"My greatest apology, Rei. You were so young to even experience such a tragedy," a man in black kimono, Hijiri, bid his farewell to his dead subordinate. "I will not forgive the perpetrator who took your life."
Hijiri sighed then the funeral proceeded with the coffin being brought out of the hall with Japanese traditional architecture by the help of his six servants. The whole members who were present shared the grief for the death of Rei, the youngest member of the group who was only 20 years old, but none expressed the emotion with tears. He was murdered.
Hijiri was a young and handsome man of age 27 with black hair and black eyes. He became leader of a powerful Yakuza in Japan, Kuroibararyu-gumi, at a very young age after the death of the former leader who, was also his father, due to illness. He continued his father's legacy by developing the clan's businesses and expanding their territories by mutual affiliation with the other Yakuza clan.
Kuroibararyu-gumi had become one of the seven most powerful yakuza in Japan. Their headquarter was situated in Hyougo prefecture. Many had feared this clan, aside from having large sum of members in the clan, together with their brutal, cruel and severe traditional family code; no one dared to mess with this clan. They became well known in public views due to Hijiri's affiliation with the high ranks and other big corporation, but Hijiri was a smart and clever man to be able to hide criminal activities of the clan including illegal arm industry in Japan. Hijiri's good-looking face and elegant traditional fashion added up the fame.
In a small and dark messy room, a filthy woman with yellow beanie hat and dark grey jumper was sitting on her bed, hiding herself underneath a duvet, while playing an RPG game with her bright screen laptop. She kept pushing her round-framed glasses with her index finger as it kept sliding down her greasy nose bridge. She was enjoying her life to the fullest.
"Sora," a slight raspy feminine voice called the woman from outside after twice knocks on the door.
Sora ignored the voice and paid all of her heed to the bright sepia coloured screen. She managed to stand up and walked to the door after she defeated the final boss in the game. She opened the door ajar and took a tray of food which was placed in front of the door by her mother. She was starving after gaming for the whole day. She placed the food tray on a small round wooden table, next to her bed.
"Itadakimasu," she chanted while clasping her hands together before she began shoving her meal with chopstick.
Her mother made her a bowl of rice with large portion of Japanese chicken curry with potato and an orange juice beverage. The irresistible smell of the curry made her finished the meal quicker. She even licked the remaining curry stain on the plate before placing it back on the tray and left it outside the door for her mother to pick up.
Sora opened the door ajar when she heard a conversation of her mother with an unknown person downstair ‒Sora's room was on the first floor ‒ as she was about to leave the food tray outside. She closed the door again, refusing to hear the whole useless gossip of two middle-aged women.
Sora was aware of herself, being a jobless and uneducated woman even though she was 25 years old was a hard thing for people to deal with her especially her parents. Her mother was a housewife whereas her father worked in an office in a big company. She never left her room since she was in middle school, she couldn't even build conversation with her family as she spent a decade cooping in her small and filthy bedroom. She was a huge burden for her parents since she was the only child of the family yet jobless and had no ambition to get her own life. But otherwise, she was happy with her life; never got to interact with people for the whole decade.
Two days later, it was the first of January, welcoming the new year. It was still cold that Sora spent the rest of the day in her filthy and dark room, wrapping herself in her duvet while watching new released anime with her phone. Her parents went to visit her grandparents in Chiba prefecture and celebrate the new year with the other family there. Her parents would be away for a day which left Sora no other choices except to sleep the whole day to endure her hunger. She rather starved and got ill than wasting her energy to go outside and walk to the kitchen just to cook some meals; she never cooked in her whole life.
She paid all heed on the screen of her phone when she got distracted by loud obnoxious knock downstairs. She was alone in the house and there was nobody else to receive the door. She increased the volume of the audio from her headset and refuse to leave her room as she was certain that the strangers would leave as soon as they found there was nobody in the house. Her face turned white and her eyes widened as the door of her room aggressively opened and two men in black kimono with katana in their hands plunged into her bedroom.
In a contemporary apartment, a party was held with members of a family sitting around a kotatsu while drinking beer and shared each other's story. Sora's father was fast asleep as he was drunk. Sora's mother, on the other hand, was having a fun conversation with the rest of the family around the kotatsu.
"My daughter, Sora, is useless. She has no education and even jobless," Sora's mother sighed. "How do I end up raising a useless child like her. Lazy girl! Not even a single man wanted to make her a wife and she's already 25, what a disgrace."
"Araa, what a pity. She should at least make ransom of money online instead of waiting for you and Jiryuu (Sora's father) to feed her," added Jiryuu's sister.
The conversation was interrupted by a loud ringtone. Sora's mother stood up and took her phone which was placed on a counter table. She was annoyed as it was Sora who was dialing her in the middle of having a conversation with her in laws. She got irritated and rejected the call. She informed Sora to not give her a call until they returned home. Before she could place her phone on the counter, she was flabbergasted by a new notification. She was paralysed and numbed as the notification showed a photo of Sora being held hostage and tied up. Her face was covered with a single strip of blood from her forehead and her mouth was taped with black tape.