Chapter 8: Guilty of Romance

The next day, in the early morning.
Seiko, who was having breakfast with her sister, Aiko, and Saori, was once again called to Yamagami Nobuo’s study.
Yamagami Nobuo took a wooden box from his desk and pushed it towards Seiko: “I’ve already sent someone to Kobe to contact the Yamaguchi-gumi, but in any case, the Yama-Ichi Kōsō is not something to be underestimated. Take this for self-defense.”
Seiko opened the wooden box.
Inside the box lay a Soviet-made Makarov pistol and two boxes of bullets.
Seeing the pistol resting quietly in the box, a long-unfelt feeling of aversion surged within Seiko.
Her hand, extended to take the gun, clenched and unclenched, but for a long time, she couldn’t pick up the pistol.

“What’s wrong?” Yamagami Nobuo asked curiously, “Don’t you know how to use a handgun?”

“No,” Seiko shook her head, took a deep breath, suppressed the resistance in her heart, and with a grit of her teeth, picked up the pistol, “I’ve learned at the shooting range.”
With that, Seiko skillfully demonstrated loading and aiming.

The Soviet Big Brother was still alive, but some obvious signs of decline were becoming hard to conceal, such as the increasingly common Soviet-made firearms in Japan’s underworld.
Soviet firearms were indeed good.
Like the Makarov pistol in Seiko’s hand, its body was small and exquisite—even a high school girl like Seiko found it very comfortable to hold, making it easy to carry and conceal.
Its structure was reliable, safety high, shooting convenient and fast, and the bullets had great stopping power and lethality.
Not only did Seiko think it was a good gun, but even the KGB favored it.
Although during the Chechen Wars, the Makarov pistol received some criticism because its bullets couldn’t penetrate body armor, for Yakuza who didn’t wear body armor, that wasn’t a flaw worth noting.

Yamagami Nobuo, seeing that Seiko indeed knew how to use a gun, nodded and brought up the second matter—he had assigned a bodyguard to Seiko.
Before leaving for school, Seiko saw the “bodyguard.”
Saori was laughing and talking with him.

The “bodyguard” was named Yamagami Takashi.
By seniority, Seiko should call Yamagami Takashi “cousin,” but he was a descendant of Yamagami Nobuo’s cousin, making him a distant relative to Seiko.
However, Yamagami Takashi had been making a living in the Yamagami-gumi since his teens, so Seiko and Saori already knew him.

“Big Brother Takashi, thank you for your trouble.” Seiko greeted him with a smile.
Yamagami Nobuo said that Yamagami Takashi was to be responsible for taking Seiko to and from school, but in reality, it was just to have Yamagami Takashi serve as her attendant or bodyguard.
It had to be said, regardless of actual combat ability, Yamagami Takashi, being over 1.9 meters tall and having a body of toned muscle, simply standing by meant that ordinary small-time thugs wouldn’t dare approach.
He was indeed very suitable to be a bodyguard.
Even if they encountered an armed assassin from a rival organization, Yamagami Takashi’s physique presented a larger area to block bullets.

“No trouble at all,” Yamagami Takashi said with an indifferent smile, “This is the easiest assignment I’ve ever had, even easier than collecting debts from those office workers.”
Saori smiled sweetly and nodded, appearing to completely agree.
‘You might be celebrating too early…’
Seiko thought to herself, but she didn’t voice it.

Seiko took two days to write the screenplay for a film she had chosen.
The film was titled—Guilty of Romance.
Guilty of Romance was a film highly representative of Sion Sono’s style—blood, death, eroticism, and big breasts.
Guilty of Romance tells the story of three respectable women, according to traditional social views, who gradually descend into depravity.
A female detective, a writer’s wife, and a university professor: the female detective becomes completely lost in her affair with a lover; the writer’s wife turns into an AV actress and a prostitute; the university professor becomes a streetwalker soliciting clients every night, and eventually dies in confusion…
There is a line in the film that roughly expresses part of its theme: “A housewife goes out to throw away garbage, but when she steps out, she finds that the garbage truck has already left.
She stands there watching for a while, then sees the garbage truck stop.
She quickly runs to catch up, but before she can, the garbage truck moves forward again.
She stops her pursuit, but the garbage truck ahead stops again, and she quickly runs to catch up…
This repeats countless times.
She comes to her senses, having chased it very, very far…
She can’t explain why she kept chasing the garbage truck; it’s just that besides chasing the garbage truck, she had nothing else to do.”
Undoubtedly, Sion Sono’s films have profound ideas.
But Seiko thought Sion Sono just wanted to film breasts, and any intellectual themes were merely an excuse for him to film breasts.
Of course, some people like to call the story of a woman’s complete descent into depravity, ruin, and irretrievable fall an awakening, rebellion, and feminism, believing that Sion Sono truly understands women.
While Seiko found it hard to agree with those people’s views—it was as absurd as “feudalism is too feudal, why don’t we try slavery instead”—but daijōbu! No problem!
As long as these people were willing to buy tickets, Seiko could also brand her own Guilty of Romance with “awakening,” “rebellion,” and “feminism” tags.

“Nicely written.”
Saori praised the script Seiko had written after reading it.

“The story of three respectable, mature women descending into prostitution will definitely attract many viewers who are tired of AVs with almost no plot.”
Saori hit the nail on the head, pointing out another crucial reason why Seiko chose Guilty of Romance.

“And a theme reflecting women’s plight is easy to win awards with.” Seiko held up two fingers, stating the second reason, “Not to mention major awards, even minor, less prestigious film awards can help Bubble Witch shed its AV company label.”
Sion Sono himself received a Best Director nomination at the Asian Film Awards for this film.
Although he didn’t win the Best Director award there, he did pick up many smaller awards.

“So, we’ll shoot it like this?”
Saori asked.
Seiko shook her finger: “There’s still one problem that needs to be solved.”

“What problem?”

“I need to find a real-life inspiration to increase the story’s appeal, watchability, and the probability of winning awards.”
Guilty of Romance was based on a murder case that occurred in the 1990s in the love hotel district of Maruyama-cho, Shibuya, Tokyo.
The victim of the murder was a female employee of Tokyo Electric Power Company who appeared respectable and glamorous by day but transformed into a prostitute at night.
The case thus gained immense public discussion at the time, with many debating why a respectable woman would also work as a streetwalker at night.
The reasons varied, with no definitive answer.
Such a background undoubtedly gilded the film with a layer of social responsibility.

“Would such a real-life inspiration exist?” Saori asked, blinking in surprise.
Seiko curled her lips, saying, “You underestimate Japanese married women too much.”