…If it were just Aria’s ally, that was something I might be able to become.
I could just barely smell Aria scent, which still remained in the apartment. It was that overly sweet aroma of gardenias.
“Sweet…really sweet. Kinji, you’re too damned sweet! Damn it all!”
Talking to myself, I ripped up the application to transfer. I tore it in two, right down the center.
Thirty minutes had passed since Aria left my apartment. No busses would be coming at this hour. My bike was destroyed. That’s why being the sweet idiot I was, I ran as fast as I could to the girls’ dormitory where Butei High’s helipad was located.
I could see a helicopter on top of the roof. That had to be it. The rotor was spinning, and it looked like it was going to take off at any minute. To make the situation worse, of all the times, the elevator was currently not running because it was under inspection. I raced up the emergency stairwell and headed for the roof. I had pretty much run the entire way from the men’s dormitory in the southern end to the girls’ dormitory in the north. Now I was climbing up a stairway, and my heart was about to burst. This girl really did make me do a lot of running. Sweat dripped off my face and strong winds disrupted my respiration right when I was already short of breath. But I couldn’t stop. I absolutely couldn’t stop. I didn't like being a Butei. I didn’t like Butei High, either. I also didn’t like being around girls. And I didn’t like being in hysteria mode. None of that had changed. But what I disliked even more was the thought of becoming the kind of lousy jerk that could ignore the tears of that midget, Aria. There were still six months before the time came to submit applications to transfer out of this school. As for my torn up application, I’d fill out another form during these six months. But until that time comes…I’ll run for you just a little while longer!
Bam!
I kicked open the door in front of me, and I could see that I was a little too late. The helicopter, creating a thundering sound with its rotor, had just reached a height of ten meters in the air above the roof.
“Aria!!” I yelled.
Ceasing to think, I just continued screaming.
“Aria! Ariaaaaaaa!!” I yelled with lungs that were completely out of breath. I yelled so hard, I thought those lungs were going to burst. I yelled louder than I ever had before in my life.
“Ariaaaaaaa!!”
My hair became disheveled in the gusts of wind sent down upon me by the helicopter’s rotor. My shirt and pants were flapping noisily in the wind with seemingly enough force to be ripped off my body. I’m sure Aria couldn’t hear my voice over the sound of the helicopter. But I couldn’t help but scream anyway. Aria! Aria! Aria!
The sliding door of the helicopter opened with an audible sound and a surprising amount of force.
“Kinji, you idiot! What took you so long?!”
Aria had her head sticking out of the door, and then of all the things, she tied a wire to the edge of the helicopter and jumped down surrounded by the strong winds!
“Wai–! You–!”
Though Aria was slowing herself down with the wire, she was descending at a speed that wasn’t much different from free falling. The pilot must have gotten flustered and screwed up in controlling the helicopter because it wobbled in mid-air, sending Aria swinging like a pendulum.
“Wha-? H-Huh?! Huuh?!”
“…H-Hey! Wai–!”
I backpedaled in an attempt to catch Aria, but soon enough my back came up against the chain-link fence. Aria finally went and released herself from the wire, causing her to come flying directly towards me diagonally.
Do you think girls come falling down out of the sky?
In the next instant, all the color drained from my face.
“…!”
The force of Aria’s impact sent me reeling back into the chain-link fence, which bent backwards a great deal as a result. The fence was now slanted at an angle and shaped more like a launch ramp, and the two of us slid down it, returning to the roof.
Thank goodness. One false move and we would have fallen right off the roof.
“Y-You seriously–!”
“Aria, what are you doing?!”
My bellowing was followed by that of a Caucasian man in the helicopter. He was probably a government official of the London Bureau of Butei.
“Pbbbbbtt.”
Aria was pulling down her lower eyelid with her index finger and sticking her tongue out at the helicopter in the sky while it sent her pigtails fluttering all over the place with the downward air current it was making. I’m not sure if that upset the people on board, but a few officials from the Bureau of Butei used a wire to descend from the helicopter onto the rooftop.
The London Bureau of Butei. They wanted to take Aria back. They want to bring her back to Britain and work her like a horse. They were probably in a panic because Aria had said she would return, but was now jumping ship.
The situation sure looks grim. There’s too many of them. At this rate, Aria’s going to be taken back to London. I’ve got to do something…! But in my current state—the Kinji who’s not in hysteria mode—there’s absolutely nothing I can… No, I have to do something. That’s just an excuse for me. Find out what it is you can do even when you’re not in hysteria mode!
“Aria.”
“What?”
“Do those guys still have wire on them?”
“They should have used it all when they descended from the helicopter just now. There were no spares inside,” said Aria placing her hands on her pistols.
“Don’t shoot, Aria. They’re officials from another country. If they get hurt, it’s gonna be a big problem.”
“…What are you going to do then?”
I replied by making a desperate dash to the door that led to the stairway. Once there, I used the Beretta I bought anew to fire a couple rounds into the doorknob and destroy it.
Perfect. It bent out of shape quite nicely. It should be impossible to leave this rooftop now.
“W-What’s the point of sealing off the exit?!” stormed Aria.
I smiled wryly as I looked back at her. I imagine it must have been a pretty pathetic and unreliable looking face.
“Sorry, Aria. This is the only thing I could come up with in my current state.”
“?”
“You…jumped off of here to save me before, didn’t you?”
When the ‘Butei killer’ took over my bicycle, Aria, you jumped off of the roof of this girls’ dormitory to save me. I remember it well.
“Aria, in my current state, this is how I naturally am—a guy who’s not capable of doing much of anything…”
“…?”
“But repaying you the favor you did me—I can do that much!”
Aria, come on! You strengthen your resolve! If you intend to make a worthless guy like me your partner, you’re gonna have to do reckless stuff like this!
I ran towards the chain-link fence we had just nearly toppled over.
“Kinji?!” said Aria, running after me.
“Aria! You’re an ‘aria’! It’s true! I’m sure you are! But…!”
The chain-link fence was in the shape of a launch ramp, and I used it just like one.
“…I’ll at least be your BGM!!”
Screaming those words, I jumped into the sky looking as if I were striding over the full moon, which just reached its peak.
I wonder.
Am I a too much of a Mr. Nice Guy? Why did things come to this, exactly?
The wire in my belt that I attached to the chain-link fence earlier was slowing down my fall. Aria, with her skirt turned up considerably, had jumped down and came grabbing onto me in mid-air. Aria and I came crashing into the vinyl greenhouse that was located next to the girls’ dormitory. The vinyl roof became a cushion to stop our fall…or, that’s what I had hoped. We plowed right through the roof and fell inside of the greenhouse.
“…O-Ow…”
“K-Kinji, you idiot!”
It certainly was a reckless idea. Our eyes were spinning around like they do in the comic books. Aria staggered to her feet.
“T-That was the worst plan ever! You’re in ‘idiot Kinji mode’, aren’t you…?”
That word finally came out of Aria’s mouth, and my cheek twitched upon hearing it. Although she didn’t know all the details, the number of people who knew about my secret had increased. The searchlight of the helicopter came shining down into the greenhouse from above. We found ourselves being singled out by the circular light as we were right in the center of it. It was just like an act out of an opera.
“Kinji.”
Aria pointed her crimson eyes at me. I looked up at her, still sitting on the ground.
“You have mysterious abilities that are rapidly enhanced when triggered by something.”
“…”
“I’m not sure what that ‘something’ is. And you have no self-control over it.”
“……”
“But you know, I just thought of something. If that’s the case, all I have to do is train you to be able to use those abilities at any given moment! That’s it! The answer was that simple! Don’t you agree?!”
“Wai–…! T-That might be physically possible…but it’s ethically out of the question!”
“A man shouldn’t go back on his word!”
“I never said any words to go back on!”
“Oh, just be quiet! I’m going to make you my partner and become an excellent ‘H’, just like my great-grandfather! I’ve made up my mind!”
“W-What is that ‘H’, already?!”
“You still haven’t figured it out?! Unbelievable! What an idiot! Massive idiot! Guinness World Record level idiot! Gold medal idiot!”
Hey, that’s going a bit too far, isn’t it?
“Oh, forget it! I’ve chosen you, so I’ll just tell you! My name is…” Bearing her tooth, Aria put her hands on her hips with an exaggerated motion as she stuck out her chest, which couldn’t be pushed up or plunged. “Aria Holmes Kanzaki!”
“Ho…lmes…?!”
“That’s right! I’m Sherlock Holmes the Fourth! And I’ve chosen you to be my partner, J. H. Watson! I’m not letting you escape again! If you try to get away…”
Wait, wait. Wait a second!
“…I’ll open a hole in you!!”