Tori was driving, and Tabi was relaxing, watching a show and eating snacks in the back.
"I can't believe I looked at you as my role model..." Tori says sarcastically.
"You can't always be serious. Sure, I'm serious when I need to be, but I like to relax sometimes too," Tabi said with a laid-back tone.
A strange feeling of uneasiness hits Tabi. He touches his pocket and is in shock.
"I forgot to take my savings again from Itou's place!" he said angrily, while Tori is trying his best not to laugh in his face.
After a few hours of driving, they arrived at the next city. Tori parked the campervan.
"I might have an idea about how to earn some money. Here is some of my money; go get us some instant ramen," Tori said and handed some of the money he brought to Tabi.
As Tabi is returning with the groceries, he sees Tori spraying something on the campervan. He moves away and sees that he wrote "Ramen Shop" on the campervan.
[I am a dead man when Itou sees this.]
Tabi and Tori actually ended up selling a lot of ramen, earning some money for their trip.
They closed down the shop and decided to check out the city. They didn't know the name of the city and didn't care about it either. It looked big, a little smaller than Tokyo though.
As the sun was going down, it was getting darker, and street lights turned on as the duo was walking the streets.
Suddenly, both of them hear a voice behind them. It says, "Tabi, is that you?"
Tabi turns around to see his old classmate. It's a black-haired man in a suit, seems like a salaryman.
"Since when do they give punks suits?" Tabi asked sarcastically.
"After graduating, I became a salaryman through some connections. I still have all my tattoos under this suit though," the man said with a smile.
"Haha, still a punk deep down. How's life been treating you?"
"It's stressful, honestly, having to switch our days of drinking and fighting and having fun with working just to survive is tough. Still, I'm making it; sometimes I wish I could beat up some of my clients though."
"Same as always. I'm with Itou in Tokyo; he has a motorbike shop now. You should come over sometime if you're ever in Tokyo, or even better, when I come back to Tokyo, I'll gather the gang, and we can have some fun and let loose."
"I wanted to say that I don't think I can make it but... after all this time, I can skip my job for a day."
"Glad to hear that."
As the two are talking, a man with a hoodie walks past Tori and bumps into him. He tries reaching into Tori's pocket, but Tori grabs his hand. He reaches out to reveal his face.
Tori sees his face and seems surprised. The man runs away from Tori.
"Hey, you okay?" Tabi asked.
"Yeah, it's just that I used to know that guy. He used to go to my school, and he was decent, one of the guys who wouldn't pick on me. I wonder what happened to him to be stealing like that..."
"An evil world can crush a good soul sometimes," Tabi's friend said.
"You got that right," Tabi added.
"Shouldn't we get going? It's getting late," Tori asked.
"You're right. See you at that gathering. I'll let you know the details once I'm back in Tokyo."
As Tabi and Tori are walking away, Tabi's friend shouts, "Hey Tabi, your gaze has softened!" Tabi continues to walk with a smile on his face.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tori asks.
"You have a general idea of my past, and I have a general idea of your past too. We'll get to know each other better on this trip, and you'll understand what that meant."
Tabi and Tori talk as they're walking back to the campervan.
"It was nice meeting a friend from high school; seems like it wasn't just me and Itou that changed," Tabi says with a look of nostalgia painted on his face.
"Well, people change what they do and how they act sometimes, but deep inside, they're the same person. Sometimes they just reveal their true self. Some connections stay with people their whole life, even if you don't talk to them anymore. Seems like you got a lot of those," Tori said, looking deep in thought.
"Aren't you smart? I guess meeting your friend wasn't as nice though."
"It wasn't a friend; I'm just surprised someone like him is doing what he's doing."
"Don't think about it too much. Sometimes people are just forced to make a bad decision in life because they have no other choice."
The two finally reach the campervan and go inside.
[I feel Itou's anger every time I pass by the writing on the campervan...]
"You should get to sleep, Tabi. You're the one driving tomorrow," Tori said; it made Tabi feel happy that he was worried about him.
"Huh, who said I'm driving? I'm going to rewatch some of my favorite shows from my childhood. Why do you think I brought this many DVDs and comics with me?"
"I drove all day today; I'm not doing it tomorrow!"
Tabi hit Tori to shut him up; it just made him angrier. The two of them continued bickering until both of them were too tired and just fell asleep. The next day, Tori was driving again.