Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume7 Chapter6

"...Eh?"

Konoha could only respond in an idiotic kind of voice. What was this child saying?

"D-Did you just mention love stories?"

"Wow, your manner of speaking is back to normal. I'm saved... Anyway, yes, love stories indeed. But I believed that you won't tell me the truth if I asked you suddenly, but I hoped to become good friends with you as quickly as possible—So I drew up plans for a special mission, namely the 'make you agitated through pranks and jealousy, so as to get an honest answer while you're in a raging rampage' plan. Although sounding quite lame, it succeeded, hip hip hurray—Clap clap clap clap."

Since Kuroe's arms were immobilized, she could only say clap with her voice. Konoha swayed unsteadily, feeling her strength drained. What? What was with this weird attitude? Where had the robotic, expressionless character gone off to?

"Until now... You've been pretending...?"

"Well, perhaps my acting skills were even more of a downer than usual. Apart from apologizing, let me take this opportunity to confess that I've lied about other things. Sorry. In my previous home, I served as a grandchild for a helpless old lady, playing with her and having a happy life. It's nothing like being 'ignorant of the rules of the game' that you just mentioned. This was actually a prank for the sake of my plan. It was quite fun too."

Feeling another wave of dizziness and fatigue, Konoha shook her head. At this moment, she discovered an object fallen beside Kuroe's cheek. It was the notebook that Kuroe had been writing who knows what inside. Coincidentally, it opened on a certain page, showing the words inside.

"...'Seeing the butt exposed by fundoshi: running away in panic. Seeing breast groping: running away in panic. Conclusion: an innocent youth, rare nowadays. Due to virtually the same reaction in both cases, impossible to tell if he's more into butts or boobs. More observation required'... W-What is this?"

"Uh—Not only you, but I also feel that it's necessary to build relations with that child. Hence... I'm simply collecting information about him. He really is a good boy."

"Sigh~..."

Konoha sighed hard. She really could not understand what this junior of hers was thinking. Except—She already understood that Kuroe did not mean anything malicious in this incident.

"So that's the reason behind everything. Will you forgive me?"

"Seriously, my anger has dissipated already from excessive surprise... Since you want to become good friends with us, you don't need to do these kinds of things. Just speaking your mind openly is fine..."

"Rather, I'd say that's too slow and not fun at all. Take a serious battle like this, it ends with both sides acknowledging each other... The kind of relationship that's written as 'rivals' but read as 'friends'! Besides, if our relationship progresses to the point of knowing each other's crushes, to be able to share love stories, isn't that invincible? Okay, come on and strike while the iron is hot and share your love stories. Tell me when you met him? How did you come to start liking him?"

"Sigh, a relationship close enough to share love stories, on the other hand... I feel like I'm simply providing you with leverage over me, but am I worrying too much...?"

"You're overthinking things, worrying too much. I can be said to be the most reliable ally. If you need any help, I'll provide you with my assistance—"

"...Anyway, thanks but no thanks."

Konoha sighed again. Just as she got down and freed Kuroe. The sound of sudden footsteps could be heard approaching.

"K-Kono-nee..."

"Oh, Haruaki-kun."

"Umm, I hope... you can forgive her. She didn't do it maliciously. Uh—She said it herself, she doesn't know the rules of the game, that's why she did that kind of thing... So, just teach her other rules of the game and I think she won't do that again!"

With head-tilted puzzlement, Konoha wondered "teach her other rules of the game?" Haruaki continued to come forward, handing a small device over to Kuroe.

"I'm lending this to you. After all, I seldom play it nowadays."

"...?"

It was a handheld monochrome game device.<!--gameboy, probably--> Haruaki was not particular fond of videogaming, but he still owned a lot of consoles. This was one of them.

Without saying a word, Kuroe looked down at the game device. Soon after, she shifted her gaze towards Konoha. At this moment, the two girls burst out laughing at the same time.

"Yes, really&mdash;what a good child~"

"...Aren't I right? But his only shortcoming is being a little too simple and honest."

"W-What's going on, why are you two laughing? If you don't want it, fine, don't borrow it!"

"That's not it. Thank you. I'm really happy. I'm very into games but there were none in my previous home."

"I-I see."

Perhaps feeling embarrassed upon seeing Kuroe's honest smile, Haruaki immediately turned his face away, blushing a little. Seeing him react like that, Kuroe smiled intriguingly and whispered in his ear.

"Yes, so I'll gratefully borrow this from you... The game I proposed just now, let's save that for when you're more grown up."

"W-What?"

"Kuroe-san! Have you not learnt your lesson enough? Not allowed means not allowed!"

"Just kidding, I'm kidding, okay? On the other hand, it looks like I'll be able to learn many new games now. Also, there's a whole bunch of things I've always wanted to do but was unable... Hoho, I'd also like to check out many places by traveling around."

"...Once your curse is lifted, you can visit as many places as you want without any problems."

"Well said, let's do our best. I need to do things beneficial to humans... Hmm&mdash;What I'm capable of and also the most beneficial to people, what is it...?"

"Actually, you don't need to rush. Why not have fun in moderation, live life in moderation, and slowly lift your curse?"

"Yes. By the way, speaking of fun&mdash;How is this game played?"

"Oh right. Uh&mdash;Here's the power switch..."

It was a very strange scene.

Late at night in the garden, under the bright moonlight, a boy and a girl were staring at an old game device's tiny LCD screen.

Watching them quietly from the side, Konoha pondered.

Kuroe confessed to lying. But&mdash;what if that confession itself was a lie as well?

She had said that she served as the grandchild for an old lady who had no relatives and had a lot of fun. However, the fact of her being cursed was undeniable. No matter how much she wanted to serve as the old lady's grandchild, could a human really withstand a gradually weakening body? Could a human really refrain from cursing the culprit&mdash;the cursed doll? It looked like Kuroe had always been tormented by her own curse, unable to play or live happily. Hence it could be true that she did not know the rules of the game? Consequently, she arrived to this home with a desire for fun and games. That desire probably went out of control and manifested in the form of pranks and the love story plan&mdash;

Thinking to this point, Konoha shook her head lightly.

However, only Kuroe herself would know the actual truth of the matter. It was all in the past. No matter what kind of life she lived previously, she was now living here, in this home. That fact alone was enough... Hence, she should be free to relax and have fun. Konoha would simply step forward and teach her if she went out of line in her games. That was precisely the role she should play as the senior living in this home.

At this moment, Konoha found the other two saying: "...Your score is even lower than mine?" "I-I haven't played this for a long time, I'm just a little rusty...!" From the way Kuroe looked as Haruaki handed the game device to her, Haruaki must have been demonstrating to her earlier.

Then Kuroe slowly turned her face towards Konoha&mdash;

Smiling, she said:

"...Kono-san, do you wanna play together as well? Let's wager with juice and have a contest to see who gets the high score."

Konoha noticed that a syllable had been dropped from her name, but for some reason, it made her feel quite happy.

Konoha answered: "Of course, let's do it."

She knew that such an answer was quite lacking in common sense. They could very well play in the house. There was no need to game in the garden. Furthermore, it was almost midnight and there was nothing preventing them from playing the next day after a night's rest. However&mdash;

She felt that there was some kind of special value in playing with Kuroe in this particular instant, at this particular place.

That was the feeling she felt.

A very simple puzzle game started, involving clearing rows of falling blocks. Konoha had asked Haruaki many times to let her play in the past. Although the specific controls were now a bit fuzzy in her memory, she could still manage. Not long after she pressed the start key&mdash;

"Oh, Kono-san. There's one more thing I forgot to say."

"T-Talking to me right now, that's a bit cheating... Wah, the blocks are piling up...!"

"You can still recover, do your best. So actually, I also lied about something else."

"I'm no longer surprised by this point... What lie?"

"Yes. I was originally just pretending for fun yesterday, but I never thought you'd believe my lie, Kono-san, and start wearing it on your own. In other words&mdash;''I don't usually wear fundoshi''."

"Eh..."

Her confession itself was shocking enough, but there was an even more shocking truth.

Konoha realized. Rather, how did she fail to realize earlier?

Her lower body was currently exposed, only clad in a fundoshi&mdash;

Starting a while earlier, ''he'' had intentionally kept his gaze away.

"W-Why do I have to game under such conditions? T-Time out! I request a time out! Where do I press to pause the game? No wait, I don't mind forfeiting this match, switch the power&mdash;"

"Oh, that won't do&mdash;If you deliberately switch off the power or lose to forfeit the match, you'll need to be punished. Right... Let's use a youthful punishment game like 'yelling out the name of your crush towards the moon.' Please."

"H-How could I possibly do that... That's totally unreasonable! Deciding on the rules after the fact, that's completely underhanded!"

"The world of competitions is merciless like this."

Kuroe's sleepy eyes were almost closed due to her delighted mood. She was doing it on purpose. Picking this particular time to make her confession, it was definitely intentional. She was definitely enjoying this.

Suddenly, a hint of unease flashed through Konoha's mind. Regarding the three of them living together from now on.

Was it possible... That asking this child to have fun to her heart's content... How should one put it? Would it be as foolish as raising a lion and unleashing it on the streets...?

In the next few minutes, while enduring the cold night wind blowing against her butt, displaying eyes like that of a dead fish, Konoha continued to clear blocks in a robotic manner.