Dragons Are Lonely

Kazuma was shocked.

He didn't know reciting poems could trigger buffs too!

No wonder all the famous generals during the Japanese Warring States Period liked to recite poems or sing a few lines from musicals before heading to the battlefield.

So it appeared that a possible reason for the fact that Nishikiyama Heita did not fall despite being under continuous attacks for so long was that he harbored no evil thoughts. But how could a yakuza man possibly be not evil? That's impossible!

Kazuma did not believe that there was such a thing as a kind yakuza member. That only existed in games.

In fact, Nishikiyama had done all sorts of bad things too. If Kazuma had been the one who lost today, the dojo would probably be sold cheaply. Chiyoko and Fujii would face ill fates too.

Therefore, Kazuma believed that his mental buff had been effective on Nishikiyama. The fact that he could resist for so long meant that he was not a simple person.

But he said that Tsuda Masaaki was more ruthless than him. What kind of monster could he be?

Kazuma tensed up again.

He had to sell the dojo as soon as possible. Otherwise, who knew what other monsters would appear?

Besides, he had to think of alternative plans.

If he could not sell the dojo at a fair price, then he could only rely on the power provided by his cheat to fight back against his enemies.

Judging from today's situation, he'd been in a state of emotional outburst. After he recited a poem, he was able to compete with a veteran yakuza like Nishikiyama Heita.

Of course, the fighting ground was to his advantage too. If they'd been in a narrow place with a lot of miscellaneous items, Kazuma would probably have been badly beaten up. Even Chiyoko would not have been of help.

In that case, his cheat had been quite useful. At least, he could choose the fighting ground based on his opponents' weaknesses.

All in all, it was a hard-fought match. Kazuma had gained a significant advantage in terms of the surrounding environment. Also, the temporary surge of emotions had been helpful too.

There were obviously two ways to enhance his strength. One was to level up through hard work. The cheat had given him a number for each skill, so he should be able to level up.

Another way was to figure out the pattern of emotional outbursts and try to achieve that freely.

Kazuma decided to trigger his anger.

Hence, he began to imagine that something bad had happened to Fujii.

Then, he realized that it was useless.

He tried other methods, such as recalling the times when he met toxic people in games in his previous life.

Again, it was ineffective.

He tried many ways, but none of them made him angry.

Perhaps he could not get angry just by thinking about it. He could only wait until something really happened.

When he really encountered sh*tty things or people, he wouldn't be able to hold his anger even if he wanted to. Therefore, Kazuma was not in a hurry to master the secret of becoming angry at any time.

Once he had the money and time in the future, he could find a good psychiatrist or actor and learn emotional control from them.

Kazuma decided to try something else first.

He wanted to test the effects of reciting poems.

After reciting a well-known poem from his past life, he checked his condition.

Nothing new had appeared, and the note "Protector of Home and Family" was also gone because the time was up.

Kazuma decided to try another poem.

But it was still useless.

'Could it be this too depends on the situation? Maybe the buff can only be triggered when I recite poems with the right conditions?'

To verify this idea, he decided to recite a poem that matched the current circumstances to see if it was effective.

He reached into his mind to feel his emotions.

The excitement from the fight was still lingering in his body. Although his body was aching, he felt like he had just escaped death. It was a relaxed feeling.

Kazuma suddenly felt that he should not be reciting a poem right now. Perhaps humming a song was more appropriate.

Besides, there was no need to keep it to himself. He could hum it aloud.

After all, it would be strange to suddenly recite a poem at this moment, but humming a suitable tune to express his feelings would be understandable.

Hence, Kazuma started to hum. The song he chose was the theme song of the popular show "You Must Cross the River of Wrath." Kazuma still hadn't found out the real name of the song, so he was used to calling it "La Ya La" because the song kept repeating "La Ya La."

As Kazuma hummed the tune of "La la la la," he sensed a pleasant change to his mood.

He did not know how to describe it, but he found a new note in his status column.

"Victory Song"

The description was: "Have a drink after victory and hum a song. It is good for the body and mind."

'F*ck, why?'

'Why is it always so vague? Why don't you tell me how it benefits the body and mind?!'

Despite his complaints, Kazuma continued to hum. Drinking was probably out of the question as Japan was very strict in this regard. Buying alcohol before the age of 20 was not an easy task. Furthermore, there was no alcohol in the huge abode of the Kiryuu family.

As Kazuma continued to hum, he suddenly realized that he had gone from Actual Combat 3 to Actual Combat 4.

So that seemed to be the case. Extra experience points could be obtained through methods like this.

Who designed this cheat? Kazuma wanted to give him a good beating right now—'Can't you make it simpler?'

Since the cheat was designed as such, Kazuma would have to hum a tune and drink a little after every fight in the future. He might even need to appreciate cherry blossoms or something in order to maximize the experience points…

It was a wonderful lifestyle, but the people around him would probably think that Kiryuu Kazuma was a freak!

***

Nishikiyama Heita was already falling asleep. He had no doubt in Bandō's loyalty, so he trusted that he could handle it.

However, he suddenly heard Kiryuu Kazuma humming.

Besides, the tune he was humming was the theme song of Takakura Ken's masterpiece, "You Must Cross the River of Wrath."

He opened his eyes slightly and looked at Kiryuu Kazuma. He found that this young man was sitting in the middle of the dojo, facing the side door.

The side door was wide open. Outside, there was a large engawa1 that did not match the Kiryuu family's financial situation, as well as a courtyard with a dried pond.

The Kiryuu family did not have any money, so the pond had been dry for a long time. The bamboo device on the side of the pond that was meant to supply water was no longer operational either.

After all, this device was only used by the rich who pursued Zen, tranquility, and peace in their courtyard. The poor had other things to bother about other than Zen.

Although the entire courtyard was dilapidated, the huge cherry blossom tree in the center was still blooming exuberantly with cherry blossoms.

There was no wind, but the petals of the cherry blossoms fluttered in the early night, as if echoing Kiryuu Kazuma's tune.

Nishikiyama frowned slightly.

When he first came to Honjima from Okinawa, he had practiced kendo for a period of time, during which he heard many bizarre stories.

It was said that when a kendo master's sword skills had reached a certain level, they could unlock the Mind's Eye and comprehend the ultimate meaning of the Union of Heaven and Man.

Nishikiyama always took it with a pinch of salt.

But now, as he listened to Kiryuu Kazuma's humming and looked at the falling cherry blossoms in the night breeze, Nishikiyama was no longer certain.

Could it really exist?

However, after staring at the cherry blossoms for a while, he felt that he was thinking too much. The petals of the cherry blossoms were just falling normally, dancing in the breeze that could not be sensed in the room.

However, no matter what, Kiryuu Kazuma was definitely no ordinary person since he could hum tunes so calmly after a deathmatch.

Nishikiyama whispered Kiryuu Kazuma's surname.

"Kiryuu…"

In Japan, there were plenty of Chinese characters with the same pronunciation. The pronunciation "Kiryuu" could mean the surname "Kiryuu" or "a radiant dragon."

'A dragon…'

Nishikiyama sighed softly.

"Dragons are lonely," he whispered.

At that time, Kazuma was still humming his tune, so he did not hear what Nishikiyama had said. Otherwise, he would have been shocked. This was because Nishikiyama had said that "Dragons are lonely" in a colloquial way, which sounded almost the same as "Like A Dragon" in Japanese.

And "Yakuza: Like A Dragon" was Kazuma's favorite yakuza-themed video game.

The name of the game itself contained the meaning that "Dragons Are Lonely."

If Kazuma had heard Nishikiyama, he might think that he was also a transmigrator.

It was also worth mentioning that the protagonist in "Yakuza: Like A Dragon" was called Kiryu Kazuma, which shared almost the same pronunciation as Kiryuu Kazuma.

However, Kiryuu Kazuma would definitely not take the same path as the game character Kiryu Kazuma.

A dragon that came from the east was no doubt different from a native one.

Of course, Nishikiyama did not know about this. He was just recalling what Kiryuu Kazuma had said.

Kiryuu Kazuma had said that he would not join the yakuza. Initially, Nishikiyama did not believe it. Kiryuu Kazuma was a sharp blade, and Nishikiyama planned to recruit him once the siblings were desperate.

From the looks of it now, it was very likely that Kiryuu Kazuma would never join the yakuza.

It was a pity that he would be smashed into pieces in the fight against the Tsuda Family.

Nishikiyama took another puff calmly and made up his mind. This young man had obtained his recognition, and he wanted to watch him as he walked toward the end of his life.

'If you die, I will take care of your sister,' he said to Kiryuu Kazuma in his heart.