CH 110

Harikiri Kiriha Would Not Fall.

Translated by Dawn

Harikiri Kiriha Would Not Fall.

“I’m okay, Honey.”

“I’m all done here, too.”

When I turned around at the sound of Miina’s voice, there were no enemy machines in sight; instead, a dome-shaped concrete mass had formed.

They must be trapped inside that thing.

“As expected.”

Miina suddenly raised her voice.

“That’s right, Director Sayuri! That person, as I recall, is alive!”

We looked over to see Director Sayuri walking up to us, backed by an enemy machine with all its limbs thrown out.

Miina and I went pale, our mouths half-open.

“Um, how did you do that?”

In response to my question, Director Sayuri cleared her throat without moving an eyebrow.

“Mhm, I was repeating the throwing technique to buy time, but it stopped moving. Perhaps the pilot had a concussion. Totally pathetic, after about 108 throws.”

—Are their gone, too? 

“But Honey is amazing. That new move just now? It’s like a hero in a movie, overthrowing Ijuin’s Precognition.”

“No, that was Ijuin’s self-destruction.”

I took one look at Ijuin stretched out on the floor and then I took a breath.

“Earlier that guy ‘changed his mind,’ meaning he did something different than he was supposed to.”

Miina clapped her hands.

“Ah, I see. So, Ijuin’s precognition is less accurate when he changes his behavior.”

“Miina is right. If he had killed me without fail, Kiriha, Miina, and Director Sayuri would not have survived. However, he intentionally tried to kill Kiriha in front of me in order to make me suffer. Because of that, I woke up to a new technique, and he lost.”

“He got exactly what he deserved. Well, the police should be arriving soon. And Miina, just to be safe, I need you to take the guy I beat into custody as well.”

“Understood, …!?”

As soon as Miina kicked the floor, a concrete wall popped up from the floor. Just before that, an enemy machine leaped up and hovered overhead.

We saw a Gatling gun pointed at us from the air.

We reflexively frowned and covered our ears to the screams of raging steel and the crushing sound of concrete.

After the barrage ceased, what was heard was an electronic voice with a translation function.

<The Japanese are really naive, slow, and gullible. On the battlefield, you must be on your guard until you have stopped your opponent’s breathing. Although I was no match for you in close combat, I can beat you at a distance.>

It was a chilling, sickening tone of voice.

Although their black full-face helmet obscured his expression, it was easy to imagine that they were laughing with a horrified expressions on their face.

“…Well, this is a strange one. I didn’t sense any consciousness from you?”

<I don’t want you to underestimate a true agent. I can do pseudo-fainting. I can mimic eye movements if you want. I can even show you a completed deadly feign if you like.　You who are about to die will never have the chance to see it, however.>

I felt an inexpressible fear in his voice that killed my body temperature like a ghost.

Was this the cunning of a man who, unlike Ijuin, had mastered the art of professional killing?

“I’m sorry to hear that. Even if people don’t want to, they don’t have to wait a hundred years to die. I bow down to the fact that you practice the preliminaries while you are still alive. But let me correct one thing. This is not a battlefield, but a school.”

<You people are sore losers. There are two people who are dying, one alive, and the other useless. If it were mahjong, I’d say it’s Ron.>

It was frustrating, but they were right.

Kiriha was seriously injured, and Director Sayuri would not be able to avoid the barrage of bullets if the long-range battle continued.

My teleportation wouldn’t work on that machine, nor would Miina’s abilities if it flew through the air.

We were so close to the arrival of the police, but this was where it was going to end.

Just as my mind was about to give in to a slight sense of despair, someone came running toward us from the entrance to the gymnasium.

The wall that Miina had just rebuilt was a blind spot, and the enemy apparently didn’t notice.

But I widened my eyes at the appearance of that person.

“You, why?”

She jumped on Kiriha and touched her red, ripped abdomen.

“Are you stupid or what!? I ran all the way up from the basement!? Did you think I was so heartless as to abandon my friends!?”

<Now then, let’s clean up before the police arrive. Let’s see the color of your Japanese blood!>

“You should see your own blood!”

Kiriha in her full form leaped out and roared.

The sharp blades of her arms flashed, and in less than a hundredth of a second, she crossed paths with the enemy machine.

Its limbs, severed at the base, rolled across the floor, and her torso was bound to gravity like a puppet with broken strings.

But Kiriha did not allow even the freedom to fall.

With a sonic movement, Kiriha held the fuselage section and raised it above her head, crushing the cockpit from both sides.

The fuselage crumpled with a sound like it was being compressed by a press, and the screams of the pilots filled the gymnasium.

“You can’t let your guard down until you’ve stopped them from breathing, right? I’m sorry, but I don’t want to hold Honey’s baby with my hands stained with your blood. I’ll spare your life.”

After a cold-blooded word, Kiriha slammed the crushed cockpit to the floor and thrust the blade of its right arm into the windshield.

“Take this poison.”

“■■■■■■■■■■!”

A decisive cry broke from the half-destroyed scrap.

She swung the blade of her arm to the floor and returned with a triumphant gait, like a samurai doing a blood swing of their sword.

“Thank you, Matsumi. Thanks to you, I was able to get to beat up one of that things.”

“You’re welcome. It was worth it for me to sneak back here. And Ikuo, I was watching you. It looks like you worked very hard to protect Kiriha. Great, great”

I held my head up firmly, and Matsumi began to ruffle my head as if she were dealing with a large dog.

I was quite embarrassed, but my chin was against Matsumi’s big boobs, so I let her do what she wanted. Also, it smells awfully good.

But then I remembered what my priority should be, so I escaped from the temptation of her big boobs.

“But isn’t Kiriha a cheat? You’re dressed like an American comic book hero.”

“Huh?”

Kiriha blinked, puzzled.

“Can you hold Miina like a princess while you’re like that?”

“S-sure.”

As she was told, Kiriha carried Miina in her arms as a princess.

No matter how you look at it, she was the very hero who helped the heroine.

“Guuhh, so cool…Kiriha is even cooler than me…”

As I was feeling defeated, Matsumi tapped me on the shoulder.

“Well, you know, you’re an out-of-balance couple, to begin with, isn’t it too late for that?”

“Can’t you be more subtle about it?”

“Hmm~, should we make a Japan Hero League?　How about five members: Harikiri Kiriha is responsible for single combat, Naimine Miina is responsible for surface control, Mitsumata Matsumi is responsible for the treatment, Arima Maria is responsible for information, and Okui Ikuo is responsible for transportation?”

“Aren’t I just the driver?”

As I was yelling at Director Sayuri, the riot police streamed into the gymnasium.

Then they said.

“…Um, what’s the situation here?”

Author’s Note:

As an added bonus: Miina’s point of view

<I don’t want you to underestimate a true agent. I can do pseudo-fainting. I can mimic eye movements if you want. I can even show you a completed deadly feign if you like.　You who are about to die will never have the chance to see it, however.>

Miina thought.

—I wonder what a fainting practice looks like…

Miina had mixed feelings as she imagined the spectacle of her superior officer telling her that her eye movements were no good.