Instigating In Kivotos (Blue Archive X Baku)

[Popocatepetl Connoisseur]

Thursday.

"Hah…no new uploads?..." Sora sighs as she scrolls on her phone.

She's currently working part time as the Cashier of Angel 24…which is completely barren of people sans her.

This might be because the store is in a horrible location, might be, might be.

Though that may be a blessing for the 13-year-old Sora, she gets paid and doesn't have to engage with any rude customers? Brilliant, she may just secure that bread without too much work.

*May* just secure that bag.

The door chime rings, sending Sora into a panic to put away her phone and appear professional, she quickly straightens her hair out and stands a little taller on the stool she uses to not be dwarfed by the countertop.

"Damn, that's an eighthead." A distinctly male voice mutters.

Sora perks up at the (seemingly) familiar voice, I mean, who else in this city is male and comes to this store?

She sees…not Sensei. That's definitely not Sensei, but it's also not a dog, it's still an animal though. At least that's what Sora thinks.

It's a humanoid wearing a long brown jacket with a feathered mask covering their entire head, or maybe that's just their head? She doesn't know.

"Angel 24? Fuck type of name is that? What y'all got in this bitch?" He says.

Sora takes some time to formulate a response.

"Could you…do you have to speak like that?...uh, we're called Angel 24 because we're open 24/7…" The man doesn't speak, Sora starts to blush out of embarrassment. "We're a general convenience store?"

The man takes a few seconds to speak again.

"General Convenience? So this is just Walmart? Lemme peep.." He walks off after saying that.

Sora watches him walk into the back of the store, idly noticing the strange shoewear he has. Yeezy? She's never heard of that brand.

She patiently waits as she hears him rustle around in the back, mentally preparing herself in case he has a problem, after a minute the man walks back to the counter empty-handed. Sora mentally sighs.

"I need a carton of milk…with no lactose." The man says.

"Milk…uh…I'm pretty sure milk can't not have lactose sir." Sora shakily replies.

"Tch, they really just hire anybody to work here."

"Sir, I'm sorry if-"

"If y'all don't get me a carton of milk…with no LACTOSE-"

The man's voice raises at that word. It's loud enough to make Sora flinch from the noise.

"I'm not going to pay for it, Understand?"

"I.-.I can see if we have some in the back?" Sora points a finger at the back of the store, she just really doesn't want to be here.

"Hurry it up then, I parked in the handicapped spot. You take too long and you cost me a band? Some skrill?... we really gonna have a little situation"

Sora takes the cue and immediately goes over to the back of the store and to the dairy isle, she scans the dairy products available and finds only standard milk cartons.

She panics and scans again before finding a…bag? Bag of milk? It's lactose free though-

A mental facepalm follows, she said to that mans face that lactose free milk doesn't exist…

She takes it and hurries back to the counter. The man is still there waiting. She hops onto the stool and plops the milk bag onto the counter.

"This is all we h-"

"The fuck is this? A bag? I asked fo- do you think I'm from the 6?"

"The six? Sir, this is still lactose free."

"Are you dense? I don't care if it's free. Give me milk…That's Not BAGGED UP."

Sora covers her ears from the cacophony. Once the ringing dissipates, she stops and raises her hands up in a placating manner.

"If you need anything else then I'm sure we might have it?" She dons a shaky smile as she says that.

"Fuckass anime character, y'all service industry employees ain't shit." The man takes a moment to think before continuing. "If this is really Walmart th-"

"We're not..Walmart? This is Angel 2-."

"Buddy, What type of store is this? You don't got no milk, no shoes no nothing. Y'all must be storing drugs."

"We do have medic- Drugs?! We're not selling anything like that! We're a convenience store!"

"I ain't gettin' nooo type of convenience from this store, I'm really 'boutta file a complaint."

"Why?!"

"Cause y'all don't got what I want?"

"You…can't file a complaint for that? I mean, I can order some but it'll take a while to get here, please don't file a complaint I need this job. This is the only place that'll hire me!"

"You gotta go back to ABC…preschool,"

"I'm thirteen!"

"123 Sesame Street?"

"Is...you made that address up!"

"Go get yourself a real job somewhere else, if you gonna fuck shit up this bad."

The man sighs.

"Man fuck it, I don't even need cereal. I'm going to go hit up the nearest Walmart." The man walks out of the store, but not before saying. "I'll say the same thing, milk wit no lactose? That joke will hit."
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Out in the parking lot.

Baku exits Angel 21 after running out of things to bullshit with.

He walks to his parked car and finds…

"What, a ticket? I was in there for like 2 minutes."

Right on the windshield of his Nissan GTR.

"15,000…what is that? ¥? Where the hell am I that they've got some shit like this? This is America, this parking ticket is straight bogus."

He tears the ticket off and looks on the back for how to pay it.

"Issued by an officer of the…Community Safety Bureau? That ain't no damn police force I've heard of."

He takes out his Iphone 8 and searches up where the nearest police station is.

"Valkyrie Police Academy? The fuck? A scho- these bitches are just making up reasons to steal some bread off me."

If there's anything Baku isn't taking lying down, it's somebody trying to fuck with him.

"That interrogator ain't here this time, I'm going to fuck up the whole police station if they don't rescind this damn ticket."

 

[Jjwizzle566]

What the fuck? You just posting BA fics? Not that I'm complaining this was pretty funny, calling Sora an eighthead is out of pocket, its a 6 at most.

 

[Popocatepetl Connoisseur]

"...fuck…"

Bootleg cereal, Veggie Dodecahedrons, that's what's in the bowl. Bread is scarce these days, you don't understand the struggle meal.

"Man…why the hell have I forsaken myself!?"

Sickly sweet lactose-free bag of milk. Baku hasn't seen some nonsense like this in the great state of Texas, land of the free, land of normal storage containers for milk. Not this hooligandary. Not this doohickey-laden bowl, it would put anyone in calamity.

"...shoulda just gotten some Mcdonald's…"

Baku is in his 'apartment', five more spoonfuls of misery away from being in true despair, checking and saving accounts both in unspeakable depths. He's sat at his plastic dining table eating a bowl of cereal.

"This city is full of bullshit, literally can't go do anything without people blasting off." He mutters to himself.

He hasn't been shot at yet, people get a weird feeling when looking at him, enough so that most reasonable people know to leave him alone.


He's been free from getting checked on his bullshitting so fa-

His apartment complex shakes, rattling the dishes that he's thrown in the sink, throwing up various clouds of sand that managed to find their way through the cracks of his 'apartment.'

"That ain't convincing me to wash them bitches."

The apartment he's in doesn't actually have a window so he can't see what causing that, only feel it, deep deep poverty makes any mf struggle.

Baku waits for a moment to see if the shaking comes back…

…

It doesn't. So he gets another spoonful of that decrepit cereal and brings it to his mout-

The shaking comes back. The sound of a shell being fired pierces the relative silence of Baku's apartment.

The spoon falls into the bowl, splashing the milk, Baku immediately gets up from his seat and goes into his 'bedroom.'

Of course, since this place makes an NYC apartment look quaint, there's only two rooms in this place. So his 'bedroom' is also the living room. Baku reaches into a nearby unpacked cardboard box.

"Come on, I ain't listen to this one in a minute."

He extracts his JBL speaker from it and walks back to the kitchen table. He places it on the table and whips out his Iphone X.

'Runaway' by Ye starts to play.

…

…

"...man…" He stares at his bowl of cereal.

"I gotta find some way to get bread, got me SICK, can't believe I ended up like that green bitch…" He sighs. "Can't print these shoes off anymore, Ye don't even exist here, these busta's don't know art when they see it."

He did try to pawn off some of them hoes. Yeezy isn't valued here, nobody to scam like that, he got finagled.

…

Soft piano notes ring throughout the apartment. He's rather content with th-

Another shell being fired breaks that brief reverie. A car alarm goes off.

"Ugh…" He groans. "Every day, it's some new shit."

He sits at the table for a few more seconds, contemplating, before eventually reaching below the table and lacing up his Yeezy's.

"Psh, now I gotta get ready to handle whoever's making that racket."

He exits his apartment and locks the door, hastily making his way down the gray life-less stairwell. Another shell is fired whilst he's doing so, this time he can feel the reverb in his bones.

"Ahahaha! Take that!" A female voice can be heard even from inside the stairwell.

Baku shakes his head as he makes his way down the stairway.

Opening the door to the outside, he sees the same desert wasteland that's always there, also the tank in the middle of the decrepit street.

"What are y'all piped up out here about?! Shut that shit!" He shouts out.

There's a girl on top of the tank who immediately turns to the voice that was chatting that bull.

"Who the he- oh, HAH." The laugh sounds forced. "No halo? You should've stayed at home."

"Halos?" He snorts. "Them little glowy RGB rings ain't do nayfin, I ain't following that trend, you can catch me laced up with my goddamn YEEZY instead."

The girl atop the tank covers their ears as she stomps once on the tank's hood, the tank spins it's barrel around to face Baku's direction.

"Oh brother…" He groans.

"How do you even shout that loud? Never mind, Miyu! Get closer to him!" She shouts loud enough for the girl inside to hear.

The tank promptly rolls forward and comes to a stop a few meters away from Baku, barrel aiming towards his body.

"Look, if y'all get yo giggles committing domestic terrorism that's tops wit me, just keep that noise down and it's all good." He says.

"And who the fuck are you? No halo, no gun, no nothing. We don't gotta take shit from you, how's about you keep that noise down huh?"

"You must've driven here DUI, you talking drunk."

"Eh…those beer bottles tasted like shit anyways, don't know ho- nah, who am I kidding, get it moving or you're about to blast off."

"You don't want to make that mistake."

"'YoU DoNt WaNt To MaKe ThAt MiStAkE' I don't care. Matter of fact? Miyu." The girl stomps on the hood of the tank.

"Tch. Alright then." Baku rolls his shoulders and clears his throat.

"Shoot his as-"

"YEET"

There's no tank left. No girl atop the tank, it's all gone. Banished.

"That was self-defense or whatever Ace Phoenix was talking about in that court. Not my problem, I ain't getting locked up again for that shit." Baku shakes his head before looking around the barren street.

There's just sand, some dilapidated cars, more sand, another person off in the distance walking towards him, some more sand, and no signs of those two trifling goofballs who threatened him.

"I swear, y'all bitches never learn."

That person walking towards him? Or more like running Baku guesses, they're hitting feet.

"I ain't got Dash on speed dial, thats…." He squints. "Pink hair? More of them little glowy RGB rings? Fuck that, another laggard wit a gun and a Vlone complex? Count me out."

Baku opts to turn around and walk back to his 'apartment'. In actuality, he's walking back to an abandoned 3 story motel that already smelled like rank boof even before the sandstorms came and rendered almost every room inhospitable, even the room Baku is living in has sand in it.

Baku is walking back towards that and has his hand on the door handle before-

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Oh my god." He takes his hand off the door, groaning.

"I've been dealing with the Helmet Gan-"

"What do you want?"

"...well I came over here to check if you were okay, I heard tank shells being fired, actually do you know where that tank went?"

"Tank?..." He finally turns around to look at who he's talking to.

Comically long pink hair, one of them halos, different colored eyes, school uniform, and a shotgun with a shield. Also, she's short but, to be fair, literally everyone here is shorter than him. The NBA has no scouts out here, the Lakers do not need a center, Baku can't shoot a ball for shit that's why he ain't there and nobody else in this damn city is going to make up that difference. Basketball is extinct.

"Fuckass anime character." He mutters under his breath.

"...I've never seen you around here, who ar-"

"That's nunya business, aight? Come outta my life a little, we don't need this much dialogue between us."

The pink-haired girl sighs before looking down the street.

"So you're alright then? And you don't know where that tank went?" She asks.

"Yes to both. A tank? I ain't even seen that in my life, I don't got a scratch on me, so if you're done talking that bull Imma hit the sack."

Baku turns around and yanks the door open before quickly making his way up the stairs. The girl lingers for a moment, staring at the open door, before shaking her head and continuing with her patrol.

Baku mutters to himself whilst ascending the stairs.

"...man…I knew this damn Abydos was a shithole, I probably ran up on a whole side story, Imma just stay at home for a bit. Deuteragonist ain't the role for me."

 

[Popocatepetl Connoisseur]

"What would you like today?"

"Yeah lemme get uh…." The menu is in letters he can't read. "Shibi…Sai..kay..? What is that? Tf type of place is this?"

"I make ramen, you eat it, it's simple. Read the sign."

"Tch. This ain't no ramen place, where's the hand-waving cat? Where's the statue of that fat guy?"

"Sir, are you here to order food? Yes or no?"

"Yes,"

"Then what type of ramen do you want?"

"What's the cheapest thing y'all got on the menu? My bank account went on the run.., it has me chasing shadows."

"The Regular Shiba Seki Ramen Bowl costs 580 Yen, it's my signature dish, does that sound fine to you?"

"Signature dish? That shit better be exquisite…I'll bite."

Master Shiba walks away from Baku to make his ramen bowl. Baku sits in a nearby booth meant for four, thinking to himself.

It's the end of his first week in Kivotos so he figured he ought to celebrate not getting packed up in this hellhole of a city. Ever since that encounter outside his apartment, he's been holed up in there, trying to avoid conflict.

He isn't exactly at his best. His Yeezy's aren't pristine and he feels like shit constantly.

No income, no bitches, no movement. The last thing he needs is the police getting on him for anything more than an unpaid ticket.
Baku sighs before looking around.

From where he's seated he can still see his car parked out front, that's good, can't risk that getting robbed. His career would be finito if it did.

There's nobody else in the restaurant right now, he saw a waiter but she left to go to the bathroom so he went to order from the owner, now he's just waiting here for food he can't actually pay for.

…he might hit the dine and dash…or go wash dishes? He's not sure right now.

"Here's your order sir, the bowl's hot, so be careful." A…female voice says?

A bowl is placed in front of him, Baku doesn't even bother looking at it, instead looking over the waiter.

They're…not dressed like a loon, well they have cat ears and are a fuckass anime character, but that's par for the course by now.

He prepares to look down at his bowl by closing his eyes…

Taking a deep breath…

And mentally readying himself for the bull.

He opens his eyes and sees a…bowl of ramen?...

He looks around his table for a fork and sees only chopsticks beside his bowl.

"Chopsticks? You thought I was Japanese?...Git me a fork."

"You don't kno…ah..okay!" The cat girl runs off and returns with a fork in a timely manner.

"Here." She sets it near his bowl.

Baku begins to pick at the noodles, twirling them around the fork prongs.

"No…there's gotta be something…"

"Do you need anything else sir?"

"I gotta contemplate on this shit, give me a sec, you stay here."

The cat girl scans the restaurant for a second, noticing no other customers, then deciding to acquiesce to Baku.

He finally decides to bring the fork to his mouth and bite.

"..."

"Is there a problem sir?"

"...it's all good." He mutters.

He quickly eats another mouthful before noticing the waiter is still there.

"Scram."

She does so and leaves Baku to his lonesome.

He continues to eat in rather peaceful silence, for once, he's received no bullshit from food service. He's too tired and hungry to go around bullshitting and he hasn't been interrupted yet?

Sacrilege. Heresy.

"Mm. I ain't even gonna lie, this shit is delectable" The restaurant shakes from the volume.

"The ramen isn't good enough for you to be shouting like that! Keep your volume down." The owner shouts.

"Ight then damn."

Baku continues eating the ramen…peacefully…this doesn't feel ri-

The door chime rings out, yet another female voice shouts out:

"Hello! Table for five! ☆"

Baku doesn't even bother to look up, just opting to look down at his bowl and continue eating. Continue taking in the smell and the taste.

He knows what's coming, but he'd really ho-

"We figured this was the only place you might work, so we just came by." An oddly familiar voice says that,

He hears five sets of footsteps and…

In his peripherals, he sees them sitting at the table to the right of him. Sure, they're not literally sitting to look at him, but it matters little to Baku.

He already knows, deep deep down, there's no end to the hooligandry.

They're chatting up a storm next to him, enough that it's hard to focus on the food in front of him, enough that it even miffs the waiter.

"Would you all shut up already and place an order?!" The waiter from before shouts that.

He eats another mouthful of ramen while keeping his head low.

"Get back here!" That oddly familiar voice yells that out.

Baku sighs and finally looks up. He sees an adult man running to the door before being caught by that very same pink haired girl he met before.

"Bruh, it can't be that hard to clam the fuck up while eating, just eat you damn hinderances." He mutters that to himself while shaking his head.

He tries to ignore the noise, he really does, but when even the waiter joins in to yap it's really testing his patience.

It's the first bit of joy he's found here that doesn't involve bullshitting with other people, he'd very much like to enjoy it.

"You can't force Sensei to pay!" He mentally tunes out the rest.

It's enough, well more than enough, can't focus on eating this actually good food when these trifling, despicable, deplorable, diabolical… little fuckin' dimwits can't keep they's traps shut for two damn seconds.

Thus, Baku reaches down below the table and laces up his Yeezy's, clears his throat, and sighs once before finally turning to face the group of 5 sitting at the table to the right of him.

"Yo." That gets their attention real quick. "Can y'all pipe..the fuck down? I'm over here, trynna get a bite in, and y'all talking tripe. That's flagrant."

The bowls and silverware in the restaurant narrowly avoid falling from their shelves, dust sprinkles down from the ceiling, every bit of conversation from that table is silenced immediately.
He stares them down.

An adult guy, same cat girl waitress from before, that…pink haired girl from before, then there's this black hair girl with glasses, girl with…wolf ears? And a pale blond girl.

"Sir. If they're-" The waiter is interrupted mid way.

"They?" The pink haired girl can't help but notice the word choice.

"Ugh. If we're being too loud than you could move to a farther away table?"

"Nah I gotta keep tabs on my car, mfs in these parts are nefarious, I ain't getting licked up like that."

"Trust me, nobody's going to rob your car around 'these parts.'" The pink one rebukes.

"Bruh. How do you kno- manner of fact nah." He takes a deep breath. "The only thing I've gotten in this city is bullshit. Everybody's got a gun, people driving around in tanks, these police ain't do shit to keep the peace. I've handled more than they have in one day than the entire week I've been here. So I ain't movin' and y'all gotta clam it up, or we really gonna have a little situation."

"I thought you never saw a tank in your life? Remember me?" The others all look at the pink one in confusion, Baku…

"Yes, I remember you, you're the laggard harassing me outside my crib." He sighs.

"Laggard?" She questions.

"Look, we don't need to drag this out, clam it up and I'll eat then leave. God knows I've had enough hooligandry for one week,

"Nn. Yo-"

"DId you hear…a word I said?"

Somebody else tries to talk to him but he just dismissively waves off the attempt. He doesn't actually want the fight, not only is a 6v1 unfavorable odds, but collecting charges that aren't self defence would land him an extended stay in the pen again.

He continues to eat his ramen until the bowl is empty, the conversation to the side of him is at a quiet enough volume that it doesn't bother him.

"Fuck…I gotta got my racks up on the real…." He mumbles that.

It's the one thing he's been attempting to avoid this entire time.

Being a useful member of society.

"Ight that's enough, let's see if I can finagle this busta." He mentally prepares himself.

He can't spew that nonsense on command.

He gets up from his dining table, ignoring anything and everything from the table next to him, walking over to the bar top Master Shiba is idly standing by. He reaches into his pocket for his wallet and pulls out 400 Yen, he smoothly slides it on the table to Master Shiba who looks at the amount for a second before looking up at Baku with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll keep it real witch you, that's all I got, I can get you back later once I got bread to my name."

"...I can see you have a car out there…"

"Yea. I don't pay insurance, no maintenance, no nayfin. I don't got bread for that. I'm trynna survive."

"And your clothes? Especially the shoes."

"Psh. My YEEZY is an exception."

"..." Master Shiba takes a moment to think, also to recover from the noise. "400 Yen? You'll 'get me back' for 180 later then? Heh." He chuckles. "Given how much you enjoyed the ramen, I'll expect to see you back later, just stay true to that promise."

"Yeah, that's right. Shit was exquisite I ain't even gon lie. See ya."

Baku nods to himself before walking out of the ramen store.

He avoided making a scene and got good food for lower than normal price? That's a dub in his books.

 

[Popocatepetl Connoisseur]

"Yeah I'm boutta be UP, This'll get me out the mud fo sho." Baku smiles to himself as he says that.

Yeezys didn't work the first time. People don't fuck with Ye here, or more like they don't even know him, so Baku just stood around like a goofy for an hour trynna sell shoes nobody wants.

He can't just throw all those counterfeit Yeezy's away, so,,,

"These painted YEEZYS boutta sell like sliced bread or some shit. Whatever lil' bullshit terminology to say these thangs'll get me my bread back."

He painted the Jordan logo in various pinks and purples on the shoes. He's got a lil cardboard box full of them on the ground next to him. He's stood in the mouth of an alleyway that leads out on a busy sidewalk that's not in Abydos since nobody lives there.

He just drove to a place that looked busy enough and parked. There's some graffiti on walls and a lot more people dressed in non-school uniforms, that's a good and bad sign to him.

Good that people are willing to get fitted the fuck out.

Bad that someone's probably gonna try to rob him or sumthin'.

"Aight it's 'bout time to start." He clears his throat. "Yo."

The volume catches the attention of multiple girls that just so happened to be walking by.

"Catch these shits I got here. Come peep." He reaches into the box and pulls out a black shoe painted with a purple Jordan logo. "This came straight from the tap, y'all know Jor- no you don't nevermind. Look, these ones is exclusive."

Most of the girls walk away but one decides to stick around.

"Yeah, you know what's up, look I'm offering a discount on these bustas, how does 7000 Yen sound?"

"7000 Yen? Psh." She snorts. "Let me see these things."

The girl is dressed a bit differently than the background characters he's been seeing. They got some stylized sneakers but still have the same school uniform he's seen a lot of girls wear around these parts.

He hands her the shoe and she turns it around in her hands, getting a look at it's every part.

"I got multiple sizes case you're worried 'bout that."

"Eh…what're these called?"

"They called YEEZY and they're selling like sliced bread r-"

"It's hotcakes dimwit."

"Quit grammar checking loser. It's true with whatever lil fuckin' metaphor you want."

"Alright…uh…you wanted 700- actually why are these so light?"

"They contain the dreams and hopes of the hood, now are you going to buy them or nah?"

"Tch, yeah sure I'll buy, uh… I only got like 6500 Yen on me…" She looks off to the side as she's saying that.

"6500? Bruh, you don't got 500 more Yen on your person?"

"Don't make fun of me for being broke, you're selling shoes on the streets, I don't want to hear that."

"It's called being a street artist, I'm just trynna get a feel for the city, so I took my bizness out here."

"...so you gonn-"

"You either gotta give that extra five hunnid, or get it movin'."

"Alright damn." She pulls out 7000 Yen from her wallet and gives it to Baku who hands her a pair of shoes.

"Yeah I'm the one doing the finagling, not you, if you want more than you can come 'round here tomorrow. I'mma be pushing these things for a few days, you know the deal."

She walks away quickly after that, cradling the pair of shoes in her arms.

"I'm coming up off this shit. Movie Tickets could never…"

Baku smiles to himself after making the sale, rubbing his hands together, he counts the bread in his hand.

Satisfied, he reaches down beside the box and uncaps a bottle of water, drinking it to get his voice to be clear again.

Shouting at the volume he does requires a clear throat.

He looks at the passerby's for any potential buyers.

Hm… some more plain looking girls, the occasional walking dog or robot, a girl with a red bob cut and twin tails?...

"These fits cannot be comfy, they's gait is excruciating." He mutters, trying to not draw her attention.

She walks past and Baku continues to scan the crowd.

It's mostly robots and…this one girl who looks 'bout right.

She's got white hair with black bangs and red eyes. A hoodie with the words 'Born to Kill' and a red plaid skirt. The most important part is that she's got some basic ass black sneakers.

"Yea she's got it on. This'll be trivial." Baku clears his throat. "Yo." The girl perks up at his loud voice, along with some bystanders. "Nah not any of you, git it movin' peons." They do so and the black and white hair girl points to herself. "Yea you. I got a limited-time offer for you, some real fucking shoes. Come peep."

The girl looks down for a second before shrugging and walking over.

Baku reaches into the box and pulls out his last pair of black Yeezy's painted with a purple Jordan logo, he knows drip, he knows what she needs.

"These ones is fresh off the press, clean as hell, ready for the prance and dance. All you gotta do to get these joints is pay me… a couple of racks."

"A couple of racks?...for…" She chuckles. "These?"

"Watch that tone 'round these dogs, they got a bite to em'." Baku chuckles. "You wanna level up that fit? I can see you're kitted the fuck ou-" She raises an eyebrow. "Quit with the investigating stare Ace Phoenix, you ain't deducing nayfin' only thing you figuring out is the price on these joints."

"Which is?..."

"Shit…I'll take 7000 Yen for them,, trust, these'll get you some play fo sho. Whatever way you swing, you'll be movin' like Duke."

"Don't you talk strangely…" She says that more to herself than him. "Hm. Hand me one of them." Baku does so and she looks the shoe over for a few seconds, raising it up and down multiple times, before returning it to Baku and snorting. "7000 Yen? Right…so how many of these have you sold so far?"

"That's nunya…" Baku pauses and waits…

"I'm not saying it."

"Buddy, you stressed and probing for nayfin, must've gotten here DUI, you talking drunk."

"Alcohol isn't what I…you didn't answer the question."

"I've made 'round 70000 Yen off these joints. I'm Up."

"You've sold 10 pairs of these?"

"That's just the type of pull I got, despite the circumstances, I still got game."

"Yet you have almost a boxful of them right next to you…"

"You talking hogwash right now."

"70000 Yen and you're using a cardboard box to store your product in?"

"Yeah it's my first day, the fucks with the expose?"

"..." The girl sighs. "I know these shoes are fake."

"That's a possibility."

"They're too light. Put a counterweight or some…loo-"

"How's 'bout you scram outta here now? I don't got time to listen to malarkey, I gotta get this product movin'."

"No, it's just…" She looks off to the side for a moment. "You could put up a sign, list your prices and shoe sizes available, that would probably get you more customers."

"..."

They stare at eachother for a few seconds.

"You don't catch the signs? Get it movin'. Skedaddle."

"Don't mind me then, I need to get around you and in that alleyway." She begins to walk past Baku's 'shop' in into the alleyway.

"What, you on Sly Cooper timing? There ain't nayfin in those dumpster that'll get your close-"

"It's none of your business."

"Ight then, get yo lil-'"

"Quit talking." She's off into the alleyway before Baku can get the rebuttal in.

Baku looks at her retreating form before shaking his head.

"1/10 ain't bad odds, I don't even got to work for this bread, unless some more people like her show up I should be good."