"Ban-chan, I'm hungry."
The spiky-haired blond wasn't exactly whining - it was more like he stated a fact, adding a little sigh. Ban was annoyed nevertheless. It would soon be nightfall, and the Get Backers had been standing on this spot, right outside the Shinjuku Station East Exit, almost all day. This was one of the areas in Tokyo that had the most people passing by it per hour, so Ban had hoped at least one would see their little sign and be interested in hiring Retrieval Agents. At first, Ginji had been excited and worked hard to catch people's attention - but after a few hours of useless effort, he had practically given up, and for the last couple of hours he had done nothing but standing by the sign, smiling at nice-looking people once in a while.
And now he said he was hungry. Ban abandoned an attempted conversation with a reluctant stranger and turned to his partner, growling. "Ginji! We're supposed to get ourselves a job, so don't just stand around complaining!"
"But Ban-chan..." Ginji looked down on his feet. "I don't think we're going to get a job this way today." At least he didn't add 'either'. Even if this was a very good spot, they hardly ever did find a client this way, but Ban would have thought it a waste not to try. He still assumed they would get lucky one of these days, and if they were going to get lucky, today would be a very good day for that. "And I'm hungry," Ginji added instead. "Can't we take a break to get something to eat?"
"Don't be hungry!" Ban snapped, more sharply than he intended to. "You ate yesterday, didn't you?" Ginji's eyes shone a bit at the mention of yesterday's meal, when the two of them had found a cheap but unexpectedly good ramen place. Good enough that both of them had taken refills, although they probably shouldn't have. Ban hadn't even checked to see how much money they had left at the time, and Ginji, as always, seemed to have simply assumed that Ban-chan had things under control. But this morning, when Ban checked his wallet, he realized that things were not under control at all, at least not until they got another job. This was one hell of a time for Paul to go on vacation and leave the Honky Tonk closed for three days.
"Yes..." Ginji said. "But I'm hungry again." He looked at Ban with those brown puppy-eyes of his, and smiled meaningfully. "You're hungry too, aren't you, Ban-chan? Come on, there must be something we can find that's cheap enough for us."
"I'm not hungry," Ban snorted, "And neither should you be." But he was betrayed by a very untimely growl of his stomach, and Ginji laughed. Ban tried to keep up his irritation for a moment longer, but when Ginji looked at him like that, and smiled at him like that... He sighed. "Fine, fine... I'm hungry too," he admitted. Then he pulled up his wallet from a pocket and handed it to Ginji. "Here, have a look."
Sometimes Ban wondered why he even bothered to use a wallet. When Ginji flipped through it, nimbly trying to find something of value, it struck Ban just how empty it was. Not just empty of money, but there were no plastic cards - no bank cards, no membership cards, no customer cards, no library cards or dental care cards or any of the cards most people carried around in their wallets. He didn't even carry an ID card in there. Neither did he have any photographs, nothing at all to fill out the space. But then, Ginji probably didn't notice. Ban didn't think his partner had seen enough of other people's wallets to realize how much junk most people carried around in them.
"Ah!" Ginji exclaimed. "Found it!" He triumphantly opened the little pocket assigned for coins in the wallet and picked out the contents. "Let's see... Fifty yen... And another fifty yen... That's one hundred, isn't it, Ban-chan? And then one, two, three... four one-yens." He turned to Ban with a frown. "One hundred and four yen. That's not a lot, is it?"
"No, it's not," Ban agreed. "You won't even get a Coke in a vending machine for that. You'll need ten times this amount to get a half-decent meal for two people anywhere." With that, he took his wallet and the coins back from his partner and put it all back in his pocket.
"But Ban-chan, what happened to the money we got last time?" Ginji asked, looking honestly worried.
"It seems we blew the last of it on that ramen meal yesterday," Ban replied. "Before that, I had to pay the fees for the ladybug, and then get a full tank for her, and before that - we had yakiniku this Tuesday, remember? And we didn't get much for that job anyway." He frowned. "We need to get another job, Ginji. The Honky Tonk is closed, there's nothing else we can do. We aren't going to eat until we get some money."
Ginji looked thoughtful for a moment. "We're not going to get a job today, Ban-chan. It doesn't matter how you look at it, I don't think it's going to happen." But then he brightened. "Hey, we could go over to Madoka-san! She's nice, I'm sure she wouldn't mind treating us! And we could see Shido, too! Right, Ban-chan?"
Ban didn't reply at first, but his frown turned quickly into a scowl. "Do you think I would go beg from the Monkey..."
"Please, Ban-chan," Ginji asked, eyes shining. "Because it's useless standing around here, and I'm hungry, and you're hungry, and if we can get help from our friends, why shouldn't we?"
"The Monkey Trainer is not my friend," Ban growled. "Ginji, you little bastard, don't you have any pride at all!?" But even as he said that, his partner looked at him, and he could feel himself swaying. Damn Ginji, if he kept that up, he might even be convinced.
But Ginji turned his gaze down for a moment, and the spell was broken. "Alright," he said, and Ban was relieved. "If you don't want to go there, we don't have to." He smiled again. "We'll just have to find something to eat that costs less than 104 yen, right?"
Ban shook his head and smirked ironically. "You're not going to shut up until you get something to eat, are you? Spoiled brat."
Ginji ignored the insult, as always. Ban's insults were completely wasted on his partner, because he never jumped at them, just kept smiling. For some reason, Ban didn't mind. This was Ginji, after all.
"We can go back here later - right, Ban-chan?" Ginji grinned. "After eating." Without waiting for a reply, he picked up their sign and started walking towards the alley where Ban had chosen to park the car.
Ban hesitated only long enough to take out a cigarette and light it before he followed. Walking beside Ginji, he inhaled slowly and enjoyed the kick of the nicotine. He needed it badly after a day like this. He had only one more cigarette left after this, and like food, he wasn't getting any more until they got a job that paid. But although the nicotine didn't help much against hunger, it did calm him down and clear his mind.
"So, Ginji, where are we going?" he asked after exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Anywhere in particular?"
Ginji scratched the back of his head and looked a bit lost. "I'm not sure..." he admitted. "Ban-chan, do you know anywhere where we could buy something really cheap?"
Of course he would ask. It wasn't like Ginji bothered to remember any of this basic stuff that would help him in life outside Mugenjou. Why should he, when he had Ban-chan always by his side to point him in the right direction?
Ban shrugged. "I suppose we could get a Cup o'Noodles or something..."
"Great!" Ginji beamed. "How much is a Cup o'Noodles?"
"Depends on where you buy it." Ban exhaled another puff of smoke. "At least 80 yen, though. We could buy one..."
Ginji seemed to consider it. But before he could reach a conclusion, he blinked and started looking around in confusion. "Ban-chan?" he said and turned to Ban. "Where did we park the car again?"
"Idiot." Ban put a hand on Ginji's shoulder and turned him to the right. "It's right there!" He pointed, and sure enough, the ladybug was cramped into a narrow alley, half blocked from view by a trash can. Ban had found this to be one of his most clever parking spots - no normal car would ever fit in here, and even the ticket ladies didn't care enough to check the alleys for stray cars. At least he hoped so.
"Aha," Ginji said and smiled. "Well done, Ban-chan! You hid it so well I almost didn't see it!"
"Idiot," Ban murmured again affectionately, while taking out the keys and squeezing into the alley to open the car door as much as possible. Ginji handed him the sign, and he pushed it into the car, before he closed the door again and relocked it.
"There," he said when he got back on the sidewalk. "Want to go to the nearest Kombini to check their prices on Cup o'Noodles? Or we could just go to a Kiosk and get you a chocolate bar."
Ginji shook his head. "A chocolate bar would be nice, but it wouldn't make us very full..." Then he looked up. "I was thinking," he said. "Remember the time when Paul asked us to shop for him, and we found that small grocery store that had all sorts of foodstuff, really cheap? Think we can go there now?"
"Eh?" Ban inhaled on his cigarette one final time, then dropped it to the ground and stepped on it to put out the glow. He remembered the store Ginji was referring to, but he hadn't expected Ginji to. Maybe he did memorize things after all. "Yes, but that was mostly stock wares," he replied. "Wouldn't do us much good to buy uncooked rice, no matter how cheap."
"Yeah, but didn't they have other things too? And it was supposed to be cheaper than most groceries, at least they said so. Maybe they have something good?"
Ban shrugged again. It didn't matter much where they went; he had no high hopes of finding something that would fill two people's stomachs for one hundred yen. "We could go there," he said. "It's not very far."
He turned around and started to walk, and Ginji came running after him. They crossed the major street at the next light and turned to walk down a much smaller street, and although it wasn't really empty, there were no crowds here. While walking, Ginji started to hum a song he had heard on the radio in that same ramen shop yesterday. It was a stupidly sweet love song to a rather upbeat tune, and Ginji looked so happy humming it that Ban suppressed his scowl and let it be. It wasn't until they finally entered the store that he tapped his partner on his arm and told him to shut up.
The grocery was tiny by most standards, but it was stuffed to the limit with all kinds of edibles. Ban quickly looked around to get a feel for the selection available - it had been a long time since they were here last time, but it was mostly the same. The reason this store was so cheap was that it carried large amounts of stock wares like rice and grain, and also lots of food mixtures that you could turn to food if you added water and some other base wares. None of it would do the Get Backers any good since they didn't have a kitchen, or even a rice boiler. It crossed Ban's mind that it might be good to invest in one next time they had enough money, at least if they could find one that ran on batteries.
Meanwhile, Ginji was running around, peeking at every shelf, trying to find anything that they could buy. "Hey, Ban-chan," he said, disappointed. "They don't seem to have the Cup o'Noodles here. They have lots of normal noodles," he pointed at a basket full of little packages, "and they're really cheap, but we can't cook them, can we?" He sighed and turned back to scanning the shelves, still expecting to find something.
A moment later, he did. "Ban-chan, look!" he called from the other side of the shop, which actually wasn't very far away. Ban rounded a line of shelves to meet up with him and see what he had found.
"Look!" Ginji said happily. "Raisin buns!" He handed Ban a bag of what was indeed raisin buns, a dozen or so of them, each the size of a child's fist.
"Raisin buns," Ban repeated skeptically. "You like raisin buns?"
"Yup!" Ginji beamed. "I love raisins, they're so sweet... And look at the prize - it's only 100 yen for the whole bag! We can afford it!"
Ban nodded. He wasn't terribly fond of raisins - he could eat them if he had to, but he could also live without. But if Ginji wanted them... And he was right, it was probably the most food they could get for... Ban grimaced. Too expensive.
"There's twelve buns in there, I counted," Ginji was saying. "So that'd be something like... would it be six? Six buns for each of us! Come on, let's buy it!"
He started to move towards the cashier, but Ban stopped him. "Hey, Ginji," he said. "We can't afford this. You'd better find something cheaper."
"But Ban-chan... It says right here - 100 yen!"
"Yeah," Ban agreed, "but that's just the base price. They add a five percent tax to that, so we'll have to pay 105 yen to buy it."
"What?" Ginji looked surprised. "Why?"
Rather than explaining the entire taxing system to his partner right here and now, Ban just told him it was a long story, and that he'd explain later. Ginji accepted that, but he didn't accept that they couldn't buy the raisin buns.
"Come on, Ban-chan, it's just one yen," he said. "I'm sure the cashier will overlook it."
Ban doubted it. He had taken a good look at the cashier, a tall man in his thirties, and he seemed to be the kind of person who took his work very seriously. Then again, if Ginji really wanted to buy these buns, he might as well have his try. He was usually good at convincing people. So Ban nodded, and handed Ginji the coins. "Here, you convince him," he said and patted his back.
Ginji smiled at Ban, and then at the cashier as he approached him. The cashier professionally smiled back.
"We'd like to buy these buns," Ginji said conversationally and handed over the bag. "See, we don't have much money, but I love raisins, and these buns seems so cheap..."
"Yeah, I know, they're cheap," the cashier replied. "Most stores would charge you double for 'em. There," he said after registering the code from the bag. "That'll be 105 yen."
Ginji put his handful of coins in the little tray meant for change, and the cashier counted them. "One more yen, please," he said. "It seems this is only 104 yen."
"I'm sorry," Ginji said, "but we don't have any more money than this. It's just a yen, couldn't you just let it go?" Although Ban could only see Ginji's neck, he was sure that his partner's face was filling up with those big brown puppy-dog eyes of his. It was a talent, and Ginji didn't even seem to be aware of it, always honest, never exploiting.
"I'm sorry," the cashier said, and Ban woke from his musings. Even Ginji did fail once in a while, after all. "I'm terribly sorry, sir, but I can't sell you anything unless you pay for it." The man politely tried to hide it, but his eyes looked slightly disgusted that someone would try to beg his way past paying full prize, no matter the margin. As expected, he took his work very seriously. Ginji made a few more attempts at persuading him, but his rejection got colder and harder each time.
"Ban-chan," Ginji finally said quietly and turned to Ban. "Why is he so mean?"
"He's a professional too," Ban replied. "We'd better go somewhere else to find those noodles or something."
"But Ban-chan..." Ginji looked very disappointed now. "I really wanted these buns. Look, six buns each, that'd almost make us both full! And I haven't had raisins in... I don't know how long! And it's just one yen!"
Ban looked at Ginji, sighed, and did something he had told himself many times that he wouldn't do. The next moment, the cashier saw Ban go through his pockets, finding another yen, and handing it to him. He then thanked them, gave them a receipt and let them out of the store with the bread.
Neither Ban nor Ginji said something for the first few meters outside, but then Ginji bumped against Ban started to laugh. "You used Jagan, didn't you, Ban-chan!"
Ban smirked and shrugged. "I dunno," he said cryptically. Ginji wasn't stupid, but he didn't want him to think that this would be a common solution. With a single yen, for Ginji's sake, it didn't really matter, but although it was certainly possible, he wouldn't do this with larger amounts of money. He had had that discussion before, when he was a kid, and even once with Yamato, and even then they had agreed that there had to be some kind of honor among thieves, and using Jagan to buy stuff just wasn't fair. And besides, he was no longer a thief, but a Retriever.
Ginji let it go, still smiling. "So, let's sit down and eat!" he said instead. "Or are we going back to the car?"
"Nah," Ban said. "I don't want crumbs all over it." He looked around and spotted a small square in the distance. "We'll sit down over there," he decided and pointed.
Ginji nodded. "Alright!"
There was a low wall around the square, and it turned out to be ideal for sitting on and eating buns. Ginji happily opened the bag and pulled out the first bread, then gave the bag to Ban, himself already munching on his prize. Ban took out one too, and nipped at it. Frowning, he took another bite.
"Mmm..." Ginji said. "This is so good! Thanks, Ban-chan!" His face practically beamed with happiness. Ban couldn't help but smile back.
"What are you thanking me for?" he said. "You found the buns, you bought them."
"Yeah, but..." Ginji put his hand down into the bag to find his next bun. "Thanks anyway!" He grinned. Picking up a second bun, he took the two of them in his hands and leaned his back against Ban's side, half-lying on the low wall. "These are so good..."
Taking another bite of his own bun, Ban realized it wasn't so bad after all. He could definitely get used to the taste, in case Ginji wanted to buy these again some time. And although they weren't as filling as a real meal would have been, after six of them, at least his stomach didn't complain loudly any longer.
Ginji had already finished his part several minutes ago, and sat fiddling with the bag when Ban finally swallowed his last bun and took out a cigarette, cursing softly when he remembered it was the last one. Lighting it, he suddenly realized that it was completely dark, except for the glow of street lamps and neon signs. It was getting late. They really wouldn't get a job today.
Ginji seemed to have shared the thought. "Hey, Ban-chan," he said. "We're really broke now, aren't we?"
"Yeah," Ban sighed, letting out a puff of smoke. "We are."
But it didn't really matter. Tomorrow would be a new day, with new opportunities, new chances for the big breakthrough. And even if tomorrow turned out to be just like today, Ban felt no need to despair. Looking down at Ginji's blond hair resting on his arm, he realized something he had realized many times before. As long as this puppy-eyed, spiky-haired, blond fool of a partner was with him, nothing else really mattered.