The last embers of sunset were fading, as we arrived at Club Escape. A stand up placard of young women in lavish evening wear sat by the entrance. I hadn’t even been aware that there was a hostess club in the area, not being the sort of establishment teen girls would have an interest in.

Makoto stamped out the cigarette before leading us down the front steps. The reception area was a small cube with a polished wooden lectern. The greeter’s expression changed as she saw me, but discipline kicked in quickly and she bowed as we passed by.

The club was a decadent, moody affair. All around hostesses in elaborate dresses sat with customers, pouring drinks and keeping them company with coos and conversation. The smell of alcohol was thick in the air, but thankfully, the only cigarette smell was coming off of Mako. I had always assumed hostess clubs were dark smoky places, full of adults doing adult things. This atmosphere was not too far off but I was glad to take deep breaths of relatively smoke-free air before I was pushed inside a heavy wooden door along the back.

Inside, a pair of semi circular booths encompassed a large table where two women sat across from each other. One of them, an extremely tall woman with wild silver hair and a black striped suit, lounged with her impossibly long legs up on the table. It wasn’t exactly a form-fitting outfit but there were telltale signs of a well toned physique under it. Her striking hair did not seem to be grey from the ravages of age, but rather looked as if she’d recently dyed it that way. I didn’t need an introduction to know who she was. The indomitable Xianying Cheng, one of the most infamous local yakuza. She was thin but stood at around 200cm, easily towering over anyone I had ever met.

The other was a smaller woman in a blue velvet suit with chestnut hair neatly tucked and braided. It wasn’t merely her height but her build overall was of a more sedentary disposition. She diligently tapped away at a laptop, seemingly unmoved by the underage girl being dragged into the room.

In the shadows of the room, someone was lurking but I couldn’t make them out.

Tsubasa nudged me in front of the table. Xianying put her legs down and looked at Makoto who tossed her something.

She held up the coin and laughed. “Is this what girls are selling themselves for these days?” she flipped the coin and caught it slamming it down onto the table. My hand slid into my now empty pocket. Makoto must have looted it off of me but I had no idea when.

“What are you, some kinda junkie?” I realized by Xianyings’ glare, that the question was directed at me.

“What? No!” I crossed my arms defensively.

Her eyes narrowed. “What’s your name and how old are you?“ I stumbled over my words for a moment.

“Kairi... I’m seventeen.”

She nodded. “Runaway?”

“No” I retorted, quickly losing patience with this line of questioning.

“I know this one” the figure at the back stepped forward. Her jacket was gone, leaving only a black sleeveless top that declared in English “Bitches (heart) me.” It was definitely the biker chick that had swung by this afternoon.

“She lives at that bookstore.”

Xianying leaned back and put her feet up on the table again. “Then what were you doing playing with tigers?”

I inhaled sharply trying to keep my head up in the gangsters overwhelming presence. “I ran into one by mistake. They grabbed me.”

She looked me up and down for a moment until Aoi, that is the woman in the blue suit, interrupted. It was the “She can’t.” the girl with the wild hair groaned.

“Why noooot?”. Aoi stopped typing and glared at her. “Having a minor serving booze in my club is a liability.”

Xianying scoffed.

“What cop would have the balls to roll in here?”

Aoi rolled her eyes. “She can apply when she’s twenty like everyone else.” She looked up at me, ”You’re still in high school, yeah?”.

I stammered a bit. “Yeah”. Most details were a bit hard to make out in the poorly lit back room but the backlight from the laptop made her disgusted expression all too clear.

“You should be there then and not whoring on a street corner.” she scolded.

I covered my face. “I was NOT.” My face burned and my blood boiled. “We need the money, but I’d never! I-” I was borderline screaming and slammed my hands down on the table.

Every eye in the room was on me. I winced as Xianying crackled madly.

“I was wrong, this is no hostess. This one's a fighter. Hey, Blast? You should teach this one that thing you do; the soup.” She made an odd gesture as if throwing something over her shoulders. The girl formerly in the leather jacket corrected her.

“It’s a german suplex.” Xianying slid over, opening up a space for me next to her.

“Sit.” she waved. Tsubasa, who had been dutifully blocking the door made her own way over to sit with Aoi, who pushed her away as she got close.

“You’re filthy, go wash your face at least.”

“I was defending your honor, milady.”

Aoi gave her a disbelieving grimace. Tsubasa leaned in kiss her on the cheek and swaggered off.

Makoto, who’d been waiting quietly coughed. “What do you want done with this one?”

There was a pregnant pause as she rubbed her chin.

“I’m not sure yet.”

Makoto nodded curtly and left out the door we came in.

Xianying pulled a bottle of beer from a nearby cooler without getting up and twisted off the cap. “The woman from the bookstore is your mom?” She looked at me expectantly.

“Yeah.” I admitted. It didn’t feel right telling these guys the truth, but it was hard to lie with ‘Blast’ -as they called her- in the room.

“She’s a very good customer of ours. Always pays on time and never gives us any grief. As such, you’re safe here. The Boss has very strict rules about how to treat good customers. You don’t have anything to worry about.” She sipped at her beer and offered her hand. “Name’s Xianying.” I carefully shook her hand.

“Kairi” I did my best not to look nervous.

“So you said.” Xianying looked down at her bottle. “Yeah, I’m Chinese, Don’t get many Xian-anythings out here do we?”

“So what do you do?” she gestured up and down at me with her hand. I brushed at a loose hair.

“I’m just a highschooler and I work at my mothers the shop after class.” Xianying nodded thoughtfully and took a swig of her drink.

“I mean you plan to take over the shop, or...?”

I smiled wryly and tried to form the words.

“I’d been thinking of signing up with the SDF and becoming a pilot, actually….”

That one made her eyes light up.

“Ooooh Flygirl. I like it.” Xianying smiled.

Without warning, a stern knock came at the door. Blast strode over to the door and Mako peeked in, signaling something to Xianying who promptly pushed me out of the way. We went back into the main hall. The last of the customers trickled out as a group of five yakuza stood at the entrance. Three were armed with a pair of old golf clubs and a wooden baseball bat. I tried to get back in the small room, but the door closed before I could reach it. The room was so quiet I could hear the lock click. Blast took my hand and put herself between me and the thugs.

Xianying put her hands in her trouser pockets and rocked on her heels.

“So… what is this? Tiger thinks it's got the swag to roll over the dragon?” Xianying slipped off a silver bracelet and placed it gently on the table next to her. One of the suits spoke up.

“Four of yours attacked four of ours.You know how this goes.”

Tsubasa scoffed. “Is that what they told you? It was only TWO of us. Ya boys tried to shake down Blast’s place.”

Blast’s eyes widened and her face twisted into a dangerous sneer.

“They- did- what?” Her grip on me tightened and the veins in her hands visibly popped.

Xianying raised a hand diplomatically but her voice was firm. “Kim’s is our territory and under our protection. You will respect that.”

The leader shook his head. “Bullshit. My guys know the rules.”

Xianying clapped her hands together and cracked her knuckles.

“This is the problem with the tigers, there are just too damn many of them. Your standards have gone straight to hell. Can’t even keep your guys in line anymore.”

The leader lowered himself into a combative stance signaling his men. With that, everyone began to square off. Someone yelled and the whole place erupted. Blast let go of me and charged one of the one swinging a pitching wedge and tackling him. Left alone, I scanned for the exit but one lone suit stood in the way, unarmed but charging toward me. I threw up my hands defensively but he barreled into me. In the struggle, I think one of my flails slammed into his throat because he suddenly stepped back coughing. I felt as if someone was calling my name and I looked up to see Blast holding someone in a headlock.

“Hit him!” she cried. My eyes turned to the recovering man and without a thought I balled up my fist and slammed into his cheek. It was surprisingly easy as he was holding pretty still, his face flushed with anger. He raised his hands up to try and grab me again, but someone else had crossed between us. Tracksuit grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into an awkward but effective headbutt. He crumpled to the ground holding his nose. If the blood was anything to go by, it was quite broken. I looked up and around the room. The fight lasted only a few moments. Xianying jumped off a table, slamming an elbow into the chest of a prone opponent. Another was trying to get back up but Mako kicked him square in the face.

From beyond, the front door of the club swung open and some beast lumbered in. It looked more like a bull with legs than a human. She was a hulking Amazon with a bodybuilder’s physique in a tight fitting and expensive suit, who appeared to stand at least a head taller than everyone else in the room. On her lapel glimmered a polished golden dragon pin. The room stopped as she pulled out a chair from one of the tables. She straddled it and rested her arms across the back. Her bulging forearms thick as her thighs. Striking red eyes pierced through the room, yet betrayed no anger. It was the unmistakable visage of The Dragon’s Heart.

She uttered only one word.

“...Shto?”

Xianying pulled herself off the floor and did a sloppy bow.

“Boss.” she said, all the others lowering their heads.

The amazon addressed Xianying with cool confidence. “Speak.”

Instead, Xianying nodded over to Tsubasa who put her hands in her pockets.

“We caught some Tigers trying to shake down Kim’s and these guys seem to think we’re lyin’.” The Boss looked at each of them before returning her focus on their leader.

He straightened his jacket and looked her in the eyes.

“I had some doubts, but I had to take them at their word.”

The giant nodded thoughtfully and rubbed her chin. “I understand.” She paused and put her hands together. ”Are you satisfied leaving this here?”

The man pulled a handkerchief and dabbed it carefully at some blood around his mouth.

“Yeah… I think I am.”

The amazon did not move as he approached. The two shook hands and the goons carefully gathered themselves and shuffled out. The boss did not move from her chair until each of them had left.

“...And who is this?” she finally stood, returning the chair to its rightful table and looking straight at me. I suppressed the instinct to duck under the table and cling to the nearest sturdy object.

Blast sighed. “It’s the bookstore owner’s girl, she got caught up in the whole thing by mistake.”

“It’s alright. The Tigers never should have been there.” The amazon clicked her tongue thoughtfully. “Take care to make sure she gets home safely.”

Blast nodded and waved over to me and I didn’t hesitate to follow.

We stepped down to a small parking lot near the bar and were greeted by a well traveled motorcycle with a helmet and leather jacket draped over the back.

“I.. don’t have a helmet.” Blast rolled her eyes.

“Hold on tight. It isn't far.”

I took a deep breath and tried to situate myself. I jumped as the engine rumbled. Blast pulled my arms around her chest.

“Tighter” she patted my arms and we began pulling out onto the street. My heart skipped as we really started moving. We pulled by Ms. Kims and I let out a surprised croak.

“I forgot the onions! I must have dropped them in the struggle!” I blurted out before I had time to process it. Blast pulled off to the side and we skidded to a stop suddenly.

“Say what?” She tried to look at me confused.

I tried to get up but tripped over the top of the bike and awkwardly fell to the sidewalk. Blast more skillfully dismounted and deployed the kickstand, tossing her helmet aside before helping me up.

“Sorry, I was… just on my way to the store when everything happened.” Blast nodded. I felt around in my coat.

“...The blonde one took my money.” I sighed as Blast helped me to my feet.

“I got this. Least I can do” she said and I was… suddenly too tired to argue.

“Anyoung has-!” Ms. Kim’s trademark greeting was oddly cut short and she fell deathly silent as we walked in. She seemed to glance past me and then back nervously.

“Are you okay, Kairi?” Ms. Kim’s look of concern looked genuine. She looked pale and was shaking slightly.

“Yeah, but… I lost the onions.”

Ms. Kim looked sympathetic. “I saw. You go get another one, okay?”

I sheepishly made my way back to the produce aisle. Maybe I wouldn’t have to ask Blast for money after all. I’d really rather owe money to Ms. Kim than the yakuza. Blast stood in front by the counter. Ms. Kim looked very uncomfortable.

“Nana.”

Blast thumbed her chin awkwardly and then used a word I couldn’t make heads or tails of. I could have sworn I’d heard it before.

“Umma.”

I must have been in korean but Ms. Kim didn’t reply.

I noticed tears forming at the edges of her eyes. A distant memory nagged at me, something from what felt like a lifetime back.

Nana… Kim? Ms. Kim’s daughter? She was one of the neighborhood kids but I hadn’t seen her in years.

She was years older but she’d been one of my only friends while I was in primary school. I thought she’d gone away for high school or university.

Now that I thought about it, she really did look like Nana.

I approached the two of them carefully studying Blast’s face. As I passed by, Ms. Kim’s trademark “Okay, thank you.” was whisper soft.

The sun was long gone and the wind held a hint of early autumn chill. Blast mounted her bike and keyed the engine. She was about to drive off when my damn curiosity got the better of me.

I forced out the words before my brain had time to register the fear. “So…. you’re Nana?”

Blast’s face scrunched. “Ahh, don’t call me that... “ She cringed a bit. ”...but yeah. I figured you didn’t recognize me.”

I shook my head. “It’s been so long and… it’s weird.”

“....Weird how exactly?” She adjusted her grip on the bike handles.

I rubbed my hands to play for time while I tried to shape my disparate thoughts into words.

“It’s just... I was scared of you this afternoon... ”

Blast snorted lightly as she readied her bike. “I know. I was not always the striking ladykiller I am today. I’ll see ya.”

I took a deep breath and started back home

My mom was gonna kill me.