Jon and Miya approached the vendor with the rifle game. Upon closer inspection, Jon noted it was a BB rifle as opposed to a pop gun.

“Would you like to play?” the kiosk owner asked in polite Japanese. “It's only two hundred yen per game.

“What are the rules?” he asked, also in Japanese.

“It's a very simple game, Sir. A very simple game indeed,” the kiosk owner explained. “Just pick up the rifle and bring down the five bandits and the filthy desperado leader.”

Jon looked over the rifle and the game display on the wall. He chuckled in amusement. The wooden shooting range was designed to look like a Western movie scene. It reminded him of the old John Wayne movies he and his father used to watch.

“You have six shots,” he continued. “Kill three bandits and you may choose a prize from the blue wall.” He pointed to a wall on the left containing small inexpensive keychains. Most of them were junk that couldn't have cost more than fifty yen a piece. “Hit five bandits and you may choose a prize from the red wall.” The wall on the left held a series of decently sized stuffed animals. “And finally, if you manage to take out all the bandits and kill the filthy Desperado you win the game and may select from our grand prize case.”

The kiosk owner showed him the small display case on the bench in front of them. Five jewel-encrusted bracelets sat in the display, each made of genuine rare metal and decorated with real stones.

“They're gorgeous!” Miya exclaimed while pointing eagerly to a sterling silver bracelet with amethyst gemstones. “I really want that one!”

Jon was genuinely surprised by the quality. These were clearly a little pricey. The one Miya wanted, in particular, had to be at least thirty thousand yen.

“Oooo, nice choice,” the kiosk owner replied. “What do you say, Sir? I bet your girlfriend would be quite happy if you won this for her.”

“She would indeed,” Miya nodded in agreement before looking up at her boyfriend with that same puppy dog expression again.

Jon rolled his eyes. “Six shots, six targets huh? Shouldn't be that difficult.” He pulled out his wallet and placed 200 yen on the counter. “Alright, challenge accepted.”

“Excellent! Just pick up the rifle and the game will start.”

“You can do this,” Miya beamed at him. “I know you can.”

He smiled back at her warmly, nodding in agreement. Jon inspected the weapon as he picked it up. While designed to work like an old-timey pump action rifle, the quality of the gun was nothing to brag about. It was composed of what appeared to be cheap plastic.

The kiosk owner cranked a lever and started up the game. The scenery in front of him began to move as six targets shaped like cartoonish bandits popped up from behind the shrubbery. They moved decently fast in and out of cover and would take a trained eye to hit effectively. The Desperado way in the very back was an especially tricky little bastard, popping in and out from behind the trees for only a fraction of a second. Even an experienced shooter would be relying on sheer dumb luck just to hit the thing.

Not that any of that mattered as Jon's heightened senses trumped any unfair carnival game mechanic. He aimed the rifle downrange at the first target. The gun went off with a small pop followed by the satisfactory sound of the metal target falling backwards.

“That's one,” the kiosk owner declared.

He pumped the rifle and fired again, popping another bandit down.

“That's two.”

He fired two shots consecutively, knocking down two more bandits. Miya cheered excitedly with each target he hit. With one more shot, he hit the fifth target, the one-second closest to the back.

“And that's five. Well done sir, all that's left is the Desperado.”

“C'mon, Baby. You've got this,” Miya cheered, she was practically standing on her toes in excitement.

With a sly smirk, Jon aimed his sights at the Desperado leader hiding in the back. He focused with all his senses at once, zeroing all his attention on the one target. Time seemed to slow down around him as did the target. Jon fired the BB gun once more and hit the Desperado square center. However, the BB harmlessly deflected off the target without knocking it over.

Miya cheered in delight, jumping up and down while clapping her hands together. “You did it! That was amazing!” She stopped upon realizing what happened. “But wait...the target's still up.”

“Oh dear. It would seem you failed to knock down the Desperado. Oh well, it was a good effort,” the kiosk owner assured somewhat condescendingly. “You may choose from the red wall.”

“Hold on a second. I clearly saw him hit it,” Miya protested.

“If he had hit it, it would have fallen down,” the kiosk manager explained, again quite condescendingly. “As it's still upright, that means he missed.”

While Miya was trying to process what had happened, Jon was already fuming. From the moment that BB hit the target and pinged off like that he knew they'd been had.

“But you saw it, same as me!” She was getting angry now, as it was slowly dawning on her what was going on. “He hit that thing dead on! That's not fair!”

“Now then, would you like a stuffed puppy doll? Or perhaps a nice-”

“I don't want a stuffed animal. I want my bracelet!” She raised her voice at him, her face turning red. “He hit all six targets. Just like you said.”

Now the kiosk owner was getting annoyed. He glared down at her with a slimy look on his face. “Now listen, Girly. This is my game and I make the rules. If any of the targets are still standing after six shots, it doesn't count.”

“Your stupid game is rigged,” she shot back at him. “It's no wonder you can afford to dangle such nice prizes in front of us. No one can win. You're cheating people out of their money!”

He scowled nastily at her. “I don't much like your tone or your accusations, young lady. I think I'd like you both to leave. Right now.”

She scoffed at him. “Whatever, jackass. Come on, Jon. Let's just go.”

“Set them up again,” he demanded.

Miya looked up at him worriedly. “Jon?”

“Set them up again,” he repeated. “I wanna take another shot at it.”

“No!” the kiosk owner stated firmly. “You had your chance before that woman decided to insult me! Both of you leave, now!”

“Jon, come on. Let's just go before we get in trouble,” she tugged on the hem of his jacket insistently.

“I'll give you four hundred yen,” he offered, digging back into his wallet.

“What?!” Miya stated in total disbelief.

“How about it? One more round for double the entry fee.”

The kiosk owner scoffed dismissively at him. “You think such a petty amount can erase the comments your lady has made about me? I think not. Now, I warn you, leave before I summon the police.”

“Eight hundred,” he offered without missing a beat, slapping the money down on the table.

“Jon!” Miya protested emphatically.

“Come on,” he continued. “Surely that’s enough for one more go. What have you got to lose?”

The kiosk owner seemed to consider his offer for a moment. He scratched his chin in mock contemplation, mulling it over in his head.

“Very well. One more go,” he finally relented, a sinister sneer on his face. “But this will be your last attempt.”

Jon nodded to him. “Thank you kindly. Now start her up.”

The kiosk owner started the game up again, that same smug look on his face.

“You don't have to do this, save your money. We can find a different game.” Miya insisted. Before she could protest further, Jon shot her a reassuring smile as if to say ‘Just trust me. I've got this.’ Not knowing what else to do, she simply stood back and let him take over.

He popped his neck and looked at the kiosk owner. “So the rules are the same as before, right? Six shots, six targets, and none of them can be standing. That the gist of it?”

The man nodded, already claiming victory in his mind. “Start whenever you're ready.”

His hand slowly drew back the open jacket he was wearing, revealing a leather strap hooked over his shoulder and around his midsection.

“You may wanna cover your ears, Darlin,” he said with a sly wink.

“Why? What are you about to…”

The moment Miya saw the shiny glint of the weapon holstered at his side, she knew instinctively what he was about to do. She slapped her hands over her ears and shut her eyes tight. Not even a moment later, six deafening blasts silenced the area around them. Miya cautiously opened her eyes. Jon was still holding the smoking revolver in his hand. Where once there were six targets standing, now there were only six holes in the spots on the wall where they roughly used to be.

The kiosk owner was paralyzed to the spot, white as a ghost. Jon calmly and methodically emptied the spent casings from the cylinder and replaced them with fresh rounds before sliding the cylinder back into place and twirling the weapon on his finger. He calmly approached the trembling vendor and leaned his tall frame over the table with the revolver still in hand.

“There you have it. Six shots, and not one target standing. We'll take that amethyst bracelet and whatever stuffed animal she wants from that wall there.” He then pulled back the hammer with an audible click and added, “If you'd be so kind.”

Without a word, the terrified kiosk owner unlocked the display and handed him the bracelet.

“Much appreciated,” Jon allowed before finally holstering his weapon and turning to Miya. “Well, Babe? Pick out one of them stuffed animals up there and let's hit the road.”

It took her a moment to realize her mouth was hanging open but she eventually came back to her senses. After having a moment to process what just happened, she realized he had shot all six targets from a holstered gun in the span of about two to three seconds. Suddenly all this talk of heightened senses didn't sound quite so crazy after all.

Miya beamed at him before grabbing a purple bunny rabbit to go with the bracelet. Once she had picked out her prize, Jon took her hand and gently slipped the bracelet over her wrist.

“Beautiful,” he commented. “Fits your eyes perfectly.”

She felt her heart flutter softly in her chest. “We should...probably get going,” Miya suggested, her face heated.

He nodded in agreement. With their prizes in tow, the couple made their way to the exit. Both of them wanted to get as far away as possible before the vendor managed to call the cops.