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He wasn’t sure how many years had passed- the days and weeks bleeding into each other. He was too busy to pay attention to the past anymore; nightmares haunted him in his sleep from time to time, waking up out of breath, the sheets damp with sweat, hair clinging to his forehead. The days of being a Cabaret manager were long behind him. He would never admit that he did miss it slightly, but not enough to ever want to take it back up again. He loved his life the way it was now, free to do whatever he wanted. He broke the cage open and ran. He was a free man. He was a family captain and a patriarch now, a large step from being the broken man that was trapped in Sotenbori, running The Grand, trying to buy his way to freedom.
He had to admit, the view from the family office was something he never dreamed of, especially perched on the 57th floor of the Millenium Tower. The town spread out around the tower as far as the eye could see. It was a beautiful day at least, sun reflecting off of windows of the buildings that covered the area around the large building. It was stunning.
His apartment was large and spacious, a large television and a couch, coffee table to put his feet up. A real bed, the largest one he could get his hands onto. Sleeping was much more comfortable and relaxing when you actually had a bed, too many sleepless nights of resting up on the bare hardwood floor in his tuxedo.
Kiryu was out of town for the week, busy doing dad stuff he figured, which was understandable. But, that meant a week that he couldn’t see him. Nor fight him. He was bored out of his mind. Nishida was busy with construction stuff, and he knew better than to keep delaying building plans just to pester the guy. And not many people were completely willing to fight him. They knew better. And not everyone was on the same level that Kiryu was. The two of them could fight without having to pull punches, following through with kicks, grasping at each other’s clothing to force the other into certain directions, pulling them into a fiery kick, or a punch laced with anger and excitement.
He shifted on the couch, looking at the television in front of him, some movie playing, he couldn’t remember which one he had put in, but he had already seen it several times. Some sort of Zombie film, he had a habit of collecting them, watching them over and over again until he got bored of them.
His mind drifted back to the past, the Cabarets.
The Grand.
Sunshine.
Hope all the girls are okay, hate to hear somethin’ bad happening over there.
“Perhaps I should go visit the girls…” He hummed, folding his hands over his stomach as he looked up at the ceiling. He had nothing better to do. There was nothing to really do workwise for the family, all of the paperwork for the day had been done, the meeting he had done was cut early. Kiryu was busy and as much as he loved bothering Nishida and making him go run errands, there was actual work for the guy to do, and he would just push him back further than he probably already was.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt he should go visit. It had been so long though, would any of the girls still be there? Would anyone even recognize him? Would anyone even want to serve him, he definitely had the Yakuza look to him, now more so than in the past. What’s the worst thing that could happen?
The building still looked the same outside, hidden behind another building, tucked away safely in a small side street not too far from Club Mars; where he had met Ai.
Club Sunshine.
A lot of memories were held inside, almost all of them good.
He ran a hand through his hair as he pushed the door open, shoes hitting the tile with soft steps. The same sign that read ‘Club Sunshine’ still hung on the wall by the door, the same one he spent a while cleaning up and rehanging on the wall, trying to get it straight and even.
Business was booming, almost every table had a customer sitting, a girl chatting it up, giggling from time to time. It brought him back almost instantly, sitting and training Yuki one on one to help her get better at socializing, zipping the girls’ dresses up, helping them with their hair from time to time as needed. Doing paperwork in the back room as the girls would do each other’s make up, giggling as they swapped lipsticks and eyeshadow colors, helping each other with clasping the necklaces around each other’s necks, the radio playing softly in the background as Majima would help them open cans of soda after they had just gotten their nails done, plopping a straw into the cans so they wouldn’t ruin their lipstick.
He liked to imagine that he was good to them, he took care of them when they needed him, defending them from grabby and intoxicated patrons, buying them nice dresses and jewelry and make-up and perfumes to make sure they looked their best, and were feeling their best. They told him he was doing a good job, how he took good care of them, all of them. He always had his doubts, but, in the end, he tried his absolute best with each and every girl that worked at Club Sunshine.
He was hoping they wouldn’t turn him away, or it wouldn’t be awkward. He definitely had the Yakuza look back when he was assisting running the cabaret club, but it was even more prominent now, gold chains hanging from his neck, jacket open to expose the tattoo across his chest. He knew from running the clubs, that it did tend to make some of the girls nervous. But, to others, money was money, regardless of who it came from. But, for some managers, the girls’ safety would always come before profits. That’s how he would run it, he nearly lost it, seething red, when girls from other clubs would say that their floor managers would allow them to get felt up by drunk customers in hopes of more profits. Not on his watch. He had nearly flipped a table over when he saw a customer place his hands on Ai’s knee.
“Welcome to Club Sunshine, sir,” the man smiled, turning from talking to one of the girls to address him.
“Youda?” He asked, speaking before he could even think or process it. Same owner, what a surprise. He didn’t look much different, different clothes, still in a vest though. It did make him happy that he was still here and running the joint, he had been the one who asked Majima to assist him in the first place, and the club was running smoothly from the looks of it.
The man was slightly taken aback, taking in the customer before him. Hardly resembling the man from the last time they had seen each other, giving the man another glance over, trying to process it.
“Majima-san?” He asked, visibly shocked.
He cut his hair, changed his outfit entirely. But, he didn’t expect Majima to be Yakuza, especially after how close he got to the girls that worked at Sunshine. He also didn’t expect that The Grand was ran by a Yakuza- wondering distantly how many other clubs in town may have been yakuza affiliated. But Majima didn’t seem like the type of guy to be running with that kind of crowd. The once professional looking man donned in a tuxedo was now replaced with a short-haired Yakuza, edges of tattoos peeking out from beneath the snakeskin jacket.
“Glad t’ see this place is hoppin’,” he grinned, glancing around. New carpeting, new booths, new lighting, nicer bottles of alcohol were lined up behind the bar, the bartender quickly making drinks for the customers. It looked great to be honest, nice to see the place is bringing in enough money to be able to handle a full renovation. The seats were completely changed, fresh fabric, tables were polished and clean, visibly newer than the ones he had sat at a few years ago.
“How can I help you today, haven’t seen you around here in a very, very long time,” Youda insisted, still visibly curious by the other man’s appearance. Majima had just stopped showing up one day, none of the girls had any idea where he would have gone. They had called over to The Grand, and they had no idea where the manager had gone either. Sotenbori’s Lord of the Night had vanished without a trace.
Girls would occasionally bring it up in conversation while working, asking if anyone had seen him out and about in town, each patron just shaking their heads in response, leaving the hostesses deflated.
They all kept their eyes on the news, assuming that one day ‘Cabaret Manager Pulled From Sotenbori River’ would show up as a headline. But, it never did. They weren’t sure if that made them feel better, or worse, about the situation. No one in town had seen him.
“Figured I’d swing by, like ya said, been a while,” he shrugged, looking around, “Haven’t been in town for a long time, just thought I would run around and look at what all changed,” he insisted, not wanting to outright admit that he wanted to check in on the girls and see them again.
“Please, come in,” he insisted, ushering Majima to a corner booth.
Wonder if he’s putting me back here so people don’t see me.
“Ah, ya don’t got a rule against clients wearin’ no shirt?” He laughed a bit, he did feel slightly underdressed. Perhaps he should have put on something different, he didn’t really own many civilian clothes, but he did still have his tuxedo. While moving into his new apartment in Kamurocho, he debated getting rid of it, fingertips brushing across the material of it as he contemplated dumping it in the nearest dumpster.
But for some strange reason, he couldn’t part with it. He wasn’t sure why, or if there were memories that were attached to it. He had laughed loudly, it was just a stupid tuxedo, it shouldn’t have been so important to him. But, it was. He had shoved it in the back of his closet where he would sometimes forget about it back there.
He smacked himself mentally for not wearing that and at least trying to look somewhat the same as the last time he was here, or trying to at least make the girls comfortable around him.
“You vanished, without a trace, what happened?” The owner inquired, eyebrows furrowed, stepping closer to the table so other patrons couldn’t hear their conversation, “you had the girls worried sick about you,” he insisted, Majima feeling a sharp pang of guilt in his heart.
When he thought back about it, he didn’t even leave on his own accord. Sagawa took him to Kamurocho with him. And once he stepped foot out of his cage, he didn’t want to go anywhere near it again.
“It’s kinda a long story,” Majima chuckled, “An after-hours, story,” he quickly added, watching as Youda simply nodded.
He glanced around the corner booth, more than positive he was put all the way in the back because of his appearance. He himself would do it as well at The Grand, people that looked like they would cause trouble off to the side, out of the public eye, but not too far out of reach that if trouble ensued, he could get there quickly. He may know Youda, but he was still Yakuza. Even though causing trouble was the furthest thing from why he was here, he knew Youda was just being cautious.
He didn’t recognize some of the girls that were sitting around, which was a shame, he was hoping to see some of the girls right off the bat. He tried to keep positive and tell himself that they were probably on break, or had the day off. Or perhaps they had gone onto better things. It had been a few years, so it wouldn’t surprise him of a few of them had moved on.
“Thank you for coming in this evening,” a voice said from behind him, seating herself next to him.
Yuki.
“M-Majima-san?” She asked, tilting her head, shifting closer to him, trying to take it all in.
The once professional looking man with his hair pulled back dressed perfectly in a tuxedo was replaced with a shirtless Yakuza, his hair shaved and cut short. He looked nothing like the manager that helped train her, helped her open up and improve her skills and made her into the best hostess Sunshine had to offer.
“Yer still here?” He asked, not bothering to really answer her question. “Didn’t expect that from ya,” he chuckled, leaning back in the seat.
“I… I hardly recognized you Majima-san,” she insisted, eyebrows furrowed together, obviously very confused, leaning closer, the smell of cigarette smoke clinging to him. She knew he had smoked back when they first met, he wouldn’t do it around the girls though, not wanting the smell to transfer to their dresses- always stepping outside and away from the front door to do so. But it was obvious that he had just finished a cigarette recently, not that she minded. Most of the clients that came in were smokers.
“Ah, drop the ‘-san’, I’m just a customer,” he laughed, glancing around, eyeing the bar for a moment.
“Ah, okay,” she smiled. “Just like when we were doin’ training, but, well, I’m actually just yer customer today,” he chuckled softly. They had done this countless times before, Majima drilling hours of training into each of the girls, trying his best to help them improve and point out their weaknesses, teaching them how to open up and continue on with conversations if they were going flat, or redirect a conversation if it wasn’t going well.
“Okay, let’s get you something to drink,” Yuki nodded, waving down Youda to take their drink order, a smile on her face still.
“Most expensive bottle ya got,” Majima insisted, a small smile on his face.
“Of course sir, right away,” Youda nodded, rushing back off to the bar quickly.
“Where have you been?” Yuki asked, worry shown in her eyes, lips pressed into a small frown.
“Kamurocho,” he replied, leaning back in the seat. New upholstery, looked nice. Not what he would have picked out, but it wasn’t his cabaret any longer, and neither was The Grand- the latter he was very thankful for. It wasn’t that he didn’t like running it, it was a lot of work and keeping track of every single hostess that worked there, and between issues that arose between the girls, it was a lot for one man to handle. A place that large could easily use a secondary manager, but he managed to pull through just fine, bringing the club to where it had been.
How it was now? He couldn’t care less about what was going on over there. The Grand could have burned down and he wouldn’t have cared.
“What do you do for work now, Majima?” She asked, trying her best to keep the conversation going, despite the fact that she wanted to ask a million questions.
Curb the question.
“I own a construction company now, got a lot of good, hard-working men that work fer me,” he answered, she was clearly surprised by the answer.
“You? Running your own construction company? I never saw that coming,” she laughed, a wide smile spreading across her face, he wasn’t sure if she believed him or not.
“Haw? What’s so funny? Man’s gotta work,” he huffed, hardly even noticing that Youda had dropped off their drinks, “Majima Construction, we build shit,” he insisted, watching her giggle louder, hand over her mouth trying to contain it.
He sighed, taking a sip of his champagne, hoping that it would look better for her that he had splurged and bought the good stuff.
“No, but for real, what do you do for work? No construction owner is dressed like… that,” she said, tugging at the snakeskin jacket. “It’s so tacky, you used to look so nice.”
That’s the tackiest jacket I’ve ever seen. What happened to the classy guy who used to run The Grand?
“No it ain’t quit bein’ mean,” he shook his head, “yer just used to seein’ me in that old tux,” he said, trying to justify his choice of clothing. He hadn’t gotten a choice in that suit, Sagawa taking him out to get fitted, it cost more than his apartment, cost more than a car. And he slept in it nightly on the cold, hardwood floor, and covered up with a cheap blanket from Don Quitoje that Sagawa had given him when they first met.
“You looked nice in the suit,” Yuki insisted, “better than… leather pants,” she said, stifling more giggles.
“I ain’t a cabaret club manager anymore, I do construction and stuff.”
“By ‘stuff’ you mean Yakuza stuff?” She asked, voice quieting down slightly, as if it were a taboo subject to bring up.
He hesitated, it wasn’t like it wasn’t painfully obvious, he had always worn a gold chain, but the jacket with no shirt underneath, tattoos peeking out from underneath. Leather pants and gloves. There was no hiding it.
“Yeah,” he admitted, “Like Yakuza stuff,” he nodded, watching her take a sip of her drink, she had already known, no surprise to her. “But I ain’t lying about the construction, I do that too.”
“Were you Yakuza back then too?” She asked, she tried to picture it, the man that trained her, that would buy them nice dresses and jewelry, being a yakuza, she just couldn’t wrap her head around the thought of it. He was so nice to everyone in Sunshine, yeah, he knew how to fight, but that didn’t always mean yakuza.
If he had been, she never would have pictured a tattoo beneath the layers of his tuxedo.
“Nah, well, I was before I met you guys, then I wasn’t, but I was working for ‘em, now I am again. It’s complicated,” he waved it off like it was nothing, not really wanting to get too far into details. Time had changed and passed but, in the end, yakuza were still criminals.
“You were working for the yakuza?” She questioned, wondering if that’s why he never really wanted to leave Sunshine after it was time to close.
“Uhh, yeah, The Grand is Yakuza owned, so I guess I kinda was? But I wasn’t on any books or nothin’, just doing some work for ‘em,” he said, sure that it sounded weird as hell.
A former yakuza, working for a yakuza that owned a club, then getting reinstated afterwards.
Yuki nodded, sipping on her own drink as she did so.
“So you live in Kamurocho now?” She asked, trying to change the subject a bit.
“Yeah, moved back there.”
“Why didn’t you come back earlier?” Yuki inquired, setting her drink down.
“Uhh, well,” he started, glancing over at her. “Ya know, I got busy. Things got better when I left so I didn’t really think to come back.”
“You really weren’t happy here, we could always tell after hours that you didn’t want to leave. And you always looked so happy when you would show up here,” she pointed out softly, Majima leaning back in the booth with a heavy sigh, wishing he had a cigarette in his hand right about now, something to focus on instead of the conversation.
“It was yakuza stuff, well, yeah, I guess it could be called that. I wasn’t having a good time, but, you girls made it bearable for me,” he admitted. “I liked working with all of ya,” Majima continued, gloved finger tips pulling his glass back up to his lips. “It was something I looked forward to.”
“Are you happier now that you’re out of here?” She asked, “Sorry I’m asking so many questions,” she quickly added, “you just vanished out of nowhere, we went to the police and everything but, they really didn’t have much for us,” worry shown on her face as she spoke. “It was like you dropped off the face of the earth.”
Did anyone at The Grand even bother to look into it or call the cops when I randomly stopped showing up, or did Sagawa just toss someone else in there?
“Yeah, life’s gotten better since I left, uhh, not that it wasn’t alright here. But, again, it was yakuza stuff and not the best for me to deal with,” he admitted softly, taking a large sip from his drink. He wasn’t nearly drunk enough for this.
“Are the other gals still here?” Majima said, feeling it was his turn to finally ask a question.
Ai.
Saki.
Hibiki.
Chika.
Mana.
“Huh? Yeah, they still work here,” she said, clasping her hands together and smiling. “Chika, Hibiki, and Mana are off for today, but the others are in the back on break,” she confirmed, quickly pushing herself up out of the booth, smoothing out her dress. “Come on, I know they’ll wanna see you,” she beamed, practically dragging Majima from the booth.
A few patrons gave them weird looks, then again he was sure it looked weird as hell. A hostess practically rushing a yakuza to the back room of the club.
She pushed the door open.
“Guys look!” She beamed, yanking Majima into the room with force he didn’t know she had, feeling his shoulder strain a bit.
Man remind me never to get on her bad side.
He nearly tripped over his own feet as he was tossed inside, trying his best to not fall flat on his face in front of them.
“Majima-san?” Ai said, quickly standing from her chair, mascara wand in hand. Saki nearly jerked her lipstick tube across her cheek at the sight of Majima smoothing out of his jacket, mumbling something to Yuki about how it wasn’t a race and how she didn’t need to be so forceful with him.
Ai jumped from her spot, racing across the room to wrap her arms around Majima’s waist tightly, pressing her cheek to his jacket instantly.
“Yo,” he chuckled, wrapping his arms around her, the other girls quickly running across the room to join in on the hug. “Glad t’ see you gals are all still here, makes me happy,” he said softly.
“This is the day, Tsukiyama. This is the day we end the Five Stars,” Majima said firmly. He knew that the girls seemed confident, but he had a feeling that there was some underlying nervousness and worry that hid beneath the surface.
“Shall we put an end to this charade, then? Are you ready, Majima-san?” Tsukiyama scoffed.
“Of course!” He said confidently, he had spent hours training each and every girl there, trying to work on their strong suits and alleviate their weaknesses.
“Yes! We’ll show them what Club Sunshine is made of!” Youda confirmed.
“I’ll do my best!” Yuki smiled.
“We’ll go all out!” Ai said.
“Remember to relax and be yourself!” Saki reminded happily.
“I’ll show you everything I learned at Club Mercury!” Hibiki beamed.
“For you, Majima-san, I’ll do whatever it takes!” Chika said.
“We are open for business,” Majima smiled.
“We did it? We did it! We took down Club Moon!” Yuki beamed, practically bouncing in place with excitement, Ai giggling a bit.
“I knew we could do it,” Majima smiled, the girls had hauled ass, and they all looked fairly exhausted. Even Busy Bee Saki looked tired. “How about we go get some dinner,” he suggested. Even he was exhausted.
He got a few tired nods, and a yawn as an answer, but it was good enough for him.
Yuki practically beamed, her cheek pressed into Majima’s bicep as she clung to him.
“He came back to visit!” She said excitedly, practically jumping in place. Ai and Saki both smiling up at him, a stabbing pain yanking through his heart strings.
Regret filled him, and he wished he had come back earlier. They had been so worried about him.
He wasn’t sure why he didn’t come back. Perhaps the town harbored too many poor memories, or perhaps he just didn’t want to face the girls again- after practically abandoning them.
“I’m sorry for makin’ ya all worry,” he said softly, feeling the girls squeeze him even tighter, if that was even humanly possible.
He was sure that he felt his spine shift slightly under their grasp, but he really couldn’t care less. It felt good to be back at Sunshine.
“Are you going to come back and work here?” Ai asked, stepping back, glancing up at him.
Another jab at his heartstrings.
“I’d love to, but I can’t. I got work in Kamurocho that needs to be done,” he answered.
The look on her face- he could practically feel his heart shatter like glass. Each individual piece shattering again into even smaller pieces.
Guilt pulled his shoulders down, a heavy weight that kept him in place.
“I’m sorry,” Majima said.
I have other obligations.
Kiryu-chan needs me.
Saki looked up at him and nodded.
“Will you come back after you’re done there?” She asked.
I run a company.
I run a family.
“I would love to, but I can’t,” he shook his head, bangs grazing across his cheekbones as he did so. “Ya are doin’ just fine without me,” he pointed out.
“But we miss you,” Yuki said softly, the other girls nodding in agreement.
“I know ya do,” he said, practically defeated.
Why is it so hard to tell these girls no?
“But I got people back home that need me a helluva lot more than ya girls do,” he said.
Saki nodded in understanding.
“Majima-san found a new family, we should be happy for him,” she said, Ai nodding a few times- although she was visibly sad that Majima wouldn’t stay, at least he was happy and that’s all that mattered.
Family.
And it was true.
He had found a new family to fit into, and he was much happier in Kamurocho than he was in Sotenbori.
“Hey now, that don’t mean that when I leave this time, it’ll be fer forever,” he said softly, not wanting them to think that he would just never return now that he had come back to visit.
“Do you promise to come visit?” Saki asked, looking up at him.
“Of course I promise,” he smiled, giving a thumbs up.
Yuki wasted no time wrapping her arms around him tightly, nearly yanking the air from his lungs.
“Just don’t wait so long to come and visit us next time,” she pouted, Majima chuckling a few times.
“I won’t. You have my word, all of you,” he smiled.
“We love you, Majima-san,” she smiled up at him, tugging at his heartstrings once again.
“I love you all too.”