Captain Blues: Ahoy-hoy! This is your captain speaking and we have a new fanfic alert! So, I am a huge Persona Fan, we all know this. But many don't know that I'm a huge Yakuza/Like a Dragon fan and after waffling on it, I decided to go for it. So it's time for the Yakuza AU for our thieves to get started!

Full Title: Judgement: The Tale of Shibuya's Syndicate of Phantoms

Short Title: Syndicate of Phantoms

Summary:

The Tateyama Ren that was framed and arrested for assault was not the same Tateyama Ren that stepped foot in Shibuya. A teen sickened by the corrupt system that holds the citizens by the neck, Ren decides that it is time for a change.

"So what are you trying to say, Ren?" Ryuji asked as he stared at Ren's back as the other teen watched the sunset.

Ren turned around and said, "I think the time for being angry at our lot in life has passed, Ryuji. I think it's time for us to step off this path of obedience and lies…And step on the extreme path of justice."

Pairings:

Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto/Takamaki Ann
Okumura Haru/Sakamoto Ryuji
Sakura Futaba/Yoshizawa Sumire
Majima Goro/Makimura Makoto
Niijima Sae/Takemi Tae
Ohya Ichiko/Sakura Sojiro
Hasegawa Zenkichi/Kawakami Sadayo
Iwai Munehisa/Mifune Chihaya
Kitagawa Yusuke/Mishima Yuuki
Lavenza/Morgana
Suzui Shiho/Togo Hifumi

Rating: Rated M for Mature

Disclaimer: The Following is a fan-fiction based on Persona 5/The Royal/Strikers by Atlus and the Like a Dragon Series by Sega. Please support the official release

Syndicate of Phantoms
Prologue

Tateyama Makoto could see that something had changed within her son.

It had been three weeks since he returned after being locked away in the junior detention center for five long months and Mako noticed something in her son. He was still the kind, loyal, and honorable son she had raised with pride, but she noticed that his kind heart had dimmed.

Something was bubbling under the surface of her son. He seemed to anger more easily, never at her, but at the things he went through during those long five months. She had seen that type of anger before. She had seen it in her brother, Lì Huá shortly before he left her behind.

And it was the last time she had ever seen him.

Seeing the tranquil fury in her son's eyes reminded Makoto so much of her brother that it terrified her. She didn't want to lose her son like she had lost her brother. Unlike her husband, Tateyama Kisuke, Makoto believed that her son hadn't assaulted that politician and that woman.

Ren wasn't the type of person to lash out and attack someone like a mad dog.

She knows her son better than that.

Her husband thought otherwise.

"So that's it?" Makoto questioned as Kisuke lay in bed. "You're just going to ship him off to Shibuya and have him stay with a man I don't know?"

Kisuke sighed and rubbed his hair black hair. "Makoto, I understand your hesitation, but Sojiro is a good man. A stern man. Ren needs something like him right now."

"He needs his father," Makoto shot back.

"And his father needs to support his family," Kisuke retaliated. "And I can't do that with Ren here. He's costing my clinic a lot with the scandal. The sooner we get him away from here, the better off our family will be when he returns."

Makoto was stunned.

"Scandal? Kisuke, you really don't think Ren actually did it, do you?" Makoto asked. At Kisuke's silence, Makoto let out a scandalized breath. "You believe he attacked that politician? Kisuke, how could you? Ren wouldn't lash out like some mad dog!"

"Makoto, you need to see reason," Kisuke sighed. "Shido-san and the woman he was with both collaborated that Ren had attacked them. And we've both seen that his attitude has changed since he returned from the detention center."

"Kisuke!" Makoto exclaimed.

"I made my decision, Makoto," Kisuke firmly decided. "He leaves for Shibuya in two weeks. Now, do you want to tell him or will I have to?"

Neither of them have spoken since.

Makoto's temper flared when she thought of her husband. When the two of them had met so long ago, with her coming off the cusp of a traumatic month where she endured the death of her guardian, Wen Hai Lee, the death of her fraternal twin brother, Lì Huá or Tachibana Tetsu, who has was inches away from talking to one more time, and the disappearance of the kind man who had protected her for so long, things felt as if they were looking up for the first time in a long time.

The doctor who would become her husband was a good man and often went out of his way to make her smile, especially when the pain of what she had lost would get to be too much.

Despite the ache in her chest at the thought of the mysterious man who had protected her during that month of chaos, she had grown to love Kisuke. So much so that she agreed to marry him and had Ren.

She followed Kisuke through all the highs and lows, including selling Hogushi Kaikan Massage, which was left behind by Wen Hai Lee after he died, when Kisuke found a good position overseas and eventual return to Japan when Ren turned twelve to be closer to family.

At least, that's what she told Ren.

In actuality, Kisuke had been having an affair with one of his fellow doctors, and not wanting to ruin their family, Makoto had given him a chance to repair the damage he had caused but even with their return, their marriage stumbled along for five years.

Until now.

Like her mysterious hero, Lì Huá, and Wen Hai Lee, her son was going to leave her.

All she could do was pray that once the year was up, she would see him again.

Otherwise, she would never forgive Kisuke.

Captain Blues: So, a strange opening. OR IS IT?! Anyone who has played Yakuza 0 knows who this is. The official first chapter will come out soon but until then, time to set sail!