Natsuko peered over Haruka's shoulder at the three yakuza bowing in her doorway.

"Okay. You've apologized. Now clear out."

The three yakuza exchanged nervous glances.

"Um, we can't do that."

Haruka took a step forward. The three of them flinched back.

"W- We've been asked to escort Mrs. Sawamura back to the Tojo Clan Headquarters.

"Asked by who?" Haruka demanded.

"Chairman Kuroda!"

"The Chairman?" Natsuko muttered.

Haruka took another step forward.

"I'm not interested in talking to your chairman."

"He wants to make a deal. The chairman says he'll offer this place's continued protection free of charge if you agree to meet with him."

Another step.

"Bohemia doesn't need your protection."

"Tell that to him, not us!"

Haruka lunged forward and grabbed the leader by the collar of his shirt. He yelped like a scared dog.

"Why does the chairman want to meet with me?"

"I don't know!"

Haruka raised her fist.

"I swear! He didn't tell us anything! Just said to convince Sawamura to meet with him back at HQ! Protection is all he gave us! Please! I swear!"

Haruka's eyes narrowed. She studied him. Or at least, she tried to, it was hard to glean anything from an expression that was currently broken in terror. Eventually, however, she pushed him away.

"I'll go." she said.

"Haruka." Natsuko pulled her back inside the bar. "Are you sure about this?"

"He just wants a meeting. I go, I tell him to leave us alone, I come back."

"You really trust the yakuza to keep their word?"

"I…" Haruka chewed on her words for a second. "They're not going to hurt me. They know who I am."

"Well, apparently I don't. Daughter of the Fourth Chairman? What? What's this all about?"

"I'll explain later. Just, please, let me handle this."

Natsuko huffed.

"Fine. Just don't go dying on me. Your shift's in a couple hours, and I need the night off."

Haruka flashed her a smile before turning to glare at the yakuza.

"Let's go." She said, quickly brushing past them.


The car ride to the Tojo Clan Headquarters was long and silent. The leader tried to make some kind of conversation when he caught Haruka staring at his bandaged hand.

"I have no idea how they found out so fast. Must've really shat the bed though, not back an hour before the bosses were all yelling at me. You can, uh, see how that turned out."

"I hope it hurts."

He didn't try and talk to her after that.

Tojo HQ was exactly as Haruka remembered it. She'd only ever been there a couple times, and each time it had been on amicable terms. Promotions and celebrations on account of Uncle Kaz or Uncle Saejima, those kinds of cordial, friendly events. Despite this, she was still familiar with how meetings here usually went for them.

Back then, the lengthy entrance lot had inspired a sense of importance in Haruka. The first time she'd ever come here, it felt like an ordeal just making it to the front door. The building was so big and so ornate, she felt like she was here to meet a king or a samurai of old. Someone so magnanimous that they transcended time and culture with their importance, and all who saw that had to respect them. That was the power of appearances, and the effect was entirely intentional of course, now Haruka just felt manipulated.

She'd thought, once, that the organization could be a force for good, depending on who was leading them. That's what she'd always heard from people around Uncle Kaz, that the yakuza helped Japanese society as much as it took from them. She had been told that it was a delicate balance, survival and generosity, and that it was up to a good chairman to achieve that balance, even if they had to give everything fighting to preserve it.

Haruka had to admit, she wasn't sure what the Tojo had ever given to her.

She was led through the grand set of mahogany doors, up the lavishly carpeted twin stairs, and down long, sharp hallways before reaching the chairman's meeting room. Grand and open, one side lined with windows, the other had in its center a giant, framed insignia. Marble tiles covered in a luxurious crimson rug. A dozen comfortable armchairs sat across from each other in twin rows, all leading to the one at the head of the room, facing the door. Four of those seats were currently filled.

In the far chair sat the chairman. He was ancient, thin, with shocking white hair, surprisingly still long enough and conditioned enough to be slicked back over his scalp. He wore a black jacket, black tie, and black pants. His white shirt had an almost imperceptibly raised vine pattern running around the collar, but which shone when it caught the light. And finally, hugging his face tight, a pair of completely opaque, thick rimmed sunglasses.

The man on his left was much younger, the youngest in the room, although still at least half a decade Haruka's senior. His black hair was shiny and full of product, styled back and hanging just above his shoulders, temples shaved making it a wide mohawk. Metal studs dotted his face, around his eyebrows, on his nose, and around the outer edge of his ear. Silver rings hung on the bottom of his ear lobes and on his top lip, and a single protruding spike jutted out from just under his bottom lip. He wore a blood red, satin shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, with a vest, gray in the front, black in the back, over it. Black tie, black pants, black shoes.

On the chairman's right were two men. The one closest to Haruka had sharp features, with a circle beard about his lips, a skunk stripe of white cutting through the black. His hair was styled up into a noticeable pompadour, a bolt of white carved through it as well, with greying sideburns. His blazer and pants were a matching navy blue. His shirt, with its first two buttons undone and collar popped, was a muted pink. Everything he wore was clearly a designer brand, it was designed to clearly be a designer brand, even though Haruka didn't know any actual designer brands that it could've been.

The final man, seated behind the man with the skunk stripe, just looked ragged. His wide lips seemed to naturally sit in a deeply existential frown, the bags under his eyes were deep and dark. His hair resisted the attempts to comb it into a clean and professional part, with a few short strands hanging just above his furrowed forehead. His suit was a solid grey with visible, textured threading. Underneath he wore a plain white shirt and a chocolate colored tie. His shoes were obviously expensive, but they didn't stand out much. Haruka figured she could probably get a pair that looked the same from a thrift store.

As soon as she walked in, the man with the piercings stood up and walked over to her. Before she knew what was happening, he gripped her by the chin, pulling her face to look at him and staring directly into her eyes. She glared back at him. Her mind began to panic, but her body curled its fists at her side. That made him break out into a big smile.

"Oh, I see it now," he said. "You got some real moxie girl, I'd love to get a taste of that."

"Leave her alone, Minami." the ragged man said.

Minami took just a moment before he pulled his hand away from her face and went back to his chair.

"Miss Haruka Sawamura," the chairman started, commanding the room's attention. "Do you know who we are?"

Haruka's scowl deepened.

"I mean nothing by it." he continued. "It's simply good etiquette to know who you do business with. I'm sure all of us here are well familiar with who you are, we wish to return the courtesy."

Haruka gave pause before answering. "No. I don't."

The chairman nodded.

"Very well. I am Kazuhiro Kuroda, Seventh Chairman of the Tojo Clan. These are my three captains." He motioned to the man with the piercings. "Daisaku Minami, Patriarch of the Majima Family." The man with the skunk stripe. "Sho Aikawa, Patriarch of the Aikawa Family." The ragged man. "Kenji Matsushige, Patriarch of the Takasu Association."

"And the reason you've brought me here?"

Kuroda motioned towards the chair facing them that sat in front of her. Haruka didn't move.

"I was told you wanted to negotiate for Bohemia's protection," she continued. "Well here's my answer, we don't need anything from you."

Aikawa leaned forward and growled. "You're a cocky little shit, ain't you. You think any other civilian woulda got an offer like this? You should be thanking your lucky stars we even bothered to give you the time of day!"

"It's quite fine." Kuroda raised his hand to settle Aikawa. "Before we get to business, however, there is something I must ask of you."

Haruka clenched her fists at her side. "I was told we would only be discussing the situation of Bohemia."

"It shouldn't take much more than a moment." Matsushige said.

"Earlier today you met with a man. He approached you, you fought, you talked. Ringing any bells?"

Haruka's eyes went wide.

"Nice poker face." Minami said. "Saves us the trouble of needling you to admit it at any rate."

"Have you been following me?" Haruka asked.

"Course not." Aikawa said. "We were following him."

"We don't want to press you too hard." Matsushige added. "We just wanted to know what he said to you. Any mention of what he planned to do today, where he was going, who he was seeing."

"Nothing." Haruka slowly shook her head. "He didn't say anything."

"Nothing?"

"No. Nothing. Who is he?" No one seemed to have an answer for her. "What were you tailing him for?"

"Don't bullshit us, girl!" Aikawa slammed a fist into his armrest.

"I don't know anything!" Haruka insisted.

"Just answer the question and we'll be done with the topic." Matsushige said.

"I'm telling you, I've never met the man in my life. He approached me, asked me to spar with him, then left after we were done. He didn't tell me anything. I don't know who he is or what he's doing now. If that's all you wanted from me, then I'm leaving."

"Well, if she's leaving, I am too." Minami said, pushing himself up.

"Minami!" Kuroda growled. Minami sank back into his chair with a groan. "Miss Sawamura please, if you have the time, we have one more request to make of you."

Haruka simply turned and walked. She was already at the door before anyone could speak, pushed it half open and had just taken her first step out.

"The Tojo Clan is dying." Matsushige said plainly.

Haruka stopped, her palm pressed against the wood. Slowly she looked over her shoulder towards the man that addressed her.

"He's right." Kuroda said with a sigh. "Police crackdowns, public distrust, high turnover and low admissions. The Tojo Clan is dying, slowly but surely. The crows have already begun to peck at our eyes, and there's nothing we can do about it. Not now. Not anymore." He looked up. Haruka couldn't say for sure, but something told her he was gazing straight into her eyes. "But things were different back in the heyday. Even when we had come under the gravest of perils, we managed to stay strong and keep together. We survived because our people were always able to rally around a single idea. A single person's idea. A figurehead that, despite it all, had the uncanny ability to inspire hope in everyone he came across."

"The Dragon of Dojima." Haruka muttered.

"Your father kept us afloat even when times were darkest. No matter what risk needed to be taken, he threw himself at the danger with a fearless fervor. He was a man anyone would follow into battle in a heartbeat. My request is simply this." Kuroda took off his sunglasses, fully revealing his face. His left eye was a calm brown, the skin around it etched with lines of age. His right was milky white, a deep scar passing through the lid. "As his child, heir to the title, take the legacy of the dragon and help us reclaim that hope, so that we can survive now."

Haruka slowly let the door fall closed again and turned to face the four men.

"You want me to join you?"

"We want you to help us."

Haruka let silence linger over the room, let the impact of such a final request sink in for those who witnessed it.

"Either this is a sick joke or you're delusional."

Of the four of them, only Kuroda and Aikawa seemed taken aback. Minami was scarcely paying attention, but Matsushige continued to stare at her, stone faced.

"You want me to save the Tojo Clan? Me? Chairman Kuroda, the people you want me to bring hope to, 17 years ago they took my mother from me. 6 years ago they took my father. The Tojo Clan bulldozed the only home I've ever had. They tortured and killed the people close to me. The dragon who helped you so much, I was the bait you used to draw him out when he tried to leave. I have no doubt in my mind that every single one of you that's been left alive is a liar and a thief and a murderer and there's not an ounce of honor shared among you. You want me to save you? So you can keep your grip on this despicable patch of concrete just a little bit longer? Chairman Kuroda, if the Tojo Clan is on its death bed, then the only thing I plan to do is push the knife deeper."

"You little shit!" Aikawa shot to his feet. "You'll stand there and preach to us about honor, then sit back and let your old man's name rot? After all the shit he went through?"

"If you needed Kazuma Kiryu so much then your chairman shouldn't have shot him in the heart."

Haruka turned on the spot and marched back towards the door.

"Sawamura." Haruka spared one last glance back when Kuroda spoke. He'd put his sunglasses back on. "I will inform the families that Bohemia is off limits. Thank you for meeting with us."

Haruka didn't thank him as she left.

She brushed off the cronies as they tried to lead her back to the entrance. She remembered the way.

She marched from corridor to corridor, focusing only enough on where she was going to not get lost. Entering back into the entrance hall's second floor, however, she was given a reason to pause. Haruka looked down over the banister and saw at least two dozen men in unbuttoned black suits staring back up at her.

This was not the respectful greeting she'd entered to. Each man had his fists bunched up at his side, stance in various, readied stances. Determination and fury burned in their vision.

"What is this?" Haruka muttered.

"This is the fun part, sweetheart!" She turned to see Minami strolling out into the hall himself. "Call it tradition, call it payback for what ya said back there, fuck it, call it whatever you want. I just wanna see you in action before I start getting serious about this."

Haruka fixed him with a glare. "I'm not doing this. You can't make me."

"Ah, well. Don't really have to. The orders I gave were something like, uh, 'The girl doesn't leave this building alive', or something. And my boys ain't ever failed me on an order."

Haruka scowled.

"Aw, cheer up! I told you, this is the fun part." He gave Haruka an encouraging pat on the back. "Off you go, then."

Haruka sighed. Then stepped forward. Then took a running start, jumping up, planting one shoe on the edge of the banister, and shooting off over the crowd. Most of the men started backing away, but one stood still, dumbstruck and staring as Haruka descended on him. Her knee crunched into his face and slammed it down into the carpeted floor beneath him.

Haruka got to her feet. Her hood was already down, but her ponytail was still spooled down into it. She let it loose now, sending it twisting and writing down to the small of her back like a dragon in flight.

"The next person to step to me, dies."

The men surrounding her froze for just a second, evaluating that threat, pairing it no doubt with whatever Minami was planning on doing to them if they failed.

Eventually they compromised, and all charged at once. Haruka sighed.

She shot out an elbow to the man running in behind her, smashing into his mouth. She then reached back, grabbed him by the collar, and hauled him over her shoulder to slam his forehead into another man's.

She threw out a straight, a hook, a reverse roundhouse. Each strike instantly put a man on the floor. Men were sent flying back away from her as fast as they ran in, each one at a different angle, forcing Haruka to constantly turn, her attention always shifting from one attacker to the next. As the fight continued, Haruka started losing herself, throwing more and more into every punch.

A man threw a clumsy lunge to her head. Haruka shifted slightly, letting the punch slide past her ear, and slipped behind the man. She locked his head and arm in the crook of her own, forcing his arm straight up. She then jumped forward, slamming her heel into another man's face and pushing off, flipping up and over the man, quickly pulling him off of his feet. The toe of her shoe whacked another man over the head and down into the ground, and she landed on one knee, slamming the grappled man's head into the floor.

That was all of them. No, almost all of them, she heard a man get to his feet behind her. He gave a battle cry as he charged her, possibly just trying to push himself forward. Haruka didn't look, she simply threw a flat hand back and caught him in the throat. He fell back to the ground, wheezing.

Haruka leaped over the still bodies that surrounded her and ran towards the front doors. She grabbed both handles and flung them wide open. Just outside, four men with machine guns noticed her and turned and aimed. Haruka slammed the doors back closed. On the other end she heard the bullets pound into the wood of the door, but thankfully failed to drill through.

"Holy shit." Minami laughed, still on the second floor. "I didn't tell them to do that. How the hell's our hero gonna make it out of this one?"

Haruka ignored him and ran past the stairs and down a corridor towards her right. At its end, she saw the bright green, glowing exit sign and raced down towards it.

A door to her right was suddenly blasted off its hinges in front of her. Haruka skid to a stop.

Three men came out. Two of them looked like the same trash she'd just torn through, but the third stood above the rest. Quite literally, the man was 6'10" and built like a brick house. Haruka jumped to the side, pushing off of the wall and catching one of the regular guy's head in a roundhouse, one which slammed it into the big guy's pec. The big guy didn't budge an inch at the impact, leaving Haruka to fall awkwardly back to her feet, and the man she hit to slump to the ground.

The big guy charged, Haruka ducked low and took his midsection a bear hug. Her fingers had no hope of touching each other, and as she tried to push she realized that neither did his back and the ground.

The big guy leaned forward, letting himself fall on top of her. Haruka tried to support his weight and keep him up, but that started failing really quickly.

At the last second, she slipped out from under him, hearing him crash to the ground and not wanting to waste any more time than that checking. She darted forward and kicked off the wall again, rocking the other normal man's face with a flying superman punch that floored him in a second. She took off for the door again, hoping to leave the big guy in her dust.

She burst out through the small, emergency exit, and took the time to shield her eyes to the sudden light. A couple of men were yelling in front of her. After the next few seconds she was finally able to see them, she saw both of them charging right at her.

Haruka stepped forward, slipping between the attack, tripping one guy and sending him flying face first into the closed door behind her. She shot her leg back, slamming it into the guy's head and the guy's head, conversely, into the door, and he slumped. As she moved, she grabbed the back of the other man's jacket and threw him back. He hit a waist-high fence and stumbled back, struggling to regain his balance. Once he did, hands stabilizing him on the fence, he looked up at Haruka with a smirk. She met it with a punch that launched him back, sending his head through the paper lantern behind him.

She pushed open the big wooden gates and entered into the side garden. A large pond bisected the area, with an island in the middle and bridges connecting all three bodies of land. The far side ended in a large shack and had another wooden gate next to it. Five guys hung around just in front of her, quickly taking notice of her. One of them, the one closest to her, carried a metal bat. Haruka darted forward to take them on. Then she stopped as the big guy hooked his arms under hers and lifted her off the ground.

Haruka struggled, but the big guy's grip was like iron. The guy with the bat stepped forward and started swinging into her. Each blow took the wind out of her, making it harder and harder to struggle against the big guy's grip. Some of the other guys pitched in with a jab or a gut shot when they got the chance. She could feel a dozen more ugly, purple bruises forming around her body as she tried to hang onto her focus. The guy with the bat cocked back, ready to deliver an out of the park swing straight to Haruka's head.

Haruka steadied herself, dangled listlessly for a moment like she was being crucified, then as soon as the guy with the bat stepped forward, she kicked forward and flipped herself up. The bat connected solidly with the big guy's stomach, sending him stumbling back. Haruka kicked out as she fell back down, slamming her heel into the guy with the bat's chin, and squirming her way out of the big guy's grip. She picked up the bat and started swinging at the rest of the group, each hit knocking a man off of his feet.

The bat suddenly jerked from her grip with a sharp 'ping'. She looked up, seeing the last one of them pointing a pistol at her, finger gripping the trigger. She scrambled forward, ducking the next shot, and bridged the gap enough to grab his wrist and divert the next two shots into the ground. She then shoved her arm down and pulled his trigger finger herself, shooting the man in the foot. He collapsed onto the ground and clutched the wound. Haruka kicked the gun into the water.

The big guy had recovered by now and dove for Haruka. She jumped away and darted across the two bridges onto the other side. A man burst through the wooden gate on the other side. Haruka unceremoniously shoved him into the pond.

Through two more sets of gates and Haruka found herself back in the parking lot. She ran out past the marble wall and hedge and past the stairs leading up to the front door from the side and doubled back to the marble wall when the four guys with the machine guns opened fire.

The big guy was approaching on her rear now, and she could hear the footsteps of the machine gun guys coming in on her front. She started backing up back towards the gates.

The big guy got to her first. He wrapped both hands around her throat, though honestly he could've done it with one, and lifted her off her feet again. Haruka acted quickly while she still had blood in her brain to think with. She kicked her leg out and swung it back, smashing directly into the big guy's crotch while she was still close enough to the ground to reach. He doubled over, letting Haruka drop to the ground and gasp for air on her hands and knees.

The guys with machine guns rounded the corner and had their guns up in a second. Haruka scrambled to her feet and ran behind the big guy just as they started shooting. He jerked back for each bullet that slammed into his chest, but stood standing after the machine gun guys realized what exactly they'd done and stopped. Haruka shoved the big guy forward, his titanic mass finally giving way, and he stumbled a few steps forward. She took a step back, then ran, building up as much speed as she could in the limited distance.

When she was a step away from the big guy she leaped. Both feet left the ground and struck the big guy in the back with as much force as she could muster. In turn, the big guy's feet finally left the ground. Mere inches they lifted up, as he launched forward. Both he and Haruka fell at the same time, Haruka hit the pavement on her stomach, catching as much of the fall as she could with her hands, the big guy collapsed forward, crushing all four of the machine gun guys underneath him.

Haruka scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could, vaulted over the five of them and charged out into the parking lot towards the entrance gate, already held wide open for her. She hadn't had a plan for how to get anywhere by foot, but was surprised to see a car waiting for her on the street just outside anyways. The driver rolled the window down and yelled out to her "Get in!"

She did just that, pulling the passenger's side door open and clambering into the car. Her feet hadn't left the pavement before the driver hit the accelerator and they sped away. One last glance back at the building, and she saw Minami, just outside the front doors, with the biggest smile he'd worn all day.

A few minutes passed before anyone said anything. Haruka, finally given time to breath, laid her head back in her seat and panted. The driver never took his eyes off the road, but refused to drop the incredibly stern look etched into each of his aged wrinkles.

"What in the hell were you thinking?" asked Makoto Date.