Kamiyama Seijuro sighed as he finally realized that wanting to be a captain and being a captain were two entirely different prospects. In stories it was usually depicted as something grand; someone to keep the others in line and follow by example. Someone who could be depended on to take care of any situation that came to hand. And anyone who were uncomfortable with the idea of him being the captain..well he just had to prove his worth.

The thing is that's exactly what he has to do. He has to prove his worth to every single person in the New Flower Assault Troop. What didn't help was that the group seemed to be falling apart and apparently not getting along with each other. Well he got his wish to try and keep others in line, but he more than likely had a steep mountain to climb. He could feel the pressure from their gazes as they sized him up to see if he is someone worthy of following. He was all for it at first, but even he was starting to doubt himself. The only one who seemed to be supporting him at the moment was his longtime friend, Sakura Amimiya, who happened to be right next to him actually. She was a girl wearing a baby blue Kimono with a floral design to it indicated by the flowers that sprinkle about it, Her long flowing brown hair matched her pretty blue eyes that complimented the dress.

The two of them were tasked with going out and selling tickets. It wasn't the most exciting of jobs, but Sakura seemed to give it her all despite its simpleness. Maybe that's what he was missing? A drive to give it his all? Then again would it appear that he was just taking her shtick and not finding his own drive?

"Here you go, sir. 4 tickets for the next show."

"Thank you, Amimiya-san. I'll make sure to tell my friends."

Sakura had just sold some tickets to an old man. Seijuro had a feeling that he's probably been following the Imperial Theater's plays since they were established. He was probably there when the Imperial Theater was built, but that'd just be rudely insulting the man for being part of the elderly. Its good to respect ones elders, something which is just ingrained in Japanese society. For they take of you, you take care of them.

"How often do you sell tickets, Sakura-san?"

The woman kept her smile as she looked over to him. There were three rolls worth of tickets around her arms. The first two were to the next play and the third roll was for anyone who wanted to purchase the one after that in advance. Usually those were a bit more expensive and gave good seats in the theater, "It's honestly not that often. I know I used to do it a lot when I started out, but that just slowly phased out to me helping around the theater more. I see you doing this more often in your future, Seijuro-san."

Seijuro had to scratch the back of his head at that fact, "I'm looking forward to it."

A few more minutes passed as he and Sakura tried to sell as many tickets as they can. Strangely, it was a very slow day. There weren't many people walking by and the few that did pass by didn't spare a second glance. Seijuro sighed as the silence around them gave him more time to think about how he was going to get the trust and cooperativeness of the girls of the New Imperial Flower Troop.

"How do I do it?"

Sakura spared him a glance as he said his thoughts aloud, "Huh?"

"How am I going to get the trust of everyone else if they won't give me a chance? Sakura-san, do you know what I can do to get their trust? Or at least their attention as the new captain?"

"Just be yourself." Sakura simply smiled at Seijuro, "I trust you right now because you're just being yourself around me."

"Well this is obviously different, since we've known each other-"

"Is it really?" Sakura pouted and put her hands to her side, "How would you think I would feel if you started acting like a completely different person just to gain the trust of your own allies?"

"Ironic considering that's exactly your job."

"Sei-ju-ro-sa-n."

He gave a weak chuckled, "I'm just kidding. I guess you would say mean things about me and probably something worse."

Sakura shook her head, "I would completely distrust you. How can I trust someone who would change their personality on the fly just to suit my needs? I think they would not be true to themselves after all. How can I trust someone who can't trust themselves?"

Seijuro found himself nodding in agreement, "I guess that would make sense. I would probably get myself lost in my own deceit. If I'm not trustworthy to someone why should I be at all? Is that what you're saying?"

Sakura bobbed her head up and down and smiled. She was glad that they could reach and easy understanding. However the smile stopped as she began to realize there wasn't much foot traffic going around. They can't just change places either because this was where high foot traffic was located and the most likely spot to sell tickets. At least in her past experiences selling tickets. Plus they were assigned to stay in one spot because of the high foot traffic around, "Seijuro-san? There's not many people moving around here today? It should be the busiest time of the day for foot traffic."

"Maybe there's something else going on?"

sakura shook her head, 'We usually make sure the schedule is clear of any events before heading out here. If there was an event then we'd sell there."

"Maybe,we're just in a bad spot?"

"No. This is the route people usually go to either go home or head to lunch. Taking a detour would be inconvenient and waste too much time."

"Do you want me to see if there's something going on?"

"Would you do that, please?"

"Of course."

"Thanks Seijuro-san. Don't take too long."

"Will do."

Seijuro made haste down the street for at least three minutes before coming upon an interesting sight. Four men in black suits and shaved heads all simply stood still and crossed their arms. Anyone who came too close were either glared at or had their Smartrons knocked out of their hands and smashed under their feet. No one dared to protest them in fear of their lives. The reasoning was obvious, they were Yakuza. Members of the Shinkirsaku clan or rather the Kireihana family. He recognized the patches they wore as they turned around and gave him a faux greeting. Though his mind played back to when he first met the goons of the Kireihana family

You can't hold onto this theater forever, Kanzaki. If its not us the Korean Jopak or even the Chinese Mafia will claim this land for themselves when you go under. It'll just be easier if you handed us the rights to this place and your employees and all that can keep working here. Think about how they would feel to know they were out of the job because you held false integrity.

They can't do anything to us, Kamiyama-san. But we can't do anything to them, neither can the Mafia or the Jopak. Do not lash out on them when they inevitably try to provoke you. They would then gain the leverage they need to try and gain the theater. Whatever you do don't fall for their intimidation tactics.

"Ah, I've heard of you. You're the New Flower Assault Troop's new captain. What brings you over here today?"

It made his blood boil that people like this can do whatever they wanted and nothing could be done about it. However, he didn't show his anger. They would undoubtedly use it to their advantage if he showed it., "I was just wondering why there wasn't any foot traffic today. We're trying to sell tickets."

"Ah, I haven't seen anyone all day. Isn't that weird? This is usually the time of day when foot traffic is high. I wonder what's going on?"

His buddies snickered.

"Y-yeah?"

"What was that stutter for? Have something else on your mind?"

Seijuro mentally cursed himself as he was told they would try to find any moment of weakness, even if it was just a little they would find a way to exploit it. He needed to find a way to diffuse the situation. It didn't help that a crowd had started to form just a couple feet away from them. There were probably some who pulled out their Smartrons to start recording what was happening. It would more than likely work in anyone's favor if they got proof. Even the Yakuza knew that bystanders recordings was a very important thing to get.

"Did you hear me, Kamiyama? What was the stutter for, I hope you can tell me honestly. I'd like to know? Is something bothering you enough that you want to tell me? I don't like it when men don't own up to what they're feeling, you know?"

"Well you're standing in the way and I'm sure people are intimidated b-by your appearance."

"See was that so hard, Kamiyama?" He said it in a joyful tone, but his facial expression revealed his disappointment, "You know if anyone else said that shit to us, then they'd get their face caved in. But I like you Kamiyama. The name's Junpei, just Junpei. No need for honorifics. Oi introduce youselves boys!"

"Guro. Just Guro." The man with two scars along his face identified himself as Guro.

"Ken. You haven't earned the right to know my real name." The smallest of the group smirked mischievously.

"Kanta Gou." The man with an eye patch simply said. He was keeping an image of stoicism with the two words.

"Well? Introduce yourself? It's only polite to do the same?"

Seijuro's blood still boiled a bit, but it shifted to true discomfort as the Yakuza pretended to be friendly with him. Junpei even placed a shoulder on his arms, but squeezed as hard as he could without looking like he was doing so. They were still on camera after all.

"Kamiyama Seijuro." He said his name in defeat before they could try anything else.

"Wasn't so hard wasn't Kami- no Seijuro-san? I can call you Seijuro-san, right buddy?"

"I'm fine with it." He switched his strategy to try and make them bored.

Ken the smallest of the group suddenly grinned, "When are you going to introduce use to that kimono wearing hottie? It's not everyday you find yourself childhood friends with a performer in the Imperial Theater."

How did they figure out?!

"No-" Seijuro shut his mouth as he immediately regretted his mistake

"Oh, keeping her to yourself?" Junpei once again took the lead, "What type of friend are you? An ass that fine deserves to be shared you know?"

Seijuro kept his mouth shut, he can't screw up now. He can't screw up now! He can't screw up now!

"What's wrong?! Something got your tongue, Seijuro-san?"

Guro chuckled alongside Junpei, "Looks like he doesn't want his piece to be sloppy seconds."

Junpei grabbed his face and looked him in the eyes. "What are you just gonna take what we're saying? What type of man doesn't lash out when someone's shit talking his girl? Come on Seijuro-san! Hit me! Strike me! Do the worst thing you can possibly do to someone who's trying to be better than you! What if that possibility of taking your girl comes true?! Come on hit one of us to prove that you're a man who knows how to defend his territory! SEIJURO!"

Seijuro didn't want to admit iit, but his boiling point had been hit a long time ago. The mere thought of Sakura being used as a toy by anyone just made him furious! He clenched his fist and Junpei smiled as he knew what would happen next. He let go of the man to let him release his anger.

Seijuro brought his fist up and punched himself right in the stomach.

"The hell?"

Seijuro did it again with much more vigor and kicked himself in the knee for good measure. A strike to his own face and a chop to his own arm. He punched himself in the face one more time to cause his nose to bleed. The blood splattered over the ground, but he smiled.

"You're right. What type of man wouldn't lash out? It wouldn't be manly for him to hit his own friends now would it?"

"Clever bastard."

"Seijuro-san!"

"Sakura-san stay back!"

Sakura Amimiya had come just in time to see Seijuro's beat down of himself, "Why would you do that? You should've walked away when you had the chance." She gingerly placed a hand on his shoulder and felt his nose. It wasn't bleeding intensily, but if he hit ti a little harder who knows how much blood would be spilling?

"Sakura-san, I'm sorry. I was just trying to impress my new friends."

"Friends?! Seijuro-san you can't play along with them, they're no better than thieves. They'll do everything they can to-"

"Hey, bitch. Don't tell our friend what to do! He's a full grown man who can make his own decisions."

Sakura showed a hint of fury upon her face. She scowled at the men, "You know exactly what you're doing. You're trying to anger Seijuro-san so that he can strike you!" She held her arms out as though to be a shield to Seijuro.

"Sakura-san?"

"Who do you think you are? Male friends do this all the time. It's just simple screwing around!"

Sakura kept her gaze steady as she moved from side to side to prevent the group of men from coming any closer.

"We can do this all day."

"So can I."

Sakura jumped as she felt a hand touch her shoulder from behind. Seijuro had actually risen back up from his own beating and let out a cheesy smile that managed to make her heart flutter, "I'm sorry Sakura-san. Don't know what came over me. I'll try to not act like such an idiot next time." Seijuro felt his heart pounding and the boiling blood in him changed to a heat of passion. A subtle aura of blue surrounded his figure.

Guro muttered underneath his breath, "That was lame, but so cool."

"Don't encourage him Guro" Junpei barked at him.

"Sorry, but I don't think I can be friends with people like you."

"Now just back to lame,"

Kanta spoke after a moment of silence, "Won't stop us from blocking the road anyway."

"There's nothing you can do about it neither. We got orders to block this road all day if we have to. Tell that bitch-"

"Geeze enough already. It's one thing that I hate Yakuza who have no regard for children's feelings. Too bad for you I also happen to hate Yakuza who don't know when they've lost. And geeze I can tell all the way from Kansai that you're trying to gain leverage by having a man lash out at you, talk about a low blow."

Sakura and Seijuro looked almost dumbfounded that someone would talk to the Yakuza like that. Least of all a civilian. Said civilian dressed like he just took some clothes off a homeless person. His loose hair and laid back tone didn't help in that matter. His belt wasn't even connected at all.

"Please, let us handle this!" Sakura started, "You're just a civilian you don't have the-"

"Shut it!" Junpei managed to silence the girl, "What's it to you? You look like you're pushing into your 40's. Think you can handle us younger folk old timer?"

"Well, I just came here after a little girl was crying about her doll being torn to shreds by a man with your ugly face. I think I found the right guy. Then I happen to see you trying to get that guy to hit you- probably to try and gain some kind of leverage that you can't afford to be the one to strike first. Am I wrong?"

"Do you know who we-"

"I could give less of a rats ass. What I know is that you tore apart a girl's doll because you were trying to do some intimidation tactic. Probably to cause someplace to go out of business correct? Judging from the confusion on your friend's face there, I assume I'm correct?"

Sakura and Seijuro looked around to see that Ken was the one looking confused.

All pretenses were off as Junpei sighed, "Excuses us one moment."

"Run!" That's the only thing Seijuro could say to the man as the four Yakuza started to walk towards him. It was out of his hands now unless he became a liability to the Theater.

"You got a lot of balls for a hobo!"

Seijuro and Sakura could only watch on as the man couldn't run.

Yagami wasn't entirely sure on what the couple's deal was, but he obviously couldn't stand the obvious bullying no longer. A quick survey of his immediate surroundings showed a light post, some small road cones placed where the Yakuza probably stood, an abandoned wagon that's had its wheels broken off, and a loosely fit manhole cover. The Yakuza approached closer and started to crack their knuckles. Kanta even managed to pull out a knuckleduster. Ken rudimentary switchblade. He breathed in as he prepared himself for a fight. He suddenly moved and imitated the form a crane. His crane stance if you will. The Yakuza just laughed at him.

"Seriously? We're fighting a homeless old dude pretending to know crane stance?" Junpei said . The reason why he said it was obvious. He immediately got into his own crane stance and showed Yagami that he was serious. The rest didn't have stances of their own however.

Yagami simply smiled, "Well show me what you have, grasshopper."

2nd Captain of the Kireihana Family

Junpei

Guro, Ken, Kanta, and Junpei all charged Yagami at once. Yagami obliged their request by running straight at them as well. Ken was first in line as he tried to stab Yagami to no avail, he saw right through it and ducked under it. Kanta approached with a rush trying to use the Knuckledusters, but Yagami was able to redirect the attack back towards Ken. He could not keep this moment going as Junpei managed to grab Yagami when he was trying to go for a punch. The man was in full control as he managed to get Yagami in a full nelson.

Guro managed to land two direct punches on Yagami's face and another to his stomach. As Guro went in for another punch Yagami swung both his legs upwards and landed a kick on the man's face before resting his knees squarely on his neck. Junpei saw to it to let Yagami go and let him drop to the ground before he could do any damage, but it didn't work out in his favor. Yagami scrunched up with his body to bring the scar faced man down with him. Yagami's back then hit the ground with his legs still interlocked with Guro's neck. He immediately thrust his body momentum up to cause a loud cracking sound and a scream to occur in the man's neck. One would assume he would've died with the loud cracking in his neck, but after Yagami's legs unwrapped around his neck the man began to roll around the ground in pain. Causing Kanta to try and get him back up.

Yagami deflected an attack immediately coming from Ken, but couldn't do the same with a follow up punch from the man. Yagami stumbled back a bit and took a knife stab straight to the arm, which he used to his advantage soon after. Yagami took the opportunity to grab his opponent's wrists, grab him, lift him up, and cause his spine to crash into the light fixture. Yagami did not let the man take a moment to recover as he kicked the man up into the air and followed that up by jumping and kicking him back down.

Junpei took the opportunity to blind slide Yagami once again by kicking him in the face and using his other leg to balance while he spin kicked him. He followed up by pouncing on Yagami with a full body tackle and wailing on him. It was a moment of pure joy for the man as he managed to land a solid 10 hits on Yagami's face as he tried to get the man off of him. Yagami's blood splattered over the street and onto the broken wooden cart nearby. Yagami seemingly had enough as he grabbed both of the man's wrist and headbutted him to get him off. His request was met with an enthusiastic headbutt back from the man and the two simply started to hit each other's heads.

It was simply just merciless blow after merciless blow until Yagami won in the end giving a final headbutt to finally get the man to yield and roll of Yagami to recover in pain. Yagami slowly got up from his position on the ground and noticed that the group were still recovering. From his attacks from earlier.

"I'll have to say, you guys ain't half bad." Yagami took out a cigarette and a ligher and began to smoke it. He put the lighter away and continued to smoke for a couple of seconds as the Yakuza began to get their bearings once again. A subtle blue aura had began to accumulate around both Yagami and a yellow one had began to form around Junpei, "But, I'm just getting started!" Yagami's still kept the cigarette in his mouth as he began to practice his footwork, "Come on that all you got?"

On the sidelines Sakura and Seijuro were honestly surprised the man was lasting so long after all those blows. It was a shame for Seijuro that he couldn't do anything to help, especially since the man came to their aid. Talk about being a defender of the capital if he can't help out someone who's defending him. However, Seijuro began to feel like something important was going to happen. It's like he could pinpoint the exact moment he should be lookin-

"Wait a second!"

"Seijuro-san?!"

Seijuro began to focus completely on Yagami's movements, specifically the momentum his legs. He ignored the voice of Sakura for just a moment to concentrate completely on him. Right about now!

Yagami's taunt worked as Ken once again charged him with his rudimentary knife. In response Yagami just smirked with the cigarette still in his mouth. As soon as the man got close her spat the cigarette out at the man and into his eye. This forced the man to let go of his knife and had it flung towards Yagami. In response Yagami had a reactionary response as he kicked the blade away from him. This caused it to lodge straight into the man's shoulder. The attacks from earlier, the cigarette in his eyes, and know the blade in him served to knock Ken out of the fight. Yagami noticeably grimaced at the fact he sent a blade straight into a man's shoulder. He noticeably looked apologetic.

"Sorry, might want to keep that In there for a bit. You'll probably lose more blood if you pull it out or something like that."

Seijuro finally snapped out of trance and looked up and down as if he was thinking, "Can this work?!" Seijuro envisioned himself in a completely blank space and suddenly thought of a Kouma and his Mecha. The monstrosity held a tight grip around the intending to crush it like a grape. The dual swords hung at the sides but a quick reflex would allow him to stab the Kouma by dropping one of the swords and kicking it with a boost from the legs. "No that won't work. It's death grip would probably tighten. Perhaps I a different scenario?"

Seijuro imagined himself in a much more safer scenario. He was with someone who didn't have a ranged attack and a flying Kouma was harrasing them. A quick jolt of thinking had him throw the sword up in the air and kick it directly at the Kouma at breakneck speeds. "I got it!"

"Got what?"

"I don't know. I was just observing that guy's movements and I had a sudden inspiration... like a revelation."

"What did you think about?"

"How we can deal with distant enemies if we have no ranged options available to us."

Sakura simply looked confused at his statement.

Yagami still winced, but he knew the man wasn't dead. His chest moving up and down seemed to have indicated so. He was not prepared for the now recovered Guro to come back and go for a punch. It connected and he stumbled into the broken cart. He dodged a punch from the man soon after which caused his fist to hit the cart and actually cause it to crack a little. Guro didn't even wince as he recovered and managed to grab Yagami's arm and pull him back towards the cart. Guro actually slammed Yagami's face into the cart a second later and delivered a punch to the back of his head for good measure. A smile formed on his lips as Yagami slumped over and fell from the cart.

That smile was short lived as it turned out Yagami took only a quick moment to recover and hit the bottom part of Guro's knees. This caused a small knee-jerk reaction and Yagami took advantage of it by pulling the man down to his level and punching him in the face. Yagami didn't even let the man recover as he got up himself and pulled on his legs. Kanta and Junpei both tried to take advantage of back turned Yagami, but were instead met with Guro being flung at them from ground level to the air. Yagami wasn't even far behind as he jumped on the back of Guro who was pinning the two on the ground. This knocked the wind out of Kanta and Junpei, but completely knocked Guro out. Yagami backed off from them for a second to catch his breath, but Junpei was a bit faster than Kanta to push the unconscious man off of him.

Junpei approached Yagami, but stopped a couple of feet from him. He breathed in and once again went into a crane stance. He stopped doing the stance after a second and placed a hand behind his back. He used his other one to taunt Yagami and tell him to try and rush him. His plan was to let Yagami try to strike first and counter it. Yagami obliged and clashed his own fists together before he decided to grab the broken cart and lift it up. Junpei didn't even have time to recover from his shock as Yagami brought it crashing upon his head. The cart broke in twain from the force and Junpei felt his head to check that he was alive and his head was bleeding. That didn't stop Yagami from quickly punching his chest in rapid succession before finally ending it with a kick in the stomach. Junpei backed away while clutching his stomach, but the pain and exhaustion from fighting caused him to drop over.

Yagami didn't wait a second longer after he saw Kanta finally beginning to recover. He ran up to the man getting up and kneed him in the face. Yagami stopped for a moment and dropped his arms. He casually walked over to Kanta holding his nose crouched low to the ground, "So? How much does a doll usually cost around these parts?"

Before the man could groan someone shouted, "Hey punk stop right there, don't move!"

Yagami looked behind him to see more men in suits making their way through the crowd of bystanders. He sighed and searched the man, but could only find the Smartron in his possession, "I'll be taking this. I'm sure someone would want to pay top dollar to get a Yakuza's phone. See ya." Yagami made a sprint towards the loose sewer cover and simply lifted it up to open it. He quickly entered the sewers and fled the scene.

"We should get out of here too, Sakura-san."

"Yeah!"

Seijuro and Sakura didn't waste anytime as they went back the way they come from. It was safe to say there wasn't going to be any foot traffic for a while.

...

Like I said before these are just what you call pre-mature chapters. That and I'm going off of pre-release info without spoiling myself with the game that's already out. This chapter was mostly split between Yagami and Seijuro, but Yagami was just fighting. I'm thinking of 4-5 chapters before the English release of the game. I'm thinking next chapter debuts the OC (like I said before to fill in the inexperienced civilian bit), chap. 4 To focus on Akiyama and possibly Yagami, and Chap 5 to focus on Seijuro and Haruka. Though plans change all the time however- so yeah.

Have a nice day and see you next time.