I woke up in a deserted yet overly decorated room.

It is so... English. I don't know how else to describe it. Four poster bed. Check. Painting. Check. Gold plated everything. Check. Seriously. I found myself asking if this is some weird dream or somethin.

A couple of painful pinches on my cheeks proved me wrong.

I looked down and noticed that I'm covered with bandages and is now wearing fresh new clothes.

"A dress shirt and pleated pants? What-"

A sudden knock interrupted my train of thoughts.

"Excuse me, are you awake?" a deep voice called out.

I sat up straight and replied. "Y-Yeah. I am."

An elderly man entered the strange English room. To be honest, I thought that he's a proper addition to the room as well. He looks... "English". I snapped out of my thoughts and saw him trying to talk with me.

"Huh?"

"I am asking you if you can understand English, Miss."

I cocked an eyebrow and awkwardly nodded. I noticed that his accent is pretty heavy. He must be a half -gaijin.

"The master of the house would like to see you as soon as possible. Do not worry for I shall be by your side to assist you."

Not very reassuring. I just nodded again and got up on my feet. I still feel a bit woozy. And only now am I feeling the effects of the fight last night. I shouldn't have done that, looking back on it.

I followed him out of the room and after looking around the ridiculously huge house... whoever this "master" person is, he's pretty loaded. After we passed by a huge music hall, we stopped before a big and overly decorated door. I gulped a bit and entered when the "butler" prompted me to.

There I saw a man with blonde hair and ridiculously thick eyebrows. Why is everything here so ridiculous? Wait... those eyebrows looks familiar...

"Nice to meet you. I am Kotobuki Seishiro. Master of this household and several other companies. But oh, do not let that intimidate you. Here..." he stood up and offered a chair nearby his table. "... have a seat."

I was amazed. What were the chances of me, meeting Mugi's father in this manner?

"You must be wondering as to why you are here." he coughed.

"Yes."

"Well, you see, last night we saw you fainting in the rain. It was an urgent matter so I decided to help you on my own whim. You can just imagine how worried we were to see a young lady fall like that!" he rambled on. I listened carefully. I recognized this baritone voice... he was the one who spoke to me before I fell unconscious last night.

"By lady, you mean trash?" I icily said. He stopped his charade and smirked when he realized that he's been found out.

"Hm. So you knew."

"Sorta kinda." I shrugged. This is getting dangerous.

"Tell me... where did you get those injuries.?" he clasped his hands together and placed his chin on top of it, looking interestedly at me.

"Just a fist fight."

"As we had thought so." He pulled a drawer from his desk and took out a picture. "Take a good look at this lad. Do you remember him?" He threw it at me and I caught it. I stared at the photo carefully and...

"It's one of the guys I beat up last night. What's he got to do with this?"

"Well here's an amusing fact. This guy over here happened to be one of our new recruits. He's supposed to be a black belter in taekwando. But after seeing how you punched the heck out of him last night it seems that he is not that worthy of our group after all." he tsked as he read through some profiles.

"Recruits? Haha what, are you part of a yakuza or something?" I said trying to lighten up the strangely heavy mood. He stared blankly at me in response. Only after giving a satisfied smile did he speak.

"Why, yes, as a matter of fact, we are a part of the yakuza. In fact, this is the Kyokuryū-kai." I felt my blood go cold and a chill ran down on my back.

"Yes. The infamous Black Dragon Society that schemed and murdered its way across Japan, China, Korea and South East Asia in pursuit of Greater Japan, even infiltrating United States in order to achieve our claims." He proudly said as he made gestures in the air.

"This had been passed down to me by Yoshihiro Onaga 30 years ago. Though for a public facade he pretends to still be the leader to keep our group a secret... for the mean time." He said in a matter-of-factly tone of voice.

"Yes I can see that it might take a while before this sinks in on you... but I also need to tell you something." He paused for a second, looking at me thoughtfully. "I want you in our group."

"WHAT?"

"Yes, I am sure that you are flattered to be invited to one of the greatest yakuza group in Nippon and-"

"No. Wait. Wait. Shut up for a second!"

"I could have your tongue cut for being this rude to me you know..."

"I don't care!"

"Hm. You're pretty gutsy. Definitely Yakuza material. You do need to work on your manners though."

"Stop talking like I'm definitely gonna be in your stupid group! Don't I have a say on this?"

"A say? Really now... the way you fought last night was as if you were on your dying breath. I daresay do you still have a life waiting for you other than this? Pardon me but I took some preparations and did some background research." He shuffled through some folders and frowned.

"You abandoned your family for having a relationship with another girl named Mi-"

"Shutup..." Painful memories from last night is coming back. Like acid poured over fresh wounds. Parts of his words are being forced to be inaudible by my own ears.

"-kiyama and happened to be in the same group of friends as my daughter Mu-" It hurts.

"SHUT UP!" I slammed my fists down on his table. His guards entered the room and aimed their guns at me. Kotubuki raised a hand as a signal that it is okay. Then he ordered them to leave.

I wondered why he did that. I felt something on my head. He was patting me? Why?

"And that this Mio girl... broke up with you recently. I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. It's just that... this is the way of Yakuza." he paused and coughed.

"You've had a rather hard night. Sorry for not being more direct... what I wanted to ask you was that... if you'd like to... would you like to be my daughter's personal body guard?" I raised my head and saw him smiling.

"I'm asking you this as her father. Actually, I thought that this is a good idea since she awfully misses her old friends in Keion-bu." I brightened up a bit and smiled for the first time since Mio left me. At least I'd be able to see Mugi again.

Mugi disappeared after we graduated college. We lost all contact with her. This is a good way to reunite with a friend.

"Come. I'll accompany you to her room. Let's be careful though. I want to surprise her." Apparently, under his tough act, he seems to be quite the caring father. But one thing still bothers me.

"Sir if I may ask-"

"Yes?"

"Why was it necessary for me to be able to understand or speak English?"

"Why, you're supposed to be a bodyguard of my daughter! You can't just be another peasant who managed to learn some fighting move or two! As a matter of fact I plan to train you to be the perfect bodyguard!" ah-ha he's totally thinking that I'm an idiotic brute. I felt a trail of sweat running on the side of my face. He's one heck of a dad, that's for sure.

In this house that is so far from everything that is Yakuza, I am about to reunite with an old friend. And as strange as this setting might be. I am happy that I could see her again and perhaps this meeting might alleviate this heavy, murky feeling inside of me.