I should get some mattresses or something.
"My back...."
How is Horikita sleeping so peacefully?
Maybe sleeping on the hard floor does bother her. It's not like she would express her complaints.
I leave my tent and dig into my satchel to get out some meat.
When I was in Kenny's Store, I bought meat to cook.
I was going to use another way to cook it over the fire, but my knife should do the trick.
I stab my knife into the meat, then hang it over the fire.
"I won't have to buy any more meat, hunting animals for their pelts and meat is available for us now."
Since Kenny gave me a bow, I can use it so silently kill deer without scaring off nearby animals.
I kept my bow with Priceless, I can't carry all my weapons at the same time, and frankly they're just annoying to carry around with you, so I stored it on Priceless.
Horikita did the same yesterday, storing the repeater on Janus.
"It should be done now."
I move the piece of meat away from the fire and eat it.
"Could use seasoning, but I can't complain."
It's been a while since I have eaten meat, all that I have been eating was berries and canned food.
"Is Horikita still asleep?"
I guess she did mention being extremely tired yesterday.
I should wake her up.
I approach her tent and I am about to open it.
"... is this a good idea?"
I'm not sure if I should open the tent. But I need her to wake up.
We may have been taken to the Wild West, but Horikita is still a girl.
If she were to wake up the moment I enter her tent...
"... Horikita?"
No response.
Should I go in? In the case that she really was there, is it that weird to wake her up? It's not even guaranteed that she will wake up as soon as I enter.
"Why are you staring at my tent? You're not the type to commit perverted acts, but I still don't like it."
To my surprise, Horikita was actually behind me.
Well, specifically she was yards away, but she was still behind me.
"I thought you were asleep, I was debating whether I should go in and wake you up, or leave you alone."
She sighed exasperatedly. "Well... at least you were considerate enough to think about it. I was out in forest... you can guess."
It took me a second, but I can figure it out. It has been 2 days since we were sent back, it would be a miracle to hold it in for that long.
"Right... anyways, I have a piece of meat, cook it over the fire."
Horikita walks to the campfire and takes the piece of meat, then I hand her the knife.
While she was cooking it, I decided to tell her my plan. "Okay, we're going back to Python today."
"Huh?!"
She immediately turns to me in confusion.
"Watch it, you might burn it."
She directs her attention to her food. "What do you mean we're going back to Python? Aren't we wanted there?"
I shake my head. "I'M wanted, they didn't get a good look at your face, they might not even know you're a girl."
"That's true... but why are we going into Python?"
"Well, they have a bounty up for me, right? There should be more bounties up in the sheriff's office. We can gain more money for turning in bounties."
I doubt that there is a lack of murderers, the age of outlaws may be coming to an end, but that's why bounties should be at an all time high price.
"I need you to go into Python and collect a bounty poster from the sheriff's office, I'll come with you in case anything goes wrong."
Horikita sighs and moves her food away from the fire. "You better be right about this, I don't want the law to chase after us again."
Horikita takes the piece of meat off of the knife and starts to eat. "We'll be fine, the sheriff wasn't even chasing us, there is no way for him to recognize you himself, or off of a description of you."
I unhitch Priceless and mount him. "Get on Janus, we should get going now."
Horikita gets up and mounts Janus. "Fine, but am I allowed to bring any weapons into the office?"
Gun laws were a lot more tame at this time, she should be fine with bringing a weapon with her. "This is the late 1800s, you can bring in an armory of weapons in an office, as long as you have it holstered, you will have no problems."
And with that, we start traveling up to Python.
________________________________
Horikita's POV:
I wonder how Ayanokouji can keep that expressionless face.
He doesn't look fatigued at all, in fact, he never looks stressed at all.
Even during the island exam, he lacked any hesitation in executing all of his schemes to win that exam.
"Horikita, we're here."
"Huh?"
I was brought back to reality and find myself in the middle of Python, the town I woke up in.
"The sheriff's office is right there, let's go."
He immediately commands his horse to trot, in which I do the same.
"Will you really be waiting outside? Doesn't that look suspicious?"
I'm supposed to go in the sheriff's office and find a bounty poster. Waiting outside the office makes it look like he is waiting for me.
"I will be browsing through the stores, I'm not here to just oversee you, we still need to find anything that could be of use to us."
I dismount Janus and tied my hair up.
I turn towards the sheriff's office and take a deep breath. "I hope you're not wrong about this."
I open the door to the sheriff's office.
As soon as I enter, I spot the sheriff leaning back in his chair.
"Oh, hey there miss. I think you entered the wrong place, the general store is opposite to my office."
I forgot that women during this time carry the role of a housewife, it would be confusing for a woman to take a bounty.
"No, I'm in the right spot, I came for a bounty poster."
The sheriff upon hearing this, sit up straight and looks at me. "Now why would such a fine lady be taking up the job of a sinner?"
He starts to stare at my clothes and my repeater. "I guess some folks go through desperate times, is that your husband's belongings?"
Is it so hard to believe that a woman is taking up a bounty? I have now been mistaken for a widow that is desperate for money.
I shouldn't stay here any longer, I'll just go along with it.
"Yes... now could I please have a bounty poster?"
He gets up from his chair, and offers his hand to me. "I am Sheriff Fredrick, but you can call me Fred, my lady."
Is he flirting? The nerve to flirt with a woman with the belief that they have recently been widowed, absolutely disgusting.
I keep a straight face and reluctantly shake his hand.
He hands me a poster. "Here, this one has a decent price and he isn't that dangerous, as far as we know, he isn't carrying any weapons on him, but keep your distance away from him, he has a large build and an even bigger temper."
I take the poster. "Thank you sheriff, I will leave now."
He goes back to his desk. "Farewell, and remember that if you need help with any other matters, I can lend you a hand."
I quickly leave the sheriff's office. "What is with everyone acting like animals at the sight of an attractive woman?"
"It seems like almost everything went well."
Ayanokouji was sitting near the general store, he gets up and mounts Priceless. "You can tell me while we're riding."
I mount Janus. "I got the bounty poster, though the sheriff kept flirting with me."
We start riding away from Python, we don't ride to camp because we have to hunt the outlaw.
"Flirting? He didn't even question your attire? Or the repeater that you're carrying?"
I shake my head. "No, he wrote it off as my imaginary husband's belongings, he thought that I was a widow desperate for money."
"He mistook you for a widow, and decided to flirt with you with that false belief in mind? Women had it hard back then huh?"
I sigh. "Yeah... the bounty poster has no description of his physical traits only his height, it says that the suspect is very violent, tall, and easily noticeable, he was last seen waiting at the train station. He is wanted for unarmed assault. He can be brought dead or alive, the reward for bringing him in is $45."
"So that means he didn't have a weapon on him when he was chased, this should be easy. The train station is near Python, we should head over there."
Easily noticeable... what exactly dies that mean? Everyone already looks abnormal, is it because the outlaw is tall?
I dismiss these questions, and we head to the train station.
"Did you get anything useful from the general store?"
Ayanokouji shakes his head. "No, it was just food and clothes."
Ayanokouji looked disappointed about something, mumbling about a mattress.
We arrive at the train station, there is a train coming in, we hitch our horses outside the station and enter the station.
I leave my repeater with Janus.
Ayanokouji looks around. "Seems like everyone here is waiting, I can't see anyone that stands out."
"We could ask the station worker, maybe he saw someone that fits this vague description."
I approach the station worker, he greets me. "Hello miss! What can I do for you? Do you need train tickets?"
"I would like to know if you have seen someone that is tall and stands out from the rest. He is wanted for $45 for unarmed assault."
"An outlaw? Well I did see a tall man here, had a nasty temper! I think he is inside the train that just arrived." He points to the train that we saw earlier.
"Nasty temper and tall, that fits the description, Ayanokouji-kun, the man should be on the train."
Ayanokouji walks beside me. "The train? We should capture him before he train departs from the station."
We quickly head towards the train. "There's multiple passenger coaches, we should start with the one in front of us."
Ayanokouji enters first, and I follow.
As we enter, we are met with regular passengers who are waiting for the train to start.
I turn to the nearest passenger.
"Excuse me sir, have you seen a tall man enter the train? He is a wanted criminal for unarmed assault."
"A tall man? Well he's in this coach right now!" He points to the back of the coach, and I see someone, who I can assume is the outlaw, run to the back of the train.
He is wearing a dark red coat with a grey vest, brown pants, and wore a light brown hat.
As soon as he ran back, the train started to move.
"Horikita, here."
"... h-huh?!"
Ayanokouji hands me his revolver.
"I have to go stop the train, you don't know how to, go chase the outlaw. If something bad happens, handle it."
Before I could speak a word, Ayanokouji ran to the front of the train.
"Wha-? I have to chase him?!"
What the hell? He didn't hesitate! I'll yell at him about it later, I holster the revolver and start running to the back of train.
After leaving the passenger coach, I can spot the suspect climbing one of the containers.
"Hey! Stop!"
He ignores my command, I climb up the container.
A dead end, this is the end of the train.
"Hey! Get back!" He turns around to face me.
... Sudo?
There is no mistake, his hat was covering his hair, so I didn't recognize him at first, but it's definitely him.
"Sudo? Is that you?"
Sudo glares at me. "Hah? Who the hell are you? A bounty hunter?"
Does he not recognize me? Is it because of my outfit and ponytail?
Sudo moves his hand to his waist, which carries a holster.
"Wait, Sudo-"
He keeps the revolver holstered, but he pulls the hammer down.
I do the same, pull the hammer of my revolver as well.
Time beings to slow down, I can feel my heart beat go faster and faster. The thumps of my heart become so loud that it's deafening.
In that moment, the train comes to a halt, the abrupt stop causes Sudo to let go of his revolver to balance himself.
I use this opportunity, I immediately draw my revolver out on him.
"Wha- hey! Easy! I get it okay! Don't shoot!"
Sudo raises his hands, surrendering.
"... Sudo you really haven't changed have you?" I shake my head.
"Huh? What are you talking about? How the hell do you know my name?"
I take off my hat, and untie my hair. "You don't recognize me?"
Sudo's jaw drops, as he stares at me in shock. "H-Horikita?!"
As I confirm his realization, I lower the revolver and holster it. "Yes, it's me, I didn't expect for you to be the suspect Sudo-kun."
I hear footsteps behind me, I turn around to see Ayanokouji climbing up the container. "So it was Sudo..."
His eyes widened even more. "Eh?! Ayanokouji is here too?!"
"Ayanokouji-kun, would you like to tell me what the hell was that you pulled back there?"
I remain with a calm voice and unmoving expression. I show no sign of any hostility.
"Uh... I just did what I thought was best, I knew how to stop the train."
I wonder why he looks uncomfortable? "Well, I caught our bounty, and it's actually Sudo-kun."
He pulls out the bounty poster. "Tall, nasty temper, violent... yeah that sounds like him."
"Huh? Nasty temper?! Did they really put that on there?!" He grabs the poster and reads it.
"Well I stopped the train, we should get off now."
I let out a deep sigh. "Sudo-kun, let's get off the train."
I jump off the container, I can feel an electric feeling jolting up to my knee, but I brush it off.
Sudo and Ayanokouji do the same, jumping off the container, though they had less trouble than I did.
After a few seconds, I speak up. "Well, we're off the train... now what?"
________________________________
Ayanokouji's POV:
Why did she look at me like that?
I know that I pushed her to chase after Sudo, but you could've at least hid your anger a bit...
Anyways, we're off the train now, the train started up again and left us.
I told the conductor about the bounty we were chasing, I told him to leave the train off for 10 minutes.
Luckily, he complied, it would be unfortunate if I had to get my hands dirty.
"Well we're off the train... now what?"
We left our horses at the train station, since we boarded the moving train, we were taken away from the station.
"Well, we walk."
Sudo turns to me. "Walk? How far are we from the station?"
Well, considering the speed of the train and the amount of time we spent aboard...
"38 minutes?"
"38 minutes huh? I can do that! Not so sure about you Ayanokouji."
Horikita glares at Sudo. "Sudo-kun, we're only walking, we're not going to run back, it's just a waste of energy."
Sudo chuckled nervously. "O-okay Horikita-san..."
"Okay, let's follow the train tracks back, tell us about your experience in here Sudo."
As soon as I said that, Sudo had a complex look. "Oh... yeah it really wasn't that great..."
We start walking, listening to Sudo. "Well, I found myself in some farm, I didn't know what to do, so I just hid in a barn. After a while, I heard a whole group of people walking outside, I peeked outside and it was an angry mob! They were yelling something about, 'Possessed by the devil himself! Incarnated, shown through the color of his hair!'"
Sudo's hair is red, that's probably what the poster meant when referring to his unusual appearance. People at this time believed in the supernatural a lot more, it's not surprising to find out that he was mistaken for the devil.
"They had torches with them, they had the look of bloodlust in their eyes! I quickly ran out of the barn, they were pretty slow. I thought that I escaped, until I heard gunshots and horses! I kept running, I was scared to get hit. I found a forest, so I hid in some bushes, I thought they gave up on me, but then one of them were searching through the forest I was in, they got very close to me, so I did what anyone would've done, I grabbed him and disarmed him."
So far, all of us have not had a good encounter with strangers.
"He dropped his gun, and you would think that my size advantage was good enough right? The guy looked like he was 18, so I thought I could take him in, but the fucker pulled out a knife! He swiped at me, he cut my hip, it hurt like a bitch! So I admit, I got angry and just tackled him. As I came to, I found his body in front of me, I had blood all over my shirt."
Horikita tensed up, she stares at Sudo. "Sudo-kun, did he die?"
"Thankfully, he didn't. I checked and felt him breathing, I don't think I could carry the guilt of killing someone with me. After I knocked him out, I took his clothes and hat, they were mad about my hair, so I thought that I should hide it. My shirt was bloody and it was pretty cold, so I took his coat."
He suddenly stopped walking, as if he just realized something.
"Hey... did you two wake up next to each other?"
Horikita shakes her head. "No, I woke up near the town called Python, Ayanokouji-kun woke up in a field of grass."
"Really? How did you find each other?" We started to walk again.
Horikita remained silent for a moment. "... I just so happened to find him by pure coincidence."
She decides to not mention how I killed 2 men, which is best that Sudo doesn't know.
"Really? You're lucky Ayanokouji, I was on the run since I was taken here, say where are we anyway?"
Horikita responds. "We're in America, somewhere in the late 1800s."
For some reason, Sudo looked amused. "Really?! You mean the time of the Wild West?!"
Horikita looks at him confused. "Yes... how did you know? Your grade for history was bad."
Sudo looks at Horikita with a serious expression. "Every man aspires to match the kick-ass aura of the age of gunslingers and outlaws, robbing banks and riding horses, what boy wouldn't dream of the Wild West?"
... What?
Horikita looks just as confused as me. "... right..."
Sudo continues with his retelling of his journey. "Anyways, after that I also took his revolver, I thought he was just some weird guy cosplaying a cowboy, you should've seen the look on my face when I realized the revolver was real! He also had a horse, but I didn't know how to ride it. After walking for a bit, I found another barn, this time it was abandoned, so I slept there. I woke up the next day and found the town you called Python, I found out that I had a bounty from a guy that was trying to take me in. I guess he expected it to be easy until I pulled out the revolver. He ran away."
That's just careless, why would you expect a bounty to not carry a gun? They should have at least taken precautions.
"I wasn't sure what to do, there were lots of people trying to hunt me. At some point I decided to try going on the train, I had some money left from that guy that tried to kill me. I don't know how much this is, but I have $35 left from buying the train ticket and getting food for myself."
So that's why he was on the train, just how much did that guy he knocked bout have?
"$35? We have $48 right now, how much did that guy have before you spent it?"
"When I took his money, he has $40, I only spent $5. I'm not sure how much that is, but the ticket was $3, and the food sold at that store was in the decimals."
As he finished talking, the train station was in sight. "We're back, and with the bounty."
Sudo quickly turns to Horikita. "Huh? Wait I thought we were good?!"
She glares at Sudo. "You gave me quite the shock when you hand your hand on you're revolver, as compensation, I will need $45, which is coincidentally the reward for turning you in."
Sudo's mouth is wide open upon hearing Horikita's hard words. "Wha- you're kidding right?!"
I sigh. "Horikita cut it out, let's just go back to camp, don't play with his feelings like that."
"Wait, it was just a joke? Man, I was actually scared there for a second!"
Horikita responds sternly. "I won't turn you in to the sheriff, but I haven't forgiven you for drawing your revolver on me."
Horikita walks ahead to the train station.
"Hey! I'm sorry, okay? I thought you were gonna kill me!"
He tries to chase after her, but I grab his shoulder. "Huh? Ayanokouji what the hell?"
"Sudo, you shouldn't go into the station, they know that you have a bounty."
Sudo grumbles, but obeys.
"Stay here, I'm going to get Priceless."
Sudo looks at me, confused. "Priceless?"
"You'll see." I walk to the front of the train station.
When I get to the hitching posts, I find Horikita mounting Janus.
"Here."
Horikita tosses my revolver to me.
"Next time, please tell me you're going to give me a revolver if you plan to."
I unhitch Priceless and mount him. "No promises."
Horikita glares at me, I immediately signal Priceless to move before Horikita can say anything.
"Oh shit! You have a horse?"
Sudo has a childish look in his eyes upon laying his eyes on the horses. "Is this Priceless? Priceless is a horse?"
"Yes, now get on, we have to go to camp."
Sudo freezes, he stands there, not moving.
"Sudo? Are you getting on?"
He still doesn't move. "... Ayanokouji I'm not going to hold on to your back."
Ah, that's what it is, pride.
I don't see anything wrong with it, but I guess sitting behind another boy is harmful to Sudo's pride.
"You don't have to hold on to my back, you can just sit there, but you may fall off."
Sudo approaches Priceless. "Falling off a horse a couple of times is a lot more better than holding someone's shoulders."
Sudo mounts Priceless, making sure we have no physical contact. "Couldn't I just ride on Horikita's horse? It's a lot more preferable than this."
I shake my head. "Nope, Horikita wouldn't let you on, nor would Janus let you mount her."
"Janus? That's the name of the horse? Now I kind of want a horse..."
Horikita yells from a distance. "Are you two done bickering? Hurry up!"
I signal Priceless to start moving.
Sudo sighed. "I really felt relieved when I saw you two, I'm even more glad to know Horikita is safe."
Despite the situation we are in, Sudo's feelings for Horikita were still as strong as ever, or it could be genuine relief for her safety.
"Let's talk more when we get back to camp."
Sudo nods. I signal Priceless to move.
Finding Sudo was unexpected, I wonder if anyone else is close to our location?
With that in mind, I chase after Horikita.
A/N:
Summer break just started for me, sorry for getting this out late, I was studying for my finals, though I realized as I was taking the test that I didn't even need to, it was easy -_-.
This one might be a little sloppy, I don't know for sure. Hope everyone enjoys it though!
Character Count: 21487