“The part as requested.”

Toa held the scramble reflector up to examine the bottom. “You dropped it.”

YF held his head in his hands, doing all he could to suppress his frustration. “But does it work?” He demanded in a whisper-shout.

“Do not get aggressive with me,” Toa warned. “If you so much as pluck a hair off my head you will be lying face down in the Ginga River by morning.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just—”

“Financial difficulties? I know a thing nor two about those.” Toa shoved the scramble reflector in her cylindrical pack-droid’s storage compartment and pulled out YF’s original identification module, handing it to him. “But you have to keep it cool, bro. Or you have to change your financial situation yourself if you don’t like it. How do you think people end up like your brother?”

YF held up a finger. “Now you don’t talk about my brother. That’s crossing a line.”

“No it’s not,” said Toa. “I know the difference between crossing a line and telling you what you need to hear.”

YF was unsure if he had seen anyone with the confidence or posture of the young fixer. The way she carried herself was definitely a step above Honda, and even Reina. This must be the reward for having skills so indispensable that she could serve multiple rival Sects, remain unmarked to any of them, and yet have all of them willing to kill on her behalf at the snap of a finger.

“So you going to hear what I have to say?” asked Toa.

“What?” YF replied.

“I know you don’t like your Mr. Aritomo Zaibatsu executive brother. Nobody does. But even a faulty clock can be right once a day, as you are finding out with your little policeman task.”

“Who says I don’t like him?”

“What makes one of our own Itsugo boys pay any price to amass wealth, marry pure-blood women, and claw his way to the top of Kazen society?”

YF didn’t have to think long to answer that one. “He didn’t want to be feeling what I’m feeling right now.”

“Which is?”

“Humiliated, helpless.”

Toa rested a hand on the droid, her tone growing softer. “It’s not my intention to humiliate you, bro. But seeing as you feel that way, I want to give you some advice. There’s nothing wrong with stepping off this path. You’re requesting my help because you’re about to do something dangerous.” Toa pressed a button on the droid and a tray popped out with a chip, ostensibly the hacking device YF had asked for. “But something neither I nor sis nor anyone will stand for is a man who takes half measures.” Toa spread her arms, her palms facing upward. “There’s nothing wrong with stepping off this path,” she repeated. “An Itsugo Sentinel is still a respectable job. I should know, I was assisted from a few sticky situations by watchmen like yourself, before I found ways to protect myself.”

“So you’re saying I’m cutting corners to solve this murder case, but the case won’t be solved unless I do, and if I am going to push the limit I should commit.”

Toa snapped her fingers and pointed at him. “Precisely. Are you sure you want to know what comes at the end of that road?”

YF’s eyes narrowed. He folded his arms. “It’s a crime to withhold information about the case, if you know anything.”

Toa rolled her eyes. “Listen to yourself talk. Where do you think we are? What do you think this is?”

YF stared, waiting for her to continue.

“No I don’t know anything about your Yamada Taro,” said Toa. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a hunch about what this all is. What I’m trying to say is this: your whole attitude needs to be one where your first thought when you’re uncomfortable is what you can do about it. Second, make a plan to do something about it; third, take the first few steps to rectify your situation. What you shouldn’t be doing is pulling your hair out when you feel a bit of money pressure.”

YF scratched the back of his neck. “I guess that means you won’t be giving me a discount.”

Toa smiled gently. “I don’t think that will help you.”

“You’re very mature for your age,” said YF.

“How do you think one of our own Itsugo girls ends up a gadget broker instead of dreaming of being a pure-blood princess?”

YF tsked. “I can’t imagine you wanting to be someone like Hayashi Reina, Hata Yui, Oki Ayane, or Naka Ai.”

“You’d be surprised,” said Toa.

YF thought he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Toa tapped the top of her droid. “But back to the topic at hand. My guess is that you’ve been presented with many tough decisions and opportunities, and much personal space to think those through.”

He felt a pain in his chest thinking about his separation with Erika and the events that led up to it. “You know about Erika?”

“Please let’s not make this too personal,” said Toa holding up a hand. “Just that I’m not an idiot. Now that you have some space to think things through, how are you going to fix your problems?”

YF thought about Kigali’s offer with the mods for the Ward Office. He thought about the odd situation of Viper Sect’s outfitted vehicles, the man who had threatened him over the audit, Fujii, and even his issues with Erika. YF looked down at the chip laying on the droid’s tray.

“Are you ready?” asked Toa.

YF nodded and plucked the chip off the tray.

***

“I hope your weekend went well,” said Magistrate Kuroda.

But every time YF was pulled into the magistrate’s office something was wrong. “Tell it to me straight sir,” he said.

“You’re going to have to surrender your bike to the Nats.”

The National Bureau of Public Safety was the highest body of law enforcement in Kazen. The level of escalation shocked YF speechless.

Kuroda sighed. “Sakai nobody thinks you kidnapped Hayashi Reina. But they are combing every Tanaka R1 they can find in all the Thirty Wards, checking the vendors who sold them, the manufacturer tags, if anyone is missing a bike, the whole works.” Kuroda blew out a long puff of smoke and lowered his vape box. “It’s just a formality. But they’ve notified all the magistrates of the order and everyone has to do it. Even Ichikawa back there has to turn up to the station with his bike.” Kuroda raised the fist clutching his vape box toward Ichikawa.

“So I just ride it here?” asked YF.

Kuroda nodded. “By next week. I’ll put in a request for them to process your bike faster so you can get it back. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

But YF was not concerned about the convenience. He simply didn’t have the bike. He was sure that the warehouse with all the Tanaka R1s in Nishida West Scrapyard was now swarming with mercs or said bikes had been moved somewhere else. As he stared at Magistrate Kuroda he thought about reporting it as stolen but felt that would only create a shortcut to being found out. YF battled the feeling of panic quickly rising from his core, thinking about Toa’s advice. “Are you ready?” he could hear her ask.

“Yes,” he heard himself say.

Kuroda raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I meant yes sir. I will bring the bike in next week.”

“Good. Gokurosama. Get out there with Honda and tell her I said not to bust your balls.”

“Thanks sir.”

***

“I brought the idea up to Uraga, he didn’t like it,” said Honda.

Without a contract to procure vehicle mods for Nishida Ward, his first plan to change his dead-end situation seemed to have gone up in flames. YF looked the middle-aged woman up and down, thinking about what to say next.

Honda shrugged her shoulders. “And I really worked on it too. Didn’t mention your name or anything. He still wouldn’t go for it.”

“Odd how straight laced he can be on some things and not on others.”

She shook her finger at him. “Not everything is as it appears, Sakai.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you seem to like to jump to conclusions. I would reinvestigate some of those, if I were you.”

YF waved her off and headed back into The Antelope.

***

“Could you check the history of firmware updates on the cameras from that one batch we kept looking at?”

“Sure,” Fujii replied.

Ever since that evening Honda had messaged him using Fujii’s ID, the latter seemed to grow colder and more distant. It was odd because Fujii clearly didn’t send those messages, so the change did not make much sense. Perhaps her initial desire to help him on the audit took a bigger toll than he had thought. Perhaps it was because she was still housing his wife and her friend. Whatever the case was, she obviously resented YF more as the days went by, and seemed to want as minimal interaction with him as possible.

“Mr. Sakai I hope you don’t think I have anything against you. I just feel myself getting more and more tired these days. Perhaps it’s the onset of age.”

YF felt like she was definitely lying, but didn’t want to pursue the matter further.

“Ms. Ueno and Ms. Hayashi will be moving to Ikusayama soon, Ms. Ueno’s hometown. She wanted me to let you know,” said Fujii.

“When?” asked YF.

“Ms. Ueno has already put in her letter of resignation. Probably by the end of the month they will leave for the home island.”

For thousands of years the smaller of two islands of Kazen was more rural, poorer, and more socially and politically conservative than the main island where the capital and most of the country’s economic and cultural activity were. Still, the legend was that their people had come out of the smaller island, and thus even the Akehan elites whose families may not have stepped foot on the “home” island in thousands of years could still call it home.

YF patted the top of her chair. “Thanks for letting me know. I need to check something for the investigation. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Fujii nodded. “Have a good evening.”

YF put on his coat and headed for the stairs.

***

The third time YF entered Viper Sect territory nobody stopped him or gave him any trouble. Still, he felt it wise to leave his car at the shotengai entrance with one of Uwada’s men, deciding to enter the area on foot.

The first place he thought of going to was the home of Takahashi Momoko. YF knew that Shoda and Higashi had probably checked the house multiple times and questioned all of the woman’s neighbors as well, though it couldn’t hurt for him to take a look.

YF yawned loudly as he walked down the shopping street. Conducting his own investigations while still performing the camera audit during normal working hours was taking its toll on him. His footsteps grew heavier as he went and he merely followed the directions of the navigation on his earpiece, turning when told to turn, and going straight otherwise.

When he finally paused to assess his position, he was caught off guard first by how quiet the area was and second that he couldn’t see the main road anymore. From his memory of flying his drone on the evening of the murder, however, YF recognized that he was near the scene of the crime. Takahashi must have lived nearby.

YF turned left at the next intersection and continued toward what looked like a residential area at the end of the alley. When he paused, the sound of footsteps did not stop with him.

YF about faced to see a group of men with sunvisors completely covering their faces. From their physique, he could tell that they were younger, likely uninitiated members of one of Viper Sect’s families.

“Oi, Ossan,” said the man in front.

“Oi, wakamono,” YF replied with a wave.

The man seemed taken aback by his nonchalance. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Enforcer Uwada knows about my presence on the premises,” said YF. “Working on a case.”

“Oh ho...a fucking satsu,” said the man.

“Technically I’m not the police,” YF replied.

“The Itsugo Sentinels are not satsu only because you lack the DTKs to be integrated into the force. At heart though, you’re all satsu. And down here we talk about reality, not technicalities.”

“Take it up with Uwada then,” said YF.

“We are Nakajima Family men, and this area is no longer Enforcer Uwada’s turf. It’s ours.”

YF did recall that the murder happened on the edge of Gochome, making it rather unsurprising that it would be contested space. He shrugged his shoulders. “Let Nakajima know I’m here then.”

“Permission is granted first before action is taken. And unlike the uppers, a man’s word matters down here.”

“And what about a man’s fists?” asked YF, pushing his left foot forward and bringing his guard up.

The man pointed his bat at YF. “The satsu has guts. But—”

YF saw his opening when the man extended the bat out, rushing toward him and kicking the bottom of the man’s hand such that the bat flew upward. As soon as YF’s foot landed on the ground, he pivoted with his right and twisted into a left side kick to knock the man down. Seconds after the man hit the floor, YF raised both hands up to catch the airborne bat by the fat end, tossing it lightly so it rotated and landed with its handle in his hands.

YF shook his head. “You think all we do is sit around in your aniki’s office and drink tea until they gave us the right amount of chips? Nah. I wish.” He clinked the end of the bat against the metal street a few times. “If you can’t secure it, don’t bring a weapon.” He gripped the bat in both hands and raised it past his shoulder the same way field ball players did. “So who wants to tell Nakajima-aniki they got their ass beat by an old man?”

The downed man’s four companions dashed toward him simultaneously with bats raised high. YF crouched and stepped to the far side so that one man was between him and the other three. He swung hard against the man’s open torso and heard a loud crack before the man screamed and fell forward knees first. The other three then widened their arc, rotating every time YF tried to get to the side again such that they continued to surround him.

“Fast learners. Aniki would be proud,” said YF.

YF blocked the first downward swing of a bat but ate the next swing to his back, the pain surging through the surrounding area. He backed up as much as he could, eyes shifting to see the positions of the men’s bats.

The same man who hit his back swung first this time. But when YF ducked lower than the man’s waist, the man in center was forced to bring his bat up to block his comrade’s attack. YF then rose up and slammed his bat on top of the first attacker’s hands, forcing him to drop the bat. YF swung up and smacked the man in the sun visor, staggering him. He struck the man’s back near the same place the man had hit him, knocking him down.

The man who had blocked his now down comrade’s swing was still gripping his bat in the same position when YF reversed and smacked him in the hands, forcing him to drop his weapon. When YF raised his bat overhead, the man threw his hands up and shrunk bank.

YF lowered his weapon. “Go on and tell your aniki I’m working a case and would prefer not to be disturbed. He can go call Uwada for the details.”

The two remaining men did not need further persuasion, taking off immediately down the alley YF had come from. As YF’s breathing slowed and the adrenaline wore off, he could feel the pain from the strike to his back growing worse. He propped himself up with the bat and tried to walk as best he could toward the residential building where Takahashi Momoko had lived.

When he arrived on the second floor of the dilapidated three floor building, he saw that the door to her apartment was fitted with a Ward Police lock device. YF scanned his palm on it and the door opened. He muttered a thank you to Shoda under his breath for adding YF’s ID to the device. YF then stepped inside.

The interior of Takahashi’s apartment was completely dark, though oddly neat for someone who lived in that area. YF could already feel Erika’s displeasure at such assumptions. He turned on the evening light which leant a dim glow throughout the apartment, further clarifying what was there. The ground was completely clear and nothing was left on the shelves or in the cabinets. Shoda and Higashi’s team had probably gotten all the evidence they needed and subsequently scrubbed down the whole place. YF heard that in ancient times tatami floors were very difficult to maintain. But one could pretty much remove anything from a metal surface, causing YF to wonder if there was much biometric evidence to begin with. The people who had killed the man, broken into YF’s apartment, and taken Takahashi knew what they were doing.

YF walked slowly to the single bedroom in the house. The bedroom was empty — futon, futon sheet, and comforter had all been taken. YF turned to the closet where he activated the sliding door. Inside, the clothes were hung in evenly spaced intervals and those that were not hung were folded neatly into cubby holes.

YF looked back out into the hall, a chill running down his spine. There was no noise, nor suggestion that someone was inside. But nevertheless, something felt very off, causing him to grip the handle of the bat. Still facing the living room, YF pulled out his receiver and went through the recordings on the Sentinel Cloud server, occasionally looking up to check for anything amiss. He stopped searching when he found the recording of his conversation with Takahashi. He played the audio clip on low volume a few times but did not find anything he did not remember. He then switched to the drone recording of her prior to him arriving in person.

“I shouted activate! Activate module! But the dispenser wouldn’t give me a shield,” he could hear her voice say.

That was odd, everyone knew the proper voice command was “Shield Up!” The dispenser makers figured nobody in the modern era would have a reason to say that phrase on a day to day basis as opposed to “Activate Module.”

But YF remembered the dispenser was pointed at her when he went to investigate in person. He looked around the room and felt the chill run down his spine again. YF turned on his sunvisor so that it covered his face. He then slid his thumb on the drone video clip until it stopped just after the start of her voice. YF raised the volume of his receiver and lifted the receiver up toward the ceiling. He pressed play.

“Activate module!” Takahashi’s voice rang out.

A bright blue light burst from the closet as one of the cubby shelves retracted into the wall to be replaced by a terminal. “Shiraishi Emie detected. Please provide remaining three-factor authentication inputs.” YF turned to face the screen, which displayed a list of further ID checks. His hands shook as he pressed on the one for a finger prick check. A needle shot out. YF placed his finger gently on it and then pressed the start button with his bat wielding hand, the needle shooting into his skin and out. A small drop of blood fell to the ground as the needle device went back in the machine. YF could feel the heat of the sanitizing module after the terminal presumably read the sample.

“User Sakai Hiroyuki detected. Barrier 1 Entered.”

YF’s felt a tightening in his chest and a wave of dread wash over him. The terminal went black and then booted back up with a large version of the National Seal of Kazen, a white fox surrounded by other national symbology, blazed across the background. At the top of the terminal read: “The Advanced Research Center Project, Codename: Force of Nature.”

After booting, there were only two available modules: one for mail, and one for documents. YF held his finger over the one for mail for at least five minutes before pressing on it.

“Final authentication required. Please use retina or wrist ID,” said the terminal.

YF pressed “back” and then pressed the module details, noting that the last time it had been opened was four years ago. YF quickly shut down the terminal which caused it to automatically retract back into the closet wall, the cubby full of clothes returning to its original position. When the terminal light faded, the room reverted to its former dimly lit state. YF was shaking uncontrollably by that point, walking a few steps before clutching the bedroom door frame to keep himself up. He stared out into the living room, losing track of time as he waited for someone to emerge from the darkness and end his life. When that didn’t happen, YF slowly walked toward the entrance with his back against the wall. He pressed the button to open the front door, then leapt over the railing, hitting the ground and dashing off toward Gochome.