“In that case, Muto, how long would the airstrip need to be if we came down against a wind speed of forty-one meters per second?”
“…I guess…two thousand and fifty meters would do it.”
“…Just enough,” I whispered to myself, and both Muto and Aria went silent for a moment.
“W-Where do you intend to land?” asked Aria. “There’s no straightaway like that in Tokyo.”
“Remember the way the Mega-Float that Butei High lies on is shaped? It’s a rectangle two kilometers from north to south and five hundred meters from west to east. If we go in at a diagonal, we can secure two thousand and sixty-one meters.”
“H-Hey…” Muto sounded concerned.
“Don’t worry, Muto. We’re not gonna come down on Academy Island.”
“…?”
“We’ll use Empty Island. There is another Mega-Float to the north, on the other side of Rainbow Bridge.”
“Dude, you’re…How do you come up with these outrageous ideas? Is that really you, Kinji?”
“Haha…Aria, who’s sitting right next to you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Go ahead and answer.”
This is no time to be teasing Aria, hysteria mode Kinji, I reprimanded myself.
But Aria just gave another demonstration of how susceptible she was to blushing. Her indignant eyes began to open wide, and she looked like she was going to make an objection, but it probably dawned on her that I was the leader taking charge at the moment. The proud little princess turned away from me and answered.
“Kinji.”
She said it ungraciously with the attitude of a child who surrendered to an adult.
“There you have it, Muto. I wish I could be elsewhere though.”
The night view of Shibuya and Harajuku passed by directly underneath us. Everyone in the city must be pretty startled.
“The Mega-Float…In theory, it’s doable…” Muto replied with a sigh.
The hardened expression on Aria’s face suddenly lightened up.
“But you know, Kinji,” Muto continued. “That place is really just a floating island. It doesn’t even have guidance lights, let alone any guidance systems. Regardless of the type of plane, even in the worst situation, at the very least, you need guidance lights or you can’t make a nighttime landing. Not to mention your vision is gonna be horrible due to the heavy rain; plus, there’s a windstorm. Add to that the fact that you’re going to be landing manually–”
“Well then, Aria, do you wanna give up on landing and commit suicide with me?” I interrupted Muto’s lecture and asked Aria.
“I-I refuse to commit suicide with you even if it kills me.”
Aria made somewhat of a contradictory statement and stuck her tongue out at me.
“Haha. This is a happy occasion. Our opinions matched for the first time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m against committing a double suicide myself. I refuse to let you die.”
Aria ducked her head down and turned red again, looking as if she was thinking something along the lines of, “Why do have to go and say things like that?!”
“That’s the situation, Muto. This plane is going start making preparations to land.”
“Wait! Wait, Kinji! Empty Island is wet with rain! You won’t be able to stop in time with two thousand and fifty meters!”
“I’ll do something about it. Have faith in me.”
“D-Do whatever you want! Screw this up and I’m gonna run you over!”
He must have gone berserk because before he hung up, I could hear him yelling at everyone else in the classroom.
Nearly grazing the skyscrapers of Shinjuku, ANA flight six hundred made a wide turn to the right. There were three minutes remaining. Needing to reduce speed in order to land on a short runway, flight six hundred flew over Tokyo Dome and soared past Tokyo Station and a rainy Ginza at an annoyingly relaxed pace.
“Aria, this plane is flying lower than Tokyo Tower. Make sure you don’t crash into it.
“Don’t take me for an idiot.”
Aria extended the landing gears and transferred the main controls to the co-pilot seat where I was.
Okay, Tokyo Bay is coming into view. I should be seeing the Mega-Float any time now…
But my brain, being in hysteria mode, came up with the conclusion right away. We had done our best up to this point, but landing the plane…was impossible. I couldn’t see even a trace of Empty Island. Just like Muto had said, past Shiodome, Tokyo Bay was shrouded in darkness. There were no guidance lights or anything, so it fell to reason. I knew it would be dark, but to think it would be this dark… The way things stood, I had no idea what angle to land at or how high I was flying. Under these circumstances, not even a veteran pilot would be able to avoid a disaster. I had no choice but to change my way of thinking and come up with a method to crash land that would result in the fewest casualties. Aria’s sixth sense must have told her that’s what was going through my mind.
“Kinji. It’s okay. I know you can do it. You have to. If you want to quit being a Butei, dying as a Butei would mean defeat. And you’re not the only one. I still haven’t saved my mom!!”
As Aria was speaking to me, just like magic…
“I can’t afford to die yet! There’s no way I’m going to die in a place like this!”
…lights became visible on Empty Island in front of Bay Bridge…!
“Kinji! Are you seeing this, you damned idiot?!
The line connecting us to Muto became active again, and I heard his voice along with the heavy rain splattering on the windshield.
“Muto?!”
“If you die, Shirayu-…I mean, there are people who are gonna be in tears! I stole the biggest motorboat they had at Logi! We all brought Armed’s (Equipment Division) Maglites out here without permission, too! You be sure to write everyone’s apology letters for them after this is over!”
Following Muto’s complaints, a third party and a fourth party, one after another, people’s voices came through on the line between Muto and me.
“Kinji!”
“I can see the plane!”
“You’re almost there!”
“Hang in there just a little longer!”
Being in hysteria mode, I could tell. These voices. It was them. They were the students Aria and I rescued during the bus-jacking…! They had crossed over to Empty Islands from Academy Island and were making guidance lights for us!
Butei Charter, Article One, “Believe in your comrades and help one another.” I carefully lowered the plane’s altitude and made my way down—down to the island to which they led us…!
Screeeeeeeeeeeeech!
ANA flight six hundred went through with its forced landing on the rain beaten Mega-Float. Enduring oscillations that seemed strong enough to make the eyes come out of one’s sockets, Aria activated the reverse thrusters.
“Stop, stop, stop, stop, stoooooooop!!”
“Here we gooooo!” I yelled in tune with Aria’s high-pitched anime voice.
I quickly maneuvered the steering wheel used for taxiing the plane and made it curve. It would take more than two thousand and fifty meters for the plane to stop on a runway wet with rain. Muto was right about that. But I had a plan. I had come down on the Mega-Float prepared to initiate that plan. It was coming up ahead—the pillar of a wind turbine generator…!
Crash!
I steered the plane so that its wing collided with the pillar and swung around it, sending the plane spinning as it slid. Inside the cockpit, Aria and I were tossed about like clothes in a washing a machine.
…
“Ngh…owww…”
I smell…gardenias. Oh, right. This is Aria’s scent.
Suffering from the pain that I felt throughout my entire body, I opened my eyes. Outside the window, I could see Rainbow Bridge. ANA flight six hundred…had come to a stop. Everything was as close a call as it could have been, but somehow, it worked out. But…for some reason, I was unable to move. At that point, I already knew to expect the situation that Aria and I were fated to end up in. Just as I predicted, I was sitting in a reclined co-pilot’s seat with Aria lying on top of me. Aria was unconscious and had her legs around my waist, her arms over my shoulders, and her pretty face resting on top of my head.
“Haha…”
I slowly looked down towards her upper body…and there was no problem. Her blouse wasn’t lifted up.
Looks like I’ll get out of this without being shot at this time.
Or at least, that’s what I thought for the next three seconds. While Aria’s blouse may have been in order, her skirt was completely turned up.
“…!”
I quickly averted my eyes. Then, without looking and careful not to wake Aria up, I gently fixed her skirt for her.
That should do it.
I managed to survive after nearly being killed for seeing the top half. I sure as hell wasn’t going to be marked for assassination again for seeing the bottom half. Can you blame me?