The Sakura petals danced in the air as the students made their way to school. The sound of girls giggling and guys flaunting their weekend echoed throughout the street. However, this harmonious scene was destroyed when a young girl in high school uniform barreled through the crowd at top speed, her destination being the school gate ahead.
Said girl in question gasped when she noticed the school gate starting to close. She pushed whatever stamina she had left and squeezed every inch of speed she could to enter the premises of the school before the gate barred her way in.
Luckily for her, she was able to squeeze her way in the nick of time as the gates slammed shut. She was about to release a shout of success when a loud voice snapped her out of it.
"Mio! You're late again!" shouted the school gym teacher who was in charge of closing the gates for this week.
"No, sir. I made it just in time." She cheekily told him. Said gym teacher glared and was about to reprimand her when the school bell rang. "There goes the bell. Gotta go to class. Don't wanna be late. Bye, Coach!"
She totally ignored the glare boring through the back of her head as she sped her way to her classroom.
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Mio was bored; very, very bored. Her Math teacher kept on rambling today's lesson like a monotone robot. She was contemplating in creating a scene just to spice things up but, thankfully, the school bell rang signifying the end of the school day. She flung her hands up in the air in happiness.
"School is finally over!" Mio screamed in happiness as she stretched her back. "What a very long day."
"Yeah." One of her classmates agreed. "You wanna come with us for some ice cream, Mio?"
Mio shook her head while putting her notebooks inside her bag. she closed the lid and flung it over her shoulder .
"Not today, guys. I got club training this afternoon. Coach wants me to prepare for the national competition next week." She told the group in front of her. "She wants me to get as much practice as I can to be in top shape."
"Oh, right. I forgot that next week is the competition. Good luck with that. We'll be cheering for you."
"Thanks, everyone. Enjoy your ice cream." Mio gave them a smile before leaving the class with the group. She parted ways when they reached the corridor since the practice room was in another building opposite the school gate.
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Bang! Bang! Bang!
Loud gunshots echoed around the soundproofed room as Mio concentrated on the target in front of her. Three bullets fired which hit dead center of the target. She released the breath she was holding, steadied her aim, and then took a deep breath again before pulling the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
All three shots hit dead center on the adjacent target board causing the coach behind her to exclaim in happiness.
"Your aim is fantastic today, Mio. You're definitely ready for the nationals." The coach praised her. "The number one spot is in the bag if you keep this up."
"Thank you, coach." Mio responded with a smile. She couldn't deny the fact that her performance was way better than expected. All those hours after school doing practice runs all added up to her current success.
"Well, that's it for now. Pack up and go home. Don't do anything for the weekend. Make sure you're in top condition next week."
"Alright, coach. Will do." Mio agreed while giving her coach a salute, causing the other party to laugh.
"Get out of here, you rascal."
Mio cheered before packing up her gun and left the room right after. She needed to get home since she was very hungry.
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The day of the competition arrived and Mio practically bulldozed her way from the qualifiers into the semi finals. There were some talented shooters in this year's competition, but thanks to her effort, she was able to get ahead of the score and reach her current spot in the semi-finals.
However, her confidence wavered for a bit but steeled her resolved when she saw the competitor she would be up against – last year's #1 title holder, Celeste Ichiya.
Mio couldn't help but admire the way she calmly took aim and shot without even taking a break, not even a hair out of place as she reloaded, took aim, and shot – all seemingly in one fluent motion like a work of art.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The crowd cheered as Celeste's shots hit dead center. Cool as a cucumber, Celeste took off her visor as the host of the event announced her score.
"Amazing as always! Celeste just scored 585 points in that run. Close to perfect." The announcer screamed into the microphone causing everyone in the stadium to cheer in delight.
Mio nodded. As expected of last year's champion. She took up her gun when the announcer finally called out her name.
"Next in line is Mio Kazura. This year's black horse." The announcer introduced Mio to the crowd. "585 points is hard to beat but she might pull off a miracle. Let's see how it goes."
Mio glared at the announcer and huffed. She moved to the stage and took up her spot in front of the target. She put on her visor and fiddled with her gun a bit before taking a deep breath and went into her zone. The noise of the crowd died down to a buzz as she entered her hyper focus mode. It was just her and her target. She raised her gun and aimed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She was like a robot. She shot, reloaded, took a breath, and then shot again. No deviation. The crowd turned silent awe as they saw this girl shoot unerringly dead center into the target without pause. However, something weird happened. Her focus distorted for a bit when she heard something that almost distracted her.
"Mio… Mio…. Mio…" a mysterious voice called out causing her aim to be a bit off.
She could only sigh in dismay as she prayed that the bullet would still hit the mark. Her prayer seemed to work since the bullet still hit the bullseye but with a slight deviation. However, it was still better compared to Celeste's.
When the last rounds of gunshot died, there was a slight pause before the crowd cheered anew.
"That was amazing. Mio Kazura just scored a perfect 600!" The host screamed in gusto as the crowd went wild. "We have a new champion for this year's ISSF!"
Mio gaped in surprise when she heard her score but eventually broke into a large grin when she heard that she won. She did it! She was this year's top ranker. She was about to wave to the crowd when she saw Celeste making her way towards her with a faint smile on her face.
"Congratulations on your win. You have great skill and talent in shooting. Keep up the good work." Celeste said to Mio as she let out a hand for a shake.
Mio simply nodded and returned the shake with a big smile on her face. The action of both champions caused the crowd to cheer louder. The top notch performance of the two shooters made for a wonderful performance.
It took a while before she could leave the stadium since the award ceremony followed after. Mio and her classmates went to the nearest ice cream parlor to celebrate her win. There was a lot of cheering and junk food was consumed at an alarming rate before it was time for everyone to go home.
Mio left the group and made her way to the corner where she planned to take a taxi home. She was a bit absent minded as she recalled the mysterious voice calling her name. She shook her head and attributed it to a figment of her imagination when she was suddenly surrounded by a bright light, bright enough to blind her. She looked down to see a complex circle with alien symbols surrounding her.
She suddenly had this foreboding feeling that this light was not a good thing. However, she was a step too late. When she was about to jump out of the circle, the light intensified and swallowed her whole.
Mio disappeared from Earth on that day.