Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume6 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 5===

Questions kept surfacing.

"Huff... Huff..."

Fear glanced at Kaidou sideways. Carrying the shovel, facing forward with great tenacity, her shoulders were heaving up and down intensely. After all, Fear herself was feeling quite exhausted, let alone an ordinary human. In a way, it was only natural for her stamina to be depleted.

(She probably won't listen even if I told her to "retreat"... Especially coming from me.)

Fear thought to herself in self-mockery.

Since Kaidou had refused to listen to Konoha, it was obviously even more impossible for her to heed Fear who was even less acquainted with her. Oh right, if she wanted to keep her distance, if she had no idea how to face Fear, she could have stayed away and not involved herself in this non-human battle.

"Mechanism No.19 gouging type, spiral form: «Human-Perforator»&mdash;Curse Calling!"

Without the mental resolve to rid the enemy of an arm or a leg, this battle would only drag on endlessly. Just as this thought crossed Fear's mind, prompting her to bring out the drill with its stench of death, she saw Kaidou's shoulder suddenly tremble.

This was not the first time for her to make that look. Fear had witnessed it many times during the battle earlier already. It happened whenever the screams of turning gears accompanied the manifestation of vicious tools of torture, whenever the cursed Japanese sword sliced through timber outright, also whenever Fourteen continued to summon wooden blocks well into the double-digits.

Indeed, the gradual slowing down of Kaidou's movements was probably not simply due to depletion of stamina. Perhaps she was also getting mentally exhausted. An ordinary person would begin to curse and yell. Cursing and yelling at the disgusting ugliness that was impossible to ignore. This was only natural.

Fear pondered to this point, then an extremely casual feeling surfaced in her mind and she said:

"Say, teacher, could you please stand down?"

In the middle of fighting Fourteen, Konoha threw a sideways glance at her. Fear was not looking at Kaidou. Hence, Kaidou simply responded with her voice:

"...Regretfully, I refuse."

"I don't care about your answer. How should I put this? More bluntly&mdash;"

Fear declared "Enough" to herself.

It no longer mattered if she caused Kaidou to further dislike her.

If hatred towards her was going to cause this teacher to get hurt...

Then "the curse known as Fear" would be endangering humans again.


"&mdash;''Because you are quite a hindrance''."


"..."

Kaidou did not speak, a sense of anger rising. Fear quietly waited for her reply.

Fear had already resigned herself to accept whatever response Kaidou might say.

If Kaidou insisted on staying in the battlefield, Fear would make her leave even if it meant knocking her unconscious.

Very soon, Fear heard Kaidou take a deep breath. Like a tautly drawn bowstring, she required slow preparation as though for some sort of explosive action.

Then the instant after Kaidou released her breath sharply as though firing an arrow...

What Fear heard was&mdash;

"S-Satsuko surrenders&mdash;!"

Fear did not hear the scolding she expected.

Instead, Satsuko had descended from the veranda and was frantically yelling incomprehensibly.



Haruaki accompanied Satsuko into the garden, his limbs tense in anticipation of any unexpected situation. Following beside Satsuko, Kuroe was also rustling her hair on high alert.

At this moment, Fear and Konoha stopped moving. Fourteen also stood still and asked as she fluttered her veil lightly:

"...What do you mean by surrendering?"

"Umm... S-Satsuko means giving up! So she's giving the doll to you!"

Looking past Fear and the others, Satsuko and Fourteen's gazes met. Satsuko took half a step forward and lifted up the object in her hand&mdash;a headless doll.

Its body was covered in patches and possessed terrifying claws. This was the strange teddy bear that Satsuko was carrying in her pouch. Naturally, this was not the cursed doll but Satsuko had simply cut off the head using scissors just now.

Haruaki gulped and wondered: "Is this really gonna work?"

Satsuko had proposed this plan based on the dialogue before the battle began.

When Satsuko had asked Fourteen to tell her what the doll looked like, the enemy did not answer. Satsuko had said that she would answer immediately if she had any idea, so at the very least, Fourteen could have described the doll's visual characteristics. For Fourteen, there was nothing to lose in answering that question.

In that case, this meant that instead of refusing to answer, she most likely could not answer. Regarding the doll's appearance, she was not sure herself&mdash;That was what Satsuko concluded.

Of course, there was no concrete proof for this. It was just a hunch. Nevertheless&mdash;

(Even if we misjudged and the other side sees through our plan, it'd only end up angering her at most. There's nothing to lose... right?)

Feeling that cutting off the head alone was not safe enough, other parts were handled suitably to make the doll look as tattered and filthy as possible. But how much would these cheap efforts help?

"U-Umm... Actually, this is Satsuko's grandma's past possession, so Satsuko didn't want to give it to you and hid it! Since you want this doll so desperately, even going as far as to injure other people, Satsuko will give up on keeping it! If you want the doll, here you go. So, could you please leave...?"

Fourteen's initial response was silence. To Haruaki and his group, the time seemed to stretch on forever. Finally, she&mdash;

"...Toss it over."

"O-Okay..."

Satsuko tossed the doll. Although the doll flew over Fear and the others' heads, Fourteen did not catch it directly, perhaps out of wariness. Gazing at the doll that had fallen on the ground for a while, she finally used the end of her broom to pick up the doll.

Was she going to angrily yell "Don't take me for a fool"?

Or would she laugh in mockery and say "You should have given it up earlier to spare yourself the trouble"?

But one could not discern emotion from the face behind the veil. Haruaki felt his heart pounding nonstop as he watched Fourteen's reaction with a mindset akin to praying.

Next, the enemy took the doll and the broom in her hand, inserting them between her cape and the cloth wrapping her body. The two items vanished at the same time. Haruaki was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he frantically tensed his nerves again. If their intentions were seen through because he looked too relaxed, the plan would be ruined. Hence, Haruaki decided he must appear to be filled with regret and resentment for losing the deceased grandma's memento they were trying to protect.

Fourteen nodded and turned around silently. Her cape and veil fluttering, she leaped. Traversing over the wall in the garden, she swiftly disappeared. Everyone remained standing in the same spot for a while, but Fourteen did not show any signs of returning.

"Oh man~ ...Th-That was so scary..."

"Y-You did very well. It's okay now."

Haruaki comforted Satsuko who had collapsed and sat on the ground. However, Konoha continued to stare in the direction Fourteen had disappeared as she released her combat stance and said:

"I believe we can't assert that things are completely over... Or am I worrying too much?"

"How so?"

"She could have destroyed the doll on the spot but took it away instead. If she plans to take it back to her superiors for confirmation, it would be bad... Even if no one knows what the doll looks like, others of our kind might be able to determine that it is not a cursed tool. This depends on whether she took it away to destroy at her leisure or to bring back for confirmation."

"Uh... Right, that's possible too."

Just as Haruaki groaned, Fear's silver hair swayed lightly as she returned her torture tool to a toy.

"We won't have an answer no matter how hard we rack our brains, right? Anyway, although we can't relax completely, let's consider this plan a success for now. We'll continue to protect Satsuko for a while. If no further attacks appear, then that means the enemy was deceived. If they find out that we tricked them, they should be attacking angrily again immediately."

"That's quite a reckless theory... But just as you say, it's true that we can't confirm the truth by racking our brains. That's all we can do for now."

"But how should I put this? Settling the matter in this manner makes me feel so helpless. It feels very uncomfortable... But it would be troublesome if the fight dragged on. Who came up with this idea?"

"I-It was Satsuko. Sorry, to think that Satsuko would come up with this crude, lame and weak plan...!"

"Yeah, that woman really is inexplicable. Satsuko said she really couldn't watch you girls getting hurt on her account."

Haruaki added as an explanation. Fear instantly displayed surprise then smiled happily and said:

"R-Really... Well, that kind of insignificant enemy... Gimme another minute or two and I would've given her a sound beating all over! But anyway, I really must thank you!"

Seeing Fear's expression, Satsuko breathed a sigh of relief and smiled:

"Even so, Fear-san, you're so amazing... Was that drill your psychic power? In other words, materializing your overflowing energy into the shape of a drill? It's really cool!"

"Oh, I never thought you'd be that interested in this kind of unknown territory, you... like drills?"

"Yes! Drills symbolize power and strength! Satsuko's two most favorite things are unique occult goods and drills... Satsuko thinks it'd be wonderful if she could collect drill-type occult goods, so she has been searching for that type of thing. Your drill is really excellent but so far, Satsuko only has one drill."

"I'm quite amazed to hear that you have one at all. What do you use it for...?"

"Uh~ Satsuko pares things down with the drill and uses the shape and mass of the shavings for divination. But very unfortunately, Satsuko did not bring it today, so a live performance cannot be done&mdash;Anyway, drills are really cool!"

"Wow, if you're gonna chat about drills, I must take part as well. I agree with you, they are very cool indeed&mdash;Looks like I should start exploring drill moves."

"What are you two talking about? Speaking of the coolest weapon, that title belongs to the Japanese sword of course. Possessing both power and beauty, the Japanese sword's form is perfect and refined. One could call sword making an art that is guaranteed by tradition&mdash;"

Just as the girls all spoke at once...

The sound of sand grinding was suddenly heard as Haruaki and the rest saw Kaidou fall down to her knees.

"Kaidou-sensei!? Are you okay!?"

In actual fact, she had been standing unsteadily for a while now, probably at the limits of her fatigue. Not even able to hold her shovel securely, she was desperately using her hands and knees to support her body from collapsing. Her shoulders heaved strenuously up and down while her breathing was very quick.

Her fists were clenched tightly as though she were suppressing anger. But in the depths of her heart, Kaidou's emotions were probably not that simple. Her eyes, staring straight at the ground, devoid of expression, reflecting a vortex of complicated thoughts. There was no lack of shock and desperate denial of a certain fact, but she was suffering because she could not deny it completely. Her heart remained filled with anger as well as sorrow that almost brought her to tears.

Haruaki's group wanted to rush over to Kaidou's side, but a hand reached out to stop them at this moment.

It was Fear's hand. Next, she nodded and said "Leave it to me" and&mdash;

She walked towards Kaidou alone.



At this moment, Fear recalled what Haruaki had said earlier. It would be enough to try approaching her if any opportunity arose and reduce their distance. Fear actually agreed with Haruaki's idea. If she did not approach the other party, there would not be any progress. After all, certain things could not be understood without approaching the other person.

It was the same with Satsuko. Fear was only able to gain a deeper understanding precisely because she had approached Satsuko with initiative. This made Fear believe that she could grow closer with anyone. Perhaps because they had become closer, Satsuko had desperately tried to assist from the sidelines to save everyone.

Hence&mdash;Fear told herself to gather her courage and try approaching Kaidou.

In all senses of the word, whether in physical distance or otherwise.

"..."

Without saying a word, Fear advanced. Perhaps hearing her footsteps, Kaidou looked up.

Although Fear had called her a hindrance just now...

Was it not too late to make up for it?

Fear did not regret saying those words but she hoped that the teacher could understand that she had not meant any ill will.

Fear stopped walking and looked down at Kaidou's expressionless face. She was also looking up at Fear.

Then Fear slowly extended her hand.

"...Are you able to stand, teacher?"

Their eyes met. Kaidou's eyes, filled with complicated thoughts, displayed slight unease.

She did not speak.

A short while later, she raised her hand as though accepting the outstretched hand.

Originally curled into a fist, her fingers opened as though to shake hands.

Then&mdash;


There was a "smack."


The crisp sound echoed throughout the moonlit night.

Slapped away, Fear's hand only experienced lingering pain instead of a hand's gentle warmth.
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