The girl with the long, bleached hair wearing a catwoman outfit reenters the bar area via the door in the far end of the room. She greets the guy in the white suit with a nod and comes up to the bar right next to Yoko’s table.

“Give me a Yamazaki on the rocks, Taro-san.”

“Coming up, Your Highness.” The bartender’s tone of voice suggests they like to tease each other.

With an air of astonishment Yumiko looks at her peer, who not only is armed, but also drinking whiskey and even on first name terms with a far older and much bigger man in a seedy bar. She cannot help being impressed by this girl, even if she is one of her abductors, and even if she dares not speculate how such a young girl has come to enjoy such respect in the Tokyo underworld.

The girl takes her glass of whiskey and sits down next to Yumiko.

“Hi, I’m Shoko.”

Yumiko introduces herself. She can’t stop staring at Shoko’s sexy leather outfit and her bright red lipstick. If she dressed up like that, her dad would freak out, but this is exactly why she is fascinated by her cool appearance. She does note, though, that Shoko has a long scar on her cheek which she has tried to hide with foundation.

“I first met the Yakuza when I was your age,” Shoko recounts. She takes a sip of her whiskey as she is speaking and her gaze grows distant.

“It wasn’t the Hashimoto family, unfortunately, but a far smaller and more brutal clan.”