The Gun & The Sword
Chapter IV: A Trip To Hokkaido Part 2
Motoko stepped off the motorbike, took off her helmet and shook out her hair. As she was removing her bag from the pannier box a man ran up to her and grabbed it. When she tried to resist the man punched her full in the face and, with another man who looked like his accomplice, ran off down to street. Keiranto, after quickly checking Motoko was alright, sped off after the thieves on the motorbike. He drove up behind them and, keeping his balance perfectly, drew his swords and cut through both men's belts. The men still kept trying to run, even with their trousers around their ankles, and fell flat on their faces. They came to about a minute later and looked up straight into the face of the man who had chased them. Keiranto saw them glance at each other and said simply, "I wouldn't try that if I were you. Now, on your feet." The two men stood up and pulled up their trousers. Along with Motoko, he marched them at sword point down to the local police station where they were immediately taken into custody. Keiranto turned to Motoko. "shall we go and do what we came here to do then?"
They soon found the gunsmiths, a deceptively small place tucked down a small back alley. It looked tiny and run down from the outside, but when you went inside it was large, clean and well lit. The owner came running up to Keiranto as soon as he saw him. Keiranto introduced the gunsmith to Motoko; he was the one who saved Keiranto's life when he was left for dead on Adak Island. He asked the gunsmith if they could browse his stock, and if there was anywhere that they could test the weapons. The gunsmith showed them through to a fully equipped range and then took them to the warehouse section of the shop.
They tried a variety of pistols before coming to a 9mm browning long-barrel with an extended thirteen round magazine. It fitted into Motoko's hand perfectly, and despite never having handles a gun before, achieved excellent results at the range with it. They then moved onto a main weapon. After trying shotguns, rifles and sub-machine guns they were stuck for more ideas. The shopkeeper said that he had one last product they could try, and after delving into a cupboard came out with a dusty old box labelled 1989. "This was custom made for a gentleman who pulled out of the deal at the last minute," he said, opening the box to reveal a sleek, white crossbow with a black sight nestled on top, still in its original wrapping. "It is semi-automatic; you just pull back on this grip here," he said, "just like that Remington twelve–gauge shotgun you tried earlier." Motoko picked it up and immediately knew that this was the weapon for her. She tried it out at the range and achieved outstanding scores, especially for a beginner. The crossbow took a twenty bolt magazine, and came with nine spare magazines, plus a huge number of bolts. They also purchased the 9mm browning with many spare rounds and holsters for both weapons. Motoko was surprised when Keiranto paid for both weapons and all the accessories, but he shrugged off her protests.
When they got back to the motorbike, having arranged for the crossbow, accessories and most of the Browning rounds to be sent to the Hinata-Sou (Motoko wore the actual pistol at her hip), it was almost dark, and had started to snow heavily. They agreed that to try to head back now would be foolish; and started looking for a place to spend the night. They tried almost all the hotels in the city, before finally finding a gem of a place tucked down a side street. The only complication was that they only had one room. Keitaro was ready to walk off when Motoko said, "We'll take it." Keiranto was surprised at this, but conceded that it was a very nice hotel, and they could always push the futons apart. He chuckled as he remembered his cousin had been caught in a very similar situation with Naru in Kyoto a few years ago.