The Hooligans’ Rule (Part 2)
After just ten laps around the school courtyard, Ihara and the others were ready to throw in the towel. It seemed they were just as out of shape as they’d claimed.
Left with no other choice, Kaname ordered them to take a brief rest while she familiarized herself with their equipment: the airsoft guns, which were lined up on the tables in the chemistry lab. She picked one up and asked Ihara, the goateed man, “Okay, how do you shoot this?”
“Huh? Just remove the safety and pull the trigger,” Ihara responded in confusion.
“What’s the safety?”
“It keeps it from firing accidentally.”
“And what’s the trigger?” she asked next.
“It’s what you pull to fire it.”
“Yes, yes. I see.” Looking impressed by just this basic information, Kaname quickly did as she was told.
Ihara began to say, “Oh, wait—”
Ratatatatatatatatat!
But Kaname ended up firing a long stream of rounds from the gun. They were just plastic BBs, but they bounced off the walls and the ceiling, showering them like hail.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
“Don’t do that, Chidori-san!”
“It hurts! It hurts!”
The whole group cowered, shielding their faces. Even mere ricochets still hurt quite a bit.
Kaname froze up in shock. “I thought you said they were toys,” she whispered.
“They are, but they’re still dangerous,” Ihara told her.
“B-But this thing could hurt someone!”
“That’s right. They can even put your eye out! That’s why you shouldn’t fire them recklessly!”
“Wow...” Kaname muttered while rubbing her thigh, which was stinging from a ricochet hit.
In fact, this was Kaname’s first time wielding an airsoft gun. Due to various unfortunate circumstances, she’d been in contact with real guns many times before—in fact, she’d been shot at and almost killed several times—yet had never worked with gamer guns like these. She’d assumed that they were, at best, a slightly souped-up version of the toy pea-shooters that could only fire a few meters ahead.
“You really shoot at each other with these things?” she asked in shock.
“We do.”
“But that’s dangerous!”
“Of course it’s dangerous!” Ihara bellowed.
Here, Sasaki Hiromi asked her a question. “I-Is it possible, Chidori-senpai... you don’t know anything about airsoft guns?”
“Of course not,” she replied. “I mean, I don’t care about guns at all.”
“But Sagara-senpai’s always brandishing them!”
“That doesn’t mean I know anything about guns!”
The members of the survival game society (club status pending) let out a collective groan of despair and bemoaned their fate.
“Oh, woe is us!”
“We assumed, because you’re always bossing around Sagara-kun...”
“...That you had equal knowledge of firearms and tactics.”
“Is that how everyone sees me?” asked Kaname, greasy sweat rising on her face.
Meanwhile, at a specialist shop in Kichijoji...
“I want to buy an airsoft gun,” Sousuke told the salesgirl as he walked briskly around the shop, perusing the firearms there.
Truthfully, he also knew nothing about recreational airsoft guns. He’d never even seen one before. As they were mere toys, Sousuke assumed they would be easy to master, but he’d decided to get some experience with one nevertheless. Therefore, he’d let Kazama Shinji direct him to this store so that he could buy one for himself.
The young salesgirl wore an apron and jeans, with her hair tied back in a messy ponytail. She wore plain, black rimmed glasses, and approached him with a mild expression. She asked him, “So, do you have any experience with airsoft guns?”
“No. I’m a beginner,” he responded earnestly, with his usual sullen expression.
“I see,” she said. “Let me think... If you just want to play with friends, what about this one?” She plucked a special forces carbine off a nearby wall. “It comes with a variety of accessories, and it’s easy to use.”
“An M4A1?”
“Oh... yes. You recognize it?”
“It’s not a bad gun, but I already have one.”
The salesgirl swallowed back a comment about him claiming to be a beginner and forced a patient smile onto her face. “W-Well, I suppose this is a fairly heavy model. If you just want better ease of handling, what about this one?” She then pulled a Belgian-made, next-generation submachine gun off the wall.
“A P90?” said Sousuke. “I have that one as well.”
“I see. Well... could you tell me more specifically what you’re after?” the salesgirl asked. “A long barrel, a short one... more realistic, more practical...”
Sousuke let out a small sigh. “I told you what I want. I want an airsoft gun. Please stop recommending assault carbines and submachine guns.”
“What?” The salesgirl was stunned.
“An airsoft gun,” he tried again. “A toy. Don’t you have any?”
“But that’s what this is!”
“That’s clearly a carbine,” Sousuke scoffed. “Why don’t you know more about your own shop’s product?”
“Ngh. You are being absolutely ridiculous. This is an airsoft gun!”
“No, it’s a carbine. Let me see it.” As they continued talking over one another, Sousuke ended up snatching the gun away from the stunned salesgirl. “Listen to me,” he said. “I don’t know how these came to be sold commercially in Japan, but this is an M4A1, a special forces assault carbine replacement for the Colt Commando. It has far greater precision, overheating resistance, and handling convenience than previous models. The caliber is 5.56 mm and it takes SS109 ammunition—” Sousuke handled the gun expertly, moving to make sure there was no live ammunition in the bolt. He pulled back the charging handle, and...
The motion was greeted by an underwhelming click. Finding it strange, Sousuke peered into the bolt and found a strange gear there. “Hmm?” He then noticed something else: the gun itself was unusually light, and the frame, which should have been made of sturdy metal, felt strangely fragile in his hands. He pressed the release and removed the magazine. White balls, like grains of rice, began to spill out of it.
The salesgirl scowled at him as the BBs spilled out. An awkward silence fell.
Sousuke met the salesgirl’s eyes, his tight frown growing deeper. “What is this thing?”
“It’s an airsoft gun! Like I told you!” she shouted, shoulders trembling with anger.
Finally catching on to the fact that the gun was a replica, Sousuke was truly impressed. “It looks just like the real thing,” he told her. “It even has the Colt stamp and a serial number. Is it really a toy?”
“Of course it’s a toy,” the salesgirl said with exasperation. “Are you messing with me, sir?”
In lieu of a response, Sousuke pulled out his wallet and checked its contents. “I’ll take one of these, as well as ammunition and a spare magazine.”
“Thank you. Would you like any other equipment? Springs, bandoliers, boots, gloves...”
“No, thank you. I already have my own.”
“Well... if you insist.” The salesgirl pulled out a calculator and began punching numbers in.
Meanwhile, Sousuke began examining the AEG. He generally enjoyed tinkering with machinery. “I see,” he said. “It fires these plastic projectiles. An internal motor moves the gears and compresses the air. It’s very well made. It even has a safety.”
“Please, be careful. The battery and ammunition are both live.”
“By the way, is the trigger—” Sousuke turned the gun up to the ceiling and pulled it.
“Wait, don’t—”
Ratatatatatatat!
The salesgirl tried to stop him, but Sousuke’s gun fired off a lot of ammunition nevertheless. The BBs ricocheted all around the store, hitting other customers and salespeople.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
“What are you doing?!”
“That hurts! That hurts!”
The customers crouched down, covering their faces, while the salesgirl apologized profusely. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Sir, that was very reckless! I told you to be careful!”
Sousuke stared at the small holes he’d put in the plasterboard ceiling. “I thought you said it was a toy.”
“It is,” she told him, “but it’s still dangerous.”
“This could really hurt someone,” Sousuke remarked.
“That’s right. It can even put your eye out! That’s why you shouldn’t fire them recklessly!”
“I see...” he muttered thoughtfully. He’d once gone out with Kaname and her friends to a shrine festival, where they’d taken part in a shooting gallery stall with cork guns. He’d assumed these would be similar. But this... “You shoot at each other with these?”
“We do.”
“But that’s dangerous.”
“Of course it’s dangerous!” the salesgirl shouted at him.
Unaware of Sousuke’s own rookie behavior, Kaname and the others began their survival game training on a weekend morning. They had chosen a campground in the city, the same hill where the life drawing incident had taken place some time back.
Their first assignment was running, push-ups, sit-ups, and squats, followed by more running. It was a serious training regimen, and it left Ihara and the others quickly gasping for breath.
“Hahh... hahh... Chidori-san... why do we have to... run this much?” Ihara asked Kaname, who was running behind him as they staggered their way up the hill.
“Hahh... hahh... the first thing you need is guts... the will to fight. So I’m building up... enthusiasm...” She was also sweating and panting. Nevertheless, fighting spirit blazed in her eyes. Even if they were out of shape, the others were all men, who naturally had superior stamina. The fact that she was still in fourth place right now showed how seriously she was taking things.
“But... rather than this sort of basic training... hahh... hahh... we wanted you to tell us... Sagara-kun’s weak points...”
“You really think... he’s got such... convenient weaknesses?! Get real! Hrrrgh!”
Gritting her teeth, Kaname pushed herself down the final stretch. She passed Ihara and the others to reach the finish line first. Then she collapsed, her arms and legs splayed.
“Hahh... hahh...” Droplets of sweat hit the ground beneath her. Her tank top and leggings were soaked.
The others arriving at the finish line gazed at her and began whispering among themselves,
“I’m glad she agreed to help us... but what’s she so worked up about?” asked Ebikawa, the knife-user. His knife was made of rubber, of course. He was just a guy who liked to get really into his role.
“Yeah... I don’t think we’re gonna survive this. She doesn’t seem to know how to use a gun, either,” said the scar-faced Inoue. He’d actually gotten the cross-shaped scar on his forehead when he’d fallen off his bike in his fourth year of elementary, and again in the first year of middle school, hitting an electric pole and a concrete wall, respectively.
“Stop it, you guys. We gave her command. We can’t complain about it now,” said the bearded, beret-wearing Ihara. Incidentally, he just had a prematurely grizzled face.
Sasaki Hiromi was lying on the ground, sprawled out limply. His teammates were in the same boat. Their chests were all heaving as they let out complaints of various intensities. It was like the old veteran sergeant (Ihara, in this case) was trying to reassure his men about the newly appointed lieutenant, Kaname.
After a brief rest, Kaname stood up. “Okay,” she said. “Next in the regimen: thirty courses of daily calisthenics Number Two!”
The entire group let out a scream.
“Chidori-san, this is too psychologically taxing!”
“This isn’t going to make us better at survival games!”
“And why Number Two?!”
Kaname’s fan roared through the air. It struck the ground with a bang as she shouted, “I’m trying to increase your concentration!”
“Does it really work like that?”
“Shut up!” she howled. “Now, get up! Get up!”
The group slowly rose to their feet.
But then the knife-user, Ebikawa, spoke up and said, “I’m not doing this anymore! This ain’t some health club! It’s a survival game team! We got pretty far in a tournament once! We don’t gotta do what this little girl says!”
“Grr...”
“Cut it out, Ebikawa!” Ihara tried to calm him down, but the others also seemed determined to say their piece.
“Yeah! That’s right!”
“Give us real training!”
Kaname grew even more outraged. “This is barely anything!” she retorted. “Well, I guess we know one thing you’re good at... Whining!”
“What the hell? You’re not even—” Ebikawa started, but stopped mid-shout.
The others did the same. They all frowned thoughtfully and perked up their ears.
“Hmm? What is it?” Kaname asked.
“It’s an AEG,” said Ihara.
The sound—a periodic ratatatatat! in the distance, followed by the pops of BBs hitting a target—was coming from a clearing in the forest at the base of the campground. The group temporarily called a truce to head into the underbrush and check it out.
As Kaname approached, looking on in curiosity, she could see that the one firing the airsoft gun in the clearing was Sousuke. He was down on his stomach, firing his carbine into multiple targets. Beside him squatted a young woman in jeans and black rimmed glasses whom Kaname didn’t recognize.
“My shots are trending high, Kitano,” Sousuke was saying. “Why is that?”
“Oh, that’s the hop-up... Give it here. You can adjust it.”
“I see.”
“You want to turn this gear. See? You do it like this...”
At least from a distance, they seemed rather friendly.
“There’s a girl with him. Who do you think it is?” Hiromi whispered.
“Look. The girl with the glasses...” Ihara said back.
“She’s the one from that store we go to all the time! What’s she doing here?” Hiromi demanded.
Kaname stewed in silence, looking just as annoyed as they were. Just the other day, he said those awful things to me, and now look at him! Getting all close and cozy with some stranger...
“Who’s there? What do you want?” Sousuke said as he looked in their direction.
The big men weren’t exactly being stealthy, just standing behind Kaname as they watched. Sheepishly, Ihara and the others came out of the underbrush.
Upon seeing Kaname coming out with them, Sousuke’s expression turned suspicious. “Chidori. What are you doing here?”
“What does it matter to you?” she retorted. “I’m helping Ihara-kun and the others.”
He paused. “Are you?”
She paused. “I am.”
They’d seen each other a few times since their disagreement the other day. It hadn’t exactly been a fight, so they’d still said hello and chatted like normal, but there was something definitely awkward about it.
“I should ask what you’re doing here,” said Kaname.
“Airsoft gun target practice,” Sousuke told her. “I am attempting to understand their trajectories and special characteristics.”
“And who’s that?”
“An instructor I met at the specialty shop. She’s teaching me the ins and outs.”
The girl nodded lightly to Kaname and the others. “Hello there, I’m Kitano Kazumi,” she said. “I work part-time at the shop. I had the day off, so I decided to help Sagara-kun out. Ha ha...”
“A salesgirl helping a customer? You two must be awfully close.”
“No, we, well... it’s actually complicated, you see—”
“I’m Chidori. Chidori Kaname.” Chidori was usually polite and friendly with strangers, but this was one time she couldn’t afford to be so flippant about it.
Picking up on the strained atmosphere, Kitano Kazumi asked her a question, eyes upturned. “Chidori-san. I... are you dating Sagara-kun?”
In unison, Kaname and Sousuke vigorously denied it.
“Oh. I’m sorry for asking. Ha ha ha...”
Kaname fell silent, her feelings complicated.
Sousuke went back to firing his BB gun, his expression unchanged.
Just then, Ihara spoke to Kazumi. “Kitano-san?”’
“Yes?”
“You remember? It’s me. I come to the store a lot. I’m so happy to run into you in a place like this.” His cheeks had turned red, and he looked very nervous. The others seemed to be acting the same way. They all had sheepish smiles on their faces, nodding to her from behind Ihara.
Is she some kind of idol among the shop regulars? Kaname wondered.
Kazumi searched her memory and at last smiled awkwardly at Ihara. “Er... I’m really sorry. Ha ha ha...”
Ihara and the others froze up in shock. “You... You really don’t remember us? We all took a picture together for the summer event...”
“Oh, I remember now! The preliminaries for the Combat Dragon magazine tournament, right? The ones who got clobbered in the first round against that team of women’s university students!” Kazumi shouted, her expression brightening in recognition.
“What? You lost in the first round?” Kaname said, staring blankly at them.
Noticing her expression, Ihara and the others slumped over uncomfortably.
“Yes, I remember! Um, and you come to our shop as well?” Kazumi then asked.
“Yeah,” Ihara said glumly, “at least once a week...”
“What, you do? I’m so sorry! I don’t remember you at all! I don’t know why... but I see you’re wearing your BDU today... Are you playing now?” asked Kazumi. “You’re only supposed to play in designated fields, you know.”
“Well, actually...” Ihara and the others looked very sheepish indeed.
Meanwhile, Sousuke finished silently firing his AEG and began cleaning up his equipment. “I think I have the hang of it, Kitano. Now I’d like to try on more hilly terrain. Let’s move.”
“Oh... of course. I’ll talk to you all later! We’re having a sale at the store next week, so I hope you’ll all come by!”
Kazumi walked away, holding her things. She seemed to have instantly forgotten about Ihara and the others.
Just then, Sousuke stopped and turned around to face them. “Ah, right. You seem to be embarking on some kind of training regimen, but you can’t beat me with such stopgap measures. You should just give up on forming your club before you get hurt.”
“Grr...”
“That goes for you too, Chidori,” he told her. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but it’s a waste of time.”
“Wh-What did you say?!” Kaname demanded.
“I’m merely speaking the truth.” Then Sousuke turned around, and this time, really left.
Once the two were out of sight, the men started whispering to each other.
“He’s got a girl with him. And it’s Kitano-san, our store idol, of all people...”
“This won’t stand. This really won’t stand...”
“The humiliation! This has gone way past the whole club thing...”
Some trembled with anticipation, while others spat on the ground. Some even wept tears of frustration.
“By the way... what was that about losing in the first round?” Kaname asked hesitantly.
Ihara and the other men slumped over in shame.
“For all your big talk, are you just some group of geeks trying to impress a girl?” she asked incredulously. “Do you even really want to beat that guy?”
“Of course,” said Ihara. “That’s why we asked for your—”
“So, trust me already!” Kaname snapped at him. “I know I’m just an ordinary girl who’s been through near-death experiences countless times, and it’s understandable that you wouldn’t trust me. But at the very least, I want to beat that war-addled fool more than anybody here! Right? If you think I’m wrong, say so right now!”
Ihara and the others had no argument for this.
“If there’s something wrong with my methods, I’ll really work to fix them. But I need you to take me seriously. Trust me. We’re a team, aren’t we?!” As Kaname shouted her truth at them, Ihara and the others looked down, trembling with clenched fists.
“Chidori-san... you’re right. If we don’t do something, we’re just going to lose.” The one who spoke first was Ebikawa, who had previously argued with Kaname.
“You’re right. We forgot about something important,” the scar-faced Inoue said.
“That’s right. We need to trust her!”
“There’s ten of us! If we just work together, we can win this!” one of them said.
“I’m sorry, Chidori-san! I won’t complain anymore!” Hiromi chimed in.
“Let’s do this, Commander!” they all cried in unison.
“You guys... thank you. This is the first time you’ve called me Commander.” Kaname folded her arms and lowered her gaze, looking extremely moved. Tears pooled at the corners of her eyes, and then she struck an enthusiastic pose. “Now, let’s get back to training! Line up!”
“Yeah!”
“Radio calisthenics Number Two! Thirty times!”
The men collapsed to their knees, wailing in agony.
“Hey, Sagara-kun...” Kazumi said to Sousuke as they moved away from the camp.
“What?”
“Are you sure about this? Those friends you’re going to fight... Chidori-san and the others? You said some very harsh things to them...”
“It’s the truth. They can’t possibly beat me.”
“But... even if you’ve used real guns in foreign countries, Japanese survival games are a different beast.”
“That’s why I’m asking you to teach me.”
“I suppose, but—”
“Don’t worry. You’ll get the empty anti-AS 76mm cartridges that I promised you. A dozen of them,” he said bluntly, then removed the AEG from its case.
Kazumi had come along with him on the promise of receiving some rare military surplus. Empty 76mm cartridges were very hard to find in Japan, and quite expensive. They were about the size of a pen, so they were great for interior design.
“Also, this is a good opportunity. I’m going to fight so hard she never picks up a firearm again.”
“Oh... why?”
Sousuke paused in the middle of fiddling with his gun. “I don’t exactly know.” He then used the special loader to refill the magazine with BBs. “I just feel like it’s the right thing to do.”
Obviously, they had to do more than calisthenics. Kaname was currently working with Ihara and the others on a more on-point training regimen: accuracy and coordination. At the same time, they were working out a game plan for the match.
They would form four squads of three people each. If any of the squads ran into Sousuke, one member would serve as a shield while another fired wildly to hold the enemy in place, while the most skilled member took aim to try to finish him off. If they could remain calm and employ three-on-one tactics, not even Sousuke should stand a chance. They’d also have four chances at it.
“It’s called Heaven, Earth, Man Tactics,” Kaname explained. “I learned about it from an old Taiga historical manga.”
“Ohhh...”
“The squad names will be Lemon, Peach, Melon, and Papaya. Make sure you use those call signs when communicating via radio.”
“Those names sound a little wussy...”
“Really? I think they’re cute.”
“Well, okay,” Ihara reluctantly agreed. “What else?”
“We have to work out our placement and timetable.” Kaname opened up the map of the pay-to-rent survival game field outside Tokyo, where the match would take place. “You know this field well, right, Ihara-kun?”
“Affirmative.”
“But Sousuke doesn’t,” she pointed out. “We’ll use that to our advantage. We’ll place our teams... here, here, here, and here. Stay in contact and herd him towards the southeast part of the forest.”
It was a pretty logical placement for an amateur, but Ihara and the others voiced their doubts.
“You think it’ll work?”
“It’ll be fine,” Kaname reassured them. “His best strategies involve setting traps and getting in close enough to punch and kick. But he’s not allowed to do any of that this time.”
“Hmm. I see.”
“And with this many people, it should be surprisingly easy to finish him. No worries!” Kaname declared with a clenched fist.
And so, the day of the match arrived. It was a Sunday afternoon as the group gathered in the field’s safe zone, with Hayashimizu playing referee.
Kaname was wearing borrowed fatigues and jungle boots with a bandanna wrapped around her head. She hooked up the battery of her AEG, which she’d just learned to use, and loaded its magazine with BBs. She then secured her side arm into its holster and put goggles on for eye protection.
She pulled on the gloves and flexed her fingers a few times. “Okay,” she finally said, “preparations complete.”
“You look wonderful, Chidori-san,” said Mikihara Ren, who’d come to watch.
“Yeah, totally awesome!” chimed in Tokiwa Kyoko, who’d done the same.
“Thanks!” she told them. “Okay, you guys ready?!” She turned to her men.
“We’re ready, Commander!” Ihara and the others chorused together. They’d ended up only having a few days to train, but it seemed to have done them a world of good, as they were all brimming with enthusiasm. The combination of running, shooting, and eating Kaname’s home cooking had increased their sense of unity, as well.
Sousuke, meanwhile, was wearing his old fatigues. He shouldered his AEG with a practiced motion and did a few light warmup exercises.
“Sousuke,” said Kaname. “You look pretty confident.”
“Yes. I’m going to finish you off quickly and go home.”
“Grr...”
Sousuke’s taciturn nature could be very annoying at times like this.
Then Ihara approached timidly. “Chidori-san. Here,” he said, handing her a small envelope. “The JB concert tickets I promised you.”
“Huh? But... we haven’t won yet,” Kaname protested.
“No problem. I was going to give them to you either way.”
Kaname was silent.
“Let me tell you one thing before the match starts. We might be a lousy-ass team... but we’re all honored to be fighting at your side. Thanks to you, we’ve regained the enthusiasm we started this hobby with.” Ihara, the boy with the old-man face and goatee, spoke with eyes shining in a way that was appropriate for his actual age. Complete trust, beyond advantage and disadvantage... Theoretically, giving Kaname the ticket she was doing this for might diminish her enthusiasm, but they apparently didn’t doubt her at all. “However it turns out, I won’t have any regrets,” he declared earnestly. “Let’s give Sagara-kun a run for his money!”
“R-Right,” stammered Kaname.
Then Hayashimizu, playing the referee, said, “Are you ready? It’s a simple elimination game, as previously explained. Just defeat all members of the opposing team. We’ll expect self-reporting for any hits taken, but I’ll be tracking both sides with binoculars from the safe zone. First, Sagara-kun will move to the north side of the field. Five minutes later, I will blow a whistle to start the match. That is all. Any questions?” Hayashimizu looked around at the group and saw none. “Good. Please begin.”
“Roger,” Sousuke said, hopping a few times like a track runner before a meet. Then he let out a quick breath and ran into the forest of the game field.
Sousuke’s insistence that he’d finish them off quickly wasn’t an idle boast. As a super veteran elite soldier, he would demolish their amateurish plan in just the first five minutes.
First, he crushed the Lemon Squad, led by Sasaki Hiromi. Hiromi had reported that they were moving through the brush when both his teammates abruptly took five or six BBs from behind and had to check out. Hiromi fought back as best he could, but it was pointless. He fired BBs into the brush where he thought Sousuke had to be, but then out of nowhere, Sousuke appeared behind him. One quick hit to the back of the head, and he was done.
《Lemon-1 here. I have no idea how he did it! Send reinforcements... gahh!》 The message cut off.
“Sasaki-kun?!” Kaname cried. “Respond, Sasaki-kun!”
“You mean Lemon-1, Chidori-san. You’re the one who insisted on call signs...” said her squadmate, Ihara.
Ignoring the comment, Kaname cursed. “Dammit, Lemon Squad’s down. I forgot how weirdly good he is at sneaking and hiding and stuff...”
“This is awful. Then it won’t be possible to herd him to the point we—”
Just then, there was a communication from Peach Squad. Peach’s leader was Inoue, the man with the cross-shaped scar. 《Peach-1 here! We’re taking fire! We’re returning fire while heading for Point Del— Wagh!》
“I-Inoue-kun?!”
Another voice came across on the same channel. 《P-Peach-2 here! Peach-1 is dead. I’m taking command of this squad. Heading for Point Del— Wagh!》
“What?!”
A third voice chimed in. 《Peach-3 here. Peach-2 is dead! I’m the only one left! I’m gonna try to return fire. Heading for Point Del— Wagh!》
The transmission cut off. It was one “wagh!” after another. Honestly, Sousuke’s efficiency was really just disgusting.
The same thing happened with Melon Squad. Just a few minutes after Peach Squad’s total elimination, they were already in trouble. The voice of knife-user Ebikawa came over the radio. 《Hahh... hahh... Melon-1 here. My subordinates are all down...》
“Hang in there, Ebikawa-kun!” cried Kaname.
《It’s no use... He got me in the gut. I don’t have long...》
“No... don’t die!”
“Wait, are you a zombie now?” Ihara asked awkwardly.
Zombie play—to stay in the game despite taking a hit from a BB—was against the rules.
Ignoring his teammate’s objection, Ebikawa kept up his theatrical speech. 《Khhh... he’s headed your way. We managed to lure him to our target destination. It’s all up to you guys now...》
“Nngh... Ebikawa-kun...”
《Reminds me of the Laotian border... Take care of things, Commander. Make sure you... hrrrk!》
With those final words, Melon-1 expired. Kaname closed her eyes meditatively, turned off her radio, and asked Ihara, “Hey... how was that, rules-wise?”
“Umm... seems borderline safe. It’s not against the rules to roleplay over the radio like that after you die, so...” Ihara said awkwardly.
“Okay, okay... But what it comes down to is, we’re the only ones left,” Kaname concluded. “Fortunately, it seems we’ve got our enemy right where we want him...”
Just then, they heard empty cans clinking together in the underbrush at their four.
“Ah!” It was a tripwire they’d set up in advance. Sousuke had triggered it! Setting up alarms like that seemed a little like cheating, but it wasn’t technically against the rules. And it was the only way for them to stand a chance against a master stalker like Sousuke.
“Over there! Shoot!” Kaname, Ihara and their squadmate whipped around, took cover, and began firing in the direction of the sound. BBs rained down on the underbrush with a pop-pop-pop sound. She expected firepower like that would be enough to hold Sousuke down, but...
The next instant, BBs began to shower them from a completely different direction!
“Wah!” One squadmate was hit and immediately taken out of the game.
Sousuke had used a decoy to trigger the tripwire. They should have known that the seasoned veteran wouldn’t have fallen into such a simple trap.
“What?!” Kaname cried.
A shadow was rushing through the dim jungle: it was Sousuke. He was coming at them like a wild, nimble beast, all while shielding himself among the trees. There was nothing for them to aim at.
It’s no use, Kaname realized. We’re dead. He’ll get Ihara-kun first, then me...
“Graaaah!” Just as she thought that, Ihara did something incredible. Rather than firing at Sousuke, he hefted up his AEG and threw it at him.
“Ah?!” Sousuke knocked away the airsoft gun flying at him. He certainly hadn’t expected Ihara to throw such an expensive tool without hesitation.
In a real fight, Sousuke wouldn’t have hesitated to get violent, with elbow strikes and knee strikes to get the charging Ihara in a grapple. But here, he hesitated. This was their chance.
As Sousuke tried to take aim again, Ihara charged him with all his might, hitting him with a low tackle.
“Geh?!” Sousuke staggered and fell down on his behind. Ihara fell with him.
“Now, Chidori-san! Shoot him!”
“Um...”
“Shoot him and me together!” Ihara implored her. “Go!”
This really would be their last chance. Urged on by Ihara’s shouting, Kaname pointed her AEG forward... At Sousuke and Ihara, grappling in the mud...
“Hurry!”
She hesitated.
“What are you doing?!”
She still couldn’t fire.
Ihara was clinging to Sousuke’s gun with a desperate look in his eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to shoot him. Her mind rebelled against her wishes in a way she’d never felt before.
After all, Ihara-kun’s my comrade. Isn’t there some way to finish off Sousuke without hitting him? Is there no way to spare the ally who trusts me?!
It was just a single, fleeting thought. And... thinking back later, in those few seconds, maybe Sousuke could have thrown Ihara off and shot back at Kaname. In that second, which passed by in slow motion, Sousuke was looking at her. He was noticing the reticence in Kaname’s eyes. Somehow, she felt like he was saying to her, “This is what I meant. Do you understand?”
“Chidori-san!” came Ihara’s voice again.
This time, it snapped her back to reality. Oh, right, she remembered, it’s just an airsoft gun. “Sorry!” Kaname swallowed hard and pulled the trigger. Thirty BBs rained down on Sousuke and Ihara.
Ihara and the others were delighted by their amazing underdog victory. They’d beaten the Sagara Sousuke, after all, and now their club would be official. The boys were walking on air.
“Even the mighty may fall, I suppose,” Hayashimizu chuckled.
Sousuke looked a bit sheepish. “I suppose so,” he said with a shrug.
“It’s fine. It’s not as if I was severely opposed to acknowledging their club. You did well today.”
“Thank you, sir.”
And that was the end of the match. Hayashimizu treated them to an all-you-can-eat yakiniku banquet on the way home. Kitano Kazumi, who had gotten off of work by that point, joined them, which pleased the boys even more. Holding their large beer steins (most actually containing oolong tea) in one hand, they sang and drank and hollered.
Kaname and Sousuke sat next to each other at the end of the table, a bit away from the party.
“Hey,” she said, “about before...”
“What?”
“I think I get it now.”
“Hmm. Really?” asked Sousuke, running one hand along the edge of his bowl, which was filled with kalbi kuppa.
“Yeah... so I hope you’ll forget about what happened before,” said Kaname, peering sidelong at his expression.
Sousuke, who was eating with an expression of great satisfaction, swallowed and then responded lightly. “Yes. I’ll forget it.”
“Thanks. It all seems a little too easy, though...”
“Not an issue.”
“Oh, well. Here,” she said invitingly, “the loin is cooked up.”
“Hmm...”
“It’s best when it’s still a little raw at the center. Remember that.”
“I will.” After adding the spicy sauce, he took a bite of the piping hot barbecue. After swallowing it down, Sousuke whispered, “It’s good.”
“Right? Heh heh...” said Kaname, giving him the first unreserved smile she’d shown him in a while.
[The End]
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