Gunsmith Katsumi - Akitsukuni Arms Design Quest

You meet up with Clara-Rose and Miyatake around lunchtime, in a little bar Clara-Rose had told you about that's actually remarkably close to IMMMT. The atmosphere is surprisingly relaxed. It feels a bit like walking into a women's bar than your usual haunts, but there are a couple of Europan men up at the other end, chatting animatedly. One puts his hand on the other's knee.

Actually, you and Miyatake are the only two Akitsukuni people not behind the bar.

"What is this place?" you ask.

Clara-Rose grins: "Why, it's a Lydian Bar, isn't it? They're very popular in Gallia these days."

Miyatake stops gawking for a moment: "Well, where are the Lydians then? The place is full of foreigners."

"It's for Europans who want a little privacy to study Lydian culture," Clara Rose says with a clever smile.

"Without any Lydians?"

"Quite honestly, it's best that we practice with each other first. Saves disappointment. Drinks?"

You all wander across to the bar, with you in the lead. You flag down a serving girl and order: "Three gin and tonics, please."

She looks at you bemusedly "What?"

Clara-Rose barges across you "Three G and Ts, if you would."

The Joseonese girl nods "Certainly, ma'am. I'll bring them to the table."

You sit back down and Miyatake turns to you: "So, you must tell me, how did you get into the business?"

"Well, I'm sure I had a different time of it to you," you respond, "my parents run a gun shop out in the sticks and without a brother I stand to inherit. What I was supposed to do was go to the big city, study accounting and do a module in mechanical engineering so I could meet a suitable husband."

Miyatake nods. Clara-Rose looks quietly disgusted.

You continue: "I spent a year doing what I was told and then I couldn't take it any more. I changed all my modules into mechanical engineering, sold it to my parents as 'improving my chances' and got a proper degree."

"That's so brave!" Miyatake says. You flush a little bit but you're saved by the waitress turning up with the drinks. At least she's fast.

"Anyway, with the war there was suddenly an opening at Imperial Matchlocks and I applied and got hired and that's mostly it."

"Oh, I know what that's like. I only got the opportunity at Kawaguchiya because our lead designer was called up." Miyatake looks diffident but you can feel the hurt in her voice. She quickly takes a big gulp of her drink—and grimaces. Her lips narrow to a cute pout and a twitch runs across her milky skin.

"Not exactly beer!" she says with a smile so earnestly sheepish you can't help smile back. She brings the glass to her lips again and sips cautiously.

"What do you do at Kawaguchiya?" you ask, "I mean, what kind of firearms is your stock in trade?"

"Hunting arms, but you knew that already," Miyatake smiles and fixes you with her big, deep eyes. "Come on, make one guess at what our most popular item is."

"Type 10 Maruyama rifle converted to a shotgun," you snap like you're answering questions in school. Which anyone can do. Come on, impress her! "Sixteen gauge," you try, the confidence fading from your voice with every syllable. Miyatake flashes a look of surprise and her lips do that thing again and you wish you could just sit here for hours, enjoying gin & tonics while she smiles and laughs.

"You're clever," she says. An electrifying wave ripples across your skin. "So, what do you make?"

"It's supposed to be sporting arms, but with the war most of the time was spent trying to simplify Type 15 production."

Miyatake nods knowingly.

The conversation turns to your first few weeks at work. You find Miyatake saw much the same cold hostility, and eventually you realise you've both emptied your glasses and are sipping meltwater from the ice.

Clara-Rose suddenly looks at you sharply: "Tachibana, have I seen that jacket before?"

You feel a flush rising. Did you think nobody would notice? Perhaps a lie of omission would get you off the hook: "Uh, yes, I wore it to the pistol trials."

She's not fooled: "And to the previous trials and our date. I think we need to go to the shops."

Miyatake perks back up: "Oh wow, can we go to the Silver Mint District?"

"But it's boooring. It's just like being in Rivermouth." Clara-Rose rolls her eyes exaggeratedly, but grabs her purse and leaves a fistful of money on the table.

---

The Silver Mint district is laid out like a Europan city, all wide boulevards and colonnaded shops. Miyatake walks between you and Clara-Rose, staring goggle-eyed at the large glass window displays full of all the fruits of the occident.

"Look! Evening gowns! They're so pretty!"

You are jerked to a halt by her hand on your shoulder and then steered through the door of the clothier. The inside is full of silks and chiffons and you worry about whether you should be in here before Clara-Rose says "Afternoon, Midge." to the shop attendant, who nods politely. Miyatake makes for a row of dresses in a busy floral pattern. You try to imagine her in one and you're not so sure. Clara-Rose catches your glance and points Miyatake at another display.

"Absolutely not. You have magnificent shoulders and you need to show them off. Midge, could you get me a... Midge, can you get me a belt?"

She sends Miyatake off to a changing room with the belt and a couple of dresses. When she comes back, you can see what Clara-Rose meant about the shoulders. In a western-style dress her shoulders are pulled back, and with the belt her torso cuts through the space around her like the prow of a ship. You can't speak.

"Ohmispirits! You look so cuuute!" Clara-Rose gushes "You must buy it, you must."

Miyatake spins in front of one of the full-length mirrors, her face a mix of emotions: "My waist is so wide, though…" she says, and you can see her eyes linger on a floral-patterned dress.

"Yes, and it looks great," Clara-Rose continues. "Straighter lines are in, finally, and you don't have to pad your chest and hips to get that ridiculous figure. No, that belt is all you need."

In the end it's impossible to talk Miyatake out of a floral version of the same cut. It's her money, after all, and if you were Clara-Rose there's no way you'd be able to resist the way her lips pout when running her hands over the printed fabric. After translating for Midge and picking out a few items for herself, Clara-Rose turns to you:

"See anything you like? I'm not letting you leave here in that jacket."

You have been eyeing the long tweed coat on one of the mannequins. Before you're entirely sure what's happened, Clara-Rose has put you in it and pushed you in front of a mirror. It doesn't fit quite right and while you're adjusting it Clara-Rose plops a hat down on your head.

"There!" she says, "That look really suits you."

And with that, you've spent the last of your New Years bonus on a coat and a hat.

---

You're wandering back uptown, past the palace and the Albian Embassy, when you're attracted by a strange cracking noise coming from the park next to the moat. Investigation reveals a group of Europans, dressed all in white and spread around an open area, playing some sort of game. One stands next to a set of three sticks in the earth, holding a bat low to the ground, and another throws a ball in a sort of windmilling motion. The ball bounces off the ground and skims towards the batter, who steps into its path and knocks it the other way, scudding across the grass before falling into the moat. "Four." says one of them. This is definitely not baseball.

"Cricket." says Clara-Rose, reading your mind. Then she grins: "Would you like a go? I'm sure Mr. Jennings would let us join in, it doesn't look like they're scoring seriously."

"Sure!" says Miyatake "Uh, what do we do?"

"Bottom line is: Someone throws the ball, someone else tries to hit it, then everyone else tries to catch it. It's fun! If you're batting then don't let the stumps, those stick bits, get hit. Otherwise, hit them! With the ball, that is, just knocking them over is illegal. Oh, what the hell, you'll get the hang of it!"

More than slightly confused, you trail behind her as she waves to the man who said Four and begs politely to be allowed to join in. "Afternoon, Clara-Rose" he says "Grab a bat. Are your Akitsukuni friends playing?"

You decide to try and impress: "Yes, please. Should I have brought a white dress?"

He laughs a little and Miyatake starts to look awkward, but Clara-Rose claps a bat into her hands and sends her towards the stumps. She limbers up a little and sheds her jacket, revealing a pair of strong arms. She look at ease and places the tip of the bat on the ground, looking towards the equally-confident Albian bowler. He trots forward a few paces and windmills again, throwing the ball into the ground. It bounces, rises, and Miyatake's stance naturally adjusts. She leans back, brings the bat behind her, and swings. The bat smashes into the ball at midriff height. A red streak flies across the street before clearing the outer wall of the building opposite and entering an open window. Everyone winces slightly at the thunk as it hits something in the interior and a stream of faint Albian invective wafts out of the window.

"Well," says Mr. Jennings "The ambassador wasn't keen on me anyway. Have you fished that ball out of the moat yet, Eddie?"

Miyatake bows apologetically and repeatedly, then in desperation attempts a curtsey. "Tachibana!" she whispers "Please tell him that I am very, very sorry and try to persuade him not to attack our country."

"Oh, it's quite alright," says Mr. Jennings as Miyatake goes stiff with horror "It was a mighty stroke, even if not quite a legal one. You're supposed to keep the bat pointed at the ground. Would you like a go next, madam?"

You approach the stumps as a slightly damp man tosses a very damp ball up from the edge of the moat. A woman catches it and sets up to bowl towards you, but politely waits until the woman behind the sticks adjusts your posture and grip so that you have a chance. The ball comes in, you raise the bat off the ground and drive it forward. You've misjudged the height and the bat just barely brushes the edge of the ball, deflecting it past you. A partial hit. You turn behind you to watch it roll across the grass as one of the fielders runs to intercept...

"RUN TACHIBANA!" Clara-Rose yells.

You turn to look at her as she indicates a second set of stumps next to the bowler. Are you supposed to stand next to those ones now? You set off but not a moment later hear the clonk of the ball against the stumps behind you.

"Out!" calls Mr. Jennings "Good try, you'd have been helped if someone explained the rules better." He gives Clara-Rose a significant look.

She looks a little guilty but invites someone else to bat. "Hang on to this for me, would you?" she says to Miyatake, taking off her jacket and putting her hat jauntily on the other woman's head.

Clara-Rose walks up to the bowler's end while an older man with broad shoulders and a bit of a swagger takes up a bat and indicates his readiness. She winds up for a throw and lets it fly. A streak curves across your vision, but the man follows it and his swing drives it into the grass as he runs for the second set of stumps, then makes it back to the first before another member of the embassy staff can return the ball. You can see Clara-Rose looking a little dissatisfied, but she throws the next couple of balls even faster, forcing the broad man onto the defensive. He catches the fourth ball sweetly, sending it into the moat again, but you can see a familiar smile break across Clara-Rose's face. She runs up again, throws her arm over her head and the ball goes a little slower than it had been. You see it bounce and rise, going to the man's right, and then veer left. The ball sneaks through the space between his bat and his knees and flattens the middle stump.

"Damn! I should have known you for a spin bowler. I'm getting old, of course, and the sun is in my eyes here." He says, grinning ruefully.

You translate for Miyatake and she rolls her eyes. The games continue for a while but eventually the sun does sink enough to make playing difficult for everyone. The embassy staff begin to gather up their gear and you and Miyatake both bow and thank them for the game. When you straighten up Clara-Rose is between you, her arms around both your shoulders.

"I know this great place nearby…"

---

Clara-Rose leads you into a building labelled 'The Cottage', insisting that the Navy Princess comes here all the time. It seems a bit too low class for that, and how would Clara-Rose even know? When you go through the cloakroom and into the main hall you are hit by a wall of noise; music and chatter. Clara-Rose misinterprets your grimace: "Yeah, it's more like rag-out-of-time, isn't it?"

Fifteen minutes later you have managed to secure a drink, some sort of rum-adjacent concoction, and you grip it tightly as you stick next to Miyatake. The caterwauling wears at you and you're of half a mind to persuade the girls to go somewhere else, but Clara-Rose bounces up to you, yelling over the din: "Come on, we're doing the Turkey Trot!"

You barely have time to chuck back your drink before she drags you onto the dance floor. She gives you a lightning fast run-down of about a dozen different steps, then takes your hand, grabs your hip, and shoves you around while tossing her feet in all directions. You try to mirror her feet but she's already on the next step. You're supposed to pretend you're a pecking chicken, but all you're pecking at is her toes. This is nightmarish. She's laughing at you now. You're supposed to do the wavy wing thing now, and she mirrors you, mocking your dumb attempt. Then she lets go of you and grabs hold of Miyatake, who follows her perfectly. You retreat back to the wall, watching them.

After a few minutes it's too much, and you order another drink at the bar as the band starts playing something a little slower. You do your best not to watch Clara-Rose and Miyatake, moving together in harmony. Watching the other couples doesn't make you feel much better. You notice a clique of other girls who are standing against the wall too, looking at you. They know you don't belong here. You begin your third drink just as the band starts playing something Carvalan-sounding, and you're not looking as Clara-Rose whispers something in Miyatake's ear that makes her blush bright red. The drinks make their presence known and you ask for directions to the outhouse.

Once you're out in the fresh air, looking up at the starry sky, everything feels a little better. You sit on a handy crate and take in the sounds of the city for a bit. Despite the light breeze blowing in from the sea your cheeks are warm. Spirits, how much have you had to drink today? Four glasses? You're glad tomorrow is a Sunday.

"There you are!" Clara-Rose says, and you stand up and dust off your kimono before waving in the direction of the outhouse by way of explanation.

"I really can't stand this butchering of ragtime anymore so I'm thinking of having a sort of party-after-the-party at my place. I'd love it if you could join us!" she says politely.

"I couldn't," you say.

"I insist!" Clara-Rose continues, and Miyatake nods in agreement.

"No, it's okay, I'd only be the third wheel. Thank you for inviting me though."

Clara-Rose and Miyatake feign disappointment politely as you try to find your way to a streetcar stop. You slump onto a car with the rest of the drunks and sulk: What an awful way to end a lovely day. You're certainly never going dancing again!

---

Drinking - Familiar Vice
Shopping - Partial Hit
Cricket - Partial Hit
Dancing - Miss, Miss forward to End of Night
End of Night - 3 Misses! Immunity to Dancing

-4 Stress

Have you learned nothing from ADCQ? Bad things happen when Gaya characters go dancing!

You turn up to work on Monday, glad your thundering headache cleared yesterday. Ikeda is hovering outside the gate again and you begin to worry. Mr. Watanabe had been avoiding you since the trial, but he might have just been marshalling his forces.

"The boss wants to see you." Ikeda says.

You sigh: "Look, he really can't keep doing this. If I do well I show him up, if I do badly I show him up?"

Ikeda looks confused for a moment: "Oh no, not Watanabe. The boss. The viscount himself. Mr. Akutagawa."

She leads you part of the way. Once you arrive at the engraved double doors, Rui—Mr Akutagawa's secretary—instructs you to wait. The anteroom receives the most distinguished guests and nobles, and the seats are comfortable and exquisitely upholstered. Rui eyes you suspiciously, and you elect to stand. A few minutes later they call your name:

"Ms Tachibana? You may enter."

You push carefully at one of the engraved doors and step through. The room is a little smaller than you had expected, only a few steps from the doors to the desk, and it is beautiful. The cabinets are magnificently inlaid, the sideboard carrying a pair of swords and a discreet selection of drinks must be hundreds of years old, and taking up almost an entire wall is a silk depicting a battle scene. From the left a horde of bold samurai charge into frame, and from the right lines of musketeers unleash a wall of smoke and fire.

"You wanted me, sir."

You bow deeply. Viscount Akutagawa is a noble with a lineage. He'd been a samurai, and he was still known in the papers as 'Lord Matchlock' whenever they forgot that using pre-Reformation titles was supposed to be gauche. His family had been custodians of Her Majesty's Imperial Matchlock Manufactory for generations. He was not actually descended from the first custodian, who'd been beheaded for conspiring to assassinate the Empress, or the second custodian, whose grandson had picked the wrong side in a civil war, but Akutagawa could trace an unbroken line of ancestors who'd died with their heads on their shoulders while holding the title back to the early 2300s.

"Ah, Tachibana." he says gravely. "Sit down. Tea?"

You nod mutely, your voice gone for a moment, and sit in front of his desk. He signals Rui, who you realise must have been hovering at the door, and they bring in two cups of steaming tea for you. You cradle the cup in your hands, waiting for Mr Akutawaga.

"You've been attracting notice, Tachibana. It seems like every event I go to, I hear your name. Mr. Akibara's birthday. Mr. Kobayashi's son's wedding. The opening of the Albian Embassy."

He allows this to hang in the air for a moment.

"This morning at the palace, indeed."

You try to swallow, but your mouth is dry.

"It was mentioned to me that the Empress has expressed a favourable opinion of your work."

You almost burn yourself on the tea.

"It has not escaped Her Imperial Majesty's attention that Her army has bought two new weapons from a very old supplier, nor that they have both been designed by the same person."

You think about that for a moment. It was definitely Mr. Watanabe's name on the rifle and yours on the pistol.

"You will design the weapon we present to Her Imperial Majesty this year." he says. "That will be all."

You put the teacup down, stand up, and bow again before making your escape.

---

You take a breath to steady yourself, then push the door to Workshop 3 open. Okay, so first you need to—

"Katsumi!" a familiar voice calls.

A fraction of a second later Clara-Rose is upon you, hands gently but firmly guiding you back out the door.

"It's so good to see you, the new coat looks great with that kimono, we need to talk."

Before the words all register she's propelled you through the door to the firing range and shut it after her. She sits you down on an upturned crate and fixes you with an intense stare. Intense and… confused? Before you can figure it out she launches into it:

"Saturday, after you went home, I brought Natsuki back to my flat. Look, it was really good and I'm not complaining or anything but… Okay so I made us some tea, put on the phonograph, you know how it goes…"

You don't, but you kind of wish you did.

"So anyway, we're getting into it and… Alright, so here's the thing…" she continues, her pace getting more frantic, "She has my blouse off at this point..."

You stop her there, your face burning bright red.

"I can't—please, something's bothering you."

"What are the rules?" she straightens up and says, emphasizing each syllable. You raise an eyebrow and she continues: "Everything has rules. There are rules for men and rules for women, and here in Akitsukuni you have rules for non-binaries, and there's also rules for courting all of those. But I don't know what the rules are for someone like that!"

Oh. This. You've heard about this, how Europans don't have third genders or trans people and treat the mere suggestion like it's something obscene. Then there's the stories of misconduct that nobody is supposed to repeat, but everyone knows.

"She's not 'someone like that' like she's some untouchable monster, she's a beautiful woman and I can't believe you'd treat her like this." you say, harshness slipping into your voice. You realise you've clenched your fists.

"I don't know how to treat her! That's why I'm here, asking you."

"Well, first of all, the rule is that you can't go around telling people who's trans, and you absolutely cannot talk about someone's…"

You wave your hands in a way intended to be both suggestive and demure. Clara-Rose's face sinks and it stings. All the confidence seems gone. You can't just leave her like this. Against your better judgement, you lean in and whisper:

"Now that you have brought it up though, what is it you actually meant?"

Clara-Rose takes a deep breath: "So, I have this absurdly pretty Akitsukuni woman in my flat, I undress her, and I won't say it's not unexpected and I was unsure for a moment but spirits, how can you say no to a face like hers? So I kissed her, and that's sort of where I ran out of script. I felt like I was nineteen again, making a fool of myself and ruining the evening. How am I supposed to sweep someone off their feet when I have to ask them how to do it?"

"'Naked and in your flat' sounds like you managed to sweep her off her feet just fine." you say, trying to keep a hint of envy from creeping into your voice.

"No, you don't understand, I had to stop all the time and ask if I was doing it the right way and if she was okay. I had no grace and she must have felt so disappointed. If you'd been there you'd surely have known what she wanted."

Blood rushes to your cheeks. "I… I haven't… Not necessarily. Look, I think you dealt with it fine. Everyone is different, right? You're always going to have to fumble about a bit, that's just what it's like."

Clara-Rose's shoulders sink. She lets out a resigned sigh, then glances at you. Her mouth curves upwards into a smile, but you're pretty sure her look is one of pity.

"Anyway, I've been terribly rude pulling you out of work like this. I'm sure you're very busy on some sort of top secret project for the Forces again."

It's your turn to smile "No, actually! I have just been given personal responsibility for the presentation firearm." You pause to allow Clara-Rose to make suitable congratulatory noises.

"Presentation to whom?"

The words hang in the air for a moment, reflected back at you from the far end of the range.

"To… To the Empress? The Ascension Day ceremonies?"

She continues to look completely blank.

"Okay, so, back in the early Chiyoda period, the... " you count in your head for a moment "Seventeenth century, for you guys, Imperial Matchlocks was set up. The point of the company was to provide a loyal source of firearms for the Shogunate, but the polite fiction was that it was a part of the Empress' domain. It was tradition for swordsmiths to present their finest piece of work to their lord, so Imperial Matchlocks would present their finest firearm to the Empress. That became a ceremonial thing and the weapon is now presented as a present for her on Ascension Day. It's a great honour to design it!"

Clara-Rose stands up, beaming at you. "Katsumi! That's brilliant! Do you know what you're going to do?"

You deflate a little from the height of your pride, looking away from her for a moment. "I've got a lot of ideas. I don't know what I want to pursue though."

She thinks for a moment, staring at the targets at the far end of the range for inspiration. "Well, what was the presentation gun last year? Can you top it?"

"Last year was a special case, She was presented with a Type 15 which she then gave to a soldier on his way to the front. Everyone in the country was giving things up to help the war effort, so She decided to help."

You pretend not to hear Clara-Rose's tiny snort of derision.

"The year before that it was a Pocket Hammerless, the first one we made at HMMMT."

She interjects "Did she give that one away too?"

"Please, it was a gift. I told you last year was a special case. Anyway, the year before that was a shotgun of some sort, I think? It's quite varied, but traditionally the guns are very highly decorated, even for our products."

"It sounds to me like you have your work laid out for you, then. Top last year's gift with a Tachibana rifle covered in gold leaf and ivory. Maybe engrave the ring-pull into the shape of a swan? Or use the pistol design. You've already done all the hard work for this, Katsumi, no need to stress yourself out over it. Besides, the Empress likes your current designs, right?"

You add that to the list of ideas that's been growing in your head ever since you left Mr Akutagawa's office.

"Thanks, I'll think about it." You say, a little absently.

"No, thank you. For helping me with the…" It's odd to see Clara-Rose speechless. "... the thing. Hey, if you should come up short, you could always give her majesty something from Naylor's catalogue," she winks.

You giggle: "I'm sure Her Imperial Majesty would love a brand-new 343 mm naval gun. I've got to get back to work though. Would you mind seeing yourself out?"

---

You re-enter Workshop 3 and note that your team isn't working very hard. Shiragiku gives you a look and you sigh, wishing you were the ladykiller he imagines you to be.

You gather the team to attention and give them their brief. Eyes glow and there's obvious excitement in the air as they all start talking at once:

"Okay, this is definitely the time to go back to tradition, another beautiful hunting shotg—"
"— the modern marksman demands high quality ammunition, if I got my notes on the first 6.5 back out—"
"—the boss mentioned a repeating fire mode for a pistol, is that possi—"
"—self-loading hunting rifles from New Allegheny—"
"—fingers, but did you see the lines of Komura's pistol? That's th—"
"—gardless, the important thing is that this gun is the best we can make it."

You call them all to silence. You already know what you're going to make, you thought of it in the corridor.

---

What will you make?


How will you make it?