Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 101: Every Tortoise longs for its puddle (5)

Dragon Raja 3

For the past few weeks,  Makoto worked the night shift. Every night, she was left alone to deal with the gangsters. She hid behind the counter, staring at the cash register, while the thug sat in the middle of the store, playing with a baseball bat. She couldn’t even call the police, because playing with a baseball bat in a toy store wasn’t illegal.

The bronze bell on the door jingled. That guy came in, dressed as usual in his flashy white trench coat, with a huge baseball bat hanging at his waist that was completely disproportionate to his height.

“You’re on shift again tonight?” The man greeted her like an old acquaintance.

“Welcome,”  Makoto said in a trembling voice.

She felt like it was all over for her. With only a high school diploma, the best she could do was work in low-skill jobs like this one. The job market was bad lately, and she had finally found this job, which was now doomed. She wouldn’t be able to save money for college, and her grandmother would have to continue scrimping on her pension every month.

Noda Shou grabbed a chair, sat in the middle of the store, and draped his white trench coat over the back. On the back of the coat was the family crest, “Tsuchinoko.”

The Noda group was not one of the bigger gangs in Kabukicho, but they were known for their fearlessness. Noda Shou had grown up watching his older brothers, whose sleeves bore the Tsuchinoko crest, moving through the streets, and people naturally made way for them wherever they went. Their figures were as steadfast as rocks in a river. Noda Shou thought that the most heroic men in the world were gangsters. He dropped out of school to follow the Noda group’s leader, Hirozo, who was also his cousin. Hirozo admired his younger cousin’s ambition and entrusted him with seven shops in his territory to manage. The job wasn’t complicated—just collecting protection money. From that day on, store owners bowed deeply at the sight of Noda Shou’s white trench coat, saying, “You’re here, thank you for your care,” and voluntarily delivered the protection fees to Shou’s apartment every month. Former classmates saw Shou as a powerful figure and often introduced him to the cutest girls in their class. Some said Hirozo intended to make Shou the next leader of the Noda group, seeing how capable his cousin was at such a young age.

But, as the saying goes, a man must face obstacles in life. One of the seven shops, a store selling adult products, suddenly closed, reducing Shou’s territory to six shops and cutting his income from protection fees. The newcomer was a toy store that refused to pay the protection fee, claiming that its profits were too low since it had just opened and was running at a loss. Besides, toy stores weren’t usually charged protection money. Shou decided to make an example out of them, to show what happens when someone disrespects the Noda group.

He had a few underlings, so he didn’t need to come to the store himself, but Shou was a manga fan, and this store had a wide selection. He figured there was nothing better to do in the evening than sit in the store and read. At first, he had gone to bars under his protection, asking the owners to have the top hostesses sit and drink with him. But the popular hostesses had many customers, so they couldn’t sit with him for long before others called them away. Since Shou had taken their protection money, he couldn’t be a hindrance to their work, and he ended up telling them to go ahead. Eventually, he lost interest in such adult entertainment. Manga, especially hot-blooded manga, was better—it was a world of men, without all the bowing and scraping. A man with a firm grip on his sword could live with dignity.

Shou started rereading the first volume of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, while  Asou Makoto was at the counter doing the accounts. The store was occupied only by an employee and a gangster, and a strange silence filled the air.

A screeching sound of brakes echoed outside. Just from the noise, one could imagine how fast that car had been moving and how sudden the stop was. Shou had no time to react before the store door flew open. Five figures in black surrounded Shou instantly—four men and a woman, their black clothes still dripping with rain. The lone woman was also unusually tall for a Japanese girl, and they stood like mountains. Their black clothing was open, revealing luxurious silk linings. Some bore images of Yasha eating demons—the azure Yasha tearing apart a demon’s body. Another depicted a nude woman riding a mountain tiger, with a red ribbon tied around her waist and a long sword attached to it, seductive yet intimidating.

Shou had heard of these people… the Orochi enforcers!

Makoto felt overwhelmed with joy. She had asked a classmate with connections in the underworld for help, but the classmate had regretfully told her they didn’t know anyone influential in Kabukicho. The classmate could only give her a phone number, suggesting she try calling. They mentioned that even gangs had to respect the main family above them. If the main family was willing to intervene, then the problem could be solved.  Asou Makoto had heard for the first time that the underworld had a hotline for help. When she called, she was greeted by a sweet-voiced girl on the other end. To ensure intervention,  Makoto had nervously exaggerated the thugs’ cruelty. The girl on the line focused on asking about some fee adjustment issue, which  Asou Makoto didn’t fully understand, so she just agreed. The girl said this was important and would be assigned to the appropriate department for handling, asking  Asou Makoto to wait patiently for further contact. After that,  Makoto hadn’t heard back.

Makoto had almost given up hope. How could a main family, respected even by the gangs, have time to deal with a small toy store’s trouble?

“Aren’t we supposed to be handling a strip club? There’s just some otaku here reading manga!” Lu Mingfei muttered, confused. “Young master, are you sure we’re in the right place?”

“Judging by the address, this is indeed the place, but it seems that our family rarely deals with toy stores,” Chisei said, slightly at a loss.

“Why would the Liaison Department need to intervene in such a small matter?” he frowned, looking at Sakura. “Those old folks earn high salaries and they only deal with things like this—helping a toy store getting extorted?”

“The operator may have misunderstood, thinking that the protection fee increase applied to the entire street,” Sakura replied, somewhat embarrassed. “They deal with too much violence and have become a bit jumpy.”

Caesar tossed his cigar onto the table and pulled up a chair, sitting in front of Noda Shou. “The family young master himself has come, driving a Ferrari and racing here. You should consider yourself very lucky.”

Shou was stunned, completely speechless. He hadn’t figured out what was going on, but he had a clear view of the weapon in the foreigner’s hand—a black hunting knife, vicious as a leopard’s fang, with a sharp serrated back.

He had never imagined things would escalate like this. He had only made some threats—he didn’t actually intend to increase the protection fee. As long as the shopkeeper humbled herself and spoke nicely, Shou would have let it slide. If they truly couldn’t pay now, he was even willing to extend the deadline until the shop started making money. He never thought that such a small matter would alert the family enforcers, and not just one, but five of them, one of whom had blond hair and blue eyes! Was this a foreign mercenary hired by the family? The foreigner’s words were completely incomprehensible to Shou, but he was certain it was some kind of threat.

“Tea for everyone,”  Makoto said nervously as she brought over a tray of tea.