“I’m such a horrible girl, I know. But I didn’t want to remain a horrible girl so ... I’m sorry!” apologized Shirayuki, bowing her head at Aria. But Aria placed her hand under Shirayuki’s chin and lifted her head back to its former position.
“It doesn’t particularly bother me, so don’t worry about it. Okay, that’s the end of this conversation. So now it’s my turn.”
“O-Okay.”
From the looks of things, these two had already let one another know that they had something to talk about before coming here.
“Ahem,” Aria cleared her throat and returned her posture back to normal.
“... Shirayuki, you be my slave too!” Aria commanded, pointing her finger at Shirayuki.
Shirayuki, I, and the guys who were sitting in the nearby booth all became stiff as stone.
H-Hey. Stop looking this way.
“Thank you, Shirayuki,” Aria continued.
Hey, Aria. You’ve got a huge non sequitur on your hands.
“You get three-tenths of the credit for arresting Durandal. I get four. Reki gets two.”
. . . Huh?
“I realized something regarding this incident. In our fight against Durandal—Joan of Arc—if we had been on our own, I’m sure we would have lost. The three of us together barely managed to beat her. I acknowledge that.”
Before that, there’s something else I’d like you to acknowledge. I’m included in that “three,” aren’t I?
“We were able to win because we worked together. Until now ... I always thought that no matter who my enemy was, all I would need is myself and a partner to draw out my full potential. But ... there are opponents out there whom we wouldn’t be able to handle with just the two of us. In other words, it would be a good idea to increase the number of allies in my party who have special skills—especially allies like you who have powers that I don’t.”
Well, well. An ally, huh? I guess it just goes to show that the former “aria” learned a few things at this school.
As for Shirayuki, the one being recruited, she was murmuring things to herself like “s-slave ... that’s ... but if I could be Kin-chan’s slave ...” and it was difficult to tell whether she was listening or not.
“So our contract may be over, but you’re going to continue working together with Kinji too! From morning till night, we're going to function as a team and build up our teamwork! Here! This is the key to Kinji’s apartment! From now on, you can enter whenever you like!”
“Thank you, Aria! Thank you so much, Kin-chan!”
“Wait a second!” I protested.
Shirayuki put the forged keycard in her shirt pocket with god-like speed, and I fell out of the booth, tumbling onto the floor.
“Out of the question! In the first place, that’s a boy’s dormitory!”
“You have a problem, slave number one?!”
“You guys! Listen to what I’m say- ... It would make me so happy if you listened to what I’m saying, but would you at least consider it?”
My tone of voice changed mid-sentence because Aria pulled out her two pistols. It was just then that a somewhat perturbed waitress brought us our meal. Mineral water and a steak set. Oolong tea and seasoned rice cooked with meat, fish, and vegetables. Cola and peach buns served over rice.
What in the ...? Whoever created this menu, get yourself another job.
“Okay! Here’s to the birth of slave number two! Cheers!”
“Cheers! ... I’m so happy! I’m just so happy! A spare key ... it’s proof of Kin-chan’s love!”
Aria’s eyes reflected her delightful mood, and Shirayuki cried tears of joy as they raised her glass. And I, slave number one, had no way of changing the direction this mess was heading.
For the love of ...
“Fine! Just have it your way!” I bawled, joining the toast with enough force to knock the drinks out of their glasses.
And thus, it turned out that these two nuisances would continue to enter and leave my apartment as they pleased. When we left the family restaurant, the first thing Shirayuki did was go to the girl’s dorm and come back to my place loaded with various personal belonging wrapped up in cloths. Aria was watching the two-hour special of Amazing Animals she recorded the other day, and she was bounced up and down on the couch while saying, “How adorable! Look, look, Kinji! A raft of sea otters!” Her shoes were lying slovenly in front of the door, and her black knee socks were strewn on the floor.
Miss Aria, aren’t you forgetting that this was originally my apartment?
“Say, Aria. Regarding the calculations you made at the family restaurant earlier ...” I said with a displeased look on my face as I sat down next to Aria, who was fast-forwarding through the commercials.
“What?”
“It’s about the ratio of contributions made in the Durandal incident. You contributed forty percent. Shirayuki contributed thrity. Reki contributed twenty ... so my contribution was ten percent?” I complained
“Well, you only performed a little bit at the very end, didn’t you?!” Aria declared without so much as looking in my direction while she operated the remote control.
“... I’m seriously starting to want to put an end to our partnership.”
“Well ... you were sort of impressive at the time.”
Since the raft of otters had gotten Aria rather excited, when she did finally look in my direction ... it was to wink her eye at me.
T-This little ... Don’t wink so readily. It should be against the rules. It’s just too cute. I think I just felt a miniature arrow come flying into my heart.