Aria the Scarlet Ammo (novel), Volume 2

by Chugaku Akamatsu

  “... I’m seriously starting to want to put an end to our partnership.”

  “Well ... you were sort of impressive at the time.”

  Since the raft of otters had gotten Aria rather excited, when she did finally look in my direction ... it was to wink her 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 felt 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 Shirayuki. There seems to be fluctuations 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 ...”

  Aria turned towards me on the couch, folding her lower legs underneath her thighs and resting her fanny on her heels. Apparently, before she finished her sentence, she wanted to increase her sitting height as much as possible so that her eyes would be level with mine.

  “... an important person to me,” concluded Aria, looking at me squarely in the face with her camellia-colored eyes. I was speechless.

  H ... how self-centered can this girl be? But, is the reason I can’t seem to defy her because the little midget is so damned cute the way she’s sitting directly in front of me right now? No. That’s not it, Kinji. That has nothing to do with it. It’s because of that other thing. It's because of her 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 Shirayuki.

  “‘Important person’?! What is the meaning of this?!” She was in that berserker mode of hers and stood there with a grave look on her face.

  S-Shirayuki, 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, Aria!”

  “W-What is it?! What are you so upset about?!”

  Aria also backed away at seeing the demon-like Shirayuki 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 Shirayuki, pulling out her katana from who knows where (I certainly couldn’t figure out where it came from), jumped over the couch and slash a strike at Aria with it.

  “W-What are you talking about?!”

  Shirayuki brought up the matter of Aria and I kissing again, and Aria’s face went red as she 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!”

  Shirayuki was screaming out incomprehensible logic as she wildly swung around her katana. One after the other, all the various indoor items I had replaced 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!”

  Aria dodge backwards from Shirayuki’s katana, which came towards her horizontally, and finally pulled out her pistol.

  Blam!

  Aria fired a warning shot with her jet-black Government, putting a hole in the ceiling.

  I apologize to all of you, my neighbors.

  “W-Well you’re just a mistress who’s shamelessly trying to steal what doesn’t belong to you!” Shirayuki wasn’t fazed in the least. She knit her eyebrows underneath her perfectly straight bangs and charged at Aria.

  That’s it. There’s no stopping this now.

  “Kinji! What’s this about kissing Shirayuki?! Y-You were doing that sort of thing to your client?! You’re a disgrace to buteis! But right now, do something about this!”

  Aria, 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 priestess 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. Aria the Quarda. Shirayuki the armed priestess. I wound 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 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 brother was able to do it ... but I don’t think I’m capable of using his method. The way I become after going into hysteria mode also presents a problem. If by any chance, the girls take a liking to “Host Club Kinji,” 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 ever 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.

  “Kinji! 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 Aria’s anime-like voice, shut myself inside the bulletproof locker, and pray—pray that I’m still alive when the sun comes up tomorrow.

  Epilogue Go For The Next!!!

  Normally, a person’s home is place of peace and tranquility, isn’t it? But at this moment, with Aria still living in my home and Shirayuki coming in as she saw fit to unabashedly take over the housework, the place reeked of girls, and no semblance of peace or 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 hang 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 he were cheating), and I received a call on my cell phone. If it had been Aria, I was just going to ignore it, but the number started with zero-three. This isn’t from someone’s cell phone. Who is this?

  “Hello?”

  “Kinji? Where are you right now?”

  Ugh. It’s Aria.

  “What difference does it make? What did you want?”

  “Get over here right away. I’m in room number one-zero-one at the girl’s dormitory.”

  “I do not want to go to the girl’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 girl’s dormitory ... to find the door was unlocked. Girl’s dormitories had more rooms than boy’s dormitories, and this place didn’t appear to be an exception.

  Is this even Aria’s apartment?

  “Hello? Aria, I’m here.”

  “Jee
z, that took you forever. But I’ll let it pass today.”

  I stepped inside and Aria came trotting out of the bathroom in her sailor uniform. She then suddenly took a firm hold of my hand.

  H-Hey. What gives?

  “Come on. This way.”

  She 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 waitress uniform, the type of priestess garbs Shirayuki 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.

  “Kinji, which would you prefer?”

  “‘Which would I prefer?’ Prefer for what?”

  “What am I going to do with you, Kinji? 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 her slanted eyes, Aria approached me one step at a time. She stepped on my toes with her little foot, around which she wore her black knee socks, and gave me a shove so that I fell backwards onto the huge bed that was behind me.

  “Kinjiii?”

  Moving swiftly, Aria straddled my waist like a child would, and without warning, smothered my face with the upper half of her body. My feeling of disgust at going into hysteria mode only lasted for an instant. The sensation of marshmallow-like breasts behind her blouse being pressed against my face. The feel of her soft thighs around my waist. Enveloped by the bittersweet smell of a girl, 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 Aria’s chest wasn’t this well endowed. She did misrepresent herself with a push and plunge bra, 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 girl’s body that I was familiar with from prior experience. It was exactly the same as “that” girl’s.

  “... Riko ...” I said in a low, unfriendly tone.

  “Bingo! I did it! I did it! Hysteria Kii-kun! You’ve taken a giant step forward!”

  The girl was dressed liked Aria, but her voice became Riko’s as she lifted the upper half of her body away from me. Her large breasts jiggled underneath her uniform, and she grabbed the bottom of her chin with her right hand and one of her ponytails with her left. She then tore off the strawberry-blonde pigtails and the thin prosthetic makeup that masked her face. As I suspected, behind the façade was . . .

  “It’s Rikorikorin! Hehe! I’m baaack!”

  ... Riko.

  She was the one who killed my brother, planted a bomb on my bicycle and Butei High’s bus, and escaped after fighting with Aria and I during the high jacking incident—Riko Mine Lupin the Fourth, the “butei killer.”

  What is she doing here at Butei High?!

  One might expect Riko’s eyes and their double eyelids to twinkle like stars, and she narrowed them in delight as she let down her long, honey-colored, wavy hair that had been skillfully hidden under a wig. “Kii-kun, help me.”

  My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. In hysteria mode, I wanted to help girls no matter what it took. If it were to help a girl with a problem or a girl in a tight bind, I wanted to assist them in any way they desired. Riko ... was obviously aware of that as she spoke.

  “When you think about it, I was enrolled at two schools at once, and it’s because of you and Aria 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-kun. So for the first time, I’m going to use the method my mother taught me to make a guy listen to a girl. Hehe. We’re about to start the super sweet event that comes with the patch our customers bought, allowing you to take the Riko route.”

  Like an excited beast, something hot was introduced into Riko’s breath, and she took off my tie. It was clear what she was going to say next in this situation.

  What do I do?

  Riko brought her adorable baby face close to mine and used her seductive lips as she spoke.

  “Kii-kun, let’s have a roll in the hay."

  What are you gonna do, Kinji?

  To Be Continued!!!

  Afterword

  “Everybody loves girls with long, black hair!”

  And there you have it. Sorry for the wait. Shirayuki Hotogi plays a huge role in “Aria the Scarlet Ammo II”! Shirayuki is a tidy, obedient, kind, traditional Japanese woman, but at the same time, she’s also a ... s-slightly problematic girl who goes into demonic armed priestess mode, pointing her glinting katana at any girl who gets close to the protagonist, Kinji Tohyama. (sweat) But this time around, included in the story was the drama surrounding such the comical Shirayuki who was actually being fettered by invisible chains. It was my intention to have you all watch over Shirayuiki as she grew in character just a little bit ... but it the end, a lot of you are probably thinking “But she’s still scary!” (Akamatsu in tears) W-Well ... please do Shirayuki the favor by accepting her for who she is—dark Shirayuki mode included. That’s what love is about!

  In the story this time, the unlikely duo Kinji and Aria, become Shirayuki’s bodyguard and the three of them start living together. This creates huge problems for Kinji since Aria and Shirayuki are as friendly with each other as cats are with dogs, and they start fighting regardless of where they might be. I hope you enjoy experiencing with Kinji all the comical girl trouble he is faced with.

  There are a number of themes that you’ll find throughout the “Aria the Scarlet Ammo” series. One of them is teamwork. This theme is actively researched academically, particularly in Europe and America, where various ethnicities and ideologies are intermingled. Sadly, academics aren’t my strong suit, however … so I’d like to incorporate the theme into this light novel in a fun way, little by little. As you read through this series, you’ll probably be able to improve the teamwork between you and the friends you have now and the friends you’ll make in the future. I’m sure of it. So recommend “Aria the Scarlet Ammo” to all your friends as well. (smile)

  I hope the day will come when all the Kinjis of Japan can meet with other Arias, Shirayukis, Mutos, and Rekis, and form wonderful teams who can accomplish all kinds of dreams.

  A lucky day in December 2008

  Chuugaku Akamatsu

  * * *

  1. sama is an honorific title used to show a person a very high amount of respect.

  2. A children’s game in which one child squats on the ground with his or her eyes closed while the other children sing a song as they walk in circles around that child. When the song ends, the child in the center guesses who the person behind him or her is, and if guessed correctly, those two children switch places.

  3. A dogeza is an extreme form of apologizing in which a person prostrates oneself.

  4. *The nadeshiko flower, or “Large Pink” in English, is a delicate frilled carnation used as a metaphor for the ideal Japanese woman, an epitome of pure feminine beauty. The kanji translates to “caress-able child.”

 

 

 
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