The Beginning

Along with an icy-cold wind that can freeze you to death, the rain appears to be shed tears in the night sky. The sound of water drops on the ground is loud, but nothing beats the whining of the crybaby on the side street. Her body is shivering in the cold, and she tries to keep warm by hugging herself, but it doesn't work. The little girl has been walking by herself in the darkness for an hour when she gives up and sits on the ground while watching the cars drive past in the middle of the street. Her heart is shattered after knowing of her mother's tragic accident. She refuses to believe and rushes home to find her, but it appears she got lost in an unfamiliar place.

A white luxury limo abruptly came to a halt when the owner noticed a girl before they could pass through it. A man his age, dressed in a black suit, descends with a transparent umbrella and approaches the child. "Are you lost in your own home?" The man asked in his deep voice, standing straight in front of the girl.

The girl sobs and looks up at the man with her eyes welling up in tears. "I-I lost my mother; wi-will you help me find her?" Her voice were broken as she speaks that causing the man's brow to knot.

The moment the man noticed the girl's eyes, which were two different shades of blue and green, he was briefly overcome with awe. He suddenly recalls a woman he knew who had the same condition as her. "May I ask who your mother is?" He asked without hesitation because he felt a connection with her, but before he could get his answer, the girl collapsed on the ground as she lost consciousness.

The man took the girl and drove her to where they were going. After a half-hour drive on the slick road, they arrived in front of a massive swing gate guarded by four men dressed as ninjas and armed with their weapons. When they noticed it was their boss's limo, they let it in and immediately closed the gate. The car comes to a stop, and the driver gets out with an umbrella to cover him. The man carried the girl inside the five-story pagoda structure, which was surrounded on all sides by ninjas with their blades. They took the elevator straight up to the top floor, where there are only two rooms. The first room was for him, and the second was for his daughter, who died three years ago. He let her stay in his daughter's room and noticed that the girl was running a fever. The man immediately orders the housemaids to take care the child and leaves the room to carry out his duties as the boss of the Yakuza organization.

It's been two days since the man took the girl in their territory, and she's finally recovered from her fever. In the same suit, he was in the garden, drinking coffee at a table and watching the children training in the field from afar. The Yakuza organization is training street children who are homeless and have no parents to be their best lethal weapon in the future. They are known to have the best assassins in all of the mafia's underworld, and their blade is as fast as wind, killing you in seconds before you realize you're dead.

"Mr. Yakuza," said a man in a white coat who entered the garden while holding an envelope in his right hand. He sat down in front of him without asking permission and removed his pork pie hat. "I hope I didn't bother you," he said, "because it looks like you were enjoying your peace here in your garden."

He smiled as he filled the empty cup with coffee and handed it to his guess before saying, "The peace is already gone, Gustavo, there is no room for it here anymore. We are more than rats hiding in our place, waiting for the right time to rise again." He turned to face the children who were training, and Gustavo did the same. "These children will be our future hopes, and they will be the ones who raise the Yakuza in the entire underworld; we will be more powerful than other mafias, and the enemy will shed their blood on the ground."

"But you know better, Hiroshima," he said, calling him by name, "you know the whole truth rather than them," he sipped from his cup as he noticed him pause for a moment.

Hiroshima nodded, indicating that he understands what Gustavo is trying to say. "Whatever the truth is, the mafia diaries are already written in the kakemono, which is safely hidden inside the pagoda," he paused. "The time will come, we will be united with them, patience is all we need, my friend," he said, playing with the meaning of his words.

"And what exactly are you planning to do?" he asked, intrigued.

"Play the game they started." As he sipped his cup, an evil smile formed on his face before continuing. "Do you already have what I asked you to do?" He changed the subject before it went somewhere.

He sighed deeply before saying, "Yes, I already have what you asked me the other day." He set his cup down on the table and handed him the envelope. "The person you're looking for is already dead, Hiroshima."

"No, it's impossible!" He immediately opened the envelope to see what was inside, and he found a newspaper and a photo of a woman with her daughter.

"That news paper was released yesterday, and the headline is about the private plane that crashed around two o'clock in the afternoon in the north Pacific ocean, and that is the plane where Zayna Sturm is flying," Gustavo explains while his friend reads the headline. "According to my source, Zayna Sturm was in New York for a business trip, and she was going to fly back here to attend her daughters birthday, but a tragic accident happened," he added and paused seeing how serious the person in front him with the newspaper, "The child in the picture with Zayna was her child who turned seven two days ago and her name is Zaiah. She has this condition heterochromia which is why her eyes are different colors and her IQ is higher than the other children with the same of her age. For the time being, the child was declared lost as her nanny reported it to the police after twenty four hours of being lost. Anyone who finds her will be rewarded half a million pesos, and if you want me to assist in finding the child, I will contact all of my contacts to look for her."

"There's no need for that," Hiroshima said, sighing as he set the item he was holding down on the table. "I saw her last night and brought her here."

"Zayna's daughter was here in Yakuza?" he asked, confirming if what he had heard was right.

"Yes, and now I know why I suddenly felt a connection when I saw her eye colors because she was her daughter."

"If that's the case, we must return the child, and if we do, we are the ones who will receive the reward," Gustavo says, straightening his back in anticipation, imagining the amount of money they will receive if they return the child.

"No, she will not going back," Hiroshima said, contradicting his friend's statement, "she will stay here with me from now on."

"You must be kidding, Hiroshima! She isn't homeless like the kids you were taking for the Yakuza. The girl is different, and she's the only family in the Sturm that will inherit everything as soon as she reaches legal age. Don't take the life of a child just to make her into your lethal weapon." He couldn't stop raising his voice because he believes his friend is insane for his decision. "And you already know you can't take her because you know who her father was—"

"I didn't forget it, Gustavo," he says as he gets out of his chair and turns his sight on the children, "Come to think of it, there must be a reason why I was the one who saw that child that's why I will accept the full responsibility for her and I'm doing this as a favor to Zayna's death. After all, he has already abandoned his family, so he has no rights with the child anymore."

"But you're going to take away the life of that child, and she's the only heir in their family," he said, pointing his finger at the glass door, as if the girl they were talking to was there.

"Don't worry, I will just only take care of her here in the underworld until she turns eighteen, and then she can go back to her life," he said as he sat back down.

"You must think twice, Hiroshima; don't make hasty decisions; consider the consequences."

"I don't care about the consequences, what matters is that Zaiah stays with me until she reaches her legal age. End of discussion, Gustavo," he said, closing the conversation with his authorization tone,  "If you want the reward, I will give you not a half, but one million in yen just to remain silent about what you have learned today. I know you work with other organizations as their private investigator also, if I find out you told anyone about this, I will send you to your coffin."

Gustavo laughed and nodded, realizing what his life would be like if he told anyone. "You don't have to threaten me, Hiroshima; you know my loyalty is in you, not in other organizations. Work is work, and what is confidential is only between who I work for."

"I know, I'm just making things clear here; I'll just send the money in your account later," Hiroshima said, rising from his seat, and his guess did the same, offering their hands for a shake as the final conclusion of their conversation. "Thank you for your efforts, my friend. We'll get back in touch when I have something I need you to do."

"It's always a pleasure working with you, Hiroshima."

When Gustavo, the private investigator, left, Hiroshima remained silent on the table, deep in thought. He was holding a photograph of Zayna and Zaiah smiling together. Now that the child's mother is no longer alive, he understands how distressed the child felt when he first saw her in the street that night. He will accept responsibility and create a destiny for her so that no one can ever hurt her again. He'll be helping Zaiah to recover, which is why he left the garden and went inside the pagoda to see the child.