Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume10 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 8===

The day after Himura returned to teach at school...

Starting from that morning, Kirika looked very off. Although her wariness against Himura the previous day was not quite normal either, today, she was even more unusual.

Agitated. Somber. Deep in thought. Repeated sighing.

When the lunch break arrived, these symptoms still had not changed&mdash;

"Too delicious! This stewed dish is indescribably delicious... Akki, you're basically a mom! Mommy~!"

"Who the heck is Mommy!?"

"Oh my! It's because my mom is not very good at Japanese cooking! But her stews are lovely."

"Hey Kana, this roasted fish is very good too. The saltiness is perfect!"

The usual lunch duel. Claiming to be taste testing, Kana and Taizou kept using their chopsticks to pick up food from Haruaki's lunchbox as usual. However&mdash;

"So, how about the challenger, Kirika-chan? Eh? Hey Kirika-chan~?"

Kirika turned out to be still spacing out. Haruaki, Taizou, Kana, as well as Fear, who was wolfing down a lunchbox identical to Haruaki's, looked at one another. Soon after&mdash;

"Huh... W-What?"

"What do you mean, what~? Kirika-chan, aren't you going to eat lunch?"

"W-Well, eat? Of course I'm eating. But, ah..."

Kirika opened the lid of her lunchbox and stopped. "?" Haruaki and everyone else looked inside.

"Hamburg steak, shumai pork dumplings, cellophane noodles, bean curd skin sushi...? Uh, though it does look very tasty."

"But it looks kind of like a mixed bag... Kirika-chan, aren't you having a lunch duel as usual?"

Taizou and Kana's comments prompted Kirika to turn her gaze away as though trying to hide something:

"That's because... This morning... I didn't know what she wanted to eat... N-No, not that.  Umm... I was too careless. Sorry. So please, let's have a truce for today's lunch duel."

"Yeah, we don't mind at all. To think you'd carelessly make this kind of mistake, that's quite unusual for you, Class Rep."

"...I'm like this occasionally. Please don't worry about it."

Taizou and the rest were tilting their heads in puzzlement while Kirika sluggishly started to eat her lunch. For sure, something was not quite right.

Quite concerned, Haruaki decided to talk to Kirika discreetly after they finished eating lunch. Fear also shifted her chair noisily and moved next to Kirika's seat.

"Hey, Kirika, what happened?"

"I'm finding you spacing out all day today... Is this related to Himura-sensei in some way...?"

Haruaki lowered his voice and asked. Kirika was in the process of preparing her textbooks for next period. Her shoulder shook but she said:

"No... Nothing at all."

"Then did some other problem happen? After all, I owe you a ton of favors, I'll help you anytime! All you need to do is ask! Come, tell me! Don't hold back!"

Kirika's lips curled up. This was probably the first time she smiled today, albeit a little weakly.

"Thank you. Well... To be honest... It's because I currently need to handle a certain matter that I'm not used to, so... I'm a bit exhausted. That's all."

"A matter you're not used to...?"

"Nothing major. Yes, seriously... It's nothing important."

Then what was it? Haruaki was just about to pursue the matter when the bell rang for class to begin. "Time for class, so hurry back to your seat." Kirika ended the conversation with a remark very typical of a class representative's.

(Hmm...?)

Left with no choice, Haruaki returned to his seat. Naturally, he remained unconvinced but there was no way he could ignore the lesson to continue questioning. Yes, I'll just have to ask her discreetly after school&mdash;Thinking that to himself, Haruaki began his afternoon lessons...

But as soon as school finished, Kirika grabbed her schoolbag and rushed out of the classroom.

"Oh my? Looks like she's rushing off in quite a hurry... Is it related to what she mentioned at lunch? Haruaki, did she tell you anything else after that?"

"Nope. It's really quite weird~"

"I think so too. But Kirika is a smart person. If she ran into a problem she can't handle on her own, she'll definitely discuss with us... I think I can assume this kind of deep and trusting relationship. Conversely, if it's no big deal, she's not going to go out of her way to explain to us."

"Maybe. But it's really quite concerning... Let's ask her again tomorrow."

Haruaki conversed with Fear while packing his things to go home, then exited the classroom.

However&mdash;His plan was easily foiled.

Because Kirika was absent from school the next day.