Chapter 6- A Shot in the Dark
He couldn't afford to attend Saunders, but Kaito was always glad when his hobby took him there. Even from the taxi he was forced to take, and all the traffic that entailed (they don't allow guns, even those only fit for heishi-do, to be brought on trains), it was always good to visit his home away from home.
As he finally approached his destination, Patton Engineering Stadium, he felt quite a bit more nervous than before. But he came all this way, he can't just back out now. He put his aviator sunglasses on for motivation, and stepped into the building. The insides of the stadium were almost unrecognizable from whatever court or field it once held, now lined up with rows and rows of shooting positions, including some practice rows and a large area with several positions for the event. Dark grayish-green metal structures dominated the room, though whether their color was due to the somewhat poor lighting or the material Kaito couldn't quite tell.
After checking into the competition at the booth upfront, he went to get a few practice shots in. There was one spot that was empty, #5. Considering how late he was, whoever was using it had probably just left and that's why it was empty.
We take those though.
He took the M1903 Springfield out of its case and glared through the sights for a moment. Taking the gun down from his shoulder, he added the ammo and inspected the rest of the gun. The magazine cutoff selector was set to "On", good. He opened the breach, dropped the clip into the access point, and pushed the fake bullets in, and removed the clip.
Kaito's mind was racing, but he had long learned to push through it by just doing whatever he could. Right now, that meant removing the clip, closing the breach, setting the safety off and carefully lifting the gun to his shoulder once more. The target in the distance taunted him with its very existence. He had to prove it wrong, to rectify it.
Focus, Kaito. Breathe in.
Bang!
Breathe out. Miss. He pulled the lever back to cycle a new round and moved to the next.
Bang!
Barely on target.
Bang!
Miss again.
Bang!
Okay, this one wasn't too bad. Maybe if he could repeat it–
Bang!
And miss again.
Kaito set the rifle down from his targets and made a few adjustments to the sights. Should be a little bit better, especially if he slowed down a little.
The next round of shots confirmed that, but he still wasn't satisfied. Three shots out of five on the target. Not really good enough though when two out of those three had hit the outermost rings.
The sound of gunfire drew his eyes to the left, more particularly the woman standing there. While her shots with that M1917 Enfield were good, what caught his attention was that she was obviously of European descent, yet was wearing a Saunders patch on her uniform.
Never seen that before. Not like it was impossible for a European, or, more likely, an American, to live in Japan or attend Saunders, but rare all the same.
Before he could try his shots again, an announcement blared over the whole stadium.
"Attention all competitors, please make your way to the stands. I repeat: all competitors, please make your way to the stands."
Kaito sighed. Whatever would happen now would happen. It didn't really matter anyways. Or so he told himself, anyway. His heat was actually up first, so when he handed his gun to officials, it was only half an hour before he got it back.
Thirty shots, forty-five minutes, 10 meters, 8 total shooters moving on. As he walked up to his station, his heart started pounding. He knew this wasn't good for his shooting, but he didn't know how to stop it beyond just repeating "Focus" to himself and telling himself to take it slow. So that's what he did again and again as he grabbed his rifle and stared down range.
The beep told him when to start, and he channeled all of his being into what happened next. Shots rang out from the row of people now firing at their targets. Kaito began not long afterwards. At first, the shots were acceptable, but as the event ran long he began to miss the target more and more. Not stopping, Kaito fired round after round and loaded clip after clip. But he couldn't shake his failures off no matter what. And as the event continued, even more of his shots began to miss the paper target entirely.
Come on
15 shots in, Kaito took a moment to just think and look at the other competitors. That European girl was a few spots down, putting "lead" into the paper opposite her like it naturally belonged there. His new rival, whether she knew it or not, spoke to him right then.
This really should not be this hard
He steadied his gun and pulled the trigger. On target this time. Another shot followed. Not bad… for him. Another, this time a miss entirely.
Kaito grit his teeth and tried again. The round went to the left.
And again. To the right.
And again. He would never know where that one went, but it sure wasn't the target.
And eventually, the beep blared again, signifying the end. He'd have to wait until all the other competitors were done to know if he made it to the finals, but something told him he wasn't going to make it. Again. Either way, he had time. Might as well get some lunch.
Miku took her eyes off of the menu and focused them instead on the chef. "One shoyu ramen with Sapporo noodles, please."
Shohei did the same and added, "And one miso ramen, also with Sapporo noodles, please."
Medina Ridge Ramen was one of the few chains from Saunders that managed to become popular off of the George Washington, and it wasn't very hard to see why. The restaurant itself was somewhat small, but they knew how to use space. Every item not only added to the room, but was also essential to the sense that you feel like you belong, no matter who you are. Miku noticed that everything from the details in the carving of the wooden posts and walls to the ornate designs in the chairs were seemingly constructed to be satisfying on a fundamental human level.
"So, what do you think?" Shohei unknowingly interrupted her, his mind on the events of the past week rather than the present.
"About what?" She quizzically glanced at him as she moved aside her reddish hair.
He moved his water closer to himself. "This new sentouki-do sport and all."
"I absolutely love it. I love the thrill of speed and the firing of the cannons. And how easy it is to score a kill with those things."
"You gotta hit them first." he teased.
"Hey!" she lightly exclaimed, not quite angry but certainly not pleased.
Shohei chuckled. "I'm just playing with you, you did great."
His girlfriend doubled down and pouted for a little bit. "Well, you didn't get anyone in that mock battle either."
Shohei smiled and raised his glass. "You look so cute when you pout."
"I do not." Miku retorted, digging herself deeper into the expression to avoid smiling at the compliment as the boy took a sip of water.
"Yes, you do," he answered, his smile now a full-faced grin.
She tried her best to cover the grin creeping up on her own face by intensifying the pout she had so staunchly put up thus far. But she was failing, and thus resorted to facing away from him and cleaning her glasses. "Shut up."
He obliged, and the conversation was silent for a few seconds before the boy remembered something.
"Oh, by the way, Ogawa-san mentioned rain is incoming in the next few days."
His girlfriend sat up, amused, as if the past conversation hadn't just happened, "Really? The school broadcast said it was only a 20% chance."
"Yeah, he said something about the pressure and the clouds, and area vs probability, I don't remember exactly." He leaned back and glanced around them. The windows, once glimpses at a world where the sun was setting, were now but a picture of the dark.
Just then, their meals arrived. After a quick "Itadakimasu", they began eating.
"To be honest with you, I'm a little worried about class this year," Shohei mentioned. "You know how I am with the formulas and stuff."
"Hey, remember, 'Edo Period history'. I got you." Miku reassured him by putting her hand on his arm.
He smiled once more and a quick tease popped into his head and he opened his mouth.
"Aaaaaah."
"You have your own."
"87 things go into every swing."
87 things to consider. 87 things which can go wrong. 87 things to master.
87 swings.
WHAP! The sound was good, but even with the full moon, it was difficult to see on a night this dark. Using the lamps, Kimiko finally grasped a trace of downwards movement. Okay, the trajectory was just a little off. So not good enough.
88 swings.
She was quickly running out of the 100 golf balls she had purchased, and she still hadn't gotten a ball in the red barrel. Having tried for the past 20-30 balls, this was understandably annoying. And as the sun had long retreated over the horizon, she was out of luck getting any more balls soon. The crickets weren't doing her many favors. They were only an annoyance, somehow taunting her with their very existence. She squared up with a sigh and tried again.
89 swings.
Just to the left.
90 swings
Far to the right.
91 swings.
Too far.
92 swings.
Disappeared.
Screw this, she might as well use her final balls to get some more driver practice in. She set up a ball on the rubber "tee" that the driving range mat provided her and lined up before taking a large breath and refocusing.
Left foot closer to the tee than the right. Feet pointing straight ahead. Hand position on the clubs is good. Back and arms straight. Breathe in. Breathe out.
93 swings.
It was a good few seconds before Kimiko could see her ball, and only as it was almost to the ground did she see it had soared in a nice arc, coming to rest in a location… that somehow wasn't too far to the left or right.
A pretty good swing… for once. Nice. But it's not consistent enough.
The whooshing of the ball quickly dissipated, but was replaced by a different sound. A lower, constant one whose pitch changed like the wind passing by. The sound grew nearer and nearer before a plane soared over her, grumbling over the range before tilting left, throwing itself into a turn, and disappearing into the fresh night.
Wait… are we allowed to practice after training?
Hanzo penciled in his solution once again as his brother sighed.
"Why do we even have to do this? It's literally just another name for degrees, why can't we use those?" Genji groaned from his notebook, looking around for anything to distract him. Unfortunately for him, it was a standard dorm room, so besides the Wii they brought with them, the minifridge, and the dressers, there wasn't much, unless beige was suddenly an interesting color.
His elder brother answered him. "Probably because Pi is an incredibly useful tool, especially for mathematicians."
"Are we mathematicians?"
Hanzo looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. "Are you saying that nobody should be taught this because we specifically may not use it, or because mathematicians are rare?"
"No, I just… ah, nevermind."
Hanzo penciled in his final solution once more. "Alright, I'm done for now, I'm taking a break. You want anything from the fridge?"
Genji shrugged. "Not really."
It took 5 seconds of looking at the fridge for the elder to find something wrong with that statement.
"Bro you gotta eat half of this sandwich before it rots."
Not looking up, Genji responded with a half-hearted, "I'll get to it."
Without skipping a beat, Hanzo responded, "No, you'll leave it in there for two weeks until it has to be thrown away."
Genji sounded annoyed this time. "I told you I'll get to it."
He's not gonna change his mind.
"Sure." Hanzo responded, sarcasm dropping from his mouth.
The conversation ended there, but a new one popped up as the younger glanced once more around the room, his eyes coming to rest on the Wii.
"You wanna play Mario Kart?"
The older one didn't need much convincing, being somewhat over the homework himself. "Yeah, sure."
The white box took to humming as the TV screen lit up. A few clicks later, and they were in the game.
Hanzo skipped the intro cutscene just as the titular character popped up.
"Come onnnnnnn." his brother groaned.
"It was an accident, sorry."
Genji accepted this explanation and was silent until the title screen gave way to the profile selection screen."Oh, use my account, I have more characters," he added as he quickly refocused on the screen.
The elder grumbled just a little bit. "Okay."
A few quick clicks later and the colorful cast of characters popped up, but it didn't take long for either to make their choice. Hanzo went with Rosalina, while Genji chose Funky Kong. Their short voice lines made way for the kart selection screen. Hanzo chose the Jetsetter, and Genji the Phantom.
"Don't you dare choose automatic drifting." Genji half-glared at his brother.
"Who do you take me for?" Hanzo responded, smiling, as he chose the manual option.
"Well, you chose Rosalina, so…" the younger quipped back.
"She's a cool character!"
"I know for a fact that is not why you chose her."
"Oh please, I'm not like you."
Genji only chuckled.
Hanzo opened up the conversation again. "Let's go Mushroom Cup."
His younger brother looked at him with a sort of not-quite-indignant awe. "Mushroom Cup? That's the most basic cup there is."
"I like it." The elder quipped back.
"No, no, we are not doing Mushroom Cup. Come on, Hanzo."
"Alright, here's a deal: we do Mushroom Cup this time, and then we'll do whatever you want to do for the next cup."
"No, no, it's boring."
"Come on."
"It's boring."
"Come onnnnn."
"Alright, fine."
The grand prix was selected, and the first race began. After a quick tour of the course, Lakitu popped down for a countdown.
3
2
1
GO!
Katsu wandered along the port side of the Zuikaku, the sound of the waves keeping time with his strides (or perhaps it was the other way around). He rarely really considered how odd it was that he lived on what boils down to a floating city, and that on all sides of this mass of metal with its fabricated landscape was the sea. It was somewhat calming though, having such a constant thing he could always come back to.
Coming upon a pair of benches overlooking a very small trapezoid of grass, between them and the sea, he figured he'd sit down for a moment. It took him a while to realize he wasn't alone. To his left, just where the inlet rejoined the rest of the ship, was a figure he somehow didn't realize he had passed on his way to the bench.
Her long, dark hair was visible from the full moon. Her eyes were almost enchanted with the sea. He stared quizzically at the girl. For too long, evidently, as she noticed him.
She took a break from looking at the sea to glance somewhat suspiciously at him and stoically ask, "What?"
He regained his composure from the slight shock, physical and mental, that came from being discovered. "Nothing, I just didn't notice you at first."
She said nothing before uttering a quizzical tone. "That's a first."
"How do you mean?"
His gentle response produced seemingly no reaction. Perhaps it was a sensitive subject?
"If you want to answer, that is. You don't have to."
Then he noticed her face. It wasn't sad as much as… well, perhaps "sullen" was also the wrong word, but it was better than nothing. "It's just… everyone always looks at me and expects something from me."
The wind blew a short burst by them. Hanzo looked down, a pensive expression chiseled onto his face. "I know how that feels."
The mystery girl didn't look at him. "Do you?"
"I'm the oldest of 5 children. And you know how it is these days, both of my parents had to be constantly working to support us. So I had to be the, 'I need something' guy." He followed the sentence up with a chuckle.
The silence that followed, however brief, was deafening. "How do you deal with it?"
His mind flashed with all the work it took just to keep afloat. "I help others, and I always keep moving no matter what."
Her eyes opened up. "Keep… moving…"
"It's easier to fall into a rut when you're not doing anything. So I do whatever I can to not stop." He elaborated.
The following silence went on for what felt like ages before Katsu got up.
"It's getting late. I'll be going now."
"...Thank you."
"Of course."
Author's note:
Wow, that is a lot of "Thank you"s. Okay, first would be Salocin, who allowed me to use his OC Lou from Ace. It's a really good story which goes well in-depth into Saunders, you should check it out. Secondly, I have to thank those who have referenced my works in their own stories, even if I haven't gotten to it yet. In particular, I would like to thank Slartibrofist for his inclusion of some characters I have yet to reveal in his story Bullpen!, which, by the way, I recommend regardless, and Rosy the PIAT-Teer, who even made an excellent one-shot with one of his OCs and Ryu, known as The Girl from L.U.N.A.
Thirdly would be to everyone who's favorited, followed, or commented on the fic. I'm glad to see more people come to like what I have to offer and I hope to make you all glad to have found this. And, of course, a thanks to Rosy the PIAT-Teer, who has been a tremendous help in pouring over these chapters. Finally, I'd like to thank ModelDraws for his Mako expertise, without which the chapter surely would have suffered.
And thank you, for reading the fic and for having the patience to endure these upload times.
