Taka closes the bathroom door behind him. Running on auto pilot mode, he strips off his pants and underwear, slipping on the track pants that Ryota handed him. He scratches on his right shoulder as the weird itch keeps coming back yet again no matter how furiously he scrubs his skin with his nails.
He curses inwardly when he feels his raw skin upon scratching it. Thinking that he's got a rash, he moves close to the sink mirror and takes a look at his reflection.
Taka's heart jolts in his chest when he sees the ice white letters bright against his sun o' clock tattoo. The seventeen as bold as the first time it etched itself on his then bare skin. Opening the tap, he runs his shoulder under the water, rubbing it furiously and then inspecting it once again on the mirror.
It's still there, as white as ever. It's on his sun o' clock tattoo, like he never covered it with the dark ink at all.
"NANI GA KORE?!" He screams at his shoulder, bursting out of the bathroom a few seconds later.
Ryota and Toru stare at him weirdly. Nobody talks or moves after the first few seconds of shock. Then Taka barrels past them, straight out of the bus. Ignoring the fact that he's finally dry but still ran under the rain, Taka heads back to the Sansa.