The Late Bird's Tale: A Tale of the Floating World

Part 1 || 2 | Sakura | Their Next Case I, Two Gunslingers II

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A Tale of Two Gunslingers II

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And before she knew it, Sakura was encased inside of Momo's giant peach blossom, trapping her up to her armpits inside its enormous pink petals, filling her with a sense of déjà vu.

"That's payback," Momo said. "Now we're even."

Sakura just gaped, remembering what she had done to her older sister at the offices of the Muse Bureau two days ago, and looked down at her feet. A giant seal of Momo's peach blossom inscribed her inside its circumference, and that's when she cursed herself for falling for one of Momo's traps. That's when she knew that Momo was still getting under her skin, whether it was the art of playing video games or the art of payback. And that's when she deadpanned and gritted her teeth, then clenched her hands into fists and flailed her arms, saying, "Do you have to rub it in like that?"

Momo winked at her, saying, "Just keeping score."

Which pushed Sakura into rage-mode. Her face turned red, and steam blew out of her ears and fluttered her twin tails, making her look like a peach blossom-shaped fire hydrant letting off steam. All the while, more steam built up inside of the giant peach blossom encasing Sakura's body, making it grow bigger to the point of popping. Then, when it blew into a flutter of cherry blossoms, it ruptured the holographic haze and revealed a massive dojo with sliding shoji screen doors and paper lanterns floating overhead. As the blossoms settled, Sakura had both holsters around her legs and both guns aimed at her mischievous sister, fingers on the triggers.

"Welcome to the gun range," Momo said, then raised her hands when Sakura refused to drop her aim. "Are we playing fifty-two pickup with guns or tag with guns?"

Sakura lowered the guns but kept her eyes fixed on her, saying, "Nothing more from you, or I'll tag you."

"Fine," Momo said and manifested her gun in her hand, making one of the guns disappear from Sakura's hand.

Sakura looked down on her left leg and found Momo's holster missing, then looked back at Momo and saw the leg holster around her sister's right leg.

"How did you do that?" Sakura said.

"I have my ways," Momo said. "Where's the deck?"

Sakura took it out from the waistband of her shorts.

Which caught Momo's eye: she said, "Are you trying to give me cooties or something?"

Sakura deadpanned, saying, "My pockets are too small," and she slid the cards out of the box, leaving the Jokers inside, then discarded the box and riffled the rest of the cards into the air. "Which suit?"

So Momo drew her gun and shot the first one that hit the ground, where a peach blossom grew out of it with the card's suit. "Diamonds," she said, then shot it again and revealed its rank. "It's the Jack of Diamonds. That's the general. Sakura, are you ready?"

Sakura took out her gun, gripping it with both hands, and nodded at her sister.

So Momo said, "Game, start!"

And the game of 'Fifty-two pickup with guns' began with Sakura and Momo running to one of the shoji screens of the dojo and hiding behind it, while the rest of the cards glowed a neon pink on the tatami mats and turned into Momo's peach blossoms, one by one. The designated 'general' of the deck, the Jack of Diamonds, transformed into a dashing long-haired teenager, while the three other Jacks of Clubs, Spades, and Hearts turned into long-haired handsome young men as his lieutenants, though they seemed to be in their twenties. They all wore berets on their heads, doublets on their chests, and trews on their legs. Meanwhile, the rest of Momo's peach blossoms dissipated from the ground and manifested as dual revolvers in the hands of the four Jacks.