CubexCursedxCurious:Volume9 Chapter4

Chapter 4 - Did the Voice Transmit Successfully? / "...(No answer)"

Part 1

Fear frowned in puzzlement and murmured softly:

"W-What's the difference? Not a bell but kagura dance bells...?"

"Perhaps you've never seen them before, but kagura bells are not like the bells you see hanging over offering boxes at shrines. Instead, it's a type of tool used during the ritual dances that shrine maidens perform. It looks like a short staff with long, colorful ribbons at the bottom while the bells are strung together in a ring shape on top. I remember they're divided into three tiers with seven in the lowest, five in the middle tier ring and three bells on the top. That's why the instrument is also called the seven-five-three bells."

After Konoha whispered an explanation while glaring sharply, Isuzu nodded happily.

"Please allow me to say in fear and trepidation, thank you very much for the explanation~ In other words, a set of kagura bells consists of fifteen bells. Hence, you can call us a collective of fifteen bells. Only Isuzu appeared until now because 'Isuzu' sounds the most natural as a name~ But anyway, let's all say hi to everyone~"

Isuzu looked towards the surrounding shrine maidens—in other words, the beings who looked identical to her. In order, they lowered their heads politely and bowed.

"Hisuzu here." "Nisuzu here." "Misuzu here." "Yosuzu here." "Musuzu here." "Nasuzu here." "Yasuzu here." "Kusuzu here." "Tosuzu here." "Toohisuzu here." "Toonisuzu here." "Toomisuzu here." "Tooyosuzu here." "Tooisuzu here."

All with identical faces, the girls introduced their names one by one. But even after introductions, it was still impossible to tell them apart. This was Haruaki's first time to encounter this type of humanoid form, existing as one person and fifteen people simultaneously.

"To think something like this is possible... If the Lab Chief's Nation were to learn of this Wathe, they'd happily classify it as a research subject for sure. No, perhaps there might be precedents, only not to my knowledge—Anyway, I finally understand why you were still able to steal Yachi's voice while under our supervision. It also explains why you were able to steal voices from people on opposite ends of the shrine's confines within short time. So it turns out there are multiples of the same culprit!"

"Yes~ While at the living room, Isuzu took an opportunity when everyone was not paying attention to secretly throw the bells out of the paper sliding door~"

"Because Nisuzu had not found any clothes at the time~ Her appearance was not very presentable back then, please excuse her for that~"

One of the shrine maidens was bowing her head and apologizing towards Haruaki. She was probably the one who had stolen his voice back then, although Haruaki had no idea how their identities should be defined by this point.

"W-Why did you keep me in the dark all this time!? This kind of thing... You never... mentioned a single word to me...!"

Chihaya groaned while dancing slowly. The fifteen shrine maidens all focused their gazes on her.

"Please allow me to say in fear and trepidation, Chihaya-sama, because you said that you were not very interested in our true form. Also, starting from the moment Chihaya-sama became our owner, it would be pointless even if explained~"

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

"Yes~ Then let's talk a little about the past. We were originally a set of kagura bells used in a shrine of a certain small village. That era was completely unlike modern times. People lived in self-sufficiency and all fruits of the land were used directly to support their livelihoods~"

"But one day, the village was hit by a severe drought. All crops dried up and if it continued, all the villagers would face starvation. Hence, the shrine maiden of the shrine began to dance in order to let the gods listen to her prayers~"

"Every day, every day, she danced continuously for many hours, continuing to dance even after collapsing, continuing to dance even after waking up. Even when her limbs were stiff and tired, even to the point of spitting blood, she continued to dance~ But the drought still persisted~"

"However, at some point, the shrine maiden began to wonder: even though I am praying so hard, why do the gods not hear my wish? At least let a bit of rain descend. So much suffering, so much contempt. Even so, she still had no choice but to continue dancing, but for what? So much suffering—Hence, a curse was born."

"Meanwhile, the villagers were wondering: Clearly she is trying so hard to dance, but why doesn't it rain? It must be the shrine maiden's lack of ability. How useless, hurry up and make the heavens rain—Hence a curse was born."

Coming from identical faces, identical voices composed a single story together.

"Even so, rain still did not fall from the sky."

"Waved relentlessly, the kagura bells were worn down imperceptibly, eventually becoming unable to make a sound. However, under the villagers' pressure, the shrine maiden had no choice but to continue dancing. In the end—"

"She died. While cursing all creation, she died."

"After the shrine maiden died, it finally rained. However, it was a heavy rainstorm. As though bringing about the wrath of gods, a grand downpour that violently devoured all the farmland and washed everything away."

"In the end, the village was washed away. Any villagers who happened to survive the rain died from starvation. While cursing all creation, they died. Hence, the village died."

End of story. An ending without salvation, leaving behind nothing but a curse.

"Sniff sniff... What a sad story."

Sovereignty frowned and whispered while Konoha narrowed her eyes as though in mourning.

"This has happened before, after all, I once lived through that kind of era. In other words, you are the kagura bells that belonged to that shrine maiden?"

"Yes~ Although many other things happened afterwards... But in any case, we are the «Silent Kagura Bells». However, once someone gains ownership, we can receive half of that shrine maiden's 'voice,' allowing one of us to make a sound and barely speak~"

"I see~ So that's the meaning behind her voice becoming hoarse. One of the bells is then able to speak."

"For us, a person's 'voice' is power. In order to pray to the gods, this is necessary power. Hence, without the ability to speak—without 'voices,' even if more of us apart from Isuzu appeared, we would still be unable to help Chihaya-sama. Neither could we chant the Great Purification Norito Prayer. Hence, until now, Isuzu served our master by herself~"

However, the bells apart from Isuzu, the bells that were originally unable to speak, were all currently talking. In other words—

"Really...!? You girls not only stole that Shameless Shrine Maiden Number One's voice, but also the 'voices' of Haruaki and other unrelated people to use as your own!? So that's why you're all able to speak now, right!?"

"Yes~ When unable to speak, we have no power except for the ability to take other people's voices through bodily contact. But under those conditions, faced with targets who are not connected to us through the bonds of ownership, we are unable to simply take 'roughtly half' of a voice. There is no choice but to take all sound to convert into our own~"

"What selfish thieves of voices... Although it no longer matters at this point, what's the reason for targeting people who drew the Devil's Great Fortune?"

"Of course~ Since we want power for helping Chihaya-sama, we need voices that have more power than others. Compared to unlucky people, fortunate people's voices carry more power after all, right~?"

So that was what happened? They had lost their voices. To them, voices was equivalent to power. That was why they stole other people's voices, intending to convert them into their own power—Haruaki finally understood their goal. Including himself, the current victims numbered a few more than ten. A perfect match.

However, he still had certain doubts. Kirika asked them in Haruaki's place:

"However—Why did you wait until now? To this date, you only needed one person's voice, right? Why did you start wanting to obtain more power only after New Year's?"

"That's right, Isuzu, I know you're gathering power for my sake. But haven't we been slowly accumulating power? I already agreed to it and I'm helping you. That's why I'm wearing this kind of shrine maiden outfit and working as a curse expert!"

Chihaya yelled as she swayed in her dance. Haruaki suddenly realized. Indeed—Everything started with them trying dissuade Chihaya from working as a "curse expert."

After Chihaya finished, Isuzu nodded lightly.

"Yes~ In a different sense compared to the 'voices' of bells, to us who have obtained human form due to a curse—"curses" are a kind of power. Hence, we are collecting negative emotions as much as possible. By asking Chihaya-sama to curse people on other's behalf, or to perform witching hour imprecations using Isuzu's hair as a medium, or having Chihaya-sama deliberately wear a lecherous and indecent outfit to make it easier for her to feel displeasure or hatred towards others—All this was for the sake of our power. Regarding this, we are very grateful to Chihaya-sama. Naturally, we hope that she can continue with it as well~"

Indeed, it was understandable. The more a cursed tool was cursed, the more power it could bring out. This was only natural. However, Haruaki had not expected that they would ask Chihaya to do these things deliberately. Clearly to them who were cursed, curses should be something to avoid.

The same went for Chihaya. To think she would wear that kind of t-shirt and thigh-exposing shrine maiden outfit. In a certain sense, she was trying to give herself a bad mood to exude negative thoughts—What on earth was she thinking? Chihaya had viciously scolded Haruaki before: "No looking!" "Great pervert!" But actually, this scolding behavior was exactly her goal. What unbridled unruliness.

"Since that's the case, why exactly...!?"

"Because we believe that simply gathering the power of curses is still not enough, Chihaya-sama. Time is of the essence right now, there is no longer time to take things slowly. In order to fulfill Chihaya-sama's precious wish, we have no choice but to do this. For us who were cursed because a wish that should have been transmitted failed to reach the gods, our greatest hope to is to fulfill the owner's wish~ This time, precisely because we have fallen to become this kind of existence—that's why we believe we must devote our utmost to fulfilling our role as kagura bells, in other words, to transmit the shrine maiden's wish to the gods~"

Fear exhaled. While turning the Rubik's cube in one hand, she took a step forward. Next, she glared sharply at Isuzu ahead.

"I see—Although there are things I still don't understand, in any case, right now, you're just trying to fulfill your unfinished responsibilities from the past? Hmph, I can't help but say this—You are completely wrong."

"Is that so~? If everyone cannot understand, then it is truly a shame~"

"Say whatever you want. Putting your situation aside, what we need to do still hasn't changed. Are you still unwilling to hand over Haruaki and the other's voices obediently?"

"Please allow me to say in fear and trepidation, we have no intention of doing that~ Because these 'voices' are necessary. As our 'voices' and also our 'power'~ Machinery can be used in agriculture in recent times and it looks a lot easier, but if there's no fuel when a harvest is needed, it would be troublesome if the machinery cannot run. Isn't that right~?"

"I don't know what you plan on using that power for... But... fuel? When machinery runs, fuel keeps getting consumed. Could it be that voices are like fuel to you?"

"Precisely~ Because the 'voices' of bells are not eternal. The louder a bell rings, the faster the sound wears away~ In other words, once we deplete the power, the borrowed voices will also vanish~"

Instantly, the aura of wrath exuded from Fear and the girls became even more dangerous.

"Sorry—But starting from this moment, we have no reason to let you off at all."

"I actually think that was the case from the beginning. However, it looks like I must demonstrate to you, with even less hesitation than before, the difference between a sword and a set of antique bells."

"In other words, once they accomplish their goal, Yachi's voice can never be restored again... Absolutely ridiculous. Ahhh, how incurably and absolutely ridiculous..."

"We will take the voices back seriously. To think that Haru's pillow talk cannot be heard anymore, that would be an unforgivable loss to me... Although I've never heard any so far."

"Pillow talk is very important! Simply the echoes are enough to make me feel very blissful!" Sovereignty nodded vigorously in agreement. Just as she tried to step forward, Shiraho instantly grabbed her by the collar to restrain her, of course. After all, Sovereignty's combat strength was lower than Fear and the others. This could not be helped either.

By this point, the opposition between Fear and the girls versus Isuzu's group was firmly entrenched. Perhaps because Isuzu also understood that there was no room for discussion, she spoke:

"Everyone is serious~? In that case, it looks like we have no choice but to engage in battle seriously in turn~ Because we cannot falter. For us to be ourselves, we absolutely cannot give way—"

Isuzu murmured with a calm voice as she raised her right arm lightly. She raised her arm to the side, parallel to the ground. Upon further examination, all the other kagura bells had raised their arms in the same manner. Then—

The sound of bells ringing could be heard.

A ring was heard around Isuzu. Then soon after, the same sound was heard from the bell behind her, followed by a bell beside the previous one. Sonorous and lengthy, the sound of bells was heard from different locations, repeating like echoes. The fifteen bells seemed to be ringing in a chain reaction as the symphony persisted. Then Isuzu's body went "ring!" once again.

"It's not over yet—Become one. Become one and play. One bell echoing the other fourteen bells, another bell echoing the other fourteen bells... Play the sounds of kagura with greater power and endless vastness...!"

The intervals between bells ringing became shorter and shorter. The symphony of bells were gradually playing the sounds of "growing faster" and "growing stronger" in an organized and unhurried rhythm. Maintaining their posture of raised right arms, they made these sounds without moving.

The forest was surrounded by the sound of bells. The sound density was high enough to almost trick one into thinking that the forest itself was an orchestra of bells playing. A single note repeated countless times, rising in speed and strength endlessly. What terrifying sound pressure. Clearly a single note should be a clear and crisp ring of a bell yet they combined to play an extremely onerous and earsplitting song, heavily shrouding the surroundings, like inauspicious screams echoing nonstop in one's mind, also like a certain curse.

Ring. Ring. Fifteen bells sounded. Endless singing. The rhythm continued to speed up. Speeding up faster and faster.

Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring ring ring, ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring—!

—Ring.

Peak density. The instant the world of ringing bells reached a critical point of saturation, a final ring of exceptional loudness was heard. Then silently, without even exchanging glances, the musical performers used their hands to play the ending of the song.

Then only silence remained.

Due to the excessive sound density, Haruaki could not help but cover up his ears. Just as he took his hands off in trepidation, turning his gaze forward—

For some reason, he shuddered.

The aura coming from Isuzu's group had changed completely. Moving uniformly in unison, they put down the raised arms. Their faces expressed—

Nothing.

The serene smiles were wiped cleanly away. Their gazes were incomparably hollow, like lifeless dolls that had lost all emotion. Or perhaps these eyes resembled those of a shrine maiden undergoing divine possession—Without reflecting the sights of the mundane world, simply staring at the thrones of the gods located in the far beyond, only dancing nonstop for the gods, shrine maidens in a trance of self-oblivion.

"Let us try again."

"Understood."

Even their voices seemed inorganic. Despite no change in their actual tone of voice, there was clearly something unusual about their timbre. The voices carried a bone-chilling type of coldness, like that of a possessed medium announcing divine oracles of destruction.

Expressionless with empty gazes, Isuzu's group silently took a step forward. Then—

"—Purification, like blowing a ship out to the ocean!"

"!"

After this one sentence, a fierce gust of raging wind began to sweep from underfoot. Despite being a distance away, Haruaki's group was staggering from the wind pressure. Standing up straight with much difficulty, Fear glared severely at Isuzu.

"Tsk... I don't get how this works, but your power increased...?"

"Precisely. Please do not underestimate our united bell ringing."

Isuzu replied in a completely monotonous voice. It was the answer from an expressionless enemy with neither gentleness nor mirth.

She was no weapon but was undoubtedly a threat. Sounds of bells that wer able to transmit messages to the gods of nature. Seeing her invoke powers beyond what she had demonstrated before, this fact became even more unmistakable.

Even so, Fear and the girls did not give up on fighting Isuzu's group.

As though cheering for herself, Fear inhaled strongly and said:

"...You can raise your power all you like. But to us, this only means one thing: we don't need to hold back against you, saving us effort. Cursed kagura bells, you are nothing more than noisy toys. Let me show you my sounds in return. I shall let you listen to the sounds of darkness when steel and blades are in action! You will verify with your own ears whose sounds are louder and more acute! Mechanism No.5 impaling type, upright form: «A Skewer Loved by Vlad Tepes»—Curse Calling!"

The Rubik's cube turned into a metal cube, then with series of grating noises, gradually transformed into an execution stake.

While Fear threw the stake towards Isuzu before her, Konoha and the others rushed towards the surrounding bells—

With a expression devoid of smiles, using an indifferent voice, Isuzu simply raised her hand in preparation for battle.

"If fighting cannot be avoided, then Isuzu shall not hold back. Let a dance be performed here as an offering to the myriad gods, with bells playing a symphony that reaches the plains of heavens! I am the kagura bell, Isuzu, hereby beseeching the gods to listen to one of the fifteen sounds of music... Now that all bells are present, let the god-reaching bells be heard fifteen-fold! Come, gods of the heavens, gods of the nation, myriad gods—I implore you to listen to my wish!"

Part 2

Fifteen opponents. Naturally, this meant that the members of Haruaki's group had to handle roughly four of them each.

Konoha recalled her memories of battlefields in the past, chopping down relentless swarms of nameless infantry. Four opponents were nothing at all—That was how things were supposed to be.

"...!"

Konoha made a mad dash through the forest, locked on a particular target, using her hand to chop down trees in her way. A second later, the same sound of trees getting chopped down was heard behind her. Instinctively, she leapt side ways. Then she heard the following words:

"Like the way mountains can be cleared of lush vegetation by means of incineration and through the work of sharpened sickles, all sins will be gone, purely purified, and cleanly cleaned!"

Instantly, the space that Konoha occupied mere moments earlier was sliced open by a massive distortion of the air. Then the tree trunk, which she had intended to cut next, slid down with a resounding crash.

"Acting like a vacuum blade? For a bell, that's rather amazing."

"Thank you for your praise."

Expressionless, the bell replied calmly. That sense of calm was most infuriating.

"However—These are simply parlor tricks! Don't you even dare dream of surpassing me in the domain of severing things... I shall make you personally experience how foolish that would be!"

Invisible and sharp blades came flying again, slicing through the air. Brandishing her hand, Konoha chopped them all apart. Konoha intended to proceed and subdue the opponent that was releasing blades of vacuum, but—

"The Spirit, Ibukidonushi, who is the origin of the breath of life—"

"...will breathe and blow sins and impurities..."

"...out to the ends of the underworld!"

At this moment, three shrine maidens in the surroundings chanted in unison to unleash a violent gale. This was the same gust of strong wind that occurred before, sweeping people's feet close to the ground. As much as Konoha stayed on guard, the wind's power was much stronger than before, bolstered by the ritual bell music from earlier, as well as being invoked by three people. Unable to resist, Konoha found her feet beginning to float up.

"Guh...!"

Instantly, Konoha jumped up and performed a flip in midair, landing on all fours with some difficulty. Without pausing in her movements, she kicked the ground like a wild beast and moved swiftly, avoiding the incoming series of wind blades.

Clicking her tongue, Konoha thought:

(Although I said I'll make her understand her folly, our combat styles are too different...!"

Konoha was only able to engage in close quarters combat but these kagura bells were capable of using the power of wind to fight at range, an ability akin to cheating. And as expected of fifteen who could act as one, the unity of their teamwork was completely beyond that of infantry on the battlefield.

Konoha did not stop moving and continued to dodge the enemy's attacks, meanwhile glancing in all directions. Were the others okay?

Kirika could be seen fighting in the distance, using a dead angle formed by the leaves and branches of trees to strangle one of the bells by the neck with her leather belt. However, another bell next to them immediately swung her arm down and chanted a prayer:

"And this was done by following a ritual performed in Heaven; heavenly golden timber was cut up, and arranged upon many shelves!"

As a result, the air seemed to distort as though guided by her arm, severing Kirika's belt. Konoha could see that she had swung an axe formed by stabilizing a blade of wind like the vacuum blades.

"Woah..."

"And heavenly reeds were cut into bits, splintering—"

"...Like needles, while instructions were given to read out the great purification ritual!"

From Kirika's left and right respectively, two bells released needles of air that were invisible to the naked eye. One could imagine their numbers to far surpass what was demonstrated last time. Kirika managed to dodge some of them but could not evade all the needles successfully. Instantly, her clothes were ripped open and a red liquid seeped out from inside—Konoha forcefully suppressed the sense of discomfort surging up her throat. Unfazed by these wounds, Kirika glared at her enemies and extended her cursed belt again.

"...It looks like you should be human, but your body is truly unbelievable."

"Unfortunately, even the power of the gods cannot kill me. I know very well that I cannot defeat you. But even with my arms broken or my eyeballs pierced, I will not give up—!"

Meanwhile, voices could also be heard from Kuroe who was facing off against a quartet just like Konoha.

"There's too many of them. I really wanna get them all at once... Mode: «Killing Machine Masakado»!"

"Akin to strong winds capable of blowing away thick layers of clouds—""

"Akin to the winds of morning and evening..."

"...capable of blowing away the mist!"

Kuroe extended ropes of black hair all at once, but they were scattered by the bells' simultaneous release of violent wind. This was the move creating rampaging wind over a wide area that Isuzu had displayed at the very beginning, simple yet difficult to evade.

Apart from blowing and scattering her hair, as the raging wind ramped up in power, simply the backwash was enough to send Kuroe's petite body tipping this way and that. Probably thinking that falling over would present too many openings to the enemy, Kuroe desperately gathered her hair into one thick bundle to entangle one of many trees that were slanting in the wind. Jumping without opposing the wind, she flew and shortened her rope of hair, landing on top of a branch—

"Phew~ That was really close."

"How light and agile. Kusuzu is impressed."

"Well then, Tosuzu shall play along."

The bells murmured softly without any emotional fluctuation, jumping up and riding along the wind. Kuroe extended her rope of hair again to fly towards the next tree. Thus, an aerial battle began, moving above the trees.

Next—

"Take this!"

"There were many of these wild spirits who would not obey, sometimes they were persuaded, and even then if they still would not obey—"

"They were removed by force. As a result, the stones, trees, all the grass and weeds, and even each and every leaf that spoke like humans speak, so that it was so noisy then, obeyed the order to be silent!"

Fear threw the execution stake with a great yell but it was blocked by a wall of silence. Turning the returning execution stake into a hatchet, she charged forward once more. However, Norito prayers sounded again and stopped her.

"Damn it, still blocking so effortlessly...!"

"The timing of your attacks is very easy to discern. Despite the fact that the wall of silence only lasts for but an instant, defending is still easy."

"You dare look down on me...!"

Fear fought desperately and kept jumping, swinging her hatchet as hard as she could to deflect the wind needles and vacuum blades fired by the surrounding bells. However, they were right. Even in close quarters combat, Isuzu and her comrades were still able to use the protective shield of silence. Konoha agreed that Fear's fighting style was easy to read and the timing was easy to figure out. Nevertheless, Konoha still strongly acknowledged the destructive power possessed by those massive tools of torture. To think they could be blocked so effortlessly, was there some way to break through these defenses?

"There must be... No, even if there isn't, we must break through...!)

Konoha bit her lower lip hard and renewed her vigor. Don't forget that this battle involves his voice at stake. That gentle yet calm voice whose quiet words alone were enough to calm one's mind, whose whispers alone were enough to bring warmth to one's heart, whose laughter alone was enough to bring happiness—The voice she loved the most in the entire world.

Konoha stopped and drew in a deep breath.

She could not turn back to the form of a sword. Since they were not facing armed opponents, the Sword-Kill Counter was meaningless. Even if it were not, it would be too dangerous to have Haruaki on the battlefield without his voice. Unable to engage in instantaneous communication, it was most troubling.

Hence, fighting in this manner was the only choice. Going all-out, relentlessly, recklessly, carrying the determination to never falter.

"...I must make you return it. Those who want Haruaki-kun's voice and rely on his voice for power—You're not the only ones!"

Konoha no longer ran and dodged all over the place. Deploying a sword's sharpness all over her body, she charged straight into the rampaging wind summoned by the bells. She could feel the gazes of others, watching from a distance away from the battlefield—Haruaki, Sovereignty, Shiraho, as well as Chihaya.

"..."

Chihaya was dancing. It was the dance presented to the gods, slow yet carrying a sense of tension. The cursed dance of the shrine maiden.

It was not performed by her own will and seemed quite out of place for this battlefield. Nevertheless, her dancing figure was full of mysteriousness indeed. In the center amidst the intensely resounding noise of battle, only the shrine maiden's dance continued quietly without words.

At the same time, her hair and hakama were swaying from the aftereffects of the raging winds.

All this time, Chihaya was gazing upon the girls.

As though praying something.

Or perhaps, cursing something.

Part 3

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Part 4

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Translator's Notes and References

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