"And you are asking me to... teach you how to sing?"

Rui hesitantly asked as he leaned back into his seat, his posture slightly stiff. He had been brought to a karaoke room by a yakuza he didn't know, and of course, he was terrified.

"Yes, as I was saying... My boss absolutely loves karaoke," Tsukasa leaned in from the opposite seat, making a serious expression, "Four times a year, we have this huge, family-wide karaoke contest."

"A karaoke contest..." Rui nodded, trying to wrap his head around the situation.

"And it's not just any contest! The boss himself will judge who the worst singer is and give them a tattoo!"

Tsukasa ended dramatically, and the room fell silent again. Rui stared at the man in front of him, tilting his head a bit.

"...? I see...? I don't know much about it, but isn't it just a tattoo?"

"It's one thing if you have a pro tattoo artist doing the job, but the scary part is the boss."

Before Rui could question more, Tsukasa went on a rambling about how the boss was an amateur, how his tattooing hurt like hell, and how horrendous his designs were. Most importantly, the previous loser was terrified of Hello Kitty, and the boss knew that, so he tattooed her on the back of his dominant hand!

"In conclusion... I'm desperate to avoid being another one of the boss's guinea pigs!"

And that was how it came to this: Rui coaching this bright, smooth-talking yet enigmatic yakuza guy to help him sing better. Somehow, he ended up in Tsukasa's car and got driven home.

"Right, where do you live, Rui?"

"I'm not giving a yakuza my home address..."