I was sitting on a park bench at night with a girl wearing a mask standing in front of me, pointing a gun at me.
She was waiting for me to call my mother to let her know that I would be coming home late.
I looked into her fearful eyes, realizing that she was truly a novice killer.
I hung up the phone and quickly put my phone back into my pocket. Then, I looked back at the girl.
"Have you finished talking to your mother?"
"Yes... And? Are you going to kill me with that gun?"
"Y-yes... Of course!"
"Your voice is shaking."
"Shut up!"
"If you wanted to kill me from the beginning, why didn't you just shoot me from behind when I was at the vending machine? Are you afraid the gunshot would be heard by others?"
"Y-yeah... You're right."
"No... You hesitated just now, you must be afraid of something else. Are you afraid of being caught by people around?"
"Of course I'm afraid! Killing is wrong! I could go to jail if anyone finds out!"
"Then why did you take on this job?"
"T-that..."
Her grip loosened slightly, and her gaze became unfocused on me.
I sighed and said, "You're not cut out for this job. Find a better job."
"No one knows until you try!"
"So, you don't understand that you're not suitable because you haven't experienced failure."
"Eh?"
I immediately kicked her gun, causing it to fly into the air. Her loose grip made it easy for me to do so.
She tried to retrieve her gun, even jumping for it. But as she jumped, I struck her in the stomach to momentarily distract her. And that's when I easily took her gun.
She looked in pain and coughed while holding her stomach.
"What are you doing, damn it!"
"First, your mistake was ignoring the person you were supposed to kill."
"Ha?"
"Second, your mistake was not killing me quickly because you doubted your own morals."
"I wasn't doubting-"
"Third!" I pointed her own gun at herself and said, "you didn't even know that the gun wouldn't fire if the trigger safety was still on."
I disabled the trigger safety and made her face look frightened. Because the gun now pointed at her could freely fire a bullet.
But unfortunately, I wasn't that cruel to kill someone who hadn't done anything to me.
Even though she planned to kill Beatrice, she was just a young girl in need of a job. Even though she looked about the same age as me, she was still too young to die.
That's why I shot into the sky several times and emptied the remaining bullets.
Oddly enough, there were only 11 bullets left. It surprised me a little.
This pistol is a Beretta 92, usually owned by law enforcement and the military, and the magazine of this weapon should have 12 bullets.
I checked the magazine, but it was completely empty with no signs of anomalies or damage.
I looked at the girl and thought, "Is she pretending to be innocent?"
Then I remembered the incident with the out-of-control truck earlier that afternoon.
"Hey, this gun belongs to someone else, right?"
"Eh? How did you know?" After saying that, she looked shocked and regretful, trying to cover her mouth.
"So, you're not the one who shot the truck driver back then, right? Someone else, and they must be a professional killer. Did she... Or he recruit you for this mission? Recruiting an underage child to kill, don't he have any shame?"
"No! My sister is not like that!" She blurted out again out of emotion.
This girl was really easy to read and manipulate. But it seemed like she was also not good at lying. So maybe she wanted to do this on her own accord.
But for what? Her sister? Family? Family tradition? No, there must be a more sensible reason. Like... Helping her sister work? But why?
And her sister is a professional, he wouldn't let his sister commit her first murder alone. Is this her own decision?
I looked around and tried to find the tallest building I could see. And I found a building near the city square with a towering clock with a giant clock face on it.
It wasn't very clear, but I saw a point where there was a slight opening between the giant clock hands. I immediately understood and smiled at her.
Shortly after, a silent bullet flew towards me at a very high speed. But it missed, making me realize that her sister was indeed there and she was giving me a sign that my suspicions were correct.
I smiled again after realizing the sign her sister gave me and began waving my hand towards her sister.
Meanwhile, that girl who was still with me suddenly approached me and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Eh? Didn't you even notice that your sister's bullet passed by my face earlier?"
"Eh? My sister? Wait, is my sister around here? Where is she?"
"So, you came to me of your own accord?"
"Y-yeah... I thought by getting rid of you, my sister could easily carry out her mission."
"Finally, you're honest with me."
"Eh? Wait, have I been helping my enemy all this time?" She looked very surprised.
And I was slightly disturbed by her words.
"Calling me an enemy is a bit odd. I haven't even done anything to you. Call me Will, my name is William, William Harrington."
"William Harrington... Wait! Why are you introducing yourself to me?"
"Hmm? Why? Of course, because we're going to be friends!"
"Friends?"
"I understand what your sister wants from me. I also understand why she let you approach me. Your sister, she's a kind person, isn't she?"
"Hehe... How did you know? That's right! My sister is very kind, even to everyone!" She looked truly proud as she said that.
"Hey, can you call your sister right now?"
"Eh? Why?"
"There's something I need to discuss with her. And it's about you..."
"About me? Are you going to ask my sister to stop her work? Are you going to threaten her by holding me hostage?"
"What do you mean? Are you stupid? I don't even have the slightest intention of stopping you. Your sister could kill me right now if she wanted to."
"Eh? Really? Is my sister watching us? Where is she?"
"Never mind, call your sister right now."
"Oh o-okay..."
In the end, this girl followed my words. I was somewhat grateful that she was very obedient. Although there was a sense of annoyance because she was too naive. She even trusted the enemy she was supposed to kill.
She was really not cut out for this job, she couldn't even kill someone properly. She shouldn't be in this ruthless industry. And to make her realize that, I had to ask for help from her sister who was currently watching me with her sniper aimed directly at my head right now.