Reiji hid behind a rack of clothes in the adjacent stall, pretending to browse while secretly observing the old woman rip a new one on the group of guys.
He needed a little more context on what was happening because the game did not go into detail about why she collapsed in the first place.
The player was given a few clues, like the large bag she was lugging around, the heatwave that was currently attacking the city, and the poor health of the woman.
But what was not known was why she had been walking back home early enough for that heat to be such an issue, because these stalls usually operated until the evening, maybe even later.
The old woman was incredibly prideful, snide, and was generally cold, so she never explained her situation even though both Haruna and Riku asked her later on, and Reiji felt like these men might be the cause in some way.
It's fairly obvious by now that this woman was Haruna's grandmother, who raised her when she was placed in that unfortunate situation. She was also one of Reiji/Alex's favorite side characters.
Seeing a mean old lady with a tsundere side was hilarious and it added a lot of fun in Haruna's routes.
Anyway, back to the current situation, Reiji overheard the tallest man in the front respond even more aggressively to the old woman's anger.
"Is this how you treat customers you old hag? What's with your attitude, huh?"
"Customer? What customer? Ha, all I see is three broke little kids. Don't think I don't know what you people do, I've seen you harass other stalls into lowering prices even though they're already cheap. Get lost or I'll call the cops on you," She snorted, her fierce look growing even colder.
"Y-You! How dare you!"
The man's face went completely red, though Reiji wasn't sure if it was from shame or anger. The other two stepped forward and tried to calm him down.
"Hey man, it's not worth it. Let's go look somewhere else, there are people watching."
"Let go! You don't know who I am, do you? Old hag, I can make your life a living hell unless you apologize! I'm from the Yagami Syndicate, one word from me and your entire stall will be burned to the ground!" He roared, his voice reverberating in Reiji's ears.
'Ah? What?'
Reiji felt a lightning bolt clap in his mind as he digested the man's words. Just yesterday he thought that the syndicate wasn't so bad, even having a motto that showcased their morals.
And now he found members harassing an old woman to save a few bucks?
"Ya-Yagami Syndicate? You, what do you want to do?" Her eyes narrowed, a hint of fear evident within them.
The man sneered at her and laughed a little.
"Heh, apologize, pay a protection fee, and give me these batch of clothes and I'll let you off. Don't test me you hag, you won't like what will happen."
Reiji could feel his blood starting to boil. Even though he wanted nothing to do with the syndicate, it didn't change the fact that his name was currently associated with it, so seeing the members blatantly use that name as a tool pissed him off.
He forced himself to calm down and glanced at the man's hands. All the members had a tattoo on the back of the palm, an English Y in a gothic style font with a black cobra wrapped around it and rearing it's head in the middle.
(LOGO IN PARAGRAPH COMMENT)
He himself hadn't gotten it yet, but every other member had it as an identity token.
He smiled when he didn't see any such tattoo on any of the three men's hands, a vein nearly popping on his forehead.
'These little shits, how dare they!'
While he was confirming this, Haruna's grandma replied to their threat with a determined expression.
"A protection fee for what? From asshole Yakuza like you? Asking me to pay you to protect me from yourself, are you stupid?"
"Y-You! I've had enough!"
The man glared at her and turned his head, noticing a large puddle next to the biggest rack in her stall. With a sly smile he stepped forward, as if he was going to push it over.
Reiji had enough of their nonsense. He had waited this long to confirm if they were the reason why the granny had to leave early or if they were just the usual haggling customers, getting a little sidetracked by the Yagami bombshell they dropped.
Just as the man pushed the rack, the old woman cried out in rage and shock.
"YOU MOTHERFUC-"
But before she could even complete her slur, Reiji caught the falling rack and yelled even louder than her.
"HEY, YOU LYING SACK OF SHIT, HAVE YOU GROWN TIRED OF LIVING?"
As he burst in with anger, the group of four as well as the crowd that had been watching turned to him.
"What did you sa- Huh? A Kid?" The man blinked, his frown turning into confusion. The other two looked a little nervous, but they stepped forward on either side of him.
"Are you deaf as well as broke? I called you a lying sack of shit, want me to say it one more time?"
"Y-You! What do you mean 'lying'? Who are you?"
"Your daddy, aren't you gonna pay your respects?" Reiji snorted.
"Hey kid, don't think I won't hit you just because you're still suckling for your momma's milk, don't look down on the Yakuza!" He snapped back, his confidence growing as he saw his two friends next to him.
"My momma's milk? Nah, your wife's was more delicious, I had a lot last night," Reiji sneered with a light chuckle, glancing at the wedding ring on the man's left hand.
He thought the dude's face was already very red, but within the next second it was basically the color of blood. His two friends, on the other hand, covered their mouths as they tried to contain their laughter and turned away.
"And I'm not looking down on the Yakuza, I'm looking down on your broke ass," he added.
As the man struggled to find a good response, Reiji's next continuation made him go from beet red to as white as a sheet.
"All the Yagami Syndicate members have a certain tattoo on the back of their hands, and none of you have those. Now tell me, are you new recruits that haven't gotten it yet or are you trying to impersonate the Yakuza? If it's the latter, you're pretty fucking ballsy I'll give you that, but I volunteer to 'console' your soon to be widowed wife if it really is the case."
"H-Huh? Is that true?" The man turned to his friends with his pale face, asking for some sort of confirmation.
"I don't know man, but I always told you not to do that shit. You never listened for fuck's sake."
As they whispered to each other Reiji shook his head in admiration at their bravery. Impersonating a Yakuza is just as bad, no, worse than impersonating a police officer.
These gangs care a lot about their face, and for those that already engage in illegal activities, outsiders using their name to add more fuel to the fire without them knowing is.... idiotic.
"Damn, I could tell you were stupid from a mile away but I'm still surprised at just how high your level is! No wonder you're broke, you're clearly not smart enough to get a decent job, resorting to pathetic threats like this," Reiji couldn't help but laugh incredulously again.
"STOP CALLING ME BROKE YOU LITTLE SHIT! Just because I'm not actually the Yakuza, don't think I won't beat your ass!" He roared in response, flinging himself at Reiji with his fist cocked.
Reiji snorted, sidestepped, and kicked his leg a little to trip him. At the same time, he pushed his back as he fell past him, straight into the very puddle the man was trying to throw the rack of clothes in.
*SPLASH*
"Aggkyuuu"
The man fell like a cartoon, a strange noise escaping his lips. Some of the water splashed onto the granny's clothes rack though, earning a frown from Reiji.
"Ahh, look what you did asshole, you ruined these clothes! You gotta pay for them now," he muttered and reached for the man's pocket, pulling out his wallet.
Of course the man struggled, but he slipped as he tried to stand and push Reiji's arm away, promptly falling into the puddle again.
"YOU! FUCK!" He yelled, his originally white shirt was now completely stained brown.
Reiji ignored him as he rifled through the wallet.
"Goddamn, I know I called you broke, but holy shit man! I actually feel a little bad now!"
He took out all of the cash in the wallet, barely enough to cover the cost of the small number of clothes he had 'ruined', plus a little extra.
He had pushed him into the puddle on purpose, to find an excuse to teach him a lesson and give Haruna's grandmother a little money for the stress that the man had caused, killing two birds with one stone.
"You two got any complaints?" Reiji turned to ask the two friends who were just standing there.
They looked at each other and shook their heads wryly, walking away from the scene, leaving behind the man who was clenching his fists in shame.
"Here you go Granny, for the clothes this fucker messed up," Reiji grinned as he held out the cash for the old woman.
She just stood there in a daze, her eyes staring blankly at the wad of notes that was being offered to her.
"What the hell just happened..."