If Riko were to hear us arguing, she would probably reason that she could finish us off easily. And she would be right. Unarmed as I am, naturally I’d be killed, but so would Aria…!
“I remember! You told me, “I absolutely, positively hate you”! I was acting like it didn’t bother me when you said that but…I was thinking of you as a potential partner and yet…you told me you hated me! The truth is I was really hurt back then…!”
Aria…forgive me!
“So I don’t care anymore! If you hate me, that’s fine! Just go ahead and hat–”
I sealed Aria’s screaming mouth…
…with my own.
“………!!!”
Aria was so surprised, her camellia-colored eyes seemed like they might pop right out of her head. As I suspected, this midget of girl who didn't know how to handle romantic situations, went completely stiff as a result of the kiss I gave her out of desperation. She didn’t just quiet down, her whole body, even the tips of her hands became as rigid as stone.
And this kiss…It was a double-edged sword.
Aria’s lips, like the petals of a cherry blossom, were so small and soft… I could feel those lips, slightly warmer than mine, becoming the embers that set my entire body ablaze. My heart thumped loudly. I felt a painfully sharp constricting sensation at the core of my body. It burned like fire, and I could feel something surging up from there that I couldn't hold back.
…Incredible. This is the first time in my life…I’ve ever experienced such an intense hysteria mode…!
The two of us took a deep breath as our lips parted. It was a rather long kiss since both of us had frozen up.
“Aria…forgive me. There was no other choice.”
“…o-o-o-open a h-ho-…” The strength left her legs, and she sank down onto the floor. “K-K-Kinji, you idiot…! What d-do you think you’re doing…at a time like this…?! That…that…that was my f-f-f…first kiss…!”
For a second, I thought she was going to cause another commotion, but it didn't look like that was the case. The tearful voice that was coming from the back of her throat was dull and husky.
“Don’t worry. It was mine, too.”
“You idiot…! T-Take responsibility…!”
Now in hysteria mode, I knelt down and brought my eyes at the same level as Aria’s who had been looking up at me on the verge of crying and shaking like a small animal.
“You got it. I’ll take responsibility in any way you’d like. But…first we’ve got some work to do.”
“…Kinji…! This is the second time you…”
Aria seemed to have noticed that my voice was much calmer and deeper than it was previously. She opened her eyes wide with an expression on her face that indicated she had remembered something—most likely the bicycle-jacking incident. I brought my mouth to the side of her head that wasn’t injured and whispered into her ear.
“Butei Charter, Article One, ‘Believe in your comrades and help one another.’ I believe in you, Aria. So believe in me, and use me as a decoy. Listen to me. We’re going to work together…and arrest the ‘Butei killer.’”
“It’s time for the ‘bad ending’. Hee hee. Hee hee hee.”
Using a key she must have procured from somewhere, Riko opened the door to our suite. She held the door open with her knife wielding hair just as if it were her own hand, and in each of her actual hands, she held a pistol as she smiled at me.
“I figured you two might have killed each other after fighting among yourselves. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, so here I am! Ah…”
Did Riko catch on to the fact that I was so calm I could have been mistaken for another person? She truly looked happy as she clapped her guns and knives together.
“Haha! Did you and Aria do something together? I’m surprised you could under these circumstances. Hee hee.”
Riko… Did she know about it? Did she know about my hysteria mode?
“So? What’s going on with Aria? Don’t tell me she died,” said Riko pointing to the bed with the knife in her hair. There was a lump underneath the blanket consisting of a pillow and sheets that was made to look like a person was lying in the bed.
“Who knows?”
Just very briefly, I looked towards the shower room to the side of me with my eyes, and Riko, observant as she was, followed my gaze.
“Aaaaah…I just love it when you’re like that. It makes my heart race. I might lose control and wind up killing you.”
“That’s the attitude you better have when you come at me. Otherwise you’ll be killed,” I said in a warning tone.
Riko had a look of shock on her face as she pointed her gun at me.
“You are the greatest. I just love you to death, Kinji. Come on. Show me what Olmes’ partner can do.” Riko started to pull the trigger of her gun, and I raised the emergency oxygen cylinder, which I had hidden next to the bed, in front of her vertically.
“…!”
If she were to fire, it would explode. I would be done for, but so would Riko. Realizing this, Riko hesitated for an instant. That instant was all I needed. I threw the cylinder at Riko, and then lunged at her myself. If I could get next to her, I could overwhelm her with the difference in our physiques. The butterfly knife I had hidden made an audible noise as I opened it in the palm of my hand.
“…!”
Riko knit her brows, and at that exact same moment…
“Whoa!”
The plane must have entered an air pocket because it suddenly lurched wildly. I hadn’t planned on this sort of bad luck manifesting itself again. It took me by surprise, even in hysteria mode. Losing my footing, I fell on one knee and watched as Riko laughed and pointed her Walther at my forehead in the tilted room. And then…
…!
From the muzzle of her gun, a bullet came speeding towards me. I could see it. I can’t dodge this—not to right or left. There’s absolutely no way. If that’s the case…!
Screeeech!
Using my knife, I cut the bullet in two. I was in astonishment myself at the feat. The effects of the hysteria mode I had gone into this time were tremendous. Splitting a bullet in two—to be honest, I was only half way convinced it could be done. I could hear both halves of the bullet driving themselves into the wall behind me to the left and to the right. While Riko was looking at me wide-eyed, a hint of awe mixed with the expression of surprise on her face, I drew the black Government I had borrowed from Aria and pointed it at her.
“Don’t move!”
“Shoot me and Aria’s dead!” Riko threatened.
She seemed to have judged that, given the position her body was in, she wouldn’t have been able to aim the gun at me in time and pointed it toward the shower room. At that moment, the door to the small cabinet next to the ceiling opened, and Aria came rolling out with her silver government in hand.
Blam, blam!
She shot both pistols out of Riko’s hands with amazing precision.
“!!”
Then, while still in mid-air, she discarded her gun and pulled out two Japanese swords from behind her that arced toward Riko like meteors. In that one fluid motion after drawing the swords, she continued to bring them down on Riko’s pigtails, severing them from the rest of her hair. The light brown frizzy hair that had been fashioned into pigtails fell to the floor along with the knives.
“Ah...!”
Riko placed her hands on the sides of her head and let out a cry of anxiety for the first time. Aria put away her swords and recovered her pistol in one smooth motion.
“Riko Mine Lupin the Fourth.” “You’ve been caught in the act of attempted murder, and we’re placing you under arrest.”
I started the sentence and Aria finished it as we simultaneously pointed the black and silver Governments at Riko. Riko looked back and forth between Aria and me with a huge smile on her face.
“I see. You made it seem like she was under the bed and in the shower room, but you were bluffing in both cases. In actuality, you made use of Aria’s small size and hid her in the cabinet…Very nice. You can’t pull off a double bluff unless you’re really in tune with one another.”
“It was against my will, but I did live with her for a while. You get in tune even if you don’t really want to.”
“You two should be proud of yourselves. This is the first time I’ve ever been pushed this far into a corner.”
“We’re far beyond pushing you into a corner. It’s checkmate.”
“You’re such a moron,” said Riko, her voice dripping with venom.