Tenkaichi Street, Kamurocho

Izuku hissed slightly as his body creaked with every step he took.

The adrenaline from his brawl with the Yamikumo Clan had worn off long ago, and despite feeling worn and tired during the whole ride from Shizuoka to Tokyo, he couldn't drift off and allow himself to sleep.

He actually hadn't slept since the whole situation had begun with Akatani. He was too busy trying to decipher the clue the man had given him. And then after that, he was far too wired to sleep on the way to get his mother back from Akatani.

Pain aside, he could still say that Kamurocho was… interesting, to say the least.

Flashing neon lights everywhere.

Barkers drumming up business for one hostess club or another.

Salarymen looking for a place to drink away their paycheck.

A few couples stumbling about and looking just a bit too deeply into one another's eyes.

His mom had told him about a short period in the 80s called the "Bubble", where she said cash flowed like water, and looking at Kamurocho now, he could almost imagine that the bubble never popped.

"Okay, so Tanimura-san told me that New Serena is a bar here on Tenkaichi Street and that we should speak with the Mama there, Mariko-san. We'll regroup there and then get around to canvasing the city. According to Akatani, we should start at the Millenium Tower and work our way around. Apparently most of Japan's yakuza are huge fans of the place."

"Right."

"Now let's see if we can find New Serena…"

"You mean the New Serena right across the street from Stardust?"

"I'm sorry?"

Izuku pointed at the little sign that said, "New Serena" across from one of the brighter buildings on the street.

"Wow, I am off today. Do I need glasses or contacts? Maybe Lasik? This is getting embarrassing. What do you think, Midoriya-ku-? Midoriya-kun?"

Izuku was already halfway down the street when Tsukauchi turned to him.

"He-hey, wait up!"

And the detective ran after the boy.

DING!

The detective and child duo stepped off the elevator and walked over to the door at the end of the hallway.

The sign on the door read closed, but they weren't there for any of the actual services that the bar should provide, so it was promptly ignored.

Semi-remembering years of etiquette that had been drilled into him by his mother, he knocked twice and opened the door.

"Excuse me, but we're looking for…" He trailed off as soon as he looked toward the bar counter and saw a familiar sight slumped over it.

White shoes, gray suit, and the popped collar of a red shirt.

He'd recognize that sight from anywhere. The man in front of him was-

"Kiryu-san?"

The man turned back to look at the boy in the doorway, recognition flashing in his eyes.

"Izuku…?"

"Izuku?" That voice sounded familiar too. It came from his right so turned his to see-

"Taijiji?"

His head was shaved and he hadn't seen the man in two years, but he was still a mountain of a man with a very distinctive voice, so Izuku remembered his uncle's brother well enough from the few days that he had spent with the man.

"Okay, so who's this now?" Izuku didn't recognize that voice, but it came directly from Taijiji's side, so he just turned his head to see who it was.

He was greeted with sight of a man wearing a maroon pinstripe jacket, a black shirt, and dark gray slacks.

Before Izuku could respond to the stranger, he heard a gasp behind him.

It was clearly from Tsukauchi, seeing as he had come in after Izuku, and the detective was pointing at the only other man wearing a trench coat, who sat next to Taijiji.

"Y-y-you're…"

"Um, Tsukauchi-san?"

"Y-you- You're- Y-..."

"Tsukauchi-san, you're malfunctioning. I thought I was the one with a concussion."

"MAKOTO DATE!"

"Okay, you're yelling now."

"I'm sorry, it's just… he's my hero. He's the whole whole reason why I'm in Division Four. I wanted to be just like after I finished my time as a beat cop. The guy's a legend."

"Well, thank you. I'm happy to hear that."

"Makoto Date just said 'thank you' to me!" Tsukauchi's squee both intrigued and disturbed Izuku.

Regardless, he had damage control to run, "Just… give him a minute, this is a big moment for him."

Five Minutes Later…

It took some time, but eventually Tsukauchi managed to compose himself and the group(sans Kiryu, who still sat slumped over at the bar) moved to an alcove off to the side.

"So Midoriya-kun, you're telling me that you've met both Kazuma Kiryu, The Dragon of Dojima, and Taiga '18 Counts' Saejima?"

"Yup." Gold.

"You've known the former for over half a decade, and you met the latter just before he went back to prison two years ago? "

"Didn't know about the prison part, but yes." Gold.

"Alright, last thing. You've never met Makoto Date in your life?"

"Aside from hearing about him in passing from Kiryu-san, I never knew he existed."

Tsukauchi's eyes flashed gold one more time and he sighed in relief.

"Okay, good. Now I don't have to shoot you."

"Tsukauchi-san!"

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean that. It was a joke." Silver.

Choosing to ignore the homicidal thoughts of his friend, Izuku turned towards Akiyama, the man in the maroon jacket.

"So what were you saying before we interrupted, Akiyama-san?"

Akiyama, proving himself to be incredibly used to strange people and situations, proceeded to explain the situation as he had been doing before the duo interrupted.

He explained that the entire debacle involving Majima's shooting and the multiple situations that had to do with Saejima's daring escape from prison to Sapporo to Kamurocho, and even Kiryu's return were kicked off by one man.

"The Omi Alliance's Seventh Chairman, Tsubasa Kurosawa."

"Omi Alliance?"

"Sound familiar to you, kid?"

Tsukauchi chimed in here, "We just took down an Omi family down in Shizuoka. The Yamikumo Clan."

"Never heard of it. How about you, Saejima?"

The escaped convict shook his head in the negative.

"Not me."

"They were an offshoot of the Go-Ryu Clan."

Date brows shot into his hairline.

"The Go-Ryu Clan? I thought we wiped out most of them years ago."

"Apparently not. The leader and a few of his guys ended up kidnapping Midoriya-kun's mother a couple of days ago. They took her to Shizuoka and we just got back from there."

"That's horrible. Did you get her back?"

Izuku answered, "No, but the leader told us that she was here in Kamurocho, so we're here to get her back."

"Wait, so when you say that you took down a family in Shizuoka, do you mean that you brought the police in and had them make arrests?"

"Of course… after we fought our way through them and Izuku kicked the crap out of one of their lieutenants and their patriarch."

"Wait- he did what?"

Akiyama seemed shocked.

"I'm sorry, that kid right there took out a lieutenant and a patriarch?"

Date did as well.

"Huh, figures. Anyone who went through Majima's trainin'd a special kind of weird."

Saejima, however, was quite unflapped.

"Look, that's enough about me. What's with this picture, Akiyama-san?"

He gestured to picture on the table, one that he had before.

It was a picture of his uncle with his arms slung over the shoulders of two people.

One was a man that he didn't recognize.

The other was a woman that he had seen just a couple nights before.

Mirei-baba.

He had heard on the radio that she was putting together a debut concert for Haruka at the Japan Dome, but he hadn't heard from the woman herself since a couple nights before.

"Right, well in the middle it's Goro Majima. To the right, that's Natsuki Katsuya, President of Osaka Talent and Patriarch of Osaka Enterprises. And to the left, it's-"

"Mirei-baba, my uncle's wife."

"Well ex-wife, but yeah. And 'Mirei-baba'?"

"I saw this picture fall out of my uncle's wallet once. My mom told me that the girl in it was Jiji's wife, so 'baba'."

"Alright, then. Moving on, these three had ended up realizing what Kurosawa was planning and worked to protect each other, and it ended up working. For the most part."

Izuku shifted his position slightly. He was still hurting, but he could bear it. He needed to hear this.

Akiyama reached into his jacket, pulling out an envelope and sitting it on the table.

"Most of the situation down in Osaka revolved around this. It's a letter from Majima-san to Park-san. As it turns out, it ended up sparking some issues between Osaka Enterprises and Dyna Chair, where Haruka-chan is signed."

"Why?" Izuku asked.

"Well, if you look close, you'll see that the postmark shows that it was sent after Majima-san was supposedly killed in Sapporo."

Really? But Mirei-baba didn't say anything when she visited mom.

"Not only that, but the letter indicated Majima-san's whereabouts. When the people at Osaka Enterprises learned this, they figured Majima-san was still alive. So they figured that getting a hold of the letter would help him pin down his location."

Well, that makes sense. But, wouldn't Mirei-baba keep it on her? Maybe in her purse? She had it with her when she visited.

"This led to a ransacking at Dyna Chair. No one was hurt, but Park-san ended up going to ground. She gave a key to the safe in her office to Haruka-chan, left some instructions for the employees, and disappeared until the end of the Princess League. Now she's here in Kamurocho with Haruka and T-Set, getting them ready for their debut as Dream Line. And she left this letter with me."

"That's… a lot."

Akiyama chuckled, "That's not even the end of it, kid."

"Wait, so does this mean that Jiji's still alive?"

"No, I don't think so, unfortunately."

That's still hard to hear, but fine.

"If he were alive, he would have come after Kurosawa last night."

But lemme guess, he didn't-

"- he didn't show. It's likely he was already..." He eyed Izuku for a moment, before choosing the next word to say, "gone by the time Park-san received the letter."

"Then how did Majima get the letter over to this Park woman?" Date asked.

"Katsuya. That's what Park-san told me when I asked her earlier. She figures that Majima-san had left the letter with him from the start, and I agree. But something still bothered me."

"What's that?"

"How on earth would the people at Osaka Enterprises know about the letter. It just didn't add up."

"Someone from Dyna Chair coulda leaked it." Saejima suggested.

"No, that's not possible. Park-san had kept it in her safe, and then took it with her after going into hiding."

Probably when she came to visit mom.

"None of her employees even knew she had it."

So how? More importantly, why didn't she show it to mom? That was probably why she was there in the first place.

"-was Katsuya-san and Park-san themselves that leaked the info about Majima-san's letter."

"But why?"

Izuku had an idea why. He'd gone fishing with Kiryu-san in Okinawa a few times, and he remembered putting smaller fish on the line to attract bigger ones.

"To see who would take the bait."

"That's right, kid. They leaked word that Majima-san might be alive, even after he was supposedly killed, to set a trap. They wanted to find out who was behind it all. And whaddya know? They bought it: hook, line, and sinker."

Then that must mean…

"-Osaka Enterprises captain working under Katsuya. Along with Kurosawa, who posed as a detective to get me all riled up and keep Haruka-chan from leaving Osaka."

"Then that must mean that he was the one after Jiji's letter."

They talked about a man Daigo afterwards, Izuku didn't understand, so he leaned over to Tsukauchi and asked who that was.

"Ah. Well, if I remember correctly, Daigo Dojima is the most recent chairman of the Tojo Clan. He runs all the families in it and he apparently went missing in Fukuoka when this whole mess started."

Okay, so he's Jiji's and Taijiji's boss. Wait. Dojima?

He was instantly reminded of one of his other neighbors, an older woman named Yayoi Dojima. She had moved into the apartment on the other side of Tsukauchi's, a year ago. She was actually quite nice and a friend of his mom, but the events and revelations of the past few weeks made him wonder.

Is she a part of this too?

He quickly shook his head free of those thoughts, he had to focus. He would worry about that later.

Tuning back into the conversation at hand, he balked at what he heard next.

"The concert at the Dome's in danger?"

What!?

"Yeah, that's the main thing I wanted to talk to you about. Haruka-chan is about to perform her major debut concert at the Japan Dome. But we think there's some serious trouble brewing."

"I thought the concert got cancelled."

"Nope. Like I said earlier, Park-san's with T-Set and Haruka-chan, getting them ready for their debut as Dream Line. Only thing is, she and Katsuya pulled some strings to get the date changed from today to tomorrow. And now, Haruka-chan'll be performing with her former rivals from Osaka Talent. As was the plan all along, apparently."

"Wait a minute, weren't T-Set set to do their debut in Haruka's place today?" Date asked.

"Yep. But, the plan was always to get them all together. They're likely practicing their big debut song as we speak."

Saejima asked, "So what's this threat to the concert all about?"

Akiyama, who seemed to have all the answers, replied, "Both Park-san and Katsuya realized that Kurosawa was targeting Haruka-chan's original concert. So they made the conscious decision to stop it from happening and get Dream Line off the ground."

"Wait, but I don't get it. Why would this Kurosawa guy go after Haruka-neechan?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure she's the backup plan. If he can't finish off Kiryu-san, then threatening Haruka-chan's the next best thing."

"Now that ya mention it, Kurosawa did say somethin'. He said Kiryu-san better watch out for Haruka."

Izuku already didn't like Kurosawa, considering the fact that he was already sure that his mother's kidnapping was the man's fault. But every word that came out of the mouths of the men around him, made him start to hate the man even more.

"But holding a concert at the Dome was something Park-san and Katsuya had wanted for so long. So, while I couldn't get any more details while I was with Park-san, I think they changed the day, hoping that would dodge the threat to Haruka-chan. Things definitely didn't go to plan though."

That confused Izuku. "How do you mean, Akiyama-san?"

"Right, you just got here. Well, to put things shortly, I imagine that he wanted to end things with Kurosawa last night. But Kurosawa got away. And even if we wanted to cancel the concert, Park-san's refusing."

"So then what's the plan now?" Tsukauchi asked, after remaining silent for the longest time.

"We have to stop Kurosawa's men from getting into the concert tomorrow. Failing that, our only option is to beg Park-san to either postpone the concert or cancel it."

"Cancel it, huh?"

"It's a concert at the Japan Dome. You're talking tens of thousands of people going in and out."

"I agree with Date-san. Even if we stopped Kurosawa from getting in, there's no feasible way of weeding out all of his men."

"Up until today, I was all for helping Haruka-chan get her chance in the spotlight and allowing Park-san to fulfill her dream. But with Kurosawa mucking things up, we haven't got much choice."

Izuku took this chance to speak, "Then let's make a choice. We can't let this concert be cancelled."

"Huh?"

"I agree." The voice came from the counter.

"Kiryu-san…!?"

Kiryu had been slumped over the counter since Izuku and Tsukauchi walked, but now he was sitting upright, and getting up to walk towards the group.

"How are you still walking?" Date asked incredulously.

Kiryu ignored the question, "Izuku's right. You can't cancel the concert, no matter what."

"Did you hear all of that?"

"I got the gist."

"Then, surely you understand how risky it is to go ahead with it."

"I do."

"Then, why?"

"Because even if Haruka heard what was going on, she'd still choose to go on that stage."

"Yeah, Haruka-neechan's always been the most likely to put her neck on the line for us."

"You knew that before you came to talk with us, didn't you? And you also know that I'm the only one that could convince both her and Park to pull out."

Akiyama rubbed the back of his head with a tired chuckle, "You got me there. Haruka-chan would go on with the concert even if she knew the risk, especially with Park-san still completely on board. But if you told them to drop it, maybe even you took the kid here with you, they'd listen."

Both Izuku and Kiryu remained silent.

"Are you willing to put her up on that stage knowing that her life is at stake?"

Kiryu kept his silence and walked out the back door. Izuku waited a moment before following him.

Izuku looked at Kiryu across the roof of New Serena.

The man leaned on the railing and stared down onto the street below, a cigarette hanging between his lips as he tried to light it.

Kiryu had always been an ideal for him to look up to, a pillar of strength parallel to his uncle for him to draw his own strength from.

But looking as he was now, Izuku could see Kiryu for what he really was.

A man.

A tired old man.

A tired old man that needed someone to lean on, just as others needed to lean on him.

And Izuku, he was willing to do that. More than willing to do that.

"Kiryu-san."

Kiryu didn't even turn around, "What do you need Izuku?"

The boy approached slowly, "I just wanted to make sure you're doing alright."

"I'm doing fine, you should get back inside."

"So should you."

"Heh, can't argue with that logic."

This wasn't getting him anywhere, he needed to be more direct.

"Kiryu-san, we can go through with the plan. We can't let that concert get cancelled, no matter what."

"Izuku, you keep saying 'we', but I don't think you understand. You're not going with us, no matter what plan we make."

This was first he was hearing of it.

"What? Yes, I am."

"No, you're not. I couldn't ask for you to do something dangerous."

"Then you're not asking, I'm offering. I wanna do this for Haruka-neechan, Mirei-baba, even Jiji."

"And what about your mother? You still need to look for her."

"I'm pretty sure that that Kurosawa guy has her. If we take care of him, we can save Haruka-neechan and my mom, all in one."

"You. Are not. Going." He stared Izuku down.

"Yes. I. Am." Izuku stared right back.

And they stared in silence, the only sounds made being those of the streets below.

Eventually, Kiryu broke the silence.

"Fine, prove that you're ready."

"How?"

"You have ten minutes. Ten minutes to land a hit on me. Punch, kick, knee, elbow, headbutt. Doesn't matter what you hit me with or where you hit me, just hit me. We have this entire rooftop and I won't leave the rooftop. You won't either. Same as six years ago, only this time… I'll be hitting back."

The man took his fighting stance, raising an arm and putting a fist in front of his chin, leaving the other crossed down in front of his waist. After all these years it still looked simple, but the red aura that burned around the man was anything but.

Izuku couldn't back down though. This was his benchmark, his way of seeing if he had really made progress since his uncle had found him crying in the park, all those years ago.

"Fine then" He took his own fighting stance leaning forward and keeping his body low, right arm crossed in front of him, the other held loosely at his side "Let's do this!"

And so, Izuku was set to fight a Dragon.

Kazuma Kiryu

Dragon of Dojima

Ya'll ready for this?