To Rose Tiger: Well that's not going to be good…

To Anon: Hmm… Lynchpin has been rather quiet lately, hasn't he? And I haven't seen any new episodes, though I've heard some things about season 4. I'm intrigued, but if (as they said) it's all like "Chat Blanc" (breaks the universe and trolls the fans without any actual long-term consequences), I'll be disappointed.

To Lyger 0: Both of those get answered in this chapter…

To Butterfly: "Take a business trip to Japan together," they said. "It'll be fun," they said. "You'll 'meet new people'." And some of them will be Yakuza… :D

"He's Yakuza!" Ryoku glared at her cousin, her words hanging in the air. After everything she had seen – the secret warehouse meeting, the fight, all of it – that was the only explanation she could give for the night's events. Shiro had somehow gotten himself mixed up with the Yakuza. She carefully wiped the blood away from the cut on his back, waiting for him to respond to her accusation. "Well…" she demanded heatedly. "Are you going to deny it? Because I know what I saw."

Shiro closed his eyes, wincing, and slumped forward over her lap, the katana finally dropping from his slack grip. "What does it matter to you?" he retorted, though without any energy.

Ryoku pressed the cloth against his back as the bleeding began to slow. "It matters."

The car decelerated. Viperion turned down another deserted street, putting more distance between them and the Yakuza, trying to throw off any possible pursuit. Ryoku met his eyes in the rearview mirror and frowned. Viperion pursed his lips and made another turn, driving along parallel to the elevated highway. "Where should we go?" he asked. "Should we take him home?"

Shiro's eyes widened in fear and he gasped. "We need to get there now!" he insisted, abruptly sitting up straight. "Do you have any idea what they will do now!?" He groaned and slammed his fist on the seat. "Why did you people have to interfere?"

Ryoku gave him a look, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Was home really the best place to bring him, back where he could put the rest of the family in danger? What was even going on here? Their family had never had connections to organized crime before; what had changed? jFinally she shook her head. "No," she decided. "Pull over. We're not taking him anywhere until we get some answers."

Viperion nodded slowly and turned off that street and into the parking area adjacent to a small park. Turning off the engine he killed the lights and turned his attention to the mirrors, searching for any other vehicles on the road. Trusting him to keep them safe, Ryoku focused on Shiro, a severe look in her eyes. "Now start talking. What is going on here?"

Shiro groaned and leaned back in the seat. Closing his eyes, he sat still for a long minute before speaking. "That was a Yakuza hideout where you found me," he admitted, his shoulders slumping. "And yes, I was working for them."

"So you are Yakuza," Ryoku stated ominously, eyes narrowed. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was," he corrected her, fixing her with a hard glare. "Not anymore. Or did you forget about…" He twisted around to show her his injured back, wincing as the skin twisted.

"You'd better explain what happened," Viperion told him, a pensive look on his face.

Shiro let out a resigned breath. "I keep the books for our family business," he explained. His head fell back on the headrest and he closed his eyes. "Last year, we ran into a little financial trouble, and I didn't know what to do. Father is proud – he would have considered seeking help to be dishonorable – so I had to take care of it myself. A friend who works at our bank put me in contact with Okamura-san as a possible investor. Okamura-san agreed to quietly bail us out, but only at a price. I was so relieved I didn't question it until the deal was done. That's when I discovered that he was oyabun of a Yakuza clan."

"You didn't think to ask about that first?" Ryoku stared at him in disbelief.

"I was desperate!" insisted Shiro. "I was afraid of what Father would say! Even when I found out, I thought I could just grit my teeth and pay them back and that would be the end of it."

"What did they want for payment?" Viperion asked. "Or should we guess?"

Shiro sighed. "Okamura-san said I had to repay my 'debt of honor' to them in labor, and that the price of investment was access to all the company's assets. I had to adjust the shipment manifests for select shipments to allow them to bring some things into the country using our company. No customs, no inspections, erase all evidence of the shipments afterward."

"What does that mean?" asked Ryoku, brows knitting together.

"What do you think it means?" Shiro retorted rhetorically, glaring at her. "Once or twice I got a call to adjust a shipping manifest to make a container disappear. Only one during the first quarter, but then it increased – once or twice a month, then weekly or more."

"What was in the containers?" Viperion asked.

"They never told me. But I watched the security footage before deleting it one time. At least that time, they were bringing girls into the country – Thais, mostly, I think, though some might have been from elsewhere. Then the rest of the time, Okamura-san used me for protection: protecting shipments, sometimes protecting him. He used me as a sōkaiya a few times. A few nights a week I watched one of his clubs. Once or twice he got us together expecting a turf war, though we only ever sat around waiting for a fight that didn't happen."

Ryoku frowned. Something still didn't add up. "You got in bed with the Yakuza to save your family business. Fine. Whatever. So what changed? Why did you quit?"

"The job." Shiro groaned. "Okamura-san is trying to go more mainstream with a new property scheme – it's supposed to improve his legitimacy. One of the assembly members has been blocking the development, so I was supposed to kidnap his daughter in order to put pressure on him."

"I take it that you refused?" asked Viperion, raising an eyebrow.

"They didn't cut me up for doing it," Shiro retorted, frowning. "How could I look at myself again if I did something like that? I accepted Okamura-san's offer to avoid the dishonor of the company failing; what would it do to my family's honor if I abducted a five-year-old girl? I had to refuse."

Ryoku's jaw dropped, her eyes wide. "Do you have any idea the danger that puts your family in?" she demanded. She gave Viperion a look, and the car started almost immediately, peeling out of the parking lot. "This is bad!"

"Do you think I don't know that!?" Shiro ground out through clenched teeth. "I know what it means; the first day I worked for Okamura-san, I had to watch what it means when he slaughtered his wakagashira in front of us!"

Viperion accelerated down the street and didn't slow down as he shot up the ramp onto the highway. Ryoku watched the city shoot past them at high speed, clenching her jaw in frustration – frustration at Shiro for putting their family in danger by joining the Yakuza in the first place, and frustration at herself for not rushing home immediately after saving him. Her eyes widened in sudden shock – the realization hit her like a flash of lightning. "You didn't think you would survive tonight, did you?" she accused him.

He shook his head. "If I was dead, then they would have had no reason to take revenge against my family."

"You realize how terrible a plan that was, right?" she demanded. "Even if you were dead, what would stop them from killing your family as a warning to others!?"

"I–" Shiro's shoulders slumped.

The car hurtled down the highway, faster and faster as Viperion drove the pedal all the way to the floor. He tapped the brake only slightly as he veered off the highway into the residential area where her aunt and uncle lived. She stared out the windshield, a tense set to her jaw, afraid of what they could find when they arrived. Afraid that they might be too late.

Ryoku's stomach plummeted into her feet when they pulled up to the driveway. Two vans were parked in front of the house, the yard ablaze with light pouring from the security spotlights on the front yard. Shadows danced across the grass from many people moving around, their outlines forming strange shapes and patterns. A clash of steel rang out across the yard, and Ryoku's eye was instantly drawn to the flash of light reflected off of metal. In the middle of a ring of people stood her uncle, dressed only in a nightgown and holding a wakizashi in front of himself with one hand to fend off another attack from the same swordsman who had fought Shiro – Kamisenshi.

"No!" shouted Shiro, struggling against Ryoku's tight grip, trying to get out of the car even before it had fully stopped. "Father!" He threw his shoulder into the car door and it burst open. He fell out onto the driveway, stumbling across the lawn, katana in hand.

"Get Oba!" Ryoku yelled to Viperion, chasing her cousin out of the car and drawing her own sword. "I'll get Oji!" She heard the car door open behind her, but couldn't take her eyes off of the crowd of Yakuza thugs in front of the house that had closed in around her uncle, pressing him back toward the doorway. Ojisan swung his wakizashi again to parry another strike, but Kamisenshi flicked his wrist just before contact, slipped his blade beneath Ojisan's guard, and hooked it behind the wakizashi. With a quick twist, he wrenched the sword out of Ojisan's hand. "Lightning Dragon!" Ryoku bellowed, pointing her sword at Kamisenshi's back. Lightning arced along the length of the sword, reaching out for Kamisenshi–

but grounded before reaching him. The large man who had been at the warehouse interposed himself between Ryoku and her target, planting his enormous hammer's head on the ground and leaning the handle toward her. The lightning struck the handle and coursed harmlessly down the metal shaft and into the ground.

A cry of pain pierced the night and was instantly silenced. To Ryoku's right, closer to the mob, Shiro fell to his knees. Kamisenshi stepped back from the house, appearing from behind the large man, his katana blade red with blood. Ryoku tightened her grip on her sword and charged, yelling at the top of her lungs. Leaping into the air she spun around, aiming a slash directly at the big man, who dropped back, raising his hammer to block her strike with the handle. The miraculous sword bit a centimeter into the handle, and the man backed away, pushed back by the force of the blow. Ryoku pursued him, slashing again for his side. The man moved back out of her striking range, swung the hammer over his head, and brought it down at her head. In a flash Ryoku stepped to the side, and the hammer struck the ground, sending a shockwave through the earth. Several nearby Yakuza stumbled. Ryoku pinwheeled her arms to maintain her balance before dropping one foot back into a stronger fighting stance, sword upraised.

Kamisenshi stepped forward. "Allow me, Kamiyama," he told the big man, holding his katana in both hands, imitating Ryoku's posture.

Ryoku crouched low and shifted her stance, off hand extended and sword raised horizontal alongside her shoulders, taking in her surroundings in her peripheral vision. A couple of the nearby Yakuza had drawn handguns. One man held a pair of tessen. All of their eyes were on her. Behind the Yakuza, Shiro knelt on the front steps, Ojisan's head in his lap, the katana forgotten on the ground. Ojisan's mouth moved the slightest bit, a trickle of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. A shadow passed over Ryoku's head; she didn't need to look to know that it was Viperion.

Kamisenshi moved first, his katana moving faster than thought in a series of strikes directed at Ryoku from every angle. But for as fast as he could move, her miraculous-enhanced reflexes allowed her to move equally fast. Parrying the first strike and knocking his blade into the ground, she spun over his sword, swinging a backhanded slash at his side. Kamisenshi ducked her first attack and brought his own sword up to block her follow-up, swinging around to face Shiro. Ryoku sprang into the air and flipped, landing between Kamisenshi and Shiro, eyes narrowed in fury. Behind Kamisenshi and the crowd of Yakuza backing him, she could see Viperion placing Obasan into the front seat of the car. Suddenly a flowerpot flew into Ryoku's head from the side. She gasped, turned her head slightly to find the culprit, but no one was there. Taking advantage of her distraction, Kamisenshi kicked her in the leg, and she fell back a pace in surprise.

They had to get out of there – there was no winning here, not against these odds, and not while trying to protect Obasan and an injured Shiro. The car engine revved. Ryoku grabbed Shiro's collar and, jumping over Kamiyama's swinging hammer, sprinted to the car. Shoving Shiro into the backseat first, Ryoku dove in after him, just as a hail of bullets impacted the side of the car. Even before the door was closed, Viperion tore off into the night.