Fanfic / Koi No Yokan

After the events of Yakuza Kiwami 2, Kiryu and Haruka return to Kamurocho, absolutely determined to live a normal life this time around. And Majima doesn't recognise him. Where's the Dragon of Dojima?

Koi No Yokan is a series of Like a Dragon fanfics written by Garlicbreadbowl.

It's a slice-of-life series of fics featuring the encounters and evolving relationship of Kiryu and Majima, as they're trying to know each other better and unpack a lot of baggage in the process.

The series consists of five fics, the last three of which being heavily NSFW, so proceed with caution.

---

This series contains examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Kiryu secretly hopes that his biological parents were awful people because then Kazama killing them and taking him to his orphanage would be a good thing.
  • Majima's father was so abusive that Majima's mom killed him in self-defense.
• Accent Interest: Majima wonders where the Bridezilla upstairs is from because he can't pinpoint her accent. Kiryu says she's Japanese but grew up in California.
• Accidental Innuendo: In-Universe. When Haruka calls out Majima for attacking Kiryu near electric panels, she says that that's almost worse than jumping him near bike racks. Majima replies he never said he didn't, which Haruka takes the wrong way, much to her disgust.
  Majima: Demented little child ya got there.
  Kiryu: If you gave her reason to come to that conclusion, you can’t be offended that she did.
  Majima: That’s not what I meant and both of you know it. You sickos. How does she even... know about that?
  Haruka: I existed in Kamurocho for more than five minutes. It’s where innocence goes to drink beer out of a woman’s hair and die.
• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • Kiryu is barely holding back his laughter at Haruka's sheer disgust when Majima tells her that he's attacked Kiryu near electric panels and bike racks (which are among Kiryu's favourite Improvised Weapons). He cracks when Haruka makes her "innocence drinking beer and dying" remark shortly afterwards.
  • Majima thought that being dressing up as Goromi would piss off Kiryu, but Kiryu just saw the whole thing as good fun.
  • Majima finds Haruka being The Dreaded among the local delinquents hilarious.
  • Kiryu barely holds in his laughter at Taiga's several failed attempts to convince Haruka to let go off Majima.
• Adaptation Expansion: In canon, nothing is known about Majima's past prior to the Ueno Seiwa Hit when he was twenty, only a general implication that he's not from the Kansai region (because he fakes the accent). In this fic his story prior to meeting the Saejimas is significantly expanded: he grew up in Kamakura at a house near the beach with his single mom, who killed her husband in self-defence. He shows a lot of random moments, like referencing how his mom would wake him up early to collect seashells or that he had a blown glass nightlight.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: On top of the torture he suffers in canon, Majima has also been raped in Anagura several times. He's also much, much more mentally ill than he is in canon. While in canon he shows some Death Seeker tedencies when it comes to Taiga, here he has attempted suicide twice and turned his apartment into a tiny version of Anagura to torture himself.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: In this fic the Sunflower orphanage where Haruka and Kiryu grew up is located in Okinawa as opposed to Tokyo. As a result, Kiryu and Haruka are depicted as being from rural Okinawa.
• Adaptational Badass: Haruka.
  • In canon, the Sunflower Orphanage was in Tokyo, so when Haruka ran away she only had to go from one area of Tokyo to another. In this fic, the orphanage is in Okinawa, making this feat far more impressive. Lampshaded at one point when Kiryu wonders how she pulled it off.
  • Kiryu teaches her how to fight in this fic and she takes karate classes on top of that, so now she's The Dreaded among the local delinquents.
• Adaptational Job Change:
  • Kiryu never starts running an orphanage and instead gets a taxi driver job like he has in Yakuza 5.
  • We don't know what Yasuko did for a living in canon prior to Yakuza 4, but she definitely wasn't a lawyer.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Yasuko in Yakuza 4 is always rather reserved and mild-mannered (except in the flashbacks), and overall sorrowful. Here, she decided to go as crazy as Majima, who thinks she caught rabies somewhere down the line.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
  • In canon, Haruka calls Kiryu as "Uncle Kaz" for the entirety of the Like A Dragon series and only refers to him as her father on special occasions. In this fic, Kiryu legally adopted her during the Time Skip and she calls him "Papa", and she even asks him to change her surname from "Sawamura" to "Kiryu".
  • Kiryu and Majima get a Relationship Upgrade at the end of Broken Strings.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Kiryu is gay and Majima is bi. In canon, they both only ever had female love interests.
  • Sayama is revealed to be a bisexual and dating a woman at the end of Euthanasia, which freaks out Majima because he went through a mental breakdown over nothing (he thought Kiryu dumped him for her).
• Adaptational Skill:
  • Due to the Adaptational Backstory Change, both Kiryu and Haruka are bilingual, knowing Okinawan on top of Japanese.
  • Majima is a very good home cook, because he was doing the cooking at his house ever since he was very young. In the games he never shows any kind of cooking skill.
• Adaptational Timespan Change: Even though nobody's age changes (except for Taiga getting an Age Lift to be older than Majima), the time span of events is significantly shorter. The biggest change is that by the time of Yakuza 2 (after which the events of the fic take place), Taiga canonically has been in prison for twenty one years, but in this fic he has been in there for fourteen.
• Adaptational Wimp: According to Majima, Kiryu has a bad aim with a gun. However, the cutscenes in the game show that Kiryu, even though he rarely uses a gun, has exceptional aim with it.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head:
  • Majima runs his fingers through Kiryu's hair while he's crying because he realizes that Kiryu does it as a self-soothing gesture.
  • Kiryu likes running his fingers through Majima's undercut.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Kiryu calls Haruka "Michi", which means "honey" in Okinawan.
  • Majima calls Kiryu "Kaz". Other variations include "Kazzy", "Kazuma-chan", and "Kazzy-chan". And of course there is "unicorn" and "marshmallow".
  • Majima is referred to by his siblings as "the middlest 'Jima".
  • Majima calls Haruka "babydoll".
• Affluent Ascetic: Played for Drama. Majima is extremely rich, but he lives out of his office on take-out without even a proper bathroom because he cannot bring himself to buy a proper place to live; he doesn't think he deserves it.
• Age Lift: In canon, Taiga is younger than Majima, but here he's older.
• Agent Peacock: Majima. He's described as very beautiful or even pretty by Kiryu, is one of the most dangerous fighters in Japan, is a great cook, uses flower-scented shampoo and likes getting his nails done.
• All Take and No Give: All of Majima's previous romantic relationships were this trope due to him being a Horrible Judge of Character and way too eager to please; not to mention his father was abusive so he didn't know what a healthy relationship looks like. His past relationships range from being ghosted, cheated on, toyed with, a creepy older lady, and even an abusive one. Not to mention the whole abortion thing with Mirei.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Majima frequently compares himself to a Tosa hound, and describes many of his actions with dog analogies, such as feeling a "muzzle of shame" or calling looking for Kiryu "hunting". Kiryu on the other hand often compares Majima to a panther, especially when he's particularly smug or to showcase the sense of danger he has. Not that he's above using dog analogies for him too.
  • Haruka is frequently compared to a kitten by many people.
• Arc Words: The last chapter in Majima's point of view of Broken Strings introduces a phrase said to him by his mother that gets repeated constantly and sums up the theme of the entire fic.
  All the best things are found where no one else thinks to look, Goro.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Yasuko declares that she will fight, kill, and die for her brothers until the sun burns out, the ocean dries up, and she gives up on ice cream.
• Artificial Limbs: Goda Ryuji lost his arm and got a bionic replacement.
• Ass Shove: Kiryu once saw a guy poor down a jar of marbles in another guy's spread asshole at a corner booth of Maharaja.
• Auto Erotica: One chapter of Kiryu's "Fighting" Styles takes place in Kiryu's car.
• Ax-Crazy: One of the night guards in Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. It's not enough that she chases Kiryu and Majima out of the park; she keeps chasing them through the entire Shinjuku like some kind of Super-Persistent Predator.
• Axes at School: One of Majima's guesses on why Kiryu was busy with the government and paperwork is that Haruka decided to axe down her classmates.
• Big Eater:
  • Kiryu. Good God, Kiryu. His usual at Smile Burger is four combos. As in, four burgers, four large fries, four beverages. In one sitting. And he also got banned from a buffet once for eating five whole pizzas in one sitting, and over sixteen years later they still don't allow him in. Majima is terrified. Kiryu says that he only eats like that when he burns calories in street fights, but he's extremely embarrassed about it.
  • Majima is beyond horrified when Haruka picks up this trait too. Two people should not be able to devour sixty nine muffins in one sitting.
• Blood-Splattered Warrior:
  • Haruka came back from the shop she bought the marbles from covered in the blood of the person she hamstrung.
  • Taiga and Yasuko return from Osaka covered in the blood of the Omi Alliance goons who took issue with them trying to get Majima's things back.
• Blunt Metaphors Trauma: Haruka overhears Majima tell Kiryu that he lost his marbles, but she's not yet familiar with that figure of speech so she assumes he's talking about actual marbles, and buys him a jar of new ones to replace them.
• Born as an Adult: Somehow it never occured to Kiryu that Majima had parents at some point, and just sort of assumed that he sprouted fully grown out of a giant traffic cone or something.
• Brains and Brawn: How Majima describes what Kiryu and Nishikiyama's relationship once was like, with Kiryu being the Gentle Giant and Street Smart, yakuza-thinking type.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Taiga trying to find some way to dislodge Haruka's hug from Majima:
  Taiga: Ya wanna go grab some ice cream?
  Haruka: No thank you!
  Taiga: Huh?
  Haruka: I'm okay, don't want any.
  Taiga: Oh. Uhm, O -kay, what about... Ya wanna go to the arcade?
  Haruka: No thank you!
  Taiga: Cat cafe?
  Haruka: Nuh-uh!
  Taiga: Okay- Haru-chan, what is it gonna take to get ya outta here for a few minutes?
  Haruka: (Death Glare) A crowbar.
  Taiga: Fuck, point taken.
• Bridezilla: The lady who lives in the apartment above Kiryu's is downright insane. She wants a wedding worth millions of yen, wants her guests to wear pink camouflage of all things, and accuses her fiance of cheating on her with his sister. Eventually he has enough and breaks up with her.
• Brief Accent Imitation: Inverted. Majima always puts on a fake Kansai accent. The only time he drops it for his natural voice is when he talks to Kiryu in the Shinjuku National Garden, having decided to be completely honest with him, down to the accent. He keeps using his natural voice when it's the two of them together.
• Bring Me My Brown Pants: Some civilians piss themselves in terror during street fights.
• Broken Pedestal: Played with. Kiryu is still struggling with the fact that for all that he looked up - and still looks up - to Kazama and considers him his father, this doesn't erase the fact that he killed Kiryu's parents, and that he was objectively bad at parenting. He objectively knows he shouldn't look up to him, but he has to consciously choose not to follow Kazama's example, even though he knows that ever since he acknowledged that Kazama wasn't a good father, his decision making has improved immensely. Basically for Kiryu, Broken Pedestal is a process he's struggling with.
• Bungled Suicide: Majima attempted to commit suicide twice in the past, and was saved by Nishida.
• Call-Back:
  • Kiryu thinks that one of the many reasons the orphanage opposed Kiryu adopting Haruka (other than the blatant crime) is the erotica voice acting stint.
  • Majima isn't surprised that the courts had no issue with Kiryu - a known criminal - adopting Haruka because they had no issue when Haruka's biological father was hunting her for sport.
  • Kiryu isn't surprised that Majima has no issue getting his nails painted because going by Goromi then Majima doesn't put much stock in gender norms.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Kiryu can lift 1000 pound motorcycles (that's almost 454 kg) during fights with ease and use them as improvised weapons. At one point he says that he has to admit his strength is superhuman. And Saejima is easily in the same weight class, if not stronger.
• Chick Magnet: Kiryu knows there are quite a few women who are into him but he's not interested.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Majima realizes that Kiryu's tendency to help anyone with whatever they want has turned him into a pawn for all sorts of things with no regard for his feelings.
  Kiryu has had nothing. And still, he is soft. still kind and warm even as he weathers himself to be a rock for everyone else. He hasn't shattered, but he is chipping. Being carved more and more by other people trying to chisel out what they want from him. A thug, a scapegoat, a rival, a Chairman, a solution to everything they screw up. No one thinks to look under the dragon's skin.
• Cliché Storm: In-Universe, this is Majima's opinion of Boys Before Flowers, but he also says it's a really good show.
• Closet Key: Kiryu figured out he's gay after Majima showed up dressed as Goromi, with the too-small bodycon dress that really showed off his thighs.
• Clothing Switch: Haruka occasionally wears Kiryu's band hoodie as a sweater dress, and his pink strawberry shirt as a nightgown. Majima thinks it's the cutest thing in the world.
• Color Motif: Literally everything about Dr. Yen is green, from her clothes to her fading hair dye to the colours in her office that's decorated with plants. Majima simultaneously finds it too intimate and too clinical.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Haruka's solution to winning a street brawl? Grab a pair of pliers and go for the hamstrings.
  • Taiga likes going for Groin Attacks.
• Combat Stilettos: Majima is very impressed that Sayama can run and fight in high-heels.
• Comfort Food: Kiryu's is Okinawan chanpurū.
• Comical Nap Drool: Pochi the puppy drools in his sleep, which is part of the reason why he's not allowed on the couch.
• Commitment Issues: Majima is very afraid of getting into a relationship with Kiryu - or anyone for that matter - because of his inevitable meltdowns.
• The Confidant: Majima becomes Kiryu's after he gently prods him into talking about what was troubling him. Then he finds out that Kiryu never had someone to talk to about his problems before, even though everyone talks to him about theirs.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Kiryu's "Dragon of Dojima" walk makes it look like he owns the town, because he did at one point.
  • When Kiryu and Haruka tell Majima that he looks like a Bond villain or a JoJo villain, Majima thinks to himself that "he really just has that face, doesn't he." Ai told him as much back in Yakuza 0.
  • Kiryu tells Majima about Haruka's "soapland" prank in Yakuza.
  • When Majima first sees Kiryu as a taxi driver, he assumes Kiryu has planned an elaborate payback for Majima's own taxi driver prank in Kiwami.
  • Majima brings up how civilians crowd around fights even when they see someone forcibly feed other people fireworks. That's a Heat Move in several games.
  • Majima brings up several incidents from Kiryu's Yakuza 0 substories when talking about him to Yasuko and Taiga, such as the chicken manager and the time he had to train a dominatrix.
  • In the same conversation he also mentions the time someone spiked Kiryu's drink.
  • Majima refers to Goda Ryuji as "the bontan hunter".
  • Majima finds himself thinking back to Makoto and Mirei during his spiral in Euthanasia.
  • Euthanasia contains several references to the girls at Sunshine.
  • Majima's therapist is so good at reading people that Majima wonders if she's psychic like that one eerily accurate fortune teller Kiryu ran into back in Yakuza 0, and he starts thinking of a particularly disgusting porn tape the owner of Ghandara showed him to see if she reacts. She doesn't.
• Contrived Coincidence:
  • Kiryu and Majima decide to break into the same park on the same day at the same hour, entirely by coincidence.
  • When Haruka went to get Majima a Christmas present, somehow everyone in town decided at that very moment to also buy that thing, and it devolved in a fight. Haruka calls it the "Kiryu Curse".
  • Kiryu mentions an incident back when he was fifteen and Nishiki dragged him to a club while they were supposed to be asleep... only to find Kashiwagi there doing collections.
• Counter-Productive Warning: Kiryu complains that Majima was so still that he thought he was a cardboard cut-out, because that seems like something Majima would do. And then they both realize simultaneously that that's actually a great idea for a prank and now Majima will absolutely do it. He never does.
• Covered with Scars: Majima has countless scars all over his body from his time of being tortured in Anagura, most of them hidden by his irezumi. One of the scars not hidden by it are the jagged burns left around his neck by a chain.
• Covert Group with Mundane Front: Kiryu and Haruka bring Majima, who is currently into his police officer costume, to an ordinary-looking restaurant for lunch, except that the waitress looked oddly freaked out. Cue Kiryu informing Majima that this is the local Dragon and Tiger, aka the weapons store that uses restaurants as a front. Though Kiryu and Haruka really do frequent the place for lunch. It really is a good restaurant.
• Creator's Culture Carryover: It's fairly obvious that the author is from the USA.
  • Oftentimes characters make exclamations like "God" or "Jesus Christ", even though they're in Japan and not Christian (or even religious by the looks of it).
  • Characters use american units of measurement, such as pounds, inches, or Fahrenheit degrees. Japan uses the metric system.
  • There is a scene where Kiryu and Majima pass each other food directly by plucking it off each other's chopsticks. Thing is, that is NEVER done in Japan because there is a funeral custom of family passing the deceased person's bones from the furnace to the urn with chopsticks, so doing so with food is exceptionally rude. Normally Japanese people who pass along food will place something from their own plate to the other person's plate, or feed them directly.
  • At one point Kiryu makes a "girl in her prom dress" comparison, even though prom dances are exclusive to the USA.
  • Many members in the cast have "weed stories", with one of them involving a MacDonald's drive through.
• Creepy High-Pitched Voice: Majima deliberately puts this on when he's the Mad Dog; his natural voice is at a much lower tone.
• Crocodile Tears: The Bridezilla likes fake-sobbing to get her way.
• Cry into Chest:
  • Majima holds Kiryu as he cries over his Trauma Conga Line.
  • Haruka cries into Majima's chest after he's hospitalised.
  • Kiryu holds on to Majima when he cries after their BDSM sessions. Majima says that this is the only time he feels safe enough for an earnest emotional release.
• Cuddle Bug:
  • Majima used to be all about hugging when he was a kid.
  • Haruka will stop at nothing to get her cuddles. She's constantly compared to a cat with how much she loves them.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Apparently what the fight between Kiryu and Goda Ryuji was like. Basically, Ryuji is Dumb Muscle and Kiryu is the World's Strongest Man, so...
• Cuteness Proximity: Majima abandons all little semblance of dignity he has left to pet the fluff (literally) out of Pochi, complete with Baby Talk.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Kiryu accepted the spiked drink in the Yakuza Kiwami substory, which gives you the option to refuse it.
• Darker and Edgier: While Broken Strings isn't the happiest fanfic, the darkest it gets is with Haruka's cancer (which has already been dealt with by the start of the fic) and Kiryu's It's All My Fault crying fit at the park, which is portrayed as cathartic. Euthanasia features Majima loses his mind over a misunderstanding to such a degree that he contemplates suicide, hallucinates, and touches on subjects such as rape. Even innocent or innocuous lines in Broken Strings take a much darker context in Euthanasia, bordering on Ironic Echo.
• Death by Irony: If Sagawa was still alive, Majima thinks that Yasuko would murder him by castrating him with a toothpick. A fitting end for someone who was a torturer and rapist.
• Death Seeker: Majima has attempted suicide twice in the past, and while he usually resists the urge, he still thinks that the others should leave him for dead. During his episode he even begs Taiga to kill him.
• Declaration of Protection:
  • Majima decides he's going to die and kill for Haruka.
  • Yasuko declares that anyone who messes with Majima will have to deal with her and Taiga, and they better hope it's Taiga who gets to them. Later Taiga extends that oath to tell Majima that he won't ever let Majima hurt himself.
• Dehumanization: At the absolute lowest point of his mental spirals, Majima is incapable of thinking of himself as a human being and instead he thinks of himself as a dog. He literally calls his hands "paws" and his face "snout" and refuses to sit on the couch because dogs are not allowed there.
• Derailed Train of Thought: When Kiryu assures Haruka, who is worried about going to therapy, that everything will be alright, Majima is reminded of the tone his mom used when she told him that "everything will be alright" when they went to visit a family friend. He remembers how it turned out not to be at all alright because he had to sit at the Dreaded Kids' Table even though he was fifteen and there was this eleven-year-old girl who kept talking about sex while staring at him and then he remembers that Kiryu is four years younger than him like that girl and what if they had met back then and started a relationship but then it occurs to him that a four year Age-Gap Romance is too much for teenagers and then he remembers that Kiryu likes to dirty talk so his mind conjures a mental image of a child dirty talking and he Squicks himself out with the thought and what if Kiryu is too young for him after all?!
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Majima expected Kiryu's civilian job to be something like a security guard or a fireman; something that makes use of his physical abilities. Not a taxi driver.
  • Majima is surprised when Kiryu says he doesn't want to see the stars anymore.
• Dirty Kid:
  • Majima still has nightmares about that eleven year old daughter of a family friend who kept talking about sex and blowjobs while staring at him.
  • Majima refuses to go to Akihabara because he'll definitely run into "a ten-year-old dressed like a hooker grandpa."
• Disaster Dominoes: Majima thinks that maybe the reason everything started going wrong is that Kiryu and Nishikiyama were separated, leading to Nishikiyama being driven insane.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!:
  • The main thing Majima hates about going out during normal hours in decent clothing is that people - regular civilians - notice the eyepatch and feel sorry for him.
  • Kiryu got so used to swallowing his emotions in front of other people that on the rare occasions other people did offer him emotional support, he batted them away because he thought that they would think less of him.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Kiryu is embarrassed to show Majima his modest two-bedroom apartment because he knows Majima is filthy rich and probably lives in a mansion. Majima actually lives in his office which only has a tiny bathroom attached because he's too mentally ill to bring himself to get a proper residence.
  • Majima jokes that he'll be Kiryu's sleep paralysis demon if they sleep together, but Kiryu's internal monologue reveals that he already has one in the form of Nishiki looming over him.
  • Yasuko sees that Majima has a crush on Kiryu and tries to figure out if Kiryu is gay or not so she can get them together. Except that by the time she finds out who Kiryu is, he and Majima are already in a relationship.
  • Majima thinks that Kiryu dumped him for Sayama while Sayama is now in a relationship with Reina.
  • Taiga assumes that Majima doesn't want to move because gathering all his stuff would be a hassle. Except that Majima doesn't actually own anything other than a couple of changes of clothes and a few costumes.
• The Dreaded: Haruka among Kamurocho's delinquents, to the point that they run away upon seeing her. The sole reason Haruka signs up for Karate classes is because she ran out of "people to spar with" in the streets.
• Drives Like Crazy: Kiryu thinks that everyone in Tokyo should have their license revoked. Haruka is quick to point out that he almost hit a cyclist that very morning.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Kiryu references this trope in his narration about his emotional rollercoaster since being released from prison.
  [...] pick what it is today that's gonna make you drink until you're scared of the bottle.
• Eagleland: Everyone in the fic is a strong believer in the 'Murica the Boorish type with the particular point of contention being their crimes against food.
• Eating the Eye Candy:
  • Kiryu and Majima often get briefly distracted with each other in the middle of less serious conversations.
  • Kiryu's female neighbor from across the street gets a fantastic view of Kiryu every day because he hasn't put on curtains on his window yet. Kiryu knows she has a crush on him.
  • Sayama once invited Kiryu to a work-out session at a gym, and all the other gym goers couldn't focus on their workouts because they were all too focused on Kiryu's pecks.
  • Kiryu verges into Purple Prose as he describes Majima's muscles and the way the light highlights them.
• Emotion Suppression: Kiryu is used to chocking down his emotions and pretend he's fine in front of other people instead of expressing himself. It's to the point that he schedules when he's going to have his breakdowns.
• Empty Shell: Majima admits to himself that he only feels things on a surface level and that he feels completely hollowed out inside.
• Exact Words: Majima drills Kiryu into giving details about his crush, assuming it's a woman, while Kiryu's crush is Majima. Kiryu never specifies a gender in his responses, so...
  Majima: Wait. Yer lady?
  Kiryu: Never said he was a woman.
• Face of a Thug:
  • Even when Majima tries to dress decently he still looks like some kind of media villain, which gets immediately lampshaded.
  • Kiryu's usual resting expression is an authoritative scowl which made his neighbors run away from him. He gets better about it, though part of that is that he's too tired to maintain it.
• Failed a Spot Check: Somehow Kiryu's neighbor lady from across the street, who checks him out through the window daily, has no idea who he is. Even though Kiryu is a local celebrity that everyone knows.
• Famed In-Story: When Yasuko stalks Kiryu for a day to see what kind of person he is while he's taking a walk through Kamurocho, she realizes that absolutely everyone recognizes him. Ditto for Majima.
• Family Business: The nameless Korean restaurant is not only run by a family (their child minds the counter), but their only customers seem to be relatives of their owners, and instead of advertising they tell other family members. The only reason Majima knows it exists is because he stumbled upon it by accident while drunk.
• First-Name Basis:
  • Kiryu and Majima agree to call each other by their first names after Majima accidentally calls Kiryu "Kaz". From that point on, when the narration is from Kiryu or Majima's point of view, it refers to them by their given names.
  • The Pocket Circuit League works entirely on a First-Name Basis. Kiryu thinks that this is maybe the reason why he's there so often, as nobody else ever calls him by his first name.
  • Majima's siblings are also on a first name basis with him despite not being biologically related.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Majima is stunned that it took Kiryu "a while" to figure out how to use a coffee pot, but Kiryu points out that he was in prison for a decade and coffee pots changed a lot during that time.
• "Five Things" Fic: Broken Strings details five seperate occasions where Majima sees Kiryu "out of character", and one occasion where Kiryu sees Majima "out of character".
• Flowers of Romance: Kiryu gives Majima a bouquet of red roses in one of their dates, much to the latter's surprise as he's used to All Take and No Give relationships.
• Foreign Queasine: The American toor guide recommended a fast food joint that sold a burger that only had Pork, beef, lamb, chicken, and fish. Majima tried it while completely smashed and high, and it was more liquid than solid and tasted like smoke.
• Foreshadowing:
  • There are several clues hinting to Haruka having surgery for lung cancer.
    • Kiryu flinches away from seeing other people smoking, and is never seen smoking himself. Majima doesn't even find a lighter on him.
    • He also reacts oddly when Haruka's wellbeing is mentioned.
    • Majima notices that Haruka looks tired, pale, and is unusually small for her age.
    • One of the items Majima finds in Kiryu's pockets is hospital-grade painkillers.
  • The true extend of Majima's poor mental health is only hinted at through Broken Strings and Sorority Instinct before he completely breaks down in Euthanasia.
    • He frequently uses dog metaphors for himself and at one point he says that he thought he was "having an episode". This foreshadows that at the lowest points of his mental health he actually starts having hallucinations about the Mad Dog.
    • He's a good cook but lives on take-out and hasn't done any grocery shopping in years. This implies he has no access to a kitchen. Sorority Instinct reveals that he lives out of his office, which lacks the most basic of human comforts.
    • When Majima thinks about his past prior to meeting the Saejimas, he only mentions his mother. Euthanasia reveals that she killed his father in self defence.
• Food Porn: The overly fatty food at the mysterious Korean family restaurant is described by Kiryu in loving detail.
• Freudian Slip:
  • When Majima asks Kiryu why doesn't he try to make extra money in the colosseum, Kiryu tells him even if it was an option, the courts would not let him take Haruka. Majima latches on the "even if it was" part, which Kiryu tries to brush off. Kiryu admits that he did try to make a living of the colosseum, but at one point he went through too many fights in a row and got a heat stroke, resulting in the Florist soft-banning him from competing.
  • When Taiga tries to convince Majima to move to an actual house, Majima replies that you're supposed to live in houses. When pressed, he explains that he basically haunts the places he's at instead of living in them, and he's afraid of getting comfortable anywhere in case it gets taken from him again.
• From the Mouths of Babes: Haruka, upon catching Kiryu and Majima almost kissing, proceeds to share way too much information about Kiryu.
  Haruka: He's had a crush on you since forever! I was scared he wasn't ever going to ask you out and then die the way he lived, alone and sad.
  Kiryu: Haruka, PLEASE-
• Fuzz Therapy: Kiryu pets Pochi to distract himself from his spiraling thoughts.
• Gaydar: Taiga notes that Majima and Yasuko can seemingly tell who is gay at a glance, while he has no such skill himself.
• The Ghost: Nishida is frequently mentioned in Broken Strings but never shows up in person.
• Going Cold Turkey:
  • Kiryu quits smoking as soon as Haruka's diagnosis came in. While it happens off-screen, he says that quitting smoking was extremely difficult.
  • Majima throws his pack and lighter to the bin after he finds out why Kiryu quit, and never looks back.
• Gratuitous Japanese: The title of the entire series is Koi No Yokan. The titles of the individual fics are in English.
• Grave Robbing: Majima and Haruka seriously wonder if Yasuko plans to rob Sagawa's grave. Nishida seems convinced that she will. Turns out she dragged Taiga to piss on it, which is arguably worse.
• Grocery Store Episode: One chapter has Majima and Kiryu with Haruka run into each other while in the local superstore for medicine and groceries respectively. Funnily enough, they're all hopelessly lost and Kiryu has no idea how to buy groceries.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Many street thugs start fights over things like being told where the bathroom is.
• Hand Behind Head: Kiryu rubs the back of his neck when he's feeling awkward or embarrassed.
• Heavy Sleeper: Haruka falls asleep at eight and wakes up at seven thirty, and absolutely nothing can wake her in that timeframe. Kiryu says that she managed to sleep through an eight hour screaming match once. However, Kiryu is still careful not to make too much noise, just in case.
• Hero of Another Story: Yasuko spent fourteen gruelling years working her ass off to put herself through law school and get her brother out of prison while putting Katsuragi in his place, and she survived several assassination attempts during it. All of this happens completely off-screen.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation:
  • Kiryu generally thinks that all the bad things that happen to the bad people around him are his fault. Majima calls him out on it.
    Majima: You really need to stop beating the fuck out of yourself like that, because I think you’d lose yer shit if ya saw someone else getting treated this way.
  • Majima thinks that other people have a much poorer opinion of him than they actually do and that nobody really wants him around unless they want something out of him. And worst of all, he thinks that his mere presence is poison and he deserves to be abandoned.
• Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: In the last chapter of Broken Strings, Kiryu tells Majima "Deeji suuki saa" in Okinawan, and refuses to provide a translation when Majima asks, saying he'll tell him if he sticks around long enough. In Euthanasia, Kiryu reveals that it means "I love you".
• Hiding the Handicap: Majima regrets going into a store wearing his eyepatch as opposed to sunglasses because there'd be less people staring at him.
• Honesty Is the Best Policy: Majima realises that putting on an act will only push Kiryu further into his shell when he's trying to get him to open up. So he decides to be genuine, even dropping the fake accent.
  Majima: I want honesty from you. So I'll be honest too.
• Honorary Uncle: Haruka starts calling Majima "ojisan".
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • Majima thinks that Kiryu is not a good judge of character, but the only people in the fic seen to interact with him are Majima and Haruka - and Kiryu states many times that he finds Majima confusing, which Majima is aware of. That said, Majima is an Unreliable Narrator.
  • According to Yasuko and Saejima, Majima has extremely poor judgement when it comes to romantic partners, with many of them just using him or cheating on him. Kiryu is the first healthy relationship he started without Yasuko and Saejima at his side to approve.
• House-Hunting Montage: Majima's therapist convinces him to move out of his office and find an actual place to live, so the two are shown checking real estate listings together.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Yasuko wanted to be a florist, but then her brother went to prison so she changed her plans and became a lawyer.
• I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: Haruka admits that she and Kiryu have no idea how to do grocery shopping.
• I Was Young and Needed the Money: Kiryu recalls a boy from school who would masturbate with a rotten orange of all things in the locker rooms for a thousand yen note.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Majima jokes that Kiryu is such a Big Eater he'll start eating people.
• Imaginary Enemy: The Dog. It's skinless, its eyes are red, it has knives for claws and it's so perfectly suited for the darkness, eating and eating until it has its fill... And Majima created that thing. To keep himself safe.
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes:
  • Kiryu's general opinion of Majima's entire wardrobe.
    Kiryu: I'm not taking fashion criticism from you.
  • One of the shirts Kiryu owns - because Haruka insisted he bought it - is pastel pink with strawberries on it. The first time Majima sees it he thinks he's hallucinating. Even worse, he actually likes this shirt on Kiryu. Even known fashion disaster Kiryu thinks the shirt is tacky, but of course he'd never tell that to Haruka.
  • The Bridezilla who lives above Kiryu wants her guests to wear pink camouflage. Her fiance points out that nobody looks good in that.
• Improperly Paranoid: Played for Laughs. Kiryu realizes that he, a single father, starting a relationship with an extremely attractive guy who gets along well with his kid is every divorced mom's dream and he's afraid the divorced moms are going to find out and rise up against him.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: How Majima thinks he looks like with a shirt on versus how he actually looks like:
  Majima: Like a proper, civilized gentleman?
  Kiryu: Bond villain.
  Haruka: JoJo villain!
• Interplay of Sex and Violence:
  • Even after getting together, Kiryu and Majima still have all-out fights in the middle of the street, which is the only reason why Yasuko cannot tell for sure if Kiryu has feelings for Majima. She's even more baffled when she spies on them after one such fight and finds Kiryu carefully patching up Majima.
    This is aftercare.
    This is fucking aftercare.
    What the fuck are yakuza men.
  • Even so many years later, Majima still can't work out what Nishitani's feelings towards him were. When asked if the "blood-chub" was literal, he can only weakly say he doesn't know.
• Ironic Allergy: Yasuko, despite her severe lactose intolerance, is unwilling to give up ice cream. This leads to a bit of Toilet Humour from her side.
• Ironic Echo: So, so many innocent lines lines in Broken Strings become so much darker in Euthanasia.
  • Majima idly thinks to himself that he should visit the Shinjuku National Garden during the day when it's open. When he gets to do that, it's when Kiryu is hanging out there with Sayama, which becomes the final straw to send him to a spiral.
  • Kiryu says that his dog Pochi is not allowed on the couch. Majima says the same thing about himself when Kiryu and Taiga are trying to get him to sit after finding him half-drowned in a bathtub.
  • Kiryu tells Majima that he has an empty chair and empty spot in bed to confirm that yes, he really wants to be with Majima. Majima takes these lines to imply that he was meant to be a placeholder as opposed to having his own place in Kiryu's home.
• Ironic Juxtaposition:
  • Kiryu and Majima declare they're boyfriends in the same moment the Bridezilla's fiance breaks up with her upstairs. Kiryu is so happy that he doesn't even notice until he sees the apartment building's facebook group the next day.
  • Kiryu, who is Manly Man, very frequently uses metaphors for his emotions that are stereotypically hyper-feminine. For example he describes his crush as "feeling like a schoolgirl" or that he's living "every divorced mom's dream" or that he checks out his hickeys the same way a girl checks if her prom dress fits her. Majima is floored when he hears the "schoolgirl crush delirium" line because he never thought that Kiryu would compare himself to a schoolgirl.
  • Majima and Yasuko's descriptions of Kiryu are studies of contradiction, basically using descriptors that should be mutually exclusive. Yasuko in particular describes him as draconic and puppyish at the same time, equal parts angular and soft.
• It Makes Sense in Context: Majima has some bad experiences with E.R. rooms so when he had to go to the hospital after getting shot (that was before the Ueno Seiwa Hit), the nurses had to resort to some very strange things to calm him down.
  Taiga: A nurse had to read smut novels out loud so you were too distracted to notice the needle.
  Majima: Very strange thing to overhear with no context.
• It's All My Fault:
  • Kiryu believes he's a Doom Magnet responsible for the deaths of everyone he loves.
  • Majima thinks that his very blood is poison that destroys the lives of everyone near him.
• Joke and Receive: Majima jokes that Kiryu's Face of a Thug will probably scare customers away from his cab, only for Kiryu to tell him that this has happened several times and that there have been complaints to the taxi company about him, just for his looks. He's worried that he'll get fired over it.
• Kinky Role-Playing: After getting together, Kiryu and Majima have started putting some of Majima's costumes into less innocent use. Feeling Malicious (Heard Ya Like It Vicious) shows the first time with the Hannya Man suit (where Majima is playing a completely silent demon) in explicit detail.
• Knight Errant: Lampshaded when Majima asks Kiryu if the government is giving him the Grand Cordon for public service.
• Last Disrespects: Upon finding out what Sagawa did to Majima, Yasuko drags her brother to go piss on his grave. Majima is scared shitless that someone will find out because that's the grave of an Omi Alliance Patriarch they chose to piss on.
• Last-Name Basis: Everyone only ever calls Kiryu and Majima by their last names, to the point that went without hearing their given names from other people for years.
• Lap Pillow: Kiryu lets his head rest on Majima's lap when they're trying to catch their breath after escaping the bloodthirst light guard.
• Lemon: The last three entries in the series^note Feeling Malicious (Heard Ya Like It Vicious), Chantilly, and Kiryu's "Fighting" Styles detail Kiryu and Majima's sexual encounters, though they aren't necessary to the progression of the plot.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Dr. Yen's reaction after hearing waht Majima considers his first date with Kiryu to be.
  Dr. Yen: Your first date with him was...run that by me again?
  Majima: I hijacked a hostess club in drag and made him fight me.
  Dr. Yen: ...I don't think that was a date, Majima-san.
  Majima: Sure it was! He was into it!
  Dr. Yen: Even when you wrapped your legs around his head and threw him intoa dumpster?
  Majima: ESPECIALLY into that!
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again:
  • Kiryu and Majima agreed to never talk about the disaster that Majima's zombie prank turned into.
  • Majima wants to forget about the little reveal that Haruka knows way too much about sex than a girl her age should and tells her and Kiryu as much.
• Lethal Chef: Kiryu got banned from almost every kitchen he has ever been in, the first being the orphanage kitchen when he was ten. And apparently he has set boiling rice on fire more than once.
  Majima: How the fuck are you this bad at cooking? You got banned from the orphanage kitchen and now you're banned in your own kitchen?!
• Like Brother and Sister: Majima often forgets that Taiga and Yasuko aren't biologically related to him.
• Limited Wardrobe: Majima has literally never seen Kiryu outside of his signature grey and red suit. So when he sees him in casual clothes he assumes he's hallucinating. It turns out most of the "new" clothes Kiryu is wearing were originally Kazama's.
• Little Miss Badass: Haruka is learning how to fight from Kiryu. The results speak for themselves.
  Majima: Hold on, you’ve been beating the shit out of grown ass men?
  Haruka: They're just teenagers, it’s not scary. They don't even know how to parry. Or weave properly.
• Littlest Cancer Patient: Haruka got Stage 1 lung cancer, which Kiryu believes is due to being exposed to his smoking habit. By the start of Broken Strings she is in the recovery process, but Kiryu is still scared shitless of hurting her.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Majima has not told anyone what exactly Shimano and Sagawa did to him. There are some rumours about what happened, but the only person who has any inkling about the details is Nishida.
• Loophole Abuse: According to Kiryu, it's not his fault he got banned from the Korean Sumo buffet, the shop should have considered the holes in their policies.
• Love Confession:
  • Majima barely manages a somewhat indirect one to Kiryu in Broken Strings.
    Majima: I kinda like ya. I'm not good at these things anymore, but, I give a shit. And with the way you've been actin', I've been givin' a lot of a shit.
  • Kiryu reveals in Euthanasia that the Okinawan phrase he has been telling Majima since the last chapter of Broken Strings means "I love you".
• Luminescent Blush:
  • Kiryu's reaction when he's really embarrassed. When he's talking about the eateries he's been banned from his whole face glows red.
  • Majima turns cherry red when Kiryu pulls all the stops with the flirting.
• Lustful Melt: Fortunately not literally.
  Majima: This goes on much longer, I’m gonna melt and yer gonna have to mop me off the floor.
• Man on Fire: Apparently Minami sets himself on fire at least once per week.
• The Maze: Seiyu, the local multi store, is so massive that Majima gets lost in there for two hours looking for an isle and he's pretty sure there's a minotaur living there too.
• Meaningful Echo: When Majima tells Kiryu that if he saw other people treated the way he was he'd lose his mind, Kiryu has a moment of realization, to which Majima says "caught you there, didn't I." Kiryu repeats the exact same phrase to him while telling him that he's not sure what to tell Majima to convince him he's not going to abandon him.
• Memento MacGuffin:
  • Kiryu has several mementos of his dead friends and family members. He frequently wears Kazama's coat (which is the only one of those to see the light of day), Yumi's ring is in Haruka's room, and the rest of the objects (Kazama's cane, Reina's jewelry, and Shinji's bloodstained shirt) are shoved in a box in his closet. Notably, he doesn't have anything that belonged to Nishiki. Coat aside, he cannot stand to see any of those items.
  • The Demonfire Dagger belonged to Majima's mother. She used it to kill her abusive husband. It's the only thing Majima has of her.
  • Sagawa kept all of Majima's personal belongings from before the Ueno Seiwa Hit in a warehouse, so he could use them as leverage if needed.
• Men Don't Cry: Kiryu had it hammered in his head his whole life that if a boy cries he's being a sissy.
• Mental Health Recovery Arc: The second half of Euthanasia is about Majima finally confronting his issues, going to therapy and slowly getting better. The NSFW sequels also touch upon this by showing how Najima is growing more relaxed with his emotions and comfortable with intimacy over time.
• Metaphorgotten: Courtesy of Majima.
  Majima: Best [restaurant] in Shinjuku and I'll kill on this hill.
• Minimalist Cast: In Broken Strings, the only named characters who ever show up in person are Kiryu, Majima, and Haruka. Everyone else is either a nameless on-screen character who only appears once (for example a waitress), or a named character Kiryu or Majima will reference in their discussions.
• Misery Builds Character: In his twenties, all Kiryu wanted in a partner was a pretty face; then he went to prison and in a few months he learnt that many people do not match their appearance. Nowadays he no longer considers appearances important, though he definitely appreciates someone who is both good and beautiful.
• Mood Whiplash: Kiryu and Majima have a very earnest long-time-coming emotional talk, and Kiryu just had a good crying session... And then the Ax-Crazy night guard shows up and chases them across the entire Shinjuku.
• Mr. Fanservice: Kiryu Kazuma, king of the too-low-neckline who has the male version of the Most Common Superpower. Everyone from Majima to Sayama to Date comments on it.
  Kiryu Kazuma leaves his shirts unbuttoned just high enough to be decent, one button determining whether it’s classy collarbone or coquettish cleavage. It’s a thin, thin line and Kiryu Kazuma walks it. Hard.
• Must Have Caffeine:
  • Kiryu's store-bought coffee of choice is the strongest and most bitter one available in the store.
  • Majima's homebrewed coffee is at least ten times as strong as how Kiryu normally drinks it. At least that's the impression he gets.
• Mutual Pining: Majima has feelings for Kiryu but is convinced that he must not reveal them. Meanwhile Kiryu is waiting for Majima to get the hint already, even though he has been oblivious to Majima's flirting for two years.
• Mythology Gag: Kiryu gets a job as a taxi driver.
• Nearly Normal Animal: Pochi the puppy understands enough about gestures and social cues to threaten people into feeding him on time. At another point it makes an agreeing noise to something Kiryu says.
  Majima: I came out here and this son of a bitch was standing-
  Kiryu: Like he was going to piss everywhere?
  Majima: I walked out here, and he like… He...he nodded, actually nodded, towards [the dog food], then at me, and then at his bowl. What the fuck?
• Never Mess with Granny: How did Majima get his ban on the Korean family restaurant? He arm-wrestled the owner's grandma and lost. And he doesn't fancy his chances for round two.
• Nervous Tics:
  • Kiryu spends the entirety of the taxi ride tapping his fingers on the wheel without any rhythm in it, and that was a very stressful ride.
  • He runs his hands through his hair when anxious or nervous. Majima picks up that this is supposed to be a self-soothing gesture.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kiryu and Majima go to great lengths not to let Haruka see them depressed, even though Haruka is aware of their traumatic backstories. This results in Haruka believing that if they don't need therapy - which they do - then she shouldn't need it either.
• No Sense of Personal Space: After Kiryu and Majima get together, Majima clings on him like a koala every chance he gets. And Kiryu lets him.
• No Shirt, Long Jacket: Majima has an actual reason for being shirtless under his leather jacket: the jacket feels secure like armor, but shirts feel constraining like they're chocking him. He has no issues if a shirt is part of a costume, but he's incredibly uncomfortable if it's part of a normal outfit. It's obviously a side effect of his many psychological issues.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Majima once set his jacket on fire with his cigarette.
  • Majima got banned from a specific M-Store in an incident involving a an old Croatian man, a bag of gummies, and an axolotl.
  • Kiryu was banned from doing any kitchen-related chores when he was ten. We don't know why, but it probably has to do with setting things on fire.
  • Majima went to the USA once on business. The only thing he relays about the trip is a fast food joint with a particularly disgusting burger.
  • Majima has absolutely no memories of his first visit to the Korean family restaurant. He assumes he was blackout drunk and wandered in. It's also unknown how he managed to find the place again.
  • How Majima got banned from the Korean family restaurant. The only thing he says about it is that it involved fireworks, an NYC Hot Dog manager (keep in mind this is a SECRET restaurant), a couple of stray cats, and a box of cookies from Nishida's mom.
  • Kiryu cannot handle another Sunken Onigiri Incident.
  • Yasuko off-handedly mentions several assassination attempts against her while she was trying to get Taiga out of prison.
  • Taiga thinks of getting Majima a nice house-warming gift...
    Majima: If it's fuckin' sexshop membership again, I swear to God —
• Nosy Neighbor: Kiryu's landlord, Mr. Hirono, only lets the Bridezilla live in the building because there's always drama going on in her life and he's a gossip. He even has a FaceBook group for all the residents in the apartment building specifically to spread gossip, and he even forced Kiryu to make an account and join.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Majima doesn't know what's in the bedroom of the "kennel". He only opened the door once and he doesn't remember anything from it. Only that he must stay as far away as possible.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Sunflower Orphanage outright hindered Kiryu's effort to adopt Haruka even though her mother Yumi clearly stated in her Will that she wanted Kiryu to be her legal guardian. Surprisingly the courts are far more accommodating.
• Obviously Not Fine: Majima snarls at Taiga that he's "fucking fine" while laying in a hospital bed after a depression-induced hallucination episode.
• One-Note Cook: The only thing Haruka can cook is takoyaki, but she's really good at it.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Overlapping with Beneath the Mask; at first, Majima is so used to Kiryu being the "Dragon of Dojima" that he literally doesn't recognize him when Kiryu is not acting like it. Over time it becomes increasingly obvious to Majima that Kiryu is uncharacteristically anxious and afraid about something very important, and that he's not very well mentally.
  • Majima is terrified that Taiga, instead of being blunt as usual, skirts around the topic of Majima's blackouts.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Majima questions Kiryu on why he doesn't know what a house has in a kitchen.
  Majima: Fuck d'ya mean? You should know, you grew up in-
  Kiryu: (deadpan stare)
  Majima: Okay, fair.
• Original Character: Quite a few have major appearances or are off-handedly mentioned.
  • Kiryu's neighbors are all original characters. The goship-loving landlord Mr. Hirono, his wife with the too-many Psycho Poodles, the lady across the street who has a crush on him, the goth girl across the hallway, the four girls downstairs who taught him how to get blood out of clothes, the Bridezilla Drama Queen upstairs who grew up in California, etc.
  • Majima's mother Izumi. She killed her ex-husband in self defense with the Demonfire Dagger, used to make decorations out of blown glass, would dragged Majima to the beach at the crack of dawn to find seashells, and used to tell him bizarre fairytales.
  • Dr. Yen Kaede is a therapist that Nishida has had on speed-dial for five years just in case Majima ever went to therapy. She loves the colour green a bit too much and has the perfect level of bullshit tolerance to deal with Majima.
• Out Sick: In one chapter Nishida falls sick so suddenly Majima has to cope with having to buy the poor guy medicine without being able to rely on him.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Majima's disguises are not Played for Laughs in this fic, as the fact that people fall for them tends to cause him problems.
  • When he disguised himself as a zombie back in Yakuza, Kiryu fell for it, and being a Genre Savvy Combat Pragmatist, attempted to shoot him in the head. He barely missed and the encounter ended with Majima in a panic trying to console a crying Kiryu who storms off in rage.
  • Majima's police officer disguise scares the crap out of the local Covert Group with Mundane Front, and he feels very awkward wearing it when not fighting Kiryu.
  • His "civilian" disguise for when he needs to rush to the store for meds is to wear a turtleneck and ditch the gloves (so nobody assumes he's a thief), with no other change to his Iconic Outfit. He regrets it the whole time he's there; while Majima is an Unreliable Narrator so it's unclear if that's actually the case or not, he's convinced that the civilians pity him for his eyepatch and thinks that he should have ditched it and the jacket and instead worn sunglasses to hide his missing eye.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Played with. Haruka is thrilled to find her dad kissing his long-time crush. Majima finds that surprising because if he were in her place he'd be going ballistic.
• Periphery Demographic: In-Universe, Majima is a fan of Boys Before Flowers, which is aimed at teenage girls.
• Persona Non Grata:
  • Kiryu has been banned from the Korean Sumo buffet for life because he once ate five pizzas in forty minutes. Almost twenty years later and he's still not allowed in.
  • Majima got banned from an M-Shop in Kamurocho because of a Noodle Incident involving an old Croatian man, a bag of gummies, and an axolotl.
  • Majima had also been banned from that mysterious Korean family restaurant at one point, but got it amended. He's afraid he's on thin ice though.
• Personal Horror: Majima almost has a panic attack when Taiga informs him of the doctors' diagnosis of depression-induced blackouts and amnesia episodes. How much of his life is hidden from him? How much has he missed?
• Plagued by Nightmares: Majima has a recurring nightmare where he's locked in a cage at a vet clinic, with either Sagawa or Shimano talking to the veterinarian. Sometimes he's a human, others he's a dog, but he's muzzled and there is a shock collar around his neck, with Shimano's thumb always on the button. Other nightmares among the same lines involve The Grand, and a submarine.
• Please Dump Me: Majima is convinced that nobody would want to be in a relationship or even care for someone as mentally ill as him and tries telling Kiryu that he should break up with him and find someone better several times.
• Poor Communication Kills: Majima's complete mental breakdown in Euthanasia starts because he thinks Kiryu and Sayama have feelings for each other, convinces himself he's being replaced, ignores what everyone else tells him about Kiryu and Sayama's actual relationships, and refuses to speak to everyone.
• Porn Stash: Kiryu had a collection of dirty magazines hidden under his bed when he was a teenager.
• Powerful People Are Subs: Majima, who is one of the richest and most powerful men in Kamurocho if not Tokyo, usually bottoms for Kiryu in the bedroom, in full-blown BDSM sessions. Not always though.
• Prank Gone Too Far: Majima's zombie prank back in Yakuza Kiwami went horribly wrong in this fic. Because Kiryu actually believed (as per canon) that Majima turned into a zombie, he pulled a gun at him and tried to shoot him in the head. Fortunately he missed, but instead of a fight Majima spent the next hour in a panic trying to console Kiryu and explain that it was all a prank and that he was fine. This pissed off Kiryu and he just walked away without talking to him further. Majima calls it a disaster afterwards.
• Prematurely Grey-Haired: Haruka has a few but noticeable grey hairs due to everything she has gone through.
• The Promise:
  • Majima promised Nishida after one of his episodes that he would never use his tanto to commit suicide because it's a Memento MacGuffin from his mother.
  • Taiga promises Majima that he and Yasuko are never going to leave him.
  • After his episode in Euthanasia, Majima promises to Haruka that he'll stay with her forever. Internally, he thinks that's a promise he has no choice but to break because he believes Kiryu will dump him.
  • Haruka makes Majima promise that they'll go to therapy together so she's not so scared.
• Prone to Tears: When Kiryu was a kid he was known as the crybaby of the orphanage, crying over minor arguments on a daily basis. He stopped crying in front of other people when everyone else started crying over much more significant issues (like not being adopted) and came to him for comfort. Between everyone using him for emotional support, and being taught that Men Don't Cry, let's just say the whole thing took its toll on him.
• Psychic Radar: Majima is able to detect Kiryu's location via a "sixth sense" of some kind, and it's implied that Kiryu can do the same. He describes it as a mix of instinct and Kiryu's presence. Majima's radar is thrown off for most of Broken Strings because Majima specifically wired it to the "Dragon of Dojima". He slowly finetunes it again as he gets to know Kiryu better.
• Psycho Poodle: Mr. Hirono's wife has fourteen of those in their top floor apartment, and Kiryu is pretty sure that they're having a clan war every other week.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Majima delivers several such lines.
  • His thoughts thoughts upon realizing that people have been telling him Sayama was seeing a woman for ages while he thought Kiryu broke up with him for her.
    How. Is. He. This. DUMB.
  • At another point, when he repeatedly refuses to see a psychiatrist.
    Majima: Not. Doing. It.
  • The punctuation ramps up to full paragraph breaks when Haruka asks Majima to go to therapy with her so she's not scared.
    There.
    Is not.
    A single universe.
    In which he has the option of "no". It has been - SO EFFECTIVELY - removed from his lexicon.
  • Haruka has her moment when she gives Majima an early Christmas present, proving that she considers it very Serious Business, going full Yakuza Princess Creepy Child on him in the process.
    Majima: It's not Christmas yet. Shouldn't we-
    Haruka: (takes his head in her hands and looks at him dead in the eye) F Ojisan. People got hurt over this. We. Are. Not. Waiting.
• Purple Prose:
  • Majima uses increasingly poetic descriptions for Kiryu the more excited he gets.
  • Taiga uses this trope to hilarious effect - in a Black Comedy way - as he overhears Kiryu and Majima having sex.
    Is there anything left?
    Anything but the crying man, on the grout-kissed floor of a cold, dark bathroom? Mourning the last bit of innocence he didn’t know he still had? Didn’t get to cherish before it was ripped as is the sakura blossom in winter’s wind?
• Rape Leads to Insanity: Rape was one of the many forms of torture inflicted on Majima during his time in Anagura, which added even further to his extreme decline in mental health over the years. He even tries to downplay how bad it really was.
• Red Baron:
  • The whole point of Broken Strings is Kiryu and Majima finding out who the other person is beneath the titles of "Mad Dog" or "Dragon of Dojima". Majima likens his "Mad Dog" title to a pelt over his shoulders or a mask over his face (when he's not hallucinating an actual dog haunting him), and Kiryu describes his own title as a crushing weight on his shoulders.
  • Yasuko refers to herself as the Panther of Aichi (University), to reflect her brother's "Tiger of the Tojo" title.
• Red Is Violent: The mysterious Korean family restaurant has a fish tank that only has a giant, extremely red Siamese Fighting Fish in it titled "The Bitch". It's kept seperate from all the other fish.
• Red String of Fate: Majima makes a vague reference to this trope when he finds Kiryu in the same park he just broke into.
  It's ridiculous. They're stuck in each other's orbit. They're drawn to each other's magnetism. If he was religious, he'd say a higher power weaved their fates together with gold thread.
• Reformed Criminal: Kiryu's yakuza background constantly causes him issues in his everyday life. He strongly implies that the taxi company is the only job that accepted to hire him, he has issues in said job due to his looks alone, and his neighbors used to avoid him when he first moved in. He admits to Majima that he has difficulty dealing with civilians because they're skittish, and that he feels like he can't fit neither in a civilian life nor the criminal underworld. Not to mention how he still has habits like getting into street fights, participating in the colosseum or breaking into a national park when it's closed.
• Relationship Upgrade: Kiryu and Majima declare themselves partners at the end of Broken Strings.
• Reluctant Psycho: Majima spends an entire paragraph frozen before the door of the "kennel" telling himself that there are so many other things he could do and should be doing that would be healthy and good for it and locking himself into his personal hell is not it and it's going to ravage him and he really, really shouldn't be here doing this to himself... but he can't turn away from the door.
  He didn't want to hurt them. He doesn't even want to hurt himself.
  He just can't stop.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • Yasuko pulls the lawyer equivalent by dragging to court anyone who ever hurt her brothers, starting with Katsuragi. She even gave up her dream job for it.
  • Kiryu's favourite sexual fantasy starts with him beating the absolute crap out of Shimano, Sagawa, and everyone who made Majima suffer and throwing them at his feet as offerings. He can't go through with it obviously because all those people are dead.
• Running Gag:
  • Majima being completely flabbergasted every time he sees Kiryu in clothes other than his Iconic Outfit.
    Kiryu: You really don't take well to me wearing other things, do you?
  • Majima making increasingly ludicrous attempts to guess what Kiryu is up to and failing every time, much to Kiryu's amusement. It stops after Majima correctly guesses that the reason Kiryu stopped smoking is that Haruka got sick on the first try.
  • Kiryu and Majima being banned from random places. Kiryu's are because of his... special relationship with food, and Majima's due to bizarre Noodle Incidents.
  • Kiryu silently fuming over how every hinge in his house is completely silent except the door of Haruka's bedroom.
• Safe Word:
  • The fic Kiryu's "Fighting" Styles has Majima use "dekotora" (a Japanese Pimped Out truck) as a safeword during sex.
  • In another chapter of the same fic they use "beer" to go, "wine" to slow down and "whiskey" to stop.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Majima is pretty sure that Nishida pulled some strings to mess with hospital visiting hours.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • When the night guards spot Kiryu and Majima in the Shinjuku National Garden, they decide to book it - first by trying to be stealthy and then running for their lives from that one really bloodthirsty lady.
  • Kiryu found out that Haruka has become The Dreaded among the local delinquents when a thug with a knife tried to mug him, only to spot Haruka and instantly turn tail and flee.
• Secret-Keeper: Nishida is the only one sho knows how poor Majima's mental health really is. He knows about the "kennel" and Majima's suicide attempts too.
• Secret Shop: The Korean family restaurant is only meant for other family members, so people only find it if they have already been told about it. The only reason Majima knows about it is because he stumbled on it while blackout drunk ne night. That said, they don't kick out customers they don't know, as they only kicked out Majima after a Noodle Incident (and welcomed him back at a later date), and they have no issue with Kiryu being there.
• Security Blanket: Kiryu had one when he was a kid.
• Self-Deprecation: Kiryu thinks that if he read the overly romantic scene between himself and Majima in a book, he'd call the writer a hack.
• Sex Comedy: Sorority Instinct is the first fic in the series to feature Kiryu and Majima's sexual encounters... from Taiga's point of view, who is currently locked in the bathroom only hearing the sounds and lamenting in increasingly melodramatic Purple Prose the loss of what tiny little innocence and faith to god he has left.
  Yasuko (to Majima): Yer paying for his therapy.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: The second to last chapter of Broken Strings ends as Majima is about to remove Kiryu's pants, and the next chapter starts the next morning.
• Sexy Shirt Switch: Played with. Kiryu lents Majima his pajama pants so he can sleep over the night, but Majima proceeds to invoke this trope by playing up the sexy poses.
• Share the Male Pain: Majima winces in horror when told that Taiga kicked Kiryu in the dick during a fight.
• Shared Family Quirks:
  • Majima comes to the conclusion that Kiryu and Haruka are the same person after he reads their co-written grocery list.
    Rice < Of course!!!
    Veggies < What kind???
    Meat < This is too vague, we need to be specific!
    Bread, eggs, milk, veggies, < You did it, too! noodles (any kind I guess), salt/pepper, butter, flour, oil
    Seaweed, on principle
    Soy sauce, also on principle
  • Haruka and Kiryu have very similar facial expressions, though Haruka is a lot more expressive. Her serious face and glare in particular are noted to be exactly like Kiryu's. She also starts picking up a lot of his mannerisms, like passing her fingers through her scalp hair when nervous.
  • Somehow at the time of Euthanasia, Haruka picks up Kiryu's appetite.
  • Haruka calls her and her dad's status as a Weirdness Magnet "the Kiryu Curse".
• Shipper on Deck: Haruka desperately wants Kiryu and Majima to get together already, and so is Yasuko. Hilariously, by the time Yasuko finds out who Kiryu is, he and Majima are already together.
• Shout-Out:
  • Upon being informed of Kiryu's diet, Majima calls him "No Face", knowing Haruka would get the reference.
  • According to Kiryu and Haruka, Majima with a turtleneck (and no other changes to his Iconic Outfit) looks like a Bond villain and JoJo villain respectively.
  • According to the author's comments, Haruka's "drink beer out of a woman's hair" line is a reference to My Brother, My Brother and Me.
  • Majima is a fan of Boys Before Flowers, though he refers to it by the name of the original Japanese manga Boys over Flowers.
  • One of the movies Kiryu, Haruka and Majima watch together is Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
• The Shrink: Dr. Yen is of the awesome subtype; so much that Nishida has her on speed dial for five years waiting for the day Majima finally seeks psychiatric help. She geniunly wants to help and has a surprising tolerance for bullshit, along with an uncanny ability to see what's behind it.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Kiryu is the only adult in the cast to watch their vocabularly, even around Haruka. The 'Jimas' especially have no filter whatsoever. Haruka picks up on it eventually, but she uses Gosh Darg It To Heck versions instead.
• Skewed Priorities: Haruka is less concerned about Yasuko and Taiga possibly getting arrested and more concerned about them getting arrested before Christmas.
• Slash Fic: The series is focused on Kiryu and Majima entering a romantic relationship as they get to know each other better.
• Sleeping Their Way to the Top: Majima makes jokes about sucking dick for promotions.
• Smoking Is Cool: Deconstructed.
  • Kiryu started smoking when he was twenty to impress Nishiki and Kazama, but Haruka got lung cancer and he's convinced it happened because of him.
  • Majima's reason for starting to smoke was a "may as well, for the look". Then Kiryu tells him about this little spoiler above, and suddenly he feels as if the pack weighs two tons.
• Soap Opera Disease: Majima's mom died of a disease she caught when he was barely a teen, but he doesn't say what.
• The Social Expert: Haruka is a master at reading other people's moods and what exactly is causing them, and many times she uses this to her advantage. For example, when she asks Majima to come eat lunch with her and Kiryu because she could tell Kiryu wanted to but didn't have the courage to ask.
• Something We Forgot: In her struggle to get Taiga out of jail, Yasuko completely forgot to check up on Majima. For fourteen years years.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Ryuji Goda didn't die in this fic.
• Stage Whisper: Majima pretends to whisper to Kiryu, raised hand and all, about how he got banned from the Korean family restaurant while in the restaurant, without lowering his voice at all. They then both check on the little boy in the counter to see if he has overheard them or not, but the kid has an epic poker face.
• Stating the Simple Solution: All of Kiryu's romantic advice boils down to "just ask".
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Majima is extremely unused to roaming Kamurocho during the daytime, and he's more than a little offput at how all around him are regular and normal people as opposed to thugs, drunkards, or women in wolf-packs.
• String Theory: Yasuko makes a full-blown conspiracy board to prove that Majima and Kiryu would be a good pair.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Majima looks exactly like his mother.
• The Talk: Majima is horrified to find out that Haruka doesn't need it.
• The Take: Haruka combines a Jaw Drop and an Eye Take when she realizes Kiryu and Majima were about to kiss. Preceded by a Delayed Reaction because she had just woken up.
• Take That!:
  • Yasuko got a tattoo on her arm to shit on the yakuza culture around irezumis. Ironically, it also follows the Rule of Symbolism that all other irezumis do.
  • Kiryu thinks that the M-Stores will only close when Dojima Yayoi gets a good taste in men.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Majima, according to Kiryu.
  Kiryu: Something about tall, dark, and handsome turns me into a schoolgirl.
• That Came Out Wrong: Majima asks Kiryu what Haruka eats, and he tells him she eats the same as he does. Majima is horrified because Kiryu is the Big Eater to end all Big Eaters, so Kiryu clarifies that she eats the same kinds of food that he does.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Majima created the Mad Dog out of grief, because if he lost everyone then he may as well turn into a monster, because it doesn't matter if he loses what kindness he has left.
• Therapy Is for the Weak: Majima is a firm believer of this trope because he believes he can't be helped, doesn't deserve the help, and because he doesn't want to talk about himself ever, much less to strangers. Unfortunately, this belief has also rubbed off on Haruka.
• Time Skip: The fic starts around three or four months after the events of Yakuza Kiwami 2. Majima tries to find out what happened in that timeframe.
• Torches and Pitchforks: What Majima assumes will happen to him if he sets foot in Bunkyo.
• Totally Not a Criminal Front: Kiryu's favourite cafe from before he went to prison used to change locations and employees on a daily basis, had a sign in Latin and a policy against anyone native or having connections to Spain. Subverted in that Kiryu never found out for sure if it was a front.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Majima never remembers anything that happens in the "kennel" and suffers from blackouts because of stress and depression.
• Undercover as Lovers: Sayama and Nishida put on fake wedding bands and Sayama pulls the backpack version of Pillow Pregnancy to sneak a ton of candy and snacks into a hospital room.
• Understatement:
  • Kiryu says that he had a "minor injury" at the colosseum. When Majima pushes, he reveals that this "minor injury" was a heat stroke that landed him in the hospital.
  • Yasuko refers to the many assassination attempts against her as "minor inconveniences".
  • Majima calls orgasming eight times in one sessions "not something you can do every week". Men orgasming more than once per session is so rare that it borders on Anatomically Impossible Sex.
• Unreliable Narrator: Majima. Between his low opinion of himself and poor mental health, it's clear that what he thinks other people think of him does not reflect reality. It reaches extreme levels in Euthanasia where his mental health reaches such a low that he thinks Kiryu broke up with him and starts dissociating and hallucinating.
• Unskilled, but Strong: According to Kiryu, physical strength is the only thing Goda Ryuji has going on for him. He's geniunly really bad at fighting, and never bothered to learn because he never needed to before, with how strong he is.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Kiryu started smoking to impress Kazama and Nishiki and it turned into an addiction as it does; and the passive smoking gave Haruka lung cancer.
• Voice Change Surprise: Played for Drama. Majima is always deliberate in how he pitches his voice, how thick his (faked) accent is, what exactly words he's saying, everything, like he's playing a role. So in the taxi ride with Kiryu he's even more unnerved by the situation because he loses control of all that and can't recognise his own voice out of his mouth, and his anxiety shows through it. It happens again when they run into each other at Shinjuku National Garden, but this time even though he thinks that he sounds like "that time in the taxi", he sounds stronger and more sure so he's not as unnerved to hear it.
• What Would X Do?: After the Ueno Seiwa Hit, Yasuko decided to rip a page off her brothers' books and do something "difficult and suicidal".
• When He Smiles:
  • Majima describes Kiryu's honest, happy smiles as loopsided, awkward, soft and breath-taking.
  • Kiryu thinks that Majima's honest smiles - not the crazy Slasher Smile he usually puts on - are gorgeous.
• The World Mocks Your Loss: A nurse described Haruka's cancer as "a clump of billions of sick cells, dying out as soon as they're alive". And then he went out during the surgery to see the stars, and he realised that they're billions of balls of gas, burning out as soon as they form. It fades when Haruka gets better and he starts a relationship with Majima.
• Worse with Context: The Bridezilla accuses her fiance of cheating on her with his sister. That's bad enough on its own, but then the fiance asks to clarify if she means his twin sister or his step-sister, who is eight years old.
• Your Makeup Is Running: When Majima wakes up in the hospital, Yasuko has visible makeup stains from crying, indicating that she did not return home ever since they found him.

---