Aria the Scarlet Ammo (novel), Volume 2

by Chugaku Akamatsu

  That’s what you get.

  “I-I’m l-letting myself i-in ...” came Shirayuki’s voice from the doorway as she entered the apartment. She took off her Butei High issued strap shoes, and after neatly placing them by the door, bowed her upper body by ninety degrees, displaying a bright, glossy ring of light that was reflected in her long, black hair.

  “S-Starting today, I’ll be in your care. My name is Shirayuki Hotogi.”

  I know.

  “I-I have my imperfections, but I hope we get along!”

  “Shirayuki ... what are you getting all worked up for? It’s not like this is the first time you’ve been here.”

  “Ah ... when I think of how I’m going to be living in your apartment, I just get so nervous,” said Shirayuki, 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.”

  Shirayuki quickly scuttled towards the kitchen where Aria was setting up a surveillance camera and glared at her with sanpaku eyes.

  “Hehe. I’ll have to get rid of the large-sized garbage as well.”

  She quickly reverted back to her usual smile she always wore and her 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 Aria’s locker.

  Shirayuki opened her eyes wide, waving her 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 Aria, who never did anything that could fall under the category of a household chore, Shirayuki’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 Shirayuki quickly disposed of all the junk, rigorously vacuumed everywhere, sealed all the holes in the walls and floor with putty, and replaced the carpet. She had the whole apartment cleaned up in less than three hours. To top it all off, she even decorated the place with a flower arrangement of Gypsophila and greenhouse cultivated Large Pink.

  “... Wow ...” I whispered to myself as I set down by the wall Shirayuki’s paulownia wood chest of drawers, which I had carried up from the lobby. When I tried to help out with something, Shirayuki 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 Shirayuki go into the kitchen, Aria walked up to me. “Kinji, make sure you also check that chest for any dangerous items.”

  “Dangerous items? This is one of Shirayuki’s personal belongings.”

  “There’s always the chance that someone slipped something inside it on its way here.”

  “Aria ... 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 Aria reproachfully as she stepped 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 or 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 this drawer ... they were all underwear! What’s more, they were probablyrisqué pieces of lingerie like G-strings and low-rise panties and the like—just like those my brother had told me about it when he was alive.

  That Shirayuki ...

  She was always acting like a modest, graceful, ideal Japanese woman ... but behind the scenes, she was wearing that kind of underwear? Now that I think about it, there was that time when I happened to see down her blouse and she 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, Shirayuki had walked up fairly close to me. Shirayuki, who cheerfully took off a pair of cream-colored mittens, must have planned on cooking after she finished cleaning because she was wearing a frilly apron over her 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 gentleman.”

  Shirayuki was smiling at me happily. Apparently, she didn’t see what I was doing just a moment ago. Seeing Shirayuki in that apron and skirt, my eyes couldn’t help but notice the elegant, female curve of her waist. Unlike Aria’s underdeveloped figure, Shirayuki was somewhat famous for having proportions you wouldn’t normally expect to see on a high-school girl. According to the idiots in my class who spied on the girls during their swimming lessons, Shiriyuki in a swimsuit was on par with a bikini model.

  This isn’t good. I think I might start to envision Shirayuki in her “battle garbs.” Even if she 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 Aria 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,” Shirayuki said, bowing in panic.

  It’s times like these that her 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 to see Aria beside the table with her arms crossed.

  “What are you slacking off for, Kinji?!”

  “There’s a ... reason for this. Why did you leave the apartment?

  “I came in search of deserters while I was out doing some shopping. I have a legitimate reason to be here,” said Aria, producing two handcuffs from underneath her skirt. 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 stu
dent 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 Shirayuki alone?”

  “Reki’s watching over her.”

  “Reki?”

  “I asked for her help. I’m having her guard Shirayuki from a distance,” said Aria, plopping down onto the seat across from me.

  Reki.

  Her last name is unknown. That alone makes her incredibly suspicious, but in addition to that, she was taciturn, expressionless, and emotionless—three traits that made her a veritable robot. She was also the student in the Snipe division who helped us resolve that bus-jacking incident a while back. In terms of skill, she‘s a child prodigy who has been an S-rank butei since her freshman year, but she has a habit of sitting on the school roof with her knees pulled up to her chest all day and was always listening to God knows what with those huge headphones of hers. Understanding Aria is way easier compared Reki. She was harder to figure out than Aria.

  ... So you got Reki involved, huh?

  When Aria said Reki was watching over Shirayuki, I immediately had an image of Reki adjusting her lining of Shirayuki in the sights of her scope. “She’ll only be doing it part-time though. She said she’s going to be participating in the Adsiard as a representative of Japan for the sniping competition, so she’ll be pretty busy. We can only use her 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 Shirayuki. 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 Shirayuki anyway. Hire anyone you want.”

  “Take this seriously, Kinji. This is an official mission.”

  “Why did you suddenly say you wanted to be Shrayuki’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, Aria ... started to methodically wink her eyes a number of times.

  She 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?

  Aria signed for me to come closer so I leaned over the table and pricked up my ears. She began whispering in my ear so closely that I could feel her breath.

  What is with this girl? Even her 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 Shirayuki, 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 her attitude changed the second she 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 Shirayuki.

  “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 Aria, she’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,” Aria said.

  “K-Kin-chan? I just heard Aria’s voice . . .”

  Gah! Aria, take a hint!

  “Uhh … Aria just walked by right now.”

  “What are you talking about? We’ve been talking together the whole time. Are you stupid?” came Aria’s voice again.

  “... Kin-chan ...” Along with Shirayuki’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 Aria, the girl who can’t read between the lines, and yanked on one of her pigtails. She cried out just like little girl, which made me feel slightly better. A few seconds later, she 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 her uniform, Shirauki gracefully walked up beside me, carrying a tray with Jasmine tea on it. When I looked up at Shirayuki, she was busily tidying up her bangs. I think it was a habit of hers.

  “G-Go ahead and eat. I made it all just for you.”

  It looked like she wasn’t going to eat until I did, so I helped myself to the sweet-and-sour pork. Indeed, the meat was delectable. It was the unmistakable taste of delicious pork. Its rich, sweet-and-sour taste softly enveloped my tongue. Shirayuki’s cooking skills knew no bounds. The difference between Shirayuki and Aria, 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, Shirayuki looked as if she couldn’t be happier and hid the lower half of her face with the tray. She whispered, “I’m so glad, dear,” under her breath, and I wondered who it was she 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.

  “Shirayuki, 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 Shirayuki with a wry smile and taking her place at the table. Aside from Shirayuki, Aria sat with her arms crossed and a bulging vein on her temple.

  “So? Why aren't there any plates in front of me?”

  “This is yours,” said Shirayuki with a voice as icy as the Antarctics and placed a bowl in front of Aria. 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.”

  Shirayuki coldly turned her back on Aria, and Aria, after a few moments of gritting her teeth, gobbled down her rice like a ravenous animal.

  I, wanting to watch Sunday Western Movie Theater, and Aria, wanting to watch the two-hour special of Amazing Animals, were gripping each other’s faces as we fought over the TV remote when Shirayuki came into the living room with some sort of card game.

  “Kin-chan, um ... these are called priestess tarot cards ...”

  “Priestess 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.”

  Shirayuki’s divinations often came true, so I had nothing to lose by listening. Since Aria was biologically female, she seemed to have an interest in that fortune-telling stuff and div
inations, so after voicing her interest, she set the HDD recorder to record her 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, Shirayuki clicked her tongue but quickly smiled like an angel and replied, “Sure thing.” She 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 Aria, and I saw a slightly stern expression on Shirayuki’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,” Shirayuki said with a smile that looked rather forced.

  What was that all about? I wonder what she really saw. It’s really nagging at the back my bind.

  “Okay, I’m next!” Aria, unable to restrain herself, nearly climbed onto the table, and from the looks of things, my turn had quickly come to an end. She gathered the cards together and pushed them towards Shirayuki, demanding that she hurry. “I don’t have to tell you my birthday or anything? I’m a Virgo.”

  “Really? You don’t seem like one.”

  Aria’s expression showed that she was quite peeved by the comment, but she sat in a proper Japanese fashion and waited for the results. With an extremely unwilling look on her face, Shirayuki lined up the cards and turned one over.

  “Your overall luck can only be described as horrendous,” Shirayuki said as apathetically as possible and started gathering up the cards.