"Okay, first you must use this."
Luna took one of the headphones on the counter and gave it to Cain.
"Alright."
Cain accepted the headphones and put them on. The surrounding noise immediately dimmed. 'Bang!' Even the gunpowder explosion from Rika's pistol faded.
He glanced to the side and back to his counter, realizing that the pistol given by Luna had a slight difference.
According to the data he received from the microchip. Rika's pistol had a sleek, futuristic model with a small caliber bullet, shown on its muzzle.
The exact opposite was true for Cain's. What appeared before him was an old, reinforced model, a pistol with great destructive power, and known as the king of pistols.
His eyebrows rose when Luna picked up the pistol and positioned herself close to Cain.
'Eh? What's going on?'
His heart rate skyrocketed, pumping hot blood to his cheeks as he smelled a sweet, milky aroma from the wave of Luna's silver hair.
Cain took a step back. His black pupils narrowed as he felt a chill crawling up his spine.
'This is?!'
He swallowed, seeing Luna's flat expression, reflecting not a glimmer of emotion in her sharp blue eyes.
Luna pointed the 'Winter Hawk' forward. Her stance was poised, and her hands gripped the pistol handle tight. She was like a statue, standing rigid in a flawless stance.
Her delicate finger moved, pulling the trigger, which blasted the bullet inside. A flame erupted, accompanied by a loud blast that resounded as the recoil jolted her body.
The bullet travelled in a matter of milliseconds and pierced the target's chest from a distance.
Smoke came out of the pistol's muzzle, reviving the silence that had descended on the practice area. Even Rika stopped her training and peeked over at them.
"The sound is so loud! Eh, wait a minute, isn't that your pistol, Senior?"
Cain shifted his attention to Rika, his breath hitching when he heard the unexpected news from her mouth.
"W-What do you mean?"
The boy alternated his gaze left and right, waiting for confirmation while Luna let out a long sigh and loosened the tension in her body.
Luna nodded slowly, putting the pistol back in her hand and turning towards Cain while rotating her wrist.
"As always, the recoil is still too heavy for me."
The silver-haired girl paused briefly and moved aside.
"Cain, why don't you try it?"
"Hm!?"
Cain's expression contorted, wondering what was actually happening in Luna's head when she offered him something hers.
A few seconds passed in silence, making Luna tilt her head sideways and take the pistol herself, then she pushed it into Cain's hand.
"Try it!"
Cain, who was snapped from his own reverie, grasped the miniature cannon in his hand. The weight of the metal somehow crept like a chain entangling his hand up to his shoulder.
This was the first time he gripped a firearm. His index finger twitched as if whispering that it wanted to pull the freely exposed trigger.
"A-Alright."
He nodded solemnly. Luna and Rika moved from their spots and stood behind the boy.
Rika moved closer, raising her right hand to cover her moving lips.
"Senior, are you okay with that?"
Luna looked at Cain's side profile, the boy who, for some reason, had been stirring something within her since their first encounter.
It was like remembering the pungent smell of spilt oil on the street and the chilling silence of that day. The day when the eyes of a child named Luna were opened to the reality she lived in.
She still didn't know the ambiguous identity buried within her. But what was clear was that the exclusive pistol her father had given her was still too heavy for her.
"I just want to confirm something."
"A-Alright."
Rika pulled her body away, then glanced toward Cain, who was still letting himself get used to the pistol.
'Can he really do it?'
While the two girls behind him were immersed in small talk, Cain closed his eyes, trying to dig back into the memory he received about firearms.
'I have to grip the handle with both hands, make sure the gap between the thumb and index finger is tight with this part…'
He opened his eyes, and his fingers began to freeze. However, he could apply enough grip to make the pistol feel comfortable in his hand.
Cain stood right behind the counter, gazing straight at the shooting range. He took his stance while raising his pistol.
His eyes were open, and he brought the pistol sights to the right side. His pupils constricted as he focused on the target tens of meters away from his location.
With a slow puff from his mouth, his index finger entered the trigger area. And the moment he held his breath, Cain's body tensed as he pulled the trigger, accompanied by a large explosion.
Bang!
A heavy jolt hit his hand, flowing continuously to his shoulder, upper body, and into his brain.
At the same time, the pistol's muzzle sprayed fire that caused the bullet to travel through the atmosphere and pierce the target in the distance.
A loud sound echoed in his ears, making Cain expel the air in his lungs.
'Huff, huff, such an insane recoil?!'
"C-Cain?!"
Before his name was called, the boy held his breath and pulled the trigger several more times.
The shock that spread to his hand made his shoulder numb, but Cain's gaze was sharp like an eagle observing its prey in the distance.
Click!
Cain sighed in relief and lowered the pistol's muzzle to the ground. The heat of the metal in his hand pierced his skin, yet the smoke from the muzzle exhaled a tangy sulfur that caused his expression to tense.
He turned around and saw the two girls behind him frozen. Rika had wide eyes and covered her mouth, while from Luna's flat expression, Cain caught a slight ripple in her stiff expression.
His lips parted, unable to contain a grin in his mouth.
"How was it, what do you think?"
Luna flinched at the question. She gazed far ahead before nodding and answering.
"Not bad for your first time."
"Is that so?"
The grey-haired boy shrugged his shoulders as he put away the weapon in the counter.
Her delicate finger curled up, clenching into a tight fist when she saw the target. There were several holes, all gathered in the head area. Not a single bullet missed the target.
Luna still remembered the first time she fired that pistol. Her wrist was sprained, and the numbness in her shoulder, plus the horror of the searing heat that kissed her forehead when the gun flew from her hand.
She would never forget that horrifying moment. And finally, after several years of developing her physical and mental aspects, Luna could finally pull the trigger of that pistol again, yet…
Her pink lips lifted, showing a warmth that rarely appeared in her cold expression.
'There is always a mountain above a mountain, huh?'
Her feet brought her closer to Cain. She took another magazine from the tactical pocket circling her right thigh.
"Do you want to continue?"
The boy was stiff, staring straight at Luna, who couldn't help but smile slightly at Cain's flustered expression, which she found cute.
"Is it okay for me to continue?"
"Yes, go ahead. This is the place for that anyway. Also Rika, are you done with your training?"
This time, Luna changed her target. The red-haired girl scratched her cheek while giving a wry smile.
"Sorry, Senior. Could you accompany me for more?"
Luna nodded and threw the magazine in her hand, which Cain caught with a reflex.
"Continue your training. I will support you as much as possible from the back."
Cain and Rika exchanged glances. They both bowed their bodies simultaneously, which softened Luna's expression.
"Thank you, Senior."
"Um, leave it to me."
***
"Thank you very much for your support, Senior."
It was nighttime when Cain and Rika ended their shooting training. The two of them walked on either side of Luna like bodyguards.
The night wind blew, touching Cain's skin, which was freezing from the sweat drenching his body.
"No problem, right, almost forgot!? Rika, can you raise your watch for me?"
"Huh? My watch, is it like this?."
Luna approached, and as the two watches met, she whispered.
"Friend invitation initiated."
Rika raised her eyebrows, wondering what the kind girl in front of her was doing. However, when she felt a vibration on her wrist, she stared at the display as she received a friend invitation with a gaping mouth.
"I hope we can be friends from now on."
Hearing that, Rika's head nodded furiously, as if it wanted to fall off.
"Um, um, I want to be your friend too, senior. Thank you, I'm so happy."
"I'm glad, oh and Cain."
Cain froze, seeing Luna approach while raising her smartwatch, circling her left wrist.
'Ah, she's the same as me.'
The sentence immediately appeared in his mind, which he corrected by shaking his head.
"It would be my honor."
"Fufu, what is that way of talking?"
The laugh that came out of her mouth was like a melodious tune that ignited a fire in the boy's heart.
'Calm down, me!'
"Friend invitation initiated."
The vibration from her hand spread to his brain. It crashed into Cain's fading consciousness, making it difficult for him to distinguish between reality and dreams.
With a single tap of his finger, Cain and Luna were now connected through a neural network, allowing them to communicate telepathically.
"With this, we are friends now. If so, I'll take my leave first. Rika, do you want to come along?"
"Yes, see you tomorrow, Cain."
Cain nodded, his black eyes unable to turn away from the silver-haired girl's back as she moved further away and disappeared from his sight.
He raised his face to the black sky, and thousands of glittering stars pulsated as if staring back at him, smiling. Then, unconsciously, the boy raised his fist up.
"Hell yeah! I got a beautiful girl number."