<< Previous Chapter
>> Next Chapter
^^ Index
And off they go, trampling over some poor little girl's grave in their haste to skedaddle back to find Kanna.
----
[Sumire]
This music box... I will return it to that child, so...
[Ogami]
Aah, I understand...
Well, that's that. We've solved the great mystery of the mansion, which, while having absolutely jack shit to do with the Hive of Darkness squatting on its doorstep, is at least able to resolve a poor little girl's constant vigil over a long-since abandoned place of residence.
[Sumire]
Kyaaaaaaa--!!
[Ogami]
Sumire-kun! Did something happen!?
So, after standing up to demonically-controlled mechanical soldiers, the vicious, bloodthirsty generals of the Hive of Darkness, and the nigh-psychotic ire of her teammates...
[Sumire]
E-Ensign! P... please save me!! A spider has... a spider has--!
... it turns out that Sumire Kanzaki, the sole daughter of the wealthy Kanzaki family, is rendered totally helpless by a small, eight-legged household pest. At least it's not the evil ghost uncles of Casper the Friendly Undead Loli.
[Ogami]
Ch'...
The other two answer choices kind of worry me. And besides, Ogami's sense of self-preservation isn't THAT utterly retarded.
[Ogami]
Sumire-kun, are you okay!? I'm going to deal with the spider!
[Sumire]
... hurry! Please hurry up, I beg of you!!
[Ogami]
Sumire-kun! Don't move for a second...
----
[Ogami]
Sumire-kun! Sumire-kun--!!
Argh! Alright, spider, just go somewhere else--!!
[Ogami]
... alright. I've thrown the spider away. Sumire-kun, everything's alright now!
[Sumire]
That was surely a poison spider... I... cannot be saved anymore.
[Ogami]
Sumire-kun!
----
[Ogami]
It's a common household spider! It's about as poisonous as a rat!
[Ogami]
... alright, maybe that was kind of a bad example since the rats around these parts are basically walking disease factories that can poison you just by widdling in your bedding, and they're probably carriers of plague in any--
[Sumire]
Oooh goooooood--
----
Alright... alright, Ogami, you've got one chance at this. What would your bosses do?
----
[Yoneda]
Yer only chance's to take off all your clothes! Here, let's start with mine!
----
A-alright, what would your OTHER boss do?
----
[Ayame]
...
----
Well, it's better than nothing. 
Thus...
This.
[Sumire]
E, Ensign... what are you...
[Ogami]
Hold still. I'm sucking the poison out of the wound, so...
[Sumire]
Ahn....
[Ogami]
Sorry... did it hurt? Please be patient for just a little longer. It'll be over soon...
...
Nah, it'd be too easy.
[Sumire]
Okay...
[Ogami]
... please hold on for just a bit longer. There... it doesn't hurt anymore, right?
[Sumire]
Ensign...
[Ogami]
What's up?
[Sumire]
That you would go this far for me, Ensign... I do not know what I should say...
It is embarrassing, but it was very calming... thank you very much, Ensign.
I'm not sure how slobbering all over your hand counts as "calming," but I'll let it slide this time.
[Ogami]
Yup, that's great. It looks like you've gotten better.
... okay, it should be alright now. The hysteria poison won't circulate, and I've mostly tied up your arm.
[Sumire]
Ensign... really, thank you so very much...
----
[Ogami]
More to the point, why are you blushing? Nothing good comes of you guys blushing.
[Sumire]
But--
[Ogami]
NOTHING.
----
[Ogami]
... sorry. I've asked something strange, haven't I.
[Ogami]
Aah... I got it. I promise.
----
[Ogami]
So about... three years ago?
[Sumire]
ENSIGN!
[Ogami]
Alright, fine, I'll shut up.
----
[Sumire]
My father is the president of Kanzaki Heavy Industries. My mother is a movie star.
Both of them were so busy that they could not even be at home for their daughter's birthday.
[Sumire]
I did not want something like expensive presents... if only my father and my mother could be with me...
I was so sad, and so lonely... without thinking, I ran out into the gardens.
[Sumire]
Then, I carelessly got tangled into a spider's nest...
It was disgusting... however, no matter how much I cried... no one came for me.
[Sumire]
For me... the nastiness of spiders is intertwined with those feelings of anxiety and loneliness...
Whenever I see a spider, I just cannot think straight, no matter what...
[Ogami]
So that's how it was...
----
[Ogami]
So that one brush with spiders amplified your feelings of isolation and--
[Sumire]
Of course, it might have gone better had the spider not eaten Fido.
[Ogami]
...
[Sumire]
What?
[Ogami]
You're telling me that a spider tore apart your puppy right in front of your eyes... and you're looking for psychological causes of your phobia.
[Sumire]
Well, yes, but--
[Ogami]
Girl, you've got enough potential trauma bottled up there to feed TEN phobias, let alone one.
----
----
Hot-blooded shounen retard romantic time! 
[Ogami]
It's true... at that time, you were probably alone. But I'm here with you now, aren't I?
[Ogami]
The next time a spider jumps out, I will definitely protect you. So... you don't need to worry anymore.
[Ogami]
... Sumire-kun. Chin up. Now, you're not alone.
[Sumire]
Yes...
I KNOW that this is supposed to be romantic, but all I keep thinking is "gee, Sumire's just gotten herself a pest extermination service that'll be free for life."
... just as planned.
[Ogami]
Alright, Sumire-kun. Grab on to my shoulder...
----
[Ogami]
Sumire-kun!? What's wrong, does your wound still hurt?
[Sumire]
Yes... I am still a bit dizzy...
[Ogami]
(It couldn't be... the spider's poison...?)
I think we've established that the spider doesn't actually HAVE any poison. Also, the wound itself is about the size of a pin's head.
... no, I don't know either.
[Sumire]
Um... Ensign... I have a request... or rather, a favor to ask of you...
[Ogami]
... what is it?
[Sumire]
Should my strength ever come to an end... I wish to leave Kanna-san in your hands...
She is a childish person, so... she must have a reliable person to stay by her side...
Ensign... please. Because I... may already be at my end...
...
Where do I even begin? 
[Ogami]
Don't say such weak-spirited things! What do you think would happen if you gave up, Sumire-kun!?
[Ogami]
If she heard something like that, Kanna would get really angry!
[Ogami]
Besides, Kanna isn't that weak. Sumire-kun... you know that the best, don't you?
(I love that the thought of an angry Kanna is enough to get Ogami and Sumire all resolute and pumped-up.)
[Sumire]
Ensign... I hope that you will stay by my side forever...
[Ogami]
Aah, of course. I will stay with all of you forever.
Italicized for emphasis. Ogami is nothing if not a smooth operator, gifted with a silver tongue that can simultaneously enable him to avoid conversational land mines AND land him in enough potential trouble to make him a dead man walking.
[Ogami]
Right... let's go. I'm worried about Kanna, too.
----
[Ogami]
Yeah... she should definitely have gone through the door on the left...
[Sumire]
In any case, let us go in the direction that Kanna-san has gone.
----
[Sumire]
You WERE worried about Kanna-san, were you not, Ensign?
[Ogami]
Yeah... I was kind of exaggerating.
[Ogami]
I mean, aside from the fact that she's strong enough to kill an elephant in one punch, it's not like Kanna'd do anything reckless enough to jeopardize the whole stealth aspect of our mission or something. I'm sure she's just fi--
----
----
[Ogami]
...
-----
[Sumire]
Th... these are...!? Wakiji!!
----
[Ogami]
KAAAAAAANNNNNNAAAAAA!!!
----
NEXT TIME: Meanwhile!
<< Previous Chapter
>> Next Chapter
^^ Index