Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume17 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 4===

Morning, while Haruaki and company were making final preparations at the Yachi house...

Naturally, those inside the school also had their own preparations, although that meant taking risks to a certain extent.

"Say, I'd like to make a trip to the changing room first. I really want to ditch these gym clothes."

"Please allow me to say in fear and trepidation: There probably isn't time for that right now~ Once the break between periods is over, it will be difficult for us to move around, right~?"

"Gah... I can't believe Isuzu can give such correct reasoning..."

"You also need to consider the situation afterwards~ Perhaps you might be able to move around more naturally precisely because you are wearing gym clothes, although this does depend on the location~"

Another set of correct reasoning. Chihaya could only slump her shoulders and sigh.

"...Got it."

Making use of the break when students started to walk around the school building&mdash;naturally, they were in a cycle under hypnosis&mdash;Chihaya left the secret room and began to make her way to the destination. Due to needing a bodyguard just in case, but Un Izoey's appearance attracted too much attention, she was accompanied by Isuzu, whose combat strength was only second to Un Izoey. However, Isuzu's shrine maiden outfit was equally conspicuous, hence she swapped outfits with Un Izoey's school uniform, thus giving rise to a mysterious being with the dark-skinned shrine maiden attribute.

There were other students dressed in gym clothes inside the school building, hence so long as she did not do anything out of place, Chihaya probably would not attract the knights' attention. Sometimes she saw patrolling knights in the distance, but there was no problem as long as she treated them as nonexistent just like all other other hypnotized students. Not looking at them, ignoring them.

After walking like this for a while, Chihaya and Isuzu reached their destination successfully.

In front of them was a corner in the specialized classrooms block. Next to the chemistry lab, there was a door with the nameplate "Chemistry Preparation Room."

Chihaya looked around discreetly to confirm the absence of knights nearby. Then taking out the purse from her pocket, she used the key holder inside to open the door. In the very beginning before seeking refuge in the superintendent's office, Chihaya had made a quick visit to the changing room to retrieve her cellphone and purse at least&mdash;Now that she thought about it, she should have took that opportunity to get changed as well.

"Excuse me~ Please allow me to ask in fear and trepidation, why do you have a key to this place~?"

"Because this is also the clubroom of the chemistry club."

Chihaya slipped inside and closed the door. Before their eyes was a room roughly half the size of an ordinary classroom, with a distinct odor hanging in the air. Inside was a large table used for experiments, locked chemical storage cabinets, as well as a massive cabinet filled with things like molecular models and reference books. It looked like one of the walls in the room had been converted entirely into that massive cabinet.

Isuzu tilted her head slightly.

"But Chihaya-sama, you are not a chemistry club member, are you?"

"I don't recall myself joining any club at all."

Chihaya played with her key holder while walking towards the large cabinet. To be frank, she could also open the locked chemical storage cabinets if she wanted to. There was a spare key on her key holder for that&mdash;Naturally, unbeknownst to the chemistry teacher in charge of chemical storage. However, there was no need for her to use it right now.

Because the substances in chemical storage were only needed to ''prepare these preparations''. But she had already finished that stage.

"The chemistry club only consists of two cowardly boys."

"Oh..."

"After I threatened them in full force, they became totally obedient."

"..."

Isuzu maintained her pleasant smile as usual with a stiff expression, as well as what seemed to be a drop of cold sweat.

"Speak if you want to say something. I'll hurt you!"

"Oh dear, you're already hurting me~ Uh, I have already understood in various ways, so there is nothing I wish to say~"

After a forceful twist, Chihaya finally released Isuzu's cheek from her fingers. Then she knelt down before the giant metal cabinet, the most striking presence in the room. The lowest part of the cabinet had a cupboard design, which was locked as well. ''More precisely, it was locked by her''.

Through spare keys, she had simply made effective use of this location where nothing important was kept&mdash;in other words, excess space the teacher had not been using. Furthermore, she had inobtrusively added a second lock, hence there was no problem even if the teacher were to try opening this part on whim some day. She had also commanded... threatened... or rather, trained(?) those chemistry club members, equivalent to lackeys, to tell the teacher: "We totally have no idea there was a second lock. Of course, we don't have a key for something that was locked to begin with." In any case, the teacher probably was not going to insist on opening it even at the cost of breaking the lock.

Chihaya opened the two locks in sequence and reached into the cupboard.

Then she suddenly looked back at Isuzu.

"Say... Do you really understand just by listening to what I said?"

"Yes," answered Isuzu with a nod and her usual cordial smile.

"This is the 'in case of emergency' of legend, isn't it~?"

Chihaya frowned. Not because Isuzu's reply was too ludicrous, but because she was right. This slave was the same as always, unusually sharp in strange areas. After listening to this remark that seemed to expose her completely, Chihaya felt infuriated and reminded herself to give Isuzu pain later.

"...That's right, this is in case of emergency."

Chihaya sighed while sliding the cupboard open.

She expected Isuzu to be familiar already with the sight of the contents.

Because at least in vibes, this was almost the same as her own bedroom.

Handmade metal cans, bundles of wires, piles of plastic parts, etc. In addition&mdash;

In case of emergency, a substantial stockpile of her "creations."

Back during her days as a part-time "curse expert," Chihaya had gathered a lot of underground knowledge for self-defense to make all kinds of tools. Using that knowledge again, she had stolen chemicals and materials from the chemistry club bit by bit to process here.

"I see now... Speaking of which, Chihaya-sama, I often sensed you running to the neighborhood of this room when skipping class or after school. Now it all makes perfect sense~"

"Yeah, it's a perfect way to kill time."

Chihaya narrowed her eyes to look at the items she had made.

In case of emergency.

If anyone asked her "what kind of situation" exactly did emergency refer to&mdash;

The answer was determined long ago.

A situation the same as ''that'' time.

Surfacing in her mind was the image of the first friend she had made after enrolling in this school. The friend who would never exist again. Tall, boisterous, talkative and a bit of an eyesore, but she also left a deep impression on others.

The sudden arrival of abnormal days. The tyrannical events that had attacked the school. Chihaya had been left behind. Under completely bewildering conditions, everything had ended by the time she came to her senses.

Never again&mdash;She did not want to experience that sense of helplessness again.

Chihaya bit her lip lightly and tossed these thoughts away.

"Isuzu, a schoolbag is over there, right? Bring it over."

"Yes~"

Together with Isuzu, Chihaya kept stuffing the tools that had been kept here into the schoolbag. As a safeguard against any kind of situation, she had made made plenty, in quantity at least... Since the schoolbag was filled, she grabbed a second one. She hoped that these numbers would be sufficient.

While working continuously on this task of packing, Isuzu chuckled in her throat as though she suddenly thought of something.

"What's wrong?"

"No... Although it is under such circumstances, Chihaya-sama, it feels quite elating as soon as it occurred to me how your silent labors are finally bearing fruit~ Please allow me to say in fear and trepidation, Chihaya-sama, your perseverance and dedication ought to be commended by even more people&mdash;Owww."

Thinking this was an excellent chance, Chihaya decided to bring on the pain, together with what was owed earlier.