There was nothing interesting to say or think about waiting. This was, in fact, what made it a principal characteristic of the disciplined; the question of whether or not you could live in absolute nothing while keeping your mind focused on nothing. Tetsu had some experience with this enemy of mankind, lying in the forest as he routinely had, devoid of all video games and entertainment, and he managed to survive, although he also took up drinking to quell the unimaginable boredom. One might say that this was a poor coping mechanism; one might even say that it was proof of failure to adapt to the crushing silence of boredom, but although one might think and say these things, here Tetsu was, nonetheless, diligently watching the apartment of Tanwei and Nanaimo as he waited for them to return home from wherever it was they had gone off to. Was he drunk? Yes. Not all willpower needs to come from within.
Tanwei walked up to the door flailing his arms somewhat at Nanaimo. "And what good is getting a meal for today or tomorrow or however long if you're going to permanently cripple you're ability to get any work?" It was no use even trying to get through to him, it was true, and Tanwei knew it. He spoke almost as a cathartic release rather than a as a rhetorical question that had any specific function. "Yeah yeah yeah. Nothing bad happened though, right?" The two of them walked into their ramshackle apartment building, Tanwei having momentarily given up on responding as he carefully eyed his surroundings. Tetsu's heightened sense of hearing allowed him to stand back at a distance removed enough from either of their prying glances. Once inside, Tanwei got to the task of washing some of the left over dishes in an attempt to scrub away some of his frustrations over getting into an argument with his brother.
So, here is a question that every shinobi has to contend with at some point. When you have to overhear someone on the second story of an apartment building, how do you position yourself to do that? Whatever the material was that made up the exterior of the building, it seemed soft enough to wedge a kunai in, and he could have scaled the sides in that way and perched himself up. He could have taken the stairs to the roof, tied a rope around some permanent fixture, and anbu'd his way down to the window. In either case, he'd also have to find a way to open the window while the two of them stood just inside. An easy task, until you realize that stealth was required, and the general noise associated with wedging a locked window open, or the visibility that comes with trying to bypass the window's lock. So anyway, as he knelt down outside the door of the apartment, pressing his ear against the crack at the bottom of the door, he could hear the two brothers go on with their discussion.
"What are you thinking about the future so much for. I mean, why don't you think that this way will work? What are you gonna do, huh? Work your way up as a cook until Ani dies and then take control of Sushi Max?"
"Better than rotting away in prison."
"Yeah, I'm sure you'll have a great life as an old man. Enjoy mopping floors until then."
"It's not all about the money."
"Don't be stupid. Really? That's what you're gonna answer with? Why don't you staple that bleeding heart to your sleeve."
There was a silence that followed. At first it hung in the air with the palpable tension of exasperation, but slowly transitioned to ruffling through some kind of duffel bag. But how could Tetsu see that it was a duffel bag? Come on, it doesn't really need to be spelled out for you, does it? There was a good amount of yens inside, along with a knife. That bag was like an ideal evidence package, really. Nanaimo should have known better, but Tanwei seemed to pick up the slack for him. "You can't keep that weapon, you know." He started, but Nanaimo just brushed it away with "I didn't use it." And here was another argument emerging that the two had obviously trotted along many times prior.
"It doesn't matter. Look, if you're going to do this anyway, which we're going to continue to talk about, buying new weapons every time you go out is just the cost of doing business."
"Okay, but why?"
"Say you don't use it, so what? You bought it, and that can be traced, and you probably showed it too, which means the person you robbed also saw it. It's one piece of evidence you don't need following you around."
"Yeah, but the more I spend, the more often I'm going to have to rob people, right?"
"You're going to keep robbing people no matter what, at least do it smart. You're putting me in danger here too."
"Fine."
"If you don't switch them up every time you use them, you can't stay here. It isn't fair to me."
"I said fine, alright."
"Thank you."
Tetsu had to get that bag. He heard nanaimo walk to the other room, opening up a garbage bag, and then shuffle the blade down, before making some off the cuff remark to his brother asking for his gratitude. For the moment, the boy was engrossed in tracking the precious object, trying to make sure he didn't let it escape his pseudo vision at any time, then his eyes glanced around frantically at his environment. "Oh." He thought, He's going to have to leave the whole building to toss it." It was a good time to scurry down the stairs as quickly as he could, and he wasn't halfway down the first flight before he heard the door to their apartment open and close back up again. When the man lazily dropped the bag, it looked unusual, saggy, and full. The boy opened it up to find a rotten banana peel, dirty rice, and general food waste mixed in with the blade, but the blade was there. The lengths he'd go through to protect his village, it was really unbelievable. Anyway, he was getting hungry so he took the knife and left.
