90
Ayaka’s heel crashes exactly into my injured side.
The whole time we were talking, she was figuring out where to strike.
We weren’t even playing the same game.
I stumble back, crashing hard back-first into a cooler. Metal and glass clatters around me. Pain flares from groin to chin, robbing me of breath and making my eyes bug out, then my head hits the counter and my brain whirls.
The cashier shrieks something about 999.
Ayaka paces calmly towards me, like she has the whole night to deliver this beating and doesn’t see any reason to hurry. “And what you can do for me right now? You can end this silly feud.”
Die. That’s what she means.
I can die.
I try to get a grip on the cooler. Push myself up.
Plastic bottles thud against each other.
“You know the sad thing?” Ayaka says. “A
