The firemen of Ryoko Owari are fairly unique; most other
cities delegate this important
task to official city employees. However, the
“freelance” situation imposed by the sixth
governor has worked well enough, and Shosuro Hyobu takes the attitude that “since it isn’t
broken, why fix it?” She pays the local “fire
departments” a small stipend yearly, but it’s much
less than she’d have to pay for a formal fire
department, and that helps her make up the
shortfalls caused by heavy Imperial Taxes. She
also finds it useful to have street-level allies who
aren’t afraid of a bit of shady business.
Some kajinin are like street gangs; others are
more like a neighborhood watch. Their attitude
towards crime varies widely from group to group.
There are two things every fire-fighting group has
in common, however. First, they are good at
putting out fires, and they take their job seriously.
It’s a point of pride and honor for even the most
debased and thuggish of the firemen to be able to quench a blaze quickly and efficiently. It also
makes the rest of their activities more palatable
to themselves and their victim clients. Secondly,
they are loyal to Hyobu, but even more loyal to
each other. After all, if someone’s going to be your
backup in a fierce conflagration, you want to trust
the guy, right?
