In the back of the closet, nestled in the corner, was a large rolling suitcase. Isoroku removed it and set it down on his bed, beginning to carefully unzip it.
It was packed with old clothes, which he quickly tossed into a pile until he'd reached the cheap backing of the case. Pushing his fingers under this, he pried it up, and smiled down at what was underneath.
He didn't allow himself to look at it very often. An handgun, gleaming and beautiful. He picked it up and smelled it-- oil and metal, unmistakable.
It wasn't Japanese-- it was American. His grandfather had taken it off an American officer during the invasion of the Philippines in 1942. Isoroku did not know whether the American might have been a prisoner, or a corpse-- and if the latter, he wondered sometimes whether his Grandfather had been the one to do the killing.
He pressed the clip release and the magazine slid into his hand; it was empty, but the suitcase wasn't. He set down the gun and clip and removed a set of leather pouches from the case-- war trophies as well, stamped with the symbol of the US Army. The pouches contained two more clips for the gun. Finally, he pulled out a box of handgun ammunition-- fifty rounds, in a colorful cardboard box with only English writing on it. This was not vintage; Isoroku suspected his Grandfather must have bought it in America or Canada in the seventies or eighties.
Owning the gun was grossly illegal, of course. The school rules were far less of a concern than the various municipal and federal laws that would come down on him like a hammer if he was caught with it. But a closed-off subway at night seemed to him like a very dangerous place, especially considering the reports of injuries...
He had been planning to bring the gun along unloaded, as a scare tactic. As he considered this, though, he felt there was a serious problem with the plan. Plenty of kids his age had airsoft guns that looked as real as his pistol did, so any criminals might not be convinced... much better if he could, perhaps, fire into the air.
He carefully slid the ammo box open and removed eight rounds, which he slid into one of the magazines, one by one. The magazine then popped into the gun with a satisfying "click", and Isoroku fastidiously replaced his other posessions in the suitcase, which he returned to the closet.
He flicked the safety on the weapon, then set it down on his bed. He then changed out of his school uniform and into jeans and a white long-sleeve shirt with a black T-shirt over it.
He hestitated before pulling a cheap baseball cap out from the recesses of his closet and settling it onto his head, the brim low over his eyes. Probably best to try to mask his appearance at least a bit... but this was not quite his usual look.
Grabbing the gun, he tucked it into the back of his waistband so that his shirt draped over, completely covering it.
