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!”