"JET SET RADIO!" Professor K howled. The familiar tune of BB Field's 'Funky Radio' set everyone's head bobbing.

Gum was skating down the street leisurely behind Fink and his latest squeeze. The girl wore the blue blazer and plaid skirt of her old high school, with a pair of boy's pants underneath. She had a metal chain hanging from her belt and suspenders hanging down at her sides. There was a silver spiked black leather collar tight around her neck. Her lipstick, nail polish, and eyeliner were all black. Her hair was tied back in pigtails. Gum didn't know where he'd met her, but she didn't skate or paint very good, which lead her to guess that she was an amateur or Fink had converted her to rudism.

As the song came to the bridge, Fink turned around and started skating backwards as he grooved, singing along. Gum and Fink's girl laughed. It was a good performance. As the bridge ended, Fink skated backwards around a corner and bumped into somebody, coming to a stop. He watched as the girls turned the corner and grimaced. Fink turned slowly.

"This is GR territory now!" Goji declared. He was on skates. His bald head was mostly covered though by a brown fedora. He had classic earphones with the smaller pads, with a cord and everything leading down to a Walkman on his hip. He was wearing brown dress pants that were all torn up with a white T-shirt with a white long sleeved overshirt unbuttoned over it. The cuffs were unbuttoned and the collar up, and it was torn all the way down one side. It was covered in hand scrawled lyrics in black fabric marker. His skates were black and white. Black fingerless gloves adorned his hand. Behind him were stuffy looking ex-Rhinos dressed in garments copying members of GG, Poison Jam, Noise Tanks, and Love Shockers, all on skates as well.

"Oh tell me you're joking," Fink sighed. The GRs approached menacingly. "All right then, let's have it out," Fink said, putting his hands up in a fisticuffs style and hurriedly shifting his feet in a rope-a-dope fashion.

"Uh... Fink..." his girlfriend grabbed his arm and clung close to him.

"Ahem," a familiar voice coughed. Fink turned to see surrounding them on the other side in skates were a Karate Bot and Robo Rhino and #5, dressed in a red and white Hawaiian shirt, baggy cargo shorts, pink rimmed glasses, and his head wrappings.

"Oh." Fink stopped moving. "Damn."

"Fink! Catch!" a voice suddenly yelled from above. Everyone looked up to see two figures standing on top of the building next to them. They were only silhouettes placed before the burning sun. One of them tossed something down toward them. Fink reached up and caught the long, thin object. He spun and there was a noise and the flash of gleaming metal in the sunlight. When he stopped, it could be see that he held a katana in his hand, the sheath in the other. He was still posed as he was after making the cut. Everything was still for a moment before the heads fell off of the robots and #5's whip split down the middle. Suddenly, one of Goji's men wobbled, then fell down. Then another. Then Goji himself. All the Rokokku's in front of Fink lost their balance and fell down, the front wheels of their skates sliced off. Fink straightened himself out and resheathed his katana, turning to face the downed 'rudies'.

Fink bent over to put his hands on his knees as he read the lyrics on Goji's shirt, "Queen is great, Freddy Mercury was a God." He stood back up. "But you're supposed to do YOUR OWN thing. You actually looked pretty cool in that suit and scarf. You need a better handle and gang name, and go muscle in on part of Kogane or something." Fink leaned in to whisper the last part. "And get a new running crew. These guys are totally lame. 'Cept #5. He's cool." Fink stood again. 'GR' gradually got up and collected itself.

"Oh man," Goji slapped his knee. "That was totally hazy."

"Shady..." an ex-suit leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"Shady," Goji corrected himself. The ex-suit put a hand to his head and sighed. The GRs staggered off on their broken skates, #5 watching Fink over his shoulder as they left.

"That Man..." #5 thought to himself. "His tailored mind and body are cultivated to perfection. He could take on any physical or mental task with ease... So what does he do? He strives to be an artist and a lover... He pursues matters of the soul."

The REAL rudies made their way over to the side of the building. Two rudies were descending the fire escape. The one was wearing a long black trenchcoat with a white shirt buttoned up only halfway and the collar up. He had a black tie hanging very loosely around his neck and his black hair was wild. The other was wearing an olive colored old duster with a variety of colorful patches sewed on, some sort of retro anime insignia T-shirt, distressed bell bottom jeans, very curly red hair, and a black top hat with a piece of holly in the band.

"Well if it isn't the college bounds, back at last!" Fink laughed non-chalantly.

"Hey man, it's been awhile," the one in the top hat said as he slid down the retracting ladder to jump to the ground.

"It sure has," Fink nodded.

"Hold on a minute Musashi Yojimbo," Gum interrupted. "You mean to tell me this whole time you've been some sort of martial arts blade master, and we've been fighting tanks and helicopters with PAINT?" she stared at Fink furiously, who stared back at her blankly for about a half a minute. He finally shrugged. Gum threw up her arms in frustration. Fink went back to his subjects.

"Girls, this is Bandit and The Great Michael" he motioned to top hat and trenchcoat respectively. They waved and the girls waved back. "So are you finally through with school?"

"Matt is. I'm considering another 4 years," Bandit affirmed.

"Blech..." Fink made a face. "I couldn't stand school long enough to finish my sophomore year, I don't know how you two can volunteer to take more."

"Wait, his name's Matt?" Fink's girlfriend pointed at The Great Michael, who nodded. "So is his middle name Michael?"

"Nope," Fink shook his head.

"Then why is he called that?" the girl was clearly confused.

"Because he's The Great Michael," Fink explained matter-of-factly as the three looked at her funny, as though it made perfect sense. Fink's girlfriend pondered this for a moment, then stammered and paused to think again.

"Ok..." she conceded to act as though she understood, though she clearly didn't.

"Thanks for the loan-out, by the way," Fink handed the sword back to The Great Michael, who hooked it into a loop sewn into the interior of his coat apparently for specifically that.

"Are you all sweet with that too?" Fink's girl asked.

"No, not particularly," TGM shook his head.

She furrowed her brow, "Then why would you just carry a sword around?"

"Why wouldn't you?" Bandit shrugged as the three stared at her funny again. The girl lowered and shook her head. "Don't worry about it," Bandit turned back to Fink. "People'd best beware, we keep it sharp just for Clock Fink."

"Bandit, don't use my full handle in front of people..." Fink did his embarrassed laugh.

"Whatever..." the girl was exasperated by the trio's collective weirdness. "Honey, I've got my hair appointment," she tugged on Fink's arm.

"Huh? Oh yeah, whatever. You go on," Fink waved dismissingly. The girl seemed annoyed. It seemed unlike Fink to be such a guy, Gum noted.

"Well does your quiet friend want to come?" the girl asked.

It took Gum a moment to realize she meant her, "Huh?"

"Yeah Gum, why don't you give me and the guys time to catch up," Fink requested. Gum didn't really want to, but she complied anyway. "Bye honey," Fink gave his girlfriend a hug before they skated off. The three watched them go silently.

"I think that's the first time you've blown off a girl for us and not vice-versa," Bandit noted once they were out of earshot.

"Yeah, well..." Fink shrugged.

"She's pretty cute," The Great Michael nodded. "But then I guess I've never seen you with one that wasn't. Who's the other one? A groupie-ex?"

"Yeah..." Fink sighed. "Seems like half of 'em stalk me like this, at least for a little while. She's been at it for awhile now though. She's starting to weird the current one out, she's getting all jealous/paranoid and shit. I think I'm going to tell the next one she's my sister or something if she keeps this up." Fink sighed again, "I don't know..."

"So how long have you been dating this one?" Bandit asked.

"Six weeks, give or take," Fink shook his hand.

"So how many kids are you gonna have?" TGM smirked.

"Eh..." Fink put his hands behind his head and looked up and away off to the side as he tapped a foot.

"Eh?" the Great Michael blinked. "You don't love her more than life itself?"

"Eh..." Fink repeated. "...I'm kinda getting sick of her..."

"After only six weeks?" Bandit's jaw dropped.

"Do you have a replacement lined up?" the Great Michael asked.

Fink was silent for even longer this time, "...I'm kinda thinking about getting back together with one of my ex-es." The Great Michael and Bandit gasped and held each other melodramatically. "Oh shut up..." Fink blushed, looking away.

"Seriously though, that's not like you," The Great Michael commented as the two let go of each other.

"Yeah, that's a first isn't it?" Bandit asked.

"I think so..." Fink muttered. "No, there was another one recently, but she came and went and came and went again already. That was a little different. I didn't get to break up with her myself, I wasn't finished. This one's different, it's been over, I've called it done. I moved on and I've been with others and enjoyed them and ignored her. But suddenly new prospects don't hold the appeal they used to. It isn't a comparison thing, she wasn't so incredible or anything, I just suddenly want to be with her again, and new mates, while interesting, look unfulfilling.

"There's gotta be a reason..." The Great Michael couldn't believe it.

"I dunno..." Fink sighed. "We didn't break up in the usual fashion exactly either, she sort of brought it on herself, so that's probably why... but..."

"But..." Bandit prompted after Fink was silent for awhile.

"...But..." Fink sighed again. "It might be..."

"That it's actually love this time?" TGM suggested.

"Maybe. It's easier to blow the concept off. If it really is, it's kinda scary," Fink confessed. "For the first time since high school, there's a girl I want and I'm not 100 confident I can have her. And that fucking sucks, cause confidence is my whole method."

"Did you dump her badly?" Bandit asked.

"Naw," Fink shook his head. "...Yeah," he changed his mind. "...No... I don't know. Kinda, I guess. She did take it pretty hard, especially at the time. It wasn't unfair. Our relationship wasn't what she pretended it was, it wouldn't have worked out as things were. That's what else makes me leery."

"Little's certain in life," The Great Michael asserted. "So the reasons were wrong. So what? You can change the foundation, and yeah, it'll be different, but it'll still be yours and hers relationship. Things may not work, but why be malcontent when you can try for what you want?"

"One more thing..." Fink thought. "I don't want to have to sell myself to her this time. I know I can probably talk her into it, but I want her to take me without me having to trick her or win her over or whatever." He closed his eyes. "She wanted so badly for someone to really care about her. Maybe I want to actually do that, and not just fulfill her need fooling her. And I think I want her to really care about me, and not just what I can do for her. For what may be the first time, my happiness is deterrent on how she feels WITHOUT my influence. And I actually want it that way..." There was a long silence before Fink had an embarassed laugh. "Forget this shit. Let's go pour food-dye in the hot wax machine at the car wash." The three skated off. Around the corner, in the alley she'd been eavesdropping from, Gum continued to sit, trying to figure out how she felt.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was late when Fink skated into the garage, whistling. Gum closed the fridge and turned to watch him glide in. It was about 45 minutes from the end of the night's last Jet Set Radio broadcast.

"Where're your friends?" she asked.

"They went home to see their folks. I swear, for delinquents, those two are such mama's boys," he replied. "What're you doing in?"

"I just came in for a drink," Gum lied. She'd been waiting for him to come back all night. Fink skated over to the fridge and fished out some leftovers, carrying them over to the counter to do his gourmet thing, soup them up. Gum stood in the kitchenette corner behind his back, turning the cap on a bottle back and forth.

"So you'll probably be spending a lot of time with them now, huh?" Gum prodded after a long silence.

"Yep," he answered simply. "I might sorta break away, at least for awhile. Do our own thing."

"So you'll be leaving GG?" Gum ventured.

"Hmm..." Fink closed his eyes and lowered his head. "I dunno... maybe. The GGs have been the most amicable gang experience I've had aside from those two, but they really are just replacements."

"You'll..." Gum was nervous. "...You'll be missed."

"I'll still see Combo around," he waved dismissingly.

Gum was silent for awhile before she could force out a whisper loud enough for him to hear, "I'll miss you too." Fink froze. His lips parted and his face became emotional, she could see from his 3 quarters profile. He became solemn and looked down.

"Gum... I..." he stammered and stopped. She watched wordlessly as he was momentarily motionless. He turned suddenly to look at her, very seriously. "Gum... I think I'd like to try things again with you. Her heart jumped. She had known what he wanted, what he was going to say, but it still somehow shocked her to hear him say it. "I want to be with you." His face became sad once more. "I mean that. I really mean that," he insisted desperately. "I don't want to give our relationship another shot, I don't want you 'back'. I want to start over, do things right this time." He looked down, "I want to be with you the way two people are meant to be together. I don't want to just make things work, I want them to be right."

Gum carefully backed up to a stool to sit, "Why did you leave? Why do you always leave?"

Fink grabbed a chair and pulled it over so its back was to her and straddled it, "I don't actually love," he sighed, leaning forward resting his head in his arms, resting on the top of the back of the chair. "I know what it is, I think, but I'm not sure I've ever felt it for a girl I was with. I say I do and that's wrong, I know. I let me fool myself and I fool them. But I do it for them. It's all selfish, I won't pretend it's not. I 'love' a woman to make her happy, because making a good woman happy is what makes me happy. I know inside that I'm not right for them, but for a brief while I can be. I see a little sister who feels repressed and overshadowed, a highschooler who feels like there are no mature guys, a kitten who feels lost in the world, a nurse who's afraid happiness only exists in the absence of pain, an oyster who's afraid that the world will never treat her right. I want to show them happiness, for awhile at least. I'm greedy, I guess. I see a beautiful girl and I want to be the one for her. But I can't be the one for everyone, so I play somebody's 'one' for awhile, then move on; tide them over, let them know he's possibly out there. Suddenly though, I see other girls, and I want to be the one for them, but I know I'm probably not, and pretending has no luster. Gum, I want to be yours. I don't know that I am, that I can be, but I want to. I don't want to play fill in, I want to actually try and shift and change and become that person. I don't love you Gum, I don't think I've ever loved. But I want to try, and love you some day."

Gum leaned forward and hugged her knees, "How can we be sure that that's enough? How can we know if it will work."

Fink shook his head, "We can't. We can only work at it and hope" He put a hand on her thigh, and she took his hand in hers. "It's a risk Gum. A big one, with no illusions. I want to do this again with total honesty and openness. Gum got up and Fink shifted so he was sitting normally, and she straddled his knee to hug him around the neck, Fink putting his arms around her in response. They were both very scared, both crying a little.

"I didn't love you either," Gum whispered, "But... but I might. Or I may be able to... but I... I don't know." They both held each other silently for a long while.

Gum felt herself being lifted. She must have fallen asleep... Fink carried her into the office and set her down on the bed, then laid next to her. He cradled her, intertwined in each other's arm, cuddling. Like lovers. In the bed they had once shared in what seemed simultaneously like moments and aeons ago.

"Do you think there's any hope for us?" Gum mewed.

"I don't know," Fink replied honestly. "But I hope there is."

Gum let out a pleased hum, "I hope so too." Not at peace, but peacefully happy, sleep overcame them quickly.

Fin

...AND AN END TO ALL THINGS...