Chapter 6: The Workplace Determines the Work Efficiency
||| Streets of Edo |||
"So this is, Yorozuya Gin-chan...", Shinpachi mumbles as he stares at a two floor building. The second floor having a signboard with the words 'Yorozuya Gin-chan'.
"But this location...", His mouth couldn't stop twitching as he looks at the sign of 'Snack Bar Otose' , which is the name of the store on the first floor of the building.
"How do I enter? Do I just climb the stairs then knock on the door or do I have to get some sort of permission from the first floor? In the first place, why did those two just suddenly disappear on me? They could've at least told me something before leaving... Ahh, I give up... Should I just go home?", He couldn't stop mumbling to himself as he walks back and forth in front of the building.
Suddenly, the door of 'Snack Bar Otose' opened and an old woman wearing a yukata while smoking a cigarette came out.
"Oi, do you need something? The tip tapping of your feet is so annoying!", the old woman asks him
Shinpachi pauses, breathes in and out, as he calms himself and asks the question, "Uhh, do you know anyone by the name of Sakata Gintoki?"
"Hmm? What do you need from that useless bum? Are you a loan agency? *sigh* This is why I told him to stop borrowing money just to waste them on pachinko... Just go climb that stairs, knock and call for his name. He should just be somewhere there, sleeping or something. Well, that's how he usually is.", the old woman answers while slowly shaking her head towards the end
Shinpachi quickly bows his head and says, "Thank you for your help, Ms?"
"Just call me Otose. You should hurry or that bum's gonna escape", Otose just waves her hand as if to shoo him away
Shinpachi bows his head once again and then walks toward the stairs. When he finished climbing, he find the sliding door and a doorbell besides it. He presses the doorbell and waits for a while.
Not long after, he hears the sound of footsteps and grumbling as the door opens and he sees the face of Shuten Kouji.
"Oh, it's Shin-chan, you came here to buy crayons? Sorry man, we're not a convenience store. Just go back down to the streets, walk towards the right and you should see an 8/11. Well, have a nice journey!", Kouji instructs him then instantly closes the door
Shinpachi couldn't even utter a word as the door closes on his face. A twitch mark appears on his forehead as he presses the doorbell multiple times.
This time, Gintoki was the one that opened the door and he speaks in mild shock, "Oh siscon, what bad wind brought you to my doorsteps? Are you commisioning for work? Well, let me tell you that you got to have money or I'm not taking it"
Gintoki then leans his arm on a wall as he yawns to his hand
"Uh, no. I actually came here to-"
"If it's not work then don't bother me", Shinpachi didn't even get to finish before Gintoki cut him off and the door gets closed on his face once again
He heard Gintoki's voice from the inside saying, "Damn it, kids these days. What is this? Some new kind of doorbell prank?"
Another twitch mark appears on his forehead and Shinpachi madly presses the doorbell
Gintoki opens the door once again and behind him, Kouji could be seen trying to peek at the doorway. As Gintoki opens his mouth to start talking, Shinpachi cuts him off this time by shouting,
"PLEASE LET ME WORK HERE!", while bowing his head and one arm outstretched
>>> A few moments later <<<
Once they have settled inside, Gintoki sat cross-legged across Shinpachi while waiting
Kouji arrives with a tray and three cups of tea. He places the cups in the table and their discussion starts.
"So Megane-kun, could you repeat what you said?", Gintoki says while putting one of his arms to the backrest and the hand on his other arm found its way to his nostrils
"It's not Megane-kun, I'm Shimura Shinpachi", he corrects
"And as I said earlier, please let me work here!", Shinpachi bows his head
"Work? Why the heck should I hire you?", Gintoki stares at Shinpachi as if he was dirt
"Please, I'll do anything! It would be my pleasure to work with the two of you and-", Shinpachi didn't get to finish
Kouji interrupts him by saying, "Oh, you seem to have the wrong impression. I don't work here"
"Eh?", Shinpachi blinks his eyes
"What do you mean 'Eh?', no way in hell do I work here. Do you realize what kind of place this is?", Kouji's expression turns serious
"We-well isn't it just that you'll do anything as long you're getting paid?", he replies dumbly
"That's right", Kouji nods. "You'll do ANYTHING"
Shinpachi realizes the meaning of his words, "Wait, could you mean..."
"From killing, information gathering, stealing, kidnapping, bombing, A-NY-THING", Kouji's eyes seem to leak some form of pressure that made Shinpachi gulp
Kouji's eyes instantly changed back to normal as he remarked, "Well that's only for Jounin Level and above, since you're gonna be a new hire then you'll start as genin and do D-rank missions around the village such as painting fences, taking care of pets, fixing houses and such minor tasks"
"Eh?", Shinpachi's brain couldn't handle another sudden change in Kouji
Gintoki, seeing that the boy couldn't handle it anymore, cuts in and call out, "Oi Shinpachi-kun, calm down. This guy's just messing with you"
Shinpachi turns to Gintoki with a dumb face
"Whether it be assassination, voyeurism or wedding crashing, whatever the requests, we're still allowed to reject them. Besides, most of the actual things that I get are just the minor ones such as walking a dog or something.", Gintoki reveals with a 'cant be helped' expression
Shinpachi realizes he's been tricked and looks toward the culprit
"Y-you! I actually nearly believed you!!!"
"Not 'nearly', I was pretty sure that you did actually believe. That just makes my heart swoon~ Among all other things, people fall for those who can put full trust in their words! Keep going like this and you'll get that cherry of your popping soon!", Kouji puts a hand over Shinpachi's shoulder
Shinpachi's expression became shy and he started twiddling his thumbs while asking Kouji, "I-is that actually true?"
"Yep, don't worry about it! Just believe in me! Believe the me that believes in you!"
"Kouji-san... I believe..."
Gintoki had enough of their drama, shakes his head, and says to Shinpachi, "Oi, you fell for it again"
This breaks Shinpachi out of his trance and he started shouting towards Kouji, "YOU TRICKED ME AGAIN! I feel like I've broken out of an illusion"
"Tch, so you've snapped out of it. But no matter. No one can escape the genjutsus from the strongest dojutsu of Konoha!", Kouji's eyes started spiraling and three tomoe show up surrounding his pupil
"That thing again!", the King of Retorts stands up and points at Kouji
"Well, well, calm down Shinpachi-kun", Gintoki puts a hand on his shoulder
"If you're gonna work here, then you'll have to learn to deal with him. After all, he's gonna be here often"
Shinpachis takes deep breaths to calm his irritation
Kouji coughs to his hand and points to the seats, "Well why don't we seat down again? If you really wanna get hired then you should at least take an interview first"
"O-oh, you're right", Shinpachi accedes
They sit back down again and Gintoki starts asking Shinpachi questions
"First, what's your name?"
"Shimura Shinpachi"
"Age?"
"16"
"Type?"
"Do you mean blood type?"
"Type of woman"
"Eh? Why do I need to answer that?"
"Just answer it"
"We-well... Maybe someone like Otsuu-chan, perhaps"
"Eh, who's that?"
"You don't know?!?!!? Terakado Otsuu is Edo's current number 1 idol! Did you kno-"
"I don't need to know"
"WHAT KIND OF ATTITUDE IS THAT TOWARDS OTSUU-CHAN!?!?!"
"CAN YOU SHUT UP! I DON'T NEED TO LEARN ABOUT SOME IDOL, YOU GLASSES OTAKU!"
"Oi! Those two words hurt me, you know?"
"Like I care"
Shinpachi skulks
"Next, what are your specialties?"
"Well, my whole life I've dedicated myself to swordsmanship"
"So that means no specialties"
"Oi"
"I guess you're at least good for your retorts"
"That doesn't make me feel any better"
Gintoki stretches and lays on the backrest as he asks the last question
"Do you know how to take care of the house?"
"Eh? What a weird question... but well, for most of my life it's just been me and my sister so I've eventually learned to do the basic things"
"Like, cleaning the house?"
"Ah, yeah..."
Gintoki inhales and then shouts, "YOU'RE HIRED"
Shinpachi pauses and realizes "Wait, that was your deciding factor wasn't it? Then what was the use of everything else you asked! You just want me to be your caretaker!!!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone