Yakuza Report - Lady Scandal

It felt bad to lie to G that she was going out with a friend, she barely had friends and she felt bad to lie but he would have never let her go if he knew where she was going. Where Nanami was going, it was the first name that went into her mind and she did have the ID ready, so that was okay. She would be okay. She tugged on her jumper, hiding her twelve almost thirteen weeks baby bump. She had to be very careful about that, even if she did not think it would be so bad if people knew, she did not want the bad people to know and to be fair, she did not know this Anthracite and that was mutual though, even if the woman did only think that she did not know Lady Scandal and that she would know her. This world was a joke. She was standing near a window as if she was window shopping. It wasn't as if she had doubts but it was as if G was speaking in her head that she was doing something ridiculous. She had to even be careful what her questions would be. She did not like this spoiled bratty idea of a person but her curiosity worked hard enough. 

The window was next to the bench though where they would meet up, that was the message. She took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder before walking to the door that she had to knock on and she felt a shiver going down her spine. She was an idiot, and this would not the last time she would do so. 

When she did she knew that she would have to get blindfolded and get in that car, which gave her more goosebumps, but the sweater did enough to hide that. She hoped, she had not tested out again, that she would not get nauseous, because that would bring up problems that she did not want to think about. She would just have to be patient enough. Her bag that she held on her right shoulder indeed held her black phone, on airplane mode, her tablet and the same mode but that was about it. Her keys from her new home and the like, things you needed as a normal person. 

She scooted into the car and sighed softly when the goon next to her patted her down, at least he did it not in an obnoxious matter, which she really appreciated. She held her breath when he patted her sides, missing the obvious bump. However, it wasn't as if it was just being fat, which you could make smaller as you sucked in your breath, the substance of her baby bump made it difficult but it worked for now anyway. She also gave off her bag, which she hated because she had switched everything off. She felt naked and vulnerable and already bad because she had left her own private phone back at home, this was her white Lady Scandal phone, what if she needed Gil? 

She took the headphones and closed her eyes because of the loud noise, why she understood the need but that loud, she wasn't even great at remembering routes anyway but she did not complain, she only wanted to make a sarcastic remark about it but when she opened her eyes, there was a thick cloth bag over her head. Oh no, this was bad, she thought she would be able to hold on with a blindfold but now it felt completely away from the world and she still would get nauseous in the car during driving. She put her hand on her stomach, trying to keep it steady and casual, maybe if she could convince herself that nothing was happening and they stood still, being disorientated by the music and the loss of sight, it might work. She also tried to steady breathe through her mouth, in through her nose, out through her mouth. But she would be very pale and obvious nauseous after the thirty minutes driving. She regretted this decision every single second. 

She nodded when she heard the instructions, first jumping a sort of to the side when someone came rather close and she had not expected that, she had no idea when they had stopped driving after all. She needed fresh air though, but she was afraid to ask. She scooted over to the right side and tried to grab the door without seeing it, clumsy Hanako should not fall at all, right now. She was held by her arm and basically half carried, half dragged to where she should go. Now that the music was out, she only heard the ticking of her own high heels on the wooden floor. Well, the house or whatever building they were in, at least had a good choice for floors. It was all to distract her from the feeling that her stomach was making summersaults. 

Without telling her they pulled off the bag and she instantly shut her eyes because of the sudden hurt, even if the lights were forming a dark but comfy atmosphere, it was still different from seeing no light before. Her eyes, once finally adjusted, went to look at the woman, staring might be impolite but she should not show that she was regretting this decision. She looked to the man next to her and follow his gesture to the chair on which she could sit. Before she would sit on the chair opposite the woman, which she found nicer to interview, she looked if she would get her stuff back, checking out how many people were in this room at the same time and her eyes lingering on the man in the middle of the tree on the other side of the room. Their eyes met and she understood now what the conversation had meant. 

Once her attention went back to the woman who seemed to run all this, Anthracite. She would finally sit down for real this time, not halfway hovering in the motion before sitting down on the chair, checking very quickly, like in the blink of an eye, if her sweater was hiding the baby bump well. "Ah yes, my boss told me." Loose lips. Well, hers were sealed if she wanted to survive. She took the tablet out of her bag now that she saw that it stood behind her and took the notes, not switching it off the airplane mode as that was not necessary here and it might give the trust to the people here. Nanami Midoriya, why did she think of that name again. Her eyes switched back to the bruised man in the corner, what would he have done? Would she be able to sit through this without jumping up or vomiting? 

The chair she was sitting in, at least made her able to sit in a better fashion than in the car, but the wave of nausea had not left her yet and she tried to breath the same way as she did in the car, in through her nose, out through her mouth. Trying to make barely any sound. She turned her blue eyes from the man to the woman, Anthracite, wondering what her goal was and what she wanted to show. How was this honor? Whatever she was doing as Yakuza was definitely not honorable. Her eyes switched back to the man, honour was everything? She bit her lip softly as she wanted to look but not see, she had said yes to this. She was Lady Scandal after all, there was no one else to blame but her. She should not blink, she should not cry and just look. Her shoulders jumped up when the blade came down and she felt the nausea get worse but she tried to not sow it. How did he look happy, maybe happy wasn't the right word? It was his pinky, or was it that he rather had that than his life? She could understand that. 

She had not written down anything and her eyes turned back to the woman. "Does it work? That second chance I mean?" She asked politely as she wanted to know, how else did it work. "Oh eh yes, my boss was curious. She would like to know more for as far as possible of course, I don't know if you ever read any of the articles." Trying her very best to avoid any gender words, considering Macabre did not fall for it either. She had no idea where to start, still riled up from what she saw. "I do have a question, if you don't mind. You called it honour, so you consider your work honerable? Even if many people consider it a bad thing when they think of the Yakuza." Dangerous and for a second she wished she had not made the mistake to not have Gil's phone number in her white phone. 

Seeing a pinky get chopped off made her realize how much of a danger should could be in, surely she did not feel like spilling the beans on someone like this Princess but the fact that she was here, pregnant and alone, it made it a lot more dangerous than she ever anticipated her job to be. It was too late to turn around, she had enough things to do. She tried to copy the relaxed fashion of the woman in front of her but her shoulders were rather high up and closer to her ears than a relaxed person would have and she blocked the lower part of her face with the tablet as she had not put on her glasses. 

There were no questions in her head to form a story for yet, she just needed to figure out what to ask and what would be dangerous to ask. Were asking questions even dangerous or would Anthracite just let her ask questions for the story and blame it to Lady Scandal later? That was a question she had for her. She wanted to know, no she should learn how the Yakuza thought. She needed to know how Thunder would possibly think. She had forgotten to bring that thing that Fix made for her, she hoped that this woman wasn't focused on the fight between Quirkers and Quirkless. Maybe she should ask, although that would bring attention to something that could possibly harm her. 

Did it work?

She nodded, yes, it was like a chain reaction. "So it doesn't happen often?" She felt the ice crack beneath her feet even if she was sitting. She had to stop the panicking, it was probably just her body, she did this before and she had not mind, but something in her head just seems to connect. If it did not happen often, what a perfect moment that she had caught someone for her or well Lady Scandal. She typed a few keywords down to remember this. 

She tried to very well ask the question without upsetting the woman. Tactic and strategy was everything now to get the answers she wanted to make an interesting story. 

Honour

She had to admit that the answer that Nori gave her was rather satisfying,
"Causes more destruction?"
She wanted to know what she meant because it would bring outright fights? It was obvious that the law needed to be enforced, even Hanako understood but avoided a few of those points. She was not miss-goody-two-shoes either. 

Crazy quirked lunatics. Interesting. 

She nodded, "I bet there aren't many people that see it that way but only put dangerous thoughts and behaviour to the word Yakuza. So it's actually more of an organisation that isn't afraid to step out of bound to punish, probably in the hope with what you said before, to deterrent others from doing it?" Build it up slowly Hanako, be polite. "But to make an assumption again, not all your deals are the socially constructed ones, right? Do you ever deal with kidnapping someone for a client or should I just think about street thugs with drug dealing and the like because that sounds rather unimpressive." How open to compliments was Anthracite? 

The body language that Anthracite was giving was one that Hanako could not decode. She seemed to be satisfied and the questions seem to be okay for her to be calm? So Hanako was doing a correct job about it, right? She should not think about her name in that sense before she would say it wrong, right now she was Nanami Midoriya. She stole the name of her sister and her mother's maiden name. 

Nanami. Nanami. Always Nanami. 

"Oh, a water please." Who said it would be real water, what if they put a drug in it, she could obviously not drink something with a drug for her own safety as well as the baby's. Damn, she had never been so nervous before. What was going on? Why were there all these kind of senses swirling around in her body and making her worried, the hell? If it did not happen all too often, did they let this man walk before she would go, so they could pick him up right before she would arrive or what? What a timing it was anyway. She did not dare to ask that, it was no point of the article that she would write, unfortunately, her brain simply did not makeup ideas yet, but she would be fine, she always was. She nodded when the woman said you would not stay a boss for a long time. Interesting. How many crime bosses would Tokyo have? Who would all be considered one? How many did you need to be carrying the title of a Yakuza? As far as Hanako knew it was a family thing indeed. 

She did play the stupid one when asking the question about the destruction that Anthracite mentioned. Dressed up hm? She felt like the woman might show a hand of jealousy, they could go out all dressed up and pretend to fight the crime but she could not, she was the leader, she would be in danger? Well, that depended on if she had a quirk or not and if she knew how to use it. Comic book heroes, funny how somebody else told her that they were absolutely not like Comic book heroes, but she nodded. She did not entirely understand how the woman could say that it were people who did not know how to use their power properly, wasn't that exactly what they were doing? Even to the bigger and better versions of what some people did on the streets. Considering how Mia fought that magma guy, she surely was more qualified in what she was doing. She wasn't sure if she agreed with the collateral damage and the casualties, at least now someone was trying to stop that. 

"Funny enough, I have to agree that picking a hero costume or whatever you want to call it, does not make them worthy." It was not entirely a lie but it was not entirely the truth either. She had to admit that she prefered the vigilantes more at this point, yet she had not met enough heroes nor vigilantes to make a point. "So that brings me to another question because I really like how you explain it, what do you think of this fight between the quirkless and the quirkers? Is it a waste of time?" It was another carefully wrapped compliment, a waste of time meant in this case that Anthracite her time was far too precious to be used for something like such nonsense. She did ask another question, she wanted to know what the Yakuza was doing. 

Money.

Power. 

Respect again. 

Damn praise this woman's way with words. It almost felt like whatever she was doing was a good thing, which it wasn't. "I see, sorry if it was a stupid question." She decided to say, there was in Hanako's world not such a thing as stupid questions, there were only those who used those questions for the wrong and those who answered them in the wrong way. Neither of them was doing that. It was a game and they were both trying to play it equally. She tried to relax, for as far as Anthracite knew she came alone but someone knew she was here, for as far the truth; she was alone and no one knew she was here. Where here was, was another question.

She looked at the tall glass of water and wasn't sure what to do with it. She did not know this Yakuza boss, not that she knew any other for that matter but that only made it more dangerous and vulnerable if she believed to drink something that they offered. What would it contain, just water? Or some chemicals to knock her out in a bit and be able to bring her back, she wasn't entirely sure, but it could be dangerous to the baby. She stared at the cigarette as well, she wanted to smoke so badly but she had sworn to quit before figuring out she was pregnant. The stress did not always make it easier to not go back to smoking. 

She would just have to stay here for as long as it was necessary, maybe it would be a good practice to learn some numbers by heart, to keep in contact with some people before leaving or maybe she just needed to take a break. Her curiosity would only not be able to handle it. She nodded when the princess said it was a complicated question, yes, there were thousands of answers to such a thing if only you knew what you thought and wanted. 

Value.

Asset. 

Prove. 

She wasn't entirely sure what she thought of the answer, mostly because at first it seemed that Nori preferred the quirkers but than again she seemed to change her answer to both, as long as they deemed to be worthy. She did notice her stare, it wasn't very welcoming or considered easy. It made this game of Q&A only more dangerous, maybe more worthy. "I would say so, it would show you are rather open minded to just continue your... hmm... work? Powerplay if you would allow me to say so." What more questions could she come up with, she did not want to go into the details of her job, Nori had skimmed over that anyway but also Hanako was afraid it would rather make her nauseous. "So considering honour and everyone knowing the domino effect of punishing one person as you just told me, how do you know when to trust someone to work for your business?" Because how did you know who to trust after all, it was a bit of a charming part if you ask her, maybe that's why people dared to trust someone like Nori, as she was very pretty and intimidating. That last one was a thing for sure. 

Even if the cigarette smoke did not smell the least like the normal cigarettes that Hanako used, it made her want to use one too. She should even not inhale the smoke because that could be bad for the little one too but how odd did it look if she simply held her hand for her nose and mouth. Hiding her pregnancy was to her even more important than hiding her real identity, she could only protect the baby at this point, even if it was nothing even close to a real baby and was she still conflicted, what would happen if she did not? 

Prove.

That word again, so that meant that the Princess was at least solid in the way she thought, no ways of swaying and changing whatever word or fiasco she could come up with. Even if Hanako did not agree with the way they worked, it was at least maybe considering a bit noble? No, that word was wrong. She only had to think about Thunder and her blood would boil, he was on her list to take down but the problem was that she was just a quirkless liability. Anything she could do, would help maybe a little. She hoped Fix would call her soon again. She had said it was not that important and it was not, she could not walk in somewhere if her baby bump would be more prominent but well, it started to itch in a way to sit still and do nothing, hence why she took this opportunity. 

Also watch for you.

That made sense, it would explain how the Yakuza could be considered as spiders, having eyes everywhere. She wasn't sure if people would take that as a compliment but for Hanako at this moment it was. It reminded her of Macabre and spinning that web around her, she had to keep her eyes open and be aware of that in case the princess would do the same. 

Successful. 

It was a way of how to treat people, maybe a Yakuza pawn was better treated and valued and knew that than some people in the normal business life. Maybe that's why people were swayed to join such a thing. 

"It's definitely a play where you need to be smart when you stand on the top." Hanako said it was not really a compliment this time, it was a state of a fact, that was the comment to finding the snakes and be prepared for their tricks. Her mind was blank when it came to other questions but there must be so much more to consider. "What do you consider the most easy job and the most difficult one?" She did not need details but just the theme, would it be difficult when you had to set up a lot, so as a domino it can fall without you noticing much? Just one wrong tick or one domino stone remain upright and missing the rest to continue. How would that work?