Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume13 Chapter1

Sighing, Haruaki and Sovereignty exited the male bath. As soon as the upcoming lecture came to mind, Haruaki felt inexorably depressed.

Haruaki dried himself with a towel in the changing room and put on his clothes again. Reaching towards his own basket, Sovereignty cried out "...Ah" lightly as though recalling something and looked up. Had Sovereignty forgotten to bring something?

What's wrong? —Just as Haruaki was about to ask, the toilet door in the changing room happened to open and a man walked out. A short, young man, roughly twenty-years-old, dressed in a a shirt and slim-fit pants. He must have come in while Haruaki and Sovereignty were in the bath.

Haruaki nodded lightly as a greeting, prompting the man to nod in return.

"Umm.. Excuse me, for this bath house, all I need to do is put money into the fee box, right? Because it's my first time here... The old lady attendant didn't respond no matter what I said to her. I'm very confused."

"Oh~ It's our first time here too, so I'm not too sure either... But putting money in should be okay, right? Or rather, I couldn't find any other way to pay."

"Really? Then it can't be helped. If I made a mistake, I'll just have to apologize next time I visit."

While the young man was scratching his head, someone forcefully pulled open the sturdy door separating the male changing room and the lobby.

"Emergency situation! Everyone gather out front—!"

"Uwah! Hey Fear, this is the male side, you know!? Don't open it!"

"Now isn't the time for saying things like that. Anyway, I am ordering everyone in the bath house to assemble in the lobby immediately!"

"Everyone... Including me? I was just about to go in the bath."

"Muu... A man? No, you have to assemble first as well!"

"Come on! Stop causing trouble for other customers. I'm sorry, please don't mind her. Go ahead and enter—"

"Damn you, shameless brat, this is an extremely emergency situation! There's an incident that must be resolved as quickly as possible!"

"Incident?"

"Yes!" Fear nodded, arms crossed, vigorously puffing her chest out—but then she immediately held down her skirt as though remembering something. Then with an embarrassed and furious expression, she glared at Haruaki and said:

"In short... There's an underwear thief. Me, Cow Tits and country girl, our underwear has all been stolen!"

Commanded by Fear and the girls, all the other customers in the bath house were gathered in the lobby, a total of six. They were respectively the man Haruaki had met just now in the changing room, an aggressive-looking man and a fancy middle-aged woman who seemed to be acquainted with him, a scowling high school girl who was playing with her cellphone, as well as two women who appeared to be university students, putting on cosmetics using makeup mirrors. The two women were grumbling "seriously, what the heck." "Yeah, I'm going to be late for my part-time job." There were definitely a couple customers sitting on the massage chairs and the resting seating back when Haruaki's group first entered the bath house, but recalling who was who among these people was beyond their memory. The old lady tending to the bath house simply wriggled the corners of her lips, apparently unable to provide any useful testimony, hence they decided to just let her continue to sit in her chair. Ignoring her existence was probably not going to affect the investigation very much.

Having exited the bath house, Konoha returned with a solemn expression.

"I've asked the oden stall owner who has been opposite the bath house all this time. He said that no one has exited after we entered."

"I see. In other words, the culprit is among these people as expected!"

Fear nodded vigorously. For some reason, Sovereignty was looking very awkward and uncomfortable. Un Izoey said:

"To dare steal ''nubowa'', truly unforgivable. My declaration: the culprit will pay the price accordingly...!"

Having entered combat state, her eyes swept a sharp glare over everyone present. Too scary. Haruaki worried if she would suddenly use her foot to draw out a knife from under her skirt. Speaking of which, her skirt's wide open slit also felt even more precarious than usual.

"H-Hey, I already understand the situation now. Calm down."

"My reply: giving objection that I cannot calm down. ''Nubowa'' has been stolen by unknown person. But that is a very sacred item...!"

"R-Really?"

Haruaki had never heard of sacred underwear. But Un Izoey was someone who kept her navel exposed at all times for a reason like the earth's energies, so this sort of thing could not be ruled out for certain.

Haruaki concurred with a stiff face and Un Izoey nodded seriously.

"My answer: precisely. In my tribe, it is sometimes passed down from parents to children. This might be an unknown that is difficult to understand for you, but it is believed that worshiping it every night will bring good luck. In the face of hazards such as fire, hurricanes or the attacks of other tribes, the ''nubowa'' must be taken away first."

"Worshiped every night...! What can I say? I-It's really surprising..."

"Hence, I absolutely cannot forgive someone who dares steal ''nubowa''. This is a great crime where punishment by skinning, roasting, and being thrown into a nest of poisonous snakes is deserved. My determination: once the culprit is caught, I must make him suffer the consequences. This is already certain...!"

"P-Please show some mercy..."

Haruaki really hoped she was joking, but judging from her deathly cold gaze and atmosphere, it really did not seem like a joke. Now that was truly troubling. If necessary, he might have to ask Fear and Konoha to restrain her—But judging from the equally terrifying gaze they were using to sweep over the suspects, in all likelihood, they were going to help out instead. Sovereignty still seemed taken aback in fear of Un Izoey's intimidating aura, hunching her shoulders and crying out softly: "Ah... Awawa...!" She could not be counted on as reinforcements at all. In other words, ultimately, Haruaki probably had no choice but to risk his own safety to protect the culprit's life. Please, let's not come down to this.

While Haruaki was pondering this and that, Fear was also explaining the situation to the other customers. Then she glared viciously at the suspects again.

"I'll say this again... Since no one has left the premises, the culprit is someone here! Confess now before it's too late! But even if I say that, the lowly pervert probably isn't gonna admit the crime so readily. Did anyone see someone acting suspicious? Like seeing someone sneaking into the female bath, that kind of thing."

The two university girls first looked at each other then spoke without any interruption in applying their makeup:

"Sigh~ Such a pain. Like anyone would care about that."

"So true so true~ It's not like we'd keep staring at the female bath~"

Next, the seemingly obedient and honest high school girl also spoke up: "I've been busy texting. Right now, I'm at the critical stage when I'm deciding whether or not to break up with my boyfriend." The young man Haruaki had met in the male changing room shook his head and said: "I'm very sorry but I don't know anything either." The scary-looking man and the middle-aged lady suggested with annoyance: "Hurry and call the police so that we can all leave!"

"What's the point of calling the police!? If the culprit escapes while we're relaxed and calling the police, then takes the opportunity to do something to the loot... Ahhh, that's totally gross!"

"Agreed. We must personally punish this audacious pervert...!"

Fear and Konoha exchanged nods in agreement, confirming each other's level of seriousness. Then—

"Anyway, since no one saw anybody suspicious, we'll just have to check everyone one by one. Mainly the females."

"Hmm? Why the females? Normally, you'd suspect a man, right..."

"Right when we got out from the bath, we happened to spot a clearly suspicious figure fleeing the changing room frantically. We had yet to discover the crime at that point, so all we registered was a head of long hair... No matter what, visiting the changing room without entering the bath is way too unnatural. Consequently, that person is the prime suspect."

"I've seen it on television before. Bad men would use women accomplices to steal underwear or take voyeuristic shots of the female bath, so this could be a similar case."

Hearing Konoha and Fear's explanations, Haruaki secretly glanced at the customers present. All of the females had long hair and matched the description completely.

"So, first allow us to check your personal belongings. Our pan—A-Ahem, would definitely serve as the strongest evidence. Once we find them, no amount of denial will hold up."

"Such a pain~" "Don't you know what's called privacy rights?" The university girls pouted and grumbled in displeasure, but two other people reacted even more intensely than them. The intimidating man and the middle-aged woman.

"Do whatever you like, but I'm very busy! Hey, I'm leaving!"

"Yeah, like anyone's going to listen to you. I can't believe you're suspecting us. That's why I hate youngsters nowadays!"

The two of them turned around at once and walked towards the bath house's exit. However, in that instant, Haruaki saw a certain dark-skinned body move.

With instantaneous explosive power beyond normal humans, the brown silhouette jumped, skirt fluttering, easily flying over Haruaki's head (the instant he realized this, Haruaki frantically ducked), landing right in front of the departing fierce-looking man. Then the girl swiftly used her foot to draw out a knife from under her skirt in one flowing motion, spreading the skirt slit and raising a dark-skinned leg up high—Held between her toes, the knife was pressed firmly against the scary man's neck. The man froze like a statue. The other customers watched in stunned astonishment.

Maintaining her posture, Un Izoey brought her eyes, filled with cold, murderous intent, close to the man.

"My question: confirming if you are the culprit who stole ''nubowa''? The first suspect to escape is too suspicious."

"Eeeeee..."

The scary man and the middle-aged woman went limp and sat down on the floor. Un Izoey's eyes seemed to be saying: "So, how should I dissect the prey next?" while gazing down at them. Her long leg was still raised high with the knife. The skirt on her thigh began to slide down due to gravity, further widening the slit—

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"Hold on, your leg! Your leg—!"

Konoha swiftly moved in front of her to grab the hem of her skirt, then frantically covered up her thigh and something beneath.

"Think carefully before you act. You're lifting your leg too high!"

"...? I don't quite get what you mean, but I definitely thought before I acted. If they are guilty, they must pay the price...! Specifically, it starts with the blood letting."

"Awawawa~" Witnessing this scene, Sovereignty became even more afraid. There's no need to be that scared, right? Haruaki thought. However, this was apparently Sovereignty's first time seeing Un Izoey's battle mode, so there was no helping it.

"...C-Cough, uh, how should I say this...? Just as you all can see, that country girl is from a foreign land and peaceful Japan's common senses doesn't work on her. Of course, as long as we intervene, she can be stopped because we know her. But this girl is very unstable right now, so unfortunate accidents might happen under the current circumstances... Yeah. So my advice is don't make any reckless moves."

Fear spoke solemnly, probably seizing this rare opportunity to make use of Un Izoey's serious intimidation. That being said, it was totally a threat.

"..."

All the customers present were frozen. They were almost like unfortunate commoners who were taken hostage in a bank robbery.

Once everything is over, I hope no one calls the police to arrest us—Haruaki thought to himself while sighing deeply.