The Florist of Sai, also known as Kage the Florist, was a Japanese information broker and former policeman who was based in Tokyo from the 1980s to 2000s.
Biography[]
Kage was born in Tokyo, Japan, and he became a police officer with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. During that time, he made a business out of selling information on the black market until he was busted by his colleague Makoto Date. He responded by abandoning his family and quite literally going underground, establishing a base of operations in an old subway station which he refurbished into an underground pleasure district nicknamed Sai no Kawara ("Purgatory"). The "Florist of Sai", using his kowledge from his time on the police force, gained control of the 50 cameras installed by the TMPD in Kabukicho during the 1980s for anti-terrorism purposes and used them as his first assets for a district-wide surveillance network. By 2005, the Florist had expanded this network to 10,000 hidden cameras across Kabukicho and an army of homeless people he used as informants, and he also presided over a large gambling den and several brothels which attracted droves of high-paying customers. The Florist acquired a reputation as the man who knew everything that was going on in Tokyo, and he was highly sought after by people willing to pay top dollar for valuable, secret information.
In December 2005, the Florist's old colleague Date recommended the Florist to the ex-yakuza Kazuma Kiryu, who was looking for leads as he and Date investigated the brewing conflict within the Tojo-kai yakuza clan. The Florist harbored a strong dislike for the yakuza, but he agreed to help Kiryu after Kiryu proved himself by emerging as the new champion in Purgatory's underground coliseum. The Florist established a set of rules with Kiryu, namely that he always expected payment for his services lest his reputation take a blow, and that he was always true to his word. He came to befirend Kiryu, occasionally helping him without charge, having been touched when Kiryu helped the Florist's son Takashi Fujiwara take on the Atobe-gumi to defend his illicit love with Patriarch Naoki Atobe's daughter Kyoka Atobe without the Florist requesting Kiryu's help. The Florist's partnership with Kiryu also led to him patching up his relationship with Date, his former colleague and rival.
In 2006, the Florist was subcontracted by the police and moved to the Millennium Tower's 50th floor, delegating Purgatory's management to Goro Majima of the Majima-gumi. He helped Daigo Dojima locate the bombs planted in Kabukicho by the Omi Alliance during the war between the Tojo-kai and the Omi Alliance that year, and, from 2007 to 2009, he borrowed West Park from Majima as Majima built the Kabukicho Hills development there. In 2010, the Florist helped Majima's sworn brother Taiga Saejima after Saejima, like Kiryu, proved himself in the Florist's underground coliseum. By that time, Takashi - who was working for the Florist - asked who his father was, and, while the Florist said that Takashi's father was dead, he sent him mourning flowers as a successful hint that he - "the Florist" - was Takashi's father. In 2012, he helped Masato Aizawa and Taiga Saejima track down Yu Morinaga, whom he discovered had been murdered, possibly by Naoki Katsuya.