Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume10 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

The day after they learned of Amanda's situation at Kirika's home, it was after school Haruaki's group was walking in the corridors.

There were still many students hanging around in the corridors, chatting excitedly with high-pitched voices. "Hey hey, what about you? Have you decided who you'll give it to?" "Eh~? N-N-No, what about you~?" "Speaking of which, that guy in Class 4 thinks you're..." What were these girls talking about? Come to think of it, lately the entire student body seemed to be in an excitable state... Hmm?

Haruaki's thoughts were interrupted by Fear when they reached their destination.

"Please~ Lead the way~!"

"I've been intrigued for a while already, why do you yell that every time you arrive here? Why do you make it sound like you're crashing a party?"

"Nothing much, I just get a feeling that this door must be opened with great vigor, whether because there are tasty snacks and tea waiting for me or because it greatly resembles a corrupt bureaucrat's base of operations."

"Hahaha! I have never received any golden confectionery from Echigoya, you know?"<ref>'''Echigoya'''(越後屋): a reference to the successful Mitsui family business, founded in the 17th century, that developed into Mitsukoshi, the root business of the Mitsui Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Japan. Apparently used as an euphemism for bribery.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsui]</ref>

As soon as they walked into the superintendent's office, the gas masked man, making one of his seldom appearances at school, spoke with his shoulders shaking from laughter. "Hello." Konoha and Kirika bowed their heads to greet, eliciting a wave of his hand in response. Naturally, he was not the only one present&mdash;

"Welcome, everyone. Please allow me to prepare some tea."

"Everybody, welcome to you all~! Oh, Zenon-san, of course, I'll help out too~!"

"I'm counting on you two for my share too~ But, oh~ Having to blow on my tea to cool it is so tiring... Dear sister, or little maid, could you please help blow on mine for me~"

"Then I shall bring out tap water for you, Onee-sama, for which no cooling is required. Sovereignty, please turn on the tap with full sincerity... Of course, I am saying all this out of my kind consideration in hopes of saving you effort, Onee-sama."

"Bubu~ Ah, does this count as a blowing gag? But even explaining it is too tiring~"

Hence, Zenon and Sovereignty got up and headed to the room next door to brew tea. Wearing a white coat, Ganon simply sat on the sofa, completely relaxed.

There was nothing surprising about these three's presence in the superintendent's office, except for&mdash;

"..."

"Yes~ The string need to be pulled up here and here&mdash;It's here~! Secret technique 'Amida Buddha Statue' complete! Ohoh, it's been a long time since I've last seen this move, even for me... How gratifying~"

Sitting in a wheelchair was a white-haired girl with a hollow gaze, as well as&mdash;

Using the girl's fingers to play cat's cradle and make complicate patterns&mdash;Kuroe, dressed in school uniform. Seeing her mutter Buddhist chants while bowing at the figure formed by the cat's cradle for some reason, Haruaki sighed.

"Hmm... No matter how many times I see this, it feels so out of place..."

"Muu, that's so rude! Hmm, but honestly, I never expected to have another chance to wear this uniform again~ I knew it, the gods must be asking me to enjoy school life thoroughly!"

"No such thing. Anyway, please don't cause another commotion like last time..."

Kuroe had sneaked into school before, dressed in a uniform. Of course, that was definitely not for the sake of a prank but for her own reasons&mdash;But it was definitely true that she had caused a commotion.

Once they decided to take care of Amanda, the first issue was what to do with her during the daytime. After much pondering, the group decided to take her to school directly. After all, even if the enemy attacked, it probably would not happen openly in a crowded place like a school. But of course, they could not leave Amanda in a classroom, hence they phoned the superintendent to explain the situation. "After all, I caused a lot of trouble for you during Christmas and owe you all a favor." Saying that, he agreed readily and allowed Amanda to stay in the superintendent's office.

Even so, it did not feel right to shove the responsibility of taking care of Amanda all on Zenon in the superintendent's office, so in the end, they decided to take turns skipping class to visit her... Back when Haruaki's group was discussing this matter, Kuroe raised her hand and said: "Then let me help as well." Although it was a shame that she had to skip work, but indeed, with Kuroe present, even if the enemy attacked, she was at least able to run away while taking Amanda with her. Hence, they finally accepted Kuroe's suggestion. Like last time, she obtained a uniform from who knows where&mdash;probably partially to be less inconspicuous in school, partially out of personal desire, finding it more fun this way.

"So Kuroe-san, how is the situation?"

"The same as usual. I haven't sensed any presence of the rumored pursuer. For now, I tried out therapeutic cat's cradle, but she's not reacting at all~"
[[image:C3 10-103.jpg|thumb]]

"This is only my opinion as a school physician, so take it with a grain of salt, but here's a few words from me... Just wait patiently for now. As much as I hate saying this, this isn't the kind of thing that will show dramatic improvement in one or two days' time."

"That's... true."

Kirika nodded in response to Ganon. Indeed, impatience would not help at all. Haruaki murmured in his thoughts to persuade himself. Even once her mind recovered, they did not know what to say to a former enemy like her&mdash;However, surely it would still be a better situation than now.

Next, Haruaki suddenly recalled that he needed to thank them.

"Ganon-san, thank you... The same for you too, Zenon-san. We originally didn't want to trouble you two, but it feels like we ended up troubling you after all."

"Don't worry, don't worry, because we caused trouble for you too. I won't complain about being tired at a time like this... Besides, I'm also tired of sitting in the infirmary with nothing to do~ It's nice to be working as a school physician on call sometimes."

"Yes, Yachi-sama, please do not mind."

At this moment, Zenon returned with a tray with cups, still expressionless as usual, but her voice sounded quite gentle. With experienced movements, she handed the steaming tea over to each member of Haruaki's group in turn&mdash;Meanwhile, Sovereignty exited the room next door slightly later, carrying a glass with two hands as one would carry a trophy while swaying unsteadily in a panic.

"W-Wawa... Phew! I managed to make it! Here you go, Genon-san, I have prepared this for you with full sincerity!"

"I can't believe you actually made her bring water over! You're really bullying your elder sister~"

"I don't recall you saying you wanted tea specifically? This only happened because you keep slacking off and crying tired. Please pull yourself together, Onee-sama."

While Zenon spoke calmly and Sovereignty stared with her head tilted, Ganon sipped her tap water forlornly. This pair of sisters really got along together well. At least, Haruaki decided to treat that as the conclusion.

"Here's the girl's portion too."

"Oh, then let me cool it for her by blowing. After all, I'm the one responsible for taking care of Amanda in school... I guess feeding her with a spoon would be best."

Kuroe took a spoonful of tea and brought it next to Amanda's mouth. Gulp, her throat swallowed but her expression remained unchanged. Haruaki's group began to chat casually while drinking tea. After all, they only turned up to pick up Kuroe and Amanda without anything important to do at the superintendent's office. Once they finished their tea, the group took their leave.

Leaving the superintendent's office, they headed to the shoe lockers. The entire school building seemed rather quiet. Students in clubs were currently focused on club activities, hence, apart from them, those belonging to the "go-home" club had almost all departed, but not completely. When the occasion student passed by in the corridors, they would stare suspiciously at the bandaged girl in the wheelchair, but there was no issue as long as Haruaki's group acted confidently as though everything was legitimate. Thus, they walked through the hallways in a line.

"Hmm~ I knew it, this does cause trouble for the superintendent's side..."

"It can't be helped. Without their assistance, there's no way to bring this girl to school at all."

Fear pushed Amanda's wheelchair while reacting to Haruaki's whispers.

"But I'd feel so guilty if we keep troubling them. If only this girl will recover soon... But so-called mental trauma is very tricky. We don't really know how to cure it either."

"Yeah, although Himura-sensei mentioned that exposing her to more external stimuli would help, it feels quite ambiguous and nonspecific."

"External stimuli huh? Hmm..."

Fear tilted her head and pondered deeply for a while, then finally stopped walking.

"I've got an idea&mdash;We've got nothing left to do except going home, right? Then let's take this opportunity to show her around school. What do you all think?"

"I don't mind."

Kirika glanced at Haruaki. Haruaki did not have any objections, neither did Konoha nor Kuroe.

"After all, we're not in a hurry to get back and there aren't too many students remaining in school right now. As long as we don't do anything too conspicuous, it should be fine."

"I'm totally okay with it~ After all, I belong to the faction who wants to be shown around the school!"

"Then let's try it out.. But why?"

Haruaki's simple question caused Fear to scratch her face and turn her gaze away.

"Mmm... Hmm... Umm, I simply recalled my first time here. The building seemed so big, there were so many people, everyone was wearing the same kind of clothes, it was so lively everywhere, it was very refreshing, I guess&mdash;It was very stimulating for me. So, even though there's very few people now, I think it should still be able to stimulate this girl a bit..."

"Fear..."

"W-What's with your shameless look? I'll curse you! I-I simply think that if this girl could be cured as quickly as possible, it'll save us a lot of trouble! Although she's human, surely she's never gone to school normally before&mdash;In this regard, she should be the same as me!"

Fear desperately tried to find excuses. How amusing. Not only Haruaki but also Konoha, Kirika and Kuroe smiled slightly.

Hence, Haruaki and friends took Fear's suggestion and took Amanda on a walking tour around the school, meanwhile talking to Amanda. Although she made no reaction, surely this did not mean it was pointless&mdash;Probably.

"This is our classroom. This is my seat. That's Haruaki's seat and that's Kirika's."

"Uheeheehee, so this is Haru's spot huh... Great, I'll be starting the secret operation of replacing the recorder<!--as in the musical instrument--> mouthpiece, please don't mind me."

"I mind very much! Say, stop searching the desk in front of the owner! Also, I chose art instead of music! There's no recorder here in the first place!"

Next was Konoha's homeroom. Then taking advantage of after school, they visited club activities without disturbing others. Fear picked up Amanda together with the wheelchair and went up and down the stairs. Standing outside the music classroom, they listened to the woodwind club's performance for quite a while. Then through the door's gap, they secretly peeked into the calligraphy classroom. Then they visited the snack shop and the cafeteria.

"Oh~ There's quite a lot of menu choices... Since you guys usually bring packed lunches, you don't have much chance to come here, right? Is there anything good to eat?"

Arms crossed with insufferable arrogance, Fear declared with exceptional conceit:

"They don't have rice crackers here. Simply by this fact I deem this cafeteria third-rate."

"Using your logic, the world doesn't have any cafeterias second-rate or beyond... Hmm, of the things I've tried before, the mapo doufu is quite good."<ref>'''Mapo Doufu'''(麻婆豆腐): a popular dish of spicy bean curd, originating from Sichuan province of China.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapo_doufu]</ref>

"Also, although it's not very conspicuous, the salads are quite fulfilling too. The vegetables are always very fresh."

"There's also the udon noodles with meat or the porkchop cutlet rice. If I really had to criticize, sometimes the udon uses brown seaweed to obfuscate the amount of meat or the porkchops are too thin. As a result, although the taste is impeccable, the quality is too inconsistent. If anything, I should condemn this attitude of treating meat as anything less than the main feature. Completely unacceptable. For a meat dish whose name is crowned with the word 'meat' or 'porkchop', it is utter blasphemy&mdash;"

"Uh... Kono-san, Kono-san, there's no need to push your viewpoint so seriously. I was only just making conversation..."

Next, they passed through the corridor connecting two school buildings to reach the clubs block and peek at the activities of the cultural clubs.

Fear picked up Amanda, holding her up by her underarms, allowing her to peer into the manga club's activities from the small window above the door. However, Fear suddenly pouted with displeasure and said:

"How boring."

"I don't think there are many cultural clubs that hold activities with great fanfare."

"That's so naive! For example, a manga research club should at least be drawing battle manga while maintaining the mindset of actual combat!"

Fear sat Amanda down on the wheelchair again and said:

"But... Even if I complained here, the cultural clubs aren't going to get lively and spectacular suddenly. Speaking of lively, I guess it has to be the sports clubs after all. The first I was here, although I didn't know the rules, I had so much fun just watching. Then let's finish up by observing the sports ground from the roof."

The timing was just right. "Let's do it." Reaching consensus, the group moved again, back to the main school building. Just as they were heading up the stairs to the roof&mdash;

"...My statement: a greeting expressing what a coincidence."

Arriving head on was Un Izoey. Gray hair as usual, dressed in her uniform with her navel exposed, barefoot in definitely contravention of school rules. Although it was perfectly natural, she was probably not involved in any club activities. Why was she still staying in school at this time?

"What are you doing here?"

"My answer: in order to get used to this environment, undertaking research to master geographic locations, to make sure where is what. In other words, a strolling kind of stroll."

Un Izoey answered while her emotionless eyes captured Kuroe in school uniform. As though saying "Is this person a student...?", she tilted her head. Next, her eyes also caught sight of the girl in the wheelchair, causing her head to tilt in the other direction.

"...You don't recognize this girl?"

"My answer: unknown. A person related to me?"

Haruaki's question brought a firm answer from Un Izoey. After all, Himura had said that "the Lab Chief's Nation did not deem Amanda important" and she had been hospitalized until recently, it was not surprising that Un Izoey had never seen her before.

Ultimately, since Himura was protecting Amanda in a personal capacity, Haruaki's group had already decided.

Since an enemy was going to attack, the more people they had on their side the better. Moreover, Un Izoey was very strong. However, even if they could recruit her to their cause, they decided against it.

So long as the Lab Chief's Nation had not issued orders to protect Amanda, borrowing Un Izoey's strength for convenience would mean owing the Lab Chief's Nation a favor. Even if Un Izoey did not see it that way, Yamimagari Pakuaki could still argue this point. Right now, it was necessary to avoid as much as possible giving him a pretext to take Kirika away or demand researching Fear&mdash;That was what Haruaki's group had decided.

"This is none of your business, so don't interfere. Okay, we won't disrupt your stroll. Hurry along now!"

"That I will do, but..."

Un Izoey walked barefoot, giving off faint footsteps (but had she the intention, surely she could have walked silently), approaching Haruaki's group. Then just as she was passing by them, she suddenly halted. With completely emotionless eyes, she gazed down at Amanda's hollow expression&mdash;

Then reaching out, she gently caressed Amanda's white hair.

Stroking Amanda's head, Un Izoey acted like lovingly petting a small animal. Amanda made no response but Un Izoey narrowed her eyes.

"Diagnosis: the flow of her ''raama''<!--Un Izoey's tribal speak again;furigana ラーマ over kanji 気--> is very strange. Does not seem injured or ill."

"You don't need to worry about this. Absolutely ridiculous."

Kirika scowled and retorted. Shortly after, Un Izoey took her hand away.

"In these cases, our tribe will start by checking food."

"You mean she'll get better just by getting fed with tree sap or livers? Now that would be absolutely ridiculous. Don't make irresponsible statements so casually."

"This is simply the way of our tribe... Then I leave by taking my leave."

Nodding lightly to say goodbye, Un Izoey walked away. She was probably resuming her exploration of the school building.

Once confirmed that she had disappeared into the other end of the corridor, Fear murmured coldly:

"Should I call her hard at work...? Hmm, she must be very free too."

Then she started pushing the wheelchair again.