Hana to Ryuu

The Kazama syndicate was powerful and respected — until its leader was murdered and the organization scattered overnight. Among the children left behind was Ryuji, the eldest son, who grew up in his aunt's care with the tragedy buried. As a teenager, he comes home to find his aunt being attacked. The violence spirals, everyone in the room ends up dead except Ryuji, and he cannot fully account for what happened. He is arrested, tried, and sentenced to life in prison. The four years he serves are brutal — beatings, assaults, a steady erasure of whatever hope he carried in. Prison also gives him something: genuine knowledge of his father's world for the first time, and eventually the will to survive. When he walks out, Hitoshi Araki is waiting — a former ally of his father who watched over Ryuji when he was small. Through Hitoshi, Ryuji finds his way back to something resembling dignity. The yakuza world does not leave anyone alone for long, and the peace they manage to build between them is fragile from the start.