Hey, everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this volume out; it took about three weeks to not only write, but also proof read.
Enjoy
Volume 2
Blazing Diamond Dust
First Bullet
Armored Priest
Shiro Hotogi is a paragon of the ideal Japanese man.
He's an exemplary Japanese priest of the olden days with long, glossy, black hair and a graceful, modest demeanor. Like the gentlemen of the court in olden days, he is an exemplary priest of grace and modesty with a handsome visage perfectly framed by his long, glossy dark tresses. A skilled worker in cooking and laundering and a kind soul to everyone, Shiro was bound to be a good husband and wise father. ...Or so they thought...
He isn't the type of boy who would raise a katana over his head with the ferociousness of a demon and scream something along the lines of "I-I-I'm going to kill Ares and then take my own life!"
...Normally, that is.
"Why me?!" You've got the wrong person!"
It would seem that not even Ares H. Kanzaki, the fourth generation descendant of the great detective, Sir Sherlock Holmes, knew why the priest had come for his life.
I didn't blame him. I didn't know either, and Shiro was my childhood friend. My mind shuffled through the blur of recent events, struggling to find reason and cause for the current madness eschewing in front of me.
•Shiro, who had returned from training camp, sent forty-nine messages to my cell phone the first of which asked: "Is it true that you're living with a boy?"
•Soon afterwards, Shiro came storming into my apartment.
•Than, when he saw Ares, this happened.
That's it.
...It's no use. I don't have a clue. I don't have a single clue as to why Shiro suddenly flipped his lid!
"Shiro! I don't know what it is you're misunderstanding, but this is a misunder...!"
Before I could finish my sentence, Ares kicked me squarely in the back. I slammed into the wall of the hallway before falling on the floor.
"Kinoka, do something about this! It's your fault this weird boy showed up!"
"I-It's not my fault!"
"That's right! It's not Kin-chan's fault! Kin-chan isn't to blame! Ares ... it's your fault! You're undoubtedly in the wrong here! You should just disappear! So GO AWAY ALREADY!"
T-This isn't good. Shiro's rage is causing him to forget himself.
To be honest ... I still wasn't sure of the cause, but ever since we were children, Shiro occasionally has these outrageous episodes. From my experience, once things reached this point, no one could calm him down, and it would continue until his victim, usually some boy who had no idea why he was being attacked—was beaten to a pulp.
"This is your divine punishment!" shrieked Shiro as he charged forward, his getas beating across the floor, and swung his katana downwards toward the top of Ares' head.
Y-You got to be kidding me! He's seriously trying to kill him!
"Neow!"
Ares gave off a cry like that of some feline-like beast and caught Shiro's katana between his hands.
H-He stopped the blade with his bare hands!
It was the first time I had seen that technique used in actual combat. There was no denying that Ares was a master of baritsu. But that wasn't the time for me to be impressed by Ares' expertise.
"You dumb shit!" Ares screamed.
With the katana still in Ares' grip, he jumped up, sending his shirt high into the air. Ares then latched onto Shiro's right arm with both of his legs and proceeded to twist it.
"Vale tudo, is it?!"
Shiro, who seemed to have instantly identified Ares' fighting technique, immediately sounded his getas once more as he took a powerful step backwards and performed a belly-to-back suplex with Ares still wrapped around his arm.
H-Hey, you guys just put a huge dent in the floor!
"Nnnnnnngh, be gone! Be gone, you home wrecker! Disappear from Kin-chan's sight!" howled Shiro, using all of his might to kick Ares with both feet.
"Kyaa?!" Ares cried as he slammed into the living room couch, reducing it to rubble and getting pinned underneath.
"S-Stop! Stop, both of youuuu!"
Blam! Blam!
My deplorations changed to a scream when bullets suddenly whizzed past me face, fired from Ares' smoking guns that she pulled out while underneath the rubble.
Ka-pwing!
Shiro matter-of-factly deflected the bullets with his katana.
"That's it!" Ares cried. "Now I'm pissed! I'm gonna open a hole in you!"
Ares flew out from beneath the couch as if launched from catapult. He ran towards Shiro, relentlessly firing his pistols until the magazines became empty . . . but Shiro deflected every single bullet. Ares, living up to his alias the Quadra, then crossed his two shorter katanas just in time to intercept a fatal thrust from Shiro's sword. The swords continued to clash again and again until both fighters stood face to face with their katanas locked together, each doing his best to push the other back.
"Kin-chan, stab this boy from behind! If you do that, I'll pretend I never was anything here!"
"Kinoka! Back me up! You're my partner, aren't you?!"
They both looked to me for assistance ... but I just didn't know what to make out of the whole situation anymore.
"... Do whatever you want. Fight to your heart's content."
Placing my hand on my throbbing forehead, I wearily walked past the two of them, who continued to glare at each other, opened the window, and went out onto the balcony. Why the balcony, you ask? Because there's a storage locker here—a bulletproof one.
"Kin-chan!"
"Kinoka!"
Ignoring their cries, I opened the storage locker and stepped inside.
Shiro the Berserker.
Ares the Child of War.
Is a single, ordinary high school student such as myself capable of putting an end to this battle of the beasts? Simply put, the answer is "no." So I shut the door, sealing my escape from this absurd reality. If you think I'm being rather pathetic, fell free to do so. Nobody wants to die, right?
Hotogi shrine priests are "armed priests."
At any shrine, the head priest and the shrine maidens more of less protect the objects of worships enshrined there. However, at Shiro's home, the Hotogi Shrine, head priests have always armed themselves while guarding sacred objects of worship for many generations. God only knows why. And as one can see from Shiro's amazon-like prowess, Hotogi Shrine priests are quite powerful. At this very moment, Shiro is effortlessly deflecting all of Ares' bullets with his katana. Even I have only been able to accomplished that once while in hysteria mode. The source of his strength isn't something easily understood when explained, nor when witnessed, but apparently ... it's a type of supernatural ability known as the art of kidou.
...
... Supernatural ability.
I sounded so dubious that no one could believe it, right? I don't want to believe it either. But evidently these espers do exist. Many researchers have secretly studied and reared them in special facilities in multiple countries across the globe. At Butei High, SSR is the equivalent of one of those facilities. Shiro excels as a student there as well and is currently displaying his superhuman abilities. Additionally, buteis who possess these supernatural powers are referred to as "chouteis," and though they raise a few eyebrows, they're gaining more and more attention in the butei business with each passing day.
I let out a deep sigh.
... This is not normal.
Some day, I want to transfer to a regular school, lead a normal student life, and become an ordinary adult ... Even now, I hold that wish in my heart ... However, thanks to Ares, I'm rapidly being dragged off into a world that's anything but ordinary.
The violent clashes, coming from inside the apartment and resembling the climactic battle scene in a war flick, finally came to an end ... so I stop looking at movie websites (my means of a distraction) on my cell phone, place the phone in my pocket, and quietly stop out of the bulletproof locker. I nearly passed out as I saw what had becomes of my home. There were bullet holes and gashes all over the walls, and pieces of furniture I was particularly fond of, were now fragments scattered about the floor. It was as if an earthquake and a typhoon had merged into one destructive force inside my home. As for Mr. Earthquake and Mr. Typhoon themselves, their hair and clothes were as disheveled as could possibly be, and they were covered with sweat and dust. Their status as the most handsome men around was crumbling away as they sat there exhausted.
"I can't ... believe .. what a resilient ... home wrecker ... you are," wheezed Shiro, using his katana as cane to help him stand up.
Would you please not pierce the floor with your sword?
"R-Right back ... at you ... Would you please ... just roll over ... and die?"
Ares was sitting in the floor with his knees upright and supporting his upper body with his arms behind him.
"... So, has everything been settled? From the looks of things, I'd say it's a tie . ..."
After there are no longer any means of continuing a battle, having a third party come in and mediate peace talks is probably the way the world works. That's what I figure anyway, so I begun urging the two of them to negotiate with each other.
"Kin-chan-sama!"
Shiro seemed to have just noticed I came out, and tucking his katana away under his arms, he wobbly sat down in proper Japanese fashion. He then moistened his handsome, obsidian-like eyes with tears and covered his face with both hands.
"I-I'll make amends for this with my death. If you're going to cast me aside, I'll kill Ares and c-commit hara-kiri right here and now as atonement!"
He making less and less sense with every word he speaks. And what's with "Kin-chan-sama"? That's two suffixes attached to my name.
"L-Listen to me ... I'm not casting away or picking up anything. What are you talking about?"
"Well, I mean ... I mean ... if you put a male and female hamster in the same cage, they automatically start multiplying!"
"Not only are you not making sense, but you're getting way ahead of yourself."
Hearing the irritation in my voice, Shiro flung his tear filled face up towards me.
"A-A-Ares doesn't think anything more of you than a mere plaything! I just know it!"
"S-Stop shaking me by the collar!"
"It's my fault. It's because I didn't have enough courage that you left, and ... I should say you brought a man inside ..."
"If you were to become any more courageous, it would put me in a bind."
He turned towards Ares, who had been making all sorts of wry comments beside me.
"D-Don't let it get to your head just because you're in a relationship with Kin-chan, you devil!"
Shiro threw me to the floor and flung a chain-sickle, which was hidden in his sleeve, at Ares.
"R-Relationship?!" cried Ares as the chain entwined itself around the jet-black Government and left hand he used to shield himself. The strain in their faces was plain to see as they both tugged on that chain with everything they had.
"D-Don't be stupid! I-I-I-I couldn't care less about romance!" shouted Ares in that anime-like voice of his. As always, he wasn't very good at dealing with issues related to love, and his face went bright red. "Romance is ... just a waste of time! I've never had anything to do with it before and I never intend to! I-I've never even wanted to! I've never wanted get involved in a romantic relationship! I've never wanted anything like that!"
Why did you repeat yourself three times?
"Then what is Kin-chan to you?! She's not your lover?!"
"We're not like that!" Ares' voice became unnaturally high. "Kinoka is my slave! She's nothing more!"
"S-S-Slave ...?!"
Upon hearing this, Shiro's face went pale, and he stood there with his mouth agape. I didn't know what he was imagining, but soon afterwards, his face became red-hot.
This boy's got a lot going through his mind too.
"T-This can't be ... You're even forcing Kin-chan to participate in such immoral games?!"
"W-W-W-What kind of nonsense are you spouting?! You're got it all wrong!"
"No, I haven't! I-I've also fantasized about that same situation with the roles reversed, so I know!"
"You're wrong! You're wrong! You're wrong! You're wrong! You're wroooooong! Kinoka!"
Still continuing his tug-of-war with Shiro, Ares glared at me with his cameilla-colored eyes.
W-What does he want from me, I wonder?
"It's one-hundred percent your fault that this crazy boy showed up! Do something about it! I'm gonna make you regret it if you don't!"
I'm already in deep regret.
"... Uhhh. Hey ... first off, Shiro—"
"Yes?" he answered upon being called, and releasing the chain-sickle, Shiro faced me once again, sitting in the proper Japanese fashion. As a result, Ares was sent tumbling backwards with his legs straight up into the air, but I'm going to pretend I didn't notice for now.
"Listen to me carefully. Ares and I are just fellow buteis who have temporarily formed a party."
"... Really?"
"Yes, really. You know my nickname, don't you? Tell me what it is."
"... The Misogynist."
"Right?"
"Also, Miss Useless as a Lamp in Daylight."
"That's not relevant right now."
"R-right."
Don't bring up any unnecessary nicknames. It's only going to make matters more complicated.
"So as you can see, this incomprehensible anger of yours is a product of misunderstanding and your actions just now are completely meaningless. Besides, he's a runt who looks like an elementary school student. There's no-"
"Gonna open a hole."
"way I'm going to enter that kind of relationship with him."
Ares had made an interjection, but I'll be ignoring that as well. He was probably out of bullets anyway.
"B-But ... Kin-chan."
Hm?
It was quite rare for Shiro, whose obidience was one of his merits, to make any sort of retort.
"What?"
"That ..." uttered Shiro as he pointed to my pants at the pocket with his slender, white finger. Dangling from my pocket was the enigmatic cat-like creature, Leopon, that I won from that crane game a while back. This plushie saw somewhat large, and when I put my cell phone in my pocket, Leopon tended to hang outside. But ... what of it?
Shiro's finger rigidly changed direction until it pointed to the skirt pocket of Ares, who had gotten up and made his way to us. From within his pocket as well, Leopon had his head and arm sticking out as if to say "How's it goin?"
"The two of you are going for a pair look!" cried Shiro, and tears gushed out of his eyes like a water fountain.
"Pair look?"
Apparently Ares isn't familiar with the obsolete term that brought with it images of the Shouwa era, and he raised a questioning pink eyebrow.
"H-Having a pair look is what people who love each other do! I've ... I've dreamt of it so many times!"
"I keep telling you! Kinoka and I aren't like that! I'm not even in the slightest bit interested in that kind of relationship with this girl!"
Great ... So much for peaceful negotiations.
"Come on now, Shiro." I turned towards Shiro, and griping him by the shoulders, I looked deep into his eyes. "You don't believe me?"
I said it with a fairly serious tone, and he began wiping the tears that fell endlessly from his eyes with the back of his hand.
"I-It's not that. I believe you. I do believe you ..."
After repeatedly affirming the fact, Shiro finally began to soften up. Still whimpering and hiccupping, he then looked back and forth between Ares a I.
"Then ... then you and Ares haven't done anything like 'that,' right?" Shiro inquired in a slightly calmer tone.
"What do you mean 'like that'"?
"Like k-kissing ..."
Kissing. Kissing? Kissing, you say?
"..."
"..."
Ares and I looked at each other, and the both of us became petrified all at once. Ares became as red as a stoplight and glowered at me speechlessly with a mouth that simply continued to open and close.
H-Hey, don't look at me.
Well ... if you looked at the facts, the answers would have to be that we have. But that was sort of an emergency measure that was necessary in our battle with Reiko. I'm not sure exactly what to call it, but by no means was it a kiss that could be associated with romantic feelings...
"... You ... did ... didn't ... you ...?" whispered Shiro as his eyes became completely dilated. Any form of expression that was once on his face vanished instantly, and an eerie, hollow laugh could be heard coming from deep within his throat.
H-Hold up, Shiro! You've become something straight out of a R-rated movie!
"W-We ... we did do something like that, but . . . !" For some reason, Mr. Ares, who was on the opposite side of Shiro, stood up straight and stuck out his "enhanced" chest, which really couldn't be pushed up or plunged. "B-But i-i-i-it's okay!"
"It's okay"?
"I found out yesterday. She's not ... not ... not ..."
I'm not ...?
"She's not pregnant!"
Ares' outburst was followed by the type of silence you experience at a funeral. That's the impression it gave me anyway.
... What? .. Pregnant? ... What is he ...?
Ares crossed his arms in front of him and stood firmly with a look on his face that said "What do you think of that?!"
Whoosh.
Something shaped awfully similarly to Shiro came flying out of his body.
"... Shiro?!" I cried.
If finally got to the point where he just fell over backwards as he sat there.
"A-Ares! What are you thinking?! Why did you bring that up?"
"Y-Y-You're such an irresponsible girl! I was worrying by myself the whole time, you know?!"
"Worrying about what?!"
"Well, when I was young, my father told me that kissing leads to pregnancy ..."
I don't even ...! Holmes family! At least educate your son about sex properly!
"There's no way I'm gonna get pregnant over something like that! Even an elementary student knows that!"
"What are you acting all high and mighty for?! Then how does a person get pregnant?! Tell me!"
"I-I-I can't tell you that, you imbecile!"
"I'll bet you don't even know!"
"I know!"
"Then tell me!"
"I'm not telling you anything, you moron!"
We argued back and forth like this until we were both red in the face and glaring at each other so closely that our foreheads nearly touched. It was during this exchange that unbeknownst to us, Shiro had regained consciousness and disappeared from the apartment like a cloud of smoke.
Oh, great ... Just how is this going to end up?
End of First Bullet
Second Bullet
Catching a Sword Blade with Bare Hands
The following day, Ares and Shiro both started behaving oddly, but their actions were as different as day and night. Ares, whose motto is "investigate and learn everything on your own," went to the library, and starting with stamens and pistils, he taught himself all about the wonders of life. This is how he came to realize that everything he knew about health and physical education was as wrong as the Ptolemiac theory. Following this, for a brief period, Ares developed a strange habit of turning red and stiffening up every time he saw me, but he seemed to be the type who could change his mindset quickly, and soon enough he returned to being the impish little Ares who abuses me for hardly any reason. I really don't need this.
On the other hand, Shiro had clearly been avoiding us ever since that incident. Until now, he had always insisted on looking after me to the point of being obnoxious, but after his fight with Ares, he started hiding himself like a small, overly cautious animal whenever he saw me.
It was in the midst of all this that one day during lunch...
"Tohyama, mind if I sit here?"
Sitting in that noisy school cafeteria, I was enjoying a Salisbury steak lunch set with Ares, who had brought his favorite peach buns, when a girl, so good-looking you would do a double take, approached me. This girl was Ryo Shiranui. She was a member of Assault, and she gave me that sort of smile that only effeminate girls could. A while back, he was a classmate of mine with whom I would often form a party. Her butei rank is "A" and having an "A" rank can mean a lot of things, but Shiranui was a pretty well-rounded person. She could be relied upon for her skills in hand-to-hand combat, with knives, or pistols. Her weapon of choice is MK 23 equipped with a laser sight—also very reliable. When she put her tray with its club sandwich on the table, I slid mine over but she returned if to its original position. She even remembered to nod his head in apology. This girl is a real straight arrow.
...I might also mention that Shiranui was quite popular with the gentlemen. Of course she would be. She's got the looks, and he's a person of character, a combination not often found at Butei High. But the odd thing is ... apparently, she doesn't have a boyfriend. She, Muto, and I (before Ares started following me around all over the place) used to hang out together after school often, and there was never anyone of interest to him.
"I heard all about it Kinoka. Let me interrogate you a bit. Try to escape and I'll run you over."
The spiky-haired girl who just sat across from me, pushing my tray back with hers, was Gosuke Muto. She was a skilled member of Logi (Logistics division), and an automobile nut who could drive anything considered a vehicle, from steam locomotives to nuclear submarines. As for her weapons, she likes to use a Colt Python with a revolving cylinder for its ease of maintenance. It didn't hold very many rounds, and it couldn't be outfitted with a suppressor. As a gun suitable for a butei, it was out of the question. Muto, on the other hand, wasn't very popular with the ladies. She wasn't a bad girl, but she was rather rough around the edges.
"What do you mean 'interrogate me'"?
"Kinji, I heard you had a fight with Hotogi."
. . . That's Butei High for You. Information—or should I say "rumors" spread abnormally fast. More to the point, what are you acting so moody for, Muto?
"Hotogi was looking really depressed, you know? What happened?
"Nothing happened between us ... Wait a second. You saw Shiro?"
"Shiranui told me that she saw him in the greenhouse trying to divine his future by pulling petals off flowers."
"Trying to divine his future?"
"I'd say it's a pretty popular thing to do," said Shiranui, lifting her eyebrows.
"I wouldn't know. Have you heard of it before, Ares?"
Across from me, Ares shook his head indication that he hadn't. His long, pink ponytail flew through the air back and forth like a Japanese drum. Ares, by the way, was currently cramming his mouth with peach buns, so he would be silent for a while.
"I'm sure you know what it is, Tohyama. It's that game where you pluck the petals from a flower one by one and say to yourself 'she loves me, she loves me not, she loves me, she loves me not.'"
Oooh. That. Think that there's somebody who still does that in the era. That boy really is a living natural monument.
"Unfortunately, he caught me watching and then the warning bell for the first period went off, so he didn't finish the divination. But his eyes seemed to be filled with tears. So ... why did you two break up? Did the love grow cold of something?"
I heard Ares gag from the mouthful of the peach bun getting caught in his throat.
Don't mention the word love. It causes children to overreact.
"Are you serious? I have no idea how you came to that conclusion. Shiro and I aren't even in that kind of relationship. We're just childhood friends."
"Childhood friends, huh? That's certainly a popular choice of words for dodging the matter. According to rumors, Kanzaki got jealous and opened fire on Hotogi. That's why I'm thinking that you and Kanzaki hit it off, and the two boys duked it out to determine who would have you ... After all, Kanzaki is always talking about you at Assault. He seems to have a lot of fun doing so too."
Ares H. Kanzaki went bright red and with a little difficulty, managed to swallow down his peach bun.
"Y-Y-Y-You pervert!"
"Ngh!"
For some reason, a punch came flying into my face.
What gives? This can't be right. If you're gonna punch anyone, it should be Shiranui.
"I'm going to make myself perfectly clear. The reason I drove off Shiro wasn't because I was j-jealous or anything like that. Kinoka and I are partners. There's no l-love or anything else involved. There's absolutely, positively, definitely nothing like that going on. Those are my real honest, true feelings!"
You don't have to deny it so vehemently.
"Oh, is that so? Well then, Tohyama, does that mean you and Hotogi might get back together again?"
"Why do you keep making it sound like we're a couple? Besides, Shiranui, there's something funny about your story. When the warning bell rang this morning, I came across Shiro in the hallway on school grounds, and he ran into the boy's restroom without so much as a 'hello.' That means whoever you saw, it wasn't Shiro. Furthermore, I don't recall asking for your personal opinion regarding whether I make up with Shiro or not."
Not that you mention it, I guess you didn't. Sorry about that," Shiranui apologized with the smile of a saint on his face and didn't press the issue any further. Taking his gaze off me, she turned to Ares and whispered, "Tohyama's in a bad mood, isn't she."
As for Muto ... she had a strange look on her face that suggested she had a question for me but wasn't going to ask now. Muto's face is always strange though.
"By the way, Shiranui ..."
I didn't want to be grilled over the subject of Shiro anymore, so I decided to change the flow of the conversation.
"What are you going to do about the Adsiard? Weren't you elected to be our school's representative or something?"
The Adsiard is an international tournament in which various butei high schools participate once a year. In terms of sports, it's like an interscholastic athletic meet or the Olympics. But unlike the Olympics, which is an event symbolizing peace, the Adsiard consists of nothing but questionable contests in which members of Assault and Snipe compete.
"I probably won't be participating in any of the events. I'm a substitute."
"So you'll just be helping out with the events then? What are you gonna be doing? You have to help out in some way, right?"
"I haven't decided yet. What to do, what to do?" said Shiranui with a listless sigh that could easily make any boy fall for him in a second.
On this other side of the table, Muto started to stuff her face wildly with a fried noodles sandwich. There was a noodle sticking out from the corner of her mouth.
"Are you gonna take part in the Adisiard, Ares? I asked.
"I'm not participating in any of the events, either. I was chosen to be the representative for the shooting match but I declined."
"Then you're gonna be helping out too, I guess. Have you decided what you're going to be helping out with?"
"I'll be doing the cheerleading for the opening ceremony."
"Cheerleading ...? Oh, you're talking about Ar-kata."
Ar-kata is a butei term that comes from a combination of the Italian word for weapon, "arma," and the Japanese word for form, "kata." It's a parade in which martial arts, knives, and guns are incorporated into a cheerleading routine. The boys at our school don't think twice about simply calling it "cheerleading."
"Kinoka, you should help out too. You are my partner. You don't care what you help out with anyway, right?"
"I ... guess not ..."
The whole purpose of the show is to improve the image of this profession called "butei," which isn't exactly seen in the best light in the eyes of the public. As such, it's probably wise to make it look as cute as possible, so boys in cheerleader uniforms are the only ones dancing around. Girls have the less ostentatious role of performing band music in the back.
"Music, huh? Well, I'm not particularly good or bad at it. I guess that'll do."
"Ah, if Tohyama's going to be part of the band, then maybe I will too. Muto, why don't you join the band with us?" suggested Shiranui, directing another smile at Muto and I that felt like a cool breeze.
Man, that's a perfect set of teeth you got there.
"The band, huh? That could be pretty cool. Alright, I'm in."
Muto's coming along for the ride. These two sure do like to act on a whim. I'm not one to talk though.
"... But Kanzaki," said Shiranui, "it was such a waste for you to turn down the offer of being a representative. It's a pretty popular story so I'm sure you've heard, haven't you? If you win a medal in the Adsiard, you'll have a bright future ahead of you. You can get into Butei University solely on recommendation, and it'll look great on your resume when you're job hunting. Word is, you can land a job at the Bureau of Butei or even join a top-ranking, privately owned butei firm of your choosing."
"I'm not concerned about stuff that far ahead in the future. There's something I have to do at this very moment. I don't have time to be training for a competition."
"Something I have to do."
Judging from the determination I could hear in Ares' voice, I was fairly certain he was referring to helping his mother, Kanae Kanzaki. In order to rescue his mother, who had been incarcerated for crimes she did not commit, Ares was destined to combat and arrest the hordes of criminals. Reiko Mine Lupin the Fourth, the "butei killer" whom we fought with previously, is one of the criminals who are truly responsible for charges being held against Kanae. And the same thing applied to me, Ares' partner. Reiko, who barely escaped from us during the hijacking incident, was also responsible for the death of my older sister. At the very least, that case was once I'd have to see to the end eventually. There was also the fact that ... Reiko was speaking as if my sister, who died while on duty, was still alive. I wager it was just a lie he told to rile me up, but to be honest, it was still causing me a little concern.
"The Adsiard can wait," continued Ares, crossing his arms and leaning his upper body backwards. I think he was trying to create a situation in which he could look down at me since I was so much taller. He was only one hundred and forty-two centimeters. "Kinoka, I have to whip you into shape first."
"... W-Whip? You guys better not be into any weird hardcore stuff ..." said Muto, her cheeks twitching as he looked at Ares and me.
"Muto, don't get started. I've already been through this with Shiro. And Ares ... at least call it "combat instruction" when others are around."
"Stop your complaining. You're me slave, so I can whip you all I want."
You said "partner" just a little while ago. I'm demoted to a slave when it fits your convenience, am I?
"Now that I think about it, just how exactly do you plan on whipping me into shape?"
"Hmmm... For starters, as of tomorrow, you're going to be doing morning drills with me every day."
Ugh.
From the looks of it, Ares had just now come up with this obnoxious plan to do morning drills and was sitting there with a satisfied look on his face as he muttered to himself that it was a good idea.
Damn. My plan backfired. I never should have brought up the Adsiard.
Seven o'clock the next morning.
I woke up early and made my way to the meeting place, just like Ares ordered me to last night—with his pistols stuck into my back of course.
"Guess who."
Ares had come up from behind and placed his hands over my eyes. When I turned around, I found myself speechless for a moment.
H-He looks so cute.
"Jeez. How could you let yourself be taken from behind like that? You've got a long ways to go."
Ares, standing up as straight as he possibly could and with his hands on his hips, was in a cheerleader uniform. The cheerleader of Butei High wore a rather unusual uniform; the primary color is black. Lowering my eyes to the waist belt in trepidation, I noticed it was so tight that it was permanently gun flashing (gun flash: a glimpse of the pistol shown outside a boy's pants. Coined by idiot Muto.)
"W-What's with that getup?"
"You can't tell? It's a cheerleader uniform. Is there no limit to your ignorance?"
"You're the last person I want to hear that from. In any case, what I was asking was 'Why are you dressed like that?'"
"Then say so, you dunce. I'm going to practice my cheer routine while I discipline you. If I do both simultaneously, it'll save time, right?" said Ares, looking around in satisfaction of our surroundings, which are completely void of any people.
This ares, located on the outskirts of the Mega-Float upon where Butei High was located, was known as "Behind the Signboard." It's a long, narrow stirp of vacant land that lies between the school gym and an enormous signboard that was set up facing Rainbow Bridge. Ares had only transferred to the school recently, but he quickly spotted this area because it's almost always deserted and decided to make it our taking grounds. Apparently, he was also planning on using this area to practice for the Ar-kata as well.
". . . So? What am I supposed to be doing?"
"Ahem." Cheerleader Ares pretended to clear his throat and putting on airs, drew himself up again.
It's these little gestures of his that make him look so childish. I'll admit that it's cute, but it's also irritating.
"As far as I'm concerned, you're an S-rank butei."
"Only as far as you're concerned, yeah."
"No back talk."
Seeing Ares reach for his pistols, I kept silent for my own safety.
"Being categorized as an S-rank Assault member means having the same combat strength as a Special Forces military unit."
You're crazy.
"That's the kind of potential you have. You can do better if you try. But the problem is you're unable to use your ability freely. That's why what we need is a "key" to awaken your powers."
"Professor Ares, lecturing like an expert. Never would he guess that he was that "key."
"So after the hijacking incident I did some research—on multiple personalities, that is."
Multiple personalities? Hehe. Incorrect.
Hysteria mode wasn't a psychogenic acquired characteristic. It was a neurogenic inherited characteristic. In other words, multiple personality disorder is a completely different matter. But ... I decided to act impressed and said a few words to that effect.
"Did you now? I'm impressed you figured it out."
Ares, by all means, continue your misdirected research.
"I studied about it in books and on the Internet. It was pretty interesting. Most likely, a trauma from your childhood days gave rise to split personalities, and the stress from combat caused your other self to manifest."
"I see."
That's what happened when your bike and the plane were hijacked, didn't it."
"Yup."
"Therefore, the first stage in your training will be to constantly subject you to the stress of combat," said Ares, suddenly drawing the short katana he even had hidden in back of his cheerleader uniform.
"W-Whoa! Wait a sec!"
"What? I'll use my pistols afterwards. Don't worry."
"That's not it! If you start waving those things at me, I'm gonna wind up scattered all over this field!"
"Why don't you try using that teaspoons amount of brains in that head of yours and think a little bit. "There's a rhythm to everything, right?" said Ares in a tone mixed with a sigh that I found particularly irksome. "The purpose of this training is to create a rhythm in which we awaken your powers by subjecting you to stress when you're in 'stupid Kinoka mode' and have you counterattack after those powers are awakened."
"Counterattack ...?"
"You still don't get it? I guess it can't be helped. I'll break it down for you, so go ahead and cry tears of relief and joy, but clean the wax out of your ears so you can hear me."
I think it would be kind of dangerous to cry joyfully while cleaning out one's ears.
"Number one. You're standing here in 'stupid Kinoka mode' right now. Number two. Your powers awake during combat. Number three. You then counterattack. This is the ideal rhythm I've come up with."
That's it? For a person acting like he's doing me a favor that sure is a ridiculously simple plan. If this girl is supposed to be the great-grandson of the world famous Sherlock Holmes the Fourth, for the sake of their country's honor, I think the British government should consider having a DNA test cone. Seriously.
"So the skill you need to learn is a counterattack technique."
"Counterattack technique ... What is that?"
"First, you're going to stop a sword by catching it with your bare hands," said Ares, raising his katana.
"Wa-"
Before I could say "wait," I heard the sound of the air being slashed at right next to me right ear. Ares had just swung his sword down towards my shoulder at a speed faster than the eye could follow. I couldn't see it, but he did stop one millimeter away from shoulder though. Riding along the wind created by Ares' movements was that faint smell of gardenias.
"Okay. Go over that timing in your head five hundred times. You have ten minutes."
"Go over the timing ...?"
"That's right. Imagine yourself catching the katana based on the speed at which it just came at you. If you like, you can actually use your hands as if you were shadow boxing."
Ares returned the katana to its scabbard on his back in one fluid motion.
"In other words ... you just want me to do image training."
"We can start mass producing lumps on your head right now if you want."
"Alright, alright, I'll do it."
After breathing a very deep sigh, I reluctantly began imagining myself catching Ares' katana. Ares nodded in satisfaction.
"That's the way. You're very commendable when you follow instructions. Good girl. I hear there's a master swordsman among the IU members who made my mom a scapegoat. Techniques for countering knife attacks are the basics for any butei. Don't slack off now," said Ares in a condescending tone and with a smile on his face.
Get treated like a kid by him and it's all over.
"Get to it. I'm gonna start counting now. Nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds. Fifty-eight seconds."
"I'm doing it, I'm doing it."
"No useless chatter. As a penalty, you just lost thirty seconds!"
What's up with that "Ares rule"? He's as tyrannical as a despot. Well . . . I guess I'll stick it out with her though.
I let out a short sigh. All this talk about the key to my hysteria mode aside, I had already mode up my mind about what I'm going to do after that last incident we went through. I'm not going to become some ally of justice. But ... I will continue to be her ally for a little while longer.
I'll help Ares out with what he's trying to do.
But the one thing I wanted to keep telling myself was that it wasn't because he was cute, or I had fallen in love with her or anything like that. It was simply a matter of me seeing through to the end what I had already decided. I was only doing what I should be doing. As for the other things I had decided on—transferring from Butei High to a regular school next year, becoming a normal person who leads a normal life—I didn't intend to change those plans, either.
These were the thoughts swimming through my head as I engaged in image training when Ares pull out his iPod from within his pants and starting fiddling with it. Looking out of the corner of my eye, I saw there was a video being played on the small screen, which also served as a touch panel. It was a video demonstration of the choreography used in Ar-kata. As per Ares' suggestion, I signed up to join the band, and the Adsiard preparatory committee sent me the same video the morning.
"Hmm ... This might be kind of cute," Ares said to himself. Then, slightly distancing himself from me, he turned away and ... suddenly started dancing. He wasn't doing too bad of a job, either.
Well I'll be. He's pretty good.
Having no interest in cheerleading, I'm not too knowledgeable on the subject. But even to my untrained eye, Ares' movements as he began to dance and his ponytail flailed about, looked like those of an expert cheerleader. His movements started out like a normal kind of cheerleading most are used to seeing, and from there, it took on a more gallant atmosphere as he incorporated the martial arts formations. Even so, when adorable, little Ares did all of this in that cheerleader uniform ... it was still very cutesy. Switching from a knife to his pistol, Ares continued to dance, and lifting his leg high into the air, he even performed a back walkover. I had to admit that he was good. Ares picked up his pom-poms and even had the nerve to show off one of those starry smiles. Normally, he was always in a bad temper and practically scowling, so even though Ares was only acting, the effects of these types of smiles were twice as potent. What kind of effects those were, I didn't know. But despite all of that, seeing Ares practice his cheer routine like this ... really did make him come across as just as average boy. If this had been a regular high school, no one would assume him to be anything but—just a tad short, self-centered, energetic high-school boy that could be found anywhere.
"Hey ... Kinoka." Ares suddenly stopped dancing and his pink ponytail twirled as he spun around. "Have you been staring at me this whole time? Those are the eyes of a lecher."
Ares faced his pom-poms against his hips. He then noticed his pants had inched itself down slightly and used the pom-poms to straighten it out."
"This isn't a show, you know?"
Though a bit late, I think he must have started to fell embarrassed because his puffed up cheeks had taken a red hue.
"I'd say cheerleading is a show—essentially. More to the point, staring at you is the last thing I'd want to do."
To be sure, I had been fixated on Ares for too long, and feeling a bit awkward, I averted my gaze.
"Why were you watching me then?"
"That's ... that's ... nothing you need to be concerned about."
"... I'm not concerned. It's just ..."
"..."
Ah. This vibe ...
"Anyways, are you doing your image training like you're supposed to be? In five minutes, we're gonna start practicing using the back of the sword."
"The back of the sword?"
Even if you use the back, it's gonna hurt like hell. In short, you're going to be beating me with a metal rod.
"I'll go slow at first so stop looking so afraid. But I will gradually pick up speed," said Ares, putting on a truly sinister smile.
"Ow ..."
School had just finished, and I was still rubbing the sensitive lump on my head as I left the Inquesta building.
Dammit. That Ares is a sadistic. He might have been using the back of his sword, but he pummeled me with the thing. I feel like I may have forgotten some English vocabulary or historical dates.
"Kiiinoka."
Ares was running towards me with the sunset at his back. IT seems he was lying in wait in front of the Inquesta building again.
"I'll say this right now; I'm not doing any training after school. I've got homework to do for my regular classes."
"I haven't said anything yet."
"And I'm not going back to Assault. If you're telling me to return to that group of death wishers, our partnership is over. I'm going to be living peacefully as a member of Inquesta until I transfer out of here next year."
"I still haven't said a word."
Ares acted completely unconcerned with my harsh tone and began walking towards the bus stop. Then he turned around with a smile as magnificent as a sunflower and said, "But we will continue training tomorrow."
... Well, I guess I can do that much. I am his partner.
Besides, this was one those gags where after diving me a false impression twice, the third statement ends with something about "opening a hole in me."
"Hey, Kinoka. At Assault today, we practiced techniques for countering the knives that an enemy throws at you."
Ares continued to ramble on happily about dangerous things I didn't care to hear for. He seemed to be in a fairly good mood recently. The reason was obvious. It was probably because I was acting like his partner more or less. Just like the great detective Sherlock Holmes had John H. Watson, the members of Ares' family—the Holmeses—required a partner that would allow then to display their abilities to the fullest. Ares, who used to be all by himself and an "ares" in every sense of the word, had been running around looking for that partner. He had literally been searching all over the world. And he finally found one at Tokyo Butei High—me in hysteria mode. I wasn't able to tap into that power at will, but even so, I was the partner who could be a match for a prodigy like Ares.
"Say, Kinoka."
"What?"
"Hehe. Never mind."
"God, you're a pain."
I get really annoyed by how when we're walking. Ares occasionally turns around to make sure that I'm there, and then, sending the jacket of his uniform whirling around, he continues on his merry way.
"Ares, you're not going to look for any other partners aside from me? Wouldn't it be a good idea to include two or three more people and form a bigger party?
I'd love to have them be the ones to babysit this kid.
"We don't need any teammates. I don't work well in groups."
I'm aware.
"I can fight on my own anyway. I just have to have a partner who can keep up with me. Once your training is complete, there won't be anything to worry about. You're the only one I need."
Ah, shit. That means I gotta be the one to look out for him?
Just contemplating that fact was giving me a headache, and I said as much.
"... My head's starting to hurt. It's all because you beat me to a pulp."
"So take some Aspirin."
"The only thing I take for headaches or colds is Yamato Pharmaceutical's 'Extra Concentrated Kuzdu Infusion.'"
"Extra Concentrated ...? What's that?"
"It means a high concentration of ingredients used in herbal medicine. It's made up of various Chinese medicines like kudzu and ephedra."
"You sound like an old geezer. Go and take that then. I'll be putting more lumps on your head tomorrow."
"I just happen to be out at the moment ... And they only sell it a Ameyoko. It's a real hassle going all the way out there. I get it at a drug store between Ueno and Okachi-machi, and there aren't any train stations nearby."
"Kinoka." Ares, who didn't seem to have been listening to my grumbling, suddenly stopped in front of the educational affairs department. "Look at this."
"...What?" I asked, looking at the bulletin board to which Ares pointed.
"Attention, Second Year Class B Shiro Hotogi of SSR. Come to the educational affairs department."
Shiro had been called to the educational affairs department. That was something you didn't see everyday. He was an honor students with a student deviation value of seventy-five, the student body president, president of the horticulture club, captain of the boys' volleyball team. Aside from the bizarre incident with Ares a few days ago, he led the life of a model student. I never would have thought Shiro would be called to the educational affairs department.
"Ares, did you make a complain about Shiro assaulting you the other day?"
"I'm a nobleman," said Ares, glaring at me with his red eyes, "I wouldn't do something as cowardly as snitch to a teacher about private matters—even if someone did pick a fight with me. What do you take me for?"
Well, well. That's very admirable for someone like Ares.
I was a little impressed. Ares placed a small finger on his lips and started musing to himself..
"Kinoka, this is the perfect chance to keep that savage girl away from you," said Ares, taking his own savageness up a few notches and looking up at me intently from beneath my chin.
"We're going to investigate this matter and find out what his weakness is."
Didn't you just say something about noblemen not being cowardly?
"His weakness ...? Why? Shiro hasn't come near us since then."
"Yes, he has!"
Huh?
"Lately, whenever I'm alone, I can feel the presence of someone behind doors. It feels like someone is watching me from the shadows. Telephone lines have been cut apart as if they were bugged."
...
"Water is dumped on me when I walk through the hallways on school grounds. Blow darts come flying at me out of nowhere. I tumble into pitfalls!"
... Whoa. Wait a second ...
"I also received letters with the word "home wrecker" written on them. Anyways, that boy is constantly harassing me! How blind can you be to not have noticed?! You're so incompetent!"
"So that's what was going on ..."
"And that's not the end of it."
It's not?
"When I opened my locker in the boy's locker room the other day, there was piano wire strung across inside! He knows that because of ... certain physical limitations, I have to go dep inside my locker to get my clothes, and he set the wire up so it would be level with my neck!"
Now that ... I can't laugh at.
So basically, as soon as Ares dove into his locker, he would have lost his head. The only people who learned how to set up brutal traps like that were seniors in the Assault division or those in the Lezzad (intelligence) division.
"Kinoka, the time Shiro is supposed to report to the educational affairs department is posted here. Let's ..." I was knitting my crows when Ares, seething with anger, gave me the most terrifying order out of all those he'd given me since I first met her. "... sneak into the educational affairs department while he's there."
There were dangers lurking in every single inch of Butei High, but among them were particularly hazardous areas known as "the three great danger zones." These would be Assault, Junction (underground warehouse), and the educational affairs department (a simple, staff room for teachers) such a dangerous person? The answer is simple. Every single teacher at Butei High is a dangerous person. What do you expect? Teachers at a school this abnormal are guaranteed to be abnormal themselves. To put things into perspective, as far as I know, they were all previously soldiers in the special operation forces for various countries, mercenaries, mafia members ... There are even rumors that some of them were hit men. The list goes on. They're a band of people with career fistories I wish I had never known. Of course, there are some respectable teachers at the Inquesta and Connect (communications) division, but they're such a minority that it's really quite sad.
"Kinoka, my hands won't reach. Lift me up," whispered Lord Ares as he and his slave (me) were infiltrating the lion's den., a.k.a. the educational affairs department.
"Alright, alright."
If I had refused go along with his plan, Ares would have given me a thrashing before opening a hole in me. If that were the case, it would be better to have a teacher before opening a hole in me. They would probably make it quick. That sad logic is what propelled me to go along with Ares' plan of sneaking into the educational affairs department. As I tried to keep my conscience distracted, I helped Ares reach the air duct attached to the ceiling of a hallway. If I had lifted Ares up in my arms, he would have just made comments about me molesting his again, so I put both of my hands on his sides and lifted him up like a little child.
"Ooh, look how tall you are," I said under my breath, not really caring about the consequences.
"Gonna open a hole!" Ares responded as his knee, covered in black knee socks, dug itself ten inches into the pit of my stomach.
"Ngh!"
Paying no attention to my agony, Ares did a pul-up and climbed into the ceiling. Just when I though the section of Ares' legs between his pants and his knees socks, or what Muto referred to as "absolute territory, flashed by my eyes, his foot used my head as a steppingstone and he crawled all the way inside. Taking Ares' hand, I climbed up as well, and we noisily crept our way forward. With my master's ponytail dragging along and pants right in front of my face, I became aware of the slight risk of going into hysteria mode, but luckily it was dark inside of the air duct. I couldn't even see the "absolute territory," let alone the pants. After proceeding a bit farther, I noticed Ares was crawling awfully fast. I was barely able to keep up with him as he turned the corner.
"Ares."
"What?"
"Your crawling speed is pretty fast."
"I'm good at it. I'm the fastest boy in Assault."
"I figured as much."
"Why?"
"There's nothing to get in your way, after all."
"Like what?"
"Crotch."
Wham!
From around the corner, Ares' kangaroo kick found its way to the side of my head. His foot sank in about ten inches.
We found Shiro. He was in the office of the teacher that summoned him. The two of us peered inside from the thin openings of an air vent. Given its size, we wound up peeking into the office with our faces practically pressed against each other. If Ares were show disgust or get upset at the, shall I say, "joining of our bodies," I would start feeling awkward too. So I distanced my face for his a little and cast his a quick glance. The light seeping in from the vent shone on Ares' face, which I was seeing at point-blank range.
Aah, hell.
He was so cute, I nearly clicked my tongue in resentment. It was infuriating to admit, but Ares really did have an adorable face. It had features as well-formed as that of a doll's, but it was also rich with expressions. Whether it was a look of hapiness, sadness, or even one of concentration like how he had on now, they all tugged at your heartstrings. He had the power of a Hollywood child actor. It was so unfair.
"Hotogi ..."
The voice that called Shiro's name was somewhat high for a man's. Inside the office was the head teacher for Class B of the second year students, Mr. Tsuzuri was a teacher belonging to the Dagula (interrogation) division, and he was sitting in a black, leather chair with his legs crossed, wearing lace-up boots. Shiro was sitting in a chair across from Mr. Tsuzuri with his head hanging down.
"Your grades suddenly started dropping recently ..."
Despite being indoors, Mr. Tsuzuri was wearing a dark black coat, and he blew out cigarette smoke in the form of a ring. The manner in which he wore his coat reminded me of how slovenly doctors in manga wear their white coats. I could see the black, leather holster around the waist and the deep-black gun that rested inside it—a Glock 18. Among the teachers at our schools, Tsuzuri was at the head of the list for dangerous people. First off, he always had glassy eyes. It was like he was on some sort of drug all year round. I mean, the grass-like smell coming from his cigarette was clearly different from the smell that commercial cigarettes gave off. I had to wonder if it was something a person could legally smoke in Japan. Tsuzuri had thin, black leather gloves over his hands and using one of them, put out the "cigarette" in an ashtray.
"Well, your studies aren't that important though," Tsuzuri said with a yawn.
Hey. A teacher isn't supposed to say things like that. This is why Butei High students' average deviation value doesn't get any higher than fifty.
"What was it? Uhh. Oh, right. Change. Change gets you wondering."
Tsuzuri, with a brain capable of forgetting a simple word like that, and an expression that read as complete apathy, was definitely someone not to be trifled with. But there was one thing at which he was frighteningly adept at as a butei.
Interrogation.
With regard to his skill in that field, he is one of the five most talented people in Japan. It was unclear what he did to the people he questioned, but when interrogated by Tsuzuri, even the most tight-lipped criminals had confessed everything. Apparently, by the time the interrogation was over, the criminal went insane and called his "King" or "God," but I wasn't really sure what that was all about. Tsuzuri shook his head, tossing around his jet-black, bobbed hair.
"I'm going to get right to the point. Hotogi ... did that person make contact with you by any chance?"
"You're referring to Durandal?"
Ares' eyebrows twitched upon hearing what Shiro said.
Durandal.
I'd only seen that name in the notification that was e-mailed to us, but I remembered it as well. If I recall, Durandal was a kidnapper that targeted buteis with supernatural abilities—chouteis.
But Durandal's very existence has been considered to be a rumor for some time now. No one has actually seen Durandal. The majority thinks the chouteis, who were said to be abducted, actually went mission while working on an unrelated case. As things stood, Durandal was just an urban legend that nobody took seriously.
"Nothing of that sort has happened. Quite frankly, even if Durandal does actually exist, I'm sure he would target more powerful chouteis instead of somebody like me."
"Hotogi, have more confidence in yourself. You're the pride of our school, you know?"
"T-That's not true," said Shiro, lowering his gaze in embarrassment and hiding behind his perfectly straight bangs.
"Hotogi, I've told you time and time again. Get a bodyguard. A report came from Lezzad mentioned there's a high chance Durandal is targeting you. The same thing was predicted at SSR, right?"
"But ... a bodyguard ..."
"What's the problem," slurred Tsuzuri as he wrapped up some odd grass in what seemed to be a page he ripped out of an English to Japanese dictionary and bound the paper together with a lick of his tongue.
"There's a childhood friend of mine I want to look after ... and if someone were to follow me around everywhere, it would be kind of ..."
"Hotogi, we teaches are worried about you. The Adsiard is taking place soon, so there will be more people on campus than usual. Even if it's only for the duration of the event, have a capable butei that doesn't even exist."
"This is an order. I said it twice because this is important. You will regret it if I have to say it a third time," said Tsuzuri, lighting his cigarette and blowing smoke in Shiro's face.
Hey, Tsuzuri. I don't care what happens to you, but what are you gonna do if Shiro loses any more brain cells.
"*Cough*. Y-yes Sir. I understand."
Shiro squinted his eyes as the smoke came near them and finally nodded his consent.
...
Taking the conversation we just overheard into account, it made sense why Shiro was called to the educational affairs department. Shiro, a choutei, had recently been receiving warnings from teachers that Durandal might be targeting him. That was why the educational affairs department wanted him to get a bodyguard. But Shiro had persistently refused. You could say I agreed with him regarding the bodyguard. At Butei High, students were often given warnings just like these, but there were rarely any actual instances of said students being attacked. SSR's predictions couldn't really be trusted to begin with, and Lezzad was famous for generation rumors. Moreover, the enemy this time was Durandal, whose very existence was doubtful. On other words, the educational affairs department was being overprotective. Being the excellent student that he was, Shiro had a lot of expectations placed upon him. If there was even a slight possibility of anything happening to him, the educational affairs department would take no chances. That's why they're overreacting to this unconfirmed information and ordering Shiro to have a bodyguard. Shiro is the one to empathize with here. It must be really bothersome having your life disrupted for the convenience of adults. Just as I was starting to put a wry expression on my face, I was startled by the noise of Ares punching open the air vent.
"Wha-? Hey!"
I grabbed onto the hem of his shirt in an attempt to stop him, but a few kicks in my direction set him free, and he jumped down into the office with his shirt fluttering wildly. Shiro, Tsuzuri, and I had a look of shock on our faces. I couldn't see from up here, but I'm pretty sure his shirt turned up a lot farther than what would be deemed appropriate.
"I'll be his bodyguard!"
Taken aback by Ares' words, I couldn't help bot lean forward...
"Whoaa?!" I screamed as I fell towards Ares.
"Uaah!"
"Oof!"
Ares was a flat as a pancake for a moment, but he threw me off soon enough.
"K-K-Kinoka! Don't press that idiotic face of yours against me! Especially not there!"
While Ares was yelling at me with a deep red face, Tsuzuri lifted him off the floor by the back of his collar. As I was getting up, I was suddenly lifted up by the front of my colar as well, and Tsuzuri threw both of us against the wall.
I can't believe how insanely strong he is.
"Hmm? What do we have here?" asked Tsuzuri, squatting down and looking into our faces. "Well I'll be. It's the two lovebirds from that hijacking incident the other day."
Tsuzuri inhaled deeply on his cigarette and audibly cracked his neck twice with a faint smile on his lips as he looked up diagonally into the air. This gesture of his was a dangerous sign.
And don't call us lovebirds.
"If it isn't Ares H. Kanzaki. Dual Government pistols and two short katanas. Alias: Quadra. An S-rank butei who was active in Europe. But it looks like all of your exploits are officially recorded as achievements of the London Bureau of Butei. It's because you don't know how to cooperate with others, you dolt."
Tsuzuri grabbed Ares' ponytail by its base and continued discussing his profile while getting a good look at his face.
"T-That hurts. And I'm not a dolt. Noblemen don't boast of their exploits. Even if others claim them for their own, we won't deny it!" answered Ares, unflinching and bearing his cuspid.
"Is that so? You only wind up losing out with that sort of social status. I'm glad I'm a commoner. There was something else ... Oh, right. You can't sw-"
"Aaaaah!"
Tsuzuri was about to say something, but Ares flung his arms around and cut his off with a loud shriek. Additionally, he had turned bright red and his mouth was rapidly opening and closing.
Sw? What's that?
"T-T-That's not a weakness of mine! I'm fine if I just play put a ring buoy on!"
Oh. Ares, you just gave it away.
Shiro, who was still stunned by the sudden commotion, didn't seem to pick up on it, but I understood perfectly.
You can't swim. Haha. I just learned something useful. Good job, Tsuzuri!
"And over here ..." Tsuzuri let go of panicky Ares and looked at me, who was imagining Ares drowning in a kiddie pool, "... we have Kinji Tohyama."
"Shit! Um ... I didn't want to come here, but Ares went and ..."
"Unsociable personality. You have a tendency to distance yourself from others."
It would seem that Tsuzuri had data on every student here in that head of his, which he was using to recall information on me.
"However, there are many students in Assault who regard you quite highly, and it's believed that you possess some type of latent talent. If I'm not mistaken, the cases you've solved are ... searching for a cat in Aomi, the hijacking of ANA flight 600 ... Why is everything you do on such a small or grand scale?"
"Don't ask me."
"Your weapon is a illegally customized Beretta M92F."
Uh-oh.
"It's capable of firing in three-round burst or even full automatic. Why don't we just call it the "Kinoka Model"?
"Uh, the thing is ... it was destroyed during the hijacking incident. Currently, I'm using a cheap model I brought from the U.S. armed forces. It's in conformation with the law of course."
"Oh? I'll bet you've already asked the Armed (Equipment) division to customize it for you, haven't you?"
*Sizzle*
"Ow!"
Tsuzuri, showing me the feat of being able to laugh while angry, had just pressed the end of his cigarette into my hand! Unbelievable. It was just for an instant so there was no burn mark, but what teacher would dare give his student a cigarette burn?! In any event, this lady seemed to know everything.
"So? What exactly do you mean by 'I'll be his bodyguard'?"
Ares scrambled to his feet as Tsuzuri turned towards him.
"I meant just what I said. I'll be Shiro's bodyguard twenty-four hours a day with no remuneration!"
"Hey, Ares ...!"
Why are you volunteering to be Shiro's bodyguard? If anything, you'd be one to assault him.
That's what I communicated with me eyes, but Ares had made up his mind.
"... Hotogi, I'm not sure what's going on, but it looks like and S-rank butei is willing to guard you for free," said Tsuzuri, sending the hem of his coat flapping as he turned towards Shiro.
"I ... I refuse! It would be appalling to have Ares next to me all the time!"
The brows under Shiro's perfectly straight bangs furrowed with anger, showing me the exact reaction I expected.
"If you don't let me by your bodyguard, I going to shoot this girl!" declared Ares, pulling a silver Government out from inside his brown pants and placing the muzzle against my temple.
H-Hey! Butei Charter, Article Nine! Article Nine! Buteis aren't supposed to kill people, Ares!
"K-Kin-chan!" cried Shiro, placing both hands over his mouth.
Ares had an evil smile on his face that seemed to indicate everything was going according to plan.
"Hmmm. I see. So that's the relationship you all have. Well? What are you going to do Hotogi?"
I don't know what Tsuzuri found amusing about all of this but he smiling openly.
That's not the issue, is it? Do something about this gun in my face!
"O-O-On one condition!" Shiro exclaimed with clenched fists beside his thighs and his teary eyes closed tight. "Kin-chan has to act as my bodyguard too! Twenty-four hours a day!
Shiro's tearful voice echoed within the office.
"I'm ... I'm going to live with Kin-chan too!"
Something possessing a shape very similar to myself flew out of my body.
End of Second Bullet
Third Bullet
Caged Bird
Being a bodyguard is one of the most popular jobs for a butei. Normally, it involves guarding VIPs suck as politicians, celebrities, company directors, or their children, but occasionally, there are times when a butei guards another butei whose life is threatened. For the most part, the bodyguard will live with the person he or she is guarding, but in this case, the client—Shiro—has conversely expressed a strong desire to live at my place. Well, I had absolutely no intention of living in a boy's dormitory, which is essentially a field of hysteria mode landmines, so this was the better option, but .. I didn't think he'd be moving in the very next day.
"Muto-chan, is really okay for you to do this for free? I should at least pay for gasoline ..." Shiro offered.
"Don't sweat it! This is nothing!"
Muto, who for some reason, spoke so formally to Shiro despite being in the same grade, got off Logi's mini-truck, which she used to bring Shiro here. She then began unloading his things in such a robotic fashion that I found it sickening to watch.
... Was Muto always the type to enjoy physical labor this much?
"Um ... if my memory serves me correctly, this is the third girl's dormitory, isn't it?" asked Muto
"Uh ... yeah," replied Shiro.
"Were you planning on using an empty apartment for storage or something? It that's the case, feel free to call me when you move everything back to the boy's dormitory! While we're at it, when we're finished here, how about getting some tea or something to eat ...?"
"Ah, Kin-chan!"
Shiro's face lit up as he saw me coming out of the lobby.
Muto, who had started to say something, looked at Shiro, then at me, then at Shiro again, and a question mark formed over her spikey hair.
"Kin ... Tohyama?"
"Muto-chan, the thing is, as of today I'm going to be living in Kin-cha ... Tohyama-chan's apartment."
"Ki-Kinoka's apartment?"
"Just so you know, it's part of my job." I said. "I was chosen to be Shiro's bodyguard. It's Ares' fault. Don't go around telling people."
Having heard my explanation, Muto could do nothing but gape at me speechless.
What kind of reaction is that?
I was the one who should be speechless. I have to live with two male beasts that could go on a rampage at the drop of a hat. When I returned to my apartment, which still looked like a battlefield, Ares was in the living room tinkering with the window. Taking a closer look, I could see was setting up an infrared sensor that they sold at the school store.
"What are you doing?"
"Can't you tell by looking? I'm fortifying this apartment."
"Don't!"
"You're a butei. What are you getting all excited about? We have to make sure we're alert to any enemies who approach our client. So much stuff around here is broken anyway. It makes things easier."
"You're the one who broke everything."
"Okay. All that's left is the skylight."
Ares magnificently ignored my protests and proceeded to install an infrared sensor on the window above the desk. Unfortunately for him, at 142 centimeters, he didn't reach. He stretched out his hand as far as he could, and a metal washtub fell down directly onto his head.
That's what you get.
"I-I'm l-letting myself i-in ..." came Shiro's voice from the doorway as he entered the apartment. He took off his Butei High issued strap shoes, and after neatly placing them by the door, bowed his upper body by ninety degrees, displaying a bright, glossy ring of light that was reflected in his long, black hair.
"S-Starting today, I'll be in your care. My name is Shiro Hotogi."
I know.
"I-I have my imperfections, but I hope we get along!"
"Shiro ... what are you getting all worked up for? It's not like this is the first time you're been here."
"Ah ... when I think of how I'm going to be living in your apartment, I just get so nervous," said Shiro, smiling bashfully.
Nervous? The other day, you were swinging a katana around in here.
"Um, since I'm moving in, I'll clean the place while I'm at it. After all, I am the one who made a mess of it in the first place."
Shiro quickly scuttled towards the kitchen where Ares was setting up a surveillance camera and glared as him with sanpaku eyes.
"Hehe. I'll have to get rid of the large-sized garbage as well."
He quickly reverted back to his usual smile he always wore and his sweet voice, as melodious as bell.
... No comment.
Or so I thought at first.
"No piano wire, okay?" I warned, remembering the death trap that had been set up in Ares' locker.
Shiro opened his eyes wide, waving his long eyelashes.
"Piano wire? What do you mean?"
... Feigning innocence, huh?
But thinking it over, I decided not to get any further involved in their battle. I was bound to live longer that way.
Much unlike Ares, who never did anything that could fall under the category of a household chore, Shiro's skills in doing housework could only be defined as godly. I couldn't even get motivated enough to clean up this landfill that was my apartment, but Shiro quickly disposed of all the junk, rigorously vacuumed everywhere, sealed all the holes in the walls and floor with putty, and replaced the carpet. He had the whole apartment cleaned up in less than three hours. To top it all off, he even decorated the place with a flower arrangement of Gypsophila and greenhouse cultivated Large Pink.
"... Wow ..." I whispered to myself as I sat down by the wall Shiro's paulownia wood chest with something, Shiro refused to let me saying, "I can't let you do that!" so this type of heavy labor was the only thing I could do. Just then, seeing Shiro go into the kitchen, Ares walked up to me.
"Kinoka, make sure you also check that chest for any dangerous items."
"Dangerous items? This is one of Shiro's personal belongings."
"There's always the chance that someone slipped something inside it on its way here."
"Ares ... that's what's known as fear aroused from suspicion."
"Butei Charter, Article Seven: Always prepare for the worst scenario and take the best action. I'm going to cordon off the balcony so I'll be busy. You be sure to inspect that drawer or else later there's gonna be a hole opening festival."
I've never heard of such a dangerous festival.
"Okay, okay."
"One 'okay' will suffice!"
I watched Ares reproachfully as he stopped out into the balcony with a toolbox in hand and reluctantly inspected the exterior of the chest of drawers. Naturally, there was nothing dangerous to be found. I selected a drawer and opened it to find cosmetics and other various items. I proceed to the next drawer.
"...?"
Inside were many bundles of cloths, the purpose of which I couldn't guess. Each one was folded up very neatly, and they were all packed together in an orderly fashion like candies of assorted colors in a gift box. Some of them had a small ribbon attached to them.
"...?"
Two wooden tags labeled "plain" and "battle" divided the bundles of cloths into two sections. The ones in the "plain" section were all pure white, while the ones in the "battle" section were black.
Battle? So these are some kind of armaments?
I took one of the suspicious bundles into my hands. Judging from the black cloth's sheen, I presumed it to be one-hundred percent silk. It was as thin as a piece of string, and the triangular portion at the bottom was adorned with an elegant torchon lace. I spread apart the semitransparent cloth...
"...!"
Shoving the black cloth back into the drawer, I slammed it shut.
Dangerous items ... They were inside.
To be more precise, they were items that posed a danger to me. All of the bundles of cloths in the drawer ... they were all underwear! What's more, they were probablyrisqué pieces of lingerie like G-strings and low-rise briefs and the like—just like those my sister had told me about it when she was alive.
That Shiro ...
He was always acting like a modest, graceful, ideal Japanese man ... but behind the scenes, he was wearing that kind of underwear? Now that I think about it, there was that time when I happened to see down his pants and he was wearing something black that didn't fit the image of an honor student.
T-This is bad. Don't do it, Kinji. If you go into hysteria mode over something like this, that just makes you a pervert!
"Ah, Kin-chan, I'm sorry about that. It's my drawer, but you brought it up for me, didn't you."
I spun around in surprise at being called from behind. Before I realized it, Shiro had walked up fairly close to me. Shiro, who cheerfully took off a pair of cream-colored mittens, must have planned on cooking after he finished cleaning because he was wearing a frilly apron over his uniform.
"Oh, i-it was nothing. Let me help out with the heavy stuff at least."
"Thank you, Kin-chan ... You really are strong, aren't you? Such a lady."
Shiro was smiling at me happily. Apparently, he didn't see what I was doing just a moment ago. Seeing Shiro in that apron and shorts, my eyes couldn't help but noticed the elegant, male curve of his waist. Unlike Ares' underdeveloped figure. Shiro was somewhat famous for having proportions you wouldn't normally expect to see on a high-school boy. According to the idiots in my class who spied on the boys during their swimming lessons, Shiro in a swimsuit was on par with a speedo model.
This isn't good. I think I might start to envision Shiro in his "battle garbs." Even it he is a childhood friend, if that image enters my head, it's all over.
The very thought of it was unnerving.
"... Uhh ... let's see. I'll leave the bodyguarding to Ares for a while. I'm gonna step outside for a bit."
"Huh? Where are you going?"
"J-Just outside. Don't be so nosey," I said agitatedly and in a hurry to get out of there.
"Ah ... right. I was prying. I'm sorry," Shiro said, bowing in panic.
It's times like these that his obedient nature comes in handy.
I didn't have a particular place in mind so I went to kill time at Roxie, the one and only family restaurant on Academy Island. I was sitting at a table when I heard the tune used during the Ar-kata coming from my cell phone.
"Hey, you!"
A small fist hammered me on the forehead. Removing my earphones, I looked up the see Ares beside the table with his arms crossed.
"What are you slacking off for, Kinoka?!"
"There's a ... reason for this. Why did you leave the apartment?
"I came in search of deserters while I was doing some shopping. I have a legitimate reason to be here," said Ares, producing two handcuffs from inside his shorts. Those handcuffs, which were made of pure silver and had Latin runes inscribed on their surface, were anti-esper handcuffs. I had seen them before at the student store and remember staggering when I noticed the high price for which they sold.
"I'm hardly a deserter. More importantly, how could you leave Shiro alone?"
"Reki's watching over him."
"Reki?"
"I asked for his help. I'm having his guard Shiro from a distance," said Ares, plopping down only the seat across from me.
Reki.
His last name is unknown. That alone makes his incredibly suspicious, but in addition to that he was taciturn, expressionless, and emotionless—three traits that made him a veritable robot. He was also the student in the Snipe division who helped us resolve that bus-jacking incident a while back. In terms of skill, he's a child prodigy who has been as S-rank butei since his freshman year, but he has a habit of sitting on the school roof with his knees pulled up to his chest all day and was always listening to God knows what with those huge headphones of his. Understanding Ares is way easier compared Reki. He was harder to figure out than Ares.
... So you got Reki involved, huh?
When Ares said Reki was watching over Shiro, I immediately had an image of Reki adjusting his lining of Shiro in the sights of his scope.
"He'll only be doing it part-time though. He said he's going to be participating in the Adsiard as a representative of Japan for the sniping competition, so he'll be pretty busy. We can can only use him for a limited amount of time. Not to mention, snipers aren't normally suited for bodyguarding. That's why you and I have to do a good job of guarding Shiro. Hello?! Are you listening to me?!"
"S-Stop pulling my ear! I was just thinking about Reki is all. I'm listening. Besides ... I doubt anybody is targeting Shiro anyway. Hire anyone you want."
"Take this seriously, Kinji. This is an official mission."
"Why did you suddenly say you wanted to be Shiro's bodyguard anyway? That's what I wanna know."
It was something I wanted to ask since yesterday, and after posing the question in an angry manner, Ares ... started to methodically wink his eyes a number of times.
He was making winking signals. It was a signal buteis used when relaying information that shouldn't be heard by the people around them. I deciphered the winks, which were similar to Morse code.
Durandal's ... wiretapping ... danger? What's that supposed to mean?
Ares signed for me to come closer so I leaned over the table and pricked up my ears. He began whispering in my ear so closely that I could feel my breath.
What is with this girl? Even his breath has a nice, bittersweet smell.
"Durandal is one of the people who used my mom as a scapegoat. The master swordsman I mentioned to you during our morning training the other day is probably Durandal. If we can arrest him when he comes for Shiro, my mother's sentence will be reduced to six hundred and thirty-five years, and if everything goes well, we might be able to get the case remanded to the High Court."
Oh. I see now. So that's what this is about. No wonder his attitude changed the second he heard Durandal's name at the educational affairs department.
I was getting a firm grasp on the situation when my cell phone rang, making it seem as if our conversation actually was being overheard.
"?"
I tugged on the Leopon strap and looked at my cell phone.
Oh. It's just Shiro.
"Hello?"
"Kin-chan, dinner will be ready soon. I tried my hand at Chinese cuisine today."
"Okay. I got it. I'll be back soon."
"Okay. I'll be waiting. But if you're with a friend or anyone, you can come later."
"Sure ..."
If I tell her that I'm with Ares, he's probably going to be in a bad mood again.
"I'm not with anyone. I'll be right there."
"What you mean? I'm here," Ares said.
"K-Kin-chan? I just heard Ares' voice . . ."
Gah! Ares, take a hint!
"Uhh ... Ares just walked by right now."
"What are you talking about? We've been talking together the whole time. Ares you stupid?" came Ares' voice again.
"... Kin-chan ..." Along with Shiro's voice, which became somewhat frightening, I heard a kitchen knife cleanly slicing though a white radish or something of that nature. "... why are you lying to me?"
W-What's with this voice?! It's like something out of a horror film!
"Ah, yeah, you got it! I'll be there right away!"
Slamming my cell phone shut, I turned towards Ares, the boy who can't read between the lines, and yanked on his ponytail. He cried out just like little boy, which made me feel slightly better. A few seconds later, he gave me a high-flying drop kick in retaliation though.
We return to the apartment to find plate after plate of Chinese dishes lined up on the dinner table. It was an assortment of fried rice with crab, stir-fried shrimp in chili sauce, sweet-and-sour pork, gyoza, mini-ramen, and even abalone with oyster sauce. It was nothing less than a Manchu Han Imperial Feast. And they were all my favorite foods. I sat at the table, and still wearing an apron over his uniform, Shio gracefully walked up beside me, carrying a tray with Jasmine tea on it. When I looked up at Shiro, he was busily tidying up his bangs. I think it was a habit of his.
"G-Go ahead and eat. I made it all just for you."
It looked like he wasn't going to dat until I did, so I helped myself to the sweet-and-sour pork. Indeed, the meat was delectable. I was the unmistakable taste of delicious pork. Its rich, sweet-and-sour taste softly enveloped my tongue. Shiro's cooking skills knew no bounds. The difference between Shiro and Ares, whose hands became an utter, drippy mess just from attempting to fry an egg and failing to do so in the end, was as large as the difference the land and the sky. No, it was as different as the stratosphere and the Japan Trench.
"Is ... is it good?"
"It's great."
Hearing my answer, Shiro looked as if he couldn't be happier and hid the lower half of his face with the tray. He whispered, "I'm so glad, dear," under his breath, and I wondered who it was he was fantasizing about. But what was really bothering me was the fact that the food was so tasty, and yet it didn't really feel like I was eating when I was being stared at so intently.
"Shiro, you sit down and eat too. Why are you always trying to take care of me?"
"T-That's because .. you're Kin-chan."
"That's not an answer."
".. I-I guess not," replied Shiro with a wry smile and taking his place at the table. Aside from Shiro, Ares sat with his arms crossed and a bulging vein on his temple.
"So? Why aren't there any plates in front of me?"
"This is yours," said Shiro with a voice as icy as the Antarctics and placed a bowl in front of Ares. In the bowl was a pair of wooden chopsticks standing in a lump of white rice. And the chopsticks hadn't even been split apart.
"Why?!"
"If you have a problem with it, I'll dismiss you from being my bodyguard."
Shiro coldly turned his back on Ares, and Ares, after a few moments of gritting his teeth, gobbled down his rice like a ravenous animal.
I, wanting to watch Sunday Western Movie Theater, and Ares, wanting to watch the two-hour special of Amazing Animals, were gripping each other's faces as we fought over the TV remote when Shiro came into the living room with some sort of card game.
"Kin-chan, um ... these are called priest tarot cards ..."
"Priest tarot ... fortune-telling?"
"Yeah. I'll read your fortune. You seemed to be worried about the future."
"Oh? Let's give it a try then."
Shiro's divinations often came true, so I had nothing to lose by listening. Since Ares was biologically male, he seemed to have an interest in the fortune-telling stuff and divinations, so after voicing his interest, he set the HDD recorder to record his animal show and joined us at the table.
If you don't mind recording it, then stop being so stubborn and let me watch my show.
"Kin-chan, what kind of fortune do you want told? Love? Money? Romance? Health? Love affairs?"
"Hmm ... Let's go with my future. Tell me what I'm going to be doing in a few years."
Upon hearing my request, Shiro clicked his tongue but quickly smiled like an angel and replied, "Sure thing." He placed the cards face down in the shape of a star and then began turning some of them over.
So am I going to be able to become a respectable human being? Will I be able to transfer to a regular high school and get a job at an ordinary company or government office?
Even if it were just a divination, I wanted to know at least that much.
"Well? asked Ares, and I saw a slightly stern expression on Shiro's face.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Huh? Ah ... nothing. You're overall luck is very good. Isn't that great, Kin-chan?"
"What? Is that it? Can't you tell me something more concrete?"
"Ah, um, you're going to marry someone with black hair. Wouldn't that be something," Shiro said with a smile that looked rather forced.
What was that all about? I wonder what he really saw. It's really nagging at the back my bind.
"Okay, I'm next!" Ares, unable to restrain himself, nearly climbed onto the table, and from the looks of things, my turn had quickly come to an end. He gathered the cards together and pushed them towards Shiro, demanding that he hurry. "I don't have to tell you my birthday and anything? I'm a Virgo."
"Really? You don't seem like one."
Ares' expression showed that he was quite peeved by the comment, but he sat in a proper Japanese fashion and waited for the results. With an extremely unwilling look on his face, Shiro lined up the cards and turned one over.
"You overall luck can only be described as horrendous," Shiro said as apathetically as possible and started gathering up the cards.
He obviously didn't divine anything.
"Hey! Do it right! You're a shrine priest, aren't you?!"
"You're complaining about my divination?! I won't stand for this!"
"You wanna settle this by more physical means?"
The two of them began glaring at each other fiercely.
T-This is bad.
"If you want to go at it, that's fine with me. I didn't use it the last time because the Hotogi family forbids it, but I still have an ace up my sleeve," said Shiro, knitting the brows under his perfectly straight bangs, and to this, Ares responded by standing up.
"I also have a ... two aces up my sleeve!"
"I have three!"
"Then I have four!"
"Five!"
"Tons!"
"For crying out ... would you two pipe down?! Why can't the two of you just do one little divination peacefully?!"
In the future, it really should be the stance of nations to prevent war before it happens. I used my hands to physically separate them before the situation escalated into something I couldn't handle.
"Bleeeah." Ares pulled down his lower eyelid with his forefinger and stuck out his tongue. Then, sulking, he shut himself up in his room.
Beeep. Gagagaga.
The transceiver I borrowed from Connect the other day to make sure no suspicious radio waves were being transmitted around the apartment started to activate. Scratching the back of my head, I turned towards Shiro ... who was looking quite sullen as well.
"... I don't mean to say bad things about Ares behind his back, but," said Shiro, deftly gathering up the cards, "he's cute but he's annoying. And he doesn't understand you at all. He's always so rude to you. All the girls say Ares' cute but ... I don't like him."
He said it all in one breath. It was the first time I had ever heard Shiro speak ill of another person. He cast a quick upward glance at me. In other words ... he was waiting for me to give my opinion of Ares.
"Ares ...?"
To tell the truth, I just made a little discovery about Ares and Shiro. I wasn't sure whether or not I should mention it now though and put out some feelers.
"Say, do you really ... dislike Ares?"
"... Huh?"
"I mean ... how should I put this? You're pretty straightforward with Ares, wouldn't you say? When it's me, you always act so suspiciously. Not only that ... well, I might be off the mark here but ... I don't think I've ever seen you express your emotions so openly before."
"..."
"It kind of seems like the way you act towards Ares is more like the real you than the way you act towards me and everyone else ... you know? Don't get me wrong. I'd prefer if you didn't fight with anyone. It's just that, even when you two are fighting, there seems to be something between you guys that just clicks, don't you think?"
As a rule, Shiro is the type of person who listens to others. And listening to others is a good thing. That's how the world sees it. That's why everyone regards Shiro so highly. Naturally, the teachers, who don't know anything about the Shiro that goes into armored priest mode, and fond of him, and he's relied upon by all the students—both guys and girls. But there's also a problem with this personality that causes him to act so obediently, but he isn't expressing his true intentions. However, I get the feeling that when Ares is involved, Shiro engages him with his true intentions surging out all over the place. I could be misinterpreting the whole thing, or course.
There was a brief silence.
"... Kin-chan ..." said Shiro, tilting his head down slightly and lowering his eyes under those perfectly straight bangs, "you really do know me well, don't you."
"Well, you know. We've been together since we were kids. There were long periods of times we spent apart though."
"You probably understand me better than I understand myself."
Shiro's voice had become softer than it was previously, and resituating himself, he inconspicuously moved closer to me.
"Ares .. came storming right into our private world—just like a bullet."
Was there such a world?
... is what I was thinking, but I didn't interject so as not to disrupt the flow of the conversation.
"I came as him with everything I had ... and he took it all head on without retreating a single step. It's just like you said. I do dislike him, on the whole. But in a certain aspect ... I do think he's an amazing boy."
Hmm. As I thought, it isn't he simply dislike Ares. The feelings he has towards him are more complex than that.
"But that's exactly why ... I don't want him to take you away from me. That boy has a certain charm about him."
"... No one's taking anyone anywhere. I said this before, but Ares and I are fellow buteis. When our job is done, we're just going to say our goodbyes like regular teammates. Ares' not a childhood friend like you are."
"Childhood friend ... That's right," Shiro said with her face lighting up. He must have been using some kind of special movement because before I realized it, he had slid up right beside me without changing his posture at all.
Hold up, there. Our shoulders are practically touching. In fact, they are.
"You've known me for so long. That fact makes me so happy. I remember it all—all the way back to those days when I had never even left Hotogi Shrine before ..."
Shiro was rapt with memories as he spoke and tilted his head in my direction. His black hair, glossy as strands of silk, fell against my arm. I could faintly smell the pleasant scent of sandalwood.
"Aah ... now that you mention it, there was a time like that, wasn't there."
When I was about four or five years old, there was a period in which I lived in Aomori because of my sister's job. Hotogi Shrine was located in the city's suburbs, and that's where I met Shiro. At that time, Shiro was told that he mustn't leave the shrine, and he rigidly obeyed. Having an exceptionally shy personality, Shiro was afraid of me at first, but he soon opened up and invited me to play with him and the other young Hotogi shrine priests.
"I remember when the two of us went to watch the fireworks," Shiro said, "I was so happy then ..."
It finally came to point where Shiro rested his head on my shoulder as he started to talk about the past.
"You were so excited about the fireworks festival they were having in the city and took me out of the shrine to go see it. It was the first time I had ever left the shrine since as long as I can remember."
"Oh ... that. I'm surprise you remember."
If I recall, when we got back, all the adults got really upset with me, and Shiro wasn't allowed outside the storehouse for a while.
"We got into so much trouble, but afterwards, you still came to play all the time."
"I was there because my sister's job forced up to relocate. Plus, there were no other kids my age in the neighborhood.
What was it that we played? I wanted to play soccer, but I was outnumbered by young shrine priests who rejected the idea, so I always wound up having to play house or origami or bird-in-the-cage.
Little birdy, little birdy, the bird in the cage is—
I still remember that song. I also remember how my sister would sympathetically call Shiro and the others "caged birds."
Sitting in the corner while the Adsiard preparatory committee was having a meeting, I found myself thinking of Ares. Lately, he was had a worker running all over the place gathering information on Durandal. Ares was being so cautious that the slightest sound in the middle of the night would cause him to jump up with pistols at the ready. But the fact that our enemy couldn't be seen, along with the stress of living with a father-in-law like Shiro, had clearly put him in a bad mood.
"... I think it would be great if Hotogi at least participated in the Ar-kata for the opening ceremony."
"I agree. There is one opening that needs to be filled.
For what it's worth, Butei High is a high school so there's a student council. But due to school regulations, all the members of the student council are girls. This is because previously when the student council consisted of girls, a gunfight broke out over how to allocate the budget for club activities. This school really is the pits. And so, this Adsiard preparatory committee is mostly made up of the members of the student council. As for why I'm present at this boring and dangerous (with boys everywhere) meeting, I'm here acting as Shiro's bodyguard. Rather, I'm here because Ares ordered me to be here.
"Hotogi does have the look. I think he'll leave a good impression on the reporters."
"I think so too. He'll probably improve the image of Butei High—buteis in general, really."
"After all, Hotogi is the one who developed the choreography we're using this year ... Hotogi, you can do the Ar-kata cheer routine, can't you?"
I tilted my eyes in the direction of our student body president to see how he was reacting to all of these opinions.
"Y-Yes. But ... I would really prefer to make my contributions from behind the scenes."
Shiro quickly glanced up at me with pleading eyes, and my response to him, which I kept to myself, was to hurry up and put an end to this meeting. All of the main topics for discussion had already been dealt with, and the meeting was just sloppily dragging along at this point. Those thoughts must have been telepathically transmitted to Shiro though.
"Well, it's already gotten this late. I'd like to call an end to the meeting," Shiro declared in a clear and well-projected voice. When Shiro got like this, his pronunciation was so clean, and it made him seem very reliable. If Ares were a voice actor, then Shiro was a TV announcer. Those were the thoughts vaguely floating in my head as I got out my seat yawning loudly. Not long after the meeting came to an end, the boys started making a racket."
"Hey, you wanna go to Odaiba after this?"
"Oh, great idea!"
"I'm there! Did you know that Marui was remodeled?"
"I want summer shorts!"
"That reminds me! Estella's limited edition Sugar Leaf Pies are going on sale today!"
"There he goes! Food over fashion! You're a shining example of an unpopular male butei!"
"Hahaha, that was hilarious!"
Here we go. Everyone and their charming little smile ... I hate this sort of thing The reason you boys aren't popular is because you're all toting pistols. Get a clue.
"How about you, Hotogi? Wanna get ready for summer and check out their selection?" asked a freshman. Shiro looked like she didn't understand the meaning of the question.
"Ah, I have to go home and do my SSR assignments and create guide booklets for the Adsiard ..." said Shiro lowering his head.
"That's Hotogi for you. He's so diligent ..."
"You never get tired, do you Hotogi?"
"You're a real superman ..."
They weren't being sarcastic; they were sincerely showing the respect they had for Shiro. But ... at the same time, it also felt as if they found Shiro to be a little bizzare. That's the sense I had.
The sun was setting, and I was walking home with Shiro at my side. The clubhouse were the committee meeting took place was nearby the girl's dormitory, so we could get back on foot. Going back home with a boy was the last thing I wanted to do, but being his bodyguard, it couldn't be helped. If I had him go back by himself and Ares found out about it later, who knows how many holes he would open in me.
"I-I was pretty nervous today since you were watching. How .. was I?"
Shiro was acting bashful as he held his school bag in front of his legs with both hands, but his face showed how happy he was to be leaving school with me.
"It looked like everyone had the utmost faith in you. Pretty good, wouldn't you say?" I said candidly. Shiro lowered his face, which had become as red as a scarlet hakama.
"... K-Kin-chan complimented me ..." Shiro said under his breath.
Hey, keep your eyes ahead of you while you walk. Ah. See? Right into a utility pole.
"Oh yeah. You're not going participate in the Ar-kata? Everyone wanted you to."
"I-I couldn't possibly. I can't participate in the Ar-kata. It's better to have a ... more cheerful and cuter boy doing cheers. If a boring boy like me were to participate, it would ruin the image of Butei High."
"Shiro ... the way you demean yourself like that is a bad habit of yours. All you have to do is pretend to be really enthusiastic when you're actually doing the cheer routines. You'd start off pretending, but before to know it, you might genuinely get enthusiastic about it. Then when the time comes for the actual performance and you show off that enthusiasm in front of a crowd of spectators, you're likely to build some confidence."
"But ..."
"Don't tell me you're scared about the whole Durandal thing the education affairs department is all riled up about. Durandal doesn't exist. Nobody's going to be sniping at you of anything."
"Yeah ... I know. There is no Durandal ... but I can't do it."
"Why not?"
"My family would be upset with me."
The Hotogis. Shiro's relatives at the Hotogi Shrine."
"Why would they get upset with you for something like that?"
In the past, Shiro had made similar remarks on more than one occasion, so I had a vague sense of the reason why. The people at Hotogi Shrine put a lot of restrictions on Shiro when he left to go to high school in Tokyo. They placed a great deal of importance on formalities and forbade him to do all sorts of things.
"I'm ... not allowed to attract too much attention to myself in front of large groups of people," Shiro said obstinately. He didn't explain the reason, but simply gave another negative statement. I guess it's just absolutely out of the question.
"... When the other boys invited you to go to Odaiba, you turned them down too. Was that also because of your family?"
I asked thinking that couldn't possibly be the reason, but...
"Yeah."
"You serious?"
"I ... can't leave the shrine or school without permission."
You are serious. Even among family, forbidding someone to ever go out is a bit harsh, isn't it? It's an infringement of human rights, I dare say.
As if he knew I was going to object, Shiro spoke up before I could get a word in.
"Hotogi shrine priests are guardian shrine priests. From the day we are born until the day we die, our bodies and our souls are not to leave Hotogi." He seemed to be speaking to himself as he said it. "The truth is ... for generations, we as shrine priests are supposed to spend our entire lives at Hotogi Shrine. That's just how it is. Of course, we go to other shrines when we have duties to attend at them, and there's compulsory education now as well ... but we have to keep things like that at a minimum. They were very much against the idea of me even coming to Butei High ..."
"But here you are. There's no need for you to uphold those traditions so blindly. You can't enjoy being a high school student if you're always afraid of someone getting upset with you. What are you acting like a good little boy for?"
"..."
"You don't have worry about making dinner today. Go meet up with those other girls and check out the latest fashions or whatever."
"No, that's okay. Besides ... I'm kind of ... afraid of being outside," said Shiro with a depressed look in his lowered eyes.
"Afraid? Of Marui? It's just a clothing department, you know?"
"But all throughout elementary and junior high school, I've never once left the priest school ..."
Priest school. It was a type of seminary and basically a boarding school attended by the by the daughters of wealthy, shrine-owning families.
"I would like to go out shopping and buying all sorts of foods once like everyone else does ... but, I'm not confident enough to go out with others of have so many people around me."
"...Confidence?"
"I don't have the same kind of knowledge that everyone else has. Unless we're talking about school, I can't keep up a conversation ... I don't even know what kind of clothes I should wear. Sweets, music, television ... I have no idea what's popular. I can't relate with the others."
"Srhiro ..."
"But it's okay. I have you. You understand me. You know who I really am and treat me normally, just like the way you always have. That's why I don't mind. I don't need anything else."
Shiro ... Shiro, that's ... That's no different from how you used to be back then. You're so far away from Hotogi Shrine and yet ... you're still a caged bird.
Night has fallen, and I was wiping myself off after stepping out of the shower. Putting on my pants, I turned off the light, and checked the clock with my back still bare. It was already two o'clock.
Ares still hasn't come back.
He had sent me an e-mail about going to Lezzad or something, so he was probably out searching for information on Durandal. Since becoming Shiro's bodyguard, we hadn't been able to do our training in the morning, but in exchange for that, Ares declared that he was going to be launching "surprise attacks" on me and does so on a regular basis. Naturally, I haven't mastered the technique of catching a sword with my bare hands yet, so the lumps on my head continued to multiply. These were the thoughts running through my head as I dried my hair with a bath towel when I suddenly heard the sound of someone in slippers dashing down the hall. Judging from the footsteps, it sounded as if the person was in a panic.
"?"
What's going on?
I looked towards the curtain that partitioned off the bathroom.
"Kin-chan?! What's wrong?!"
The curtain flew completely open. It was Shiro in his priest garbs. For some reason, his face was full of anxiety and his cute round eyes were wide open.
"W-Wha?!" I exclaimed, taken completely of guard and taking a step back.
Now that I think about, this situation ... Normally—well, I'm not really sure what's normal in a situation like this, but aren't the gender roles switched here?!
For a quick moment, I was having such a hard time coping with the ordeal that this was the kind of inane analysis I made.
"W-What is it all of a sudden?!"
"Huh? You ... On the phone, you ..."
"... Phone?"
"Y-You said to come right away and hung up suddenly, so ..."
"I didn't call anyone!"
"But it was your voice! It was an unidentified call, but you said you were in the bathroom!"
That's not possible. He must have been hearing things.
"How could I make a phone call when I was taking a shower?! That's insane!"
"B-But the ph-ph-phooo ...!"
It would seem that Shiro's brain had finally finished processing the fact that I was naked from the waist up, and his eyes went from my face to my collarbone, chest, and ultimately my navel. His face, which seconds ago had been nearly drained of color, became bright red from the bottom of his chin to the top of his forehead, just like some sort of meter. He then took a deep breath—almost as if he were meditating; only his face was nowhere as compared.
"I'm!"
"I'm"?
"I'm so sorry!"
Shiro jumped back diagonally in a more peculiar way than I could have ever imagined. In midair, he bent his knees so that he was sitting in the proper Japanese fashion, and extending his arms in front of his, landed with his forehead touching the floor. It was the perfect dogeza.
"I-I-I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Shiro bundled himself up, and his ears were so red I thought steam would be coming out of them. Shiro suddenly lifted his head, and he was so worked up that his eyes were swirling like whirlpools.
"... It's because you were in the bathroom! It's because you were naked that I was imagining you taking a shower! It's true! I-I was practicing kidou techniques but my heart wasn't really into it! It's all true!"
"I-I didn't ask!"
"But then my imagination ... ! It was all whoosh, and whoom! P-Please forgive me! I'm-I'm such a bad person! I'm just pretending to be a good boy, but the truth is I'm a bad boy who thinks of naughty things! I could be a Hollywood actor! I'm such a ... SHIT!"
This is bad.
"H-Hey ..."
At this rate, something was going to snap, and Shiro, who was a bit strange to begin with, might just go completely of the deep end. For the meantime, I put one knee on the floor and knelt in front of Shiro.
"C-Come on. Relax. Someone probably called the wrong number. It's not something you need to apologize for," I said, making my best effort to sound as calm as possible ... but approaching Shiro half naked proved to be a mistake. Shiro swiftly covered his eyes with both hands. I did have a feeling he was looking at my chest through the cracks between his fingers though ... And then ...
"We'll call it even!" Shiro suddenly screamed incomprehensibly again. He stopped covering his face and it was completely red as if he had a fever. In truth, he really was burning up.
What are you, a stove?
"'We'll call it even'? What are you even talking about?"
"Shiro's dysfunctional thought processor turned out an equally dysfunctional solution.
"If you watch me while I changed clothes, we'll be even!"
"Say what?!"
Shiro grabbed the collar of his white jōe with his right hand and unraveled the belt of his hakama with the left. He rapidly began taking off his priest garbs as if they had caught on fire!
"W-Wait! There's no need to call anything even! That's not what this is about! Stop undressing!" I pleaded as I grabbed Shiro's clothes, trying to keep them on him.
"I'm undressing! I've made up my mind! I'm fine with this! If you're the one watching, then it's fine! In fact, it's fine! So please, don't worry about it!"
N-No way in hell! I'm letting you get undressed!
If the day ever comes when I see those "battle briefs" on Shiro, I can say without a single doubt in my mind that I'll be on the fast track to hysteria mode. I was doing everything in my power to keep Shiro's jōe and hakama on his body.
"Kin-chan, stop! Let go!" cried Shirayuki.
"Just do what I say!" I cried in return.
"I'm back," announced Ares.
...
...
... Ares ...?
Arse, coming back at the worst possible timing, dropped the paper bag he was carrying, and a Matsumotoya peach bun that fell out rolled along floor. It kept going until it rolled against Shiro's white socks as he continued to struggle with me. With the arrival of a third party, Shiro hastily began straightening up his priest garbs. His black eyes had tears in them, and his clothes were disheveled. ... And I, half naked, had a firm grip on those colthes. There was also the conversation we just had. "Kin-chan, stop!" "Just do as I say!"
"... W-Why ... youuuuuu ..." came Ares' voice, like the growling of a lion. He plunged his small hands to the sides of his pants. "Kinoka, you idiot!"
Blam! Blam!
A jet-black and a silver Government mercilessly fired .45 ACP cartridges in my direction!
"Whoa!" I cried out, noticing the bullet hole that appeared right next to my heel and jumped to my feet.
W-Wait a second! Not only am I not wearing my bulletproof uniform, I'm naked here!
"T-T-This is what happens when I leave him to you for just a few minutes?! Y-You sexual deviant! Die!"
Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!
Ares shot at my feet with the same rhythm at with he yelled disparaging remarks at me.
"W-Wait! If we just talk about this, I can explain!" I continued to back up farther and farther as bullets imbedded themselves in the floor right in front of my toes.
"You Are! A! Real! Beast! A maggot! Bacteria!"
Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!
Ares stamped his feet loudly as he marched toward me with his pistols firing away, and eventually, I was cornered in the balcony.
D-Dead end!
Looking below me, I could see Tokyo Bay.
"A . . . A-A-After molesting me, now you're going after Shiro?! Y-You queen of perverts!" It had come to point that Ares was now pointing his two pistols at my actual body.
What are you going to do, Kinoka?! If I run inside the bulletproof storage locker, it's only going to thrown over the edge of the balcony with me inside it!
"T-That's not it, Ares!" cried Shikoro, "Stop being such a sore loser!
Hearing Shiro's somewhat odd statement, Ares spun around and looked at his with furrowed brows.
"H-H-How am I being a sore loser?!"repudiated Ares, bearing his cuspid.
"Kin-chan wasn't forcing herself on me! We were in mutual consent!"
"Mu-Mutual consent?"
"That's right! I was trying to undress myself! Kin-chan's not at fault!"
"U-Undress yourself? W-W-W-What in the world were you two trying to do?!"
Ares was obviously flustered, and Shiro lunged at him in an attempt to snatch away his pistols. I wasn't overly thrilled about the statements he was making, but I ungrudgingly routed for Shiro.
"Well, e-e-e-even if you were in mutual consent ...!" said Ares, whose face quickly turned bright red as he dove in front of Shiro and performed a technique similar to a spring hip throw, sending the priest backwards onto the floor.
"Aaah!"
". . . Kinoka! F-F-For a bodyguard to do something like that is taboo!" yelled Ares, now bearing his cuspid at me as he stepped over Shiro.
"I could overlook the two of you being friendly, b-but engaging in t-t-that kind of relationship with the client makes you a failure as a butei! A failure! A colossal failure!" Ares' high pitched voiced sounded like it might shatter the window in front of me. "This is calls for a hole opening festival!"
Blam! Blam! Blam!
Ares ruthlessly opened fire on me with his pistols.
"Ngh!" I jumped over the side of the balcony and using the wire inside my belt, hung from the railing like Spiderman.
T-That was a close call.
Or so I thought.
"Go cool your head! And I'm not giving you a ring buoy!"
Bang! Snap!
Ares' scolding was followed by a bullet that severed the wire, and after I bounded off the safety fence below me, a loud splash echoed in the darkness. When I had gathered my wits, I found myself in the waters of Tokyo Bay.
A bodyguard ... is not to get deeply involved with the client. Sure enough, that was one of the most basic rules of body guarding, and it was clearly written in the Assault textbook. The reason is bodyguard dispenses with the proper formalities, he or she tends to be off guard and isn't be able to be make sound judgments with the situation calls for it. But our mission this time was given to us as a result of the educational affairs department's over-protectiveness, and one could argue that it was more like "playing bodyguard." This whole ordeal came to pass simply because Ares had changed his attitude and became frantic at hearing the name "Durandal," so it was very much a bother when he got angry with me, his partner, for not taking it more seriously. So here we are now. The exhaustion was already taking its toll on me, and after coming out of the shower only to get into a fight with Shiro in my birthday suit, I wound up plummeting into Tokyo Bay ...
... and catching a cold.
In the morning, my head was reeling as I held a thermometer in my mouth, and Ares was fairly cross as he told me what a disgrace I was, but he didn't torment me any further like he usually does. Shiro vehemently insisted on staying home as well so that he could nurse me to health, but I couldn't allow him to do something like that for me and somehow managed to have him go to school. Therefore, I was now spending the time lying mind-numbingly bored in my bed. My fever was wavering back and forth around a temperature of 100.4 degrees. I didn't always feel too badly, but I was having a rough time at the moment. I was beginning to lose consciousness from the high fever that was most likely the virus army's last resistive efforts. After a while—probably sometime around the lunch hour—somebody came into the apartment. It would seem the person came to check up to me ... which means it had to be Shiro. Too lethargic to even call out, I just went back to sleep. I could have sworn that I felt ... somebody tenderly laying a hand upon my aching forehead to check my temperature. It was a very gentle hand.
When I awoke, it was two in the afternoon. According to the thermometer, I still had a temperature of 100.4 degrees, but perhaps I was adjusting to the fever because I was feeling a little better.
"..."
I groggily sat up, sensing that I was the only one in the apartment. I was rather thirsty. It was probably because I had done so much sweating. Desiring a glass of water, I stumbled my way out of the bedroom, and upon closing the door, I felt something on the doorknob. It was a plastic bag.
"?"
I searched inside it to find Yamato Pharmaceutical's "Extra Concentrated Kuzdu Infusion." It was in an old-fashioned package, and with most medications failing to have very much of an effect on me, it was the single remarkable medicine that I could take for colds.
. . . Shiro got this for me? He really does know me well, doesn't he. But...did I ever tell him about this medicine? Oh, well.
Glory to the power of Extra Concentrated Kudzu Infusion. Thanks to the medicine, when I next woke up, my temperature had returned to normal. It was already evening, and when I went into the living room, I came across Shiro who looked as if he had just come back.
"Ah, Kin-chan, how's your cold?"
"It's fine. My fever went down and my headache's gone too."
"Thank goodness. I'm so glad," said Shiro, but his expressions of relief soon changed to sniveling.
"Didn't I tell you not to cry so much?"
"I know." Shiro wiped his tears away with his finger and showed me a face beaming with happiness.
"... It's all because of the 'Extra Concentrated Kudzu Infusion' you got me. After taking some and going to bed, I was cured in on time."
"Huh? I ... was thinking of cooking you Chinese remedial foods since you don't like medicine, but ..."
"Hm? You got it for me, didn't you? Sorry for the trouble. They only sell it at the dirty Chinese herbal drug store on that maze-like corner of Ameyoko. It was probably a little scary for a boy to venture in there by himself. Thanks a lot."
"Wha ... ah." Shiro put a slender white finder to his lip ... and had a look that suggested he was pondering over something ... "... S-Sure," he said at last, averting his eyes.
I'm currently inside an Assault facility that closely resembles a gymnasium and holding an electric guitar, which doesn't really suit my image. Today, we're rehearsing for the Adsiard's closing ceremony, so having been forced to join the Adsiard band by Ares, I, too, was doing some simple practice with a borrowed Danelectro DC 59.
"Let me show you my gratitude ..."
I wasn't the vocalist, but I sang in a high voice as I repeatedly went over the song's intro, which I was in charge of playing. I had practiced the guitar a little when I was taking the masquerading course at Kanagawa's Butei junior high school, it was only a short two-minute part, and Shiranui, who was the other guitarist and the vocalist, was quite good, so practicing wasn't too much of a chore ... But the entire scene of an Assault facility being used for peaceful means just felt very odd to me. It's so, I do admit. Behind Muto, who was avidly beating her drums in a way that made one think she was trying to impress someone, Ares and the other boys were practicing their cheer dances with pom-poms in hand. The sound of whistles blaring filled the air as they nimbly danced about.
Ah, hell. Every single last one of 'em is dressed like that.
Muto was saying something about it being a feast for the eyes that one could only partake in once a year, but to me it was horrific sight.
What am I gonna do if some mistake leads me to activating hysteria mode? I think I'll just keep my eyes on my own hands.
"Okay everyone, that's enough for today. Thanks for all your hard work." Sounding just a teacher, Shiro, the supervisor, announced the end of rehearsal, and all the boys voiced their compliance before heading off in every direction. Now at ease, I had more than enough of this space that seemed to reek of boys, so I put away the guitar and decided to climb up the stairs and go out onto the roof. It was a beautiful, clear day in the month of May. The warm sun was inviting on my skin. It was the perfect weather for taking a nap. That being the case, I proceed to lie flat on my back and took a dep breath of the refreshing spring breeze.
Ahhh ... this is nice. The wind in May is worth its weight in gold.
Such were my thoughts as I was enjoying my nap on the rooftop when I noticed the nice, bittersweet fragrance of gardenias blended in the passing wind.
"?"
I opened my eyes halfway and was instantly thrown out of heaven and plunged into hell, which is to say, the soles of a white sneaker came down directly on my face.
"Ngh!"
Subsequently, that small sneaker began delivering a flurry of kicks to my head until I managed to roll out of the way.
"What are you slacking off for?! Guard Shiro like you're supposed to be doing, you useless piece of junk!"
The person stomping his feet next to my ear was Ares in his cheerleader uniform. He had him pom-pom carrying hands on his hips, and was enraged with indignation.
"A-Ares?"
"He had followed me even al the way out here. I gave him a rebellious glare as I sat up, and he lifted his leg high into the air—as high as the top of his head—with a motion that was obviously unrelated to a cheer routine. His foot robbed me of my coveted sun and that's when I realized ... he was expecting me to catch his guillotine-like kick with my bare hands! Determined to show his up, I proceeded to catch his axe kick...
Clap!
My hands pathetically came together in prayer right above Ares' shin ... and the heel of a twenty-one centimeter miniature foot was planted squarely on the top of my head. I fell right back on my rear end, wishing Ares would just cut me some slack. I was used to getting punched and kicked from participating in Assaults hand-to-hand combat sessions, but the damage of constantly getting hit in the head over and over again was starting to add up. Standing in front of me, Ares stuck out his fake chest.
"Oh, come on! Get it right at least once! This isn't a game, you know?!" Ares roared as he looked down at me with his glaring cuspid.
"L ... Look here ..." I said, clutching my head as I stood up, "if you're my partner, be a little more considerate of the condition I'm in. Let me have a break every now and then. I'm just getting over a cold because of some idiot who threw me off the balcony and into the freezing, dirty waters of Tokyo Bay at night," I said, making a slightly long-winded sarcastic remark.
"W ... Well, I'm sorry, okay? I was thinking that I might have gone a little overboard ..." said Ares, averting his red eyes and partially turning away from me. It was a cute gesture, so I felt like following it up with a nice one of my own.
"Well, I won't hold it against you. My cold cured now thanks the "Extra Concentrated Kudzu Infusion" that Shiro gave me."
"Huh?" Ares abruptly turned towards me again after hearing what I said. I could easily see the surprise in his wide-open eyes.
What? That wasn't anything to really be surprised about.
"I-I'm the ..."
He started mumbling, so I gave him a look with knitted eyebrows, urging him to speak more clearly, but he just continued muttering to himself and wouldn't tell me anything.
"... What? It's not a name brand medicine, but it works for me. I'm pretty sure I told you about it the other day. Somehow, Shiro knew about it and went out and bought it for me." For the time being, I gave Ares an explanation, and looking somewhat unpleased, he asked, ". . . Shiro said that?"
I wasn't really sure what the intent of the question was, but I replied, "Hm? Yeah."
"..."
. . . What? Why are you being so quiet all of a sudden?
"W-Well if you've recovered, that's all that matters. I'm a nobleman. I'll put up with that sort of thing."
"?"
Was there anything we just discussed that Ares would need to put up with? Doesn't make any sense to me.
"Nobles don't boast about their own exploits. It would be unsightly—even if someone else stole the credit."
"What is it already? If you have something to say, come out and say it. This isn't like you."
"What's your problem?! There's nothing wrong with me not saying something I don't want to say!" Ares exclaimed, sticking his small tongue at me. "I'm sure you must be happy to have Shiro nurse you to health! Shiro! Shiro! The one who's always doing you so many favors is Shiro! Why don't the two of you just get married?!" Ares drew near me with his cuspid looking more like a fang and his voice about three times as loud as usual.
What's he getting heated up for so suddenly?
Clearly, something I said had to have been the trigger, but I wasn't sure what that something was.
"H-Hold up! Why are you losing it all of a sudden?!"
"You be quiet! I'm not losing it!"
"Yeah, you are!"
"What about you?!"
Ares had gotten so close that our faces were about to touch, and that's the condition in which we started glaring at each other. There was a difference of thirty centimeters in height between us, so Ares was glowering up at me from below while I scowled down at hid from above. I was starting to get more than a little irate at Ares, who was blowing his top for no good reason. Thinking back, he had been doing nothing but aggravate me lately. He turned my apartment into a fortress, he was responsible for Shiro living with us, and now there was this whole incident too!
"While we're at it, I'm gonna make myself clear on this. I was going along with your "sword catching" training because it was your decision as my partner, but no more! That's a technique for a master fighter! It's not the sort of thing you just learn to do by practicing!"
"You can't quit! We're going to continue! Durandal is rumored to have a sword that even cuts through steel! If that's the case, you won't be able to defend yourself with a knife or a large duralumin shield! When Shiro gets attacked, we'll awaken your..."
"'When he gets attacked'! We've been looking out for him for days now, and there hasn't been the slightest but of danger! I'll say it one more time! There is no enemy! There is no Durandal!" Ares responded by looking at me with his red eyes wide open. "I know that you're in a hurry to save Kanae as soon as possible. But your eagerness is causing you to lose your presence of mind right now! As soon as you heard the name of somebody who might be one of your enemies, you thought to yourself that you wanted him to exist. And now you've deluded yourself in thinking he really does!"
"That's not true!" Ares insisted as he pointed a pom-pom at me while bearing his cuspid. "Durandal does exist! My intuition is telling me that he's almost getting closer to us!"
"That's what you call paranoia! Shiro's going to be just fine, so go off somewhere else and occupy yourself with something else! Until the Adsiard is over, I'll guard Shiro by myself!"
"What are you talking about?! Now I'm getting pissed off!" Ares raged from underneath me as he became red in the face. "Oh, sure! I'm a delusional boy who's nothing but a third wheel, aren't I! You're his bodyguard, and the two of you are busy u-u-undressing each other ... You're detestable!"
"T...That's exactly what I'm talking about! You're always getting ahead of yourself by making decisions based on your own assumptions! Don't be so full of yourself just because you were born into a family of slightly high standing! You might be a genius, but we ordinary people are the ones making this world go round! You're a deviation from the norm!" I screamed, losing my cool.
The look on Ares' face seemed to suggest that he was more hurt than I imagined he would be. There was no rebuttal. On the contrary, he took a step away from me. Then a second. And a third. Ares distanced himself in a display of frailty that was unlike him.
"So you're ... like that too. That's how you see me." Ares' anime-like voice was subdued and trembling. From that soft voice, it became apparent to me that conversely he was truly and sincerely angry—much more so than usual. "Nobody understands me. They all say I'm a dogmatic, trigger-happy boy who jumps to conclusions—a reject of the Holmes family. You're ... the same way!" Ares then tilted his face downwards and continued to yell—not necessarily just at me, but as if he were yelling aloud for anyone to hear. It was almost like he was directing his words at every person on the planet. "I can't tell! I know that an enemy is approaching Shiro! But ... but ... I can't explain it! I'm not like my great-grandfather, the brilliant Sherlock Holmes! I can't explain the situation theoretically so that anyone will be able to understand! That's why no believe me! I'm always an "ares"! But ... but ... I just know intuitively! I keep telling you, so why?! Why won't you believe me?!
With tears in his eyes, Ares flung his pom-poms on the floor and began bawling like a child. ... It probably would have been good idea to at least say something kind to him at this point. But I was already much too worked up over my argument with Ares. I was unable to be honest with myself. And as a result...
"... You got that right. I don't understand! How am I supposed to believe an enemy is on the approach when he doesn't even exist?! If you're going to insist on something, then give some proof! That's what a butei does! I'll say it as many times as I have to! There is no enemy!" I further attacked Ares, who was already up aganist the wall.
"... You ... you ... big idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" Now he had completely gone berserk over how I wasn't conforming to his will ... and with a flushed red face, pulled out his pistols!
"Wai...!"
Bullets came whizzing at me before I could finish my sentence. The countless projectiles flew past me at a hairs length all around my body. The only thing I could do in response to the surprise attack was hunch down, and at that moment, Ares came running towards me.
"Kinoka you idiot! Gold medal idiot! Nobel Prize for idiocy!" He yelled the words at the exact moment his foot came flying into my face, knocking me over backwards. Then after reloading his pistols, he fired repeatedly at a rather odd angle and ran down the stairs. I was lying sprawled out on the ground very much like I had been before Arse made his appearance. Looking behind me, I had an upside down view of the water tank, which was rapidly losing water. Ares' last gunshots had riddled the tank with numerous holes, and taking a good look at it, I noticed that they formed straight lines—rather, they formed letters.
I.D.I.O.T K.I.N.O.K.A
Aw, come on ... How are you gonna fix that? An eraser certainly won't help. I have to give him credit for his accuracy though. He'd win the gold medal for gun idiots at the Adsiard hands down.
After returning to my apartment later that day, I calmed down and decided I would nonchalantly apologize to Ares when he got back, so I waited for his return. But despite how long I waited, he never came home.
I don't suppose he actually went off somewhere else like I told him to.
Night had fallen and Ares still hadn't come back, so I explained to Shiro, what happened.
"So, you're the only one who's going to act as my bodyguard from now on?" If anything, Shiro seemed quite pleased.
"Yeah. That's what it sums up to."
I slunk into the couch I bought anew and started doing some maintenance work on my Beretta M92F by disassembling it like a plastic model. A classmate of mine from Armed just finished customizing it. Ares wasn't here. For some reason, that fact alone made even this pistol look inadequate.
"I'll be your bodyguard until the Adsiard is over. Guarding you is a plan the educational affairs department and Ares forcibly set into motion, but ... a promise is a promise."
Shiro looked as if he were deeply moved by my use of the word "promise."
"You did promise to protect me, didn't you ..." Shiro said reminiscently and cast his eyes downward. "Just the thought makes me so happy ..."
"Aren't ... you concerned at all?" You have an E-rank butei as a bodyguard. I don't think it's likely, but in the off chance that Durandal does exist and comes to attack you ..." I reminded Shiro, but he simply shook his head.
"I never felt any concern from the very beginning."
"..."
"After all, I have you with me. The truth is you're a very strong person, You won't lose to anyone. I believe in you. Kin-chan, allow me to request your assistance once more. Please protect me."
"S... Sure."
Shiro was speaking formally half in jest, and I answered almost reflexively. I could tell from Shiro's voice that he wasn't making jokes, nor was he trying to flatter me. It was the voice of a person who believed in me with all his heart. Indeed, I was the one who took out those punks that were giving Shiro a hard time. Ever since the day of that exam, Shiro had placed complete and utter confidence in me. But that confidence wasn't placed in the "regular" me. It was placed in the hysteria mode-me at that time. If the off chance that Durandal did actually exist ... In the one in a million chance that Shiro was being targeted just like Lezzad SSR ... and Ares said ... In the one in a trillion chance that anything should happen ... Would I ... be able to protect Shiro? Would I be able to uphold the trust that he places in me without so much as a second thought? ... Probably not. But ... it was nothing to worry about. I's been keeping an eye on Shiro for days now, and there hasn't been a sign of danger anywhere around him. That's probably how it will continue to be. I'm sure of it.
Having decided as much, I placed the Beretta that I finished servicing on top of the table.
"K-Kin-chan-sama." Shiro, who apparently had been waiting for me to finish, addressed me in that odd manner again and slowly turned himself in my direction.
"What?"
"So, that interlop ... I mean, Ares won't be around during Golden Week either?"
"No ... I suppose not. Did you want to go somewhere?"
"N-No. I'll be taking it easy at home while I study," said Shiro, vigorously wavering his open palms at me back and forth.
"... You're just gonna shut yourself indoors the whole time? You're always studying. If you don't let yourself loose every once in a while, you're going to regret it later. You'll say to yourself, 'Ahh, I wish I had more fun when I was younger.'"
"B-But ..."
I saw Shiro losing heart and it suddenly hit me.
"Is the Hotogis?"
"..."
He didn't deny it. Shiro was forbidden to leave the shrine and school grounds. He was a caged bird. Already feeling less than stellar because of my fight with Ares, the phrase only served to increase my irritation and I stood up from the couch. From there, I marched over to the computer and audibly flung myself into the chair in front of it. Turning my back on Shiro in itself was enough to throw him into a panic.
"K-Kin-chan, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I ..."
He had no idea why my mood took a turn for the worse, but for time being, he performed his conditional reflex of apologizing. Instead of responding to him, I tapped away at the keyboard and went to the homepage of a community magazine for Tokyo. Shiro was momentarily startled when the printer suddenly activated, but he took the paper it produced. He then offered the printout to me, turning it around so it would be easy for me to read.
"Here you are ... Kin-chan. What's gotten into to you all of a sudden?"
"That's not for me. It's for you."
"?"
Shiro looked shocked and turned the paper around for him to read.
"... May fifth, Tokyo Walt Land Fireworks Festival .. Come in your yukata and get an early look at the Star Illusion ...?" he read aloud and gave me puzzled look.
"Go."
"Huh?!"
"It's not something to be that surprised about."
"I-I can't! So many other people would be there! ... I ..."
"Don't worry. You don't have to actually enter Walt Land. It'll be from a bit of distance, but you can watch it from Kasai Seaside Park. Think of it as outdoor training and leave the campus for one little day."
Needing to travel somewhere for training is an odd concept, but he was an odd boy, so these were the measures that needed to be taken.
"B-But ... I ..."
As I figured, he was still reluctant so I got up and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"... I'll come with you ... as your bodyguard."
"Y...you'll come with me ...?"
"Yeah. That event is taking before the Adsiard." I assured Shiro, who eyes suddenly began to sparkle. He nodded once, flapping his perfectly straight bangs.
End of Third Bullet
Fourth Bullet
Artificial Beach
Ares disappeared after our fight at Assault, but I had a good idea where he might have gone, and I was right. He was temporarily staying at Reki's place. Therefore, I decided I would meet with Reki at a family restaurant to report that I was doing my job of guarding Shiro throughout Golden Week, but ... Reki had come with a stylish sniper rifle strapped around him, and as usual, he was taciturn, expressionless, and it was hard to discern whether he was really listening or not. And that's why it took an excess amount of time speaking with him while confirming that he was following along every twenty seconds. After I finished explaining everything for the most part, I looked towards the clock hanging on the wall.
"Ah."
It was almost eight o'clock. Today was the day that I promised to go see the fireworks with Shiro. More to the point, we were supposed to have met at seven.
Shit.
Reki, sitting in his seat like some sort of ornament, noticed my perturbation and gave me a questioning look with his eyes.
"Today, Shi ... um, I've got some plans. I'll be on my way if you don't mind." Not bothering to allow him to object, I got out of my seat, but Reki didn't even follow me with his eyes, let alone make any protest. He just sat there in front of the straight tea he hadn't taken a single sip of and stared at the empty space in front of him like a doll.
"..."
"... I'm. Going. Now. Okay?" I said just to be sure, and Reki nodded his head. Delivered in silence, it was a robotic nod worthy of his nickname. Now that I thought about it, as anyone could tell from looking at him. Reki didn't have any friends, but I heard he had a few fervent fans among the girls. Apparently the eccentric bunch called him "Reki-sama" and revered him as a god. Well ... robot or god, sure enough, he was a boy lacking in human attributes. I turned away to take my leave when all of a sudden...
"Do your plans involve going out?"
... Reki posed a question with his monotone voice.
"What if they do?"
"Please be careful. These past few days, there's been ... something sinister mixed in the winds."
What's that supposed to mean? I'm begging you, great god; speak in human tongue.
"Our school itself is what you call sinister," was my parting remark, and leaving behind Reki, who was readjusting those giant headphones he wore, I paid my bill and left the restaurant. I thought of phoning Shiro, but it seemed like it would be faster to just head directly home.
So how should apologize if Shiro's upset with me?
I was considerably late despite being the one who invited him to go, and quietly peeked into the living room ... whereupon my eyes grew large in astonishment at seeing how Shiro was dressed. He ... was outfitted in a yukata of which I had no clue where he came into possession. It was made of a trim white cloth with pink nadeshiko flowers in a snowflake-like pattern. The shape of the pale pink obi and the height at which it was positioned was flawless. Most likely, he had put it on by himself. His hair was also fastened with a ribbon with wild pinks that complimented the yukata. If one had to describe Ares' appearance with a single word, it would be "cute." But in Shiro's case ... it would be "sexy." I already knew that of course, as did everyone else in Butei High. Shiro had the kind of looks that would guarantee him an easy victory if he were to enter that National Sexy Boy Contest. That was the truth of the matter. But as his childhood friend, at some point, that fact stopped registering in my head. When he completely changed his image on me like this, I was forced to acknowledge his sexiness. It did embarrass me, though. Shiro, with his impeccable manners, was sitting in the proper Japanese fashion and had his back turned towards me with his cell phone connected to its charger, placed perfectly on his lap for easy access. He was probably waiting for me to call him. His figure was being reflected in the window, so I could see his face, but he still didn't seem to notice me.
I kind of feel like toying with him now.
"..."
I took out my cell phone and sent him an e-mail from the hallway.
"Sorry. Gonna be late by thirty more minutes."
When Shiro's white cell phone lit up, he grabbed it at a speed too fast for the eye to follow, and holding it in front of him with both hands, he read the message. He then cherrfully typed his reply. I had thought ahead of time to put my phone in manner mode and read the e-mail that came back to me.
"That's okay. I'll be here waiting."
There was even a smiley face at the end of the sentence. It wouldn't be unreasonable for him to get a little angry ... I tried sending another e-mail.
"Actually, it's gonna be three more hours. Wanna just call it off?"
Again, Shiro opened the phone he had replaced on the charger and read my message. He looked as if the world was about to come to an end.
Hehehe. I'm right here though.
"Stop looking as if the world is about to come to an end," I e-mailed him. When he read it, he sat there blinking his eyes with a confused look on his face.
This is like a Shiro remote control. I could do this all day.
But having taken things this far, I started feeling a little guilty, so I decided to make my presence known.
"Come on. Let's go," I said with a wry smile on my face.
"Hyaaa!" cried Shiro, jumping around twenty centimeters into the air, but still maintaining the same sitting position.
How in world did he do that?
"K-K-Kin-chan! You're horrible! You were watching me from behind and laughing the whole time?!" A rosy-cheeked Shiro stood up, and with his glossy bangs swaying back and forth, lightly walked over to me. Rather, he tried to, but must have been fairly nervous because he stumbled on thin air.
"Aah!"
"What are you tripping over for? ...Um, I mean, sorry for being late."
"No, don't worry about it! You're not late at all!" he insisted, smiling and waving his open palm in front of him.
I was undoubtedly late, but ... if that's what the person who was kept waiting says, I guess it's not too much of a problem. When our eyes net, Shiro hurriedly averted his gaze and fretfully straightened out his yukata.
"K-Kin-chan, what do you think of these clothes? I ordered it on-line, but ... it doesn't look strange, does it?
"Not really."
"T-That's good. ... Ah, what about my hair? I just had it done at a salon on Academy Island ... It's not weird, is it?
"It's not weird."
Upon hearing my answer, Shiro looked so relieved, it made me feel embarrassed to just stare at him. Before the situation got more uncomfortable, I said, "Let's get going" and went back to the door of the apartment. I put on my shoes, and when I turned around, Shiro said he was coming and followed after me with quick, mincing steps. He gracefully made his way to the door, where he slipped on what appeared to be newly bought men's paulownia-wood getas. His every movement was that of a perfect Japanese man.
He stands like a Chinese peony, sits like a tree peony, and walks like a lily. I think that's how the expression goes ... for this sort of thing anyways.
I'm not at all averse to going out at night. Back when I first transferred from Assault to Inquesta, I felt somewhat empty, and after eating dinner, I would aimlessly prowl around the sity at night.
"... It's cool out, isn't it?" I asked, turning my head towards Shiro who was pitter-pattering slightly behind me to the right. He seemed to have been watching me absent-mindedly from behind.
"Y-Yeah," he replied, hastily lowering his eyes. It was as if he were trying to say that he hadn't been looking at me, and our eyes had just met by mere chance.
"I like to go for a walk at night every now and then, but how about you?"
"No. I wouldn't go walking around at this hour unless you were with me."
"I see."
...
...
Somehow, our conversation wasn't holding up. It shouldn't be a surprise; I had always avoided talking with a boy alone unless there was a very good reason to do so. It might be because I had developed a habit of dismissing most of whatever Ares said whenever he started droning on about the U.S. army's flash grenades or Germany's latest model knives. But in this case, I was having a difficult time chattering. The vending machines on the roadside seemed to be ridiculing us with their flashing fluorescent lights.
"U-Um."
"Thankfully, Shiro spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"T-This ... is kind of l-l-like a ... date .. sort of ... in a way ... or not ... but maybe it is ..."
"What?"
His speech was grammatically impaired, and I wasn't sure what he was saying.
"It's ... like we're on a date ... isn't it."
"A date?"
Just when I thought he finally articulated himself, what he said was rather odd.
I've got to be firm in my denial of this.
It would be problematic if he were to have any misunderstandings and did anything that would set off my hysteria mode later.
"This isn't a date. Your bodyguard is escorting you as you travel about. That's all there is to it."
Butei Charter, Article Five: Act with expedition. Buteis should make it a principle to strike first and secure victory.
"Bodyguard ..." Shiro said to himself as he somewhat sadly lowered the ends of his eyebrows, "Y-You're right. You're here to protect me, aren't you? Sorry for ... saying something so weird," he apologized with what was most probably a feigned smile.
Later on—and it was partially my fault for being late—by the time we arrived at Butei High's monorail station, we could already hear the fireworks that had started off in the distance.
I wonder if we'll make it in time.
Shiro went to buy his monorail ticket, but I sensed he was still hesitant about leaving school grounds.
"I'll buy both of our tickets then," was the solution I offered.
"I couldn't ask you to do that. I'll buy my own ticket," said Shiro, finally making his purchase.
I asked him about what type of transportation he usually used, and Shiro told me he'd only left Butei High by means of the car in which Hotogi's chauffeur came to pick him up. In fact, he said that as far he could recall, he's never even ridden a train.
... Just how sheltered can a person be?
Well, in any case, I'd succeeded in releasing the bird from its cage. I was still gently cradling it in my hands though.
We took the monorail to Odaiba, and from there went to Ariake using the Yurikamome line. Next, we went to Shinkiba via the Rinkai Line and lastly, transferred to the Keiyou Line. We finally reached Kasai Sea-side Park after repeatedly transferring from one train to the next, and that alone had Shiro looking at me with eyes full of respect. I couldn't say I felt all that great about being respected for navigating through Tokyo's train system. Scratching the back of my head, I began leading Shiro from the station to the ocean. We entered Kasai Sea-side Park, which was arranged like a small forest, and there were electric light poles forming a spotted trail to the ocean. Indeed, it had the elegant appearance of a park at nighttime. Being a bodyguard, I did my job of inspecting our surroundings, but even though it was night, there were kiosks open for business and people scattered about here and there. There wasn't likely to be much danger. If there was anything to be concerned about, it would be the delinquents on the prowl for couples to harass, but they weren't dumb enough to attack an armed butei.
"... The moon is pretty, isn't it?" said Shiro.
"Yeah."
The two of us walked along the path to the ocean amidst the sound of fireworks we couldn't yet see. Once we reached the end of this trail, we came out on an artificial beach that had a splendid view.
"... It really is pretty."
"Yeah."
"Kin-chan ... um ... is this boring for you at all?"
I shook my head in response to his round eyes that looked at me apprehensively.
"It's not boring."
"Um, I ... don't really talk to guys that often, so I don't know what kind of topics they would be interested in talking about. ... Sorry."
"It's nothing to worry about. And stop being so quick to apologize about everything. It's a bad habit of yours."
"S-Sorry."
"That's what I'm talking about."
"Ah ... Sor ..."
Shiro's reflexive apologies were so comical, I let out a small laugh. He cast his eyes downward, but finding it funny himself, smiled cheerily. As before, there was nothing to talk about in particular, but the mood was quite different from what it was when we left the apartment. We continued down the path, and as was his usual habit, Shiro tilted his head downward and sounded very happy as he whispered in a small voice.
"It's like a dream ..."
We made our way out onto to the artificial beach. As I expected, no one was to be seen. It was in every way an artificial beach, but sea bathing, fishing, and even barbequing was prohibited, so there were no people around. I thought that this would be an excellent, little-known place to watch Walt Land's fireworks, but...
"... It looks like it's over," I said.
Cloud-like smoke from the fireworks was all that could be seen in the sky above the coast of Tokyo Bay where Walt Land was situated. I brought him all the way out here, and the end result was awkward to say the least.
"... Sorry. It's my fault for being late."
"N-No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have been walking so slowly.
Shiro was using his own unique logic again, which prevented me from doing any wrong ... but his eyes had a tint of sadness to them.
"And ... while we were talking, I had the chance to reminisce about the past, so I'm satisfied. Just hearing the fireworks was enough. I was able to imagine what they were like." Shiro smiled resolutely as if he were trying to console me.
"About ... the past?"
"You know. The fireworks festival in Aomori."
"Oh. Right. I took you to se it ... and we got in trouble afterwards."
I think I must have been five years old. I practically froced him to leave the shrine and come with me. Now that he mentioned it, fireworks brought about the opportunity for us to go somewhere that time as well. Was I subconsciously trying to do the same thing?
"... You ... showed me the world outside Hotogi shrine back then too," said Shio, making crunching noises on the sand beneath his feet as he turned towards the ocean.
The sandy beach wasn't easy to walk on, but his posture remained as beautiful as always. His dressed-up black hair swayed modestly in the night wind.
"I still remember those fireworks. That's good enough for me. To be honest ... I was looking forward to seeing them today as well ... just a little. But it doesn't matter if there were fireworks or not. I would have been happy going to a moonlit ocean or even being at home," said Shiro, turning around so that the starry sky was now behind him, "since you would be there with me ..."
His smile was that of someone who truly cared about me from the bottom of his heart.
Shiro ... I ... A girl like me ... can't become a butei. I can't even be a normal high school student. I'm a mediocre good-for-nothing. I'm the kind of guy who after being late, laughed as I played around with you like a remote controlled toy, and in the end, couldn't even show you a single firework. Yet you don't utter a word of complaint. Far from getting angry, you forgive me with the most genuine smile. Why are you so kind? If this is how things are going to be ... I'm the one who won't be able to stop myself from taking action.
"Shiro."
"Yes?"
I said his name somewhat as if I were calling for him, and Shiro merrily came up to me.
"Are you cold? It's cold, isn't it? You are cold, aren't you? Alright then, put this on and wait here for a second." I took off my jacket at placed it around Shiro's shoulder's without letting him protest.
"Kin-chan? You're not cold, Kin-chan?"
"I plan on getting warmed up so it's not a problem. I'm gonna make a quick dash. I'll be right back."
Shiro wasn't sure what was going on, but I ran off to the station before he could say anything. In truth, it wasn't a good idea for a bodyguard to leave the person she's guarding all alone in such a wide-open area, but there weren't any enemies around. It would be fine.
As I thought, this was a safe place. Running back to where I left Shiro, I found him sitting on a bench a short distance from the beach. He was still wearing my jacket and waiting patiently.
"Shiro. Sorry for the wait," I called out to him, but there was no reply. He was clinging onto the sleeves of my jacket, so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Hey."
Shiro turned around in surprise. There was a tinge of fear in his onyx-like black eyes.
... What gives?
"What's wrong? Were you scared on your own?
"N-No. It's nothing. I'm okay. I had this ... so I was fine." Shiro held up the sleeve of my jacket as if he were trying to gloss over the issue. "This jacket has your scent ... so it was like you were with me."
I smiled bitterly.
"It's my jacket, so it should. It doesn't reek of gunpowder?
"No. It had a nice smell."
"Weird one, aren't you. Anyways, here," I said, presenting Shiro with the toy fireworks I barely managed to buy before the kiosk closed.
"...?"
"We're gonna enjoy some fireworks. They'll only be about one-thousandth of the usual size though."
Pop. Pop.
Crouching on the beach, the two of us watched the flying sparks given off by miniature fireworks. Given that I was dealing with Shira, I thought this Japanese style of enjoying toy fireworks would be a good idea, but ...
This is a bit too bland, I guess. I can't say I really feel the excitement.
Still, Shiru looked genuinely happy as he stared at the fire that resembled miniature thunderbolts. Shrouded in the semidarkness, I could see the blinking light of the fire being reflected in his slightly drooping, gentle eyes with their long eyelashes. Looking at him like this, I couldn't help but be reminded of what a handsome boy he is.
"Kin-chan."
"Hm? What is it?"
"The fireworks are pretty, aren't they?"
"... Yeah."
Pop. Pop.
"Kin-chan, do you ... like fire?"
Fire? That's a pretty vague question.
"This sort of thing is alright. Really huge flames are scary though. That's how human instincts work."
"Y ... yeah, that's true. Ah ..."
The tiny ball of fire off the firework that Shiro was holding. He looked up at me with a wry smile, and when our eyes met, my finger twitched, which was probably why the fireball fell of mine as well. Nearby, I could hear the waves lapping against the artificial beach.
"... Looks like it's over," said Shiro.
"There was once more, wasn't there? You can hold it," I said, pulling out the one-hundred yen lighter that I purchased at the store I brought the fireworks. Shiro embraced the bag with the remaining firework to his chest and shook his head from side to side.
"That's okay. I want to keep this one."
"What for?"
"This is something you got for me. I want to take it home. It would be a pity to burn it up."
"What are you gonna do with that thing? Fireworks are meant to be lit on fire."
"But ..."
"You're supposed to keep these sort of things eternally stored in your memories." I came up with something that I thought might sound convincing, and Shiro nodded after a brief pause. He then carefully took out the last firework, and I flicked up a small flame to light it
Pop. Pop.
The light from the toy firework illuminated his skin in way that made it seems as if it were flickering on and off.
... Hey ... come on now ...
I just saw it from the opening of his yukata. Shiro. I don't know why, but he was wearing black again. If I recall, it was one of the undergarments grouped into the battle section of the drawer.
N ... Now that I think about it, Muto had mentioned something a long time ago about Japanese style clothing being the easiest type of clothing in the world to take off a person. Ah ... stop that, Kinoka. Don't start getting any unnecessary ideas. What are you gonna do if it causes you to go into hysteria mode? Think of something else and calm down. Start counting prime numbers in your head. Two, three, five ...
"Kin-chan ... thank you. Really. I think I'm going to be too happy to even fall asleep tonight," said Shiro, fixated on the firework in his hand.
I lifted my head.
That's right. Conversation. I was forgetting one of the simplest methods. Why am I sitting here counting prime numbers? I can't get my mind off his black lacy briefs by concentration on a conversation.
"You won't be able to sleep? Come on. You're exaggerating. All we did was ride a train and walk around a park on a night that's as black ... uh ..." That poor choice of words caused me to trail of before I could even finish my first statement, and Shiro tilted his head in puzzlement.
"Black?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Dark. It's pretty dark. And then we just lit a few fireworks. It's not that big of a deal."
"... But you know ... it was really special to me. It was like a miracle."
Pop. Pop.
The sparks from the fireworks had already started to die down.
"You've always been a person who delivers me miracles. Even on that day of the entrance examinations, you saved me from those awful people ..."
"That was ... you know ... just me getting into a fight."
"And when we were kids—and tonight as well—you took me out into the world around me. That's why I ... wanted to repay the favor here at Butei High."
"I haven't done you any favors. And that being the case, there's no need for you to repay anything," I said it without giving it that much thought, but Shiro showed me that beaming smile of his again.
"You really are Kin-chan, aren't you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The light fell from the last firework. We watched as it fizzled on the sand before disappearing completely. Shiro blinked his eyes once for a long period of time, as if to record the image in his heart. He then stood up, moving in such a refined manner that just seeing it was enough to make one release a sigh. I stood up at the same time and was again aware of the sound of waves breaking on the artificial beach.
"The other day, when I divined your fortune using the priestess tarot cards..."
Hearing Shiro's sudden remark spoken in a soft voice as he turned towards those waves, it all came back to me. I was pretty sure he told me that my overall luck was good. It did seem like he did a pretty shoddy job though.
"The truth is ... the results said ... you were going away."
"...Going ... away?"
"You'll be leaving the place you're at now—within a few years no less."
"That ... probably means I'm going to transfer to a regular school. My long-cherished desire it finally going to be fulfilled sometime next year."
"... I was thinking that ... it might mean Ares was going to take you away somewhere ..."
"Hah," I responded with a short laugh, but Shiro continued to look despondent as if he were seized by some sense of foreboding.
"After all, Ares changed you. Ever since you met him, you've had a cheerful ..."
"What? Me?"
"I never saw that coming" is the first thought that came to my mind, but somewhere deep inside me, I suspected that it could really happen. Now that was something I never saw coming.
Ares changed me ...?
"... No he hasn't," I denied. The words left my mouth in a lower voice than I expected they would.
"... It's okay ..."
"What is?"
"If it will bring you happiness ... If you like Ares ... It's okay if you're going to be with him. Even if it were just from behind the scenes, I wanted to support you ... and repay the kindness you showed me."
"H-Hold up. What are you—?"
"That's why I've tried to put all my effort into so many things until now. I tried my best with studying, the student council, club activities ... It was all so I could improve myself. But in the end, none of it served any purpose," Shiro said ... cutting me off.
What's going on with Shiro? He's different that he usually is.
It was like he was urgently trying to convey to me everything he had kept concealed in his heart up till now.
"... You're saying the most bizarre things. I told you before that Ares and I are just partners, didn't I? And why have you been talking in the past tense? Are you by any chance ... referring to the 'butei killer' incident last month?"
"He hadn't said so specifically, but considering Shiro's personality, he might be concerned about how he didn't assist me at all with the "butei killer" incident. When things got ugly , the one who was always there with me was Ares, who quite possibly, is the only person Shiro cannot get along well with.
"That's not it ..." said Shiro, suddenly turning around. It was dark and hard to tell, but it looked like there were tears in his eyes.
"Kin-chan."
"H-Hey."
He had flung himself into my chest. It was instantaneous. This was the Shiro that spent minutes closing the distance between us when he sat nearby me the other day.
Seriously. W-What's happened to him?
"Kin-chan, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."
Shiro looked up at me, and I wasn't sure what he was apologizing for, but faced with those watery eyes, I was powerless to say anything. The light on the moon illuminated his face, and I have been aware of this from the very start, but he truly was handsome. His slightly out-of-season yukata and his hair were perfectly suited for this ideal Japanese boy. A childhood friend—I've always interacted with him as friend since I was a young girl. It was a relationship as precious to me as water, but one that didn't allow the intervention of any nonessential elements ... I could tell that at this moment, something like nectar was being blended into that relationship. It was maddeningly sweet and made it nearly impossible to refrain from drinking every last drop.
"Kin-chan ... I'm sorry. I know this is so sudden. ... Until now, I was afraid you would hate me and I couldn't say it ...but would you listen to just one selfish request of mine? Would you please make just one of my dreams come true ..?" Shiro's lips were trembling, and the expression on his face revealed that he was at his absolute limit. It was at this point where he looked like he might die if he were to continue with what he was going to say next. "Just for this moment ... just for this one moment ... look at me. Look only at me ..."
It was at that instant when a cool night breeze, too early to be making its appearance in the summer, swept by us that Shiro closed the gentle, lovely eyes underneath his perfectly straight bangs.
"... Kiss ... me ..."
Could I have misheard him ...? Probably not.
Certainly, he had said it very faintly, but he was standing right in front of me.
Why ...? Why would he suddenly ...?
The surprise had cause my heart to beat loudly, and I immediately checked the flow of blood in my veins. This sensation ... was different, however. The nature in which my blood was flowing wasn't an indication that I was going into hysteria mode. This was a normal reaction—and not quite sexual stimulation ... It was probably due to Shiro looking so sad and pained. My ability to speak was starting to abandon me. Before I knew it ... without even making a conscious decision to do so, I had instinctively started reaching out towards Shiro. I wasn't even aware if the purpose was to stop him of to comply with him, but I was now on the verge of gently touching the back of his yukata ...
Boom.
The sound of a distant explosion reached our ears.
"...?"
Our most primitive instinct—the instinct to protect each other from danger—took over. Shiro, who raised his shoulders in alarm, and I, coming back to my senses, simultaneously looked in the direction from which the sound came...
Two more explosions rang out in the skies above Walt Land. One after another, fireworks were launched into the air where they transformed into large colorful circles. We had jumped to conclusions and assumed the event already ended, but apparently it was just an intermission.
"... Ngh ..."
There's just nothing that can be done about the habits human beings form over their lives... In the last few seconds, I had placed myself protectively between the source of the explosion and my client, Shiro. I also had my hand on the Beretta that I brought with me just in case. I had my days of training at Assault to thank for all this. Here, I was on heightened alert after hearing the sound of a firework. Having miserably misread the situation when Shiro had been agonizing so earnestly, I was unable to look him in the eye as I turned to face him. Just a moment ago, our feet were so close that our toes were practically touching, but because of the movements I made, they were now half a step apart. Those forty centimeters seemed so vast that they would be impossible to recover.
"...Sorry," Shiro apologized. His voice sounded like he was giving up on something, and he looked up at the fireworks with somewhat hollow eyes that made it seem like he wasn't entirely there. There was no help for it, so I, too, turned my gaze towards the variously colored fireworks that seemed to magically rise into the air. The summer fireworks added color to the night view of Tokyo, both in the sky and the rippled reflection in the ocean. The two of us simply continued to watch the scenario, standing there as if our souls had left our bodies.
...Never did we think that moment would become our time of parting.
End of Fourth Bullet
Fifth Bullet
Diamond Dust
The string of holidays crammed into this past week came to an end, and the Adsiard had commenced. Since I'm, performing the muscle for the Ar-kata during the closing ceremony, the following few days for me consist of attending shortened classes and helping out with a few things here and there. When Shiro and I returned to Acadamey Island yesterday, he said something about forgetting some item or other and went back to the boy's dormitory he had stayed at before. After that, he sent me a single e-mail.
"Kin-chan, I'm really sorry about tonight. You must be angry, I know. I'm too ashamed to face you, so I'm just going to sleep here in my own room."
To be honest, I was pretty fed up this foolishness of constantly preparing for an enemy that didn't even exist. The truth of the matter was that we spent the whole night playing around with our guard down, and nothing ever happened, so I just replied to his e-mail...
"I'm not angry. What happened early is done and over. Don't dwell on this, okay? Also, it would be a problem if the educational affairs department were to give me any bad marks on my record for abandoning a mission, so I'll still continue acting as your bodyguard. Give me a call tomorrow when you finish with your duties for the student council."
...and went right to bed.
However, for some reason, I had a difficult time falling asleep last night. I thought about the incident at the artificial beach that ended on a sour note, but I...also felt an odd sense of foreboding. It was inexplicable and I couldn't determine what the cause if it was. And as a result, I was suffering from a major lack of sleep today. I had to use every ounce of my willpower to stay awake for my shift. Muto and I were collecting tickets from guests at the entrance to the auditorium, which is where the opening ceremony for the Adsiard is taking place. There were other gateways leading into the auditorium as well, but the structure was situated fairly close to the center of Butei High, so there was no need for any security. Additionally, this particularly gate we were stationed at only led to an anteroom where the press would be, so I was bored out of my mind. Before the start of the opening ceremony, there were a decent number of cameramen and reporters holding microphones passing through here, but now that it was going on three in the afternoon, no one would be showing up this late.
"...The song we're performing, "Who Shot the Flash," is a variation of a copy of a cover version of the original song. When it gets that bad, you just can't help but laugh, really," grumbled Muto, sitting in a steel folding chair and having nothing else to do with her free time.
"Why did it get chosen then?" I asked, also having nothing better to do and stirring up a conversation with her.
"There's a part of the lyrics that goes 'bangbangbangbang.' You notice how that line wasn't changed, right? It's because that part sounds like gun shots."
"Oh. ...Well, I guess that certainly is typical of Butei High..." I said, gritting my teeth to stifle a yawn as I looked through the window at the clear, blue skies outside.
"So... is Hotogi not going to take part in the Ar-kata cheer after all?"
"Shiro? He said he wouldn't."
"Oh," Muto said, sounding rather disappointed. "By the way.. you wer acting as Hotogi's bodyguard, weren't you, Kinoka?"
"Yeah. Me and Ares."
"I'll bet guarding Hotogi just kind of felt natural, didn't it. He is the type of boy that makes you want to protect him."
"I can't say I felt there was a need to protect him."
He can fight on par with Ares anyway.
"...So? ... Which is it, Kinoka?"
"Which is what?"
"Between Hotogi and Ares, which is more your type?"
"Huh?" I said, bringing my eyebrows together. Before I could say that neither of them was, Muto turn her chair towards me with a loud thud.
"Ares, right?"
"Why Ares?"
And why am I so shaken up by the assertion?
"Umm ... you know. I have a feeling you get along well with boys who look younger than you.
"I don't get along with that lion cub. I'm a Homo sapiens."
"The other day, Ares was in the general education sector talking with the other boys in our class. Everything he talked about was related to you. I'm telling you, the both of you are interested in one another."
"Not a chance."
"Well then ... are you by any chance hitting it off with Hotogi?"
"...What gives? Why are you also making these dumb assumptions now?" I was becoming sullen after remembering what took place between Shiro and I yesterday.
"Uhh .. well, you know. Buteis are a bunch of jack-of-all-trades who always want to know about everything."
"...Curiosity killed the cat. That's from a book that was written by a butei," was all I said as I placed by elbows on the desk and avoided answering the question.
"Answer the question. If you don't answer I'm gonna run you over with a look that said "Say something already." A minute went by. Then a second minute passed in the same fashion. By the third minute, Muto bent her head downwards, pointing her spiky hair at me.
"...I'm sorry!"
"What is it all of a sudden? You're being pretty loud too."
I almost resorted to underhanded tactics!"
"?"
"By recommending you go out with Ares. I'll ... I'll pray that things work out between you and whoever it is you're interested in," said Muto, resolutely crossing her arms and looking upwards diagonally.
...Makes no sense. Not a single one of them makes a lick of sense.
I didn't want to prolong the conversation any further, and Muto seemed willing to drop the subject, so we went back to killing time by talking about music and movies and motorcycles and what not. Muto's shift ended at four, and I was left alone to supervise this gate at which no one ever made an appearance. With nothing to do, I idly dawdled away my time. My eyes began to repeatedly open and close themselves. Sitting on my steel folding chair and in the rays of the sun, both the lethargy that follows a long vacation and my lack of sleep were overwhelming me, and I finally dozed off. I was dreaming of Ares crying as he ran down a hill in pursuit of a runaway peach bun and fell into a manhole. Just then ...
"Hey, Kinoka!"
Muto grabbed my shoulder, waking me up.
". . . ?"
Shit. I was completely out of it. The clock had advanced quite a bit. It's already five.
Muto must have run all the way back here because she was out of breath.
It doesn't look like she's about me sleeping on the job. What's going on?
"What's up?" I frowned at Muto and his pointed at the cell phone in my pocket.
"Case D7. We're in the middle of a Case D7."
The drowsiness I was feeling disappeared instantly. Case D7 is a code word that means some kind of incident had occurred on campus during the Adisiard. But in the even of a Case D7 however, the facts of the incident aren't made clear right away and only certain people are notified. Additionally, in order to ensure the safety of people who needed to be protected, we were prohibited from creating a scene unless there was good reason to do so. The Adisiard is to proceed as planned and the situation must be resolved in secret. Taking out my cell phone, I saw that a notification, Muto lower her voice to a whisper tole me.
"It looks like Hotogi disappeared. No one's been able to contact him since a little past noon."
"...Disappeared?"
I quickly looked at my phone to check the e-mail Butei High sent to us, and I noticed that a single message had arrived from Shiro. The blood in my veins froze upon reading what it said.
"Kin-chan, I'm sorry. Good-bye."
It was odd. Being his childhood friend, I could tell. There was something peculiar about this message. I'm pretty sure he hadn't run away because things got awkward between us yesterday. What happened at the artificial beach was put behind us when I sent him that e-mail yesterday. There was no way for me to know what was actually going on inside his head, but I did know that he was an obedient person. If I said it was over, then he would act like it was over. He wouldn't keep obsessing over the matter. He's act like it never happened. Not only that, Shiro had a strong sense of responsibility. He would undoubtedly finish the duties he had to perform during the Adisiard until the closing ceremony came to an end. That's probably why Butei High issued a Case D7 alert when Shiro disappeared without warning. I could tell. This wasn't just a disappearance. Something had happened to him!
At this point, everything was just an excuse. Neither Shiro, nor I had felt any danger whatsoever. Even Ares, who from the very beginning was so cautious of our surroundings, wound up abandoning his mission. Even so ... I was being too careless. I had let my guard down. There was the possibility that someone might have actually been targeting Shiro. I brought to mind what I told Ares the other day.
"You thought to yourself that you wanted him to exist. And now you've deluded yourself in thinking she really does!"
It might have been just the opposite. I was thinking to myself that it would be better if he didn't exist. ... And somewhere along the line, I convinced myself that he really didn't. I had stepped out the walkways of Butei High, but without any clues, the only thing I could do is roam about and keep my eyes open.
Muto and I agreed to split up and search for Shiro, but how in world am I supposed to find him?! I don't even know where to start—not in my current state!
And I had to keep in mind that the situation was D7. If I went around indiscreetly inquiring people about Shiro, there was the chance that contrary to my intentions, I would actually be putting him in danger. None of my calls to Shiro were getting through so I tried calling Ares, but for some reason I was unable to reach him as well. In his case there was a ring tone, so he should have responded.
Ares!
If the two of us had been guarding Shiro just like the plan originally called for, this might not have happened. But it was my fault that Ares left the picture. I didn't take his warning seriously, and I didn't believe in his intuition. As a result, I pretty much forced him to stat uninvolved.
I ... was being the absolute worst idiot possible! And Shiro said he believed in an idiot like me. That night I started guarding Shiro on my own he told me he believed in me. And yet ... I betrayed that trust!
I ran through the streets like an animal on the loose and checked around every alley I came across. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. The time just continued to pointlessly tick away.
Am I... this incompetent? Can I not even protect one single boy the way I am now? I am just ... so ... helpless! But ... even so, I have to do something! If it's come to this, I've got no choice but to find some sort of lead even if I have to scour every corner of Academy Island to do so. I'll search everywhere. That's all there is to it. That's all I can do. Shiro. I'm not the kind of hero you say I am. I'm a worthless low-life who fell asleep when you were in trouble. But even a worthless low-life like me has to live up to the expectations of the person who placed his trust in me! ... If I don't, then I'm even less than worthless!
Short on breath, I was running through the southern area of Butei High when an incoming phone call my attention. I snatched up my phone and placed it to my ear.
"Kinoka. This is Reki. I have you in my sights."
... Reki!
"It seems we have a D7. I saw the message on my cell phone during the intermission of the sniping contest."
"Y-Yeah."
That's right. I heard Reki would be participating in the Adisiard as a representative of Japan.
I could hear the voices of people yelling angrily in the background, saying things sure as "What are you doing, Reki?!" or "You were just about to set a world record!" Reki said something, but his voice was cut short by those around him.
"Reki, where are you right now?! It's so loud over there I couldn't make out what you said!"
"The seventh floor of the Snipe building."
The Snipe building was composed of an underground facility that was equipped with a long and narrow firing range, and the main building, which rose above the surface in the northern part of Academy Island.
"Sorry about the noise. It's unrelated to your client so calm down."
"What is it?! What's going on?!"
"I left the range in the middle of the sniping competition, so I was disqualified. Everyone seems to be displeased about it."
I heard the sound of a window opening over the phone. Next, I heard a gunshot followed by a large commotion in the background. I was about to ask what happened when the glass sphere of lamppost next to me shattered. I was in a state of panic, but the exploding glass took me by surprise and brought me to a complete standstill.
"Kinoka, please calm down. Just losing one's composure reduces a person's abilities by half."
D . . . Did Reki just fire at that? There's nearly two kilometers from here to the Snipe building ...
"That's exactly what's happening to you right now," he continued.
"R . . . Right."
I heard a magazine being reloaded into a gun. It was amazing that he could be so accurate while talking on the phone and using that outdated Dragunov rifle, no less.
"I don't see the client anywhere ... but I can sense something unnatural in ocean currents. It's around drainpipe number nine."
There were twenty-eight drainpipes on the fringes of this Mega-Float that was Academy Island. They were holes from which any water that irregularly entered the island via rainfall and the like was pumped into the ocean.
"W-Which way?"
"... I ... am a single bullet ..." was the response that came back to me. It was a sort of interaction he used—one he had a habit of chanting when he concentrated.
Zpp!
The bullet from a sniper rifle marked the asphalt a short distance away from my feet.
Zpp! Zpp! Zpp! Zpp! Zpp!
W ... What the?
Making use of the Dragonuv's rapid-fire abilities, Reki was etching something in the asphalt. Soon enough I realized what it was.
"In that direction. Please investigate it. I'll continue to search for the client from here."
He had drawn an arrow thirty centimeters in length and width. I arrived at the drainpipe it pointed me towards, but I didn't see anything particularly suspicious about the water coming out of it. There were, however, traces of drainpipe number nine's grating being removed and forcefully put back in place.
Reki noticed the changes in the ocean surface that came about from something as minimal as this? At that distance?
Not that it was the time for being impressed by Reki's super-human eyesight. I checked my butei handbook to see where this drainpipe led.
"Junction ..." I whispered to myself, sweating. It wasn't sweat from running around. I had broken into a cold sweat. There was danger to be found in pretty much every inch of Butei High, but Junction was one of the three great danger zones along with Assault and Masters (the educational affairs department). The term "Junction" was nothing more than a euphemism used to avoid touching upon what the underground warehouse really was pone of the three great danger zones along with Asault and Masters (the educational affairs department). The term "Junction" was nothing more than a euphemism used to avoid touching upon what the underground warehouse really was—an explosives storehouse.
This is bad. Very bad. I don't mean to imitate Ares, but I've got a bad feeling about this.
Not many were aware of it, but something significant was happening in Butei High. And Shiro was caught right in the center of it!
The subterranean floors of Butei High were structured like the decks of a ship, and all floors underneath the first basement were below sea level. I flew down the stairs to the first basement and jumped into the elevator that would take me to the lower levels, which were designated as a restricted area. Once inside, I tapped in emergency password ... but the elevator wouldn't move.
That's weird. It's not working the way it normally does. That much is fact.
I went into the transformer room and removed the think pin that was securing the emergency ladder in the corner. The manhole-like door installed in the floor also served as partition in the event of flooding and was made of three layers of metal. Using the password, a cardkey, and the contactless IC card chip incorporated in my butei handbook, I opened the door, and putting the ladder in place, I descended to the floor underneath. That brought me to the boiler room where I repeated the same process to access the third, fourth, and fifth basement. The ladder was rusted, and my hands were cover with abrasions from climbing down it so quickly.
... It hurts. Man, does it hurt. But I don't have the time to be concerned with that now! If there's even a one percent chance of Shiro being here, I'll climb down as fast I possibly can. If that's what it takes to save him after he believed in me, then so be it!
And at length, I made it to the seventh basement.
Junction.
This was the deepest section of Butei High. Drainpipe number nine was connected to this floor. Of course, just making it through the drainpipes didn't mean an easy access to the area afterwards ... but I knew it wasn't impossible to do so long as I kept going. The weakness and flaws in Butei High's structures often came up in conversations between students. Since Butei High was designed to be so expansive, it was relatively susceptible to infiltration by outside forces. The reason it isn't that big of a concern is simply because there aren't many people stupid enough to trepass on an island crawling with hundreds of buteis.
When I dropped down into a reference room, which was located in the corner of Junction and no longer in use, it dawned on me.
It's dark.
I carefully opened the door so as not to make any noise and looked down the corridor, but it was pitch-black. The power was out. Only the red emergency lamps remained on. Thinking to call Muto and Reki, I took out my cell phone, but the Inbuilding Mobile Communication System must have been taken out because the words "No Service" displayed on the screen.
Damn.
I was pissed off at myself for being too much of a dolt to anticipate this situation. This wasn't going to be like some video game where a flashlight of transceiver would be conveniently lying around on the ground. Still, I would lose too much time of I were to go all the way back to surface. Right now, what mattered more communications or light was time. I wasn't sure if my judgment was correct, but Shiro might be in danger at this very moment—all because I was an idiot. If that were the case, I had to hurry. There was nothing else to it.
I ran through the aisles looking for Shiro, doing my best to hide the sound of my footsteps. The corridors were wide and there were shelves of munitions left and right. According to my butei handbook, which I managed to keep lit with a miniature light, the area up ahead of me was a wide-open space. It was called the grand warehouse, and it was where the most dangerous munitions to Junction were stored. It was from there ...
"...!"
...that I felt human presence. The person was having an argument. I couldn't make out what was being said, someone was definitely there. I reached for my Beretta, and as my hand touched the grip, a frown came to my face. In the darkness, which was ever so slightly illuminated by the red lamps, I noticed warning signs all around me that read "Keep Out" or "Danger."
This was an explosive warehouse.
If a bullet were to ricochet off of anything it shouldn't and set off an explosion ... Butei High would be sent flying. And by no means was that just a figure of speech. It would be like a battleship taking a direct hit from a torpedo. The sheer amount of explosives being kept here was easily capable of doing just that. And as far as I could see, everything was put away in a very disorganized manner. If one explosion were to cause a chain reaction of other explosions, there would be a large number of casualties among the faculty, students, Adisiard athletes, and the many capable young butei gathered here in Butei High from countries all over the world. And that wasn't all. The press was here to cover the Adisiard. There would be reports of an unprecedented tragedy in which hundreds of high school students were blown to set pieces and sent flying all over the place. ... In any case, I couldn't use my gun. I took out the butterfly knife in my pocket and opened it quietly. The blade glinted with red underneath the emergency lamps. The butterfly knife was a weapon prone to making sounds and not to wave it around too carelessly. Keeping that in mind, I used the blade a makeshift meters away from me, bathed in the red of the emergency lamps and next to a wall where munitions were stacked into a huge pile, stood Shiro in his priest garbs. He was talking with somebody I couldn't see because that person seemed to be lurking on the other side of a shelf of explosives, which were lined up rather irregularly—or possibly rearranged that way. I had an impulse to go right ahead and jump out onto the scene but somehow managed to restrain myself. First, I had to get a grasp on the situation. After all, that "somebody" might be pointing a gun at Shiro. I brought myself as close the corner as I dared and pricked up my ears.
"Why do want me, Durandal? My abilities aren't even that spectacular." Shiro's voice was filled with fear.
... Durandal! Durandal actually exists?!
"There is someone who is attempting to outwit us—unaware that the front is the rear of the rear."
It sounded feminine but it was definitely male voice - and he spoke in slightly old fashioned way.
"One who feigns the idea of peace negotiations while making preparations in the shadows. But strife will only serve to further strengthen the one to attempts to outwit us. Our great founder is one who dons the rear side of the shadows; in other words, our founder is one who dons the light and made plans for the shadows."
"What ... are talking about ...?"
"The enemy has begun training Stealths (espers) in the shadows. We are going to cultivate stronger Stealths on the rear side. A rare stone of ore such as yourself—well, it is only natural to reach out one's had to such a stone. There is nothing to find mysterious about it, Shiro. By good fortune you were guarded by a defective butei."
"A defective butei . . . ? Who do you mean?" There was a hint of anger mixed in Shiro's voice. The voice of boy opposite from him took on a more mocking tone.
"I thought I might have had a little trouble dealing with Holmes, but just as I planed, Kinoka Tohyama took on the role of sending him away. What else could one possibly call her besides a defective butei?"
"Kin-chan . . . Kin-chan is not defective!"
"But given your plight, is it not true that she was unable to protect you?"
"That's ... that's not true! Kin-chan wouldn't lose to you! I didn't want to cause any trouble for her ... so I just decided against calling her!
"Hmph!" Durandal laughed. "So you didn't want to cause any trouble for him? But you know, Shiro—you, too, played a role in my scheme."
"I did?"
"[You remember the phone call, don't you?]"
My heart nearly stopped when I heard the voice that came out from the shadows.
That ... was my voice! Did that boy just imitate my voice?!
"[Shiro, come quick! Get over here! I'm in the bathroom!]"
"... Ngh!"
I could tell that Shiro had him breath stolen away. The other boy must have found it amusing because he seemed to be enjoying himself as he continued to speak.
"Holmes had set up numerous surveillance cameras, but I was the one surveying your apartment. You were by the living room window, the lights went off in the bathroom that was occupied by Tohyama ... and Ares had made his way back at just that moment. I'm not the type to pass up on such opportunities."
"You posed as Kin-chan to make me take action ... and created a scenario in which Kin-chan and Ares would ... fight amongst themselves?"
"Everything else played out on its own. Before a few days could pass, Ares had left the two of you."
Durandal. ... He was watching us? He was hiding right next to us—next to Ares and I ... and his target, Shiro? And the first thing he did was to get rid of Ares, the keystone in protecting Shiro. He then waited for me to let down my guard. And now he was trying to kidnap Shiro ...!
"Follow me, Shiro. But ... before you become one of us, you should first become disillusioned with Tohyama. A gem such as yourself should offer your body and soul to someone else."
My mind went completely blank when I heard what he said next.'
"I'm going to take you with me now—to IU, that is."
IU. The ones who framed Ares' mother, Kanae Kanzaki, leaving her with a prison sentence of eight hundred and sixty-four years and employed the "butei killer," Reiko Mine Lupin the Fourth ... to kill my sister ...! I admired her so much ever since I was a kid—my sister, who was stronger, wiser, and kinder that anyone. And they were the ones responsible for her ...!
I could feel the blood rushing to my head. The butterfly knife, which I kept as a keepsake of my sister, shook audibly in my trembling fist.
"And one more thing." The boy's voice became slightly more lucid. "There was just one thing that didn't go according to my calculations. I seems I misread your personality. I was under the impression that you were the type who kept his promises."
"... What do you mean ...?"
"'I'll turn myself over to you without any resistance. In exchange, don't involve the students of Butei High—especially Kinoka Tohyama.' You undoubtedly made that promise. I heard it with my own ears. But on the rear side to things ... you were calling her."
His voice was being projected in a different direction when he said those last words. He was obviously pointing then in my direction.
He noticed me.
Realizing that, I made my next move.
"Shiro, run!" I yelled out as I darted towards them. It wouldn't be entirely incorrect to assume that I had just lost my patience. But it wasn't as if I rushed out without any ideas. I had a good sense of where the enemy was, based on the direction from which his voice came. If that were the case, I would bring this to a quick end by throwing myself onto and subduing him. There was also the fact that this is an explosives warehouse. I wouldn't be able to use my gun, but the same applied to my opponent. There were fifty meters separating me from the enemy. With my speed, it would take seven seconds to close that distance. There was no way seven seconds would be enough time for to him discover what my weapon of his own, and position himself for combat. There was no way he could pull it off!
"Kin-chan?!" Shiro's voice echoed in large warehouse. "... Don't come this way! You've got to get out of here! A butei can't win against a choutei!"
Shiro cries were akin to screams of terror, and as soon as he finished, something came flying towards my feet at lighting fast speed and embedded itself in the floor.
"Whoa?!" my voice reverberated in the warehouse, and I pitched forward, falling on my stomach. Next to my feet, an elegantly curved silver blade was sticking upright in the floor. I had seen this weapon before in the Assault textbook, so I knew what it was. It was a French bayonet known as a yatagan. They were like short sabers that attached to the end of long, narrow, old-fashioned guns.
"L'anse de la Pucelle. Butei, know the humiliation of one made out to be a criminal and placed in shackles."
On finishing his statement, something white began to radiate outward from the bayonet. Whatever it was, it made crackling noises as I felt it fix my feet to the floor.
I-I can't move.
"Urgh?!"
I tried to get up, but the white substance had spread to my knees as well.
What is this?! It's cold. ... Ice ...?!
The bayonet didn't look as if it were specially equipped with anything, and underneath my feet was just a regular linoleum floor.
How in the world is he doing this? I can't get up. ... My body is being sewn down by ice.
"Those of my clan don the light. Our true form is the rear side of the shadows. We outwit the schemers and excel in our own schemes. And the one thing I loathe above all else—is a 'miscalculation.'"
Our enemy, still concealing himself in the shadow, ended his sentence, and the emergency lamps in the room suddenly went out. We were now surrounded in complete and utter darkness.
"... N-No! Stop! What are you doing?! ... Ngh ...!"
I could hear metallic sounds coming from Shiro's direction. The enemy was on the move.
"... Shiro!"
There was no answer from him.
What's going on?! What did he do to her?!
I was starting to go into a panic, but being pinned to the floor with ice as I was now, I couldn't do a thing. No. It wasn't just this particular instance. Again, I was powerless to do anything. Far from saving Shiro, I had only made matters worse. That was how it had been from the very beginning—ever since I started acting as Shiro's bodyguard. I was unable to assess the situation correctly, I idly just let time go by without making any preparations, and when the time did come for me to take action ... in the end, all I did was waltz in here and cause problems for Shiro. I was witnessing danger befall upon Shiro, yet was helpless to do anything about it. All I could do was watch the situation take a turn for the worse!
I heard a second bayonet traveling through the air. It was pitch dark, but I was fully aware. It was a blade meant to finish me off! At almost that exact same moment, I heard another blade being thrown from behind me
Clang!
For a brief instant, sparks scattered in the air.
I'm . . . still alive. Huh? What happened just now?
"You can hand the baton over to me now."
It was an anime-like voice that cut through the total darkness. A light turned on in the corner of the room. It was followed by more lights, coming on one after the other like a row of falling dominos that encircled this warehouse as expansive as a gymnasium. The jet-black darkness was replaced with pure white light.
"There you are . . . Durandal! I'm placing you under arrest on the suspicion of attempted kidnapping of a minor!" cried a boy dressed in Butei High's standard uniform, making his appearance after trampling over my back and skull.
"Ares?!" I cried.
"It's you, is it, Holmes?" Again came the voice of the unidentified boy. He had vanished ... along with Shiro. He seemed to have been dragged away behind the shelves of explosives. From an open space in one of those shelves, two bayonets flew out of Ares. Ares spun his katana in a circle like the vanes of a windmill, deflecting both of them.
"Throw as many as you like. This is no different from being in a battling cage," said Ares, holding his katana as if he were getting ready to take a swing with a baseball bat.
The sound of a door being closed caught our attention, and after a short moment of silence. ...
"He ran for it." Ares spun around, and after pulling out te bayonet planted net to me, carelessly flung it aside. He then squatted down next to my head. "Well, I guess even as a idiot, you were a little useful."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"They say a courageous person can make use of barbarians while a wise person can make use of fools, don't they? There are ways of using you when you're in idiot Kinoka mode too."
He showed up only to start talking nonsense again. And don't squat down right in front of my face.
I turned my neck—the only part of me that I could move freely—to avoid getting a glimpse of the inside of his pleated pants. Straightening out his knees, Ares ran go check on Shiro, but then made a screeching noise with his sneakers as he came to a halt, sending his long ponytail waving in front of him.
"...?" I looked at Ares with puzzled eyes.
Ares took a step back and stuck his katana out in the air. I heard something I couldn't see get cut in two.
". . . What was that?"
"Piano wire. To be precise, it was probably twisted nano-Kevlar wire. It was set up at the same height as my neck.
Ares looked around and cut another wire.
"This one was set at the height of your neck. It was perfectly lined up on a diagonal axis so that if you were to run straight through here, your cartoid artery would have been severed. He probably intended to kill you with this if the knife didn't finish the job."
"H-He's a cautious one! Attempting to kidnap Shiro and laying traps all the while. ..."
"But his traps won't work. My eyes can't be fooled," said Ares, full of confidence. He picked up the katana that he threw when he saved me earlier and made his way towards Shiro once more. Before very long, he came back and kneeled by my side.
"How's Shiro?"
"He's not hurt. But he's tied up. Help me set him free," Ares said with one of his knees placed on top of me as he used his katana to chip away the ice fusing my limbs to the floor.
"Ares ...what have you been doing?! I haven't seen or heard from you since that day."
"Durandal was observing Shiro from someplace hidden. And I had a feeling he was rapidly closing the distance between him and Shiro. But he never dared to attack when Reki or I was around. That's why I intentionally stopped being his bodyguard."
"When you disappeared after our fight on the roof of Assault ... that was a part of your strategy?"
"Butei Charter, Article Two: Fulfill the contact made with your clients at all costs. I'll never abandon a mission. Well, I was seriously mad at you when you were sleeping out on the roof, but I thought it would also be good opportunity," Ares said as he freed my elbow from the floor. "Durandal is one of IU's top strategists. But since you were only moderately guarding Shiro, I was finally able to divert his attention away from me. What are you looking so discontented about? You have some kind of complaint?"
I finally regained the ability to move around, but I didn't voice my grievances at repeatedly being called an idiot or Ares' consistently dangerous ways of doing things. Looking at the outcome, he had saved me, after all.
"I don't ... sense the enemy's presence anymore. Did he escape?" I asked
According the flor plan that I check in my student handbook earlier, it should only have been possible to ascend to the higher levels from here.
"In the event that he to deal with multiple opponents, he'll first place some distance between us and work on dividing our forces from afar. He'll then try to dispose of us one after the other, one-on-one. That's the strategy Durandal uses."
I see. ... So that's why Shiro and I were separated from each other so skillfully.
"But strategists like that tend to try and erase everything when something unaccounted for disturbs their plans. If that's the case, there's the case, there's possibility he'll come back again to kill Shiro. So first, we're going to set him free," said Ares, pulling on my sleeve as soon as I stood up and leading me to where Shiro was.
Shiro was next to the wall of the warehouse where he was chained up in a standing position. He was gaged with a cloth and making grunting noises with his throat. What I removed the cloth ...
"Kin-chan, are you okay?! You're not hurt?!"
... she expressed his concerns for me, disregard the predicament he was in.
"I'm fine. What about you ...?" I asked as I took the chain that was fastened around his upper abdomen into my hands. The chain was wrapped multiple times around a thick pipe that ran along the wall and had the diameter of a hamburger. The huge locks keeping the chain in place were called drum locks. They were about the size of wall clocks, and three of the dreadful things were clamped onto the chain. Ares and I took out the bump key from our butei handbooks and started working on the locks ... but they must have been very intricately made because we couldn't unlock a single one.
"Kin-chan ... I'm sorry ... I was told to come here in these clothes without informing anyone ... otherwise they would blow up Academy Island and kill you as well. ..."
Upon hearing that, something painful welled up again in my heart. Without my knowing it, I had been used as bargaining chip.
"When did they tell you this?"
"Yesterday. ... It was when you went to go buy the fireworks for me. I received a threatening e-mail. The thought of you get hurt terrified me. ... I had no choice but to do what they said ..." Shiro said, beginning to sniffle.
"Don't worry about it now. Stop crying."
So that's when it was. No wonder he seemed so strange after I came back from buying the fireworks.
"I have to apologize to you too, Ares. You came to save me even after I did all those horrible things to you . ..."
Ares seemed to be bewildered by Shiro's apology, and he cheeks became slightly red.
"I-I'm ... just doing my job of protecting you since I accepted this mission. My true goal is to capture Durandal. That's all. So you don't need to grateful for anything," said Ares, but at the same time, was pulling on the chain with all his might as he tried to release Shiro. His words and his actions were conflicting with each other, but I wasn't going to comment on it right now.
That aside ... these chains just won't come off.
I had a feeling that if we were to use Shirau's superhuman swordsmanship, it just might be possible to do something about this ... but the one tied up was Shiro. And from the looks to it, his sword was taken away from him. I began to think it would be better to disconnect the pipe running along the wall, but unless we used some heavy-duty equipment, judging by the thickness, it would be difficult to budge. I started looking for any weak links that might be in the chain when Ares asked Shiro a question.
"Did you get a look at Durandal?"
"No ... he kept himself hidden in the shadows of the shelves the entire time. When he ran out of that door as well, all I could see was his shadow," said Shiro, indicating with his eyes the hatch on the ceiling that led to the upper level. Ares didn't look at all surprised.
"... It can't be helped. Durandal never allows himself to be seen."
It would seem all the investigating Ares did on a daily basis had provided him with quite a bit of background information on Durandal. I decided to ask him about something that had been bothering me for a while.
"Ares, that ice back there . ..."
I was referring to the ice that had sewn me to the floor. I thought he might have used liquid nitrogen, but that probably wasn't the case. Back when I was in the Assault division, I had frozen a time bomb with liquid nitrogen before ... but it didn't freeze over like that.
"It's a supernatural ability," Ares replied, nonchalantly giving the answer I was hoping not to hear.
"Yes," said Shiro, "in terms of international classification, he's a class three Stealth. Most likely, he's a Matsugi (mage)."
Shiro's supplementary explanation brought a frown to my face.
Are you serious . . . ? A magician?
"That can't be. ..."
"It can. These days, first-rate buteis don't find it surprising anymore. Even our school has SSR, doesn't it?"
I knew that of course. The logic made sense in my head, but ...
SSR. This department Shiro was affiliated with was most definitely doing earnest research on psychometry and dowsing and other dubious investigative methods. But SSR was a particularly secretive specialized division at Butei High, and aside from those directly involved, very few people knew much about it in detail. That especially applied to me, someone who longed to be an ordinary person, and always avoided having anything to do with that most unordinary world. I never even heard rumors of the existence of these magical powers, well aside from conversations about video games.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, Kinji," said Ares. "From my experience, their abilities aren't much different from the sort of thing an illusionist or a street performer does. They's nothing a lead bullet can't handle."
"But those are superhuman abilities. He might come at us with attacks we didn't account for."
"Oh, stop being such a coward. I hate it when you're like that. But ... you can put your mind at ease. Your training to "awaken" yourself isn't complete ... so you don't have to fight. I'll take care of him by myself."
Suddenly, as if replying to Ares' proclamation, a deep sound rang out in the underground warehouse. Looking around us, we saw water rushing in from the drain on the floor. The amount of water was increasing so rapidly, that in less than a minute it had practically become a fountain and began creeping its way towards our feet.
"This is seawater," Ares said, sniffing with his nose like a small animal.
"Yeah. He destroyed some part of the drainage system," I replied.
From our shoes to our ankles to our shins, the water continued rising.
This is bad.
This place might be as large as a gymnasium, but at this speed, it would probably be completely submerged in around ten minutes. That was plenty of time for Ares and I climb the ladder and escape from the hatch on the ceiling, but we couldn't possibly leave Shiro behind.
A strategist, huh?
"...He certainly does seem to be strategist, Ares. He discovered your weakness."
Ares didn't respond to me. He just stared uneasily at the rising water.
"Discovered . . . ? Discovered what . . . ?" Shiro asked, and Ares went red in the face. The look Ares gave me could be easily interpreted as "Don't say it." But these were the circumstances we were in. He would just have to forgive me.
"Ares can't swim. Tsuzuri was saying so the other day."
"T-That's not true. I-If I just have a ring buoy . . . !"
"We don't have a convenient thing like that with us. Ares, you go on up ahead of us."
"I ... I can't do that! I can't just run away and abandon you two!
"That's not it. You're not retreating; you're going on the offensive. Go up there and get the key from Durandal. Nothing we can do is going to get this chain off. You realize that, don't you?"
"... B-But ..."
"You have better fighting skills, so you can take him out faster than I can! Go on! We can't afford to waste even a single second right now!" I strongly urged Ares, remembering the tempo of life back in Assault. Ares continued to stare at Shiro with concern, but after seeing the water rise up to his knees, he finally handed his bump key over to me.
"...Alright. But if things start looking hopeless, make sure and call for me, okay?!"
Calling for you wouldn't help get these chain off.
All three of us were already aware of that thought. Still, I said, "Got it" as Ares turned his back on us with a mortified look on his face.
The water was continuing to increase at a faster rate, and the chains around Shiro weren't budging at all. There was likely to be five more minutes or so before the warehouse was entirely inundated. I had frantically search underneath the water for any sort of tool that could be of use, but came up empty-handed. The water level was now up to my shoulders. Being shorter than I, Shiro was already up to his neck in water.
What should I do ...?! What the hell should I do ...?!
"Kin-chan ... go on," Shiro said, looking at the expression on my face, which showed that I was at a complete loss.
"Don't ... worry about me anymore. I don't want to put you in danger." He admirably put on a smile underneath his perfectly straight bangs. Even at a time like this, he was trying to keep me from worrying.
"... Don't be ridiculous."
"Hotogi shrine priests are guardians shrine priests. It's our destiny to sacrifice our body and our soul for the sake of another. Kin-chan, go and escape now. Don't worry about me anymore . ..."
"... There's no way I'm leaving you here!"
Shiro tried to reply, but momentarily winced as the seawater finally made its way up to his mouth, and lifting his head up, he drew in a breath of air.
"It's okay. I ... Even if I die there won't be anyone to grieve. The teachers and the other students might have held me in high regard, but there isn't anyone who truly loves me. *cough* It's not me ... it's just the power of a Hotogi shrine priest that everyone reveres so much ... *cough* ..." said Shiro, lifting his head backwards as far as it could go and gasping for breath.
My toes had also left the floor of the warehouse. It had gotten to the point where I had to swim in order to move around.
"Sh .. Shiro! Ares' going to come back with the key any second! Hang in there for as long as you possibly can! Take a deep breath! Clients are obligated to follow the instructions of their bodyguard! I'll do something about these chai-"
"I'm releasing you .. from your duty as a bodyguard! Kin-chan ...! Get out of here! Keep living ...!"
"Shiro ...! Dammit ...! This is all happening ... because of me ...!"
"Kin ... chan ... it's not your fault ...!"
With those being his last words, Shiro shut his eyes tightly ... and disappeared beneath the water's surface.
"Shiroooooo!"
"Shiro's black hair wavered limply in the water. He stopped looking at me and just looked downwards as if he had already resigned himself to this fate.
"Shiro ...!"
Are you trying to just die ... and make it easier for me escape? You released me from my responsibility as a bodyguard ... and defended me to the very end, saying it wasn't my fault. ...
"The hell it isn't ...!" I yelled, punching the wall.
I was at fault. It was entirely my fault that this was happening. I ignored warnings, didn't prepare myself to face the enemy, and made the situation worse when I did take action.
Of course, it's my fault!
Now that things have come to this ... I finally made up my mind.
Shiro, you always obediently did exactly what I said, didn't you. Thinking back, most of what I ordered you to do stem from my own selfishness. So now it;s my turn to do everything that you asked of me. You told me three things. First off, you just told me to "keep living." You got it. I'm going to stay alive all right. I'm not dying in a place like this. I'll keep living with everything I've got, and I'll crush Durandal and any other of Ares' enemies. And when I'm done, I'm gonna live the most ordinary and carefree life possible. And as for the second thing you told me, I heard you loud and clear on that night when I was to start guarding you on my own. You said, "Protect me." At that moment, you, too, were unaware of the enemy's presence. That might be why you were able to say it so easily. But I did reply. I said, "Sure." I'm going to protect you. I have a final trump card to play. Though I've kept it a secret and have been running away for it so long. I even hid it from you, a friend of mine ever since we were kids. I have this one card I saved until the very end—power I have locked away inside my body.
More than half of what I did during that hijacking incident wasn't of my own will. I silenced Ares so our enemy wouldn't find us. That was the priority. If I hadn't used it, I would have died. That was the situation I was in. But now ... my reason for using this power would have nothing to do with responsibility. Ares said I didn't have to fight. Shiro rescinded the order I was given to guard him. That's why I was no longer responsible. If I wanted to run, I was free to do so. Even if I would wind up regretting it for the rest of my life, I wasn't obliged to use this power. But for the first time since by sister died, I'm going to use this power willingly. I'm going to use the trump card I have hidden deep within me.
I'm going to use hysteria mode!
Shiro, "I'm releasing you from your duty as a bodyguard," you say?
"To hell with that!" I screamed with my mouth wide open, and before closing it, took a deep, deep breath. Until I went red in the face. Until my lungs were on the verge of bursting. Until I became even closer to my limit. I sucked in all the air I possibly could ... and dove underwater.
There, Shiro stood almost listlessly as I gasped his shoulders, and his large eyes grew even larger as he shook his head from side to side. He blinked his eyes rhythmically, sending me a message in code.
'Don't die Don't make it up to me in that way'
Apparently he thought I was planning on dying with him. It was like him to entertain such a thought.
That's not it. That's not it, Shiro. The third thing you told me. There was one more thing you told me to do, wasn't there? Yesterday, after the fireworks, you said, "Kiss me." I'm sorry it's going to be under these circumstances though. I'll do . . . what you asked of me!
I signaled a single word to Shiro with my blinking eyelids.
'Breathe'
As soon as I communicated the message, I embraced Shirio ...
"...!"
...and place my mouth against his. Shiro's lips—and it was a crime to make this comparison, really—were ... softer than Ares'. The breath I held inside was being drawn out of me, and a just a little of Shiro's passed my way as well. It had the sweet scent of peaches.
... Ahh. I can feel it. I can feel Shiro taking his next breath ...
Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
... as well as my increasing heart rate.
Starting at my lips, boiling blood began circulating throughout my body ... and converged at my very core. I never thought I would have been doing something like this with my childhood friend. That sentiment mingled with furious excitement and lit a fire within me. it was as if all the time I had spent with Shiro since we were children had come together and transformed itself into a source of heat that burned the center of my being with enough intensity to be painful ...!
Ahh. ... It's happening. I'm entering ... hysteria mode ...!
From the tips of Shiro's lips, bubbles rose to the surface as he exhaled. He was breathing. I kept our lips attached and after letting him take two more breaths ... released my mouth from his. Reaching out my hand to the drum lock wedged against his upper abdomen, I gathered my concentration and inserted the bump key once again.
When the water rises to the ceiling, we'll lose our means of getting air. The way I wee it, that'll happen in three minutes. No, it should already be less than that.
In normal mode, I require an average of twelve minutes to open an anti=break-in CP-C lock via lock bumping. But in my current state, the slightest sensations picked up by my fingertips allowed me to understand the inner structure of the lock as if I could see right through it.
Click.
In a mere ten seconds, I open the first of the locks that even Ares had struggled with. The second lock didn't take any longer, either. I went up for air, and while sharing it with Shiro again after coming back down, I took the bump key out the butei handbook he had tucked away between his chest and his priest garbs.
Click!
The giant drum lock that had restrained Shiro made a loud sound as it opened, and the heavy chains also noisily slid down the pipe. Shiro and I rose to the surface, and our faces emerged from the water at the same time as we gasped for air.
Great. We made it in time.
Our heads were nearly bumping against the ceiling, but the warehouse wasn't totally submerged yet.
"Kin-chan!" Shiro swan over to where I was and embraced me.
"...Shiro, you just said that you released me from by duty as a bodyguard, didn't you?"
Ah. You idiot. I'm an idiot. Don't talk in that low, cool voice. And stop with the piercing look in your eyes. It's so annoying.
"Y . . . Yes," Shiro answered.
I gently caressed Shiro's face from ear to cheek with my wet hands while using my thumb to brush aside a tuft of his hair that was clinging to his skin.
"Whether I'm your bodyguard or not isn't relevant. I'm going to protect you. I want to protect you because it isyou ... no matter what. Shiro ... I want you to accept these scorching feelings of mine," I said in a low yet clear voice resembling a whisper.
There was a bit of surprise mixed in with expression on his face that showed he couldn't have been more deeply moved, and he nodded once. When he lifted his head, it finally made contact with the ceiling.
Ah. Now isn't the time to be giving him assurance with my sweet words.
It was a bad habit of mine that emerged during hysteria mode. Right now, we had to move to the floor above us as quickly as possible.
"B-But Kin-chan, out opponent in a Matsugi. I'll fight too," Shiro said, lowering his nicely shaped eyebrows in determination.
"You're a brave boy," I commented with a small, wry smile. I didn't want to expose Shiro to any more danger, but I had to respect the will of a lady. "I'm hoping that won't be necessary, but ... alright then. If things start looking grim, give us a hand. Ares and I will take the vanguard. Shiro, you stay in the rear and set up an ambush."
Now I had all my cards out in the open. All that remained to do was to meet up with Ares and launch a fierce attack. Then we would arrest Durandal, who had yet to even show himself. Our adversary was a strategist—and an esper at that. He wasn't the type of opponent who could be beaten by an average butei. But the buteis assembled here were by no means average. We had Ares the Quadra, myself in hysteria mode, and Shiro as support. With these three cards on the table, we can definitely fight on par with Gurandal. We should be more than a match for his in fact. Those were the thoughts I was mulling over as I opened the hatch leading to the upper level. The was now practically touching the ceiling. I opened the three layered door, and to prevent being attacked the second I stuck my head out I used my knife as a mirror to check the surrounding area above me. When I came to the conclusion that there was no immediate danger, I wondered if there might have been some sort of devise attached to the door becuase another dull sound echoed throughout Junction.
"... Tsk!" I clicked my tongue.
The water level began to rise even faster. It reached the ceiling in not time and a surge of water threw us out onto the floor above us.
"Aaah!" cried Shiro, arriving on the sixth basement floor and subsequently being swept away by a rush of water on the linoleum floor.
"Shiro, be careful! Get your sub-edge (support balde) ready!"
"R...Right!"
I wanted very much to go after Shiro, who drifted off into the shadows, but right now I had to stop this flow of water. If this floor were to become submerged to, we'd have to go through the same ordeal all over again. Still keeping a firm grip on the hatch built into the floor, I attempted to close it against the extreme water pressure.
"Urrrrrrgh!" I groaned, using all the strength I could muster to push down on the door ... and barely managed to close it.
"Phew."
Looks like that put a stop to the water. If I were the normal me, I probably wouldn't have been able to do anything about this, either.
"... Shiro," I called out, but reply came back. "..."
I could be .. that he had found our enemy and was keeping quiet so as not to give himself away. Shiro was currently supposed to be laying in ambush, after all. I took a look around me and realized that this levl, the flor of which was now waterlogged, had a large number of humungous computers lined up together like walls. This room housed a HPC server—or what's commonly known as a super-computer. There were access lamps blinking all over the place. There weren't, however, any signboards that read "Danger" or "Caution." I pulled out my Beretta and after removing the bullets, blew the water out of the chamber. A little soak in water wouldn't be enough to render modern-day guns useless. It was too bad for the guys in Informa and Connect, but I had no qualms with using my gun on this floor.
This room, with its large-scale computers lined up like portable partitions, was just like a maze. Unlike the shelves of explosives, there was no danger of having projectiles thrown at us from between small open spaces, but there was no way of telling where or who another person could be. Muffling the sound of my footsteps, I ran down a corridor surrounded by walls of integrated circuits and silicon. I held my gun in the position we learned in our indoor-combat class and moved around like a Special Forces commando. I made my turns cautiously when I came to corners of the walls of computers, and at the third one ...
"Kinoka."
... I came across Ares. Apparently, he had heard our voices earlier and made his way back here from the elevator towards the back of the room.
"You're okay. That's great . ..."
I made eye contact with him and nodding slightly, adjusted the direction of my gun to exclude Ares from its bullets' trajectory. Ares, who seemed to have felt guilty for leaving the warehouse without us, looked relieved to see me unharmed. But when he came by my side, Ares glared up at me with angry eyes.
"Why didn't you escape from here? I tole you that you didn't have to fight, didn't I?" Ares reproved me in a low voice for disobeying his orders.
"I'm afraid I'm not rational enough to leave an adorable person such as yourself here while I make a run for it."
"...Wh-What's that supposed to mean?"
I, also relieved to se Ares bearing his cuspid and returning to his usual self, whispered back to him.
"When I thought that you were probably longing to see me, I couldn't contain myself and my body just starting acting on it's own."
"W-W-W-What are you talking about at a time like this?"
I put on a smile rivaling that of Shiranui's, and Ares displayed his usual habit of becoming red in the face. The process of going from a fair complexion to bright red took precisely half a second. Congratulations on setting a new record, Ares.
"But more importantly, Ares, where's Durandal?"
". . . I haven't found his yet. It doesn't look like that coward plans to fight with me."
"I see."
"But he's somewhere in this room for sure. All the locks on the doors leading to the upper level have been destroyed, and the elevator doors have been sealed off with iron plating. It was all done on the side accessible from this floor," explained Ares, regaining his wits. Sure enough, it didn't look like Ares had entered battle with Durandal yet. "Say, I heard his voice earlier, so you succeeded in rescuing Shiro, right? He wasn't hurt or anything?"
It would seen Ares was fairly worried about us after all; he asked with the utmost sincerity.
Such a strong sense of responsibility. What a good little boy.
"No. But I lost sight of him in here. If we're taken out one by one while we're scattered about, it'll be just the way our enemy planned. First, we need to reunite with Shiro—"
Just then I heard a faint coughing noise. It was a barely audible sound that my ears only vaguely picked up even in hysteria mode, and Ares, with the sensitive hearing of a wild animal, spun around in its direction.
"It's Shiro. He's over there."
"Let's go. But we don't know where Durandal might strike from. Ares, let me be your shield," I said as I walked past Ares and started leading the way down the corridor. When I walked past him, I saw Ares' crimson eyes grow ever slightly larger in my peripheral vision. It would seen that he realized a certain something about me.
Shiro nodded in compliance.
"Kin-chan . ..." Shiro was half in tears as he looked up at me with a gaze that suggested he was completely depending on me. His wet priest garbs were adhering to every inch of his body, revealing his sexy bodyline that was uncharacteristic of a high school student. When I was in hysteria mode, I could call to mind everything about the shape, color, quality, and trimmings of a boy's outfit as if I had a photo right in front of me. However ... Shiro currently seemed to be wearing this body-armor.
"Were your lips okay after that?"
"Yeah, they're fine."
I thought I would ask, and Shiro nodded his head.
"They were bleeding, weren't they? Lemme have a look."
"No need. It wasn't that big of a deal. I just have a cut on the inside of my mouth."
...I knew it!
"Ares, get back!" I yelled and open fire on Shiro.
As for Shiro ... he seemed to have anticipated my actions.
"!"
In his dripping wet garbs he knocked away my arm, causing the bullet to go astray. The bullet ricocheted off the floor and hit the enormous computer nearby, creating sparks.
"Kinoka?!" Ares cried out in surprise, and Shiro ran alongside him at blinding speed.
Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!
I instantly switched to full auto and my Beretta lit up with muzzle flashes. But the bullets it fired only found their way into the hem of Shiro's hakama. He actually made use of the force that knocked back his hakama and scrambled behind Ares. Once there, he took up a katana that was hidden underneath the computer rack. He flung its vermillion-lacquered scabbard into the elevator hall, and the blade he had drawn from it was the katana that Shiro always kept with him. I was no longer able to fire at Shiro. He was using Ares as a shield. Ares was still unable to comprehend the situation, but he seemed to have sensed the danger with his animal-like instincts.
"...?!"
He reflexively pulled out his pistols and tried to turn and face Shiro.
"Ungh?!"
Shiro tightly wrapped his left arm around Ares' neck from behind. The sharp edge of the katana in his right hand was dangerously angled against the back of Ares' neck under his ear. It was lined up with his carotid artery—the vital artery that could be reach by cutting inward by just a few centimeters, causing a person to bleed to death in a matter of seconds.
"Shi . . . ro! What's going on?! What's gotten into you?!" Ares hollered.
From over Ares' shoulder, Shiro then blew on the right hand in which Ares was holding his pistol.
"Uagh!" cried Ares, flinching as if he had been scalded by a hot iron. He dropped his prized Government, and when the silver pistol fell on the ground, the area around it became covered in ice.
"Ares! That's not him!" I screamed. "That's not Shiro!"
Shiro proceeded to blow on Ares' left hand as well.
"Aaah?!"
"He flinched again, this time releasing his jet-black Government and bringing both hands in front of his chest. There was ice attached to his hands as if a hard frost had set in. Seeing that unnatural spectacle caused as instinctive sense of fear to run through my spine.
Shiro ... did that just now? Using supernatural abilities?
"A mere human," his voice was no longer "Shiro's, "trying to oppose a Stealth? Such foolery."
I did have a hunch that something wasn't right. The Shiro before me hadn't done with a I told him to do. I told him to take out his sub-edge, but he was lying on the floor coughing and unarmed. That's why I asked if his lips were okay—to see how he would respond. If he had been the real Shiro, who I had kissed when we were under water, there was no way he would have calmly just said something like "they're fine." Not only that, but I hadn't seen him injure his mouth at all. Yet, he answered in a way that suggested he had. This fake Shiro was so well disguised that I had to go through such lengths to confirm my suspicions. He was the exact splitting image of Shiro. If I hadn't been in hysteria mode, which increases my senses by many times greater than usual, even I, Shiro's childhood freind, would have been completely fooled and fallen at his hands.
"...Durandal ...!" Ares, finally perceiving the imposter's true identity, cried out his name while trembling in pain from his frozen hands.
"...Don't call me by that name. I'm not partial to names people arbitrarily label me as."
"You ... remember my name, don't you?! I'm Ares Holmes Kanzaki! One hundred and seven years of my mom's prison sentence come from the crimes that you pinned on her! You're going to have to make amends for what you did!"
"Is that the kind of statement one makes in your situation?" Durandal sneered at the captured Ares. "And regarding your name, it's laughable for you to be so proud of a name with only one hundred and fifty years of history. My name is much more ancient than yours. It has a history of six hundred years—a proud history of light." He narrowed his eyes in amusement using Shiro's face and brought his lips close to Ares' ear. "I see. So you're the Quadra. It's just like Lupin the Fourth said."
Lupin the Fourth's name was just mentioned. He was referring to Reiko.
So he is allied with the "butei killer," Reiko Mine, Lupin the Fourth.
I was just thinking that that a disguies this perfect couldn't have been possible without his skills.
"Ares, you very much resemble my great ancestor, Joan of Arc the First. You have a hot and hunky appearance, but you have a courageous heart ..."
"Joan of Arc ...?!" Ares repeated the name.
Did he just say ...Joan of Arc?!
I knew the name as well. I learned of it in the world history class that was part of our general education. She was a saint of France who led his country to victory in the Hundred Years' War between England and France in the fifteenth century. Does Durandal mean he's a descendant of that Joan of Arc?
... But ...
It was impossible for this boy right in front of me to be a descendant of Joan of Arc. The reason being that the woman known as "The Maid of Orléans" met her end by ...
"That'a a lie!" cried Ares. "Joan of Arc was burned at the stake ... before the age of twenty! He has no descendants!"
"That was a double," Durandal said, snorting with derision. "Our clan is a clan of strategists. We can feign to be saints, while out true identity is that of a sorcerer. We have concealed our true identity in the shadows of history while passing on our pride, name, and ingenuity to our heirs for generations. I am the thirtieth in our line—John of Arc the First," said Durandal—or if one were to abide by his claim, John of Arc.
"It's just as you say. My ancestor, the Joan of Arc, was nearly executed by burning. But following that, we have been studying this power for generations." Like a poisonous snake, John extended his hand to Ares' thighs and Ares wrenched his body in immerse pain again.
"Aaah!"
Before my eyes, ice formed over his small kneecap. There was no longer any doubt. This boy had an unbelievable power that was different the abilities of we buteis.
"Follow me, Ares. Lupin the Fourth failed to bring you back with his, but I'll be taking you as well."
"... Ares!"
I switched my Beretta to semi-automatic and threatened John by pointing it at his head ... but I couldn't fire. Butei Charter, Article Nine: Under no circumstances shall a butei kill another person while operating as a butei. I only realized it when I fired at him earlier, but the priest garbs he was wearing was bullet proof. The only other part of his body that was exposed was the hand that held the katana, but if were to shoot at it, I would his Ares' neck. John knew the advantage he would have with Ares as his shield. He had it planned all along.
What do I do?
John looked me in the eyes as I stood there with furrowed brows and smiled at me presumptuously with Shiro's face.
"Having seen though my disguise, I'm pretty sure you aren't the usual Kinoka Tohyama. I unquestionably need to be on my guard ... but in your current state, your weakness is having a boy taken hostage, isn't that right?"
He certainly deserves his title as a strategist. He had done a very thorough investigation.
"Tohyama, if you move Ares will turn to ice. Ares, don't you move either, or I'll freeze any part of you that so much budges."
I cursed in the back of my mind. Just as he said, in hysteria mode, I prioritized the safett of men over all else.
"Kinoka ... shoot him!"
Where exactly, do you suggest I shoot him at? I can't just shoot through you. In my current state, I'm utterly incapable of doing that!
"You just spoke, didn't you Ares? You moved your mouth. You don't need that troublesome tongue of yours."
Using the hand he held the katana with, John grab Ares' chin and forced it to the side where he restrained it. He then brought his own lips towards Ares'.
He's going to blow that freezing breath into Ares mouth!
"Stop!" I shouted, but was powerless to do anything—not with Ares taken hostage.
"Ares!" echoed a voice that didn't belong to me. But the voice didn't have its usual reserved and somewhat frail tone. It had become something more valiant and powerful. From above a three-meter high computer behind John, a chain with a weight attached at its end sped towards Ares and wrapped itself around the sword guard of the katana in John hand, which he had relaxed his grip on while he restrained Ares' chin. The blade's sharp edge, which had been pressed against the nape of Ares' neck, was being pulled away.
"?!"
John looked up with Shiro's knitted brown, and on top of the computer ...
"Kin-chan, rescue Ares!"
. . . was the real Shiro! He yanked on the chain and pulled the katana out of the hand of his imposter. Atop the computer, Shiro then caught the katana that he fished up. Ares saved Shiro's life a little while ago, but this time Shiro saved Ares'. Butei Charter, Article One: Believe in your comrades and help one another. Normally, the two of them couldn't even do a simple fortune-telling together peacefully, but when situation called for it, they saved each other's lives.
Ares. Shiro. You two are remarkable buteis! Excellent job!
The real Shiro jump off the computer and swung his katana downwards, aiming to separate Ares and John of Arc. John responded. He gathered the long sleeves of his blade-proof priest garbs and attempted to catch the sword with his kimono. In doing so, he released Ares, who interfered. When Ares got away, he used his remaining functional leg to deliver a kangaroo kick into John's knee. John almost completely lost his balance and was forced to fall back. My hysteria mode eyes captured the entire process, which happened in little more than a second. Ares came rolling in front of my feet and stood up on one knee. Shiri stood in front, guarding him. He held the hilt of his sword vertically with both hands at position diagonal from his shoulder.
"Shiro," John said, "to think you would forfeit your own life tp save Ares. ..." A cylindrical shaped object dropped out from underneath the hem of the hakama he wore to disguise himself as Shiro. It produced a white smoke that quickly spread all around him.
A smoke bomb...! He's trying to blind us!
The sprinklers on the ceiling sensed the smoke and began showering water one by one. Shiro backed up little by little, avoiding coming in contact with the smoke John used to conceal his whereabouts.
"Sorry, Kin-chan. I thought I had him just now ... but I let him escape."
"You did great. I would have expected no less from you. You okay, Ares?"
"H...He had me completely fooled. I never thought there would be two Shiros. ..." Ares said, still kneeling and repeatedly opening and closing his hands. His grip had lost nearly all of its strength. He probably wouldn't be able to participate in the battle any longer, which was likely to be exactly what John's planned for. In addition ... I had the slight feeling that it was getting colder inside the room.
"Shiro, would you recall to memory a couple of things for me?"
"Sure."
"Do you have any recollection of setting up piano wire inside Ares' locker?"
"His locker ...? I swear that I haven't done anything like that."
"One more thing. The other day, did Shiranui see you in the greenhouse pulling petals off flowers?"
"Huh?" Ah, yeah ..." Shiro answered somewhat bashfully, and I clicked my tongue.
"I came across another Shiro at that same time. That boy has been lurking in Butei High disguised as Shiro, the entire time. That's how he was able to observe us so closely ... and split us apart. Ares, the one who set up piano wire in your locker was probably John as well. You remember the piano wire that was set up in the floor beneath us, don't you? As they say, the best place to hide a tree is in a forest. John's death trap was mixed in among the all the harassment you were subjected to by Shiro."
Ares' camellia-colored eyes grew wide as I speedily stated my deductions.
"Kinoka ... you ... changed into 'that' again, didn't you?!"
I did. I'm currently in hysteria mode—that "awakened" state as you all it.
By not saying anything, I answered Ares' question in the affirmative. Confirming his suspicion must have emboldened Ares because he exposed that fang-like cuspid of his and started to holler.
"Durandal! You're John of Arc, you say? You're a coward! You don't resemble your ancestor in the least!"
Beyond the smoke and a fair distance away, John responded to Ares' taunting voice.
"The same applies to you, doesn't it, Holmes the Fourth?"
His voice came from a distance. It originated somewhere by the elevator hall. We turned in that direction ... and it donned on us. It wasn't just a slight feeling. The temperature in the room was rapidly dropping. On the other side of the smoke, the water that fell from the sprinklers turned into ice crystals and danced around like snow. It was the phenomenon called diamond dust. It was a mystifyingly beautiful scene akin to dancing jewels. But paradoxically, it created an indescribable sense of fear. He was a diamond dust sorcerer.
"Kin-chan ... defend Ares. He won't be able to fight for a while." Keeping his katana in his right hand, Shiro backed up towards us and kneeled down on one knee. He gently took Ares' right hand into his own left hand. "A sorcerer's ice is similar to poison. The one who can purify it is a Father . . . or a priest. But this is a strong form of ice ranging from grade six to grade eight. Even if I use my powers to heal his ... I think it will take five minutes before he's back to normal. So you protect him until then. I'll defeat our enemy on my own."
"... What are you saying, Shiro? I can't let you fight alone." I step in front of the two, preparing myself in case John went on the offensive.
"Kin-chan ... I'm happy you feel that way. But for just right now, leave this to me, a choutei. Ares, I think ... this is going to sting quite a bit. But it's going to help you heal. Please bear with it," said Sho, and he started to softly whisper some kind of incantation. He was probably gathering his concentration. Power invisible to the human eye transferred from Shiro's hand to Ares'.
"... Agh ...!" Ngh!"
Pain seemed to accompany the treatment Shiro was performing, but Ares muffled his voice so as not to be discovered by the enemy. Being in hysteria mode, I couldn't keep myself from looking behind me when I heard the pain in Ares' voice.
"Nggh!"
Ares was stifling his voice be biting the sleeve of his uniform, all the while flinching in pain. His bangs whipped upwards, and I caught a glimpse of the X-shaped scar he hid underneath them. It was from the wound he received when he shielded me with his own body last month—a scar that would remain on the face of a boy for the rest of his life. I felt a pain run deep inside my chest. Beside me, Shiro finished administering Ares' treatment and pulled out something resembling wax paper from his kimono. He affixed it to the wall-like computer, and the area around us began to grow warmer. Taking a closer look, I saw that it was a rectangular shaper charm made of Japanese paper, and written on it were red symbols and Chinese characters. My vision became clearer, and I saw Shiro spring to his feet. The mixture of ice and smoke surrounding him drifted away like evil spirits being exorcized. I hadn't realized it, but at some point, our clothes had also been dried.
So this is a supernatural ability too, is it?
"Shiro ..." I whispered.
Looking at him, I made up my mind. I didn't want to let him fight alone. I couldn't. However ... I couldn't leave Ares on his own, either.
... I'l leave this battle to Shiro for the most part since he's an esper. That's what he desires as well.
Seeing me back up towards Ares, Shiro addressed our advesary.
"John," Shiro said, taking a step forward in the opposite direction towards the enemy and turning his back on Ares and I, "let's ... put a stop to this. I don't want to hurt anyone—not even you."
Shiro made himself heard loud and clear, and from beyond the smoke came a short derisive laugh.
"Don't make me laugh. A raw ore such as yourself is incapable of hurting me. I have been thoroughly refined at IU."
"I'll have you know I'm a grade seventeen Stealth."
This time, Shiro's words didn't meet with any laughter. I wasn't very clear on the matter, but apparently, what Shiro just said was a substantial threat to an esper.
"...You're bluffing. There is only a handful of grade seventeen's in this world."
"You should be able to feel it yourself. It's forbidden by the Hotogis ... but when I released the seal on my garments ..."
"...Even it that were the truth ..." This time, there was a bit of tension in John's voice. "You can't betray the Hotogis—not if you understand what betraying them would mean."
"Joan ... you're a strategists who's fallen prey to his own strategy." Shiro's voice became stronger. "You refer to the person I normally am—the person I've been until now. But at this moment, I have next to me the single being who can bring me to break any of the Hotogi's rules. Your foresight didn't account for the strength of those feelings."
John didn't have any reply for the curious statement Shiro made. Those who concoct schemes are weak against unexpected developments. And right now, our enemy was being made aware of a miscalculation in his plans—all due to this Shiro who was a different person than before. The temperature in the room was already reverting to normal. The smoke from the smoke bomb was also disappearing, and the sprinkles shut off one after another.
"... Give it your best shot," said John. "I anticipated the possibility of direct combat. The higher their grade, the more quickly chouteis lose their stamina in battle. If I can hold out, then I win."
It sounded as if John had strengthened his resolve, and at long last ... his figure appeared from behind the dissipating smoke. He had cast aside the red hakama and white kimono, and as I suspected, what had lain beneath them was western style armor covering sections of his body.
"The disguise Lupin the Forth provided me with was difficult to move around in, but that's over now."
John peeled off the thin mask he was wearing on his face, and behind it were long and narrow sapphire eyes as piercing as blades. His hair, a French braid worn up around the whorl of hair on the back of his head, was a silver color like that of ice. Unlike the descriptions of Joan of Arc mentioned in old-fashioned Japanese textbooks, this John of Arc was exactly the kind of beautiful Caucasian that you would expect to see in a western historical film.
"Kin-chan ... don't look at me from here on," said Shiro in a slightly trembling voice with his back still facing me.
"... Shiro?"
"Starting now ... I'm going to use a technique that's forbidden by the Hotogis. But if you see it ... I'm sure you'll become afraid of me. You'd think you were seing the impossible. You may ... come to hate me even," Shiro said as he placed his hand on the white ribbon he always wore in his hair. His fingers were also trembling to a small degree.
Taking half a step back, I replied, "Shiro ... don't worry. There's only one thing that's impossible. I moved into a position that would protect Ares from the battle that was going to start between two chouteis. "I'll come to hate you? That, of all things, is impossible."
Almost as if my low voice had given him a push, with a forced smile, he turned his head halfway towards me as he unraveled the white ribbon that was tied to his hair.
"I'll be right back."
Shiro repositioned his foot, sounding his gata with its red thong and carrying his sword in a different position. His stance was different from what it was before. He was grasping the very edge of the pommel of his katana with his right hand and held it sideways above his head so that flat the of the blade could be seen. It was a peculiar stance that was unlikely to exist in any school of kendo.
"John, I can no longer allow to you escape."
"...?"
"It's because you're about to witness the forbidden kidou that lies hidden within Hotogi priests. Like you, we, too, have inherited the power and name of our ancestors. Ares' family has done so for one hundred and fifty years. Yours for six hundred. And we have been doing so for a long period of roughly two thousand years."
Shiro strengthen the grip of his hand holding the katana, and a waving, scarlet light, which was illuminating the computer filled room, was the light of flames! At this point, there was no doubting that it wasn't a trick using benzene of flammable gas. It was unmistakably Shiro's trump card—his supernatural ability.
"'Shiro' is an alias to hide my true name. My real name ... is Himiko (scarlet priest)."
The second he finished his sentence, Shiro darter towards John, closing in on him like a blazing arrow. John, who for a short instant was entranced by Shiro's technique, stooped down low, and pulling out a gorgeous, western style sword that had been hidden behind his back, stopped the powerful attack into which Shiro had put his all.
What would have normally been sparks, emerged in the form of jewel-like diamond dust that immediately evaporated as the two swords vied for dominance. John skillfully avoided a swing from Shiro's katana, and it cut the computer beside him in two without making a sound. John dodged backwards from Shiro's next attack, placing some distance between the two of them. It was an obvious retreat.
"Fire ..." I said to myself.
Taking a good look, I noticed there was a tinge of fear mixed in with cold sweat running down the face of the handsome boy. In hysteria mode, I could tell. He was afraid of fire. John said that the founding ancestor of his clan began developing that technique after nearly being burnt at the stake. Most likely, it was out of fear. He was afraid of what nearly took his life. For generations, his clan has been studying the secret art of ice manipulation with that fear deeply ingrained in their hearts.
"What you just saw was the first in a series of attacks of Hotogi Souten style, Hinokakabi (Scarlet Shining Man). Next, I'm going to cut through that sword with Hinokaguchi (Scarlet Flame Hammer of Fear)," Shiro said, once again raising the blazing scarlet katana over his head.
It's just like a torch. I see now, The purpose of that stance is to keep the stance is to keep the surging flames from harming the wielder.
"That will be the end of this. There's nothing this Irokaneayame cannot cut."
"That's my line. The Sacred Sword Durandal can cleave through anything" John proclaimed, his voice full of courage.
The large sword John wielded was an ancient-looking but a well maintained, magnificent claymore. The blue jewel that decorated its cross-guard sparkled in the light given off by Shiro's flames. Shiro sprang towards John again ... but to my eyes, it seemed as if he were rushing to bring the battle to an end.
Clang! Clang!
Their swords exchanged strikes a number of times, sending the loud sounds of clashing, fierce metal echoing through the room. It was almost unbelievable to watch as Shiro's katana and John's sword sliced through everything they came in contact with. The computers along with the cabinets that housed them. The bulletproof elevator door. The linoleum floor and walls. But there was one thing that wasn't being cut apart. It was the metal that formed Shiro's Irokaneayame and John's magical sword—the Sacred Sword Durandal as he claimed it to be. Those swords, both exalted for being able to cut through anything, were the only things that didn't recieve a single scratch no matter how many times they clashed against one another.
"This certainly is ... a battle between top-ranking chouteis!" came Ares' voice from below me, and he finally lifted his head.
"Ares," I whispered, crouching down next to him, "can you move?"
"I ... seem to be okay now. But my guns are frozen to the floor so even if I recovered them, they won't be of any use. My pistols aren't meant to be used in cold environments. They probably won't be functional unless I completely disassemble and perform maintenance on them," said Ares, looking at his frozen Governments frustration.
"Let's come up with a plan."
Ares, who was always arbitrarily acting on his own authority, looked up at me ... and nodded his head without protest. It would seem he treated me like an actual partner when I was in hysteria mode.
"I'd like to support Shiro in some way, but if our timing is off, we'll wind up becoming a hindrance. You have experience arresting espers like this, don't you? Isn't there some way to create a chance for us to take him down?"
"To be honest . . . I've never come up against a Stealth this powerful. But I don't think ... their battle is going to last very long."
"What do you mean?"
"The greater the power an esper uses, the more that person's stamina is depleted. When fighting a butei, they make it a point to use as little power as possible ... but when the opponent is one of their own kind, they continue to release their full powers just like that. That's why they run out of steam so quickly. That moment will be our chance."
"Can you tell when that moment is?"
"As a rule of thumb, probably. Half of it will be based in intuition though. ... Will you trust me?" Ares asked sounding just a little bit fretful.
I see it left a scar on his heart when I told him I couldn't believe him the other day. This won't do.
If two buteis don't have a relationship of trust, they wouldn't be able to act in unison. Their timing would be off. I straightened out my knees and gently stroked Ares' pink hair.
"I was being an idiot the other day. I want you to forgive me. I swear . . . I'll trust you for the rest of my life."
"Th-The rest of your life?"
It seemed my formal choice of words wasn't in Ares' Japanese vocabulary.
"Even if no one else in the world believes you, I alone will always be on your side," I explained, staring deep into his camellia-colored eyes.
Ares, whose natural habit of become red in the face had already made his cheeks quite rosy, became the bright red color of a strawberry. His face, full of surprise, looked somewhat happy as well, and I asked him if that were the case.
"Feeling happy?"
"... Y-You're an idiot, Kinoka! E-Even in super mode, you're an idiot ... you idiot ...!
"Answer me. I want to be certain of your feelings," I urged him.
"... A-A little ... a little happy. B-But just a little bit, okay?!"
"If you're happy, I'm happy. Now then ... will you trust me as well?"
"... Y-Yes." Ares nodded and even gazed up at me the way a child does with an adult.
It's like he's at my beck and call when I'm in hysteria mode.
"We both believe in one another," I delivered the finishing blow, and Ares brought his coupled hands to his chest as if something had rang out deep in his heart. "That's why I want you to be confident and tell me how we should time our attacks. We're going to arrest Durandal."
While I was rebuilding the bond of trust between Ares and I, the conflict between fire and ice in which Shiro looked as if he were dominating at the beginning, now seemed to be an even battle.
"...Ngh!" Shiro was swinging his sword around with his teeth clenched tightly; it didn't even look like he was breathing.
He made an attack in which he practically used his entire body to ram into his opponent, and John finally fell backwards against the wall in a squatting position. But ...
"Haaa, haaa, haaa!"
... Shiro, the person who landed the attack, was the one breathing hard and looking groggy. As if to illustrate his shortness of breath, the flames surrounding Shiro's katana were much smaller than what they previously were.
"Throw down your sword, John. You've lost."
"Heh ... heh heh," John laughed unseemly, and with one smooth motion, instantly created a flowing mist of minute ice crystals all around him. Under the cover of that mist, he rolled forward, escaping to Shiro's side. In a panic, Shiro swung to the side his katana, which had lost most of it flames.
Clang.
The blade pierced the wall ... and came to a stop. It was all too clear. Shiro was losing the power he had been using until now—and it happened in just a few minutes. It was just as Ares said. Chouteis were powerful. They can pride themselves on possessing a strength that was incomprehensible to others. But they were unable to fight for an extended period of time. Video games worked the same way. When a character that uses powerful magic runs out of the means to cast those spells ...
"Haaa, haaa ... haaa." Still holding the hilt of his Katana, Shiro fell on one knee. He looked completely exhausted. It was as if he had just run a full marathon. He pulled his katana out of the wall and resting it on the floor, he fumbled for the vermillion-lacquered scabbard that was lying nearby. And for some reason, he used it to sheath his sword.
"You're soft." said John. "You're a man as soft as ice cream. To think you would air only of my sword and not my body ... despite the fact that it's utterly impossible to cut through the Sacred Sword Durandal," said John, repositioning himself and placing Durandal's edge against Shiro's neck.
Ares ... not yet? It's still not time to give our support?
I saw Shiro grit his teeth as he placed the sheathed sword behind him, almost as if he were trying to hide it.
Shiro!
I nearly jumped out on impulse, but Ares placed an admonishing hand on my arm.
"Not yet, Kinoka! Shiro's ... probably leaving himself just enough strength to perform one more attack. ... But he needs time before he can use it. It looks to me like ... he's cleaning up some kind of power ..." Ares said in a soft voice, looking as if he were desperately restraining his own self from rushing out into fray.
Diamond dust began to dance around Joan again as he held his sword in his hand. Before my very eyes, it raged throughout the room like a snowstorm. Once again, the cold instantly dropped to sub-zero temperature inside the room!
"Behold the Fleur de la glace d'Orléans (Ice Flower of Orleans)! Turn to silver ice and forfeit your life!"
Beyond the diamond dust, John's Durandal began emitting a bluish-white light that steadily grew brighter. Just then ...!
"Kinoka, follow after me in three seconds!" yelled Ares, pulling out the two short katanas from behind him and flying towards John like a bullet.
... One second.
John, who had been concentrating on his bullet with Shiro, turned around startled.
...Two seconds.
"A mere butei!" John swung his sword sideways towards Ares in a fit of rage, but even faster that that, Ares used the katana in his right hand to pick up the priest garbs John had thrown to the floor and flung them up in front of him, robbing John of his sight for just an instant.
"!"
Ares lowered his body and slid with skill of a professional soccer player. John's arm continued to swing on the path it traveled. Ares had read his opponents movements and carried himself using aikido-like baritsu movements. Above Ares, a torrent of blue light pushed aside the priest garbs in midair and rose upwards. The spectacle before me truly was something one would see in a video game. An eddy of shining ice crystals converted into blue cannon fire and reached all the way to the ceiling. It spread on impact like a colossal flower of ice blooming on the ceiling.
... Three seconds.
"Kinoka, now! John can't use his powers anymore!"
Ares didn't even have to tell me. I raced towards John, creating a rift in the diamond dust around me.
Blam! Blam! Blam!
I fired along a vertical line centered on the upper half of John's body with my Beretta, which I had set to fire in three-burst rounds. Using Durandal, which he had already brought back in front of him, John deflected all three of the bullets. I had anticipated he would. He was a master swordsman who could fight on even ground with Shiro. That's why I increased my speed and closed in on him. I would engage him in the close-range pistol combat I had learned in Assault. During class, I used something similar to the shields employed by riot police though. When enemies had a means of defending themselves from bullets, the tactics buteis use to defeat them is by showering them with bullets at point-break range.
"A lowly butei like you dares to challenge me?!" John roared, actually coming right for me.
Ares swung his two katanas at John's feet, and naturally, expecting that as well, John jumped into the air, leaping towards me. Using his sword, he blocked the bullets I fired to intercept him. But he didn't just defend himself. After his sword arced back, he brought it down again—aiming for my skull.
"!"
It was a superhuman feat for someone who had lost his magical abilities. The speed of the incoming sword was greater that that of which I assumed John's motor skills were capable. Durandal was on a clear path to my skull, and I was unable to get out of its way. Just then ... everything appeared to be moving in slow motion to my hysteria mode eyes. There was one technique that would help me to overcome this situation—and it required both of my hands. But I couldn't allow myself to let go of the pistol in my right hand. Speaking in terms of chess, it was a piece I needed in order to achieve checkmate. That's why I used my empty left hand ...
".. Ngh ...!"
...to stop the magic sword, Durandal. It was the method of catching a sword blade with one's bare hands—the single-handed version. I was a bit skeptical as to whether of not I could put it off, but I did it. It was thanks to hysteria mode ... and to the training Ares gave me.
"...!" Holding the hilt of his sword, John landed right beside me. "... I can't believe you ..." John looked at edge of his prized sword being griped between me index finger and middle finger, but as I expected, he still didn't seem to have lost his fighting instincts. Keeping his sword in my left hand, I placed the barrel of the gun in my right hand against the back of his neck.
". . . This is the end of the line, John. It would be best for you to behave like a good little boy," I said, chastising him like a child.
"Butei Charter, Article Nine," he replied.
I slightly averted my gaze and smiled wryly. He was right. If I were going to uphold the law, I would be able shoot John in the neck.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten. Buteis can't kill people."
"Ha ha. You certainly are a clever young man."
"Y-Young man?" John must have found the designation embarrassing because, his face slightly reddened. "B-But I'm not a butei!" he said, straining the arms in which he held his sword.
Come on now. You're already captured, young lad. This battle is over. The reason being ...
The sound of footsteps made by getas could be heard racing towards us.
"Don't you lay a hand on Kin-chan!" cried Shiro as he came running at us with magic sword Durandal in his sights. "... Hihinohotogikami (Scarlet God of Hotogi)!"
Similar to iai style, Shiro drew his katana from its scabbard and swung it upwards in one fluid motion. A scarlet flash of light came out along with the katana ... and the upward swung blade sliced through Durandal. It then sent an eddy of flames like those from an incendiary bomb spiraling upwards towards the roof far above. The frozen ceiling and the layer of ice covering it shattered as if it were blown up by a grenade launcher! As debris fell all around him, John stood there dumbfounded at the fact that Durandal had been cut in two.
"...!"
At the very end of it all, yet again did something he hadn't accounted for take place. John, having a weakness for such things, could do nothing but stand there with his sapphire eyes wide open.
"Durandal!" an anime-like voice called out. Ares took advantage of the opportunity, and the sound of handcuffs being clamped onto John's right wrist could be heard.
"Ah?!" John looked at his wrist, and what he saw attached to it were anti-esper handcuffs. It probably shouldn't even require mentioning, but they were handcuffs that Ares bought on the first day he began acting as Shiro's bodyguard.
"You're under arrest!" Ares pounced on John like a carnivorous beast and cuffed his left wrist as well.
"That's why I said 'It would be best for you to behave like a good little boy.'" Spinning the top half of Durandal's blade, which had been cut near the hand guard, I grabbed it by its lower end. Meanwhile Ares, clinging fast to John, put additional handcuffs on his ankles. I took my watchful gaze off of Ares. Although his actions didn't suggest it, like Ares, he was, after all, a young man who came from a very proud lineage. That confidence of his did prove to be his downfall though.
John, till the very end, you made light of Ares and I—of buteis. That was the cause of your defeat. But the buteis gathered here are Holmes the Fouth a. k. a. Ares the Quadra, and I in hysteria mode working effectively as partners. We aren't "mere buteis".
I let a sigh out of my nose and walked over towards Shiro, who had used up all of his strength and was sunk down on the floor surrounded by debris. As soon as our eyes met, he returned his katana, now void of flames, to its scabbard and hid it away.
"K-Kin-chan."
He looked like he was about to say he was sorry, so I made a warning sign with my finger and gave him a look that said "Stop right there."
"...Th...thank you."
"Thank you," huh? I guess that gets a passing mark.
"Shiro, you really pulled through. We were able to arrest Durandal thanks to you."
"Y ... you weren't ... scared?"
"Of what?"
"O ... of me just now ... I-I was so ..." said Shiro with moisture in his black eyes underneath his perfectly straight bangs. It would appear he was convinced that I was afraid of the super-natural powers he just displayed.
Ha ha. That's what you were worried about?
I could see Shiro was afraid that I hated him now so I answered his question with a kind smile.
"There's nothing to be scared of. It was very beautiful and powerful fire. Much, much more so than the fireworks we was the other day."
"Kin-chan ... ngh ... uuu ..."
Shiro let out a wall and started crying as he flung his arms around me, so I gently returned his hugged and stroked him on the back.
I'll do this with you as long as it takes. So quick to cry. Until you calm down . . . I'll just continue to tenderly rub you on the back. Just like I did when we were kids, and you were crying because we got in trouble for going to the fireworks festival.
Indeed. When it came to this sort of thing, Shiro hadn't changed at all. But ... he'd become quite strong—strong enough to break out of Hotogi's bird cage, spread his fiery wings, and fight of his own will. Sniveling, Shiro looked up at me, and I told him some words to help put him at ease.
"Don't go disappearing on me like that again ... Shiro," I said, showing him another smile.
End of Fifth Bullet
Final Bullet
Who Gave Off that Flash?
*I'd like to thank that person . . .*
The Ar-kata for the Adsiard's closing ceremony started off with the sexy Shiranui's vocals and the F-minor chords I strummed on my guitar. The other day, I went into hysteria mode again in the underground warehouse—in front of Ares and Shiro, no less—and I wasn't overly concerned with the quality of the sounds I was producing.
Man ... that was torture ... What was I thinking? "Don't go disappearing on me like that again ... Shiro." Didn't I say something rather outrageous to Ares too? Something about doing this or that for the rest of my life. Just trying to remember makes me want to curl up and die.
Though I didn't have any other choice under the circumstances, an even bigger problem was that Ares and Shiro witnessed me doing all sort of things like seeing through John's disguise, rambling on about strategies that came to mind, and even catching a sword with my bare hand ... It wasn't pretty, but I went and made myself useful. I had provided Ares and Shiro with more grounds to overestimate my actual abilities. I really didn't want to remember how the two of them kept raving about me afterwards, saying things like "You can do it if you try" or "Kin-chan you really are amazing." I had a feeling that I would be relied upon to handle all sorts of troublesome things in the near future. It was more that a feeling; I was positive of it. And there would be more troublesome things involving gunfights.
*Who gave off that flash . . .*
And what's wrong with this school? Stop pinching pennies and hire a real band for crying out loud.
Although it was a bit too late at this point, I started taking out my frustration on Butei High with such thoughts as I played the Danelectro DC 59 on ground number two, the venue for this performance. I was getting rather accustomed to the guitar in spite of myself.
Damn, this is fine weather.
*Who gave off that flash that went bangbabangbabang?*
At the same time as the tempo started to increase, the boys marched in from the left and right sides of the stage in their cheerleader uniforms with pom-poms in their hands and smiles on their faces.
"T-This really is a bit too ..."
Looking towards the voice out of the corner of my eye, I also saw Shiro, who was fidgeting on the stage wing.
"Oh, for heaven's sake! What are you taking about after having come all the way out here? Go on! Get out there!" yelled Ares, kicking Shiro onto the stage—right into the dead center.
Completely red in the face, Shiro raised a pom-pom, and by his side was Ares. As it turned out, Ares, the most athletic out of all the boys, and Shiro, who was selected last minute to perform due to Ares' strong recommendation, were the two main cheerleaders leading the routine. The preparatory committee had secretly hoped Shiro would participate in the cheerleading so it didn't take very long for arrangements to be made. I was a little concerned about how well he would do after making such a sudden appearance on stage, but he proved to be every bit a stellar cheerleader as he is a student. Shiro was animatedly demonstrating a perfect cheer routine. He must have been embarrassed appearing in front of everyone in that costume because the expression on his face was still a little strained. But Ares kept a stern eye on him so Shiro would just have to chalk it up to bad luck and accept his fate. Ares is like an electromagnet powered by a nuclear reactor; once attached to you, would never let go.
*Even if we're right in froooooont of our enemies, we never run and hide!*
For Shiro, this was the first time he mustered the courage to appear in front of others ever since that battle ended. Shiro had not only left school grounds with me, but he also violated the restrictions placed upon him by using techniques that were forbidden by the Hotogis. However, because Ares convincingly protested against the seriousness of the violations and the insignificance of the specific number of times the violations were committed, the Hotogis eventually gave in and granted Shiro permission to participate in the cheerleading. There was also the matter of Shiro successfully defeating Durandal that probably helped persuade them. I conceded to tell that as well.
Well ... what you're doing is little more than a cheer routine. But I can tell, Shiro. You're no longer a "caged bird." You're still all a shudder and haven't ventured out very far, but you're a magnificent bird soaring with your own wings—a ... uh, that's right. A crane. You've become a red-crowned crane.
I was occupying myself with all these thoughts because I didn't want to think about how I went into hysteria mode the other day, but it was also to keep me from paying attention to Shiro, whose uniform was tightly hugging on to the shapely curves of his body. Nevertheless, spinning and jumping hither and thither while unable to completely hide his embarrassment, Shiro ... was swinging his body all over the place.
N-Not good. I'm gonna get hysterical.
But what was I to do? There was a giant audience in front of me, and I couldn't very well just hang my head down like I did during practice. This called for emergency evasive maneuvers. I switched my gaze to Ares, who was next to Shiro.
... Thank god.
Those mountains were stuck firmly to ground no matter how much he jumped and hopped about. Still, I couldn't let down my guard. The cute little things were so small that there were revealing openings between his skin and his outfit. Be it Shiro and Ares, there was no-escape from their dangerously active volcanoes. This stage might be more of a threat to me than even Junction. If I were to go into hysteria mode in a place full of boys like this, it would be no laughing matter.
Let's think of something else. Uhhh. Well, quite a significant incident took place underground, but as can be seen, Butei High wasn't blown to smithereens, and the Adisiard is safely coming to an end as the closing ceremony is underway ... uhhh.
*Who gave off that flash that went bangbabangbabang?*
That's right. John. John of Arc the First. Abiding by the decision made by the Metropolitan Police Department and the Tokyo Bureau of Butei, he was first being questioned by Mr. Tsuzuri at Dragula. When we handed over John, who had his back turned to us and was determined to remain silent, it was really eerie how Tsuzri smiled and said, "Looks like it'll be worth tormenting this one." It was the first time I had seen him smile like that.
*Who was it? Let me give that person a hug.*
The boys threw their pom-poms high into the air and the crowd instantly went into a fever. They had all been carrying pistols inside their pom-poms, and just like the lyrics, they fired blank cartridges with their pistols inside their pom-poms, and just like the lyrics, they fired blank cartridges with their pistols aimed towards the sky. Perhaps it was due to the contagious wild energy from the audience but the boys were firing more than they did during practice.
There they go . . . . I really wish our school didn't do unsettling things like this
The whole purpose of this thing is to improve our image.
I could only pray that the television stations would cut this part out when they did the editing. Finally, with Ares and Shiro at the center, the boys all simultaneously struck a gymnastic formation pose, and the aluminum foil confetti that had been set up inside the stage burst upward all around them.
*It made a dramatic change in my life!*
The Adisiard had come to an end.
Shiro, out of breath from the intense Ar-kata cheerleading, was now smiling carefree at the audience. Bits of confetti sparkled as it danced around him. It was like a white snowfall celebrating the start of his new life.
God only knows why, but our celebration party being held at a family restaurant. It was the same place the guys had their after-party following the Adsiard. I had objected, pointing out that the boys went to Club Estella in Odaiba, so we should at least go there. But as usual, my protests were utterly pointless, and the three of us, Ares, Shiro, and I, had our second after-party in a booth at Roxie, the only family restaurant on Academy Island. Having arrested Durandal, things looked positive for Ares' mother, Kanae Kanzaki, who had been framed for Durandal's crimes. His mother's prison termed was announced to be considerably reduced; so in a very good mood, Ares declared that he would treat us. It was a small consolation, but being a nobleman, I wished he had invited us to a slightly more stylish restaurant. I was about to say as much, but then realized he might reconsider opening a new hole in me, so I just order a steak set, the mose expensive thing on the menu, as a small sign of my discontent. All of us placed our order and wiped our hands on the moist hand towel we were provided with when I noticed something odd about Ares and Shiro. They were staring at each other, looking as if they wanted to say something but held their tongues.
... What with this atmosphere?
"Y-You know ..."
"Y-You know, Ares ..."
When they spoke up, it was in perfect harmony.
"Y-You can go first, Ares."
"You go first."
"... Should I leave?" I asked Shiro, who was sitting beside me, but he lowered his face and shook his head.
"U-Um ... I want you to hear this too, Kin-chan. There's ... something I absolutely have to tell Ares."
... Something you need to tell Ares that you want me to hear?
"Um ... the other day, when you caught a cold ... I told a lie."
"A lie?"
"Yeah ... um ... the medicine you took that day . . . I didn't buy it. That was ... something you left in her room, wasn't it, Ares."
Huh? The other day, when I was in a stupor from my fever and stayed home from school ... the one who went through the trouble of buying me "Extra Concentrated Kudzu Infusion" and secretly left it on the doorknob was ...
"It was you, Ares?"
"..."
Shiro truly looked apologetic as he watched Ares, who wasn't saying a word. Ares was looking at Shiro as well and gave me a very brief glance with his camellia-colored eyes.
... What kind of reaction is that supposed to be?
"W-What? Is that what you wanted to say?" Ares placed his hands on the back of his head and leaned far over backwards in a contrived manner. He had turned somewhat red and was throwing me brief glances again.
Ah.
I remembered what Ares said when we were on Assault's rooftop.
"Nobles don't boast about their own exploits. It would be unsightly—even if someone else stole the credit."
So this ... is what he was talking about?
"What a let-down. You were so serious when you said you had something to tell me that I thought it was going to be a lot more disastrous."
Judging from how he didn't deny it, it would seem Ares really was the one who brought the medicine—which meant that the one who very gently checked my temperature back then was also Ares?
"I'm such a horrible boy, I know. But I didn't want to remain a horrible boy so ... I'm sorry!" apologized Shiro, bowing his head at Ares. But Ares placed his hand under Shiro's chin and lifted his head back to its former position.
"It doesn't particularly bother me, so don't worry about it. Okay, that's the end of this conversation. So now it's my turn."
"O-Okay."
From the looks of things, these two had already let one another know that they had something to talk about before coming here.
"Ahem," Ares cleared his throat and returned his posture back to normal.
"... Shiro, you be my slave too!" Ares commanded, pointing his finger at Shiro.
Shiro, I, and the guys who were sitting in the nearby booth all became stiff as stone.
H-Hey. Stop looking this way.
"Thank you, Shiro," Ares continued.
Hey, Ares. You're got a huge non sequitur on your hands.
"You got three-tenths of the credit for arresting Durandal. I get four. Reki gets two."
. . . Huh?
"I realized something regarding this incident. In our fight against Durandal—John of Arc—if we had been on our own, I'm sure we would have lost. The three of us together barely managed to beat him. I acknowledge that."
Before that, there's something else I'd like you to acknowledge. I'm included in that "three," aren't I?
"We were able to win because we worked together. Until now ... I always thought that no matter who my enemy was, all I would need is myself and a partner to draw out my full potential. But ... there are opponents out there whom we wouldn't be able to handle with just the two of us. In other words, it would be a good idea to increase the number of allies in my party who have special skills—especially allies like you who have powers that I don't."
Well, well. An ally, huh? I guess it just goes to show that the former "ares" learned a few things at this school.
As for Shiro, the one being recruited, he was murmuring things to himself like "s-slave ... that's ... but if I could be Kin-chan's slave ..." and it was difficult to tell whether he was listening or not.
"So our contract may be over, but you're going to continue working together with Kinoka too! From morning till night, we're going to function as a team and build up our teamwork! Here! This is the key to Kinoka's apartment! From now on, you can enter whether you like!"
"Thank you, Ares! Thank you so much, Kin-chan!"
"Wait a second!" I protested.
Shiro put the forged keycard in his shirt pocket with god-like speed, and I fell out of the booth, tumbling onto the floor.
"Out of the question! In the first place, that's a girl's dormitory!"
"You have a problem, slave number one?!"
"You guys! Listen to what I'm say- ... It would make me so happy if you listened to what I'm saying, but would you at least consider it?"
My tone of voice changed mid-sentence because Ares pulled out his two pistols. It was just then that a somewhat perturbed waitress brought us our meal. Mineral water and a steak set. Oolong tea and seasoned rice cooked with meat, fish, and vegetables. Cola and peach buns served over rice.
What in the ...? Whoever created this menu, get yourself another job.
"Okay! Here's to the birth of slave number two! Cheers!"
"Cheers! ... I'm so happy! I'm just so happy! A spare key ... it's proof of Kin-chan's love!"
Ares' eyes reflected his delightful mood, and Shiro cried tears of joy as they raised his glass. And I, slave number one, had no way of changing the direction this mess was heading.
For the love of ...
"Fine! Just have it your way!" I bawled, joining the toast with enough force to knock the drinks out of their glasses.
And thus, it turned out that these two nuisances would continue to enter and leave my apartment as they pleased. When we left the family restaurant, the first thing Shiro did was go to the boy's dorm and come back to my place loaded with various personal belonging wrapped up in cloths. Ares was watching the two-hour special of Amazing Animals he recorded the other day, and he was bounced up and down on the couch while saying, "How adorable! Look, look, Kinoka! A raft of sea otters!" His shoes were lying slovenly in front of the door, and his black knee socks were strewn on the floor.
Mr. Ares, aren't you forgetting that this was originally my apartment?
"Say, Ares. Regarding the calculations you made at the family restaurant earlier ..." I said with a displeased look on my face as I sat down next to Ares, who was fast-forwarding through the commercials.
"What?"
"It's about the ratio of contributions made in the Durandal incident. You contributed forty percent. Shiro contributed thirty. Reki contributed twenty ... so my contribution was ten percent?" I complained
"Well, you only performed a little bit at the very end, didn't you?!" Ares declared without so much as looking in my direction while he operated the remote control.
"... I'm seriously starting to want to put an end to our bullshit partnership."
"Well ... you were sort of impressive at the time."
Since the raft of otters had gotten Ares rather excited, when he did finally look in my direction ... it was to wink his eye at me.
T-This little ... Don't wink so readily. It should be against the rules. It's just too cute. I think I just a miniature arrow come flying into my heart.
"I'm going to put the HDD recorder on pause for you so listen closely, partner. You're just like Shiro. There seems to be fluctuation in how well you perform, but you do have abilities that a member of the Holmes family like me requires. I was able to reconfirm that during this latest battle. That's why you, too, are someone who can make up for my shortcomings. You're ..."
Ares turned towards me on the couch, folding his lower legs underneath his thighs and resting his fanny on his heels. Apparently, before he finishedhis sentence, he wanted to increase his sitting height as much as possible so that his eyes would be level with mine.
"... an important person to me," concluded Ares, looking at me squarely in the face with his camellia-colored eyes.
I was speechless.
H ... how self-centered can this boy be? But, is the reason I can't seem to defy him because the little midget is so damned cute the way he's sitting directly in front of me right now? No. That's not it, Kinoka. That has nothing to do with it. It's because of that other thing. It's because of his child-like size. I'm sure of it. I can't say "no" to a kid. That has to be what it is.
"What did you just say?!"
A hysterical, shrill voice could be heard from behind us.
T-This is bad!
I turned around with a pale face, and as I expected, behind the couch was Shiro.
"'Improtant person'?! What is the meaning of this?!" He was in that berserker mode of his and stood there with a grave look on his face.
S-Shiro, you're scaring me! What's with those dilated eyes that don't seem to be focused on anything?! Or rather, what is it that flips your switch?! For security reasons, just tell me at least that much!
"... I'm going to make myself clear here, Ares!"
"W-What is it?! What are you so upset about?!"
Ares also backed away at seeing the demon-like Shiro and slipped of the couch, falling on the floor with one leg still on the cushion.
"Don't think you've won! I-I-I shared a kiss with Kin-chan too, you know!" cried Shiro, pulling out his katana from who knows where (I certainly couldn't figure out where it came from), jumped over the couch and slash a strike at Ares with it.
"W-What are you talking about?!"
Shiro brought up the matter of Ares and I kissing again, and Ares' face went red as he skillfully rolled to side, evading the katana.
Ahh, there goes my table again ...
"So we're tied! We're tied! As far as Kin-chan goes, we're tied! All I have to do is take the next step ... and I'll be in the lead! That's all there is to it!"
Shiro was screaming out incomprehensible logic as he wildly swung around his katana. One after the other, all the various indoor items I had replace were being destroyed.
"H-Hey! Slave number two! You're just a slave; what do you think you're doing to your master?! Stop this at once!"
Ares dodge backwards from Shiro's katana, which came towards him horizontally, and finally pulled out his pistol.
Blam!
Ares fired a warning shot with his jet-black Government, putting a hole in the ceiling.
I apologize to all of you, my neighbors.
"W-Well you're just a master who's shamelessly trying to steal what doesn't belong to you!" Shiro wasn't fazed in the least. He knit his eyebrows underneath his perfectly straight bangs and charged at Ares.
That's it. There's no stopping this now.
"Kinoka! What's this about kissing Shiro?! Y-You were doing that sort of thing to your client?! You're a disgrace to buteis! But right now, do something about this!"
Ares, you certainly chose a troublesome person to be slave number two, didn't you. Either way, before you start getting angry at me, it would be in your best interest to do something about the armed priest in front of you.
With those thoughts in my mind, I plodded my way across the living room, stepped out onto the balcony, and opened the door—the door to the bulletproof storage locker of course.
"You two be sure to clean up afterwards."
I'd learned something as well these past few days. Ares the Quarda. Shiro the armed priest. I would up dealing with all the incidents these two were involved in by going into that loathsome hysteria mode. In fact, it was because I had to constantly avoid going into that loathsome hysteria mode when working with these two that there had been no end to the amount of danger I'd faced lately. With that being the case ... I can't really run away from hysteria mode anymore. But I sure did have my homework cut out for me. Hysteria mode was never something to be controlled freely using one's own will to begin with. My sister was able to do it ... but I don't think I'm capable of using her method. The way I become after going into hysteria mode also presents a problem. If by any chance, the boys take a liking to "Hostess Club Kinoka," a hostile environment where people use me for hysteria mode would be created, and it would just be a repeat of my days in junior high. The greatest problem is the trigger—sexual stimulation. I would have to make sure no one evey found out about that.
Gaah! There are just so many problems to deal with I don't even know where to start. Well ... I guess I'll just try and think of a better way to handle this the next time I go into hysteria mode.
"Kinoka! Back me up! If you don't ..."
For the meantime, what I probably need to do is ...
"... I'll open a hole in you!"
... ignore Ares' anime-like voice, shut myself inside the bulletproof locker, and pray—pray that I'm still alive when the sun comes up tomorrow.
End of Final Bullet
Epilogue
Go For The Next!
Normally, a person's home is place of peace and tranquility, isn't it? But at this moment, with Ares still living in my home and Shiro coming in as he saw fit to unabashedly take over the housework, the place reeked of boys, and no semblance of peace and tranquility could be found.
Give me a break here. I'm begging you.
Therefore, far from refusing to go school, I've been refusing to go home these days. Today as a well, I was cooping myself up in the study room after school with the king of all idlers, Muto, and Shiranui, who were always willing to hag out with us. The three of us were studying a game of cards. It was just a little past seven when I was starting to grow weary of Muto's endless winning streak (the guy was always awfully lucky. It made me wonder if she were cheating), and I received a call on my cell phone. If it had been Ares, I was just going to ignore it, but the number started with zero-three.
This isn't from someone's cell phone. Who it this?
"Hello?"
"Kinoka? Where are you right now?"
Ugh. It's Ares.
"What difference does it make? What did you want?"
"Get over here right away. I'm in room number one-zero-one at the boy's dormitory."
"I do not want to go to the boy's dormitory."
"Stop your complaining! When I say come right away, come right away! If you don't come. I'm gonna open a hole in you!"
Click.
No room for debate. My master simply hung up on me.
With no other choice (none whatsoever), I made my way to room number one-zero-one of the boy's dormitory ... to find the door was unlocked. Boy's dormitories had more rooms that girl's dormitories, and this place didn't appear to be an exception.
Is this even Ares' apartment?
"Hello? Ares, I'm here."
"Jeez, that took you forever. But I'll let it pass today."
I stepped inside and Ares came trotting out of the bathroom in his butei uniform. He then suddenly took a firm hold of my hand.
H-Hey. What gives?
"Come on. This way."
He pulled me into the living room, and what I saw there was disconcerting to say the least.
"Ngh ...?"
In this room, which was bathed in the pink light of candle pots, there were so many various outfits scattered about that there was no place one could go without treading on them. The sheer number of them was uncanny. There was a waiter uniform, the type of priest garbs Shiro would wear, a maid uniform, a large smock like the ones worn by kindergarteners, an Alice band with cat ears attached to it, fake tails, an elementary school student's backpack with a recorder sticking out, a pumpkin shaped garment that was most likely underwear—the list goes on.
"Kinoka, which would you prefer?"
"'Which would I prefer?' Prefer for what?"
"What am I going to do with you, Kinoka? Just because you've lived your life avoiding this sort of thing doesn't mean you have to be that dense. I'm asking you which kind of cosplay do you want me to do."
Completely overwhelmed by ambience of the room, I was at a loss for words, and narrowing his slanted eyes, Ares approached me one step at a time. He stepped on my toes with his little foot, around which he wore his back knee socks, and gave me a shove so that I fell backwards onto the huge bed that was behind me.
"Kinokaaa?"
Moving swiftly, Ares, straddled my waist like a child would, and without warning, smothered my face with the upper half of his body. My feeling of disgust at going into hysteria mode only lasted for an instant. The sensation of muscular chest behind his shirt being pressed against my face. The feel of his hard thighs around my waist. Enveloped by the bittersweet smell of a boy, I made the sudden switch to hysteria mode in just a few seconds.
"!"
At that moment, something flashed across my mind. And at the same time, the blood in my veins turned to ice. I was well aware that it was disrespectful of me to be having such thoughts, but Ares' chest wasn't this ridged. He did misrepresent himself with a white t-shirt, but having had it pressed against my face once before, I knew all too well what to expect. And this sensation I was feeling presently was being brought about by another boy's body that I was familiar with from prior experience. It was exactly the same as "that" boy's.
"Oh, shit ... Reiko ..." I said in a low, unfriendly tone.
"Bingo! I did it! I did it! Hysteria Kii-chan! You've taken a giant step forward!"
The boy was dressed like Ares, but his voice became Reiko's as he lifted the upper half of his body away from me. His abs and pecs jiggled underneath his tank top, and he grabbed the bottom of his chin with his right hand and his ponytail with his left. He then tore off his strawberry-blonde ponytail and the prosthetic makeup that masked his face. As I suspected, behind the façade was . . .
"It's Reikoreikorein! Hehe! I'm baaack!"
... Reiko.
He was the one who killed my sister, planted a bomb on my bicycle and Butei High's bus, and escaped after fighting with Ares and I during the high jacking incident—Reiko Mine Lupin the Fourth, the "butei killer."
What is he doing here at Butei High?!
One might expect Reiko's eyes and their double eyelids to twinkle like stars, and he narrowed them in delight as he let down his long, honey-covered, wavy hair that had been skillfully hidden under a wig.
"Kii-chan, help me."
My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. In hysteria mode, I wanted to help boys no matter what it took. If it were to help a boy with a problem or a boy in a tight bind, I wanted to assist them in any way they desired. Reiko ... was obviously aware of that as he spoke.
"When you think about it, I was enrolled at two schools at once, and it's because of you and Ares that I got expelled from IU in the first place, you know? Phooey patooey!"
Expelled from ... "IU"?
"I have a favor to ask you, Kii-chan. So for the first time, I'm going to use the method my mother taught me to make a girl listen to a guy. Hehe. We're about to start the super sweet event that comes with the patch our customers bought, allowing you to take the Reiko route."
Like an excited beast, something hot was introduced into Reiko's breath, and he unbuttoned my bloused. It was clear what he was going to say next in this situation.
What do I do?
Reiko brought his adorable baby face close to mine and used his seductive lips as he spoke.
"Kii-chan, let's have a roll in the hay."
What the fuck are you gonna do, Kinoka?
End of Volume 2
Cast:
John d'Arc: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese); Dave Wittenberg (English)
Ryo Shiranui: ? (Japanese); ? (English)
Umeto Tsuzuri: Nobuyuki Hiyama (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)
Alright, a few things...
1. I forgot to mention this, but Reiko has a tattoo of two pistols on his right arm.
2. I'm aware that there are a ton of spelling errors, but I'm just following what the e-books say; some are accidental, but most ARE deliberate. Read the e-books yourselves with you want.
again, I'm putting another series on hiatus to work on R+V next month, and then ANOTHER brand new series come the month after. Until then...
Later
