GANGSTARS Bonus Story – Kuzuryu-kai

Kuzuryu-kai Bonus Story

This is the bonus story unlocked by purchasing the Kuzuryu-kai AGF Banquet Set on the holopro shop. This set is no longer available, so despite the original story being password protected, I am making my translation public. Enjoy!

He was having a dream.

A dream of a dilapidated, converted church—the old orphanage where he spent his days with his two childhood friends. As they shared an apple they stole from the dining hall, they spoke about leaving this place once they grew up.

Where was the best place to go, what sorts of adults they wanted to become… clinging to their dreams of an unknown future, they laughed together with light in their eyes.

Ah, how nostalgic…

As the thought came to mind, he realized that this dream was of the past long ago. The place Shien and the others were in now was nowhere near such a kind world. It was full of treachery and the smell of gunpowder; a world soaked in blood.

Beep-beep-beep-beep.

“Nn…”

The shrill noise snapped him back into consciousness.

When he looked over, he noticed that the cell phone he left on the bedside table was ringing. Shien immediately pressed the button to accept the call.

“What do you want at this hour? …Wait, what happened? Calm down!”

The frantic voice on the other end barely made sense. What Shien heard once he desperately coaxed the information out made his blood run cold.

“What…? Oga is…?”

A few hours later, Shien had called Rikka to his room. Though they had spoken on the phone, he needed to talk with Rikka face-to-face. After hearing the whole of the matter, Rikka’s typically emotionless face was flushed with anger, and he drew a breath as if unable to bear it all.

“What the hell…? Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know. Apparently, we received a tip that Oga is a traitor to Kuzuryu-kai. The Chairman is currently investigating whether or not it’s true.”

“It can’t be true. Oga wouldn’t do something like that.”

Rikka declared this with pure confidence, and Shien nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, that’s what I think, too. Never in a million years would Oga do anything to betray us.”

“Of course not.”

As they looked at one another, they were reassured by the mutual sincerity of their words. However, there was still a hint of unease in the air. There were several reasons why, but the primary one was—

“You tried reaching out to Oga, right?”

“Yeah. As soon as I heard the news.”

“Then why isn’t he here?”

“…I’m sure he’s taking care of some other trivial business.”

Though he said this, Shien knew how slim the chances of that were.

If he was the one being suspected, no matter what the reason was, it would make the most sense to face his partners directly and explain what was going on. But on the contrary, Oga had not shown his face whatsoever. As a bad feeling settled in his chest, Shien’s phone rang once more. 

It was the Chairman.

“Good evening, Chairman. …Yes, I received the tip. So, then—”

Shien’s heart thudded with an unpleasant sound.

It’s not true.

“Th-that’s… Is that the truth?”

Seeing Shien’s eyes widen with shock, Rikka’s expression froze from beside him. The Chairman’s voice grew distant to Shien; his hand holding the phone began to tremble.

“Yes… understood. Thank you.”

Shien hung up the call and turned to look Rikka right in the eyes.

Rikka’s face looked ashen. Shien figured that he probably was making the same exact expression.

“What did he say?”

“…We have to kill Oga.”

“Then, it’s really…?”

“Yeah. He’s… he’s a traitor.”

The moment the words left his mouth, he felt a revolting feeling rise up inside of him, almost as if he were to throw up. Rikka staggered, and hung on to the sofa as he sat himself down. Shien understood the extent of pain this bombshell had inflicted. He wanted desperately to believe this cruel reality was just a bad dream.

“Not true.”

“Rikka.”

“It’s not true.”

“Rikka.“

“Oga would never betray us—”

“The Chairman himself investigated it.”

“…”

“It’s the truth.”

Shien said this, as if to persuade himself as well.

Rikka looked like he wanted to say something, but gave up, only responding with a simple nod.

“We have to act on our orders, then.”

“Right. Traitors must be eliminated. It’s one of the absolute rules of Kuzuryu-kai. As the leader of this team, his friend, his brother—his death must come by our hands.”

“Yes.”

The two swallowed down their emotions and stood. The time had come to eliminate their precious friend. However, truly, they both thought the same thing—please, give us an explanation.

Soon, Shien and Rikka stood before the door to Oga’s hideout.

From the room, they could hear faint noises, evidence of a person inside. Favorite guns and close-combat weapons in hand, the two exchanged hand signs, and then kicked down the door.

“Don’t move!”

They thrusted the muzzles of their guns at the figure in the center of the room. But standing there was not Oga. Instead, it was—

“Looks like I’m one step ahead of you.”

“Rio…!?”

His usual carefree smile was gone, pure exhaustion painting his features. They scanned the room for evidence of another person, but came up empty.

“Oga-san isn’t here anymore.”

“Rio, why the hell are you here…? What did you do to Oga?”

“Shien, wait.”

In his fervor, Shien moved to grab Rio by the collar, but Rikka stopped him.

“I don’t think Rio did anything to him. Let’s hear him out first.”

“But…!”

“If it comes down to it, I can make him speak. Does that work?”

“…Fine.”

“Well, that’s the deal. You’ll talk to us, right?”

Gazing at Shien with something akin to sympathy, Rio quietly began to speak.

In a way, it was inevitable that Rio would be the one to notice.

He had always lived his life being hyper-aware of his surroundings. As such, he had developed a habit of closely reading the people around him, internally noting their intentions. He analyzed everyone this way, no matter if he considered them his allies.

And so—

Oga-san is hiding something.

Yes, he had realized before anyone else. He felt it most strongly whenever the topic of the Chairman came up. On the surface, he would laugh, but his eyes would harden like ice. Rio could sense his intense hatred even stronger. If Shien sincerely espoused praise for the Chairman, at times Oga would gaze at him with profound sadness painting his features.

Moreover, if one were to closely observe Oga, they would notice how he would oddly disappear at times. Then, a few days later, it was practically guaranteed that Kuzuryu-kai’s intel would leak.

Is Oga-san a traitor…? If so, then why?

He couldn’t think of anything, aside from the fact that there must have been some reason.

Ever since becoming a part of Shien’s circle, he could clearly see how deep their bonds were. Their sense of unity was so unyielding, it was enough to make him feel a bit jealous. But the first one to invite Rio into their ranks had been Oga. He cherished Shien, Rikka, and even Rio himself. He desparately wanted to believe that he wouldn’t betray them without good reason.

He considered bringing this matter to Shien. But there was a good chance he wouldn’t earn his trust, considering how short their history together was. Beyond that, he didn’t want to sow discord where there wasn’t any. He had no desire to bring this to the attention of his superiors, either. That was because he knew that, ultimately, Oga would be eliminated. Rio liked Oga—he didn’t want him to die. He simply wanted to know the truth.

So that day, when the anonymous tip came through and he received word from Shien, he decided to beat them to the punch and meet with Oga first.

When he had arrived at Oga’s living quarters, Oga hadn’t been called by Shien yet. He was confused by Rio at first, who was acting completely different than normal. But eventually, he had smiled to himself, as if he had already resigned himself to his fate.

“I see. So I’ve been figured out, huh?”

“…! Then, you really are the traitor?”

“That I am.”

“Why? Why would you do such a thing? You know how much Shien and Rikka trust you, don’t you!?”

“…Yeah.”

“Don’t just nod your head like it’s nothing…! Don’t you understand how much they’ll be hurt by this!? You know the Chairman will make the two of them kill you, right!?”

Oga drew in an almost painful breath. “I know,” he laughed, voice hollow.

Hearing this left Rio with surmounting frustration, so much that he could feel a tingling begin behind his eyes.

“Just tell me why! If you have a good reason, then I—”

“Rio.”

“…”

As if to stop Rio from going down that path, Oga spoke his name.

Just that caused Rio to painfully bite his bottom lip. But soon, Oga placed a hand upon Rio’s shoulder. The warmth radiating from his touch was so gentle, Rio wouldn’t dare to push him away.

“I’m sorry.”

“What? Gh—”

And just like that, with a strike to the back of his neck, Rio was plunged into the depths of unconsciousness.

Some time must have passed before he reawakened. The person who had placed him so carefully upon the sofa could have been none other than Oga himself.

After hearing Rio’s story, Shien and Rikka looked absolutely baffled, their eyes wide with shock.

“So, then, Oga really is…”

“The traitor, yes. He admitted it himself.”

“Fuck!”

With a loud slam, Shien kicked over a side table in a fit of rage. Once he had his breathing back under control, Rio held out the envelope he had been clutching.

“What’s this?”

“When I came to, this was laying at my side. It’s a letter Oga-san left for the two of you.”

“! Give me that!”

Shien snatched the letter, and could tell just by looking at it that it was penned by Oga’s hand. Rikka quietly came close to him, and they both began to read:

Shien and Rikka,

I’m sure you’ll be shocked by this suddenly happening.

I know you have so much you want to say to me. But please, just let me explain.

I am a traitor to Kuzuryu-kai.

Shien gnawed at his lip, and continued reading.

If I can say one thing in my defense, it’s that I only wanted to protect you all.

Kuzuryu-kai—rather, the Chairman—intends to sacrifice us in the fight for Seikyoku.

He plans on making sure that Rio (the “failure”) is killed, too.

“What?”

“There’s no way. The Boss would never…”

“…”

I’m sure you both remember. When we were still in the orphanage, and Rikka and I got into a fight. Which caused Rikka to run away, and get kidnapped by that strange organization.

Rikka could never forget that day.

Oga had been acting off, and in an attempt to cheer him up, Rikka had played a little joke on him. Nothing should have happened; Oga may have been rough around the edges, but he was kind, and he would have laughed it off and forgiven Rikka just like always.

But Oga had been incredibly angry, nothing like what Rikka had expected. Shocked, Rikka impulsively decided to run away from the orphanage.

That day, I had gotten in trouble with one of the staff over something ridiculous, and so I was in a bad mood. Rikka was worried about me, but I lashed out and pushed him away. And because of that, something awful happened, something which could never be undone. It is entirely my fault that you two have been put through all this.

No matter how much I try to atone, it will never be enough.

“Oga…”

Shien’s regrets from that day ran deep as well. When the two of them had fought, he let them be, thinking that it would be resolved like normal. But after a while, when Oga refused to back down and Rikka ran out crying, he realized that something was very wrong. Shien still felt remorse smolder in his heart, ever since that day.

They were all just kids back then. They didn’t know any better. It was nobody’s fault, really. Fate had simply decided to tighten the rope around their necks—now that he was an adult, Shien had accepted that fact. But it seemed like that day had been a turning point for Oga. Though his words printed on the letter remained as straightforward as always, Shien could feel the fervor that emanated from them.

When we finally discovered the research facility and snuck our way in, we fortunately were able to save Rikka. But Rikka lost his emotions, and I lost my eye. Shien brought us, deeply wounded, around in search of help. But he ended up chained to Kuzuryu-kai as thanks for taking us in.

Shien took a deep breath, and kept on reading the letter.

Not just Shien. Rikka, too. I couldn’t bring myself to tell you two, since we were indebted to the Chairman, but the higher-ups in Kuzuryu-kai see us as nothing more than a convenient excuse to incite conflict between the gangs. Once I realized this, I became a spy and started collecting intel. But the more I learned, the more I was confronted with an unbearable reality.

Most likely, Kuzuryu-kai and that research facility are…

I could not let this be. This time, I swore I would protect you.

But in the end, it’s come to this.

“I am so sorry I could not keep you safe. Ten years ago, and now…”

As Shien read aloud the final sentence, Rikka’s eyes welled with raw emotion.

“This is what he’s kept to himself this entire time? How the hell did we not realize…?”

“Because he has to be such a lone wolf! Why couldn’t he just be honest with us!?”

The shock had sent the two of them far beyond frustration. Rio slowly began to speak.

“So, what should we do?”

“…”

“Do we kill the traitor? Or, do we kill the Chairman?”

At his words, Shien and Rikka recalled that Rio had also been betrayed by the Chairman.

“You read this letter too, then?”

“Yeah. Like I said, I’m a step ahead of you.”

“What do you want to do? He is your father.”

“I know. But I told you before, in his eyes, I’m not his real son. From the moment I was born, he’s seen me as nothing but a worthless failure.”

“Right…”

As he listened to Rikka and Rio’s conversation, Shien closed his eyes.

The contents of the letter and his obligation to the Chairman fought inside his mind. But when he opened his eyes once more, they were filled with strength, evidence that his heart had made its decision. Rikka, faced with the brunt of Shien’s stare, nodded to show that he completely understood.

“Brothers don’t betray one another. Right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

He shot Rikka a sidelong grin, and turned to Rio.

“He’s your old man, so I’ll let you make the call. If you want him dead, then you’re the one who’s gonna do it.”

“That’s how I want it to be—I’m going to take down both Shien and the Chairman and become the head of the Kuzuryu-kai.”

“Heh.”

Shien and Rikka both let out a laugh at Rio’s cocky declaration.

“The hell was he even talking about, saying he would protect us on his own? He’s always been the first one to go off the rails.”

“Exactly. He loves to act all level-headed, but he really isn’t. If I ever see him again, I’m gonna beat some sense into him.”

“It might take a few punches.”

“Wait a second. I’m happy to see you both back to normal, but where are we even going?”

Rio called out behind them, chasing after the two who had already began quickly walking away. Shien laughed, as if it were obvious.

“First, we deal with the Chairman… Let’s go teach him a lesson.”

“The hell…? Don’t threaten me with a good time!”

“Right?”

Rio’s eyes were practically glimmering with excitement; Rikka offered him a faint smile. And with that, the trio set off.

They had a job to do: make Kuzuryu-kai pay for what it had done. For betraying their friend, and betraying them.