At a glass rooftop café, Sora, elegant in a linen jumpsuit and signature silk scarf, smiled as she placed her cup down.
"It's so surreal being back," she said. "Tokyo always feels like it's waiting with open arms."
Emi, seated across from her in a soft mauve blouse, reached for another scone. "It's not just Tokyo. It's us. We missed you."
Beside them, Hina sipped quietly on her earl grey, listening. She wore a soft blush cardigan and a gentle smile, though her eyes stayed on Sora with growing curiosity.
Sora glanced her way and smiled gently. "You've grown so beautifully, Hina. I hardly recognized you at first. But now that I see the way you look at my son…" She laughed softly. "I recognize that too well."
Hina's cheeks flushed. "Auntie Sora…"
Sora leaned back with a sigh, her gaze drifting toward the skyline. "Paris was… beautiful. But it wasn't easy. Starting over in a foreign country, studying in a language that didn't always make sense, raising a teenage boy in the middle of it. Some days, I questioned everything."
Emi reached over, squeezing her hand. "You were incredibly brave."
"I was also incredibly selfish," Sora admitted softly. "Especially toward Yuto."
Hina looked up, startled. "No, you weren't—"
"I was," Sora said gently, her eyes misting. "He didn't say much. He never complained. But I knew how much it hurt him to leave Japan… to leave you. I saw it in his silence, in the way he stared out the window every night before bed for months. He didn't just leave his home, he had also left his heart behind."
Hina's breath caught.
Sora smiled wistfully. "And yet, he never once blamed me. He poured himself into his studies. Refused to get distracted by the social chaos at school. Kept to himself, avoided drama. I knew other girls tried to get close but believe me, I noticed but he never even looked their way."
Emi chuckled. "Sounds familiar."
Sora continued, softer now. "He continued his martial arts training not long after we arrived. He said it helped clear his mind. But I think it was also his way of preparing. Of making sure that one day, if he came back to you… he'd be strong enough to protect you properly."
Hina lowered her cup slowly, her throat tightening.
"Do you know the only time I saw him truly happy in Paris?" Sora said, meeting Hina's eyes. "That summer two years ago. When you came to visit."
Hina's eyes widened.
"He smiled more that week than he had in two years. He laughed out loud. He actually slept in," Sora said, voice thickening with emotion. "You brought him back to life."
Hina stared down at her lap, overwhelmed. "I… I didn't know."
Sora reached for her hand across the table. "He's never stopped loving or thinking about you. Not even once."
Hina nodded, blinking quickly. "I won't hurt him."
"I know," Sora said, her voice warm. "And that's why I trust you with him."
Emi watched them both with a fond smile, sipping her tea. "Who knew this high tea would turn into a love story session?"
*****
While the women shared tea and stories high above the city, the men gathered in the heart of the Kazama estate's old study, a room lined with books, maps, and records dating back decades.
Daiki stood by the tall window, arms crossed, watching the koi pond ripple in the courtyard beyond. Ren sat at the head of the table, documents spread before him. And Yuto, now seated beside his father for the first time in such a setting, listened with sharp eyes and a steady presence far beyond his years.
"This isn't like the old days," Ren said calmly, his fingers tapping on a regional report. "Territories aren't taken by blood anymore. They're swallowed in contracts, shell corporations, and charity events."
Daiki gave a curt nod. "The ones who survive now are the ones who learn to walk both sides."
Yuto spoke for the first time, his voice level. "So we expand influence, not by fear but by function."
Ren looked up at him.
Yuto leaned forward slightly. "If we keep our roots in the underworld, we have to grow our branches where the world sees light. Community investment. Legal outreach. But we don't forget where we came from. We just… evolve."
Ren studied him for a moment. Then he reached for another folder, sliding it toward Yuto.
"Let's see how sharp your instincts are. Look at this."
Yuto opened it.
It was a report detailing the sudden rise of a new syndicate in Yokohama. A tech-backed group with international ties, pushing out smaller collectives with both money and manipulation.
"Already infiltrated construction and logistics," Daiki added. "Trying to buy out our lower-tier partners."
"We won't play defensive," Ren said. "We hold too much history to be driven into shadows. But we need a strategy that moves as cleanly as they do. Legal fronts. Paper-clean loyalty. No loose ends."
Yuto nodded slowly. "Then we take the higher ground first. Let them think they're climbing, while we're laying the foundation beneath them."
Ren's lips lifted. A flicker of satisfaction.
Daiki glanced at his son, his voice quieter. "You've been preparing for this."
Yuto didn't look at either of them when he said, "I had someone worth preparing for."
Then Ren stood. Walked slowly to the window. "We'll talk again next week. There are council members who'll need to hear your voice soon."
Yuto stood and bowed. "I'm ready."
As Ren nodded once and Daiki placed a hand on his son's shoulder, something shifted. Not just in the room but in legacy.
Yuto wasn't just Daiki's son anymore.
He was next.
******
That evening, the long dining table at the Kazama estate buzzed with easy conversation and laughter once more. Dishes of simmered vegetables, sukiyaki and matcha desserts were passed around as the two families settled into the comfort of old familiarity.
Yuto sat beside Hina, their knees brushing gently under the table. Across from them, Daiki was deep in quiet conversation with Ren again, their voices low but respectful. Sora and Emi exchanged stories about their young times, with Hina only half-listening, her eyes drifting every so often to the side of Yuto's face.
After the table was cleared and the families parted ways for the night, Hina gently tugged Yuto's hand and led him out to the veranda once again, where moonlight spilled across the wood in silver streaks.
She turned to him, her voice barely above a whisper.
"How was it?"
Yuto blinked. "The meeting with your father?"
She nodded.
He exhaled, resting his arms on the wooden railing. "It was… intense. But good. I think he's beginning to trust me with more. I'm being let in."
She was quiet forz a moment, her fingers curling slightly at her sides. Then softly:
"Do you really want to be part of it? The mafia world?"
Yuto turned to her slowly, surprised by the question and even more by the look on her face. Her expression wasn't angry. It was scared.
"Hina…"
"You don't have to do this," she said, her voice trembling ever so slightly. "Just because you were born into it. Just because my father is who he is. I know you've trained and studied and prepared but Yuto, you don't have to carry that weight."
He stepped closer. "It's not just about duty."
"Then what is it?" she asked quietly. "Because you're smart, kind, capable, you could be anything you want. A professor. A designer like your mom. A writer. Something far from all of this. Something safe."
He looked at her for a long moment, and then said gently, "I want to protect the things I care about, Hina. You. This family. Everything we've built. If I don't step up… who will?"
She swallowed hard, reaching for his hand. "But you could get hurt. Killed. Dragged into things that change who you are."
Yuto's gaze softened, and he leaned his forehead against hers.
"I don't want to sacrifice my future either," he said quietly. "But I'm not walking into this blind. I'm walking in because I want to shape it. Change the way things work. Maybe not erase the shadows but learn how to make them safer for the people who live in them."
Hina's hands tightened around his. "Just promise me… if it ever gets too dark, you'll come back to me. You'll choose us."
He kissed her softly then slow and lingering.
"I'll always choose you," he whispered. "Even if I walk into fire."
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back.
"Then let me be your water," she murmured. "I'll keep you steady."
They stayed there for a while longer, holding each other in silence beneath the moonlight.