Chapter 34 Never an amateur
Chapter 34 Never an amateur
“Yeah, he’s right. No one should disturb a fight between two real men.”
The man tilted his head, his brow furrowing slightly, but his smile never left his face like he was laughing at James—as if he were a lamb with no way to escape the slaughterhouse.
While the man’s three minions chased after Elodie, James stood rooted to the spot as if nailed to the earth’s core.
“Why? Are you saying that to make yourself feel better before I kill you?”
“No. But I’ve always hoped to die in a fair fight, man to man.”
“Fair? What do you think this is? A boxing ring?” The man pressed the gun harder, pushing James back slightly. “Don’t mess with me, little boy.”
“You’re right, I’m a little boy. That’s why I love picking fights with adults like you so I can learn how to fight like a grown man—a real man.”
“No… don’t sell me your sad story; I won’t spare your life even if the police show up here.”
“I’m not asking you to spare me or take pity on me. If you really want to kill me, I’ll let you try—isn’t that fair?” The hawk-like eyes stared at his opponent without blinking. “Then you have to be fair too, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Fight like a man, shall we?” When James said that, he already knew how to win—no matter what. “Let’s see which hand is tougher; is it yours, the man—or is it mine, the boy.”
The man smiled slowly; it was unsettling.
“Are you trying to outsmart me?” he asked, gripping his weapon tighter. “Do you think I’m stupid?”
“Come on. Beating me will be a fleeting satisfaction for you because you’re used to meeting and defeating people like me, but for me, defeating someone like you is a source of pride in my journey toward becoming a man.”
James stepped back slowly; the man didn’t rush to fire a bullet because he wanted to see what the lamb would do to save his life.
“I’ll put down my gun, and so will you. But you promise not to use it in the middle of our fight, okay?”
The man’s smile slowly widened. He saw another thrill in James’s simple request.
Killing him with a single quick bullet would be satisfying, but what if he killed him just as he was hoping to win?
He was slightly grateful that James had given him the idea to give him the worst possible death.
“Alright. I’ll follow your request, like a real man.”
“We’ll drop our weapons on the count of three.”
“Count that.”
“One...”
Both guns were turned upside down, ready to be dropped.
“Two…”
James looked serious, and that was entertaining to the man, who couldn’t hide his smile.
“Three!”
All the guns were dropped, and the man immediately charged at James, forcing him to step back. He quickly grabbed his gun again and fired a bullet straight ahead.
BANG!
Elodie was startled; her body instinctively ducked as she heard a gunshot echo from the other side of the conservatory building.
“James….” Her lips murmured the name as if by reflex, but Hime told her to keep walking as if nothing had happened.
Elodie started running again; it was impossible to stop now. They took the same route the evacuees had taken to make it harder for O’Connell’s men to find them.
As soon as they got out, Hime calmly and deftly guided Elodie on where to step. The people targeting Elodie surely knew where she was right now, but their ability to get close was growing increasingly difficult due to the chaos they’d created themselves, and that was when Hime led Elodie to the subway station—which was extremely crowded.
“This is good,” said Hime, “she grabbed Elodie and led her into one of the most crowded cars; no matter which destination she chose at random, she had secured an exit for Elodie, and dealt a crushing blow to those men who could only stand there helplessly as the train pulled away.
“Ah, we’re safe,” said Hime, as if giving Elodie permission to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Are you okay, Elodie?” Hime asked then, checking Elodie’s body.
“I’m okay,” the girl replied, a hint of tension still lingering on her face as she thought of James. “But I’m still worried about James; is he okay…?”
“He’s a bodyguard, right?”
“Yeah. He’s a fighter too—the kind of guy you’d like to see in a fighting tournament.”
“So he’s strong?”
“Yeah… and agile.”
“Then you don’t need to worry about him. You’ll see him again after we get off this train,” Hime’s words calmed Elodie, until she added, “they’ll definitely be waiting for us at the next stop.”
“They?”
“The people targeting you. They’ll call their friends to wait for you at this train station.”
Hime simply adjusted her seat to sit closer to Elodie, but something fell from behind her—something Elodie hadn’t realized was on Hime’s person from the start.
A gun.
Elodie looked at it in shock, a question etched on her face; Hime didn’t deny what Elodie had seen. She grabbed the object before anyone else noticed, then said to Elodie.
“We have to do something to disguise your presence later.”
Hime got up from her seat and approached a passenger after quickly scanning the area. Elodie watched from where she sat, her anxiety not just about her own safety but about Hime—and the question of who that woman really was, given that she had a gun hidden under her jacket.
“Hey, I want you to swap clothes with my friend.”
The woman was just an ordinary passenger sitting at the very end; there was nothing striking about her except her comfortable appearance in a long coat, a long skirt, and brown boots that matched her hat.
An outfit too stylish to be stolen by a stranger who suddenly sat next to her on the train.
“Excuse me?” The woman, in her thirties, followed Hime’s gaze, and her eyes immediately judged Elodie’s appearance, causing her to briefly remove one earbud—before putting it back in.
“No. I wouldn’t possibly look that bad at work—”
Elodie’s breath caught because she was the only one who noticed how the woman’s flushed face turned pale as Hime pressed the tip of the gun against her stomach. She whispered amid the train’s quiet and the low-playing music.
Something only she and the woman could hear.
“I don’t want to kill anyone, so do it without making a sou
nd. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes. Please don’t kill me.”
“No, as long as you stay quiet and understand that I chose you because of your hair color, not because I like your terribly tacky and cheap outfit.”