Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume15 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 6===

Absolutely baffling, why did Honatsu have these in his possession? However, they were authentic, no doubt about it.

Inside Haruaki's room, Fear was staring intently at the Indulgence Disks laid out in a row on the tatami floor.

"Damn it... He's not picking up, that bastard Pops..."

Haruaki frowned with the cellphone pressed to his ear but it was ringing in vain. Fear glanced at him before facing the Indulgence Disks again.

What she had always wanted. What she sought. What she wanted to gather. What she needed in order to keep her darkness under control.

That kind of thing was currently placed before her eyes&mdash;But inexplicably...

What surfaced in her heart was a feeling that even she found unbelievable.

It was confusion. It could also be considered a struggle.

"Fear... What do we do...?"

"First... Wait..."

"Of course I'll wait because I know that is what you always wanted. Don't worry, just do what you want to do. I'll help you."


"Yeah, this is what I've always wanted. After counting them, I think there are enough here to seal away almost all of my remaining mechanisms, probably leaving only one or two. But&mdash;"

Fear tightly gripped her fist that was resting on the tatami floor.

Looking up at Haruaki, she said:


"But! If I install these Indulgence Disks ''right now''&mdash;I'll be left almost powerless when I really want to take part in battle to rescue Kirika. In other words, I'll become almost unable to fight! If I fail to rescue Kirika because of that...!"

"Ah..."

Haruaki's gaze wavered but he instantly relaxed his expression.

"Then let's wait until after Class Rep is rescued, okay?"

She was thinking Haruaki would say that. However, that was wrong. It did not solve the fundamental problem.

Fear shook her head. The silver color shook in the corner of the eye.

"There is no conclusive... evidence..."

"Huh?"

"There is no conclusive evidence able to prove... that this kind of incident won't happen again."

Fear slowly inhaled then said:

"I can't help but think, suppose I rescued Kirika then installed the Indulgence Disks. Then suppose further that almost all of my mechanisms were sealed away. What if something similar happened in the future? Next time, you might ended up abducted or it could be Kuroe! Once installed, Indulgence Disks cannot be taken out again. I have no way of recovering my power! If that really caused something irrevocable to happen&mdash;I'll surely be unable to forgive myself!"

Simply imagining it made her heart beat fast. Her tone of voice suddenly became forceful.

"Hey Haruaki, I&mdash;I really...!"

But in spite of that...

She still could only whisper the question.

Because she felt that these were very important words that were as fragile as soap bubbles.

"Is it really okay... to lose the power to fight...?"

To this date, she had thought over this countless times. Each and every time, the conclusion she reached was definitely this.

However&mdash;Right now, the solution was placed so concretely in front of her in tangible form. Carrying a totally different sense of weight, carrying cruelty that threatened to swallow her into oblivion, it had turned into an extremely pressing problem, weighing on her unprecedentedly.

How odd, she thought in honesty to herself.

This was clearly something she had desired all this time. All along, she thought that just by acquiring them would bring her happiness. Why&mdash;

"Anyway, let's keep them temporarily in reserve... Can't we do that...?"

Feeling a thud on her head, Fear knew without looking.

It was the sensation of Haruaki's hand.

She was crouching in front of the Indulgence Disks with her face lowered. Haruaki had walked over to her side. Placing his hand on her head, he had sat down lightly on the spot. Facing the opposite direction, he was positioning himself so that their right shoulders were touching.

"...I don't even know if it's possible to keep them temporarily in reserve."

"You have a point. Not everything can be kept in reserve temporarily... It's the same for me..."

Haruaki spoke as though recalling something.

Because a feeling resembling shyness, reluctance and pain would surge up if she were to look at his face&mdash;

Fear remained sitting, moving her body restlessly, allowing her back to bump into Haruaki. Haruaki also turned himself&mdash;naturally, it now became the two of them leaning against each other's back.

Currently, she believed this was fine. From their mutually touching backs, from their mutually supporting backs, she felt his body warmth.

"There are too many things to think about... Totally... impossible to clear my thoughts."

"Yeah..."

Fear looked up at the ceiling and exhaled lazily. She felt Haruaki's hair against the side of her ears. Surely, Haruaki must be feeling the same way as her, she thought.

Although they knew clearly in their hearts that the present could not persist forever like this...

However&mdash;if only time could flow a little slower.

Stemming from multiple reasons, Fear thought that to herself.