Guns And Needles

Chapter 14

Francis let out an agonizing scream as he collapsed on the ground and at the same time, let go of the sword that he's using. Blood was oozing out of his arm, damping his gray shirt.

"Whewz... I didn't mean for the tip of my sword to touch your body."

Francis raised his head and gave the man before him a reassuring smile.
"Nah... As you've said, my reflexes are slow." He then stood up straight with his left hand grasping his right arm that was injured.

The man, that was the same age as Francis, chuckled awkwardly before scratching the back of his head. "I told you to ask someone else to train you. I mean, I already assigned someone for you. I'm not good at teaching."

"Yeah! Let me be the one to train you, Velron!" Another guy, who seemed to be bored but amused, said as his hand played with a butterfly knife."Riku ain't gonna be any help to you. If anything, he might even kill you accidentaly." He laughed that made Riku glare at him.
"What? Hahaha... Tell me I'm lying."

"Wanna have a spar, Jordan?"

Jordan then shut his mouth and stopped laughing. However, the amusement was still visible in his eyes. Riku could only roll his eyes then turn back to Francis.

"Anyways, enough with me being a sucker at teaching. Jokes aside, you're showing improvements with your moves. Even your speed is far different from when you started training." He then shook his head. "It's quite impressive."

"Agreed!" Jordan butts in. "If you're faced with normal assassins, you'll survive." He added with a serious face.

"Yeah, right." Francis chuckled, not taking their compliments seriously.

"We're being honest though." Jordan protests as he noticed Francis' reaction. "Right, Riku?"

Both men turned to the sole Japanese person in the room. Riku had his arms crossed as he intensly stared at Francis.

"Uhh-- Something wrong Ri--"

"Have you ever tried using daggers as your weapon?" Riku asked, cutting off whatever Jordan was about to say.

"Huh? I haven't. Why?"

"Mmm..." Riku nodded as if he was having an internal debate within his head. "Let's try that next time. Let's go get you treated first." He said as his strict and calculating demanor was replaced with his worried expression.
"Fvck. I really didn't mean to hurt you, Fran."

He slowly approached Francis and checked the injury. Francis then kept on saying it was fine but Riku kept on apologizing. Seeing this no ending scene, Jordan let out an exasperated sigh and spoke.

"Oi, Riku. Let's go upstairs and treat Francis. You apologizing won't treat him." And with that, he dragged Francis out of their training room with a puppy-like Riku tagging along.

"This guy's woman might assassinate you tonight, so watch out for your back, Ikeda." Jordan chuckled, slightly turning his head to face Frnacis. "And you might recieve an earful sermon from the said woman."

Francis could only laugh at his remark. However the smile on his face did not last long. The scene before him, his laughing and sulking friends disappeared from his sight.

An earpiercing scream filled Francis' ears followed by something hitting his chest. He then looked down in daze. A woman shorter than him was hitting his chest with her trembling fists. Her glasses that were always clear was fogged up due to her tears.