Editing The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village:Bonus4 (section)

===Part 8===

It was late at night and we were taking a nap to recover our stamina as much as possible.

I don’t know what caused it, but Hishigami Ama and Hishigami Kuji stirred and then sat up at the same moment.

I was confused over on the two-person sofa I had somehow managed to fit on.

“What? What is it?”

“Get down!!”

Hakama-wearing Kuji leapt at me like a carnivorous beast and knocked me and the sofa back onto the floor.

A moment later, I saw something past Kuji’s shoulder.

There was a fist-sized hole in the hotel wall.

At first, I had no idea what that could mean, but realization slowly crept in.

''Hishigami Yuu’s anti-tank rifle!?

''What would have happened if Kuji hadn’t knocked me back!?

“Mgh, mgh.”

“Nn… I know you’re trying to thank me, but please stop breathing into my chest like that.”

“Mghhh!?”

And it did not end with just the one shot.

More and more holes appeared at even intervals along the wall. Masses of lead larger than my thumb were flying through the room. The rate of fire was not as great as a machinegun, but the force of each shot was so extreme that my legs froze up. I could not move properly. I had my handgun in my pocket, but it would be no better than a protective charm. I could only crawl along and pray that the storm of destruction passed.

But this was not a natural disaster.

It was an intentional act with an objective and a goal.

So this was not going to end if all I did was pray. Ama spoke while similarly down on the floor.

“The purpose of the 1941 has changed. She’s holding us in place while the other members reach their positions. I want to take action before they achieve checkmate!”

“Understood. Let’s go through the floor.”

They readily decided on a course of action, so I ended up just watching.

A moment later, we broke through the hotel room floor as they had said we would.

I couldn’t even imagine what exactly Ama and Kuji had done.

As far as I could see, they had only lightly pressed their fists against the floor.

At any rate, we were all dragged down to the next floor.

“Eh? Ehhh? What? Ehh? What is going on!?”

A couple who had been enjoying themselves was panicking in the bed, but we did not have time to explain.

Yuu was still targeting us in the floor above.

Meanwhile, Kuji kicked down the door to the hallway. The three of us made our way to the emergency stairs. As usual, Ama was faster than me despite the iron balls.

I heard the sound of breaking metal.

A bent elevator door was thrown out into the hallway to block our way. And then someone slowly stepped out. She had short hair and wore a short modified kimono.

“Arata who Destroys Tradition!?”

“Yesterday’s standard won’t work tomorrow. And the same can be said of your lives!!”

As the girl named Arata shouted, something flew from her sleeve. A metal pipe extended like a stage magician’s wand and the bottom was attached to a small gas cylinder.

“Go to hell, you morons! Die at the low, low price of fifteen thousand yen for parts!! That’s the laughable value you’ve managed to build up over your entire lives! Gwa ha ha ha ha!!”

Hakama-wearing Kuji took one look at the mysterious metal pipe the girl held like a bazooka, and…

“Not good!!”

She kicked down a nearby door and all three of us dove inside.

But an ear-splitting explosive sound still assaulted us. The mass of sound exploded in my head and I couldn’t even stand up straight. I felt the same urge to vomit as having the back of my head hit with a bat. It was a very dangerous feeling!

“———!?”

Hishigami Ama shouted something from nearby and grabbed my arm, but I couldn’t tell what she was saying.

I shook my spinning head and thought about the weapon that had done this.

Was it a directional shockwave cannon?

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department had considered adopting those as a nonlethal suppression device. It used the explosion of a standard gas cylinder and created a continuous explosive roar by passing that through a tube with special grooves carved into it. The resultant mass of sound could neutralize a violent criminal from as far away as fifty meters.

This girl wore a kimono yet she used futuristic weapons. Even that gamer Zashiki Warashi flirting with my nephew back in the Intellectual Village would have been shocked to see that!

“A sound————kai. Is…boosting…with a Yamabiko!?”

“Arata’s…more than just————. Stand up!”

My ears had finally recovered.

Hakama-wearing Kuji gently shook her hand.

“What do we do? If Arata contacts Yuu, the anti-tank rifle will start targeting this floor.”

“Then we just have to escape before we’re killed.”

One of them grabbed my hand again.

Of all things, Ama and Kuji ran right into the wall on the side the bullets had come from before.

Their tackle broke through the outer wall and I was pulled out with them whether I liked it or not.

In other words, all three of us were falling.

I saw a flash of light in the night and a sharp wind passed right by me. A few seconds slower and I would have lost my head or my heart.

“Waaaah!?”

I felt the biting wind of the midwinter night.

We were about three stories up.

We passed right over the sidewalk and fell on top of the long and narrow container of a truck driving below.

Without Ama and Kuji’s help, I probably would have broken at least my ankles.

“Pant, pant!”

“We can rest easy for the time being…”

In the light of the streetlights we passed by, hakama-wearing Kuji looked at the scenery behind us and confirmed we were leaving the love hotel.

Ama was carefree.

She sat on the container, grabbed the chest of her dress-like outfit, and fanned herself with it. She let the night wind inside her clothing as she spoke.

“By the way, do you know anyone you could call for backup? Someone at the Hishigami level would be nice.”

“Don’t joke. Thanks to that crazy bastard Mishima, my 0-X Office is nothing but civilian middle school girls. How could I call them to a battlefield like this!?”

“Are those your principals?”

“So what if they are?”

We glared at each for a bit, but this alone I could not back down on.

Those girls were my allies, but not my fighting force.

I didn’t want to define them that way.

Meanwhile, the truck continued to drive.