throughbamboo | [ sheep ] inbox

Were you around Kamurocho last year? 'Cause ya woulda seen it every hour on the hour if ya were.

Nah, I don't get out 'til 2010.

But I heard some 'bout it. Both of ya goin' at it all over the place.

Oh yeah. Did my whole scalin' thing an' everythin'. Came up with all these different ways ta get him ta fight me. Worked like a charm.

[his eyebrows furrow]

Whole scalin' thing?

Right, I didn't start doin' that until a few years ago.

[ waves a hand. ]

I'm outta so many guys's leagues, it ain't even funny. Fights stopped bein' fun, so I started scalin' myself down to other people's levels. S'a challenge fer me, too, ta find that fine line. Juuuust hard enough that I'm a challenge but not so hard that they can't beat me if they really try. S'a rush.

Huh . . .

[some people might take that as some kind of insult.

Nue just looks intrigued]

'N ya did that for Kiryu?

Yep. Started off by beatin' his ass into the ground just ta prove I could do it without breakin' a sweat, then got down to his level.

Shit, so technically, yer the reason he hits like a goddamn truck.

[a thoughtful look, followed by a grin]

Makes me wonder if ya were doin' that for me.

I mean. Yer a special kind've exception.

[ so. yes. ]

[the grin gets wider]

Which means ya prob'ly were back home, too.

. . . if I had ta guess, yeah. Prob'ly.

[his face goes serious, very deep consideration here.

For like five seconds lbr]

Good. Means yer as strong as I've always thought ya were.

Means I gotta keep gettin' stronger, too.

It ain't somethin' I like ta advertise fer obvious reasons. Must've not come up back home fer whatever reason.

[ like him being a sadsack . . . ]

We had a whole lot of other shit ta talk 'bout. But I won't tell no one.

An' prob'ly a lotta Tojo bullshit ta sort out. It never ends with 'em.

Mhm. It still ain't endin'.

I ain't gonna talk 'bout it, though; we're supposed ta be relaxin'.

Don't think there's any point in talkin' 'bout it, anyway. S'gonna happen whether we like it or not, which makes relaxin' like this all the more important an' shit.