Gambler Jack/Chapter 4


 * -|English= Chapter 4 - The Daughter

Ultimately...it was the girl's win.

The silence in the bar was punctuated only by the sounds of a raucous argument out on the street.

'Heh heh... Hahaha...'

Holding back the laughter bubbling up, Jack asked the girl a question.

'Hey, missy...where, oh, where, did you learn to be this good?'

The girl made no reply.

Instead, she took the cards into her hands and began shuffling. They flew back and forth with exquisite grace between her long, slender fingers.

She dealt five to Jack, then five to herself.

'Show them,' she demanded, and Jack obliged, hesitantly turning over the cards.

His hand was four jacks.

Her hand was four kings.

'You're... You're kidding me!'

Jack was nearly speechless by the sight, to which she only said: 'Jack doesn't beat King.'

At the word 'King,' murmurs rippled through the bar.

'King.' It was the handle of a legendary gambler, said to be the best in the Republic until his death. The card technique the girl had shown was one of the ones the King had been fond of using when he felt like teasing Jack.

'Who...? Just who are you?' Jack asked the girl. She gave him a long, bitterly-cold glare at the question, as if it were both stupid and one she'd been dying to answer.

'You probably don't know me, but I know you VERY well,' she spat. 'Hello, Victory Jack. My name is Halle. I'm the daughter of King, who you killed.'

'...You're King's daughter?!'

Jack had never met King's daughter--not in person, no. But nonetheless, he did have memories of her. King had been a doting father that had drilled holes in Jack's ears with endless stories about her.

'I see... So King's daughter has come to kill me, huh?'

The atmosphere in the bar was suddenly charged.

'All right, then. Kill me.'

The words casually left Jack's mouth.

It was a line no one in the bar had ever expected.

He tapped his chest.

'The heart's here. Make sure you aim well.'

The girl--Halle--quietly drew her orbal gun. Her aim, of course...was Jack's heart.
 * -|Japanese= 第４回　娘

結果は……少女の勝ち. 静まり返った酒場を、通りの喧騒が駆け抜けた.

「くく……くくく………」ジャックは込み上げてくる笑いを抑え、少女に問いかける. 「おい嬢ちゃん、一体どこでこんな腕を身につけたんだ？」

少女は言葉を返さない. 代わりに彼女はカードを手に取り、それを見事な手つきでシャッフルし始めた. 自分の手元に５枚、ジャックの側にも５枚、滑らせるようにして交互に配る.

「開いて. 」と少女. ジャックがカードをめくる. ジャックにはＪのフォアカード、少女にはＫのフォアカードが来ていた. 「これは……この配り方は………！」カードを見たジャックが絶句する.

『ジャックはキングに勝てないんだぜ. 』彼の頭の中を「キング」の言葉が駆け巡っていた.

「キング」. かつて共和国最強と謳われた今は亡き伝説のギャンブラーの通り名だ. 少女の見せたカードさばきはそのキングが得意としていた技――ジャックをからかう時によくやる配り方だった.

「お前は一体……何者なんだ？」息を呑み、ジャックは少女に問いかける.

ようやく少女は彼の言葉に答えた. 「あなたは私のことをよく知らないでしょうけど、私はあなたのことをよく知っている. 」

「こんにちは. ヴィクトリー・ジャック. 」

「私の名前は、ハル. あなたに殺されたキングの娘よ. 」

「………！　キングの娘だと！？」キングの娘と直接会ったことはなかった. だが、ジャックには確かに覚えがあった. 親ばかのキングから、彼の娘の話を耳にたこが出来るほど聞かされていたからだ.

「そうか……キングの娘が俺を殺しに来たか………」場にピリピリとした空気が流れる.

「いいぜ、殺せよ. 」ジャックは無造作に言い放った. 酒場にいる誰もが予期せぬセリフだった.

「心臓はここだ、よく狙ってくれよ. 」そう言いながら、自らの胸をトントンと突いて見せる.

少女――ハルが導力銃を静かに構える. 狙いはもちろん……ジャックの心臓だ.