Magazine

"Find them! Search every nook and cranny!" A man shouted to the others, as they started to spread out.

In front of a soba shop, peeking out from behind some signs and a figure of a bear, the group watched the men runoff.

"I got to eat sake chazuke every day, I was happy," Kagura said, as she got out from behind a sign. "But lately, my jobs went up the escalator."

"I think you mean they escalated," Shinpachi said.

"I can't take it anymore. Edo is a very scary place. I want to go home." Kagura said, looking melancholy.

"Hey, kid. I want to ask you something." Hiroto said, as his head popped out of a trash can. "Did you steal some pornmags from a shop recently?"

"Oi! What are you saying to a young girl?!" Shinpachi shouted.

"What? It was the job I got today. There was a girl wearing the same dress with the same colored parasol as her that was seen stealing the old man's pornmags." Hiroto said casually, getting out of the trashcan.

"Boy, are you dumb. So, not only did you steal some pornmags, you even trusted guys with perms. In this country, you just can't trust guys with perms and girls in red." Gin said, jumping out from behind the bear figure.

"Well, whatever. You got yourself into that world, you need to get yourself out." Gin said, turning around and walking away.

Hiroto looked at the girl's sad face and said, "Hm, I must be colorblind. You can't possibly be the thief. What would a little girl like you do with some pornmags?" Hiroto turned to walk the opposite way from Gin. Waving his hand, he said, "Goodluck."

"Hey, wait! You two!" Shinpachi shouted after the two but was ignored. Looking at Kagura's solemn expression, he said, "You want to go home, don't you? I'll help you."

-----

As Hiroto was walking, he arrived at the front of a Dango shop and saw a man with an afro perm sitting in front of a group of men and yelling at them.

"You guys idiots or what?! How can it be so hard bringing back one girl?! You call yourselves gangsters? Do you think that's fitting for someone with a perm?!" The man shouted and pointed at the group of men who had their heads lowered.

"But boss, we're up against a Yato." A man said.

Hiroto paused for a second and gave a side glance to the group. 'Hm? A Yato? Isn't that the clan made up of jacked up people or something? And the girl? Hmmm.' In his mind, an image of a little girl with a red cheongsam, and ripped muscles and abs appeared in his mind.

*POW* The afro man stood up and punched the man who spoke up to the ground. "What are you, retarded?! That's why we need her!" Looking at the people around him, the man then noticed Hiroto standing a distance away.

"Oi, what are you looking at?!" The afro man said, walking arrogantly up to Hiroto.

"Ah, well you see. I have a friend who also has a perm, and was just wondering how you managed to keep yours so well maintained." Hiroto said.

"Hahaha, well, seeing as you can appreciate a good perm when you see one, let me give you some tips. Oi! Why haven't you guys left yet?! Go! If you can't bring her back, then just kill her!" The man shouted to the others as they all scattered away.

The man then sighed and sat back down on his bench, picking up a magazine. "You see, the secret to a great perm is to make sure yo-"

And so the man continued blabbering about his perm, while Hiroto ate all of his Dango. Looking at the magazine the man was holding, a lightbulb appeared above his head.

"Say, afro head, where did you get from?" Hiroto asked, pointing to the magazine in his hand.

"Ah, this? Haha, I got one of my underlings to get it for me. Tsk, I asked for Perm Weekly, but who would've thought she would grab Porn Weekly instead?!" The man shouted, waving the pornmag around.

"Hey, how about lending it to me for a bit, come on, we're buds aren't we?" Hiroto said, putting his arms around the man's shoulder.

"Ahh, well, I guess I could." The afro man said, handing it over to Hiroto.

"Alright, well, I'm gonna go now. I got some business to take care of." Hiroto said, waving the magazine in his hands as he went back to the store.

The afro man watched Hiroto leave and said, "He really must be itching to 'read' it, huh?"

-----

"You brought it back! Thank you!" The old man hugged his magazine and bowed to Hiroto repeatedly.

"Yeah yeah, just pay me already," Hiroto said, scratching his head.

"Yes yes, of course." The old man then presented an envelope with money to Hiroto. "What about the one who stole it in the first place?"

"Her? I don't know. Probably flew away or something." Hiroto checked the contents of the envelope, nodded and asked, "By the way… why are we in the alley?"

"Ah well, I wouldn't want the wife to find out now?" The man said, making a shushing gesture. "She would kill me for sure."

"Oi! Wifey! This man is committing a crime against paper! You better hurry!" Hiroto shouted as he ran off.

"WHAT?!" A loud and scary female voice came from inside the store, as a dark aura swept out of the store and around the old man.

"Ah, wait. Dear, it's not mine. I-It was that redhead- GACK" The old man tried to explain himself, but was brought into a chokehold.

"Let's see how you wiggle yourself out of this one!" The old woman said as she dragged the man back inside.

Running away, Hiroto thought to himself, 'I should probably make sure that those two haven't gotten themselves in even more trouble. Wouldn't want them bringing down the reputation of the Odd Jobs.'

Hiroto then took out a manga from his sleeve, on the cover of it read, 'Gintama.'

"Alright, which chapter was it… Ah, this one! Hmm, so they're headed to the train station then?" Hiroto said, putting the manga away and started running towards the train station.

-----

At the train station, Kagura and Shinpachi were stuck in a trashcan as they tried to squirm their way out of it.

"Hey, that's not good…" The voice of the afro man came from above them, as he stopped them from rolling away. "Running onto a train is dangerous. Too bad, Kagura. You almost got away."

"Inoue!" Kagura shouted as she saw the man and the men surrounding them.

"It's terrible to run away without saying goodbye. After I treated you so well too." Inoue said, grinning, "What happened to your money problems? Are you alright? You wanna go back to a furikake-on-rice lifestyle?"

"I'm sick of hurting people for money! Nothing tastes good this way!" Kagura shouted back, "Even the furikake season on rice tastes good after hard, honest work!"

The train that was behind them left the station, Inoue then walked to the side of the trashcan they were in. "Ha, well, if that's what you think then you're useless to me if you're not willing to fight."

Inoue then kicked the trash can, causing it to roll off the platform and unto the train tracks. "Ciao!" Inoue said, walking away.

"Oh, no way!" Shinpachi shouted as he saw another train coming towards them. "The set-up is practically the same as the original!"

"Not anymore." Hiroto's voice came from the side, as he smiled at the two when they turned to him. "Yo, I see you copied my Jutsu there."

"Hiroto! Help us!" Shinpachi shouted as he squirmed in the trash can with Kagura.

Jumping down next to them Hiroto said, "Don't worry, I'll get you ou-"

*BAM* "AHHH!" Hiroto shouted as he was hit by a scooter from behind.

"Oh." Kagura reacted.

"Ah, Hiro! Gin, you just hit Hiro!" Shinpachi shouted.

"Nothing but frigging trouble!" Gin shouted as he hit the trash can with his wooden sword when he drove past, sending it up onto the platform again. "Go!" He shouted at the trashcan, which flew high above and crashed into the platform.

"Oi, bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Hiroto shouted, as he jumped onto the back of the scooter and pulled on Gin's face. "I was about to have my epic entrance there! I was gonna be like, "Don't worry, your savior, Hiro is here. Everything will be okay." but then you came and ruined it!"

Gin elbowed back into Hiroto's face and shouted, "Who cares about your entrance?! I just want my Jump!"

Back on the platform, Kagura was finally free of the trashcan and walked forward to Inoue and his men.

"I like to fight," Kagura said, causing Inoue to turn to his men, who all ran away without a moment's hesitation. "This is a Yato's true nature. I won't deny it. But, from now on, I want to fight against that nature. I'm going to fight so I can change!"

"W-wait, we can talk this out," Inoue said, as he slowly backed away.

Kagura looked down and said solemnly, "Inoue, there's something I've always wanted to say to you."

Inoue went took a step back as sweat drench his back.

Kagura jumped into the air and shouted, "Don't tell a girl to buy porn mags for you!!"

"It was perm mags!!~~" Inoue shouted, as he was pummeled into the ground.

After a few minutes of pummeling, Kagura was shaving his head, with Hiroto and Shinpachi sitting on a bench behind her. Gin was reading Jump with a bruised eye.

"If you were gonna help us, then you should have come with us from the beginning," Kagura said as he continued shaving Inoue's head. "What are you two, shy boys?"

"Well, I didn't exactly come to help you." Gin said, reading his jump. "I was looking for a Jump, and I just happened to come to the station."

"And I was just looking for the girl who stole from an old man's store," Hiroto said, getting a drink for the vending machine.

As they were talking, the train arrived at the station. "The train's here. Get on quick and don't come back, nightmare girl!" Gin said.

"Yeah, I'd like to do that…" Kagura said as she sculpted a smiley face on the back of Inoue's now bald head. "But when I think about it, I don't have any money to pay my way home. So let me work for you."

*RIP* Gin ripped up his Jump as he shouted, "Y-You've got to be kidding me! Why would we hire a girl as violent as you?!"

*whoosh* *BOOM* Kagura's fist flew past his fast, as it buried into the wall behind Gin, causing a large indentation to appear on it.

"Did you say something?" Kagura asked.

"Not a word/Not a word." Both Gin and Shinpachi responded.

Hiroto threw away his empty can and sighed, *sigh* "Really, how troublesome."