Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume7 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 3===

Fear was thinking to herself: completely unbelievable.

During second period, the English leader was teaching the class. Skilled in English to begin with, Fear basically had nothing to learn from class. While tapping her notebook impatiently with her mechanical pencil, Fear shifted her gaze.

The neighboring seat was still empty. Haruaki&mdash;as well as Kuroe who had appeared in school uniform for some reason&mdash;had disappeared during break without returning. Where had the two of them run off to? What were they doing? All mysteries.

(No, wait a sec?)

She suddenly stopped the mechanical pencil and recalled the conversation on the way to school.

(Kuroe... That's right, she seems to be quite attracted to high school life. As for why she's attracted, I don't really know but she mentioned something about adult events. Also judging from Cow Tits' uptight look, it seems to involve shameless things. In other words&mdash;)

The computer in her brain began to crank out an answer.

Kuroe and Haruaki together.

A rare visit to high school. A wish to experience adult events in the high school context.

Two people playing shameless games together?

"...No way!"

Fear knocked her chair over and stood up all at once. No way, that was unacceptable. After all, shamelessness was shamelessness. She could not turn a blind eye, even for Kuroe. Currently, the two of them must be cooped up somewhere like the gym storage or something...

(Ohoh... Mats and jumping ropes, and... Vaulting boxes, even...!)

The two of them were definitely practicing front handsprings, right? They were even laughing while counting their double jumps, right? Ahhh~ Even if it's the vaulting box, the two of them were surely trying out some kind of unimaginable jumping maneuver. That behavior was definitely beyond her comprehension, yet carrying scary and shameless implications...!

At this moment, Fear noticed that all eyes were drawn to her in the classroom. Oh right, class was still in progress.

"Excuse me... Cubrick-san? I-Is there anything wrong...? Umm, for someone like you who is native to an English speaking country, the teacher's pronunciation might be off... Uh&mdash;"

Seeing the English teacher speaking timidly, Fear decided she was backed into a corner. She had no choice but to steel her heart and try out that method. Namely, the great trick of "skipping class by pretending to be ill"!

Even if it was her first time skipping class, there was nothing to be afraid of. Although she had never gotten sick, that was not an issue either. She had witnessed many students heading to the infirmary halfway through a period, so all she needed to do was imitate them.

Hence, she began to search her memories, recalling the way girl classmates left the room during lessons. The most common illness was the one called a flu, right? And they would mention something about a fever... Then say they felt dizzy and hoped the teacher could let them rest in the infirmary and that they could make their way over on their own.

Quoting them directly might be too obvious, so she probably needed to edit the excuse a bit, like making subtle changes to the phrasing and maybe even the sequence as well. Hmm... Fever definitely means that the body feels hot&mdash;

Thinking "Okay!", Fear nodded.

Then in a voice loud enough to resound throughout the entire classroom, she yelled out her symptoms in a lively and forceful manner.

"Teacher! Umm... I am currently feeling hot all over, how should I put it? I feel very agitated inside. I think I need to rest on a bed in the infirmary, may I?"

Everyone in the classroom stared at her in dumbfounded astonishment. Perhaps due to excessive editing, perhaps some part became unnatural after all...

However, seeing that the teacher did not say anything, he was probably going to help smooth things out and explain that Fear still had not grasped Japanese completely.

Hence, of course, the teacher allowed her to rest at the infirmary. However, Fear felt that the teacher was making a stiff face, exuding an aura of surrendering that said "too lazy to make a snide response." She was definitely overthinking things.

Feigning illness so successfully on her first try, Fear left the classroom, greatly pleased with herself.

She even thought that her acting skills were amazing.



In order to search for Kuroe and Haruaki, Fear began to walk through the empty corridors while lessons were in progress. Immediately, she ran into a familiar face but instead of the people she was looking for, it was a girl whom she did not quite wish to meet.

"Muu!"

"Ah!"

Coming out from the girls' washroom, Konoha frowned and glared at Fear. Of course, not to be outdone, Fear glared back at her.

"What are you doing? It's currently class time."

"I should say the same for you, right?"

"I am simply coming out of the washroom, so there's nothing unaccountable about it."

"Yeah, then hurry and return to the classroom."

"Unfortunately, my class is having a self-study session, so a brief chat is well within acceptable bounds. On the other hand, your class should be having a lesson taught by a teacher, right?"

"Muu..."

Fear's eyes seemed to say "could it be that she figured out I'm pretending to be ill?" That would be bad. Instantly, she desperately racked her brain&mdash;Rather than escalating the argument and risk getting taken back to the classroom, she decided it would be better to recruit her as an accomplice. Kuroe and Haruaki might not be in the gym storage, so having another person to search would help. Although Fear hated getting help from Konoha, she decided to tolerate her as a necessary cost.

"Wait, Cow Tits, listen to me. Actually..."

Fear started explaining to Konoha about Kuroe's visit to school, interlaced with her own imaginings.

One minute later&mdash;

Konoha stared in wide-eyed astonishment from behind her glasses, collapsing into a sitting position on the floor.

"A-Ahhhh! In the gym storage... Using the vaulting box... Opening and closing...!"

Her face went pale. Even though Fear could hear her murmuring, she was unable to make out what Konoha was imagining. In any case, it must have been shameless stuff.

"I-I must stay calm... No matter what, that kind of behavior should... Ahhh~ That's right. Normally speaking, it's an impossible possibility... But considering Kuroe-san, if Kuroe-san is the one who came, let's prepare for the worst before taking action... No, however...!"

"I don't know what you're thinking about, but anyway, I've told you what happened. The only thing I've got to add is this: 'in fact, Kuroe and Haruaki are skipping class together'&mdash;This undeniable truth. What you do is up to you, bye."

Judging from the way things looked, Konoha was not going to bring her back to the classroom. Hence, Fear walked past her and began to move through the corridor. Along the empty corridor, the footsteps of her indoor shoes could be heard.

The same kind of sound immediately chased after her from behind.