“Reina was going to come, you know, until you were late.”

YF looked over to Erika with her head leaned against the tinted window. Every Reo parent admonished their children for getting too close to windows, likely a holdover from days long past. Even though there was no harm in doing it, the sight made YF uncomfortable.

“Use the headrest,” said YF.

“I’ll do what I want,” said Erika. “But she seems very interested in you and your work all of a sudden.”

“A passing curiosity probably. Related to the crime shows you two always watch.”

“I don’t know,” said Erika in a playful tone. “She said you looked at her funny.”

“I think everyone thinks I look at them funny.”

“It’s fine to say she’s attractive.”

“She’s not,” YF protested.

Erika smirked.

“I don’t like it when you do this. If you won’t believe me then why— ” YF slammed on the brakes as he realized he was two exits past where they were supposed to get off. The car behind them honked loudly and swerved to get around them. YF could hear the driver yelling profanities out the window.

Erika glanced from her window to the front. “Sorry, should’ve helped watch.”

“Whatever,” YF hissed.

Erika didn’t reply.

YF accelerated slowly, looking to the left multiple times to check the signs for the exits. But when he resigned himself to the fact that he would have to continue for some time, he tried to switch the topic. “Enough about Reina. So how was your day?”

Erika yawned loudly. “Worked out, talked about life. Told her we’re planning on moving, which she didn’t seem very happy about but she also didn’t seem to care at the same time.”

“In the end, only you or I would care.”

Erika nodded in agreement. “How was yours?”

“They’re making us do a full audit because the cameras didn’t have vital information to the case.”

“Isn’t he just screwing with you?”

“Yeah, but the worst part is his argument kind of makes sense.”

“Did you tell him you’re moving? Why don’t you just pass it on to the next guy and take a break?” asked Erika.

YF shook his head. “No, that’d be too cruel.”

Erika tsked. “If the Kirga was filled with people like you, what a country Kazen would be.”

“A poor one,” said YF. “The Kirga can have a few good Reo, but Reoa forbid all of them are. We’d be torn apart in days when that happens.”

“There’s daywalkers in the Kirga now too you know,” said Erika.

“Then the Kirga can have a few good people,” YF corrected.

“You’re being too negative.”

“So you think I could run for the Kirga? For Itsugo district elder or something?”

Erika scoffed. “Not a chance.”

“Now who’s being negative?”

YF tried to stop thinking about Erika and her strange attitude. Instead, he continued to examine the passing exit signs again, deciding that the next one was as good as any. “I’m getting off here,” he announced.

“Wait, but nobody—”

YF lurched the vehicle onto the exit ramp, steering them down while U-turning manually across the outer ring. When he realized he could not correct his course at the speed he was going, he continued on the other path to some unknown, smaller highway. Erika grew silent, perhaps to give him space to concentrate on finding the way.

“Navigation,” YF called.

He could see the screen flicker in the corner of his eye, but the audio option in their vehicle had been turned off since they bought it. Erika liked the feature but he had found it annoying and disruptive when they were trying to talk.

“Audio on,” said YF.

“On,” the computer replied.

“Navigation,” said YF.

“Navigation on, Sakai Yasufumi detected. Where would you like to go this morning?”

At the speed they were going, YF was worried that they would not find a good place to turn, and so he exited at the nearest ramp, slowing down rapidly along the guiding light. It was then that he realized he was headed straight for the ground level of a building, something rare and generally considered dangerous in any town larger than an agricultural district.

“Home,” said YF as he brought the car to a stop.

“Calculating routes. Please wait...Okay. I have come up with three options. Would you prefer to go through Fifth Ward, National Road No. 15, or Sixth Ward, in descending order of time travelled?”

YF looked around him at the dilapidated ground level of Fifth Ward, with a few homeless people moving about the only sign of activity in the area. Normally at that hour, people should have been taking cover in the free sun shield towers placed throughout the town if they did not have anywhere to stay. But for all practical purposes almost all of the ground level in any town was covered by the levels above it, making such places perfect for roaming at all hours of the day. So YF naturally understood when Erika’s eyes widened at his choice: “Fifth Ward.”

“Yasu!” Erika whisper-shouted, grabbing onto his arm.

“It’s morning. What’s going to happen? We can get home faster.”

YF engaged the auto-pilot, expecting Erika to continue protesting.

“People here don’t give a shit about that!” Erika let go of YF and grabbed onto her harness with both hands. “This is completely stupid. You’re gonna get us killed.”

“Relax. We’ll be back before you know it.”

A few of the people roaming through the streets stopped and stared at them as they passed, unsettling Erika even more. “Stupid, stupid stupid,” she continued.

YF avoided making eye contact with her, simply making sure that no one would jump out onto the crosswalk in front of them. It was then that they approached a road barrier, with multiple men and women in trench coats standing in front of tall concrete barriers. A bright light mounted on the center barrier suddenly turned on, blinding YF and Erika and shadowing all those standing in front of them. A man with a confident posture positioned right below the light seemed to be the leader. Next to the barriers were multiple craft all manufactured twenty or even thirty years ago based on their style and lack of Sentinel Network Receivers, which would make such vehicles illegal to use — not that anyone would enforce that down here. All of the group’s cars looked heavily modified and would easily outrun YF’s plain Maeda Thunder sedan.

Two of the men who were smoking through their vape boxes shoved the devices into their holders and approached YF’s car after extending their stun batons. YF could tell that half of the group were carrying live firearms underneath the trenchcoats, an instinct he acquired on the job. He stopped the car at least thirty shaku from the barrier and rolled down his window.

“Evening sir,” YF greeted.

One of the men approached the driver’s side and spread his arms on the door, leaning through the window the way Reina had done the previous morning, though the man gave YF a very different feeling than she had. The man’s hand still held the baton, which was now pulsating very close to the steering wheel. “What’s an upper doing in these parts? Who do you work for?”

Telling him he was a Sentinel would probably not go across too well. YF looked to Erika instinctively, who was actively avoiding eye contact with both him and the man.

“Just here on a date. Late night you know. Going home, got lost,” said YF.

“A date in Fifth Ward?” the man smirked.

The second man, who was standing next to Erika’s door, removed his vape box and tapped on her door with it. “I need both of you to step out of the car. Kiss the ground first.”

YF turned off the hover system at the man’s command, causing the craft to let out an alert before descending to the concrete floor and stopping completely.

“I hope just me will suffice,” said YF. “Whatever questions you want answered, we can leave the lady out of this.” YF eyed Erika, hoping she would get the signal to drive off at the first opportunity. The vehicles these sectarians rode might outpace his; but if YF could distract them for just long enough to delay them entering their cars, Erika could make a run for it and get help.

“No can do, upper,” said the first man. “A pistol will work in a girl’s hands same as any man’s.”

“Why would we have any of those? They’re illegal, you know,” said YF.

The man chuckled. “Long Cloud Sect came out here twice already in ruses like this. Took out a few of my brothers.” The second man, as if receiving a signal, shoved his vape box back into its holster and reached a hand into his trench coat. Erika sank further into her seat.

“I can assure you, we are not Sectarians,” said YF.

“We can determine that on our own,” said the first man, his tone growing impatient. “Like my friend over there said. Step out of the car.” He motioned with his head.

YF nodded. “Please give me some space then.”

The man backed his head out of the window so that YF could open the door. After stepping out, he motioned Erika to leave from his side. The first man grabbed the top of YF’s door and slammed it shut as Erika unbuckled her harness. “She’s going to have to get off on the other side.”

The second man opened the door, bowing low with odd politeness and gesturing for her to step out. “Please, ma’am.”

Erika nodded and swung her legs over, standing up on the other side. From where he stood, YF could tell that her stance was unstable, try as she did to look normal.

“This shouldn’t take long. A quick scan of your ID and both of you will be on your way,” the first man assured as he signaled for them to follow.

YF’s heart sank. There were certain Sectarian areas the Sentinels agreed not to enter in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed — which really meant more shed blood from the latter if the two ever got into a conflict. With so little resources to patrol outer towns, the Sentinels had little choice but to strike such deals to keep the peace. Sectarians were not supposed to have scanners, but YF was not in any way surprised that they did. It would be hard to then convince them that this was not some sort of police action on their territory. Even if he and Erika came out unscathed, this would have to go on his record, which could negatively affect anything he did in the future.

“Hey what if the datastream leaks and my boss sees me roaming around here? I could get fired for that you know,” said YF. “Because nobody wants Sectarian employees,” he purposefully left out of his reasoning.

“That’s a weak argument,” said the man. “A scan showing you in lower Fifth Ward isn’t going to mean shit to any employer with half a brain. You’d need more confirmation than that to fire someone over chivalrous activities.”

“It was worth the shot.”

Erika caught up to YF and walked close by his side, hiding most of her body behind his. The two continued to advance at a slow pace behind the first man while the second pushed them forward with his intimidating presence. Whenever he came within a few paces of Erika, the second man stomped with his boot and stood still to wait for her to move forward. YF moved his body to the right to cover more of Erika, thinking of ways to push her around the second man if he needed to.

“Ueno?”

At that word YF and Erika froze. YF swung his neck to look at Erika, who by now was looking at the ground to avoid eye contact. The two men stopped in their tracks. The man standing right in front of the bright light, whose posture was so confident up until then also froze.

“Did you say something aniki?” the first man asked.

The man in front of the light coughed. “I said it’s obvious these are katagi who are lost.” He paused. “Let them go.”

“Katagi, non-sectarians. Civilians.”

“Aniki?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself, Machida.”

The first man nodded. “Right.” He turned around to face YF and Erika and bowed deeply before raising a hand toward their vehicle, a sudden, warm smile reaching across his face. “Please be on your way, and remember to watch your path next time. Kubota here will escort you back to your vehicle.” He motioned with his head to the second man.

“We’ll be fine by ourselves, thanks,” said YF.

Before the others could respond, he grabbed Erika’s arm and led her around Kubota, back to the car, opening the passenger door so she could get in. When he got into the driver’s seat, YF immediately started the car in manual mode, lifting off from the ground directly toward the expressway.

“Yasu…” Erika started, as he sped faster and faster, reaching at least thirty over the posted residential speed limit.

“Don’t talk.”