[Kaya Yoshino, previously Takeru Amano]

[New recruit of the Shi-kai, formerly The Devil of Shinjuku, Leader of the Shi-kai]

1 hour earlier before Kaya shows up at the Tero Clan's warehouse...

Crap.

Why the hell did I allow Ueko to follow me to Kabukicho...?

I glanced to my side at the blond-haired girl with clear viridescent eyes, dressed in her school uniform, that was searching around for signs of Saya with a determined look on her face.

Passerbys on the streets of Kabukicho were glancing at the both of us everywhere we went.

We were attracting way too much attention and anyone with half a brain could tell that the two highschool girls walking around didn't belong in a red-light district ruled by yakuzas.

Aahh!

I was running out of time here.

I needed to save Saya!

As I was still thinking to myself, a familiar voice suddenly called out to me and I glanced over to see Higuchi and two other kobuns from the Shi-kai strolling over, dressed in their host club outfits.

"Kaya! Perfect timing!" Higuchi grinned as he approached me, "We were just about to do some more promo for the host club and we were thinking about getting ya to--"

"Higuchi, it's so great to see you, man! Listen, um, can you do me a favour...!" I hissed in a whisper, glancing behind me at Ueko who was asking some passerbys on the street if they've seen Saya, "Can you take that girl dressed in a highschool uniform behind me to the host club and keep her occupied there until I come back?"

As much as I hated to say it, the safest place in Kabukicho for Ueko would probably be at the Shi-kai's host club.

I just needed to get Higuchi and the gang to keep her entertained while I save Saya, then come back to get her.

It was a perfect plan.

"H, huh...? Sure, Kaya, but..." Higuchi blinked confusedly.

"Thanks," I interrupted whatever he was about to say, "I owe you one!"

Then, before he could say anything else, I sprinted off into the streets until I was out of sight.

"Alright, first problem solved!" I said to myself, clenching a victorious fist out in front of me, "Now, for the quickest way to find Saya..."

The yakuza way.

Find the opposing gang's members and beat the shit out of them for an answer.

It was also the reason why I had to get away from Ueko.

Now time to find some yakuzas from the Nishi family...!

~x~

BAM!

I threw a punch into the face of the yakuza in a black and white suit with the Nishi family's pin on the lapel, and he shot backwards into the heavy padded doors of the warehouse, slamming them open and flying inside the warehouse.

What a pain in the ass.

I rubbed the red sores over my fist, glancing behind me at the dozens of yakuzas from the Nishi family laying motionlessly in a trail on the ground that had been guarding the place.

Despite the fact that I could still easily beat these grunts, this body still only had a fraction of the strength that I had in my previous body as a guy.

And these sores over my fists were just proving my point.

If I wasn't careful with my strength, then I might push this body's limits too far...

Whatever.

I can worry about that later.

For now, I had to...

I stepped inside the warehouse and froze, seeing the countless number of yakuza men in black and white suits inside the warehouse staring at me.

What the fuck--?!

There were at least a hundred yakuzas inside the warehouse!

I glanced around the warehouse, seeing endless stacks of boxes all over the place, some of them open and revealing bags of what appeared to be white powder.

No wonder there were so many of them.

This must be the Tero-kai's shipment warehouse for drugs.

I grimaced, bracing myself into a fighting position as I glanced around the warehouse.

"S, sis...!!"

Saya's voice cried out to me, and I glanced at the end of the warehouse to see Saya sitting on a chair with teary eyes, held down by two yakuzas. In front of her, stood Shigeo who was holding a giant knife and staring at me.

"Shigeoooo!!" I yelled, "You bastard!!"

Shigeo shuffled, then laughed, "You had me surprised for a second there! But, it's just you, Kaya!"

"Tch..."

If this was my old body, I would have no problem beating the shit out of every single yakuza inside this warehouse. But the me in my current state was a different question.

"Leave Saya out of this, Shigeo," I said between gritted teeth, "She has nothing to do with this."

Shigeo chuckled, "Let's not waste time with pleasantries, Kaya. You're not really in a position to negotiate."

"Well, then what is it you want?" I shouted angrily.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Shigeo walked around, brandishing the knife in his hand, "Nothing, really. I just wanted to torment you, and you came at the perfect time."

I knew it.

This dude was completely demented in the head.

There was no use in talking to him.

"Now, sit back and enjoy the show." Shigeo cackled, heading over to Saya with the knife.

"Nooo--!!" I screamed.

At that moment, my mind was set on fighting every single yakuza inside the building.

I didn't care that there were a hundred yakuzas inside the warehouse or that I didn't have my old strength.

All I knew was that Saya was going to get hurt if I didn't do anything.

Just as I was about to run over, the sounds of hurried footsteps rained down from behind me like a thunderstorm.

The yakuzas around the warehouse gasped, and I turned back to see a legion of intimidating looking boys in their late teens standing behind me, all with wild hair and flashy suits, holding an assortment of weapons from samurai swords to baseball bats.

On the lapel of each of their suits was the shiny silver pin of the Shi-kai, a symbol of a skull imprinted at the bottom of the gang's name.

"Oy Kaya," Higuchi grinned at me from the centre of the gang, holding a sledge hammer above one shoulder, "Ya weren't really thinking of starting this party without the boys, were ya?"

"H, Higuchi...?!" I said in shock, then glanced around at the gang, seeing that none of them were wearing their host club suits and were in their old yakuza attire, "Guys... What are you all doing here...?!"

One of my kobuns from the Shi-kai standing next to Higuchi laughed, "Word on the street was that a highschool chick was going around Kabukicho beating the shit out of any yakuzas she saw from the Nishi family."

"We can't let ya hog all the fun, Kaya," Higuchi said, his grin growing wider, "Ya gotta leave at least a few of these assholes for us to play around with."

I stared at them in disbelief, then shook my head, "What about Ueko?"

"Ah, we left her with Keiji and Dai at the host club," Higuchi said, "Don't worry about her, she'll be fine with those boys."

"T, the Shi-kai...?!" The yakuzas from the Nishi family inside the warehouse began to recover from their initial shock, "Aren't they supposed to be a bunch of fuckin' hosts now?!"

"Heh," Higuchi chuckled, glancing across the warehouse at the yakuzas, his eyes darkened and it was as though a different person was now standing there in place of the happy-go-lucky boy from before, "Our part-time shift just ended a couple of minutes ago, so now... we're back on the full-time hustle."

The yakuzas from the Nishi family went rigid, staring at the Shi-kai.

There was a dangerous aura flowing from the Shi-kai like a group of demons had descended upon the warehouse.

"W, what the fuck is going on...?!" Shigeo said, staring bewilderedly at the Shi-kai.

"Oy, what are you pansies all standing around for?!" The yakuza with long straight black hair falling down on either sides of head yelled, standing next to Shigeo, "The Shi-kai are just a bunch of fuckin' brats without their leader! Beat their asses to death!!"

I glanced at the smooth-faced yakuza that had shouted.

It was the same yakuza I had saw the other time when I had been confronted by the two police officers.

He must be the liutenant here.

Tch.

How annoying.

"Oooyyyy--!!"

The yakuzas from the Nishi family roared in unison, charging forward at us all at once like a stampede.

"Kaya, go save your sister!" Higuchi said to me, "Ueko told us the story! Leave the rest of them to us!"

I nodded at Higuchi, "Don't let a single one of these assholes survive, alright!"

"Heh, what do you take us for..." Higuchi said, then glanced up at the impeding stampede of yakuzas with a grim smirk, "We're the Shi-kai! The demon army behind The Devil of Shinjuku--!!"

"Ooooyyyyy--!!!"

The Shi-kai roared, running forward fearlessly at the incoming yakuzas from the Nishi family.

I ran in front of the Shi-kai, leading the charge forward.

The ground rumbled beneath me as though there was an earthquake happening from all the people running around.

The Shi-kai collided with the yakuzas from the Nishi family, blood and fists flying everywhere, and I dashed ahead of the chaos, swerving to avoid bodies to get to the end of the warehouse.

~x~

"Shigeoooo!!" I yelled, heading straight for Shigeo and where Saya was being held down by two yakuzas next to him.

Some of the yakuzas from the Nishi family that I ran past glanced at me, their face perplexed, wondering whether they needed to do anything about the highschool girl charging unarmed for their leader and liutenant.

As I was about to reach Shigeo at the end of the warehouse though, the smooth-faced liutenant with long black hair finally decided to step out to block my path, chuckling to himself as he did so.

The two yakuzas holding Saya down glanced at their liutenant with snide sneers.

"Shit, I thought Kobo the Reaper would just stand back and allow us to handle the Shi-kai but it looks like he's actually going to join the fight now." One of the yakuzas said.

"One of the youngest liutenants ever in Tero-kai's history and rumoured to have been thrown out on the streets as a toddler, growing up his entire life fighting to survive like some wild animal," Another yakuza said, "The Shi-kai are fuckin' dead with Kobo getting into this fight!"

"B-but hang on, who is that running alone at Kobo the Reaper...?"

The yakuzas glanced at the scene between the liutenant and me.

"Oy oy, little miss," The liutenant chuckled lightly as he approached me, "This is no playground for k--"

I hurled a fist into his face, instantly knocking him off his feet and his body slammed straight down into the concrete ground of the warehouse, causing a ring of dust to shoot out from the impact like a bomb had gone off.

The yakuzas around gazed down at their liutenant's lifeless body on the ground, their jaws dropping from their bewildered faces.

"W, what the fuck did that girl just...?!"

"N-no way...!"

I rose up from the position I had been in after throwing the punch, a terrifying dark shadow cast over my face as I glanced across at the two yakuzas that were holding Saya down to the chair.

"Lay your god damn fingers off my sis," I said gravely, "or I'll send the two of you straight down to hell."

"...!"

Instantly, the yakuzas released their grasps of Saya's shoulders.

"S, sis...!!"

Saya cried out to me, standing up to gleam at me with tears in her marigold eyes.

I ran over to her, embracing her in my arms and she leaned her head down to my chest, crying.

"Saya, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault..." I said wincing, "I'm a failure of a sister, I should had been looking after you more carefully..."

"W-what are you saying, sis?" Saya sniffed, "I'm the one that should be sorry. I was the one that thought I could handle them by myself and ended up in this mess..."

"Saya..." I said, glancing into her eyes.

"H-hey, look out--!"

One of my kobuns' voice from the Shi-kai rung out to me.

And I glanced to my side to see Shigeo slashing his knife down at Saya.

~x~

...

"W-what...?" Shigeo said.

Blood dripped down from Shigeo's knife.

My hand clutched the edge of the blade firmly.

Behind me, Saya's eyes widened at the knife that was being held unmovingly in my grasp, "S-sis...!"

There were several yakuzas standing around us from both the Nishi family and from the Shi-kai gazing at me with utter shock. They had stopped fighting whilst the rest of the warehouse was still entangled in a chaotic brawl in the background.

"I-Impossible...!" Shigeo clenched his teeth, his hand shaking as he tried to push the knife down on me futilely.

The more he pushed, the more his face paled.

"A-are you a fuckin' monster...?!" Shigeo stuttered, "You're just a girl, aren't you...!"

I stayed silent, holding the knife firmly despite the blood running down my hands.

"Oy you useless bastards...!" Shigeo turned his head, calling out to the Nishi family yakuzas, "H-help me out here...!"

"..."

The yakuzas were quiet, watching the scene stilly.

"W-what? All of you..." Shigeo started in shock.

"Being a girl doesn't matter at all..." I said in a quiet voice, and Shigeo turned back to look at me.

I raised my chin to glance Shigeo straight in the eye and he must of saw the electricity inside my eyes because all the blood inside his face instantly drained.

I wrenched the knife out of his grasp easily, tossing it aside and it cluttered on the floor.

Shigeo fell backwards onto his rear and stared up at me palely from the floor.

"Whether I'm a guy or a girl, what really matters is what's inside." I said, staring down at him relentlessly, "That's what it means to be strong. What it means to be a yakuza."

"I-I..."

"Bullying junior students weaker than you... Kidnapping a highschool girl over some petty quarrels... Abusing your yakuza family to outnumber a civilian 100-to-1 and win your fights for you..." I said, "Forget about even having what it takes to be a yakuza; inside, you're nothing but a weak coward and a sorry excuse for a human being."

"..."

"Oh, and before I forget, here's your thanks for taking care of my sis." I said.

I yanked a fist back and smashed it straight into Shigeo's face, crushing his nose flat and sending him smacking down to the floor, cracking the concrete ground underneath him upon impact.

Crap, that might had been too much power. I hope I didn't kill him.

Glancing around the warehouse, it seems that the Shi-kai were about to clean up with rest of the Nishi family yakuzas too.

Time for me to get out of here.

I grabbed Saya by my side and led her out of the warehouse.