1 year pre-canon.

"It's done."

"Overhaul?"

"Chrono. The boss just had some kind of attack. He's unconscious. We can start the work. Get Eri."

3 failed escape attempts later.

"Goddammit, why doesn't the little shit understand? She's becoming part of something great! The world will fear the Yakuza again! The filth will be purged! Why won't she cooperate?" Chisaki Kai was not a man given to fits of uncontrolled rage. The sheer power of his curse meant he had to exercise extraordinary restraint, lest he bring the hideout down with an errant touch. There were places for that.

Here was one of them, as could be attested by the semi-atomized remains of several training dummies in the gym at one of the far edges of the facilities. Any underlings had fled the general vicinity once someone saw him snarling as he walked toward the area, and managed to get word ahead of his arrival.

"Boss?" Spinning, Overhaul found himself staring at Hekiji Tengai. The man was standing at the entrance, about 10 feet away. Not a distance that would likely save him, he could cross it faster than his most level-headed bullet could put up his shield. "This better be good, Hekiji."

Overhaul made no move to put on his gloves, a blatant warning of the suffering he was always ready to inflict.

"I have some ideas on the Eri problem."

Overhaul did not relax. "Go on."

"Well, sir, children are bad at negative reinforcement. I've got a younger cousin, used to babysit. You can hit a kid as hard as you want if they're doing shit you don't like, but if they really want to, they'll just do it when you're not looking."

"The point." "Bribery, sir."

"What."

"Well, she's in a dreary room, we feed her cheap food, and you're very aware how much being Overhauled hurts. We just get some candy in here, reward her for good behavior, she'll start falling in line. Keep rewarding her and she'll be putty in your hands."

"And why should I not just continue as usual? That seems...a waste."

"More of a waste than the time we lose finding her, killing any witnesses, and any of the men incompetent enough to do that?"

"...I will take this under advisement. You are dismissed."

With a bow, Hekiji left Kai to stew in his own thoughts.

6 months later

Eri walked out of the alley and accidentally bumped into a green-haired individual, falling onto her butt.

"Oh! Sorry about that. Are you ok?" He offered her a large hand, which she accepted.

"Eri. There you are. Come on, it's time to get home." Just behind her, Overhaul prowled out of the alley. "Don't go bothering the young hero." She brightened at the sound of his voice, turning around. "Sorry papa!" She skipped away to his side, before a quiet word saw her turning again. "Thank you for helping me!"

Mirio watched them walk away, a frown on his face. This was a new development, and a concerning one. 'Better report to Sir.'

A/N

Testing. Testing. This mic still on? My bad, everyone. I've been stuck on Sandblasting for so long I didn't even bother to think up a new place here. I really should catch up on the series, what with the end coming up. Been a while since I watched it. But I figured here would be a good spot.

Overhaul is clearly a terrifyingly intelligent individual, evident in his ability to synthesize a brand new quick-acting gene-modding drug more or less out of thin air and a blood sample. I feel like at some point it would click for him that if Eri wasn't responding the way he wanted to his incentive program, he should change the inputs. And thus he gets her willing cooperation.

I don't think that actually changes up the timeline of his drug production all that much, since he's still the one that has to do the work. But, when your ADHD hyperfixation kicks in, every minute counts, otherwise you risk coming out of that flow state.

Later skaters, I'm gonna go race go-karts with monkeys.This is Jester, signing off, with a friendly reminder:

Wash your filthy hands!