Aria the Scarlet Ammo (novel), Volume 1

by Chugaku Akamatsu

  Aria. If you want to go back to England, be my guest. But don’t engage in combat with the “Butei killer” any more. If the “Butei killer” defeated my brother…you won’t be able to beat the “Butei killer” on your own. That’s a fact. My brother was strong—stronger than anyone. He was clever too. Even if I were in hysteria mode, I couldn’t even begin to compare with him.

  Aria…! Next time you won’t get off with just a wound to the forehead! You’re gonna get killed! You’ll die!

  I ran down the boarding bridge and as they were closing the hatch, just barely managed to get on ANA flight six hundred, Boeing 737-350 headed for London Heathrow Airport. The hatch made a loud sound as it shut behind me.

  “I’m a Butei! Cancel this flight!”

  I thrust my Butei badge in the face of a flight attendant with a small build who looked at me with eyes wide open.

  “S-Sir, I’m terribly sorry, but what exactly–”

  “There’s no time to explain! Just see to it that this plane stays grounded!”

  Quite startled, the flight attendant nodded her head up and down and hurried up the stairs to the second floor. I wanted to go with her, but fell to my knees instead. Leaving Assault and letting my stamina drop so low had taken its toll on me. I was completely out of breath from sprinting all the way here and didn’t feel like I could take another step.

  Well…at any rate, I’ve managed to keep the plane from taking off.

  Just as that thought entered my head, I could feel the plane jolt into motion.

  It’s…moving.

  “U-Um…I-I couldn’t stop it. T-The pilot said that according to regulations, once we’ve entered this phase, the flight can't be aborted without orders from air traffic control,” said the flight attendant coming down from the second floor and trembling as she looked at me.

  “W-What kind of idiot…?!”

  “P-Please, don’t shoot! First of all, are you really a Butei? The captain screamed at me saying, ‘Stop the plane?! We haven’t received any instructions like that!’”

  What a moron! What should I do? Should I force them to stop the plane even if it means threatening them with my gun? No, that’s no good. From what she just told me, it’s evident that the captain doesn’t trust me. Threatening him at this point probably wouldn’t stop the plane.

  Looking out the window, I saw that ANA flight six hundred had already entered the runway. If I forced them to stop now, we’d be running the risk of colliding with another plane on the runway. I gotta think of another way. It’s too late to stop the plane. If I’ve lost the initiative, then I’ll just have to fight defensively or we’re going to lose. There’s no other choice but to change strategies. The plane had risen into the air and the fasten-seat belt lights disappeared. It was a hassle, but I calmed down the flight attendant and had her guide me to Aria’s seat—or rather, private room I should say. The cabin deck structure of this plane was clearly different from that of a regular passenger plane. The first floor was an expansive bar, and on the second floor was a center passageway with doors lined up on the left and right side. I had seen something like this on the news before. It was an ultra-luxurious passenger plane called a “flying resort”, and all of its seats were located in suites. In other words, it was a newly designed aircraft patronized by celebrities that didn’t have typical seats, but instead was built with twelve private rooms you would find at a first-class hotel, and each room was completely furnished with its own bed, shower room, and other amenities.

  “…K-Kinji?!”

  Aria opened her crimson eyes wide when she saw me enter her suite decorated with fresh flowers.

  Great. For the time being, at least we’ve managed to meet up with each other.

  “…You never cease to amaze me, milady Aria. A one-way ticket like this probably costs around two thousand dollars, no?” I made the comment while admiring the double bed and Aria got out of her seat glaring at me.

  “Barging into a person’s room without permission? How rude!”

  “You have absolutely no right to say something like that, wouldn’t you agree?”

  Aria must have remembered how she forced her way into my apartment because she held her tongue despite her anger.

  “…What did you follow me here for?”

  “Why does the sun rise? Why does the moon rise?”

  “Oh, shut up! If you don’t answer me, I’m gonna open a hole in you!”

  I think Aria was displeased with me using her own line against her, seeing as she placed her hands on the hem of her skirt. I was actually relieved.

  Good. She has her weapons with her.

  “Butei Charter, Article Two, ‘Fulfill the contract made with your clients at all costs.’”

  “…?”

  “I promised to work with you to resolve the first case that came up after returning to Assault. That case of the “Butei killer” still hasn’t been resolved.”

  “What are you boasting about? You’re just a useless guy who can’t do anything!” Aria howled like a lion cub, bearing her tooth.

  “Get out of here! Thanks to you, I know all too well now. I really am suited for an “aria”! There isn’t a person in this entire world who can be my partner! That’s why I’ve decided to continue fighting alone! It doesn’t matter if my opponent is the “Butei killer” or anyone else!”

  “…I wish you had said that a little sooner.” I sat down in the other available chair and looked out the window at the city below us as if it actually held my interest.

  “…Once we get to London, go straight back to Japan. I can at least get you an economy class ticket in exchange for your severance pay. You don’t have anything to do with me anymore! Be sure you don’t talk to me!”

  “I’ve never had anything to do with you.”

  “Shut up! I forbid you to speak!”

  Amidst strong winds, ANA flight six hundred soared in the skies above Tokyo Bay. Aria, with a miserable look on her face, had her arms and legs crossed as she was sitting in her chair and staring out the window. ‘I might as well be hanged’ is what I was thinking to myself. Whether the destination was London or anywhere else, if I was going to get on a plane, I would be flying regardless. At this point, the only thing left to do was wait for the enemy to make the first move.

  “This is your captain speaking. I want to apologize to our guests, but in order to avoid turbulence from the typhoon, the plane will be making a detour, so our flight is estimated to be around thirty minutes late.”

  The captain finished his announcement and the plane shook slightly as it resumed its flight. The shaking itself wasn’t such a big deal…

  Crack! Craaack!

  The sound of thunder could be heard from the comparatively nearby thundercloud.

  Craaaaaack!!

  A particularly loud thunder strike resonated, causing Aria’s eyes to open wide as she ducked her head.

  “Scared?”

  “O-Of course I’m not scared. Don’t be dumb. More importantly, don’t talk to me. Hearing your voice is irritating to no end.”

  Another loud boom echoed as soon as she finished speaking.

  “Kyaaa!”

  I smiled wryly at seeing Aria yelp out.

  Well, well. There’s something that even Miss Aria the Quadra can’t handle. Who would’ve thought it’d be thunder.

  “If you’re so afraid of thunder, crawl under the sheets and tremble all you want.”

  “S-Shut up, you.”

  “It's gonna be a big mess if you wet yourself.”

  “Y-Y-You’re an idiot!”

  Craaaaaack!!

  “Uwah!”

  It had finally reached to the point where the deafening sound of thunder caused Aria to jump right up out of her seat. And then she really did crawl under the covers of her bed. The situation developed so identically to the way I had imagined that I couldn’t help but laugh, ignoring the dire circumstances.

  It’s possible she actually wet herself.

  �
�Aria, do you have a change of underwear?”

  “K-Kinji, you’re such an idiot! I-I’m gonna open a hole in you later!”

  Whoa. She’s seriously shuddering like crazy.

  Craaaaaaack!! Craaaaaack!!

  I’m not sure if it was just bad luck or if the captain wasn’t a very good pilot, but this plane was flying right next to a thundercloud.

  “…K-Kinji~~~…”

  From underneath the blankets, Aria called out to me in a tearful voice and grabbed a hold of my sleeve while I was sitting next to her.

  “C-Come on. You don’t have to be that scared. Here, I’ll turn on the television.”

  I shrank back a little from Aria, who was tenaciously hanging onto my sleeve like a child, and flipped through the channels after turning on the television with the remote. Recent movies and anime flashed by. I left the channel on a historical drama that was probably included for the more elderly passengers.

  “Don’t claim to have forgotten about me, the great Sakurafubiki! I won’t stand for it!”

  Oh…this is a sword-play samurai movie that’s based on one of my ancestors—Kin of Tohyama, a famous magistrate.

  According to my brother’s theory, Kin of Tohyama also had the genetic make-up allowing him to go into hysteria mode, and apparently, he was something of an exhibitionist because by stripping himself to the waist, his intellectual and physical abilities would rapidly increase.

  “Look. Watch this and take your mind off of it.”

  “R-Right.”

  It would seem Aria’s rule stating that I couldn’t talk to her had been rescinded. Her trembling hand, which was clinging to my sleeve, was so small and frail… At this moment, I really did think of it as the hand of any normal girl. If—and this is a big “if”—Aria were just a normal girl right now, I, being just a regular, everyday high school guy…

  “Aria.”

  …would bring my hand over her trembling hand…just like this…

  “K-Kinji…?”

  Sure. As a regular classmate, as a friend, I could at least ease her trembling.

  After a few seconds of hesitation, just when Aria’s fingers were about to close on my hand…

  Blam! Blam!

  …a sound resonated throughout the plane. This time, it wasn’t the sound of thunder, but a sound that we the students of Butei High are more used to hearing—gunshots. Stepping out into the narrow corridor, I found the place to be in utter chaos. Passengers coming out of the twelve rooms and a few flight attendants—a medley of the young, the old, males, and females—were creating a ruckus with anxious looks on their faces. Looking towards the front of the plane where the gunshots came from, I saw that the door to the cockpit was wide open.

  “!”

  Beside it stood the small-figured idiot of a flight attendant I dealt with earlier. She was dragging the captain and copilot out of the cockpit. I wasn’t sure what happened to them, but they weren’t moving at all. Seeing the attendant cast them aside on the floor of the corridor, I hurriedly drew my gun.

  “Freeze!”

  Upon hearing me, the flight attendant raised her head and smiled with a face lacking any characteristic features. She then winked at me and went back into the cockpit saying, “Freaking attention please.”

  I heard a brief, sharp noise like a pin being drawn, and the flight attendant threw a can at me that she pulled out from inside her blouse. It rolled up next to my feet and a chill ran down my spine.

  “Kinji!”

  Subduing her fear of thunder, Aria cried out as she came out of the room.

  Psssssshhhh!

  I could tell from the noise. It was a gas canister. Sarin. Soman. Tabun. Phosgene. Zyklon B. The names of all the poison gases I learned about in Assault raced through my mind. If it were a particularly strong type of gas, this battle was already lost.

  “Everyone, get back into your rooms! Shut the doors!” I yelled as I pushed Aria back into the room.

  Just before I closed the door, the plane shook violently. All of the lights went out, and the fearful screams of the passengers could be heard one after another. Before long, the darkness was illuminated by red emergency lamps.

  “…Kinji! Are you okay?!”

  I looked up at Aria who was showing concern for my well-being and tried taking a deep breath. I was able to breathe. I could see. My limbs weren’t paralyzed. I’d been had. Apparently, the gas ejected was harmless.

  “Aria. That ridiculous way of speaking…that flight attendant was the “Butei killer”. The perp showed up after all.”

  “…after all…? You knew the “Butei killer” was going to show up…?” Aria looked at me with her camellia-colored eyes wide open.

  I decided to tell her about the deduction I made while I was in hysteria mode.

  “The ‘Butei killer’ started off with a motorcycle-jacking and a carjacking. This is something I just learned about recently, but…a certain Butei was also killed in a boat-jacking incident. In that particular case, the Butei probably confronted the ‘Butei killer’ face to face.”

  “…Why do you think so?”

  “Because the boat-jacking was the only incident you didn't know about. You didn't intercept the radio frequency, right?”

  “Y-Yeah.”

  “The ‘Butei killer’ wasn’t sending out any. In other words, there was no need to control the ship remotely. The culprit was there on the boat in person.”

  I had always found it odd that my older brother, of all people, “didn’t make it out in time”.

  “But the targeted vehicles—a motorcycle, a car, a boat—which became larger each time, suddenly got smaller. My bicycle. After that was the bus.”

  “…!”

  “Do you get it, Aria? From the very beginning, it was a message. She had you in the palm of her hand from the start. She pinned the guilt on your mother and declared war on you. And now she’s planning on having a confrontation with you during this third incident just like she did with my brot…I mean, the Butei who was killed in the boat-jacking. Only this time a plane’s been hijacked.”

  Aria, who wasn’t very good at deduction, gritted her teeth in frustration. All of a sudden…

  Beep, beep. Beep. Beep, beep, beep.

  The fasten-safety belt lights made emergency high-pitched noises as they began flickering erratically.

  “…Japanese Morse code…” whispered Aria.

  That being the case, I tried my hand at deciphering the flashing lights as I was rocked back and forth in the plane.

  Come on over. IU is heaven. Come on over. I’m at the bar on the first floor.

  “She’s inviting you to come down.”

  “That’s just fine. I’ll open a hole in her,” said Aria narrowing her eyes in anger and pulling the pistols out from underneath her skirt one right after the other.

  “I’ll come with you. I’m not sure if I’ll be of much help in my current state though.”

  “I don’t need you to come with me.”

  Craaaaack!

  Aria’s entire body went stiff as the thundercloud outside made its presence known again.

  “Should I come or not?”

  “I-If you want to come so badly, I won’t stop you.”

  Following the small guide lights that were installed on the flooring at regular intervals, the two of us cautiously made our way down to the first floor. The first floor was a lavishly decorated bar, and underneath its chandelier, a woman was sitting cross-legged at the counter. It was the flight attendant from earlier.

  “!?”

  With our pistols pointed at her, both of us knitted our brows. She was wearing a Butei High school uniform. Not only that, but it was a remodeled school uniform trimmed with innumerable frills. Her skirt, bulging outwards like a flower with the help of a pannier, was the same one Riko was wearing at Odaiba.

  “You freaking played marvelously into my hands this time as well.”

  As she said this, the flight attendant tore off the mask-like prost
hetic makeup she was wearing over her face. From behind it appeared…

  “…Riko?!”

  “Bon soir.”

  There was no mistake. The person in front of us who guzzled down a blue cocktail and winked at me was none other than Riko. I was utterly astounded at this bizarre turn of events. Did this mean that after parting with me in Odaiba, she got on that customized Vespa and tracked down this plane just like I did? Did she then dress up like a flight attendant and used her Butei badge to get onboard?

  “A person’s talents for doing battle with others by utilizing both brain and brawn tend to be inherited, don’t they? There are quite a few gifted people at Butei High who inherited their talents like the two of you did. But…your family is special, Olmes.”

  “…!”

  Upon hearing Riko say that word, Aria stiffened up as if an electrical current had passed through her body.

  Olmes…? Was that the family name of Aria’s British relatives, the “H’s”?

  “Who…are you exactly?”

  Riko smiled at Aria who was furrowing her brow, and the lightning that flashed by the window illuminated her smiling face.

  “Riko Mine Lupin the Forth. That’s my real name.”

  …Lupin…? That Lupin? The great French phantom thief who we read about in our Inquesta textbook? Riko is…the great-granddaughter of Arsène Lupin?!

  “But…no one in my family ever called me ‘Riko’. They wouldn’t call me by the cute name my mother gave me. They had a strange way of addressing me.”

  “Strange…?” whispered Aria.

  “Fourth. Fourth. Fourth. Miss Fooourth. Every single one of them…even the damned servants…that’s what they called me. Isn’t that horrible?”

  “W-What of it? What’s so bad about “Fourth”?

  For some reason, Riko suddenly opened her eyes wide and glared at Aria who posed the question.

  “…What isn’t bad about it?! Am I a number?! Am I nothing but DNA?! I’m Riko! I’m not a number! Damn you all!”

  Without warning, Riko went into a rage. She wasn’t screaming at us per se, but at somebody else. Her anger wasn’t directed at the present situation, but at somewhere else.

  What’s with this girl?!

  “Unless I exceed my great-grandfather, I’ll never be able to be myself. I’ll just be treated as ‘Lupin’s great-granddaughter’. That’s why I joined IU and obtained this power. Using this power, I’m going to take myself back!”