Chapter 19: An Audience with the Dragon

My body is screaming. Every muscle is a correction. Kenichi did not hurt me. He dismantled me. He emptied my inefficient cup. And now, I am standing in front of the Dragon.

I am not at the compound. Kenichi has brought me to a private room in this secret facility. It is all dark wood, tatami mats, and the smell of old, expensive incense. It is quiet. Too quiet.

I am corrected into a kneeling position. Seiza. It is agony on my bruised body. I am in a large, open room. One whole wall is gone, open to a perfect, raked-gravel garden.

"He is here, Kaichou-sama," Kenichi says, his voice a whisper.

"I see him," a voice rumbles.

It is not Kenichi's voice. This voice is older. It is heavier.

I look up. Sitting in a wheelchair, in the open veranda, a blanket over his legs, is a man. He is old, but he is not weak. His face is a roadmap of old scars. His eyes... his eyes are Ayako's. They are black, sharp, and they miss nothing. This is Ryouji Katsumi. The Dragon. The head of the Bokumuchi-kai. Ayako is not here.

"So," the Dragon rumbles. "This is the messy variable. The anomaly."

I just kneel. I do not say anything. What can I say?

"You are Shoujo Minatawa-kun," he says. "Sixteen. First year. Problematic. Inefficient. A brawler."

He has my file. My life file.

"You," he says, "are the delinquent who fights bullies. You are the chaos that corrects injustice. You are a problem."

"I am what I am," I manage to say, my voice rough.

The Dragon smiles. It is not Ayako's smile. It is different. It is amused.

"Yes," he says. "You are." He looks at the garden. "My daughter, Ayako, she is special. She is perfect. She is order. She is ice. She is the future of this family."

"I know," I say.

"She," he says, his voice low, "has corrected everyone. She has managed every asset. She is efficient. And then... there is you."

He looks at me. His eyes are not angry. They are curious.

"You," he says, "are the first variable she has not corrected. The first anomaly she has not erased. You... she values. You... she enjoys."

My heart hammers. "I do not understand."

"She talks about you," he says, his voice a low rumble. "This is unprecedented. She reports on your inefficiencies. Your chaotic justice. Your messy fights. She likes your messy variable."

"She likes me?"

"She likes that you are real," he says. "She is surrounded by assets. You... are you. You are chaos. You are justice. You are adequate."

He is using her words. He is laughing at me.

"So," he says, "I am curious. What is your correction, Shoujo Minatawa-kun? What is your price?"

Is he hiring me?

"I do not have a price," I say, my voice low. "I just... I hate bullies."

The Dragon is silent. He just looks at me. For a long, long time.

"Adequate," he finally whispers. "You are adequate."

"You," he says, "are approved."

"Approved?"

"You are Shoujo Minatawa-kun," he says. "You are Ayako's Anomaly. You are family."

My head is spinning.

"Kenichi," he calls. "He is adequate. Take him home."

He just dismisses me. I am family now. I am the Dragon's adequate messy variable.

I am in so much trouble.