Yeah, believe it or not, Mummy Maker is still alive. She made a reappearance and was shown alive in Volume 10 of light novel. Himura actually saved her from near-death condition.

Although in the first volume she was shown drowning in her own blood as well as Peavey's announcement of her death to the gang, it turns out that Himura was hiding in the same building where Mummy Maker was supposed to be killed using a stealth-function curse tool. After Peavey soaked Dance Time (the cursed axe) to activate the curse, she left the building. After that, Himura uses that opportunity to rescue Mummy Maker. Peavey didn't confirm Mummy Maker's death, and she had no knowledge of Amanda's rescue. That's why when she confronted the main characters, she said that Mummy Maker is already dead.

Reference: pp77-78, v10

Kirika-centric plot. Her brother appeared one day, and he wants to take Kirika away. He wants her to come live with him again just like old days. Kirika refused but he put a choker to her that will have 2 effects:

1. It's a timed bomb that will explode at dusk of that day. Also, it will blow off if forcefully taken off.
2. Can't remember the exact name of the curse, but it has the effect of intensifying the user's feeling of loneliness, so it's like Kirika will lose herself unless she constantly get in contact with Yachi.

He proposed a deal that if Kirika came round to him, her brother will take off the choker. The second option is to find the 50 stuff toys that her brother hid within the school. 1 of them contains the key and 1 of them is a trap that will blow the stuff toy itself.

Of course, Kirika and the gang refused (who would want to live with that freak brother who is fine with blowing off his little sister's neck?) so they chose the second option. They swear to find all the stuff toys around school. Due to time constraint they decide to split up individually so the search would be efficient, but it seems Kirika can't go alone without Haruaki... and I think you have the idea of the prospective events. :cool:

Sounds like a wtf plot at first glance but... I refute that. Just read it if you want to find out the rest.

Yeah. That's what Kirika wanted to do at first but Haruaki stopped her. Even though Kirika will not die from the blast, she can still pain from that. And besides they don't want innocent people to get involve in danger in case someone accidentally picked up the stuff toy with the trap (it is cultural festival at that time, so a lot of people in there), so they have no choice but to take the alternative option. (my bad for my previous explanation. I just remembered the trap will not blow off Kirika's choker but the stuff toy will blow itself in case they twist its neck (twisting it is the way to find if it has the key or not IIRC)

http://i44.tinypic.com/34oonsx.png

Any news about Kururi in v13?

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/7431/dscf2350h.jpg

Up to v11, there has not really been any major development in romance department, as the series focuses more on plots actually. Although some volumes had made some of the characters realize their feelings for Haruaki (Kirika in v5, and according from what I have read in amazon review, in case of Fear, it will be in v12. While Konoha on the other hand, she realize she loves Haruaki since the very first volume/episode.). But that's all to it. Haruaki stays dense as ever.