Against a Perfect Sniper (12 page)

Rentaro was fed up.

“Just how old are you right now, Doc?”

“Fifteen.”

“You’re younger than me?! Have you no shame?”

“Silence, or I’ll dissect you while you’re still alive.”

“No, please. Anything but that!”

As if realizing something at those words, Sumire gave a smirk. “Hey, I’ve been wondering about this for a while, but you have school during the day, go to Kisara’s office after school, and then you’re with Enju at home, right? As a healthy male hominid, when do you take care of your pent-up frustrations? Tell me.”

“Now that you mention it…” Even Enju was starting to look interested.

Rentaro’s hips twitched unconsciously. “Hey—! Th-that has nothing to do with anything. Enju’s around, too! What are you saying, Doc?”

“Then don’t ask my age, idiot. Everyone has one or two things they don’t want people to ask about.”

Rentaro sat back down in his chair with a sour look on his face at that severe retaliation. “Doc, you really are a terrible person, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. That’s why I have no friends. Did you only just notice?”

Disgusted, Rentaro looked at the large bookcases in the basement room. There was no sign of the person who was once the greatest mind in all of Japan on the bookcases filled with movies and adult video games.

“By the way, did you know, Rentaro? In the first dating sim games, the main character’s parameters were set, and if he wasn’t above a certain level in intelligence and looks, the girls wouldn’t even look at him. Even though it was a game, it didn’t contain any dreams or hopes, which kept it from being a great game, so other game companies went in a different direction.”

“What are you talking about?”

The enigmatic female doctor took a mechanical pencil from the breast pocket of her lab coat and tapped it on the table complacently. “Well, I was just wondering how far you got with Kisara. Kisara is wasted on someone like you with an unfortunate face obsessed with bugs. It’s strange that she hasn’t had a conspicuous boyfriend yet. You should be in more of a hurry. For all your rude talking, you can be a gentleman, but you lack the lust for conquest that will allow you to
overcome a woman’s indecision and make her your own. That’s your weakness, you know. Have you noticed, Rentaro?”

“Sh-shut up. It has nothing to do with you.”

Seeing Enju looking discontented, Rentaro was startled and averted his face quickly. However, he smoothly slid just his gaze toward Sumire and asked, “Well, what would you do if you were me, Doc?”

“I’d probably slip a sleeping pill into Kisara’s drink.”

He shouldn’t have asked. Rentaro scratched the back of his head.

“Sorry, Rentaro, but you should go home first.”

“Why?”

“I have some things to talk to Enju about now. I don’t want you to hear it.”

“Hey, Doc, don’t tell me—”
You’re not going to talk to Enju about her corrosion rate, are you?
Rentaro glared.

But Sumire shook her head. “It’s not that.”

“I…see… Then, I’ll get going. Enju, can you get home by yourself?”

“Yes, no problem.”

Rentaro gave a small wave at Enju and left the university hospital reluctantly.

“Why did you have Rentaro leave?”

“Because I thought you wouldn’t want Rentaro to hear this. That’s the kind of thing we’ll be talking about now.” Sumire sat back down into her chair, and it gave a sharp creak. “Enju, let’s make this brief. Have you ever felt sudden chills on the back of your neck when fighting a strong Initiator or when walking around town?”

Enju couldn’t tell where the question was going and was mentally tilting her head in bewilderment, but she answered honestly. “No.”

Sumire recrossed her legs and put a coffee-filled beaker to her mouth. “Let me rephrase the question. Enju, you’re an Initiator who specializes in speed, but has that speed continued to improve? Have you had trouble improving your speed? Where it suddenly stopped getting better?”

Enju put her hands on the table in surprise and leaned her body over the table. “Do you know something about that, Sumire?”

Sumire sank her body deeply into the chair. “It’s just as I thought. You’ve reached your growth limit point, huh?”

Growth limit point.
Enju couldn’t help but feel chills at the sound of those words.

Sumire flipped a lamp switch and pulled out a binder from a pile of documents, flipping through its pages to find the document she was looking for. “Enju, will you tell me a little about that feeling in your own words?”

It was like a doctor interviewing a patient, and remembering that Sumire actually was a doctor, Enju righted herself on the stool and sat up straight. “Yes, well, it was not something I was aware of in the past, but the more I used my power, the faster I became. However, that has not been the case recently at all. How can I describe it—?” She couldn’t find suitable words and folded her arms.

Sumire said helpfully, “Is it like you’re running into an invisible wall?”

“That’s it! It feels like I am running into an invisible wall. No matter how much I practice, it does not feel like I am getting faster at all.”

“I see, it’s just as the report says.” Sumire threw the binder onto the desk.

“Sumire, what is this?”

“That is the growth limit point. After an Initiator’s abilities improve to a certain point, they reach a plateau. In conclusion, Enju, your speed will not improve more than this.” The words echoed gloomily in the basement room.

“No… Isn’t there anything you can do, Sumire?!” Before she knew it, Enju had pressed up against Sumire, breathing hard.

Through the curtain of hair that covered her eyes, the doctor looked back at Enju in amusement. “No, there isn’t. However, it’s not all bad. It means that God has proclaimed that you don’t need to get any stronger than this.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in God, Sumire!”

Sumire spread her arms. “It’s regrettable. I think every day that it would be nice if God did exist. However, there is so little evidence that
God exists from an objective standpoint that I have merely deferred my opinion for now.” After saying that, she told Enju, “You can go home now,” and turned her back to the girl.

Enju looked at her and cast down her eyes, her mouth opening and closing until she suddenly murmured, “Sumire… What is
Zone
?”

Sumire turned back in surprise and looked at her sternly with narrowed eyes. “Who did you hear about that from?”

“I overheard rumors about it from Promoters and Initiators that we work with. Doesn’t it refer to very strong Initiators?”

“More accurately, it does not refer to the Initiator herself, but to the state of the Initiator. And, it has nothing to do with you.”

Enju practically threw herself on Sumire as she grabbed her lab coat and shook it. “Sumire, what is this Zone? Does that have something to do with how I can become stronger?”

Sumire showed a moment of indecision.

“Sumire, I must become stronger, whatever it takes!”

That was the last straw, and Sumire said, “Damn,” putting her hand to her temple and flopping into her chair in desperation. “Enju, I will answer your question from before. There is actually a way to overcome your growth limit point. It’s the Zone you were just talking about.”

Enju held her breath, waiting for Sumire’s next words.

“The wall you feel right now is also frustration born of the desire to rip through your growth limit point. It might be easier if you imagine pulling yourself up onto a horizontal bar. At first, no matter how many dozens of times you practice, you can’t do it at all, but one day, you are suddenly able to do it. Once you are able to do it once, there’s no going back. Apparently Zone is like that. And Initiators attain Zone, which breaks through their growth limit point through strict self-control and discipline. It is also called ‘Awakening Zone.’”

“Attain
Zone
…? Awakening……?”

“I’m not an Initiator, so I don’t really know the details, but from the literature I’ve read on it, only a small handful of Initiators can actually attain Zone. And of the super-high-ranking pairs, there are many Initiators who have attained Zone. You and Satomi are probably alive right now thanks in large part to the fact that you have not met anyone who’s reached Zone yet.”

Enju was startled. “Is this Zone thing truly that strong?”

“It is. There is a large difference in ability between those who’ve reached Zone and those who do not. It is said that those without Zone cannot beat those with Zone. When you encounter them, apparently you feel tingling at the back of your neck, so if there is an Initiator your instincts tell you is someone with Zone, you should definitely not get involved with them. You guys fought Kohina Hiruko, who was pretty strong, but since you beat her, she must not have had Zone. If she did have Zone, then there’s no way you two would have survived.”

It was hard to believe this all of a sudden. “If even after all that, I do end up fighting someone with Zone, what should I do?”

“Run away. Take Satomi with you and run as far as you can.”

“Is that the only way?”

“Yes. It would be a different story if you attained Zone, though.”

Not even Enju could hold back her gloomy feelings. The foolish expression about how the super-high-ranking pairs were strong enough to rock the world’s military balance single-handedly suddenly seemed to have a seed of truth in it.

Sumire looked at her with eyes tinged with compassion. “Rentaro and Kisara will probably both continue to become stronger. Enju, they’ll become stronger than you.”

“Stronger than I?” She laughed, thinking it was a joke, but Sumire’s face wasn’t smiling.

Enju crossed her arms and considered. During the fight against Kohina Hiruko, Enju had noticed several weaknesses with Rentaro’s artificial limbs. Rentaro’s artificial limbs relied on the propulsion provided by exploding cartridges built into them to provide an incredible attack power, but they also missed a lot. In actuality, when he fought the swordswoman with two swords, Kohina Hiruko, he used the function in his artificial eye to predict the trajectory of the enemy’s attack before he readied his fist for a counterattack. This was entirely to minimize the risk of missing. Also, because she herself was a speed specialist Initiator, even if she fought Rentaro, she thought she could easily lead Rentaro to miss.

Next was Kisara, and the truth was that she wasn’t sure how their matchup would be. To Enju, Kisara was almost a complete unknown, and Enju had never really seen her fight. According to Rentaro, she was “crazy strong,” but if Enju thought about it as the strength of a
human, then it was hard to believe that she could be a threat to Enju. It was hard for Enju to imagine the two of them becoming stronger than her.

“Enju, do you know the story of the race between the turtle and the hare? The one where the hare falls asleep and is overtaken by the turtle? Enju, why do you think the hare lost to the turtle?”

“Isn’t it because the hare let down his guard?”

“No.”

Enju was surprised and looked at Sumire again. “That’s not it?”

Sumire nodded once. “The answer lies in what the goals of the turtle and the hare were. The hare’s goal was to pass the turtle, so after he passed the turtle, he let his guard down. The turtle’s goal was to finish the race, so he didn’t let his guard down until he was done. It was this slight difference in the way they thought of their goals that resulted in their respective win and loss. Enju, you’re the hare. I’m not just saying this as a joke. Your myopic way of looking at things will likely one day lead you to a definitive defeat.”

Enju opened her eyes wide and shook her head furiously, yelling, “Even if that’s true, it’s something that’s way in the future! It’s not now!” After she said it, she was surprised at herself. She didn’t know why she was yelling so loudly herself.

Before she knew it, Sumire had come in front of Enju and put both hands on Enju’s shoulders, looking her straight in the eye. “Enju, do you understand? Do you understand what it means to attain
Zone
? If I can give my personal opinion, I would strongly urge you to forget it. Try asking Satomi, too. There’s no doubt that he would say the same thing as me.”

Enju had some idea of why Sumire would be opposed to it. It was likely that once she achieved
Zone
, her body’s corrosion rate would increase faster than usual.

If she remembered correctly, her corrosion rate during her last exam was 24.9 percent. That was dangerous, but even if she were able to attain
Zone
, if she used it sparingly, it shouldn’t be a problem, right? Was it really something that should garner that much opposition?

Sumire looked sad that she was unable to deter Enju’s motivation and murmured, “Let’s leave it at that for today,” cutting their discussion short. “You should just prioritize the job you have in front of you
right now. Let’s take our time to talk about this after you’ve taken care of your escort duties.”

Sumire waved her hand, seemingly done with this conversation. Even though Enju was not quite satisfied, she could do nothing but nod.

“By the way, Enju, what is the Lady Seitenshi’s guard like right now?”

Enju wasn’t sure how much she should tell her, but in the end, she told Sumire everything.

After Sumire heard everything, she put her elbow on the table and cupped her chin in her hand, making a troubled face. “Isn’t that…bad…?”

“Hmm? Why?”

“To be able to deduce the Lady Seitenshi’s guarded route means that the enemy has considerable ability to gather information. It’s likely that it has also been leaked that the Tendo Civil Security Agency has been hired to guard her. If I were the assassin, in order to make sure my second assassination attempt succeeds, I would crush the Tendo Civil Security Agency decisively. This is bad, Enju. Hurry up and tell the other two.”

“Master, will you give me more information about the Tendo Civil Security Agency?”

“What do you want to know?” The voice on the other end of the headset responded immediately after she asked.

Tina Sprout tilted her head, gazing at the half of the sun setting beyond the faraway building. The busy shopping district she just left had been filled with annoying oily smells and had a ton of vulgar people. It was hot enough during the day to make one sick, so she was quickly coming to hate Tokyo Area, but the setting sun was the only thing that was beautiful enough to touch her heart.

I do like the night, after all
, thought Tina to herself as she waited for the light to turn at the scrambled intersection. “Master, I do not know much about Tokyo Area, but I think Tendo is the same as the last name of the Seitenshi’s aide, Kikunojo Tendo. Are they related in some way?”

“Yeah, the president, Kisara Tendo, is Kikunojo Tendo’s granddaughter. However, she is currently estranged from the Tendo family and is running the Tendo Civil Security Agency independently. Oh? Her personal background is pretty interesting—”

She suddenly felt eyes on her and looked back, seeing an elderly woman staring blatantly at what Tina was holding in her right hand. The woman was looking at a khaki-colored gun case. It was even thicker than the case she used for the huge antitank rifle she used last time, and even with her power released, it was still heavy enough to make her tired.

“—the president, Kisara Tendo, lost her parents when they were eaten by a Gastrea that strayed into the Tendo residence when she was a child, and she herself was so stressed from that time that she lost the function of her kidneys.”

“Her kidneys?”

“That’s right. On top of that, this incident appears to have been premeditated murder, and the culprit is said to be someone from the Tendo family. Obsessed with revenge, Kisara Tendo madly honed her swordsmanship and left the Tendo family. Even now, it is said that she is just waiting for the opportunity to kill everyone in the Tendo family.”

“That’s…” It was a very bloody story. On top of that, she was a master swordswoman, huh…?

“I don’t know if it’s because they have no money or if it’s because they value quality over quantity, but there is only one pair employed by the Tendo Civil Security Agency. These guys are the ones who got in our way the other day.”

Tina lifted her face in surprise. “What are their names?”

“The fact that their names don’t come up on the list means that their information is being protected by the government. Oh, but their names have been leaked onto the Internet.”

For some reason, Tina made a hard fist as she waited for his next words.

“The Initiator’s name is Enju Aihara, and the Promoter is—”

Just then, a truck cut in front of her blasting its exhaust loudly. Tina covered her other ear as she shouted, “Excuse me, Master, what did you say—?”

“Hey, how long are you planning on standing there? Will you please move?”

Tina turned, and the elderly woman from before was looking at her with an angry expression on her face. When she looked forward, the light at the scramble intersection had turned green, and everyone around her had started walking at once.

Tina made a hurried bow and lifted the case, cutting across the geometric pattern made by the white lines. Continuing on by turning into a few narrow alleys, she reached an area of drinking establishments. Probably because of the time of day, there were not many people around.

Following her master’s navigation, she soon saw a small building. It was a dingy four-story building. She twisted her neck to look at the height of the building. She had proposed sniping Kisara Tendo down beforehand, but her master rejected that idea promptly. She could see now that she would not have been able to secure a field of fire here. She had no choice but to barge in directly and shoot her down, after all.

The building in question was called Happy Building, and its tenants from the first floor up were listed as
SPERRGEBIET, MA CHÉRIE, TENDO CIVIL SECURITY AGENCY
, and
KOFU FINANCE
.
Sperrgebiet
meant “no trespassing zone” in German, and
Ma Chérie
meant “my love” in French. The sign did not say what kind of stores they were. Was Kofu Finance some sort of financial consulting company?

Tina dropped the gun case she held in her right hand to the ground with a heavy sound. She opened the case up left and right, and an enormous gun appeared. It was an M13 made by the General Electric Company. It was a Gatling gun that used the power of a battery pack to make a bundle of six barrels rotate, allowing for continuous fire.

She was not that good at using weapons other than sniper rifles, but as part of learning the conventions of killing, she had also learned how to use general weapons and explosives. Up until now, she had always sniped at her targets through an optical scope, so she was slightly nervous, but it was not enough to be a problem.

Tina put the bullet box feeder connected to the Gatling gun on her back. Passersby were giving her dubious looks as they passed, but because she was doing it so blatantly, no one screamed or called the police.

Tina was planning to ask her master for a vacation after the Seitenshi’s assassination was over. She was sure that her master would strongly oppose her staying in Tokyo Area after the assassination was completed, but she wanted to avoid leaving this place without saying anything to
him
.

Tina put her hand to her chest. It was strange. She had only seen him four times, yet she felt like she could do anything for him. Even though she had never done anything but kill people, she was amazed that her heart could still beat for someone else like this. Her heart was warm. She felt like she could do anything.

Tina closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled. “Master, could I lose against Kisara Tendo?”

She heard a loud laugh on the other end of the phone. “There’s no way. No way. According to my calculations, there’s not even a one percent chance that you will lose against Kisara Tendo. According to the information, Kisara Tendo is alone in the office. Make sure you get rid of her.”

“Roger, Master. Ending call now.”

Tina quieted her footsteps and entered the building. Perhaps to save on maintenance fees, there was no elevator, so the only way to get to the upper floors was to take the stairs.

Sperrgebiet on the first floor was a bar. It looked like they weren’t open for business yet, and the lights were off and no one was around. Compared to the bar on the first floor, it was much easier to tell what kind of store Ma Chérie on the second floor was. There was wallpaper pink enough to make a flamingo feel nauseated and a disco ball. They were also not open yet, but it looked like some kind of sex establishment.

Tina silently climbed up to the third floor. In order to use the Gatling gun in an indoor battle, the barrels were shortened as much as possible to make it more compact, so it did not get in the way of her movements much.

Tina quietly pushed open the shabby door with a sign that said
TENDO CIVIL SECURITY AGENCY
hanging on it. At a large work desk facing front, a black-haired girl that she thought to be Kisara Tendo sat with her shoulders squared, writing something.

Seeming to sense someone coming in, the girl put down her fountain pen, crossed her arms in a huff, and looked the other way, as if
saying, “I’m still mad, you know.” It seemed as if she had Tina confused with someone else. It was a chance Tina would not get again.

“You are…Kisara Tendo…?”

“Huh?”

Seeing the girl lift her face and open her eyes in surprise, Tina prepared for the gun’s recoil by firmly placing her feet onto the ground. “Prepare yourself.”

Pushing the trigger button, the body of the gun started spinning from the battery power, and immediately after, there was an ear-splitting explosion, and the Gatling gun spit fire.

In the blink of an eye, Kisara crouched down reflexively, but the work desk and walls were all covered with holes, and ricocheting bullets destroyed the glass on the pictures and the glass water pitcher, penetrating the sofa of the lounge set and scattering feathers everywhere. This was the true value of the massacre weapon, the Gatling gun, a high-speed rifle that could spit a hundred rounds a second. Compared to the menacing threat of this rapid-fire weapon that could turn their target to pieces, the shots of a normal machine gun were about the same level as a fly landing on something.

After getting knocked backward from the strong recoil from the five-second salvo, Tina released the trigger button and looked around the inside of the office. Riddled with bullet holes, the inside of the office looked like a tornado had passed through it.