| It was around the time when I had been the same age as Hyodo.
Rough and roughed up, I felt the burning need to fight on a daily basis. |
| |
| All I had done in the end was to worry my mother who had single-handedly brought me up to no ends with this baseless agitation I had.
I was so ashamed of myself for that. I had neither the face nor courage to look straight at the faces of the adults from my favourite theatre company. So much that I couldn’t even bring myself to enter the MANKAI dorms. |
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| …Even so, I’d still go watch every single one of their plays, in secret. |
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| One day, a fight with the gang from another school had erupted before the play. I ended up barely making it in time for the opening, tattered and roughed up. |
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| The performance that day had been the Summer Troupe’s classic, a comedy play. They had been kicking up a well-spirited but idiotic fuss on top of the stage. |
| As always, I was totally focused on the play as the curtains came up. However, even though I was laughing, I didn’t know the reason as to why my tears couldn’t stop flowing. |
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| Looking up at the MANKAI Company members shining brightly up on stage, I realised just how pathetic I must have looked…
I’ve not only troubled my parents, but I’ve also betrayed the people of the company who had thought of me as their own son. |
| |
| I honestly wondered what the hell was I doing with myself. I started working as somewhat of a Yakuza’s underling for a shady acquaintance of mine in order to get rid of this guilt I felt.
It was a job which only concerned small errands but it was one that could I could earn quite a lump sum from. I lied to my mother that I had found a job and began putting in my share of money for the family. I still can’t forget the face of relief she had shown back then even now. |
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| However, I’m certain that working under the Yakuza might cause problems for my parents one day. So that feeling of irony has followed me ever since.
That’s also when I met the chairman of the Ginsenkai. |
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| “So you’re the one…Are you the one that’s been conducting shady business on our territory, young man?” |
| “Aah?” |
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| It was a night like this one, where a downpour had suddenly started out of nowhere.
I had been in the middle of a job, transporting a bag with an unknown contents. Although I only had a faint idea of what was inside, I was pretty sure that it was something unpleasant. |
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| Izumida Kikuo, the very chairperson of the Ginsenkai himself had appeared and left me bruised and battered. Of course, the group who had been with me had taken that opportunity and had already ran away, abandoning me. |
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| Even then, the chairman lent me an ear when I refused to let go of the bag. |
| “Why do you want to earn so much money?” |
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| My completely soaked body throbbed and my head was spinning. It seems like I had told him everything while my own consciousness was starting to fade.
…I guess I don’t remember much about then.
What I do remember, though, was the wry smile he had on his face as he dragged me up by my collar. |
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| “You’ve caught my interest.” |
| “……?” |
| “I’ll take you under my wing, so you should come to our place.” |
| “We’re an old group who’s been around for a long time. I’ll teach ya how a real yakuza earns their keep.” |
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| To think that he’d say something like how a genuine yakuza earns their keep… furthermore, he was saying something so contradictory while being violent. I couldn’t help but laugh whilst holding my stomach. |
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| That as when I entered the Ginsenkai and acted only upon the chairman’s orders. |
| That rainy night. |
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| To me… |
| That was also the very night where my “family” had expanded. |
