Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume13 Chapter5

Handing the trunk over to the courier who arrived for the pickup, Shiraho was completely unaware of the dramatic change occurring inside the trunk.

—Inside, after getting elbowed in the nose, the doll had started to transform gradually.

The next day, it was Sunday morning at the Yachi residence.

Konoha was leisurely enjoying a long-awaited sunbath on the veranda under the warm sunlight.

Since the laundry was done, the grocery shopping could wait until evening and she had finished her homework last night, there was nothing else to do at the momennt. Also, Kuroe had gone off to work while Fear was at school for supplementary lessons, so the house was very quiet. All the conditions for a great holiday were present. To be slightly greedier, it was a rare chance for her to be alone with Haruaki and she really wanted to do something together. But currently, he had gone back to his room for a nap after staying up all night. Delusionally speaking, napping together by his side would be the ideal choice, but there was no way she could actually do that. Hence, Konoha went for the second best option and decided to use this quiet and peaceful time to enjoy her sunbath to the fullest.

(Ah~ ...So warm~...)

However, this was no ordinary sunbath. One that was undertaken only once in a while—or rather, it could only be undertaken once in a while—

A fully nude sunbath.

At least that was what it felt like for Konoha.

(I knew it... I have to bathe myself in sunlight like this every now and then...)

Sheathed in its black scabbard, the Japanese sword was lying on the veranda, exhaling "huff~" It felt as though all the dampness and other unpleasant odors accumulating in her body were being completely purified by the sunlight. Fufufu, farewell. Since the past and into the future, I will never allow microbes or rust to take over this body. You would do best to give up~

Because it felt too comfortable, Konoha was beginning to feel sleepy, hazily closing the eyes of her senses. What to do? Should she simply fall asleep like this? But what if a visitor arrived? It would be too troublesome, so should she pretend no one was at home? Speaking of which, just earlier when she was doing the laundry, a trunk had been delivered to the house, what was that? Cash on Delivery from a rare sender. Konoha could not bear to wake him up, so she decided to leave the trunk aside for now, but she must not forget to discuss with him later... So sleepy... Yawn~

The wind caressed her body. A refreshing feeling enveloped a part of her that was not normally exposed. The gentle and warm sunlight also penetrated into there. So warm. Her body was feeling numb. An immoral sense of liberation. Ahhh, if only she could lie on a beach and roll around nude in human form, surely she would be able to experience this same feeling. Truly very comfortable.

A happy state, halfway between sleep and wakefulness. A paradise resembling sleep but not fully asleep. Konoha simply allowed the eyelids of her consciousness to remain shut while she floated lightly in this universe that resembled ambiguous, warm water. It felt like she was thinking of many things, yet not thinking at the same time. The sense of time vanished. The distinction between thoughts and dreams vanished. The distinction between reality and thoughts also vanished.

(Uhyuu... Mmm~ ...Haryuaki-kun... Ufufufu. A sunbath is so warm, Haruaki-kun should hug me tight as well, so warm...)

Her mood felt as though she were having a very blissful dream. Since she was aware of these feelings, it meant that her consciousness was slightly tilted towards wakefulness. Suddenly, Konoha sensed human presence. With hazy eyes, she looked over.

"Eh...?"

"Good morning, Konoha. Sorry for waking you up."

Haruaki was by her side and likewise sitting on the veranda. Wearing his usual smile, speaking in his usual voice of gentleness, dressed in his usual school uniform—But somehow, Konoha felt that something was not right. How odd?

Just as she was about to dispel the lingering drowsiness in her mind, Haruaki lifted Konoha's body lightly.

"Ah, Haruaki-kun...?"

"You're sunbathing? Let me wipe your body."

Konoha had placed a soft handkerchief under herself to serve as a cushion. Picking up the handerchief, haruaki began to support Konoha's body in one hand while wiping lightly with the other. T-Treated by him in this manner... How should Konoha put it? It felt like the last time was a very long time ago.

"Ah, umm, Haruaki-kun..."

"Don't speak, just leave it to me. I'll be very gentle."

"Y-Yes... Well then, umm... I am in your care..."

Although Konoha was feeling very shy, given this rare chance when he was willing to wipe her body, she was unable to refuse. Her mind grew hazy and chaotic again, her consciousness pulled back into a partial state of sleep. What was going on? Unexpected good fortune. Was this the continuation of a dream?

Concentrate. Holding the handkerchief, his hand was currently rubbing her body gently, sliding along the curves, poking with his finger as though trying to confirm the hardness. His breath blew on her body. Curling his fingers into circles, he rubbed the blade's body, flicking it lightly with his fingertips in a teasing manner.

This manner, numbing and embarrassing, stimulating yet making her ticklish all over, extremely, extremely—

Comfortable—

"Ah, huff... Mmm hmm... H-Haruaki-kun... Umm... A little more..."

"A little more force would be better?"

While hearing the mischievous voice, Konoha felt some kind of powerful impact somewhere.

Instantly, an unpleasant electrical current passed through her body.

"Eeek... Ahhhhh! I-It's the opposite, be more gentle, listen, more gentle, I beg you..."

"Haha, got it. You're so sensitive, Konoha..."

"S-Sensitive...? Nothing of that sort. I am very... very ordinary."

"Really? Oh right, I've wanted to ask you this for a while."

"Huah... W-What is it...?"

"When you transform into this state... Does the structure of the blade correspond clearly to the structure of the human form? For example—the chest. When you're looking like this, Konoha, where is your chest? Is it this round part?"

"Eek... Hyah!"

Unexpected words. Words plunging her mind into greater chaos. Then—no longer separated by fabric, no longer wiping stains off, he was purely using his hands to stroke her body. Applying perfect force at just the right amount. Neither strong nor weak, a stimulating force giving birth to pleasure.

Ahhh, that place was the chest indeed. A place that produced feelings similar to the chest. Hence, don't stroke it back and forth with your palm so frequently, and don't tap lightly with your fingertips—Konoha wanted to speak up but the stimulating electrical currents passing through her body were causing her language center to numb slightly. And that was not all, in the next instant—

"Eh? Then where's your butt? Is it here? Konoha, how's that?"

"Ha, ahhhhh? That's... That's...!? Ah, ah, ah mmm!"

Electrical currents were produced in a new place. His finger, finger, finger was there, her sensitive spot. She was currently twitching and trembling, right? Standing his nails up to perform something akin to play-biting, there was a strange sound. Although it hurt quite a bit, it felt very comfortable. Comfortable, right? What happened? Why was he doing such a thing? Although it felt very comfortable, due to the excessive excitement, Konoha's mind was in total disarray, but... But!

She could hear his light laughter, because they were very close together.

"Oh... Looks like you're the most sensitive here, Konoha. I can hear a wonderful sound coming from you. How exciting. I really want to hear more. So, I'm not going to use my fingers for the next part—"

Konoha predicted a new type of stimulating was coming. Something feeling like warm wind was blowing. No. This was a breath. His breath. Ah, in other words, his lips were approaching her body, his tongue extending towards her sensitive spot, h-h-e intends to lick—!?

"H-Hyawawa!! That place... That place... Not that place——!"

At this moment, it was anyone's guess how her mental circuits were connecting as a straight line dashing across her mind. A direct line linking her rationality with her thoughts. Her panic meter was completely going off the charts with the needle spinning a full circle to return to its original position. Originally hazy due to chaos, pleasure and having just woken up, her consciousness became clear all at once, telling her something extremely important.

—Something is absolutely wrong here!

By the time she regained her senses, Konoha discovered a strange feeling all over her body.

Shaking her body, Konoha freed herself from his palm, turning into human form in midair. Landing in the garden, she held her hand up in a karate chop, facing him who was sitting nonchalantly on the veranda.

"You—Who are you!?"

"What are you talking about? I am me."

The face and voice both belonged to Haruaki. However, something's wrong—Konoha was extremely certain.

Too careless. What an embarrassment. Truly humiliating. She must reflect deeply upon this. No matter how overcome with sleepiness, she could not believe how she failed to notice until now. He was not her owner. Not Yachi Haruaki. Although very similar, he was simply another person possessing Haruaki's form.

"Answer me truthfully. Who on earth are you—"

"I've answered you truthfully already. Yeah... But speaking of which, is this really okay?"

"What are you referring to?"

Konoha kept her knife hand ready without lowering her guard, narrowing her eyes as she asked. But unfazed by her pressure, he smiled and said:

"Say—a vigorous battle stance is very good and all, but you do realize you're showing everything, y'know? Both top and bottom. Oh my, your boobs are really awesome, Konoha. They look so soft, I can almost feel my hands sinking into them, it's unbearable, ah, maybe you're trying to seduce me? Then I'm totally fine with it. Let's pick up directly where we were just now—"

"Kyah! T-Too indecent—!"

Although Konoha desperately tried to convince herself what happened earlier was a misunderstanding, it still came as quite a shock to hear someone saying such things with Haruaki's appearance and voice. She instantly felt as though someone had smacked her hard on the head with a hammer. Instantly, her cheeks went flush red. Extremely bothered by the other person's gaze, she reflexively covered her breasts and crotch, then immediately looked around, searching for something to wear. Finding the laundry ahead of her, in the process of drying, she had no choice but to use it in this urgent emergency—

"...Huh? Oh no!"

Konoha came to a sudden realization. While her attention was diverted for an instant, he—an imposter of Haruaki, that she could be certain, at least—had disappeared from the veranda.

Taking a partially dried blanket from the laundry pole, she wrapped herself up before breaking into a run. Only for an instant, she sensed a presence in the entryway's direction, but by the time she arrived, there were no signs of the fake Haruaki. He had probably run away outside.

"What on earth... is going on? How incomprehensi..."

Just as Konoha narrowed her eyes and murmured, something entered her view. Something possibly related. Something evidently very suspicious.

The trunk delivered earlier, the one she had left at the entrance—It was now open. As though someone had exerted a great force from inside, the metal latch was blown apart, rolling on the floor by her feet. In addition, the trunk was empty with nothing inside it at all.

"..."

Konoha rapidly returned to her room and made a call on her cellphone. She called the person most likely to know the details. The phone rang for a long time as though the other side finally relented and picked up the call.

'...What now? Let me make this clear first of all, I'm currently at school due to supplementary lessons. It just happens to be break currently. If it's anything inane, I shall hang up immediately—'

"Shiraho-san, what was inside the case you sent over?"

Knowing time was precious, Konoha went straight to the point. She could hear Shiraho gasping. A few seconds later—

'Has something... happened?'

"It's already gone beyond the level of something happening."

Hence, Konoha explained what had just happened. The appearance of Haruaki's imposter. Although the appearance was identical to the real person, the behavior and attitude were still quite different.

'Oh~ I-I see...'

"You must know something, right? Your voice clearly sounds suspicious."

After Konoha spoke coldly, Shiraho probably gave up and began to speak amidst sighs:

'I had no intention of hiding anything. Seeing as you people are the experts, I was thinking you would handle things without issue even if I didn't do anything... But now that things have come to this, it sounds like an excuse.'

Then she continued to explain. The beginning of the whole incident. The visitor at her antique shop. The man had brought a doll resembling a mannequin. After getting tricked to reveal information, the man had fled in a panic. Hence, she had concluded it to be a cursed tool and sent it to the Yachi residence.

"Then what is the mannequin's origin?"

'The man was very stupid, because the phone number he filled in the form really connected. Then regarding the information I got out of the man, well... Let me think...'

Shiraho cleared her throat then tried her best to feign calmness as she spoke:

'It's supposedly a cursed doll. Provided someone imagines ''a certain person'' engaged in ''a certain behavior'' when pressing the switch on the doll's nose, it will transform into ''that person'' with ''that behavior'' in mind as a goal. By the way, now that I think about it, I might have accidentally touched its nose when I was stuffing that thing back into the trunk... Uh, just possibly, perhaps.'

"W-What did you say? Then let me ask you, what were you thinking at the time!?"

'J-Just the usual, nothing special. At the time, I was thinking of sending the thing to your home... Hence, well, I was thinking of '''that perverted man doing perverted things'''... V-Very normal, isn't it?'

Konoha felt a great shock in her mind.

If what Shiraho said was true—

The doll had transformed into ''Haruaki, prone to doing perverted things as imagined by Shiraho''... Isn't that exactly the fake Haruaki who had toyed with her body repeated, ogled her naked body nonchalantly and even displayed a happy expression on his face!

How was that normal at all!? The way Konoha saw it, Shiraho had a bad impression of Haruaki to begin with, as though it would not be surprising if he sexually harassed Sovereignty no matter what time or place. And just as Shiraho said, she regarded Haruaki as a perverted man and stayed on full alert against him as such. Filtered through Shiraho's perceptions, the pervert form(!) of Haruaki... It would not be surprising for this kind of doll to engage in any amount of indecent behavior, essentially a total demon. Konoha shuddered at the thought.

"H-He must absolutely be stopped!"

'Allow me to provide more information. From what I heard from the man, there are three methods to make the doll return to its original state. One is to allow him to concretely accomplish the action inputted on activation. Right now—In other words, that would probably mean allowing him to accomplish unprecedented levels of perverted behavior to his heart's content. That said, who knows if sexually harassing tens or even hundreds of people might be enough.'

"...Naturally, I cannot allow this sort of thing. The conditions are too vague. Waiting for him to fulfill them would be utterly ludicrous."

'The second is to simply wait for the passage of time. After roughly forty-eight hours, he will turn back into the original doll. Let me state this beforehand, I activated him yesterday evening. Also, if during this time, someone else presses the transformation activation switch again, causing a new transformation, the previous condition will be overridden...'

"Even if nothing is done starting from now, it still means waiting for at least a whole day. Also, what if someone accidentally presses the reactivation switch, then who knows what could happen—Just like for the previous method, the number of victims will only increase. Too impractical. So what is the final method?"

'Apparently, there is switch to forcibly reset.'

"That's the one! I've been waiting for this kind of simple solution!"

Konoha clenched her fists, leaning forward to scream into the telephone.

If possible, she really did not want to personally destroy something bearing his appearance.

"So, where is that switch located?"

'Somewhere on the body.'

"..."

'I-I tried my best to ask that man, but it's his fault. I don't know if he was too afraid but throughout the phone call, he was stammering and stuttering, unwilling to give a straight answer. In a moment of fury, I threatened him: "Out with it now! Or else I will come over to your house immediately and set fire to it!" Then he hung up—'

Of course he'll flee for dear life—Konoha sighed in exasperation. She had idea if Shiraho noticed, but in any case, Shiraho continued without getting flustered at all:

'Because nothing had happened at that point, I didn't consider this information absolutely essential to know so I didn't contact him again. That's why I don't know the switch's precise location.'

"Sigh... No helping it, I guess we'll just have to find it ourselves. I hope it'll be in an obvious spot."

'But we have no idea regarding its external appearance. Perhaps it's like the nose's activation switch, which means ''pressing a certain body part''.'

"You make a fair point... But since it's a switch after all, it should be possible to identify by touch or texture. After all, no matter what, we'll just have to capture that thing then investigate the entire body."

'I could call that customer again when I'm in a better mood, although I've no idea if he'll pick up or not.'

"I shall wait for your results without too much expectation."

No matter what, Konoha was thankful to discover a solution apart from destroying the doll. However, whether searching the entire body to locate the reset switch or Shiraho miraculously calling successfully and getting the other side to tell her the switch's location, they still needed to catch the doll and confine him first. Left alone, the number of victims would only increase, hence it was imperative to capture the fake Haruaki as quickly as possible.

"Well then, the fake Haruaki has already escaped. Do you have any idea where he might go?"

'He should be bound to the motives of his initial behavior, so I'm thinking he must have run off somewhere to perform perverted actions.'

At this time, Konoha suddenly recalled that he was dressed in school uniform. After telling Shiraho—

'It looks like he is capable of manifesting clothing to some degree. Back when I activated him, the image of the perverted man doing perverted acts in school like a pervert... Hmm, I cannot assert for certain that it did not cross my mind. This might be the cause.'

"I-Isn't that terrible—!?"

The fake Haruaki was currently heading to school with the intent to engage in indecent behavior. Left alone, goodness knows what might happen. Not only were girls going to suffer—but the real Haruaki's future was also at stake.

Keeping the cellphone pressed against her ear, Konoha frantically put on her uniform at the same time. In order to stop the fake Haruaki, she must make her way to school.

'Let me supplement the information with something that just came to mind. I was told that the doll was also used for assassinations before. In other words, he probably possess the characteristic of "accomplishing" orders at any cost no matter what happens or what obstacles he encounters.'

"I don't want to know this kind of information! Argh, how distasteful, to think she would have supplementary lessons today out of all days... Fear-san is at school too!"

'I am also there.'

"Yes, please be careful as well, Shiraho-san. I will hurry over right away!"

'Rest assured, I have already prepared myself to commit suicide by biting my tongue should a critical moment come to pass. Don't worry and make haste.'

A very convoluted signal for help, very much in Shiraho's style. After this final exchange, the two girls hung up.

Having put on her uniform, Konoha rushed out of her room. Currently, the image of the real Haruaki, still sleeping in his own room, flashed across her mind. However, it would be best not to wake him up. Although he would certain pledge his full effort to help after understanding the situation, things would be troublesome if people saw two Haruakis in school.

Hence, Konoha wrote a note and left it behind in the living room: "I need to go out, please watch the house." Then rushing out the door, she dashed towards the school at top speed.