CubexCursedxCurious:Volume5 Chapter3

Chapter 3 - Carnival Festival / Willful Dance Between the Mask and the Monster / "Landfisher VS."

Part 1

"After careful examination in an isolated place, even I can recognize the face now. Indeed, that's him... Little miss helper, could you please lock up that door there?"

"Sigh—then I'll close it first."

The skull mascot sighed as if lamenting over some sort of misfortune, then proceeded to close and lock the classroom door. Perhaps due to something like a voice changer, the resulting voice was hoarse and artificial-sounding. The mascot was wearing a dark-colored suit similar to a gentleman's tuxedo. The head was essentially just a skull. This character's back story apparently consisted of a dark hero who was awakened from hell.

(I think it was called... Bludgeoning Gentleman Shadowclone? That's right, it's the costume the girl mentioned that was stolen.)

Haruaki had forgotten all about it due to all the things that happened afterwards—Why would this mascot appear here now? Who on earth was this guy anyway?

Then there was the other person. The wet woman with the cheerful voice, who was she? Putting aside the question of whether she was a youkai or not, one thing was certain: she was definitely the wet woman.

Dressed in a white parka with a cute design, she had her hood pulled down low. The parka was the long type whose length reached down to the bottom of her hips. Her outfit did not include a skirt or anything similar. Exposed beneath the parka's hem were a pair of white and voluptuous thighs. Her long and slender legs reached down to her sandle-clad feet. Her legs were soaking wet, no matter how you looked, with the water droplets on skin surface especially emphasizing the tender smoothness of her thighs. Naturally, not only were her legs wet, but even the parka worn on her upper body was also dripping with water.

"Oh my—How wonderful, I've been searching for you for so long... To run into you in this place where it's unlikely for interlopers to appear, that's truly fortunate. This must be a reward for my everday good behavior, ufufufu."

The woman was carrying a long, rod-shaped object that was wrapped in a piece of cloth. Resting it against the back of her neck, she kept her hand on it while she slowly pulled up her hood.

The woman was probably twenty-years-old roughly. She was not Japanese and the distinctive red color of her long hair was very memorable. Naturally, her hair was also wet like the rest of her body. Peering through the hair that clung to her face was a pair of eyes that seemed like they were struggling to stay open after a sleepless night. This stood in stark contrast to her inexorably energetic expression, making her look as though she had spent an entire night high on drugs.

With water dripping from her fingers, she then pulled down the zipper of her parka.

"I find this rather incomprehensible... This should be the type of woman that would drive Fear-kun nuts on sight. So, Yachi, I'd like a simple explanation for your gulping just now. Perhaps you happen to worship large busts? How absolutely ridiculous!"

"I'm just feeling nervous, okay!? After all, these people make no sense at all."

Indeed, no sense at all.

Revealed beneath the unzippered parka was a highly revealing bikini swimsuit. Well-toned abdominal muscles could be seen around her dripping wet navel. However, the curves that water droplets traced out as they flowed down her cleavage were amazingly large like those of foreigners.

Staring at her voluptuous body, Kirika spoke in stiff tone of voice:

"You mentioned 'searching for you for so long' just now, right? Are you referring to us? Who are you?"

"Now that's what I call an interrogation! Ufufufu, then I shall reveal my name. I am Oratorie Rabdulmunagh, but I also have this «Landfisher» nickname."

The name sounded familiar to Kirika and she desperately racked her brain to recall it.

"...Pakuaki seemed to have mentioned it earlier. The name of the Family member who had escaped from one of the branch labs."

"Th-That's right, it definitely was a name that sounded something like that..."

"Completely correct. I am a member of the Family. Oh right, I should also correct a mistake you made."

The mysterious wet woman in a swimsuit—Oratorie—put down the rod from her shoulder in an extremely nature manner. Humming a song to herself, she happily began to untie the cloth around the object.

"Ufufufu, I'm not searching for the 'us' that you mentioned."

"...What?"

"Like. I. Already. Said. You're completely unimportant to me. In other words, the one I'm looking for is..."

Inside the unwrapped cloth was a wooden oar.

An aged and slightly filthy-looking wooden oar.

She effortlessly picked up the heavy-looking oar with one hand and rested it on her shoulder, then—

"Haruaki Yachi. That's your name, right? Ufufu, excuse me but I have a request for you—"

Oratorie seemed very happy and very very happy at that.

After announcing her goal, she immediately sprang into action.

"—I hope you can die obediently!"

With wet footsteps that completely failed to match the current mood, Oratorie charged forward.

"Yachi, stay back!"

Kirika shoved Haruaki's chest, forcing him to retreat behind her. Although Oratorie's motives were completely unknown, her murderous intent was enough to prove that she was serious.

"B-Be careful! That oar is most likely..."

"I know!"

From Kirika's right sleeve, a black belt slithered out and extended—The deadly weapon that was crowned with the name of the «Tragic Black River» serial killer. Having absorbed much killing intent in the past, this belt now moved to subdue the current killing intent at hand.

Haruaki turned his gaze and thought "What about the other person?" The thief in the mascot costume was currently leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He, or perhaps she, seemed to be staring at the floor repeatedly as though deep in thought, then—

"Since there's only one opponent, you should be able to handle her without much effort... I'll just watch from the side for now."

"Oh—really? If that's the case, I don't really mind!"

The swimsuit woman—Oratorie—answered without even looking back. Haruaki did not really understand their conversation, but it was fortunate that they were not attacking together. However, even if it were one on one, was Kirika really going to be okay?

Facing off against Oratorie whose parka and red hair fluttered as she closed in, Kirika slid between the stationary desks as she extended the «Tragic Black River». Oratorie jumped onto a desk to evade in response. Then Kirika entangled a leg of the teacher's desk to lift it and throw the table at her enemy. However, Oratorie took one look at the desk that was flying at her from a dead angle and simply moved her arm. Swinging the wooden oar nonchalantly, she effortlessly deflected the desk towards the edge of the classroom. What truly horrific arm strength.

"That really must be a Wathe? Not bad. However, you really should cherish it. Every night, you must caress, stroke, embrace and kiss it. You should also murder people with it, for it is something that can save your life—But right now, may I ask you to stop? Since this is a very very important transcender, if possible, I'd prefer not to break it."

"What kind of nonsense are you babbling about...? If that's the case, you should simply stand there and stop moving!"

Kirika extended the «Tragic Black River» directly towards the oar. The belt, which had absorbed the blood of numerous victims in the past, reached out forcefully towards that slightly dirty-looking oar, attempting to entable it—

But failed to entangle it.

"What...?"

Kirika could not understand why the belt, which had clearly wrapped around the oar, simply lingered emptily in midair.

"Ufufufu, I did as you told and stopped moving. But now, I'm going to move."

Jumping down from the desk, Oratorie swung the oar, forcibly ripping a stationary desk out from its base and sending it flying with a loud impact. This was not limited to that one desk. Every desk she encountered suffered the same fate.

Kirika tried her best to dodge the shattered remains of the desks. In an attempt to slow down Oratorie's advance, she ran into a space between some desks but it ended up counterproductive. Failing to dodge a large piece of debris, Kirika was struck in the leg, causing her to lose balance and fall down on the spot.

"Class Rep!"

"Stay away!"

Yelling loudly in response, Kirika continued to control her belt. Although she still could not understand what had happened earlier, this was her only weapon. She extended the belt between the gaps of the flying debris, but Oratorie had already disappeared from there.

Standing crouched horizontally on a wall on the side, she was sticking right to the wall.

The scene was as though the world had been rotated ninety degrees. A scene ignoring the law of gravity.

Sure enough, this strange phenomenon was accomplished by the oar in her hand that was being used to support her body. Its front end was buried into the wall. Rather than digging a hole in the wall, the oar had slid into it smoothly.

The corners of her mouth upturned in a smile, Oratorie gave the wall a kick from her current posture. The reaction force propelled her straight towards Kirika. While in midair, Oratorie swung the oar.

"Tsk—"

Kirika was just about to sit up. Unable to evade Oratorie, she used the «Tragic Black River» to drag a desk's remains to act as a shield. However—

"—«Tragedy Method»!"

"Huh...!?"

It passed straight through.

With that, it became certain. The «Tragic Black River»'s inability to entangle the oar, the way Oratorie stuck to the wall, as well as her attack passing through the debris—All this proved that the oar possessed an ability related to "phasing."

As a result, Kirika's right upper arm was mercilessly struck by the the massive oar. At the same time, the heavy piece of wood's destructive power was converted into sound—a mixture of the two different noises from the crushing of flesh and the shattering of bone.

"Cl-Class Rep...!"

Kirika was too occupied to reply to Haruaki and could only lie collapsed on the floor, moaning painfully.

However, Oratorie refused to stop. Naughtily, she stuck her tongue out and said:

"Yes, it's useless! It's already useless! Ufufu, let me express my sincere condolences for your misfortune... Also, I see your black panties~ Eh, what's with that zipper there? What a super kinky design! Do Japanese high school girls all wear underwear like that? I find it rather moving, so I'll spare your life."

Then she repeated her attack motions.

Lifting the oar, she swung it down.

Repeating that simple motion several times, dozens of times.

She aimed at the same spot every time—Kirika's right arm was where all the attacks were focused. Rather than crushed, the flesh of Kirika's arm was essentially smashed apart. Rather than shattered, the bone was essentially minced with the flesh. Every time the wooden oar struck that spot, there was a definite splash of crimson liquid that Haruaki had no wish to see.

Oratorie simply pummelled her, pummelling overwhelmingly.

The oar violently repeated "Smack... Smack... Smack smack smack!"

"Guh! Gah! A-Ahh... Nngg! Kyaah—!"

"Ufufu, ufufufu! This is what you call a beating! A beating!"

"S-Stop it! Stop it right now——!"

"I won't stop, ufufufu, because I am a member of the Family. We must offer shelter to our beloved transcenders, the Wathes. I'm going to pull off this girl's arm to take the belt back with me. Just a wait a little while, Haruaki Yachi. If there's no possibility of someone interfering, I will kill her slowly!"

No! Absolutely... This cannot be allowed to happen. No!

Haruaki racked his brain to find a solution. If he rushed forward recklessly, he would lose for sure. He was greatly frustrated by his powerlessness. Or perhaps he could throw a desk's remains to divert Oratorie's attention to buy time for an escape—No, he should phone Konoha to call her here. If Konoha were present, the Sword-Kill Counter could instantly handle this woman... No, that was not for certain. Very likely, even that move might pass through the oar. But there was no time to hesitate over such issues. In any case, Haruaki understood very clearly that his power alone could not help in any manner—

His chaotic thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a window shattering violently.

Jumping in through this second floor window was neither Konoha nor Fear.

Un Izoey had arrived instead.

"My wish: elimination of what my eyes cannot tolerate."

Performing a flip in the air, the knife in her right foot was thrust forward like lightning. The sudden attack was so swift that even Oratorie could not ignore it. She stopped beating Kirika and swung the oar up, barely managing to evade the knife's attack and distancing herself from her opponent.

"...Who are you?"

"No obligation to answer, hence, answer is nothing."

The glared at each other. However, Haruaki had no time to care about them. Frantically, he rushed over to Kirika's side. Her state was quite dismal—But Kirika was also wearing another Wathe apart from the «Tragic Black River». Hence, her wounds were writhing away, gradually recovering.

"Gwooh! Huff... Ah..."

"Class Rep, Class Rep!"

Haruaki supported Kirika's upper body. She looked at her right arm and said:

"I... I'm fine. How absolutely ridiculous, did she really intend to hack off my arm like that...!? But thanks to that, I wasn't killed immediately... Hmm... mmm...?"

"Don't speak anymore. Although the current situation totally blows my mind, that girl seems to be helping us—"

Kirika started hugging her arms and shivering. It seemed to be unrelated to her right arm's injuries. Haruaki frowned and said:

"Could this be the result of that collar? Right, we've been separated all this time!"

"I was thinking a moment of separation would be fine. Damn it, this seems to be something similar to backlash... Here I go?"

"U-Umm, what should I do now? Contact... I'm already touching you, uh—?"

Her body held in his arms, Kirika's face twitched. Perhaps due to the pain in her arm, her eyes were still filled with tears. Kirika forcefully narrowed her eyes but her body trembled even more intensely. Casting her gaze towards the side, she murmured softly:

"If possible, umm... If... you could embrace me tighter... No, if you don't want to, then it's fine to just keep things like this... The current wave should subside eventually, perhaps—Kyah!"

If that would help, I'll do it no matter how many times it takes. After all, it's all I can do with my meager ability.

With self-contempt weighing in his heart, Haruaki wrapped his arms around Kirika's shoulders and embraced her. He was somehow hearing exceptionally adorable screams but he pretended not to hear them. So hot, Kirika's blood was so hot. Haruaki did not care about getting his uniform dirty. He already knew that the blood would flow back into the wound as it healed, but even if it did not, he probably would not care about bloodstains anyway.

After a while, Kirika sighed slightly. It felt as though she was feeling very relieved and very satisfied.

Just as Haruaki gently supported her body, intending to check out her expression—

"Oh dear, I never would have expected even Oratorie Rabdulmunagh to be here as well. What kind of fated encounter is this?"

Haruaki hastily turned around upon hearing the voice. Pakuaki was standing just behind him. Just how far was he capable of coming and going without warning?

Kirika's face instantly changed with alarm. With a grim and severe expression, she said:

"Pakuaki! What is the meaning of your words—"

This resulted in a chain reaction in the situation at hand. Instantly, the skull mascot, who had been leaning against the wall apathetically, drew a knife from somewhere and charged towards Haruaki's group.

"Oh, there's a strange hero character here too? No matter, Un Izoey, I'll leave that to you as well."

"Affirmative."

The dark-skinned girl leapt freely. Moving about on her cuffed hands, her control of her motions and posture was as precise as though moving on one's feet. Her knife-wielding leg also handled the enemy as though it were an arm. Un Izoey's fluttering skirt, upside down and swaying gray hair, her dark-skinned legs reaching up and out freely—These were all unprecedented and bizarre movements. However, it undoubtedly managed to seal off the movements of the enemy duo. Skillfully evading the oar that Oratorie swung with monstrous strength, she also turned and dodged when Oratorie made use of the phasing ability, changing her position as though she were sliding, deflecting the knife from the skull mascot who had approached with astounding speed.

"W-What the heck is going on...?"

The mascot thief and the wet woman had both arrived. Haruaki expected to be attacked by the wet woman but had not foreseen that further enemies would enter the fray and battle—The situation was far too chaotic, impossible to understand.

But without giving Haruaki enough time to figure things out, the situation continued to change continuously.

"Oh jeez, what the heck is going on here...!? Nothing is more annoying than this girl getting in my way here. Rather than fighting you, I should get rid of my target first—"

"—Don't be careless!"

The mascot thief's warning came too late. Un Izoey was truly a master and did not miss the opening. The instant Oratorie's attention was diverted from the opponent towards Haruaki in the back—Un Izoey slid towards her feet. The knife on Un Izoey's foot skillfully evaded the sudden thrust of Oratorie's reflexive counterattack and slashed open her thigh.

"Guah...!"

"My warning to you: a warning not to not pay attention."

Despite almost losing balance, Oratorie did not fall over. Despite the large amount of blood flowing down her thigh, she continued to glare vigorously forward, raising her oar in a combat-ready stance. But the bleeding wound was obviously no minor wound. Naturally, everyone present could tell she was heavily injuried.

"Let give you another warning, Oratorie Rabdulmunagh. After sustaining such a severe wound, you should be incapable of fighting any longer. Why don't you give up and flee? If you don't stop the bleeding, you'll probably die soon... Hahaha, but fortunately, this is a school. If you rush over to the infirmary right now, perhaps a gentle school physician might bandage and treat you?"

"Yamimagari... Pakuaki..."

"But it doesn't matter either if you don't flee. Although I have no idea how you managed to escape in the first place, you are an escaped prisoner from one of the branch labs. If I could capture you again right here, it would help highlight my magnificence as the Lab Chief—"

Just at this moment, the clang of blades clashing rang out. The skull mascot still remained active and was engaged in an intense battle with Un Izoey. Slashing so swiftly that one's eyes would have difficulty following, the weirdo spoke with displeasure:

"Tsk—I said so earlier, if you are rendered immobile, I'm going to continue without you, right? I'm sorry but the current situation is unsuited to providing your with cover or treatment. Our cooperative relationship ends here as a result. It ended much faster than I expected, how disappointing... Oh?"

"My warning to you: avoid meaningless chatter."

Devoid of talking for a few seconds, only the sound of blades clashing remained. Then Haruaki heard Oratorie clicking her tongue. Looking at the wound on her thigh impatiently, she stroked the water droplets in front of her chest as she spoke:

"You realy chose a great moment to stab me in the back, little miss helper... But this bleeding really doesn't bode well and it's almost time for me to refill my water—Damn it, there's no other choice!"

Staring at Haruaki's group as she retreated, she opened the locked door of the calligraphy classroom.

"Haruaki Yachi... You narrowly escaped death for now, but I have not given up."

"W-Why do you want to kill me? Give me a reason!"

"I... must find out. There are things I must find out, therefore—Oh no, that was close, really close. I have no obligation to tell you. Anyway, I'll be right back. I forbid you to run away. Stay here and wait for me!"

Then Oratorie opened the door and left. As much as Haruaki hoped she would not draw too much attention, it was useless to care now.

"Anyway, how could I possibly not run away... Class Rep, can you move?"

"Yeah, just barely. My arm has recovered enough to move."

"Then let's leave from the window. After all, the mysterious hero character is still desperately swinging a dangerous weapon. Using your «Tragic», you should be able to lower us to the ground, right?"

Kirika stood up and glared viciously at Pakuaki who was leaning leisurely against the window frame. Shaking the belt lightly, she said:

"Before we escape, I could strangle your neck and interrogate you for the bomb's location."

"My advice? You'd better not. Because in that very instant, Un Izoey will come running over here. Do you think you can handle her alone?"

Kirika clicked her tongue lightly. In the end, the belt did not entangle Pakuaki's neck but a thick water pipe in a corner of the classroom.

"Yachi, hold onto me tight, we're going down."

"...Yeah, okay."

This could not be helped. After all, Kirika's injuries were not completely healed so their only choice was to escape and regroup. Wondering which part of her body to hand onto, Haruaki hesitated for a few seconds before finally gripping Kirika's left arm. Just as the two stepped over the window frame, Kirika turned her solemn gaze back towards the classroom interior.

"—Why help me?"

"Hahaha, now that really is a stupid question. Does a brother even need a reason to help his cute little sister?"

This conversation ended with Kirika's clicking of her tongue again. After cracking the whip in a threatening manner to produce a large noise, she slowly extended it to lower them outside the window.

Although she was feigning calmness, Haruaki wondered how much it hurt for her arm to support both their weight before she had fully recovered. In other to slightly ease her burden, Haruaki let go and jumped down when they were a couple meters from the ground. Soon after, Kirika also landed.

This was behind the school building, free from bystanders' gazes. Haruaki then rushed frantically to Kirika's side.

"Cl-Class Rep..."

"If you're worried about the state of my body, I'm fine. It should heal up completely soon... But my clothes are torn to some degree. Putting that aside for now, what should we do about that Oratorie woman? Although I find it absolutely ridiculous, her goal seems to be killing you. Do you know why someone would want to hunt you down and kill you?"

"Oh... Some kind of reason? Could it be related to Abyss...? But because too many things happened during the sports festival, I was completely helpless. I'm really not too clear."

Haruaki conversed with Kirika as he decided to leave this place first. After all, the enemy could descend from overhead again... However, Haruaki got the impression that compared to himself, the skull mascot's target seemed more likely to be Pakuaki.

As before, Haruaki walked in front while Kirika pushed him from behind.

"Let's put aside the reason why I'm being hunted, what should we do now? Since it's the Family, who knows what horrible things they'll do? It would be tragic if she suddenly attacked in places with other students. Even if that woman is wounded, it's still impossible to feel relief."

"Yeah, but we still have a more troubling problem compared to that woman right now. Putting it more strongly, it's still okay to push back Oratorie's matter till tomorrow to handle, but our most urgent problem has a time limit."

"But it'd be bad if someone interrupted us in the process... Gwah—This is just going in circles! Damn it, what on earth should we do...?"

A whole host of troubling problems but there was no time to waste in contemplation like this. While they walked in this manner, the time limit gradually loomed closer. Although it was uncertain whether Oratorie would attack in a crowd, once the time limit arrived, the bomb was surely going to explode. Fighting Oratorie now would just be a waste of time. If she could not be subdued in one go, if she were allowed to escape again, there would be no end to their troubles. But if they left her to roam free, who kenw what could happen—What a dilemma.

"Ugh... Let me call Konoha first. There's so much I need to tell her."

Haruaki took out his cellphone, but just as he was about to dial the number, his fingers stopped.

What he recalled was that Fear did not have a cellphone, so the message could not be passed along until she reported to the superintendent's office. Another issue—was what was currently surfacing in his mind.

Then Haruaki immediately moved his fingers and called Konoha. After a few dozen rings, the call finally picked up. Haruaki quickly explained everything that had happened to this point. Then he sighed deeply after that.

"So... How should I say this? I need a favor from you."

Part 2

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Part 3

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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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