Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume12 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 3===

Everyone returned to the same hotel as last night's and had dinner. Then the teacher issued an announcement:

"Last night, I discovered boys going to the girls' rooms and making too much noise. Hence, from today onwards, visits to the rooms of the opposite gender are prohibited completely. If you want to chat, do so in the lobby. That is all."

"Th-Then what's gonna happen to my plan of 'gradually growing closer with girls, ultimately having heart-racing and candid conversations in their rooms'...! If only I knew this was going to happen, I'd have demanded forcefully to play cards in the girls' rooms last night&mdash;!"

His plan foiled, Taizou was greatly crushed, but upon further thought, Haruaki concluded that this was actually a foreseeable result. Furthermore, although he felt bad for Taizou, there was probably no chance for playing cards in the lobby tonight either. This was because Haruaki's group still had extremely important things to do.

"You guys go take a bath first. I'll go by myself later, so don't worry about me." After saying that to Taizou and the guys, Haruaki went downstairs to the lobby. Fear, Konoha and Kirika were already waiting at an inconspicuous spot.

"How swift of you. How did you explain to Kana?"

"We told her directly that we had other things to do so we couldn't go to the bath with her, so she should find others to accompany her. As expected, she was very curious but we managed to gloss over the matter. We also asked her not to tell the teacher. The price consisted of dessert coupons for the cafeteria."

"It's good that we successfully appeased Kana, but on further thought, with three out of four members in the group missing, it's too suspicious no matter what... Will this be okay?"

"The appointed rendezvous location is not too far away and all we're doing is picking up that thing. No matter how slow, we should be able to hurry back before the bedtime roll call."

"We should barely manage to pull through as long as we avoid attracting the teachers' attention before roll call. Kana's wide circle of friends should make it easy for her to mix herself into other groups inconspicuously. Although it's striking if she's seen standing around alone, it might be more advantageous if it feels like the entire group vanished."

Of course, going out without informing the teachers was forbidden. It was probably possible to persuade Kaidou-sensei if they happened to get caught by her and confessed honestly, but encountering other teachers would be bad. Hence, the group sneaked towards the lobby entrance while paying attention to surrounding gazes then ran out the automatic doors all at once. Escaping successfully, it felt sort of like being a spy.

The appointed location was a nearby park. Despite being called a park, it was not the type of ordinary park with swings and leisure equipment but more like a vast nature park. Using a map she had brought, Kirika confirmed the location and they finally arrived after walking a fair amount through the night. At night, the nature park seemed to meld with the dark forest. Naturally, there were no signs of casual visitors.

In the center of this quiet and isolated space, beneath the faint illumination of a street lamp, two people were already sitting on a bench, waiting for them. Gone were the aprons and the kerchiefs. These two people looked as though they were the same as before, except with minor changes in their casual attire, reminding the viewer of the passage of time since autumn of last year.

"Good evening. What nice weather we have tonight."

Bivorio spoke as though starting a tea party. Kururi rested her elbows on her thighs while acknowledging their arrival most reluctantly.

"I'm here. Let's confirm first. Is it really okay for us to be present?"

"I have already contacted the supplier. Since he did not demand a change in time or location, it means that your presence is fine. It's possible that he might even want to explore new sources for customers."

"I will actually consider it if he's able to obtain Indulgence Disks in the future. Apart from that, if he knows where I can get my hands on extremely rare and legendary rice crackers, that'd be even better."

At this moment, Kururi suddenly got up from the bench and lazily indicated a certain direction with her thumb. Konoha had already turned her head to look towards that direction.

"He's here."

"Hi, Alice Bivorio Basskreigh. How are you doing? It's been a long time since I last saw you in person. Cheers to this wholesome reunion, bravo!"

"Yes, it really has been ages."

Bivorio also stood up from the bench to welcome the person who had appeared in the darkness. Haruaki's first impression of the man, to be honest, was that of Santa Claus. The new arrival was a middle-aged foreigner with a plump build, jovial and friendly facial features and a long, striking, white beard. The image would be even perfect had he been wearing a red suit decorated with furry balls, but in actual fact, he was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt with sleeves rolled up and a New York Yankees baseball cap. With a backpack and a camera, he looked like a typical foreign tourist. If there really existed a Santa Claus who used his spring break to go sightseeing in Japan, it could be no one else but this man.

"Allow me to make introductions. This here is the 'supplier and information broker' I mentioned. And these people here are&mdash;"

"Cheers to this happy encounter, bravo! You don't need to make special introductions for each of them. I recognize them all. Rather, it'd be a taint to my reputation as an information broker if I didn't know. Fear-in-Cube... Oh, sorry, it's Miss Fear Cubrick, Miss Konoha whose family is best left unsaid, Miss Ueno Kirika who is ''nothing more than that'', as well as&mdash;"

The information broker's down-turned eyes looked at Haruaki then closed partially in a jovial and gentle manner.

"I see, I see. Although it's my first time to see you in person, you definitely resemble Yachi Honatsu very much. Cheers to this encounter of fate, bravo."

After hearing this, Haruaki was surprised from the bottom of his hart.

"Eh? Excuse me... You know... my Pops?"

"Because we are in a similar line of work, we have met a number of times at least. Rather, we can be considered business competitors as well. After all, enemies are allies in this business and allies, enemies. This sort of thing is totally commonplace&mdash;"

Similar line of work? Business competitors?

Haruaki was suddenly reminded of the fact that he virtually knew nothing of his father's work. Ever since a long time ago, his father had been running all over the world, looking for cursed tools then bringing them back and keeping them in the storeroom at home so that their curses could be lifted given plenty of time. That was all his father had been doing all along. Although there were vague impressions in Haruaki's mind, even to this day, Haruaki still had no idea what specifically his father ''did for a living''.

"Uh... It seems quite inappropriate to ask someone I'm meeting for the first time, but my Pops..."

"Okay okay, child, let's not be so hasty. Allow me to finish the job first before we talk further... Since I'm getting old, I have to finish what I'm supposed to do as quickly as possible before I forget. Although there are some things which are better off forgotten, like the cruelty of my second wife. Cheers to forgetfulness that has become God-granted salvation, bravo!"

Laughing heartily, he rummaged through the small pouch at his waist.

"Job? It must be ''that'', right!? Very good... Hurry and give it to me!"

"Please be patient, Miss Fear. In this line of business where there are no contracts, doing things according to procedure is the most important... All we can do is hand supplies over to the client. How the client wishes to handle what they have received is none of our business."

"Yes, indeed, procedures must be followed."

Kururi shrugged and approached the information broker. "This is it, this is it." The object the information broker fished out from his pouch was undoubtedly&mdash;

"An Indulgence Disk...! How did you get it?"

"Hahaha, asking a supplier this kind of question, that's really difficult for me to answer. I'd be out of business if I told you. However, I can tell you one thing. This really took a very very very very great deal of effort on my part. Especially when these things have become even harder to come by in recent times. Cheers to my fortune from the god of commerce, bravo!"

"Just shut up with the noise... So freaking incompetent."

Kururi frowned and sighed, then reached out, grabbing the Indulgence Disk held between the guy's fingertips.

But in the next instant&mdash;

"...Eh?"

Failing to understand what happened, Haruaki could only blink repeatedly in rapid succession.

Why?

Why was Kururi currently sending a kick to the supplier with full force?