Chapter 9: Gunslinger.

Surrounded by immense darkness, with only our ears as a guide in the middle of the fray. The glow of the bullets from Akira's gun illuminated our faces for brief moments, allowing us to appreciate the horrifying expression of our enemies who were attacking us in that battle that seemed to have no end.

Holding our breaths as we wielded our weapons, my chest felt like it was going to explode from the tension building in my arms as I tried to hold back the onslaught of the yokai's sharp claws.

Being a vengeful spirit product of the imaginary collective of the population, the teke-teke was a specter that did not have a single body as such. But it was made up of all those souls of people who in one way or another had fallen on the subway rails to lose their lives.

Burdened by that deep resentment at leaving this world, the yurei were an extremely annoying spectral form to confront. Since his deep hatred attracted others through the tunnels that connected with the old station where we were.

- "Shit! These damn ones don't stop appearing and I feel like I'm about to reach my limit" – Spitting on the ground while still holding his firearms firmly, Akira had the expression in his eyes with a deep tiredness that could be seen by a couple of marks. dark beneath them.

- "Try to resist a little more, I don't think this rubbish is endless" – Pressing my back against his, I tried to calm Akira without success, feeling him push me slightly with his buttocks while clicking his tongue extremely annoyed.

- "Leave that damn optimism out of this. Yes, these bastard sons of bitches are not infinite; But I have news for you, smart girl, my bullets aren't smart either."

- "What are you taking about? "Our weapons are spiritual projections, they are not physical elements."

- "Oh? Tell me you didn't pass elementary physics classes sleeping in class, you idiot. There is no such thing as infinite energy. It is a basic principle of thermodynamics, everything has losses and our weapons are no exception.

Even a stupid girl like you should have realized that the edge of her swords is starting to have trouble slicing these things, or am I wrong?" – Just as Akira said, while I was focused on the fight I had noticed that my attacks were losing force as time progressed.

And not only that, despite not having received direct damage to my spiritual armor from the yokai attacks, some parts already showed signs of deterioration that left part of my physical body exposed.

- "Hey ugly girl, at my signal start running after me and follow me to the bathrooms."

- "You're crazy Akira! "In such a closed space we will be easy prey for those things."

- "Damn stupid! Only if we go to the bathroom will we have a chance to save ourselves from this hell. If we concentrate all these creatures at the entrance to the bathroom, I can make the most of my damn firepower with the minimum of ammo losses."

- "But is that…"

- "Don't argue with me and follow me!" – Stopping his shots suddenly, Akira began to run just as he had told me, forcing me to follow him when I saw myself overwhelmed by the number of enemies that began to gather in the position that had been revealed.

- "What are you waiting for? Run as fast as you can!" – Stopped at the bathroom door pointing his weapons in my direction, Akira began shooting at the enemies behind me, providing me with cover fire.

- "Perfect, you did it. Now stick to the wall while I go to the back and start shooting. Try not to get in the path of my projectiles, you only have to cut down the garbage that manages to sneak in while their companions fall down." - Sliding in a sweep on the bathroom floor, Akira reached the back wall and exchanged his revolvers for a assault rifle similar to the AK-47.

- "A Kalashnikov?"

- "Oh, I see you know about weapons. These rifles are known to perform in combat even under extreme conditions. That's why I chose it as a secondary spiritual weapon. Isn't it amazing?" – With a frank smile on his lips, a flash of joy was seen in Akira's eyes as he pressed his finger on the trigger.

Just as he had said, at the entrance to the bathroom it was difficult for the enemies to find their way in while they were greeted by the concentrated shrapnel that struck them down one by one as if they were flies. While I brandished my katana as if it were a downward sickle, dealing the final blow to the enemies who managed to sneak through the openings of the counterattack.

As the minutes passed, what at one point had seemed like an endless parade of enemies was gradually reduced until the last of them fell to the ground with a direct shot to the head from Akira's rifle.

- "Ugh. I thought there would be no end to this" – Falling to the ground leaning on his rifle, Akira abandoned his spiritual armor, leaving his appearance once again with the appearance of a transvestite young man.

- "Hey, are you crazy? Why the hell are you freeing yourself from your spiritual armor? What would you do if there were still any of those yokai left outside the bathroom?

- "Calm down, ugly girl! I can no longer feel any spiritual presence here apart from you and me" – Briefly closing my eyes to concentrate on the surroundings, I realized that Akira was once again right about this. However, even though we had defeated all the vestiges of the teke-teke, we could not get out of that astral space.

- "Well, I think if we stay here we won't find a damn way out. So we better start walking and search the platform" – Rummaging with his right hand inside his coat pocket, Akira took out a somewhat battered pack of cigarettes and lit one, taking a breath of relief.

- "Hey, what do you think you're doing? "We are minors, we can't smoke!"

- "Oh? Do you seriously think I'm a minor? Ha ha ha ha, you seriously kill me laughing. "Ugly girl, how old do you think I am?"

- "Aren't you 16 like me?"

- "Pfff, he he he. "You really are charmingly stupid, Haruka-san" – For the first time in all the time we had known each other, Akira called me by my name instead of using some derogatory comment about my appearance or my character. While he put his hands on his abdomen, holding back his laughter, a light pair of tears came from his eyes while his cheeks turned red from the laughter he was laughing.

- "OK sorry. I'm sorry, but this time you made me laugh. Don't get angry."

- "Of course I'm upset! "You spend all your time making fun of me, anyone would get upset with your hurtful comments."

- "Seriously sorry. I just turned 20 this past spring, I recently went to college."

- "That? Are you really 20 years old? But in the magazines you appear like a high school student" – Completely surprised by that statement, I couldn't believe what Akira was telling me.

It was only until he showed me his university ID that I was able to confirm that he was actually an adult.

Grabbing my hair in utter frustration, I felt completely embarrassed by all the times I had behaved in a presumptuous manner with a man who was four years older than me.

- "Hang on a minute. If you work as a clothing model, then why do you work part-time at the convenience store?"

- "Oh, that's simple. I don't know if you've noticed that many of my things are somewhat expensive, such as the headphones I listen to music with.

- "Yes i have seen them. They cost almost 40,000 yen"

- "Well, if I told my father that I work as a transvestite model to pay for my things, what do you think would happen to me?" –Remembering that he told me that his last name was Nakamura, the crude image of the detective who confronted me outside the Ishikawa house came to mind.

Even though we only met once, the impression that man had left on me was that of an extremely severe and inflexible guy, so I could understand a little how Akira felt about having to keep that secret from his friend. father.

- "I think I can understand a little, when I saw your father the impression he gave me was that of…"

- "A wild bull"

- "Yeah! Like that of a bull" – Looking into each other's eyes we began to laugh as if we were friends, perhaps to free ourselves from the tension that that intense battle that we had brought to its end put on us.

Taking him by the hand to help him stand up, we began to walk along the station platforms looking for signs of an exit from that place. The lights that had gone out during the combat came back on, illuminating the place while a light sound like the murmuring of many voices became increasingly intense.

With each step we took, the sinister scene of the spectral subway station returned once again to its original state, once again making the sea of people that crowded the station appear before our eyes. Making me abandon my spiritual armor finally breathing a sigh of relief to escape the endless nightmare.

- "Hey, I think you can let go of my hand now" – Without realizing that I was squeezing Akira's hand tightly, I was surprised to see the shy expression on his face while his eyes looked around him in an attempt to for covering half of her face with the pashmina.

- "What's wrong Akari-chan? Are you afraid that someone will take a photo of you holding a high school girl's hand? That could be dangerous right?" – Trying to annoy him a little, he felt his heartbeat accelerate as he held his wrist. Making my playful side more insistent to bother him by seeing the reactions on his face. Daring to whisper to hate.

- "Could even your girlfriend know?"

- "Yes, it would be bad if she found out. So please let me go" – When I heard him tell me that he had a girlfriend, a slight pang began to feel in my chest as I looked directly into his eyes that rested on that pair of blushing cheeks.

Feeling guilty for bothering him, I let go of his hand and lowered my gaze slightly as I apologized to him. I knew what it was like to have someone special in your heart and how important those feelings were. So I stopped bothering him, taking a few steps back as I tripped over the edges of the boarding limit signs.

- "Careful!" – When I was about to fall to the ground near the edge of the platform, Akira's arms surrounded me, carrying me tightly to his chest, falling on the floor of the station before the astonished gaze of the spectators.

- "Moron! "You almost broke your skull on the edges of the platform."

- "I am so sorry." – Feeling that curious glances were beginning to fall on us, I got up as quickly as I could from Akira, beginning to run through the crowd while covering my mouth with my right hand completely consumed by shame.

A strange sensation squeezed my chest as I ran, making my heart pound while my face blushed with the thoughts that were crossing my mind at that moment.