2. A Pretty Partner with a Gun in Her Hands

At CRI headquarters, Najica is meeting with Majma and the ever-present Gento in an attempt to discover just why the girl she rescued showed up in her apartment unannounced. Gento is quick to fill Najica in on the situation- the girl is named Lila (code name Triple Z), and she is not a human, but rather an artificial life-form known as a Humaritt, who possesses abilities superior to those of an ordinary person. Lila was originally created by Shinba Industrial as part of their Humaritt project, but when the project was abandoned, she was due to be scrapped. Not wanting this to happen, Gento had Najica rescue her, and now Majima has agreed to let her become a CRI agent.

Despite her enhanced skills, however, Lila still needs experience in other areas, and to that end, she has been assigned as Najica’s new partner. Having always completed her missions alone, Najica is less than pleased with the idea of taking on a rookie partner, but she has little choice but to accept when Majima gives her a direct order to work with Lila.

With thoughts of her new, unwelcome situation still preoccupying her mind, Najica leaves Majima’s office to get back to her CRI day job of working with perfumes. Unfortunately, she is greeted with frustration there- she and Kirala are still searching for the components of the elusive ‘Sunday scent’, but even Najica’s extraordinary sense of smell cannot identify what they should use.

That evening, Najica goes out to enjoy a drink by herself, but as always, work soon catches up with her when an anonymous man delivers a single rose- the indication that a new mission is in the offing. Heading off to receive her mission orders, Najica’s mood is only worsened when she is met by both Lila and Gento. Despite Najica’s objections, Lila will be accompanying her on this mission- with Gento also on the job to provide back-up.

As they head out to the location of their next mission, Gento fills Najica in on the specifics. They will be protecting the daughter of Judge Katsura, an official who is heading up a major criminal investigation. Lately, the judge has tried several members of the mafia, sentencing them to lengthy stays in jail. In order to secure their release, the mafia has threatened to kill Katsura’s daughter if he doesn’t reverse the verdicts on those found guilty. With Katsura’s daughter due to appear at a public event, CRI believes that the mafia will send the notorious sniper known as the “Bloodsucking Angel” to take her out. It will be up to Najica and Lila to stop her.

Disguised as waitresses working at the event, Najica and Lila check out the auditorium in an attempt to figure out exactly how the sniper will carry out her mission. Whilst Najica identifies a nearby tower as a potential location for the would-be assassin, Lila is already in difficulties, having spilled a pitcher of orange juice all over the floor. Najica instructs her partner to clear it up, but Lila’s efforts only manage to succeed in knocking over two more pitchers.

After leaving the auditorium, Najica and Lila head for the tower. The duo have memorised the appearance of their target, but little do they know that their adversary has already accounted for that by disguising herself as an older, fatter person.

Trying to pass themselves off as everyday tourists (complete with an ice cream for Lila), Najica and Lila arrive at the observation deck of the tower. Looking around, Najica’s suspicions are aroused by a chubby old lady who is holding an ice cream and looking intently through one of the binocular stands. Before she can do more than register the old woman, however, Najica is called away by a call from Gento, and by the time she turns back, the woman has already departed.

Whilst Najica and Lila search the observation deck, the sniper has already made it to her vantage point. Discarding her disguise, she readies her gun and seeks out her target. With the event underway, Katsura’s daughter is due to appear on stage any moment- if Najica and Lila don’t stop her soon, the sniper will have a clear shot at her target. But even as they finish combing the observation deck, the lights on the adjacent ferris wheel go dark- could they have made a mistake about the sniper’s location?

In fact, the sniper is indeed on the roof of the tower, and, confident that her ferris wheel distraction will have thrown off any pursuit, she prepares to make her shot as Katsura’s daughter steps onto the stage. Before she can fire, however, she is distracted by a noise from behind, and before the sniper knows it, Najica is heading for her. With a few high kicks, Najica manages to disarm the sniper and knock her weapon away, leaving her helpless as both Najica and Lila train their guns on her.

Although the sniper had hoped otherwise, Najica and Lila were not distracted by the ferris wheel, for they had already discovered another telling piece of evidence- a dropped ice cream outside the door of the employee’s elevator. Najica’s initial assumption was that Lila had dropped her own ice cream, but when Lila explained that she had not only eaten hers as ordered, but had deduced the exact time that this ice cream must have been bought and then discarded, only one other conclusion was possible. The ice cream must have been dropped by the sniper in her disguise as an old lady- as she took the elevator from the observation deck to the roof…

Matters are not quite that simple however, for Najica and Lila soon discover that there is indeed someone on the ferris wheel- a second sniper. With Najica and Lila busy taking out the first woman, she has been left free to make her shot, and only some precision shooting by Lila manages to deflect her bullet in flight and protect Katsura’s daughter.

Turning to the ferris wheel, Najica begins shooting at the second sniper, only turning her gun back once to fire on the first woman as she tries to attack from behind. As the second woman begins firing back, Lila and Najica are forced to dodge, and Najica takes the opportunity to call her chopper before seizing the first woman’s rifle and once again returning fire. Deciding to beat a hasty retreat, the second woman grabs a rope and tries to escape the ferris wheel car- only to be cornered when Najica’s helicopter arrives on the scene.

Back on the ground, the police take the two snipers into custody. Gento is impressed at how the two women- twins- managed to build their success on passing themselves off as a single person, but Najica is more concerned with the sloppy intelligence she received for the mission. Nonetheless, back at HQ, Najica is able to report her success to Majima- and to his satisfaction, she even seems to have accepted Lila as her partner, thanks to the girl’s invaluable help.

Returning home, Najica is annoyed to find Lila’s clothes strewn all over the floor, although her feelings quickly to turn to worry when she sees Lila in the bath, apparently drowned in pink fluid. As it turns out, Lila was merely soaking in her cultivation water, and when Najica sees the delicious dinner Lila has prepared her, her mood quickly brightens. Najica is soon disconcerted once again, however, when she sees Lila mopping up the pink fluid whilst completely in the nude. It seems that, when it comes to propriety and human manners, Lila still has a lot to learn.

Later that evening, Najica sits by herself in her study, enjoying the scent of an ashtray filled with a bullet’s worth of burning gunpowder. As she leans back and relaxes, however, there is only one thought on her mind. Just what is she going to do with her new Humaritt partner?