Chapter 13
by Need_More_SleepChapter 13: Twin Swords, Twin Guns
Riko was one of the few female classmates Tohyama Kanako was relatively close to at Butei High.
Primarily because Riko was like sticky rice candy, Tohyama Kanako couldn’t shake her off. She could only try to avoid close contact as much as possible.
“Here, the game discs you wanted.” Tohyama Kanako handed the paper bag in her hand to Riko.
“Sniff sniff sniff~”
Taking the bag, Riko immediately opened it, and her breathing instantly grew noticeably heavier.
If Tohyama Kanako wasn’t mistaken, the drool seemed to be about to trickle from the corner of the other’s mouth.
“Wow, ‘Black and White Pairing,’ ‘White Clover Story,’ even ‘Little Sister Loli’ is here!” Riko murmured to herself, her body wriggling back and forth, the Lolita-style frills on her clothes dancing along.
What Riko wanted were R15-rated bishōjo games.
Yes, Riko was an otaku. Her modified Lolita-style girls’ uniform alone was quite convincing.
Moreover, Riko was different from the average otaku. Despite being a girl, she was particularly fond of bishōjo games. If a female character in a game had Lolita-style attire, she would definitely purchase that game.
Although Tohyama Kanako was reluctant to admit it, she felt that in a certain sense, she and Riko might have similarities?
Riko was also seventeen, naturally old enough to buy these games. However, a few days ago, she was turned away by a game retailer due to her height. The clerk thought Riko looked like a middle schooler, after all, being only 142 cm tall.
In this situation, Tohyama Kanako needed someone to help investigate Aria, and Riko needed someone to buy games for her. The two hit it off perfectly, each getting what they needed.
Of course, for Tohyama Kanako, the only downside was having to personally purchase these R15 games. She only hoped no strange rumors would spread.
While buying the games, Tohyama Kanako kept feeling the cashier was giving her a strange look.
But this was all a necessary sacrifice.
To know your enemy and yourself is the surest way to victory. If Tohyama Kanako wanted to break free from Aria’s entanglement, she had to understand the latter. And for Butei, confrontation begins with intelligence.
Aria had already taken a step ahead, Tohyama Kanako needed to catch up immediately.
“Mmm… this one and this one, I don’t want them.” As if being petulant, Riko handed back two of the games to Tohyama Kanako, the second and third installments of “Little Sister Loli.”
“Is there a problem?” Tohyama Kanako asked, puzzled. She hadn’t played these games and knew little about them.
“2 and 3 are practically slurs, an insult to the work! I hate them!”
“……” Tohyama Kanako didn’t know what to say. She had no clue why this was considered an insult. Since the other didn’t want them, she could return the games, saving some money.
Tohyama Kanako had paid for all these games as compensation for Riko’s investigation of Aria. Simply running an errand wouldn’t have moved Riko Mine, an A-rank student from the Detective program.
“Now that you have the games, as agreed, tell me about your investigation on Aria.” Tohyama Kanako made her request.
“Hehe, I’ve got it all figured out~”
Don’t be fooled by Riko’s seemingly scatterbrained behavior. She became an A-rank in the Detective program for a reason. Proficient in surveillance, eavesdropping, and clandestine photography techniques, her computer skills were so good she could even act as a hacker for network intrusions. Possessing extraordinary information-gathering abilities, she could basically obtain any intelligence she wanted, earning her the moniker of an information “phantom thief.”
Riko sat on the nearby railing, her legs swinging back and forth. She patted the spot beside her, gesturing for Tohyama Kanako to sit there.
Tohyama Kanako sat down, leaving a body’s width of space between them.
“Nee, nee, Kanako-sama, aren’t you and Aria living together? All the classmates know about it. You could just ask Aria herself for this kind of information, couldn’t you?”
“If she would tell me, would I need to spend money on intelligence?” Tohyama Kanako retorted.
Tohyama Kanako and Aria had just met by chance. She couldn’t possibly believe everything the latter said. Of course, Tohyama Kanako needed to gather more information from various channels.
“Something must have happened between you two. I saw Aria looking for you everywhere.”
“It’s just a minor matter.” Tohyama Kanako was vague, unwilling to mention the teaming-up incident.
“Tell me, tell me! It’s the first time I’ve seen a girl chase after Kanako-sama so intensely. Does Shirayuki know? Other classmates have asked me about it! Spill it! Spill it!” Riko wore a gossipy expression, scooting closer in one move, grabbing Tohyama Kanako’s hand and acting coquettish.
“Get to the main point quickly, or I’m taking those games back. Start with her rank!” Tohyama Kanako shook off Riko and increased the distance a bit more. Continuing like this would be endless.
Besides, Tohyama Kanako absolutely didn’t want to think about what kind of reaction her childhood friend would have upon returning from the training camp and learning that Aria had moved into her dorm room.
“Tch, this is the part about Kanako-sama that’s not endearing. It wouldn’t hurt to tell me…” Riko pouted, looking quite aggrieved, then continued, “Aria is an S-rank in the Assault program. Excluding Kanako-sama, there aren’t many second-years in our school at that level now.”
Tohyama Kanako wasn’t surprised that Aria was an S-rank in Assault, having heard it before. This was just reconfirmation.
“Don’t let her small size fool you. Aria is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, proficient in boxing, joint locks, and free fighting.”
Tohyama Kanako raised an eyebrow. This was unexpected news. After all, combat techniques also depend on the user’s physique, smaller individuals are often at a disadvantage in close-quarters fighting.
‘Could it be that her body possesses incredibly strong muscular power, despite those slender arms and legs…?’ Tohyama Kanako pondered carefully.
“Her weapons of choice are the M1911A1 Government model and the kodachi (small katana). Her skill in both has reached genius-level territory, and she’s ambidextrous with both, capable of dual-wielding.”
Tohyama Kanako had witnessed Aria’s dual-pistol shooting and had also seen her pair of kodachi, one black and one white.
Aria had once tried tossing the knives directly into the laundry basket along with her dirty clothes.
Based on her observations, Tohyama Kanako speculated that Aria’s two kodachi were usually hidden behind her back, concealed by her clothes, with the hilts pointing downwards. To draw them, she would reach both hands back under her hem.
Since she had mastered dual-pistol shooting, being skilled with dual blades wasn’t too strange either. Tohyama Kanako was more interested in figuring out Aria’s swordsmanship style.
As for Aria’s two pistols, Tohyama Kanako had once seen mother-of-pearl inlays on the grips depicting what seemed to be someone’s profile, resembling Aria.
“I know these.” Tohyama Kanako nodded. Riko’s investigation matched reality, indicating she hadn’t been slacking off.
“Do you know her nickname?”
“A Butei nickname?” Tohyama Kanako was surprised. Earning a title while still a student made such a Butei student exceedingly rare.
“Yep, ‘Twin Swords, Twin Guns’ Aria. Hahaha, to be called ‘Twin Swords, Twin Guns,’ hahaha…”
Riko suddenly burst into laughter. Tohyama Kanako had no idea what the joke was.
“What about her actual track record?”
As if switching faces, Riko stopped laughing and said with some seriousness, “It’s impressive. Although her activities are currently suspended, she started working as a Butei at London’s Butei Agency from the age of fourteen. Her operational range covered Europe, and… she never failed!”
“Explain.”
“Ninety-nine times! The number of cases she took on during her time in Europe was ninety-nine, and she succeeded in apprehending the target ninety-nine consecutive times! Her assault success rate is one hundred percent! And each time, she only needed one assault to capture the target. No culprit ever escaped her pursuit!”
Cases requiring Butei assaults are generally not minor. At the very least, they indicate targets that conventional police cannot handle, necessitating the use of unconventional methods like Butei.
‘So, I’ve been entangled by a monster like this?’ Tohyama Kanako lamented inwardly.
[To be continued.]
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