“Hold up. That means she’s an aristocrat.”
“Yup. A real noblewoman. But from the looks of things, Aria isn’t getting along well with her “H” relatives. That’s why she doesn’t like mentioning her middle name. I know what it is though. That family is a bit…well…”
“Tell me. I gave you the games.”
“You know, I really hate people who reap the benefits just because of their parent’s influence. If you search the British web sites, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“English isn’t my forte.”
“Give it your best!” said Riko, who attempted to pat me on the back but missed and slapped my wrist instead. “Oh?”
As a result, my wristwatch came off and landed near my feet. I stooped to pick it up and found that the clasp of the metal band had broken.
“Ah! I-I’m sorry!”
“It was a cheap watch. No big deal. I bought it for twenty bucks at Odaiba.”
“No, let me fix it! I’ll make it as good as new! If anyone finds out I broke something that belongs to a client, it’ll affect my credibility!” Riko yanked the watch from out of my hand, and pulling down on the collar of her blouse she placed the watch securely between her cleavage.
Whoa.
I averted my eyes.
T-Those were pretty large…
“Kinji? Anything else you want to know?”
“…Uh, no, that’ll do.”
I didn’t want to go into hysteria mode in front of a girl, and things would probably get complicated if she realized I saw her breasts. Therefore, I took my leave and left the greenhouse behind me. Gold, huh? This world sure has a lot of different colored undergarments.
I returned to my apartment and looked out the window at Academy Island, which was tinted gold by the setting sun. This Mega-Float, consisting of nothing but Butei High, the dormitories, and some stores geared towards students, was purchased relatively cheaply, as it was originally a failed attempt at redeveloping Tokyo Bay. As proof, there was another Mega-Float with the exact same shape on the other side of Rainbow Bridge directly to the north. It was still just vacant land and thus, dubbed “Empty Island.” The blades of wind turbines that were built on the southern edge of that deserted Mega-Float idly spun in circles.
Yup. It sure is peaceful. I’m rather partial to this scenery.
“Typhoon No. 1, which appeared over the Pacific Ocean, has yet to weaken and is now making its way north through Okinawa.”
The LCD television broadcasted the news, only helping to make the comfortable silence in the room more noticeable.
Ahh, this is such a nice apartment.
With the exception of the fact that a girl is inside it.
“What are you just standing there for?” Aria tilted her head to the side as she sat on the sofa looking at me with a mirror in her hand.
She must have been looking for split ends to pass the time. To finish up, she lifted her bangs and fastened them down with a silver barrette, displaying her forehead. It was a somewhat childish looking barrette, but it suited her cute-small demeanor. She’s probably aware that her smooth, glossy forehead is her most attractive feature.
“How did you get in here?”
I had a feeling it was a dumb question, but I asked anyway as a way of protest.
“I am a Butei, you know.” See? Dumb question. She probably forged a card key to this apartment. Opening locked doors is the most basic of Butei skills, after all.
“Did you plan on just leaving a lady waiting outside the door? That’s unforgiveable.”
“A person who lashes out at others when she’s the one in the wrong isn’t called a lady, you GBF.”
“GBF?”
“It means ‘girl with a big forehead.’”
“You don’t understand the appeal of my forehead?! You truly are a failure as a human being,” Aria said, sticking her tongue out at me.
Oh, I understand. The truth is I understand very well. You’re cute alright. But only visually. “This forehead is my charm point. It's even been featured in a hairstyle magazine for girls in Italy.”
Aria turned her back to me and seemed to be enjoying herself as she looked at her forehead in the mirror. She even started humming. In order to have her take notice of the bad mood I was in, I threw my bag in her direction, sending it flying past her on the side. But Aria, too, had grown accustomed to our little squabbles and simply continued to gaze happily at her forehead.
“That’s a noblewoman for you—always careful to make sure you look your best,” I said sarcastically as I turned my back on her and headed to the lavatory.
“…You did some checking-up on me, didn’t you?” Aria said in a surprisingly happy tone.
“Yeah. Apparently you really haven’t let a single criminal escape you.”
“Oh? You’ve really done your homework. Now you’re looking more like a Butei. But…” Aria leaned her back against the wall and made a little kicking motion with her foot. “The other day, I let one get away from me. It was the first time ever.”
“Oh, is that so? The person must have been quite formidable. Who did you let escape?”
Well, well. Looks like there was a mistake in Riko’s information.
I filled a cup with water from the faucet and started to gargle.
“You.”
The water came spraying out of my mouth.
Me?! Oh, she’s talking about our scuffle after the bicycle-jacking incident!
“I’m not a criminal! Why are you including me?!”
“You were guilty of indecent assault…against me! Are you going to pretend it never happened after the way you attacked me like a beast?! You worm!”
From slave to beast to worm—my regression knows no bounds.
“I told you, that was out of my control! And I didn’t go as far as you say, anyway!”
“Oh, shut up! Just shut up! In any case…!” Aria pointed at me with her face as red as ever. “You might have the potential to become my slave! Come back to Assault and show me the skill you displayed when you ran away that time!”
“That was…at that time…I just happened to get away by chance. You do realize I’m an E-ranked guy, who’s not capable of much, don't you? Sorry to disappoint you. Now leave.”
“You liar! Your rank was S when you took the entrance exam!”
Uh-oh. So that’s how she’s gonna respond, huh?
The outcome of a battle between Butei was determined by the information at their disposal. If Aria was aware of my rank, that was going to make things difficult.
“In other words, what you did didn’t happen by just pure chance! My intuition is never wrong!”
“A-anyway, I can’t do it now! So leave!”
“‘Now’? Does that mean there’s some sort of conditions that need to be met? Tell me. I’ll cooperate with you.”
Upon hearing that, I was the one who turned red.
You’ll cooperate, huh?
Naturally, Aria didn’t know what triggers my hysteria mode, so she offered her help straightforwardly, but the remark had an explosive effect on me. After all, what she was basically saying was that she would make me sexually aroused!
“Tell me! Tell me what needs to be done! I’ll assist you as compensation for being my slave!”
“……!”
I couldn’t help it. All sorts of images of Aria “assisting” me surfaced in my head. It’s kind of late at this point, but when I think about it, Aria and I are all alone in this apartment…and without realizing it the sun had set, leaving the two of us in a dimly lit room with the lights turned off.
What? No, don’t. Stop thinking.
“I’ll do whatever you want! Tell me…just tell me, Kinji…!”
Aria came up next to me, and that scent like gardenias tickled my nose once again. I…
“Ngh…”
This is taking a turn for the worse.
Because of the unnecessary thoughts entering my head, I was starting to go into hysteria mod
e. I wonder if this is what’s called the power of one’s eyes. Aria’s round eyes, red as a camellia, looked so pretty…so cute… I was struck by that sensation again—that sensation of boiling blood filling the very core of me body.
Not again. I don't want to become “that.” I don’t want to enter that mode!
“…!”
Unconsciously, I thrust Aria away from me. She let out a small cry in that anime-like voice and fell to the couch, landing on her rear end. I just barely managed to avert my eyes in time as her short skirt flew high into the air. With things having come this far, I had no choice, so I made the decision to raise the white flag.
“…Just once.”
“Just once?”
I wouldn’t be surrendering unconditionally though. I was going to add a condition.
“I’ll go back. I’ll go back to Assault. But I’m only going to partner with you once. I’ll help you resolve the first case that turns up after I return to Assault, but only that one case. Those are my terms.”
“…”
“So I won’t be switching departments. I’ll be auditing an Assault course. You’re fine with that, right?”
Turning around to face Aria, who had just finished tidying up her skirt, I could see that she was contemplating my offer as she pointed her well-shaped forehead at me.
At Butei High, students could take specialized courses offered by divisions aside from the one they were enrolled in. This was called auditing, and students didn’t receive any credit, but in order to become a Butei, which required the knowledge of a multitude of techniques, students were fairly active in taking courses taught at various divisions. The great Butei, Aria wanted her own slave…er, pawn. She wanted one badly. And she set her sights on me, because I managed to escape from her in hysteria mode. “I might be able to use this guy as a capable slave,” is probably what she was thinking. There wasn't much I could do about this. If I were to compare the situation to a game of Old Maid, it would be like a card that Aria already took away from me. I did still have one card hidden up my sleeve, however—hysteria mode. All I had to do was show Aria what the average me was normally capable of before she found out the details of this attribute of mine. If I could do that, Aria would be disappointed in me since I couldn’t do anything all that spectacular, and she’ll probably distance herself from me.
“…All right. I’ll go ahead and leave this apartment then.”
The colossal thorn in my side accepted my conditions and finally announced that she would be leaving.
“I don’t have a lot of time myself. I’ll determine how skilled you are during that one case.”
“…Only one, regardless of how simple it might be.”
“Okay. And in exchange, you have to see it through until the end, regardless of how complicated it might be.”
“Fine.”
“But if you hold back or cut any corners, I’ll open a hole in you.”
“Right. I’ll give it everything I’ve got. I promise.”
Everything I’ve got while I’m the normal me, that is.
Third Bullet Assault Division
I’ve come back—back to the Assault division, also known as the “there’s no tomorrow division.” The percentage of survivors in this division at the time of graduation was ninety-seven point one percent. In other words, out of every one hundred students, roughly three wouldn’t live to graduate. They would lose their lives while either on a mission or during training. This was the truth. That’s how things were in the Assault division. It was the part about being a Butei that was kept in the shadows. I could hear the sound of gunshots and swords clashing against each other coming from the Assault division’s facilities. But today, I had been making sure my equipment was in order and filing an application to audit and whatnot, so I used up most of my time on everything except actually training. I was only going to be handling one case, but I wanted to get some target practice in at least. It didn’t look like it was going to happen. However, in Assault, where students always form parties and operate together, people naturally become quite affable…
“Oh! Kinji! I knew you would come back! Come on in and end your life as quickly as possible, even if it’s just one second earlier!”
“So you’re still not dead yet, huh, Natsumi? Do me a favor and die one tenth of second earlier than I do.”
“Kinji! You finally came back to die, huh?! An idiot like you can die in no time! It’s the idiotic Butei that die first, after all.”
“Then why are you still alive, Mikami?”
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Telling others to die was the way of greeting people here, but by returning this greeting to all these people happy to see me back and telling me to die I just lost even more time. After getting away from these guys reeking of gunpowder and leaving the Assault facilities, there was a little midget with her back leaned against the front gate waiting for me under the sunset sky. Needless to say, it was Aria. Upon seeing me, Aria came scuttling in my direction. She then lined up beside me as I walked onward with a sullen look on my face.
“…You’re pretty popular aren’t you? I was a little surprised.”
“It’s not that I want to be liked by these guys.”
I was telling the truth.
“You’re not very sociable. You kind of have that ‘dark and gloomy type’ aura about you. Everyone here seems to…how should I put it? They seem to think rather highly of you.”
That was probably because they remembered what I was like during the entrance exam. They remembered what I was like in hysteria mode. The exam given to those of us applying to join the Assault division was one consisting of actual combat in which the goal was to disperse ourselves inside a fourteen-story abandoned building and while armed, arrest every other participant. In record time, I tied up all of the others who were either personally defeated by me or ensnared in a trap I had set—including five instructors who, as part of a “pop quiz,” were lurking in the building without our knowledge.
Damn it.
I went and remembered something I wanted to forget. Aria must have noticed that my mood had grown worse because her gaze dropped to the ground as she walked beside me.
“Um, Kinji?”
“What?”
“Thanks.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?” I replied in a low, though irritated tone to Aria who had an honest look of happiness on her face.
I’ll bet you are happy. You literally got your “slave” who’s going to be fighting on your behalf.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I only came back to Assault because I had no other choice. I’m going right back to Inquesta after resolving one case.”
“I know. But…”
“What?”
“You were pretty cool walking around Assault with everyone crowding around you.”
“…”
Why are you telling me something like that?
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t her intention, but by having a girl—a girl who only looks cute, at that—say something like that to me, I was at a loss for words.
“Nobody comes near me at Assault. There’s too much of a difference in skill and no one can keep up with me… Well, that’s perfectly fine though. I’m ‘Aria’ after all.”
“‘Aria’?” Puzzled, I tilted my neck to the side when Aria said her name with a different inflection than usual.
“‘Aria’ also means a voice solo in an opera. It’s a part sung by oneself. All alone—that’s what I am at every Butei high school. That’s how it was in London, and that’s how it was in Rome.”
“So your plan is to make me your slave and change the performance to a duet?”
Aria giggled as I made the remark without even looking at her. Looking at her from the corner of my eye, she truly did seem to be laughing genuinely.
“You can say some pretty amusing things, after all.”
“There wasn’t anything amusing about it.”
“Yes there was.”
>
“I don’t get your sense of humor.”
“The second you returned to Assault you really did become a little more animated. Up until yesterday, you never seemed like you were being honest with yourself. It was as if you were in pain. You’re a lot more appealing now.”
“That’s…not true.”
Aria made another embarrassing statement. I didn't want to hear it. I had a feeling what she was saying might be true.
“I’m gonna stop by the VA. You go on home by yourself. Now that I think about it, starting today, you’re going back to the girls’ dormitory. There’s no point in you leaving school with me.”
“We’re headed in the same direction until we get to the bus stop,” Aria said as she stuck her tongue out at me with a smile.
She was as spiteful as ever, but Aria seemed to be truly happy that she was able to bring me back to Assault. I could tell from the expression on her face. She was so easy to figure out. Aria definitely wasn’t suited for Inquesta.
“Say, what’s a ‘VA’?”
“It’s an abbreviation for video arcade. You don’t even know that?”
“It’s not my fault. I’ve spent most of my life in Europe. Hmm...I’ll go with you then. Today I’ll make an exception and do you the favor of hanging out with you. Consider it a reward.”
“Don’t need it. That’s not a reward, it’s a penalty game.”
I started to pick up my pace and distance myself from Aria. Aria responded by grinning and after catching up, increased her walking speed to match mine. She was starting to really get on my nerves so I took larger strides and walked even faster. Aria continued to keep up, her skirt dancing back and forth.
“Don’t follow me! I don’t even want to see your face right now!”
“Then I’m definitely gonna keep following you!”
“Don’t!”
In the end, we wound up running together side by side until we reached the arcade.
What’s with this girl? She’s abnormally fast.
“Huff, huff, huff, what is this?” asked Aria, who was standing so close her twin pigtails were brushing up against me.
Her red eyes were fixed on a crane game situated in front of the arcade.
Aria the Scarlet Ammo (novel), Volume 1 Page 7