Chapter 25: Surfacing

Morning, at the Yamagami residence.

On the double bed sprinkled with the morning light, a pair of youthful maidens slept in an embrace.
The fair, tender skin still bore the pinkish hue from their “morning exercise.”

Ring, ring, ring…

The alarm clock rang for the third time.

One of the girls finally awoke from her doze, rolled over, and reached out to turn off the alarm.

“Seiko, it’s getting late.
Time to get up.”

Saori got out of bed, then turned back to poke the still-languid Seiko.

Seiko opened her eyes, staring at Saori for a moment with the haze of someone who had just woken up.
Becoming slightly more awake, she wriggled, intending to get up, but then stopped her movement.

“Wait a moment…”

“Hm?”

Under Saori’s puzzled gaze, Seiko reached her hand back under the covers…

“What toy?” Saori asked.

“Um, it’s…” Seiko trailed off, suddenly stuck.
She had just realized that many of the bestselling female toys of a later era were not actually popular in this one.

They might have been invented, but they hadn’t truly entered the market.
In her previous life, these products didn’t really become bestsellers until the 90s—the third wave of feminism and the popularization of the American TV show “s*x and the City” at that time had truly driven a huge wave of electric toy sales.

‘Hm?’

Seiko suddenly realized she might have discovered a massive untapped market.

The manufacturing threshold for adult products wasn’t actually that high.
And the market capacity—due to the special nature of the industry, even in an era where bubble baths could cause diplomatic incidents, no institution or manufacturer in Japan had seriously assessed how large this market was.
However, Seiko knew—in a later era, this massive market directly nurtured countless “towns of pleasure” in the neighboring manufacturing giant…

To give an easier-to-understand example: some institutions had once estimated that the annual sales of such devices in the United States were about 11 billion US dollars, while the total US box office for the same year was 9 billion US dollars.

“What’s wrong?” Saori looked strangely at the silent Seiko.

“I just realized that making movies might not be more profitable than selling toys…”

Seiko lamented.

“Then go sell toys.”
Saori was already used to Seiko’s sudden whimsical ideas.
She said it casually, then picked up the Makarov pistol from the bedside table, shook it, and said, “Since you don’t like using it, then let me use it.”

Carrying a pistol around did indeed make Seiko uncomfortable, but she still asked hesitantly, “Do you know how to use a pistol?”

“I don’t, but you can teach me.”

“Alright, I’ll take you to the shooting range to teach you when we have time.”

Seiko agreed readily.
She didn’t want to use the pistol herself.
If Saori knew how, it would be an extra layer of security.

The two got up, first taking a bath, then changing their clothes for breakfast.

Saori hadn’t brought a change of underwear, so she naturally chose a pair of panties she liked from Seiko’s wardrobe.
Seiko was already used to Saori’s unreserved behavior.

Every time Saori stayed over at the Yamagami residence, she never brought extra clothes.
The next day, she would go home wearing Seiko’s underwear.
Seiko even suspected if the girl had ever bought underwear for herself over the years.

At noon, Yamagami Nobuo, who had been away for over half a month, finally returned.

“Grandpa Yamagami.”

“Grandpa, was the trip successful?”

Yamagami Nobuo laughed heartily in response to the two girls, clearly in a very good mood.
“Very successful.
The Yamaguchi-gumi accepted our joining with almost no obstacles.”

Yamagami Nobuo opened a briefcase and took out a piece of white cloth from inside.
The cloth was spread out, and in the center was the Chinese character for “mountain” (山) transformed into a diamond shape.

This was the symbol of the Yamaguchi-gumi—the Yamabishi emblem.
The Yamaguchi-gumi giving the “Yamabishi emblem” to Yamagami Nobuo naturally represented their acceptance of the Yamagami-gumi as one of their direct organizations.

“The current acting Kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Nakanishi Kazuo, personally held the ‘sakazuki’ ceremony for me and directly promoted me to chokusan.
He also set our Yamagami-gumi’s annual tribute payment at six hundred thousand yen per month…”

Yamagami Nobuo began to list the various preferential policies the Yamaguchi-gumi had offered the Yamagami-gumi.

The “jōnōkin” was essentially the “tax” paid by the subordinate organizations of the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Considering Oda’s enthusiasm for Japanese Yakuza culture, the “jōnōkin” might have been the prototype for the “Heavenly Tribute” that the affiliated nations in “One Piece” paid to the World Government.

The Yamaguchi-gumi’s tribute was determined by the size of the subordinate organization.
With the Yamagami-gumi’s size of two thousand men, their tribute should have been in the first or second tier.
However, the Yamaguchi-gumi only asked for six hundred thousand yen per month.
Six hundred thousand yen per month was not just a discount; it was equivalent to being “tax-exempt.”

It was clear that at this critical juncture, in order to win people over, the Yamaguchi-gumi was really willing to spare no expense.

“In addition, Kumicho Nakanishi also promised to personally speak with the Inagawa-kai.
The Inagawa-kai should no longer directly interfere in the affairs here in Urawa.”

“That’s good,” Seiko nodded.

But Yamagami Nobuo frowned.
“What’s the situation with us and the Takada-gumi?
Letting the conflict continue indefinitely is not a solution.”

Although Yamagami Nobuo was in Kobe, Murakami Eishi would surely report the situation in Urawa to him daily.
So the old man had long known that the Yamagami-gumi was fighting with the Takada-gumi.

Murakami Eishi’s bellyful of complaints, yet his firm support for the conflict, must have also been at the old man’s instruction.

“Rest assured, a turning point will soon appear,” Seiko said.

“What do you mean?” Yamagami Nobuo didn’t understand.

“I found it a bit strange before.
The Katakura Danchi is in a remote location and isn’t as profitable as bars or red-light districts.
Why did the Takada-gumi choose to make a move on the Katakura Danchi?”
Seiko took out a map covered in red circles and showed it to Yamagami Nobuo.
“Later, after the conflict started, I paid special attention to the locations of each clash between us and the Takada-gumi.
Look…”

Seiko pointed at the map and said, “These areas with dense red circles are either near companies involved in the development of the Katakura Danchi, or have council members who support the Katakura Danchi renovation project, or are simply near the Katakura Danchi itself.
So I started to suspect…”

“You’re saying, our Yamagami-gumi is actually just a cover…” Yamagami Nobuo said thoughtfully.

“Exactly.
I suspect that the Takada-gumi’s target is not us, but… the Katakura Danchi!”

Seiko continued.

“So, I had the Ishiwatari-gumi deliberately probe them a few more times.
And sure enough, I found that as long as the Ishiwatari-gumi ignored the external conflicts and pushed forward with the demolition of the Katakura Danchi, the Takada-gumi would also deliberately create friction with the Ishiwatari-gumi and forcefully obstruct the demolition work.”

“But…” Yamagami Nobuo looked at the map with a puzzled frown.
“What good does obstructing the renovation and development of the Katakura Danchi do for the Takada-gumi?
They don’t have any real estate in Urawa, do they?
Even if the Katakura Danchi is renovated into a comprehensive apartment complex, it won’t affect their income.”

“That, I don’t know,” Seiko shrugged.
“But someone should be able to tell us the answer soon.”

“Who?” Yamagami Nobuo asked.

“I don’t know, but shouldn’t you know who it is, Grandpa?” Seiko looked at Yamagami Nobuo and asked in return.

Yamagami Nobuo was taken aback by the question.

Just then, a Yakuza guarding the door came in to report, “City Councilor, Yoshida Shoichi, has come to visit.”

“You see, the person has already arrived,” Seiko smiled.

Yamagami Nobuo suddenly understood and also smiled.
“Indeed, I should have known.”