"Oh! Yoichi's back!"
"Welcome home, young master! You've worked hard!"
"Welcome home, young master! You've worked hard!"
"Welcome home, young master! You've worked hard!"
"..."
Led by Explosion Head, a bunch of useless middle-aged men in their thirties and forties warmly bowed to Akimoto Yoichi and greeted him.
Akimoto Yoichi was already used to scenes like this.
These uncles hadn't just started holding meetings at his house. Their home was basically the Black Bear Gang's office, since they couldn't afford to rent a shop or an office building.
While the other members of the Black Bear Gang were greeting him, Akimoto Yosuke furrowed his brow, looking furious.
"Yoichi! You're not allowed to study! Starting tomorrow, you're coming with us! Otherwise, I won't let you leave the house. If I have to, I'll go see the principal again."
Looking at the idiot old man in front of him, Akimoto Yoichi stopped in his tracks. He'd been about to ignore them and head upstairs to his room.
He turned to look at Akimoto Yosuke. This time, the old man didn't seem to be bluffing.
Clearly, unless he sorted this out today, he wouldn't get any proper rest.
"Old man, did you eat too much? I'm in a bad mood right now. Don't make me fight you one-on-one."
"That's right! You should talk to your dad like that! Music to my ears!"
"Shut up. Stop making noise."
"Where'd you get all those bruises? Did you get into a fight? You managed to walk back here, so you must've won! I knew you couldn't abandon the family business! Listen, Yoichi, you'll never escape the Black Bear Gang that raised you!"
"..."
If this argument kept going, it would never end. Akimoto Yoichi held back the urge to fire back.
For one thing, his own dad was a real hothead.
If he said he'd go hassle the principal again, there was a good chance he'd actually do it.
Whether he'd go after the new principal or the bald one from before was anyone's guess, but either way, Akimoto Yoichi would be the one to suffer.
To stop these idiots from ruining his chances of going to high school, Akimoto Yoichi had no choice but to take a deep breath and sit down beside the sofa.
"So why do you want me to become the Black Bear Gang's new boss?"
Akimoto Yosuke guiltily turned his face away, while the other members of the Black Bear Gang all started explaining at once.
"Because we lost everything playing pachinko."
"The Black Bear Gang's out of money!"
"We won't get paid again for another month. My wife's going to divorce me!"
"I stole my son's New Year's money."
"The Black Bear Gang can't disband on my watch. It can only disband on yours."
The last line came from his own father, Akimoto Yosuke.
Hearing such stupid reasons, Akimoto Yoichi felt his blood pressure shoot up.
"Then why don't you just stop playing pachinko?!"
"No way! We're yakuza. How could we not have a few bad habits?"
"Exactly! My wife's too expensive. We can't afford to go to hostess clubs."
"Cough syrup's out, too. That stuff could get me killed, and it's a serious crime."
"We don't even have enough money to play pachinko ourselves, so obviously we're not going to lend money to other people or start loan-sharking."
"Pachinko's all we've got. Pachinko is our romance!"
"Exactly!"
"..."
In short, they were a bunch of idiots.
That was why Akimoto Yoichi just couldn't bring himself to be nice to his own father, Akimoto Yosuke.
With a dad like this, how could anyone resist grabbing the Seven Wolves and giving him a few whacks?
It might've been getting things backward, but Akimoto Yoichi wasn't asking his dad to become some great man. He just wanted him to be normal.
Still, there wasn't much he could do about it. He hadn't gotten to choose the family or identity he'd been reincarnated into.
If the old man was trying to dump the Black Bear Gang on him because they were broke and about to disband, then fixing the gang's finances should solve the problem.
"Fine. So where does the Black Bear Gang get its income? How much money are we talking?"
When Akimoto Yosuke and Explosion Head heard Akimoto Yoichi asking about the gang, their faces immediately lit up.
They thought he'd finally changed his mind.
Naturally, they were more than happy to answer his questions.
"Our Black Bear Gang's income comes from three shopping streets. We formed a shopping street management association and collect management fees."
"Exactly. There are about three hundred shops, and each one pays a little."
"It adds up to over nine million yen a month."
Over nine million yen? Split across three hundred shops, that wasn't much at all—only about thirty thousand yen per shop.
At least by yakuza standards, that was low.
Akimoto Yoichi was a little surprised. "That's it?"
"Of course! The Black Bear Gang has survived to my generation because we know how to keep our heads down and not push our luck. If we attract too much attention, we'll get crushed."
Seeing the surprise on Akimoto Yoichi's face, Akimoto Yosuke puffed out his chest.
"Each shop only pays a little over three hundred yen a day. No one minds that much."
"More importantly, they've become our allies. If another gang tried to muscle in, they'd charge more than we do. Would the shopping streets welcome them? No!"
"The Black Bear Gang may only have a few dozen people, but we can all make enough to get by. We don't need to collect too much. That's how we've lasted this long. Every day, there are plenty of young guys who want to join us but can't!"
"Back in your grandfather's day, things were..."
In other words, they knew how to keep their heads down.
The Black Bear Gang really did have its own way of surviving.
There was a reason his own dad had made it this far. At least he knew his place.
"Okay, that's enough! You can stop now!" Seeing that Akimoto Yosuke was about to start reciting the family history he'd heard so many times his ears were practically numb, Akimoto Yoichi cut off his rambling.
He picked up a cup and started thinking, but the movement of his arm made his wounds hurt, and the corner of Akimoto Yoichi's mouth twitched.
Then he looked at these shiftless middle-aged guys who never did anything useful and came up with an idea.
"Didn't you say there are always people who want to join the Black Bear Gang? Why not become brokers instead? You can look for idiots who want to join the yakuza, as well as people who stay out all night and need money or rot away at home doing nothing."
"Tell them they can make good money, then introduce them to jobs at the shopping streets, on factory lines, at construction sites, delivering food, testing haunted houses overnight, working as extras—you name it."
"Just remember, we're only brokers. We're looking for people with nothing to do. Our slogan is 'Helping them return to society and turn their lives around.' Then you can collect a referral fee, right? You know plenty of idiots like that. You'd be doing a good deed—cleaning up the city."
Akimoto Yosuke, Explosion Head, and the others all perked up at Akimoto Yoichi's suggestion.
If they sent the young guys who wanted to join the Black Bear Gang to work at the shopping streets, on factory lines, and at construction sites... No, if they helped those delinquents return to society...
Then they could keep the Black Bear Gang's low-key status and earn referral fees, too.
Two birds with one stone.
"Yoichi! You're in charge of the house tonight!"
"Young master, we're off!"
"I've got the phone numbers of a few guys who wanted to join the Black Bear Gang a few days ago!"
"Boss! I know a place with loads of little punks!"
"I know the construction business! My uncle works in it. They're short on people right now!"
"Ah! My favorite actress tweeted that she wants fried chicken! But no one's delivering food this late at night!"
"Right, my daughter knows a few young guys. They just graduated from university and don't have jobs!"
"..."
Watching the idiots rush off to make money for pachinko, Akimoto Yoichi glanced at the messy living room. He didn't feel like cleaning it up, so he turned and headed upstairs to his room.
Let the professionals handle their own work.
At least he'd be doing something for the world. Maybe that would mean fewer people would come looking for trouble with him.
Before you continue