Hidan no Aria - Volume 9

October 31st in the middle of night, I submitted the school-transfer form to the Masters unscathed…the next day was Sunday.

The cleaning up of the Cultural Festival is left to the first years, so I shopped around for civilian’s quests in the Inquesta’s PC room to pass the time.

The problem of the hour is that I must solve my own financial problems. I must quickly do something for the left hand’s ‘Orochi’ payment to Hiragai-san.

And having that in mind I searched for some jobs…but there aren’t any good ones. The only missions with high reward are all dangerous jobs.

There was one job, being a bodyguard…but that is also no good. It’s for protecting a princess from some big company. I can’t have any more encounters with princesses. And so, as I was picky with requests, it is now evening, and I still haven’t found any jobs.

In the midst of not speaking to anyone for about a day, at night, at the Master’s request board I finally got the job I was searching for.

While looking at the printed paper in my hand, I returned to the boys’ dorms―

“……?”

There was a trail of blood running down the corridor. Blood itself is not something rare in Butei High School, but the blood trail led towards the direction of my room.

A little worried, I quickly rushed to the door—

“……!”

The silver wolf Haimaki was crouching in front of the door.

“What happened……!”

Haimaki was hurt badly. His silver hair was saturated with blood.

To the panicking me, while trembling, Haimaki handed me the cellphone he was holding in his mouth.

Those eyes looked as if he had just handed something important to someone he really trusted.

If you look at the cellphone—it was Reki’s. The light-green waterproof cellphone was wet with blood.

Although it was someone else’s cellphone, because of the situation, I opened it—

“……!”

I couldn’t understand at first what I was seeing. It seemed like the last thing the cellphone did was take a photo.

At the bottom of the screen it asked “Do you want to save it?”—

The picture showed—

(Wha….what, is this……!)

Silver and Black, Governments.

The Japanese sword—Irokane Ayame.

The silver Remington Double Derringer.

And—a Dragunov sniper rifle.

Aria, Shirayuki, Riko, and Reki’s weapons are piled up easily……!

As I looked at that picture, appalled—

–pipipippipipipipipi—

The ringtone rung, from Reki’s cellphone.

On the screen, it showed “Call from unknown number incoming”.

I accepted the call with trembling fingers—

“You finally picked up, you’re so slow!”

I heard a low voice, and for a second, a man’s face was shown on the cellphone screen.

A face covered with tribal-like war paint.

(……This guy……)

I remember seeing him.

He is the guy from last month, present at the Bandire on the Empty Island—G-Ⅲ.

He was the one that told everyone to bring someone strong over…the one that seemed to like fighting the most.

–The cellphone’s image shook.

“H…Hey!”

“Fourth, look. This is Tohyama Kinji.”

G-Ⅲ’s voice was heard from outside the image, and in place was a person that had been handed the cellphone.

“……?”

The face—

I caught my breath.

She was a beautiful girl with sharp eyes. Her age is a little younger than mine. She wore goggles with a HUD (Heads Up Display), fashioned like red sunglasses, behind each ear she wore something that looked like a sensor.

Her slender upper body is equipped with matte black body armor. There is a futuristic tactical blade on top, and there a few other blade-like weapons between her waist and back.

But, what surprised me, is not just this mechanical, offensive equipment.

Even though this is the first time I’ve seen her—

I feel I know her.

I know her……not that I had direct knowledge of her, but that I felt kinship with her; such feelings arose within me.

This girl—is closely related to me.

This difficult-to-describe feeling flowed all through me, even if this was my first time seeing her.

Who……who is she exactly……

“—Wow, I like it. Compared to a photo, video is definitely better!”

The girl who approached the screen joyfully had beautiful chestnut hair—that soft hair bouncing, her voice sounded terribly excited.

“Who are you—you bastards!”

I shouted at Reki’s handphone—

“I’m G IV (G Fourth)—Call me by my product number, I have no name.”

That maiden narrowed her black eyes and replied.

G Fourth……?

“What happened in that photo……? What did you guys do to Aria and the others?”

“I didn’t know which one was Onii-chan’s girlfriend, so I finished them all.”

……?

O-, Onii-chan……?

“Those girls that approached Onii-chan—I’ve killed them all! If there are any others, I’ll have to kill them too. Onii-chan has to enter HSS mode by using me starting today—Wa, I actually said it. That’s so embarrassing……! I felt excited just by saying these words……! Oh no, I’m really impure!”

Hahaha! The girl raised her head and laughed—my mind went blank.

What, what, what.

Just what on earth are you saying.

I recalled the words she spoke, only then noticing, she keeps calling me “Onii-chan”.

A younger sister, I don’t remember having one.

We are the Tohyama brothers, there’s only Nii-san……and I.

“What……are you guys actually?”

I tried my best to calm myself down, and said these words.

The screen shook again, G Third appeared once more—He looked at me, and with a scornful tone, he spoke.

“No matter how many times I look I still find it hard to believe. Is he really the one who took Sherlock out?”

“—Hey! Both of you……are IU remnants!? Answer me, what are you guys!”

“Shut up! Do your worst! Fight!”

From G Third, who only replied with these three sentences—

The direction of the camera of the video phone suddenly changed.

The view shows an empty theater, and the girl called G Fourth who spoke with me just now napping—

Next to appear, is a stage showered with limelight.

What appeared on the stage……

“………………!!”

The girl that participated with me in a cheerful culture festival—Aria.

The girl in charge of the pot during the Butei Pot event—Shirayuki.

The girl who returned alive after battling Hilda, and gained her freedom—Riko.

The girl who revealed her unexpected drawing talents, and was praised by the Masters—Reki.

The four members of Team Baskerville, are covered in blood—

They laid lifelessly on the floor, just like those piled weapons.