Hey, why won't you call me by my name?
One sunny day with blue skies, the Yorozuya who had not yet received any jobs, were still chilling at Gin-san's house.
Like some other manga's main character who also wore glasses, worked at a yorozuya job and was often in charge of cleaning, cooking and whatnot, the only difference between the main character and Shinpachi was that the latter had nearly zero percent presence. The straight man was currently doing his job of cleaning the rooms out and scolding Gin-san's laziness at the same time; as for the only female member, Kagura, she was lying on Sadaharu's back, eating sukonbu like a boss; the actual boss, Gin-san was simply leaning back in his chair with his legs crossed on top of his office desk, staring at his new bough issue of JUMP with dead-fish eyes.
Originally only Shinpachi's complaints could be heard, but he soon grew silent as he continued to clean, causing the entire house to fall into dead silence... besides Sadaharu's snoring.
The silence broke as the man reading JUMP finally opened his mouth.
"I'll say, the way a person calls another is quite something, isn't it?" Gin-san stated, stroking his chin, this action only made him look like some idiot trying too hard to pretend he's some kind of professor.
"What, why talk about something like this as your first line, Gin-san?" Shinpachi immediately started to do what he does best as the straight man, even though they say his glasses represent him, but his mouth is probably part of his representation as well, no? After all, without Shinpachi as the straight man, then there will be no Shinpachi, there would only be a normal, dull pair of glasses.
"Stupid, of course it's because the author can't think of anything else as a conversation starter! So we'll just cut straight to the chase! Don't tell me you guys didn't notice at all? Everybody has different names and titles for themselves, it also shows the level of closeness towards each other." Gin-san said.
"Ah, just like how the boss lady calls Shinpachi 'Shin-chan', right? Aru-aru!" Kagura caught on quickly.
Shinpachi scratched his head thoughtfully, "If you say it that way, I suppose that's so, titles are representations of one's relationship with another after all."
"Plus, titles also show the identification of a person, and the closeness between each other, of course. Using myself as an example, you guys, Otae and Hasegawa all address me as 'Gin-san/-chan', Okita calls me 'Boss', so as you can see, the level of closeness is quite different."
"Ah, but only Katsura-san would call Gin-san by his actual name, right? You guys are old friends after all." Shinpachi said.
Gin-san looked at Shinpachi with his dead-fish eyes, "It's not just Zura, is it? That bastard Takasugi as well!"
"Huh? Why did Gin-san bring up that guy called Takasugi? Why mention him especially? Isn't that guy the one who had a bunch of screen time during the Benizakura Arc? How come the guy who only had a few seconds as screen time during the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc is ranked higher than me?" Shinpachi seems to have some problems with Takasugi, who seems to have disappeared entirely, but still maintained a high rank.
"It's just a small reminder for everyone in order to make organizations cleaner! Then again, it really is pretty frustrating how that bastard got such a high rank without having to show his face at all..." Gin-san also seems to have a lot of complaints for Takasugi.
Kagura opened a new bag of sukonbu, adding onto their conversation, "Oh, now that you've mentioned that time! I remember that sow calling him 'Shinsuke-sama' so it seems."
"Pssh! Then he's just that! Besides, he only has a sow as a fan, there's no way he can win against me..." Gin-san has a relaxed look on his face, more like, what is he so relaxed for?
"Hold on, Gin-san! What do you by that? This is terrible, you'll probably get tons of flames from this! Plus, you guys are all calling her a 'sow', it's possible that you may be cut down by the sow's fans!" Shinpachi reminded them.
"Shinpachi, you're calling her a sow as well, from the way I see it, you'll probably be the first one who gets cut down later! Careful not to let your glasses break!" Kagura stated, her eyes unfocused as a piece of sukonbu dangled in her mouth.
"Aah, so according to the title 'sow', it seems like none of us really understand that 'sow' who does nothing but stand next to Takasugi, which is why we keep calling her 'sow', no?" Gin-san said with an exasperated expression.
"No, I'm pretty sure that isn't because of whether or not we understand her, you guys didn't read the character profiles at all, did you?!" Shinpachi stated, raising up the book of character profiles.
"Why should we get to know the sow? Will we become sows as well, aru?" Kagura seems to have plenty of complaints against the s- oh, no, Matako.
Shinpachi hugged his head, a twisted and painful expression on his face, "I'm begging you! Stop saying 'sow'! Let's just change the topic, alright? I feel like sows are just randomly appearing inside my head!"
"Shinpachi, I think your mating season has come, no wonder all you can think about are sows, this is the first step to being an adult!" Gin-san stated, moved tears in his eyes while handing him a box of tissues, not to mention they were newly bought and opened.
"Hey! Gin-san! If you continue like this any further, this fic really is going to get flamed! Why must it be mating season? Not mention a newly opened box of tissues! Are you sure you can take your first step towards becoming an adult this way?! Becoming an adult like this is too dreadful!" Shinpachi stopped Gin-san, just in case this gets anymore R rated, then the flames would surely flow in.
As for Kagura, who was still standing on the side while eating sukonbu and thinking about what they mentioned about the titles and addresses at the beginning.
Now that she actually thought about it, everyone calls her "Kagura", unlike Gin-chan, Zura and Takasugi both call him "Gintoki", plus his other friend, Sakamoto who actually calls him "Kintoki" in fact.
Only one person does not call her "Kagura".
That person, whom even Kagura had not yet called his name properly yet... was none other than the captain of Shinsengumi's first squad, Okita Sougo.
"Hey, China Girl, what are you doing? It's too early to dive into rivers!"
As Kagura stopped on the bridge to look at the river during her small walk, that man whom Kagura has yet had the pleasure to properly name, Okita, just suddenly appeared, yes, just like that, telling her something about diving into rivers.
"What, you should be the one doing that!" Kagura glared at him.
"If you want to jump, jump on your own, China Girl, don't drag me down with you!"
Okita said, turning to look at the river as well while standing next to Kagura.
Kagura hadn't actually nor properly called this man by his name before, of course, Okita had never called her "Kagura" either, from the very beginning till now, Okita had always called her "China Girl".
Even though the two would normally immediately launch into the activity of bickering whenever they meet, they do have this one thing in common, that was pretty unimaginable.
No, more like, of course?
As for this man, how does everyone call him? His lowerclassmen all call him "Captain", Shinpachi calls him "Okita-san", Gin-chan calls him "Okita", the gorilla and Hijikata both call him "Sougo"...
Okita... Okita Sougo... Sougo... that was this man's name!
Even though Kagura often heard others call him, she had never bothered to remember it, until just now after thinking about it, so he was called "Sougo".
Gin-san had stated before, hearing the titles people call each other already shows the closeness of two people, just like him and Katsura, Katsura calls him "Gintoki", it gives off the feeling of old friends who've been through a lot together...
"Hey, Sougo."
Kagura suddenly opened her mouth.
Suddenly called the name of the man next to her.
It was the first time that she called his name like that.
Okita, who was originally watching the river flow under the bridge was quite taken aback.
"What, China Girl? Suddenly calling me that..." Okita muttered, blushing. Hm, thinking back, throughout the entire Gintama series, he doesn't seem to be ever shown with a flustered red face, probably the first time, eh!
"I just suddenly wanted to try calling you that! What, don't tell me you've become shy because of that? Hm? Sou-go?" Kagura teased Okita gleefully.
"China Girl, I am definitely going to battle you today!" Okita unsheathed his sword, trying to cover up his bewilderment.
"Sure! Who's afraid of who?! I shall avenge my Sadaharu No.21... no, Sadaharu No.28!" Kagura is pretty enthusiastic about it as well.
"What! That dung beetle was practically killed by you! Besides, how long ago was that already? The series has already entered episode 269!" Okita lashed back sarcastically, covering up his embarrassment.
"TPO does not matter when it comes to revenge!" Kagura started battling with Okita with her umbrella.
"What... how messed up, China Girl!"
It's just the same as always.
Despite the fact that I just called your name that way, you suddenly challenged me to a battle.
Just the same as always.
Calling me, "China Girl".
"Well, this is a surprise, you actually invited me to drink with you."
The Shinsengumi at night, it was often a time to call on each others' buddies and going out for a drink, just chatting about work and whatnot. As for Okita, who had only ever thought about cutting down Hijikata and taking the vice-commander's seat, had rarely if never invited Hijikata to drink.
"It's nothing, I just wanted to see Hijikata eat up some tapas which is actually just a pile of mayonnaise, saying that it's just tapas with mayonnaise squeezed on top of them, it's more like dog food." Okita said.
"What dog food?! Sougo, from the way I see it, you just don't understand the true meaning of mayonnaise, no wonder you treat it like dog food." Hijikata squeezed out a huge lump of mayonnaise on the tapas, but even dogs wouldn't want to eat this kind of dog food!
"I'm pretty sure the one who doesn't understand is you, since only you can make even mayonnaise into something much more disgusting than dog food." Okita poured some wine into his glass.
"Hey, Sougo, how come you're not eating octopus today, but brought sukonbu?" Hijikata couldn't help asking, spotting the sukonbu placed next to Okita.
"When I went to buy octopus, they said it was all sold out, so I'm just gonna have to deal with eating sukonbu." Okita drank down some wine.
"If I remember correctly, there's still some in the kitchen." Hijikata said.
"No thanks, I'm fine with just eating sukonbu." Okita ripped off a piece of sukonbu, gulping down one strip.
It tasted... sour.
It's... China Girl's taste, since she is always eating this, she actually smells like it, too...
"Kagura."
Okita suddenly called out this name.
"Ha? Sougo, what did you say?" Hijikata seemed to have thought the mayonnaise earlier wasn't enough, thus he added more to it.
"I said, Hijikata, your tapas sure stink!" Okita said while smirking.
"Sougo, seriously, why did you even ask me to drink with you in the first place?!" Hijikata was furious enough to flip the table.
Huh, when will I get enough courage to walk up to you face and... call you properly by your name?
(Fin)