Gintama. Porori hen

Here's your ramen!

Late on New Year's Eve,

that scruffy-looking man ordered not New Year's soba, but a bowl of ramen.

"I can't eat this much."

Saying that, the man took two extra cups, divided his ramen into three portions,

and shared them with my husband and me.

And after devouring his portion in an instant,

he left, walking down the wintry streets with his stomach rumbling.

The next year, and the year after that...

Hokuto Shinken

Every New Year's Eve, that man would visit.

He would always use what little money he had

to order a bowl of ramen and share it with us.

Each time, my husband would divide it into three portions,

load one of them up with pork topping, and serve it to the man.

Meanwhile, he would slurp on ramen that was nothing but soup.

Ikumatsu.

This is our restaurant's year-end tradition now.

Should anything happen to me, make sure you keep it going.

That would turn out to be the last bowl of ramen my husband ever made.

It would also mark the end of the little year-end tradition the three of us shared.

Gintama

Slip Arc

A Bowl of Ramen

Hokuto Shinken

Watch the Slip Arc in a bright room and at a safe distance from your TV!

He didn't come last New Year's Eve, either.

Ramen

Ever since my husband passed away, he hasn't shown up at all.

He was a strange one.

He clearly had no money to spare, but he'd share his ramen with us

and then leave, still hungry.

He must've been really lonely.

Maybe he was coming here for company, not ramen.

Who knows where he is and what he's doing now?

Meanwhile, here I am, upholding my husband's last wish

and waiting for him with a bowl loaded up with pork topping.

Here's your ramen—

Don't try to hog the pork!

Shut it! I'm the one who won big at pachinko!

You sit there and sip on the soup!

The egg! Let me just have the egg!

Jeez, you three.

Why not drink a soup of the dirt in that old man's nails while you're at it?

I hope he's doing just as well as you seem to be.

I can't help but be worried.

Ikumatsu-dono, I would say your concern is unnecessary.

If that poor, lonely man was coming here seeking company at the end of the year,

it's actually a good thing that he stopped showing up.

He must've settled down in life

and found someone he can eat traditional New Year's food with instead of ramen.

Or maybe the ramen here got worse once you took over—

Here's your soba!

Y-You know that's not right, Katsura-san!

Ikumatsu-san's ramen is the best in Edo! No, the best in the universe!

There's no doubt that man is just dying to have it one more time, too!

Right, Ikumatsu-san?

He's got some nerve to not show any gratitude after all that pork he ate.

If he's got money now, he should come back and share some ramen with us.

What do you have to do with anything?

This is a task my husband left to me after worrying about it until the end.

Taking over the restaurant was all well and good, but this lingers with me.

And I haven't returned that scarf, either.

But you're right.

He must be leading such a happy life that he forgot all about this dingy ramen shop.

I'll just assume that's what happened.

Either way, there's nothing I can do but stay here and keep making ramen.

Hey, Zura.

Unlike you, I'm a busy man.

I'm not Zura. I'm Katsura.

I'm in luck today.

The dice and the cards are all waiting for me.

What's that saying? A fool with a big mouth and his money are soon parted?

I said what I did earlier out of consideration for Ikumatsu-dono.

But Gintoki, what do you think happened to that man, honestly?

He had no home or family, and he was old to boot, right?

Probably died on the streets, at best.

Probably.

But that's only if the man was truly homeless.

This scarf he forgot at the restaurant...

It's worn out from use, but it's a high-quality item.

It would also have stuck out like a sore thumb if a homeless man was wearing it.

We might be able to find him.

If he's still alive, that is.

But if you truly are in luck today,

I might be able to clear my tab at Hokuto Shinken.

Not happening. Anyway, what I want to know is...

Zura, did you get all the way to **** base with Ikumatsu?

O-Of all the disgusting accusations! Have some shame!

I mean, you're always on her side for some reason,

and I keep running into you every time I go there for ramen lately.

So you haven't sealed the deal yet, huh?

And here I thought you'd already sucked on something else besides ramen.

Don't be stupid!

As if Ikumatsu-dono and I would ever have ***, get **** and *****,

or worse, **** like *******!

Uh, I never said anything that vulgar.

Yeah, you have always been the passive sort.

So you wanna pound the pavement here and then pound Ikumatsu while you're at it, huh?

If that's how it was, you shoulda said so sooner.

I can give you a discount on the cupid service.

I didn't ask for that!

Don't play dumb! I know your tastes inside and out!

You've always been into married women.

That's one weakness I didn't expect.

Come to think of it, your first love as a kid was a neighborhood widow—

You dare insult a samurai?! Keep it up and I won't hesitate to cut even you down!

I'm not into married women!

I'm into cuckoldry!

You just exposed a fetish that's totally unbefitting a samurai!

And it's not Ikumatsu-dono that I'm in love with!

It's the taste of her soba!

She inherited that from her husband,

and I just want to make that man eat it one more time.

Eat that bowl of ramen she promised her husband to serve.

How admirable.

You wanna pound the pavement to help her fulfill her promise with your love rival?

Unfortunately, we're not rivals in love.

It's not something I will ever be.

Because Ikumatsu-dono only has eyes for one man.

Hey, what's all that about?

That's one young newcomer.

Pleased to meet you.

I grew sick of being a samurai, quit sticking swords in people,

and chose to stick myself in a cardboard box.

My name is Katsura Kuzutaro.

I hope to get along with all of you. You may casually call me Kuzura.

For someone who grew sick of his life, you're awfully lively, Kuzura-san.

I'm not Kuzura! I'm Katsura!

And this here is my partner, Kuzuta—

Hey, how did things end up this way?

The other guy's got the same look in his eyes as us.

Welcome, Kuzuta-san.

Hey, nice to meetcha.

As if! Don't lump me in with you lot!

The best people to ask about a homeless man are the homeless.

I came up with this cover to make them less wary of us...

But I'm amazed you blended in instantly. That's my Kuzuta.

That doesn't make me happy!

I really should've gone looking for the scarf store with Shinpachi and Kagura.

Sorry, but who among you knows a lot about this stuff?

I have a lot of questions regarding the cardboard life.

Oh, then you should go meet the Lawd. You can introduce yourself, too.

The Lord?

Yeah. The chief of cardboard boxes and leader of all the homeless here.

Lawd

We call him Lawd, for Leader At the Waste Dump.

The Lawd knows all, and he can solve most problems you might face.

What's going on? It's awfully noisy.

It's the Lawd! The Lawd has graced us with his presence!

Hey, what are you doing, Hasega—

Men, throw these two out of Eden at once.

Uh, what are you talking about? What the hell is "Eden"?

Hey, stop talking through an interpreter.

You're totally made in Japan.

These two bring disaster wherever they go.

Uh, I don't wanna hear that from a walking disaster.

I'm willing to ask as many times as it takes.

What are you doing? Why are you here at your age, Hasega—

Quit chanting the Hasegawa death spell!

It's your damn name! And use your own mouth to speak!

You're pissing me off!

The lower realm's mores don't apply here.

This is Eden.

A different world where those who have been liberated from everything gather.

That so?

I don't care if you're Hasegawa-san or the Lawd anymore.

Just trash either way.

Who're you calling trash?!

Say, did you ever see anyone wearing this scarf—

Can't answer that.

Everyone here is truly free.

Nobody is allowed to pry into or bring up their past lives!

And we have no information to share with outsiders.

If you wish to become one of us so badly,

offer me 30 bags of empty cans and

60 discarded convenience store lunch boxes as tribute.

Got that, uh... Kuzuta-san, was it?

Only the people who were at rock bottom in the lower world can make it to the top here.

If you're gonna laugh, do it yourself!

Lawd!

Pick up empty cans?

Save yer sleeptalkin' for when yer asleep.

I thought we made it clear this was our yard.

All the empty cans and discarded convenience store lunch boxes are ours!

You louts hurry up and get outta this park already!

Who the heck are those guys?

The Westside Gang!

The armed cardboard gang who control the west side of this park!

What the hell is an armed cardboard gang?

They're upstarts that use violent oppression to expand their rule on cardboard!

Wait, what? Did we enter the Warring Cardboard Era while I wasn't paying attention?

Get outta here!

This is a free utopia!

We won't hand it over, no matter how many times you try.

You're stepping on the Lawd! He was trying to say something!