Beta reader: Sorcerousfang


Lesson 2: Dango for Parfait, Equivalent Exchange

"Gin-chaaaan, can we go eat nabe in a proper restaurant when we get our next payment, aru?" asked Kagura, nibbling on a piece of sukonbu while balancing sloppily next to the pavement.

"Quit leeching me, brat. Plus, we still need to finish the job before we can get our hands on the cash," said Gintoki as he and Shinpachi crossed to the other side of the road where his favourite dango shop was located.

"Speaking of which, Gin-san," added Shinpachi, "you were gone all last night; what did you find out?"

"Ne, don't interrogate me, Pattsuan. Gin-san overexerted himself last night and needs some good old dango to recover," replied Gintoki, yawning with fake indifference. The truth was, he had no clue about what he'd been up to the night before and therefore was ignoring the current state of affairs regarding the job. Besides… he had more pressing concerns, because his body did indeed feel kinda rough.

"So you have money for dango, but not for nab…" Kagura's rant was cut short when her sukonbu suddenly disappeared from her mouth.

Her expression of confusion turned quickly into rage at the sight of a certain sadist looking out of a police car window, grotesquely chewing on her sukonbu with a diabolic smile spread across his obnoxious face.

The car was stopped with a loud crash as Kagura pierced through the roof with her umbrella, right where Sougo's head should have been. She then reached through the open window to try and retrieve her precious food from the idiot's mouth.

"Give that back, sadistic rat!"

"I found it abandoned in a dumpster, so I claimed it."

"Your brain is what's a dumpster, you scumbag!"

"Oi, Sougo," came a low, calm voice from the passenger seat. "Stop trashing the car. I'll tell Kondo-san to deduct the cost of repairs from your salary."

Gintoki's dead fish eyes could not help but detach themselves from the delicious stick in his hands at the sound of that voice. Give me a break… that guy again. He had been hoping he wouldn't have to face that jerk for at least the next hundred years, especially after fleeing the room that morning, leaving behind nothing but a note saying, "Thanks for an unforgettable night, xx." He sometimes just couldn't help the quirks of his fucked up personality. However, that would explain the royally pissed off aura he felt radiating from the officer when he noticed Gintoki's presence by his window.

"Has the Edo police enforcement fallen so low as to steal children's sweets now?" He said lazily, bending to watch Okita on the other side of the car, who had a hand spread across Kagura's enraged face, holding her back while munching on her beloved food.

"Shut up," replied the vice commander, putting a cigarette in his mouth. "I don't want to hear that from someone who would drag a helpless girl into the most expensive love hotel he could find and then flee, leaving her to pay the bill."

Ooops…

"Maybe the girl wasn't as innocent as we think, or she wouldn't have booked the room in her own name to start with..."

Hijikata snapped and grabbed his collar, looking furious.

"She would surely be under the effect of some kind of drug to bend her otherwise iron will!"

"She sounds like the kind to have her way with a passed out drunk person and then fake amnesia, if you ask me," spat Gintoki, matching the vice commander's furious look.

"Are you two discussing the latest development in the afternoon soap opera, Gin-san, Hijikata-san?" asked Shinpachi innocently from behind Gintoki.

"Oi, Danna, you must have indeed got yourself a wild chick last night," Okita said, pointing at his now exposed neck with one hand and pushing Kagura's face away from him with the other.

"Gin-chan's a pig!" cried Kagura. "He went to spend our hard-earned money on cabaret girls while a poor girl here can't get her essential ration of nabe!"

"Idiot! How is nabe essential to any person's diet!?" Gintoki shouted as he checked his neck in the wing mirror, trying to hold back his panic only to discover the unmistakable round, reddened mark of a hickey.

He shot a glare at Hijikata, who had paled instantly and was trying and failing to make the shaking flame of his lighter meet the tip of the stick in his mouth.

"You sure look sweaty, Hijikata-san," said Okita with what would have sounded like an innocent voice to any other human being.

"Tsk…. That must be…" started the vice commander's hissing voice, a vein popping ferociously on his forehead. "BECAUSE THIS CAR IS OVERLOADED WITH MOROOONS!" he shouted, punching somehow simultaneously Gintoki and Okita, which made the latter's head collide with Kagura's, who was sent flying away from the car.

Gintoki sat on the ground rubbing his sore cheek while looking sadly at the unfinished dango lying beside him. The police car drove away, but before it could turn the corner, a crumpled cigarette pack came flying and bounced off of his head. He lazily picked it up and read the message scribbled on the back.


"So what've you got?" Hijikata asked Yamazaki without preamble as he sat opposite him at the cafe with the high back benches where they prepared an outstanding triple mayonnaise udon dish.

"Sir, due to the limited amount of time, I haven't finished my investigations yet."

"Tell me whatever you've got so far."

"Yes, sir, but…"

"Just start from the beginning, will ya?"

"Sure, Vice Commander!" Yamazaki opened a file folder in front of him and started his narration. "According to Tama-san, Danna only came down to Otose's snack bar yesterday in the early evening. She says he was probably lazing around in his flat reading the latest JUMP all afternoon after getting up late. He then left Otose's bar around 8 pm to go to the pachinko parlour. There, he met a madao called Hasegawa Taizou. The cameras of the place show that they spent a couple of hours there, essentially throwing away their savings, before leaving the place together to get some food and sake from a street stand. The owner of the stand told me that they mentioned they would be headed to the Kouta family's inn next."

Hijikata's eyes snapped up at the name. "That's where I was tailing the head of the Hakoatsu group."

"Yes, sir. From here on I thought you could give me more information."

"… Ummm, why?"

"Well… because y-you met Danna there, didn't you?"

"Did I?"

"S-sir you were together for the remainder of the night. So far, I've tracked your steps across at least three more places: the Snack smile cabaret, the Ondori karaoke place and the Kabuki-chou Casino. I don't fully understand why you've asked me to do this if you were with him the whole night."

Hijikata massaged his temples to alleviate the increasingly painful headache he was carrying from that morning.

"Don't worry about it and tell me, where did we… part ways?"

Yamazaki looked confused when he replied, "Well… I sorta lost your trail after the casino; I was hoping you could fill me in."

Hijikata released a deep sigh of smoke and ignored Yamazaki's request.

"Can we get ahold of footage from the casino security cameras?"

"I was precisely working on that when you called, sir, but they are not particularly willing to provide it, for obvious reasons. On the other hand, there was a birthday celebration at the karaoke place and I requested copies of their photographs. I just got them developed and was gonna check if Danna appeared in the background of any of them," he explained and took a pile of photographs out of the folder.

"All right, all right, give those to me. I'll look through them."

"But sir, there are a lot."

"Don't worry, Yamazaki; you've done well. Leave the file with me and go back to the casino. Contact me if you find out anything else."

"Yes, sir!" Yamazaki stood up, made a martial salute and left.

Hijikata put out his cigarette slowly, watching the other man leave the cafe. He then retrieved a cigarette packet from his jacket and proceeded to light a new one. He leaned back against the seat and breathed in deeply, closing his eyes to enjoy the sensation.

"Did you hear that?" he asked to the air.

A silver haired man sitting on the bench behind him stood up.

"What I heard was the tale of a textbook party night," he said as he turned and walked towards the exit with a hand inside his yukata.

"No, there has to be more to it. It's not like me at all to frequent any of the places he mentioned."

Gin stopped walking but kept his back to him.

"Can't you just accept that you skipped your duties for one night, partied hard with Gin-san, and ended up getting a bit too carried away at the end?"

Hijikata tensed.

"No, I can't. There's something off. Tonight I'm going to trace our steps and figure out what it is. I'll start by questioning that cabaret girl that Kondo-san stalks. I don't need you to come if you are happy with the way things appear to be."

Gintoki stayed silent for a bit.

"Tsk...I'll come. There's no way you could handle the untamed beast that is Shinpachi's sister," he stated and left the café, waving a lazy hand.

Hijikata puffed on his cigarette as he scanned idly through the photographs. He made a sign for the waitress to bring the bill, at which she quickly approached his table.

"So...a triple mayonnaise udon dish," she informed, smiling, "...and a chocolate parfait. That will be 2000 yen, please."

Tsk...

That damned freeloader…


Author's note: Here's the second chapter. Gin and Hijikata are starting to disentangle the mess, or are they? Thanks for reading and reviewing! Hope you enjoy it. I'm certainly having a good time writing it.