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World #7570 - Tokyo

It was a beautiful morning in Tokyo.

A perfect morning for a coffee date with a cute woman, Gama knew.

Her dark eyes caught his.

Was she checking him out…? Good.

"Hey." He smiled, in this irresistible way of his that he knew oozed confidence.

"Hey." She answered. Were her cheeks blooming with heat yet?

...No.

He had approached her on the street the previous day. And so they met at a quaint coffee shop and ordered their drinks.

To be more precise, she ordered herself a drink and he imitated her because he had no idea why the hell there seemed to be so many different names for the same thing. He just wanted coffee, for Issun-bōshi's perverted sake!

Gama's experienced eyes scaled her. Black leggings covered well-toned legs (for a civilian) — either to appeal to him or to combat Tokijo's chilly cold. No jewelry on her fingers — which could mean she truly was single or that she wanted to pretend to be; either way, it was a good thing. A tight black dress under her coat.

He nodded to himself.

…Had she done something to her eyebrows…? Yes… Yes, she had. They had been shaped in a very unnatural way. Well, Gama guessed that was some modern-world quirk. Highlights in her hair, too.

He nodded to himself again.

They found a table and he noticed the problem immediately.

Gama's sensitive ears could only hear the loud booming of the obnoxious music, from where they were sitting. He winced a bit.

"…Something wrong… Gama?" The woman asked him.

Ah. True. Hebi had insisted on using that stupid alias with whomever he was seeing, and she could be quite threatening.

Also, she had made him a dating account on a cybercafe computer — and he had had to beg for even that.

He had gotten started with using it, of course. It still wasn't as good as the phone thing.

"It's just…" He muttered. "The music. It's… too loud."

"Really?" She blinked. "It's really not that loud — It's lo-fi jazz, by the way. I come here often because that's the only place that has a good playlist—"

"Can you ask them to stop it? Please."

"Uh." She frowned. "I don't think they will. You can try, though."

"Yeah." He muttered. "I think I will."

"Order for Gama and order for Eri." Someone called out.

Eri, then. Gama had forgotten.

In any case, Eri put her mobile phone on the edge of the table and Gama had to press down on the glimmer of raw want that passed through his eyes. He didn't manage to suppress the tremor in his hand.

"…Are you okay?" Eri asked.

"Yeah. Yeah." He muttered. She likely had access to gacha games. She had to. Oh gods… Why did they tempt him so…?

He took a deep breath. "No worries."

"Um, yeah. Okay. So. Have you always lived there?"

Gama blinked. Had she realized he was a time-and-space-and-universe-traveler already…?

"…Did I say something wrong?" She asked. "Your hair, I meant. Or… did you dye it, perhaps?"

"Oh, nah, it's my natural color." He said, quite humbly. "I came here recently, actually."

"For work?"

"Nah. Mostly… by accident."

She squinted. "…What does that even mean?"

"My …sister. Yeah, sister. She panicked... and before I knew it, we were here."

"I'm not quite sure I follow—"

"You mentioned work." Gama changed subjects before she could ask where he was from exactly. "What do you do for a living?"

Boring.

"I work in finance." She said.

"In finance?" Gama blinked. "Like, numbers and shit?"

Boring.

"Uh, yeah." She chuckled a bit. "Numbers and shit. What about you?"

"I kill people for a living."

Morally gray.

She rolled her eyes slightly. "Alright, alright. Keep your secrets."

Gama shrugged. He wasn't entirely sure what the issue was. It was only his first week here, so neither he nor Hebi were truly aware of most peculiarities of this world. Nonetheless, Gama was sure that murder would never go out of business.

Not as long as there were people.

And sometimes... Gama saved people, too.

Well, that was the thing with approaching strangers. You never quite knew what you would get.

Then again, perhaps that was the best part of it. He withheld a small, pleased smile and brought his coffee to his lips, taking a long sip.

Gama almost spat it out.

Why the hell was it so damn sweet? His teeth felt sticky.

And the music was too fucking loud, still. He felt a nervous twitch along his face. Gama exhaled a silent breath.

He was the master of his emotions.

He was the river and the mountains, and everything in between.

So Gama went back to the task at hand. Keeping this initial attraction - he knew what to look for - moving in the right direction.

He slipped into well-practiced patterns.

Story after story, he made sure to be particularly entertaining.

He just had to adjust a few details, here and there.

Which, honestly, wasn't hard to do, because his stories would likely seem outlandish to a civilian woman like Eri was. He could keep going for hours. She liked him.

She was saying things like, "No way, you did martial arts? Me too!" He prompted her with questions that made her laugh like, "Really…? You've never been to the desert? Why not? It's just a few days of travel away." He made her gasp with emotion with sentences such as, "No, I've never met my biological parents. They died the day I was born, both of them, in a terrible accident that left my godfather to raise me, basically." Or she said, "I've never been outside of Japan — When you tell me things about this mountain village up in the clouds… I can't help but wonder what's out there."

Gama, ever the gentleman, told her that maybe she should follow her heart more.

And he gave her a pointed look, one that had worked countless times before.

…

They left together.

The fact that he had to step — once more — into this thrice-damned subway barely dented his enthusiasm.

Gama only knew one medical jutsu. But then again, one was all he needed. Who knew what sort of horrific diseases this peculiar world had in store.

"Toad Style: Venereal Defense Technique." Gama muttered, when she wasn't listening.

Safety first.

…

Gama bade her goodbye.

"Can we make plans for next weekend?" She asked.

"Sure." Gama smiled. He gave her the piece of paper he had prepared, one with his brand new email address on it.

"…No phone?"

"Gods, I wish." Gama breathed out. "But no, not yet."

"Ah yes, you just arrived in Japan, right?" She smiled.

"Yup."

Gama left soon after.

Not because he didn't like her company, but mostly because he had planned several dates over the entire Saturday.

…

He had picked another coffee shop for his second date of the day, randomly. And perhaps it had not been his best choice. What was this, a daycare center for toddlers…?

They were screaming, whining… and ruining his good, childless mood.

And he had the sinking feeling that coffee here would be the exact same sort of childish drink, full of sugar, as it had been, back there.

Where he was from, coffee was an adult beverage, thank you very much.

His date arrived, somewhat late.

Jiraiya would disapprove of this. He was never late, he simply ran on his own clock.

Dark blue pants — they were called jiinzu. Dyed blond hair — he could tell and would have preferred her natural black, honestly. A white shirt under a gray coat. She didn't work out, Gama knew.

"Hello." He greeted.

"Hey, sorry for being late. Stuff came up. You look nice." She said back.

Gama nodded in approval. Finally.

She took a seat opposite him and Gama ordered a black coffee for himself — he had learned.

Conversation was slow to start, because the woman seemed more interested in the food she had ordered for herself and talking about it than anything else.

Perhaps she was nervous, Gama mused. He could be intimidating, of course. Now he knew a few inoffensive questions and topics from this world; his arsenal was broader every day.

'Thanks, Eri.'

"Have you always lived here?" Gama asked.

Privately, he hoped she hadn't traveled too much, because his stories might raise a few questions then. Talking about things like the Land of Earth worked as long as you were vague… and the person hadn't seen that much of the world.

"Lived here all my life." She said, quite curtly. She left it at that.

Never mind. That was worse; Gama frowned and repressed a sigh.

He ordered himself a beer, hoping it wouldn't be… full of sugar or something.

"Well." He said, after what felt like minutes of silence. "I come from overseas."

"Yeah?" She asked.

"…Yeah."

He stared at her. She didn't ask any questions.

Gama continued to speak anyway. "…One of my favorite memories was when I went to those snowy lands. They had an electric train, which went through most of the country. It was great."

"Sounds cool." She nodded. "I haven't seen that. Canada?"

He had no idea what she just asked. So he just improvised.

"Sounds cool."

"…Huh?"

"Cool." He repeated. "He sounds interesting."

She stared at him. "Who?"

"Well, that guy." Gama repeated. "He sounds very interesting. That Kanada? I've heard of him."

"…Canada." She deadpanned.

"Yes. Canada. He sounds pretty cool."

The woman stared at him. She probably thought he didn't know who Kanada was. Which meant she would shame him. At this point, Gama was committed.

"…You don't know it?" She asked.

Gama scoffed. "Of course I know him—… it."

"You really sound as though you never heard of it. You can drop the act."

Gama insisted that he knew Canada already.

It went on for a while until she said something about it being "more than time to stop his stupid antics."

Gama committed harder instead.

He could not admit to it, because she got more and more pissed.

It culminated in her starting to yell at him.

Some man came to ask her if everything was alright, and "what the hell he was doing."

Gama told him to calm down.

The guy told him to "get the fuck out", which Gama felt was a bit of overstepping on his part. So he told him, more or less politely.

The guy got heated, and tried to push Gama. Gama pushed him back, leading to the guy falling over a table.

There was more shit-flinging, but by that point Gama knew the date was more or less over.

So he left.

…

The third date was promising.

The woman was named Minori — he thought. She was fit, beautiful and a good conversationalist. What was not to like?

She didn't talk much about herself, though.

He met her in yet another coffee shop. That was basically the only thing he knew people to do in Tokijo for now, so he would take his chances with that.

He excused himself, left his stuff at the table and left for the bathroom for a minute. There, he tried to remember what was a no-go. No reason to stab himself in the foot.

Granted, Gama was doing most of the chatting, but Minori seemed to open up more ever since he went to the bathroom. Perhaps she had been nervous and had given herself a good talking to when he had been gone.

Again, Gama thought he could be somewhat intimidating.

"I'm leaving town tonight." Minori said. "I'll be gone for a week. But I'd like to meet up when I get back."

"Sure." Gama nodded. "I'd like that."

Minori paid for the bill, insisting that she wanted to.

'Sweet girl.' Gama thought. Luck was smiling on him, after all.

"I'll let you pay next time." She winked.

'Yup. Still got it. Even in foreign worlds.'

Not that he had doubted it, of course. This morning had been proof enough.

…

Gama was a bit hungry.

He had more dates later in the evening, but a few hours to spare, and an empty stomach, too. There had been some light exertion this morning too, but civilians really were not half as enduring as shinobi were, so…

He pulled out his (stolen) money purse out of his (stolen) coat. He opened it and checked for his (stolen) money. There was none.

He was pretty sure there had been cash in there just before the last date.

Just before…

"Oh come on!"

One hour later.

As always, it was a fight for superiority.

"Robbed by a civilian, really…? You keep impressing me." She jeered. "No wonder she insisted on paying, she didn't want you to notice."

Gama felt sweat drip down his face. He was losing.

Why had he gone to find her, out of all people…? Convenience, perhaps? She was easy to locate, like an incandescent, bright light in the middle of weak, waning candles.

But still.

It went on.

The damning words echoed from the machine.

'Sonic Boom!'

"Stop it." Gama muttered.

'Sonic Boom! Sonic Boom!'

"I said stop it." Gama muttered again.

Hebi snorted, and kept up her relentless assault. "Why should I…? It's clearly working. Learn your basics. Or get good."

'Sonic Boom! Sonic Boom!'

"Stop it!" Gama roared. He tried to make his character guard himself.

She finished him with a throw.

In his frustration, Gama almost broke the arcade stick.

'Winner: Guile!'

"Fuck that." Gama said. "I'm not playing anymore. I don't like this game that much, after all."

"Oh no…? After insisting so much that we play it?" Hebi asked mockingly. He had likely thought he would win. Or perhaps the colorful art style had appealed to him, like the one before that. "I guess the score stays as it is, then."

Gama pursed his lips.

"…Guess I can do one more."

Behind them, the arcade version of Street Fighter IV called.

They answered its call.

…

"I think I'm done humiliating you." Hebi declared. "Sixteen to zero is just getting into pathetic territory. Which probably reminds you of home."

"…Whatever." Gama spat. "I don't care."

"Besides, I'm the one paying for it all, so…" She shrugged.

"It's not your money either."

They had stolen it together, after all.

"So what? It's mine now." She shook her head. "Morals, from you?" Hebi scoffed.

"Don't start." He muttered. In any case, Hebi exited the arcade and Gama followed out to the street. It was the middle of the afternoon, so Gama asked her if she felt like having a beer. She asked whether that included having to stand his company, to which he laughed and answered that the great company came with the beer.

Hebi rolled her eyes, and before she could shoot back an undoubtedly scathing retort, Gama pointed out a good potential mark at her. Dickish-looking, heavy pocket. She sighed and walked down the street in a very casual manner.

A thin wisp of water extended from her coffee cup — how she could drink this swill, Gama had no idea. Hebi made a little sphere out of it first. Then it became a thread of dark water. One that shot forth and caught the back of the aforementioned man's wallet. She pulled bills out of it and brought them back to her hand, along with the thread.

With another sigh, she put about a third of it in Gama's hands.

"Thanks." He grinned.

"Don't thank me." She muttered.

They found a quiet bar to have a drink or two in.

"Say." Gama began, eyes looking… Well, not bright, because that was still him, but… sharper? Perhaps it was because of his beer order, which had just arrived. "You use Water release a lot, but it's not your natural affinity, is it…?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying this because you know yours to be Wind…?"

"No." He smiled slightly. "Although it is, and I guess yours as well, then."

"It is." She nodded curtly. "What makes you say that, then? About Water."

"Well, I'm good at this sort of thing." Gama shrugged. "I can tell a few things about people, usually."

"Oh?" She asked, sounding amused.

"Well yeah. Now… I didn't spend much time around… your Orochimaru, but I assume that he's a pretty well-functioning sociopath — don't interrupt me, please. Now, I know you're a very resilient person already, but growing up, if it was anything like me, he was your only support system, which means that some harm was done. It could be things you do or used to do… like shrinking in isolation or expressing your problems through aggression, becoming emotionally flat, and a tendency to self-blame and/or some unwarranted feelings of worthlessness. And that man is what you used to fear, in a way and in spite of his best efforts; the monster under the bed and the one you had to turn for comfort. Except you never knew where you stood because… well, he was that guy."

Silence.

"…But that's just an impression." Gama amended himself. "I can get it wrong, too."

"Or perhaps—" She said, more sharply than she had intended.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Maybe I'm just projecting."

"…"

"…Although Jiraiya was probably not as bad." Gama winced. He likely had touched a nerve. "Yeah, sorry. I thought you were asking about my impression of you."

"It doesn't matter." She said evenly.

Gama cheered up visibly.

He thought for a second.

"So... yeah. I've been pretty impressed with what you did with that coffee cup." Gama nodded. "I decided to make you something — not because I just said something vaguely offensive by the way."

Hebi grunted in answer.

He pulled out something out of his triple-layered sealing pockets.

"…Where the hell did you get a sake jar?" Hebi asked dubiously. It looked pretty nice, too.

"Stole it." He shrugged. "Obviously."

"…Obviously."

"Can you…?" He motioned for a bubble. "Make us less noticeable, or something?"

She weaved a jutsu around them, and Gama pulled out a well-worn brush and some ink.

"…What are you…?" She asked.

"I just told you — I need to focus."

Hebi watched on as he worked with a level of care and attention she had never seen in him before, he applied ink… and more ink to the sake jar he was holding.

They were supporting seals, she noticed. After what felt like a long time to her — but passed in a blink for him, he made a half Tiger seal. The main matrix pulled the rest of the scribbles to itself.

"And… here you go." He said, holding it out to her. "Pretty durable and should hold in a lot of water. Or whatever liquid you put in, actually." He winked.

"…What?" Hebi asked quietly. "For me?"

"Of course." Gama grinned. "It wouldn't do to have a water expert without access to water at any time, right?"

Hebi didn't say anything. She just stared at him, feeling a bit moved despite herself.

"Ah… it needs a little bit of… something, doesn't it?" Gama mused.

He looked around; stole some rope.

"Ta-da!" Gama crowed, presenting her the completed project, adorned with the very same rope. It also held the cork in place, and would prevent her from losing it. "I call it the Jar of Sins."

Hebi stared at it quietly.

"Well? Come on, then. Take it." He laughed boisterously. "Normally, it would cost a decent amount of money, but for you… It's free!"

Evening fell.

Gama realized he had likely stood up his second-to-last date. But that didn't matter, because it only meant that he would have to put it all on the very last one.

Gama got off the subway, feeling queasy.

They had gotten started with some light drinking with Hebi, and it turned out it didn't go all too well with public transportation, in his case. Gama didn't throw up.

He climbed the stairs up, still as cautious around such massive crowds of people as he had always been — except when drunk. An assassin could hide in any corner, and that was especially true in a crowd.

There was one problem, though.

Gama was feeling pretty thirsty, by now. That was the problem with beer… it could wake some demons up, sometimes. And strangely enough, it was a lesson that both Gama and Hebi had learned, apparently.

And…

There was a big liquor store, close by.

…Well. To find his date, first.

…

She was a small woman — one with a fine little body, Gama noted.

Also, there was something electric about her, perhaps in the way she stood. As though she were a little ball of pent-up energy. Gama knew the feeling quite well, and took an instant liking to her. He watched her intently, feeling the last of the beer leave his veins.

Gama could tell by her smile that she felt the same strange kinship.

"Nice pictures." She said, by way of greeting. "Gama."

"I remember you." He said. Her name, he meant. "You're Keiko."

She smiled, somewhat sarcastically. "How impressive. You got my name right."

"I know, right?" Gama shook his head. "You'd be surprised how much trouble I had with that… with my first few dates of the day!"

She chuckled, in this way people chuckled when they didn't believe him to be quite so literal — as he could sometimes be, when he wasn't lying.

"Well, well…" She tutted. "Aren't you quite the bad boy…"

"I am a bad man." Gama acquiesced, albeit jokingly. Because he was a good one, he knew. "A thirsty one, actually."

"Oh…?" Her eyes glimmered with interest. "Either you're way too direct… or me too."

(In retrospect, perhaps Gama should have taken this interest as a sign of the coming trouble.)

"Yeah, I mean drinking." Gama just said. "I saw a liquor store just around the block."

"Let's go look for something to drink, then." She said, laughter in her voice.

The only problem being that he couldn't currently pay for anything.

Fortunately, there was always Genjutsu. Which he was great at. As he was with most things, really.

So Gama decided he would just improvise, and was repaid with his date's coy smile. The excitement in her eyes was something that he knew all too well could only lead to good things.

They were bound to get drunk.

As they neared the liquor store, Gama finished weaving his Toad-Style illusion. He made up some reason to wait around the corner for a bit, waiting for it to take hold of a few passers-by.

There was noise.

Then, just to be sure, he weaved the same illusion again.

The noise increased, to the point where Keiko was asking if there was a party going on. But this was not this sort of sound, Gama knew. Not the roar of drunk, happy people, nor the rhythmic sound of what these savages called drums — but truly was nothing but a digital recording of them.

It… sounded more like the screams of angry people and glass breaking.

So of course, they went toward it.

There was a frenzied mob, and they had apparently just looted the liquor store. They were still in the process of it, actually. Everyone seemed to have a bottle already.

Yeah, Gama nodded to himself. He was great at Genjutsu.

His date seemed amazed by the ongoing chaos, so Gama stole a case of whisky in the general confusion. Most of it, he sealed away for later. One bottle, he took out and generously presented to his date.

People were dancing feverishly, yelling some nonsensical song.

"Drunk or Genjutsu-ed?" was a game he and Jiraiya had played before, and Gama knew this would go from one to the other, this time. In any case, the noise was deafening, and Gama offered for both of them to get out before someone decided that smashing either of them on the head with a bottle was a good idea.

…

Keiko laughed.

"My god, that was wild out there!" She said, taking a healthy swig of the bottle. "I wonder what the fuck happened."

Gama nodded in approval. Here and there, he swore he would get as drunk as he had ever been; this world, with its lack of danger, was perfect for that. He seized the bottle for himself and began to make good on this promise.

"Well, I get the feeling tonight could get out of control." Keiko laughed. "Or I hope so, at least."

Gama nodded thoughtfully. "Know any place we could go to? Kinda new to this place."

"Well, there's only club that I know that is fairly lax when it comes to allowing min—" She cut herself off. "It opens later, though."

Gama frowned. "What were you about to say?"

"Nothing important." She laughed. "I'm twenty-one."

"…Huh?" Gama frowned. "Why are you telling me…?"

That was like eighteen in ninja years. Cutting it a bit close for his preferences, but still okay.

"No reason."

They finished their bottle, wandering out Tokijo's streets, almost aimlessly for a while, until they found themselves entirely too drunk.

…

It was sometime after midnight.

"Here we are." Keiko announced. "Joker's."

It was crowded and there was a cover charge to enter. Gama frowned. She just laughed and told him not to worry about it, and that she knew the bouncer. People were piling in with them, seemingly climbing over each other. The building itself was full of light and music. Too loud, of course.

Keiko let out a shriek of delight when they entered. He glanced at her and shrugged; perhaps it would be worth it. She seemed excited, in any case. He followed her.

They passed in the back room, went down a dark hall, headed toward the basement, where the sounds were even louder; a room full of music and noise and sweat. It was jammed, and at one end of the room, some guy stood behind a weird little machine, dancing. People were shouting, drinking booze out of plastic cups.

That… was the sort of place he could enjoy, in spite of the too fucking loud noises. Gama pulled a bottle out of a seal inside his pocket, shrugged when Keiko asked him where he had gotten it, and they resumed drinking again, more surreptitiously than before, making sure no one noticed they had sneaked a bottle inside here.

He was getting a bit... too drunk, he knew.

Things were starting to feel a bit more disjointed.

Gama turned to watch how people danced, in this modern world. It turned out to be pretty easy to pick up, since they just bobbed to the beat, without any sort of sense. Some were getting pretty wild, too; some jerky movements, some hip-thrusting, too. Groans and cries. Gama joined them, of course, and so did Keiko.

The light was dimmed, and it contributed to the general intensity of the place. A woman swayed past Gama, with a teasing smile for him. He licked his lips absentmindedly. Perhaps he would enjoy life here. She was a good dancer, and he was soon transfixed. Her arms lifted above her head, and she had a look of tense concentration, as sweat pearled, glinting in the dark light. She spun and she spun.

And his date, too, of course. She was dancing feverishly, close to him. Gama took another swig of the whisky bottle. Keiko laughed and bumped him with her hips. Gama continued to stomp and weave around, more and more drunkenly, with more and more abandon. Someone next to him dropped a drink on his shoes — well, not his his —, but Gama didn't care anymore.

Gama felt someone stare at him, very intently. "…Aren't you Nacchan's cousin?" He turned around to look. He was pretty sure that was Nacchan's friend, the one he had a crush on, this world's Sakura. Was she supposed to be here at all…? She was still seventeen, wasn't she…? As far as Gama remembered, people under a certain age could not drink, in this country. He couldn't recall the age cutoff, though. It was probably fine, then.

"That's me." He chuckled. "Nacchan's cousin." There were others around her, including several of Nacchan's friends; among them, he recognized Ino. Nacchan was missing, though. Gama found that he didn't particularly care about either of them, frankly. They looked pretty drunk, all of them, though.

He just nodded hello to them and tried to find a good reason to continue dancing. By this point, Gama was fairly sloshed already. Handing Kiba — who was trying to say something to him, angrily — a bottle that he pulled out of seemingly nowhere seemed like a fair solution. Gama did just that and disappeared into the crowd again. The music was getting wilder, and so was the crowd. There was something different going on, he knew already. Keiko motioned for him to look. There, at the center of a circle of people, Gama saw the woman from earlier. She was dancing with a man, now.

And she seemingly had lost her shirt, at some point. So had the man she was dancing against — if you could call it that, at this point. Gama had to blink twice to be sure of it, but they were not fucking — or at least not yet. And someone was calling a name desperately. That was hers, Gama was sure. She didn't answer. Gama whistled. This was some level of debauchery, even by his standards. Was he about to witness a live cucking…?

The man who apparently knew that woman kept calling for Yoshiko, Yoshiko. He was waving his hands, too. The crowd didn't care, because that woman had unclasped the back of her bra. If anything, they tried to push the guy further away. He called again. Nobody heard.

It felt feverish, all of it. There were some guys screaming, shouting, as they wrangled each other to get a good view. Gama took a longer sip of whisky, gave one more to his date and thought that maybe that was paradise, after all.

Something white was flung aside, and Gama saw a flash of something pink, that looked blue-purple in the strange light. He watched, fascinated, the wonders of the modern world. That man, Yoshiko's desperate caller, was drowned by the crowd. The noise was getting louder and louder.

Gama was getting drunker and drunker. He continued to dance through the moving masses, vaguely aware of Keiko — his date, he knew —, who was grinding herself against him, hair matted with sweat, glistening.

That Yoshiko and her... gentleman dance partner were still going at it, and for a while, Gama thought she was about to remove her skirt as well. She didn't, though. She and the man headed toward the door. The other guy, the one that had been calling her so desperately, was nowhere to be seen. A little bit disappointed, Gama still laughed. The crowd cursed as well, and it looked as though a fight was about to break out, too. He laughed.

Gama blinked, and drank some more.

Everything was so clear, everything was so vague. He was alive, he was sleeping. He was hungry, he was too full. He downed more whisky and felt its burn inside him, entirely too aware of his own arousal. Aware of the body pressed against his own, and uncaring of the rest. Her skin was burning hot, and soon he was kissing her just as feverishly. His own eyes were wide and empty at the same time. He felt her lithe body against his, still conscious of the notion that civilians really needed to train some more, and forgot to care about that. He drank some more—

Gama woke in the morning, in a very unfamiliar room, with a pounding headache.

It took him a while to remember that it was the vacant apartment he had taken over on his first night here, once he had realized he needed a place to sleep.

The inside of his head felt as though someone had used it as an anvil, and he smelled of cigarette smoke and cheap liquor.

How the fuck had he ended up here…?

He couldn't remember much of last night. The last few hours had been a complete blur.

He was naked, though. And decidedly not alone. He probably should start drinking less. Had he gotten home with that girl from the online… online… online computer thing? Keiko, he thought.

Could be worse.

He turned to his right, looked under the covers. His heart lurched.

Pink hair.