"We won't fall out, Yamazaki..." As if he knew what Yamazaki was thinking, Sogo Doma turned back before leaving. "This is probably only natural treatment. Rather, if that gorilla dojo master didn't make some kind of move, we'd be the ones finding it strange."
"Captain? Boss Kondo? What exactly are you..."
"Yamazaki, stop talking." Isao Kondo said with his eyes closed.
Sagaru Yamazaki: "..."
After pushing open the door, Sogo Doma stopped once more and looked back. "Yamazaki, you're really no longer the big demon you once were. Being able to remember to protect your team members at any time—you've become a qualified captain."
"Captain..."
"Yamazaki, any means that doesn't kill you, any words that can't knock you down, will only make you stronger!" Sogo Doma spoke as he left the private room. At the end, he muttered quietly, "Probably..."
"Cap-Captain..." Watching Sogo Doma's departing back, Sagaru Yamazaki seemed to understand something. What couldn't knock him down would eventually make him stronger! The reason Captain Sogo had kept bringing up his embarrassing past was actually to make him face it, to sever himself from it. The captain wanted to make him stronger!
What on earth was Boss Kondo thinking, having a captain like that!?
"Yamazaki, do you know why the Kondo Group was founded?" With beast-like intuition, Isao Kondo sensed Yamazaki's feelings. He looked at the door that had closed again after Sogo Doma left.
"I heard the captain mention it before. It seemed that the Kondo Group was founded to give those who were bullied and isolated a place to belong, and also to protect the people around us from threats by other violent organizations, and to..."
"You're wrong. The Kondo Group was founded because of the release of Sogo's inner darkness..."
"The release of the captain's inner darkness?"