A/N: My story has reached 100 views!!

In honour of this, I will do an upload an extra chapter on Saturday today.

This chapter has some depictions of what could be considered torture (not too graphic). It was important to show this to put Rein's position into context.

But for those who do not want to read it, I have written a summary of what is learnt in this chapter.

***

“Do you think that would suffice?” She sat down on the couch opposite me, legs crossed. “Don’t be silly, Rein. You will continue until I tell you to stop.”

She could not be serious.

The Oyabun took out another cigarette, and Kyouya, her right hand man, lit it for her. He threw me an apologetic look, and I was reminded of the times he picked me up from school, to bring me to Oto-San. 

That look always preceded something terrible.

“Quickly!”

I vaguely registered that the bullet wound in my gut had stopped hurting, which couldn’t be good. What if she didn’t tell me to stop? Would I lose all of them? Would I pass out from the pain or from the blood loss? 

I watched my hand bring the knife closer to what’s left of my little finger, even as I hoped the Oyabun didn't mean it. 

The pain was worse. Far worse with the second knuckle. Any relief the adrenaline provided was long gone. The knife, the Oyabun, everything blurred before my eyes. 

The shivering made it hard to place the knife where my finger met my palm, and just when I sliced through skin,  the Oyabun said…

“Enough.” 

Somehow, I managed to bundle the pieces into the silk cloth, bowing as I offered them. She smacked it aside, seized my wrist, nails carving into my skin.

“Why am I punishing you?”

Flashes of the evening flitted through my mind. 

Plucking her cigarette out with her other hand, she pressed it into my wound, twisting. 

“Hngh!” A spasm of pain ripped its way through me, and I gasped sharply for air that wouldn’t come. 

“I don’t have all day,” she said as the cigarette hissed against fresh blood.

“I…!” 

Suzuna. Men. Bodies.

Anger rising, she snapped her fingers. Kyouya handed her the lighter. A click. Flame. She held it steady beneath the raw wound.

“I-I murdered-” The words I was so reluctant to even admit to myself spewed forth through gritted teeth as the flame licked at my wound. “Oto-San…”

“Louder.” She flung the lighter away. “What did you do?”

Maybe she was right to be furious, I was drenched in her husband’s blood. But if it was remorse she was looking for, she would not find it.

Her thumb dug deep. My body convulsed, “I murdered your husband! I murdered Oto-San!” I screamed, shaking my head in a frenzy, anything to make her let go!

The others in the room backed away, wary of her. “The Yamakichi Gumi, the largest clan in the Yakuza, our legacy unsurpassed…” She pushed further, her hand straining against bone and sinew, “And you tear us apart. Our ancestors will never forgive us.”

“Oka-San!” her words barely registered in my brain, where the only thing that existed was pain.  Stop, stop please…I can’t bear it, can’t bear it! I hadn’t called her that in years, but it had no effect, it never did. 

“Pathetic…”

Another stifled scream ripped through my throat. But I would not say I was sorry. I was not. 

Agony consumed me, my breath hissed through clenched teeth, still, I bowed my head and stayed where I was. I wouldn’t dare object to her authority.

“Are you listening?”

“Y-yes.” It took all I had to stay conscious.

“You have no idea what you set off…” the Oyabun threw my hand away like she was disgusted. 

A sob of relief whooshed out of my lungs. “You will take my husband's place as my second in command to our section of the clan. I expect you to begin your duties by tomorrow morning. Arrange an appropriate funeral. Masahiro was your father, adopted or not.” 

I nodded, still gasping in pain.

Then, with a wave of her hand, my nightmare ended.

***

Summary:

Rein is forced to continue his yubitsume—the ritual cutting off of a part of his little finger—as punishment by the Oyabun, his adoptive mother, for murdering her husband, Masahiro. Though he hopes she will relent, she cruelly demands he continue cutting more until she allows him to stop.  We see a glimpse of how Rein used to be picked up from school by Kyouya, to be taken to Masahiro for something. After she tells him stop, still angry, she furthers his punishment by squeezing and injurining his hand. Despite unbearable pain, Rein refuses to show remorse, only admitting to killing Masahiro when pushed to the edge. The Oyabun condemns his actions for endangering the clan’s legacy but ultimately names him as Masahiro’s replacement, ordering him to take over as her second-in-command and arrange the funeral. Rein’s ordeal ends, but not without leaving him broken, bloodied, and bound tighter to the clan’s power structure.

xxx

Rein’s pain in this chapter wasn’t easy to write, but it felt important to show just how cruel the Oyabun can be—and the impossible position Rein is trapped in. 😔💔 What do you think this new role as her second-in-command will mean for him? Is it punishment, or is it power?

Thank you so much for reading—your comments and thoughts mean the world to me. 💕