Sally's Law

A heavily built man with a prominent scar over his eye folded at the waist in a perfect right angle.

"Young Boss! And Miss Fujiwara! It's been too long!"

His name was Kikuchi Takeo—the clan's Second-in-Command, the man they called Genji's right hand. For a yakuza, he gave off an oddly healthy, vigorous air.

Chise was extremely fond of Takeo. Noah, of course, found him too loud and couldn't stand him.

"That booming voice of yours hasn't changed a bit. Guess you've been well."

"Bwahahaha! All thanks to you, Young Boss! I hear you raised quite a ruckus again today!"

"Did you kill them?"

"Haha! Why would I kill men the Young Boss went out of her way to leave alive?"

Takeo laughed at the top of his lungs, then dropped his voice.

"They have to suffer—forever."

This was why Noah hated coming home. The place was packed with hundreds of doting fools. Living among idiots who overreacted at the slightest thing had worn her out. Still, they were earnest kids at heart, and Noah—who by nature couldn't stand anything that struck her as too gay—didn't actually dislike them that much.

"You're going to run out of torture rooms. Ease up and let them go."

"Yes, ma'am! Understood. This way, then. The Boss is waiting."

"What, Dad's home? What a pain."

Noah scrunched up her face and let out a little eh, which was adorable—but a cold sweat slid down Takeo's back. If the Boss had overheard that just now, there would have been a blood purge.

"H-hahahaha! You've got a wicked sense of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠humor!"

"I'm not joking."

"……"

Takeo looked at Chise with a face that said he might cry. She winked her right eye and mouthed the words.

Don't worry.

I'll put my faith in you, miss!

Takeo sent her a look of ironclad trust.

Fujiwara Chise. In the Minamoto family, they called her the Archangel.

Genji was in his gi, sharpening a blade. It was a daily ritual he never skipped, come four in the afternoon. Interruptions were not permitted at this hour. Break that unspoken rule, and death was the only outcome. Genji treasured his sword more than anyth—

Rattle.

"Boss. The young lady has arrived."

"Right."

Genji answered without a flicker of feeling. The moment the door shut, he flung the sword behind him without the slightest hesitation. He straightened his gi, and not long after, Noah and Chise came in.

"Hello, Uncle!"

"It's been a while, Noah. Chise, sit."

Chise knelt neatly. Noah plopped down beside her.

"Noah. I heard what happened."

"Yeah."

"You didn't hold back. The one you hit dead-on is paralyzed from the waist down."

"And?"

Genji grinned.

"Well done. That's my daughter. Next time, though, hit them harder."

Noah looked at him with thoroughly unimpressed eyes. In a past life, she might have respected a man like this. She would have liked him. To other men, Genji was the picture of masculinity. From a child's point of view, he was not. She still hadn't forgotten the Glock he'd given her for her fifth birthday. What kind of parent does that? A real man ought to treasure his daughter. A doll instead of a Glock. Cross-stitch instead of how to beat people up. Candy instead of a pharmacy's worth of supplements—that would have been a normal father. Of course, if he had been, she would have despised him.

"I didn't want to kill them."

"Why not?"

"We were on our way to a dessert shop."

Genji accepted this without question.

"I see."

Chise's pupils wavered as she looked from Genji to Noah and back. They… get along, right?

"Thank you for always looking after my daughter, Chise. I assume the dessert shop was your idea."

"Not at all! I'm the one in her debt. Noah is always the one protecting me."

Chise beamed. Genji's eyes were infinitely warm.

"Being a Minamoto doesn't mean we protect every Fujiwara. If they aren't worthy, we don't. Noah protects you because she likes you. That's certain."

"I-is that so?"

Chise couldn't hide her smile as she ducked her head. A faintly charged air lingered between them.

Noah dropped a bomb without warning.

"I'm getting a bob."

"No."

"Denied."

The two answers came back without a tenth of a second's hesitation. Noah clicked her tongue and whipped her head away.

"It would be such a shame to cut hair this pretty."

"That day, as many lives as you have hairs on your head will vanish from this earth."

"…Uncle?"

"I'm joking, Chise."

You're not joking at all…

Chise offered another awkward smile, then steeled herself. A little tension crept in. It's about time. She had an important declaration to make. She poked Noah in the thigh, again and again, and looked up at her with sparkling eyes.

…Crafty little Chise.

Noah sighed. No doubt she wanted Noah to bring up the dorms—the ones Chise had strong-armed her into at the dessert shop. She'd been in a good mood then, and had agreed without thinking. Ordinarily she never would have allowed it. They had how many luxury villas, and she was supposed to move into some dorm? But Noah's body was a girl's. Her heart was a man's. A man didn't go back on his word.

Noah declared it to Genji.

"Then I'm running away from home."

"!"

"N-Noah."

How did it become THAT?!

Chise paled and rushed to explain.

"That's not it! It's not running away… We actually talked about moving into the dorms together."

"The dorms, is it."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Genji looked at Noah and snorted a laugh.

"Must have liked today's dessert."

A flinch. The corner of Chise's mouth twitched. How did he know?

"The dorms are out of the question."

"Ah."

Chise drooped. Without Genji's permission, the dorms were impossible. Her own father hadn't allowed it either.

Noah looked Genji straight in the eye.

"Why?"

"I can't guarantee your safety."

Too many enemies had their sights on the Fujiwara. Too many had their sights on the Minamoto. They usually cut them down in advance, but that only worked because they were extra careful on outings—and because Noah's own strength was considerable. Step outside the main house, though, and it was a different story. The Fujiwara were famous for their ironclad security. The Minamoto had hundreds of yakuza on standby at all times, men who would throw their lives away at a single word. Even if the army itself came knocking, they could hold. A dormitory could not. It was a prestigious school, so the security would be decent—but it didn't come within a mile of the Fujiwara or the Minamoto.

"If what you want is a taste of ordinary life, I'll get you a studio nearby. How about that."

Genji offered an alternative. Chise had expected a flat refusal, so she was surprised. It wasn't that she had her heart set on the dorms, specifically. She just wanted to experience an ordinary life with Noah. She nodded at once.

"Would that really be all right?"

"It would."

"That studio."

Noah, who had been sitting quiet, opened her mouth.

This is bad.

Chise realized their promise had been about the dorms. If it was a studio, there was no need for her to move out with Noah at all. Then there's no point! Should I wait for another chance?

Her mind was racing when Noah, as always, said something unexpected.

"You're planning to fill every floor but one with yakuza, aren't you."

"I am."

"Any chance you'll just let this go?"

"None."

Chise's shoulders sagged. So it really isn't happening. For the Fujiwara and the Minamoto, ordinary was something that would never be allowed. She forced a smile and decided to drop it.

"N-Noah?"

Noah grinned, full of fight. Looking at his daughter, Genji's mouth curved up as well.

Genji looked thoroughly pleased.

"The young lady's gone and caused another incident!"

"Is it the bob cut again?"

"If that's the stake, the Boss had better win!"

The karate dojo—enormous, as befit the Minamoto—had turned into a colosseum. Grim-faced yakuza were roaring at the top of their lungs, packed in to watch the bout of the century. From the best seat in the house, Chise watched with worry written all over her face.

Sally's Law… I've never seen it before.

She knew the Minamoto history well enough. A family that took whatever it wanted by force, and therefore a family without contradiction. A rule made with the swagger to say that even an outsider could become clan head, if they had the strength to take it: the Law of Minamoto. Over the centuries the name had shifted to Sally's Law, because they didn't want unrelated people tossing the Minamoto name around. The spirit of it, though, was unchanged even now, in the twenty-first century. Anyone. Any means. Defeat the clan head under Sally's Law, and you were the clan head. Of course, not once had anyone outside the Minamoto ever taken the seat.

"D-does this happen often?"

Chise had to raise her voice over a roar that felt like it might deafen her. Takeo, in the seat beside her, gave a sturdy nod.

"This makes the fifty-second bout. Bwahaha!"

That many?! Noah, you enormous rebel.

"A-and the record…?"

"The Young Boss usually loses!"

"I figured as much."

Genji was a man out of legend. This generation's Minamoto clan head was said to be a full dimension apart from the last. Noah was strong, but she was still sixteen. Genji had married absurdly young, and he was still in his prime.

…Even so.

Chise clenched the hands folded in her lap and watched Noah, who was stretching with an easy, unhurried air, her eyes shining.

You stepped up for me. Thank you, Noah.

Even if Noah lost, Chise didn't think she would regret it at all. That feeling, at least, had gotten through.

Just then Noah looked exactly toward Chise and narrowed her eyes, as if to say, Who said I was going to lose? Chise let out a laugh.

"But this time, who knows!"

"Pardon?"

"The rules of Sally's Law change with the prize on the line. Until now it's always been a bob cut, so the Boss answered with his life on the line too. This time, though? Not so much."

Takeo thumped his own chest with a hearty smack.

"The Young Boss has a real shot. Because this time—she can use her main weapon."

"Noah's main weapon?"

By Chise's standards, Noah was good at everything that involved her body. She had no idea what a "main weapon" was supposed to mean.

Then the dojo doors opened, and yakuza came in carrying weapons, which they handed to both sides. Chise shot to her feet.

"Live blades?! Uncle Genji isn't actually going to fight with that, is he…?"

"Haha. Even the Boss has no chance this time unless he draws a real sword. This fight favors the Young Boss."

Favors her how, exactly? The clan head of the Minamoto had taken up a live blade. No matter how she turned it over, Chise could not imagine Noah having the advantage. Heart pounding, she checked what Noah was holding.

"Noah, that's cheating!"

Noah was holding a gun. The pink parts looked terribly cute, but this was the Minamoto family. The odds that gun was a fake were zero. More than that, Chise knew that gun. It was Ea, the pistol Noah treasured ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠above all else. The rounds inside it would be live. There was no room for doubt.

"I-is that even allowed?"

"Is there a problem?"

No, no, no. This was absolutely not okay. Chise broke out in a cold sweat and stared at Takeo.

"G-guns are against the rules."

"Ah, no need to worry about that! The rounds won't reach this far. The Young Boss's skill is the best in the world, after all!"

That's not the point…

She couldn't even tell where ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to start objecting. Still, they were the Minamoto. She'd just have to accept it. Should she accept it…?

Chise got mixed up about that, sometimes.