Formatting note: in the following story, the main character will occasionally help with the narration, think of it like a character in a TV show turning to camera to talk to the audience. When this happens, the quote marks will appear with asterisks, like this.
"*You really need me to talk to the reader just to demonstrate this stupid formatting idea you had? Hurry up and start the story already.*"
Alright then.
...
"So what happened to the Tatsu Brothers?" Chika asked.
"That's chewed sand." her brother, Riku, reassured, ignoring the familiar grunt of frustration whenever Chika tried to open locked doors.
Within the Sato Crime Family, Chika was referred to as 'The Clean Slate.' This was for two reasons, firstly she was the only one completely clear of tattoos, and secondly she was the family's contingency. She lived her life at an arm's length from the business, but with enough knowledge of operations that in case of something massively disruptive, she could step in to hold the fort while the next available male heir could be found and placed back in charge. The knowledge that a woman could never be the permanent head of a crime family kept Chika safe from ambitious criminals while her arms length from the business kept her from catching the attention of the police.
"*Which means I get to sit and be pretty while my dad and my brother talk business, then if I ask any questions that they think the answer is too icky for my delicate female constitution, they tell me it's chewed sand and I'm expected to not push it any further.*"
Whenever Daichi had been asked about things he didn't want to share, he would always say they were boring. When Riku started getting more hands on with running the family with his father, he had taken on this code but had evolved it to the quirky phrase 'chewed sand,' an adjustment to a classic idiom for boredom. Now the two of them sat at a dinner table, covered in tattoos and crime, keeping Chika as in the dark as they could without leaving her completely uninformed.
"*The Tatsu Brothers were some wannabe gangsters holding up shops who had paid us protection money. I have been told who deals with these sorts of problems and how they are put on the case, but it looks like the outcome is 'chewed sand.'*"
"Next is the debt ledger." Daichi announced, moving the conversation forward. "Thanks to Riku's innovation, there's two classifications of debtors now. We have those with collateral and those without."
"I didn't expect many with collateral to be coming to us for loans. Don't they usually have banks willing to lend?" Chika observed.
"So we need to clarify what we mean by collateral." Riku intervened with a cocksure chuckle. "Up until recently, we found that taking drastic intervention would make it harder for our debtors to earn a paycheck and pay us off. So we have a new way to ensure payback, any man we lend money to who has a willing wife, or sister, or daughter above legal age, hell even a mother if she is young enough, can be counted as having 'collateral' and receive a lower rate loan. We tell them if they do not work off their debt like a man, we'll get their female relatives to work off the debt for them."
"Let me guess, how they do that is chewed sand?" Chika sighed.
"Good guess. Miki takes care of that whole process but plenty within the organisation drop in to help." Riku explained.
"So..." Daichi awkwardly mused. "Has Minoru been in touch with you?"
Minoru was the youngest son of the Sato family, he never seemed to gel with the family's amorality and left them behind when he first found an opportunity.
"*6 months ago now, that little pussy ran away with his tail between his legs. Guess he must have chewed too much sand.*"
"No sign of him, I'll let you know if he reaches out." Chika replied.
Daichi had told everyone that Minoru was studying at a prestigious western university, but in reality he had no idea where his son was. Chika felt the additional burden that if anything happened to her dad and elder brother, she would be put in charge of essentially kidnapping her younger brother and forcing him to become head of the crime family.
"*Which sucks as anyone with even a passing knowledge of my younger brother can see what a better leader I would make.*"
...
"Hi Junko, Enjoy your family dinner?" Isamu asked as Chika slumped through the door.
"*Well I can't go by my real name in my cover life now, can I?*"
"It was the usual, dad and Riku being best buds while I nurse a salad." Chika replied.
"I know there's all the issues there, but if you bring me along at least you won't be alone." Isamu offered as he wrapped his arms around Chika. "And no matter how difficult it is, I really should meet your family before the wedding."
"*He's sweet, he's part of the vanilla life I was told to build to throw off suspicion. We met at the school we both teach at and have been living our beige dreams ever since. I do love him, in the same way I love a warm bed and a glass of milk. But he's going to take one look at the flaming tiger tattooed on Riku's neck and it will all make sense why we never struggle for money.*"
"Don't worry, The wedding is over a year away. I figured I would introduce you to them when they don't have any time to sabotage our ceremony." Chika replied, giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek.
"Did you get a new phone?" Isamu asked as Chika pulled out a phone far more modern than what a teacher could afford.
"*I stole this from my dad. I know he's terrible with technology and saves all his passwords on his phone. I'll get access to all the family's cloud storage and then return the phone before he's any the wiser. Then we'll see how chewy the sand is.*"
"No, my dad was having trouble getting into his phone, I told him I would unlock it and drop it back with him on the way into school tomorrow." Chika lied.
"I don't want to miss out on walking to school with you, but I'm guessing you won't want me coming along to drop off the phone." Isamu observed.
"You are such an understanding fiancΓ©." Chika replied, kissing him on the cheek again.