Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume1 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 7===

Kirika pressed the door bell. No one answered. Did they go out? Just as she thought that, she sensed the presence of someone in the home.

"Maybe they're doing something in the yard..."

The gate was unlocked. Only deliberating for an instant, she decided to enter the premises.

"Pardon my intrusion... Yachi? Are you home?"

She felt a little nervous. This would be their first encounter during a holiday, and at his home as well. Was there anything strange the way she dressed up? Was her hair okay? She recalled all the reasons she had thought up earlier. Should she greet him with a vigorous "Hi!" or should she go with a humble "Sorry for visiting unannounced"...

Just as various thoughts crossed Kirika's mind as she crossed the side of the main house towards the garden, then—

"Are you a friend of the boy's? You came at the right time. Wonderful."

"...Eh?"

A woman in a black dress mercilessly sent her knee into Kirika's chest.



"Mechanism No.26 piercing type, imprisoning form: «Iron Maiden»—Curse Calling."

In preparation for their next move, Fear exhaled deeply. Lightly caressing the disguised cube which had transformed into an iron maiden, she perked her ears and listened to the situation outside the window, calculating her opportunity for jumping out. At this time—

"Can you hear me? Fear-in-Cube, the boy and the Japanese sword? You would do well to show yourselves now."

"...Who would be foolish enough to heed your call, dummy. You can wait impatiently for all I care!"

But just as Fear muttered to herself—

"Fine, if you don't want to come out, but conversely, I can't guarantee what might happen to this girl here!"

"Wha—?"

Peeping out the window discreetly, Fear found an unbelievable scene unfolding before her eyes.

Holding the axe in one hand, Peavey was smoking with a blank expression. And lying on the ground at her feet was a girl whose stomach was being stepped on forcefully—

"Kirika...! Damn it, why now!?"

"Hmm? Dance Time seems to be unbearably restless. I will now count down from ten seconds. Come out before I reach zero, or else—I may have to decorate this place with a splash of color. Come, ten, nine..."

Fear pressed her hand against her chest to adjust her breathing, calming herself. Even though there was an unexpected crisis, she had to be calm.

"Don't worry, I have to go out there sooner or later... No problem, I'll definitely find a way. I won't let her hurt Kirika. Kirika won't be hurt. Sticking with original plan is fine. Stay calm—"

The countdown reached four. Then three.

"Stop! I'm coming out now, release that girl! She is uninvolved!"

Fear yelled out as she jumped through the window. Landing together with the iron maiden, she glared at the most despicable enemy.

Peavey continued to tilt her head with a listless expression.

"The boy and the sword did not come out, why?"

"Regrettably, I have already sent them away to escape. It's too dangerous to let the wounded face an insane opponent like you."

"Well that truly is unfortunate... I'll have to waste energy hunting them down later. Whatever, after all, the main course is now prepared before me."

"There will be no more dishes served after the main course."

Fear pulled the chain of cubes closer and rested her hand against the iron maiden.

"In my case... I could definitely eliminate you with this thing here. Regardless of whether your attacks continue or not, once you are enveloped by the womb of this maiden, you cannot avoid being cut into pieces of flesh. Turn into a dead foetus for eternity!"

"I don't care what kind of stinking steel womb it is, I will tear its belly apart. Using this Dance Time! Like a dancing baby that keeps going forever!"

"Rubbish—Anyway, that girl is useless to you now, right? Release her."

"Oh my, I almost forgot. But now that you mention it... How unbelievable."

Peavey stepped harder. Tears could be seen welling up in Kirika's eyes as her solar plexus was stepped on.

"S-Stop it! I already came out, release her!"

"This is what I find unbelievable. Since you already made the boy and the sword escape, why didn't you run as well? You must be planning an ambush, right? But why would you show yourself so easily, simply because this girl was taken hostage?"

"How could you say that, simply because a hostage was taken...!"

"That anger of yours is also quite unbelievable. You're not human, right? For a non-human tool to jump out in defense of a human... Are you trying to pretend you are human? Have you forgotten you are a tool that reeks of bloodshed?"

"—I only do what I want to do. Simple as that."

Faced with this curt answer, Peavey snorted with displeasure.

"Then I'll assume your answer is 'Yes.' I already know what kind of home this is and what Yachi's goals are. You are probably trying to lift your curse, right? That is why you are masquerading as a human here, sucking up to humans, trying to obtain absolution for your sins!"

As her tone grew increasingly harsh, her eyes widened at the same time, and on that lifeless face of a ghost's... The face of a ghost born from wrath, was gradually infused with an additional layer of exceptional fury—

"Unforgivable, unforgivable! Tools like you! The things your kind has done to me, my father and mother! The pain, humiliation and immorality that made an utter mess of my family! You dare seek to forget! I will not forgive you for that! I—I will curse your wish to lift your curse, I curse you, I curse you, I curse you!"


"Curse as much as you want."


Fear murmured softly.

"Wha—"

"I have no intention of forgetting my sins. Ultimately, does the curse consist of the sins I have committed, or is it additional punishment imposed due to those sins? Even as the one being cursed, I have no idea. However, my hope is—"

To never hear another scream of pain again.

To never swing a bloodstained blade towards someone she liked.

"I will never compromise on this point, because—Even if the curse is not lifted, I have no intention of adding further to my sins. I am very clear on that. That's right. Perhaps looking back at the past is a mistake, but setting my sights on the future is definitely necessary. I believe in my feelings."

Sternly she looked up and continued:

"The place I want to stay is here. The person who acknowledged me for the very first time is here! I have decided where I shall reside, not as Fear-in-Cube but as Fear's first decision!"

She wanted to stay here. This was not only the stance taken by a cube but also the stance of the girl who received the name of Fear. Her first wish that came from the heart. As pure and innocent as a baby's first cry—was this desire.

And no baby would be silenced just because they were ordered to stop crying.

"I will be here. No matter who denounces me, despises me, feels anger towards me, or refuses to acknowledge me—or even curses me, nothing changes! So I will gladly accept your curse! Curse as much as you wish!"

These words made Peavey's face distort. As the impulse to laugh slowly flowed up to her throat, the instant it peaked—she screamed instead. Before Fear's eyes was neither a woman with noble airs nor a ghost who had abandoned all emotion, but a vicious demon with a twisted and ugly face!

"BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH! You have no right to speak like a human, so go and die! To dare imagine not suffering from a curse, I will not allow it! Die! Die! Die! Ah, how unbearable this is, so go and die!"

Peavey stepped forward impatiently. But then she turned around as if she remembered something and buried the axe blade deeply in Kirika's abdomen. Only then did she walk towards Fear.

Kirika's chest and abdomen were sliced open vertically, spurting blood like a fountain.

Her body also convulsed violently once.

Then stopped moving.

Fear screamed.