It was immediately obvious that all the men gathered on either side of the hall were very afraid of YF. But every second he stood still they inched closer and closer to him, the grip over their bats and crowbars growing somewhat firmer. Though the tight corridors would decrease the advantage of the men’s weapons, there were simply too many of them for YF to remain standing for more than a few minutes. He turned to the nearest door and pressed the release button, but the door did not budge. It was locked.

“I’m not him,” said YF slowly.

At the sound of his voice, the men flinched. But when they saw that he did not move, they continued to advance. YF could hear people muttering about who would strike him first, as well as somebody commenting that he would sacrifice himself for the others. YF raised his hands, which caused them to flinch again.

“Contact Uwada,” said YF.

The pointman of the group on YF’s left looked around at his comrades, then at YF. “What do you want with Uwada?” he asked carefully.

“I know him. I wanted to speak with him.”

“Why come here if you wanted to speak to him?”

“Whether you believe me or not, it can’t hurt to just give him a call. That way no one will have to sacrifice anything,” said YF in the most confident tone he could muster. “It’ll only take a few minutes of your time.”

The man lowered his bat. “Ring the family office,” he muttered.

Someone behind him in the back could be heard pulling out his receiver. A few seconds later, the sound of a phone ringing on speaker phone echoed through the hall.

“This is Mizuguchi speaking,” said the receiver.

“Someone here wants to talk to aniki,” said the pointman.

“Many people want to talk to him, Horiuchi. He can come to the office if he has a problem. Don’t waste my—”

“It’s me Mizuguchi,” YF interrupted. “Sakai Yasufumi.”

The men immediately broke into whispers, some of them backing up toward the stairs while others froze where they were. There was a long pause from the receiver.

“Stay where you are and don’t move. Horiuchi, tell your men to back down.” Mizuguchi hung up the phone, leaving a dull tone to indicate nobody was on the line resounding in their ears.

***

Mizuguchi was wearing a white dress shirt and black slacks, looking like an average office worker in Nishida Ward rather than the right hand man of a sect enforcer. Sectarian marks were generally designed with men’s clothing in mind, stopping where they could possibly be revealed such as above the elbow or above the knee and well before the neck. So unlike with Erika, whose marks sometimes showed through the wider openings of her shirts, YF could not see any trace of tattoos on Mizuguchi’s body if he even had them at all.

Mizuguchi continued driving in silence toward the family office, wearing his characteristic smile such that YF was not sure how he felt about what had happened. The next few minutes of the car ride YF thought over what would have happened if Uwada had picked up the phone and not Mizuguchi. Would the former have allowed the squatters to turn YF into a puree? Would he have held back to appease Reina? How much control did Reina have over the enforcers anyway? It seemed from YF’s one conversation with Uwada that the answer was “not much”. YF shook his head lightly. Uwada might have delayed the action but he would have extracted YF from the den. Uwada seemed to care too much about his future career prospects to be that petty.

“Something wrong Mr. Sakai?” asked Mizuguchi.

YF shook his head more intentionally this time. “No. Nothing. Just thinking about something unrelated.”

“What were you doing there Mr. Sakai? We usually don’t recommend non-residents to visit the premises.”

“Mizuguchi has a good way of phrasing things,” YF thought. “Something seems fishy about this…Urban Renewal project. I was away for a while. Seems like within a month a lot is going on.”

“It is,” said Mizuguchi. He turned the wheel as they went through the intersection.

YF waited to see if Mizuguchi would say anything more about it. When there was no sign of that, YF decided to switch the subject. “So we going to talk to Uwada?”

“Mr. Uwada is still dealing with some issues and will be occupied for a while,” said Mizuguchi. “But you came just in time. I wanted to discuss the modifications from overseas. Perhaps over refreshments at the office.”

YF shook his head. “The dealer won’t work with Viper Sect.”

“Ah.” Mizuguchi paused.

YF could tell by his ‘ah’ that Mizuguchi knew about Kigali, and probably knew exactly what had happened in the incident Kigali was so uncomfortable with.

“But…” said YF.

“But?” Mizuguchi raised an eyebrow.

“I have an idea.”

“And what is that?”

“I need to know one thing though.”

Mizuguchi glanced once to YF then back to the road to indicate he was waiting for YF to speak.

YF’s heart pounded as the image of Erika forcing multiple Ardan men off the side of a building popped into his head. “Has my wife ever been…involved in…roughing up the competition?”

Mizuguchi chuckled and shook his head. “Ms. Ueno does not employ such tactics. That isn’t her style.”

“Somebody has though,” said YF.

Mizuguchi smiled. “We are a chivalrous organization, not given to violence. The oyabun never orders us to ‘rough up the competition’.”

Such statements might have been technically true but utterly useless. If someone from the top had asked the underlings to ensure a steady flow of business, YF was sure that violence being involved was just a tacit understanding. Still, Mizuguchi seemed serious enough when he said that wasn’t Erika’s style. YF recalled when he saw Erika attack the working girl in the Double Phoenix compound through his drone camera. Though the memory was still uncomfortable, he had gotten used to it enough to remember that Erika did not look too pleased she had done it afterwards.

Mizuguchi coughed. “If your suggestion is to use Ms. Ueno as a liaison for the deal because she is unmarked, I believe she will do it but it will require some convincing,” he said. “First of all she seems busy with urban renewal in the homeland. But secondly she tends to be uncomfortable with anything that resembles what you might have seen about sectarians in the media. Deals, marks, guns, that sort of thing.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” said YF.

“The problem is that you can’t, even if you convince Ms. Ueno. Our normal suppliers won’t take kindly to it and those relationships are difficult to break, particularly with the oyabun…absent.”

YF suddenly thought that talking to Mizuguchi about this topic was a big mistake. With Reina far away and Uwada and a few other enforcers still in Itsugo, YF should have known that there might be some sort of power struggle resulting from the arrangement. He cursed himself for his naivete.

“The issue of the mods we can go over more at the office. But I must insist we talk about this Urban Renewal, as that is why I am here.”

Mizuguchi tensed.

YF continued. “What’s happening on the ground in Gochome?”

“Houses are being demolished, rebuilt. Generally the right of return is being given to those families, particularly if they are childless able bodied young people.”

“So the idea that there’s something else going on here is a well known fact? ”

Mizuguchi shook his head. “We don’t disseminate our suspicions to everyone in the area, even if we think they are well founded. You must realize that it is in our interest to maintain order here, especially since no one else will. If we reveal what we think is happening, the level of panic will be disastrous.”

“My guess is Hiroyuki has been to that opium den,” said YF. “Let’s assume the rumors about his operations are real. Why would someone pick a drugged up individual as a blood source?”

“Aritomo has invested heavily in dialysis technology recently. You also underestimate the amount of interested buyers who could be addicts themselves. At that point you wouldn’t even need to process the blood.”

“So they use people that society won’t miss. The homeless, the addicts, the ground level dwellers, hell even the sectarians.”

“Certain sects benefit from cooperation with them, like Double Phoenix. They also tend to have the means to protect themselves from overt coercion. But who knows how long that will last?” asked Mizuguchi.

“What I don’t get is the issue of logistics. If Aritomo keeps swiping up these people, eventually there will be no more left.”

“And as you saw, squatters and addicts are not idiots. They learn what’s happening and start to defend themselves,” Mizuguchi added.

“Then…?” asked YF.

Mizuguchi frowned. “We think they have the technology now to make renewable sources.”

***

YF convinced Mizuguchi to drop him off at the bus stop instead of going to the family office. There was no chance Kigali would meet with someone from Viper Sect, rendering further discussion useless. But there was someone among Viper Sect’s ranks that could easily convince someone she was not.

“Erika I need your help,” he said when he heard her pick up.

“I’m a little busy right now.”

YF could hear the continuous back-up warning beep from some large vehicle.

“I need to procure some parts for the job. The one when the boss returns to the capital,” said YF.

“And?”

“The seller won’t deal with…your workers. Past history.”

“Did the boss clear this?”

“No,” said YF.

“Then you need to get back here and talk to her before you do something stupid.”

“I don’t think she’ll clear it unless I have the parts in hand already.”

“Then—” Erika hesitated. “So what do you need me to do?”

“I need you to show up with authorized DTK chips to pay for them. Use some way to convince him you are not associated with the men who’ve caused him a grievance.”

“If you had asked a week earlier or a month later I could’ve,” said Erika. “But I mean it when I say this isn’t about the boss. I’m at a critical moment right now in the project, can’t leave.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

“Talk to the mechanic,” said Erika. “She’ll need an extra cut, the price will go up, and the boss will be pissed. But it’ll cut down a lot of the headache with decisions. I feel like in the end she’ll be happier. I’ll talk to her.”

“All right.”

***

Toa hopped from one foot to the other, shivering as they waited for Kigali to arrive at the abandoned warehouse far out from Itsugo proper.

YF removed his jacket and handed it to her nonchalantly. “Here.”

Toa shook her head. “I don’t do favors. Either I pay you and take it for keeps, which I won’t because I don’t want to be associated with you, or you pull your hand back like a reasonable person and put it back on.”

YF pulled his hand back slowly and put his jacket back on. “Urban Renewal hitting your place too?” he asked.

“Too far out. My village isn’t incorporated,” said Toa. “But…I have received a draft notice.”

“Draft…? You? In the army?”

“You have to realize my technical abilities are not exactly on record,” Toa explained. “On paper I’m a twenty year old dropout who lives in remote, affordable housing doing part time jobs to keep a roof over her head. For fascist psychos who want to inject a bit of patriotism into the youth, who better to call up for the sake of the motherland?”

“And your business?”

“Not really worried about the business, it’ll just be two years,” said Toa. “But you should know I can’t help you much anymore. You’ll have to talk to my associates for the time being. They’ll hold down the fort while I’m gone.”

“Mr. betel nut?”

“He’ll cooperate a reasonable amount,” said Toa. “You’ll have to figure out a way to get him to like you, though.”

“I have a few ideas.”

“Something a bit further than feeding his addiction,” said Toa.

“Then I’m out of ideas.”

“Mr. Sakai, Ms. Toa.”

YF and Toa both turned their heads to see Kigali pulling a cart with one large box on it.

“Where’d you park?” asked YF.

“You always focus on such pointless details,” Toa muttered.

“Up the road,” said Kigali. “This here is a suspension kit. Allows for more punishing maneuvers in a vehicle and higher carrying capacity for smaller vehicles.”

Toa approached the cart and opened the box lid, pulling out what looked like a strut with both her hands. She set it on the ground and examined it from different angles. “That’s it? No instantaneous vertical boosters and sustained hover modules?”

“Those were a bit too big to bring over here.”

“Show me where then. I’ll send an associate.”

“Only if you purchase these.”

Toa turned to YF.

YF nodded. “I’ll procure a buyer.”

“And ensure this will never reach the hands of Viper Sect,” Kigali added.

“Deal,” said Toa, before YF could react.

YF held himself as still as possible.

“Good. And the chips?” asked Kigali.

Toa held out the black plastic bag she had been holding and opened it, revealing multiple chips glowing a dull blue, all wrapped in knitted sleeves with matching blue snowflake patterns. YF raised an eyebrow. It was moments like those that reminded him Toa was also like any other woman her age. Kigali thumbed something on his receiver then pulled one chip out of a knitted sleeve, sticking it against his receiver. His receiver beeped.

Kigali nodded and took the bag. “I’m sure the rest are in the same denomination,” he said.

“Yes they are,” said Toa.

“Good. I will leave the box with you here. As for the other parts, I will talk to your associate about where to check them and where to deliver them,” said Kigali.

Toa nodded, working something on her receiver so her bot would grab the cart handle, wheeling it over to her beat up truck. “Then let’s get out of here. Pleasure doing business.” She bowed slightly to Kigali who returned the gesture. The latter then walked off toward the warehouse entrance. Toa followed after her bot, barely nodding to YF before she did.

When Kigali was out of earshot, YF caught up with Toa, grabbing her by the arm. “If you can hide somewhere, do it. I have a bad feeling about what they are really rounding people up for.”

Toa shook his arm off. “Don’t touch me. And you think I don’t have any idea what they might be doing?”

“Then why go?”

Toa tsked in annoyance. “I told you I don’t believe in half measures. You don’t have any idea what I’ve done to maintain my cover. I’m not an idiot, and I can handle whatever I see there on my own.”

“But doesn’t a large part of your handling involve knowing the right people and what they can do for you? I’m telling you I have good reason to think you might be in real danger.”

Toa shook her finger. “You really can’t tell me anything I don’t already know, I’m quite sure of it. And even if you could, it’s in your interest not to let me know. Now stop bothering me and get back to Itsugo. I have a good feeling you’ll be called up for Sentinel service soon. And you’re going to have your hands full. Very, very full.”

Toa opened the door to her truck and got into the driver’s seat, waiting for her bot to load the cart and strap it down. When the bot climbed into the bed as well, Toa started up her vehicle, putting it into an initial hover so that the sound of the rotors whirring filled the warehouse.

YF looked through the truck window at Toa as she concentrated on inputting something to her terminal. Toa then drove toward the entrance, looking up at him just as she passed where he stood. She smirked, revealing her fangs for a split second before accelerating off into the night.