Chapter 3
Her next test came a few days later with Eri and the weapons. Despite her lackadaisical personality, her weapons knowledge was the best among the group although she rarely had a chance to fire them except on the occasion to train a new recruit in marksmanship. Eri took her into another back room where the guns were laid out in a row based on the bullet size. Reina noticed her weapon of choice was not part of the selection and turned her head often to Eri.
“Don’t like to shoot? I thought you killed before.” Eri said with a smirk.
“I don’t do close combat because it is too dirty for my taste.” She replied as Eri loaded a magazine into the pistol.
“Well I’ll lead you with this; you just have to be more accurate than me.” Eri said with a smile as she put her earmuffs on before shooting and Reina followed hoping that she doesn’t shoot the wrong direction.
Eri carefully aimed towards the target and unloaded ten bullets quickly. The paper target came forward and was amazed by her work. Reina concentrated more towards the head and slowly brought it to the chest area before pulling the trigger. She felt the gun uncoil in her hand and her hand slipped upwards giving the ceiling two bullets holes.
“I guess you were right.” She commented as the target looked like she connected the dots rather than a general aim at the location. Reina placed another magazine in and put a new target up for her. She closed her shoulders closer to prevent the rebound from taking off her aim and looked at the target once again.
Reina pulled the trigger and caught her back foot from slipping but it trailed up again hitting the paper target three times in the head. She threw it to the ground in front of them and released the final blank into the cement wall throwing Eri over the counter and onto the saw dust on the other side. She slowly arose from the shavings in her hair and climbed over to notice the black residue a foot from the floor.
“I guess we shall move onto our automatics.” Eri said as she placed the magazine into the compartment and placed the butt of the rifle onto her shoulder. She positioned her left foot half a foot in front of the right and bended her knees to stay in a stable position. She pulled the trigger after a soft three count and unleashed the bullets into the fresh paper scattering it into pieces. Eri laid the gun down and lifted her right pointer.
“Reina the best thing to do is lower the weight to prevent the recoil. I’ll be behind you while you shoot but you seem prepared with the loading so we can bypass that.” She said as she moved behind the kitty and shaped her legs into the proper position.
She wasn’t accustomed to her hands being around her legs as she was sensitive. She shook a little while keeping the gun upright. She lifted her thumb up and Reina pressed down on the trigger. It took her a centimeter back but it kept her from trailing upwards into the ceiling. Reina laid the hot gun down onto the counter and raised her arms up with a smile.
“You need to learn all of these guns before taking off to another mission. Unless it involved reconnaissance, we just have to gather information.” Eri explained.
Reina rubbed her chin as she pondered over her words. “What about my sniper skills?”
Eri grinned at the question and let her out of the firing range without answering her question. The armory was a floor below the firing range and could only be accessed by a password-driven elevator. Eri punched in the six digit code and the motor growled to send them down to the floor below. It ran at a snail’s pace and a violent stop led to the door opening to vast collection they held.
Reina’s eyes were as wide as watermelons with the walls lined with guns ranging from the pistols to the semi-automatics. The back was scattered with loose parts and the far right corner had boxes filled with ammunitions and live grenades. Eri looked at the clipboard and turned back to Reina with a confused look.
“Did you bring the gun back?” Reina mumbled about the possible location and then the suitcase appeared by the elevator.
Eri ran to the elevator and retrieved while holding her unusual smile. “I forgot that I supposed to bring it back in.”
“Anyways, is there anything else I should do down here.” Reina asked as Eri placed the suitcase onto the counter and unloaded the gun pieces onto the counter.
“Clean the gun, I’ll show you.” Eri said with a cleaning brush in hand. “You are responsible for cleaning whatever you use.”
Reina nodded as she observed the cleaning routine. The barrel was the first item she grabbed and scrubbed the inside while rotating every second releasing black residue onto the counter. Eri used the brush to gather into a small pile and grabbed the black trash bag to sweep it into it. She placed the cleaned barrel to the side and held the white cloth in her hand as the handle was being cleaned. After the handle, Eri dusted off the rest and placed into the mold set for the gun.
Eri looked over the clipboard again and walked by the guns to check off the list in front of her. Reina watched Eri looked over her list and a voice came over the PA system.
Kamei and Tanaka, please report to the meeting room one. Kamei and Tanaka, please report immediately.
Eri shut the door behind and locked it down before taking the elevator back up to the main floor. Eri led the kitty to the meeting room where the group was sitting in a half-circle around a large white screen. Rika was on the right side and a mysterious older woman was on the left when the door closed behind the group. Rika took a seat in the front as the meeting started leaving Reina to find the empty chair in the back.
“Welcome everyone, we are here to brief you on a small mission.” She said in a deep voice as the new recruit raised her hand.
“Sorry for bothering the meeting.” Reina stood as she held her hand up before putting it down to her side. “Who are you?”
The group put their heads down to their knees leaving Reina a clear view of the elder woman. She presented a smirk before walking up to the kitty with a calm demeanor.
“I’m Nakazawa Yuko, leader of this group and informer to the police.” She introduced herself. “You are Tanaka Reina, the new sniper. I’ve heard that Rika has put you through training in case of emergency but in my honest opinion, you have an important role with us. Since, we have introduced ourselves, please take a seat.”
Reina sat back down, hiding in the back of the group, with everything settled, Nakazawa continued on with her briefing. “Rika and Yossie know that the Yamashita group has been a thorn lately to the police. The unusual killings and assassination attempts have been rising with new leadership.”
“Who is the new man? Didn’t we kill Rico Suan?” Risa questioned.
“Yes, we did but we had lost a sniper in battle. The new guy is Yamashita Ichiro. The first son has gained control of the business.” The heads nodded as they analyzed the picture. The group wrote down the tattoos that he possessed onto his body. The notes were of value in case they were in any situation involving the suspect.
“Yamashita must be dangerous.” Ai commented.
“Indeed he is. However, we may need to do more research on him.” Nakazawa said in a low voice.
“What is the plan, Nakazawa-sama?” Yossie turned off the projector and turned on the lights in the room.
The room was switched into a war room with one long table in the middle of the room with three to each side and two at the ends. Nakazawa and Rika took the ends. To the right of the room, Risa, Ai, Maki, and Sayu sat in a neat row while across of them Yossie, Eri, and Reina were relaxed in their seats as Nakazawa took out the manila folder and handed out the plan to each of them.
The group flipped through each of the pages, reading every single detail of the plan, and carefully analyzed the floor plan as usual. Reina stopped at the floor plan and read through the path that was directed from Nakazawa. She lifted her finger up high enough to catch the leader’s attention.
“Yes, Tanaka.”
“Is the roof not an option?” Nakazawa got to the floor plan and rubbed her chin. Rika flipped to the floor plan and began to realize the flaw of the blueprint.
“To be honest, the roof is a problem. There is no way to get there unless we risk another person.” Nakazawa said with a pained expression.
Reina knew that the roof is very important for infiltration and she could find a weak spot if she did try to find out but the risk was high as Nakazawa pointed out. Rika looked at the blueprint again and shook her head as the flawed blueprint would be disastrous if Reina didn’t point it out. She glanced over at Nakazawa who was pounding the table vigorously while a few unmentionable words escaped her mouth.
The rest were quiet about the flaw and looked at Nakazawa to seek an answer before moving onto the mission. After a few minutes, Nakazawa looked at the plans again and closed her hand into a fist and dropped it to the table.
“Reina, you are the only person who can do this.” She said in a soft voice. “I need you to take this chance to prove you are worthy.”
Rika looked over to her and saw the expression of a failed leader. She wasn’t sure what to say but in the back of her mind, it was a suicide mission. If successful, Reina would be the one to get the information to reveal the final piece to a successful mission. Failure would mean a problem. The pressure was within the room until Yossie grabbed her partner’s shoulder.
“I have a plan.” She said with a grin.
“What is it?” Rika asked as she grabbed Nakazawa’s attention.
“Ichiro has a soft spot for underage girls.” She highlighted with a yellow marker.
“Reina can pass as one.” Ai commented.
“Do you think it can work?” Risa stood as Eri and Sayu were staring at each other.
“Sayu, you are going to bring her in by using your charms.” Rika commanded.
Sayu nodded as the plan was being drawn up on the chalkboard. The duo ran through the steps and looked at the clocks. Twenty-four hours was the time period for them and to put it all together was risky but the reward seemed too sweet to pass up.
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