Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 4===

Next day, during lunch break at school. Haruaki opened the lid of his lunch box and thoughts about the problem he left alone in his house came to his mind.

(I wonder If she'll be alright alone. I left her a note and some leftovers from my lunch box, but... Wait, what if she can't read?)

When Haruaki visited the girl in her room this morning, she was still sound asleep with a happy expression. He tried to wake her but she didn't wake up
so he just left her a note that says he's going to school and he'd left her some food.
Haruaki wondered if she was still asleep. When he woke up this morning, his futon was gone. When he entered the girl's room, he saw that the girl was covered
with HIS futon while hers was abandoned on the corner of her room. How it happened was still a mystery to him.

"Hey Haruaki! What's with you? You petrified all of a sudden after you opened your lunch box... Maybe you should be moving your body more, not just for cooking and housework.
Baseball is great, if you'd just give it a try!"

A classmate whom Haruaki always had his lunch with spoke to him. His name was Hakuto Taizou.

"His withered expression is nothing new, but it does have a different glow compared to his usual expression. Maybe---- he made some girl pregnant? Hahaha!"

"Kana! Enough of your vulgar jokes!"

A girl with healthy sun-kissed skin, Miyama Kana, followed Taizou's teasing with her own.
The class rep, Ueno Kirika, remonstrated Kana about her vulgar remark.

Kirika let out a disgusted sigh and turned to face Haruaki.

"Forget Kana's reckless remark. But, I too think that you lack the concentration that you usually have. Is there some thing that makes you anxious?"

"Huh? No, no, I don't have any problem. Maybe I caught a chill last night."

"Did you hear that Taizou-san? Kirika-chan just said something like this: I'm always looking at Yachi so I know something's wrong with him! Ohh, If there was something I
could do to comfort him..."

"What a villain you are Haruaki! Since when did you steal the class rep's heart? Did you save a princess? Have you set a fire to a forged bill factory? Did you kill someone in a clocktower with a pair of scissors?"

"Both of you! Stop s-saying nonsense! How foolish!"

Taizou and Kana had been Haruaki's friends since his junior high years while Kirika became his friend in high school.

Kirika was a formidable class rep. She was calm and composed at all times and her grades were top-notch. She always wore a knee-length long skirt, which gave her an impression
that she was born two decades later than she should have. She also hated to expose much of her skin, and was always wearing a jersey during physical education classes and
even in summer, she wore a long-sleeved blouse.
Because of this, only few people tried to get close to her and she was often alone during her first few days. It was only Kana, who was friendly to everyone, who forcefully
brought Kirika with them.
There was a specific reason though, why Kirika started to take her lunch together with them.

"Setting aside those worthless remarks, let us proceed to our daily showdown. I'm confident with my fried eggs today. I'll get back for all my previous losses! I'm counting
on you two for the judge."

Kirika opened her lunch box and brought it to Taizou and Kana's table.

"So, Kirika-chan. Do you think you have a chance of winning today?"

"I've tasted it several times. Plus, I got hold of the fact that Yachi might have caught a cold... that means his taste organ might not be working well. I decided that today
is the day."

A spirited glare pierced Haruaki.

"Oh...where is she getting all that motivation...?"

"Well, they say that maintaining health is part of the battle. We only care about the taste, so don't worry. After all, we are the judges. Alright, here I go---!"

"I'll have this first! ------Wow Kirika-chan! These fried eggs are just great! I love the crunchy bacon bits!"

"Really now? So, it's great huh? Hehehehe...!"

Kirika saw the two gave her food a good evaluation and smirked. But, that smirk was off her face immediately since the battle was still ongoing.
The judges reached for Haruaki's lunch box and-----

"Akki's fried eggs are delicious too! It's soooo good! ...Hmm I wonder where this strange taste comes from?"

"Haruaki, what did you add to your fried eggs?"

"I've put some avocados in it. Hehe, I based it from an old cooking manga."

Taizou and Kana looked at each other and nodded. They grabbed the winner's lunchbox and raised it above their heads, looking like funny symmetrical statues holding a
lunch box.

"Um, the tastes were both great but we decided that Haruaki won for his novel idea!"

In that moment, Kirika lowered her head, both her hands shaking.

"Ugh...! Novelty... They're right. My attention was tied to the taste and I failed to give a thought about an original idea...! So I learned today that a conservative
idea alone is not enough to go against the ever-changing idea these days!"

"...Hey, class rep, I keep telling you that you shouldn't be THAT serious with the battles."

Haruaki tried to reassure her. Kirika raised her head and said;

"I can't keep on losing to a man especially when it's about cooking! I'll win for sure next time!"

He'd already heard that line many times. But, telling that now to the class rep would be suicidal so he kept his mouth shut and just returned a bitter smile.

After that, they proceeded on having their own lunch for a while.
A little later, Haruaki heard a classmate calling out to him that he had a visitor. He looked at the door and saw a familiar face.

"It's Konoha-san! She's just as...well, you know, as always! Damn it Haruaki, please tell her that I, Taizou, send my appreciation for her being as beautiful as
a belladonna!"

"I don't know why Hakuto would choose a poisonous flower to compare her to. It's plain stupid."

Haruaki ignored the conversation behind him and walked over to the door. It was his first time seeing Konoha in school today.

"What's up?"

"There's nothing important, really... It's just that I worry about that girl..."

"I tried to wake her up but she wouldn't so I just left her alone with a note."

"What?"

She froze.

"Was it ok to leave her alone?"

"From what I saw last night, I think that she's harmless enough but, hmmm... now that you mentioned it, I'm starting to worry about her. After all, we didn't talk that much."

"Have you seen her... true nature?"

"Just a little bit, when I saw her for the first time. She was a big mysterious box."

He started to think about something for a moment but decided that he had no idea what she was and shook his head in surrender.

"Well, if you say that she's alright, I guess she is. I suppose there's nothing to worry about."

Konoha bowed her head in good bye and went back to her classroom.

(She said there's nothing to worry about, but...)

When a person starts to worry, it won't leave him until he checked on what was worrying him. It was like having second thoughts about your answer in an examination when you
checked it over for a correction. Haruaki had no choice but to stare at the slow-moving clock inside the classroom and wait for the time to go home.



After school, Haruaki and Konoha met at the shoe lockers.

"Don't you have a student council meeting today?"

"I am skipping it. Do not let it concern you."

That was all the communication needed. Haruaki hurried back to his house together with Konoha who was known to others as his cousin.
They arrived at the gate, opened it quickly, then entered the house. There they saw&mdash;

"What the?!"

The scene inside could not be more tragic. A table was tilted upside down, one leg piercing the sliding door. Cupboards were turned over. Sundry unused items belonging in the closet were scattered all over the floor... In merely half a day, his sanctuary of repose had turned into this state of anarchy. This was no ordinary event.

Haruaki searched for the silver-haired girl, his heart beating wildly. He found her immediately.
She was lying face-down on the porch. There was not a movement from her. He kneeled over her and picked her up.
He tried to talk to her while he shook her body. Her eyes opened and she blinked with a blank stare.
Konoha went to the kitchen to get some water but hurriedly came back.

"We've got a problem! The kitchen too is in wretched condition!"

"Just what in the world happened here... Fear! Come on, Fear!"

"Ugh... Stop shaking me... I'm alright..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Oh, you just don't know what I've been through."

Fear sat up and held her head. Her head was drooped as she breathed in and out, as if saying that she was about to say something very important. She raised her head and said;

"Listen... A light-green alien with three legs came here a while ago and----"

"Haaaa!"

Before Fear could finish, Haruaki's hand smacked the back of her head. A good sound came out from his strike.

"W-What are you doing all of a sudden?! You want me to curse you?!"

"I should be the one asking you what were you doing! I get it, you had nothing to do so you tried to destroy the house didn't you? Look at what you did!"

"Y-You're wrong..."

Fear faced away.

"Then how can you explain my collection of rare dishes being sucked by the vacuum cleaner?! I could only take it as a presentation of malice against me! Have I done anything to you?!"

Haruaki cornered her. Fear just made a sullen face and glared at Haruaki.

"Shut up! I don't care what you say about me! I'm feeling sleepy so I'll go get some sleep! Don't even try bothering me!"

She ran away to her room. Haruaki was taken aback by her sudden outburst and lost the willpower to follow her.

"That little... tsk, she should try to be the one to fix these things up! So this is how she repays me for my kindness!"

"...Um, excuse me?"

Konoha was the one who was poking Haruaki's shoulder. She said to Haruaki awkwardly:

"I think that in that situation, you have some faults too, you know."

"Why? I can't explain what she did other than playing a prank against me."

"Well, if you try to look at things around you, maybe you'll see what I mean. Try to look at the garden over there. Or at the kitchen."

Haruaki tried to look at where she pointed out. It was totally different from how he had left them this morning. He still couldn't see anything other than Fear trying to play a&mdash;

"...Huh? ...That girl... was she trying to...?"





The first thing Fear did when she entered her room was to mount her futon, taking out her anger by punching it. The moment she was out of breath, she laid out the futon and lay down beneath the covers. But, even that was not enough to vent her frustrations completely.

"Hmph... Hmph! That idiot, that shameless brat...! He doesn't have to be so..."

He didn't even try to listen to my explanation. How annoying.
Well, to tell the truth, she wasn't that enthusiastic about trying to explain things to him...

"There's no way I could tell him what I've been up to."

She can't explain THAT to him. It was too embarrassing and too disappointing. She had that much pride, at least. She couldn't help it but----it was annoying.
After letting out a big snort, she rearranged the futon and covered her head again.