Hidan no Aria:Volume8 Chapter4

4th Ammo: 350m Altitude Tornado

After the Inquesta lesson, I started on the way home only after attending 'Strategy 1' in the Assault lecture hall.

It had become quite late, so when I exited the building, it was already dark. Maybe it's because we're getting deeper into Autumn.

Stepping on the fallen leaves from the trees by the road, I headed towards the bus stop...

Several laughing girls exited from the backdoor of the Connect building, which was next to Assault.

Each of them threw the brooms they were holding behind the Connect section, past a metal fence into the artificial forest beyond. What are they doing?

"Nacchi, we'll be leaving the rest to you!"

After shouting into the forest with their hands cupped around their mouths, the girls went towards the shopping district.

Nacchi...? Somebody's nickname?

"...Ah, y-yes..."

I could only hear the sound of leaves, so I frowned and looked in the direction of the voice...

It looked like someone was cleaning up the fallen leaves in the dim forest.

That was...

"Nakasorachi...?"

I called out to her.

The figure startled, clutching the broom to herself.

Because of that movement, the garbage in which the fallen leaves were kept got caught on the broom...and it fell on its side, spilling its contents.

"U-U-Um, that voice--To-Bo-Tohyama, Boy, Boyama-kun!"

This disappointing way of talking...it really is Nakasorachi.

She was plain, having completely blended into the forest, so I didn't notice.

"Are you cleaning up by yourself? Weren't the people just now up for cleaning duty?"

It seemed that she had knocked over the bag because of me, so I entered the forest in order to fix it...

"Y-Yes, but, um, I was asked to do it by the other people on duty, so..."

Nakasorachi backed away from me, her legs twisted towards each other...

Her back touched a tree, and she went 'Eek!', scaring herself.

Leaving that aside...rather than being asked to do it, she was forced to do it, huh.

(Really, those people...)

The actual forest is pretty small, but the amount of fallen leaves have reached their peak, so cleaning them up is a pain.

Forcing her to clean this up...that has to be bullying.

In any case, even if I go home, there won't be anybody there, so I didn't have anything to do.

"Lend me one of these."

I picked up a broom and decided to help her gather up the leaves.

Nakasorachi saw me.

"Ah, ah! It's fine, really, it's fine...Hic, hic, hi~!"

It seems like she started to hiccup.

"It's fine, I'll help. Remember the first article of the Butei Charter?"

"Yesh...Hic, th-thank yhou! Thank hyou!"

Still clutching the broom, Nakasorachi bowed her head deeply, her long black hair swinging about.

Your voice is way too loud. Why're you suddenly upping the atmosphere.

In front of me, who was shying away, Nakasorachi leapt to the garbage bag and dropped into a crouch. She then started to stuff the spilled leaves into the bag.

Well, she can really do it if she tries. Her dull movements from just a moment ago suddenly became sharp.

I started sweeping up the leaves...

"......Nnn....!"

I averted my eyes from the full, plump thighs that were visible from the corner of Nakasorachi's skirt, as she squatted there vulnerably.

L-Luckily it's dark around here. If it was bright, I would've seen farther in.

Rather--if you're going to squat, squat with your knees together.

"...? What's wrong with your eyes?"

I, whose gaze had fled upwards, noticed that there were no glasses beneath the veil of Nakasorachi's long front hair.

"Ah, ah, my glasses. That's um, during class, I was clumsy, and a ball, um, during PE, a volleyball, I was hit, my glasses, um, I was clumsy, um..."

Just because I spoke to her, Nakasorachi started to talk in a way where she was rearranging the sentence order.

Apparently, I've a companion in the 'ball to the face' team.

"Rather, you're being...pretty polite? We're in the same year, so it's fine to speak casually."

"G-guys, b-boys. I-I've, um...never really...talked...to boys before, so...just by reflex, I started, um, speaking politely. S-Sorry!"

Nakasorachi dipped her head with such momentum that it looked like she was going to thrust her head into the bag containing the leaves.

"A-Also, I-I, g-got carried away, a-and I-I've only seen, To-Tohyama-kun, during battle, through a camera image, so i-it's like, I'm able to meet a person, f-from a film, a drama...I'm suddenly, talking too much, w-when I'm spoken to, I-I get carried aw-aw-aw-awawa..."

"Ahh...it's fine to speak politely. Alright, let's gather up the leaves that've fallen down."

Starting Nakasorachi, who had stopped working, back up...We divided the work, with me gathering the fallen leaves with a broom, and Nakasorachi crouching down, picking them up in a dustpan and putting them in the bag.

If I gave instructions, Nakasorachi would follow them properly, so the cleaning went on smoothly--

"...This should be it, right? It's so dark I can't really tell."

"Yes. T-The sound of the grass and leaves ru-ruru-rustl...ing has gone."

Nakasorachi closed the mouth of the garbage bag, when...

The sound of a car honking its horn at students who had exited Connect and were trying to cross the road rang out.

"Eek!"

Nakasorachi frighted at just that noise and leaped into the air, clutching onto my arm.

(Uu...!)

Th-That was dangerous. I obstructed her with the broom so it ended in an instant, but boobs that held a loose softness and were the size of volleyballs had pressed into me.

For me, this held the same danger level as being pierced by a sharp blade.

Nakasorachi's eyes seemed to have met mine, which were filled with tension.

"Ah, ah, ee-eek!"

She rammed into me with unexpected strength.

Thanks to that, the back of my head smashed into a tree trunk. Ouch...

"I-I-I-It's not what you think! T-The reason I grabbed your hand wa-was completely unrelated from the fact that our eyes met! I-I wasn't f-f-fantasizing about T-Tohyama-kun!"

...What is it this time...

"I-I wasn't d-doing anything like f-fantasizing here! Nothing dirty! Nothing a-about the depths of the forest! I-In the shadows of the underbrush, where nobody's eyes could reach! I-I wasn't!"

In the depths of the forest...? I have no idea what she's saying.

"Ah, Nakasorachi. Please don't say anything right now."

I said--

"!"

Nakasorachi stretched out her body like she had been subjected to a high voltage electric current.

"T-T-T-T-That kind of forceful...! B-Butbut, we've finished cleaning, so I-I'll just lay something over the u-underbrush in advance! Please wait for a moment!"

As if pushing a reset button, I lightly tapped her on the waist with my broom.

"Hey. I'm finishing up. Speaking is forbidden until we finish. Alright?"

I picked up the bag filled with fallen leaves, and Nakasorachi nodded again and again, one hand over her mouth. She tottered off to gather up the brooms. It looks like she's obeying what I told her, 'don't talk'.

Rather...Nakasorachi's cowardly enough that she gets frightened from a car horn, yet she serves as a Butei.

She's probably a rare type of person. At our school, at least.

At the bus stop, I was waiting with Nakasorachi for the bus.

"To-Tohyama-kun. Th-Thaou yonk, for, um, today."

Thank you, maybe?

"It's fine. All I did was help you a little for today."

"T-This is the first time, so-somebody's, helped me li-like this, so...I-I don't have...friends, so, all I have is, J-Jeanne-san..."

...Jeanne.

Now that she mentions her, what could she be doing?

Ever since the Bandere, I've not seen hide nor hair of her--it's worrying.

"...Don't you know where Jeanne is right now?"

I asked, though I expected her to say no.

"Right now? I-In my room, or rather, th-the room Jeanne-san and I are...sharing, i-in the, gi-girl's dormitory...I think?"

"Eh?"

"At one point last week, she called me to ask for something...She said that she was coming back that morning, that she'd been absent, from school. Because she was injured. Right now, she's in the room."

Jeanne.

She'd returned to Butei High?

However, she said she was injured. That's worrying. I'll have to go meet her.

However...Jeanne seems to be roommates with Nakasorachi.

I don't know which room it is, so I'd like her to guide me there, but that, in short, is like telling this person, 'let's go into your room' so it looks like I'll have trouble bringing it up.

If I don't say it a little carefully, I'll be made to do another sentence order quiz.

"Nakasorachi, I've like to ask you for a favour..."

"F-Favour, favour? Th-that's i-impossible, a fa-favour from a b-bo-bo-boy..."

Suddenly this.

"I-I'm the t-type of person th-that can't s-say no when as-asked a favour of! So, pl-please be gentle!"

"That's convenient. I'd like--"

"B-Before that, I-I have t-to change! B-boy, please let me change! Especially the bottom!"

"I haven't said anything yet..."

That was what the situation was like, so I needed the time from when we got on the bus till we got off the bus to communicate to her what I meant (and I only just managed to do it too), but...

Somehow, I was able to go to Jeanne and Nakasorachi's room, located in the third girl's dormitory.

Together with Nakasorachi, her knees shivering as her legs pressed together in an X shape, I ascended to her room.

"Wow..."

Inside the room, massive amounts of acoustic equipment were gathered, enough for me to let out my voice.

Countless speakers and expensive looking amplifiers were piled up on a rack, surrounding a black desk with a semicircle.

The soundproof walls were painted black, and headphones of every colour were hanging from them like a electronics volume retailer.

Not only did the entire scene look like the mixing room of a radio station, but in the room, there were even communication devices coming from every time period and every place imaginable, all lined up neatly. Not only computers and wireless devices used for processing, but there were around 50 types of handheld cellphones.

The places the access lamps lead to blinked with lights, and in the midst of this room, which smelled of electronic devices...the only thing that resembled a girl's room was a miniature decorative plant, placed right by the window.

Rather, that plant with two leaves...there's what looks like a small placard with 'Tohyama-kun' written on it standing there. Was there a plant like that?

I was looking at the mini plant when Nakasorachi leaped into the air with a '!' and covered it with an empty box for headphones, hiding it.

"I-I-It's not what you think! I-I do-don't talk to that plant at all! I-I'm not that l-lonely! Ah, also, there's nothing inside that small room over there! Things that I bought in preparation for unexpected circumstances, l-lewd underwear, alcohol, none of that is there!"

"Um...I haven't come to raid your place. Rather than that, Jeanne is...?"

"Jeanne-san is, that way."

Nakasorachi turned her back on 'Tohyama-kun' and pointed at a door. That was the only door with a wood grain, having been decorated in an antique, western style. Needless to say, it was just like Jeanne.

The door creaked as it opened, and when I stepped through it, it was bright.

It does seem like she's here. I can't see her though...

A mahogany desk. A light which looks like an ancient gas lamp. Somehow, it seems like the room is decorated with chic ornaments, just like an executive office of a high-tier business, or a politician's office. It's completely different from the Nakasorachi zone.

As for the wooden bookcase...French and Japanese books that seemed like history books lined the shelves.

(She's a scholar, huh...)

I thought, taking out a book, and beyond the books bound with leather, there lay another row in...Mm...?

There were comics for girls hidden inside. And a lot of them.

Shoucomi, Margaret, Betsufure, Hanatoyume. Hehe. Jeanne reads stuff like this?

I've found an unexpected side of her. So she keeps the girly part of her hidden inside. That's just like her.

Rustle...Rustle.

Raising my head at the slight indication, there was another room further in. It seemed that Jeanne was inside there.

That's right, this isn't the time to laugh.

Jeanne. She chased 'Grenada', and it seems that she was injured, but--is she alright?

(If she's heavily injured and is sleeping, I can't be noisy.)

So I thought, opening the door silently...inside was a small room, long but thin, and it seemed like it was being used as a walk-in closet.

But--what on Earth is this?

Inside the room...frills, lace...red, white, pink, aquamarine...checkers, stripes, heart patterns...dresses like this were in rows, leading all the way inside.

This...I was forcibly made to remember it by Riko, but...this is lolita fashion. And this closet was like a clothing store, and it had enough stocked here to resemble a wholesaler.

(Did she get them from Riko...?)

I thought, but the sizes of the clothes here were bigger than Riko's. These clothes are meant for someone far more slender.

Just by walking, I parted the masses of lace and ribbons that brushed past my face and limbs, advancing through the lolita jungle...

And she was there.

In the innermost portion of the long, thin room, Jeanne stood before a full length mirror, bordered with Rococo style engravings.

She was wearing the brand name waitress uniform that I had drawn the lot for as her proxy for Ristorante Masue. The uniform of 'At Home Cafeteria'. Standing there like a model, she looked at the mirror, an ecstatic smile on her face.

Wearing a skirt with openings that drew attention to her tensed long, beautiful legs, she placed a hand on her hips...

"Hehe. It really is nice."

... ...

She placed a hand on her knee and leaned forward. Turning back subtly, she adjusted the big ribbon on her back before brushing a hand through her long, silver hair (which she had let down), letting it flutter through the air.

What...is she doing?

"Heh...That I would look so lovable...Hehe."

...I...

Couldn't call out to her at all.

She was doing a solo fashion show.

Like a puma watching its prey, I peered out at my target from between the leaves of lace...

Apparently satisfied, Jeanne adjusted her headband.

"Hehe. To think that a day would come when I would be able to wear this boldly in front of everyone. The people at Informa will not have even thought that I owned something like this. Tohyama drew the best lot possible. He did well."

She spoke to herself.

And so, my voice leaked out.

"Ahh..."

Having heard my voice, the Witch of Silver Ice, Jeanne, froze.

Her eyes meeting mine in the mirror, she stopped moving, as if her heart had stopped in that position.

"Jeanne. First of all...You're doing pretty well, aren't you? Nakasorachi said that you were injured, so I was worried. Also, one more thing. What the hell is this? Are these all yours?"

Walking into the solo fashion show from the forest of frills, I spoke...

Finally having moved, Jeanne covered her face with her pale, white fingers.

"...This...This is the end..."

Her skirt swaying, her body crumpled as her knees dropped to the floor, just like the heroine of a tragedy.

"...What's the end?"

"...Tohyama. You...You have seen that which cannot be seen. I cannot let you return alive."

Tears in her eyes, Jeanne drew Durandal from her back.

"H-Hey! You're armed even though you're wearing that...!?"

Overreacting, almost like I had seen her naked, Jeanne held the scabbard in her hands. Panicking, I grabbed onto it.

As if her hands were devoid of strength, Jeanne let her sword go immediately.

"There...There is no-one who has seen this room. This is the secret garden that belongs to me and me only. I had been keeping this a secret from even Riko...!"

Jeanne's eyes were brimming with tears, her hands trembling...

And this time, a Cx100 greeted me from behind Jeanne's cocktail apron.

"I-I got it. I'll keep it a secret. Between just the two of us. So please don't shoot."

"...Do you promise? If you talk about this to anyone, I'll make you into a frozen gratin."

"I promise. Or rather, humans can't become gratins."

I said.

Jeanne sighed, a sigh that spoke of melancholy itself.

"...If I fired in a place like this, I would be making holes in all my clothes..."

And she stowed her gun away.

Holes in clothes are worth more than my life? Well...I was saved by that, so you have my thanks, western clothing.

I sat on a leather sofa in the room that was more like an executive office, waiting for Jeanne.

Jeanne　had changed into her uniform and her cheeks flushed with pink, she brewed me some coffee, lips twisted into a pout.

"I will say this now, but I myself know very well."

Sitting down with her knees together, just like a lady, Jeanne spoke, her legs slanting forward.

"Know what?"

"That those kinds of clothes do not suit a girl like me."

Really seeming as if she was embarrassed from the depths of her heart, Jeanne kept her head down but looked up at me.

"Those dresses are lovely when girls like Riko, small in stature, wear them. It is decidedly so. However...I am rather tall and have been raised as a boy since I was very young. Therefore, by nature, it does not fit me. However, the more I thought of it...for some reason, I started to feel a sort of yearning for those dresses..."

Ahh...

Well, it's not like I can't understand.

It's human nature to yearn strongly for that which we don't have.

"And then, there was Riko's influence on me...though I knew that it did not suit me, I went to Harajuku, thinking to buy one dress...and after that, it became a habit of mine, and now, things are as you have just witnessed. Haha...I am a laughable girl, am I not? You can laugh if you want. Hahaha..."

A broken laugh spilled from her lips...

"N-No, I'm not going to laugh. I thought it was cute."

The clothes were, that is.

"...C-Cute...?"

Were my words unexpected? Jeanne's ice blue eyes widened.

"Mm? Y-Yeah."

The clothes were cute.

"What a strange person. You cannot have much sense about these things."

Jeanne said, looking to the side...Facing the wall, her face looked like she was resisting the urge to smile from happiness.

Th-Thank God.

It seems like I made the right dialogue selection in the visual novel called life.

It looks like I can finally get to the point.

"By the way...Where did you go after Bandere?"

"--I was keeping track of Grenada's movements the entire time."

"What are they doing? I can't see any of their actions from here."

"Everyone has returned to their respective territories and they are all looking for an opportune moment. The only person that acted immediately is Hilda herself. I also engaged with her. The truth is, I was heavily shocked."

"Was that your injury? Where is it?"

"You would not be able to infer this from my appearance, but the damage has remained in the tendons all over my body, and I cannot use my limbs with any strength. Thanks to that, it seems that I will be unable to participate in combat for half a month."

...So that's why even I could take her sword from her before.

"Aria and I were also attacked by Hilda. We somehow managed to stay unharmed though."

"I heard from Riko. But be at ease. After a month, she will be unable to remain in Tokyo. Tamamo is expanding the Barrier of Exorcism without stopping to rest. Hilda is already unable to approach the stretch of coast from the Tokyo Disneyland to Academy Island, Empty Island, Daiba, Shinagawa and Toyosu. The barrier is improvised, so it seems that it will only hold for one year, but Tamamo's Barrier of Exorcism is formidable."

"Exorcism...Barrier? What the hell's that?"

"Speaking simply, it creates a zone that monsters are unable to invade. There is no obstruction to human bodies, but if monsters enter the barrier...speaking in terms of humans, it would be like being bombarded by a neutron beam."

"S-Some amazing things are starting, from below the surface."

"It is not something that has just started now. In the first place, Tokyo, followed by Rome and Hong Kong, is a city with high magic rejection. Yamate line and the Central line outline the yin-yang of all things in potentia. It is well known that all magics weaken within it."

It isn't well known at all, is it?

I've been living in Tokyo for years and this is the first time I've heard about this gigantic SSR project.

"...Which reminds me, what are we going to do, Jeanne? Should we talk to Aria about Grenada and Deen? I haven't said anything yet, just in case."

"Indeed...let us stay silent until we are no longer able. Judging from her personality, she would go on the offensive if she found out. With Tamamo's barrier, this battle is one that is better fought defending."

"I was thinking that too. What should we tell Shirayuki?"

"Let us wait for Tamamo to decide. It would not be good for someone like you, inexperienced as you are in ability battles, to relay inaccurate information."

"That's...true. The specialists should do what they feel is best."

The moment I finished drinking my coffee...

Jeanne's cellphone rang.

"...It's Nakasorachi."

"Nakasorachi? She's in the room right next to us."

As I sat there wondering, Jeanne left me to myself and spoke on the phone for a while.

"Yes...I understand. Wait a moment, Nakasorachi...Tohyama, stay in this room. If she sees you, Nakasorachi will be unable to carry out her function. Talk with her using this phone."

"What is it? It seems that you asked Nakasorachi for something last week, but--what is it?"

"Indeed. I am making her eavesdrop on the transfer student's conversations."

"Transfer student?"

"L Watson. I suspect him."

"...!"

--Watson--

My eyes flew open in response to Jeanne's words.

"It seems that you have also taken note of this, but his movements are unnatural. All records of him have been wiped, but we know he is not a normal person. His second name is 'Vein'--a boy who has been decorated for working as a very capable spy for the confidential organization Liberty Mason."

"...He's..."

"I hate people who work in such a reprehensible manner. And many of my supporters in the tennis club have switched over to Watson. That, I cannot take."

Reprehensible...? Isn't eavesdropping reprehensible?

Also, it feels like you're just retaliating because Watson took all the popularity amongst the girls, but...I won't be saying that. It's promising that Jeanne is on the anti-Watson brigade.

"Tohyama, listen to this. It seems that he has made a move. He is talking with Aria, just the two of them."

She said.

I took the phone from Jeanne and hurriedly held it to my ear as Jeanne walked into the room with Nakasorachi.

Peeking into Nakasorachi's room a little...I saw that the room was darkened, perhaps so she could concentrate.