back to the river. She was cornered.

"Ahhh damn it, I knew it was a little hard to move in... Lemme make it shorter."

Kururi frowned lightly as she muttered, acting as though she was unaware of her predicament. Applying the knife to her skirt, she shortened it with a series of ripping and tearing sounds. Were Haruaki present, he would probably blush at the dangerous sight.

"So what! Even if you shamelessly expose your legs, you're not gonna seduce anyone here! Maybe if you decorate yourself with wounds, it might actually work better by evoking pity!"

Fear raised her drill and Konoha readied her knife hand as they attacked Kururi simultaneously from two directions.

However, Kururi narrowed her eyes and jumped backwards. Was she going dive into the river to escape? Fool, that would allow me to snipe you with the wheel or some other attack&mdash;Just as Fear was about to transform the drill, she realized what Kururi's intentions were.

What amazing jumping power. Kururi easily traversed a distance of several meters and landed on a supporting pillar of the concrete bridge erected over the river. Was she planning on a triple jump to leap back over here&mdash;?

In that case, a trap should be laid. Predicting Kururi's landing spot, Fear thrust the drill forward&mdash;

"...Mechanism No.16 dangling type, pyramidal form: «Judas Cradle», Curse Calling."

What appeared was a square-pyramidal block of iron held in midair by a pillar, standing over a square pedestal. There four more pillars, standing at each of the four corners of the pedestal, each longer than the central pillar. A ring-shaped restraining device was connected to the four corner pillars and was suspended over the square pyramid&mdash;This was a torture tool for imprisoning a victim and suspending them while their lower body was being hurt by the pyramid below.

"Hoho&mdash;I have prepared this for you: humiliation and shame! This is perfect for a girl like you!"

Fear transmitted her will through the chain of cubes, causing the central ring-shaped restraining device to extend with a clang. Although the ring could not be manipulated once it was launched out, catching a flying object and hanging it over the pyramid should not be a problem.

"To think there was such an incompetent hobby...!"

As predicted, Kururi stepped on the bridge pillar and jumped again in a triple jump. Her shortened skirt exposed her thighs while her uneven hair fluttered&mdash;

But she jumped upwards instead.

"Wha...!"

Reaching the top of the bridge pillar, or more accurately, the bottom side of the bridge, Kururi contorted herself and kicked the concrete bridge once. The reaction force produced horizontal momentum, allowing her to return to the river embankment as though she were gliding from bottom of the bridge. Naturally, she also flew effortless over and evaded Fear's torture device.

Oh what a shame&mdash;that was what Kururi's twisted visage seemed to be saying as she stood there. Fear's gaze met with hers.

"What a monkey-like girl, it's obvious what sort of upbringing this reflects."

"I don't want to hear that from someone like you who laid such a low level trap."

Konoha frowned at this moment.

"What's the problem, Cow Tits?"

"It's too weird. I keep getting this sense of dissonance in her actions... Fighting for one moment, not fighting in the next. Same for just now, she should have been able to attack directly from above in the same manner... Yah&mdash;Ah!"

Konoha turned pale instantly. In response, Kururi simply clicked her tongue once.

"Fear! Hurry over to Haruaki! This girl here is most likely a distraction!"

"Wha&mdash;"

"Hurry! Given your unrefined manner of combat, you can't handle this person. Just leave the situation here to me!"

"Tsk... Damn it!"

Turning the unused «Judas Cradle» back into the Rubik's cube, Fear swung around.

"Aiko! If you want to be useful, come along with me!"

Fear called out as she brushed past her, rushing up the embankment. Although she did not answer, Aiko also seemed to be hurrying hastily to follow Fear. What can she accomplish? Anyway, let's not worry about that for now.

Fear kept repeating a single name, over and over again, in her mind.

Haruaki, Haruaki, Haruaki.

Please&mdash;You must stay safe and unharmed!