Daisuko leads Shosuko out to the parking lot behind the building. She walks over to one of those old-timey four-seaters and slaps its roof.
"Vintage 1969 Chevrolet Impala SS. V8 engine, upgraded suspension, goes very fast in a very straight line. The greatest muscle car the USA has ever known, imported to Japan for the enjoyment of yours truly."
"Neat." Shosuko tries her best to hide her disinterest. Something she's sure she does very poorly.
"Aight, get in." Daisuko jumps into the driver's seat, Shosuko does the same with shotgun. "We gotta get you some ink."
"Ink?"
Daisuko takes off her coat and starts unbuttoning her dress shirt.
"What are you–"
"Ta-dah!" She bares her back for Shosuko to see, revealing a rich tapestry etched into her skin. A humongous snake serpentines up and down her back before coiling up on her right shoulder. On her left shoulder are the words 'Daisuko Kuze';.
"It's not bad." Not bad is an understatement. Shosuko has to admit, it's pretty goddamn gorgeous. The snake's white coloring is striking. And the lettering on the calligraphy is also equally beautiful, every stroke meticulously calculated.
"You'll be getting one too. Maybe a small one first, just something to show that you're part of the Kuze Clan now. Like your name or something." Daisuko talks as she slips her clothes back on.
"Nah. I'll get the full jacket."
"Damn, for real?" Daisuko's eyebrows raise slightly and she nods her head. "Respect. Shit's gonna hurt like a bitch though."
"I can take it." She gulps some of her saliva down. She may be biting off more than she can chew but hey, it can't be worse than taking an Oni club to the ribs, right?
"Aight. Let's get going." Daisuko jams the key into the ignition, turns it, and steps on the gas. No, scratch that, she oh-so-very gently taps the gas. The car begins to crawl forwards.
"Can we get there before next year?"
"Patience. Always practice safe driving. Always." Daisuko starts whistling to herself.
"..."
"..."
"..."
It's five minutes before they exit the parking lot.
"Nah I'm just fucking with you. Hang on tight. The car's a wild one."
"What's that supposed to–"
Shosuko's head slams into the headrest as the car goes into hyperdrive.
———————————————————————————————————————
"We're here!" Daisuko slams the brakes, nearly causing the car to flip over. Shosuko's hands shake as she reaches over to open the car door. She's never had her hands shake like this before. And that's saying a lot considering the things she went through in Minaminagi. "You good?"
"Y-yeah."
Shosuko feels like she's taking her first steps all over again as she stumbles out of the car. Legs still gelatin, Daisuko leads her through a pair of glass double doors into a tattoo parlor. The old man who runs the place is polite enough and seems to know his stuff. He sets a table for Shosuko to lie down on.
"This is gonna sting." Ever reassuring, Daisuko gives Shosuko a grin before she walks out. The tattoo drill begins to whir louder and louder until it reaches an ear-piercing din.
The skin of a magical girl is both thicker and harder than a normal person's. To get around this, most studios either employ special diamond-tipped needles or use tattoo drills, capable of piercing magical skin. The latter being much cheaper and more widespread than the former. People say that if you plan to become a magical girl, you should get your tattoos beforehand because tattoo drills are supposedly extremely painful and also incredibly slow. Today, Shosuko learns that what people say is true.
———————————————————————————————————————
"So, how was it?" Daisuko sits next to where Shosuko's lying.
"Not as bad as I thought." Shosuko lies through her teeth. It was much worse. So much worse. Getting the linework done was bad enough, but the shading and coloring were worse. So much worse. It was morning when they got here, now it's already a little past lunch time. "Alright, let's get going."
"Damn you heal fast." Even with the drastically accelerated healing that comes with being a magical girl, a tattoo of this size should take at least a few hours to heal over, but by the time Daisuko checks in on Shosuko, the scabs have almost finished falling off.
"It's basic Taijutsu."
「Taijutsu」- Body Techniques. Taijutsu is a term referring to a variety of Jutsu that enhance the user's natural capabilities. It is the most basic of the three core Jutsu. Every magical girl knows at least one form of Taijutsu. Taijutsu can also be either passive or active. Passive Taijutsu are activated once and persist until the user dismisses it or circumstances force the Taijutsu to deactivate, such as the user dying. Active Taijutsu have instantaneous effects and can be activated repeatedly. Compared to the other kinds of Jutsu, Taijutsu typically consumes the least amount of blood when used.
"This is the first one I was taught."
"Huh. I know a lot of people that would kill for something like that. It's fine right now cause it's just me here, but maybe don't go around showing people what kind of Jutsu you've got on you. You never know who might be watching."
Shosuko's heard of the underground Jutsu trade. It's not enough for most people to just read a scroll with instructions on it and practice for years to learn to use a basic Jutsu or spending decades crafting their own. Thankfully, there's an alternative. Using Jutsu consumes blood and some magical imprint of the Jutsu is left behind in the blood. Even just using a Jutsu once is enough to leave a vivid enough imprint for someone else to mimic the effects while only undergoing a fraction of the training the original required. So long as they consume enough of that blood. Typically around a half-liter.
It's intuitive to think that collecting Jutsu is a good thing. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The more Jutsu a person knows, the stronger their 'scent'. The stronger a person's scent, the more valuable their blood must be. The more valuable their blood must be, the more people will come after them to try and harvest that blood. Two or three Jutsu is untraceable, but go over five and people will start smelling you before they see you, above seven and you might as well have a big red target painted on your back across all of Japan.
"How does it look?" Shosuko cranes her neck around to try and get a look for herself.
"Perfect. I like the funny man's frown. He looks so angry." Daisuko runs her hand along Shosuko's back, tracing the contours of the tattoo while also making her incredibly uncomfortable.
"That's enough of that." Shosuko picks Daisuko's hand up and throws it away. "What now?"
"Now, I show you how yakuza make money."
"..."
"What's up?"
"I don't know, just something about the way you said that made me think that we were about to do something insane."