Since Yoyo had joined the GGs in the evening, he didn't leave the garage again that day. Gum showed him to his room. It was away from Corn and Gum's rooms, which were semi-detatched. Yoyo's was on the opposite side of the garage.

They arrived at his door and for the first time since he had arrived, Gum looked directly at him. "So you're Yoyo. Ain't you just a cutie." Her expression didn't change from the intimidating, annoyed scowl and the level of sarcasm in her near monotone voice was impressive, though Yoyo was slightly hurt.

"Listen, kid. I don't know what Corn was thinking letting you join up with no initiation or trial whatsoever. How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
"Fifteen. You aren't even old enough to drink in pubs. Are we going to have to hire a fucking childminder every time we need to go out? I'm the one in charge around here and I got no say in this scrawny little bastard signing up."
What did she say? He thought to himself. Scrawny?

"I've had enough, Gum. I'm not going to take any more shit. There's a lot more I could say about you (he looked her up and down as obviously as he could) than you can about me. So for your own sake, shut the fuck up."

For the first time, her expression changed. Her face now conveyed a false shock. "Well, look at that. The kid's got some bite. Maybe you're not going to be totally useless after all. You just earned this." She threw him a dull silver key. "Don't lose that. We don't have another one. Keep it in your skate."

"T-Thanks." Yoyo stammered. That wasn't what he was expecting, but he wasn't going to complain. "Say, why did you say you're in charge? I thought Corn was."
"Corn... Technically, yes, he is the leader of the GGs. But it's only because the gang was his idea. He doesn't really do anything. I let him call himself the leader because he's my best friend."
"Oh. Well... thanks again."
"No problem. Enjoy." And with that, she glided away.

Yoyo slid the key into the lock and turned it counter-clockwise. To his surprise, it turned very smoothly and the door clicked. He turned the handle and pushed on the door which promplty swung open.

The room was dug into a wall, unlike Gum and Corn's which was a brick structure containing their two rooms, so he had no idea how big it was. It turned out that it was about what he had expected, in terms of dimensions. It was square shaped and pretty small, maybe six meters squared. The ceiling was only about two meters high, but Yoyo was the shortest person Yoyo had ever seen, clocking in at one meter fifty even on skates, so it didn't really matter.

And although the room was very small, the word 'cozy' came to mind rather than 'cramped'. Perhaps this was because it was astoundingly well decorated and furnished. The walls were painted candy red and the floor was made of varnished wood. In one corner was a double bed with a grey leather frame and red covers which matched the wall. Next to the bed was a pine nightstand-cabinet and against the opposite wall were some matching pine shelves, and a matching pine table with two chairs sat in the middle of the room. There was a small alcove in the corner with a toilet, a sink and a mirror. Yoyo noticed that he had been provided with toothpaste, a toothbrush and deodorant.

He sat down on the admittedly messily made bed and emptied his satchel next to him. His few posessions tumbled out. There was his phone and its charger, his headphones, some bottles of Coke, a few bags of sweets and packaged sandwiches, a spare set of clothes, white skinny jeans and a grey long sleeved t-shirt, some pyjamas, lime green hair dye, his toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, a can of deodorant and a neatly folded crochet blanket which he carefully laid out onto the end of the bed.

He unstrapped his skates and kicked them off, took off his clothes and changed into his pyjamas. He then put his belongings, all of which had been shoplifted, a habit which was necessary when you were a homeless rudie, into their correct place. He pocketed his phone. His headphones went onto the bedside table. The food and drink went in the cabinet built into it.. Both of his outfits as well as his skates went onto one of the shelves. The hair dye, toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant went next to the bathroom supplies that had been provided.

By the time it was done, it was dark outside. Yoyo sat down on one of the chairs at the table. He thought for a few minutes about how he was finally part of a gang. Corn was his friend for sure and Gum seemed to be warming up to him too. He tried to put the fact that he was inevitably going to have to enter the brawl for Tokyo at the back of his mind.

After a few minutes, his thoughts were interupted by a knocking at the door. He panicked, realising he was in his pyjamas. Was it acceptable for them to see him in them yet? Was it acceptable at all?
"Hey, bud? It's me, Corn."

He sighed. He couldn't get changed now. He wouldn't dare try because the door was unlocked and Corn might come in and catch him with no pants. He opened the door, and to his relief, Corn was wearing a scruffy t-shirt and joggers, much like himself. Although, Corn bizarrely had his skates on with his pyjamas while Yoyo had bare feet.

"Hey."
"Hey. Can I come in?"
"Sure."
Corn entered Yoyo's quarters and took off his skates. He sat down and put two mugs on the table.
"Cocoa."
"Thanks."

Corn looked around the room with what appeared to be a slightly regretful expression on his face. Yoyo decided to ask Corn the question that had been on his mind since he entered the room.
"So, why is this room so well done up? I'm not complaining," he added quickly, "it's nice. It just seems..."
"I know. I might as well tell you. Me and Gum were drunk one day and we decided, although nobody had come here while we'd been here, to have a guest room dug out, decorated and furnished. It was very expensive by rudie standards. I'm glad you're here so it's being put to use."
"Oh. I see. Well, it's very cozy. Thank you."
"Don't thank me, thank alcohol. Anyway, I'm here to discuss business tomorrow."
"Go ahead."

Corn took a mouthful of his cocoa. "Well, over on Dogenzaka Hill, our territory, there's a statue. It's called the Goddess of the Streets. Well, there was a statue. It's been stolen, and we're going to be the ones who get it back."
"Why is this statue so important?"
"It was carved from a rock from the ruins of the Rokkaku building when a gang destroyed it in the year 2000. That gang was actually a previous chapter of the GGs. So that statue symbolises the great victory of we, the rudies, over the establishment. Anyway, we think we know who took it. There's this guy with spiky headphones who's been creepin' around Dogenzaka Hill lately. I want you to corner him and find out what he knows. Or, just bring him back here. You can flush him out with some good old fashioned tagging."
"That sounds easy enough. I can do that, yo."

"Yo?"
"My name's Yoyo. So I decided to start saying 'yo' at the end of my sentences. It... sounded better in my head."
"No, no, I like it! You sound confident. Girls like confidence.""Whoa there Corn, I never-
"Ahahaha, I'm just messing with you. But I do like it and for real, so will girls. Anyway, I'm going to head off now. We'll go over everything at breakfast."
"When's breakfast?"
"When you wake up. Oh, by the way, congrats on standing up to Gum. I'm too scared to do that sometimes."

"She told you?"
"She sure did. She told me how you said you weren't going to take any more shit, and apparently she really likes your attitude."
"Oh."
"Ok, this time, I am off. G'night."
"Night. Yo."

Corn grinned from the doorway, then shut the door. Yoyo flicked the lightswitch as with no windows it was pitch black in the room, and he was scared of the dark. He got into bed, curled up, and slept.