[closed] you don't know my reputation

[no_kyouken]

Who ⬤ Akiyama & Majima
What ⬤ Time to spill the beans.
Content Warnings ⬤ Yakuza shit.


[ If he'd come and gone, Majima would have left it alone but it's been a few weeks and Shun Akiyama is still walking around Jigoku-cho with a fucking secret in his pocket.

Majima doesn't go out of his way to find him. They'll come across one another sooner or later, and when they do: Majima grabs him by the back of his shirt and pulls. He tilts his head and stares into Akiyama's face; mild, contemplative. ]

Time to talk.

Comments

[windfalling]

[ He is used to getting manhandled by yakuza types -- comes with the territory. It takes a moment for him to parse it's Majima.

Right.

This moment was coming and he sure wasn't looking forward to it. Akiyama sighs. ]

Can I finish my drink first?

[no_kyouken]

Hurry up.

[ He's very calm compared to the Majima that Akiyama could be facing down, so he should really be thanking his blessings while he finishes that drink. Majima will amuse himself in that time fiddling out a cigarette. ]

[windfalling]

[ Merciful, really. He'd half-expected to have a knife in his face just for asking. Never one to test the limits of someone's hospitality too far, his drink is finished in record time. Akiyama turns back to Majima with a pleasant, if tired, smile. ]

Now, what did you want to talk to me about?

[ He knows -- of course he fucking knows. ]

[no_kyouken]

Ya know who I am, an' ya shouldn't.

[ For someone else, there would be an explanation. That they had been seen somewhere, that they were being heard about somewhere. Majima, on the other hand, was disappeared into a black site and everyone from Tokyo thinks he's fucking dead. ]

[windfalling]

What year was it when you...left?

[ That's the best way to phrase it, right? This is already a confusing mess and he'd like to not be here at this very moment. ]

[no_kyouken]

[ Close enough honestly. He sure as fuck left Japan. ]

1988.

[windfalling]

[ 1988? Akiyama would've been a kid, at that point. Well, that doesn't matter. He fishes out his pack of cigarettes -- he's gonna need it. ]

That explains it. You're a lot younger. It was 2012 last I remember and...I met you in 2010.

[no_kyouken]

[ His good eye narrows. Yeah, that's kind of what he figured. He's been through two different yokai cities where time and space meant fuck all. It does not shock him that someone from the future he's lost has shown up. ]

In Tokyo?

[ He has some very. Specific. Questions. ]

[windfalling]

[ He takes a long drag off his cigarette, exhaling as he answers. ]

Yes, specifically in Kamurocho.

[no_kyouken]

[ They let him go back to Kamurocho? That sits heavily in his stomach. He ignores how much Jigokucho makes him want to go home, swallows it down all the time. And now he knows home really was somewhere ahead of him, it's just gone forever now. He's quiet for a moment before he follows that question up: ]

...did th'Tojo-kai reinstate me?

[windfalling]

[ He shrugs. ]

You had your own family under them, so I imagine so.

[no_kyouken]

[ His gaze is sharp at that. Akiyama doesn't know anything, that's obvious. He doesn't know why that's a big fucking deal. Majima purses his lips. He gets it, but there is still one more thing he has to ask first, ]

Where is Shimano?

[windfalling]

Dead.

[ Akiyama really doesn't know anything about why this is so important to him. He's really not trying to be flippant about it, he's just answering honestly. ]

[no_kyouken]

[ His expression darkens, apparently that piece of information strikes differently from the rest. ]

Who.

[windfalling]

[ He runs his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit. ]

I wish I could tell you that, but I don't know.

[no_kyouken]

[ Fuck. It's frustrating but not an unexpected answer, the money lender clearly isn't deep enough in the clan's bullshit. This does not stop Majima from scowling, attention lost somewhere in his own thoughts; an emotion that needs to be pushed down before he's looking at Akiyama again. ]

So what. I try t'run ya off your offices or something?

[windfalling]

[ He shakes his head. ]

No. You came to my club looking for a woman I had working there for a few days. The name Yasuko mean anything to you?

[no_kyouken]

[ That is not where he expected that to go and the surprise and confusion pinches his brow deeply. ]

Ya already know it does.

[windfalling]

[ He puts his hand up as a placating gesture. ]

Sorry. How much do you want know?

[no_kyouken]

[ There is only one question to ask, and he dreads the possibilities of the answer. Why the fuck did he have to bring her up, of all the things? His face is drawn. ]

Is she all right?

[ He'd rather not known. He asks anyway. ]

[windfalling]

[ The way Akiyama's expression drops says everything. He'd fallen head over heels for her and it was a little bit of a problem. ]

No...She was one hell of a woman, though.

[no_kyouken]

[ Majima's mouth twitches sharply, suppressing something furious. It shows in his good eye: that Mad Dog look of agonized mania. He wants to grab Akiyama by the shirt and fucking shake him. His voice is tense. He's about to crush the cigarette in his fingers. ]

An' where th'fuck was I?

[ How the fuck did he let that happen if he was back in Tokyo and looking for her? ]

What th'fuck were you doin'?

[ The fangs are out now. ]

[windfalling]

[ That's more restraint than he's expecting. Akiyama is just counting the minutes until a knife ends up in his face. ]

Let me explain. It's not going to make this easier for you to swallow, but it's the least I can do.

[ He patiently explains the circumstances surrounding Yasuko and what led to her eventual end. And no, I'm not going to write out anymore about the plot of Yakuza 4 than I have to. ]

[no_kyouken]

[ What the fuck. What the fuck. He truly breaks that cigarette in half somewhere along the way. What the fuck did he just say? The miasma of black emotions shows on Majima's face. He makes it all the way to the top of the Tojo Clan and still can't save Yasuko? That rat Shibata set him up? They set up Saejima too; let them both waste for the rest of their lives.

His hand shoots out and he has Akiyama in his grip because he's the one that's there. He'll never get his hands on Shibata now. Not unless he joins the rest of them down in Hell and then Majima is going to strangle him with his bare fucking hands. ]

Should tear yer fuckin' head off.

[windfalling]

[ Please don't shoot the messenger. Akiyama remains calm, his hands up in a gesture that absolutely will not placate Majima. What else can he do, though? He really doesn't want to get into a fight right now and all he did was answer the questions Majima asked. ]

I'd rather you didn't, if it's all the same to you, Majima-san. [ He sighs. ] Almost sorry I told you anything at all, but you would've made me tell you anyway. Isn't that right?

[no_kyouken]

[ He hisses. It's the thick of his tail that sends the stool he was sitting on clattering to the floor and as it flicks angrily. Apparently, talking sense to him is not the answer to this problem. ]

It's my fuckin' life.

[ Akiyama doesn't know him. He doesn't understand and does that really just rub salt in the wound? That some rando is carries around that kind of knowledge without an inkling of understanding. ]

[windfalling]

[ He looks around to find the nearest exit. Not that he can extricate himself out of this situation, but knowing an escape route is always a good idea. ]

I know. [ Akiyama takes a step back. ] I don't know you and I don't know what you've been through or what any of this even means to you. I didn't tell you any of this to piss you off, either. It's only fair you know what I know.

[ A tired smile. ]

Because it is your life.

[no_kyouken]

[ Getting kicked to the floor by him is worse than a horse, he's as strong as a fucking yokai now. It's probably going to bruise. He has that Mad Dog look on his face, like it was just waiting there under the surface of his palpable exhaustion. He's younger than the man Akiyama has witnessed, but that's assuredly still him. The only thing missing is the knife. The Mad Dog of Shimano would be on him with it by now.

The snake stands over him instead, sneeringly furious. ]

Only fair.

[ Since you've just upended his understanding of his own suffering, broken open the shell of an old wound and let it ooze fresh. He's buzzing with agony. He wants to tear Akiyama to pieces. Too bad that would be a bad look. So he kicks him in the side again instead with a snarl. ]

We're not fuckin' done.

[ He points down at him threateningly, but he's also leaving before he smashes up this bar. ]

[windfalling]

[ There it is. There's the violence he'd been waiting for. It's not pleasant to be sent sprawling to the floor, struggling to breathe, but at least the tension of waiting for it was over. He starts to pick himself up when the second kick comes. The floor is a better place to be right now. That's certainly going to leave a mark.

Wheezing, he pushes himself up off the floor long enough to call after Majima. ]

See you later, then.

[ And then it's right back to the floor, clutching his side. At least it's just some bruised ribs and not a stab wound or three. ]