[SS] Chasse au Lapin

---

The suited, above-average looking young woman named Hinomiya Ayumi could already feel the build-up of lactic acid in her legs. It was painful. It was a sensation that felt like her muscles were being eaten away from inside. Acid in the bloodstream and muscles always tended to feel that way, after all. Her hot breaths were moving in and out at rapid frequency, trying in futility to take in enough oxygen so that her body could efficiently produce energy. Yet, despite the pain, she found herself continuing to run through what she saw as brightly lit hall. At the very least her pain seemed to be numbed. In the end, fear for one’s life and a strong adrenaline rush made for a wonderful mental counter to any pain she had gained. Her fight-or-flight response would not allow her to stop running until she was either safe or had her muscles torn apart. After all, intense, yet temporary, pain was only a trivial price to pay for escaping with her own life.

What the hell?!

Sweat seemed to drench every part of her body as even her suit’s blazer and her torn skirt were wet with that mineral-filled liquid. It was a predictable reaction to panic and confusion. Her brain was simply a jumbled mess at this point and among the plethora of thoughts flying around and going in a frantic state of flux, only one stream of thought remained constant in her head: escape.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? WHERE THE HELL AM I? WHO THE HELL ARE THEY?!

In the end, she had been through a switchyard, a factory, an alleyway, and now a brightly lit hall during her escape. But, those locations felt so melded together in her rush to self-preservation, it seemed her memories had melded them all together as the transitions were far too hazy. For Ayumi, the focus on escape had clouded any sense of rational or tactical planning to the point where not even she knew where she was. Yet, the familiar scent of the darkness she was mired in was still following her.

Her allies and acquaintances were all dead and she was the last one left. That was one thing she was certain of. The had all been picked off one-by-one and she just happened to be the only one who had figured out that her life was being targeted.

She could race her brain through all of the possible reasons why she was being targeted but none of that seemed to matter. Even if she somehow figured it out, she would never be able to pull out a bargaining chip that would allow her to simply walk away unharmed. Those rotten higher-ups would refuse to let her escape that easily. Life was never that convenient.

So, she simply ran.

And ran.

And ran.

…And she eventually came to a door. Without hesitation, she grabbed and turned the knob before entering and then slamming it behind her.

The sight she came to see was…

“I’m on a street…a public area…” Though the sky was shrouded in the pitch black of the night, she had finally made it to somewhere people would see if anything happened to her. She could even see people walking on the street around her. It wasn’t perfect safety, but it was definitely enough to allow her to breathe, even if for a short while.

Her pace slowed down considerably as she started to walk like normal while catching her breath. She could finally work out her thoughts and formulate a plan to lock herself into safety.

Ayumi breathed a deep sigh of relief. They can’t chase me out here. I just need to—

*THUD*

Her thoughts were immediately interrupted as she slammed face-first into a wall and fell back on her butt.

Huh?

The calm she had regained once again swirled back into confusion as she stood back up to look in front of her. The event that just took place should make sense. She slammed into a wall in her absent-minded state and fell back. There was just one problem.

There was no wall to be seen anywhere.

She was in the middle of a street, walking parallel to the roads. Yet, she slammed into a wall. She was not pushed. She had not bumped into a person. She had definitely felt the rigid, flat face of a wall.

You mean it’s not over yet?! Dammit!

But, as Ayumi’s brain registered that the danger was not over, it was too late. Her legs were in massive pain and the adrenaline rush had already faded. Her reflexes had slowed to a halt. The feeling of a blade rapidly piecing her back and going through her chest was the next thing to register in her mind. As she looked down, she saw a what looked like a spear or harpoon sticking out of her chest with what looked to be a small part of her pericardium attached to it.

Damn…it…all…

With another thud, her body fell to the floor face down as the light left her eyes.

---

While the dilapidated room was dimly lit by some single-bulb overhead lamps on the ceiling, it was actually quite spacious. Standing next to the door was a single girl in skin-tight pink and orange combat armor. Her left hand held what was likely a spear-gun. Her right hand fiddled with the side-ponytail sticking out from her shoulder-length ginger hair.

At the center of the room was the fresh corpse of a young woman in a suit. She had only died a minute before as she fell down on that ground in front of her. The corpse had been stabbed through the chest with a spear and was now laying in a pool of blood.

She relieved both hands of what they were holding, leading to the spear-gun dropping to the floor with a clunk and a thud. She clapped her hands twice before speaking into her headset. “Alright, that’s a wrap, girls.”

With that, the door on her right opened up and two heads poked out of it.

“Quick as usual, boss.” The smaller and likely younger of the two spoke up.

“Well, at least that’s over. I can finally get back to my current magnum opus.” The blonde one with the butterfly-shaped headphones spoke.

But, the so-called boss seemed not to be paying attention to the girls’ words. Instead, she seemed to have one hand on the ear of her headset and the other flipping through pages on a phone. “Alright, then. Understood.”

With those words, she closed off her headset to external frequencies and turned back to the girls in the door. “Unfortunately, that’s going to have to wait. We—Hey…we’re one head short.”

“Oh, she’s in the corner of the hallway, just doing her own thing.” The youngest one reported.

“Bring her here, would you?”

“Righty-o!” The blonde gave a salute with a big grin before running back. After a couple of minutes, she came back with another girl.

“Alright, now that the gang’s all here, take a look at this picture and remember this face.” The leader showed the image on the LCD display of her phone to the other three girls. “She’s our next target.”

With that, the quartet set its eyes out on its next target, a young girl who was now nothing more than the succulent white rabbit unaware of the wolves ready to feed on it.

---

It was said that the first move was all that it took to change the course of any form of contest. From the beginning, if the one who made the first move gained an indomitable advantage from it, their victory would be all but assured. On the other hand, if the big first move failed, the disadvantage from it would be drastic.

Eyeing the target, Frenda placed herself at the optimal angle and readied herself for that first strike.

She lightly gripped at the handle of the long tool in her hand and caressed the shaft of it between her index and middle fingers. With a single quick motion, the tip thrust forward and--

The cue ball never collided with the apex of the pyramid of 16 balls. Instead, it ricocheted off the side near a pocket and into the edge. The momentum distributed across the 16 balls as they scattered all over the table.

The first step, avoiding a scratch and avoiding a lack of collision, was complete.

A fair number of balls quickly ground to a halt as the friction caused by their contact with the fuzzy green surface drained them of any kinetic energy. But, Frenda’s eyes remained trained on one ball in particular.

A single purple ball was inching its way over to a corner pocket until--

Nothing.

The solid purple ball with a ‘4’ on it stopped right as it stood next to a corner pocket. Her hopes of getting even one ball into a pocket had fallen flat in one of the worst ways possible. She could forget about gaining momentum in the game from the start. The competitive spirit that burned within Frenda was starting to leave behind mere embers.  Even if it was purely recreational, a game was still a game.

“Damn...” She muttered as she finally took a step back to accept that her first move had failed. Realizing that she should just take the fun night out they had as just that, she let it all go...or most of it go. Competitive embers hardly get completely snuffed out in the end.

Moving her back against the wall with her cue stick in hand, Frenda’s eyes had darted around the mostly empty billiards hall. It was only natural that such a location would be sparsely filled, in the end. Even if it was a facility in District 6, billiards was such a niche interested that very few ever really played it.

Still, it made for great night time fun. After all, there was the unspoken rule of never disturbing an in-progress match among players. The four girls of ITEM would be left to their own devices to enjoy the evening.

“Sorry, Takitsubo.” Frenda quickly apologized for her flub to her teammate. After all, if she had pocketed the 4-ball there, then Takitsubo would be up next. Unfortunately, things shifted now to the other team.

It was the Meltdowner’s turn to wreak havoc.

As none of the balls fell into the pocket, Mugino Shizuri would be the one to go next. Beautiful, slender and entirely feminine as she was, she would step forwards, grabbing hold of a queue of her own. She was relaxed in all possible manners, simply readying the long wooden stick much like the other girl had done before her.

«That’s no good, Frenda. If you’re the one to open the game, you’ll have to set the pace. Otherwise it’s just a cheap start.»

She spoke, leaning over the table carefully yet with an odd sense of aesthetics filling her movements. The impression of someone who felt that a good play would always require the company of the proper presentation.

That girl was Academy City’s fourth ranked Level 5, Meltdowner, a name most often associated with unending violence. However while that would have such a ring to it, she would appear entirely normal, at least for what she was. Glossy and wavy tea coloured hair reaching way beyond her shoulders, glimmering nobly in the dimmed lights of the billiard hall. She wore a designer-made long sleeved lavender coloured dress with riskily short skirt, paired with long black stockings climbing forth from white high-heeled quality leather boots, adding a fashionable touch to her already model like appearance.

Much like the lady she made herself out to be, she would pose with her fingers placing the queue in the most perfect position right before the white ball. Judging from the angle she had chosen and the direction the tip would point at, her target had been more than obvious. Instead of the even coloured four that had just escaped its downfall, her goal would turn out to become the three of the same set. However that didn’t seem to make things less tricky. In fact the three of all of the balls was likely the oddest choice offered by the table. Not only would it be the most distant of them all, but the one that most balls would block the path.

And yet she wouldn’t mind.

No, she simply didn’t care.

She would hit that ball and sink it. That was what her mindset commanded. That was everything her mind was on.

«This is how you do it.»

She’d strike.

The blow was one of a kind. While your average players would rely on technique or aim, Mugino did the absolute opposite. Ignoring the requirements of both technique and proper aiming, she would solely rely on power. Power of such great calibre, even a world class armwrestling champ would shudder in fear as the hammer would collide with the bullet, launching it at high speeds. Like a thunderbolt it would cross the distance, knocking away all in its path without losing any of its momentum, charging straight for the target. And in no time the white ball would hit the three with the intensity of a lightning strike, transferring all of its momentum to the latter, blasting it forwards in a straight line, straight into the pocket right behind. Score.

A soft, entirely self-content smile.

With the point taken home, she would turn around, facing the others on the losing end, savouring the view of their defeat, the sweet taste of victory, seasoned by humiliation.

«Your go, Kinuhata.»

Just as quick as it came, that smile would quickly disappear, transitioning into a truly serious face. One signalling her partner the great trust that came with the baton she was handed.

Steadying her queue, Saiai glanced at the state of the table after Mugino's strike, and then made her move quietly and without fanfare.

With Mugino as her partner, there was no need for exotic techniques or precise strategies. Even the opportunity that Frenda's mistake had left behind had been completely ignored; rather than simply taking the easy prey, the goal was a much more overwhelming victory. Mugino's first assault to achieve that was to drive the cue ball to the far end of the table, and now Saiai was left sitting in the gaping wound she had opened.

So rather than put on a show of her own, her job was to follow up on the destruction Mugino had wreaked and tie up any loose ends. Saying that the cue ball had been driven deep into an open wound was one way of putting it, but the imagery of an elite infantry unit that had infiltrated deep behind enemy lines was equally apt.

There was no need to strategize deeply, to need to think or to consider. All that she needed to do was capitalize on Mugino's crushing assault as best as she could. And so, with little to no delay between her turn's arrival and that of her cue's strike, she sent the cue ball straight towards the exposed backs of the solids before her.

Before, the seven and one had been blocked off by a series of stripes, insulated from most conventional strikes, but from behind their rear was all too vulnerable. With a series of clacks, white struck red struck yellow. The seven struck the one into a pocket with a glancing blow rather than a direct strike, and continued on to a position where it stood between the cue ball and stripes.

"It's super your go." With none of the haughty pride of the winning team but rather her usual nonchalance, Saiai informed Takistubou that was her move.

The beautiful young girl in the pink tracksuit had remained silent the entire time, and at first glance, it would seem she was paying strict attention to the game. Though anyone would find it hard to remain focused when you find that sweet spot, and she had felt oddly comfortable by standing up while leaning against her cue. And with this remarkable feet achieved she attempted to watch the game with a sluggish expression and wasn't entirely following what was going on.

"It's super your go."

But her moment in paradise in that comfortable spot didn't last long, she reacted slowly but she soon enough approached the table.  

"OK... good job " she said apathetically and glanced towards the table. She didn't waste any time in deciding and leaned down on the table with her cue aiming at the white ball that was pointing towards the solid.

She seemed uncomfortable at that moment as she tried to lower herself down to aim correctly. After a moment she stood back up and groped her breasts seemingly confused. It had looked like that she was trying to work out what was wrong, and it didn't take so long for her to have found the answer. And so she leaned back down in the same position without saying a word. And with her lethargic expression returning she aimed her cue towards the white ball and seemed to be pointing towards the solid.

That was until she suddenly rolled to her right side and almost to the point she was nearly upside down that she changed the direction of her cue and gave the white ball a moderate tap sending it towards the tableside.

The intention was to try and hit the striped ball being blocked by the solid by hitting the white against the side. She was trying to angle it around the solid, but she wouldn't know if she had succeeded as in that moment she had dozed off; Takitsubo Rikou had found her position on the table to be unusually comfortable.

Returning to her lost paradise.

“AH! Takitsubo! Your chest!” Placing her cue stick against the wall, she dashed towards the girl who was obviously dozing off on top of the fuzzy (and likely warm), green table. But it was already too late. The cue ball had already been sent careening into the boundaries of the table.

That was hardly the main issue, though. A heavy sleeping girl would inevitably interfere with ball pathways. The game would inevitably be tainted--

Or so she had thought.

In drowsy girl’s odd action, she had somehow pulled off a perfect storm of being able to have numerous balls ricochet while simultaneously having the balls not end up making even the slightest her body or cue.

Frenda could only stare in disbelief as what could only be coined as the ‘slumberland shot’ ended up pocketing the fifteen ball while leaving the 10 and 12 balls in a perfect shot trajectory with the cue ball and throwing the arrangement of half of the remaining solids around.

That being said, the eight ball was also being left dangerously close to a corner pocket opposite to Takitsubo.

It was a bit of a precarious situation but Frenda carefully lifted her teammate off the table and placed her onto a nearby chair for her to doze off on.

After picking up her cue, she gave one quick salute to her now fallen comrade.

“I won’t let your sacrifice be in vain, Takitsubo.” With her last words, she headed back to the battlefield of the billiards table to pick up where her partner had left off.

Without wasting a single motion, she angled the cue stick until she was certain of her angle and slammed the tip into the pure white ball, leading it to the 12 ball. As it collided, it bounced off the 12, knocking it into its nearest pocket before careening into the 10 ball, transferring the rest of its momentum, and knocking it into a pocket.

“Nishishi~ In the end, that’s more like it.”

With a prideful smile, she turned to Kinuhata and Mugino who were up next.

Sighing in annoyance at the return of the baton, Mugino would reclaim hold of the queue and walk up to the table wordlessly. She didn’t even take a second to overview the situation, simply starting off her turn without any further complications or preparations. Her body got into position right away, as did the queue. She was taking aim, just like before.

And just like before the situation of the balls on the table would hardly matter.

Strewn about as they were, the game would remain just as open as it had been the entire time. Ignoring the eight ball’s position, everything seemed to be possible, if only one watched out for the strength of the impacts. However would she really?

Silence. Tension.

Bang!

Another high speed projectile was launched across the table. This time however it would not choose a target at the end of some terribly obstructed path. No, the goal would turn out to be of much simpler nature. Struck by the white lightning, the orange five would be set into motion, heading off into its demise only a few centimetres away. Yet not without any collaterals. The balls right next, one and eleven, grazed by the fast current, would roll elsewhere, slightly but safely obstructing the field’s openness to an unhealthy extent.

However that had been the least of their worries.

Passing on the baton she’d only just received, Mugino Shizuri would leave the aftermath of her selfish play linger upon the field, as the eight would cling to a meagre last straw, dangling upon the definite abyss.

A delicate situation left for the most careful of players to handle.

A devilish grin would cross her lips.

What selfish play.

[/center]

"What a super pain." The two teams were neck in neck, so Kinuhata's Saiai was utterly unrelated to winning and losing. Rather than worry over victory and defeat, it was purely exasperation at the trouble that her fellow players had all piled upon her.

The eight ball hung by a thread. The cue ball was in a crappy position. The numbers Mugino's last strike had displaced were in her way as much as they were of the other team.

She was in a really, quite, very, super pinch hereー

She aligned the cue. Carefully, so as to avoid a premature shot. There were just four balls remaining before they could strike the eight, one less than the other team. An advantage passed onto them by Frenda's initial failure to pocket the four. Two four six seven, two four six seven. Her eyes darted between them, glancing at their obstacles.

After was Rikou. She'd gotten a super lucky shot previously, but that was all it was. She was the weakest link.

Strike.

Her target was not the two, not the four, not the six, and not the seven. The ball ignored all four solids and impacted a stripe, number thirteen orange that had been lingering near the four since the beginning of the game.

The cue ball and thirteen moved towards the four, but it ultimately remained untouched. And meanwhile, the thirteen and the cue ball slammed into each other, the thirteen stopping at the border, while the cue ballーdidn't rebound.

The two remained touching, having already lost the momentum Kinuhata gifted them. The thirteen, so close to a corner pocket was sandwiched between the border, the cue ball, and the four. Rikou would have to move carefully, or else risk accidentally pocketing the other team's ball.

Rather than attempting to break through the walls that had been set before her, she took them and used them to block the enemy in instead. She poked Rikou, dozing, with her cue stick. It was her move.

For someone dozing, Takitsubo responded rather well to the slight poke from the cue stick by Kinuhata. She slowly got up seemingly recovered her footing and looked towards the table. Her eyes didn't seem concerned about her team's situation and seemed even more unenergetic as she dragged herself towards the correct positioning of the table. She thought about what to do, and this time it seemed very simple the moment she glanced casually towards Mugino.

After a moment's glance, her eyes looked towards the black ball still on its edge before turning her attention to the white cue ball. She was currently trapped unfairly, and it was all too easy to hit the solid which might be the only smart thing to do here. While she completely missed the previous turns since her last go, she had an understanding about her teams play styles and thought this would benefit her team in the long run.

So she tapped the white ball, again showing a play style almost opposite of the 4th ranked level five sending the cue ball away from the thirteen and four. The cue ball was sent bouncing towards the opposite side before slowly making its way back. Slowly and slowly the white cue ball rolled towards the corner pocket which the four-ball had remained the entire game up until now. The intention was to try and nudge it away from the pocket which was entirely possible.

However, luck wasn't on her side as the cue ball taps the four-ball into the corner pocket. It was a devastating blow, but hopefully, it would be for nothing. As the white cue ball takes the four-ball's former place in the corner pocket, the plan had become clear. There wasn't much choice for the opposing team, but to strike outwards in the direction of the eight-ball.

Depending on how they take this next turn, they could risk committing the game-ending foul which Takitsubo had just attempted to force them into and would only be possible in the hands of Mugino Shizuri. As thanks to her own foul by potting the opposing team's ball Frenda had to skip her turn. Which may have been on purpose but Takitsubo gave nothing away and her next reaction could actually make you think this was actually an accident.

Who knows.

"I'm sorry Frenda." Takitsubo apologised with that same tired expression.

If Frenda had to assess it, the entire situation was entirely at a disadvantage for her. Team Mugino had already taken the first advantage when Frenda had failed to claim solids. Team Mugino had also taken the next advantage when they had claimed solids for themselves. Moreover the field of the game was hardly in their favor in terms of placement. The opposing team had, without a doubt had been playing a perfect game so far.

In other words, she and Takitsubo were, without a doubt, the underdogs of the round.

Still, that hardly meant they were out of the running. Even with the tides against them, the two of them could still turn things around. That tension was the epitome of competition. Even if she was hardly a fan of being placed in this kind of situation, the low stakes definitely helped ease any possible tension she could have had.

Given Takitsubo’s previous shot, they could very well pull the turnabout they needed. All Frenda needed to do was wait until it was her turn.

On the other hand...

Frenda, leaning against the wall with her cue in her hand, looked towards the leader of ITEM.

Mugino’s treating this like a mission.

Frenda pondered while she waited on whether to point that out before finally deciding to raise her voice in concern. “Mugino...I think you’re taking this a bit too ser--”

Her words were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a cue stick hitting the cue ball. Her eyes immediately darted towards the fuzzy green table.

As the balls finally came to their stops, Frenda’s jaw dropped. She could honestly feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she had finally processed what had happened.

Takitsuboooooooooo!

Her whiny toned thought trilled on in her head until her partner looked back to her and with the same, usual tired expression, gave a short apology.

Frenda’s mouth, which had been holding a cute frown ended up releasing a sigh. Leaning back against the wall, she regained her composure and opened a single eye as she looked to Mugino.

“Your turn, Mugino.” With a begrudging voice, she sounded the knell for the round.

The world of competitive games was a roller coaster of excitement. One would never know how the tides would turn with the passing of rounds and turns. What was a surely won game on the first look, could easily shift colours after just one lucky play of the opponent. A chain of events some truly didn’t appreciate.

Some people like Mugino Shizuri, for example.

After having brought forth the most selfish of tactics and play styles in fine tuned combination, she found herself faced with the calmest, most defensive and least obvious plays imaginable. The other team wasn’t beaten yet. As such they most certainly weren’t willing to go down without a fight. Thus, as the balls were rolling across the green, slowly and surely, the entire field’s layout would undergo change. What once was the scenery she had so viciously set up for the others to cause their own misfortune, was quickly handed back to herself.

«Your turn, Mugino.»

The arena’s air had grown thick, the origin clearly being the girl who had just reclaimed the queue. If it didn’t become obvious through her boiling aura, the force of her grip that very moment would most certainly reveal the agitation level of ITEM’s leader. Yet knowing her – and everyone here did – would tell how little unusual the entire scenario was. She hated losing. It wasn’t that she was a bad loser, no, she basically was the worst of them all. With her opponents basically throwing her own niftiness back at her, the extent most certainly was immeasurable.

With an imaginative eternity passed, she would finally arrive at the table, getting into position all over again. The queue would be placed right at the table’s edge, her stance way lower than usual, her eyes much sharper. The heat of agitation died into a still cold unlike any other. From boiling pot to ice queen.

Then, right that next instance, something overly strange would occur.

«There’s one thing you mustn’t forget, Frenda. Sometimes getting too overboard will come biting your ass.»

Her tongue was sharp, her words hypocritical, yet still not less dangerous. She was eying something, yet what? There was only one path to take. Only one way for this turn to end. This hadn’t been anything the others had caused. From back then to now, the eight’s certain death bringing position at the edge had been her work all alone.

Just like before she would pull the queue backwards. However defying all expectations, she wasn’t aiming for a careful attempt at lunging out. No, she was pulling it as far back as she found herself able to. The harbinger of a full force blow?!

«And sometimes, you need to accept your own losses…»

BANG!!!

Accompanied by a heavy eruption claiming rule of the table, the hammer was launched yet again. The force this time exceeding anything shown before.

Everything shook. The balls on the table were rattling. The black, already at the outmost edge, of course fell.

However, while black entered the depths of the table, white left its domain entirely.

Hit at the right angle and with the right amount of overwhelming force it was flung into the air, travelling at the speeds of a cannon ball, only to – much like one such thing – smash into the wall mercilessly, actually caving it in until stuck, only barely missing the face of a certain blonde.

«…to then strike back even harder.»

Mustering a grin of utter arrogance and self-content delight, Mugino Shizuri would end her turn by the addition of those most honey coated words.

«You~r tu~rn.»

Rubbing her temples to ward off a burgeoning headache, Saiai sighed inwardly at Mugino's antics. Even if they had the money to pay off the damages, she felt more than that sure the proprietors wouldn't want to see them again any time soon...

"Here, Takitsubou."

Before any employees or fellow customers could complain, she plucked the cue ball out of its newly crafted repository within the wall and handed off to Rikou, to whom the turn had returned after two consecutive fouls. Not knowing how deeply it had been lodged, she wanted to avoid making a scene by having someone else try to remove it and fail.

But that aside, it was odd. "What's Mugino up to?" Mugino was not one to gracefully accept a loss. She'd win with everything she had, no matter the game was; it was a bad habit of hers that Saiai was all too familiar with at this point.

So her intentional foul there was highly odd. She hadn't even accomplished anything in the process. They may be two balls ahead, but the opposing team would not get two free shots. They would have the freedom to place the cue ball wherever on the table they liked, so they couldn't hope that they would get another foul, either.

If anything, chances were that the tables would be turned, that Rikou and Frenda would come out ahead. She completely couldn't see the poin-

"...No, wait, is that what she's trying to super do?!" A hypothesis suddenly sprang to mind. "Was it too easy for her?"

If her guess was correct, it was a very Mugino-like action indeed, and would result in a very Frenda-like ending...

Takitsubou had paid attention since her last go, and despite the events, her expression had remained unchanged. While her previous turn didn't work out as she hoped she thought it was the right time to turn the tides. But she felt like something had to be done to keep the opposing team stumbling long enough for them to catch up.

The entire field had changed, the only thing that remained was the eight black ball still on the edge of a corner pocket. Seeing how the other balls ended up she saw an opportunity but would require careful calculation and precision. So she leaned against the table the furthest away from the cue ball she placed and was preparing to shoot it in the direction of the left corner pocket, the opposite side of the pocket which was home to the black ball. You see there were two balls on that side not stuck together but was very close, the gap between them was wide enough for one cue ball and a half.

Those balls were the 13 and 6.

Perfect her ball the 13 was closest to the left corner and this only means she just had to shoot carefully. She didn't want to let Frenda down the second time and tried to this seriously she took her time before making the shot.

It was the same moderate tap which sent the cue ball rolling towards its target; the cue ball eventually hit the 13 ball at an angle before rebounding into the 6 ball with less force. The 13 ball went straight into the pocket scoring them another point, and the 6 ball was pushed away and slowly losing momentum before resting on the side of the table right next to the black ball. They weren't touching, but it would be hazardous to shoot at it without a significant and careful planning.

Now with her turn over, Takitsubou turned to Frenda with that usual expression. "I hope that makes up for it." she said seemingly wanted to make up for her previous blunder.

Frenda’s eyes slowly drifted to the side as she struggled to take in the series of events that had just transpired. From the crash of the cue ball into the wall, Frenda was considering the possibility that she may have just lost hearing in the ear less than an inch from the ball. She had gone into the specialty of using explosives fully aware that it would result in dampened hearing as she got older, but this was hardly the bang she wanted her hearing to go out with.

Frenda took a short side-step away from the crash site before finally realizing that she had, in fact, not lost her hearing. After all, she could hear quite clearly the sounds of her panting. She could hear Mugino’s taunt as well. There was some silver-lining in the end.

Frenda gave off a deep sigh before turning her head to face Mugino while Kimuhata came by to pick up the ball and pass it to Takitsubo. Without a doubt, Mugino was reveling in her show of force.

It was as expected, this was hardly the attitude of someone enjoying a casual game. This was the attitude of someone letting their perfectionist tendencies take over.

Plus...

Frenda eyed the bartender and the receptionist who were desperately trying to avoid making eye contact with ITEM—specifically Mugino—after that whole display. If Frenda had to guess, they desperately wanted to kick Mugino out but were far too afraid of the consequences.

Well, there go any hopes we have of ever returning here. In the end, we probably just made it onto a customer blacklist, I bet.

Hearing Takitsubo’s report of mild success, Frenda picked herself up along with her cue stick and walked over to the fuzzy green table.

“Don’t worry about it, Takitsubo. You did good.” With a smile and confidence, she reassured her teammate who seemed to be still hung up about her prior move not going so well. “I’ll take it from here.”

Takitsubo had given Frenda the chance to take back the lead. The competitive little blonde would never let this go to waste.

Frenda quickly reassessed what was sitting on the fuzzy green table. The eight ball was sitting neatly on the table again after Mugino’s absurd foul, but the six was as close as stalker to it. Instead, she focused on two other balls: 11 and 14.

They were close enough that with some deft shooting and some fun with ricochets and momentum, she could send the balls into the holes. Though, that was a bit of a gamble and the other balls she needed to hit were too far away to get two at once.

Getting up close and personal with the table, she lifted one leg and pushed that along with her hip onto the edge while letting her upper body hover only a couple of centimeters over the green surface. After breathing in a couple of times and taking aim with the stick, she let out a powerful thrust, causing the cue ball to careen into the edge and bounce off it into the 11 ball, transferring some of its momentum onto it before diverting off towards the 14 ball and transferring momentum onto it as well. With a single shot, both those balls simultaneously fell into pockets. All that was left was the nine and then the eight.

With as much grace as her shot, Frenda picked herself off the table and let her foot touch the floor.

“By the way, Mugino. You really don’t need to treat this like a mission.” Frenda said as she stepped back, signaling that it was the Number 4’s turn once again.

«By the way, Mugino. You really don’t need to treat this like a mission.»

«So you choose death?»

A smile was lingering on the brunette beauty’s lips. A smile so devoid of the warmth of enjoyment or happiness. It was not a smile of praise, nor was it the smile of a friend. If at all it was the smile of one who would savor the other’s ruin throughout each of its slowly progressing phases.

The smile of one who isn’t made for losing.

«A game is a game, yes. But even in a game, being defeated by those below yourself is just humiliating. Even the very belief that you stand a realistic chance here, is one that needs to be hammered down brutally.»

With only the nine ball left, Frenda and Takitsubo had claimed the lead, leaving Mugino and Kinuhata with the two, six and seven way behind. A difference crafted by overly exaggerated and annoyingly bold plays. The actions just so typical of a rebellion against an emperor. Yet, if one dared to rebel against their ruler, they would always end up learning to fear their wrath.

Mugino Shizuri, being the bad loser she was, would not allow for them to have their way. Returning to the table her mind had already settled on locking them up in the guillotine, her fingers dancing on the trigger.

«Now which one will it be? The two, the seven or actually the six?»

Pretending all the balls still on the field were hers to command entirely no matter how utterly impossible their position, the #4 was boasting.

«Shoot.»

Her attack was the most normal of the entire game. Not only had she taken a completely normal position at the table, but the cue strike had been oddly soft, lacking all of the sniper rifle like precision and power. Had she given up or was this just a mirage…?

The white ball would roll across the green, travel normally, hit the wall, bounce off and change angles until the point it would push the seven, setting it into motion. A motion concluding with its fall into one of the pockets. Yet that hadn’t been all. The white would move and move and move, growing ever slower, until it had the perfect spot.

A spot putting it in perfect line with the two and a wide open pocket.

A spot that not even an amateur would fail exploiting.

«And kill.»

There was no need for any fancy maneuvers, no need for any kind of miraculous performance. All there was, was a simple shot, executed in the most simple of ways.

Their enemy may have still held the lead…

However would they realize where the ball would land once her herald would execute the shot she commanded?

«Your turn, Kinuhata~»

Her smiling lips would say.

Don’t fuck it up.

Her biting killing intent would command.

May all coming turns be ruled by this simple play.

"Roger that." she said. Her expression, normally relaxed like a pond without ripples, stiffened.

Game? What was that? Kinuhata Saiai had no idea what that strange term meant, and she cast it out of her mind. After all, it clearly had nothing to do with her current situation...

Failure here meant death (by Mugino's hand). But even without that, this was a mission. Yes, indeed, from the first this was a mission, yes. Using everything she had, professionally driving the target into a corner, and ruthlessly achieving their goal: that was the only proper code of conduct.

Allowing a a brief flash of something that was most certainly not resignation show on her face, she reviewed the situation on the table to ensure that she was missing nothing. Her side had the two and the six left before they could strike the eight, while the enemy had only the nine in their way. From just that, it would seem that doing nothing but use the opening Mugino had provided would seal their defeat as they remained a step behind their opponents.

However, Takitsubo had made the mistake of leaving the six by the eight. Earlier in the game it would have been a truly irritating move, but in the end stages it was a simple convenience. She would strike the two into the hole, Takitsubo would sink the nine, and then Mugino would kill both six and eight at once.

Perhaps Takitsubo would find a way to turn it around, but it was too late to consider such things now that Mugino had so thoughtfully set the stage for them to swipe victory out of the enemy's hands. Nodding to herself in self-assurance after having reviewed the battlefield, Kinuhata set the ball to Mugino's grand victory in motion with a strike of her cue. And as expected it was impossible for any familiar player to miss the shot.

Now then, this was enough to absolve herself of any responsibility, wasn't it...? So she thought, being too self-involved with her own worries to remember to properly hand the turn over.

Takitsubou had remain still looking at the table, she seemed to be putting some mild effort into the game actually being caught up in the vibe. Though she was worried that she may have made a mistake in her former plays, the idea was sound but just at the wrong time. And the only path to winning at this point would require some tactical thinking. Yes, she could down the 9th ball and would leave the 8th ball in their way.

But then it would be almost impossible to get the 8th ball without committing a foul handing the opposing team victory. There was only one solution to avoid this and that is to make the first contact with their ball and rebounding it off to hit the opposing team's 6th to smack into the 8th just enough to land in the hole. And unlike herself, Frenda was more than capable to land a powerful enough strike to make this happen. Since throughout the game, Takitsubou had only able to do mediocre strikes and nothing more.  

The problem with this plan is that if Frenda's strike isn't enough it can basically hand victory over to the opposing team.

So the best thing she could do was set it up and so she did with a soft tap into the 9th, the plan to make this final win or lose move had been laid out. On the complete opposite side and corner pocket of the opposing team 6th ball and the 8th ball was the 9th directly in line with the corner pocket. The white ball stopped in the middle of both corner pockets. All Frenda had to do now was smash it hard to pot the 9th leading to a rebound hitting the 6th ball just enough to down the 8th and not the 6th.

It would be tricky, but she was sure her teammate can do it. She could encourage her but she wanted to explain the whole affair with the shortest amount of words possible. So she looked towards Frenda with an encouraging smile and said only two words.

"Smash it."

They may fail, but they would go down fighting.

Those two words were all she needed to hear.

Smash it.

Frenda gazed over the pool table and sauntered around in a full rotation to get a quick view of the setup of the balls on the entire table. Her eyes darted between the four balls remaining on the table, tracing the path that the cue ball and the resulting collisions would optimally lead into.

Having ascertained the path she needed, she rested her cue against the edge of the table and brought it close to the ball. She needed the right angle and the right amount of force. Any slight deviation in either of those quantities would cause the entire shot to go wrong.

Confirming her narrow window of movement, Frenda took a deep breath and, in Takitsubo’s words…

She SMASHED IT.

Her stick hit the cue ball at a slight angle, causing an altered spin as it smashed the 9-ball into the hole and then shifted direction towards the six and eight balls.

The distance to the to the eight plummeted but

No! It’s slightly off course!

Rather than colliding in between the two balls, the cue ball smashed into the 6 ball, knocking away and causing it to ricochet off the sides of the table until it came gently to a stop at the center of the table. The cue ball, meanwhile bounced off the side and landed gently next to the pocket on the nearest corner pocket to the eight ball.

All hope of victory had been robbed by the slightest of deviations.

After extreme tension there came silence. From when the balls had danced across the table, becoming harbingers of defeat, to now where the final attempt was rebellion had gone down as a failure, the air around the table changed tremendously. What looked like a group of four teenage girls having a nice hangout would feel like an assembly of military generals from enemy nations. The glances they cast one another, the unspoken words lingering in their minds, even the miniscule changes in their muscles, all spoke the language of war.

However now said war seemed almost over.

With the failure of the enemy’s last attack, the empress and her herald were at the doorstep of victory.

«Well played, Frenda, well played.»

As she took her slow steps towards the battlefield, Mugino tossed further shame at the one who would lay defeated at her feet.

She was like a tyrant through and through, convinced of what would become sure kill victory.

Positioning her queue on the table, she prepared the strike that’d hammer the last nail into their coffin.

Aim, calculate, pull back, catch breath, ready?

She struck, creating an unforeseen miracle.

Maybe she had been a bit too eager? Maybe she had slightly exaggerated the force she had put behind that final strike?

The white would chase after six, in an angle that’d easily sink it, handing the last turn over to her partner and thus allowing for a quick conclusion of the game. It would be a mere two strikes, of which none would hold any meaning or power. There was hardly any need for special plays or anything reeking of desperate worry or hard work. Basically it would have been the textbook example of an easy win. The most humiliating kind of victory.

However that it only would have been.

Crack

The way it would end in reality was a wholly different story.

Crack

The power of her strike had been just a bit too much, too heavy, coming in too quick. What was supposed to be a truly stable structure, suddenly could no longer resist. At first a crack had formed, then suddenly, it split.

Thud

And instead of bringing definite defeat over the enemy, the ball wouldn’t fly forward in a definite direction, bringing a definite result. It split, parted and the two halves of it would simply fly across the green, missing out any and all chances to end it, toppling over just like that. Dropping all dead.

The game was over.

Her turn was over.

Yet would anybody dare to look at the second incarnation of Pandora’s Box, that was Mugino’s face this very moment?

"..."

This was truly the height of irony. An analogue for the falls of dictators everywhere, their indulgence in force proving their own downfall. Yet, chuckling with wry amusement at that was a pastime reserved for fair-skinned intellectuals who would never have to face those dictators themselves.

For those in the fieldーtheir advisors, soldiers, lackeysーit was a disaster without compare. For all her usual composure, not even Saiai could remain at ease when faced with this scene. Though she avoided having her face warp in despair, her complexion paled and she felt a bead of sweat upon her brow.

When she was like this, there was only one thing on Mugino's mind: finding a scapegoat. Her failing was absolutely unacceptable, so she would push the blame off onto someone else. And right now, the victim that was in the most immediate danger was...

"It's my super turn!?"

Yes, it was her turn! She would be the last one to make a move, she would be the one who would ultimately fail to escape defeat. It may have already been tactically impossible for her to win before her turn even arrived, but Mugino's rage didn't give a flying shit about such sound logic.

All that remained for Saiai, unless something was done, was the face the fury of the raging empress of destruction...

"No, there has to be something I can super do!"

The tension had been so thick it could have been cut with a knife, but now knives were the last they had to worry about. In other wordsーthis was a situation no less serious for her than her work. She would face this with the utmost seriousness...!

Mugino super won't accept any suggestion that involves calling off the game. I can't use the split ball as an excuse to call the game off... Could I convince Frenda and Takitsubou to throw the gaーno, that's not happening.

Saiai knew Frenda far too well to think such a thing would occur. More likely, the girl would throw her under the bus just to ensure her own survival in this disaster...

"W-What do I do? There's no way I can win like this. Winning fairly super isn't an option, Mugino won't accept abandoning the game, and help super can't be expected... Why did Mugino have to screw up in such a ridiculous fashion!? If she'd just shot it like normal, everything would be fine..."

No plan, no help, no hope. There was nothing in Kinuhata Saiai's future but the terror of Mugino's wrath. To the point that thought shut down, to the point that she forgot the stick she held in her hand, to the point that, to the point that...

"...Wait. 'If she'd just shot it like normal, everything would be fine'?"

To the point that an idea occurred.

"Normally, a cue ball wouldn't just break. It must have been faulty somehow. A shot where the equipment broke super shouldn't count, don't you think?"

Staring straight ahead, not daring to turn and face Mugino, she gave form to the ray of hope that had formed within her heart as she spoke with a stony face. Now, would they grasp it, or would fickle Mugino trample them underfoot once more?

She had done her part, the amount of effort she had put into this had made her grown weary. Even with what followed Mugino's turn, that somehow turned the tide in their favour even after their own failed attempt. But where to go now? The white ball was destroyed and there was no possibility of continuing the game. You can take this as the same as removing the ball from the table, that would have resulted in the foul for the opposing team and in this case would give her side the win.

But that was something Takitsubo had forgotten. She had grown so tired from the game, that without even realising she found herself leaning on the cue. Slowly but surely her eyes closed just as Saiai pleaded with her team.

"Normally, a cue ball wouldn't just break. It must have been faulty somehow. A shot where the equipment broke super shouldn't count, don't you think?"

"Then I give up... well done."

Any game could have jaw-dropping tension, brilliant plays, risky plays that ended in success, plays that inevitably ended in failure, or even those ridiculous moments that overshadow the rest of the match. It was the inevitability came when there was any form of competition between two (or more) human beings.

But what had just occurred ended up transcending all of that. Needless to say, her eyes were wide open as she looked at the remains of the cue ball that had been split apart.

It didn’t take long for Frenda to realize that she was not the only one left flabbergasted in the face of the recent events.

Kinuhata avoided looking into Mugino’s eyes and tried to weasel her way out of it while Takitsubo blatantly gave up on the match and conceded.

“I’m with Takitsubo on this. W-well done.” Frenda found herself stuttering as she avoided gazing upon the great and now sullied perfectionist who had made the most impressively useless trick shot in history.

Turning her eyes towards Takitsubo and Kinuhata, she merely asked one question.

“So...what next…?”

Another match may have been ideal but she was in no way going to be the one to take the fall for trying to offer it. Frenda valued her life (and legs) way too much for that.

Whatever must have been on Mugino’s mind that very instance was an enigma of the kind you didn’t wish to solve. The kind where attempting to solve it would result in being drawn into something you didn’t wish to be part of; quite similar to how the tyrannical empress’s underlings didn’t even dare to cast a single glance at her face, fearing the sights they would find after she had singlehandedly brought ruin over the empire of her own.

However, with the progress of time comes the progress of events.

As such it was hardly unnatural for her to begin moving.

To them her steps must have been like the heavy stomps of Godzilla himself, slowly approaching a defenceless Tokyo Bay.

It must have been absolute horror.

Whatever, whoever was to become her next target, they were done for, for sure.

«Frenda.»

Her voice was deep. Deep like the deepest abyss imaginable. A hollow black hole you didn’t wish to take a single glance into. Yet there was someone who would force your eyes open violently making stare right in it.

«You’re up next.»

The blonde would find herself being handed a queue with inhuman pressure.

A pressure as unreasonable as the situation itself. She was up. All else had been ignored. The other players’ resignation. The absolutely useless state of the white ball. The very impossibility of this game coming to an end. Caught in a vortex of her own, secluded from the outside world, Mugino would move on, forcing the others to pull a long.

And they knew, if they were to oppose her here it would only mean…

Goodbye legs.

All fear and despair had left Saiai's thoughts, leaving nothing behind save for cold rationality. Mugino's ruthless blow had crossed a line. Some minor semblance of emotion had remained before, fitting for a casual outing, but... If no logic would work, if no excuses were acceptable, and if there were no outcomes aside from dead ends, then there was only one option left to choose from.

There was no need to think deeply. It came to her completely naturally, the product of endless repetition, vast experience. It was an instinct engraved into her very body. Though previously sealed by panic, this Excalibur's blade had now been unsheathed thanks to the culling of all other options.

Eyes cold as the Antarctic seas, yet sharp enough to kill, Saiai stared down the one who would be her salvation. It would not be entirely inappropriate to draw comparisons to a saintess or holy maiden, sacrificing themselves for the benefit of countless others, but that often sloven appearance and discount personality made one hesitate to do so.

Though the greatest difference was whether they truly cared about the salvation they gave to others.

At Mugino's denial, Saiai had immediately wandered a short ways off, to a vacant table. There she pilfered a cue ball, which she then returned with. The proper way to do things may have been to flag an employee and ask for a replacement, but she had no desire to waste any time being roasted my Mugino's glare. And in truth, she held a small hope that her actions would get her kicked out, though she wisely refrained from truly believing anything like that would occur.

"Good luck."

Giving words that could be construed to have any number of meanings, Saiai took one of Frenda's hands and firmly pressed the cue ball into it. All the while maintaining eye contact, unwavering.

Legs? You could live without those.