Battle of Cinema Square

The people of Kakushicho knew when something was amiss. It wasn’t every day that a large group of yakuza filed through the main street of the district in broad daylight. It was like an army marching toward war.

The steady beat of footsteps thundered as they passed, leaving onlookers frozen from whatever they were doing before. At the head of the group were Ryuji and Shirokawa. Next to them, their captains had gathered. And behind them, the entire family that swore allegiance.

The Yama Ryu and the White Death each sounded out a battle cry, still as hearty as when their names first became known. Ozaki responded in kind, raising a baseball bat that itched to bust some heads. Morinaga and Awano let out cries as well, willing to risk their lives despite just leaving the hospital.

There was no one here that accepted the will of Samukawa as the next Chairman. And as they marched through the streets, those of the Tenjou Clan that weren’t under his spell soon joined them. Slowly, hundreds became a thousand and more. Soon enough, the streets were completely blocked off by a stream of marching yakuza.

Ryuji led them all towards one location, the single patch of land among the dense high rises, known as Cinema Square. This place was home to quite a bit of yakuza history. The largest disputes often turned into all-out brawls on this spot, making it a perfect location to stand their ground against Samukawa.

The head of the Tenjou Clan couldn’t simply ignore such numbers gathering on his turf. Not long after they had arrived, cars skidded to a stop all around the square. Both yakuza and SAT units formed a circle around Ryuji and his supporters.

And as expected, Samukawa came out of a car. Even through a crowd of that size, he easily honed onto the Yama Ryu, who had climbed atop some structure to shoot back a look of challenge. Samukawa grabbed a loudspeaker and clicked it on.

“Yamaoka Ryuji, look at you, being a sore loser. There’s no need for a relic like yourself to move the yakuza forward. Look at where I stand. It’s the right side of the law. It’s a place where we no longer have our wings clipped more and more by government bureaucracy and technological regulations.”

Ryuji simply replied with a raised fist brought in front of him. He had the look of executing a traitor. The crowd roared around him, fighting back against this ‘contrived justice’. They had no need for a leader that inherited an empire through trickery. That was not why they joined the yakuza in the first place.

In response, the circle of yakuza and SAT pulled in further.

“Looks like Shindou’s boys are all under his control, Ryuji. Makes sense to take over for a family head who can’t do much for himself.”

“Doesn’t matter to me, Shiroyan. I knocked a good chunk of them down before. The rest are just leftovers.”

The sound of bodies hitting shields sounded off in the distance, sparking the beginning of the brawl they had anticipated. Immediately, Ryuji and Shirokawa hopped down from their position to charge into the front lines.

The first few that charged at Ryuji were bowled aside from his initial charge, and soon enough, heavy shields filled his vision. He reached out and plucked one from an officer looking the other way. When he didn’t let go, his feet left the ground as he was pulled into a throw. The shield and bearer crashed into a line of SAT agents, causing them to tumble to the ground.

Another shield was kicked up from the ground, which Ryuji promptly used to bash a few more coming at him. He had seen all those superhero movies that made short work of foes in such a way, and he wanted to test it out himself.

A heavy toss sent the shield in his hand spinning low to the ground, tripping several more in its path.

There was no shortage of weaponry on the ground. The Shindou Family had brought plenty of playthings which were now strewn all over. Shields and tonfa dropped by police were also mere steps in every direction. In the hands of the Yama Ryu, it was like a tornado of debris that was ready to be sent wherever it was convenient.

In contrast, Shirokawa relied on Ryuji sucking up all the attention. That ensured that his enemies would not be looking when he snuck up on them and struck a decisive blow to knock them out. They each fell to the ground, silent as death.

Two people with bats noticed him, charging forward with a downward swing at the low crouching fighter. Shirokawa flipped a shield from the ground onto his back, just in time to stop the strikes. Spinning the shield around like a sign twirler, those two took enough steps back to avoid the flurry, but not enough when it suddenly extended in an arc. The misjudged distance allowed Shirokawa to bash them across the cheek for another two KOs.

Not long after, Ryuji and Shirokawa felt each other’s backs.

“Reminds me of old times.”

“For you, maybe. I prefer to keep out of things. I’m not an ox like you.”

“Your slipperiness makes up for it. The ol’ tattoo can depend on you watching over it for any sharps.”

“I’ll send the beefy ones your way then.”

The two separated and glided back into the brawl, Ryuji diving forward with a leaping cross that slammed into three people. The brute force sent them bowling into the crowd, clearing a patch. Ryuji looked back, just in time to see a heavyweight, fully geared, stumbling toward him. His knees trickled blood, no doubt from Shirokawa’s shoe blades.

Taking the hint, Ryuji roared forward with a clothesline. Already unstable legs took a spin as the man landed on his head before planting flat on the ground.

A warning chill struck Ryuji as he whipped around, but a heavy groan sounded from a man wielding a switchblade. Shirokawa had given him a knife chop to the throat.

Seeing more enemies try to swarm around them, Ryuji reached out a hand, grabbing Shirokawa by the wrist, who kicked off to take flight. The monstrous arm strength from Ryuji spun his friend in a wide circle, who had extended the knives in his shoes to form a deadly circular fan. The unsuspecting ones in the front had no time to dodge as blood sprayed from their chests. The sudden fear of nearly getting their throats slashed sent them scrambling away.

The lightly-armored pulled back, letting those with riot shields advance. A forward charge moved to entrap the two buddies, but in an instant, they shifted gears. Shirokawa kicked off one shield, flipping back. Ryuji moved forward to take his place, two shields slamming into his shoulders to fight back his charge.

The proximity made it difficult for Ryuji to rear back and swing for any power, but he reached down and grabbed the bottom lip of the shields. With a heavy grunt, he flipped them upwards like tables.

Ryuji saw Shirokawa slip under the space created, slicing once again at their less protected legs. The pain from that attack caused the riot police to let go of their protection. Now unobstructed, Ryuji palmed each man’s face and slammed their heads into the ground.

Seeing all that happen in the span of seconds, the other riot police were having second thoughts that numbers would work. But before they could retreat, several of them fell forward, revealing Ozaki posing after a home-run swing.

Ryuji chuckled at his posturing before turning toward the man with the loudspeaker.

“Oy, new Chairman! Is that all ya got?! Some future you’re trying to build if ya can’t squash a small family rebellion!”

v

Samukawa gritted his teeth in the distance. Things would have been settled quickly if bullets were allowed to fly. Pulling out the guns when it was simply a territorial dispute would raise some unsavory questions publicly. And as someone still connected to the NPA, such overuse of force meant that he lacked the ability to diffuse the situation properly.

He looked up at some video screens on the buildings. A clear shot of the square gave a bird’s eye view of the skirmish as newscast helicopters reported the ongoing situation. Tokyo was watching. Japan was watching. They waited to see how the supposed collaboration between yakuza and police would handle resistance to change.

The tide wasn’t on his side. The presence of the Yama Ryu was making too many waves through the crowd. His ferocity was a natural beacon for others to follow as he stampeded through the ranks.

“Hmm, guess I’ll have to pull out dragons for myself.”

Samukawa tapped his headset. Virtual windows expanded all around him. There was no better time to take his new set of toys for a spin. He tapped a window in the air, establishing a connection.

“Grace AI mode on. Proximity range – 500 meters.”

v

Ryuji could feel a change rippling through the crowd. The opponents before him had suddenly jerked, looking almost blank for a moment. But then, they looked right at Ryuji and went on the attack.

Ryuji dodged to the side, his danger sense firing off. The blows were suddenly much sharper and more focused. They came at him with a ferocity matching his own. He had seen such a thing before. He had fought one such opponent, actually.

“Shiroyan, Ozaki, watch out! They are being controlled to move like me!”

“That is not how I imagined fighting you, Kyoudai!”

“I’ll treat this as a nice spar with pseudo-you, Aniki!”

Leave it to his friends to be undaunted, even with the nature of their new opponents.

Ryuji ducked as someone tried to clothesline him, sending a liver blow to counter. A tonfa spun dangerously toward his head, but he plucked it right out of the air and tossed it back. There were even breakdancing strikes from below, which Ryuji stopped with a split kick that overpowered the element of surprise.

A chuckle bubbled out of Ryuji’s mouth. They were nowhere near as tricky as Arabaki, who wore a suit that strengthened his attacks. His opponents may have gained the ability to perform the Yama Ryu’s moves, but they lacked the ability to pull them off as effectively. Ryuji was still fighting normal grunts and policemen using a fixed moveset.

However, an army full of weak dragons was still daunting to the typical yakuza. While less powerful, even an inferior imitation of the Yama Ryu invoked discord. The field was no longer expanding outward as Ryuji’s side was getting picked off one after the other by now-fearless attackers.

Ryuji clicked his tongue at this change, but he ignored it and sent a knuckle sandwich to the next person hoping to get lucky. They had to hold out for as long as possible. The outcome of the fight here didn’t matter. It was all a distraction to challenge the power of the self-proclaimed new Chairman.

“Doc Haru, I leave the rest to you…”

The fighters were starting to thin out, more so for his side now than the other. Ryuji breathed deep to draw out his reserves, letting out a fierce roar to psyche himself up.