Uroko apparently dislikes playboys.
After leaving Kenju Komachi, I headed to the shooting range to practice my twin pistol shooting.
There were already people at the range. It was Todd, also known as “Goldilocks sensei,” and Uroko, the female yakuza.
“Yo, Kanata. I heard from Sanpin you’re back from the Witch’s Forest.”
Uroko seemed to be skilled with handguns too. The bullet holes were concentrated on the vital points of the targets.
“…Yes, it was a side effect of Rahu.”
“A side effect for us? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. It was the mission to abduct Princess Rose. We ran into the helicopter that escaped from there above the Witch’s Forest, and our survival tour began!”
“Ah, that. Complain to that idiot Tozen. It was a mistake to assign Rahu to an abduction mission in the first place. It might be understandable that it happened to be us nearby.”
“That idiot forgot the original objective again, engrossed in his killing spree? Uroko, you have one hardship after another. Want to come over to my place?”
Todd, who had been watching Uroko’s shooting, tried to recruit her with his casual tone.
“I refuse. Tozen is still better because he doesn’t have a bad track record with women. I’d choose the idiot who kills over the horny idiot.”
“So cold. Kanata, you came here to practice shooting too, right? Try shooting while I watch.”
It was fortunate to have Todd, the best gun handler in the Asura Unit, watch me.
I drew my two Proto Griffins and aimed at the targets.
As soon as I ran out of bullets, I discarded the magazine and tried reloading by manipulating a new magazine from the case I just bought with psychokinesis.
“So you decided to use twin pistols. You should utilize the privileges of a psychokinesis user.”
“However, your use of that privilege is too soft. I’ll teach you how.”
Todd stood up from his chair and drew both his pistols.
“See. This is how you reload twin pistols.”
Todd accurately shot separate targets with his twin pistols and levitated four magazines in the air with psychokinesis.
The difference from me was that he didn’t do the entire reload with psychokinesis, but reloaded by tapping the magazines floating in the air with the butt of his guns.
I see, it’s faster to float them and then do it by hand.
“Did you get it? When fighting with guns only, the technique is to attach spare magazines in the air beforehand.”
“I understand. Also, I should practice shooting at separate targets, right?”
“That’s right. The biggest advantage of twin pistols is the ability to handle multiple enemies simultaneously. Furthermore, as an advanced technique, you can penetrate a psyche-barrier by firing continuously at the same spot, but in Kanata’s case, it would be better to deal with enemies with tough barriers using the Evil Eye or a sword.”
“Kanata isn’t a weak, beanstalk man like you, right?”
“They say handsome men lack money and power. This is also my destiny to be born beautiful.”
Todd brushed aside Uroko’s sarcasm while stroking his proudly (dyed) blonde hair.
“Uroko, don’t you want Todd to watch your shooting?”
“I have nothing to learn from this fake blonde.”
She actually called him fake blonde!
“Then why are you at the range, Todd? You don’t seem like the diligent practice type?”
Instead of Todd, who answered with a smile, Uroko explained in a voice with zero appeal.
“He’s waiting for his prey.”
“Prey?”
“When young female soldiers from other units come to practice, right? He then pretends to give shooting advice and tries to pick them up. That’s his daily routine.”
“I’m just teaching them about the adult world along with how to handle guns. It’s a service, a service.”
…I should warn Shion and Kotone, who just arrived at the Garden.
Huh? With a flapping of wings, a white hawk entered from the entrance.
“Peep!”
It’s Shuramaru. What’s wrong?
“Peep! Peep!”
Shuramaru, perched on the backrest of the bench, seemed to want to convey something.
“Shuramaru, you seem to want to say something, but we don’t have animal empathy.”
Shuramaru tapped his leg band with his beak. Did he mean look at the leg band?
I examined the leg band. There’s a mechanism. Should I pull this?
When I manipulated the mechanism, a slip of paper was inside the leg band.
…What does it say… “To Kanata. Report to the command room immediately.”
“The Commander is calling for me, so I’ll be going.”
“He could have just called you on the Handycom, what is the Commander thinking? She’s a good woman, but sometimes she does inexplicable things.”
Uroko indifferently retorted to Todd, who was astonished.
“At least she’s thinking of something more useful than you are. More than an empty head with fake blonde hair.”
Uroko is ruthless.
As I started to walk out of the range, Shuramaru landed on my shoulder.
“Well then, let’s go to the Commander, Shuramaru.”
“Peep!”
I wish I had animal empathy too. I wonder if someone could develop an app for it.
“Kanata. May I enter?” “Peep!”
“Enter.”
When I entered the command room, Shuramaru flapped his wings and landed on his master’s arm, letting out a soft chirp.
“Peep peep!”
“There, there, you did well. Here’s some jerky.”
“Peep♡”
It’s a good thing they’re so affectionate…
“Why did you go to the trouble of using Shuramaru? A Handycom would have sufficed.”
“Shuramaru said, ‘I want to work!’ I read Marika and Hibiki’s reports. Go to the study.”
The Commander seems to be indulging her pet hawk, Shuramaru.
The old man Bowling was also in the study, joining our secret conversation.
“Kanata! Why didn’t you secure Princess Rose! Your actions are too detrimental to the Alliance!”
“Don’t say something unreasonable! Carrying the damage from fighting the Master of the Forest, I’m supposed to face skilled assault ninjas and ninja dogs?”
“Grumble. B-but…”
“Kanata, answer honestly. If there were no ninjas and ninja dogs, would you have secured Princess Rose?”
“…There’s no point in hypotheticals.”
“Is that so? In this case, it’s not a hypothetical, it’s a consideration of a hypothetical scenario, so I won’t let you say it has no point. You form hypotheses, consider them, and then act. Isn’t that what you’ve always done?”
Unlike old man Bowling, the Commander’s questioning was relentless. …My excuses won’t work on the Commander.
“Probably… I would have let her go.”
“As I thought. You are capable, but you are a difficult soldier to handle.”
“Iska-sama, this guy is too soft as a soldier!”
“But it can also be said to be his strength. Kanata, I will overlook this matter, but if I order you to, you will abduct even a princess or a god. Understood?”
“…Yes.”
“I’ll ask you one more thing. The report mentioned an assault ninja named Kika, and she has excellent hearing, correct?”
I didn’t want to report about Kika, but seeing as she possessed extraordinary hearing, there was no other choice.
If I don’t warn them, there’s a risk of Alliance military secrets leaking out.
“…Yes. Her name is Kika, and she has excellent, no, superhuman-level hearing.”
“…Kanata, the girl you met at Ligrit was reported to be a teenager. Wasn’t she actually Kika?”
“…Yes.”
The Commander, stopping Lieutenant Colonel Kurando, who was about to shout, continued her questions.
“Why did you cover for her?”
“At the time, I didn’t perceive her as such a threat. I only noticed her super-hearing in the Witch’s Forest.”
The Commander spoke to me as if admonishing me for acting on my own discretion in a way that was equivalent to actions detrimental to the Alliance.
“Kanata, you certainly have a thinking mind. However, it doesn’t always lead you to the correct answer. Do you understand?”
“Yes, my thinking was too careless. From now on, I will report everything to you and await your judgment. Here are images of Kika and Tachikaze.”
I handed the secretly taken image data from my watch to the Commander.
“Hmm, well done. I’ll send this to the intelligence department immediately to make them vigilant. Kurando, her merits and demerits cancel each other out. Any objections?”
“Hah, I admit that he is capable, too. Reluctantly, though.”
After handing the image data to the Lieutenant Colonel, the Commander clapped her hands as if she remembered something.
“Ah, the order of things was out of sequence. …Kanata, welcome back. You’ve worked hard.”
Saying that, she placed her hand on my shoulder with a smile. This Commander’s smile makes all the hardships in the forest worthwhile.
“Thank you!”
“Kurando is grumbling, but he did everything he could to rescue you, you know?”
Huh, that’s surprising.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Kurando.”
“Don’t misunderstand. My job is to clean up the messes of thugs like you, not just you.”
Yeah, yeah, I get it.
“Well, the matter of the Witch’s Forest is settled, but there’s another problem.”
The Commander, with a pensive look, put a cigarette in her mouth, and the Lieutenant Colonel lit it.
It’s about my Nenshin Strength continuing to grow. It’s certainly a problem.
