Aria the Scarlet Ammo (novel), Volume 2

by Chugaku Akamatsu

  She obviously didn’t divine anything.

  “Hey! Do it right! You’re a shrine maiden, aren't you?!”

  “You’re complaining about my divination?! I won’t stand for this!”

  “You wanna settle this by more physical means?”

  The two of them began glaring at each other fiercely.

  T-This is bad.

  “If you want to go at it, that’s fine with me. I didn’t use it the last time because the Hotogi family forbids it, but I still have an ace up my sleeve,” said Shirayuki, knitting the brows under her perfectly straight bangs, and to this, Aria responded by standing up.

  “I also have a ... two aces up my sleeve!”

  “I have three!”

  “Then I have four!”

  “Five!”

  “Tons!”

  “For crying out ... would you two pipe down?! Why can’t the two of you just do one little divination peacefully?!”

  In the future, it really should be the stance of nations to prevent war before it happens. I used my hands to physically separate them before the situation escalated into something I couldn’t handle.

  “Bleeeah.” Aria pulled down her lower eyelid with her forefinger and stuck out her tongue. Then, sulking, she shut herself up in her room.

  Beeep. Gagagaga.

  The transceiver I borrowed from Connect the other day to make sure no suspicious radio waves were being transmitted around the apartment started to activate. Scratching the back of my head, I turned towards Shirayuki ... who was looking quite sullen as well.

  “... I don’t mean to say bad things about Aria behind her back, but,” said Shirayuki, deftly gathering up the cards, “she’s cute but she’s annoying. And she doesn’t understand you at all. She’s always so rude to you. All the guys say Aria’s cute but ... I don’t like her.”

  She said it all in one breath. It was the first time I had ever heard Shirayuki speak ill of another person. She cast a quick upward glance at me. In other words ... she was waiting for me to give my opinion of Aria.

  “Aria ...?”

  To tell the truth, I just made a little discovery about Aria and Shirayuki. I wasn’t sure whether or not I should mention it now though and put out some feelers.

  “Say, do you really ... dislike Aria?”

  “... Huh?”

  “I mean ... how should I put this? You’re pretty straightforward with Aria, wouldn’t you say? When it’s me, you always act so suspiciously. Not only that ... well, I might be off the mark here but ... I don’t think I’ve ever seen you express your emotions so openly before.”

  “...”

  “It kind of seems like the way you act towards Aria is more like the real you than the way you act towards me and everyone else ... you know? Don’t get me wrong. I’d prefer if you didn’t fight with anyone. It’s just that, even when you two are fighting, there seems to be something between you guys that just clicks, don’t you think?”

  As a rule, Shirayuki is the type of person who listens to others. And listening to others is a good thing. That’s how the world sees it. That’s why everyone regards Shirayuki so highly. Naturally, the teachers, who don't know anything about the Shirayuki that goes into armored priestess mode, are fond of her, and she’s relied upon by all the students—both guys and girls. But there’s also a problem with this personality that causes her to act so obediently in front of everyone. That’s what I think. Shirayuki might be acting obediently, but she isn’t expressing her true intentions. However, I get the feeling that when Aria is involved, Shirayuki engages her with her true intentions surging out all over the place. I could be misinterpreting the whole thing, of course.

  There was a brief silence.

  “... Kin-chan ...” said Shirayuki, tilting her head down slightly and lowering her eyes under those perfectly straight bangs, “you really do know me well, don’t you.”

  “Well, you know. We’ve been together since we were kids. There were long periods of times we spent apart though.”

  “You probably understand me better than I understand myself.”

  Shirayuki’s voice had become softer than it was previously, and resituating herself, she inconspicuously moved closer to me.

  “Aria ... came storming right into our private world—just like a bullet.”

  Was there such a world?

  ... is what I was thinking, but I didn’t interject so as not to disrupt the flow of the conversation.

  “I came at her with everything I had ... and she took it all head on without retreating a single step. It’s just like you said. I do dislike her, on the whole. But in a certain aspect ... I do think she’s an amazing girl.”

  Hmm. As I thought, it isn’t that she simply dislikes Aria. The feelings she has towards her are more complex than that.

  “But that’s exactly why ... I don’t want her to take you away from me. That girl has a certain charm about her.”

  “... No one’s taking anyone anywhere. I said this before, but Aria and I are fellow buteis. When our job is done, we’re just going to say our goodbyes like regular teammates. Aria’s not a childhood friend like you are.”

  “Childhood friend ... That’s right,” Shirayuki said with her face lighting up. She must have been using some kind of special movement because before I realized it, she had slid up right beside me without changing her posture at all.

  Hold up, there. Our shoulders are practically touching. In fact, they are.

  “You’ve known me for so long. That fact makes me so happy. I remember it all—all the way back to those days when I had never even left Hotogi Shrine before ...”

  Shirayuki was rapt with memories as she spoke and tilted her head in my direction. Her black hair, glossy as strands of silk, fell against my arm. I could faintly smell the pleasant scent of sandalwood.

  “Aah ... now that you mention it, there was a time like that, wasn’t there.”

  When I was about four or five years old, there was a period in which I lived in Aomori because of my brother’s job. Hotogi Shrine was located in the city’s suburbs, and that’s where I first met Shirayuki. At that time, Shirayuki was told that she mustn’t leave the shrine, and she rigidly obeyed. Having an exceptionally shy personality, Shirayuki was afraid of me at first, but she soon opened up and invited me to play with her and the other young Hotogi shrine maidens.

  “I remember when the two of us went to watch the fireworks,” Shirayuki said, “I was so happy then ...” It finally came to point where Shirayuki rested her head on my shoulder as she started to talk about the past. “You were so excited about the fireworks festival they were having in the city and took me out of the shrine to go see it. It was the first time I had ever left the shrine since as long as I can remember.”

  “Oh ... that. I’m surprise you remember.”

  If I recall, when we got back, all the adults got really upset with me, and Shirayuki wasn’t allowed outside the storehouse for a while.

  “We got in so much trouble, but afterwards, you still came by to play all the time.”

  “I was there because my brother’s job forced us to relocate. Plus, there were no other kids my age in the neighborhood.

  What was it that we played? I wanted to play soccer, but I was outnumbered by young shrine maidens who rejected the idea, so I always wound up having to play house or origami or bird-in-the-cage.2

  Little birdy, little birdy, the bird in the cage is—

  I still remember that song. I also remember how my brother would sympathetically call Shirayuki and the others “caged birds.”

  Sitting in the corner while the Adsiard preparatory committee was having a meeting, I found myself thinking of Aria. Lately, she was hard a worker running all over the place gathering information on Durandal. Aria was being so cautious that the slightest sound in the middle of the night would cause her to jump up with pistols at the ready. But the fact that our enemy couldn’t be seen, along with the stress of living with a mother-in-law like Shirayuki,
had clearly put her in a bad mood.

  “... I think it would be great if Hotogi at least participated in the Ar-kata for the opening ceremony.”

  “I agree. There is one opening that needs to be filled.

  For what it’s worth, Butei High is a high school so there’s a student council. But due to school regulations, all the members of the student council are girls. This is because previously when the student council consisted of boys, a gunfight broke out over how to allocate the budget for club activities. This school really is the pits. And so, this Adsiard preparatory committee is mostly made up of the members of the student council. As for why I’m present at this boring and dangerous (with girls everywhere) meeting, I’m here acting as Shirayuki’s bodyguard. Rather, I’m here because Aria ordered me to be here.

  “Hotogi does have the look. I think she’ll leave a good impression on the reporters.”

  “I think so too. She’ll probably improve the image of Butei High—buteis in general, really.”

  “After all, Hotogi is the one who developed the choreography we’re using this year … Hotogi, you can do the Ar-kata cheer routine, can’t you?”

  I tilted my eyes in the direction of our student body president to see how she was reacting to all of these opinions.

  “Y-Yes. But ... I would really prefer to make my contributions from behind the scenes.”

  Shirayuki quickly glanced up at me with pleading eyes, and my response to her, which I kept to myself, was to hurry up and put an end to this meeting. All of the main topics for discussion had already been dealt with, and the meeting was just sloppily dragging along at this point. Those thoughts must have been telepathically transmitted to Shirayuki though.

  “Well, it’s already gotten this late. I’d like to call an end to the meeting,” Shirayuki declared in a clear and well-projected voice. When Shirayuki got like this, her pronunciation was so clean, and it made her seem very reliable. If Aria were a voice actress, then Shirayuki was a TV announcer. Those were the thoughts vaguely floating in my head as I got out my seat yawning loudly. Not long after the meeting came to an end, the girls started making a racket.

  “Hey, you wanna go to Odaiba after this?”

  “Oh, great idea!”

  “I’m there! Did you know that Marui was remodeled?”

  “I want a summer miniskirt!”

  “That reminds me! Estella’s limited edition Sugar Leaf Pies are going on sale today!”

  “There she goes! Food over fashion! You’re a shining example of an unpopular female butei!”

  “Hahaha, that was hilarious!”

  Here we go. Everyone and their charming little smile ... I hate this sort of thing. The reason you girls aren’t popular is because you’re all toting pistols. Get a clue.

  “How about you, Hotogi? Wanna get ready for summer and check out their selection?” asked a freshman. Shirayuki looked liked she didn’t understand the meaning of the question.

  “Ah, I have to go home and do my SSR assignments and create guide booklets for the Adsiard ...” said Shirayuki, lowering her head.

  “That’s Hotogi for you. She’s so diligent ...”

  “You never get tired, do you Hotogi?”

  “You’re a real superwoman ...”

  They weren’t being sarcastic; they were sincerely showing the respect they had for Shirayuki. But ... at the same time, it also felt as if they found Shirayuki to be a little bizzare. That’s the sense I had.

  The sun was setting, and I was walking home with Shirayuki at my side. The clubhouse where the committee meeting took place was nearby the boy’s dormitory, so we could get back on foot. Going back home with a girl was the last thing I wanted to do, but being her bodyguard, it couldn’t be helped. If I had her go back by herself and Aria found out about it later, who knows how many holes she would open in me.

  “I-I was pretty nervous today since you were watching. How ... was I?”

  Shirayuki was acting bashful as she held her school bag in front of her legs with both hands, but her face showed how happy she was to be leaving school with me.

  “It looked like everyone had the utmost faith in you. Pretty good, wouldn’t you say?” I said candidly. Shirayuki lowered her face, which had become as red as a scarlet hakama.

  “... K-Kin-chan complimented me ...” Shirayuki said under her breath.

  Hey, keep your eyes ahead of you while you walk. Ah. See? Right into a utility pole.

  “Oh yeah. You’re not going participate in the Ar-kata? Everyone wanted you to.”

  “I-I couldn’t possibly. I can’t participate in the Ar-kata. It’s better to have a ... more cheerful and cuter girl doing cheers. If a boring girl like me were to participate, it would ruin the image of Butei High.”

  “Shirayuki ... the way you demean yourself like that is a bad habit of yours. All you have to do is pretend to be really enthusiastic when you’re actually doing the cheer routines. You’d start off pretending, but before you know it, you might genuinely get enthusiastic about it. Then when the time comes for the actual performance and you show off that enthusiasm in front of a crowd of spectators, you’re likely to build some confidence.”

  “But ...”

  “Don’t tell me you’re scared about the whole Durandal thing the education affairs department is all riled up about. Durandal doesn’t exist. Nobody’s going to be sniping at you or anything.”

  “Yeah ... I know. There is no Durandal ... but I can’t do it.”

  “Why not?”

  “My family would be upset with me.”

  The Hotogis. Shirayuki’s relatives at the Hotogi Shrine.”

  “Why would they get upset with you for something like that?”

  In the past, Shirayuki had made similar remarks on more than one occasion, so I had a vague sense of the reason why. The people at Hotogi Shrine put a lot of restrictions on Shirayuki when she left to go to high school in Tokyo. They placed a great deal of importance on formalities and forbade her to do all sorts of things.

  “I’m … not allowed to attract too much attention to myself in front of large groups of people,” Shirayuki said obstinately. She didn’t explain the reason, but simply gave another negative statement. I guess it’s just absolutely out of the question.

  “... When the other girls invited you to go to Odaiba, you turned them down too. Was that also because of your family?”

  I asked thinking that couldn’t possibly be the reason, but...

  “Yeah.”

  “You serious?”

  “I ... can't leave the shrine or school without permission.”

  You are serious. Even among family, forbidding someone to ever go out is a bit harsh, isn't it? It’s an infringement of human rights, I dare say.

  As if she knew I was going to object, Shirayuki spoke up before I could get a word in.

  “Hotogi shrine maidens are guardian shrine maidens. From the day we are born until the day we die, our bodies and our souls are not to leave Hotogi.” She seemed to be speaking to herself as she said it. “The truth is ... for generations, we as shrine maidens are supposed to spend our entire lives at Hotogi Shrine. That’s just how it is. Of course, we go to other shrines when we have duties to attend at them, and there’s compulsory education now as well ... but we have to keep things like that at a minimum. They were very much against the idea of me even coming to Butei High ...”

  “But here you are. There’s no need for you to uphold those traditions so blindly. You can’t enjoy being a high school student if you’re always afraid of someone getting upset with you. What are you acting like a good little girl for?”

  “...”

  “You don’t have worry about making dinner today. Go meet up with those other girls and check out the latest fashions or whatever.”

  “No, that’s okay. Besides ... I’m kind of ... afraid of being outside,” said Shirayuki with a depressed look in her lowered eyes.

  “Afraid? Of Marui? It’s just a clothing department, you
know?”

  “But all throughout elementary and junior high school, I’ve never once left the priestess school ...”

  Priestess school. It was a type of seminary and basically a boarding school attended by the daughters of wealthy, shrine-owning families.

  “I would like to go out shopping and buying all sorts of foods once like everyone else does … but, I’m not confident enough to go out with others or have so many people around me.”

  “...Confidence?”

  “I don’t have the same kind of knowledge that everyone else has. Unless we’re talking about school, I can’t keep up a conversation ... I don’t even know what kind of clothes I should wear. Sweets, music, television ... I have no idea what’s popular. I can't relate with the others.”

  “Shirauiki ...”

  “But it’s okay. I have you. You understand me. You know who I really am and treat me normally, just like the way you always have. That’s why I don’t mind. I don’t need anything else.”

  Shirayuki ... Shirayuki, that’s ... That’s no different from how you used to be back then. You’re so far away from Hotogi Shirine and yet ... you’re still a caged bird.

  Night had fallen, and I was wiping myself off after stepping out of the shower. Putting on my pants, I turned off the light, and checked the clock with my back still bare. It was already ten o’clock.

  Aria still hasn’t come back.

  She had sent me an e-mail about going to Lezzad or something, so she was probably out searching for information on Durandal. Since becoming Shirayuki’s bodyguard, we hadn’t been able to do our training in the morning, but in exchange for that, Aria declared that she was going to be launching “surprise attacks” on me and does so on a regular basis. Naturally, I haven’t mastered the technique of catching a sword with my bare hands yet, so the lumps on my head continued to multiply. These were the thoughts running through my head as I dried my hair with a bath towel when I suddenly heard the sound of someone in slippers dashing down the hall. Judging from the footsteps, it sounded as if the person was in a panic.

  “?”