#god when i started typing this i was so lethargic - cant tell if its cause id usually be alspee by now or Afforementioned katsu

[todayisafridaynight]

Type an essay. I dare you. Also I need to know what that Hamazaki and Mine story is????????

1.) the hamazaki and mine story i’m referring to is this one ! give it a read sometime if you’d like, i always like mine when he’s scheming and i like  watching his plans and thoughts play out so i def enjoyed it. reading Everything mine does for the bulk of the story really has its ending pay off

2.) chicken katsu is kicking my ass right now but for YOU anon... since you’re enabling me i will type an essay for you. but MAN what else do i say that i didnt already touch on in my last post. where do i even start. essay under the cut cause she’s long

Looking back on this story, it definitely feels as though parts of the story are a specific call back to the Y0 substory- or they at least want to hint at some reference to it. First Daigo mentioning Kiryu at the bar and talking about him to Daigo getting into trouble due to Kiryu-related business. It’s like the perfect segway of ‘this man I look up to told me something valuable as a kid’ and now that moment’s coming back when he’s all grown up this time. Even how Mine has to save Daigo after he gets kidnapped during a night they were just supposed to drink together ironically mirrors Kiryu having to save Daigo after he gets kidnapped when they were supposed to be hanging out.

But on to the actual situation, despite everything- despite the army of people that should be concerned over his whereabouts, Daigo’s all alone and helpless. For the most part it seems like no one cares enough to make sure he’s safe, either. The most he can get is that his bodyguards believed him when he lied and told them he was running off to have an affair with a woman: they didn’t bother to double check, they didn’t bother to send someone to follow them just in case- they just took his word and left him be (though to be fair, I don’t exactly know how I’d react to my boss telling me he’s going out for a shag either. An effective lie on Daigo’s part, really- but an undercover car wouldn’t have hurt).

It was one thing for Mine to spend a fortune just so he was able to get information from the right taxi company and find Daigo. When he found him, he could’ve just helped deal with the kidnappers and the two could’ve went their separate ways for the night without talking about what happened. But Mine decides to call out Daigo’s tendency to focus on Kiryu’s wellbeing more than the Tojo’s despite Kiryu not even being within the Tojo anymore- even after Daigo told him how much Kiryu meant to him. He doesn’t mince words and he doesn’t try to soften the truth: he’s unapologetically real and genuine with Daigo in that moment.

And that’s all Daigo ever wanted from people: back in Y0, he laments how it’d been a ‘really long time’ since anyone’d ‘seen him for who he was’ and ‘cared enough’ to correct him. Of course, Kiryu’s there to remind him of his (and Sohei’s) status and how no one would just do that for him out of fear of repercussion. It feels as though that fact really stuck with Daigo for a while: pardon earlier in this story where we briefly see Daigo on the phone with, presumably, a friend, we hardly- if at all- ever see Daigo with someone he can consider a companion.

And how could he have any close friends ? Being the son of a major yakuza boss was one thing, but to actually be the major yakuza boss is absolutely another. Coupled with having to manage the yakuza and having the likes of Goro Majima ready to pounce on anyone who has any opposition towards Daigo (ironically under Kiryu’s request to take care of him), if he’s not busy worrying about what each clan is up to then he also has his persona to worry about. One wrong word and the typical soldier would be right to assume the worst, either from Daigo or from Majima: it’d be safer to keep your distance and to just nod your head when he says something than to actually say anything excessive that could get you in trouble.

But then there’s Mine. He’s hardly been in the underworld very long at this point, yet he doesn’t hesitate to say what needs to be said- to care enough to guide Daigo in the right direction to properly take charge of the Tojo. He’s undoubtedly aware of how severe punishments can go in the yakuza, yet he’s willing to risk those consequences to say what needs to be said for Daigo’s sake.

This is also a pivotal moment for Mine himself, honestly. All his life, he assumed that the best way to obtain friends was through material goods and status, yet it’s neither of those things that really capture Daigo’s eye. Just Mine’s willingness to tell him what he needed to hear and not what he wanted to hear was the ticket, nothing more and nothing less. In a moment where Mine wasn’t scheming or throwing his money around (aside from being able to find Daigo, anyway), he incidentally proved his friendship in Daigo’s eyes; Mine makes a point to tell Daigo that he’s taught him the true value of bonds, and this was the best way he could have shown that gratitude and sincerity, whether he knew it or not.

It’s no wonder after this moment that Daigo decides that mine should be his junior head assistant. Mine’d proven well enough that not only was he devoted to the Tojo and what’s best for it, but he was devoted to Daigo as a friend as well.