A Gun

Jack sleepily woke up, rubbing one of his eyes as he did so.

"Dad?"

He looked around and blinked a few times before he realized that he was currently in a tent. Not the same familiar small room he was used to waking up to. It gave him a bittersweet feeling.

Everything that happened wasn't a dream. But as exciting as it was, it still meant that his father left all of a sudden. While he had a slightly glum expression, Emma sat up with her usual smile.

"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Jack rubbed the back of his head before humming.

"There is no bed. I would've slept better in my own bed."

Emma let out a chuckle.

"I suppose so. Well, I'm sure you have somewhere to be."

Jack looked at her strangely.

"Do I? But I think that it could be fun talking to you."

Emma tilted her head to the side slightly.

"Aww, do you really think that? But it doesn't really matter. I'm sure we'll have plenty of chances to talk to each other later."

Jack scratched his cheek, not getting what she was trying to say.

"Um, ok then!"

He got out of the tent. As for Mia and Jessica, they woke up at the same time to see themselves entangled with one another. A bitter smile formed on Jessica's face.

"Ah, so that's why it didn't feel cold. I suppose sleeping with another person is quite convenient."

Mia blinked a few times before nodding.

"Yeah, I guess so."

They separated and left the tent to see Jack, with a bright smile waving to them.

"Hi there! What are we doing today?"

Mia rubbed her eyes and let out a yawn.

"Well only I need to get a 7 now if we want to take that promotion mission. After all, you two already got one. We should also work on getting more cards so that we have a better chance of beating whatever that promotion mission was."

Jessica's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Eh? Jack also got a 7?"

Mia gave a curt nod.

"Yeah, before you got it from that whole shitfest, it was one of the rewards he got from the Thief's Greed thing."

Jack put a finger onto his chin, thinking for a moment.

"Ah, so if we get one more 7, then we can finally go to the third floor! I'm so excited, I promised to meet a friend there!"

Mia looked at him strangely.

"What? Why would you choose to meet on the floor above instead of just this floor?"

Jack tilted his head to the side.

"I don't know. He just said to find him on the third floor. I'm really excited for that!"

Jessica simply petted him on the head with a smile on her face.

"Then we should work hard together and reach the third floor!"

Mia looked between the two of them. She opened her mouth, but closed it in the end. After shaking her head, she cleared her throat.

"Anyways, let's go buy some food and make sure to play some solitaire games so you have the 2's you need. I guess since we have the tent, we can try to go a bit further than yesterday. Just in case, let's buy food for today and tomorrow."

Jack nodded, doing what she said by playing a solitaire game to get three more cards before getting two paper bags filled with jerky and a lemon each. As he was purchasing things, he noticed that there was a new item in the shop.

[Pair of Twos - Rations]

[Three of a kind Twos - Razor Blade]

[Pair of Threes - Matches]

[Three of a kind Threes - Utility Knife]

[Full House, Twos over threes - One Week of Lamp Oil]

[Full House, Threes over twos - Tent]

[Pair of Fours - Oil Lamp]

[Three of a kind Fours - Wooden Spear]

[Pair of Fives - Round Shield]

[Three of a Kind Fives - One-handed Sword]

[Pair of Sixes - Modified Steroids]

[Three of a kind Sixes - Fifteen Pistol Bullets]

[High Card Seven - Promotion Test Admission]

In particular, there were weapons that could be bought with 5's. Then there were 6's that allowed one to get Steroids as well as pistol bullets. Though, despite there being an option for bullets, there was nowhere to actually buy the gun itself.

Jack stood there awkwardly for a little while.

"Piee... stoul... boolets?"

Emma suddenly appeared next to him.

"Yes, if you use three 6's, then you'll get a magazine for a pistol. If you're wondering how to actually get the pistol itself, then you have to put in four 6's."

Jack turned to her with a gasp.

"Ah, you know what that is? You're so smart! I don't think I've seen a pistol before."

Emma raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Oh? Is that so? Then take a look at this, as proof that I wasn't lying to you."

She took out a Glock from her waistband, handing it over to Jack while holding onto the barrel. Jack let out a gasp while holding out both of his hands as though receiving an offering. His eyes glowed in excitement as he stared down at it.

"What does it do?"

Emma let out a cute laugh.

"It's for hurting people, silly. Did you never learn about these?"

Jack shook his head, prompting Emma's smile to widen ever so slightly.

"Would you like me to show you how to use it?"

Jack nodded excitedly.

"Yeah! It sounds like a lot of fun!"

While they were having that conversation, Mia looked over with concern. She whispered to Jessica.

"Um, is it ok if we leave Jack with that girl? She looks kinda suspicious."

Jessica waved her hand dismissively.

"Ah, I'm sure it's fine! She was so nice to us before, nothing about her is suspicious."

The corner of Mia's lip twitched, but she nodded, letting them do as they pleased. As for Emma, she led the way forward, going back to the tents for whatever reason. She stopped in front of one of the tents before opening it up from the outside.

On the inside, revealed a man who was sleeping. He seemed to be in pretty bad shape, with overgrown hair and extremely dirty clothes. There were a few crumbs of food littered on the floor next to him, though there weren't any bugs to take advantage of that.

Mia pointed towards him.

"This person right here has spent a very very long time just in the tent by himself."

Jack let out a concerned gasp.

"Ah! Is he lonely? Should we get him to play with us?"

Mia put a hand over her mouth as she laughed.

"Why, of course! Let's help him have some fun by hurting him with the gun, ok?"

Jack nodded excitedly, but still had the gun in his palms.

"Ok! How do I do it?"

Emma walked behind him, prompting him to turn to look at her. However, Emma turned him back forward.

"Face ahead. I will help you learn how to hold onto the gun."

She first held up the gun with one hand and used the other to position Jack's hand in the right place to hold the hilt.

"This one isn't always necessary, but to make it easier, you can use your non-dominant hand to hold onto the gun."

Jack couldn't help but note that her fingers felt smooth. If he understood more clearly what normal humans should feel like, he would've noticed that it was a bit strange. Though there visually appeared to be fingerprints, they didn't have any texture.

Regardless, Emma continued, placing her own fingers and palm overtop the back of Jack's, almost like she was imitating his actions.

"After that, you use the other hand to do something similar, but this finger will be doing something a little special."

She gently pinched the end of Jack's index finger and tugged on it. From there, she wrapped the rest of her fingers around the handle of the gun while keeping his index finger out.

"After you do that, when you want to shoot, you do it like this."

She slowly pressed onto his index finger until it went on the trigger. And with a gentle push, it was pulled.

A loud bang resounded, prompting Jack to jerk his head backward as he felt his ears ring a little.

"Wha- wha- wha- that was so loud!"

And everything else went silent, as all the people gambling stopped to stare in their direction. Despite there being so many people, a deathly silence emanated, almost like they weren't actually there.

Emma let out a laugh.

"Yes, it is. That is one of the downsides of the gun, but sometimes people like it because of that. More importantly, take a look at how beautiful he looks now!"

The man had his eyes wide open as he died. The drool slowly dripping from the side of his mouth also added to it. As for the bullet hole that went straight through his head, it appeared pretty tame at the front.

However, there was a large amount of blood in the back. In fact, the brain matter had scattered all around behind him, almost making it seem like he crushed the back of his head rather than being shot.

Jack tilted his head to the side in concern.

"Eh? He isn't dead, is he?"

Emma's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"Well... I'm not sure. He was sleeping before, so he's probably still sleeping now, right?"

Jack furrowed his brows.

"But my Dad said that people when they lose their head!"

Emma let out a gasp without even trying to pretend it was faked.

"Oh no! I really didn't mean to do something like that. I just wanted to let him have fun, you understand that right?"

Jack let out a long hum.

"I guess if you didn't mean to, then it can't be blamed on you. Ah! More importantly, was that thing that came out a bullet? Don't those cost you?"

Emma let out a chuckle.

"Yes, but don't worry about it. I have plenty of them. It was fun to use it to teach you. Say, would you like to keep the gun? You can consider it as a gift from me."

Jack promptly shook his head.

"No, no. I can't just take something from you."

Emma tilted her head to the side and briefly got rid of her smile to pout.

"But I want to give this gift to you. Is that so bad?"

Jack scratched the side of his head.

"Eh? I'm not sure... but I think it would be better if you kept it."

Emma went back to her smile.

"Oh, alright then. I'll put it away. It makes me a bit sad that you won't accept my gift, but there's always next time. You need to have fun with your friends after all."

Jack pursed his lip together, feeling a tad bit confused. Though he called after her before she left.

"Wait, do you want to come with us?"