Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume4 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 5===

Night passed and Sunday arrived.

The sports festival was going to be held the next day&mdash;Monday. Final preparations for the festival were already completed on Saturday afternoon. Hence, Sunday was supposed to be an important day of rest to save up energy for the following day&mdash;At least, that was the original plan.

But for some reason, the kitchen counter had become an intense battlefield.

"Nuoooooo!"

Clack clack.

"...So cold."

Squeak, squeak, squeak.

Watching the two girls working from behind, Haruaki sighed. Taking a dish, Fear washed it with lightning speed. Then with a mighty roar, she shoved the dish forcefully into the kitchenware rack, turned around and smiled fearlessly.

"How's that! Did you see it, Haruaki!?"

"Yeah I saw it! Disqualified!"

"W-What? Why!?"

"Too sloppy! Look here, see the detergent still remaining on the back... Didn't I mention just now? Speed is good and all, but being careful and thorough is more important!"

Uwuwu... As Fear gnashed her teeth reluctantly, Aiko also finished her dishes. "...Done." Although her initial motions were unfamiliar, dish washing was essentially a simple task anyone could do with patience and care. The dishes Aiko washed were sparkling clean and their sight caused Fear's sulking face to worsen.

After breakfast, Haruaki had invited Aiko to practice washing dishes as a chance to improve her intimacy and familiarity with the home. Haruaki's careless praise of "Wow, amazing, that's the way to go!" had apparently set fire to Fear's competitive spirit. Without any intention to compete, Aiko simply did things at her own pace. Thus, the one-sided dish washing war began.

"Damn it, next event! Give me something to do, Haruaki! Today, I'm filled with the mood to practice housework!"

"Now that's an amazing mood. Aiko, would you like to continue?"

"...Yes, I'm quite free after all."

"Nuuu~ So you're saying the dish washing race bored you to tears just now...? Damn it...!"

Knock! Haruaki's karate chop landed lightly on the silver-colored head.

"Hey, don't make strange interpretations. If you won't get along with her, I won't let you help!"

"I-I am getting along with her well! However, my body is brimming with this concentrated mass of desire for self-improvement..."

"Yes yes~ Then next, I'll teach you two how to clean the house. No need to use the vacuum cleaner. Grab a cleaning cloth and wait for me at the veranda!"

"Nothing I could want more! Hoho, let me show her my dignity as her senior...!"

Fear rushed out of the kitchen. Aiko tilted her head incredulously but also followed after her.

(I see... For Fear, this is her first time to have junior... So she wants to show off her cool side... Is that the rough idea? But...)

Why?

Haruaki could not imagine any scene when Fear had looked cool.



After the cleaning, Haruaki announced a break for the girls as his face twitched. "Go take a break! There are no chores for you to do so impatiently!" There were more or less still other things to be done, but the situation was getting out of hand. Fear returned to her room and was changing into something easier to move in.

"Jeez... That shameless brat, he's biased, that was definitely biased of him!"

Recalling the light karate chop on her head just now, Fear made a sour look. Because the stain on the pillar could not be wiped off no matter how hard she tried, Fear had planned on using «A Hatchet of Lingchi» to shave off the surface to make the pillar all pretty again. What on earth was wrong with that...?

Then Fear recalled how Aiko was sluggishly wiping the veranda's floorboards with her cloth&mdash;thereby prompting her memory of Haruaki's stupid face as he praised Aiko: "Wow, you're very mindful, it's great!" Fear's fury erupted further. Sitting down hard on the tatami, she gruffly shoved her legs into her shorts. Damn that Haruaki, he wouldn't even give me the chance to restore my honor! Had he given me the same task of wiping the floor, I would have shown him the speed difference between a horse and tortoise, thereby defeating that girl...!

Muttering as she finished changing, Fear left her room. Dragging the boombox from a corner of the living room to the veranda, she then entered the garden.

The sports festival was officially going to be held tomorrow. Fear felt that she needed a final confirmation for her creative dance.

Barely managing to recall how to operate the device, she started playing the music. She began dancing with vigor as if it were the real event. Perhaps owing to the repeated practice, all those moves she had found difficult in the beginning could now be performed successfully for the most part.

After finishing one song&mdash;

"Hmph hmph... Good, that went well. Then all I need to do is wait for tomorrow!"

Satisfied, Fear wiped the sweat off her brow, only to hear faint clapping. Looking up, she found Aiko sitting on the veranda. Did she come over to watch because she heard the music?

"...So amazing. You dance really well."

Although Aiko's expression was obscured as usual, the feeling of being praised was not bad. Fear originally had Aiko pegged as a reticent and unreadable girl, but now decided that Aiko had a forthright side to her.

"Want to see me repeat it again?"

Aiko nodded quickly multiple times.

"Hoho, very well. I was just thinking of practicing a bit more. Play the music!"

"...I don't know how."

"Press that button with the triangle on it."

"Oh I see. So knowledgeable of you."

"H-Hoho! Oh my~ I'm not that amazing!"

"By the way, what is this one with two triangles...?"

"That's&mdash;"

What was it?

"Two 'plays'... Double play, yes! For one press of the button to replay music from the past, such technology is already quite frightening already. Once it's doubled, even more astounding functions will be unleashed&mdash;Anyway, the double triangles will result in calamity! So don't touch it recklessly, umm... It's very dangerous, don't press it."

"...So scary. Here we go, triangle button."

The song began to play and Fear restarted her dance. Perhaps due to the presence of an audience, a shy yet happy feeling surged in Fear's heart, making her feel an incredible sense of excitement.

As her movements and the music came to an end, the sound of applause was heard again. At this time, Fear noticed that a tray with barley tea had suddenly appeared next to Aiko. But clearly Aiko should have been sitting there all along.

"...Uh... It was Haruaki who brought it."

"Muu, that's pretty smart of him. Then I'll forgive him for the unfair ruling in the competition earlier."

Sitting down in the veranda with Aiko whose head was tilted in puzzlement, Fear began drinking the ice-cold barley tea with her. The simple taste seeped and spread throughout Fear's body that was hot from the exercise. Aiko also went "...Pwah~" in satisfaction.

Pwah, after a brief break, just as Fear was refilling her cup, Aiko asked softly:

"...Dancing... Is that your hobby?"

"Muu? No, not really. The sports festival is tomorrow and I need to perform it then."

Sports festival? Aiko inclined her head in puzzlement.

"I heard that it's one of the festivals held by the school. This is my first experience as well... It appears to have many competitions such as running, jumping, dodgeball, and bread eating contests."

"...Sounds very fun."

"You should be able to go to school eventually. Do you like sports?"

"Doing it myself, not that much... But I like watching others play sports."

"Really? Hmm, Kuroe should be coming tomorrow anyway to cheer for us, you're coming too, right?"

"Yes, I want to go."

"Yes! Then the sight of my heroic figure shall be branded firmly upon your eyes... I promise you, I'll perform a great dance to celebrate your arrival!"

"...Thank you. Are you participating in other events?"

"Of course. Although Cow Tits and Haruaki nagged me about joining too many... Since number one is pretty much guaranteed if we go serious&mdash;"

Suddenly recalling something, Fear stopped midway. Seeing Aiko tilting her head in puzzlement, Fear thought to herself: It's probably best if I got this out of the way first.

"Umm... I'm sorry about yesterday."

"?"

"For suddenly asking about your true form. On further thought, I didn't tell Haruaki in the beginning either. I understand. It's not something happy to talk about."

"Fear... too?"

"Me too? I also... Haha, the fact is, I really don't want to talk about my true form either. I'm a tool whose purpose naturally causes others to curse me. When the time comes for you to tell me yours, I'll tell you mine, how's that?"

"Telling you... is fine. Because&mdash;"

Aiko had bowed her head at some point in time. As she shook her head slightly, one could see the sides of her face shrouded by the bottomless gloom she displayed on occasion&mdash;

"Because, I'm something similar to what you described as yourself, Fear."

"..."

What was it exactly? What was Aiko's true form? Just as Fear hesitated whether she should ask&mdash;

She heard the doorbell. Then two familiar voices could be heard coming from the entryway, although Fear could not tell what they were saying exactly.

"Kirika, and Kana as well...? I didn't know they were gonna visit."

"Your friends?"

"Pretty much."

Saying that, Fear jumped off the veranda and used her foot to fish out the communal sandals kept beneath the veranda.

"They're nice people. Let's go say hi!"

"...You're not going to ask about my true form?"

"Rather than discuss something that makes you unhappy, it'll be more fun to eat rice crackers with noisy friends."

"...Perhaps so... You may be right."

Putting on the sandals, Aiko also descended from the veranda. Along the way, circling around the house towards the entryway&mdash;

"But, surely I'm... Compared to Fear, I deserve even more to be cursed..."

Fear could vaguely hear murmurs of this sort coming from behind her.

There could not possibly exist anything that deserved to be cursed more than a torture tool whose only purpose was to torment and execute people. Although that was what Fear thought, this was the deplorable truth that Fear had no wish of divulging on her own accord. Hence, she pretended not to hear Aiko's murmurs.



Haruaki was working on his mathematics homework when he heard the doorbell. This laborious affair came from the mathematics substitute teacher who seemed to subscribe to the philosophy of "Sports festival? That has nothing to do with me!" Despite his gloomy demeanor, the previous mathematics teacher&mdash;the hospitalized Himura-sensei&mdash;always handed out homework while repeating "Sorry, this is homework, I'm really sorry..." (the class named these attacks "ghost pain"). Consequently, the class had held high hopes for the substitute teacher. Alas, the new teacher attacked with even more homework than before. Partially due to having betrayed their hopes and dreams, the new teacher's popularity fell rock bottom.

In any case, Haruaki's concentration in the work on his desk was easily interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

"Man, to think I was just about to start..."

Kuroe was working at the shop while Fear and Aiko were at the garden. As for Konoha, she had mentioned she was going to her room to make adjustments to her dancing outfit. Unable to picture anyone answering the door first, Haruaki had no choice but to put down his homework and leave the room.

"Coming coming~ Opening up straight away!"

As soon as he reached the entryway, he heard an anxious voice outside.

"H-Hey Kana, do I really have to say it?"

"This is the deal. I'll definitely help you find a good part-time job, so all you need to do is say this one sentence! No matter what, please just say this one sentence! ''Nishishi''!"

"A-Absolutely ridiculous...!"

"Ara, it's Ueno-san?" Konoha had also reached the entryway at this time. "Kana also seems to be here." Saying that, Haruaki opened the front door&mdash;

"...What?"

Haruaki's wide-eyed stares were drawn to what was cradled in Kirika's arms&mdash;

A baby.

Dressed casually, Kirika was reluctant to make eye contact with him. It felt like her gaze was wandering along the ground. Blushing intensely to her ears, Kirika said awkwardly:


"...You... You must take responsibility, Yachi."


Arriving unnoticed outside, Fear began to grumble gravely: "Shameless, shameless, completely and utterly shameless...!" Konoha screamed "Eeee~~!" loudly while her hands naturally went for Haruaki's throat; Kirika's head remained bowed, her body shaking nonstop; Aiko simply watched everything in head-tilted puzzlement.
[[image:C3 04-065.jpg|thumb]]

Only Kana was laughing her ass off in delight.

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