C³

Taking walks in the shop when her father was not around was one of Sakuramairi Shiraho"s few rare hobbies.

Inside the dim shop with the metal shutters down, behind the counter was where the residence connected. Surrounded by shelves of antiques, she strolled along the pa.s.sages between them. Quite a cramped place to take a walk but enjoying this purposeless wandering was amus.e.m.e.nt in itself. If one had to articulate into words, there was no description as apt as taking a walk.

Indeed it was purposeless. Neither tending to the shop, nor staying on alert, nor cleaning, nor examining the antiques out of interest, nor a.s.sessing her father"s wealth so as to steal it. All she did was circle about repeatedly within the cramped shop, blankly gazing at the antiques, feeling the serenity beneath the dim ceiling, smelling the slightly musty odor in the air.

Encapsulated in one sentence—she simply liked staying in this s.p.a.ce all alone without any other people.

But one particular day, things went differently.

As usual, she was walking in the shop, savoring the feeling as if she had turned into an antique herself.

Suddenly, Shiraho recalled the delivery of the antique doll her father had bought a few days ago from abroad. She was not terribly interested but having a look would not hurt. Where had that thing been placed?

Hence she surveyed the dim interior of the shop. At this time—

From behind she heard what sounded like friction in a doll"s joints—then a quiet voice.

"—Are you looking for something? That said, you look like you"re just taking a walk."

This occurred half a year ago.

The first encounter between «Sovereignty Perfection Doll» and Sakuramairi Shiraho—A precious and unforgettable moment.

Suddenly spoken to, Shiraho naturally received quite a fright. Faced with the fact of the matter before her eyes, she had no choice but to accept. Since the doll would be eventually sold off if displayed in the shop, she had an argument with her father at one point and even unilaterally took Sovereignty back to her room to make it her own possession. Henceforth, Shiraho and Sovereignty developed a confiding relationship as friends. Occasionally, Sovereignty would make other dolls move to amuse Shiraho, but she never recounted her past or the process with which she became human, hence Shiraho had no idea of such details—

While listening to Shiraho"s whispered explanations, Haruaki walked along the quiet hallways while cla.s.s was in progress.

As his ears listened to her voice, his eyes were focused on searching for Sovereignty.

Was there anything moving in the hallways?

Was there anything hiding in the shadows?

Anything unusual going on?

He did not wish to see more victims. Neither could he allow any further victims to appear. Hence they had to capture Sovereignty as soon as possible. If she were still within the school, the opportunity must not be lost—

"Then a few days ago... The sound of us conversing in my room was discovered. Sovereignty hastily pretended to be just a doll, but my father was not fooled. He declared that buying this thing was a mistake and that he will leave Sovereignty at a friend"s place, so he took her away forcefully—From that day on, she never came back. Afterwards... Because I was busy handling funeral affairs from my father"s sudden pa.s.sing due to a flare up of his illness..."

"Yes."

"I was finally free today. Finding out about my father"s friends and acquaintances from relatives at the funeral, I wondered if the person to whom my father entrusted Sovereignty was our school"s superintendent. Sovereignty and I are friends, so I must find her... Wah!"

"Wah?"

Turning back, Haruaki found Shiraho crouched down, trembling as she held her shin in pain... The apparent culprit was the water cooler in the hallway.

"...S-Sorry, I didn"t watch where I was going—Yah!"

Just as she forced a smile and stood up, she stepped on the dispensing pedal. The resulting spurt of water made the front of her uniform all wet.

"Uwah—all wet..."

"...!"

The drenched uniform clung tightly to her figure, displaying convex curves which surpa.s.sed Fear but inferior to Konoha. Furthermore, there were no obstructions in the outline from her collarbone down to her chest, thus presenting a perfectly curved surface, this undoubted meant—

(S-She"s... Wearing nothing but the uniform...?)

Haruaki could not help but gulped hard. Suddenly he was elbowed in the flank. Fear, who had been watching the surroundings alertly, was now glaring at Haruaki and Shiraho severely.

"What are you two doing? Completely laid back! Finding out about the past is fine, but you"ve got to focus on finding that doll!"

"S-Sorry! I panic too easily..."

Hmph—Fear snorted and forcefully threw open the cleaning cupboard in the hallway to check inside.

The only one laid back is Shiraho—Haruaki protested in his mind as he turned his attention to the surroundings. He could vaguely hear the sound of cla.s.s in progress inside the neighboring cla.s.sroom, so there would be no point in checking. Dividing up, Haruaki searched the male washroom while the girls checked the female side separately. No discoveries either.

"Looks like this floor is done... Let"s check the one below."

Swiftly descending down to the next floor, Fear seemed quite concerned about the matter.

"So you came to find the doll that was taken away—which is why you"re searching together with us now, right?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm...? Wait a minute, I just remembered. The superintendent said you haven"t been coming to school previously, right? Will your condition be okay, coming here so suddenly today?"

Condition? —Shiraho tilted her head in puzzlement. Frankly speaking, I wouldn"t be surprised if this airheaded girl suddenly rolled down the stairs—Haruaki stayed on alert in case he had to catch her in an accident as he continued speaking:

"Namely, why you didn"t come to school before... Perhaps you were unaware, but wasn"t it because Sovereignty absorbed your life force? Then you recovered after the doll was taken away? Your father"s message did mention that "this doll is the cause of my daughter"s lack of vigor" or something like that."

"Ah... Oh~ I see. It was my father"s misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? Okay. Anyway, let"s check the calligraphy cla.s.sroom over there. Even though it"s hardly used, the door is unlocked. It would not be strange for someone to be hiding in there."

They had descended the stairs without incident and arrived at the calligraphy cla.s.sroom at one end of the second floor. They searched the cupboards and under the desks as the modest smell of ink invaded their nostrils. Fear resumed the interrupted conversation.

"...By misunderstanding, what do you mean?"

"Uh... My life force wasn"t being sucked away. Why I didn"t come to school earlier, was because... Umm... Personal reasons, not because of my physical condition. Yes. Because of family reasons..."

"What reasons? If you"re healthy then coming to school can"t be that difficult, right... Ooof! Hey, Haruaki! Why did you poke me in the flank? That is a sensitive spot, you know? Shameless brat!"

"You can"t carelessly probe into other people"s private affairs. You have to learn how to pick up cues and show some tact... I"m sorry, this girl here doesn"t know how to be considerate..."

"Umm... It"s okay, I don"t mind."

Haruaki recalled what the superintendent mentioned. About her mother pa.s.sing away and how she did not get along with her father. He also mentioned she was supposed to be a difficult child to get along with—

(Hmm~... But based on her personality, there shouldn"t really be a problem with friendliness...)

As if sensing something from Haruaki"s gaze, Shiraho slightly widened her eyes. Then she walked over to the windowsill in the calligraphy cla.s.sroom and opened the window to look outside. After all, they should not focus all their attention within the school.

Originally refusing to go to school, she only came in search of her friend. This must have involved extraordinary suffering and resolve. Nevertheless, after taking such great pains to find her friend, her wish was rejected and the friend even declared she would continue harming others and not return. To Shiraho, this was betrayal and clearly a change had occurred in their relationship.

Even so, Shiraho remained the same, seeking her friend with sincerity... Albeit rather clumsily. Even now, her skirt was fluttering in the wind rather precariously unless she held down the hem slightly.

In order to avoid seeing something fatal, Haruaki turned his gaze to searching the cla.s.sroom. But all possible hiding places had been checked already without any results.

"Tsk, not in this cla.s.sroom either... I think we understand your basic situation now, but the current problem is how we can capture the doll. Shiraho, what do you see outside?"

"Nothing special... Just a wall and a bronze statue."

"Having searched fruitlessly for so long, I guess we should start considering the possibility she already escaped the school... The outer walls are quite high and I remember there"s barbed wire on top. Given her mobility, I don"t think she could climb over them easily—wait a minute, what was that about a bronze statue?"

Rushing over to the window, Haruaki saw a human sculpture that was truly full of artistic flair. Some kind of friendship gift from who knows where, Haruaki could only conclude its only purpose was wasting s.p.a.ce on Earth.

"How strange, that should be positioned a bit further on that side instead...!"

The bronze statue"s original position should be beside the incinerator a few dozen meters away—quite a rude location to keep a friendship gift but that thing was really too obtrusive anywhere else. Definitely, the gift giver was someone one did not have to worry about taking offense.

Reaching his head out the window for a better look, Haruaki found an empty pedestal beside the incinerator. Simply stated, the bronze statue had move separately from the stand. Currently, the statue was leaning against the outer wall as if acting as someone"s stepping platform—

"...!"

Exchanging glances with one another for a few seconds, Haruaki and the rest then rushed out of the cla.s.sroom.

Sluggish Shiraho almost tripped when exiting the front steps but Haruaki antic.i.p.ated the situation and caught her. Looks like you"re always keenly looking for chances to catch girls in your arms—Fear"s cold glare seemed to be transmitting such a message. Enduring her gaze, Haruaki continued running.

They finally reached the narrow s.p.a.ce between the school building and the outer wall. The ground floor of the building on this side had no windows, thus created a sealed alleyway. The cream-colored wall was roughly three meters tall, which meant that it was at a borderline height where one might just barely climb over with a leap. However, the previous description only applied from the standpoint of an una.s.sisted attempt to get over the wall—

"...d.a.m.n it, this thing was being used as a stepping platform?"

Fear smacked the bronze statue"s head.

"I-I"m sorry I didn"t realize immediately... Because it"s my first time at this school, I didn"t think it was out of place..."

"It can"t be helped, don"t worry about it... Ah, Fear, do you see that? The thing stuck on the barbed wire."

"Looks like a sc.r.a.p of torn clothing. Very similar to that fluttery outfit a certain person was wearing."

"Just as I thought. If she escaped while we were searching the school building, who knows how far she"s gone... d.a.m.n it, this is really our oversight."

Given her awkward movements, she could not climb over the outer wall—What a rash conclusion. They had forgotten to consider her ability to control dolls—with just a little a.s.sistance, even her mobility was enough to traverse the wall. Her earlier limping image gave rise to preconceived notions, but one should not forget she was not human.

Haruaki had no choice but to admit.

Undoubtedly—they had missed the chance to capture Sovereignty.

Haruaki slouched dejectedly. What should they do next—Shiraho gazed up uneasily at the fabric torn on the barbed wire.

Without saying a word, Fear kicked the innocent statue, sending it rolling on the ground.

Cla.s.ses were still in progress. In any case, they ought to sit down and reflect calmly first, so they went to the vending machines to buy cup-dispensed beverages near the shoe lockers. Smiling awkwardly, Shiraho confessed: "My purse is in a pinch right now." Hence Haruaki treated her as well. Then the three of them moved to a bench in the courtyard.

"Umm—Is this really okay?"

"I"d feel bad for us to be having beverages while you"re left out. Consider it a sign of our friendship!"

"Ehehe, how embarra.s.sing. Thank you."

"Besides, someone else is already freeloading on me anyway, so it"s not much of an extra favor."

Haruaki cast a slanting glance at Fear whose face had become quite tense, seemingly vexed at letting Sovereignty escape. Sitting beside Haruaki, she spoke as she drank her juice:

"What!? If only I had money... Oh yeah, today when I was chatting with cla.s.smates, I learned about the concept of pocket money. I heard that everyone gets it from someone? Hand it over."

"What do you mean, hand it over? That"s a really novel manner of requesting something. Anyway, it"s too early for you."

He slapped her outreached hand with a smack. Fear snorted with displeasure and downed the rest of her juice with one pour of the cup. Watching this transpire, Shiraho could not help but chuckle.

Having ended the conversation, Haruaki stared blankly at the blue sky delineated by the straight outline of the school building.

He was pondering about the future. Regarding Sovereignty who had escaped as well as her declaration that she would continue absorbing life force within the school—even though he could not understand the meaning behind it, he was certain he could not allow her to proceed.

Haruaki recalled the male student who had fainted in the hallway. According to the school physician, the symptoms of the victims resembled malnutrition. All they needed was an IV drip and proper rest to recover eventually.

Eventually. Perhaps days or weeks later. Moreover, future victims might not be limited to the effects displayed today. In the worst case, students could be weakened to the point of death. Even if not to that extent, perhaps they would catch other illnesses as a result of their weakened condition—

Shiraho also seemed to be contemplating the future. Then she spoke quietly:

"So, uh—Haruaki-kun. Can I confirm something with you? I asked just now, but are you guys really not planning to destroy Sovereignty...?"

Haruaki had already explained about themselves while they were patrolling the school building. Regarding curses, the Yachi home, Fear and Konoha—as well as what happened during their search for the doll to return the superintendent"s favor.

But simply searching for Sovereignty was troubling enough so Haruaki only covered the basics. Shiraho probably had more questions to ask, especially about the future fate of her friend.

"Of course. The superintendent only asked us to capture her and did not say anything about how to deal with her afterwards. Personally, the only thing I can"t tolerate is her harming innocent people."

"Yes... That"s definitely no good. I still can"t believe it, why Sovereignty would do that kind of thing..."

"Naturally it"s because of the curse? Even if we catch her, it"s not like she can stop just because we tell her to."

Fear explained matter-of-factly.

"So... Suppose, I"m saying suppose, once Sovereignty is found, is there no choice but to keep her in Haruaki-kun"s home to stop her from causing trouble to others? Haruaki-kun, curses don"t affect you, right?"

This was the root of the problem this time. If it were a curse that affected the "owner," then once Haruaki became the "owner" there would be no trouble for anyone. However, there existed extremely rare types of cursed tools that "indiscriminately affected everyone in the vicinity"—stones that brought discomfort to nearby people simply by existing, or dolls that wandered every night and attacked people—if this was the case, then changing owners would not work. After this was explained—

"Even if curses don"t affect you, they will still affect others, right? Do you keep any of that type of tool in your house?"

"Yes, not many, but there are some of that type which have been sent to my home. In those cases... Pops keeps them in a special location, the storeroom in the depths of the bas.e.m.e.nt. However..."

Haruaki sighed. Indeed, even if a curse targeted people nearby, harm could be minimized by locking the tool away in the bas.e.m.e.nt—that said, it was not a solution Haruaki could agree with wholeheartedly.

"This is, however, the first time for me to encounter a tool with human form that bears that type of curse. I can"t really bring myself to lock away for years in a bas.e.m.e.nt a tool which has self-awareness and lives like a human—What"s with that look, Fear?"

"S-Shut up, nothing! Hmph... If you actually did that, you"d really be in trouble..."

Muttering, Fear turned her face away, leaned back on the bench and closed her eyes.

"Fundamentally, we all wish to lift our curses. Take me for example—if the curse can be lifted without causing any trouble to others, even if it meant imprisonment, I"d make the sacrifice. But of course, I wouldn"t be pleased about it."

Opening one eye, she glanced at Haruaki—

"On further thought, I think the problem is that the doll is not aware of the fact that "there are ways to lift curses," right? She is currently running away because she believes she will be locked up or destroyed once she is captured."

"Same here, before I learned about you guys, that"s what I thought so too... So that must be what she believes."

Shiraho chattered softly as if talking to herself.

"In any case, she must go to Haruaki-kun"s home in order to avoid causing trouble to others. So I must tell her this... Then only later on, I could ask her if she wishes to return to my place or not."

"You"re really okay with that? Didn"t you come to school for the purpose of bringing her home?"

Gazing into the distance, Shiraho answered with a smile:

"...Yes. My wish is just willfulness, and furthermore, harming innocent people is definitely unacceptable. So long as she returns to me after she has been purified of her troublesome curse, that is enough... Besides, it"s not like we can"t meet while her curse is being lifted, right?"

"Ah... Yes, though you"d only be able to make visits."

"Even so, if Sovereignty agrees then I will endure. Even if we cannot be together, my wish to be her friend does not change."

"I see."

Haruaki sipped coffee from his cup. From his standpoint, that of someone trying to bridge relations between humans and cursed tools, Shiraho"s words were truly gratifying.

"I"m already clear on how you feel about that doll—but the most practical issue now is how she feels. Even if she refuses to return home because she is afraid of being destroyed, why would she come to school to absorb life force?"

"Dunno... I dunno, but I feel like... Even though I still see her as a friend, perhaps Sovereignty doesn"t feel the same way... That"s why she"s doing that. Uh, in other words—"

Her voice was filled with sorrow.

"Perhaps she thinks... Humans betrayed her."

As if impatient with the resulting silence, the bell rang inside the school building. With the end of cla.s.s signaled, the entire world changed with the noise and bustle of after school. From the courtyard, one could see through the windows students cheering up as they rushed out of the cla.s.srooms one after another.

Only in the courtyard did the serenity of cla.s.s time linger. In a mere matter of minutes, that too was lost in the flow of time.

"Next time I see Sovereignty, I wish to apologize to her. Why Sovereignty refuses to come home... Is most likely because what my father did caused her to feel disappointed."

Fear and Haruaki waited silently for Shiraho to continue.

"We used to be friends... Or perhaps that was just my wishful thinking, but I still believe that was what she should have felt in the past. If she carries such an unbearable curse, yet she never absorbed my life force, doesn"t that imply Sovereignty is being considerate for my sake and has been stopping herself from absorbing mine?"

"That"s true. Maybe for a day or two, but she couldn"t possibly have suppressed the curse for half a year. Perhaps in order to avoid harming you no matter what, she went out secretly at night."

"But then she was suddenly stuffed into a suitcase and sent to an unfamiliar location. Believing she was going to be abandoned or destroyed—it is possible she felt disappointed and was convinced that all humans, including me, had betrayed her."

"Disappointed... Eh?"

Fear repeated the word. Mentally, she asked herself.

—Do I feel disappointed in humans? Probably... Not.

Then...

—Did I ever feel disappointed in humans? In that instant, her mind became dominated by dark memories.

The castle lord"s laughter. The smell of blood being called an appropriate perfume. Herself as a tool, wishing for what should not be wished. Listening to shouts that were not screams, a cube had no ears that could be covered. Fallen in a corner wishing to be picked up but no one extended a hand. Before she knew it, she had transformed from a lone object to a solitary person. Cold, dark, chilling. Ah... As she reached this cemetery of buried thoughts, only meaningless questions surfaced in her mind like tombstones.

Why was I created? Why was I cursed? Why was I abandoned?

—Whose fault is it?

(...This only belongs to the past, forget it!)

It was possible to forget. In her heart, there was one image sufficient to dispel this swathe of darkness.

A flashlight illuminating the dungeon, the one whose face she could still see, whose voice she could still hear, the one who was only affected by the curse known as the cold.

Indeed—at this current time and place, I do not feel disappointed.

I believe him.

That is enough.

"In the end, she must have decided humans were not worth caring about, which is why she"s doing this... I don"t understand why she insists in doing it at school, but—I want to tell her: "Humans are not all like that. I"m sorry I was unable to stop my father. Please forgive me, for I am weak in many ways." I want to apologize to her. Rather, I must apologize no matter what."

Shiraho"s voice brought Fear back from her thoughts.

"Really? So ultimately, you just want to save her, right?"

"I don"t have the power to help her. But because she is my friend, I must..."

Sovereignty Perfection Doll—the above-named doll was very disappointed in humans. Just like Fear"s past self.

In that case, from that doll"s perspective, this girl named Sakuramairi Shiraho was to her a similar existence as Haruaki and Honatsu was to Fear? People with the power to save cursed tools from their fates.

Hence—

"I promise you. I will find that doll for sure. I will capture her without damaging her and stop her from harming others. And the first I"ll do is let you meet her—Don"t worry. Just like the superintendent is client number one, you"re client number two to me."

"...Right, that"s our next step. You"ve summarized our direction, Fear. Surprisingly, good job!"

"Mmm! Surprisingly is redundant, dummy! Don"t go patting my head so casually... Okay..."

Fear reflexively looked up to launch into a tirade, but the sight of Haruaki"s expression stopped her impulse.

(This guy... Hmph! That"s why he"s such a shameless brat, seriously...)

Left with no choice, Fear averted her gaze to find Shiraho smile apologetically:

"Thank you, you two—I"m really sorry for causing so much trouble to you. I"ll try to help as much as possible."

"So, a concrete strategy to capture that doll... Of course, I believe she will come again tomorrow so that opportunity must be seized, but we can"t give up today yet. Whether or not she was telling truth when she said she"ll only absorb life force within the school, it"s best to catch her as soon as possible. Do you have any idea where she could be hiding outside of school?"

"Umm... Not really. She only told me before she didn"t like crowds."

"That"s understandable... Then we"ll rule out the possibility of her wandering busy streets overnight or anything of that sort. Places requiring payment such as manga cafes, hotels or family restaurants—what we should be searching are remote unfrequented areas, right? But that"s easier said than done, given the ma.s.sively broad range..."

"Don"t give up before we start! You must believe in my intuition!"

Fear"s exasperation seemed to be reacting to the shameless brat, as if she was suppressing the urge to give him a good beating. Just as she was about to put her thoughts into action, Shiraho frantically spoke up:

"I-I will try my best to help! Maybe we can search separately? I"ll look in my neighborhood while you guys take care of the school"s surroundings?"

"Yeah, but who knows how close to the school that doll will hide herself. Then we"ll rely on you for the neighboring town. Don"t do anything too risky, okay?"

Haruaki answered Shiraho gently, causing Fear to feel like hitting him even more.

"Also, are you coming to school tomorrow?"

"Yes, if we don"t find Sovereignty outside, we must stop her here. Uh... Why are you asking anyway?"

"No... Because you"ve been umm, absent all this time, I was wondering if you might have certain difficulties... If you need any help, we will try our best to a.s.sist you, so don"t be shy. You can talk to us whenever you want."

"T-Thanks. You"re right, since my father is gone... Once Sovereignty"s issue is handled, I must pull myself together—ehehe. Haruaki-kun, you"re so gentle."

Faced with her smile, Haruaki shyly scratched his head.

"It"s not like I"m really gentle... How should I put this? I"m the type who can"t resist helping those who are trying hard. In any case, don"t think too much of it... Woah! Hey Fear! Why did you sock me in the gut!?"

"Hmph... Just as you advised earlier, I"m picking up on cues!"

"That"s not what you"re doing!"

While they were quarreling, the number of students walking through the courtyard increased. This was apparently a shortcut en route to club activities. Since it was pointless to continue chatting idly on the bench, Haruaki"s group decided to part ways and expand the search to outside of school.

"Ah, there"s still a bit left, let me finish it in one go! Gulp gulp..."

Watching Shiraho pour juice into her mouth from the side, Fear got up from the bench.

"Okay, let"s go back to the cla.s.sroom to get our bags. Hmm? Haruaki, why are you making that strange face?"

"No, I keep getting the feeling I"m forgetting something—what is it?"

"...How odd, I have the same feeling too. By the way, didn"t that thing in your pocket make noises repeatedly starting a while ago?"

"Eh? Oh, it"s a text message. Let me check... Oh no!"

Haruaki suddenly cried out. Thinking something disastrous happened, Fear moved over to glance at Haruaki"s hand, only to find several sentences on the screen—

"How"s the situation? Nothing unusual on my side."

"You didn"t respond. I am very worried but I can"t leave my post. I have no choice but to keep monitoring."

"Did something happen?"

"Nothing unusual has happened even after school. The number of people leaving are increasing. How much longer do I have to monitor the entrance?"

"Response please☠"

"Oh no, I completely forgot!"

"What"s that skull symbol at the end? It looks kind of scary."

"Something like "I"m dead tired from all this monitoring," possibly? At least, that"s what I sincerely hope...!"

"Maybe she means "I"m gonna kill you" instead...?"

The two swallowed hard as they continued reading, but Shiraho suddenly screamed.

"Hyaaah!?"

"W-What happened?"

"Ooh... I was drinking too fast, the i-ice fell... into my uniform..."

Fear turned around to find Shiraho frowning and twisting her body, pulling up the front of her uniform where the ice cubes had fallen into. Then she curled up the shirt and started fanning her clothes as she yelled "Hey! Hey!" with a serious expression. The ice cubes immediately fell out but unbeknownst to Shiraho who continued her motions—exposing her snow-white abdomen and navel which flashed in and out of view (mildly moistened by the ice). Decidedly, this was an extremely bad influence in the shameless brat"s education. This girl"s airheaded behavior was fast becoming quite threatening.

As a mysterious scratching was heard from behind, there was a very ominous feeling. Before Fear and Haruaki turned around, they instinctively glanced at the cellphone display. The final text message read: "Given the circ.u.mstances, she won"t be leaving through the school gates. I"m going to look for you guys since I"m worried, Haruaki-kun☠"—The ominous feeling intensified.

Bracing themselves, they turned around.

Fear and Haruaki were standing side by side to look at the cellphone while Shiraho was in front, exposing her belly. A pair of glazed eyes was glaring at them—eyes filled with contempt.

"...I came running out of worry, and... Everyone turns out to be having fun...?"

At the entryway connecting the courtyard to the school building, a bespectacled girl extended her upper torso forward, giving off an eerie aura like some kind of psychic phenomenon, her hand scratching against the surface of the door.

"Let"s go! Hurry and start searching, we have to catch her! Go—!"

"Hey!"

Fear was about to dash off as soon as they exited the school gates when Haruaki hastily grabbed her by the collar and stopped her by force. Predicatably, Fear protested "Hey, what are you doing!? I"ll curse you!" as she made strange noises.

"Well, let"s confirm first, what we just discussed with Konoha... Do you still intend to search alone?"

Konoha was currently not present. After they had bidden Shiraho goodbye and apologized to Konoha to appease her displeasure and were about to leave, Konoha remembered she still had duties at the library committee. Although she said it was fine to skip them, she ultimately decided to attend to them. This was the result of Haruaki"s persuasion: "I remember you also skipped last time as well? Skipping twice in a roll would place you in quite an embarra.s.sing predicament!"—as well as Fear"s remark: "I don"t need your help. You can go wherever you want—Shoo! Shoo!"

"Of course! I already said I"ll resolve this incident by myself! R-Right, I almost forgot, I don"t need you to help either..."

"But just now when Shiraho and I accompanied you to search the school building, you didn"t complain?"

Mmm—Fear whined softly and stepped back.

"That was—j-just a natural development, going with the flow!"

"In other words, even if I"m around, you don"t find me obtrusive, right? In that case, then it should be okay for us to continue acting together, right? Besides, I"m not going to get in your way... Right, let"s do it this way! You will be in charge of the matter, so I"m just an extra to support you, as if I"m your a.s.sistant. Does that work?"

"Hmm. a.s.sistant... eh?"

Fear seemed to considering something. Muttering for a while, she finally looked up at Haruaki, who then responded with a fake smile that seemed to say "I want to work for you," causing Fear to pout and avert her gaze. Then—

"Well... Umm, if you must help no matter what, it"s not like I won"t consider accepting it."

"Okay, boss! Thank you for hiring me!"

"Very well, a.s.sistant, let"s move out immediately! Hoho, you have to be obedient like a dog!"

"First of all, as your a.s.sistant, I have a suggestion. Please don"t wander around carelessly or else you"ll get lost, shiny silvery little lady."

"Arrgggh! Hey—! What is with you this time? Has your fetish for strangling girl awakened!?"

While he used his hands in place of a leash to capture the struggling boss by her collar, Haruaki thought to himself.

Even though Fear did not understand how challenging it was to find Sovereignty, it did not imply she was taking things lightly. She definitely wanted to accomplish the task, but having declared she would succeed alone she did not want to rely on others. With respect to her dilemma, accepting Haruaki as her a.s.sistant was probably the result of a compromise—

(Whatever. From my standpoint, as long as this little lady lacking in common sense is kept under control, it doesn"t really matter.)

If the only price to pay was simply playing such a role, it would be truly a bargain.

Several hours later—it was evening with the sun almost completely set.

"Still can"t find her..."

Hoo—sighing, Fear straightened her back as she looked down from atop a bridge.

"Haruaki, next location!"

"Yeah... I remember there"s a park, there should be many hiding places there."

Then let"s search it—Fear started moving as if trying to chase after her lengthening shadow. Naturally, Haruaki followed along. Their search had failed to yield a single clue. To be honest, with "no crowds" as the only hint, the chances of finding Sovereignty were really too low—but they could not accept inaction. Since it was imperative to find her as soon as possible, the thought of any possible location was enough to rouse them into action.

A glance at Fear"s profile would show sweat gliding across her cheeks beneath the setting sun. Haruaki was naturally in a similar state because they had been running without pause.

"Shouldn"t we take a break?"

Without looking back, she replied:

"Not needed."

"Whether studying or exercising, a suitable amount of rest helps efficiency, you know?"

"This is neither studying nor exercising, but work—no, it"s a mission."

Indeed, a sense of mission was what her sincere expression displayed.

Hence Haruaki did not say anything more. After all, the first person to fall from exhaustion would be himself rather than Fear; but somehow, compared to her stern expression, the importance of his own stamina seemed much less urgent.

Sigh... Haruaki secretly shrugged. But Fear"s steps suddenly stopped.

Glaring severely, she pointed her finger towards the side. Did she find Sovereignty? —Haruaki hastily looked at where she was pointing.

"Pearl barley tea."

Pointing at the vending machine, she uttered this term.

"What?"

"Taking the extract of pearls and mixed with barley, this tea sure is avant-garde... Your boss is very curious. a.s.sistant, I order you to buy me that! Also, you get yourself something to drink too! Rest aside, replenishing moisture is very important. If you were to collapse on the road, I"d be very troubled—Not! But, uh... It"d cause trouble for others."

Expressing a different meaning this time, Haruaki shrugged again.

"...Understood."

Drinking the tea bought from the vending machine, they continued on their search.

Parks, quiet Shinto shrines, little forests, abandoned factories, junkyards with mountains of sc.r.a.pped automobiles, dead s.p.a.ce between mansions... Spending hours, they searched every uninhabited place they could think of.

"...Still can"t find her."

Fear seemed quite depressed, having repeated that line for who knows how many times today. This was the conclusion.

"Not that easy to succeed, right... Perhaps Shiraho"s search in her part of town is the same. Ultimately, there are too many possible places. Not succeeding is a shame, but don"t be too depressed."

"Mmm..."

"Konoha should probably be back home by now? Anyway, let"s end the search for today."

Haruaki checked the time on his cellphone. But Fear raised her head and gazed at the dark sky with an ambiguous expression, refusing to move.

"But... I still—"

"I know you want to find her; I want to continue searching too. But we have to go to school tomorrow—and perhaps Sovereignty will be at school again. If we spend the night searching and collapse the next morning, then it"s futile, right? Borrowing Cla.s.s Rep"s catchphrase, it"d be absolutely ridiculous."

After a while, the silver head finally nodded and she began walking at a pace much slower than when she was searching for Sovereignty.

The side view of her face truly showed dejection.

Unbelievably, whenever Fear was in low spirits, Haruaki felt uncomfortable all over.

As a result, after walking for a while, Haruaki spoke up as if suddenly remembering something:

"By the way, the fridge is empty, let"s go to the supermarket along the way!"

"What a pain. Weren"t we hurrying home to rest?"

"Hmm, if you really want to go home first, that"s fine... But are you really okay with it?"

"Am I okay with what? ...What do you mean?"

In response to Fear"s skeptical gaze, Haruaki simply uttered a simple line. This sentence might be ineffective on others, but to this little lady, it was akin to a HP recovery spell.

"Supermarkets carry lots of rice crackers!"

"Uehehehehehehe... Wooh!"

"Hey! You"re scary when you"re acting all high instead!"

They had arrived at the supermarket and was currently at the rice cracker section. Haruaki had asked Fear to choose two bags—one to offer to guests as snacks and one for herself, but who knew if she was listening as she gazed at the rows of rice cracker laden shelves, muttering to herself: "Sesame... No no, soy sauce... Ufufufu..." Occasionally she would go "meow~" as she twisted the corners of her mouth. Quite a terrifying sight indeed.

"Hmm, hey! Haruaki, what"s this white one that looks soft and puffy?"

"The okaki rice cake? That"s the rice cracker"s friend. With savory black beans inside, they"re quite tasty."

"What!? Then I"ll need to add it to the candidate list... Hmm, how troubling..."

In the end, she selected one bag of black bean okaki and one bag of soy sauce rice crackers. Although Haruaki had asked her to choose two bags based on their purpose, it did not really matter because ultimately the vast majority of rice crackers at home were going to end up in the same stomach.

Not only was Fear"s HP gauge restored, she was also sent into a berserk state, screaming at the rice cracker shelves as soon as they entered the supermarket. Once she finally calmed down, it was finally time to begin buying normal groceries.

"So this is the supermarket... Taking a closer look, it"s really interesting with so many things I"ve never seen before."

Fear walked along the aisles, looking all around.

"You"ll gradually get used to it. Okay, treat this as a lesson. Why don"t you get me a head of cabbage while I go pick the eggplants... You do know what a cabbage is, right?"

"Don"t treat me like an idiot! Of course I know what a cabbage is. Just you wait and see!"

The silver-haired little lady ran noisily towards the vegetable section and happily examined them. When the racks blew out a puff of cold air, she jumped in fright, screamed and began to laugh... As if infected by her mood, Haruaki could feel the corners of his lips relaxing. No particular reason—but let"s bring her along again next time, thought Haruaki to himself. In any case, she had clearly recovered her spirits.

Fear immediately came running back.

"Fufu, look at this!"

"Thank you for making such a cla.s.sic mistake. This is lettuce."

"...Mmm~"

Even though they were similar, the cabbage had a more rugged feeling—after giving her this hint, she got it right. However—

"To tell if a cabbage is fresh or not, you need to look at its core. This one is already darkened, so it"s a bit old. Get a new one!"

"How nitpicky. But if it"ll be tastier, it can"t be helped.

Even if it was nitpicky Haruaki forced her to memorize it. As the master of the dinner table, compromises were unacceptable.

Preparing to go select the meat, he wondered why Fear was not following. Wondering what she was doing, he was surprised to find—

"Hey, old lady over there. You need to check the cabbage core for freshness. That one is no good, pick this one!"

"Ara ara, why thank you. Even though you"re a young foreigner, that"s very helpful of you, hoho~"

"Why of course, it would not be wrong to call me the cabbage master. I won"t mix it up with lettuce either, because cabbages have a more rugged feel. So, old lady... Hmm? What"s up, Haruaki? Why are you showing such a delicate expression?"

"I was just caught in a dilemma, wondering if I should ridicule you for "Proudly showing off what you just learnt!" Or "Be careful or else people might mistake you for a stingy old hag." Or praise you for "Doing a good deed"... Whatever, I just said them all out anyway."

"I don"t get it. Anyway, it feels great to be thanked by others!"

Words of thanks. Perhaps a single phrase expressing a person"s wish was enough to reduce Fear"s curse by one ten-thousandth or maybe one billionth. What she had just performed was the first step, one that she needs to repeat over and over from now on, but Fear did not seem to have noticed.

Precisely because she was naturally enjoying the act of helping others, Haruaki believed Fear would absolutely have no problem in the future.

Sooner or later, she would surely lift her curse one day. Arbitrarily creating her and willfully feeling hatred towards her, selfish humans were responsible for everything—the curse conferred upon her.

Suddenly, Haruaki thought of Sovereignty. Her situation was the same. Though he did not know the details, she was also cursed because of humans. And currently, she was disappointed in humans.

If he wished for her to become like Fear, would that simply count as human conceit? This sort of contradiction, was it a.n.a.logous to a murderer begging for mercy? But deep down, perhaps Fear also—

Even though he trusted her, he could not stop his lips from moving. He must be too weak.

"...Do you like humans?"

"Well enough, so-so."

He could not see her expression. Viewed from behind, she was examining with great curiosity various products displayed on the shelves. The cold air blown from below caused her silver hair to sway slightly. Then she straightened her arched back. Her face still out of view, she held her tiny hands together behind her back—

"—About the same as rice crackers, I suppose."

Saying that, her voice sounded quite gentle.

As soon as dinner was finished, Fear started yelling: "Haruaki, bath time! We have to go to bed earlier tonight!" and rushed out of the living room. There was a noisy racket one should not hear from bathroom. Soon after, the noise died down, replaced by the sound of a series of wet footsteps.

"Hey, the shampoo is used up—!"

"Woah! ...Couldn"t you at least have dried yourself before coming out?"

Wrapped in a bath towel, Fear made her appearance. Her slender arms, pale shoulders and wet hair were all dripping with water. Haruaki was sipping tea after dinner when the awakening of memories from a few days ago caused him to blush slightly. Nevertheless, Fear did not pay any attention to him—

"I"m in a hurry to sleep so I"m preparing for bedtime with high speed! I must be well-rested and energetic for tomorrow!"

"Somehow it seems like you"ll end up more tired from all this tension? Don"t you find it counter productive... Oh well whatever."

The incident happened in the next instant. Perhaps it was an inevitable outcome. Indeed, the way Fear had her towel wrapped around her was definitely inadequately secured—

It slipped down. Or rather, it loosened.

"...Oh?"

"Uh!"

As the towel"s knot loosened before Haruaki"s eyes, the world seemed to move in slow motion. The area of Fear"s exposed skin gradually increased as he watched. Pulled by gravity, the top of the towel originally located below her collarbone instantly descended down to her snow-white chest—from between the edges of the loosened towel, glimpses were offered of a moist orifice, the navel—as the lower edge of the towel gradually spread out, the smooth curves of her inner thigh came clearly into view—then everything—

"Special Move—Immorality Blocker (Visual Variant)!"

"Owwwwwwwwwww! Wait a minute, Konoha, my eyes are going to be gouged out!"

Konoha, who had been sitting beside him enjoying her tea, instantly blocked Haruaki"s gaze with fearsome G.o.d-like speed. Fortunately, this prevented him from seeing anything fatal. But her movements were so forceful that it made Haruaki wonder if she might imbue her hands with a sword"s sharpness at any point, so it was quite scary. Listening, Haruaki could hear the sound of Fear frantically tightening her bath towel.

"Oooh, haha... Mmm. Finally a good deed from the Cow t.i.ts."

"Thank you for the compliment. By the way, you should be able to find the replacement shampoo underneath the sink, Fear."

"Oh really!? You should have told me earlier!"

Fear hurried back to the bathroom. Only then was the visual obstruction removed from Haruaki"s view. As he rubbed his stinging eyes, he could not help but ask Konoha:

"I"m just curious... Is there a olfactory variant?"

Smiling while presenting him the back of her hand, Konoha shoved two fingers upwards. His spine shivering, Haruaki resolved to forget all about this.

"...Anyway, where was our discussion before we were interrupted?"

"Yes—about after school, what happened after you two parted ways with me... In the end, you didn"t find anything out in the streets, right?"

Right. Calming their thoughts, the two of them continued pooling their information.

"Yes. But I don"t think it was completely fruitless."

"How so?"

"I can"t say for certain, but there didn"t seem to be anyone fainting on the streets, nor was there any sound of ambulances... That doll really stuck to her word and did not cause trouble outside."

"I see, confirming this point is comforting despite the overall crisis. However—"

As if piercing the bottom of the cup with her gaze, Konoha narrowed her eyes.

"Indeed, if that doll was not lying then she"ll "be back to absorb life force in this school again." We need to come up with a plan."

"I agree, but I still don"t understand why she"s doing this."

"Her curse can"t possibly be as specific as "can only absorb the life force of students wearing the Taishyuu High School uniform"... There"s no point in pondering any further what cannot be understood. The issue at hand is what we should do tomorrow."

By their estimates, Sovereignty was not going to intrude into the cla.s.srooms during lessons. Instead, she should be targeting times like the lunch break when students moved about alone.

"In that case, skipping a day of cla.s.ses would be kind of meaningless. At least, that"s what I"d like to think."

"Skipping cla.s.ses would be asking to get scolded for sure. Besides, we already skipped the afternoon periods today."

Right—as Haruaki nodded in agreement, he recalled Kirika"s gaze when he had happened to run into her in the cla.s.sroom to get his bag—truly like a cla.s.s representative, she glared severely at him for inappropriate behavior. At the time, Haruaki had swiftly escaped from the cla.s.sroom together with Fear, but if they were to skip cla.s.s again, retribution surely awaited them like some sort of vengeful ghost. Truly too frightening. Haruaki did not want to imagine the consequences.

"Then how about we patrol during break times outside of cla.s.s?"

"Yes. Of course, I"ll help too... Ah, correction. Starting tomorrow, I will try taking walks around the school during break times as a way to relieve stress. Perhaps I might end up running into someone suspicious!"

Konoha grinned mischievously, eliciting a wry smile from Haruaki.

"Not helping Fear deliberately, is that right... Because that girl is really stubborn."

"That"s the way she is from the start so it"s nothing surprising. She"s enthusiastic to help others because she"s really eager to lift her curse. In any case, I will respect her wish for a few days."

"As expected of someone who"s been through the same path, you"re really understanding. Next... We should find Zenon-san in the morning to report to her and request her a.s.sistance. For this time and age, our school"s security happens to be quite lax, like a sieve... That said, I"m not going so far as to ask her for armed guards stationed within one meter around the school perimeter."

"If it"s too conspicuous, alerting the ma.s.ses would be a big problem too... Oh yeah, let me brew some more tea?"

"No thanks, I"m planning on retiring early for the night, so you don"t have to—"

"Don"t be modest. Besides, I still have more to say."

Saying that, Konoha went to the kitchen to replenish the boiling water. When she returned to the living, there was a smile on her face for some reason.

"Well then, Haruaki-kun."

"W-What is it?"

Haruaki instinctively shrank back. His intuition alerted him that Konoha"s smiling appearance presented some sort of danger.

"I had some free time earlier so I asked Fear about the details of what happened during the day. Namely, how you forgot about me completely and shared juice with those girls to enjoy yourselves."

"Umm... I-I already apologized to you about that, right? Haven"t I?"

"Because there are still a lot of details to be cleared up. Let"s see? When Shiraho"s uniform was drenched by the water cooler, you kept staring? When descending the stairs, you were eyeing for an opportunity to get intimate with her? Furthermore, you were very concerned about her skirt fluttering in the wind, with constant furtive glances. As soon as an opportunity presented itself, you seized it to embrace Shiraho in excitement—how utterly terrible and unacceptable, do you not agree? Completely indecent."

"Wait a minute, some of that is clearly fabricated!"

"I don"t want to hear your excuses. How should I say this? Shiraho is at fault too. Too airheaded, too careless. And seriously, boys are just unbelievable, always staring lewdly at girls at the slightest opportunity..."

That"s only possible when girls present the opportunities, right? —Though Haruaki reflexively felt like objecting, he was aware that the earlier claims were true to some extent so he could not protest with a clear conscience. In that case, there was only one solution.

"Ha... Hahaha! Oh my that"s really true, I can"t believe someone could be that airheaded! It"s really troubling, so I"d better get to bed soon! So, goodnight!"

Just as he was about to get up, Konoha grabbed his wrist, preventing him from standing.

"Stay, I still have lots to ask! Haruaki-kun, do you prefer airheaded girls? How do you really feel about her vulnerable lack of awareness? So does that kind of size turn out to be perfectly suited to your tastes?"

...What kind of size did she mean?

The next morning, three notices were announced during homeroom. Even though the sports festival was approaching, please do not forget the midterm exams coming up after that. Recently, reports of missing belongings have increased, so please take care of valuables.

Finally—there have been increased cases of people not feeling well and fainting. Please be sure to have three regular meals and adequate sleep.

Correct and meaningless warnings.

In the few spare minutes after homeroom, the cla.s.s was in a noisy state of commotion.

Amidst this chaos, Fear was sitting at her seat, her face tense, arms crossed. Over on the side, Haruaki was sprawled over his desk, sleeping like the dead. Early this morning he had also seemed quite tired as if he had experienced some kind of exhausting night—apparently an impeachment trial? Serves him right.

"..."

Busily drumming away at the desk, Fear"s fingers moved rhythmically.

To be honest, she was quite anxious.

Who knew when the doll would arrive? If she could, she wanted to go out and patrol as much as possible. However, there was little chance of the doll causing trouble in cla.s.s; besides, skipping a whole day of lessons on her second day would be a huge a problem—particularly when she already had the precedent of skipping the periods after lunch on the first day.

In the end, meaningful patrolling could only be undertaken during breaks. Although the current time also counted as a break, there was too little time if she wanted to leave the school building.

(Time eh...)

She recalled the curse she carried—as well as past days when she had been disappointed in humans.

Harming others due to being cursed. This was a point of commonality all tools shared, whether dolls or torture equipment.

And now, Sovereignty Perfection Doll was currently stuck in a period of hopeless despair.

Such thoughts ran through her mind.

It was conceivable. Cursing her own curse, troubled by her inability to resist the impulse. Ruminating in her mind, born as a simple tool to be used according to human wishes, how did she turn out like this? To be able to go back to an unthinking tool, how happy would that be? However, a sense of self-awareness could not allow that. Having tasted the joy of being used by humans, contradictory feelings became rooted in one"s heart.

That"s right, it was conceivable—After all, Fear had gone through the same feelings in the past.

She was a tool whose existence persisted only to harm others. Alone, she was unable to subvert this truth of the matter. Like a branding iron, like an execution stake, like the spikes of an iron maiden, self-reproach and suffering were continually imposed upon herself. Until her salvation brought upon by others, this period of torment simply seemed to stretch endlessly—

Ah yes... Fear wanted to save Sovereignty as soon as possible. Not a moment to lose, as quickly as possible.

Hence—if only she could have told this to her past self as well.

(Shiraho and Haruaki... In order to save you, they are waiting for you.)

Not a moment to lose.

Anxiously, Fear wanted to locate Sovereignty.

Hurry and flow faster, time! Let cla.s.s end faster! Hurry and appear before me, doll! Fear perked up her ears, trying to listen for screams and commotions. If anything happened, she was going to abandon cla.s.s. Ah... How unbearable—

"Fear-chan, good morning~!"

"You look kind of tired, didn"t you sleep well last night? Were you watching late night television?"

"Yeah, you were missing after lunch yesterday? Same with Yachi-kun. Recently there"s been lots of people fainting, were you guys one of them, Fear-chan? Are you feeling okay?"

Several of the girls in the cla.s.s had surrounded Fear"s desk. She had only chatted with them a little yesterday and they had not mentioned their names again. To be honest, Fear could not remember their names.

"..."

I"m trying to listen carefully here, what are you girls chattering about—Fear could not help but frown. It was a miracle that she was not clicking her tongue disapprovingly. The girls also seemed to notice something different about Fear"s demeanor and looked at each other with surprise.

"No... Yesterday—because there were still some remaining procedures to handle for enrollment, I was tied up with that. Haruaki was helping me as well. We"re not unwell at all. Also, I didn"t watch television yesterday and went to bed early. So what"s up?"

"R-Really? Nothing much, I noticed you had your eyes closed, so I wanted to ask if you were sleepy..."

"Speaking of sleepy, isn"t Yachi-kun dozing away all this time? Uwah, could something have happened last night...?"

One of the girls seemed to be actively trying to dispel the subtle atmosphere and forcing herself to sound cheerful. Then the other girls gathered together, elbowing each other in the ribs and started to talk:

"What what? That"s so dirty, you perverted girl. You"re not thinking about that "sudden rendezvous theory," are you? Though I"m the one who proposed the theory first."

"It can"t be happening, right? What about that girl from Third Cla.s.s—Muramasa-san? Doesn"t she live with Yachi-kun too?"

"T-That girl hates to be called by her family name, you"d better watch out~"

"How strange. I mean, even though she"s supposed to be cousins with Yachi-kun, her att.i.tude towards him is a bit alarming... What do you think, Fear-chan?"

Fear decided she had to respond to these girls in order to avoid them from troubling her after cla.s.s. After all, she could not go anywhere right now anyway. The most reliable method would be the j.a.panese solution—a polite smile.

"How should I put it... Sorry, I"m not too sure. In any case, I don"t know that much about Cow t.i.ts."

"Cow... Uwah, somehow I can"t really disagree. Are you two really not getting along?"

"...We don"t. Whether in body size or behavior, she is an affront to the eyes. Given a chance, she"s always creating a shameless atmosphere around Haruaki. How should I say it? We are biologically incompatible."

Suddenly, Fear noticed the girls were for some reason snickering to themselves and exchanging knowing looks.

"Could this be... A love triangle?"

"Looks like it, very much. I feel like I"ve discovered an unexpected bomb, things have become so interesting!"

"Fear-chan, let me give you some good news, okay? That"s definitely not biological incompatibility but a woman"s instincts...!"

"...? I don"t get what you"re saying. What are you referring to a woman"s instincts?"

Fear"s serious question made the crowd even more excited.

"You"re the oblivious partic.i.p.ant type! Oh no, Fear-chan is so cute!"

"Well, it"s possible she doesn"t get it only because we"re talking in j.a.panese."

"Excuse me... Sorry to interrupt your conversation, umm..."

"After all, foreigners are supposed to have their first experiences very early. But Fear-chan gives off an impression like a inexperienced sheltered virgin, so maybe she really doesn"t understand. Yes, this must be a natural monument, one that must be preserved!"

"...Please, girls... Excuse me..."

"Immature love yet to blossom. Once she realizes the love in her heart, the girl will become self-aware as a woman!"

"Ahaha, you"re reminding me of bittersweet memories. Ah, how nostalgic."

Fear tilted her head in amazed puzzlement.

What was love?

A concept unknown to her, she must surely learn about it. But just as Fear was about to consult them for further details, the girl seated diagonally behind Fear—Kirika sighed lightly