Chapter 2: A Manager's Duties

"Okay, so that brings your total to 9,879 yen. Have a nice day,"Naru said.

"Do you accept debit cards?"

The old lady standing in front of the register held up her debit card.

"Yes, we accept debit cards."

"Okay, good."

She scanned the card and nothing happened.

"That's odd, it's not working."

She proceeded to scan it five more times. I stared at her impatiently as the line was progressively getting longer.

"It's upside down,"I said.

"Oh, I see,"She replied.

She then flipped the card over and put in her number, it beeped saying it was out of funds.

"Oh dear, let me try another one,"She said.

She reached into her purse slowly and fumbled through a small wallet. After about 30 seconds she pulled out another debit card and proceeded to scan it.

"It's upside down again!"I said.

"Right right, sorry."

She flipped it over and scanned it, she put in her pin and the purchase finally went through. She took her cart and left the aisle.

"Well, that was excruciating,"I said.

"You must have patience, one slip up and you could really be in troub...,"

He suddenly stopped mid-sentence. The cash register in front of him had suddenly started beeping. A red light suddenly began to flash on the register.

"Finally! Something interesting!"I said.

I jumped to the register and pushed him out of the way. I looked at it.

"Code 15 huh? I don't remember that being in the book..."

"Damnit... looks like we got a hit,"He said.

"A hit?"

He put up a sign stating that the register was closed and took off his apron. He then pressed a button on the register started typing some kind of code into the keypad. A loud noise came from the register, as it let out three short beeps before suddenly sliding forward revealing a small set of steps.

"Hope your ready,"He said.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me down the steps, the register closed behind us locking us in.

"That isn't good,"I muttered

He guided me down a long corridor and into a big room. I looked around and was overcome with shock. The room was full of military grade weapons and armor. There were even a few weapons that I'd never seen before.

"Hurry up, you've got 50 seconds,"Naru said.

He was already away picking out weapons. He grabbed a set of body armor, a bundle of hand grenades, two colt pistols, and an AR -15 assault rifle.

"What are you doing?"I asked.

He tossed me a pistol and a headset, followed by a light bulletproof vest.

"Put this on, we gotta go,"He said.

A metal door opened from the far wall revealing a large elevator. We stepped onto it and it closed behind us.

"Keep your head down and stay close,"He said.

"Mind explaining what's going on? And what do I need a gun and body armor for?"I asked.

"Just put the armor on and load that gun. You'll find out soon enough,"He said.

The door opened out and we stepped out into a small room. A large screen stood before us before turning on revealing a very large man decked out with a large minigun.

"When I heard that a store was going to give out a million yen if they could beat one of their employees in this arena, I was hesitant at first, but after seeing you two right now, I must say I'm feeling pretty confident right now,"He said.

"You sound pretty damn cocky for someone who's gonna get their head blown off in a few minutes,"He said.

'Wait, what?'

"You kidding me? Small fries like you don't stand a chance against me. I've been in the army for 10 years, I've killed dozens with this baby right here. You two're as good as dead,"

"We'll see about that,"Naru replied.

The screen went black.

"Begin!"A loud voice said.

The wall in front of us opened up and Naru immediately ran out of the room and crouched behind a small wall. I ran over to him and crouched down with my back pinned against it.

"Mind explaining what the hell is going on?"I asked.

"Get down!"He yelled.

He pushed my head down as a barrage of bullets flew over our heads. I felt a bullet graze the top of my head as he pulled me down.

"Wait, what the fuck is going on?!"

"What the hell do you think?"He asked.

He shoved a magazine into his assault rifle and began to fire over the wall. After he emptied his clip, he quickly crouched back behind the wall barely dodging the barrage of bullets as he started to reload. I covered my head as bullets flew past us.

"Jeez, didn't Nadia tell you anything about this store?"He asked.

"Just that it was made to help overpopulated areas,"I said.

"And how do you think that the store does that exactly?"He asked.

"By distributing a large surplus of goods, of course,"I replied.

"While that's true, that doesn't really help the overpopulation problem. This store is designed to help in another way… by limiting the population itself." He said.

"Wait, so you mean we kill people? This can't be legal!" I said.

"We don't just kill anyone, we follow a strict set of rules. First, we offer up a large cash prize to face us in the arena. They participate of their own free will and are fully aware that doing so may very well lead to their deaths. We also fight in this arena to avoid any unnecessary casualties, and even provide top of the line weapons for the challengers to keep the matches fair. Think of it as a community service." He explained.

"This is freaking nuts! I can't kill people!"

"Well, you better figure out how, because as the manager, it's your job to partner up with whoever is called in for a match, and act as ringleader in the event of a team showdown."

A grenade suddenly appeared behind the wall. I jumped out of the way just in time. My ears rang loudly. Bullets began to soar over my head as I quickly ran behind a large wall, just barely avoiding my death.

I'm going to die here aren't I? This guy is seriously going to kill me!

"You had better stop acting like a pussy and start fighting back, at this rate, you'll be dead in no time."

"You guys are nuts!"

A ray of bullets shot towards me, I quickly moved further into cover as the bullets rained down on me.

"This is your job now kid, you'd better get used to it. As the acting manager, you're gonna have to attend every battle that is rank 4 and under. That means that every day you are gonna have to put your life on the line. So stop being a pussy and fire that gun of yours! Otherwise you're gonna be the one with a bullet through your head!"

As he said that. Naru was firing rapidly at the gunner's hiding spot behind a wall. The mini-gunner immediately switched targets, and began to fire towards his location.

'This shit is way to crazy for me, there's gotta be a way outta here, right? Or at least a hiding spot to lay low until this is all over, right?'

I surveyed the area. The arena resembled a destroyed town, with cars and half destroyed buildings everywhere. The only high ground was a single metal tower at the end of the arena, where the gunner stood pouring barrages of bullets down on us. I quickly looked around the arena and found what looked like the perfect place to lie low. A small car was tipped over on the left side of the arena, and it was leaning against the wall, providing cover from sneak attacks. As long as he didn't leave the platform, I'd be fine. Just as I was about to take my chance and run for it, a voice stopped me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Nadia's voice said in my ear.

"Huh? Nadia?"I asked.

"I'm speaking to you through your headset. As I was saying, I wouldn't hide away if I were you."

"What do you mean?"

"Your contract specifically states that you must participate in arena fights. Hiding away isn't really 'participating' now is it? You wouldn't want to breach your contract, now would you? That's a million yen fine you know."

"What do you mean? I don't remember seeing that in the contract!"I yelled.

"What do you mean? It's on page 32, right along with your signature, as well as a small note saying, and I quote 'Thanks for the opportunity, I won't let you down!' in red pen. Wait don't tell me you didn't read the small print?!"She asked.

"What small print?"I asked.

"Oh dear... you didn't read it? Well, it's too late to go back now, you already signed a year long contract. I guess you have no other choice then to just deal with it until it expires."

'Damn it! She's got to be kidding me, I mean, I do admit that I was a bit hasty signing the contract, and did skip a little over a few details, but for it to have a clause containing something this crazy? What the hell am I going to do? There's no way I can pay that much money! Am I seriously stuck here for an entire year!?

I looked at the gunfire coming down on Naru from the wall nearby. The gunner appeared to have completely forgotten about my presence, probably due to me being inactive for so long.

'Damn it... I've got no choice. I have no choice but to fight him. I can't afford to pay that much money, even if Emi wasn't in the hospital. Besides, this job is my best shot at helping her. I'm going to have to take this guy down, but how exactly am I supposed to do that?'

I looked around. He had the high ground, standing on a large platform high above us, making it impossible to sneak up on him. I tried to fire a round at him, but missed entirely. Noticing me, he switched targets an quickly fired another barrage of bullets at my direction. I quickly ducked behind my cover.

'Damn, why do I have to be such a goddamn terrible shot? How the hell am I supposed to take him down if I can't even shoot a gun?'

As I struggled to think of a way, I suddenly spotted a long titanium pipe lying next to me.

'Hmm... that could work.'

I picked it up.

"Hey, Naru, got any grenades left?"

"I've got one or two,"He said.

"Alright, I'm on my way,"I said.

"Huh? What you mean your on your way…"

I bolted out from behind my cover.

"Hahaha! Your mine now!"The man shouted as he began to fire his weapon at me.

'Cling!' My pipe rang loudly as the first bullet smashed against it, due to the speed and force of the swing, I managed to deflect the bullet away from me. I quickly sliced again, successfully blocking the second as well. I ran full speed towards Naru while deflecting the barrage of bullets coming towards me and slid behind the cover.

"What the fuck was that shit!? That was like something out of a goddamn manga!? Isn't it supposed to be impossible to do that?!"

"Maybe for a normal person, but this is the world kendo champion you're looking at!"I said.

"I smell bullshit."

I took a grenade from Naru.

"You seriously think you can make it close enough to use that thing?"

"Not going to be a problem, just leave this to me,"I said.

"Alright, what do you need me to do?"He asked.

"Just sit back, and watch a man work."

I ran out from behind the cover at full speed. The gunner quickly fired a barrage of bullets at me. I dodged them, deflecting anything that got too close to me. Naru quickly began to provide cover fire with his rifle as I ran towards the platform he stood on. I ran straight towards his location blocking his bullet barrages left and right, as I slid under the small metal platform and skillfully threw the grenade onto the platform. I then rushed out from underneath it from the other side as the grenade exploded behind me. As the platform collapsed, I looked behind me to see a large pile of blood and the front half of a body lying on the ground before me.

"I say that took care of him,"I said.

"Match over, please exit the arena now,"A loud voice said.

The exit door opened up, and Naru and I exited the field.