Chapter 88: Silver Soul, Earth Arc

You’ve been waiting for me a long time, haven’t you, Tsukuyomi? Sorry, I’m late.

With a scratch of his head, Okakura Take slowly made his way toward the street corner.

Beside a signboard, Tsukuyomi stood with her arms folded and a pipe between her lips, expressionless. Every man who passed by sized her up with lecherous eyes.

Tsukuyomi exhaled a pale ring of smoke and said, “It’s fine. I only just got here myself.”

What a wonderfully considerate girl Tsukuyomi was!

“All right, let’s go drink together. By the way, where’s Saru?” Okakura Take asked curiously.

“She said she had something to do, so she isn’t coming,” Tsukuyomi replied.

“I see. Then let’s go. I hear there’s a new handsome guy at Heaven’s Divider lately. Let’s go take a look.” Okakura Take patted Tsukuyomi on the shoulder.

“All right. It lives up to its reputation as a pleasure district for women. The service is excellent, and it really lifts one’s spirits,” Tsukuyomi said with a smile.

“Exactly. Even if we don’t go there to look at handsome men, just sitting down for a drink would be nice,” Okakura Take answered.

The two of them wandered along, chatting as they went, attracting countless astonished glances wherever they passed. Then someone called out to them.

“Oh, it’s Take-chan and Yuyu, aruru!” Kagura ran over, her big blue eyes wide with curiosity as she asked, “Take-chan, Yuyu, where are you going?”

“Miss Okakura, Miss Tsukuyomi, what are you two doing together?” Shin-chan also came over.

The two grown women both blushed. They did not quite know how to tell a still-underage little girl and boy that they were on their way to drink at a male host club.

“Well... we’re just going for a stroll. By the way, Kagura, Shin-chan, where are you headed?” Okakura Take quickly changed the subject.

“Oh right, Take-chan, have you seen Kin-chan?” Kagura asked.

“No. What’s up with that guy?” Okakura Take asked.

“He’s slacking off during work hours again. I’ve been looking for him with Shin-chan for ages. Honestly, with those imitators of ours popping up at any moment and stealing our work, that naturally straight-haired idiot still acts like this,” Kagura said indignantly.

“Imitators? What’s that about?” Tsukuyomi asked, intrigued.

“It’s just that lately this silver-haired natural perm suddenly appeared, spouting all kinds of nonsense. He said his name was Sakata Gintoki, and he even dragged Tama and Sadaharu along with him. The three of them set up a new odd-jobs office and keep coming out to steal our work,” Shin-chan explained.

Sakata Gintoki.

At that name, Okakura Take froze instinctively.

So that guy was still around. How had he gotten out of the game world, anyway? And why did he keep drifting around near all of them every day?

What, exactly, did he want?

“Ah! Someone’s going to jump! Stop her!” A scream from ahead drew everyone on the street’s attention.

Okakura Take, Kagura, Tsukuyomi, and Shin-chan exchanged a glance, then hurried toward the scene.

On top of a building, a brown-haired woman wearing a long kimono and glasses stood at the edge of the roof. Her unsteady figure looked as if she might leap at any moment.

“Don’t do something foolish!”

“Come down!”

“Don’t jump! Hurry and come down!”

The crowd below shouted up at her in alarm.

“Don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll jump!” the woman on the roof cried.

It might have been her imagination, but Okakura Take felt that voice sounded vaguely familiar.

“I’m feeling a little depressed and want to be alone. Could you move back a bit?”

A figure wreathed in black aura suddenly appeared on the rooftop.

Sakata Gintoki!

Looking at that silver-haired man, dejected and so heavy with gloom that he seemed to have turned black, Okakura Take was puzzled. Why was Gintoki up there, and why did he look as if he wanted to jump first?

“Go on, then. Some things are better said to a stranger, aren’t they?” On the other side, Kintoki also appeared. Unlike Gintoki, the halo over his golden hair made him look dazzlingly bright.

“It won’t help to tell you,” Gintoki said in a low voice.

“No one asked you!” Shin-chan roared. He could not help wondering what on earth that guy was doing here.

“Gintoki, what are you trying to do? Tell me,” Okakura Take shouted before she could stop herself.

“No one asked you either!” Shin-chan snapped at Okakura Take.

“It’s fine. Tell us,” Tsukuyomi added.

“...”

Shin-chan.

Why are all of you like this!

“Um... this is a little strange for me to say, but if you don’t mind, could you tell me too? I’ll bring you a souvenir from the underworld,” the woman who had been about to jump said, turning to look at Gintoki.

“...”

Shin-chan.

“Why are you doing this too!” Shin-chan bellowed.

“Come on, young man, say it.”

“Tell us.”

“Be strong, kid. Whatever’s weighing on you, talk to us.”

The crowd below shouted at Gintoki.

“Wait, who exactly is rescuing whom here...” Shin-chan said weakly, pressing a hand to his forehead. He had already complained himself hoarse.

“Damn you lot, don’t be so gentle with me. I’m about to cry!” Gintoki said in a choked voice as he slowly climbed up onto the roof.

The woman preparing to jump hesitated the instant she saw him move.

Then Okakura Take understood. Was he trying to create an even more pathetic image of himself to shake the woman’s resolve, then seize the chance to save her?

“Ah, sorry. I really am too burdened with sorrow!” On the rooftop, Gintoki could not hold back his anger any longer and kicked out toward Kintoki.

The hopeful expression on Okakura Take’s face shattered at once.

What on earth was that guy even here to do!

“Stop! Don’t hurt Mister Kin!” The woman threw out her arms to shield Kintoki. Her wig slipped free, and long lilac hair spilled through the air.

“Saru!” Okakura Take and Tsukuyomi cried at the same time. So it really was someone they knew.

“It’s you!” Gintoki was equally shocked, but his momentum could no longer be stopped. With one kick he sent Saru flying off the building.

“Ah, I just wanted Mister Kin to notice me!” Saru screamed as she plunged downward.

Okakura Take pushed through the screaming crowd and ran forward with all her strength. At that very moment, she saw Sakata Gintoki leap into the air and jump from the rooftop as well.

Silver... light...

Okakura Take went still.

Crash! The plastic canopy of the shop below was smashed in. Everyone looked ahead, and Shin-chan, Kagura, and Sadaharu caught the two people who had jumped.

After saving Saru, Gintoki stood in the sunset. The orange light bathed his silver hair, making him appear radiant and warm. He looked toward Shin-chan and Kagura with an expression of relief, contentment, and a trace of loneliness...

Seeing Gintoki like that, Okakura Take suddenly felt a pang of sadness. Why did seeing that expression make her feel so miserable? She had not even liked him very much before. What was going on?

When Gintoki walked past her, Okakura Take could not help calling out to him: “Gin... Gintoki...”

Gintoki paused. Then he turned, gently ruffled Okakura Take’s hair, and smiled.

“Don’t make such an ugly face. It doesn’t suit a woman as fierce as Godzilla.”

“And remember to wait for me to come back.”

After saying that, Gintoki left together with Tama and Sadaharu.

Okakura Take stood frozen in place, staring after his back, feeling even worse than before.

Beside her, Shin-chan, Kagura, and Tsukuyomi watched Gintoki depart, their own faces clouded with complicated, unreadable expressions.

Why did the man called Sakata Gintoki feel so strangely familiar to them...

In the end, Okakura Take did not go drinking with Tsukuyomi. The two of them helped Saru home to rest.

That evening, Okakura Take lay on her bed staring at the ceiling, her expression blank with confusion.

Lately, she had felt her feelings for Kintoki growing weaker and weaker, because at times he made her feel strangely distant. Being with him had become exhausting...

And yet, in the past, she had clearly been so happy with that guy. Even when he was always sly, shameless, and constantly taking advantage of her, she still liked him...

Then suddenly, her phone rang. Okakura Take glanced at the screen: it was Kintoki calling. She answered.

“Take...” Kintoki’s voice on the other end sounded weak.

“Kin-san, what’s wrong?” Okakura Take asked anxiously.

“There’s been trouble. Tama has been killed by Sakata Gintoki. That man has started a war!” Kintoki said in an angry voice.

Gintoki killed Tama!

Okakura Take went rigid. Her first reaction was that it was absolutely impossible. She did not think Gintoki was the kind of man who would do something like that.

“Take, are you listening?” Kintoki asked.

“Oh, yes, I’m listening,” Okakura Take came back to herself.

“Come to the gathering place later. We’ll all discuss this together. We have to find that man!” By the end of his words, Kintoki’s voice had turned vicious.

“I understand.”

After hearing the meeting place from Kintoki, Okakura Take hung up and stood to change clothes, still not quite able to gather her thoughts.

Only this afternoon, Gintoki had saved Saru. Why would he kill Tama by nightfall? What was going on?

She washed her face and decided she would wait until she reached the gathering place to hear what Kintoki had to say.

“Tama has been taken out. My jewels have been taken out too.”

After everyone had gathered, Kintoki placed Tama’s hand and a golden screw onto a steel pipe.

Okakura Take froze.

No, that was not right.

She had once been intimate with Kintoki. At that time, what was between his legs had been a genuine Armstrong cannon, not some screw like this!

What was going on? Was she actually a robot? Or an augmented human?

No, that could not be. Okakura Take was certain she had never been altered.

She stared at the screw on the pipe with a strange expression. Had she once really done that sort of thing with a man who had a screw for a lower half? If her tastes truly ran that deep, then that was dreadful beyond words.

Imagining herself doing such things with a Kintoki who was made of screws made her vision darken. It was too terrible, so terrible that she even felt a little sick.

Could some bizarre alien who liked converting Earth people have come to Earth again recently? Impossible. She had not heard a thing about it.

No, no, something was definitely wrong. Putting everything else aside, the Armstrong cannon beneath Kin-san absolutely could not have been a golden screw!

Okakura Take decided that once everyone had left, she would ask Kintoki about it.

At last, after Kintoki finished speaking, the others all departed with grave expressions. They were going back to help him search for the missing person.

Okakura Take stayed behind. She walked up to Kintoki and said, “Kin-san, there’s something I want to ask you.”

Seeing her serious expression, Kintoki smiled.

“What do you want to ask me, Take?”

“Why... is your jewel a screw?”

The instant Okakura Take finished asking, the air went silent.

Kintoki looked at Okakura Take, and the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened and deepened...