dunno about the rest of Y8 but god, even after all these years apart Kiryu STILL bows down in front of Majima and calls him "Majima no nii-san". It's been decades since he's left the Yakuza and yet.
someone get me some tissues a bitch bout to sob her eyes out
My heart just absolutely breaks thinking what if Majima knew beforehand that Kiryu's days were numbered but he was in denial, refusing to believe that a fucking illness of all things would put the nail in the Dragon's coffin. So when they finally meet in that shack, he starts their conversation with a taunt, because he needs to see it for himself to believe it. To come to terms with the fact that Kiryu is actually dying.
And so, they fight. It gets real ugly real quick and by the end of it, Majima's eye is glazed over with a terrifying realisation as he stands over Kiryu's beaten body, his breathing more laboured than it had any right to be.
Going into the fight, Majima wanted to be absolutely crushed by those large hands, years of pent up feelings and frustration being pounded down onto him. That way he'd know that the Dragon was still alive and kicking. That his Kiryu-chan was not actually dying an excruciatingly slow death.
But his victory rings like a funeral toll in his ears. This is all wrong. Kiryu Kazuma is supposed to his perfect rival, his true equal. The only one who could tame the Mad Dog. Not the bleeding, coughing mess of a man that laid underneath him. This couldn't be happening.
But when Kiryu looked at Majima, he felt more than saw the remnants of wildfire in the Dragon's eyes, flickering away more and more by the second. It took every single fibre of Majima's being to not end the poor bastard's life right there.
What was the use anyway—the Dragon was already dead.
its gutwrenching to think about majima in all this. he’s been “ready to die” since age 20 and has thrown himself in front of bullets and knives for kiryu- but somehow, against his will, he lives long enough to see kiryu get cancer and be faced with the possibility of outliving him. the last thing he’d ever want to live to see. I imagine he feels like the definition of a dead man walking; like he should’ve been gone years ago and yet he’s still here, out of place, watching his world crumble around him
I'm still reeling from that trailer but good god my heart just absolutely breaks thinking about Majima here. More than 2 decades ago this man told Kiryu that he's the only one allowed to kill him and he put himself through Tojo's shitpile over and over again just to make real on that damn promise.
But now something else is taking Kiryu's life, bit by bit and Majima can't hack it or stab it or burn it or destroy it. Because that would mean killing Kiryu himself. And he will not let that bastard have an easy way out goddamnit—they're not fucking done yet.
There's so much unsaid between them, there's so much left to do. Majima wants...no fuck that. He needs so much more from Kiryu. He's too fucking old to fight his feelings away and he's been through too fucking much to pretend otherwise. Kiryu doesn't get to do this. He doesn't get to be the one to leave while Majima stays—not again, never again.
God GOD can you imagine Y8 pulling the most heartwrenching Y0 parallel by making Kiryu die in Majima's arms and Haruka arriving just a second too late, holding her dad's face in her hands and just sobbing uncontrollably. "You're just sleeping, right, Uncle Kiryu? It's okay, you can rest now" and that finally pushes Majima over the edge as he lets his own tears fall, clutching Kiryu's increasingly cold body by one hand while the other gently strokes Haruka's hair, holding both of them close with strength he doesn't have.
