The Harpoon and the Robe
THWACK!
A rope lashed to a harpoon connected the two balconies in a single taut line.
Nina, having firmly anchored the harpoon gun to the railing, dashed across the rope and swept Gugu into her arms, checking him over frantically.
"Gugu! Are you okay?"
Enfolded in Nina's embrace, Gugu went utterly limp with all the strength he could muster.
"Oh, whatever will I do! Joel! Joel!"
At Nina's desperate cry toward the inside of the balcony, footsteps came hurrying closer.
"What in the world... Gugu?"
The one who appeared, pushing open the half-closed door, was Joel — with nothing but a snowy white towel wrapped around his lower half.
He must have rushed straight out of the bath, because steam was still rising off his bare, powerfully built torso, and water dripped steadily from his damp hair.
The moment he noticed Nina, he flinched and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Wh-what...!"
"Oh my goodness!"
Nina, frozen in place, jumped just as badly and covered her eyes with both hands, her face burning scarlet.
In an instant, Gugu went flying, rolling head over heels until he fetched up at Joel's feet.
"Rrrrrrumble..."
"..."
Even flustered, Joel snatched up a robe and pulled it on while swiftly scanning his surroundings.
Gugu, eyes squeezed tightly shut and breaking out in a cold sweat, was desperately avoiding his gaze.
A fruit knife dangled in the shrubbery below the balcony, and a small pebble lay rolling across the balcony floor. No intruders or other threats were anywhere in sight.
Aside from the harpoon embedded in the balcony wall, that is.
A harpoon? Why is a harpoon stuck here?
Joel followed the rope attached to the harpoon and turned his gaze toward the balcony across the way.
A harpoon gun?
As he picked apart the harpoon gun's design, his eyes narrowed to slits.
A model he had never seen on the market. There seemed to be a magic stone embedded in it — a custom build, perhaps?
No. It clearly looked like a model he had seen somewhere before, converted into a magitech device.
Joel pulled his eyes from the harpoon gun and extended a hand to Nina.
"Nina. I don't know what's going on, but this is quite an unexpected visit."
Nina quietly spread the fingers that had been hiding her face and checked Joel's state first. Thankfully, he was no longer wearing just a single towel.
At a loss, Nina took his outstretched hand and rose to her feet.
"I-I'm sorry! That wasn't what I was trying to do...!"
"It's quite all right. Would you care to explain what happened?"
"I was going to call for you from the balcony, but then Gugu suddenly collapsed, and — ah! Gugu!"
Nina let go of Joel's hand and dropped down beside the sprawled pigeon.
"Coo... rrrr..."
Gugu cracked one eye open, locked eyes with Joel for exactly one instant, stuck out his tongue, and went limp all over again.
"Gugu must be really sick. If I call the doctor, could he examine Gugu too?"
At the sight of Nina turning to him with tearful eyes, Joel realized something far more astonishing than the shape of the harpoon gun.
The intruder alarm hadn't gone off.
It can't be broken. A coincidence?
Inspecting every single alarm system in this townhouse was the first ritual of Joel's day. He maintained them that meticulously — which was exactly why the current situation made no sense.
"...It seems Gugu simply felt dizzy for a moment in the harsh sunlight. There's no need to worry."
He scooped up Gugu and smoothly deposited him just inside the balcony door.
Nina let out a long sigh of relief, hand over her heart.
"Thank goodness. I'm sorry about scratching up your balcony. Please bill me for the repairs. Or should I call someone out right now?"
"No. Leave it as it is."
Nina's eyes went round at the unexpected answer.
"Hm? The harpoon gun and the rope?"
"Yes. It's an interior design that stirs my aesthetic sensibilities. I'm very fond of it. And that doesn't appear to be an ordinary rope, either."
"Oh my. You could tell that just by looking? Your aesthetic sense is remarkable."
Just as Joel had said, the rope connected to the harpoon was no ordinary item. It had been made with magitech to resist burning.
Joel ran his fingertips along the rope and grew even more puzzled. Saturated with a special solution, the thing must weigh several times what a normal rope would — and the harpoon gun itself had been weighted down as well.
Judging from where the harpoon had struck, it didn't so much as wobble from the recoil or the load.
Come to think of it, she handled that sleep gun I gave her as if it had no weight at all, too.
He stole a glance at Nina's shoulders and arms. Even hidden by her clothes, it was easy to tell her body wasn't some hulking mass of muscle.
His gaze had been careful, but Nina seemed to notice anyway; she whipped her head around and looked straight at him.
More perceptive than I estimated. I'll need to adjust the settings in the research journal.
Eager not to invite suspicion, he continued speaking naturally.
"You said you were trying to call for me?"
At that, Nina clapped her hands as if remembering something she'd forgotten.
"Oh, right! Where is my head. Wait just a moment."
Then, as casually as if it were nothing at all, she stepped over the security laser beams strung along the outside of the balcony railing, crossed over, and came back.
At that fluid, effortless movement — the kind that made the intruder alarm incapable of triggering no matter how much it wanted to — Joel's eyes sharpened unmistakably.
"Nina. Why did you move like that just now?"
"Hm? Well, I'd hate to ruin them when someone went to all the trouble of arranging them so prettily."
Nina looked back at the lasers glinting faintly in the sunlight.
"They look a bit like snowflakes. So lovely."
The laser beams Joel had deployed were, for all practical purposes, a lattice of spider-silk lace. Even under careful scrutiny, it was security fine enough to slip past with the smallest of mistakes.
And she mapped it all with the naked eye.
"Truly remarkable. You exceed expectations."
Who on earth could craft magitech devices this flawless?
Nina, who had been admiring the security array like a passerby window-shopping, smiled sweetly and held out a pouch to Joel. It was a fist-sized pouch of luxurious fabric with a spider embroidered in fine thread.
"That sleep gun you gave me is so pretty and I love it so much, I really wanted to give you something in return."
"A gift, you say."
"Yes. Won't you accept it?"
Faced with her sparkling eyes and the offered pouch, Joel took it without thinking — then froze.
I slipped up. I accepted it without even checking the contents.
He shuddered at the thought that this too might be a magitech device designed to cloud one's judgment.
Inside the pouch was a perfect cube wreathed in blue circuitry.
"A magitech toy, I see."
"It was actually my grandmother's. I spent all those years working as a maid, you see, so I've never owned anything grand."
"I highly doubt that."
Joel muttered the words under his breath, eyes on the magnificent harpoon gun fixed to the railing across the way. And the very moment he drew out the cube and closed his hand around it —
ZZZRAK!
Lightning poured down from the cube in a burst of blue light.
Joel spun into a lightning-fast aerial somersault, kicked off the wall, and landed on one hand — frozen in place, one hand clamped down to keep the robe from sliding off.
The pebble that had been rolling around the balcony floor scattered into ash with a soft hiss.
"GUUUUGU?!"
Gugu's terrified shriek came from just inside the balcony door.
Joel stared steadily at the cube until it settled, then straightened up. His spine tingled with a brush against death he hadn't felt in a very, very long time.
"This is an item only Nina, the blood descendant of its owner, can use."
"Oh dear! I — how could this happen. I keep making mistakes around you, Joel. I'm so sorry I don't know what to do with myself."
Nina hurriedly stuffed the cube back into the pouch and made a face like she was about to cry. She had only meant to thank him, and instead she'd been nothing but a nuisance all day long, and it made her sad. He was already frail with a timid constitution as it was — how badly must he have startled just now, to leap clean off the floor like that?
"I'm truly sorry. Is there anything else I could do for you?"
At her sorrowful sigh, Joel immediately pointed at the balcony across the way.
"I would like to see that harpoon gun up close."
"Hm? That's all you want?"
At her puzzled reaction, he moved to seal the deal on the spot.
"Yes. If you'll permit it, I'll pay you a visit tomorrow."
"Oh! What are you saying? A sickly young master mustn't go gallivanting outside!"
"It's right next door, so it's hardly any distance—"
"I'll let you see it right now."
"I beg your pardon?"
Dropping into a crouch, Nina slid her hands behind Joel's knees and hoisted him clean off his feet in one smooth motion.
"Let's go."
"Wait. Nina."
Joel, now airborne, tried to stop her with an expression of pure disbelief — but she was already sprinting across the rope, tap-tap-tap.
The two of them crossed between the balconies in an instant and arrived before the harpoon gun.
Nina carefully set Joel down on her own balcony and beamed with pride.
"There. Take a good long look."
"..."
Faced with a situation unlike anything he had ever experienced, Joel felt such acute bewilderment and mortification that his head began to swim.
"Joel? Shall I fetch you a magnifying lens?"
Just as Nina tilted her head at him, standing there stock-still —
"Nina! What is that sound?"
"Are you okay? What's going on!"
The family, evidently having heard the cube's thunderclap, flung the doors open and burst out.
Joel turned toward them on pure reflex — and the towel beneath his robe dropped to the floor with a soft plop.