Yakuza: Like a God Hand

Kiryu, Reina, and Haruka continued caring for Eugen for several hours.

All they could do was press cold towels against his right arm, trying to reduce the heat.

Eventually, Kiryu left to resume his search for the Ares bar's location. At first, he didn't want to leave Eugen's, but after Reina and Haruka reassured him they would take care of Eugen, he reluctantly departed.

Now, it was just Reina and Haruka tending to Eugen. After a while, the glow from his right hand faded, and the heat dissipated completely.

His right hand returned to its normal state, displaying the blue flame tattoo that decorated it.

"It looks like the heat has subsided," Reina said, removing the towel. Now she could see the tattoo clearly without the glowing.

"So he's had that tattoo since he was a baby?" Reina asked, attempting to make small talk with Haruka, who was still watching over Eugen.

"Yes… But because of it, the other kids made fun of him," Haruka replied.

"Did you tell your caretaker or the manager?" Reina inquired.

"We did, but the kids never stopped. When they got bored, they would just make fun of him again," Haruka explained.

"I see…" Reina responded quietly.

If it weren't for the current situation, Reina thought she might have asked Kiryu to inform Kazama about this. But with everyone so busy, it didn't seem like the right time.

"How about you rest for now? You've been looking after him for hours," Reina suggested gently.

"But he hasn't woken up yet…" Haruka replied, reluctant to leave Eugen's side.

"You look exhausted, Haruka. Don't worry—you can sleep on the couch beside him. If he wakes up, I'll let you know," Reina said softly.

She helped Haruka move to the couch beside Eugen. After bringing a pillow from the back room and handing it to her, Haruka lay down and closed her eyes.

It didn't take long for her to fall asleep—she was worn out after witnessing the horrors earlier, followed by running to keep up with Kiryu.

Once the children were asleep, Reina began tidying up. She put the medical kit away, ensured the small dog had food and water, and cleaned up the bar.

Eventually, she walked behind the counter, pulled out a flip phone, and made a call.

Her expression was tense as she kept glancing at the door, listening for any sign of someone approaching.

After a moment, the call connected, and a man's voice came through the line.

"No, he still hasn't found the bar. But the little girl is here. She's not alone, though—there's another kid with her," Reina said hesitantly, her uncertainty clear in her tone.

The man spoke again.

"No, Kiryu hasn't found the location yet," Reina replied.

"Yes, I'll call when he does." She ended the call and stared at her phone with a conflicted expression.

A name appeared on the screen of her flip phone, one she gazed at sadly.

"You're always like this… Nishikiyama-kun," she muttered softly, her voice filled with sorrow. Then she closed the phone and put it away.

An hour later, Eugen began to stir in his sleep, and then his eyes opened.

Looking around, he realized he was in an unfamiliar room and immediately sat up. "Haruka?" he said, searching for her.

"Shhh, don't be loud; she's still sleeping," said an unfamiliar voice that made Eugen look toward her.

"You're finally awake. Here, drink this water. Your body was sweating a lot while you were sleeping," Reina said, giving him a glass of water.

He looked at the water cautiously but, not sensing anything wrong, grabbed it and drank it because he was so thirsty.

After drinking, he looked around, assessing his surroundings, then toward Haruka's direction.

"What happened? The last thing I remember is…" His words were cut off when he saw his right hand, now unbandaged.

He also realized he wasn't wearing his long-sleeved shirt to hide the bandages anymore.

"Where's my shirt? And my bandages!" Eugen said in panic.

"Calm down, Eugen. I'll explain what happened after you passed out," Reina said and began telling him how Kiryu had brought him there and how everyone had taken care of him before Kiryu had to leave.

"I see… Thank you for taking care of me, and I'm sorry for the trouble I caused," Eugen said, apologizing.

"Fufu, it's fine. You don't need to apologize like that," she said with a small laugh and patted his short black hair.

Meanwhile, Haruka began to wake up because she heard voices. When she saw Eugen awake, she quickly stood up.

"Eugen, you're awake!" she said and hugged him immediately.

"I was so afraid you were going to leave me and not wake up again!"

He hugged her back. "I won't leave you, Haruka. After the time we've spent together, there's no way I'd suddenly disappear like that."

They kept hugging, Eugen trying to comfort her.

The atmosphere was broken by the sound of the door opening as Kiryu entered the room.

"You're already awake, Eugen?" he immediately asked, seeing Eugen and Haruka hugging each other.

"Huh? You're that uncle… Uncle Kiryu, right?" Eugen said, looking toward him.

After they finished hugging, the two sat beside each other while Kiryu and Reina stood in front of them, talking to each other.

"Did you manage to find the location, Kiryu?" Reina asked.

"Yes, I did. After talking to a lot of people, someone finally told me the location," he replied.

"But there's another problem. When I got inside the elevator, the button to that floor was deactivated, and I couldn't press it at all."

"What are you two talking about?" Haruka decided to ask.

"We're just talking about some location. You two don't need to worry," Reina said with a smile.

"Trying to find a location? That's convenient. We're doing the same thing," Haruka said.

"You two want to find a place? What's the name of that place? Maybe I can help," Kiryu said.

"It's a place called Ares Bar."

The moment both of them heard her say that, they both looked shocked, their eyes wide.

"Ares Bar? What do you want to do there?" Reina said.

"Like I said before, we're searching for Haruka's mother. From the letter she got, it mentions Ares Bar, and now we're here looking for that place," Eugen answered them.

Seeing both of them already helping him and letting Haruka sleep here, Eugen thought he could probably trust both of them now.

"Your mother? What's your mother's name?" Kiryu suddenly asked.

"My mother's name is Mizuki," Haruka answered casually.

"What?!" Reina said in surprise.

Seeing their strange reaction, Eugen looked suspicious of them before saying, "You two definitely know something."

"What about Yumi? Do you know that name?" Kiryu said with a serious expression.

"Aunt Yumi? Yeah, she's the one who visited me and Eugen while giving me the letter from my mom," Haruka said.

"Do you know where they are?" Haruka said with full hope.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know. We're actually trying to find your mother and Yumi too," Kiryu said to her.

"Do you know where Yumi is?" Reina asked immediately.

"No… She disappeared after giving me the last letter saying that she's working at Ares Bar now," Haruka said, disappointed.

"Why do you two want to search for Aunt Yumi and Aunt Mizuki?" Eugen decided to ask because, from his observation, it looked like both of them really wanted to find Mizuki and Yumi.

"Ahh, about that, Yumi is actually our friend here. But after something happened, she disappeared, and now we're searching for her," Reina answered with her version of the story.

"And Mizuki is Yumi's sister, so we're searching for her to ask about Yumi's location," Kiryu added.

"Umm… Mister Kiryu, can we follow you when you go to search for my mother?" Haruka asked suddenly.

"Follow me? No, that's really dangerous. I can't let a little girl like you come with me."

"No, I also want to search for my mother. And I heard you can't press the elevator button to Ares Bar's floor, right? That's because the elevator has a secret code that you need to press."

"Secret code? How do you know that?"

"Because the letter said my mom liked working there because the elevator is really cool for using a secret code."

"And I'm not going to tell you the code if you don't bring us with you," Haruka said while hugging Eugen and looking toward them.

"…." Eugen, Kiryu, and Reina could only be silent after hearing that.

Eugen could only shake his head because Haruka sometimes used this method to get discounts when buying groceries by acting cute and all.

In the end, Kiryu could only give up and let both of them follow him.

<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Now the three of them were outside the building, and Eugen could see the name of the place they had been in earlier.

"Serena Bar," he muttered, reading the sign.

"Let's go, you two. Don't get too far away from me," Kiryu said to both of them.

With night falling, Kamurocho had become more dangerous, with many thugs and yakuza wandering the streets. Kiryu needed to make sure both of them stayed close to him.

Their destination was the Millennium Tower, where Ares Bar was located.

Since the Millennium Tower wasn't far, they weren't in a rush to get there.

As they walked, they chatted with each other about random topics.

"Mister, have you ever been inside the Millennium Tower?" Haruka asked.

"No, aside from earlier, I've never actually been inside that building," Kiryu said.

"Who would've thought they'd build something like that in that spot…" he added, a nostalgic look crossing his face as if remembering something.

"How long have you been living here in Kamurocho, Uncle Kiryu?" Eugen asked this time.

"How long, huh… Probably almost my entire life. I've been here for 20 years since I first came to this place."

"Wow, 20 years? You must know everything about this town, then!" Haruka said excitedly.

"Not really. Some things happened, and I couldn't visit this city for 10 years. I just came back a few days ago, so I don't know much about the city anymore," Kiryu admitted.

They kept talking like that about random topics until they reached West Taihei Street.

"By the way, can I ask you something, Uncle Kiryu?" Eugen suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"What is it?"

"Why has that trash can been following us since we left the bar?" Eugen asked, pointing behind them.

"Huh?" Haruka and Kiryu seems confused then looked behind them, and just like Eugen said, they saw a blue trash can moving and following them from across the street.

"Wow, I never knew this town had walking trash cans. That's really cool!" Haruka said in amazement.

"Hahhh…" Kiryu could only sigh deeply because he knew exactly who was inside the trash can.

They stood there, waiting, until the trash can arrived in front of them. Suddenly, its lid was thrown into the air, and someone popping out.

"NOW I GOT YOU, KIRYU-CHAN!"

The same man with an eye patch that Eugen and Haruka had met that afternoon appeared from inside.

"Huh, it's you two again?" Goro said as he noticed Kiryu wasn't alone.

"Uncle Goro? What are you doing inside there?" Eugen said with a deadpan expression.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. This is just a little game between me and Kiryu-chan, right?" Goro said, looking at Kiryu.

Kiryu sighed again before saying, "Yes, what he said is true. You two, can you step back for now? I need to deal with Majima-san." He said while cracked his knuckles.

"Hehehe, I knew you'd get it, Kiryu-chan! Now, let's fight!" Majima said as he jumped out of the trash can.

He assumed his fighting stance, with his right hand in front of his chest, fingers open, and his left hand in front of his left thigh. His body bent slightly, and a blue aura emanated from him.

Kiryu also immediately assumed his stance, a blue aura flaring from his upper body.

"Brawler…" Eugen unconsciously muttered to himself, recognizing Kiryu's style.

And so, the two of them began fighting in the middle of the street.