Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume5 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 5===

After finding out about the mascot costume's appearance from the female student, Haruaki and his group started walking around the school building, parting ways with the girl and Zenon. This was because the girl needed to return to her class to explain the situation and also&mdash;

"It's probably meaningless, but I'd better send someone to monitor the school gates."

Zenon had gone off to busy herself with other tasks. Since the costume was large and not easily concealed, plus security had been alerted to stop anyone carrying anything strange, monitoring the school gates should not be meaningless.

Apart from that, the group also considered the idea of using a public announcement. But if the suspect knew he was wanted, he might start brandishing a knife in reckless abandon. This could possibly develop into the following situation: "large scale arrest operation undertaken among crowds of students where the suspect is discovered → panic → cultural festival suspended." In the end, they decided to give up on that method.

While the group was visually searching for the suspect, Fear, whose furious glare was saying "Hurry and come out if you wanna live, freak!", suddenly narrowed her eyes.

"Nuu!? Th-That's&mdash;Take this!"

"Uwah? Hey, wait up, Fear! That's a cat, it's a cat!"

Haruaki frantically chased down Fear who was about to charge into a tiger-striped cat mascot and forcibly dragged her away. After he apologized for Fear's rash behavior, the mascot muttered "Scared me to death..." emphatically while leaving.

"That's totally wrong! We're looking for a humanoid mascot, right? Something similar to a skull mask."

"I know, okay. It's just that whenever I see furry object, I'm overcome with the urge to pounce."

"...Search seriously!"

"I-I'm being serious! Just now, it was only... Recharging my energy, I was just replenishing my motivation! Anyway, those are my needs! Okay, let's go!"

Fear waved her hands as she spoke then began walking in front. Haruaki and Konoha exchanged glances and could only shrug helplessly. Just as they prepared to catch up to Fear&mdash;she had already disappeared. More accurately, she had taken a great fall with intense momentum. Due to the suddenness of the situation, for an instant it seemed as though she had vanished from view.

"Zuwaa&mdash;!?"

Crash thud!

A plastic trash can in the corridor was tragically flattened by Fear's bottom. For the sake of personal safety, Haruaki decided not to express any opininon regarding her destructive power (namely, Fear's weight).

"W-What on earth are you doing? Are you okay?"

"You're being too impatient. You should calm down a bit before taking action..."

"Ouch ouch..."

Still sitting on the floor, Fear rubbed her backside where the impact had struck. Thinking "Never mind your backside, hurry up and cover up those striped panties!", Haruaki frantically turned his gaze away from the sight between Fear's legs.

Very quickly, Fear noticed Haruaki's gaze and held down her skirt as she stood up, blushing red.

"Oooooh... Why is this corridor so wet! That's the reason why I slipped. What are the people in charge of cleaning actually doing!?"

Fear's fury was justified. The floor under her feet was as wet as though someone had knocked over a bucket of water. With clearly no water faucets nearby, this was really bizarre. Fear kept throwing a tantrum in the corridor but then she suddenly frowned and brought her face near the wet floor of the corridor as though she were staring at something.

"Wait a minute...? It's really weird for this kind of place to be soaking wet. It feels like... Just now... I recall hearing the name of something. Whatchamacallit? Wet... Wet... Wet&mdash;Ah!"

"W-What is it?"

"The wet woman! Didn't Zenon mention about the 'wet woman youkai' just now!? I can't believe it really exists!"

Haruaki surrendered. To think he actually expected her to say anything decently serious.

"Say, Fear... Whether it's the wet woman's fault or any other, we're currently looking for the mascot costume thief, right!? Let's leave the youkai for youkai hunters or survivors of ghostly tribes to handle. We should hurry and get going!"

"What are you talking about? Being weird and monstrous is what it means to be a youkai!<!--original: Both 妖(you) and 怪(kai), therefore youkai!--> Although he's a mysterious thief of mascot costumes, he's also a mysterious freak with a sweat fetish and a bizarre madman to boot! Madmen are always involved in crazy things, so this is definitely a clue... Muu! Haruaki, look, it's wet over here as well! Looks like the trail leads up the stairs, let's give chase!"

"Hey! Wait a sec, Fear!"

Fear ignored Haruaki and rushed up the stairs on the side. Since they were currently on the fourth floor, this staircase led to the roof.

Left with no choice, they could only chase after Fear. The stairs were also wet. Water was left on the stairs in intervals corresponding to footsteps. In any case, there probably was no youkai, but the scene confronting them was indeed quite strange.

"Uwah!"

"Are you alright? Rushing too fast is very dangerous... Or rather, since there's nothing up here, there's no need to rush."

"Right. I'm sorry to tell you this, Fear-kun, but I remember that the door to the roof is supposed to be locked for today."

"Really? After all, it would be quite dangerous if young children could go up there on their own."

Reaching the end of the staircase, Fear stood motionlessly in front of the door leading to the roof.

However, her reason for standing there was completely different from what was expected.

"Someone broke the lock."

"What did you say?"

Fear was right, the door handle was completely destroyed.

The whole group held their breath nervously and the surrounding atmosphere grew tense imperceptibly.

"This means someone forced their way up to the roof, although who knows why they were so desperate they had to break the lock."

"Judging from the wetness of these stains... This happened not too long ago. Assuming that ''the lock breaker and the person dripping with water are one and the same''."

"So, do we need to consider the possibility that the person is still on the roof...?"

"Let's be careful, everyone."

Konoha narrowed her eyes and said:

"&mdash;Let's open the door now."

After a quick glance at everyone's face, Fear forcefully kicked the door open. Having lost its lock, the door opened with a metallic grating sound. Shining into their eyes, the glaring sunlight came from the vast and open sky. While enduring the dazzling sunlight, they looked around on the roof. However, the empty space was completely deserted without any moving creature at all.

"Not here huh... Hmm, that's...?"

Fear discovered something and ran over to the edge of the roof, bending over in front of the fencing. Haruaki caught up to her and checked out the sight from behind her silver hair.

Indeed, there was a patch of wet concrete. Due to the abundance of sunlight, the water had almost completely evaporated. But there was no mistake. Upon close examination, there were what appeared to be vague footprints leading from the roof entrance to the edge here.

"Indeed there's no mistake. The person probably walked from over there. Judging from the amount of water, that person stood here for quite a while&mdash;"

Haruaki abruptly stopped speaking because he was struck by a terrifying feeling. Then what? Did the person suddenly vanish from this spot? Or perhaps, went over the fencing and jumped down? But both were impossible.

"Then what on earth happened? Why does this feel more and more like a supernatural tale?"

"Th-That's too scary. I'd rather that sort of thing only happen to that doll with the extensible hair at home."

"In any case, let's first check out the situation downstairs. If that person didn't vanish, then that only leaves crossing over this fencing... I only hope that we won't see something that we don't want to see."

Kirika was right. After taking a nervous gulp, the members of the group approached the fence on their own. Then right at the instant they slowly peered down&mdash;

Haruaki was the first to hear the noise.

"Who is it!?" "Who's there!?"

Konoha and Fear turned around simultaneously and shouted ferociously, then&mdash;

"What... This is&mdash;?"

Kirika's voice expressed doubt and shock as something metallic was fastened tightly around her neck.

Finally realizing the irregularity of the situation, Haruaki turned around for a look. 

Without them noticing, two people had started standing behind them.

"Completely unguarded... Is there something really fun over there...? Anyway, thank you for your efforts, Un Izoey."

"My feeling: delighted more or less. The honor of your praise is my glory."

The first to speak was a man standing leisurely not too far away. Answering him in awkward Japanese was the person who leapt back to his side&mdash;namely, the girl who had secretly crept up behind Haruaki's group just now.

The girl seemed to be the same age as Haruaki's group. Dark-skinned. Her gray hair, almost white in color, was cut suitably in a short hairstyle. Beneath her hair were dense eyebrows displaying great willpower as well as completely emotionless eyes.

Her attire was quite avant-garde. Using a piece of cloth whose design seemed rather tribal, her lower body was wrapped in the manner of a long skirt. Exposed beneath the hem was a pair of dark-skinned legs that seemed as strong as a wild beast's. On her upper body, she was wearing something like a white coat but one could hardly be certain. Even though all the buttons were fastened, did any white coat existing in this world deliberately exhibit a person's navel and sturdy abs? Above the triangular patch of exposed, dark-colored skin, there were exquisite curves of voluptuousness, clearly pushed up by the skin-tight fabric&mdash;How should one describe it? But most certainly, it was already close to winter yet the girl's upper body was wearing nothing except for this kind of white coat.
[[image:C3 05-061.jpg|thumb]]

The girl was clearly suspicious but her attire was not the most pressing issue. Rather it was why would she secretly creep up behind them?

"Class Rep...!?"

"Guh... Yachi! Don't ever let your attention stray from these two people!"

"B-But Kirika&mdash;There's something on your neck!"

Just as Fear pointed out, a black object had been imposed on Kirika's neck. It resembled a large choker made of steel or perhaps something resembling a dog collar. Kirika frantically tried to take it off but the man before them stopped her with an intriguing voice.

"Careful. I would advise you not to do anything rash. You wouldn't think that is just be an ordinary collar, would you, Kirika?"

Kirika went "Guh!" and bit her lip. Despite her murderous stares, the man laughed nonchalantly.

Their conversation prompted Haruaki to ask a most natural question.

"Class Rep, do you know that guy?"

Narrowing her eyes in a vicious expression, Kirika glared straight ahead.

With great resentment&mdash;

She spoke the man's name.


"&mdash;''His name is Yamimagari Pakuaki. He's my... absolute worst of an older brother''."

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==Translator's Notes and References==
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