Day 5

Well, everything went better than expected. I will not go into details, but my parents did not have any problems with me dating Marisa. Or, at least, they did not appear to have any complaints. My nervousness about the whole thing might not be unfounded at all, but it’s better to be a bit cautious about it.

 

But with that out of the way, the two of us decided to have a little variety aside from hanging out with each other on malls and eating. I’ve always wanted to do something with her that was at least a bit more thrilling. You see, I was always a fan of weapons, firearms to be specific. This has been a recurring thought in my head to have a little range time with her, but with an extra twist. And coincidentally, she brought up the topic of explosions in her job one day as a part of what thrills her when we chanced upon a fireworks display one night.

 

It turns out that whatever I have in mind, she will enjoy it.

 

So, in one of our excursions to the woods outside the city, we appropriately carried a few things with us. Aside from the packed lunch, which consisted of honey-glazed beef barbecue, macaroni salad and orange juice, we carried a few pounds of unmixed binary explosives in individual containers with us, a few firecrackers, a couple of firearms and appropriate ammunition. It’s not a whole day at the range. Besides, this is just a test run of some kind to see if she fully likes the idea.

 

We packed our cargo into my utility vehicle and then set off to the woods. If any of you ask me why I am using a utility vehicle instead of a proper one, it’s simply because I can’t afford those yet. And I’m still trying to familiarize myself with cars, and I really don’t know anything about them, so there’s that.

 

Upon arriving at the spot, we began to size up the whole surrounding. The weather was fine and it does look like it is about to rain, so we finally began to set up the whole trip.

 

She went ahead and searched one of our bags for the binary explosive. I asked, “So you do love explosions, huh?”

 

“Why do you think I went here with you?” she replied.

 

“Well, I guess I’m going to grab one of those firecrackers now.” I said, about to head off and get the items I just mentioned.

 

“Wait, what?” She suddenly interjected. “We have binaries here, so why do we need those?”

 

“I know about them.” I said. “I just need to try something.”

 

“What is it?” She asked, before the implication finally sunk to her. “…Oh, so you’re not going to shoot the explosive, are you?”

 

“I might be out here right now in this country, but I’m still a Filipino.” I said to her. “Back there, the kids love to risk their limbs for a little noise during New Year’s Eves. I’m not too different from them.”

 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” She said, amused. She was already mixing one batch of the explosives. “Don’t blame me if your dumbass does lose a limb from all of this.”

 

“I’ve made my decision as an adult with slightly unsound mind and sound body.” I said in a deadpan jest.

 

“Okay.” She said then laughed. She was finally done with mixing the binary explosive. “Here it is. Now let’s get it started.” She then tossed me the small container with the mixed binary explosive in it, and I caught it in my own hands.

 

There was a tree stump not too far from the spot where we landed and we decided to place the soon-to-be assembled improvised explosive device on there. We walked towards it and had a little chat. I was carrying a roll of duct tape, a firecracker, the explosive container, a kitchen lighter and a small pocket knife.

 

“So, yeah.” I said to her while walking. “You did say that making fireworks is a part of your extermination job and you also mentioned having a small magic shop.”

 

“Yes, so what of it?” she questioned me.

 

“Has it ever occurred to you that, maybe, you can sell those fireworks to your customers? Or maybe you did that already?” I replied.

 

“If somebody wants buy them, I would sell them.” She said. “But those things are handmade and they’re not too easy to make, so I have to charge a hefty sum to that.”

 

“You could simply buy fireworks from a company here and sell them there.” I suggested, about to approach the stump. “You can make it easier for you.”

 

“I know that, man.” She said. “But I have my own formulas and recipes for my fireworks and my own ways of assembling them too. And I simply can’t find any firework here that’s like my own. And, you know, making your own fireworks is satisfying.”

 

“I could understand that.” I said. We finally arrived at the stump. I then sat down on it began to assemble the explosive device.

 

“So, how about you?” she asked. “What got you into guns?”

 

I was silent for a moment as I was assembling the explosive, before I replied, “I don’t remember, really.”

 

“There must be something in your mind, you know,” she said. “I’ve told you how I got into the extermination job. It’s not fair if you don’t tell me what got you into guns. So, come on, tell me about it.”

 

“Okay.” I said. “They used to air action movies on the TV when I was a kid. I was a TV kid, and there were lots of action movies, so much that they became a joke back in my country.”

 

“…That’s it?” she was surprised. “What did those action movies show to you about guns? Did they look cool or something?”

 

“Cool?” I said to her. “Maybe, at first. But the weapons had a meaning to me other than being cool. I mean, killing people and risking your life isn’t cool. And war vets tend to hammer this point from time to time, you know?”

 

“Then what do they mean to you?” She asked some more. “Let me guess: power, isn’t it?”

 

“Perhaps.” I said. “But not just power in general, but a specific type of power that everyone always had since humanity existed.”

I stood up from the stump and set down the now-assembled explosive device. Now, all it needed it needed is to be lit by the fuse.

 

“What power is it?” she asked, for the last time.

 

I then stepped back from the little container on the stump and took held up the kitchen lighter. I turned my head to look at her, smiled and said “The power to fight back. You know feeling very well, don’t you, Marisa?”

 

She then smiled her usual playful grin, saying “Sure as hell as I do.”

 

I then reached towards the explosive and lit it with the lighter. As soon as he fuse was properly lit up, I yelled, “Get back!” But it seemed as if Marisa already did so, towards the utility vehicle. And so, I did right after her.

 

We made it in time getting to cover when the container exploded. It was a small container, but it sure did a make a loud noise.

When we came out of cover to check on the tree stump, we said that it worked its wonders. In fact, it damaged the tree stump considerably. And that container was just small. We then looked at each other a grinned like a bunch of children who did something wonderful but mischievous.

 

She then asked me the question. “So, wanna make another bomb?”

 

I then chuckled and said, “No more. It scared me.”

 

We then laughed heartily at what happened. After that, we simply opted for normal range session, as we set up targets, shot them to make them explode, shot non-exploding targets and finally had lunch. It was fun, and we decided we will do this again some other time.