Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume7 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 3===

A couple dozen minutes later, Haruaki was clutching his head, agonizing before his desk in his room.

"Gah, I can't believe I forgot all about it...!"

Clearly, he could not ask the teacher to reduce his homework load using excuses such as "My father never came back after going abroad, meaning I must do all the house work. If I had to mention another thing, there's a silver-haired girl living in my home." What a pain, what a great pain. In Haruaki's view, homework was contemptible for taking away time from important house chores.

(I'll need to finish this handout by today. I need to go shopping tomorrow and it's quite rare for me to feel motivated enough to clean the entire house thoroughly.)

Haruaki's grades were neither great nor terrible. But the enemy known as "formulae" was quite formidable, halting the advance of his homework progress.

"Hmm, I don't get this. I'd better ask Konoha...? No wait, she's quite strict about homework~ Looks like I should try my best on my own... But still... I... don't... get it..."

Just as Haruaki was hunching forward, feeling his strength drained, he thought "No way, I'm gonna fall asleep if this continues" and stretched. Suddenly, the paper door behind him shook. Someone was knocking. Haruaki casually answered "Come in."

"Umm... Is it okay if I come in?"

It was Fear. Haruaki glanced back at the sound of the paper door sliding open and saw her standing there with a timid look. Shoulder hunched, hands behind her back, she gingerly looked towards him.

"I'm quite tied up but whatever. Anyway, it won't affect my progress that much."

"Okay... Then I'm coming in."

"Sure, what's up?"

Thinking "she's probably coming for something like extra rice crackers," Haruaki turned towards the desk again. As the thought of "I'd better work hard and sort out this question, it's very important" crossed his mind, Haruaki proceeded to continue his duel against the handout, still covered in blanks.

At this moment, he heard the paper door slide shut behind him while Fear walked over to him timidly and slowly on the tatami floor.

"I have a something... I need your help with."

"Mmm-hmm."

"No, rather... It's something that must be said, that's what I mean."

"Okay."

Haruaki simply responded indifferently. However, Fear's quiet voice was slowly approaching his back&mdash;

"I&mdash;may have done something wrong."

"Really really... Huh?"

Only now did Haruaki notice the atmosphere of dissonance. Fear's tone of voice sounded very serious with a hint of worry. This was definitely not the voice she used in her usual willfulness when demanding rice crackers. Instead, it was more sincere, more unusual&mdash;Indeed, it was as though she was forcing out a message from the very depths of her heart&mdash;

"I really can't... bear it any longer... So..."

Haruaki felt warm breath against his ear. Why was she... leaning in... so close? An inexplicable sense of pressure made him afraid to look back. All he could hear was irregular panting. He could imagine Fear blushing, breathing irregularly, her lips approaching his ear&mdash;What the heck did she want to do exactly?

"Arghhhh... How did explaining what happened become so hard? Anyway, it's this. What I want to tell you is this. So, Haruaki, could you turn your head towards me..."

Haruaki did not dare turn his head. The mechanical pencil in his hand also began to shake. The mathematics handout, originally considered a tough enemy, would be mere fodder worth only 1EXP in comparison. Good heavens~ How did it come to this? Running away from fodder was possible but not for boss characters.

"Ahh..."

"What?"

Haruaki now felt a new sensation against his ear. Amidst the nonstop panting, a soft and slightly wet object was moving back and forth against his earlobe, gently and carefully&mdash;No mistake about that.

His ear was being licked.

"W-Woah! W-What are you doing, Fear!? Listen carefully, you must calm down. I don't really get what this is about, but you must first calm down! You must be temporarily out of your mind, right?"

"...Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Stop going 'huh,' okay!?"

Despite his serious confusion, Haruaki still managed to activate the willpower dormant in the depths of his brain cells, turning his head to look all at once. The result&mdash;

Lick~

For some reason, the tongue that was even nearer than Fear's voice gave Haruaki's nose a forceful lick.

"Woof woof! ...H-H-Huff!"

Held in Fear's outstretched hands, an especially cute little animal was currently wagging its tail vigorously.