Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume5 Chapter5

Haruaki's group reported to Zenon what had happened and requested for her to handle the training hall's cleanup. As for the mascot costume stolen by Kururi, Zenon decided to pay the replacement fine by using the emergency fund the superintendent had entrusted her with. Publicly, the cover story was that despite the thief's capture, the mascot costume was irreparably damaged by the thief's perverted behavior, hence the thief was paying for the costume's replacement.

After ending the call to Zenon, the trio of Fear, Haruaki and Kirika returned to the infirmary and heard the following voices from inside:

"...Umm, Sovereignty, to be honest, this makes me super embarrassed. May I take it off now?"

"Eh—But I think it looks awesome! Actually at first I wasn't seriously suggesting it, but to think the doctor agreed to lend it to us so generously! It's such a refreshing new look, why don't you wear it longer?"

"Like I said~ In interpersonal relations, it's very important to overcome dreariness by keeping things fresh. Whether husband and wife, lovers or friends~ Ahhh~ This is very teacher-like counseling, but more importantly, I'm feeling very tired..."

Recalling Zenon's mentioning of Sovereignty cleaning up the infirmary, Haruaki opened the door. Entering his view were: the nicely tidied up infirmary, Ganon sitting on a bed with just a bare mattress, chewing Pocky idly, as well as—

"See, even the doctor says so, why don't you keep wearing it longer—Oh dear, Dr. Shiraho—I'm not feeling well, may I have a hug please—"

"...The demands of the curse? It can't be helped then, let's have a hug... Huh?"

The scene showed Sovereignty and Shiraho in embrace.

Perhaps because she had changed before coming back to clean up, Sovereignty was back in her usual female form with her maid outfit.

On the other hand, Shiraho was dressed up as a female doctor.

Borrowed from Ganon, presumably? The white coat really looked great on her. The glasses were probably Ganon's as well? Putting on airs like a doctor, Shiraho was sitting in a chair with her long and lovely legs crossed—Perhaps for enhancing the mood, she was also wearing fishnet tights for some reason. Then kneeling on the bed, Sovereignty had her face buried in Shiraho's chest. Even after Haruaki's group had entered, Sovereignty was still purring like a cat while Shiraho's face instantly turned bright red.

"W-What now? What are you looking at, human!?"

"N-Nothing, sorry! I never expected the situation inside to be like this! Or rather, I should say, you don't need to mind it. After all, I've been doing similar cosplay with these girls here at a nurse cafe!"

"Your attempt at covering for me is even more displeasing...!"

Behind those glasses, Haruaki could see eyes of contempt as though she were looking at an ant. Haruaki would rather die than consult this kind of female doctor who could very well step on him for displeasing her.

"I never thought you would enter without knocking, what a truly foolish human. If there existed a contest for foolish humans in this world, you will surely obtain victory without any judging required, don't worry. As for the prize for the champion, surely it must the gallows, how marvelous."

Saying that, Shiraho took off the white coat and threw it at Ganon. Ganon went "Oh—?" and caught the garment with her face. With her head completely shrouded by the loose white coat, she continued to chew on her Pocky, how amazing. Then Shiraho swiftly removed the fishnet tights and casually tossed them away. After glaring at Haruaki who was frightened by the sudden sight of her bare, pristine, snow-white legs—

"...Okay, Sovereignty, let's go now!"

"Oh hey? Ah—It's Haruaki-kun. How did it go? Did things end smoothly?"

"We. Are. Going!"

Shiraho gruffly picked up her own socks from the table and scrunched them into a ball, then swiftly made her way out.

"By the way, Sovereignty, Zenon-san asked me to pass along a message. She wants you to make a trip back to the superintendent's office."

"Oh okay, understood—Wow, only now did I discover Fear-chan, you're hurt!? Are you okay!?"

Her uniform was tattered all over and her body was covered with bloodstains. Despite the wounds all over, Fear energetically puffed out her chest and answered:

"This is nothing, I'm very fine! Don't worry, most of it is already healed."

"Really—That's good I guess, but not good also, anyway, thank goodness..."

Shiraho deliberately clicked her tongue at this moment and dragged Sovereignty away by force. Just as the two of them were about to step out of the infirmary, Haruaki hastily called out to them.

"Hold on, let me say this again... I'm really sorry about today, but you two have helped us greatly. How should I say this? Perhaps it's embarrassing to say this, but I'm very proud to have you as my friends."

Her back facing Haruaki, Shiraho suddenly halted in her steps. Her shoulder shook slightly, perhaps she was sighing.

"You owe me a favor, human. Also, I never considered you people as my friends."

Without looking back, she continued softly:

"However, precisely because of that—I shall demand a return favor suitably, even with interest. The only reason why I am completely not bothered, without the slightest weight on my conscience, is grounded in your usefulness, understood in the slave sense, of course. Although I find it rather improbable, should you intend to accrue an even greater debt, please be reminded that you may be required to be prepared to die for it."

"Uh—? Lemme translate what Shiraho just said, basically, it means 'please feel free to ask for help if you have any troubles in the future'—"

Slam!

Sovereignty's smile and words were cut off by the infirmary door. Then the two of them were gone.

Haruaki's group smiled wryly and exchanged glances with one another.

Thinking "this friend is troublesome enough~"

Although the question crossed Haruaki's mind before, Ganon's knowledge of cursed tools probably came from either Zenon or the superintendent. While examining Fear's body which "should heal even if left alone," to Haruaki's surprise, she even helped Fear scrub the bloodstains beneath her clothes and applied simple treatment.

Kirika's wounds were essentially all healed and her uniform had not gotten dirty, so she sat on a bed and rested. At this moment, Sovereignty returned to the infirmary and lent Fear another uniform to change into. This was probably the reason why Zenon had summoned her to return.

Soon after, Fear's treatment was done and she had changed. From Haruaki's standpoint, he hoped that Fear could rest more, but in the end, Fear and Kirika insisted they were fine and pushed him back to the classroom.

Already after five in the afternoon, the school building was enveloped in a mood of fatigue and comfortable burnout. Walking through the corridor which was filled with the noise and bustle of people cleaning up, just as Haruaki's group returned to their classroom—

"Ahhh~ Found them—!"

Dressed in her uniform, Kana happened to walk out of the classroom. Confirming that it really was Haruaki and the rest, she puffed out her chest and deliberately pouted with a "Hmm!"

"Seriously, where did you guys run off to? Why did you disappear and skip out on your shifts in the second half? I saw Konohacchi return briefly, but I never thought she'd rummage through the cafe as though looking for something and then leaving immediately—"

Kana's grumbles prompted Haruaki to remember. Due to so many things happening, they had forgotten entirely about their shifts at the cafe. Haruaki eyed Konoha and whispered to her:

(You didn't explain to her?)

(H-How could I explain? I was desperately searching for the bomb at the time.)

At this moment, Kana pointed at the two of them strictly to say "Hey, listen to me seriously—" and continued:

"Even once the cleanup started, I still didn't see you guys return. If it were just Akki, I would have dismissed it as him doing his excessively nice guy act somewhere again. But even Kirika-chan was absent, what on earth is eeeeeeeeeeeh!? Fear-chan, what's with the bandages on your body?"

Isn't that reaction too delayed? Seeing Fear's arms and legs wrapped in bandages, Kana stared wide-eyed.

"Uh—Umm, this is, this is that!"

Crap, I didn't even think up a reason. What now? What would be more natural but convincing as well? Hurry and think, think! I must answer before Fear comes up with a weird excuse.

Haruaki gestured to Fear with his eyes to say "Leave it to us" but—Too late.

"Th-This here~"

"Yes yes yes. What about it? What on earth happened?"

Fear went "Ah—Hmm—", moaning as she cast her gaze to one side. Scratching her face, she said:

"—I fell down the stairs."

That reason is way too cliched! If anyone believed that, Haruaki really wanted a good look at that person's face. Frantically, he racked his brain, thinking "I'd must find a way to back up her excuse."

"S-So I see!"

Kana believed her very readily. I'll just toss it up as Kana being "so simpleminded."

"It must have been tragic. Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay, they're just scrapes and scratches. I should be completely healed by tomorrow."

"I-I see. But you must have hit your head and fainted a while, right!?"

"I took her to the infirmary to rest and stayed there to take care of her—I had no choice but to neglect my duties, I'm very sorry about that."

Never expecting even Kirika to lie, Kana accepted their explanations and nodded. On the other hand, everyone felt rather guilty.

"I see now~ Well, if that's the reason, it can't be helped."

"Sorry, it's all my fault. So, I'm willing to work hard and take over the remaining cleanup..."

"It's fine, you don't have to push yourself—In principle, I'm just asking as a matter of procedure. To be honest, I can't get mad at you! This cafe's booming business is owed mostly to Fear-chan, Konohacchi and Kirika-chan! Many returning customers came back just for you three, so your contributions are the greatest! As long as you apologize properly, I'm sure everyone will forgive you. Probably... I guess—"

At this moment, Kana cackled maliciously.

"What's the matter, Kana? Of course, we want to apologize to everyone."

"That probably won't be enough—Hee hee hee, in fact, we all decided to delay the cleanup until a little while later. That's because we want to take photos to commemorate! A commemorative photo of the entire class! And for the three of you who are the most special, you are forced to wear those special outfits."

Hearing her words, Fear began to frown. Konoha and Kirika also suddenly became flustered.

"Nuu~ I need to wear a syringe on my back again?"

"M-Me too? I need to wear that hakama nurse outfit...?"

"What? A-A group photo, dressed up like that, that's really, umm—embarrassing..."

"You skipped your shifts, you three have no right to refuse! Relax, Konohacchi, after all, there are quite a few girls wearing the same nurse outfits. However, it's just that none of them can match the violence of your figure!"

While saying "Okay, let's go, let's go," Kana pulled Kirika and Konoha into the classroom. Following behind them slowly, Haruaki and Fear exchanged glances.

"How troubling. But if the punishment for skipping shifts consists only of cosplay photos, that should be considered quite light. After all, it's not every day that we hold a cultural festival, of course we want it to conclude happily... However, there's still the after party once cleanup is done."

"What's the after party? I think I heard it somewhere before."

"They have a bonfire at the sports ground where people can dance and chat. Since some of the homerooms might go out for a celebratory drink after the festival, the school probably decided they might as well provide a place to celebrate."

Fear nodded with great interest. To this girl, every first experience was very interesting. Haruaki suddenly remembered something at this moment—

"How did you find the cultural festival?"

"Hmm, many things happened and unfortunately, I only got to participate in just a small part... But it was very fun. It felt really happy to work with everyone to finish something together."

"It's really great that you can understand what it means to be happy. I'm sure next time, you'll also work hard towards your own happiness."

"Next time huh... That's true. Kirika also managed to stay here without issue. Hmm, there are really many things to look forward to!"

Fear entered the classroom, full of smiles.

Haruaki also entered the room shortly after. Then suddenly he remembered something—Just now, Fear had mentioned "Kirika also managed to stay here without issue."

Speaking of which—

How on earth did she manage to convince Pakuaki to give up on her...?