On a deserted night street, silver dances.
Her long hair reaching down to her waist chases the movements of the young girl.
Bathed in the faint streetlights, it shimmered brilliantly.
Her distinctive dark yellow eyes too. Her outfit, reminiscent of an active boy, left no part exposed except her face.
Even her hands were covered in leather gloves, and she was holding something rather extravagant for such a girlish appearance.
A sniper rifle about her own height.
Normally used in a prone position,
“Ah, this is really vexing…!”
The girl contorted her well-structured face in irritation and pulled the trigger while standing.
What echoed was not just a gunshot.
Not a physical tremor through the air.
Rather, a vibration that resonated with something else.
Along with it,
[OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!]
Something else shattered the darkness with a beast-like roar.
Its form was unseen.
Only a pair of crimson pupils glowed in the pitch black.
“—You lack decorum, Ms. Shizuku.”
As those crimson pupils uttered the chiding words,
“Decorum doesn’t really matter here!”
A flying kick came crashing in from the side.
Impact and a thunderous boom.
The crimson-eyed shadow was blown back into the darkness without emerging under the streetlight.
“Ha! Nice kick, Elteel!”
A new woman landed amid a hearty laugh.
With a single tuft of black hair dyed red, a cigarette clenched between her teeth, a tanned tomboy beauty.
Her black jacket worn over the shoulders without putting her arms through the sleeves, the leg of her pants daringly cut short above the right knee.
“Don’t need your thanks, Shizuku!”
The silver-haired girl named Shizuku responded by pulling the trigger.
At point-blank range, her shot struck the black-haired woman’s ample chest, yet
“As relentless with that ill-fitting gun as ever—but it won’t work on me.”
Something obstructed the bullet as it rolled off her voluptuous chest, the woman flicking it away with a wry smile.
Strangely, the bullet had become warped, neither piercing her skin nor her clothes.
“Tch—!”
“Hey now, no need to be so put out!”
The silver-haired girl leapt back.
The tanned woman gave chase.
The gap that had only been a few steps closed in an instant.
Just as the woman grinned and raised her fist to strike—
—Thunk.
An oddly crisp sound, followed by,
“Then allow me to return the favor, Ms. Lonzder.”
A new voice reached their ears.
“…!’
With a deft motion, she struck back with a backhand.
The sound of a dull shattering.
Like forcibly smashing an extremely hard object.
Yet there was nothing there, only the dim city lights.
Still, the woman had undoubtedly struck something.
Blood was seeping from her skin, which had not even been grazed by bullets.
Nevertheless, she gave a slight smile and called out to the girl who had appeared in a light gait.
“You’re late, fairy.”
“The true blow comes last, Diah.”
An ash-blonde girl in a uniform.
Her rainbow heterochromia, with a shallow green right eye and a pale pink left, shone in the night.
“…Cklares.”
“Hey there, Shizuku-chan. You can thank me, you know.”
The silver-haired girl, Shizuku, addressed the intruder by name.
Her tone was like she was forcing the words out, as if loath to even exchange pleasantries.
As if she had to say it, though she didn’t want to.
“…Who would. If Ms. Lonzder hadn’t held back, you’d have hit me too, wouldn’t you?”
“Heheh. Well, what do you think, Elteel?”
“…You’re as smoky as ever, I see.”
The one who answered the odd-eyed girl’s question was a tall woman who emerged from the black haze.
A voluptuous blonde beauty.
Most notably, her body reaching nearly two meters tall.
From the neck down, she was covered in a patchwork trench coat, the exposed part of her bosom amply swelling.
“Quite the sight for sore eyes, isn’t she, Elteel?”
Beneath the trench coat, she was completely nude.
“Please refrain.”
The woman sighed, averting her eyes with a slight snort.
“—Looks like the gang’s all here.”
The silver-haired sniper girl, Shizuku.
The blonde in the nude coat, Elteel.
The tanned black-haired woman, Lonzder.
The ash-blonde girl wielding a cane, Cklares.
The four girls and women faced off under the dim lights.
Cklares was the first to speak.
Tapping her emerald cane with a thunk,
“Well then. We share the same goal, so what to do about this situation? Let me ask, just to be sure—shall the four of us go rescue Mr. Norman together?”
The girl also called the Fairy smiled brightly as she posed the question to the three.
“…Inconceivable, surely.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why don’t you just say you want to be the main heroine, and we’re just here to make you stand out?”
“As brazen as ever, I see.”
With a soft giggle, Cklares laughed and toyed with the handle of her cane, meeting their gazes.
“For my part, I’d hoped we could cooperate now that we’re all here. It’s been about a year and a half, hasn’t it?”
“…You want us to cooperate? That’s rather amusing, Cklares.”
“What’s so funny, Shizuku-chan?”
In response to her gentle smile, Shizuku returned a twisted grin.
“Mr. Norman got caught up in this mess right after your turn, didn’t it? Is this what a ‘Fairy’ is supposed to be? Maybe the name suits you more as a joke.”
Her dark yellow eyes pierced into Cklares’s.
Mocking, questioning.
“Isn’t it more like you want us to cooperate because you failed to protect Mr. Norman yourself?”
“—Heh, as sharp-tongued as ever, Shizuku-chan.”
Her smile was like a mask plastered on her face.
“I suppose you could say it was my mistake. I’ll take it gracefully. But, you know, Tear Flower, you should have noticed the danger to Mr. Norman too, right? I’m sure you were always listening to him, even when it wasn’t your turn.”
And Cklares continued,
“You tend to speak quickly when you’re attacking others, don’t you?”
“—Tch.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
This time, it was Shizuku’s turn to face Cklares’s heterochromatic gaze.
She clicked her tongue at Cklares’s remark.
“If there are any faults…well, that just sounds like an excuse, doesn’t it? We’re all in the same boat, aren’t we? Don’t you agree, Detective, Siriusflame the Hellhound ?”
“Why am I being called ‘chan?'”
“Well, you’ve got that adorable vibe, y’know?”
“True, I am an exquisite beauty, so the ‘chan’ doesn’t quite suit me.”
The one who interjected was Lonzder, pinching her cigarette with her fingers.
“Looks like they’re not getting along over there. What do you say, Elteel, shall we be friendly just the two of us?”
“Don’t be foolish.”
“But you’re Norman’s dog, aren’t you?”
Elteel frowned at her words.
Beyond her stood the smiling beauty, exhaling smoke.
“If you’re his dog, then you could be mine too, couldn’t you? I’ve always thought so.”
“—You’re quite the vulgar one, aren’t you?”
“Ha! You’re the vulgar one, ‘Hellhound’!”
“And ill-mannered too. Can you not converse without treating your own thoughts as absolute truth? I can just imagine poor Mr. Norman’s suffering with you around.”
“That’s my job. Besides, Norman enjoys it, you know? He’s a masochist, after all.”
“Hah? It’s the other way around. He’s quite the sadist.”
“Heheh. I suppose we might have differing perspectives on that. Isn’t that right, Shizuku-chan?”
“…Nonsense. Now is hardly the time for such talk.”
The four of them traded barbs, restraining each other with words and emanating hostility through gestures.
Like predators glaring while vying for prey.
In the end, what they wanted to say was one and the same.
Though their inner selves differed in every way, that alone did not.
So—don’t get in our way.
Through their attitudes, motions, presences, and everything but words, they radiated that intent in all directions.
“I enjoy conversation too, but you lot are a different story. Except for the Fairy, I need hardly say anything about the other two.”
“I’d appreciate if you didn’t speak ill of others, Ms. Lonzder.”
“…Though I’m loath to agree with Ms. Elteel, she’s right. It’s none of your business. All I need is Mr. Norman.”
“Heheh. I figured as much. Talking is pointless, huh?”
No one regarded the others as anything but mortal enemies.
Their attitudes differed, but their core was the same.
Shizuku slid off her leather glove with her mouth, raising her bare finger.
Elteel arched her back, dropping her stance as she bared her fangs.
Lonzder twisted her cheek grotesquely, cracking her knuckles.
With a pleasant smile pasted on his face, Clares tapped his cane on the cobbled ground.
The four girls—four “Unlaws”—unleashed their true selves,
defying the very laws of this world.
“What do you think?”
“Hmm… well…”
Norman attempted to move his arms but, remembering he was restrained, let out a sigh and smiled.
“All four of them coming to rescue me—it’s almost touching.”
“…I have to say, your smile looks incredibly fake,”
Jim replied, narrowing his golden eyes in exasperation.
Here they were, supposedly in a deadly battle, yet Norman spoke like that.
If he was serious, he was disturbingly heartless, and if he was lying,
it was painfully obvious. As usual, Jim couldn’t tell what Norman was truly thinking.
He never has.
“…Ahem. Anyway, my job is to hear the details of the events from the past month,”
“I already submitted my report to my sister, so you must’ve read it. Didn’t we even chat about it informally in your lab? Why go over it all again?”
“Of course, there’s a different reason. But this is necessary. Let’s call it a confirmation process. A rite of passage, if you will.”
“…And if I decide to completely ignore you?”
With a wide grin, Jim slowly traced his neck with his right hand.
“I see.”
“Look, I could work hard to spare your life! But in that case, you’d belong to me! Actually… that might be quite nice! I could ask you to do all sorts of things!”
“Fine, let’s get to your questions. But if you’re satisfied, I’ll have a question for you too,” Norman replied.
“Oh! Well, that’s fine by me!”
Jim opened his binder, flipping through pages until he stopped on one in particular.
“First off, this past month, you and your ‘Unlaws’ have stirred up the city quite a bit, haven’t you? Four incidents, four monsters. The first one—a mysterious death at a mansion. But when an ‘Unlaws’ is involved, it’s just a murder case. Especially if ‘Tear Drop’ is investigating, no trick can escape it! With that weapon in hand, what did you make of it?”
“Ah… if I had to say… the importance of something unique?”
“Not a bad start!”
Jim said, his excitement as childlike as ever.
Despite the kidnapping, the interrogation, there wasn’t an ounce of hostility in his demeanor.
It was almost as if he was chatting with a friend,
which only made him seem more unsettling.
“Come now, let’s hear it. A story involving an ‘Unlaws’ isn’t exactly a mystery. Maybe it’s action, suspense, horror, or a monster panic?”
“Well… I wouldn’t get your hopes up. It’s none of those, really.”
Pressed to describe it in a genre, Norman felt at a loss.
It would’ve been easier if it fit one of those categories, he thought.
“Just one correction, Jim Adamworth.”
“Go on, Norman Hamish.”
Norman chose his words carefully.
He’d said it before,
but he’d repeat it as many times as necessary.
“This isn’t some monster story. It’s a human story.”
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