Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume14 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 6===

Everything needed to be done was already done. Haruaki convinced himself.

Lilyhowell had mentioned at the end of the phone call that his sword swings were already looking decent compared to the beginning. Assuming the target was completely restrained, if all he had to do was deliver a strike to an arm or a leg as prescribed by the plan, he should be able to do it without any problems.

Hence, everything needed to be done was already done&mdash;However...

(...Is it really the case?)

Starting just earlier, he was unable to banish this thought. There were probably certain things that were needed as preparations for tomorrow, right? But he could not figure out what they were no matter how he racked his brain.

Then no more preparations needed to be done. Everything needed to be done was already done. What remained was recovering energy for tomorrow, in other words, just going to bed earlier&mdash;His brain knew very clearly but the depths of his heart felt inexplicably unsettled, preventing him from sleeping. Haruaki simply lay in bed, staring intently at the ceiling.

He turned his body with a rustle. The cellphone by the side of his pillow entered his view. He casually picked it up and scrolled through his contact list&mdash;

"..."

Haruaki stopped where "Konoha's cell" was displayed. Driven by impulse, he pressed dial and held the phone to his ear, closing his eyes. His heart pounded uncontrollably. "The number you have dialed is currently unavailable or has traveled outside of coverage area..." After making a sigh that resembled both relief and disappointment, he hung up. This had persisted all this time ever since Konoha went missing. A result that could not be more clear.

Haruaki absentmindedly scrolled through the contact list. Names of classmates. Names of friends. He was reminded that apart from his inner circle, there were also many people waiting for Konoha's return.

Un Izoey's name was outside the listing of Japanese kana. She and Amanda were still unwilling to join the fight. But this could not be helped, Haruaki thought. They had their own standpoint too.

The contact list also included names such as "Superintendent" and "Houjyou Zenon-san." Haruaki had already explained the entire situation and the superintendent had expressed his willingness to do everything to help&mdash;However, they were ordinary people after all, despite knowing how to fight to some extent. This time, their enemy was stronger and more merciless than any previous foe. Too dangerous. Haruaki also did not want to see Konoha fighting Zenon or the other staff. Furthermore, although they had not met Nirushaaki before as former members of the Draconians, coming into contact could still give rise to many troubles&mdash;Based on these reasons. Haruaki did not want them to get involved.

This also applied to their friends such as Shiraho and Sovereignty or Chihaya and Isuzu. Although they were likely to refuse preemptively even before the request was made, this situation was way too dangerous. Irrevocable results could even arise.

However, suddenly, he wanted to hear other people's voices.

He could not help but press dial. The cellphone ringed for a long time. Just as he was about to give up and hang up&mdash;

'...'

"Oh... Hello, are you Shiraho? I'm sorry for calling you this late."

'Sigh&mdash;' An obvious sighing was transmitted from the other side.

'It finally arrived. Transcending rape by vision and rape by smell, now comes rape by phone call. How unbearable. When a pervert wishes for female contact, even the telecommunications company's signal towers can be used as sex toys, pervert.'

Still the same as usual&mdash;Haruaki smiled wryly.

'What's the matter?'

"Uh... Umm, we've been absent from classes lately, so I was a bit curious about the situation at school."

'Summed up in a word, terrible.'

"Why?"

'The reason given for your household, the class representative and the dark-skinned girl's absences is that you are all down with influenza. The timing is completely wrong, the lack of creativity is off the charts. Please think up a slightly more reasonable excuse, okay?'

"Haha... Well, that's because we left everything on the school side for Kaidou-sensei to handle..."

Then for the next while, in a manner that one could tell if she was reporting or complaining, Shiraho explained about the latest happenings at school. Although cursing of 'die' and 'perish' were thrown at him nonstop, to be honest, Haruaki found it a little unbelievable that she did not simply hang up the phone as expected.

For some reason, Shiraho's displeased voice, her cold and uncaring voice, sounded very pleasant to his ears.

Haruaki wondered if he was hoping that someone could abandon him completely, not caring at all like this&mdash;You're none of my concern, your nervousness and worries are nothing at all. In the end, he had simply grown weak. He simply wanted liberation.

"What about Sovereignty?"

'...Why are you asking that?'

"Eh? No, it's nothing."

'Stop lying. She is sleeping right beside me. You intend to ask about her sleeping posture or you're going to have me place the receiver against Sovereignty's skin, saying you are able to sense the texture of her skin through the reflection of electromagnetic waves. Both requests are denied. I absolutely refuse to allow Sovereignty to become the target of your dark lust, human.'

"I'm not a superhero with amazing powers like that... But anyway, forget it if she's sleeping."

If someone was sleeping next to her, chatting for too long would not be appropriate. Time to end the call. Haruaki finally said:

"Sorry, but we'll still be absent tomorrow, because there's something important to do. But it does mean that I expect things to be over tomorrow."

The message behind these words probably reached her.

However, she simply answered in a refreshing manner:

'I see. Not like it matters to me.'

That nonchalance seemed to be saying "don't get too fired up," causing Haruaki to recover his calm. This trivial matter was nothing. Come tomorrow, Konoha would have returned to this home. That was all. And the day after that, school life was going to resume as usual.

'By the way, I won't be telling Sovereignty about "the game you intend to play." Because if she might want to go if she knew. However, even if it means crying or begging or stripping in the streets, I will absolutely stop her.'

"Your methods of stopping her are baffling, but I understand. We'll be fine on our own. Umm, I'm so sorry for suddenly calling you&mdash;"

'...Hold it right there. I forgot something. You wouldn't be planning to contact other girls like this apart from me, to engage in late night rape by phone call, would you? Or is that exactly what you intend to do next?'

"O-Of course not. I'm planning to sleep."

Only after a second, as though in deep thought, Shiraho said:

'...I see. Good.'

Then she hung up. Haruaki smiled wryly as though feeling troubled.

In any case, he felt his mood lighten slightly. He should be able to sleep now? Just as he was about to flip his cellphone shut&mdash;

"Oh?"

His cellphone vibrated, informing him of a text message. The timing was too perfect. Has my phone ever been this active within such a brief period? Thinking that, Haruaki opened the text message. He was thinking perhaps it came from Shiraho who had just finished the call, but no&mdash;even rarer than Shiraho, a miraculous person had sent this text message with miraculous timing.

This was the girl who lived far out west. The girl who lived with her ''family''.

The title read "In rehab." Just like her usual tone of voice, the contents read gruffly: "They kept insisting I send it, totally annoying, so I'm sending this." At the same time, a photo was attached. "Rehab" might have a double meaning perhaps, Haruaki wondered. In the photo, using a hand that was slightly bandaged, she was stroking a big dog while making a sulking expression. This was the same breed as the large dog whose misplaced faith was abused, leaving mental trauma in her heart. She was currently stroking the dog. Also, behind her and the dog, there was also an adult woman watching them with gentle eyes.

"...Haha."

Haruaki could imagine who was the one who took this photo, as well as his dialogue with the girl. "Try finding a friend to send this to." "Shut up." "Why not just send it to those people from earlier?" "Th-They're not friends!" "If you don't send it, I'm gonna take that as proof that you have no friends. Eh, I can't believe that I've got a coworker who's so lonely that she doesn't even have a single person to send text messages to!" "F-Freakin' incompetent...!" Something like that, probably.

Speaking of which, Bivorio had also sent a text message a few days earlier with something similar to a report. As mentioned by Pakuaki during the school excursion, the Lab Chief's Nation had apparently contacted them about the date for returning Hinai Elsie. Soon after, perhaps the number of people was going to increase in similar photos.

(...Oh.)

Looking at Kururi in the photo, Haruaki suddenly thought of something. Then he pondered for a while. The feelings of acceptance and denial fought each other. But in the end&mdash;

"That's right. No matter what, everything that can be done should first be done properly&mdash;"

Haruaki silently got up and out of the futon.

This was nothing much.

Simply preparation for what needed to be done tomorrow, he finally discovered another one of them.