Retribution

  "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!", Fumiko-chan said as she poured a bit of water on the faces of the captured Yakuza goons. Just a bit of water, not whole buckets movie style obviously. Two of the goons were starting to wake up, and a third soon followed. My friend 'bosu' was still deeply asleep; I think I hit him a bit harder than I thought.

  "I'm messing with you guys, there are no eggs, nor bacon. Not fresh anyway; if we are lucky we might find powdered ones", Fumiko-chan was clearly enjoying herself. About two hours had passed since we defeated and captured the four goons, and it was now time for their lesson. I was surprised to find out that the girls wanted in as well, especially Yuki-chan. 

  "You little bitch..", said the katana guy, "release me now or I will make you scream your entrails off!", he growled like a rabid dog. 

  "Kowai.. ('scary') Come on now, the fun has not even started yet Yakuza-san... er... I don't care what your names are so since you spoke first you will be 'Yakuza-san ichi' ('1'), your bosu will be 'Yakuza-san ni' ('2'), and these two guys are going to be 'san' ('3') and 'shi' ('4'). We had a little talk you see and we decided I will lead your 'interrogation'. The boys did enough already", Fumiko-chan was in full-blown 'I am having too much fun to contain myself' mode.

  "A slut like you is only good for one thing", said Yakuza-san '3' (one of Haru-kun's knife guys) who just woke up, "to use like a sex toy and then get rid of it. Then...", he was interrupted by Fumiko-chan's hard slap which almost put him back under. 

  "I was trying to be nice No 3 but your mouth clearly has not been washed for decades... literally as I can tell", she looked at his full of dental plaque teeth and shivered in disgust. These guys did not seem to care about how they looked. All except bosu were still wearing their 2025 rags and they stank like rats who just had a long bath in a long stagnant sewer.

  The girls asked us not to interfere with the 'interrogation' unless they asked for help. Yuki-chan approached and she poured some more water onto bosu's head, who started to move his head around, muttered something inaudible and then slowly opened his eyes. After he realized he and his goons were in our mercy he (predictably) started his empty threats.

  "Hey, you little shits. If you release us now we are not going to kill you, you have my word. But if you mess with us further we are going to kill you much more slowly and painfully than we were going to. We will rape your little sluts with no mercy too!", he said while clearly trying to hide his fear. 

  Yuki-chan calmly approached me and held out her hand with an open palm without saying a word, signaling me to give her my bokken. I did. She then headed to 'interrogate' bosu / No 2. Without hesitating at all she hit him on the face with it, hard, and a couple of teeth escaped his mouth, along with plenty of blood. 

  "What did you say you'll do to us teme??!! Say that one more time!! I fracking dare you!!!!", we were all startled by Yuki-chan's sudden screaming voice. She screamed and wailed and bellowed from the very bottom of her lungs. I had no idea she had it in her, or rather.. that she had so much pain in her.

  Bosu spat out some blood. He glared at Yuki-chan and looked like he was about to say something insulting again, but then he looked at the bloody edge of the bokken she was holding a few inches from his face and just uttered "Tschh..". Yuki-chan was already starting to 'dominate' bosu.

  "Our girlie here has had enough with your kind. I've had enough as well, who've been through far less than her. So, we decided to let her be your judge, jury, and potential executioner", Fumiko-chan explained, stomping on the last word like an elephant.

"Your fate, and your life, are squarely in her hands now, so you need to be nice to her. Otherwise you will not make it through the night", our first post-apocalyptic day was about to hand over the baton to our second post-apocalyptic night. 

  All four goons looked at Yuki-chan with a mix of terror and awe. We were already starting to get them where we wanted. The katana guy acted tough but two of his fingers and I think his radius (the main bone of the wrist) as well were broken from when I hit him before. We had no painkillers nor an obvious way to place his hand in a plaster splint, so I just wrapped it in some extra clothing while he was unconscious and I took some care to fix his fingers in place.

  "You are not going to kill us, you do not have the stomach for it. You are just kids, students!", the last of the bunch, No 4, finally spoke as well.

  "Yes, we are students who wiped the floor with you a couple of hours ago. What does that make you?", Fumiko-chan countered. 

  "How about we make a deal?", bosu said calmly and non threateningly (for once), "if you let us go in one piece we will leave downtown Tokyo and go Northwest, toward Saitama. We were planning to go there anyway, since it's our old turf. It looks like Miss here faced some, er, "issues" after she woke up and we kind of poured more fuel into her 'fire'. We, er, apologize for that. We meant no disrespect miss", bosu bowed his head and nodded to the others to bow as well. They did, but the katana guy looked pissed he did. 

  The four yakuza goons were seemingly humbled and tamed already. Of course it was most likely an act, and bosu was probably planning to find more guys to get revenge on us later. Even if that was the case we were not planning to stay in these dorms for long. We needed to look for a safer, more secure place. And, perhaps, we also needed a few more capable people for our team. Strength in numbers and all that.

  "Like I said, this is Yuki-chan's call, not mine or of the boys'. What say you Yuki-chan?", Fumiko-chan asked the girl. 

  "We cannot trust these dirtbags. If we let them go they might return with more muscle to attack us again. I say we kill them. All of them! Take that sharp knife and slice her throats ear to ear and be done with them", this was still part of our rehearsed plan, but Yuki-chan looked like she really meant it.

  The four Yakuza goons now looked petrified. They started to get drenched in cold sweat because they fully believed Yuki-chan was ready to kill them - even I did. And then.. the whimpering and sobbing started. 

  "Please... ojou-chan ('miss')", bosu spoke, with a whimpering voice. "We are survivors of this whole mess, just like you.. I know we are just a bunch of rotten trash of men someone forgot to throw away.. But you are not.. If you kill us it will change you.. it will darken you.. deep inside.. just like it darkened me and the boys here when we first killed a man on the orders of our bosu.."

  "After your first kill you will not hesitate to kill again.. and again", the katana guy, who looked liked he was the second in command, spoke more calmly but his tough act was gone, "it's like something.. breaks inside you after your first kill, I cannot explain it any other way. Of course, since we were Yakuza low level goons denying an order was not an option. The big bosu would have buried as alive. Literally".

  Yuki-chan pondered their words. She looked quite calmer now. Her -and our- point was made. We had 'won' both physically and mentally. She decided to walk away but not before saying, 

  "I do not forgive you and your kind, but I also do not want to stoop to your level and become a killer like you. However, if you dare to have another go at us to 'get revenge' for your 'humiliation' or something we will kill you, morals and 'internal darkness' be damned. You have my word for that", Yuki-chan turned toward us and we all nodded. That was no bluffing, we had all agreed to that. 

  The four goons sighed in relief but I noticed no devious smiles or any other body tell that hinted 'You foolish kids, you should have killed us when you had the chance!' or something along this line. So it's possible that they do not plan a revenge after all, but I am not taking that chance. By tomorrow morning we need to have ditched this place.

  We were then prepared to release them, with me and Haru-kun watchful of all their moves. I nodded to Akira-kun to escort the girls away from them again, because if they took one of them hostage we would be in deep trouble. 

  "We have a deal, right?", I said. "You are going to Saitama", Bosu was holding his most likely cracked jaw in pain. 

  "Yes we will, young man. First thing in the morning. After we rest and dine a little bit. You have my word, I pledge this on my honor and on this", he pointed to his highest level Yakuza tattoo, the one that indicated he was a sub-lieutenant; a low-mid level rank despite his advanced age. 

  The Yakuza, although they were technically criminals, were in some sense the 'spiritual descendants' of the Samurai. They had a code. I knew full well from Hideo-sensei -who was in the Yakuza when he was young but managed to get out- that even the lowest Yakuza scumbag would never dishonor their tattoos. Never. Not just because their bosu would skin them alive. They were part of their moral code, their honor, which they would never violate. 

  I was certain now that bosu was not acting. I let out a small sigh of relief myself. When they were all back on their feet they mildly bowed and took off. Before they left bosu looked at me and Haru-kun with a mild smile that, unless I'm mistaken, hinted that he was proud of us. I took no compliment, in fact I felt a shiver down my spine. 

  In a few minutes they were gone. I rejoined the others and told them we need to rest, eat and move the next morning.

  "No, I strongly doubt they'll be back", I said, "But others might. We are quite exposed here, we need to find some place we can easily secure against hostiles. If we find a couple of others along the way to join us it would be even better. We are five, but only two of us are sufficiently trained in martial arts", I looked at Akira-kun to make sure.

  "I am not as advanced as you two guys but I am a brown belt in karate, does it count?", Akira-kun asked. 

  "Great! Three of us are trained then. Of course it counts. If we are overwhelmed by too many hostiles for us to contain you could handle a couple of low level threats and protect the girls, right?", Akira-kun nodded.

  “Shouldn’t we rest soon? I know it just got dark but we had a very long day. Yuki-chan is already asleep in a nearby room. I also need a bit more to eat, I am running on the fumes of the sole chilly & noodle cup I’ve had the entire day!”, Fumiko-chan complained.

  “Let’s eat, let’s sleep, and we take our stuff and leave this place at first light. Just please don’t make me set up another fire, for the love of god..”, I blocked her before asking, “I’m tired as well you know. Let’s eat a tin can or two for now”. Fumiko-chan looked grumpy but said nothing. 

  So we ate. And slept. It was a long day indeed. Will our next days and weeks fare any better or will they be worse? It is currently Day 11, while I am compiling this account. I'm not going to spoil the next 10 days though. Let's just say that they were not boring at all, in more ways than once. Our dear descendants from the 23rd century the chapter 'Retribution' ends here.