Volume 19 - CH 4

Chapter 4: Quadler on the Clocktower ― Quadler on Big Ben

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I had another bad feeling about this.

Early the next morning, Minuet received a phone call from a lady’s maid at Buckingham Palace, requesting her presence as soon as practicable–

Aria had left word for a message to be relayed that the Prince was no longer there. He was not merely absent, but rather announced a last minute holiday, giving no clue as to where he was going nor how long he might be gone… She must have asked that the information be relayed to her family home so that her schedule would be known.

「It would appear that my elder sister is still free to travel. However, there is something strange about this recent development.」

Minuet also seems to have a bad feeling about this, and she seemed to be trying to deduce Aria’s location.

That being the case, in order to obtain a clue myself–

I immediately placed a call to her Amica, Akari Mamiya, myself. As soon as the connection was made:

「Oi, Mamiya! Have you been stalking Aria since early this morning?」

『I. HAVEN’T. BEEN. STALKING. I am bodyguarding. Anyway, yes. I can see her now.』

What? Finding her so quickly was a bit anticlimactic.

「Where?」

『At a cafe this morning with a friend for breakfast, I guess? The girl was quiet and cute.』

Mamiya seems to be slightly annoyed, but that seems to be the extent of it because she is with a girl, compared to the bloodlust she radiated as she stuck to the car like a remora when Aria was with the Prince. This woman is someone that is almost impossible to understand.

However…

For the moment, I was not very concerned. Unlike Minuet, Aria does not have only a few friends. However, the quiet type is not her kind of friend.

「…Did you happen to take a picture of this friend? Can you send it to me?」

『I did, but this is not a free service. Butei to Butei, it is a 2,000 Yen charge.』

I received this message from Mamiya who hated working with men, and afterwards I decided to take the hit with a handful of 4 500 Yen coins– then I waited a brief period.

The photograph sent to my mobile was of an open-air cafe with an antique style heater with a paper bag on an empty seat, and they drank coffee and black tea…

Aria wore a Butei High girl’s uniform…

The other girl was wearing a Japanese schoolgirl style blazer and a feather plumed hat with a chequered pleated skirt.

–When I saw her face, my blood boiled.

Typhoon Sarah…!

Formerly a mercenary hired by GRENEDA, Sarah Hood now seemed to be serving Habi and the red oni clan as an archer.

Sarah was a descendant of the English hero, Robin Hood. As a British person, it wasn’t odd to see her here in London. I had last seen her in the skies above Tokyo on the Fugaku, but seeming her here now–

–Returning home must have been the oni’s suggestion.

The oni have some kind of strange ability to ascertain Aria’s location. From the scene, it looked like someone giving another person advice.

The oni definitely check in periodically to assess Aria’s condition, waiting and gauging the time until the true advent of the Scarlet Goddess. If they judged it to be close–they may abduct her.

「Mamiya. I’ll pay you another 2,000, but don’t let Aria out of your sight. By any means necessary.」

Hurriedly I, placed a call to Mamiya–

According to Mamiya, Aria and Sarah had gone into the shop and hadn’t come back out. I expressed the idea that perhaps they had gone to the toilet together like typical highschool girls, but Mamiya refuted that.

『But I don’t think that there is one.』

Sarah must have sensed Mamiya’s presence and given her the slip. This was a distinct disadvantage.

In order to not lose any more ground, I quickly explained the situation to Minuet. Then:

「This is bad. They could have already kidnapped Aria.」

I said, already panicking–

「Do not be worried, Kinji. If she was abducted, they will be forced to take a circuitous route to their final destination. From what I have heard, I believe that the assessment that she has been『kidnapped』is premature. The reality is likely much more inopportune.」

A cherry scent wafting from her pipe, Minuet gazed out the window.

「Inopportune…?」

I furrowed my eyebrows with the question.

Then something else happened.

An uninvited guest came to Minuet’s home.

While trembling, Sachet and Endora showed me into the living room–

A tall figure wearing an expensive looking white suit, sunglasses, and white snakeskin shoes stood there.

「–Aria is not here, is she? Please do not reveal the fact that I have been here, I have walked here myself. I am currently『incognito』.」

Wearing a costume that served in no way as a disguise, it was easy to tell that it was Prince Howard.

「Aria isn’t here, Howard. And we’re too damn busy to deal with you…」

「Now, now. Welcome to this old house so early in the morning. I am pleased to be granted an audience on two successive days. It is an honour for Your Highness to be searching personally for my elder sister Aria.」

After pinching me in the rear, Minuet pinched her own skirts in greeting.

「Quite so. I have been informed of Aria’s unfortunate past by both MI6 and Scotland Yard, but above all else, I, myself, wish to proffer my best wishes for her health.」

「Hmm. Best wishes for her health, you say. Has my elder sister’s health declined?」

Minuet chattered on to Howard, keeping him in good humour and skillfully picking out the keyword clues in his speech.

「It is as you say. She said something to the effect of:『Please allow me a brief holiday to seek treatment for a chronic condition』, those were her parting words. I asked:『Where is the clinic you are going to?』, but she merely shook her head. I thought that perhaps she was seeking treatment and recuperation at her own or a family member’s home.」

「Howard. It’s a made-up illness. She’s a very healthy person.」

I cut off Howard’s seemingly useless information, but Minuet pushed forward from beside me… and with a *Whir!*, she interposed her wheelchair between us.

「–It may be embarrassing for His Royal Highness the Prince’s ears, but the explanation is a simple one. There is also an E-Rank Butei here, lacking in the ability to understand… And so I shall step you through it from the start, like the steps of a minuet.」

Her eyes–are sharp. More so than usual.

Back on I.U., Sherlock had such an expression a few times, and only for a few moments. These two are truly alike. It must be the sign that they are exercising their deductive powers of reasoning.

「My elder sister is not a skillful liar. Those unskilled in the art of falsehoods unconsciously consider the need for later consistency in their tale, and merely altering the words, they speak the truth. That is to say it is not a lie, so much as it is the actual truth. Therefore, it is not a chronic condition that my elder sister spoke of–but a matter relating to the bullet lodged in the vicinity of her heart. My elder sister merely described it as a『chronic condition』.」

The bullet lodged in the vicinity of her heart–The hidan!

And a matter relating to it.

–Does this mean it has something to do with the Blazing Scarlet Goddess?

「In order to『treat』this condition, my elder sister must collect several articles that were previously stolen from her. It would seem that she has almost done so, and she has gone to retrieve it herself from Habi, the person who holds the last article, and who will not return it. That was her intended meaning of『to seek』.」

…『Chronic condition』,『treat』, and『seek 』, What she meant was…

She went to take back the karagane from Habi in order to prevent the advent of the Scarlet Goddess. Is that what it means?

「–Why the hell did she go alone! That idiot! She should have asked me…!」

Without caring that I was doing so in front of the Prince, I complained as I checked my guns.

Aria… even though you asked me to help you.

You promised back in the greenhouse. 

I said I’d back you up. So why did you do this anyway…!?

「–If Kinji where to get close to Aria, Scion would intervene. If she can recover what was stolen by herself, then Kinji will not be killed by Scion–therefore she has chosen to infiltrate Habi’s base of operations.」

…An infiltration operation…

She can’t do something like that alone! No matter how independent and self-reliant she is!

To be sure, Aria was originally a one-woman show as a Butei. She must have decided to handle it all on her own.

She must have gotten so desperate that she didn’t think that she could rely on me…

That bad habit had reared its head again…!

「In London, the circumstances of my elder sister’s daily life have altered. Under the pretext of  the use of an agent, she intends to use said agent to guide her to Habi’s location.」

Minuet gave a slightly incomplete explanation to Howard who stood in front of her–

I, however, understood the implications of her deduction. Contacting an agent, namely Sarah, she could have taken advantage of the situation… She might have used the excuse of her pending marriage to the Prince and given the excuse that she『wants to run away』.

As far as the oni are concerned, such a story would seem credible– Such would also be like finding a duck carrying spring onions.1

If Aria came to them, seeking asylum before transforming into the Scarlet Goddess, of course they would say:『Sure. Come on in.』

That is definitely the simplest story to go with. And it would also occur to Aria when planning an infiltration operation.

But after that, things get hard. Even if she could fool one of Habi’s companions and be taken to their hideout…she would have to escape cleanly after snatching back the piece of karagane from inside their leader Habi, protected as she was by Yen, Tsubaki, Sarah, and other oni, and somehow get back to Japan where Tamamo was.

…Dammit…

Aria had rushed in alone and her surroundings had closed in about her.

It’s just like the bus-jacking last April. But–

「Minuet. Assuming your interpretations are right, I’m going to go rescue Aria, even if I’m called a busybody. However, this is a mountain that I could never hope to break through all by myself. Even if I left right now, I would be stopped for sure.」

Even supposing I could go and carry off Aria, then word of her flight would spread.

And if she decides foolishly to fight, then there would likely be no way around fighting Sarah.

Sarah is essentially a sniper– a witch with her bow. That is the worst type of enemy for me.

In a video game, it would be like a fire-type character challenging a water-type, and in reality it would put me at a distinct disadvantage. 

「This agent poses a great threat to me, personally. I would prefer not to fight them, but I will do it in my own way if I have to.」

I took out my mobile and said this as I showed Minuet the picture of Aria and Sarah.

「The story you told is mere deduction. If I’m going to set myself to tackle this mountain, I need some kind of evidence that your deductions are correct–I need definitive proof.」

I said, cocking the hammer of my pistols with a *Click!* and placing them into my holsters–

「Definitive proof exists.」

Minuet turned towards me, her forget-me-not blue eyes brimming with a strong will.

「–I know it is true because I am her younger sister.」

In response–

「That is the best proof possible.」

I responded briefly. Right. We have determined to recover Aria.

However, London is vast. We must first determine Aria’s destination, then go from there.

As planned, Mamiya had lost sight of Aria, but even then–

I spoke to Howard, who seemed somehow more thick-headed than me and had listened to Minuet’s story without understanding many of the details.

「Howard. As things stand, Aria will be kidnapped. Actually, she seems to be kidnapping herself. You can use your power to mobilise the police to discover Aria’s location. Then I’ll go there.」

In the middle of my explanation…

「Did you not hear what was just said? I hold a very specific position. Aria is my intended Crown Princess. If I were to employ the police in such a matter, there would be a scandal. I refuse.」

「I don’t care about a scandal! It will be fine, if we–」

「You should both take me quickly to Aria. This is all taking on quite the air of a fight scene. I am glad to have thought to have brought this.」

WIth more willful egotism than Aria, Howard–

With all the grace of a rank amatuer, he took out a Webley Mark IV revolver, muttering:

「Now them, how do you disengage the safety.」

As he fiddled with it. Entirely unaware of where the muzzle was pointed, it now drifted towards Sachet.

「–Stop! That’s dangerous! Don’t just disengage the safety in a place like this! Don’t put your finger on the trigger! You only do that just before you fire it! Weren’t you in the Army!?」

「Correct. I was in the 8th Engineer Brigade, 29th Combat Engineer Bomb Disposal Group.」

「Then why don’t you know any of that!?」

I shouted as I took the show piece revolver from him.

「In my time attached to the Army, I was only taught the elements of bomb disposal in an academic setting. Such a dangerous weapon could never be allowed in my presence.」

He said all this with a casual expression. This guy is totally useless…!

「–You wish to know where my elder sister is located? That much is able to be known from simple deduction.」

On the other hand, Minuet was able to be relied upon here–

「The coffee shop in the photograph you have just shown me is the Free State Cafe, 70 metres north of the Holborn Tube Station on Southampton Row. The fact that they met in such a difficult to reach place within the town centre means that her counterpart has a base somewhere inside the city. The paper bag that the girl in the photo brought with her is from a liquor store. From the size of the bag and it’s creases, I am able to deduce the shape of the containers within. They are a shimiin arkhi 2, a liquor that has recently become popular in London, if I am not mistaken. Does Sarah drink?」

「No, even on the Fugaku–when the others were drinking and making merry, she didn’t drink any. The only thing in this girl’s unbalanced diet that she ate was boiled broccoli.」

「There was a salad on the table in the photograph, and there was a boiled egg slice provided as garnish that Sarah had set aside on her plate. She is a vegetarian– if she will not eat any egg, dairy, or any other animal product, then she is a vegan. In that case, the choice of alcohol is curious. Shimiin arkhi consists of cow’s milk, sheep’s milk, and sugar fermented together into a milk-based alcohol–that is to say, it comes from an animal. In that case, then I would wonder who would have dispatched her on such an errand to purchase it.」

I followed the well-read Minuet’s line of logic… and as a result…

「Dammit! They’re here! The oni! The oni like rice sake, and to overindulge in food and drink.」

It’s not just Sarah, but the oni are here too. That’s bad. I hadn’t noticed earlier…!

「On our walk the other day, I noticed that there was a private Cadogan Restaurant truck accepting a delivery of sacks of Japanese rice. The restaurant is fastidious about employing purely domestic British ingredients, and they would never place such a large order of imported goods. I did not understand why they would lay in such a large supply of Japanese rice.」

S-she’s very observant. What’s more, she remembered it as well.

If it were me, I couldn’t even remember which street I had wandered down.

「Where is the restaurant?」

「At the top of Cheyne Walk–a small passenger vessel is still moored at the bank of the Thames. The entire craft consists the Cadogan Restaurant.」

Having deduced Aria’s destination, Minuet operated her wheelchair and moved toward the entranceway.

I followed after her.

「We are going to a formal menswear shop on Baker Street. The restaurant requires all guests to dress formally, without exception. With such a rough and used up uniform as you now wear, you would be refused even employment at the establishment.」

「We can’t! There isn’t any time to have clothes made–」

Walking past Endora and Sachet who were wrapping a shawl and tucking in a lap blanket around her from both sides, I stuck my head between them to speak to here and…

With a *Thunk!*, Minuet struck me on the head with her pipe.

「We have already had a march stolen upon us. Rushing in hastily would be a poor stratagem. In this case, we must find a gap in our opponents’ defences through which to strike.」

「Gap? Do you think there will be a point where both Sarah and the oni are both careless–?」

「Now, Kinji. That is elementary. There is a point in time where everyone, I mean, all animals, are inattentive. When there is something else important to attend to, they will certainly avert their gaze.」

「When?」

「During meals.」

Minuet answered, and without further prompting, she continued–

「A belly full of gluttony will never study willingly.1 Rice is one of the most readily digested foods, and if they are partial to alcohol, then this will be our chance. You should infiltrate while the enemy’s vigilance is relaxed.」

–For the sake of her older sister, she opened the door herself.

**********************************************************************

Something ready-made, bulletproof, and suiting my figure–

With those restrictions, my potential options were limited, so I donned a black suit that the elderly shopkeeper brought to me that morning under Minuet’s watchful eye.

The jacket fit snugly to my body; the shoulder was a natural shoulder style; the lapels and collar were narrow; and the waist was so high and tight that it looked like an X-shape from behind… a quintessential British suit.

What’s more, I was forced to wear it in the British style, fastening only the centre of the 3 buttons and with one of the buttons on the cuff missing. It looks like you can only get it in this style of buttons

「Isn’t it a bit tight, actually… Isn’t it a bit old-fashioned…?」

To top it all off, there was a dark purple tie and white pocket kerchief to tie it all all together as I complained.

「Whatever do you mean? I think that it suits you well. I might just fall in love.」

Stepping out onto the street together, she looked up to me with an expression of genuine admiration. 

Then under Minuet’s order, the transportation that Sachet and Endora had procured for me was… some kind of bicycle. It was a public bicycle rental, employed by citizens for ecological reasons.

What was more, it was meant for a couple of two people and was totally uncool. It appears to be the only one on Baker Street currently.

When I talked to Watson on the phone, he had said that although a car was faster in terms of covering distance, because of all the traffic in London, a bicycle was still more preferable, so I reluctantly straddled the front seat.

However… I still had some residual trauma about bicycles. Back in April, I had been bicycle-jacked.

And what is more, after that, a bus-jacking and airplane-jacking followed.

As I sent up a prayer toward a distant church cross that such a thing would not occur… I checked that there was not an explosive under the seat–

「What is this now? A bicycle? I have never ridden upon one, so this should be an interesting experience.」

Wha? I’ve already been hijacked!

The white-suited Prince laid his handkerchief across the rear seat of the 2-person bicycle. He was smiling.

.「As you are no doubt already aware, Aria is a stubborn woman. What shall you do if she refuses to listen and come back with you? In such a case, I could merely order her back. A quintessential aristocrat, Aria cannot defy my orders. Now then, let’s look lively there.」

It seemed that Minuet would not defy the Royal will, so I had no help from that quarter against the egotistical Howard. As a result–

.「Fine! Do whatever you want to! But no matter what happens, I’m not saving you!」

.「I never for a moment supposed that you were one to be relied upon.」

Expressing our mutual dislike of each other, we set off on the bicycle built for two that was intended for use by good friends.

******************************************************

As we passed through the morning sun on our way toward the restaurant, Howard complained the entire way.

We had not even gone a single kilometer when he said:

「My legs are fatigued. I cannot pedal any further!」

Why are your legs tired from riding a bicycle? After that, he was nothing more than a burden, and as I stood up to pedal he shouted:

「Such speed! Is this not dangerous!?」

While attempting to pull me down by my trousers.

Can’t I just throw him into the Thames? All of these British people?

With those thoughts in mind, I passed down Cheyney Walk as instructed by Minuet–and there I saw the large cruiser, semi-permanently docked at the bank of the Thames, and operating as the Cadogan restaurant.

There was a short gangplank stretching out from the wharf to the ship with a notice hung on it that read:『Chartered for the day』

Leaving the bicycle at a bicycle rack by the riverbank, I first observed the strength of the enemy position from the dock…

The forward deck was screened off by a large square curtain. 

What was more, out-of-season cherry blossoms and trees had been brought in from somewhere and were arranged against the backdrop of the curtains.

「What manner of hanging curtains are those? The pattern is beautiful. I find it quite striking, myself.」

「Those curtains are used to enclose the location of a Japanese banquet.」

Giving the clueless Howard a brief explanation–

On the curtains, the five-sectioned melon cross section with the stylised『無』character was dyed. I saw it on the Fugaku, and it was the same symbol of the oni. They really did come to England.

The wind gusted, and I saw through a crack what was inside the curtains.

–They were there.

The oni had apparently been engaged in a revel since the early morning.

For some reason, there was an African design rug on which they sat in a circle around a pyramid of onigiri as they ate.

The alcohol they drank wasn’t Japanese sake, but apparently not being choosy, they were consuming Western spirits.

It seems… some kind of blend of Japanese and African culture that they have adopted as their own. The oni, that is.

The fluttering wind allowed fleeting views into the enclosed area. Because of my vantage point, I could see the large, good-looking female oni, Yen.

「–The life of men is 50 years–」4

I heard a husky voice.

In an African patterned kimono, she seemed to be whirling in some kind of dance.

As I watched, Yen turned red as she drank from a scarlet sake cup–

Wearing a black formal Tomesode​5 like a sorority mother, despite appearing to be of similar age as myself, was Tsubaki. She was a slender oni with long black hair who wore a sadistic expression.

…Yen has her strength, Tsubaki has her speed… and besides those…

There’s another one of them? No, I am not sure if this other one is an oni.

They were inside a pot with a design that looked to have come from Africa itself, reaching out from the pot like the arms of an octopus.

Occasionally the lid opened slightly and thin, dark brown arms appeared. Gathering up onigiri and alcohol in their hands or tossing out empty plates and bottles…Ah! Just now I saw 3 arms! Does that mean that there are at least two of them inside?

It has been a while since Jeanne told me about it, but this is definitely the same pot. It is I.U.’s genius engineer. Now I see, there might be a whole bunch of them inside, and they work together to pretend to be a genius inventor! This would follow the same pattern as Rampan’s Koko sisters.

Sarah was also there, silently eating broccoli and drinking juice. Oi! Go easy on the Aojiru 6 that you’re gulping down!

Now then, from what I can see of the oni’s party–

I wonder if they are using the restaurant ship as a houseboat, complaining about everything  the whole time like a middle-aged country bumpkin travelling abroad. Unable to find rice in England to pillage, they were likely forced to pay a shop to get it for them.

A hedonist group from the start, they had surely been careless. No matter what, they don’t believe they could ever be defeated by humans.

–And looking at the centre of their sitting circle.

「–She’s here! It’s Aria…!」

Wearing a Butei High sailor suit, kneeling, and munching on an onigiri, it was Aria. It looks like she’s fallen into bad company. I also get the sense that she is desperate.

It might be only for her infiltration mission, but she actually joined the gang of oni. It is surprisingly easy to make one’s self at home within terrorist and yakuza groups, so there are some Butei that actually crossover. Fewer return.

However… I’m not worried about that. Aria was in the ring of oni. She was originally very oni-like in her personality. But now, with her horns, she appears even more so. She’s a pink oni rather than a red oni.

However, perhaps because of her embarrassing『sad drunk』behaviour that was revealed in Hong Kong, she was not drinking any alcohol. 

As for the fighting power available to the oni…

Including the ones in the pot, there are more of them here than showed up at the Institute of Medical Science.

In non-Hysteria Mode, I can’t deal with the number of people alone. I couldn’t even handle Aria. Starting a fight here would definitely be bad.

But a fight was not what I had in mind.

The purpose of the present mission wasn’t to defeat them.

Our aim was to protect Aria. Rushing out to fight a losing battle was not what was needed.

As Minuet had reasoned out, all we have to do is wait until they have eaten and drunken themselves into a stupor. Even if that doesn’t happen, I could have Mamiya and Watson watch them, waiting for a chance to appear.

Good. We had discovered Aria and the oni’s location early on–Things are moving in a favourable direction.

Then I looked away from the ship to consider the timing of my attack, hiding place, and path of retreat.

…O-Oi…!

I had only taken my eye off of him for a moment, but Howard–He had walked over to the gangway to board the ship by himself!

Then entirely as if he hadn’t seen the sign denoting the reserved status of the ship, he marched right up to the deck.

Howard–he was fearless, in the worst sense of the word. He expects everyone, no matter who, to prostrate themself before him, and that has been his experience up until now.

「–!」

I chased after him as fast as I could manage.

But because of the time that it had taken for me to analyse the strength and capabilities of the oni’s camp, he was far ahead of me…Moving aside a portion of the partition to the oni’s banquet hall, he entered the space.

At the sudden appearance of the Prince, the onigiri stuck in Aria’s throat.

「None of you appear to be a doctor, but you seem to be Japanese. Do you comprehend English? Aria, you must return. I will permit you to associate with them if they are in the same city. But you should return quickly.」

Howard’s attitude indicated that he was pushing his own desires onto others, expecting them to comply as a matter of course–

Breaking into the welcome banquet for Aria, he was entirely unaware of the hostility and bloodlust directed toward him.

Most likely because, until now, no one has ever directed animosity toward him in his entire life.

–This is dangerous…!

Howard is within Yen, Tusbaki, and Sarah’s killing range.

As things stand, they might swat him like a fly and kill him off-handedly. It could happen at any second!

Apparently the lowest ranked oni present, Tsubaki grinned–then set her cup aside.

She’s planning to move. There’s no more time.

「–Dammit!」

The situation being urgent, I moved–

Bounding up the gangplank to the deck, I rushed into the group, overturning the curtains.

Then with a gun already in hand, I saw the black-suited Howard in front of me.

「Ki-Kinji!?」

Aria was astonished, her vermillion eyes wide in shock as she held an onigiri in her hand.

The oni were equally surprised at my appearance. 

For better or worse, I am one of their worst fears.

I had fought Yen recklessly to a stand still on the Fugaku.

So they turned their attention to me, paying Howard no mind at all.

「–Sorry to break up this girls-only meet-up. But while I’m here, I have the same demands. Give Aria back. Otherwise, I’ll take one of each of your horns and donate them to the British Museum. I’ve borrowed something precious to England, and this would be an unusual gift to give in exchange.」

Not in Hysteria Mode, and with my nerves shaking inside me, I made this threat.

But these oni are not the kind to give into threats.

「Oh? Thou hast come to London? For what purpose art thou attired thusly, Warrior Tohyama?」

While the whirling cherry blossoms fluttered behind me, Yen turned her beautiful face toward me, grinning and folding her arms.

「Tohyama… For the sake of Yen-nee-sama’s horn…!」

Tsubaki bared her fangs and laid a hand on the demon-forged sword that sat at her side.

However, it appears that she will not swoop in to attack without an order from Yen.

「Aria wants to come to Ki-no-kuni of her own free will. You have merely appeared. Go back.」

Looking on me with loathing, Sarah puffed out her cheeks angrily.

「…」

The lid on the pot opened slightly and from the gap between them, a pair of glasses and thin slits of eyes with a look of ill-intent in them stared at me…

As soon as I met the eyes, the lid shut as they secluded themselves inside.

Just now I noticed that they had blonde twin-tails. At least one of them.

「Let me tell you idiots something. Aria is playing out some super naive infiltration tactics.」

「Hey…!」

As I laid out everything, Aria panicked at having the truth revealed.

The oni and Sarah must have believed her story entirely judging from the looks of blank puzzlement on these faces–but now the reality had been unmasked.

「When I was into the convenience store inside the Institute of Medical Sciences, a thought came to me… Who is the brains behind your operation? Who? Tell me.」

The oni do not seem to grasp a lot of strategy. Something like this is unfathomable to Habi. It doesn’t seem like she employs a lot of spies, and she lacks the organisational competence of Rampan or Liberty Mason.

However, when it comes to Aria’s location– They were able to follow her to London, and it seems that someone behind the scenes must be giving them advice.

So…

It looks like someone might be using them. And if that’s the case, it might have been even back as far as FEW’s Bandire.

Now that I think about it, Habi’s reasons for participating in FEW were pretty vague.

「Thinking that we shall answer just because you asked is foolish. Did you think we would just tell you their name?」

Yen had all but confirmed their existence without saying as much…

She was the female oni commander.

Her fighting power was comparable to a battleship, and she had Tsubaki’s unquestioned trust.

However, she possessed many flaws. She was overconfident and much too frank and forthright to be adaptable to the situation, like all oni–they shared a simple and slow grasp of their situation.

That is to say, it is a simple matter to seize the initiative and catch them up in some trap.

「I didn’t think you would. So I’ll have to beat it out of you.」

While bluffing that I was going to fight–

I flipped my Beretta into 3-short burst mode, equipped with the Flash, Shock, and Smoke bullets.

Then I blinked the short message『RA』to Aria.7

Having her plans come to nothing, Aria will come back to me herself in what I call my『3 general points of strategy』.

The oni are strong, and we stand little chance in a fight against them, so Aria has to escape with me. 

The prince will likely fall off into the river. That might cool his head a little. The oni think of us as insects, so they probably won’t go out of their way to kill him specifically.

Despite being a hasty, last-minute measure, this was my tentative plan–

As the oni stared unafraid at my gun, I was about to fire the Butei bullets.

Then, from inside the pot, a more cute than I expected, fumbling voice spoke.

「I gots a bad feeling abouts this Tohyama. I don’ wanna gets hurt. I don’ need ta be ‘roun’ for this. We have what we wants–Aria already ours. Imma goin’.」

The voice came out from the pot, and with a *Clink*, it flopped onto its side.

Then it began to roll with a rumble… passing through the curtained enclosure and falling from the deck. I wonder if she was running like a hamster on a wheel inside.

Regardless, it was a welcome turn of events that reduced the enemy’s fighting power–

I waited another moment to see if anyone else would retreat.

But–that moment proved fatal.

Until now, I had detected no sign of them, but they were on the other side of the curtain.

It was unfortunate… but now they chose to enter.

It was the worst person in all of London…!

「–The gall required for you to abduct his Highness astounds me, Tohyama. It was also foolish in the extreme. Well surpassing the bounds of my expectation.」

Wearing a long coat over his grey 3-piece suit and with a submachine gun in his hand–

It was Scion Bond, carrying a short-barreled MP5K… He suddenly appeared.

At his appearance, Aria looked up in shock once more, while the oni looked back over their shoulders.

However, he ignored all of the gazes turned in his direction, focusing solely on me.

「That’s not it! Why would I kidnap him!? It’s actually Howard that…」

I realised something in the middle of giving my flustered answer.

It’s not the fact that I had kidnapped Howard that is driving this. It is what I might do.

Scion has pledged unquestioned loyalty to England. I have been deemed a threat to national security by MI6, and he has decided that I must not be allowed to take any action that would harm England, that is Howard…

–The warning he gave about killing me the next time we met, he was now trying to carry out.

My line of sight shifted to Scion for a brief moment and in that space…

*Whoosh!*

Tsubaki vanished–

The fluttering cherry blossoms caught up in a gust of wind were the only sign of where she had gone. Toward Aria! 

「–Uh-Wha!」

I heard an anime-like exclamation, and the very next moment Tsubaki had Aria over her shoulder.

With another rush of air, she returned to her original place, and Aria… lost consciousness.

Tsubaki had used her super-speed to strike a vital blow, and she was out cold.

Then Tsubaki took a step back to exit the enclosure, and Yen moved as if to follow.

They’ve decided that fighting me would be pointless as well as result in injury, so they decided to make off with Aria.

Crap! I’ve lost the initiative because of Scion. Aria’s being taken away!

「Aria!」

As I shouted, the left behind Sarah stood and faced Howard and me.

Then, without bow in hand, she made a pointing gesture of:『Look over there』.

*****************************************

*****************************************

Pointing toward the side at just the right moment, Howard and I glanced in that direction for a moment…

No, I won’t let her trick me!

It was the same kind of misdirection I had used on Yen. What are you trying to do, Sarah?

A second later, I shook my head and returned my gaze to Sarah.

「–Hellwind–」

As she recited this quietly, she spun both her arms…! It looked like a Kamen Rider transformation scene.

In that instant, there was a ripping gust of wind. And a windstorm whipped up with Sarah at its centre–

…!

Myself, Howard, and Scion were all hit with a shockwave moving more than 50 metres per second back, as if hit by a bomb blast.

Plates and bottles scattering, the decorative cherry trees were knocked over, and the entire tented structure was blown away in all directions.

「…!」

Avoiding the knocked down trees, Scion jumped off of the ship, I braced myself to not fall over, and Howard writhed on the deck, appearing to have gotten some dust in his eye as he cried:

「Eyes! My eyes…!」

With the appearance of the wind, Sarah disappeared–

「…」

Just before getting hit by the blast, I had seen a flicker…entirely unintentionally, but it was what was contained within her pleated skirt that had been exposed up to her navel–While thinking a mental apology to Sarah, my brain function sharpened and my blood flow increased.

.

Alright, let’s do this. I have already discovered one thing. Despite the flashy and brazen use of technique, I had seen through it–

–Hysteria Mode.

It would appear that Sarah’s attempt at misdirection was a countermeasure employed for the fact that her skirt would be blown up and everything in white cotton up to the ribbon at her navel would be exposed.

Despite the fact that I had absolutely no intention of witnessing it… It has worked out in my favour.

Sarah. Right now, you’ve just made the biggest mistake you’ve ever made. I’ve already changed. Right now– I’m that person.

As a manipulator of the winds, you decided that such an act wouldn’t go well with me, but perhaps you are wrong.

There is a roadway running along the Thames river–

The oni were running in a line westward, down Chelsea Embankment.

Their speed was inhuman, but Tsubaki was moderating her speed to Yen’s which was about that of an automatic transmission car. Considerably further ahead, I saw Kon rolling along, then Sarah who was carrying a suitcase with her bow inside, boosted by a tailwind. I couldn’t see Aria, and because of that, she was likely inside the pot.

I can still fix this. Then I started out running–

–*Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!*

Aimed at me, I heard the sound of the MP5K 30 metres behind me.

…!

–*Zzzt!* *Zzzt!* *Zzzt!* *Zzzt!* I screwed my body around in a somersault as a shower of sparks from the broken streetlights burst at my feet.

However, my own gun was no match for the accuracy that the MP5K submachine gun boasts.

In Hysteria Mode, I avoided the bullets direct line of fire, and I diverted them with Mirror shooting with the regular bullets I had already loaded into my Beretta.

Following the sound of the bullets back to its source near the entrance to the restaurant–

*Whoosh!* Scion, who naturally wore a bulletproof coat, vaulted over the fence with one hand as he dropped to the roadway.

He had only pretended to have been knocked off the ship by the Hellwind and dangled from the bow.

Now he had made his comeback and was chasing after me.

Dammit! If I have to deal with Scion…!

「–!」

Then, *BOOOM!*

As soon as Scion got out onto the road, he was hit by a Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriole.

Scion was knocked back away from the oni and flew across the street to the opposite side–

「Oh, excuse me. My friend, Tooyama, is so dressed up that I stopped paying attention to the road.」

Saying that, Watson backed up his convertible up next to me.

A blue light was attached to the hood, marking it out as an English emergency vehicle.

「The oni are over there. I understood what was going on as soon as I saw them. Let’s hurry.」

Watson pulled me into the passenger seat and got his revenge on Scion for the other day.

However, despite having struck someone with a car, he retained his presence of mind. But being in fact a girl, she apologised.

「You saved me. But won’t this worsen the relationship between Liberty Mason and MI6?」

「You cannot worsen something that was originally bad.」

While turning the car around to face the oni, Watson answered in the negative–

But the already bad situation we were in had gotten much worse.

「You bastards, what about Scion? But the telling off will come later, after them!」

Styling himself the leader, Prince Howard packed himself into the cramped backseat of the Porsche.

「Why does trouble follow wherever you go, Prince?」

Grabbing the Prince by the scruff of the neck I attempted to take him out of the car… but at that point my eye caught Scion standing up from the road as if nothing had happened. A large motorcycle happened to be passing by–kicking the driver off the ivory white Triumph Thunderbird, Scion straddled the motorbike himself.

…Well, I never thought he was the kind of guy to be put out of action by being hit by a car.

It takes a bit more to keep you down, Scion.

「It’s going to be a bit of a bumpy ride. Be sure to use the door grip if you need to.」

Reversing my original plan, I strapped Prince Howard in with the seatbelt.

I did it because of Scion’s expressed intentions. I planned to use him as a human shield.

Perhaps because Howard was in the backseat, Scion did not fire right off.

Noticing Scion in the rear view, Watson clicked his tongue, and the 6 cylinder air-cooled turbo engine screamed.

The Chelsea Embankment, along the bank of the Thames, wasn’t a particularly busy road, but it was the morning commute. The Porsche had no choice but to weave its way between the cars on its zig-zagging way forward.

As for the oni, they steadily began to outstrip car after car in their flight.

Her African patterned kimono flapping, Yen ran barefoot. Matching Yen’s speed as she ran lightly, Tsubaki ran in her geta.

Is the top running speed of an oni equal to that of a person in a car? Have we been beaten?

「We have stud-less winter tyres, so we are alright.」

As Watson muttered this, hitting the windscreen–was snow. But it was not snowing on the other side of the river.

Had Sarah summoned a snow cloud to slow down our progress in the car?

As we cut through the snow, following after the oni:

「It is cold! Is not this car equipped with seat heaters!?」

The Prince shouted, and as he did so–

Sarah, a long distance ahead of the Porsche, opened her case with a *Click!* and pulled something out.

With a *Whoosh!* a cushion of air exploded beneath her feet and she landed on Yen’s broad shoulders. Facing back towards us.

Her bow was already in her left hand, and an arrow in her right–

–*Whipsh!*–

She fired!

I fired to deflect the arrow, but Sarah had already sent a second arrow behind it that followed in exactly the same trajectory. And so:

「…!」

Watson suddenly decelerated, and thanks to that, the relative velocity between us and it decreased–and putting Zero, my bullet catching technique, into use, I successfully caught it.

However, because of the decrease in speed, the low rumbling sound of the 1600cc engine behind us grew louder.

Glancing back, I saw Scion chasing after us on the Thunderbird, ignoring the blizzard.

One of the advantages that the motorbike has over a car is maneuverability–much like Kendo’s『Mikiri』8.

He’s fast! And now he’s right beside us!

「–Stop running!」

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Without taking aim or using the sights, Scion shot directly across at me.

「Well, then how about not chasing us?」

While using Cannon to deflect the stream of bullets headed my way, I voiced this legitimate complaint.

Then further ahead on the road, I saw a long train-like trailer…a tractor trailer.

Although we were travelling in the same direction, it appeared to be at a standstill due to our high rate of speed.

As we rapidly approached the trailer, Watson began to feint that he was going to knock against Scion’s Thunderbird to edge it to the left and toward the trailer.

Then as we got close, he pulled off abruptly to the right to pass it. Scion split off and passed on the left-hand side as we ran parallel courses on opposing sides.

「I’m going to use the Nitrous Oxide system. Brace yourselves for the acceleration!」

Then the very next second…

Watson hit a switch next to the handbrake with a *Click!*

The very next moment, *Whoosh!*. The Porsche then accelerated rapidly in a short time, like a jet coaster.

「Oi! Oi! This is rather fast! Can you not slow down somewhat!?」

The Prince double dover as the Porsche pulled ahead of the trailer–

We also began to pull away from Scion on his Thunderbird.

Unable to see Watson while on opposite sides of the trailer, when we suddenly pulled away, he furrowed his eyebrows.

Then from ahead there was a *Twang!* Another arrow from Sarah was headed for the Porsche.

「…!」

Unable to divert the arrow that was now headed straight for my head, I rotated my left hand to knock it aside–then from behind there was a *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* I heard the MP5 fire. Because the Prince’s head was slumped forward, Scion had fired at the back of my exposed head. Using the side mirror, I fired back with the gun in my right hand. Good grief! This is crazy!

「–Caught between a Sarah and a Scion, huh?」

Both Sarah and Scion were trying to get rid of me first. Seeming to have come to some kind of mutual understanding, their firing lines didn’t interfere with each other. They had come to this arrangement without any exchange of words–catching me in a pincer attack.

「Ah! Ow-Ow! My shoulder struck the door! Drive more carefully!」

Holding on to the door handle while rolling around in the cramped backseat, the Prince lacked the physical strength to maintain his grip. He was definitely weaker than a girl. But I am weaker than certain girls, so I don’t have room to talk.

My Beretta was finally out of bullets, and in that instant:

–*Whipsh!* *Bang!*

With the skill of two elite marksmen coming into perfect synergy, Sarah and Scion–

They timed their arrow and bullet to reach my head at the same exact instant.

However, because I knew that they were slightly offset from each other–

「The two of you have no hesitation to aim for the head, do you?」

While reloading both of my guns’ magazines, I had no other choice–

I moved my head in an Ouka-esque movement. Scion’s bullet passed behind the left side of my head, and Sarah’s arrow to the front right as they each grazed the size of my head in a blur of motion.

As a result, their trajectories were slightly altered such that Sarah’s arrow was heading toward Scion and Scion’s bullet was heading toward Sarah.

Coup de Tête.9

Hard-headed as I am, I just came up with that technique to deal with two projectiles.

*Whoosh!* A small bit of blood and hair danced amidst the snow in the air–

「–Aaaah!」

It was a trifling amount of blood, but Howard shrank back in fear. Despite the fact that he was a man.

Sarah was saved by Yen’s『bullet grabbing』, but Scion had to manoeuvre in order to avoid her arrow. I got the feeling that he wasn’t going to hold back any more on account of the Prince.

「…」

When you are as good as Scion, you don’t make mistakes, but the Prince is a rank amatuer when it comes to fighting. And amateurs make moves that are incomprehensible to pros. This tends to lead to accidents whenever they clash.

That being the case, I–

「Thank-you, Watson.」

As she drove, I grasped her head and planted a small kiss on her cheek.

「Hyah!? T-Tooyama!?」

Totally flustered, Watson began cutting the Porsche from side to side, and I cartwheeled out of the car.

–Then combat loading and firing an airbag bullet as I was mid-air–

I landed on a golden motorbike being ridden by a grey-haired woman who had turned a right onto the street, totally unaware of the chase scene that was unfolding.

「What!? Oh! Oh my–!」

「Please allow me to borrow this for a bit.」

Setting the woman down gently on the airbag bullet cushion that unfolded with a *Plop!*–*Vroom!*

Revving the accelerator, I split off from Watson and the Prince, flashing a goodbye smile.

This motorbike is a Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R. The dull golden-bronze collar ring told me it was a first generation.

Scion, that Thunderbird and this Hayabusa are both birds of prey.10

Then as I glanced at the rearview mirror–

–With a *Crash!* up ahead, Yen collided, seemingly inattentively, with a streetside pineapple vendor, spilling them onto the road.

Amidst the group of scattered pineapple spreading across the road…

Mixed in with the pineapples there were a few Type 97 fragmentation grenades blended in. Kon had opened the lid of her pot and tossed them out!

*Boom!* *Ba-boom!* 

I sprinted the Suzuki Hayabusa through the midst of the exploding former IJA ordnance and flying shrapnel.

Drifting, spinning, and popping wheelies, I wove my way through the field of pineapples. From his reflection in the mirror– I saw Scion was undergoing the same and having to go to the same lengths.

The car Watson was driving proved to be a larger target, so he had to turn right sharply to avoid the explosions and disappeared from the road we were on.

It looks like he plans to circle back around again.

Ahead, more explosions were still occurring, and a tall, iron street lamp pole– *Creak!*–*Bam!*

–It toppled over, crossing the road at a low height like a railroad stop. Directly in front of Scion and me,

There was no way to avoid it. Realising that, I began to skim the bike across the ground 1.2 metres from the pole–releasing the clutch and putting it into Neutral,

「Yah–!」

With the tails of my black suit flapping, I performed a belly roll and passed over the iron bar.

In the same instant, the riderless Hayabusa continued forward under the pole.

I passed above. The bike passed beneath. Each of us kept the same pace forward due to the Law of Inertia as we cleared the bar…

With a *Plop!*I returned to the seat of the Hayabusa.

Following after me as I cleared the impromptu railway stop, Scion–

Tucking in tight he canted the body of the Thunderbird steeply like an auto racer taking a banked curve. With the exhaust pipe scraping across the ground and setting up a shower of sparks, he braked and counter-streered the bike into a controlled slide to pass beneath the pole. He’s not a man that gives up so easily.

Due to how I cleared the obstacle– I had more gears to cycle back up through, and Scion caught up with me. Finally having closed the gap, he was going to bring me down with that MP5K–

「…Tch!」

As we reached an intersection with a crosswalk, Scion abruptly hung a left turn and left me behind.

Checking my mirror, it appeared that in the chaos a pregnant woman had been caught in the crosswalk, unable to escape, and he had swerved aside to avoid her.

…Even Scion is a child of humans. But as for those I am pursuing–

They are heartless ogres engaging in terrorism within London’s streets.

A Butei cannot overlook more damage to the city.

And so when a hand emerged from the pot to toss another bomb–

I somersaulted on top of the Hayabusa to kick it away like a kickball.

Fortunately, it just so happened to land directly behind them, causing them to falter.

For an instant, the lid to the pot opined wide, and I saw Kon inside with dynamite wrapped around her arms and all kinds of grenades hanging and dangling off her neck like a necklace. It was a frightening sight.

I read Sarah’s lips as she sat perched on Yen’s shoulder, mouthing the words:

「I am unafraid.」

「Firecwackers and scawy female warriors, take that! More and more firewoks!」

Kon declared as she tossed another bomb–

This time, due to my position, I couldn’t kick it back ahead, and instead passed in behind me on the left side to Scion.

Then Scion supporting himself with his hand on his seat kicked. Sending it back to me.

「I do not need it.」

「I don’t want it either!」

Having no other choice after having read each other’s lips, we just shot the bomb and exploded it in the space between us.

Ah! Kon is throwing another bomb. How many of those does she have?

With no seeming end in sight, I– purposefully maneuvered my bike into position to be hit by the bomb’s shockwave. At the same time of the explosion, I kicked off the Hayabusa–

The more than 200 kg frame slid toward Scion as my body flew forward…

With a *Thump!*, I fell back toward the road, landing right back in the passenger seat of the Porsche.

「Welcome back, Tooyama.」

「It is good to be back. Did you miss me?」

I exchanged a wink with Watson as if we were on a driving date.

Sacrificing the Hayabusa paid off as Scion came to a sudden stop. He fell behind us once more.

Seemingly coming to the conclusion that we weren’t to be stopped with bombs, Kon finally stopped lobbing them. She set up a smoke screen instead.

That was a good move. We continued forward–and in the middle of the crimson fumes…

We lost sight of them.

But if I listen closely I can hear the sounds of their footsteps–I could tell that they split up at the 5-way intersection known as Chiswick Roundabout.

Probably so we couldn’t tell which direction they had taken Aria.

But in the end, we turned to follow the rolling pot where I believed they had stashed her.

But as we passed through the smoke, the Prince who was still in the backseat wailed:

「Smoke! The scent will stick to my clothes!」

He must be pretty stubborn to be so selfish in such a situation.

Behind us, Scion was still in pursuit.

Seemingly due to a police blockade, the traffic on the road had mostly cleared out–

「Tooyama, over there! Gosh! Those demons, that has to be them in that bus…!」

As we crossed over Kew Bridge, Watson pointed out a small yellow bus on the opposite side of the Thames that was roaring down the street.

The windows were smashed and it was going against traffic. It was clearly an anomaly. They must have stolen it.

Through the windows of the bus– Sticking part of the way out, and with the lid slightly open, I saw Kon peering out in our direction.

Then I saw her. Inside with Kon and unconscious, it was Aria.

「I knew Kon had taken Aria! I need to get on that bus, so let’s catch it!」

「OK! Let’s go!」

Watson stomped down on the accelerator and the Porsche raced down the opposing lane of traffic.

With the Londoners making some kind of noise as if to cheer us on, I hung out of the car and followed the bus…the rush of air tugging at my cheeks.

I hadn’t noticed until just now because weren’t in Japan, but that yellow bus–

I-It was an elementary school bus! Of all things!

Inside, there were young children calling for help in English.

Dammit, I have to end this soon…!

We caught up to the bus, pulling alongside and from the passenger seat–

I pushed my gun ahead of me, intending to carefully enter through the broken window. Then:

「Is this where Aria is? Very well.This is my moment.」

Gripping my clothes, Prince Howard… he stood up in the back seat, and as the Porsche came up to run alongside a bus window, he clambered over me like a step stool to get through,

「O-Oi…!」

Afraid that he might fall back into the Porsche, I was forced to give the Prince a boost by pushing myself up and over into the bus, and we tumbled inside together.

Howard entered through the window as easily as a key sliding into a lock…

Children crying in fear were gathered at the rear of the bus.

How nostalgic is this–a bus-jacking?

What’s more this school bus is a stereotypical vehicle for criminals to commandeer. There being no small risk to criminals fleeing a crime by themselves, they still committed the diabolical act of taking children captive by hijacking the bus.

But I actually realised back in the convenience store in the Institute of Medical Science that the oni see humans as mere insects. They are neither kind nor cruel when they deal with humans. They do not even kill them when not necessary. Killing these children would be meaningless to them, however–they will consider their lives of little consequence. That’s just how they are.

Looking around the inside of the bus in anger, I did not see Yen, Tsubaki, or Sarah as I expected to–

Looking to where the driver would sit, there was no one there either, likely having abandoned the bus through a window,

Instead, on the driver’s seat…

…!

Kon was hanging down from the ceiling, then escaped up on top of the car through the broken windshield.

In her place, she left a hastily improvised device with armatures and wires stretching out like the wings of a bird.

The metal pipes, wires, gears and batteries it was comprised of were on full display, and it would be a simple matter to destroy it, but–on the seat there was a red clay-like object–Some kind of plastique explosive, needless to say.

Then, with a jerk, the mechanism turned the wheel of the bus to follow a curve in the road ahead.

Kon must be driving it remotely from above.

It’s only been 10 minutes since they took over this bus…and in that time she was able to rig up a makeshift autopilot system from the scraps of material lying about? As expected of the former I.U. engineer Kon. Actually, the Kon inside the pot.11

The jar is very primitive in appearance, but–in actuality, it was like a high-tech unicycle. As it rolled on its outer surface, there was something like suction cups on it that was actually made of silicone. So whether it’s a wall or a ceiling, it sticks and is able to move freely for that reason.

Dammit! They’ve got us…!

Kon must have lured me here onto the bus by intentionally letting me see her carry Aria abroad.

Realising we couldn’t be killed with her explosives, Kon instead took a bunch of hostages and set a bomb.

Then while I am trapped–Yen and the rest will crush us with all their power, is that the plan?

In the next moment:

「–Tooyama!」

Watson pulled his Porsche to circle around to the left-hand side of the bus, and I opened the emergency exit.

Riding on the bus herself, Kon did not indiscriminately scatter explosives–and as I moved to ferry a few children off the bus and to the Porsche.

With a *Crash!*, the bus swerved suddenly to the left and rammed the Porsche.

Knocked aside by the mass differential in the impact, the Porsche–

「Ah!」

Coincident with Watson’s cry, it crossed through a crosswalk, ran up over a curb, and flipped over it’s left wheel to roll over.

Then as the Porsche rolled onto its side, the bus evaded to the right.

As the airbags in Watson’ Porsche deployed, the bus soon left it behind…

…Dammit! Things are getting more complicated.

Avoiding the wrecked Porsche with ease, Scion took up the role of pursuit on his motorbike.

Taking a hold of the open emergency exit door, he discarded the bike and made his way on board.

Then pointing his MP5K briefly in my direction–

「–?」

Noticing there were children on the bus, his expression said that he did not understand what was going on, and he let his muzzle drop.

I’m always getting into these kinds of absurd situations, but I sense that he’s used to more rational events. Unable to read the situation, I got the sense that he was puzzled.

However, he soon noticed the driver’s seat, and his turquoise eyes flashed back toward me… and I understood in a moment.

Scion is like me, a combat specialist. Unable to deal with explosives.

Kon’s contraption hit the accelerator and the bus moved faster. We had now exceeded 100 KPH.

We won’t be stopping anytime soon. But first of all, there’s the bomb in the driver’s seat to take care of. But there’s nothing that Scion or I can do about that. What should we do…?

「Now then, Tohyama! Where is Aria? She does not appear to be here!」

Prince Howard screamed directly into my ear–

「Howard! Aria is in that pot on top of the bus–but right now we have to save these children as well as Aria.」

「You two shall take care of that matter. I am here for Aria alone!」

As Howard said something so egotistical…I recalled his personal history and pointed toward the bomb in the driver’s seat.

「Howard, can’t you deal with that? You were in the Army’s Bomb Disposal Group!」

「Correct. However, my training was limited to classroom instruction. I have never handled true explosives.」

Shaking his head from side to side, his neatly trimmed eyebrows furrowed.

「–But you have the knowledge, so just do it! We can’t!」

「Y-you bastard! You dare to command me!? Someone holding a position such as I? I shall not do such a dangerous thing. Firstly, even were I to do such a menial task like a commoner– it is the role of the Royal Family to bestow rewards and honour for doing so. There is no one higher than I. Therefore I can do no such thing.」

As Howard turned briskly away from me, I said:

「Howard!」

I called his name again. But this time I grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him to face me.

Then, with shock in his eyes at being grabbed–his blue eyes stared blankly.

「You’re a man! It doesn’t matter how dangerous, or who he’s fighting, or whether or not he’ll be rewarded–there are several times in a man’s life where he must fight and put his life on the line! This is one of your moments!」

I shoved Howard’s back to push him toward the driver’s seat.

「I, I…」

Howard shifted restlessly as he stood in front of the driver’s seat.

「–Right now, you’re the only one who can save these children! You’re a prince! At some point, you might become a king! A ruler doesn’t just act for himself–he fights for his people! Fight for the children who carry the future of your country!」

I shouted at him.

Then, finally–

Being a man, more or less, Howard scowled at me–

「What an insolent fellow, you are…!」

Afterwards, he turned to fix his blue eyes on the explosives in earnest.

Then taking off the white gloves he wore due to his fastidious nature, he tossed them out the window in an act of desperation.

Delicate work is best accomplished with the bare hands.

「…Fuck me! This is a powerful A-type semtex bomb!」

Uttering a vulgar curse despite his Royal lineage, Howard used a finger to trace a wire leading down off of the seat as he knelt by it. It seems that he has to first assess the nature of the bomb.

You can do it, Howard…!

Then he said:

「–Scion! Kinji is fine for the moment, retrieve Aria!」

During this exchange he had with Scion, Howard glanced back and forth between me and Scion as he gave this order. In the meanwhile, he discarded several dummy energising wires that ran from the detonator and tossed them out the window.

Now under orders, Scion and I exchanged glances as we stood on the bus still running wildly down the road.

「Tohyama. I do not wish to do so.」

「It looks like there’s not other choice, but to work together, Scion.」

Thus a joint Anglo-Japanese armed tag-team expedition against the oni was formed.

**************************************************************************

I used two hands to pull myself up onto the top of the bus as Scion smugly used one…there she was, Kon.

「–You seem happy. You’re bound to die sooner or later with those short lives of yours. Why don’tcha just wait for death to come anyways?」

Having left the front of the bus to take up a position behind us, the twin-tailed face of Kon’s peeked out at us from underneath the lid of her pot.

Scion fired his MP5K without hesitation just as the bus shook. Kon orchestrated it to disrupt our movement. Taking advantage of the action, she rolled down to shelter herself on the side of the bus–

Sticking on there, she tossed up a grenade from below.

「…!」

Scion and I were blasted in opposite directions by the explosion.

The roof above the driver’s seat was partially destroyed, and I saw Howard still at work–

I was dangling off the right side and Scion was hanging off the left side mirror, then Kon began to rock the car in a zig-zag manner. As I was just about to hit a bus stop and Scion was going to hit a street sign, we managed to get back on top of the vehicle. Once there, from in front of us–*Whizz!*

Hearing the sound of Sarah’s arrow cutting through the air, I threw myself forward and down on the roof. I managed to dodge it.

Looking in the direction from which the arrow flew…

There was what appeared to be a trailer truck that they had taken over–the private truck from earlier. With a gross weight nearing 10 tonnes, it’s large body swayed from side to side and the back end aligned for a head-on collision with the bus. On top of the storage container, Sarah knelt with her bow held to her side.

–I instantly knew what the oni were planning.

The left and right rear doors of the container swung open, and everything inside had been removed to make space. It was just large enough for a single bus.

Equipped with a ramp in order to help load cargo, it now stuck out trailing behind the truck and as it ran upon the asphalt, leaving behind a shower of sparks.

「Do they intend on putting the bus inside?」

Seeming to have grasped their intent, Scion then turned his MP5K in their direction–

Sarah rolled her way across the top of the storage container and disappeared in the direction of the driver’s seat. She seems to have picked up on the fact that Scion and I had joined forces, and she wanted to avoid a 2 on 1 firefight.

While that occupied my attention, between Scion and I–*Rrrrrr!*

Kon breezed past us. Scion rained a hail of bullets on it, but the pot was bulletproof. Then leaping inside the back of the truck, she took up a position as if to wait for us.

Even as we both ran along the road at high speed, the distance between the bus and truck lessened.

If captured–we are finished. With so many children to guard, it’s impossible to counter-attack the oni. Like me, Scion surely understands this as well.

In such a desperate life-and-death situation, not even my Hysteria Mode brain could figure a solution–the bus moved–

「Hahaha! Watch, children! Behold the power of a royal!」

–It swerved right.

Away from the back of the truck.

Looking through the gap in the rupture roof, I saw Howard sitting in the driver’s seat in place of the successfully dismantled semtex bomb. Howard…! I told you that you could do it, didn’t I!? Wonderful!

「Kinji! Scion! Leave these children within my care! The two of you must save Aria!」

The Prince could operate the bus–

Now under human control, he maneuvered the bus right up next to the truck.

「Yes, sire.」

After hearing the Prince’s order, Scion leapt onto the back of the truck as his coat flapped in the wind.

Needless to say, I did the same. Because of the difference in vehicle heights, I used the wire anchor in my belt–but Scion seemed to have his own hidden inside a fountain pen.

Seemingly eager to disengage, the Prince soon after turned the elementary school bus down a London alleyway to keep it safe.

As for us, we rushed up the back of the truck storage container, but we saw no sign of Kon.

Did she fall out of the driver’s seat? Taking Aria along with her?

「…Tohyama, 2 kilometres to the rear. Above us.」

As Scion conveyed that terse message, I looked up into the clear blue sky absent of all snow clouds–

…!

–An AH-1–!

…An attack helicopter is chasing after us…!

I don’t get the feeling that it just so happens to be out on a training exercise. It is headed right for us.

The AH-1–commonly known as Cobra, is a masterpiece of engineering with over 1,000 of them produced in the entire world. With a total length of 17.3 metres, a top speed of 227 KPH, in addition to an armament of a fixed M197 gatling gun, 8 TOW anti-tank missiles, and 38 tiered rockets in JM261 coaxial rocket pods, it was a viper of the sky designed solely for aerial combat.

The loud whine of the Lycoming T53 engines came closer–

With my Hysteria Mode enhanced vision, I saw Tsubaki in the pilot’s seat, in the next moment.

–*Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!*

Bullets from the nose-mounted, tri-barrelled gatling gun belched fired and coated the truck in bullets.

「Hmph!」

「–Dammit!」

Scion merely exhaled through his nose with a blank expression, while I cried out, and each of us ran across the back of the truck–or perhaps more accurately tumbled across it, to take refuge in the cab. We both came to the same conclusion that we did not want to fight.

Sure enough, because their allies were below, the Cobra stopped their aerial assault–

With the whine of the rotors, the helicopter took up a position over the bullet-riddled truck.

It began to fly alongside the truck at a matched speed over 100 KPH.

Then a thick wire with a hook began to dangle from a sturdy winch.

Despite it’s heavy weight, the cable hung down and behind the fast moving helicopter…

Now, Kon who had been hiding, hooked her pot to the hook and began to rise with Sarah sitting atop it. The oni must have planned to escape via air the entire time.

Still restrained by the threat of flying arrows, the two of us could not fire our guns as we hung on to opposites sides of the truck–

Kon hooked her own pot onto the skids of the helicopter via an S-shape hook, and Sarah stayed on top.

It looked like Sarah was using her own powers to moderate the intensity of the downwash around her.

「Shit! They’re getting away」

As I looked up at the AH-1 and shouted that, the sound of Scion firing reached my ears.

Not at Sarah, but instead at the nearby figure at the back of the truck–

He seemed to be aiming at Yen who carried two blue kanabou on her back.

Yen quickly retreated back inside the container, and the hook dropped down close to the rear doors again

It appears that Kon is operating the truck remotely and trying to move the hook and wire into the correct position. Yen seems to just want to grab a hold of the hook at the end of the wire.

「Alright… Let’s do this!」

–With a sudden movement, I ran down the back of the container and grabbed the hook that dropped down. All before Yen could.

Then.

「Scion, did you want to do this? This is to make up for ruining our duel on Abbey Road.」

I pushed the hook through a gargantuan hole left by the Cobra in the roof of the truck. What’s more, I pushed my hand through another hole and pulled it back out, as if using the hook to sew.

Then I looped the hook back over the wire–linking the truck and the helicopter.

How about that, Tsubaki? Now the Cobra can’t escape. That’s how things are now.

「–This is a chain death-match between the helicopter and truck. I’ve changed the billing of this fight.」

As I stood up and gave a desperate smile, Scion…

「You are a madman, Kinji Tohyama.」

With a half-astonished look, he responded with a cool smile.

As for the helicopter–The truck could not do anything except follow along the roads to reach its destination. As Kon operated the truck remotely, the Cobra was forced to follow along with the truck through the sky.

With a *Clang!* Clang!*, the helicopter rose a few times, pulling the wire tight, but because it was sturdy, the hook only bit in more deeply to the cable. Serves you right. You’re not getting away.

The helicopter was forced to perform several risky maneuvers, dodging left and right to avoid the wire getting snagged on lamp posts and street signs. A shrill shrieking noise came from the airframe. It was a good feeling.

Yen watched these development from her place, hidden inside the container–

I wondered if she would scale the container in anger, but she retreated back inside.

…?

Peeking inside through one of the bullet holes, I saw Yen with a sake bottle in her mouth, then she spat it out and breathed on her hands to improve her grip. Then she took up a baseball batting stance with her kanabou–

–*Whoom!* She ripped horizontally through the side wall of the container.

I tried to shoot, but I was thwarted by a rain of bulletproof arrows from above.

Scion was in the same situation. I was shooting at Sarah, but she was hidden behind the pot and could not be dislodged.

In the meanwhile, *Whoom!* *Whoom!*, Yen punched through the sides of the container several more times…

Holes were appearing in a line across the body of the container.

It was like someone punching open a food tin from the inside.

…Crap…!

As the Cobra rose again, I realised what Yen was doing.

*Creak!* *Grrrrrr!* From front to back, the ceiling of the container–

It peeled back just like the lid of a food tin

Yen hung off the back end of the roof by her kanabou…then she climbed up on top. Now the roof that was suspended from the wire flew through the air like a flat metal plate as the helicopter flew above it.

Carefully but surely, the Cobra was gaining altitude.

In order to avoid tipping over the metal plate, we had to manage our weight and balance very carefully, so Scion and I found it difficult to move. Our mobility had been severely restricted…!

On one knee, I deployed the claws that Hiraga-san had added to my shoes and dug them in with a *Creak!*, while beside me–

Scion deployed similar spikes from the heel of his leather shoes with a rending sound of metal..

「It’s just like Smash Bros. I’ve never fought on a tilting stage before!」

「What is that?」

「A Japanese game. Now, let’s do this bare handed, Scion. Just shooting at Yen is useless.」

「So it would appear. By the way, she does not seem to be human. What is she?」

「A Japanese oni. The story of fighting her will be a good one to tell in the pub. If we come back from this alive, that is.」

As Scion and I conversed–using the claws in her feet, Yen steadily advanced, step by step.

As Yen moved toward the centre, the whole plate began to tilt like a seesaw. Because of that, Scion and I had no choice but to move forward ourselves, holstering out guns in our shoulder and back holsters.

Without mentioning the wire that Yen was approaching, Scion and I both kept our gazes fixed upon it.

Our footing was the worst, to say the least, and our present situation was much the same. On our side we had a hysterised me and Scion who had teamed up. On the other side was Yen, by herself. In such a situation we should be able to win. Let’s do it…!

As that thought passed through my mind:

「Hold just a moment.」

Returning her kanabou to her back, Yen held up her palm.

「Tsubaki has never operated such a fragile dragonfly-like machine. What is more, carrying this heavy steel plate along cannot be anything good for it.」

Moving her hands, Yen grabbed a hold of the thick cable. Then with a grunt of exertion, she steadied her footing and began to pull with her left and right hand along the cable to make the plate rise. If you were to look at it, it would also appear that the helicopter is also rising.

What is this? What’s going on…?

Scion then stepped quickly in front of me as I stood confused.

Then he began to help Yen pull us up the cable.

「…!」

Finally, I realised the reason and hurried over to the cable as well. Yen, Scion, and I, all together–

We gave no more thought to our footing or balance. There was no time for anything like that…!

At this moment, we were headed toward a huge 244 metre long and 65 metre tall bridge that spanned the Thames and looked like a gate–

We were going to crash into the Tower Bridge!

Well actually, due to Sarah’s powers, it seems that the helicopter will be able to clear it. But in order to avoid it, the arc that would be traced out by the evasion maneuver would swing our footing around a long way…causing us to collide with it…! 

A 44 metre high set of girders stretched between the two Gothic style towers–

–*Screech!*

The plate just barely grazed the tower, causing a little of its marble facade to fall.

However… somehow, we had just barely avoided a collision. Because we had been able to put aside the distinction of friend and foe to combine our efforts.

「…That was a close shave.」

「That was your fault.」

「That was entirely your fault.」

I responded to Scion in Japanese, as he responded in English, grumbling the same complaint…

Well, connecting the truck to the helicopter was definitely my crazy idea, so I bobbed my head in apology.

Directly after I lowered my head to show my gratitude–

–*Whoosh!* I landed an Ouka-powered uppercut on Yen.

Yen caught my fist on her palm, and Scion also let go of the cable–

The plate fell away from beneath us, and for a few seconds we were weightless–engaging in hand-to-hand combat in the middle of the air.

Scion deflected Yen’s left-handed counter with some kind of trained martial art sidekick. Yen’s fist passed under my armpit, and I let it through up to the elbow joint. Yen had wanted to strike me with the heel of her hand, but somehow grabbing the cable and using it and Yen’s horn to support himself, Scion manages to wrap it around both of her arms and legs–

–*Thump!*

With both left and right arms restrained, Yen crashed face-first into the metal plate.

It was a brutal pro wrestling double-team technique. I never thought that two people would ever do it while wearing suits.

In order to regain balance, Scion and I backed up a little further–each of us taking up original karate and boxing stances heavily modified and influenced by a blend of many styles.

The Cobra turned to fly over Southwark to avoid the massive ferris wheel of the London Eye. However, although it is not bad enough to crash, it is flying awkwardly.

Possibly due to the added weight of the metal plate and the emergency evasive action we had just taken, something had happened to the engine, causing it to not be able to fly properly.

Having apparently struck her nose in the fall, Yes stood up while rubbing it…

「Is this how you treat a woman?」

She asked.

「What of it?」

Scion said, glancing over briefly in my reaction as he spoke to Yen.

Then Yen drew her kanabou from off her back…

「For an oni, their kanabou and their body are one spirit. This is part of my flesh. If we possess any special skill, this is it. I must confess some misgivings about fighting empty-handed.」

「Fine. It’s 2 against 1. Guns don’t work against you anyway, and my knife has recently become more precious to me, so I don’t want to use it.」

「Is that so? Then I shall use it to its fullest effect. Mark my Seigyokurokkaku12 well. This is a rare two-handed form. You may regale the demons in Hell with tales of it.」

Then…

Yen took the kanbou that shone with a blue light off her back and into her left and right hands. A kanbou in each hand, she held them out in front of her in a cruciform stance that was a style of a two-sword school. Both of them crossed.

I don’t care for that stance. It reminds me of my trauma with the supersoldier Seiji, the Bewitching Blade.

Yen’s new kanabou, Seigyokurokkaku… is thinner than it’s predecessor Kongourokkaku. Each of them probably weigh 20 kilograms, and there is no doubt that it is a slow weapon.

「–Tohyama. That woman’s Japanese was a bit difficult to understand. Give me an English translation.」

「Oh, Scion. That’s a part of her. So if we’re fighting barehanded, I told her it’s fine for her to use it.」

「Did you just give that ogre a handicap? You truly are mad.」

「That ogre–I believe that Yen is sincere. If you use a weapon, you might be able to catch her off guard. We’ve been talking in English so, she probably doesn’t understand.」

「I will do no such thing. However, I will if you do so.」

What is with this rivalry? Scion is really proud.

「Then the first move is mine, as usual. Follow me and match my actions.」

I said, then–Because I do not particularly hate this foolishly direct Yen, I rushed in at first unarmed, as promised. In order to maintain the balance, Yen moved forward as well.

Not wanting to be hit by the kanabou above all things, I evaded her killing range by sliding under it and launching a low kick. At the same moment, hidden behind me, Scion jumped up–

As Yen struck out trying to trample me with the claws on her foot, I held on tight to her left ankle.

Flying up, Scion stepped on the kanabou Yen held over her head and retracted his spikes with a *Click!*

Then, like me, followed the same strategy of attacking the giant’s extremities–

I thought he would try to restrain an arm, but he did something different. That’s not going to work, Scion!

Scion stepped past the kanabou and, coat flapping, circled behind Yen.

Then gripped her neck between both arms to strangle her into submission.

When it comes to personal combat, a sleeper hold is a literal killer technique. But for oni–

「–Call it off, Scion!」

As I shouted, *CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!*…!

Yen’s fangs bit down on Scion’s forearm.

Under his coat, Scion wore alloyed body armour like mine, but despite that–

With the snap of metal… Yen’s vice-like bite force cracked it into pieces.

「…!」

As Scion furrowed his eyebrows, Yen did not bite off his arm–

Holding it in her mouth and snarling, she shook it back and forth with the strength of her upper body.

Thus breaking the sleeper hold, she brought Scion’s whole body in front of her– Then she raised Scion up.

Thinking that she would hurl him away, Scion took out his wire anchor fountain pen.

But with a *Snap!*, it was shot out of his hand by an arrow and dropped to the metal plate. Sarah had intervened.

However, Yen’s purpose in raising him up in front of her–

It was not a simple matter of just throwing him off.

Yen raised the left foot that I was still clinging to–*Bam!*

She swung Scion down to collide with me in a brutal crash.

「–…!」

Swaying, with his coat and armour lost and sense of balance destroyed, Scion slumped down onto the metal. I couldn’t help him because I lost consciousness a few tenths of a second later.

「Scion–Ugh!」

Then I was seized by some strange force–

Were Scion and I being dragged across the metal sheet!? The next second *Boom!* 

Yen had been running after us as we slid and swung down her Seigyokurokkaku to hit the metal plate. It was just where my head had been a second ago.

Jolted back to life by my near brush with death, I:

「–!」

I barely caught myself by grabbing the edge of the metal plate and hanging off of it.

I thought he must have fallen… but there was that bastard Scion. When we had crashed together, he had grabbed a hold of my belt wire–and now he was hanging from that. Was that what had pulled me across the metal plate?

Regardless, he had the ability to form a plan and flawlessly execute it. He’s a true superman.

「Uh, Yen. Your free lunch is over.」

As I said that, I reached into my pocket and combat loaded a bullet into my gun, then pointed it toward Scion.

*Whoosh!* Sarah shot an arrow from the Cobra, neatly severing the 0.5 millimetre cable that connected Scion and I.

At the same instant that airbag bullet I had fired detonated milliseconds later beneath Scion, triggered by an analogue timer. Just below his feet.

With no other place to go he was propelled up and grabbed on to the edge of the plate.

Hanging down off of it just like me.

Now sloping at a great angle, Yen did all she could to right the balance by returning to the other side…

「Thanks, Scion. I know that you pulled me along on purpose when I lost consciousness. Thanks to that, my head wasn’t crushed.」

I said, expressing my gratitude for what I understood had occurred, but:

「I was simply hanging on to you so that I did not fall myself.」

He answered with an air of indifference.

「By the way, was that an airbag-type bullet just now? Is that a Japanese product?」

「Yes. A classmate of mine made if for me in her workshop in Kameori.」

「My quartermaster has crafted something similar for my mobile. However, it is troublesome to throw by hand.」

「…I’ll give you one later, but there will probably be some patent royalty to reproduce it By the way, you dropped this.」

.

Then I replaced the fountain pen that I had picked as we fell and placed it into the chest pocket of his suit.

After a brief moment of shock at the return of his fountain pen wire anchor, Scion said:

「–Look. A large bag of air is following us!」

Just as calmly as ever, he pulled himself back up onto the metal plate that had returned to level.

But I had already seen the『large airbag』.

As we hung suspended below the listing Cobra, it headed toward us–Many dozens of bright, multi-coloured balloons in a large group.

…This is very unfortunate.

It was the hot air balloon race that Watson had told me about at Stansted Airport.

And the Cobra began to spin slightly as we headed right into the thick of them.

「…」

On the ground, obstacles generally exist in a single plane, but in the air, they are in three dimensions. We had entered a sort of 3-D maze. Innumerable balloons milled about, and their random shifting patterns made things dangerous. Then there is the effect of the wind that cannot be discounted. The question then–

Can Tsubaki, who has never flown an aircraft before, successfully navigate through it with the damaged Cobra?

.The balloons were now deadly airbags.

If we hit just one, our lives would be over. Both those in the helicopter and us. And the balloon crew as well, of course.

–The winch activated to bring the metal plate closer to the helicopter to avoid a collision…

N-No…!

We were about to graze a balloon!

As I stood in front of Yen, unable to do anything:

「Hmph!」

Scion sniffed and began to run across the plate. Then:

「–Scion!」

As I called out from behind him, he looked like he was getting ready to jump. And he leapt from the plate toward the balloon.

The plate’s centre of gravity now heavily skewed in Yen’s direction, it began to heel over like a seesaw–

–We just barely avoided the balloon. He had raised the side of the sheet that was about to collide.

But Scion managed to land on one knee, and was assailed by arrows from Sarah. He rolled to avoid them, but due to that, he was about to tumble from the balloon. Then he took out his fountain pen wire anchor.

Making sure that I was outside of Yen’s attack range:

「Scion, grab on!」

Quickly loading an Anchor bullet into my Beretta, I fired.

Scion grasped the 1 micron diameter diploid phase aramid fibre that boasted a tensile strength of 0.2 tonnes that traced a glowing blue trail through the air and hit him in the chest–forming a thread between us.

Realising in an instant that it was a lifeline, Scion wrapped it one around the sleeve of his stab-proof suit.

Pulling in the slack, he then ran along the balloon and kicked off–and in the very next moment…

From behind me and at an inopportune angle.

「Victory!」

Yen’s fighting spirit blazed as she threw one of her Seigyokurokkaku like a boomerang!

「–!」

This mid-ranged attack surpassing all my expectations, I turned to take it on the back.

Despite using Kikka to reduce the damage, I was knocked off the plate.

Then I instantly know Yen’s objective was to have me and Scion crash into each other mid-air.

As Scion and I flew towards each other in empty space–

Scion suddenly reoriented himself with a sudden jerk.

Causing the soles of his shoes to impact mine.

「I shall leave dealing with Yen to you.」

Making that sudden declaration of the state of affairs without changing expression, Scion kicked off hard.

I also kicked off, sending me to the plate and Scion to the balloon.

As my body passed back into Sarah’s field of view, Scion took out his fountain pen–

–*Whizz!* He took aim at the cable that connected the helicopter and the plate below it.

With a rattle, Scions’ wire tangled itself around the cable hanging from the winch…

*Whoosh!* One of Sarah’s arrows flew to cut the wire. *Clang!*, but Scion intercepted it with an MP5K bullet.

Then with a series of *Clangs!*, Scion intercepted each and every arrow she fired with a single bullet… A few seconds later, I reached the plate. 

Scion had said that he would leave Yen to me. That means he plans to attack the helicopter.

If that’s the case, I hope he can climb up a rope pretty quickly, so I–

「If I recall correctly, that bow is fairly important to you. Then it looks like I’ll have to do this.」

Taking advantage of Sarah who was desperately firing at Scion, I shot a 9mm parabellum round.

My bullet hit her bowstring and– *Snap!* As it was severed, Sarah paled…

His gun slung across his back, Scion ascended the wire quickly, hand over hand, reaching the helicopter in the blink of an eye. Panicking, Sarah whirled her arm to summon a tornado… then an unfortunate gust of wind caused the Cobra to graze a balloon and halted the action.

Mounting the skids, Scion took off his jacket and wielded it like a whip.

The sleeve wound around Sarah’s ankle, and he pulled it tight–

She fell with a *Thump!* Her evident unfamiliarity with hand-to-hand combat was on full display. Then Scion shot the strap that attached Sarah to the helicopter and abruptly fell from the helicopter.

「Ah–!」

Sarah screamed, and without letting go of her bow, she fell, and using bursts of air around her to change her trajectory–she avoided the metal plate and continued to fall–*Whooph!*

She fell spreadeagled on a large rainbow coloured balloon that was considerably further below.

Looking back up, she scowled and shouted angrily, but… it appeared that she could not launch herself through the air like a rocket. We have finally forced one of our enemies to retire.

Now, though, Sarah was using a technique that she was unable to use while beneath the aircraft’s rotor–and she seemed to be pushing away her companion in the helicopter. All from where she stood on the balloon.

Thanks to her actions, the Cobra was rescued from it’s predicament and pulled a wild  turn to fly back over downtown London and Westminster.

There was a harsh, grating sound mixed in with the sound of the rotor. When it will crash is only a matter of time.

If it were to crash in the middle of the city–the damage would be catastrophic. Many of the citizens and tourists looking up at us would certainly die.

As I furrowed my eyebrows, Kon worked her way down to hang off of the metal landing skid.

–She tossed a Mk. II hand grenade in Scion’s direction!

「…!」

At what had to be a suicide bomber distance, a roar and flash detonated midair.

The shrapnel from the grenade destroyed the skids and severely damaged the helicopter.

–Having been finally cornered, Kon resorted to this ridiculous extreme! 

In order to avoid the explosion, Scion curled up and fell from the helicopter–

Then, *BOOOOOOOOM!*, Yen struck the middle of the plate with her Seigyokurokkaku, destroying the cable and hook that connected the plate to the helicopter.

Then a minute later we began to fall straight down.

「–!」

Glancing down, I saw us approaching a tower shaped building.

Yen kicked off and jumped from the plate, then Kon fell from the helicopter using an explosion to change her direction, heading toward where Yen had thrown her kanabou.

I kicked off to follow them and soared toward the tower-like building.

As I flew through the air, I realised something–

Yen had thrown her kanabou in order to save Tsubaki in the helicopter. If the damaged Cobra were forced to carry the heavy weight of the kanabou, it would definitely crash. What’s more, with Scion safely off of it, Tsubaki should be able to fly away.

–But even so.

Having fallen from the helicopter, Scion immediately took out the airbag device that looked like a mobile. Then inflating it midair, he pushed off from it– getting back onto the Cobra.

That is to say he had fooled Yen causing her to miscalculate, but that was his plan all along.

I wonder if I could pull a superhuman move that off in Hysteria Mode?

Leaving Tsubaki in the helicopter to Scion, I turned back to Yen who was clutching Kon in her arms–

With a *Thud!*, we both landed on different black steel beam-like objects that I couldn’t identify.

Each of us were about 7 metres apart.

Where are we? This is… Looking around, I soon realised where we were.

I had seen this tower many times in films.

It was the most famous clock tower in the world, Big Ben.

It was about 9:11 AM so the hands were just about level.

I stood on the short hour hand, and Yen stood on the longer minute hand.

「…」

Looking up into the sky, I saw Scion break the windscreen of the Cobra with his left fist and move inside to attack Tsubaki.

In the confined cockpit, her super speed did her no good as he seized the control yoke–the people gathered below for the balloon launch scattered like baby spiders as he guided the craft into an emergency descent.

Then, worried about Yen, I looked back at her.

「That explosion… it must have woken me up.」

Suddenly appearing–

–It was Aria!

Slapping the lid off the pot while stepping on Kon, Aria propped her torso up out of it!

Then taking aim at Yen at point-blank range with her two guns, she prepared to fire–

Then as the pot slid down the minute hand, Aria was forced to *Thump!* Kon on the head to avoid her escaping, and Kon pulled on her arm to keep her inside the pot as she jumped up.

Then she grabbed the piece of metal that denoted 1 o’clock and swung herself up, kicked off it toward the one indicating 11 o’clock, then dove feet first like an airplane–landing next to me.

Then she smiled at Kon.

「Huh? What now?」

Then she pointed–

To have her see the hand grenade pin she had tossed away.

「…!」

With her neck stuck out of the pot, her red crimson eyes widened in surprise–

「Wh-wh-which one is it!?」

She–did not have time to check all of the grenades she wore around her neck like a necklace. Finally, she crawled out of the pot packed full of explosives and kicked it further down the minute hand herself.

–*Boooooooooooom!*…Exploding in midair from the inside, the pot was reduced to tiny fragments…

Then I was slightly surprised by the African pattern robed figure that had emerged.

When I saw three hands, I had thought it must mean multiple people, but now I saw that she had 4 arms.

That’s why she was able to work so quickly back on the bus she had hijacked.

Seeming to have lost track of time while she was unconscious, Aria–

「…You haven’t waited long, have you?」

She gave me a fleeting apologetic sidelong glance.

「No? …Haha! We sound like a couple that has just met up where they agreed to.」

I answered, my Hysteria Mode surreptitiously intensified by Aria’s feet-first dive.

From how I answered, Aria could tell that I had been aroused.

「Y-y-you are like this!? A-a-a-after I interrogate you, I’m putting a wind hole in you!」

Sentencing me to death without any explanation, she turned an angry face toward Yen and Kon.

Yen and Kon.

Me and Aria.

Now, at the end of it all– it has come down to the 2 on 2 battle, hasn’t it?

「You… Saw something that shouldn’t be seen! There used to be a lot of demons with arms like mine a long time ago, but now it is only I. I’m ugly. How, how dare you! How embarrassing.」

Angrily baring her fangs, she took out her arms from her baggy clothing–

She drew out two hatchets in her upper arms while the lower set stayed by her side.

「–Not at all, Kon. You are beautiful. All women are equally so.」

As I called her beautiful I perhaps for the first time…

She stood blankly, her eyes behind her glasses wide and her cheeks blushing.

Then Aria became angry.

「I can wield four weapons. I’ll have my revenge for kidnapping me. You take care of Yen.」

And so she decided our respective targets.

Alright. That’s fine. Defeating Yen was the task the Scion left me anyway.

「…Well now, Aria. I’ll have to trim your arms and legs so that you cannot escape next time. I may not have my pot any more, but I can carry you all the way to Ki-no-Kuni.」

*Cling!* *Cling*, knocking her hatchets together, Kon threatened Aria.

In response, Aria puffed out her non-existent chest, and coolly started Kon down.

「That is awfully kind of you. Kon, I have a technique to counter you. But it is pretty embarrassing to use, so I do not want to use it. If you surrender, I won’t have to.」

「Surrender? Surrender, you say? Ohohoho! An oni surrender to a human? Never. Not in a thousand years.」

Shaking her twintails from side to side–she then fell silent.  Aria scowled.

「I see. Then I will have to use it.」

From both of her sides… shouldn’t this be her back? If I recall correctly her swords are on her back and guns on the hip, right?

She drew her swords instead of her guns to match Kon.

But that isn’t enough. Even with her two hatchets, Kon still has 2 arms to hold her down.

But… I’ll leave this 4 armed enemy to Aria. She must have some trick up her sleeve.

Above all else, Hysteria Mode respects a woman’s will.

「…The first time in Nao de China. The second time on Fugaku. The third on Big Ben. Yen, our dates always seem to have a great view, don’t they?」

As the minute hand fell with a *Thunk!*, the hour hand beneath me rose slightly.

As we stood upon Big Ben it kept impeccable time–It was now 9:13.

Standing on the minute hand, Yen uncrossed her arms.

「You have done well to survive. Tohyama. Human, though thou might be. Humans are weaker than oni. You defy that natural order–gaining victory over an oni. The strong survive and weak die, that is the unchanging order ordained by heaven.」

「Then I will teach you something by defeating you. The law is wrong..」

I showed her that I would not retreat a single step.

「…Why is it? Tohyama. No matter what actions you take–she will become the vessel for the Scarlet Goddess. Will you give your life only for this to occur regardless?」

No matter what, huh?

「–For love.」

As I gave that Yen-like answer, Aria slumped.

But she held out. Good. Big Ben is 55 metres tall.

「Love…what is that?.」

「You certainly know it. Oni are similar to humans after all.」

「…I don’t comprehend.」

「Then I will make you understand. After this battle.」

「Unnecessary. I am Habi’s retainer. I can do naught by follow my mistress’ commands.」

Hiding her slight hesitation and purging her mind of independent thought, she raised the horn on her head–

Then her eyes filled with scarlet light.

Yen–she is getting serious as an oni. That is clear.

She possesses the power of an entire battleship packed into her body. She is more muscular than Tsubaki or Kon, and if I had to guess, I would say that she was a pure combat type of oni.

Then Yen… *Cr-Creak!*… she began to gather all the strength into her muscles.

She looked like a fierce beast, and it was clear that no human could hope to stand against her in hand to hand combat.

She pushed her knife-like horn and claws on both hands forward like a bird of prey, and along her centre line–she held her right hand high like a bear and her left low like a lion.

She also tilted her horn that was harder than tungsten-cobalt alloy and tilted it down and to the right. Despite me having shattered one, she still had one remaining on her left side, and she pointed the horn toward me like a rhinoceros. 

Then concentrating her elephant-like strength into her back that coiled like a tiger, *Pom!* *Pom!*

She stamped her feet to make sure of her footing. Looking like a bull readying to charge.

Facing her, on the contrary, I adopted a loose posture and did not put any particular strength into my stance…

A formless form and a natural posture.

「The cherry blossoms fall and continue to fall. Thou now, and I later. We shall meet again in hell, Tohyama cherry tree.」

「If you are going to scatter it, then come scatter it..」

When we both finished speaking–

–…*Ding!*…—…*Dong!*…–

–…*Clang!*…—…*Dong!*…–

Big Ben’s 9:15 chime resounded throughout all of London.

This close to it, it vibrated my blood–

–*Whoosh!* Aria dashed forward on the hour hand. Like a fireball.

At the same instant, Kon rushed forward on the thinner minute hand. Like a soundless hurricane.

At the exact same moment, Yen and I started running. Moving faster than Aria and Kon, we outstripped them and overtook them–bounding forward to leave them both behind.

Leaping forward from the minute hand, she held her arms forward in the uniquely oni type of so shrimp stance13—

Then she brought her head forward and down with all her strength to slash with her horn.

–Zetsurou–!

But this was not a technique I had not seen before.

Taking her horn in both my hands like an iron stake, I imprisoned all of her power. From wrist to elbow, elbow to shoulder, to back, to waist, I funnelled all of Yen’s power.

Then I channelled that power into a knee-kick counter-strike–*Bam!* Striking out. Aiming at Yen’s abdomen.

In response, Yen–

Received the powerful strike on her steel-like abdominal muscles. Then from abdomen to back, from back to shoulder, and shoulder to elbow she returned my Zetsurou with Zetsurou with zero loss. Zetsuka14.

From both sides, her claws closed in like a pincer attack–

Then using both of my hands, I caught her power. Then I twisted her right hand in front of her and left hand behind her as if to pull her arm joints apart. Transforming her compressive force into rotational force I launched a roundhouse kick to her left side. I returned her Zetsuka with Zetsuka in a 3 layered Zetsurou–Then Yen caught my Zetsurou and turned it into an elbow strike. Then I added a fifth lay by returning another kick.

Zetsurou in response to Zetsurou, a field of Zetsuka bloomed on top of Big Ben.

Yen and I orbited each other like binary stars, trading what would be certainly deadly blows.

Exchanging certain death back and forth every moment, there was no room for mistakes.

My skill in using Zetsuka was slightly better, but Yen made up for it with her larger reserve of strength.

Of the three cardinal virtues of a Sumo– what remained was spirit.15 The one who lapses their concentration for a moment will lose…!

–Beneath us, at the base of the minute hand, Aria clashed with Kon.

「…Quadra…!」

Mumbling that–she brought her twintails into action. Using ESP. She kept her ace hidden until now.

Their tips reached inside her skirt and drew her pair of silver and jet black governments–

With a *Bang!* *Bang!*, she used them skilfully to fire. Targeting the hatchets in Kon’s hands.

「Hu-Wha!?」

With the entirely unexpected shots, Kon’s hatchets were knocked out of her hands, and Aria pressed into the opening she had created with her blades.

Staring her down–with her two hatchets gone, Kon was entirely unarmed.

「–Eep! Yen-nee…!」

She threw herself forward to avoid the rushing Quadra Aria.

At that moment–

The careful balance established between Yen and I crumbled.

「Kon…!」

Seeing Kon defeated before her eyes, Yen’s concentration was slightly disrupted.

Actually, from the very beginning there had been an opening in her spirit.

She was worried that Scion might have defeated Tsubaki.

–Her spirit was troubled worrying about her comrades.

That is to say, she has never faced defeat until now–

「–Yen–this is Love!」

*Craaaaack!*

With a sound rivaling the tolling of the bell that reverberated throughout London, I headbutted the right side of Yen’s forehead with a violent crash using a 27-fold Zetsurou.

「–Aaaah–!」

With that feminine noise, Yen…. *Thud!*

Moving past Aria, she slumped–and threw her body across Kon. As she lost consciousness a few moments later… even then, she spread her arms to shield Kon.

Aira–*Whoosh!* used her twin tails as aero brakes… 

Leaping up over the oni, she took a few steps and with a whirl, turned a 180 on the minute hand.

I had trusted Aria to deal with Kon, but I– with my headbutt, I had knocked Yen back onto the hour hand.

「…」

Yen embraced the 4-armed childish Kon. Protecting Kon from her attackers–the is to say from us, presenting her back to us. Then Aria and I looked down at them.

With that scene–

I orated about the outcome of this long battle.

「…It would appear that we have gained our enemies’ consent. You were able to do it after all, Aria. It was embarrassing for you to use that technique… but I wonder if it was because it reminded you of Riko?」

I threw Aria a wink as I looked at her twin tails.

「There was no other choice.」

*Whir!* *Whir!* *Thump!*

Aria twirled her guns and replaced her guns in their holsters with her twin tails.

She then also replaced her twin blades within her sailor suit.

Last April during the hijacking Riko said:『Aria is not a real Quadra.』… Now had she become a true one?

At the thought of the twin blades and twin guns bullying me, a cold feeling ran down my spine.

「This was the independent training I mentioned on the phone. I had free time, and was instructed over the phone by my senpai. It was my intention in coming to London to lessen the burden placed on you. Yen, from the very start, you were unfocused.」

Intuitively, Aria seemed to notice that Yen had been distracted worrying about Tsubaki.

Then Yen…

She raised her head while shielding Kon. Her eyes returned to their original golden colour.

「…Tohyama. I ask that thou teach me. Why could I not–act as oni in this instance?」

Worrying about Tsubaki and Kon had created an opening in her spirit.

I turned a smile toward the still bewildered Yen.

「Because of Love. For oni, isn’t everyone like family? From the start, you thought of your comrades with love.」

I told her the answer again.

Kishibojin– a mother oni was frantic when her own child was hidden from her.

One is always grieved when someone they love is taken away.

Yen finally understood what motivated me to save Aria.

「…Love…」

Yen muttered–

Then without giving a sign of any intuition to fight any longer, she looked out of the town of London for a sign that the Cobra had crashed.

「Yen. I just faced you in a fight where you said:『the strong survive and weak die』… But we humans do not think in those terms. Both the strong and the weak harbour love in their hearts. And so all can thrive.」

I spoke to Yen as I waved my hand across, indicating all of London.

「–You seem to be similar to humans, but there do not appear to be many of you. Are the oni… dying out?」

「…」

「If you, who have learned of Love, became the leader, Yen– then you could stop this way of thinking. Those who trample the weak are fated to extinction.」

At my words… Yen remained silent, but listening.

I don’t know if she understood them or not, but that is what I said. Giving her a lecture.

Then on Yen and Kon’s backs, *Thump!* *Thump!*. Aria patted them to encourage them to meet me halfway. And they cross the hands of Big Ben like a balance beam toward me.

…Ah, Aria.

Finally meeting you again has my emotions surging. Here in your home city.

I thought to give the oni a practical demonstration of Love, but…

If your emotions were riled too much , then the Scarlet Goddess would make an appearance shortly after.

「Hey, Aria. You know you shouldn’t run away from me for some other guy, right? Remember what Sherlock told you? I’m the only one you’re supposed to be with.」

I played a bit of the domineering husband role. Then…

「I-I wasn’t with him. Although it may have looked like that…」

Aria mumbled. Turning red in the face as she did so.

「B-but, y-yeah. You’re the only one I want to be with.」

Saying that with upturned eyes, her blush-o-meter spiked, communicating the message:『Uwah! What have I just said!?』

As usual, she didn’t reach out toward me in any way..

「They say that nobles cannot defy royalty in this country for some reason– you knew that, right? But you are already royalty. So defying them is alright.」

「M-me royalty?」

「–Yes. You are my queen.」

Kneeling at her feet like a knight, I held my hand to my chest–

*Ka-thunk!* As is in response, Big Ben’s needle arms shifted up.

Due to that, or perhaps her own shock at my words, Aria staggered.

Because it would be a bad thing if she fell, I reached out to take her hand and steady her…

Then I took the opportunity to plant a small kiss on the back of her hand.

**************************************************************************

Yen and Kon accompanied us in a classic black taxi to the meeting place for the balloon race.

On the grass there lay the Cobra that was slightly crumpled, and next to it was Scion–handcuffed, kneeling, and with a pitiful look in her eye was Tsubaki.

「…Tsubaki!」

Barefoot and treading heavily, Yen rushed over as Tsubaki stood.

Then as if it were the most natural of things, she tore the handcuffs apart. Then Yen hugged her. 

Not expecting to see her again, Tsubaki cried large drops of tears as she was hugged tight like a child by Yen.

There were a lot of police officers in the area, and they surrounded the two of them, holding out their batons… Just in case, Scion and I readied ourselves… We really do look like the criminals here, don’t we?

Regardless, Yen continue to embrace Tsuabaki, The oni seem to be a very sentimental race, don’t they?

But the oni don’t seem to be likely to cause a scene, and Scion is glaring at me.

So I said–

「You did not use your licence to kill on Tsubaki, Scion. Thank-you.」

Coming up to stand by Scion, I expressed my thanks.

「What are you thanking me for?」

「You knew that I might get in trouble later with Butei Regulation 9 that tells me when I can kill or not–and you knew that, didn’t you? Or was it that an English gentleman never raises his hand against a lady?」

I said, hitting two bullseyes, and Scion fell silent for a short pause…

「Not at all. It was because I have not styled my hair today.」

He said something ridiculous with a straight face.

It would seem that Scion is terrible at lying. In the first place, he has a close-shaven haircut.

However, this might be one of Scion’s jokes. British humour is hard to understand.

「Kinji Tohyama. Who the bloody hell are you?」

Scion asked, a searching look in his turquoise eyes that were full of intelligence.

But it’s alright. I’ll use a cliche.

「–I’m just an ordinary highschool student. One with slightly below average grades in a rough school.」

As I gave that answer, Scion…

He gave a slight smile. Good. It’s alright.

「Kinji. I would like to be friends. Regardless of my father.」

Calling me by my name for the first time, Scion stuck out his tight have to shake–

「For the meantime, things are settled, right? You are truly an incredible man. I’ve just noticed, but after such a huge roundup of criminals… you’re not even breaking a sweat.」

「Something like this is not even worthy of comparison to one of the former Number 7’s exploits.」

「Well, then there is just one more thing. What are we going to do? About our duel? The Prince gave you an order, but things are a bit unclear how they stand at the moment.」

As I touched upon the matter–

「It is over. I do not wish to kill you.」

I received an unexpected answer.

「Running away, are you?」

「I have no issue with you interpreting it that way.」

「You are a terrible liar. Won’t you tell me your real reason?」

「–I have taken a liking to you.」

Scion said without changing expression.

「I shall definitely meet a man like you again sometime in the future. If I am ever working in Japan and need some help, I shall call upon you. Lend me your strength at that juncture.」

「I’ll think about it. And if I ever have a difficult time in England, You’ll help me, won’t you?」

「I shall bear it in mind. Although next time you come, please do not forget to bring Excalibur. Oh, by the by… I wanted to ask you a simple question.」

「?」

「Kinji Tohyama. Who the bloody hell are you?」

The searching look in his turquoise eyes staring at me demanded a somewhat witty answer.

But that’s alright. It was becoming a pretty standard response line.

「–A normal highschool student. One with slightly below average grades at a rough school.」

Giving that answer, Scion…

Cracked a small smile.

Good. Good.

「Kinji. I feel like we can be good friends. Despite my father.」

Scion called me by my first name for the first time and reached out his right hand to offer a handshake–

「Well, I am glad we have settled all that– We can call it a done deal.」

I responded in kind and shook his hand to demonstrate my trust. However…

「You’re shaking with your right hand? I thought you were left-handed. Did you hurt your left hand?」

「Nothing of the sort.」

「Then why?」

「I am actually right-handed.」

「…What!? Why do you always shoot with your left hand then?」

「To give everyone else a handicap. I am pretty strong.」

That means–

The fistfight on Abbey Road was a handicap piled on top of another handicap.

He has me beaten cold. This Scion Bond.

He was a surprisingly interesting fellow. I forced a smile–

On what was definitely his left wrist, Scion glances at his Charles Frodsham watch.

「Time for all the paperwork.」

Forcing responsibility for the oni onto me and the police officers, Scion took his leave quietly.

…Hey, Scion.

Exiting the meeting grounds, I watched his back as he cross the street, then a double-decker bus passed by, cutting off my view–

Then, after it passed,  he was gone.

[END TEXT]

*************************************************************

1. Japanese proverb with the meaning ‘a great stroke of luck’. The origins of the proverb lie in that spring onions and duck are the primary ingredients of a duck stew. Finding a duck would be hard enough, but getting one that is also carrying onions would save you time and be ‘lucky’.

2. Mongolian vodka made from fermented animal milk.

3. The original Japanese is ‘the mind of an engorged person becomes dull’. I give the English version because Minuet would likely use the English.

4. An Oda Nobunaga quote, supposedly, as he was assassinated at 48.

5. Expensive formal kimono typically worn by married women on formal occasions with embroidery along the bottom.

6. Japanese drink made from puree of leafy greens

7. Kanji say ‘Run away’. Wish I could figure out how to do Ruby text, but alas, I am not that motivate to fight with WP when they will inevitably change the interface *AGAIN*, and I will have to re-learn how to do it…

8. ‘Mikiri’ is a skill/practice in Kendo of body management and positioning to move that you only move *just* enough that the opponent’s sword misses you–especially from a close distance. The intent is to pick up on the enemies intent and conserve movement and energy while staying inside their guard.

9. French: ‘coup de tête’ literally means ‘headbutt’. Kanji say: ‘Head-butt Bullet send-off’

10. Hayabusa means ‘falcon’.

11. In case you forgot, ‘Kon’ means ‘pot’ in Japanese.

12. ‘Sturdy Blue Hexagon’ in kanji

13. Weird kabuki stance where arms are held forward and back is arched back, representing being overwhelmed by the power of an opponent.

14. First part of ‘Zetsurou’ and last part of ‘Ouka’. Pretty obvious.

15. Sumo philosophy dictates a Sumo must have: skill, strength, and spirit. Kinji has the former, Yen the second, so ‘spirit’ is left.