читать дальшеReturn of Kings ~ Prelude
Silver chapter
Lock On
Neko: Kurosuke, I’m hungry!
Kuroh: Bear with it for a little while longer. I’ll cook something for you once we’re back to the School island.
Neko: I can’t wait!!! I wanna eat right now!!! If you make me wait any longer, my stomach will stick to my back!!! It’s already starting to cling! I feel it! It’s clinging to my back!!!
Kuroh: Alright, I get it already, so stop making so much noise! *sigh* Can’t be helped, I suppose. Let’s eat out today.
Neko: Yay! Then let’s go to that place! It’s close by!
Kuroh: “That place”? Do you have some preferred eating joint in this neighborhood?
Neko: Heha! Anna’s house!
Kuroh: You mean the bar that serves as headquarters for the Red Clan? Hm, indeed, we’re currently in Shizume-chou and not far from bar Homra… Ugh, no, that joint is the territory of the Red Clan. As the Silver Clansmen, we can’t recklessly step into another clan’s ter—
Neko: I wonder how Anna’s been doing since then.
Kuroh: Uh… Indeed. She became a King even though she is so very young, and I’m worried about her a little… Hm. Alright. In Shiro’s absence, observing the situation of the other clans might be a responsibility that’s in our power to fulfil.
Neko: Food~ Food~ My stomach is so empty!
Kuroh: Hey, don’t go in on your own!
RandomGuy1: Targets, found. Sending location coordinates.
ComputerVoice: Location, confirmed. Jungle points: 5 points added!
RandomGuy1: This is my chance to rack up lots of points!
Kusanagi: Welcome! Huh. Well, what unusual customers.
Neko: Ah?! It’s Colored Glasses!
Kuroh: Excuse us. We’d like to order something to eat… is it OK if we come in?
Kusanagi: Be my guests. During operating hours my establishment isn’t the Clan’s territory, so forget formalities and make yourselves at home.
Anna: Neko! Kuroh!
Neko: Anna!!! I was hungry, so I came to eat!
Anna: Welcome.
Neko: Anna, are you well?
Anna: I’m well!
Neko: I’m so glad to hear that! I’m doing great, too!
Anna: Uh-huh.
*both giggling*
Kusanagi: What do you know. Two girls together is such a cute sight.
Kuroh: Neko was worried about Kushina Anna, you see. How has the Red Clan been doing after the Mihashira Tower incident?
Kusanagi: Well, getting by somehow. Thanks for your help in Mihashira Tower. I know that you chased after the kidnapped Anna in place of Kamamoto who was injured.
Kuroh: No need. I did nothing to deserve your gratitude. In the end, Kushina Anna overcame the danger with her own power. And I had my own fated reasons.
Kusanagi: Mm-hm, true.
Yata: I’m back! Kusanagi-san, I bought what you asked. Huh?! What are you guys doing here?!
Kuroh: Imposing on this bar’s hospitality.
Neko: Yahoo~
Yata: Don’t “yahoo” me!!!
Kusanagi: Easy, Yata-chan, don’t be rude to our customers.
Yata: How come they’re “customers”?!
Kusanagi: They’re here to grab something to eat. C'mon, Yata-chan, come here and help me.
Yata: Tch! If you ask.
Neko: Say, say, Anna, which of these foodstuffs is yummy? Do you guys have dried mackerel?
Anna: We don’t have dried mackerel, but this one is yummy - tomato chicken curry.
Neko: Tomato chicken curry? Okay, I’ll have that, then!
Anna: Curry is not very red, so you should also drink this.
Neko: “Blood orange juice”?
Anna: Although it’s orange juice, it’s red and pretty. I recommend it.
Neko: Hnnn. Alright, I’ll drink that!
Kusanagi: As I look at Anna when she’s with Neko-chan, it really hits me that that she is a girl.
Kuroh: Hm?
Kusanagi: I mean, we’re an all guy group, so when I see Anna get along with another girl, it moves me deeply.
Yata: Aah. Well, now that I think about it, you’re right. Their relationship is probably different from being buddies, and mental age wise, Anna is totally the older one.
Kusanagi: Yata-chan, you sure you’re the one to be talking about mental age?
Yata: Whaddya mean?! Are you implying that I’m brattish or something?!
Kuroh: As far as I know, before meeting Shiro, Neko had no friends, so I’m glad she forged the bond of friendship with Kushina Anna.
Anna: Neko, your hair is so fluffy.
Neko: Nyaa~
Yata: Anna is petting Neko’s head though… They look like a human and her pet cat instead of friends to me, no?
Kuroh: Ahem… Well, Neko is a cat, so… it can’t be helped.
Kusanagi: Putting that aside, what will you have to eat, Black Dog-kun?
Kuroh: Let’s see… I’ll also have tomato chicken curry and green tea , if you would.
Yata: Gotcha! 2 tomato chicken curries, blood orange juice and green tea! With pleasure!
Kusanagi: Stop with that waiter-in-some-watering-hole reply! We’re a classy bar!
*Neko and Kuroh eating*
Kuroh: This curry really tastes good. Thinly sliced chicken meat harmonizes nicely with tomatoes. Does it use some unusual spices as well? It has such a complex and deep taste.
Kusanagi: Glad you liked it. I’m happy to get a compliment like that.
Kuroh: I myself make simple curry, and I don’t get much chances to taste elaborate curry like yours.
Yata: I personally like normal curry more, the one that tastes like, you know, CURRY should. The mass produced kind like what they provide for school lunches.
Kusanagi: The mass produced kind, huh… Yata-chan, your tastes are so childish… Not a trace of complexity.
Kuroh: I’m happy that things are peaceful for Homura.
Kusanagi: Yeah, tranquility and peace for us, but…
Anna: What about you, Kuroh, Neko?
Kuroh: Hm?
Neko: Nya?
Anna: Has everything been OK with you two lately?
Neko: Whyat do you mean?
Kusanagi: Haven’t you heard? “Jungle” caused another incident the other day. Scepter 4 had a large scale mobilization because of it, but it still required Munakata to step in personally.
Yata: Tch! The Green bastards, getting all arrogant!
Kuroh: The Green clan, “jungle”. What are they scheming this time?
Kusanagi: It feels like they’re preparing to pull off something really big. And this is worrisome. You two may be in danger as well.
Neko: We?
Kusanagi: That’s right. It’s a proven fact that “jungle” is searching for the Silver King. So it’s highly likely that they’ll come targeting you, who are the Silver Clansmen, as well.
Kuroh: No need to worry. It will actually make things easier for us if the Green clan goes after us. We’ll just need to turn the tables on them and get information out of them.
Neko: Right, right!
Kusanagi: I’m aware that you’re strong, Black Dog-kun, and Neko-chan possesses the special ability that’s almost unfair. When I think about it, true, it’s not like you don’t stand a chance.
Yata: Those guys, though… it’s kinda tough to deal with them.
Kusanagi: Yes, like you said, Yata-chan, it’s no easy to deal with them because of how “jungle” operates. Their top brass members, like Mishakuji Yukari, are very good at tricks, but they’re also not above using ordinary unsuspecting people that hardly know anything and coordinating with them. So you guys be on guard.
Kuroh: Yeah. Thanks for the warning.
Anna: Lately, the disturbing presence has been getting stronger. Be careful.
Neko: Really? Okay! I’ll be careful!
RandomGuy1: Preparations, complete. Targets, in sight.
Neko: Yaay, I’m so full!
Kuroh: You should be, since you ate dessert on top of getting seconds of the curry.
Neko: And it was so yummy! The strawberry mousse that Anna recommended! I even reconsidered my opinion of Colored Glasses because his cooking was tasty! Let’s drop by his place again!
Kuroh: Okay.
RandomGuy1: Here I go!
Kuroh: Watch out!!!
*pot falling and breaking*
ComputerVoice: Jungle points: 30 points added!
RandomGuy1: Oh, what a pity, I missed, huh? Now other people will make off with my heaps of points.
Kuroh: This is… a plant pot?! Did it come falling from that building’s veranda?
Neko: That was dangerous! My head would’ve been cracked open if you didn’t pull me in time, Kuroh!
Kuroh: Was it a mere accident? Or…
Neko: I don’t like this. Let’s hurry up and go back home!
Kuroh: Agreed. Let’s do that.
*a bike bell rings, and sounds of splashes*
Neko: Nyagh!
ComputerVoice: Jungle points: 30 points added!
RandomGuy2: Alright!
Kuroh: What’s with this guy on a bicycle?
Neko: Oh no, he poured water all over me! Nyah?! It stinks!
Kuroh: *sniff, sniff* This is no water. It’s gasoline!
RandomGuy3: Oops, I dropped my cigarette.
ComputerVoice: Jungle points: 30 points added!
RandomGuy3: Heheh!
Kuroh: This is bad! Neko!
*sounds of explosion*
Neko: Ahh, the ground where we were standing just a moment ago is burning… We would’ve turned into cinders if we didn’t - hop! - and escape to the roof thanks to Kurosuke’s power…!
Kuroh: Tch! Just what is going on? Is the guy on the bicycle who splashed gasoline working together with the guy who threw the cigarette? Ah, and the one who dropped the plant pot earlier is also with them…? *sigh* Could it be that all of them are Green clansmen?!
Neko: But these guys weren’t wearing helmets like the ones we ran into when we went to save Anna…
Kuroh: True. But those Green clansmen wore helmets to hide their faces, wearing something like that would look highly suspicious normally. So people who hardly realize that they’re committing an offense might not use it all the time.
Neko: Even though we were almost killed because of them!
Kuroh: Dropping a plant pot accidentally; soaking a passer-by girl in liquid as a mere prank; carelessly tossing away a cigarette butt… they treat it as a game because they think that they always can make excuses like these.
Neko: Nyaaah… I don’t really understand, but it feels yucky!
Kuroh: Agreed. This is sicker than I expected. We don’t know where the Green clansmen may be hiding, and if we start to doubt people, every passer-by in the city we come across will fall under suspicion.
Neko: Ueeh… And here I wanted to spook the enemies and defeat them with my special attack when they come!
Kuroh: The fact that they’re enemies doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll come to fight us fair and square, is that it, huh?
Neko: The person who soaked me in gasoline ran off, but we might still catch the one who threw the cigarette!
Kuroh: Uhh… We’ll probably get nothing out of him, but I’m loathe to just let him go like this. Let’s go!
Neko: Roger!
RandomGuy3: Whoa?! What the heck are you guys?
Neko: That’s our question!
Kuroh: You threw your cigarette even though you knew there’s gasoline down there and wanted it to catch fire, didn’t you?
RandomGuy3: H-Huh?! I knew nothing about gasoline. Don’t harp at me just because I threw a cigarette.
Kuroh: Aren’t you a Green clansman? Why don’t you spill everything you know?
Neko: Yeah, spill it!
RandomGuy3: I don’t know anything! Shit, what’s your problem?
Kuroh: For starters, show us the PDA you’re holding.
ComputerVoice: Your PDA was stolen by the targets. Mission failed. Mission failed. Your points will be nullified.
RandomGuy3: Ah!!! My points!!!
Kuroh: Points? You mean this “jungle points” thing? It’s showing zero now.
RandomGuy3: Shit!!! That’s all my efforts up till now down the drain!
Kuroh: So the Green Clan has issued the mission to track us down and corner us, and rewards points to those who succeeds in doing so, huh. So they’re really going after our lives under the pretense of a game.
Neko: Whyaat?!
*the guy sobs*
Kuroh: But pressing this guy any more won’t give us anything.
RandomGuy4: Ah! It’s them! The long-haired guy and chick!
RandomGuy5: Alrighty, if we just set this to them…
Neko: Nya, fireworks!
Kuroh: Damn, more of them?! They’re still planning to set us on fire?!
RandomGuys4&5: Aaand there!
ComputerVoice: Jungle points: 30 points added!
Kuroh: Neko! Dodge!
Neko: Nyaargh!
RandomGuy4: Don’t let them get away! After them!
RandomGuy5: I’m so gonna get those bonus points!
Neko: That’s it, I’m angry now! Special attack… Cat the Mountain!
RandomGuy4: Whoa! Monsters!!!
RandomGuy5: Huge beckoning cat figures!!! H-Help me!!!
Neko: Nyahaha! I’ll squish you, you tiny bugs!
Kuroh: You fool!!! If you use a move like that in the crowded city…!
RandomKid: *crying* I’m scared!!!
Kuroh: See?! You made a child cry!
Neko: Nyah?! I didn’t intend to!
Kuroh: Just hurry up and undo this huge cat figure illusion!
Neko: A-Alright! See? You don’t need to be scared anymore!
RandomKid: *crying* This onii-chan and this onee-chan are picking on me!
Kuroh: Wh-What?
Neko: Why?
Crowd: He said they’re bullying him! /Is he alright?
Man: What is this? Are they bullying a child?
Woman: Should we call the police?
Kuroh: We didn’t do anything to him!
Neko: What’s wrong? What are you scared of?
RandomKid: *keeps crying* Somebody, help me!
ComputerVoice: Jungle points: 2 points added!
RandomKid: Awesome! I really got points just for crying!
Kuroh: Wha…?! Even a small child like this is a pawn of the Green clan?!
Crowd: We should call the police before it turns into a crime!
Neko: Kurosuke! We’re being made villains and surrounded!
Kuroh: Ugh! For now, we’ll have to escape!
Neko: Nyaa!
Neko: I can’t take this anymore! Why do we have to be put through all this?!
Kuroh: We can’t even call those people Green clansmen. None of them are probably even aware of the clans’ existence. They’re no different from ordinary citizens. If we harm people like them, we’ll be the criminals!
Neko: Then what should we do?!
Kotosaka: Targets, lock on!
Neko: Huh? It’s that Green bird!
Kuroh: The parrot the Green king used as a medium?!
Kotosaka: Your good name is ruined! Ruined! Ruined!
Neko: What did you say?!
Kotosaka: We’ll bully you! Bully you!
Kuroh: I see now. We’re the Silver clansmen, and driving us into a corner is meant to harass Shiro who is the Silver King. Answer me! You’re watching, aren’t you? Green King, Hisui Nagare!
Kotosaka: Hahahaha!
Neko: Waah, are you running away?! Fight me!!! I’ll make karaage out of you and eat you!!!
Kuroh: Geh. The Green clan, “jungle”… Looks like things are going to become troublesome again.
Neko: Kurosuke…
Kuroh: It’s likely that “jungle” will keep targeting us. Neko, are you okay?
Neko: Yes, I’m okay! I won’t lose to cowards like them! Until Shiro comes back, I swear I won’t lose!
Kuroh: Heh. Indeed. You better don’t underestimate the Silver clansmen, “jungle”.
Note: what Neko calls Kusanagi, “iro megane“, can mean both “colored glasses“ and “sexy glasses“