Family
家族
It had been a couple days since Dojin-Kai’s last fight and numbers were dwindling to nothing. Although the fights felt nowhere near as shattering as the war when allied with WCA, the last one felt particularly different. This time, Dojin-Kai had exhausted their chances of regaining their peace within the city, so the attacks upon them were relentless and unforgiving.
Over time, members began to approach Lola with their request to exit the organization. Each mask that was handed back to her was painful to hold, and each conversation she had about their departure was difficult to carry. She never knew that there would be a time where she would have to say goodbye to so many members, particularly those she had known since the very beginning.
Where there was once lots of laughter and free-flowing conversation between members, there was silence. Where they were once holding their grounds firmly, they were now falling apart. No one was there to help or uplift each other’s morale when it was low.
Dojin-Kai started to feel bleak.
In the past several weeks, Lola had been in and out of the Koi. She continued to meditate and train in the space she still adored. However, she had finally decided that she would be next to leave. When she went upstairs to lock her safe for the last time along with her mask, she took out a scrapbook of all the pictures she had collected.
She remembered the classes that were held, and all the laughter shared. She remembered observing the growth in all the members as well as within herself. She remembered being proud.
She remembered the formation of an unlikely friendship and second family with the West Coast Assassins. She remembered their resilience as well as Dojin-Kai's and how it carried them up until the end of the war. She remembered the way Dojin-Kai came out of it stronger than ever before.
She remembered their undercover alias as the Mining Union and the way they protected honest workers while they worked for themselves. She would remember the first property purchased with the efforts of the members, to which they called home for a while.
She remembered the Koi, where meetings and training sessions were held. She also remembered all her Sakazuki ceremonies she shared with her trials and the way they opened up about their stories to her. She remembered her promotions, as well as the pride she felt in others for theirs. She remembered inviting other people into the Dojo, and sharing a space so intimate to the members with others.
She remembered their friendship with Murdablock – or also known as Murda-Kai or, as Lola jokingly preferred, Dojin-Block. She remembered their first meeting and way they fought and partied along one another.
She remembered new and old members, all of whom she treated like her own blooded family members and all of which made Dojin-Kai what it was until the end. She remembered all the disagreements, miscommunications, and arguments.
She also remembered the mutual forgiveness towards one another, as that is how families should be.
She closed the photo book and placed it securely into the safe. Moving forward, she could only hope that the separation of all the members would somehow bring them closer together than pull everyone apart.
To Lola, without the people of the organization, there was no longer a point or motivation to keep fighting.
Thus, she secured her final decision to retire.
