Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume7 Chapter6 (section)

===Part 5===

Late that night, when all was quiet, Konoha was lying in bed in her own room.

"Sigh..."

While sighing, Konoha also closed the paperback<!--bunkobon--> she was reading in bed. She was not registering any of the content at all. Looking at the clock, she discovered it was already considered late night. Back in the main residence, ''he'' was probably asleep already?

"Ah... I should get ready for a bath..."

Konoha slowly stood up and started to fill the tub in the adjoined bathroom. Watching the hot water pour and splash, Konoha sighed again.

Naturally, her mind was occupied with Kuroe. Konoha really wanted to trust her. But despite wanting to trust her, there was still a sense of dissonance. Fundoshi, falling over at a seemingly calculated moment and even witnessed by ''him''. Breast massage. Then ''his'' appearance at a seemingly calculated time, also happening to witness the sight.

"If it were not coincidence... Then sure enough, that child deliberately planned it all as a prank...?"

If that were the case, then her intentions were unknown. Konoha had already reflected deeply a number of times, concluding that she should not have offended Kuroe in some way. Besides, neither of them knew each other well enough to foster dislike. In that case, why was she playing such pranks&mdash;

At this moment, Konoha suddenly realized something. Pranks were literally malicious games.<ref>In Japanese, the kanji for "prank" is ''itazura''(悪戯) which literally reads "malicious game."</ref> In other words, playing a game. From the word "game," Konoha thought of one possibility.

(She doesn't know the "rules of the game"...?)

Konoha recalled Kuroe's calm voice when she recounted her past residence.

Hence, Konoha wondered if it was really like that.

I can easily tell just by reminiscing about my own past self.. Before coming to this home, we all existed to curse someone. We did not have the leisure to cultivate an interest in games. Plus the fact that she's a doll&mdash;speaking of which, rather than "an existence that played," she would be "an existence others played with" instead. Hence, it would be as she mentioned at that time.

(So, starting yesterday, Haruaki-kun, who cannot be cursed, became her owner. It's the first time for her to obtain freedom, but suddenly confronted with such a situation, she might be a loss as to how to exercise that freedom...)

That was a possible explanation. But come to think of it, there was no definite evidence that could prove that she was playing pranks intentionally. Even if there was evidence, in light of Haruaki-kun asking me to be friends with her, I can't get angry at her or get into an argument&mdash;

"Hmm..."

Agonizing repeatedly over the same problem, Konoha felt quite stifled.

Reaching into the half-filled bathtub, Konoha began to stir nonstop. However, this did not succeed in dispelling the stress in her heart. Whatever, I'll just go to sleep immediately after a bath and figure the rest out tomorrow. That's right, worrying like this won't help anything. Rather, relaxing my mood might perhaps allow me to think of a good solution. Let me have a good soak in the bath and stop wearing this tightly wrapped fundoshi (I just find myself weird this morning) and switch to the panties I wear normally. The mornings have been getting cold recently, so let me add another blanket to keep myself warm during sleep&mdash;

(Oh, by the way, I still haven't taken the standby blanket to that child... I should go check on her and bring a blanket while I'm at it. It'd be troublesome if she caught a cold.)

Hence, Konoha shut off the hot water and went to find a blanket in the room's cupboard. She recalled that there was a slightly smaller blanket, different from the one she wanted for herself.

"Hmm~ For a petite child, this should be just right... I hope she's not asleep already."

Hence, holding the blanket, she left her room. Standing in the outdoor passageway, she huddled in the cold as she knocked lightly on Kuroe's room next door. She rubbed her cheeks to put on a natural smile while waiting for the door to open. However, there was no response so she knocked again.

"Kuroe-san, are you already asleep? I'm worried you might be cold so I've brought you another blanket."

There was still no response. What should she do? Hence, Konoha tried to turn the door handle&mdash;The door opened. What should she do? In any case, if Kuroe was asleep, then she would just leave the blanket beside her. That way, Kuroe could just pick it up and cover herself if she felt cold.

"I'll just enter for a moment..."

Konoha entered and closed the door lightly. Naturally, it was completely dark inside the room, but for a non-human like Konoha, that did not pose any hindrance. This room, the size of six tatami mats, yet to be completely furnished, was bare, of course. While thinking "despite having the same internal layout as my room, the feeling is quite different" to herself, Konoha walked over to Kuroe's futon in the center of the room&mdash;

The blanket, originally held in her arms, fell to the floor.

The futon was like an empty and discarded shell.

Furthermore, the girl who was supposed to be sleeping inside, had run off somewhere currently&mdash;

However, Konoha instinctively deduced the answer.