[0.5] New Start in Life

(") Dialogues

(') - Thoughts - Italics

Music to vibe with as you guys read: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bQgjWLRIT0w&si=kPJM8sV806cV_Pc2

At Kabukicho 1st Avenue:

"Thanks; please do come again to our establishment!"

The receptionist of the restaurant bid them farewell with a happy voice As the three girls leave the old, crooked chinese restaurant with a bright yellow neon sign reading Best Chinese, they walk out into the quiet night street of the city, walking over the brick sidewalk. The breeze slightly ruffled their clothing, sending a slight shiver through them and the moon covered in dark clouds on this starless night. discussing what to do in the present as they gloated a bit on their past where the care for future wasn't present. 

"If you need some money, how about doing a Part-time job? I have got a job for you; you just need to take a suitcase from one place to another."

Hana Mitani asked in a bubbly voice, proposing a 'normal' job on the yakuza side

"Friends do not set friends up as their mules, Hana."

Tenma Nozomi told Hana with a deadpan tone that she knew exactly what that job is and knew what would happen to her if she screwed up.

"Well, if you do need a job above board, then how about working at our [Associated Shops]?" Hana recommended again definitely not giving up on employing Nozomi anyway possible.

[Referring to Sexual Service as 'Associated Shops']

"Nope, I doubt she's cut out for a service like that, last thing you want is for Nozomi to leglock someone and break their spine."

Ichika Iori told with a chuckle as she lit her cigarette with a lighter and took a smoke, while Nozomi stared at her dismissively at the intentional sexual joke.

"Oh right, hey, Nozomi, wanna give me a hand until ya get a job? we've got a real surplus of confiscated goods and i do a side gig where i give it to people who need it real bad—for cash, of course—and can earn a lot of shit in that."

Ichika recommended her 'job' as to try and hire Nozomi as a partner in crime for her illegal gig of selling police confiscated goods.

"Nope, I don't want to. Do you want me to be on the wanted list along with you that bad or something?"

Nozomi asked with a sweat on her face, visibly concerned over this recommendation from a cop of all people. Even though she's used to Ichika's borderline questionable antics,. 

As they talked, however, in the background, many of the girls who came outside of the bar were swinging beer bottles at each other, and it started a total revolt of a fight as the friends of two girls who started the fight joined in and caused a commotion.

"The hell's going on there? A mob fight?"

Nozomi looked at the commotion with a puzzled and tired face. She just got fired from an underground fighting organization today because she dragged the fight for like 45 minutes and she came here along with her friends to drink that worry away but now there's another headache.

"Eh, just a bunch of kids that screw around."

Ichika told with a grumpy huff. After she had transferred to the Metropolitan Juvenile Division of Police, this was quite a regular sight for her, as she was definitely unfazed by the commotion.

"Are those just kids who are throwing tantrums in the street like this? Plus, strangely, it's all girls too."

Hana asked with a puzzled and disappointed face. She atleast thought these kids would be raised with enough manners to not cause commotion in public place like this; atleast duke it out in an alleyway or somewhere much more appropriate. During the days when she was young, this wasn't the case at all

"Yup, there are equal amount of female groups crawling around alongside those male punks. Normally, this shit won't happen because of the yakuza but because they are tied because of the Anti-Yakuza Ordinances, they can't do jack shit and they end even worse, like whatever we are seeing here right now."

Ichika told me with a gritting grin as she puffed her cigarette. Even though she can intervene, she doesn't feel much obligated to; after smashing their heads and some fist scuffs, they will just walk away.

"U-um, Iori, there's a kid stuck in that crowd."

Hana said with a concerned face as she pointed in the center, where the mob was actively lunging at each other.

"....What?"

Ichika Iori squinted her eyes to see whether what Hana said was true.

And to her dismay, it was true, as a blonde kid was trying to navigate and avoid the angry mob of aggressive drunk women who were fighting, and he was somehow not getting beaten up yet.

"Are you fucking with me now?...Ugh, I have no choice; the last thing I want is that some kid dies in a fight between a mob and my name is tarnished."

Ichika, with a groan, took off her coat and charged in to just silence the mob with violence, using her old-day experience of police beatings. If that kid gets injured or, worse, dies, she will be questioned about what the hell she was doing.

She then took a metal rod in the corner and swung it, hitting the two who started the fight straight at their chin and knocking them out. Like a charm, it worked very well and the mob calmed down

"Alright, that does it! All of you, scram right now or else i would be dragging all of you for public nuisance!"

Ichika said with furrowed eyebrows and gritting teeth as she gave off a threatening aura with the metal rod on her hand. Reluctantly, the mob reluctantly retreated away as the friends of the two girls who started the fight carried them away.

She then threw the metal rod away, carried the tired boy on her shoulder and just walked towards the two.

"To the abandoned park."

Ichika said and carried the boy to the abandoned park, while Nozomi and Hana followed her behind.

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At the Abandoned Park:

"Hey kid, are you okay there?"

Nozomi asked the blonde kid with a concerned look as they walked away from that street and settled on an old park that hasn't been used for god knows how long.

"Yes, I am fine." The blonde boy replied in a dejected tone as he was looking at the starless sky with a depressed face.

"For a boy who was saved from being killed, you sure sound depressed. What's your deal, kid?"

Ichika clicked her tongue as she spoke out in irritation. She didn't even get a damn thank you for helping him, but he didn't want to sound petty by asking for thanks, so she's quite irritated with what the fuck to do.

"Ichika, please calm down, plus the way you're asking doesn't help it at all."

Mitani spoke with a nervous face as she calmed Ichika down. The boy looked depressed and tired, as if his life just got upside down, so being harsh in their words would only serve to push him away from letting him tell what happened.

"So, what's your name?" Mitani asked with a gentle smile.

"...Hiroki.." The Blonde boy spoke with a dejected tone.

"Ugh, okay, what are you doing here in such late hour, Won't your family worry about your ass?"

Ichika asked with an irritated groan. She just wants to get this over with and head home and take a good nap after this.

"My dad died when i was a kid and as for my family.." 

Hiroki then stopped for a second, wondering whether to tell everyone everything he had discovered so far or not.

'Well, it isn't like my life can get any worse; I might as well tell them about my supposed life. They do look more dependable than my mom now, if i have to say so myself.'

Hiroki thought to himself and let out a sigh. Either they will call him stupid or he will just not believe this story. He started to narrate his story, which began when he challenged a foreign exchange student who was far beyond his height and weight.

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As he finished narrating his story, the 3 women were frankly and reasonably speechless for few seconds before Ichika broke the silence with laughter.

"Bwahahahahaha!! No offense, k-kiddo but...Oh my god, this is the most dumb and ridiculous sh*t i have ever heard!! Are you telling me that this nig** stole your mom, girlfriend, sister and best friend away because he was good at [Bleep, Bleep, Bleep]? That's the type of shit which is in crap budget and scriptless porn videos; I never thought i will see a real case here."

Mitani and Nozomi looked at Ichika with quite an enraged and disappointed look. Like sure, Ichika's case of humor has either been dark or offending, mostly due to her job experience but she definitely needs to learn to control it, as they are sure this won't help the boy's already shattered psyche.

"I apologize in her stead, Hiroki; at times she isn't right in the head and today is one of those times."

Mitani told as she gave a headpat and frizzled through Hiroki's hair, which Hiroki didn't mind as he felt...more safe and her hands had the gentle warmth he once felt from her mom when he was a kid.

"But sheesh, that's genuinely messed up; i feel bad for you, kid."

Nozomi told and looked at the boy with pity. That kid went through trauma that even adults have hard time dealing with, While he's suffering like these, those whores would be enjoying their time with that supposed piece of sh*t of a man like some sex-crazed lunatics, which was genuinely sickening Nozomi.

'Ugh, here i thought, my day couldn't get any shittier. Hearing this story just makes me more pissed.'

Nozomi thought to herself, wondering how the hell sh*t like this could happen. Are people that braindead these days?

"Anyways, what do you plan to do now that you ran away from home?" Ichika asked.

"I don't know; after finding this, I just couldn't think straight and...ran away from there, and here I am...a minor who hasn't finished high school and ran away from home," Hiroki said. He didn't plan to run away; he ran away on impulse, after all.

"Okay, that settles it; you live with me, kid."

Ichika told her, and others, including Hiroki, looked at her with genuine surprise.

"Oi, why are you looking at me like that? I may be a prick, but not a heartless prick. Besides, this kid can help me with my side hustles very safely while being barely doubted."

Ichika told with a proud grin, while others looked at her with the expression of 'Yeah, that makes more sense honestly...' including Hiroki.

"Anyways, come with me, kid! I have a lot of instructions to give and tell you!"

"A-ah wait..."

Hiroki said those words in vain as Ichika dragged her away to her place.

"Will that boy be okay?" Mitani asked with a concerned voice.

"Eh, don't worry about it; she isn't some crazed criminal; she is just a crooked cop with some level of morality...Anyways, I am getting too tired; I am going to hit my mattress in my house later."

Nozomi said as she let out a yawn and bid farewell to Mitani as she went to hit her bed.

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The Next Day:

In the music club named Music & Bar Coppe, many people were eagerly waiting as they chatted away their trivial life events and such.

"It's quite the good idea for our starting trial match to be an allotted music club."

Mitani said with a chirp as she saw the crowd that was gathered around.

"Plus, it's soundproof, so it's quite perfect for an event like this. Like sheesh, look at the amount of punks gathered here."

Ichika told with a mad grin, quite happy about the profits that are soon going to roll in.

"U-um..."

Hiroki, who was strangely in between Nozomi, Ichika and Matani, tried to talk, but the words trailed off from his mouth

"Didn't Ichika explain to you?" Nozomi asked with a puzzled look.

"Well, she did but it just feels somewhat unrealistic, you know?" Hiroki confessed.

"Well, i do agree; seeing the trial of an underground fighting organization will definitely feel unreal for you." Nozomi said as she patted the boy on the shoulder. 

"Plus, i didn't know Matani-san is the leader of a yakuza family."

Hiroki told with a little blush on his face. Ichika gave him the side eye while Nozomi grinned, while Mitani was blissfully unaware of this.

'Aha, young boy having crush on an old lady doesn't get old at all. Well, this is Mitani after all, so i don't blame that kid; she could always charm men or boys, even if it's unintentionally.'

Ichika thought to herself, as she had seen plenty of such example. It isn't that abnormal of young people to have crushes on old people.

It's somewhat normal, unless the scenario is reversed or the age difference is really huge. That's just plainly disgusting.

"We wouldn't have any issues and be caught, right? Although this is a trial run, i am still kind of afraid."

Nozomi asked to Mitani with a concerned face.

"I am sure of it, I have asked a Non-Family Associate to set up this event in the club. Plus, it's in a gap where no other party is involved, so nobody should be poking their nose in here."

Mitani gave a reassuring explanation to them.

"Alright, I will trust you on that, What about the performers, Ichika?"

Nozomi turned to Ichika and asked.

"It's all taken care of; i have taken some savage and wild ones to boot."

Ichika spoke with a sharp and proud grin as the announcers announced the name of the fighters who were going to participate in this trial fight.

"From the east, 'The Street Fighting Chica!' Shinohara Julia!!"

"From the weeest, 'The Pummel Queen!' Kobayakawa Yumi!!" 

Nozomi and Hiroki were surprised to see the familiar faces.

"Wait, isn't that the two people who started off the fight yesterday?" Hiroki asked Ichika for which she just grinned. 

"Yup, it's the punks we saw cause the commotion the other night after drinking. I gave them the bait that they can solve their beef without police intervention and boy, they took it. Plus, like we wanted, all their little friends have come to watch. The streets look admittedly pretty now that the street trash are gone for good." Ichika said, looking quite proud of her arrangement. 

"Is that something a police officer should say?" Hiroki asked with a conflicted look.

"You will get used to Ichika's way of rolling kids; besides, now that you're with us, better get used to this new life." Nozomi stated this to Hiroki bluntly. 

"E-eh? What do you mean?" Hiroki asked to Nozomi as the fight was about to start

"Hm? Well, it's simple, kid. Considering your entire situation, i will assume that you are not going back to your family or you might change your mind. Well, it's up to you. point being that, until then, you are staying with us."

Nozomi told to Hiroki as she observed the fights while talking to Hiroki.

"Did you talk about that to others? Like you know, Mitani or Ichika-san may feel uncomfortable with me around," Hiroki asked with a dejected look.

"Pffft, really now, kid? You need to work on your optimism; we aren't that cold-hearted, especially after you told us what happened to you; we just didn't have the heart to do something like that. Plus, believe it or not, Ichika was the first to propose this, plus me and Mitani had no issue with that." Nozomi told Hiroki with a smile.

"Huh, Ichika-san did?!..." Hiroki asked with a surprised face.

"Yeah, she looks, acts, and is really rough and even a massive asshole, but somewhere on the sidelines, she does surprisingly have a heart, which actually does feel pity at times."

Nozomi said with a dumb grin while Ichika was giving the glare to Nozomi, and Hiroki chuckled.

"But...are you really going to trust me on this? You know, this is an underground fighting tour. What if I..." 

Hiroki asked with trembling hands, as he felt like he was like a deadweight to the 3 ladies who were kind enough to help him. Seeing this, Nozomi let out a sigh and frizzled through his blonde, spiky hair.

"We can talk about that later, kid, but for now, enjoy the fight that is going to happen. Oh, and there's food there; you can eat and watch from there."

She told Hiroki and pointed out that, as Hiroki's stomach grumbled, he nodded with an embarrassed face and went to eat. Only the trio was observing the fight.

"Gotta say, Nozomi-chan, this idea of yours is really good." Mitani told with a smile.

"Well, it should provide us with a healthy source of income, plus the juvenile crime rate would take a dent if these troublemakers were here; Ichika would just require the credits for that." 

Nozomi said with a smile, as she was quite blatantly pulling Ichika's leg.

"Hey, hey, what do you mean? We are splitting the share in 3 ways; those credits ain't going to give me any worthy yen to spend."

Ichika immediately barged in and corrected the term, as she could definitely feel her leg being pulled.

"Alright, alright, anyways, we need to ensure that words of it don't spread alright." 

Nozomi just replied to Ichika in a deadpan manner and shifted to Mitani over to ensure no one talks about this on social media.

"It's taken care of; we had patted everyone and made sure to collect their phones." Mitani told with a smile.

"Say, uh, Mitani..where did you find that...air head of a chick?"

Ichika skeptically asked as she pointed to the referee, who was half drunk and going

"Soo, for the first match..."

"Oh! She's from one of our 'Associated shops' ; she wasn't doing much work, so i got her to call people in and do the referee job." Mitani told with a smile.

"Readyyy~....Fight~"

The referee lazily told, as they wildly started to throw fists as the crowd roared with enthusiasm, a very good sign for a trial match. 

"Wow~ the crowd's loving it; i think we really got something here." Mitana told with a smile while Ichika was having quite the time of her life.

However, Nozomi was quiet and observing the match.

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th match progressed on and ended. The crowd's reaction gave them hope that they can succeed, as the event can be taken as a success in various ways for Mitani and Ichika. Ending the day's show with a deafening racket of a crowd

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At the Best Chinese Restaurant:

"Our trial fight went way better than any of us expected, like even though it is a trial fight, we got some tidy sums of money." Mitani told with a smile.

Hiroki, who was sitting alongside them in the chair, awkwardly stayed quiet with a smile. Mitani was right after all; from whatever he did see, it was quite a hefty amount for a supposed trial fight. Plus, the fights are...quite wild, if he has to say so himself.

"Not a bad side gig, actually, plus no moron is babbling any shit on social media; it sounds like it was the right call to threaten the crap out of everyone, eh?" Ichika told with a proud grin

"Threats from law enforcement sure works wonders; at this rate, we might make it a regular thing~" Mitani told with a smile.

"...Nope."

"Huh?"

All 3 of them turned to Nozomi, who drank her drink in one gulp and just said nope and continued.

"This won't work as it is; if we continue this, people will get bored real quick."

"What do you mean, it will get boring? Did you see how nuts the crowd was going?" Ichika told Nozomi confidently, to which Nozomi replied that...

"This is a trial fight, plus I am speaking from experience; this fight is no different from the fights that happen in the bottom-of-the-barrel underground fight organization."

"How do you know that?" Hiroki asked with a puzzled look.

"Oh yeah, I guess I didn't tell you, but I was once an underground fighter who immediately got fired because I dragged the fight for like 40 minutes."

Hiroki jaw went agape, hearing that Nozomi-san was a former underground fighter herself. Well atleast that will explain her reply. It is speaking from experience, after all

"The fight had made up for lack of skills and techniques with it's intensity. However, that won't last long, plus the main factors is the audience." Nozomi said as she took another gulp on her drink.

"The audience?" Hiroki asked with a puzzled face.

"Well, Hiroki, what are the two things which are vital in pro wrestling?" Nozomi asked.

'H-huh? Wait, why is she suddenly asking me this?'

Hiroki thought for a second but didn't bother about it and replied back.

"The wrestlers and the fans who watch it by a wide margin?"

Hiroki answered with doubt, as he had only watched pro wrestling a few times. Mostly because his sister was a fan of 'Hell's Angel' Sekibayashi, since pro wrestling was just...not his cup of tea, even though in a sense it is an act.

"Precisely, me and my friends worked together for this trial fight, and from what I saw, we have a chance, so we need to take the chance and establish ourselves differently from the bottom-barrel underground fight organizations, and for that, the difference will be due to the fighters and the audience themselves."

Nozomi told with a smile as Hiroki answered, with a fair amount of accuracy for someone who doesn't seem to watch pro wrestling.

"Wait, you actually want to establish an underground fighting organization? Well, count me in; this side gig is definitely giving me a lot of money." Ichika told with a grin

"Same here," Mitani said as she raised her hand with a smile.

"Well, its nice to be with you guys. I will do my best to help."

Hiroki told with a glint of nervousness yet he looked more cheerful compared to their first meeting.

"Well, if we need to attract customers, sex sells, right? So my idea is to put on attractive outfits for the fighting gals and have the audience be staffed and managed by attractive gals. I will get some of the pretty ones from our Associated Shops then~" Hana Mitani said it with a smile.

Meanwhile, Hiroki was a blushing mess, mostly because he learned what Associated Shops is from Ichika, as he definitely forgot that Mitani-san is the leader of a yakuza family.

"Alright then, I will leave that to you, Hana." Nozomi told with a smile

"Aside from working on the hardware of our events, we need to have quite the revamp work on our'software' too, which may matter even more. We need fighters who have that charm and charisma to attract and draw people in like magnet." Nozomi said.

'That bill awfully fits for a cult leader too...' Hiroki jokingly thought.

"Not likely; you want me to get some line like that from hoodlums." Ichika said grumpily as she waved her cigarette.

"Look, I can supply you with delinquents for like no shortage, like beggars can't be choosers."

Ichika said it grumpily but then paused for a solid second as a light bulb glowed above her as she got a real idea.

"Wait, I do have a really dangerous and screw-loose candidate who can fit that bill!"

Ichika's look of frantic despair was definitely telling all 3 of them that she is serious about this and wondered what type of person it is to get her riled up like this.