In his head, he repeated to himself that the sight was misaligned to the right and that he had to aim slightly below his target. Next, he switched the selector from full auto to semi-auto. He was burning through ammo too fast on full auto. He hated the vulnerable few seconds that came from changing magazines.
Should he take out the girl behind the counter first? She was just a kid, but it’d be a mistake not to take her seriously. He thought about her face when she shot at him—she didn’t wince or even show the slightest sign of nervousness. He’d be less worried about her if she had a maniacal smile on her face, like killers in popular thrillers. This girl shot at him with the same energy as flicking on a light switch. She’d been trained for this. Mizukawa didn’t think it’d be possible for him to kill Ijyuuin with this girl around.
“No need to shoot, Takina. Leave him to me!” said the hostess who’d been entertaining Ijyuuin.
Was she an assassin, too? Unlike this other girl, the one pretending to be a hostess looked like an ordinary girl to Mizukawa…
“But, Chisato—”
“Leave him to me. Stray bullets are the biggest danger here. Get this guy out of here.”
Takina and Chisato. Mizukawa, with his poor memory, had a habit of repeating people’s names in his head after he first heard them. Okada drilled it into him that it was rude not to remember names.
Mizukawa started to get up from the floor, keeping his rifle pointed in the direction of the girl dressed like a waiter—Takina. He peeked out from behind the sofa. He saw that Takina was also aiming at him, holding the handgun nonchalantly in one hand. She placed her other hand on the counter and swiftly jumped over it.
Mizukawa broke out in cold sweat. The girl kept both her eyes and the gun steadily focused on him as she jumped. It might not sound like much, but it spoke volumes about the quality and degree of training she must have undergone.
“Who the hell are you?”
Takina didn’t answer him. She kept the gun aimed at him as she walked to the kitchen. She dragged a tied-up man out of there. It was Mizukawa’s informant. He tried to say something when he saw Mizukawa, but he was gagged, so his words came out as incomprehensible mumbling. Takina dragged him away to the elevator. When Mizukawa lost sight of them, he finally lowered the AK.
“Okay, my turn! What was your name again? Mizukawa?”
The woman called Chisato was dressed in a glamorous, figure-hugging dress made from a thin fabric, paired with high heels… Actually, she must have been about the same age as the other one. Early twenties? No, possibly still a teenager. Mizukawa noticed she had a young complexion and hardly any makeup on. And she didn’t seem like a lady of the night.
The girl reached into her handbag and took out a handgun with spikes on the barrel.
“I knew you weren’t a real hostess.”
“Really? What gave me away?”
“That outfit. It doesn’t suit you.”
She looked offended and touched an earpiece hidden by her hair.
“Mizukiii! He’s criticizing my outfit! It doesn’t suit me, apparently… Huh? Sorry, but I’m still in my tender teenage years! I’m young, unlike you!”
“You’re a killer working for the local gang’s boss, the coffee aficionado?”
“Huh? Oh, you mean boss man? No, no. He’s just our regular customer…although today’s job did come from him.”
“I got the killer part right, then.”
“Sorry, but nope! You couldn’t be further from the truth!”
Then who was she? Why was she protecting Ijyuuin? What was going on? She did give off the feeling that she was part of a larger group. Mizukawa felt as if he could almost figure it out, but he was still drawing a blank, so he stopped thinking about it. There was a saying that an idiot pondering things was just wasting his time. Or maybe it was that other saying that applied, wasting time on pointless pondering was what idiots did?
“We protect. Killing’s not on our menu.”
Ijyuuin must’ve paid a lot of money to the local boss to get his help. These girls probably decided to set up this trap for Mizukawa because they weren’t able to find him once he started acting on his own following Okada’s murder.
“So if you’re really set on killing Mr. Ijyuuin, you’ll have to kill me first.”
“Fine.”
He didn’t care what happened to him in the end as long as he managed to kill Ijyuuin. Mizukawa knew he should ignore the girl and focus on his target, but for some reason, he had a feeling she wouldn’t let him do that. It was just a hunch, but he was sure it was right.
Mizukawa made up for the lack of education and experience with his innate talents, one of which was intuition. He’d survived so long by relying on it.
Chisato smiled.
“Now, that’s a good doggy,” she said.
They walked to the middle of the floor, keeping their eyes on each other, their weapons pointing down. Chisato smiled smugly, like a gambler who was sure they had a winning hand.
They were about eight meters apart. Armed with a handgun, she had a slight advantage in such close quarters.
Mizukawa used his left hand to push his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose.
Strangely, the atmosphere wasn’t heavy. Mizukawa had an apathetic attitude, but he must’ve looked menacing. Chisato wasn’t trying to match his aura, nor was she intimidated by him. Like a blade of grass bending in the wind, she was letting Mizukawa’s scary vibes blow past her… Or rather, it was as if she wasn’t detecting them at all. It made him feel stupid, as if he were fighting a cheery sunflower with dead seriousness.
He couldn’t sense the right moment to shoot. What was up with this girl? It seemed like he could kill her easily, but at the same time, something told him she was invincible.
Chisato’s smile turned wry, as if she was losing patience. She tensed her slim, lithe body ever so slightly.
“Come at me,” she said, and they both moved at once.
Mizukawa let her take the lead. He’d had enough of the staring contest. They might just as well start fighting when she wanted.
Mizukawa crouched, lifting the AK to his eye. Chisato walked toward him. He fired, conscious that he had to aim slightly off to the right to compensate. He missed, probably having aimed too far to the right. Correcting himself, he fired again, and again in close succession…still missing. One more shot. And another. He was firing faster and faster.