A Trip Down Memory Lane

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka and Misaki had been working for Ume for three days now. Misaki’s modeling had paid off and brought some business to the old woman’s shop. The two had managed to share a room without wanting to kill each other. All in all, things were going smoothly. Except for the fact that they still hadn’t made any progress on their investigation. Slow and steady wins the race, he supposed. As they made their way downstairs to the storefront, Ume’s nose wrinkled in disgust. Looking over at Yutaka, she spoke.

"Yutaka, sweetie… Is that the only pair of clothes you own?"

"Uh… guilty."

"How… Misaki, you’re okay with this?"

"Not her fault! We only have so much money, and it’s much more important that my lovely fiance is provided for than an oaf like me."

"Regardless of your reasoning, this simply won’t do. I can’t have you stinking up my shop! Come, do you know your measurements?"

"Big?"

Ume sighed, grabbed the large man by the sleeve, and dragged him to the back room. Yutaka rarely ever got embarrassed, but this incident had him a bit flustered. It wasn’t as if he didn’t wash up, he couldn’t have smelled that bad! Without a word, the old lady collected her tools and walked back over to the man.

"I’m going to take your measurements, then I’ll make some basic clothes for you. No need to pay me, call it a business expense. I’m going to need you to take those off for me to get accurate results."

"Ma'am, I don’t thin-"

"This is my job, dearie."

Yutaka found himself backed into a corner. He didn’t want to show his tattoos, but at the same time, Ume wasn’t really giving him the option. With a deep sigh, the large man took his shirt off, and the old lady didn’t skip a beat in measuring his arms. Things were silent for a moment before Ume finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"I’m not harboring a criminal, am I?"

"No ma’am. That life is behind me."

"And you just happened to come to a place with a heavy Yakuza presence?"

"With all due respect, I wouldn’t be here if I planned on going back to that life. It’s nasty work, but it pays a hell of a lot better than a legitimate job."

The old woman gave him a slight nod as she continued to take measurements. Yutaka and Misaki had gotten so lucky with this arrangement, but now he was worried he had just blown it. Misaki was going to be so pissed.

"Well, I guess the nightmare makes more sense now. What made you leave?"

"Love."

"Oh, bless your heart. Misaki is a great woman."

"Don’t I know it."

Yutaka had to hold back a laugh. Ume had no idea what she was talking about. But on the bright side, it seemed like she wasn’t going to kick them out. Yutaka wanted to pat himself on the back, Misaki wasn’t the only good actor!

"I just have a couple more to take, and then why don’t you take the day off? You can come back to work when you’re not wearing clothes that reek like a vagrant."

"What a kind boss I have."

When all his measurements were finished, Yutaka put his clothes back on and walked back out to the storefront, where Misaki was handling a customer. Waiting until she was finished and the customer left the building, he walked over to her.

"Bad news: She definitely saw my tattoos. I had to reassure her that I'm not with the Yakuza anymore. She seemed to buy it but that cat is out of the bag now. Good news: I have the day off. I think I'll do a bit of snooping around. Someone has to get some work done around here."

With a playful wink and a cheeky smile, Yutaka made his way out of the shop.

[Amy]

Misaki walked into the front of the shop, laughing to herself as she listened to Ume tell Yutaka he stunk. He did stink and she was glad that someone was finally doing something about it. It wasn’t exactly his fault - He could bathe all he wanted but if he had to put dirty clothes back on afterwards it didn’t make much of a difference. And she didn’t want to be the one to tell him he stunk because she was the one who would have to listen to him pout about it. Much better for sweet old Ume to take care of it. The woman was a godsend, having given Misaki a bunch more clothes as well. When Misaki had seen that the woman had what could only be called dress templates, she had gotten the idea. Dresses that were mostly sewn but needed to be taken in at the chest, waist, and hips and needed to be hemmed to height. It was a genius way to sell women clothes that fit perfectly without the wait or cost of a custom-made dress.

By wearing the finished version of these template dresses, Misaki could show women firsthand how good they would look once they were done. It was hard for a lot of women to imagine the boxy dresses that hung on the racks looking beautiful on their bodies. Even Misaki had been impressed when presented with the finished products. She got to work on tidying up the store and unlocking the door, waiting on the first customer. They had been getting a lot of good business in but it wasn’t the right crowd yet. The law-abiding crowd was making Ume’s shop a top contender for number one dress seller but the more unsavory side hadn’t graced their doors yet. Those were the people Misaki wanted to talk to.

“Good morning!” She called out as the bell on the door rang. She looked up to find a young and pretty thing walking through the door.

““Good morning! My friend told me I should come and check here for a dress. She said you have some short-order dresses available. I need one for a short-notice event.”

Misaki smiled at the young woman and began showing her the different styles and fabric options that they had. The woman was definitely interested but decided that she wanted to come back with her mother later for a second opinion. She had just left the shop when Yutaka walked out from the back looking rather pleased with himself.

“Well, if she had a problem she would have said something,” she said in response to finding out Ume knew about his tattoos. “You’re not supposed to be going near any of them anyways.” Stepping in closer, keeping her voice low enough that Ume wouldn’t be able to hear her, she said “Don’t get into any trouble today. I won’t come and help you.”

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka laughed as he exited the store. Stay out of trouble? Did she really have so little faith in him? He’d be fine! All he was going to do was give the gambling den a visit. Was it risky to walk into a Yakuza owned business that he himself used to run? Sure. But that was just the spirit of gambling, and Yutaka was damn good at making sure the odds were always in his favor. All he wanted to do was learn a bit about the new management. So once the large man had made it to his destination, he found a discreet place to use transformation jutsu and take on the appearance of a typical vagrant. He might as well play the part, considering he apparently smelled like one.

Upon entering the establishment, Yutaka immediately noticed how much bigger it had gotten. It was nice to see that whoever took over after him had seemingly continued Yutaka’s plans for expansion. They had even made the transition to chips, which he’d been in the process of doing before leaving the Yakuza. It was nice to know that his successor wasn’t as dumb as his predecessor. Walking over to one of the cage cashiers, Yutaka threw some ryo from his own personal stash onto the desk. Misaki didn't need to know about all of his money.

Taking a quick walk around, he noticed tables with roulette wheels, an open bar, and small hookah rooms in the back. His admiration for his successor started to wane. These were all things that Yutaka had started the process of adding before he left. There wasn't a single new thing that wasn’t part of Yutaka’s old plans. This bum was just riding his coattails! Trying to hide his annoyance, he sat down at a poker table and waited for the next round. Waving down a cocktail waitress, he ordered a drink. As she left to get Yutaka’s order, the man sitting next to him spoke.

"We just lettin’ the homeless come in now?"

"Hey, I got the money. That’s good enough, yeah?"

"I guess. Just stay over there, ya stink."

"Likewise"

The two men chuckled as the next round was dealt. Putting in his ante, Yutaka took a look at his cards. An eight of spades and an ace of clubs, the dead man’s hand. Hopefully, it wasn’t an omen. Yutaka really did have the worst luck.

[Amy]

Misaki and Ume had spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon chatting with each other and assisting the few customers who darkened the door. Misaki succeeded in selling a short-order dress and a custom dress. Ume immediately began work on the short-order one which let Misaki breathe a little easier in the front of the shop. She liked the old woman but the constant chatter and emoting were exhausting. Settling herself behind the counter, she began doing a few stretches to work the tightness out of her neck and lower back. It was only a few moments later though that she heard the tinkling of the bell again. Swallowing the sigh that threatened to fall out of her mouth, Misaki looked over her shoulder to behold the first customer from that morning now accompanied by her mom.

“Welcome back!” Misaki called, turning fully towards the door.

“Thank you! I brought my mother with me this time. Can you show her the ones we were looking at earlier?”

Thinking to herself that she deserved a gold medal for not rolling her eyes, Misaki hurried right over to where the two women were and began explaining everything all over again. The young woman’s mother seemed to be much more decisive than her daughter though and had quickly narrowed the selection to two choices. After that the daughter chose easily and the deed was done, leaving Misaki eternally grateful. Luckily, Ume was already finished with the dress from earlier and was able to take the woman’s measurements right away. Misaki usually didn’t bother sticking around for this but she was very curious as to what the woman needed a party dress for on short notice.

“You said it was a short notice event, Miss? You don’t mind my asking what it’s for? It’s been ages since I’ve been to a party.”

“Oh, not at all! A friend of a friend had a successful business venture and decided to throw a huge banquet. My friend told me about it and got the OK from her friend to invite me but I had no idea it was this weekend!”

Misaki did her best to look brainlessly excited about a fancy party, clasping her hands together and sighing slightly. “Oh, that does sound lovely. He must be a grand businessman. What does he do?”

“Hmm…you know, I have no idea!” The woman giggled, spinning in the mirror, watching her own reflection. “I guess I don’t really care either!”

Her mother admonished her then and gave Misaki a look that suggested she wasn’t pleased with her daughter being questioned. Giving the woman a pleasant smile that didn’t reach her eyes, Misaki left the three on their own. If he was that good of a businessman then the general population should know about him and what he does. The secret nature of it instantly had Misaki interested. One way or another, she decided as she sat back down behind the counter. She was going to that party.

[ThatGuy]

To no one’s surprise, Yutaka lost his first few hands. His luck was so consistently bad that the large man was starting to believe in karma. What a bitch! Taking another drink of the sake that the cocktail waitress had dropped off earlier, he wondered how long his chips would last. He had the whole day to kill, but at this rate, he wouldn’t have the Ryo to keep up. Plus, he wasn’t accomplishing much in the way of investigation by just sitting there. So far, the only information he had gathered was that the owner was a bum who stole Yutaka’s thunder after he left. With a sigh, he put in the ante for the next round. After receiving yet another horrible hand, he waited for the flop before folding at the first bet.

“Are you going to play a hand or just fold every round?”

“Not with hands like this! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the dealer has a grudge.”

“So you’re accusing the lad of robbing the homeless?”

“Heartless bastard, if ya ask me! I ain’t homeless, though. I’m stayin’ at the bar nearby.”

“They offer baths in those rooms! Use them, ya bum!”

“I never said I rented a room! I got a nice spot in the back booth under the table.”

The two let out big laughs as the dealer gave them both an irritated look. Taking another drink, Yutaka discreetly took another look around the room. Even without the tattoos, it was easy to identify who was a normal employee and who was actually a member of the Yakuza. They had a few plants keeping an eye on things, just in case a fight broke out. No doubt they were the ones to drag those who were caught cheating into the back room too. After polishing off his drink, Yutaka called for a refill. While waiting for his sake, he watched the dealer closely as they shuffled, a small smirk growing on his face as he noticed some sleight of hand. No one else at the table seemed to have noticed that the dealer had just palmed a card. When the next round started, Yutaka threw in his ante and eagerly awaited the flop. The man he was talking to earlier had received the palmed card. Was this sabotage? Or were they a plant to take money from people at the table? Either way, things were getting interesting.

[Amy]

“Misaki, Miss Claire is ready to check-out now. I’m going to show her mother some options while you take care of that.”

Misaki waved her acknowledgement and gave Claire the sincerest smile she could muster as she walked up the counter. “I’m so glad you were able to pick something! I bet you’re going to be the darling of the ball.”

Claire blushed and shook her head with great insistence. “Absolutely not, but I appreciate you saying so. Not that I think I’m an ogre or anything but I know a few women who are going to be there and they put me to shame. Not you, though.” Claire grinned wickedly, looking over her shoulder to make sure her mother wasn’t within listening distance. “You should have heard what my mother had to say about you. She said it should be impossible to make such an innocent dress look so dirty. Oh!” Claire colored a deep red, slapping her hand over her mouth. “I have no idea why I told you that, I am so sorry.”

Misaki laughed, nothing fake about this one. Ume had complained a lot while dressing her about how the dress looked on her and couldn’t she try to be a little more rectangular shaped. “Please don’t worry about it. I know what my body looks like. I don’t know anyone here yet so the only place I have to dress up for it work. I miss it, so gotta make do.” Misaki gently planted the seed, hoping it would grow fast.

“You just moved to town?”

““A couple of weeks ago, yeah. Ume was nice enough to hire me on here but it doesn’t leave a ton of time for making friends. There’s not a lot going on here and getting into the center of town is hard on most days. If I go, I’m working.”

“That’s so sad though, there is always so much going on in the town center. We have a couple of…big businessmen that are always throwing some get-together or something. And women who look like you are always invited.”

Misaki shoved down the joy that jumped into her throat. This was exactly what she wanted. Exactly who she needed to talk to. ““Well if you know of a way for me to get introduced to one of these men, let me know. I really need a party.”

Claire looked behind her, seeing her mother and Ume finishing up. She leaned close towards Misaki and said in a hushed voice, “I’ll tell my friend who got the direct invite that you’re interested. I can’t promise anything but you might get a visit here soon.” She looked like she was about to say something else, a shadow crossing her features. It was too late though, the older women appearing at the counter. Claire’s mother looped her arm through her daughter’s and pulled her gently away from the counter, giving Misaki a disparaging glance as they walked off.

Ume thanked her for her hard work but Misaki barely heard her, already planning her outfit for the next day. If they sent someone it would have to be in the next couple of days and she had to look her best. She had to make sure they would want to be seen with her.

[ThatGuy]

When Misaki mentioned her being able to walk into the brothel and not him, Yutaka gave her a look that said, don’t you dare even joke about that. They’d only been playing the part of a couple for a few days, but Yutaka was already starting to feel the effects of not being able to go out. Was that evidence of a problem? Or was this a result of being unable to participate in his solution to the problem? These were thoughts for someone smarter than him. At the end of the day, he really didn’t care. After Misaki asked him about the room, Yutaka thought for a moment. Everything around that time was still a blur.

"Uhh… I was still bein’ kept drunk all day around that time. They kept me on the main floor, I was where the girls were kept when they weren’t on duty. I wasn’t really allowed to go walkin’ around, though I definitely did from time to time. It’s all fuzzy. I remember the girls lookin’ after me. A couple of them were nice, others were particularly nasty."

Most of this information was irrelevant, but Yutaka was just thinking out loud. It was a way to try to gather his fragmented memories. Sometimes talking through these things would help clear up his past. Stroking what little facial hair he had, Yutaka continued speaking.

"When I snuck around the place, it was normally to try and get a peek at what was goin’ on in the rooms. Even at that young of an age, I was a degenerate. I think… Yeah, one time I made it to a locked door near the mistress’ quarters. I remember she caught me tryin’ to open the door. Nearly broke my jaw, I think she knocked me out."

Unlike some of his other memories, Yutaka had grown pretty numb to his time being raised in the brothel. Terrible things happened there, but they weren’t near as traumatizing to him as his time with the trafficking ring. It was mainly hard to remember because of all the alcohol they made him drink. With a sigh and a shake of his head, Yutaka apologized to the girl.

"Sorry, I don’t really got anythin’ of value. I’m hopin’ we can find some kind of alternate entrance if we follow them. But I’m not very hopeful, to be honest. Better than doing nothing, I guess."

The two men stopped at a local shop and, from the looks of it, were collecting some protection money. With a Yakuza presence as large as the one in this town, it was likely that they needed multiple groups to collect it all. There was no guarantee that this group was going to the brothel, but maybe they’d get some other information. With a sigh, the large man spoke again.

"They’re likely goin’ to be at this all day. Might help give us an idea of just how many shops are under the Yakuza’s thumb. But at some point, they've gotta head back to their boss. There are a lot of different places that could be. No guarantee that they’re Taichi’s men. Surely there’s something we could find. I know we’re still in the information collectin’ phase, but what exactly is your plan? We find a way to get to Taichi and interrogate him?"

[Amy]

Misaki found herself staring at Yutaka, internally fighting with herself over the words she was about to say. He was so much for her. What she really wanted to do was ditch him and take to the rooftops to get a better view of the streets and initiate some conversations with these men. But Misaki couldn’t forget what had happened in the previous town, the way Yutaka had almost beaten the man to death before they got any answers to any of their questions. He was unpredictable and if she abandoned him on the street there was no telling how he would react. The worst case would be him going to the brothel and causing a scene there. It could cause them to heighten security or even move the girls they had. It could make it nearly impossible for Misaki to get what she wanted.

“Yeah,” she finally said, turning back towards the men they were watching. “Interrogating him is the end goal.” It was quickly becoming apparent to Misaki that their levels of patience were very different. She was prepared to spend as much time in this town as needed to find all of the information there was to find before ever talking to Taichi. Once she got with him whether it was peaceful or otherwise, they would have to leave. Right now, Misaki didn’t even know enough information to be able to ask Taichi enough questions to make it worth talking to him. She had let him come along and it had been fine so far but it was definitely giving her more to have to think about.

“We already know who their boss is, I don’t see much of a reason to keep following them if we aren’t going to talk to them. And we can’t talk to them without raising suspicion and we can’t do that yet.” She stepped off to the side of the street and stopped, leaning against the building. “Listen, there’s not really a point to this. Let’s just go to the brothel and see what we can find out around there. It’s already late afternoon so we only have a few more hours before there starts being too much traffic.”

Pushing off the building, Misaki didn’t wait to see if Yutaka was going to come with her or not. She had already made so many compromises to the way she liked to do things and it was starting to physically pain her. No one ever asked her any questions about what she was doing or why she was doing it. She didn’t want to answer those types of questions and she didn’t owe anyone those answers anyways. Now that they were heading straight towards the brothel it didn’t take them much longer to get there. It was a decently large building, with lots of windows but all of them were shuttered. A large blinking sign hung on the front of the building that read “The Silver Siren” in an easily readable script.

Other than the name, the brothel looked like every other one that she had ever seen. Clean enough but not so clean you were confused as to what it was. The door was shrouded under a large awning to give privacy between anyone who tried to enter and the doorman. Not all of them had someone watching the front door but most run by criminal organizations did. After all, the women weren’t the only valuable things inside of the building. There was probably a large amount of cash and probably a decent amount of drugs. Plus, who knew what else. There was the obvious door in the front and as they walked through the alley around the building Misaki saw one more door on the side and one more in the back.

Misaki didn’t stop until they were a little bit away from the brothel so they wouldn’t be seen right near it if someone from the yakuza stepped outside.

“Ok, so obviously the front door is for patrons, I assume the back door is for supplies? What about the side door? Do you know what’s in these other buildings around here? I’m wondering if there’s an underground entrance that starts somewhere else.”

[ThatGuy]

Yutaka wracked his brain when Misaki asked about the surrounding buildings. The entrance being in another building definitely made sense. That was a common smuggling tactic. But if that was the case, it had to be a fairly recent construction. Yutaka was the head of a family before he left, he’d definitely have known about it. A secret room under Taichi’s brothel was one thing, but a tunnel used for smuggling would need to be shared with the other heads.

"It’s been quite a while since I’ve been here. I remember what the buildings used to be but they might have changed. That one used to be a bar, probably still is. That one used to sell dirty pictures, looks like it's been repurposed. That one…"

The large man stopped in his tracks, turning from the building he was just gesturing to. It was down the street a bit, but he had a fantastic candidate for their hidden entrance. He was confident, but would Misaki feel the same way? Well, he was going to check it out either way!

"Down the street, there’s a Yakuza-owned warehouse. Sure, things change over the years, but I highly doubt that they changed the warehouse. Normally I’d look for a building a bit closer to the brothel, but I’m willin’ to bet ya can draw a line from the warehouse to the brothel and every building along the way is Yakuza owned. It’s entirely possible that they made that tunnel after I left. Their presence seems to have only grown throughout the years."

Containing his excitement, Yutaka started making his way towards the warehouse. He made sure that his movements seemed natural and wouldn’t rouse any suspicion. For a moment, the large man even forgot to check if Misaki was following him. After the building was in sight, Yutaka turned back to the girl and gave her a smile.

"I promise ya it won’t even take ten minutes before we see something go in or out of that building. Yakuza-types will be easy to spot. I’m wonderin’ if we’ll find somethin’ like a cart going inside. That’d be a perfect way for them to smuggle the girls in without anyone seein’."