“Kin-chan … I’m happy you feel that way. But for just right now, leave this to me, a choutei. Aria, I think … this is going to sting quite a bit. But it’s going to help you heal. Please bear with it,” said Shiruki, and she started to softly whisper some kind of incantation. She was probably gathering her concentration. Power invisible to the human eye transferred from Shirayuki’s hand to Aria’s.
“… Agh ...! Ngh!”
Pain seemed to accompany the treatment Shirayuki was performing, but Aria muffled her voice so as not to be discovered by the enemy. Being in hysteria mode, I couldn’t keep myself from looking behind me when I heard the pain in Aria’s voice.
“Nggh!”
Aria was stifling her voice by biting the sleeve of her uniform, all the while flinching in pain. Her bangs whipped upwards, and I caught a glimpse of the X-shaped scar she hid underneath them. It was from the wound she received when she shielded me with her own body last month—a scar that would remain on the face of a girl for the rest of her life. I felt a pain run deep inside my chest. Beside me, Shirayuki finished administering Aria’s treatment and pulled out something resembling wax paper from her kimono. She affixed it to the wall-like computer, and the area around us began to grow warmer. Taking a closer look, I saw that it was a rectangular shaped charm made of Japanese paper, and written on it were red symbols and Chinese characters. My vision became clearer, and I saw Shirayuki spring to her feet. The mixture of ice and smoke surrounding her drifted away like evil spirits being exorcized. I hadn’t realized it, but at some point, our clothes had also been dried. So this is a supernatural ability too, is it?
“Shirayuki …” I whispered.
Looking at her, I made up my mind. I didn’t want to let her fight alone. I couldn’t. However … I couldn’t leave Aria on her own, either.
… I’ll leave this battle to Shirayuki for the most part since she’s an esper. That’s what she desires as well.
Seeing me back up towards Aria, Shirayuki addressed our adversary.
“Joan,” Shirayuki said, taking a step forward in the opposite direction towards the enemy and turning her back on Aria and I, “let’s … put a stop to this. I don’t want to hurt anyone—not even you.”
Shirayuki made herself heard loud and clear, and from beyond the smoke came a short derisive laugh.
“Don’t make me laugh. A raw ore such as yourself is incapable of hurting me. I have been thoroughly refined at IU.”
“I’ll have you know I’m a grade seventeen Stealth.”
This time, Shirayuki’s words didn’t meet with any laughter. I wasn’t very clear on the matter, but apparently, what Shirayuki just said was a substantial threat to an esper.
“…You’re bluffing. There is only a handful of grade seventeen’s in this world.”
“You should be able to feel it yourself. It’s forbidden by the Hotogis ... but when I released the seal on my garments …”
“…Even if that were the truth …” This time, there was a bit of tension in Joan’s voice. “You can’t betray the Hotogis—not if you understand what betraying them would mean.”
“Joan … you’re a strategists who’s fallen prey to her own strategy.” Shirayuki’s voice became stronger. “You refer to the person I normally am—the person I’ve been until now. But at this moment, I have next to me the single being who can bring me to break any of the Hotogi’s rules. Your foresight didn’t account for the strength of those feelings.”
Joan didn’t have any reply for the curious statement Shirayuki made. Those who concoct schemes are weak against unexpected developments. And right now, our enemy was being made aware of a miscalculation in her plans—all due to this Shirayuki who was a different person than before. The temperature in the room was already reverting to normal. The smoke from the smoke bomb was also disappearing, and the sprinkles shut off one after another.
“… Give it your best shot,” said Joan. “I anticipated the possibility of direct combat. The higher their grade, the more quickly chouteis lose their stamina in battle. If I can hold out, then I win.”
It sounded as if Joan had strengthened her resolve, and at long last … her figure appeared from behind the dissipating smoke. She had cast aside the red hakama and white kimono, and as I suspected, what had lain beneath them was western style armor covering sections of her body.
“The disguise Lupin the Forth provided me with was difficult to move around in, but that’s over now.”
Joan peeled off the thin mask she was wearing on her face, and behind it were long and narrow sapphire eyes as piercing as blades. Her hair, two French braids worn up around the whorl of hair on the back of her head, was a silver color like that of ice. Unlike the descriptions of Joan of Arc mentioned in old-fashioned Japanese textbooks, this Joan of Arc was exactly the kind of beautiful Caucasian that you would expect to see in a western historical film.
“Kin-chan … don’t look at me from here on,” said Shirayuki in a slightly trembling voice with her back still facing me.
“… Shirayuki?”
“Starting now … I’m going to use a technique that’s forbidden by the Hotogis. But if you see it … I’m sure you’ll become afraid of me. You’d think you were seeing the impossible. You may … come to hate me even,” Shirayuki said as she placed her hand on the white ribbon she always wore in her hair. Her fingers were also trembling to a small degree.
Taking half a step back, I replied, “Shirayuki … don’t worry. There’s only one thing that’s impossible.” I moved into a position that would protect Aria from the battle that was going to start between two chouteis. “I’ll come to hate you? That, of all things, is impossible.”
Almost as if my low voice had given her a push, with a forced smile, she turned her head halfway towards me as she unraveled the white ribbon that was tied in her hair.
“I’ll be right back.”
Shirayuki repositioned her foot, sounding her geta with its red thong and carrying her sword in a different position. Her stance was different from what it was before. She was grasping the very edge of the pommel of her katana with her right hand and held it sideways above her head so that flat the of the blade could be seen. It was a peculiar stance that was unlikely to exist in any school of kendo.