Chapter 5: New Faces
The moment we reached the bridge floor, we didn't stop.
Stopping was for people who weren't being chased by a giant psychopath with a sledgehammer.
We were not those people.
The woman and I practically threw ourselves onto the rope bridge.
The entire structure swayed violently beneath our feet.
Wood creaked.
Ropes groaned.
The city stretched endlessly below us.
I refused to look down.
Not because I was scared of heights.
I was absolutely scared of heights.
I simply chose not to acknowledge it.
Much healthier that way.
Somehow, we made it across.
Alive.
A truly revolutionary concept.
The moment we reached the neighboring building, we pushed through the rooftop door and kept moving.
Up.
Down.
Through hallways.
Across another bridge.
Only after putting an entire building between us and the sledgehammer guy did we finally stop.
"Haa... haa..."
My legs felt like they were about to file a formal complaint.
Beside me, the woman slid down against the wall and sat on the floor.
Neither of us spoke.
Mostly because breathing seemed more important.
For a while, the only sounds were our ragged breaths and the distant whistle of the wind.
Eventually, the woman spoke.
"...We made it."
"Technically."
I wiped the sweat from my forehead.
"We're still trapped in murder city, though."
"...Right."
She let out a weak laugh.
The kind people made when they were one inconvenience away from a mental breakdown.
Honestly, fair.
For a few seconds, she stared at the floor.
Then her gaze shifted toward the pistol in my hand.
"...You shot him."
"Yeah."
"The giant guy."
"I know which one you're talking about."
She ignored me.
"Why did you stop?"
"Hm?"
"You had a gun."
She pointed at it.
"When he crashed into the wall."
"Oh."
That.
"I would've loved to keep shooting."
"Then why didn't you?"
Without a word, I pressed the magazine release.
Click.
The magazine slid into my hand.
I tossed it toward her.
She caught it, looked inside, then checked again.
"..."
"..."
"...You're kidding."
"Wish I was."
She looked at the pistol, then back at me.
"You only had one bullet?"
"Had. Yeah."
"..."
"You challenged that thing with one bullet?"
"Technically, I challenged him with a sharpened metal rod."
"That's not any better."
"I know."
The woman buried her face in her hands.
For some reason, I felt slightly offended.
A few seconds later, she lowered them and sighed.
"...Yuri."
"Hm?"
"My name."
"Oh."
I nodded.
"Hiro."
"..."
Yuri looked like she wanted to say something about my lackluster response, then apparently decided against it.
Probably the correct decision.
After resting for another minute, we got moving again.
Because while sitting down was nice, getting murdered while sitting down seemed significantly less nice.
A little while later, we reached another rooftop.
I pushed open the door.
And immediately froze.
Someone was there.
A man.
He had just stepped off the bridge connecting the neighboring building and stood only a few meters away.
He froze too.
For a brief moment, nobody moved.
Then my arm reacted on its own.
The pistol was already raised and aimed directly at him.
The man immediately stopped whatever he had been about to do.
He didn't raise the metal bat in his hand.
Didn't make any sudden movements either.
Good.
That lowered the chances of me accidentally shooting him by exactly zero percent.
The man looked rough.
Really rough.
He wore a police uniform.
Or what remained of one.
Parts of it were torn. Fresh cuts covered his arms, and blood stained several sections of his clothes.
His face looked exhausted.
The kind of exhausted that came from experiencing far too much bullshit in a very short amount of time.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then the man sighed.
A tired sigh.
The kind a salaryman made after hearing the words mandatory overtime.
"Easy."
His voice was rough.
"I'm not looking for trouble."
"Officer, that's exactly what someone looking for trouble would say."
The man stared at me.
"...Fair."
Honestly, that answer made me trust him a little more.
A little.
Then he glanced behind him, toward the bridge he had just crossed.
His expression immediately tightened.
"Anyway, we don't have time for this."
He adjusted his grip on the bat.
"You can keep that gun pointed at me if it makes you feel better, but we need to move."
"Um... okay?"
Seeing his expression, I frowned.
"First of all, calm down."
I lowered the pistol slightly.
"Second, why?"
I gestured toward him.
"Why the hurry? Are you being chased by a killer wearing some weird mask or something?"
The officer nodded immediately.
"Yeah. I am."
"..."
His answer came without hesitation.
"A smile Mask. It's currently on my tail."
He glanced back toward the bridge.
"And if we don't move, it'll be here any minute."
"..."
I frowned.
Come on.
My question was supposed to be a joke.
Why did he have to confirm it?
Before I could voice my frustration, he continued.
"Before you get any bright ideas just because you've got a gun, don't."
He pointed at the pistol in my hand.
"It won't help much."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
The officer remained silent for a moment, then sighed.
"Those Smiling Masks aren't new to me or my team."
"We've dealt with a few over the past several days."
His grip tightened around the bat.
Interesting.
"But this one..."
He looked toward the building he had come from.
"This one's different."
The exhaustion remained in his voice, but now there was something else beneath it.
Wariness.
"Anyway, we really don't have time for this."
"I'll explain while we move."
He motioned for us to follow.
"So let's go."
"Oh... yeah. Sure."
I nodded.
"I would love to do that."
The officer visibly relaxed.
"Good. Then let's—"
"But..."
I raised a finger.
"We can't."
The officer froze.
"...What?"
"There's a problem."
His expression immediately soured, but before he could unleash whatever colorful language he had prepared, I continued.
"It looks like this building only has two bridges."
I pointed toward the one behind him.
"One leads back to where you came from."
Then I gestured toward the stairwell behind us.
"And the other leads to where we came from."
The officer frowned.
"...And?"
"And basically..."
I scratched my cheek.
"We can't use ours either."
The officer stared at me.
Then realization slowly crossed his face.
"...You don't mean—"
"Yeah."
I nodded.
"We've got one on our tail too."
Yuri quickly added—
"Big guy."
"Really big guy," I continued. "Carries a giant sledgehammer. Very unpleasant."
The officer gave us a dumbfounded look, then released a long sigh.
"Of course you do."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
The bridge behind him was dangerous.
The stairwell behind us was dangerous.
And we were standing in the middle.
Fantastic.
The officer rubbed his face.
"I swear this place wakes up every morning and asks itself how it can make my day worse."
"Bold of you to assume it sleeps."
"Hiro."
"Sorry."
The officer sighed.
Yuri looked like she was seriously considering pushing me off the rooftop.
Honestly, fair.
The conversation died there.
Mostly because none of us had a useful idea.
Then something caught my attention.
Movement.
Far away, across the bridge.
A figure.
I narrowed my eyes.
"...Question."
Neither of them answered.
Probably because they were busy contemplating their terrible life choices.
"Does your problem happen to have curly blonde hair?"
The officer looked up.
"What?"
I kept staring across the bridge.
"And a katana?"
The officer stiffened.
"Also, a slutty nurse outfit that would honestly be attractive if it weren't covered in a concerning amount of blood?"
His eyes widened.
Realization came immediately.
He spun toward the bridge behind him.
More specifically—
Toward the neighboring rooftop he had just crossed.
And there she was.
Standing at the opposite end of the bridge in all her bloodstained glory.
Curly blonde hair.
A gleaming katana.
A nurse's uniform clinging tightly to her figure.
Exactly as I'd described.
For a brief moment, nobody moved.
Then her eyes met the officer's.
Without hesitation, she sprinted.
Fast.
Absurdly fast.
The bridge swayed violently beneath her feet.
The ropes groaned.
The wooden planks bounced.
She ignored all of it.
Her pace never faltered.
The distance between us began disappearing at an alarming rate.
"Shit!"
The officer cursed.
"She caught up faster than I expected."
He immediately turned toward me and held out his hand.
"Kid, quick! Give me the gun."
"What?"
"The gun!"
His voice remained controlled, but urgent.
"She's too fast."
He stepped toward me.
"I'm a better shot than you. I have a better chance of hitting her."
"...I can't."
The officer frowned.
"You little—"
"No."
I raised the pistol.
"I mean I literally can't."
I held it up.
"This thing doesn't have any bullets."
"What?!"
"I was bluffing earlier."
"..."
The officer looked at the pistol.
Then at me.
Then back at the rapidly approaching nurse.
"Shit."
For a moment, he looked ready to strangle me.
Instead, he swallowed whatever curse he was about to throw my way and tightened his grip around the metal bat.
There wasn't time.
Without another word, he sprinted forward.
Straight toward the incoming Nurse Mask.
She didn't slow down.
Neither did he.
The distance between them vanished.
The wind howled.
The Nurse Mask raised her katana.
The officer lifted his bat.
And for the first time since arriving in this world—
I got the feeling the giant guy with the sledgehammer had been the easy opponent.
End of Chapter 5