"Yuki?" Shosuko taps Yuki on the shoulder.
"Yes?"
"What are we doing in a hobby shop?"
Mth Dimension, this place is called. What does it mean? Hell if anyone knows. The owner died a while back and passed this place on to his son so that secret died with him. The whole place is decked out like a Christmas tree. Wherever Shosuko looks, her eyes are assaulted by manga, plastic building kits, jigsaw puzzles, video games, trading cards, and the like.
"This place is our top-earning gambling ring." Yuki explains.
"Yeah, I know. I just… wasn't expecting it to be a hobby shop."
"I-It makes sense if you think about it." Oka runs her fingers through a shelf of assorted manga. "P-pocket circuit fans are mostly middle-aged men with too much time and m-money on their hands. They're pretty much the perfect c-customer."
"Maybe not say that so openly in public." Shosuko silences Oka before any of the circuit's loyal customers hear her.
"I still think pocket circuit is lame." Daisuko sulks in the corner.
"Quit whining. You're just saying that 'cause you lost." Shosuko grabs Daisuko's hair and drags her out of the corner. Needless to say, she's in a very bad mood.
"I'm trying, man!"
"That's c-cause you've only r-raced kids before." Oka adjusts her glasses as she inspects a building kit for something called a 'Chaos Breaker'. Whatever that is. "That said, I did p-put a lot of money on you so I-I'd really prefer that you not lose."
"Fine, fine. Geez, no need to get so pushy." Daisuko swats away Shosuko's hand.
"That first race better have been a f-fluke!" Oka makes a gesture at Daisuko like 'I'm watching you.'
"Chin up, Daisuko." Yuki exchanges a couple of parts on her car. "The true joy of pocket circuit is not knowing who's going to win."
She's lying. The true joy of pocket circuit is absolutely curb stomping the competition. The schadenfreude pleasure in knowing that your machine is absolutely, definitively, unquestionably superior to your opponents' is breathtaking. Drinking up the taste of despair is a treat like no other. That is Yuki's nature as the Pocket Circuit queen.
"In the spirit of fairness, I'll swap to a more 'fun' build, if you want."
She's lying. The only reason she's even considering swapping over to a fun build is because the only thing better than destroying your opponents is styling on them.
"No, it's fine. I just wasn't using a powerful enough battery in the last race." Daisuko sighs indignantly as she swaps out batteries. Yuki does the same. They both chuck their empty batteries into the bin. "Ah, could you pass me that battery on that table over there?"
"Oh, that one's half-empty." Yuki doesn't look up. Her attention's wholly focused on making tweaks to her engine.
"I know. Just hand it over for a moment."
"Sure, I guess."
Yuki may have been too busy working on her racer to notice, but Oka very much does. Daisuko gives her a saucy wink as she mouths something under her breath. "Ninjutsu - Substitution"
"Huh, strange, I could have sworn I put a full battery in. Looks like I'm getting careless." Yuki extends a hand for Daisuko to shake. "Congratulations."
She's lying. She's so frustrated it feels like an artery's about to pop. She doesn't know how, but she knows for a fact that Daisuko cheated. Losing to Daisuko is fine. Losing to a near absolute beginner is fine. Losing to someone cheating is fine. It's the fact that she doesn't know how she cheated that really gets under her skin.
"Well played." That self-satisfied grin Daisuko has on her face inspires Yuki the same way salt inspires unbearable pain when introduced to a wound. One day, she'll build the ultimate machine that can win regardless if her opponent cheats or not. One day, she'll become the Goddess of Pocket Circuit. Until that day, she'll have to be content with her title as the Queen of Pocket Circuit.
"N-no hard feelings." Oka follows suit. Just to be careful, she counts her winnings twice before pocketing them. She walks over to where her sister's standing and wraps her arm around her shoulders. "Nice w-work there, sis. Real nice." Oka spreads out her cash and fans Daisuko's face. Something about the money-scented air feels extra cool and extra refreshing on her face.
"Yeah, yeah." Daisuko plucks out a solid half from Oka's cash-fan and stuffs it into her coat pocket. "Consider this my racing fee."
"The hell is a racing fee?" Oka tries to grab her money back from Daisuko but she swats her hand away. "Ow."
"You don't think racers drive for free, do you? I gotta earn a living somehow."
"Ahem." Yuki clears her throat. "I think we may be getting a little sidetracked."
Daisuko is as carefree as ever. "What were we doing again?"
"Getting to know the U-Umi Alliance. And that starts with getting to know their c-cash flow. That's the most b-basic of basics." Oka begins to walk away. "I'll leave Shosuko in your care, D-Daisuko. There's a p-plastic model kit I'm interested in that I might buy."
"I'll leave Shosuko in your care, Yuki." Daisuko begins to slip away. "There's a trading card game that looks pretty interesting. I'm going to see if anyone's willing to teach me how to play."
With that, Daisuko's off, leaving Yuki and Shosuko alone.
"..." Yuki shuffles in place.
"So." Shosuko's expression softens ever so slightly. "How do you run this place?"
Yuki points over to the pocket circuit track. "We just take a percentage cut of every bet. That's it."
"That's it?"
"Yep, that's it. Of course, we play around with the odds, adjust the bet sizes, and market everything as much as humanly possible but that's about it, yeah."
"How much does all this typically net you?"
Yuki gestures at the bookie who gives her a moderately sized wad of cash. "This is our average income for the month." She cuts it in half. "This is our profit."
Shosuko scratches her chin. "It's a little small."
Yuki shrugs. "It's enough to keep the Umi Alliance running, and that's all it has to do."
"Why not expand into protection?"
"Protection is just how the yakuza extort money from earnest folk. I understand that the Kuze Clan protects its own above all else, which is something I can respect. But the Umi Alliance protects the common folk above all else, even from yakuza. Protection is not something that needs to be paid for."
"I can respect that." Shosuko nods.
"Thank you. I am grateful. Yuki looks down and her hair falls over her face, hiding her expression. "Umm… I've been meaning to ask…" Yuki fiddles with her hair. "Is it true? Did Kasai really… you know…"
"Yeah." Just recalling it hurts like a bitch. "In cold blood."
"I see…" Yuki deflates. "What are you going to do now?"
"I promised you that I'd help you find your sister. So I'll find her." Shosuko looks Yuki in the eye. "Then I'll kill her."
"H-Hold on. Isn't that acting a little too hastily? The Kasai I know would never do something like this." Yuki bites her thumbnail. "There has to be some kind of reason behind–."
"I don't think I made myself clear enough, Yuki." Shosuko casts her gaze into the distance. "I'm going to kill her." She speaks as though Kasai's fate is already set in stone.
"..."
"You're free to try and stop me." Shosuko's voice is a low growl. "But I can't guarantee you'll walk away in one piece if you do."
The relationship between Shosuko and Yuki, between Kuze Clan and Umi Alliance, suddenly grows tenuous. Yuki hears her heartbeat drum against her ears.
For an instant, Yuki sees it– hiding behind Shosuko's iris, an endless sea of bloodlust. It sends shivers running down her spine. No matter how hard she looks, there's no sign of the Shosuko that spoke to her just a few days prior. There's no sign of even a drop of mercy. Her tongue freezes in her mouth.
"Oka! Daisuko!" Shosuko barks at the two sisters.
"Y-yeah?" Oka has a small stack of plastic model kits stacked up at the checkout counter. Daisuko is the same, only instead of model kits, she has boxed decks of trading cards.
"Round up the troops. We're going to war."