Charles originally thought the Spirit World would come to him first, but Stella's side progressed even faster.
No matter how many industries the yakuza run or how they package themselves, it doesn't change the fact that violence is their core.
And unfortunately for them, when it comes to violence, Stella outclassed everyone.
So even without much in the way of business methods or backing from financial conglomerates, Stella led a ragtag bunch and, in a surprising way, became one of Tokyo's biggest syndicates.
By doing so, she earned a seat at the underworld's negotiating table.
Of course, violence can't solve everything—especially in a world shaped by the "old thief." Wealth and power can't be ignored.
A handful of true power brokers in the underworld didn't have much combat strength themselves, but the force they could command was anything but weak.
Compared to them, Stella could be called penniless. Even so, she was now connected to the extraordinary circles.
And those circles were much larger than Charles had first imagined. Yokai were only a small part of them.
This was still the Human World; humans made up the majority.
Beyond spirit users secluded in the deep mountains, exorcists, onmyoji, and ninja moved among ordinary society.
Most numerous of all were the martial artists; dojos with proper lineages had methods for harnessing spiritual power.
Over the past few days Stella also gathered some basic intel. As for the source:
The former yakuza boss whom Stella's underlings had threatened to turn into a concrete pile contributed quite a lot.
Heaven bear witness—he'd been eating hot pot and singing on his own turf when people stormed in.
The bodyguards he'd hired at great expense didn't last a single move against that girl who looked barely in her teens. What else could he do?
Stella wasn't a devil. After making him hand over all his resources, she had her boys escort him to the police station to surrender.
That was already the best outcome for him. How could someone in the underworld not have enemies? For a man with nothing left, prison might be safer.
Through the newly acquired intel channels, Charles noticed a particular figure.
Tsurugane Genzō, the underworld's big jeweler—a parvenu whose photo barely looked human.
Charles couldn't fathom what irregular skull shape could make a person look like that.
People say money is stained with the blood and tears of laborers—usually a figure of speech—but Tsurugane's wealth truly came from others' pain and tears.
Among Japan's yokai, one famous race is the snow women. They were especially unusual in this world, because their tears were the rarest gem—ice tear stones.
Tsurugane had imprisoned a snow woman, amassing a fortune from her tears. That snow woman was Yukina, sister of Hiei from the main cast.
You could call Tsurugane the vilest scum—he could die a hundred times and it wouldn't be a pity.
His end wasn't great either: first ruined in a setup that bankrupted him, and in the end he lost his life.
When Stella learned what he'd done, she couldn't help herself. If she'd known where he was keeping Yukina, she would have charged in to rescue her on the spot.
Charles, however, knew the Spirit World had tabs on Tsurugane. In the original story, Koenma assigned Yusuke Urameshi the mission to save Yukina, which led to the gamble that cost Tsurugane everything.
With that in mind, Charles decided to find Yusuke and Botan to see if he could get some intel.
But Yusuke should be busy with his revival trial these days.
His trial was to hatch a Spirit World Beast egg given by Koenma. The egg would absorb the hatcher's inner emotions as nourishment to grow.
If the hatcher held a kind heart, a harmless creature would emerge—and Yusuke could revive.
If the opposite, a fierce beast would hatch and devour Yusuke.
In Charles's view, this trial was cleared from the start. Though Yusuke looked like a delinquent on the surface, he had always had a kind heart. Otherwise he wouldn't have died saving someone.
That said, Yusuke did need to temper his temperament. The trial would be good for him.
When Charles arrived at Yusuke's home, however, he found only police tape and a charred ruin.
He then remembered that the last step of Yusuke's revival was a choice.
Amid a fire, without hesitation, Yusuke gave up his chance to revive and used the energy in the Spirit Beast egg to save Keiko Yukimura from the flames, and thus was allowed to return to life.
The fire had been two days ago. By that timeline, Yusuke should already be revived.
The next day at school, Charles ran into someone unexpected.
A child under a meter tall in retro blue-green clothes, a cap embroidered with a big "王," and "Jr." on the brim.
Most striking was the pacifier in his mouth, which gathered the strongest energy Charles had felt in this world.
Koenma—the son of King Enma, ruler of the Spirit World—the one who had arranged Yusuke's revival and made him a Spirit Detective.
They were alone in the faculty office. Charles sat with one leg crossed, looking at Koenma standing atop the desk.
"Well now, a real big shot. For Lord Koenma to deign to come here in person—do you have instructions for me?"
Koenma's gaze was very serious, though his heart was anything but calm!
Unlike Botan, he'd constantly poured his spiritual power into the sealing pacifier at his lips, leaving him weakened—but his realm was unchanged.
So he could see it: Charles was like a dormant volcano, with world-ending power seething within.
You've got to be kidding me! How can there be a human like this? He's scarier than my old man. Those guys didn't have a single piece of intel on him—dock their pay when I get back!
No—calm down! If I provoke him here, we're finished!
After bracing himself, Koenma said, "A pleasure to meet you. I heard about you from Botan and Yusuke and was curious to see you for myself."
"And now that you've seen me," Charles said, "what's your impression?"
"Scary enough to kill," Koenma said frankly. "If you got serious, you might be able to destroy this world."
Koenma knew that with someone of Charles's caliber, straightforwardness was the best approach. Trying to play word games would only backfire.
Charles smiled. "Relax. I'm not crazy enough to do something like destroy the world."
Koenma let out a long breath. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. He doubted Charles would lie—someone at that level disdained falsehoods, and there was no need anyway.
"In that case, I'm reassured. That's the only reason I came today."
"Is that so? I thought you were here to warn me to behave in the Human World," Charles said with a grin.
"A warning is just bluster," Koenma replied, meeting his gaze. "If you truly intended to do something that endangered this world, we would stop you even if it cost us everything.
"And you understand that as well—so warnings would be pointless.
"Of course, the Spirit World won't interfere with anything you do. And if there's anything you need our help with, we'll do our best."
Charles couldn't help looking at the seemingly unreliable Koenma in a new light; in his memory, Koenma was quite willful.
Yet in this exchange he had been neither servile nor overbearing—he stated his stance clearly without provoking Charles in the slightest.
He even left room for deeper ties in the future. Fitting indeed for someone who could manage the Spirit World in King Enma's stead.