“Agent Romanoff? May I see you in my office please? I have a proposition for you I’d like to discuss.”
Sterling was a little nervous asking her. He’d never actually WORKED with an avenger before. Befriended them, yes, but never went on a mission with one. Never seen one in action with his own eyes other than evacuating civilians from one of their epic battles. It was strange to think he’d even have access to one for something that wasn’t a world ending situation but Black Widow was a SHIELD agent at the end of the day as well.
How do you think Saezuru works as a yakuza story? I myself found it interesting at first but after a while it kind of lost my interest. That's one negative I have about Saezuru.
I think Saezuru works great as a yakuza story, because unlike most BL yakuza stories it’s well researched and the plot would easily work without the BL storyline if Sensei wanted it to. But I admit, I’m also getting a bit tired of Doumeki and Yashiro being apart for so long, especially because Sensei won’t tell us what either of them is thinking. I was much more invested in the yakuza stuff when Yashiro and Doumeki were working as a team.
The last few chapters somehow felt like a dragged out foreplay, but I guess that’s mainly because the chapters are coming out so slowly, so I hope that impression will change when volume 7 gets released. But it’s definitely time for Doumeki and Yashiro to run into each other soon, because things have been static for a bit too long now.
“Chen?” Sterling called into their home as he walked through the door and put down his keys. “I’m home! Need to talk!” He walked briskly into the bedroom, pulled out the suitcase from under his side of the bed, and placed it on top to begin packing his clothes.
“We’re heading to the airport now. There was a... change up in my team. I hope that doesn’t throw a wrench in our agreement. There was an emergency my chatter expert has to remain in the states to oversee. However, his replacement is more than capable and fluent in Japanese so, work-wise, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Will there be someone to receive us or should we head straight to the hotel upon arrival?”
Sterling stepped into Jin’s office and gave a skeptical look around it. Seedy was a good way to describe it but he tried not to show too much judgement on his face, perhaps just enough to playfully tease the man. It’d been a while since he had been tasked with looking into the Yakuza leader’s nephew, or supposedly former Yakuza leader’s nephew but one of his agents had heard some chatter and he felt it was time to make another visit.
The worst part was, he didn’t hate this guy and that made it so much harder to conduct business at times.
Yakuza: Groups, Ranks and Family Relations in Saezuru
I’m working on a little series of posts about the yakuza plot in Saezuru, because it has gotten quite complex over the course of the series. This post covers the basics. With 2 to 4 months between chapters, it’s easy to forget stuff, so it’s probably quite useful to have a little overview. I’m working with the Japanese version of the books, so it’s possible that a piece of information shows up here and there that wasn’t mentioned in the English version, because sometimes stuff gets lost in translation. Feel free to ask away if something is confusing, but since there will be 2 more posts coming, maybe just wait for those first and see if they answer your question. I’ll try to post them this week, but I never really know when I get busy with work, so I can’t promise it.
~ Yakuza Groups ~
Doushinkai: a big yakuza syndicate / head organization
Leader: Kaichou (is in hospital and will die soon)
Second in command: Misumi (wants to be Kaichou’s successor)
Shinseikai: a subgroup of Doushinkai
(Belongs to the main branch of Doushinkai = important)
Leader: Hirata (wants to succeed Misumi as second in command of Doushinkai)
Second in command: Yashiro (wants to leave the group or at least stay where he is, but Misumi wants him to become the second in command of Doushinkai)
Matsubara Group: a subgroup of Doushinkai
(Belongs to a side branch of Doushinkai = less important)
Leader: Ryuuzaki
Sanwakai: a different syndicate / head organization
(A rival of Doushinkai)
Gouda Group: a subgroup of Sanwakai
(Belongs to a side branch of Sanwakai)
Leader: Nakamoto
Yashiro used to quarrel with them a while ago.
Rumor has it that Nakamoto will soon become an assistant to the second in command of Sanwakai.
This promotion would bring Gouda Group into the main line/branch of the head organisation, making it an ideal place for a future career in the Sanwakai.
Nakamoto got killed by Hirata’s men in chapter 31.
The Sakura Family / Clan: a subgroup of Sanwakai
(belongs to the main branch)
Leader: Tsunakawa
Tsunakawa was always opposed to the Gouda Group becoming part of the main branch of Sanwakai
He’s Misumi’s and Amou’s golf buddy.
In the Sanwakai he holds the position of shateigashira (a local leader).
Additional Info:
Misumi used to be the leader of Shinseikai, when Yashiro joined the yakuza.
Hirata was the second in command of Shinseikai at that time.
Misumi climbed up the career ladder and became the second in command of the head organization Doushinkai.
Hirata succeeded him as the leader of Shinseikai and made Yashiro his second in command. That was Misumi’s condition for letting him take over the group.
~ The Conflict ~
Now Misumi has the chance to become the leader of Doushinkai, and wants to make Yashiro his second in command. Hirata feels betrayed, because he is Yashiro’s superior and much longer in the group than him, so Misumi should promote him first. He also admires Misumi a lot and is pissed that Yashiro has always been Misumi’s favorite. He could deal with it as long as Yashiro was beneath him in the group’s hierarchy. If Yashiro became the second in command of Doushinkai though, he would be ahead of Hirata and in the best position to become the next leader of the syndicate after Misumi.
Hirata’s solution: Kill Yashiro, change sides and use the leader of Gouda Group as a stepping stone to the top ranks of Sanwakai. He offers the Gouda leader Yashiro’s head and a big sum of money, and in exchange receives the sake cup as Gouda leader’s brother. Hirata can’t kill Yashiro himself though, because that would be a suicide mission. Instead he forces Ryuuzaki to do it. Ryuuzaki would then conveniently be killed by Misumi, or Hirata could just get rid of him for dealing drugs which is strictly forbidden in Doushinkai. Either way, Ryuuzaki would be gone too. There’s possibly more to Hirata’s plan that hasn’t been revealed yet.
But Hirata isn’t Yashiro’s and Misumi’s only problem. The rest of the higher-ups of Doushinkai would also oppose Yashiro if Misumi announced him as his successor, because Yashiro never even had his own group, so lacks experience in their eyes (of course there’s also his reputation as the public toilet). Making Yashiro the second in command of Doushinkai would look like heavy favoritism, especially since it is an open secret that Yashiro used to be Misumi’s lover in the past. The Kaichou knows that Yashiro is capable and leaves the decision to Misumi, but he suggests to make Yashiro the leader of a subgroup first, so he can prove his qualities to the rest of the higher-ups. Yashiro is aware of all the problems his promotion would cause and hesitates to accept Misumi’s offer. Misumi tries to pressure him and calls him ungrateful.
But at the moment it is not even sure that Misumi will become the next leader of Doushinkai, because there are also people in the group who oppose Misumi, and once the position on top is available, there will be a struggle for power among the higher-ups.
~ The Character’s Ranks in the Organization ~
Kaichou
Misumi (+ Amou)
Hirata
Yashiro
Ryuuzaki
Nanahara
Sugimoto
(Doumeki)
*I put Doumeki in brackets, because he’s not officially a member yet. And Amou is Misumi’s right hand, so his rank is linked to Misumi’s.
** Yashiro and Ryuuzaki are probably almost equal. But since Yashiro’s group is closer to the head organisation, he has the better career prospects, so I put him above Ryuuzaki.
~ Family Relationships ~
Misumi and Yashiro exchanged sake cups as father and son.
Misumi and Hirata exchanged sake cups as brothers. But Hirata always wanted to be accepted as Misumi’s son.
Hirata and Yashiro exchanged sake cups as father and son.
Yashiro and Ryuuzaki exchanged sake cups as brothers*.
Hirata plans to exchange sake cups as brothers with the leader of Gouda Group.
Amou is NOT Misumi’s son, neither by law nor in yakuza terms. He wants to be though.
Nanahara = Yashiro’s younger brother, Sugimoto = Yashiro’s and Nanahara’s younger brother. According to the way yakuza clans are typically structured, both of them must also be ‘children’ of Hirata (like Yashiro), and Misumi must have exchanged sake cups with the Kaichou as his son.
* When exchanging sake cups as brothers, there are several degrees: younger & older brother, almost equal brothers, equal brothers and so on. In Misumi’s and Hirata’s case Misumi is obviously the older brother and Hirata the younger one. Yashiro and Ryuuzaki, though, both refer to each other as “kyoudai-bun” which indicates that they are probably equal brothers (50:50). Otherwise one of them would have to address the other as “Aniki” (big brother).
So much for the overview. I might edit this post in the future when we learn more details.
