Chapter 6
Sorry for the delay, but hopefully my longest chapter yet will make it up to you guys. Thanks again so much for reading, and especially for reviewing.
Language Lessons!
Shatei means 'little brother', a term used for brand new yakuza members that are still learning the ropes.
Hai - 'yes'
Kumicho – boss
Yodaime – next boss in line
Fortunately, the next week was free of terrifying yakuza members lining the path to the Oedo house. However, a non-terrifying yakuza member did show up when Yankumi and Shin had decided to go out to dinner, leaving Reita watching tv with Minoru and Tetsu, eating delivery ramen. During a commercial, Reita got up for a drink and saw Ayaka-san standing awkwardly outside the door.
"Oh, hi, can I help you?"
"Yes, hello. Are you one of the Oedo's shatei?"
"What? Oh, no, I'm one of Yankumi's students, and I'm just staying here temporarily. I'm Saiga Reita." He bowed for the introduction.
"Tanaka Ayaka. I was sent here by Anego-san to deliver a gift to Ojou. Is she here?"
"Oh, she and Shin went out to dinner. Sorry."
"Oh." She looked down at the ground, biting her lip, then peered around Reita and asked, "Is… Tetsu-san here, by any chance?"
"Uh… just one moment. I'll go check. Please come in." He offered quickly, then ran around to the back room.
"Tetsu! That girl's here to see you!"
Tetsu, who had just stuffed a large portion of noodles in his mouth, looked up in confusion.
"Wha wurl?" Minoru asked, who also had a huge mouthful of noodles, but had no qualms about talking around it.
"You know, the girl with the scary lady from the baby shower. Ayaka-chan."
Tetsu's eyes widened and he suddenly began to cough. Minoru pounded him on the back a few times, and after he had finally swallowed, he stared up at Reita in what looked like fear.
"Ayaka-ch… -san! Why does she want to see me?"
A deep voice suddenly chimed in from behind the wall. "Probably because she likes you."
The boys jumped in surprise to see Kuroda-san come around the corner.
"Boss!" The minions yelped, then quickly bowed.
"Now, are you going to go talk to her, or are you going to keep her waiting?"
"I-I-I can't talk to her!"
"Why not?" Kuroda's voice was even calmer than usual, probably in an attempt to counteract Tetsu's panic.
"I… she's… I couldn't… and she's so… I… I wouldn't know what to say." He mumbled at last.
"Ask her about herself. Everyone likes talking about themselves."
"But I don't…" Tetsu was still staring at the floor, looking defeated already.
"What do you want to know about her?"
Tetsu looked up with a half-open mouth, shrugging his shoulders, and shaking his head, about to say "I don't know" for the third time, when they all heard a delicate feminine sigh coming from a few rooms down. He turned and saw her silhouette against the wall, and suddenly, his whole body relaxed.
"Everything." He breathed, staring at her shadow.
Reita and Minoru looked at each other in confusion, then at Kuroda-san, who looked very pleased with himself.
He does know the right thing to say for everything. Reita thought in wonder.
Kuroda chuckled. "I'd be a little more specific, but that's a good start. Now, button up your shirt, go out and greet her, and ask how she's doing. Go on."
With a little more prompting, they finally shoved Tetsu out into the hall, where he shot them one last panicked look before entering the front room.
"Oh! Good evening, Tetsu-san."
"G-g-good evening, Ayaka-ch… -san."
"Oh, you can call me Ayaka-chan. Everyone at Anego-san's place does."
From their strategic place around the corner, they could see Tetsu nodding his head, but not saying anything. Kuroda coughed significantly.
"Oh, um, h-how are you doing?"
"I'm doing very well. I'm learning lots from Anego-san. She's an amazing role model."
Tetsu made a noise that sounded like a combination of a strangled laugh and a shudder.
"I'm s-sure she is."
Awkward silence fell until Ayaka-chan remembered why she was there.
"I almost forgot! Anego-san saw this obi and had it blessed to bring good luck to the baby. Could you give it to Ojou for me?"
"Yes." Tetsu replied in a different tone, stoically taking the folded cloth and setting it down next to him.
"You must be so pleased to have an heir to the clan on the way!"
"Yes, everyone's… very happy." He answered in the same strange voice. Reita looked up to see Kuroda staring at Tetsu as if waiting for something.
"I mean, I started with Anego-san after the wedding, but I heard it was lovely, and everyone says such good things about Yodaime and-"
"What food do you eat!" Suddenly burst forth from Tetsu like an eruption.
Ayaka-chan blinked at him. "What?"
"I-I mean what food do you like to eat?" He stuttered to the floor.
Curious as to why Tetsu changed the subject in such an explosive manner, Reita glanced at Kuroda and saw him smiling proudly, with Minoru near tears with a trembling smile. Why asking a girl out was such a big deal, Reita had no clue.
"Be-because there's a very nice tempura place that I know and I like to eat there sometimes." Tetsu risked peering up at the girl across the table, just in time to see a large grin appear on her face.
"I like tempura." She told him softly.
"Oh. Uh, good." Tetsu nodded, unsure where to go from there.
"I have next Friday free."
"Oh good! Me too. I'll, uh, meet you there-"
A large disapproving cough came from behind the wall.
"I mean, I'll pick you up. And then we'll go there."
Ayaka-chan added fluttering eyelashes to her smile. "Alright."
Completely defenseless against the double-pronged attack, Tetsu could only repeat, "Alright," in a dazed tone.
Kuroda-san's satisfied grin grew. "Alright." He agreed.
As Tetsu escorted Ayaka-chan to the door, and Kuroda-san smiled like a pleased match-maker, and Minoru tried not to blubber, Reita could only think, Damn, this family is weird.
.
.
.
The next week during lunch, Reita was still puzzling over why Tetsu getting a date was such a big deal, and what Shin had meant when he asked if Tetsu would always resent him, when Itsuo slammed down a roll of money and announced, "I got lunch, fellas. No need to worry."
Reita, Tawara, and Koji all looked up from their food in surprise.
"Sweet!" Koji yelled, and went back to the buffet for a second helping.
Tawara and Reita stared at Itsuo suspiciously.
"You never get lunch." Tawara stated with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, that was before. This is now. Enjoy my generosity."
Reita glanced at the amount of money on the table. "Where'd you get all that?"
"I've got a new job now."
"Doing what?"
"I'm a courier, okay? Can you stop with the interrogation?"
"What kind of courier job pays that well?"
"Geez, would you lay off? My brother hooked me up, alright?"
Reita stopped asking questions, but this last piece of information only made him more uneasy. Itsuo's brother Takumi had dropped out of school fairly early on, and was always getting in trouble with someone, be it his parents, teachers, or the police.
So he decided to follow him.
After school let out, he watched Itsuo wave goodbye to everyone, then head to his house, change into regular clothes, and ride off on his bike.
It took a minute for Reita to realize that Itsuo had a new bike, with a crate on the back. He followed him through town, down towards the riverfront, taking a few shortcuts in order to keep up. There was a moment when he thought he lost Itsuo in the maze of buildings, but heard the squeak of wheels from around a corner.
He stationed himself behind some pallets and watched Itsuo talk to a man he recognized as Takumi, Itsuo's brother. Another man come out from the warehouse with a few boxes and loaded them into the crate on the back of Itsuo's bike.
Reita was listening very hard to try and make out what they were saying, which is why hearing, "Whatcha doing?" right next to his ear caused him to nearly jump out of his skin.
"What the- Yankumi! What the hell are you doing here?"
"Following you." She answered, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.
"What? Why?"
She blinked at him. "Because you looked concerned."
"What? I looked concerned so you decided to follow me?" He hissed at her.
"Well, yeah. If you're worried, it's for a good reason. You're a good judge of these things."
Reita stared, unsure how to respond to the fact that an adult trusted him without question.
"I don't need your compliments." He finally muttered, which just caused Yankumi to smile broadly.
They were interrupted by Itsuo calling out, "Alright, bye!" and biking away.
"See, told you he'd work out." Takumi told the guy next to him.
"Fine, as long as you're sure he doesn't know."
"Not a clue."
Reita and Yankumi exchanged glances as the two men walked back inside the warehouse. Crouching down, Reita made his way over to a dusty window and peered in, crowded closely by Yankumi. Through the dusty panes, Reita could make out several boxes, some white packages, and tables of glass tubes and bottles.
"Yankumi, I'm not familiar with these things, but this kind of looks like-"
"Drugs." Yankumi finished, and Reita looked over to see all traces of her usual smile gone. "Lots of drugs. Probably distributed through one of the other groups."
"How can you be sure?" Reita whispered.
"No small-time dealer would set up something like this on their own. They'd have to have protection from one of the yakuza clans. You can see the shipment they set aside for whoever's protecting them."
Reita looked and noticed a separate pile of boxes.
"…The Oedo clan isn't involved with this stuff… right?" He asked slowly.
"No!" Yankumi rounded on him, eyes ablaze. "We forbid anyone even vaguely connected with us to touch drugs or trafficking. If we find anyone who is involved, we kick 'em out faster than they can blink."
"Okay, okay. Just asking."
Yankumi looked back through the window. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."
Reita glanced over in surprise. "Without calling the police?"
"They'd just move. And the first person they'd blame is Itsuo. Let's go."
As soon as they got home, Yankumi made Reita explain what he saw and did to Shin and Kuroda, who surprisingly listened carefully and took his word at face value. No adults had ever done that before.
"This can't be good. The other clans know our stance on drugs. If they're expanding operations they know we don't like, it means they don't care." Shin said, then looked to Kuroda.
"Wakamatsu, Makoto, go poke around a bit. Don't be too obvious, but find out if anyone's suddenly earning more cash." Kuroda spoke to the minions behind him.
"Hai, Kumicho." The men bowed and left.
"Shin, set up meetings with our allies. We should reaffirm old friendships, just in case" Shin nodded and left the room.
"Reita," He glanced up warily, wondering if this was the time they'd kick him out of the house while they dealt with clan stuff. "Thank you for telling us this. My advice is to try and get your friend out of the line of fire. Even if he doesn't know what he's delivering, he's still liable to be charged with the same crime." Kuroda nodded in dismissal.
As Reita and Yankumi left, she looked over and said, "Don't worry, Saiga. I'll take care of it."
But Reita wasn't really listening. It was his job to help his friends, to keep them out of trouble. He had been so caught up with his own problems and moving in with Yankumi that he couldn't even remember if Itsuo had mentioned looking for a job, or needing money. This was his fault, and he was going to make it right.
The next day during lunch, Reita took a deep breath and went to talk to Itsuo on the rooftop, away from the other guys.
"Hey, Itsuo…" Reita paused, trying to ask as gently as possible. "Have you ever… looked at what you're carrying for your job?"
Itsuo looked vaguely offended. "What? No! Haven't you seen the Transporter movies? Good couriers never look at the package."
Knowing Itsuo, Reita raised his eyebrow.
"Well, okay, I looked once. It's just a bunch of cigars, man. They're probably trying to get out of transport tax or something."
Reita took another breath. "Itsuo… I think you're carrying drugs."
"What? Are you crazy? My brother hooked me up with this job. He wouldn't-"
"Itsuo, I saw him. The guys he was with were making drugs in the warehouse."
"Oh, come on. Those guys would never-" Itsuo stopped, then looked up at Shin in realization. "How did you know they were in a warehouse?"
"I…"
"You followed me! My best friend doesn't trust me, can't leave well enough alone, and followed me as if I were a criminal!"
"Itsuo, it's not like that. I was just-"
"You don't trust me!"
"I don't trust your brother!" Reita finally shouted back.
Itsuo drew back, then set his jaw stubbornly. "He knows money is tight for us, okay? He got me this job so I could help Mom and Dad. I know everyone thinks we're both screw-ups, but we're not." He glared at Reita in disgust. "I guess you're just like everyone else."
Before Reita could respond, Itsuo stormed off, slamming the door behind him.
Sighing heavily, Reita sank down on a bench with his head in his hands.
"You could have let me talk to him." A soft voice next to him piped up.
He looked over and nearly had a heart attack when he saw Yankumi sitting on the bench as well. He looked around. How the hell had she gotten up here? Wings?
"What difference would it make?" He mumbled finally.
"It wouldn't have hurt you so bad."
Unable to respond to the fact that a teacher cared enough about him to want to spare his feelings, Reita just looked at the ground and tried to think of a plan.
Itsuo ignored him the rest of the day, pointedly avoided eye contact, and as soon as the bell rang, he ran out of the room. Shaking his head, Reita went after him.
He decided to head straight to the warehouse, rather than to Itsuo's house and back.
Even without the detour, Itsuo arrived a few minutes after Reita had hid himself.
"Takumi!" He shouted, hurriedly propping up his bike.
His brother popped his head around the warehouse door. "Oh, hey Itsuo. Bit early, but that's alright." He turned to shout behind him, "Delivery's here, let's get them out!"
Itsuo went up to him. "Onii-chan, I need to talk to you."
Takumi frowned. "About what?"
Itsuo grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to the pallets where Reita was hiding.
"I'm not carrying anything… bad, am I?" He asked anxiously.
"What?"
"The stuff I'm delivering… it's not bad, is it?"
Takumi waved his hand dismissively. "Of course not! I told you, it's just some cigars that would be taxed if you don't deliver them by hand. It's not anything illegal at all."
Itsuo looked somewhat reassured until the last part.
"Illegal?"
"Yeah. Isn't that what you said?"
"I asked if it was anything bad." He glanced over at the packages men were putting into his bike crate. "Is it something illegal?"
Takumi's eyes shifted a little before replying, "I told you, of course not."
Itsuo stared in almost disbelief. "You're lying to me." He looked back at the crate, then started walking towards it.
"Itsuo, don't!" His brother hissed, then lunged to grab his arm. Itsuo dodged out of the way and ran towards his bike.
Just as he reached it, Takumi grabbed the seat and handlebar. "Do you want to get me in trouble?" He hissed, yanking on the bike.
"What did you get me into?" Itsuo hissed right back.
"Nothing! Now stop pulling!"
"You stop pulling!"
Takumi must have yanked extra hard, because the bike suddenly fell over, smashing the crate to bits and scattering the sham lid of cigars amongst the bags of white powder.
There was a long moment where the only movement was Itsuo glancing up at Takumi in a mixture of shock and betrayal.
"You lied to me." Itsuo said softly, as if he didn't want to believe it.
Takumi sighed and started, "Itsuo-"
"What the hell is going on out here?" A voice shouted from inside the warehouse, and the door slid open to reveal a very tough looking man who probably always looked pissed at something. He stopped, then looked at the fallen bike, the scattered bags, and the two brothers.
"What the hell happened here?" He asked Takumi in a dangerously quiet tone.
"Nothing Boss. Just a little accident."
"Accident?" The man's eyes flicked to Itsuo. "This kid is a witness now. Do you know what that means?"
Takumi glanced between his brother and his boss. "Well, I…"
"It means he knows our business. It means he knows where we are and who we deal to. It means that he could go to the cops and that would make life very difficult for us."
"He won't go to the cops, Boss. I swear." Takumi looked very, very nervous.
"You also swore that he wouldn't find out. Don't worry, Takumi, I'll clean up your mess, like I always do. Boys, let's have a chat with our little delivery kid here."
At least twenty men emerged from out of the warehouse and headed towards Itsuo.
"Don't touch him!" Takumi shouted, surprising everyone, and punched the nearest guy in the face. "Run, Itsuo!"
Itsuo tried, but his escape was blocked by half a dozen men. He valiantly threw kicks and punches, but they did little damage, and mostly caused the men to laugh. Until Reita elbowed one in the back of the neck.
"Reita! What're you doing here?" Itsuo yelped in surprise.
"Trying to save your sorry ass!" He shouted back, kneeing one of them in the stomach.
The two boys fought as hard as they could, but they were outnumbered and outmatched. Eventually, Reita, Itsuo, and Takumi were all dragged back into the warehouse, and the heavy door was slid shut behind them.
Ah, shit, Reita thought. This can't end well for anyone.
"Well, it seems that not only did Takumi deceive us in his choice of employees, but the delivery kid also brought a spy to intrude on our affairs. Gentlemen, demonstrate what we do to people who intrude on our affairs."
With chuckles of glee, the men advanced and began laying into their three prisoners, visciously kicking ribs and punching faces. Reita tried to fight back, but it only attracted more men to want a turn beating up the "wiggly one".
Reita was sure he heard one of the Takumi's ribs crack when there was a sudden boom from the door. Some of the men slowed their attack to glance over. Another boom caused the rest to stop and look at each other in confusion.
The third thud split the large door in half, and everyone stared, transfixed as the halves groaned and fell to the ground, landing on either side of a petite figure.
Reita suddenly found himself grinning.
"Who dares to harm my precious students?" A voice echoed through the warehouse. The drug dealers stared.
"Who the hell are you?" Shouted the boss.
"Me? I am the homeroom teacher of the boys you are so valiantly fighting. Five to one odds against kids isn't very brave." Yankumi pointed out as she moved into the warehouse.
"Yankumi?" Itsuo choked out in disbelief.
"You calling us cowards?" Boss-man asked threateningly.
"Since it takes fifteen grown men to take down two kids and a dumbass, I'd say yes."
"Hey!" Takumi coughed in protest.
"I'll get to you in a minute." Yankumi told him without looking at him, and Reita was very glad he wasn't in Takumi's shoes.
"Get her!" The boss yelled, and the men swarmed towards her.
Slightly less graceful than usual, Yankumi still managed to glide between her attackers and use painful-looking joint locks to throw most to the ground. One guy ended up on the floor after Yankumi pulled his bent arm backwards, flipping him over. Another guy ended up smashing his face into her knee after a neat head lock brought him down with her knee came up.
After only a few minutes, the boss was crawling backwards and shouting in fear, "Who the hell are you?!"
"I told you." She answered calmly, marching steadily towards him. "I'm what happens when you mess with my students. Now," She squatted down to look him in the eye. "What clan is protecting you?"
"Huh?"
"What clan is protecting you? Or haven't you heard that the reigning yakuza clan does not take kindly to drugs being sold in their territory?"
"S-some guy said that he'd take care of the clans, th-that w-we wouldn't be bothered." The man was visibly shaking.
"Name?"
"H-he said his name was Sato. Th-that's all I know."
Yankumi stared at him for a bit, then nodded to herself. "Alright. I believe you."
"You do?" The man asked in surprise.
"Yup." She responded, then punched him in the face, effectively knocking him unconscious. She then slowly turned around to look at the boys. Reita was smiling tiredly, Itsuo was gaping in complete shock, and Takumi looked understandably shaken.
"You." Yankumi pointed at Takumi, who suddenly looked even more frightened. "Explain how you got Itsuo into this mess."
"Hey!" Itsuo protested, but was silenced by Reita's elbow in his side.
"I… I was trying to help my family." Takumi mumbled.
"By dealing drugs? By selling things that ruin lives? By eventually getting yourself in prison? Shaming your family? Getting your little brother in trouble?"
"You don't know anything about me!" Takumi finally shouted.
"I know that you're a big brother. And that means that your job is to be someone your brother can look up to. Be someone that he can be proud of. Be someone he wants to be. Because he wants to be you." Takumi glanced at Itsuo, who stared sullenly at the ground. "Doesn't matter if everyone thinks you're a screw-up, even if you think you're a screw-up, he wants to be you. Your job is to be worthy of that. Doesn't matter if you're a janitor, or a trash collector, or the president, you live the way you want your brother to live. Work hard. Be honest. Put other people first. That is your first and most important job."
Takumi stared. "I…"
"The cops will be here any minute. You ask for Captain Shinohara and cooperate with him – he'll make sure you're alright. Now, Reita and I will be tying these guys up while you two chat for a minute."
Yankumi grabbed Reita, handed him some zip ties (Where does she keep this stuff? He wondered), and went to work on several of the men, tossing them into a pile once restrained. Reita knelt down next to one of the unconscious drug dealers and only sort of listened in to Itsuo and Takumi's conversation.
"That's, um, some teacher you got there." Takumi murmured.
"Yeah." Itsuo answered thoughtfully. "Guess she is."
"Look, I… I didn't mean for all this to… I just thought that since I couldn't do anything else with my life, this was an easy way to make money and… I guess I didn't think about how it could…"
"It's okay." Takumi looked up in surprise at Itsuo's answer. "And you're wrong. You could do a lot with your life. And be pretty good at it, too."
Takumi stared at him for a moment, then grinned. "Thanks kid."
Itsuo grinned back. "No problem, Onii-chan."
The sound of a siren echoed through the warehouse.
"Well, guess that's my cue to leave!" Yankumi smiled cheerfully as she dumped the last of the thugs on a large pile in the middle of the room. "Goodbye Takumi. And remember, talk to Shinohara-san. He'll take care of you."
"I will. And… thanks."
Yankumi beamed. "You're welcome! Bye!" And after grabbing Itsuo and Reita, she hurried out the broken door.
They walked Itsuo to his house, waved, and were about to leave when he called out, "Reita! Wait!"
Reita turned to see Itsuo shuffling his foot on the ground. "Sorry about what I said earlier. I just… didn't want it to be true."
"It's alright. What are friends for?" The boys grinned at each other.
"And Yankumi, I… thanks for coming to get me. And for talking to Onii-chan. I guess, you're alright, for a teacher."
Yankumi suddenly looked like she was about to cry, and ruffled Itsuo's hair vigorously. "You rascal! It's my duty as your number one teacher to rescue my precious students, no matter what. Come wind, come snow, come sleet, come giant tsunamis, come the flaming sun crashing into the earth, I will-"
"Yankumi," Reita interrupted what felt like the start of a never-ending speech. "It's late."
"Oh, yes. Well, good night Itsuo! Don't be late tomorrow!"
Itsuo smiled and nodded, then disappeared into his house. Yankumi and Reita headed towards their own home as well.
"You alright?" Yankumi asked after noticing Reita grimace when he stumbled a little.
"I'm fine. Nothing some sleep won't fix. You okay? You took down a lot of guys."
"Pffft. They were nothin'. Left themselves so open a strong breeze would have knocked them over."
"Uh huh," Reita answered, then wondered if her strength was natural, or if she had been dumped in toxic waste and gotten superpowers as a kid.
They reached the porch and took off their shoes while stretching out their kinks.
"Man, I am ready for bed." Reita yawned as he kicked off his shoe.
"Me too." Yankumi agreed as they both walked into the living room and stopped dead. There, glowering with impressive fury, was Shin with his arms crossed.
"So. Where have you two been?" He asked crisply.
"Uh… helping a student! Family troubles, you see." Yankumi replied with an extra bright smile.
Shin was unconvinced. He marched forwards, then leaned in close and blew on Yankumi's shoulder. A sizable portion of dust flew off behind her as her smile got more nervous.
"You were at the warehouse." Shin observed tightly.
"Only for a little bit! And Tanaka and Saiga were in trouble, and Takumi was being an awful big brother, so-"
"So you went into a warehouse full of drugs and drug dealers alone?!"
"There wasn't that many of them! And it wasn't like I was going to do drugs while I was in there."
"They could have thrown one at you and it wouldn't have hurt just you!"
"I – oh." Yankumi stopped as the thought occurred to her, and placed her hand over her belly protectively. "I guess I didn't think of that. Sorry."
Shin started to reply, then sighed exhaustedly. "It's alright. You just have to think of these things now, okay?"
Yankumi nodded.
"And I want you to swear to me that the next time you go into a dangerous place, you. Will. Call. Me. Are we clear?"
Yankumi nodded again. "I swear. Sorry, Shin."
"I know. Now, are you hungry?"
"Oh yes, starved."
"Minoru, do we have extra hot pot?"
"Always, Boss! I will bring it out for Ojou right away!"
Reita, glad he escaped Shin's wrath, ate quickly and went to bed, thinking that it was all over.
He was wrong.
The next morning, as he was waiting by the porch for Yankumi, Shin suddenly appeared and said, "Let's go."
Startled, Reita started walking with him. "Where's Yankumi?"
"She'll be in for math. I volunteered to take homeroom today." He answered shortly.
"Uh, okay." Reita shrugged and decided to go along with it. His classmates were equally confused.
"What is Shin doing here? I though Yankumi didn't have the flu anymore?" Tawara asked Koji, who murmured something unintelligible through a full mouth.
"Is she okay?" Itsuo whispered to Reita worriedly.
"Yeah. I mean, he said that she's coming in for math, so I assume she's fine." Reita answered back.
The bell rang, and Shin called 3-D to attention.
"Alright everyone, listen up. I have some news for you." The boys looked at each other in confusion, then glanced back at Shin.
"Yankumi is pregnant." Everyone's mouth dropped open in shock (including Reita's – he wasn't expecting Shin to announce it to everyone, although, he hadn't really thought about how they were going to tell anyone, really), and a few kids fell out of their chairs.
"Now, while she is in this delicate position, she is still going to do everything with all her energy, so that means if you get into trouble, she'll come after you. Only difference is that if she comes after you, so will I." Reita was sure at least half the class got chills from Shin's frosty tone.
"I want everyone here to think twice, or even three times before you piss anyone off, do something stupid to impress a girl or your friends, or talk back to people who could get you in trouble. Think about whether it's worth possibly getting Yankumi hurt, and definitely getting my direct attention before you do something." Shin glanced around the room of wide-eyed boys. "Do I make myself clear?"
There were scattered mumbles in reply.
"I said, do I make myself clear?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" Came the answer.
"Good. I will leave you all to mull that over, and if you're asking yourselves if I'm serious," He narrowed his eyes dangerously. "I am."
Without another word, he walked out of the room, leaving 3-D to gape openly before dissolving into rapid conversation, most of which were wondering how Shin would kill whoever disobeyed him. After a long and tense discussion, they decided that he was mostly likely to feed them to bears, then set them on fire and throw them into the ocean with sharks.
"Good morning everyone!"
Everyone turned at Yankumi's cheerful voice.
"Wait, where's Shin?" She wondered, then noticed that the whole class was staring at her belly and wondering how they hadn't noticed before.
"What's going on?" She asked suspiciously, then saw everyone's eyes flick up to her with looks of fear.
Suspicions confirmed, she turned and shouted through the door, "Shiiinnnn!"
Yup, Reita thought. Just another day in 3-D.
(If you're interested in learning more about the yakuza and their stance on drugs, the Wikipedia article on yakuza is very interesting. Basically, the biggest yakuza clan out is extremely intolerant towards drugs and human trafficking, and are often seen as more effective than the police and the government concerning crime and natural disasters. Fascinating, no?)