After just ten laps around the school courtyard, Ihara and the others were ready to throw in the towel. It seemed they were just as out of shape as they’d claimed.
Left with no other choice, Kaname ordered them to take a brief rest while she familiarized herself with their equipment: the airsoft guns, which were lined up on the tables in the chemistry lab. She picked one up and asked Ihara, the goateed man, “Okay, how do you shoot this?”
“Huh? Just remove the safety and pull the trigger,” Ihara responded in confusion.
“What’s the safety?”
“It keeps it from firing accidentally.”
“And what’s the trigger?” she asked next.
“It’s what you pull to fire it.”
“Yes, yes. I see.” Looking impressed by just this basic information, Kaname quickly did as she was told.
Ihara began to say, “Oh, wait—”
Ratatatatatatatatat!
But Kaname ended up firing a long stream of rounds from the gun. They were just plastic BBs, but they bounced off the walls and the ceiling, showering them like hail.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
“Don’t do that, Chidori-san!”
“It hurts! It hurts!”
The whole group cowered, shielding their faces. Even mere ricochets still hurt quite a bit.
Kaname froze up in shock. “I thought you said they were toys,” she whispered.
“They are, but they’re still dangerous,” Ihara told her.
“B-But this thing could hurt someone!”
“That’s right. They can even put your eye out! That’s why you shouldn’t fire them recklessly!”
“Wow...” Kaname muttered while rubbing her thigh, which was stinging from a ricochet hit.
In fact, this was Kaname’s first time wielding an airsoft gun. Due to various unfortunate circumstances, she’d been in contact with real guns many times before—in fact, she’d been shot at and almost killed several times—yet had never worked with gamer guns like these. She’d assumed that they were, at best, a slightly souped-up version of the toy pea-shooters that could only fire a few meters ahead.
“You really shoot at each other with these things?” she asked in shock.
“We do.”
“But that’s dangerous!”
“Of course it’s dangerous!” Ihara bellowed.
Here, Sasaki Hiromi asked her a question. “I-Is it possible, Chidori-senpai... you don’t know anything about airsoft guns?”
“Of course not,” she replied. “I mean, I don’t care about guns at all.”
“But Sagara-senpai’s always brandishing them!”
“That doesn’t mean I know anything about guns!”
The members of the survival game society (club status pending) let out a collective groan of despair and bemoaned their fate.
“Oh, woe is us!”
“We assumed, because you’re always bossing around Sagara-kun...”
“...That you had equal knowledge of firearms and tactics.”
“Is that how everyone sees me?” asked Kaname, greasy sweat rising on her face.
Meanwhile, at a specialist shop in Kichijoji...
“I want to buy an airsoft gun,” Sousuke told the salesgirl as he walked briskly around the shop, perusing the firearms there.
Truthfully, he also knew nothing about recreational airsoft guns. He’d never even seen one before. As they were mere toys, Sousuke assumed they would be easy to master, but he’d decided to get some experience with one nevertheless. Therefore, he’d let Kazama Shinji direct him to this store so that he could buy one for himself.
The young salesgirl wore an apron and jeans, with her hair tied back in a messy ponytail. She wore plain, black rimmed glasses, and approached him with a mild expression. She asked him, “So, do you have any experience with airsoft guns?”
“No. I’m a beginner,” he responded earnestly, with his usual sullen expression.
“I see,” she said. “Let me think... If you just want to play with friends, what about this one?” She plucked a special forces carbine off a nearby wall. “It comes with a variety of accessories, and it’s easy to use.”
“An M4A1?”
“Oh... yes. You recognize it?”
“It’s not a bad gun, but I already have one.”
The salesgirl swallowed back a comment about him claiming to be a beginner and forced a patient smile onto her face. “W-Well, I suppose this is a fairly heavy model. If you just want better ease of handling, what about this one?” She then pulled a Belgian-made, next-generation submachine gun off the wall.
“A P90?” said Sousuke. “I have that one as well.”
“I see. Well... could you tell me more specifically what you’re after?” the salesgirl asked. “A long barrel, a short one... more realistic, more practical...”
Sousuke let out a small sigh. “I told you what I want. I want an airsoft gun. Please stop recommending assault carbines and submachine guns.”
“What?” The salesgirl was stunned.
“An airsoft gun,” he tried again. “A toy. Don’t you have any?”
“But that’s what this is!”
“That’s clearly a carbine,” Sousuke scoffed. “Why don’t you know more about your own shop’s product?”
“Ngh. You are being absolutely ridiculous. This is an airsoft gun!”
“No, it’s a carbine. Let me see it.” As they continued talking over one another, Sousuke ended up snatching the gun away from the stunned salesgirl. “Listen to me,” he said. “I don’t know how these came to be sold commercially in Japan, but this is an M4A1, a special forces assault carbine replacement for the Colt Commando. It has far greater precision, overheating resistance, and handling convenience than previous models. The caliber is 5.56 mm and it takes SS109 ammunition—” Sousuke handled the gun expertly, moving to make sure there was no live ammunition in the bolt. He pulled back the charging handle, and...
The motion was greeted by an underwhelming click. Finding it strange, Sousuke peered into the bolt and found a strange gear there. “Hmm?” He then noticed something else: the gun itself was unusually light, and the frame, which should have been made of sturdy metal, felt strangely fragile in his hands. He pressed the release and removed the magazine. White balls, like grains of rice, began to spill out of it.
The salesgirl scowled at him as the BBs spilled out. An awkward silence fell.
Sousuke met the salesgirl’s eyes, his tight frown growing deeper. “What is this thing?”
“It’s an airsoft gun! Like I told you!” she shouted, shoulders trembling with anger.
Finally catching on to the fact that the gun was a replica, Sousuke was truly impressed. “It looks just like the real thing,” he told her. “It even has the Colt stamp and a serial number. Is it really a toy?”
“Of course it’s a toy,” the salesgirl said with exasperation. “Are you messing with me, sir?”
In lieu of a response, Sousuke pulled out his wallet and checked its contents. “I’ll take one of these, as well as ammunition and a spare magazine.”
“Thank you. Would you like any other equipment? Springs, bandoliers, boots, gloves...”
“No, thank you. I already have my own.”
“Well... if you insist.” The salesgirl pulled out a calculator and began punching numbers in.
Meanwhile, Sousuke began examining the AEG. He generally enjoyed tinkering with machinery. “I see,” he said. “It fires these plastic projectiles. An internal motor moves the gears and compresses the air. It’s very well made. It even has a safety.”
“Please, be careful. The battery and ammunition are both live.”
“By the way, is the trigger—” Sousuke turned the gun up to the ceiling and pulled it.
“Wait, don’t—”
Ratatatatatatat!
The salesgirl tried to stop him, but Sousuke’s gun fired off a lot of ammunition nevertheless. The BBs ricocheted all around the store, hitting other customers and salespeople.
“Ow, ow, ow!”
“What are you doing?!”
“That hurts! That hurts!”
The customers crouched down, covering their faces, while the salesgirl apologized profusely. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Sir, that was very reckless! I told you to be careful!”
Sousuke stared at the small holes he’d put in the plasterboard ceiling. “I thought you said it was a toy.”
“It is,” she told him, “but it’s still dangerous.”
“This could really hurt someone,” Sousuke remarked.
“That’s right. It can even put your eye out! That’s why you shouldn’t fire them recklessly!”
“I see...” he muttered thoughtfully. He’d once gone out with Kaname and her friends to a shrine festival, where they’d taken part in a shooting gallery stall with cork guns. He’d assumed these would be similar. But this... “You shoot at each other with these?”
“We do.”
“But that’s dangerous.”
“Of course it’s dangerous!” the salesgirl shouted at him.
Unaware of Sousuke’s own rookie behavior, Kaname and the others began their survival game training on a weekend morning. They had chosen a campground in the city, the same hill where the life drawing incident had taken place some time back.
Their first assignment was running, push-ups, sit-ups, and squats, followed by more running. It was a serious training regimen, and it left Ihara and the others quickly gasping for breath.
“Hahh... hahh... Chidori-san... why do we have to... run this much?” Ihara asked Kaname, who was running behind him as they staggered their way up the hill.
“Hahh... hahh... the first thing you need is guts... the will to fight. So I’m building up... enthusiasm...” She was also sweating and panting. Nevertheless, fighting spirit blazed in her eyes. Even if they were out of shape, the others were all men, who naturally had superior stamina. The fact that she was still in fourth place right now showed how seriously she was taking things.
“But... rather than this sort of basic training... hahh... hahh... we wanted you to tell us... Sagara-kun’s weak points...”
“You really think... he’s got such... convenient weaknesses?! Get real! Hrrrgh!”