A Silent Human

I sighed in satisfaction as I placed my twentieth bowl of miso ramen on the table. The cook, who I had discovered actually ran the whole stall, looked on in disbelief as he sat next to me.

"By god, I didn't think I would actually witness someone eat this much!" he exclaimed. I hummed in acknowledgment, giving him a thumbs up as I stood up. I placed more money on the table which he eyed in confusion.

"You've already paid for it. I don't need more." he said.

I shook my head, gesturing to the bowl, then to myself. He looked at me in realization.

"Ah, for when you come next time?" he asked. I nodded, turning my head at the sound of a loud group of teenagers approaching.

'I feel old saying that when I'm only twenty.' I thought, making my way past them but stopping when they addressed the cook.

"Hey, old man, we're here for the protection fee!" the group called. There were three young women and seven men. The women were smoking, bored out of their minds, while the young men shouldered wooden bats.

I glanced at the cook and saw the fear and anger in his eyes. He bowed in response.

"P-please, I don't have the money right now, but if you give me more time, I'll be able to pay next time. So please, give me more time!"

I frowned. The East Mountain Gang didn't take protection money, we had no need for it. The only time we ever charged a fee was for specific jobs.

One of the young men who had green and blue haired noticed me and widened his eyes. "Fuck man, you're tall!"

I kept my face neutral as he walked toward me, with the other two following, their expressions full of curiosity and mocking amusement. I glanced down at the teenager, raising an eyebrow at both his choice of hair colors and the fact that he barely came up to the middle of my chest.

'Is blue and green popular?' I thought, but my reverie was broken when the teenager attempted to punch me in the gut.

The moment his fist made contact, he shivered and clutched his hand in pain. I continued to look at him unfazed as he cursed.

"Fuck! Shit!" he muttered, then glanced up at me and turned to the others, who started laughing. The remaining four males in his group, who had been surrounding the cook, turned their attention toward us.

As the situation unfolded, I closed my eyes and remembered what the Boss had told me as a child.

"Takeshi, I dream of a time when there is peace between the Yakuza. Foolish, isn't it? When you wield the strength to crush people with the wave of a hand, you must remember why you do so. If you don't, you'll lose yourself in an endless fight, one that never achieves peace, only domination. Tell me Takeshi, will you help this old fool?"

I opened my eyes just in time to see a wooden bat heading straight for my right shoulder. As it connected it shattered, not just from the force of the swing, but from the sheer density of my body.

'I'll achieve your dream, Boss. I'll show that it's possible.'

"T-the fuck are you made of?!" one of the men stammered.

Gripping the multi colored haired kid by the shoulder, I clenched my hand, and his shoulder crumpled from the force, breaking under my grip.

"Agh!" he cried out in pain, and the others in his group snapped out of their shock. They grabbed their bats and rushed at me, but I stood up fully, shifting my weight onto my toes and launching myself at the two closest. The teenagers, taken aback by how quickly I moved considering my size didn't expect to get a face full of the underside of my black boot. Their noses shattered as they crumpled into a heap, collapsing onto each other.

I turned just in time to see two more wooden bats break as they swung at me. These two were part of the group harassing the cook.

"You fucker, do you know who we are?!" one of them yelled. I shook my head grabbing them both by the face and slamming their heads together. They went limp, knocked out cold.

I glanced at the remaining two. They were sweating, and both pulled out flip knives, pointing them in my direction.

"A-are you a Ghoul?!" one of them stammered. I tilted my head, slowly approaching. The sound of my heavy footsteps made them shake even more. The one on my left crumpled to the ground, pissing himself in fear.

"W-we're members of the Red Peacock Gang!" the last one shouted as he scrambled backward, finally falling onto his rear.

'Red Peacock Gang? That's not Japanese. Are they a foreign group?' I thought but shrugged, continuing my approach. He tried to scramble away until his back hit the cook's legs. The cook looked down at him then up at me, his face streaked with tears but holding an emotion I was all too familiar with, hope.

"Can you get rid of their gang?" he asked, his voice shaky.

Without hesitation, I nodded, offering a small smile to comfort him. The teenager, now wide-eyed and angry, looked up at the cook.

"You old fucker! You—"

Before he could finish, I stepped onto his back, pressing down until I heard the sickening crack of his ribs. I pulled my foot off his back and turned to the three girls who were staring at me in fear. They looked like they were about to run, but I wagged my finger at them and gestured for them to drag the downed teens away. They nodded quickly and started hauling the unconscious bodies out of the stall.

I heard the cook collapse in relief, still staring at where they had left. I squatted beside him, watching as he turned to me and started laughing.

"Haha! If you can actually get rid of them, I'll give you a lifetime of ramen. I promise that on my family!"

I raised an eyebrow, nodding. I helped him to his feet and gestured for a pen, which he handed to me. I grabbed a napkin and drew the East Mountain Group's logo, a few mountains with rivers coursing through them, and the word "EA-ST" below it, with a half circle connecting the mountains and two dots in the middle.

{Pic}

I showed it to the cook, who looked up at me, confused. Sighing, I wrote on another napkin: 'Have it hidden somewhere, or put it on your sign. It'll show who's protecting the place, and you.'

He nodded, but his expression shifted to one of fear.

"How much will your protection fee cost?" he asked.

I shook my head, signaling that there was no fee. Still confused, the cook nodded again and I handed him the napkins before walking out. As I did, I heard a quiet thank you, which brought a brief smile to my face. But it quickly faded as I spotted the girls rounding a corner, dragging the unconscious teenagers behind them.

'Right. I'll deal with the Red Peacock Gang now.' I thought as I headed in the direction they'd gone.

I started following them, doing my best to move stealthily for someone as tall as I was without drawing too much attention. As I did, I began to think more seriously about my current situation.

'Tokyo Ghoul, some of the younger members had shown me the anime, saying I was similar to one of its characters. Do I avoid Tokyo, the central point of the story?' I frowned, recalling some of the things I remembered. One of them was the people abandoned solely because they were ghouls.

I sighed, exhaling deeply as I watched the girls enter a rundown bar. 'I'll first build up the gang so it can stand strong in Kyoto, then I'll think about heading to Tokyo.' I snorted to myself. 'No, not just stand. I'll make it the strongest Yakuza in all of Kyoto.'

Pushing the doors open, I was immediately hit by the smell of sex, alcohol, and cigarettes, with the occasional hint of blood that almost made me frown. I walked deeper into the bar, ignoring the girls who had dropped the teenagers when they saw me behind them. I made my way to the front bar and took a seat.

"My~ Aren't you a tall one." a voice purred from behind the bar. A man with long dark green hair that bordered on black spoke, leaning forward. "So, what will it be, love?~"

I gestured to the teenagers with my thumb, then to myself. 'I did that.'

Seeing the frown on his face morph into a calm faux-happy expression, I heard the faint sound of something sharp being drawn from under the bar.

"Are you saying you did that to the cuties?~" he asked.

I nodded.

The man raised his hidden hand, a knife aimed at my chest. Calmly, I grabbed his hand and crushed it. He yelped but I ignored him as I kicked the bar table to slide the chair back as someone launched a kick that shattered the table.

I looked over at the person responsible and tilted my head as they launched a front kick toward my head. They had dark brown hair in a braid hanging over their shoulder and green eyes that shimmered faintly in the dim light of the bar. They were close to around 5'8 from where I stood.

'Flexible.' I thought.

I reached behind me, catching another knife aimed at my back. I snapped the blade and threw it at someone else who was approaching, striking their knee. The person buckled and cried out in pain. The brown haired man frowned before sending a quick jab toward my chin. I let it land, then looked down at him as he grimaced, shifting his stance and delivering a question mark kick to my chin. It landed, but I remained standing, looking down at him.

'If I show him that fighting is useless, I might end this faster.'

He gritted his teeth, not saying anything but his face paled when he looked past me. I turned my head and saw a man with light brown hair and red eyes. What caught my attention, though wasn't his appearance, but the red and black tendrils sprouting from his right arm.

I turned fully around and met his cocky gaze as he slowly clapped.

"My~ I didn't think someone would be so stupid. Then again, you're just a human~" he said, walking toward me. He turned to the man behind the bar. "Really? How long are you going to keep pretending? I've already shown myself, so it's fine now."

I heard a hum, and then the sound of wood cracking beneath someone's feet. The man with dark green hair from behind the bar appeared, now with a red and black tendril sprouting from his left forearm.

"Ah, first time seeing a Kagune?~ Don't worry, it won't be for long. After all, you'll be dead."

I raised a hand and made a sign everyone knew. I pointed my middle finger at them.