Chapter 51. A predator
Walking through the ruins, Ayaka knew she had no weapon — not that she was good with any to begin with. She wasn’t trained to fight. She wasn’t even good at surviving. All she had was a passive skill she barely understood: True Sight Domain and a body that still smelled like fear.
Yet somehow, she was expected to defeat a lunatic wielding a machine gun.
Her fingers clenched into trembling fists. That thing inside her, her only hope, refused to activate on command. She had tried again and again to "use" her skill, but it was always just there — ambient, half-awake, like a useless ghost haunting her skin.
She couldn’t even depend on Yuki to have her back when things turn south. Yuki didn’t look like she gave a damn whether Ayaka lived or died.
Ayaka stopped and closed her eyes, trying once again to make it work.
Activate.
But nothing happened.
She clenched her tiny fists in frustration. The rattling sound of gunfire echoed closer — the man was near. Yuki dashed ahead, her steps nimble and light before launching herself onto a low building. Then, in one motion, she leapt to another, a taller one. She looked back over her shoulder at Ayaka, her blonde hair whipping behind her.
"Go on, kiddo!" she shouted down with a smirk. "Show me what you’ve got! Kill the bastard or get shredded! Either way, I’ll be watching!"
Ayaka didn’t reply. She just nodded, hiding the scream in her throat. She moved, sticking to crumbled walls and shattered buses for cover She knew sge was also targeted by many people who wanted to kill her for her coins. The machine gunner wasn’t the only enemy. Anyone could pop up, anywhere, anytime — and slit her throat for a pouch of change.
She crept closer, 200 meters or so from the man and stopped.