Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume8 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 9===

Do you really not have it? These words entered her ear.

A certain power that could let me, cursed as I am, forget that curse temporarily?

How could something like that exist&mdash;Un Izoey thought.

Awareness of her bloodstained hands. Awareness of her cursed hands.

The power to forget all these.

How could something like that exist?

&mdash;However, if... supposing... it really did exist&mdash;

That unknown&mdash;

She really wanted to know it.

Half-opening her eyes, she could see it in her hazy field of vision.

Ahhh&mdash;She thought.

Were things that simple? Why the moon rose with a different shape every night, why the sky was blue, that was how simple it was. The delightful feeling of something that used to be completely unknown to her finally becoming known.

She knew about him. During the cultural festival, the Lab Chief had explained it to her, eliminating the unknown.

Hence, she understood. She simply needed to do the same as the other girls here.

Indeed&mdash;Although these hands were stained by the stench of blood and cursed...

The hand of the human who was absolutely immune to curses could very well wipe away that blood and curse.

Currently, she could only entrust her hopes to this possibility. Mustering all her strength, she stood up.

As she walked forward, he was looking at her with surprised eyes.

"My... wish... I request to give me the same as those girls..."

"Eh...?"

He hesitated briefly. What would happen? Perhaps the answer was no. He had no obligation to fulfill her wish. Also, there was the highly wary sword. This was a gamble with very low odds of winning.

As he looked down at the sword in his hand with a troubled expression, the sword seemed to be murmuring something. In response, he showed slight surprise then sighed as though going "can't be helped"&mdash;

"...Just once, okay."

Then turning his face away in embarrassment, he extended his hand.

"My feelings... Very thankful."

Using her physically dirty hand seemed inappropriate. Un Izoey used her lab coat to wipe the filth off her hand before holding his hand. What an incredible feeling.

(...Ahhh.)

So warm. On further thought, to this date, had she ever experienced the act of holding another person's hand like this? She could not recall it. Then it meant that she had never had the experience of holding hands with someone deliberately. The first time. This was the first time. The warmth flowed gradually from his fingertips.

"Excuse me..."

"...I give... a question of what is the matter..."

"Did you run out here all by yourself... because you thought that the incident was your fault? Because you felt responsible, you tricked Konoha and lied to prevent us from following, then you came up with the foolish idea of defeating that girl even at the cost of mutual annihilation, intending to rescue Zenon-san and Ganon-san by yourself&mdash;That's why you came here?"

Un Izoey remained silent, unsure of what to say.

As she looked back at him, her heart began to race.

Mixed with surprise, anger and some other emotions apart from that, he made an unbelievable expression.

Then he smiled.

"You're such an idiot."

This sentence was extremely difficult to understand, conveying a feeling of "unknown" that she had never seen or felt before.

"You're from the Lab Chief's Nation, which means you're not our ally and might even be our enemy, but... After living with you for a few days, I understand. You're not a bad person. So, there's no need to push yourself so hard alone. You don't need to take on everything like it's your fault, because&mdash;"

"...Because?"

"Because... Wait a sec, even I'm getting confused here now. How should I say this? ...Basically, rather than a patient or a freeloader, umm&mdash;Right, it's because we're part-timer buddies!"

"I haven't said anything all along, Haruaki-kun, but... What are you rambling about? Are you getting excited from holding hands with her~? Yet clearly you gripped me so violently just now..."

"No no, I'm not feeling excited at all! A-Anyway, that's that! Also, I can't leave those girls alone, so I'm heading over. What about you?"

He released his hand. The source of warmth left her.

However, some warmth still lingered in her palm.

This was not the sensation of a bloodstained curse.

In that case, everything was alright. Although she had no idea what lay ahead in the future, everything was alright now.

"...I go over too."

Enjoying the delightful feeling of something becoming known, she nodded at the same time. He nodded too.

"I see... Then thanks for your help. I look forward to your contributions, part-timer buddy!"

Hearing this sentence, she was reminded. She had worked at a Christmas part-time job. It was Christmas today and Fear-in-Cube had explained what Christmas was to her. Although the Japanese sword and the boy were watching with a subtle expression at the time, perhaps that explanation was a bit exaggerated.

But right now, Un Izoey's body and mind felt quite weightless. She had finally recovered from the discomfort that persisted ever since the cultural festival. Speaking of which, perhaps Fear-in-Cube's explanation was not exaggerated at all.

Yes, she was right.

&mdash;It looks like today really is a day when wishes can be granted.