Noma Group

The **Noma Group** (乃万組, *Noma-gumi*) is a small yakuza organization based in Fukuoka under the leadership of the young Kishihara. As drug smugglers, they are rivals of other drug-pushing outfits, including the Mutagawa Group.

While the Noma Group's base is in the neighborhood of Haruyoshi, their main office is in Nakasu under the business front "Noma Commercial Affairs." They claim numerous areas in Fukuoka as their turf, including the nightlife district of Nakasu, and frequently hold business meetings in the VIP room of the nightclub 10thousand. The group also rents a soundproof music studio in Oyafukou and uses it as a torture room.

## Synopsis

### Avengers Arc

Two members of the Noma Group are meeting with a drug dealer in an alley when their transaction is interrupted by Méqué. He attacks them without hesitation, cutting their tendons with throwing knives and beating them to death with his juggling clubs. After they have been killed, he draws heart and star-shaped patterns on their cheeks in blood and hangs the bodies upside down from telephone poles, burning their drugs before leaving. The bodies are investigated by Hironobu Shigematsu and his police force later. A conflict between gangs is assumed to be the cause for the attacks, and the police halt their pursuit of a culprit.

In reality, many of the higher-ups know the killer to be Méqué, but allow him free reign due to his targeting the undesirable members of society who are hard for police to catch, including drug pushers and abusers. The drug dealer had been a client of Enokida's, and from his stolen phone, Méqué reaches out to the informant for information on abusive parents.

Due to their rivalry with the Mutagawa Group, many suspect the opposing organization to be behind the attack. The Mutagawa Group itself is wary of the attacker targeting their operations and takes precautions to protect themselves.

### Cartel Arc

The Noma Group continues pushing drugs in Hakata, coming into conflict with a smaller Chinese group that has been distributing on their turf. They hire José Martínez to torture one of the Chinese dealers, escalating the conflict between the two groups. When the Chinese group hires a professional hitman, the Noma Group responds by acquiring one of their own, hiring the Niwaka Samurai to act as Kishihara's bodyguard.

Pretending to be buying product from the Noma Group on behalf of a DEA agent acquaintance, Martínez meets two yakuza for a drug deal, but they are ambushed by Lin and several members of the Chinese group. The Chinese gang members take the pair of yakuza down and steal both the money and drugs. Shortly after, the Noma Group is contacted by a Mexican cartel called Los Eses, who are seeking to expand into the Asian drug smuggling network and distribute Australian marijuana into Japan. The cartel had previously been working with the Chinese, but seeking a more advantageous alliance, they agree to lay an ambush for the Chinese in exchange for the Noma Group's trust.

That night, when the Chinese group attempts to meet the Los Eses cartel members, they are surrounded and shot down by members of the Noma Group. As the Los Eses members trade their first ten kilograms of marijuana, they are surrounded by fake DEA agents, and Zenji Banba and Xianming Lin jump into the pack of Noma Group members, laying them unconscious left and right. While the two hitmen pursue the Los Eses members, Martínez and Ricardo Seiya Ortega bind the unconscious Noma Group members together, and Ricardo reports their arrest to the DEA.

After the incident, the police begin paying more attention to the Noma Group's activities, impeding their business in Fukuoka.