Ultimately, if Takina had a real AK and fired it at Chisato, Chisato’s thumb would come off the barrel, and the revolver would fire. Takina had to freeze because if she fired, she’d get shot right away. She assumed that Chisato must have been expecting her to notice that.
By holding down the hammer, Chisato changed the essence of the scene. It wasn’t an ambushed assassin’s desperate last-ditch effort. She had the upper hand: refraining from shooting first but making it clear that her opponent would be killing them both if she chose to fire.
“Tee-hee-hee! There’s a reason I’m holding it like that!”
Chisato explained to Itou why she had her finger on the hammer. The manga artist was quite impressed. “That’s even better than what I had in mind!”
It was just make-believe with toy guns as they reenacted a scene from Itou’s manga, but even in this setting, the gap between Chisato’s and Takina’s skills was apparent, and Takina couldn’t help feeling a bit dejected.
Itou decided to incorporate Chisato’s clever trick into her manga, and she added a new panel with a close-up of Chise’s hand. She could barely contain her excitement at how it changed the power balance and the characters’ emotions in that scene.
“Can you please hold this pose? Ideally, I’d like to make a rough sketch of you in addition to taking photos.”
The girls could hear Itou’s pen gliding on a page of her notebook. And so the girls stood motionless for a while, Takina looking up at Chisato, feeling frustrated, and Chisato looking down at Takina with a smug smile.
“Oh, can I ask what happens after this in the story?”
Itou kept sketching as she answered Chisato’s question. She told them that after the deadlock, Chise and Tamaki slowly move away from each other, keeping their guns aimed at one another. Then they begin to fight, both determined to kill the other…only to be interrupted by the arrival of the police. Neither can afford to have her identity revealed. After exchanging names and swearing to finish their duel the next time they meet, they split and escape from the burning building. Later, Chise moves to a new high school and discovers that the student council president is none other than Tamaki. They’re both shocked to see the other. They strike a gentlemen’s agreement—or rather, a ladies’ agreement—promising not to attempt to kill each other at school. That’s the start of a new chapter in their school life, with danger lurking behind every corner.
“I thought it was a one-shot you were working on, but this sounds like it might have a continuation?”
“Sharp as always, Chisato! Yes, it is a one-shot, but if the reception is good, I’ll get to make it a series!”
“Amazing!”
Itou was planning to have Chise apply to join the student council to keep an eye on Tamaki, a move that Tamaki would support as well. They’d begin to spend a lot of time around each other, and everyone around would assume they were good friends, but at night, Chise and Tamaki would fight fiercely, their objectives irreconcilable. By the time they’d get to know each other pretty well, a common enemy would appear, and they’d agree to join forces as an exception.
“Oh, I love this! Deadly rivals buddying up! That really gets me going!”
“Yes, exactly!”
“I know how that goes! They form such a strong bond that when one of them is in mortal danger, the other saves her, saying, ‘No one gets to kill you except me!’”
“That’s it! And the rescued girl will put on a brave face, saying she wasn’t asking for help. It’s a popular trope for a reason!”
“Absolutely!”
Chisato and Itou were getting even more worked up. Before long, Itou was done with her sketch, and Takina and Chisato were relieved of their modeling duties.
“We shouldn’t stay too long, Chisato. Let’s go home.”
“Whaaat? But I brought our sleepover stuff! Oh, we can’t leave without helping clean up!”
Takina agreed with that, and they might as well make something to eat, too. While Itou sat down at her desk to work, Takina began putting things away, starting with the rifle. It bothered her to leave the magazine in, so she detached it.
“But why this particular AK?” she wondered out loud.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Chisato, who was also removing dummy ammunition from the revolver, looked up at Takina.
“Well, my character is secretly an arms dealer, correct?”
“That’s right,” Itou confirmed.
“And you explained earlier that this AK was from a shipment of guns the gang was selling.”
“Yes. It was left out as a sample of what was inside the container.”
“Then it’s very strange for it to be a modernized version.”
Itou stopped sketching and swiveled around in her chair to face Takina.
“Why’s that?”
A modern AK wouldn’t stick out if the criminals were small-time smugglers, procuring only a handful of weapons every so often. Presumably, the weapons were stolen. The problem was that, in Itou’s story, Takina’s character was using an AK from a bulk shipment. Such a large number of guns would normally be obtained either through illegally diverting military supplies from some war-torn region. It could also have been purchased from an unscrupulous arms manufacturer dealing on the side, or made at a secret weapons factory. Either way, modernized AKs were expensive, so it was uncommon to see them moved in large numbers. Above all, arms dealers, whose business was completely unregulated by nature, didn’t care about supplying weapons of the highest quality. And the priority for the buyers was to get their hands on whatever guns would get the job done. There was little reason to pay more for weapons that were modified to look cooler, handle better, or be easier to customize and mount attachments to.
Customizing a weapon was something a user might do to suit their taste or to fulfill specific needs. Needless to say, it was rarely done for a large stock of guns for sale. While not totally out of the question, a container full of custom modded AKs would be like seeing a classroom in a rural area filled with kids sitting in gaming chairs—technically possible, but definitely bizarre, and some sort of justification would be needed.
“You can, of course, have the character use anything you want in your story, but it’s strange that it’s not a standard AK.”
“No… That’s no good, is it…?”
“Hold on!” interrupted Chisato. “I think it’s totally okay to keep it as it is! You wanted to draw this weapon. You like the look of it. That’s all the justification you need! And besides, it’s not like you’re writing historical records or anything, so a little mistake like that doesn’t matter one bit… Er…”
Chisato noticed how Itou winced at the word mistake. She closed her eyes and mouthed “oops.”
“A mistake… Right, it is a mistake. And commenters are ruthless about mistakes like this… They’ll roast me! Argh! I went through so much trouble using my connections to borrow these model guns! Just my luck!” Itou groaned, cradling her head in her hands.