Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 5===

After finishing their lunch swiftly, Fear and Konoha left the cleaning up to Haruaki and the rest and made their way to the tent that was used as a changing room. The first event in the afternoon was the cheerleading battle. Using the arches constructed by the arch teams as a backdrop, the dance teams were going to perform the creative dances they had been practicing all this time.

"Oh Fear-chan, how's it going? The long-awaited moment has finally arrived! Wooha, the atmosphere is boiling with excitement!"

Kana, who had already entered the tent, patted Fear on the shoulder. Had it been Fear a week earlier, she would probably have returned a convulsive smile? But now was different. Puffing her chest out proudly and holding her head high, Fear declared:

"Hmph hpmh, I'm completely prepared. The dance will be perfect."

Wow, the surrounding classmates shouted to raise morale amidst laughter. There were also people clapping loudly.

"Fear-chan, you've been working hard! I'm so happy too... Very well, we'll use your perfect dancing to charm the audience, teammate Fear! Come come, hurry and change!"

"U-Umu."

"Konoha, come change as well! Is it already adjusted? If the chest area is still too tight, then we'll just have to make do with the forbidden secret move of the 'wardrobe malfunction,' okay?"

"I-I definitely made adjustments already before I came, there won't be a problem!"

Fear took off her gym clothes, placed them on the long table inside the tent and changed into the dancing outfit. Since she had tried it on before and had adjustments made, the size was just right, however&mdash;

"Umu, how should I say this... Dressing up like this is quite shameless after all, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about at this point~!? Wow, super cute! Choosing Fear-chan to join the dance team was definitely my correct decision~!"

Fear was standing before the full-length mirror that was prepared for the dancers, checking out her appearance. The outfit used the team's color of white as a base with additional colors for decoration. It was made from flimsy fabric. Indeed it was quite cute, but the level of exposure seemed subtly excessive... Such as revealing the navel or the like. Was this attire really appropriate for a high school sports festival?

"Uh... Am I okay, dressed like this?"

Hearing Konoha's voice, Fear turned her gaze towards Konoha. Uguu... Fear gasped.

If she were forced to use one word to describe the image, that would be&mdash;voluptuous.

"Uwoah~ Konoha, your destructive power is quite astounding too...!"

"U~wah, seriously, this is seriously making me jealous, Konoha-chan, what have you got stuffed inside? May I touch them, please~"

"Eh? Eh? Umm, wait a minute...?"

Having changed, all the team members gathered with interest, one after another.

"Guha, these are truly amazing!" "What have you been eating?" "It's the meat! The meat is rebelling! The frenzied meat is running away!" "Aren't they heavy?" "They're so soft." "Don't get taken in, these are just something like balloons, suck all the air out!" "When did you start filling out like this~?" "From now on, they'll start deflating! Come, everyone, let's all grope her hard!"...

"Hold it... Ow! W-Who is it, such a truly hateful act&mdash;Fear-san! It really must be you!"

"Tsk."

Slide&mdash;Just as Fear nonchalantly removed herself from the crowd&mdash;

Splatter splatter! She suddenly heard an intense noise from above.

"Woah~ It's raining... And so heavily too."

"W-What~ This is worrying! They won't cancel the festival, will they!?"

"Hard to say... I hope they just postpone the event..."

Hearing Kana's words, Fear poked her head out of the tent to look outside. The rain was truly astounding. Bean-sized raindrops were mercilessly battering the sports ground while students and parents were frantically running into nearby tents for shelter. Even the tents' ceilings were shaking hard, so the rain really was quite heavy. Even if there were people carrying umbrellas, probably very few of them would actually want to stand outside in such conditions.

Hence, precisely because of that&mdash;

Despite the poor visibility under the rain&mdash;Fear could still clearly see a figure outside, standing there without an umbrella.

Not on the sports ground but closer to the school building. This was a vantage point where one could barely observe the situation on the sports ground.

Over there was the figure of a man in a suit, pushing a woman in a wheelchair.

"Cow Tits!"

"...!"

Sensing the unusual presence, Konoha instantly charged towards the tent's entrance. Just as she was about to rush out into the rain&mdash;

"Phew~ Sorry, please let me take shelter here..."

Sovereignty had arrived at this tent. She should be on her way back to the executive committee's tent? This was perfect timing.

"Hey! Could you tell Kuroe for me, I'm leaving Haruaki in her hands! Those guys have arrived!"

"Thanks, Sovereignty-san!"

"E-Eh...?"

As Fear and Konoha rushed out, they could hear Sovereignty's puzzled voice and Kana going "W-What's going on~?" Blown sideways by the wind, the rain instantly drenched their clothes.

The duo near the school building also seemed to notice Fear and Konoha rushing at them and turned to move away from the sports ground. How could I possibly let you two escape!?

While running along the muddy ground, Fear muttered to herself:

"Let's confirm first... Just us two, will it be okay?"

"I am a bit worried for there have been no signs of Aiko-san so far. Although Haruaki-kun is together with other students, with no idea what kind of move the enemy will be making, we can't leave him alone. Just as you said, Kuroe-san should stay by Haruaki-kun's side."

"Kirika as well... Due to suddenness of everything, she still doesn't know about the situation but we can't ask for her help this late in the game."

"She seems to be quite busy with the executive committee's work. Besides, we can't go inform her now but end up losing track of these two."

Konoha made an extremely cold and frightening smile.

"In any case&mdash;Even if I were alone, I have no intention of losing to that man."

A simple sideways glance was enough to send shivers down a one's spine. Fear really did not want to be enemies with Konoha the way she was right now.

The wheelchair woman and the man were moving along the school building, apparently towards the building's unguarded side door. Were they planning on entering there...? After the sports festival began, the school building should have been locked up.

But for people who were not normal, locks did not pose any problem at all. Pursuing the pair closely, Fear and Konoha were confronted by the sight of the school building's side door that was damaged outright. Entering the door whose handle was broken, they followed the footprints lingering in the corridor. The footprints led upstairs. What were they planning, even going as far as to carry the wheelchair up the stairs?

Then in the corridor of the third floor, they finally caught up to them.

"Hold it and stand still, Abyss and Bivorio!"

"...If someone asked you to stand still, Alice, would you actually do so?"

"Indeed, Abyss."

With a high-pitched grating sound from the wheelchair, the pair turned towards the girls in an unhurried manner. Abyss was dressed in his usual suit and leather gloves while Bivorio was in casual clothing and wearing her monocle. But instead of her clattering watches, Alice's arms were wearing opera gloves that a noblewoman would wear, with matching colors with Abyss.

Bivorio suddenly looked out the window and murmured to herself:

"Such heavy rain... But looking out from here, it feels as though the rain is falling somewhere distant. Let me title this scene 'Out of the Metal Toy Box,' how's that? Ufufu, a toy box that has been placed into a waterfall."

There was no time to chat or joke around. Fear took out the Rubik's cube she had stuffed under her costume and stepped forward.

"What are you people doing?"

"Captured in one sentence: taking a stroll. Quite a delightful one, in fact. This building is so devoid of people that one would like to praise the Lord."

"Because this is my first time to enter a school... Ufufu, I'd like to observe all sorts of things. To be honest, we were already here since last night."

"You were already inside from the very beginning... So that's why the security perimeter was not triggered."

Hearing Konoha's words, Abyss and Bivorio exchanged glances, going "security perimeter?" Then Abyss shrugged:

"I see, Kururi has apparently fallen into your hands. You knew we were coming here... So it looks like she was forced to confess the truth."

"Ara ara, how wonderful. Then that means Kururi must have had her longtime wish fulfilled. Fear-sama, how was it? It must have been quite a long time since you last performed interrogation? Did you enjoy it fully? Did you savor the screams carefully?"

"...Screw it with the joking! I didn't do anything like that!"

"Oh? Never mind, it's of no consequence... The problem is the security perimeter. Had we known that, we should have asked her to stay together with us."

"That cannot be helped, Abyss. It is most effective right now when the greatest number of people are present. Besides, she also has a task she needed to complete over at the gates. It's called 'boundary delineation,' right?"

"What are you two talking about!?"

Abyss stroked his beard slightly, adjusted his hat a bit and narrowed one eye:

"Simply stated, you're about to find out that we're just red herrings."

"Wha&mdash;"

"Hmm...?"

Konoha suddenly shook. Frantically, she reached into her clothes and took out the vibrating cellphone. Glaring at Abyss, she pressed the phone to her ear:

"...Hello? Yes? Don't worry about making a move. Just keep a close to see if the students have been reached or not."

"Hey, Cow Tits, what&mdash;"

Putting the cellphone away in her chest, Konoha pointed her finger at the window.

"Fear-san, please jump out from here."

"Wha... Wha?"

"Do you see the school gates over there? Please jump down from here&mdash;Aiko-san has arrived. Zenon-san just called to report."

While staying vigilant of Abyss and Bivorio's movements, Fear went over and opened the window, casting a quick glance outside. The school gates were visible under the intense rain. There was indeed a tiny figure at the gates, slowly walking forward without an umbrella.

"You two are not surprised. So that means you knew already?"

"Tsk... What are you planning on making her do?"

"Didn't we tell you already? We are just red herrings. She is the actual lead character in this performance. My original plan was to have it finished before I persuaded you with force&mdash;But it looks like it'll have to be done concurrently. How troublesome."

"But to sum it up in a single sentence, it's exceedingly simple, Fear-sama. In other words&mdash;"

Then displaying a crazy smile that did not seem crazy at all, Bivorio spoke:


"''From this point onwards, Aiko-sama has been asked to kill everyone within the school''."


"&mdash;Go and stop her, in any manner of your choosing."

"Wha... What?"

Slam&mdash;Feeling a strong impact on her back, Fear found herself sent flying by Konoha's shove. By the time she realized it, she was already flying out the window.

"Damn Cow Tits!"

Turning herself in the air, Fear landed on the muddy ground with a splash. She tried looking up but could not see the situation in the third floor corridor anymore. It did not seem like she could climb back up either&mdash;

"Tsk. Judging from what you said, I can't leave the situation on this side unhandled either!"

Destroying Abyss, recovering Haruaki's memories&mdash;The most important task had been snatched away from her in a moment of vulnerability. Angry as she was, Fear turned her head. There was no choice at this point. Killing everyone within the school? This sort of atrocity would be completely unforgivable no matter who you asked.

Held in one hand, the Rubik's cube swiveled noisily as she approached the figure. The other side was also walking towards her.

At roughly the distance within earshot, the two halted their steps at the same time.

Drenched hair. Eyes obscured as usual, her expression could not be read.

Fear recalled what she had heard from Kururi and spoke up:

"It's been a while, cursed «Pot of Curses»."

"...It's been a while, cursed «Cube of Torture and Execution»."

Responding to Fear was a trembling, hoarse and feeble voice.

The voice of an enemy who must be defeated.