“I-I’m … just doing my job of protecting you since I accepted this mission. My true goal is to capture Durandal. That’s all. So you don’t need to grateful for anything,” said Aria, but at the same time, was pulling on the chain with all her might as she tried to release Shirayuki. Her words and her actions were conflicting with each other, but I wasn’t going to comment on it right now.
That aside … these chains just won’t come off.
I had a feeling that if we were to use Shirauiki’s superhuman swordsmanship, it just might be possible to do something about this … but the one tied up was Shirayuki. And from the looks of it, her sword was taken away from her. I began to think it would be better to disconnect the pipe running along the wall, but unless we used some heavy-duty equipment, judging by the thickness, it would be difficult to budge. I started looking for any weak links that might be in the chain when Aria asked Shirayuki a question.
“Did you get a look at Durandal?”
“No … she kept herself hidden in the shadows of the shelves the entire time. When she ran out of that door as well, all I could see was her shadow,” said Shirayuki, indicating with her eyes the hatch on the ceiling that led to the upper level. Aria didn’t look at all surprised.
“… It can’t be helped. Durandal never allows herself to be seen.” It would seem all the investigating Aria did on a daily basis had provided her with quite a bit of background information on Durandal. I decided to ask her about something that had been bothering me for a while.
“Aria, that ice back there . …”
I was referring to the ice that had sewn me to the floor. I thought she might have used liquid nitrogen, but that probably wasn’t the case. Back when I was in the Assault division, I had frozen a time bomb with liquid nitrogen before … but it didn’t freeze over like that.
“It’s a supernatural ability,” Aria replied, nonchalantly giving the answer I was hoping not to hear.
“Yes,” said Shirayuki, “in terms of international classification, she’s a class three Stealth. Most likely, she’s a Matsugi (mage).”
Shirayuki’s supplementary explanation brought a frown to my face.
Are you serious . . . ? A magician?
“That can’t be. …”
“It can. These days, first-rate buteis don’t find it surprising anymore. Even our school has SSR, doesn’t it?”
I knew that of course. The logic made sense in my head, but …
SSR. This department Shirayuki was affiliated with was most definitely doing earnest research on psychometry and dowsing and other dubious investigative methods. But SSR was a particularly secretive specialized division at Butei High, and aside from those directly involved, very few people knew much about it in detail. That especially applied to me, someone who longed to be an ordinary person, and always avoided having anything to do with that most unordinary world. I never even heard rumors of the existence of these magical powers, well aside from conversations about video games.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Kinji,” said Aria. “From my experience, their abilities aren’t much different from the sort of thing an illusionist or a street performer does. They’re nothing a lead bullet can’t handle.”
“But those are superhuman abilities. She might come at us with attacks we didn’t account for.”
“Oh, stop being such a coward. I hate it when you’re like that. But … you can put your mind at ease. Your training to “awaken” yourself isn’t complete … so you don’t have to fight. I’ll take care of her by myself.”
Suddenly, as if replying to Aria’s proclamation, a deep sound rang out in the underground warehouse. Looking around us, we saw water rushing in from the drain on the floor. The amount of water was increasing so rapidly, that in less than a minute it had practically become a fountain and began creeping its way towards our feet.
“This is seawater,” Aria said, sniffing with her nose like a small animal.
“Yeah. She destroyed some part of the drainage system,” I replied.
From our shoes to our ankles to our shins, the water continued rising.
This is bad.
This place might be as large as a gymnasium, but at this speed, it would probably be completely submerged in around ten minutes. That was plenty of time for Aria and I to climb the ladder and escape from the hatch on the ceiling, but we couldn’t possibly leave Shirayuki behind.
A strategist, huh?
“…She certainly does seem to be strategist, Aria. She discovered your weakness.”
Aria didn’t respond to me. She just stared uneasily at the rising water.
“Discovered . . . ? Discovered what . . . ?” Shirayuki asked, and Aria went red in the face. The look Aria gave me could be easily interpreted as “Don’t say it.” But these were the circumstances we were in. She would just have to forgive me.
“Aria can’t swim. Tsuzuri was saying so the other day.”
“T-That’s not true. I-If I just have a ring buoy . . . !”
“We don’t have a convenient thing like that with us. Aria, you go on up ahead of us.”
“I … I can’t do that! I can’t just run away and abandon you two!
“That’s not it. You’re not retreating; you’re going on the offensive. Go up there and get the key from Durandal. Nothing we can do is going to get this chain off. You realize that, don’t you?”
“… B-But …”
“You have better fighting skills, so you can take her out faster than I can! Go on! We can’t afford to waste even a single second right now!” I strongly urged Aria, remembering the tempo of life back in Assault. Aria continued to stare at Shirayuki with concern, but after seeing the water rise up to her knees, she finally handed her bump key over to me.
“…Alright. But if things start looking hopeless, make sure and call for me, okay?!”
Calling for you wouldn’t help get these chains off.
All three of us were already aware of that thought. Still, I said, “Got it” as Aria turned her back on us with a mortified look on her face.
The water was continuing to increase at a faster rate, and the chains around Shirayuki weren’t budging at all. There was likely to be five more minutes or so before the warehouse was entirely inundated. I had frantically search underneath the water for any sort of tool that could be of use, but came up empty-handed. The water level was now up to my shoulders. Being shorter than I, Shirayuki was already up to her neck in water.