"You've been watching two alley cats fight over territory?" Ren said with a raised eyebrow. Had the mysterious talking cat accepted that he is, in fact, a talking cat?
"I've been observing complex social negotiations," Morgana said with great dignity.
"Why?" Ren asked, genuinely interested in the answer.
"Animals are the best scouts," Morgana said with a smirk.
"….Well who is winning?"
A pause.
"The orange one," Morgana said firmly. "But I think the grey one has a plan."
Ren thought about this for a fraction of a second before giving up understanding the purpose.
'Even magic cats are still cats, I guess.'
---
Shibuya was loud and overwhelming, as always. Thankfully, Ren was getting used to the high-energy environment. With Morgana's help, he began to mentally map the area. Knowing safe ways to move through unfamiliar environments is something Ren had been taught but never put into practice. Inaba was basically a single main street and some local roads, after all.
Ryuji was waiting nearby, visibly impatient as always.
"Yo! Took ya long enough," he said with a brief wave. "It's this way."
They moved into the back streets, Ryuji cutting through alleys and hopping pedestrian barriers with the ease of a city native. They soon came across a small back alley.
"Wait... before we go in..." Ryuji awkwardly began.
Morgana and Ren both tilted their heads slightly, nodding slightly to ask him to continue.
"I... uh, kinda already went in cause I couldn't wait and uh." Ryuji stuttered.
"Is the cashier a cute girl?" Morgana teased with a roll of his eyes. "And you embarrassed yourself?"
"HELL NO!-" Ryuji shouted out abruptly with a pale face. "The owner is the cashier, and that dude is scary with a capital S. He's definitely Yakuza…"
"It can't be that bad," Ren reasoned.
"I was the only one in the shop, and he kept glaring at me. I just bought some gum and bailed. It's gonna be so awkward, man." Ryuji groaned as he rubbed his face.
As Untouchables came into view, it was like walking into a different city. It was dim and quiet despite being midday. The windows of the shop were slightly tinted, preventing someone from seeing too far into the building. The window stopped Ren mid-step.
Model guns, weapon replicas, airsoft pistols. Even mock suppressors. It was becoming apparent that the shop ran in a legal grey area.
"See, isn't this legit?" Ryuji said.
"Yeah, it is," Ren agreed in shock.
The bell above the door was much louder than Leblanc's. The shop was narrow and dense, merchandise covering every wall. Even the counter was barely visible behind the stacked display cases.
'Did Ryuji accidentally find a real weapons dealer?' Ren couldn't help but wonder as he scanned the display cases.
A man who looked like several different problems rolled into one walked from the back room to the counter, his dark eyes moving from Ryuji to Ren in a single unhurried motion.
"Ah, it's the blonde gum kid." His deep voice sounded, unhurried. "And you brought a friend. Great."
His eyes stopped on Ren's flat face, and he sighed.
"So are you going to buy anything besides gum today, or do I need to kick you out?"
"We're looking for airsoft guns and model weapons," Ren said smoothly.
"Uh-huh. Anything specific?"
"Something that looks real."
"What do you want, to rob a bank?" the store owner scoffed. "Whatever. I don't want to know. Browse. Don't touch it if you aren't going to buy it."
He looked at the two for a long moment before sitting down.
Turning around and following behind Ren, Ryuji quietly exhaled.
"Dude, how did you keep your cool with him?"
Ren paused for a second, the image of a tall blonde man with a tough face and a heart of gold flicking in his head.
"I have a feeling he's similar to someone I know," he said with a small grin.
"If you say so," Ryuji shrugged and started browsing.
---
Moving carefully through the displays, Ren kept his hands in his pockets, reading labels without touching. Ryuji followed behind with considerably less patience, picking things up and putting them down, moving his gaze erratically across everything that caught his fancy.
Luckily, the owner hadn't even looked up from his magazine.
"Ren! This one!" Ryuji said as quietly as he could in his excitement, pointing to a model mace.
The mace was heavy-looking even as a replica, the construction appearing solid. Most people, even in reality, wouldn't be able to tell it's a fake.
Ren looked at it, and then thought about Ryuji's unremarkable pipe.
"Captain Kidd influence this choice?" Ren asked in a humorous tone.
"Bruh, the Captain has some good taste," Ryuji answered almost immediately.
Morgana, who had been silent the entire time, perked up slightly and quietly said, "What kind of pirate uses a mace?"
Ren, looking down into his bag, asked Morgana why he had been so quiet since they came in here.
"Because that guy is scary! Did you see his tattoo? It's on his neck!"
Ren and Ryuji just started to laugh.
---
Twenty minutes later, they stood at the counter with their carefully chosen selection laid out before them.
The mace for Ryuji.
A compact model handgun for Ren – well weighted and balanced. Thoroughly impressed with the feeling he had when he held it, Ren chose it for himself almost immediately.
A Tommy gun that had given Ryuji approximately thirty seconds of unrestrained joy before Ren had to remind him to keep quiet.
An Uzi.
And finally, Ryuji chose a model shotgun that he had discovered in a back display and refused to put down.
Glancing at the merchandise, the owner looked at the two.
"Left my collection at home when I had to move," Ren bullshitted.
A long pause.
"Thanks for your purchase, the name is Iwai, come back again, I'll be rotating the stock monthly," the man decided to move on. "Actually Don't. And dont wave these around in public like idiots or in front of cops either."
As they left the store, Morgana popped his head out of Ren's bag.
"I don't like that place, but I do admit the weapons are great," he said with joy.
"Wanna get ramen? I'm starved," Ryuji said, as if he wasn't exercising extreme restraint to not open the bag containing his mace immediately.
"Sure."
---
The ramen place was narrow and warm. They sat at the counter, ordering without deliberating and waited in comfort. It was surprisingly quiet for the size of the shop and the amount of customers.
For a while, they just ate. Ryuji making jokes. Morgana teasing them both.
Ryuji got through most of his bowl before he spoke.
"Hey man, can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Ren agreed, he didn't mind sharing a bit about himself.
"Your record...I've known you for a few days, and I don't get it." Ryuji started. "I mean. I figured it was bullshit. But what actually happened?"
Ren considered the question for a moment.
"Well..."
---