Prelude to Conflict
Lucky Noodle, Little Asia
Ken Shimazu, Zhang Taiwu, Madelyne Crane, Kenzo Yamamoto, and Xiao Feng”Thank you, Hoshi.” Shimazu, after awaiting Xiao Feng to pass the teapot, helped himself to a pour into his cup. He sipped in a steady, calculated draw as he heard out Xiao Feng’s proposal. He neither winced nor broke his demeanor as The Head of the Blue Dragon spoke. When the deal was laid out, Shimazu finished drinking and set his cup down gently upon the table.
”All that you’ve said of current happenings is true.” He had been seeing the pressure mounting from 70th Street over the recent months; he knew full well that Valentina Vega would jump at the chance to cut into Little Asia. Feng’s proposal was of no surprise to him; it was only a matter of time until one gang or the other sought to exercise themselves through him and the Lucky Noodle. ”However, I’m afraid I must decline your offer at this time.” Shimazu’s peripheral vision shifted towards Taiwu in the corner to his right. ”I don’t believe it would be good for the image of myself or this establishment to associate so closely with enterprises such as yours.”
In the corner of his eye he saw a stir.
Taiwu had ceased leaning against the counter. The side eye from Shimazu had caught his surveying gaze of the shop. ‘Enterprises such as yours.’ The words had been cut towards him as much as spoken to his boss. Sensing that the discussions might be ending in pointed fashion, Taiwu made for Xiao Feng’s side with a stride that seemed prepared for conflict.
Xiao Feng looked at Taiwu for a moment and held up his hand motioning for him to stay back for now before turning his attention back to Shimazu. “It’s only a matter of time before Vega sets her eyes on your shop. I am sure you are aware of one of her underlings The Bull I believe she goes by can easily tear up your shop or harm your customers. Some added muscle nearby can certainly help. And like I said you won’t have to pay for this protection and I am sure your clients would prefer the added protection.” Xiao Feng said.
In the corner where she was sitting, Madalyne quietly continued to listen in on the conversation. She didn’t have much contact with either the Blue Dragons or 70th Street either as she continued to eat her noodles.
Kenzo straightened up, still with some chunks of broccoli and chicken on his lips, he could hear their propositions, he knew that given their ways and quite subtle worry for that Vega-girl meant that if the old man kept rejecting them they would have him hanged, in more than one way. He kept hearing, licking his lips from any chunk of meat or vegetable.
“Shoot.”
He gave a side glance to the place of the conversation, turning back after a short amount of time, the old man didn’t seem to have any sort of special skill, how could he ever defend from these sort of people, Kenzo quickly pushed those thoughts away as he needed to maintain a short profile, at least for the time being.
“I’m well aware of 70th Street’s enforcer.” Shimazu spoke sharply. While he maintained his primary focus on Xiao Feng, he kept a sideways glance towards Taiwu, who had stopped mid stride and remained where he had halted as if he might strike if prodded again. “I don’t believe that protecting myself, my business, and my staff from one criminal organization by aligning with another is a sound decision. To do so would be to back down from the principles I strive to embody and teach. Beyond that, I am quite assured that I’ve as much of a support network as I need; the community, and my staff, are vigilant.”
Taiwu broke his stillness and asserted himself at Xiao Feng’s. “You’re making a mistake, old man.” There was a flare in Taiwu’s eyes, and a tremble in his arms as he rolled his sleeves up.
“Perhaps,” Shimazu said, taking another sip from his tea cup. He cut a sharp look at Taiwu, before adding, “It wouldn’t be the worst I’ve made.”
Heat resonated from Taiwu’s forearms. There was a flicker, a spark, and before most in the shop could have caught up with it, his arms from his elbows down were ablaze in a mix of red, orange, white, and blue flames.
Shimazu dropped his cup, cracking it against the table and spilling out its contents. As quickly as Taiwu’s arms had caught, Ken Shimazu had sprung to his feet. His feet spread, and arms came up from his sides; he was poised for a fight. In the same instant, Hoshi, en route back to the kitchens, cut in between them, facing Taiwu.
“Sir! I’ll need to ask you to lea--”
A burning hand swept across Hoshi’s head, Taiwu swatting her out of his way as he returned Shimazu’s favor with a fighting stance of his own.
No sooner had Hoshi fallen to the floor, was Shimazu’s fist striking across the table towards Taiwu’s neck.
Kenzo slammed his fist upon the table, quickly standing up and appearing some feet away from Taiwu, Kenzo might not know what were the capacities of this foe, but that didn’t matter for this, he was doubtful, this was risky, becoming enemies with the blue dragons in his regular persona is just a bad idea.
Yet, Kenzo doesn’t tolerate the idea of someone being hurt. The old man seemed surprisingly fast, he quickly deduced he had a military past, which probably explains a lot from this exchange with the Blue Dragons.
“Hey…”
Kenzo tried to get Taiwu’s attention off Shimazu, he had a rough draft of his strategy; he would attempt to fight defensively, staying purposely sloppy so he wouldn’t suspect anything.
Madalyne quickly got up from where she was sitting seeing Taiwu grabbing the waitress Hoshi with his hand and pushing her to the ground, she got up and promptly helped the girl up to her feet. She moved closer towards the far corner of the shop closer towards the kitchen. “Are you okay?” She asked her as Hoshi nodded slightly, a small burn was on her where Taiwu had touched her. A slight green glow appeared from her hands as she used her magic to heal Hoshi’s burns.
Xiao sat there calmly in his seat as he sipped his tea while looking up between his right hand and Shimazu. Taiwu was always a little hotheaded and started conflicts like this a lot of the time but he quietly observed between the two to see who would end up coming out on top.
Shimazu had half-expected Xiao Feng to cut into the fight. It almost came as a surprise when he felt his fist connect, albeit with the side of Taiwu’s neck rather than the throat. The young man Shimazu had spoken to earlier had risen and pulled Taiwu’s attention. But the pyromancer quickly wheeled back to the Lucky Noodle’s proprietor as the fist struck him.
Shimazu, rebounding out of his punch, stepped out from behind the table.
Taiwu mirrored the movement and the two faced off, both resuming their fighting stance.
“This isn’t your fight,” Shimazu said, calling over Taiwu’s shoulder to the young man. As he spoke, a pair of Blue Dragons near the door stood up and flanked the bold patron.
“Oh… Well, I thought something else would happen.” Kenzo said as he was quickly cornered by multiple Blue Dragon members, with a single drop of sweat falling from his forehead signaling his thoughts about this whole situation. “Crap.” It’s all Kenzo could say if he hadn’t just thought about saying it.
Kenzo clenched his fist and tried to form some way out of this possible fight. He knew there was a thin line between being stupid or brave, also given the fact that he didn’t know how his powers worked properly.
“But I’ll thank you for holding the scrubs, if you can handle them.” he glared at Taiwu “You don’t want this fight, Taiwu, he said calmly.
“Oh but I do,” Taiwu spat. “I want to show you how wrong you were.”
“Then there’s nothing else for it,” An undertone of grief cut through Shimazu’s words. “Hoshi… you and the rest of the staff will escort our patrons outside. There is no need for anyone else to be harmed for the sake of old squabbles.”
“Y-yes, Shimazu-San.” Hoshi got to her feet. “Thank you,” she whispered to Madelyne. “There was something weird about that burn. But you healed it just fine.” She turned and gathered the patrons and the rest of the serving staff, and she and all who would follow her exited the restaurant.
All who remained: Kenzo, flanked by Blue Dragon foot soldiers; Madelyne; Shimazu and Taiwu standing off against each other in building tension; lastly Xiao Feng, observing and waiting…
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