Aria the Scarlet Ammo (novel), Volume 2

by Chugaku Akamatsu

  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 into 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 Shirayuki, but how in world am I supposed to find her?! 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 Shirayuki, there was the chance that contrary to my intentions, I would actually be putting her in danger. None of my calls to Shirayuki were getting through so I tried calling Aria, but for some reason I was unable to reach her as well. In her case there was a ring tone, so she should have responded.

  Aria!

  If the two of us had been guarding Shirayuki just like the plan originally called for, this might not have happened. But it was my fault that Aria left the picture. I didn’t take her warning seriously, and I didn’t believe in her intuition. As a result, I pretty much forced her to stay uninvolved.

  I … was being the absolute worst idiot possible! And Shirayuki said she believed in an idiot like me. That night I started guarding Shirayuki on my own, she told me she 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 girl 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. Shirayuki. 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 her 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 caught my attention. I snatched up my phone and placed it to my ear.

  “Kinji. 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 Adsiard as a representative of Japan.

  I could hear the voices of people yelling angrily in the background, saying things such as “What are you doing, Reki?!” or “You were just about to set a world record!” Reki said something, but her voice was cut short by those around her.

  “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.”

  “Snipe …” I said to myself and turned north.

  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 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.

  “Kinji, 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,” she continued.

  “R . . . Right.”

  I heard a magazine being reloaded into a gun. It was amazing that she 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 incantation she used—one she had a habit of chanting when she 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.”

  She 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—an explosives storehouse.

  This is bad. Very bad. I don’t mean to imitate Aria, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

  Not many were aware of it, but something significant was happening in Butei High. And Shirayuki 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 thick 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 Shirayuki being here, I’ll climb down as fast I possibly can. If that’s what it takes to save her after she believed in me, then so be it!

  And at length, I made it to the seventh basement.

  Junction.

  This was the deepest sect
ion 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 trespass 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 or transceiver would be conveniently lying around on the ground. Still, I would lose too much time if 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 Shirayuki 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 Shirayuki, 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 in 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 explosives 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, Adsiard athletes, and the many capable young buteis gathered here in Butei High from countries all over the world. And that wasn’t all. The press was here to cover the Adsiard. There would be reports of an unprecedented tragedy in which hundreds of high school students were blown to 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 suitable for infiltration missions. I had to keep it steady in my hand and be careful not to wave it around too carelessly. Keeping that in mind, I used the blade a makeshift mirror to furtively peer around the corner … that’s when I saw her. Roughly fifty 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 Shirayuki in her priestess garbs. She 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 Shirayuki. 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.” Shirayuki’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 masculine but it was definitely female voice – and she 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 you 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, Shirayuki. 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 Shirayuki’s voice. The voice of girl opposite from her took on a more mocking tone.

  “I thought I might have had a little trouble dealing with Holmes, but just as I planed, Kinji Tohyama took on the role of sending her away. What else could one possibly call him besides a defective butei?”

  “Kin-chan . . . Kin-chan is not defective!”

  “But given your plight, is it not true that he 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 him … so I just decided against calling him!

  “Hmph!” Durandal laughed. “So you didn’t want to cause any trouble for him? But you know, Shirayuki—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 girl just imitate my voice?!

  “[Shirayuki, come quick! Get over here! I’m in the bathroom!]”

  “… Ngh!”

  I could tell that Shirayuki had her breath stolen away. The other girl must have found it amusing because she seemed to be enjoying herself as she 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 Aria had made her 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 Aria would … fight amongst themselves?”

  “Everything else played out on its own. Before a few days could pass, Aria had left the two of you.”

  Durandal. … She was watching us? She was hiding right next to us—next to Aria and I … and her target, Shirayuki? And the first thing she did was to get rid of Aria, the keystone in protecting Shirayuki. She then waited for me to let down my guard. And now she was trying to kidnap Shirayuki …!

  “Follow me, Shirayuki. 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 she said next.

  “I’m going to take you with me now—to IU, that is.”

  IU. The ones who framed Aria’s mother, Kanae Kanzaki, leaving her with a prison sentence of eight hundred and sixty-four years and employed the “butei killer,” Riko Mine Lupin the Fourth … to kill my brother …! I admired him so much
ever since I was a kid—my brother, who was stronger, wiser, and kinder than anyone. And they were the ones responsible for his …! I could feel the blood rushing to my head. The butterfly knife, which I kept as a keepsake of my brother, shook audibly in my trembling fist.

  “And one more thing.” The girl’s voice became slightly more lucid. “There was just one thing that didn’t go according to my calculations. It seems I misread your personality. I was under the impression that you were the type who kept her 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 Kinji Tohyama.’ You undoubtedly made that promise. I heard it with my own ears. But on the rear side of things … you were calling him.”

  Her voice was being projected in a different direction when she said those last words. She was obviously pointing them in my direction.

  She noticed me.

  Realizing that, I made my next move.

  “Shirayuki, 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 her voice came. If that were the case, I would bring this to a quick end by throwing myself onto and subduing her. 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 her discover what my weapon with me running towards her, decide whether to fight or to flee, ready a weapon of her own, and position herself for combat. There was no way she could pull it off!

  “Kin-chan?!” Shirayuki’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!” Shirayuki cries were akin to screams of terror, and as soon as she finished, something came flying towards my feet at lighting fast speed and embedded itself in the floor.