CubexCursedxCurious:Volume3 Chapter3

Chapter 3 - The Sadist Who Was Nowhere / "A gasper on the bed, or her cute secret"

Part 1

Building materials crashed down on her body. Out of the way. Out of the way. Hurry and get out of my way!

"Gu... Gaaaaaaaah!"

Manifesting her "nature" all around her body, she straightened her knees and stood up all at once. Accompanied by a cloud of dust, the surrounding timber were all sliced apart and blown away. Involuntarily, her mutterings were mixed with violent intentions.

"What a hindrance! Mere lowly sawdust—how dare such arrogant debris require me to slice them personally...!"

A-A-Ah... That's not right. I... I... The one here is... me.

"...Haruaki-kun... Haruaki-kun!"

The situation was too bleak. A dark premonition... Were that truly the ending, Konoha would seek to destroy the world completely. Such terror reawakened her past self for an instant. Using all her effort to sweep this fear aside, Konoha surveyed her surroundings.

There was nothing.

Only a collapsed abandoned house. A mountain of rubble.

"Ahhh... Ahhhhhh..."

Her heart pounded uncontrollably. Wait, no, this can't be true. So please... Definitely!

Using her hand to slice apart the timber by her feet, Konoha desperately looked for signs of Haruaki. Here, he must be here, absolutely unmistakably. So please... Ahhh... Please!

Konoha found a slightly protruding spot. He—was standing there at the time.

"Haruaki-kun, Haruaki-kun! Are you okay? Hey, answer me please!"

Using her hands to dig into the rubble, she kept sweeping debris aside.

But she could not find him.

There were no signs of him anywhere.

What she found was... Beneath the pile of timber, the only discovery was—

"...Eh?"

Konoha exclaimed in surprise. Indeed, over there was—simply a strange—

Ornamental bull, made of steel.

On further examination, there was a flash of silver under the bull's belly. Then as the chain of cubes connected to the bull was pulled, a silver-haired girl struggled to get up from the space between the bull and its pedestal. Then—

"...Oh, you two are fine? Thank goodness!"

A certain part of the bull opened up. Out emerged the youth whom Konoha had been searching for.

"I'm the one... Who should be saying thank goodness. I was so worried..."

Perhaps drained from the sudden relief, Konoha collapsed and sat down on the pile of rubble.

Haruaki scratched his cheek and said:

"R-Really? I'm sorry I made you worried. But... I'm also glad you're both okay. It goes both ways, I guess?"

We're both not human. How could something trivial like this threaten us? Idiot.

Konoha simply grumbled in her heart and turned her gaze away with displeasure.

Because if she were to continue gazing at his easygoing face... Watching him worry sincerely about tools—

She knew a certain something was going to flow down her cheeks.

"So, what is this? To be suddenly stuffed into this thing, I have no idea what... Is it a cow?"

"Mechanism No.24 roasting type, sculpture form: «Voices of the Brazen Bull». By itself, there's nothing dangerous right now, but once you imprison someone in it and burn firewood underneath, the iron will heat up and roast the person inside. Sealed inside, the screams sound like a bull's bellows. This form was created by referencing an invention dating back to Before Common Era..."

"Hey, Fear?"

Hmm? —Fear glanced up, looking a little out of it. She must have said all that stuff subconsciously? Her mind was already occupied with other thoughts. Indeed, it was obvious from her expression—definitely certain thoughts of a masochistic nature.

"...Anyway, thanks. I'm saved."

"No need... to thank me."

Fear replied, still in a daze, her gaze moving across the hill of rubble. She simply moved her lips and said:

"She escaped."

"Yeah. Say, did you two see what she did in the end?"

"I saw it. She simply vanished. Probably by using some sort of cursed tool's ability?"

"Such as teleportation...? Seriously, what kind of tool would be capable of doing that?"

Moreover, although it was just an abandoned house, one could not underestimate the power displayed by that hammer and butcher's cleaver in its destruction of the building with a single attack. The likelihood of it being a cursed tool was quite considerable.

"Clearly that woman could not be allowed to escape... She'll keep... again..."

Fear clenched her little fist tightly.

As if unable to forgive a certain person and unable to forgive herself as well.

As if gathering all her strength in that fist. In contrast, her gaze seemed weak and gloomy. Nothing but gloom. Haruaki felt that her gaze resembled the one he had once witnessed on a rainy rooftop some time ago.

"By the way... Isn't this cow's expression kind of stupid looking? It really calls into question the creator's aesthetic sense."

Haruaki patted the bull sculpture and grumbled.

Sh-Shut up, moron—! I'm the one who made it, so are you saying my face looks stupid!? I'll curse you!

Haruaki was hoping for this sort of response, but he never heard it no matter how long he waited.

Part 2

—Switching off the majority of the lights inside, the shop was now her personal domain.

Ningyouhara Kuroe stared at that thing.

Because it was necessary, she had no choice but to do this.

So she reached out with her hand.

Her fingertips felt a sensation they were long accustomed to. Relief—But at the same time, her heart could not help but stir.

Ahhh... In spite of that—There was a need to do this. Hence she focused her gaze on that thing.

What was that thing?

Naturally, Ningyouhara Kuroe already knew the answer.

Several grams in mass. A soft substance. A polymer made of amino acids. Trash. Treasure. One's own appearance. A woman's symbol. A crime of the past. A symbol of life. A god among humans. A vague record of time. A single filament for sorcery. A tool for business. A current necessity. A secret they do not know. And also—

—Nourishment.

Part 3

Haruaki, Konoha and Fear continued to search the ruins of the abandoned house for the vanished Alice until late at night, but of course, it was in vain. The next day at dawn—

The news on television reported the discovery of another cube-shaped corpse.

Ahhh—I must do something.

Fear's mind was filled with endless anxiety. By the time she came to her senses, lessons had all ended.

Staring blankly at the ceiling of the noisy classroom, Fear pondered.

Indeed, she felt compelled to act. It was her duty. After all, Alice was doing these things because she wanted to recruit Fear into the Bivorio Family. If Cow Tits was right, the chances of it being terrorism was quite high. If you don't join us, innocent people will be killed one after another! Can you accept that?—That was the message behind it.

—How could I possibly accept this!? That woman is crazy!

But why? Why does that woman want me? What kind of responsibilities will she impose on me in the Family? For the sake of fulfilling her goal, she even needs to go as far as to kill off innocent people?

Furthermore, that woman mentioned something about "figuring out what the victims share in common"... What did that mean? Would the incident really end once they found this point of commonality? Their only source was the news on television, but the news reports did not point out anything in common between the victims. There was very little information at the moment, with only rehashed speculation of a psychopathic murderer or a religious cult's ritual. Naturally, Haruaki and his companions who watched the news together were unable to find any commonality in the victims' information such as their names or occupations.

(Ahhh... I must do something, but there's so little information!)

Was she unsuited to thinking? Fear wondered helplessly. After all, she was a tool and tools did not need to think.

Humans were suited to thinking. Because they lacked power, because they were not tools, they needed to think.

In times like these, she needed that person after all.

There was nothing wrong with asking others for help. Fear had learnt this in the previous incident.

"Fear... Hey, Fear?"

"That's... Right... I guess I'll have to get help again... Things weren't working out in the first place."

Treating Haruaki's calls to her purely as processed information, Fear took her schoolbag and stood up.

"...Hmm? What's the matter, Fear-kun?"

"Kirika... I have a request, could you please help me?"

Kirika's return gaze seemed to carry a certain kind of ambiguity. As if enduring something, she meaninglessly narrowed and widened her eyes every now and then. The rhythm of her breathing was also quite irregular, often mixed with intentional deep breaths.

As she took a deep breath, Kirika slumped her shoulders and turned her gaze away.

"—My apologies. I've already mentioned yesterday, I can't provide any assistance this time."

"I see..."

Fear had expected Kirika's answer, but it still elicited a sense of loneliness. She could not help but feel gloomy, bowing her head dejectedly.

"Hey Fear, I understand how you feel, but please don't make unreasonable requests to her... I'm sorry, Class Rep, don't let it weigh on your mind."

"No... I'm the one who should..."

"Also, umm... It pains me to say this, but we need to go out today as well..."

As soon as Haruaki finished his sentence, Kirika looked up, glancing at him with a gaze conveying a complicated mix of emotions, but then she immediately looked back down again.

"Didn't we agree... It was... Just for yesterday...? Fear and Konoha aside, you're the executive committee's assistant, Yachi, to ask for leave two days in a row... Too irresponsible... It troubles... me greatly too."

We're the ones who feel greatly troubled. After all, Haruaki is an important part of the team. Compared to a sports festival, our current matter is much more urgent—But then again, Kirika would only speak this way because she was not privy to the situation.

"Meaning you won't allow it?"

"Indeed, your request for leave... Denied. No time to... waste. Let's... go... Ooh!"

Kirika was just about to rise when she lost balance. Haruaki frantically reached out to catch her, but she grabbed the corner of her desk to support herself on her own.

"Hoo... Hoo..."

"A-Are you okay?"

"...I am fine. Let's go. Put on your sportswear."

"What do you mean by 'let's go"? You don't look fine at all..."

Haruaki frowned, greatly troubled. Judging from his eyes, his intentions were completely obvious. Indeed. Naturally, he could not possibly leave Kirika alone in her unwell state. He wanted to help.

—Then why don't you just go ahead and help her!?

Suddenly, an annoyed feeling of resignation filled Fear's heart, one that even she could not understand very well herself. This emotion turned into a forceful and legitimate reason, easily trumping all others.

"Haruaki, you go and help Kirika. I'll be fine by myself."

"H-Hey! Wait a minute!"

While listening to Haruaki's calls—

Fear rushed out of the classroom without looking back at all.

Part 4

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Part 5

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Part 6

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Part 7

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Part 8

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Part 9

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