Hidan no Aria:Volume8 Chapter3

3rd Ammo: Silver-white ICBM

"The accused, Kanzaki Kanae--is sentenced to 536 years of imprisonment."

That verdict echoed within the 800th courtroom of the Tokyo high court.

I, seated in the seats of the defense, couldn't believe my ears.

The text which declared the postponement of the death sentence or life sentence wasn't spoken by the judge, so I had had a bad feeling, but...I can't believe it. Aria's mother, Kanzaki Kanae-san...

...was convicted.

And there wasn't even a delay before its execution. It's a heavy sentence. Too heavy.

"..."

Sitting next to me and dressed in a suit, Riko looked over to the prosecutors with sharp eyes.

Jeanne, who we had lost all communication with after Bandere, and Sayonaki Vlad, being held in a level 5 holding facility in Nagano, wasn't present, but I had thought that we would definitely win this trial.

--We lost. Completely.

The sentence was reduced from the first trial, but still, this high court trial's a loss for the accused.

Because, Kanae-san's actual life sentence hasn't changed.

(That's not right...! Something like this is...!"

Strange.

This trial is strange.

For some reason, there wasn't an audience, and there wasn't anybody from the mass media either--

I even feel that there's something that we don't understand lurking at the back of this.

"That's an unfair verdict!"

Aria stood up, her chair scraping on the floor, and she shouted in a high-pitched voice.

"This---Why!? I gathered so many testimonies, so much evidence--Why!? Mama is...Mama is innocent! Why!?"

Aria, also dressed in a suit, tried to sprint over to the prosecution, but--

The young female attorney, Renjou Kuroe, held on to her tight, keeping her back.

"Don't raise a racket, Aria! The impression at the next one will be bad! We'll appeal today, calm down!"

--The next one--

If she's sentenced to life imprisonment, we'll no longer be able to overturn it.

This trial has finally been driven into a corner.

"Let go! Let go of me! I'm not angry at you! You're talented, and you did all you could! The one's that're strange are those people!"

Aria wept as she pointed at the prosecutors and further, even the judge.

"Do it over! Do it over again! I'll replace all of you and do it again! This is a---mockery! You've all conspired together to frame Mama...My Mama! This is a conspiracy!"

"Stop it, Aria! There's still the supreme high court! This isn't definite!"

Unable to say anything other than that, I also went to restrain Aria, but--

Even when together with Renjou, who was a former Butei, we couldn't control her.

Looking around, the security had taken out their handcuffs and were coming to surround Aria.

This is bad. This is really bad. If Aria punches them and gets arrested here...!

"--Aria. Please calm down."

With that single quiet sentence, uttered from the seat of the accused--

I knew that Aria had regained control of herself.

Her gaze was turned towards her own mother--

--Kanzaki Kanae-san.

Aria had been struggling violently just a moment ago, but her eyes changed from rage to sadness...she just...she just looked at Kanae-san.

--Please don't go. Please don't be apart from me--

Her eyes seemed to be clinging onto those words.

Wearing a grey suit and shaking her wavy hair, Kanae-san faced Aria...

"Thank you, Aria. Your hard work...really made me happy. I can't believe that you had made I-U your enemy, that you had accomplished this much. You've grown a lot. For a parent, that's a joy beyond all other."

...and she was calm.

Moreso than anybody else here.

"Tohyama Kinji-san. I thank you too from the bottom of my heart. You've given Aria an amazing partner. I'm happy that I'm able to see that with my own eyes. But--"

Kanae-san spoke up until that point--

Erasing the expression on her face completely, she closed her beautiful eyes with those thick eyelashes.

And her face formed the expression of...someone who had been made a scapegoat and was thinking about the person who had appointed her death...someone who wasn't here.

"--I knew that things would turn out this way."

She muttered.

Apparently trying to comfort Aria, who was clutching the guns with Kanae-san's picture on them and continuing to cry, Renjou bundled us into her own Audi, and after spending some time in the carpark...

She started forward, as if chasing the vehicle carrying Kanae-san from the high court.

She was thinking along the lines of...'Even if just a little, I'll let Aria be by Kanae-san's side', right?

Aria, in a passenger's seat, was staring at the transport vehicle, who had gone through Roppongi Road, avoiding a traffic jam.

"Mama..."

Flicking a glance to the front mirror in response to that voice, i saw that Aria was...still crying.

That's...that's right.

In this trial, the defense was fought to win.

For the sake of winning, Aria had literally risked her life, continuing to fight. For several years too.

Throwing away her youth as a normal girl, she ran around the world, fighting with Riko and Jeanne, capturing Vlad, driving away Sherlock and Patra and gathering evidence.

--In spite of that.

Only Riko, Jeanne and Vlad's share was deducted from Kanae-san's sentence.

The evidence of the defense concerning the other members' crimes wasn't enough. They were left behind.

Why? I don't know. The case of the prosecution regarding Kanae-san's crimes seemed...even for an amateur like me, illogical. It was clear that their reasoning didn't stand. Even their evidence was ambiguous.

--However, judgement was passed.

...What do we do now?

Would it be fine if we arrested all the scattered remnants of I-U, including Patra and Hilda? And then would it be fine if we took a rope to their necks and dragged them to court, making them say that they were in the wrong? That's just a dream.

Even if we could, something like that would take years.

Renjou had bought us time, but there's no way we would make it in time for the Supreme High Court.

The delay of s trial in Japan was improved through the enforcement of frequent new laws. No matter how hard we worked, within maybe three years...no, within two years, the supreme high court would judge, and Kanae-san's life sentence will be definite.

...While worrying about that, I looked at Riko, who was sitting next to me.

Riko had closed her eyes earlier, seeming to be thinking about something.

The car drove on, keeping up with the transport vehicle. It took a right at a reservoir intersection--entering Sotohori Road--and approached Kinnoushita.

At that moment, at a place quite far away from the stop line of the traffic light...

The transport vehicle stopped.

"...?"

Renjou took off her sunglasses and looked up the road.

I had also noticed the irregularity.

The traffic light in front of us--

(It's off...?)

Neither red, yellow, or green were shining. It was off.

The lights for pedestrians were also off, and people were milling around in front of zebra crossings, looking around at each other.

"...What is it...?"