Chapter 7: Chapter 6 – Fire Away

"Morning! Morning! Running time! Running time!" An annoying robotic sound could be heard from the bedroom. Hinako jolted out from the bed as she stared at the source of the disturbance. 

I greeted the sleepy Hinako with a smile, "Good morning."

"Good morning… Sayoko," said Hinako sleepily as she yawned. She stared lazily at the presence of Chloe, yelling in order to wake her up.

I usually ignored the robotic kitten as I left my house, but the voice might have made Hinako uncomfortable, so I simply said, "Chloe, shaddap."

"Are you going somewhere? It's barely morning," Hinako asked as she stared at me in my gym clothes. 

"Yeah, I usually do my running exercise in the morning. Do you want to come? Of course, you don't have to" I invited her out. 

Hinako thought deeply as her head tilted sleepily. She nodded at my invitation shyly. I searched my wardrobe to find spare normal looking gym clothes. I presented it to her excitedly. She grabbed it and started to undress her pajamas in front of me. 

A few minutes later. 

"Huff... puff... Sa-sayoko, please wait up."

I looked behind to see an out of breath girl, sweating intensely as she tried to run. Her above average chests were wiggling its way up and down with a certain rhythm. 

We barely stepped out of my house, yet Hinako already had trouble breathing properly. Her hair was a mess as she tried to run. I observed her running slowly while I waited. 

"Well… how about we walk instead?" I suggested. 

Hinako smiled at my suggestion tiredly as she answered, "Y-yes please."

We walked instead of running towards the empty roads, passing by dozens or so suburban houses. Hinako looked around curiously at the empty looking street. She tried to voice out her thoughts, but stopped momentarily after her eyes gazed at me.

I couldn't tell exactly what she was thinking. Perhaps she was gonna ask about the empty street. I took a deep breath before saying anything. 

"Hinako, you see, everyone in this world-" Just before I finished my sentence, a loud thud could be heard from Hinako. 

"Ouch…" Said the fallen hinako, tripping over a rock.

A few moments passed by. 

"How about we stop here to rest for a moment?" I asked, while pointing at a familiar looking police station. Hinako nodded as composed her breath, she seemed quite tired after I put bandaids on her knees. 

We walked inside the police station, everything in it was already unlocked by me. I was able to decode the security inside the building and managed to take a couple of firearms to ease my boredom. 

I took Hinako into the police station armory. She stared at the different kinds of weapons and equipment, however I made sure to warn her to not touch anything first. I grabbed a handgun known as DI42; a modern gun with low recoil while having soft grip, able to hold 12 bullets, and it's made out of steel. The DI42 resembled an iconic handgun called Glock 19.

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Hinako stared at me intensely as I grabbed some ammunition rounds. It seemed like she recognized the gun as a weapon after yesterday's incident. I grabbed Hinako's hand as I walked, "let's have a shooting practice!"

We walked outside the police building. Hinako looked at me nervously. We arrived at the street once again. I looked around to see a vending machine. I took a 2,000¥ note and bought a couple of yuzu flavored tea bottles.

We walked for a little bit and found a park near the vending machine. I laid down the bottles evenly at a park bench. I signaled Hinako to walk away from the bench. I took aim at the yuzu flavored tea bottles at a distance, and motioned Hinako to close her ears. 

Bang! Bang! 

In a second, two bottles flew out of the bench as it exploded, leaving a trail of liquid tea around. Hinako squealed reflexively after hearing the loud bang from the DI42.

"Do you want to try?" I asked. 

Hinako took a moment before replying, "Can I?"

I handed out the DI42 while giving her basic instructions on what not to do with the gun, such as not letting it point at anyone else, to keep the safety on, or to keep your finger off the trigger. 

"Safety? Trigger?" Hinako asked as she tilted her head in confusion. 

I wrapped my finger around hers as she aimed at the bottle targets. For some reason, I could see her ears blushing red after I touched her hands, however I simply ignored it. 

"Remember to do this, and that. Keep your breath steady, aim, and shoot by releasing the trigger there," I explained. 

With a glamorous sound, Hinako was able to shoot a gun for the first time while I supported her hands. The recoil pushed her just a little bit, however I was able to catch her from stepping back. This time, I let go of my hands. She looked awfully nervous to hold the gun by herself. She even asked me permission to shoot the bottles. 

I simply smiled and answered, "Fire away."

Hinako was able to shoot by herself, even though her aim wasn't able to hit any of the target bottles, she didn't seem to mind it. 

After a few more rounds of ammunition, she managed to knock down all of the bottles from the bench. She was glowing with a smile for her achievement, I reflexively patted her. Unexpectedly, Hinako blushed at my action. I let go of my hand and cleared my throat. 

"Ahem. Let's try reloading next."

Hinako spent the next half an hour shooting her handgun intensely. I could hear constant loud bangs from Hinako's diligent training of shooting the DI42. She managed to hit more targets now than she was before, until suddenly a grumbling sound could be heard from her stomach. Hinako hid her face adorably in embarrassment as she gave me the empty handgun. 

"Well, let's have breakfast, shall we?" I said, while holding the DI42.

The moment I said that, a steady light materialized out of thin air. The light slowly grew and resembled a portal. A feminine figure could be seen slowly walking out of the light. The figure was wearing a recognizable middle school uniform I grew fond of. The figure smiled at me with a familiar kind smile that I could never erase from my memory. 

"A… Akemi…" I muttered in disbelief.