The Last Yakuza by Jake Adelstein;

Author:Jake Adelstein;
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: BIO000000, TRU003000, LAN008000, HIS021000, TRV003050
Publisher: Scribe Publications
Published: 2023-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Less than a beggar, better than a thief

It was August 1994, and a senior gang boss had died. The entire Yokusuka-ikka faction attended the funeral. It took eight buses to get them to the temple and back to the city after the service.

Coach ran the group like he was running a baseball team. He made everyone play by the rules. He was harsh, but fair. He never asked his soldiers to do anything he wouldn’t do.

Saigo sat in the back of the bus with Coach. Yamada sat near them, silently reading comics. There was a boss who people called Preacher on the bus as well. He was called Preacher because he was the only active yakuza boss who was a self-confessed Christian. He preached a lot about the power of Jesus Christ and the Lord’s forgiveness.

Preacher didn’t smoke, so, of course, he chewed gum. The radio made it hard to hear, so Preacher loudly asked for gum. Taro Yamakoshi, a low-ranking member, immediately pulled a pack of Lotte blueberry gum out of his bag and gave it to Preacher. Preacher took a stick and chewed it a few times before making a face and spitting it out into the wrapper. “This is crap. You got anything else?”

Yamakoshi smiled. He had stolen 100 packs of different types of chewing gum from the gas station they had parked at earlier in the trip. He opened his bag to reveal the selection, and put his bag in the aisle. “Help yourself.”

Preacher grabbed some Black-Black, pulled out several sticks, and wadded them into his mouth and chewed them contently, his teeth and tongue quickly turning minty black. The other yakuza came over to where he was, grabbing handfuls of gum and passing it around the bus.

Coach suddenly stood up. “Stop the bus.”

The driver pulled over to the shoulder of the road and slowed the bus to a stop. Nobody spoke. The only sound was of several people quietly chewing gum, smacking their lips a little.

Coach walked up to the front of the bus, took a wooden sword out of the umbrella stand near the driver’s seat, and turned to face the group. He held the sword in his right hand like a baseball bat.

Coach was in good shape. His tailored black suit fit perfectly. Coach usually wore sunglasses. No one knew whether it was for show or whether he had eye problems. You could never be sure if he was watching you or not. It added to his mystique.

Everyone knew that he was angry. They just weren’t sure how angry he was.

He pointed at Yamakoshi and asked him where he had got the gum. Yamakoshi admitted that he had stolen it from the gas station.

“You stole it,” Coach said. “You stole some fucking gum.”

There were nervous laughs among the other yakuza. Coach smacked the sword against his other hand and glared at them. This wasn’t funny. He ordered everyone who had taken the gum, chewed the gum, or laughed just then to get off the bus.

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