In a seven-story hotel in Tokyo, the Yakuza were on a short fuse and if any cop or soldier stepped closer to the vicinity of the building that they were commandeering, they would instantly kill all the hostages. This was their belief in Bushido. Ingrained in their minds since their infancy, remembering their fathers and grandfathers in Kamikaze planes, Kaitens, and committing Seppuku rather than face the dishonor of surrender.
"Silence! All of you!" said Reiji, a member of the Yakuza, shirtless and wearing a white band tied around his head. He had a dragon tattoo with intricate designs that covered his whole torso and he held an AK-47 tucked in between his right arm and his waist.
In his left hand, he carried a duffel bag with 20 pounds of dynamite, if detonated could wipe the whole building off the face of the earth.
Thirty hostages had been tied down and placed in a room guarded by five other Yakuza with Automatic rifles. And the whole building had been sealed, while the police and military set up a perimeter.
There were twelve other hostage situations like this all over Japan. And the government had declared the nation to be in a state of insurgence.
"Niko, open the special cargo," Reiji said.
"But the boss hasn't called yet. He said only to open the cargo when he instructed us to," Niko replied.
"Fine... But we don't know if anything happened to them or not. Check the news!"
"The police cut the power off. We can't turn on the TV."
"Fuckin use your smartphone then!"
"I don't have mobile data, Reiji... and the wifi router is off."
"Fuckin!" Reiji dropped the bomb on the floor.
"Aaaaah!" the hostages screamed in fear the bomb would go off.
He smacked Niko in the back of the head with his left hand. "Then take one of the confiscated phones of the hostages!"
Niko took a phone from the stack of gadgets that they confiscated and opened it. He went to the room where the hostages were. "Who's phone is this?" He waved an iPhone 12 around. A 6ft tall, huge, muscular man that looked to be a wrestler raised both his hands that were tied up, as the hostages were clumped together.
"You big guy!" Niko went closer to the bonded giant. "Don't get any ideas, fuckhead... You may be big, but bullets don't fucking discriminate. Remove the password from your phone and open your mobile data." The big man stared at him, took the phone, and unlocked it showing no fear whatsoever.
"Reiji, I got a phone. The news says that the Japanese Government is desperate but is afraid to act because we have the princess," he said as he pointed to Princess Yuna tied up in another room.
"Give me that!" Reiji grabbed the phone from him and checked the news himself.
After reading it he smiled and approached the Princess. "Looky here... princess. Daddy's doing everything he can to save you." He laughed then rubbed his hand on the Yuna's hair.
"I guess the government will do everything they can to protect their precious royal babies," Niko said.
"But we have something special planned. Guns, tanks, and missiles can't defeat what we have in store for those idiots cops and soldiers outside," Reiji said as he held the bomb tighter.
Yuna showed no fear and stared down at the gangster, even though she was tied up, helpless, and her mouth had been covered by duct tape. She looked at the smartphone and noticed the selfie camera was blinking like it was recording live.
The moment the mobile data turned on, "Master, I have received a signal from one of the Mazoku's smartphones inside one of the hotel hostage situations. I hacked the camera and found the Imperial Princess as their hostage," a childlike AI voice said.
The AI child wearing Yuri's crumpled Gucci shirt was seated on the driver's seat next to Yuri in the truck, with a seatbelt on.
"They have the princess? Then one of our men must be waiting for instructions. Botan really instructed them well. Okay... Head for that hotel," Yuri said.
Yuri took out his phone and called Botan again. "Bo, we tracked a signal from one of our men. He was captured and is one of the hostages. I have a plan. I need you to gather ten Mazoku specializing in sword fighting; Kendo, Iaido, Battodo, or Kenjutsu. Whoever is available... Assemble, find a van, and wait for my instructions."
"Got it," Botan replied. Yuri hung up.
They arrived in front of the hotel where the hostage-taking took place. Yuri parked nearby to keep a low profile, the police cars had blocked the road, and pointed their guns at the barricaded doors of the hotel as they waited for the military to arrive.
Inside the hotel, the Yakuza patrolled the floors to make sure no one was trying to infiltrate or escape. "Reiji, don't open the special cargo yet," Niko said.
Reiji walked back and forth nervously across the hall nervously.
The dynamite was set to explode whenever the bosses at the top determined that it was time.
They didn't have the detonator. All twelve of the hostage-taking incidents had huge amounts of dynamite with them, and all of them had one remote detonator at the hands of their head bosses.
"Niko! I don't wanna die... Niko... Why are we doing this?" he mumbled. "I have a little sister... she is still in 5th grade... Who's going to take care of her when I'm gone?" Reiji gripped the handle of the duffle bag harder.
Niko put strapped his gun behind him with the gun sling and held Reiji by the shoulders. "This is bigger than you or me... or your little sister, Reiji!" Niko gripped him tight to get him back to his sense. "We are Yakuza, Reiji. We protect the weak and fight the strong. Think about all our people that they're sentencing to death."
"We're not fighting the strong, Niko." Reiji pointed his finger at the hostages.
"Those aren't the strong, Niko. Those are mothers, fathers, brothers, and... little sisters. We should be the ones protecting them. I joined the Yakuza because they helped me find a way to provide for my little sister... Not die for her. I need to live for her."
Reiji's eyes blinked slowly and every time his eyes closed, images of his little sister smiling at him and memories of her asking him to buy her a smartphone to use for school because all her friends had one except for her.
When he opened his eyes, he finally understood that if he didn't do something, his sister would never get a smartphone.
Reiji calmed down. "That's good, Reiji. We can do this. For honor. It is the way of the warrior."
Reiji turned around and walked toward the room with the special cargo. He kneeled on one knee and inspected the contents of the box.
There were different medieval weapons; hammers, swords, and spears. And ten vials of green fluid with labels. Reiji had been instructed to open the special cargo and was told of what the contents could do. He picked up one of the vials and read the label. "Magic Faster Potion?" He picked up another vial, and read it, "Magic Stronger Potion?"
Reiji had heard a rumor that their bosses had bought these drugs and weapons from a drug dealer in South America. That it cost their bosses a lot of money and they were shown its effectiveness when they saw how powerful it was against modern weapons, they bought bulks and distributed them to their men.
Reiji grabbed the 'Faster' potion and the 'Stronger' potion. He drank them and he grabbed a hammer from the cargo. As soon as he swallowed the potions, a screen message appeared in front of him.
[Reiji: Status Update]
[Dexterity: F -> E]
[Brawn: F -> E]
The surge of power ran through his veins and he grew more determined to go back to his sister.
He smashed the other potions and held the Lesser Magitek Hammer.
Niko went inside the room. "Reiji! What the hell are you doing?"
Reiji dashed past Niko and he couldn't stop him. "Reiji! No!" Niko shouted. "Get him!"