Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume6 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 5===

"Sovereignty-san and Shiraho-san... It looks like they only fainted."

"...Looks like it..."

In the Jungle Area which had become the main battlefield, a few dozen people were lying on the floor. They all had their eyes closed but there were no external injuries.

Satsuko and Fourteen's bodies were tied up using Kuroe's hardened hair. Apart from having her weapons confiscated, Satsuko was also placed quite some distance away, lying unconscious. Seeing as Satsuko was being held as a hostage, Fourteen probably would not dare to make any false moves.

At last, the primary objective of rescuing the hostages was completed. Haruaki muttered "how troubling" and sighed.

Just as his plan assumed, Fourteen really was unable to leave the swimming pool by her own strength. Although she struggled for quite a while, she finally ended up unconscious and sprawled at the bottom of the pool. Having waited for that opportunity, Kuroe and Kirika proceeded to pull her up to the water surface and tied her up in the middle of the pool. Were she to resist, they would release the belt and the hair, dropping her into the water again.

Then negotiations were carried out. Treating the still unconscious Satsuko as a hostage, they demanded that Fourteen release all of her hostages instead. Luckily, since the diving pool on the floor below was not open to the public, there was not a single person there. Had there been people there, the negotiations probably would not have been able to proceed in such relaxed conditions. This really was quite fortunate. In any case, after being told that she would be pulled out of the pool once she agreed to release the hostages, Fourteen considered for a short while before accepting, thus resulting in the current situation.

"I'm not gullible enough to take everything the enemy said as truth. But no matter what, I'm relieved that the hostages are unharmed. Those two&mdash;as well as everyone else&mdash;should wake up after a short while."

After confirming Shiraho and the other's condition, Konoha finally breathed a sigh of relief. Naturally, she had already put her swimsuit back on. Haruaki recalled how the instant everything was settled, Konoha had gone "P-Please don't look&mdash;!" and jumped into the swimming pool, diving straight to the bottom in one breath to retrieve her swimsuit. How should one put it? In that instant, Konoha was definitely the ultimate aquatic organism, simultaneously embodying a tuna's speed and a shark's ferocity in hunting prey.

"Really, everyone is safe and sound? Thank goodness..."

Kneeling beside Konoha, Fear had been watching everything worriedly and could finally relax. But in the next second, her eyes turned sharp unmistakably. Because Satsuko woke up.

Satsuko surveyed her surroundings in a daze. The pain from her broken hands caused her to frown and scream in pain. Then&mdash;

"Ah~ Sure enough, Satsuko lost~..."

"Absolutely. We're not going to entertain your whatever training any further."

"Okay... Because Satsuko already lost once, Satsuko and Fourt will rest for now."

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

"Uh&mdash;In principle, all members of the Draconians are engaged in jobs similar to mercenaries... But sometimes, the higher-ups will give orders telling us 'there's a suitable opponent that will help you improve your power level&mdash;' Then we will go defeat the opponent as part of our training. After all, fighting enemies that are too strong or too weak does not help with improving one's strength."

"Then this time, you came to fight us on your superiors' orders?"

"Yes."

Haruaki looked at one another's faces, but there was only one question they wanted to ask.

"Will anyone else come? Tell me."

"No idea, because the higher-ups decide that, it's not something that someone lowly like Satsuko would know~"

This uncertainty regarding the arrival of future opponents was not particularly good from the standpoint of psychological health. However, Haruaki did not think that Satsuko was still lying by this point.

"Chosen as targets for training without consent, how absolutely ridiculous... Unacceptable."

"Hmm~ Let's hope it doesn't happen again~"

"Anyway, isn't it fine as long as we beat them up if they come? But more importantly, what are we going to do with these two here? We can't help it if new enemies visit. But we can't just leave these two here like this..."

Fear murmured with a displeased look. At this moment, Satsuko opened her mouth wide and said: "Oh, Satsuko almost forgot."

"There's something you need to know about the Draconians! How should this be phrased? Basically, the agreement when a battle is lost. Anyway, there are two essential details of that sort."

"Essential details?"

Haruaki repeated the words. Satsuko smiled and nodded "yes." For some reason, Fourteen's shoulder twitched at this time.

"Uh&mdash;The first one, Satsuko may have mentioned it before... The loser must reward the winner with one piece of equipment in their possession. But you've already taken them all, right? Sob sob... Cowardly Satsuko had spent so much effort gathering those... But that can't be helped. After all, most of them were just sharp bladed instruments. Oh no, but there's the destroyed boxcutter."

Satsuko looked up and glanced at Kaidou.

Sent flying by Fourteen, Kaidou had suffered quite a few injuries on her arms and legs along with cracked ribs apparently, but she remained standing nonchalantly despite the pain. Although Haruaki had asked her many times, "Kaidou-sensei, please sit down and have a break" but she did not listen at all, even going so far as to say "I shall rest once all problems are resolved." But naturally, Haruaki's group could not stand by and do nothing. Hence, Kuroe used her hair to perform first aid treatment on her obvious wounds. Haruaki made the suggestion while worrying if she might dislike that type of treatment but his fears naturally turned out to be unfounded. Because the moment she reached out to catch Fear from falling, something was definitely starting to change gradually.

Although Kaidou was standing straight without saying a word, under the pressure of her forceful gaze, Satsuko immediately shrank her shoulders and turned her face away.

"...Also, that electric drill there is quite something&mdash;So please, you must cherish it. Especially since it has passed through many hands, so basically, well, it's rumored to have undergone measures to lighten its curse."

"What...?"

That probably meant an Indulgence Disk, right? If the Draconians customarily robbed their combat opponents, it was quite possible. Haruaki recalled the Indulgence Disks' alleged tendency to attract one another, but just as Haruaki's group was looking for the drill that was piled up with the other weapons&mdash;

They were suddenly taken by surprise. Too careless.

With her hands bound behind her back, Satsuko rolled on the floor directly. Fourteen also rolled herself at the same time. The instant their bodies made contact&mdash;

"Sorry~ Here's the second essential detail. Fourt, please...!"

Leaving behind these words, Satsuko disappeared into the cursed house. At the same time, Fourteen conjured shards of glass above her body that fell upon herself like rain. Instantly, she was released from the hair that Kuroe had used to bind her in various places. Naturally, Kuroe had tied her up mercilessly. Hence, when Fourteen forcibly severed her bonds, even her cape, clothing and the veil on her face were cut up together as well.

As Haruaki's group readied themselves for battle, Fourteen took a great leap back without hesitation.

"...Oh no."

Suddenly, she realized she was almost completely nude. Her cape was gone and the sarashi wrapping her chest had opened up completely. Originally hanging on, her shorts also slid down as a result of her jump just now. The veil on her face also fell off. Only her heavy boots remained, resulting in a very awkward appearance.

"Eeeek... S-So embarrassing! The curtain!"

But from her perspective, covering her face seemed to take precedence over her body's exposure. Frantically, she picked up a scrap of the cape that was caught on her boot. While covering up her face, she said:

"Phew... The second essential detail is that 'Although the Draconians aim to become the strongest, no one can be free from setbacks; in fact, setbacks make people stronger.' In other words&mdash;stated simply, fleeing is a type of strength. Hence, I shall excuse myself."

"Y-You're already looking like a total pervert. Why are you trying to act cool with your words?"

"Don't think you can escape! At least, promise us you won't come again...!"

Fourteen ignored them completely and ran singlemindedly. Her destination was the window she had fallen through earlier. Perhaps noticing Fear and the others chasing after her, she jumped through the window without hesitation. However, she did not fall straight down this time. Jumping up towards the roof of the pool area, she launched a laundry pole vertically into the ceiling just as she was about to collide. Instantly, she grabbed onto the pole that was embedded into the concrete. Before that metal pole could fall off the ceiling, she conjured another pole in front of her at arm's length and stabbed it into the ceiling. Grabbing the new pole with one hand, she moved herself to the next pole as though she were climbing monkey bars. Using the poles she conjured on the spot, Fourteen repeated the same motion a number of times, moving herself forcibly across the ceiling. Shattering sounds from the ceiling were heard no less than ten-odd times. Then they continued many more times. Finally, Fourteen stopped her gravity-defying trip across the ceiling, letting go of a pole and falling freely. However, she was no longer above the diving pool and landed firmly on the concrete floor of the pool side... She must have calculated that an ordinary jump would land her in the water from lack of distance. Hence, she used poles in this method of movement to secure herself some horizontal distance.

"Tsk..."

Kirika tried to extend the «Tragic Black River» but at this distance, it was futile even if the belt could touch Fourteen. The same applied to Kuroe's hair.

"I have no wish to fight you all any further today. I have no idea if we will meet again, but goodbye..."

Fourteen looked up at Haruaki's group as she spoke. Then destroying a glass door that was probably locked, she casually disappeared from the diving pool area.

Fear gnashed her teeth in rage. As much as they wanted to give chase, they could not just leave Shiraho and Sovereignty behind unattended. Besides, Satsuko's hands were fractured already. At the very least, those two should not be reappearing any time soon.

"...Can't be helped. Anyway, we'll just have to let things end here."

"Yeah... After all, we currently don't have the energy to chase them either."

"By the way, what are we gonna do next? Aren't all the exits blocked?"

"Since the enemies in our way are gone, we should be able to clear the debris away by combining all our strength... But I want to avoid unnecessary attention. The same goes for exiting through the central hollow. Even if we don't do anything, I'm sure it's almost about time that people notice the unusual situation here."

Only after hearing Kirika's analysis did Haruaki finally realize the severity of the current situation. The facilities were in a tragic state with a whole pile of unconscious people. What should they do...?

"I concur with Ueno's opinion."

At this moment, Kaidou surveyed the surroundings and spoke.

"After all, the closing time will arrive. When that happens, someone will discover the situation, right? All we need to do is wait quietly for rescue. As a matter of principle, I shall report the entire story to the superintendent afterwards... If there is a need to handle the troublesome aftermath, surely that man will find a way to deal with it? After all, he possesses both money and connections."

Somehow it felt like she was suggesting that they leave all the trouble to the superintendent to handle. However&mdash;she made a good point, perhaps that really was the only choice. After all, the superintendent was friends with the hotel's operator. Even if he were to say he had connections with the police, it would come as no surprise.

"But what about the water park's tragic state and the pile of collapsed guests? I'm guessing that Fourteen did not pay attention to security cameras when entering. Also, once the guests wake up, someone might end up saying they saw a weirdo in a cape... Or maybe it'll be treated as a terrorist incident?"

"Maybe. But even if we worry about all that, it is useless. But there is one thing that we must do next."

"W-What is it?"

"When help arrives, if we are the only ones conscious, we will attract unnecessary suspicions. Hence, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, we have no choice but to do this. Indeed&mdash;"

Kaidou looked at Haruaki's group with extraordinary sharpness and continued:

"&mdash;Basically, 'play dead.'"

Haruaki somehow felt that there was no need to propose that with such absolute seriousness. Teacher, it's not like anyone is dead.

Everyone objected in their minds but Kaidou had a point. Hence, they all decided to play dead while waiting to be rescued.

Haruaki laid himself down beside Shiraho and Sovereignty so that he could explain the situation to them immediately if they happened to wake up. Upon further thought, he felt that having all the guests collapsed in the Jungle Area would be too unnatural, but it could not be helped by this point. Hopefully, the rescuers would conclude that the terrorists moved everyone here for some kind of dogmatic reason. Wait a sec, come to think of it, there was a lifeguard in the Slides Area. Although he was not here, that did not matter anymore. While waiting for help to arrive with nothing to do, Haruaki intended to occupy his mind with insignificant thoughts to kill time. This resulted&mdash;

"Yes... Play dead, I must play dead."

Just as he opened his eyes, Haruaki found Konoha's cleavage right before him. Why?

"Uh&mdash;Umm, on further thought, I think that since we're trying to make it look like everyone fell unconscious together, it'd be more natural to lie down in one place. So..."

"That's right, I agree with playing dead so I'm coming to play dead. So, I was thinking of coming for a look... Muu, I've been caught by some kind of creature. Apart from displeasure, it's hard to breathe too."

Quick as a flash, Fear's silver hair flew as she slid herself between Haruaki and that cleavage.

"So cramped. Also, why do you have to speak in that strange tone of voice? That said, I don't really care."

"If you find it difficult to breathe, then leave! Making me lose a chance to charm him... No wait, I simply find you very much in the way!"

Next, Haruaki felt Kirika's back pressing firmly against his own back.

"Umm, I will take responsibility for explaining things to Shiraho-kun and Sovereignty-kun. In that case, this is the only position that works... Very well, it can't be helped."

"No, Class Rep, you can just leave that task to me..."

"For a child-like maiden like me, I think it'll be an extra touching scene if I'm found in my guardian's bosom during the rescue!"

"Hey, Kuroe, don't lie on top of me using that kind of weird excuse!"

Just as this mess was happening, Kaidou suddenly sat up from the arbitrary location she had picked to lie down. Furthermore, she was looking at Haruaki with extreme skepticism.

"...Yachi Haruaki, although I do not quite understand what is going on... But since all the girls are doing it, perhaps it might be better if I go over and lied down near you like them as well? If that should be the case, I shall handle things appropriately."

Haruaki's group instantly froze for a moment, then shook their head desperately. On various levels of meaning, "too dangerous" was their consensus. Naturally, Kaidou cocked her head in puzzlement, then lay back down at her original spot.

At this moment, Haruaki's group suddenly realized something that they had overlooked.

Once the rescuers arrived at the scene, whom they were going to suspect first.

The number one candidate was, of course, the person dressed in an exhibitionist's swimsuit, all covered in injuries already and even bringing a shovel into the water park for some reason&mdash;a certain oblivious female teacher. Definitely her without a doubt.

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