Meanwhile, at the Tsuda Office.
It was a three-story building, with one more floor compared to that of the poor Nishikiyama Family.
Tsuda Masaaki was browsing through the newly-published adult magazine when his assistant, Ohta Juusan, also the underboss of the Tsuda Family, suddenly opened the door and walked toward him. “It appears that Nishikiyama Heita has lost the fight at the Kiryuu dojo.”
Tsuda raised his head in surprise. “Really? Nishikiyama personally fought too?”
“Yes. A little brother[1] saw it. Nishikiyama brought a total of five people into the dojo, including Bandō and Kowada. Then, they came out with swollen faces. Nishikiyama’s suit was torn too.”
Tsuda looked at Ohta with an expression that said, “Are you kidding me?”
However, the Tsuda Family was not a low-level organization like the Nishikiyama Family, which had just obtained permission to have an office. The Tsuda Family was founded nearly five years ago, and Ohta Juusan had been following Tsuda Masaaki for exactly five years.
So Tsuda knew that Ohta would not talk nonsense.
Tsuda stood up and walked to the window. He looked at the street scene outside. “So Nishikiyama personally fought but lost. Is that true?”
He suddenly turned and asked, “Are you sure it was the Kiryuu siblings? Was there no one else in the dojo?”
“Yes, there were only the Kiryuu siblings in the dojo at that time. Ever since Kiryuu Kazuma beat up our men last time, I have had little brothers monitoring him wherever he goes.”
Tsuda remained silent for a while before he shook his head and said, “How is that f*cking possible? If it were someone else who’d said this to me, I would have asked him to cut his fingers, do you know that?”
Ohta did not respond. He was experienced in working with Tsuda, so he knew what he should and should not do.
Tsuda continued, “It’s Nishikiyama Heita we are talking about! Heita the Demon! How could a kendo kid defeat him? Is this kid the reincarnation of Miyamoto Musashi?”
“…About this, I heard an interesting theory.” Ohta paused to make sure that his boss was interested before continuing, “A few little brothers from the Nishikiyama Family switched to our side after they saw Nishikiyama’s defeat. They said that after Nishikiyama returned, he had his underboss Bandō cut off his pinkie and ring finger, and they are going to deliver them to the Kiryuu siblings tomorrow.
“It can’t be a mistake. After all, we will know that it’s false news if there are no wounds on Bandō’s hand afterward. No one would tell a lie like that.”
Tsuda was speechless.
“I see… Interesting, very interesting. Go and summon Shima Sanpei.”
Shima Sanpei was the guy who was beaten up by Kazuma the last time he brought people to “negotiate” with the snack shop. After he came back, Tsuda had forced him to cut off his pinkie in order to punish him for his failure.
Ohta nodded and left.
Tsuda returned to his seat and sat down in front of the calligraphy piece on the wall. He was deep in thought.
At this moment, Shima pushed the door open. “You… summoned me?”
“Oh, it’s you. Come. Here’s a million yen for you. Take it and reward yourself.” Tsuda pulled open the drawer, took out a roll of ten-thousand-yen notes, and threw it toward Shima.
Shima caught the roll of paper notes. He looked at the portrait of Fukuzawa Yukichi printed on it, and then looked at Tsuda Masaaki. He was petrified. “Wha… Boss, what is…”
“I asked you to cut your pinkie last time, but now I’ve realized that it was not your fault. It’s normal that you couldn’t defeat Kiryuu Kazuma. After all, even Heita the Demon lost to him. It’s already commendable that you came back alive. Take this one million yen and give yourself a break.”
After that, he waved his hand and gestured for Shima to leave. “Alright now. Go.”
Ohta also came in. He patted Shima’s shoulder and said, “Come on! Let’s go to Shinjuku and have a good drink. Don’t embarrass the family if you are wearing our family emblem, understand?”
It was only then that Shima recovered from the shock. He nodded repeatedly. “Of course, I understand! I totally understand! Thank you, Boss. Thank you, Underboss!”
After thanking them, Shima left happily.
When there were only the two of them left, Ohta looked at Tsuda and asked, “Are we still going to get that dojo?”
“Of course. It’s worth tens of millions. F*ck, I’d have let it slip if that Kiryuu Kazuma had only beaten my men. Now that he even defeated Nishikiyama Heita, I had to compensate that idiot Shima. I’m going to squeeze out two million from Kiryuu.
“F*ck, after I take his dojo and sell it to Sumitomo Construction, I’m going to sell his sister to the kabuki.”
“He has a girlfriend who is also a beauty,” reminded Ohta.
“Then sell both of them to the kabuki,” Tsuda said fiercely. Then, his tone changed. “However, we shouldn’t rush things. He defeated Nishikiyama, so we must not underestimate his strength. We have to be well prepared.”
Ohta nodded. “Certainly. Besides, we have to go through some procedures to have Nishikiyama’s task reassigned to us. At the very least, we need to wait for the Kanto Alliance General Meeting this month.”
Although the Nishikiyama Family and the Tsuda Family were not on good terms, they were both third-tier organizations under the Kanto Alliance.
In this situation, it was troublesome that they both belonged to the same umbrella organization because they were not allowed to steal each other’s business openly.
If the Nishikiyama Family were under the Osaka Alliance or Hiroshima’s Asuka Clan, they could directly snatch the business from them. In the worst-case scenario, they could fight.
“I’ll leave the trouble with the Alliance to you,” Tsuda said to Ohta.
“Sure.”
As the leader of a third-tier organization, Tsuda Masaaki was not allowed to join the Kanto Alliance General Meeting. He could only ask Ohta Juusan to be his envoy and make a request to the big shots of the second-tier organizations and even those affiliate families.
Theoretically speaking, the family chief should be the one to bring up this request. However, yakuza bosses cared a great deal about their pride. Although he was just a leader of a third-tier organization, Tsuda Masaaki still had a huge ego. Therefore, it was better to leave such tasks that would require one to be obsequious to his underboss.
Those high-position big shots also understood this, so they would not mind.
Tsuda looked at Ohta and said, “By the way, go and tell the underlings to find some delinquents in this area and investigate Kiryuu Kazuma’s background. It would be best if they could find out his martial arts school and fighting habits.”
“Doesn’t their family follow the Rishin Style?” Ohta asked in confusion.
“Their family does not even have a certified Rishin Style master. I don’t think he could have defeated Nishikiyama Heita with the Rishin Style alone. There must be something fishy going on,” Tsuda said.
“Alright, I’ll find out.”
“It’d be nice if you can have a drink with Northern Katsushika High School’s kendo coach and ask him about it,” Tsuda added. “It’s impossible for him to have become so strong all of a sudden. The Kendo Club teacher in his school must know something.”
Ohta nodded. “Alright, leave it to me.”
Tsuda waved his hand and dismissed Ohta. Then, he picked up the adult magazine on the table and read it with relish.
[1] The lowest rank in the yakuza