!
If the Kondo Group were said to bully the weak, fight for territory, smuggle drugs, and force women into prostitution, people could at least imagine how terrifying this armed violent organization was based on movie and TV plots. Of course, if those were the only rumors, everyone would just consider the Kondo Group another newly risen armed faction. After all—Japan was a country where the yakuza had been legalized.
To the upper-class elite, the yakuza were beneath contempt. Naturally, the yakuza would not provoke those prestigious families either, but then the Kondo Group appeared...
Even though an ambush on an island and the slaughter of an X noble family sounded utterly implausible, damn it, they had really done it! Still, to people who had not experienced it firsthand—were they being treated like children and fed tall tales?
Of course, some of it was indeed rumor. For example, "Natsukawa, did you say he eats people alive? And that he's supposedly very apologetic about it?" Yukino Yukinoshita wore a rather strange expression as she spoke. Just how strong did that guy's teeth have to be?
"Yukinoshita, you've heard it too?" Masuzu Natsukawa said reflexively. "They say the Sixth Heaven Demon King, known as the Demon Vice-Chief, eats several people alive every day..."
"Pfft..." Sogo Doma could not hold it in. "Hahaha, Hijikata's reputation is that bad? Several people alive every day—just how much can he eat?"
"Isn't it said that he's eight jo tall and eight jo wide? Everyone who sees him eat trembles in fear, and severe cases even develop anorexia. If he wasn't eating people..."
"Uh..." Sogo Doma pondered it carefully. If someone had really watched Hijikata eat, they truly might be at risk of developing anorexia. But still, "Natsukawa, are you sure a square-shaped person who's eight jo