This room, with its large-scale computers lined up like portable partitions, was just like a maze. Unlike the shelves of explosives, there was no danger of having projectiles thrown at us from between small open spaces, but there was no way of telling where or who another person could be. Muffling the sound of my footsteps, I ran down a corridor surrounded by walls of integrated circuits and silicon. I held my gun in the position we learned in our indoor-combat class and moved around like a Special Forces commando. I made my turns cautiously when I came to corners of the walls of computers, and at the third one …
“Kinji.”
… I came across Aria. Apparently, she had heard our voices earlier and made her way back here from the elevator towards the back of the room.
“You’re okay. That’s great . …”
I made eye contact with her and nodding slightly, adjusted the direction of my gun to exclude Aria from its bullets’ trajectory. Aria, who seemed to have felt guilty for leaving the warehouse without us, looked relieved to see me unharmed. But when she came by my side, Aria glared up at me with angry eyes.
“Why didn’t you escape from here? I told you that you didn’t have to fight, didn’t I?” Aria reproved me in a low voice for disobeying her orders.
“I’m afraid I’m not rational enough to leave an adorable person such as yourself here while I make a run for it.”
“…Wh-What’s that supposed to mean?”
I, also relieved to see Aria bearing her cuspid and returning to her usual self, whispered back to her.
“When I thought that you were probably longing to see me, I couldn't contain myself and my body just starting acting on its own.”
“W-W-W-What are you talking about at a time like this?”
I put on a smile rivaling that of Shiranui’s, and Aria displayed her usual habit of becoming red in the face. The process of going from a fair complexion to bright red took precisely half a second. Congratulations on setting a new record, Aria.
“But more importantly, Aria, where’s Durandal?”
“. . . I haven’t found her yet. It doesn’t look like that coward plans to fight with me.”
“I see.”
“But she’s somewhere in this room for sure. All the locks on the doors leading to the upper level have been destroyed, and the elevator doors have been sealed off with iron plating. It was all done on the side accessible from this floor,” explained Aria, regaining her wits. Sure enough, it didn’t look like Aria had entered battle with Durandal yet. “Say, I heard her voice earlier, so you succeeded in rescuing Shirayuki, right? She wasn’t hurt or anything?”
It would seem Aria was fairly worried about us after all; she asked with the utmost sincerity.
Such a strong sense of responsibility. What a good little girl.
“No. But I lost sight of her in here. If we’re taken out one by one while we’re scattered about, it’ll be just the way our enemy planned. First, we need to reunite with Shirayuki—”
Just then I heard a faint coughing noise. It was a barely audible sound that my ears only vaguely picked up even in hysteria mode, and Aria, with the sensitive hearing of a wild animal, spun around in its direction.
“It’s Shirayuki. She’s over there.”
“Let’s go. But we don’t know where Durandal might strike from. Aria, let me be your shield,” I said as I walked past Aria and started leading the way down the corridor. When I walked past her, I saw Aria’s crimson eyes grow ever slightly larger in my peripheral vision. It would seem that she realized a certain something about me.
We found Shirayuki right away. She was towards the back in the single open area of this HPC server room—the elevator hall. She had wandered into the corridor adjacent to the elevator hall and was slumped down in the shadow of computer nearly three meters high. She might have swallowed some of the seawater that swept her away because she was sitting on the floor in a position of a washed-up mermaid and coughing with both hands over her mouth.
“… *cough cough* … D-Did you find Durandal ...?”
“We haven’t seen her. Shirayuki, don’t stray too far from us,” said Aria, bending down to rub her on the back. Shirayuki nodded in compliance.
“Kin-chan . …” Shirayuki was half in tears as she looked up at me with a gaze that suggested she was completely depending on me. Her wet priestess garbs were adhering to every inch of her body, revealing her sexy bodyline that was uncharacteristic of a high school student. When I was in hysteria mode, I could call to mind everything about the shape, color, quality, and trimmings of a girl’s outfit as if I had a photo right in front of me. However … Shirayuki currently seemed to be wearing thin body-armor, not that black bra.
“Were your lips okay after that?”
“Yeah, they’re fine.”
I thought I would ask, and Shirayuki nodded her head.
“They were bleeding, weren’t they? Lemme have a look.”
“No need. It wasn’t that big of a deal. I just have a cut on the inside of my mouth.”
…I knew it!
“Aria, get back!” I yelled and opened fire on Shirayuki.
As for Shirayuki … she seemed to have anticipated my actions.
“!”
In her dripping wet garbs she knocked away my arm, causing the bullet to go astray. The bullet ricocheted off the floor and hit the enormous computer nearby, creating sparks.
“Kinji?!” Aria cried out in surprise, and Shirayuki ran alongside her at blinding speed.
Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! I instantly switched to full auto and my Beretta lit up with muzzle flashes. But the bullets it fired only found their way into the hem of Shirayuki’s hakama. She actually made use of the force that knocked back her hakama and scrambled behind Aria. Once there, she took up a katana that was hidden underneath the computer rack. She flung its vermillion-lacquered scabbard into the elevator hall, and the blade she had drawn from it was the katana that Shirayuki always kept with her. I was no longer able to fire at Shirayuki. She was using Aria as a shield. Aria was still unable to comprehend the situation, but she seemed to have sensed the danger with her animal-like instincts.
“…?!”
She reflexively pulled out her pistols and tried to turn and face Shirayuki.
“Ungh?!