Against a Perfect Sniper by Shiden Kanzaki Page B

Enju’s head bobbed up and down as she nodded.
    There was a popping sound—the sound of Kisara’s blood vessel ripping as she looked down.
    Even though there was no more food on Kisara’s plate, her chopsticks were still mechanically making the trip between her plate and her mouth. It was scary. “Hey, Yukikage…… What’s that? You want to drink the blood of the snake woman? Well, if you say so…” She laughed evilly. Kisara was so angry that it caused a shift in her mentalstate, and she had begun talking to the sword at her side. “Satomi, this food tastes good, but I think there’s something missing. And that is Miori’s blood!”
    Hey, come on…
    Kisara finally started to stand unsteadily. “Miori, do you know what bloodletting is? Apparently, when sick people bleed a little bit, they feel better. I will……be happy to perform bloodletting on you.”
    Kisara drew her sword and aimed it at Miori’s eyes.
    “Everything from the neck up is unnecessary.”
    That’s not called bloodletting.
Rentaro wanted to just hold his head. He didn’t want this to happen. That’s why he didn’t want to have the two of them in the same space. “C-calm down, Kisara.”
    “Calm down? Did you just tell me to calm down? My anger is ecstasy!” Even her language ability was uncertain now, and when Kisara started to breathe Lamaze style, Miori stood quietly with a smug look on her face.
    Rentaro remembered the phrase “an ostrich in the desert.” There was an anecdote about how an ostrich in the desert will stick its head in the sand and pretend it can’t see anything when an enemy appears.
    At a loss, Rentaro desperately stuffed meat into his mouth and tried to avert his eyes from reality.
Yeah, the meat is delicious. It’s superdelicious.
    Kisara and Miori moved away from the table and faced each other, opening some distance between them.
    Kisara spoke. “Miori. Someday, I will buy your company’s stock twice over and short sell it, crushing the whole company! And then at the general stockholder meeting, I’ll disrupt the meeting as an extortionist and torment you until you cry!”
    “I wouldn’t if I were you. Shiba Heavy Weapons is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as part of the Nikkei Tokyo 60, and is one of Japan’s mainstay industries. It’s suicidal to try to short sell it. Anyway, how much capital does the runaway daughter of the Tendo family have, anyway? If you start by buying, you can make a lot of money, you know.”
    “I would rather bite off my tongue and die than make money off your company’s stocks!”
    “Does that mean you won’t back down?”
    “I’ll send you to the other world.”
    Miori reached into her kimono sleeve and pulled out a government sidearm, a Swordfish, custom-made just for her, and then took a complicated stance with her iron fan in one hand and handgun in the other. “I don’t know about your Tendo style or whatever, but it’s just an improvised martial art that’s barely been around for a hundred years. I’ll make you bow to the Shiba style.”
    Kisara took her sword-drawing stance and spoke in a cold voice. “Shut up, Miori. Save your sass for the hereafter.”
    In the midst of this volatile situation, Enju was the only one who balled her fist and said, “Be careful, Miori! If you touch Kisara, she’ll suck up your boobs!” energetically cheering her on. It seemed like Enju was on Miori’s side.
    For some reason, the fluorescent lightbulb that had just been changed flickered.
    “Shiba Style Niten Kitcho—”
    “Tendo Sword Drawing, First Style, Number 2—”
    Rentaro realized that he was never getting his cleaning deposit back and was suddenly very depressed.
5
    After being rocked in the luxurious limousine for about two hours, they finally reached their destination. Rentaro got out of the limousine and looked up at the enormous building in front of him as he listened to the clear cry of a skylark in the bushes. The informal conference would be taking