An invitation to Gensokyo

Chapter 9: Hakkero Gun

After weeks of tampering with the gun and learning how the hakkero worked, Ryusashi, with Rinnosuke's help, had finished their prototype. The idea was to have the hakkero rotate on the axel in order to build up magic energy, and sending that energy through the barrel when the hammer striked it. However, the main issue was the integrity of the weapon itself, attempting to use it would probably destroy it completely due to the immense power the hakkero produced. They also had no idea wether or not the energy would even go through the barrel rather than just exploding outwards like it did at Marisa's house. It was late in the afternoon as the two of them continued to discuss and plan modifications to the weapon, when a small girl came into the shop on her own. "Welcome to Kourindou General, are you looking for anything in particular?" Rinnosuke asked, going over to greet her, and she shook her head. "I'm just browsing for some interesting stuff." She claimed as she began walking through the store. She noticed Ryusashi sat down at a desk, holding his head in frustration. "Whatcha working on, mister?" She asked curiously examining the rifle. Ryusashi raised his head to look at her, for such a tiny girl, she was carrying a backpack that looked like it was at least three times her size. She had short blue hair and was wearing a green hat. Ryusashi fell back into the chair he was sitting on, rubbing his head. "I'm trying to figure out what I can use for the barrel of this gun so the energy the mini hakkero sends out can go through it without destroying it." He stated, the blue haired girl nodded. "I see, I think I can help you with that." She said confidently as she unrolled a large piece of blank paper onto the table. She began scribbling the weapon as Ryusashi and Rinnosuke watched curiously. "So, you're trying to make this fire a beam without everything going boom, right? Well, if you can make an electromagnetic field around the barrel..." She said as she scribbled some wavy lines around the end of the drawing. "Then the energy can only go in one direction, through the barrel." She stated as she drew a line indicating a beam of some kind. Ryusashi nodded, understanding how it worked. "That's like the Gundam's beam rifle, only problem is how we make the electromagnetic field." He explained. "Not sure what a "Gun-dam" is but you get it. As for the how, you can just leave that to me. I came in here looking for some stuff to make into cool gadgets, but this is way more interesting, so I'll help you out." She said confidently as Ryusashi gave her a surprised look. "You seem like you know your stuff, what's your name kid?" He asked her and she gave him an annoyed look. "First of all, I'm not a kid, I'm a Kappa. Secondly, I'm Nitori, Nitori Kawashiro. I'm looking forward to working with you."

Ryusashi and Nitori worked on the prototype over the course of a few more weeks, until the prototype was ready to be tested. The barrel had a large rectangular casing around it and a small knob that controlled the rate the hakkero would rotate at. At it's highest setting, the casing around the barrel would open to increase the electromagnetic field around the barrel. Also, Nitori simply thought it looked cooler when it did that. They were in a large ravine where Nitori lived in order to conduct their tests. "Alright, we're gonna try it out on its lowest setting, ok?" Nitori called out to him behind a safety barrier as he flicked the switch that was originally meant as the rifle's safety trigger. The hakkero slowly began to spin in its chamber, making a soft humming sound while it built up magic energy. Ryusashi brought the rifle up, holding it away from himself in his right hand, as if he was holding a sawed off shotgun. "All's good on my end, you ready over there Nitori?" He yelled back to her. She put on a pair of safety goggles and gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah, let it rip!" She yelled before covering her ears. Ryusashi pulled the trigger and the hammer came down, striking the mini hakkero. The built up magic burst out of the barrel with enough force to make Ryusashi fall back and braze himself on his right leg. It struck a huge boulder, demolishing it in an instant, which labeled their prototype as a success. However, the barrel was glowing red with heat, possibly on the verge of melting the steel. "That can't be good." Ryusashi said to himself as he inspected the rifle. Nitori took her goggles off and came to check on him. "How does it look?" She asked excitedly, but Ryusashi couldn't be as enthusiastic. "Well, after that one shot, there's no way it'll fire again anytime soon. Needs something to cool it off." Ryusashi stated and Nitori nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty obvious. We'll need to find a way to reduce the heat in the casing." She explained and Ryusashi smiled. "Well, we know that it works. This is just a minor setback, barely an inconvenience." He stated and Nitori smiled as well. "That's true, we just need to add a ventilation system to get rid of all the excess heat in the barrel." With that said, the two of them returned to Nitori's desk and began making plans on how to keep the weapon from overheating.