CubexCursedxCurious:Volume13 Chapter5

Chapter 5 - Art Thou Haruaki? -Imitation of Life-

Part 1

Sakuramairi Shiraho was resting her chin against her hand, elbow on the counter, staring at the man before her.

The shop's interior was dimly lit. Ever since a long time ago, this antique shop was only a decrepit and somber space, even after the death of the owner—in other words, her father—the atmosphere did not change, remaining decrepit and somber. It was also filled with a sense of stagnation and tranquility like a graveyard—apart from the instant when a certain doll struck up conversation with her, the very instant when her life was changed henceforth—this was precisely the everyday state of the shop.

Shiraho temporarily shifted her gaze away from the nondescript middle-aged man and looked at the piece of paper on the counter where he had written words with a trembling hand. It was like the art of acting. In order to get a grasp on the other person's body and mind, judicious variation of force and tension was necessary. The instant when the other party relaxed because she took her gaze off him, she must strike at the opening, deliberately stabbing into the core of his being with ice-cold words:

"—I would like to clarify something first."

"Eeek... C-Clarify what?"

She pulled her gaze back. In contrast to the man who was beginning to show a timid attitude, Shiraho continued to maintain her gaze and the coldness in her voice while she spoke:

"Do note that this shop is not a charity. We are only able to profit from the antiques we purchase after we sell them to other customers who wish to buy them. In other words... Customers who want us to purchase objects with no resale value cannot be considered customers at all in our view. They would be no different from worthless criminals who bring loss instead. In other words, beings who have no right to complain no matter what treatment they receive. Considering this principle, could you please answer this question of mine honestly."

She interspersed silent breaths within her speech. This was also one of the steps in the variation of tension. Then after several seconds, she chose the most effective point in time to break the silence.

"How much money do you expect me to squander in purchasing this—a cursed item... one that could not possibly be sold to other customers?"

"Eeek... Eeek——! S-Sorry, I'm so sorry—!"

Instantly, the man's face turned deathly white as he scrambled and ran out of the antique shop. Luckily, he did not break any utensils or pottery goods when he bumped into shelves.

Peace returned to the shop. After exhaling a large breath, Shiraho turned her gaze lightly towards the object on the counter. Still with her chin against her hand, she frowned slightly with the corners of her lips and grumbled:

"Seeing the way he fled in desperation... It looks like this really is cursed. Right on target with my first guess..."

Of course, Shiraho did not possess the appraisal ability to discern cursed tools. However, she did not possess the ability to appraise other antiques either. What she did was simply sit here to tend to the shop whenever it suited her mood. When customers tried to sell goods to her, she would buy them at suitably cheap costs then put the goods out for sale in the shop with slightly higher sticker prices. Doing it this way, at least the shop was not operated at a loss. She had no intention of earning massive profits in the first place, but was simply trying to add a little productive value to her daily habit of sitting at the shop's counter, breathing in the air filled with the smell of antiques. Rather than forest bathing therapy, this would be antique bathing.

However, regarding business practices undertaken to casually kill time, Shiraho had also established her one and only rule—it must absolutely not cause trouble for her lover. She had to pay extra attention to tools that might threaten their quiet lives. Often times, old cursed tools would invariably end up passing between owners in the form of antiques. Seeing as she was a person who handled antiques, it definitely would not hurt to take extra care.

Hence, whenever Shiraho sensed anything unusual about the seller's attitude or the object in question, she would always elicit answers from the other person in the same manner as just now. And today was the first clean hit. Shiraho could not help but think to herself that she should continue this practice even though it was not always useful.

Well then—Shiraho looked at the purchasing form on the counter, in other words, what the man had filled out earlier in a clearly furtive and timid manner. Were the name, address and telephone number on the form actually real? Confirming was a piece of cake, but was there any point?

Furthermore—there was something else on the counter.

A large trunk the man had brought. The arms and legs of a folded doll, resembling a wooden mannequin, were visible in the open trunk. Its size was almost like a child's, quite large for a doll, but its structure was quite simple, merely consisting of old-era streamlined body parts strung together. The head was only simply spherical with a slight protrusion at the nose location.

To be honest, Shiraho only felt intuitively that this mannequin-like doll was very suspicious. Since she was always together with another doll who was the most important to her in the world, perhaps her body had memorized something like the scent belonging to extraordinary dolls, then possibly sensing that scent vaguely on this mannequin.

What was this thing? And what kind of cursed tool was it? Because the man fled without saying a word, she had no way of knowing. Nevertheless, Shiraho decided that at the very least, this doll probably had yet to reach self-awareness, or in other words, the ability to take on human form. What she sensed on the doll was ultimately just the scent of an unusual but non-sentient object.

"Whatever. Anyway, since the guy fled and left this here, it means that he is selling it to us for free. In that case, I am free to do with this thing as I please..."

Simply stated, throwing it away or destroying it would be the easiest methods. However, she was unable to do that nonchalantly as soon as she recalled her beloved partner who was likewise a cursed doll as well. Suppose she threw it away—Her lover would say angrily: "If someone picked it up, it might bring them great trouble!" Suppose she destroyed it—Her lover would say sorrowfully: "We're basically kindred..." If doing either of that would cause her to be hated, Shiraho would have no choice but to commit suicide.

In that case, although it was troublesome, there was only one thing that ought to be done.

No matter what kind of ability this cursed tool possessed (it was also possible that the customer was mistaken and simply believed it was cursed), it had nothing to do with her. Just as she had told the man earlier—taking this kind of object and handling it appropriately without reward, that was something only a person running a charity would do. She had no intention of doing that at all. Someone willing to handle this kind of matter, a nice guy to a fault, would gladly do it.

Shiraho left her chair slightly and reached for the trunk on the counter.

"Seriously—Seriously, that is the only human I cannot understand. What fun is there in the safekeeping of cursed tools? And even if the curses were lifted, there is no reward at all."

While grumbling, Shiraho summoned her entire strength to shove the doll, which had half its body exposed, forcefully back into the trunk. Pushing hard in concert with the pauses in her speech, she continued to murmur to herself:

"Hmm, after all, I can't possibly comprehend... the perverted thought processes of a pervert's—now all that is needed... a place where it's fine for me to send this thing without prior consent... That is all!"

Indeed, this kind of thing must not be kept at home. Shoving cursed tools onto that pervert could be described as perfectly natural and reasonable. Shoving this thing to that perverted male was fine, the one who looked harmless at first glance, but was actually biding his time for a chance to take perverted action, approaching others by all means necessary as soon as he spotted they were girls, muttering perverted words, then making inane excuses like "this was only an accident" while acting out perverted behavior in actual fact...

While thinking over these matters, Shiraho applied her entire body weight through her arms. However, she failed to notice at this time that her elbow had accidentally pressed the doll's nose.

"There!"

Even if by force, anyway, it was fine so long as the doll was shoved in. After forcing the lid shut, Shiraho fastened the metal lock. But probably because she had stuffed the doll into the trunk with full force, the old metal component looked like it might burst open any time, looking very strained indeed, but Shiraho decided to ignore it. It should last until it reached the other party's home, at least. Then what resulted next was none of her concern.

Next, Shiraho took out a courier order form from under the counter and scribbled an address while reading from her phone's contact list. Then she attached the order form onto the trunk and dialed a phone number.

"Hello? I would like to send out a delivery, could you come pick it up right away?"

While talking to the staff at the courier service, Shiraho pondered. With this, 80% of her job was done. The remaining 20% was contacting the man who had fled to bill him appropriately for the trouble, although she could not be sure if it would work.

(Sigh... I'll call him later when I'm in a better mood. I have to threaten him a bit at least, so as to prevent similar situations from happening again. But if the phone number he wrote down is fake, then the incident ends here.)

Shiraho sighed.

Thus, she lost total interest in the contents of the trunk.

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

—After getting elbowed in the nose, the doll was starting to transform gradually inside.

Part 2

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Part 3

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Part 4

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Part 5

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Part 6

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Part 7

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Part 8

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