Erika took the bus to the station headed for Nishida City that evening, something she almost never did. They had eaten breakfast together with very few words exchanged, with Erika leaving the house first. A while after she had left, YF received a text from her saying “Let’s eat out in the morning.”

YF didn’t reply to that, instead heading straight for the Itsugo Sentinel Station. The station was a bland, dilapidated structure made in his great grand father’s time. The whole east wing was determined to be unsafe for use halfway through YF’s time there, though to that

day no repairs had started on it. As such, the conference rooms in the west wing were all repurposed into makeshift offices, and multiple people were crammed into existing desks. It should not have been so difficult to find desk space for three hundred people, but somehow it was. The close quarters along with the burden of only having one Sentinel per thousand Itsugo residents, it did not make for a pleasant working environment.

YF found one of the empty spaces and sat down, thinking about what he was going to say to Magistrate Kuroda about the audit.

“All right listen up!” The magistrate burst through the automatic door, looking much more irritated than usual. “You all heard about the incident in Sector 55.”

YF stood up along with everyone else. But on the mention of “Sector 55”, he remembered that it was in the Sentinel part of Fifth Ward, the same ward where the sectarian barrier was.

“The Ward Police will be here soon. Sakai!” Kuroda looked at him.

“Yes sir!”

“Take them to The Antelope for debriefing. Cooperate in any way you can.”

“That’s it?”

“And come to my office, now.” Kuroda waved once to indicate that everyone should return to their tasks before going to his office and scanning his hand on the door, stomping inside.

YF brought his lips into a line and bit down lightly before nodding at no one in particular. “Yes sir.”

He made sure his receiver was in his pocket before slowly walking to the magistrate’s office. After he opened, then closed the door, he braced himself to deal with an angrier Kuroda than he had ever seen.

“What’s going on?” asked Kuroda.

“There was no auxiliary footage sir.”

“That’s what Uraga told me.” Kuroda held his pen between his index and middle finger, resting his elbow on the desk and pointing the tip at YF. “Don’t play games with me Sakai. You’re telling me some ghost did the deed in a blind spot with no cameras?”

“That’s not what I’m suggesting, sir.”

“Uraga also told me about the audit.”

YF nodded.

“You.” He breathed in and out. “You will dig up the footage even if you need to visit every single camera in town. Every. Single. One.”

YF nodded. “Yes sir.”

Kuroda grabbed his vape box and took a long inhale, seeming to relax when he was done. He held his forehead with the pen hand, gesturing with the vape box for YF to leave the office. “Go get ready. They’ll be here in twenty minutes.”

YF left the office and went back to his desk, instinctively pulling out the oracle card that Reina had given him. He smiled stupidly to himself — the image of her pulling it out of her black lace panty waistband cheered him up more than he wanted to admit. He placed the card down on the desk and connected his receiver with the mobile terminal already sitting there. As he opened the files on the case, he tried to push down both the image of Reina and the guilt that came with thinking about her, focusing on the work ahead.

YF’s sector – Sector 55 -- had one automated patrol drone and his own manually piloted one. The automated one was far from the scene at the time of the crime, and he had sent the manual drone to the area when the woman reported the crime. He replayed the footage a few times, watching as the drone appeared over the edge of the building to reveal the dark figure of the man laying on the ground with the woman sitting far away from him. No matter how many times he reviewed the video, there was nothing more he could glean from it. He decided to use the last few minutes to read his notes and the description of the crime from the woman.

From the corner of his eye, YF saw a group of four people walking through the entrance to the west wing, with Honda and a Nishida Homicide Detective named Shoda next to her. YF didn’t recognize Shoda’s partner, but he did recognize the final person of the group.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

It was the woman named Fujii, the one he had tried to help get away from Uraga. She didn’t even work at the Ward Office, what was she doing there?

The entire Itsugo office stood up out of respect and bowed, saying “good evening” in unison.

“Good evening,” said Shoda and his partner.

“Good evening,” Honda repeated.

“Good evening,” Fujii added timidly.

Shoda stood with his chest open and arms apart. “I believe everyone knows why we’re here, so let’s cut to the chase. Sakai. I heard there’s a place to discuss sensitive matters such as these?”

“Yes sir,” said Sakai. He set his receiver to business card mode and held it horizontally, approaching the group of Ward Police staff. “My name is Sakai Yasufumi. Please take care of me,” he said before bowing and holding out his receiver so the four could see. The Nishida personnel followed suit; to Honda’s credit, she executed the ritual greeting perfectly despite obviously not wanting to.

“I am Honda Junko. Please take care of me.”

“I am Shoda Junichiro. Please take care of me.”

“I am Higashi Seiji. Please take care of me.”

“I am Fujii Kaori. Please take care of me.”

Honda, Shoda, and Higashi bowed at less of an angle as was accepted by their difference in rank, while Fujii bowed at the same level that YF did. Then the five of them including YF swiped upward on their receivers simultaneously to send the digital business cards to each others’ receivers.

“Please follow me,” said YF.

The Antelope was a large, four-story cafe where the conference room on the top floor was now given priority for Sentinel uses until the East Wing was repaired. Which meant, forever. There must have been something that the owner was getting in return but YF had never figured out exactly what. More security from the Sentinels was not much of a perk, and multiple drones patrolled the area nearby before the arrangement anyway. The owner was a rich local man who owned multiple other businesses and contributed to the Itsugo Sentinel Station’s upkeep, constantly expressing in the papers how much he valued their service. YF never liked people like him, but he always found it hard to express his reasons for that.

When the five of them entered the first floor of the Antelope, the receptionist at the podium waved them toward the stairs after bowing. There were some cafes and restaurants in Nishida City with fully mobile androids to take orders. But in a place like Itsugo, one still had to order on a receiver and wait for an actual waitress to come with the drinks. Whether in Itsugo, or Nishida, or Akeha, humans were still cheaper to maintain than androids. But Itsugo was not a place that cared much for the pretense of class. Maybe that was why Reina lived there.

The five entered the conference room and shut the soundproof door, all of them taking up seats around the table with YF nearest to the door and Honda at the very end facing the door. They then proceeded to connect to The Antelope with their receivers and order in silence. Honda slammed her receiver on the table before YF could even pull his out. Fujii took the longest.

Shoda leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms. He then lifted his left jacket flap, pulling out a vape box and taking a long inhale. “I did have a few questions Sakai, before I hand you off to the ladies here.” He nodded to the scowling Honda. Fujii was staring at the floor. Shoda activated the terminal built into the conference table in front of him, pressing and swiping the screen a few times. “So lets begin. You said that you responded to a blue light distress call.”

“Yes that is correct,” YF replied.

“The woman who pressed the button. This…Takahashi Momoko.” Shoda’s tone revealed everything he thought about such commoner names, and the commoners to whom they belonged.

“Yes sir.”

“She made use of the shield dispenser.”

“By the time I arrived in person it had evaporated. But the drone caught the shield, yes.”

Shoda looked up from the table display. “Are you sure?”

YF was not, but he tried hard not to show it on his face. “Yes.”

“I need a definitive answer Sakai. You’re wavering.”

He thought of the fact that the dispenser was pointed toward the woman when he arrived on the scene. “Yes there was a shield.”

“And the ID scan on the victim,” Shoda continued.

“The autopsy report came in this morning.” YF was thankful he had read that document in on the way in. “The ID was mangled and unreadable. We do not know who this Yamada Taro is.”

Shoda waved his vape box hand in the air a few times. “Fine fine. So Mr. Yamada was wearing a long dark coat. Seems sectarian to me.”

“Autopsy does not indicate any sectarian marks, sir,” said YF.

“Not every sectarian has marks.”

“But I believe someone targeted so precisely would.”

Shoda nodded, taking a long inhale. At that moment, a waitress brought them all their drinks, with Shoda, Honda, and YF all picking some sort of generic black coffee and Fujii, a latte.

“Thank you ma’am,” Shoda nodded to the waitress. “Thank you,” the others repeated.

Shoda drained half of his drink despite how hot it looked before continuing. “Very good Sakai. Yes, someone killed like this would have to mean something in his sect. He would be marked, I agree.” He swiped across the table once. “Sakai, have you contacted the manufacturer of the cameras? The drone?”

“The physical clock failsafes are not bypassable sir. We would know instantly if there was a loop in the cameras.”

Shoda shook his head. “It’s difficult to do it. It’s not impossible.”

YF tried to think of ways that a disconnected clock with time readings invisible to the naked eye could be tampered with. He had personally overseen their replacement within the first year of arriving in the office. The only way he could think of to mess with them was to physically access them, which no footage suggested anyone had. All of that footage dating back to four years go would likely have to be reviewed for Honda’s audit.

Shoda continued. “Higashi and I will revisit the scene of the crime and gather what we can. We will question the woman some more, we will need access to your drone, and we will probably make at least one visit to the morgue back in Nishida. But I have a feeling that you and Honda will find some important details along the way as well.”

Higashi nodded. Honda continued to scowl, and Fujii continued to look down.

Shoda pointed at YF. “My point is, Sakai, that you should not view this audit as busywork or as some sort of punishment. It is very important to the investigation, and you are an integral part of this team.”

When YF first joined the Sentinels, such talk would easily motivate him. Now years later, he recognized the subtle ways good leaders motivated their people to do good work. Still, he had to admire Shoda’s skills. There was a reason people liked him.

“Sir I didn’t view this as a punishment. Just a part of the job,” said YF.

“Good,” said Shoda, patting YF’s shoulder with his free hand. He then turned to Honda. “Then we’re all done here. He’s all yours.”

Shoda and Higashi stood up, bowing to the group. Honda, Fujii, and YF rose and bowed as well. Then the two detectives exited the conference room.

“Now, onto the meat,” said Honda. She turned on the terminal in front of her seat and swiped a few times across the desk. “As Shoda said, they’re taking your drone so we brought one with a different manufacturer – at Shoda’s insistence – but with a similar design. I’m sure you can figure it out. The important thing is you need to train Ms. Fujii on how to use it. She isn’t certified for field work, so the two of us will go out to the cameras together.”

YF turned to Fujii, who slowly turned her head to face him. The fact that she had been avoiding eye contact the entire time until then unsettled him. It made no sense for her to be sitting there since she was an administrator from another Village Office. She didn’t work at the Ward Office, nor was she a Sentinel. The only logical explanation was that Uraga was getting back at him somehow. Perhaps training a secretary on how to use a police drone was Uraga’s odd way of vengeance.

“It…it might take a while,” said YF.

“One day, max. I won’t spend more than that on some sort of video game.” Honda turned to Fujii. “Keep up.”

“Operating a live drone is not a video game,” thought YF.

“Yes ma’am!” Fujii replied.

“When we get back I’m going to sort out this mess in the archive room and start filling out the Ward Office part of it. I expect at least ten cameras’ worth of footage a day,” said Honda.

“Going back four years,” said YF. “That would be impossible.”

“Are you asking or telling? It seems like you’re asking.” Honda clasped her hands together and placed her elbows on the desk. “What do you think Sakai? You tell me,” she said.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good. Let’s get to work.”

***

Honda, Fujii, and YF were the only three still left in the office into third hour, when the sun was already getting stronger and the rest of the office had already left. Fujii was surprisingly adept at piloting the drone, making YF feel bad for assuming she wouldn’t be. But even then, she needed more practice if she was going to do any real work. Flying it was one thing, picking up objects was another.

“You need to descend,” said YF.

“If I get any closer the rotors will hit the park bench,” Fujii protested.

“No, they won’t. Descend.”

The two of them watched the simulator intently as Fujii brought the drone lower toward the package. She then went to extend the claw but hit the accelerate button instead, driving the drone into the back of the bench.

“I need a break,” said YF, standing up.

“I’m going too,” said Fujii.

As YF exited through the west wing door with Fujii following close behind, he could see Honda glance up at them once before continuing with her work. YF made his way to a vending machine and picked one of the stronger canned coffees in anticipation of how drowsy he would be on the way home. He retrieved the drink then sat down next to the machine, staring through the tinted barrier that partially blocked the outside corridor from the light. As he gazed at the suns, YF thought back to the sectarian encounter and the man in front of the light, a light that shadowed all but his silhouette like the suns now did to the trees. The man had let them go upon recognizing Erika, which made YF wonder if the two had been in contact recently. YF normally defaulted to trusting Erika, but that incident and his argument with her after had shaken that to the core. It made him rethink what Eiji had said about her and Hiroyuki; this time, the thought irritated him more than before.

He could hear Fujii approaching from the side, pressing some button on the machine and then retrieving her own drink.

“Mr. Sakai.”

“What?” asked YF.

“I did…have something to tell you.”

YF looked up to see her holding the same canned coffee he was holding. “What?” he repeated, pulling the tab off of his coffee and taking a sip.

“I know I’m the reason you lost your dream.”

YF suddenly felt a surge of rage from within rising to his chest as he stood up, glaring at her. “You don’t know me!” he shouted. He then lowered his voice to a whisper “And I don’t know why you’re here.”

“I…” she stopped speaking, a few tears escaping the sides of her eyes. “I’m here to make amends.”

YF quickly realized his problems with Erika, Uraga, Honda and everyone else had caused his outburst. He then felt shame for choosing to release his stress on the one person who wouldn’t defend herself.

YF raised his hands in contrition. “Sorry…things have been rough. I don’t even know what you’re talking about and you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m sorry.”

“No…because of that incident…”

“You mean the one four years ago? Look, if anyone’s to blame it’s Uraga. Not you. Let’s just not talk about it.”

“But if I had defended myself first you wouldn’t be in this situation. You’d be at the academy—"

YF could hear himself getting irritated again, though he forced it down. “Who told you about my issues with the academy?”

“Tokai—”

“Eiji.”

“That bastard,” YF slammed his fist on the machine, causing Fujii to jump. “When’d he say that?”

“The annual meeting. The afterparty.”

The afterparty of the annual ward meeting. The afterparty where he intervened between Uraga and Fujii. The afterparty he stopped going to after that incident.

“This whole thing is overblown,” said YF trying to calm his breathing. “You’re jumping to some major conclusions here.”

“Uraga’s aunt is the head of the Nishida Board of Testing,” Fujii whispered.

YF’s heart skipped a beat. “How do you know this? And so what if she is?”

“I have access to many records…after Tokai told me I did some digging and figured it all out.”

“What is one person going to do? The Board has many members—”

“I suspect she just shredded the application,” said Fujii.

YF held his head in his hands. At that moment, his receiver rang. YF lowered his hands and pulled the receiver out of his pocket. It was Eiji. Under the indicator for his call were at least twenty notifications from Erika.

“Ah shit I forgot she said something about eating together.”

But all thoughts on that evaporated when he thought about Eiji telling Fujii about the academy. He pressed “Accept”.

“Eiji, you—”

“He’s with her again,” YF heard on the other end. He didn’t need to ask what that meant. YF dropped his receiver and sank to the ground, sobbing. There was little he could expect from Uraga, Honda, Eiji, or anyone else related to the job. But those words from Eiji shattered the last, already crumbling, pillar of stability he thought he had.

“Mr…Sakai…?”

YF looked up to see Fujii with tears streaming down her face, a hand extended toward him.

“Don’t touch me!” He smacked her hand away and into the machine, causing her to yelp in surprise.

“I-I-I’m sorry. I just need some…I’m going…finish up what you need to on the program and log out,” he said.

YF got up and ran toward the barrier exit, only to feel a sharp tug on his jacket, forcing him to about face and bump into Fujii. After staggering a few steps, Fujii reached up to his neck ring and pressed the button to engage his sun shield. She then let go, bowing a few times as she wiped her tears. YF didn’t say anything, instead, turning and dashing out through the exit.