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If anyone cares to ask Ritsu, this should be labeled as a cautionary tale that ends with a moral lesson about how bad an idea is it to try and con your way to having a mafia and lording over it out of nowhere. This should end with mafia members gunning down the conman and using him as a lesson to deter others from doing this kind of scheme in the future.
Unfortunately, his brother has a healthy dose of respect for Reigen. Even more unfortunate, the world is filled with fools, and so Reigen continues to sit behind a wide oak table, sweating his way into acting like he’s totally cool with this, the only reason he doesn’t use a gun is because it’s too basic for him, whatever.
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Some might say that this has started when Reigen has moved out of the Arataka family home in order to get a closer commute to a slog of an office job. Or, the fact that his boss back then saw nothing wrong about grabbing the last yakisoba pan in the cafeteria, or about assigning overtime work while being stingy with extra pay.
But if you ask Shigeo, this has started one afternoon, where he made a wrong turn and ended up accidentally interrupting an extortion done by some thugs. He froze on the spot, unable to decide whether he should run away first, or perform a sincere dogeza and promise to never speak a word about what he’s just witnessed. A part of him wanted to stand up and help the storeowner resist forking over protection money, but he froze on the sidewalk.
And then Reigen entered the store, which disrupted things further.
It’s a very cool entrance, Shigeo could never forget it.
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If anyone asks Shou, it’s actually super cool that there’s this new guy who took over as the Boss of Souper Salt Gang. Working for his dad isn’t very useful to his goal of actually ousting him, so he’s plenty glad that there’s another group that he could join. Of course, that other mafia group having interesting people (also known as Ritsu) is a massive bonus.
How did Reigen actually become a mafia boss? Psh, what does that matter! The only thing that matters is that he needs to convince Ritsu to formally join too, so they could go on missions together!
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Someone should really ask Dimple, because he’s the only one who can give a full, totally unbiased account of whatever has happened.
That Reigen is a conman, he’s absolutely sure of that. He doesn’t reek of violence, despite all of his posturing about finding guns and daggers to be not worth his time, about letting others shine and do their share instead of him one-shotting everyone.
It just so happened that Souper Salt Gang’s boss suddenly croaked, and his tendency to smoke while munching on chips made his last will incredibly smudged, to the point that nobody could decipher who he appointed as a successor. Then there comes news about a blond idiot chasing away some low-level gang, claiming that he’s the Dragon Fist-something-yadda-yadda, which somehow coincides with the only legible part of the old Boss’s smudged will.
Reigen’s obviously an idiot and a conman, but everyone else ate up his chicken soup speech and claim to the throne. Of course, the smart ones—like Dimple—are happy to let him sit there, so they could cajole him into leaving a will that’s more favorable, before killing him off.
“Master is doing a good job of protecting the city,” Shigeo says, blinking at him. “I’m glad that you’re here to help him, Dimple.”
……Tsk, he’d kill Reigen some other time, when Shigeo isn’t around to feel sad about his death.
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The truth of the matter is that Reigen’s just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Buying some candy in the middle of the day, because he’s quitting smoking—not because of health concerns, but because he just got fired and cigarettes take up too much expense. Seeing some child frozen right there, he isn’t that heartless, okay? Making up some tales about being a part of some mysterious gang is easy, he’s had plenty of practice with his old work.
Who would have thought that it would actually lead to some men in black finding him and bowing down to him? Claiming that he’s the long-lost heir to the Souper Salt Gang? What the hell, how is that the actual name of a fearsome gang? He chose that during his boasting because it sounded so stupid!
Admitting that he’s lying would probably get all of his fingers cut off, then how can he eat his lunch, huh? Of course, this means committing to the bit to the very end!
…Well, those are the things that he’d say if someone actually asks him about the matter. It’s just that, he’s so busy being a mafia boss, that nobody has gotten around to asking him about his side of the story.
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