Summer Illusion of Steel
The sky was blue, the sun was bright, and the sound of the waves was ever-changing.
A girl could be seen walking down the sandy beach. From behind, she looked beautiful; her black hair tumbled all the way down her back, and her white swimsuit seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. She walked along swiftly and carried three bags, each containing a watermelon. With every step, the sea wind gently tousled her hair.
“I want to meet her...” From the balcony of a villa on a hill, he whispered the words, his eyes locked on his binoculars.
“To whom do you refer?” asked the man standing a respectful distance behind him.
“That girl. I really...”
“But Masatami-sama—”
“Washio,” said the watcher, cutting him off. “I said I want to meet her.”
“Sir,” the man said after a pause. Then he bowed and withdrew into the mansion.
“Ah... She’s as invigorating as a sea breeze...” The watcher sighed.
●
Chidori Kaname, unaware that she was currently being considered “beautiful” and “invigorating,” let out a groan. “So freaking hot...” She was covered in sweat, and her eyes were glazed over.
She finally arrived at the beach umbrella, practically dragging the three watermelons behind her. There were bags for six strewn about, but no actual people present.
“Jerks,” she mumbled. “Making me do the shopping while they run off and play...” Just as she was parking herself down on the sand, she heard cheerful voices drawing closer. She looked and saw that her Jindai High classmates, who’d all come with her for a day at the beach, were on their way back.
It was a fifty-fifty ratio of men to women, all in swimsuits. But Tokiwa Kyoko, who was carrying an inner tube, ran up to her first. “About time, Kana-chan!” she exclaimed. “We were just swimming! Did you get the watermelons?”
Kaname knocked on one of the fruits in question. “Right here,” she answered. “But did you really just leave all our things here with no one to watch them? Doesn’t seem safe. We’ve got your wallets and stuff in there too, remember?”
“No worries there,” said the previously silent Sagara Sousuke, who was standing behind the group, his expression sullen with its usual tight frown. His boxers were camouflage, and his body was all lean muscle.
“What do you mean, ‘no worries’?” Kaname asked suspiciously.
He reached into the pile of bags and retrieved an anti-personnel grenade the size of a baseball.
“Uh...”
“A classic trap, designed to blow if the bags are moved,” he explained. “A painful lesson for any would-be thief.” Sousuke had been raised overseas, in regions rife with conflict. This had left him seriously addled by war, and he had precious little common sense regarding basic rules of conduct in a peaceful country like Japan.
Kaname pressed her fingers to her temples. “You didn’t consider that you’d be blowing our wallets and stuff up along with the thief?” she asked.
Sousuke said nothing, but greasy sweat arose on his brow.
Kaname took his silence as confirmation. “You are just so...”
“Demonstrating that theft comes with a high price would be an effective deterrent for overall crime in the region,” he said defensively. “A very important—”
Kaname smacked him upside the head, but it was so darn hot that the hit lacked conviction. “Fine,” she sighed. “Just drop it already.” Even her objections lacked impact.
“Hmm...”
“Besides, what if I’d triggered your little trap?” she asked next. “It’s dangerous.”
“I took that into account, of course. I left a marker that you would recognize.” Having said so, Sousuke picked up the grenade safety pin he’d inconspicuously laid on top of their bags. Apparently, she was supposed to have seen that and taken it as a warning.
“You expected me to notice that?!”
“You mean you wouldn’t? You should be more careful in the future.”
“Oh, whatever,” she scoffed.
Throughout all of this back-and-forth, Kyoko had been waiting impatiently. “C’mon,” she exclaimed, “let’s bust up some watermelons! Can we, Kana-chan?”
“Yeah, fine. Here we go.” Kaname laid some old newspapers out on the sand nearby, and set the watermelons down on top of them.
Kyoko pulled an aluminum bat out of her bag. “Okay, who wants to start? Sagara-kun?”
“Do it! Do it! This’ll be hilarious!” their friends cheered, as Kyoko and the others pulled Sousuke by the arm.
“What are we doing?” he asked.
“Breaking watermelons,” Kyoko explained. “The object of the game is to smash ’em up while blindfolded!”
“Is that all? It sounds trivial.”
“Well, somebody’s confident! C’mon, let’s get you blindfolded! Then we’ll spin you around!”
“Hmm...”
Kyoko and the others squealed and laughed as they gave Sousuke’s body a couple of spins. “There, that should do it. You said it was trivial, right? Let’s see you do it, then!”
With the bat in his hand and an air of great confidence, Sousuke strode in the opposite direction from the watermelons, instead heading for the beach umbrella where they’d left all their things. The kids giggled to themselves, calling out unhelpful advice like, “More to the right!” and “You’ve got it, keep going!”
Meanwhile, Kaname was standing next to the watermelons, away from the group. “Give me a break...” she mumbled, not liking it one bit. Ever since they’d arrived at the beach, Sousuke had let himself be dragged around by Kyoko and the others, so much so that he’d barely given Kaname a second look. He hadn’t seemed to notice her swimsuit, either.
I mean, I thought it was pretty good. Her smooth skin, slender legs, pinched waist, ample bust... She’d thought the white lace swimsuit highlighted her proportions very well. She’d spent a lot of time mulling it over last week in the store before choosing it, and she’d really liked it, but—
Blam! An abrupt roar tore her from her thoughts as the watermelon beside her exploded. Chunks and droplets burst out with hideous force to shower Kaname from the side, and all she could do was gasp in outrage.
Sousuke, having walked to the beach umbrella while blindfolded, had pulled a shotgun from his bag and blasted the watermelon.
With Kyoko and the others watching him in stunned silence, he removed the blindfold. “A direct hit,” he declared. “As I said, this task is trivial for—” Then he fell abruptly silent, only just now having noticed that Kaname was standing so close to his target. She was covered in watermelon from head to toe, leaving her white swimsuit in a sorry state. Bits of rind were stuck in her silky black hair.
An awkward silence hung over the group as Kaname walked to the beach umbrella and took a towel from her bag.
“I... didn’t anticipate that,” Sousuke commented. “But watermelon is non-toxic. And swimsuits like that one are easily disposable, so the soiling hardly matters—”
It was this last comment that caused Kaname to snap. She picked up the bat and slammed it full-force into Sousuke’s side. As the boy doubled over, she glared at him with tears in her eyes. “You freaking suck!” she told him, snatching up a T-shirt and striding away at full speed.
Thirty minutes later, she was sitting on top of a breakwater on an isolated part of the beach.
“Hey, you alone? Wanna hang out?” came a cheerful but feckless male voice.
Kaname slowly turned her glare in his direction, and said icily, “Go. Away.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am,” the man squeaked, then dutifully left.
Kaname took a sip of her lukewarm Dr. Pepper. “Hmph,” she snorted. She felt a little bad for running off like that, but she just couldn’t bear to stay around Sousuke any longer. I know that’s just who he is, she told herself. I know it’s my own fault for thinking he’d compliment my swimsuit. Her head knew that, but her heart refused to get with the program.
The night before, she’d been trying her swimsuit on at home, and the way she’d been giggling to herself and striking silly pinup model poses in the mirror now seemed so pathetic that she couldn’t even bear to show her face around people.
Why did I even come here? she thought gloomily from atop the breakwater.
Then, suddenly...
“Madame, have you a free moment?” someone called to her.
Not again, she thought, as she turned around in disgust. “Would you people leave me a...lone?” she began to ask, and then her voice cracked.
The man standing there was extremely conspicuous. He had an almost stereotypical “Eastern Mystery” vibe to him, being big and round with a catfish mustache. He also didn’t appear to be sweating, despite the black suit he wore beneath the blazing sun.
“Would you join us for tea?” The mysterious man asked in a surprisingly sonorous voice as he began to approach her.
“Uh... I think I’ll pass.”
“I beg of you, be accommodating,” he said solemnly. “If you refuse, I will be forced to kill myself.”
The man was making such a hard sell that Kaname had to stop herself from openly groaning. “Ha... ha ha ha... Well, that’s one of the better pickup lines I’ve heard,” she was forced to admit. “But I’m afraid I prefer guys on the leaner side.”
“That should hardly prove an issue, then. My master is quite slender.”
“O-Oh?”
The man gestured to the cape, where she could see a large house perched on a distant overlook. “Indeed. And he desperately wishes to meet you.”
Kyoko spat out a watermelon seed as she looked all around the beach. “Kana-chan’s still not back, huh?”
Sousuke nodded in response as he cut at the watermelon with a kukri machete. “Indeed. It’s been quite a long shower.”
“Yeah... I wonder if there’s something else going on?”
“Like what?”
Kyoko gave him a wincing smile. “You really don’t know, Sagara-kun?”
“Hmm...” As Sousuke thought it over, several possibilities presented themselves: an accident; a sudden illness; an unlawful arrest; a land mine. Discovered by an old enemy and currently being tailed... or perhaps in the process of losing them? Or... a kidnapping.
The most likely suspect was...
“A land mine?” he asked, hazarding a guess.
“I really don’t get how that mind of yours works, but... No. Kana-chan is mad at you!” Kyoko said, openly scolding him. “It’s partly our fault too, but it’s mostly yours. You’ve got to go find her!”
“Yeah!” added one of their friends.
“It’s your fault, Sagara!” chimed in another.
Sousuke, seeming to accept this, closed his eyes and nodded. Then, standing up swiftly to put on his windbreaker, he said, “All right. I’ll do that, then.”
Meanwhile, in the mansion on the cape...
Having allowed herself to be guided by the mysterious man, Kaname now found herself entering a spotless white living room. It was a high-ceilinged space, illuminated warmly by natural light from the windows.
“Just a moment, if you please,” the man said before taking his leave.
She’d accepted the invitation out of idle curiosity, but inside she was thinking, The minute things look dicey, I’m outta here. But...
I guess he really is rich, she’d concluded. On her way here, she’d been shocked by the breadth of the yard, the size of the house, and the expensive brands of the cars in the garage. The interior decorating was also tasteful, like something out of an Italian magazine on architecture.
I’ve come this far. I might as well put in some face time with the weird old guy who invited me, Kaname thought as she sat down on the living room sofa.
She’d been waiting about five minutes before a boy appeared in the doorway. He looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, pale as a fresh snowfall and wearing a crisp dress shirt. He had a dainty, delicate look about him, and held a tea set on a tray as he stared at Kaname.
One of the servants? Kaname wondered, before speaking up. “Um—”
Before she could say anything, the boy dropped the tray. What looked like expensive china shattered with a crash and splattered tea all over the floor, yet his eyes remained locked on her.
“Ah, you’re...” The boy took a step forward like a man in a trance. And then suddenly he cried out, “Waaah!” He’d stepped on a shard of teacup, and the pain of that, combined with the heat of the tea water, sent him toppling. He collided with the wall, tipped over a dresser, and then lay still.
What’s with this kid? Kaname thought as she approached the boy trepidatiously. “A-Are you okay?” she asked.
“Y-Yes, I am. Ah, I’ve acted horribly...” the boy replied, and then sat up sheepishly. “My name is Hyuga Masatami.”
“Uh-huh...”
“I beg your pardon for the circumstances of my invitation,” he apologized. “Normally I would have come to see you myself, but my doctor has advised me to remain indoors. I’ve been ill, you see, and I’m currently convalescing here in our villa.”
“Wait, huh?” said Kaname. “You mean you’re...”
The boy—Hyuga Masatami—turned red and nodded slightly.
A sick little rich boy, huh? I always figured you only saw that stuff in stories... Kaname found herself strangely awed by this realization, staring at Masatami like he was some kind of rare endangered animal.
Flustered, he said, “I-I’m sure this must all be quite overwhelming... but would you please join me for, er, tea? I can bring a new set out at once.” It was clear this was an attempt at a romantic overture.
“Hmm... I’m not sure,” Kaname said.
Masatami gulped. His expression was so pathetically earnest that she started feeling bad for him. Aw, she thought. Okay, he’s kinda cute. His large eyes, with their slightly droopy cast, triggered a sort of motherly instinct in her. It was a far cry from a certain war-addled idiot who reacted to everything with hostility and paranoia. Besides, it wasn’t like she had anything better to do.
“Hmm. All right, I’ll stay,” she said with a bright smile.
Masatami’s face lit up. “R-Really?! Thank you so much. Well then, er...”
“Kaname,” she supplied. “My name’s Chidori Kaname.”
“Kaname-san. Ah, what a lovely name,” he declared. “It has a certain... slug-like slickness...”
Kaname just looked at him, unsure of how to respond.
In that moment of silence, the intercom beeped. Masatami switched it on. “What is it?”
“You have a visitor, sir.” The voice coming over the speaker was the mystery man who’d escorted Kaname here. A security camera feed popped up on the LCD screen, showing a young man in a windbreaker standing in front of the main gate.
Sousuke? Kaname wondered. It was him, no doubt; his penetrating gaze was locked right on the camera.
“He said he’s looking for Chidori Kaname, and he believes that she’s here. What should I do?” the servant asked over the speaker.
Kaname didn’t know how he’d tracked her down, but he’d apparently come here looking for her.
“Do you know him?” Masatami asked.
“Huh? Oh, he’s...” She was about to say he was a friend from school, but reconsidered. I don’t want to talk to Sousuke right now, she thought angrily, and then... “Oh, h-he’s a dangerous pervert. He follows me like a stalker. It’s just the worst. Send him on his way!” she said, improvising with the first thing that came to mind.
“A dangerous pervert?” Masatami echoed.
“Yes, a dangerous pervert.”
“I see,” he replied. “We don’t want filth like that loitering around at our door. Washio, send him on his way. Tell him there’s no one by that name here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Masatami turned off the intercom. “That takes care of that. Now come this way, Kaname-san. I have a room with an excellent view.”
“Er? Oh... all right.” Kaname followed Masatami, already feeling a little abashed.
“There’s no one by that name here,” Washio told Sousuke.
“That can’t be correct. Could you check again? Height, 165 centimeters. Age, 16. Nationality, Japanese. Long hair, dressed in a white lace swimsuit, with an ideal physique. No previous pregnancies. Her accessories today include a red ribbon and stud earrings. She’s had a recent manicure, the color of which—” Sousuke rattled the information off quickly. He was particularly adept at watching someone without seeming like he was.
But the response he received was brusque: “She’s not here. Please leave.”
The testimony of the locals made it clear that she was in this mansion, Sousuke thought. The man is clearly lying. But intentionally, he didn’t press the issue. Instead, he walked away from the front door and then began to trace the wall that surrounded the estate.
Now, how to proceed. He could see surveillance cameras mounted on the wall here and there. The grounds themselves likely contained infrared motion sensors, perhaps even anti-personnel mines... A direct infiltration will prove difficult, he realized. But the fact that he was thinking such things was proof that he’d already made up his mind to proceed.
Sousuke completed a full lap around the mansion’s perimeter, then jogged back in the direction where he and his friends had been swimming. Either way, he decided, I need to ready my equipment first.
“Imprisoned?” Kyoko asked incredulously.
“Yes.” Sousuke put on his fatigues and combat boots, then began pulling unidentifiable object after unidentifiable object from his backpack. “I don’t know why, but it’s the only explanation. I must save her before something terrible happens.”
“But—”
“Don’t offer to help,” he told her. “Having an amateur along would only slow me down.”
“Uh, that’s not where I was going, actually,” said Kyoko. “I’m saying, I don’t think she’s been kidnapped or imprisoned—”
Sousuke quickly began attaching equipment to his clothing. “Excessive optimism can be fatal. While we sit around here, she might be...” he trailed off midway. He seemed calm enough at a glance, but was genuinely rattled: Kaname was imprisoned. He didn’t know who the enemy was, but they might be subjecting her to some terrible torture.
I can’t let that happen. I can’t... Sousuke began to imagine the torture that might be playing out as they spoke, based on his wealth of knowledge about the practice. Ruffians in bandanas tormenting a bound Kaname with fire, water, electricity... And in the end, they’d resort to drugs to strip away her reason.
“Ugh,” he muttered. “Trash.”
Kyoko gazed at him coldly. “Sagara-kun. You’re not using Kana-chan to imagine pervy stuff, are you?”
A heavenly aroma wafted up from the black tea set that sat before Kaname. It was the family’s private blend, using leaves direct from India. “Mmm,” she said appreciatively. “It’s really good.”
“I’m so pleased that you like it,” Masatami replied with a smile.
“It really is great. And I love the view.” The large glass door offered a view of the whole beach nearby. If she’d had a telescope, she might have been able to pick out her friends.
I wonder what Sousuke’s doing, she found herself thinking. Maybe Kyoko and the others are messing around with him again...
Wait, hang on. Am I really expecting him to give up that easily? Kaname fell into a worried silence, until...
“What’s the matter, Kaname-san?”
“Huh? Oh...”
“If you’re worried about that deviant, you need not concern yourself,” Masatami reassured her. “Our mansion has one of the finest security systems in the world. It would take extraordinary measures to break through it.”
“Extraordinary, huh?” she commented, knowing that Sousuke certainly had extraordinary stupidity on his side.
It was then that the mystery man appeared at the door.
Masatami looked at him unhappily. “What is it now, Washio?”
“I have detected an intruder on the cliffside,” the servant informed him. “What should we do?”
“That deviant. He hasn’t given up yet?”
I knew it, Kaname thought with resignation. That idiot... It was definitely Sousuke. She didn’t know what he was planning, but he was apparently determined to see her.
Masatami noticed her fretting. “Please, don’t worry,” he said reassuringly.
“Samejima! Hyodo!” he called out, clapping as he called their names. Less than five seconds later, two new men appeared. One was tall and lean, the other short and squat. They both had leering expressions and dangerous glints in their eyes.
“You’ve already met my driver, Washio,” he explained. “The tall one is my cook, Samejima, and the short one is my gardener, Hyodo.”
“Ahh...” said Kaname, as the three servants bowed to her in unison.
Masatami continued proudly, “They’re also my bodyguards. Washio knows kung fu, Samejima is a master with a knife, and Hyodo uses a crossbow. All three served in the French Foreign Legion. They’re combat professionals.”
“Geh...” Kaname knew that this was the part where she should act impressed. But instead, she just groaned.
“Geh?” Masatami echoed curiously.
“Oh, uh... Ah ha ha...”
“Hmm? Ah, no matter,” he decided. “Washio! Samejima! Hyodo!”
“Sir!” the three said in unison.
“The intruder is a pervert stalking Kaname-san,” he told them. “Dispose of him promptly! Get to it!”
“Sir!” the servants responded confidently.
This turn of events was making Kaname nervous. “Um, actually, the truth is...”
“Is what?” Masatami asked, stopping to stare at Kaname.
“What is it?” the servants asked together, doing likewise.
Kaname wanted to admit that she’d lied earlier and apologize for it. But she found herself so cowed by their combined gazes that, in the end, all she said was, “The truth is... I hope you do your best.” It was a strange way of phrasing encouragement, but she committed to it.
“Leave it to us, Kaname-sama!” the three servants declared together before rushing out of the room.
Masatami saw them off with a smile. “That’s unusual,” he commented. “The men really seem to like you.”
“D-Do they?” she asked uneasily.
“Yes. They’re usually so curt with my visitors, but I think you’ve really inspired them.”
“R-Right...” she agreed. His words were like dumping gasoline on a fire, and now Kaname could do nothing but pray. In that case... please let them chase Sousuke away quickly!
Hmm, thought Sousuke as, with a series of hefting motions, he pulled himself up along the sheer cliff by a rope.
About halfway up, he saw a small man appear at the top of the cliff. The man was holding a crossbow, and there was a cold smile on his face as he took aim. “Heh heh heh... Die, pervert!” the man declared. With another cry, the man fired a bolt at his head, but a fortuitously-timed gust of wind caused the bolt to just miss him.
Pervert? To whom is he referring? Sousuke paused to wonder, even as he pulled the grenade launcher from his back. He held the rope skillfully between his legs, readied the launcher with both hands and...
Fwoom! A large, round grenade burst from the muzzle and hit the small man right in the face. It was a training round, so it didn’t explode, but to his opponent it was the equivalent of a Tiger Uppercut from Sagat.
“Erk! Ah... ahhhhh!” The small man cried out as he pitched over the cliff and fell into the sea.
Sousuke saw the splash far below, then resumed his climb up the cliff. Wait for me, Chidori!
Masatami smiled as he watched Chidori fumbling nervously. “It’s all right, Kaname-san.”
She didn’t feel very reassured, but plastered a smile on anyway. “B-By the way, Masatami-kun... you said you were sick or something? Are you still feeling ill?”
“No, it’s not so bad now. My illness is more a psychological one,” he explained. “It’s called ‘autonomic ataxia.’”
“Oh, I’ve heard of that,” she said. “It’s when stress and worry causes incontinence, right?”
Masatami looked a little flustered. “W-Well, it’s more shortness of breath and headaches in my case. It makes it difficult to concentrate on my studies.”
“Oh? I hope I’m not prying, but what’s got you so bothered?”
“W-Well... I don’t mind telling you, Kaname-san...”
“Sure,” she said, waving him into her confidence.
“I have a cousin six years older than me,” Masatami began.
“Really?”
“Yes. We used to play together when we were younger. We were devoted to each other... so much so that when I was five years old, we promised to get married when we grew up.”
“Ahh...”
“She’s very beautiful. But two months ago... well, she was in this terrible traffic accident—” Masatami balked, and an expression of terrible pain appeared on his delicate white features.
Kaname gasped at the sight. She must have died, she thought, and fell silent, unsure of how to comfort him.
Masatami continued, half in tears. “—In which she met a florist, with whom... she eloped just two months ago.”
“Uh?” said Kaname, now thoroughly confused.
As he walked through the pine trees that grew thick on the grounds, Sousuke was greeted by a tall, slender man.
“Ho ho ho!” the stranger chortled. “You made it this far, pervert. But can you defeat me?” He produced two small knives with snake-like agility. “No one can escape my whip-like strikes, a gift of my long reach,” he declared. “I’m Samejima, the cook. In my mercenary days, I was feared under the name Sammy the Slicer—”
Thunk! One of Sousuke’s grenades hit the man right in the gut. It was another practice round, so it didn’t explode. Yet it still sent the knife-user rolling end-over-end across the ground, stopping only when he hit a pine tree and collapsed.
“W-Wait... You...” The man was still twitching when Sousuke stepped over him and continued towards the mansion.
Wait for me, Chidori!
“She didn’t give me any warning,” Masatami said, his voice openly resentful now. “She just sent me a postcard from the Netherlands a few days ago. ‘I’m very happy now. I hope you come by to visit, Ma-kun,’ it read. The nerve of her! The sheer betrayal!”
“Uh-huh...” Kaname agreed weakly. It sounded like he’d been harboring a one-sided crush on an oblivious, much-older cousin. She probably didn’t even realize she’d hurt him. “So... is that the only reason for your medical condition?” she asked.
“The only reason?!” Masatami responded indignantly, slamming his fists on the table. “I was betrayed by the woman I trusted most in the world! I’ll never trust anyone again! It’s turned me into an absolute misanthrope!”
“But you made that promise when you were five, right?” Kaname asked.
“It’s still a promise!” he cried out. “She lied to me! She hurt me! I’ll never forgive her! If I ever see her again, I’ll tear her limb from limb!”
“H-Hey...”
Masatami’s rage was reaching excessive levels, but after a while, his heaving shoulders finally calmed. “I’m sorry about that,” he apologized. “Just thinking about it gets me so upset; there’s nothing I hate more than being deceived.”
Kaname fidgeted in her seat a bit. “Well, everyone’s got pet peeves,” she told him nervously. “N-Nothing wrong with that...”
Masatami let out a relieved sigh and immediately returned to his previous state of bliss. “Thank you so much for saying that. You’re a wonderful person, Kaname-san!”
Kaname was giving him a strained smile when suddenly, a commotion sounded out from the lower floor of the mansion.
As Sousuke entered the mansion, he found himself on the other end of a nunchuck attack. The man who wielded them was big and round, but extremely quick on his feet.
“Hyuu!” the man cried.
Sousuke dodged the whistling nunchucks a second time, and then a third. He leaped back to get his distance, readied the grenade launcher at his hip and...
Pow! He fired. But shockingly, the nunchuck wielder dodged the grenade! The man’s kinetic vision and reflexes were almost superhuman!
“Hah! You fool,” the man said scornfully. “Long-range weapons like that—”
Kra-pash! The grenade hit the wall behind him with an explosion that shook the whole building, scattering wood splinters and plaster bits. It even brought a piece of plasterboard down from the ceiling, which landed right on the man’s bald head.
“Blugh!” The man, collapsed on the floor, stared at Sousuke with wide-open eyes. “You are a terrifying foe,” he gasped. “Did you plan your grenade blast this way?! You even calculated where the plaster would fall...”
But Sousuke just stared at his launcher shamefully. “No,” he admitted. “I accidentally used a real round instead of a training one.” Everyone makes mistakes, after all.
“Damn you... pervert...” the man said, before finally losing consciousness.
Sousuke stepped over him and continued on further.
Wait for me, Chidori!
“Wh-What’s going on here?” Masatami questioned in open panic. They’d heard an explosion, after which the mansion had fallen silent.
Yeah, of course it didn’t work, thought Kaname, planting her face on the table.
“W-Washio!” he cried out.
No response.
“Samejima!”
No response.
“Hyodo?!”
Only eerie silence met his calls, and Masatami swallowed hard. “K-Kaname-san,” he said shakily. “Stay right where you are.”
“Huh?”
“I have a weapon, too. And with this...” Masatami drew his final weapon from his pocket. It was a folding knife, named for its resemblance to a butterfly!
“M-Masatami-kun? That’s dangerous in a whole lot of ways!” Kaname told him urgently, and began to go pale for more than one reason.
Just then, the door to the room crashed open, and Sousuke stepped out, dressed in his fatigues. “There you are,” he said, coming closer step by step as broken glass from the door pane crunched under his boots.
Before Kaname could stop him, Masatami brandished his blade. “H-Hraaah!” He charged at Sousuke.
“Hmm...” Sousuke drew a large kukri from his belt and slashed at the boy unceremoniously. The blade went flying out of Masatami’s hands and stuck right into the ceiling.
“No!” Masatami wailed.
Sousuke just spoke quietly. “You’re an amateur. That knife of yours was designed for one-handed utility purposes. If you want a knife for combat...” He pressed the kukri, sharp enough to behead a cow in one slice, to Masatami’s chest. “...you should choose a weapon like this.” His voice was grave.
And right into the side of Sousuke’s face... Wham! Kaname’s fist embedded itself.
“Chidori,” he said. “That hurt.”
“Shut up!” she fumed back at him. “Quit scaring the poor kid with that pretentious crap!”
“What in the world? I came here to save you,” Sousuke complained.
“Oh, did you? Not to apologize to me? You really are the biggest downer...!”
“But weren’t you being tortured?”
“Why would you assume I was being tortured?! I was having tea! Tea that you interrupted!” Kaname shouted, then suddenly realized that Masatami was staring at them.
“Kaname-san, what’s going on?” he asked. “You said he was dangerous...”
“O-Oh, well... I was just about to explain that. We’re actually... friends.” Suddenly embarrassed about the lie she’d told, Kaname’s voice became audibly tinier.
“How could you...”
“I... I’m sorry...”
“I thought you were different,” Masatami lamented bitterly. “But you were mocking me too...”
“I... I really wasn’t...”
“But you were,” he insisted angrily. “I was trying my best to save you, and you were laughing at me the whole time! You betrayed and tricked me!”
Kaname didn’t know how to react.
“You’re awful... I believed you. You trampled on my pure feelings— bwah!” Masatami suddenly hit the floor, laid out by a shoulder-throw from Sousuke.
“Sousuke?!”
“I don’t know what’s going on here,” Sousuke said calmly. “But if you were deceived, it’s your own fault.”
“Wahhh...” cried Masatami.
“You only have yourself to blame for hiring incompetent subordinates and letting your judgment be clouded,” Sousuke went on. “If this were Afghanistan, you’d be dead ten times over.”
“That’s not what this is—” Kaname tried to protest, but Sousuke just seized her hand and stepped up onto the balcony’s railing. Beyond was the sheer cliff facing the ocean. “Er... we’re not going to jump, are we?” she asked.
But Sousuke ignored her. “Still, it took backbone to come at me like that with a knife,” he admitted. “I give you credit for that.”
Masatami looked up in surprise.
“What you lack right now is primarily emotional control,” Sousuke advised him. “Don’t lie to others, but don’t be naive. Project confidence, but never leave yourself open. That is all. Goodbye.”
With that, Sousuke threw himself off the cliff, dragging Kaname with him.
“Waaaaagh!” she screamed.
Kaname’s voice echoed over the beach as they went into free fall.
Washio entered the third-floor living room, rubbing at his injured head. He was relieved to see Masatami standing on the balcony. “Masatami-sama, are you all right? Where did that ruffian go?”
“Over there,” said the boy, pointing to a black balloon that was slowly descending over the distant sea. “Washio, I really do think I’ve been naive.”
“Eh?”
“Project confidence, but never leave yourself open. That’s the only way to truly protect the woman you love. He’s right.” Masatami nodded in response to his own nonsense.
“I should probably write him an apology,” Kaname said from Sousuke’s arms. They were dangling from a balloon a few meters in diameter, slowly descending to the ocean’s surface.
“Why is it necessary to apologize?” he asked, curious to know.
“Well, he’s probably feeling really hurt. Kids his age are really sensitive.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve been through the same thing,” she admitted. “Haven’t you, Sousuke?”
“Well, I have been injured.”
“Figured you’d say that. By the way, Sousuke... You really did come to save me?”
“Yes.”
“You really were worried about me?”
“Yes.”
Kaname was silent for a moment, then said, “I’m sorry.”
“I’m just glad you’re safe,” he told her.
“Sure. Ha ha...” Kaname rested her cheek on his shoulder and smiled.
〈Summer Illusion of Steel — The End〉
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