Gen-chan (源ちゃん, Gen-chan) is a ramen stall owned and operated by Genzo Gohda and is the base of his hitman mediation work. It is frequently visited by members of the Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens grasslot baseball team.
General Information[]
Like other portable ramen shops that line the Naka River in Hakata, Gen-chan is kept in storage during the day. It is typically moved and set up shortly before sunset, where it stays open until the early hours of the morning. Like most ramen shops, a red curtain that reads "ramen" is hung out front.
Background[]
Genzo began running the ramen stand and mediating jobs to freelance killers after retiring from his own time as the legendary hitman G.G., within thirteen years before the start of the story.
Agents[]
Numerous freelance killers rely on Gen-chan for assassination work and frequent the stand for food, drink, and work. The most famous hitman associated with the agency is the Niwaka Samurai, the legendary killer of killers, though his existence is often regarded as myth. Gen-chan's known killers include:
Synopsis[]
Mayor Harada Scandal Arc[]
Zenji Banba visits Gen-chan for ramen and a beer, and he and Genzo discuss the Kakyuu Association. Genzo shows him photos of Banba and Xianming Lin escaping from Kakyuu Association headquarters and exasperatedly informs him that the association has hired the Niwaka Samurai to eliminate the two men. Banba shrugs off the news and tells him to go ahead and introduce the killer to the mafia.
Niwaka Samurai Impersonator Arc[]
When Abe and Yamamoto visit Gen-chan looking for work, they overhear Genzo in a phone call talking about the Niwaka Samurai. Genzo ends the call abruptly and gives them the job of assassinating another one of his killers, an amateur who messed up a job and has been blackmailing Genzo since being cut off from the agency. After the former killer shows up at Gen-chan and he and Genzo exchange heated words, he storms off, and Abe and Yamamoto depart the ramen stand in pursuit.
Shortly after, Lin arrives at the ramen shop after an evening of hostessing. Genzo passes along a job originally meant for the Niwaka Samurai, and Lin leaves for a hotel to protect Yasukuni Shindou.
Later that evening, Yamamoto returns to the shop to inform Genzo that he and Abe messed up in their pursuit of their target, and he reveals that they had killed the wrong person. Lin and Banba return to Gen-chan after Banba has completed Shindou's assassination in time to see Genzo furiously kicking Yamamoto out. As the pair eat ramen, Lin informs Banba that he is wanted by the Kakyuu Association and that the organization is looking to hire a killer named G.G. Both Banba and Genzo are surprised by this news and confirm that G.G. is long since retired, briefly arguing about whether G.G. or the Niwaka Samurai is the better killer. After Lin sides with Genzo, Banba changes the conversation by stating that he is taking time off of work for preparations for Fukuoka's annual summer festival, the Hakata Gion Yamakasa, and proposes giving all of his work to Lin. Not fooled by his taunting, Lin refuses to pick up his slack.
Nearly two weeks later, Abe returns to Gen-chan with a briefcase full of money and a job for the Niwaka Samurai. He requests that the killer come to the Canal City parking garage to discuss terms with a client, and Genzo, swayed by the amount of money in the case, calls Banba. Lin answers and promises to take the job before Genzo can object.
Immediately after his conversation with Lin, Jiro Tanaka and Yamato visit Genzo's shop. As they eat ramen and complain about their jobs, they notice similarities in their stories and compare photos of the same white van and two men. Noticing the photos, Genzo recognizes his former killers Abe and Yamamoto. He invites the pair back to his shop with the promise of a second chance, giving Yamato the opportunity to pickpocket Abe, and arranges a meeting between the pair and Jiro the following morning.
The morning of the Yamakasa festival finale, Genzo closes the shop early, and he receives an email from an unknown address. Attached is a photo of Lin, horribly disfigured and clearly dead. Genzo leaves the food cart and runs off to find Banba.
Later that day, as Genzo is pulling the food cart back to the riverside to begin a night of work, Enokida and Saitoh run up to him with a killer on their tail. Genzo incapacitates George Gondo, and after listening to his story, the three sympathize with him, and Enokida devises a solution to all their problems.
Shou Wang Arc[]
After running way from home, Lin visits Gen-chan alone, uncharacteristically of him, and evades Genzo's questions about Banba. As Lin is eating his ramen, Hironobu Shigematsu visits the stall for dinner and is glad to see his younger teammate. Shigematsu asks Lin if anyone has a grudge against him and informs him that two men whose names are spelled identically to his were murdered the day before. While Lin does not recognize either man's photo, he recognizes the message behind the murders and runs off without paying, with Shigematsu jokingly threatening to arrest him.
Later that evening, Enokida and Banba meet at the shop for dinner and to discuss recent findings. Banba updates the informant on events concerning the Kakyuu Group and the Shou Wang that he witnessed during his trailing of Suzuki, and Enokida fills the hitman in on Feilang. During their conversation, Lin calls Banba for help, and Banba asks Genzo for assistance. Not to be left out, Enokida supplies them with his most recent inventions, spider-shaped communication devices and grenades, brazenly placing bombs on the ramen shop counter. When Banba does not reach out after the agreed-upon time has passed, Genzo closes the stand and goes home for supplies.
.mmm Arc[]
Saitoh and Martínez visit Gen-chan, where Genzo and Saitoh fill Martínez in on the pitcher's recent questioning by cybercrime investigators. Genzo gives Saitoh ramen on the house to help him recover from his rough day. Later, Banba and Lin visit for dinner and ask for work. The following evening, Banba returns to inform the mediator that his target had committed suicide, and Genzo gives Banba a new target, a hacker named Manabu Kuroiwa. Later that night, Lin visits the ramen stand to asks him about Irasawa's habit of collecting spoils from his victims, leaving with a list of thirty mediators in Fukuoka to call for information.
Avengers Arc[]
The ramen stand is visited by most of the team's members one night, and Jiro asks the others for advice on raising Misaki. He is worried about the effects including her in his avenging business will have on her development, and the others are ready to offer advice based on their own backgrounds, forcing him to come to terms with the fact that in order to provide Misaki a chance at a normal life, he must either let go of his profession or his daughter.
A few days later, Jiro visits the stall alone after asking Lin to hand Misaki over to her new foster parents, unconfident in his decision and suddenly lonely. As Genzo pours him a drink, he receives a call from Misaki and immediately leaves to retrieve her.
Cartel Arc[]
Lin visits the food cart to vent to Genzo, Martínez, and Enokida about his recent fight with Banba. While Enokida and Martínez tell him not to worry, Genzo, who has known Banba the longest, advises Lin to be the adult and apologize. Lin instead decides to take all of the hitman requests the mediator has received for Banba.
Trivia[]
- Many of the ramen shops that line the Naka River are named using the suffix -chan, making "Gen-chan" a plausible name for a ramen stand in Nakasu.