[There, now you're paying attention. Now you're feeling the gravity of the situation weigh your shoulders down. A playful mood wasn't going to make it anymore. Even your tune would sing it's final strangled notes when you found your hands wrapping around someone's neck and eliciting the same ugly sound.

Or, maybe they wouldn't have to wait for such piercing noise.

Takasugi regarded the shamisen with almost as much foreboding in his gut as he'd felt tangle when the video played.

Gintoki could fight with anything. Gintoki was strong. Even without a real weapon, he'd make it Gintoki was terrible at any form of music. One strum on that thing, and even the more pacifist members of their class would want to kill him.

Any amusement that thought could have given him was stifled by Gintoki's implication that there was a happy solution.]

The only mess will be your fingers if you misuse those strings. [He tucked his knife away.]

We both already know the solution, don't we? No reason choke on it. [Yet here he was, hesitating to give Gintoki the opportunity to spit out the words they both knew needed said.

Stay alive.]