“I’m going to put the HDD recorder on pause for you so listen closely, partner. You’re just like Shirayuki. There seems to be fluctuations in how well you perform, but you do have abilities that a member of the Holmes family like me requires. I was able to reconfirm that during this latest battle. That’s why you, too, are someone who can make up for my shortcomings. You’re ...”
Aria turned towards me on the couch, folding her lower legs underneath her thighs and resting her fanny on her heels. Apparently, before she finished her sentence, she wanted to increase her sitting height as much as possible so that her eyes would be level with mine.
“... an important person to me,” concluded Aria, looking at me squarely in the face with her camellia-colored eyes. I was speechless.
H ... how self-centered can this girl be? But, is the reason I can’t seem to defy her because the little midget is so damned cute the way she’s sitting directly in front of me right now? No. That’s not it, Kinji. That has nothing to do with it. It’s because of that other thing. It's because of her child-like size. I’m sure of it. I can’t say “no” to a kid. That has to be what it is.
“What did you just say?!”
A hysterical, shrill voice could be heard from behind us.
T-This is bad!
I turned around with a pale face, and as I expected, behind the couch was Shirayuki.
“‘Important person’?! What is the meaning of this?!” She was in that berserker mode of hers and stood there with a grave look on her face.
S-Shirayuki, you’re scaring me! What’s with those dilated eyes that don’t seem to be focused on anything?! Or rather, what is it that flips your switch?! For security reasons, just tell me at least that much!
“... I’m going to make myself clear here, Aria!”
“W-What is it?! What are you so upset about?!”
Aria also backed away at seeing the demon-like Shirayuki and slipped of the couch, falling on the floor with one leg still on the cushion.
“Don’t think you’ve won! I-I-I shared a kiss with Kin-chan too, you know!” cried Shirayuki, pulling out her katana from who knows where (I certainly couldn’t figure out where it came from), jumped over the couch and slash a strike at Aria with it.
“W-What are you talking about?!”
Shirayuki brought up the matter of Aria and I kissing again, and Aria’s face went red as she skillfully rolled to side, evading the katana.
Ahh, there goes my table again …
“So we’re tied! We’re tied! As far as Kin-chan goes, we’re tied! All I have to do is take the next step ... and I’ll be in the lead! That’s all there is to it!”
Shirayuki was screaming out incomprehensible logic as she wildly swung around her katana. One after the other, all the various indoor items I had replaced were being destroyed.
“H-Hey! Slave number two! You’re just a slave; what do you think you’re doing to your master?! Stop this at once!”
Aria dodge backwards from Shirayuki’s katana, which came towards her horizontally, and finally pulled out her pistol.
Blam!
Aria fired a warning shot with her jet-black Government, putting a hole in the ceiling.
I apologize to all of you, my neighbors.
“W-Well you’re just a mistress who’s shamelessly trying to steal what doesn’t belong to you!” Shirayuki wasn’t fazed in the least. She knit her eyebrows underneath her perfectly straight bangs and charged at Aria.
That’s it. There’s no stopping this now.
“Kinji! What’s this about kissing Shirayuki?! Y-You were doing that sort of thing to your client?! You’re a disgrace to buteis! But right now, do something about this!”
Aria, you certainly chose a troublesome person to be slave number two, didn’t you. Either way, before you start getting angry at me, it would be in your best interest to do something about the armed priestess in front of you.
With those thoughts in my mind, I plodded my way across the living room, stepped out onto the balcony, and opened the door—the door to the bulletproof storage locker of course.
“You two be sure to clean up afterwards.”
I’d learned something as well these past few days. Aria the Quarda. Shirayuki the armed priestess. I wound up dealing with all the incidents these two were involved in by going into that loathsome hysteria mode. In fact, it was because I had to constantly avoid going into hysteria mode when working with these two that there had been no end to the amount of danger I’d faced lately. With that being the case ... I can’t really run away from hysteria mode anymore. But I sure did have my homework cut out for me. Hysteria mode was never something to be controlled freely using one’s own will to begin with. My brother was able to do it ... but I don’t think I’m capable of using his method. The way I become after going into hysteria mode also presents a problem. If by any chance, the girls take a liking to “Host Club Kinji,” a hostile environment where people use me for hysteria mode would be created, and it would just be a repeat of my days in junior high. The greatest problem is the trigger—sexual stimulation. I would have to make sure no one ever found out about that.
Gaah! There are just so many problems to deal with I don’t even know where to start. Well ... I guess I’ll just try and think of a better way to handle this the next time I go into hysteria mode.
“Kinji! Back me up! If you don’t ...”
For the meantime, what I probably need to do is ...
“... I’ll open a hole in you!”
... ignore Aria’s anime-like voice, shut myself inside the bulletproof locker, and pray—pray that I’m still alive when the sun comes up tomorrow.