The worst thing is…
Sousei snuck his right hand into a pocket of his chest rig. He gripped his pistol. It was a Ruger LC9. He used it all the time, since it was light and easy to handle.
…I don’t have any perception of time while I’m dead. It seems like I come back to life right after I die, but it also kind of feels like I’ve been dead the whole time…
“What would you like to do, Mr. Sakayanagi?” Bodyguard A asked. “I’m not sure since he was acting so recklessly, but I suspect he’s an assassin. Would you like to cancel?”
“You took care of him, right?” Sakayanagi retorted, sounding extremely displeased. “Canceling now means everything we’ve prepared will be wasted. More importantly, how did it get out that I was coming here?”
“Well…” Bodyguard A faltered.
Sakayanagi let out a contemptuous sigh.
“Determine the cause at once,” he demanded. “…But yes, the plan is canceled. Let’s head back.”
“Understood.”
Sousei saw Bodyguard A bow from the waist as he responded. Sousei crawled along between the glass cases. Without a sound, he stood and readied his gun.
They were about fifteen feet away. Across from the bowing Bodyguard A was the target, Sakayanagi.
Kenshin Sakayanagi. It was said that he was sixty-four years old, but he only looked like he was in his fifties, at most. He looked like the sort of person who would play a dad in a TV drama. Sakayanagi had been involved in countless criminal acts for more than forty years, but he had never once been arrested. He wasn’t connected to other major organized crime syndicates or overseas mafia, but over the course of his lifetime, he had built up a group called Rosa Rugosa that primarily conducted drug smuggling and human trafficking. Incidentally, Sakayanagi’s older brother was an ex–police officer—a notable person who had risen to the rank of Superintendent General of the Police.
Sousei steadied his Ruger LC9 in both hands and pulled the trigger. The first round struck Sakayanagi around the right side of the bridge of his nose.
“Urgh,” Sakayanagi groaned and stumbled.
“Ahhh?!”
While the bodyguards were still turning around and taking out their handguns, Sousei pulled the trigger a couple more times. His second shot hit Sakayanagi between the eyebrows, and the third hit dead center in the bridge of his nose.
Oh, I killed him.
Sousei could tell the instant he took someone’s life. He got a feeling…like a distinct thump that reverberated in his core. The lives he took increased his own.
He was down one since he died once moments earlier, but now he was breaking even. No, wait—
“Ahh…”
The bodyguards opened up without hesitation. They were good shots. Seven or eight rounds struck Sousei’s head and chest. It was pretty much instant death.
…Seriously, what the hell is going on here?
Sousei came to on the floor, covered in blood. Evidently, he had died and fallen over.
It’s nothing new, but…
His Ruger had dropped nearby. He grabbed it and was trying to get up when more gunshots rang out. Sakayanagi’s bodyguards all seemed to be solid marksmen.
“Ugh…” It was pretty much instant death.
…I’ve been killed twice in a row. So that’s minus two…
Sousei gripped his Ruger and fired while still on the ground. The bodyguards had come running up to his body, so Sousei was able to hit one of them without even aiming.
“Agh…!”
He didn’t know if it was Bodyguard A, B, C, or D. Sousei got off four more shots while he was shot himself, taking down two of the bodyguards.
I’m back to just breaking even… Tsk.
But right after that, Sousei was shot in the head and died.
Sousei was in terrible pain when he came back to life. He was lying sprawled out, and one of the bodyguards had his shin pressed against Sousei’s throat. Sousei also had a gun pointed at his forehead. He had only just been resurrected, and it already seemed like he was going to be killed again at any moment.
“What the hell are you?! Damn monster…!”
Gimme a break…
Sousei’s Ruger LC9 wasn’t within reach. The bodyguard must have kicked it away.
Sousei grabbed the bodyguard’s pistol with an iron grip and twisted it upward just as the bodyguard was about to pull the trigger.
“Aaarghhh…!”
The bodyguard instantly pulled his index finger out of the trigger guard. If he had pulled the trigger, he would have ended up shooting himself. Removing his finger from the trigger in that kind of situation was the correct instinct for anyone who had received proper training. But the bodyguard had also inadvertently removed his shin from Sousei’s neck. That was a fatal mistake.
Sousei was now able to breathe. In one fell swoop, he stole the bodyguard’s gun and fired. He shot the bodyguard three times, killing him. The last remaining bodyguard opened fire.
My temples—
That was Sousei’s last thought before he took a hit and died.
…It’s been a long time since I died this much…
When he was resurrected, the remaining bodyguard was about thirteen feet away from Sousei with his gun raised. He almost looked like he was hyperventilating, and he was shaking uncontrollably.
“Wha…? What the…? Y-you… The hell is going on? Fuck…!”
Luckily, Sousei had apparently died with his finger still in the gun’s trigger guard. It seemed that the final remaining bodyguard had emptied his magazine into Sousei. The gun he was holding in both of his hands was likely out of ammunition.
“I understand you probably think I’m cheating or something, but—”
Sousei held the grip of the gun with his right hand and then added his left. He took aim and shot the last bodyguard.
“Uuuughh…”
The bodyguard took the bullet in his chest and then tried to turn around and run. Sousei couldn’t allow him to escape. He hit him with a second and third bullet in quick succession.
“…Shi…iiiit… Arrgh…”
Sousei stood up once the bodyguard had collapsed onto the floor.
“It’s not like I became this way because I wanted to.”
Sousei walked up to the last bodyguard and shot him once more in the head. He felt a thump and knew instantly that the bodyguard had died.
“I killed five people, but I also died five times. So I guess I broke even.”
Still clutching his handgun in his right hand, Sousei touched both his ears with his left. His earpiece wasn’t there.
“I better find it. If I lose it, Sis is really going to let me have it…” Sousei let out a sigh and started searching. “It’s crazy, right? Someone like me having a girlfriend…”