mesbooks Chapter 108 - 3.3
Chapter 108 - 3.3
Chapter 108: Chapter 3.3
The name of this feeling
"In that case, I won't hold back."
No sooner had Siesta murmured those words than she vanished. "...!"
I knew better than anyone on the planet how strong she was. Siesta ran so fast, she might as well have been teleporting. Choosing a random direction, I dodged, and almost immediately, a gunshot rang out right next to me.
"I guess it's not going to be possible to end you with just one shot."
I had the devil's luck and had won out this time; I might be rolling on the ground, but I'd dodged that bullet. I took cover behind an abandoned bus. "Couldn't you have given me a bit of a head start?"
"There is no 'time out' in war. Never mind that. What do I have to do to win this fight?"
"Look, don't fire, and then confirm things afterward. ...You win if I admit I lost."
"I see. Then we'll call it a battle against time. Considering your personality, though, I get the feeling this may drag on for quite a while."
Siesta wasn't even entertaining the possibility she might lose. Not only that, but she'd tacitly managed to insult me for not knowing when to quit.
"Sorry, but I'm flipping our power dynamic today." I fired from behind the bus...but Siesta evaded with an acrobatic leap.
"Aiming for my legs. That's kind of you."
"No, it's just not normal to aim for my head first thing like you did." "But you won't admit defeat unless I inflict a lethal injury, will you?"
Even as we traded this combat-specific banter, I got my breathing under control behind the bus, working out a strategy. This place had been messed up nicely during the fight with Seed two weeks ago, so at least I'd secured cover.
"Do you think you can beat me like that?" "...!"
I'd just tripped my own death flag. I heard the Ace Detective's voice above me. Siesta had gotten up onto the bus's roof and jumped off with no
hesitation, kicking my right arm hard and knocking the pistol out of my hand. "...! As a matter of fact, I did supersede your intentions once, remember?"
Without even glancing at the gun I'd dropped, I ducked under the bus.
"In terms of feelings, yes. Unless you can beat me with actual skill right now, there's no point."
Right again. I'd known that too, I'd stressed about it, and I'd still stepped onto this battlefield. There was no way I could just back down after that.
"...!"
Spotting Siesta's legs from below the bus, I burst out from under the vehicle, drew and leveled my second gun, and fired. But...
"...I seriously almost died."
As if she'd predicted my move, Siesta had also fired, and the bullet had zipped right past my head. No, maybe it had grazed it for a few millimeters— a small trickle of blood ran down my cheek.
"Do you want to die?" Siesta tilted her head in a show of innocence.
Still cool as a cucumber, huh? In that case... "Well, you said so yourself— this is war."
Without hesitating or really aiming, I fired a series of shots at Siesta. I wasn't planning to kill her, of course; that would have defeated the whole purpose of this fight. My attacks were based in my trust that Siesta would evade. But if even one of those shots managed to graze her, the way hers had against my cheek—
"I see."
Siesta dodged the rain of bullets using moves that would have done an action-movie star proud. Then she took a leap so high, you'd think she launched herself with a trampoline, landing on top of a mound of rubble that was several meters tall. She looked down at me, her face expressionless.
"Are there tranquilizers in those bullets of yours?" She'd seen right through my plan.
"...!"
"Your expression is always so easy to read." With a laid-back suggestion that I should work on my poker face, Siesta evaded another of my bullets by jumping down. "Your conditions for victory don't include killing me. You're only trying to temporarily immobilize me."
...Had she picked up on my scheme when I got impatient and fired at random? Still... "Yeah, all the weapons I'm using have that drug in them.
Even 0.01 milligram of this stuff will stop an African elephant or a blue whale. In other words, if even one shot grazes you, I win."
Forget lethal injury: She couldn't even afford to get a scratch. On a battlefield, that restriction would inflict the greatest pressure imaginable. She may have read my hand, but I could use that against her.
"I never planned to let any of your attacks touch me in the first place."
In the next moment, I felt a human presence right behind me. By the time I realized it was Siesta, she'd already kicked my right arm up again, knocking my gun far away.
"...! Look what you did! We're just getting started, and now my right arm's out of commission." With my left hand, I promptly pulled a knife out of my jacket and pointed it at her.
"Is the tip of that coated with the tranquilizer, too?"
Siesta's fist flew at my face; she was holding a ballpoint pen. I knocked it away with the knife, but this time she landed a powerful roundhouse kick to my side.
"...! ...Hff." She'd knocked the wind out of me, and I rolled across the asphalt according to the laws of physics. Needless to say, my entire body hurt. But that pain was no match for my stubborn refusal to quit. I reached for the gun I'd dropped—
"Annnd you're dead."
"You knew that, too. Getting a romantic confession from you won't be enough to persuade me now."
"I don't recall confessing that." "Oh, I see. So you were proposing?"
Why were those my only options? Smiling halfheartedly, I obediently put my hands up again. I'd already admitted defeat. My weapons weren't nearby, so I couldn't afford to resist anyway.
"I knew I'd be no match for you."
That was something I'd known right from the start—And so... "From here on out, we'll take you on."
The next instant, there was an earsplitting explosion, and black smoke rose. "—! A grenade!"
Registering an intruder, Siesta took a huge leap backward to create some distance.
However, a girl interrupted our battle, cutting through the smoke in pursuit of Siesta.
"Not even meeting your maid one last time, after all the trouble you've caused her? That's rather heartless, don't you think?"
The maid revolted against her mistress, holding a rapier. A gust of wind ruffled her pale silver hair. Then—
"Charlie! Now!"
From the phone in my breast pocket, a girl's voice echoed across the battlefield. Then I heard a gunshot. It was the sound of a lone agent sniping the Ace Detective from a distant rooftop.
"...! So that's...what it was."
At the last second, Siesta managed to dodge the tranquilizer bullet, and it
took a divot out of the asphalt instead. However, she'd caught on to my—or rather, our—plan, and she grimaced.
"Sorry, Siesta. The real final showdown starts now." Until we saved the Ace Detective, we would never stop.
A certain boy's recollection
"Why are you so bad at being a team player?"
The sun was almost set, and Siesta stalked down the lane ahead of me, sighing. In terms of walking speed, neither of us was accommodating the other...but that probably wasn't what she meant.
We were on our way home after safely failing a certain mission. It had failed for one clear reason: my hopeless inability to get along with Charlotte Arisaka Anderson, who'd joined us for the maneuver. No matter how often we got scolded for making the same mistake, there was no hope for improvement until the cause was removed.
"I've never teamed up with anybody before, ever. You can ask me to match somebody's pace now, but that hurdle's too high."
Siesta and I had set off on our travels around the world about a year ago. Even before that—I should probably say unfortunately—I hadn't had a single person I could call a friend. It was due to my annoying, innate predisposition for getting dragged into trouble. People wanted to avoid it, so they ended up avoiding me. Before I knew it, fifteen years had passed.
"Are you all right with that?"
"What I want has nothing to do with it," I said flatly. I'd thought about trying to change several times, though. Even at fifteen, I sometimes sighed and wondered whether there wasn't a slightly better way to live. Still, as long as I had this predisposition, I wouldn't be able to team up with anyone, and nobody would be able to match my pace.
"Well, I'm used to it." Forcing a smile, I walked over the asphalt. Forget friends, I'd never even had parents. That meant I'd had the skills it took to live alone from the time I was a kid.
"There are some things you can't deal with on your own, though. Like today, for example."
Over her shoulder, Siesta seemed to be implying that I should make some
friends. Because I hadn't been able to get along with Charlie today, I'd come close to taking an enemy bullet. Even so, Siesta had ultimately stepped in and rescued me.
"I may not always be around, you know."
...The woman had dragged me on this journey, and now she was making irresponsible comments out of nowhere.
"That said, if I find companions, I might end up putting them in danger instead."
Considering my knack for attracting trouble, the possibility was pretty high. Those were the stars Kimihiko Kimizuka had been born under. Rather than saying I'd resigned myself to that fate, I'd reached enlightenment instead. I didn't need friends who'd walk with me.
"Where are you going?"
The next thing I knew, I heard Siesta's voice behind me. "Are you stupid, Kimi?"
Then it came up beside me, on my left.
"That's how easy it is to walk with somebody."
The setting sun dyed the pavement orange, and two black shadows stretched across it.
"Of course I'm not your lover, and I'm sure I'm not even your friend. I don't even know whether you could call me a companion. But..." Siesta faced forward as she spoke. "Right now, I'm standing next to you."
The orange light shone gently on her pale silver hair. When I stole a glance at her profile, it seemed more dignified and beautiful than any famous painting or sculpture.
"You'll have comrades too someday." Looking over at me, Siesta gave a soft smile. "And I'm sure you'll combine your strengths to accomplish something."
...I dunno about that. I can't really picture it. Then there was that predisposition of mine. Even if Siesta was right, those future comrades might all be weirdos.
"Well, if it ever happens, I'll introduce you." "Yes, I'll be looking forward to it."
Treading on our long shadows, we started down the sunset lane, side by side.