Chapter 255 – Strong Impressions
“What are you doing here? You can’t come here.” Said a man with a rifle holstered on his back. He stepped in front of me and Narumi as we approached the House’s main gate. Didn’t immediately recognize us.
The main gate was being guarded by four men. Two of them were wearing clothes like ours, with the special protective fabric, two had more conventional bulletproof armor. Are half of them PSF agents and the other half normal soldiers? The one who stepped in front of us wore normal armor and didn’t know how to react when two girls holding strange objects just nonchalantly walked up. With our weapons compacted, we didn’t look like a threat. They were confused. One of the agents whispered on a handheld radio, but even he didn’t see anything wrong.
I wonder how many they have stationed inside? Let’s go take a look.
“Didn’t you hear me!?” The side gate we always used was right in front when the man from before placed his arm in front of us. “This area’s off limits! You’re not allowed to approach without permission. Get lost!”
To the right, the other guard whispered to one of the agents. “What’s wrong with these girls?”
“Are they on something?”
“Could be… It’s like they didn’t even listen. Strange girls.”
“Strange girls… girls…?”
But before the dots connected… “Move.” A punch to the face powerful enough to knock the guard on his butt gave the others a reason to unholster.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” “Freeze!” “Wait… Aren’t you…”
“’What do you think you’re doing’ is what I should be saying.” I scoffed. “Why are you pointing those things at us without evacuating the buildings nearby first? Are you trying to start a commotion?” The streets were as empty as always, so they were lucky there. “Go get the people out of here then you can shoot at us to your hearts content inside.” With another step forward, I gently opened the gate.
“I said freeze!” One of the agents opened fire. Full auto. No shame. Barely courteous enough to aim for our lower halves. *Sigh…* Some people…
“Slash Flurry!” *plink plink plink plink plink!*
“What the fuck?!” “H- how?!” “Ah! I remember now!”
Bullets on the floor, sword loosely on my hand, I guided Narumi inside. “Are you stupid or something? I told you not to start a commotion out in the opening? Did the PSF give you no training?” *Sigh…* Some people… “Do as I told you. Get the people out of here then you can come after us. We’re not going anywhere. We’ll be waiting to kick your asses inside.”
Between the dorms and the House’s main building was a wide-open space, big enough to raise a dog or two with plenty of space for them to run around. Probably why two girls just as wild showed up to claim the space.
The shot fired caused the guards stationed inside the buildings to pour out, eventually surrounding us with more than three dozen men. The stunned group by the gate eventually got their bearings together as they stared at our backs through the gate. All four got on their radios, and within seconds, every siren in the neighborhood started blaring. The soldiers surrounding us split into two groups. One raised their rifles and pointed at us, the other ran out of the premises and rushed to the apartments and houses nearby.
“W- wow… What a big reaction…” With her back almost leaning against mine, Narumi stretched her arms with a black unidentifiable object dangling from her hand. It looked like a padlock, but with the click of a button, it turned into an imposing axe.
“Is this what you wanted? They’re not shooting on sight so at least uninvolved people will be safe.”
“They’re not shooting on sight? We got shot almost right away. I’m not sure if you’re paying attention.” She laughed.
“Oh… I guess you’re right.” It just happened and I had almost forgotten.
“But still, they at least seem somewhat reasonable. They’re evacuating the surroundings like we told them. Maybe no one will die.” The longer our little conversation went on, the more confused the soldiers aiming at us grew. And the more tense.
“And if they’re not reasonable, that’s nothing a few smacks won’t solve. Riiiight~?” I flashed a smile at one of the soldiers. He did that quick pose readjustment thing where the weapon clicks and feels more ready to fire. Tough crowd…
The big gate up front opened, and two large military trucks pulled up. More soldiers jumped out the back, and now there were so many that I couldn’t count anymore.
“Mhmm mhmm… Keep ‘em coming.” I gestured to the trucks. “Be careful not to ruin our grounds on the way out!”
“And they’re still not firing.” Narumi said.
“That just means they’re taking the evacuation seriously. Isn’t that nice?”
“How long is it going to take?”
“That’s… a good question…” I said. “Hey! You’re evacuating the people around, aren’t you? How long’s that gonna take?”
No one said anything. Yet when I stepped forward, the soldiers on that side took a step back.
“Hmm?” Two more forward, two more back. “Oh, check this out, Narumi, when we move around, they react to our movements!”
“They’re people… Of course they do…”
I ran along the edge and made a little wave in their formation. “Ahahaha! No, but look at that. It’s like a flock of sheep being pushed around by a wolf. It’s kinda fun. You should try it out.”
Narumi hopped forward a few times, pushing her side backwards. “Oh… I see what you mean!” Then *bang!* One of the soldiers fired a small burst at her. With a single swing of her axe, all the bullets were batted away. Yet the battle didn’t officially start. No one else shot. Seems like not all of them have the same level of composure.
“Uhmm… Should we assume that those shots didn’t count?” I stepped closer to Narumi. Nothing. “Okay then… We’ll assume those didn’t count.”
“This is so strange… Feels like a dream.” Narumi also moved forward and we walked around each other. “It’s like something broke.”
“I get what you mean. It’s kinda like we’re on stage or something. And they’re our captive audience. They stare in awe, gasp when we approach, and fire if we push them too far. Hanging on our every whim…”
“Hmm… If that was the case, I wonder what genre our performance would fall into? A dance?”
I giggled. “No way… We’re just walking around each other. If anything, this is a comedy routine.”
“A comedy routine?”
“Duhh… You put two girls talking about nothing while a bunch of men are pointing rifles at them, and your first reaction would be to think that someone here is stupid.”
“Hey…” Narumi’s eyelids lowered. “Aren’t we the stupid ones if we follow that logic? The girls should be scared.”
“Huh?! No way! We’re just killing time while they evacuate. Very logical and reasonable. They’re the one who are…” Doing what, exactly? “Logically and reasonably waiting to open fire…?”
“Then there’s no one stupid here, Iroha…”
“No way! You’re telling me we’re actually in a dance?!” Damn… She really is smart…
“What manner of idiocy is this? You two are obviously the stupid ones. What do you think you’re doing here? You think we’re a joke?”
The loud voice came from a man in a suit that safely stopped behind the crouching soldiers. He looked a bit like Daisuke, but not quite. Clearly someone from the PSF… Maybe a Kurokawa, even.
“Oh! He talked…” Narumi gasped as we both stopped.
“He did… If for a second you thought we died and turned into ghosts, you don’t have to worry anymore. We’re alive.”
“No, no… Why would I think that? We obviously didn’t die.”
“Yeah, I guess…” I said. “But the soldiers might have been worried when their bullets phased through us.”
“They didn’t phase through… We deflected them.”
“Ehh. Same thing.”
The show returning to its comedy roots made the suit lose his patience. The haughty look he had when he called us stupid had been replaced by a harsh frown. “How dare you…? I see now the rumors were true… Shinji’s subordinates are as much of a pest as he is… Insolent and rebellious to the bitter end…” He swallowed down the bubbling anger. “Listen well, you pests, I’ll only say this once. You are now under arrest for terrorism! Surrender peacefully or we’ll use whatever it takes to capture you!” The soldiers’ rifles all clicked.
“Ahh…” I stretched my neck. “No, thank you… I let myself get captured once, and it kinda sucked. I’ll pass…”
“First time for me but I’ll trust her judgement.” Said Narumi.
“Tsk… Don’t you see that you’re completely surrounded? Why did you even come here?”
“To take back what’s ours. The House is ours! None of you have any right to be here.” I pointed my sword at them. “Get out before we kick you out ourselves!”
“Fufufu… You can surround us all you want. We wouldn’t have waltzed in here if we weren’t looking for a fight.”
“Hmph… You’ll regret that…” The suit extended his hand. “You may open fire! Shoot to immobilize!”
One, two, click!
A barrage of bullets rained on us from every direction.
“Slash Flurry!” “Swing Flurry!”
Thousands of tiny pings from the bullets hit by our weapons.
“…” When the dust settled, Narumi and I were unscathed, standing back-to-back. “What’s a swing flurry, Narumi? Why did you say that?”
“Ehh? I was just copying you…”
“…” How embarrassing… I’ll only shout them in my head when near her from now on.
“Wh- what?! How did they…?” The agent giving out orders staggered back. Our reported strength was much higher than other agents of the PSF, but the numbers on paper and the reality in the field were very different. “Change of plans! Kill them! They’re too dangerous…” He turned back, murmuring… “I gotta get out of here… *Bzzt!* Send them to my location. We’re going all out!”
A second burst rained down, and we deflected it just the same.
“Did you hear that, Iroha?” Narumi whispered during the pause.
“Looks like our plan is working…”
Miyuki’s words. A good distraction requires creating a strong impression. Waltzing in here brazenly was my idea of that. We’re off to a great start…