2025-08-26: Don't Judge A Ramen Joint By Its Cover
- Log: Don't Judge A Ramen Joint By Its Cover
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Ryuji Sakamoto
- Where: Shibuya
- OOC Date: 2025-08-26
- IC Date: Sunday, July 01 2012
- Summary: Tsubasa runs into Ryuji, after they split off from Ren, and gets some ramen with him. Through the universal language of Being A Punk, Ryuji makes a new friend...!
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa came out to Shibuya this Sunday to steal cosmetics -- but of course they've already done that, and gone and seen a movie, and realised that they and Ren have more in common than they ever could have guessed. A hoodie tied around their waist is an impromptu bottom-down cape over their boardshorts, a pair which looks like they were sewn out of a pleated skirt. Their tank-top exposes their belly; there's the hint of ace bandages, under there, around their chest. And, of course, they have the world's darkest fake tan, a thing layered over with concealer across their body, which explains why they'd need to jack the makeup.
(The reason for all these layers of artifice, of course, are the burn scars across the right side of their body; years-old, they're easy to overlook at a distance, but closer up the uneven skin is harder to miss.)
Today's wig is a wild bleach-white mullet, streaked with cyan, magenta, and yellow, and they're just kind of slouching down the street as they amble towards the exit, hands on their hips because their pockets are full of ill-gotten gains they'd rather not call attention to. At a glance, they could be mistaken for a sentaa guy or a yamanba, depending on how one falls on what gender they are, but they borrow from both sides of the street fashion, which just makes it even more confusing.
Whatever they are, though, the bad reputation holds up: it's easy to imagine a youth who sticks out this much is particularly quarrelsome.
Even though they're just walkin', here!
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
Ah Shibuya. The cool part of Tokyo, bustling with young people in all walks of life. One such youth currently slouches near the movie theatre, counting the money he has left from the show he just attended. Ryuji sighs as he takes in the damage. With the cost of a drink and ticket, he was bleeding money. "Yep. Just enough for a bowl of Ramen and a train ride home. Right on."
The blonde stuffs his wallet back into his hoodie, beginning to make his way to the ramen shop with a slouched walk that seems to have a stiff limp to it.
Ryuji doesn't notice the Sentaa guy at first, his attention caught by a poster for a movie he wanted to check out. When his attention comes back to whats in front of him, he is right up on Tsubasa, prompting him to jump back startled. "Woah! My bad dude!" He doesn't notice the bandages or the bulges in their pockets for the moment, just keeping his attention on Tsubasa's tan and unique appearance.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Yeah, Tsubasa's been there. But did you know you can just... jump over the turnstiles? That's how they get home!
Getting home is a near-in-the-future problem, though. Their problem right now: a guy just straight about ran into them while they were busy thinking about, like, holy shit, did you know that you can like both boys and girls? Like, even if you're NOT a dude?
ANYWAY, BACK ON THE SHIBUYA STREETS --
"Huh?" Tsubasa zones back in, taking one solid step back as they stare at Ryuji like they just touched a lightswitch that zapped them. Their pockets rattle, but luckily, Tsubasa specifically stitched them in, so they're deep enough not to betray them.
"Watch where you're --" they start to snap, with a voice which has been dragged several miles through gravel and silt, low and rumbly and like they've smoked a six pack a day since they were six. But it takes about three words for them to realise they're about as much as fault as this kid is, and they straighten up, rubbing at the back of their neck. "Ugh, don't worry about it." Their suspicion grows, though, as they notice Ryuji's attention on them. "You don't got a problem, do ya?"
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
If it came to that, Ryuji wasn't above jumping a turnstile. Still officer jackass usually had Ryuji in their sights thanks to his posture and bleached hair. It just was easier to just pay the small fee rather than get caught and deal with whatever was next. He already got enough trouble from the Phantom Thief activities.
Ryuji eyes dart over Tsubasa for a moment, sizing the guy up as they begin to start something. He rubs the back of his neck, keeping his other hand in his hoodie pocket. Does this guy smoke a pack a minute? How can something like that be healthy?
Ryuji doesn't even get his mouth open before the fight is tabled. "Right...Nah I don't got any beef with ya. I mean I'm not a push over neither but if you don't want to start anything, we're cool. I should pay attention better." Ryuji finally catches notice of the ace bandage and the suspiciously plump deep pockets. Must be some sort of fashion thing? Ryuji wasn't really up to speed on the latest trends. That was more of an Ann thing. "Alright, we good? I got a bowl of ramen calling to me."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa evaluates Ryuji for a moment, before... "We cool." Part of being a violent gang thug is knowing when not to pick a bone, and Tsubasa's alone right now and doesn't really have anything to fight about. See? They can be cool.
They might have just kept walking, except --
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl
Luckily, all those layers of artifice cover up the way Tsubasa's cheeks flush, when their stomach growls at the mention of ramen.
"..."
They look left. They look right.
"You, uh... know a good place around here?" They ask, a moment later, and far more awkwardly.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
The old Ryuji might've just gone with the fight to do something. Still he was in better spirits these days. No point in knocking someone's teeth out if they didn't deserve it.
Ryuji is about to leave when he hears the familiar growl, blinking for a moment. There is just a long pause after they ask -him- if he knows a place.
Finally Ryuji just laughs at the absurdity of all of this. "Yeah, man. I know a lot of good places. Was about to hit a new one though. Depending on what you want, I can recommend like 20 places." A grins crosses his face as he settles into his stance. "Like this new one apparently has a award winning broth that uses some secret technique. So they say anyway...But broth is like 80 percent of a good bowl of ramen. Not to forget about the ingredients and noodles."
There is another long pause as Ryuji sizes Tsubasa up again for a different purpose. This guy seemed ok. "You...want to come? Most of my friends are busy so I'm just kicking back solo today. Assuming that sounds good?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
He knows a lot of good places, huh..? Must be a local, Tsubasa figures. (Despite their outrageous fashion, they are not local.)
But Ryuji talks about the broth, and Tsubasa nods, with a firm grunt of assent. "Right." This boy has clearly thought deeply about the secrets of ramen...
He must have great wisdom, Tsubasa thinks.
"... sure," they decide, when he invites them along. They will absorb this boy's ramen expertise, and in this way, become strong. "Name's Tsubasa Seki," they introduce themself, as they amble along. "You?"
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
"Ryuji Sakamoto." He grins, letting any sort of tough guy image go with the wind. The blonde gestures for Tsubasa to follow as he walks toward the place he has in mind. "So you from around here, Seki? I'm from the Kinshicho ward myself. Someone as fashionable as you has gotta be around Harajuku or something, right?" He turns his head back to look at Tsubasa, nodding as he thinks he's right on the mark with that one.
After a quick walk they arrive at a very modern looking Ramen restaurant, prompting the former track star to stare blankly. "Ah man, this place looks like it might for tourists. The guy who told me about it said the ramen is legit though." Ryuji lets out a deep sigh, ready to just go for it. "Guess beggers can't be choosers since I'm super hungry right now. I mean usually the good places have that mom and pop sort of appearance though."
Ryuji finally makes his way inside, looking around as he enters and finds a place right at the counter. "So tell me more about you, Seki. See any good movies lately? I just saw this kick ass action movie before I ran into you. Very high octane with plenty of car chases and explosions!"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Heh," Tsubasa smirks, as Ryuji pins them as from Harajuku. "Nice." They know it's a compliment, of course; only the most fashionable teens come out of Harajuku, as far as they can tell. (And they've certainly stolen things from the shops there, too.) "But nah, not me... I'm from Sumaru." They're just going to go ahead and not mention the specific ward they come from...
... y'know. Hirasaka's kind of a dive.
"Came out here to catch a movie that was playin'," which is a lie, but it's technically still a thing they did out here, so it's close to true.
Off they amble to the very shiny looking Ramen shop, though, and Tsubasa cocks their head to the side. "Huh," they rumble, sceptically, deep in their chest. Ryuji says the ramen is legit, and so... "... guess we'll see," Tsubasa shrugs, slouching on in.
"I was checkin' out this, like, drama comedy, Worst Detective," they say, when they hop up onto the counter beside Ryuji. "Normally I'd have me dog with me -- she's Lance -- but, uh, cinemas are real pricks about pets, so she's off with the Princess for an afternoon." Beat. "That's one of the girls I run with," Tsubasa explains.
"Action flicks like that are cool, too," they nod, firmly. "I like this foreign dude's work, uh -- Quinton Tarasino? He was inspired by a lot of names over here, and he makes these action movies which are just, violent but fuckin' hilarious."
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
"Ah. Sumaru. I haven't been up that way in awhile. Cool." Ryuji nods his head, guessing they might have a fashion scene out that way too. In truth, he doesn't know a lot about Sumaru but rumor has it the place is a little weird. Again rumor has it or something.
"Oh The Worst Detective. I think I saw the trailer for that" Ryuji thinks about it for a moment before just asking straight up. "Was it any good?"
"Oh you got a dog. Lucky. I wish I could afford to have a dog. They seem like a lot of fun." Ryuji doesn't really mention anymore about his life, thinking about how it would've been if his dad got a hold of his dog. Stupid drunk asshole would've taken even more out on things Ryuji cared about. "Heh. Princess, eh? So you got a gal. Lucky! Still flying solo here."
"Oh dude! Tarasino is killer! I love their latest movie too. Guess we got the same taste in movies. Cool."
He takes a look at the menu and touches his chin. "Guess I'm gonna go with the special. See what this place is all about."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Hey, Aoba's pretty fashionable!
"It was pretty good," Tsubasa nods. "This whole, comedy of errors sorta thing."
Tsubasa grins, briefly, when Ryuji says they're lucky to have a dog, though they look surprised to hear what he says about Princess. "Yeah, the Boss helps me out with her. But, uh -- I don't mean, like -- we ain't, together," they clarify, rubbing a hand at the back of their neck. "Princess likes dudes, she's got one, they're pretty serious... uh, I mean, like, 'run with,' like... we're in the same gang. Under the Thorn Boss."
They nod, though, when Ryuji says they like those movies, too. "Cool. It's like, I wanna see somethin' epic when I go to the movies, y'know?" Perhaps they think they'll be able to pick up some moves.
(Tsubasa, you are never, ever, ever going to be able to pull of those action movie moves.)
"Yeah, let's go with the special," Tsubasa agrees, without even really looking at the menu. "If the place is good, that's where the heart of it'll be, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
"Ah, gotcha gotcha. Those sorts of movies can be a lot of fun if you want something light." Ryuji nods, cracking his neck as he listens. "Just was in the mood for something to fire me up...Had some real good...things happen." He would love to bring up the exciting life of a Phantom Thief but he would probably be throttled by the rest of the group for opening his big mouth. It was so cool though!
"Oh...Oh! That's cool too. Never had a gang myself until recently." The Phantoms were practically a gang, right? "I was one of those solo operations for a long while. Wasn't very fun but people don't mess with you if you glare enough, you know? Still Thorn boss sounds kinda tough. Gotta be with a nickname like that" Ryuji tries to recall what his nickname would've been. He never really had one besides "the guy who attacked the teacher" or "traitor". The thought brings a frown to his face. "Yeah nicknames are kinda the secret spice of delinquency. If you have a cool one, people back off."
"Hell yeah, bro! Getting sick moves is the entire point of the movies! I get some of best ideas from the movies." For better or worse.
"Exactly! If they make it the special, it's gonna be all out or something. You really know your stuff, Seki." Ryuji leans over the counter. "Two specials for me and my bro here!"
"So besides the movie, you doing anything else out this way?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Good news, huh," Tsubasa reads between the lines, though they'd presume in Ryuji's case the news is more along the lines of 'got a new video game' or 'scored good on a test' or 'has tickets to a convention' more than... upending the evils of the yakuza. "Grats."
... like, he's just a normal guy, you dig?
"You were on your own, huh... must've been pretty tough. I always been runnin' with someone." Tsubasa's estimation of Ryuji rises a little more, considering what he'd have had to do to operate solo. "Yeah, Thorn Boss is tough as hell... she's Ichika Kawase," Tsubasa introduces her real name, and reveals, in turn, that the Boss is a girl. "I just call her the Boss, though... like, we got dozens of Bosses in Kasu, but she's the only one what's my Boss."
Ryuji knows exactly what they mean by epic shit, though, and Tsubasa's face lights up under all that fake tan and concealer. "For real!"
They don't mind being called Ryuji's bro at all, frankly; yeah, they're not really a dude, but it's pretty affirming to get scanned as one. It means they're not being read as a girl. They'd rather hang with the boys, anyway.
"Just pickin' up some shit," Tsubasa says, with a loose gesture as they prop an elbow on the counter. "They got some pretty good makeup out here, too... like, fuck, me and the Boss could even make the same trip for it, we just ended up hittin' different stores." You know, because if Tsubasa got caught shoplifting, it would be hard for Ichika to spend money buying her things. It's like that.
"Oh, yeah," they add, with a loose little flick of their wrist. "Just for the record, I'm a 'they', not a 'he'... I don't mind gettin' read like that, though. Just, y'know, I'm an 'X', while I'm introducin'. X-gender."
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
"Yep. Hella good news." Ryuji grins before sighing a little. "Sadly it's not something I can brag about but it feels good to just do something cool." He slouches in his chair, watching the "chef" prepare bowls for them an everyone else in the restaurant.
"Yeah. It was pretty rough. School practically hated me so everyday I had to stand up for myself." Ryuji turns to look back at Tsubasa. "For real? You're from Kasugayama...Man, respect. I don't think I could survive there. Shujin sucks but I think I'm the only delinquent they have...I mean there are people who got it rough at Shujin but you don't gotta survive as hard as I hear about Kasugayama. Might as well be going to Gekkoukan in comparison. Bet your boss could kick my ass too." Ryuji grins, kinda downplaying his strength since he has nothing to prove with Tsubasa.
"Ah. I admit I don't know a lot about make up. Some guys were telling me I had good cheek bones or something once. I wouldn't know the difference between places."
Then the gender thing comes up. Ryuji blinks for a moment before just nodding. "That's cool, dude. No judgement here...Honestly X gender sounds kinda cool. Like extreme gender or something."
After a moment, the ramen arrives and Ryuji grins. "Hell yeah! Foods here! Looks pretty good too!"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"S'cool, I get it," Tsubasa shrugs. "Like, I can believe it was cool, anyway." Ryuji, as far as they can tell, is a pretty cool guy. Surely the crimes he's gotten up to are also cool, even if he can't run his mouth about them.
(Tsubasa's pretty sure he just pulled off a successful crime.)
"It's hard to be a hate sink," Tsubasa sympathises, even though they definitely heard the term 'hate sink' in a movie somewhere and decided it was the coolest way to describe their feelings. "But, uh, yeah, that's me. ... I get Shujin suckin', tho'. Used to go myself, 'til a couple years back. Then, y'know, shit happened... it's whatever, least I didn't have to see how that weirdo Kamoshida spun out." They click their tongue to their teeth. "Good riddance."
Yeah, being skeeved out by Kamoshida is apparently just a universal Shujin experience, even without knowing the context.
They tilt their head a little, as they admit, "... she probably could kick your ass, but, like, she could kick my ass, too. Like, she's the Boss. Y'know?" You don't get to be the Boss without being the toughest, apparently.
"You can do a bunch of shit with it," Tsubasa shrugs, on the topic of makeup. "Like how I do it." They've even decorated their neck to emphasise their Adam's apple...
... which, like, doesn't actually exist. The makeup is just designed to trick people into assuming it does.
Tsubasa cracks up when Ryuji talks about extreme gender, though. "Pff--hahaha, shit, man, that's a good one. Yeah, y'know what? Fuckin' A, that's my bit. Gender marker extreme." They'll just backflip into Hell. It'll be sick.
(Tragically, Tsubasa has not been able to figure out how to make a backflip work thus far. Maybe one day...)
And then -- ramen! "Man, maybe this really ain't a tourist trap," Tsubasa marvels, looking down at it. "Sick arrangement, too. Aight, here I go --" Crack go the chopsticks, and, slurrrrrp -- "... no man this rules," Tsubasa says, though their mouth is full, so it comes out more like 'mo mahn mish rulsh'.
<Pose Tracker> Ryuji Sakamoto has posed.
"Oh you went too..." Ryuji gets a little uncomfortable on mention of that asshole. Still Tsubasa feels pretty cool, right. He takes a deep breath and just adds. "Oh yeah, I know all about Kamoshida...We have a history you could say.. Phantom Thieves really knocked him off his high horse so he's not a problem anymore. School still has a bunch of shitty adults though." And thats all he will say about that, secretly preening to himself that he got his revenge on the bastard.
Ryuji whistles at the mention of the Thorn boss' strength. "For real? Yeah I guess that tracks."
Ryuji grins and nods. "There you go! Yeah extreme gender seems hella cool." He takes his ramen and equally stuffs his face. "Yeah this stuff is pretty good!" Ryuji talks also with his mouth full.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Yeah, at least they did that," Tsubasa agrees, and there's something in 'at least' which is still a touch suspicious, but... "Can't say fuckin' him up was a bad thing."
Even if it was just to change their image... as far as Tsubasa's been led to believe.
"Shitty adults, though, huh... I feel that." Tsubasa can think of a few dozen, just off the top of their head.
They nod, firmly, when Ryuji recognises Ichika's strength. "Yeah." They can't tell him just how much stronger she is, of course -- for some reason, her weird digs and powers are, like, a secret enforced by reality itself or whatever -- but it's enough to say she's the Boss.
"Cool as hell," Tsubasa spins it around, as they agree. Munch, munch, munch... "Can't go judgin' a book by its cover, eh," they say, mouth still quite full, as they evaluate this very shiny ramen joint.
Of course, it's also a good way to look at the two of them.
Tsubasa will prove themself to have a formidable stomach, in the wake of ramen, though they have to dig through their wallet a bit to find enough scratch to pay for it.
And, most importantly, they grab Ryuji's number before they head off, with a promise to introduce him to dog next time.
He's gonna love Lance.