It's been way too long since I updated! I was lazy and I didn't want to do research on weaponry since it's such a sketchy topic, but I ended up doing alright. I hope you enjoy!

The mention of weapons made my heart pound. Immediately, my mind went back to the bloody scene I had witnessed what feels like just moments ago. I was going to have to live a life just like that, starting from now.

But at the same time, a weird excitement bubbled up inside of me. What would I wield? A gun? Swords? It seemed like something out of a movie, and so far away from reality. If the blood and gore was disregarded, then it might be exciting.

"Let's go, then!" said Momo, taking my hand and leading me back towards the room I made my arrival at.

"Is Ene-san skilled in weapons and that sort of stuff?" I asked. I couldn't help but think about the fact that she was in a wheelchair. I had nothing against that at all, but that made me doubt her skill level slightly.

"She's your best shot at finding the right weapon." said Momo. "You can leave it up to her."

We reached the living room area, and sure enough, the meeting was over, as Kido, Kano, Shintaro, and Ene were all sitting on the couches.

"Ene-chan!" said Momo. "I'm gonna leave Hibiya-kun with you!"

"For choosing weaponry?" asked Ene. She came over to us with a swiftness and smoothness I did not expect from a wheelchair.

"Yep! I'm going to work on some idol stuff, so I'll see you guys in a bit!" said Momo, and she took off.

"Well then, come along, kid. Let's get some weapons for you!" said Ene. She led the way out of the room and down the hallway, and I followed her.

"Do you want me to push you instead?" I asked, eyeing her wheelchair.

"Naw, s'all good. I'm not just some weak little girl, you know." said Ene. "I used to be one of the strongest members of our group!"

I bit back my thoughts on her words, but Ene must have guessed what I was thinking, because she smiled ruefully.

"I know what you're thinking. If I'm really that strong, then how did I end up like this?" she said.

"I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine, it's fine. I wonder about that myself, too." said Ene, laughing sadly. "You're one of us now, so I guess there's no harm in telling you. But that'll have to wait after we find you something nice in here." She stopped in front of a room, and we entered it.

Before me was a room filled with shelves among shelves of weaponry. Pistols, machine guns, rifles, bows and arrows, swords, daggers, knives… You name it, it was there. I couldn't believe my eyes. Everything was arranged neatly by type, and there were even things that seemed like everyday items that were placed here. But their placement told me that that was only their disguise. Beyond the shelves was a full shooting arena equipped with many targets.

Ene noticed my shocked expression and smirked. "Welcome to the weapons room. This is, without a doubt, one of the best rooms in this entire building, just like our technology room. Now, let's get something fit for you."

"I've never touched a weapon before in my entire life." I said, gulping.

"That's alright. First, let's figure out what type of fighter you are. Do you prefer pistols and revolvers like Kano and Seto? Or are you leaning more towards long swords like Leader Kido? Or, perhaps, do you like small daggers like Marry? Or does a nice lethal poison sound better to you, just like what Momo thinks? Or are you a hand-to-hand combat guy like Mr. Impost— No, Konoha?"

"…I have no idea." Were those words supposed to help me make up my mind?

"Yeah, I thought so. Let's have you try some of these babies." said Ene, laughing casually. She picked up a few guns and laid them in front of me. "Any one of these that seem to be calling out your name?"

"…Nothing in particular."

"I see." She picked up a few guns and piled them in front of me. "Then let's go ahead and start off with these. Springfield XD, Ruger LCR9, Glock 19, and Walther CCP. They're great choices for beginners, but they're still guns, obviously, so be careful. Go ahead and try aiming at those targets there." She gestured towards the area on the other side of the room.

I gulped and took one of the guns, my hand trembling. I forced myself to calm down and approached the targets.

I've never had any practice with shooting. I've used a nerf gun before when I was a child, but that was about it. My hands started to shake as I gripped the trigger, but I was sweating so much that I couldn't bring myself to pull.

"It's alright," said Ene, her voice becoming calm and empathetic. "Take it slowly. If you're not comfortable with it, you don't have to be part of the combat team. You can be like Master— er, Shintaro— You can be behind the scenes and supporting us that way. But you should be able to do some self-defense, at the least—"

"I can do it," I said, gulping. I steadied my gaze at the target, and closed my eyes. "I promise." I took a final deep breath before pulling the trigger steadily.

The only thing my brain registered was the gunshot and the jolt of my hand. I had already prepared myself for the loudness, but it still shocked me. My heart pounded in my chest as a droplet of sweat trickled down my face.

It was definitely the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever done. I couldn't believe it. I, Hibiya Amamiya, the most mundane person in the entire world, had just fired a gun.

"That was great," said Ene. "You did pretty damn well, for a beginner."

"I missed the center, though."

Ene laughed. "Come on, it was your first time. Even we can't expect you to do that on your first shot. But you do have great aim."

"I do?"

"Oh, yeah. So, how did that feel? Are you ready to try some more?"

I gulped and said yes, I was. I tried out a few more pieces of weaponry, and Ene introduced me to each of them before she handed it to me. I, however, didn't remember the name of a single one of them.

Ene observed my actions with great concentration and interest, and she looked like she was thinking long and hard about what to get me next.

"What is it?" I asked, nervous. "Do I, er, not have the potential or something?"

"No, no, that's not it!" said Ene. "Geez, you're way too self-conscious. Have a little more confidence in yourself. Why don't you go ahead and choose one by yourself? Find one that calls your name."

I looked around, completely lost. Which one should I choose? I had no idea. I walked along the tables, thinking.

My eye caught one single weapon among the many in this room. I honestly don't know what interested me — was it the unique design? Its difference in appearance? How cool it looked?

At that point, I didn't know how much that one single choice would change my fate.

Ene raised an eyebrow at my choice. "Oh," she said, surprised. "Wow."

I immediately put it down and stepped away from it. "Why?" I asked, nervous. "Is it that bad?"

Ene laughed. "No, no, you're good. I was just surprised. I never thought you would pick that out of all the choices possible."

"Why?"

"Well, let's give you a little crash course on this baby here. This is the CheyTac Intervention M-200, and it's an American bolt-action sniper rifle. It's got a range up to 2,500 yards, which is pretty damn long. Barrel length of 740mm, uses .408 or .375 Cheyenne Tacticals as cartridges. It's an amazing tool that I'm absolutely shit at using." said Ene, laughing.

"Why?" I asked nervously. I must have picked something terribly difficult to use.

"I'm terrible at long-range shooting. More of a close-range gal. Don't worry, that's not to say that you'll be terrible at it. Give it a shot."

I stationed myself further away from the targets and placed my hands on the rifle. I looked into its eyepiece, and for some reason, the target looked clearer than ever. I steadily pulled the trigger, and watched the bullet fly.

It hit the center of the target without any hesitation. Eyes wide, I looked up to see if that actually happened. A stunned silence followed the loud "bang!" of the gun.

"Holy shit," said Ene, to herself more than me. "I think we've found ourselves a genius."

"No way." I said, putting down the rifle cautiously.

"I can't believe it!" said Ene excitedly. "This is the best case scenario! We don't have any long-distance fighters yet. This is awesome!"

"I-I see…"

"By the way, how good's your vision?" asked Ene, rolling over her wheelchair to me.

"I have 20/10 vision." I admitted.

Ene's eyes grew wide as she stared at me. "20/10 vision." She repeated. "Are you human?"

"I would suppose so, yes." I replied.

Ene laughed. "Now that we've got your weapon, let's head back! We've gotta tell the others about our newest sniper!" she said, a bright smile on her face.

"Wait."

Ene was just about to start heading back before I stopped her. She looked up, her smile now replaced with confusion. "What? What's wrong?"

I clenched my fists at my sides. "You said you would tell me what happened to you after we picked out a weapon." My heart pounded in my chest as I uttered these words. Oh, I was terrified, asking a member of the mafia a question that would most definitely pain and anger her. But curiosity killed the cat, you know. I couldn't help it. The pause that followed my words only made me more and more nervous.

"Information—"

"Comes with a price." I finished. "Yes, I know. I've been told that twice now. Once from Kano, and once from Momo. How should I repay you for your story?"

Tears seemed to glisten in Ene's black eyes as they widened, but she blinked them back. "You're a natural," she said, laughing. "Alright. I'll tell you my story. From the very beginning.

As you may know, my name is Ene. But as you might not know, that's not my real name. My real name is Takane Enomoto. Ah, it's weird, saying the name I neglected seven years ago, one of someone that should be dead.

Seven years ago, I was seventeen. I was a normal high schooler, you know, except I had a condition called narcolepsy. Do you know what that is?"

"Is it the condition where you tend to fall asleep in relaxing surroundings?"

"Yeah, that's the one. With this condition, I was labeled 'disabled' and put into a special needs classroom in the beginning of high school with one teacher and one other fellow student.

His name was… Haruka. Haruka Kokonose. A dense idiot who… had the kindest soul and the warmest smile. He was my only friend for a while. We were polar opposites, actually; I was loud, brash, frank, and mean, while he was timid, positive, and kind. He was placed in the special needs class because he had a fatal illness, one that could kill him with a single attack. Our happy high school lives went on for a little more than a year, until my second year of high school.

Our teacher was Kenjirou Tateyama. If you recognize the last name, you're spot on. He's Ayano's dad. We met Ayano and Shintaro through school; they were our underclassmen. We became a group of four friends instead of two groups of two friends. Ah, those were happy days.

The Tateyama family went through a lot during that year, though. Mrs. Tateyama was murdered that year, and Sensei was never the same again. He acted like he was fine, but it was clear to both me and Haruka that he was breaking down inside.

One day, Haruka had an attack. I watched Sensei send him off to the hospital, and I stayed in the classroom, waiting for them to come back as I, well, repented my ignorance and stupidity. Suddenly, my head started to spin. It was as if I was falling asleep again due to my narcolepsy, but ten times more painfully. As I struggled to stay awake, I saw the figure of someone that couldn't be more familiar, smiling maliciously as I closed my eyes: Kenjirou Tateyama. The same Tateyama-sensei that should have left with Haruka. But as I tried to sort out what had happened, my mind started to shut down.

When I woke up again, the scene in front of me shocked me. I was in what seemed like a lab, trapped in a glass case of some sort. I look around and, get this, two Kenjirou Tateyamas stared back at me.

'Hey,' said Kenjirou One. 'She's awake.'

'Well, well, looks like our princess has woken up from her slumber,' said Kenjirou Two, walking towards me. His malicious smile told me immediately that he wasn't the real Kenjirou Tateyama.

'Who are you?' I asked. 'Where am I? What have you done?'

'Oh nothing,' said Kenjirou Two. 'You're just going to be the subject of our experiments of eternal life for a while. No big deal.'

'I'm what?!' I spat. I looked towards Kenjirou One, whom I assumed to be the real Sensei, for reassurance. 'He's joking, right?'

'Sorry, Takane,' said Kenjirou One. 'But you'll have company. It's fine.' He gestured towards my right.

I looked towards the case beside me, and I faced the greatest shock and terror in my life. There in the case sat Haruka, unconscious, just as I was.

'Haruka?' I asked, uncertainty overflowing in my voice. I turned to the two Kenjirous. 'What did you do to him?!'

'He's just unconscious,' said Kenjirou Two. 'No big deal.'

'You monster,' I said, gritting my teeth. 'I'll kill you!'

'Oh?' asked Kenjirou Two. 'You've said something interesting now. Go ahead and try.' He sneered at me.

'Stop it, Takane. It's all for Ayaka's sake.' said Kenjirou One.

'Ayaka?' I echoed. I searched my mind vigorously for memories of that name. I quickly recalled the name Ayaka Tateyama. She was a kind, hard-working woman that was Sensei's wife. She had died earlier that year at the hands of a ruthless murderer. 'Are you serious? You think Mrs. Tateyama would appreciate this shit? You think Ayano would appreciate this shit?!'

'Shut it.' said Kenjirou One, his expression turning murderous. 'Don't you dare bring Ayano into this. Ayaka will return to me. Definitely.'

'Now that we've got introductions down, let's get to business, shall we?' asked Kenjirou Two, his face twisting into a smile. The next thing I knew, I was injected with an unknown fluid, and I fell to the ground, unconscious.

When I woke up once again, my head felt dizzy. I sat up and looked to my right, and I met Haruka's shocked gaze.

'Takane! You're awake!' he said, bolting from his chair. He pressed his hands against the glass wall of his cell. His face held the tracks of tears that once flowed along his cheeks.

I sat up with great difficulty and walked over to him, pressing my hands against the wall of my case, right where Haruka's hands were. Our hands were only centimeters away, cut off by the barrier of the glass, but it felt like the longest distance ever.

'Haruka,' I said, my voice breaking. 'Haruka…'

'I woke up and all I saw were unfamiliar surroundings and a fallen Takane to my left. Are you okay? What did they do to you?' asked Haruka.

I put a hand to my neck, where the injection had occurred. 'I… Nothing. It's nothing. But that's not the point! Sensei! Sensei was the one that brought us here! He's with this other guy and they're trying to find a way to eternal life! He's trying to bring back his wife! Using us as lab rats!'

'And it's going quite smoothly.' I looked towards the direction of the voice and saw both Kenjirous staring at us.

'No way. She's actually alive.' said Kenjirou One, staring at me in disbelief. 'I thought that drug was lethal!'

'That's eternal life to you.' said Kenjirou Two, smirking. 'But it's not complete yet. We have to do more experiments. Do you trust me now?'

'Of course!' said Kenjirou One. 'Well, I'll leave the studying to you. I hope everything can be finished soon.'

'Soon.' replied Kenjirou Two, and the two of them left.

I put a hand to my neck involuntarily. What was apparently a lethal drug was injected into me. Then how am I still alive? I didn't know the answer to that question, but I did know that there was more to come.

And how right I was. Day after day, week after week, we were subject to his experiments. The injections were soon switched to actual weapons that always left us wounded, but not dying. I can't explain in words how much it hurt; but I know it must have hurt more for Haruka. We pleaded, I pleaded, for him to stop — but every time we did so, Kenjirou Two's smile would widen as he inflicted another wound upon us.

Our imprisonment lasted for around two weeks, but it felt like two years. One night, we heard noise from above us. Haruka and I exchanged worried glances, wondering what was going to happen next. One block of the ceiling was slid off to the side, and two people jumped down: Ayano Tateyama and Shintaro Kisaragi.

Shintaro punched in a few codes into the keypad attached to our glass cases, and the doors opened. I took a step forward, but lost my balance. Ayano quickly caught me, and Shintaro did the same for Haruka.

'Ayano-chan…? Why are you here…?' I whispered.

'No time for explanations. Let's get you two out of here.' said Shintaro, already climbing up to the ceiling. He reached out of a hand to Haruka, who took it and climbed up with great difficulty, his face occasionally twisting in pain due to his wounds. I did the same. Ayano climbed up after us. The moment she slid the block of the ceiling back to its original spot, alarms started sounding.

Shintaro clicked his tongue. 'We've got to hurry.' he said.

We crawled along the pathway and tried to make as less noise as possible. Shintaro led the way and we hurried along in silence. I had a thousands questions in my mind, but I had to wait until we were out of danger.

Soon, we reached a spot where Shintaro heaved a block out of the way and jumped down. Haruka, looking slightly uncertain, jumped down. Shintaro caught him, and he gestured for me to do the same. I gulped and jumped right down. After all four of us were on the ground once again, we ran towards what was apparently the exit.

'Don't move!' We heard someone shout from behind us.

'Shit,' said Shintaro. Get in the car, quick." We approached a white Lexus, and swiftly, we jumped in.

'Shintaro, get us out of here!' said Ayano.

'I don't need you to tell me that.' said Shintaro, pressing his foot down on the gas pedal and speeding out of the area. We heard gunshots from behind us, but we were able to leave unharmed.

'What the fuck is happening?!' I yelled as soon as we were far enough.

'We just saved your asses, that's what happened.' said Shintaro, his eyes focusing on the road.

'Shintaro, shut up! They've been through a lot! Would it kill you to be just a little nicer?' said Ayano crossly. 'Anyways, I'm so glad you both are fine. I can't imagine what that murderer has done to you both.'

'Murderer?' echoed Haruka.

Ayano nodded. 'There was a man that looked exactly like my father, right? That's Criminal Number 968, or 'Kuroha'. He's after all of us.'

'He's helping your father research eternal life.' I said. '…He injected something into me on the first day that he said was a lethal drug. How am I still alive?'

'For god's sake, Enomoto, if you've got brains in that head of yours, use them.' said Shintaro. 'If it was really lethal, then you wouldn't be alive. It was all an act to fool Ayano's dad. He's manipulative, and that's what he'll do to get what he wants. After all, eternal life doesn't exist.'

'We need to stick together if we want to survive.' said Ayano. 'You guys… You're all I have left.'

We drove to a small hospital first, one that Ayano had connections with and was doing her nurse training at, where they treated our wounds. Then, we came here, to the Blindfold Gang's base, where we met everyone else, members one to five. We started our mission, doing what we could to try to catch Kuroha.

That's how Haruka and I joined the Blindfold Gang. Since we would be extremely recognizable to Kuroha and his underlings, we decided to change our names and our appearances. Takane Enomoto and Haruka Kokonose became Ene and Konoha respectively, and we dyed our hair into blue and white and put in colored contacts when we went outside.

The two of us worked as a team for the longest time. I was skilled in guns of all sorts, having prior knowledge of them from various shooting games I used to play. Haruka picked up hand-to-hand combat, which he mastered in a short amount of time. We would go on missions together, and we would always succeed because of our teamwork.

But that day, we failed.

We had our biggest lead to Kuroha during that mission, and the two of us went to track him down. We met him, face to face, and we were absolutely overpowered. After severely injuring us with his gun, he tried to run us over with a truck — sounds familiar, doesn't it? Although that didn't injure us physically at all, it served us quite a lot of mental trauma. My confinement to this wheelchair is not caused by any physical injury, but of physiological trauma. It's stupid, isn't it?

And Haruka… He… He lost all of his memories. Of the Blindfold Gang, of Kuroha, of me… I thought it was better for him to just live on without any more darkness in his life, but he had to know about Kuroha. Haruka's life was threatened by him. It's okay if he forgets about me…" At this, a tear falls down Ene's cheek, and she wiped it away with one swift movement. "But yeah! That's my story."

I stared at Ene, my mouth agape. I felt ashamed of myself for doubting her abilities because she was in a wheelchair. It was absurd. She's been through more than a normal person should, and I know that if it was me, I would have gone mad long ago. "…That's absolutely nuts."

"I know, right?" she said. "It sounds like bullshit and something straight out of a cliché drama, but it's true. Are you scared now that you know what kind of person Kuroha is?"

"No," I said. "It's the opposite, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"It makes me want to kill him even more."

"I see." said Ene, looking at me with a slight smile on her face. "Now, about the price…"

"Of course. What would you like?" I hadn't forgotten about it. I was a little uneasy because I didn't know how I would have to pay for such a hefty story, but I had no choice.

"I'm thinking of saving that opportunity for now. I'll ask you of something at a later time, of course. You're off the hook for now." said Ene, smiling. "Now, let's head back! The others will be annoyed at me for keeping our newbie away for too long!" She headed out the door swiftly, and I followed her.

We walked in silence, and the moment we entered the living room, the others stood up to greet us.

"So, how'd it go?" asked Kido. "Were you able to find something of your liking?"

Ene stepped in front of me excitedly before I could answer. "Listen, listen, Leader! You won't believe this. I still can't. We've recruited ourselves a sniper! And a hella good one at that!"

The reaction at those words was immense. Surprise was clearly shown on everyone's faces as they stared at me in awe. I felt uncomfortable at all the stares, but I knew I should be holding my head up high with pride. I was going to be of use to this group.

"A sniper…" said Seto. "That's amazing!"

"We don't have anyone in that role here yet! Right, Kido?" asked Marry.

Kido nodded. "You're right." she said. Sighing reluctantly, she turned to Kano. "You did well in recruiting him. You're off the hook from bathroom cleaning. Just this time."

Kano let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the praised lords." he said under his breath.

"Alright," said Kido, pulling everyone's attention back to her. "We've got stuff to accomplish. Currently, it's five in the morning. I'm sure everyone's tired from this unexpected mission, so sleep will be allowed until twelve, unless you've got a mission before that. Aya-nee, I'm going to send Hibiya to you for some emotional therapy after we all wake up. This evening, Hibiya, you're joining Momo in her next mission. She'll debrief that to you on your way there. Everyone else, I'm sure you know your next steps. That will be it for now."

"Yes, Leader." We chimed together. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding in, and I followed everyone towards our rooms.

"Good job for today, Hibiya-kun." said Momo, patting me on the shoulder.

"Thanks," I said, sighing.

"It's been a long day, huh?" She said sympathetically.

I laughed. "That's such an understatement," I said. "But yeah. Definitely."

"You need to rest. Get a good few hours of sleep." she said. We had gotten to her room, three doors away from mine. "See you in the morning. Good night, Hibiya-kun."

"Yeah," I said. "Good night, Momo."

I walked toward my room, trying to ignore the subtle stink-eye Shintaro gave me. As soon as I entered the room, I flopped onto my bed and sunk into a slumber deeper than any before.

I can't believe how neglected the Kagerou Project fandom is on this website. Honestly, it breaks my heart. I hope you liked this chapter, and please read and review! See you (hopefully) soon!

~nxiro