In front of Arata, was the friend he made in high school and his current classmate, Rem. They were currently located inside of a pastry shop, underground, in what looked like a gun dealer shop. Arata was staring at her, dumbstruck. Although this past day has been hectic for him, he just couldn't believe his eyes.
"You were the gun dealer that Ken directed me to?"
"Yes, that's right" answered Rem in a firm voice.
She looked straight at him, and waited for him to speak up. Arata was deep in thought for a few seconds before he began to quickly fire questions her way.
"Are you the owner of this gun dealership? Why did you start one and since when? Also, what's up with this place?"
"I don't think it matters when or why I started doing this kind of work. However, this building we're currently in and both businesses are owned by me. The pastry shop is just an undercover business to hide the other one, which you can see right here."
"Huh…"
Arata let out a surprised sound, and Rem seized this chance to switch the positions of who was asking and responding.
"Why do you need a gun, Arata?" asked Rem and continued, "Ken told me you are in need of a gun, but he wouldn't tell me the reason why, saying it was up to you to tell me."
"Long story short, my brother got kidnapped. The kidnappers are asking for more than 100 million yen, and the deadline is in 2 days. Since I can't get that kind of money, I am planning to storm their place" said Arata.
Rem listened to Arata's story, and her expression got relatively dark. When Arata finished, she opened her mouth.
"I see… I'm sorry to hear that." she said in a sad voice, "I'm sure Ken has told you it's not the best idea to do this, but I just wanted to remind you. It's not too late to go back."
"It's okay. I'm prepared for the worst." replied Arata.
She wanted to make sure he was prepared for whatever was coming, so after staring at him for a while she gave her approval.
"Okay, I understand. I can lend you a gun and ammo for a few days, but I have a condition."
The condition was to not mention or tell anyone about her gun dealership, to hide the goods and to be discreet, since civilians aren't allowed to own guns, they could both get in trouble.
"Is that okay with you?" asked Rem.
"Yeah, of course."
Giving his approval to Rem's condition, they shook each other's hand, as a sign that the deal went through.
"Now, do you have any preferences when it comes to guns?"
"Not really… This might surprise you, but I have never actually seen or shot one before." replied Arata, somewhat sarcastically.
She nodded in understanding and began to think about which weapon would be easy for a beginner to use. Shortly after, she knew which firearm she was going to lend Arata. Making her way to one of the tables, she took it out.
Placing it on the table, she also took out about 10 magazines which were made for the specific firearm.
"Here. I think this weapon would fit you well. It's easy to use as a starter and it shouldn't cause you any headaches."
"Thank you."
"No problem. Here are some magazines for it. As this is a semi-automatic pistol, you can easily tell when you run out of ammunition, because the slide will lock back. To reload it, you need to press the magazine release lever, which will drop the already used magazine. Afterwards just slide in a new magazine, pull back on the slide, and release. If you do everything correctly, the gun will be reloaded."
After briefing Arata on how to use the gun, she showed him a real life demonstration as well, and helped him learn the technique to a level where he can easily reload at any time on a short notice.
This took about an hour and a half, and in the meantime, Rem told Arata some more gun related facts and random trivia.
"Alright. Now that you've learned the reloading technique to an acceptable level, give me a few minutes to install a silencer on the gun." said Rem, while she took the gun from Arata and started fiddling with it.
"Sure thing, thank you."
She finished installing the silencer on the gun, and so she handed over the pistol and a handgun holster to Arata. Glancing at him, she could see that he was prepared for what's to come.
"I think it's about time I leave," said Arata.
"I understand, but please promise me one thing. Please return safely so that Ken and I may join you in celebrating your return." replied Rem.
"Yeah, I'll be careful."
Arata made his way to the exit, but Rem called out and he glanced back. In that short moment, Rem hugged him and told him to stay safe. He was confused for a moment, but he turned around and patted her head. When he thought it was enough, he turned back to the exit and made it through.
"Well, see you."
He left the patisserie and made his way to his car. He thought back on what happened with Rem and he was left blushing for a bit.
Quickly coming back to his senses, he started the car's engine and took off. His destination was the address provided on the paper he received.
It currently was about 5 o'clock in the morning, however the sun could be seen in the sky, due to the current season being summer. He made his way through the almost empty streets and arrived at the building.
He sat in the car, and looked out the window. He could see an unguarded modern seven story building. Parking the car, he got out of the car and casually walked to the building's entrance.
"Time to have some fun."