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Chapter 122. A Man's Friendship is Settled with a Fight
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"Gintoki."
"Yes!... Oh, it's just you, Caesar."
Hearing someone call his name, Sakata Gintoki instinctively jumped up from his seat. But when he realized it was Caesar who had called him, his excitement quickly faded, and he reverted to his usual lazy demeanor, sitting back down at the pachinko machine.
"So, what do you want, Caesar?"
"I'm really busy right now, you know. I've got to memorize my lines, get into character, and figure out if I'll need any outside help... I won! I knew today would be my lucky day!"
As the steel balls tumbled down, Gintoki shouted in excitement, completely ignoring the exasperated expression on Caesar's face beside him.
Fortunately, as someone who's been through similar situations, Caesar—who had recently been invited by Akiyuki Shinbo to assist Gintoki in the film world due to their past relationship—could understand Gintoki's feelings.
After all...
"...It seems like you're really nervous, Gintoki," Caesar sighed.
He wasn't trying to scold him, nor did he think there was anything wrong with Gintoki's behavior. Caesar pointed to the floor, where the steel balls had started rolling around, and said, "Otherwise, you wouldn't have forgotten to place the tray underneath to catch your hard-won prize."
Clatter——!!
As Caesar finished speaking, Gintoki finally realized the seriousness of the situation. Shouting "Oh, crap!" at the top of his lungs, he desperately tried to catch the steel balls that had started bouncing and rolling all over the floor, making a mess.
If Jolyne Cujoh hadn't been so meticulous when establishing Green Dolphin Studio, considering that her system was an investment rebate system—meaning if the company went bankrupt, she might receive a hundredfold rebate for the money spent creating it—she would have added facilities like exercise rooms and a game room equipped with almost every game console, including pachinko machines.
But in this situation...
"Yeah, it seems like your way of relieving stress is actually pretty effective, Gintoki. Although it's not my style, I can still appreciate it," Caesar said with a laugh.
Gintoki's expression, which had been forced at first, was now clearly much more animated. It was a genuine, lively expression, free of pretense.
"Relieving stress?!" Gintoki, who was still on the floor picking up the steel balls, glared at Caesar with a mix of anger and frustration. "You noticed, didn't you? You were just waiting to see me mess up! Admit it!"
"Huh? So this wasn't your way of relieving stress?" Caesar kicked one of the steel balls that had rolled to his feet, and it happened to hit Gintoki squarely on the forehead. "I thought you did it on purpose."
"Yeah, on purpose..."
Clang——!!
The steel ball that had hit Gintoki's forehead did so with enough force to make his head jerk back, but eventually, gravity won, and the ball slid down his face and body, landing in the tray he held.
"You damn well did that on purpose, didn't you, Caesar!!" Gintoki's patience snapped, and he channeled all his rising anger, the last remnants of his rationality slipping away, into his fists and charged at Caesar.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA——!!!"
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA——!!!"
…
Despite being a chosen actor with a high talent for swordsmanship—after all, as a child, he had grabbed a katana and fought off hordes of enemies without any formal training—that was in the world of "Gintama", where Gintoki still had some ambition.
In this parallel world, with a different social environment and an earlier decline into a lazy old man, Gintoki's talent for swordsmanship had yet to truly manifest, and perhaps never would.
Similarly, in this parallel world where there were no Stone Masks or vampires, Caesar, who did not have to face the fate of the Zeppeli family, never joined the Mafia.
In other words, in the film world where Gintoki and Caesar could beat up Pillar Men and be recognized as true warriors by fighters like Wamuu, their combat abilities in the real world, without full-dive devices or character templates to assist them...
Were pretty much on the level of a children's brawl!
Even after expending all their energy, they only managed to mess up each other's clothes, with neither sustaining any real injuries.
After a while, Gintoki, still tussling with Caesar, was the first to pull away.
It wasn't just because he was tired—it was also because it was almost time to start filming.
"Hu~~ huff~~"
Breathing heavily as he stood up, Gintoki took deep breaths to steady himself while also fixing his disheveled clothes. As he headed toward the door, he turned his back to Caesar and, speaking cryptically, said, "Caesar, thanks."
"...Don't lose, Gintoki."
Caesar, sitting up from the floor, replied just as cryptically.
But was it really so cryptic?
Maybe.
Or maybe not.
But neither Caesar nor Gintoki showed any confusion on their faces.
"Hmph, who do you think I am?"
It was as if Gintoki understood Caesar's words and knew why he had come. Stepping out of the game room, he gave Caesar a thumbs-up without turning back. "Unlike you, the side character, I'm the protagonist!"
"A mere Ultimate Being is nothing I can't handle!"
"You just stand back and watch the protagonist do his thing!"