Hidan no Aria:Volume7 Chapter2

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 Sanyou - Oumi Shinkansen #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, 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, 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 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.."I have something interesting to tell you; 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 I. 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?

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 one 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 milked 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 after, 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 one 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...?"