Chapter 11: 11

Once again, the students of the Assault department were conducting hand-to-hand combat training in the Assault department building.

　For a butei, who is often on combat missions against criminals, the martial arts is not a sport.

　Like the police and Self-Defense forces, it is an essential skill for butei to defend themself and to take down criminals non-lethally.

　Students hone their skills, both attacking and being attacked, as if their lives are on the line like in a real emergency.

　In a real battle, it is not an option to ask the enemy to change into more advantageous clothes, or to ask for a handicap because of their gender or weight differences. Therefore, except for fingerless gloves to protect the bones of their knuckles, students usually fight in their regular uniforms and fight each other regardless of gender or physique.

“– let’s go!”

　And so, Akari, and underdog of the Assault department, also…

　She took her combat stance with more energy than usual.

　(Today, Aria is leading the training session!)

“Haa!”

　And Akari unleashes a vertical fist at Aria.

　…but, Koki! Akari easily had her wrist grabbed and dotan!

“Kyau!”

　With a one-handed four-direction throw, she was thrown to the ground.

　Despite having ample physical strength, Aria skilfully uses an aikido technique that uses her opponents strength rather than her own to defeat her foe. It is a style of combat that allows her to fight for long periods of time, and is valuable in a 1 vs many combat situation.

　And with this throw, Akari could hear the cheers from the crowd a little further away that were watching.

“I can take on both men and women.”

　When Akari looked up at the sound of this voice, she saw Raika, who was using a perfect Achilles tendon lock on a man who was much taller than herself. The boy was on the floor, and indicated his intention to give up.

“Did that woman win again against a guy?”

“So strong–!”

　Akari heard the spectators saying such things.

“Raika, amazing!”

　Akari had a smile on her face getting up as she watched Raika.

　When Aria saw that Akari, who had been knocked down by her throw and had just gotten up without a care in the world,

“… Akari, your only A rank is in how tough you are.”

In a voice that sounds both stunned and impressed… she muttered such as a thing as she laughed bitterly.

　Akari’s gaze though fell upon,

“Tch, are you a man or a woman!”

　Looking at the crowd surrounding Raika, a boy who had been beaten by Raika was saying such things.

　At Butei High, it was a disgrace among the boys to lose to a girl, and so the boy was filled with hatred at losing to Raika.

　However, Raika was used to such hatred by now, and so she brushed it off with a quick smile.

　　§　　　§

　After her combat training was over, Raika showered and changed out of her uniform…

　While drinking a sports drink, she left the Assault department.

　While the expression on her face was cool and composed,

(… well, I cannot change the fact that I am a masculine female, so whatever.)

　Her heart was not so peaceful.

　(… a manly girl. Even at somewhere like here, Butei high, where most of the girls are fairly manly when compared to normal, I am still called that.)

　(In other words, I guess I am just a super un-girly high school girl, I suppose.)

　(Although, I have been aware of such things for as long as I can remember.)

　(I inherited my height and strength from my father is a butei in the US, hell, even my speech is manly like his. I was born this way though and have zero intention of changing it.)

　(– I am fine with this though, no matter what anyone says.)

　That was what Raika told herself as she walked away…

“……”

　But Raika walked by a girl on the street who was her senior, catching her eye.

　(She is blond like me but… that is it. This senpai has a charm to her and is wearing a fluttery Butei High sailor suit that she modified…)

　(She has her hair done up in twin tails with a cute pink ribbon and her face has not a charm… but a girlish charm.)

　(She is like a perfect, sweet, girly girl who would be loved by both boys and girls…)

(… I… I admire girls like that…)

　The vanilla-like aroma that wafted from this slightly older woman enraptured Raika and all she could do was use her eyes to follow her.

　Raika’s mouth became a く shape as her heart pounded with an emotion that even she did not fully understand…

　(I want to be like that too. I want to be a fluffy cute girl that everyone instinctively wants to hug.)

　(But that is an impossible wish…)

　(I am too tall. My face is too sharp. I am too strong at physical combat.)

　(It does not matter if I wish for it, it cannot happen. It is impossible.)

　(I should just give up.)

(But at least… if I could just be friends with a girl like that…)

　(But that isn’t possible.)

　(A masculine girl like myself is bound to be disliked by a frilly girl like her.)

　And, as Raika began walking away, dejectedly…

“– oh, Raika. Hey, Raika!.”

　Raika could hear Akari’s voice…

　Akari and Shino were sitting side by side on a bench by the school building, sharking a Pocky.

“What is it?”

　As Raika approached…

“We are going to Rakun Daiba on Sunday. Want to come, Raika?”

　Rakun Daiba is an amusement facility with a hotel built in Daiba by Rakuten.

“That is an amusement park, right? I am not a little kid anymore you know…”

　Raika, who was not too keen on the idea, accepted the pamphlet offered by Akari at least.

　Next to Akari, Shino, who was planning on going alone with Akari, looked at Raika with a face that said “Don’t feel like you have to come! Actually, please don’t!” Raika though could not feel read the atmosphere, so Shino’s message went unnoticed, and Raika instead read the pamphlet.

　In the pamphlet was a picture of an adorable group of idols in colourful costumes, their skirts billowing with panniers.

　Bishojo idols are the embodiment of girlishness. For Raika, they are everything she aspires to be.

　On Sunday, they have an event where you can see them live.

　(I would love to see this…), but she never said this out loud as she thought she might be teased for saying it.

“… well, can I come too?”

　Raika did not ask for the details, and instead replied with a disinterested face.

　Shino hung her head and snapped the Pocky in her hand at Raika’s response.

“I am so glad! These free ticket allows admission for up to three people!”

　Akari, with the ticket in her hand, looked genuinely happy, which made Raika and Shino feel happy as well as they looked at her smile. After that, the three of them started excitedly making plans for Sunday.

　After lively chatting for a while,

“Akari.”

　Aria’s voice was heard coming down from the second floor of the school building.

“You know that as a butei, even when you go out into a town for fun you are a butei, right?”

　Talking as if she had heard what the girls were saying, she called for their attention with a sharp expression.

　Next to Akari was Reki, a second-year student in the Snipe department, with a Dragunov sniper-rifle slung over her shoulders.

　Akari nodding, cheerfully replied to Aria’s warning with a “Yes!”, although… her mood lacks any seriousness and is 100% buoyant.

　Akari became even more giddy when she saw Aria.

“Akari-san, we need to discuss the meeting place…”

　Shino, who was still hostile to Aria, tried to resume the conversation in an attempt to draw Akari’s attention back to her.

　Aria frowned at her underclassmen who were preoccupied with planning their outing, and even called out to Raika.

“You too, you have to get your act together too, you know? I know assault rifles are subject to strict firearm inspections, but it won’t pass inspections if it is in the shop forever.”

　A gun inspection.

　The gun inspection here refers to the firearms inspection and registration system.

　Even though civilians have been allowed to carry guns in Japan in recent years, they cannot carry guns without a registration card issues by the Public Safety Commission.

　The registration of these guns, ranging from the pocket-sized Dillinger to massive General Purpose Machine Guns, is classified in detail according to calibre, number of rounds it can load, and whether or not is has a fully automatic function. The higher a guns killing power, the more stringent the inspection is.

　However, the system itself is rather draconian, and there are many legal loopholes. For example, as Aria had pointed out, if an application is filed with the Public Security Bureau stating that a gun is “under maintenance”, the use of the gun is permitted even if the expensive legal maintenance is skipped. In this case, the use of the gun is legal even though it is deprecated. (TL Note: Basically, as long as you SAY you are doing maintenance, there is no way for it to BE PROVEN that you are doing maintenance.)

　As Aria had said, Raika’s gun is a AR, specifically a Magpul MASADA.

　The gun itself is not particularly popular and has not been adopted by many militaries or police forces around the world, it is regardless a powerful weapon. It is a useful weapon in actual combat, but the gun inspection for it is troublesome, so… Raika, during the various inspection quarterly checks, writes the gun down as “under maintenance”, as some of the students at Butei High do.

　Even in the face of criticism from Aria,

“Alriiiight.”

　Raika, who has no money to pay for actual maintenance, has no choice but to respond with a raw reply.

　Aria looked down at the three junior girls with a worried look on her face.

“Aria-senpai, see you tomorrow~!”

　Akari, who was not the least bit aware of Aria’s worries, waved her hand widely with a relaxed expression.

　Room 103, a room at the third women’s dormitory that was discounted due to the lack of sunlight…

　Back in her room in 1K, Raika hung her rifle on a hook on the wall and looked around the room at her other firearms and knives. On her floor was training equipment, and even her bed was rugged, painted black, and made out of steel-pipe.

　If someone were to look at this room, they would not think that this was a high school girls room.

　However, there was something under Raika’s bed that could be considered girly.

　It was a collection of shoujo manga that she had secretly ordered along with other masculine magazines.

“People yearn for things they don’t have.”

　Muttering self-deprecatingly, Raika picks up a manga from among them.

　And then… dosa.

　Raika lies down on her bed and began to read one of her favourite books… a book with a pink-edged cover.

　It was a book that depicts a royal school romance, which is a bit old-fashioned from the current trend of shoujo manga.

　… Raika opened the book to her favourite scene…

　A scene where a cool male character was being wooed by a beautiful girl heroine.

　There heroine is a tiny, cute girl with big eyes and an innocent face.

　She is what is called the loli type, a girl you typically want to protect.

　The heroine is spoiled by the male character she falls in love with, and from a mans point of view, he was happy to spoil such a cute girl. The male character himself also accepts all of the heroines advances and spends his free time spending sweet moments with her.

　Raika imagines herself holding such a cute girl in her arms, and eventually they kiss in a scene where…

“…!”

　Raika noticed something. And then, bafu.

　Despite no one watching her, Raika, like an innocent girl, hides the lower half of her face with the manga as she blushed.

　(Right now I am… now, I always…)

　(Even when I read a manga, I am reading it as if I am the guy…)

　(Normally a girl would read this and be reading it with the same feelings as the girl in the manga…)

You are reading story Hidan no Aria AA at novel35.com

(I am a man after all…)

　(… I cannot even read a book like a normal girl should.)

　　§　　　§

　Sunday.

　At the Racoon Daiba amusement park, in a corner of the park, Shima Kirin was sitting alone on a bench.

　A stuffed animal, which was a deformed giraffe named Jonathan, was placed besides her, a half-eaten crepe in her hand…

“Giraffes die when they are lonely.”

　With a small murmur, she looks down at the pastel pink pass case.

　Inside this pink pass case was a purikura, a photo taken with Mine Riko, who had been her War Sister until last month.

(I can’t beleive I have to say goodbye to my War Sister when my contract is over… school rules are cruel.)

　The photo was of Riko and Kirin, cheek-to-cheek, and some messages they wrote like “Friends Forever” and “Amika”, which brought back a flood of happy memories from their time as War Sisters.

　However, a War Sister contract is only for a year.

　Due to a policy at Butei High that juniors should be taught by a diverse group of seniors, it is shunned upon to renew contracts after a year, even if said year was beneficial to both parties.

　And so, Riko and Kirin chose to part ways once their contract was over.

　But a song, as if cheering for Kirin who was lamenting her sad fate…

　–Love is like a pendulum, swing, swing, swinging–

　From a nearby stage, Kirin heard a live song, sung by a beautiful idol group.

(… love is something that swings.)

　With her feelings for Riko reignited in her heart, Kirin regains her composure.

　(Neither of us can help the fact that we were forced apart.)

　(Instead of lamenting the past, I should hope for the future. In other words, I need a new War Sister to fight with.)

　Riko and Kirin were very similar, both in personality and fashion sense. That is why they were able to be both War Sisters and very good friends.

　(Next time, I should look for a different girl to be sisters with.)

　(Like, for example, a prince-type senpai!)

　(It will surely be a new and exciting experience for me~!)

　(Yes… It will be just like “love between a man and a woman”, which is typically regarded as a good thing…)

　(There is no doubt that this will be an experience that allows different types of people to experience a romantic attraction and understanding towards each other.)

　(Slender, tall, cool, protective, and nice senpai…)

　Kirin was imagining such an ideal sister,

“Hey, sweetie. Wanna go on a date?”

　A tactless, thick mans voice called out to Kirin.

　Looking behind her a… white rabbit costume was looking at Kirin.

　(An incompetent staff member of the amusement park must be playing one of those so called “pick-up” games…)

　In response, Kirin turned her head to the side with a sigh.

“Go away, shoo-shoo. I am not interested in men.”

　Kirin’s statement was not a pick-up avoidance tactic. It was her honest feelings.

　Kirin was naturally not romantically interested in members of the opposite sex.

　It is for that reason that Kirin wears frilly, fluttery, lolita style outfits that boys would typically be daunted by if they saw her. She wears these clothes also to help attract other girls in hopes of them loving her, who are drawn to her cute, girly fashion sense.

　It is also for this very reason that Kirin at Butei High is a member of CVR, where honey pot tricks and seduction are used to entangle criminals. But even within this very department, Kirin is a member of Type 2 Beta, which are CVR butei trained solely for female criminals.

　But first…

　The goal of this costumed man seemed to be something other than just picking up girls.

　Instead of merely pestering Kirin,

“Come here!”

　and proceeded to forcefully grab Kirin’s right arm.

　At that moment, Kirin dropped her half-eaten crepe from her hand — Kii!

　With a sharp expression on her face, she slapped his torso with a open palm while prying the costume hand off her hand.

　Utilizing the Chinese Kempo theories she learned from Riko Mine, despite her small size she has a firm weight in her pams and has both feet firmly planted to the ground.

“You picked the wrong girl to pick on! I am a butei!”

　But, Kirin’s attack…

“–that is why, come here.”

　… it was not working.

　Then another man wearing a black cat suit came up behind him.

　Put a knife to Kirin’s cheek.

“–uhiiiiiii! Don’t put that near my face!”

　For CVR students whose job is to honey-pot criminals, their face is their most important tool of their trade.

　Not wanting to get her face hurt, Kirin raised her hands to cover her face and makes a feeble expression as if she cannot bear to have it hurt.

　Then, as soon as she did that…

“Get in.”

　The man in the black suit ordered, indicating a nearby golf-cart.

　He was not pointing to the seat though, he was pointing to the trunk in the back.

(Is this… a kidnapping…?)

　With a heightened sense of danger, Kirin boldly…

　Put her hand up the left side of her skirt and pulled out the Derringer that was hidden by her garter belt.

　Gripping a Remington Model 95 Double Derringer – an easily concealable gun with a barrel length of only 7.5cm – Kirin turns and points the muzzle of the gun at the men.

　But the man in the black suit was unconcerned.

(… he is not intimidated by guns?!)

　Immediately after realizing this, Kirin was hit on the back of the head by the guy in the rabbit costume – and fell down.

“You idiot. Why wouldn’t a butei be wearing their bulletproof armour?”

　The man in the black costume laughs as he catches the fallen giraffe as if leaning against it.

　The two then shoved the unconscious Kirin into the trunk of the golf-cart while being mindful of their surroundings.

　–basun, and right after the trunk was closed, Kirin…

　She stopped pretending to be unconscious and opened her eyes.

　She then took out her rhinestone-decorated pink cellphone and began hurriedly typing a message requesting assistance.

　　§　　　§

　At the same time, Akari and her friends were also at the Racoon Daiba.

“Uhiyaaaa-! What’s this-!”

　Named the Tarzan Swing, Akari is standing on a small scaffold under a long rope, screaming wildly as she ride son a playground equipment that swings wildly.

　Although it has a safety belt, it is still a fairly scary ride.

　Akari flying about on the ride has no time to fix her fluttering skirt, and so Shino is taking pictures of Akari with her digital camera as she is saying “Thank you God!”

　Raika was laughing happily as she ate a churro.

“This is like the rappelling exercise in the Assault department.”

　Her gaze though had been glancing at the stage of the beautiful girly idols for quite some time.

　In contrast to Shino and Raika, who seem to be enjoying themselves,

“UWAAAAAAA!”

　Akari, strapped to the giant swing, kept screaming with tears in her eyes.

　(It is a holiday, but I was also earlier warned by Aria but…)

　Akari and her team brought swords, guns, and their bulletproof uniforms.

　However, Raccoon Daiba, where the three good friends were spending the day, was such a fun place that they had forgotten about such dangerous equipment.

　Next, the three of them ride on a Ferris wheel, where they pointed out airplanes taking off and landing at Haneda Airport, and were excited by the view of Butei High from above.

　The capsule that the three of them had boarded had just reached the top of the Ferris wheel.

“…hm?”

　A Western melody came from Raika’s skirt pocket, an electronic beeping sounds came from Akari’s breast pocket, and from Shino’s pocket, too, came the vibrating sounds of a cell phone set to silent mode.

　For all three of them to receive a email at the same time, it is probably an area based emergency notification email from Butei High or the police.

　When Akari and the others look at the email with disbelief… all of their smiles freeze at the same time.

『Area: 2-6, Koto-ku, Tokyo Case Code: F3B-O2-EAW. Shima Kirin, CVR Intern (jr.3), Special Investigation Research Department. Dispatch received at 13:55.』

　–it was partially encrypted, this is an email that indicates the occurrence of an incident.

“The site… this is it. It is Raccoon Daiba.”

“Case F3B is a kidnapping and confinement… what is O2?”

“It means 2 or more criminals.” (TL Note: not certain about this translation, but I can make out “2” and “or more”.)

　Shino answered Akari who was getting impatient.

“The culprit has bulletproof equipment? This might be a professional.”

　Raika mutters.

　By “professional”, Raika is referring to someone who has not just picked up a weapon a day or two ago.

　They are dangerous opponents such as Yakuza or Mafia who have come to Japan from abroad for work.

　Shino shows everyone the emergency contact BBS on the school network that she accessed.

“Students in the neighbourhood are replying back… even if they were to leave right now, it would take them 20 minutes to arrive on scene.”

“The students of CVR are trained in honey pot tricks and seduction… if they are abducted, they can at most hope to trick their way out.”

　After Raika raised an eyebrow in concern while saying this, the Ferris wheel completes its trip, and the 3 people descend to the ground…

“… what should we do? Should we move?”

“… but we have only had a month since the entrance ceremony…”

　Raika and Shino are discussing with anxious expressions on their faces.

　This case may involve an opponent that is beyond the control of Akari and her colleagues.

　But no students other than themselves seems to be in this amusement park.

　(Do we make our own move? Or do we

　Akari, unsure of what she should do…

(Aria-senpai..! What would Aria-senpai do…!)

　Akari wondered what Aria would do, as she looked at the words “Intern (Junior High) Kirin” on her phone.

(… Junior High…)

　Akari now turned her thoughts to Aria-senpai. She wondered what Aria would do in this situation.

　However, from the perspective of this third-year junior high school student, Kirin Shima, right now Akari was the senior.

　(I am the senior who needs to be relied upon right now.)

“… let’s go…!”

　(For the sake of my junior who may be getting hurt this very moment…!)

“Right now, we are the only ones who can save this kouhai!”

　Akari made up her mind and declared this to Shino and Raika.

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