Hisoka had a restless night's sleep due to nightmares filled with Misumi's tragic story.

Hisoka woke up with a start, rather early in the morning at that. He looked at his bed to confirm that what happened was real and not just an alcohol-induced nightmare. There on his bed slept Misumi tucked into the covers with a distraught look on her face. It pained him to see her like this, but he hesitated to do anything not wishing to overstep his bounds. He strapped on his equipment and gathered his weapons.

The VR60 was lacking in ammunition, so he resolved that by spending 30 MP to call forth 60 rounds of 12 gauge. After refilling the magazines he still had 30 rounds left as reserves. He had 50 MP remaining to use during the day's rifle training. He stowed the extras and walked out of the room careful not to wake the sleeping Misumi.

Hisoka walked downstairs to the tavern for breakfast, and was greeted by Aki. They went about ordering breakfast, and had some time to chat while they were waiting.

"I've prepared new equipment for you," Hisoka told her.

She donned a curious expression and replied, "I have no aptitude for any commonly used equipment."

Hisoka smiled lightly to keep fro smirking, "Don't worry about it, this equipment is anything but ordinary. I was planning to take you out and show you how to use it today, would that be alright?"

Looking even more confused than before she replied, "I don't see why not, but I don't have much faith that I'll be able to learn it to any extent."

"Trust me on this, you'll learn it without too much trouble," Hisoka said with a more sincere, reassuring smile.

They stopped their conversation as their food arrived. They enjoyed their meal, and Hisoka picked up the bill.

He put on a bit more of a serious expression, "Aki, I have something a little unusual to ask of you."

Seeing her apprehension he quickly reassured her, "No it's nothing like what I imagine you are thinking. I could simply use a favor. Some odd circumstances brought Misumi to my room, and I was hoping you could wake her up for me. I know how odd it is but it would cause even more trouble if I had to explain the situation. Just know I didn't do anything bad, she was simply a little intoxicated is all."

Seeing his serious tone, she replied, "If it's just something of that nature, I have no problems doing so. Would you like to me to wake her now?"

Hisoka hesitated for a second before replying, "No, I think it'd be best to give her another hour or so of sleep. In the meantime, I would like to show you what I've got here for you."

Seeing the tavern relatively empty due to the early hour, Hisoka proceeded to bring forth her rifle from his pouch of holding. She was very surprised that he possessed such an item, and even more curious as to the weird metal objects he had produced from it.

"This is an extremely powerful weapon from my homeland. It can pierce heavy plate metal, and inflict heavy damage. This model in particular, is a marksman rifle. Marksman rifle meaning a firearm for use at long distances. This one in particular fires a very good precision round, and has been adopted in some form or another within the elite soldiers of one of my homelands largest nations. With this, you alone could easily kill a fully armored knight long before they could do anything to harm you."

She understandably had an incredulous look on her face gazing at the oddly crafted metal objects before her. Hisoka wasn't done yet, however. He also brought out the extra P226 and it's 5 magazines. He set this before the girl.

"This is a 9mm pistol. A small firearm capable of fitting into a holster. I'll have to leave further explanations for the range. Honestly, right now I will keep ahold of them until I get you acquainted with them at the range. The last thing I'd want is for you to accidentally hurt yourself," he said that last part with a somber expression.

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"I firmly believe with these weapons, you will become far more powerful than ever before. Even an everyday person in the place I come from, in a country that allows civilian weapons, with enough effort could become stronger with this equipment than 40 knights or so. Combine that with me and Misumi at your side, we will be untouchable," Hisoka told her regaining the fire in his eyes.

He would have to take his spare P226 to have a holster made for her. In such a large prosperous town there should be no shortage of skilled artisans.

He then noticed the time that had passed by observing the sun through the tavern's windows.

"Once again I'm sorry to ask this, but could you please go wake Misumi? Perhaps help her get some fresh clothes? I'm sorry to ask this of you so soon after meeting you, but I feel it's far more appropriate for a girl to do these things rather than myself."

She nodded, "It's like I said in the beginning; I'd be happy to do chores or menial tasks for you two if it meant I could join your party." with that she got up and went to rouse Misumi from her drunken slumber.

[She'll probably have a nasty hangover unless the beastkin has some defining ability that makes them immune to such things.]

In fact, the beastkin were not immune to such phenomena. A good 15 minutes later Misumi came down the stairs looking to be in a crappy state. Aki was helping her get to the tavern, and eventually got her sat down. Hisoka ordered some food that was easy on a weak stomach for her and turned to speak to her.

Softly he spoke, "Hey, I think you should just do your best to get some rest today. There is nothing fun about a nasty hangover, and I definitely can't take you shooting in such a state. When you finish your meal I can have Aki help you back to your room."

She gave a meek nod and ate the food that arrived before her. Hisoka paid the bill for their meals and gave Misumi a soft reassuring smile. She looked at him with hollow eyes, and he couldn't stand to see her in such a state.

Surprising both of them, he gently embraced her. He softly spoke that everything would be alright, that she was safe now. She accepted his hug warmly, and they stayed like that for a bit. After a while Misumi slowly released the embrace, looking a little more serene than she had just a few moments ago.

"If you ever have troubles like this again, please don't hesitate to tell me. I'm always here for you," he said as he softly gripped her hands. She blushed at the sentiment.

Aki helped her back to her room and returned to Hisoka, with a warm look at her face at the kindness of Hisoka. Hisoka himself still gelt great sorrow at her tale, and he felt even worse than she had been holding in all those tough emotions by her lonesome the entire time they had been together. He resolved himself to be there to help her through such turbulent emotions.

He gestured for Aki to follow him. They trudged through the city streets past the bustling merchant stalls, and through the darker areas of the city, before making it to the parking place of the Polaris. He took off the sheet without much ceremony and gestured she get in. She seemed puzzled at the odd metal contraption and practically jumped out of her skin when the engine hummed to life.

"W-What is this thing?" she frantically asked Hisoka.

He answered her with almost a bored expression, as such vehicles were the norm in his world.

[In fact one of those sons-of-bitches sent me to this world huh] he mused silently for a moment before answering her question.

"This is a car, similar to the weapons I showed you, it is technology from where I came. It uses an engine to produce power to the wheels. I honestly can't answer you much more than that, I wasn't a specialist in any field that worked with them," was his simple answer to her.

Without waiting for a response her took backroads to the gate, where he passed without incident. They drove a short distance before finding a small outcropping of trees that would make due.

[Man I should really look into getting some targets produced] Hisoka noted to himself.

He shut off the engine after nestling the vehicle between the trees. They dismounted from the Polaris and found a suitable bunch of trees. He brought forth the weapons he had prepared her.

Hisoka went through his usual spiel on firearm safety, before showing her the basics of operating each weapon. She caught on quickly and was soon ready to shoot.

It turned out she wasn't as proficient with the pistol as Misumi, but at 10 meters she could still keep a decent shot. Where she really excelled was in use of the long gun. After being shown the basics, she quickly grasped the handling. Hisoka started shooting at the 20-meter mark, but soon she had passed 100 meters with iron sights. Hisoka marveled at her ability and wondered what she could accomplish with a magnified scope. He had her run through the total amount of ammo he had stored to boost her mastery.

At the very end of it, he summoned 150 rounds of 6.5 for 45 MP to replenish the emptied magazines. He quickly taught her how to load the magazines, and the two finished the job in a short timeframe. Hisoka stopped one last time to admire her tight groupings on target before they mounted up to head back to the inn.

~~~