CubexCursedxCurious:Volume7 Chapter1

Chapter 1 - Hello Guillotine

Part 1

One evening on a certain weekend.

"Haruaki, I'm bored out of my mind! I wanna take a walk outside!"

Fear was saying this after one of the common sense lectures conducted whenever there was time—today's being "How to Use the Vacuum Cleaner, Lecture #3 ~The accessory with the pointy tip is not an item for stabbing people to death~"—had ended for some time. Earlier, she had been obediently watching an animal show on television, but now that the show had ended, she seemed to be bored with nothing to do.

Haruaki was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Making a surprised expression, he looked back at her and said:

"Since you're bored, then try finding something to do... Such as helping out with the cooking or the like?"

"I've done that before! How should I put this? I'm not in the mood for helping with cooking right now—That's right! I believe I should broaden my experiences!"

"You make a fair point... But I'm busy cooking right now, so I can't leave the kitchen."

"Why not leave the cooking to Cow Tits?"

Fear swayed her silver hair with displeasure. Standing beside Haruaki, helping out industriously with the cooking, Konoha looked up and said:

"Eh—But Haruaki-kun's cooking still tastes better. Right, if you say you 'don't mind it's not Haruaki-kun's cooking and you want to eat my cooking no matter what!' then I don't mind."

"Muumuu... Hmph, who wants to eat your cooking of full meaty hell? That'll cause the fatal disease that they call m-metabolic syndrome on television. That said, one person already caught it already. Poor thing, there's no hope for her at all..."

"W-Why are you looking at me with eyes filled with tepid eyes?"

The usual back and forth bickering began as always. But at this moment, Fear spoke as though she suddenly had an idea:

"But after more thinking, it's not like I need to have Haruaki by my side. I can manage something as trivial as taking a walk by myself. After all, I'm just going to make one round encircling this house. So can I go for a walk? I can? Okay~ Then I'm off!"

"Hey~ Hold it right there."

"Ooph!"

In any case, Haruaki grabbed her collar first and began to think. Counting from the day this girl was suddenly sent here, quite a few weeks had passed already. Although she was still doing many weird things as always, compared to the beginning, she had already improved greatly. Also, she had started going to school from a while earlier, so she seemed to be slowly getting used to things outside of the house...

Hmm~

Still grabbing onto her collar, Haruaki turned Fear's petite body around and looked her straight in the face.

"Hey, Haruaki you dummy! Let go now, or else I'll curse you!"

"So, you said you want to go for a walk no matter what?"

"Umm—Of course!"

Grumbling, Fear was showing glimmering eyes while nodding vigorously.

"Do you promise that you'll return after making one round in the neighborhood?"

"Yes!"

"Promise you won't run off to somewhere strange?"

"Yes yes!"

"Even if a weirdo calls out to you, you won't pay any attention?"

"Yes yes yes!"

"Then go."

"...! I'll be back before you know it!"

Fear rushed out of the kitchen, leaving only silence behind. Dressed in an apron, Konoha frowned slightly and said:

"Is this okay?"

"After all, she said she's only making one round in the neighborhood. Besides, I can't stay by her side forever, right?"

"Sigh... Well, I just hope she'll return without incident..."

Still feeling worried, Konoha murmured then continued preparing the meal. Her attitude prompted an ominous premonition to suddenly emerge in Haruaki's mind, but it was too late by this point. There should be no problem, right? There must not be a problem, please, no problems... As much as these worries gradually increased in his mind, Haruaki still picked up the kitchen knife again.

However—Based on the result...

Fear's walk this time was precisely the root cause of the later commotion.

Part 2

During dinner in the living room...

"U-Umm, Haruaki, can I eat in my room today?"

"What? Definitely no way. It's a different matter if you're living in the accessory dwelling, but we're living in the same home after all. So long as you're not ill in bed, having meals together is one of this family's rules."

"Muu... No exceptions?"

"Why do you want to eat in your room so much?"

"N-Nothing, okay! It's not like... I particularly... wanna... eat in... my room. Also, I only asked because the thought suddenly occurred to me. In fact, there's no special meaning! Wahaha!"

Fear laughed in a clearly unnatural manner then reached out with her chopsticks towards the dishes on the table.

(Hmm... Her behavior is too suspicious.)

Haruaki did not know when exactly she had returned from her walk. After coming home, she had stayed cooped up in her room doing something secretly. Even when he asked her how she felt about her walk, she simply replied with a weird answer of "N-Nothing much, not especially good or bad!" Having gone off on her walk with such enthusiasm, Haruaki expected her to report back happily on various sundry happenings.

"Muu, oh right."

Picking at the dishes as though distracted in thought, Fear suddenly looked up. Her glimmering eyes seemed to be saying "eureka!" Then she said:

"Midnight snack. That's right, I want a midnight snack. Haruaki, roll some rice balls!"

"Hmm? Oh, I can't for today. We don't have much rice left and the amount remaining is barely enough for breakfast tomorrow... You should eat your fill now during dinner so that you don't need a midnight snack."

"Also, why don't you sleep earlier instead of staying up late?"

"M-Muuuuuu..."

Fear's whimpers of displeasure only increased Haruaki and Konoha's doubts.

Then after dinner ended, it was time for tea.

Like a lawyer raising an objection to a judge, Fear knocked on the table and said:

"I demand double the usual amount of rice crackers for today's tea time snack! Four pieces! I want four!"

"What? Don't you have your own personal rice crackers in your room?"

"I finished them long ago! So I need to get the amount I will be eating next!"

"Didn't I give you a pack yesterday? I told you not to consume them too quickly."

"That's because, umm, there's an unpredicted situation... No! In any case, that's what I demand!"

Konoha sipped tea calmly while throwing a slanted glance at Fear's desperate pleading.

"Haruaki-kun, you must not give in to her demands no matter what. Otherwise, she'll simply keep asking for more."

"Well said. So you'll just have to make do with two. Here you go."

"What!?"

Receiving the two rice crackers, Fear was shaking with her head bowed, her silver hair quivering—

"Damn it, whatever! You dummy!"

She rushed out of the living room in a huff. As her inexplicable shouts of "The shameless brat is struck with shameless disease! Cow Tits' boobs are such an eyesore, they should deflate—" gradually receded, the sound of a paper door slamming shut was heard last.

"...What's with her? Although it's completely normal for her to be begging for rice crackers, today's behavior is a bit strange."

"So true~ But that child acting weird is also commonplace. Logically speaking, there is no problem."

Konoha looked exasperated as she poured tea into her cup. At that moment, she eyed her own bosom.

"...That child always says that... Could it really come true...?"

"What's the matter?"

"Eh? Umm, uh... Hmm! This is a good chance, I guess I'll muster my courage to try asking."

"Okay."

"Umm... My bosom, is it... really... an eyesore...?"

"Pffft!"

What kind of senseless question was that? Haruaki desperately tried to stop tea from spurting out of his mouth but could not stop his gaze from being drawn to "that part" while Konoha's body twisted from embarrassment. The way she cradled her bosom with her arms caused that body part to look even more magnificent—

"No! Actually... it's not... an eyesore. I think... it's quite nice. Not an eyesore at all."

Konoha's face suddenly flushed red, then she awkwardly shook her braids.

"Is that so... Aha, I seem to have asked something weird. Please erase this from your memory and pretend I never asked."

"O-Okay. I also find my answer quite weird, so please forget it as well..."

As though trying to hide her embarrassment, Konoha drank her tea in one breath. But then she suddenly frowned, causing Haruaki to ask: "Did something happen?"

"No... I seem to be hearing something strange. Perhaps it's just my imagination."

Konoha answered in her gentle smile as usual. Then saying "Okay, I must work even harder," she stood up. After Haruaki asked in puzzlement: "What do you need to work harder at?", Konoha replied:

"Because the teacher assigned a whole pile of homework that needs to finished quickly by Monday, unless I divide it up to work on for today and tomorrow, it'll be quite tough... Haruaki-kun, didn't your class get homework?"

Part 3

A couple dozen minutes later, Haraki was clutching his head, agonizing before his desk in his room.

"Gah, I can't believe I forgot all about it...!"

Clearly, he could not ask the teacher to reduce his homework load using excuses such as "My father never came back after going abroad, meaning I must do all the house work. If I had to mention another thing, there's a silver-haired girl living in my home." What a pain, what a great pain. In Haruaki's view, homework was contemptible for taking away time from important house chores.

(I'll need to finish this handout by today. I need to go shopping tomorrow and it's quite rare for me to feel motivated enough to clean the entire house thoroughly.)

Haruaki's grades were neither great nor terrible. But the enemy known as "formulae" was quite formidable, halting the advance of his homework progress.

"Hmm, I don't get this. I'd better ask Konoha...? No wait, she's quite strict about homework~ Looks like I should try my best on my own... But still... I... don't... get it..."

Just as Haruaki was hunching forward, feeling his strength drained, he thought "No way, I'm gonna fall asleep if this continues" and stretched. Suddenly, the paper door behind him shook. Someone was knocking. Haruaki casually answered "Come in."

"Umm... Is it okay if I come in?"

It was Fear. Haruaki glanced back at the sound of the paper door sliding open and saw her standing there with a timid look. Shoulder hunched, hands behind her back, she gingerly looked towards him.

"I'm quite tied up but whatever. Anyway, it won't affect my progress that much."

"Okay... Then I'm coming in."

"Sure, what's up?"

Thinking "she's probably coming for something like extra rice crackers," Haruaki turned towards the desk again. As the thought of "I'd better work hard and sort out this question, it's very important" crossed his mind, Haruaki proceeded to continue his duel against the handout, still covered in blanks.

At this moment, he heard the paper door slide shut behind him while Fear walked over to him timidly and slowly on the tatami floor.

"I have a something... I need your help with."

"Mmm-hmm."

"No, rather... It's something that must be said, that's what I mean."

"Okay."

Haruaki simply responded indifferently. However, Fear's quiet voice was slowly approaching his back—

"I—may have done something wrong."

"Really really... Huh?"

"Only now did Haruaki notice the atmosphere of dissonance. Fear's tone of voice sounded very serious with a hint of worry. This was definitely not the voice she used in her usual willfulness when demanding rice crackers. Instead, it was more sincere, more unusual—Indeed, it was as though she was forcing out a message from the very depths of her heart—

"I really can't... bear it any longer... So..."

Haruaki felt warm breath against his ear. Why was she... leaning in... so close? An inexplicable sense of pressure made him afraid to look back. All he could hear was irregular panting. He could imagine Fear blushing, breathing irregularly, her lips approaching his ear—What the heck did she want to do exactly?

"Arghhhh... How did explaining what happened become so hard? Anyway, it's this. What I want to tell you is this. So, Haruaki, could you turn your head towards me..."

Haruaki did not dare turn his head. The mechanical pencil in his hand also began to shake. The mathematics handout, originally considered a tough enemy, would be mere fodder worth only 1EXP in comparison. Good heavens~ How did it come to this? Running away from fodder was possible but not for boss characters.

"Ahh..."

"What?"

Haruaki now felt a new sensation against his ear. Amidst the nonstop panting, a soft and slightly wet object was moving back and forth against his earlobe, gently and carefully—No mistake about that.

His ear was being licked.

"W-Woah! W-What are you doing, Fear!? Listen carefully, you must calm down. I don't really get what this is about, but you must first calm down! You must be temporarily out of your mind, right?"

"...Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Stop going 'huh,' okay!?"

Despite his serious confusion, Haruaki still managed to activate the willpower dormant in the depths of his brain cells, turning his head to look all at once. The result—

Lick~

For some reason, the tongue that was even nearer than Fear's voice gave Haruaki's nose a forceful lick.

"Woof woof! ...H-H-Huff!"

Held in Fear's outstretched hands, an especially cute little animal was currently wagging its tail vigorously.

Part 4

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Part 5

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Part 6

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Part 7

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Translator's Notes and References

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