11 A Sore Face

THE NEXT DAY

Inside a hidden basement in an abandoned apartment building in the ghettos of Kurume City, four tattooed men were guarding a stockpile of more than 100 Kilograms of heroin and meth.

At a bar and sex club in Shinjuku, a tattooed man beat a Filipino woman for phoning home and trying to escape from him. Multiple clubs in Shinjuku city brought in hundreds of illegal immigrants and promised good jobs to find themselves in hell.

In a small town in Chubu, inside the office of a construction site, a man steps on an engineer's face demanding payment for protection while threatening his family.

All of these men were members of the Yakuza. All over Japan, Yakuza had rackets, scams, and illegal businesses. Though divided, the clans shared one belief, "Money is power."

But on this day, something was different.

"Alpha, Visual of Eagle in the Nest. Over." A Special Assault Team unit waited outside the basement holding their M4 Carbines and fingers off the triggers.

"Alpha, We are in position, Over." Two SAT units in full gear took cover in an alley behind the Sex clubs in Shinjuku.

All over Japan, there were separate Police tactical operations, all waiting for a signal from HQ to commence operations.

On the 48th floor of the Toronomon Hills Tower, Yuri sat on his sofa and watched every operation from his screen. He held the phone to his face. He had asked for the AI's help to gather all the data concerning the Yakuza's activities all over Japan. Using a voice changer and the traceability blocker feature, he contacted the National Police Agency with an anonymous tip. The police cooperated with him because of the amount of information he gave them. He watched the live surveillance footage and waited for the right moment.

"Now," Yuri said.

After hearing the call, the NPA Commissioner-General commanded all units to commence Operation Dragon's death. With tactical precision, they entered the buildings and performed close-quarter combat maneuvers. Once they saw a Yakuza member, they held them at gunpoint. "Freeze!" an SAT officer said. The Yakuza gangsters flinched and were completely overwhelmed by the sheer force of the police. Within those 10 minutes, hundreds of Yakuza were caught red-handed and surrendered.

[Congratulations Yuri! System Quest Completed]

[You have now leveled up to Level 4: Reward 60,000 Mana Points and Offensive Cyber Capabilities Unlocked]

"Now to find that fucking bastard," Yuri said.

When the heads of the Yakuza had heard the news about the nationwide police operation that arrested almost a thousand of their subordinates, they set up an emergency meeting that night as soon as possible. There was not a moment to lose.

That night in Kobe City in the Hyogo prefecture, three men sat at a table. They all wore traditional Japanese attire. In the small room, the door had been closed. Three sets of tattooed men in suits would guard the door. And another three sets of men would guard the gate to the compound.

They sat on the wooden floor cross-legged, faced each other forming a perfect right triangle, each had a cup of tea on a small circular wooded table, and the teapot in the center of them.

The oldest said, "Bushido is realized in the presence of death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. There is no other reasoning."

"What are you supposing we do? Let our enemies destroy us like honorless flies. This is not our way," the youngest of them said.

The third one kept quiet and took a sip of the tea.

The old one said, "The way of the warrior always leads to death. He prepares for it every second of his life. That is what makes him dangerous to his enemies. Death, be it his or his enemies."

The quiet one broke his silence and spoke, "Three Hundred Fifty-eight of my men have been arrested. Three Hundred Fifty-eight of them, I know by name and treat like sons. Half of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, the other has been promised certain death."

The youngest one spoke. "What then should we do? They have pushed us to the brink of extinction. I will not lie still and pretend to be asleep while my enemies burn my home and slaughter my family."

The old one, after shakily putting his cup of tea back on the table with his wrinkled hand was silent for a moment. "They dishonor us, little by little. They imposed laws to suffocate us. I only watched. They raided my home and treated me like vermin. I continued to watch. But yesterday morning, when hundreds of our youth have been captured and judged with death in one nationwide sweep. I will still watch... only this time, I will watch the world set ablaze with the flames of my burning corpse. That is the only honorable way."

The three men stood up.

"The Sumiyoshi-kai is with you," the youngest one said.

"The Inagawa-kai is with you," the second one said.

"The Yamaguchi-Gumi is with you as well," the old man said.

They all bowed in unison. And that day in a house in Kobe, Hyogo, the Yakuza united in their most desperate time and prepared for a final suicidal battle that would be undergone all over Japan.

After the meeting later that night, the Head of the Sumiyoshi-kai named Shigeo Nishiguchi walked to his car with a large line of bodyguards, fully tattooed and in black suits. Inside his limousine, reinforced with shaded-black, bulletproof glass, was a young man nervously waiting for him.

When the young man saw that Shigeo was near the gate, he hastily opened the door and stood outside to bow.

Shigeo, seeing the young man out in the open, slapped his face. "Get inside! What do you think you're doing? What if someone sees you?"

"I'm sorry, father."

They went inside the car. "I'm sorry again, father. I wanted to bow to you to show you respect."

"Respect is necessary, but not at the price of stupidity, Daizen!" Shigeo said. "I took you into my home and offered you protection because your grandfather Masao Hori was an honorable man and have done great things for our clan. Do not take that for granted and dishonor him."

"Yes, father," Daizen said.

"My men told me that you went with them to that construction site. Didn't I tell you to stay in hiding? The warrant of arrest for you and your stupid delinquent friends is still out there. All of this because they said you raped and killed some innocent girl."

"I beg you, father. Believe me. We had nothing to do with that. We let that girl go when we arrived near our hideout because one of my friends called me on the phone and invited us to a party with tons of more girls and liquor," Daizen said. He had been insisting on this since the start. And Shigeo though strict with the boy, also had a soft spot for him. So he believed Daizen and kept him hidden from the police.

Shigeo stared down at the boy. And looked straight at the road. "Anyway, that does not matter anymore. In the next few days, such a small drop of water will be insignificant in the tsunami that is about to follow."

Meanwhile, that morning while Daizen was getting slapped, on the 48th floor of the Toronomon Hills Tower.

"AI, we've run out of toilet paper. can you hand me-" Yuri said.

"Master, I currently do not have the-" the AI watch left on the sofa responded. "Shit! I forgot... I'll get it. Wait. Do I come out with my ass unwiped?" Yuri looked at his favorite white t-shirt hanging on a hook in the bathroom. "Hell no! It's my house. I can walk around with an unwiped ass if I want to."

Halfway to standing up, he remembered something. "Oh shit! I'm rich now and in Japan. This ninety-eight thousand dollar toilet can-" He laughed in his great fortune.

After taking a shower, he saw his tall and skinny figure in the mirror. "I gotta work out. Having Brawn Amplifiers doesn't necessarily mean gaining eight-packed abs in an instant," Yuri said.

"AI. How about we do that Object Generation Upgrade? Maybe instead of a bowling ball, it can generate something that can give me coffee or like an Arnold Schwarzenegger bot. That'd be cool," Yuri said. He held the AI watch and put it back in the system inventory.

[Inventory]

[Lesser Magitek Sword]

[Artificial Intelligence Orb]

"Alright. Now time to do that upgrade." Yuri proceeded to the Technology Menu.

[Magitek Ability Upgrades]

[Artificial Intelligence Object Generation Level 2]

[Offensive Cyber Capabilities Level 1]

[Autonomous Transportation Level 1]

[Locked]

[Locked]

"System. Generate Artificial Intelligence Object," Yuri said. He sat on the sofa and turned on some music from the movie Jaws.

***Dan dan Dan dan Dan***

[Level 2 Artificial Intelligence Object Generation requires 24 hours to complete to gather enough Mana from the environment]

[During the Generation, Artificial Intelligence functionalities will be on hold. Would you like to proceed?]

"One whole day! What a bummer. hmm... Akira's campaign rally is in like-" Yuri looks at the time on the Monitor. "Shit! It's in 30 minutes! Alright... System. proceed..."

[Level 2 AI Object Generation Commenced. Functions will return at exactly 24:00:00 -> 23:59:59 -> 23:59:58]

He ran to his room and rushed to wear his new suit. After he put one leg on his pants, he paused and looked up. Smacked his face and said, "Fuck! I don't know how to fucking drive!"