To Be A Scrapper (Suzuya Juuzou)

Chapter 33

"Nice job." Jiro encouraged as I barely caught sight of the bullet cutting through the air at insane speed, ingraining itself right on the dummy's neck.

My shoulders sagged in defeat as I dropped the M27 automatic rifle, letting it clatter loudly against the floor as a frustrated sigh escaped my lips. "I'm still not hitting the bullseye."

"C'mon, don't give up just yet. You just have to control the recoil a bit." He said as he picked the rifle off the concrete floor.

"I've been trying to do it for weeks now!" I growled, my teeth gritted as I shot him an intense look. He answered by grinning sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

"And you've gotten so much better at it since then!" He exclaimed. "Let's just fix your stance a bit, alright?"

At my questioning gaze he just shot me a wink, hazel eyes shining in excitement as he handed the rifle to me.

"I think it's time you learn the proper stance to fire a rifle. It's called the athletic stance." He said while taking my arms and guiding them to their respective positions on the firearm.

"I don't know Jiro. I basically suck at shooting." A gentle groan left my lips as Jiro tutted beside me.

"You wanna see Rei again, don't you?"

I sighed in frustration at the reminder that I had made zero progress towards my goal, but nodded nonetheless and listened to Jiro's instructions.

"Alright. First of all, square your shoulders up with the target and stand with your feet shoulder width apart in a straight line."

"It's practically the same as the other one!"

I received a smack upside the head from the blonde which made me stumble a bit forward. Acting on impulse, my right hand shot out toward his extended arm, grabbing it and twisting it behind his back.

A yelp left his lips as he looked at me through wide eyes. "No! Don't do anything! My face is too pretty to be hit! I surrender!" He rapidly said in a panicked tone. (Pfft Jiro wtf you doing with Italy from Hetalia? XD)

"It's your fault!" I grumbled. "You should know better than to sneak up on me like that."

"What? But you knew I was there-!" I pulled Jiro's hand further between his other elbow, making him yelp once again. "Just let me go, please." He weakly uttered.

I couldn't hold back the small grin on my lips as I finally let him go. "You're such an idiot some times, ya know. Aren't you supposed to be an elite?"

"Hey! Don't question my eliteness!" He gasped.

"Alright, alright. Just show me that stance already!"

"You don't deserve my tutoring, I'm only doing it because I'm awesome like that." He huffed before clapping his hands. "Ok so shoulders are squared, feet are shoulder width apart." He revised my position before continuing.

"Right, now stagger your strong side foot about six inches behind your weak side foot."

He called as his hands guided my left knee back a few inches.

"Like this?" I called out.

"Perfect. Now place the buttstock of the rifle near the centerline of your body, close to your shoulder. That way your body will stop the recoil." He smiled at me before circling around, inspecting my stance.

"Keep your elbows down. Relax those shoulders. Do you see the dummy?" He asked. I slowly nodded as my fingers reached for the trigger.