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“Oi, oi, how long am I supposed to be holding these, dammit.”
Gintoki’s voice slightly echoed through the empty school halls, void of its inhabitants. Stranded somewhere in an unknown time and place, Gintoki’s head was still trying to process what just happened before.
He realized, when he saw the spitting-image like looking through a mirror, he was no longer in Edo, let alone Kabukicho. Somehow, without any explanation, he understood that where he landed was in a setting of school, specifically a classroom. The person that stood in front of him, on that wooden podium, with the announcement of the new anime series written on the chalkboard behind him–the person who looked just like him, was the teacher of this classroom. That much Gintoki understood. Somehow. As if the knowledge was poured right inside his brain through his pores.
They looked similar, but there was something unrecognizable from the man, something that Gintoki had yet to find out; a differing point, perhaps.
“ Argh, to hell with these! ” Gintoki dropped both pails of water on the floor (without spilling the content), before storming inside the classroom.
He’s an adult, moreover, he was the same person as the one who punished him like the class dunce. Gintoki refused to be the fool in this setting.
“Oi!”
Gintoki slid the door open and what greeted him was the sight of a man’s back, leaning over the window’s edge. Curtains swaying from the spring breeze, several pink petals flown inside the room.
Ginpachi remained quiet. Eyes seemed to be glued to whatever it was outside.
Gintoki drank the sight. The back of a lonesome man. Solid, but seemed unattainable, far away. Even in close proximity, it oozed loneliness. Is this what people saw when they looked at his own back?
The Yorozuya boss approached the other, looking outside the window as well to see what captured the teacher’s attention so much.
His red eyes widened slightly.
A familiar tuff on top a familiar figure, albeit smaller, younger. A familiar shade of jet black. Neat face with sharp eyes.
Hijikata Toushirou.
Or at least, the one from this world.
“Hijikata…”
There were no words of confirmation from Ginpachi. However, Gintoki heard a rustling sound and the telltale click of a lighter. Gintoki glanced just at the right time to see Ginpachi pocketing the carton of Mayoboro back inside his shirt’s pocket.
Ginpachi’s eyes never left the figure of Hijikata Toushirou standing on the entrance gate of the school.
And just like that all of his frustrations, his pettiness, all disappeared from Gintoki.
“Hey, how old are you?” Gintoki asked.
Ginpachi huffed through his nose, the white smoke disappearing into the crisp air.
“ Old enough. ”
“What is it, five years from me?”
Ginpachi glanced at Gintoki without facing him.
“You’re 29, right?” Gintoki nodded once. “Then I guess 3 years? I’m the same as that one version with the white curse. Five years from the original, I suppose.”
Gintoki frowned. Ginpachi’s words made no sense, but somehow Gintoki understood it all. He understood, knew who the teacher was referring to.
The disgruntled expression of the Yorozuya boss did not escape the teacher.
“I knew of your stories. Our stories. Put it this way, I watched your series from beginning to end. ” Ginpachi exhaled another white smoke.
Gintoki’s frown deepened.
“Then, is this where the series will continue? We’re continuing Gintama here?”
Ginpachi looked over the horizon, the city stretching beyond the school ground. The houses, the buildings. The blue sky that seemed infinite. “Who knows. It’s both Gintama and not Gintama. There’s no aliens or samurai here. They’re either sci-fi or history.”
“But there’s certainly one aspect I’ve always envied in your place over there.”
Gintoki traced Ginpachi’s sight back to Hijikata down there.
Even in Gintoki’s world, it was through a rotten bond that he was able to be close to Hijikata. If you put their professions, their histories side by side. They should be on opposite ends. And yet they were able to sit next to each other, exchanging meals. Gintoki couldn’t imagine the distance between a teacher and a student, even if they were in the same classroom. If Ginpachi truly was Gintoki, all his personality included; then the amount that this man held within, Gintoki could only sympathize.
After all, he would do exactly the same, given the position.
“ Yorozuya! Where the hell is thi–!! ”
Both heads turned to the classroom door.
“Eh? Hijikata-kun?”
“There’s… t-two of you…?”
The Demon Vice-commander of Shinsengumi stood agape in front of the two silver perm-heads.
Ginpachi stared at Hijikata the way he stared at Gintoki before, expressionless without a single crack. Gintoki scratched the back of his head.
“Well, there’s two of everyone, everywhere. Really.”
Hijikata frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“Well…”
Ginpachi stepped away from the window sill, Gintoki followed, giving space for Hijikata to lean over the window and look beyond.
Hijikata saw his own reflection. Younger.
“That’s…”
“I guess you can say it’s a parallel world. I’ve watched you guys from start to finish. Congrats on finally going out.”
Ginpachi snickered, huffing a trail of smoke. Both Gintoki and Hijikata reddened on cue.
Of all people in the entire universe, maybe even the multiverse; Gintoki shouldn’t be embarrassed in front of his own other self. And sure enough, realization washed away the involuntary reaction. Gintoki’s eyes became serious.
“It’s your story, next.”
Ginpachi smiled, deprecatingly. “Hope the ending’s just as good.”
Hijikata looked towards Ginpachi, then at his own other self on the other side of the window. He looked back at Ginpachi. In just a few words, few expressions; Hijikata understood the big picture.
“If he’s the me in this world, then it should be the same. He’ll return it.” For the first time through the entire conversation, Ginpachi’s eyes slightly widened at Hijikata’s words.
“After all, even the content of this perm-head remains unchanged.”
Hijikata looked at Gintoki with a smile.
That made Ginpachi smile as well.