“Not in any public capacity, no,” Mao agreed. “But there’s no way that you, as Captain, didn’t know about the armed guards, or about this section of the ship, right?”
The man remained silent.
“And we know that your company’s bigwigs got a big payoff from someone. There’s no paper trail connecting you to the foundation in question, but money can always be traced.”
It was like a scene from a crime drama. Mao was the detective, and Harris was the culprit—which would make Kaname a random audience member struggling to follow along. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
Mao shrugged in response. “I think whatever’s in this vault is a lot more valuable than smuggled goods,” she said. “Probably something important to Amalgam...”
Harris’s shoulders tensed up.
“See? Written all over his face.” Mao grinned. “And then there’s the way you looked at Kaname earlier... You don’t really think of her as one of your ‘precious passengers,’ do you? It’s almost as if you knew about her ahead of time.”
Harris said nothing, his face now white as a sheet. His fingers and jaw were trembling, his eyes were opened wide, and sweat had begun to bead across his forehead and neck.
“I think you know by now, don’t you? Who we are...” Sousuke, who had previously been silent, now spoke up solemnly. “Sunan, Ariake, Perio, Hong Kong... You’ve always had us playing defense, but we’ve finally regained the initiative. Accept that, and cooperate.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anything. This is all ludicrous,” Harris whispered, after emitting a deep sigh. Then, a split-second later, he was moving, throwing himself at the unsuspecting Kaname. He was holding a small knife in one hand, which he must have smuggled in under his uniform hat.
Frozen, Kaname felt her mouth drop open. He reached for her collar, but Sousuke was faster. He knocked Harris’s arm aside with his shotgun’s stock, then plunged a fist hard into his exposed solar plexus. Harris let out a grunt, then collapsed to his knees.
Sousuke then kicked him in the face, which sent him into a crumpled, coughing heap. “This is who this man really is,” he declared. On his hands and knees, Harris let out a whine. Even Kaname, who was always kicking Sousuke around, was stunned by this barbaric treatment.
“Boy, what a sad way to show your true colors,” Mao lamented with a shrug. “Thought you could take her hostage, huh? Too bad. Guess the jig is up on your gentleman act.”
“That’s right,” Sousuke agreed. “It was your actions that were truly ludicrous.”
“Ugh...” Harris groaned.
Sousuke knelt down in front of the man. “I can imagine why you would want to get my school involved. You thought you could use our students as hostages to force Chidori to do something, correct?” He must have been right, because Harris gritted his teeth and glared at his captors.
“But remember this...” Sousuke grabbed him by the collar and pulled him in close, pointing the knife he’d stolen at Harris’s neck. “If you lay one finger on anyone from this school—not just Chidori—I will personally skin you alive and watch you bleed to death,” he promised solemnly. “Do you understand? I will subject you to pain and despair beyond your wildest imaginings. Don’t assume Mithril is some naive band of do-gooders. We know exactly how you people do things, too. Don’t forget that.”
Harris remained silent, his face ashen from fear.
Perhaps detecting the deadly aura radiating from Sousuke, Tessa squirmed nervously. “Sagara-san is rather frightening...” she observed.
“He is being weirdly intense...” Kaname agreed.
“Hunger must be making him cranky...” Tessa suggested in response.
“Yeah, he does seem a little pissier than usual...”
The whispered conversation was occurring right next to Sousuke, and his eyebrow twitched as he overheard them. “Chidori,” he said at last. “I am currently attempting to intimidate a hostage. Would you please be quiet?”
His request caused Kaname to snap again. Puffing out her cheeks, she said, “Why am I the only one you chewed out?”
“What? W-well, I—”
“She’s exactly right! You must discard your biases and scold me as well!” Tessa interrupted.
“Why should I—”
“You’re always on eggshells around me, Sagara-san!”
“That’s not the problem, is it?!” Sousuke demanded in exasperation.
“It is the problem!” Tessa insisted. “You always do it! Why am I always the one left out?”
“You know, Tessa—”
“Would you two please—”
As the three-way yelling started up again, Mao pulled a handgun from under her vest, then silently fired it into the ceiling. There was an ear-splitting clang, and dust sprinkled down on them. Silence reigned again as Mao returned her handgun to its holster and cleared her throat. “Look, you three. This conversation is going nowhere.”
“Right...” Kaname and Tessa responded in unison.
“Anyway, Captain,” Mao continued. “Please open the safe.”
“What? But I can’t open it...” Tessa protested.
“Not you, Captain! The other captain!” Mao fumed.
Tessa just tapped her fingers together meekly. “Oh... I was only... joking.”
“Sheesh...” Mao muttered, mussing up her hair to express her frustration. Kaname and Tessa decided to move a little distance away, to avoid another deflation of the needed intensity, as she and Sousuke resumed their attempts to intimidate Harris.
“Anyway, open it, please,” Mao said as she dragged Captain Harris over and sat him in front of the vault’s console.
“I... I can’t. I can’t open it,” Harris said, looking flustered as he read the screen display.
“Come on,” Mao scoffed. “Cut out the stall tactics, would you?”
“It’s true, though!” Harris insisted. “The safe’s electromagnetic lock has already switched to emergency mode. It won’t accept my passcode.”
“Oh, really? I guess I’ll have to drag it out of you, then.” Mao pointed her submachine gun’s muzzle at Harris’s right knee. “I won’t kill you right away; we’ll start with a little warning shot. Right, Sousuke?”
“That does seem appropriate,” he agreed.
“I’ll count to three.”
Harris panicked and cowered. “P-Please believe me. I’m not—”
“One.”
“I’m not lying. Once it’s in this mode—”
“Two.”
“L-Listen to me! There’s nothing I can do to
