Chapter 12: 12

Handcuffed, Kirin was brought to a temporary hideout of the two costumed men.

　It was a suite at the top of the seven-story Raccoon Grand Hotel.

　The two men who took off their costumes in the parking lot were both young men. The white rabbit had bleached silver hair and the black cat had black hair. It would appear they picked their costume based on the colour of their hair.

“I know you are still carrying a gun. Give me it.”

　The dark hair one demanded this of her and grabbed Kirin by the hair as she sat on the floor of the suite.

　In his other hand, he has the Derringer taken earlier from Kirin and held it against her head.

　(This guy over here is younger than the silver-haired one and seems to also have a temper. Also, he doesn’t seem very smart.)

“–I don’t have any more guns! Look!”

　With an angry expression on her face, Kirin flipped up the left half of her skirt to show it.

　The dark-haired man flinches upon looking at Kirin’s pale mostly exposed thighs. It seems that he is not used to seeing a women’s skin.

　Kirin did not miss this upset,

“If you like, you can look directly up my skirt you know?”

　Kirin said provocatively.

　The black haired man in response to this, clicked his tongue and let go of the Dillinger with a red face…

　–Meanwhile, the silver-haired man who was smoking a cigarette seemed uninterested in this exchange–

“It is a stuffed toy. But the centre of gravity is strange.”

　He turned his sharp gaze from beneath his tinted sunglasses to towards Kirin and tells the dark-haired man this info.

　From his tone of voice, it seems that the silver-haired one is in a superior position out of the two.

　His subordinate, the black-haired man, did as he was told and picked up Kirin’s stuff toy.

“–don’t touch Jonathan!”

　Kirin was running around trying to get back Jonathan, the stuffed animal, that she always carries around with her.

“Migya!”

　Kirin was pushed and lost her balance, falling and hitting the table in the room with all the strength the man could muster.

　The force of the impact scattered the notepads and fruit on the table onto the floor.

“Jonathan! Give me back my Jonathan!”

　Kirin cries childishly, but…

　The dark-haired man mercilessly unzipped the stuffed animals belly.

　Then, from inside, a Colt Anaconda…

　A revolver-style pistol, with a stainless silver barrel and wood grain grip, appears.

　The large gun, which uses a 44 magnum bullet that has a large recoil when shot, is something that Kirin could never handle, but she carried it around for destruction when necessary and to use as a threat.

“Hyaha! She had 2 guns!”

　The dark-haired man was waving the Colt Anaconda in the air, was screaming with glee…

　Seeing that, Kirin stopped crying and puffed out her cheeks, “muuuuu”.

“Since we kidnapped a butei, we got a hostage and weapons now. With this, we can blackmail Raccoon Daiba.”

“The bulletproof suit was a good idea too! Big brother, you are a genius!”

　The dark-haired man began nodding and handed the Colt Anaconda to the silver-haired man in sunglasses.

“Uu…bieeeeeeeee!”

　When Kirin sat back on the floor, and resumed her loud, but fake, crying…

　The dark-haired man turned away annoyed.

　The man with the sunglasses began using the cellphone he took from Kirin to call someone.

　By paying attention to the call, Kirin…

“… if a horrific incident were to occur at Raccoon Daiba, it wouldn’t be good for PR, would it? I think a ransom is a small price to pay to prevent this.”

　(Apparently, they are threatening Raccoon Daiba by taking me hostage.)

　(But for now, both kidnappers have lost interest in me.)

　Kirin discerned this and then… hide the notepad and pen under her skirt, behind her bum. (TL Note: not sure exactly how it was hidden, but I am assuming it has something to do with her garter belt. The word used here is オシリ which is buttocks/bum/etc. Maybe she is sitting on it, stuffed it in to her underwear or garter belt, I am not sure.)

　　§　　　§

　Akari and the others split up to search for Kirin.

　But there were a lot of buildings to search at Raccoon Daiba.

(I have no clue… what I should be doing…!?)

　Impatiently, Akaari began walking to the right and to the left.

　Shino and Raika were also both searching, but still, no one had any promising information yet as to where Kirin was.

　　§　　　§

　While the kidnappers were enjoying drinks with fish appetizers…

　Kirin was ordered to serve them drinks while her hands were handcuffed.

“As long as we get the money, you will get to go home safe and sound, so don’t look at us like that.”

　In reply to the silver-haired man wearing sunglasses.

“I’m sure a cool prince will come to save me soon!”

　With a bottle of whisky in her arms, Kirin did an akanbe.

　However, at the word “prince”, Kirin looked apologetic and slumped down into a mermaid-sitting posture.

“I am sorry though Prince… Kirin is a member of CVR, the only Prince for me must be a strong woman…!”

　Suddenly, Kirin broke out into a one-woman show with her imaginary prince…

“… we kidnapped a funny little girl.”

　The man with the sunglasses in response to this one woman show was taken aback by Kirin’s willingness to go at her own pace even after being kidnapped.

　This was all down to catch them off guard though.

“Hau! Another tragedy for the captive Kirin princess…!”

　Kirin began speaking to herself in a very theatrical tone.

　While Kirin was slowly taking control of the the pace of the conversation…

“What is it now?”

　The dark-haired subordinate asked, a bit puzzled.

“… I, I need to go to the bathroom…!”

　While the black-haired man was asking the silver-haired man for permission for Kirin’s request…

“Let her go, I have her cellphone right here.”

　The silver-haired man, looking a bit relaxed after a few drinks, gave her permission.

　And so, the black-haired man let Kirin enter the bathroom.

“Hurry up and finish quickly.”

　The black-haired man was taking out a cigarette, though, as if he intended to keep watch from behind the closed door.

　Still, Kirin was alone in the bathroom…

　(First, I need to look around me.)

　Inside, there was a washlet and a washbasin, and on the wall is a plastic map with a cross-sectional view of the hotel cut lengthwise, with an evacuation route added to it.

　Looking at these conditions, Kirin began thinking.

　(How do I get out of here?)

　There was a window in the bathroom, however, it does not open wide enough to prevent people from falling out.

　Moreover, according to the evacuation route map, this was room 703, which was on the seventh floor.

　(Then, just like I assumed… I need to continue to wait for help.)

　(The cellphone I used earlier to request help and update the situation to my fellow butei was taken away by the kidnappers already.)

　(However, at the very least, I managed to at least tell them that I was kidnapped at Raccoon Daiba.)

　(Since they know my general area, it is unlikely that they aren’t here by now and trying to help me.)

　(In other words, I should try to come up with something using the information already here and try to get it to my fellow butei.)

(… the pole is here and the pool is here…)

　Using the cross-sectional view of the hotel as a floor plan, Kirin thought up her own rescue route and took out the notepad and ballpoint pen that she had hidden earlier inside her skirt…

　(–now I just need to share this information–)

　This can be done without necessarily relying on data communications or wide-area speakers.

　( I cannot stand up to criminals with strength… I need to stand up to them with my weak self using my cunning mind and imagination, something that typical high school girls don’t have…)

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　First, Kirin wrote into her notepad…

“703 NF Tarzan Return Dive.”

　–With a string of text written like that, even if it is seen by the two men, it will not reveal any details of her plan to them.

　She began repeatedly writing it out. 10 times, then 20 times.

“… are you not done yet? What are you doing in there!”

　The black-haired man began talking to Kirin who was still in the bathroom.

“–it is a girls time of the month!”

　Kirin replied, trying to get the guy to shut up on the other side of the door, who was not used to dealing with women.

　　§　　　§

(… Where are you… Shima Kirin…!)

　Akari was getting impatient because she cannot find a single trace of Kirin anywhere and so began to internally panic.

　Kotsu.

　Suddenly, something hit Akari.

　(What is this?) Akari thought, as she pulled something out of her hair…

　It was a paper airplane made out of a folded piece of notepad paper.

　The words “703 NF Tarzan Return Dive” written on the planes wings.

(… this is butei short cipher…! NF — Need Friendlies…!)

　Part of the string was a cipher that all students learn in class.

　Akari noticed the cipher and looked up to the sky.

“ah…!”

　A large number of paper airplanes were flying in the sky.

　Following the breeze, the plane must have originated from…

　(…Raccoon Grand Hotel.)

　The planes were coming from a small window of one of the rooms on the top floor of the building.

　Counting the number of windows from the bottom, it is on the seventh floor. In other words…

(Shima Kirin is at that hotel in… room 703!)

　(But still, why did she us a paper airplane?)

　(That was not how I was taught in class to share information.)

　(I guess Kirin’s cell phone was destroyed or taken away, so she must have come up with this method as a means of communicating information with her allies.)

　Next to the hotel was a closed pool, which was filled to the brim with water and reflecting the spring sunlight.

　As if she was struck by the reflecting light, a ray of hope had finally welled up in Akari’s heart.

　Akari had called Shino and Raika on her cellphone, and all three were now waiting in the hotel lobby to move in.

　Raika looked over the longitudinal section of the hotel and Akari pulled out her micro Uzi as Shino pulled out her sabre.

　The employees watched timidly as the three butei prepared to move in.

” ‘Tarzan’ is code for a wire based entrance, but… what is ‘return dive’?”

　Akari tilted her head and gave the paper airplane she picked up to Raika.

“…?”

　But even Raika did not know the true meaning of this message.

　In this case, however, it would not matter whether they understood the full meaning of the text or not.

　If the location of a missing person is known, butei must hurry there immediately. Even at this very moment, Shima Kirin may be in mortal danger.

“Anyway, let’s act now. Our strategy is a pincer attack through the window and through the door.”

　Akari and Raika nodded at Shino’s words.

“Then I will use the rope and attack through the window. Akari and Shino, you go through the door.”

　Raika had decided on the difficult role herself…

“See you in Room 703!”

　After saying this, she moved on her own, without Akari and Shino.

　　§　　　§

　After assembling her Magpul Masada AR, Raika rode the elevator to the roof.

　The rooftop of the hotel, which was reached by an employee only fire escape was dome shaped…

　(I knew about that from the evacuation schematics, but…), Raika raises her eyebrows at the edge of the rooftop.

　When using a rappel to go down a building, the user must rappel from directly above, in this case, directly above room 703.

　But the roof on the hotel is round and slippery, with nowhere to hang a hook onto.

　(The only thing that I could securely rappel down is the fire escape that I just came from…)

　(If I rappel down that though, I will probably end up in another window that is not where Kirin is…)

(… Tarzan…)

　Raika’s head was filled with the words that were written on the paper airplane…

“!”

　Raika had a flash of inspiration.

　Or, more precisely, she was inspired. The other words on the paper plane, the words after Tarzan, ‘return dive’.

(… if I am right, and ‘return dive’ means…! What an outside the box idea!)

　(What Junior High School intern could think of such a thing!)

　(This might be a difficult thing to do, but is also a certain fact that I would not be able to get myself to the window of room 703 otherwise.)

(Okay. I will bet on that idea. Just wait a little bit longer Kirin Shima…!)

　Raika had a rather motivated smile at the difficult task that was given to her by her kouhai.

　　§　　　§

　… Akari and Shino arrived at the door of room 703.

“Let’s go, Shino-chan.”

“Yes. Akari-san, I am with you.”

　We exchanged a few words with a whisper…

　First, Shino quietly approached the door.

　She then pulled back her right hand far back, which was holding her sabre.

　A Tsubamegaeshi technique handed down through the Sasaki family, Tsubame-nuki, is an explosive thrusting technique with instantaneous force, that was said to be able to skewer armoured warriors through their armour.

　Bakiiin! Shino’s thrust broke the lock on the door with an explosive sound.

　Akari rushed into action and opened the door with her body with a don!

“– drop your weapons!”

　Akari, who had learned in her Assault course that she should shout loudly to intimidate her enemies at the moment of entry, followed her teachers advice, but because her eyes were not on her feet…! becha!

　She put her foot on a slipper that was near the entrance and fell forward with all her might.

“A-, Akari-chan! Are you okay?”

　Shino, who saw this happen, looked away from the room since she valued Akari the most out of the two.

“Pu-…t your weapon… do…wn…”

　Akari, holding her nose where it had hit the floor, tried to reposition her micro-UZI, but,

“–you are the one who is going to put your weapons down!”

　Contrary to Akari’s demand, a dark-haired man in the room was pointing a Dillinger’s muzzle at him.

　The other man, a silver-haired man, was holding the muzzle of a Colt Anaconda to a girls head. The girl was smaller than Akari and wearing a modified Butei High sailor uniform… (that must be Shima Kirin!)

　(Just those few seconds turned the offense and defense around…!)

“…!”

“…!”

　The lives of the hostages were the priority…

　Akari and Shino were forced to drop their weapons at their feet.

　In response to Akari and Shino,

“Why… would you fall down there…!?”

　Akari watched as Kirin made a despairing face.

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