Short Break 1: Packing Heat

Jun had been absent at school for the better part of a week, but on the next Monday, she quietly slipped into the flow of things, with another white glove covering her right hand. Few people noticed her, and those that did withheld any questions that they might have had. Jun sat in the classroom a few moments after the lunch break started, eyeing her chosen target.

As the girl got out of her seat, Class 1-B finally noticed the killer in its midst. Fifteen feet away from one of the corner of the room, she addressed the grinning boy with bleached hair. "You're Katashi Kondo, are you not?" Katashi looked up at the redhead and gulped. "Ye…yes." Jun smiled. "I've heard much about you. So, I figured, with your exploits, it's time to take you down." She reached across her blouse and into the inside pocket of her uniform jacket, holding it there.

The class made a collective gasp, holding its breath and wincing for the form of a black pistol that was sure to follow. Instead…Jun pulled out a small deck of brown-backed collectible playing cards and grinned sweetly. "You play Ascension, don't you? I've been looking for a good opponent." Half the class fell out of their chairs.

The hands were shuffled, cut, and dealt. The first round revealed that Katashi played mostly ebony, a "color" of card that focused on destruction, whereas Junko played cerulean, the color of subtle manipulation. Jun had drawn a weak hand, the result of a randomly bad shuffle, as she had some wonderful spells but nothing with to pay for them. Yet, Katashi did not instantly kill her; Jun made sure that it took the better part of ten minutes to finish her off.

"Heh heh…not bad, Shinosaki. Not bad. Looks like you got screwed on the deal, though." "Yeah." Since Ascension, like most collectible "battle" card games, was prone to such matters, games were always the best of out of three rounds. With his win nearly by default under his belt, Kondo smiled and settled in for the second round. Jun soundly decimated his forces with minimal effort for the next two rounds, leaving the twice-local tournament winner baffled.

There was still twelve minutes left in lunch, so Jun sat down next to Saki and began eating her bento box, with a smile on her face that would last through the end of the day.