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Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

2014-07-02T16:47:56Z

Remotemine: /* Gakusen Toshi Asterisk by Yuu Miyazaki */ Fixed typo

{{Status|Active}}

[[File:Gakusen_v01_cover.jpg|thumb|300px]]
'''Gakusen Toshi Asterisk''' (学戦都市アスタリスク) is a Japanese light novel series written by [[:Category:Yuu Miyazaki|Yuu Miyazaki]] with illustrations by okiura. The first volume of the novel was published on September 22, 2012. As of March 25, 2014, five volumes have been published by Media Factory under their MF Bunko J label. A manga adaptation by Ningen began its serialization in January 2013 in the Media Factory's seinen manga magazine, Comic Alive.

==Story Synopsis==

The Academy City on water, "Rikka". This city, otherwise known as 'Asterisk', was famous for being the world's largest stage for the integrated battle entertainment <Star Wars Festival>. The young boys and girls of the <Starpulse Generation> belonging to the six academies made their wishes with Shining Armaments in their hands, vying for supremacy -- Amagiri Ayato is one of them.

Ayato arrived at Rikka at the invitation of the Student Council President of the Seidoukan Academy, Claudia, and right after that he incurred the wrath of the <Petalblaze Witch> Julis, and ended up having to duel her.

==Series Information==

*'''Genre''': Action, Science Fiction, School, Romantic Comedy
*'''Original Title''': 学戦都市アスタリスク
*'''Author''': Yuu Miyazaki
*'''Ilustrator''': okiura
*'''Published Volume''': 1-5
*'''Series Status''': Ongoing

==Translation==

===Format Standards===

'''Every chapter (after editing) must conform to the general format guidelines.'''
*[[Format_guideline|General Format/Style Guideline]]
*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Terminology and Guidelines]]

===[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Registration Page|Registration page]]===

'''Translators are asked to [[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Registration Page|Register]] the chapters they want to work on.'''

===Feedback Thread===

'''If you enjoyed the translation, why don't you tell us at the [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5536 Feedback Thread].'''

==Updates==

*'''30-Jul-2013'''
:*Gakusen Toshi Asterisk project started

*'''18-Aug-2013'''
**Volume 1 completed

*'''08-Sep-2013'''
**Volume 2 completed

*'''06-Dec-2013'''
**Volume 3 completed

*'''31-Jan-2014'''
**Volume 4 completed

*'''25-May-2014'''
**Volume 5 completed

==Gakusen Toshi Asterisk by Yuu Miyazaki==

Please go here to get full volumes in ([http://www.mediafire.com/folder/6e41mou1aipa5/ MOBI]) format

===Volume 1 - A Chance Meeting with the Flame Princess ([[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1|Full Text]])===
[[File:Gakusen_v01_cover.jpg|thumb|x180px]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Chapter1|Chapter 1 - {{furigana|The Petalblaze Witch|Gruene Rose}}]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Chapter2|Chapter 2 - War-Academy City]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Chapter3|Chapter 3 - Noble Eyes]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Chapter4|Chapter 4 - Reminiscence and Reunion]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Chapter5|Chapter 5 - Demon Sword of the Black Furnace]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Chapter6|Chapter 6 - The Pair's Day Off]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Chapter7|Chapter 7 - Liberator]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume1_Epilogue|Epilogue]]

 

===Volume 2 - The Silver Beauty's Awakening ([[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2|Full Text]])===
[[File:Gakusen v02 cover.jpg|thumb|x180px]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Chapter1|Chapter 1 - Rikka Garden Council]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Chapter2|Chapter 2 - The Dusk Owl's Secret Movements]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Chapter3|Chapter 3 - Gusting Wind, Bladed Thunder]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Chapter4|Chapter 4 - Entangled Motives]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Chapter5|Chapter 5 - Her True Face]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Chapter6|Chapter 6 - Evil in the Shadows]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Chapter7|Chapter 7 - Resolve and Resolution]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume2_Epilogue|Epilogue]]

 

===Volume 3 - The Phoenix Rebellious Warrior ([[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3|Full Text]])===
[[File:Gakusen v03 cover.jpg|thumb|x180px]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Chapter1|Chapter 1 - The Opening Eve]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Chapter2|Chapter 2 - The {{furigana|Phoenix Star Warrior Festival|Phoenix}}]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Chapter3|Chapter 3 - Ardi and Rimsi]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Chapter4|Chapter 4 - The {{furigana|Violent Vampire Princess|Lamilexia}}]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Chapter5|Chapter 5 - The Sisters of Le Wolfe]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Chapter6|Chapter 6 - Power and Price]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Chapter7|Chapter 7 - The {{furigana|Bloody Scythe of Supreme Destruction|Gravi-Sheath}}]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume3_Epilogue|Epilogue]]

 

===Volume 4 - Shattered Recollection ([[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4|Full Text]])===
[[File:Gakusen v04 cover.jpg|thumb|x180px]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Chapter1|Chapter 1 - The Master of World Dragon]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Chapter2|Chapter 2 - The Fifth Round]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Chapter3|Chapter 3 - The Visitor]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Chapter4|Chapter 4 - Hesitation]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Chapter5|Chapter 5 - Elder Sister and Childhood Friend]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Chapter6|Chapter 6 - The Second Key]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Chapter7|Chapter 7 - Unyielding Feelings]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume4_Epilogue|Epilogue]]

 

===Volume 5 - Phoenix Champion's Decisive Battle ([[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5|Full Text]])===
[[File:Gakusen v05 cover.jpg|thumb|x180px]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Chapter1|Chapter 1 - The First Semifinal Match]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Chapter2|Chapter 2 - Unscrupulous Winding Thread]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Chapter3|Chapter 3 - The Second Semifinal Match]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Chapter4|Chapter 4 - Efforts]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Chapter5|Chapter 5 - A Chance Meeting]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Chapter6|Chapter 6 - Each Decisive Battle]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Chapter7|Chapter 7 - Post-night Festival]]
::*[[Gakusen Toshi Asterisk:Volume5_Epilogue|Epilogue]]

 

===Volume 6===
[[File:Gakusen v06 cover.jpg|thumb|x180px]]
::*Novel Illustrations

 

==Project Staff==
* Supervisor:
* Project Manager:

==== Translators ====

'''Active'''
*[[user:‎Setsuna86|‎Setsuna86]]([http://setsuna86blog.wordpress.com Blog])
*[[User:Hiyono|Hiyono]]

'''Inactive'''

==== Editors ====
'''Active'''
*[[User:Aoi uchuu|Aoi uchuu]]
*[[User:Dual Blades|Dual Blades]]
'''Inactive'''
*[[User:AshenRaven|AshenRaven]]
*[[User:denormative|denormative]]
*[[User:Yascob99|Yascob99]](temp inactive due to being too busy)

==Series Overview==

[[Category:MF Bunko J]]

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk 01.A Chance Meeting with the Flame Princess (学戦都市アスタリスク 01 姫焔邂逅) (September 22, 2012) ISBN 978-4840148238 
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk 02.The Silver Beauty's Awakening (学戦都市アスタリスク 02 銀綺覚醒) (January 24, 2013) ISBN 978-4840149631 
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk 03.The Phoenix Rebellious Warrior (学戦都市アスタリスク 03 鳳凰乱武) (May 23, 2013) ISBN 978-4840151887 
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk 04.Shattered Recollection (学戦都市アスタリスク 04 追憶闘破) (September 25, 2013) ISBN 978-4840154178 
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk 05.Phoenix Champion's Decisive Battle(学戦都市アスタリスク 05 覇凰決戦)(March 25,2014)ISBN 978-4-04-066311-1
 
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk 06. (学戦都市アスタリスク 06.　懐国凱戦)(June 25,2014)ISBN 978-4-04-066779-9
[[Category:Light novel (English)]]
[[Category:Yuu Miyazaki]]

MuvLuv Alternative Schwarzesmarken:Volume 1 Chapter2

2013-06-23T04:29:58Z

Remotemine:

<big>Chapter two</big>

<big>'''The Girl from the West'''</big>

'''+++January 13, 1983''' 
'''++1100hrs''' 
'''++The German Democratic Republic''' 
'''++Cottbus District, Cottbus military base''' 

When she came to, her entire vision was flooded with white.

“...A wall? No...maybe...the ceiling...?” Kate whispered in vague awareness.

She turned her head slowly, looking around her. An unfamiliar room. Furniture—a battered table. The pungent smell of disinfectant. Katia noticed that she had been put to bed, dressed in simple pajamas.

“But...I was fighting the BETA...”

At a glance, it was obvious that this place wasn’t a base which the United Nations forces had built. The glass window at the bed side rattled with a high-pitched howl, piercing her ears.

“Аh...!“

Holding her breath, she turned her attention out the window. Beyond it stretched a wide snow-covered field. The world was painted in only two colors—black and white.

(The engines of a jump unit? But that doesn’t sound like an F-4 or F-5G...)

“Is this...a DDR (East German Army) Tactical Fighter Base...?”

Just as that thought crossed her mind, Kate remembered the last memories she had. Why was she still alive?

“The MiG-21… so… it saved me …”

That single scene had remained with her as her consciousness faded away, a sight that would be forever scorched into her…

'''++1110hrs''' 
'''++German Democratic Republic''' 
'''++Cottbus District''' 

On both sides of the highway, stretched endless snow-covered fields with coppices scattered here and there. The only man-made object in the rural landscape was a chain of giant electric transmission towers going beyond the horizon ... No, wait. There was more, five MiG-21s, walking toward the West.

"It's a bleak sight, as always."

Theodore sighed, looking at the back of his companions’ TSFs. They were on the way back from a salvage mission. The aim was to recover from the fields of battle any broken tactical surface fighters, tanks and other equipment for salvage – before they became the prey of the BETA. The squadron was followed by a convoy of trucks carrying the collected salvage.

The 666th Tactical Surface Fighter Squadron, "Schwarzesmarken", had taken part in repelling a major BETA offensive – a battle which had lasted three interminable days, but finally, ended. Looking again at the unfolding scene before his eyes, he drearily heaved a sigh. There was about an hour left before returning to base, and the landscape had not changed at all.

TSF pilots rarely have to perform marches on foot, using the legs of the machines. Even more so when in a totally secure area in the rear.

They kept silent most of the time. If a similar march had happen a month ago, Annette and the younger pilots of the squadron would have broadcasted cheerful chatter in the air incessantly, but now all of them had died in the fighting, except for Annette, and she was ordered to undergo medical treatment.

“By the way, Walter, have you heard of this joke before?”

Irisdine’s casual voice came through the wireless, breaking the painful silence.

“Hoh? Which one?” Walter asked with interest.

"At the dawn of the space age, the first satellites that both the Soviet Union and the United States had concurrently launched met in orbit. When communications with ground control were cut off, the two satellites began to talk:

‘''Guten Tag, Freund, jetzt können wir schließlich in unserer Muttersprache sprechen''.’ <Good day, friend, now we can finally speak in our mother tongue>”

Walter and Pham both burst into laughter. It was well known that the space program of both the United States and the USSR, grew out of the scientific and technological heritage of the Third Reich.

However, Theodore did not laugh. He had no wish to join in the merriment.

(What does she have in mind?)

Glaring at the face of Irisdine in the communications window as she tells another anecdote, he tightly squeezed the control handles again.

(That Eishi, what should I do......?)

'''+++January 10''' 
'''++1310hrs''' 
'''++Territory of the former Polish National Republic''' 
'''++Approximately 26 kilometers from the West coast of the Neisse''' 
'''++Krosno Odrzańskie Ruins''' 

Pulling out from the ruins of ''Krosno-Odrzańskie'' which was swarmed with BETA, Theodore decided to move with boost jumps. The remaining amount of propellant was less than 10 percent. He could not afford another engagement with BETA.

Besides—

“Ahh, hot......”

A faint moan—He examined the state of the Bundeswehr (West German Army) girl, who was attached with a pair of straps in front of the seat. With every boost jump, the sudden acceleration twisted her body painfully. Theodore had to shoehorn the girl found in the broken F-4 into the cab of his own Balalaika. Since carrying the F-4 Phantom using a single MiG-21 was impossible, he was forced to abandon it in place. Most likely the fighter had already become the victim of countless numbers of Tank Class approaching from all sides.

(I picked up a troublesome package……)

Members of the NPA (Nationale Volksarmee; National People’s Army; East German Army) were strictly forbidden to have contact with the soldiers of the Bundeswehr. Officially, the ban was to prevent information leakage from the East German army and infiltration of spies in its ranks, but the real reason was to prevent the defection of soldiers to the West. So far, countless soldiers who were suspected to have contacted the West German Army to seek asylum to the west have been executed by the army and the Stasi.

Seen in that sense, for Theodore who has special circumstances, this would be indeed in an unfavorable situation, although it was only a coincidence that he had rescued a Bundeswehr soldier. If he took the wrong step, it was likely that he will again be under the eye of the Stasi. In the Socialist East Germany, just thinking of reconciliation with the capitalist West would get you marked as a person with dangerous ideas.

"Damnit, I was just following orders... ...whatever happens is not my responsibility... ..."

The shock as the machine’s legs pounds the ground causes the control unit to jolt. The belt around her small shoulders and back constrains her, causing the girl to breath with difficulty. The personal belongings of the girl should be inside the medical kit storage space taken from the F-4’s control unit.

(The personal properties of the western guys are being carried in my control unit… …)

Such discomforting words scorch my mind.

“Katia C. Waldheim … ...”

Thinking of the girl’s face which still held the childishness of youth, Theodore quietly muttered to himself the name written on her ID record.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[MuvLuv_Alternative_Schwarzesmarken:Volume_1_Chapter1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[MuvLuv_Alternative_Schwarzesmarken|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[MuvLuv_Alternative_Schwarzesmarken:Volume_1_Chapter3|Chapter 3]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

MuvLuv Alternative Schwarzesmarken:Volume 1 Chapter1

2013-06-23T04:16:38Z

Remotemine: /* Chapter 1 */

==Chapter 1==
'''+++January 10th, 1983, 1100 hours'''

'''++German Democratic Republic'''

'''++Outskirts of Cottbus, 6km west of the Neisse river'''

'''++Fort Spremberg'''

The positions of the 35th NVA <ref group="1A">Nationale Volksarmee, or National People's Army, armed forces of the DDR. Widely considered to be one of the most professional and able armed forces of its period, and an elite of the Warsaw Pact troops.</ref> mechanised infantry regiment "Ernst Schürer", second battalion, third company, which only today had held them against three tank-class BETA assaults, were by then a living hell. Narrow trenches with reinforced concrete walls were filled human and alien bodies, and as horrendous as it was, the soldiers did not even have time to separate the dead, much less give them proper burials. The company commander, Oberleutnant Claudia Quirnheim felt the bitterness of despair on her lips. Not more than fifty men, a quarter of the initial contingent, were still capable of holding arms. Considering the fact that they had been engaged in close quarters combat with the BETA the entire day, it was hardly surprising.

''Another attack, and we're done for... ''

During the night the weather conditions worsened considerably, and visibility was effectively limited to less than half a kilometre. Claudia had to make a decision - to retreat to the secondary defence line, or stay and fight, - the latter would inevitably mean the destruction of the entire company. All communications with battalion HQ had been down for a long time already, and the decision was hers to make.

''But if we do leave our positions, we could be court-martialed... ''

The NVA was officially the Parteiarmee, army at the service of the party, so frequently more importance was attributed to following party slogans and proclamations, rather than considering the necessities of warfare. For her, promoted to the rank of 2nd lieutenant after graduating from the national university and passing a half-year basic officer course, this was a terrible, unjust burden.

''Where are our reinforcements?.. ''

Was the thought that raced in her mind as she looked over her comrades, - former students barely out of the classroom, now shivering from cold and fear in the trenches. All of them volunteers who joined the army on the same day, all of them knowing that there was nowhere to retreat to.

"Commander, here they come again! BETA herd, five hundred units or more!"

"Goddamn them!.."

From the depths of the swirling blizzard they came; on the field, littered with corpses of their monstrous brethren, they advanced; at least five hundred smaller ones, and behind them, massive shapes of three dozen grapplers, with their terrible weapon-arms.

" All units, fire at will! Do not target the grapplers - leave them to our support!"

The overwhelming hail of fire that followed almost drowned out her orders. The staccato of sustained fire from NSVs <ref group="1A"> NSV (Nikitin-Sokolov-Volkov), a 12.7×108mm calibre heavy machine gun.</ref> , the regiment's main firepower, was soon joined by the characteristic thumping of mortars, their crews loading their last rounds; and with them, the booming of the main guns of their fire support - a tank platoon entrenched behind their defensive line. Like droplets of blood the tracers sprayed across the enemy lines. But the BETA did not stop. The ones that survived were mostly tank-class - better armoured yet sufficiently agile six-legged monsters the colour of dried blood.

The soldiers who were previously busy carrying ammo boxes for the machine guns were already affixing bayonets to their MPi-Ks <ref group="1A"> DDR variant of the good old AK-47.</ref>, and in a few seconds the first monstrous tank-class creature appeared over the parapet, its forearms reaching into the trench, as if intent on scooping out its defenders.

"Don't you fucking dare, bloody monster!! Stay awa-a-ay!!!"

All of the soldiers crouching in the trench opened fire, and a hail of bullets shredded the beast, leaving the men covered with gore. However, the BETA were too many, and the defenders too few. In the next moments the regiment was engaged in brutal close combat, and cries of pain and anger echoed over the defence lines.

" Aim for the arms! The arms!!"

Claudia tried to shout orders, but could only watch as her comrades died one by one. Then right above her appeared the ghastly form of another BETA, its incredibly strong paw already raised, ready to strike with incredible force. Reflexes saved her - she dived instinctively and rolled over on her back.

" Eat this!! "

A precise burst of fire ripped apart the beast's joint, - infantry weapons were, after all, quite effective against the smaller BETA species. Then - with a nasty metallic sound, the rifle stopped firing, its bolt locked halfway.

"Jammed?!.. No way!!.."

The most reliable automatic weapon in the world, an AK, jamming at this moment?.. She had no time to check, as an incredible force swept and threw her into the wall. Overwhelmed by agonising pain, she spat blood. Broken ribs must have pierced her lungs, she thought distantly, and realised that it was the almost severed arm of the BETA that struck her like a whip. No one could help her. Her comrades were fighting their own opponents - and dying, smashed, eviscerated, beheaded and torn apart.

" No... no!.."

Feeling a primal, animal fear of death, Claudia looked at the alien through a bloody haze. And then she heard the sound - the ear-splitting roar of jet engines just overhead.

" They... the fighters!.. They're here!.."

Her heart was suddenly filled with an insane hope.

''Finally!.. Help… reinforcements... finally... ''

Crawling along the bloody, grimy floor of the trench, she desperately looked up, trying to find her saviours in the morning sky... and a second later, she saw them. Eight MiG-21s, main tactical fighters of the NVA, their silhouettes clear against the pale sky, cruising above. Graceful and unperturbed, they went on, soon disappearing into the blizzard, unmoved by the tragedy below.

" How... why... why?!" - a desperate cry came from her throat,

" Why aren't you helping us? Why?!.."

In the next instant, powerful jaws closed on Claudia's neck.

Oberleutnant Claudia Quirnheim did not know. This particular unit had pitilessly disregarded allied forces time and again, driven on by their mission, earning themselves more than a few unsavoury nicknames: the Reapers, the Butchers - Tactical Surface Fighter Squadron 666 "Shwarzesmarken".

[[Image: Img3.png |250px|thumb]]
'''+++1110 hours'''

'''++In the air above Fort Spremberg'''

As usual, the steady stream of new requests for reinforcement and cries for help went on, as constant as the whining roar of the aircraft's engines. Unterleutnant Theodore Eberbach, a pilot of the 666th TSF squadron "Schwarzesmarken", grimaced and pushed on the control pedals, making his "Balalaika"<ref group="1A"> Codename for Alternative's MiG-21, believe it or not. It’s a Russian string instrument, a really cliché way to namea vehicle. </ref> lurch forward and gain a little speed. Minute after minute, landscapes projected onto his retinae changed: white fields under grey skies, burnt forests, abandoned fields strewn with BETA corpses... and if he looked behind his shoulder, he would have been able to see the vicious battle with the BETA on the front lines. And the only thing he could permit himself was a deep sigh, - he had long since learned not to think too much about what was happening around them.

"Achtung! Schwarz one to all."

On his retinal display appeared a new communication window. A wave of golden hair, fine, aristocratic features and a cold, strict countenance - unmistakeably the ice queen herself, squadron leader Irisdine Bernhard.

" Get ready for enemy engagement. Comms may be spotty under the heavy metal clouds, maintain formation."

"Eight, copy that "

His toneless reply drowned in a chorus of acknowledgement from the other pilots.

The 666th consisted of eight MiGs, and though they were supposed to have twelve machines, by now there were very few units in the entire NVA which had a full contingent. For the same reason, they were now flying in arrowhead formation, four including the commander's machine leading, four following. The commander's MiG-21 was outfitted with additional sensory and communications equipment. The entire head of the machine was slightly different, with the main antenna brought forward, so that it bore a distant resemblance to the legendary unicorn.

''Eight kites against the whole bloody BETA force?.. Suicide job as usual...''

Theodore gave another sigh. He felt the pressure of the coming fight.

In the past several days, triple-six squadron had been mobilised to check a large-scale BETA assault from the eastern shore of the Neisse river, their mission being Laserjagd <ref group="1A"> It's what the furigana says (and it took me a long time to figure out). 'Jagd' being German for 'hunt', naturally.</ref> - penetration deep into enemy territory with the objective of taking out laser-class units that constituted the main firepower and core of the enemy force. At this time, the squadron, using NOE flight <ref group="1A"> Nap-of-the-earth flight, a method of avoiding detection by hugging the landscape (so at very low altitude). Also "flying under the radar". Note that the arrowhead formation is much more difficult to maintain at low altitudes. </ref> and maneuvering with their jump boosters, was quickly but stealthily proceeding along the shortest route to the predicted objective location, along the left flank of a large group that was advancing west. In the clouds charged with heavy metal particles that had been put in place by preliminary bombardment with AL shells <ref group="1A"> Anti-Laser shells.</ref> , the threat of detection and exposure to laser fire was diminished; however, it was not an ideal method either, something akin to taking about a couple of bullets from the revolver when playing of Russian roulette. The heavy metal clouds brought their own problems for TSFs operating under them: increased communications interference meant that data links through which the tactical information sharing system worked were now useless, except at close range. Pilots were only able to maintain communications with their wingmen, and there was no link with the four rear-guard machines that had been trailing four kilometres behind.

The blizzard only seemed to get stronger, and consequently the visibility got worse by the minute. The situation was so bad he got a queer, hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. His nervousness must have shown in his handling of the machine, for moments later a new comm window appeared on his display, from which a pilot's face regarded him sternly.

" Schwarz three to Schwarz eight - keep on course, son! What are you, dreaming?"

Theodore, startled, barely stopped himself from clicking his tongue in frustration and glanced at the speaker, seeing the unmistakeable black hard peppered with grey. The voice belonged to Oberleutnant Walter Krueger, who, a veteran officer at 29, rumoured to be a survivor of Operation Palaiologos, was much more experienced than the 18-year-old Theodore. Being the most senior pilot in the squadron, he was Irisdine's adjutant, responsible for all personnel-related matters.

''When will they stop treating me like a kid?..''

...but Theodore answered as levelly as he could:

"Eight, roger that."

He knew it was a good idea to watch what he said, because of the recording equipment in his comms. Any and all sounds, including whatever he would whisper to himself, would be picked up and recorded by the sensitive microphones.

Meanwhile, the cries for help continued. Another TSF squadron which was supposed to move around the BETA from the other flank came under laser fire and was pinned, which under the circumstances meant almost certain annihilation.

" Oi, nugget. Watch your distance, you're coming too close."

Walter was grumbling again. The practice in most units was to keep a certain distance between leading machines and wingmen, with dispersion of forces cited as the main reason.

"The laser-class' spread... did they get their predictions wrong again?.."

Inputting the coordinates of the most recent calls for help, with the help of his wide-range datalink Theodore quickly found their source. It was a dreadful, absurd situation that they could do nothing about, - a daily occurrence on this field of battle.

"Ma'am, the 721st's requesting backup--"

" Request denied" - answered Irisdine immediately, without a hint of emotion.

" Any distractions from our main objective will have to be set aside. These aren't the first or the last that we will have to ignore, but we have a mission, a responsibility to save many more lives "

" Shwarz three copy. Everybody heard that? We're proceeding on course."

Feigning impassiveness, Theodore felt disgust somewhere deep down. No, it wasn't the coldness of the two officers towards their allies, - what bothered him much more were the pretty words coming out of Irisdine's mouth. "A responsibility to save many more lives ", bah! Theodore had a good reason to think that way about his commanding officer that way.

''Because of them, I--''

"Feindkontankt! BETA group, at 010! Heading 170! I read at least fifteen thousand!"

Walter's sudden shout interrupted his thoughts and made everyone check their radars.

[[Image: Img4.png |250px|thumb]]

The monsters were indeed heading west. Most of them were tank-class BETA, with a few warriors and grapplers scattered about. The distinct shapes of the laser-class targets were nowhere in sight, though according to intelligence reports, they would be at the back of the horde.

"That's way more than we expected!.."

During the briefing, they were told that this particular enemy formation totalled around thirty thousand. If the radar, however, had already picked up more than half of that number, it was safe to double the predicted total.

''Damn them, they get the numbers wrong every bloody time...''

" By the way, Walter, you know that joke?" Irisdine spoke in a level tone, as if she hadn't noticed the enemy at all and was asking about the weather.

" Which one?"

" Someone sends a question to the Berlin radio: are the BETA edible at all?"

" ...And?"

" They answer: of course not. Unless you're an Engländer."

Several muffled laughs could be heard in the comms. The dreadfulness of the rations distributed to the British army, stationed in the DDR under UN command, was legendary even among East German personnel, and Walter chuckled appreciatively:

" Yes, and there's so many of them here... we should export them to those Inselaffe, they'd probably thank us."

" Right, - so first, let's turn those over there into paste."

Theodore didn't even smile. He understood that Irisdine's words were meant to slightly relieve the tension of the pilots about to engage the enemy in a fierce close quarters battle. As if following his thoughts, Irisdine changed the tone of her voice, and gave the order:

" Schwarz one to all, we'll cut off this group in front of us first!"

" Jawohl! " - answered the chorus of pilots' voices.

" Ready! Down we go!"

Theodore yanked the joystick towards himself, giving the machine full reverse boost. The G forces generated by the abrupt deceleration clamped down hard on his flight suit, designed precisely for such occasions. Four MiGs landed together, sending fountains of snow.

"Deploy shields!"

" Roger!!"

All four machines of the lead unit instantly put forward huge assault shields, in a maneuver reminiscent of the hoplite phalanxes of Ancient Greece. All the machines of the squadron except one carried the standard load out of the NVA's tactical fighters: a multipurpose assault shield "Shürzen" <ref group="1A"> The assault shields' name remains elusive. Furigana says "scherzen", but that would mean "joke" in German, and unless the shieldfs developers had a weird sense of humour, I doubt this would be its real name. Judging by the fact that they can't into German anyway, I chose the closest possible option - "Shurzen" being armoured side skirts widely used on panzers during WW2. Its kanji also read "multipurpose supplementary armour". </ref> in the left hand, a WS-16C assault rifle in the right, plus an additional weapon on the gun mounts.

Infrared sensors showed enemy signatures approximately a thousand metres ahead and behind the unit. As far as they could see on their radars, the snowy plains were crawling with BETA, a picture reminiscent of tsunami waves coming one after the other.

" All units, feuer frei! Aim at the group in front!"

At Irisdine's command, the four lead machines opened fire. The roar of their assault rifles drowned out the howling of the blizzard, and an approaching grappler exploded, fountains of blood and gore painting the immaculate snow, - a horrific modernist tableau if there ever was one. Surrounding BETA, perhaps in appreciation of the art, reacted instantaneously, turning to attack Theodore and his comrades.

"Here they come!.."

[[Image: Img5.png |250px|thumb]]

" Draw them towards us - fire and retreat!"

All four machines, perfectly synchronised, turned their jump unit nozzles forward and gave a short boost, quickly putting an additional couple hundred metres between themselves and the BETA in front, continuing to fire while giving reverse boosts to decelerate. Such back boost jumps were one of the main tactics of anti-BETA TSF warfare.

" Eat lead, Hurensöhne!!!"

With grim satisfaction, Theodore sprayed the enemy with volleys of 36-mm shells, turning grapplers and tank-class monsters into mincemeat. That their diversion was a success quickly became evident, as the stream of incoming BETA only grew, - though, as a matter of fact, thinking about all those creatures coming after him and his brothers in arms did not make him happy.
Even concentrated fire could not stop the BETA advance, though it did slow them down, and now red waves of tank-class creatures started flowing around the TSFs in an attempt to flank and surround them.

''We're running out of space, won't be able to retreat for much longer...''

No sooner had the thought crossed Theodore's mind that a clear voice broke through the tense silence:

" This is Schwarz two, ready to provide covering fire!"

A new window on his display showed the four rear-guard machines landing behind them.

" Feuer frei! Target the flanking tank-class!"

The rear-guard promptly followed the order of their leader, first lieutenant and second in command of the squadron, Pham Thi Lan, a German of Vietnamese descent. The appearance of their backup made the situation slightly better - attacking tank-class BETA were being decimated, and more and more enemies converged on their location.

''If we continue like this, we might draw away most of those that would be covering the laser-class... ''

As if sensing his line of thought, a shrill, angry, almost hysterical voice pierced his ears:
" What are you doing, comrade captain?!"

Another comm window appeared, showing the face of a pilot wearing thick horn-rimmed glasses. She wasn't even trying to hide her irritation.

" Why are we not attacking?! We don't have time to waste on this!"

This only served to create additional tension for the pilots engaged in combat, - but Gretel Jeckeln, the political officer of the squadron and one of the pilots of the lead flight, clearly didn't care.

" We have standing orders - take those Lux down by 1200 hours! I demand that we stop these foolish diversions and proceed to our objective!"

''Ugh... there she goes again... ''

As much as he wanted to snort derisively, Theodore only allowed himself a stoic frown, not risking to let his opinion show. After all, Gretel, as a political officer, was tasked with observing and controlling the pilots' loyalty to the party, counter-intelligence, propaganda and rooting out of anti-communist elements. To ensure that the army acted in line with the policies of the SED, the Politische Hauptverwaltung, main political administration of the NVA, assigned specially trained officers to every unit of the armed forces. As a result, the NVA had effectively two command structures and hierarchies <ref group="1A"> Historically inaccurate. Even in the Soviet army, political officers/commissars had similar authority only around the time of the revolution and civil war; afterwards the chain of command was strict and unified (and any officer was politically educated to begin with). Their tasks were, indeed, supporting the doctrine, loyalty, and often the fighting spirit of the troops, and they could act as commanders in exceptional cases (such as during WW2 when the commanding officer was killed), but they would not have such wide-ranging powers. </ref> . Political officers were given wide-ranging powers, and even questioning tactical decisions was in their field of competence, not to mention personnel-related matters and such drastic measures as removal of the commanding officers. Naturally, any disobedience towards the political officer would have grave consequences for the offender. Now and then one would hear a story of a commander refusing to give in to unreasonable, absurd demands of their political officers to preserve himself and his unit, who was forced to shoot the PO, - and was then quietly executed by firing squad, his subordinates and relatives taking a one-way trip to correctional camps.

" Our mission is to destroy the laser-class! The more we wait, the more troops we lose! It could end in them breaking through our front line!"

''Yeah, and she doesn't think for a sec that if we followed everything to the letter, we wouldn't ever stand a chance of making it?..''

" Aren't we supposed to complete this mission no matter the cost, comrade captain?!"

" ...Comrade lieutenant."

Irisdine's voice was calm. Only she, as the squadron commander, could speak with Gretel as an equal.

" The enemy numbers are considerably higher than forecasted. Have you considered the fact that this may impede our progress towards the main objective?"

" We don't have time for this! I think we've done enough to divert some BETA here!"

" Tactical considerations are within my competence. Continue diversion." was Irisdine's cold reaction to Gretel overstepping her authority.

It was clear that she was planning to draw as many BETA as possible to one place, and then quickly outmaneuver them, striking at the soft underbelly of the enemy forces and wiping out the laser-class.

" Right now on the front line, men are dying to buy us some time! The fact alone that you're ignoring that can be considered treason! Do you understand or not that the party speaks through me?!"

Gretel, only a first lieutenant, was able to threaten an officer that outranked her precisely because of that dual command structure. Seeing that Irisdine was hesitating to answer, Gretel's lips curled up in an unpleasantly triumphant smirk.

" You will follow my advice... or I will assume direct control of all the squadron's machines."

The main political administration had since the beginning been of the opinion that political officers in all TSF units should have priority control access of all machines of their unit. Thus, if it came to that, a political officer would have the option of remotely controlling all TSFs, - on top of controlling all comms and even injecting drugs into the pilot's suit and disabling the fighter's systems.

However, Irisdine still didn't answer, and Gretel's face betrayed some confusion and suspicion. The tension was broken by Walter's shout:

" Commander! Multiple enemy signatures to the rear! Grappler reinforcements! ..Reading... over two hundred! Distance 1200... 1000... contact in sixty seconds!"

''Damn their timing!.. ''

Thedore cursed under his breath, turning his sights on the new threat. A sizeable horde of BETA evidently separated from the front wave and was heading back. Everyone instinctively looked at the commander's machine.

" Lead flight, move to engage the grapplers! Rear-guard - set up behind them, get ready to provide covering fire!" ordered Irisdine without a hint of hesitation in her voice.

" What the hell, comrade captain?! This position has no tactical value, why are we still defending it?! I told you--"

" These need to be destroyed to ensure the success of the operation. All units, schneller! Do not waste time or ammo!"

" We don't have time--"

" We mustn't let them turn back towards our own lines! And they might pursue us and strike from the back when we attack the Lux! We will destroy them here and now!"

''Scheisse! Not like we have many options now, ''

Theodore thought, gripping the joysticks tightly in a bid to stop his hands from shaking. It was a first for him, too - this many BETA, in such poor visibility. One couldn't even predict how effective the squadron's fire would be.

In the next moments, a horde of grapplers emerged from the storm and closed in, - the distance to the first ones was already less than eight hundred metres.

" Target the first ones - let's stop them here! 120-mm, three volleys! Fire!!"

Four assault guns spat orange flame, and their shells landed in the middle of the advancing BETA, ripping apart some and injuring others. The monsters weren't all dead, but clearly incapacitated, so that the ones who followed were forced to go around them - their ranks now in disarray, the advance slowed down considerably.

''So that's what she counted on!.. ''

He didn't even have time to fully appreciate her plan, when he heard a new order:
" Squadron, switch to 36-mm, fire at will! Kill them while they're still confused!"

"Hah! Basta-a-a-ards!!" - he obeyed with relish.
The deep booming of the 120-mm was replaced by the staccato of the assault rifles, spewing a barrage of armour-piercing rounds towards their targets. The exploding grapplers mixed with the snow to create a bloody mist that hung like a curtain in front of the horde.

" Die!! Die, you monsters, diiiiiee!!!" Gretel was shouting, wildly spraying the mist, apparently relieving some of her frustration from the previous incident. She was interrupted by a warning shout from Irisdine:

" Careful! There are still live ones!.."

" ...Eh?!"

A group of flanking grapplers appeared from the mist, charging Gretel's machine. Carelessly absorbed by her shooting, she didn't have time to react, - and from Theodore's position, he couldn't hit them without risking friendly fire. The political officer, though above average for a normal TSF squadron level, was clearly the least experienced pilot of the 666th.

''Dumme Schlampe!.. ''

Theodore reacted almost instinctively, firing his jump boosters. A split second later he was already between her and the charging beasts, breaking hard in the deep snow.

" Won't get past me!!"

Still sliding across the snow, he aimed and fired at the attackers, - they couldn't have been more than two hundred metres away by now, even ripped apart by bullets they died, but others kept on coming, - and then the last one fell not even ten metres in front of the two TSFs. Theodore exhaled, and glanced over the dead BETA.

"If I missed, we both would've bought it right here..."

" L-lieutenant Eberbach!.."

Ignoring the embarrassed and shocked Gretel, he promptly returned to his position.

Meanwhile, the horde continued their assault, and by now there was at least a thousand already within visible range. It was clear that despite their losses, they wouldn't stop.

" Achtung, squadron!" Irisdine's voice came through the cannonade.

" We're stopping our diversion! Prepare for jump on our original course, NOE, arrowhead formation! And don't get your head above thirty metres! "

" Roger! " came the reply from all pilots.

Eight fighters fired their engines simultaneously, and jumped. Below them were tens of thousands of gathering BETA - still an obstacle in their way, despite all they had destroyed. But now, they would slip into the breach, and find their real target - the laser-class. From readouts on his retinal display, Theodore quickly understood that this diversion cost them around thirty percent of fuel and ammunition.

''Now begins the real deal... ''

The queasy feeling, forgotten in the heat of battle, returned. Between the numerical superiority of the BETA, the worsening weather conditions, and the limited supplies, there wasn't anything that would make him particularly cheerful. And there was the matter of Gretel and her political guidance...

''But I will survive. ''

Trying to rid himself of dark thoughts, Theodore once again gripped the control sticks.

''I will not depend on anyone. Only my own strength. ''

He had always thought the feelings of friendship, attachment or consolation, that his comrades sometimes sought, were only a sign of weakness. The only things that mattered were those that helped survive in this war. Trusting unquestionably, or helping someone, were akin to baring your own throat for the knife.

''I know what happens if you trust someone. That's why... ''

Theodore's eyes glinted with hate for an instant.

He was thinking of none other than the commander of the Schwarzesmarken, Irisdine Bernhard. That day, three years ago, the people closest to him were taken away, stolen, leaving him in the depths of despair. And she was one of the hounds of the system...

'''+++1125 hours'''

'''++German Democratic Republic'''

'''++Cottbus area, Cottbus base headquarters'''

" Confirming flare signal from the 611th squadron. They're engaging. Comms down after entry into metallic clouds!"

The operator's report drew sighs from the people in the small control room.

"This makes four. All TSF squadrons now engaged in combat."

Sighs, again. All those present here, in the main control room of Cottbus regimental command, thirty kilometres behind the front lines, were watching the situation tensely, but it felt as if no one really knew how or even wanted to evaluate it. All eyes were on the huge wall screen, on which was projected the most recent tactical information about the unfolding battle.

" Attack success chance - sixty-six percent... " as if voicing what was on everyone's mind, murmured second lieutenant Marai Heisenberg, frowning.

"We knew, Marai."

[[Image: Img6.png |250px|thumb]]

"M-major?! " Marai, startled, turned around and saw Major Hannibal Hölzer, commander of the special composite air group 'Hannibal', based in Cottbus<ref group="1A"> Note: groups (or wings – depending on the country) are usually led by a more senior-ranking officer, Colonel or even Brigadier General for bigger units; however the NVA’s equivalent (Jagdfliegergeschwader) were frequently commanded by officers holding the rank of Major or even Hauptmann (captain). </ref> . Right now three of its squadrons were in combat, along with the 666th, which ordinarily had been a unit under the direct command of Eastern HQ, in reserve until recently, then transferred to the Oder-Neisse defence line and temporarily attached to the special task force. Marai was also a pilot herself, but was temporarily serving as a staff officer on Cottbus base. She would be commanding a unit on the front lines right now, but her MiG-21's maintenance was falling behind schedule, and she had to switch to staff functions.

" We were ready for the losses. Our duty is to not let the grief influence our decision making."

She noticed that Hannibal's eyes were sunken from fatigue. For four days, ever since the start of the attack, he had not rested for a moment, giving precise instructions to his squadrons.

" And what do you yourself think of this situation, Marai?"- he asked, raising his voice, but keeping a soft, paternal tone. Clearly, through this conversation with her, Hannibal was trying to show the rest of the staff decision-making at the tactical level, since most officers present had little experience.

" Sir. The success of the Laserjagd will depend on their location," - she answered without hesitation, silently thanking Hannibal for an opportunity to save face.

"At this point the situation on the Neisse river line is critical. Mechanised infantry are bearing the heaviest losses."

On the projected map were clearly visible the outlines of the three main fortified sectors - Cottbus, Spremberg and Boxberg, covering an area approximately 60 kilometres from north to south, 15 kilometres deep. Practically speaking, the fortified line had been erected between the Neisse river, former border with Poland, and the Spree, 20-30 kilometres to the west. The line ran along the entire border of the country, and was meant to be its shield against the BETA threat.
After the disaster of Operation Palaiologos in 1978, the fall of Poland the following year, and the BETA advance up to the Oder, the NVA constructed a defence line. Official propaganda called it the "The Eastern Shield", a great wall that would protect European civilisation.

" This prolonged engagement has resulted in approximately sixty percent casualties in forces defending these three sectors. The remaining forty percent have been forced to retreat to the second and last reserve line. The only things that could change the situation in our favour would be airstrikes and artillery support - both impossible with the Lux still active.

Marai looked at another window, showing the current positions of the air force and artillery brigades. Most of them were concentrated on the west bank of the Spree.

"For that purpose were deployed the six rocket artillery brigades, with both the UN and NVA air forces standing by on the Elbe."

" And if the plan fails?"

" We will have to reform all remaining TSF squadrons and attempt a second Laserjagd."

It was easy to see how reckless this plan really was. Squadrons involved in the first operation would have suffered heavy losses, and the pilots' fatigue would be at its peak. However, there was no choice, in the event of failure. The loss of several TSF squadrons to save the breaking front line was quite acceptable from a purely military perspective. In fact, there have been a multitude of precedents.

"Of course, even now we're already losing two squadrons..."

[[Image: Img7.png |250px|thumb]]

Marai could only pray for a successful hunt - otherwise, the only result of this accumulation of casualties would be a complete defeat.

"How many Lux are we looking at? "

"Our estimates are rough, sir, but we expect around five hundred units. Following the AL artillery strikes and the propagation of heavy metal clouds, we expect their numbers had declined to less than three hundred. "

"Which squadron would come into contact first?"

" Triple-six, sir," - answered Marai quickly, not showing a hint of emotions that suddenly swelled within her.

" The 666th was spearheading the assault from the left flank. I would assume they have started breaking through by now."

"Hm, those fellows are quite reliable, aren't they..."

"Yes, sir. They're not called the top squadron of the DDR for nothing."

In command of the 666th was the hero of the last phase of the Polish campaign, captain Irisdine Bernhard, who had time and again demonstrated enviable tactical acumen. By this time, the squadron had more BETA kills on record than any other in the NVA, and its reputation for being top-grade aces was well deserved. That did not mean, however, that their brothers in arms bore any affection for them - many, especially in front line units, had different ways of calling them, the least offensive of which were "those damn snakes". Marai could sympathise with that feeling, but she also understood that it was, in a way, inevitable.

"Besides..."

From Marai's point of view, Irisdine was difficult to manage as a commander, but at the same time too flawless and beyond any reproach.

" We can only rely on their bravery," she said, turning away to look at Hannibal. She followed his gaze, and had to hide a sudden surge of irritation. His eyes were fixed on one spot on the wall screen - the marker that represented the 666th squadron.

'''+++1130 hours'''

'''++Territory of the former People's Republic of Poland'''

'''++22 kilometres east of the Neisse river, in BETA-controlled space'''

In the raging snowstorm, the eight MiGs of "Schwarzesmarken" were finding their way through gaps between the BETA, flying at only five metres above ground - one false move, and they would be ploughing those snowy fields. Their engines were blasting up massive plumes of snow and dirt behind the machines. Their cockpits were filled with the shrill TAWS alarm <ref group="1A"> Terrain Avoidance Warning System - generic term for any system that warns pilots of dangerous proximity of terrain. Also known as Bitching Betty. </ref> , - a result of them having to disable the auto balancing system, as it would be too sensitive for this kind of flight.

''...Being a target for the lasers kinda seems easier...''

Making an effort not to curse into the open comm channel, Theodore saw bright dots on the radar - a group of grapplers, only eight hundred metres in front. He pulled hard on a control stick, maneuvering just in time, managed to swerve and avoid losing speed.

''Scheisse, will you ever end?!..''

Another group in front of him - this time, in much closer formation. He was coming in fast, and a crash seemed an all too real possibility, - he yanked the joysticks towards himself, swooping up to perform an extreme breaking maneuver over the heads of the BETA, - all in less than 2.35 seconds, which was the maximum time he could stay up before being hit by lasers.

''Goddamn it, just give us the new MiG-23s already, or some of the western kites!''

His face, tense because of the G stress, had a singularly fierce expression.

''The 21's not made for these bloody acrobatics!!''

Breaking formation now, among the BETA, would have meant certain death, - after all, in this situation the other machines wouldn't waste time saving their wingman. Theodore himself had to abandon more than a few hapless pilots who made the mistake of getting separated. However, it could have been even worse. If the diversion hadn't worked, they wouldn't even have a gap to squeeze into.

" Outta my way, you bloody monsters!!" the shout suddenly came through his headset, followed by the rattling of an assault rifle burst. Theodore clicked his tongue in disapproval. Walter, guessing what happened, snapped angrily:

" Schwarz six, hold your fire! Did you forget your goddamn orders?"

" Negative, sir! Just got rid of a few buggers in my way! Did not forget, sir!" fiercely replied second lieutenant Annette Hosenfeld, piloting the last machine of the rear-guard. Her short hair shook a little with every burst she fired. " I said move, you filthy octopus!!"

''That idiot... how dumb d'you have to be to ignore Walter's orders...''

Annette continued firing on all grapplers in sight. Several muzzle flashes later, her MiG-21, thrusters at full, swept above the gory mess left of the grapplers she was attacking. Perfect control and flawless execution of the attack, - but if one looked at the bigger picture, it became clear that even without being delayed by such reckless actions, getting through the BETA was not easy.

" Comrade lieutenant Krueger! Do something with that!" Gretel sounded hysterical again. She knew that Irisdine left all personnel matters, including discipline, to Walter, and so didn't even bother talking to the captain.

" These TSFs are precious equipment, entrusted to us by our land and its people! Wasting ammo is treason!! Do you want your subordinate to see a military prison from the inside?!"

" Schwarz six, did you hear that?! Cease fire! Now!! "

" This is Schwarz seven! I'll go with six!"

Another comm window - another face, the one taking initiative this time was second lieutenant Inghild Bronikowski, also a pilot of the rear-guard flight. Like Annette, she was 18, but to Theodore's eyes she looked much more mature, perhaps because of her long, wavy hair and elegant countenance. The three of them graduated in the same year from the same fighter pilot school, and met again in the squadron.

" Annette, please, get a hold of yourself! You're putting us all in danger!"

" I know! I... I know that!.."

The tone of Annette's voice lost all its fierceness. Her psychological state was clearly far from normal - in fact, a pretty common symptom of shellshock. Theodore knew the reason very well: that week Annette lost three people closest to her, three friends from her childhood days. The coincidental death of several friends and comrades with whom she survived the harshest of battles made her lose her balance. In the past several days, her behaviour had been rude, erratic, and generally almost unbearable.

" I... I'm happy only when I kill them, the BETA... a-all of them... and the drugs don't help!.. I dream of them every night... I... if this goes on, I..." by now she was rambling almost incoherently.

'' Well then maybe you should've stayed out of the bloody cockpit! ''

Thought Theodore, holding back his irritation at both Annette and Irisdine. It was widely known that shellshocked pilots put themselves, and by consequence their comrades at risk - there is after all nothing more dangerous than an ally you cannot rely on. Despite that, Irisdine let her fly, citing the necessity to have eight machines for this particular formation. He guessed, that Irisdine did it on her own responsibility, - her continued silence at Annette's outbursts proved that. Perhaps she had even ordered Inghild to keep an eye on Schwarz six. For Theodore, however, this was no excuse, even if otherwise this would have destroyed Annette as a soldier and a person.

''While she's whining, her mates'll get killed by BETA!.. ''

" It's all right, Annette, everything's okay. I'll protect you." said Inghild in a very soft, calming voice, which only served to annoy Theodore even more. For Inghild, a child of an old Junker family <ref group="1A"> Just in case, this has nothing to do with the English word "junk", nor with Freelancer or Gears of War. Junker (youn-keh) families are Prussian landed nobility. Her family name kind of confirms it (see translator notes for references). </ref>, and as such, always treated somewhat distantly, Annette was the only person with whom she really connected. This relationship perhaps was the link that kept Inghild close to Annette, even despite her current mental state.

'' Ugh, I'm gonna puke... ''

These two were really getting on Theodore's nerves. In his opinion, among pilots, who lived with the fear of death at any moment, such things were for weaklings, and would only hasten their departure to the next world.

" Everything all right, Schwarz seven?" Walter asked, his voice tense. Theodore felt that they were just words - the veteran must know feel the same danger as all other pilots. Gretel's face only expressed sincere disgust - she hated former aristocrats with a passion.

" Yes, sir, covering Schwarz six... everything will be okay, - right, Annette?" replied Inghild, trying too hard to be cheerful. Annette, her eyes suddenly lifeless, nodded slowly, as if in a daze.

" Copy... hey son, you watch those two as well, all right?"

Walter's unexpected order caught him napping.

"Why me of all people?!.."

" You got it?"

" ... Yes sir, I copy," - Theodore answered, trying very hard to keep his annoyance out of his voice, and grabbed the control sticks so hard it looked like he was trying to squeeze the life out of them.

Not a second later came Irisdine's command:
" Squadron, achtung! Two klicks to target. Prepare to clear out LZ in five hundred metres. It's time for the hunt! Do keep me company!"

On the map appeared a concentration of dots, representing the swarms of laser-class targets.

"Well, here's where we live or die!.."

With a shiver, he looked at the horde of BETA they were approaching. From now on he and his comrades would have to fight in close quarters, completely surrounded by the enemy.

Several groups of laser-class units were surrounded by a sizeable force of other BETA. To complete their main objective they would have to eliminate those first, otherwise the squadron would be crushed between waves of monsters. In the worst case scenario, fort-class species from the very back of the horde would reinforce the enemy here. It was imperative to destroy the Lux and egress as fast as possible.

" Not a very pleasant sight, I must say, ma'am. I wonder, how does this compare to a Hive infiltration op?" asked Walter, and Irisdine answered in the same, level tone:
" Oh, much easier."
" Really? Why so?"
" I'm afraid I've no sense of direction."

This time almost no one laughed, but it was a fact that this short exchange did relieve some of the tension after the incident with Annette.

[[Image: Img8.png |250px|thumb]]

" Canister shot, two volleys! Feuer!!" finally came the captain's order.

The barrage wiped out a part of the herd that was underfoot. Several moments later, the smoke cleared, revealing the dead BETA bodies, - and among them stood eight tactical fighters in perfect battle formation.

'''+++1135 hours'''

'''++Territory of the former People's Republic of Poland'''

'''++30 kilometres east of the Neisse river, in BETA-controlled space'''

Looking over the dreary panorama, Theodore sighed once again. The retinal display showed his comrades in formation, and the endless sea of enemy contacts around them. Grapplers and tank-class species swarmed towards them like flies to a corpse.

''And the Lux are on the other side of this... wall?.. ''

He gritted his teeth. Completely surrounded, the unit could not use fire and retreat tactics, and could not attack the laser-class from a distance. The only option still open to them was making a perfectly coordinated assault, using the BETA closest to them as shields, and breaking through to the pockets where the laser-class groups were.

''No way in hell am I gonna die in this place!.. ''

He grinned savagely, and in that grin were both the bloodlust and the mortal fear of a cornered beast.

" All units, achtung! " Irisdine's confident voice rang in his ears " Commencing Laserjadg! First unit will engage in close quarters, second provides covering fire. Bestow upon them our black marks! 666th squadron, vorwärts!! "

At her command, all the machines of the 666th rushed forward as one.

Irisdine was charging ahead across the snowy field, using short boost jumps to gain speed. Walter followed her close, Theodore was behind and to the left of him, and Gretel even further to the left. In front of them was a wedge-shaped group of BETA with ten grapplers with a hundred tank-class beasts surrounding them.

" We'll cut through them, Walter! Four and eight, cover us!"

Irisdine was a firm believer in the idea that the commander should be at the forefront of his unit, and under no circumstances would let anyone else have the honour. Even Theodore had to recognise her bravery and determination... even if it annoyed him oh so much.

Only a dozen metres separated her from the BETA in front, when she gave a triumphant battle cry and activating the rocket engines, she soared above the grappler.

Suddenly reversing her booster nozzles so that they pointed up, she made her machine dart downwards, holding the "Shürzen" so that its bladed edge pointed towards the sensory organs on the grappler's back. Predictably enough, the edge split the beast's filmy skin, and sliced its torso in two. Thick red fountains of whatever passed for blood among their misbegotten kind sprayed over her machine, bits of flesh and innards flying in all directions. That grappler was most certainly out of the picture. A moment later, Walter executed the same attack at a sharp angle, and another grappler found itself hacked apart.

''Damn they're good!!.. ''

Theodore, covering the lead machines, had the time to fully admire this display of skill. It was quite clear that no one without the exceptional control over their machine that those two were able to achieve could hope to perform such a feat. Such precisely timed jump booster control was something an average pilot wouldn't even be able to imitate. And thanks to the efficient coordination of the four machines, the grapplers were down in less than sixty seconds. There didn't seem any other BETA capable of doing anything in the immediate vicinity.

" Schwarz one to four and eight! Secure sector 05-8!"

" Roger!! I'm going in, eight!"

"Jawohl!"

This time it was Theodore and Gretel's turn to make a fast jump towards their target. In their sector were a dozen grapplers and fifty tank-class BETA, the latter already being chewed up by covering fire from the rear-guard unit, - but the grapplers, noticing the threat, began to move in.

''Hah, as if we'd stop here!..''

Theodore, giving several bursts from his rifle, almost without aiming, rushed onwards. Annihilation of the BETA was secondary to securing the marked coordinates, so they paid no heed to the enemy, and not a minute later, they landed at their designated point, crushing some grappler corpses under their iron boots.

" Four and eight, you got incoming at three o'clock! Vorsicht!"

They barely had time to react to the warning, as a small group of enemies emerged from the blizzard. They were barely three hundred metres off.

" Ah, no!.." Gretel moaned.

At this range, it was clear that they wouldn't have time to stop them with fire alone. Theodore instantly took the decision, discarding his assault rifle, - immediately, an automated auxiliary arm took the CIWS-1A combat knife out of its compartment, and he grabbed it with his right manipulator in a backhand grip.

" L-lieutenant Eberbach?!"

"Please stay back! I will stop them! "Theodore quickly cut her before she could say anything. He normally found having to address her politely very annoying, but in this situation it was the last thing on his mind.

"Support fire, lieutenant!.."

" Roger!!"

To say that taking on a grappler in close combat with a knife made for disposing of the smallest classes was reckless, would be an impressive understatement. One hit from their massive forearms, and the TSF was scrap.

Ready to win or die trying, Theodore waited for the first grappler to approach and lift his arm for the strike - and kicked off from the ground with a hoarse battle cry. With split-second timing, he dove under the beast's right shoulder joint, and took the blow on his shield.

The Shürzen's reactive armour exploded - Theodore's field of vision was filled with a blast of brilliant orange, and half of the beast's claw was blown off. The TSF shook viciously under the terrible impact.

" Bastard!!.."

[[Image: Img9.png |250px|thumb]]

He glanced at the system monitors - it looked like the pressure on the left elbow joint had spiked beyond critical. Not even waiting for the machine to recover from the blast, he changed his posture, anticipating the movements of the grappler, whose left arm was still functional. In the next moment, with another triumphant cry, he dashed forward, slicing clean through the beast's other joint - his blade rent the membranous skin, and the beast's arm was cut off, flailing feebly.

" Next!!"

As if through sheer force of will he righted his machine, which was ready to fall over, and met the next grappler head-on, this time driving the shield's sharp edge in the middle of its torso. Its whitish skin wasn't a match for that steel.

" And you're finished! "

The remaining reactive armour on the front side of the Shürzen did its task magnificently - the explosion blew the beast to pieces.
''Any others?.. ''

Looking around, he only saw Gretel finishing off some stragglers. Realising that the immediate threat was gone, he could finally catch his breath, stowing away the combat knife and picking up his rifle. He was trying to control his breathing to calm himself down, feeling a strange mixture of relief and lingering mortal terror.

Just as Walter and Irisdine were unmatched pilots, Theodore excelled in close quarters combat, especially using the combat knife and shield together. This mastery was something he needed to survive this hunt for the laser-class.

''Well, that's it, can't do the same next time... ''

He glanced at his shield, scorched by the explosions of the blocks of reactive armour, and frowned. It wouldn’t be able to save him from the laser anymore.

" Schwarz one to four and eight! Move to 05-0!" he heard Irisdine’s urgent voice in his headset.

" Visual on Lux, repeat, visual on main target! Me and Walter are going to draw other BETA from them! Make it fast you two!!"

''Finally! We got them… ''

Theodore didn’t notice himself that his face brightened. He felt as if a ray of light shone upon them in this darkness.
Indeed, in the darkness and whirling snow, in-between the other BETA, something greenish wriggled – their main objective, the first group of the laser-class species, about thirty units.

" Rear-guard! Cover four and eight!"

" Roger that!"

Only then Theodore noticed the voices of Annette and Inghild among the chorus of those acknowledging orders. The two machines were covering the rear, delaying enemies that came from that direction. Annette’s MiG carried a weapon unusual for European battlefields – a standard PLA Type-77 long sword <ref group="1A"> No idea why the wiki lists it as a halberd – the kanji here could stand for “naginata” (which is a halberd-like polearm; since it’s Chinese, it would be a guan dao, or in European terms, a glaive), but the first kanji is different from the one normally used (薙刀 – naginata, while here it is長刀 – choutou, long sword); and the pictures make it evident that it’s a one-handed sword. </ref> . In the past, the DDR imported these from China, though very few squadrons continued using it. For ordinary pilots, not too fond of close combat, it was an unwieldy weapon, but Annette had displayed her affinity for it ever since TSF pilot school.

" Take this!!"

Raising the glaive above her head, she slashed down at the grappler in front of her. The grappler raised his arm to block the strike – but the glaive cut through it, sending bits of cracked armour and flesh flying.

" There’s more where that came from!! Diiiieee!!!"

Her heavy glaive rose up slowly, and fell again on another grappler.

" Annette, tank-class on your ten! Careful!" shouted Inghild, who had been giving her partner precise covering fire all this time. It looked like she was having a tough time because of Annette’s wild and unpredictable movements. She didn’t let it show on her face, however, and continued her support action, but her eyes darted back and forth as she tried to follow the positions of the forward units at the same time. It placed a great deal of strain on her, and was frankly dangerous – she had to understand it very well herself.

" Forward, four and eight – take those Lux down! I give you sixty seconds!"

Spurred on by Irisdine’s order, Theodore looked forward. The captain and Walter had drawn off two dozen grapplers by themselves, and very few now remained guarding the laser-class.

" Roger!! Comrade lieutenant, I’m going in! We’ll use the grapplers on our eight as a shield, and give a volley of canister shot!"

"Roger!"

With another battle cry, Theodore charged the enemy.

'''+++1150 hours'''

'''++Territory of the former People's Republic of Poland'''

'''++30 kilometres east of the Neisse river, in BETA-controlled space'''

''A vibration… that wasn’t one of our shells… ''

Inghild was the first to notice it. Providing fire support for Annette, she was distracted for a split second.

The blizzard and the clouds of dirt and snow that hung above the battlefield made it next to impossible to see anything but one’s immediate surroundings. Inghild didn’t even bother to look at the radar, which was as good as useless under the heavy metal clouds, but instead turned her eyes back to Annette’s machine. Her partner was still swinging around that huge weapon, but she was more and more worried.

''Please come back safe… ''

The thought that at this point Annette was accumulating a lot of fatigue and stress didn’t leave her mind. The time granted to her was clearly coming to an end, and soon she would be sent back to the base to recover her mental stability. Cases of shellshock were common on this terrible field of battle. What awaited those whose mind broke was a stay in a special military hospital – which, in this country, was little different from a labour camp, where they would meet their end as a human being. The current administration of the DDR did not even want to admit the existence of soldiers whose spirit was broken.

[[Image: Img10.png |250px|thumb]]

''But then if this war ends, and she survives, maybe there’ll be time for her to recover… so I have to keep trying, for her sake!.. ''

Only fifteen minutes from the start of the battle, the 666th had already eliminated two groups of laser-class BETA, and were now breaking through to the third and last. The presence of four other groups had also been confirmed, but signal flares indicated that the other TSF squadrons, previously delayed, had successfully made contact with their targets. Ten minutes remained until the planned start of full-scale bombardment from the front lines, and if everything went well, they had largely enough time to finish mopping up any stragglers.

''Gah, again!. ''

She glanced at her comrades’ faces – none of them seemed to have noticed anything. However, even if her MiG-21 was equipped with vibration sensors, with these numbers of BETA around it was simply overwhelmed. It was therefore not surprising that a human felt unusual vibrations first. And sure enough, moments later a graph appeared on her retinal display, showing abnormal vibrations, followed by a shrill warning buzzer.

"It can’t be! Here?!.."

The message spelt death for the entire squadron.

'' A herd of destroyer-class?!.. ''

◊◊◊

"Destroyer-class?! " Theodore whispered, looking at the same graph as Inghild, as if unwilling to believe his own eyes,

''We’re in the bloody middle of the BETA herd!''

" No mistake, this is their signature!" shouted Inghild " Around seventy units, distance 2500, speed… over a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour?! In visual range in less than sixty seconds! Proceeding in close formation!"

Theodore growled, gritting his teeth.

'' Sheisse! Just a bit more time and we would’ve wiped out the target! ''

A mixture of dread and bitterness boiled up within him. Eight fighters, surrounded by an entire herd, standing against a rush of the destroyer-class – one couldn’t call this situation anything other than desperate. Seeing as they weren’t finished with the laser-class, they wouldn’t be able to evade by with simple boost jumps, and retreat was out of the question until their target was down. He couldn’t expect the political officer, Gretel, to allow it.

''Desertion under enemy fire is punishable by death, after all… ''

Perhaps the only option remaining to them would be to fight until the last moment, then set their engines to overload and destroy themselves along with any BETA nearby. Was this then the end?.. He gripped the control sticks once again, growling in protest.
" Don’t get distracted!" came Irisdine’s sharp command. Her facial expression did not change by one iota. " All units, form on me!"

In the face of imminent destruction, her voice was also perfectly steady.

''Damn it, what’s she thinking?!... ''

But he himself was already moving, and several short boost jumps later he was standing next to the lead MiG-21. Other machines followed shortly. All of them were quite a sight, covered in BETA entrails. They had on average thirty percent ammunition, though Inghild, covering Annette, was below twenty.

" Why this, comrade captain?!" Gretel was shouting again, pale-faced, clearly aware of the destiny that awaited the squadron. " We should spread out and head towards the laser-class! If even one or two machines make it through, our mission would be complete! It’s not too late yet! And if we’re killed, it’s even--"

" We would be killed before reaching them. I cannot accept such a tactical move."

" Then what, are you planning to meet them here?! Impossible!.."

" Listen up, squadron! Fire by rank, switch your 120mm to sabot or squash head <ref group="1A"> She’s referring to: APFSDS - Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot rounds, modern AP shells that use kinetic energy to penetrate the target’s armour, with the penetrator being made of dense materials, such as tungsten or depleted uranium alloys; and HESH - High explosive squash head shells, designed to “squash” a layer of plastic explosive on the armour and detonate it, transmitting the shock wave through the layer of armour (or concrete) instead of penetrating it. Effective against fortifications and older tank armour (non-composite).</ref> ammo!" she ordered, ignoring Gretel completely.

She was the first ready her assault gun, and Theodore followed reflexively, all the while staring angrily at the commander’s face in the comm window.

''Is she insane? Firing by rank is just as suicidal against the Ruitare!.. ''

" …You do realise that stopping them is imp--"

" We will fire at the front group, stop them in their tracks! Then break through to the last Lux group!"

''Wha… ''

Theodore was speechless again. This time he really doubted the captain really meant what she was saying.

''…break through them?!... ''

Not paying heed to all the other pilots, clearly at a loss for words, Irisdine continued:

" Behind the charging destroyers there have to be very few BETA. We’ll use that! We don’t have any other choice for destroying them until the bombardment starts!"

It was essentially, true, - the speed difference between the destroyer-class and other BETA made a gap quite likely.
''Really… no other choice… ''

Theodore understood the theory behind this move, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t scared. Breaking through a destroyer-class wave from the front really wasn’t something commonly heard of… but at this point the only thing he could do was follow orders. No matter how uneasy they made him, or how much he hated the captain.

" All units, fire on my command. Aim at the legs of the leading destroyers!"

" Roger!"

Theodore shouted in reply, feeling despair encroach upon his soul. It might have been the same for the others, too.

" Then, on my order, we will begin the breakthrough maneuver. Do not, I repeat, do not break your element<ref group="1A"> To remind you – an element is the smallest unit of TSFs, two machines. </ref> ! If we stop them, they’re not a threat anymore!"

The trembling of the ground was becoming more and more noticeable, and their TSFs shook.

" Once we break through, we turn towards the Lux, finish them off – and get out of here!"

Walter’s rough voice interrupted her:

" Visual on destroyer-class, distance 1000… they’re here!"

In the next moment, the destroyer horde broke through the blizzard in front of them, a living wedge parting the billowing curtain of snow…

Twenty seconds to contact. Theodore’s heart was seized by a dreadful, oppressing feeling.

''Stopping… that?!... ''

" All units, feuer frei!"

" Jawohl!!"

They focussed all their attention on the approaching enemy. Simultaneously, eight bright flashes erupted from their assault guns, and without waiting to see if the shells hit, they fired one volley after another.

''This has to stop them… it has to! Or... ''

Irisdine’s calculations seemed to be confirmed, as several hits exploded their targets – the destroyers didn’t even pause, and rushed on, scattering bits of gore, but the second and third hits exploded legs, sending them off balance, and one after another they tumbled. The ones that relentlessly came after them tried to evade the fallen, but inevitably got caught and tumbled themselves, - and so did the next wave. In one tremendous chain collision, the destroyer-class group was in tatters. A strange hush fell on the group of pilots watching this spectacle from a distance.

" It can’t be…" muttered Gretel, obviously couldn’t believe her eyes. Theodore for once was inclined to agree. He didn't know how much of this was the result of a precise calculation by the captain, but the fact was, they managed to stop the thunderous charge.

" All units, break through before they get up again! Move, schnell!!" shouted Irisdine triumphantly, taking up her burnt shield.

" Roger!! Moving out!"

" Hurensöhne!!!"

" Raaaaaahhh!!!"

Stirred up by the battle cries of his comrades, Theodore charged. In front of them sluggishly moved the devastated destroyer herd, and the eight machines used horizontal boosts to quickly reach and penetrate the group, rushing through this small gap in the enemy before it closed.

''So we're lucky they were too close together, eh... ''

They passed very close to the wriggling bodies of the Ruitare, who without legs looked like helpless caterpillars – a very strange sensation it was, passing so near the beasts that no one ever thought of engaging in close combat.

However, he didn’t have long to appreciate the strangeness of the situation. As soon as they passed the first rows of destroyer bodies, several dozen of the herd began trying to resume their attack, with one group intent on blocking their breakthrough route.

''Damn, they recover fast!.. ''

" Squadron, no distractions – move on course!"

Theodore looked around to confirm the position of the captain’s machine – and almost gasped in surprise. Her element stayed in the rear, evidently setting up a firing position.

" Me and Walter will deal with the ones coming from three o’clock – you get all the speed you can from those engines and get to the Lux!"

''Her, in the rear guard? The commander?!.. ''

He swallowed hard. She was planning to cover their advance and take on the charge of a destroyer unit with only two machines. He looked around – all pilots, including his partner, Gretel, were following orders, moving on, while Irisdine and Walter set up in a stable position and prepared to fire. However, one after another destroyers were stirring up around them – they would be surrounded any minute. A moment later, on the course of the charging squadron appeared another group of more than fifty smaller, vaguely humanoid BETA appeared, escorted by tank-class monsters.

''Lasers!.. Now?! Sheisse, what to do?!.. ''

It wouldn’t do to lose Irisdine here, as she was the force that kept the squadron together, - no matter how much he may have disliked her, it was only true. But if they managed to destroy their target now, they might be able to escape this hell sooner…

Meanwhile, the squadron’s machines made their way through the destroyer corpses.

" Schwarz two to Schwarz four. Comrade lieutenant, please take Theodore and cover the commander! Annette and Ighild’s machines could also turn back to assist!"

" Lieutenant Lan?!" Gretel sounded surprised. No wonder, the rear-guard leader Pham Thi Lan sounded like she was giving advice to her, a superior officer.

" There’s nothing but tank-class around the Lux! Two machines can take care of it all in less than ten! If comrade lieutenant would lead the other machines and cover the commander..!"

" Our mission’s priorities are clear, and they’re in front of us – the laser-class!"

" And if the commander’s element gets wiped out, we are the destroyers’ next target! And if that happens, we won’t be able to complete our mission!"

" Lieutenant! I would remind you who has the command authority here!.."

Gretel was sounding more and more unpleasant, and Pham kept quiet. However, several seconds later, the political officer muttered:

" However, it is true that comrade captain is vital to this squadron’s combat effectiveness…"

Theodore did sense that Gretel was very uncomfortable saying this, but naturally, he wouldn’t question it.

" Right. Lieutenant Pham Thi Lan, quickly finish them up! I will not forgive any mistakes!"

" Jawohl! Everyone, you heard it!"

" Roger, " Theodore, ready for it, immediately reversed his movement with his jump boosters.

Four machines quickly turned back to Irisdine and Walter’s position. The two were still firing, using destroyer corpses as cover. However, it looked as if they were out of shells for their 120mm guns, firing with their assault rifles. It was clearly only a matter of time before they would be overwhelmed.

" Comrade lieutenant, did only Pham and Sylvia go for the lasers?!" Irisdine sounded unhappy. She must have heard the previous exchange, and didn’t ask why the four returned at all.

" Do admit your error of judgment, comrade captain! It is not the commander’s job to show an example of recklessness!"

Gretel promptly started to fire at the destroyers. Theodore later swore he could see a smile on Irisdine’s lips right before she cut the transmission.

Annette and Inghild were also firing.

" Diediediediiieee Schweineeee!!!"

He could hear the chatter of their assault files - they were out of 120mm shells, too. A consequence of this soft-hearted girl following her idiot partner who was simply firing at everything that moved, - Theodore frowned again. However, with four other machines they were wiping out the destroyers much faster. The corpses were in the way of the surviving BETA, so they were unable to pick up speed and could only prowl around.

…but after finishing off another one, low ammo warnings flashed on his retinal display. He cursed, and quickly checked his reserves of 36mm – only two magazines. And the BETA – there were others now, besides the destroyers. From between the corpses came grapplers and tank-class beasts.

''Not good, not good at all, they just keep coming!.. ''

Theodore, understanding just how unfavourable the situation was, retreated again, behind another corpse – but the BETA, as if sensing that, came after him.

''Dammit, they still haven’t finished?! We’ll get wiped out at this rate!.. ''

From the corner of his eye he could see Annette’s machine, now without assault rifle or even shield, holding her sword with both hands and hacking away, while Inghild still covered her partner – her own ammo count must have been low as well, since she was giving very economical, precise bursts. The BETA were pressing them, but Inghild cleverly used it to her advantage, not letting them get close with a combination of quick maneuvers and short bursts of fire. He didn’t think it was his job to support them – after all, they wasted ammo themselves, and if he went in, he’d probably end up spending the little he had left.

Checking the time again, he realised they had three minutes left, and scowled.

“When the bombardment starts, we’ll be blown to bits with everything else down here…”

" This is Schwarz one – squadron, achtung!" Irisdine’s order was mostly directed to those left behind to hold against the remaining destroyers. " Pham’s element destroyed the Lux! Therefore we withdraw – jump to 100 immediately! Move it!!"

" Roger that!!"

''It’s finally over…'' Theodore felt a wave of relief wash over him.

''If we can just withdraw safely now, I’ll survive this!.. ''

Trying not to let it show on his face, he pushed the pedal, firing up his jump engines. Now that the laser-class were no longer a threat, simply flying away was a safe option. He turned his attention to the BETA, gathered around them, and—

" Evade!! Evade!!!" Annette was shouting, completely losing her self-control. Theodore turned and saw, as if in slow motion – Inghild’s MiG. The BETA all around it. Its engines firing up. And - a destroyer ramming the machine. The TSF being thrown back, scattering a cloud of broken pieces.

" Inghi-i-i-ild!!!"

" Hurensohn!! "– Theodore roared together with Annette, reflexively igniting the jump boosters.

"Dummer Arsch, I told you..!"

Evading the tank-class underfoot, he turned towards Inghild’s machine, now lying on the snow. There were now several dozen grapplers in that area. Her comm window was closed, and read “connection failed”.

“Scheisse, why did you let yourself get caught like that?! Actually forget it, now’s not the time—“

" Inghild! If you’re alright, move! Just move out of—"

But he stopped the moment her TSF came into view. Inghild’s machine was lying in the snow, its right arm and leg crushed, and several grapplers were busy smashing it. Their arms rose and fell steadily, and with them bits of armoured fuselage and flecks of leaking propellant. It was impossible to discern what happened to Inghild in her control cockpit. Vital signs were unreadable, as if she were dead

" Out of my way, Arschloch!! " – Theodore roared, overtaken with rage, driving his shield into a grappler’s torso. The beast buckled under his weight, its fluids spraying over the TSF. Theodore twisted the shield in its back, gave a burst from his rifle, finishing it off. A warning of overload in the knee joints he disregarded. - Move!!

He continued spraying the grapplers around him with bullets, shredding them apart, turning the blizzard pink with blood.
Then he saw Annette’s machine, standing there as if paralyzed, her sword arm hanging limply.

" What the hell are you doing, Annette?! Move, dammit!"

" I…Inghild… why… no…"

" Useless..!"

Confirming that there were no more enemies in the immediate vicinity, he pushed away grappler corpses with his assault shield. Finally he saw Inghild’s machine, and couldn’t help gasping at the state it was in. Its armour was torn apart, and its whole frame twisted and bent.

A second later, concentrated fire wiped out some tank-class creatures that were crawling up to him, and the rest of the machines of the squadron landed, together with Pham and her wingman.

" Eight, abandon seven! The bombardment’ll start in 120 seconds!"

In the face of Gretel’s threat, Theodore only grasped the control sticks tighter.

" The operation’s over! Wasting our resources on one pilot whose condition is unknown is—"

" Schwarz one to eight, - Theodore, secure Bronikowski’s machine" Irisdine cut her off. " Did you hear that? We take off as soon as you do it."

" …Comrade captain?! You do understand that we don’t have any time left?!" Gretel was shrieking over the captain’s voice.

Theodore, on the contrary, suddenly regained his calm.

"Eight, copy that! Annette, some help over here!!"

'' I… I…''

"Hurry, dammit, Inghild could be alive, don’t you get it? Are you friends or not?!"

He could hear her gasping.

" I’ll take the right side, you the left, and we’ll lift her together! " – he ordered Annette, who appeared to sob angrily. He quickly inspected Inghild’s machine and found the optimal position for securing it.

" C-copy!.."

The timer was counting down the last seconds, when they were finally ready, and Theodore opened a channel:

" Machine secured! We can move at any time!"

" Squadron, take-off!"

A chorus of assent followed, as the seven MiGs ignited their booster engines and took off. As the ground receded from view, Theodore heard a shrill whine above the sound of his engine, and didn’t realize it the rocket salvo from the Neisse until they started exploding – his mind had temporarily gone numb. As the 666th squadron flew at full speed towards friendly lines, the ground beneath them blossomed crimson.

'''+++1210 hours'''

'''++German Democratic Republic'''

'''++Cottbus sector airspace, altitude 100 metres'''

From the air, the three defence sectors of the Neisse line looked like the depths of hell. Bodies of BETA strewn everywhere leaked reddish fluids that formed ponds of blood <ref group="1A"> Referencing the Blood Pond of Buddhist hell. </ref>.

''We’ve made it possible to use the air force… the rest is yours…''

The battle still continued, mainly consisting of mopping up the BETA that had penetrated deep into the defensive lines. Formations of helicopters and fighter-bombers braved the terrible weather, swooping down to strafe pockets of enemies. The artillery was still working, too.

As they were in clear, safe skies, their stress from the constant tension of being at death’s doorstep, and the excitement of battle, - all of it began to disappear. Their nerves, however, were frayed. They now closed other appeals for help without even looking.

''My mission’s over… I did everything I could already…''

Fuel and oil oozed from Inghild’s destroyed machine, reminding him again of blood, and flecks of BETA fluids still flew from the other MiGs’ black frames. Silence prevailed over their squadron on the way back, whether from the realisation that they may have lost an old comrade, or from relief at coming back from brutal combat.

" Squadron, achtung!" came Irisdine’s voice again.

That sharp tone – the voice of a tireless, flawless commander – hearing it, Theodore felt a surge of overwhelming revulsion. As much as he had admired her composure during combat, by now that feeling was rapidly fading.

" We will start our landing approach shortly. Lieutenant Eberback, lieutenant Hosenfeld, be extra-careful."
Theodore was about to acknowledge when –

" Wait, comrade captain! Returning to base is a priority! We have to prepare for a second sortie!" cut in Gretel.

" Lieutenant Bronikowski’s condition makes this a race against time. We will land and provide first aid."

" You have orders to return to our base from HQ! The battle isn’t over yet!"

Ignoring Gretel’s protests, Irisdine was bringing her machine down, and Theodore followed silently.

They landed at the rear of the army positions at Fort Spremberg. Near them a national highway ran from the front, and along it marched the troops that were changing positions or retreating to reserve lines, exposed to the bitter cold and raging snowstorm, all covered in snow, dirt, and BETA blood. There were quite a lot of injured as well.

Feeling his MiG shake as it touched down, Theodore let out a long breath. Only now he felt the full impact of the fatigue that had accumulated in his body. Besides…

''What are the odds of Inghild being alive?.. ''

Her machine was set on the ground carefully, in a sitting posture – it was the safest one for the pilot inside its cockpit. As soon as that was done, Irisdine’s voice came again:

" Lieutenant Pham and I will take care of lieutenant Bronikowski. All others – remain in your machines… Lieutenant Eberbach, no vital signs?"

" None, ma’am."

" Ah, but, I..!" came Annette’s anguished voice.

" Hosenfeld, you stay in, help us - hold Bronikowski’s machine steady."

" Ah- Copy that…"

The two MiGs knelt near Inghild’s machine, their hatches opened, and the main right arm manipulators automatically extended towards the cockpit, allowing both to climb outside.

" …Lieutenant Eberbach, with this kind of damage we can’t eject her control unit. We need you to use your knife and separate the front of the core module."

" …Roger, "- he sighed in acknowledgment, expecting this.

He carefully forced the point of his combat blade on the top of the core module, and after a moment, sparks flew and its frontal armour fell off. He let out another small sigh, returning his knife to its sheath.

" Come down here. We might need a man for this."

Theodore acknowledged rather stiffly – it wasn’t really a job to look forward to.

As soon as the cockpit hatch opened, a strong, sulphurous smell – that of dead BETA, or rather, their fluids and gore splattered over his machine – attacked his nostrils. He grimaced, and stepped out onto the extended right palm of his machine, feeling the cold despite the temperature controls of his pilot suit.

The first to reach the other machine’s cockpit was Irisdine. Deftly controlling her machine’s right arm, she got close to the control unit and stepped in.

" You two, come here. I need you to confirm the situation."

" Roger."

Inghild was stretched on her seat in the dark cockpit. Her limbs were partly crushed, twisted in the wrong direction, bent at impossible angles. Even the pilot suit was broken, and the damage was particularly severe in the cranial area. Her face was unrecognisable, pulverised from the nose up, and bloody froth was on her lips. Her hair was also bloody – sure sign of a crushed skull… not a picture one could bear to look at for long.

''That’s what happens when you get hit by grapplers god knows how many times…''

Theodore though, strangely sober. Despite this gruesome sight, he didn’t feel anything – no, rather, he couldn't.

Ingild’s face, or what was left of it, twisted in a spasm. Every time she took a breath, pink froth bubbled up. Pham took a moment to catch her breath, and gathered her resolve, stepping towards her to ascertain her condition. After a slight pause, she shook her head gently.

" There’s nothing that can be done. She has at most thirty – no, twenty minutes…"

"…I see. Understood, " - Irisdine nodded, bent over Inghild and whispered something in her ear. Then straightened up, took the commander’s pistol from its holster, and pointed it at Inghild’s forehead.

" All units, attention, " - her voice was clear, without a hint of emotion.

" Second lieutenant Inghild Bronikowski has sustained serious injuries, and does not have long left. She will not make it to the base. Therefore, I will grant her mercy."

A coup de grace – the captain would shoot her here, in order to relieve her from her suffering.

"W-wait, captain!.." Annette’s voice was shaking.

" She’s alive! So... why? We can get to the base—"

" You do not want her to suffer any more than this, do you?"

" B-but maybe somehow she’ll make it!.."

"Nothing can be done."

[[Image: Img11.png |250px|thumb]]

" …But—"

" Lieutenant Hosenfeld!"

" …Yes…"

" Don’t worry. I’ll do it myself."

Annette was silent.

"Cut the transmission. I’ll do it in five seconds, " - Irisdine informed them promptly, in a whisper that was impossible to hear for Annette, but that was picked up by Theodore’s receiver.

Five seconds later, a dry shot and the wet sound of something splattering – as per procedure, Pham took Inghild’s hand to check her pulse.

" Second lieutenant Inghild Bronikowski, confirmed killed in action. The time is twelve hours eighteen minutes."

" …Very well."

Irisdine went to one knee in front of Inghild, and closed her eyes for an instant, making the sign of the cross. Gretel appeared to wrinkle her nose in annoyance – after all, this was a socialist country that rejected religions and churches.

" The squadron will now proceed to Cottbus base… come on, you two, " - she said finally, climbing out.

Pham let her through, and followed wordlessly. Nobody else said a word. Not one person expressed grief.

"…this is strange…you’re all… not normal…" Annette broke the silence a minute later, whispering. "…She died! Inghild is dead! And you… it’s not normal! And not only now! It was the same with the others!.."

Theodore ignored Annette’s rambling, and climbed on the palm of his own machine.

" When someone dies, isn’t it normal to feel sad?! Isn’t it normal to say how awful it is?! And yet, you all, you never—"

" And if we are, does that change anything?" someone said in heavily accented German.

It was the disdainful voice of the rear-guard pilot who had stayed silent the entire time, Sylvia Kschessinska. She was the only foreign pilot of the squadron, a citizen of the former Polish People’s Republic, picked up by Irisdine during the retreat from Poland several years prior, and stayed with her.

" You’re being a bother. She died quickly. I guess something good came out of her dying pointlessly after all" Sylvia finished coolly. A wave of silver hair framed her noble face that was smeared with something that looked like oil or tar. She looked very worn out by the battle.

" Wha… what did you say?!" Annette’s voice was rising, shaking again

" How was it – she was protecting me!.."

" That is exactly what I meant, pointless. We’d rather do without you."

Annette gasped.

" Chivalry? Friendship? I don’t know what they taught her in her “noble” family, but this was a pointless death, and I can’t stand it!"

" …Insulting a dead comrade, you!.. you have no sense, at all..?"

" You killed her, right? Stop trying to pass the responsibility onto someone else" Sylvia cut Annette’s hoarse retort. " I’ll say it clearly if you want it – pilots like you, screwed up in the head, are a nuisance. Only thing they do is raise the casualty numbers."

" ..Wh—"

" Shut up, both of you!" Walter raised his voice. " We’re still in the middle of an operation. Settle it after we get back to base if you have to!"

Theodore, connecting to his pilot seat, only felt something like resignation.

''In the end, that’s all we could do…''

To him, Sylvia’s argument was sound. Instead of simply nodding, he steeled his heart.

''Let your feelings go numb… just think of surviving, Annette… you can’t go on if you don’t do it…''

Besides, he thought, she was the one among them who wasn’t acting normal. The Annette he knew before was more cheerful than anyone under any circumstances…

After he and Annette secured Inghild’s machine once again, Irisdine gave the order to march.

'''+++1235 hours'''

'''++German Democratic Republic'''

'''++Cottbus sector, in the vicinity of the Spree'''

The scenery before them changed. As they passed the main fortifications, Theodore saw the coal mines and the multitude of roads that led to them. The Cottbus region was the largest producer of coal in the DDR, supplying coal for over forty percent of the country’s total power generation capacities. The mines still continued to function, despite being essentially in the very middle of military fortifications. This was the embodiment of the current defensive doctrine – stopping the enemy at the Oder-Neisse line.

'' Do they really think it’s possible?.. ''

Theodore felt sharply that the time allotted to his fatherland was dwindling. The strength of the BETA attacks had only been growing over the years, and while so far, it had managed to repel them all, it was clear that soon its armed forces would reach their limit. It was not that one could see definite signs of distress in the NVA, but one look at the losses of TSFs and their pilots would make anyone come to the same conclusion. If the BETA spilling forth from the Minsk Hive brought along the heavy laser class once again, the army would surely be destroyed, - their incredibly powerful lasers and considerable physical defence would make the success rate of any following Laserjagd abysmally low. And considering previous attack patterns of the BETA, they would eventually come. He didn’t even want to think what would happen to ordinary people when the front line collapsed. Any trips abroad were restricted and effectually prohibited for most citizens, not to mention evacuation. There was little they could expect in terms of foreign aid – the leader of the Eastern bloc, the Soviet Union itself, had lost most of its territories, and only held on to parts of Siberia and Alaska; other Eastern European countries had their hands full with their own defence. Only their former enemies, West Germany and other Western European countries, sent aid under the UN flag, but it wasn’t clear to what extent they could be relied upon. If one believed official news broadcasts, they had only sent a token force, and were pursuing large-scale evacuation plans, - so to them, East Germany was little more than a temporary buffer for the BETA, that would be able to buy them some time.

''Then it’s over… for us, and this country…''

Theodore sensed an unbearable heaviness on his heart. This war, with its end in plain sight, next-to-impossible missions, comrades killed by BETA, the need to grovel before the tyrannical political officer, and this split fatherland of his… and then there were the hidden informants, the traitorous bastards…

''That’s why I fight only to survive. Not for anything, or anyone else…''

At that moment, a new window appeared on his display. The first to react was Sylvia, evidently surprised:

" A request for assistance? From a TSF squadron, no less?.."

''What?.. All the ones that took part in the laser op should’ve withdrawn by now…''

Enlarging the window, he quickly found the source of the request. This unit had withdrawn from under the heavy metal clouds, and their datalink should be operational by now—

''Wait… these coordinates..? ''

'''+++1235 hours'''

'''++German Democratic Republic'''

'''++Cottbus sector, in the vicinity of the Spree'''

" A UN call for assistance from the territory of Poland? What the hell?"

Cottbus HQ was at the moment in a state of confusion. The feeling of relief after the successful Laserjagd operation was dissipating.

"The source is in the former town of Krosno Odrzańskie… I suppose the BETA could’ve reached there. But it’s too far from the UN deployment positions. Could it be one of the retreating TSF squadrons? "

" Impossible. We got a confirmation that all units participating in the Laserjagd have crossed the Neisse line" - said Hannibal sharply, turning away from the projector.

Though the UN and NVA troops were fighting on the same battlefield, for counter-intelligence purposes they did not fully share information, - this was the reason why Hannibal and the others could only wonder what kind of unit was sending a distress signal, and the projector showed nothing except their coordinates. Moreover, the signal was also distorted by the heavy metal clouds, blown away from the main battlefield. There was, in other words, no way to confirm what was happening except direct observation.

"What do you think, Marai?"

" Sir. Could be a squadron that was engaged in mopping up operations on the Oder" - Marai nodded to the operator, and the projector switched to an image of the former Polish border on the Oder.

"When the attack stopped, each army moved a TSF wing to the former border, to confirm that the area was clear and to finish off the stragglers."

An area approximately 70 kilometres wide east of the defensive lines practically became the no man’s land in this war. To observe and control it, the NVA, whose ground troops were tied to the defensive lines themselves, deployed the TSFs.

" If the BETA started attacking, the squadrons would then stay outside of the probable laser exposure range, and guard our flanks against possible BETA actions… but there’s a lot of things we don’t know about the BETA’s attack process, and cases when they turn in an unexpected direction aren’t rare…"

"Do you mean to say that those squadrons could’ve provoked an attack?"

" Yes, sir. In those squadrons a lot of pilots aren’t very skilled…"

" Any units nearby?"

" We should have two TSF units deployed on Hammer base, Eisenhuttenstadt sector. However, they would not be able to comply at this time…"

" I see…"

Hannibal was thinking for a few moments, when a voice behind his back said:

"They should be saved, major… This is a unique opportunity to put the UN in our debt. The Party would surely approve."

This quiet voice, previously silent, brought a hush over the control room. Normally, the political officer had no authority to intervene in tactical matters… Marai looked at Hannibal’s stern profile.

" Call up triple-six. They’re closest to the site, " - Hannibal said finally, in a grave voice.

"Are we helping them, sir?.."

" Yes… isn’t it natural, to rescue another human being asking for help? " – Hannibal answered with a fleeting smile on his face. His expression looked openly hypocritical.

'''+++1240 hours'''

'''++German Democratic Republic'''

'''++Cottbus sector'''

"We got new orders from HQ."

It was not Irisdine who relayed them, but Gretel. No one challenged her flagrant abuse of authority in this case either, - it was normal for orders with some kind of political significance to come through her.

" …A UN TSF unit is sending a distress call from inside Polish territory. We’re to reinforce."

'' Going over a second time in this state? You gotta be kidding me…''

During the Laserjagd, all machines of the squadron exhausted eighty percent of their fuel, and ninety percent of their ammunition. There was also the matter of mental and physical exhaustion of the pilots, - it was not excessive, but certainly not appropriate for any kind of serious engagement with the BETA.

''Do they plan to work us until we break?.. ''

Could it be that the political officer was planning to waste the squadron to protect herself, shamelessly… Theodore, gripping the control sticks tight, listened to Gretel’s words. She was speaking in a tone that made it clear that she knew her superiority in this case.

" …But there’s no need to send the entire unit. Two machines should suffice. Comrade captain, I’ll leave it to you."

There was no one who would go against the will of the military and the party.

" Understood. Seems like I’ll have to go. I’ll need all the spare magazines and equipment" Irisdine replied, unhesitant as ever.
" Take what you need" Gretel replied haughtily.

" Please wait, captain! I volunteer to go!" exclaimed Pham, drawing a grimace of displeasure from Gretel. " The captain should be with the squadron on the way towards its main objective! I will go to the rescue—"

" Lieutenant Lan! Don’t forget your place!" Gretel shouted, cutting her short. " We’re talking about rescuing a UN troop! There needs to be someone of status on our side, not a second-generation immigrant, lieutenant!"

Her words were practically dripping with disdain for any and all who immigrated to Germany<ref group="1A"> This is either another historical fallacy, or just Gretel being a bitch and acting out her family name (see translator notes). This would go against the doctrine of internationalism, and would be characterised as social chauvinism, unacceptable in the real-world DDR and all Eastern Bloc countries.</ref>.

" …Don’t worry, I’ll be careful" Irisdine smiled.

" There are no laser-class left, I’ll be able to simply fly over the BETA."

" …Yes, ma’am, but…" Pham didn’t sound too convinced.

" Your duty is to bring Inghild to the base… Pham?"

" …Copy that."

Theodore frowned at the cheap drama that had just played before him. He was particularly sick of the loyalty that veteran pilots showed towards Irisdine.

" …And, comrade lieutenant. I’ll take lieutenant Eberbach with me. Lieutenant, get the spare ammo."

" …Huh? " – was all Theodore managed to answer, completely caught off guard by Irisdine’s words.

" You didn’t hear me, lieutenant?" Irisdine said sternly. " Get that ammo, now. We’ll depart as soon as we have it. Schnell!"

Theodore, at a loss for words for an instant, managed to squeeze out a half-hearted acknowledgment.

Finally, the squadron, led by Gretel, took off in the direction of the base, and Irisdine continued:

" That area is still a playground for the artillery. Make sure to not get caught up in their blasts."

" Roger!"

He pushed the control pedals, increasing the speed of his machine. Below him were once again the shimmering fields of slaughter around the fortifications, covered with human and BETA bodies. Ten minutes of flight remained until their destination.

''Why me?!.. She’d normally take old Walter for this kind of stuff!..''

Restraining a growl of anger and protest, he glared forward, at Irisdine’s MiG. His heart raced, and for a reason unknown to him he kept on thinking this way, as if something pushed him towards the edge.

''I know what you really are... ''

Truth be told, he heard a rumour about her – a rumour that was enough to cause all this hatred. It was said that she, Irisdine Bernhard, got her heroic reputation by betraying her own brother to the Stasi <ref group="1A"> Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, or simply Stasi, was the state security service of the DDR. </ref>.

'''+++1250 hours'''

'''++Territory of the former People's Republic of Poland'''

'''++23 kilometres east of the Neisse river, outskirts of Krosno Odrzańskie'''

They landed approximately three kilometres northwest of the ruined town, close to where the transmission should have been coming from.

" Nothing here… did they get the coordinates wrong?.."

His display showed a desolate picture – a few scattered BETA corpses, already half-buried in snow, and as far as the eye could see – the remains of a burned-down forest. As far as he could tell by the amount of snow on the carcasses, they had been killed several days ago.

"Perhaps the distress call itself was made by mistake, " - Theodore remarked in a somewhat careless tone, and Irisdine gave a little sigh.

" Please just stop being childish… lieutenant Eberbach."

Theodore almost choked, his eyes open wide in shock. This was the first time, ever, that she had talked to him this personally during an operation. Forgetting that he was talking to a superior officer, he answered reflexively:

" Me? Childish?!"

" Yes. You behave like a spoiled brat."

Her face and tone were colder than the weather outside, and each of her words stung like an icy dart <ref group="1A"> Note that she uses “kisama” for the duration of this entire passage – to remind you, a derogatory manner of addressing others, but is perfectly appropriate for military subordinates – however, it adds a lot of strength to her lines, and serves to create contrast later. As there is no equivalent in English, I can only use this rather circumlocutory way to express it, and leave the rest to your imagination. </ref>.

" Why didn’t you back up Annette during the previous operation? You understood the state she was in. Walter should’ve warned you to watch her, as well."

[[Image: Img12.png |250px|thumb]]

" …I realise my responsibility."

'' …and it doesn’t include looking after others'' – he left that part unspoken. He didn’t care what Irisdine thought about it. She, however, turned her piercing gaze towards him, as if finding something she couldn’t allow, and said sternly:

" Be honest. You thought it was not necessary to help a pilot affected by shellshock. Or – perhaps you even kept your distance, just in case? Is that it?"

Theodore swore silently, - she saw right through his motives, and he automatically went on the defensive.

''Could it be… she took me with her to talk about this?.. This is being recorded, dammit! ''

" It was, certainly, a pragmatic decision. However, you also knew that you were shirking off from your duty, and you were afraid that this would be discovered, which is why you didn’t say it, correct?"

" Wha-..!"

He was dazed, - and for the first time, Irisdine showed signs of anger, her voice like a whiplash:

" If you had been looking after them, Inghild might have survived! Perhaps this is a small sacrifice for you, who only cares about his own survival, but to the people who die – it’s everything! You helped the political officer, and your commander – then why not your comrades?! And you’re not ashamed of living, after that?!"

Theodore could only clench his jaw.

" You’re a brat who thinks he knows how the world works! No matter how much skill you have, if you don’t use it to save another, you’re not worthy of calling yourself an Eishi! Do you not even have any intention of saving the people of our Germany, and all of humanity?!"

''Not worthy of calling yourself an Eishi'' – these words were something Theodore couldn’t bear hearing from traitorous scum like her. He lost his composure, and didn’t even hear the rest of what she said.

"Not worthy..?! "– his voice was rising, shaking with anger.

"And you..! You call yourself worthy, then?!"

Those words that drew out his guilty conscience were the spark that ignited all of the fury boiling up in his heart, and his rage finally spilled over.

" I didn’t save my comrade?! Don’t screw with me! It’s impossible to save all of them! At that point, if I went down, the whole squadron might’ve been destroyed! I saved those that could be! That..!"

Driven on by an unstoppable wave of emotion, he shouted even louder.

"Yeah! I didn’t care about what’d happen to Annette, big fucking deal! And you’re trying to pin Inghild’s death on me?!"

Irisdine was still silent.

"So what, I should go along with some screwed-up pilot out of some feeling of camaraderie or whatever, is that what you’re saying? That is a pointless death!"

No answer.

" I did my job! And I didn’t leave her in danger ‘cause I wanted to!.. But you, with you it’s different! You know what I’m talking about, right? You and the Stasi—"

But the instant that word slipped out of his mouth, Theodore felt like he was thrown under a cold shower, and he immediately regained his composure, - and realising everything that happened, he couldn’t say a word.

" …Do continue."

He breathed in deep, realising that he was literally one step away from the gallows.

" You were going to say that I was a dog of the Stasi, an informer, right?"

The organisation they were talking about was the pride of East Germany, the world’s largest intelligence service. Its role was surveillance of citizens of the country, prevention of dissent, as well as operation abroad – all for the sake of its main objective, the upholding of the one-party regime of the SED. The most terrible thing about it was its scale. The agency maintained an extremely elaborate network of informants all over the nation, and the rumour went that one in sixty people – or, as some of more pessimistic outlook suggested, one in ten – was on their payroll. Even the Gestapo of the Nazi era and the Soviet KGB didn’t have a surveillance system this massive. The agency thus controlled the thoughts and conduct of all East German citizens. The only thing that remained was the terror before this machine that mowed down all elements of free thought and speech. Being arrested by them, even if one was found innocent, meant torture and severe interrogation – and in the end, practically death in the eyes of society. The army was also a target of their surveillance. To prevent the army form baring their fangs, even occasionally, at the party, informants were introduced on all levels. That was the reason Theodore didn’t trust Irisdine or any other pilot, - he simply didn’t know who would turn out to be a nark. Even Inghild could’ve been one. The others were likely feeling the same, deep down <ref group="1A"> The author’s exaggeration is, really, laughable, making it seem like Uber-Gestapo II, for the sake of turning the grimdark up to eleven, like with the political officers, to make more of an impression upon Japanese youths generally ignorant of history (which, unfortunately, seems to be the norm there). The agency was modelled after the Soviet MGB/KGB, and was considered very good at what it did; its reputation and modus operandi weren’t that far from other similar services both in the East and West. This whole picture, really, is closer to Warhammer 40k’s commissars/inquisition, or maybe for a closer example, especially if you combine that with the social chauvinism previously encountered, an Orwell-esque dystopia. </ref>.

On top of everything, Theodore heard a rumour that those informants also had a duty to covertly dispose of any reactionary elements they may find in the army, on the battlefield… like now, when he was facing Irisdine. Her piercing gaze was still on him. He suddenly realised that his throat was dry, and he was sweating. However, he was unable to do anything but return her stare. Either he would have to bend his knee, and go over to her side, continuing to live as a dog of the Stasi, or kill her here and now… No, she was likely to kill him first. From fear and accumulated mental strain, his fingers were trembling, almost pushing on the triggers.

''Because of narks like you, I…''

The terrible memories of that time, three years ago, came back, vivid as ever, flashbacks of people he knew and would not ever see again, mixed with overwhelming bitterness and helplessness.

''Family, friends, and even <ref group="1A"> Note: here he says “aitsu mo” (and him/her), no equivalent in English since we don’t know whom he’s talking about. </ref> … and that’s not it! The torture, the interrogations, being labelled as a reactionary element, left with no choice except the army… and this, again..! ''

Again, that growing urge to scream at Irisdine.

''I’m not going to be betrayed and used, not anymore! ''

At that moment, he saw a glint out of the corner of his eye – a signal flare in the south. Irisdine already ignited her jump boosters.

" Wait!.."

" The TSF unit is under that flare! We’re not seeing any BETA here because they’re all drawn towards that combat!"
Theodore’s thoughts were thrown off balance by this sudden change in situation.

" You helped the unit in our battle today, and I’ll praise you for it. Now, if you have any remaining honour, as an Eishi, - do your duty!"

The shrill sound of her machine’s engines came through his headset.

" If you don’t, you will be someone lower than me, whom you so despise."

" Wha-..?!"

" Follow me!"

"Jawohl!"

Theodore slammed in the pedal and took off, tailing the captain’s MiG. His thoughts swirled in confusion. He only dared to look once at the captain’s face, as if looking for an answer, and turned away. Now, like never before, she was their commander, her icy, radiating beauty more apparent than ever.

Not a minute later, he saw on the horizon black smoke rising above what remained of Krosno Odrzańskie, and a large number of BETA signatures on radar.

''Just like Irisdine predicted!.. ''

The TSFs were still not in sight, but their presence in the city was a certainty, since the combat was taking place there. They could search the area from the air, but since this was BETA-controlled territory, there was still a risk of exposure to a surviving laser-class, which made any aerial maneuvers reckless.

" We split, and search the area! You take the east, I’ll go west. When you find them, report!"

Theodore hesitated for a moment.

" Well?!"

"Roger that! " – he almost spat out the acknowledgment.

Then heard what sounded like a small laugh on the other side of the line.

" Good answer, Theodore."

''...wha..! Is she playing with me?!.. ''

Letting a growl escape from his lips, he quickly separated from the captain’s machine, making his way towards the districts on the east bank of the river. Carefully watching his surroundings, he slipped out into the main street – it was a maze of collapsed buildings. Avoiding small groups of BETA, he pushed on, and finally opened his channel, shouting:

" Scheisse!! Where are you?! Just say something if you’re here!!"

Staying here for much longer would be suicide. However, retreat without any results wasn’t an option, either… but at that instant, something made him turn, and he saw – an F-4 of unknown affiliation, with a large number of tank-class BETA and grapplers around it, on a small plaza surrounded on all sides by apartment buildings. It had already discarded its assault rifle, and was fighting with its combat blade.

" Found you—ah!"

"A grappler struck the Phantom right in the waist."

The temptation was there for an instant – the pilot was likely beyond help, and he could get away alive from the battlefield. But then came the vision of Inghild’s bloodied, twisted body, and the sound of the gunshot, and those pale eyes, full of suffering, - and Irisdine’s words, that shone like a signal flare. As if that was the answer he had been looking for – he didn’t know what was worthy of an Eishi, or what meaning there was in their deaths, and whether he, who lost everything, had the strength to save someone else. But—

"Get away from that, Scheisskerl!!" – Theodore roared, and charged straight into the BETA.

'''+++1305 hours'''

'''++Territory of the former People's Republic of Poland'''

'''++26 kilometres east of the Neisse river, town of Krosno Odrzańskie'''

Theodore looked around, breathing heavily. There were no more BETA in sight – at least, not living ones, the bodies of a hundred or so smaller types scattered around. There were no signs of new groups approaching either, so he checked his remaining ammunition – fifty bullets in the magazine, and no more spares. Finally he looked at the F-4 Phantom that he saved. No markings were discernable, and even its original coating was hard to guess, since the machine was covered in BETA fluids. The jump unit was clearly damaged, and the one blow of the grappler did irreparable damage to its pelvic joints. However, no other machines were in sight, and there were no other signs of battle.

''Fighting alone?.. well, that doesn’t matter for now…''

No signs that the pilot escaped the machine, since the control unit was in place. In fact, he was probably alive inside, the machine’s emergency first-aid functions having disabled him.

''Ah, forgot about Irisdine!.. ''

" Schwarz eight to Schwarz one, do you copy?"

" Theodore! What’s the situation?!" shouted Irisdine over the sound of automatic fire.

"Found and secured one Phantom, heavily damaged, no other machines in sight."

" And the pilot?!"

"Unknown. Going by the damage to the machine, might just be shocked."

" I’m a little busy right now, but I’ll finish it up quickly. Retrieve the pilot, and get out of the urban areas. Rendezvous at our landing site in five. Go!"

" Roger…"

He realised that she immediately cut the transmission – looks like the situation didn’t allow for idle chat.

''Should I go to help her?.. ''

And then he noticed how much his own mind changed over this short period of time.

''…Did I really just worry about someone who could kill me?.. '' - the thought bewildered him. She could use the audio recording of their previous exchange to sell him out to the Stasi… and yet, he instantly felt that this simply didn’t match. Her attitude wasn’t like one of a person who would try and trap other people.

''What’s with that woman…''

Trying to shake off these thoughts, he turned towards the downed F-4.

''I won’t let myself be tricked… no, never again…''

It looked as if the control unit’s ejection system was still operational, so the best way was simply to open the hatch manually and get the pilot.

He got out himself, and standing on the palm of the right hand of his MiG, approached the Phantom’s chest console, inputted the standardised emergency unlocking sequence, and the hatch opened. Several seconds later, the control unit slid forward with a heavy metallic sound.

[[Image: Img13.png |250px|thumb]]

Theodore’s heart was pounding, - the grim picture from less than an hour before was still too fresh in his mind.
As soon as the control unit stopped moving, he looked in – and his eyes opened in shock. In the pilot’s seat was lying, unconscious, a young girl, her long, brown hair in a ponytail. Her slender body was wrapped in the standard uniform of the Bundeswehr…

==Translator's notes and references==
<references group="1A" />

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[MuvLuv_Alternative_Schwarzesmarken:Volume_1_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[MuvLuv_Alternative_Schwarzesmarken|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[MuvLuv_Alternative_Schwarzesmarken:Volume_1_Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village:Volume1 Chapter 4

2012-11-10T17:04:30Z

Remotemine: /* Part 22 (Uchimaku Hayabusa) */

==Chapter 4: Regarding the Slaughter==

===Part 1 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

It was all over.

It was utterly and fundamentally over. There was not even the slightest hope. After all, there had never before been the slightest hint that someone like her would die!!

“U-uhh…”

The urge to vomit rose up within me. The extreme red coloration made me feel dizzy.

Even so, I could not tear my eyes away from what lay before me. They were rooted to the spot. I pointlessly tried to not make the connection between the thick smell of rusted iron and the fact that I was in the same area as a corpse.

It was in front of me.

A neck that was twisted like an old rag. A female body missing a head. I recognized that person who even now had fresh blood gushing out of her. The corpse had its face crushed and was overall melted, so it was possible it was not actually her. However, that theory did not hold here. I simply recognized too many things about her.

I recognized the beautifully manicured fingers.

I recognized the smooth line of her back.

It matched the memories in my mind so perfectly I shuddered. I could not help but shudder. She was collapsed there limply…no, her entire body was twitching as the blood flowed out like a frog leg with electrodes attached.

I managed to squeeze a voice out of the depths of my dry throat.

“Hishigami…Mai-san…?”

I may have called her name because I was hoping for a response.

Even though she had no mouth. Even though she had no head.

My legs almost collapsed underneath me, but then I realized the redness gushing out was flowing toward me. When I thought it would touch me and sully me, strength reentered my legs. And then I realized something else. I felt it would sully me because it was coming from a corpse. I no longer even thought of it as being Hishigami Mai.

And with that realization, the fear that had been numbed over by the shock came flooding in all at once.

“Ah...ah...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

I would be killed.

I would be killed if I stayed there. This was a situation where a human on her level had been easily decapitated. A normal high school student like me did not stand a chance!!

I swung my arms around and ran away.

I had no idea what I was screaming. It didn’t matter what. I needed to get out. I needed to get out of the building. I ran through a long passageway.

But I stopped partway through.

My legs refused to move any further.

A single door lay before me. It was half open and a pure red color was splattered on the other side.

''Dammit! What the hell!? Dammit!! That’s my uncle! He’s supposed to be a policeman! The symbol of this country’s power! Why…Why is his neck caught in a broken window frame and his legs severed!?

He was my relative, so I did not know whether I should run over crying even though he was so horribly damaged. But the fear held me back. I could not approach. There was something wrong about the situation. He had not died due to blood loss from his legs. He had suffocated with his neck caught in the window frame. It was clear someone had wanted him to slowly suffer as he died by setting a trap he could have escaped had he been able to use his legs at all.

That mystery-loving girl had been thrown on top of a gas burner in the kitchen and Madoka was swaying back and forth as she hung like a chandelier from the ceiling by a giant fishing hook meant for catching Pacific bluefin tuna. There was simply no hope. It did not matter who had done it. I could not imagine how this could all be summarized into an individual pursuing us. It simply seemed to me that the entire hotel was enveloped by some invisible power like some massive malice or grudge.

I was going to die.

I was definitely going to die.

I could not stop my erratic breathing. I could not put together a plan. I was next. In fact, I was the only one left. So who had done this? Was there any way I could escape? In fact…

In fact…

How?

How had it ended up like this?

===Part 2 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

As I was eating a popsicle on the porch of our Japanese house with a thatch roof that was only any use in the winter, my overall small granny called out to me.

“Shinobu. Shinobu.”

“What is it, granny.”

“It’s a stray cat. I do not mind if it rests here, but I do not want it to start using our yard as its litter box. I tried to chase it away, but it didn’t do any good. Shinobu, could you do something about it?”

“…Granny. That isn’t a cat. It’s a Nekomata. It has two tails. Those things can be deadly, so be careful.”

Cat Youkai were not all that disliked as they were said to take vengeance for their masters, but those were romanticized tales. They had the power to kill people, so you really did have to be careful.

I put on my flip-flops and headed out to the large yard. I then cautiously approached the Nekomata that was curled up below a tree covered in rhinoceros beetles.

“Nekomata, what are you doing here?”

“Can’t you tell? Doing my best to put up with this midsummer heat. I suppose you humans wouldn’t understand with your year-round air conditioning.”

“You can cool down inside if you want, but please don’t use our yard as a litter box.”

“A lady like me would never do something like that. Anyway, that sounds nice. I was starting to feel a bit irritable, so a nice cold bath would be great. Once my mood has been refreshed, I will no longer have to worry about harming anyone.”

“You like baths? But you’re a cat.”

“I am a Nekomata.”

And so I headed for the bath with the Nekomata in my arms.

“This is quite the high-tech bath for such a rundown house.”

“My grandfather insisted we get it redone while we can because he says the house could be designated cultural property at any time. That’s why the kitchen, bathrooms, bath, heating, and cooling are all more advanced than everything else.”

I turned the faucet and cold water started filling the wash basin, but the Nekomata began to complain.

“It will be too cold with just that. Add in some hot water.”

“You sure are picky.”

“That’s too much hot water. It can’t be lukewarm. I want this to be refreshing.”

“Fine, fine,” I replied and stuck the Nekomata in the wash basin.

Despite all her complaints, she seemed to enjoy it. I could hear a lot of purring.

Suddenly, I noticed a flat-chested Yuki Onna peering in through the gap next to the sliding door to the bath. My dad had allowed her to live with us as long as she stayed away from anything related to brewing as the temperature for that had to be precisely controlled. (Incidentally, my mother just generally loved Youkai.)

“…No fair…”

“What isn’t fair?”

“That Youkai suddenly appears and you are already taking a bath with her? And yet I have not received an opportunity like that after all this work I put into solidifying a foundation…”

“Oh, you’re jealous. Not only is that unsightly, but you are way off the mark there,” commented the Nekomata.

“What!? Wait, does this even count? I mean, she’s a cat!!” I said.

“I am a Nekomata. I am as much a deadly Youkai as she is.”

[[Image:Zashiki_v01_253.jpg|thumb]]

''Even if you’re in the same category, there’s still a huge difference!! And why is Yuki Onna-chan reaching for the obi to her kimono!? You’re clearly choosing the wrong person to compete with here!! Are you planning to stick your ass in the wash basin!?

And then came the glamorous Zashiki Warashi. She must have caught scent of my misfortune. The huge grin on her face made it obvious at a glance what she was after. It was a little unclear what this had to do with her being a Zashiki Warashi, but I was past caring.

“Hey, Zashiki Warashi! Hold that Yuki Onna back!”

“No fair, no fair☆”

“Why the hell are you reaching for your yukata’s obi!? Don’t strip nude just for a joke! It isn’t funny when you have a body as nice as that!!”

===Part 3 (Hishigami Mai)===

The countryside could be annoying with all the Youkai, but big cities were hardly perfect. They were so crowded and filled with unhealthy exhaust and chemicals despite the area being thoroughly altered for humans to live in. I could only imagine the people there enjoyed shaving away their own lifespan.

I entered a chain café and a police detective with a glum look on his face waved me over to a seat in the back. What he was doing counted as work, so I could only be jealous of how easy public servants had it.

Even so, he did seem a bit stiff in his movements due to the wounds from repeated shots from a hunting rifle.

But by “our” standards, that didn’t even count as being injured. Also, he received medical care paid for with the people’s tax money, so I still say they have it pretty easy.

“What are you drinking?”

“What does it matter? By the way…what’s with that outfit? A tank top and hot pants? Did you forget how old you are? You look like a complete idiot. You look like a university student that carelessly got in with a specialized entrance exam and then couldn’t keep up with the classes.”

“If a real idiot wore this, there would be no helping them, but it works as a handy bit of camouflage for those who aren’t idiots.”

“I see. So what did you want to talk about? Let’s get this over with quickly.”

“Oh, c’mon. At least let me complain about my troubles to you. I’ve had some pain-in-the-ass people set their sights on me lately which isn’t any fun. Oh, I know. Could you maybe help smooth things out with them?”

“With you, it’s bound to be your own damn fault. I hate that I can’t arrest someone like you. There are just too many holes in the police organization. So who has their sights on you? The PSIA?”

“MI6. The CIA. Oh, and the European Security Force.”

“That’s clearly well beyond what the Japanese police can deal with!! What the hell did you do!? No, wait…no!!”

“You wanna know? You do, don’t you? Well, I heard a system for making use of Succubi had been established in Europe, so I decided to go take a peek. The system was so poorly made it looked like an idiot had designed it. In fact, the officials who had contacted the Succubus were the ones being contr-…”

“Stop!! Please stop! I don’t want to end up being some poor victim after hearing something I shouldn’t have!!”

''Oh, c’mon.

''And I was just getting to the good part.

“Why do you two sisters always destroy the boundaries of common sense…?”

“Oh? I’ll admit I may do that, but I thought my little sister was a bit more normal.”

“What is normal about a minor that shows up at the crime scene of every mysterious murder? I’ve had a flood of complaints from the Lifestyle Safety Division. They keep telling me not to let a child see those things and to solve the cases on my own. …I don’t know how word of it reached them, but I’ve even received complaints from the riot police.”

“Why don’t you just go ahead and marry her?”

“Are you completely unfamiliar with the concept of context!? And do you have any idea what Japanese law is!?”

“Oh, right. About that sister of mine.”

“Again, context please…”

“She says to take a week of paid vacation starting today.”

“Why!? I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about!”

Well, that one wasn’t too surprising. My sister knew that was asking too much of him. That was why she had used me as an intermediary for the message.

“I have some tickets here. One for me, one for you, and one for my sister. That’s three in total. These tickets give us free lodging at a hotel in Fuuka Village, an Intellectual Village. You are headed there right away. Understand?”

“…I’ll keep this short. What happens if I just ignore you?”

“I will render you unconscious with this wet towel and stuff you in my travel bag. But then you won’t be able to call in to take a paid vacation, so you might lose your job.”

===Part 4 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

After dealing with the trouble in the bath, I retreated back to my room.

The air conditioner was running full blast within the room and for some reason the futon was spread out with the Zashiki Warashi lying in it.

“…What are you doing?”

“Don’t you think it’s unfair?” The Zashiki Warashi looked at me with a completely composed expression. “You caught a cold the other day, Shinobu. And who was it that nursed you back to health? For the most part, me. It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all. Don’t you think it’s unfair if you do not treat me kindly after I treated you so kindly?”

“…But you seemed happy enough wringing out the wet towel. I thought I might as well take you up on your offer.”

“You’re always so disagreeable, but you get so obedient when you’re sick. It’s like you revert to being a small child when you feel weak. I kind of like it. I’m starting to wish you had a cold year round. Heh heh… Heh heh heh heh heh.”

''Don’t tell me this Youkai that is supposed to bring fortune to my household is always lazing around in an attempt to weaken me.

“But this is a completely different issue. To make things fair, you need to pay me back for my kindness. I want you to nurse me back to health too.”

“…You just thought the porridge you fed me looked good, didn’t you? And Youkai are damn hard to kill, so I doubt you can even catch a cold.”

“Oh, I didn’t overlook that. If you will recall, I took off my clothes and took a cold bath just a bit ago.”

“Eh!? You mean that was meant to be foreshadowing!?”

I decided it was best to play along, so I went to get a towel and a wash bath filled with water.

From inside the futon, the Zashiki Warashi said, “I want to eat some vanilla ice cream.”

“You seem healthy enough to me.”

“Blow on it for me.”

“That’s not how that works. That’s for hot foods.”

The Zashiki Warashi stubbornly refused to sit up, so I had to lift up and support her upper body while I carried the spoonful of dairy product to her mouth.

I had already finished my summer homework and had nothing else to do, so I didn’t really care. I just hoped the Yuki Onna wasn’t watching me with an odd look in her eyes again.

For some reason, the Zashiki Warashi turned the TV to an educational program.

She then said, “I think I’ll grow sick of this after half an hour.”

“I thought you might.”

“But since you seem to want to nurse me back to health so much, I’ll stick with it for the rest of the day.”

“And that’s not how being tsundere works.”

Then my beaten-up old cell phone with a broken camera lens started to ring.

The Zashiki Warashi looked a bit annoyed, but I had to give the phone priority.

It was from Madoka-san, my strange beauty of a classmate who lived in the Sanatorium.

“Shinobu-kun, let’s head to a hotel.”

“What is it, Madoka? Have your morals completely crumbled?”

“Ah ha ha ha ha. Sorry, but a whole group is going. I have an extra ticket, so I was wondering if you wanted to come along.”

''…No, I think this is a pretty big deal even so. Are you sure they haven’t crumbled? Well, maybe she’s just taking the idea of the “student summer break” too lightly.

''And on a different note, when did Madoka and I get so close???

“Where is this hotel? The beach? The mountains?”

“Somewhere far away.”

“Good enough for me. I’ll go convince my parents, so tell me where to meet you and when.”

I jotted down the necessary information and hung up. Convincing my parents…well, I doubted it would be easy, but I had to try. After all, this was a student summer break. I could feel unnecessary power welling up within me.

And then I noticed the Zashiki Warashi looking up at me from the futon like she wanted to say something.

“No fair.”

“What?”

“Shinobu, you still have a lot to learn about fairness. And so I want to go too.”

“I think she said she only had one extra ticket. And with a bourgeois like Madoka, I’m betting adding on an additional ticket would be ridiculously expensive.”

“Are you forgetting that Youkai are traditionally treated a lot like humans but there is no legal basis for that treatment?”

“I don’t follow.”

“I can stay there for free if you insist that I am your pet.”

''…Doesn’t…the idea of being treated like that…make you sad?

I felt an intense urge to comment on that, but that Zashiki Warashi was probably just bored. The lead-in to the cold bath and nursing her back to health had been pretty forced. She obviously just wanted something exciting to happen.

But they said bad things would happen if a Zashiki Warashi abandoned your house. I decided it would be best to have her let off some steam before she truly got sick of our house and went off on some journey.

===Part 5 (Kotemitsu Madoka)===

I am the kind of person that does not believe in any of those ideas that says the fate of the entire planet has already been decided by Nostradamus, the Mayans, the Aztecs, or any other prophecies.

However, I do believe in small, fleeting bits of luck. In fact, anyone who has not felt something like that by their teenage years has already lost in some way. They will likely never make anything of themselves.

This is Madoka-san telling you this and I have around 30 billion Japanese yen, so you can trust me.

But even so, those small, fleeting bits of luck are usually something you cannot affect under your own power. Teenagers have a tendency to believe that the outcome of any sort of competition they are in is dependent on their own talent, effort, ideas, or some brilliant move of theirs, but they are wrong about that. Humans are complexly interrelated with others simply by being alive. And I am not trying to be reassuring when I say that. More often than not, that interrelation is a negative thing.

Learning to understand how others feel is not just some nice thing to do; it is the one and only secret technique to acquiring certain victory. There’s some famous quote about knowing your enemies and knowing yourself, but that is not quite accurate. What you need to know is the general flow of opinions and ideas whether they belong to your enemies, your allies, or even complete strangers.

Complete strangers will often affect the outcome without you even knowing it.

And so…

I am surrounded almost entirely by people that trip others up, people that grow envious of others, and people that rampage around based on nonsensical resentment or imagined victimhood. That is why I end up treating the rare innocent and good people like they are exceptionally precious.

“…Heh heh heh. Heh heh heh heh heh. You mustn’t underestimate a problem child, class president. To you, I may just be one address among your triple digit total of addresses, but to me, you are a highly valued comrade among my single digit total of addresses. Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.”

“Madoka, you’re turning into the kind of pervert that only geniuses are allowed to be, so be careful.”

''Whoops.

I was frightening Enbi who I had been speaking to over the phone.

Even after moving from the city, she had remained one of those few “innocent and good” people.

“So this trip is to an Intellectual Village called Fuuka Village?” I asked.

“Right, right. It’s centered around dairy farming, so it should be a wide open area. And it’s full of events that let you come into contact with animals.”

“I hear the cows and horses have their health more strictly managed than someone in a fitness club’s weight control program.”

But putting aside that idyllic vision (the residents of Intellectual Villages had digital values for things like “tranquility”), I was a bit worried since that mystery freak was so intent on going. Unfortunately, I knew that anything she was interested in had to do with human death.

Even so, she was still “innocent and good”, so it did not go so far as needing to actively avoid her.

“Enbi, there is one thing I need to know before we go. There are no well-known legends that have been told about Fuuka Village since the Edo period, are there?”

“Did you manage to find someone for that extra ticket?”

“There aren’t mysterious serial murders at set intervals, are there? The inn isn’t owned by a beautiful widow, is it? Office ladies don’t have a habit of heading to the hot springs in groups, do they?”

“And here I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to find any friends are ‘more than friends’ after transferring away, Madoka.”

===Part 6 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

The day of the trip finally came.

One of the numerous downsides of an Intellectual Village was the relative lack of public transportation connecting to the outside world. This meant everyone heading out on a trip would naturally end up at the same station at the same time.

If I called it a train that never saw rush hour, people might imagine a vehicle of the bourgeoisie, but it was actually just a local line. Even if you counted the up and down tracks separately, the train only made 5 trips each day. …It seemed completely insane and I saw no way they could make a profit off of it.

By the time I arrived, the healthy and well-behaved Madoka-chan was wearing a white dress and an elegant hat. She was looking 150% as ephemeral as ever and sitting on a bench in the empty station (the station was not operated by robots or anything). When she spotted me and the Zashiki Warashi next to me, her eyes opened wide.

“I see someone with large breasts that I did not invite.’

“She’s my pet. She can wear a collar with a bell on it if it means she stays for free.”

“…Shinobu-kun. When did you get such full-fledged perverted tastes?”

“Don’t look at me. She’s the pervert that suggested it.”

''Hmm. Come to think of it, I might be willing to wear a collar if it would save me a few hundred thousand yen.

“And let me be clear. I worked hard to keep the destruction of common sense contained to this level. All last night, I had to put up with a Yuki Onna and Nekomata shouting about how unfair this is.”

I had finally won out by saying it would be hard to bring deadly Youkai belonging to our house out of the Intellectual Village. The issue was a bit different for stray (?) ones as they could come and go as they please, but it had still worked. I had a sinking feeling that meant that Nekomata was planning to stay.

Meanwhile, Madoka gave me a puzzled look from the bench.

“(Hmm. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with the Zashiki Warashi coming, but adding an unexpected irregular character to the cast list is bringing us closer to the kind of situation Enbi likes so much. I hope this trip works out okay.)”

“Hey, Madoka. The train’s about to arrive. If we miss this, we’ll have to wait until nightfall.”

“You’re right. Worrying about it isn’t going to help. (Even if the kind of serial murders that Enbi likes do happen, it doesn’t matter as long as we don’t get wrapped up in them.)”

Madoka seemed to convince herself of something and then headed over to the ticket machine. The station supported the use of IC cards, but neither of us had one. We just bought everything we wanted over the internet, so we did not feel the need to leave the village very often.

I walked past a sign saying “Make sure not to bring in any outside pollen or germs!” and approached a different ticket machine.

The Zashiki Warashi gave a puzzled look while standing next to me.

“I see a kid’s ticket, but I can’t find the pet ticket.”

“…If you keep this joke going, you might end up stuffed inside an airplane’s cargo hold.”

===Part 7 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)===

Honestly, it isn’t normal for a mere police officer to take an entire week off at once. And since I was spending the time on a trip with a girl who always showed up at the scenes of mysterious murders and a woman who could single-handedly resolve cases the police could not handle, I felt like even the bare minimum of professional ethics was crumbling around me.

“We’ve arrived, we’ve arrived. So this is the Intellectual Village known as Fuuka Village. It’s in a large plain just as I expected,” said the mystery freak as she threw her arms up into the air after shoving her travel bag into my arms.

When we left the small regional airport, we found a sight rare in Japan. A vast expanse of green stretched to the horizon, robbing us of any sense of distance. And not a single plant we could see was natural. It was all part of a pasture.

The mystery freak’s older sister shoved her bag into my arms as well and said, “I heard half of the dairy commercials you see are filmed here. It must be specifically designed to be picturesque.”

The regional airport was located right smack in the middle of the large plain, but we were not yet inside the Intellectual Village. We still had to head 20 to 30 kilometers down a road with no traffic lights before we would arrive at the hotel.

Fuuka Village was focused primarily on dairy production, so it was well-equipped in noise-reduction methods.

The area was quite cool for being in the middle of summer, but Enbi was only wearing a two-piece swimsuit, a miniskirt, and a hoodie. Basically, she looked like she belonged on the beach or in a club. Her sister was wearing a tank top and hot pants, so I started to wonder if it was something that ran in the family. But then…

“…No, she has her own issues that can’t be explained by her sister’s influence,” I commented.

“Were you just thinking something very rude about us?”

“Were you just thinking something very rude about us?”

With the two sisters both glaring at me, I averted my gaze as I started sweating a cold sweat.

Enbi pointed up into the sky and said, “I can see a lot of what look like ad balloons.”

“I bet those are cameras. They probably monitor the pasture and the moisture levels. This is a large area. Those UAVs that look like toy planes could do the same job, but they’re expensive, susceptible to strong gusts of wind, and their batteries don’t last long, so they aren’t perfect for everything.”

“The balloons are cheap, but they can’t make tight turns. The balloons might perform a general observation and a UAV is sent out if anything out of the ordinary is detected.”

But that was not what I was interested it.

“Can you finally explain this to me?”

“Explain what?”

“Why you forced me to use my vacation time to come out here. Dealing with just one of you sisters is bad enough, but nothing good can come of having the two of you together. What are you hiding from me?”

“Well, I tried out the neighborhood association lottery and…”

“Mystery freak, with you, that kind of beginning scares me all the more. Really, any kind of trip that has some kind of unnatural beginning scares me with you. What are you after?”

“Can you teach 3 or 4 kids to be proper members of society by the end of the day?”

“Not even a priest could manage that.”

===Part 8 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

Five hours. Five whole hours.

Even though we took a plane as a shortcut, that’s still way too long for a trip. I only just barely managed to survive thanks to the novelty of being on a plane for the first time, but it was well beyond the limit of what a mere student could withstand.

It was the afternoon by the time we arrived at the hotel.

Its overall coloration was red. That may have been because it was made primarily out of brick. The building was only about 3 stories tall. Its silhouette formed an upside down T-shape. A cylindrical building stood in the center and rectangular buildings stretched out from either side. The rectangular portions…that is, the parts that looked like school buildings were probably where our rooms were located.

“I guess there are a lot of different kinds of Intellectual Villages,” said my “pet” Zashiki Warashi as she looked up at the building.

It certainly was quite different from our thatch roofed house. Intellectual Villages did not try to accurately and faithfully reproduce the scenery from some specific year in history. Instead, they took the vague ideas people had of what a rural town was and dragged those imagined ideas out into reality. For that reason, the time period represented could be very different depending on the region.

“Beef and cow’s milk only really took off during the Meiji period, so they may be going for that format.”

Even so, I doubted what I saw was a faithful recreation of the Meiji period. As I already said, they focused on matching the vague ideas people had about rural areas.

Simply put, that had a way of making a stronger brand image.

As we gave our impressions of the building, Madoka spoke up.

“Let’s get inside.”

“Oh, right.”

“I’m interested whether she passes as a pet or not.”

“Personally, I would say ‘worried’ rather than ‘interested’.”

After all, what were we supposed to do if it didn’t work? The hotel was surrounded by nothing but pastures as far as the eye could see. The only other constructions were gas stations and pay phones. The pastures surrounding the hotel were owned by four different farms and being able to pet the animals was one of the area’s draws. However, I had heard that the actual dairy facilities were 20 to 30 kilometers away. The farm workers were only around during the day, so the area would be completely abandoned save the hotel once night fell.

As a dairy Intellectual Village, it had to have thoroughbred bloodline development institutions and refrigerated facilities to preserve the genetic information of the brand-name meat as a countermeasure for infectious disease outbreaks. However, it seemed all of those facilities were located on the outer perimeter of the pastures along with the solar power plant.

“…Well, if that happens, sleeping outside will be the only option,” I commented.

“Can you really last an entire week outside, Shinobu?”

“Wait a second!! When did you swipe that ticket from me!?”

With a slight smile, the Zashiki Warashi gave off a silent pressure that told me to do my very best if I wanted to stay in the hotel.

''Please, do your job and bring fortune to your household, you damn Youkai!!

The entrance to the hotel was in the cylindrical portion of the upside down T-shape. The exterior was primarily made of red brick, but the interior was mostly white. The walls and ceiling were both white. The floor was covered with a vividly colored carpet.

The counter was located in the back of the relatively small lobby. The wall behind the counter had a simple diagram of the hotel’s first floor on it. A worker in black slacks, a button-down shirt, and a vest stood behind the counter. This was the first checkpoint for me. The trip couldn’t even begin without succeeding here, so I needed to use all of my power and I kind of wanted some extra support from Madoka-san and her wealth.

However…

“Hey, it’s Madoka. Did you just arrive?”

“Oh, so you did get here ahead of us, Enbi.”

''Geh!? She’s already heading away!? And who the hell is that girl who looks like she only just started wearing a bra!?

“Hm? Is that thing over there in the lounge a Sunekosuri?”

“Don’t you run away, too!! We may be in the same boat here, but I was dragged into this! This is primarily about you!!”

===Part 9 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)===

Shinobu was waving his arms around while trying to make some kind of deal with the worker at the lobby counter. He had become quite eccentric since I had last seen him. It really did seem the entire trip was falling apart in some way, but that was not the main issue.

''Why?

''Why is she here?

''Why is that horrible Zashiki Warashi here!?

“Hehh. You don’t often see a Zashiki Warashi just wandering around. And even adults can see her. Will my fortune with money increase if she approaches me?”

Mai sounded carefree enough about it, but I knew this Youkai was not that nice.

A Zashiki Warashi was supposed to bring fortune to a household while also playing childish pranks, but from what I knew of that one, she excelled at the prank side of things. I am not exaggerating when I say about half of my teenage years were completely ruined by her.

I had no idea how she had ended up here, but I knew I had to work to hide my presence as much as possible for the duration of the trip.

“Detective, that Zashiki Warashi is waving at you.”

“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!”

I let out a scream that would make you go paler than a snuff video.

''Th-that grin. She’s definitely planning something unthinkable again!! I still haven’t forgotten how you ended my first love by cutting away my swimsuit with scissors!!

Mai looked thoroughly irritated as she said, “You really do have talent when it comes to making Youkai hate you. The Sunekosuri hasn’t approached you once this whole time. I wonder if that complete negative reaction could be used in some way.”

“Th-that doesn’t happen because I want it to!!”

“It seems that boy who came with the Zashiki Warashi has a different but equally interesting nature, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. I just want to go love on that Sunekosuri!!”

“Wait! Don’t leave me alone!!”

I tried to grab at her for safety, but the next thing I knew, I was lying collapsed on the ground.

''Ahh! The Zashiki Warashi is headed this way out of boredom because Shinobu is focused on convincing that worker!! At this rate, she’ll fill the time by destroying everything I need to live a normal life in society!!

“Not good. My only option is to get to my room and hole up there!!”

When I frantically tried to grab my bag, a different hand reached in from the side.

It belonged to one of the hotel’s workers.

“I will carry that to your room for you if you like.”

“Th-thanks…um…Matsukai-san?”

I had to check the nameplate on the chest of the worker’s vest for the name.

Matsukai-san smiled and said, “I am at your service for the short time you are here.”

===Part 10 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

The hotel itself was fairly small, so naturally the room was not that large. Then again, it was a single.

But it was a Western style room, and that got me excited. It wasn’t that I had any real complaints with that thatch-roofed house, but it did lack some things.

The Zashiki Warashi approached the window and let out a strange voice that seemed a mixture of admiration and annoyance.

“There really isn’t anything as far as the eye can see. The only activity is seeing the animals. Once you get tired of that, you’re out of luck, aren’t you?”

“I’d say the bigger problem at the moment is why you’re in here with me when it’s a single.”

“I’m being treated as a pet. Of course they aren’t going to give me my own room.”

“…I still can’t believe they went along with that.”

It was possible her being a Zashiki Warashi worked to her advantage. Not that she would bring fortune to the hotel or anything.

Now then.

I had managed to feign calmness up to that point, but it was about time for me to do something about my pounding heart. And it really was pounding!! When I accepted the invitation, I had assumed I was on a stable course straight down the Madoka route, but now that was all thrown into chaos by the sudden inclusion of the Indoor Youkai option. And really, no matter if anything actually happened or not, it would pretty much be a scandal for any public figure from the moment we entered the room together. The tabloids would be all over it!!

At that moment, the Zashiki Warashi’s nose twitched slightly.

“…I sense inappropriate thoughts.”

“Don’t be silly!! You’re just being too self-conscious, you good-for-nothing Zashiki Warashi! If this was made into a book, it would be designated for all ages!!”

“Shinobu.”

“It means nothing to me if this room is a single and therefore has just the one bed and I’m alone in it with you and your massive tits, the gentle curve of your back, and the soft curves of your hips!!”

“The device I am about to attach to your fingertip is a polygraph sensor that sends an electric shock depending on your answer, so answer ‘true’ to every true-or-false question I ask you.”

“Ha ha ha. Like you actually have such a convenient-…wait, you do!? Why!? Wah! Wait, wait! I’ll confess, I’ll confess!! Teenage boys are thinking inappropriate thoughts about 80% of the time!! And doesn’t bringing pointless things like that just make your bag heavier!?”

“Do not underestimate modern online teaching materials and sites selling modern security goods. At any rate, Question 1: Your secret savings are hidden below a false bottom in your school bag.”

“That question has nothing to do with the situation!!”

“With your fragile mental defenses, I get the feeling your mind would collapse if I got straight to the point.”

“I get it, so stop physically attacking me with your words!!”

“Question 2: If possible, you want to have your way with both me and Madoka and your virgin mindset gives you the groundless confidence to imagine we would both come on to you.”

“Why would you head straight into it if you know it will destroy my mind!? A-and that’s just a mindset! That doesn’t mean I actually am one!!”

“…!!”

“Why do you look so shocked? D-do I seem that much like a virgin to you?”

“Y-you aren’t lying, are you?”

“If I was, that electrode would send a shock into my finger, right!? Actually…how much of a shock does it send!? What do you have in that box? It isn’t a car battery, is it!?”

“Qu-question 3: It was with Madoka.”

“No. She may have a cute face, but she’s too much of a bourgeois for me to find an opening. That’s why I thought this trip was such a great opportunity.”

“Question 4: Yuki Onna?”

“I’d be frozen to death the next morning, if I did that.”

“Neko-…”

“It wasn’t the Nekomata!! The format is just too different! Explain to me how that would even be possible!!”

===Part 11 (Zashiki Warashi - Yukari)===

Shinobu started sobbing while lying in the bed, so I had no choice but to leave the room to find something else to do. I had to wonder whether he had actually believed me about the stun gun polygraph. I don’t dislike high-tech gadgets, but that doesn’t mean I have any idea how to put one together. I can’t stand the smell of a soldering iron.

“Mutter mutter… But if Shinobu actually believed that, was he telling the truth when he said that…? Hmm…”

I couldn’t believe it.

I simply couldn’t believe it.

I didn’t particularly care about Shinobu, but I was a bit worried at how low my accuracy had fallen if I had missed something that major about my household as a Zashiki Warashi.

Then again, I had no proof that Shinobu was telling the truth. It was possible Shinobu had seen through my stun gun polygraph bluff and was having his own fun at my expense. I had no real proof one way or the other. It would be foolish to simply take Shinobu’s word for it.

Shinobu could be a bit of a show off.

I had no idea if a male version of pseudocyesis existed, but Shinobu certainly had the delusional power to pull it off.

“I need some time to cool down.”

When I wanted to have some fun, I would go have some fun.

I wasn’t going to find anyone in the hotel hallway, so I headed for the first floor lobby and the adjacent lounge where I was likely to find someone. I was technically considered a pet, so I really shouldn’t have been wandering around on my own. However, Shinobu was considered my owner, so he would be the one to get in trouble, not me. Having someone else to take the blame for your actions was a great way to put your mind at ease. In that way, my position as a pet was quite a nice one.

“You are a Zashiki Warashi, aren’t you?”

“And you are a Sunekosuri.”

“It must be nice. Not only are you beautiful overall, but you are one of the major Youkai. One of you is almost guaranteed to show up in any Youkai manga or Youkai movie.”

“Yes, but I do kind of wish I had an animal form. When filming a commercial, they always want a cute kitten or puppy.”

“But there is too much inflation in animal Youkai. A deadly one like the Nekomata can act as a mascot while still joining in the battles. And if they want a canine Youkai, they always choose the Inugami. There’s nothing left for a Sunekosuri.”

I was not so sure.

I had a feeling a mascot only worked when it was completely powerless.

“There is nothing I can do to defeat a Zashiki Warashi when it comes to impact. You’re both harmless and look like girls, so there is no more anyone could ask from you. And since you primarily bring fortune you fill the protagonist-side support role perfectly.”

“Nothing says a Zashiki Warashi has to be female and we are hardly innocent since we will predict fires. I wonder why the image of the girl Zashiki Warashi is so strong.”

“Being cute with a bit of venom hidden below the surface is perfect for entertainment. I am a Sunekosuri. All I do is rub up against shins. There is no room for drama there.”

“Didn’t the Sunekosuri come about from the fear of something being at your feet while walking along a path at night? Y’know, something like a poisonous snake. I would say that’s a much more standard origin than something like me.”

“Then I wish I at least had poison as an additional skill. I just rub up against people. The only way that can cause fear is by creeping people out when they think some strange fetishist is following them around.”

“Yet you’re still coming up and rubbing against my leg.”

“…It is a sad instinct,” he said as he continued rubbing and averted his gaze.

''Hmm. This isn’t bad. Is it because he looks like a puppy? If I sat down in a luxurious chair and crossed one leg over the other, I would probably be filled with an incredible sense of superiority. Maybe I should try it with Shinobu sometime.

“Sunekosuri, have you gone out into the pastures to see the cows and horses and whatnot?”

“I gave up when the sheep mistook me for a sheepdog and ran away from me. What do you want to do?”

“I would rather eat some beef than see the living cows. Oh, some lamb would be nice too.”

“You can only get away with comments like that because you are a Zashiki Warashi. I’m jealous. With the way I look, people just assume I am a carnivore that wants to eat its prey.”

I continued to speak with the other Youkai for a while.

As the trip had no real objective, I had been prepared for this, but I was still bored all the same.

I was afraid it would be nothing but this until dinner.

I could only hope that Shinobu made a quick recovery.

===Part 12 (Hishigami Enbi)===

It wasn’t often that I got to enjoy a trip with the detective without anyone getting killed. Normally, I would chase after a murder and just happen to end up at the same crime scene as him, so it was hard to expect your usual love comedy scenes.

I may spend the entire year solving mysteries, but it wasn’t like I could not enjoy anything without a serious atmosphere. Like with everything, you needed a nice balance.

“This is my chance.”

I tossed my bag on the hotel room bed and headed right back out into the hallway. I then realized I had left my smartphone in the room, so I headed back into the room. When I returned to the hallway, I realized I had locked my cardkey in the room.

I used the interphone in the hallway to make my embarrassing confession to the front desk. The worker at the front desk headed up to retrieve my key.

My mind really was useless outside of my specialty. I was brilliant when it came to people’s deaths. And that only applied to deaths that still had some kind of mystery remaining.

My grades on school exams were not all that great and I was always getting flustered and confused as to what to do to make that detective fall for me. If a history question was needed to disarm a bomb, I could answer it immediately. If I had to seduce a man to gain a clue, I could eloquently pull it off as many times as necessary. But once the mode switched over, I was hopeless.

I know it is a problem, but I do not think it is all that rare a thing.

For example, someone who writes a blog post every day cannot write a novel. And someone who is treated as a god for their ability to compose poetry on the streets cannot write bestselling lyrics. It may all be types of “writing”, but a change in genre could change someone’s scores drastically.

The bias in my mental ability was nothing more than that.

And there were times when you had to attempt something even though you knew you were terrible at it.

“…Hmm. If only the hotel had a pool. Then I could easily seduce that detective.”

I had worn a swimsuit with a hoodie and miniskirt, but it had been a failure. If he viewed it as my normal clothes, it no longer seemed special. I had monitored his expression closely, but his perspiration and pupil dilation had been at normal levels. Things were not going well. People had a tendency to grow accustomed to things, but I was unsure how to achieve a greater impact.

I had to come up with a way to break out of that deadlock.

I thought while dashing down the hallway toward the detective’s room.

I gave up trying to come up with something 5 seconds after I began thinking.

“There’s no use in thinking about something you’re terrible at!”

I spotted the detective just as he stepped out of his door, possibly to head to the hotel’s shop. I started running towards him while stretching my arms up into the air and arching my back to put as much of a burden on the chest of my swimsuit as I could. (Mostly by pulling it upwards.)

“Hey there, detective! I’m willing to go as far as a swimsuit wardrobe malfunction!!”

“Are you mocking the Japanese police!?”

===Part 13 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

''Sigh.

I couldn’t believe that damn Zashiki Warashi had brought such a horrible toy with her.

But I could hardly spend all my time sobbing in my room. Staying by myself was just too boring. We were on a trip to a sightseeing spot! I was in a resort hotel with my rich classmate and a huge-breasted Youkai!! And so I took action. I headed off to search for some kind of fun that was full of sleazy desire. In my current mood, I would certainly have tried to peek if the hotel had an open air bath. Unfortunately, it was a western hotel.

“I at least want to hug someone. If I let that be the opening move to set the mood for the trip, things are sure to escalate from there. It will be harder to get anything started in the second half of the trip once the standards have been set.”

I set the initial goal as low as I could to avoid crushing myself under self-created pressure. I opened the door to my room and headed out into the hallway. If I was going to find someone, it would either be in the lobby or the lounge. Or I could call Madoka down by cell phone.

While I was waiting for the elevator, someone exited a room on the same floor.

It was a woman wearing an eye-catching outfit.

There were probably fewer than 30 women in the world who could get away with wearing a tank top and hot pants after 20.

I then recognized who she was.

She had been with my uncle.

She was certainly beautiful, but I had a hard time coming up with a way to start a conversation with someone with as much of a mature aura as she had. Just like a middle school student and a high school student were completely different things, a high school student and a college student were completely different things. I got the feeling that the foundations of our thoughts were completely different. In fact, I felt like I would need a Hollywood celebrity level foundation to even think about approaching someone like her.

The woman must have been bored waiting for the elevator because she pulled out her cell phone.

“Have you been here long? This is my first day, but I’m already wondering what we can possibly do for an entire week after looking around the pastures.”

Betraying all of my expectations, she actually spoke to me.

''What? What?

I was happy to have someone as beautiful as her speak to me, but it also scared me a bit.

I couldn’t get a read on her, so I just safely nodded and agreed with her.

“Y-yeah.”

“Do you know if there is a casino somewhere nearby as a bonus stage?”

“I only just got here today, too.”

“I see. I guess I may be stuck just playing with the Sunekosuri. Oh, right. Have you seen this?”

The woman held her cell phone out toward me. The screen showed a low quality home video filmed with a small lens. I felt the urge to point out that there was no way I could have seen it before.

But what was it?

It looked like the back of an old tatami-filled room in Kyoto or something. It looked less like something from an agricultural village like my house and more like something befitting nobility. In the room was a girl of about 10 with black hair and wearing a kimono that looked about as expensive as a foreign car.

The girl did not seem used to being filmed, so she was blushing a deep red and waving her hands in front of her face.

“Hey, stop, hey! I do not particularly mind, but you cannot film inside the facility for security reasons…” said the girl.

“It isn’t on,” said another voice.

“Eh? Um…really?”

“You’re too self-conscious.”

“To be honest, I do not understand what you hope to gain by filming me, but I do not mind as long as you do it elsewhere.”

“Don’t be like that. You know very well this video won’t leave this device.”

“So you are filming?”

The woman looked very pleased with herself as she shoved the cell phone in my face.

“See?”

''???

“Don’t you think girls of about that age stimulate your protection instincts the most? They’re just so cute. If she was some hairy dirty old man, I would have abandoned them long ago. Then again, I don’t think I was that cute even as a kid. Maybe that’s why I like them so much.”

“I-I see…”

Personally, I was not old enough to think kids were cute. I was more interested in older girls. Each individual part of the girl in the video was fine, but she gave me an overall unsteady appearance because the balance of the parts seemed somehow off. Maybe because she was still in the process of growing. Still, she was definitely better than a baby.

At any rate…

I was more surprised to learn such a young woman had a daughter of about 10.

“Well, it’s not like she’s actually related to me in any way.”

“Then what the hell is that video about!?”

“It’s like a good luck charm. When I think about the fact that some kid young enough to call science class ‘life environment studies’ is desperately trying to hold together an organization, I’m willing to put up with a few unreasonable demands.”

“Eh? Eh???”

With that final incomprehensible comment, the woman got onto the elevator that had arrived.

I watched the elevator leave and then suddenly realized something.

“Wait, I was waiting for the elevator too!!”

===Part 14 (Hishigami Mai)===

I had a habit of eating dinner early. But then, my life cycle had me eating the equivalent of a late-night snack instead of breakfast. I still had to eat three meals a day, but my job did not exactly allow me to wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night.

This meant I was not eating at the same time as my little sister and the detective, so I was eating alone. Well, it was also my duty as the older sister to not disturb those two. Really, they should just hurry up and get married.

I arrived at the hotel restaurant right when they began serving dinner, so I was the only customer.

The food listed on the menu was quite expensive, but the ticket I was staying with came with free meals. I ordered a light course that featured a rare veal steak. I did not order an alcoholic drink. I did enjoy drinking, but I preferred to do so at a specialty bar. You couldn’t just get a bit intoxicated with your dinner. That was like ordering the curry rice at a beachside restaurant and assuming you were suddenly an expert in Indian food.

The food wasn’t bad.

It was a small hotel, but it was a sightseeing spot in an Intellectual Village, so it had more workers than necessary. Not only did the ticket eliminate the ridiculously expensive lodging fees and meal expenses, but we did not have to pay their labor costs either.

After finishing off the dessert, I wiped my mouth with my napkin and called over a nearby worker.

“Hey, I have a question.”

“What might that be?”

“Is there a newspaper vending machine anywhere around here?”

“If you contact the front desk, you can get a newspaper sent to your room each morning. You can choose from 3 national papers and 2 in English.”

“That should do it. Does it cost extra?”

“It is included in the room fee.”

“…Then I’d be losing out if I didn’t order one.”

“Is that all?”

“Oh, right. One more thing. It’s not that big a deal, but…Matsukai-san…”

I read the workers name from the nameplate on his chest.

“What is it?”

“Do you mind telling me your full name?”

“''It is Matsukai Hiroshi.''”

“''Oh?''”

''So I run across that name here, too. And you didn’t even hesitate to tell me. But you see, I killed a scholar with that exact same name just the other day.

Of course, since it had been used as a fake name, it was not that unusual a name. It was possible this was just some poor normal person who just so happened to have the same name.

Or perhaps he was connected with ''that'' Matsukai Hiroshi and he gave the name so readily so that I would hesitate for that exact reason.

“What an unusual name.”

“Is it?”

“It is unusual in this area at least. ''That name is an endangered species''.”

“I do not see how the two names would be that unusual to see together.”

“So,” I said quietly with a grin. “Can you see the Deadly Dragon Princess yet?”

“!?”

''You idiot. You could at least hide your reaction better than that.

He must have realized his mistake as soon as he made it. He frantically recomposed his expression, but it was too late. It did not matter whether he could see the Deadly Dragon Princess or not. Or rather, I had not even pulled it up from the water using the summoning medium, so there was no way he could see it. What mattered was that he had reacted to the term “Deadly Dragon Princess”. He had felt true fear upon hearing it. Any normal person would have simply been confused.

“…”

“…”

I reached for the decorative fork in the center of the table and the man naming himself Matsukai Hiroshi slowly reached around to his back. He had abandoned his “role” without losing the smile.

I could sense no clear killer intent.

The restaurant music playing in the background seemed to fill the atmosphere.

He clearly knew that killer intent would only provide a hint to an enemy if you doubted it would intimidate them.

This was going to be fun.

At the very least, he would likely put up more of a fight than the previous Matsukai-san. If he pulled out a handgun, he would rank at about a B, but I could find myself in a bit of a gamble if he pulled out something a little more interesting. I decided it would be safest to end this with my first move. The only question was whether I could do so with only a knife and fork.

But then…

The atmosphere filling the room was destroyed by a few footsteps coming from the entrance to the restaurant.

''Oh, shit. Not good.

Some normal people had arrived…no, they were my little sister’s friends. Kotemitsu Madoka, Jinnai Shinobu, and the Zashiki Warashi. Even if I had never spoken with someone, there were plenty of ways to learn their names.

“I’m hungry.”

“Beef. I want to eat some beef on the first day at least.”

“…Aren’t you being a bit merciless after seeing that idyllic scenery?”

Meanwhile. Matsukai Hiroshi-san took a slow step backwards while still smiling and with one hand still reaching around behind him. Using his eyes, he told me to postpone things for the moment.

He assured me we could continue this later.

''I see, I see, I see.

''So that’s the way you think.

I decided to give him an answer. With a tiny movement the others would not pick up on, I nodded in Matsukai Hiroshi’s direction.

He slowly nodded back and took another step backwards.

In the next instant, I made my move despite the witnesses.

===Part 15 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

It happened suddenly.

It took me a few seconds to understand what had happened before my eyes.

By the time my mind managed to comprehend the situation, the worker named Matsukai had already been knocked to the ground and had a silver fork stabbed into the side of his neck. It wasn’t as dangerous a weapon as a knife or icepick, but it was clearly sticking into a very dangerous place.

“Wh-wha-what!? What the hell are you doing!?”

“Don’t get so excited, boy. This has nothing to do with you.”

It was only then that I heard the clatter of the chair the woman had been sitting in hitting the floor. Everything from standing up from the chair to finishing the attack had been done in a single motion. She was fast. Overwhelmingly fast. Was she a cheetah or something!?

The woman gave us no further attention and looked down at Matsukai-san who still had the fork stabbing into his neck.

“Okay, Matsukai Hiroshi Mark 2. What are you doing out here in the country? Since you’re using that name, I assume you aren’t simply constructing a Package. How is Saishi Kajin related to this? In fact, are they still around?”

“…”

“Speak to me. Give me some communication please. I made sure you had enough strength left to do that. If I move my wrist like I’m twirling pasta around the fork, I can rip your nerves and artery to shreds. I am Hishigami Mai. Do you really think you can keep silent in front of me?”

For some reason, Matsukai-san was smiling even while being asked those nonsensical questions. It was possible they were not nonsensical to him.

In the next instant, Matsukai-san’s body jerked like he had a high voltage electric current running through him and dark red blood flowed from his mouth.

“D-did you kill him!?”

“He had some means of committing suicide. It wasn’t the almond-smelling method, though.”

The woman clicked her tongue, pulled out the deadly fork, and wrapped a nearby napkin around it. She may have been trying to take the evidence with her. I was completely dumbfounded by the entire situation and could not take my eyes off of Matsukai-san as he lay motionless on the ground.

Could he still be saved?

I saw things like CPR in dramas and movies a lot, but…

“No, don’t even try it. I told you he had a means prepared, didn’t I? If you kiss him now, you’ll just end up with bloody foam coming from your mouth too.”

The situation was shocking enough, but the woman’s atmosphere was even more frightening.

She was used to this.

Her expression made it clear this was not the first time she had seen a dead body. In fact, she looked like she had created as many dead bodies as a normal person had received cardboard boxes from things bought online and plastic bags from convenience stores. She was not normal. A simple murderer would have been bad enough, but she was 2 or 3 levels beyond that.

My tongue trembled.

As it twisted around in my mouth, I just barely managed to get the words out.

“Don’t…move.”

“Why?”

I thought she was asking why she should do what I say.

But I was wrong.

“''Why do you think you have any control here''?”

“!?”

She understood something about the fear I was feeling. It was wrapped around me and holding me in place, but she accepted it as normal.

“They say curiosity killed the cat, but a sense of justice can destroy nations. I have experienced it, so I know what I am talking about. I am not saying it is necessarily bad, but don’t let it control you. That can have worse results than a kid with a handgun tucked into his pants.”

The woman took a step toward me.

She crushed my pathetic warning underfoot.

She crossed a certain line.

I moved backwards like I was being magnetically repelled by her. I then turned around so I could bring the Zashiki Warashi and Madoka with me to-…

“Th-they’re gone!? Those two…!!”

They had likely already fled the restaurant. It didn’t matter. I couldn’t even work up anger at the fact that they had abandoned me. Instead, I was relieved that burden had been removed from me. My legs got tangled up underneath me and I half-ran, half-tripped out of the restaurant.

When I entered the hallway, I spotted the Zashiki Warashi and Madoka standing a bit away.

“You didn’t run away!?”

“What are you talking about, Shinobu? You’re the one that wouldn’t respond when we called out to you.”

''The whole time?

''How long did that last? Seconds? Minutes?

''And when did it start? When the fear and abnormality of that woman wrapped around me? Or from the moment I had saw that worker get stabbed?

When I thought about it like that, I realized I should probably be thankful that they waited around that long when a murderer could be coming at any moment.

Madoka called out to me with her face horribly pale.

“Wh-what do we do now?”

“A room! You two get to one of the hotel rooms! Madoka, you stay with the Zashiki Warashi! She may not be deadly, but she’s still a Youkai. She isn’t easy to kill!!”

I doubted that girl in the red yukata would be any good in a fight and that nonstandard woman seemed like she could kill even a deadly Youkai without difficulty, so that hardly put my mind at ease. I couldn’t come up with a plan and attack her from some gap or blind spot. The fear that woman gave me seemed to utterly destroy the very assumptions and environment required to put together a strategy.

For some reason, the Zashiki Warashi puffed her chest out with pride and said, “Do not expect anything from me in a battle.”

“I’m not planning to fight either. I doubt I could put up any kind of a fight. I need to call the police. Either that or tell the other workers what happened. I just need to pass this off to some larger power. She’s locked on to us because we were the only witnesses. You need to stay holed up in a room until I can pass this off to someone else!!”

I heard footsteps.

They were coming from the restaurant.

They were not hurried footsteps. However, they were confident footsteps. They seemed to say she would catch up to us and kill us no matter what we did. Those calm footsteps seemed to tell me all our efforts would be futile.

“Go!!” I shouted and then ran down the hallway in the opposite direction of the Zashiki Warashi and Madoka.

I tried to make my footsteps as loud as possible to keep the woman’s focus was on me rather than them.

Anyone. It didn’t matter who. I had to let as many people as possible know what had happened. I needed to rob that woman of her control of the situation with pure numbers. If all of the hotel’s workers knew about the crime, her actions would be severely restricted. If the police arrived, she would have even more trouble.

This hotel was in an Intellectual Village sightseeing spot, so it had a large number of workers for the size of the facility. As I headed for the elevator hall, I happened across a female worker who was pushing a cart to carry a room service meal somewhere.

Her nameplate read Matsukai.

''Matsukai?

“Wait, listen! The police!! Call the police right away!!”

“What…?”

“She’s…!! She’s coming!! You can’t stay here! You don’t have time to wait for the elevator! Use the emergency stairs!!”

“If you are having trouble, I may be able to help you. Is something the matter?”

''No! You don’t understand!!

The situation had gone well beyond that. It had shifted 2 gears up from that. But how was I supposed to explain how crazy this has gotten? A strange woman had attacked a worker with bestial speed and stabbed him with a fork. The worker had then committed suicide with some kind of poison. I barely believed it myself and I had seen it happen. The very best reaction I could expect was for her to head to the restaurant to see what happened.

And what would happen then?

That would just add another dead body to the pile. How much time had passed since the first death? What was going on in the restaurant now? Had a waiter or chef noticed anything was wrong? If they had…what would that woman do?

Would she just run away?

I couldn’t imagine she would. I prayed it wasn’t true, but that restaurant might have been turned into an ocean of blood.

“Um, sir?”

“No…no.”

I couldn’t wait for them to switch into the proper gear to deal with the situation. The police. It would be fastest to directly contact the people who made a living dealing with this kind of situation.

I frantically pulled out my cell phone with its broken camera lens.

“It won’t…connect?”

I didn’t receive a dial tone or even a message saying I had no signal. The only situation I knew of that would cause that was a widespread power outage caused by a lightning strike, but…

Was this just a coincidence?

“Does the hotel have a phone!?”

“…Wh-what!?”

“Does the hotel have a landline phone!? Is there a public phone around here!?”

“Oh…u-umm… The front desk on the first floor has-….”

Before she had even finished, I turned around and ran for the emergency staircase. It was dangerous to leave that female worker alone, but I had to call the police to the hotel as quickly as possible. And even if I had stayed to protect her, I doubted I could have bought her even a few seconds of time.

But it was no good.

When I arrived on the first floor, I picked up the public phone’s receiver, but heard no dial tone. I could see nothing wrong or broken about the phone itself, so something on a larger scale was likely broken.

Since I could not contact them, I was forced to head directly to the police station.

But I was in the dairy Intellectual Village known as Fuuka Village.

For 20 to 30 kilometers around the hotel there was nothing but pastures. There was no way I could travel that distance on foot.

By car then?

I of course had no license, but I knew an automatic was the same as a go-kart. It had an accelerator and a brake. I would be travelling down a straight and flat road with no traffic lights, so I guessed I could probably make it.

It didn’t matter what I had to do.

I would break the window and destroy the connector in the keyhole if I had to.

I just had to get a car and get out of there.

I ran out of the hotel and headed around to the back. A number of electric cars were parked there, but I could not tell if they belonged to the workers or to other guests. It didn’t matter. But could I really leave the Zashiki Warashi and Madoka in the hotel? The hotel was about 3 stories tall. If I shouted, I guessed I could have them escape through the window and meet me. They could tie the curtains and use them as a rope to climb down.

But then…

“…What the hell…?”

What I saw when I got closer to the parking lot left me speechless.

Flat tires. Every single car in the parking lot had flat tires. Every single tire on every single car had been punctured. The sight of all those flat tires pounded an exceedingly simple form of despair into my mind.

''I can’t escape?

''Is this hotel like a desert island on land?

But something did not make sense. That woman may have been a monster, but could she really have done all that on her own? When had the phones stopped working? When had every single car tire been punctured? If she had begun to isolate the hotel only after killing the worker named Matsukai in the restaurant, she would have had to carry out multiple large scale jobs in an exceedingly short time. Could she really have done it on her own?

“No…”

That was not a major issue.

There was a simple solution.

That woman just needed accomplices.

“…”

I looked over at the great plain that was dissolving into the darkness. If I was up against multiple people or even an organization, they would not want us to contact the outside or to run away.

If I just headed out blindly into the darkness of the night, would they do nothing and let me go?

I did not know how many people I was dealing with, but wasn’t it possible they already had the entire area surrounded?

That plain stretched on and on with no witnesses to be found. If they began pursuing me along there, they could take their time and make sure they killed me.

Of course…

That entire idea could have been nothing but a delusion.

It could have been nothing but the misguided fears of an amateur high school boy.

But since I had nothing to base my decision on, I could not get rid of that unease. I could not head into that darkness without hesitation.

But what else could I do?

I had no car. It was too dangerous to slowly continue on foot. But that woman was inside the hotel. The entire area seemed covered with death. How had I not noticed it before?

“…Self-defense…”

Since I could not call in help from outside, that was my only option. It would take time to get the workers and guests to switch gears, but our only option was to take back control of the situation with numbers!

But was that even possible for a collection of amateurs? Would the group only fall into more and more of a panic the more people we gathered?

No.

I had forgotten one important factor.

“Uncle Uchimaku is a police officer.”

The power of the police was one of an organization, so I had a feeling there was only so much my uncle alone could do. But surely a police officer would be able to bring the workers and guests together into a group easier than a high school student.

He just had to prevent everyone else from panicking.

If we could come together as a group and get a proper grasp of the danger, that woman would not be able to fight back.

…Right?

===Part 16 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)===

I was only heading to the restaurant because I was hungry, but I could tell something was wrong before even setting foot inside. What was this smell that cleanly rid me of all hunger? Why, nothing other than the stench of fresh blood!!

As she walked next to me, the mystery freak’s nose twitched like she had caught the scent of some soup.

“This could be bad. I just hope no one we know was involved.”

“!?”

To my shock, Hishigami Mai exited the restaurant.

“Oh, you two seem to be getting along well.”

“It’s my sister. And here I was hoping no one we know was involved.”

“Sorry about that. By the way, did you see a high school boy pass through here? One with blond hair, a delinquent look to the eyes, and a ''false'' atmosphere of overall incompetence.”

“…You mean Shinobu?” My eyebrows twitched. “What the hell happened in the restaurant!? That strong a stench of blood isn’t normal!!”

“You can take a peek if you like, but you probably wouldn’t find it too interesting since you don’t care about the dead. Also, that would be straying even further from the proper path, Mr. Dead-End Police Job.”

“…”

“You should probably stay out too, Enbi. This is probably on a scale you can’t handle and it isn’t in your area of expertise.”

“Is that stench of blood coming from someone we know?”

“No.”

“Okay then. What are you going to do, detective?”

Neither of the two sisters meant any harm, but they were shaking the very meaning of my existence.

I doubted a proper police officer like me could control even the mystery freak. And if I got involved in something the older sister was involved in, I would probably end up playing the role of the pitiful victim.

But….

“I am a police officer.”

“This is outside your jurisdiction and you took leave, so you have no authority here.”

“That may be, but I can’t just turn my back on this!!”

I grabbed Mai’s shoulder, pushed her out of the way, and took a step into the restaurant.

And…

I immediately regretted it.

Was it a few seconds? A few dozen seconds?

I had no idea how long I remained frozen in place.

Time certainly passed and I was certainly aware of my surroundings.

The scene before me burned into my mind and would not leave. The incident itself was in a category that should have been more peaceful than something like arson, but it gave me a much more vivid impression. Yes, vivid. Bright. I was supposed to be someone who detested crime, but I almost felt impressed by the skill involved.

I should have worked up a resistance to this type of thing.

It was my job to confront this type of thing.

I was so used to it that a corpse with severed limbs stuffed into a metal drum only made me comment on the effort that had to have gone into it.

Yet I found this to be on a whole other level.

The world a few steps in front of me was filled with a fascination that seemed to overcome reality.

“You were right to stop there.”

Mai, the person who had likely created what I was seeing, grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. Whether due to her strength or my lack of ability to resist, she easily pulled me out of the restaurant.

“Someone who knows a bit of kendo is more easily fascinated by techniques and skill than a complete amateur. You need to be careful.”

Meanwhile, Enbi the mystery freak displayed her usual ability to neutralize any strangeness when it came to dealing with corpses. She seemed as calm as if nothing had happened as she walked up near the much too vivid corpse, crouched down, and began making various observations.

She spun a large magnifying glass around in one hand, but she never really used it to look at anything. It may have been similar to how people would fiddle with their cell phone when they had nothing else to do with their hands.

Enbi seemed to come to a conclusion from the complexion of the corpse’s face and the foam around its mouth.

“Fugu. It’s easy enough to get your hands on, but it isn’t the best option for suicide. You can see he was putting up with a lot of pain by how his nails have dug into his palms. It must not have been fun to know that was hidden in your tooth.”

“A painful death must have doubled as the penalty for failing his mission.”

“His mission, hm? …I don’t like the sound of that. It makes it sound like a war is being fought in this peaceful country.”

“That’s why I said this isn’t the place for you, little sister. This isn’t a simple murder.”

The sisters’ conversation seemed to be coming from a long distance away.

As my thoughts cut in and out intermittently, I finally opened my mouth to speak.

“How was…Shinobu involved…in this?”

“He saw it.”

“He’s just a kid in high school!! He shouldn’t be getting involved in this kind of thing. There’s nothing he can do about it! There’s no value in eliminating him for-…!!”

“Make no mistake. I am not looking for him in order to silence him. But it does seem he had some involvement in all of this from the beginning. His involvement did not begin with witnessing my actions here.”

“…?”

“It has already begun, detective. That is why I have begun to take action. And now Jinnai Shinobu-kun is wandering in the darkness while completely oblivious to what is really going on. He needs to understand what is happening before he runs across a pitfall.”

“Um, what did that worker named Matsukai do…?”

“Matsukai Hiroshi. But that isn’t the name of their organization or anything.”

I did not particularly want to know more, but it seemed Hishigami Mai had begun a conflict with some force that Matsukai Hiroshi was a part of.

Her point seemed to be that, even if she had no intention of harming Shinobu, the opposing force that Matsukai Hiroshi belonged to might.

And how did Shinobu fit into it all?

From what Mai had said, it didn’t seem he had simply stumbled upon the crime scene.

“Can I ask you one thing?”

“That’s up to you to decide.”

“Does this have to do with Youkai?”

“A Package would be my little sister’s territory,” said Hishigami Mai simply. “If it requires my involvement, it is guaranteed to be ''something more than that''.”

As if it was nothing, she broke down one of the mental pillars supporting me. I could not imagine what kind of world that woman lived in. Even Packages using Youkai often proved difficult for the modern Japanese police to handle. We could neither kill nor arrest a deadly Youkai. The most we could manage was arresting the human criminals using those Youkai. What kind of a world did she live in and with what kinds of things did she fight?

That abnormal mystery freak was more used to this kind of situation than me and had no problem being around that corpse. She jotted something down using the memo function of her smartphone that had a leather memo pad cover.

While doing so, she asked her sister, “What are you going to do?”

“Naturally, I am going to do something about this situation. First, I need to check on the scale of this incident. I’m interested how they handled the real hotel workers. Did they forge a resume so Matsukai Hiroshi alone could infiltrate the hotel or have all of the workers been switched out with fakes? …Well, I get the feeling it will be the more severe answer.”

“What should we do?”

“Think for yourself. To be blunt, the risk does not change much either way. The violence we are going to see here is not something you can protect yourself from with nothing but the lock on your hotel room door, but you might get caught in the crossfire if you stick with me.”

“Then I’ll stay with you. What about you, detective?”

“Eh? Ah…?”

“Don’t worry about honor or convenience. There is no absolutely safe place. Decide for yourself what to do with your life,” said Enbi.

I could feel sweat pouring from my body.

The Japanese police could not even handle a standard Package. Yet these sisters were setting foot in territory well beyond that. What could a single police officer without the support of the rest of the police hope to do in a situation like that? It would be too naïve to assume I could shine a light on the darkness. My tiny point of light would just be swallowed up by the darkness.

But…

“Shinobu is out there. Odds are good he will end up heading deeper into this before we do. I can’t back down until I find him. It doesn’t matter if I can act as a police officer or not.”

For some reason, Mai began to grin when she heard that.

“Oh, so that’s the power of the state.”

“If you were saying that for a girl rather than your nephew, you could make a decent protagonist.”

“I don’t need to be one. I’m fine with being a police detective stuck in a dead end job, so let’s get the story moving. Where are we headed?”

“Follow me,” said Mai.

We followed her through the hotel. As we did, I noticed something odd. There was no noise. The hotel was covered in silence. It was even quieter than hotels normally were. It was complete and utter silence. I felt like we were walking through an old abandoned building. Humans created a certain level of noise simply by being in the area. That noise was missing.

“With Matsukai Hiroshi’s cover blown, the others may have decided there is no point in continuing their act.”

“So all the workers are working with that Matsukai guy?”

“Yes, but those workers probably aren’t the actual hotel staff.”

We arrived at the front desk on the first floor. No one was there. However, Mai and Enbi were looking at something else. It was the large diagram of the hotel set up behind the front desk.

“If this was all set up from the beginning and they took some large-scale preparations, where do you think they would hide the unneeded hotel workers?” said Mai.

“They might have already taken the bodies elsewhere,” pointed out Enbi.

“It’s entirely possible, but even that would not get rid of every trace. They had no reason to get rid of everything. If they were going to go around erasing every trace including fingerprints and bloodstains, it would be simpler to quickly build an entirely new hotel. And that would make sure they didn’t miss anything.”

“The boiler room.”

“What?”

Mai frowned and Enbi explained further.

“There were probably somewhere between 50 and 100 workers, right? If they were going to carry the bodies out, it would be difficult to do so as is. Not only is there the simple size issue, but if they got pulled over for a random drunk driving check, that would be the end for them. It would be safer to transport the bodies after changing their form. If you get pulled over for speeding or drunk driving, they aren’t going to check the composition of the ash in a bag of fertilizer.”

“Even in this large plain, they couldn’t exactly have burned them outdoors. I suppose it would be safest if they could get the needed firepower indoors.”

“It’s possible they filled a bathtub with powerful acid, but transporting that dangerous liquid here would be a risk in and of itself. Also, you can’t just dump the entire body in there like in movies. If you try to dissolve too much at once, the chemical reaction grows too violent and the acid scatters everywhere and it creates a lot of smoke. It would be way too much of a pain to chop that many people up and dissolve them bit by bit. I say burning them to ashes would have been their safest method.”

Safest. It made me shudder to imagine it, but this was a world where that kind of thing was normal. I couldn’t allow myself to be swallowed up by it. I had to preserve my sense of myself. I had stepped into this territory of my own will.

The diagram had the entrance to the boiler room labeled with the warning color meaning it was off limits. It looked like we had to head down a staircase to the basement. We headed for that staff-only area and approached that staircase.

The entrance to the staircase was sealed with a thick door.

Mai opened the metal door and then…

“Uncle!!”

I heard someone shout. I frantically turned around and spotted Shinobu running around a corner of the hallway. He seemed unharmed. But before I could breathe a sigh of relief, the situation took a strange turn. Shinobu glared at Mai as he approached.

“Get away from her!! Don’t even think about trying to arrest her. The way she killed that guy wasn’t normal at all!!”

“Ah…”

''Not good.

Shinobu was mistaken about something. But it was not whether Mai was good or bad that he was mistaken about. It was that he had any chance of stopping Mai even if he made clever enough decisions.

In the end, Shinobu grabbed a fire extinguisher.

I could not blame him for trying to defend himself, but it only made the situation worse.

It was unclear if Shinobu actually had it in him to attack her.

Either way, Mai did not hesitate. When someone who may or may not be an enemy approached you like that, it was obvious how you should deal with the situation.

In the next instant, something happened.

Due to my police training, I knew a bit of judo and kendo, but I could not keep up with what happened. This was partially due to the pure speed with which the actions were taken, but the types of actions were also well beyond what I expected.

And…

“Whoops.”

That was the first thing Mai said. Her voice sounded completely relaxed. She spoke when she looked in the direction she had thrown Shinobu. I looked over as well…and then I shouted out.

He flew through the door leading to the boiler room.

My nephew’s body fell down the staircase and into the darkness.

===Part 17 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

“Gh!?

::::::::::::::::::::Gah!

:::::::::::Geh!?

:::Gweh!”

My head spun. I could not tell up from down. I could see a cold, concrete wall in my dim vision. Where was I? A flickering fluorescent light illuminated a wide area filled with pipes and a steel-box-like device about the size of a small storage room. At first glance, I couldn’t figure out what it was for, but the pipes had analog meters on them. The paint was peeling and I saw rust in places, so the area looked quite different from the rest of the hotel. It looked like something from an old factory or prison.

I had fallen down the stairs.

By the time I realized that, I also realized my hand on the floor was touching something sticky.

At first I thought my head had split open, but it wasn’t blood on my fingers.

It was something black and oil-like.

“What…is this place…?”

I glanced around despite my hazy vision, but then heard footsteps.

They were coming from above.

Was someone coming down the staircase?

“Gh…Ghhhh!!”

I frantically tried to move away from the stairs, but I felt intense pain the instant I tried to use my muscles. None of my bones seemed broken, but I needed time before I could move. I did not think the pain would go away anytime soon, but I wanted time to get used to it.

While I lay almost unmoving on the floor, a voice spoke from up the stairs.

“Okay, I really didn’t expect for that to happen. Sorry about that. But I need to make sure we’re safe before I check your injuries. Just stay there for now.”

''What are you talking about? Check my injuries? Safe? You’re the one that caused all this.

I wanted to say that out loud, but I could not get the words out because a pain throbbed in my head at irregular intervals. Meanwhile, the woman made it down the stairs. The instant her feet touched the cold floor, I felt a chill run down my spine and pain exploded within me, but the woman unexpectedly walked right around me. It looked no different from someone walking around a puddle along the road.

“So this is the boiler room. Wow, this is horrible. We don’t exactly need to check for a luminol reaction.”

''Boiler? No, wait. Luminol? Isn’t that what you use to check for bloodstains? You just need to rub it with a cloth to get a reaction.

The woman headed further into the darkness that the half-functioning fluorescent light could not completely do away with.

“This must be the inspection opening for maintenance. It’s a decent size. You could probably fit a human inside. Oh, there’s even some hair left over.”

I decided to not worry about my questions and to focus on moving...but first I needed to grow accustomed to the pain. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I could tell this was a much too dangerous place to be. That woman herself was dangerous, but her words were filled with a dangerous atmosphere. Who was the real enemy here? Was it someone other than that woman? Or was that woman involved in it all?

I tried to move.

…And it worked.

Either the emergency situation had dulled my senses or my mind was simply growing duller overall. Either way, the sharp pain that had been stabbing into my head changed into something more feverish. The fact that my body’s SOS signals were dulling was not exactly a good thing, but I could hardly be picky at the moment. I pressed my hands against the floor and lifted my upper body up into a kneeling position.

I then moved toward the staircase.

I didn’t care what it took. It was too dangerous to stay where I was. I headed for the staircase.

“Ow.”

I placed a hand against the wall and stood the rest of the way up. I turned around, but that woman seemed to still be checking things out deeper within the boiler room. I headed up the staircase on shaky legs. I moved slowly. I made sure to make as little noise as possible. It may have been safer to crawl up the stairs on all fours. That was how much my vision was shaking.

The woman did not pursue me.

Had she still not noticed me or was she letting me go?

I couldn’t tell. My mind was not clear enough to determine her intentions and possibly use them against her. I didn’t care if it was the bed in my hotel room or the futon in my home. I just wanted to get back up to ground level and find somewhere to sleep.

I then arrived at the 1st floor.

But I realized something was wrong.

“…What…?”

It was quiet. Too quiet. This was the silence of a room after a TV showing a variety program filled with high-pitched laughter was suddenly switched off. That silence made me realize again that I was the only one in the room. Silence, silence, silence. Something was missing. Something important was missing. The hotel was wrapped in an unnatural silence that could not be achieved simply by holding your breath and staying still.

Wait.

Where had they gone?

“All of the hotel workers were replaced. They have all disappeared now that we found out. That is why everything feels so unnaturally silent.”

All of a sudden, the woman was standing next to me.

I had no idea when she had come up the stairs.

But that was not the most pressing issue on my mind.

Another issue was more important than how that woman had gotten within a meter of me.

“''Where are they?''”

“Who?”

“''My uncle and that girl were here before! I’m asking you where they are!''”

“They probably went to find a first aid kit after seeing what happened to you.”

Something wasn’t adding up. I couldn’t figure out if she was playing dumb or not. But it didn’t matter. I ran away from the woman and down the hotel hallway.

I had to find them first.

They had to be around here somewhere!

An unrealistic possibility floated up in the back of my mind: What if they had simply disappeared as if swallowed up by the silence and I could not find them no matter what I did?

But that nightmarish possibility did not come true.

Unfortunately, what I did find was much, much worse.

===Part 18 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

Time seemed to be torn into pieces. Or maybe it was my memories. Either way, the timeline of events was in complete disarray. When I tried to remember it later, it seemed all mixed up. Every individual scene was burned vividly into my mind, but I could not reconstruct the order in which I saw them.

The scenes were more than just images.

An oppressive stench of blood hanging in the air. A burnt taste mixed in with the air when I breathed. A noise that hurt my ears. A sticky, melting feeling. It was all in the past, but whenever it periodically came back to me, I was inundated by layer after layer of sensations.

It all felt crazy.

The middle-school-aged girl who had been with my uncle was in the restaurant kitchen. No, she was collapsed within it. Collapsed on top of the gas stovetop. I could hear a noise that sounded like Chinese food being prepared. Her cute face was burnt black beyond recognition, the slender lines of her body had been fused with her clothing, and almost everything else about her was just ''horribly wrong'' as well. Only her right arm hanging down had escaped the flames. Their relative normalcy made the rest of her seem that much more horrible.

Who had done that to her?

I had no time to think.

Kotemitsu Madoka was hanging within the hotel lobby. She was hanging down from the ceiling like a chandelier. I could hear a creaking noise as she swayed back and forth at the perfect height to hide ''a triangular-shaped diagram on the back wall of the lobby''. At first, I thought she had been hanged, so I wondered if it was possible to save her. But I was wrong. She was hanging from a thick hook meant to catch Pacific bluefin tuna weighing over 200 kilograms. It was hooked into her upper jaw just as it was designed to. I could not see where the tip of the hook went, but it was obvious not enough room was left in her head for its proper contents. Her eyes. Both eyeballs were bulging out to an unbelievable degree. It looked like they were being pushed out from inside. Her face had been destroyed. It was much too tragic a fate for a teenage girl.

Had that woman done this?

But was it even possible? It was much too complex. She had been too far away. At the very least, that girl with my uncle had been alive when that woman had knocked me down the stairs. She had come down the stairs after me almost immediately afterwards.

[[Image:Zashiki_v01_325.png|thumb]]

I headed off to search for that woman. Perhaps I was trying to find the truth. Perhaps I was trying to run away from the reality of those corpses. I didn’t care. That woman had to have more information than I did. She had to. Whether she was the cause of all this or not, she had to know more than a high school student like me.

I had to find her and get her to tell me what she knew.

That was my plan.

When I returned to the entrance to the boiler room, the door was half open for some reason. I peered inside and saw that woman collapsed halfway down the stairs. She was lying on her back. She had no head. It did not look like her head had been severed with a sharp blade. The wound looked odd. It made me imagine someone trying to pull off the head of a toy doll, failing, and being forced to twist the neck around until it finally gave way. When I saw her arms and legs continuing to spasm, I felt a bit relieved because I mistakenly thought she might still be alive. But then it hit me.

How could she be alive if she has no head?

How could she be alive with all that blood gushing from the wound?

When I realized her limbs were merely writhing around on their own due to the rapid blood loss, I finally accepted that she was dead. I accepted it. But…what did that mean?

Wasn’t that woman supposed to hold the truth of the situation?

Wasn’t she supposed to either be the source of it all or at the very least be the closest person I knew to the core of it all?

Either way, she was the least normal of the people I knew.

However, she was not the very top.

''…What can I hope to do?

That fundamental question came to mind. It didn’t matter if I knew the truth or not. If I knew a typhoon was about to hit landfall, could I do anything to change its path? I was nothing but a high school student. There was nothing I could do but hang up a Teru Teru Bouzu. It was possible someone with real authority might be able to send out a bomber to disseminate special chemicals into the air to physically change the atmospheric pressure, but that was nothing but a fantasy for someone like me. It was just a story. It had nothing to do with the reality I had to face. I wasn’t in a position to even know if there was anything that could be done, much less whether a specific method was possible.

Only those in pursuit needed to know the truth.

And I did not stand in that position.

I could not hope to do anything with the information. And any information I did get was less likely to give me a detailed view of the situation than it was to narrow my field of vision and keep me from being able to keep track of the entire situation.

It was possible the best term for my position was “victim”.

By the time I found my uncle, all my senses had numbed over. He was in one of the guest rooms. I had no idea if it had been his room or not. Both of his legs had been severed, and his neck was awkwardly caught on a broken window frame. He had been slowly and gradually strangled to death. A normal hanging provided a quick death from pressure on the carotid artery and the destruction of the cervical vertebrae, but he had not been so lucky. His had been a painful death. He would have been able to ensure a slight passage for breath by supporting his body on the ends of his severed legs which would have earned him 10 to 15 minutes of painful struggling…but I had lost the calm needed to figure even that much out.

My mind was beginning to break down.

I could feel it happening.

The number of murders and bodies alone should have left some kind of hint, but I could figure nothing out. Even if there was some clue to be found, that was a job for a detective. The lack of any source of information was so sudden that I could not even begin to think about looking for any further hint.

What had happened to the other guests?

What had happened to the other workers?

I was not calm enough to think through all of those questions. My breathing grew erratic. My mind was not functioning properly.

''Utter annihilation. Complete slaughter. How much time has passed since the incident in the restaurant? I’ve lived for about a decade and a half. If pitfalls of this magnitude exist in life, how did I manage to live as long as I have?

''…Wait.

“Something’s sticking in the back of my mind. …What is it?”

Where had I felt that feeling before? I sensed something odd about the string of words that had passed through my head.

''How much time? …No, that isn’t it. Restaurant? …No, not that either. Oh, right. My overall impression of the situation.

''Utter annihilation.

''Complete slaughter.

Those terms were not accurate. And not simply because I had survived. Someone else had escaped. This was not utter annihilation nor was it a complete slaughter. At the very last, there was someone else I had not checked on yet.

Yes.

That’s right.

“…The Zashiki Warashi…?

The cracks of that odd feeling spread. Things were not adding up. It was not simply that the Zashiki Warashi was not present. For example, I could not remember the order in which the tragedies had happened. What about the blood? Had it started drying as time passed? That should tell me in what order the bodies had been made. And yet I still had no idea. Hadn’t every scene been dripping with blood like something from a movie or a drama?

I began to head back the way I had come.

I wanted to check to see if what I had seen was still in the same place

But then…

Someone struck me roughly on the right shoulder.

I thought someone behind me was trying to stop me.

But I was wrong.

“Hey, are you all right?”

That female voice came from directly in front of me.

The voice belonged to that woman who should have been dead.

===Part 19 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

Just as the feeling that something was not quite right grew too powerful to ignore, I sensed something that destroyed the unnatural silence. It was a noise. The noise of a human being other than myself. That noise had returned. It was faint and the hotel as a whole was still wrapped in silence, but I could sense another living being nearby.

At first, it came from directly in front of me.

The woman who had stabbed Matsukai-san in the restaurant was peering at my face.

“W-wahh!?’

“What did you see? You weren’t bewitched or something, were you?”

Bewitched. When I heard that term that was usually seen in fairy tales, I started to question why I had not thought of that possibility before. When faced with an unrealistic phenomenon, wasn’t it likely some kind of unrealistic existence was involved?

In other words…

A Youkai.

“You…you…”

“What?”

“I thought you died in the boiler room…”

“So you did see something.”

It looked like the woman was about to ask me for details, but she suddenly stopped.

She stopped because of another noise.

Just a moment before, noise had brought me calm, but this noise was unpleasant. It continued at even intervals, so it had to be something like footsteps.

However, it was completely different from any footsteps I had ever heard before.

It sounded like someone crushing rotten fish underfoot.

Something liquefied was slowly approaching.

But from where?

I could hear the noise coming from beyond the slight darkness left by the dim lighting, but I could not tell what was causing it. And why was the lighting so dim? It may have been night, but a hotel hallway should have been more properly lit. What was this blindness that seemed to be oozing across the area?

“Not good.”

I never saw her pull it out, but the woman now had an automatic pistol that fit within her palm. Its small size seemed a waste with the plastic-bottle-sized suppressor attached.

''Is that…real?

I had never before seen a real gun other than a hunting rifle, but I doubted she would be pulling out a toy at a time like this.

“This really isn’t good. It took me this long to grasp what was truly going on. …By the way, do you know what this is, boy?”

“I’m not obsessed with guns, so I can’t recognize a specific handgun.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

It was then that I finally noticed something.

Despite her calm expression, I could see sweat on her brow.

That woman was sweating nervously.

“If I have to rely on this, I have 80% lost already. I may be a bit biased, but I would say I am quite useful. I am at least useful enough to frequently receive jobs from Hyakki Yakou. But that doesn’t mean I am invincible or that there is no one more powerful than me. There are people I would lose to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think one such dangerous person is about to appear here. This is very, very bad. This goes beyond an evil spirit. That bastard calls in an illness demon like calling in an aerial bombing via GPS. I would say this is on the same level as some noble’s grudge that can destroy an entire city. This isn’t a force you use to target individuals…”

I did not understand the entire second half of what she said. She may not have gathered her thoughts properly. This person and situation had caused that woman to fall into such great confusion. At first, I thought this was a continuation of that possible illusion of unknown origin, so I started to panic.

The woman tossed me something while staring into the slight darkness.

''A radio? A cell phone? No, this is…

“It’s a satellite phone. They aren’t very common in Japan, but surely you’ve seen them in movies and foreign dramas. You can make calls without using the local cell phone towers.”

“Are you telling me to call the police?”

“I sincerely hope this is a situation small enough for them to handle. But I doubt it is.” She still did not look in my direction. “0015. That will unlock it. Then it works just like a normal cell phone. You have to enter the country code at the start, but you don’t have to worry about it as long as you use one of the numbers in memory. …One of the numbers is registered under the name ‘Hyakki Yakou’. Once you call them, ''all the characters involved will finally be gathered''.”

“Characters involved…? What do you mean!? What is happening in this hotel!? Why did you stab Matsukai-san!? What was that strange illusion I saw!? I can’t tell what is real anymore!!”

“The scale of this incident is much larger than just this hotel!”

“Wha-…?”

“Just go. If you saw what I can guess you saw, you are probably the only one who can resolve this incident. It is only you, the amateur, that can do this; not me, the expert! I don’t like it, but I have to leave my life in your hands!!”

“Wait. Wait! I don’t understand. What happened to my uncle and that other girl!? What about Madoka!?”

“The detective and my little sister have already fled! That is why I am in such a bind here. I haven’t seen Kotemitsu Madoka. But the things you saw have probably not ''yet'' happened!!”

The wet footsteps approached another step.

The noise did not sound at all human to me.

The woman seemed to overreact.

“Go!! If you stay here, you will undoubtedly die. Not even I will last long. So use that satellite phone to its fullest! As I said before, you are probably the only one who can!!”

“Dammit…”

I didn’t understand what was going on, but I gave in to my desire to flee from those strange footsteps. The woman stayed where she was. It wasn’t normal to be able to stand up to that. Was courage really the right term for the source of her willpower?

The woman remained while I ran down the hallway. I fled.

If what I had seen before was an illusion, then Madoka, my uncle, and that other girl would still be alive. I decided to check their rooms. And I had to check on the Zashiki Warashi.

As I ran, I thought about what that illusion could have been.

In all likelihood, it had to do with a Youkai. But I could not figure out what Youkai it could have been related to. And had it really been nothing but an illusion?

If so, that was fine.

A mental illusion that you entered at some unknown point was certainly frightening, but it was not hopeless.

But there was another possibility…

“If that was a vision of the future, this could hardly be worse…”

And there were Youkai that could do that. For example, the Kudan. The Kudan was a dangerous Youkai with the head of a human and the body of a cow that did nothing but predict people’s deaths. If this was a Package using one of those, I could not ignore that illusion.

And that woman had mentioned something about an illness demon that could probably kill all of us at the predicted time.

I could not quite figure out what advantage the illusion gave, but it had to have taken a fair amount of preparation to cause that mysterious phenomenon. They would not have set it all up for no reason. They had some objective. If I could figure out what that was, I would likely find the key to unlocking the mysteries of this incident.

With that key, I could figure out who would gain the most from it.

And I could figure out what Youkai was being used.

“…Huh?”

I realized something upon reaching the front desk of the hotel.

I may have figured out a one portion of the enemy’s identity.

I knew of a Youkai that would hint at a dangerous future.

I knew of a Youkai that could change how it appeared to humans.

===Part 20 (Zashiki Warashi - Yukari)===

Due to that strange woman going nuts in the restaurant, I still had not eaten dinner. My annoyance was growing. Madoka had not said anything for a while. She may have been worried about Shinobu, but I could not be sure because Zashiki Warashi unfortunately did not have the ability to read minds.

Someone started knocking violently on the door. Was it Shinobu? He had given me the key, so he had no way to open the door. I looked through the peephole and spotted someone unexpected. It was Uchimaku Hayabusa. He had some girl I did not recognize with him. The Sunekosuri from before stood at the girl’s feet. He had called it a sad instinct, but I had a feeling his personal preferences played a part in it. At any rate, it was strange indeed for Uchimaku Hayabusa to come to me. Then again, it might have been Shinobu he was looking for.

I cracked the door open with the door guard still closed.

As expected, Uchimaku Hayabusa’s entire body jumped in shock when he saw my face through the gap. But he did not stop there. He spoke to me like something was pushing him forward.

“Are you okay?”

“You say that like something dangerous is going on.”

I had an idea what it might be.

After all, I had witnessed a man getting stabbed in the restaurant.

The girl cut in.

“You arrived with Madoka, right? Do you know where she is? She wasn’t in her room.”

“She’s in here with me.”

“Shinobu…hasn’t come by yet, has he?”

“I haven’t seen him since he went off to contact the police. Since he isn’t back, he must not have had much luck.”

“The police?”

“Because he saw a murder.”

“Dammit, Mai. Has she still not released Shinobu?”

“Hey,” I cut in. “You seem quite used to this kind of odd situation.”

“Well, I am a police detective.”

“Not you. The girl next to you.”

“Unfortunately, I am even more used to being around corpses than the detective.”

The Sunekosuri at her feet jumped in shock when he heard those easily-spoken words. He continued to rub up against her slender legs, so in a way, he did have guts.

Something was bothering me, so I asked about it.

“So is this incident related to Youkai?”

“Um, well…maybe. Just the other day, the detective and I were caught in the middle of a Package on Zashou Island that used Funa Yuurei.”

“What about the Sunekosuri?”

“Eh!? M-me? I haven’t done anything!! It was all Hishigami Mai-san’s doing!! It’s her fault that I had to live through that nightmare and couldn’t return to HQ! And just when I think I can rest here in Fuuka Village, we run into them again!!”

''Hmm…

''And then you add in Shinobu, Madoka, and me.

I hadn’t realized it at first, but their oddly casual acceptance of this strange situation was bringing me a gradual understanding of what was going on. If a normal person saw a murder, they would fall into a confused panic. It was not normal for them to even be able to put their thoughts in order. So when they were faced with something beyond that, they should have had their hands full simply trying not to be swept away by the nonsensical phenomena occurring before their eyes. And yet these people were different. Everyone gathered here had experienced some incident related to Youkai recently.

And I was a last-minute inclusion as a pet.

If some third party had predicted that far, it had to be an organization with quite a powerful backbone. When I had demanded to go along, Shinobu did not even have his ticket yet. He had merely mentioned the term “ticket”. Intentionally drawing out that feeling of jealousy from within me would have been much more difficult to set up than the little tricks they had to pull regarding the hotel itself. And if they had guided every person here in a similar manner, their skill could almost be called a curse.

To freely control things to that extent, the scope of this incident had to stretch farther than just this hotel. At the very least, it had to cover all of Japan.

But…

What was this third party planning to do by gathering people who had dealt with incidents related to Youkai?

===Part 21 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

While I waited for the elevator in the elevator hall, I messed with the satellite phone the woman had given me.

Its antenna was extremely thick and the body was unrefined. It looked more like a large radio transceiver than it did a cell phone. 0015. After I entered the number she had told me would unlock it, I could tell it was quite easy to use. You could make calls and send emails. That was it. It did not even have a memo function. However, she must have been the type to delete any kind of records because the mailbox was empty.

I opened the address book and found a few numbers.

None of the names looked like names of people. Nor did they look like the names of corporations. They looked more like names of groups or organizations, but I did not recognize any of them.

I moved the cursor to one of them.

The name for the number was Hyakki Yakou.

The last of the “characters involved”.

Even with this satellite phone, I doubted I could contact them repeatedly. If they hung up, it would likely all be over. It all came down to the first call. If they thought I was of little consequence, this last thin strand of hope would disappear.

But…

I had never met this person (?) listed as Hyakki Yakou.

And…

If I had some connection with someone I had never met, I could only think of one place that connection could come from.

After all…

It did not necessarily stay in one place. It had no clear owner. The possibility of having it leave you was always there. And since it was well known what happened in such a possibility, the odds of that possibility could not be all that low.

And so it was entirely possible Hyakki Yakou and I had a connection there.

“…”

I brought my thumb to the call button.

I hesitated.

But I pressed it in the end.

It did not ring. It likely would have normally, but someone on the other end picked up before it had a chance

“Hello,” said someone who sounded like an elementary school girl.

However, her voice had a gracefulness unbefitting of that age.

I had never met her, but I felt like I had heard the voice before…and then I realized I had heard that same voice in a cell phone home video not long before.

“You need not pretend to be Hishigami Mai. I already know that phone has left her possession.”

She “knew”.

Was it simply that she had seen it happen? Or had she set this all up so it would happen?

“I know how we are connected.”

“Is that all you wish to discuss?”

“The Zashiki Warashi,” I said.

I decided to get straight to the point rather than trying any tricks.

I guessed the sudden shock of that knowledge would provide the most impact.

“A Zashiki Warashi is a Youkai that protects a specific house, but there is no guarantee they will stay in one place. After all, it is well known that a household a Zashiki Warashi leaves will decline. I have no idea what house she…Yukari used to be in. I just assumed she had always been in mine. But it is possible she used to be with yours.”

“Is that a problem?”

“I know what it is that happened to me just a bit ago. It makes perfect sense. A Zashiki Warashi has the following abilities: 1. Adults cannot see them. 2. They provide ominous predictions of fires or other dangers to their household.”

Then again, my grandparents could see our Zashiki Warashi without issue and I had never heard anything about her predicting a fire.

But…

That was an issue with our specific Zashiki Warashi. Those facts held true for the species as a whole.

“They can rewrite the information people see and they provide information on coming dangers. …That fits perfectly with the illusion I saw. What happened in this hotel? If what the woman who gave me this phone said is true, all of the workers here have been switched out with fakes. You created a Package to acquire that Zashiki Warashi, didn’t you?”

“Is that all you know?”

“What?”

“I am asking if that is the extent of your knowledge. If so, I am sorry to say that I see no reason why I must continue this conversation.”

“If luring the Zashiki Warashi to this hotel was your top priority…”

I thought hard while I spoke.

But it was not enough.

I had my hands full already, but if I did not gather my hand quickly, I would lose the thin thread of hope that was the phone call.

“The lodging ticket for this hotel came to me via Madoka. That seems odd. Surely you had some way of giving one directly to the Zashiki Warashi.”

“I am sorry to say that-…”

“It seems odd that you would use such a roundabout method. For one thing, it means you had the precision to know for a fact she would announce she was going along as a pet. But that isn’t the only reason. If you can control people with that precision, you should have been able to lure the Zashiki Warashi to the hotel without bringing Madoka and me along too. And that means,” I paused for a second. “''You purposefully brought Madoka and me here. Our inclusion was unrelated to the Zashiki Warashi''.”

In my mind, I wondered if that was enough. However, I did not have time to think everything through carefully. If I fell silent, the girl would hang up. But I still felt like I was onto something.

“And that makes me suspicious of the guests other than Madoka and me. Is it just a coincidence that they are here too? Is there perhaps some kind of common thread between all of our inclusions? There is little in common between Madoka and me. Assuming we were not chosen for being in the same class in the same school, I can think of only one other possibility. …We were both involved in the Youkai incident at the Sanatorium.”

“Are you suggesting the other guests are also deeply related to Packages or Youkai?”

“I have no proof, but I could gather it if need be.”

“What could we possibly want from gathering all of you in one place?”

“You gathered a group of people who had overcome some incident involving Youkai and then caused a bizarre phenomenon centered on that Zashiki Warashi.”

That illusion.

Other than its precision, I could not immediately see any monetary value in that bizarre phenomenon.

But that was not the point.

The actual phenomenon did not matter. Something that gave it added value existed within the hotel.

“Here is what you are doing. You want to envelop the entire hotel in the Zashiki Warashi Package, and then easily defeat and kill us. That would be a success for you. I suppose it’s an issue of flexibility. By showing that this Package is something like an unavoidable black hole that swallows up even people who have dealt with various different kinds of incidents, ''you give your Package a valuable brand name image.''”

That’s right.

It was the same as an Intellectual Village that strengthened the brand name image of their crops by using cutting edge technology to create the clean image of a rural area.

Hyakki Yakou was doing the same.

They had put together this plan to raise the value of their Youkai products.

What I did not know was whether they were actually in the business of buying and selling or if they were establishing manufacturing techniques and researching means of application.

“…So you have worked that much out,” said the girl.

“Indeed I have.”

“But I still see little meaning in continuing this conversation. You have not completely changed my mind. This may be useful to you, but I see no value in it for me.”

“Don’t be so quick to decide that. That woman gave me this satellite phone. She could have tried to negotiate with you or threaten you, but she didn’t. She handed this last thin thread of hope to me. Why do you think that is?”

“…”

“Because it is my house’s Zashiki Warashi at the core of this incident. I am the point of contact here. I have no intention of claiming I own her and she may have been in your household at one point. But I am probably the one with the strongest connection to her at this point in time. It isn’t you.”

“Do you think you can interfere with our assembly using that connection?”

“Do you think I can’t?”

''…

That was of course a bluff. I did not have that ability and this “connection” was not something tangible. I had no idea how valuable a thing it was. Also, I doubted this enemy would actually take a high school student’s words seriously.

But…

While my personal actions were one thing, I doubted that girl could ignore what that woman did.

And she had given the satellite phone to me.

“…We need a revival,” said the girl.

“What?”

“For the most part, the organization actually taking action in the hotel is Saishi Kajin, not Hyakki Yakou. Does the name Matsukai Hiroshi sound familiar? They were absorbed into Hyakki Yakou the other day. We had to weaken them during the incident in Ubasute Village to do so. However, it was still not enough. We are still far from being revived. We need more than that.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The house a Zashiki Warashi leaves will decline. That is exactly right. It took hundreds of years, but that is what happened to Hyakki Yakou. That is why we put together a plan to recover her as quickly as possible. She is not a new acquisition. We are merely taking back what we once lost. But even if we compensate for our lost power with her, it will not be enough to stop the decline. Hyakki Yakou has already begun to collapse. That is why we must use everything we have to raise the value of the Zashiki Warashi’s power.”

“Answer me!! What are you talking about!?”

“If you actually knew what you were talking about, what I said should have been enough. If that was not enough for you, I will count you as a secure asset.”

''Not good.

''Don’t let her shake your resolve.

“That woman was fighting with someone other than the Zashiki Warashi. Did you send them?”

“He is one of our top 5. He is one of Hyakki Yakou’s few pure spell users. That alone is a sign of our decline, but he is enough to defeat Hishigami Mai. This is another secure asset. Even if she defeats him, he will take her out in the process. The Zashiki Warashi will not be destroyed before this can truly begin.”

''Dammit.

I was understanding less and less of what she was talking about. And the girl’s tone of voice was plainly changing as well. The longer she continued speaking, the shallowness of my knowledge grew more evident.

I knew very little of what was going on.

The household or organization known as Hyakki Yakou had begun to decline. One of the reasons for that was that the Zashiki Warashi had left them. They wished to retrieve that Zashiki Warashi to prevent further decline.

But that was not enough to know how to stop their plan.

She was shaking my resolve, but I had nothing to shake her resolve with.

''…No.

''Wait.

''What did that girl say?

''And what did that woman say before we parted? She said she frequently receives jobs from Hyakki Yakou, right?

''So…

“It is my duty to bring about the revival of Hyakki Yakou,” said the girl.

Her words were icy.

She knew I had no trump card and would soon hang up.

“I will not shy away from sacrifice to do so. We absorbed Saishi Kajin, we will retrieve the Zashiki Warashi…and you all will be crushed underfoot to play the role of fertilizer. Sorry, but you cannot overturn this. I see nothing at your disposal that would allow that.”

“Can I say one thing before you hang up?”

“What would that be?”

An amateur student like me had no hopes of victory when it came to Youkai or underground society.

I had to change my strategy.

I had to use some method where a student like me was superior.

“Young lady, you may be an expert when it comes to Youkai, but you don’t like your science classes much, do you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s just…I’d rather not die in some plan thought up by an idiot who can’t do math. I was hoping you would deny it. If I’m going to die, can’t it at least be in some plan thought up by a genius!?”

“What…? Oh, I had heard that it used to be called science class. We call it ‘life environment studies’, and I like it just fine. Combining traditional science with history into one class was a decent idea, wasn’t it? Then again, I just learn from the textbooks. I am homeschooled.”

“Ha ha.”

I could not help but laugh.

I had been afraid my acting wouldn’t be good enough to fool her.

“Did they still call it ‘life environment studies’ when they were talking about curriculum reform, getting rid of the more relaxed schedules, and maybe even going to school on weekends for more class time? I thought they changed it back to just science class then.”

The girl fell silent.

I then began speaking again to cut off her next excuse.

“And even the textbooks a homeschooled elementary school student would use will match the categories of the official curriculum. Once the schools stop calling it ‘life environment studies’, they would start making textbooks just for science. Wait…or would they? Which would it be?”

To be honest, a high school student like me had no idea how things worked for an elementary school student.

No matter how much knowledge someone gathered, there were things that only someone who was actually that age would know. And yet the person on the other end of the phone remained silent. They may have had extensive knowledge, but their confidence had been shaken by a student like me.

And that meant…

My guess had been right.

With the confidence that gave me, I took the plunge.

“How about you end this act. It’s no fun now that I’ve figured it out.”

“…”

“Was that not enough? ''You’re embarrassing yourself, so how about you start acting your age.''”

I said it.

It was a natural question to come up with given everything that had happened. Was the person I was talking to actually the person that woman had wanted me to contact with the satellite phone?

To be blunt, wasn’t it possible she had been switched out with an imposter just like the hotel workers?

“Ha ha ha.”

And…

I heard laughter. The voice was the same. It was the voice of a lovely young girl. But something about the tone of the voice had changed. The tone was that of a rude and vulgar man.

“Ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

“Enough pretending. It’s not like I can see you through the phone.”

“What tipped you off? That science vs. life environment studies business had to have only been the final push. You must have some more fundamental proof,” said the girl (?) while she gradually corrected the emotions hidden behind the words.

My answer was simple.

“That woman said she frequently receives jobs from Hyakki Yakou. And yet she did not hesitate to stab that worker from Saishi Kajin…Matsukai-san was it? That makes no sense if they had already been taken in by Hyakki Yakou. At the very least, she wouldn’t kill him on sight like that.”

“That is not proof. So all you really had was speculation.”

She did not explain what the fault in my reasoning was. Perhaps I did not have a proper understanding of the organization of Hyakki Yakou or of that that woman’s actions.

“But I will admit that you have seen through this farther than expected. Hyakki Yakou has split. Once side is the Kaikoku faction that compromises and allows those outside the organization to take jobs in order to preserve order, and the other side is the Sakoku faction that will abandon order in order to strengthen the organization and keep everything within the organization.<ref>Kaikoku means “open country” and Sakoku means “locked country”. Sakoku primarily refers to the extreme isolationist policies of Japan during the Tokugawa shogunate with Kaikoku being the opposite.</ref> The actual ‘removal’ did not begin until about a week ago, so it is unknown if Hishigami Mai is aware of the situation as she was working in Europe at the time.”

One side was trying to protect order and the other was trying to destroy it.

From the situation, it seemed clear to me which one was our enemy.

In the ideal democracy, the majority did not have power robbed from them.

“For something you planned, you certainly are talking about it like it doesn’t matter.”

“What, do you want me to be more triumphant and to brag about it? Gwa ha ha ha ha. All we did was purge the incompetent leaders.”

“…I see. You saw crushing them as such a natural move that it does not even excite you and you do not feel any need to explain yourself. Are you even aware what you did qualifies as a coup d’etat?”

In a way, this was even more dangerous than a hackneyed demon king.

Didn’t I hear someone say that a sense of justice can destroy nations?

“What happened to the real Hyakki Yakou? What happened to that girl?”

“I am part of the real Hyakki Yakou. Have you ever heard the story of the Tanuki of Kachi-Kachi Mountain that killed an old lady and took on her form?”

“…”

“Just kidding. Things did not go ''that'' well. But even though we split, it was not an even split. One side is much larger than the other. And we absorbed Saishi Kajin to expand even further.”

“So you joined with an external group despite insisting on the purity of the organization?”

“We overwrote them. We merely gave them a chance for a religious conversion. Discord only occurs when differing systems are built into the organization. If they are completely remade before we use them, no rejection reaction occurs. The main principle required is a unified format.”

''…?

She was speaking with absolute confidence, but something about it seemed off to me.

Something about that ideology did not feel right.

It was like someone talking about a specific genre while not understanding any of the details of that genre. It was the same as how people would broadly describe matcha or red bean paste as tasting like Wagashi.

The Sakoku faction wanted to preserve purity by cutting off the normal flow of information and distribution, so would they actually carry out a plan that took in an external organization?

Was this girl (?) really part of the Sakoku faction?

In fact, was she even part of Hyakki Yakou?

Just as terrorist groups received support from powerful nations during the Cold War, it was possible she had merely been given her objective by whoever was truly behind the incident and that she actually had another objective of her own.

I had no idea what that might be, but I felt it would be prudent to keep that fact in mind.

Whether she had realized what I was speculating or not, the girl began to speak about what may have been related to her objective.

“The remnants of the old leaders abandoned their flying wing and have found somewhere to hide on land, but it is only a matter of time before they are found. They needed that wing to continually flee. It is self-evident what will happen if they stay in one place.”

According to her, Saishi Kajin had been overwritten by Hyakki Yakou and absorbed, but it was still possible that process had actually been begun by Saishi Kajin. Or perhaps both sides had complexly interweaving plans and they were both using the other for their own ends.

''Dammit…

This was worse than simply not being able to negotiate. The person that woman had been expecting me to contact wasn’t even there, so the conversation could not even begin.

“Is keeping anything new out of the organization really that important?”

“If you were told to try living as a nudist for 24 hours starting tomorrow, would you simply nod and agree?”

Had this girl had checkmate from the very beginning?

Was the scope of the incident much larger than that woman had thought?

“Why did you choose this hotel?”

“For one, because its layout was easy to work into our plan. ''But that is really of little consequence.'' What truly mattered was Kotemitsu Madoka. We wanted to gather every single one of the characters we needed, but we had to stick to the formalities to lure her in. This hotel gave her peace of mind. If we had created a brand new hotel for this, she would have been too suspicious to get anywhere near it. …That did mean we had to do some horrible things to the original workers. That made this quite expensive.”

Her tone made it clear it was of little consequence to her.

Even if all of us were wiped out in the process of assembling this Zashiki Warashi Package, she would likely not even bat an eye.

“But it was not a major issue since almost everything has gone according to plan. Actually, some things have gone better than planned if you look at it in the right way. Circumstance has worked in our favor.”

“What?”

“Human greed can be a frightening thing. We had initially determined it would be impossible to have complete information control. That satellite phone is a good example. That was why we simply had to accept the possibility of you calling the police in. Since we were creating bizarre phenomena that would swallow up people who had overcome other Packages, we figured the police would just be swallowed up as well.”

“Wait. So the flat tires on the cars and the phones not working wasn’t Hyakki Yakou’s doing!?”

“Thanks to that, it looks like the precision of our Zashiki Warashi assembly will increase. It isn’t an entirely good thing on our part, but…it doesn’t really matter. It will give us greater results in the end.” The girl paused for a second before saying, “And if you were not aware of that, then you truly do not have a proper understanding of this situation.”

The connection cut off.

I reached for the redial button without thinking, but did not press it. I knew trying to call again would be hopeless. She had said she “knew” what we were doing. Unless I did something that drew the interest of the current Hyakki Yakou, she would not answer the phone again.

But…

“Hyakki Yakou isn’t the only enemy. Not all of the characters are accounted for yet.”

The flat tires.

The nonfunctioning phones.

“Just how many enemies do we have here…?”

===Part 22 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)===

I first noticed that something wasn’t adding up when we decided to pool our information in the Zashiki Warashi’s room.

The Zashiki Warashi and Shinobu’s classmate Kotemitsu Madoka both gave the same story.

Shinobu had gone off somewhere to call the police. And since he had not yet returned, he must not have had much luck. They guessed the phones were not working.

But…

“Mine works,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“''My cell phone has a proper signal''.”

It was possible Shinobu had lied to them and had gone off to do something else. But it seemed that was not the case. Kotemitsu pulled out her phone to check.

“Mine doesn’t. It has no signal.”

“Detective, neither does my smartphone. Maybe it’s because we have different carriers. I don’t even have a signal for the flat-rate calls using wi-fi.”

I had a bad feeling about what this meant.

I had a good idea what could be causing it. Besides the carrier, there was one other obvious difference between my phone and theirs.

I was a police officer.

To prevent important information from getting blocked by congested phone lines in emergencies, there was a system to artificially restrict those phone lines. Cell phones owned by the police, firefighters, EMTs, the JSDF, and government workers had a different designation that was allowed through while that system was active.

And in that case…

The people cutting off communications to isolate the hotel had to be…

“It can’t be…”

I pressed the call button on my cell phone. I simply pressed the call button without entering a number. When the system was being restricted, the places that could be called were also restricted.

And someone answered.

“It connected,” I said.

“Is that enough for you to figure out who I am?” asked the person on the other end.

“If my phone works, this must not be a JSDF format communications restriction. My phone’s designation would only get through with the police format. And only the riot police have the authority to activate that system. So you must be…”

“That level of information isn’t enough to determine who I am. Of course, you could always try to back trace this number or analyze my voice print.”

“Why?” The question naturally spilled out of my mouth. “This is a high level system within the police. Why would someone high enough to use it be aiding criminals!?”

“I’m sure you know exactly why.”

“What?”

“You are the one that has seen this collapse of law and order the closest. All sorts of crimes being committed in this country can no longer be dealt with by the police. And those exceptions are growing. The very people who are committing crimes that must be punished are living among us as if they are on the side of justice.”

For an instant, I had no idea what he meant.

But then it hit me.

“Are you talking about the Hishigami sisters?”

“Our country is facing a crisis by allowing them to go free. People who know only a fraction of what they do are looking up to them and thinking they can do the same. These people have begun to appear and claim to be bounty hunters. But they are not very effective. They claim they are ‘investigating’ in order to justify stalking or explain away all sorts of destructive actions. Before long, they will likely decide who is guilty without carrying out a proper investigation and then carry out vigilante justice. We must put an end to this.”

“Is it really so obvious that these people are being influenced by them?”

“You are an excellent example.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Why are you in that hotel? Did you just decide to suddenly take 7 days of leave for fun? Would you normally let yourself do that as a government official? And yet there you are. ''You decided there was nothing you could do to stop it since the Hishigami sisters were involved, didn’t you?'' That kind of oddity is not isolated to just you.”

“But how will you fill in the gap this leaves? I will admit that those sisters don’t exactly walk the straight and narrow, but they do achieve results when it comes to cases involving Youkai. In fact, it is impossible for the current system of the Japanese police to actually destroy a Package. All we can manage is to arrest the human criminals using the Package. It is very nearly impossible for us to do anything about the deadly Youkai at the core of the case.”

That was why a Package would cause more and more damage once it was established. It would spread from person to person like new method of phone fraud.

“Unfortunately, we need the Hishigami sisters. We do not have the ability to overcome those things,” I continued.

“''But that is no reason to turn a blind eye to the Hishigami sisters''.”

He responded immediately.

He did not hesitate even for an instant.

“Our duty as the Japanese police is to stop crimes before they occur within this country and to solve cases that have already occurred. The circumstances do not matter. Even if the Hishigami sisters knew the sole way of stopping an asteroid that was on a collision course with earth, we would have no choice but to immediately arrest them if they broke the law. That is our duty as the police.”

“…So you aren’t giving this any thought at all?”

“It is because you think too much that you give into them so easily.”

“So you have nothing to fill the gap left by the Hishigami sisters!? You know the victims of Youkai-related incidents in the country will skyrocket, but you’re still going to eliminate the Hishigami sisters just because you resent them for butting into the police’s turf!?”

“We do not think we can accomplish this via normal methods. It would be very difficult to reliably eliminate the Hishigami sisters with the means available to us.”

''Dammit.

''He isn’t listening to me at all.

“But the circumstances have turned in our favor. To be honest, having an organization like that operating within the country is a major problem, but we will deal with them later. The Hishigami sisters take priority. For now, we just have to carefully interfere with a conflict between different aspects of the occult.”

“And to do this, you have no problem with killing living human beings and leaving other human beings to possibly die in the future?”

“So what if I am?”

“''Then you are one of the criminals that I detest.''”

I received no reply.

The connection suddenly cut off. I tried to dial a few emergency numbers, but I could no longer connect. My number must have been removed from the communications restriction system.

“Get away from the window. It will probably be difficult to leave this hotel.” I simply gave my conclusions to the others in the room. “This hotel is probably surrounded by riot police. Not only is there some incident related to dangerous Youkai being carried out here, but some others have come here to use it to their advantage.”

===Part 23 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

I rode the elevator to the 3rd floor. As the door opened, the satellite phone received a call.

It was from a different number than I had called before.

But when I answered, I heard the same girl’s voice.

“…Ksshh…Is this…Hishigami Mai-san…ksshh…?”

''She doesn’t know who has the phone?

''That must mean…

“Are you the real from Hyakki Yakou?”

“Who are you…ksshh..? No, that does not matter. If that phone has left Hishigami Mai’s possession, does that mean she has lost?”

I could not deny the possibility that this was the same girl (?) from before messing with me. But I could see no reason for her to do that. She had said she knew what I was doing. I didn’t see what information she would need to put on another act to get out of me.

“She gave me the phone herself. She is fighting somewhere, but I don’t know the details. What was it she said she was fighting? ...An Illness Demon, I think.”

“That member of the top 5? That is not a good matchup. It isn’t a matter of power. She is horribly incompatible with that opponent.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing…ksshh. No matter who you are, I doubt you can stand up to someone she cannot. This may sound coldhearted, but I think I need to change my plan.”

I did not like abandoning her, but it was true I couldn’t exactly turn around and help that woman.

“You must have some connection with the hotel. Either a worker or a guest. Ksshh…The Package prepared by someone ''claiming to be from'' the Sakoku faction covers the entire hotel, so I assume you are a guest if you are still there.”

The way she referred to the enemy seemed needlessly roundabout.

Had this girl also noticed something off about them?

“I am a guest. I was lured here with a free lodging ticket.”

“Then you are one of the survivors of a Youkai incident. Someone there should have a deep connection with the Zashiki Warashi in the hotel. Please contact that person. That is the only way to bring this to an end.”

And there it was.

If this girl was the same one as before, that would have been the bluff she was most worried about. My ability to interfere with the Zashiki Warashi at the core of their plan. She probably thought the odds were exceedingly low but still impossible to ignore.

To find a way to stop it, she had to get the information out of me.

The girl from Hyakki Yakou that carried out that coup d’etat had said she knew the situation here, but she could very well want to preemptively eliminate a risk.

And…

Even if this girl was who she claimed to be, she was still a member of Hyakki Yakou.

I had no idea why she had called the satellite phone. She may have had her own objective and interests that were different from the Sakoku faction’s.

And she might need the Zashiki Warashi to do it.

Either way, I had to tread carefully from here on out. So carefully that I had to hide even the fact that I was treading carefully.

“I know Hyakki Yakou is trying to retrieve the Zashiki Warashi,” I said.

“I doubt doing so has any real merit.”

“But they were saying they would be revived if the Zashiki Warashi is brought back.”

“A household does not decline because a Zashiki Warashi left. The Zashiki Warashi leaves because the household is declining. …Ksshh… That is why you often hear that misfortune falls on a household once its Zashiki Warashi leaves, but you never hear of a Zashiki Warashi coming back. Unless the people of the household solve the underlying problem in their household, fortune will not return to them.”

“So the cause is within Hyakki Yakou?”

“That should be obvious since you have been wrapped up in our issues.”

“If you aren’t after the Zashiki Warashi, what do you want us to do?”

“The only way to bring this to an end is to search out the details of the enemy’s Package and destroy it.”

“How will that bring this to an end?” I was unsure if I was succeeding in drawing information out of her, but I continued speaking anyway. “We may be able to escape from this hotel, but won’t Hyakki Yakou keep trying to acquire the Zashiki Warashi? I have no idea where you people are. Wouldn’t we be left trembling in fear of another attack with no way to fight back?”

“Why would you?”

“What?”

“If you only just so happened to meet the Zashiki Warashi here in the hotel…ksshh…why are you so worried about her continuing to be targeted once she leaves the hotel?”

''Oh, shit!!

That had not been the proper reaction for a normal guest who could just leave all this mess upon escaping the hotel. It had been the reaction of someone who would be staying with the Zashiki Warashi after escaping the hotel.

If this was the same girl as before putting on another act, then she had known who I was from the beginning.

But if this was the real girl and she was planning to use the Zashiki Warashi in some plan, it would be better if she did not know I had a connection to the Zashiki Warashi.

I needed something.

I needed anything that could explain away that reaction!!

“D-do you promise not to tell anyone?”

“Ksshh…Tell anyone what?”

“…It was love at first sight…”

“Nyah!?”

My whisper elicited a strange shout from the phone.

The girl then lowered her voice to match my whisper.

“Oh…um…Hyakki Yakou has a few records of…um…unions between humans and Youkai. Ksshh…So it is not impossible…”

''Why did this have to head in that direction?

''Well, whatever. I managed to fool her.

“How will getting rid of the Zashiki Warashi Package solve the fundamental problem? The person behind all this is comfortably watching everything from well out of our reach, right?”

“No,” said the girl decisively. “The environment surrounding you…ksshhh…spreads much farther than you think. Ksshh…And the same goes for the person claiming to be from the Sakoku faction who is circling above the Pacific Ocean.”

“?”

“They…ksshhh…have not realized it yet. They do not know how far it spread…ksshhh…after they pulled the trigger. Kssshhh…If they did, they would never have left ''that'' there with so little defense…ksshh. Ksshh…Even though it is a necessary part of the Zashiki Warashi Package, they…kkkkkkssssssssshhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Hey, what’s wrong? I can’t hear you. What do you mean by ‘that’!?”

“Kssshhh! Ksssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

The static grew so loud I had to move the satellite phone away from my ear. When I hesitantly brought it back to my ear, all I could hear was the dial tone. The screen displayed a message saying the connection had been lost.

Had the Hyakki Yakou coup d’etat group interfered?

Or had something happened to the girl directly?

“…That got me nowhere.”

I had not been able to receive whatever crucial hint that girl had. Then again, I had no way of telling whether she was telling the truth or if she was putting on an act for her own ends.

At any rate, my only option was to meet up with the Zashiki Warashi.

If that indoor Youkai was a crucial part of the Package at the core of it all, meeting up with her would likely help me figure something out.

I returned to my room and knocked on the door.

For an instant, the thought of no one answering or kicking down the door and finding a bloody scene passed through my mind, but luckily, the door opened after a slight delay. The person who opened the door must have checked through the peep hole first.

My uncle was the one who opened the door.

“Shinobu, you’re okay.”

“I want to put an end to this. Is the Zashiki Warashi there?”

My uncle headed back into the room. I followed him in. The Zashiki Warashi…was there. She was sitting on the single bed. Madoka was sitting on the floor. A girl whose name I did not know was there was well. And curled up at the Zashiki Warashi’s feet was…

''What? …A dog? No, a Sunekosuri?

“Zashiki Warashi, I need to speak with you.”

“If it’s a confession of love, wait until Christmas Eve. I’m steadily making progress on a merciless, decisive, and hilarious plan for that.”

“Damn you!! There are some things you don’t joke about!!”

She had been showing some signs of dere recently, but it looked like I needed to dig a bit deeper into that. Especially with that cold bath and nursing her back to health from before!!

“…So, Shinobu. What do you want to talk about?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but then froze in place.

The girl (?) from the Sakoku faction of Hyakki Yakou had said she “knew” what was happening here. I had no idea how she “knew”, but wouldn’t I be putting unnecessary risk on everyone in that room if I told them the core of the issue?

And the danger did not end if we escaped the hotel.

This held the danger of having that organization constantly targeting us for the rest of our lives.

I decided to tell as few people as possible.

“Let’s leave the room first.”

“?”

The Zashiki Warashi and I left the room.

Before we began speaking, the Zashiki Warashi grimaced.

“…Ow…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I have a bit of a headache.”

“Even though you’re a Youkai? I thought you couldn’t be hurt by normal methods.”

“I am not immune to things like heatstroke.”

“Come to think of it, that Yuki Onna has seemed a bit dizzy after taking a bath lately.”

“It might just be that time of the month.”

“Unfortunately, I do not think that’s it.”

“What did you want to talk about?”

“I want to ask about where you were before coming to my house.”

The Zashiki Warashi leaned up against the hallway wall, pressed her index finger to her temple, and sighed.

“I get the feeling you aren’t going to be satisfied if I just tell you I was protecting some other household.”

“The term Hyakki Yakou has come up. Does it ring any bells?”

“Shinobu.” The Zashiki Warashi quickly called my name before continuing. “In all seriousness, you might die. Even if you make use of the information I have and escape this hotel, you have no hope after that. I know staying here and not doing anything isn’t an option either, but you should think long and hard about how you plan to resolve this.”

“The very fact that I know the term Hyakki Yakou shows I’ve already gotten involved. Holding back now out of fear isn’t going to get us out of this.”

With that response, I showed I had resigned myself to this.

And I continued.

“So if I’m going to do this, I’m going to go all out. I will completely crush the enemy. I want to get back to my normal life after leaving this hotel, and I can’t do that if I hesitate to take a running start. I will jump to the other side of the cliff. If I chicken out, I will fall. The odds of success are not good to begin with, but I need a full running start to have any chance of survival.”

The Zashiki Warashi tilted her head in puzzlement.

Her long hair covered her face so I could not see it.

“Hyakki Yakou,” she whispered. And then she continued. “Hyakki Yakou has been involved in all sorts of things for a long time. And it seems one of those things involved Zashiki Warashi. Since it is in my nature to wander from house to house, I had assumed I had just happened to end up with Hyakki Yakou. But it turned out I was wrong.”

“…You mean they influenced what house you chose?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that it was odd. I still do not know what exactly happened, what they were after, or even if they succeeded or not. That is the level Hyakki Yakou has reached. The millennium-old established theories that humans cannot kill Youkai and that humans cannot understand what Youkai are thinking do not apply to that group.”

Was the true threat humans or Youkai?

Or could Hyakki Yakou even be counted as humans?

“A Zashiki Warashi moves from house to house based on the rise and fall of the households, but after I saw a portion of the things going on there, I decided to leave of my own will for the first time. …I essentially ran away, but that may show that Hyakki Yakou’s methods were imperfect. Or perhaps they were already headed down the path of destruction at that point.”

“Was it after that that you came to my house?”

“That was about 150 years ago. I had some difficulties because places for Youkai like me were decreasing rapidly thanks to the end of Edo period. I certainly never expected for those places to make a comeback in the name of ‘Intellectual Villages’.”

“And Hyakki Yakou never tried to take you back?”

“There is no point in it.”

''…?

''She makes it sound so simple…but wait. That isn’t what I heard.

“When a Zashiki Warashi like me leaves a household, it declines. At the very least, Hyakki Yakou had to have some internal trouble at the time. The stronger the household, the greater the chaos. And as I said, Hyakki Yakou was involved in many dangerous things, so there was a danger of causing a chain reaction that would destroy them utterly.”

“But Hyakki Yakou didn’t collapse. They still exist today.”

“Since I had left by that point, I can only speculate, but they probably did some insane things to get back the power they lost. It was a twisted place to begin with, but I get the feeling they have become even more twisted now.”

“What are you basing this speculation on?”

“From stories I have heard from Youkai passing by the house. Also…they are using everything they have to retrieve a Zashiki Warashi that has already left them. ''Hyakki Yakou must have transformed into something else if they do not realize the reasoning behind that is flawed''.”

“…You knew what they are trying to do?”

“From the moment you uttered the term Hyakki Yakou, Shinobu.”

The Zashiki Warashi let out a deep sigh.

Either her headache was getting worse or the problem we were facing had her worried.

“Shinobu, you said Hyakki Yakou is at the core of this. And if they are after me, Yukari, specifically rather than any old Zashiki Warashi, that has to be their aim. If their plan simply needed a Zashiki Warashi, they should have targeted one they had no previous connections to. It’s an issue of purity. I don’t know if it’s due to the good fortune or if it’s some spiritual thing, but Zashiki Warashi are welcomed in this day and age. And they are not exactly rare. I can see no good reason for them to specifically target me.”

“It ‘seems’ like Hyakki Yakou has undergone a split after a coup d’etat. But it only ‘seems’ that way. It might not be true,” I warned. “It also ‘seems’ this rampage is thanks to that. According to the group that ‘seems’ to want to bring an end to the coup d’etat, we need to figure out how this Zashiki Warashi Package works to resolve this problem. Since it ‘seems’ you are the one it’s built around, do you have any ideas or hunches?”

“That’s a lot of ‘seems’.”

“What do you think they could gain by lying about all that?”

“I don’t know.” The Zashiki Warashi seemed to be the type to not give much thought to things she did not immediately know. “Oftentimes, the Youkai a Package is built around is completely unaware of it. And in this case, Hyakki Yakou is behind it. They will have meticulously arranged the environment. It’s a miracle I am even feeling this headache.”

“…So it isn’t going to be that easy.”

“But if they have built a Package around me to create some kind of bizarre phenomenon, it would probably be related to a house or building.”

“So you’re saying the hotel itself is a part of the Package?”

“Not necessarily. Basically, they have to prepare something that perfectly corresponds to it and use that. It would be similar to magic that that uses a doll to harm a human. It could be a model of the hotel or a diagram of its layout. There should be plenty if we look. Unlike the old days, this age is quite convenient.”

''…Wait.

''Didn’t I see something like that?

''That girl said something about the core of this Package being in the hotel. Not an illustration or a piece of art, but something functional and crucial to the Package. Where had I seen it?

“…I know.”

“?”

“The diagram. The diagram of the hotel on the wall behind the front desk!!”

===Part 24 (Zashiki Warashi - Yukari)===

''The diagram of the hotel?

Hotel diagrams had to be all over the place. For example, on the inside of every room’s door. If I recalled correctly, they provided escape routes for guests in the case of different disasters. They were not required by law to be posted there, but it seemed to be standard.

And other than those escape route maps, oftentimes other diagrams would be posted to show the way to the restaurant and other services.

But…

Those diagrams did not need to be perfectly accurate. For example, the escape route maps only needed to show the way to the emergency exits. It could omit portions of a long hallway and things like that. Diagrams and maps that were precisely made would probably be rare.

“The diagram at the front desk?”

“That’s right. A huge diagram was hanging on the wall behind it. If something that corresponds to the hotel is being used as a part of the Package, it has to be that.”

“But you have no idea how many hotel diagrams there are in the building. What about the escape route maps or guide maps? There might be a diagram in the pamphlets. What makes you so sure the diagram at the front desk is the one?”

“I think Hyakki Yakou knows a lot of things about this situation that we can’t see. And it probably goes even beyond what I am imagining.” Shinobu grinned as he headed for the elevator hall. “But there is one thing not even Hyakki Yakou can see. I was affected by the Zashiki Warashi Package. And that Package shows you an ominous future. ''And that is why a complete amateur like me knows something Hyakki Yakou does not''.”

“You saw something in the future?”

“I noticed something that seemed odd and it might be the true crux of this issue.”

“So you’re saying anything good that happens from here on out is thanks to me.”

“I would rather bow down to Hyakki Yakou than say that.”

We rode the elevator down to the first floor. No workers were at the front desk when we arrived. And sure enough, a giant decorative diagram of the hotel’s first floor covered the wall behind it. It looked like someone had framed a wooden board covered with paper.

''Oh, dear.

When I drew closer, I noticed something was splattered here and there on the diagram. I could see red dots of what looked like blood. It may have corresponded to what was happening in the hotel.

However…

It would be too naïve to think breaking that diagram would resolve the situation. That was like trying to stop a precise time bomb with a karate chop.

All the more so since this Package had been assembled by Hyakki Yakou.

“So what drew your attention to this diagram?”

“In the prediction the Package gave me, ''this was not the diagram I saw,''” said Shinobu. “I didn’t take much notice of it at the time since I was finding corpse after corpse of people I knew, but I remembered it once I had calmed down and thought back on it. The diagram hanging here was not this one.”

Shinobu climbed over the front desk and headed for the back wall. He reached for the large diagram that seemed to be covering some kind of painting and removed it.

And behind it was…

“This is…”

“This is a diagram of our house,” said Shinobu.

That’s right. It was a diagram of the Japanese-style thatch roof house that I currently protected.

''So is this what Shinobu saw in that vision?

But it turned out that was not right either.

“This isn’t what I saw either.”

He then removed that diagram. And below it was a third one. This one I had a feeling Shinobu did not recognize. Most likely, none of the hotel’s guests would recognize it. Of all the people here, I was probably the only one who knew what it was.

“…That’s Hyakki Yakou’s old headquarters.”

“So it’s going backwards. Zashiki Warashi, this is your history. If I removed this one, I would probably find the diagram of the house you protected before it. And when we go forward through history, the diagram on top was for this hotel. Do you see what that means?”

“They are trying to move me from your house to this hotel?”

“I have no idea if they can make you do it against your will, but given what Hyakki Yakou wants, that is likely their ultimate objective. You might be stripped from our house when you are completely drawn into the Package.”

“But this…”

“So you noticed?” Shinobu spoke slowly as if rearranging the information in his head on the fly. “You are a Youkai that wanders from house to house. And you are thought to control the fortune of the house you currently reside in. ''But that isn’t accurate.'' The house a Zashiki Warashi leaves will decline. Even after the Zashiki Warashi has abandoned a house, the Zashiki Warashi’s effects remain. In other words, you are still directly having a negative effect on Hyakki Yakou. I have no idea where Hyakki Yakou’s headquarters are, but if we have something that can directly interfere with you, ''then we can attack Hyakki Yakou’s headquarters no matter where they might be. Just like they tried to interfere by putting these red dots on the hotel diagram.''”

His reasoning may have been sound.

When based in the laws of Youkai rather than the laws of physics, his reasoning may have been sound.

But…

“That won’t work.”

“?”

“That will not work here. We do not have enough here to strike back against Hyakki Yakou.”

Yes.

I knew of a fatal weakness in Shinobu’s escape plan.

“Hyakki Yakou’s headquarters were lost long ago. It was the thanks they got for making too many enemies. They are likely using some completely other place for their headquarters now. In other words, ''you will not find the heart of Hyakki Yakou by heading back into the past. Hyakki Yakou’s heart lies in the future, so it is out of our reach''. Most likely, Hyakki Yakou plans to transfer me to this hotel and then hang a diagram of their new headquarters over the hotel diagram to transfer me there!”

I did not look at Shinobu’s face when I told him that. I had a guess what his expression would be, but I did not look. After all, if that was the only hope we had and if that was the trump card Shinobu and the one who gave him the information had, then the only fate left for us was…

::::''Vwah!?

:''Why is…

::::::::::::::::::::''he…

:::::::::::''here!?

My consciousness began to break apart. It was coming from the right of the front desk. The hallway leading away was now wrapped in a dim darkness. The lights were still on, but it was now too dark to see far back into it and the area was wrapped in a clearly odd atmosphere. I was a Youkai so I could not be killed easily, but what I saw there made even me tremble. It felt ominous. I was fearful. I had felt this feeling before. I knew it well after the time I had spent in that place.

Hyakki Yakou.

An existence even more deviant than a simple deadly Youkai.

The woman who had stabbed a man with a fork had maintained her camouflage even after taking action. That was frightening enough, but this was on a completely different level. This was a mass of fear that gave one a new idea of what “pure” fear was.

As sweat soaked my body, I heard a simple electronic tone. It was as if someone had been waiting for that moment. It was coming from the object in Shinobu’s hand that looked like an unrefined cell phone. Shinobu must have had an idea who it was from because he looked nervous as he answered it.

I heard a young girl’s voice come from the device.

But was it really a girl speaking?

“I see you have made it to the core of this issue.”

“Thanks to you.”

“You probably have only a few minutes until the Illness Demon user reaches you. I do not care what you do until then, but you cannot reach me no matter what you do to those diagrams.”

“So I take it destroying the hotel diagram will not destroy the Package.”

“If you do that, you will only cause the hotel to come crumbling down with you inside. But the frame is sturdy and the glass is bulletproof, so destroying it would prove difficult.”

“What if I destroyed the diagram of Hyakki Yakou’s old mansion?”

“That mansion burned to the ground long ago. It is possible you might damage some unrelated building that has been built on the land since, but it will not reach me.”

That was right.

The final piece of the puzzle was not in the hotel.

Shinobu needed the diagram of Hyakki Yakou’s current headquarters. But it was not here. Once the Zashiki Warashi…that is to say, me…was fully drawn into the Package, my residence would transfer to the hotel. Then they just had to hang up the new diagram to complete their plan. And Hyakki Yakou had no reason to bring that final diagram here at this stage.

But…

“I just have one last question,” said Shinobu.

His tone of voice cut through my fear and made me frown. It did not match the situation. He seemed to have some hope left.

“In your Zashiki Warashi Package, you take the abilities of a Zashiki Warashi to keep adults from seeing her and to inform people of coming fires or other dangers to the household, and you have rebuilt them so that they will show people images of ominous predictions of death, right?”

“Yes. Due to the circumstances, we can only show them. We cannot see them as well. However, that tragedy of yours is set in stone. Whatever you saw, it had to have been an ill omen.”

“And it was. The current situation is at a high enough difficulty level that even that woman’s safety is unclear. This has been made so anyone would lose no matter what they do. So I believe what I saw in that vision. If I do not stop this, it will definitely happen. But that wasn’t my question,” said Shinobu. “Does this Package of yours only work once?”

“What?”

“The hotel diagram is only of the first floor. And I didn’t see any illusions like that after heading into the elevator. What I want to know is: will I be forced to see that prediction again and again as long as I stay on the first floor of the hotel?”

I could not figure out what Shinobu was getting at.

I could not see how seeing horrible visions over and over would help him escape this crisis.

Despite the present danger of a Hyakki Yakou member approaching, I focused on Shinobu.

“Dammit. It’s all twisted around. I can’t figure out the order of events. It’s just like back then. The Zashiki Warashi prediction is coming again.”

“What good does that do you?” asked the girl over the phone. “What help can you get by seeing a future that you cannot avoid? As I said, you cannot stop us with just the diagrams in that hotel. You are missing one crucial piece. What do you hope to accomplish?”

“''It wasn’t this one,''” cut in Shinobu.

The force behind his words did not merely bring him to the same level as this person from Hyakki Yakou. It brought control of the conversation to him.

“The diagram I saw in the vision wasn’t of the hotel. ''But it wasn’t the diagram of Hyakki Yakou’s old mansion either.''”

“What…?”

“''The diagram I saw was for a special V-shaped passenger jet called a flying wing!'' After it was all over, that diagram was placed over the others! That final piece may not exist here now, but it will be there in the future. And I saw the future!!”

The pen used when checking in was sitting on the front desk.

Shinobu snatched it up and brought the tip directly to the surface of the front desk.

“I only know the broad details right now. I can’t make a detailed diagram right now. But if I see that scene again, I will acquire your weakness! By drawing it on the desk, I can bring the diagram of that flying wing back to the present!!”

“!! Illness Demon!!”

I distinctly felt something approaching through the dim darkness spreading through the hallway. But something held it back. It was being stopped by something.

''Is someone standing up to that monster!?

“You said this hotel would collapse if I destroyed the hotel diagram! And you said a new building constructed on the same land might be destroyed if I destroyed the diagram of Hyakki Yakou’s old mansion. So if I have the diagram for that flying wing, I can make your airplane break apart in midair!!”

The girl was shouting something, but Shinobu did not seem to be listening.

His body lurched forward.

His eyes were following something that was very clearly not there.

===Part 25 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

And…

I once more faced that tragedy that I had never wanted to see again.

===Part 26 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

I had returned. I had returned to that place. I had returned to that time. It was such a horrific scene that I could feel sweat unnaturally pouring from my body, but I did not have time to care. I gripped the pen and faced the front desk.

I had to finish before this fresh fear left me.

I had to drag that flying wing diagram from the future and into the present!!

“That is impossible…” I could hear the girl’s voice coming from the satellite phone. “Even if you have the information from the diagram, an amateur cannot draw it well enough free-hand! You do not have the time needed for that!! One of our top 5, the Illness Demon user, will reach you soon. You will be eaten into and destroyed before you can finish!!”

“Hey, just to be sure: you drove the proper owners of that thing out and no one but the Sakoku faction of Hyakki Yakou is onboard, right? The real girl ran away somewhere, right?”

“What are you-…?”

“Also, I hope you’re flying over the ocean right now. I would really like to end this without getting any innocent people involved. ''I heard you were circling around above the Pacific Ocean,'' so hopefully that was accurate.”

“Illness Demon, the contents of the prediction do not matter. Eliminate the uncertain factor right now!!”

“Will that tragic future finally arrive or will I put a stop to everything here? Let’s see who is faster, young lady.”

The tip of the pen raced across the desk.

At the same time, I noticed a strange black spot appear on the end of one of the fingers on my right hand. It spread in no time at all. This was the Illness Demon. This was what managed to defeat that monstrous woman. At first, I felt no pain, but I then felt something rising up from the depths of my stomach. I was unable to keep it down and it spewed out all at once.

“Cough cough!! Cough cough!!”

It was not vomit.

I had never eaten anything that red!

The Zashiki Warashi shouted something, but I could not make out her words over a tremendous ringing in my ears. My sense of balance ceased to function properly. But it did not matter. It did not matter what happened. All that mattered was that I had to force that weakness to appear in the present!

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

As silent changes assaulted my body, I focused everything I had on my right hand. I moved it quickly but accurately. To draw that answer that existed only in my memories into the real world, I had to keep my unnatural headache and feeling of intoxication from wiping it from my memory. I had to get as close as possible to the full picture of that flying wing!!

I could feel a straining noise. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from my bones, my muscles, or my internal organs. An unpleasant sweat flowed from my entire body and I felt such a chill that I lost all sense of temperature. My legs grew unsteady beneath me and I felt like I was standing on the deck of a rocking boat. I could not stop the blood from coming out of my mouth. It was coming out so quickly I thought an entire organ was going to come up with it. My right hand shook. My strength on the pen faded. The pen fell from my hand. My final weapon slipped from my grasp.

“It is over,” said whoever it was that used that girl’s voice. “You had a chance, but you simply do not have the skill. Hyakki Yakou’s Illness Demon user is reliable. He is so reliable that counting on his success is not a gamble. That is the difference between a pro and an amateur. Your trump card is not enough to overcome his reliability. No matter what.”

“…Not…necessarily…” I forced out the words while primarily focused on catching gasps of air through all the blood. “''I do not need the pen.''”

“…?”

“Did you really think I could draw an accurate enough diagram by free-hand? Keep in mind, I’m just a high school student. I’m not an Itako and I cannot use automatic writing. ''There’s no way I could actually pull that off.'' And…”

As I spoke, I pulled out my true final weapon from where it was tucked into the Zashiki Warashi’s obi.

It technically belonged to me, but the Zashiki Warashi always used it as a music player.

“The 21st century is quite convenient. You can acquire an accurate diagram without drawing it out free-hand.”

“You don’t mean… A smartphone…no, the digital camera!!”

“I saw an accurate diagram of the flying wing hanging here in that tragic future. So naturally you must have a copy prepared somewhere in the hotel, right?”

“Illness Demon… Fall back, Illness Demon!!”

“That’s right. The Illness Demon. That diagram is the cornerstone of your plan. You cannot allow it to be altered or damaged in the slightest, so you would leave it with the strongest person you had. You didn’t want it getting destroyed before the plan was complete! That made things simple for me. I had to make the Illness Demon user rush things so the boss character carrying the flying wing’s diagram would let his guard down! I had to get him to come forward and step into the danger zone!!”

Of course, I was just a high school student.

No matter how much I made him rush things, I could never hope to win against someone who sounded like they belonged in an RPG like this Illness Demon user. I would likely be unable to make him falter for even an instant. I would only end up transformed into some gruesome corpse.

But…

Someone else was there.

When I had started to draw the decoy diagram, the Illness Demon user had oddly stopped moving when he started to come to stop me. It had been as if something was preventing him from approaching. There was definitely something there. It was that monstrous woman who seemed more suited to appearing in an RPG than your average Youkai. She was the only one who could stand up to that Illness Demon user.

And so I just had to shout.

“You don’t have to defeat him… Just snatch it away from hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!”

I heard an odd rumble in response.

The dim darkness filling the hallway wavered unnaturally and I glimpsed something white.

It was a large sheet of paper that had likely been rolled up.

It was a diagram.

A diagram of a flying wing.

A diagram of Hyakki Yakou’s headquarters.

It quickly disappeared into the dim darkness like it was a ship sinking into the ocean at night. But before it did, I had held out the lens of my smartphone and the phone sent out several quick flashes of light. I took an accurate photograph of the diagram.

I lightly tossed the smartphone toward the wall behind the front desk and the long headphone cords wrapped around the fixture meant to hang the frame from.

“All I need is an accurate diagram hanging against this wall. It doesn’t have to be the copy the Illness Demon user has, right?”

“Wh-wha-…?”

“''I’ve created your weakness,''” I said slowly to make sure.

That smartphone had been expensive and I was unsure how much longer my backup phone would last, but it had to be done.

Meanwhile…

The girl was at a loss for words. A complete loss for words. She had constantly had control of the situation as the leader of a group that neither human nor Youkai could hope to oppose, and yet she was at a loss for words.

That told me all I needed to know.

[[Image:Zashiki_v01_397.jpg|thumb]]

The enemy’s reaction when seeing my actions told me more than my own actions had.

Now…

It was time for me to finish things.

“Fall down to the depths of the earth, Hyakki Yakou!!”

I swung the heavy satellite phone as hard as I could and slammed the bottom of the device into my own smartphone. The second device was completely smashed. Or more accurately, the flying wing diagram displayed on the screen was completely smashed.

I heard violent static come from the satellite phone.

And I doubted it was simply due to the impact breaking the phone.

===Part 27 (Hishigami Mai)===

“Cough!? Cough cough cough!! Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough!?”

''Ugh, I thought I was going to die.

But something must have happened since the “invasion” had ended before the Illness Demon could destroy me from the inside out. I placed my hands on the floor and coughed up a pool of blood, but that was all. That was the end of it. It looked like the Illness Demon had left my body.

In the very end, that kid had made things easier for himself. I had just meant for him to do his best free-hand to draw the flying wing diagram out of his vision of the future. But thanks to him, I had been forced to directly steal the diagram from that monster.

The dim darkness faded away slightly.

I forced open the one eye that I could not see out of thanks to the blood flowing over it, and called out into the remaining dim darkness.

“You aren’t going to continue this?”

“I see no reason to.”

“You could kill me to take revenge.”

“I act based on reason, not emotion.”

“I have to ask. What caused you all to so hurriedly throw together this coup d’etat?”

“MI6, the CIA, and the European Security Force.”

''…Dammit. So that’s it.

''I had forgotten about that.

“So the people putting together a system to use Succubi in Europe had you that scared? I looked into it, but it was a failure. I believe I even sent in a report.”

“The system itself may have failed, but the network built up around that failure still created a community built around the Succubus. The officials in control of the plan were completely charmed by her. Depending on how you look at it, this is an even greater threat. A demon has built this up using the power of a human organization.”

''I see. That is very true.

“But in that case…” I said.

“What?”

“Couldn’t you interpret this infighting within Hyakki Yakou as having been caused by that Succubus? Just like our movements were controlled with those hotel lodging tickets. …And it must have been done cleverly enough to keep any of you from catching on.”

“…”

“This new community would have a plethora of reasons to want the old Hyakki Yakou to be crushed.”

“I suppose you could see it that way.”

“Where are you going?”

“My priorities have changed. It seems there is someone else I must defeat.”

And that was it.

The dim darkness completely disappeared now. The hallway was now illuminated like a normal hotel hallway. I could see clearly all the way to the wall at the end of the hallway. It looked like the Illness Demon user had truly left.

Not that he would be able to simply leave with no trouble.

He surely understood that and that may have been why he decided to leave me be and find an escape route as quickly as possible. Or perhaps he was looking for something of enough value to get Hyakki Yakou to forgive him.

“Are you okay!?”

Jinnai Shinobu came running over with the Zashiki Warashi with him. He must have received a bit of the effects of that Illness Demon. For someone with no defenses, he had done well to withstand its effects mentally. It was possible he had what it would take to thoroughly remodel his body like mine.

“…N-not so much. If this incident continues any longer, I might seriously be in trouble.”

“I settled things with Hyakki Yakou. Their coup d’etat is over. The real girl will probably deal with the rest.”

“That isn’t the end of it.”

''Dammit.

''I had a feeling it would come to this. Don’t claim it’s over when you haven’t done anything to deal with that!!

“Hey, Jinnai Shinobu-kun. What did you see in your vision of the future? Were you spewing blood everywhere and dying after being attacked by some strange form of the occult?”

“Eh? Well…”

“You weren’t, were you? If you had, you would have been more cautious about dealing with the Illness Demon user. I don’t know what you saw, but it was more of a collection of different deaths, wasn’t it?”

“But I avoided that future, so the present will be different, right? …Right? Are you saying that future is still going to happen!?”

“The riot police…” muttered the Zashiki Warashi. “Uchimaku Hayabusa mentioned it. A portion of the riot police are surrounding this hotel and cutting off all communications in order to assassinate the Hishigami sisters who keep butting into the police’s turf. They are waiting for an opportunity to interfere and eliminate those sisters that they cannot normally handle.”

“Tch. Jinnai Shinobu-kun, does that match what you saw?”

“Not really… What I saw didn’t seem at all related to Youkai either though. It was more like…something from a splatter film. It didn’t look like something carried out by an expert marksman, that’s for sure.”

“The riot police can get away with it more easily by making it look that way. They probably secretly secured a serial killer to take the fall for it. …It’s possible the deaths in the prediction were actually caused by the Illness Demon user, but the corpses were later altered to look more gruesome. That would be why you saw it as something caused by a serial killer.”

Either way, this was bad.

Thanks to the Illness Demon user, Jinnai Shinobu and I could not move. The detective…well, he could not handle this on his own. He would be overwhelmed by a group like the riot police. My little sister was the intellectual type, so it was out of the question to ask her to fight. Kotemitsu Madoka was an unknown factor, but she probably would have played a bigger role during the issue with Hyakki Yakou if she was at all useful.

That left the Zashiki Warashi and Sunekosuri as our biggest hopes since they could not be killed easily.

But…

“Zashiki Warashi, do you think you can handle this?”

“Do not expect any kind of battling or action from me. And I refuse to act as a shield either.”

“That’s what I expected. And I really doubt I can expect anything out of the Sunekosuri.”

A Youkai’s testimony could not be used in court, so even if the riot police found they could not kill the Zashiki Warashi and the Sunekosuri, they would just ignore them and head into the hotel to slaughter the rest of us. That meant our situation could be summed up with the word “bad”. I did not want to die yet and I did not want to get my little sister involved in all this.

Which meant…

“Jinnai Shinobu-kun. Where is the satellite phone I lent you?”

“It’s mostly broken.”

From the look of the phone he handed me, he had certainly not treated it as one should treat a borrowed item. If we survived this, I decided I would send him a bill.

I checked over it and discovered it could still make calls.

That was fortunate.

It was finally time for the final character to redeem herself.

“Young lady,” I said into the phone.

“What is it?”

“I assume you have noticed that the situation has been resolved. While I would rather not have you steal Jinnai Shinobu-kun’s victory, I have a request for you if you have retrieved command of Hyakki Yakou.”

“Tell me what you need.”

“Take care of the riot police outside.”

Those magic words showed their effects quite quickly.

===Part 28 (Jinnai Shinobu)===

That had been a terrible trip.

I hadn’t had time to try to get it on with Madoka, the Zashiki Warashi seemed to be planning some kind of unpleasant surprise for Christmas Eve (I had a feeling she was going to make some announcement I would be unable to refuse despite knowing it was a trap), I had never gotten a chance to approach that mystery freak girl, and her older sister had been too frightening to approach!!

And yet with Hyakki Yakou and that Illness Demon user, I had way too many opportunities to come into contact with things I did not want to!! And even now that I had returned to my thatch roof house, I did not feel comfortable at all!! I had no idea when that kind of threat was going to appear again!!

So much bad had happened and yet no good had happened whatsoever.

The moment the Zashiki Warashi returned to her own territory, she folded one of the living room cushions in half and used it as a pillow.

“It’s only when I get back that I remember how boring it is here,” she said.

“Don’t just lie around. Help me carry in this luggage.”

“I doubt it would help with this boredom, so I’ll pass.”

In the end, I was forced to carry in her luggage as well as my own. While I did so, the flat-chested Yuki Onna and the Nekomata ran out from farther in the house.

''I was right. That Nekomata won over my granny so she can stay here.

“…Do you have a souvenir for me? …If not, let’s get married…”

“I heard they have a local melon-flavored pet food there.”

''Eh? How can they possible expect a souvenir?

Those two may not have known, but it was a miracle I was even alive.

In fact…

''Maybe that whole incident would have been easier if I had brought along those legitimately deadly Youkai…

But the group in Hyakki Yakou that carried out the coup d’etat had probably guided us such that it didn’t turn out that way.

“Shinobu,” said the Zashiki Warashi as she pressed a massager belonging to my mother against her calf. (By the way, god, does it mean I have a dirty mind if the sight of a girl holding an electric massager gets my heart racing?) “Do not try to use Youkai to solve all of your problems. That would set you on the path to becoming like the people you saw.”

She may have been right.

That woman, Hyakki Yakou, and the Illness Demon user.

All of them probably began with nothing more than a thought similar to mine. In most old stories, fortune given by some strange person or creature only gave you happiness if you were unaware of it.

Shita-Kiri Suzume, Hanasaka Jii-san, Tsuru no Ongaeshi, and Kobutori Jii-san.

You could benefit from those things, but it would turn to tragedy if you got greedy.

“Happiness comes to the honest” was not just a nice saying.

It was a coldhearted sign telling you those that did not know right from wrong would get their comeuppance. The people I had met may not have received any kind of obvious punishment, but that just showed how far from the normal path they had strayed.

I did not want to become like them.

It did not matter if doing so would give me the power to stand at the center of the issue.

I would rather stay on the outskirts of the issue to the very end.

“Then again, Shinobu, all that would happen if you were honest is I could have more fun teasing you. …But you aren’t bad when you are like that. How about you go back to being a baby, Shinobu?”

That figured.

I was not dealing with a Buddha like in the story of the Kasajizou. I was dealing with Youkai. If you were hoping for any kind of favor, you would only receive harsh retaliation. If you were trying to subjugate them, they would provide an overwhelming counterattack. If you tried to act indifferent, they would come to you. If you tried to accept them naturally, they would have no qualms about tricking you.

I could not use them.

If I forgot to show them the proper respect, they would snap at me.

And yet when they occasionally decided to help someone on a whim, they could save someone who had only run across them by chance.

“…I wonder if there is any way to just get along with Youkai.”

“That would certainly make this easier.”

Suddenly, my overall small granny walked in.

“Shinobu, Shinobu.”

“What is it, granny?”

“A package arrived for you. It is too heavy for me to carry in.”

“??? Zashiki Warashi, did you order something on the internet again?”

“I bought a folding bicycle on your account.”

“Why were you using my computer for that!? O-oh, no! My credit is going to plummet!!”

“But I would think a folding bicycle would be fairly light. It shouldn’t be too heavy to carry.”

I headed for the front door and found a giant cardboard box. The Zashiki Warashi was right about one thing: it didn’t look like it was a folding bicycle. It was much too big for that. The box was large enough for a fair-sized washing machine.

And it was not a box from an online shopping site.

“Did my uncle send me something? Does it have a label anywhere?”

I looked closely at the top of the box.

And then…

With a loud ripping noise, the top of the cardboard box tore open from the inside. Something shot out of the box and struck me on the chin.

The world spun and my sense of balance was thrown out of order. I thought it was some kind of overly enthusiastic jack-in-the-box, but it was not. When I took a step back while holding my chin with one hand, I could see what had struck me.

It was a head.

It seemed a woman had been hiding in the cardboard box and her upper body had shot up out of the box.

But…

[[Image:Zashiki_v01_411.jpg|thumb]]

“Ahh, I’m exhausted. Hm? Huh? I can’t get out… Well, I don’t need the box anymore. I’ll just rip it apart.”

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait!!”

“You look like you’re wondering why something shaped like a human was packed into this box.”

“That’s not the main issue here!”

“But there are some things in this world that look like humans but are not humans.”

“That isn’t it either!! In fact, I know that all too well since I already have 3 Youkai living here!!”

“…Then why do you look so confused?”

The “thing” tilted her head in puzzlement and I pointed at that glamorous beauty.

“You have spiraling goat horns on your head, bat wings on your back, and a pointed tail!!”

“I don’t think I could be any more stereotypical of a demon.”

“We already had our hands full with Japanese monsters!! We don’t need you suddenly expanding the setting with a Western one right at the end!!”

Also, I was shocked to see my granny was only grinning in amusement at this Succubus’s arrival!!

“My specific race is Succubus. I make sure to evolve daily to match the needs of the current age. As proof, I am wearing the classic of the sexy swimsuits, the micro bikini. But I can switch over to a PE outfit or a maid uniform depending on your personal tastes. Your options are endless!!”

“Nnhh!!”

As my veins protruded on my temple, the Zashiki Warashi whispered to me.

“Shinobu, if you just accept this and everything it implies, you will probably die.”

“Yes, it would be too much to manage… But I suppose it was too convenient for only the Japanese islands to be full of these strange exceptions. It does make sense…but isn’t this the kind of thing Hyakki Yakou is supposed to deal with!?”

“I’m actually on the run from Hyakki Yakou. Using the desires of some officials in Europe, I was about to take control of an international agency in the EU when I was defeated. They were really playing dirty. They sent an Illness Demon in to take advantage of a weakness to the historic bubonic plague.”

“Stop, stop!! Not only is that probably full of information that will put my life at risk to hear, but I can’t possibly comprehend it all at once like that!! It’s all too sudden!!”

“Not necessarily.”

“What?”

“Have you heard of an organization called Saishi Kajin?”

“I think they came up in the issue related to Hyakki Yakou. Weren’t they absorbed by Hyakki Yakou?”

“It was an art research group made up of strange people who were working to create the ultimate beauty. The ultimate beauty they wanted to create would surpass the barriers of time period and cultural region. They intended to have this beauty sit on a throne as an empress while they devoted themselves to her.”

“…Wait…”

“Oh, you’re a quick one! I think I can expect great things from you, master!! Just between you and me, that sounds a lot like the community based around desire that sprang up around a Succubus in Europe!!”

“That was your organization!? Also, don’t call me master! It affects me more than I’d like to admit! So you had your organization be enemies of Hyakki Yakou and then be absorbed by them to affect their balance of power? So the one behind that coup d’etat was…!?”

“I come from Western European culture, so I of course had nothing to do with the creation of that purely Japanese organization. But Saishi Kajin failed to create the beauty they wanted. I will admit to showing them a bit of a dream while they were so disheartened, though.”

''So you took over that empty shell of an organization!?

If that European community, or whatever it was, had also been quietly causing trouble for Hyakki Yakou, then she had put pressure on them from both within the country and without!

She had slipped through the darkness and gaps in large but not overly powerful organizations to freely draw out the power they had. I was not accustomed to Western monsters, but that way of thinking may have made her a lot more dangerous than the straightforward methods of Hyakki Yakou.

“…Wait? Th-then was the person claiming to control the Sakoku faction of Hyakki Yakou…”

She had been in the form of a girl.

She had acted on the desire for political power.

She had robbed a large organization of its calm and then taken control.

And I had sensed something off about the girl (?) claiming to be from the Sakoku faction while I had spoken to over the satellite phone.

She had spoken in general terms as if she did not understand the details of Hyakki Yakou.

Yes.

It was as if someone from outside of Japan had been speaking of things within Japan based on secondhand knowledge.

Could it be?

“W-wait a second!! So was that leader of the Sakoku faction you too!?”

“No, no. That’s reading too much into it. I can’t split into two like a planarian. If I could do that, I wouldn’t have to run away like this. In Europe, I created a community based around desire, the European Security Force, and went around winning over high officials from allied nations. That was one of those officials.”

“You’re still the one behind it!!”

“Yeah, but Hyakki Yakou was the one that interfered first. One of them came to see what I was doing, so I decided to check them out. They looked weak enough, so I gave the order to work our way in deeper. I pulled out too late and ended up being utterly defeated, though. It really is a bad idea to underestimate your enemy.”

Despite having caused such mayhem, the Succubus spoke about it like it was nothing. It made my skin crawl.

She controlled pure desire.

She took the complex human psyche and took control of the very base.

For that reason, she had the ability to swallow up the various systems made by man, whether they were an individual’s personality or the very institution of society.

When I thought about that, it sent a chill down my spine.

I was feeling a danger signal that my instincts would not let me ignore.

“Anyway, I was a character involved in all of this, so how about you reach out a loving hand to help me. More specifically, Hyakki Yakou proved more of a threat than I thought and I can’t seem to escape them, so shelter me here☆”

“No! Don’t say that like it’s nothing! If they find out you’ve come here, I’ll be in danger too!! And why did you choose my house!?”

“Well, my network in Europe, the European Security Force, was attacked and destroyed by Hyakki Yakou.”

“Okay.”

“That left only my connections in Japan, but I lost control of Saishi Kajin when they were absorbed by Hyakki Yakou. They were only meant as a disposable organization anyway.”

“And!?”

“So the only connections left to me were the people involved in that incident.”

“So!?”

“And of those people, you seemed to have the weakest defenses.”

“That’s allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!?”

''She has no real plan! She has no guarantee of having escaped!! And if Hyakki Yakou attacks here, we’ll be wiped out too!

I did have two deadly Youkai and a Zashiki Warashi, but that group seemed like they could lightly toss aside all standard knowledge about Youkai, not to mention humans. To be blunt, I saw no way we could win!!

I started imagining I could hear sounds like scraping claws coming from all the shadows in the gaps between the walls and furniture, behind pillars, and in the hole for smoke to escape from the Japanese fireplace. Meanwhile, the cause of my fears, the Succubus, was doing nothing but smiling.

“And so I’ll be moving in☆”

Whether you wanted it or not, “they” would come.

And they brought either fortune or disaster with them.

It was looking like things were going to be very bad indeed if I did not quickly find a way to get along with them.

===Notes===
<references/>
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| Back to [[The_Zashiki_Warashi_of_Intellectual_Village:Volume1_Chapter_3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[The_Zashiki_Warashi_of_Intellectual_Village|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[The_Zashiki_Warashi_of_Intellectual_Village:Volume1_Afterword|Afterword]]
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</noinclude>

Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume2 Chapter1

2012-04-19T08:34:32Z

Remotemine: /*Part 1*/ Grammar

==Chapter 1 - Team Battle==
===Part 1===

“U…h…”

Areishia Spirit Academy, Raven Class dormitory.

In one room, upon where the refreshing morning sun shone, Kazehaya Kamito woke up.

(Hn, if I recall, today … there’s a team battle in the morning.)

Usually, he would enjoy a bit more time dozing off, however, today he could not do so.

He had enough of being late and receiving sermons by the teacher, Freya.

Planning to fold the sheets and get up, he reached out both hands, then –

Funyuu.

…His hands touched something that felt soft.

(What is this? It’s small, soft, a little cold … feels good.)

Funyuu. Funyuu.

While half awake, he was playing with the mysterious soft thing with his palms, then...

“You finally woke up, Kamito.”

“…”

At that moment, Kamito’s movement froze.


[[Image:STnBD V02 023.jpg|thumb]]
A nude beautiful girl was sitting on his chest.

Her silver hair was glittering while basking in the morning sun. Her tight bare skin was white like milk.

Her body, which depicted her smooth curves, was small, but it was the proper body of a girl.

Her mysterious violet pupils were looking down at Kamito expressionlessly.

“What’s the matter? You’re not going to play with my breasts anymore?”

“… Owaaaaa!”

Kamito got up in a fluster and while pointing at the beautiful girl before him,

“Wh…wh…what are you doing!? Or rather why are you nude?!”

“I’m not nude, I’m properly wearing knee socks.”

While straddling over Kamito’s abdomen, the girl raised her knees to show him.

Startled by that action, which was mysteriously erotic, Kamito looked away in a fluster.

“No, that’s worse! Because compared to nude, knee sock nude is even, err, … that!”

“Do you want me to take off my knee socks? Kamito … pervert.”

While the beautiful silver haired girl stayed expressionless, she bashfully rubbed her knees.

He did not understand why she was embarrassed about that but, somehow, to this spirit, showing her bare feet seemed more embarrassing.

Yes. This snow fairy like beautiful girl was not human.

She was the sword spirit Est.



She was a 'sealed spirit' that possessed extremely powerful strength and made a spirit contract with Kamito a few days ago.

But in her current condition, she could not exhibit even around a tenth of her original strength.

Within his subconscious, Kamito was rejecting the spirit contract with her and as a result, she became unable to return to Astral Zero where her real form was.

“A…anyway, move aside Est!”

“Roger, Kamito”

Although Est seemed a little dissatisfied, she obediently abided.

She was squirming on the sheet. …The sensation of her soft thighs was bad for his heart.

While scratching his bed head in relief, Kamito finally got up and at that moment.

Chuu.

“…!?”

It was a complete surprise attack.

Despite that he noticed that he was kissed, it spanned about several seconds.

The sensation of her soft lips gently separated. His cheeks turned hot.

“You… wh…what are you doing all of a sudden!”

“A wake up kiss, Kamito.”

Est answered expressionlessly.

“Why do such –“


“Because it’s unfair. Is it only Claire? Is it that you don't want to do it with me?”

Towards Est’s blaming tone, Kamito firmly softened his voice.

“You s…saw, didn’t you? … That.”

“Yes. Because, at that moment, I was also there.”

“…Ah, come to think of it, that is right.”

Kamito immediately recalled and sighed heavily.

One week ago from now, that time when he fought the frenzied military-use spirit in Academy Town.

Est was certainly there – as the form of a sword of her elemental waffe.

It seemed that the scene at that moment was being observed.

That moment when Claire kissed Kamito, who had lost his energy, to wake him up.

It was certain that it awakened him in one shot, however… now that he thought about it, it was extremely embarrassing.

“I heard that a kiss is an official ceremony of a spirit contract. In that case, Est too.”

Est gently brushed her silver hair hanging by her cheeks.

She closed her eyes, slightly pouted her pitiful cherry-blossom color lips and slowly brought her face near him.

“So, why did it turn out like this!”

“It’s my natural right. It’s because I’m Kamito’s contracted spirit.”

“…!”

Although she was a sealed spirit, who concealed powerful strength, Est’s current appearance was that of an ordinary cute girl.


Being approached like this, it could not be helped that his chest was beating fast … he thought.

“He…hey, Est…”

“Please shut your eyes, master.”

Est brought her face near in one motion. A distance at which the tip of his nose encountered her sweet breath.

Just before her rose bud like lips was about to touch...

“Kamito, because there’s a team battle this morning, make breakfast more luxurious than –“

“…!”

Bam! The bathroom door was slammed opened.

There—

“Wh…wh…wh…wh…”

A red haired beautiful girl was standing widely opening her eyes of ruby-colored pupils.

Her body was wrapped in a bath towel and depicted gentle curves.

From her skin, which slightly turned cherry blossom color, white steam was rising up.

Her chest was definitely of a child’s level but that slight bulge was also plenty charming.

From the tip of her soaking wet red hair, drops of water were dripping onto the floor.

On the bed, before her was nude E – no… nude knee sock Est.

And then, time froze.


“Claire…y…you’re mistaken, this is…!”

At that moment when Kamito stood up in a fluster to explain.

Gogogogogogo…!

“Wh…what are you doing, you pervert sex maniac——!

“Guoo!”

A leather whip, used for animal training, came flying all of a sudden and landed a clean hit on his chin.

Kamito winded the bed sheet around his body and fell to the floor.

“I…I’ve misjudged you, you licentious brute, beast!”

While holding onto the bath towel with one hand, the girl came walking briskly and forcefully trampled on Kamito’s head, who was squirming on the floor, with the heel of her bare foot.

Claire Rouge.

A classmate of the same class, who Kamito became tied to in a master-servant contract with, by some sort of fate.

At least her face was of a ridiculously cute beautiful girl, however, her personality was like this, brutal to the extreme.

“Wh…what, what were you doing? Hey, just now, what were you doing with that sword spirit?”

Pishii, pishii, pishiii!

“Hey, wait, stop … guoo!”

It was a tempest of whips that relentlessly swung downwards. Her bristled red hair was just like blazing flames.

—Then, during the tempest of the devastating whips.


Kamito noticed. He noticed it – completely.

“Wa…wait…Claire, isn’t that bad?”

And then, as he completely noticed it, he had to say it. For her sake.

By the way, for things like this, Kamito strangely had an honest personality.

“…? What?”

Her clear ruby pupils sternly looked down on Kamito.

“Erm, that angle … err, can be seen.”

“Eh?”

Claire – while placing her foot on Kamito’s head, blinked her eyes.

And then, she finally realized.

On top of Kamito’s head, from the opening of her bath towel, her thigh, which became exposed, was being peeked at.

“…!”

Claire’s whole body felt hot.

She fixed her bath towel in a fluster and her shoulders slightly trembled.

“Y…y…you, you!”

Gogogogogogogogogo…!

“Wa…wait, this is a misunderstanding, relax! Err, I did not see as far as the inside!”

Kamito’s frantic complaint –


“…”

Seemed to have backfired.

“…Oh, I understand.”

Claire informed him with a shuddering-like voice.

“After this, I’ll give you two choices. Answer honestly.”

Kamito gulped down his saliva and nodded moment by moment.

Here, he should answer carefully. Depending on his reply, it was not unlikely that he would become cinders.

“About your cooking preferences, is medium fine? Or well done?”

…Things like choices did not exist from the beginning.

“I…if possible, rare is good but…”

At the same moment Kamito answered,

“Scarlet!”

From an empty space, a hell cat, cladded in crimson flames, appeared.

“Roast huh, it’s decided.”

Together with such a refreshing death sentence smile, like she was fascinated spontaneously –

A flashy explosion resounded in Raven Class dormitory today as well.



===Part 2===

Areishia Spirit Academy.

A training school, where princess maidens, gathered from all over the empire, trained before becoming proper spirit contractors.

In its vast territory, the academy possessed the 'spirit forest' and Academy Town, as well as residential teachers, who possessed equal strength as the imperial capital’s spirit knights, just like an independent small country.

It was the time when the morning mist cleared up and the bell of lectures commencing sounded, when there was one carriage visiting the academy.

An old butler in a suit was working as the coachman of the one-horse carriage.

The coachman got down the horse in front of the gate and opened the door of the carriage in a respectful manner.

“We have arrived, Fianna-sama.”

“Thank you for your efforts, old man.”

Coming out of the carriage was a beautiful girl about fifteen, sixteen years old.

Her glossy black hair was fluttering in the gentle breeze. Her cold looking eyes were emitting a strong will. Her clear white skin could be associated to the virgin snow of the area of Laurenfrost and her uniform of a black dress like design was shining.

The girl, called Fianna, alighted from the carriage and looked up at the school building of the Academy and was dazzled.

“This is Areishia Spirit Academy. The place where spirit contractors from all over the empire gather.”

“Please be fully careful, Fianna-sama. It is not possible to deceive the eyes of that Dusk Witch with poor tricks.”

“I understand.”


With a nod, Fianna gently grasped a spirit ore, which was concealed by the sleeve of her uniform.

In the empire’s currency, it was a good-for-nothing article of 20 million rood apiece.

“Rubia Elstein’s sister seems to be in this academy.”

“Princess, that name is a taboo. You had better not say it here.”

“That is right.”

Calamity Queen, who once brought about an unprecedented great calamity to the empire.

That person’s true name was even prohibited to speak of as a taboo.

Just by muttering that name, it was said that a pure girl’s sacred nature would be polluted.

She thought that it was a ridiculous superstition. Nevertheless for the people, who saw her at the closest place in the past, they felt that there was a slice of truth in such a jinx.

(…That’s right. The truth is I have yet to be bound by her terror.)

The girl cleared her throat and then she lowered her voice and whispered.

“Besides, I am also concerned about the spirit contractor, called Kazehaya Kamito.”

“Hmm, is it that male spirit contractor? A few days ago, it was said that he defeated a frenzied military-use spirit in Academy Town.”

“Yes, based on all the eye-witnesses’ words, it seemed to be a splendid blade dance of close resemblance to that of the strongest blade dancer – Ren Ashbell.”

Fianna’s voice got lively as she got a little excited.

The old butler glared at her in such a state.


“Princess, don’t tell me, you fell in love with that boy, didn’t you?”

“Fe…fell in love…!?”

Fianna’s voice was turned inside out. Her cheeks turned red.

“Th…that can’t be it, right? After all, I have never met him before… it’s just that I have an interest in what kind of person this male spirit contractor is.”

It was a lie.

The male spirit contractor, who defeated the frenzied military-use spirit in Academy Town.

The moment Fianna heard that boy’s name, she immediately realized.

It was him.

Three years ago, that boy, who had saved her in the forest of Astral Zero.

Despite promising to meet again, he disappeared for some reason after the blade dance.

(—However, I finally found him.)

When she heard the report on that day, Fianna decided to enter into the Areishia Spirit Academy.

If that boy announced his candidacy again to the blade dance –

That was a never again chance to her.

“Kamito, I’ll forgive you for breaking our promise.”

Fianna glared at the school building of the academy and an impish smile surfaced.

“However, I’m not letting you escape again♪”



===Part 3===

About eight minutes had passed since the start of the match.

In a deep forest, which was enshrouded in a light purple mist, two shadows were moving fast.

“Claire, watch the thicket on the left. There’s an ambush.”

“How do you know?”

“Intuition, if it was me, I would ambush from over there—“

At that moment, bluish-white lightning bullets were fired from the left thicket, just as Kamito suspected.

“Tch—“

Kamito kicked the ground and accelerated. He jumped in front of Claire and repelled the lightning bullets projectiled at the speed of sound with the sword.

It was not a feat that could be done with an ordinary sword. Endowed with spirit magic resistance ability, the elemental waffe of sword spirit Est, — 'Terminus Est' made all the magic attacks ineffective.

“Claire!”

Before Kamito shouted, Claire was already capturing the target. Her red hair was fluttering in the wind. Below her fluttering skirt, a leather whip holder could be glimpsed at.

While she placed her foot on a tree branch and dodged the rain of fired lightning bullets, she released her elemental waffe – 'Flame Tongue'.

There was a sharp swinging cutting sound. The Flame Tongue, which cut up everything, very easily cut down the rows of standing trees.


From the middle of the grove of trees that became almost bare in a moment, a thunder spirit contractor girl appeared.

It was a girl, who had her eyes hidden by her forelocks and felt a little gloomy.

There was a cluster of bluish-white lightning bullets floating beside her.

It was not a high ranking spirit like Est or Scarlet. It was a low ranking spirit that could only keep an indeterminate form, however, it was plenty helpful as a battery to use spirit magic.

It seemed that that girl’s role was a disturbance by means of support fire.

“Humph, a sniper who shows herself is the same as a turtle coming up to land.”

Claire thrust her whip in a declaration of victory. While being accompanied by the thunder spirit around her, the girl sniper ran towards the middle of the forest in a flustered manner—

“You’re not getting away! Scarlet, chase her!”

At the same time Claire shouted, the elemental waffe Flame Tongue transformed into the form of a hellcat, cladded in flames.

Because of being possessed by the frenzy spirit, Scarlet was once the size of a kitten, however, currently, it had recovered plentifully. Its form was of a lovely cat but its strength was certainly of a roaring fierce lion.

The surging crimson flames attacked the thunder spirit contractor girl.

However, that scorching heat, which by right could melt even rocks, did not even burn a single place of the girl’s body.

That was because this place was a battle field in Astral Zero, which the academy controlled for practice match usage.

Therefore, it was another world, where spirits live in.


In the real world, spirits had to change into an embodiment of physical strength but here spirits could be used as an embodiment of pure divine power.

In other words, it could make physical damage to the body almost zero.

Nonetheless, it did not mean that shocks, pain and so forth disappeared, a consequence was that an equal damage would be received to the mind instead; for example, if one was torn up by Scarlet’s claws, it was certain that one would faint and become unable to battle.

While carbonizing many trees of the forest, Scarlet was closely chasing the girl. However, the girl seemed considerably battle accustomed and while deceiving it with spirit magic, she was quickly escaping deep into the forest.

“Erghh, stay still!”

Losing her temper, Claire jumped down to the ground from the gap of the trees.

“Since it came to this, I’ll blow everything together with my strongest spirit magic.”

“Wait, Claire, the ground looks weird—“

Kamito shouted, and at that moment, a large quantity of earth and sand blew up from where Claire’s feet were.

“Wh…!?”

Appearing from underground was a gigantic crustacean scissors.

“Negligence is one’s greatest enemy, Claire Rouge of Raven Class!”

From inside the sand fluttering up and the large hole opened in the ground, protuberance carapace armor of countless number flew out.

It was an elemental waffe of the type that covered the whole body in armor.


Claire was blown off by that shock and was falling to the ground. The spirit’s direct attack was, in any case, of impacts, earth, sand and so forth that gave the body suitable damage.

“Claire!”

Before Kamito came running to her, the carapace spirit contractor was already in pursuit. This was not a coincidental attack. They were scrupulously aiming for the moment when Claire went down onto the ground.

“Eat this, the elemental waffe of the carapace spirit 'Kuraste' – ' Breaker Arm'.”

“—Guu! Flames, dance in my hand, dance!”

Claire, who fell, released countless fireballs from her hand.

However, the armor type elemental waffe was plunging in the face of this level of flames.

“Ha, the flame attribute isn’t effective against the carapace spirit. Didn’t you learn in the lecture?”

Gaa – A shoulder-tackle of the carapace armor blew Claire away.

Kamito kicked the ground and quickly turned around. Holding Est in a backhand grip, he tightly embraced and stopped Claire’s body that came flying.

“U…gh…”

Claire leaked out a languishing voice in his arms.

It seemed that she had greatly drained her divine power from the attack just now; however, it seemed that she was still conscious.

(Just before the crash, she released the fireballs at the ground and destroyed her opponent’s stance. As expected of her.)

“Hey, are you alright?”


“Y…yea… Eh… y…you, what are you doing!”

Suddenly, Claire’s face turned red.

Claire’s petite body was being held in a manner that her back and knees were held by both his hands.

It was what was called being carried like a princess.

“Fua… Id…idiot… qu…quickly let me down!”

“He..hey, don’t struggle! You’ll fall!”

“Shut up! Shut up! Quickly let me down –—!”

Boka. Boka. Boka. Boka.

Claire, who was striking Kamito’s chest while being carried like a princess, was somehow cute like a small animal.

“If it’s about me, you don’t have to care about it, because you’re pretty light.”

“Is th…that… because my chest is flat?”

“No, I did not say such a thing. I just thought that you’re cute like a small animal.”

“…! Cu…cute…”

While her face was red, Claire looked downwards.

While sighing in relief, Kamito let Claire down.

The carapace spirit contractor had already disappeared. Because Claire was defeated in the attack just now, it seemed that she was waiting for another chance for a surprise attack. …Comparative to her outward appearance, she was a cautious type.

From deep in the forest, Scarlet, who should have been chasing the thunder spirit contractor, returned.


They did not seem to have suffered any injuries but they seemed to have also let their prey escape.

“That thunder spirit contractor purposely showed herself to us.”

“Yea, when I got down onto the ground while chasing her, that carapace armor stopped me with a surprised attack. We have suffered thoroughly by their good teamwork.”

Claire antsy hit the ground hard with her whip.

“As expected of a team of the cunning Wolverine Class.”

“It’s not particularly that they’re cunning or anything, considering their fellow spirits’ compatibility, it was a natural strategy.”

Kamito said while shrugging his shoulders and Claire sullenly shut her mouth.

“However, it’s strange that they aren’t coming to chase us. I know that they’re being cautious but – even so.”

“That’s right. Since just now, that thunder spirit contractor’s movement could only be seen as stalling for time.”

Astral Zero’s forest was returning to be silent.

He completely could not feel their presence, not from the surrounding thickets, not from underground.

(With such a time stalling, do they have some sort of aim?)

“I want to send out a scout to search for the enemy, however.”

“If that was possible, I’ll have already done it.”

At any rate, there were three people remaining in the opponent team. Compared to theirs', they had two people. Depending on the situation, it could be that one person had to fight two people or three people. In a one-on-one battle, both Kamito and Claire would not be defeated, however, if they were caught and taken on by more than two coordinated people, winning would be substantially tough. 


Also, even in the case of a one-on-one battle, the fellow spirits’ compatibility had to be considered. There was the matter that the compatibility of the attributes was more effective than a spirit contractor’s ability in an actual battle.

”—Seems like you’re having a tough battle, Kazehaya Kamito.”

Suddenly from behind, a voice sounded.

Kamito turned around and, from the inside of the shadow made on the ground, a black figure quickly appeared.

The black figure very quickly changed into the form of an adult woman.

She had glossy long black hair. She had a glasses-wearing intellectual appearance.

She put on a cuff-long white robe on top of her suit, that beautiful lady was –

“Teacher Freya?”

Raven Class’s homeroom lecturer and this match’s inspector, Freya Grandol.

The matter about her coming out from inside the shadow was her contracted spirit’s ability –

“Is that alright? To appear in the middle of the match.”

“What, there’s no problem about giving poor-scoring students advice.”

Freya suddenly smiled and pushed up her glasses.

“Although, the one you’re facing off currently is a superior ranking team. It can’t be helped if it’s a tough battle. Based on individual strength, you two are nigh on unreachable but your team strength is lacking. …By the way, why were you injured before the match?”

“This morning, I was roasted.”


He glared at Claire beside him with scornful eyes and Claire quickly averted her eyes.

“In the first place, I think it is strange to have a five-to-two match though.”

Despite having two people, the opponent team, they were facing, had five people. They had already defeated two but the sniper thunder spirit contractor, the hand-to-hand-fighting type carapace spirit contractor and then last person, who has yet to show herself, were remaining.

“Do you know? The fact that your team only has two people is bad. You can’t qualify for entry in this round’s 'Blade Dance' without a five-member team. What do you plan to do?”

“We’ll find people before the deadline. We don’t really need to have all five members to be high level spirit contractors. After all, my plan is for I, alone, and – this slave spirit to win through this.”

Claire muttered unintelligibly and Freya glared at her with a serious face.

“You had better not take team battles lightly, Claire Rouge. You are certainly a superior spirit contractor but even so you absolutely can’t beat a coordinated team.”

After that, she turned toward Kamito,

“Do you know chess?”

“Greyworth had harshly made me her opponent. Although, I had never won.”

“The queen is certainly a strong piece. In a one-on-one battle, there were hardly times when it lost. However, depending on the situation, there are also times when it could be taken by a pawn, which certainly possesses no ability.”

“I know such a thing.”

“But you do not understand it. Your fighting methods feels – awfully isolated.”


Without answering back anything, Kamito shut his mouth.

The boy, who was once called – the strongest blade dancer. He, who was raised as an assassin at that mad institution, 'Instructional School', had never experienced fighting in coordination with his comrades.

Creeping to the target’s back and cutting his throat – that was his original fighting method.

On a whim of the spirit kings, the blade dance’s regulation was changed every time it was held.

The blade dance, fifteen years ago, was a battle royal system match.

The blade dance, three years ago, was an individual elimination match.

And then, this time it was a team battle.

Honestly, he didn’t think that his teamwork with Claire was turning out well.

As a spirit contractor, he had a fatal three-year blank.

He had a contracted spirit, who could not exhibit even a tenth of her strength yet.

There were many factors that had to be overcome.

“Claire Rouge, you too. You do not understand what it means to fight in a team.”

“I’m always alone. T…this guy is just a slave spirit…”

“Oh dear, you two have many difficulties in store.”

Teacher Freya sighed and disappeared into the shadow again.

“…Hmm, because of just now, two minutes have been used up. The remaining time is about five minutes.”

As it was, if they did not reach a conclusion, both team’s inter-school rank would drop.


For the two, who were still of low rank, that was a great blow.

—Then, the hell cat, snuggling at the side of Claire’s feet, let out a roar.

“Hey, Scarlet is saying something.”

“Yea, the forest looks strange. The wild animals are being astir?

Claire was frowning with serious face for some reason –

“There—“

She suddenly faced the forest and fired a fire attribute spirit magic.

It was a fireball – a high ranking spirit magic that would reduce a target to ashes with ultra-hot flames.

The red hot flames completely licked the ground and the forest near it was reduced to ashes.

With the rising black smoke, a boorish figure appeared in a relaxed manner.

“Well, what a frightening ojou-sama.”

The girl wore the carapace armor of her elemental waffe over her body.

Despite receiving a direct hit of the fireball, she did not have a single burn mark.

“This is unexpected… you came out fairly. Have you already given up on a surprise attack?”

“Our roles have ended. The leader’s preparations have been readied.”

“Preparations?”

Claire and Kamito frown simultaneously.

In the direction where the black smoke cleared up –


“Huh….?” “What… is that!?”

A gigantic timber-scaffolding was put together.

While it was of a simple structure, it was unreservedly a splendid shrine.

On top of that, a small girl, who was wearing the academy uniform, was dancing the dance of a ceremony for some reason.

It was a platinum blonde haired beautiful girl, who held a wooden cane.

“Our brethren, now is the time, hand down the iron hammer to the forest devastators!”

From the top of the gigantic scaffolding, she faced this side and thrust the cane with a snap.

“Wh…what’s going on, that girl … when did she make that large-scale shrine!?”

“We were preparing it last night to have it ready for today’s match.”

The carapace spirit contractor girl proudly held up a pair of scissors.

…Indeed, if it was with that spirit’s power, it should be possible to make the shrine in a night.

“I…it’s unfair, that thing! A ceremonial Kagura!”

“Uh-huh, it isn’t unfair! Without a large-scale ceremony, I can’t call out my contracted spirit!”

The girl, who was on top of the scaffolding and holding a cane, shouted.

“Shut up, a child should stay silent!”

“Unh, what do you mean by a child, isn’t your chest also of a child?”

“What… did you say!”

Pakii! The sound of a twig being stepped on and broken resounded. Claire’s red hair was bristled up like a blazing flame.


“The family of Druid …”

While wiping the perspiration on his forehead, Kamito muttered.

The family of Druid was a noble of the Ordesia Empire. It was a family of ancient honorable spirit contractors, which had lived in the spirit forest since before the origin of the empire and succeeded the blood relationship of the princess maidens with their original methods.

“That girl’s spirit is a little special, summoning takes time.”

“I see, that was the reason you were stalling time…”

The ground was violently shaking. The flames of the torches lighted at the surroundings of the shrine were thunderously burning up.

…He felt a tremendous sense of oppression. What that girl was trying to use was an outrageous spirit. It was likely that it roughly matched the military-use giant spirit that they fought the other day.

“—I won’t let you. Scarlet!”

Claire released Scarlet as its elemental waffe, Flame Tongue, and hit the ground very hard.

“Kamito, I’ll hold back her. You go destroy that shrine.”

“I got it!”

Kamito nodded and ran with the silver-glittering 'Terminus Est' in his hand.

As a spirit contractor, Claire was a genius.

Although her compatibility with the carapace spirit was bad, in a one-on-one battle, she would not lose.

There was a considerable distance till the shrine but with Kamito’s legs, he should make it in time.

“…!?”


Suddenly the ground in front of him burst open.

From within the thicket, spirit magic lightning bullets were fired.

It was the thunder spirit girl. Naturally, Kamito had also predicted that an ambush was hidden in the forest.

However—

“Toryaaaaaa!”

“Wha…!?”

This was unexpected. –The spirit contractor herself came interfering.

It was impossible to ignore. Kamito stopped and turned around.

(I’ll stun her in one strike—)

He nimbly turned around and aimed the handle of the sword at her stomach—

At that moment, an intense flash baked his eyes.

The thunder spirit, the girl was using, blew itself up in front of him.

The rain of intense lightning attack assailed Kamito. Sharp pain till numbness ran throughout his whole body.

It was not to the extent that he could not move. However, he was certainly stopped.

Before his eyes, the girl, who was caught in the explosion and fainted, had been defeated.

(That girl had resolved for a tie from the start…)

It was a tactic that could not be used in an individual battle but in the case of thinking only of the team’s victory, it was not a bad choice.

Her duty was to stop him to the bitter end. And then, that had succeeded.


“We’re done in…”

“Come, tyrant governor! Thou, beast king of the destruction army that grinds and smashes everything!”

On top of the shrine, the forest girl put up the cane to the sky and recited the majestic summoning.

The summoning ceremony had completed.

“…Its name is beast group spirit 'Cernunnos'!”

From here and there in the forest, the roar of countless beasts could be heard.

That Druid girl was calling the magic beasts that were living in Astral Zero.

“The beast group spirit… a spirit of vast possession range type!”

It was the same as the frenzy spirit that drove Claire’s Scarlet, the military-use spirit and so on mad, a type of spirit that would possess the target – the vast range edition.

Dodododododododododoo!

The group of magic beasts, which were possessed by the beast group spirit, made the earth tremor and came chagrining.

“Be…because they aren’t spirits, if they were trampled, they’ll die. Normally.”

“I…if it’s the handling of animals, I too will not lose!”

Pishi! Pishi! Claire, who defeated the carapace spirit contractor, beat her whip.

“Give it up, Claire, it’s our loss.”

“—The match is over.”

Teacher Freya, who appeared quickly like a shadow, blew the whistle that marked the end of the match.

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Gekkou:Volume 1 Confession

2011-06-20T20:08:57Z

Remotemine: /* [Confession] */ Grammar

==[Confession]==

Two days later, when Youko Tsukimori came to school again, even students from other classes came in crowds to our classroom to catch a glimpse of her.

One after the other expressed their condolences to her. They showed nothing but pitying attitudes.

Kamogawa's voice could be heard from the human ring that had formed around the center of the room.

"School without you is like a night without moon! Please Tsukimori, cheer up and light my footsteps in the dark as tenderly as you used to do!"

Oh how I would love to see him stumble in the dark and get stuck in a gutter.

A group of guys, Kamogawa among them, was trying to appeal themselves, talking wildly to her. Taking advantage of a girl's weakness might be a usual and practical strategy, but I just couldn't endure watching their pathetic and honorless behavior.

"You are quite the poet, aren't you Kamogawa-kun? Thank you for worrying about me."

However, Tsukimori dealt with each of them with utmost politeness, not showing the slightest frown—no, even smiling. Once again I came to understand why she was so popular.

Not everyone could possibly behave the way she did. At least I wouldn't have been able to. After all, I was already annoyed and I was only watching her.

As soon as the wave of visitors broke off, Tsukimori stood up and, for some reason, headed towards me with a smile on her face.

"Quite unusual for you to approach me spontaneously."

"But you came to my father's funeral, right? I wanted to say thanks." She sat down on Usami's empty chair and cheerfully smiled at me. "So, thanks for coming, Nonomiya-kun."

"No, it's nothing that would deserve your appreciation. I merely attended as the representative for the class."

"But it is. I was somehow relieved at seeing you behave as laid-back as usual."

"Oh I'm sorry for being such a cold-hearted guy. I was worried about you in my own way, though, you know? Too bad you didn't notice," I said and shrugged uncomfortably, whereupon Tsukimori laughed cheerfully: "I don't think of you like that!"

"Have things settled down at home?"

"There are still a lot of things that need to be taken care of, but for the time being, yes."

"I see. You must have experienced some troublesome days, I guess. Well, school must has its troublesome aspects too, for someone as popular as you."

Tsukimori shook her head, making her soft hair sway.

"I am very grateful that everyone is so worried about me."

"It's nice when others feel concerned about you, indeed, but there are limits that have to be respected, right? Aren't those fanatic fans of yours a bother? Especially Kamogawa. Or Kamogawa."

"I am actually quite fond of that cute side of boys."

I tried to find out her true thoughts by agitating her, but Tsukimori's smile remained unchanged like an iron wall.

"You really behave maturely."

"I am happy that you view me like that, Nonomiya-kun."

She accepted even my rather baffled words with a happy tone.

"—Nonomiya-kun," Tsukimori said my name all of a sudden, "do you remember your promise?"

"...Promise?"

I didn't remember ever making a promise with her.

"If I'm troubled—"

"—Ah, I see."

In the midst of her reminding me, I recalled a certain conversation I had with her one morning.

"Right, that promise."

"Well, I promised indeed. Ask for whatever you like, as long as I can help you with it."

It was a seed I had sowed myself, but deep in my heart I hoped that she would not have a bothersome request.

"It is something I would rather not talk about in the classroom," explained Tsukimori with a subdued voice so faint that no one else other than me could hear her.

The next instant, I was tense from tip to toe.

"...I'll be waiting for you in the library after school," she whispered and left the classroom elegantly with her hair streaming out behind her.

The palm of my hand was drenched in sweat. Apparently, I was tenser than I had thought.

Her dubious attitude had instantly reminded me of the murder recipe.

I sensed curiosity arising in me and hoped to get to the core of this affair at last. But at the same time, I was also alarmed because nobody, naturally including Tsukimori, should have known that the murder recipe was in my hands. My tension was proof that wariness exceeded my curiosity, I suppose.

"What if Tsukimori knows that I have her murder recipe...?" I thought to myself, picturing an unhappy scenario.

The funeral of her father had been conducted without incident, she had become a character akin to a heroine of some dramatic play and was on everyone's lips. Could one of her plans possibly fail in the first place? Looking at how she had everything, that was the impression I got.

The only two things that were in her way were the murder recipe that had gone lost and I, since I knew what was written in it.

As soon as she got rid of these two unsafe aspects, she would have conducted the perfect crime and obtain her own "ideal world".

...perhaps she was planning on killing me in due time.

I gulped down and my heartbeat got faster.

And then—I laughed.

I didn't want to die. And I also had to admit that it was quite an absurd thought, but: I was intrigued. I was intrigued by how she would hunt me down.

Where else in my environment could I find such a stimulus? Furthermore, the opponent was Youko Tsukimori—I couldn't have wished for anyone better.

I was convinced: this was the best time I'd had in the seventeenth years of my life so far.

I took a deep breath and stepped into the library.

The room was filled with the scent of paper as dry as fallen leaves. It was not a smell I disliked. At other times, I might have started leisurely browsing the library, but not now.

Even though I was moving leisurely, my eyes were restlessly searching for Tsukimori.

And before long, I found her.

She was sitting further inside at a desk for studying, reading a book with an elegant cover.

As classes had already ended and this was a library, it was already silent anyway, but that silence was even stronger around Tsukimori, as if I had entered a different realm.

Bewitched by her pure appearance that made her hard to approach, I just stood there holding my breath for a while.

Her long-lashed eyes closed and opened softly as she blinked, and from time to time she led her hand to the edge of the page and smoothly turned to the next one. Her profile looked like the finest glass work, though definitely not created by man but a miracle brought forth by god. "I would be a rich man if I could cut this scene out and put it in frame," I thought.

I confirmed that nobody was there except for Tsukimori and me.

"Once again, I'm sure the recent days have been hard for you—," I leaned against a book shelf as I addressed her, "—losing your father in an ''accident'' and all."

Tsukimori clapped her book shut and slowly turned towards me.

"Yes, especially for my mother. I have never seen her that down-hearted."

She gave a weak, tired laugh.

"How about you?"

"I'm sorry. But I have not recovered enough to talk about it yet."

Tsukimori shook her head with a troubled mien. It was a rather noncommittal answer.

"No, it was a rude question on my part. I beg your pardon."

I bowed my head.

"By the way, what is your request?" I brought up the main topic after a breath, "You specially called me out to the library for this, so I should think it's something quite delicate?"

"You told me to ask for your help if I am troubled."

"Yeah, and you answered that you would consult me directly."

"Exactly. That's why I would already like to get back to your offer, Nonomiya-kun. Please lend me a hand."

Then she spoke as if humming a tune:

"I want you to go out with me."

Her completely unexpected words made my head turn blank.

To be sure I chose to ask, "Where to?" but Tsukimori only bewilderedly replied: "You aren't funny," and shook her neat chin left and right.

"I suppose I'm not the person to criticize you, having already asked a tactless question just earlier, but you do realize that you lost your father only some days ago?"

Unlike Tsukimori I had to feign composure; I was observing all of her movements with greatest attention in order to read her intentions and had my brain run full throttle.

[[Image:Gekkou-056.jpg|thumb]]

"Do you want to say I am imprudent?"

"If you talk in extremes, yes."

"Then you are misunderstanding me! Precisely because my father has passed away, I thought that I'd need someone for support. Isn't it romantic if you call it 'the support of my heart'? I am not as strong as everyone believes, you know?"

Indeed, this was a good reason, but there were still too many points that didn't match.

"Then, why does it have to be me? I fail to understand why a popular girl like you would choose someone like me."

Tsukimori giggled, "I didn't know you were so gauche, Nonomiya-kun. It seems you do not understand a woman's heart at all if you ask for a reason why she confessed."

Her attitude irritated me a little.

"But you don't seem to understand a man's heart at all, either. At least I'm not as simple as to have no doubts whatsoever when a beauty asks me to go out with her all of a sudden. There's always a catch to attractive deals, right?" I sneered at her as payback.

"Is that so? I was sure that boys never feel bad being confessed to by a girl?"

The certainty in her tone made me lose my words for a moment.

"Indeed... we are simple enough to be happy about it, but the reply is a different matter."

I didn't want to admit it, but she was right. I unintentionally prided myself on the confession that everyone would envy me for. Was it the difference of our experience points? My chances were awfully worse when it came to love.

"Is there a girl you are fond of, Nonomiya-kun?" Tsukimori suddenly asked—as easily as a waitress who confirms a customer's order.

"There isn't."

Usami's face came to mind for a split second, but neither did I like her enough to mention her distinctly, nor was I straightforward enough to answer honestly.

"Is there a girl you go out with, then?"

"...isn't the order of questions a bit awry? Usually it would be the other way round, wouldn't it?"

"Is that so? Maybe you are going out with someone you don't love?" she answered with a wondering mien.

"...I think I finally understood why the guys say that all rumors about you might be true."

I shrugged over-exaggeratedly. 

"Those rumors are nothing but that, rumors, and you are not the type of person that is swayed by them, Nonomiya-kun."

"What makes you so sure? Even I watch my step if I hear some bad rumors, you know?"

"If you want, I can tell you which of them are true and which are not? In return—"

"—I hope you don't want to make dating you the condition."

"Our chemistry is right!"

Tsukimori showed no sign of timidity, instead she even smiled brightly.

"As if I'd ever accept such an unfair condition!" This time it was me who was taken aback. "...I didn't know you were this kind of girl."

She made me dance to her tune from start to finish. All the possible replies I had simulated in advance for this conversation were going to waste one after another.

"This is my way of paying respect to you, Nonomiya-kun! You are the person I wish to go out with. I think there is no point in showing you only a superficial side."

"I'm sorry about your respect, but haven't you thought about the possibility that I refuse?"

"I am ready to accept some amount of damage in order to obtain what I want. If you are afraid to get hurt, you won't obtain what you really desire. Well, revealing a few of my cards does not even count as damage anyway."

"Exceptional self-confidence, indeed! No wonder that the girls of the same grade add a 'san' to your name."

"I didn't know you were such an uptight person either. I was sure you were rather the type that lets things take their course."

"I'm much more sensible than you may think. And a little contrary, too. And I'm definitely not daring enough to get myself involved in affairs that make no sense to me or that can't agree to."

"Aren't you just averse to doing things you are not interested in?"

"I won't deny that! At any rate, if I go out with you, I won't have my peace anymore. I'm simply not leading my life actively enough as to take to attracting attention, that's all."

"It's a shame that you are so stubborn, Nonomiya-kun...," she said and fell silent.

We then shared some time of painful silence.

Even the shouts of the sport clubs from the grounds appeared like noise inside the soundless library and I heard the rustling of her skirt all too clearly when Tsukimori crossed her slender legs the other way around.

Tsukimori's gaze was listlessly wandering about in the air, hesitating about something.

Even such trivial gestures looked like a scene of a movie, sweetening the time until her next words and keeping me from getting bored.

Then I saw her lips move calmly.

"—if I tell you the reason why I chose you, will you be more open towards my request?"

I gulped down. In my imagination she got straight to the point and proclaimed that the reason was that I had the murder recipe.

Such an answer would naturally be quite absurd, but as Tsukimori seemed to be an unpredictable person, I couldn't deem it impossible anymore. Tsukimori's hidden character was bold, determined, and outstandingly clever on top of it.

Such a girl was approaching me. I couldn't help anymore suspecting some kind of catch in her request to go out with me.

"—More than now," I replied, choosing my words carefully.

I had hardly finished speaking when she squinted one of her almond eyes and smiled mischievously.

"Because I like your looks. It would be even better if you weren't a quibbler."

Her reply caught me so flat-footed that I would have liked to fall on the floor, but I contained myself and launched a counterattack.

"What a coincidence. I also think you're not half bad, save for the personality."

"We would make a well-matched couple then, wouldn't we?"

"In the sense of awful, sure."

Her constantly playing around with me had completely cooled me down.

Suspecting Youko Tsukimori to be a "father murderer" suddenly felt terribly idiotic and embarrassing.

Indeed, Tsukimori was a determined and bold girl, but I also knew that she was definitely not foolish. Even if she hypothetically considered her father an eyesore, she would have found many other ways of getting rid of him without choosing the means of "murder".

In the first place, could someone who had committed murder remain that composed? She was a peculiar girl, but I couldn't sense even a shred of shadiness or malicious emotions in her.

Suddenly——something touched my bangs. I reflexively jumped backwards.

"—I'm sorry."

After taking a look, I noticed that Tsukimori had stood up from her chair and had stretched her smooth white fingers towards me.

"Your hair looked so beautiful that I badly wanted to touch it."

Tsukimori gave me a bewitching smile, beautiful like the light of the moon.

—A shiver ran down my spine.

To me, that girl didn't seem to be from the same world.

"Please think about it seriously," Tsukimori said and headed towards the exit.

While she passed me by, her hair stroked my cheek and left behind a strong scent of roses.

Even though I had planned to learn more about her, I understood Youko Tsukimori even less now.

Then I recalled how Kamogawa had compared her to wine.

Indeed.

I was intoxicated by Youko Tsukimori's fragrance.

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[[Gekkou:Volume 1 Live|Live]]|
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</noinclude>

[[Category:Gekkou]]

Hidan no Aria:Volume7 Chapter3

2011-06-15T15:15:16Z

Remotemine: /* 3rd Ammo: The Third Quadra */ Grammar

==3rd Ammo: The Third Quadra==

The three girls from Connect had several simple single-earphone-type incams, and taking them, we established communication, sharing the same frequency.

Afterward, confirming that we had reached our respective positions...first, a message from Shiranui was transmitted through the incam.

"...Tohyama-kun. On Car 7, there are several TV staff of some location aboard and they have cameras. They understand that this is an incident, so it seems that all along, they have been using the train's wireless LAN to broadcast."

"Broadcast...in this situation?"

"Yes, they seem to be happy. They were able to be right at a scoop."

Really...They have no sense of reality.

Despite the fact that everyone might die in a heartbeat.

"...Leave them. Reporting is a freedom."

Scooping up the butterfly knife which I had dropped just now, that was all I said.

Because of the incident with Nii-san, I hate the media, but--in any case, I cannot stop the information leak. I can just pray that this doesn't lead to something bad.

--At the front of the train, next to me,

"Kinji, use heel sock too."

Saying that, Aria put her white sneakers back on.

To prepare for a case where one has unstable footing, Butei normally carry a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_alloy titanium-alloy] hook around with them.

On the belt buckle or at the bottom of the holster, concealed metallic components have the ability to fit together and change into several different forms for several different purposes, much like a toy like a transformer robot.

For the sake of not falling off the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen Shinkansen], Aria had attached those her shoes, choosing spikes.

"During the bus-jacking, we had used wires attached to the roof as our support, but this time, we'll be in close quarters combat. There's the chance that the wire will be severed."

"--Correct decision."

And, while I too was attaching the spikes to my shoes... 

Having finished her preparations earlier, Aria turned her back this way, going through a series of stretching exercises.

"You know. In Osaka, the thing with you and Reki--"

After a while, as if for the purpose of breaking the awkward silence, Aria interjected.

"I don't really mind. For intruding too much on your private matters, I apologize."

This is...a tone which shows that you really do mind.

Apparently, she's still angry that I was together with Reki throughout the field trip.

"Aria. It probably made you misunderstand, but...at that time, I was under Reki's Sniper Restriction. Reki is silent, so she didn't say much, but it seems that she was trying to protect me."

"Fuun..."

Having said that, Aria turned her head, seeming to be half satisfied, half suspicious.

"--Well, it's fine.　I was waiting around there anyways. Waiting on my own."

"Waiting? For what?"

"It doesn't matter, right? Alright, this conversation is over. Ah, anyways, I'm so unlucky. Even though my birthday is so close, I've been dragged into this incident."

A glance flickering my way, Aria stamped lightly, seeming to be testing out the spikes.

"Really, I'm so unfortunate. It's my birthday next week."

...Why did she say it twice. Birthday, birthday. At least, I'll memorize it.

Thinking about that, I met her eyes, and Aria's expression seemed a little urgent,

"Ah, u-um. Kinji. Where's your hometown?"

She seemed to be deliberately leading the conversation away from that topic.

I don't really understand, but--I'll just go along with her.

"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugamo Sugamo]. My grandparents are living there."

"Sugamo...? Were you planning to go there with this Shinkansen? If so, it's a shame."

Saying that, it seemed that Aria wasn't very familiar with Japanese geography.

"Sugamo is in the city."

"In the city...Then, why do you live in a dormitory? Wouldn't it be fine to commute to school?"

"--Well, for a lot of reasons."

Fixing my shoes, I faced Aria without explaining in detail.

So, the atmosphere turned to "Ready"--

Aria was patting her cheeks, mustering her fighting spirit, showing a cute movement.

Alright--from now on, it's time to fight. As if telling herself that.

It's just a theory that when a two-man cell hasn't fought together for a long time, they should have some idle chatter in order to synchronize, but we had just finished with that.　We had done it arbitrarily in the conversation just now.

"Let's go."

Immediately reaching out for the stairs, Aria's petite hand was--

-because I was on top, covered by my hand as if being embraced.

"Wh-what, all of a sudden. Hand, handhand."

Apparently weak against surprise attacks, Aria's face turned red in an instant, and I reached out with my little finger, flipping down her skirt.

"Only when going up stairs and ladders, ladies first is an exception."

The reason I was going to climb the ladder before Aria was...also for the sake of making sure that I would not have a hole blasted through me afterward, when Aria would notice the spatial relationship between myself and her skirt, but--

-it was also for the reason that, my mind in Hysteria Mode had had an uneasy prediction.

If this prediction turned out to fit the reality, the first person to exit would be in danger.

Leaving Aria, holding her skirt with both hands, her face having become red, below, I--

-extended my torso out from the rectangular exit leading out to the roof into the outside of the train, which had become completely dark.

"...!"

--''Whoosh''--

While I was doing that, an enormous amount of wind pressure assaulted my back.

The Shinkansen was operating at over 200 km/h--the wind-flow flowing over the roof was far more violent than I had imagined.

The sound of my necktie and bulletproof uniform being buffeted by the wind rang out.

(But, it isn't to the extent where it's impossible to stand up.)

Fighting against the wind, I relied on my spikes to stand up.

Koko was--there.

Having already moved to the anterior of Car 16, at the only pantograph there--a metallic component stemming from the aerial wiring above the car which supplies electrical energy to the vehicle--in front of it, a large installation had been set up, and it was flashing as if giving off some sort of signal. Alright. Her back was facing this way.

(...We haven't been noticed.)

Having bent over for the sake of reducing air resistance, at my feet--

''Clank''.

The sound of the lid of the door I had just exited slamming shut rang out.

''Rumble Rumble Thud!'' The sound of Aria, apparently having been trying to come up, falling to the floor resounded.

As I went "Tch", turning around--

''Bang! Bang Bang!''

I released bullets from the Beretta in my right hand.

''Clank! Clank''----!

Approaching me from the back, another Koko used the broad Seiryuutou as a shield, deflecting the bullets.

"Kihi--!"

''Creak!''

The spikes on her feet groaning, Koko dropped to all floors in that position.

"'''Sister Pao! Kinji came!'''"

"--'''Sister Mei! Hold tight!'''" 

The two Kokos, at the front and back of the car yelled to each other in Chinese--

Having noticed the sound of the gunshots, the Koko at the back of the car drew an SMG, an Uzi.

Taking that opportunity, I retreated from the Koko who had been called Meimei, the one holding the Seiryuutou, reaching approximately the middle of the car.

The position was such that I was caught exactly in between the two Koko's at my front and back.

(...As I had predicted.)

This Koko and Koko. They looked exactly the same, something like twins, right?

I had deduced that in advance, and ended up not being cut down--

-because my mind in Hysteria Mode had seen through this trick from two pieces of information.

The first piece of information is--the '''Explosive Bubble''' bubbles that had blown Aria away.

That was the same thing as the light that had injured Reki in the night-fight.

But, the range of that dispersal device, the atomizer, is short.

It isn't able to attack a sniper that is at least two kilometers away.

Which is to say, at that time, some other person had covered Reki with that '''Explosive Bubble'''.

The Koko that is strong in martial arts--Meimei was the offender.

Creeping in under the distraction of the hunting dogs, Meimei released that vapor explosive.

And, the second piece of information is--the conversation with Aria in the car.

From that conversation, I realized that the second Koko's appearance was exactly the same as the first's.

Aria had gotten angry over the fact that Koko looked like her, and apparently, on the day of Water Tossing, during their Aru=Kata battle, she had said, "I told you get to get rid of it!"

But, Koko had said that she had no memory of such a thing.

Rather, she had said that this was only the first time that she had met Aria in person.

In other words, the person who had engaged in Aru=Kata with Aria at Butei High was another Koko. With the exact same appearance, one more Koko--and that was the person that was on the back end of the car right now, '''Paonyang''', right?

This trick...it's obvious to say it's obvious.

Koko had called herself "The Warrior of Ten-Thousand Techniques", but a single person cannot do everything.

Martial arts. Marksmanship. The Kokos had divided up their specializations, acting as '''Ten-Thousand Arms'''--"The Warrior of Ten-Thousand Techniques".

"Koko, Koko--It's time for your punishment."

While looking at the Kokos on the left and right of me, one after the another, I drew the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMI_Desert_Eagle Desert Eagle] that was stored by my chest with my left hand.

Desert Eagle. The gun of my father's legacy can also be used by the me in Hysteria Mode.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beretta_M92F/FS#92F_.2892SB-F.29 Beretta] in my right hand. Desert Eagle in my left hand.

Doubla, dual-wielding.

Now that I think about it, in terms of blades, I also have a butterfly knife and a scramasax.

I'm in the middle of a field trip, so I don't have many bullets. If I run out of ammo, against the two Kokos...I can do nothing but use twin-blades.

--Aria. Riko.

I'll be borrowing your specialty for a moment.

Tohyama Kinji Version--Quadra of Mimicry.

"Kinchi, you...went into Hysteria Mode, didn't you. How?"

Apparently noticing that my aura was different from earlier, the Koko holding a blade--Meimei glared at me.

"Did you use Aria? Did you use Aria who looks like Koko?"

Paonyang, holding her submachine gun ready, turned red with a surprised expression. 

They had realized that, with Aria, who was very alike to themselves, my Hysteria Mode--had been triggered by arousal. Realizing that, it seemed that for some reason, their alertness had increased.

...How impolite. Because I had had past experiences with going into Hysteria Mode with various women, you said it in a loud voice, but it's not like I can just do it with anybody, you know?

"Be-be careful, '''Sister Mei'''. There's a lot to be careful of."

"'''Yes''', '''Sister Nyang'''. No matter how I look at it...it is impossible to capture HSS without injury.

The two people, saying that as if playing on stereo--their eyes, already very slanted, narrowed even more.

A stronger killing intent than before radiated from my left and right.

Almost numbing, it was a true killing intent--

--They finally got serious, huh?

Until now, it seemed that Koko had been showing themselves as relaxed in order to catch the enemy off guard.

Haha. As expected of the teacher, the martial style is extremely similar to the ''someone'' who wears Goth Loli uniforms.

"Kinji, it's me. After 10 seconds, we're accelerating. Don't fall off."

From the driver's seat, Muto communicated over the incam.

"What happened, Kinji! The door isn't opening!"

I heard Aria's high-pitched voice, which was almost as if it was trying to mask Muto's.

"I'm in the midst of battle. There are 2 people exactly like Aria on top of the train."

Answering with only that, I didn't say anything that might urge Aria to support.

The me as of now is in Hysteria Mode. I don't want to see girls in danger.

"Don't hold back, '''Sister Mei'''. It doesn't matter if you kill him."

"'''Yes'''. It doesn't matter if I kill him--!"

'''Thud'''---! Reading her Seiryuutou, Koko; Meimei ran towards me from the direction of advancement. 

--Quick. Aided by the 250 km/h tailwind, she shortened the distance in a heartbeat.

And, with a stance reminiscent of baseball's head-first sliding, she charged this way.

"--!"

''Thud!''

The Seiryuutou, the force of her entire body behind it, swung at my feet, and I jumped lightly, avoiding it.

I wanted to jump upwards normally, but I was immediately buffeted backwards by the air pressure,--

''PaPaPaPaPa!''

The Koko holding a gun fired her Uzi from behind me.

Twisting around in the air, I--fired the same amount of bullets from my Beretta - Kinji Model, defending with Billiard Shot.

The enemy's bullets all exploded into sparks in the air--

"-Ha!"

This time, as if stretching out from the roof, Meimei, doing a handstand, immediately kicked up at me.

I had no choice, kicking girls is rather painful for me, but--

My feet and Koko's feet met each other midair--

And, I leaped off her feet as if they were a jumping platform.

Meimei and the me in Hysteria Mode. I jumped with the combined power of two. High. Jumping over the flowing power lines and the hanger of the power pole holding them up, swiftly flying upwards for two, three meters.

From midair, using the Desert eagle--boasting three times the stopping power of a Beretta, I fired at Meimei's Seiryuutou.

--''BANG!''

With the recoil akin to that of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortar_%28weapon%29 mortar], I hung in the air for a moment.

As expected of the automatic strongest-class Desert Eagle. This power isn't to be laughed at.

''Clank!'' Deflected, the Seiryuutou was torn out of Meimei's hands, sliding backwards on the top of the Shinkansen.

At the anterior of the car, just as Paonyang picked it up--''Clank.''

Still in the air, below my feet, the Shinkansen accelerated.

This speed--260 km/h--!

Paonyang embedded the Seiryuutou into the back of the Shinkansen, and I could see that she was using it as a pole to retain her balance.

"Yaiyaiya!" 

Having lost her Seiryuutou, Meimei knelt to the ground while screaming that out, fishing two large fans from out of her sleeves.

([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_fan#War_fans_outside_Japan Battle-fan]--huh? This is the first time I've come up against it.)

From the air, I looked down at the fans, dyed crimson and gold, widening.

I had seen Shirayuki use battle-function fans before, but they had been made out of bamboo and paper.

However, Meimei's Chinese fans were made of metal. The edge, gleaming in the moonlight, was a blade.

Running, Koko twisted her entire body, jumping upwards, trying to dice me like a mixer--

And against that edge, ''Chnk, Chnk!''

I kicked off of it with my spikes, dancing into the air once again.

And once more, I fired the Desert Eagle in midair.

---''BANG! ZNG!''

Meimei immediately overlaid the metal fans, somewhat deflecting the .50AE bullet.

However, the Desert Eagle's stopping power was cheat-level. Destroying the two fans, it forced Meimei towards the front of the car.

Once again hanging in the air through the recoil, I brushed the aerial cables in the air, modifying my trajectory--

Finally touching the roof of the Shinkansen again, I stretched my arms outward, pointing the Doubla at the Koko sisters.

The light from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamamatsu_Station Hamamatsu station] flowed past us like innumerable [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracer_bullets tracer bullets].

I--

This battle is no longer in desolate territory.

An Aru=Kata gunfight at 260 km/h. This isn't something one can see in even Kung Fu movies.

It's a shame that Hong Kong's famous director, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Woo John Woo's] camera isn't here.

--''SSSHHHHAAAAAAAAA''

Going onto a large curve, the Shinkansen leaned to the left as it tried to retain its bank angle.

For the sake of preventing the derailment of high-speed trains, they will take the curve like an airplane, banking.

The chassis moved with centrifugal force, and we were standing slanted along with the train.

Her back against the slanted ground beneath her, Meimei, having thrown away her broken fans, bent over--''Ba''

The flat of her hand standing erect, she stretched out her hands to retain her balance, her opened knees dropped till they reached right angles as she bent her hips.

And, ''Thud!''

Just like what Riko had did to Haimaki at Butei High station, she kicked up with her right leg.

"As expected, Kinchi. You really do have good skills. If it were possible, I don't want to kill you."

Immediately pointing her right hand at me, Meimei shook her sleeves--''Clank!''

She took something small out of her sleeve, holding it in her hand.

I can't see it...What is it. What did she take out?

I have a bad feeling.

That is something--like a finishing move.

Staying alert, from the opposite side of Meimei--the sign of a gunshot was--!

"!"

The moment I dropped down--''PaPaPaPaPaPa!'' The sound of gunshots rang out.

The bullets that Paonyang, walking this way, had fired with her Uzi whooshed over my head.

(...Danger!)

The stray bullets that I had just dodged were heading straight for Meimei, in front.

Thinking that, the me in Hysteria Mode readied the stance for Billiard Shot in an instant, but--

All the stray bullets passed through the air just left and right of Meimei. They didn't hit her.

Paonyang--as the Koko that specializes in marksmanship, had shot such that even if she missed me, she would not hit her sister.

With an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzi Uzi], she sprayed countless of bullets in that instant--with a submachine gun.

Amazing marksmanship. The level of Aria, Kana, and I.

Does someone like that still remain in this world?

No...That was not all I should be surprised at.

Meimei--another Koko, was completely at ease.

She trusted that Paonyang's bullets would not hit her. As if she understood that she would not shoot herself.

(They're alteregoistic. These sisters...!) 

I leaped upwards, kneeling on one knee on top of the car.

I tried to raised my Beretta to counterattack, but--

While switching the long-magazine of the Uzi, ''ThudThudThud'', Paonyang kicked my head and gun while running over me. Towards Meimei.

''Zuzaaaa'', Paonyang, doing a headfirst slide at the end of the Shinkansen--

-at Meimei's feet, she stayed lying down like that. As if protecting herself from whatever was about to happen.

"--!"

My eyes caught sight of the equipment that Meimei had whipped out from the palm of her hand.

"Time for the fireworks."

That is--

-the thing which fires the vapor explosive bubbles, an atomizer!

"--'''Explosive Bubble Dragon Chain'''!" 

Together with that scream, the '''Explosive Bubble''' that she released windward wasn't very visible in my dark field of vision--there were many of them.

Zig-zagging side by side, they rushed towards me like a miniature dragon.

(Damn...!)

I can't--dodge that.

A bomb's area of effect is normally an expanding "sphere". Even if its diameter is the extent of a vehicle, one can dodge to the front or back.

However--multiple explosions, stretched out in a row, encompassing the whole of the top of the train, cannot be dodge.

I'll have to take it. If I don't prepare myself to any degree of damage, then...!

As I went "Tch", crossing my arms over my head, protecting it--

At Meimei's side--if one were to call it a dragon, the first '''Explosive Bubble''' popped at the tail.

''BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM---!''

The explosion set off the next bubble, and then the next bubble--the explosions continued in a chain. As if a slender Chinese Dragon was blazing into flame.

"--!"

I put strength into my legs, trying to withstand the impact, but--''Clank!''

As if a raging dragon had just thundered into my body, I was blown towards the back of the train.

The impact and heat wave stopped my breathing, and for a second, my consciousness--went blank.

Even so, without releasing the guns on my left and right, standing up on the roof, in my ears--

"Meimei! Get Kinji off! '''Sister Juu''' came to assist! She came earlier than planned!" 

-could hear Koko's voice saying that.

Looking up towards the sky, from the air behind me, ''Barabarabarabara''...

As if brushing past the stars between the clouds, I could see a helicopter come.

(Now...Reinforcements for the enemy are coming now...!?)

Earlier, Koko had said, "Promise for a date".

It seemed that that was meeting up and extraction with the companion that was riding this helicopter.

Not even leaving me enough time to frown, Meimei fished a small gourd out of her sleeves, which were being buffeted by the wind--

''Guii-----! Thud.''

With a pose as if gazing up into the sky, she faced straight up, emptying the contents in one gulp, throwing it away.

"---'''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zui_Quan Drunken] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baguazhang Eight Trigrams Palm]'''---"

''Sway''. In a moment, Meimei, looking as if she had lost her balance--

''TapTapTapTapTap!'' While her twin-tails were fluttering like ribbons in gymnastics, she closed in on me with frontal somersaults and cartwheels.

"--!?"

My reaction towards those erratic movements, which I had seen for the very first time, was late.

Movements like stepping on the gourd that she had thrown away and tripping mixed in, I could not keep Meimei in my sights.

Wh-what kind of movement is that? Drinking alcohol and then fighting...that's impossible!

"JYAAAOOH!"

''Thump.''

Meimei extended her legs, clinging to my waist, just as I was barely standing.

"Kuh...!"

No, not only her legs.

''Shh''--snaking around my neck was a twin-tail.

This is what I had been subjected to on the day of "Water Tossing", the irregular choke. That front...!

"ShanShiKeiKeiBa!"

In a heartbeat, Koko was holding her own twin-tails, ''Guiii!''

She threw herself backwards.

"...!"

The same as the day of the opening ceremony, my windpipe and carotid artery was clamped.

I grabbed hold of Koko's twin-tails as if we were playing tug of war, trying to resist, but--

-added to Koko's two arms, she was using the power of her back to pull the tails on her left and right completely tight.

I-I can't...I'm losing my strength...!

"Kihihi! From the beginning, you can't win the princess of the middle of the world! Peaceful idiot '''Japanese!'''"

This is bad...my consciousness is starting to fade...

...I'm done. My mind in Hysteria Mode told me that calmly.

This is my loss. Once again.

The first reason being, this was two against one.

Moreover, those two could completely synchronize their actions exhibiting perfect co-operation.

Teamwork increases the power of individuals.

Yes, I had--been subjected to the figurative opposite of what we had always done to EU's assassins.

(This too is...divine retribution...?)

The second reason for my loss was...Hysteria Mode. That weak-point had been exposed.

I did not want to hurt girls, without letting Aria join the battle, my battle ability dropped, and even the enemy, Koko, I tried to protect, creating an opening.

Naive. Too naive.

I...really am a peaceful idiot Japanese person.

I smiled a wry smile, tainted with self-derision, but even the muscles in my face...I could no longer put strength into them.

Blackout----when blood no longer flows to the brain, the optic nerves cease their function--at the denouement of that feeling, as I lost consciousness--

---''BSSHHHHH! BSHH!''

A jarring impact ran into my body from Meimei's twin-tails.

"Auoh!?"

''Clink,'' bent backwards, Meimei dropped towards my feet, the choking maneuver was--

-in an instant, released.

The bundle of silky hair was still wrapped around my hand.

Meimei did a backwards somersault, and her hair had--become short.

The twin-tails on the left and right had been severed.　Right at the foundations.

Still contorted, I saw that, at the bottom of my field of vision, two new bullet holes had opened up on the roof of the Shinkansen.

(Ju-just now was...a snipe!?)

And the instant I noticed,

''Bang...Bang...!''

I heard the sound of distant gunshots.

This--sound.

I hadn't forgotten it.

Time and time again, this sound had been heard as if engraving itself into my consciousness.

The sound of a ...[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragunov_sniper_rifle Dragunov sniper rifle]!

"Different--that helicopter is different from '''Sister Ju''''s! Who is it!"

Along with that gunshot, like a distant crack of a thunder, the sound of Paonyang's panicked voice.

From a swaying helicopter, shooting the roots of a person's twin-tails while they're grappling with somebody on top of a moving Shinkansen, severing two of them together. Furthermore, with a famous rifle, yet nevertheless anachronistic, an SVD.

Able to do something like that, a superhuman sniper....I know nobody besides one person.

"--Reki...!"

The helicopter, following the Shinkansen, was an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_OH-1 OH-1].

Inside the Hotogi shrine's garage, Kawasaki Heavy Industry's high-speed helicopter.

From the opened hatch--

Still bandaged in various places around her body, Reki had stuck her body out, holding her sniper rifle in place.

And with a speed which overwhelmed surprise, the muzzle of the Dragunov flashed.

--''BSSSSHHH!''

The supersonic 7.62mm x 54R impacted the ground by Meimei's left and right feet, looking as if it was brushing past them.

"'''Ah!'''"

Letting loose a truncated scream, Meimei pressed against her heel--''Thump.'' She fell upon the ground there.

This is...a manner of falling which suggests that while there was no blood loss, her [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles_tendon Achilles tendon] had been grazed.

Reki. As always, you are a goddess of sniping. Despite being heavily injured.

With just one bullet, you crippled Meimei's ability to stand.

"--!"

Unable to stay in place, Meimei was buffeted by the wind--

She slid towards the back of the car.

''Hssh'', Somewhat able to hold on to the signalling device at the foundation of the pantograph, Meimei stayed in that position, hiding herself in the shadow of the installation. She seemed to be trying to protect herself from Reki's follow-up.

"Kin-chan...um, hello? Sorry for interrupting while you're fighting."

A message entered the incam as I was still stunned.

Panicked for whatever reason, Shirayuki's voice.

"What's wrong?"

"From Hotogi's Makieda-san--from the chauffeur-san, there's a phone call."

Ph-phone call?

Frowning, in my ears, ''Click, Beep'', I heard what seemed to be the sound of Shirayuki's cellphone linking with the incam.

"--Tohyama-sama, my deepest apologies. This is Hotogi's Makieda. Right now...I am flying over the anterior of Hope 246."

...This voice.

This is the driver which brought us to the Hotogi Shrine by car.

From that high-speed helicopter, she was talking with Shirayuki?

"Wh-what is it...!"

"This is--our disgrace. The young megumi miko who were watching TV were talking, and Reki-sama, having heard them...took her gun, and kicking Kazayuki off, who tried to take this helicopter to come to Shirayuki-sama's aid, she ordered the pilot, myself, to fly her out."

Looking at the anterior of the vehicle, the helicopter had already descended to the point where it was nearly touching the Shinkansen.

In the co-pilot's seat of the OH-1, extending half her body out of the hatch, Reki--

-while her short hair was being beat down upon by the wind, she was looking down on the very back of the train.

And, giving some sort of order to the pilot's seat of the helicopter...

"--no, Reki-sama, we have already exceeded the vehicular speed limit. If we go any faster...the chassis won't be able to take it...!"

I heard Makieda-san's voice, apparently in response to Reki--

-and even so, Reki pointed her Dragunov at Makieda-san, and I could see her giving Makieda-san some sort of order.

...''Barabarabarabarabarabarabara''...!

The OH-1 descended even lower while accelerating. At the edge of the very back of the Shinkansen.

Do you plan to board...Reki!?

Impossible. Stop it.

You're injured.

Don't fight!

"Kinji! Pull back the helicopter! --in front of us is a tunnel!"

Reaching over the incam, Aria, apparently having heard the conversation between Hotogi's chauffeur and I, said as if screaming.

Looking back at our direction of advancement, while the vehicle was delineating the large curve, it was heading straight for a tunnel.

Above the tunnel was a mountain.

At this rate--the helicopter will crash right into it!

"Kinji! We're accelerating in another 10 seconds! We're exceeding 300!"

Muto's voice delivered the worst of the situation.

"Makieda-san, rise!"

"...!"

Apparently concentrating on the complex operation under the limit-breaking speed, there was no response from the helicopter.

"'''Reki!''' You can't hit anything except birds--'''Northern Barbarian'''!"

From the front of the vehicle, with the Uzi that Paonyang was holding by her hip--''PaPaPaPaPaPa!''

Although it was outside the gun's effective range, she let loose a barrage at the helicopter.

Without taking notice of that, Reki placed her toes on the handle of the helicopter, hanging upside down out of the hatch--she readied her Dragunov.

''Pa!'' Thinking whether the muzzle had flashed--''BSSSH!''

"Kyuu!"

Paonynang's Uzi was torn out of her hands, falling down towards the track.

The next instant, no longer able to bear the strain, the helicopter tried to avoid the fast approaching mountain, rising--

Feeling that, Reki, ''Flutter'', launched herself off the helicopter, into mid-air.

''Zan!''

At the very back of the Shinkansen, Reki pierced the roof with her bayonet, clinging on to it.

Her amber eyes immediately faced towards this direction--towards the Kokos and I.

--''WHOOOSSH''--

Staying at a speed of 300 km/h, the Shinkansen entered the tunnel--

--''Ban!''

In the midst of the darkness, the airflow around us intensified in a mere moment.

(Uu...!)

The air pressure changing in a heartbeat, my lungs seemed to rip apart.

Buffeted by the vortex of wind, I had no choice but to press myself against the back of the Shinkansen.

Grinding my teeth, straining my ears in the midst of the ever-present roar.

Listening to the operational noise of Hope Number 246, echoing in the tunnel--for whether the sound of the helicopter's explosion was mixed in.

Still tense, my ears searched through the ripping noise.

But...it was alright.

The OH-1 [Ninja] was a helicopter that was as maneuverable as its nickname boasted.

I had only been shown it in a video by Muto, but in case of emergency, it could perform an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immelmann_turn Immelmann turn].

The helicopter performed a maneuver in reaction to death, avoiding the slope of the mountain, escaping danger.

(Makieda-san--as expected of the chauffeur that armed Miko are entrusted with.)

Above my head, the lights lighting up the tunnel at regular intervals flowed past one by one like a meteor shower.

In that scene, as if out of a movie, at the very back of the train, around 400 meters away, was Reki.

Reki was somewhat standing, and step by step, she advanced. Facing this way.

--No.

Don't come, Reki! You'll die!

You are injured. Fighting under such torturous conditions, your body can't take it..!

"'''Re-Ki'''...!"

''Clatter!'' Turning my head to that sound, I could see that, while holding a new Uzi that she had taken out of her sleeves, Paonyang was slowly crawling towards the sloped head of the Shinkansen, which was taking the streamline-curve.

Hiding her body against that slope--when Reki comes into her gun's range, she plans to take the attack with her gun.

"Shira...yuki...!"

Not able to breath properly in the midst of the wind pressure, pressed on the ear which had the incam inserted into it, shouting.

"Kin-chan! Are you alright!?"

"I'm...alright! Rather than that, Reki has...boarded, from the helicopter! She has, severe injuries, can't let her fight...!"

"Re-Reki-san is...on the train!?"

''Pa---!''

With that sound, the Shinkansen shot out of the tunnel.

While Reki's skirt was fluttering as if it was about to be torn off, she was already crossing from the car at the very back to he next car.

--There's no choice. Telling her to stop won't stop Reki.

Finally able to breathe normally, I decided to put the final measure that I had been thinking of secretly all this time into action.

"Shirayuki, for the sake of not allowing Reki to fight, for the sake of saving the passengers--there is something a request for you."

"A request for me...?"

"The lead car of the Shinkansen, this Car 16...sever it. With your katana."

"...Eh...!"

"In truth, for the sake of that, I had you stay there. The vapor explosive is in the frontmost car--Car 16. Because the passengers are gathered in Cars 15 and below, if you sever it, casualties will be kept to a minimum."

"But, Kin-chan...will be left at the car with the enemy and the bomb...!"

Worried about me, Shirayuki didn't seem to be willing to immediately accept cutting the Shinkansen apart.

However, it doesn't seem as if I'll have enough time to persuade her.

This train was passing by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shizuoka_Station Shizuoka station], which was desolate after the people had evacuated.

I can't help it. I don't really want to do this, but...I'll put Hysteria Mode's techniques into action.

This is a technique which Nii-san, which is to say Kana, had showed me before, but--

In this kind of time, I can probably do it.

"Shirayuki."

Tone of voice; this kind of feeling is good.

Calm down, Kinji. If you calm down, then you should be able to do it.

"Shirayuki. Are you listening? Shirayuki."

With a voice that was a little deeper, I started speaking as if appealing directly to Shirayuki's heart.

"Ye-yes."

"Ever since before, Shirayuki has known me. Shirayuki, who knows me more deeply than anybody else--wants to say that the burden of this battle is to heavy for me? If that's so, then that truly is unexpected."

"Th-that's..."

"I thought that Shirayuki understood me, yet--was I wrong? Shirayuki."

Mixed with the sweetness of Hysteria Mode, my voice, Shirayuki, Shirayuki, called out that name, weaving it into my words.

"N-no, that's..."

Shirayuki's attitude immediately became as obedient as norm...no, changed into something even more obedient than normal.

Alright, alright, I managed to perform it well.

This is something that has been passed down through the Tohyama family, "Voice Captivation"--a type of hypnotism.

Recently, this was proven scientifically by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_acting_in_Japan Seiyuu]-training schools, but people are weak against the opposite gender's voice when a special tone and breathing method is blended in.

The Tohyama bloodline, which has Hysteria Mode, has already refined this to an art, passing it down.

According to that piece of knowledge, if one continually responds to girls with their own name, gently, sweetly whispering into their ear...it appears that their mind will gradually become more and more hazy, and they will leave any decision to boys.

"Shirayuki. The severing of the cars--you'll do it for me, right? This is something that only Shirayuki can do."

Controlling my impatience, I continued whispering to Shirayuki.

Because Shirayuki has an incam inserted directly into her ear,

I can expect that it's able to replicate the effect of the contact-distance of whispering.

"Kin-chan...you can...win?"

"Yes. Please leave the enemy and the bomb to us. I'll leave the passengers to Shirayuki and the others. You said that--recently, your Kidoujutsu has been unstable, but...you can cut it?"

"Ye-yes. If I use all my strength, then...definitely!"

At Shirayuki's voice, a wave of relief washed over me.

It seems that she'll do this job for me.

"Kin-chan, I'm cutting it. I'll definitely sever it well!"

"Ye-yeah."

It seemed that she was the type to be easily affected by hypnotism; it felt as if Shirayuki had been completely motivated.

"I'll cut it! Cut! Cut! For the sake of Kin-chan-sama, I'll cut it in half!"

No-now that I think about it...Nii-san had warned me about this. "Voice Captivation" is prohibited from being frequently used and abused.

I have no idea of how one could exploit it, but indeed, if I use this often, then it seems as if it'd be horrible.

It seemed that, in an instant, inside Shirayuki, something like 'loyalty' for me had been amplified...

The future is extremely uneasy.

"--Aria."

I returned my voice to normal, talking to Aria through the incam.

"Aria--please retreat to Car 15. You have Kanae-san's trial. You no longer have the time to be preoccupied with this stupid incident."

"N-no way! I...!"

"Kinji, I heard, you know? It seems that I've been put in the Detention group."

Just as it seemed that Aria was about to starts shouting, Muto's voice interrupted.

"Muto. I'm sorry. That things became like this."

"Heh. I don't care. It's been my dream ever since I was a kid to drive a Shinkansen. With that granted, I feel like it's fine even if I die."

Saying that, Muto's voice was really trustworthy.

Even though it was half-desperate at the same time.

"--Muto. There's also a pantograph at the back of the leading car. If we receive electricity from there, can we keep going even while severed?"

"I'm changing the settings to that right now."

As expected of Muto. He's quick at his job.

He's only an honour student in Logi.

"If we sever the cars--what will happen to the cars in the back?"

"Don't worry. The Shinkansen was designed so that each car can run on its own. Because the New Automatic Train Control System is cut, it can be stopped through manual operation. The crying driver from earlier can do it for us, right?"

While listening to Muto's words, I watched the back end of the vehicle, and Reki had already crossed over the middle of the train.

"Shirayuki, do it, do it for me."

"Yes...! Kin-chan, may the God of battle bless you...!" 

Apparently having been conserving her power till now, Shirayuki took a deep breath--

"--Hotogi Soutenryuu--Hihihotogikami - Zankan--!" [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume7_Translator%27s_Notes]

In the wake of that voice, ''Shing!'', the sound of a blade being drawn, reminiscent of a bell, rang out.

The next instant--without a sound, at the end of the front-most car, the linking portion, light burst forth all around it.

As if several burners were being used, a scarlet light.

"Kya...!"

Meimei drew her neck in at the sudden glare, and immediately after--

''Clank''...that heavy sound rang out, and Car 15 started drawing back.

"...!"

--Well done; is all that can be said.

The cars had been severed. With that one strike.

Having seen that, Reki started running this way as if trying to push the wind out of her path.
[[File:Aria07 141.jpg|thumb]]
"--Reki! Stop!"

As I shouted, the severed car behind us got farther and farther.

1 meter, 3 meters, 5 meters--

Alright, it was no longer a distance that Reki could cross while fighting against the wind.

The forward-most car, having become solitary--seemed to have become unstable aerodynamically, and its shaking intensified.

In my shaking vision, Shirayuki, visible from the incision at Car 15--

Like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hishikawa_Moronobu Hishikawa Moronobu's] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e] "Beauty Looking Back", her back was facing this way.

Apparently and probably from some kind of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaijutsu iai technique] was the flash just now, and she appeared to be still in the regretful stance which had caused it.

"Kin, chan...!"

Shirayuki--the blade in her hand, ''Clank'', dropped to her knees.

Her breathing ragged, with her exhausted face, she turned to look this way painfully.

Shirayuki, you did well.

Thanks to you, all the passengers are saved.

Reki as well. With this, she can leave the battlefield--with that, Reki, who I looked at again--

"...?"

While sprinting across the roof of Car 15, which had been severed from this one, she took something out of her breast pocket.

My eyes in Hysteria Mode caught sight of it.

(Butei Bullet--!)

That color is, Grenade. Triggering a huge explosion, it is a miniature vaporized fuel explosive. 

What do you plan on doing.

Reki--!

"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_no_Yoshitsune Minamoto no Yoshitsune]...Eight Ship Leap...!"

Still collapsed, Meimei said something, pale--

Reki was coming.

Whilst spinning on the spot, ''Sparkle''--in the air, behind her, she released the Butei Bullet.

And once again, sprinting forth with all her strength, she faced this way.

--''BAAAAAAAAAAAAANGGGGGGGGG!!''

Manually detonated, the Grenade spun into a crimson vortex of flame behind Reki.

The shockwave blew away the wind from the front, acting as an reverse hurricane.

--Reki, while being blown away by the blast--

-cradled the Dragunov, and her skirt seemingly being torn to pieces--she traveled the gap between the two cars.

And--''Thud!'', she tumbled onto the brink of the leading car.

"--Reki!"

Rolling off the the edge, delineating a curve, Reki, her face unchanging, pierced the roof with her bayonet.

And, clinging onto the stock of her bayonet, her entire weight hanging upon it, she used it as a stepping stone, ''Paki---'', and just as the bayonet snapped, she somehow managed to climb onto the roof.

That body, wrapped in bandages here and there, seemed to have had its wounds opened from the impact just now, and they were soaked in blood.

Why...were you so reckless. Reki.

White smoke streaming from her burning bandages and shoes, Reki, standing on top of the train, as expressionless as always...

Meimei, and even Paonyang, stared up at her in shock.

...Reki.

Robot Reki.

Do you not know even terror?

You'll die if you do that...!

"Why...did you run this way!"

I shouted from the center of the car.

"The reason I ran?"

Removing her burning shoes and socks and tossing them aside, Reki stood barefoot on the back of the Shinkansen--

"--because, Kinji-san too ran for me. On that night, from the mountain, cradling me."

Her method of speaking completely emotionless, she answered with that.

My ears in Hysteria Mode caught that voice even through the wind.

"...Reki..."

After the sniper battle at Hieizan...I thought that Reki had fainted, but it seemed that she was slightly conscious.

Because I faltered in my words out of embarrassment, Reki turned towards Paonyang, who was looking at the situation from the front of the vehicle.

"Also, I made an oath. "I oath to become a single bullet, bringing destruction upon those who wish to harm my lord."--That."

''Click.''

As if readying a blade, Reki pointed the Dragunov at Meimei.

"Koko of Ranban. Just once, I will give you the chance to surrender. The number of people in battle is already two against one. You have no chance of winning. Disarm the bomb and stop the train."

From behind Reki--

"It's three against one."

''Shh'', Aria climbed up from the cut section of the Shinkansen.

"Aria...!"

In response to Aria, her jet-black and silver-white Governments drawn, my cheek twitched.

Aria. Although I told her to retreat from this car earlier, it seemed she had stayed.

Reki--continued to keep her back facing Aria,

"Aria-san. Please return to the interior of the car. I believe I told you not to approach Kinji-san."

While her bandages, slightly unraveled, and her short hair was being buffeted by the wind, she spoke a warning.

"...As for the wounded, return to the hospital."

Twin-tails being blown about, Aria answered as if arguing.

"Aria-san is the one that is supposed to retreat."

"That's you, right?"

"It is Aria-san."

"It's you!"

He-hey. Both of you.

Don't fight even here.

The fact is, the two of you being here together in this situation is reality. There's no helping it.

At that point, I thought outside the box. A place to return to, a road, none of that is here.

However--if we are fighting together, if we do not work together, it will be dangerous.

For a Butei and Butei, if they are able to cooperate well, 1+1 will equal 3 or even 4. However, if there is disagreement between them, 1+1 will not even equal 2.

The worst case is, they will drag upon each other, turning it into a negative number.

In the past, Shirayuki and Riko...were opposed to Aria, but if it was an emergency, they would cooperate and fight.

They were not people who would remain stubborn in even times of trouble.

--However, Reki cannot.

Her killing intent, as if the number of enemies had increased by one, was released at Aria, who was behind her.

Aria too, being Aria, was in a mood where she was ready to point her guns at Reki.

This won't do. These two...will fight. At this rate.

I frowned--and just as I clutched my Desert Eagle, nearly out of bullets, and the Beretta--

--''Zzaaa''--

Once again, the Shinkansen entered a tunnel, and the vehicular noise as well as darkness enveloped us.

However, the tunnel this time was short, and in a few seconds, the vehicle exited.

After exiting the tunnel--a glaring light shone down upon the train.

This light...what is it? Squinting while I looked up into the air--

...''Barabarabarabarabara''...

A news helicopter, making that noise, was flying in the air at a rather high altitude.　There were many of them. It seemed as if they were waiting for this train, Hope 246.

This light was the searchlights that the helicopters were focusing on one point.

The bloody media. From a distance where they would not be affected by an explosion, they were going to be bystanders from above, huh?

"Koko. It's over. Throw down your weapons and raise your hands."

Within the searchlights, which seemed to be carving out a path in the darkness--

I pointed the Desert Eagle, shining brightly, and the Beretta at Paonyang and Meimei respectively.

However...even with that, Paonyang's eyes had not lost their will to fight. The same went for Meimei, collapsed on the ground.

Why? Why won't they wave a white flag?

The Kokos are--

(...Waiting for something...!?)

At the exact moment that my mind in Hysteria Mode realized that...

The sound of the hovering news helicopters changed slightly.

Looking back at the sky, one of them--Eurocopter's AS365, approached from the anterior of the vehicle. Reckless. There's a bomb set on this train. Which location is this TV station from?

--No, wrong...!

That was disguised as a news helicopter--

"Aria! Reki! --Hostile vehicle!"

Right before I shouted, my eyes in Hysteria Mode had caught sight of the pilot.

A girl shouldering a sniper rifle.

She is, she too is, Koko!

Exactly the same as the Kokos that are here, the third Koko.

"Rather than twins, they were triplets...!?"

I went "Tch", glaring at the AS365.

This is one kind of infiltration method.

Even if we chase, even if we knock them down, the next Koko will appear.

"Ah...!"

"..."

Forced away by the descending air pressure that the helicopter was creating, Aria and Reki retreated till they were at my side.

Aria pointed her Governments at the AS365 as if in intimidation, but she did not fire.

It seemed that Reki was observing my order, "Do not kill,"--and she did not shoot the helicopter.

As if jeering at the two, the helicopter swept over the Shinkansen from the back to the front like it was making fun of them.

"Uah!"

Twin-tails pulled taut by the wind, Aria, behind me, was forced to retreat in the direction of advancement.

The helicopter--

"...Uu, Uoah!?"

Directly above Muto, who had shouted into the incam in surprise--it hovered in the air above the cab. No, to be more accurate, it was not hovering. At 350 km/h, it had started to run parallel to it. In the air.

From that helicopter, which seemed as if it was originally for rescue purposes, the hatch opened and--''Thud.''

Koko, a hook attached to her feet, descended to the tip of the Shinkansen.

The weapon that the third Koko was holding was the famous rifle, renowned for having the highest reliability in the world, an M700. The one that was destroyed by Reki was painted with camouflage paint, but this one, apparently for night-fighting, was colored matte black.

"'''Sister Pao'''--I kept you waiting. Let's go to '''Sister Mei'''."

The Koko that came to reinforce ordered the second Koko, Paonyang, who had earlier called her, "'''Sister Juu'''".

I could understand it from her attitude, it seems that this sniper girl is the eldest sister.

"'''Yes'''--'''Sister Juu'''"

Paonyang responded to Juujuu with one sentence, ''Ba!''

While unfastening the buttons of her ethnic costume, she dived towards the right of the vehicle.

"--!?"

At these movements which appeared suicidal, I drew in a sharp breath--

Billowing in the empty space, Paonyang's clothes expanded into one large piece of cloth like an unfolding piece of origami--as I watched, it turned into a parachute.

This scene. I've seen it before.

Turning into a parachute in an emergency, it was the same as Riko's modified uniform.

Koko, using it not for airborne purposes but to glide, moved in a 'C'-shape next to the Shinkansen.

And, embracing Meimei, who was collapsed at the brink of the back end of the train, she gracefully descended.

Severing the parachute of clothes, Paonyang* was only wearing underwear--despite the fact that she was fourteen years old, she was wearing something like crimson lingerie--and she hid her body behind the installation at the base of the pantograph. 

Looking closer, in that one instant, the Seiryuutou that had been embedded into the anterior of the train had been pulled out as well.

(...This is bad...!)

My mind in Hysteria Mode told me that the situation had devolved in a mere moment.

While Paonyang was using the broad Seiryuutou as a shield to protect herself from the Dragunov, she planned to draw Reki into Aru=Kata. Because, if Reki did not have her bayonet, then close-combat was akin to impossible for her.

From the other side, the front of the vehicle, Juujuu pointed the M700 sniper rifle at Aria.

Aria too pointed her Goverments back at her, but there was 20 meters of distance between Juujuu and her. It was not a distance where one could shoot accurately with the accuracy of a pistol.

Each of their enemies having taken an advantageous position, Aria and Reki retreated towards me, who was in the middle of the train, as if clamping down on me with their backs.

And, as if symbolizing the two person's relationship, still unable to try and cooperate in this situation--they stayed like that, their backs facing one another.

"'''Sister Pao!''' This is it for business. There are no hostages anymore. The Japanese government won't give us any money.

"I understand, '''Sister Juu!''' Retreat and blow up the train. We can't take these people back with us either."

In the sky above the Meimei sisters, who were talking to each other, the helicopter, which had been vacated, rose by a few meters before it stood-by.

Apparently calculating the distance between it and the Shinkansen with a camera, while doing that, it preserved its speed and altitude. It seemed that auto-pilot functionality had been installed on it.

Functionality that was the same as something like the functionality of spacecraft flying parallel to and on the edge of a small planet.

That is amazing. As expected of EU's engineer.

And--as expected, they are the descendants of China's General of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao. 

Despite the fact that we wanted to drive them to a dead end, at some point in time, we had had that inflicted upon us.

I had learned this from World History, it seemed that Cao Cao was also a scholar who researched and compiled Ancient China's Art of War, "Sun Tzu".

And the Arts of War that Sun Tzu had were, the three conditions that were critical to victory: "The time of the sky, the advantages of the earth, the peace between men."

If one were to analyze it in Assault terms, 'the time of the sky' would hold the meaning of timing, 'the advantages of the earth' would hold the meaning of positioning, and 'the peace between men' would hold the meaning of teamwork.

The Kokos had chosen their perfect timing, successively attacking us, using the train and the helicopter freely in order to take the advantageous position, and since they were triplets, they had taken advantage of their synchronization...now, each of them had determined the target that they could defeat.

On the other side, we were limited by the timer of Non-Stop, we were thrown into confusion on the roof and the interior, and with Aria and Reki turning their backs on each other, I was clamped in-between them.

Even though we had higher numbers, even though our personal ability was not below theirs--we had been pressured, driven to a corner.

At this rate, Aria and Reki will be crushed, and then I will be killed in a crossfire.

If--we don't do something.

But, what do we do?

What do we do...!

My mind in Hysteria Mode driven into full operation, after a few seconds--

"...!"

The image of a method to turn this around flashed into my head.

But...Hey, me.

Is that image really possible?

To realize it, we have to have the same thing as the Kokos, the three conditions of sky, earth, and men.

The time of the sky--with the correct timing.

The advantage of the earth--creating an advantageous position.

But, for the sake of that, the peace between men--teamwork between Aria and Reki is required.

Right now, that is missing.

Therefore, we cannot help but create it.

--Create it. Who?

Me.

Even if just for a moment. I will make these two people link hands. For the sake of victory.

"Aria, Reki."

To the backs of the two, I spoke.

"I believe. In the two of you, in the depths of your hearts...I believe that you trust each other."

Juujuu is trying to maximize her profits--Paonyang is trying to charge outwards--now!

"--Then, a make-up handshake."

I threw my own Beretta and Desert Eagle up into the air.

And as the two lingered in the air--

Aria's and Reki's arms grasped each other behind their backs.

And half forced, the hand and hand firmly came together.

"!?"

"?"

Aria and Reki were linking hands like girls that were really good friends with each other, turning around to face each other.

While leaning over like a dancer, I--

-with my right and left hand, I turned each of their arms to back to their waists. From a bird's-eye view, we would be in an S-shape.

And, as if I was a chess piece in an axis of revolution, I turned a semi-circle, bent on one knee.

--''Guru''---!

Using me as an axis--Aria and Reki twirled around as if in a waltz. For me.

--"Castling Turn"--

Two pieces moving in one turn to switch places, a special chess move.

Aria. Reki.

You're good girls. Both of you.

Aria trusted. Trusted Reki, who moved, trusting me.

Reki too trusted. Trusted Aria, who moved, trusting me.

Focusing our consciousness for the enemy's attack, at the timing where we could not defend or dodge--

The two used me as an intermediary, trusting each other, putting teamwork into play. In a mere moment.

But, the moment of that inversion was more than enough.

Their positions changed, each of Reki and Aria's opponents were--Juujuu for Reki, Paonyang for Aria, switching into that position. As I expected.

Sniping versus sniping. Gun versus fist.

We had set up that position. With that "Castling Turn".

"--!"

''Bang!''

Unable to cancel her shot out of reflex in that instant, Juujuu's bullets were--''Bch! Clank!''

Catching the Desert Eagle that I had released earlier, I used Billiard Shot with my last .50AE.

Juujuu's bullet deflected at an oblique angle, Reki counterattacked with the Dragunov--''Tan!''

She shot at the feet of the Koko that was a sniper, Juujuu.

"--'''Ah!'''"

Tripping in the same manner as Meimei from earlier, Juujuu slid towards the front of the Shinkansen.

"Koko!"

---''Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!''

At the back of the vehicle, Aria, while shooting the Governments in both her hands, ran towards Paonyang.

At Paonyang, who was using the Seiruutou as a shield and planting her feet, I--switched the Beretta which I caught to full-auto, following up with a barrage which all but left my magazine empty.

As expected, apparently unable to endure the consecutive attacks of the Governments and the Beretta, Koko,

"'''Kyuu!'''"

-fell on her butt.

''Clank Clank!''

The Uzi and Seiryuutou held in her left and right hands were precisely torn out of her hands by Aria's .45ACP bullets. 

Finally disarmed...towards Paonyang, who was left with the ungraceful appearance of only wearing undergarments,-

"--You're under arrest!"

Without holding back, she charged forwards.

The weapons she was holding having been shot, her hands probably numb, Paonyang was bound by Aria, who had immediately bowled her over, with a wire.

"This is payback for tying me up back then!"

Because, shouting that, Aria had bound Meimei, who could not fight, too, I turned to look at the front of the car--

"..."

At the edge of the continuing slope at the head of the Shinkansen, Reki was crouching there wordlessly.

"'''Sister Pao! Sister Mei! Save me! I'm slipping! I'm falling!'''"

In that direction, apparently, clinging unseen to the bottom of the slope, I could hear the sound of Juujuu screaming.

"You are rather noisy.　Since you are also a princess, please know your position."

''Chchk--''

Taking a stance of placing the Dragunov against her shoulder, Reki's barrel was pointed directly at the helicopter in the air.

"...Uguu..."

It seemed that the thought of it being shot down was intolerable--at that, Juujuu fell silent.

--Koko, Koko, and Koko--

All three of them had been rendered useless in combat. Finally.

...There's nobody left, right? After this.

"It can't be that there's more of you, right!?"

Apparently thinking the same thing as I, Aria, ''Step'' 

Not able to hold back, she stepped on Meimei and Paonyang who looked exactly like her--

''Whoosh Whoosh'', spinning the pistols on her left and right, she inserted them back into the holsters below her skirt.

And, facing upwards, Aria and--

-Reki, standing up, turned to face each other at the same time.

Those eyes, and those eyes, met.

"...D-don't misunderstand, Reki."

Blushing a little, Aria had started stuttering.

"Earlier...was just my body moving by itself."

"--The same goes for me, it was only that my body was moving by itself."

Reki too also said that, remaining stubborn, but--

Aria. Reki. I understand.
[[File:Aria07 159.jpg|thumb]]
Your line of sight, meeting now, was different from earlier.

Those are the eyes of two people who acknowledge each other, the eyes of a Butei and a Butei. Earlier, the event of helping each other which I facilitated--I pray that that is the new first step between two people.

"---'''You flat chested girl! Remember this!'''"

From the tip of the car, Juujuu's voice--

"?"

Turning to that, '''Buwaaaaaa...!'''

Apparently having taken it out of her sleeves, a pink smokescreen was thrown up, whirling into a vortex.

Together with the smoke, Juujuu seemed to be washed away by the cutting wind--she flew towards the back end of the vehicle.

"--!"

Juujuu, flying extremely far to the back in the space of an, 'Ah', ''Whoosh''....!

Parachute expanding, she performed a rapid deceleration.

Where she was inside the pink smoke, I did not really know, but in the instant that the smoke parted, I saw--hugging her knees to herself, in that position, she had slowed to around 50 km/h.

And staying in that position, ''Zaaaaa''...she touched ground in a small field.

"--What a cold-hearted sister. She left you here."

At Aria, who said that to the Kokos at her feet, apparently slightly regretful that she had let one person get away--

""Kihi...Kihihihihihihi!""

The Kokos responded with an ominous laugh.

"A fight between a tiger and a dragon--We'll take you on the road with us."

"This isn't Kokos' loss. Everyone will be blown away by '''Explosive Bubble'''! Idiot, idiot, idiot!"

''Kun''--The Shinkansen sped up even more. With this, our speed is 370 km/h...!

Apparently not able to keep up at this speed, Koko's helicopter, in the air above us--began to lag behind.

Once it was a certain distance from the train, the helicopter decelerated...landing on the road next to the track.

"You can't do anything except for fight. You're different from Koko."

"Kinchi, you're a useless, slow, idiotic turtle."

There was no longer an escape route. For Koko. And for us.

The Shinkansen was operating in an urban area. No matter where it explodes, there will be casualties.

"--That's right. I'm not nimble like Riko or Aria. I cannot use any techniques like Shirayuki. I don't have the skills like Muto to be able to drive anything. By myself, I cannot do anything."

However, my ears had already caught it.

That noise.

"That's right. You can't do anything!"

At Koko, who said that in a high pitched voice--

"But, ''we'' can do anything--"

From behind me, who answered with that--the sound of a horn rang out--

Another Shinkansen had chased us.

""...?""

The Kokos, brows creased, looked at the Shinkansen that was chasing us in shock.

"In this Caravan I, that was something that we learned as well."

We used a wire, returning from the back of the vehicle to the interior.

And for once, the Kokos cooperated with Aria as she brought them inside.

The door to the vehicle was opened due to Muto's operation, and from the door of the rescue Shinkansen, traveling at the exact same speed along the straight railroad--

A tube, roughly 1 meter in diameter, was extended this way, automatically attaching itself with a hook.

"Aya, Ayayayayaya!"

Sliding down that tube as if it was a slide was--

''Thump'', Her butt planted on the floor, Amdo's Hiraga Aya.

"...I apologize, Hiraga-san. For dragging you into this."

"What are you talking about! If it's one of my customer's problems, no matter where it is, Aya will come running! Tohyama-kun, Reki-san, Riko-chan, everyone is my important customer!"

Hiraga-san tugged on the rope that she had brought with her in the tube, pulling several different tools and a piece of machinery that looked like a fire extinguisher with her--whilst she was doing that, her eyes blinked at me. It seemed that she was trying to wink, but apparently, she couldn't do it.

A girl whom I never know if she's skillful or not.

Bringing in her tools, the tube that was crossing the space between the two Shinkansen's was taken off. For the purpose of transferring signs and signals between each piece of track, there are poles, and this was for the sake of preventing the tube from clashing with them.

However, even though we had nowhere to run, for some reason, Hiraga-san was assembling her equipment in a good mood.

"A-Ayaya! I-i-it's leaking!"

I heard Riko's voice say that from the direction of the seats.

"Just hold on a little longer! If it leaks, then the switch in the seat will short-circuit!"

"Riko is short-circuiting too! Quickly, quickly! Save meeeee!"

Riko...wanted to go to the bathroom?

That's obvious. Because, she had drank far too much strawberry milk.

"Haven't you disabled it, Hiraga!"

''Kun''--Muto said while making the Shinkansen accelerate further.

With this--390 km/h.

"--'''''Nothing is impossible!!!'''''"

Flashing an innocent smile while working, Hiraga-san answered cheerfully.

We had passed Shinyokohama station. Time left till Tokyo station was--7~8 minutes, huh?

No. If you think about the distance that is needed for the vehicle's system to brake, it's even shorter than that.

Two instruments had been extended out of the fire extinguisher-like piece of equipment, and working very gently, attaching them to the window of the washroom, Hiraga-san--

"The vapor explosive will explode once it mixes with oxygen, I heard that earlier from Riko-chan through wireless."

-said that, and she started working cautiously, but skillfully.

It seemed that, with a cutter that was attached to the tip of the tube, she apparently opened two miniscule holes.

Inside those holes, from one side of the tube, something like a balloon began to expand outwards.

"This is...?"

To Aria, who was looking through the window, Hiraga-san thrust forth her flat chest.

"Inflated with oxygen, it's a silicon balloon! When it has expanded to fill every corner, the vapor explosive will be forced into this vacuum cylinder."

''GoGoGoGoGoGOGo''...the sound of a compressor working.

After...three minutes. We had already entered Shinakawa station.

Hidan no Aria:Volume7 Chapter2

2011-06-12T00:28:36Z

Remotemine:

==2nd Ammo: HURRY UP==

Really, I should have stayed in the Hotogi shrine to watch over Reki, but Kanae-san's trial was fast approaching. And for that, there was an unconfirmed chance that the lawyers would have to speak with us, the people who had fought with EU, face to face before the trial.

So, on the evening of that day, I left the doctors and Kazayuki to watch over Reki...

Shirayuki and I took the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sany%C5%8D_Shinkansen Sanyou Shinkansen] - Toukaidou Hope 246, going to Tokyo.

"16, Car 15, Row D-E...Ah, here. It's all the way at the front, Kin-chan! Kin-chan likes the aisle seat, doesn't he? Here you go. Have this ticket."

Pushing the ticket for the aisle seat into my hands and sitting at the window seat, Shirayuki--because she had left the Hotogi, was talking with me ceaselessly. It seemed that she was trying to encourage me, who said little, worried about Reki.

It was evident that her own heart wasn't calm. Shirayuki is really a very firm person.

She never forgets to empathize, to be concerned for others, a really good person.

"Shirayuki, thanks a lot."

Sitting down on the aisle seat--

"Eh. Mmm, it's fine. Because--this is the first time I've ridden on the Shinkansen, I wanted to see the scenery, so it's great that I'm sitting at the window seat. On the contrary...if I wasn't riding together with Kin-chan, I would have to take the car again, so...thank you very much."

I had just said a word of thanks, yet Shirayuki's face turned red, and she waved her hands furiously.

Because I saw Shirayuki, who was putting so much effort into being cheerful, abruptly return to her normal self, I laughed softly, a small ''Fu'' escaping my lips--and Shirayuki made a "Waaa!" expression.

And, to hide her expression, her hands slapped to her cheeks...her face, looking as if she was paying her respects, went all the way down to her lap, a sort of kneeling position, and her body twisted in what seemed like agony, she looked out the window.

Wh...what are you doing...?

"Ahh...at such a short distance, I was blessed with 'Kin-chan laugh'...cool...cool, so cool...!"

While muttering what she was thinking in her heart, Shirayuki was, to put it in Riko terms, making a "excited by something moe face". The feeling of "Kyaaa".

Do you think that I can't see your face? Well, I can see it really clearly in the reflection of the window.

Rather, what's "Kin-chan laugh"? Is it that old comedian's act, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AC%BD%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83%E3%82%93 Kin-chan] run, the one that Muto sometimes does to pick up girls...?

While thinking about that, I reclined in the seat a little, inside the Shinkansen which had just started to move.

I rested, but, is it that the continuous chain of events had completely thrown my body's clock into disorder...?

Again, I could not sleep.

I was looking at the scenery outside the Shinkansen, passing by abnormally slowly...''Drowsy, Drowsy''...and...

...

......

.........

"While you're sleeping--I'm sorry to disturb you."

...n?

Argh. The train attendant came.

It seemed that, at some point in time, I had really fallen asleep.

"Ah...Yes?"

I showed her the train ticket, however, for some reason, sweating under the uniform cap, the train attendant...only swiftly checked the luggage rack above us and the space below our seats before leaving in a hurry.

It seemed as if she wasn't here to check our tickets.

What did she come here for? She was moving her hands like she was looking for something...well, whatever.

I looked at my watch and already, more than 30 minutes had passed since our departure.

Looking to my side, Shirayuki was also sleeping, continuing to sit upright on the seat.

She seemed to be sleeping deeply, since she didn't seem to have woken up when the train attendant came.

That's to be expected. I had caught a little sleep at Hotogi, but the reason for this was because Shirayuki had been protecting Reki and me throughout the night.

Originally a beautiful person and such, with a beautiful sleeping face as well, Shirayuki...ng...?

"...Fufu...so cute...mnya..."

With an amazingly happy face, she started sleep-talking something.

"...His eyes are exactly like Kin-chan's...ah, his nose looks like mine, doesn't it...ufufu..."

......。

What's happening inside Shirayuki's dream? I mean, before that, what does Shirayuki's dream world have to do with me? Just imagining it is terrifying.

(...I shouldn't think about it too deeply...)

I turned my back to Shirayuki's sleeping face, softly standing up from my seat.

Because I had taken a nap, my fatigue was slightly relieved, but my head was still hazy.

(I'll just go to the washroom for a little while to wash my face.)

Go through the automatic door, going to the end of Car 16...I was going to to go to the washroom on this side of the cab.

But...

Huh? The door isn't opening.

It didn't move at all, almost like it was welded shut. What the hell is this?

Since this wasn't the toilet, I looked in from the small window, but...there was nobody inside.

(It seems that, somehow, the door was broken.)

Since I didn't have any other choice but to use the washroom at the back, I started to walk towards Car 15.

On the Oumi Shinkansen, returning to Tokyo and Chinami, Car 16 is the front most car, and Car 1 is the farthest back.

The train wasn't that crowded, and I looked around while walking--on the rows of seats, three on the right, two on the left, there were many types of passengers sitting there.

Some children playing trump. And, there was what I thought to be their guardian, a pregnant woman, her belly bulging out.

A pair of salary-men, on a business trip, were playing chess against each other with a magnetic chessboard.

Since I had learned the rules of chess from Kana, I sneaked a look as I passed by...one of the players was just using the special move, "Castling".

A movement that switches the king with the rook, "Castling" is--one of the moves I like.

Seeing the two pieces switch places as if dancing in a cycle, just looking at it was rather fun. 

(Kana was really good, I didn't even win once.)

While I was thinking about the past, I once again started advancing up the aisle.

Ah...having inclined the chair all the way backwards, the man drinking sake was Washio Narau.

He was both an actor and a singer, although besides that, he was a person that was notorious for his excessive vulgarity.

In the middle of the row of three seats, the ones on the left and right occupied by the female assistants he had brought with him, Washio--the eyes beneath his sunglasses met mine, and he went "Tch", as if saying: "I was noticed, huh."

(...What. It's not like I'm gonna start shouting.)

Feeling rather annoyed, I passed by...walking towards the back of the car.

''Ngaaah, Goo''...As I was thinking about who that big guy was, snoring like that, I saw that it was Muto.

Aah, it's so embarrassing to be a Butei just like him. I'm just glad that, at least, there's nobody sitting next to him.

I pretended that he was a stranger, passing by...farthest back on Car 16, for some reason, the seats in the two-seat row had been turned--they were seats whose backs were facing this way.

Above the seat, I could see a red horn sticking out.

To be more correct, it was a hair clip whose front stuck out like a horn.

Attached to pink-blonde twin-tails, sitting there, back facing this way, was--

(...Aria...!)

That's Aria.

Next to her, I could see loose waves of tea-coloured hair, probably Riko's head.

Now that I think about it, during the field trip, Aria was saying something about meeting Riko and Muto at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure Kure].

These three were taking the train back to Tokyo, huh?

"Ari..."

Stepping forward, just about to tell her about Reki, my arm, ''Grab''.

"--?"

I was grabbed by the person who was sitting in one of the seats in front of Aria and Riko, forcefully pulled into the empty seat.

Turning my head, that hand was--Assault's Shiranui Ryou.

While the handsome Shiranui placed a finger in front of his mouth, making a gesture for "be quiet," his left and right eyes flicked open and shut, winking at me.

Decoding that like morse code..「Talking about something interesting; Listen」...?

Trying to ignore it and get up, I was stuck inside Shiranui's arms.

「Let go; I have something to say to Aria.」

I replied.

「Let go.」

「It's fine; Stay like this」

「Let go.」

「It's fine; It's fine」

Forcefully answering with that kind of winking...''Chatter Chatter.''

Looking up the aisle, three Butei High girls were sitting on the three-row seats, looking this way, whispering with each other. Those were students that were in the same class as me, 2A. If I'm certain, Connect.

The three female students, their faces red, were saying: "Pl-player," "Even with boys," "Ca-captured...!", apparently shocked. I could hear about three-tenths of what they were saying.

（...Th-this can't...)

Noticing their serious expressions, if I look at this from an objective point of view--This scene between Shiranui and me. Hands linked intimately, looking at each other directly, not saying anything. Two boys.

Shi-Shiranui. Please at least care about what this looks like in other people's eyes. Even if that isn't so, there's never been any rumors about you getting together with any girls, so it's easy to suspect that you're ''that'' kind.

For the sake of not having an even worse reputation even more among my class,

「I got it; I got it, so; Let go of my hand; 5 minutes; I'll stay here quietly.」

Communicating that to Shiranui, Shiranui released my hand.

(But, what does he want me to hear?)

Folding my arms in annoyance...I could hear Aria and Riko's conversation from behind me.

"--This is, something that my friend consulted me about. Look, I, ah...be-because, about romance, I don't really understand that kind of thing. Maybe you would understand...I thought."

"Ask anything you want! Riko is a love-romance human Wikipedia!"

...Love? ...Romance? 
[[File:Aria07 055.jpg|thumb]]
What. Isn't this the kind of thing that I'm horrible at?

This isn't interesting at all.

"My friend...th-that friend, um, let's call her A-san. This A-san, for a boy...well, he'll be K-kun. Sh-she hasn't clearly told K that she likes him, but um...well, they've been moving together. For a few months.  

She understands that K--doesn't have much motivation, but he's a boy that can do anything once he tries. So, A-san has established a collaborative relationship with K, becoming something like friends that fight a lot. And, while they were doing that, A-san has started to feel something like, "he's mine", towards K...that..."

"Hmm, hmm. So, something more than friends but less than lovers. And, the possessive feeling towards the counterpart, it has already started to sprout before officially being together. It's those kinds of symptoms, hmm? Kufufu."

Taking on the air of a teacher, Riko seemed to be having a lot of fun.

In her heart, she likes talking about these kinds of things, right?

"Bu-but. A-san is already going to switch schools very soon. Leaving K at Butei High."

Aria, on another side, was radiating a feeling of slight desperation.

Her tone seemed to suggest that she was talking about herself.

She had said she was talking about a friend, so why'd she become so serious?

"It does exist, you know. Before a school transfer or exam, this kind of boy-girl messy situation. Juruuuuuu."

Wondering what kind of sound it was, I peeked through the gap between the seats and...

On the window seat, Riko was drinking out of a pack of strawberry milk.

And if I looked closer, on top of the table that was attached to the wall was around 20 packs of empty strawberry milk stacked atop each other.

I see. Because she wanted to place them there in such huge numbers, she had reclined her chair back? As usual, she does whatever she wants.

Rather, no matter how I think about it, that's over-drinking strawberry milk.

"But, well, when things had come to that time, Kin-ah, um, K-kun became closer to another girl. This...girl named R-san. She's a type that's completely different from A-san whether it be personality or ability...an outstanding girl."

Looks like the cast of characters has increased.

A-san, K-kun, and R-san, huh.

Well, I don't really care about the story of Aria's friend. Finish up quickly.

"After that, K and R-san started moving together...um..."

"Hmm, hmmm. If K-kun eats nothing but strawberries, won't he want to start eating some melons?"

Extremely serious, Aria asked Riko, who had just said those words, a question: "Are boys like that?"

She's such a gullible person. Aria, that is.

Riko is definitely just saying whatever is most fitting. Judging from her tone.

"That's right~. As opposed to women, who give birth, men are the people who make women give birth. Trying to leave their offspring behind in various types of women is just a natural instinct. Kufufufu."

"Th-that does sound possible."

"On that note, "what kind of girl do I like", is completely different from person to person. What kind of person is K-kun~?"

"--A haremizer!' 

Saying that, Aria's tone seemed to be extremely angry.

Although I couldn't see her, I could imagine that her face was demon-like.

Despite the fact that I was completely unrelated to their conversation, a chill ran down my spine.

"Normally he's a failure as a human, but just in front of girls, for an instant, he becomes really cool, amazingly cool...and, my chest starts hurting a lot, and afterwards, I can't do anything but think about it...he says strange things occasionally. Su-suddenly　touching me. It's really shocking. He's far too good at that, and over here, I can't do anything, just staying in this state, rather...no matter what the other side does, I probably can't resist, rather...My head becomes...something like...strange. It becomes strange--I mean, um, that, that's what my friend said." 

Heh~~? Does a failure of a man like that really exist in our school?

Someone like that really is a devilish bastard.

"Um, just now, um, my friend, A-san said that. Really. That was completely something that my friend, A-san, said."

Hearing Aria remind Riko, Shiranui, who was next to me, burst out into a fit of little giggles.

...What's so funny? I don't get the punchline.

"Well, because K is like that...A-san　got into a huge fight with K. But, I-ah, A! A-san, um, before transferring schools, with that K...even if "taking him back" is impossible, she wants just to be able to mend things between them. She knows that its just a selfish wish of hers, but R keeping K as hers like this...when A and K could meet again, K would already be R's captive, and K probably would not be partners with A. So, um..."

At that point, Aria's chair creaked as she drew closer to Riko.

"Wh-what does she do so that K doesn't forget about A-san. That, wh-what does she do before she transfers?"

Somehow...Aria's voice seemed to be frozen with fear.

On another side, Riko, in a very calm manner, went: "Nn~~Fufufu", laughing through her nose.

"A-san-san is about to celebrate her birthday, right? And, her birthday will come right before she transfers."

Saying that, Riko, ''Creak''.

Aria jumped off her seat in surprise.

"Yo-you really understand this! Th-that's right."

Ho~~.

Aria too has a friend that she gets along so well with? She even remembers her birthday.

As for me, about my friends birthdays, I don't even remember Shiranui's, who's sitting right here next to me. Of course, I don't remember Muto's either. 

I just remember Aria's birthday, as if I had ignored it, I would be subjected to Infinite Windhole Hell, so I had memorized it as pertinent information. I don't really know it accurately, but I do remember that it was during this month.

"Kufufu. That's obvious. It's because Riko is an excellent romance counselor. Kufufu~nn."

Laughing an extremely horrible laugh, Riko,

"--On that day, this love triangle will have a final battle."

"...?"

"A-san cannot be hurried. It's fine if she doesn't do anything. Hold yourself back, and Ki-ku...um. Test K-kun!"

"Te-test...?"

"That's right. Because, if K-kun doesn't hate A-san, he won't let something like a birthday pass without doing anything. I expect that he'll disguise it as birthday wishes, and try to meet you alone."

''Gulp''.

I could hear the noise of Aria swallowing.

"A parting confession--might be possible. Kufufu..."

"CO, CO-CO-CO-CO-CO-CONFE! SS-ION!"

Aria, lower your voice.

A train is a public vehicle, so don't shout so loudly.

"No, no. K-kun, aside from confessing--he might even do something more than that...!"

"SO-SOMETHING MORE THAN THAT IS FORBIDDEN!"

...So, Aria. Please calm down.

Your Japanese has already become really weird.

"Th-that's '''''too much!''''' Be-because '''''too early for me, for I'm just 17 at that time!''''' Lo-lo-look! If something comes so suddenly '''''how. how how how'd I ...I...'''''I !" [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume7_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

Because Aria had started panting and speaking in some sort of alien language, I couldn't understand what she was saying any longer...

「This is stupid；　This much is fine, right?」

I sent some winking signals at Shiranui.

Shiranui too...winked, responding.

「Tohyama-kun；　Do your best, alright?」

「What? I do my best at what?」

「Only thus; Is Tohyama-kun」

Shiranui smiled wryly, smiling and gesturing at me like a hotel concierge, as if conveying, "Please go ahead."

What was that. In the end.

When I tried to stand up, my mouth twisted into a 「へ」 character...at that exact moment.

''Guu''---

The train swayed, as if it had been tugged forward a little.

"Woah..."

Losing my balance a little, I grabbed hold of the back of the reclined seat.

What happened just now...?

It was only a little speed, but it seemed as if the train had shook from some sort of sudden acceleration.

'Hmm?' Muttering to himself, outside of the window that Shiranui was looking through--Nagoya station flashed past.

This Shinkansen passed by a station.

"...?"

That's strange.

Wasn't this Shinkansen definitely supposed to stop at Nagoya?

This isn't just me misunderstand it, right?

Some passengers, apparently going to disembark here, had an incredulous look on their faces as they returned to the aisles.

Just as they, their expressions dissatisfied, started to make some noise--

「--A notice to our customers.」

An announcement started flowing through the interior of the car.

「This train was supposed to stop at Nagoya, but because of some unexpected　circumstances, it cannot stop.」

...?

「As for those customers that planned to disembark at Nagoya, as soon as these circumstances have been resolved...you will be sent to Nagoya from the closest station by an extra train. We are sorry for the trouble, investigations into the details of said circumstances are currently being held.」

The voice, which I thought belonged to conductor, was trembling slightly.

What's wrong? What happened?

I've never heard of a malfunction that caused a train to hurtle by a station. On the contrary, I would understand if they stopped the train.

That wasn't all that was strange.

Ever since this Shinkansen passed Nagoya, it hadn't slowed down.

Rather...it was speeding up...?

"Hey, what the hell is happening?", "Arrrgh, the job is going to be canceled.", "What the hell are these 'circumstances'" "Could you explain? I didn't understand any of what was said just now."

From between the passengers, who were milling about in confusion, the talent that was reclining in his chair just now, Washio Narau,

"Hey! Conductor, get the fuck out here right now! I have to get off at Nagoya! The audience is already entering the dome, do you know who I am!? Go back to Nagoya!"

-stood up, roaring in anger.

Even though we've already gone past it, he was saying some reckless things.

But, besides that--

(This is bad...)

Agitation is infectious. If the other passengers started to panic because of the weird things he was saying, gathering them all up would become difficult. If I don't quiet him down...

Just as I stood up--

「Also, If there are any suspicious luggage or suspicious items in your vicinity, please alert the stewardesses.」

Continuing as such, the announcer could no longer be tolerated by Washio, who kicked the seat in front of him.

"What the fuck are these 'suspicious items'!? Is there a bomb set on this train or something!? Eh!?"

Fuck, he said it immediately...!

"--Bomb?" "Eh, seriously!? He said a bomb!?" "Hey, it seems that there's a bomb!"

As the passenger's unease grew larger, some people started walking towards the driver's seat.

"Everyone, please calm down." "Please return to your seats!" "A thorough investigation is being conducted--"

The three Butei High girls that had been looking at Shiranui and me earlier stood up, trying to soothe the crowd, but...It's impossible. The situation inside the train was quickly nearing full-blown panic.

This is--

It was bad enough that Washio had stood up and shouted, but the crew's announcement didn't help either. The information that was released was far too vague.

They didn't say anything about when it would be solved, just saying that there were some unnatural circumstances.

As for the Shinkansen, the abnormality that they refrained from releasing an announcement:「Not stopping at Nagoya」, something that cannot be hidden, beforehand...if there was an announcement that they were sealed inside a train, an enclosed space, it isn't impossible that customers with a short temper, just like Washio, would raise a racket.

A normal person, unlike us Butei, doesn't experience dangerous incidents like this everyday.

"It's dangerous, so please return to your seat."

When Shiranui said that to the pregnant lady, who had stood up, her stomach bulging out--''Whirr.''

Feet swaying, a chain of cries rang out as the passengers stumbled to the back of the train.

The Shinkansen had sped up again.

(What the hell is this...!?)

Looking out the window, the speed we had accelerated--judging from the change of the flow of the scenery, it was only a little.

But, it was too sudden. It was a sudden acceleration that would be impossible under normal circumstances.

Which is to say...It's like the feeling of barely being able to endure it, yet not being able to stop, continually gaining speed.

On the electronic displays above the automatic doors,

--[Current speed: 130km/h]--

-those words were flowing from right to left.

Apparently becoming more uneasy from the 'current speed', the customers started clamoring as they tried to stampede towards the driver's seat.

Washio Narau ran towards the back of the car--''Clank Clank!'' Using what appeared to be a very expensive lighter to smash the lid of the emergency door control, which was buried into the wall.

(That idiot! What the hell is he doing!)

Is he planning..to open the door to the Shinkansen manually!?

While in the midst of travel, the lock should be engaged, but now, the Shinkansen was in a situation where I didn't know if it was functioning normally. If by a one in a thousand chance, it opened...things would get ugly!

"STOP!"

I fixed my eyes on Washio, charging one straight line down the aisle, directly towards him.

"--Kinji!?"

"Kin-chan...!"

While hearing Aria's voice, who had just noticed me, and Shirayuki's voice, who had apparently woken up due to the ruckus--I,

"Calm down! You can't get off! Not at this speed!"

-hurtled towards Washio, performing a full nelson on him.

"Let go! LET GO! I'm going to Nagoya!"

I managed to clamp down on Washio's arms, who had been lashing out at me, binding his arms behind him with the wire in my belt.

At that moment, I heard the announcer once again--

<<To all the passengers　　I will tell you now.>>

---!

<<This train　　will not stop at any stations　　until Tokyo　　it will go on　　non-stop　　Ahaha　　Ahahahahaha>>

--A vocaloid's synthetic voice...!

<<The train　　will accelerate 10 km/h every three minutes　　not accelerating is impossible　　otherwise, Kaboom!　　Big boom!　　will happen　　Ahaha　　Ahahahahahahaha!>>

In response to the artificial laughter, cries started ringing out from within Train Hope 246.

This vocaloid. It's the same voice as the one when Reki and I were assaulted by those remote controlled helicopters.

(Koko...!)

This is her doing.

Leaving Washio sitting down, his face about to cry, I looked up at the electronic display--

--[Current speed: 140 km/h]--

We're accelerating. Definitely.

(Express-jack--)

I　don't know what her goal is, but she had carried this out extremely thoroughly.

No wonder we hadn't stopped at the station.

It was probably only after the conductor and driver had departed to Tokyo that they received a threat from the offender concerning the bomb.

Earlier, I had thought that she was checking the tickets, but the sweating conductor was actually conducting a search for the bomb.

But...she's really troublesome.

At the front of the car--the direction of the driver's seat, the panicked passengers were　jostling against each other, saying things like: "You're going to hit the Shinkansen in front of us, right!?" "Dumbass! It said that there was a bomb!" "That's definitely a prank!", and I could see Shirayuki trying to calm them.

"Tohyama-kun...!"

"Kinji!"

From the back of the car, Shiranui and--Muto, who was completely woken up, ran towards me.

"Shiranui is calculating it right now. If the announcement just now was true, we have until 19:22."

"...19:22...?"

"Without stopping at any stations, if we continue at this pace of acceleration...we'll arrive at Tokyo then."

I frowned at Muto and Shiranui's words.

--Arrive at Tokyo.

There is no more track after that.

If we get there...The End.

Looking at my watch, right now, it's 18:02.

"Until the time limit--we have 80 minutes."

"It'll probably come a little earlier. The announcement earlier...said that we would continue to accelerate. This Shinkansen is model N700, Toukaido route's top operational speed is 270 km/h. After 40 minutes--we'll exceed that."

"If we exceed it, then what?"

"It's impossible to operate safely. The entire car won't be able to stay on the rails, and at a curve, it's possible that it'll disengage."

"Dangerous operation then...how many km/h can we go?"

"It's said that the calculated maximum speed is 350-360 km/h. The actual limit wasn't announced by Japan Railways."

Beside Muto, who had said that, Shiranui was using the calculator function on his phone to immediately calculate the speed and time.

"--This speed isn't enough. To get past 19:00, we have to have 350 km/h, and to get to the end, we have to have 410 km/h."

"No way...I've heard that the test train could reach speeds of up to 397 km/h. How long that can be sustained, nobody knows. 410 km/h is unknown territory."

After 40 minutes, we will enter dangerous operation, and after an hour, we will have broken through the design limit--and at the end, unknown territory, huh?

If we don't make it back to Tokyo, the chance of ''Kaboom'' is large.

"Muto, Shiranui. Gather the Butei High students that are riding this train, then search for the bomb. Without decelerating, find the bomb and disarm it."

From the window of Hope 246, which had turned into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Siege_2:_Dark_Territory Under Siege 2: Dark Territory], I could see the the town in the midst of dusk flow past like in a nightmare...

This, outside the window--if for example, the bomb was affixed to the bottom of the train car, it's all over. It's impossible to disarm that kind of thing.

Seeing Shiranui and Muto off, who were going to confirm that the cars behind didn't have any Butei High students in them, I---

I drew closer to the location in the rear of Car 16, where Aria and Riko were sitting.

"...Nn..."

Having subjected me to violent acts such as kicking and punching whenever I was together with Reki in Osaka, Aria turned her head back as if avoiding me, and as if trying to hold back something that she wanted to say, her cheeks were puffed out like a puffer fish.

The incident at that time...I wanted to explain　a lot of things, but this wasn't the time for that.

First, I looked over Aria at Riko.

"Riko. You know what I want to say, right? This is the same modus operandi as yours."

With a voice that the other passengers couldn't hear, I said that as if interrogating her.

On Riko's face, the normal high school girl expression that she had had on her face up till just now flickered,

"We've been hit..."

Her eyes sharpening, she muttered those words.

April. During the "Butei Killer" incident which had led to the meeting between Riko and Aria and me, she was using these types of bombs. On my bicycle as well as the bus around Academy Island...she had set something on those modes of transport, a bomb that would explode if one decelerated below a certain speed.　An extremely terrifying, cruel planted explosive.

Although, the explosives that were planted on this train were even more horrifying.

Not only must it continue to run, but because, if the train doesn't continue to accelerate, the bomb will detonate.

"Cao Cao...has started moving again, huh, that fucking miser...!"

Gnashing her teeth, Riko stuck her hands between her knees, which were opened, moving them as if searching the seat.

"Cao...?"

Riko, her eyes in "Butei Killer" mode, turned towards Aria, who was frowning while asking that question.

"Cao Cao is--a person with a demonic mindset, despite being a child. She is EU's Mechanic. In exchange for massive amounts of money, she modified torpedoes and ICBMs into transport devices... Kinji, the "Non-Stop" method which I used on your bicycle was also taught to me by Cao Cao. This is its improvement, "Hurry Up"--!"

Towards Riko, who had sweat trickling down her forehead--

"EU's...explosive tactic instructor--is that it? Riko, you're her student, so you understand the basic structure of her explosives, right? Go look for the detonator and disarm it immediately."

Aria, still not looking in my direction, tugged on Riko's hand.

But, Riko didn't stand up from her seat, and she shook her head.

"No. I cannot move."

"Why not?"

"There's a pressure switch on this seat. I was careless, so I did not realize it. If I stand up, an explosive, planted somewhere, will detonate."

"...!"

Aria and me, speechless, looked under Riko's seat.

Added on to forbidden deceleration and forced acceleration...a human switch?

The first thing the enemy had done was seal Riko, who was the only one with any chance of being able to disarm the bomb.

She meticulously investigated our movements in advance, planting a trap on the seat.

In short, we--had, by our own free will, boarded the Shinkansen covered with the enemy's traps.

At this point, all we could do is laugh. At our own lack of vigilance.

"...An eye for an eye, 'Butei Killer'-san."

I, who had had a bomb planted under the seat of my bike, patted Riko on the shoulder with a thump,

"Riko, Cao Cao is a Chinese girl...a girl even younger than you. And the person who taught you those martial arts was her as well, right?"

-I continued.

Riko's big eyes, with those double-fold eyelids, looked up at me.

"How do you know, Kinji?"

"I was attacked as well. Yesterday, by this girl who uses vocaloids."
The fact that she had a different name as well as Jeanne's statement: "There were no snipers in EU," there was a point which caught my attention--

That Cao Cao is Koko. I can't be wrong.

Koko had...hidden from the members of EU, who would become her enemies at some unknown point in time, her own skill in sniping.

However, Koko...She is proficient in martial arts, gunfights and sniping, as well as being a genius technician?

This time, it's so unbelievable that it makes me laugh.

They're all monsters. Those in EU.

Saying something to Aria, who was, unreasonably, still angry, irked me, but since things had come to this, I had no choice.

I pulled on one of Aria's twin-tails, forcibly making her head face this way.

"Aria, calm down and listen to me. The offender who hijacked this Shinkansen is the person who attacked you with Aru=Kata. Her name is Koko. Reki had a sniping battle with her--and she was heavily injured."

"...Reki was...!?"

Aside from the huge fight that they had gotten into on the stairs of the Butei High Station a few days before--

At the fact that Reki had lost, Aria's camellia eyes widened in surprise, forming large circles.

"Don't worry. She managed to hold on to her life. She was just in danger from losing massive amounts of blood over an hour."

"Why...why didn't you tell me earlier!"

"My cellphone was destroyed by Koko. By the time I could communicate again, you were out of range...No, it was painful enough that all communication with Aria was interrupted, but--in addition to that, it seems the information was also destroyed."

"Information...?"

"You didn't tell Riko the details either, did you?　Neither the appearance nor features of the opponent you tied with on the day of 'Water Tossing'"

Saying that, I could hear Aria's throat go "Uguu", and she went silent. It seemed that I had guessed right.

Just like how I had never told anyone about my loss to an underclassman, "Defeat from the Bottom"...Aria had experienced, "Draw from the Bottom" in a gunfight--and she was hiding the disgrace of drawing with Koko, who was younger than her.

It was because this noble ojou-san had pride twice that of a normal person.　Even though her height was half of a normal person's.

Koko--knew that fully well.

When Koko assaulted us, the first thing she did was--destroy our phones, our method of communication, and she used a false name as well, using Butei High's culture, the fact that people would hide the reality that they lost to their underclassmen...

She had prevented detailed information from being spread among us.

"Kinji, Aria, listen."

We turned towards Riko's voice, which was extremely tense.

"'Non-Stop' and 'Hurry Up'--Meter Bomb is started by wireless. Because, she usually plants explosives somewhere which already cannot be reached. But, jamming, congestion, out of signal range, weak electric field, hangup drop...wireless is lacking in reliability. Especially on high-speed vehicles like the Shinkansen, which is loaded with wireless components. I learned this from her. At those times, one must secure an escape route, riding the vehicle yourself. And, you have to see for yourself that your targets have boarded the vehicle, making sure what is planted inside the car starts up reliably. In short--"

Riko's eyes sparkled, as if confident in something.

"--the enemy is aboard this train."

At those words, Aria and I looked at each other. And at that moment.

---''Gangan, Gakin!''

The sound of metal clashing resounded several times, at the front of the car--the passengers who were gathered close to the cab of the train cried out while running back into the car.

(--!?)

At the front side of the car, while a scream rang out--as if swept away by some force, Shirayuki flew outwards, sprawling over the seats.

The salarymen, chess pieces in their hand, the gaudily dressed girl emitting a piercing shriek, as well as the passengers who had kept to their seats, stood up, running towards Car 15.

Threatening the people so as to chase them away, coming out from within the cab, its door broken from some large impact--

"--Koko!"

So in the end, she was riding the train...!?

"'''Hello''', Kinchi. This is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riichi Riichi], isn't it."

Clothed in cultural Qing garments, Koko winked at me.

And--completely clashing with her elfin body, she raised a longsword akin to a hatchet.

The hilt of that sword wreathed with decorative fabric, engraved onto the blade was a picture of a slender dragon.

"This train will become your '''coffin'''! Kihi!"

''Zccccchhhh''----! The blade, brought down, sliced open the seats in front with ease.

That is a--'''Lancet'''

Called a Seiryuutou[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume7_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2] in Japan, it's a broad, weight, single-edged Chinese sword.

I learned this in Assault, but the Seiryuutou is not like a Japanese long sword, which is sharp, meant to slice through organs and arteries. The blade is heavy so that it can cleave through flesh and bone, and it's a weapon that, if conceptualized, resembles an axe. 

"I'll just play for 10 minutes, Koko has a promise for a date."

Looking over the shoulder of Koko, who had said that, on the driver's seat that I could see in the direction of the double doors was...

Was the female driver, half turning around to face this way, and there was nobody in the co-driver's seat. It appeared that Koko had kicked the co-driver out and had been sitting there.

''Ueeeenn''--Turning my heard towards that crying noise, close to the middle of Car 16, unable to escape from danger yet, the children were crying, clinging to the pregnant lady.

They were all that was left of the normal passengers inside Car 16.

If I looked closer, the pregnant lady was clasping her large belly, sweating heavily.

Inside the midst of this panic, it seemed the stress had taken its toll on her body.

"--Shirayuki! Save her and her children!"

Shouting and dashing forward--drawing her sword was Aria.

Leaving Riko, who couldn't move, and I, who stood up reflexively, behind, Aria　crossed her twin-blades, keeping them low, assuming a compact stance while charging down the narrow aisle.

As Shirayuki, crouched down while running down the aisle, brushed past Aria,　they exchanged glances.

"--Nn!"

Using Shirayuki's hands, overlaid over each other, as a foothold, Aria jumped forward at an oblique angle.

Not slowing down at all, Aria flew over the back of the seat, ''Tatatatata''-----!

With reflexes far beyond the norm, she thrust herself off the seat, using it like a stepping stone.

Opposing her, Koko span the Seiryuutou around once...

"'''Come, come''', Sherlock the 4th."

Her hand, outstretched towards Aria, gestured at her.

Shirayuki helping the pregnant lady, I, while protecting the children, helped them to escape towards Car 15, and behind me--

''Clank!''

The sound of Aria's blades, held in such a way that they resembled a pair of enormous scissors, clashing against Koko's Seiryuutou rang out.

A Shinkansen is something alike to a steel box.

For the sake of not injuring oneself due to ricochets off the wall or ceiling, Aria and Koko weren't using guns.

Aria launched herself off the back of the seat, and Koko took the full impact head on, ''Clash''.

The swords, clashing together at the heart of the blades, rolled over each other as if they were dancing, displacing each other. Twice. Three times.

The pink and black twin-tails fluttered through the air, outlining a swirl-like shape--

Aria. Koko. Aria. Koko.

Looking alike visually, the two people were turning round and round at a speed which dizzied.

It was as if it was a fighting game with 1P and 2P characters.

"You tricked me, you clown! The first time I faced you, you said your name was "Koko"--that was a false name! Cao Cao!"
[[File:Aria07 079.jpg|thumb]]
"That's a name that Europeans mistakenly use. Sherlock of EU called me by such a name, so Koko let everyone use it. '''Koko'''. The true pronunciation of the name in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_Wei Wei]!"

...

Is that how it is?

Just like how Riko had once said Holmes as "Ormès" using the French pronunciation, the pronunciation changes along with the changes in the language. So,that's why Jeanne, upon hearing the name "Koko", had no recollection of any such name. 

If I gave it a little more thought, "'''Sou Sou'''" is how Japanese people read it as well.

--We're getting dragged into a global war, and we're having trouble over a name.

Having guided the children to Car 15, I-

"Shirayuki--I'll leave this woman to you. Go find out whether there's a doctor among the passengers. Aria and I, the two of us, will apprehend Koko."

-said that to Shirayuki, who was supporting the pregnant lady, having entered Car 15.

"Ye-yes! But, Kin-chan, be careful. I'm getting an abnormal feeling from that offender."

While whipping out my butterfly knife--

"Abnormal? Isn't that what happens all the time? So--it's normal."

As if saying that for myself to hear, I answered.

I returned to Car 16, and Riko, on the last rows of seats, was kneeling on the seat, just like a child.

Looking back, I could see Aria and Koko, close to the front of the car and drawing closer to the edge,

"--YOOOUUU!"

"Kihi!"

Their feet lashing out simultaneously, Aria and Koko went into a position where they kicked each other in the waist--and, with a smack, they separated.

In the next instant, Koko let go of the Seiryuutou, and, ''Tan, Tatatata!'', she kicked the floor, Aria's knees, waist, and chest as if running vertically, showing off an acrobat-like maneuver--''Bccchhhhhh!''

The toes in the peony embroidered silk shoes thundered into Aria's jaw.

"Aria!"

While flipping open the butterfly knife in my hand, I ran up the aisle.

"---!"

Reeling backwards from the impact, Aria retreated several steps this way.

In that direction, Koko, her back turned towards the cab--cut through the air behind her with a backflip, her two long sleeves fluttering outwards like a fin.

And, from the midst of those sleeves...What the hell is that?

She took out something reminiscent of an atomizer.

"--'''Bubble Explosion'''!"

''Shuu''!

With that sound like the depression of an aerosol--If it hadn't been sparkling in the midst of the light of the car interior, I wouldn't have seen it--small soap bubbles, the size of rubber shavings, flew out towards Aria.

"--Aria, dodge it!"

Having seen that, Riko, panicked, shouted immediately.

"'''Bubble Explosion''' is a vapor explosive, I saw it in EU! When the bubble bursts, the contents mix together with the oxygen in the air, and--it explodes!"

"!?"

Aria heard her, and from her feet, a loud crack ran out.

<nowiki>----</nowiki>''BOOOOOOOM''

From the soap bubbles that burst right in front of Aria's eyes, a violent shockwave and blinding light burst forth.

Amongst the seats in front, several of them were blown away--

"Kyaaa--!"

In the midst of the flurry of poker cards, which had been left on the seat, Aria flew outwards as if she had been hit by a car.

This light...! I remember this.

This is the same light that appeared at the end of the nighttime sniper battle between Koko and Reki, which caused her to be severely injured.

The scale was even bigger than that time--Reki was hit by this vapor explosive!?

"--Aria!"

In a rush, I caught Aria, who had been heavily impacted on her back and posterior cranial fossa. 

Thank God, she didn't seem to have received any blatant trauma.

The moment right before Aria had been caught up in the explosion, her animal-like instincts had sensed the danger, and she reflexively did a backstep.

Thanks that that, she escaped a direct hit, and it seemed that she hadn't received any serious injures like Reki had.

However, she received a considerable amount of damage from the impact. Aria's consciousness was fuzzy, and her knees were trembling. Aria was in a state where she could not stand up on her own. She had let go of her swords as well.

"Uu...Uuu!"

For what I assumed was to clear her head, Aria shook her head left and right, her pink twin-tails swinging around as if beating a drum.

In that direction, 10 meters away from us, Koko, a broad smile on her face--

"Kihihi, now it's '''even'''!"

Like the immortal zombies who appeared in that movie from a while ago, "Reigen Doushi", her hands were stuck straight out.

With that posture, sticking her hands out, ''Rattle Rattle''. Shaking her sleeves again, from inside...Nunchucks...? No. Wrong.

She took out two mini rockets!

Bringing the head of the two rockets together with a clink, Koko separated the two, bringing them left and right respectively.

Between the two tips, a wire stretched outwards. An appearance exactly like nunchucks.

"--'''Double Rocket Restriction'''" 

With a sharp jet noise, the two rockets, flying parallel to one another, passed by on the left and right of Aria and I--

The wire, stretched out between them, pressed down upon the area below Aria's flat chest.

"Uuu!?"

The rocket, having fixed the wire upon Aria's body, started flying around us in an absurd manner.

"Ah...ah!"

"Woo...oah...!"

In a heartbeat, Aria and I were bound by the wire, completely paralyzed.

Twirling around our arms, torso, and legs, the rockets-''Clank!''

-crackling, automatically severed the wires as their fuel was completely depleted, and they dropped to the floor, rolling.

"Kyaa!?"

Stepping towards the other side, Aria completely lost her balance--

And along with me, who had been tightly restricted by the wire as well, she hit the floor with a thud.

Uu...thanks to the fact that our legs were bound, w-we couldn't stand...!

Added to that, from the shock of falling down...because I could not put any strength into my arms, which were fixed to my waist, I had let go of my knife.

The knife had slid under the seats, and I had no way of reaching my hands out. As such, I could not retrieve it.

Literally...my hands and legs were tied. In just that one instant...! 
"Uu...Uu..Fueh...Cao Cao...!"

Seeing Aria and I get hit, Riko's hands were rubbing her eyes, which were gradually leaking out tears.

<nowiki>"...BIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH! Wasn't Riko your partner in E~~~U!? Aren't we class~~~mates!? Save Riko, only save Rikoooooo! BIEEEEEEEEH!"</nowiki>

S-so loud.

...Bloody Riko. Despite the fact that she told us so much just now.

When it starts to look like we're losing, she stabs us in the back.

Rather, just now, you said "Save only Riko," right? Is she really our friend?

"Mine Riko--stop faking your tears! Crying wins the sympathy of only boys!"

''Point!'' Pointed at by Koko, Riko-

"Tch."

-clicked her tongue, and she stopped crying, making a face at Koko.

Koko--inserted her hands into each of her sleeves, holding them together in front of her chest, and with a composed expression, she walked forward.

And, arriving at a place where she was looking down on Aria, Koko started intently at her face.

"Fuuun. So, this is Aria. When I saw her photo, I certainly thought that she was as cute as Koko, but seeing her in person, Koko is actually cuter. Kihi."

"Koko!"

Even though she could not reach out with her arms or legs, Aria was baring her fighting spirit as well as her canines.

"That hairstyle! Before, I told you to get rid of it, right!? That's the same hairstyle as mine!"

"I don't remember hearing that, puh, puh! Whether it's '''Ranban''' or EU's Ignatius, they want girls like Aria. If I use this hairstyle, I'll make a lot of money."

"Ignatius...? You're one of the remnants of EU...!?"

"'''Wrong'''! From the beginning, I've been one of the members of '''Ranban'''! EU was purely business!"

I didn't really understand if she had met with Aria before, but Koko, saying some strange things...was squatting like a frog, her hands against the floor, bringing her mouth to Aria's ear,

"Rather--you! Watch how you address me! Koko has been a princess for generations!'

She shouted with a high-pitched voice on par with Aria's.

I-I didn't think that princesses squatted like frogs.

''Whoosh'' Standing up, Koko--

"--'''''Aria the scarlet ammo'''''."

Hidan no Aria.

The name that was passed down to Aria from Sherlock in EU was uttered.

"Everything is your fault. By destroying EU, you broke the power balance between all the associations, groups and organizations in the world.　A time of chaos will begin."

Koko was looking down at us haughtily.

Like an empress looking down at captured criminals.

"You have pleased the Hihiirokane. This too is the start of chaos. Hihiirokane and Ririirokane are opposed to each other. Sensing the mood of the Hihiirokane, Ririirokane has been harboring the anger of a century. Its anger has scattered invisible particles, rendering the ability of all the ''ability users'' in the world unstable."

"''Ability users''...are...?"

The back of her head pressed against the bottom of my chin, Aria asked with a tone which seemed to convey that she was completely ignorant.

Not completely clear on the details of ability users, I too had nothing but a question mark appear in my mind, but--

Thinking about the series of events that had been revolving around me recently, I noticed something.

Before, when I had sought information about Reki...having cooled the can of hot coffee that I had bought by mistake, Jeanne had said it. "...Recently, my magic hasn't been very stable."

And at Kyoto, Kazayuki had said something about the Mikos' power having debilitated.

Were all those linked to the Irokane?

--Koko, the corners of her eyes streaked with red eyeshadow, looked down at me, who was frowning.

"From now on, ability users are useless. At this kind of time, the value of marksmen increases."

''Clank Clank''. Koko rapped her fingertips against my head.

"Kinchi is different from an ''ability user'', but he's a good piece that has a secretly high battle ability. Ignatius, Daioh, Ulus, everybody wants Kinchi."

Everyone...wants me...?

I don't understand what kind of delusional words she's saying, but...

It seems that I've become rather famous in the world of the other side.

Despite the fact that I'm so inconspicuous at school.

"The first to reach out for Kinchi was Ulus. Ririirokane gave a direct order to the princess, and she took action against Kinchi. However, Koko will snatch Kinchi from her side."

As if genuinely happy, Koko jumped up and down on the spot.

"Koko will also take Ulus' Reki.　She's an outstanding sniper, she's good for use in assassinations, and she's good for selling too. I will take Aria as well. Hihiirokane can be sold for a lot."

As if operating an abacus inside her head, Koko smiled wickedly--

"A chaotic world is good for business. This Shinkansen-jacking is also a side business deal. Earlier, Koko demanded a 30,000,000,000,000 yuan ransom from the Japanese government. It would be nice if they paid, but if they don't--KABOOM!"

Twintails jumping up to the extent that it seemed they were flying, Koko shouted those words with a high-pitched voice.

"I'll blow this train into pieces, demonstrating '''Bubble Explosion'''. Kihi."

"'''Bubble Explosion'''--the exploding bubbles from just now, huh...!"

Just having been blown back by that vapor explosive, Aria glared up at Koko.

It seemed that...Koko had planted that on the train too. According to what she had just said.

"The '''Bubble Explosion''' from just now was around 1cc of explosives. This train is loaded with 1 cubic meter of it."

Said Koko, lightly.

"Wai...that's over the top!"

Kneeling on the seat, Riko'ｓ expression conveyed, 'That's seriously dangerous!'.

I too--was speechless.

1 cubic meter. Whether it's a bubble or a balloon, a container which holds that much gas cannot be hid inside a train. It's definitely a lie. But, if it isn't--

According to my calculations, the explosive force would be 10000 times that of the explosion earlier.

This Shinkansen will be reduced to ash. All its passengers and the surrounding structures as well.

"'''Bubble Explosion''' is an invisible explosive. It is a work of art, something which no matter where it is hidden, will not be found by anyone. If it explodes with enough splendor,　it will be ordered from around the world. Koko will become rich, and then I can buy my place as '''Ranban''''s empress."

'''Ranban'''--from her tone, that's the name of the organization that Koko belongs to.

Most likely, it's an outlaw group based in China. While being a member of it, she also entered EU as a black merchant...huh?　That's judging from everything she's said up till now.

"Kinchi, Reki, I'm bringing you to Hong Kong, '''Ranban''''s city. When we're there, become Koko's pieces and move for her. Aria will be imprisoned until a buyer arrives. Kihihihi!"

Towards Koko, who was laughing like that--

"Cao Cao. Wh-what about Riko?"

Clutching the back of the seat with both her hands, Riko interrupted from the side.

"Wouldn't you like some Riko with that? Riko is cute and strong, hiring me won't be a mistake!"

..."Wouldn't you like some Riko with that," you said.

Are you McDonald's fries? 

"Mine Riko. Your power notwithstanding, your personality is difficult. Are you going to change?"

Having said that to Koko, whose eyes were suspicious, Riko, 'UnUnUnUnUnUnUnUn'
[[File:Aria07_091.jpg|thumb]]
-with a desperate expression, nodded several times.

"--If you swear loyalty to '''Ranban''', I'll consider it."

"I love '''Ranban'''! '''Ranban''' Banzai! Kinji, Aria! Become a member of '''Ranban''' with Riko! Ranban's city is a paradise with lakes of wine and forests of meat, it's a super, ultra, amazing, wonderful place! You can eat as many authentic peach buns as you like!"

"...Authentic...pea..."

Still fallen down, Aria let loose a voice as if she had lost all sense of self, but-

"Pea...hey, Riko! What kind of speedy betrayal is that!?"

''Grar!' -once again, she bared her teeth at Riko.

In a position where it looked like I was embracing Aria, I--

"It looks like negotiations have broken down, Koko. I--don't want to become your underling. Even though I look like this now, I'm a Butei."

In the first place, I have no intention of becoming part of one of those terrorist-like groups...if I do, it's the end.

Not only will I be lynched by the OB in the Butei High all over the world, as well as those demonic teachers, I'll be sentenced to death under the threefold punishment that is applied to Butei. Compared to that, dying a clean death here is still better.

"--A good general will say that in the beginning. But, all humans have desires. China is a vast country, full of things and people. A country where everything exists. If you consult Wei's books on tactics, when the enemy general is a young man, with the use of women, he can become your own subject. I'll gather one hundred of the women you like. Beautiful women, beautiful girls, big, small, I'll give you many, many, many. You can decide on this one, or that one, whichever one. Ufuun."

At Koko's words--''Twist, Glare!''

Aria twisted her neck to its limit, afterward, staring at me out of the corner of her eye.

Wh-why're you mad at me? Completely unreasonable. You're always like this.

"I-it's unfortunate, but...that has the opposite effect on me, I think."

I cannot explain in more detail in front of Aria...yet I replied with that.

"Also, I told Reki this too, but I'm not anything like a general. I'm just a normal, male high school student."

"--Kinchi, you need to know yourself. You are a special person. Special people will be hindered by those that are normal. Don't fit with the surface world. Rather than that, it's better to live an extravagant life in the world below."

''Twinge''--A flicker of pain ran through my chest.

In the midst of Nii-san's battle with EU, he disappeared from the surface world--

Remembering that incident, my words became tinged with rage.

"I...I won't become like that. I--will walk a normal person's road."

"For a boy whose very existence is abnormal, what are you saying?"

Once again crouching like a frog, Koko brought her hand closer to my face.

''Brush''. Her black twin-tails carrying the scent of sugared chestnuts, brushed past my face.

"Kinchi, you and Koko are the same breed. Humans who have wondrous potential will definitely be picked out."

''Clank''<nowiki>----</nowiki>!

At that moment, the Shinkansen shook again, the scenery flowing past the window had sped up.

<nowiki>----[Current speed: 180 km/h]----</nowiki>

"Uuu...Lord--allow me closer--''Sob'', fueh...to you--"

I seemed to be hearing some sort of hymn, sung in a crying voice.

In the direction of the double-doors, opened, it seemed that the female driver was singing.

Apparently Christian, her voice seemed to express that her will was reaching its limit.

"Aiyayayayaya, I've talked for so long. Koko is going to get ready for her date."

Koko stamped on the ground where she was standing, ''Twist''.

Grabbing hold of Aria and I, still bound, ''Brush, Brush''.

At the front of Car 16--further forward than the frontmost seats, we were pulled through the automatic door.

"Wh...what do you plan to do to us!?"

Koko, letting go of Aria, who was being dragged, crying out, and I, took a carabiner hook from out of her sleeves, and she attached it to the wire binding us.

"You cannot do anything anymore. Neither do you need to know anything."

Apparently opened up in advance was a door in the ceiling--it looked like a person could barely squeeze through. Probably used for maintenance.--Continuing up the stairs towards it, she exited the car.

Seeing the wire stretched out away from us and the hook attached to it, Aria...

"She...plans to string us up like a yoyo, bringing us somewhere."

"Probably China. I don't have a passport though."

Not even bothering to wonder why she would use a yoyo as an example, I heaved a deep sigh.

"This isn't the time to joke around...! Nn...! I'm going to wriggle out...Uuunnn...Nnnng!"

''Wriggle Wriggle!'' Aria twisted her petite shoulders, squirming around.

The wire was twisted around us several times, but it didn't seem as if Aria could move at all.

While pressing her shoulder against my chest, she twisted her body, twisted...not being able to wriggle out, she struggled.

At that moment, ''Clank''--!

Once again, because the Shinkansen had sped up, the car shook as it had been struck.

"Uwah!?"

At the impact, ''Roll''.

Aria, who had been struggling, twisted around, facing this way.

He...Hey.

Until just now, we were in a position where I was stuck against Aria's back, but　now, we were directly facing each other, in a pose as if we were glued together. All the while, bound by the wire.

"Wa, wah...!"

Looking up this way, Aria's face was just under my chin.

"...tc...!"

Because the wire was also pressed against the back of my head, I had no choice but to stare directly at Aria's face from an extremely close distance.

Aria didn't seem to be able to lower her head either, and her large camellia eyes were looking at me--

"F! F! Fffff!"

''Gyuui''.

''Gyuiiiiii''!

Her speed-blushing technique of always was demonstrated.

As expected of the inventor. Bright red was achieved three times quicker than Connect's Nakasorachi Misaki.

"F! F!"

...What's "F"? "F".

"F, F, face backwards! Yo-your face is close! Close, clooseeee!"

Aria pressed her forehead against my face, trying to force me to look backwards.

''Gui''...''Guiiiiii''!

O-ouch!

"He-hey! Hu-human's can't turn just their necks to face backwards! Stop it!"

If my neck continues to twist like this until it's turned 180 degrees, I'll become like that cursed girl that appeared in that famous horror movie from years ago, "The Exorcist"!

"Ca...Calm down!"

While shouting, in the instant which I twisted my head back to Aria's direction, ''Muchi!''

Apparently still trying to press against me, Aria, on my cheek-

--accidentally planted a kiss.

"!"

My mind--seemed to have registered that as "getting hit", and as such, I was fine in terms of Hysteria Mode, but Aria...seemed to have completely registered that as, "I KISSED HIM!"

<nowiki>"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"</nowiki>

Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Apparently, she was screaming that out, but...her scream was too high pitched, and it seemed that it had exceeded the hearing capability of human beings.

Baring her canines, from Aria'a mouth, all I could hear was a very slight ''Kiiin!''

Th-that's amazing.

Aria. Right now, you're emitting supersonic waves. 

"FJKLD@#$*(&#$! SDOIFJO*#&$*(&#$! Pue! $LKJ#*&@#(*&FDLKJ!"

Starting to shout with some kind of inhuman language, ''SQUEEEEEEEEZE!''

Like a rabbit trying to escape out of someone's hands, she went wild.

A-amazing strength...! What the hell is this?

"Nnnnn! Nnn, nnn, nnnnn!"

''Brush Brush, Brush, Brush!''

As if exceeding some sort of limiter, Aria, going half-berserk and struggling...O-oh...?

Centimeter by centimeter, the wire is starting to move up our body!?

(Sh-she did it...!)

From a catastrophe to a blessing.

Because of the wire, I could not reach out with my legs or feet, but thanks to Aria's stupid strength in this time of crisis, I managed to wriggle out.

If I looked closer, her long twin-tails were...like the ears of a green foxtail clutched in a hand, apparently having the ability to help slide out of the wire restricting the body. How lucky.

In the instant that I thought that...something unlucky began to happen to my body.

Because Aria, still stuck against me, was inching up and up, escaping, my mouth and nose were...pressed against Aria's slender neck.

(...ch...!)

A-at this kind of time.

I remembered about Nii-san's...which is to say, Kana's strange words which I had heard.

Something like: "A girl's neck is the place where a girl's pheromones are most exuded, you know."

And I was in a position where my nose, which is to say my face, was pressed against Aria's neck.

I-I don't know whether or not these are pheromones, but...

This is Aria's bittersweet scent.

This is like some sort of perfumed fragrance. Like a flower, like a fruit--rather, a lovely fragrance which was almost addictive. It's always with Aria.

At this place, with that lingering aroma, Aria was continually moving up, escaping. The parts which brushed past by my face were: a petite shoulder, a collarbone, slowing going down her body...which means, hey...! Be-below this...wai, this is bad! THIS IS BAD!

"Aria...wait! WAIT!"

Next, rubbing up against me, who was shouting...rubbing up against my cheek was the pure white skin exposed in the space at the collar of her sailor uniform.

A-against my neck, already, Aria's...br-breasts were pressing against it...!

"Nnn! Uuu!"

Not listening to my warnings, Aria, ''Brush Brush Brush Brush Brush!''

Centimeter by centimeter, continuing to slide upwards---

(......Uu......!)

---!

At last, I--

-had my face buried in Aria's breasts.

In April, ever since I had pressed against them in the PE Warehouse, that sensation was transmitted to my face once again.

It was rather pitiful that they hadn't grown at all in the past half year, but this soft climax was--the same as that of that time. While it was slight, it was definitely there. It existed.

Fitting her short stature and childish face, small, lovely breasts.

It was across her blouse, but I, my nose and mouth completely blocked...''Bch, BchBch!''

As if mirroring the moment where one gives up from sparring, my hand tapped Aria's thighs.

".....? ...! M...! Mikkyaaaaaaaaa!"

She screamed like a wild cat, and furthermore, ''Brush Brush Brush Brush Brush!''

Her body continued sliding up.

"...!"

My breathing blocked by the sailor uniform, and not able to stand the pain, I went the opposite way as Aria--forcing my body to escape downwards.

My face brushed against Aria's slender waist, Aria's hip, Aria's skirt, one after another.

Aria, Aria, a full course of Aria.

"Ki-Kinji! Th-th-that was...damn it! Idiot! Ah, ah, aaaahh! Hole! I'll blast, a hole, stop, stop it!"

I no longer understood where my head was pressing against Aria, who was shouting in agony with that anime-voice--''Squish''. When I thought that my head had finally been extricated from wherever, I was in the space between Aria's thighs.

It had become a position where it was as if I was shouldering those lovely, slender, white thighs.

And, the fortune in the misfortune was--finally. My hands were free.

"...Aria. Just hold on a little bit longer. It'll be over soon."

Somewhat able to breathe, I pushed up against Aria's lithe legs--and struggling between her knees, wreathed in black stockings, then between her calves, I extricated myself from the wire.

Alright--I finally managed to get out.

...And now...

Aah, I understand.

I don't need to check it. My own blood flow.

Because, I had fully appreciated a girl's entire body, from head to toe.

I closed my eyes for a very long moment--and when I opened them--

Without even looking in a mirror, I understood that the look in my eyes was completely different from that of just now.

Quickly, I flicked my eyes over to the door of the bathroom, which I hadn't entered when I tried to wash my face.

Leaving Aria to stand up, I grasped the handle, but...the door didn't open.

This doesn't feel as if the lock was broken.　It was stuck together as if it had been glued.

Looking through the window---the faucet of the sink, ventilation fan, electrical socket---in other words, the holes inside the room were blocked with some transparent silicon-like substance.

--I see. 1 cubic meter. That's how it is.

That sealed washroom--was completely filled with that vapor explosive, '''Bubble Explosion'''

If I pushed my face in to look closer, inside the window, stuck against a corner, was something I thought to be the detonator, an extremely miniature piece of C4. If this is detonated wirelessly, breaking the window--if the airseal was broken...

''Kaboom''--right?

(While it's a shame...this can't be disarmed.)

Turning my head and looking down at my feet, Aria was...''Drip, Drip''...

Like a girl who had been subjected to horrible things by some horrible man, she was sprawled on the floor, sobbing.

"...Papa, Mama, God, forgive me...this is...just my slave running wild...I, didn't, a-al-allow any of this...!"

I knelt by Aria, who was muttering something I didn't understand to herself.

And, respectfully, I brushed off the wires that were still clinging to her quivering shoulders and back.

"--Ki-Kinji!"

''Thump!''

Jumping upwards into a sitting position, Aria grabbed hold of my collar.

"I-I won't forgive you! For just now...For ju-just now, I won't forgive you! Ta-take respo--"

I lightly reached out towards Aria, who was shouting with teary eyes--

"Mm, it's fine if you don't forgive me."

Gently, I straightened those disordered twin-tails.

"Because, next time, I will do it with your consent. It's a promise."

"That's right! Things that I don't allow are--wait, hu-huh, t-th-that's not it! That isn't a matter of me allowing it or not...!"

Towards Aria, who had been completely drawn in by me in a mere 5 seconds, towards her cheek, I stretched out my right hand.

From that small, dainty cheek, touching it yet not touching it-- I was at that distance. At a distance where, merely the heat of my hand was transmitted to her cheek.

Aria, releasing an ''Uu'', trembled as if it tingled.

"Look. As long as I don't earn your consent--I cannot even touch you with one finger. Do you understand? Aria's words have that much power. Something that can be transmitted only to me--a magical power."

"Ma-magic? Wh-wh-what are you saying?"

"On the other hand, if you tell me 'to do'--then, I will do anything for you, no matter what it may be. That too is a magic that only Aria can use. Think about what you can use it to make me do."

"???......。......。......! ! ! !!!"

First was confusion, and then, for a moment, she seemed to be trying to think about it, and from then on, suddenly starting to panic, Aria--

''WaveWaveWaveWaveWave! WaveWaveWaveWaveWave!''

Haha. I wonder what she was thinking about. Speechless, she started waving her hands back and forth.

"I await my orders. As for receiving your orders, I have prepared for it--to fight, to arrest Koko. To save the hundreds of passengers that are aboard this train--those orders."

---''Ha''--

I understood that Aria had regained control of herself.

"You...changed, didn't you."

"That is all that has happened. If I had not changed, it would have been disrespectful towards you."

Hey, hey, me.

Hysteria Mode's trigger--arousal--don't say anything that might be a hint.

Well, the child, Aria's eyes were going, "???", so it seems like it's fine.

If Sherlock Holmes the First's power of deduction had been passed down to this child, then what I had said just now would have been rather dangerous.

"I...I'm not going to give you an order."

Aria stood up and she turned away from me, towards the opened door in the roof--

She looked up at the night sky, visible beyond it, traveling at 190 km/h.

"Butei Charter article 6. Reflect by yourself, act by yourself--a slave that only listens to people's orders...is not needed. The you as of now may say these kinds of strange things, but you are a Butei that can aid me as a partner."

Partner.

When those of the bloodline of Holmes fight together with their partner, their real power is released.

In short, with this, she is equipped. Aria, with the me in Hysteria Mode.

Koko. The us from now on will be strong.

"Also, you--normally don't listen to me. So, I won't give you something like an order."

--''Feh'' In response to Aria, who had turned back, sticking her tongue out at me, I laughed wryly.

Entering Car 15, there was Shirayuki, bringing a doctor to the pregnant lady.

It seemed that the woman was about to give birth, pressing down on her stomach and having broken into a cold sweat...but, the rather old female doctor started providing medical care with a calm, professional air.

This was--pretty lucky, that this kind of doctor was on board.

"Kinji! There aren't any other Butei!"

"The nine on Cars 15 and 16 are all that we have, Tohyama-kun."

Raising my head to that voice, Mutou and Shiranui were zig-zagging through the crowd of people, returning.

The two people, having elbowed their way through the 400 meter round trip on the train, were a little out of breath.

"We didn't find the bomb." "We managed to report to the police, but..." "We didn't manage to find the offender either."

From behind the two, Takane, Hayakawa, Anesaki--the me in Hysteria Mode could remember girls' names with ease--the three girls who had been having bad delusions about Shiranui and me came back as well.

"We already searched everywhere. It's time to enter battle."

I put my hand on Shirayuki's back, gesturing at Shiranui, Mutou and the Connect girls.

Using the space between Cars 15 and 16 as our meeting room, I--

First, because I told them about the vapor explosive that was planted in the washroom at the front of Car 16, the fight with the offender and how she had escaped to the roof, and how the enemy's power was extremely high,

"We are the only ones aboard this train that are armed.　To prepare for the enemy coming from anywhere, Takane, Hayakawa, Anesaki, you three will be spread throughout Cars 1, 4, and 5 and Cars 11, and 12, Shirayuki, please protect this location. Shiranui's--anti-terrorist training is very valuable. I want you to take charge of the middle, Cars 7, and 8."

Swiftly, I told them how each member would be assigned.

"Also, while you're waiting, can the people with Takane please contact Butei High, the Metropolitan Police, as well as the Railroad Public Safety Branch, to figure out how to disarm the bomb."

"--Kinji. What do I do?"

Not having been told a position, Muto asked me that question.

"The Shinkansen's driver is already in shock. Muto, please drive in place of her. 10 km/h acceleration every 3 minutes...requires fine handling but, can you do it?"

"Definitely. If it's Logi, a first year can do it."

"The bomb is right behind the driver's seat. There's nowhere to run."

I said that, as if testing his resolve,

"Will ''you'' be able to run?"

Muto showed me his white teeth, responding with a broad smile.

Somehow, it seems it'll be alright.

"--Aria, let's go. Let's arrest Koko for infractions of the armaments law and suspicion of imprisonment. We should teach that kid that it's the time for children to go home."

Flexing my fingers and looking at the watch--I saw that it was 18:22.

Until Tokyo, we have one hour. From now on, we are forced to be at a speed where safe-driving is impossible.

In surprise, Aria was looking up at me, who was displaying such leadership in the midst of an emergency, but...when our eyes met, she let loose a small, "Ah," averting them,

"Ye-yeah...!"

Taking a tone as if she was my little sister, she nodded at me obediently.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume7_Chapter1|1st Ammo: Case E8]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan_no_Aria:Volume7_Chapter3|3rd Ammo: The Third Quadra]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Hidan no Aria:Volume7 Chapter2

2011-06-11T21:54:20Z

Remotemine: Links and grammar

==2nd Ammo: HURRY UP==

Really, I should have stayed in the Hotogi shrine to watch over Reki, but Kanae-san's trial was fast approaching. And for that, there was an unconfirmed chance that the lawyers would have to speak with us, the people who had fought with EU, face to face before the trial.

So, on the evening of that day, I left the doctors and Kazayuki to watch over Reki...

Shirayuki and I took the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sany%C5%8D_Shinkansen Sanyou Shinkansen] - Toukaidou Hope 246, going to Tokyo.

"16, Car 15, Row D-E...Ah, here. It's all the way at the front, Kin-chan! Kin-chan likes the aisle seat, doesn't he? Here you go. Have this ticket."

Pushing the ticket for the aisle seat into my hands and sitting at the window seat, Shirayuki--because she had left the Hotogi, was talking with me ceaselessly. It seemed that she was trying to encourage me, who said little, worried about Reki.

It was evident that her own heart wasn't calm. Shirayuki is really a very firm person.

She never forgets to empathize, to be concerned for others, a really good person.

"Shirayuki, thanks a lot."

Sitting down on the aisle seat--

"Eh. Mmm, it's fine. Because--this is the first time I've ridden on the Shinkansen, I wanted to see the scenery, so it's great that I'm sitting at the window seat. On the contrary...if I wasn't riding together with Kin-chan, I would have to take the car again, so...thank you very much."

I had just said a word of thanks, yet Shirayuki's face turned red, and she waved her hands furiously.

Because I saw Shirayuki, who was putting so much effort into being cheerful, abruptly return to her normal self, I laughed softly, a small ''Fu'' escaping my lips--and Shirayuki made a "Waaa!" expression.

And, to hide her expression, her hands slapped to her cheeks...her face, looking as if she was paying her respects, went all the way down to her lap, a sort of kneeling position, and her body twisted in what seemed like agony, she looked out the window.

Wh...what are you doing...?

"Ahh...at such a short distance, I was blessed with 'Kin-chan laugh'...cool...cool, so cool...!"

While muttering what she was thinking in her heart, Shirayuki was, to put it in Riko terms, making a "excited by something moe face". The feeling of "Kyaaa".

Do you think that I can't see your face? Well, I can see it really clearly in the reflection of the window.

Rather, what's "Kin-chan laugh"? Is it that old comedian's act, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AC%BD%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83%E3%82%93 Kin-chan] run, the one that Muto sometimes does to pick up girls...?

While thinking about that, I reclined in the seat a little, inside the Shinkansen which had just started to move.

I rested, but, is it that the continuous chain of events had completely thrown my body's clock into disorder...?

Again, I could not sleep.

I was looking at the scenery outside the Shinkansen, passing by abnormally slowly...''Drowsy, Drowsy''...and...

...

......

.........

"While you're sleeping--I'm sorry to disturb you."

...n?

Argh. The train attendant came.

It seemed that, at some point in time, I had really fallen asleep.

"Ah...Yes?"

I showed her the train ticket, however, for some reason, sweating under the uniform cap, the train attendant...only swiftly checked the luggage rack above us and the space below our seats before leaving in a hurry.

It seemed as if she wasn't here to check our tickets.

What did she come here for? She was moving her hands like she was looking for something...well, whatever.

I looked at my watch and already, more than 30 minutes had passed since our departure.

Looking to my side, Shirayuki was also sleeping, continuing to sit upright on the seat.

She seemed to be sleeping deeply, since she didn't seem to have woken up when the train attendant came.

That's to be expected. I had caught a little sleep at Hotogi, but the reason for this was because Shirayuki had been protecting Reki and me throughout the night.

Originally a beautiful person and such, with a beautiful sleeping face as well, Shirayuki...ng...?

"...Fufu...so cute...mnya..."

With an amazingly happy face, she started sleep-talking something.

"...His eyes are exactly like Kin-chan's...ah, his nose looks like mine, doesn't it...ufufu..."

......。

What's happening inside Shirayuki's dream? I mean, before that, what does Shirayuki's dream world have to do with me? Just imagining it is terrifying.

(...I shouldn't think about it too deeply...)

I turned my back to Shirayuki's sleeping face, softly standing up from my seat.

Because I had taken a nap, my fatigue was slightly relieved, but my head was still hazy.

(I'll just go to the washroom for a little while to wash my face.)

Go through the automatic door, going to the end of Car 16...I was going to to go to the washroom on this side of the cab.

But...

Huh? The door isn't opening.

It didn't move at all, almost like it was welded shut. What the hell is this?

Since this wasn't the toilet, I looked in from the small window, but...there was nobody inside.

(It seems that, somehow, the door was broken.)

Since I didn't have any other choice but to use the washroom at the back, I started to walk towards Car 15.

On the Oumi Shinkansen, returning to Tokyo and Chinami, Car 16 is the front most car, and Car 1 is the farthest back.

The train wasn't that crowded, and I looked around while walking--on the rows of seats, three on the right, two on the left, there were many types of passengers sitting there.

Some children playing trump. And, there was what I thought to be their guardian, a pregnant woman, her belly bulging out.

A pair of salary-men, on a business trip, were playing chess against each other with a magnetic chessboard.

Since I had learned the rules of chess from Kana, I sneaked a look as I passed by...one of the players was just using the special move, "Castling".

A movement that switches the king with the rook, "Castling" is--one of the moves I like.

Seeing the two pieces switch places as if dancing in a cycle, just looking at it was rather fun. 

(Kana was really good, I didn't even win once.)

While I was thinking about the past, I once again started advancing up the aisle.

Ah...having inclined the chair all the way backwards, the man drinking sake was Washio Narau.

He was both an actor and a singer, although besides that, he was a person that was notorious for his excessive vulgarity.

In the middle of the row of three seats, the ones on the left and right occupied by the female assistants he had brought with him, Washio--the eyes beneath his sunglasses met mine, and he went "Tch", as if saying: "I was noticed, huh."

(...What. It's not like I'm gonna start shouting.)

Feeling rather annoyed, I passed by...walking towards the back of the car.

''Ngaaah, Goo''...As I was thinking about who that big guy was, snoring like that, I saw that it was Muto.

Aah, it's so embarrassing to be a Butei just like him. I'm just glad that, at least, there's nobody sitting next to him.

I pretended that he was a stranger, passing by...farthest back on Car 16, for some reason, the seats in the two-seat row had been turned--they were seats whose backs were facing this way.

Above the seat, I could see a red horn sticking out.

To be more correct, it was a hair clip whose front stuck out like a horn.

Attached to pink-blonde twin-tails, sitting there, back facing this way, was--

(...Aria...!)

That's Aria.

Next to her, I could see loose waves of tea-coloured hair, probably Riko's head.

Now that I think about it, during the field trip, Aria was saying something about meeting Riko and Muto at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure Kure].

These three were taking the train back to Tokyo, huh?

"Ari..."

Stepping forward, just about to tell her about Reki, my arm, ''Grab''.

"--?"

I was grabbed by the person who was sitting in one of the seats in front of Aria and Riko, forcefully pulled into the empty seat.

Turning my head, that hand was--Assault's Shiranui Ryou.

While the handsome Shiranui placed a finger in front of his mouth, making a gesture for "be quiet," his left and right eyes flicked open and shut, winking at me.

Decoding that like morse code..「Talking about something interesting; Listen」...?

Trying to ignore it and get up, I was stuck inside Shiranui's arms.

「Let go; I have something to say to Aria.」

I replied.

「Let go.」

「It's fine; Stay like this」

「Let go.」

「It's fine; It's fine」

Forcefully answering with that kind of winking...''Chatter Chatter.''

Looking up the aisle, three Butei High girls were sitting on the three-row seats, looking this way, whispering with each other. Those were students that were in the same class as me, 2A. If I'm certain, Connect.

The three female students, their faces red, were saying: "Pl-player," "Even with boys," "Ca-captured...!", apparently shocked. I could hear about three-tenths of what they were saying.

（...Th-this can't...)

Noticing their serious expressions, if I look at this from an objective point of view--This scene between Shiranui and me. Hands linked intimately, looking at each other directly, not saying anything. Two boys.

Shi-Shiranui. Please at least care about what this looks like in other people's eyes. Even if that isn't so, there's never been any rumors about you getting together with any girls, so it's easy to suspect that you're ''that'' kind.

For the sake of not having an even worse reputation even more among my class,

「I got it; I got it, so; Let go of my hand; 5 minutes; I'll stay here quietly.」

Communicating that to Shiranui, Shiranui released my hand.

(But, what does he want me to hear?)

Folding my arms in annoyance...I could hear Aria and Riko's conversation from behind me.

"--This is, something that my friend consulted me about. Look, I, ah...be-because, about romance, I don't really understand that kind of thing. Maybe you would understand...I thought."

"Ask anything you want! Riko is a love-romance human Wikipedia!"

...Love? ...Romance? 
[[File:Aria07 055.jpg|thumb]]
What. Isn't this the kind of thing that I'm horrible at?

This isn't interesting at all.

"My friend...th-that friend, um, let's call her A-san. This A-san, for a boy...well, he'll be K-kun. Sh-she hasn't clearly told K that she likes him, but um...well, they've been moving together. For a few months.  

She understands that K--doesn't have much motivation, but he's a boy that can do anything once he tries. So, A-san has established a collaborative relationship with K, becoming something like friends that fight a lot. And, while they were doing that, A-san has started to feel something like, "he's mine", towards K...that..."

"Hmm, hmm. So, something more than friends but less than lovers. And, the possessive feeling towards the counterpart, it has already started to sprout before officially being together. It's those kinds of symptoms, hmm? Kufufu."

Taking on the air of a teacher, Riko seemed to be having a lot of fun.

In her heart, she likes talking about these kinds of things, right?

"Bu-but. A-san is already going to switch schools very soon. Leaving K at Butei High."

Aria, on another side, was radiating a feeling of slight desperation.

Her tone seemed to suggest that she was talking about herself.

She had said she was talking about a friend, so why'd she become so serious?

"It does exist, you know. Before a school transfer or exam, this kind of boy-girl messy situation. Juruuuuuu."

Wondering what kind of sound it was, I peeked through the gap between the seats and...

On the window seat, Riko was drinking out of a pack of strawberry milk.

And if I looked closer, on top of the table that was attached to the wall was around 20 packs of empty strawberry milk stacked atop each other.

I see. Because she wanted to place them there in such huge numbers, she had reclined her chair back? As usual, she does whatever she wants.

Rather, no matter how I think about it, that's over-drinking strawberry milk.

"But, well, when things had come to that time, Kin-ah, um, K-kun became closer to another girl. This...girl named R-san. She's a type that's completely different from A-san whether it be personality or ability...an outstanding girl."

Looks like the cast of characters has increased.

A-san, K-kun, and R-san, huh.

Well, I don't really care about the story of Aria's friend. Finish up quickly.

"After that, K and R-san started moving together...um..."

"Hmm, hmmm. If K-kun eats nothing but strawberries, won't he want to start eating some melons?"

Extremely serious, Aria asked Riko, who had just said those words, a question: "Are boys like that?"

She's such a gullible person. Aria, that is.

Riko is definitely just saying whatever is most fitting. Judging from her tone.

"That's right~. As opposed to women, who give birth, men are the people who make women give birth. Trying to leave their offspring behind in various types of women is just a natural instinct. Kufufufu."

"Th-that does sound possible."

"On that note, "what kind of girl do I like", is completely different from person to person. What kind of person is K-kun~?"

"--A haremizer!' 

Saying that, Aria's tone seemed to be extremely angry.

Although I couldn't see her, I could imagine that her face was demon-like.

Despite the fact that I was completely unrelated to their conversation, a chill ran down my spine.

"Normally he's a failure as a human, but just in front of girls, for an instant, he becomes really cool, amazingly cool...and, my chest starts hurting a lot, and afterwards, I can't do anything but think about it...he says strange things occasionally. Su-suddenly　touching me. It's really shocking. He's far too good at that, and over here, I can't do anything, just staying in this state, rather...no matter what the other side does, I probably can't resist, rather...My head becomes...something like...strange. It becomes strange--I mean, um, that, that's what my friend said." 

Heh~~? Does a failure of a man like that really exist in our school?

Someone like that really is a devilish bastard.

"Um, just now, um, my friend, A-san said that. Really. That was completely something that my friend, A-san, said."

Hearing Aria remind Riko, Shiranui, who was next to me, burst out into a fit of little giggles.

...What's so funny? I don't get the punchline.

"Well, because K is like that...A-san　got into a huge fight with K. But, I-ah, A! A-san, um, before transferring schools, with that K...even if "taking him back" is impossible, she wants just to be able to mend things between them. She knows that its just a selfish wish of hers, but R keeping K as hers like this...when A and K could meet again, K would already be R's captive, and K probably would not be partners with A. So, um..."

At that point, Aria's chair creaked as she drew closer to Riko.

"Wh-what does she do so that K doesn't forget about A-san. That, wh-what does she do before she transfers?"

Somehow...Aria's voice seemed to be frozen with fear.

On another side, Riko, in a very calm manner, went: "Nn~~Fufufu", laughing through her nose.

"A-san-san is about to celebrate her birthday, right? And, her birthday will come right before she transfers."

Saying that, Riko, ''Creak''.

Aria jumped off her seat in surprise.

"Yo-you really understand this! Th-that's right."

Ho~~.

Aria too has a friend that she gets along so well with? She even remembers her birthday.

As for me, about my friends birthdays, I don't even remember Shiranui's, who's sitting right here next to me. Of course, I don't remember Muto's either. 

I just remember Aria's birthday, as if I had ignored it, I would be subjected to Infinite Windhole Hell, so I had memorized it as pertinent information. I don't really know it accurately, but I do remember that it was during this month.

"Kufufu. That's obvious. It's because Riko is an excellent romance counselor. Kufufu~nn."

Laughing an extremely horrible laugh, Riko,

"--On that day, this love triangle will have a final battle."

"...?"

"A-san cannot be hurried. It's fine if she doesn't do anything. Hold yourself back, and Ki-ku...um. Test K-kun!"

"Te-test...?"

"That's right. Because, if K-kun doesn't hate A-san, he won't let something like a birthday pass without doing anything. I expect that he'll disguise it as birthday wishes, and try to meet you alone."

''Gulp''.

I could hear the noise of Aria swallowing.

"A parting confession--might be possible. Kufufu..."

"CO, CO-CO-CO-CO-CO-CONFE! SS-ION!"

Aria, lower your voice.

A train is a public vehicle, so don't shout so loudly.

"No, no. K-kun, aside from confessing--he might even do something more than that...!"

"SO-SOMETHING MORE THAN THAT IS FORBIDDEN!"

...So, Aria. Please calm down.

Your Japanese has already become really weird.

"Th-that's '''''too much!''''' Be-because '''''too early for me, for I'm just 17 at that time!''''' Lo-lo-look! If something comes so suddenly '''''how. how how how'd I ...I...'''''I !" [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume7_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

Because Aria had started panting and speaking in some sort of alien language, I couldn't understand what she was saying any longer...

「This is stupid；　This much is fine, right?」

I sent some winking signals at Shiranui.

Shiranui too...winked, responding.

「Tohyama-kun；　Do your best, alright?」

「What? I do my best at what?」

「Only thus; Is Tohyama-kun」

Shiranui smiled wryly, smiling and gesturing at me like a hotel concierge, as if conveying, "Please go ahead."

What was that. In the end.

When I tried to stand up, my mouth twisted into a 「へ」 character...at that exact moment.

''Guu''---

The train swayed, as if it had been tugged forward a little.

"Woah..."

Losing my balance a little, I grabbed hold of the back of the reclined seat.

What happened just now...?

It was only a little speed, but it seemed as if the train had shook from some sort of sudden acceleration.

'Hmm?' Muttering to himself, outside of the window that Shiranui was looking through--Nagoya station flashed past.

This Shinkansen passed by a station.

"...?"

That's strange.

Wasn't this Shinkansen definitely supposed to stop at Nagoya?

This isn't just me misunderstand it, right?

Some passengers, apparently going to disembark here, had an incredulous look on their faces as they returned to the aisles.

Just as they, their expressions dissatisfied, started to make some noise--

「--A notice to our customers.」

An announcement started flowing through the interior of the car.

「This train was supposed to stop at Nagoya, but because of some unexpected　circumstances, it cannot stop.」

...?

「As for those customers that planned to disembark at Nagoya, as soon as these circumstances have been resolved...you will be sent to Nagoya from the closest station by an extra train. We are sorry for the trouble, investigations into the details of said circumstances are currently being held.」

The voice, which I thought belonged to conductor, was trembling slightly.

What's wrong? What happened?

I've never heard of a malfunction that caused a train to hurtle by a station. On the contrary, I would understand if they stopped the train.

That wasn't all that was strange.

Ever since this Shinkansen passed Nagoya, it hadn't slowed down.

Rather...it was speeding up...?

"Hey, what the hell is happening?", "Arrrgh, the job is going to be canceled.", "What the hell are these 'circumstances'" "Could you explain? I didn't understand any of what was said just now."

From between the passengers, who were milling about in confusion, the talent that was reclining in his chair just now, Washio Narau,

"Hey! Conductor, get the fuck out here right now! I have to get off at Nagoya! The audience is already entering the dome, do you know who I am!? Go back to Nagoya!"

-stood up, roaring in anger.

Even though we've already gone past it, he was saying some reckless things.

But, besides that--

(This is bad...)

Agitation is infectious. If the other passengers started to panic because of the weird things he was saying, gathering them all up would become difficult. If I don't quiet him down...

Just as I stood up--

「Also, If there are any suspicious luggage or suspicious items in your vicinity, please alert the stewardesses.」

Continuing as such, the announcer could no longer be tolerated by Washio, who kicked the seat in front of him.

"What the fuck are these 'suspicious items'!? Is there a bomb set on this train or something!? Eh!?"

Fuck, he said it immediately...!

"--Bomb?" "Eh, seriously!? He said a bomb!?" "Hey, it seems that there's a bomb!"

As the passenger's unease grew larger, some people started walking towards the driver's seat.

"Everyone, please calm down." "Please return to your seats!" "A thorough investigation is being conducted--"

The three Butei High girls that had been looking at Shiranui and me earlier stood up, trying to soothe the crowd, but...It's impossible. The situation inside the train was quickly nearing full-blown panic.

This is--

It was bad enough that Washio had stood up and shouted, but the crew's announcement didn't help either. The information that was released was far too vague.

They didn't say anything about when it would be solved, just saying that there were some unnatural circumstances.

As for the Shinkansen, the abnormality that they refrained from releasing an announcement:「Not stopping at Nagoya」, something that cannot be hidden, beforehand...if there was an announcement that they were sealed inside a train, an enclosed space, it isn't impossible that customers with a short temper, just like Washio, would raise a racket.

A normal person, unlike us Butei, doesn't experience dangerous incidents like this everyday.

"It's dangerous, so please return to your seat."

When Shiranui said that to the pregnant lady, who had stood up, her stomach bulging out--''Whirr.''

Feet swaying, a chain of cries rang out as the passengers stumbled to the back of the train.

The Shinkansen had sped up again.

(What the hell is this...!?)

Looking out the window, the speed we had accelerated--judging from the change of the flow of the scenery, it was only a little.

But, it was too sudden. It was a sudden acceleration that would be impossible under normal circumstances.

Which is to say...It's like the feeling of barely being able to endure it, yet not being able to stop, continually gaining speed.

On the electronic displays above the automatic doors,

--[Current speed: 130km/h]--

-those words were flowing from right to left.

Apparently becoming more uneasy from the 'current speed', the customers started clamoring as they tried to stampede towards the driver's seat.

Washio Narau ran towards the back of the car--''Clank Clank!'' Using what appeared to be a very expensive lighter to smash the lid of the emergency door control, which was buried into the wall.

(That idiot! What the hell is he doing!)

Is he planning..to open the door to the Shinkansen manually!?

While in the midst of travel, the lock should be engaged, but now, the Shinkansen was in a situation where I didn't know if it was functioning normally. If by a one in a thousand chance, it opened...things would get ugly!

"STOP!"

I fixed my eyes on Washio, charging one straight line down the aisle, directly towards him.

"--Kinji!?"

"Kin-chan...!"

While hearing Aria's voice, who had just noticed me, and Shirayuki's voice, who had apparently woken up due to the ruckus--I,

"Calm down! You can't get off! Not at this speed!"

-hurtled towards Washio, performing a full nelson on him.

"Let go! LET GO! I'm going to Nagoya!"

I managed to clamp down on Washio's arms, who had been lashing out at me, binding his arms behind him with the wire in my belt.

At that moment, I heard the announcer once again--

<<To all the passengers　　I will tell you now.>>

---!

<<This train　　will not stop at any stations　　until Tokyo　　it will go on　　non-stop　　Ahaha　　Ahahahahaha>>

--A vocaloid's synthetic voice...!

<<The train　　will accelerate 10 km/h every three minutes　　not accelerating is impossible　　otherwise, Kaboom!　　Big boom!　　will happen　　Ahaha　　Ahahahahahahaha!>>

In response to the artificial laughter, cries started ringing out from within Train Hope 246.

This vocaloid. It's the same voice as the one when Reki and I were assaulted by those remote controlled helicopters.

(Koko...!)

This is her doing.

Leaving Washio sitting down, his face about to cry, I looked up at the electronic display--

--[Current speed: 140 km/h]--

We're accelerating. Definitely.

(Express-jack--)

I　don't know what her goal is, but she had carried this out extremely thoroughly.

No wonder we hadn't stopped at the station.

It was probably only after the conductor and driver had departed to Tokyo that they received a threat from the offender concerning the bomb.

Earlier, I had thought that she was checking the tickets, but the sweating conductor was actually conducting a search for the bomb.

But...she's really troublesome.

At the front of the car--the direction of the driver's seat, the panicked passengers were　jostling against each other, saying things like: "You're going to hit the Shinkansen in front of us, right!?" "Dumbass! It said that there was a bomb!" "That's definitely a prank!", and I could see Shirayuki trying to calm them.

"Tohyama-kun...!"

"Kinji!"

From the back of the car, Shiranui and--Muto, who was completely woken up, ran towards me.

"Shiranui is calculating it right now. If the announcement just now was true, we have until 19:22."

"...19:22...?"

"Without stopping at any stations, if we continue at this pace of acceleration...we'll arrive at Tokyo then."

I frowned at Muto and Shiranui's words.

--Arrive at Tokyo.

There is no more track after that.

If we get there...The End.

Looking at my watch, right now, it's 18:02.

"Until the time limit--we have 80 minutes."

"It'll probably come a little earlier. The announcement earlier...said that we would continue to accelerate. This Shinkansen is model N700, Toukaido route's top operational speed is 270 km/h. After 40 minutes--we'll exceed that."

"If we exceed it, then what?"

"It's impossible to operate safely. The entire car won't be able to stay on the rails, and at a curve, it's possible that it'll disengage."

"Dangerous operation then...how many km/h can we go?"

"It's said that the calculated maximum speed is 350-360 km/h. The actual limit wasn't announced by Japan Railways."

Beside Muto, who had said that, Shiranui was using the calculator function on his phone to immediately calculate the speed and time.

"--This speed isn't enough. To get past 19:00, we have to have 350 km/h, and to get to the end, we have to have 410 km/h."

"No way...I've heard that the test train could reach speeds of up to 397 km/h. How long that can be sustained, nobody knows. 410 km/h is unknown territory."

After 40 minutes, we will enter dangerous operation, and after an hour, we will have broken through the design limit--and at the end, unknown territory, huh?

If we don't make it back to Tokyo, the chance of ''Kaboom'' is large.

"Muto, Shiranui. Gather the Butei High students that are riding this train, then search for the bomb. Without decelerating, find the bomb and disarm it."

From the window of Hope 246, which had turned into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Siege_2:_Dark_Territory Under Siege 2: Dark Territory], I could see the the town in the midst of dusk flow past like in a nightmare...

This, outside the window--if for example, the bomb was affixed to the bottom of the train car, it's all over. It's impossible to disarm that kind of thing.

Seeing Shiranui and Muto off, who were going to confirm that the cars behind didn't have any Butei High students in them, I---

I drew closer to the location in the rear of Car 16, where Aria and Riko were sitting.

"...Nn..."

Having subjected me to violent acts such as kicking and punching whenever I was together with Reki in Osaka, Aria turned her head back as if avoiding me, and as if trying to hold back something that she wanted to say, her cheeks were puffed out like a puffer fish.

The incident at that time...I wanted to explain　a lot of things, but this wasn't the time for that.

First, I looked over Aria at Riko.

"Riko. You know what I want to say, right? This is the same modus operandi as yours."

With a voice that the other passengers couldn't hear, I said that as if interrogating her.

On Riko's face, the normal high school girl expression that she had had on her face up till just now flickered,

"We've been hit..."

Her eyes sharpening, she muttered those words.

April. During the "Butei Killer" incident which had led to the meeting between Riko and Aria and me, she was using these types of bombs. On my bicycle as well as the bus around Academy Island...she had set something on those modes of transport, a bomb that would explode if one decelerated below a certain speed.　An extremely terrifying, cruel planted explosive.

Although, the explosives that were planted on this train were even more horrifying.

Not only must it continue to run, but because, if the train doesn't continue to accelerate, the bomb will detonate.

"Cao Cao...has started moving again, huh, that fucking miser...!"

Gnashing her teeth, Riko stuck her hands between her knees, which were opened, moving them as if searching the seat.

"Cao...?"

Riko, her eyes in "Butei Killer" mode, turned towards Aria, who was frowning while asking that question.

"Cao Cao is--a person with a demonic mindset, despite being a child. She is EU's Mechanic. In exchange for massive amounts of money, she modified torpedoes and ICBMs into transport devices... Kinji, the "Non-Stop" method which I used on your bicycle was also taught to me by Cao Cao. This is its improvement, "Hurry Up"--!"

Towards Riko, who had sweat trickling down her forehead--

"EU's...explosive tactic instructor--is that it? Riko, you're her student, so you understand the basic structure of her explosives, right? Go look for the detonator and disarm it immediately."

Aria, still not looking in my direction, tugged on Riko's hand.

But, Riko didn't stand up from her seat, and she shook her head.

"No. I cannot move."

"Why not?"

"There's a pressure switch on this seat. I was careless, so I did not realize it. If I stand up, an explosive, planted somewhere, will detonate."

"...!"

Aria and me, speechless, looked under Riko's seat.

Added on to forbidden deceleration and forced acceleration...a human switch?

The first thing the enemy had done was seal Riko, who was the only one with any chance of being able to disarm the bomb.

She meticulously investigated our movements in advance, planting a trap on the seat.

In short, we--had, by our own free will, boarded the Shinkansen covered with the enemy's traps.

At this point, all we could do is laugh. At our own lack of vigilance.

"...An eye for an eye, 'Butei Killer'-san."

I, who had had a bomb planted under the seat of my bike, patted Riko on the shoulder with a thump,

"Riko, Cao Cao is a Chinese girl...a girl even younger than you. And the person who taught you those martial arts was her as well, right?"

-I continued.

Riko's big eyes, with those double-fold eyelids, looked up at me.

"How do you know, Kinji?"

"I was attacked as well. Yesterday, by this girl who uses vocaloids."
The fact that she had a different name as well as Jeanne's statement: "There were no snipers in EU," there was a point which caught my attention--

That Cao Cao is Koko. I can't be wrong.

Koko had...hidden from the members of EU, who would become her enemies at some unknown point in time, her own skill in sniping.

However, Koko...She is proficient in martial arts, gunfights and sniping, as well as being a genius technician?

This time, it's so unbelievable that it makes me laugh.

They're all monsters. Those in EU.

Saying something to Aria, who was, unreasonably, still angry, irked me, but since things had come to this, I had no choice.

I pulled on one of Aria's twin-tails, forcibly making her head face this way.

"Aria, calm down and listen to me. The offender who hijacked this Shinkansen is the person who attacked you with Aru=Kata. Her name is Koko. Reki had a sniping battle with her--and she was heavily injured."

"...Reki was...!?"

Aside from the huge fight that they had gotten into on the stairs of the Butei High Station a few days before--

At the fact that Reki had lost, Aria's camellia eyes widened in surprise, forming large circles.

"Don't worry. She managed to hold on to her life. She was just in danger from losing massive amounts of blood over an hour."

"Why...why didn't you tell me earlier!"

"My cellphone was destroyed by Koko. By the time I could communicate again, you were out of range...No, it was painful enough that all communication with Aria was interrupted, but--in addition to that, it seems the information was also destroyed."

"Information...?"

"You didn't tell Riko the details either, did you?　Neither the appearance nor features of the opponent you tied with on the day of 'Water Tossing'"

Saying that, I could hear Aria's throat go "Uguu", and she went silent. It seemed that I had guessed right.

Just like how I had never told anyone about my loss to an underclassman, "Defeat from the Bottom"...Aria had experienced, "Draw from the Bottom" in a gunfight--and she was hiding the disgrace of drawing with Koko, who was younger than her.

It was because this noble ojou-san had pride twice that of a normal person.　Even though her height was half of a normal person's.

Koko--knew that fully well.

When Koko assaulted us, the first thing she did was--destroy our phones, our method of communication, and she used a false name as well, using Butei High's culture, the fact that people would hide the reality that they lost to their underclassmen...

She had prevented detailed information from being spread among us.

"Kinji, Aria, listen."

We turned towards Riko's voice, which was extremely tense.

"'Non-Stop' and 'Hurry Up'--Meter Bomb is started by wireless. Because, she usually plants explosives somewhere which already cannot be reached. But, jamming, congestion, out of signal range, weak electric field, hangup drop...wireless is lacking in reliability. Especially on high-speed vehicles like the Shinkansen, which is loaded with wireless components. I learned this from her. At those times, one must secure an escape route, riding the vehicle yourself. And, you have to see for yourself that your targets have boarded the vehicle, making sure what is planted inside the car starts up reliably. In short--"

Riko's eyes sparkled, as if confident in something.

"--the enemy is aboard this train."

At those words, Aria and I looked at each other. And at that moment.

---''Gangan, Gakin!''

The sound of metal clashing resounded several times, at the front of the car--the passengers who were gathered close to the cab of the train cried out while running back into the car.

(--!?)

At the front side of the car, while a scream rang out--as if swept away by some force, Shirayuki flew outwards, sprawling over the seats.

The salarymen, chess pieces in their hand, the gaudily dressed girl emitting a piercing shriek, as well as the passengers who had kept to their seats, stood up, running towards Car 15.

Threatening the people so as to chase them away, coming out from within the cab, its door broken from some large impact--

"--Koko!"

So in the end, she was riding the train...!?

"'''Hello''', Kinchi. This is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riichi Riichi], isn't it."

Clothed in cultural Qing garments, Koko winked at me.

And--completely clashing with her elfin body, she raised a longsword akin to a hatchet.

The hilt of that sword wreathed with decorative fabric, engraved onto the blade was a picture of a slender dragon.

"This train will become your '''coffin'''! Kihi!"

''Zccccchhhh''----! The blade, brought down, sliced open the seats in front with ease.

That is a--'''Lancet'''

Called a Seiryuutou[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume7_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2] in Japan, it's a broad, weight, single-edged Chinese sword.

I learned this in Assault, but the Seiryuutou is not like a Japanese long sword, which is sharp, meant to slice through organs and arteries. The blade is heavy so that it can cleave through flesh and bone, and it's a weapon that, if conceptualized, resembles an axe. 

"I'll just play for 10 minutes, Koko has a promise for a date."

Looking over the shoulder of Koko, who had said that, on the driver's seat that I could see in the direction of the double doors was...

Was the female driver, half turning around to face this way, and there was nobody in the co-driver's seat. It appeared that Koko had kicked the co-driver out and had been sitting there.

''Ueeeenn''--Turning my heard towards that crying noise, close to the middle of Car 16, unable to escape from danger yet, the children were crying, clinging to the pregnant lady.

They were all that was left of the normal passengers inside Car 16.

If I looked closer, the pregnant lady was clasping her large belly, sweating heavily.

Inside the midst of this panic, it seemed the stress had taken its toll on her body.

"--Shirayuki! Save her and her children!"

Shouting and dashing forward--drawing her sword was Aria.

Leaving Riko, who couldn't move, and I, who stood up reflexively, behind, Aria　crossed her twin-blades, keeping them low, assuming a compact stance while charging down the narrow aisle.

As Shirayuki, crouched down while running down the aisle, brushed past Aria,　they exchanged glances.

"--Nn!"

Using Shirayuki's hands, overlaid over each other, as a foothold, Aria jumped forward at an oblique angle.

Not slowing down at all, Aria flew over the back of the seat, ''Tatatatata''-----!

With reflexes far beyond the norm, she thrust herself off the seat, using it like a stepping stone.

Opposing her, Koko span the Seiryuutou around once...

"'''Come, come''', Sherlock the 4th."

Her hand, outstretched towards Aria, gestured at her.

Shirayuki helping the pregnant lady, I, while protecting the children, helped them to escape towards Car 15, and behind me--

''Clank!''

The sound of Aria's blades, held in such a way that they resembled a pair of enormous scissors, clashing against Koko's Seiryuutou rang out.

A Shinkansen is something alike to a steel box.

For the sake of not injuring oneself due to ricochets off the wall or ceiling, Aria and Koko weren't using guns.

Aria launched herself off the back of the seat, and Koko took the full impact head on, ''Clash''.

The swords, clashing together at the heart of the blades, rolled over each other as if they were dancing, displacing each other. Twice. Three times.

The pink and black twin-tails fluttered through the air, outlining a swirl-like shape--

Aria. Koko. Aria. Koko.

Looking alike visually, the two people were turning round and round at a speed which dizzied.

It was as if it was a fighting game with 1P and 2P characters.

"You tricked me, you clown! The first time I faced you, you said your name was "Koko"--that was a false name! Cao Cao!"
[[File:Aria07 079.jpg|thumb]]
"That's a name that Europeans mistakenly use. Sherlock of EU called me by such a name, so Koko let everyone use it. '''Koko'''. The true pronunciation of the name in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_Wei Wei]!"

...

Is that how it is?

Just like how Riko had once said Holmes as "Ormès" using the French pronunciation, the pronunciation changes along with the changes in the language. So,that's why Jeanne, upon hearing the name "Koko", had no recollection of any such name. 

If I gave it a little more thought, "'''Sou Sou'''" is how Japanese people read it as well.

--We're getting dragged into a global war, and we're having trouble over a name.

Having guided the children to Car 15, I-

"Shirayuki--I'll leave this woman to you. Go find out whether there's a doctor among the passengers. Aria and I, the two of us, will apprehend Koko."

-said that to Shirayuki, who was supporting the pregnant lady, having entered Car 15.

"Ye-yes! But, Kin-chan, be careful. I'm getting an abnormal feeling from that offender."

While whipping out my butterfly knife--

"Abnormal? Isn't that what happens all the time? So--it's normal."

As if saying that for myself to hear, I answered.

I returned to Car 16, and Riko, on the last rows of seats, was kneeling on the seat, just like a child.

Looking back, I could see Aria and Koko, close to the front of the car and drawing closer to the edge,

"--YOOOUUU!"

"Kihi!"

Their feet lashing out simultaneously, Aria and Koko went into a position where they kicked each other in the waist--and, with a smack, they separated.

In the next instant, Koko let go of the Seiryuutou, and, ''Tan, Tatatata!'', she kicked the floor, Aria's knees, waist, and chest as if running vertically, showing off an acrobat-like maneuver--''Bccchhhhhh!''

The toes in the peony embroidered silk shoes thundered into Aria's jaw.

"Aria!"

While flipping open the butterfly knife in my hand, I ran up the aisle.

"---!"

Reeling backwards from the impact, Aria retreated several steps this way.

In that direction, Koko, her back turned towards the cab--cut through the air behind her with a backflip, her two long sleeves fluttering outwards like a fin.

And, from the midst of those sleeves...What the hell is that?

She took out something reminiscent of an atomizer.

"--'''Bubble Explosion'''!"

''Shuu''!

With that sound like the depression of an aerosol--If it hadn't been sparkling in the midst of the light of the car interior, I wouldn't have seen it--small soap bubbles, the size of rubber shavings, flew out towards Aria.

"--Aria, dodge it!"

Having seen that, Riko, panicked, shouted immediately.

"'''Bubble Explosion''' is a vapor explosive, I saw it in EU! When the bubble bursts, the contents mix together with the oxygen in the air, and--it explodes!"

"!?"

Aria heard her, and from her feet, a loud crack ran out.

<nowiki>----</nowiki>''BOOOOOOOM''

From the soap bubbles that burst right in front of Aria's eyes, a violent shockwave and blinding light burst forth.

Amongst the seats in front, several of them were blown away--

"Kyaaa--!"

In the midst of the flurry of poker cards, which had been left on the seat, Aria flew outwards as if she had been hit by a car.

This light...! I remember this.

This is the same light that appeared at the end of the nighttime sniper battle between Koko and Reki, which caused her to be severely injured.

The scale was even bigger than that time--Reki was hit by this vapor explosive!?

"--Aria!"

In a rush, I caught Aria, who had been heavily impacted on her back and posterior cranial fossa. 

Thank God, she didn't seem to have received any blatant trauma.

The moment right before Aria had been caught up in the explosion, her animal-like instincts had sensed the danger, and she reflexively did a backstep.

Thanks that that, she escaped a direct hit, and it seemed that she hadn't received any serious injures like Reki had.

However, she received a considerable amount of damage from the impact. Aria's consciousness was fuzzy, and her knees were trembling. Aria was in a state where she could not stand up on her own. She had let go of her swords as well.

"Uu...Uuu!"

For what I assumed was to clear her head, Aria shook her head left and right, her pink twin-tails swinging around as if beating a drum.

In that direction, 10 meters away from us, Koko, a broad smile on her face--

"Kihihi, now it's '''even'''!"

Like the immortal zombies who appeared in that movie from a while ago, "Reigen Doushi", her hands were stuck straight out.

With that posture, sticking her hands out, ''Rattle Rattle''. Shaking her sleeves again, from inside...Nunchucks...? No. Wrong.

She took out two mini rockets!

Bringing the head of the two rockets together with a clink, Koko separated the two, bringing them left and right respectively.

Between the two tips, a wire stretched outwards. An appearance exactly like nunchucks.

"--'''Double Rocket Restriction'''" 

With a sharp jet noise, the two rockets, flying parallel to one another, passed by on the left and right of Aria and I--

The wire, stretched out between them, pressed down upon the area below Aria's flat chest.

"Uuu!?"

The rocket, having fixed the wire upon Aria's body, started flying around us in an absurd manner.

"Ah...ah!"

"Woo...oah...!"

In a heartbeat, Aria and I were bound by the wire, completely paralyzed.

Twirling around our arms, torso, and legs, the rockets-''Clank!''

-crackling, automatically severed the wires as their fuel was completely depleted, and they dropped to the floor, rolling.

"Kyaa!?"

Stepping towards the other side, Aria completely lost her balance--

And along with me, who had been tightly restricted by the wire as well, she hit the floor with a thud.

Uu...thanks to the fact that our legs were bound, w-we couldn't stand...!

Added to that, from the shock of falling down...because I could not put any strength into my arms, which were fixed to my waist, I had let go of my knife.

The knife had slid under the seats, and I had no way of reaching my hands out. As such, I could not retrieve it.

Literally...my hands and legs were tied. In just that one instant...! 
"Uu...Uu..Fueh...Cao Cao...!"

Seeing Aria and I get hit, Riko's hands were rubbing her eyes, which were gradually leaking out tears.

<nowiki>"...BIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH! Wasn't Riko your partner in E~~~U!? Aren't we class~~~mates!? Save Riko, only save Rikoooooo! BIEEEEEEEEH!"</nowiki>

S-so loud.

...Bloody Riko. Despite the fact that she told us so much just now.

When it starts to look like we're losing, she stabs us in the back.

Rather, just now, you said "Save only Riko," right? Is she really our friend?

"Mine Riko--stop faking your tears! Crying wins the sympathy of only boys!"

''Point!'' Pointed at by Koko, Riko-

"Tch."

-clicked her tongue, and she stopped crying, making a face at Koko.

Koko--inserted her hands into each of her sleeves, holding them together in front of her chest, and with a composed expression, she walked forward.

And, arriving at a place where she was looking down on Aria, Koko started intently at her face.

"Fuuun. So, this is Aria. When I saw her photo, I certainly thought that she was as cute as Koko, but seeing her in person, Koko is actually cuter. Kihi."

"Koko!"

Even though she could not reach out with her arms or legs, Aria was baring her fighting spirit as well as her canines.

"That hairstyle! Before, I told you to get rid of it, right!? That's the same hairstyle as mine!"

"I don't remember hearing that, puh, puh! Whether it's '''Ranban''' or EU's Ignatius, they want girls like Aria. If I use this hairstyle, I'll make a lot of money."

"Ignatius...? You're one of the remnants of EU...!?"

"'''Wrong'''! From the beginning, I've been one of the members of '''Ranban'''! EU was purely business!"

I didn't really understand if she had met with Aria before, but Koko, saying some strange things...was squatting like a frog, her hands against the floor, bringing her mouth to Aria's ear,

"Rather--you! Watch how you address me! Koko has been a princess for generations!'

She shouted with a high-pitched voice on par with Aria's.

I-I didn't think that princesses squatted like frogs.

''Whoosh'' Standing up, Koko--

"--'''''Aria the scarlet ammo'''''."

Hidan no Aria.

The name that was passed down to Aria from Sherlock in EU was uttered.

"Everything is your fault. By destroying EU, you broke the power balance between all the associations, groups and organizations in the world.　A time of chaos will begin."

Koko was looking down at us haughtily.

Like an empress looking down at captured criminals.

"You have pleased the Hihiirokane. This too is the start of chaos. Hihiirokane and Ririirokane are opposed to each other. Sensing the mood of the Hihiirokane, Ririirokane has been harboring the anger of a century. Its anger has scattered invisible particles, rendering the ability of all the ''ability users'' in the world unstable."

"''Ability users''...are...?"

The back of her head pressed against the bottom of my chin, Aria asked with a tone which seemed to convey that she was completely ignorant.

Not completely clear on the details of ability users, I too had nothing but a question mark appear in my mind, but--

Thinking about the series of events that had been revolving around me recently, I noticed something.

Before, when I had sought information about Reki...having cooled the can of hot coffee that I had bought by mistake, Jeanne had said it. "...Recently, my magic hasn't been very stable."

And at Kyoto, Kazayuki had said something about the Mikos' power having debilitated.

Were all those linked to the Irokane?

--Koko, the corners of her eyes streaked with red eyeshadow, looked down at me, who was frowning.

"From now on, ability users are useless. At this kind of time, the value of marksmen increases."

''Clank Clank''. Koko rapped her fingertips against my head.

"Kinchi is different from an ''ability user'', but he's a good piece that has a secretly high battle ability. Ignatius, Daioh, Ulus, everybody wants Kinchi."

Everyone...wants me...?

I don't understand what kind of delusional words she's saying, but...

It seems that I've become rather famous in the world of the other side.

Despite the fact that I'm so inconspicuous at school.

"The first to reach out for Kinchi was Ulus. Ririirokane gave a direct order to the princess, and she took action against Kinchi. However, Koko will snatch Kinchi from her side."

As if genuinely happy, Koko jumped up and down on the spot.

"Koko will also take Ulus' Reki.　She's an outstanding sniper, she's good for use in assassinations, and she's good for selling too. I will take Aria as well. Hihiirokane can be sold for a lot."

As if operating an abacus inside her head, Koko smiled wickedly--

"A chaotic world is good for business. This Shinkansen-jacking is also a side business deal. Earlier, Koko demanded a 30,000,000,000,000 yuan ransom from the Japanese government. It would be nice if they paid, but if they don't--KABOOM!"

Twintails jumping up to the extent that it seemed they were flying, Koko shouted those words with a high-pitched voice.

"I'll blow this train into pieces, demonstrating '''Bubble Explosion'''. Kihi."

"'''Bubble Explosion'''--the exploding bubbles from just now, huh...!"

Just having been blown back by that vapor explosive, Aria glared up at Koko.

It seemed that...Koko had planted that on the train too. According to what she had just said.

"The '''Bubble Explosion''' from just now was around 1cc of explosives. This train is loaded with 1 cubic meter of it."

Said Koko, lightly.

"Wai...that's over the top!"

Kneeling on the seat, Riko'ｓ expression conveyed, 'That's seriously dangerous!'.

I too--was speechless.

1 cubic meter. Whether it's a bubble or a balloon, a container which holds that much gas cannot be hid inside a train. It's definitely a lie. But, if it isn't--

According to my calculations, the explosive force would be 10000 times that of the explosion earlier.

This Shinkansen will be reduced to ash. All its passengers and the surrounding structures as well.

"'''Bubble Explosion''' is an invisible explosive. It is a work of art, something which no matter where it is hidden, will not be found by anyone. If it explodes with enough splendor,　it will be ordered from around the world. Koko will become rich, and then I can buy my place as '''Ranban''''s empress."

'''Ranban'''--from her tone, that's the name of the organization that Koko belongs to.

Most likely, it's an outlaw group based in China. While being a member of it, she also entered EU as a black merchant...huh?　That's judging from everything she's said up till now.

"Kinchi, Reki, I'm bringing you to Hong Kong, '''Ranban''''s city. When we're there, become Koko's pieces and move for her. Aria will be imprisoned until a buyer arrives. Kihihihi!"

Towards Koko, who was laughing like that--

"Cao Cao. Wh-what about Riko?"

Clutching the back of the seat with both her hands, Riko interrupted from the side.

"Wouldn't you like some Riko with that? Riko is cute and strong, hiring me won't be a mistake!"

..."Wouldn't you like some Riko with that," you said.

Are you McDonald's fries? 

"Mine Riko. Your power notwithstanding, your personality is difficult. Are you going to change?"

Having said that to Koko, whose eyes were suspicious, Riko, 'UnUnUnUnUnUnUnUn'
[[File:Aria07_091.jpg|thumb]]
-with a desperate expression, nodded several times.

"--If you swear loyalty to '''Ranban''', I'll consider it."

"I love '''Ranban'''! '''Ranban''' Banzai! Kinji, Aria! Become a member of '''Ranban''' with Riko! Ranban's city is a paradise with lakes of wine and forests of meat, it's a super, ultra, amazing, wonderful place! You can eat as many authentic peach buns as you like!"

"...Authentic...pea..."

Still fallen down, Aria let loose a voice as if she had lost all sense of self, but-

"Pea...hey, Riko! What kind of speedy betrayal is that!?"

''Grar!' -once again, she bared her teeth at Riko.

In a position where it looked like I was embracing Aria, I--

"It looks like negotiations have broken down, Koko. I--don't want to become your underling. Even though I look like this now, I'm a Butei."

In the first place, I have no intention of becoming part of one of those terrorist-like groups...if I do, it's the end.

Not only will I be lynched by the OB in the Butei High all over the world, as well as those demonic teachers, I'll be sentenced to death under the threefold punishment that is applied to Butei. Compared to that, dying a clean death here is still better.

"--A good general will say that in the beginning. But, all humans have desires. China is a vast country, full of things and people. A country where everything exists. If you consult Wei's books on tactics, when the enemy general is a young man, with the use of women, he can become your own subject. I'll gather one hundred of the women you like. Beautiful women, beautiful girls, big, small, I'll give you many, many, many. You can decide on this one, or that one, whichever one. Ufuun."

At Koko's words--''Twist, Glare!''

Aria twisted her neck to its limit, afterward, staring at me out of the corner of her eye.

Wh-why're you mad at me? Completely unreasonable. You're always like this.

"I-it's unfortunate, but...that has the opposite effect on me, I think."

I cannot explain in more detail in front of Aria...yet I replied with that.

"Also, I told Reki this too, but I'm not anything like a general. I'm just a normal, male high school student."

"--Kinchi, you need to know yourself. You are a special person. Special people will be hindered by those that are normal. Don't fit with the surface world. Rather than that, it's better to live an extravagant life in the world below."

''Twinge''--A flicker of pain ran through my chest.

In the midst of Nii-san's battle with EU, he disappeared from the surface world--

Remembering that incident, my words became tinged with rage.

"I...I won't become like that. I--will walk a normal person's road."

"For a boy whose very existence is abnormal, what are you saying?"

Once again crouching like a frog, Koko brought her hand closer to my face.

''Brush''. Her black twin-tails carrying the scent of sugared chestnuts, brushed past my face.

"Kinchi, you and Koko are the same breed. Humans who have wondrous potential will definitely be picked out."

''Clank''<nowiki>----</nowiki>!

At that moment, the Shinkansen shook again, the scenery flowing past the window had sped up.

<nowiki>----[Current speed: 180 km/h]----</nowiki>

"Uuu...Lord--allow me closer--''Sob'', fueh...to you--"

I seemed to be hearing some sort of hymn, sung in a crying voice.

In the direction of the double-doors, opened, it seemed that the female driver was singing.

Apparently Christian, her voice seemed to express that her will was reaching its limit.

"Aiyayayayaya, I've talked for so long. Koko is going to get ready for her date."

Koko stamped on the ground where she was standing, ''Twist''.

Grabbing hold of Aria and I, still bound, ''Brush, Brush''.

At the front of Car 16--further forward than the frontmost seats, we were pulled through the automatic door.

"Wh...what do you plan to do to us!?"

Koko, letting go of Aria, who was being dragged, crying out, and I, took a carabiner hook from out of her sleeves, and she attached it to the wire binding us.

"You cannot do anything anymore. Neither do you need to know anything."

Apparently opened up in advance was a door in the ceiling--it looked like a person could barely squeeze through. Probably used for maintenance.--Continuing up the stairs towards it, she exited the car.

Seeing the wire stretched out away from us and the hook attached to it, Aria...

"She...plans to string us up like a yoyo, bringing us somewhere."

"Probably China. I don't have a passport though."

Not even bothering to wonder why she would use a yoyo as an example, I heaved a deep sigh.

"This isn't the time to joke around...! Nn...! I'm going to wriggle out...Uuunnn...Nnnng!"

''Wriggle Wriggle!'' Aria twisted her petite shoulders, squirming around.

The wire was twisted around us several times, but it didn't seem as if Aria could move at all.

While pressing her shoulder against my chest, she twisted her body, twisted...not being able to wriggle out, she struggled.

At that moment, ''Clank''--!

Once again, because the Shinkansen had sped up, the car shook as it had been struck.

"Uwah!?"

At the impact, ''Roll''.

Aria, who had been struggling, twisted around, facing this way.

He...Hey.

Until just now, we were in a position where I was stuck against Aria's back, but　now, we were directly facing each other, in a pose as if we were glued together. All the while, bound by the wire.

"Wa, wah...!"

Looking up this way, Aria's face was just under my chin.

"...tc...!"

Because the wire was also pressed against the back of my head, I had no choice but to stare directly at Aria's face from an extremely close distance.

Aria didn't seem to be able to lower her head either, and her large camellia eyes were looking at me--

"F! F! Fffff!"

''Gyuui''.

''Gyuiiiiii''!

Her speed-blushing technique of always was demonstrated.

As expected of the inventor. Bright red was achieved three times quicker than Connect's Nakasorachi Misaki.

"F! F!"

...What's "F"? "F".

"F, F, face backwards! Yo-your face is close! Close, clooseeee!"

Aria pressed her forehead against my face, trying to force me to look backwards.

''Gui''...''Guiiiiii''!

O-ouch!

"He-hey! Hu-human's can't turn just their necks to face backwards! Stop it!"

If my neck continues to twist like this until it's turned 180 degrees, I'll become like that cursed girl that appeared in that famous horror movie from years ago, "The Exorcist"!

"Ca...Calm down!"

While shouting, in the instant which I twisted my head back to Aria's direction, ''Muchi!''

Apparently still trying to press against me, Aria, on my cheek-

--accidentally planted a kiss.

"!"

My mind--seemed to have registered that as "getting hit", and as such, I was fine in terms of Hysteria Mode, but Aria...seemed to have completely registered that as, "I KISSED HIM!"

<nowiki>"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"</nowiki>

Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Apparently, she was screaming that out, but...her scream was too high pitched, and it seemed that it had exceeded the hearing capability of human beings.

Baring her canines, from Aria'a mouth, all I could hear was a very slight ''Kiiin!''

Th-that's amazing.

Aria. Right now, you're emitting supersonic waves. 

"FJKLD@#$*(&#$! SDOIFJO*#&$*(&#$! Pue! $LKJ#*&@#(*&FDLKJ!"

Starting to shout with some kind of inhuman language, ''SQUEEEEEEEEZE!''

Like a rabbit trying to escape out of someone's hands, she went wild.

A-amazing strength...! What the hell is this?

"Nnnnn! Nnn, nnn, nnnnn!"

''Brush Brush, Brush, Brush!''

As if exceeding some sort of limiter, Aria, going half-berserk and struggling...O-oh...?

Centimeter by centimeter, the wire is starting to move up our body!?

(Sh-she did it...!)

From a catastrophe to a blessing.

Because of the wire, I could not reach out with my legs or feet, but thanks to Aria's stupid strength in this time of crisis, I managed to wriggle out.

If I looked closer, her long twin-tails were...like the ears of a green foxtail clutched in a hand, apparently having the ability to help slide out of the wire restricting the body. How lucky.

In the instant that I thought that...something unlucky began to happen to my body.

Because Aria, still stuck against me, was inching up and up, escaping, my mouth and nose were...pressed against Aria's slender neck.

(...ch...!)

A-at this kind of time.

I remembered about Nii-san's...which is to say, Kana's strange words which I had heard.

Something like: "A girl's neck is the place where a girl's pheromones are most exuded, you know."

And I was in a position where my nose, which is to say my face, was pressed against Aria's neck.

I-I don't know whether or not these are pheromones, but...

This is Aria's bittersweet scent.

This is like some sort of perfumed fragrance. Like a flower, like a fruit--rather, a lovely fragrance which was almost addictive. It's always with Aria.

At this place, with that lingering aroma, Aria was continually moving up, escaping. The parts which brushed past by my face were: a petite shoulder, a collarbone, slowing going down her body...which means, hey...! Be-below this...wai, this is bad! THIS IS BAD!

"Aria...wait! WAIT!"

Next, rubbing up against me, who was shouting...rubbing up against my cheek was the pure white skin exposed in the space at the collar of her sailor uniform.

A-against my neck, already, Aria's...br-breasts were pressing against it...!

"Nnn! Uuu!"

Not listening to my warnings, Aria, ''Brush Brush Brush Brush Brush!''

Centimeter by centimeter, continuing to slide upwards---

(......Uu......!)

---!

At last, I--

-had my face buried in Aria's breasts.

In April, ever since I had pressed against them in the PE Warehouse, that sensation was transmitted to my face once again.

It was rather pitiful that they hadn't grown at all in the past half year, but this soft climax was--the same as that of that time. While it was slight, it was definitely there. It existed.

Fitting her short stature and childish face, small, lovely breasts.

It was across her blouse, but I, my nose and mouth completely blocked...''Bch, BchBch!''

As if mirroring the moment where one gives up from sparring, my hand tapped Aria's thighs.

".....? ...! M...! Mikkyaaaaaaaaa!"

She screamed like a wild cat, and furthermore, ''Brush Brush Brush Brush Brush!''

Her body continued sliding up.

"...!"

My breathing blocked by the sailor uniform, and not able to stand the pain, I went the opposite way as Aria--forcing my body to escape downwards.

My face brushed against Aria's slender waist, Aria's hip, Aria's skirt, one after another.

Aria, Aria, a full course of Aria.

"Ki-Kinji! Th-th-that was...damn it! Idiot! Ah, ah, aaaahh! Hole! I'll blast, a hole, stop, stop it!"

I no longer understood where my head was pressing against Aria, who was shouting in agony with that anime-voice--''Squish''. When I thought that my head had finally been extricated from wherever, I was in the space between Aria's thighs.

It had become a position where it was as if I was shouldering those lovely, slender, white thighs.

And, the fortune in the misfortune was--finally. My hands were free.

"...Aria. Just hold on a little bit longer. It'll be over soon."

Somewhat able to breathe, I pushed up against Aria's lithe legs--and struggling between her knees, wreathed in black stockings, then between her calves, I extricated myself from the wire.

Alright--I finally managed to get out.

...And now...

Aah, I understand.

I don't need to check it. My own blood flow.

Because, I had fully appreciated a girl's entire body, from head to toe.

I closed my eyes for a very long moment--and when I opened them--

Without even looking in a mirror, I understood that the look in my eyes was completely different from that of just now.

Quickly, I flicked my eyes over to the door of the bathroom, which I hadn't entered when I tried to wash my face.

Leaving Aria to stand up, I grasped the handle, but...the door didn't open.

This doesn't feel as if the lock was broken.　It was stuck together as if it had been glued.

Looking through the window---the faucet of the sink, ventilation fan, electrical socket---in other words, the holes inside the room were blocked with some transparent silicon-like substance.

--I see. 1 cubic meter. That's how it is.

That sealed washroom--was completely filled with that vapor explosive, '''Bubble Explosion'''

If I pushed my face in to look closer, inside the window, stuck against a corner, was something I thought to be the detonator, an extremely miniature piece of C4. If this is detonated wirelessly, breaking the window--if the airseal was broken...

''Kaboom''--right?

(While it's a shame...this can't be disarmed.)

Turning my head and looking down at my feet, Aria was...''Drip, Drip''...

Like a girl who had been subjected to horrible things by some horrible man, she was sprawled on the floor, sobbing.

"...Papa, Mama, God, forgive me...this is...just my slave running wild...I, didn't, a-al-allow any of this...!"

I knelt by Aria, who was muttering something I didn't understand to herself.

And, respectfully, I brushed off the wires that were still clinging to her quivering shoulders and back.

"--Ki-Kinji!"

''Thump!''

Jumping upwards into a sitting position, Aria grabbed hold of my collar.

"I-I won't forgive you! For just now...For ju-just now, I won't forgive you! Ta-take respo--"

I lightly reached out towards Aria, who was shouting with teary eyes--

"Mm, it's fine if you don't forgive me."

Gently, I straightened those disordered twin-tails.

"Because, next time, I will do it with your consent. It's a promise."

"That's right! Things that I don't allow are--wait, hu-huh, t-th-that's not it! That isn't a matter of me allowing it or not...!"

Towards Aria, who had been completely drawn in by me in a mere 5 seconds, towards her cheek, I stretched out my right hand.

From those small, dainty cheek, touching it yet not touching it--I was at that distance. At a distance where, merely the heat of my hand was transmitted to her cheek.

Aria, releasing an ''Uu'', trembled as if it tingled.

"Look. As long as I don't earn your consent--I cannot even touch you with one finger. Do you understand? Aria's words have that much power. Something that be transmitted only to me--a magical power."

"Ma-magic? Wh-wh-what are you saying?"

"On the other hand, if you tell me 'to do'--then, I will do anything for you, no matter what it may be. That too is a magic that only Aria can use. Think about what you can use it to make me do."

"???......。......。......! ! ! !!!"

First was confusion, and then, for a moment, she seemed to be trying to think about it, and from then on, suddenly starting to panic, Aria--

''WaveWaveWaveWaveWave! WaveWaveWaveWaveWave!''

Haha. I wonder what she was thinking about. Speechless, she started waving her hands back and forth.

"I await my orders. As for receiving your orders, I have prepared for it--to fight, to arrest Koko. To save the hundreds of passengers that are aboard this train--those orders."

---''Ha''--

I understood that Aria had regained control of herself.

"You...changed, didn't you."

"That is all that has happened. If I had not changed, it would have been disrespectful towards you."

Hey, hey, me.

Hysteria Mode's trigger--arousal--don't say anything that might be a hint.

Well, the child, Aria's eyes were going, "???", so it seems like it's fine.

If Sherlock Holmes the First's power of deduction had been passed down to this child, then what I had said just now would have been rather dangerous.

"I...I'm not going to give you an order."

Aria stood up and she turned away from me, towards the opened door in the roof--

She looked up at the night sky, visible beyond it, traveling at 190 km/h.

"Butei Charter article 6. Reflect by yourself, act by yourself--a slave that only listens to people's orders...is not needed. The you as of now may say these kinds of strange things, but you are a Butei that can aid me as a partner."

Partner.

When those of the bloodline of Holmes fight together with their partner, their real power is released.

In short, with this, she is equipped. Aria, with the me in Hysteria Mode.

Koko. The us from now on will be strong.

"Also, you--normally don't listen to me. So, I won't give you something like an order."

--''Feh'' In response to Aria, who had turned back, sticking her tongue out at me, I laughed wryly.

Entering Car 15, there was Shirayuki, bringing a doctor to the pregnant lady.

It seemed that the woman was about to give birth, pressing down on her stomach and having broken into a cold sweat...but, the rather old female doctor started providing medical care with a calm, professional air.

This was--pretty lucky, that this kind of doctor was on board.

"Kinji! There aren't any other Butei!"

"The nine on Cars 15 and 16 are all that we have, Tohyama-kun."

Raising my head to that voice, Mutou and Shiranui were zig-zagging through the crowd of people, returning.

The two people, having elbowed their way through the 400 meter round trip on the train, were a little out of breath.

"We didn't find the bomb." "We managed to report to the police, but..." "We didn't manage to find the offender either."

From behind the two, Takane, Hayakawa, Anesaki--the me in Hysteria Mode could remember girls' names with ease--the three girls who had been having bad delusions about Shiranui and me came back as well.

"We already searched everywhere. It's time to enter battle."

I put my hand on Shirayuki's back, gesturing at Shiranui, Mutou and the Connect girls.

Using the space between Cars 15 and 16 as our meeting room, I--

First, because I told them about the vapor explosive that was planted in the washroom at the front of Car 16, the fight with the offender and how she had escaped to the roof, and how the enemy's power was extremely high,

"We are the only ones aboard this train that are armed.　To prepare for the enemy coming from anywhere, Takane, Hayakawa, Anesaki, you three will be spread throughout Cars 1, 4, and 5 and Cars 11, and 12, Shirayuki, please protect this location. Shiranui's--anti-terrorist training is very valuable. I want you to take charge of the middle, Cars 7, and 8."

Swiftly, I told them how each member would be assigned.

"Also, while you're waiting, can the people with Takane please contact Butei High, the Metropolitan Police, as well as the Railroad Public Safety Branch, to figure out how to disarm the bomb."

"--Kinji. What do I do?"

Not having been told a position, Muto asked me that question.

"The Shinkansen's driver is already in shock. Muto, please drive in place of her. 10 km/h acceleration every 3 minutes...requires fine handling but, can you do it?"

"Definitely. If it's Logi, a first year can do it."

"The bomb is right behind the driver's seat. There's nowhere to run."

I said that, as if testing his resolve,

"Will ''you'' be able to run?"

Muto showed me his white teeth, responding with a broad smile.

Somehow, it seems it'll be alright.

"--Aria, let's go. Let's arrest Koko for infractions of the armaments law and suspicion of imprisonment. We should teach that kid that it's the time for children to go home."

Flexing my fingers and looking at the watch--I saw that it was 18:22.

Until Tokyo, we have one hour. From now on, we are forced to be at a speed where safe-driving is impossible.

In surprise, Aria was looking up at me, who was displaying such leadership in the midst of emergency, but...when our eyes met, she let loose a small, "Ah," averting them,

"Ye-yeah...!"

Taking a tone as if she was my little sister, she nodded at me obediently.

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume7_Chapter1|1st Ammo: Case E8]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan_no_Aria:Volume7_Chapter3|3rd Ammo: The Third Quadra]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Hidan no Aria:Volume7 Chapter1

2011-06-10T18:06:49Z

Remotemine: /* 1st Ammo: Case E8 */ Links, spacing

==1st Ammo: Case E8==

Reki.

Always expressionless, unfeeling and taciturn Reki.

Protecting me on orders from the "wind", the Reki who, armed with only a single sniper rifle, bravely took on the Ten Thousand Skill Warrior Koko.

Under the starlight, that Reki was sprawled on the roadway.

"This wound.....It's not a gunshot wound."

Said Shirayuki's younger sister, Kazayuki, who was kneeling on one knee at Reki's side.

The astonishment at her previously abrupt and hard to believe exclamation about Reki's bloodline still remained. However, now is not the time to be speaking about family lineages.

Medical aid for Reki has to be quickly administered.

"Reki was wounded by some sort of light that I don't really understand; some kind of invisible bomb. She bled considerably before you arrived. Shirayuki, your....healing art or something; can't you use it?!"

Clinging onto my words, I shook Shirayuki by the neck, trying to get rescue to come.

"Ordinarily, I would be up to the task......but right now, my powers are unstable."

"Unstable....?"

Kazayuki explained to me with my furrowed eyebrows,

"Lately, in Japan...no, throughout the whole world, there has been a weakening of supernatural abilities. The reason for this drop in success rate is unknown. Among the Hotogi, the ability to heal wounds has been especially limited. In the event of failure, it could kill the person."

I weakened at her words....

Somehow or other, simply having Shirayuki's magic turn the game for the better would not be the case.

Then how can I.....

As I agitatedly paced around, Shirayuki took Reki's temperature.

"Terrible. Her body temperature has plummeted to extremely low levels. If we don't get her to a hospital fast...."

From behind, Shirayuki and her sisters boarded a convertible, a Himiko, a solid sedan of Mitsuoka Automobile and a Kushinada that came along with it.

Shirayuki and her sisters used this bulletproof car for retreat in accordance with the battle situation.

Just perfect. These guys can transport Reki.

However....

"Don't go to a hospital. Our enemy from just now, Koko, was using a sniper rifle."

Right now, there is no sniper here.

If the hospital in the city came under attack from a sniper rifle, we won't be able to do anything.

Urban areas with plenty of buildings are where a sniper holds the most advantage.

"In that case, we'll take Reki-sama to a branch shrine of the Hotogi. We'll call a doctor there."

Kazayuki grudgingly soaked her miko garb in blood carrying Reki.

Carrying Reki in the back seat of the Kushinada, I supported her, together with my neighboring passenger. With our cell phones destroyed, Shirayuki got into the co-driver's seat and called Butei High.

With the engine primed forward, Kazayuki settled down on a passenger seat with a sharp expression. Right now, her wakyuu was in her hands in preparation for a pursuit with Koko.

The driver opposite and the driver here; both of them dazzling beauties started their vehicles to maintain a lookout over the river bank, heading down the mountain road.

"Kin-chan, it's connected. The Masters' night duty room. It's Nangou sensei."

I accepted the white cell phone from Shirayuki, and explained the situation to Nangou-sensei of Snipe; how during Caravan I, we came under sniper attack on the outskirts of Kyouto, the battle near Mt Hiei, Reki's wounding and the assailant being a Hong Kong exchange student named Koko. The silent Nangou listened to my words, all the while not saying anything.

"That's Case E8, Tohyama. The Masters cannot act."

A low voice at the end was the reply.

Case E8.

That was cipher code for "possibility of perpetrators within being high and as such, this common knowledge cannot be leaked out. Make contact with trusted individuals as active partners; resolve issue by the hand of concerned parties."

Nangou's decision was....right. The perpetrator infiltrated under the disguise of an exchange student from Hong Kong.

If the situation became common knowledge amongst the entirety of the student body, the enemy could obtain information.

Thus, Butei Article Chapter 4:

Butei must be independent.

Upon reaching their 2nd or 3rd year in Butei High, it is a general rule that they defeat their enemies on their own.

Those who receive aid from the Masters are interns or inexperienced first years. As it was not like I joined only recently, I somewhat understood Butei High's education policy. I understood....Nangou's callousness. Although, the one who's been attacked is your student, can't you be more worried?

"If unarmed civilians get involved, contact me again Tohyama."

.....It would be too late if that happens.

Muttering in the depths of my heart, I made my salutations and cut the connection with Nangou.

Two vehicles sped down the mountain from the national highway 367 towards highways 105 and 106. During a stop at an intersection, Kazayuki nocked an arrow and briefly raising her bow, surveyed the bank. Casting a sidelong glance, I called Riko from Shirayuki's phone.

(Koko's modus operandi resembles Riko's in some parts.)

Vocaloid warnings, submachine gun mounted radio controlled devices. Conversely, Riko's close combat technique in the confrontation with Haimaki at Butei High had the feeling of Kungfu.

Perhaps she may have some kind of connection with Koko. However, my call could not connect. Riko was out of range. Yesterday at Osaka, I encountered by chance Riko and Aria who were speaking of working together. When I tried to make a call, Aria was out of range.

In the midst of such a serious affair, where are those two? They aren't near at all.

(......Koko....)

Unable to do anything, I again considered from where our enemy may target us.

Just who is she?

A superhuman capable of combining hand to hand combat skills rivaling mine in Hysteria Mode, handgun skills that can evenly match Aria's and sniper skills equal to that of Reki......The face of E.U? I wouldn't happen to know.

With that being the case, I called Jeanne who, just like Riko, had her roots in I.U. It took six calls to get a response from Jeanne, who was sleeping in the middle of the night.

"Hotogi? What's the matter?"

A clear voice emitted from the phone.

"No, it's me. Tohyama Kinji. I'm calling from Shirayuki's phone."

"......? It....It's the middle of the night. Why are you using Shirayuki's phone?"

Ignoring the suspicion in her voice, I urgently explained the situation.

"Jeanne, is there a sniper of Reki's skill within E.U? A monster with hand to hand combat and handgun skills. Her name is Koko," I asked.

"Sniper.....Koko? None. Except for Sherlock, a sniper with the skill to exchange shots evenly with Reki does not exist in I.U. There are people like Patra who use sniper rifles but they are of modest skill."

Then Koko....is not a remnant of I.U.

With my face sheer white, I recounted the words Reki had spoken.

"The enemies from here onwards cannot be beaten through a simple contest of force."

The enemies from here on.

(Reki...)

Losing my desire to sleep, I held Reki and clenched my teeth in frustration.

You, we..... How can fighting be even possible now?

Reki......!

Within the powerful Hotogi shrine, the organization is divided into the main shrine and branch offices.

The branch office also doubles as a branch shrine. There was a large branch shrine of the Hotogi shrine in Kyoto. Around the time we arrived there, a warm rain had begun to fall from the lightening sky.

On the wet asphalt scented road, megumi miko stood on alert. These were young miko who served full Hotogi miko like Shirayuki and Kazayuki. The megumi miko carried Reki away on a stretcher and led me, Shirayuki and Jeanne who had rushed over in a taxi to the shrine.

Ascending a flight of meticulously swept stone steps.....

"Tohyama, this place is just like a city. Reki will be safely protected here," Jeanne said as she calmly surveyed the surroundings.

"Ah. Upon arrival I felt that the Hotogi's head and branch shrines were slightly different from normal shrines. It looks like a shrine yet its construction also resembles a fortress."

Below was a garage. We saw the two vehicles being used some moments ago entering there.

Not only cars but Kawasaki Heavy Industries OH-1 Ninja reconnaissance helicopters were housed there.

--The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honden honden] of the Kyoto branch of the Hotogi shrine was situated at the top of a hill overgrown with Japanese cedar.

Where snipers are concerned, they would be unable to take up position beneath the slope and fire into the interior of the shrine.

Additionally, with the exception of the entrance [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torii torii], samurai estates ringed with walls of mortar guarded the entire approach.

Beneath the torii, Kazayuki, who had arrived earlier, stood sentinel in formal red armor and her [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%92%8C%E5%BC%93 wakyuu] in hand. Koko wouldn't succeed if she were to blindly pursue us here.

"This way Kin-chan," Shirayuki said as she led us under the torii to a first-aid mansion resembling Kazayuki's clinic.

Summoned nurses and a female doctor immediately crowded one of the rooms where Reki was brought into. Medical equipment and medicines filled the area around them.

"Oh...oh.....you took a hit there....."

The young female doctor fixing her rimless glasses who greeted Reki was brandishing a handgun. It seems like Hotogi summoned a professional from the Medic DA. Medic Butei are like medic troopers in the army: key personnel who give emergency treatment to wounded Butei. In Butei High, it's the Medica who train these Butei.

"Blood cell count, blood type determination - cross match, biochemistry check – ASAP, begin blood transfusion."

Immediately, the nurses monitoring Reki's condition hurried to carry out the doctor's instructions.

"Boy, while we work here, you go take a rest. Your face looks like a corpse," the doctor said as she cast a sidelong glance at me.

"I can't help at all? Reki; she..." With that, I, who could not take my eyes off Reki calmly walked towards Shirayuki.

"It's okay, Kin-chan. This is a doctor under contract with Hotogi. She's the number one doctor in Kyoto. Wait. Tell me what's wrong."

"Listen Shirayuki..."

Certainly, it was frightening getting used to the methods of the doctor currently treating Reki. Almost assuredly, under normal conditions wounded Butei would have been first examined.

(Reki....)

Last night, all I could do was administer first-aid on Reki. It goes without saying that Shirayuki would allow only professionals to administer full blown medical care.

The nurses' assistant.

"I'll assist. It isn't advanced grade aid but I possess Pan-European Aegis Assistant qualifications," Jeanne said as she skillfully donned a surgical apron and nurse's cap.

This isn't my place at all.

Thinking about that, why does it feel as if a thread of mental strain is about to be cut?

(.......Uu.......)

My vision faded with a great tremor.

"Kin-chan!?"

"Tohyama!?"

Shirayuki and Jeanne's voices desperately called from far off in the distance.

What happened to me.....?

The floor that I had been standing on earlier...

Appeared before my eyes...?

What's that.....sound that I'm hearing?

This is the sound of the wind.

The sound of a dry wind blowing out from the surroundings.

I found myself in the middle of a vast steppe with mountain ranges visible in the distance.

This is probably......a dream.

A dream in which you are self-aware. A lucid dream.

In this arid steppe, several horses could be seen.

<nowiki>Girls dressed in vividly colored traditional garb rode on those horses.</nowiki>

<nowiki>With severe expressions, they carried old, Russian-made sniper rifles on their backs. </nowiki>

<nowiki>At their head, was a girl with hair ornaments more exquisite than the others. </nowiki>

She approached on noticing my gaze.

That face.....

(Reki....?)

".........Reki........"

.........

.........I awoke.

There was no wind but the sound of rain. This is......yes....The Hotogi branch shrine in Kyoto.

After the wounded Reki had been treated by the doctors, I had collapsed from exhaustion. Sitting upright in the futon, I looked around my surroundings. I understood how I had come to be lying down in this large Japanese-style room. Beneath the hanging scrolls, I saw an old clock. It was close to noon.

(Reki....How is she?)

Before I knew it, I had changed out of my glossed silk night clothes into the neatly folded and washed uniform arranged by my bedside, opened the paper sliding door and headed outside. In the nightingale floored corridor, Shirayuki, in her miko garb and with sword in hand, knelt quietly. She was acting as my escort. For some reason, her face wore an expression of suspense as she glanced towards the direction of the torii. Looking over her shoulder, she finally became aware of my presence.

"Kin-chan!"

Pyon! Shirayuki flew from a kneeling posture to standing.

Tayun!

"......."

Shi-Shirayuki....as a result of that excessively vigorous jump, that overly massive chest was late by a single beat in swaying. Right now...suddenly right after I woke, a wonderful sight greeted my eyes.

As usual, they were of a size far beyond that of a high school student. 1.5 times that of Riko's, 3 times that of Reki's, 6 times that of Aria's. As I was still mainly stunned however, in terms of Hysteria level, I was fine. As I thought that, Shirayuki stroked me while making sure that I was alright. With teary eyes she gently caressed my arms and head.

"Kin-chan, Kin-chan, I think my heart nearly stopped because of your sudden collapse......!"

"Ah, aahhh. I'm fine, thank you. I was just a little tired, that's why. That aside, how's Reki?"

Shirayuki delicately brushed aside my question.

"Reki-san survived. However, we definitely cannot relax yet. She still hasn't regained consciousness. If she had over-exerted herself any more than this, her life would really be in danger."

"I see...."

"Kin-chan too....do not over exert yourself. Rest in your futon. The danger from the side of the torii seems minor for now."

Said Shirayuki, facing the torii in a manner protective of me.

"Torii....?"

"Un....it can't be seen very well from here........for some time now, it seems some kind of animal is in the area."

Shirayuki said as she looked over her shoulder in the direction of the torii. Amidst the drizzle, Kazayuki held her wakyuu in one hand like a staff, shooing in a bid to drive away something.

.....grrr......

"!"

Barefooted as I am, I leapt at the growl coming from the direction of the stone steps.

Amidst the rain, kicking up gravel as I ran through the compound with Shirayuki's and Kazayuki's restraining voices at my back, I leapt from the torii.....

".....Haimaki!"

The torn and ragged silver wolf lay on the edge of the stone steps.

The rain beaten Haimaki was visibly marked with horrific wounds. Bitten by Koko's hunting dogs and rent by claws, that snow white coat now resembled a shredded rag stained with blood and mud.

"Haimaki......you.....!"

Stumbling as I ran down the stairs, I embraced Haimaki.

During the sniper battle the night before, Haimaki had acted as a decoy so that Reki and I might escape.

One single animal taking on some ten hunting dogs.

Against such overwhelming numerical superiority that survival seemed impossible, Haimaki had returned alive.

After driving off the hunting dogs, Haimaki had tracked us first by the scent of Reki's blood, and from the point where that became disrupted, by the scent of the car's tires until he had discovered this place.

"Thank goodness, Haimaki. Reki still lives thanks to you.....!"

I said, as I patted his back.

Relieved, Haimaki lowered his throat and grunted.

Haimaki, who had been taken to the medical station firmly refused to move from the bedside of the sleeping, bandage-covered Reki.

With no other choice, the doctors and nurses began Haimaki's treatment at that spot.

With the first stage of that treatment completed, the medical staff accordingly kept watch on me all the way throughout.

"Kin-chan....are you hungry? I am going to prepare some food."

On hearing Shirayuki, who had worn a frilly apron over her miko garments mention that, I became thoroughly aware of my empty stomach.

Come to think of it, I did not get to eat the half box of Calorie Mate last night.

Following Shirayuki, I, who had collapsed from this reason, met up with Jeanne, who was strolling around with a deep interest in the shrine's interior. The three of us headed towards the kitchen hall which resembled a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryoutei ryoutei].

The Kyouto branch shrine of the Hotogi is colossal; a great number of buildings interconnected by passageways attached to rooftops. As we crossed over, the megumi miko who occasionally appeared would kneel at the end of the passageways and bow deeply as soon as they saw me.

What the heck.....it's just like a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimyo daimyo's] procession.

On that matter, the Hotogi is a shrine which is utterly forbidden to males. For some reason, the males of the Tohyama have special entrance rights. Because of this rule, males have been strangely accorded special treatment. It feels as if one is in foreign lands.

(Such self-humiliating behavior.....it's totally not necessary....)

Feeling vaguely irritated by that, we entered the kitchen hall. There, Jeanne and I prepared the small paulownia wood chairs we would use. Facing us was Shirayuki's seat.

I was probably the first male to sit on this seat. Because of the need to welcome Jeanne, a foreign guest, apron wearing megumi miko reverently set the table and brought in lacquered circular soup containers.

The menu consisted of flounder, turban shell, squid soumen sashimi, daggertooth pike conger, salted salmon roe sushi, tofu greater burdock rolls, [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%AC%E9%87%8E%E8%8F%9C kyouyasai] sauce, matsutake mushroom over a charcoal fire, rice with the colors of autumn, black bean.....

"I'm sorry Kin-chan. That is all I have......I think the nutritional value is perfect. Eat a lot and recover your health, okay?"

Is...is this all? The Hotogi sure are rich....I mean, this meal seems indiscriminately large for just me....

"Thank you Shirayuki, it's really a little too much. Even so, excuse me for not apologizing yet. Sorry for suddenly bringing in a wounded person."

"Uun....it's ok. You can rely on me any time when there is trouble."

Shirayuki nodded her head with a gentle look in her eyes and a smile. At that, I again felt distress for Reki and glanced in the direction of the medical station.

"Don't worry Tohyama. While I was assisting, I saw that that female doctor was skilled in her work. The treatment was adequate. With rest, Reki will surely regain consciousness." Said Jeanne, who sat down elegantly and crossed her arms before helping herself to the meal. From a side glance, I saw that she was using chopsticks perfectly. Rather than being unskillful, she was more skilled than a Japanese person. Beside me, Shirayuki was making additional checks to the food by hand. Finally, my own chopsticks were in her hands.

"But....why were Kin-chan and Reki-san targeted?"

"In the end, I have no idea."

"Where were you targeted? You were both targeted together? Eh? Together...together....? Errm....why are Kin-chan and Reki-san together...?"

"Ah....." I faltered.

This is hard to explain. I cannot skillfully convey it, unstable as Shirayuki is.

"Tohyama started living together with Reki from the start of this month."
Jeanne murmured an elaboration from my side. With a forceful sound, Shirayuki's chopsticks came to a halt.

"O...oi.....Jeanne...."

"It can't be helped. The Hotogi are now involved in this. Information must be shared."

I whispered into the ridiculously serious Jeanne's ear.

"Be careful with what you share. Watch how you handle Shirayuki. Don't say anything unnecessary."

"Anything unnecessary......? Hmm. Well then I'll just mention the main points. Tohyama and Reki acted together during the field trip and stayed together at the same inn. According to the female owner of the inn which came under sniper attack, both of them bathed together as well as slept together in the same futon. It was then that they came under attack. In short, those two continuously acted together; those two were attacked together. Is this ok ?"

"No it isn't!"

.....Damn you, Jeanne...

Jeanne, as might be expected from an Informa student, had last night sought out information from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryokan_%28Japanese_inn%29 ryokan] that was attacked by calling the proprietress. Damn it, she really got hold of that extraneous information all too quickly. I mean, she got part of the story wrong.

"......"

Quietly, Shirayuki looked in my direction.......

Some time ago, her posture had gone rigid, her chopsticks failing to pick up any of the black beans.

She wasn't blinking at all.

S-Scary!

"Jeanne, please be silent for a while. I'll do the explanation."

"Why? I believe I already recounted all the facts."

"The way you recount facts is exactly the problem!"

"Oh? Was it hard to understand? In that case, should I recount it by drawing instead?"

"N-No. Please no. Anything but that. But that's not the point. The way you tell the truth..."

"But the truth is the truth,"
[[File:Aria07 029.jpg|thumb]]
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Pishari!* Jeanne flatly responded, unable to read the mood of the conversation. *Gushari!* Came the sound of Shirayuki's chopsticks.

She had turned pale and was looking over her shoulder.

"The truth....the whole truth....the whole truth.....eh. Beaten there first huh.....by Reki. A,ha...a,ha....a. She was one of those who didn't stand out much so you were unprepared eh, Shirayuki? That's right. Unprepared....However, how were you still unable to notice that girl's ambush Shirayuki...un. Reki's a sniper, so she'll ambush. It was unfortunate for you Shirayuki....that's right."

T-Terrible.

Shirayuki has started to talk to herself in a broken voice. One person playing two personalities. Furthermore, why did she start suddenly addressing Reki without honorifics?

"H-Here Shirayuki. Come back to reality. I'm telling you, I was Reki's intern sniper. I was doing it for the purpose of inducing Lima Syndrome. It was a last resort...." For some reason, I felt utterly helpless while trying to explain.

"Excuse me," said a small voice as the interior sliding screen opened.

Sitting in the corridor with the same flowing black hair as her elder sister.....Kazayuki.

Excellent. Although it was unplanned, it was a nice assist, Kazayuki.

With that, Shirayuki's attention was diverted.

"Ka...Kazayuki. How's the situation outside?"

I asked with a stiff face, seizing upon the fleeting chance this conversation offered.

"Currently, there is nothing out of the ordinary here. At this moment, the watch at the torii is being carried out by the megumi miko."

The miko robes Kazayuki were wearing appeared brand new. It seems she had taken a bath. The faint scent of shampoo still lingered.

Apparently, Kazayuki had business with Shirayuki as she gave me a bow and proceeded to sit next to her sister, whispering something softly into her ear. Shirayuki, whose eyes had dimmed, turned to me with a sigh.

"......As I thought, Riri....I was certain wasn't I?"

Hearing this highly important news, Shirayuki completely regained her senses. Suddenly resting her chopsticks with a click before the expressionlessly bowing Kazayuki.....

"S...sorry Kin-chan. I have been disrespectful towards Reki-san. Thank you for the meal."

Leaving her half eaten meal, she hurriedly disappeared into the interior of the room.

In this uneasy atmosphere, we ended our meals prematurely and returned to the medical station. There, Reki was lying on a futon, watched over by the megumi miko. For some reason or another.....the behavior of the girls watching over Reki did not seem as if they were attending to a simple wounded person. It was more like they were tending to some distinguished and important person....

Shirayuki, who had earlier left the kitchen hall, was in the midst of the megumi miko. Together with Kazayuki, they all sat, gazing down on Reki with firm expressions which were figuratively speaking, like swords.

"......Kin-chan. An explanation now would be utterly necessary. I know you didn't want to hear the details about it... Forgive me."

"I didn't want to hear about it? What are you talking about?"

"The matter of Irokane."

........Irokane.

The subject of Sherlock Holmes's long years of research. It's usage could turn a normal human being into a powerful ability user. A fragment of the supernatural metal had been fired into Aria's body as a result.

"Last month, when Kin-chan was hospitalized, I heard from Aria what happened with I.U. That's why....Kin-chan also knows......The existence of Irokane."

Shirayuki looked up at me with a serious face.

I remained silent, giving a tiny nod.

"There are limits to how much I can say.....we Hotogi miko also know about Irokane."

That I know.

Sherlock had mentioned it aboard the I.U.

I.U are not the only ones to hold possession of Irokane.

Among that list of organizations and groups, was the Hotogi. Yet for all that, what was Reki's connection with Irokane?

"It may be difficult to understand but Irokane is a metal that is linked to a person's heart. Accordingly, it chooses a heart that is capable of connecting with it."

"I know that. Sherlock said awakening the HihiIrokane......the Hidan, lies with the person's character. If I remember correctly, childlike, prideful characters...."

"Un. However, that is the case for HihiIrokane (Scarlet Irokane)....There are several kinds of other Irokane. One of them is..... RiriIrokane (Azure Irokane)."

.....What.....?

"RiriIrokane....? Is that what Reki possesses?"

"No. Some time ago, despite it being disrespectful, I conducted an inspection of her body and found that that is not the case."

Kazayuki turned her head to the side.

"It's likely that Reki-sama spent a long time in close proximity to RiriIrokane at her birthplace. The RiriIrokane linked with her heart and as it were, she became an existence similar to the miko of that place."

Reki....was in the presence of Irokane.....? What does that mean?

While I was furrowing my eyebrows at this, Kazayuki drew a small scroll from a paulownia box at her side. With a rustle, characters resembling kanji were drawn on the laid out scroll.

"This is the Hotogi Shiseibun. It is the historical record that has been handed down within the Hotogi Shrine. Here, is the description of the RiriIrokane. 'RiriIrokane, when used in a state of calm, nullifies other powers. It hates human hearts, and threatens the Ulus that human hearts bring calamity. The princesses of the Ulus which revere the RiriIrokane have, for generations, sealed their own hearts, their hearts being offerings to the RiriIrokane.'"

"....Ulus...."

Despite not knowing its meaning in its entirety, that word sounded familiar.

Reki had said it on the night we came under sniper assault.

("In that case, Kinji-san can become a part of the Ulus.")

Certainly, that seems like a word used to refer to a family group.

"As I thought. Ulus." Jeanne said while folding her arms.

"......You know what's with that girl, don't you?"

Shirayuki's habitually downcast eyes were slightly lifted, gazing at Jeanne.

"Tohyama requested that I investigate Reki. From the start, I knew some things about her even if I had no positive proof. As a holder of Irokane, the Ulus had ties to I.U...." Jeanne said, blinking her blue eyes below her silver hair.

"The acoustics analysis done by Nakasorachi of Connect had narrowed down Reki's birthplace to several places. One of those areas was that occupied by the Ulus clan."

Ulus tribe.....?

"Where is that tribe from? I've never heard of it."

Hearing my doubtful words, Jeanne gave a small nod of her head.

"That is certainly the case. The Ulus tribe is near the borders of Russia and Mongolia, on the plateau south of Lake Baikal where a few tribes of peoples live in seclusion. Despite that however, their ancestor is someone Tohyama must have heard of before."

Jeanne's eyes fell upon Reki as she continued.

"Conquering Asia with a bow and arrow, the Mongol king Chingiz Khan. The Ulus strongly inherited their ancestor's methods of warfare. Certainly, that's the case with their descendents as well."

Kazayuki said the same thing during Reki's rescue. I couldn't see anything particular in Reki's behavior to refute this. Don't...tell me.....this is seriously true?

"Before, the Ulus, afraid of being outstripped in their mastery of the bow and rifle, were mercenaries. However, their numbers have gradually declined.....5 years ago....well ....I'll have to be frank here. When Sherlock visited the Ulus to open negotiations concerning the Irokane, there were only 47 surviving members of the tribe. Furthermore, they were all female."

Upon hearing that, Reki's words replayed themselves in my mind.

("We, the 47 daughters of the Ulus.") 

That means there are no more than 47 people comprising the Ulus tribe. That is why Reki had no surname. No....more like it wasn't necessary, being amongst a people that was only 47 strong and on the verge of extinction.

"The Ulus are an insular tribe, that's why. There's a rampant genetic flaw in their veins that may cause only females to be born to them."

Reki had said before she lost consciousness,

("I've been ordered to find a strong male to be inducted into the Ulus.")

Perhaps this may have been the reason for it.

Even so.....

"But.....wait a minute."

I gave voice to the sense of unease at Kazayuki's and Jeanne's words that I had been feeling since the start.

"Yes?"

"Suddenly speaking about this strange tribe that Reki belongs to, it doesn't make sense. Doesn't Reki look like a Japanese person? Be it eyes or skin colour. Although I never properly asked her about it, she must've dyed her hair."

I regarded the hair above the bandaged brow of the sleeping Reki that the megumi miko were washing. It's often the case that a Butei, who is basically a lone wolf ready to form a team with a random ally at any point, would dye thier hair in specific colors so their peers can distinguish their specialty at a glance. In this case, it is customary for a sniper to dye their hair in "Simo Hayha," a blue-tone color.

"The circumstances may be a bit different, it's similar to how Aria's hair has turned red. It seems Reki's hair has been affected by long years of exposure to RiriIrokane. And as for her appearance of a Japanese person, that's because she has Japanese blood."

Shirayuki responded for Jeanne while looking sideways at me.

"Japanese blood....?"

"Chingiz Khan was in fact [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_no_Yoshitsune Minamoto no Yoshitsune], a rank 9 general (Kurou Hougan) who crossed over into the continent from Japan roughly a thousand years ago. In the Mongol Empire at that time, his name was read as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan Genghis Khan]. It later became Chingiz Khan."

....Oi, oi.....

"I've heard of this before. Isn't this story a fake?"

"It was made to look like a fake story. After the truth was revealed in the Edo Period, the Hotogi requested historians to..."

"The Hotogi?"

"Un. At that time, the Hotogi shrine aided in Yoshitsune's crossing to the continent; a boat left in secret from Tsugaru."

Shirayuki absentmindedly fiddled with her left and right index fingers, keeping them in front of her chest while pointing them towards each other, fingertips touching. As she did so, her eyes were turned upwards. A major event in history occurs and she's acting like a child whose prank has been exposed. Well, such disjointedness is only typical of Shirayuki....

"The Hotogi shrine of that era was embroiled in complicated politics. Ever since the Yoshitsune formally established a state in the continent, there has been a flurry of back and forth intelligence on the Irokane. The name '''Reki''' is one of the names they traditionally use for pure blooded princesses there."

Kazayuki pointed out the kanji for '''Reki''' on the scroll she took out just now.

"It seems that Kazayuki is knowledgeable even regarding the names of princesses overseas."

"Kazayuki is the miko in charge of foreign diplomacy with churches and temples overseas. I'm a specialist in the internal administration of the shrines within the country..... That's why Reki's name never rang a bell to me that she's related to the Ulus."

In regret for not noticing this earlier, Shirayuki hung her head in shame.

"Don't take it so hard, Shirayuki. No one could have imagined that Reki is a princess from a foreign country, or a descendent of the Genji. I for one, find this extremely hard to swallow."

Despite that having been said, Reki's normal behavior would have befitted that of a warrior. Cradling her sniper rifle, habitually sleeping in a seated posture, she was every inch the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai samurai]. Truly, she was the descendent of the samurai.

Outside the porch of the medical station, the rain had improved and the sunrays were returning. In the nadeshiko[http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fja.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F%25E6%2592%25AB%25E5%25AD%2590&act=url][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianthus_superbus] covered courtyard, Hotogi swallowtail butterflies that had sought shelter from the rain under the leaves now fluttered around. There was a hint of calm under the noisy atmosphere. I took a metal brush and tools from a lone megumi miko and sat on the porch......maintaining the sniper rifle of the sleeping Reki in the room behind me. Removing the magazine, I placed a Butei bullet; equal to six shots of a normal one, in the pocket of Reki's uniform. This round was left over from that long battle. After all that, we ran out of ammo not while using handguns but as snipers.

Like the top of an enormous piece of brown seaweed, Reki diligently scoured her room, singling out a bullet and copying it CG-like in uniformity, each one glittering in flawlessness, just like gemstones.

"It's beautiful. Japan's witches using magic which make the papillon their familiars."

Looking up at that voice, I saw Jeanne coming to the porch.

"Tohyama, it may not be very helpful but in a short while I'm leaving [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto Kyoto]. I'm having a preparatory meeting with Kanzaki Kanae's lawyer before the trial."

Looking at her wrist watch, Jeanne said apologetically.

....Trial.

Aria's mother, Kanzaki Kanae, who was burdened by the false accusations laid on her by I.U is soon to be retried in court. Now is the period for preparing the legal documents. Kanae-san's lawyer is scheduled to interview Vlad, who's currently under custody at a Level 5 detention facility in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagano Nagano], after which she's scheduled to meet with Jeanne who would be a witness in court.

"Tohyama, there is a word that all of you used during your conversations just now that I don't understand. Genji. What is that?"

"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_clan Genji]....well....they all no longer exist now. They were one of the famous samurai houses acting as regents in Japan around a thousand years back." I said while cleaning the Dragunov despite my knowledge of Japanese history being not very good.

"The Ulus had their roots in the samurai."

Jeanne turned behind and gave Reki a look, her face looking as if she thought of something.

"Tohyama, about you being forced into marriage by Reki last month..."

".....Aa."

"According to samurai tradition, the female is officially the property of the male."

On hearing this, I recalled Reki's actions and words. Calling herself my possession and listening to everything I say.....The decree of Reki's marriage contract; that was a strange form of male domination over a female.

On that subject,

"During Chingiz Khan's time....there was a similar practice in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire Mongol Empire]. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol Mongol] customs of the time declared that females were 'treasures.' Just like silver or gold, they were taken amidst the plunder."

"Plunder..."

"Females were abducted and made their own wives; literally a custom of 'pillage wives.' One of the traces of that custom that can be found in the present day Mongolia is that on the eve of a marriage ceremony, the female is mock abducted."

".....That, that's....."

I slightly tugged my cheeks as Jeanne gave a small nod.

"Now you realize it. That's exactly what Reki did to you, Tohyama."

"Oi...oi.... But Reki's a girl. Boys and girls are total opposites."

"After a long time, male and female cultures become one. That transformation is not uncommon. For example, in Europe in the former half of the 19th century, it would have been unthinkable for a lady to wear this wristwatch," pointing at my wristwatch, Jeanne continued.

"Particularly, the Ulus tribe is comprised of nothing more than a few females. It is little wonder they passed down the tradition of abducting superior members of the opposite sex to save their genetic lineage."

So that....explains it.

"Reki's nature is unique. She's practically a modern, living samurai of a sort," Jeanne, who herself carried the same warrior character, said. With a look that seemed to be telling me something, Jeanne sat herself beneath my gaze.

"Finally, one more thing....yesterday, when you were being pursued, did Reki do anything extreme to an extent?"

"Extreme to an extent?"

"For example, try to shoot herself with her own gun."

At this, I looked upwards.

"I...understand. Yes. Reki was wounded. While we were being pursued, she would have blown herself up with the DAL. She would have left herself behind since she didn't have the strength to escape on her own."

"As expected of her."

So saying, Jeanne shifted her focus onto the bullet I had laid out on the cloth.

"The Ulus have the same practice as the samurai's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hara_kiri hara-kiri]. "The last bullet".....The remaining bullet would be fired if survival seemed impossible in the face of pursuit, or if she was encumbering her master. That bullet would be used to end herself."

"........"

"Samurai would use a tantou to slice their bellies open; the Ulus would shoot themselves. They would die an honorable sacrifice for their masters."

As Jeanne said this, I looked back at Reki.

"Like a single bullet that has been fired, those girls lived solely for their aims. And so, this is carried over into battle. The last bullet....would be use to close the chapter of their lives. Sacrificing themselves by their blades, the samurai of old were the same. Tohyama, this is the girl that Reki is. Be careful of that."

Leaving me with those words, Jeanne left the porch and headed down the corridor to await the Hotogi’s chauffer. Left alone at the porch, I cradled the Dragunov…..Reki at my back.

(Reki…)

I am a descendent of the Tohyama bloodline. After a fashion, I am still a samurai. Yet the last bullet? Never.

“Reki….”

I held one of the bullets from the sniper rifle and spoke to the sleeping Reki behind me.

…..I am a single bullet……

Always, Reki said these words.

“You are not a bullet.”

As a single bullet, she would have lived purely for her goal….by a bullet, she would have died.

That’s just too much.

“You are human.”

I stated this obvious fact through gritted teeth to the sleeping Reki.

At this moment, you, who are clearly without ego, are truly a girl who is like a child.

Reki. Somewhere, you were brainwashed by the “wind”, made to exist solely for your goal, prevented from thinking for yourself and frozen in the time when you were a child. And so, you lived your life like an unfeeling bullet; like a robot.

And yet…..Reki.

At your very core, some hint of humanity still exists. That night when you were beaten in that sniper battle; that final smile you gave me….you looked just like a human girl. It was a lovely, honest smile.

“You are….not very good in understanding this that’s why I will not say that you would immediately become a person filled with normal feelings. But…..please, don’t ever call yourself a bullet again.”

At any rate, she could not possibly hear it; Reki was comatose. However, I continued to speak over my back. That was an irrepressible thing that I had to say.

“Reki, as Reki...as a human being, become even happier. You should find happiness. Right now, the happiness as a human that has been forbidden to you; you must take it back. You must live your own life.”

Speaking about those two happy days you spent with me it was, to me, more fun that I imagined. That ramen speed eating battle in the fort, feeding Haimaki fish sausage feed, and what about at Chaton Call? Besides participating in the cat herding competition in Osaka, there were many other things. Perhaps only all those things that the “wind” didn’t order you to do……weren’t they giving you the happiness of being human? I don’t know for sure, but for some reason, I have the feeling of that being so.

“That is why, if you wish it so, those things...no matter how small, I will always accompany you throughout.”

Girls are troublesome. If I can help it, I would be with them for as little as possible.

But Reki…you….

You….appreciate me. Even without that damnable Hysteria Mode.

Well…..you overvalue me I think. To me, that is quite significant.

…….I am a single bullet…..

Reki.

….A bullet has no heart. Therefore, it does not think…..

Please, stop being like that.

I don’t know how great your “wind” lord is, but true greatness is a person who can live, choosing his own paths. You who gave everything up to the “wind” may find living and thinking for yourself difficult.

……it just simply flies towards its target….

But please, stop being like that. Because,

“You are not a bullet.”

-you are human.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume6_Epilogue|Epilogue - Go for the Next!! Reki]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume7_Chapter2|2nd Ammo: HURRY UP]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Talk:Hidan no Aria Archived

2011-06-05T06:58:05Z

Remotemine: /* quick question */

==Translator==
Are the ones who is translating vol 1-5 and vol6 a diffferent person? Because, when the translation hit the end of vol 5, it drastically slowed down. Or the translators are taking a brea at the moment?
== Translation ==
Hey I've been editing lately. I've found Kinji's last name spelled Tohyama and Tooyama, we should keep his name uniform at least. I'm gonna change them all to Tohyama, Tooyama is awkward for me for some reason. -blackfaia

nice novel, with a monthly manga and a coming anime

I wanted to compliment the translators on the speed and quality of their translation. You guys are dropping these volumes one by one, thank for your hard work.

WHERE ARE THE TRANSLATORS XD WHY WON'T THEY REPLY! WHY WONT THEY LET ME TRANSLATE >_<!!!
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 08:40, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Why not just continue translating until they reply?

start translating from ch 3 so you are sure you won't translate the same thing^^

Mr. Seoulfighter, please lend us your godly powers and translate this LN, thank you very much ~Ghost

Fine I'll start picking this up soon since I've received no contact from the other translators, and realized it's never been updated. but right now I have to find a job to help pay for college -.-... my dad wasted my tuition on my stepmother... WASTED 35,000$ on her jewelry and clothes(tears)!
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 02:43, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

:That's sad. Sometimes I wonder how parents can be this cruel and selfish... --[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 20:31, 6 July 2010 (UTC)
::If this happened to me, I'd give those parents of mine a MASSIVE chewing out. I mean seriously, WTF? Well, good luck to you though Seoulfighter.

you have my sympathy Seoulfighter-san. Your tuition fee must be the top priority because it is the job of the parents to make sure their children graduate from school... Thanks again ~ Ghost

don't worry abouts TL and think about yourself, Real Life has top priority^^(even if this will make us a little sad)

I got contacted by the original translator, and Undying told me that his hard drive got wiped so he won't be working on this project. I guess for now, while I wait for a reply from the places I applied to I'll do some translating.

As for my parents if I tried to chew them out my dad would start a Socratic Seminar about how my line of logic is flawed and his is correct this lasts for 3 HOURS and can go up to 6 if I argue... my mom is poor, and my dad sold my car(My dad had 3 cars one of which he had originally planned on giving to me.) and gave that money to my sister.
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 18:52, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

:Your mom is poor? Step-mom or real mom?

::My Real mom who has a job... and my step-mom who is leeching off my father... both are poor. - seoulfighter

:::I get the feeling that you don't really like your stepmom...

children suffered because of their irresponsible parents.... Hang-on seoulfighter ~ Ghost

Your dad doesnt like you (anymore)? You haven't made him angry, did you? --[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 20:54, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

lol No my dad never said he doesn't like me. He says he loves me like all his children =.=... which is meaningless considering all of us were kicked out to accommodate my stepmother... As for what I did to piss him off. He asked me during college to be a dog that just studies and stay in my room, and listen to every command he gives me =.=. What would YOU do if your parents said those words to you... Then said they only have your best interest in mind...
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 06:44, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

Not all parents' words are correct, they are also human who commit mistakes. Have you talked about how you feel with your father? Maybe you and your father misunderstood each other. Misunderstanding might cause great conflict on the future. ~ Ghost

I have talked to him sat down face to face and tried to sort it out. The only thing that ended up happening is that he said I'm being illogical. He said he couldn't understand why I can't just listen to everything he says and have faith that every decision he's making for me is the best for me =.=. I'll start translating some more to blow off some steam >_<!
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 21:05, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Man, your life's almost like a mix between Hayate No Gotoku and Cinderalla, you have my sympathy. ~ Aussie Curry.

wow... just finished reading the last chapter of volume one... I must say... chapter 5 is basically as long as the first 4 chapters combined... I'll refrain from giving spoilers but that was really an unexpected twist that I should have seen coming...

its almost a month or more since the last update..... any news? This and <sword art online> made me craving for more LOL ~ghost

Last time I checked, Spadey was approximately 42% done. Expect chapter 5 to be completed at least by the end of this month, if not the next.
--[[User:Asian InvAsian|Asian InvAsian]] 05:07, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

If you want, I can give you some spoilers on both this and SAO --[[User:Eveonder|Eveonder]] 05:20, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

ow thanks for the update! and about the spoiler... thanks but I will wait for the complete chapter ^^ --[[User:Ghost|Ghost]]

did he used the word dog?REAlly? wow i know who is in the (hell)list--[[User:Cognitio|Cognitio]]

Here i go again and asking for the status LOL --[[User:Ghost|Ghost]] 10:35 , 15 October 2010 (GMT + 8:00)

Since the manga release at snail pace....I am waiting for the last chapter here... [[User:xenocross|xenocross]]

If you want an update, I'd suggest you look in here -> http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=2527&start=75 --[[User:Asian InvAsian|Asian InvAsian]] 02:31, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

If you want an update, I'd suggest you look in here -> http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=2527&start=75 --[[User:Asian InvAsian|Asian InvAsian]] 02:31, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Summary of previous discussion: Translator is trying to go to school. Has problems. Will gambatte. Our heartfelt approval.
--[[User:Novium|Novium]] 20:28, 21 March 2011 (EDT)

--I don't know how else to contact translators of this series, so I'll post here. Seeing as the anime adaption is coming out in around a week, I'm guessing there will be a lot more views of this series. As such, I wouldn't mind if the translators spit out a roughly translated version of the next few volumes, I have 2+ hours a day I can spend fixing up English, I can probably revise a chapter a day if need be. --[[User:Asteradragon|Asteradragon]] 8:52, 6 March 2011 (EST)

--Speed translating is an insult to the craft. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 21:55, 10 April 2011 (UCT)

Only if it's done horribly. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 21:01, 16 April 2011 (UCT)

The anime is out now.. thats what brought me here. If you do decide to do a fast translation I would like to add that I can also edit anything you put out. -blackfaia

==The Anime==

The Anime is starting today or tomorrow, does anyone have some hope for it? --[[User:Darn2k|Darn2k]] 12:40, 14 April 2011 (UCT)

Slightly disappointing, but they do have to condense a lot of things in anime, so I'm not going to be too critical - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 18:13, 16 April 2011 (UCT)

I can't say I disagree, but so far it doesn't look to bad. Though I have to admit I don't think Aria's voice is quite right, it just feels slightly wrong.--[[User:Darn2k|Darn2k]] 18:28, 16 April 2011 (UCT)

A bit too cutesy for my taste, but that's Kugyuu for you - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 19:07, 16 April 2011 (UCT)

But the seiyu voice fits. I did think Aria's mannerisms were a lot similar to Louise from Zero no Tsukaima, but they went even further and added a dash of Nagi from Hayate no Gotoku, Aria's voice could not be in better hands since Kugimiya-san did both. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 21:07, 16 April 2011 (UCT)

I don't know, it just seemed a bit too "squeeky" or a little too grating to fit with the character, at least that is what I think from reading the first 3 books.--[[User:Darn2k|Darn2k]] 21:42, 16 April 2011 (UCT)

そうだった。She's described as having a Seiyuu like voice, so they can't go wrong there. XD However, I did think her voice would be slightly lower, possibly a more Shana-like tone. Anyways, do you guys like the OP/ED - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 22:00, 16 April 2011 (UCT)

My Opinions: OP = 3.5/5 , ED 2/5. Some parts of the OP sounded similar to Asura Cryin's OP (to me at least), loved that one. Fav. part from ep 1 (+ -)"Aaaa, Watashi no magazine!!!". BTW how far do you think the anime will cover the story? [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 04:01, 17 April 2011 (UCT)

== Picture Positioning ==

I'd like to discuss and debate about the picture positioning in the light novel chapter parts. Currently the pictures are being placed in such an order as to mimic the light novel position. (ie: text page ends picture page begins). However I believe that this is problematic to be used ''here'' because in reading a light novel one can see the picture page as well as the text page side by side when they open onto that page thus allowing easy comparison between the line and it's corresponding picture. But here, due to the layout being continuous it does not allow the corresponding to occur so smoothly. Instead the reader passes the line that the picture corresponds to and finds the image 10 to 20 lines below that right next to text lines that have either little or absolutely no relation to the picture at all. I acknowledge the argument that this is how the author wished it to be, however I wish to make a point that this was because of the very basic format of all books. No matter what page you open to, unless you fold one side to the back there will always be two pages before you. So I have two ideas to give here:
# Match the pictures' locations to the text lines most suited for them.
# Mark the end of each page with a <nowiki>----</nowiki> to insert a line signifying the end of a novel page(like demonstrated below) and making the pictures bigger so they may seem page sized as well.

----

:3. Make no changes and let the text and pictures remain unmatched.

Wow that's three. LOL. Personally, I believe the first idea is the best even if it does go against the original ordering. Does anyone have any objections and explanations as to why? [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 22:52, 26 April 2011 (UCT)

<s>I'll go with the first option. Initially, I thought that the picture placement was just some kind or bug or error or something. It didn't really occur to me that that was intentional. ;) Anyway, it will help the reader identify the scene and image better, since the picture is placed beside or near the accompanying text.</s> My ignorance is showing, sorry about that. Anyway, I read (or looked at a page, trying to find a word I know) the source and the images are pretty much around where they are here, the only difference being the format (page-to-page vs continuous). Cross-referenced other series (specifically ZnT) and the editing is the same. So even though it's not spot on, it is how the page is intended w/ the only difference being format. So I guess, 3rd option? [[User:Seyrine|s13]] 16:05, 27 April 2011 (UCT)

I'm not putting the pictures anywhere else. Each author chooses where to put their pictures for a very specific reason. If you think it doesn't correspond well, then minimize a picture of the photo and read it side by side.- [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 15:34, 27 April 2011 (UCT)

The OP is not incorrect that you can see the pictures side by side when you're reading it, but I prefer to just put it in at the end of the page, because, well...that's just how I see it. Putting it at the beginning would not necessarily be incorrect, but it's nice to read something before you look at the picture for it, which is the author's intent. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 17:09, 27 April 2011 (UCT)

What you are saying ''is'' partly true. But only in cases where the picture relating to the text is on the ''backside'' of the related text page. When it is on the page on the side it is obviously there so that the picture and the text could be easily referenced. Even here because of the picture's size it can be made to look as though it is right next to the page. That is what I believe the author's original intention is. I'm not wrong am I? [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 17:16, 27 April 2011 (UCT)

Rather I would say that because of the transition from side-by-side to continuous format the resulting positions of the pictures are something the author had not originally wanted, wouldn't you agree? As such shouldn't we choose from point 1 or 2 and not 3 regardless of how it's being done in the other light novels pages? Isn't it only correct that we do this? [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 19:12, 27 April 2011 (UCT)

Finally from what you have been saying, it seems that you want the format to be as follows:

''text'' '''page1''' 
''picture'' '''page2''' 
''text'' '''page3'''

but instead it's '''''actually''''' like this:

''text'' '''page1''' 
''text'' '''page3''' ''picture'' '''page2'''

'''Note:''' Point 1 would make it like this:

''text'' '''page1''' ''picture'' '''page2''' 
''text'' '''page3'''

whereas Point 2 would show it like this:

''text'' '''page1''' 
----
''picture'' '''page2''' 
----
''text'' '''page3'''

So which format would you prefer. According to this, even the current format is actually against the original author's wishes, isn't it?  [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 12:43, 28 April 2011 (UCT)

give it a few days before concluding that people are not answering. some of us are busy people in RL. besides, not everyone watches the pages, or are able to sift through the flood of "recent changes" to find their object of interest. bring it to the forums in that case. begging your pardon, as a translator, I think this is so trivial that I won't even waste time debating or discussing it. discussing stuff like terminologies such as the butei articles is more constructive than a few image placements, and there are very few indeed; begging your pardon again. if you really want to, you can set up a poll in the forums, but that would only make sense if a lot of people are actually concerned with this topic of interest. whatever the case, the supervisor (or translators) makes the final decision. on a side note, given that this is relatively popular project, nobody posting means no one cares about this? and sorry for my typing because I hate caps hahaha :3 --[[User:Larethian|Larethian]] 13:17, 28 April 2011 (UCT)

No problem. I do understand and it was my intention to wait. Plus the purpose of this topic is to persuade the editors and as stated in my previous post ''(see hidden text)'' the comment was just for motivation and I apologized to those who would take it the wrong way, finally I didn't actually say anything wrong, only laughed ''(evilly yes but only laughed)'', LOL. Besides, if my intention was not to persuade through discussion and debating the issue I wouldn't have started this in the first place. Trivial, it might be on face, but I still think it is worth discussing because of it's deeper implications. Plus if nobody cares doesn't that mean that any format is applicable? I think that is wrong, which is why I wish to confirm others views on this. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 13:46, 28 April 2011 (UCT)

I didn't say that you are saying something wrong. It's just my opinion that it's a trivial thing, just as it's in your opinion that it's important. Different opinions that's all. No right or wrong. --[[User:Larethian|Larethian]] 14:06, 28 April 2011 (UCT)

True. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 18:49, 28 April 2011 (UCT)

Yes indeed. Going over the previous posts I see that this is indeed a difference in opinion. Clarity is indeed needed. My opinion is that of a single reader, what's yours? Oh and we might need other readers' opinions as well, after all I am not the only one or a representative of all the readers. No, not at all. Thus more input from both sides would be appreciated. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 21:42, 28 April 2011 (UCT)

Hmm... I wouldnt see any reason to do it different as it is done in the other translations... - aka text page / picture page / text page, but if you like you could put the corresponding line also under the picture (like it was done for Haruhi) to get a matching effect... --[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 01:08, 29 April 2011 (UCT)

Yeah that is being done here and there. But it still feels weird to scroll down a whole screen or two just to get to the picture that matches the text, especially when in the book the text-picture pages are side-by-side '''(See the layout example a few posts back for details)''. ''(After checking)'' See, the picture's still side-by-side even here, just with the wrong text page, so to speak. I'm proposing we correct that. The journey of a 1000 miles starts with the first step but if we don't take the first step how will the journey begin? So why not take the first step when the result is an improvement? If it's a problem of time consumption while revising previous chapters then can't you let me take care of that detail. That way the translators won't have to stop their work. I can do it all within a few hours, albeit a bit roughly in the cases where the picture does not have labels. But even so. It's actually better than setting it next to the wrong page start. As said before I believe setting the picture, next to the page, after the one it is meant for (ie:

'''page1''': ''text'' 
'''page3''': ''text'' | '''page2''': ''picture''

) is not how the author wished it, though this is just my view as a reader. But it does hold some water, no? We could even switch the ordering around to make it even closer to the original format like so:

'''page2''': ''picture'' | '''page1''': ''text'' 
'''page3''': ''text''

What do you think? Oh and the offer, of me doing it if translators too busy translating, still stands. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 01:50, 29 April 2011 (UCT)

My opinion: remove the stupid text under the pictures and "Match the pictures' locations to the text lines most suited for them."

That's how I do it for every series [[User:Vaelis|Vaelis]] 07:53, 29 April 2011 (UCT)

I'm not too busy translating, I'm too busy reading other things. Just because I translate this fanatically doesn't mean I don't have a mountain of other things to read/watch. As it stands, I'm practicing my Japanese by reading Mayo Chiki!, which is kind of a weird order, but that's irrelevant.

My opinion: I don't care enough to argue about it. If you're so horribly against putting it down there, then change it, but as I translate, I'm going to keep doing it the way it is currently. If you want to change it, then just do so after I put it in. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 18:09, 2 May 2011 (UCT)

That's fine with me. So to confirm, I can set the picture next to the related text while revising and there won't be an edit war over it, right? Cause that's really scary. This one time... Oh well that's... well, forget that. Anyway, I have permission to match text with pictures while revising, right? [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 22:36, 2 May 2011 (UCT)

Well, can I? Can I? Can I? Pleeeease? ''(Hoppity, hoppity, hop)'' [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 18:42, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

At this point, I couldn't care less. If such a trivial thing irks you so badly, then by all means, go ahead and change it. I certainly won't be wasting time and effort to change it back. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 19:05, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

Thank you! (Nyari) [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 19:14, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

== Fuuma's speech to be changed==

I would like to change all of Fuumas "I" to "Oneself"/"myself" or "this one". Anything along those lines represent the "Sessha" she uses to refer to herself.
I would like opinions on this matter, for while "Myself/oneself" is my favorite, it should be the most easily-read one that prevails.

--[[User:Novium|Novium]] 22:59, 2 May 2011 (UCT)

http://www.baka-tsuki.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=2527&p=82653#p82653

Forum backlink.

--------
An example would make things more clear. Though personally I think it a pretty good idea. It does conform to the ancient/honorable/humble manner of speaking. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 18:46, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Facepalm*. You know what, let's just change all of Patra's "I"s to "My Majesty". Also, "Myself hasn't been able to meet with you for a while," "Oneself hasn't been able to meet with you for a while," "Me myself hasn't been able to meet with you for a while," "This unworthy one hasn't been able to meet with you for a while."

I'm not budging. This is ''not'' open to discussion. How does a servant refer to himself in front of his lord in ''English''? "Your lord master, your servant hasn't grown enough crops this year."?. That's what somebody says when they speak to God. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 19:02, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

--------

Yoake also has a point. But check this page out as well. It might help. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illeism Illeism]. Just keeping an open mind here. I mean fansubbing translators usually do try and keep the Japanese manner of speech in their work rather than completely going English. The exotic manner is rather appealing. Just a thought though. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 19:08, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

I have an idea of how to completely retain the meaning. I write warawa or sessha and then link to the wikipedia page. That sound good? - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 19:28, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

That is also a good idea. AH! Found it! This link would be better: ''http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pronouns''. For Archaic references like ''sessha'' appending ''#Archaic_personal_pronouns'' would help ''(subsection link)'' [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 19:36, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

----------
I was actually joking because that's amazingly retarded and nobody really cares enough, but, whatever floats your boat. Good luck fitting warawa in when I used me rather than I to refer to her. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 19:38, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

Yeah, I'm being rude on purpose. I feel that the English language has no way of showing how bad of an idea I think this is if I don't resort to vulgarity. Rather, 'better; is a comparative phrase, and since I never actually mentioned a noun to which to compare to, a better word would be 'good'. At any rate, これは全然ひどい、全然無意味、全然迷惑なことって絶対変わらず。 - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 19:47, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

----------
I see. But you also do have a point. Not everyone would be able to understand right off the bat that way. Oh well. By the way they actually did used to say ''"My liege, your servant requests permission to withdraw."'' or ''"Your servant would like to beg forgiveness for his tardiness."'' Rankings in the Royal court did actually effect the manner of speech greatly. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 19:54, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Don't make Fuuma say 'your student'. Please. Please. Please. Please. Fansubbers can translate how they want, the seas could boil and the Earth would crack, but don't make a ninja call herself 'your student' in front of Kinji. There's an t/l note already, can we let it go? I'll make a concession and expand on it as well as adding a link.- [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 20:03, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

Naze nara... kore wa zenzen hidoi, zenzen muimi, zenzen meiwaku na koto ka? LOL. Jodan desu. Yes explaining in more detail in the Translation Notes and References pages is also another good idea/option. Actually I think it is the best one yet. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 20:10, 3 May 2011 (UCT)

-----------
There is one short reference. But seriously Yoake, please consider what I am proposing seriously.
I'd like to stress that I am not attacking your translations here; I'm giving an opionion, not demanding word-by-word translations. If this insults you, I apologize for not putting it in kinder words.
But I won't have you being rude without properly hearing me out. It is demeaning.

Now, back to the matter itself:

There are archaic english that would properly convey the nuance of her speech; and I belive it would be worth the effort to try getting it across.
Now, I don't want to be harsly spoken, and I respect you work Yoake - In fact I really enjoy it. I just think we should be able to work something out to make it more along the authors intentions.I myself am not a native speaker, but I can see how:

"Oneself hasn't been able to meet with you for a while," should be written as "One has not been able to meet Instuctor for a while", reflecting the inpersonal part of sessha, and the second-part reference to oneself. Hasn't and the like are actually a good idea in my opinion, but they can be written to make a point of reflecting speech-patterns instead of as a rule.
As for Patra, aren't a royal "We" sufficient to reflect her nature coupled with a notice in the text?

In fact, most light novels translations fail on this part and I think everyone here could try to figure something out together instead of bashing the notion. Is that too much to ask for from a free wiki?
I sure don't think so.

Is this insufficient? I think that we should be able to see merit in this proposal.

With respect / --[[User:Novium|Novium]] 00:07, 4 May 2011 (UCT)

Well done, great explanation. Strong points. What do you think Yoake? There is ''some'' weight in the arguments is there not? Indeed such ways of speaking have been used in ancient literature as well as medieval times. And yes, in English the use of the words "We" and "Us" are plural forms however they were used by royals to refer to themselves (them being the leader/representative of their people probably brought on that effect). The use of plural form is regarded as a sign of great respect in many languages. That is a hard fact. Humility also meant referring to oneself in the third-person. The arguments are indeed sound. Are they not? [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 00:27, 4 May 2011 (UCT)

A famous example of the use of "One" and "Oneself" for self referral is the character of Andrew Martin in the film [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicentennial_Man_%28film%29 Bicentennial Man]. It chronicles the story of a robot and his journey into humanity. Before being ordered by his master to use "I" Andrew referred to himself as "one" or "oneself" as originally programmed to do so. It's a wonderful and beautiful story, you guys should try seeing it sometime. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 02:35, 4 May 2011 (UCT)

No.

Third person referral has a completely different meaning in Japanese. Since there is no equivalent for one, third person referral through using their names such as Riko saying "Riko" instead of I is a very feminine style of speech. As such, I'm not willing to use any third person. Go look at the forum. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 07:00, 4 May 2011 (UCT)

I've read the forum posts. Now I understand why "One" or "Oneself" is not used here for "Sessha". It might be equivalent in some respects but not exactly. I see. I learned something new. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 13:50, 4 May 2011 (UCT)

I can agree with the royal "we". That's it. = [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 15:14, 4 May 2011 (UCT)

See, discussions can actually help improve oneself if you see them in a certain way. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 16:10, 4 May 2011 (UCT)

I am not a translator or even an editor and therefore have less value than the dirt on your shoes. But in light of my self-deprecation I hope you will accept my opinion. I agree with Yoake. Even someone referring to themselves as 'we' is a little weird to read in English, since it is not something that anyone ever does, unless they are a faggot. (forgive me) Imagine someone calling themselves we... If you want to create a suitably "exotic" atmosphere I think including suffixes after names, and leaving some nouns untranslated (but obviously in romaji) is good enough. -blackfaia

That's only because there are very few countries nowadays where kings and queens reign in full power (England has royalty but they're only figureheads). However, the royal terms "we" and "us" have been historically proven to be used. Pity English doesn't have honorific terms for the word "you" other than "Thee". Just an info tip. Not trying to revive this talk. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 03:45, 28 May 2011 (UCT)

== Question about Translation Notes ==

Why are the translation notes and references on a separate page when they can be even more easily shown as a list at the bottom of each chapter via use of the '''ref''' tag? It's so bothersome to have to either navigate to a new page or open it in a new tab or window just to see a small note. Using the '''ref'''erence tag allows for in-page navigation (ie: new page doesn't need time to load, screen just zeros in on the reference or back to text ''without'' page loading). So why? [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 11:48, 22 May 2011 (UCT)

Well its ''even'' more bothersome if you have to look up these references yourself. HnA is a light novel that has a substantial number of references and allusions to famous people, furthermore it is up to the translators creed. Also how is it that difficult to click on translation notes that simply opens a new page? Unless the readers are just being lazy. This really seems like a trivial matter to me. -[[User:Hiro Hayase|Hiro Hayase]] 16:47, 23, May 2011 (UCT)

Yeah well. Readers '''are''' lazing around, according to the elderly. LOL. But seriously, ''as a reader'' I would prefer having the translation notes at the bottom of the page rather than opening a new page. It might be lazy but it is ''faster'' in loading/navigation. If it's a problem of too much trouble I'd be happy to do it for you guys. I just think making a '''whole''' new/separate page for those notes is ''wasteful''. "A new page + data" takes more space than simply "data at the bottom of an already existing page". [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 21:36, 23 May 2011 (UCT)

Well, it might be useful when you transform it unto a PDF format. Speaking of PDF, can someone go edit V2? [[User:Kira0802|きら]] 23:06, 23 May 2011 (UCT)

I can edit HnA volume 2 since I have nothing else to do atm Kira0802. Here's my opinion as a reader: just leave it as it is, this is such a trivial matter. If the reader wants such high-quality material, then they could learn the language and simply buy the light novels. Also, note that some translators do not bother making said these references at all, whether its the translation notes or foot notes at the bottom. -[[User:Hiro Hayase|Hiro Hayase]] 00:10, 24, May 2011 (UCT)

Sorry, but learning the language takes years of hard work. Plus not every country has access to places that actually sell the light novels. The reason people come to online light novel, manga and anime sites is ''because'' they '''don't want''' to wait. But even if it does seem like a trivial thing, there are benefits to it:

# People won't have to wait for a whole new page to load. (Not everyone has high speed DSL.)
# Navigating back and forth between translation notes and text is easier. (See next point for reason)
# Internal links are automatically generated when using '''ref''' tag making it easier for the translator while writing.
# Website space is conserved. (Size of New Page + Translation Notes > Size of Translation notes on an ''already existing page'')

I'd be happy if you can give me points that can legitimately favor leaving the translation notes on a separate page. If it's just because of the trouble of doing the work I said I can do it. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 14:29, 24 May 2011 (UCT)

Instead of worrying about the convenience of foot notes vs translation notes, editing takes priority. There are still a number of HnA volumes and chapters that still needs editing and proofreading. That should be your first responsibility as an editor. Although if you still feel so strongly about this issue, then its best to take it to the forums. The translators and supervisors get the last say in regards to this issue. [[User:Hiro Hayase|Hiro Hayase]] 17:31, 24 May 2011 (UCT)

Here's my suggestion. If you're so bothered by this, Zero, then we can make a short reference at the bottom. If you want a more detailed, then we'll use the TL note&ref. [[User:Kira0802|Kira]] 18:07, 24 May 2011 (UCT)

Let's look at the different points:

"1. People won't have to wait for a whole new page to load. (Not everyone has high speed DSL.)" -> the page with the translation's note are only text, it's really small.

"2. Navigating back and forth between translation notes and text is easier. (See next point for reason)" -> if it's '''well done''', you can easily go back and forth between the two. I know it's not the case right now but the editors should learn how to do it, it's not that hard.

"3. Internal links are automatically generated when using '''ref''' tag making it easier for the translator while writing." -> it's not the translator's job but the editor's job.

"4. Website space is conserved. (Size of New Page + Translation Notes > Size of Translation notes on an ''already existing page'')" -> who cares?

Anyway you can look at every BT projects and I'm almost sure that all of them put reference notes on a separate page and personally I like it this way. I don't want to see tl notes who pollute the bottom of the page of the translation. So if you want an argument then it's aesthetic, and I always privilege it. [[User:Vaelis|Vaelis]] 18:45, 24 May 2011 (UCT)

[[Sword Art Online]] doesn't and I think it looks good. But as to your counters:

# Even if the page is small it ''still'' takes time to load. Time which could be further shortened by using the ref tag. The ref tag ''exists'' for this reason.
# Why bother doing something the more complex way when you can do it the easier way. Oh... and there is no way to make a backlink to the referring text unless you actually make subsections in the chapters when using different pages for the translation notes (Something that will mess up the natural ordering of the chapter). But ref tagging allows '''not only''' to generate an automatic link ''to the note'' but a ''backlink'' to the referring text. Ref tagging is a legit and popular way to add reference notes, used in all wikias and wikipedia sites as well. This site seems to be a model of those and ref tags are here as well. So why not use it??? Furthermore it will allow for a more interactive experience. People can scroll down to the references and use the back link to check the referring text as they see fit. (ie: using the link for reference 1 but then catching sight of the next reference note 2 and using the backlink to check the referred text for ''that'' note. Not everyone just reads through the whole thing once, you know).
# Translation notes are the translator's job. But that's not even a valid point. So what if it was the editor's job. I'm not talking about external links here like names like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan Genghis Khan], I'm talking mainly about the translation notes that should normally appear at the bottom of the page for easy referral and its links <nowiki>[1] [2] [3]</nowiki>. I'm saying ref tagging makes not only the translator but the editor's job easier by taking the linking job off their hands. So why not use it? Plus the <nowiki>[1] [2] [3]</nowiki> are quite obviously a mimicry of the referral system. That's how the referral links are shown.
# "Who cares" is definitely not a valid argument. Isn't it always better to strive for advancement? Such terms only seek to arrest making something better. Why not just open your mind to the possibilities rather than closing it. I do have good and valid points. Don't shoot them down with such terms, it sounds wrong.

Finally I apologize if any of my earlier comments seemed like an attack. That was not my intention. I only wished for something that actually allows for an improvement to the current system. Well mainly it is the backlinking. But it also is true that it saves website space, is that not a good thing? Saving space means more data can be saved, no? Well basically we will only be the space of the page container that will be reduced but every little bit helps, does it not? And complex coding can be avoided, is that not better? All one has to do is write so: <nowiki><ref>Enter translation note here</ref></nowiki> where the text that should refer is; instead of writing the external link <nowiki>[http://www.baka-tsuki.com/???]</nowiki> and then writing the translation notes in the page it refers to. Give it a thought, which process is more complex??? Also I don't thing any two humans have the exact same aesthetic sense. Why not think about the benefits of the ref system. And tell me of the benefits of the current system. I'm sure there must be some. I always concede when there are more benefits for using another system. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 23:04, 24 May 2011 (UCT)

Also there is one more point I'd like to make, though I'm not 100% sure about it. I think that the ref system is properly transferred during the use of template insertions like compiling into Full Text pages. I'm sure that problem was addressed during the development of the ref system. Though we might have to run some tests to make sure. But hey, it will solve the problem in the full text version's references if I'm right, right? Though I would like to point out that I not 100% sure about it. Maybe 85%. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 23:11, 24 May 2011 (UCT)

Okay I just checked SAO's [[Sword_Art_Online:Volume_4]] page, the references '''do''' transfer seamlessly. That's point 5 for the ref system (100% sure now). Come on I'm sure there must be some positive points for letting the current system stay. No system is without benefits. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 23:20, 24 May 2011 (UCT)

Hummmm....It starts to become a bit heated. So I recommend you to post it in the forums. Of course, posting politely will be asked. [[User:Kira0802|Kira]] 23:24, 24 May 2011 (UCT)

Yeah, you're right. I apologize for that. But you know. I'm not asking for a full change in the whole website. Just recommending a change in Hidan no Aria's pages. If everyone believes that there are valid reasons for the system to stay this way then that is fine with me as well. I just want to know the reasons and feel that they are valid enough. I proposed this system not because I like or dislike it but because I sincerely believe that the ref system is better than the current one. That's why I gave the four... oops five now, reasons that I felt were beneficial to everyone. All of my reasons are legit. They actually do help better the site. I'm not too familiar with forums though so, if you really do want to take it there, it's fine so long as you provide a link for me. I just want this discussion to be resolved by professionally discussing the pros and cons of both systems. Not personal like or dislike. I'm fine with things being the way they are, I just need to be persuaded that there are better reasons for it to stay like this. That's all. It's just that no one is actually bringing forth any pros for the current system so far. There must be some if people prefer it, right? But I won't take reasons like "It's too much hard work or bothersome to change things now." I've already said I'm willing to do ''all'' the work if the ref system is implemented (I'm a ''really'' hard worker). Also ''one'' reason such as it won't look good is not enough. You have to have at least as many points as I do. (Tension breaker: If thou wishest to dissuade me, telleth me what advantages the current system hath. LOL.) [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 00:24, 25 May 2011 (UCT)

@Zero I think what some of them meant is that Editing takes priority, so can the editors fix the English first?

@Vaelis Well actually, I'm in the process of changing my projects from Translator's Notes page to using "ref"s. All my new translations use "ref"s. ^_^

Just to share my experiences, initially I didn't like it because I have less control on the formatting. I used to use a separate page and provide back links to navigate back to the page the reader was on. But I found that the back links will work wrongly on the FULL TEXT version. Of course, I can use some programming tricks and some of the new wiki's extensions to overcome this maybe, but using "references" solve this problem easily, since I put my "Translator's Notes header" and <nowiki><references/></nowiki> under <nowiki><noinclude></noinclude></nowiki> at the footer. The FULL TEXT version will then not have reincludes of the "References", and I can just add the <nowiki><references/></nowiki> at the bottom of the FULL TEXT page easily. The backlinks are generated automatically. Another trivial advantage is that I can use the "name" id to share the same reference across a page (though normally I don't do that). Oh yeah, when I read using my tablet over a intermittent 3G connection, I'd prefer not to open a separate page. But the key issue I wanted to solve is the problem of lacking seamless backlinks from the notes. You can check out [[Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi#itsuten_v1|Itsuten Volume 1]] or [[Densetsu no Yūsha no Densetsu#daiden vol1|Daiden Volume 1]] on how I utilized it. ^_^ --[[User:Larethian|larethian]] 01:27, 25 May 2011 (UCT)

I agree editing takes priority. I am working side by side the posted translation to fix spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. I even put in many of the external links that others miss. I'm saying I can do both jobs. That's just how much of a hard worker I am. And yeah. I had seen the backlink problem in the full text version. It comes due to having two reference lists, one the full pages own generated one, the second from the chapter pages themselves. I had already known that the '''noinclude''' tag makes sure that the text encapsulated is not shown when the page is encapsulated in another using <nowiki>{{Insert page name here}}</nowiki>. So I had thought that that would solve the problem. I actually have a long history of wikipedia and wiki editing spanning 5 years, and templates are my expertise. I'm glad there is someone in my support. Thanks. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 11:36, 25 May 2011 (UCT)

I leave it to the editors, but unless I take the time to figure out this wiki works, (I'm not,) I'm going to continue to use off-page references. Actually, to tell the truth, your attitude makes me want to stab my eyeballs out. Not for any particular reason. Don't feel obliged to care, either. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 09:05, 30 May 2011 (UCT)

Now, now, I agree I have suggested more than a few changes, but I had zero, and I mean 0%, ill intentions. And using the ref tag is not that hard. It will make your job easier, Yoake. So don't be so stubborn and try to think of all the possibilities that this site has to offer. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 10:32, 30 May 2011 (UCT)

I don't particularly mind not having off-page notes, rather, I agree with you, I like how seamless the transition is between the note and the text. However, I can hardly say the same for how you're going about with this. You're saying that you're doing this for the betterment of the site and not your personal preference, which is full retard, because this kind of thing is completely personal and subjective. It's like trying to decide whether Monet's or Picasso's works are better. Personally, I think a five year old draws better than Picasso. Or, Hemingway and Tolkien. Personally, I think Hemingway writes like a five year old. What you're doing is trying to provide reasons as to ''why'' you think Hemingway writes like a five year old, and then blowing other's points as invalid or 'not a reason' because they're subjective when that's exactly what you're doing. Then, you say: "I'm a hard worker," as if Hiro doesn't do his fair share of editing. And, how the hell does it make my job easier? What? It makes it easier for me to understand Japanese? - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 10:51, 30 May 2011 (UCT)

Rather than editing two pages and switching between them you can add the translation note on the same page, at the reference line, seamlessly. That's how your job can become easier. By cutting down the time it takes for you to write the external link to the translation page, opening the page and then writing the translation note at it's place. These three steps are cut down to one <nowiki><ref>Insert Transation note here</ref></nowiki>. I never said anyone was not a hard worker. I merely mentioned myself and my intentions were not to belittle anyone. I never shot down any of the points except the one where the words ''"Who cares?"'' were mentioned. If I was really as you say I am I would not have bothered with this discussion, at all. Instead I did bother with it. The only reason I really mentioned being a hard worker was to remove one problem: ''"Who would be willing to spend time on changing things?"'' You must admit that is a reason that influences most changes. So by saying I will do it and telling just how much of a hard worker I am, I am preventing the following thoughts: ''"It's too troublesome." "I don't wanna do it." "It'll take too long."'' If it really was for my personal preference I would not have given such rational reasons for the change. Now, I would like for you to give me rational reasons as to why the current system is better than the reference system, which ''is used'' by some projects on this site. I'm an not adverse to having the current system, as long as you can actually give me some real points for it. And besides, it's not like I will suddenly start converting anything without approval. I don't see why you're being so hostile. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 16:16, 30 May 2011 (UCT)

You want to hear what might be a real point to Vaelis? "I like it." Do we need any other points? All your points are just things that you like, therefore, his point carries the exact same weight as all your points combined. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 17:08, 30 May 2011 (UCT)

What I'm trying to say is, rather than constructing this as a rational argument, which it's impossible to do so properly, it's a matter of personal preference. I mean, this decision mostly affects the readers, so the best thing to would be to ask them. Since you're good at wikis, is it possible to organize a poll or something in the front page? Rather, this is something that would be better measured with a majority, rather than points, which is a rather selfish way of doing things. It's simply not taking everyone's opinions into account, which is what something like this should do, rather than with rational points. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 17:48, 30 May 2011 (UCT)

But a poll without understanding the pros and cons of both systems just seems like a blind popularity contest to me (Example: A beauty contest with the girls hidden). Sorry, but my specialty in wikis is templates, what you're suggesting might involve bots and other complex mechanisms. I'm afraid I'm currently incapable of doing that. Even if it is my preference at least I did give pros for the reference system. Up until now, other than a small mention on the font style there has been absolutely no pros given forward for the current system despite my asking over and over (And I did ask over and over). Well, here's a compromise, how about putting this discussion on hold until all the translations are finished? It would give time to mull things over. I've seen giving a break to discussions helps clear up some things. Even I might change my mind. Or would you rather we keep on discussing? It does cut into translation/editing time doesn't it? [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] 07:30, 31 May 2011 (UCT)

The thing is, this is supposed to be a popularity contest. In essence, this change is based on what people like, whether they like having an off-page reference, or <nowiki><ref></nowiki>. I'm not really translating regularly, as exams are coming up, and it's not like I'm working set hours, so it's not wasting my translation time, as such. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 16:27, 31 May 2011 (UCT)

True. But every popularity contest has to have the subjects displayed and their advantages and disadvantages noted. But nobody even bothers to point out any advantages to the current system. [[User:Zero2001|Zero2001]] - [[User Talk:Zero2001]] - 14:07, 31 May 2011

Advantages: Translator can put whatever the hell she wants without inhibition XD. Doesn't mess up the aesthetics of the page, (for some.) Allows for additional information to be put where necessary. Makes it easier to keep track of. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 16:27, 31 May 2011 (UCT)

== quick question ==

Who's on the cover of volume 8? I don't recognize her. --[[User:Saganatsu|Saganatsu]] 06:32, 5 June 2011 (UCT)

See here: ***SPOILER*** http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=3574281#post3574281 ***SPOILER*** --[[User:Remotemine|Remotemine]]

Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter3

2011-06-04T09:05:57Z

Remotemine: /* 3rd Ammo: Caravan I -Field Trip- */ Grammar

==3rd Ammo: Caravan I -Field Trip-==

Amdo's educational building is made up of 1 level above ground, and 3 levels below ground, with the levels underground wider than the level on top.

'Underground'. For Academy Island, which is an artificial island, that certainly is a curious phrase.

Passing through the rigorous checks on the first floor and continuing underground...I arrived at a corridor that was filled with display cases filled with an innumerable amount of guns.

This place...this is an empty space that makes me nervous no matter when I come.

With Reki and Haimaki, who were following me, I passed through the corridor, ringing the doorbell of Workroom B201, which was adorned with a plaque which had "Hiraga Aya" written on it--

"I'm in! The door's unlocked!"

From inside, Hiraga-san's childlike voice reached my ears.

I opened the door, noticing that the inside seemed to be a temple devoted to Don Quixote, as there were things, things, and more things everywhere.

Tools of all sizes, components of guns from every era...springs, wrenches, the hundreds of screws in plastic cases, they were all mixed about, stacked until they reached the ceiling.

"Hiraga-san, it's me. Tohyama."

I shuffled sideways, taking care not to touch what had already become a forest of components, walking inside.

The workbench that was situated within the room had a DVD player and a TV, which was broadcasting a shoujo anime on it.

Beside it--*KCCCHHH!* Having been welding something, Hiraga-san twisted her head towards me.

"Oohh!? Tohyama-kun brought Reki-san with him! You guys are getting along well!"

Shunting the protective goggles upwards, Hiraga-san used those innocent eyes to look between Reki and me.

"This is...I didn't bring her, she followed me herself. Also...Is it completed?"

I looked around, asking.

"Yeah, you guys are getting along well! You two really match!"

Said Hiraga-san, pointing two fingers at Reki and me.

"No, that isn't how this is..."

"Aha! You're getting along well!!"

...Is that all you can say?

"No we're not. What I'm asking is, is the object I contracted you for completed?" [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

Hearing me ask again, the lightbulb above Hiraga-san's head flickered on.

"Aha! The contract is finished too! It's finished!"

Saying this, she went deeper into the tool rack...*Kcch*. Just like a squirrel entering a tree, she stuck her head and torso within.

It looks like, if she doesn't do that, she can't reach it.

"Uuu! Just a little bit more!"

Her SSS-sized uniform snagged by a nail on a shelf, Hiraga-san, only her bottom half visible, wriggled her hips, twisting them around, and those legs, as thin as an elementary school student's, were also struggling.

...It's amazing that you can remember where it is, at least.

Well, Hiraga-san is a genius girl, which even U.S. arms manufacturers scouted because of her talent after all. The structure of her brain is, most likely, slightly different from normal.

...*Kch, Kccch*

Ah, she came out.

"This may be a western blade, but it is a masterpiece that is no worse than the best of Japanese katanas. Tohyama-kun really has something good!"

Screws and springs stuck inside her hair, Hiraga-san, *Shh*

Handed over a double-edged sword which had a body which seemed to glow with a fierce light.

Ooh. It's been completely modernized.

What I had just received was the scramasax that Sherlock had used in EU.

At the end of the battle, I borrowed this to mount the ICBM...but because of its unnatural sharpness, I had been keeping it up till now. What I had contracted Hiraga-san to construct was something fitted for me, a reinforced rubber handle as well as a hidden sheath--

I placed it in the sheath behind my back. Yeah, it's completely hidden. As expected of Hiraga-san.

"Also, I also modified this, as you requested me to. I accelerated the speed of magazine release, added a three burst-fire setting, as well as full auto!"

This time, Hiraga-san used those small hands to hand over a gun.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Click* This heavy, large pistol is--a Desert Eagle.

It is one of the world's most powerful semi-automatic pistols, my father's legacy.

Reki glanced towards the pitch-black body.

"The only person in Amdo able to modify it to such a level is Aya! Amazing, right!?"

Said Hiraga-san, thrusting forward her flat chest, no different from Aria's, with pride.

I raised the gun, aiming it towards the wall. In the sight, Jeanne, Vlad, Patra, Sherlock--the appearances of all the superhumans that we had fought till now appeared.

...Regretfully, I'm still a Butei High student.

EU, as a group, may have splintered, but its remnants are still on the run. So, it's practically certain that one of those ability users, just like in manga, will attack.

And, for the sake of resisting, of course I strengthen my equipment.

Following this line of thought, I found this Desert Eagle from out of my the things my father left behind.

The bullets that this Desert Eagle uses are bullets that have three times the stopping power of the 9mm parabellum ammo that my Beretta uses, a .50AE.

However, guns...aren't like in games, where once they are equipped, they increase the user's power. To put it simply, the user has to undergo training for such a thing to happen.

Especially this Desert Eagle, whose barrel and recoil are both abnormally strong.

My father, who was a strong man, nearly 2 meters in height, could use it freely, but for me, it's a gun that is too heavy, and too powerful. If I want to be able to use it without impediment, I have to undergo more practice.

And as such, I temporarily--decided only to use it when I was in Hysteria Mode.

After all, even if I have a powerful gun, it's meaningless if I can't hit the target.

I sheathed the gun, slipping it into the holster that Hiraga-san had provided--one that was strapped to one's thigh.

Beside me, Hiraga-san's round eyes were glowing with an innocent light, and she looked up at me, saying

"Mmm, Tohyama-kun is really cool like this! A black Desert Eagle really fits a dark boy like you!"

Dark boy?

"Isn't that right, Reki-san!"

....*Shh*

Reki nodded her head in agreement.

"Reki-san, remember to buy the components for your armor-piercing bullets. I've already prepared amazing bullet tips, made out of reinforced tungsten carbide. Thanks for the patronage♪" 

Her hands put together, brought up, touching her face, Hiraga-san flashed a large, salesman-like, smile.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh*

Apparently also one of Hiraga-san's old customers, Reki nodded.

...Selling weapons to me as well as selling weapons to Reki, it looks like, the more we fight...the richer Hiraga-san becomes. And, she herself doesn't have to fight. Arms dealing, it's such a profitable job.

Her face may be innocent, but she's a terrifying person. Hiraga-san, that is.

A few days after I started to live with Reki--The Reki humanization plan that I had prepared for the sake of the Lima Syndrome received a small opportunity.

That day, we had swimming class, but Ranbyou-sensei, whose blind date appeared to have failed again, vented the full force of her rage upon the boys of class B, destroying the swimming pool. It was hard for me to imagine a lone person destroying a swimming pool with her bare hands, but ultimately, this is only something that the Vice-Director of Assault, the monstrously strong woman, Ranbyou, could do.

Repairing the swimming pool would take some time...so the swimming class that the girls in class C were going to have was pushed back till after school.

And after school--I didn't want it to look like I was peeping, but I still observed the swimming pool--I noticed that Reki, also wearing the school swimsuit, was standing with the other girls by the edge of the pool.

(This means that I can temporarily move freely...!)

I immediately put my body into gear, burdened by one extra sword and gun--using the fish sausages as a lure, I locked Haimaki in the sports warehouse before running to the rendezvous point with the person that was going to aid me in my plan.

I arrived at a point close to the center of Academy Island--the tennis court by the second field.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bch. Bch. Shh.*

...Inside the fence, wearing white tennis outfits, the girls in the tennis club were sweating profusely.

Ignoring what they're like normally, in this kind of situation, they're fulfilling their time of youth, of vigor.

But, opposed to them, pressing himself into the fence, was someone, looking exactly like a prison inmate. Probably for the crime of peeping.

Ah! Jeanne-san!

I looked towards one side of the court, towards where the freshmen girls were shouting, and over there--*Shh!*

Strands of hair hanging on each of her cheeks, the rest tied up with a ponytail, Jeanne delivered a sharp smash, currently in a furious match with a curly-haired member of the tennis club.

(Hey, that...)

Just now, I thought that I had seen it.

Jeanne's tennis-wear--

That skirt, following in the wake of Jeanne's killer smash, had floated upwards.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bch, Whoosh*--

And every time she swung her racket...

Her pure white triple-layered, frilly underskirt would, for an instant, be completely exposed.

No. I understand. That isn't underwear. It's just sportswear, it doesn't matter even if anyone sees it.

What I had thought I saw was just a mistake my brain had made, unable to tell the difference.

But...that underskirt, almost like underwear, wasn't the only problem.

Having long, graceful legs which a Japanese person would be hard pressed to have, (well, now that I think about it, she isn't Japanese,) her thighs were full, and delightfully supple. Also, they were amazingly white, almost like snow.

Every time her skirt flipped up, those were exhibited for all to see, so the stimulation of arousal was hardly normal. This is too dangerous, right?

Damn it. Why is it that the girls' tennis outfit is designed such that it appears to be showing off their lower body? To the designer: Get the hell out here! I wouldn't mind using my sword to help fix your broken mind. 

...Actually, now that I think about it, doesn't it really look like I'm peeking?

I just came here to find Jeanne...

For the sake of preventing any suspicion that I would be doing such a thing, I dropped my head, and as I fought an inner battle with Hysteria Mode, which was threatening to activate...the sound of the match stopped.

I jerked my head up, only to see a freshman kouhai shouting, "Please use this towel!", running towards Jeanne, who appeared to have achieved a landslide victory.

...Jeanne, you're pretty popular, aren't you. Even if among the female students. I may not know why, but it seems that she's a beautiful person that's just as attractive to girls. 

With such splendor, she was received in a manner befitting a princess.

--In the time since the Plea Bargain that allowed her to transfer from EU to Butei High, Jeanne had already enrolled in Informa, joined the tennis club, and like now, she was living a fulfilling high school life.

And opposed to that, having been defeated by her in the underground warehouse last spring, I...am being restricted by a robot girl and a wolf.. What have I gotten myself into?

Not able to avoid spiraling into deep depression, I-- 

"--Tohyama."

Heard Jeanne, who had finally noticed my presence.

"Jeanne, come, quickly."

I waved towards her.

Her silver hair partitioned, hanging down her back, she had changed into her uniform, striding out of the clubroom for the tennis club...
[[File:Aria06 129.jpg|thumb]]
At a distance around 2 meters away, *Tap*, she stood her ground.

"Don't come any closer. Tohyama."

"Why?"

"In the club activities just now, I sweated a little."

Said Jeanne, shifting the racket that was slung over her back, under her shoulder.

"But, because of your haste, I did not have time to shower. As such, I only used a wet towel to wipe my body, and perfume to mask my scent."

...You're still so formal.

Also, did you say you used perfume? Even though you're still a high school student. As expected of the ojou-sama who holds the blood of nobles.

"There's no need to pay attention to that. Let's talk as we walk."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Fyuu* A gust of wind blew past--and Jeanne's scent, a comfortable, grassy fragrance, wafted from her body.

Hey, you're not sweaty at all, are you?

Before, I had heard Nii-san...No, I should say Kana...say that just relying on perfume wasn't fully effective, and that only when perfume is mixed and melded perfectly with a woman's natural scent, will it be able to create a pleasing, moving fragrance.

And the Jeanne as of now had completely achieved this.

In Butei High, which is full of the acrid stink of gunpowder, you really are an unparalleled, fresh existence.

Jeanne frowned, a little hesitant--but she walked this way, keeping by my side.

Glancing at her, who was walking beside me, that skirt, following the school rules perfectly, was hiding a gun.

--A CZ100, huh? That's a good gun.

"The fact that Aria and you separated and that you're in a team with Reki now--has become quite big news in Inquesta."

"You're kidding me...Somebody like me isn't qualified to be a topic of discussion, right?"

"Tohyama, you yourself may not know this, but the students in Butei High, especially those in Assault, believe that you have excellent abilities in battle, and from the shadows, they respect and admire you. However, they're afraid of your reaction, so they aren't too open with their admiration. To tell the truth, after hearing about your induction exam, I looked at you in a new light."

Ha-have mercy on me.

And, up till now, whether it is a good or bad thing I'm not sure of, but I'm still looked up to by those in Assault.

"This is also written in the reports that Masters keeps. They said that, while there are some ups and downs with your status, you possess the greatest alternative power, your charisma, your leadership--you just lack integration with others, and there are some issues with your personality."

Issues with my personality, huh?

How troublesome.

"Mmm, well...there's no need to talk about me. Rather, let's speak about Reki. What have you found out?"

I thought about what Aria had said from back then--A battle between Butei is a battle of information.

What kind of opponent the enemy is, what are his weaknesses, what does he like, what does he hate...the first side able to grasp these characteristics has an overwhelming advantage.

But, if one acts by himself, he will be noticed immediately, and as such, contracting a third party is common practice.

The person that I had contracted in April was Riko from Inquesta, and the person that I had contracted this time was Jeanne, who had taught Riko how to sift through information. After all, the teacher should be better than the student, and jokes and false information tend to appear in Riko's reports.

"Elite snipers will often try to hide information about themselves, and Reki has this tendency as well. As such, the amount of information that exists about her is extremely limited."

Well, that's what I expected.

Even living together with her, I hadn't really figured anything out about her.

"Also, her past history is a blank. The success rate of missions after entering Butei High is 100%, an impeccable record. But, she is extremely selective with her missions."

"What does that mean?"

"Presently, all I can say is, Reki only accepts a mission under three patterns."

"Three patterns...?"

"The first, a teacher asks her directly to do so. Under certain, rare circumstances, Masters will assign the contract to specific, excellent students...although these cannot be solved outright because of special conditions, it is possible to earn a large amount of credits, nullifying the need to take an exam. You ran into something like this during your first year, right?"

Now that she mentions it...when I was in Assault, such a thing did happen.

I thought back to that situation, and thinking of buying a can of coffee, I slotted a coin into a roadside vending machine.

"--the second, missions with an LD Score of over 900" 

"900...!?"

Shocked, my hand slammed into a button on the vending machine.

LD Score is a ranking system, assessing the difficulty of a Butei mission. I don't normally pay attention to it, but special, outside organizations will use the value as an evaluator for the compensation.

300~400 are commissions meant for student Butei, 500~700 are commissions meant for professional Butei, and that is basically how it's divided.

--But, above 900.

In even elite Butei organizations, they are missions that only the best of the best would ever dare accept.

"Ah...I was so surprised that I pushed the button for hot."

Yet, it's amazingly hot right now...So unlucky.

Grumbling, I took the black coffee out, and Jeanne, standing by my side, took it from my hands.

"...Recently, my magic hasn't been very stable. But, I can still do something like this."

<nowiki>*Pa*</nowiki>, the can of coffee that she threw back...had become cold.

Oh! The Diamond Dust Witch, Jeanne, can use her ability for something like this. How convenient.

"Reki...accepted several of those maximum difficulty sniping missions. And, speaking in light of the fact that she still has a 100% success rate, we can already determine that she is either an ability user or a sorcerer."

Despite the fact that she herself was an ability user and sorcerer, Jeanne still said those words with a look of awe.

"...You said that there were three patterns, right? What's the third?"

"It's 'Eagle Eye'."

"Eagle Eye...? Reki?"

This rather unexpected content made me tilt my head, not fully understanding.

The "Eagle Eye" in question is something that takes advantage of snipers' prodigious eyesight to observe a target from far away--a codename for a reconnaissance mission.

That mission, where both the credit and money compensation isn't high, is such that, usually, only inexperienced freshmen or trainees in Snipe accepts it...

"Tohyama. You've been observed before. At least two times before."

"...What did you say?"

"The first time, the contractor was Aria. The date was April the 2nd. She contracted Reki to be her "Eagle Eye", so she could figure out which entrance you leave Inquesta from, and lie in wait."

Ah. That past incident, where we went to Oumi to look for that kitten.

At that time, thinking of how to combat Aria, I took a mission, trying to escape outside--but Aria, lying in wait outside the Inquesta building, appeared before me.

So, that was Reki, observing me from afar, reporting to Aria?

She really sticks her head where it's unwanted.

"And in July, she accepted a mission from Masters, the content being, observe the third boy's dormitory. At that time, Masters had apparently been warned by the police, being told to observe an empty room...since it's Butei High, they have to strengthen their alertness. And, Reki accepted that mission."

I remembered that too. That was the time where Shirayuki saw Aria in a bunny girl outfit, and she went trigger happy on her M60. At that time, Reki was using the Dragunov's scope to observe my room.

"And, the 'Eagle Eye' missions that Reki accepts all fall under certain criteria. Only when it involves you, Aria, or Shirayuki, will she accept."

"Aria, Shirayuki, or me...?"

What kind of pattern is that? I don't understand at all.

But, I understand a little now...from the beginning, Reki had been paying attention to what goes on around me.

And the only person who didn't know--was me?

"The first time I investigated, I found some other pieces of information, but many of those were unconfirmed. This is all that can be reported. Alright--did you gather anything yourself?"

A few days ago, after Reki and Aria's battle...I had explained my situation under Reki's Sniper Restriction, as well as Lima Syndrome, which was my adopted plan of action, asking Jeanne for assistance...

At that time, Jeanne made one request: "As you're by Reki's side, give me a clue as to what I can investigate about her."

"What I have gathered is--sound."

"Sound?"

"Reki always wears earphones, hearing these mysterious sounds. Yesterday, I took advantage of the time she was in the shower, and borrowed her headphones and MP3 player...copying it into a micro-SVD card."

"Shower...? What kind of scene is that? That you two have."

Jeanne said, flashing a look of suspicion towards me. I'll just ignore that.

I plugged my earphones into my phone, handing one side to Jeanne.

"Listen to this, see whether you can understand it."

"Mm..."

We stopped talking, each of us wearing one side, listening intently.

Before this, I had tried listening to the sounds...It was slightly eerie, but it really was just the sound of the wind, playing endlessly.

"..."

Because the cord was too short, our heads slowly approached each other as we listened...*Shh*. Jeanne's long, silver hair, fluttering in the midst of the wind, lightly brushed my cheek.

Uu. This feminine sensation is really hateful.

But, I'll have to tolerate it.

"--Here. It may be extremely small, but I heard a small sound. Not wind. But, I can't make it out..."

"Mm..."

Jeanne closed her eyes, her expression firm, completely concentrated on the sound.

Waiting to see for Jeanne to comment, I looked directly at her face.

...

......

...Even so...she really is so beautiful. This girl.

Long eyelashes. A shining nose. Lips like the petals of a rose.

This cool image. Rather than a witch, she's more like an actress.

"I can't hear it. But, this is certainly a clue...Wh-what are you doing, Tohyama? Why are you looking at me?"

Widening those sapphire-like blue eyes halfway through her speech, Jeanne noticed that I was looking at her from an extremely close distance, and she pulled her head away.

"Ah, no, I was just waiting for your comments."

I said, taking off my headphones...and passed the micro-SD card with the music file on it to Jeanne, waiting for her to speak.

Her face slightly red for whatever reason, Jeanne cleared her throat before saying, 

"This might be a clue. I happen to know someone to go to."

Her arms folded in front of her chest, forefinger and middle finger stuck out, she gestured towards the SD-card in between them.

While using her own ice-blue cellphone to call that person she "happened to know", Jeanne brought me to see--Connect. Next to Informa, it's where students are taught to support those in the battlefield through the use of communicative devices.

Connect, huh...I've never really come here before.

"I get along quite well with the Nakasorachi here."

Hearing this uncommon surname, I suddenly remembered something.

--Nakasorachi Misaki.

A Connect sophomore, although we were in the same grade, I couldn't remember what she looked like, but...I was very familiar with that voice.

The reason I say that is because, very often, she acts as the operator during Assault combat.

Butei--especially the Butei in Assault, need to be able to communicate with each other through wireless headsets.

When undergoing a large-scale operation, the people that keep the complicated messages from getting jumbled, are the operators.

The operator assumes command from Connect, accurately stating the team's status to all its members. Often, they will also report the ETA of reinforcements, the change in weather, etc., informing them of information that Butei in the middle of the combat cannot find out for themselves.

In the bus-jacking incident in April, telling us which bus was hijacked, as well as informing us of all the situational reports before the reinforcements took action-- 

-was the operator, Nakasorachi. Which is to say, she was one of the people working behind the scenes, absolutely critical to the resolution of that case.

Nakasorachi's operating is perfect. She is always amazingly calm, able to follow separate conversations with several Butei, all speaking with hurried, unclear voices at the same time. In spite of all that, she is able to pass on each and every piece of information accurately.

Even more worthy of praise is her elocution, her voice is just as clear, as pleasing to one's ear as that of an NHK anchor. I had never heard her wrong, not once.

(But, I remember that, although she is such an excellent Butei, she was only ranked as B.)

I had only heard her voice, so I did not know what she looked like in reality.

She's probably seen me before, through the small camera installed in every headset, but as for me, it was my first time seeing her.

I can't be wrong that she's a girl. She must be an honor student, radiating a graceful air.

Thinking of this, Jeanne, saying "Follow me", hurried me onwards--[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

We walked into the Connect building, which was like a telecommunications corporation.

Under Jeanne's guidance, I arrived at the audio classroom, and it appeared that, for the sake of keeping dust outside, shoes were forbidden inside.

Changing into slippers and entering the room...because school was already over, the classroom was empty. 

I looked left and right, and audio equipment was neatly stacked all around me, just like a radio station.

Jeanne and I stood a while, in the middle of this classroom, full of the scent of machinery...

"--Jeanne?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap Tap* Several types of headphones piled up in her arms, a girl ran this way from the side...but because she was carrying too many, it didn't seem as if she could see in front of her--

"He-hey."

Not hearing my warning in time, *Thud*

"Hawaa!"

She smashed into me...*Thump* Her butt hit the floor.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh* A pair of silver-edged glasses flew into the air--and beside me, who had reached up, grabbing it, *Gcch Gcch*

The earphones that she was carrying spilled out onto the floor, while the tangled wires wrapped around her head, her arms, as well as her feet, which were wearing red indoor shoes.

"Haaa."

That girl's hair wasn't only long in the back, but in the front as well, nearly blocking out her eyes.

I remembered that the male protagonist in the galge that I had helped Riko buy, had this kind of hairstyle as well.

Could it be that that's what's popular nowadays?

(...Uu...)

--Because she had fallen down, she was at my feet, and her skirt, terrifyingly enough, was in a mess.

If it was a normal guy, he'd probably be feeling quite lucky. But, that isn't me. I have to avert my gaze, looking upwards, making sure that there isn't the slightest chance that I somehow looked between those thighs. After all, safety first.

"Are you alright, Nakasorachi?"

Jeanne, next to me, asked.

Hmm?

She is...Nakasorachi...?

I couldn't help but widen my eyes, turning back towards that girl, who was still tangled because, for some reason, the wires were uncannily linked, and she couldn't get them off.

This...This is completely different from the way I imagined it.

Hearing her instructions, I really felt that she was an extremely adept person.

That girl, named Nakasorachi, extricated herself from the wires with Jeanne's help, and waving her hands in the air, she shouted "Glasses, glasses!" Almost like in a manga, like a dog chasing its own tail, she crawled around, tracing circles on the ground, feeling for her glasses. Are you alright? 

...Which is to say, I can understand that she'd be wearing her uniform while crawling around like this...

Bu-but, those breasts...they're majestic. Shirayuki-ranked.

Ignoring what kind of feeling she gives off and judging solely by her appearance, she's an extremely dangerous girl.

And those eyes, sometimes hidden, sometimes appearing from beneath her fringe, were definitely those of a beautiful person.

I felt as if I couldn't bear to speak, and so, all I did was, like giving a dog a bone, hand over the glasses I had caught just now...

Nakasorachi went "Feh!", taking the glasses and standing up, unsteady...

"...Wh...Who...is it...?"

Nn...? Frowning, she squinted at me. *Sh, shh*

Apparently not getting a clear image, she brought her face closer to mine, putting it so close that I could feel her breathing.

Is it that her eyes aren't good? Or is it that her fringe obscures her vision, making her vision hazy? Or is it both? Anyways, finally able to see my appearance, she,

"!!"
[[File:Aria06 143.jpg|thumb]]
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shuffle Shuffle Shuffle! Thud!*

Backing up hurriedly, she smashed into the soundproof wall.

"Ah, waa, it's, a boy, bo-boy, n-no, I'm fine! I'm fine! Bo-bo, like, I like! That's how, I really feel!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh*

Waving her hands around manically, she was panicked to the point where I could not understand what she was saying.

Her face, obscured by her hair such that I could only see the bottom part, turned red. Ooh, that's a rapid-blushing technique able to match Aria's.

"Je-Jeanne, suddenly, suddenlysuddenly, brought a boy with her...Awaahh."

Her back sliding down the wall...*Shh*

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhhh*...

For some reason, the girl suddenly became alert, and she suddenly straightened her legs.

And...is that how you straighten your legs? That's an amazing X-leg. Not even Shirayuki can match that.

Afterward, putting on her glasses gingerly...

"Gl-glasses, t-th-thathan, you very much..."

She couldn't even say "Thank you very much."

Is your articulation that bad?

"Isn't this the wrong person?"

I couldn't help but turn back, asking Jeanne.

"Nakasorachi is Nakasorachi. Are you unsatisfied with my choice?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Zcchh* Jeanne's eyes stared directly at me...

Helplessly, once again I...looked towards that creature, who appeared to be Nakasorachi.

"Hii."

But once I looked at her, she immediately used the headphones in her hand to block her face.

"So-sorrysorry! So-sorry!"

"No, I haven't sa..."

"I-I-I-I, Jea-Jeanne-san, Jeanne-san was alone, I thought that Jeanne-san was going to come by herself, no-not, a boy, I didn't think that a boy would come, I haven't prepared my heart yet! I'm too excited! Ah, I say excited, but it isn't a happy excitement!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Wave Wave Wave*

As if using sign language, Nakasorachi's hands gestured wildly, without pause.

"W-Which I've only seen from the incam monitor, he's so cool, I-I didn't think he would come here, moreover, Tohyama-kun! Aah..."  

Hold on...can this girl communicate properly?

"Tohyama, Nakasorachi is the same as you, and she has some issues with her personality. Please go to that wall."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhh* While looking at me, Jeanne pointed at one corner of the room. Saying "The same? How are we the same at all?", I grumbled while walking to the wall...

<nowiki>*Ba*</nowiki>

Nakasorachi had taken a cellphone out of the pocket of her skirt, and being told something by Jeanne, *Patatatata! Patatata!* With a speed that blurred one's eyes, she entered in a cellphone number.

...Who is she calling?

Just as I had thought that, the song, "Melody of Flowers" began flowing out of my cellphone.

Eh. Me?

"...Hello?"

I picked it up.

"--Hello, nice to meet you. Saying this is a little weird, but this is the first time we have met in person. I am Nakasorachi Misaki. Sorry for just now."

Just like a radio announcer, a voice, enunciating each Japanese word with absolute precision, reached my ears.

Eh?

I couldn't help but look at Nakasorachi, but Jeanne had adopted a guard-like pose, standing in front of her.

"I have the bad habit of being easily excited...so, please forgive me, I can only speak with you like this, relying on the phone--Will this be fine?"

"Eh? Ah...It's fine."

Wh-what's with this? What's with this attitude switch? 

I don't really understand, but it looks like Nakasorachi has such a personality that, only when she speaks through machines, can she speak steadily. Rather, without them, she can't speak at all. I shouldn't really say this, but she's a weird person.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhhh* Jeanne turned her head, saying something to Nakasorachi, who was behind her.

"--Is the procedure you would like me to help you with, the audio analysis of the music file in this micro-SD card?"

"Ah, ahh. If you're able to understand something from that sound, please tell us."

Hesitating, I responded to Nakasorachi.

"That is the sound that Reki from Snipe always listens to on her headphones. She said that she was listening to the sound of her birthplace, although...we cannot hear anything, but what sounds like wind. I know that having you try to perform an audio analysis without a video of any kind is a difficult contract--"

"--Not at all. Audio is able to convey much more than video. At least, for me, it is as if seeing a video. Also, because I am in the same normal class as Reki-san, sophomore class C--I can recall her headphones. Reki-san's headphones are...these. Sennheiser PMX990. One of its characteristics is its clarity of sound, a masterpiece which accentuates the higher pitches. Please wait a moment."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh* I saw Nakasorachi, behind Jeanne, put on a pair of orange headphones--

"..."

For a while, silence.

She's probably started to listen.

I'll just wait here too, silent as well.

I mean, the person I'm speaking to has put their headphones on, after all.

"...An extremely...vast location..."

Within a few moments, I heard Nakasorachi's voice come out of my cellphone.

This is probably a report on what she managed to figure out with the audio track.

"From the echo and speed of the wind, the place of recording was an expansive field--a piece of ground at a high altitude. There are forests close by. Coniferous forests. The sound of the leaves rustling...this is, Larix Sibirica."

He-hey, hey.

Just from the sound...you're able to understand to such a degree?

Now that I think about it--I had learned about this in Inquesta.

Based upon the ambient noise during a telephone conversation or some other method of communication, it is possible to deduce a specific location based upon said noises. This is the method named, sound investigation.

But, from what I could remember, one needs a computer with special software to do such a thing.

And, Nakasorachi appeared to be able to perform such an analysis with just her ears. It looks like her ears, abnormally good, make up for her eyes.

"Added to that, according to the sounds of the vegetation, this location is probably somewhere between Northern Mongolia and Siberia."

...Mongolia? Siberia...?

Nakasorachi's calm voice reaching my ears, I tilted my head.

"I can hear the breathing of horses. It isn't big, they aren't domesticated, but not completely wild...they're probably the descendants of Mongolia's horses, Equus przewalskii. Also, the howling of wolves...but on the contrary, these howls are quite loud, for wolves. I believe that they are a subspecies of gray wolves, tundra wolves."

As I was feeling overwhelmed by Nakasorachi's sense of hearing as well as her wealth of knowledge--I felt that I was understanding these sounds less and less.

Reki's birthplace...could it be that it's outside Japan?

I couldn't help but frown...looking at my watch.

Ah...this isn't good. Reki's swimming class is going to end soon. If I get too far from her, I might be sniped.

I snapped my cellphone shut, raising my voice, directing it towards Nakasorachi's direction.

"I'm sorry, but I'm out of time. I'll be leaving first...afterward, could you structure what you learned in an e-mail and send it to me? I'll leave that micro-SD here, for now. It's fine if you return it later."

Unable to talk without a machine, Nakasorachi--

"Re...re-re-return it...? Go-go-go-go-go-going to the boy's dormitory, it's impossible! Be-be-because, I don't have any fitting underwear!"

Immediately returning to that regretful personality, she answered with some mysterious words.

What...underwear?

Rather, I hadn't said anything about you coming to the boy's dormitory, right?

Well, after all, this is Butei High, the gathering place of the strange. I sighed...opening the door, preparing to leave the Connect classroom...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh* And at that moment, Jeanne grasped hold of my arm.

"...What?"

"..."

Wordlessly, she pushed me out of the classroom, and after confirming that there was nobody in the corridor...she said softly, as if whispering,

"Tohyama, be careful."

"Of what?"

"Reki. I didn't say it earlier, because I couldn't confirm the information that I had received, but--before Reki entered Butei High--ever since she was 14, she was not only in Japan, but it seems that she was also active in Russia and China. Because, before her international Detective Armed License was ratified, she had received a Butei License, allowing her to travel to China and Russia."

"...What did she do in those foreign countries?"

"It is not recorded. It's not that nothing was done, but rather, she was doing an unrecorded job."

"'An unrecorded job'...?

"It's difficult to say, is it fine if I say it?"

"Say it."

"For example, 'Sweeper'."

--Well, I expected as much.

In this business, that is probably the only unrecorded job.

Even in self-defense, a Butei is forbidden to kill. At best, this applies in Japan and Western Europe--but when one talks about reality, Butei that do nothing but kill, do exist.

And, around 70% of such Butei are those that specialize in sniping.

Of course, no matter which country it is, this information is highly classified.

"--I'll pretend that I didn't hear that."

Saying this, I looked out the window.

Reki...

As expected, you are not normal.

Well, from the beginning, I had had such a feeling.

"Tohyama. Since you said that you're under Reki's Sniper Restriction, this problem would be best solved early. I certainly accepted a contract to aid you, but--if you wish to make Lima Syndrome a reality, in the end, you must still build a good relationship between Reki and you."

"I was doing that, but it hasn't been going well."

"Mm, luckily--you and Reki are a boy and girl. There's a strategy."

...A boy and girl? ...A strategy?

Why is it that I don't have a good feeling about this.

"What are you saying I should do?"

"Have you brought Reki into the city? In other words, going on a date."

"Go-going on a date...? No, it wasn't a date, but there was a time where we went to Odaiba to eat ramen."

"You didn't make Reki pay, did you?"

"She didn't pay."

Hearing me say this, Jeanne said, surprised,

"Well done, Tohyama. Reki must have been happy."

"She didn't seem any different to me."

"No. She would have been happy in her heart. After all, this is something that would make anyone happy. Even if that meal cost a mere 100 yen."

More accurately, she didn't use any money.

Because, she ate the super pot ramen within 30 minutes.

"What I wanted to say was this behavior, treating Reki as a girl, treating her gently. Because of your role as a boy, this will have an effect. As long as you continue doing this, you will be able to build a good relationship with Reki. Right, I've thought of a good idea. Why don't you go to Caravan I now? Use that time where you have freedom of action."

"Freedom of action...?"

"Stay by Reki's side during the trip, doing things that girls would like."

"Things that girls would like...what's that? I'm not holding myself back, but I really am clueless when it comes to that area. Couldn't you tell me something a little more specific? You're a girl too, right?"

"That's--this method may be a little cliche, but use gifts to deepen your relationship. Once girls receive things like clothing or jewelry from boys, they'll feel that some distance has decreased, creating a happy feeling. Even girls and boys that are fighting make up with this method."

"...Then, what shop should I visit to buy such things?"

"For example, a boutique."

Bou-boutique...

That's a really ancient way of saying it...

No, rather than that...

"Don't you think that Reki has no interest in things like fashion...?

"Listen well, Tohyama. There is not a girl on Earth that has no interest in clothing. This is a law of the world." 

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rustle* Facing Jeanne, who said those words with an earnest face and feeling a little suspicion appear in my heart, I...

"Then, would you be happy as well? For example, if you were to receive some clothes that you liked that I had bought for you from a boutique."

...casually put forth an example.

And...maybe it was because this was an unexpected question, but...

"Clothes that I like?"

Jeanne looked shocked for a moment...and with an attitude very unlike her, she dipped her head a little.

"--N-no. If Tohyama sees me wearing clothes like that...he'll definitely think I am strange. The fact that the clothes I like don't fit my image, I understand perfectly."

"Your taste in clothes doesn't matter, right?"

"Then, for example...just as an example--I wouldn't mind a fluttering, long skirt with patterns that a girl would like. There should be a headdress. Ah, no, that's just an example." 

Since you said it's just an example, why are you leaning towards me? What is this?

"--Whatever. I'm not interested either. What's important is, you wouldn't be happy about something you should be happy about."

"I-I'd be happy about that. Originally, I'd only wear it in my room, but if it was something you bought for me, it's not that I wouldn't specially show it to only you. If you wouldn't tell anybody." 

As if she really wanted to show it to me, Jeanne said that with a strange sort of tension, but...

Well, in short, she would be happy. Receiving clothes that a boy bought for her. I understand that.

If that's so for Jeanne, then...there might be a chance that Reki too is affected.

But, for me, this is an amazingly difficult task.

No less than a battle. How depressing.

September 14--

Called a field trip, the journey of team formation had started.

Despite the fact that this, in reality, was not a field trip, on the schedule...the so-called, "Travel Bookmark":

"Location: Keihanshin (Assembly point - Dispersal point)

Day 1: Educational trip to tour Kyoto shrines (Tour at least three points and submit reports afterward.)

Day 2 & 3: Freedom of action (Touring the cities: Osaka, Kobe)"

Was all that was written.

There were no teachers chaperoning. If this were shown to the Ministry of Education, they would fly into a rage.

Crumpling that useless piece of paper into a ball and throwing it away, I--

-stepped onto the Kyoto platform from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen Toukaidou Shinkansen], train No. 101.

On the road, I had just been sitting there dazed, but the Shinkansen really is fast. We had left Shinagawa at 7:00, and barely after 9:00 we had arrived.

...*Tap Tap. Scrape Scrape*

Reki and Haimaki followed me off the Shinkansen, stepping down onto the platform.

"..."

I couldn't help but make a pained look at Reki, who wasn't going to leave my side for any reason...

The Butei High girls, taking the same Shinkansen to come here, were all looking this way, whispering something among themselves.

And what they were saying...I could guess. Those few, while they were walking through the train, they saw Reki and I, and immediately, their faces became excited.

...Let's enter the city quickly, disappearing into the crowd.

Aahh...This is the first time I've had a field trip where I've been less able to relax.

But, the fortunate thing is, because of matters dealing with her mother's trial, Aria missed the field trip...and Shirayuki, staying at the Hotogi Kyoto Shrine, would have a hard time going onto the streets.

If they were to meet Reki here and start a battle, they'd definitely give the residents of Kyoto some trouble. The type that tends to occur with stray bullets.

"...Reki, is there somewhere you'd like to go?"

Thinking about Jeanne's suggestion, I asked Reki what she wanted, though I knew it was useless...

Reki shook her head, her hair rustling.

"There isn't really somewhere I'd like to go either. But, the first day, we have to see at least three temples or shrines, submitting a report about them. So, we're going to have to walk a lot, today. It should be fine, right?"

This time, she nodded.

Ah...The Reki as normal.

I fished the guidebook that I had bought in advance out of my bag. Now, I had to think about the routes we should take to go to whichever temple.

During the time we had seen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera Kiyoumizudera] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkakuji Kinkakuji], Reki, following at my side, had been wordless from the beginning to the end.

Just, as we were walking through the tourists and geisha, whether it was to keep me from escaping or to keep us from separating, I did not know, but she would grasp my sleeve.

And, known for my misfortune, I would always meet other students just at that moment, "Ah, they're linking their arms." "They're so lovey-dovey." It was like pouring oil on the fire of those horrible rumours.

Because of that, for the sake of not meeting anybody from Butei High...I avoided Ginkaku temple, which was a set location, and following Muto's advice, who had come here before, we went to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanj%C5%ABsangen-d%C5%8D Sanjuusangendou], where none of my classmates were. I avoided taking the bus, and instead, we took a taxi. Reki is really expensive.

I threw a glance inside from the entrance of the temple,

(Alright, there are no Butei High students.)

After I had confirmed this, I...

I went to the reception to buy tickets, and seeing the notice on the wall: "To the students on Butei High Training School's field trip, please leave your guns and swords etc., here"--I left all my weapons there.

"Reki, leave yours too."

Hearing my words, Reki, more obedient than I thought, left her Dragunov and bayonet at the reception.

It looks like she really will listen to all my orders.

"..."

Suddenly, my gaze a little suspicious, I glanced towards Reki, who was like this.

I had heard...paranoid Butei would hide extremely small folding knives or derringers. And, such people would always stay silent, so that they would not be found out.

"...Open your mouth a little and show it to me."

Hearing my order, Reki raised her head, looking at me...opening her mouth.

Hmm.

There's nothing, for now.

But, it really is small. Her mouth.

Her teeth were neatly arranged, and her tongue too, was like that of a child's.

Well, that's a given, since Reki is a rather small girl.

"Alright. Close it."

Once I had finished speaking, Reki's mouth shut...and like a small animal, she looked up at me.

Seeing this gaze and position, not being able to help but think back to Reki's kiss, I--

"...Then, let's start touring. Make Haimaki wait here."

Flicking my gaze at Haimaki, I entered the hall.

Sanjuusangendou, since ancient times, has been renowned as a place for testing arrows.

It is said that, the 120 meter long main hall, under the eaves, was used for an archery competition called "Arrow Traversal", and even now, it was still continuing, albeit in a different form.

--Now that I think about it, it could be said that this is a temple that has a relationship with sniping.

Walking through the corridor, which was lined with one thousand statues of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin Zenjuukannon], all neatly arranged in a row, I...glanced towards Reki.

The same as ever...Reki still had that perfectly expressionless face.

Even the statues of Buddha have expressions.

But, only after reaching Kyoto did I know this, statues of Buddha have different expressions.

Reki...didn't seem to have any interest in this place, she just trudged on alongside me.

For her--a mere 120 meters was a distance where she could probably shoot through the heart of a flea.

I counted the hands of Zenjuukannon, thanking God in my heart that Aria did not have this many. Rather than a Quadra, she'd be a Sendra[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]. Thinking about that, I chuckled...

(If she were here, this trip would definitely be a lot more vigorous.)

Thinking about this, I walked through the corridor.

Although I was together with Reki, we hadn't shared any special feelings...

"...We've finished the tour."

Within a short amount of time, Reki and I had finished touring the hall.

It had just reached afternoon.

It was set down that we were to tour three temples or shrines on the first day, but we had already finished touring three.

(...What should we do...)

Under the fresh, blue, autumn sky, Reki and I arrived at something like a courtyard.

Seeing that, in the middle, there was something like a backless-bench, covered with a red cloth, I sat down...looking over Reki, I gazed upon several windmills, apparently made by the local children.

Suddenly,

"--Kinji-san. When you were walking with me, you were thinking about another girl, were you not?"

Still looking downwards, Reki spoke those words to me.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Surprise*

"You were thinking about Aria, were you not?"

Bu-bullseye.

"...How did you know?"

"Just now, when you were walking through the corridor, your smiling face--was the same as the face when you are together with Aria."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Stare*

Reki's ice-cold eyes were fixed on me.

Sc-scary.

This is a temple--thank God that weapons are prohibited here.

"Th-that is...Well, I was her partner for an entire semester, I just suddenly thought about it and laughed."

I casually made an excuse, and Reki,

"Please do not get closer to Aria."

-with some sort of terrifying air...she warned me.

I mean, it was extremely slight, but...she was giving a feeling, which seemed to convey the fact that she was angry about something.

And, this was the first time she had spoken since we arrived at Kyoto.

"Are you angry?"

"No."

No, you are angry, aren't you?

For some reason, I felt that the way you said "No," just now was a little angry.

"You're angry, right?"

"..."

Reki shook her head, her hair rustling. 

But, this second denial--she did not speak. Just a gesture. It might be, that that was a sign of weakness.

In short, she was more or less angry. About the fact that, while together with her, I had thought about Aria.

Well...that was certainly my fault...

But, Reki really gets angry for the most inexplicable reasons.

If Reki and I were really engaged, then I'd be able to understand her anger. But, this was something that, according to what Reki had said, something like an arranged marriage...It was not because she liked me that she stays close to me.

Just that, Reki had received some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denpa_Onna_to_Seishun_Otoko denpa] from whatever place--and she was just obeying "wind"-sama's orders.

So, Reki has no reason to get angry about the thing that happened before.

From my standpoint, she was being a little unreasonable.

...With that, I felt a little upset...

"I am not angry."

Towards me, who was like that, as if announcing it to herself--Reki once again denied it.

"Is that true?"

"I am sure that Kinji-san is aware of my nickname."

--Robot Reki.

Have you heard it said yourself?

"Just like what other people say in the shadows, I--do not have the emotions of a normal person. Because, the wind does not like people's 'emotions'."

"..."

The "wind" that Reki had said...it looks like it's a firm delusion, set deep within herself.

"So, I am not angry. I do not laugh, nor do I cry."

Telling me these things in a detached manner, Reki's words made me...completely speechless.

Certainly, I had never seen Reki express her emotions.

I had always believed that that was just because of an overly strong professional consciousness as a "sniper", who seeks calmness in all things, manifesting itself in that pattern...but it seems that that was not all.

Is her emotionless appearance tied in together with her "wind" delusion? If so, this is a profound problem.

(But...)

From the conversation just now--

It may have been just a little, but contrary to her words, I felt that I had caught a glimpse of Reki's feelings.

It had not been completely expressed, but the her as of right now was releasing a sense of unhappiness.

So...definitely...

It's definitely possible. Reki's humanization, and Lima Syndrome as well.

That's what I thought. I could not help but think any other way.

(But...then, what should I do?)

The me as of right now has made her angry. Opposed to that, if I don't make her happy, there will be no hope for Lima Syndrome.

I stared directly at the side of Reki's face, who had resumed her wordless mode, her arms folded...

...

......

Ah.

A red dragonfly had stopped. On Reki's head.

You, can even bugs mistake you as a statue? Please move a little.

While I was complaining in my heart, I looked at the red dragonfly, sitting on her head like a ribbon, suddenly thinking back to Jeanne's words.
"That's--this method may be a little cliche, but use gifts to deepen your relationship. Once girls receive things like clothing or jewelry from boys, they'll feel that some distance has decreased, creating a happy feeling. Even girls and boys that are fighting make up with this method."

...There's no choice.

Because I have no more cards to play, I'll have to try using Jeanne's method.

In the movie I had seen on TV, "Pretty Woman", there was this kind of scene.

But...I'm not familiar with Kyoto.

I have no idea of what is sold where.

Go out to Osaka? After all, I had gone there before, together with Nii-san.

Doing something like going with a girl to buy things, it's rather impossible for me, but...

This is for the sake of Lima Syndrome.

Written on Masters' schedule was the fact that Osaka too was a city where we could go see shrines, so it's two bird with one stone.

"Reki."

"Yes."

"Let's walk to Osaka for a while. So we can shop together."

Hearing me say that, Reki looked at me with, for some reason, a little surprise, before she nodded-- 

As if confirming the fact I had started to understand a little, a sort of soothed feeling began to flow out of Reki.

She remained expressionless, but, if I were to use Haimaki as a comparison, it'd be a state in which his tail was wagging slightly.

What...are you happy about me saying: "We can shop together"? I don't understand girls at all.

After taking the train for around an hour, we arrived at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsaibashi Shinsaibashi], Osaka.

This place was the gathering place of teenagers, well, to put it in terms of Kyoto, it's a location akin to that of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibuya Shibuya] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harujuku Harujuku].

Clothing stores and accessory shops were everywhere.

Since we're going shopping for the sake of starting Lima Syndrome against Reki, then Keihanshin should be a good place.

But, exiting the subway, which was like a mole, Reki and I, wearing bulletproof uniforms...stood out amongst the crowd of teenagers, wearing very current and fashionable clothes.

"Coming here was good, but...I don't know it at all, the fashion of this city, that is."

I said it, half to myself,

"I do not know either."

After Reki said that, we stood there, at a loss of what to do.

"..."

"..."

After all, the location that Introvert and Wordless shouldn't have gone to, is here.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

(But, this is also for the sake of putting Lima Syndrome into action against Reki.)

I motivated myself, setting off down the busy street.

I can't say that I'm wealthy--but it's not like I don't have any money.

During July, my bank account had received the halved reward of the casino security detail, and the compensation of the commissions I took during the summer holiday may have been small, but I still received it from Butei High.

But...the "boutique" that Jeanne had mentioned was here and there, but I had no idea of anything to do with fashion.

Buying things that would make girls, Reki included, happy...I had no idea of what those things might be.

"Reki. What kind of casual clothes do you wear?"

Not knowing, I asked her directly,

"I do not have casual clothes."

"...Are you saying that you have nothing but your uniform?"

"Yes."

She responded with an answer that was completely expected, and I increasingly felt the urge to drop to my knees in despair.

This is so difficult. Then, I'll directly make Reki walk and look for a store that she wants to go to. I'll just spend some time drinking coffee there or something.

No...letting Reki, who has no consciousness of the outside world, or rather, no common sense at all, walk wherever she wants to, is dangerous.

This street is full of boys radiating a feeling of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanpa nanpa], and Reki will have no idea of their ulterior motives. Even during the Casino security detail, she had trouble with the womanizing CEO.

With that in mind, I brought Reki along with me, and without any real purpose, we walked onwards.

If you let a dog walk on its own, it will hit a pole. As I thought about that, glancing at Haimaki, plodding along beside us...

Kuh.

This place too, has a few students from Tokyo Butei High.

Because the boys were wearing the same uniform as me, and the girls were wearing a dark-red sailor uniform, I noticed it immediately.

They too had finished their touring of the temples early, and were now touring the city...they seemed to be coming here to play. Over here, there was also an Osaka Butei High, they were moving with that as a destination. Damn it.

Not wanting to be disturbed by them again, because of Reki, I--

-thinking that whatever shop would be fine, I looked around.

Convenience store, clubhouse, a neko-design cafe...in my line of sight, next to the cafe, "Chaton B", a select shop aimed towards girls, appeared before my eyes.

Alright. I'll just go in here.

With that, I pushed forward into the store--Reki followed me, her footsteps quick.

Haimaki, wiping his paws on the mat at the entrance, followed us from there.

It looks like a very fashionable shop, but it's fine. We're two Butei, bringing a wolf too, after all.

Inside "Chaton B", there were a lot of neko designs as well...they seemed to be using a forest as an image theme, the shelves and cases were all made out of wood. The decorations were all leaves and vines too.

This ambiance...isn't so bad.

I was a little worried that we would be kicked out for bringing in a wild animal, but the female assistants, with tea-colored hair, said: "Welcome~~, oh, cuuteee~!", hugging Haimaki.

Thank God. This seems to be a store where pets are OK. What a relief.

Haimaki wagged his tail, looking up at the assistants with a face that seemed to convey the message, "I'm a good boy!". 

You can really read the mood, can't you. I hope that your master over there can watch and learn.

"--I'm sorry. Could you lend me your ears for a while?"

Hearing me say this and going "Mm?", the assistants thrust their heads towards me, next to my face...

"I...am in a certain situation, and I have to buy something for that girl over there, but...she doesn't really know what kind of clothes she likes, so would it be possible for you to pick something for her?"

If one wants ice cream, he goes to an ice cream parlor. "Shirts" ,"Skirts", "Pants." I, confused and ignorant about any of these phrases that girls use, should ask the assistants, right? 

Thinking this, I explained the situation to them honestly--and the onee-san smiled at me strangely.

"Situation, huh? An-san, it's that, right? Yer preparing to break through her barrier, right? I knew it from a glance. That girl's guard is pretty firm."

Uu...this person, is she something like a former Butei? I have no idea.

If one is aiming for Lima Syndrome, they have to destroy the barrier around the opponent's heart.

And, the barrier around Reki's heart was extremely strong. For the sake of breaking through it, I came here to go shopping so we can improve our relationship.

I thought that there was probably no-one undergoing Sniper Restriction from a girl, but Osaka Butei High is near here, it could be that this shop was often visited by Butei.

"--Speaking truthfully, that's how it is. I was hoping that you could help me solve this."

Forgetting my embarrassment during the journey, I said that--

"Hehe~. You're naughty~"

Said the Onee-san, nudging me with her elbow.

Eh. What did you say?

Why would you call me naughty?

"Isn't it great, young lady? This boy wants to buy something for ya~. Afterwards, give him a kiss, a'right?"

Ki-kiss?

Wh-what? It looks like we've misunderstood something.

"Leave it to me! I'm a genius at choosin' clothes based on my customers' sizes. Alright, young lady, tell me ya height and weight. And, ya three sizes, hehehe."

"150 centimeters, 41 kilograms, 76 centimeters, 50 centimeters, 73 centimeters."

"Ooh, cuutee~. On a closer look~, ya have a really pretty~ face, y'know~. Almost like a diamond gem~."

Answering casually while pushing Reki's back, the onee-san brought Reki deeper into the shop.

"Why don'tcha sit down over there and have some coffee while ya wait, an-san?"

"A-ah."

Coffee?

Not really knowing how things go at this store, I followed her instructions, sitting by the table, and quickly, from "Chaton Cafe", which seemed to have some sort of relationship with this place, another onee-san, wearing a brooch with a different cat-design, came, holding a menu, smiling all the while. Ku. I have to pay for the coffee as well.

Rather, when did I say I was going to shop here?

The people here really know how to run a business.

A group of girls, holding select shop "Chaton B"'s paper bags, and boys, seeming to be buying the girls their clothes, were drinking tea and coffee while talking, seeming to be waiting for a certain event.

Surrounded by these people, all speaking [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka-ben Osaka-ben], which my ears weren't accustomed to, I, the outsider, folded my arms, waiting...

"How's it?"

With that, the onee-san from earlier had brought--

Reki's appearance made me spit out the coffee I was drinking with an "Ehnn!"

The reason for that was--

A kindergarten uniform...! Although it was made to be worn for adults.

"Wh-what the hell is that!"

Wiping a paper napkin around my mouth, I pushed the chair back.

Wearing a yellow kindergarten hat along with a water-blue smock and standing there wordlessly, Reki had a tag with "れき" written on it pinned to her chest.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

N-no, even more than that...those legs had become horrifying. I had thought that the length of the skirt would be to scale with a normal kindergartener's skirt, but it was a shocking mini-size. It stopped 1 centimeter below the inseam.

Seeing the sheathe for her bayonet, gunchira (Seeing the area under the skirt where guns and knives are hidden. Namer: Idiot Muto), was happening even now.

"..."

Reki was, as ever, in her living mannequin mode, standing straight.

(Wh-what a lifeless kindergartener...)

Her hair was also tied back with a rubber band, and she really looked like a child that had been turned overly big with magic.

"...?"

Seeing my reaction, Reki looked up and down at her own appearance a little.

I mean...there's no need to wear that kind of thing so obediently.

Some people, upon seeing this, would burst into tears out of happiness, but I have no interest in that kind of thing.

"An-san~, ya made a nice, 'Eeh!', reaction. But...why'd ya do that? I thought that she'd fit this kinda childish clothin'."

"O-of course, if it fits well, it fits well, but...don't use these kinds of clothes please...at least, something that she can walk outside in..."

I...slumped over the table, trying to plead with the onee-san, somehow.

"An-san, this ain't a joke ya know. But, somethin' for the nighttime would be nice, right? Hehehe."

For the nighttime...?

Is she planning to use it as pajamas? She'll catch a cold if she wears that kind of skirt, right?

Well...it looks like this cosplay was just a prank. Is this part of their culture too?

Looks like such things exist when you go on a trip.

Behind Reki, whose kindergarten skirt was fluttering as she was led into the changing room, I wiped my sweat off.

Ah, onee-san. Please close the curtain of the changing room.

You just left a subtle gap, making it so that only people from my angle could see it, right?

You probably think that you're doing me a favor, but it's just a complete annoyance for me. That action, that is.

That kindergarten uniform was something that made me extremely surprised--

But, it too was something that fit Reki really well, the shop assistant onee-san was really good at choosing an outfit that matches with her customer.

Afterward, calling it "Jungle girl," she made Reki wear clothes with a reindeer pattern...it fit her too. There was no incompatibility.

After that, wearing something very similar to the frilly dresses that Riko usually wears, it was a lolita costume. (Under Riko's persistent reminding, I finally remembered.) Originally, this seemed to be clothing that was meant to be worn by rather lively girls, but with Reki wearing it, she looked like an antique doll.

But, this kind of clothing would make the sleeves get caught when readying her sniper rifle, so, from the Butei standpoint, I denied it... 

Lastly, the assistant said, "Next is my favorite," taking out some clothes from the corner of the shop so Reki could try them on.

Because makeup was part of the service, Reki was really sealed inside the changing room by the onee-san.

I finally realized that some cats that Chaton Cafe was taking care of were walking around, understanding why it was OK for Haimaki to enter, but I was wondering whether it was really hygienic as I waited...

Reki hadn't come out for a while.

Drinking my coffee and feeling a little bored, I went outside for a little while...

Suddenly, I thought about something. I spent some time buying little things at the outdoor stalls.

I returned to Chaton B,

"...Ahh, ya really look like a diamond gem~..."

Saying that, I heard a voice, shocked at something, from the changing rooms--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rustle* After the curtain had opened, a slender foot, wearing white, high-heeled sandals exited the changing room.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap Tap* Once again making her appearance inside the shop, Reki...

The assistants, Chaton Cafe's customers, I...even Haimaki, everyone's gaze was drawn to her, fixated on her.
[[Image:Aria06 177.jpg|thumb]]
Makeup applied, her hair combed and set properly, wearing a white sleeveless one-piece, the lack of sleeves its highlight, Reki was--

(S-so...beautiful)

That's what I thought, from the bottom of my heart.

Those exquisite features, already looking as if she was a work of art, confirmed onee-san's words. She was like a sparkling diamond.

Painstakingly polished by this process of outfitting herself and applying makeup, really, all eyes were focused on her.

One portion of the white cloth, made of what looked like fine silk, accentuated the lines of her body, which were already highlighted by the illumination of the store, making the sense of transparency that Reki already gave off even stronger.

I thought that if Aria takes the time to beautify herself, she could be on the cover of fashion magazines, and Reki...was the same.

Well, Aria would be on one of those popular magazines that everyone reads--and Reki would be on those high class fashion magazines aimed at ojou-samas. If I had to make a distinction, that would be it.

"..."

Even with that, Reki wasn't making any special expressions, but as if checking herself out, she looked into the full-body mirror, her gaze somewhat satisfied.

Well, that's...probably because she thinks it won't hinder her in battle.

"Ehh, then, is this what you want?"

Seeing that Reki and I had nothing to say, the onee-san whipped out a chocolate colored calculator.

...*Tap Tap Tap Tap*. She entered in the prices.

"One piece and sandals...as well as the inner clothing, 'ight. Here ya go."

Looking at the numbers on the calculator that had been handed to me, I...

--Uwoah!

...as if there was a gun pointed at me, I reflexively dodged away from the calculator.

--Hi-high!

Isn't this 10 times the price of the clothes sold at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniqlo UNIQLO]!?

I'll really use all my money and become homeless. If I pay for this.

At this kind of time, what kind of Osaka speech should I use to get a good result?

Justa prank? Didn't study? Damn it, I knew I should've learned these kinds of words from Muto, who was originally from Kobe.

As if drawing my gun, my hands trembling, my fingers reached for my wallet--at that moment.

"Kinji-san."

Looking just like an ojou-sama, Reki moved her lips, delicately coated with lip gloss, making a sound.

"...?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh* With that, Reki's gaze, which had been appraising herself, moved--I followed it.

"Popular! From 15:00 today Chaton B and Chaton Cafe's joint event

☆ Chaton Call ☆

As the winner's reward, the price of everything that is bought today at Chaton B is halved!"

That was written on a small blackboard with colored chalk.

Glancing at my watch, it was just 14:55.

Looking up at the onee-san, I saw that she had an expression which conveyed: "Ya realized it, huh?"

I see. Aiming for this event--were the boy and girl customers that were buying clothes at "Chaton B" and chatting at "Chaton Cafe".

"Reki, come. Drink some tea as well."

A little uneasy about the scent of the foundation, wafting this way in Reki's wake as she walked towards me, I, not knowing the contents, went to "Chaton Call", determined to take part.

This joint event--would be our first mission together.

These are pitiable words, but I'll have to do this for real.

Because, whether or not we become homeless, is down to this.

According to the assistant's explanation, Chaton Call was this store's unique event, a competition to see how many of the cats walking around Chaton Cafe could be called to one's table.

The time limit is one minute. If you stand up from your seat, you are disqualified, and touching the cats with your hands is forbidden too.

The prerequisite for participation is: the people involved have to be a couple, but since things had come to this, I had no choice but to sacrifice everything to win this.

I was embarrassed to the point where I wanted to die, however, we could use the fact that, for some reason, we were mistaken as lovers, meeting the prerequisites.

"Participating couple name: Kinji - Reki"...My hand, shaking uncontrollably, wrote our names on the blackboard.

Now, the money I had had been slightly decreased by the tea that Reki had drunk, and it had fallen below the price of the clothes that had been shown to us earlier.

Since things had come to this, I had to gift Reki with these clothes. Not winning, or running away with the clothes, was not an option.

Now that I think about it, didn't something like this happen at the ramen shop in Odaiba?

It seems that Reki was born under the star for putting my wallet in danger. Please make that star go supernova.

(But...calling cats and keeping them, huh...)

This was something that I hadn't even considered practicing for, a mission that was completely out of my expectations.

Honestly, we have no chance of winning.

Because, for some unknown reason, I don't get along well with animals. Ever since I was a child. What do I do?

"So, have ya made ya preparations? Alright, start!"

Despite the fact that I was so nervous, the onee-san, over at the cafe, made her announcement, the noise entering the mic amplified by the speakers.

The groups of couples inside the shop started going, "Here kitty, here kitty," making whistling noises, starting to call the cats towards them.

But, cats are extremely cautious creatures.

Just wandering around inside the shop, they weren't going to suddenly get close to people they hadn't seen before.

"He-here."

I gestured at a cat whose eyes I had met--but, with a purr, it looked the other away.

Damn it. The shop knew this, which is why they had this event, right? Since the cats aren't familiar with anybody, everybody will be disqualified, as written on the blackboard.

"I-I have to think of something..."

From in front of me, who was becoming agitated, Reki, sitting up straight in front of her untouched tea, which had gotten cold,

"I do not really understand, but is it fine if I gather all the cats?"

She asked, as if it had nothing to do with her.

"That's right. But, it's not easy. It seems like these cats have been trained to not respond no matter how much the customers call them."

"..."

I told her softly, and Reki went silent for moment--not even looking in the direction of the cats, *Bch*

...She closed her eyes for a long moment, and that unchanged expressionless face--

"Nyan."

She said.

...

...Ny...

..."Nyan"...did she say...?

I didn't hear incorrectly. She definitely said it.

She had just uttered something that was capable of entering the best three of, 'words most unlikely to come out of Reki's mouth'. Overwhelmingly rare.

I mean...Having said "Nyan", was she trying to imitate a cat's purr? She doesn't sound like one at all.

With just the same monotone as ever, all she said was, "Nyan".

Before, in Ueno, the imitation that Aria had done was better. That too was amazingly horrible, but an imitation as bad as this makes me unable to even say that it's an imitation.

As my heart shattered into pieces, just about to concede defeat...

--*Tense*--

All the cats in the store raised their heads in unison.

"...!?"

Looking around, each one of the cats was looking at this table--rather, looking at Reki.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap*...*Tap Tap*...

"Wha...?"

"Eh...!?"

The clothing store's onee-san and the cafe's onee-san made sounds of disbelief.

I was sitting there, dazed, and under my table--

The cats...had gathered there without exception...!

"Re-Reki, you..."

"This is fine, right?"

By Reki's feet, who had just said that...White, black, spotted, striped.

The cats were gathered there, as if believers listening to a preacher.

Now...now that I think about it, Reki...had done something similar to this in the first semester. She had spoken to the grey wolf, which was completely hostile towards us, immediately taming it. Right now, that wolf was Haimaki.

Somehow, Reki seems to be a inexplicable girl that is able to undergo communication with animals. Although such a thing isn't possible for humans.

The "Nyan" from earlier was...

...definitely a signal to the cats, the contents being: "Come here. If you don't, horrible things will happen."

No, seeing as how obedient the cats were, it was probably a strong message, something like: "If you don't come, I will whip you into the ground. I will set Haimaki on you."

"Cha-Chaton Call--The winners are the couple, Kinji and Reki!"

Co-couple, you said?

Please, I beg of you the cafe's onee-san, don't use that kind of speakers to say that in such a loud voice.

I didn't tell you this, but this is because we're just pretending to be a couple.

"From now onwards, please continue to get along well and love each other! We'll be supporting ya!"

Please...please stop.

The onee-san from Chaton B said, "Us sisters here will work hard!", and in full view of the other customers, she brazenly gave me the cash coupon for a 50% discount.

With this, you can spread the words of what a nice atmosphere this shop has. You really have the soul of a businessman.

Rather, were you sisters?

"Alright, victory kiss! Kiss!"

The onee-san's in Chaton Cafe were saying that, as if venting their feelings.

The customers started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss!", a kiss call.

...I'm sorry. That's not happening.

"We-well, we did it, somehow."

As I reached for my wallet with a sense of relief--

"--Kinji-san."

Not even flashing a courteous smile in the midst of everybody's applause, Reki--*Click*, suddenly stood up.

"?"

"Please stand."

What? I stood up, and--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Squeeze*

Reki, from a distance I could not dodge, as if dancing, embraced me around the waist.

"He-hey...!"

Reki's hand, completely unnoticeable from looking at it--was strong.

With some sort of intention, she restricted me close to herself.

Seeing Reki finally bring her lips up to my cheek, the store erupted with cheers.

And, looking as if she was kissing me to the surrounding people, Reki--voicelessly, whispered by my ear,

"Somebody is following us."

--What?

"Please do not move your gaze unnaturally. I do not know who it is, but I am afraid that it is an S-rank professional. At the start, he showed no signs of aggression, but now, he is openly radiating hostility. From outside the store--near the entrance, he is observing this place."

"Wh-when did this start...?"

"Kinji-san, did you leave the store just now?"

"Ah, yeah."

Just now, taking advantage of the time that Reki was sealed inside the changing room...

I went outside, buying some things from the open-air stalls.

"--I think it was from that point onwards. After I had worn these clothes and strode out of the changing room, I could feel that gaze. After we arrived at this city, I felt that somebody was following us for a moment--but after that, I thought that they had retreated."

There's somebody following us...?

Who is it? Why are they following us?

Acting calm, I returned to my seat, and as if nothing had happened, I started twirling the spoon sitting next to my coffee.

I had learned about this in Inquesta. For the sake of preventing your gaze or actions from being noticed by the enemy, you have to, like this...use something like a mirror to check your surroundings.

And on the curved surface of the spoon, I successfully caught the reflection of the entrance--

"..."

At that time, a breeze had just blown past, making that rouge skirt...

I just made out part of a twin-tail.

A pink one.

(--Aria?)

Reflexively turning back out of shock--

-standing at the entrance of the shop, looking in discreetly, Aria's gaze met mine.

--*Da!*

Seeing Reki and I together, her expression, for some reason, looked as if the world had ended, Aria twisted around violently, running away.

At that instant, for a reason unbeknownst to even me, I immediately stood up!

Impulsively dashing out of the store.

"--Aria, wait!"

On this boulevard, crowded with teenagers, seemingly hard to run through, I quickly caught up to Aria.

<nowiki>"~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"</nowiki>

Trying to shake off my hand viciously, Aria was in a state of agitation where she couldn't even say a word.

What. Why are you so mad?

"I-it's fine for you! Because I haven't said it to you clearly! But, Reki--Reki, I definitely told! That girl, kn-knew full well! Reki! Reki--I won't forgive you! Reki, you...Reki, you!"

In an agitated state, Aria was in a mode where I could not understand a word she was saying.

Her twin tails in a tangle, she directed a constant stream of abuse at Reki, who wasn't here--

"You too--let go of me! I'm busy! Just that, before going to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure Kure], I came to Osaka Butei High to get some equipment that I had left here! Because, Muto Goki and Riko are waiting for me at Kure!"

Kure...Hiroshima? And, Riko and Muto? What's with that. Does it have something to do with Kanae-san's trial?

Towards me, who was just about to ask that, Aria--

"I'm busy!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thud!* A fist collided into the space between my eyebrows.

"As a couple with Reki!"

<nowiki>*Kch!*</nowiki> She swept me off my feet.

"I hope you're happy!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thud!*

Stepping on my face, which had been brought to the floor in an instant, she vanished into the crowd.

"Y-you...What was that!"

At that moment, Haimaki caught up with me, who had shouted that.

Is the reason that Aria left with such haste because she noticed him?

No, not only Haimaki.

Because, I had also vaguely felt--Reki, from some unknown location, was staring this way.

And, she was using the scope of her Dragunov.

Once again, Aria had been pushed away by that killing intent.

Aah. Caravan I, despite the fact that this was an activity where we're supposed to make teams...the relationship between Aria and Reki, as well as I, was getting worse and worse.

--It had already reached a point where reconciliation was impossible.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume6_Chapter2|2nd Ammo: Water Tossing]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Chapter4|4th Ammo: Flash Cannon]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Talk:Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter3

2011-06-04T02:56:02Z

Remotemine:

'those feet had become horrifying': should 'feet' be 'legs'? (e.g. 'ashi', which can mean either) (given that the legs are more likely to be affected by skirt length than feet) *normal glee/enjoyment regarding being able to read the story*

Suggestion: 'confirmed onee-san's words' -> 'confirmed the onee-san's words'.

For the three Hiro Hayase changes: I agree with the first two, but for 'moved--I followed it'/'moved--and I followed it', the dash represents an appropriate break such that an 'and' is redundant, since the following is in reaction to the moving (whereas an 'and' might fit if it were an observed person doing one action, then a quick perhaps-surprising second thing after it).

I agree with reverting the change to 'moved--I followed it'. The addition of 'and' is unnecessary as per the reason above.

As an addendum to the second change, I propose changing 'Muto, originally from Kobe' to 'Muto, who is originally from Kobe'. The description 'originally from Kobe' should be directly associated with Muto. --[[User:Remotemine|Remotemine]]

The nature of the sentence is such that, even if it were unclear what exactly 'originally from Kobe' is modifying, Muto is what is being modified. Personally, I don't think that there's a need to change it, but I don't really care. I agree with the changed to the 'moved' excerpt as well. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 07:07, 16 May 2011 (UCT)

== Caravan I or Caravan 1? ==

For the sake of consistency, is it "Caravan I" or "Caravan 1" (roman numeral or arabic numeral)? The previous chapter had a few instances of "Caravan 1" (arabic) and the title for this chapter is "Caravan 1" (arabic), but the majority of references were "Caravan I" (roman). --[[User:Remotemine|Remotemine]]

It's written as Caravan One, so it's up to interpretation whichever one you use. I've been using the roman one, but both should be entirely correct. Never mind, it's written as "Field Trip I", so change all instances to roman numerals. - [[User:YoakeNoHikari|YoakeNoHikari]] 07:06, 16 May 2011 (UCT)

"And opposed to that, having been defeated by her in the underground warehouse last spring, I...am being restricted by a robot girl and a wolf.. What have I gotten myself into?"

For the second sentence, shouldn't it be "having defeated her in the underground warehouse..."? - [[User:Remotemine|Remotemine]] 03:01, 4 June 2011 (UCT)

Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter3

2011-06-03T08:35:01Z

Remotemine: /* 3rd Ammo: Caravan I -Field Trip- */

==3rd Ammo: Caravan I -Field Trip-==

Amdo's educational building is made up of 1 level above ground, and 3 levels below ground, with the levels underground wider than the level on top.

'Underground'. For Academy Island, which is an artificial island, that certainly is a curious phrase.

Passing through the rigorous checks on the first floor and continuing underground...I arrived at a corridor that was filled with display cases filled with an innumerable amount of guns.

This place...this is an empty space that makes me nervous no matter when I come.

With Reki and Haimaki, who were following me, I passed through the corridor, ringing the doorbell of Workroom B201, which was adorned with a plaque which had "Hiraga Aya" written on it--

"I'm in! The door's unlocked!"

From inside, Hiraga-san's childlike voice reached my ears.

I opened the door, noticing that the inside seemed to be a temple devoted to Don Quixote, as there were things, things, and more things everywhere.

Tools of all sizes, components of guns from every era...springs, wrenches, the hundreds of screws in plastic cases, they were all mixed about, stacked until they reached the ceiling.

"Hiraga-san, it's me. Tohyama."

I shuffled sideways, taking care not to touch what had already become a forest of components, walking inside.

The workbench that was situated within the room had a DVD player and a TV, which was broadcasting a shoujo anime on it.

Beside it--*KCCCHHH!* Having been welding something, Hiraga-san twisted her head towards me.

"Oohh!? Tohyama-kun brought Reki-san with him! You guys are getting along well!"

Shunting the protective goggles upwards, Hiraga-san used those innocent eyes to look between Reki and me.

"This is...I didn't bring her, she followed me herself. Also...Is it completed?"

I looked around, asking.

"Yeah, you guys are getting along well! You two really match!"

Said Hiraga-san, pointing two fingers at Reki and me.

"No, that isn't how this is..."

"Aha! You're getting along well!!"

...Is that all you can say?

"No we're not. What I'm asking is, is the object I contracted you for completed?" [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

Hearing me ask again, the lightbulb above Hiraga-san's head flickered on.

"Aha! The contract is finished too! It's finished!"

Saying this, she went deeper into the tool rack...*Kcch*. Just like a squirrel entering a tree, she stuck her head and torso within.

It looks like, if she doesn't do that, she can't reach it.

"Uuu! Just a little bit more!"

Her SSS-sized uniform snagged by a nail on a shelf, Hiraga-san, only her bottom half visible, wriggled her hips, twisting them around, and those legs, as thin as an elementary school student's, were also struggling.

...It's amazing that you can remember where it is, at least.

Well, Hiraga-san is a genius girl, which even U.S. arms manufacturers scouted because of her talent after all. The structure of her brain is, most likely, slightly different from normal.

...*Kch, Kccch*

Ah, she came out.

"This may be a western blade, but it is a masterpiece that is no worse than the best of Japanese katanas. Tohyama-kun really has something good!"

Screws and springs stuck inside her hair, Hiraga-san, *Shh*

Handed over a double-edged sword which had a body which seemed to glow with a fierce light.

Ooh. It's been completely modernized.

What I had just received was the scramasax that Sherlock had used in EU.

At the end of the battle, I borrowed this to mount the ICBM...but because of its unnatural sharpness, I had been keeping it up till now. What I had contracted Hiraga-san to construct was something fitted for me, a reinforced rubber handle as well as a hidden sheath--

I placed it in the sheath behind my back. Yeah, it's completely hidden. As expected of Hiraga-san.

"Also, I also modified this, as you requested me to. I accelerated the speed of magazine release, added a three burst-fire setting, as well as full auto!"

This time, Hiraga-san used those small hands to hand over a gun.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Click* This heavy, large pistol is--a Desert Eagle.

It is one of the world's most powerful semi-automatic pistols, my father's legacy.

Reki glanced towards the pitch-black body.

"The only person in Amdo able to modify it to such a level is Aya! Amazing, right!?"

Said Hiraga-san, thrusting forward her flat chest, no different from Aria's, with pride.

I raised the gun, aiming it towards the wall. In the sight, Jeanne, Vlad, Patra, Sherlock--the appearances of all the superhumans that we had fought till now appeared.

...Regretfully, I'm still a Butei High student.

EU, as a group, may have splintered, but its remnants are still on the run. So, it's practically certain that one of those ability users, just like in manga, will attack.

And, for the sake of resisting, of course I strengthen my equipment.

Following this line of thought, I found this Desert Eagle from out of my the things my father left behind.

The bullets that this Desert Eagle uses are bullets that have three times the stopping power of the 9mm parabellum ammo that my Beretta uses, a .50AE.

However, guns...aren't like in games, where once they are equipped, they increase the user's power. To put it simply, the user has to undergo training for such a thing to happen.

Especially this Desert Eagle, whose barrel and recoil are both abnormally strong.

My father, who was a strong man, nearly 2 meters in height, could use it freely, but for me, it's a gun that is too heavy, and too powerful. If I want to be able to use it without impediment, I have to undergo more practice.

And as such, I temporarily--decided only to use it when I was in Hysteria Mode.

After all, even if I have a powerful gun, it's meaningless if I can't hit the target.

I sheathed the gun, slipping it into the holster that Hiraga-san had provided--one that was strapped to one's thigh.

Beside me, Hiraga-san's round eyes were glowing with an innocent light, and she looked up at me, saying

"Mmm, Tohyama-kun is really cool like this! A black Desert Eagle really fits a dark boy like you!"

Dark boy?

"Isn't that right, Reki-san!"

....*Shh*

Reki nodded her head in agreement.

"Reki-san, remember to buy the components for your armor-piercing bullets. I've already prepared amazing bullet tips, made out of reinforced tungsten carbide. Thanks for the patronage♪" 

Her hands put together, brought up, touching her face, Hiraga-san flashed a large, salesman-like, smile.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh*

Apparently also one of Hiraga-san's old customers, Reki nodded.

...Selling weapons to me as well as selling weapons to Reki, it looks like, the more we fight...the richer Hiraga-san becomes. And, she herself doesn't have to fight. Arms dealing, it's such a profitable job.

Her face may be innocent, but she's a terrifying person. Hiraga-san, that is.

A few days after I started to live with Reki--The Reki humanization plan that I had prepared for the sake of the Lima Syndrome received a small opportunity.

That day, we had swimming class, but Ranbyou-sensei, whose blind date appeared to have failed again, vented the full force of her rage upon the boys of class B, destroying the swimming pool. It was hard for me to imagine a lone person destroying a swimming pool with her bare hands, but ultimately, this is only something that the Vice-Director of Assault, the monstrously strong woman, Ranbyou, could do.

Repairing the swimming pool would take some time...so the swimming class that the girls in class C were going to have was pushed back till after school.

And after school--I didn't want it to look like I was peeping, but I still observed the swimming pool--I noticed that Reki, also wearing the school swimsuit, was standing with the other girls by the edge of the pool.

(This means that I can temporarily move freely...!)

I immediately put my body into gear, burdened by one extra sword and gun--using the fish sausages as a lure, I locked Haimaki in the sports warehouse before running to the rendezvous point with the person that was going to aid me in my plan.

I arrived at a point close to the center of Academy Island--the tennis court by the second field.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bch. Bch. Shh.*

...Inside the fence, wearing white tennis outfits, the girls in the tennis club were sweating profusely.

Ignoring what they're like normally, in this kind of situation, they're fulfilling their time of youth, of vigor.

But, opposed to them, pressing himself into the fence, was someone, looking exactly like a prison inmate. Probably for the crime of peeping.

Ah! Jeanne-san!

I looked towards one side of the court, towards where the freshmen girls were shouting, and over there--*Shh!*

Two strands of hair hanging on both sides of her cheeks, the rest tied up with a ponytail, Jeanne delivered a sharp smash, currently in a furious match with a curly-haired member of the tennis club.

(Hey, that...)

Just now, I thought that I had seen it.

Jeanne's tenniswear--

That skirt, following in the wake of Jeanne's killer smash, had floated upwards.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bch, Whoosh*--

And every time she swung her racket...

Her pure white triple-layered, frilly underskirt would, for an instant, be completely exposed.

No. I understand. That isn't underwear. It's just sportswear, it doesn't matter even if anyone sees it.

What I had thought I saw was just a mistake my brain had made, unable to tell the difference.

But...that underskirt, almost like underwear, wasn't the only problem.

Having long, graceful legs which a Japanese person would be hard pressed to have, (well, now that I think about it, she isn't Japanese,) her thighs were full, and delightfully supple. Also, they were amazingly white, almost like snow.

Every time her skirt flipped up, those were exhibited for all to see, so the stimulation of arousal was hardly normal. This is too dangerous, right?

Damn it. Why is it that the girls' tennis outfit is designed such that it appears to be showing off their lower body? To the designer: Get the hell out here! I wouldn't mind using my sword to help fix your broken mind. 

...Actually, now that I think about it, doesn't it really look like I'm peeking?

I just came here to find Jeanne...

For the sake of preventing any suspicion that I would be doing such a thing, I dropped my head, and as I fought an inner battle with Hysteria Mode, which was threatening to activate...the sound of the match stopped.

I jerked my head up, only to see a freshman kouhai shouting, "Please use this towel!", running towards Jeanne, who appeared to have achieved a landslide victory.

...Jeanne, you're pretty popular, aren't you. Even if among the female students. I may not know why, but it seems that she's a beautiful person that's just as attractive to girls. 

With such splendor, she was received in a manner befitting a princess.

--In the time since the Plea Bargain that allowed her to transfer from EU to Butei High, Jeanne had already enrolled in Informa, joined the tennis club, and like now, she was living a fulfilling high school life.

And opposed to that, having been defeated by her in the underground warehouse last spring, I...am being restricted by a robot girl and a wolf.. What have I gotten myself into?

Not able to avoid spiraling into deep depression, I-- 

"--Tohyama."

Heard Jeanne, who had finally noticed my presence.

"Jeanne, come, quickly."

I waved towards her.

Her silver hair partitioned, hanging down her back, she had changed into her uniform, striding out of the clubroom for the tennis club...
[[File:Aria06 129.jpg|thumb]]
At a distance around 2 meters away, *Tap*, she stood her ground.

"Don't come any closer. Tohyama."

"Why?"

"In the club activities just now, I sweated a little."

Said Jeanne, shifting the racket that was slung over her back, under her shoulder.

"But, because of your haste, I did not have time to shower. As such, I only used a wet towel to wipe my body, and perfume to mask my scent."

...You're still so formal.

Also, did you say you used perfume? Even though you're still a high school student. As expected of the ojou-sama who holds the blood of nobles.

"There's no need to pay attention to that. Let's talk as we walk."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Fyuu* A gust of wind blew past--and Jeanne's scent, a comfortable, grassy fragrance, wafted from her body.

Hey, you're not sweaty at all, are you?

Before, I had heard Nii-san...No, I should say Kana...say that just relying on perfume wasn't fully effective, and that only when perfume is mixed and melded perfectly with a woman's natural scent, will it be able to create a pleasing, moving fragrance.

And the Jeanne as of now had completely achieved this.

In Butei High, which is full of the acrid stink of gunpowder, you really are an unparalleled, fresh existence.

Jeanne frowned, a little hesitant--but she walked this way, keeping by my side.

Glancing at her, who was walking beside me, that skirt, following the school rules perfectly, was hiding a gun.

--A CZ100, huh? That's a good gun.

"The fact that Aria and you separated and that you're in a team with Reki now--has become quite big news in Inquesta."

"You're kidding me...Somebody like me isn't qualified to be a topic of discussion, right?"

"Tohyama, you yourself may not know this, but the students in Butei High, especially those in Assault, believe that you have excellent abilities in battle, and from the shadows, they respect and admire you. However, they're afraid of your reaction, so they aren't too open with their admiration. To tell the truth, after hearing about your induction exam, I looked at you in a new light."

Ha-have mercy on me.

And, up till now, whether it is a good or bad thing I'm not sure of, but I'm still looked up to by those in Assault.

"This is also written in the reports that Masters keeps. They said that, while there are some ups and downs with your status, you possess the greatest alternative power, your charisma, your leadership--you just lack integration with others, and there are some issues with your personality."

Issues with my personality, huh?

How troublesome.

"Mmm, well...there's no need to talk about me. Rather, let's speak about Reki. What have you found out?"

I thought about what Aria had said from back then--A battle between Butei is a battle of information.

What kind of opponent the enemy is, what are his weaknesses, what does he like, what does he hate...the first side able to grasp these characteristics has an overwhelming advantage.

But, if one acts by himself, he will be noticed immediately, and as such, contracting a third party is common practice.

The person that I had contracted in April was Riko from Inquesta, and the person that I had contracted this time was Jeanne, who had taught Riko how to sift through information. After all, the teacher should be better than the student, and jokes and false information tend to appear in Riko's reports.

"Elite snipers will often try to hide information about themselves, and Reki has this tendency as well. As such, the amount of information that exists about her is extremely limited."

Well, that's what I expected.

Even living together with her, I hadn't really figured anything out about her.

"Also, her past history is a blank. The success rate of missions after entering Butei High is 100%, an impeccable record. But, she is extremely selective with her missions."

"What does that mean?"

"Presently, all I can say is, Reki only accepts a mission under three patterns."

"Three patterns...?"

"The first, a teacher asks her directly to do so. Under certain, rare circumstances, Masters will assign the contract to specific, excellent students...although these cannot be solved outright because of special conditions, it is possible to earn a large amount of credits, nullifying the need to take an exam. You ran into something like this during your first year, right?"

Now that she mentions it...when I was in Assault, such a thing did happen.

I thought back to that situation, and thinking of buying a can of coffee, I slotted a coin into a roadside vending machine.

"--the second, missions with an LD Score of over 900" 

"900...!?"

Shocked, my hand slammed into the button of the vending machine.

LD Score is a ranking system, assessing the difficulty of a Butei mission. I don't normally pay attention to it, but special, outside organizations will use the value as an evaluator for the compensation.

300~400 are commissions meant for student Butei, 500~700 are commissions meant for professional Butei, and that is basically how it's divided.

--But, above 900.

In even elite Butei organizations, they are missions that only the best of the best would ever dare accept.

"Ah...I was so surprised that I pushed the button for hot."

Yet, it's amazingly hot right now...So unlucky.

Grumbling, I took the black coffee out, and Jeanne, standing by my side, took it from my hands.

"...Recently, my magic hasn't been very stable. But, I can still do something like this."

<nowiki>*Pa*</nowiki>, the can of coffee that she threw back...had become cold.

Oh! The Diamond Dust Witch, Jeanne, can use her ability for something like this. How convenient.

"Reki...accepted several of those maximum difficulty sniping missions. And, speaking in light of the fact that she still has a 100% success rate, we can already determine that she is either an ability user or a sorcerer."

Despite the fact that she herself was an ability user and sorcerer, Jeanne still said those words with a look of awe.

"...You said that there were three patterns, right? What's the third?"

"It's 'Eagle Eye'."

"Eagle Eye...? Reki?"

This rather unexpected content made me tilt my head, not fully understanding.

The "Eagle Eye" in question is something that takes advantage of snipers' prodigious eyesight to observe a target from far away--a codename for a reconnaissance mission.

That mission, where both the credit and money compensation isn't high, is such that, usually, only inexperienced freshmen or trainees in Snipe accepts it...

"Tohyama. You've been observed before. At least two times before."

"...What did you say?"

"The first time, the contractor was Aria. The date was April the 2nd. She contracted Reki to be her "Eagle Eye", so she could figure out which entrance you leave Inquesta from, and lie in wait."

Ah. That past incident, where we went to Oumi to look for that kitten.

At that time, thinking of how to combat Aria, I took a mission, trying to escape outside--but Aria, lying in wait outside the Inquesta building, appeared before me.

So, that was Reki, observing me from afar, reporting to Aria?

She really sticks her head where it's unwanted.

"And in July, she accepted a mission from Masters, the content being, observe the third boy's dormitory. At that time, Masters had apparently been warned by the police, being told to observe an empty room...since it's Butei High, they have to strengthen their alertness. And, Reki accepted that mission."

I remembered that too. That was the time where Shirayuki saw Aria in a bunny girl outfit, and she went trigger happy on her M60. At that time, Reki was using the Dragunov's scope to observe my room.

"And, the 'Eagle Eye' missions that Reki accepts all fall under certain criteria. Only when it involves you, Aria, or Shirayuki, will she accept."

"Aria, Shirayuki, or I...?"

What kind of pattern is that? I don't understand at all.

But, I understand a little now...from the beginning, Reki has been paying attention to what goes on around me.

And the only person who didn't know--was me?

"The first time I investigated, I found some other pieces of information, but many of those were unconfirmed. This is all that can be reported. Alright--did you gather anything yourself?"

A few days ago, after Reki and Aria's battle...I had explained my situation under Reki's Sniper Restriction, as well as Lima Syndrome, which was my adopted plan of action, asking Jeanne for assistance...

At that time, Jeanne made one request: "As you're by Reki's side, give me a clue as to what I can investigate about her."

"What I have gathered is--sound."

"Sound?"

"Reki always wears earphones, hearing these mysterious sounds. Yesterday, I took advantage of the time she was in the shower, and borrowed her headphones and MP3 player...copying it into a micro-SVD card."

"Shower...? What kind of scene is that? That you two have."

Jeanne said, flashing a look of suspicion towards me. I'll just ignore that.

I plugged my earphones into my phone, handing one side to Jeanne.

"Listen to this, see whether you can understand it."

"Mm..."

We stopped talking, each of us wearing one side, listening intently.

Before this, I had tried listening to the sounds...It was slightly eerie, but it really was just the sound of the wind, playing endlessly.

"..."

Because the cord was too short, our heads slowly approached each other as we listened...*Shh*. Jeanne's long, silver hair, fluttering in the midst of the wind, lightly brushed my cheek.

Uu. This feminine sensation is really hateful.

But, I'll have to tolerate it.

"--Here. It may be extremely small, but I heard a small sound. Not wind. But, I can't make it out..."

"Mm..."

Jeanne closed her eyes, her expression firm, completely concentrated on the sound.

Waiting to see for Jeanne to comment, I looked directly at her face.

...

......

...Even so...she really is so beautiful. This girl.

Long eyelashes. A shining nose. Lips like the petals of a rose.

This cool image. Rather than a witch, she's more like an actress.

"I can't hear it. But, this is certainly a clue...Wh-what are you doing, Tohyama? Why are you looking at me?"

Widening those sapphire-like blue eyes halfway through her speech, Jeannne noticed that I was looking at her from an extremely close distance, and she pulled her head away.

"Ah, no, I was just waiting for your comments."

I said, taking off my headphones...and passed the micro-SVD card with the music file on it to Jeanne, waiting for her to speak.

Her face slightly red for whatever reason, Jeanne cleared her throat before saying, 

"This might be a clue. I happen to know someone to go to."

Her arms folded in front of her chest, forefinger and middle finger stuck out, she gestured towards the SD-card in between them.

While using her own ice-blue cellphone to call that person she "happened to know", Jeanne brought me to see--Connect. Next to Informa, it's where students are taught to support those in the battlefield through the use of communicative devices.

Connect, huh...I've never really come here before.

"I get along quite well with the Nakasorachi here."

Hearing this uncommon surname, I suddenly remembered something.

--Nakasorachi Misaki.

Connect sophomore, although we were in the same grade, I couldn't remember what she looked like, but...I was very familiar with that voice.

The reason I say that is because, very often, she acts as the operator during Assault combat.

Butei--especially the Butei in Assault, need to be able to communicate with each other through wireless headsets.

When undergoing a large-scale operation, the people that keep the complicated messages from getting jumbled, are the operators.

The operator assumes command from Connect, accurately stating the team's status to all its members. Often, they will also report the ETA of reinforcements, the change in weather etc., informing them of information that Butei in the middle of the combat cannot find out for themselves.

In the bus-jacking incident in April, telling us which bus was hijacked, as well as informing us of all the situational reports before the reinforcements took action-- 

-was the operator, Nakasorachi. Which is to say, she was one of the people working behind the scenes, absolutely critical to the resolution of that case.

Nakasorachi's operating is perfect. She is always amazingly calm, able to follow separate conversations with several Butei, all speaking with hurried, unclear voices at the same time. In spite of all that, she is able to pass on each and every piece of information accurately.

Even more worthy of praise is her elocution, her voice is just as clear, as pleasing to one's ear as that of an NHK anchor. I had never heard her wrong, not once.

(But, I remember that, although she is such an excellent Butei, she was only ranked as B.)

I had only heard her voice, so I did not know what she looked like in reality.

She's probably seen me before, through the small camera installed in every headset, but as for me, it was my first time seeing her.

I can't be wrong that she's a girl. She must be an honor student, radiating a graceful air.

Thinking of this, Jeanne, saying "Follow me", hurried me onwards--[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

We walked into the Connect building, which was like a telecommunications corporation.

Under Jeanne's guidance, I arrived at the audio classroom, and it appeared that, for the sake of keeping dust outside, shoes were forbidden inside.

Changing into slippers and entering the room...because school was already over, the classroom was empty. 

I looked left and right, and audio equipment was neatly stacked all around me, just like a radio station.

Jeanne and I stood a while, in the middle of this classroom, full of the scent of machinery...

"--Jeanne?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap Tap* Several types of headphones piled up in her arms, a girl ran this way from the side...but because she was carrying too many, it didn't seem as if she could see in front of her--

"He-hey."

Not hearing my warning in time, *Thud*

"Hawaa!"

She smashed into me...*Thump* Her butt hit the floor.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh* A pair of silver-edged glasses flew into the air--and beside me, who had reached up, grabbing it, *Gcch Gcch*

The earphones that she was carrying spilled out onto the floor, the tangled wires wrapped around her head, her arms, as well as her feet, which were wearing red indoor shoes.

"Haaa."

That girl's hair wasn't only long in the back, but in the front as well, nearly blocking out her eyes.

I remembered that the male protagonist in the galge that I had helped Riko buy, had this kind of hairstyle as well.

Could it be that that's what's popular nowadays?

(...Uu...)

--Because she had fallen down, she was at my feet, and her skirt, terrifyingly enough, was in a mess.

If it was a normal guy, he'd probably be feeling quite lucky. But, that isn't me. I have to avert my gaze, looking upwards, making sure that there isn't the slightest chance that I somehow looked between those thighs. After all, safety first.

"Are you alright, Nakasorachi?"

Jeanne, next to me, asked.

Hmm?

She is...Nakasorachi...?

I couldn't help but widen my eyes, turning back towards that girl, who was still tangled because, for some reason, the wires were uncannily linked, and she couldn't get them off.

This...This is completely different from the way I imagined it.

Hearing her instructions, I really felt that she was an extremely adept person.

That girl, named Nakasorachi, extricated herself from the wires with Jeanne's help, and waving her hands in the air, she shouted "Glasses, glasses!" Almost like in a manga, like a dog chasing its own tail, she crawled around, tracing circles on the ground, feeling for her glasses. Are you alright? 

...Which is to say, I can understand that she'd be wearing her uniform while crawling around like this...

Bu-but, those breasts...they're majestic. Shirayuki-ranked.

Ignoring what kind of feeling she gives off and judging solely by her appearance, she's an extremely dangerous girl.

And those eyes, sometimes hidden, sometimes appearing from beneath her fringe, were definitely those of a beautiful person.

I felt as if I couldn't bear to speak, and so, all I did was, like giving a dog a bone, hand over the glasses I had caught just now...

Nakasorachi went "Feh!", taking the glasses and standing up, unsteady...

"...Wh...Who...is it...?"

Nn...? Frowning, she squinted at me. *Sh, shh*

Apparently not getting a clear image, she brought her face closer to mine, putting it so close that I could feel her breathing.

Is it that her eyes aren't good? Or is it that her fringe obscures her vision, making her vision hazy? Or is it both? Anyways, finally able to see my appearance, she,

"!!"
[[File:Aria06 143.jpg|thumb]]
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shuffle Shuffle Shuffle! Thud!*

Backing up hurriedly, she smashed into the soundproof wall.

"Ah, waa, it's, a boy, bo-boy, n-no, I'm fine! I'm fine! Bo-bo, like, I like! That's how, I really feel!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh*

Waving her hands around manically, she was panicked to the point where I could not understand what she was saying.

Her face, obscured by her hair such that I could only see the bottom part, turned red. Ooh, that's a rapid-blushing technique able to match Aria's.

"Je-Jeanne, suddenly, suddenlysuddenly, brought a boy with her...Awaahh."

Her back sliding down the wall...*Shh*

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhhh*...

For some reason, the girl suddenly became alert, and she suddenly straightened her legs.

And...is that how you straighten your legs? That's an amazing X-leg. Not even Shirayuki can match that.

Afterward, putting on her glasses gingerly...

"Gl-glasses, t-th-thathan, you very much..."

She couldn't even say "Thank you very much."

Is your articulation that bad?

"Isn't this the wrong person?"

I couldn't help but turn back, asking Jeanne.

"Nakasorachi is Nakasorachi. Are you unsatisfied with my choice?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Zcchh* Jeanne's eyes stared directly at me...

Helplessly, once again I...looked towards that creature, who appeared to be Nakasorachi.

"Hii."

But once I looked at her, she immediately used the headphones in her hand to block her face.

"So-sorrysorry! So-sorry!"

"No, I haven't sa..."

"I-I-I-I, Jea-Jeanne-san, Jeanne-san was alone, I thought that Jeanne-san was going to come by herself, no-not, a boy, I didn't think that a boy would come, I haven't prepared my heart yet! I'm too excited! Ah, I say excited, but it isn't a happy excitement!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Wave Wave Wave*

As if using sign language, Nakasorachi's hands gestured wildly, without pause.

"W-Which I've only seen from the incam monitor, he's so cool, I-I didn't think he would come here, moreover, Tohyama-kun! Aah..."  

Hold on...can this girl communicate properly?

"Tohyama, Nakasorachi is the same as you, and she has some issues with her personality. Please go to that wall."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhh* While looking at me, Jeanne pointed at one corner of the room. Saying "The same? How are we the same at all?", I grumbled while walking to the wall...

<nowiki>*Ba*</nowiki>

Nakasorachi had taken a cellphone out of the pocket of her skirt, and being told something by Jeanne, *Patatatata! Patatata!* With a speed that blurred one's eyes, she entered in a cellphone number.

...Who is she calling?

Just as I had thought that, the song, "Melody of Flowers" began flowing out of my cellphone.

Eh. Me?

"...Hello?"

I picked it up.

"--Hello, nice to meet you. Saying this is a little weird, but this is the first time we have met in person. I am Nakasorachi Misaki. Sorry for just now."

Just like a radio announcer, a voice, enunciating each Japanese word with absolute precision, reached my ears.

Eh?

I couldn't help but look at Nakasorachi, but Jeanne had adopted a guard-like pose, standing in front of her.

"I have the bad habit of being easily excited...so, please forgive me, I can only speak with you like this, relying on the phone--Will this be fine?"

"Eh? Ah...It's fine."

Wh-what's with this? What's with this attitude switch? 

I don't really understand, but it looks like Nakasorachi has such a personality that, only when she speaks through machines, can she speak steadily. Rather, without them, she can't speak at all. I shouldn't really say this, but she's a weird person.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhhh* Jeanne turned her head, saying something to Nakasorachi, who was behind her.

"--Is the procedure you would like me to help you with, the audio analysis of the music file in this micro-SD card?"

"Ah, ahh. If you're able to understand something from that sound, please tell us."

Hesitating, I responded to Nakasorachi.

"That is the sound that Reki from Snipe always listens to in her headphones. She said that she was listening to the sound of her birthplace, although...we cannot hear anything, but what sounds like wind. I know that having you try to perform an audio analysis without a video of any kind is a difficult contract--"

"--Not at all. Audio is able to convey much more than video. At least, for me, it is as if seeing a video. Also, because I am in the same normal class as Reki-san, sophomore class C--I can recall her headphones. Reki-san's headphones are...these. Sennheiser PMX990. One of its characteristics is its clarity of sound, a masterpiece which accentuates the higher pitches. Please wait a moment."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh* I saw Nakasorachi, behind Jeanne, put on a pair of orange headphones--

"..."

For a while, silence.

She's probably started to listen.

I'll just wait here too, silent as well.

I mean, the person I'm speaking to has put their headphones on, after all.

"...An extremely...vast location..."

Within a few moments, I heard Nakasorachi's voice come out of my cellphone.

This is probably a report on what she managed to figure out with the audio track.

"From the echo and speed of the wind, the place of recording was an expansive field--a piece of ground at a high altitude. There are forests close by. Coniferous forests. The sound of the leaves rustling...this is, Larix Sibirica."

He-hey, hey.

Just from the sound...you're able to understand to such a degree?

Now that I think about it--I had learned about this in Inquesta.

Based upon the ambient noise during a telephone conversation or some other method of communication, it is possible to deduce a specific location based upon said noises. This is the method named, sound investigation.

But, from what I could remember, one needs a computer with special software to do such a thing.

And, Nakasorachi appeared to be able to perform such an analysis with just her ears. It looks like her ears, abnormally good, make up for her eyes.

"Added to that, according to the sounds of the vegetation, this location is probably somewhere between Northern Mongolia and Siberia."

...Mongolia? Siberia...?

Nakasorachi's calm voice reaching my ears, I tilted my head.

"I can hear the breathing of horses. It isn't big, they aren't domesticated, but not completely wild...they're probably the descendants of Mongolia's horses, Equus przewalskii. Also, the howling of wolves...but on the contrary, these howls are quite loud, for wolves. I believe that they are a subspecies of gray wolves, tundra wolves."

As I was feeling overwhelmed by Nakasorachi's sense of hearing as well as her wealth of knowledge--I felt that I was understanding these sounds less and less.

Reki's birthplace...could it be that it's outside Japan?

I couldn't help but frown...looking at my watch.

Ah...this isn't good. Reki's swimming class is going to end soon. If I get too far from her, I might be sniped.

I snapped my cellphone shut, raising my voice, directing it towards Nakasorachi's direction.

"I'm sorry, but I'm out of time. I'll be leaving first...afterward, could you structure what you learned in an e-mail and send it to me? I'll leave that micro-SD here, for now. It's fine if you return it later."

Unable to talk without a machine, Nakasorachi--

"Re...re-re-return it...? Go-go-go-go-go-going to the boy's dormitory, it's impossible! Be-be-because, I don't have any fitting underwear!"

Immediately returning to that regretful personality, she answered with some mysterious words.

What...underwear?

Rather, I hadn't said anything about you coming to the boy's dormitory, right?

Well, after all, this is Butei High, the gathering place of the strange. I sighed...opening the door, preparing to leave the Connect classroom...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh* And at that moment, Jeanne grasped hold of my arm.

"...What?"

"..."

Wordlessly, she pushed me out of the classroom, and after confirming that there was nobody in the corridor...she said softly, as if whispering,

"Tohyama, be careful."

"Of what?"

"Reki. I didn't say it earlier, because I couldn't confirm the information that I had received, but--before Reki entered Butei High--ever since she was 14, she was not only in Japan, but it seems that she was also active in Russia and China. Because, before her international Detective Armed License was ratified, she had received a Butei License, allowing her to travel to China and Russia."

"...What did she do in those foreign countries?"

"It is not recorded. It's not that nothing was done, but rather, she was doing an unrecorded job."

"'An unrecorded job'...?

"It's difficult to say, is it fine if I say it?"

"Say it."

"For example, 'Sweeper'."

--Well, I expected as much.

In this business, that is probably the only unrecorded job.

Even in self-defense, a Butei is forbidden to kill. At best, this applies in Japan and Western Europe--but when one talks about reality, Butei that do nothing but kill, do exist.

And, around 70% of such Butei are those that specialize in sniping.

Of course, no matter which country it is, this information is highly classified.

"--I'll pretend that I didn't hear that."

Saying this, I looked out the window.

Reki...

As expected, you are not normal.

Well, from the beginning, I had had such a feeling.

"Tohyama. Since you said that you're under Reki's Sniper Restriction, this problem would be best solved early. I certainly accepted a contract to aid you, but--if you wish to make Lima Syndrome a reality, in the end, you must still build a good relationship between Reki and you."

"I was doing that, but it hasn't been going well."

"Mm, luckily--you and Reki are a boy and girl. There's a strategy."

...A boy and girl? ...A strategy?

Why is it that I don't have a good feeling about this.

"What are you saying I should do?"

"Have you brought Reki into the city? In other words, going on a date."

"Go-going on a date...? No, it wasn't a date, but there was a time where we went to Odaiba to eat ramen."

"You didn't make Reki pay, did you?"

"She didn't pay."

Hearing me say this, Jeanne said, surprised,

"Well done, Tohyama. Reki must have been happy."

"She didn't seem any different to me."

"No. She would have been happy in her heart. After all, this is something that would make anyone happy. Even if that meal cost a mere 100 yen."

More accurately, she didn't use any money.

Because, she ate the super pot ramen within 30 minutes.

"What I wanted to say was this behavior, treating Reki as a girl, treating her gently. Because of your role as a boy, this will have an effect. As long as you continue doing this, you will be able to build a good relationship with Reki. Right, I've thought of a good idea. Why don't you go to Caravan I now? Use that time where you have freedom of action."

"Freedom of action...?"

"Stay by Reki's side during the trip, doing things that girls would like."

"Things that girls would like...what's that? I'm not holding myself back, but I really am clueless when it comes to that area. Couldn't you tell me something a little more specific? You're a girl too, right?"

"That's--this method may be a little cliche, but use gifts to deepen your relationship. Once girls receive things like clothing or jewelry from boys, they'll feel that some distance has decreased, creating a happy feeling. Even girls and boys that are fighting make up with this method."

"...Then, what shop should I visit to buy such things?"

"For example, a boutique."

Bou-boutique...

That's a really ancient way of saying it...

No, rather than that...

"Don't you think that Reki has no interest in things like fashion...?

"Listen well, Tohyama. There is not a girl on Earth that has no interest in clothing. This is a law of the world." 

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rustle* Facing Jeanne, who said those words with an earnest face and feeling a little suspicion appear in my heart, I...

"Then, would you be happy as well? For example, if you were to receive some clothes that you liked that I had bought for you from a boutique."

...casually put forth an example.

And...maybe it was because this was an unexpected question, but...

"Clothes that I like?"

Jeanne looked shocked for a moment...and with an attitude very unlike her, she dipped her head a little.

"--N-no. If Tohyama sees me wearing clothes like that...he'll definitely think I am strange. The fact that the clothes I like don't fit my image, I understand perfectly."

"Your taste in clothes doesn't matter, right?"

"Then, for example...just as an example--I wouldn't mind a fluttering, long skirt with patterns that a girl would like. There should be a headdress. Ah, no, that's just an example." 

Since you said it's just an example, why are you leaning towards me? What is this?

"--Whatever. I'm not interested either. What's important is, you wouldn't be happy about something you should be happy about."

"I-I'd be happy about that. Originally, I'd only wear it in my room, but if it was something you bought for me, it's not that I wouldn't specially show it to only you. If you wouldn't tell anybody." 

As if she really wanted to show it to me, Jeanne said that with a strange sort of tension, but...

Well, in short, she would be happy. Receiving clothes that a boy bought for her. I understand that.

If that's so for Jeanne, then...there might be a chance that Reki too is affected.

But, for me, this is an amazingly difficult task.

No less than a battle. How depressing.

September 14--

Called a field trip, the journey of team formation had started.

Despite the fact that this, in reality, was not a field trip, on the schedule...the so-called, "Travel Bookmark":

"Location: Keihanshin (Assembly point - Dispersal point)

Day 1: Educational trip to tour Kyoto shrines (Tour at least 3 points and submit reports afterward.)

Day 2&3: Freedom of action (Touring the cities: Osaka, Kobe)"

Was all that was written.

There were no teachers chaperoning. If this were shown to the Ministry of Education, they would fly into a rage.

Crumpling that useless piece of paper into a ball and throwing it away, I--

-stepped onto the Kyoto platform from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen Toukaidou Shinkansen], train No. 101.

On the road, I had just been sitting there dazed, but the Shinkansen really is fast. We had left Shinagawa at 7:00, and barely after 9:00 had we arrived.

...*Tap Tap. Scrape Scrape*

Reki and Haimaki followed me off the Shinkansen, stepping down onto the platform.

"..."

I couldn't help but make a pained look at Reki, who wasn't going to leave my side for any reason...

The Butei High girls, taking the same Shinkansen to come here, were all looking this way, whispering something among themselves.

And what they were saying...I could guess. Those few, while they were walking through the train, they saw Reki and I, and immediately, their faces became excited.

...Let's enter the city quickly, disappearing into the crowd.

Aahh...This is the first time I've had a field trip where I've been less able to relax.

But, the fortunate thing is, because of matters dealing with her mother's trial, Aria missed the field trip...and Shirayuki, staying at the Hotogi Kyoto Shrine, would have a hard time going onto the streets.

If they were to meet Reki here and start a battle, they'd definitely give the residents of Kyoto some trouble. The type that tends to occur with stray bullets.

"...Reki, is there somewhere you'd like to go?"

Thinking about Jeanne's suggestion, I asked Reki what she wanted, though I knew it was useless...

Reki shook her head, her hair rustling.

"There isn't really somewhere I'd like to go either. But, the first day, we have to see at least three temples or shrines, submitting a report about them. So, we're going to have to walk a lot, today. It should be fine, right?"

This time, she nodded.

Ah...The Reki as normal.

I fished the guidebook that I had bought in advance out of my bag. Now, I had to think about the routes we should take to go to whichever temple.

During the time we had seen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera Kiyoumizudera] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkakuji Kinkakuji], Reki, following at my side, had been wordless from the beginning to the end.

Just, as we were walking through the tourists and geisha, whether it was to keep me from escaping or to keep us from separating, I did not know, but she would grasp my sleeve.

And, known for my misfortune, I would always meet other students just at that moment, "Ah, they're linking their arms." "They're so lovey-dovey." It was like pouring oil on the fire of those horrible rumours.

Because of that, for the sake of not meeting anybody from Butei High...I avoided Ginkaku temple, which was a set location, and following Muto's advice, who had come here before, we went to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanj%C5%ABsangen-d%C5%8D Sanjuusangendou], where none of my classmates were. I avoided taking the bus, and instead, we took a taxi. Reki is really expensive.

I threw a glance inside from the entrance of the temple,

(Alright, there are no Butei High students.)

After I had confirmed this, I...

I went to the reception to buy tickets, and seeing the notice on the wall: "To the students on Butei High Training School's field trip, please leave your guns and swords etc., here"--I left all my weapons there.

"Reki, leave yours too."

Hearing my words, Reki, more obedient than I thought, left her Dragunov and bayonet at the reception.

It looks like she really will listen to all my orders.

"..."

Suddenly, my gaze a little suspicious, I glanced towards Reki, who was like this.

I had heard...paranoid Butei would hide extremely small folding knives or derringers. And, such people would always stay silent, so that they would not be found out.

"...Open your mouth a little and show it to me."

Hearing my order, Reki raised her head, looking at me...opening her mouth.

Hmm.

There's nothing, for now.

But, it really is small. Her mouth.

Her teeth were neatly arranged, and her tongue too, was like that of a child's.

Well, that's a given, since Reki is a rather small girl.

"Alright. Close it."

Once I had finished speaking, Reki's mouth shut...and like a small animal, she looked up at me.

Seeing this gaze and position, not being able to help but think back to Reki's kiss, I--

"...Then, let's start touring. Make Haimaki wait here."

Flicking my gaze at Haimaki, I entered the hall.

Sanjuusangendou, since ancient times, this place has been renowned as a place for testing arrows.

It is said that, the 120 meter long main hall, under the eaves, was used for an archery competition called "Arrow Traversal", and even now, it was still continuing, albeit in a different form.

--Now that I think about it, it could be said that this is a temple that has a relationship with sniping.

Walking through the corridor, which was lined with one thousand statues of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin Zenjuukannon], all neatly arranged in a row, I...glanced towards Reki.

The same as ever...Reki still had that perfectly expressionless face.

Even the statues of Buddha have expressions.

But, only after reaching Kyoto did I know this, statues of Buddha have different expressions.

Reki...didn't seem to have any interest in this place, she just trudged on alongside me.

For her--a mere 120 meters was a distance where she could probably shoot through the heart of a flea.

I counted the hands of Zenjuukannon, thanking God in my heart that Aria did not have this many. Rather than a Quadra, she'd be a Sendra[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]. Thinking about that, I chuckled...

(If she were here, this trip would definitely be a lot more vigorous.)

Thinking about this, I walked through the corridor.

Although I was together with Reki, we hadn't shared any special feelings...

"...We've finished the tour."

Within a short amount of time, Reki and I had finished touring the hall.

It had just reached afternoon.

It was set down that we were to tour three temples or shrines on the first day, but we had already finished touring three.

(...What should we do...)

Under the fresh, blue, autumn sky, Reki and I arrived at something like a courtyard.

Seeing that, in the middle, there was something like a backless-bench, covered with a red cloth, I sat down...looking over Reki, I gazed upon several windmills, apparently made by the local children.

Suddenly,

"--Kinji-san. When you were walking with me, you were thinking about another girl, were you not?"

Still looking downwards, Reki spoke those words to me.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Surprise*

"You were thinking about Aria, were you not?"

Bu-bullseye.

"...How did you know?"

"Just now, when you were walking through the corridor, your smiling face--was the same as the face when you are together with Aria."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Stare*

Reki's ice-cold eyes were fixed on me.

Sc-scary.

This is a temple--thank God that weapons are prohibited here.

"Th-that is...Well, I was her partner for an entire semester, I just suddenly thought about it and laughed."

I casually made an excuse, and Reki,

"Please do not get closer to Aria."

-with some sort of terrifying air...she warned me.

I mean, it was extremely slight, but...she was giving a feeling, which seemed to convey the fact that she was angry about something.

And, this was the first time she had spoken since we arrived at Kyoto.

"Are you angry?"

"No."

No, you are angry, aren't you?

For some reason, I felt that the way you said "No," just now was a little angry.

"You're angry, right?"

"..."

Reki shook her head, her hair rustling. 

But, this second denial--she did not speak. Just a gesture. It might be, that that was a sign of weakness.

In short, she was more or less angry. About the fact that, while together with her, I had thought about Aria.

Well...that was certainly my fault...

But, Reki really gets angry for the most inexplicable reasons.

If Reki and I were really engaged, then I'd be able to understand her anger. But, this was something that, according to what Reki had said, something like an arranged marriage...It was not because she liked me that she stays close to me.

Just that, Reki had received some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denpa_Onna_to_Seishun_Otoko denpa] from whatever place--and she was just obeying "wind"-sama's orders.

So, Reki has no reason to get angry about the thing that happened before.

From my standpoint, she was being a little unreasonable.

...With that, I felt a little upset...

"I am not angry."

Towards me, who was like that, as if announcing it to herself--Reki once again denied it.

"Is that true?"

"I am sure that Kinji-san is aware of my nickname."

--Robot Reki.

Have you heard it said yourself?

"Just like what other people say in the shadows, I--do not have the emotions of a normal person. Because, the wind does not like people's 'emotions'."

"..."

The "wind" that Reki had said...it looks like it's firm delusion, set deep within herself.

"So, I am not angry. I do not laugh, nor do I cry."

Telling me these things in a detached manner, Reki's words made me...completely speechless.

Certainly, I had never seen Reki express her emotions.

I had always believed that that was just because of an overly strong professional consciousness as a "sniper", who seeks calmness in all things, manifesting itself in that pattern...but it seems that that was not all.

Is her emotionless appearance tied in together with her "wind" delusion? If so, this is a profound problem.

(But...)

From the conversation just now--

It may have been just a little, but contrary to her words, I felt that I had caught a glimpse of Reki's feelings.

It had not been completely expressed, but the her as of right now was releasing a sense of unhappiness.

So...definitely...

It's definitely possible. Reki's humanization, and Lima Syndrome as well.

That's what I thought. I could not help but think any other way.

(But...then, what should I do?)

The me as of right now has made her angry. Opposed to that, if I don't make her happy, there will be no hope for Lima Syndrome.

I stared directly at the side of Reki's face, who had resumed her wordless mode, her arms folded...

...

......

Ah.

A red dragonfly had stopped. On Reki's head.

You, can even bugs mistake you as a statue? Please move a little.

While I was complaining in my heart, I looked at the red dragonfly, sitting on her head like a ribbon, suddenly thinking back to Jeanne's words.
"That's--this method may be a little cliche, but use gifts to deepen your relationship. Once girls receive things like clothing or jewelry from boys, they'll feel that some distance has decreased, creating a happy feeling. Even girls and boys that are fighting make up with this method."

...There's no choice.

Because I have no more cards to play, I'll have to try using Jeanne's method.

In the movie I had seen on TV, "Pretty Woman", there was this kind of scene.

But...I'm not familiar with Kyoto.

I have no idea of what is sold where.

Go out to Osaka? After all, I had gone there before, together with Nii-san.

Doing something like going with a girl to buy things, it's rather impossible for me, but...

This is for the sake of Lima Syndrome.

Written on Masters' schedule was the fact that Osaka too was a city where we could go see shrines, so it's two bird with one stone.

"Reki."

"Yes."

"Let's walk to Osaka for a while. So we can shop together."

Hearing me say that, Reki looked at me with, for some reason, a little surprise, before she nodded-- 

As if confirming the fact I had started to understand a little, a sort of soothed feeling began to flow out of Reki.

She remained expressionless, but, if I were to use Haimaki as a comparison, it'd be a state in which his tail was wagging slightly.

What...are you happy about me saying: "We can shop together"? I don't understand girls at all.

After taking the train for around an hour, we arrived at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsaibashi Shinsaibashi], Osaka.

This place was the gathering place of teenagers, well, to put it in terms of Kyoto, it's a location akin to that of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibuya Shibuya] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harujuku Harujuku].

Clothing stores and accessory shops were everywhere.

Since we're going shopping for the sake of starting Lima Syndrome against Reki, then Keihanshin should be a good place.

But, exiting the subway, which was like a mole, Reki and I, wearing bulletproof uniforms...stood out amongst the crowd of teenagers, wearing very current and fashionable clothes.

"Coming here was good, but...I don't know it at all, The fashion of this city, that is."

I said it, half to myself,

"I do not know either."

After Reki said that, we stood there, at a loss of what to do.

"..."

"..."

After all, the location that Introvert and Wordless shouldn't have gone to, is here.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

(But, this is also for the sake of putting Lima Syndrome into action against Reki.)

I motivated myself, setting off down the busy street.

I can't say that I'm wealthy--but it's not like I don't have any money.

During July, my bank account had received the halved reward of the casino security detail, and the compensation of the commissions I took during the summer holiday may have been small, but I still received it from Butei High.

But...the "boutique" that Jeanne had mentioned was here and there, but I had no idea of anything to do with fashion.

Buying things that would make girls, Reki included, happy...I had no idea of what those things might be.

"Reki. What kind of casual clothes do you wear?"

Not knowing, I asked her directly,

"I do not have casual clothes."

"...Are you saying that you have nothing but your uniform?"

"Yes."

She responded with an answer that was completely expected, and I increasingly felt the urge to drop to my knees in despair.

This is so difficult. Then, I'll directly make Reki walk and look for a store that she wants to go to. I'll just spend some time drinking coffee there or something.

No...letting Reki, who has no consciousness of the outside world, or rather, no common sense at all, walk wherever she wants to, is dangerous.

This street is full of boys radiating a feeling of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanpa nanpa], and Reki will have no idea of their ulterior motives. Even during the Casino security detail, she had trouble with the womanizing CEO.

With that in mind, I brought Reki along with me, and without any real purpose, we walked onwards.

If you let a dog walk on its own, it will hit a pole. As I thought about that, glancing at Haimaki, plodding along beside us...

Kuh.

This place too, has a few students from Tokyo Butei High.

Because the boys were wearing the same uniform as me, and the girls were wearing a dark-red sailor uniform, I noticed it immediately.

They too had finished their touring of the temples early, and were now touring the city...they seemed to be coming here to play. Over here, there was also an Osaka Butei High, they were moving with that as a destination. Damn it.

Not wanting to be disturbed by them again, because of Reki, I--

-thinking that whatever shop would be fine, I looked around.

Convenience store, clubhouse, a neko-design cafe...in my line of sight, next to the cafe, "Chaton B", a select shop aimed towards girls, appeared before my eyes.

Alright. I'll just go in here.

With that, I pushed forward into the store--Reki followed me, her footsteps quick.

Haimaki, wiping his paws on the mat at the entrance, followed us from there.

It looks like a very fashionable shop, but it's fine. We're two Butei, bringing a wolf too, after all.

Inside "Chaton B", there were a lot of neko designs as well...they seemed to be using a forest as an image theme, the shelves and cases were all made out of wood. The decorations were all leaves and vines too.

This ambiance...isn't so bad.

I was a little worried that we would be kicked out for bringing in a wild animal, but the female assistants, with tea-colored hair, said: "Welcome~~, oh, cuuteee~!", hugging Haimaki.

Thank God. This seems to be a store where pets are OK. What a relief.

Haimaki wagged his tail, looking up at the assistants with a face that seemed to convey the message, "I'm a good boy!". 

You can really read the mood, can't you. I hope that your master over there can watch and learn.

"--I'm sorry. Could you lend me your ears for a while?"

Hearing me say this and going "Mm?", the assistants thrust their heads towards me, next to my face...

"I...am in a certain situation, and I have to buy something for that girl over there, but...she doesn't really know what kind of clothes she likes, so would it be possible for you to pick something for her?"

If one wants ice cream, he goes to an ice cream parlor. "Shirts" ,"Skirts", "Pants." I, confused and ignorant about any of these phrases that girls use, should ask the assistants, right? 

Thinking this, I explained the situation to them honestly--and the onee-san smiled at me strangely.

"Situation, huh? An-san, it's that, right? Yer preparing to break through her barrier, right? I knew it from a glance. That girl's guard is pretty firm."

Uu...this person, is she something like a former Butei? I have no idea.

If one is aiming for Lima Syndrome, they have to destroy the barrier around the opponent's heart.

And, the barrier around Reki's heart was extremely strong. For the sake of breaking through it, I came here to go shopping so we can improve our relationship.

I thought that there was probably no-one undergoing Sniper Restriction from a girl, but Osaka Butei High is near here, it could be that this shop was often visited by Butei.

"--Speaking truthfully, that's how it is. I was hoping that you could help me solve this."

Forgetting my embarrassment during the journey, I said that--

"Hehe~. You're naughty~"

Said the Onee-san, nudging me with her elbow.

Eh. What did you say?

Why would you call me naughty?

"Isn't it great, young lady? This boy wants to buy something for ya~. Afterwards, give him a kiss, a'right?"

Ki-kiss?

Wh-what? It looks like we've misunderstood something.

"Leave it to me! I'm a genius at choosin' clothes based on my customers' sizes. Alright, young lady, tell me ya height and weight. And, ya three sizes, hehehe."

"150 centimeters, 41 kilograms, 76 centimeters, 50 centimeters, 73 centimeters."

"Ooh, cuutee~. On a closer look~, ya have a really pretty~ face, y'know~. Almost like a diamond gem~."

Answering casually while pushing Reki's back, the onee-san brought Reki deeper into the shop.

"Why don'tcha sit down over there and have some coffee while ya wait, an-san?"

"A-ah."

Coffee?

Not really knowing how things go at this store, I followed her instructions, sitting by the table, and quickly, from "Chaton Cafe", which seemed to have some sort of relationship with this place, another onee-san, wearing a brooch with a different cat-design, came, holding a menu, smiling all the while. Ku. I have to pay for the coffee as well.

Rather, when did I say I was going to shop here?

The people here really know how to run a business.

A group of girls, holding select shop "Chaton B"'s paper bags, and boys, seeming to be buying the girls their clothes, were drinking tea and coffee while talking, seeming to be waiting for a certain event.

Surrounded by these people, all speaking [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka-ben Osaka-ben], which my ears weren't accustomed to, I, the outsider, folded my arms, waiting...

"How 's it?"

With that, the onee-san from earlier had brought--

Reki's appearance made me spit out the coffee I was drinking with an "Ehnn!"

The reason for that was--

A kindergarten uniform...! Although it was made to be worn for adults.

"Wh-what the hell is that!"

Wiping a paper napkin around my mouth, I pushed the chair back.

Wearing a yellow kindergarten hat along with a water-blue smock and standing there wordlessly, Reki had a tag with "れき" written on it pinned to her chest.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

N-no, even more than that...those legs had become horrifying. I had thought that the length of the skirt would be to scale with a normal kindergartener's skirt, but it was a shocking mini-size. It stopped 1 centimeter below the inseam.

Seeing the sheathe for her bayonet, gunchira (Seeing the area under the skirt where guns and knives are hidden. Namer: Idiot Muto,) was happening even now.

"..."

Reki was, as ever, in her living mannequin mode, standing straight.

(Wh-what a lifeless kindergartener...)

Her hair was also tied back with a rubber band, and she really looked like a child that had been turned overly big with magic.

"...?"

Seeing my reaction, Reki looked up and down at her own appearance a little.

I mean...there's no need to wear that kind of thing so obediently.

Some people, upon seeing this, would burst into tears out of happiness, but I have no interest in that kind of thing.

"An-san~, ya made a nice, 'Eeh!', reaction. But...why'd ya do that? I thought that she'd fit this kinda childish clothin'."

"O-of course, if it fits well, it fits well, but...don't use these kinds of clothes please...at least, something that she can walk outside in..."

I...slumped over the table, trying to plead with the onee-san, somehow.

"An-san, this ain't a joke ya know. But, somethin' for the nighttime would be nice, right? Hehehe."

For the nighttime...?

Is she planning to use it as pajamas? She'll catch a cold if she wears that kind of skirt, right?

Well...it looks like this cosplay was just a prank. Is this part of their culture too?

Looks like such things exist when you go on a trip.

Behind Reki, whose kindergarten skirt was fluttering as she was led into the changing room, I wiped my sweat off.

Ah, onee-san. Please close the curtain of the changing room.

You just left a subtle gap, making it so that only people from my angle could see it, right?

You probably think that you're doing me a favor, but it's just a complete annoyance for me. That action, that is.

That kindergarten uniform was something that made me extremely surprised--

But, it too was something that fit Reki really well, the shop assistant onee-san was really good at choosing an outfit that matches with her customer.

Afterward, calling it "Jungle girl," she made Reki wear clothes with a reindeer pattern...it fit her too. There was no incompatibility.

After that, wearing something very similar to the frilly dresses that Riko usually wears, it was a lolita costume. (Under Riko's persistent reminding, I finally remembered.) Originally, this seemed to be clothing that was meant to be worn by rather lively girls, but with Reki wearing it, she looked like an antique doll.

But, this kind of clothing would make the sleeves be jammed when readying her sniper rifle, so, from the Butei standpoint, I denied it... 

Lastly, the assistant said, "Next is my favorite," taking out some clothes from the corner of the shop so Reki could try them on.

Because makeup was part of the service, Reki was really sealed inside the changing room by the onee-san.

I finally realized that some cats that Chaton Cafe was taking care of were walking around, understanding why it was OK for Haimaki to enter, but I was wondering whether it was really hygienic as I waited...

Reki hadn't come out for a while.

Drinking my coffee and feeling a little bored, I went outside for a little while...

Suddenly, I thought about something. I spent a some time buying little things at the outdoor stalls.

I returned to Chaton B,

"...Ahh, ya really look like a diamond gem~..."

Saying that, I heard a voice, shocked at something, from the changing rooms--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rustle* After the curtain had opened, a slender foot, wearing white, high-heeled sandals exited the changing room.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap Tap* Once again making her appearance inside the shop, Reki...

The assistants, Chaton Cafe's customers, I...even Haimaki, everyone's gaze was drawn to her, fixated on her.
[[Image:Aria06 177.jpg|thumb]]
Makeup applied, her hair combed and set properly, wearing a white sleeveless one-piece, the lack of sleeves its highlight, Reki was--

(S-so...beautiful)

That's what I thought, from the bottom of my heart.

Those exquisite features, already looking as if she was a work of art, confirmed onee-san's words. She was like a sparkling diamond.

Painstakingly polished by this process of outfitting herself and applying makeup, really, all eyes were focused on her.

One portion of the white cloth, made of what looked like fine silk, accentuated the lines of her body, which were already highlighted by the illumination of the store ,making the sense of transparency that Reki already gave off even stronger.

I thought that if Aria takes the time to beautify herself, she could be on the cover of fashion magazines, and Reki...was the same.

Well, Aria would be on one of those popular magazines that everyone reads--and Reki would be on those high class fashion magazines aimed at ojou-sama. If I had to make a distinction, that would be it.

"..."

Even with that, Reki wasn't making any special expressions, but as if checking herself out, she looked into the full-body mirror, her gaze somewhat satisfied.

Well, that's...probably because she thinks it won't hinder her in battle.

"Ehh, then, is this what you want?"

Seeing that Reki and I had nothing to say, the onee-san whipped out a chocolate colored calculator.

...*Tap Tap Tap Tap*. She entered in the prices.

"One piece and sandals...as well as the inner clothing, 'ight. Here ya go."

Looking at the numbers on the calculator that had been handed to me, I...

--Uwoah!

...as if there was a gun pointed at me, I reflexively dodged away from the calculator.

--Hi-high!

Isn't this 10 times the price of the clothes sold at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniqlo UNIQLO]!?

I'll really use all my money and become homeless. If I pay for this.

At this kind of time, what kind of Osaka speech should I use to get a good result?

Justa prank? Didn't study? Damn it, I knew I should've learned these kinds of words from Muto, originally from Kobe.

As if drawing my gun, my hands trembling, my fingers reached for my wallet--at that moment.

"Kinji-san."

Looking just like an ojou-sama, Reki moved her lips, delicately coated with lip gloss, making a sound.

"...?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh* With that, Reki's gaze, which had been appraising herself, moved--I followed it.

"Popular! From 15:00 today Chaton B and Chaton Cafe's joint event

☆ Chaton Call ☆

As the winner's reward, the price of everything that is bought today at Chaton B is halved!"

That was written on a small blackboard with colored chalk.

Glancing at my watch, it was just 14:55.

Looking up at the onee-san, I saw that she had an expression which conveyed: "Ya realized it, huh?"

I see. Aiming for this event--were the boy and girl customers that were buying clothes at "Chaton B" and chatting at "Chaton Cafe".

"Reki, come. Drink some tea as well."

A little uneasy about the scent of the foundation, wafting this way in Reki's wake as she walked towards me, I, not knowing the contents, went to "Chaton Call", determined to take part.

This joint event--would be our first mission together.

These are pitiable words, but I'll have to do this for real.

Because, whether or not we become homeless, is down to this.

According to the assistant's explanation, Chaton Call was this store's unique event, a competition to see how many of the cats walking around Chaton Cafe could be called to one's table.

The time limit is one minute. If you stand up from your seat, you are disqualified, and touching the cats with your hands is forbidden too.

The prerequisite for participation is: the people involved have to be a couple, but since things had come to this, I had no choice but to sacrifice everything to win this.

I was embarrassed to the point where I wanted to die, however, we could use the fact that, for some reason, we were mistaken as lovers, meeting the prerequisites.

"Participating couple name: Kinji - Reki"...My hand, shaking uncontrollably, wrote our names on the blackboard.

Now, the money I had had been slightly decreased by the tea that Reki had drunk, and it had fallen below the price of the clothes that had been shown to us earlier.

Since things had come to this, I had to gift Reki with these clothes. Not winning, or running away with the clothes, was not an option.

Now that I think about it, didn't something like this happen at the ramen shop in Odaiba?

It seems that Reki was born under the star for putting my wallet in danger. Please make that star undergo supernova.

(But...calling cats and keeping them, huh...)

This was something that I hadn't even considered practicing for, a mission that was completely out of my expectations.

Honestly, we have no chance of winning.

Because, for some unknown reason, I don't get along well with animals. Ever since I was a child. What do I do?

"So, have ya made ya preparations? Alright, start!"

Despite the fact that I was so nervous, the onee-san, over at the cafe, made her announcement, the noise entering the mic amplified by the speakers.

The groups of couples inside the shop started going, "Here kitty, here kitty," making whistling noises, starting to call the cats towards them.

But, cats are extremely cautious creatures.

Just wandering around inside the shop, they weren't going to suddenly get close to people they hadn't seen before.

"He-here."

I gestured at a cat whose eyes I had met--but, with a purr, it looked the other away.

Damn it. The shop knew this, which is why they had this event, right? Since the cats aren't familiar with anybody, everybody will be disqualified, as written on the blackboard.

"I-I have to think of something..."

From in front of me, who was becoming agitated, Reki, sitting up straight in front of her untouched tea, which had gotten cold,

"I do not really understand, but is it fine if I gather all the cats?"

She asked, as if it had nothing to do with her.

"That's right. But, it's not easy. It seems like these cats have been trained to not respond no matter how much the customers call them."

"..."

I told her softly, and Reki went silent for moment--not even looking in the direction of the cats, *Bch*

...She closed her eyes for a long moment, and that unchanged expressionless face--

"Nyan."

She said.

...

...Ny...

..."Nyan"...did she say...?

I didn't hear incorrectly. She definitely said it.

She had just uttered something that was capable of entering the best three of, 'words most unlikely to come out of Reki's mouth'. Overwhelmingly rare.

I mean...Having said "Nyan", was she trying to imitate a cat's purr? She doesn't sound like one at all.

With just the same monotone as ever, all she said was, "Nyaan".

Before, in Ueno, the imitation that Aria had done was better. That too was amazingly horrible, but an imitation as bad as this makes me unable to even say that it's an imitation.

As my heart shattered into pieces, just about to concede defeat...

--*Tense*--

All the cats in the store raised their heads in unison.

"...!?"

Looking around, each one of the cats was looking at this table--rather, looking at Reki.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap*...*Tap Tap*...

"Wha...?"

"Eh...!?"

The clothing store's onee-san and the cafe's onee-san made sounds of disbelief.

I was sitting there, dazed, and under my table--

The cats...had gathered there without exception...!

"Re-Reki, you..."

"This is fine, right?"

By Reki's feet, who had just said that...White, black, spotted, striped.

The cats were gathered there, as if believers listening to a preacher.

Now...now that I think about it, Reki...had done something similar to this in the first semester. She had spoken to the grey wolf, which was completely hostile towards us, immediately taming it. Right now, that wolf was Haimaki.

Somehow, Reki seems to be a inexplicable girl that is able to undergo communication with animals. Although such a thing isn't possible for humans.

The "Nyaan" from earlier was...

...definitely a signal to the cats, the contents being: "Come here. If you don't, horrible things will happen."

No, seeing as how obedient the cats were, it was probably a strong message, something like: "If you don't come, I will whip you into the ground. I will set Haimaki on you."

"Cha-Chaton Call--The winners are the couple, Kinji and Reki!"

Co-couple, you said?

Please, I beg of you the cafe's onee-san, don't use that kind of speakers to say that in such a loud voice.

I didn't tell you this, but this is because we're just pretending to be a couple.

"From now onwards, please continue to get along well and love each other! We'll be supporting ya!"

Please...please stop.

The onee-san from Chaton B said, "Us sisters here will work hard!", and in full view of the other customers, she brazenly gave me the cash coupon for a 50% discount.

With this, you can spread the words of what a nice atmosphere this shop has. You really have the soul of a businessman.

Rather, were you sisters?

"Alright, victory kiss! Kiss!"

The onee-san's in Chaton Cafe were saying that, as if venting their feelings.

The customers started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss!" , a kiss call.

...I'm sorry. That's not happening.

"We-well, we did it, somehow."

As I reached for my wallet with a sense of relief--

"--Kinji-san."

Not even flashing a courteous smile in the midst of everybody's applause, Reki--*Click*, suddenly stood up.

"?"

"Please stand."

What? I stood up, and--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Squeeze*

Reki, from a distance I could not dodge, as if dancing, embraced me around the waist.

"He-hey...!"

Reki's hand, completely unnoticeable from looking at it--was strong.

With some sort of intention, she restricted me close to herself.

Seeing Reki finally bring her lips up to my cheek, the store erupted with cheers.

And, looking as if she was kissing me to the surrounding people, Reki--voicelessly, whispered by my ear,

"Somebody is following us."

--What?

"Please do not move your gaze unnaturally. I do not know who it is, but I am afraid that it is an S-rank professional. At the start, he showed no signs of aggression, but now, he is openly radiating hostility. From outside the store--near the entrance, he is observing this place."

"Wh-when did this start...?"

"Kinji-san, did you leave the store just now?"

"Ah, yeah."

Just now, taking advantage of the time that Reki was sealed inside the changing room...

I went outside, buying some things from the open-air stalls.

"--I think it was from that point onwards. After I had worn these clothes and strode out of the changing room, I could feel that gaze. After we arrived at this city, I felt that somebody was following us for a moment--but after that, I thought that they had retreated."

There's somebody following us...?

Who is it? Why are they following us?

Acting calm, I returned to my seat, and as if nothing had happened, I started twirling the spoon sitting next to my coffee.

I had learned about this in Inquesta. For the sake of preventing your gaze or actions from being noticed by the enemy, you have to, like this...use something like a mirror to check your surroundings.

And on the curved surface of the spoon, I successfully caught the reflection of the entrance--

"..."

At that time, a breeze had just blown past, making that rouge skirt...

I just made out part of a twin-tail.

A pink one.

(--Aria?)

Reflexively turning back out of shock--

-standing at the entrance of the shop, looking in discreetly, Aria's gaze met mine.

--*Da!*

Seeing Reki and I together, her expression, for some reason, looked as if the world had ended, Aria twisted around violently, running away.

At that instant, for a reason unbeknownst to even me, I immediately stood up!

Impulsively dashing out of the store.

"--Aria, wait!"

On this boulevard, crowded with teenagers, seemingly hard to run through, I quickly caught up to Aria.

<nowiki>"~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"</nowiki>

Trying to shake off my hand viciously, Aria was in a state of agitation where she couldn't even say a word.

What. Why are you so mad?

"I-it's fine for you! Because I haven't said it to you clearly! But, Reki--Reki, I definitely told! That girl, kn-knew full well! Reki! Reki--I won't forgive you! Reki, you...Reki, you!"

In an agitated state, Aria was in a mode where I could not understand a word she was saying.

Her twin tails in a tangle, she directed a constant stream of abuse at Reki, who wasn't here--

"You too--let go of me! I'm busy! Just that, before going to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure Kure], I came to Osaka Butei High to get some equipment that I had left here! Because, Muto Goki and Riko are waiting for me at Kure!"

Kure...Hiroshima? And, Riko and Muto? What's with that. Does it have something to do with Kanae-san's trial?

Towards me, who was just about to ask that, Aria--

"I'm busy!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thud!* A fist collided into the space between my eyebrows.

"As a couple with Reki!"

<nowiki>*Kch!*</nowiki> She swept me off my feet.

"I hope you're happy!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thud!*

Stepping on my face, which had been brought to the floor in an instant, she vanished into the crowd.

"Y-you...What was that!"

At that moment, Haimaki caught up with me, who had shouted that.

Is the reason that Aria left with such haste because she noticed him?

No, not only Haimaki.

Because, I had also vaguely felt--Reki, from some unknown location, was staring this way.

And, she was using the scope of her Dragunov.

Once again, Aria had been pushed away by that killing intent.

Aah. Caravan I, despite the fact that this was an activity where we're supposed to make teams...the relationship between Aria and Reki, as well as I, was getting worse and worse.

--It had already reached a point where reconciliation was impossible.

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume6_Chapter2|2nd Ammo: Water Tossing]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Chapter4|4th Ammo: Flash Cannon]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Hidan no Aria:Volume7 Chapter2

2011-05-31T22:20:18Z

Remotemine: /* 2nd Ammo: HURRY UP */

Hidan no Aria:Volume7 Chapter1

2011-05-27T17:43:00Z

Remotemine: /* 1st Ammo: Case E8 */

==1st Ammo: Case E8==

Reki.

Always expressionless, unfeeling and taciturn Reki.

Protecting me on orders from the “wind”, the Reki who, armed with only a single sniper rifle, bravely took on the Ten Thousand Skill Warrior Koko.

Under the starlight, that Reki was sprawled on the roadway.

“This wound…..It’s not a gunshot wound.”

Said Shirayuki’s younger sister, Kazayuki, who was kneeling on one knee at Reki’s side.

The astonishment at her previously abrupt and hard to believe exclamation about Reki’s bloodline still remained. However, now is not the time to be speaking about family lineages.

Medical aid for Reki has to be quickly administered.

“Reki was wounded by some sort of light that I don’t really understand; some kind of invisible bomb. She bled considerably before you arrived. Shirayuki, your….healing art or something; can’t you use it?!”

Clinging onto my words, I shook Shirayuki by the neck, trying to get rescue to come.

“Ordinarily, I would be up to the task…...but right now, my powers are unstable.”

“Unstable….?”

Kazayuki explained to me with my furrowed eyebrows,

“Lately, in Japan…no, throughout the whole world, there has been a weakening of supernatural abilities. The reason for this drop in success rate is unknown. Among the Hotogi, the ability to heal wounds has been especially limited. In the event of failure, it could kill the person.”

I weakened at her words….

Somehow or the other, simply having Shirayuki’s magic turn the game for the better would not be the case.

Then how can I…..

As I agitatedly paced around, Shirayuki took Reki’s temperature.

“Terrible. Her body temperature has plummeted to extremely low levels. If we don’t get her to a hospital fast….”

From behind, Shirayuki and her sisters boarded a convertible, a Himiko, a solid sedan of Mitsuoka Automobile and a Kushinada that came along with it.

Shirayuki and her sisters used this bulletproof car for retreat in accordance with the battle situation.

Just perfect. These guys can transport Reki.

However….

“Don’t go to a hospital. Our enemy from just now, Koko, was using a sniper rifle.”

Right now, there is no sniper here.

If the hospital in the city came under attack from a sniper rifle, we won’t be able to do anything.

Urban areas with plenty of buildings are where a sniper holds the most advantage.

“In that case, we’ll take Reki-sama to a branch shrine of the Hotogi. We’ll call a doctor there.”

Kazayuki grudgingly soaked her miko garb in blood carrying Reki.

Carrying Reki in the back seat of the Kushinada, I supported her, together with my neighboring passenger. With our cell phones destroyed, Shirayuki got into the co-driver’s seat and called Butei High.

With the engine primed forward, Kazayuki settled down on a passenger seat with a sharp expression. Right now, her wakyuu was in her hands in preparation for a pursuit with Koko.

The driver opposite and the driver here; both of them dazzling beauties started their vehicles to maintain a lookout over the river bank, heading down the mountain road.

“Kin-chan, it’s connected. The Masters’ night duty room. It’s Nangou sensei.”

I accepted the white cell phone from Shirayuki, and explained the situation to Nangou-sensei of Snipe; how during Caravan I, we came under sniper attack on the outskirts of Kyouto, the battle near Mt Hiei, Reki’s wounding and the assailant being a Hong Kong exchange student named Koko. The silent Nangou listened to my words, all the while not saying anything.

“That’s Case E8, Tohyama. The Masters cannot act.”

A low voice at the end was the reply.

Case E8.

That was cipher code for “possibility of perpetrators within being high and as such, this common knowledge cannot be leaked out. Make contact with trusted individuals as active partners; resolve issue by the hand of concerned parties.”

Nangou’s decision was….right. The perpetrator infiltrated under the disguise of an exchange student from Hong Kong.

If the situation became common knowledge amongst the entirety of the student body, the enemy could obtain information.

Thus, Butei Article Chapter 4:

Butei must be independent.

Upon reaching their 2nd or 3rd year in Butei High, it is a general rule that they defeat their enemies on their own.

Those who receive aid from the Masters are interns or inexperienced first years. As it was not like I joined only recently, I somewhat understood Butei High’s education policy. I understood….Nangou’s callousness. Although, the one who’s been attacked is your student, can’t you be more worried?

“If unarmed civilians get involved, contact me again Tohyama.”

…..It would be too late if that happens. Muttering in the depths of my heart, I made my salutations and cut the connection with Nangou.

Two vehicles sped down the mountain from the national highway 367 towards highways 105 and 106. During a stop at an intersection, Kazayuki nocked an arrow and briefly raising her bow, surveyed the bank. Casting a sidelong glance, I called Riko from Shirayuki’s phone.

(Koko’s modus operandi resembles Riko’s in some parts.)

Vocaloid warnings, submachine gun mounted radio controlled devices. Conversely, Riko’s close combat technique in the confrontation with Haimaki at Butei High had the feeling of Kungfu.

Perhaps she may have some kind of connection with Koko. However, my call could not connect. Riko was out of range. Yesterday at Osaka, I encountered by chance Riko and Aria who were speaking of working together. When I tried to make a call, Aria was out of range.

In the midst of such a serious affair, where are those two? They aren’t near at all.

(……Koko….)

Unable to do anything, I again considered from where our enemy may target us.

Just who is she?

A superhuman capable of combining hand to hand combat skills rivaling mine in Hysteria Mode, handgun skills that can evenly match Aria’s and sniper skills equal to that of Reki……The face of E.U? I wouldn’t happen to know.

With that being the case, I called Jeanne who, just like Riko, had her roots in E.U. It took six calls to get a response from Jeanne, who was sleeping in the middle of the night.

“Hotogi? What’s the matter?”

A clear voice emitted from the phone.

“No, it’s me. Tohyama Kinji. I’m calling from Shirayuki’s phone.”

“……? It....It’s the middle of the night. Why are you using Shirayuki’s phone?”

Ignoring the suspicion in her voice, I urgently explained the situation.

“Jeanne, is there a sniper of Reki’s skill within E.U? A monster with hand to hand combat and handgun skills. Her name is Koko,” I asked.

“Sniper…..Koko? Non. Except for Sherlock, a sniper with the skill to exchange shots evenly with Reki does not exist in E.U. There are people like Patra who use sniper rifles but they are of modest skill.”

Then Koko….is not a remnant of E.U.

With my face sheer white, I recounted the words Reki had spoken.

“The enemies from here onwards cannot be beaten through a simple contest of force.”

The enemies from here on.

(Reki…)

Losing my desire to sleep, I held Reki and clenched my teeth in frustration.

You, we….. How can fighting be even possible now?

Reki……!

Within the powerful Hotogi shrine, the organization is divided into the main shrine and branch offices.

The branch office also doubles as a branch shrine. There was a large branch shrine of the Hotogi shrine in Kyoto. Around the time we arrived there, a warm rain had begun to fall from the lightening sky. On the wet asphalt scented road, megumi miko stood on alert. These were young miko who served full Hotogi miko like Shirayuki and Kazayuki. The megumi miko carried Reki away on a stretcher and led me, Shirayuki and Jeanne who had rushed over in a taxi to the shrine. Ascending a flight of meticulously swept stone steps…..

“Tohyama, this place is just like a city. Reki will be safely protected here,” Jeanne said as she calmly surveyed the surroundings.

“Ah. Upon arrival I felt that the Hotogi’s head and branch shrines were slightly different from normal shrines. It looks like a shrine yet its construction also resembles a fortress.”

Below was a garage. We saw the two vehicles being used some moments ago entering there. Not only cars but Kawasaki Heavy Industries OH-1 Ninja reconnaissance helicopters were housed there. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honden honden] of the Kyoto branch of the Hotogi shrine was situated at the top of a hill overgrown with Japanese cedar. Where snipers are concerned, they would be unable to take up position beneath the slope and fire into the interior of the shrine. Additionally, with the exception of the entrance [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torii torii], samurai estates ringed with walls of mortar guarded the entire approach. Beneath the torii, Kazayuki, who had arrived earlier, stood sentinel in formal red armor and her [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%92%8C%E5%BC%93 wakyuu] in hand. Koko won’t succeed if she were to blindly pursue us here.
“This way Kin-chan,” Shirayuki said as she led us under the torii to a first-aid mansion resembling Kazayuki’s clinic. Summoned nurses and a female doctor immediately crowded one of the rooms where Reki was brought into. Medical equipment and medicines filled the area around them.

“Oh…oh…..you took a hit there…..”

The young female doctor fixing her rimless glasses who greeted Reki was brandishing a handgun. It seems like Hotogi summoned a professional from the Medic DA. Medic Butei are like medic troopers in the army: key personnel who give emergency treatment to wounded Butei. In Butei High, it’s the Medica who train these Butei.

“Blood cell count, blood type determination - cross match, biochemistry check – ASAP, begin blood transfusion.”

Immediately, the nurses monitoring Reki’s condition hurried to carry out the doctor’s instructions.

“Boy, while we work here, you go take a rest. Your face looks like a corpse,” the doctor said as she cast a sidelong glance at me.

“I can’t help at all? Reki; she…” With that, I, who could not take my eyes off Reki calmly walked towards Shirayuki.

“It’s okay, Kin-chan. This is a doctor under contract with Hotogi. She’s the number one doctor in Kyoto. Wait. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Listen Shirayuki…”

Certainly, it was frightening getting used to the methods of the doctor currently treating Reki. Almost assuredly, under normal conditions wounded Butei would have been first examined.

(Reki….)

Last night, all I could do was administer first-aid on Reki. It goes without saying that Shirayuki would allow only professionals to administer full blown medical care.

The nurses’ assistant.

“I’ll assist. It isn’t advanced grade aid but I possess Pan-European Aegis Assistant qualifications,” Jeanne said as she skillfully donned a surgical apron and nurse’s cap.

This isn’t my place at all.

Thinking about that, why does it feel as if a thread of mental strain is about to be cut?

(…….Uu…….)

My vision faded with a great tremor.

“Kin-chan!?”

“Tohyama!?”

Shirayuki and Jeanne’s voices desperately called from far off in the distance.

What happened to me…..?

Some time ago, I found myself on a bed. Before my eyes, a certain….?

What’s that…..sound that I’m hearing?

This is the sound of the wind.

The sound of a dry wind blowing out from the surroundings.

I found myself in the middle of a vast steppe with mountain ranges visible in the distance.

This is probably……a dream. A dream in which you are self-aware. A lucid dream. In this arid steppe, several horses could be seen. Girls dressed in vividly coloured traditional garb rode on those horses. With severe expressions, they carried old, Russian-made sniper rifles on their backs. At their head, was a girl with hair ornaments more exquisite than the others. She approached on noticing my gaze.

That face…..

(Reki….?)

“………Reki……..”

………

………I awoke.

There was no wind but the sound of rain. This is……yes….The Hotogi branch shrine in Kyoto.

Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Epilogue

2011-05-22T16:19:00Z

Remotemine: /* Go For The NEXT! Reki */ Grammar + page links

==Go For The NEXT! Reki==

Running, running, exiting onto the highway, I--

-collapsed, my knees thudding into the ground, laying Reki down onto the asphalt.

"Haa, haa, haa...!"

My head was spinning, my breathing laboured.

--I'm at my limit. I cannot run any further.

From the beginning, my body had been weakening as I spent longer and longer in the woods. And, that body had continued carrying somebody, no matter how elfin they might be, as it ran. Furthermore, going through those pathless locations, my body had gone into completely and total exhaustion.

I pressed my hands to the road, breathing heavily.

And...''Flutter, Flutter.''

The butterfly, which had been dancing in the field of cosmos earlier, had somehow, reached here first...and flitting around me as if it was worried, it flew to my left hand.

Having large, white wings, it, with a design just like a swallowtail--had a star-shaped pattern on them.

I felt that I had seen this design somewhere before, but...this isn't the time to investigate.

(--I'm fine with whatever, but will a car...come--?)

If one came, I'd use my Butei License to slow it, and then bring Reki to a hospital.

The hill-road that leads to the city has a very large curve, making it impossible to see it due to the trees and topography...and now, it didn't feel as if there was a car nearby.

Damn it...I have no other choice.

One minute. In just one minute, I forced my legs up again, waiting for a car.

If a car does not come, I will carry Reki once again, running down the road.

Deciding that, I--took off the Dragunov that was slung over my back, and I looked into the scope.

I cannot let even one minute go to waste. Just now, Reki's words...

"Hidden inside this is a camera, it has already been set to record the scene at the instant that I snipe."

Recalling them, I fumbled with the scope...and on the bottom, I pressed a slim button.

I peered into the scope, redundantly pushing the button. The telescope function disappeared from my sight, replaced by the image of a black remote-controlled helicopter.

This is...the video of the helicopter that Reki had shot when it attacked us at the hotel, right?

I pressed the same button repeatedly. ''Click Click''

After the screen flickered through four helicopters, the image changed into that of the shot at the black dog's leg.

After that, the video that I saw, the video that replaced the image of the dog's right and left legs--

(--!)

My heart skipped a beat.

Flash, Cannon, Russian--what was pictured inside the three photos of the time of release of the three bullets...was, as Reki had said, a girl.

And she too--seemed familiar.

She had black twin-tails, around the same length as Aria's. She was wearing the same extravagant Chinese clothing as when she had attacked me.

This is...the transfer student from Hong Kong Butei High.

"...Koko...!"

This isn't a mistake.

It may be that the videos were rather dark, but in all three, her whole body was clearly captured.

That little girl who had ambushed me by the road on the day of the opening ceremony, Koko--charged out of the camouflage of leaves, quickly mounting the offroad-bike behind her, a CRM250AR.

(Koko...the person who put me in submission by grappling when I was in Hysteria Mode, the person who drew with Aria in Aru=Kata--)

--and in sniping, she was a match for Reki...wasn't she...?

That kind of girl exists in this world?

No, can they exist in this world?

Martial arts, guns, sniping. All of these techniques take many years to reach their ultimate form. At our age...No, at an age below that, it's impossible for someone to be a master at two, three things.

"The Warrior of Ten-Thousand Techniques--"'''Ten-Thousand Arms'''"...Koko..."

As I murmured the second name she had given--

From the left...Coming from the mountain, I heard the sound of an engine.

''Ha'' Raising my head, I stood up, thinking that a car was coming.

--''Beeeeep''

Afterward, hearing the sound of a siren...

--''Beeeeeeeeeep''...!

"...!"

...I whipped out my Beretta.

She's different from the one in legend. Well, I'm just talking to myself right now.

--That was the sound of a motorcycle.

It had a high pitch which even an amateur would understand from listening, the sound of a 2-stroke engine.

It was the the sound of the bike in the video, the engine equipped by a CRM250AR.

It's impossible that the same bike would pass by coincidentally. Because, 2-stroke motorcycles exceed exhaust limits, and their gas, as well as the motorcycles themselves, are no longer in production.

As I deduced this, sitting on the bike that was banking furiously around the curve--was Koko.

"Koko!"

I stood in a position where I could protect Reki, bringing my Beretta up to bear--

"Kihi!"

Damn it! Laughing while swerving in an S-shape, Koko could not be held within my sights.

The next instant, Koko slammed down on the brakes, brushing past me as if trying to sweep me over.

"--!"

Twisting my head back, I...could not ready my gun.

Because, stopping the bike in a slanted position a few meters away, Koko was pointing a gun at me.

That was a suppressed UZI--a sub-machine gun.

This situation...

Koko has the advantage in terms of magazine capacity, and moreover, she was a person that was able to match Aria in a gunfight. Facing her was me, not even in Hysteria Mode, and added to that, I had to protect Reki, who was heavily wounded, while fighting.

--I don't want to admit it, but I cannot act.

"Drop your pistol. The DE at your chest too."

''Wave, Wave''. The barrel of Koko's gun pointed at my ribs, I, compelled to do so, dropped the Beretta--as well as the Desert Eagle that I had not used yet, having no other choice.

"Reki--90 points. She's a good piece, so I'll take it. And as expected, Kinchi gets 0 points. But, he's a piece with a good military record. I like it. I'll bring him back."

"...Take...what are you saying?"

Keeping my body completely still, I directed those words at Koko, staring at her.

"From now on, all Stealth have to be destroyed. It's good to keep people like you, "just humans, yet strong pieces," in my grasp."[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Epilogue]

"...?"

"And, Reki is a one of the '''northern barbarians''', Kinchi is one of the '''eastern tribesmen'''. You're fitting as soldiers of the queen of the center of the world, Koko." [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Epilogue]

I...have no idea what she's talking about. What the hell is she saying?

Please go learn Japanese again.

I made a confused expression, and Koko, going ''Fufu'', snickered, looking at me.

"Become part of my collection, alright? Do you know who '''Koko''', or '''Meng De''' is? Koko is of his bloodline." [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Epilogue]

"...I have no idea."

"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_cao Cao Cao Meng De]."

"...Aah."

"--I won't forgive you for that weak reaction!"

''Pffft!''

Quickly becoming angry, Koko fired a warning shot into the air--

Once again returning the barrel of the gun to my body, she seemed as if she was going to give some sort of order...at that moment.

"...!"

Suddenly realizing something, she started the bike agian, ''Vroom!'' Koko spun in place, turning around completely.

Brushing past Koko's twin-tails, in front of me--

--''Shiiing!''

-along with the sound of a bell, an arrow sped past.

Koko put the motorcycle into action, dodging the arrow.

From the direction that the arrow came from...I could see a wine-red car cut through the air, hurtling this way.

It was around 150 meters away.

(...That is...!)

On the engine bonnet of the convertible--there was someone kneeling on one knee.

Even from such a long distance, I realized it.

The gold forehead protector on her head, her body clothed with red and white Miko garments, its sleeves rolled up, a nocked bow in her hands--A Hotogi Armed Miko. However, it was not Shirayuki.

Kyoto has a Hotogi shrine as well. It seemed that they were reinforcements from there.

That butterfly just now...as if welcoming them, flew over, its wings fluttering.

Seeing this scene, I suddenly thought back to it.

That butterfly is a Hotogi Swallowtail.

When I was a child, I had seen them being raised at the Hotogi shrine in Aomori.

''Creak Creak''...''Hyuu''--!

The intrepid Miko used that daikyuu, over 2 meters long, to shoot two arrows.

''Shhaang!'' That bell rang out again, as if exorcising something, the eagle-feathered arrow penetrating the motorcycle that Koko was using as her shield, making a hole in the fuel tank.

--Amazing. From that kind of distance, on top of a swaying car...without using any sights, she managed to hit the gasoline tank with an arrow from a daikyuu.

''PftPftPft!''

Counterattacking with a number of bullets from the Uzi, Koko immediately jumped onto the motorcycle--

"In every generation, Koko has always ran when the time came to run. It's fine as long as I have the last laugh. '''Farewell'''."

Leaving a trail of gasoline behind and swerving off the road, she disappeared into the thick undergrowth.

I picked up Reki's Dragunov, trying to snipe her with my amateur skills...but, it was impossible. I could no longer see Koko.

The engine noise continued to get further and further.

She--really knows how to adapt the situation.

This kind of calm, collected, hit and run type...from my experience, is very strong.

I went "Tch", turning towards Reki--

The car just now--a high-grade Mitsuoka automatic car, a wine-red Himiko--had stopped. The Miko on the bonnet, a bow in her hands, was looking towards the mountain, still alert.

Sitting on the seat was the beautiful driver that had come to pick up Konayuki last month--

"...Kin-chan! What happened...!?"

Pointing at the Hotogi Swallowtail was Shirayuki.

"Shirayuki...you really saved us. I'm glad you noticed."

"Because we heard a noise like Cannon from the mountain, I had a bad feeling in my heart...so, I used Koujutsu[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Epilogue] to investigate. Also, because I couldn't connect with Kin-chan's cellphone...I-I, feh...."

Climbing out of the car, her eyes filled with tears, Shirayuki embraced me tightly, as if trying to confirm if I was alright.

Immediately noticing Reki, lying on the floor, Shirayuki said: "Oh no...!", kneeling by Reki's side.

"Reki--was beaten by that girl from earlier. We have to go to a hospital immediately--"

I said that, and next to Shirayuki, who had clasped her hands to her mouth, her eyes wide open,

"Reki...?"[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Epilogue]

The other Miko, getting off the car, said something in a small voice, kneeling down.

Already having become a beautiful woman, I didn't recognize her for a moment, but...this girl is...Kazayuki.

One of Shirayuki's sisters. One year younger.

Before, she was a very cool girl, able to match Reki. She hadn't changed at all.

Having just been fighting with arrows, even though she saw Reki, soaked in blood, before her...her expression did not change at all.

Expressionless, Konayuki whispered something into Shirayuki's ear--

"...N-no way. Are you sure that isn't a mistake?"

Shirayuki turned towards her, stunned.

''Nod''. Nodding, Kazayuki...

...something that I did not wish to hear, the true identity of my fiance--coolly, she announced it.

"This is the descendant of both--[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_no_Yoshitsune Minamoto no Yoshitsune] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan Genghis Khan]. The princess of the continent."

Go For The Next!

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Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter4

2011-05-21T22:33:18Z

Remotemine: /* 4th Ammo: Flash Cannon */ Page links

==4th Ammo: Flash Cannon==

Butei Charter article 4: Butei must be independent.

Butei High's field trip follows this rule, making its students find lodging for themselves.

Because Reki will definitely stay with me, even at night, I, not willing to be mocked by my classmates...booked an isolated hotel in northeast Kyoto, at the forest near Mount Hiei, online. After all, the site said that pets are OK.

We took a minibus, going along the driveway, disembarking at a desolate night path...

Standing there all alone, the hotel, "Bee's child", had a retro appearance, and personally, I liked it.

If she was a normal high school student, she'd definitely scream, "I don't want to stay at such an old place!" However, Reki, wearing her dress, her Butei High uniform in a paper bag...didn't say anything. I'm so glad that, at times like these, I don't need to worry about her.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Clatter Clatter*, I opened the sliding door at the entrance, and an unexpectedly young landlady welcomed us from inside.

"My, my. Welcome."

"Ah, um...I'm the Tohyama that reserved a place here online. I reserved two rooms...but, I'm a little short on money, so could you change one of the two rooms into a cheaper one?"

So I said to her...Wearing typical Japanese clothing, the landlady looked between Reki and I...

"My, my~, ufufufu."

Covering her mouth with her sleeve, she narrowed her eyes happily.

...?

"Customer-han, since that is the case, wouldn't it be fine if ya switched ta one room? Ya can stay together with yer girlfriend."

''Fufufu''. The landlady said so extremely happily. I waved my hands violently, saying,

"N-no, she isn't my girlfriend." 

"I am his girlfriend."

Eh? I turned my head, and the person who had cut in was Reki.

Wh-what are you claiming to be?

"The hotel is the subject of the sentence, and the only other girl here is me. Therefore, the third person naming for such a situation would be 'she'." [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_4]

Her speech like that of a teacher's, the robot girl said these things as if putting forth a counterargument.

"Mmnnn, I'm so jealous about how innocent you two are~~. Saori is so jealous~~."

With a strange movement like that of a little girl, the landlady swayed left and right.

She seemed to be dancing in time with the pendulum affixed behind her.

Facing her, who, if I were to put her in a manga panel, was scattering hearts everywhere, the landlady--Saori-san

"Ah, no...she's a girl that's a little bit...that..."

I wanted to try explaining Reki to her, but...

"Fortunately, there aren't any other guests today, so I'll prepare a nice room for ya, OK?"

Saori spun around, daintily walking inside, bringing us in.

The "Room of the Western Front" that we had been led into was a luxurious 8-tatami room, the tatami completely new.

Aptly named, the walls of the room were decorated with vividly colored [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishijin Nishijin], which looked like tapestries. [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_4]

In front of the silk was a vase, which looked big enough for someone to enter, raising the overall feeling of classiness.

This is an amazingly...good room. Almost too good.

Preferring Japanese-styled rooms to the rooms in modern city-hotels, I was extremely thankful to the landlady, who had given us such a high-class room for such a reasonable price, but...

The problem is, the fact that Reki is sharing a room with me.

For these few days, I had been living in Reki's room, but that was just a desolate emptiness. Rather than, "living" together with Reki, the mood was more like, "in the midst of battle."

So, I was able to somewhat convince myself, but--

Staying in the same room during a trip, however, the mood was completely different.

"..."

"..."

Reki and I were sitting next to the wooden table, eating the food that the landlady, Saori-san, had quickly prepared for us. It was delicious, but I was agitated to the point where I wasn't sure what I was eating.

(He-heavy, this atmosphere...)

Reki and I...for some reason...

Isn't this ambiance something like the "couple that ran away together for whatever reasons" atmosphere, so commonly found in old movies?

And, the majority of those would be, the so-called adult movies...and afterward, it will go into something where I can't help but avert my eyes, pushing the fast-forward button...that stimulating scene.

Ah...

(I may be alone with Reki, but because we have nothing to talk about...I'm thinking about these unnecessary things.)

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Stare* Looking in front of me, Reki, sitting up straight, was eating her meal from the right to left, just gradually eating, as if the taste was completely irrelevant.

In a short while, she had finished all the rice, next, she ate all the tempura, from then on, it was sashimi, and lastly, she drank the miso soup in one gulp.

"..."

Afterwards, having finished our meal, together, Reki and I put our cellphones, both out of charge, on top of the TV, and each of us plugged our respective phones into our respective chargers.

When I had released my cellphone because there was nothing that I could do...I ordered Reki to: "Sit at the wall," sleeping at the sliding door at the other end of the room.

Us two, completely silent, could hear the sound of crickets coming from outside of the paper walls...

In the silence of the long, autumn night, it stood out even further.

"..."

Following my orders, Reki was sitting at the wall, apparently resting after she had eaten, staying completely still.

...Even though she's wearing such a beautiful dress, she's still sitting upright.

Turning my back on Reki, who was in that kind of position, I fell asleep...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Slide*

"Forgive my rudeness."

The sliding door in front of my eyes opened, and Saori-san, kneeling in the corridor, had made her appearance once again.

"--How was your meal?"

"Ah, yes, it was delicious. Thank you for the meal."

Completely caught off guard, I sat up straight, slightly panicked, and Saori-san, seeing the distance between Reki and I--

She made an expression: "I grow tired of this."

"If yer completely finished with ya meal, then feel free ta take a bath. Because, today, both of ya are my only customers...You can use the hot springs for a while."

A bath...?

Flashing a face at me which said ''Give it your best shot'', because of Saori-san's expression--

I had a bad feeling about this.

Confirming my premonition, the hot springs at the hotel didn't have any signs with "Men's bath", or "Women's bath".

In short, this was a mixed bath.

--Mixed hot springs.

For me, a no-man's land.

When I had strode into the ICBM hangar in EU, I was completely unarmed...and now, this was like entering there naked.

But, today was quite hot, so I had sweated a little, so I had no choice but to go bathe.

According to what Saori-san had said, there were no other customers, so there was no danger of being surrounded by any hostiles (= women).

"Reki, you, absolutely, cannot come in here. Absolutely forbidden. Absolutely."

In the room, having warned Reki--somehow, feeling as if I was the preview act for a comedy routine--I headed towards the hot springs.

Thankfully, this hotel had a service where Saori-san would wash our clothes for us while we were inside the bath.

As such, I put my clothes inside the laundry basket...<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rattle*, opening the sliding door...

Because I had confirmed that no-one was around, I walked to the bath that was formed by rocks and a bamboo wall, lowering myself into the water in order to wash myself.

(...)

This...feels amazingly good.

The temperature of the bath, lukewarm, was exactly to my liking, and besides that, the fact that I was alone allowed me to slip into a state of complete relaxation.

It was as if the fatigue from the journey was seeping out of me, into the bath.

Inside the steam of the bath, slowly wisping upwards, I...

(I wonder what everyone from Butei High is doing...we're on a trip, so they're probably having fun right now.)

...thought about my classmates, time flowing by.

After thinking about this and that, it had was already 9:00 at night.

Looking towards the stars, I saw that they were visible in the midst of the steam, and it was a beautiful sight. This is something that would be described as 'elegant'.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Buzzz*....*Buzzz*...

The sound of insects from the forest.

''Hooo''...''Hooo''

What I had heard from the faraway forest was the call of an owl. It had been a while since I'd last heard it.

And, *Rattle*...

The sound of the sliding door opening.

(...Mm...?)

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Splash* The sound of splashing water.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Splash*...*Splash*.

(...Mmm...!?)

And, *Splash*--

The sound of someone's foot entering the bath.

--That!

"Hey!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Splash!*

Standing up immediately, I dropped the towel that was sitting on my head, and catching it, I--covered one specific part of my body, backing up.

Looking into the steam, the figure which I could see belonged to a--

Gi-girl.

Rather, no matter how I looked at it, it was Reki.

Leaning against the large rock at one side of the hot spring, was a Dragunov.

Moreover, this was beyond obvious, but--she was naked.

One wouldn't be able to say that Reki had a nice figure, even as flattery, since she had a body akin to a middle school student, but...

Seeing the lines of her body where the steam was thin, she really had feminine, beautiful curves.

Comparing is something that I would never do, but...her body was less flat than Aria's.

The plumpness of her chest was like that of an unripe plum, or an apple. A slender waist. Her skin, normally reminiscent of ceramics, was shining even more, light reflected off the condensation of the steam, its pigment slightly flushed.

"Re-Reki...!"

--Reki isn't a robot, after all. She's a person. And she was, very clearly, a girl.

The image she gave off, far from being anything like a normal girl, couldn't even be said to be human, but at this moment...I was made sharply aware of this sense of lust, of immorality. Reki, was a girl.

But--

If that is so, then why. Why did she enter the bath with me so calmly. We are no longer children with no sense of the relationships between men and women, just playing with bubbles.

The one saving grace was...because of the steam, I had no way of clearly seeing Reki, who was standing three meters away from me.

After, all I can do is hope that this steam, almost unnaturally thick, doesn't disperse, for any reason.

"I-I said not to come, so why..."
[[File:Aria06 199.jpg|thumb]]
Hearing me say that, Reki turned her small face, veiled by her damp short hair, looking this way.

"Yes. Kinji-san gave me that order--but, I sensed danger, and I came to protect you."

Eh, for me, you're the most dangerous thing here!

Looking at Reki, who had ignored my orders, entering the hot springs, I could only dip myself back into the water, hiding my body.

Calm down...you have to calm down...Kinji...!

The trigger to Hysteria Mode, is the heart.

As long as my heart keeps calm, then I should...be able to suppress it!

Alright, think of normal things. Think about the primary reason for bathing.

Bathing is something that one does to cleanse oneself, dispelling the pressure on one's soul.

There were no unhealthy impulses behind it. Absolutely not.

"Pro-protect me? Protect me from what...!"

I wrapped the towel around my waist, and with an immovable resolve, I strode out of the bath.

Keeping my breathing steady, I turned my face, following the bamboo fence towards the exit.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Splash*

The splashing sound that Reki made, apparently coming my way, made my heart skip a beat.

"--I have felt an ill wind. Please do not go too far from my side."

Feeling the flow of blood become ever more dangerous, I ignored Reki's words, leaving the hot springs.

Taking deep breaths, confirming the status of my body's core...

I-I did it. I'm safe. I overcame it.

Reki is definitely a beautiful girl. She's as cute as a small animal, a girl who carries an inexplicable, indescribable attraction.

But--in reality, it appears that it's hard for me to go into Hysteria because of her.

I still don't know the reason, however, having been kissed by her once before and transforming, I could not let my guard down, not for any reason.

My uniform, during the time that I was in the bath, had already been cleaned and dried by the landlady, Saori-san.

Thanking her gratefully in my heart and wearing my uniform, having returned to "The Room of the Western Front", I never thought that my agitated blood flow would become even more excited...

Because, inside the room, there was a huge futon.

And, there was only one.

Added to that, the two pillows on top of it were pressed together, intimately.

(Did...Did Saori-san do this...!)

This will definitely--even someone as slow as me understood the underlying meaning behind this scene--preventing me from composing myself.

I opened the cabinet in a panic, but it was empty, there were no other futons prepared.

(What do I do...!)

Kinji, what do you do! You're out of the frying pan and into the fire!

The futon and pillow were wondrously soft, making one feel as comfortable as if it was heaven. Although, sleeping in it alone and making Reki sit on the tatami...I thought that I'd get an ulcer out of guilt.

But, if I let Reki sleep inside, heaven will immediately become hell.

Just thinking about it triggered slight Hysteria, an extremely dangerous action.

Maybe, if I use this side, and she uses that side...?

I separated the pillows, placing them at opposite ends of the futon, and my mind was running scenarios of what this would look like while asleep.

Th-this won't do. This kind of distance would be covered just by one of us rolling over.

And, I have no reason to wear the complete protective gear, Armament Set C, to sleep.

Because, yukata were placed next to the pillow, meant to act as pajamas.

--Yukata are very dangerous. Because, they can be stripped off in an instant.

Also, comparatively, my sleeping posture is quite bad. When I was a child, I had stayed at the Hotogi shrine, wearing a yukata...but, once I woke up, I noticed that, sleeping next to me, Shirayuki, Kiriyuki, Kazayuki, and Konayuki, (there were only 4 sisters then,) were pressed against me like a sandwich.

If that kind of scene appears in a situation like this, where Reki and I, a boy and girl, are alone together--whether it be in the dead of the night or at the crack of dawn, because of Hysteria Mode, I will really do some things that will render me unable to do anything but submit a wedding application.

I cannot let such a thing come to pass.

I held up one pillow, and like Nakasorachi in Connect, I started rolling around the futon...

--<nowiki>*Rattle*</nowiki>

At that moment, Reki, changed back into her uniform, opened the door.

Having been completely unaware of her presence, I, shocked, started swinging the pillow, twice, thrice.

"Ah, no, we're only two people, so we can't have a pillow fight."

Saying things that even I didn't understand, I exerted all my willpower, forcing myself to act calm, keeping the pillow inside the cabinet.

Hey, hand. My hand. Stop shaking.

No matter what, I cannot let the topic turn to the futon...

Steeling myself in my heart, I-

"No-now that I think about it...what happened to Haimaki?"

-asked this question, which I had been thinking of, trying to lead away from the topic.

On the other side, Reki, going her own pace, grasped the Dragunov as if it was a stick...and at the wall, she sat upright.

"--He's inside the room."

"Inside the room?"

I asked because he wasn't here.

Well...whatever. At least, I've temporarily prevented any discussion over the futon.

If Haimaki really were here, it'd just be even more hateful, anyways.

"..."

I re-arranged the things that I had disturbed in my panic just now, sitting down at the wall opposite Reki.

This...is, strangely enough, like a painting. Separated by a gigantic futon, a boy and girl sits apart, on opposite walls. Doesn't this situation make it seem as if we're paying special attention to that one futon?

(Aw-awkward...)

This is far too awkward.

Did the people who really went through arranged marriages in the past have this kind of feeling too?

Rather, what does Reki plan to do?

It can't be that she can't see this gigantic futon.

But, if you're going to sleep sitting down as always...I'm sorry, but I will be sleeping inside the futon by myself. I'm really sorry about doing this to you. But, let the ulcers come.

"You, that...Do you plan to sit here, holding your gun while sleeping?"

Unable to stand the silence any longer, I started to speak--

-suddenly, I realized that the way I had started speaking might cause an understanding.

What I had said just now seemed as if I was trying to draw Reki in. "Don't sleep that way" → "So, let's get into the futon together." If it were to be misunderstood like that, then I really won't have any way of backing out. I've really done it.

But, it seemed as if I was just adding on to my imagined torments...

"Yes. When the time comes, I have to fend off the enemy--The wind ordered me to do so."

Reki, her head slanted downwards, looking at the tatami, answered me softly.

If you say that...you're going to sleep upright. Alright, alright.

The ball's on my court now.

"The wind's orders, huh. Then, please obey them fully as well."

"Yes. Just..."

"...?"

"The wind has two other orders. And, I haven't fulfilled them yet."

"What orders?"

I couldn't help but frown.

Reki--

-wordlessly, stood up.

"Protect the wind, creating descendants for Ulus."

"Descendants for Ulus...?"

"The child of Kinji-san and I."

"...!"

Th-those words...

Why are they being said again, in this kind of situation...!

Reki, *Footstep, Footstep*, walked onto the futon--

The wood-framed chandelier that was hanging from the ceiling, *Click*, she extinguished it.

Reki's eyes, reflecting the light of the stars that was shining into the room, which had darkened in an instant...*Turn*

...turned towards me.

And as if at that signal, *Thump*...!

The gigantic vase under the painting fell over, and a silver beast appeared from within it.

Ha-Haimaki. That was where you were hiding?

Haimaki-

"Uu...?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shuffle. Shuffle*

-pushed me forward forcefully, coming to a stop when he had reached Reki's feet.

He-hey. Stop it! Th-this is bad...Ku!

The flow which I had thought we were following, was broken.

Rather than that, in the blink of an eye, I had run into a terrible danger.

Before me, was Reki's soft, supple legs. Behind me, Haimaki's fangs, completely bared.

I mean, I'm not too versed with this kind of thing, but this "overly forceful" approach...normally, the position of the boy and girl should be reversed, right?

"That and--I was given one more order."

Reki suddenly lowered her voice, bending down.

Wh-what is it?

"--protecting Kinji-san."

Saying that--*Thump*

Completely unlike the normal Reki, she shoved me with all her force, pushing me down to the ground.

"...!"

Because of the pillow, I didn't smash my head, but, held tightly by Reki, I had no way of getting up.

Reki was clutching me as if she wanted to use her chest to squash my face--

At the point in time where I was utterly confused, my face reddening.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Sshhhcc....Sshhccc! Kch!

The sound of something ripping through the air, piercing the paper screen--

And, the sound of breaking glass at the end of the hallway rang out in the midst of the darkness.

"--!?"

<nowiki>*Sshhcch!*</nowiki>

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Kch! Kch! Kch!*

The continuous sound of glass crackng.

<nowiki>*Bang!*</nowiki>...under the impact of multiple bullets, the window fell out of its frame--

<nowiki>*Shhchhch Shhhchch*!</nowiki>

On top of the TV, Reki's cellphone and my cellphone took direct hits.

And on top of that, the bullet, *Bccch*...!

The broken window, just like a frame, span around, falling down--smashing into the wall.

The silk decorating the walls dropped down like flowing water. The vivid tapestries were ripped off from every direction, covering Reki and I.

"--A snipe."

Hearing Reki's words and not being able to help but turn pale, I,

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Clank*...*Clank*...! *Clank*...*Clank*...!

-heard the sound of several gunshots coming from the mountain.

That--was the gunshot sound of those snipes.

A sniper rifle's bullets exceed the speed of sound. So, the bullets arrived earlier than the gunshots.

Then, Reki pushing me--was for the sake of preventing me from being hit by those snipes.

But...who is it? Why are they firing? Why are they attacking us!?

"--Remington M700. Distance: 2180m. Fired from the mountain."

Apparently able to judge the opponent's location and gun model merely from the gunshot, Reki said those words calmly.

Upon hearing that number, I could not help but widen my eyes.

(...2180m...!?)

Reki's Killing Range is 2051m.

Among the S ranked Butei in Tokyo Butei High, it was named as the greatest range.

But, the person attacking us appeared to be an elite sniper who was even more skillful than Reki.

Morever, that person was equipped with a Remington M700.

It is the world's most reliable sniper rifle.

"This place is extremely dangerous. The enemy is very clear about our location. Go outside."

Crawling, I extricated myself from underneath Reki, who was covered with the beautiful silk.

The room was filled with feathers, dancing through the air, having flown out of the torn futon.

"Who...is the enemy? Why are they assaulting us!"

Well, in terms of a vague idea...it's not that I'm at a complete loss. The important thing is, this has something to do with EU.

But if this is one of the remnants of EU acting, it's too fast.

Reki didn't answer my question, and she swept away the fabric--

Those eyes looked like cameras, embedded into a robot.

With Saori-san, who had called the police, trailing behind us, Reki and I, as well as Haimaki, his fur standing on end, exited from the kitchen door, which should have been in the sniper's blind spot.

At that time, from an unknown location,

"Tohyama Kinji Reki You two Surrender."

(...!?)

This...is the vocaloid that is so popular on the net, that sister-like voice.

Next to me, who had realized that, Reki pointed her Dragunov into the air--

''Bang!!''

--firing into the night sky.

In the pitch black sky, something akin to small sparks burst forth...

Immediately afterward, a remote-controlled helicopter, painted jet black, fell towards the driveway.

And afterward, from the skies-''Dadadadadadada''

-as if counterattacking Reki, several bullets buried themselves in the ground around us.

"There's more!? --Saori-san! Don't come outside!"

Hurriedly, I pushed Saori-san, who was clutching her cellphone in her hands, back into the room.

And, exactly as I did that, a bullet pierced through the air, flying towards us. We dodged it by a hair's breadth.

The shots, coming from the air--weren't very accurate. For the sake of keeping silent in order to prevent themselves from being noticed, miniature remote-control helicopters were being used. As such, the gun's recoil prevents them from accurately locking on to their target.

However, there is the saying: 'It only takes one'. Just from the bullets ricocheting off the ground, there was the danger that we would be caught by a stray.

Under the downpour of the rain of bullets, the cars and the asphalt parking lot were pockmarked with gouged-out bullet holes.

"--I am a single bullet--"

--''Bang! Bang! Bang!''

Her sniper rifle pointed into the sky, Reki fired three continuous shots.

From the parking lot, they hurtled into the darkness.

Each one burst into sparks in the air...afterwards, we could see the remote-controlled helicopters, leaving a trail of smoke, fall from the sky. 

"If you run the... Saori-san there...break her Ahaha Ahahahahahahaha"

The voice came erratically...but the helicopter announced that it would start firing indiscriminately.

I cannot let Saori-san get dragged into this.

Well, from the beginning, as for planning to run--I had no intention of doing so.

"There are no more helicopters. Let us enter the forest from the hotel's shadow, circling around so we can counterattack."

Reki said, lowering her Dragunov. I nodded...

...but, the enemy's attack had made me even more uncertain.

A machine-synthesized vocaloid. Remote controlled devices armed with sub-machine guns.

This mode of operation. It's indelible.

This is exactly the same as the "Butei Killer"--Riko's attack method when she assaulted us in April!

Although, it could not be Riko.

That was something which exceeded Reki's Killing Range, a snipe from 2180 meters away.

It is a superhuman technique which, with the exception of elite snipers, is impossible for humans to accomplish.

The offender is definitely an expert who has undergone severe sniping training ever since he was a child.

Even if Riko had familiarized herself with sniper rifles, judging from her past, it was impossible that she could have this kind of skill.

Also, she has no reason to attack us...after all, Riko and I are in what amounts to a truce. Furthermore, Riko's target is, "Aria and I", this partnership, not Reki and I.

Added to this--

The name the enemy designated us as, "Reki and I", was also an enigma.

Just now, for a moment, I had suspected that this was an assault from the remnants of EU, but if it was them...their sights should be locked onto Aria, who was defending Kanzaki Kanae-san, who had been made their scapegoat, or perhaps the person who defeated Sherlock--me.

Because, in the battle with EU, Reki was only support. I can't say that they bear absolutely no hatred towards her, however, as for the order of targets, she should be relatively low on the list.

--I don't understand.

Who is this enemy?

Why did you...attack us!?

Reki and I crossed over the parking lot, taking care to keep ourselves hidden in the shadows of the trees--

First, the forest, afterward, we enter the jungle that stretches far behind.

The humidity here is extremely high. The abnormally rugged ground emitted the smell of dirt and rotting leaves.

At the beginning, I was constantly gazing at the uneven ground below my feet...

(...So dark...)

But, once we had gone deep into the jungle, the surroundings were swallowed by darkness.

There was the light from the stars, but it only just managed to pierce the thick jungle canopy.

"Reki. We should--"

-go to a slightly brighter area; before I had finished my sentence--Reki looked back.

Her forefinger was held to her lips, forbidding me from speaking.

...I swallowed my words, approaching her...

Reki stood on her tiptoes, softly whispering into my ear,

"Stay silent. The enemy should have set microphones up. Just now, after Kinji-san alerted the landlady--the enemy said her name."

...Now that she mentions it, that's how it was.

There was never a mention of the landlady's real name on the website, the "Saori" which the vocaloid had uttered.

I nodded--

Following Haimaki's lead, I, along with Reki, strode deeper into the jungle.

But, not fit to this kind of environment, I...felt my breathing become erratic extremely quickly. I had completely lost all sense of direction as well. It was as if I was wandering through the forest, my only guide the faint starlight that pierced through the trees.

And on the contrary, Reki hadn't even taken a deep breath once--it seemed as if she was advancing, a clear objective in her mind.

"Where are you going?"

Lowering my voice, I asked Reki, whose footfalls were near non-existent.

"Judging from the the hostile's location when he sniped us, I am estimating his current location--while searching for territory advantageous for my sniping."

"Territory..."

A battle between snipers...I had heard that they were like battles of positioning.

A location where you can see the enemy clearly, yet a location where the enemy cannot do the same, the side that finds such a position, extremely fitting for snipers, gains an overwhelming advantage.

"How is it that you're so clear about this mountain's topography. Our cellphones...are already broken, do you have something like a GPS with you?"

"There are minor flaws in the output of GPS. My memory is accurate."

"But, you haven't even seen a map of this area, right?"

"Before, on the bus to the hotel, I saw a map of the topography here."

...As expected of an S rank Butei.

The difference from me, who had been looking at a movie website with my cellphone while on the bus, was truly colossal. Apparently, Reki, who had been next to me, had memorized the surroundings' characteristics, a blank look on her face the whole time.

"...?"

''Squelch''...My feet sunk slightly into the ground.

Only now did I realize, there appeared to be water in front of us.

From the faint sound of running water, I thought that...it was probably a rather shallow river.

I don't know whether she had night vision, but Reki, moving lightly, crossed the river, almost like a water fairy. 

Apparently, there were stumps and rocks, and it seemed that she had crossed over above them.

The river was filled with water, and I couldn't let it slow my movements. I recalled the little wilderness combat training I had learned in Assault, and keeping my body low, I kept careful watch of my feet while crossing over the deeper parts of the river. If I do this, then I can more or less make things out in the darkness.

Stepping on the moss-covered rocks and stumps, I somehow managed to make it to the other side of the bank...

Reki, having reached the other side far ahead of me, was standing next to a gigantic tree, and she was gesturing towards me.

I walked to Reki's side, looking up at the enormous tree, which appeared to be a camphor.

The large, wide trunk was already covered with vines, merging with the ground. I don't really know much about plants, but its age...is probably over 1000. It is the master of the forest.

Is she going to use this tree's branches and trunk to act as cover, initiating the battle?

I'm sorry, master of the forest-san. We're going to drag you into this mess, which reeks of gunpowder.

"Then...What do we do now?"

I pressed myself against the trunk of the colossal tree, drawing the Beretta at my waist, checking its functionality.

Well, there isn't really a use for these in the coming battle--both the gun and me. 

"We will lie in wait here, scanning for the enemy. I will look for an opportunity to snipe."

Scanning for the enemy...?

We can't see anything in the midst of this darkness, right? And, the enemy is, like us, on the mountain.

"Kinji-san, please keep your watch."

"...Why?"

"Its fluorescent paint could be noticed by the enemy."

"That's retarded. How can anyone see something like this?"

"I can see it."

Seeing Reki, who never lies, say this with such a serious look, I...couldn't help but swallow my saliva.

The enemy--is someone who holds the same level of skill as Reki, no even more skillful, an elite sniper.

Really, even this kind of tiny light might be seen by him.

"It might be that the enemy is equipping a starlight scope. If so, we will lose the ability to take advantage of the night to surprise him, nor will we be able to see his remote-controlled helicopters, which are painted jet black."

Starlight scope, it's a night-vision scope that can be attached to armaments like sniper rifles.

I had used them once before--

It really is able to make the dark night, only faintly illuminated by the stars, turn into day.

"...Does that have any night-vision capabilities added to it?"

While taking my watch off, I pointed at the Dragunov's scope. ''Rustle''

Reki shook her head--

"The only night-vision functionality that this scope has is lighting reticule."

Lighting reticule...an overlayed aiming function, a cross that can be seen when one looks into the scope. Because it is luminous, it can be used at night, a very outdated attachment.

It's better than nothing, but when pitted against starlight scope, it is nearly equivalent to fighting blind.

Frowning, at my feet--

Haimaki's ears stood straight up, twitching slightly.

And, he was staring deep into the dark forest...killing his footfalls, he walked towards it.

"...Hey..."

Reki, staring in the same direction that Haimaki was going, stretched her hand out to stop me, who had called out to him in a small voice.

"..."

...Wh-what is it?

What happened? Don't stay silent, explain this to me.

--''Fwoosh!'' Cutting through the air, Haimaki rushed out.

''Huuu!'' That breathing noise--did not come from Haimaki.

"...!?"

In my line of sight, a black dog appeared, charging towards the silver wolf.

That was something I had seen on one of Aria's animal programs, a dog-hunting dog--a Shar-Pei.

It's a species that is used in China as a hunting dog or a military dog, a particularly vicious breed. And, its strain appeared to have been heavily modified, as it was far bigger than the ones I had seen on TV. It looked as if it could easily tear off a man's limb.

"--!"

I hurriedly brought my gun up--''Clank!''

But, my elbow collided with Reki, who had brought her Dragunov up at the exact same time.

Reki, a petite girl, lost her balance, and she leaned against the trunk with one knee.

And, staggering, I--as if trying to push Reki down, fell down on her.

--''Thump!''

(Uu...!)

The frontal impact jarred the Beretta, which was in semi-automatic, and one bullet was released, thudding into the ground.

At that moment--Haimaki and the Shar-Pei had engaged each other, entering a state where we were forced into inaction, unable to shoot. If we fire, there is no guarantee that we will not fatally wound Haimaki.

Standing up, thinking that I should at least fire some shots to intimidate the opponent--Woah.

This time, Reki's legs and my legs were tangled, and I fell against the trunk once again.

"...!"

What the hell am I doing.

Damn it.

Reki and I--have never really fought together like this.

Because, when we had worked together in Assault, Reki always acted as long-range support. Battling together with her in this kind of close-contact fighting...had only ever occurred during the Odaiba casino security detail.

So, there is no coordination between us.

(Right now...if it was Aria...!)

In my mind--Aria's image, charging towards the dogs without any thought whatsoever, using the flat of her blade to start beating the enemy down, appeared. At that point, because she'd be unable to halt her momentum, she'd definitely strike Haimaki a few times. And I, standing on the side, would use the vines to bind the powerless dog, capturing it. If it was Aria, I felt that that kind of combination would be possible.

--''Bang! Bang!''

Reki, still being crushed by me, extended her Dragunov to the side, firing.

"!"

The empty casing which flew into the air before me, as well as the unique metallic clack of the Dragunov, forced me to slam my eyes shut.

When I had opened them again...

The black dog had suddenly weakened considerably.

"--Haimaki, let that dog go. Stop fighting."

Hearing Reki, who was below me, give him an order, Haimaki--kicked off the dirt with a thud, retreating.

Keeping some distance away from that dog, ''Grrrrrrrr...'', he growled threateningly. 

That black dog...limping all the while...ran away.

"...Did you hit?"

"Yes. The bullet grazed both his legs."

"That dog...probably ran back to its master. Like this, our hiding place will be exposed. I'm not trying to say that you should have killed it, but is it really fine..?"

"Our location was already noticed by the enemy when Kinji-san fired. So, I fired as well."

..I-I see. The accidental discharge when I fell just now has already exposed our position?

Because, the enemy really has microphones set up. That's probably it.

To Reki, I'm really a dead weight.

"Please do not concern yourself. That dog is very powerful. Haimaki wanted to clamp down on the dog's throat, not allowing it to bark, and afterward, he wished to use his claws to rake what appears to be a transmitter off the dog's body, but--Haimaki was unable to do so immediately. If the dog stayed abnormally still, the enemy would have turned his attention this way."

"Transmitter..."

I never saw such a thing...is that how it was?

I turned my head, looking at Haimaki, who was staggering back, exhausted...he was injured.

During the fight with the Shar-Pei, he appeared to have been bitten in several places. That beautiful silver fur was flecked with crimson blood.

It appears that this confirms Reki's words. That battle dog was quite strong.

Added to this, ringing out from inside the forest, as if reporting that it had already found us--a dog's howl. Probably the one from just now. It was vicious and chilling, a sound that easily inspired fear in people's hearts.

"...We should change our position, right? We've already been exposed, so it's pretty dangerous here."

Just about to move, I--

-had my belt,''Tug'', grabbed by Reki.

"You cannot move."

"...Why?"

My eyebrows furrowed.

Reki took out a box filled with Calorie Mate energy bars from her pocket...and with a click, she opened it.

Emptying its contents, she filled it with the earth by her feet.

"...What are you doing?"

Not turning towards me, Reki-''Fwoosh''

-threw the dirt-filled Calorie Mate box away from the tree.

--''Clank''--!!

The box burst open, the dirt inside showering down.

That scene made a chill run down my back.

It had been sniped. And, it was a box roughly the size of my palm.

"The moment we step to the right or left of this tree, we will be sniped. We cannot move."

...''Bang''...

Immediately after Reki's words, the sound of a gunshot reached us from afar.

"As predicted, the enemy has not left the location he was occupying when he first attacked the hotel. The distance is 2050m, and as such, he is in range."

"...From 2050 meters...he is a sniper that is able to snipe that box from such a distance, huh?"

There's nothing we can do. At least, there's nothing ''I'' can do.

In this battle, I can only be a burden.

"...He's really a powerful enemy. I have no idea what kind of person he might be."

"The enemy is certainly an expert in sniping. As for his personality, it is overflowing with confidence."

"...You can understand the enemy's personality?"

"Because, the enemy sniped the box. That is meant to express that, even if his position is known, he will not lose, a challenge to his opponent."

"..."

"At the same time, the enemy has shown that he puts a lot of trust in new technology. He is a very adaptable person."

"--I can't believe you know so much. But, what does it matter if you're able to deduce the opponent's traits? A battle of sniping is but a battle of marksmanship, right?"

"A battle between snipers is done by reading the opponent's characteristics, and using that as a basis, deciding upon the method of attack."

"Characteristics...?"

I have no idea what use that might hold in a battle...

And, not being clear about this point means that, for this battle, I cannot help in the slightest.

...I have no choice.

Then, Haimaki and I will sharpen our gaze, looking out, seeing whether that hunting dog returns.

I sighed, sitting down on the trunk--

"--This will become a drawn-out battle. Please eat."

Reki took one of the Calorie Mates which she had emptied just now, handing it over.

...I see. Now I know why Reki only ever eats these.

This is like a wilderness ration. For the sake of being able to respond to these wars of attrition, Reki carries this kind of nutritious food at all times.

As expected of a girl who is ready to fight whether she is walking, sitting, or even sleeping.

I started thinking outside the box, and I asked Reki whether we could escape, running directly backwards from the tree...but the words had scarcely left my mouth before they were denied.

But, that was normal, since this is a forest.

As long as I move left or right even the slightest bit, just for the sake of avoiding a tree or rock, my head will suffer the same fate as that box.

The safe zone only extends from this tree to the river. As such, Reki and I ate the Calorie Mates, scooping up some river water to drink....

Staying by the trunk of the tree, unmoving.

...10 minutes...30 minutes...1 hour...

Nothing...happened. We just waited. Both us, and the enemy.

2 hours...3 hours.

The time was 0:00.

Right now, it's the season of passage between summer and autumn, but as time dragged on, the forest air was becoming colder and colder.

Our body heat slowly being stolen by the frigid air, our strength was being sapped as well. And, not only was our body affected, but drowsiness soon fell upon us. Quietly sitting in the darkness, I felt exhaustion come upon me...and, forcing oneself to stay awake is a large test of willpower.

I understood, my own willpower was fading, along with the passage of time.

Until now--in all the battles that I had fought with offenders...

I had been able to see the enemy.

Even if the enemy hid himself, all I needed to do was to force him out of hiding with my pistol.

Although, the offender we're facing this time is a sniper. An unseen enemy. And, this isn't like the battle with Reki, where I had been running everywhere, but this was a war of attrition which had already been dragged on for several hours.

Humans cannot maintain a state of agitation for that long a period.

However, I needed to keep myself in that state.

Because, once that was interrupted--My life would be put in danger.

...Fuck.

(This too...is a battle, huh...)

I had never experienced this kind of battle before. To be honest, I was about to reach my limit.

And even now, I wanted to--test my luck, charging out of cover, running away from this place.

On the contrary, Reki...completely still, was staring at me, who was in this state.

Haimaki licked his wounds, his face fatigued.

We still can't act...We still can't act!?

Like this, when time had passed into the deep night--

"..."

Reki made her move.

She slipped the bayonet out from under her skirt, affixing it to the Dragunov...

And, she took off the scarf of her uniform, releasing a soft sound of rubbing fabric, placing it on the tip of the bayonet edge.

"...If you want to make a white flag, I'll lend you my shirt."

Reki glanced at me, who was struggling to keep his eyes open, joking...

''Rustle''...She extended the scarf to the side of the tree.

A gust of wind washed over it, and the scarf danced in the air, slightly outside the tree.

''Shhchh! Shhchh!''

The scarf had been torn past at high speed by something--by a bullet.

A few seconds later, the echo of two gunshots reached our ears from afar.

--The opponent fired.

The enemy's concentration was amazing, he had been staring this way for three and a half hours.

"...Did he fire from the same location?"

"Yes. He should not have moved from the location he attacked the hotel. I'm afraid that, securing the mechanical advantage of starlight scope and having set up several microphones, he has no intention of leaving that position."

"He doesn't care even if we know where he is? Then, he really is very confident."

"That is probably correct. The signal that I had released was returned to me unflinchingly."

"Signal?"

"The exhibition of technique. On each of that hunting dog's legs, I left a 3cm long, 3mm deep, 3cm high wound, exactly the same on both legs.

A-a completely identical wound...? Furthermore, she's able to control its shallowness to such a degree that the dog can still walk?

I can't do that even while in Hysteria Mode. Probably.

Al...although I've been shocked at your strangeness up till now...exactly how much of a genius are you?

''Rustle''. On the bulletproof scarf that Reki opened up for me to see...there was an X-shaped hole which was probably caused by the two bullets from before.

Those two obliquely angular lines...their length was exactly the same. Each one was about 30 centimeters long.

--"I can do even this."

The enemy is sending that kind of signal, right?

"What do we do? Do we just last till daylight...I don't know if they'll come, but should we wait here for the police to come up the mountain to investigate?"

Reki shook her head.

"We would not be able to do it. The enemy is in a hurry to decide his victory."

''Stare.'' She said, turning her eyes to the forest. It seemed...that there was something there again.

"Kinji-san. Please use me, and go into HSS--Hysteria Mode."

Wh...?

What...did you say?

"No matter what the result of this battle is, the you as of now cannot escape from this forest."

"...Wa-wait. Hysteria Mode...you...I don't know where you found this information, but seeing as you know, I'll tell you. If I am to go into Hysteria Mode, I have to..."

Suddenly telling me that crazy battle plan, Reki cut off my words.

"--I will not mind no matter what you do to me. Because it's you." 

She said, her grip loosening on the scarf in her hands.

The rouge coloured scarf, fluttering in the midst of the darkness, seemed to imply some sort of deep meaning--and slowly, it fell towards Reki's feet.

"We are nearly out of time, are you able to do it?"

''Thud''...Reki pressed herself against the gigantic tree trunk.

Staying like that, unmoving, she stared directly at me.

"Time...?"

"After this, I will commence an exchange of shots with the enemy."

"...!"

"If I die or am injured, please leave me. If that time comes, please bring back the scope on this gun. Hidden inside this is a camera, it has already been set to record the scene at the instant that I snipe--You can use this to confirm the enemy's appearance."

"Hey..."

Facing Reki, who was able to state her purpose so coolly despite the fact that she knew she might die, I couldn't hide the tremor that ran through my body.

However, Reki, as if there was no time to answer, continued,

"On my body, there are 3 DAL for sniper rifle use."

--Butei Bullets.

Different from normal bullets, they are special modified bullets that are only circulated among elite Butei.

All of them are handmade by professional bullet craftsman, the price of one cannot fall lower than 1 million yen...Other than the Grenade and Flash that Nii-san gave me on EU, there were many different types, such as Flare or Cannon.

But, Reki, you brought those kinds of things with you to travel?

"In a while, I will fire two DAL. For the third shot, I will use a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62x54mmR Russian bullet], and when I've finished--we will start to leave this place." 

Scarcely telling me what I needed to know, Reki ejected the magazine from her Dragunov.

From its contents, she took out two bullets--''Click Click''

-and she slotted in two other bullets that she had taken out from her breast pocket.

They were probably attack-type Butei Bullets.

"Kinji-san. Quickly go into HSS...Hysteria Mode--We have no time left."

I hesitated.

A few seconds later...

Reki closed those wise eyes.

As if saying--that I was "useless".

"Then, we shall change our plan. We are already at a dangerous distance. I will definitely take care of the enemy. After that, please go into Hysteria Mode...running away from here."

Reki, not caring whether I approved of her plan, pressed her back against the tree--

"...I am a single bullet."

-she softly recited those mantra-like words.

"A bullet has no heart. As such, it does not think."

That voice is something that I had gotten used to hearing when she had acted as support, sniping--

"It just flies towards its target."

At that moment, I didn't know why, but a sense of unease sprung up in my chest.

--Reki---

''Flutter''--Her skirt fluttering, turning her Dragunov to the right, Reki--

-flickered out to the side of the tree, her gun held ready.

''Bang!''

She fired without a moment's hesitation, and immediately, Reki turned left, returning behind the tree.

As if grazing past Reki, ''Shhhchhh!'' , the bullet of the enemy's counterattack hurtled out of the darkness.

...!

I didn't truly understand what had happened in that instant, but...wh-what was that!

Just now, that was truly amazing.

The enemy had fired the instant he saw Reki.

The two sides are around two kilometers away from each other....the muzzle velocity of the M700 with 7.62mm NATO bullets that he was using, was 840 meters per second.

The time between the shot and its impact is around 2.5 seconds.

In that 2.5 seconds, Reki had aimed at the enemy, who was enveloped by the darkness, fired, and returned to the safe zone behind the tree.

As I realized what had happened, stunned--

''Pch...!''

Light glared out, coming from the direction of the forest. Almost as if lightning had struck.

(Flash...!)

Just now, Reki's attack--appeared to be the same as the one I had used in EU, the bullet that brought a blinding light to life.

The enemy's surroundings have definitely been lit up like a day at the height of summer.

Continuing, Reki performed the same movement--flashing out to the side of the tree.

''Bang!''

The second shot...

--''GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN''--!!

"Uu...!"

From the depths of the forest, a high-pitched blast, which seemed to shake the ground even here, rang out.

--Cannon.

Normally used to disrupt the enemy's battle ability, it is a Butei Bullet that creates massive amounts of sound pressure. 

(Reki...)

--I understand.

I understand what Reki wanted to do.

The first shot, Flash, was directed against starlight scope.

That type of night-vision attachment, amplifying the light of the stars umpteen times, was extremely weak against strong light.

A scope that faced that way would probably undergo 'white out'--or otherwise the safety function would engage, momentarily forcing a shutdown of all functionality.

With this, Reki followed through with her second shot, Cannon, firing at the enemy, who had lost his sight.

The enemy had used microphones, which amplified all sound, setting them up all around us. And, if he's wearing something like headphones to listen to their input, his hearing would definitely be damaged from the sonic-boom.

"--The enemy sniper has reached for his ears in pain. He is a solitary killer, he has no observers."

Looking into her scope, Reki reported these facts, like a scientist examining a guinea pig.

(...I see...)

--In a battle between snipers, the two sides read each other's personalities, deciding their method of attack.

That was what had happened here.

The overconfident enemy had responded to Reki's provocation. And, from that behaviour, Reki was able to recognize the enemy's position in an instant.

Additionally, the enemy is also someone who relies a lot on machines. Setting up a location which he could not move from easily, he put too much faith in them.

Reki specifically targeted this specific point--using light and sound, she assaulted the enemy's machine-heightened eyes and ears.

And now, she held the enemy's life and death in her hands.

We won...

"The enemy--is a little girl. Younger than me."

The sniper over there is a girl as well--and moreover, she's younger than you?

It's unbelievable, but...these are Reki's words. They must be true.

"Shoot to kill?"

Towards Reki, who was saying this as confirmation, I immediately replied with: "No, respect Butei Law."

"Then, I shall break the enemy's weapon."

''Bang!''

Immediately after Reki sniped at the enemy, her gun emitting a sharp muzzle flash--

(...?)

''Bch! BchBch!''

Small dots of light scattering about her, she seemed to be in pain, as if she had been struck. Reki's skirt, as if dancing in place, spun a semicircle, fluttering up, before it fell down.

''Drip, Drip'' The sound of a certain liquid falling to Reki's feet reached my ears.

"Reki...?"

...!?

What...happened?

Her appearance is extremely strange. Was she counterattacked?

No. The enemy should have had her battle ability ripped from her, she shouldn't be able to do anything.

Even if she had been sniped, I would have heard a gunshot, but none came.

"..."

Reki raised her gun again, aiming towards a location slightly different from before...and one step, two steps, she retreated.

"..."

Silently--she lowered her gun.

In that state, she placed the stock of her gun against the ground, and while she appeared to be using it to support herself...

''Scrape''...''Scrape''...

...she sat down, unable to move.

"...Ah...Hey...!"

I immediately crouched down, supporting Reki, whose head was drooping down--

"...!'

She's injured...! When!?

In the darkness, I fumbled around, trying to find Reki's wound, copious amounts of blood were flowing out.

Her upper head was heavily wounded, as well as her forearm and left thigh.

In that instant just now, what on Earth was she counterattacked by? I don't understand...

Pressing down on Reki's wounds with a frantic desperation, I, ''OOOOooOOoo...! UoOOOoooOO...!''

-suddenly heard the sound of several howls, all around us, continuously echoing out from within the forest.

Those voices were similar to the Shar-Pei's that came earlier. And...there were 10...No, 20 sets of them.

I see. It was because they were surrounding us, that Reki was so eager to decide the battle.

"Kinji-san. This..."

Reki handed her Dragunov and bayonet over to me.

''Drip, Drip''. Blood was still flowing down her forehead and elbows, dripping off of her.

"Regrettably, I have been injured. I no longer have the strength to drive those hunting dogs away, protecting you. After this, please protect yourself, and run away alone. The enemy will definitely regain her composure in short order...and she will come to perform the final blow."

"What are you saying? Since that's the case, it's even more clear that this is a path that we cannot take! How can I leave you here, alone and unarmed?"

I pushed the Dragunov back towards her.

"I have one more Grenade left. It can be detonated even without a gun."

Said Reki, taking the third, the final, Butei Bullet from her breast pocket.

Understanding the meaning of her words, I...clenched my teeth.

--Do you wish to commit suicide?

Do you wish to go down the path of killing yourself and the enemy!?

"Stop saying such idiotic things...!"

"Kinji-san, hurry. The enemy's net is closing in, and soon, you will no longer be able to escape."

Having lost too much blood, not even able to lift her head up, Reki--was still trying to hurry me, who was crouching there, not willing to stand up.

"I failed. I was weaker than the enemy. The weak will be devoured by the strong. This is the natural law of the world."

This...certainly, might be the truth.

"This is very logical, Kinji-san. If you linger any further, both of us will be killed. As such, it is better if you yourself live."

This too...might be the truth.

"Kinji-san...there is no need to worry about me. I live the life that the wind has determined, and I shall die in the same manner. That is of no importance to me."

People--whether they be few or many, live by the rules that have been determined for them.

Whether it be a delusion or something else, the "wind" is the rule in Reki's life. Just like a normal person's society, as well as their laws.

So, Reki has been respecting those rules since she was born, and it is certainly possible that she will follow them till her death.

--But. 

"Reki...dying in this kind of place, dying by the hands of an unknown person...Isn't this a worthless death...!? Don't always listen to the "wind's" orders, never laughing, never even crying...dying with no emotion, dying with no feeling, this is too...!"

I knelt by Reki's side. Reki--

''Rustle.''

Her hair shaking, she shook her head.

"Kinji-san. Yesterday...I said that I 'had no emotions'. But, actually...I do not know why I did not tell you then...I...once, had a very clear emotion..."

"...Reki..."

"The 'wind'...ordered me, it ordered me to take a boy...to take a powerful boy and bring him into Ulus. And when the 'wind'--ordered me to become Kinji-san's everything...in my heart...for the first time, I had my own...I had my own, true feelings."

Reki...

"--I'm so glad that Kinji-san is the one.--"

An emotion had sprouted within you.

You may not have been able to convey it through your expression or behaviour, but in your heart...an emotion, only belonging to you, had been brought to life.

''Drip, Drip'' Her blood trickling down without pause, Reki said,

"So, Kinji-san, I will not die without any emotion. You...don't have to feel sadness for me inside...the responsibility of keeping the line of Ulus eternal, now lies with my sisters."

Reki...!

"I, have no regrets. I can, with the person who first created emotion within me...eat a meal with you, I can travel with you, I can receive clothes from you. It may not have been long, I may not have been able to...express it within this period of time...but, that is definitely an emotion...I...am very happy...the last two weeks that I have spent with you, those days were filled with joy..."

Reki said, raising her bloodstained face.

That face--

Ahh, it was, for the first time...

--Smiling--

She smiled.

This is probably Reki wanting to make me relieved.

"Reki..."

That beautiful, unblemished face--made me feel as if, in an instant, I had understood Reki.

It isn't that Reki doesn't have emotions.

She just doesn't understand what emotion is.

Just that, her heart hasn't developed yet. Exactly like a child.

And, the reason it was so difficult to go into Hysteria Mode from Reki, was also because...in my heart, I had a faint feeling that she was still a child. 

Reki.

The enemy is approaching. We will fight for an instant.

You cannot fight anymore. You yourself said very clearly for me to leave you behind.

And I...only have to run away. By myself.

"Kinji-san...please go...it's already..."

Reki's voice was losing all strength, but even in that state, she was calmly hurrying me on...

I slipped the bayonet into my belt, and I shouldered the Dragunov.

"Reki. As opposed to two people dying, it is certainly better for one to live."

Hearing my words--

Reki, as if relieved, lightly nodded.

You don't even have the strength to answer anymore.

"Yet--my math isn't very good, but at least, I can understand that that isn't the best answer."

"...?"

Reki's eyes, under her bloodstained locks, looked at me.

''Rustle.''

Putting strength into my arms, I lifted Reki's arm.

"Obviously, it is better if both can live."

I helped her stand up, and Reki's--

-almond eyes were slightly wider than usual, staring directly at me.

It was extremely slight, but she had an amazed expression.
[[File:Aria06 243.jpg|thumb]]

That's good, Reki. That's good.

Doing this, you have to find yourself.

From this moment onward, let your life be filled with more surprise. With more tears. And--with more, more smiles.

That kind of smile, shown to me while sitting in the midst of a puddle of your own blood--

-your first and last smile...That isn't fine at all!

"Reki. You cannot. You cannot die. I saw it. At this moment, you--smiled. You can smile."

Reki--this is the moment where you start to grow.

In this situation, where you've taken your first step, you cannot die.

From now onward. For what comes after.

You are no longer the wind's slave--you are a human, a new life.

Therefore, you cannot die!

Reki seemed to start trying to resist...but immediately, she lost all strength, and while standing, she swayed dangerously.

She can't. Reki can no longer walk.

The Dragunov slung around my back, I took Reki with my two hands before--holding her up, princess-style.

It's a relief that this girl is so slight. Because of that, I'm able to run. Relying on the strength that comes when one is in the midst of a firestorm.

''Tap Tap Tap''...!

The hunting dogs had already reached a point where I could hear their footsteps.

While holding Reki, I wasn't able to fire off any intimidation shots, and I had no idea as to where to escape--when from my feet.

''Whisper''...

A white shadow flickered out.

--Haimaki.

Having been injured earlier in the fight with the Shar-Pei, Haimaki was standing up.

''Grrrrrrr''...Growling softly, Haimaki's fur was standing up, and although he was in the darkness, I was able to see that his fangs and claws were extended.

His back facing me, running towards the forest, Haimaki--is an extremely faithful wolf.

That blind faith was always there, a willingness to die for his master. Even when he had been struck by Patra's hideous golems, even when he was pursuing me, acting as the platform for Reki's ricochet, those positions of enormous danger.

And now, even now, he was like this.

Haimaki. You...

...are going to volunteer to be our bait?

By yourself, you're going to challenge that entire pack of ferocious hunting dogs?

You too--are a man.

It matters not whether you're a human or an animal. When in times of need, men...have no choice but to help women. Even if one is to die, it is something that one must do.

Only turning his head back halfway, Haimaki's eyes, gleaming in the darkness, looked at me.

Those eyes had faith in me--

Go. I leave Reki to you.

They seemed to be saying that.

"--Haimaki. When you survive and come back, I'll buy a box of fish sausages for you."

Saying that, I--

-turned my back on Haimaki, already surrounded by the countless gleaming eyes of the hunting dogs in the darkness by his side--

-I turned my back on Haimaki, who howled, bursting into the midst of the pack like a hurricane. 

Facing the hunting dogs which had bundled up, preparing to savage Haimaki together, I held Reki's delicate frame in my hands, rushing towards the river--

Run.

I have to run.

I have to run with all my strength.

Still holding Reki, who was completely still, in my arms, I ran. Into the forest. Recklessly.

The me as of now isn't in anything like Hysteria Mode. The me as of now is just a normal high school student.

However, I still have the ability to carry a girl in my arms, running away. I can still turn my back on the enemy, running away with all my strength.

Besides, Reki--I had run away from you during the "Manhunt", and normally, I run away from Aria as well. Running away is the only field in which I have a wealth of experience. So, don't worry.

Having crossed over a few muddy creeks, my limbs scratched as I hurtled through the dense branches, having slid down steep slopes, my body stained with mud, covered with wounds, I still ran, despite being in this state. I had emptied my mind of all thought.

In the midst of the mountain, Haimaki is probably still fighting with the hunting dogs, preventing them from going after us.

Or perhaps, because I had crossed through many rivers, it was hard to track me? The dogs--had not given chase. It seemed as if they had retreated.

Continuing to run deep inside, my breathing erratic, my vision suddenly opened--

-I exited into a vast field where [http://k-kabegami.sakura.ne.jp/onokosumosu/e.html cosmos] was growing abundantly.

Under the light of the stars, the pink colour of the petals, all blooming simultaneously, seemed like a haze of pink.

"Reki...Reki!"

While entering into the midst of the cosmos in the field, parting their branches, I called out her name, trying to confirm whether she was conscious or not, but...

Reki could no longer answer.

I understood that the temperature in her limbs was already dropping.

"...Reki..."

Panicked, in an instant, I placed Reki into the midst of the cosmos--and pulling out the wire in my belt, I cut it with the cutter on my belt. Using it, I stopped the blood flow to her thigh and forearm.

Because I had ascertained that Reki was still breathing, I raised my head, looking around. There was not a single house around. Not even the tiniest home. At any rate, we cannot contact a hospital.

Aah, if my cellphone hadn't been damaged in the very first attack...

I could have called in reinforcements for support, called in ambulances, called in anything.

There were no lights around us. I had no idea where the city was. I had ran directly away from the enemy, but...it could be that I had ran in the opposite direction from the city.

At that moment--

''Flutter.''

''Flutter.''

A butterfly...flew into my field of vision.

Appearing to be a swallowtail butterfly, it flew in small circles before us, and as if guiding us--it started flying in a certain direction.

Heading in that direction, at the forest on the other side of the swamp--

''Shine.'' I saw a light. Squinting, looking closer, the lights...continued.

Most likely, that's a streetlight.

If I head over there, a car will probably pass. Then, I will be able to ask for help.

But, aahh...

It's so far...! To the point of despair.

(Reki...you cannot die...!)

Once again taking Reki into my arms, I stood up, focusing all the strength in my body into my legs.

Reki, you cannot die.

I have finally reached this point, I have finally understood you.

Just the slightest bit...I can understand you.

So--there is still something that I need to tell you.

Something I haven't told you yet.

So, you cannot die.

You cannot die, Reki!

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|-
| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume6_Chapter3|3rd Ammo: Caravan I -Field Trip-]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Epilogue|Epilogue: Go for the Next!! Reki]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter4

2011-05-20T21:25:29Z

Remotemine: /* 4th Ammo: Flash Cannon */ Grammar

==4th Ammo: Flash Cannon==

Butei Charter article 4: Butei must be independent.

Butei High's field trip follows this rule, making its students find lodging for themselves.

Because Reki will definitely stay with me, even at night, I, not willing to be mocked by my classmates...booked an isolated hotel in northeast Kyoto, at the forest near Mount Hiei, online. After all, the site said that pets are OK.

We took a minibus, going along the driveway, disembarking at a desolate night path...

Standing there all alone, the hotel, "Bee's child", had a retro appearance, and personally, I liked it.

If she was a normal high school student, she'd definitely scream, "I don't want to stay at such an old place!" However, Reki, wearing her dress, her Butei High uniform in a paper bag...didn't say anything. I'm so glad that, at times like these, I don't need to worry about her.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Clatter Clatter*, I opened the sliding door at the entrance, and an unexpectedly young landlady welcomed us from inside.

"My, my. Welcome."

"Ah, um...I'm the Tohyama that reserved a place here online. I reserved two rooms...but, I'm a little short on money, so could you change one of the two rooms into a cheaper one?"

So I said to her...Wearing typical Japanese clothing, the landlady looked between Reki and I...

"My, my~, ufufufu."

Covering her mouth with her sleeve, she narrowed her eyes happily.

...?

"Okyaku-han, since that is the case, wouldn't it be fine if ya switched ta one room? Ya can stay together with yer girlfriend."

''Fufufu''. The landlady said so extremely happily. I waved my hands violently, saying,

"N-no, she isn't my girlfriend." 

"I am his girlfriend."

Eh? I turned my head, and the person who had cut in was Reki.

Wh-what are you claiming to be?

"The hotel is the subject of the sentence, and the only other girl here is me. Therefore, the third person naming for such a situation would be 'she'." [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_4]

Her speech like that of a teacher's, the robot girl said these things as if putting forth a counterargument.

"Mmnnn, I'm so jealous about how innocent you two are~~. Saori is so jealous~~."

With a strange movement like that of a little girl, the landlady swayed left and right.

She seemed to be dancing in time with the pendulum affixed behind her.

Facing her, who, if I were to put her in a manga panel, was scattering hearts everywhere, the landlady--Saori-san

"Ah, no...she's a girl that's a little bit...that..."

I wanted to try explaining Reki to her, but...

"Fortunately, there aren't any other guests today, so I'll prepare a nice room for ya, OK?"

Saori spun around, daintily walking inside, bringing us in.

The "Room of the Western Front" that we had been led into was a luxurious 8-tatami room, the tatami completely new.

Aptly named, the walls of the room were decorated with vividly colored [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishijin Nishijin], which looked like tapestries. [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_4]

In front of the silk was a vase, which looked big enough for someone to enter, raising the overall feeling of classiness.

This is an amazingly...good room. Almost too good.

Preferring Japanese-styled rooms to the rooms in modern city-hotels, I was extremely thankful to the landlady, who had given us such a high-class room for such a reasonable price, but...

The problem is, the fact that Reki is sharing a room with me.

For these few days, I had been living in Reki's room, but that was just a desolate emptiness. Rather than, "living" together with Reki, the mood was more like, "in the midst of battle."

So, I was able to somewhat convince myself, but--

Staying in the same room during a trip, however, the mood was completely different.

"..."

"..."

Reki and I were sitting next to the wooden table, eating the food that the landlady, Saori-san, had quickly prepared for us. It was delicious, but I was agitated to the point where I wasn't sure what I was eating.

(He-heavy, this atmosphere...)

Reki and I...for some reason...

Isn't this ambiance something like the "couple that ran away together for whatever reasons" atmosphere, so commonly found in old movies?

And, the majority of those would be, the so-called adult movies...and afterward, it will go into something where I can't help but avert my eyes, pushing the fast-forward button...that stimulating scene.

Ah...

(I may be alone with Reki, but because we have nothing to talk about...I'm thinking about these unnecessary things.)

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Stare* Looking in front of me, Reki, sitting up straight, was eating her meal from the right to left, just gradually eating, as if the taste was completely irrelevant.

In a short while, she had finished all the rice, next, she ate all the tempura, from then on, it was sashimi, and lastly, she drank the miso soup in one gulp.

"..."

Afterwards, having finished our meal, together, Reki and I put our cellphones, both out of charge, on top of the TV, and each of us plugged our respective phones into our respective chargers.

When I had released my cellphone because there was nothing that I could do...I ordered Reki to: "Sit at the wall," sleeping at the sliding door at the other end of the room.

Us two, completely silent, could hear the sound of crickets coming from outside of the paper walls...

In the silence of the long, autumn night, it stood out even further.

"..."

Following my orders, Reki was sitting at the wall, apparently resting after she had eaten, staying completely still.

...Even though she's wearing such a beautiful dress, she's still sitting upright.

Turning my back on Reki, who was in that kind of position, I fell asleep...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Slide*

"Forgive my rudeness."

The sliding door in front of my eyes opened, and Saori-san, kneeling in the corridor, had made her appearance once again.

"--How was your meal?"

"Ah, yes, it was delicious. Thank you for the meal."

Completely caught off guard, I sat up straight, slightly panicked, and Saori-san, seeing the distance between Reki and I--

She made an expression: "I grow tired of this."

"If yer completely finished with ya meal, then feel free ta take a bath. Because, today, both of ya are my only customers...You can use the hot springs for a while."

A bath...?

Flashing a face at me which said ''Give it your best shot'', because of Saori-san's expression--

I had a bad feeling about this.

Confirming my premonition, the hot springs at the hotel didn't have any signs with "Men's bath", or "Women's bath".

In short, this was a mixed bath.

--Mixed hot springs.

For me, a no-man's land.

When I had strode into the ICBM hangar in EU, I was completely unarmed...and now, this was like entering there naked.

But, today was quite hot, so I had sweated a little, so I had no choice but to go bathe.

According to what Saori-san had said, there were no other customers, so there was no danger of being surrounded by any hostiles (= women).

"Reki, you, absolutely, cannot come in here. Absolutely forbidden. Absolutely."

In the room, having warned Reki--somehow, feeling as if I was the preview act for a comedy routine--I headed towards the hot springs.

Thankfully, this hotel had a service where Saori-san would wash our clothes for us while we were inside the bath.

As such, I put my clothes inside the laundry basket...<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rattle*, opening the sliding door...

Because I had confirmed that no-one was around, I walked to the bath that was formed by rocks and a bamboo wall, lowering myself into the water in order to wash myself.

(...)

This...feels amazingly good.

The temperature of the bath, lukewarm, was exactly to my liking, and besides that, the fact that I was alone allowed me to slip into a state of complete relaxation.

It was as if the fatigue from the journey was seeping out of me, into the bath.

Inside the steam of the bath, slowly wisping upwards, I...

(I wonder what everyone from Butei High is doing...we're on a trip, so they're probably having fun right now.)

...thought about my classmates, time flowing by.

After thinking about this and that, it had was already 9:00 at night.

Looking towards the stars, I saw that they were visible in the midst of the steam, and it was a beautiful sight. This is something that would be described as 'elegant'.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Buzzz*....*Buzzz*...

The sound of insects from the forest.

''Hooo''...''Hooo''

What I had heard from the faraway forest was the call of an owl. It had been a while since I'd last heard it.

And, *Rattle*...

The sound of the sliding door opening.

(...Mm...?)

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Splash* The sound of splashing water.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Splash*...*Splash*.

(...Mmm...!?)

And, *Splash*--

The sound of someone's foot entering the bath.

--That!

"Hey!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Splash!*

Standing up immediately, I dropped the towel that was sitting on my head, and catching it, I--covered one specific part of my body, backing up.

Looking into the steam, the figure which I could see belonged to a--

Gi-girl.

Rather, no matter how I looked at it, it was Reki.

Leaning against the large rock at one side of the hot spring, was a Dragunov.

Moreover, this was beyond obvious, but--she was naked.

One wouldn't be able to say that Reki had a nice figure, even as flattery, since she had a body akin to a middle school student, but...

Seeing the lines of her body where the steam was thin, she really had feminine, beautiful curves.

Comparing is something that I would never do, but...her body was less flat than Aria's.

The plumpness of her chest was like that of an unripe plum, or an apple. A slender waist. Her skin, normally reminiscent of ceramics, was shining even more, light reflected off the condensation of the steam, its pigment slightly flushed.

"Re-Reki...!"

--Reki isn't a robot, after all. She's a person. And she was, very clearly, a girl.

The image she gave off, far from being anything like a normal girl, couldn't even be said to be human, but at this moment...I was made sharply aware of this sense of lust, of immorality. Reki, was a girl.

But--

If that is so, then why. Why did she enter the bath with me so calmly. We are no longer children with no sense of the relationships between men and women, just playing with bubbles.

The one saving grace was...because of the steam, I had no way of clearly seeing Reki, who was standing three meters away from me.

After, all I can do is hope that this steam, almost unnaturally thick, doesn't disperse, for any reason.

"I-I said not to come, so why..."
[[File:Aria06 199.jpg|thumb]]
Hearing me say that, Reki turned her small face, veiled by her damp short hair, looking this way.

"Yes. Kinji-san gave me that order--but, I sensed danger, and I came to protect you."

Eh, for me, you're the most dangerous thing here!

Looking at Reki, who had ignored my orders, entering the hot springs, I could only dip myself back into the water, hiding my body.

Calm down...you have to calm down...Kinji...!

The trigger to Hysteria Mode, is the heart.

As long as my heart keeps calm, then I should...be able to suppress it!

Alright, think of normal things. Think about the primary reason for bathing.

Bathing is something that one does to cleanse oneself, dispelling the pressure on one's soul.

There were no unhealthy impulses behind it. Absolutely not.

"Pro-protect me? Protect me from what...!"

I wrapped the towel around my waist, and with an immovable resolve, I strode out of the bath.

Keeping my breathing steady, I turned my face, following the bamboo fence towards the exit.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Splash*

The splashing sound that Reki made, apparently coming my way, made my heart skip a beat.

"--I have felt an ill wind. Please do not go too far from my side."

Feeling the flow of blood become ever more dangerous, I ignored Reki's words, leaving the hot springs.

Taking deep breaths, confirming the status of my body's core...

I-I did it. I'm safe. I overcame it.

Reki is definitely a beautiful girl. She's as cute as a small animal, a girl who carries an inexplicable, indescribable attraction.

But--in reality, it appears that it's hard for me to go into Hysteria because of her.

I still don't know the reason, however, having been kissed by her once before and transforming, I could not let my guard down, not for any reason.

My uniform, during the time that I was in the bath, had already been cleaned and dried by the landlady, Saori-san.

Thanking her gratefully in my heart and wearing my uniform, having returned to "The Room of the Western Front", I never thought that my agitated blood flow would become even more excited...

Because, inside the room, there was a huge futon.

And, there was only one.

Added to that, the two pillows on top of it were pressed together, intimately.

(Did...Did Saori-san do this...!)

This will definitely--even someone as slow as me understood the underlying meaning behind this scene--preventing me from composing myself.

I opened the cabinet in a panic, but it was empty, there were no other futons prepared.

(What do I do...!)

Kinji, what do you do! You're out of the frying pan and into the fire!

The futon and pillow were wondrously soft, making one feel as comfortable as if it was heaven. Although, sleeping in it alone and making Reki sit on the tatami...I thought that I'd get an ulcer out of guilt.

But, if I let Reki sleep inside, heaven will immediately become hell.

Just thinking about it triggered slight Hysteria, an extremely dangerous action.

Maybe, if I use this side, and she uses that side...?

I separated the pillows, placing them at opposite ends of the futon, and my mind was running scenarios of what this would look like while asleep.

Th-this won't do. This kind of distance would be covered just by one of us rolling over.

And, I have no reason to wear the complete protective gear, Armament Set C, to sleep.

Because, yukata were placed next to the pillow, meant to act as pajamas.

--Yukata are very dangerous. Because, they can be stripped off in an instant.

Also, comparatively, my sleeping posture is quite bad. When I was a child, I had stayed at the Hotogi shrine, wearing a yukata...but, once I woke up, I noticed that, sleeping next to me, Shirayuki, Kiriyuki, Kazayuki, and Konayuki, (there were only 4 sisters then,) were pressed against me like a sandwich.

If that kind of scene appears in a situation like this, where Reki and I, a boy and girl, are alone together--whether it be in the dead of the night or at the crack of dawn, because of Hysteria Mode, I will really do some things that will render me unable to do anything but submit a wedding application.

I cannot let such a thing come to pass.

I held up one pillow, and like Nakasorachi in Connect, I started rolling around the futon...

--<nowiki>*Rattle*</nowiki>

At that moment, Reki, changed back into her uniform, opened the door.

Having been completely unaware of her presence, I, shocked, started swinging the pillow, twice, thrice.

"Ah, no, we're only two people, so we can't have a pillow fight."

Saying things that even I didn't understand, I exerted all my willpower, forcing myself to act calm, keeping the pillow inside the cabinet.

Hey, hand. My hand. Stop shaking.

No matter what, I cannot let the topic turn to the futon...

Steeling myself in my heart, I-

"No-now that I think about it...what happened to Haimaki?"

-asked this question, which I had been thinking of, trying to lead away from the topic.

On the other side, Reki, going her own pace, grasped the Dragunov as if it was a stick...and at the wall, she sat upright.

"--He's inside the room."

"Inside the room?"

I asked because he wasn't here.

Well...whatever. At least, I've temporarily prevented any discussion over the futon.

If Haimaki really were here, it'd just be even more hateful, anyways.

"..."

I re-arranged the things that I had disturbed in my panic just now, sitting down at the wall opposite Reki.

This...is, strangely enough, like a painting. Separated by a gigantic futon, a boy and girl sits apart, on opposite walls. Doesn't this situation make it seem as if we're paying special attention to that one futon?

(Aw-awkward...)

This is far too awkward.

Did the people who really went through arranged marriages in the past have this kind of feeling too?

Rather, what does Reki plan to do?

It can't be that she can't see this gigantic futon.

But, if you're going to sleep sitting down as always...I'm sorry, but I will be sleeping inside the futon by myself. I'm really sorry about doing this to you. But, let the ulcers come.

"You, that...Do you plan to sit here, holding your gun while sleeping?"

Unable to stand the silence any longer, I started to speak--

-suddenly, I realized that the way I had started speaking might cause an understanding.

What I had said just now seemed as if I was trying to draw Reki in. "Don't sleep that way" → "So, let's get into the futon together." If it were to be misunderstood like that, then I really won't have any way of backing out. I've really done it.

But, it seemed as if I was just adding on to my imagined torments...

"Yes. When the time comes, I have to fend off the enemy--The wind ordered me to do so."

Reki, her head slanted downwards, looking at the tatami, answered me softly.

If you say that...you're going to sleep upright. Alright, alright.

The ball's on my court now.

"The wind's orders, huh. Then, please obey them fully as well."

"Yes. Just..."

"...?"

"The wind has two other orders. And, I haven't fulfilled them yet."

"What orders?"

I couldn't help but frown.

Reki--

-wordlessly, stood up.

"Protect the wind, creating descendants for Ulus."

"Descendants for Ulus...?"

"The child of Kinji-san and I."

"...!"

Th-those words...

Why are they being said again, in this kind of situation...!

Reki, *Footstep, Footstep*, walked onto the futon--

The wood-framed chandelier that was hanging from the ceiling, *Click*, she extinguished it.

Reki's eyes, reflecting the light of the stars that was shining into the room, which had darkened in an instant...*Turn*

...turned towards me.

And as if at that signal, *Thump*...!

The gigantic vase under the painting fell over, and a silver beast appeared from within it.

Ha-Haimaki. That was where you were hiding?

Haimaki-

"Uu...?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shuffle. Shuffle*

-pushed me forward forcefully, coming to a stop when he had reached Reki's feet.

He-hey. Stop it! Th-this is bad...Ku!

The flow which I had thought we were following, was broken.

Rather than that, in the blink of an eye, I had run into a terrible danger.

Before me, was Reki's soft, supple legs. Behind me, Haimaki's fangs, completely bared.

I mean, I'm not too versed with this kind of thing, but this "overly forceful" approach...normally, the position of the boy and girl should be reversed, right?

"That and--I was given one more order."

Reki suddenly lowered her voice, bending down.

Wh-what is it?

"--protecting Kinji-san."

Saying that--*Thump*

Completely unlike the normal Reki, she shoved me with all her force, pushing me down to the ground.

"...!"

Because of the pillow, I didn't smash my head, but, held tightly by Reki, I had no way of getting up.

Reki was clutching me as if she wanted to use her chest to squash my face--

At the point in time where I was utterly confused, my face reddening.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Sshhhcc....Sshhccc! Kch!

The sound of something ripping through the air, piercing the paper screen--

And, the sound of breaking glass at the end of the hallway rang out in the midst of the darkness.

"--!?"

<nowiki>*Sshhcch!*</nowiki>

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Kch! Kch! Kch!*

The continuous sound of glass crackng.

<nowiki>*Bang!*</nowiki>...under the impact of multiple bullets, the window fell out of its frame--

<nowiki>*Shhchhch Shhhchch*!</nowiki>

On top of the TV, Reki's cellphone and my cellphone took direct hits.

And on top of that, the bullet, *Bccch*...!

The broken window, just like a frame, span around, falling down--smashing into the wall.

The silk decorating the walls dropped down like flowing water. The vivid tapestries were ripped off from every direction, covering Reki and I.

"--A snipe."

Hearing Reki's words and not being able to help but turn pale, I,

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Clank*...*Clank*...! *Clank*...*Clank*...!

-heard the sound of several gunshots coming from the mountain.

That--was the gunshot sound of those snipes.

A sniper rifle's bullets exceed the speed of sound. So, the bullets arrived earlier than the gunshots.

Then, Reki pushing me--was for the sake of preventing me from being hit by those snipes.

But...who is it? Why are they firing? Why are they attacking us!?

"--Remington M700. Distance: 2180m. Fired from the mountain."

Apparently able to judge the opponent's location and gun model merely from the gunshot, Reki said those words calmly.

Upon hearing that number, I could not help but widen my eyes.

(...2180m...!?)

Reki's Killing Range is 2051m.

Among the S ranked Butei in Tokyo Butei High, it was named as the greatest range.

But, the person attacking us appeared to be an elite sniper who was even more skillful than Reki.

Morever, that person was equipped with a Remington M700.

It is the world's most reliable sniper rifle.

"This place is extremely dangerous. The enemy is very clear about our location. Go outside."

Crawling, I extricated myself from underneath Reki, who was covered with the beautiful silk.

The room was filled with feathers, dancing through the air, having flown out of the torn futon.

"Who...is the enemy? Why are they assaulting us!"

Well, in terms of a vague idea...it's not that I'm at a complete loss. The important thing is, this has something to do with EU.

But if this is one of the remnants of EU acting, it's too fast.

Reki didn't answer my question, and she swept away the fabric--

Those eyes looked like cameras, embedded into a robot.

With Saori-san, who had called the police, trailing behind us, Reki and I, as well as Haimaki, his fur standing on end, exited from the kitchen door, which should have been in the sniper's blind spot.

At that time, from an unknown location,

"Tohyama Kinji Reki You two Surrender."

(...!?)

This...is the vocaloid that is so popular on the net, that sister-like voice.

Next to me, who had realized that, Reki pointed her Dragunov into the air--

''Bang!!''

--firing into the night sky.

In the pitch black sky, something akin to small sparks burst forth...

Immediately afterward, a remote-controlled helicopter, painted jet black, fell towards the driveway.

And afterward, from the skies-''Dadadadadadada''

-as if counterattacking Reki, several bullets buried themselves in the ground around us.

"There's more!? --Saori-san! Don't come outside!"

Hurriedly, I pushed Saori-san, who was clutching her cellphone in her hands, back into the room.

And, exactly as I did that, a bullet pierced through the air, flying towards us. We dodged it by a hair's breadth.

The shots, coming from the air--weren't very accurate. For the sake of keeping silent in order to prevent themselves from being noticed, miniature remote-control helicopters were being used. As such, the gun's recoil prevents them from accurately locking on to their target.

However, there is the saying: 'It only takes one'. Just from the bullets ricocheting off the ground, there was the danger that we would be caught by a stray.

Under the downpour of the rain of bullets, the cars and the asphalt parking lot were pockmarked with gouged-out bullet holes.

"--I am a single bullet--"

--''Bang! Bang! Bang!''

Her sniper rifle pointed into the sky, Reki fired three continuous shots.

From the parking lot, they hurtled into the darkness.

Each one burst into sparks in the air...afterwards, we could see the remote-controlled helicopters, leaving a trail of smoke, fall from the sky. 

"If you run the... Saori-san there...break her Ahaha Ahahahahahahaha"

The voice came erratically...but the helicopter announced that it would start firing indiscriminately.

I cannot let Saori-san get dragged into this.

Well, from the beginning, as for planning to run--I had no intention of doing so.

"There are no more helicopters. Let us enter the forest from the hotel's shadow, circling around so we can counterattack."

Reki said, lowering her Dragunov. I nodded...

...but, the enemy's attack had made me even more uncertain.

A machine-synthesized vocaloid. Remote controlled devices armed with sub-machine guns.

This mode of operation. It's indelible.

This is exactly the same as the "Butei Killer"--Riko's attack method when she assaulted us in April!

Although, it could not be Riko.

That was something which exceeded Reki's Killing Range, a snipe from 2180 meters away.

It is a superhuman technique which, with the exception of elite snipers, is impossible for humans to accomplish.

The offender is definitely an expert who has undergone severe sniping training ever since he was a child.

Even if Riko had familiarized herself with sniper rifles, judging from her past, it was impossible that she could have this kind of skill.

Also, she has no reason to attack us...after all, Riko and I are in what amounts to a truce. Furthermore, Riko's target is, "Aria and I", this partnership, not Reki and I.

Added to this--

The name the enemy designated us as, "Reki and I", was also an enigma.

Just now, for a moment, I had suspected that this was an assault from the remnants of EU, but if it was them...their sights should be locked onto Aria, who was defending Kanzaki Kanae-san, who had been made their scapegoat, or perhaps the person who defeated Sherlock--me.

Because, in the battle with EU, Reki was only support. I can't say that they bear absolutely no hatred towards her, however, as for the order of targets, she should be relatively low on the list.

--I don't understand.

Who is this enemy?

Why did you...attack us!?

Reki and I crossed over the parking lot, taking care to keep ourselves hidden in the shadows of the trees--

First, the forest, afterward, we enter the jungle that stretches far behind.

The humidity here is extremely high. The abnormally rugged ground emitted the smell of dirt and rotting leaves.

At the beginning, I was constantly gazing at the uneven ground below my feet...

(...So dark...)

But, once we had gone deep into the jungle, the surroundings were swallowed by darkness.

There was the light from the stars, but it only just managed to pierce the thick jungle canopy.

"Reki. We should--"

-go to a slightly brighter area; before I had finished my sentence--Reki looked back.

Her forefinger was held to her lips, forbidding me from speaking.

...I swallowed my words, approaching her...

Reki stood on her tiptoes, softly whispering into my ear,

"Stay silent. The enemy should have set microphones up. Just now, after Kinji-san alerted the landlady--the enemy said her name."

...Now that she mentions it, that's how it was.

There was never a mention of the landlady's real name on the website, the "Saori" which the vocaloid had uttered.

I nodded--

Following Haimaki's lead, I, along with Reki, strode deeper into the jungle.

But, not fit to this kind of environment, I...felt my breathing become erratic extremely quickly. I had completely lost all sense of direction as well. It was as if I was wandering through the forest, my only guide the faint starlight that pierced through the trees.

And on the contrary, Reki hadn't even taken a deep breath once--it seemed as if she was advancing, a clear objective in her mind.

"Where are you going?"

Lowering my voice, I asked Reki, whose footfalls were near non-existent.

"Judging from the the hostile's location when he sniped us, I am estimating his current location--while searching for territory advantageous for my sniping."

"Territory..."

A battle between snipers...I had heard that they were like battles of positioning.

A location where you can see the enemy clearly, yet a location where the enemy cannot do the same, the side that finds such a position, extremely fitting for snipers, gains an overwhelming advantage.

"How is it that you're so clear about this mountain's topography. Our cellphones...are already broken, do you have something like a GPS with you?"

"There are minor flaws in the output of GPS. My memory is accurate."

"But, you haven't even seen a map of this area, right?"

"Before, on the bus to the hotel, I saw a map of the topography here."

...As expected of an S rank Butei.

The difference from me, who had been looking at a movie website with my cellphone while on the bus, was truly colossal. Apparently, Reki, who had been next to me, had memorized the surroundings' characteristics, a blank look on her face the whole time.

"...?"

''Squelch''...My feet sunk slightly into the ground.

Only now did I realize, there appeared to be water in front of us.

From the faint sound of running water, I thought that...it was probably a rather shallow river.

I don't know whether she had night vision, but Reki, moving lightly, crossed the river, almost like a water fairy. 

Apparently, there were stumps and rocks, and it seemed that she had crossed over above them.

The river was filled with water, and I couldn't let it slow my movements. I recalled the little wilderness combat training I had learned in Assault, and keeping my body low, I kept careful watch of my feet while crossing over the deeper parts of the river. If I do this, then I can more or less make things out in the darkness.

Stepping on the moss-covered rocks and stumps, I somehow managed to make it to the other side of the bank...

Reki, having reached the other side far ahead of me, was standing next to a gigantic tree, and she was gesturing towards me.

I walked to Reki's side, looking up at the enormous tree, which appeared to be a camphor.

The large, wide trunk was already covered with vines, merging with the ground. I don't really know much about plants, but its age...is probably over 1000. It is the master of the forest.

Is she going to use this tree's branches and trunk to act as cover, initiating the battle?

I'm sorry, master of the forest-san. We're going to drag you into this mess, which reeks of gunpowder.

"Then...What do we do now?"

I pressed myself against the trunk of the colossal tree, drawing the Beretta at my waist, checking its functionality.

Well, there isn't really a use for these in the coming battle--both the gun and me. 

"We will lie in wait here, scanning for the enemy. I will look for an opportunity to snipe."

Scanning for the enemy...?

We can't see anything in the midst of this darkness, right? And, the enemy is, like us, on the mountain.

"Kinji-san, please keep your watch."

"...Why?"

"Its fluorescent paint could be noticed by the enemy."

"That's retarded. How can anyone see something like this?"

"I can see it."

Seeing Reki, who never lies, say this with such a serious look, I...couldn't help but swallow my saliva.

The enemy--is someone who holds the same level of skill as Reki, no even more skillful, an elite sniper.

Really, even this kind of tiny light might be seen by him.

"It might be that the enemy is equipping a starlight scope. If so, we will lose the ability to take advantage of the night to surprise him, nor will we be able to see his remote-controlled helicopters, which are painted jet black."

Starlight scope, it's a night-vision scope that can be attached to armaments like sniper rifles.

I had used them once before--

It really is able to make the dark night, only faintly illuminated by the stars, turn into day.

"...Does that have any night-vision capabilities added to it?"

While taking my watch off, I pointed at the Dragunov's scope. ''Rustle''

Reki shook her head--

"The only night-vision functionality that this scope has is lighting reticule."

Lighting reticule...an overlayed aiming function, a cross that can be seen when one looks into the scope. Because it is luminous, it can be used at night, a very outdated attachment.

It's better than nothing, but when pitted against starlight scope, it is nearly equivalent to fighting blind.

Frowning, at my feet--

Haimaki's ears stood straight up, twitching slightly.

And, he was staring deep into the dark forest...killing his footfalls, he walked towards it.

"...Hey..."

Reki, staring in the same direction that Haimaki was going, stretched her hand out to stop me, who had called out to him in a small voice.

"..."

...Wh-what is it?

What happened? Don't stay silent, explain this to me.

--''Fwoosh!'' Cutting through the air, Haimaki rushed out.

''Huuu!'' That breathing noise--did not come from Haimaki.

"...!?"

In my line of sight, a black dog appeared, charging towards the silver wolf.

That was something I had seen on one of Aria's animal programs, a dog-hunting dog--a Shar-Pei.

It's a species that is used in China as a hunting dog or a military dog, a particularly vicious breed. And, its strain appeared to have been heavily modified, as it was far bigger than the ones I had seen on TV. It looked as if it could easily tear off a man's limb.

"--!"

I hurriedly brought my gun up--''Clank!''

But, my elbow collided with Reki, who had brought her Dragunov up at the exact same time.

Reki, a petite girl, lost her balance, and she leaned against the trunk with one knee.

And, staggering, I--as if trying to push Reki down, fell down on her.

--''Thump!''

(Uu...!)

The frontal impact jarred the Beretta, which was in semi-automatic, and one bullet was released, thudding into the ground.

At that moment--Haimaki and the Shar-Pei had engaged each other, entering a state where we were forced into inaction, unable to shoot. If we fire, there is no guarantee that we will not fatally wound Haimaki.

Standing up, thinking that I should at least fire some shots to intimidate the opponent--Woah.

This time, Reki's legs and my legs were tangled, and I fell against the trunk once again.

"...!"

What the hell am I doing.

Damn it.

Reki and I--have never really fought together like this.

Because, when we had worked together in Assault, Reki always acted as long-range support. Battling together with her in this kind of close-contact fighting...had only ever occurred during the Odaiba casino security detail.

So, there is no coordination between us.

(Right now...if it was Aria...!)

In my mind--Aria's image, charging towards the dogs without any thought whatsoever, using the flat of her blade to start beating the enemy down, appeared. At that point, because she'd be unable to halt her momentum, she'd definitely strike Haimaki a few times. And I, standing on the side, would use the vines to bind the powerless dog, capturing it. If it was Aria, I felt that that kind of combination would be possible.

--''Bang! Bang!''

Reki, still being crushed by me, extended her Dragunov to the side, firing.

"!"

The empty casing which flew into the air before me, as well as the unique metallic clack of the Dragunov, forced me to slam my eyes shut.

When I had opened them again...

The black dog had suddenly weakened considerably.

"--Haimaki, let that dog go. Stop fighting."

Hearing Reki, who was below me, give him an order, Haimaki--kicked off the dirt with a thud, retreating.

Keeping some distance away from that dog, ''Grrrrrrrr...'', he growled threateningly. 

That black dog...limping all the while...ran away.

"...Did you hit?"

"Yes. The bullet grazed both his legs."

"That dog...probably ran back to its master. Like this, our hiding place will be exposed. I'm not trying to say that you should have killed it, but is it really fine..?"

"Our location was already noticed by the enemy when Kinji-san fired. So, I fired as well."

..I-I see. The accidental discharge when I fell just now has already exposed our position?

Because, the enemy really has microphones set up. That's probably it.

To Reki, I'm really a dead weight.

"Please do not concern yourself. That dog is very powerful. Haimaki wanted to clamp down on the dog's throat, not allowing it to bark, and afterward, he wished to use his claws to rake what appears to be a transmitter off the dog's body, but--Haimaki was unable to do so immediately. If the dog stayed abnormally still, the enemy would have turned his attention this way."

"Transmitter..."

I never saw such a thing...is that how it was?

I turned my head, looking at Haimaki, who was staggering back, exhausted...he was injured.

During the fight with the Shar-Pei, he appeared to have been bitten in several places. That beautiful silver fur was flecked with crimson blood.

It appears that this confirms Reki's words. That battle dog was quite strong.

Added to this, ringing out from inside the forest, as if reporting that it had already found us--a dog's howl. Probably the one from just now. It was vicious and chilling, a sound that easily inspired fear in people's hearts.

"...We should change our position, right? We've already been exposed, so it's pretty dangerous here."

Just about to move, I--

-had my belt,''Tug'', grabbed by Reki.

"You cannot move."

"...Why?"

My eyebrows furrowed.

Reki took out a box filled with Calorie Mate energy bars from her pocket...and with a click, she opened it.

Emptying its contents, she filled it with the earth by her feet.

"...What are you doing?"

Not turning towards me, Reki-''Fwoosh''

-threw the dirt-filled Calorie Mate box away from the tree.

--''Clank''--!!

The box burst open, the dirt inside showering down.

That scene made a chill run down my back.

It had been sniped. And, it was a box roughly the size of my palm.

"The moment we step to the right or left of this tree, we will be sniped. We cannot move."

...''Bang''...

Immediately after Reki's words, the sound of a gunshot reached us from afar.

"As predicted, the enemy has not left the location he was occupying when he first attacked the hotel. The distance is 2050m, and as such, he is in range."

"...From 2050 meters...he is a sniper that is able to snipe that box from such a distance, huh?"

There's nothing we can do. At least, there's nothing ''I'' can do.

In this battle, I can only be a burden.

"...He's really a powerful enemy. I have no idea what kind of person he might be."

"The enemy is certainly an expert in sniping. As for his personality, it is overflowing with confidence."

"...You can understand the enemy's personality?"

"Because, the enemy sniped the box. That is meant to express that, even if his position is known, he will not lose, a challenge to his opponent."

"..."

"At the same time, the enemy has shown that he puts a lot of trust in new technology. He is a very adaptable person."

"--I can't believe you know so much. But, what does it matter if you're able to deduce the opponent's traits? A battle of sniping is but a battle of marksmanship, right?"

"A battle between snipers is done by reading the opponent's characteristics, and using that as a basis, deciding upon the method of attack."

"Characteristics...?"

I have no idea what use that might hold in a battle...

And, not being clear about this point means that, for this battle, I cannot help in the slightest.

...I have no choice.

Then, Haimaki and I will sharpen our gaze, looking out, seeing whether that hunting dog returns.

I sighed, sitting down on the trunk--

"--This will become a drawn-out battle. Please eat."

Reki took one of the Calorie Mates which she had emptied just now, handing it over.

...I see. Now I know why Reki only ever eats these.

This is like a wilderness ration. For the sake of being able to respond to these wars of attrition, Reki carries this kind of nutritious foods at all times.

As expected of a girl who is ready to fight whether she is walking, sitting, or even sleeping.

I started thinking outside the box, and I asked Reki whether we could escape, running directly backwards from the tree...but the words had scarcely left my mouth before they were denied.

But, that was normal, since this is a forest.

As long as I move left or right even the slightest bit, just for the sake of avoiding a tree or rock, my head will suffer the same fate as that box.

The safe zone only extends from this tree to the river. As such, Reki and I ate the Calorie Mates, scooping up some river water to drink....

Staying by the trunk of the tree, unmoving.

...10 minutes...30 minutes...1 hour...

Nothing...happened. We just waited. Both us, and the enemy.

2 hours...3 hours.

The time was 0:00.

Right now, it's the season of passage between summer and autumn, but as time dragged on, the forest air was becoming colder and colder.

Our body heat slowly being stolen by the frigid air, our strength was being sapped as well. And, not only was our body affected, but drowsiness soon fell upon us. Quietly sitting in the darkness, I felt exhaustion come upon me...and, forcing oneself to stay awake is a large test of willpower.

I understood, my own willpower was fading, along with the passage of time.

Until now--in all the battles that I had fought with offenders...

I had been able to see the enemy.

Even if the enemy hid himself, all I needed to do was to force him out of hiding with my pistol.

But, the offender we're facing this time is a sniper. An unseen enemy. And, this isn't like the battle with Reki, where I had been running everywhere, but this was a war of attrition which had already been dragged on for several hours.

Humans cannot maintain a state of agitation for that long a period.

But, I needed to keep myself in that state.

Because, once that was interrupted--My life would be put in danger.

...Fuck.

(This too...is a battle, huh...)

I had never experienced this kind of battle before. To be honest, I was about to reach my limit.

And even now, I wanted to--test my luck, charging out of cover, running away from this place.

And, on the contrary, Reki...completely still, was staring at me, who was in this state.

Haimaki licked his wounds, his face fatigued.

We still can't act...We still can't act!?

Like this, when time had passed into the deep night--

"..."

Reki made her move.

She slipped the bayonet out from under her skirt, affixing it to the Dragunov...

And, she took off the scarf of her uniform, releasing a soft sound of rubbing fabric, placing it on the tip of the bayonet edge.

"...If you want to make a white flag, I'll lend you my shirt."

Reki glanced at me, who was struggling to keep his eyes open, joking...

''Rustle''...She extended the scarf to the side of the tree.

A gust of wind washed over it, and the scarf danced in the air, slightly outside the tree.

''Shhchh! Shhchh!''

The scarf had been torn past at high speed by something--by a bullet.

A few seconds later, the echo of two gunshots reached our ears from afar.

--The opponent fired.

The enemy's concentration was amazing, he had been staring this way for three and a half hours.

"...Did he fire from the same location?"

"Yes. He should not have moved from the location he attacked the hotel. I'm afraid that, having the mechanical advantage of starlight scope and having set up several microphones, he has no intention of leaving that position."

"He doesn't care even if we know where he is? Then, he really is very confident."

"That is probably correct. The signal that I had released was returned to me unflinchingly."

"Signal?"

"The exhibition of technique. On each of that hunting dog's legs, I left a 3cm long, 3mm deep, 3cm high wound, exactly the same on both legs.

A-a completely identical wound...? And, she's able to control its shallowness such that the dog can still walk?

I can't do that even while in Hysteria Mode. Probably.

Al...although I've been shocked at your strangeness up till now...exactly how much of a genius are you?

''Rustle''. On the bulletproof scarf that Reki opened up for me to see...there was an X-shaped hole which was probably caused by the two bullets from before.

Those two obliquely angular lines...their length was exactly the same. Each one was about 30 centimeters long.

--"I can do even this."

The enemy is sending that kind of signal, right?

"What do we do? Do we just last till daylight...I don't know if they'll come, but should we wait here for the police to come up the mountain to investigate?"

Reki shook her head.

"We would not be able to do it. The enemy is in a hurry to decide his victory."

''Stare.'' She said, turning her eyes to the forest. It seemed...that there was something there again.

"Kinji-san. Please use me, and go into HSS--Hysteria Mode."

Wh...?

What...did you say?

"No matter what the result of this battle is, the you as of now cannot escape from this forest."

"...Wa-wait. Hysteria Mode...you...I don't know where you found this information, but seeing as you know, I'll tell you. If I am to go into Hysteria Mode, I have to..."

Suddenly telling me that crazy battle plan, Reki cut off my words.

"--I will not mind no matter what you do to me. Because it's you." 

She said, her grip loosening on the scarf in her hands.

The rouge coloured scarf, fluttering in the midst of the darkness, seemed to imply some sort of deep meaning--and slowly, it fell towards Reki's feet.

"We are nearly out of time, are you able to do it?"

''Thud''...Reki pressed herself against the gigantic tree trunk.

Staying like that, unmoving, she stared directly at me.

"Time...?"

"After this, I will commence an exchange of shots with the enemy."

"...!"

"If I die or am injured, please leave me. If that time comes, please bring back the scope on this gun. Hidden inside this is a camera, it has already been set to record the scene at the instant that I snipe--You can use this to confirm the enemy's appearance."

"Hey..."

Facing Reki, who was able to state her purpose so coolly despite the fact that she knew she might die, I couldn't hide the tremor that ran through my body.

However, Reki, as if there was no time to answer, continued,

"On my body, there are 3 DAL for sniper rifle use."

--Butei Bullets.

Different from normal bullets, they are special modified bullets that are only circulated among elite Butei.

All of them are made by hand by professional bullet craftsman, the price of one can not fall lower than 1 million yen...Other than the Grenade and Flash that Nii-san gave me on EU, there were many different types, such as Flare or Cannon.

But, Reki, you brought those kinds of things with you to travel?

"In a while, I will fire two DAL. For the third shot, I will use a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62x54mmR Russian bullet], and when I've finished--we will start to leave this place." 

Scarcely telling me what I needed to know, Reki ejected the magazine from her Dragunov.

From its contents, she took out two bullets--''Click Click''

-and she slotted in two other bullets that she had taken out from her breast pocket.

They were probably attack-type Butei Bullets.

"Kinji-san. Quickly go into HSS...Hysteria Mode--We have no time left."

I hesitated.

A few seconds later...

Reki closed those wise eyes.

As if saying--that I was "useless".

"Then, we shall change our plan. We are already at a dangerous distance. I will definitely take care of the enemy. After that, please go into Hysteria Mode...running away from here."

Reki, not caring whether I approved of her plan, pressed her back against the tree--

"...I am a single bullet."

-she softly recited those mantra-like words.

"A bullet has no heart. As such, it does not think."

That voice is something that I had gotten used to hearing when she had acted as support, sniping--

"It just flies towards its target."

At that moment, I didn't know why, but a sense of unease sprung up in my chest.

--Reki---

''Flutter''--Her skirt fluttering, turning her Dragunov to the right, Reki--

-flickered out to the side of the tree, her gun held ready.

''Bang!''

She fired without a moment's hesitation, and immediately, Reki turned left, returning behind the tree.

As if grazing past Reki, ''Shhhchhh!'' , the bullet of the enemy's counterattack hurtled out of the darkness.

...!

I didn't truly understand what had happened in that instant, but...wh-what was that.

Just now, that was truly amazing.

The enemy had fired the instant he saw Reki.

The two sides are around two kilometers away from each other....the muzzle velocity of the M700 with 7.62mm NATO bullets that he was using, was 840 meters per second.

The time between the shot and its impact is around 2.5 seconds.

In that 2.5 seconds, Reki had aimed at the enemy, who was enveloped by the darkness, fired, and returned to the safe zone behind the tree.

As I realized what had happened, stunned--

''Pch...!''

Light glared out, coming from the direction of the forest. Almost as if lightning had struck.

(Flash...!)

Just now, Reki's attack--appeared to be the same as the one I had used in EU, the bullet that brought a blinding light to life.

The enemy's surroundings have definitely been lit up like a day at the height of summer.

Continuing, Reki performed the same movement--flashing out to the side of the tree.

''Bang!''

The second shot...

--''GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN''--!!

"Uu...!"

From the depths of the forest, a high-pitched blast, which seemed to shake the ground even here, rang out.

--Cannon.

Normally used to disrupt the enemy's battle ability, it is a Butei Bullet that creates massive amounts of sound pressure. 

(Reki...)

--I understood.

I understood what Reki wanted to do.

The first shot, Flash, was directed against starlight scope.

That type of night-vision attachment, amplifying the light of the stars umpteen times, was extremely weak against strong light.

A scope that faced that way would probably undergo 'white out'--or otherwise the safety function would engage, momentarily forcing a shutdown of all functionality.

With this, Reki followed through with her second shot, Cannon, firing at the enemy, who had lost his sight.

The enemy had used microphones, which amplified all sound, setting them up all around us. And, if he's wearing something like headphones to listen to their input, his hearing would definitely be damaged from the sonic-boom.

"--The enemy sniper has reached for his ears in pain. He is a solitary killer, he has no observers."

Looking into her scope, Reki reported these facts, like a scientists examining a guinea pig.

(...I see...)

--In a battle between snipers, the two sides read each other's personalities, deciding their method of attack.

That was what had happened here.

The overconfident enemy had responded to Reki's provocation. And, from that behaviour, Reki was able to recognize the enemy's position in an instant.

Also, the enemy is also someone who relies a lot on machines. Setting up a location which he could not move from easily, he put too much faith in them.

Reki specifically targeted this specific point--using light and sound, she assaulted the enemy's machine-heightened eyes and ears.

And now, she held the enemy's life and death in her hands.

We won...

"The enemy--is a little girl. Younger than me."

The sniper over there is a girl as well--and moreover, she's younger than you?

It's unbelievable, but...these are Reki's words. They must be true.

"Shoot to kill?"

Towards Reki, who was saying this as confirmation, I immediately replied with: "No, respect Butei Law."

"Then, I shall break the enemy's weapon."

''Bang!''

Immediately after Reki sniped at the enemy, her gun emitting a sharp muzzle flash--

(...?)

''Bch! BchBch!''

Small dots of light scattering about her, she seemed to be in pain, as if she had been struck. Reki's skirt, as if dancing in place, spun a semicircle, fluttering up, before it fell down.

''Drip, Drip'' The sound of a certain liquid falling to Reki's feet reached my ears.

"Reki...?"

...!?

What...happened?

Her appearance is extremely strange. Was she counterattacked?

No. The enemy should have had her battle ability ripped from her, she shouldn't be able to do anything.

Even if she had been sniped, I would have heard a gunshot, but none came.

"..."

Reki raised her gun again, aiming towards a location slightly different from before...and one step, two steps, she retreated.

"..."

Silently--she lowered her gun.

In that state, she placed the stock of her gun against the ground, and while she appeared to be using it to support herself...

''Scrape''...''Scrape''...

...she sat down, unable to move.

"...Ah...Hey...!"

I immediately crouched down, supporting Reki, whose head was drooping down--

"...!'

She's injured...! When!?

Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter3

2011-05-16T21:01:51Z

Remotemine: Added chapter links, renumbered chapter for consistency (Caravan I)

==3rd Ammo: Caravan I -Field Trip-==

Amdo's educational building is made up of 1 level above ground, and 3 levels below ground, the levels underground are wider than the level on top.

'Underground'. For Academy Island, which is an artificial island, that certainly is a curious phrase.

Passing through the rigorous checks on the first floor and continuing underground...I arrived at a corridor that was filled with display cases filled with an innumerable amount of guns.

This place...this is an empty space that makes me nervous no matter when I come.

With Reki and Haimaki, who were following me, I passed through the corridor, ringing the doorbell of Workroom B201, which was adorned with a plaque which "Hiraga Aya" written on it--

"I'm in! The door's unlocked!"

From inside, Hiraga-san's childlike voice reached my ears.

I opened the door, noticing that the inside seemed to be a temple devoted to Don Quixote, as there were things, things, and more things everywhere.

Tools of all sizes, components of guns from every era...springs, wrenches, the hundreds of screws in plastic cases, they were all mixed about, stacked until they reached the ceiling.

"Hiraga-san, it's me. Tohyama."

I shuffled sideways, taking care not to touch what had already become a forest of components, walking inside.

The workbench that was situated within the room had a DVD player and a TV, which was broadcasting a shoujo anime, on it.

Beside it--*KCCCHHH!* Having been welding something, Hiraga-san twisted her head towards me.

"Oohh!? Tohyama-kun brought Reki-san with him! You guys are getting along well!"

Shunting the protective goggles upwards, Hiraga-san used those innocent eyes to look between Reki and I.

"This is...I didn't bring her, she followed me herself. Also...Is it completed?"

I looked around, asking.

"Yeah, you guys are getting along well! You two really match!"

Said Hiraga-san, pointing two fingers at Reki and I.

"No, that isn't how this is..."

"Aha! You're getting along well!!"

...Is that all you can say?

"No we're not. What I'm asking is, is the object I contracted you for completed?" [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

Hearing me ask again, the lightbulb above Hiraga-san's head flickered on.

"Aha! The contract is finished too! It's finished!"

Saying this, she went deeper into the tool rack...*Kcch*. Just like a squirrel entering a tree, she stuck her head and torso within.

It looks like, if she doesn't do that, she can't reach it.

"Uuu! Just a little bit more!"

Her SSS-sized uniform snagged by a nail on a shelf, Hiraga-san, only her bottom half visible, wriggled her hips, twisting them around, and those legs, as thin as an elementary school student's, were also struggling.

...It's amazing that you can remember where it is, at least.

Well, Hiraga-san is a genius girl, which even U.S. arms manufacturers scouted because of her talent after all. The structure of her brain is, most likely, slightly different from normal.

...*Kch, Kccch*

Ah, she came out.

"This may be a western blade, but it is a masterpiece that is no worse than the best of Japanese katanas. Tohyama-kun really has something good!"

Screws and springs stuck inside her hair, Hiraga-san, *Shh*

Handed over a double-edged sword which had a body which seemed to glow with a fierce light.

Ooh. It's been completely modernized.

What I had just received was the scramasax that Sherlock had used in EU.

At the end of the battle, I borrowed this to mount the ICBM...but because of its unnatural sharpness, I had been keeping it up till now. What I had contracted Hiraga-san to construct was something fitted for me, a reinforced rubber handle as well as a hidden sheathe--

I placed it in the sheathe behind my back. Yeah, it's completely hidden. As expected of Hiraga-san.

"Also, I also modified this, as you requested me to. I accelerated the speed of magazine release, added a three burst-fire setting, as well as full auto!"

This time, Hiraga-san used those small hands to hand over a gun.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Click* This heavy, large pistol is--a Desert Eagle.

It is one of the world's most powerful semi-automatic pistols, my father's legacy.

Reki glanced towards the pitch-black body.

"The only person in Amdo able to modify it to such a level is Aya! Amazing, right!?"

Said Hiraga-san, thrusting forward her flat chest, no different from Aria's, with pride.

I raised the gun, aiming it towards the wall. In the sight, Jeanne, Vlad, Patra, Sherlock--the appearances of all the superhumans that we had fought till now appeared.

...Regretfully, I'm still a Butei High student.

EU, as a group, may have splintered, but its remnants are still on the run. So, it's practically certain that one of those ability users, just like in manga, will attack.

And, for the sake of resisting, of course I strengthen my equipment.

Following this line of thought, I found this Desert Eagle from out of my the things my father left behind.

The bullets that this Desert Eagle uses is a bullet that has three times the stopping power of the 9mm parabellum ammo that my Beretta uses, a .50AE.

However, guns...aren't like in games, where once they are equipped, they increase the user's power. To put it simply, the user has to undergo training for such a thing to happen.

Especially this Desert Eagle, whose barrel and recoil are both abnormally strong.

My father, who was a strong man, nearly 2 meters in height, could use it freely, but for me, it's a gun that is too heavy, and too powerful. If I want to be able to use it without impediment, I have to undergo more practice.

And as such, I temporarily--decided only to use it when I was in Hysteria Mode.

After all, even if I have a powerful gun, it's meaningless if I can't hit the target.

I sheathed the gun, slipping it into the holster that Hiraga-san had provided--one that was strapped to one's thigh.

Beside me, Hiraga-san's round eyes were glowing with an innocent light, and she looked up at me, saying

"Mmm, Tohyama-kun is really cool like this! A black Desert Eagle really fits a dark boy like you!"

Dark boy?

"Isn't that right, Reki-san!"

....*Shh*

Reki nodded her head in agreement.

"Reki-san, remember to buy the components for your armor-piercing bullets. I've already prepared amazing bullet tips, made out of reinforced tungsten carbide. Thanks for the patronage♪" 

Her hands put together, brought up, touching her face, Hiraga-san flashed a large, salesman-like, smile.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh*

Apparently also one of Hiraga-san's old customers, Reki nodded.

...Selling weapons to me as well as selling weapons to Reki, it looks like, the more we fight...the richer Hiraga-san becomes. And, she herself doesn't have to fight. Arms dealing, it's such a profitable job.

Her face may be innocent, but she's a terrifying person. Hiraga-san, that is.

A few days after I started to live with Reki--The Reki humanization plan that I had prepared for the sake of the Lima Syndrome received a small opportunity.

That day, we had swimming class, but Ranbyou-sensei, whose blind date appeared to have failed again, vented the full force of her rage upon the boys of class B, destroying the swimming pool. It was hard for me to imagine a lone person destroying a swimming pool with her bare hands, but ultimately, this is only something that the Vice-Director of Assault, the monstrously strong woman, Ranbyou, could do.

Repairing the swimming pool would take some time...so the swimming class that the girls in class C were going to have was pushed back till after school.

And after school--I didn't want it to look like I'm peeping, but I still observed the swimming pool--I noticed that Reki, also wearing the school swimsuit, was standing with the other girls by the edge of the pool.

(This means that I can temporarily move freely...!)

I immediately put my body into gear, burdened by one extra sword and gun--using the fish sausages as a lure, I locked Haimaki in the sports warehouse before running to the rendezvous point with the person that was going to aid me in my plan.

I arrived at a point close to the center of Academy Island--the tennis court by the second field.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bch. Bch. Shh.*

...Inside the fence, wearing white tennis outfits, the girls in the tennis club were sweating profusely.

Ignoring what they're like normally, in this kind of situation, they're fulfilling their time of youth, of vigor.

But, opposed to them, pressing himself into the fence, was someone, looking exactly like a prison inmate. Probably for the crime of peeping.

Ah! Jeanne-san!

I looked towards one side of the court, towards where the freshmen girls were shouting, and over there--*Shh!*

Two strands of hair hanging on either sides of her cheeks, the rest tied up with a ponytail, Jeanne delivered a sharp smash, currently in a furious match with a curly-haired member of the tennis club.

(Hey, that...)

Just now, I thought that I had seen it.

Jeanne's tenniswear--

That skirt, following in the wake of Jeanne's killer smash, had floated upwards.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bch, Whoosh*--

And every time she swung her racket...

Her pure white triple-layered, frilly underskirt would, for an instant, be completely exposed.

No. I understand. That isn't underwear. It's just sportswear, it doesn't matter even if anyone sees it.

What I had thought I saw was just a mistake my brain had made, unable to tell the difference.

But...that underskirt, almost like underwear, wasn't the only problem.

Having long, graceful legs which a Japanese person would be hard pressed to have, (well, now that I think about it, she isn't Japanese,) her thighs were full, and delightfully supple. Also, they were amazingly white, almost like snow.

Every time her skirt flipped up, those were exhibited for all to see, so the stimulation of arousal was hardly normal. This is too dangerous, right?

Damn it. Why is it that the girls' tennis outfit is designed such that it appears to be showing off their lower body? To the designer: Get the hell out here! I wouldn't mind using my sword to help fix your broken mind. 

...Actually, now that I think about it, doesn't it really look like I'm peeking?

I just came here to find Jeanne...

For the sake of preventing any suspicion that I would be doing such a thing, I dropped my head, and as I fought an inner battle with Hysteria Mode, which was threatening to activate...the sound of the match stopped.

I jerked my head up, only to see a freshman kouhai shouting, "Please use this towel!", running towards Jeanne, who appeared to have achieved a landslide victory.

...Jeanne, you're pretty popular, aren't you. Even if among the female students. I may not know why, but it seems that she's a beautiful person that's just as attractive to girls. 

With such splendor, she was received in a manner befitting a princess.

--In the time since the Plea Bargain that allowed her to transfer from EU to Butei High, Jeanne had already enrolled in Informa, joined the tennis club, and like now, she was living a fulfilling high school life.

And opposed to that, having been defeated by her in the underground warehouse last spring, I...am being restricted by a robot girl and a wolf.. What have I gotten myself into?

Not able to avoid spiraling into deep depression, I-- 

"--Tohyama."

Heard Jeanne, who had finally noticed my presence.

"Jeanne, come, quickly."

I waved towards her.

Her silver hair partitioned, hanging down her back, she had changed into her uniform, striding out of the clubroom for the tennis club...
[[File:Aria06 129.jpg|thumb]]
At a distance around 2 meters away, *Tap*, she stood her ground.

"Don't come any closer. Tohyama."

"Why?"

"In the club activities just now, I sweated a little."

Said Jeanne, shifting the racket that was slung over her back, under her shoulder.

"But, because of your haste, I did not have time to shower. As such, I only used a wet towel to wipe my body, and perfume to mask my scent."

...You're still so formal.

Also, did you say you used perfume? Even though you're still a high school student. As expected of the ojou-sama who holds the blood of nobles.

"There's no need to pay attention to that. Let's talk as we walk."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Fyuu* A gust of wind blew past--and Jeanne's scent, a comfortable, grassy fragrance, wafted from her body.

Hey, you're not sweaty at all, are you?

Before, I had heard Nii-san...No, I should say Kana...say that just relying on perfume wasn't fully effective, and that only when perfume is mixed and melded perfectly with a woman's natural scent, will it be able to create a pleasing, moving fragrance.

And the Jeanne as of now had completely achieved this.

In Butei High, which is full of the acrid stink of gunpowder, you really are an unparalleled, fresh existence.

Jeanne frowned, a little hesitant--but she walked this way, keeping by my side.

Glancing at her, who was walking beside me, that skirt, following the school rules perfectly, was hiding a gun.

--A CZ100, huh? That's a good gun.

"The fact that Aria and you separated and that you're in a team with Reki now--has become quite big news in Inquesta."

"You're kidding me...Somebody like me isn't qualified to be a topic of discussion, right?"

"Tohyama, you yourself may not know this, but the students in Butei High, especially those in Assault, believe that you have excellent abilities in battle, and from the shadows, they respect and admire you. However, they're afraid of your reaction, so they aren't too open with their admiration. To tell the truth, after hearing about your induction exam, I looked at you in a new light."

Ha-have mercy on me.

And, up till now, whether it is a good or bad thing I'm not sure of, but I'm still looked up to by those in Assault.

"This is also written in the reports that Masters keeps. They said that, while there are some ups and downs with your status, you possess the greatest alternative power, your charisma, your leadership--you just lack integration with others, and there are some issues with your personality."

Issues with my personality, huh?

How troublesome.

"Mmm, well...there's no need to talk about me. Rather, let's speak about Reki. What have you found out?"

I thought about what Aria had said from back then--A battle between Butei is a battle of information.

What kind of opponent the enemy is, what are his weaknesses, what does he like, what does he hate...the first side able to grasp these characteristics has an overwhelming advantage.

But, if one acts by himself, he will be noticed immediately, and as such, contracting a third party is common practice.

The person that I had contracted in April was Riko from Inquesta, and the person that I had contracted this time was Jeanne, who had taught Riko how to sift through information. After all, the teacher should be better than the student, and jokes and false information tend to appear in Riko's reports.

"Elite snipers will often try to hide information about themselves, and Reki has this tendency as well. As such, the amount of information that exists about her is extremely limited."

Well, that's what I expected.

Even living together with her, I hadn't really figured anything out about her.

"Also, her past history is a blank. The success rate of missions after entering Butei High is 100%, an impeccable record. But, she is extremely selective with her missions."

"What does that mean?"

"Presently, all I can say is, Reki only accepts a mission under three patterns."

"Three patterns...?"

"The first, a teacher asks her directly to do so. Under certain, rare circumstances, Masters will assign the contract to specific, excellent students...although these cannot be solved outright because of special conditions, it is possible to earn a large amount of credits, nullifying the need to take an exam. You ran into something like this during your first year, right?"

Now that she mentions it...when I was in Assault, such a thing did happen.

I thought back to that situation, and thinking of buying a can of coffee, I slotted a coin into a roadside vending machine.

"--the second, missions with an LD Score of over 900" 

"900...!?"

Shocked, my hand slammed into the button of the vending machine.

LD Score is a ranking system, assessing the difficulty of a Butei mission. I don't normally pay attention to it, but special, outside organizations will use the value as an evaluator for the compensation.

300~400 are commissions meant for student Butei, 500~700 are commissions meant for professional Butei, and that is basically how it's divided.

--But, above 900.

In even elite Butei organizations, they are missions that only the best of the best would ever dare accept.

"Ah...I was so surprised that I pushed the button for hot."

Yet, it's amazingly hot right now...So unlucky.

Grumbling, I took the black coffee out, and Jeanne, standing by my side, took it from my hands.

"...Recently, my magic hasn't been very stable. But, I can still do something like this."

<nowiki>*Pa*</nowiki>, the can of coffee that she threw back...had become cold.

Oh! The Diamond Dust Witch, Jeanne, can use her ability for something like this. How convenient.

"Reki...accepted several of those maximum difficulty sniping missions. And, speaking in light of the fact that she still has a 100% success rate, we can already determine that she is either an ability user or a sorcerer."

Despite the fact that she herself was an ability user and sorcerer, Jeanne still said those words with a look of awe.

"...You said that there were three patterns, right? What's the third?"

"It's 'Eagle Eye'."

"Eagle Eye...? Reki?"

This rather unexpected content made me tilt my head, not fully understanding.

The "Eagle Eye" in question is something that takes advantage of snipers' prodigious eyesight to observe a target from far away--a codename for a reconnaissance mission.

That mission, where both the credit and money compensation isn't high, is such that, usually, only inexperienced freshmen or trainees in Snipe accepts it...

"Tohyama. You've been observed before. At least two times before."

"...What did you say?"

"The first time, the contractor was Aria. The date was April the 2nd. She contracted Reki to be her "Eagle Eye", so she could figure out which entrance you leave Inquesta from, and lie in wait."

Ah. That past incident, where we went to Oumi to look for that kitten.

At that time, thinking of how to combat Aria, I took a mission, trying to escape outside--but Aria, lying in wait outside the Inquesta building, appeared before me.

So, that was Reki, observing me from afar, reporting to Aria?

She really sticks her head where it's unwanted.

"And in July, she accepted a mission from Masters, the content being, observe the third boy's dormitory. At that time, Masters had apparently been warned by the police, being told to observe an empty room...since it's Butei High, they have to strengthen their alertness. And, Reki accepted that mission."

I remembered that too. That was the time where Shirayuki saw Aria in a bunny girl outfit, and she went trigger happy on her M60. At that time, Riko was using the Dragunov's scope to observe my room.

"And, the 'Eagle Eye' missions that Reki accepts all fall under certain criteria. Only when it involves you, Aria, or Shirayuki, will she accept."

"Aria, Shirayuki, or I...?"

What kind of pattern is that? I don't understand at all.

But, I understand a little now...from the beginning, Reki has been paying attention to what goes on around me.

And the only person who didn't know--was me?

"The first time I investigated, I found some other pieces of information, but many of those were unconfirmed. This is all that can be reported. Alright--did you gather anything yourself?"

A few days ago, after Reki and Aria's battle...I had explained my situation under Reki's Sniper Restriction, as well as Lima Syndrome, which was my adopted plan of action, asking Jeanne for assistance...

At that time, Jeanne made one request: "As you're by Reki's side, give me a clue as to what I can investigate about her."

"What I have gathered is--sound."

"Sound?"

"Reki always wears earphones, hearing these mysterious sounds. Yesterday, I took advantage of the time she was in the shower, and borrowed her headphones and MP3 player...copying it into a micro-SVD card."

"Shower...? What kind of scene is that? That you two have."

Jeanne said, flashing a look of suspicion towards me. I'll just ignore that.

I plugged my earphones into my phone, handing one side to Jeanne.

"Listen to this, see whether you can understand it."

"Mm..."

We stopped talking, each of us wearing one side, listening intently.

Before this, I had tried listening to the sounds...It was slightly eerie, but it really was just the sound of the wind, playing endlessly.

"..."

Because the cord was too short, our heads slowly approached each other as we listened...*Shh*. Jeanne's long, silver hair, fluttering in the midst of the wind, lightly brushed my cheek.

Uu. This feminine sensation is really hateful.

But, I'll have to tolerate it.

"--Here. It may be extremely small, but I heard a small sound. Not wind. But, I can't make it out..."

"Mm..."

Jeanne closed her eyes, her expression firm, completely concentrated on the sound.

Waiting to see for Jeanne to comment, I looked directly at her face.

...

......

...Even so...she really is so beautiful. This girl.

Long eyelashes. A shining nose. Lips like the petals of a rose.

This cool image. Rather than a witch, she's more like an actress.

"I can't hear it. But, this is certainly a clue...Wh-what are you doing, Tohyama? Why are you looking at me?"

Widening those sapphire-like blue eyes halfway through her speech, Jeannne noticed that I was looking at her from an extremely close distance, and she pulled her head away.

"Ah, no, I was just waiting for your comments."

I said, taking off my headphones...and passed the micro-SVD card with the music file on it to Jeanne, waiting for her to speak.

Her face slightly red for whatever reason, Jeanne cleared her throat before saying, 

"This might be a clue. I happen to know someone to go to."

Her arms folded in front of her chest, forefinger and middle finger stuck out, she gestured towards the SD-card in between them.

While using her own ice-blue cellphone to call that person she "happened to know", Jeanne brought me to see--Connect. Next to Informa, it's where students are taught to support those in the battlefield through the use of communicative devices.

Connect, huh...I've never really come here before.

"I get along quite well with the Nakasorachi here."

Hearing this uncommon surname, I suddenly remembered something.

--Nakasorachi Misaki.

Connect sophomore, although we were in the same grade, I couldn't remember what she looked like, but...I was very familiar with that voice.

The reason I say that is because, very often, she acts as the operator during Assault combat.

Butei--especially the Butei in Assault, need to be able to communicate with each other through wireless headsets.

When undergoing a large-scale operation, the people that keep the complicated messages from getting jumbled, are the operators.

The operator assumes command from Connect, accurately stating the team's status to all its members. Often, they will also report the ETA of reinforcements, the change in weather etc., informing them of information that Butei in the middle of the combat cannot find out for themselves.

In the bus-jacking incident in April, telling us which bus was hijacked, as well as informing us of all the situational reports before the reinforcements took action-- 

-was the operator, Nakasorachi. Which is to say, she was one of the people working behind the scenes, absolutely critical to the resolution of that case.

Nakasorachi's operating is perfect. She is always amazingly calm, able to follow separate conversations with several Butei, all speaking with hurried, unclear voices at the same time. In spite of all that, she is able to pass on each and every piece of information accurately.

Even more worthy of praise is her elocution, her voice is just as clear, as pleasing to one's ear as that of an NHK anchor. I had never heard her wrong, not once.

(But, I remember that, although she is such an excellent Butei, she was only ranked as B.)

I had only heard her voice, so I did not know what she looked like in reality.

She's probably seen me before, through the small camera installed in every headset, but as for me, it was my first time seeing her.

I can't be wrong that she's a girl. She must be an honor student, radiating a graceful air.

Thinking of this, Jeanne, saying "Follow me", hurried me onwards--[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

We walked into the Connect building, which was like a telecommunications corporation.

Under Jeanne's guidance, I arrived at the audio classroom, and it appeared that, for the sake of keeping dust outside, shoes were forbidden inside.

Changing into slippers and entering the room...because school was already over, the classroom was empty. 

I looked left and right, and audio equipment was neatly stacked all around me, just like a radio station.

Jeanne and I stood a while, in the middle of this classroom, full of the scent of machinery...

"--Jeanne?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap Tap* Several types of headphones piled up in her arms, a girl ran this way from the side...but because she was carrying too many, it didn't seem as if she could see in front of her--

"He-hey."

Not hearing my warning in time, *Thud*

"Hawaa!"

She smashed into me...*Thump* Her butt hit the floor.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh* A pair of silver-edged glasses flew into the air--and beside me, who had reached up, grabbing it, *Gcch Gcch*

The earphones that she was carrying spilled out onto the floor, the tangled wires wrapped around her head, her arms, as well as her feet, which were wearing red indoor shoes.

"Haaa."

That girl's hair wasn't only long in the back, but in the front as well, nearly blocking out her eyes.

I remembered that the male protagonist in the galge that I had helped Riko buy, had this kind of hairstyle as well.

Could it be that that's what's popular nowadays?

(...Uu...)

--Because she had fallen down, she was at my feet, and her skirt, terrifyingly enough, was in a mess.

If it was a normal guy, he'd probably be feeling quite lucky. But, that isn't me. I have to avert my gaze, looking upwards, making sure that there isn't the slightest chance that I somehow looked between those thighs. After all, safety first.

"Are you alright, Nakasorachi?"

Jeanne, next to me, asked.

Hmm?

She is...Nakasorachi...?

I couldn't help but widen my eyes, turning back towards that girl, who was still tangled because, for some reason, the wires were uncannily linked, and she couldn't get them off.

This...This is completely different from the way I imagined it.

Hearing her instructions, I really felt that she was an extremely adept person.

That girl, named Nakasorachi, extricated herself from the wires with Jeanne's help, and waving her hands in the air, she shouted "Glasses, glasses!" Almost like in a manga, like a dog chasing its own tail, she crawled around, tracing circles on the ground, feeling for her glasses. Are you alright? 

...Which is to say, I can understand that she'd be wearing her uniform while crawling around like this...

Bu-but, those breasts...they're majestic. Shirayuki-ranked.

Ignoring what kind of feeling she gives off and judging solely by her appearance, she's an extremely dangerous girl.

And those eyes, sometimes hidden, sometimes appearing from beneath her fringe, were definitely those of a beautiful person.

I felt as if I couldn't bear to speak, and so, all I did was, like giving a dog a bone, hand over the glasses I had caught just now...

Nakasorachi went "Feh!", taking the glasses and standing up, unsteady...

"...Wh...Who...is it...?"

Nn...? Frowning, she squinted at me. *Sh, shh*

Apparently not getting a clear image, she brought her face closer to mine, putting it so close that I could feel her breathing.

Is it that her eyes aren't good? Or is it that her fringe obscures her vision, making her vision hazy? Or is it both? Anyways, finally able to see my appearance, she,

"!!"
[[File:Aria06 143.jpg|thumb]]
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shuffle Shuffle Shuffle! Thud!*

Backing up hurriedly, she smashed into the soundproof wall.

"Ah, waa, it's, a boy, bo-boy, n-no, I'm fine! I'm fine! Bo-bo, like, I like! That's how, I really feel!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh*

Waving her hands around manically, she was panicked to the point where I could not understand what she was saying.

Her face, obscured by her hair such that I could only see the bottom part, turned red. Ooh, that's a rapid-blushing technique able to match Aria's.

"Je-Jeanne, suddenly, suddenlysuddenly, brought a boy with her...Awaahh."

Her back sliding down the wall...*Shh*

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhhh*...

For some reason, the girl suddenly became alert, and she suddenly straightened her legs.

And...is that how you straighten your legs? That's an amazing X-leg. Not even Shirayuki can match that.

Afterward, putting on her glasses gingerly...

"Gl-glasses, t-th-thathan, you very much..."

She couldn't even say "Thank you very much."

Is your articulation that bad?

"Isn't this the wrong person?"

I couldn't help but turn back, asking Jeanne.

"Nakasorachi is Nakasorachi. Are you unsatisfied with my choice?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Zcchh* Jeanne's eyes stared directly at me...

Helplessly, once again I...looked towards that creature, who appeared to be Nakasorachi.

"Hii."

But once I looked at her, she immediately used the headphones in her hand to block her face.

"So-sorrysorry! So-sorry!"

"No, I haven't sa..."

"I-I-I-I, Jea-Jeanne-san, Jeanne-san was alone, I thought that Jeanne-san was going to come by herself, no-not, a boy, I didn't think that a boy would come, I haven't prepared my heart yet! I'm too excited! Ah, I say excited, but it isn't a happy excitement!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Wave Wave Wave*

As if using sign language, Nakasorachi's hands gestured wildly, without pause.

"W-Which I've only seen from the incam monitor, he's so cool, I-I didn't think he would come here, moreover, Tohyama-kun! Aah..."  

Hold on...can this girl communicate properly?

"Tohyama, Nakasorachi is the same as you, and she has some issues with her personality. Please go to that wall."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhh* While looking at me, Jeanne pointed at one corner of the room. Saying "The same? How are we the same at all?", I grumbled while walking to the wall...

<nowiki>*Ba*</nowiki>

Nakasorachi had taken a cellphone out of the pocket of her skirt, and being told something by Jeanne, *Patatatata! Patatata!* With a speed that blurred one's eyes, she entered in a cellphone number.

...Who is she calling?

Just as I had thought that, the song, "Melody of Flowers" began flowing out of my cellphone.

Eh. Me?

"...Hello?"

I picked it up.

"--Hello, nice to meet you. Saying this is a little weird, but this is the first time we have met in person. I am Nakasorachi Misaki. Sorry for just now."

Just like a radio announcer, a voice, enunciating each Japanese word with absolute precision, reached my ears.

Eh?

I couldn't help but look at Nakasorachi, but Jeanne had adopted a guard-like pose, standing in front of her.

"I have the bad habit of being easily excited...so, please forgive me, I can only speak with you like this, relying on the phone--Will this be fine?"

"Eh? Ah...It's fine."

Wh-what's with this? What's with this attitude switch? 

I don't really understand, but it looks like Nakasorachi has such a personality that, only when she speaks through machines, can she speak steadily. Rather, without them, she can't speak at all. I shouldn't really say this, but she's a weird person.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhhh* Jeanne turned her head, saying something to Nakasorachi, who was behind her.

"--Is the procedure you would like me to help you with, the audio analysis of the music file in this micro-SD card?"

"Ah, ahh. If you're able to understand something from that sound, please tell us."

Hesitating, I responded to Nakasorachi.

"That is the sound that Reki from Snipe always listens to in her headphones. She said that she was listening to the sound of her birthplace, although...we cannot hear anything, but what sounds like wind. I know that having you try to perform an audio analysis without a video of any kind is a difficult contract--"

"--Not at all. Audio is able to convey much more than video. At least, for me, it is as if seeing a video. Also, because I am in the same normal class as Reki-san, sophomore class C--I can recall her headphones. Reki-san's headphones are...these. Sennheiser PMX990. One of its characteristics is its clarity of sound, a masterpiece which accentuates the higher pitches. Please wait a moment."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh* I saw Nakasorachi, behind Jeanne, put on a pair of orange headphones--

"..."

For a while, silence.

She's probably started to listen.

I'll just wait here too, silent as well.

I mean, the person I'm speaking to has put their headphones on, after all.

"...An extremely...vast location..."

Within a few moments, I heard Nakasorachi's voice come out of my cellphone.

This is probably a report on what she managed to figure out with the audio track.

"From the echo and speed of the wind, the place of recording was an expansive field--a piece of ground at a high altitude. There are forests close by. Coniferous forests. The sound of the leaves rustling...this is, Larix Sibirica."

He-hey, hey.

Just from the sound...you're able to understand to such a degree?

Now that I think about it--I had learned about this in Inquesta.

Based upon the ambient noise during a telephone conversation or some other method of communication, it is possible to deduce a specific location based upon said noises. This is the method named, sound investigation.

But, from what I could remember, one needs a computer with special software to do such a thing.

And, Nakasorachi appeared to be able to perform such an analysis with just her ears. It looks like her ears, abnormally good, make up for her eyes.

"Added to that, according to the sounds of the vegetation, this location is probably somewhere between Northern Mongolia and Siberia."

...Mongolia? Siberia...?

Nakasorachi's calm voice reaching my ears, I tilted my head.

"I can hear the breathing of horses. It isn't big, they aren't domesticated, but not completely wild...they're probably the descendants of Mongolia's horses, Equus przewalskii. Also, the howling of wolves...but on the contrary, these howls are quite loud, for wolves. I believe that they are a subspecies of gray wolves, tundra wolves."

As I was feeling overwhelmed by Nakasorachi's sense of hearing as well as her wealth of knowledge--I felt that I was understanding these sounds less and less.

Reki's birthplace...could it be that it's outside Japan?

I couldn't help but frown...looking at my watch.

Ah...this isn't good. Reki's swimming class is going to end soon. If I get too far from her, I might be sniped.

I snapped my cellphone shut, raising my voice, directing it towards Nakasorachi's direction.

"I'm sorry, but I'm out of time. I'll be leaving first...afterward, could you structure what you learned in an e-mail and send it to me? I'll leave that micro-SD here, for now. It's fine if you return it later."

Unable to talk without a machine, Nakasorachi--

"Re...re-re-return it...? Go-go-go-go-go-going to the boy's dormitory, it's impossible! Be-be-because, I don't have any fitting underwear!"

Immediately returning to that regretful personality, she answered with some mysterious words.

What...underwear?

Rather, I hadn't said anything about you coming to the boy's dormitory, right?

Well, after all, this is Butei High, the gathering place of the strange. I sighed...opening the door, preparing to leave the Connect classroom...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh* And at that moment, Jeanne grasped hold of my arm.

"...What?"

"..."

Wordlessly, she pushed me out of the classroom, and after confirming that there was nobody in the corridor...she said softly, as if whispering,

"Tohyama, be careful."

"Of what?"

"Reki. I didn't say it earlier, because I couldn't confirm the information that I had received, but--before Reki entered Butei High--ever since she was 14, she was not only in Japan, but it seems that she was also active in Russia and China. Because, before her international Detective Armed License was ratified, she had received a Butei License, allowing her to travel to China and Russia."

"...What did she do in those foreign countries?"

"It is not recorded. It's not that nothing was done, but rather, she was doing an unrecorded job."

"'An unrecorded job'...?

"It's difficult to say, is it fine if I say it?"

"Say it."

"For example, 'Sweeper'."

--Well, I expected as much.

In this business, that is probably the only unrecorded job.

Even in self-defense, a Butei is forbidden to kill. At best, this applies in Japan and Western Europe--but when one talks about reality, Butei that do nothing but kill, do exist.

And, around 70% of such Butei are those that specialize in sniping.

Of course, no matter which country it is, this information is highly classified.

"--I'll pretend that I didn't hear that."

Saying this, I looked out the window.

Reki...

As expected, you are not normal.

Well, from the beginning, I had had such a feeling.

"Tohyama. Since you said that you're under Reki's Sniper Restriction, this problem would be best solved early. I certainly accepted a contract to aid you, but--if you wish to make Lima Syndrome a reality, in the end, you must still build a good relationship between Reki and you."

"I was doing that, but it hasn't been going well."

"Mm, luckily--you and Reki are a boy and girl. There's a strategy."

...A boy and girl? ...A strategy?

Why is it that I don't have a good feeling about this.

"What are you saying I should do?"

"Have you brought Reki into the city? In other words, going on a date."

"Go-going on a date...? No, it wasn't a date, but there was a time where we went to Odaiba to eat ramen."

"You didn't make Reki pay, did you?"

"She didn't pay."

Hearing me say this, Jeanne said, surprised,

"Well done, Tohyama. Reki must have been happy."

"She didn't seem any different to me."

"No. She would have been happy in her heart. After all, this is something that would make anyone happy. Even if that meal cost a mere 100 yen."

More accurately, she didn't use any money.

Because, she ate the super pot ramen within 30 minutes.

"What I wanted to say was this behavior, treating Reki as a girl, treating her gently. Because of your role as a boy, this will have an effect. As long as you continue doing this, you will be able to build a good relationship with Reki. Right, I've thought of a good idea. Why don't you go to Caravan I now? Use that time where you have freedom of action."

"Freedom of action...?"

"Stay by Reki's side during the trip, doing things that girls would like."

"Things that girls would like...what's that? I'm not holding myself back, but I really am clueless when it comes to that area. Couldn't you tell me something a little more specific? You're a girl too, right?"

"That's--this method may be a little cliche, but use gifts to deepen your relationship. Once girls receive things like clothing or jewelry from boys, they'll feel that some distance has decreased, creating a happy feeling. Even girls and boys that are fighting make up with this method."

"...Then, what shop should I visit to buy such things?"

"For example, a boutique."

Bou-boutique...

That's a really ancient way of saying it...

No, rather than that...

"Don't you think that Reki has no interest in things like fashion...?

"Listen well, Tohyama. There is not a girl on Earth that has no interest in clothing. This is a law of the world." 

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rustle* Facing Jeanne, who said those words with an earnest face and feeling a little suspicion appear in my heart, I...

"Then, would you be happy as well? For example, if you were to receive some clothes that you liked that I had bought for you from a boutique."

...casually put forth an example.

And...maybe it was because this was an unexpected question, but...

"Clothes that I like?"

Jeanne looked shocked for a moment...and with an attitude very unlike her, she dipped her head a little.

"--N-no. If Tohyama sees me wearing clothes like that...he'll definitely think I am strange. The fact that the clothes I like don't fit my image, I understand perfectly."

"Your taste in clothes doesn't matter, right?"

"Then, for example...just as an example--I wouldn't mind a fluttering, long skirt with patterns that a girl would like. There should be a headdress. Ah, no, that's just an example." 

Since you said it's just an example, why are you leaning towards me? What is this?

"--Whatever. I'm not interested either. What's important is, you wouldn't be happy about something you should be happy about."

"I-I'd be happy about that. Originally, I'd only wear it in my room, but if it was something you bought for me, it's not that I wouldn't specially show it to only you. If you wouldn't tell anybody." 

As if she really wanted to show it to me, Jeanne said that with a strange sort of tension, but...

Well, in short, she would be happy. Receiving clothes that a boy bought for her. I understand that.

If that's so for Jeanne, then...there might be a chance that Reki too is affected.

But, for me, this is an amazingly difficult task.

No less than a battle. How depressing.

September 14--

Called a field trip, the journey of team formation had started.

Despite the fact that this, in reality, was not a field trip, on the schedule...the so-called, "Travel Bookmark":

"Location: Keihanshin (Assembly point - Dispersal point)

Day 1: Educational trip to tour Kyoto shrines (Tour at least 3 points and submit reports afterward.)

Day 2&3: Freedom of action (Touring the cities: Osaka, Kobe)"

Was all that was written.

There were no teachers chaperoning. If this were shown to the Ministry of Education, they would fly into a rage.

Crumpling that useless piece of paper into a ball and throwing it away, I--

-stepped onto the Kyoto platform from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen Toukaidou Shinkansen], train No. 101.

On the road, I had just been sitting there dazed, but the Shinkansen really is fast. We had left Shinagawa at 7:00, and barely after 9:00 had we arrived.

...*Tap Tap. Scrape Scrape*

Reki and Haimaki followed me off the Shinkansen, stepping down onto the platform.

"..."

I couldn't help but make a pained look at Reki, who wasn't going to leave my side for any reason...

The Butei High girls, taking the same Shinkansen to come here, were all looking this way, whispering something among themselves.

And what they were saying...I could guess. Those few, while they were walking through the train, they saw Reki and I, and immediately, their faces became excited.

...Let's enter the city quickly, disappearing into the crowd.

Aahh...This is the first time I've had a field trip where I've been less able to relax.

But, the fortunate thing is, because of matters dealing with her mother's trial, Aria missed the field trip...and Shirayuki, staying at the Hotogi Kyoto Shrine, would have a hard time going onto the streets.

If they were to meet Reki here and start a battle, they'd definitely give the residents of Kyoto some trouble. The type that tends to occur with stray bullets.

"...Reki, is there somewhere you'd like to go?"

Thinking about Jeanne's suggestion, I asked Reki what she wanted, though I knew it was useless...

Reki shook her head, her hair rustling.

"There isn't really somewhere I'd like to go either. But, the first day, we have to see at least three temples or shrines, submitting a report about them. So, we're going to have to walk a lot, today. It should be fine, right?"

This time, she nodded.

Ah...The Reki as normal.

I fished the guidebook that I had bought in advance out of my bag. Now, I had to think about the routes we should take to go to whichever temple.

During the time we had seen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera Kiyoumizudera] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkakuji Kinkakuji], Reki, following at my side, had been wordless from the beginning to the end.

Just, as we were walking through the tourists and geisha, whether it was to keep me from escaping or to keep us from separating, I did not know, but she would grasp my sleeve.

And, known for my misfortune, I would always meet other students just at that moment, "Ah, they're linking their arms." "They're so lovey-dovey." It was like pouring oil on the fire of those horrible rumours.

Because of that, for the sake of not meeting anybody from Butei High...I avoided Ginkaku temple, which was a set location, and following Muto's advice, who had come here before, we went to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanj%C5%ABsangen-d%C5%8D Sanjuusangendou], where none of my classmates were. I avoided taking the bus, and instead, we took a taxi. Reki is really expensive.

I threw a glance inside from the entrance of the temple,

(Alright, there are no Butei High students.)

After I had confirmed this, I...

I went to the reception to buy tickets, and seeing the notice on the wall: "To the students on Butei High Training School's field trip, please leave your guns and swords etc., here"--I left all my weapons there.

"Reki, leave yours too."

Hearing my words, Reki, more obedient than I thought, left her Dragunov and bayonet at the reception.

It looks like she really will listen to all my orders.

"..."

Suddenly, my gaze a little suspicious, I glanced towards Reki, who was like this.

I had heard...paranoid Butei would hide extremely small folding knives or derringers. And, such people would always stay silent, so that they would not be found out.

"...Open your mouth a little and show it to me."

Hearing my order, Reki raised her head, looking at me...opening her mouth.

Hmm.

There's nothing, for now.

But, it really is small. Her mouth.

Her teeth were neatly arranged, and her tongue too, was like that of a child's.

Well, that's a given, since Reki is a rather small girl.

"Alright. Close it."

Once I had finished speaking, Reki's mouth shut...and like a small animal, she looked up at me.

Seeing this gaze and position, not being able to help but think back to Reki's kiss, I--

"...Then, let's start touring. Make Haimaki wait here."

Flicking my gaze at Haimaki, I entered the hall.

Sanjuusangendou, since ancient times, this place has been renowned as a place for testing arrows.

It is said that, the 120 meter long main hall, under the eaves, was used for an archery competition called "Arrow Traversal", and even now, it was still continuing, albeit in a different form.

--Now that I think about it, it could be said that this is a temple that has a relationship with sniping.

Walking through the corridor, which was lined with one thousand statues of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin Zenjuukannon], all neatly arranged in a row, I...glanced towards Reki.

The same as ever...Reki still had that perfectly expressionless face.

Even the statues of Buddha have expressions.

But, only after reaching Kyoto did I know this, statues of Buddha have different expressions.

Reki...didn't seem to have any interest in this place, she just trudged on alongside me.

For her--a mere 120 meters was a distance where she could probably shoot through the heart of a flea.

I counted the hands of Zenjuukannon, thanking God in my heart that Aria did not have this many. Rather than a Quadra, she'd be a Sendra[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]. Thinking about that, I chuckled...

(If she were here, this trip would definitely be a lot more vigorous.)

Thinking about this, I walked through the corridor.

Although I was together with Reki, we hadn't shared any special feelings...

"...We've finished the tour."

Within a short amount of time, Reki and I had finished touring the hall.

It had just reached afternoon.

It was set down that we were to tour three temples or shrines on the first day, but we had already finished touring three.

(...What should we do...)

Under the fresh, blue, autumn sky, Reki and I arrived at something like a courtyard.

Seeing that, in the middle, there was something like a backless-bench, covered with a red cloth, I sat down...looking over Reki, I gazed upon several windmills, apparently made by the local children.

Suddenly,

"--Kinji-san. When you were walking with me, you were thinking about another girl, were you not?"

Still looking downwards, Reki spoke those words to me.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Surprise*

"You were thinking about Aria, were you not?"

Bu-bullseye.

"...How did you know?"

"Just now, when you were walking through the corridor, your smiling face--was the same as the face when you are together with Aria."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Stare*

Reki's ice-cold eyes were fixed on me.

Sc-scary.

This is a temple--thank God that weapons are prohibited here.

"Th-that is...Well, I was her partner for an entire semester, I just suddenly thought about it and laughed."

I casually made an excuse, and Reki,

"Please do not get closer to Aria."

-with some sort of terrifying air...she warned me.

I mean, it was extremely slight, but...she was giving a feeling, which seemed to convey the fact that she was angry about something.

And, this was the first time she had spoken since we arrived at Kyoto.

"Are you angry?"

"No."

No, you are angry, aren't you?

For some reason, I felt that the way you said "No," just now was a little angry.

"You're angry, right?"

"..."

Reki shook her head, her hair rustling. 

But, this second denial--she did not speak. Just a gesture. It might be, that that was a sign of weakness.

In short, she was more or less angry. About the fact that, while together with her, I had thought about Aria.

Well...that was certainly my fault...

But, Reki really gets angry for the most inexplicable reasons.

If Reki and I were really engaged, then I'd be able to understand her anger. But, this was something that, according to what Reki had said, something like an arranged marriage...It was not because she liked me that she stays close to me.

Just that, Reki had received some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denpa_Onna_to_Seishun_Otoko denpa] from whatever place--and she was just obeying "wind"-sama's orders.

So, Reki has no reason to get angry about the thing that happened before.

From my standpoint, she was being a little unreasonable.

...With that, I felt a little upset...

"I am not angry."

Towards me, who was like that, as if announcing it to herself--Reki once again denied it.

"Is that true?"

"I am sure that Kinji-san is aware of my nickname."

--Robot Reki.

Have you heard it said yourself?

"Just like what other people say in the shadows, I--do not have the emotions of a normal person. Because, the wind does not like people's 'emotions'."

"..."

The "wind" that Reki had said...it looks like it's firm delusion, set deep within herself.

"So, I am not angry. I do not laugh, nor do I cry."

Telling me these things in a detached manner, Reki's words made me...completely speechless.

Certainly, I had never seen Reki express her emotions.

I had always believed that that was just because of an overly strong professional consciousness as a "sniper", who seeks calmness in all things, manifesting itself in that pattern...but it seems that that was not all.

Is her emotionless appearance tied in together with her "wind" delusion? If so, this is a profound problem.

(But...)

From the conversation just now--

It may have been just a little, but contrary to her words, I felt that I had caught a glimpse of Reki's feelings.

It had not been completely expressed, but the her as of right now was releasing a sense of unhappiness.

So...definitely...

It's definitely possible. Reki's humanization, and Lima Syndrome as well.

That's what I thought. I could not help but think any other way.

(But...then, what should I do?)

The me as of right now has made her angry. Opposed to that, if I don't make her happy, there will be no hope for Lima Syndrome.

I stared directly at the side of Reki's face, who had resumed her wordless mode, her arms folded...

...

......

Ah.

A red dragonfly had stopped. On Reki's head.

You, can even bugs mistake you as a statue? Please move a little.

While I was complaining in my heart, I looked at the red dragonfly, sitting on her head like a ribbon, suddenly thinking back to Jeanne's words.
"That's--this method may be a little cliche, but use gifts to deepen your relationship. Once girls receive things like clothing or jewelry from boys, they'll feel that some distance has decreased, creating a happy feeling. Even girls and boys that are fighting make up with this method."

...There's no choice.

Because I have no more cards to play, I'll have to try using Jeanne's method.

In the movie I had seen on TV, "Pretty Woman", there was this kind of scene.

But...I'm not familiar with Kyoto.

I have no idea of what is sold where.

Go out to Osaka? After all, I had gone there before, together with Nii-san.

Doing something like going with a girl to buy things, it's rather impossible for me, but...

This is for the sake of Lima Syndrome.

Written on Masters' schedule was the fact that Osaka too was a city where we could go see shrines, so it's two bird with one stone.

"Reki."

"Yes."

"Let's walk to Osaka for a while. So we can shop together."

Hearing me say that, Reki looked at me with, for some reason, a little surprise, before she nodded-- 

As if confirming the fact I had started to understand a little, a sort of soothed feeling began to flow out of Reki.

She remained expressionless, but, if I were to use Haimaki as a comparison, it'd be a state in which his tail was wagging slightly.

What...are you happy about me saying: "We can shop together"? I don't understand girls at all.

After taking the train for around an hour, we arrived at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsaibashi Shinsaibashi], Osaka.

This place was the gathering place of teenagers, well, to put it in terms of Kyoto, it's a location akin to that of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibuya Shibuya] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harujuku Harujuku].

Clothing stores and accessory shops were everywhere.

Since we're going shopping for the sake of starting Lima Syndrome against Reki, then Keihanshin should be a good place.

But, exiting the subway, which was like a mole, Reki and I, wearing bulletproof uniforms...stood out amongst the crowd of teenagers, wearing very current and fashionable clothes.

"Coming here was good, but...I don't know it at all, The fashion of this city, that is."

I said it, half to myself,

"I do not know either."

After Reki said that, we stood there, at a loss of what to do.

"..."

"..."

After all, the location that Introvert and Wordless shouldn't have gone to, is here.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

(But, this is also for the sake of putting Lima Syndrome into action against Reki.)

I motivated myself, setting off down the busy street.

I can't say that I'm wealthy--but it's not like I don't have any money.

During July, my bank account had received the halved reward of the casino security detail, and the compensation of the commissions I took during the summer holiday may have been small, but I still received it from Butei High.

But...the "boutique" that Jeanne had mentioned was here and there, but I had no idea of anything to do with fashion.

Buying things that would make girls, Reki included, happy...I had no idea of what those things might be.

"Reki. What kind of casual clothes do you wear?"

Not knowing, I asked her directly,

"I do not have casual clothes."

"...Are you saying that you have nothing but your uniform?"

"Yes."

She responded with an answer that was completely expected, and I increasingly felt the urge to drop to my knees in despair.

This is so difficult. Then, I'll directly make Reki walk and look for a store that she wants to go to. I'll just spend some time drinking coffee there or something.

No...letting Reki, who has no consciousness of the outside world, or rather, no common sense at all, walk wherever she wants to, is dangerous.

This street is full of boys radiating a feeling of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanpa nanpa], and Reki will have no idea of their ulterior motives. Even during the Casino security detail, she had trouble with the womanizing CEO.

With that in mind, I brought Reki along with me, and without any real purpose, we walked onwards.

If you let a dog walk on its own, it will hit a pole. As I thought about that, glancing at Haimaki, plodding along beside us...

Kuh.

This place too, has a few students from Tokyo Butei High.

Because the boys were wearing the same uniform as me, and the girls were wearing a dark-red sailor uniform, I noticed it immediately.

They too had finished their touring of the temples early, and were now touring the city...they seemed to be coming here to play. Over here, there was also an Osaka Butei High, they were moving with that as a destination. Damn it.

Not wanting to be disturbed by them again, because of Reki, I--

-thinking that whatever shop would be fine, I looked around.

Convenience store, clubhouse, a neko-design cafe...in my line of sight, next to the cafe, "Chaton B", a select shop aimed towards girls, appeared before my eyes.

Alright. I'll just go in here.

With that, I pushed forward into the store--Reki followed me, her footsteps quick.

Haimaki, wiping his paws on the mat at the entrance, followed us from there.

It looks like a very fashionable shop, but it's fine. We're two Butei, bringing a wolf too, after all.

Inside "Chaton B", there were a lot of neko designs as well...they seemed to be using a forest as an image theme, the shelves and cases were all made out of wood. The decorations were all leaves and vines too.

This ambiance...isn't so bad.

I was a little worried that we would be kicked out for bringing in a wild animal, but the female assistants, with tea-colored hair, said: "Welcome~~, oh, cuuteee~!", hugging Haimaki.

Thank God. This seems to be a store where pets are OK. What a relief.

Haimaki wagged his tail, looking up at the assistants with a face that seemed to convey the message, "I'm a good boy!". 

You can really read the mood, can't you. I hope that your master over there can watch and learn.

"--I'm sorry. Could you lend me your ears for a while?"

Hearing me say this and going "Mm?", the assistants thrust their heads towards me, next to my face...

"I...am in a certain situation, and I have to buy something for that girl over there, but...she doesn't really know what kind of clothes she likes, so would it be possible for you to pick something for her?"

If one wants ice cream, he goes to an ice cream parlor. "Shirts" ,"Skirts", "Pants." I, confused and ignorant about any of these phrases that girls use, should ask the assistants, right? 

Thinking this, I explained the situation to them honestly--and the onee-san smiled at me strangely.

"Situation, huh? An-san, it's that, right? Yer preparing to break through her barrier, right? I knew it from a glance. That girl's guard is pretty firm."

Uu...this person, is she something like a former Butei? I have no idea.

If one is aiming for Lima Syndrome, they have to destroy the barrier around the opponent's heart.

And, the barrier around Reki's heart was extremely strong. For the sake of breaking through it, I came here to go shopping so we can improve our relationship.

I thought that there was probably no-one undergoing Sniper Restriction from a girl, but Osaka Butei High is near here, it could be that this shop was often visited by Butei.

"--Speaking truthfully, that's how it is. I was hoping that you could help me solve this."

Forgetting my embarrassment during the journey, I said that--

"Hehe~. You're naughty~"

Said the Onee-san, nudging me with her elbow.

Eh. What did you say?

Why would you call me naughty?

"Isn't it great, young lady? This boy wants to buy something for ya~. Afterwards, give him a kiss, a'right?"

Ki-kiss?

Wh-what? It looks like we've misunderstood something.

"Leave it to me! I'm a genius at choosin' clothes based on my customers' sizes. Alright, young lady, tell me ya height and weight. And, ya three sizes, hehehe."

"150 centimeters, 41 kilograms, 76 centimeters, 50 centimeters, 73 centimeters."

"Ooh, cuutee~. On a closer look~, ya have a really pretty~ face, y'know~. Almost like a diamond gem~."

Answering casually while pushing Reki's back, the onee-san brought Reki deeper into the shop.

"Why don'tcha sit down over there and have some coffee while ya wait, an-san?"

"A-ah."

Coffee?

Not really knowing how things go at this store, I followed her instructions, sitting by the table, and quickly, from "Chaton Cafe", which seemed to have some sort of relationship with this place, another onee-san, wearing a brooch with a different cat-design, came, holding a menu, smiling all the while. Ku. I have to pay for the coffee as well.

Rather, when did I say I was going to shop here?

The people here really know how to run a business.

A group of girls, holding select shop "Chaton B"'s paper bags, and boys, seeming to be buying the girls their clothes, were drinking tea and coffee while talking, seeming to be waiting for a certain event.

Surrounded by these people, all speaking [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka-ben Osaka-ben], which my ears weren't accustomed to, I, the outsider, folded my arms, waiting...

"How 's it?"

With that, the onee-san from earlier had brought--

Reki's appearance made me spit out the coffee I was drinking with an "Ehnn!"

The reason for that was--

A kindergarten uniform...! Although it was made to be worn for adults.

"Wh-what the hell is that!"

Wiping a paper napkin around my mouth, I pushed the chair back.

Wearing a yellow kindergarten hat along with a water-blue smock and standing there wordlessly, Reki had a tag with "れき" written on it pinned to her chest.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_3]

N-no, even more than that...those legs had become horrifying. I had thought that the length of the skirt would be to scale with a normal kindergartener's skirt, but it was a shocking mini-size. It stopped 1 centimeter below the inseam.

Seeing the sheathe for her bayonet, gunchira (Seeing the area under the skirt where guns and knives are hidden. Namer: Idiot Muto,) was happening even now.

"..."

Reki was, as ever, in her living mannequin mode, standing straight.

(Wh-what a lifeless kindergartener...)

Her hair was also tied back with a rubber band, and she really looked like a child that had been turned overly big with magic.

"...?"

Seeing my reaction, Reki looked up and down at her own appearance a little.

I mean...there's no need to wear that kind of thing so obediently.

Some people, upon seeing this, would burst into tears out of happiness, but I have no interest in that kind of thing.

"An-san~, ya made a nice, 'Eeh!', reaction. But...why'd ya do that? I thought that she'd fit this kinda childish clothin'."

"O-of course, if it fits well, it fits well, but...don't use these kinds of clothes please...at least, something that she can walk outside in..."

I...slumped over the table, trying to plead with the onee-san, somehow.

"An-san, this ain't a joke ya know. But, somethin' for the nighttime would be nice, right? Hehehe."

For the nighttime...?

Is she planning to use it as pajamas? She'll catch a cold if she wears that kind of skirt, right?

Well...it looks like this cosplay was just a prank. Is this part of their culture too?

Looks like such things exist when you go on a trip.

Behind Reki, whose kindergarten skirt was fluttering as she was led into the changing room, I wiped my sweat off.

Ah, onee-san. Please close the curtain of the changing room.

You just left a subtle gap, making it so that only people from my angle could see it, right?

You probably think that you're doing me a favor, but it's just a complete annoyance for me. That action, that is.

That kindergarten uniform was something that made me extremely surprised--

But, it too was something that fit Reki really well, the shop assistant onee-san was really good at choosing an outfit that matches with her customer.

Afterward, calling it "Jungle girl," she made Reki wear clothes with a reindeer pattern...it fit her too. There was no incompatibility.

After that, wearing something very similar to the frilly dresses that Riko usually wears, it was a lolita costume. (Under Riko's persistent reminding, I finally remembered.) Originally, this seemed to be clothing that was meant to be worn by rather lively girls, but with Reki wearing it, she looked like an antique doll.

But, this kind of clothing would make the sleeves be jammed when readying her sniper rifle, so, from the Butei standpoint, I denied it... 

Lastly, the assistant said, "Next is my favorite," taking out some clothes from the corner of the shop so Reki could try them on.

Because makeup was part of the service, Reki was really sealed inside the changing room by the onee-san.

I finally realized that some cats that Chaton Cafe was taking care of were walking around, understanding why it was OK for Haimaki to enter, but I was wondering whether it was really hygienic as I waited...

Reki hadn't come out for a while.

Drinking my coffee and feeling a little bored, I went outside for a little while...

Suddenly, I thought about something. I spent a some time buying little things at the outdoor stalls.

I returned to Chaton B,

"...Ahh, ya really look like a diamond gem~..."

Saying that, I heard a voice, shocked at something, from the changing rooms--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rustle* After the curtain had opened, a slender foot, wearing white, high-heeled sandals exited the changing room.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap Tap* Once again making her appearance inside the shop, Reki...

The assistants, Chaton Cafe's customers, I...even Haimaki, everyone's gaze was drawn to her, fixated on her.
[[Image:Aria06 177.jpg|thumb]]
Makeup applied, her hair combed and set properly, wearing a white sleeveless one-piece, the lack of sleeves its highlight, Reki was--

(S-so...beautiful)

That's what I thought, from the bottom of my heart.

Those exquisite features, already looking as if she was a work of art, confirmed onee-san's words. She was like a sparkling diamond.

Painstakingly polished by this process of outfitting herself and applying makeup, really, all eyes were focused on her.

One portion of the white cloth, made of what looked like fine silk, accentuated the lines of her body, which were already highlighted by the illumination of the store ,making the sense of transparency that Reki already gave off even stronger.

I thought that if Aria takes the time to beautify herself, she could be on the cover of fashion magazines, and Reki...was the same.

Well, Aria would be on one of those popular magazines that everyone reads--and Reki would be on those high class fashion magazines aimed at ojou-sama. If I had to make a distinction, that would be it.

"..."

Even with that, Reki wasn't making any special expressions, but as if checking herself out, she looked into the full-body mirror, her gaze somewhat satisfied.

Well, that's...probably because she thinks it won't hinder her in battle.

"Ehh, then, is this what you want?"

Seeing that Reki and I had nothing to say, the onee-san whipped out a chocolate colored calculator.

...*Tap Tap Tap Tap*. She entered in the prices.

"One piece and sandals...as well as the inner clothing, 'ight. Here ya go."

Looking at the numbers on the calculator that had been handed to me, I...

--Uwoah!

...as if there was a gun pointed at me, I reflexively dodged away from the calculator.

--Hi-high!

Isn't this 10 times the price of the clothes sold at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniqlo UNIQLO]!?

I'll really use all my money and become homeless. If I pay for this.

At this kind of time, what kind of Osaka speech should I use to get a good result?

Justa prank? Didn't study? Damn it, I knew I should've learned these kinds of words from Muto, originally from Kobe.

As if drawing my gun, my hands trembling, my fingers reached for my wallet--at that moment.

"Kinji-san."

Looking just like an ojou-sama, Reki moved her lips, delicately coated with lip gloss, making a sound.

"...?"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh* With that, Reki's gaze, which had been appraising herself, moved--I followed it.

"Popular! From 15:00 today Chaton B and Chaton Cafe's joint event

☆ Chaton Call ☆

As the winner's reward, the price of everything that is bought today at Chaton B is halved!"

That was written on a small blackboard with colored chalk.

Glancing at my watch, it was just 14:55.

Looking up at the onee-san, I saw that she had an expression which conveyed: "Ya realized it, huh?"

I see. Aiming for this event--were the boy and girl customers that were buying clothes at "Chaton B" and chatting at "Chaton Cafe".

"Reki, come. Drink some tea as well."

A little uneasy about the scent of the foundation, wafting this way in Reki's wake as she walked towards me, I, not knowing the contents, went to "Chaton Call", determined to take part.

This joint event--would be our first mission together.

These are pitiable words, but I'll have to do this for real.

Because, whether or not we become homeless, is down to this.

According to the assistant's explanation, Chaton Call was this store's unique event, a competition to see how many of the cats walking around Chaton Cafe could be called to one's table.

The time limit is one minute. If you stand up from your seat, you are disqualified, and touching the cats with your hands is forbidden too.

The prerequisite for participation is: the people involved have to be a couple, but since things had come to this, I had no choice but to sacrifice everything to win this.

I was embarrassed to the point where I wanted to die, however, we could use the fact that, for some reason, we were mistaken as lovers, meeting the prerequisites.

"Participating couple name: Kinji - Reki"...My hand, shaking uncontrollably, wrote our names on the blackboard.

Now, the money I had had been slightly decreased by the tea that Reki had drunk, and it had fallen below the price of the clothes that had been shown to us earlier.

Since things had come to this, I had to gift Reki with these clothes. Not winning, or running away with the clothes, was not an option.

Now that I think about it, didn't something like this happen at the ramen shop in Odaiba?

It seems that Reki was born under the star for putting my wallet in danger. Please make that star undergo supernova.

(But...calling cats and keeping them, huh...)

This was something that I hadn't even considered practicing for, a mission that was completely out of my expectations.

Honestly, we have no chance of winning.

Because, for some unknown reason, I don't get along well with animals. Ever since I was a child. What do I do?

"So, have ya made ya preparations? Alright, start!"

Despite the fact that I was so nervous, the onee-san, over at the cafe, made her announcement, the noise entering the mic amplified by the speakers.

The groups of couples inside the shop started going, "Here kitty, here kitty," making whistling noises, starting to call the cats towards them.

But, cats are extremely cautious creatures.

Just wandering around inside the shop, they weren't going to suddenly get close to people they hadn't seen before.

"He-here."

I gestured at a cat whose eyes I had met--but, with a purr, it looked the other away.

Damn it. The shop knew this, which is why they had this event, right? Since the cats aren't familiar with anybody, everybody will be disqualified, as written on the blackboard.

"I-I have to think of something..."

From in front of me, who was becoming agitated, Reki, sitting up straight in front of her untouched tea, which had gotten cold,

"I do not really understand, but is it fine if I gather all the cats?"

She asked, as if it had nothing to do with her.

"That's right. But, it's not easy. It seems like these cats have been trained to not respond no matter how much the customers call them."

"..."

I told her softly, and Reki went silent for moment--not even looking in the direction of the cats, *Bch*

...She closed her eyes for a long moment, and that unchanged expressionless face--

"Nyan."

She said.

...

...Ny...

..."Nyan"...did she say...?

I didn't hear incorrectly. She definitely said it.

She had just uttered something that was capable of entering the best three of, 'words most unlikely to come out of Reki's mouth'. Overwhelmingly rare.

I mean...Having said "Nyan", was she trying to imitate a cat's purr? She doesn't sound like one at all.

With just the same monotone as ever, all she said was, "Nyaan".

Before, in Ueno, the imitation that Aria had done was better. That too was amazingly horrible, but an imitation as bad as this makes me unable to even say that it's an imitation.

As my heart shattered into pieces, just about to concede defeat...

--*Tense*--

All the cats in the store raised their heads in unison.

"...!?"

Looking around, each one of the cats was looking at this table--rather, looking at Reki.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap*...*Tap Tap*...

"Wha...?"

"Eh...!?"

The clothing store's onee-san and the cafe's onee-san made sounds of disbelief.

I was sitting there, dazed, and under my table--

The cats...had gathered there without exception...!

"Re-Reki, you..."

"This is fine, right?"

By Reki's feet, who had just said that...White, black, spotted, striped.

The cats were gathered there, as if believers listening to a preacher.

Now...now that I think about it, Reki...had done something similar to this in the first semester. She had spoken to the grey wolf, which was completely hostile towards us, immediately taming it. Right now, that wolf was Haimaki.

Somehow, Reki seems to be a inexplicable girl that is able to undergo communication with animals. Although such a thing isn't possible for humans.

The "Nyaan" from earlier was...

...definitely a signal to the cats, the contents being: "Come here. If you don't, horrible things will happen."

No, seeing as how obedient the cats were, it was probably a strong message, something like: "If you don't come, I will whip you into the ground. I will set Haimaki on you."

"Cha-Chaton Call--The winners are the couple, Kinji and Reki!"

Co-couple, you said?

Please, I beg of you the cafe's onee-san, don't use that kind of speakers to say that in such a loud voice.

I didn't tell you this, but this is because we're just pretending to be a couple.

"From now onwards, please continue to get along well and love each other! We'll be supporting ya!"

Please...please stop.

The onee-san from Chaton B said, "Us sisters here will work hard!", and in full view of the other customers, she brazenly gave me the cash coupon for a 50% discount.

With this, you can spread the words of what a nice atmosphere this shop has. You really have the soul of a businessman.

Rather, were you sisters?

"Alright, victory kiss! Kiss!"

The onee-san's in Chaton Cafe were saying that, as if venting their feelings.

The customers started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss!" , a kiss call.

...I'm sorry. That's not happening.

"We-well, we did it, somehow."

As I reached for my wallet with a sense of relief--

"--Kinji-san."

Not even flashing a courteous smile in the midst of everybody's applause, Reki--*Click*, suddenly stood up.

"?"

"Please stand."

What? I stood up, and--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Squeeze*

Reki, from a distance I could not dodge, as if dancing, embraced me around the waist.

"He-hey...!"

Reki's hand, completely unnoticeable from looking at it--was strong.

With some sort of intention, she restricted me close to herself.

Seeing Reki finally bring her lips up to my cheek, the store erupted with cheers.

And, looking as if she was kissing me to the people surrounding, Reki--voicelessly, whispered by my ear,

"Somebody is following us."

--What?

"Please do not move your gaze unnaturally. I do not know who it is, but I am afraid that it is an S-rank professional. At the start, he showed no signs of aggression, but now, he is openly radiating hostility. From outside the store--near the entrance, he is observing this place."

"Wh-when did this start...?"

"Kinji-san, did you leave the store just now?"

"Ah, yeah."

Just now, taking advantage of the time that Reki was sealed inside the changing room...

I went outside, buying some things from the open-air stalls.

"--I think it was from that point onwards. After I had worn these clothes and strode out of the changing room, I could feel that gaze. After we arrived at this city, I felt that somebody was following us for a moment--but after that, I thought that they had retreated."

There's somebody following us...?

Who is it? Why are they following us?

Acting calm, I returned to my seat, and as if nothing had happened, I started twirling the spoon sitting next to my coffee.

I had learned about this in Inquesta. For the sake of preventing your gaze or actions from being noticed by the enemy, you have to, like this...use something like a mirror, checking your surroundings.

And on the curved surface of the spoon, I successfully caught the reflection of the entrance--

"..."

At that time, a breeze had just blown past, making that rouge skirt...

I just made out part of a twin-tail.

A pink one.

(--Aria?)

Reflexively turning back out of shock--

-standing at the entrance of the shop, looking in discreetly, Aria's gaze met mine.

--*Da!*

Seeing Reki and I together, her expression, for some reason, looking as if the world had ended, Aria twisted around violently, running away.

At that instant, for a reason unbeknownst to even me, I immediately stood up!

Impulsively dashing out of the store.

"--Aria, wait!"

On this boulevard, crowded with teenagers, seemingly hard to run through, I quickly caught up to Aria.

<nowiki>"~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"</nowiki>

Trying to shake off my hand viciously, Aria was in a state of agitation where she couldn't even say a word.

What. Why are you so mad?

"I-it's fine for you! Because I haven't said it to you clearly! But, Reki--Reki, I definitely told! That girl, kn-knew full well! Reki! Reki--I won't forgive you! Reki, you...Reki, you!"

In an agitated state, Aria was in a mode where I could not understand a word she was saying.

Her twin tails in a tangle, she directed a constant stream of abuse at Reki, who wasn't here--

"You too--let go of me! I'm busy! Just that, before going to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure Kure], I came to Osaka Butei High to get some equipment that I had left here! Because, Muto Goki and Riko are waiting for me at Kure!"

Kure...Hiroshima? And, Riko and Muto? What's with that. Does it have something to do with Kanae-san's trial?

Towards me, who was just about to ask that, Aria--

"I'm busy!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thud!* A fist collided into the space between my eyebrows.

"As a couple with Reki!"

<nowiki>*Kch!*</nowiki> She swept me off my feet.

"I hope you're happy!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thud!*

Stepping on my face, who had brought to the floor in an instant, she vanished into the crowd.

"Y-you...What was that!"

At that moment, Haimaki caught up with me, who had shouted that.

Is the reason that Aria left with such haste because she noticed him?

No, not only Haimaki.

Because, I had also vaguely felt--Reki, from some unknown location, was staring this way.

And, she was using the scope of her Dragunov.

Once again, Aria had been pushed away by that killing intent.

Aah. Caravan I, despite the fact that this was an activity where we're supposed to make teams...the relationship between Aria and Reki, as well as I, was getting worse and worse.

--It had already reached a point where reconciliation was impossible.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume6_Chapter2|2nd Ammo: Water Tossing]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Chapter4|4th Ammo: Flash Cannon]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Talk:Monogatari Series

2011-05-16T06:51:20Z

Remotemine: /* Kizu Chapter 18 */

Stalled projects

I hate it when a new project gets started because the anime airs with a lot of hype, then the TL loses interest and no one updates it. As in the forums, project won't be marked 'dropped' until after a period of 3-6 months- there aren't clear guidelines on this...

heh the anime I heard accurately depicts and explains all the jokes in the novels, or so I heard. I watched it myself, but I have yet to read the novels. From reading the novel translations, however it seems to be almost the same. I can not say I would ever want to translate these novels way too hard for me to get the jokes across, and then it loses all its fun. I wish someone translate Koyomi Vamp and the two fire sister's stories.
--[[User:Seoulfighter|Seoulfighter]] 01:06, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

See, the project still has had some activity left - Now Hitagi Crab is complete... --[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 21:47, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

Though that seems to be the case, when one looks at the list of editors, one can only feel that something is wrong. Hey fans... help out if you can... even if you make a few corrections each session, everything adds up. --[[User:Visicury|Visicury]] 03:24, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Oh, that are only the dedicated editors - the casual editors (which may edit while reading) arent mentioned there. --[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 14:26, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

== Go ==

Keep going with this awesome project guys, Koyomi Vamp rocks!!
Ganbare~!!

Excellent work on Kizumonogatari, Shikijin. Your expedient progress is really appreciated! [[User:LoliSauce|LoliSauce]] 02:53, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

== Question on book title ==
Yo, for "Kabukimonogatari / 傾物語" I was researching with a friend and his JP coworker about the kanji in this title and it has us completely stumped. Is there some kind of weird reading of 傾 or 傾物 that is supposed to have some relevance to kabuki? It seems so completely weird and out of place that we're wondering if it's actually a mistake somehow (incorrect first kanji or perhaps incorrect translation, as unlikely as either are). Anyone able to shed some light on this?

[[User:LoliSauce|LoliSauce]] 10:51, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

I'm not 100% sure but the word kabuki is believed to derive from the verb kabuku, meaning "to lean", and the kanji 傾 also means more or less "to lean/to incline/to tend".

[[User:Vaelis|Vaelis]] 12:26, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Oh wow. If that's the case, then that's some pretty serious levels of wordplay. Thanks for the insight.

[[User:LoliSauce|LoliSauce]] 04:51, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

== "Deleted" ==

Does anyone have any idea why the paragraph above is allowed here as it is simply an advertising of some delivery service in Russian?

Is it? Probably because no one did notice that... --[[User:Darklor|Darklor]] 04:59, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

== Some questions about editing translated text ==
Hi, All. I would like to do some edits to the texts already translated into English. Not sure how major is a "major edit" referenced in the Format Guidelines, apologies if the matter below is too trivial.

I would like to consider changing ''To me June 13th is a date of commemoration.'' in [[Bakemonogatari/Bakemonogatari/Tsubasa Cat/003]] to ''To me June 13th is a date to remember.'' I am under strong impression that Araragi-kun is not going to hold a special celebration or some formal memorial service to mark that day, but treat is as an important day in his life, with a meaning special to him first of all, a milestone if you will... "A day to remember" seems to be a more natural way of saying it than the probably more correctly translated "commemoration". Ideas? Please feel free to redirect me to a more proper place to ask this question.
[[User:Techtime|Techtime]] 23:18, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

== Kaien-NISIO.IS.IN.English Translation ==

In case someone is interested, their project page has been updated. This means they translated chapter 5 of Mayoi Snail. Or, at least, they've done a part.

== Kaien-NISIO.IS.IN.English Translation ==
The translator of ↑ here. I think that now I know why so many people want to share editing rights for the book. No, it doesn't work like that, 化物語 vol 1 is not an open wiki-like project, and google just keeps spamming my mail ~_~ Just join the rizon channel or mail me conventionally and request to participate. [[User:Kaens|Kaens]]

== Updates ==

Yeah, just wanted to point out that the "Project Updates" section on the main Bakemonogatari page hasn't been..well...updated since the the 2009 project start.

Also, since the Anime covers the events so well, does that mean that the novels after Kizumonogatari will be translated and just not those covered by the Anime? I hope so :) [[User:Ax'el|Ax'el]] 00:49, 15 May 2011 (UCT)

== Kizu Chapter 18 ==

Okay I think this is something everyone who roams around here need to discuss. Should or should we not delete chapter 18? The chapter has been here for a while now and I don't know how many people have read it but I think everyone who has would agree that there is something wrong. It doesn't take someone who has read the original to realize that it is really poorly written with really bad grammar and sentence structure. I mean my translations weren't perfect either but I literally don't understand what is going on in chapter 18. With that in mind should we take it out and wait for someone else to replace it with one better? --[[User:Omimon|Omimon]] 03:56, 16 May 2011 (UCT)

I agree. The translation look like a machine-translation to me, and I can't understand most of it. So just go ahead and delete it. --[[User:KilluaX90|KilluaX90]]

I'm for deleting it as well. There are all sorts of coherency/grammar issues. There are parts that are somewhat understandable, but it's still poor/confusing at best. --[[User:Remotemine|Remotemine]]

Talk:Monogatari Series

2011-05-16T06:50:40Z

Remotemine: /* Kizu Chapter 18 */

Talk:Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter3

2011-05-16T06:31:25Z

Remotemine:

Talk:Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter3

2011-05-16T06:05:30Z

Remotemine: /* Caravan I or Caravan 1? */ new section

Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter2

2011-05-12T06:43:05Z

Remotemine: Grammar

==2nd Ammo: Water Tossing==

September 1--

During the opening ceremony on the first day of the second semester, the Japanese students of Butei High will respect international tradition, wearing an imitation uniform of the first Butei High in the world, Butei High - Rome, the completely black uniform which is called, "Diviza Nero".

The students, dressed completely in black, sat up straight on the folding chairs, in a phalanx-like formation.

This scene was almost like the assembly of a miniature army division, or perhaps a Yakuza funeral.

The curtain, full of patched up bullet-holes, opened left and right, and on the stage, the principal, Midorimatsu, was standing in the center, at the lectern, giving a speech about the international co-operation between Butei.

He said something about public safety continuing to worsen, but Japan was still a safe country, so as such, Tokyo Butei High will be accepting exchange students for the sake of the students' growth in a tense situation.

...Hey. Please don't make the situation in the school any more tense.

It was probably because of Butei High's new policy, but sitting in one corner of the room were students from Hong Kong Butei High.

There were not only high school students, but there seemed to be middle school students as well...even somebody like an elementary school student. As expected of foreigners.

(But, it might not be too long before the era comes where Japan, like America, will legally issue firearm licenses to 5 year old children.)

Having not slept much in Reki's room last night, I thought of those things, stifling a yawn.

It is common practice that one cannot be absent from the opening ceremony of the second semester. However, delinquents like Riko, or busy students like Aria still neglect it. So, all those that sit here are the good students, the slackers, or those failing students, who like me, came so their credits would not drop.

And Reki...after she had accompanied me to school, because she was performing in the ceremony after the opening ceremony--using a pistol or sniper rifle as a replacement for the marching band's batons--she went to the preparation room of the auditorium. 

As such, I am able to do this, enjoying my temporary freedom.

But, as long as I am within a 2 kilometer radius of that Dragunov, I am still in the palm of Reki's hand.

And, Haimaki was idly crouching by my feet, and once in a while, he would, with an expression which said: "If you dare run, I'll report it to my master," look up at me. Damn it.

I couldn't help but glare angrily at the Haimaki by my feet...

"Tohyama-kun, is it alright if I sit next to you?"

"Yo, Kinji. Looks like you aren't getting held back a year after all." 

Two male students moved to the seats by my side, in unison. The good student Shiranui and the slacker Muto.

The handsome Shiranui was already cheerful, even though it was the first day of the second semester, and Muto was still wearing an expression of yearning for the summer holidays, stubble building up on his chin. The contrast between you two is amazingly strong.

"Kinji, I heard a rumor. Yesterday, you ran into some shooting spree, broke the glass off my four-wheel drive, forcing me to track down my insurance company..."

Ah? The car that I hid in yesterday was Muto's?

Well...I'll just pretend that I don't know what he's talking about for now. After all, the person who actually broke the glass was Reki.

Also, I still haven't paid Muto back for breaking my [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Gyro Gyro Canopy] while we were arguing.

"--Besides that small matter...Tohyama-kun. Another scandal has been raised because of your relationship with a girl, you know?"

Radiating normal Butei behavior with the mention of a shooting spree as, "that small matter," Shiranui interrupted from the other side.

He was chuckling as if he had run into something amusing. This guy definitely thinks that since it has nothing to do with him, he can just spectate from the side.

"Are you serious!? Damn it! Why!? Why is it always only Kinji!?"

"Don't shout so loud, Muto. It's the opening ceremony right now. Anyways, Shiranui, how did you know?"

"'Know' is inaccurate, rather, I deduced this. As I was doing early sword-training in Assault--Kanzaki-san was throwing a huge tantrum. So, I thought that it might have something to do with Tohyama-kun."

Kanzaki...Aria-san was throwing a huge tantrum?

Just thinking about it makes me shiver.

Incidentally, morning practice would refer to some specific subject practice in a normal school, but in Butei High, it refers to morning battle training.

"Once again, it's become a pretty popular topic. It's said that--This morning, Tohyama-kun and Snipe's Reki-san came out of the girl's dormitory together when they were going to school."

While saying this, Shiranui, as if trying to prove the existence of the relationship between Reki and I, stroked Haimaki's back.

"--This time it's Reki!? Ah-, but, I can understand that. A dark boy and a wordless girl fit each other, after all. But, Kinji, you've taken action against somebody dangerous again. Reki has a lot of secret fans. You might get caught in a multi-directional crossfire one day, you know? You sure are unlucky, Kinji."

Agreed.

Now, not only am I being observed by Reki, but the number of guns pointed at me are increasing...

Unable to explain the situation to Muto, who was laughing and patting my back from behind, I...dipped in my head in despair.

"...There's another popular topic going around, because Kanzaki-san and Reki-san get along well. It's said that, after Kanzaki-san finished throwing a tantrum, she was very depressed about losing both her friend and lover."

What...is that supposed to mean?

Are you saying that, Reki = Friend, and I = Lover?

"Hey. Aria and I aren--"

"There's a lot of this kind of trouble around this season. After all, "Caravan I" is about to arrive."

I had seen it many times, but as I was trying to defend myself, Shiranui's overly brilliant smile cut me short.

--Caravan I.

Now that he mentions it, it's true that it's about to arrive.

In Butei High, sophomores have two training trips. The first one is "Caravan I".

From the name, it might appear to be a normal school trip, but in truth, it is an activity for the sake of making the final corrections in the teams formed between students.

This is because...when Butei High students reach their second year, they have to form and register themselves as 2~8 man teams before the end of September.

An unexpectedly important result of this team system is that, the registered teams will in turn, be registered in the IADA[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:guidelines].

Normally, Butei will move in those teams as units, fulfilling the activity. Even if they split up later due to their own goals, the mutual co-operation in that team takes precedence over entire organizational relationship--this is also laid down in International Butei Law.

"It's popular, because there are a lot of cases where the formation of a team is affected by boy-girl relationships. Because Tohyama-kun was unable to solve his personal matters."

"About that, I've pretty much decided who I'm going to team up with. We're going to take members from both Logi and Amdo, forming a logistics unit. There are girls too, you know. It's Hiraga Aya though, so there's nothing to get excited about."

There are no firm criteria, but normally, teams will be either assault teams, logistics teams, communications teams, or mixed teams etc., completely different types and fields. As a result, different teams will work together.

Using an army analogy, it would be like the image of sections coming together to form a platoon.

Therefore, this isn't something like normal high school groups, where getting along well is the focus, but rather, a team formed with tactics and strategy taken into account.

To sum it up in a sentence...team formation is something that requires a lot of thinking.

Especially for me, who doesn't have many friends, and is now engaged to Reki, this is a massive undertaking. Just thinking about it gives me a headache..

"Tohyama-kun is going to form an assault team, right? Or maybe a reconnaissance team?"

"I haven't decided on anything yet. I'm busy enough earning credits, so I have to postpone it for now."

"Ahh, that's a problem. Tohyama-kun, the next time you wear this, what are you going to do?"

Said Shiranui, pointing to my black tie. The next time I wear this? He's probably talking about the team photo at team registration.

During team registration, according to the rules, the team members have to have a photograph taken of them...and they have to wear this bulletproof uniform - black while taking the photo. It's rumored that this is for the sake of preventing offenders from being able to recognize which Butei High the students come from.

I remember, when we saw our senpai's team photos last year...they were all looking away from the lens on purpose, turning their heads slightly to the side or even downwards. That's probably so their appearance wasn't completely shown.

Really, this is an amazingly dangerous school. Having to take so much care with just a photo.

The opening ceremony finished--and on the path in front of the auditorium, the girls from class C started the parade as Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" was playing.

On their heads were feathered military caps, their bodies clothed with extravagant uniforms. Their hands grasping their batons, the girls--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh, whoosh. Roll.*

Their white, pleated miniskirts fluttering, they span their replacements for batons, assault rifles and sniper rifles, marching forward in two lines on the road, sealed off from traffic.

At times, Butei High will imitate the Police Force and the Self-Defense Force, holding a music or dance concert, reason being, they wished to improve their image with the people. And according to the principal's plan, the performers would be female. Aria and Shirayuki also performed as cheerleaders at Adseard in May. 

But...no matter when I see it, I always hate these performances.

[[File:Aria06 067.jpg|thumb]]
On both sides of the road, watching the parade was the local people, as well as the media. There were also boys, holding up cameras with lenses as long as bazookas, frantically snapping pictures of the girls. You guys, you know that you're falling right into the principal's trap, right? Their appearance may be no different from cute high school girls, but the female students over here are actually dangerous people that play with real bazookas.

Not being able to withhold a sigh, I--

-as if trying to escape from Reki, who was twirling her Dragunov in the midst of the marching band, her face expressionless as always...I left.

Behind me, Haimaki tailed me, not letting his guard down.
At any rate, you. You've been suspecting me, following me ever since just now, right? You stepped on my shoes on purpose, and you even urinated over my clothes when I left the auditorium's male changing room.

The bulletproof uniform - black that I was wearing in the auditorium was borrowed, so I could just throw it inside the "return" basket and be done with it, but the uniform I'm wearing now is mine. If you dare dirty it, I will spare you no mercy.

(...Reki, Haimaki, team formation...no matter which one it is, so troublesome...)

And to add to my annoyance, today was the day of Butei High's horrible tradition, "Water Tossing"

Originally, "Water Tossing" evolved from the special battle method that the principal's old school had had, "On the day of the opening ceremony, you can splash water onto anybody."

Splashing each other with water may be very safe, but once this reached Butei High, the rules, for some reason, became, "as long as you're unarmed, you can fight with anybody you like," a real battle method, and it spread around the school.

(Masters tolerates this activity as well. Really...)

My head hurting again, I decided to head to the pharmacy at the Medica building.

But, I was afraid that if I walked the main road, I would run into the danger that is "Water Tossing", so I took a small road.

As I walked out of the parade, the sound of it getting farther and farther...

Fuah.

Fuah.

Fuaah.

What...?

Bubble...?

Suddenly, in front of me, who was walking down the small alley, a bubble appeared.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Pop, Pop Pop* They popped in front of my face.

"--You just died three times."

Immediately after, the sound of a girl's undeveloped voice came from above my head.

I raised my head to look, and one foot hooked into the gutter of the building...was a small girl.

...Who's she?

"''Japan'''s Butei High isn't very noteworthy-ne. You're too vulnerable."[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

The girl was wearing something reminiscent of one of the outfits of a zombie in "Reigen Doushi"--a modified, abnormal outfit using the Qing Dynasty's imperial outfit as a basis.

Added to that, her accent...she was probably one of those exchange students from Hong Kong Butei High.

"...There something?"

In a bad mood, I narrowed my eyes, staring at her, who was adroitly drinking something out of a gourd...

"Kyuu!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Spin, Tap*

The girl laughed shrilly, and she landed in the alley lightly, just like a trapeze artist.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhh*

[[File:Aria06 071.jpg|thumb]]
Her black twintails, tied on the left and right, followed the movement of her body, falling down.

"My, name, is Koko. Tell me your name."

--Height, around 1.40 meters. She's still a kid.

The corners of her eyes were streaked with red eyeshadow, making her already slanted eyes become even more obviously tilted. And she also had a cute appearance that would make a certain group of men drool in appreciation...But...

For some reason...Her appearance seems familiar, as if she looks similar to somebody. Just a coincidence?

"I am Tohyama Kinji."

Since she had already told me her name, I returned the favor.

After all, I don't wish to make anybody think that Japanese people don't have any manners.

"Aiya! Aiyayayayayaya!" [http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

The girl, who had called herself Koko, shouted to the heavens exaggeratedly.

What. Is there something wrong with my name?

At any rate, you've been asking for trouble from the beginning.

"...Hey. Why do you smell like alcohol? Children shouldn't drink."

Seeing me lecture her, pointing at the gourd, Koko's eyes widened, saying,

"--I'm not a child! Koko turned 14 yesterday!"

Buwaa! She yelled, a strong smell of alcohol intermixed with her breath.

She's probably drunk. I heard that China didn't have any age restrictions on the consumption of alcohol.

But...this kind of conversation...Why is it that this feels kind of familiar?

"I can't help it, I'll just have to test you a little. If you leave the princess, some painful things will happen immediately."

Apparently not too familiar with Japanese, Koko said these incomprehensible things--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh, Whoosh*...As if stumbling, she fell down...before she did a flip, *Pa!*

She suddenly charged towards me!

--This kind of reaction--

It's exactly the same as when I first met Aria! How unlucky can I be!

"--!'

Reflexively, I reached my hand out, and Koko's feet--twisted around my hand.

Wh-what is this? This movement. It's random, as if the movement itself is drunk--

It completely nullified my subconscious counterattack.

Koko, like a snake, slithered around my body, *whoosh*. She got onto my back.

And she brought a rope around both sides of my neck...? No, she's using both of her twin tails.

"Hehe!"

Laughing in my ear, Koko even twisted her two legs around my neck.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Twist...Twist!*

--Ne-neck--

It's being clamped. If this were Judo, it would be called a choke.

(This kind of clamping technique...exists...!)

The choke I mentioned earlier is an unarmed technique where, once it is tightened, it's impossible to loosen.

And, this isn't an infraction of the rules. Not only her limbs, but her hair, it's an abnormally complex stance, almost like a coiled rope.

This girl is an exchange student--where did she hear about "Water Tossing"?

"Hehe, how is it? You can't do anything, can you? A man that cannot do anything, is a man that nobody needs. I'm going to kill you."

"Kill...me?"

Breaking out into a cold sweat, I forced those words out.

It may look like this, but I'm a Butei. If I got a 100 yen coin for every time I heard the word "kill" in a threat, I'd be able to have a mansion built by now.

But, this isn't just a threat!

(Sh-she really wants to kill me!)

--Only now did that electric feeling of true danger really run through my body.

This is a problem beyond the rules of "Water Tossing".

Panicked, I reached my hand towards my Beretta--but at that moment, I noticed that even my limbs were also being restricted by the girl's legs' vice-like grip.

"--!"

If one wants to initiate Aru=Kata, they have to be at striking distance.

And like this, when I'm at zero-distance, drawn into grappling--arms restricted, making it impossible to resist--it's a position where guns cannot be used.

It's the exact opposite as the fight with Reki, where she was out of range, unable to be touched by my bullets. This is a battle where guns have been rendered ineffective by the sheer lack of distance.

(Da-dangerous...Really...!)

Inside me, whose consciousness was slowly going hazy--

This tight feeling, being pressed so closely against a female body, which was so much like Aria's, as well as the feeling of getting choked to death melded together, *Thump*...creating an irregular heartbeat.

(Th-this is...)

It's different from normal, but I'm afraid that this is...Hysteria Mode.

And, this is the Hysteria Mode that Nii-san had told me about, the Hysteria Mode when dying.

Hysteria Agonizante.

(I-I've been pressured into such a place!?)

But, in the last of the last, this awakening was my trump card.

Counter-choke techniques started appearing clearly in my mind, which had been panicking all along.

Standing out was one line of thought: Performing a wall hit on Koko, biting her hand viciously, attempting to harm her--

Bad...This girl, wrong.

My mind in Hysteria Mode revealed the reality that that would just make the situation more severe.

This isn't a feasible method of releasing a choke.

"Hihi! Shanshikeikeihou!"[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

...*Creak*...*Creak*...

(M-my cervical vertebrae...!) 

My cervical vertebrae is about to be snapped!

A creak rang out from my neck area, and my consciousness was becoming more and more hazy.

My line of sight started to flicker on and off, my eyes couldn't see anything anymore.

--The corresponding action is too late. The opponent is a girl, so it's impossible for me to choose that method.

Even though I'm in Hysteria Mode, there's no way for me to do anything...!

I-I'm done...!

--*GRROARR!*

Immediately after the roar blasted towards us, *Ba!*

Koko suddenly released her hair and limbs.

--*Thud*

I sprawled forward, subconsciously raising my head.

In front of me, Haimaki, who appeared to have just smashed Koko off me, was standing there, his hair and tail completely on end, growling softly.

My neck...hadn't snapped. That was really in the nick of time. But, golden stars were still appearing in my field of vision, and I felt dizzy.

--*Tap, Tap*

Koko turned a flip in the air agilely, retreating to another side of the alley.

"The dog that princess is raising is far more useful than you."

Afterward, she made a face at me.

"''I'' am, "''Ten-thousand Arms''" Koko--"The Warrior of Ten-thousand techniques" Kinchi, 0 points."

Saying this, she waved, as if saying goodbye.

"You have to study. Afterwards, I'll test you again. ''Goodbye''."

Reaching the edge of the corner...she disappeared.

And I--could only gaze at that back, in a daze.

What on Earth is this...that started happening yesterday.

Could you please keep terrible misfortune to one day?

Sniped by Reki, losing to the hands of an exchange student...Isn't that two defeats in a row?

Inside Butei High, where turning swords and guns on each other is a perfectly acceptable and common thing, things like attempted murder are outright ignored, a regrettable reality.

Even if I reported: "I was nearly killed by an exchange student in an alley," to a teacher, I'd definitely have: "If you lost, then go challenge them again!" shouted at me while I'm getting kicked out of their office.

The Butei watchword for this is, "Defeat from the Bottom"--It's recognized as a humilation defeat in Butei High, a defeat where one is beaten by his underclassmen.

The opponent was a middle school student, and also a girl, who are weaker than men by default. Also, I lost to her unarmed, this was a humiliation deep within mere humiliation. Were I to make an analogy to Mahjong, it would be similar to the humiliation of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Mahjong_yaku#Yakuman_hands Yakuman] defeat. 

I don't care about my reputation within the school, but if this gets spread around to everybody, I'll just be a laughingstock.

So, I kept my mouth shut, pretending that it never happened.

But--

(The feel of Koko's battle ability...seems to be on the same level as Aria's, if not higher...)

I heard that the training that Assault Butei go through in China is wholly different from the training they go through in Japan.

--Once they discover a person with some sort of special attribute, the Butei High there will initiate a special training program.

If that attribute is guns, then they will train them with guns. If it's knives, then they'll be trained with knives. Nothing else. It seems that, using this method, China trained up several Butei with these differing skills.

Which is to say, that girl from just now was probably trained in martial arts from a very young age, a true expert.

(She's Chinese, isn't she...If it was her, that's how she'd say it, right?)

I thought, looking to the side, towards Reki, who had finished the parade, changing back to her sailor uniform...

Already completely released from Hysteria Mode, I was just relaxing in one of Odaiba's main streets.

Why am I here, you ask. That's because, I want to get something to eat.

Under continuous pressure just now and wanting to vent my frustrations by stuffing myself, I went to the school cafeteria, but upon my entrance, I was surrounded by a group of...abnormal boys.

Apparently taking Reki as a Goddess and worshiping her, they started shouting things like: "Please tell me about the daily life of Reki-sama!" "Is her face cute when sleeping!?" "DIE!", all directed at me.

Well, which is to say, it was the situation that Muto had warned me about this morning. Taking advantage of the rules of Water Tossing.

And beside me, whose neck and limbs were being twisted in impossible directions, Reki, standing there with the Dragunov on her back, appeared to have decided not to interfere. And Haimaki used his back leg to scratch his ears, yawning loudly. Hey, you guys acting like this...I'm really going to burst into tears, you know?

In the search of another place where I could eat--since the convenience store and family restaurant had been occupied by Reki's fan club, I had given up the thought of eating on Academy Island...and like this, I went all the way to Odaiba.

Well..there's no classes today anyways, since it's the opening ceremony.

Because of the Japanese Early Summer Phenomenon - Typhoon, the wind in the street was a little strong, but the weather was pretty good. Just strolling down the streets like this is a pretty good way of relaxing one's heart.

But...

"......"

Even though she had been so talkative last night, Reki-sama had said nearly nothing today.

And, I had a vague feeling that she didn't seem very happy. She was expressionless as ever, though, so I had no way of confirming it.

As I walked and thought about this sniper girl--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Fyuu*

A low breeze brushed by us--*Flutter*

Reki's rouge pleated skirt flipped up in an extremely dangerous manner.

"...!"

But, Reki didn't care at all.

Since she hadn't tried to resist the wind at all, the snow-white curve of her thigh--and a military-used band of velcro, as well as the bayonet tucked inside it, was exposed, for all to see.

It had gone up, but it was still barely in the safe zone.

"Hey. Reki...by your feet. Be careful."

I pointed it out to this his robot girl, who apparently, was not programmed with any embarrassment or shyness functions.

Reki scanned by her feet, as if she was looking out for a landmine...

"...?"

She raised her head, looking at me. It didn't seem like she knew what I was trying to bring to her attention.

She's impossible...really, I have to think of a solution quickly.

Scared that another gust of wind would blow, I--ran into Odaiba Water City.

"Haimaki, sit. Wait here."

Following me, Reki made Haimaki wait by the automatic doors.

Hey, is it really all right if you leave a wolf in this kind of place?

"..."

I glanced at Reki out of the corner of my eye, who was following me into the stores with quick strides.

I'm enveloped in all sorts of problems, but right now, the biggest problem is the matter of Reki's Sniper Restriction.

If I don't think of something to solve it, I won't be able to handle the other problems.

(..."Lima Syndrome"...)

The trump card of extricating myself from Reki's clutches--"Lima Syndrome".

For the sake of its success, I have to establish a good relation with Reki. But, if I want to establish a relationship, the receiving end of the relationship has to be a person. 

Which is to say, I have to humanize Robot Reki.

But, no matter how I think about this, it's a huge difficulty in itself.

I have no idea what to do.

But, I have to do it.

Otherwise, I'll have to spend the rest of my days together with Reki.

Even if I have to make things up on the spot, I have to force the initiation of Plan: Humanizing Reki.

Reaching the fifth floor, the one dedicated to restaurants and the like, I, thinking that I could eat anything, as long as I could fill myself up, asked,

"Is there something you want to eat, Reki?"

After all, you'll definitely answer with "I don't care."

"I don't care."

See?

Well, I already predicted it.

"Then, let's go eat ramen. The ramen sold at Shintojyou is really good."

Community, companion, friends. The meaning of such is captured in the English word "Company", which, linguistically, originally meant "eating bread together." Like this, eating together is an important action that aids the building of a human relationship.

If all goes well, I might be able to use the meal as an opportunity over which we can reconcile, leading the solution into a new dawn of hope.

So, I brought Reki--

-to Odaiba's best ramen shop, the ever-crowded Shintojyou.

Sitting opposite Reki at a small table, thinking of scoring some points with her, I said,

"I'll treat today."

And then saying to a waiter who had come forth,

"I want one bowl of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_siu Char Siu] noodles. And for her, the most expensive thing on the menu."

Having come here many times before, I ordered, relying on the memory embedded deep in my brain, not even needing to flip through the menu.

Well, there's 3000 yen inside my wallet. I shouldn't have a problem, budget-wise.

...*Flicker*, I looked at Reki using my peripheral vision, gauging her reaction.

"......"

Only to see that she, like a statue, was sitting like a death row victim on the chair opposite me, completely still. Her head was facing forward, her eyes seemingly looking downwards a little...But what they were looking at was not me, but an empty void...Scary. Those eyes really look like a doll's.

Anyways, can't you at least take your headphones off when we enter a restaurant?

(But...Reki really doesn't fit in, in this kind of loud and busy shop. It doesn't sit well with her at all.)

Even if I'm the one who brought her here.

Helplessly, I rested my chin in the palm of my hand, looking out upon the sight of Tokyo Bay.

Above the multitude of ships, leaving several white trails on the surface of the sparkling, blue water, were seagulls, lightly flying around Empty Island, where there's a billboard for the musical, "The Wizard of Oz" had been constructed.

This panorama, this kind of relaxation, it's so comfortable.

In my mind, I thought that, if Reki were to be cast in "The Wizard of Oz", she would definitely be the heartless tin man. Thinking of those things, which were of no importance, I drifted off into a daydream.

"..."

"..."

Completely wordless, we just sat there, waiting for the food to arrive.

Whenever I teamed up with a girl in a Butei High activity--my personality is such that, I would always be this silent.

Because, I have nothing to talk about with girls.

(...This kind of silence is kind of tiring, though.)

In light of that, while the person in front of me is a girl, she is--Reki.

Because she's just sitting there, just like a tin man, I don't need to pay attention to anything.

Putting it that way, Reki...for me, might be, a rare and treasured girl.

But, the image of Aria, who is boyish as well, another person that I didn't need to take care even when she's around, invaded another corner of my mind.

Well, it's true that conversation is a fundamental part of building a good relationship, but there's an old saying, haste makes waste. If I talk about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denpa_Onna_to_Seishun_Otoko denpa] things like Ulus or Virus or whatever, in this kind of public place, I'll just be taken for a lunatic. So, the fact that I can relax here, gazing upon the ocean and the sky, healing my scarred soul from all the trauma it had gone through, was indeed, a good thing.

"--Sorry to keep you waiting!"

A familiar voice jarred me, making my head slip off my hand and smash into the table.

I looked up--

"Fu-Fuuma!?"

Lezzad freshman, Fuuma Hina.

My female kouhai, wearing an apron as part of a waitress outfit, was holding a tray, delivering the ramen.

This girl...I was wondering why she didn't come to the opening ceremony, but it looks like she was doing this kind of training.

"Master, I have delivered the objects you have ordered. Please, eat well."

A broad smile on her face, Fuuma, *Tap*, placed the bowl of char siu noodles in front of me.

[[File:Aria06 087.jpg|thumb]]
...What is this...The char siu had been made into 卍 shapes. Were you trying to make shurikens? That was...amazingly pointless. With this, the mass became smaller.

Fuuma apparently thought that she had done something wonderful, and she had an expression on her face which was begging, "Master, praise me!" With that expression, she's probably expecting me to say something like, "Ooohh, that's amazing, Fuuma. You're an excellent ninja," right?

Well, I'll just ignore it.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Pa* In front of me, who was snapping open the chopsticks unhappily--*Thud*

Fuuma placed a container of ramen onto the table. It seemed that the gravitational pull was such that Fuuma's ponytail hung in the air as it thudded to the flat surface.

"What...what on Earth is this..."

The ramen...was served in a pot. And that pot was so big that somebody could easily fit their head inside it.

"This is what Reki-[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics#Dono.2Ftono dono] ordered, the store's best, the most expensive item--Super pot ramen."

"...Hey! This isn't an amount that a human being can eat! Even an elephant wouldn't be able to finish this! This shouldn't be on the menu!"

"--It is. This is an order that was put on offer this month."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Flip* On the menu that Fuuma had opened...

"New item - Super pot ramen! 5000 yen, *But, if it can be finished within 30 minutes, it's free!*"

Clipped in between the pages was a thick piece of paper, newly written.

Hey, this is 5...5000 yen!

Then...Then, aren't I about to eat a meal that I can't pay for!?

"Wait, today, I only brought three thousand..."

Not even sparing me a glance, Fuuma--as if exposing her true personality as a ninja, she smirked, turning towards Reki,

"Kukuku....As master's close friend for more than four years, I will be the one to lead the assault this time! I specially suggested these rations, which will definitely bring harmony between you two--this is only a small challenge! Then, 30 minutes, starts now! Ready, set, go!"

Fuuma's ponytail, called chonmage in Japan, swished through the air, and she pressed the button on the stopwatch.

"...!"

I--turned my head towards Reki, who was nearly completely hidden by the pot.

"..."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Pachin*

The disposable chopsticks, she tore them apart.

Yo-you're going to fight? Challenging this...this colossal enemy, Super pot ramen.

And, why did I just hallucinate that a light gleamed in Reki's eyes?

"..."

Reki extended the chopsticks, clipping one strand of noodles.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Chew*

She bit the tip of the noodle.

And, *Shuuuuuu*...*Shuuu*...

She ate it.

She just ate the noodles.

And, *Chew*. *Shuuuu*

Strand by strand, she ate without pause.

"..."

Under my fixated stare, Reki continued to use that unique method of eating to draw the noodles into her mouth.

Am-amazing. There's no interval at all between one strand and the next. Was ramen something that you could eat with such small movements?

Before I knew it--

Reki had eaten all the noodles in the pot.

In a mere 5 minutes.

"..."

Afterward--

Reki, *Shuu*

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Chew*

Used her chopsticks to eat a prawn, part of the side dish.

And, *Shuu, Pa*

She ate a quail egg.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shuu, Pa* *Shuu, Pa* *Shuu Pa*

Shitake, cuttlefish, mushrooms...

All the side dishes in the pot were being devoured, without so much as a break.

"Wh...Wh-what...what is this...?"

Fuuma looked at the stopwatch in shock. To tell the truth, it doesn't surprise me that she's stunned.

Because...just as the 10 minute mark passed, Reki had...eaten all the noodles and side dishes inside that enormous pot.

And while Fuuma was watching, so it's impossible for her to claim that Reki cheated.

Uu...

Seeing Reki seem to struggle, lifting the enormous pot....I reached out, helping her bring it off the table...

Reki placed those small lips by the edge of the pot...

Ku.

Ku...Ku.

She...She's drinking the soup...!

Ku...Ku.

A-are you alright? You're not going to die, right? If you don't do this, I'll have a criminal record, but your life is, ever so slightly, more important. Don't force yourself.

But, ignoring my worried thoughts...

The soup...was completely finished...!

Reki had completely finished the enormous pot of ramen, which even a Sumo wrestler would have to undergo a siege with.

"--According to my senses, as of this moment, 10 minutes and 47 seconds has passed since Fuuma-san started the stopwatch."

Saying this while placing the pot back on the table, Reki's expression was as always, completely unchanged.

Am...Amazing...

I never knew, never would have thought that you could eat so much! No, this isn't a matter of being able to eat. Are you fostering a black hole in your stomach?

"...Ah...Ahhhh...!"

Her gaze flickering between the stopwatch and the pot, Fuuma screamed with a broken voice.

And, *Shh* Dressed like a waitress, she flopped down on the floor, right there and then.

"Th...This is a dream...This is...a nightmare...!"

...I understand, Fuuma.

You are still a freshman. You haven't been desensitized to this kind of abnormal scene yet.

But, as students of Butei High, it is definite that supernatural people like Vlad or Sherlock will one day, appear in front of you. At that time, you can't be surprised when those abnormal things flash to life before your eyes. Before that, you have to train yourself to get used to these paranormal sights.

With that, while I was thinking those senpai-like words in my heart...

I felt a wave of relief wash over me, since I would not be counted among the ranks of ex-offenders. I held onto my heart, well...more like my wallet, keeping it close.

The Butei threefold punishment. Such words exist.

That may be a really extreme expression, but if a Butei is caught breaking the law, he receives a heavier punishment than a normal person...using just now as an example, if I really didn't have enough money to pay the bill, I would have received threefold punishment.

Having escaped punishment by a thread, I, having seen the result, used the money that would have been spent on Reki's free meal to buy fish sausages for Haimaki.

I ripped off the packaging, giving them to Haimaki, who was waiting at the door obediently...Ooh. He wagged his tail furiously, gulping it down.

He looks pretty happy. So, he likes eating fish sausages? That's something to take note of.

Accompanying me, Reki, whose appearance, for some reason, hadn't changed at all, although she had just eaten a gigantic pot of ramen, and I boarded the light rail, returning to Academy Island. We had just stepped onto the platform when another gust of strong wind blew.

Out of hand, I'll tell everybody this. As long as it is a Butei registered Butei dog, then it can ride trains, buses and other forms of public transportation. I can't be sure if the same applies for wolves, though.

On the desolate platform, *Fuah*--

Reki's skirt was blown upwards by the wind again, and I violently twisted my head to the side.

Hey...Can't you use your hand to hold it down, or maybe just turn such that you're in a safe direction? You're a girl, you know!

Because this robot girl, who had shown no signs of being humanized, was dangerous, in terms of Hysteria Mode, I made her walk in front...

Reki, Haimaki, and I formed a line, with Reki in front of me, and Haimaki behind me. As we walked down the stairs, *Tap*.

Reki suddenly stood still.

That gaze was fixated upon something that appeared to have flickered on the platform of the stairs we were descending--the shadow of some unknown person.

"...?"

Nearly colliding with Reki, I slowed down, surprised--*Thud*

But, Haimaki, following me from behind, smashed into the back of my knee, forcing it to buckle violently.

Which is to say, a situation of multiple collisions.

"...Oh..."

No way of stopping myself, I charged down the platform helplessly, as if pushing Reki, who had turned around, down.

Under the force of my shove, Reki too fell down the stairs...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thud*...My back smashed into the wall midway up the stairs.

Because my face appeared to be pressed against Reki's head, I had been saved from a concussion. 

...Phew.

And just having letting out a sigh, taking a deep breath, I--

-couldn't help but widen my eyes in shock, having deeply inhaled Reki's mint-like scent.

"--!"

Th-the position right now...

I-It's too dangerous, isn't it!? This?

...I am one head taller than Reki.

And as such, my face was buried in Reki's hair, without so much as a word of consent--

I thrust my head away hurriedly, only to see Reki's gem-like irises gaze upon me from an extremely close distance, confirming my safety.

"...!"

And my hand--

-Just now, reflexively, for the sake of preventing from falling, was grabbing her slender shoulders, as if I was embracing them.

Because of this, Reki's body was leaning forward slightly...

Th-this...isn't this...

Exactly like an intimate couple, taking advantage of the shadows and the lack of people!?

And, hadn't I pushed Reki violently just now, making it appear as if I wanted to do something...!?

If it was Aria, at that moment, I would definitely be on the receiving end of a flying high-kick, hurtling back onto the platform. But, Reki was letting herself be embraced, not putting up any sort of resistance.

Reki's soft, slender shoulders were completely in my grasp.

That face, as beautiful as a carving, was directly in front of my eyes.

And those pink lips were only a few centimeters from mine--

(...Hysteria, Mode...!)

That single word invading my panicked mind, I checked my blood flow, extremely agitated.

It's OK...? Isn't this dangerous...!?

Ah, ah...? It's alright.

What a relief. I may not know why, but I hadn't transformed into Hysteria Mode.

Meeting Reki's gaze, I sighed discreetly...

--*Pata*

Suddenly, something fell on the mid-portion of the stairs, sending out a sound.

A position roughly five meters on my left.

I turned my head, looking towards the source of the noise, looking down the stairs...

A crepe.

...Fallen on the floor.

That crepe, cream and some sort of bean stuffing--was visible from a part which was half bitten off--curled up into a peach shaped, completely white bun.

Which is to say, that's a miniature peach bun, right?

Peach bun crepe, huh?

There really are many different types of crepes in this world.

And, someone who's willing to eat something so distasteful must be someone who loves peach buns.

--It must be--

It must be!?

"--!"

My heart jumping into my throat, I lightly...turned my gaze...

Towards the shoe of the person who had dropped that peach bun...a slender ankle, wearing a black sock...continuing to look up....over there...

"......!"

Frozen in a position of walking while eating peach bun crepes, I thought that she had been petrified...Kanzaki H. Aria was there!

Those big eyes were opened wide, completely fixated upon the scene where I had pushed Reki to the wall, embracing her.

And Aria, apparently trying to reboot her brain, which had crashed upon seeing this "Terrible Scene", had entered stone-mode.

"......!"

And, the same went for me.

Why, in this kind of place--were we seen by Aria? As expected of me, guaranteed to be followed by misfortune. 

Aria, I, and Reki, who had been completely still the whole time.

As if in a portrait, the three of us stood still, stood silent--

"But, but, but...is it true that there is a JC that can match Aria in Aru=Kata?"

As she spoke, the sides of her mouth were smeared with cream as she ate a strawberry crepe...Inquesta's Mine Riko mounted the stairs.

And--she noticed Reki and I.

"UWWOOOOOOOOMUGUMUGUOAH--!?"

Her hair, fluttering on both sides of her head, flew upwards. Completely shocked.

[[File:Aria06 099.jpg|thumb]]
...But, you know, you're still using both your hands to stuff what remains of the crepe in your mouth while you're in that shocked state. Right now.

"We-well done, Ki-kun! Despite the fact that Rekyu is an amazingly difficult character route that can't be unlocked until your second playthrough! You're already in the midst of a fiery, passionate kiss! Zgyun! Don! Don!"

Abnormally excited, Riko stuck her hands into her blouse, making what appeared to be punching movements from inside. What kind of movement is that?

And also, by Rekyu, do you mean Reki? As always, you don't hesitate or feel the slightest bit of apprehension when giving someone a nickname--as I was thinking that, Riko's antics could be said to have helped, as I felt myself relax a little.

As I realized that I was no longer in a frozen state, *Thud! Clank!*

Shouting "Don!" and messing around, Riko twirled into Aria, their legs nearly going vertical, they fell onto the floor violently.

Apparently freed from her frozen state as well, Aria, *Thud!*, jumped to her feet--

--[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onigawara Onigawara!] With that kind of face, she glared this way.

Sc-scary!

"Ari--"

"That's enough!"

Uu! Baring her canines, Aria brought her arms down violently, cutting me short. She didn't give me any chance to explain.

"You, yo-yo, you've said enough! I knew that Idiot Kinji was somebody like this! That's right, that's right! You, yo-you! Lo-love, you love these kinds of quiet, re-reserved, beautiful people. Ju-just like Sh-Shi-Shirayuki!"

--Wh-why is she bringing up Shirayuki at a time like this!?

Below me, Aria averted her gaze from my face, which was twisted up in protest--

"A-and with her, yo-you, with her, with that kind of..." ....*Sniff, sniff*..."--I-I'm sorry! That's why, it's enough! Just shut up!"

As if she had nothing to say, she swallowed her words, *Pa!*

Glaring at me, frozen again.

"Besides that--Reki!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Whoosh!*

Aria bared her canines, pointing at Reki.

"You..really did it, didn't you...!? I saw it on the school-net website! You, without even refusing my offer...submitted an application to have a two-man team with Kinji...!"

What...?

Reki...already submitted an application to be in a two-man team with me?

I never heard about this beforehand...

"--That's 'Team Stealing'! An infraction which should be punished with holes!"

Facing the furious Aria--

Reki did not respond.

In Butei High, although "Team Formation" is normally done in the latter part of September--according to the rules set down after Caravan I. However, in reality, students will form rough teams far before the actual event.

But...especially for Aria and I, students who are partners, one of us registering to be a member of another team is taboo.

And it appears...that that is exactly what Reki did.

"I--as for the ro-romance between Kinji and Reki, that kind of thing...I do-don't care at all! It's true, it's true, I really--don't care! It's true, so...! So, I don't care about the relationship between you two! I don't care, I don't care! It's not something I care about! But--I won't forgive you for stealing my partner! I'm the one that's tuning Kinji!"

Tuning?

Could you please stop that way of speaking...Can't you see that Riko's eyes are sparkling again?

Having been forced to shut up, I protested ineffectually, in my heart.

"Aria--"

Beside me, Reki said that, completely toneless. But, that voice made me feel as if she had an abnormal resolve.

"--What are you to Kinji-san?"

Ah...

That tone...this isn't good. Things are about to get messy.

I don't know why, but that sentence from just now seemed to raise an atmosphere, full of tension, as if it was a "Declaration of War".

"Wh-wh-wh...wh, what, what, wh-what, what did you say...th-that's..!"

I'm not sure if she understood Reki's words, but Aria, her hands trembilng, pointed at me.

"No-nothing. That thing is just my partne--idiot!"

Hey, Aria.

You know, nobody could understand your overexcited words from just now. Your eyes are spinning. Well, you probably wanted to say, "That thing is an idiot," anyways.

"--I am Kinji-san's fiancé."

Reki answered directly.

Riko immediately gasped with shock, going "Fuooahhh!" Aria seemed like she had been shot in the stomach, and with an "Uu!", she doubled over.

"High...Getting engaged in high school..."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh, Shhhh*

Seeming as if...she was carrying some sort of deep understanding in her eyes, Aria glanced to the side, lifting her torso.

"That...is just playing pretend...!"

An overwhelming feeling that she was doing her best was radiating off Aria.

Even though I'm not sure what she's doing her best at.

"--This is not a game. This is serious. Aria-san. I hope that you can stay away from Kinji-san from now on. After this, Kinji...will stay in my room, just like last night. He will stay with me throughout the day, and we shall sleep together at night."

"Serious" "Stay in my room, just like last night" "Sleep together". Under the continuous barrage of Reki's words, Aria's expressions flickered through "Awaa!" "Stop it!" "Please stop!" one by one.

Hey, Reki...Stop saying things that can be misunderstood so easily!

Aria's already thinking some weird thoughts, and her face is turning all red!

"I understand, Aria-san and Kinji-san trust each other."

Reki continued to speak, as if she was following through with her furious assault,

"--But, that is not love."

"Lo, lo, lo-lo-lo-lo-lo...!?" 

Shouting with a voice like that of a chicken, Aria had entered a mode where she could not say the syllable, "い".[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2]

No, it's fine if you don't say it. Don't say it.

If you're going to react this way to all of Reki's denpa words, this will never end.

"Lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo----Kinji!"

As if forcing herself to ignore Reki's words, she glared at me with a face of a demon.

"Wh-what are you going to do! Are you going to--be in a group with Reki!? Is that your plan!?"

Not letting me say a word, calling me an idiot, always throwing a tantrum like a kid, I--under the accumulated pressure of Reki, Team Formation, the exchange student,

-went "Hmmph," pursing my lips.

No...

Wrong. It's not only that. Actually...

"--That kind of thing has nothing to do with you, right?"

What did I say--?

Something akin to pouring oil on a fire.

"In the first place, I'm preparing to withdraw from Butei High next year. Teams, partners, whatever, those things don't matter to me at all. Also, once--"

Kanae-san's trial is over, you're going to go back to London.

But, this shouldn't be something that I should say in front of Reki and Riko.

And, no matter what...

I was not willing to say it.

I was not willing to utter those words. Not willing to confirm the reality of Aria's approaching farewell.

I did not know why, nor had I any wish to know why.

"Aria. So what if I'm in a team with you? That kind of team, about to split and part their own ways, is meaningless."

"Wrong! Even if they're apart, a team is a team! As long as it's registered in IADA, they can help each other without restrictions, for eternity! Even if they're scattered, the proof of their companionship will remain for all eternity--"

"Whether or not that kind of thing remains, matters not the slightest to me!"

I could not help but raise my voice.

Aria.

Since you're about to disappear from my side--

I will not agree to something like "making memories".

As such, you can return to your home country with no regrets. Tokyo and London are on opposite sides of the Earth. As such, there is no way that we will be able to help each other.

You are going to disappear. From my side.

Since that is the case, do not try to leave any lingering memories.

"It doesn't really matter, does it? Fighting together with you was a thing of the past. Now--"

Saying this, I halted my words.

Because--

-With heavy footsteps, as if kicking her feet into the ground, Aria walked towards me.

"<nowiki>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</nowiki>"

Unable to do what she wanted, I appeared to have enraged Aria until she had reached her detonation point--wordlessly, she walked towards me, preparing to resort to violence, just like a child.

As I tensed my body in reflex, about to be struck by Aria...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh*--Reki came between us.

--*Pa!*

"--!"

Aria, Riko, and I. Everybody widened their eyes in shock.

Reki--

-struck Aria across the face.

--*Shhh*

Under this sudden assault, immediately going into counter mode, Aria--

-retreated, jumping backwards, bumping into Riko, who had just turned back, *Thud*.

Landing on the ground heavily.

"...Kinji-san. Please retreat, this place is dangerous."

Reki, her tone as normal, stood in front of me.

"...!"

Having had her partner stolen by Reki, who she considered her friend, and being treated like a dangerous object, Aria...lowered her hand, which had been rubbing her face--

"...Nothing matters anymore..."

Her eyes, hidden in the shadow of her fringe, and unsteadily...she stood up.

"Reki...How coincidental. Today is the day of "Water Tossing". We can use unarmed combat...we can go all out--"

Aria brought her arms close, assuming a fighting stance.

It was full of aggressiveness, almost as if she was a tiger intimidating her prey.

Sh-she really wants to fight.

"Added to that, earlier, an exchange student broke the rules, and as we were passing by, she initiated Aru=Kata! In the end, there was no clear victory, and she ran away...Right now, I'm in a really bad mood...!"

An exchange student able to match Aria in Aru=Kata!?

"A-Aria...was that exchange student someone who called herself "The Warrior of Ten-thousand techniques"...How do I say this...someone that looked like you?"

Thinking back to the time where I had nearly been killed by Koko, I asked, agitated--

"Shut up! And, I'm not that small!"

--Isn't that obviously a denial?

Was Aria also attacked by that exchange student from Hong Kong, Koko?

Then, in that light...not only is she a martial artist, but she's also an expert that can even match Aria in marksmanship?

U-unbelievable. That is completely unbelievable.

"--Riko, Get my back."

Aria, raised her head, speaking to Riko, who was at her back.

Only to see that Haimaki had circled to the other side of the platform at some point in time.

He had moved to a location where he could catch the two Quadras--Aria and Riko, between Reki and himself, in a pincer-like movement. 

I see. The reason Riko turned back was because she had noticed him.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Grrrrrrr*...Riko, standing in front of Haimaki, who was growling like that,

"--Kufufu. Riko is a kitty lover, but Riko likes dogs too, you know." 

Turning her head slightly, she let loose a vicious smile, full of battle fervor.

Riko's unarmed combat, huh? Now that I think about it, this is the first time I had seen her fight like this--

"Kufu!"

Laughing happily, Riko moved into a stance, her right hand above, her left hand below.

Afterwards, she bent her knees at right angles, *Thud!*

Her left leg kicked out towards Haimaki, threatening him.

That is--Kung Fu. That's unexpected.

And what's more, it's the style most commonly seen in Hong Kong movies, Eight Trigrams Palm.

This is a style that was separated into many schools, and the variations of the technique in this stance were one of many.

"..."

And Reki was standing there, completely unafraid of Aria's intimidation.

Amazing. That bravery.

(But...)

I frowned.

Because Reki...didn't assume a stance.

She was just staring straight at Aria.

"..."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Pa!* Facing Aria, who had pounced like a tiger-- 

Reki didn't resist at all--*Thud*

Like a flower, carelessly plucked off its stem, she was knocked down with ease. She didn't even defend herself.

<nowiki>*Groar!*</nowiki>

As if trying to help Reki, Haimaki bounded over--but his tail was caught by Riko.

"Ahaha! Rekyu! Riko will be taking this child! Riko will take this fur!"[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_2] 

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bch!* Sweeping Haimaki off his back legs with a leg sweep, Riko--

-Haimaki, turning to look at her, swung his front paw, tracing an arc in the air towards her *Bch!*

Swinging her right hand in a huge circle, she deflected the paw, forcing him to sprawl out onto the ground.

And, *Thud!* Jumping onto his back, she completely sealed off his movements.

"...!"

On the other side, sitting down on Reki, who was lying face-up, Aria--

-her eyes widened, she was staring down at Reki, who hadn't resisted...No, couldn't resist would be more accurate.

I too was shocked.

(...Reki can't fight unarmed...!?)

It's not that Reki "had no stance".

She "did not know" what a stance was.

In the first place, as a sniper, she's an expert at ranged warfare.

There's no chance that she would intentionally move close to the enemy.

So, unarmed combat isn't a mandatory class in Snipe, and Reki's movements completely exposed the fact that she was a complete amateur.

"Aria, stop it! You're just picking on the weak!"

I shouted.

But, Aria's fist, raised high up in the air, turned towards Reki, who had been knocked down as easily as a normal high school student...was not put down.

As if trying to contain her own rage, which was threatening to overflow, she gritted her teeth.

"<nowiki>~~~~~~~~~</nowiki>!"

She couldn't bring herself to let the blow fall. Reki was too weak. No, that was not the only reason. Aria doesn't wish to hit Reki. Because, she has always recognized Reki as her friend.

Aria--different from me, who intentionally tries to stay aloof and away from society--cannot make friends.

That may be because of her maverick-like personality, but it's also because her strength is too amazing, making it hard for the students around her to keep up.

And only Reki--although her special study is different--could fit her.

During the bus-jacking in April, she had helped too, and when Aria left home because of the fight about Shirayuki, the person she went to was Reki as well.

So, she couldn't bring herself to hit Reki--

--*Shh!*

At that moment, Aria suddenly bent backwards, dodging a flash of silver. Leaping backwards and turning a flip, she distanced herself from Reki.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh...*

From Aria's twin-tails, which had just been grazed by a bayonet--

One strand, two strands of hair, just cut, floated into the air.

"...Reki...Hey...!"

Reki had drawn the bayonet hidden beneath her skirt.

On the day of Water Tossing, unarmed combat is the only thing that is allowed with no holds barred...!

".....!

Reki brushed the Dragunov off her shoulder, *Shhh--Click!*

Like a parade baton, she rolled the gun around, affixing the bayonet onto it.

Reki lowered her stance, wielding the Dragunov, which has been assembled in an instant.

That stance--it's an ancient bayonet technique, but it's quite effective.

It's probably about twice the power of just now.

"Reki...!"

Seeing Reki, who was ignoring Water Tossing's rules, Aria hesitated, undecided on whether she too should draw her blades--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap*--!

Taking advantage of that momentary opening, Reki charged towards Aria, *Kch!*

She feinted at Aria's thigh, forcing Aria to dodge backwards--

"--!"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Kch! Kch Kch!*

With terrifying grace, the bayonet slashed towards Aria without pause. The targets were, wrist, abdomen, inner thigh. It did not deviate from this pattern, and the blade, as if drawn by an inexorable gravity, continued to pierce towards Aria's vitals.

Aria was relying on her prodigious reflexes and athletic ability, evading the bayonet's assault--but in the end, she had been chased to the wall.

"--!"

And, Aria's neck as her target--Reki performed the sharpest stab yet!

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Kcch!!*

Aria dodged the blade, her neck a hair's breadth from the blade.

And the bayonet continued, brushing past Aria's head, burying itself deep into the wall.

"...!"

This blow made Aria widen her camellia eyes in shock.

I too had lost all ability to speak.

Sealing Haimaki's movements, Riko had also opened her mouth wide, dazed, just like a manga character.

Th-that was--really filled with killing intent.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Zcch* Drawing the bayonet out of the wall, *Shhh*, spinning the Dragunov and retreating a few steps, Reki--just as fast as she had closed in, she retreated.--And once again, she assumed that stance.

The edge of that blade was still pointing directly at Aria's neck.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh* Just as Reki took a step, charging forward--

"Reki! Stop!"

Finally able to take this opportunity to speak, I shouted.

And...*Pa*

Reki became still, just like a robot, which had the cancel button on its remote pressed.

Afterward...*Spin*

Twirling the Dragunov wordlessly--her gaze still on Aria, she shouldered the rifle.

"Reki..."

Aria--

Attacked like this by Reki, who she had thought of as a friend--

"You...you..."

...Tears appeared in her eyes.

"I'm cutting all ties with you! Severing them! I will never--forgive you again! I never want to see your face again!"

Facing Reki, who was still silent, still staring at herself, Aria shouted before running away. Riko followed her.

So, just Reki and I, as well as Haimaki, were left at the station.

I...dragged Reki along, who was like a robot that had been switched off, ever since I issued the order to stop. With quick steps, I went to one of the corners of Academy Island--The artificial island's border.

We arrived at the seaside, completely devoid of life, surrounded on all sides by safety nets.

Here...I wanted to teach Reki something.

Because, those extreme actions from just now had exceeded anything my humanization plan could have possibly taken care of.

Reki sat upright at the edge of the sea, not looking in my direction.

Just, how do I put this...it looks like she's calm again.

I could feel a sense of calm radiating off her even as she battled, so saying that she's calmed down is a little strange.

"...Reki."

"Yes."

"Earlier, you wanted to kill Aria."

"Yes."

She answered me directly.

No resistance.

"Yes...you say. Why?"

"--The 'wind' ordered me to do so. It said that Kinji-san and Aria-san could not stay close."

...Wind.

That again.

This girl...she said the same thing on the night that she placed Sniper Restriction upon me. It was all because of the "wind's" orders.

"What is this 'wind'? Could it be that that's what you're listening to with your headphones? Before, you said that you were listening to the sound of the wind."

"--Incorrect. This is just a recording of the wind of my birthplace.."

"Wind of your birthplace?...?"

"For the sake of keeping my soul in contact with the wind, I listen to it."

...This is becoming increasingly incomprehensible.

"Then, is it somebody speaking to you over the phone?"

"Incorrect."

"Then, how do you receive the orders of the wind?"

"The wind's words are projected directly into my head. From my faraway birthplace--"

...

......

Uh...

I don't want to speak ill of anybody...

But, no matter how I look at it, Reki has a social disorder--

In other words, she has the disease which is "delusion".

This is something I learned in Inquesta, "I have received a prophecy from God," or "Aliens ordered me to do this through electric waves". Those kinds of delusions. What Reki has right now is very similar to such a thing.

But, I had also learned that one could not deny those things outright.

Because, the people in question trust those delusions with all their heart.

And...I am not a doctor.

Attempting to find a solution is futile.

First, let's leave this topic, and I'll deliver those words I want to speak to her concisely.

"Um...that. Saying this kind of thing is a little...But, don't kill people."

"Why?"

Wh...

Why, you ask?

"Why? Things that cannot be done just cannot be done. Don't kill."

"Is that an order?"

"It is. That is what is decided in Butei Law."

"I understand. Then, I will not kill."

Why is it that...

Why is it that I feel that the words I'm hearing mean that she has killed before.

Well, I won't delve into that. It's a scary thought.

(But...)

Calming down, I thought about it. I thought about Lima Syndrome, which I was using against this delusional, robot girl--

--Can I really do it?

If I have to do it like this, all by myself...it doesn't seem as if that will ever come to pass.

Then, I have to find people to help.

Thinking about this, I--

-glanced at Reki, who was hugging her knees to herself and watching the seagulls, out of the corner of my eye. I sighed.

And...that fight from just now...

Reki may be in the wrong, but Aria isn't right either.

She didn't even listen to our side of the story.

Relying on the pieces of the puzzle that she gathered from seeing the situation, she put them together herself, and formulated a misunderstanding.

That really completely exposes her weak point.

Her instincts when fighting with the enemy are amazingly acute--but she has the bad habit of always reaching an incorrect conclusion, and acting upon that flawed basis when I'm involved.

Originally, after leaning on each other throughout the many battles with EU, the slight feeling I had that she was a good person...disappeared.

Aria is a haughty, arbitrary, violent girl, after all.

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume6_Chapter1|1st Ammo: Manhunt]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Chapter3|3rd Ammo: Caravan I -Field Trip-]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Hidan no Aria:Volume6 Chapter1

2011-05-07T05:21:39Z

Remotemine: Grammar changes

==1st Ammo: Manhunt==

--The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragunov_sniper_rifle Dragunov] Sniper Rifle

A slender body design, with a great aesthetic design.

It is very light, and it far surpasses other sniper rifles.

Also, its durability and reliability are not bad, and it is one of the world-class sniper rifles.

"Wa, wait. Wait a moment."

The Dragunov sniper rifle is entirely different than the sniper rifles which only have shooting as an advantage.

In a hostile environment it won’t receive damage, it can continuously shoot through the semi-automatic function, and also, on the peak, there’s a bayonet, making it usable as a pike……it’s a terrifying 'warzone' sniper rifle.

“Why are you unhappy……Reki!”

That muzzle, for now, was pointing directly at me.

The one holding the rifle was the Snipe division’s genius, Reki.

She is someone who has the potential of a genius, the S-ranked butei in the same grade as me.

“——You and Aria, cannot be united.” 

Her voice completely toneless, Reki replied the same way as before.

Behind her, there was a bit of Tokyo’s chilly night view, with today’s night’s huge moonlight blooming of radiance.

I was stirred up by the sight of that scene with a feeling of uneasiness……

“United……is what?”

After she spoke those weird words, I was slightly blushing.

Just then, Aria and me——

After cleaning the Inquesta building, we were on this roof. Under the sunset. Just two of us.

Looking like this, maybe it looked like a scene of a pair of intimate man and woman who loves each other.

But, why did Reki, who seemed to have seen us two do that kind of thing, draw her gun!?

“Don’t……don’t say rubbish. The relationship between Aria and me isn’t that kind. It should be just the opposite, just then we were
saying……that, from now on……we will be separated. Us two.”　

“Were you talking about breaking up?”

“What, what do you mean by ‘breaking up’?”

“If it’s like this, then it is even better. Because Kinji-san, can be my husband without being bothered.”

That, that point.

Only that point.

The weirdest thing would be that point.

After chasing Aria away from here, Reki is now pointing her rifle at me……

''(And actually, proposed to me!)''

“Reki, you, why are you talking about ‘marriage’……!”

Also, from the beginning, I have the disease that is Hysteria Mode in my body. I must live far away from women.

That you, actually say ‘marriage’. What the heck is that!

“——If it’s like this, Kinji-san can become ‘Ulus’.”

“Ulus…...?”

“It means ’family’” (T/L note: Ulus is in Mongolian.)

Family……family member?

Impossible. This is becoming harder and harder to understand.

I'm just about to cry.

“Well, that...after marriage, the man and woman become family. ……But I already have my brother, it’s more than enough for me. If you want to have someone you can call family, you can find some other person to take care of you. What do you think?”  

I said that, trying to evade it.

“ ‘The wind says, that it’s you’ ”

Reki, said that with her previous hard tone.

“ ‘The wind says, that it can only be you’ “

——That tone, seemed to have an inexplicably strong confidence.

Her pupils, which looked like lenses, were staring at me as if she wanted to pierce through me with that gaze. 

It is really transparent, the sniper rifle’s scope.

''(……What the heck is that……!)''

This Reki, is different from the usual Reki.

This girl’s nickname is ‘Robot Reki’. She's always a wordless, emotionless, expressionless girl. But despite that, the Reki as of now, is making me feel some inexplicable intensity, as if I am her target.

——As if, she has received some kind of order.

“Lis-listen to me. Reki.”

I wanted to move my body out of her shooting line, and stepped back a bit as if it was nothing.

"Your actions are far too contradictory. Since you want me to be part of the family, why are you pointing your gun at me? Put that down, and let's talk about this calmly. Alright?"

"Denied. Men and women should not talk to each other--"

And doing the opposite of my suggestion, Reki shifted the gun with the slightest movement possible, pointing it at me while saying:

"--but steal each other."

Men and women should steal each other.

So, that's how Reki views boy-girl relationships. Well, if one had to talk about whether it was right or not, one couldn't say that it's completely wrong.

But, you, isn't that a ''really'' wrong way of looking at things?

Performing a Tsukommi on Reki in my heart, in my line of sight...

<nowiki>*Whoosh*</nowiki>

A leaf-brown cloth rode the wind, fluttering down.

Fluttering precisely within my reach, it was the jacket that I had taken off earlier for the sake of cleaning.

I looked up at the direction that it had flown from--and there, standing on the air-conditioning unit precisely one level above the ground, a beast was looking down at me.

That jacket appeared to be something that it had carried in its mouth all the way from the Inquesta classroom.

''(Haimaki...!)''

That was the silver-white wolf that Reki was taking care of, Haimaki.

Not understanding why he would be holding my uniform...

I caught it, and a little agitated, I put my hands through its sleeves.

Butei High's uniform--The jacket and pants are made out of the bulletproof fiber, TNK.

It's useless against the armor-piercing rounds that Reki was holding earlier, but wearing it is a little reassuring.

After all, the bullets that are stored in that magazine may not all be pierce rounds.

"Kinji-san."

"...What?"

"I too, do not wish to immediately make Kinji-san marry me."

Naturally.

"As such--I think that I will give you seven minutes grace."

Just seven!?

"From now on, I will attack you seven times. If you are able to escape being hit for more than one minute, I will retract my proposal."

This is like...explaining the rules of a game.

A cold sweat breaking out, I looked down at my watch.

"You can run where-ever you like. But, I'll warn you first. My "Killing Range" is 2051 meters." 

--Killing range.

The farthest range at which a hit is a certainty...The people in Snipe have different names for it, but Butei call it "Killing Range".

Which is to say, that is the distance at which snipers will definitely take out the enemy--

"In short, no matter where you run to inside this 2051 meter radius, my rifle will be able to hit you. Because, this rifle will never betray me--"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Kch* Looking at Reki, who had straightened her gun again, at last...

I too, strengthened my resolve.

--I get it, I get it.

It looks like no matter what, you're not willing to talk with me, Reki.

Then, as you wish, I will play this game with you.

The normal me would definitely be unwilling to listen to these words.

I don't know when Reki figured out how to make me change...But the me as of now has entered Hysteria Mode, where I will listen to anything that girls say, because...

Without heat or passion, but all the more stimulating because of it--Earlier, Reki's kiss.

"Then, please marry me before the seventh bullet."

But...Why "seven"?

I didn't have enough time to even voice that question--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Thud!*

"!?"

Leaping off the air-conditioning unit, the silver-wolf Haimaki flew over my head!

I saw that--probably something that Reki had made him wear--on his back, thick metal plating, just like armor, was protecting it. This is...I no longer have the chance to use the paralyzing bullet technique to graze his back, like I did to his brother. 

"--Uu!"

I, standing at the edge of the Inquesta Building, where the emergency stairs were, was smashed into by Haimaki, pouncing through the air.

Colliding with me like that, I fell onto the rusty steps.

As if pulling out its prey's organs, Haimaki ripped my cellphone out of my pocket, and just as that happened--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Chnk!*

--The Dragunov's gunshot!

''(Armor-piercing bullet--!)''

I was in Hysteria Mode, but the blood froze in my veins.

I thought I was hit...but there was no pain. I was not injured.

As I felt a wave of relief wash over me, *Gchhng!*

"!"

Lumped together like a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dango Dango], Haimaki and I tumbled over together. We struck the handrail of the stairs, breaking it, sending us falling into thin-air.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Don!*

Haimaki jumped off me, using me as a step, returning to the stairs.

Quickly deploying the cable in my belt, I, like the Spiderman in the movies, lowered myself down to the emergency stairs a few floors below.

"...?"

Feeling a strange sensation, I glanced towards my left wrist, and my bulletproof uniform--

One of the buttons on the cuff was missing.

I could understand from the tiny piece of broken metal that was left on the sleeve. Just before, Reki had shot it off. The button.

Reki...Hasn't changed. She's still as impressive as usual.

As I was rolling around with Haimaki, she managed to shoot such that she only hit the tiny button of my cuffs.

''
(But, why did she shoot that kind of thing...?)''

As I frowned, by my ear, *Kccccchhhhh*--

As its paws trod upon the steel stairs, I heard the sound of its footsteps fast approaching.

Haimaki was rushing down the stairs.

I stretched out the Beretta in my hand...before I stopped.

Haimaki's bulletproof armor. That should be the tactical body armor that police dogs or Butei dogs wear.

My 9mm bullet would be completely useless. Even if I used all my bullets, the best I'd be able to do is delay him.

With no other choice, I could only spin around, rushing down the stairs, just ahead of Haimaki.

--Haimaki.

Now that I think about it, I had spent some time chasing you around on a motorcycle in the middle of spring. That's when you were still under Vlad's control. But now...it's your turn to chase me. This is divine retribution, isn't it?

Having landed on the ground, I--

''(If another bullet comes, I'll defend using Billiard Shot--)''

-thought that for a moment, before I realized that It was impossible.

A prerequisite of Billiard Shot is the ability to see the stance of the enemy, and deduce the trajectory of the bullet. I have to link the timing of my shot with the timing of her shot, a technique that only has one chance of success.

And facing a sniper whom I can't see, it's impossible for me to predict when she will open fire--I can't use it.

Feeling Haimaki's breath from behind my back, I sprinted forward with all my might, nothing else I could do. Under the strange looks of pedestrians that passed by occasionally, I went under the monorail tracks, jumping the guardrail to enter the commercial district, ignoring the traffic lights--

And using the anti-sniper tactics that I had learned in Assault, I twisted aside at one of the crossroads, entering a tiny alley.

Bullets cannot curve, and as such, sniper rifles can only hit enemies that are directly in their line of fire. As long as I hide in this kind of angular place, I definitely won't be hit.

"Haa, haa, haa..."

I leaned my back against the wall of the building, glancing at my watch.

It's just about to reach one minute after the first shot. According to the rules that Reki set down, this should be my victory.

I thought this, turning my head towards the entrance of the alley to see whether Haimaki had caught up with me--

--*Giin!*

Suddenly, sparks burst forth from the pole of the traffic light by the side of the road.

"!?"

The next instant, *Bch!*, a feeling of numbness ran up my wrist.

''(I-I was hit...!?)''

I looked to my left wrist in panic--and again, I saw that yet another button on the cuffs of my sleeve had been ripped off by a bullet.

Reki. You--

-hit the pole of the traffic light, and you still managed to make the bullet ricochet and hit my wrist!

L-Snipe.

Like the concept of the V-shape bullet trajectory that my own Billiard Shot draws in the air, this is a sniping technique that allows the bullet to reach an enemy around an angle, a shot that draws an L in the air.

I went "Tch", and I ran deeper into alley, which continued to wind--*Gng! Gng!* The sound of ricocheting bullets resounded twice behind me, and this time, the feeling of numbness ran up my right wrist.

--L-L Snipe...!

The bullet hit the pole of the traffic light before it ricocheted off a roadside garbage-can, chasing me all the way up the street!

''(I-is that even possible...!?)''

While I continued to go "Tch", I ran through the automatic door of a select shop.

This is in an alley which has two corners, and what's more, this is a shop. Added to this, in front of this shop, there's nothing like a postbox or power-line pole to ricochet off.

(This place is definitely...safe!)

Quite unpopular, this shop was filled with mannequins of girls, but there was not a customer in sight.

--*Zccchh!*

I saw Haimaki, hurtling in front of the store like a hurricane...and the store attendant, seeing him, retreated into a corner of the shop.

Just right. I'm sorry, but I'm just going to hide here for now.

"...?"

Drawing my gun and pointing towards the open door, I--couldn't help but frown.

Haimaki was not entering the store.

He had stopped in front of the automatic door such that it would not close, and he lowered his head, stretching his front paws out, crouching down.

''(...!)''

I reacted violently, but it was already too late.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Gin!*--*Gin!*--the bullet, having come here all the way through the alley, also--*Giiin!*

Ricocheted off the metal plating on Haimaki's back, facing this way--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bcch!* It tore past my right sleeve in a heartbeat.

"--Uwoah!"

My wrist having been grazed by a bullet, I fell towards the feet of the mannequins.

I looked at my hand, sprawled out across the floor--and from my right wrist, one more button had disappeared from the cuffs.

My mind in Hysteria Mode told me what exactly that meant.

If you add the first and second button on the chest of my uniform and the 2 cuff buttons on each of my wrists---together, there are six buttons.

And Reki has been shooting them one by one.

--Reki's words echoed in my mind.

"Then, please marry me before the seventh bullet."

If all six of my buttons go missing, and I still haven't replied with "YES"--

The seventh shot--where are you going to shoot, Reki.

Could it be that, you are trying to kill...me!

"...Fuck...!"

Reki can see me. Reki can shoot me.

But despite that, I cannot see her. I cannot shoot her back.

''(This is a sniper...!)''

A battle between pistols and snipers is like a battle between a sword and a gun. If both sides are far apart from each other, the pistol's bullet will have no way of reaching the sniper. Even if it's the me in Hysteria Mode, that fact doesn't change.

Kneeling on one knee and looking up, I...in an instant, all the mannequins looked like Reki.

This terrifying feeling. I'm going to go mad. My consciousness was about to be pressured into reaching its limit.

The me as of right now is being run down by a silver wolf, and I am but prey that cannot evade the bullets of the hunter.

Yes...This is as Reki called it, a "hunt".

--Isn't this just a..."Manhunt"!!

I used all the bullets in my Beretta to chase Haimaki away, and Hysteria Mode, sending interrupted thoughts into my mind, had thought of a place where I could hide.

I don't know why, but...

The Hysteria Mode this time, triggered by Reki, went away extremely fast.

''(If "the exterior of an obstacle" doesn't work, then if I enter the "hollow interior of an obstacle"...!)''

Perhaps, I might have a chance.

Thinking that way, I ran, throwing my body about, piercing through the alleys, returning to the entrance of the campus. Hopping the fence, I ran into the Logi's garage. Rushing towards what appeared to be a very sturdy four-wheel drive, I used the multi-purpose tool in my Butei Handbook to open the door.

Butei cars are completely armored. Even if the enemy uses armor-piercing bullets, it's still able to withstand the attack.

As long as I hide here, there shouldn't be a problem--

But, as I had just entered and closed the door.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Pa!*

"!"

Cracks, running outwards like a spiderweb, appeared on the window of the car. That was Reki's shot!

But, the bullet didn't pierce it. It only damaged the bulletproof glass, ricocheting off.

A-as it should.

''(My...victory!)''

But, as I rubbed my hands, slick with cold sweat, I froze.

--*Pa!*

--*Pa!*

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Pa! Pa! Pa!*

The sniping...continued without pause.

And, they were all concentrated on one singular point on the glass, not straying by even a millimeter.

Reki, like hammering a nail into a plank--Finally--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Kch!*

Shot through the bulletproof glass!

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Bch!* And, on my uniform--the second button on my chest was ripped off, spinning into the air.

My mind...thought back to Reki's other words.

"That's why, you should know that there are people who can easily destroy your existences through other means."

She was completely correct. If what Reki was aiming for was not a button...but my head, then even the me in Hysteria Mode would have had my brains blown out.

Jeanne, Vlad, Patra--

Even Sherlock I could beat when I was in this mode--Hysteria Mode!

Fuck! Ahh, I've understood! I understand it very well! You're stronger than me!

So, please stop it! Reki!

On my uniform, only one button was left.

I ran out of the four-wheel vehicle, which already had a broken window, and I used the last resort.

Understanding that running away had no meaning, I no longer ran to extend the distance.

(More like, I'm doing the opposite...!)

Just before Hysteria Mode had disappeared, the last place to run had flashed into the forefront of my mind--my starting point, Inquesta.

The building that Reki was on.

If she's still on that rooftop, then it's impossible for her to shoot downwards. Absolutely.

Even if she rushes down the stairs, preparing to shoot within the classroom, she will definitely take too much time, and I will win.

I sprinted into the building with all my might, running into the classroom that Aria and I had had a competition to clean this evening. I didn't turn on the light.

I glanced at my watch--It had been 50 seconds since the last shot.

10 seconds left. 9, 8, 7...

Alright. At the last of the last, I made a comeback. Thanks to the inverse logic due to the circumstances.

As I heaved a sigh of relief--

"!"

Her hair and skirt fluttering, Reki--

--*Bang*--!

Falling down in what amounted to a standing position, she shot me through the window!

That bullet, fired from point blank range, shattered the glass. And inexorably, it continued towards me, who couldn't help but flinch backwards. Towards the first button on the chest of my uniform.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Kin!*

It was blown away...!

(I'm done...!)

Apparently having affixed her cable to the roof, Reki, *Shhh*...used a miniature automated reel to ascend up the cable and entered the classroom through the window. Standing in front of me, who was still in a state of shock.

Afterward, she raised that face, which looked like it belonged to the CG of a game character, drawn with painstaking care...

And like a robot, she raised the Dragunov towards me.

Pointing at the chest of my uniform, which was wide open--pointing it at my completely defenseless, vulnerable, heart.

"--I-I surrender. I understand. Don't fire."

Reki really is a girl whom I cannot understand.

So, she might really kill me with the seventh bullet.

Because before this, when we had fought with Patra, she had shot the opponent in the head as if it were perfectly natural.

"Whether it's marriage or something else, I will agree. Don't fire."

My last thread of hope, Hysteria Mode, having been released, I could only raise my hands in defeat.

And in front of me, who was in this position...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Kch.* Reki leaned the Dragunov against a desk by her side.

"--Then, Kinji-san. From now onwards, I am yours. I have translated the following edict into modern Japanese...If you don't understand, then please forgive me."

And with that, taking off her headphones, striding in my front of me--
[[Image:Aria06 031.jpg|thumb|]]
In the empty nighttime classroom, she knelt.

Behind her...the moon, particularly enormous tonight, scattered its rays through the shattered window.

"From this moment onward, I am for Kinji-san to use. The strength of my gun is yours, use it as you will. My body has become but one of your possessions, use it as you will."

...He-hey...

"A bride does everything her lord wishes. I vow that my bullets will seek vengeance upon all those nearby who wish to harm my lord. I will eradicate them, not leaving a trace."

Wh...What did you say?

Just now, you set your wolf on me, and you shot at me...

But despite that, now, "my body has become but one of your possessions"?

"One of Ulus is all, and all of Ulus is one. From this moment onwards, us 47 girls of Ulus, no matter when, for eternity, will become your strength."

As if reciting certain requirements, she added this last sentence, in front of me, who was still stunned--

Standing up lightly, she wore her headphones again, and she picked up the Dragunov, shouldering it.

"... ..."

She was completely still. She just stood there like that. And that expressionless gaze was fixated upon the empty air in front of her.

This is probably...the normal Reki. I can already feel the lack of killing intent.

I may not know why, but that hunter form she was in just now, appears to have stopped.

"..."

Standing there in a daze, just like Reki, I felt a chill trickle up my spine...Using my mind in normal mode, I organized this sequence of events, which didn't seem to have fully registered in my mind.

Just now, that "Manhunt" was probably an exhibition of Reki's power.

--If you run, I will kill you.

That message had been deeply engraved into my mind.

And just after that, she announced that she would marry me.

--I am yours.

These 2 messages were completely contradictory, but without a doubt, she had conveyed such to me in reality.

(...)

I scratched my head, trying to ascertain the situation around me.

I've been captured by a sniper. If I run, I will be sniped. The Butei phrase for such situations is, "Sniper Restriction".

It conveys the situation of being trapped in the opponent's Killing Range--an invisible cage.

Following the rules that I had learned in Assault about being restricted by an enemy...I should pretend to surrender, not resisting, no matter what may come my way. Submit and obey the opponent's every order.

And, later, take the chance to escape, or call for support.

Well...right now, Reki probably won't interrogate me or kill me like a Yakuza or terrorist. So, the first movement that is laid down--"Surrender", should be the correct step to take.

But, although I waved a white flag--

"..."

-I had no idea of what to do afterward.

Reki seemed to have entered standby, and she didn't move at all.

"..."

I tested the waters, taking one step, two steps back...

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap Tap*

Uu. She followed.

I turned my back, leaving the classroom...*Tap Tap Tap Tap* She continued to follow, at my back.

...So hateful. This is like the incarnation of a ghost, haunting my back.

Thinking that, I quickened my steps, wanting to descend the stairs--

Appearing to notice this, Reki, *Shh*,

Grabbed my sleeve.

"...What is it."

"Please don't leave me."

"Why?"

"I cannot let the enemy attack you."

The enemy, she says. Who would want to attack me?

Now that I think about it, she said this before she started to attack me. Something like, "the enemies from now on,"

...Wasn't that about you?

But, if I just resist her, things will get ugly, right? If I push Reki's switch, and she becomes weird again, she might just deliver the seventh bullet a little late, directly to my head this time.

"So...what are you going to do, Reki? From now on?"

"I will obey you. I will carry out any orders you give."

"...Get away from me."

"I cannot do such a thing."

What is this. Despite the fact that you just said you will carry out any orders I give.

With that, I looked back, an unsatisfied expression on my face.

"Then...raise one leg."

I copied the old movie that I had seen on TV, "Terminator 2", and I tried saying something horrible.

And--*Shh*

On top of the stairs, Reki raised her right knee a little, standing there on one leg, just like a flamingo.

Hmmm...well, looks like she really will do anything I say.

...Alright. I've thought of something good.

"A little more up."

This could be my chance to escape.

I--pushed Reki. I'll just pretend it's payback for the blow from before.

If she rolls down the stairs like that, I can steal the Dragunov before running away.

Diagonally above me, who had been putting this together in my mind, Reki raised her small, deer-like leg.

But, her center of gravity didn't change at all. That's amazing, that sense of balance feels like that of a gymnast.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shhh*....*Shhhh*...

That snow white knee continued to raise up, continuing to reach towards the ceiling...

And her thigh, nearly horizontal now, brought her skirt along with it...

"...!"

Ah...Hey...

Th-the scene before my eyes is about to get da-dangerous!

"A-alright, alright! You can bring it down now!"

Turning my face around, I gave her an order, panicked.

--<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap*

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Fuah*Reki brought her leg down, and her skirt returned to normal.

"?"

Seeing me so panicked, Reki twisted her head by one centimeter.

Hey, is there a need to go "?" If you had raised it more, I'd be able to see under your short skirt. If you're a girl, then be a little more embarrassed, a little more unwilling, alright?

Really--Reki really is a robot girl.

Now, have I been forced to take something I don't want at all, a remote control?

A defective remote control, one with a missing switch: "Go far away".

Me.

Reki, behind me.

Haimaki, behind Reki.

We walked through the nighttime street in a row, just like RPG characters...I was thinking.

To be honest, I was extremely, extremely angry. I wanted to return home and sleep as fast as possible.

But, at this time, if I were to bring Reki back to my own room--earlier, having misunderstood the relationship between Reki and I, Aria...Meeting up with her would be very awkward.

And, Shirayuki as well. She said that she was going to stay at the Meiji Shrine tonight...But, my misfortune has been proven again and again, so with that in mind, I followed the steps in my head: "I will return home before the agreed time!" → "Some pests have attached themselves to Kin-chan! Pests should be exterminated!" With that, there's the possibility that Dormitory War III will break out again.

As for Muto or Shiranui's place...that won't do either. As long as Reki continues to follow me, those places won't do at all.

With no other options, I told Reki this.

But, Reki didn't take it seriously at all, and she said:

"Then come to my room."

And at that moment, I finally noticed...I had already been pressured into a position where I had no choice but to do that.

(The girl's dormitory...how hateful...)

Stealthily, making sure that the teacher on duty didn't notice me, I walked into the 2nd girl's dormitory. Reki and Haimaki's steps were completely silent, but the same couldn't be said for me. Hey, Reki, how is it that you have such a perfect gait? You may have said "come to my room," so calmly, but isn't it obvious that if I'm noticed, things will get ugly?

Continuously complaining in my heart, I arrived at Reki's room...

"..."

Inside, was the same terrifying desolateness, without a trace of life.

The room, illuminated by a single lightbulb, had no furniture at all. Actually, why doesn't the wall even have a clock on it? It's amazing that you're able to live in this kind of sickening atmosphere.

It may have been the second time I had come here, but I still felt a vague feeling that I was intruding.

"... ..."

Now that I think about it, even though it looks like this, this room still belongs to a single girl.

And from now on, I am to live with Reki here, just a boy and a girl.

This...in terms of Hysteria Mode, is a huge pinch.

Because, if I go into Hysteria Mode, and spend a night with Reki, who has a personality like that of a hostess, doing something that I can't take back...

...I might really have to take responsibility. I might have no choice but to marry her. That really is a deathtrap. Also, the person in question won't resist at all.

(I have to stay alert...)

I couldn't help but twist my gaze away from Reki, who was bending down, removing her shoes on the bare concrete...couldn't help but twist my gaze away from the nape of her neck, slightly exposed...so white that I could hardly tell the difference between her skin and the uniform. 

Never having applied any makeup or cosmetics, Reki has never received a lot of attention, but in truth...

She is a breathtakingly beautiful girl.

In truth, her face as it is, is far more beautiful than a model's face, completely covered with makeup.

That expressionless face makes people feel that she is hard to approach...but, just as Reki's secret fanclub believes, she is amazingly cute.

"--Kinji-san."

"Hmm? Ah, um, what?"

Thinking about that, my voice a little agitated, I couldn't help but twist my head around to look at Reki, who had suddenly raised her head, looking my way.

Th-this expressionless gaze, looking upwards--Damn it, it's cute. It's like the gaze of a puppy.

"The keycard to this place. Please use it as you like."

Reki's slender, white finger...It was hard to believe that just few a moments ago, it had been pulling the trigger to a sniper rifle--passed the ID card to me.

(I don't want it! But, if I say something like that, her sniper rifle will spit fire again, right...)

With no other choice, I reached out, but my fingers...and Reki's soft, gentle fingers.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Shh*

For an instant. They touched. As if linking with each other.

--*Dogun*

My heartbeat, a strange sound.

For some reason, this seems to be the sound between "Dokin" and "Giku". It's pretty talented. My heart, that is.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria:Volume6_Translator%27s_Notes#Chapter_1]

"..."

"..."

Ahh...Damn it. I can't speak. Against girls...I am weak. No matter how much time may pass, no matter which girl it may be.

Reki strode into one of the interior rooms from the entrance. Inside, was the only piece of furniture--On the table, were various tools, which looked like metal brushes and anvils. Those tools were used for maintaining guns.

Having been standing in the living room in a daze, I didn't really want to stay inside the desolate living room...and so, I also walked into the other room, which was like a workroom.

"...Sorry for interrupting."

"..."

Reki didn't look at me. She was sitting up straight on the chair, preparing to maintain her sniper rifle.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Click Click Chck Chck*

The gun was dismantled under Reki's practiced movements, turning into a mass of components, laid out piece by piece onto the table.

There was nothing like a manual or handbook by her side.

It appears that each component and function of the Dragunov, down to the smallest screw, was completely memorized by her.

Her technique able to match any Amdo teacher, perfectly maintaining the Dragunov, Reki--

-*Kch*, pointed the reassembled rifle at the wall, checking it.

Almost like a swordsman which had just been given a katana.

"Kinji-san. I'm sorry, but starting now--please stop breathing for a while."

"...Breathing? What?"

"There is a chance that the water particles in your breath might stick to the bullet and affect it, somehow."

Finished talking, Reki pulled open a drawer and took a vinyl-sealed ziploc bag from out of it. From within it, she took out a 7.62mmx54R--a sniper round.

(...Breathing, she says. She really has some mental problems...)

But still, I lowered my breathing, staring at Reki as she worked.

Looking closely, there was a scale on the table. That was an instrument to precisely measure how much gunpowder to use in each bullet.

Which is to say, sealed inside the case that Reki had just taken out, were bullets, all of them made by Reki herself. She certainly pays a lot of attention to fine detail.

As for me, I always go to buy the pistol bullets that are resold by the army. Not even that, I always aim for the cheap ones.

"..."

Wearing gloves, Reki placed one bullet, two bullets on the table, in a neat row.

After she had finished laying them all out, *Shh*, she stared at the 20 bullets, spread apart... 

Her eyes, seeming like scanners, gazed upon the bullets, flowing from left to right in a meticulous order, unblinking....

She only picked one bullet up.

Continuing to scan the bullet from every angle, Reki made me feel as if she needed no instruments to measure anything. Rather, with just her eyes and fingertips, she could sense every microgram of fault, feel every nanogram of error.

"..."

Reki slotted the bullet, which appeared to have passed her test, into the magazine, and the remaining 19 bullets...*Clatter Clatter*. She threw them all into the rubbish bin by her feet. Once again, she took out another case, which probably held 20 bullets as well.

"What are you doing?"

"Misfire protection. I will only use the best bullet from the 20."

"...Don't be so wasteful. This is an eco-era, after all. And as for misfires, when they happen, they happen. There's no stopping it."

"Until now, that has not happened to me once."

Apparently having a lot of pride when it comes to matters involving guns, Reki answered me, the box clasped between her hands.

"That...I realize that maintenance is important. But, there will be times where guns, as well as tools, don't respond to our commands. The ability to adapt to such a situation, and overcome it is what it means to be a Butei."

"My gun will not betray me."

Reki returned those words, her tone slightly firmer, slightly louder, those cute lips tightly closed--

Her gaze returned to the desk, and she continued selecting the bullets.

It's true that...if one does such a thing, the probability of a misfire happening will become zero.

(But--this way of doing things, she won't even let one drop fall from her cup.) 

With just one battle, she completely dismantles her gun, maintaining it, protecting against any malfunctions.

All her bullets are made meticulously, and even after that, they undergo a strict selection phase to prevent any chance of misfiring.

Reki's attitude, obsessive to this level, leaves no room for error.

It may be that I, not wanting to be killed, decided to surrender first, looking for a chance to run...

But, looking at this scene, her meticulousness is such that, there will be no "chance to run".

(At any rate, were I to escape to any corner of Academy Island...as long as I am within two kilometers of Reki, I will be sniped...)

It looks like my plan to run was meaningless.

Since that's the way things are--The only thing I can do is, convince Reki to stop attacking me.

But, how do I do that?

I leaned against the wall, my mind whirring into gear, thinking of how I could regain my freedom.

Now that I think about it, I might have seen something in the appendix of one of the Assault textbooks--

When being used as a hostage, when the opponent has no weaknesses, when it's impossible to run...as the last resort, there's still the method, called: "Lima Syndrome".

Lima Syndrome is a situation where after a period of time, the offenders will begin sympathizing with the hostages and in the end decide to end the conflict of their own free will. It is named thus because of just such a situation that happened in 1996, when a large-scale kidnapping incident occurred in the Japanese embassy of Lima, Peru. 

(But, will that method work? On this robot girl?)

Thinking about those things, I--

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Click*

-heard the sound of Reki inserting the magazine, completely loaded with handpicked bullets, into the Dragunov. A noise so ominous, filled with despair.

After finishing the maintenance of her gun, Reki...*Tap Tap*

Strode into the living room.

As she walked, her clothes rustled, and in a flowing movement, she pulled her scarf, part of the school uniform, off.

...What's she doing now?

Not understanding, I gazed upon her back...

Inside a small side room, upon closer investigation, there was what appeared to be a miniature washing machine. Inside it, Reki took off her headphones...

"..."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rustle* Her hands grasped the hem of her shirt.

"......"

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Rustle*

"--!?"

Sh-she pulled it up with one movement!

"--Wait! Wait! Why are you taking off your clothes!?"

Reki's exposed back, shining like a pearl, made me panic.

"Bathing."

"Do-don't turn around!"

"--The stains on one's body will affect one's health. Conversely, my health will affect the accuracy of my sniping and as such, I must constantly cleanse myself."

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Zcch* She pulled her zipper down. *Fyuu*

A-and without a moment's hesitation, sh-she even took her skirt off.

Panicked, I twisted around, my back facing Reki, who had no qualms whatsoever about exposing her unadorned, white undergarments.

"Th-that's not what I'm talking about, I-I saw it all, you know!"

"I care not."

"I care!"

"--Haimaki, come here."

Reki didn't appear to understand the reason for my resistance--*Kch, Shhhhh, Fyuu*

-once again, the noise of rustling clothes reached my ears.

And the source of that noise--I had no wish of thinking about.

How dangerous is this girl?

I knew that she had no emotions, but I didn't expect that it would even extend to things like this.

Why is it that, in front of me...you can remove your clothes so calmly!

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Tap Tap Tap Tap* Haimaki passed by my side, and the sound of the shower door closing reached my ears...*Shhh*...the sound of a shower really started.

And my eyes, just like the shower, gushing water now, were watering. Damn it. What a horrible day.

--"Lima Syndrome"

Taking some time to establish a relationship with Reki, and afterward, convince her into letting me go.

That was my last hope of getting out of here.

(But...)

Relationships can only be formed between people.

But, facing the inhuman Reki, there doesn't seem to be any chance of success.

Which is to say, my plan has to start with educating Reki about human emotions.

And that--is a long, perhaps endless, path. But, if I don't act, there will be no way for me to leave this Sniper Restriction. So, I have to adopt an indomitable mindset and find a way to carry out, "Reki's humanization"...

<nowiki>After I too, had borrowed her shower--</nowiki>

-My head resting on Haimaki's back, lying on the ground, I pondered my plan in secret.

Before, his fur wet, looking like a dog, Haimaki shook himself violently on the balcony, throwing the water off and returning to normal. His fur was soft, and very comfortable.

"..."

I twisted my head to the side, and Reki, wearing a sailor uniform, was sitting upright against the wall. It appears that she has several uniforms, and she wears them alternatively.

"......"

Before, when I found out about it, I was extremely surprised, because Reki sleeps upright.

Some say that, during the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sengoku_period Sengoku period], some warriors, for the sake of being able to react immediately to the enemy's surprise attacks, had the habit of clutching their swords while they slept. And in modern times, Reki still does that. Even while she sleeps, she does not show any weaknesses. 

(Well...but, as a girl, you're full of weaknesses.)

...Wearing that kind of short skirt, sitting like that, on your knees.

I can understand that, if one sits like that while holding a sniper rifle, that stance is very stable...but, could you tell me where my eyes are supposed to look?

As a result of your present, for the sake of not seeing anything...unnecessary, I chose a very uncomfortable sleeping position. Well, I may say that, but no matter where I lie, it will be cold, bare concrete.

"...It's time for lights out. May I switch off the lights?"

Hearing her words, I glanced at my watch, it was just 9:00, not 1 second more, or less. It's no wonder there are no clocks here, her body clock is as accurate as a robot's.

"It's fine. There's nothing to do in this empty place, anyways."

I responded, almost complaining.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Pa*

Reki used the muzzle of the Dragunov to push the switch of the light behind her, switching off the light. But, the Tokyo streetlights, by the sea, were shining in a little, and as such, it wasn't very dark.

"..."

Silently, Reki closed those eyes, which were like gems, floating in the midst of the darkness.

That gave me the feeling of a robot switching itself off, quieting down...But, she's still breathing. That chest, which could not be said to be well-developed, no matter how one looked at it, was rising and falling, in time with her breaths.

"..."

Reki's sleeping face, appearing in the midst of the faint light--

Such a terrifying enemy...has such an unparalleled beauty. Such that it makes me feel a little lost, a little confused.

More appropriately, this is some sort of allure, right? That face, so neat, seemed to be like a doll...fashioned from some sort of crystal, crafted lovingly by a famous artisan.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Fyuu*

An aroma, reminiscent of plant-scented shampoo, wafted over, in the wake of the wind. Reki's hair, damp from her shower, under the night breeze, coming in through the partially opened window, was slowly returning to its natural smoothness.

"...Are you asleep yet?"

"...Not yet."

Once again, Reki opened her closed eyes, looking this way.

It was only a vague feeling, but I felt that Reki was also thinking deeply, waiting for sleep to come. If it's now, I feel that I'll be able to converse with her calmly.

Thinking that way, I,

"Asking when things have come to this is a little late...but why did you take someone like me?"

I came straight out with the question that I had wanted to ask from the start.

"The 'wind' ordered me to do so."

"Wind...? What's that? Is it someone's codename?"

"Not a person. The wind is the wind."

Wind...?

Are you talking about the wind that's blowing around outside right now?

That's merely the flow of gas, a natural phenomenon. How could something like that give anybody an order?

"Then, what is the wind?"

"The wind is the wind."

...Unnn...

It looks like continuing to ask along this line of thought is a waste of time. There's a feeling that we'll back and forth: "What's that?" "That's the wind," for all eternity.

--Let's ask about something else to start up a conversation.

"...You said, 'order'? Then, this proposal, mm...is like an arranged marriage, and is not of your own free will?"

"Yes."

...Hey, hey...

I couldn't stop my face from twitching.

"...Will you obey that...wind, no matter what it says? I don't understand, even if the wind makes you marry someone like me...you don't care?"

I asked blankly. Reki--

"--I am a single bullet. A bullet has no heart. Therefore, it does not think--"

She used the mantra-like words that she always said when firing, to respond.

--It does not think.

Which is to say, as long as the wind wills it so, you will, just like a bullet, always flying out in response to the pull of the trigger, always obey?

"..."

I...had no way of asking anything about the restriction anymore.

Because, I had already realized that, no matter what I asked, it would be useless.

It isn't possible for Reki's thoughts to suddenly change. Because, she never had her own thoughts to begin with.

This may seem like a rhetoric, but in principle, it is impossible to make "nothingness" undergo "change".

Heaving a sigh at this conversation, completely meaningless, I--

"Then...since we're playing house, what should I do?"

I asked about something else I was worried about.

Is it fine if I just laze around, playing the part of a useless husband?

"I don't know."

...You don't know, you say. You didn't think about this at all, did you?

"But, Kinji-san and I are no longer children, physically."

Reki brushed off her headphones lightly, continuing tonelessly,

"While living together, just leave the rest to your natural instincts--that's what the wind told me."

"Natural instincts...?" 

"Yes. The wind said, we would naturally have children."

Children...

"Children!?"

Children!

My head slipped off Haimaki's back, the back of my skull violently colliding with the concrete floor.

Fr-from marriage, this topic turned to children.

...Which is to say, th-that kind of thing!

That's impossible for me! Absolutely impossible! From the beginning, as for girls, I--

-wanted to refuse, but Reki probably already knows about my Hysteria Mode. Which means, having already exposed my arousal from Reki's kiss, I have no right to say anything.

"Just, I don't know what I should do...so, I'm leaving everything to Kinji-san. Kinji-san appears to be quite familiar with this, and wives should give everything to their husbands, as well."

Reki's calm voice made me sit up violently.

"Yo-you said that, "Kinji-san appears to be familiar with this,"...What is that supposed to mean?"

"Kinji-san is liked by many girls, so I believe that you are very familiar with the relationships between men and women." 

"I-I'm not familiar at all. If I had to use an adjective, it would be 'slow'. Because, I am somebody that always avoids girls. I think you know this too, but it's for the sake of not activating the sickness that is Hysteria Mode."

I said, as if venting my feelings, and I lay back down on Haimaki's stomach.

"Anyways, even if the one in a million chance that a girl likes me occurs...then, they'd just like the me in Hysteria Mode. The normal me is just a useless, uninteresting high schooler."

"--Wrong."

Reki directly refuted my words.

"Outside of HSS...of Hysteria Mode, you hide a different, amazing power."

"...?"

Outside of...Hysteria Mode?

This is the first time I had ever heard someone say this.

"--One of them being, your submerged charisma. Such things are hard for one to notice about oneself."

"Submerged...?"

Now that I think about it...Before, Tsuduri-sensei also said something like this.

She said that I have "a sort of charisma".

"That is the characteristic of a leader. The characteristic of a general."

...General?

She's talking about generals.

"When you were fighting with EU, you activated a certain core ability, gathering numerous allies about you--even your enemies were swayed under your influence, becoming your companions. And this, is unquestionably the growth of your unique charisma. After all, once an excellent general appears, warriors will naturally gather around him."

"...Hey..."

I shook my head.

"Even in Hysteria Mode, I am weaker than you. My abilities, as compared to Nii-san and father is such that I feel shame over my inexperience. How could I have that kind of charisma?"

"A general does not need unparalleled intelligence, or power. That is something that each warrior should have. And, I'm not stating this in relation to Hysteria Mode, but stating this in relation to that particular part of Kinji-san."

"..."

I turned around, my back facing Reki.

Reki's personality...is such that she will not lie.

So, that probably isn't flattery, but her true beliefs.

"..."

I...

Without even looking at a mirror, I know that my cheeks are slightly red.

I may not know why...but, I'm abnormally embarrassed.

I feel that...having that kind of direct affirmation of something inside me that isn't Hysteria Mode, is too much. But, this is something that I have never heard before, throughout my entire life.

I had no idea of how I should react.

"Also, just now, Kinji-san said, you are 'weaker than me'--But, I know that if Kinji-san were serious, you would be stronger. You are still conserving, locking away, your true power."

"--Don't say any more."

My voice, a little deeper, halted Reki.

Reki wasn't wrong...that battle from just now...

If I had wanted to, I wouldn't have needed to run away.

If my heart could accept killing somebody...

I could have eradicated Reki and Haimaki. I could have wiped them out.

"...I don't wish to use that kind of power, and I will never use it again. Using my full strength against you, what will it achieve?"

"..."

"Guns, swords, whichever one is stronger--is meaningless for me. I'll take this opportunity to explain this to you, next year, I will drop out of this school and transfer to a normal high school. So? What do you think? That is how I truly feel. Unexpected, isn't it?"

"No--If you do that, I will drop out of Butei High as well, and follow you to a normal high school."

Reki's answer could not help but make me twist around.

This...was the first time I had seen such a reaction.

Despite the fact that, as long as they heard me say such a thing, Aria's, even Shirayuki's expression would freeze.

"--A person's personality is not reliant upon which school they go to. No matter which school you go to, Kinji-san will be Kinji-san."

Still sitting upright, Reki, just as always, was looking down at the floor, and she asked,

"Is there something that Kinji-san wants to do, going to a normal high school?"

Hearing Reki's counter-question, I was a little tongue-tied.

"...This..I'll think about it after I transfer."

"I see."

Reki's tone, seeming to carry a hint of the question, "that's not how it really is, right?" made me feel as if I was being led--

"Probably...there might be something."

The words casually slipped out of my mouth, retracting my previous statement, meant to disguise my true intention.

"But...that is just a dream, hidden in my heart. In reality...I've never worked for it at all. So now, I can just drag myself through my Butei High days. As if just hanging in the air, suspended by a string."

I understood very clearly that this wouldn't do. But, even with that, my heart...knew that the school I was attending now had no way of allowing me to take that very first step.

"..."

As if knowing my thoughts, as if understanding me, Reki...didn't say anything.

(Reki...)

To be honest, I...never thought that I'd be able to talk to her about this.

Reflecting on this in my heart, I glanced towards the side of Reki's face.

Reki has never showed any care for others. No matter who she faces, she will never form any reassuring expressions, never any promising smiles.

As a result, she has no friends. If I had to name one, Aria would be the only one she could call friend.

And I--

-had never thought that I would tell Reki my true feelings.

The me in Butei High would never speak my mind to anybody. That is because, there is nobody in this place that would be able to talk about this kind of thing with me.

Thinking about this, my feelings, full of rejection against Reki just a moment ago...

Seemed to have flipped slightly.

Flipped--which is to say, I felt a certain closeness.

"..."

I'm not sure whether she felt the same as I, but Reki, who seemed to be only moving her eyes, looked directly into mine.

"..."

That wordless stare, Reki's gaze...

Slowly...

I may be wrong, but it felt as if she was waiting for some sort of order.

(...Order...)

Now that I think about it, just now...I acquired an invisible remote to this person in front of me, Reki.

--Acquired that remote, which had only one missing button: "Go far away."

...

But, as opposed to that, there was a button which said, "Come here."

...

...No, no. I can't...!

Because I had relaxed a little, I had thought of it for an instant.

A little embarrassed, I turned my head a little, but those light-pink coloured lips, opened in the midst of that shining porcelain-like skin, flashed into my eyes.

(...Just now, those lips suddenly...touched mine...)

Reki's lips--

Apparently reacting to my gaze, she shifted, perhaps a millimeter.

Suddenly feeling as if my thoughts had been seen, I became a little agitated.

...This isn't good.

I had only noticed it now, but Reki, whether it be in terms of strength, or in terms of Hysteria Mode...she was the strongest enemy I had faced so far.

To put it briefly, I had already understood that she was someone so beautiful, someone whom the more you looked at her, the more beautiful she seemed--

And, although I don't wish to admit it, but she definitely has...as compared to Aria, Shirayuki, Riko...a completely different allure.

"We...we should sleep. The opening ceremony for the 2nd semester is tomorrow. I don't want to be late on the first day of school."

I said, turning my head towards the ceiling. I used Haimaki's tail as a eyeshade, covering my eyes with it.

The moment that I had seen Reki's face before I turned my eyes away, it was expressionless, the same as ever, but--

For some reason, I had a slight feeling...

That that face was filled with an immeasurable sorrow.

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| Back to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume5_Epilogue|Epilogue - Go for the Next!! Hello Reki]]
| Return to [[Hidan no Aria|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Hidan no Aria:Volume6_Chapter2|Chapter 2 - Water Tossing]]
|-
|}
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