Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume9 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 4===

Leading Haruaki's group, the Shinto priest brought them to a Japanese residence somewhere behind the shrine office. Apparently, the priest's family lived there usually. After smelling the same tatami scent as in the Yachi residence, Haruaki could not help but feel more relaxed.

"Please have a bit of tea, I hope you don't mind its crudeness."

"Oh, we're the ones who are sorry for intruding... Thank you for your hospitality."

Haruaki drank the tea the priest brewed for them. As expected, this calmed his mood somewhat. At the same time, a sense of sleepiness suddenly arrived but now was not the time to sleep yet.

After drinking tea in silence for a while, sitting opposite to Haruaki's group, the priest spoke up:

"So... About Chihaya... did she really...?"

"Yes."

Haruaki gazed straight into the priest's eyes and answered. Before they were invited into this house, he had already explained.

"Chihaya has stolen something very precious from us... Yes, extremely precious."

The priest exhaled and slumped his shoulders with a pained expression. Seeing this, Haruaki was at a loss what to do. No, they were not trying to make this person bear responsibility. Neither did they have any desire to punish Chihaya for her mistakes.

"No, umm... Although it's stolen... We do want her to return it, but well... It definitely doesn't make your daughter a criminal. This incident is more like an unfortunate accident that resulted from many misunderstandings. I think once we get to discuss with her properly, she'll return it to us."

After hearing that, the priest looked up.

"May I ask what exactly she has stolen...?"

Haruaki instantly hesitated. It was not like he could push Fear forward and say "it's her voice," right? That said, he could not think of another excuse. Even if he made up something like saying Chihaya had stolen a wallet, it would only make this father even more depressed.

"Due to some extenuating circumstances, we're not in a position to disclose... But in any case, it is something extremely important."

"..."

"Umm, of course you may find this very suspicious! But&mdash;"

Just as Haruaki frantically tried to explain, the priest finally showed an exhausted smile.

"No, I'm not doubting you. I can tell that you've told me the truth... So, since you must be facing some kind of difficulty, I don't intent to force you to tell me."

"Y-Yes... Thank you."

"Then your daughter&mdash;her name is Chihaya, right? Do you know where she is right now? Just as mentioned earlier, we would like to meet her again and talk to her."

The priest shook his head at Konoha.

"I'm really sorry... When I was brewing the tea just now, I took the opportunity to check Chihaya's room but she's not here currently."

"Is that so? Then would you be so kind as to tell us her cellphone number?"

"I'm really ashamed to say, I don't actually know her cellphone number."

Hearing this, Haruaki's group looked at one another. A father not knowing his daughter's cellphone number, was this possible?

Perhaps noticing Haruaki's groups' doubts, the priest sipped hot tea with an even more exhausted expression.

"Sigh, I'm really ashamed. Since she already stole your belongings, trying to hide things wouldn't help. Chihaya is a daughter who causes me a headache in all sorts of ways... To be honest, our relationship can't be described as good. As much as I'd like to treat it as simply her rebellious phase&mdash;She's further distanced herself from me ever since my wife was hospitalized."

"Your wife is currently hospitalized? That really is... quite a predicament."

Kirika concurred with a calm expression. She probably thought that they should chat further even though Chihaya's current whereabouts were unknown. Haruaki agreed. This was a rare opportunity and he wanted to ask about certain things. Regarding Chihaya as well as Isuzu who accompanied her. Did the priest know about curses and that Isuzu was a cursed bell? Was he aware that his daughter was working as a curse expert?

"Sigh, I'm already quite used to it. She's been living in the hospital for many months now... Although there's no immediate threat to her life, it's a type of illness that's hard to cure. Oh dear, how sorry I am, I've gone on a tangent. We're currently talking about Chihaya."

"Just now, you mentioned that she's causing you headaches in all sorts of ways... Is there some sort of problem? To be honest, it's our first time meeting her today. We are simply curious so it's okay to ignore us."

"No no, I don't mind. However, perhaps there's nothing special about her problems. Since you've all seen her, I'm sure you can understand. Currently, she's always foul-mouthed, dyeing her hair, and I've heard from school that she's occasionally absent... Also, she wanders outside in the dead of the night like today."

After listing examples, the only conclusion one would inevitably make was "what an ordinary, rebellious teenage girl." Haruaki secretly wondered, since the priest did not seem like he was lying, most likely he did not know about his daughter's work&mdash;as a "curse expert."

Someone tugged at Haruaki's pants beneath the table. Taking a look, he found Fear by his side, typing orders on the cellphone: "Hurry up and ask about that girl!" Naturally, they also needed to ask about the other person. Rather, this was actually the main point.

"Oh... About the other person named Isuzu, the shrine maiden accompanying Chihaya who looks older, who is she?"

"Ah, Isuzu huh... Probably Chihaya's friend. Even after I asked Chihaya, she refused to tell me so I'm not too sure either. It started roughly a month ago, I'd see the two of them appear together occasionally at home or the shrine. She even greets me when we meet so I don't think she's a bad kid."

"Friend... huh? But she's dressed as a shrine maiden?"

Konoha tilted her head in puzzlement, to which the priest replied:

"Chihaya probably lent the outfit to her. The only thing we have in abundance at our home is a mountain of shrine maiden outfits. Because this shrine used to be quite prosperous in the past... But it has declined greatly now. Only through various means do we still manage to attract visitors and pilgrims."

"Such as innovating your own o-mikuji types?"

"Exactly."

Konoha smiled and gave off an aura saying "just because of that, I experienced an unnecessary sense of defeat." Luckily, the priest did not notice the dangerous aura she exuded.

In any case, the priest seemed to be completely ignorant of Isuzu's true identity. All Isuzu needed to do was return to her original form as a tool and others would think that she did not hang around Chihaya all day. Hence, it could not be helped that the priest's understanding of her was limited to just "a friend who frequently came to play."

"That said, what a sudden appearance. Mr. Priest, although this is completely unrelated to the conversation, did you buy any antiques a month earlier?"

Pretending to be an ordinary child with a blank expression until now, Kuroe suddenly posed such a question. The priest tilted his head, facing the extremely child-like Kuroe, still replied in a polite tone of voice:

"...? You're interested in antiques? Well... Chihaya is always busy in front of the computer, so I wouldn't be surprised if she ordered stuff over the internet. But I myself haven't come into contact with any. Oh right, although I think it'd be weird to list them as antiques, we did hold a joint ritual last month with another shrine that we generally keep in touch with... And the other shrine gave us all sorts of tools. However, most of them were already put away in the storeroom."

"Oh... In that case, there could very well be bells among them. Understood, Mr. Priest, thank you~"

"Y-You're welcome...?"

Kuroe bowed her head in thanks, causing the priest to bow his head in return according to etiquette. Next, he also bowed to Haruaki's group to express his apologies.

"Anyway... I don't know where Chihaya is right now. I'm truly sorry that I wasn't able to help everyone."

"No, please don't say that."

Haruaki bowed his head in return. At this moment, the priest spoke up as though remembering something:

"Umm... If you don't mind, would you like to have a look at Chihaya's room? After all, she's not here herself and it's possible that what she stole from you might be kept in the room."

Impossible. 100% impossible. But knowing more about Chihaya as a person might be helpful. For example, her relationship with Isuzu and why would Isuzu steal Fear's voice? Or how can they take it back? Although the situation was developing into deceiving the priest, giving Haruaki a guilty conscience, he still decided to accept the suggestion gratefully in any case.

"Then excuse our intrusion, we'll have a look... However, is it really okay? If she finds out that you casually allowed others to enter her room while she was absent, umm, wouldn't&mdash;"

"Don't worry." The priest said lightly and&mdash;

Smiled with incomparable loneliness. Then he continued:

"That child already seems to hate me with a passion. By this point, she can't possibly hate me any further."



While the priest was leading Haruaki's group to the room, his cellphone happened to ring. Apparently, one of the part-time shrine maidens was calling him to ask for assistance. "Excuse me, I need to give them directions while looking at some reference materials... Please don't hold back and feel free to look inside the room." Saying that, the priest returned to the living room without stepping into Chihaya's room.

Haruaki could not help but think: "Clearly it's his daughter's room. Is it really okay to leave a bunch of strangers like us unsupervised?" However, this meant that he really trusted them. Trying not to waste time, the group accepted the kind offer and decided to enter the room and investigate without the priest's company.

The interior space, six tatami in area, was extremely messy. Although it was probably a Japanese-style room originally, it was currently almost impossible to see its former appearance.

A futon was stuffed into a blob. Closet. Steel desk. A bookcase with many difficult looking books. A pile of devices of unknown purpose. A tangle of electrical cords ran all over the floor, easily tripping anyone if they were not careful. Instead of posters, the wall was occupied by stuff resembling hanging power bars(?). Many cords extended from over there. Of the many devices in the room, the only type with known purpose was the computer. However, there were four computers with flashing power supplies, with the side covers dismantled, exposing the internal components. On the other hand, there were three monitors. Why would anyone need to use more screens than they had eyeballs? It was inconceivable for Haruaki who never used computers outside of class.

"Woah! How should I put this? This really has a mad scientist kind of feel..."

"It really resembles those junk shops in science fiction films. Like 'we sell infra-red prosthetic eyes!' or something like that~"

"The computers... Locked with passwords. That's expected, of course."

Kirika, the member of the group who seemed to have the broadest knowledge, operated the mouse but immediately shrugged and gave up. Looking around, Fear picked up a certain black mass of plastic from a wooden shelf, tilting her head in puzzlement. Kuroe's blank eyes gazed at it and said:

"Oh Ficchi! That could be a little dangerous. It's probably a stun gun."

"That's not just 'a little.' It's very dangerous!"

Speaking of stun guns, Haruaki recalled their suffering at the hands of Bivorio in the past. Fear probably remembered too. Frowning with disgust, she returned it to the shelf.

"Hmm, this shelf seems to be a self-defense item corner... Hmm, what's this tray?"

"...Those are probably materials for a flash grenade. As much as I'd like to forget, I've seen them before during my time in the Lab Chief's Nation. Over there are the finished products."

"Oh, that thing just now. I remember her saying it was handmade."

Kuroe nodded, half surprised, half impressed. Self-defense items plus handmade flash grenades... Why did Chihaya collect these things? Simply as a hobby? Or perhaps&mdash;Working as a curse expert meant that she often ran into situations where she needed to protect herself?

In any case, Chihaya's room did not offer any clues to her whereabouts. All they found out was that she seemed to like computers and technology. Returning to the living room, they found the priest looking up just as he finished his phone call:

"How did it go?"

"Uh, umm... We didn't find it."

"Really?" The priest nodded with deep regret as he cleaned up the documents scattered over the table. Honestly speaking, Haruaki's group did not have any further reason to stay, but if they were to say "We'll be on our way!" and leave, it would make them feel like robbers who had just ransacked someone's home. In any case, at the priest's urging, the group sat down on the seat cushions again. Then the priest said: "Umm... Since you're similar to Chihaya's age, I'd like to ask what are your opinions after seeing her room?"

So, what should they say? After secretly exchanging glances with Konoha and the others, Haruaki felt another tugging feeling at his pants. Glancing at the cellphone screen that was thrust beneath the table, he read the words: 'Something wrong with her brain.' Excuse me, Fear, I'm looking for a more tactful opinion.

Konoha ended up taking the responsibility of answering. Since she looked mature, composed and the calmest, she was best suited to the role of the communicator. In any case, Haruaki decided to leave things to her for now.

"Frankly speaking, her room cannot be considered normal. Even if she has an interest in computers, perhaps one could call it a little excessive."

Konoha spoke with a courteous smile, causing the priest to relax his expression with a wry smile.

"Well said... Because I don't understand technology, I'm not too sure myself. But I was thinking, if it's something that could be understood, I should try to understand it."

"Including your daughter?"

"...Of course."

After pausing for a few seconds, the priest spoke quietly as though to himself:

"I can't understand what that child is thinking, what she wants... But I don't think she is a bad child at heart. Uh, since she already stole something from you, perhaps this might not be appropriate to say to you..."

"I've already mentioned earlier, this incident is more like an unfortunate misunderstanding. We just want to have a good talk. She'll surely understand. Also, it's our first time meeting her today, so we don't know what her true character is like... We won't deny your assertion. Besides, there are also children who still help out at home despite straying on the wrong path."

"Haha, if everyone has already met her, you probably should understand, but as for the home... I guess the shrine's work probably counts, but she doesn't help out at all. I've never seen her dress up as a shrine maiden properly either. However&mdash;Ah, I remember now."

"You remember something?"

The priest looked up to glance at the clock in the living room. It was approaching 4am soon.

"Chihaya seems to be practicing dancing recently. At dawn, wearing a shrine maiden's outfit, together with her&mdash;the child called Isuzu. I've only ran into them by chance a few times and even when I asked her, she won't answer me, so I don't know the details. But from my perspective, I'm a little happy at the thought that Chihaya might be taking some interest in Shinto..."

Konoha turned to look at Haruaki. This information was quite unexpected. "Let's ask him more." Haruaki motioned with his eyes so Konoha spoke up next:

"She does it every day? Do you know where?"

"Probably every day. As for the location... When there's no one around, she'll be at the main shrine, but I've also seen her dancing in front of the shrine in the back of the mountain. Since there are many people at the main shrine today, I expect she'll be at the back of the mountain."

"Could you tell us the precise location? In other words, as long as we get there before sunrise, we should be able to see her?"

"I can't guarantee it, but the chances are quite high."

According to the priest, there was a large pond in the back of the mountain. The shrine was built in front of it. After memorizing the priest's directions, Haruaki exhaled. Finally, some progress was made in the matter.

"I understand now, thank you very much for the help. We have absolutely no intention of harming Chihaya-san. Neither do we plan on catching her to hand over to the police, so please don't worry."

"No, I'd like to thank you all instead... My unworthy daughter has caused you trouble. By the way, what are your plans during this time before dawn?"

"There are roughly three hours still. Haruaki-kun, what should we do?"

"Oh~ What should we do? This isn't enough time to make a trip home, but it's a bit too long to spend within the shrine's confines or at a convenience store... Hmm~"

Perhaps excited at the prospects of finally being able to catch Chihaya and Isuzu, Fear vigorously pressed the cellphone's buttons: 'Too laid back! Go there now! I'll wait!' However, Haruaki dismissed the suggestion. Staying outdoors for three hours straight, they could very well freeze.

Just as Haruaki was pondering&mdash;

"In that case, why don't you just stay here and have a nap? It's also fine if you want to do other things here. After all, I plan on taking a break from now until just before dawn."

A most welcome suggestion. However&mdash;

"I-Is this really okay...? Letting us, strangers who suddenly bothered you with a request, stay in your home..."

"You don't look like bad people. Besides, my daughter seems to have caused quite a lot of trouble for you all, so this serves as a kind of compensation. Although I don't have anything to serve you, please don't be formal and feel free to stay here and rest."

Although it felt like intruding too much on the priest's kind intentions, a fight could very well break out again once they encountered Chihaya and Isuzu. Furthermore, they had not slept all night since New Year's Eve. The temptation of a nap seemed both gratifying and attractive.

"Well then... I guess we'll respectfully take up your kind offer."

Haruaki nodded at Konoha and bowed towards the priest.

"S-Sorry to bother you, Chief Priest... Thank you for your hospitality."

"Pardon the intrusion~"

"Sorry for adding to your troubles."

Kuroe and Kirika proceeded to bow and express their thanks. Fear followed suit, her silver hair waving as she lowered her head. Haruaki secretly praised her: "This girl actually knows her manners." But upon further examination, he realized she was simply bowing her head to operate the cellphone. Appearing character by character on the screen was the message:

'By the way, does this house have snacks or rice crackers&mdash;'

Haruaki reached out from the side and silently held down the cellphone's delete key without letting go for a long time.