YF looked out the window as the summer sun beat down on the metal walkways ringing each of the buildings, his eyes following the straight paths that connected one structure to the next. The few people that were up and about avoided the rays as best they could, grudgingly creeping through the shadows toward a place they undoubtedly did not want to be.

“What number is she?” asked Uwada.

“Three,” YF replied, still looking out the window.

“I wonder who one, two and four would be,” Uwada mused.

YF glanced across the passenger’s seat at Mori who was still sleeping with her head against the window. It was obvious that at least one of the earliest subjects must have been Reina, which meant it was likely she was one of the three numbers Uwada had listed. But Uwada’s expression suggested the thought had not crossed his mind. YF tried to recall who was standing around Reina when she confirmed what he knew about Project Force of Nature at Yaura Kaigan. He remembered the faces of Erika, Maeda, and several other sectarians he had seen in passing, but not Uwada nor Mizuno.

“Well I just hope they don’t send me alone to retrieve any of them,” said YF.

Uwada chuckled. “No, I don't think so. Orders are to drop her off at a restaurant and to take you to Nishida City. You’ll be put up in a hotel for your efforts.”

YF looked forward through the windshield as they approached a low key looking shopping district in Itsugo Icchome where none of the stores were open. A few of the restaurants had their parking covers deployed, probably permanently if they were too lazy to retract them. Mizuno continued driving at a slower pace for several seconds before pulling under a covered spot. He then motioned for YF to pull Mori out from the back. YF alighted on the platform side and then climbed back into the passenger’s seat on his knees, reaching his arms under Mori’s so that he could pull her out toward the platform. Just as he hoisted her upright somebody with a sun visor pushing an empty hoverchair approached them from down the street.

The person stopped a few shaku from YF. “Would it be all right if I take it from here sir?” she asked robotically.

YF looked at Mizuno, who was just getting out of the car after Uwada.

“Visor,” said Uwada.

The woman deactivated her sun visor. She looked very plain, with some of the most expressionless eyes YF had ever seen. “A scan as well?” she asked.

Uwada nodded, taking out his receiver and tapping on it a few times before holding it out. She brushed her wrist over the scanner lightly. “Torii Kako detected.”

“Badge,” said Uwada.

Torii reached into her back pocket and pulled out a badge with the characters for “Sumida Medical Center” written on top along with her picture and name.

Uwada ran his receiver over that as well.

“Torii Kako detected.”

Uwada nodded toward YF. YF pulled Mori as gently as she could over to Torii, who took hold of the incapacitated woman. Torii struggled to move Mori over to the hoverchair, trying and only partially succeeding at making sure Mori did not fall too hard onto one of the armrests. Torii’s heavy breathing was only slightly audible as she gripped the push handles of the hoverchair, turning her patient around halfway.

“Thank you. If you’ll pardon me,” said Torii with a bow before fully turning and walking off.

Mizuno had already started getting into the car, leaving Uwada and YF alone on the platform.

“You hungry?” asked Uwada.

“I feel like I should say yes, though I’m too exhausted to eat.”

“I hear ya.”

Uwada passed YF a cigarette. YF held it in his hands, thinking of Morishita from back when he was waiting for the Maehama ferry.

“Lighter?” asked YF.

“Oh ho…not the lawman’s first time.”

“I suppose,” said YF.

Uwada took out a lighter and pressed down on the wheel, drawing a flame. YF held the end of the cigarette to the flame and then brought it to his mouth. He inhaled, coughing slightly as he exhaled.

“Powerful ain’t it?” asked Uwada.

YF nodded, feeling the increase in alertness a few seconds later. “I can see why Erika likes these.”

Uwada exhaled a puff of smoke, pausing for a few seconds. “She does, does she?”

“Yeah, though I’m sure you knew that already,” said YF.

“Listen,” said Uwada, taking a drag and exhaling more smoke. “I imagine Erika chose a man who looks forward rather than backward.”

YF shrugged. “Just commenting, not looking backward.”

Uwada chuckled. “Stop the bullshit.”

YF glared at him.

Uwada raised his hand. “You can think what you want but I have nothing against you. We need to work together for the next phase, and there won’t be much time for this pettiness.”

“Pettiness?” YF drew his pistol, pointing it at Uwada’s chest. “You tried to get me killed back there!” From where he stood, YF could see Mizuno reaching toward his vest.

Uwada held his hand palm down without looking back, as if calming his subordinate. He shook his head, laughing slightly but YF could hear the nervousness in the sect enforcer’s voice. “I tried to keep you out of it. First, there were not enough rifles, and I can’t be seen by my men as favoring an outsider over them. You know the world I live in is not civil like yours, a small mishap can mean the difference between a bolt through my head and that I live another day.”

“Bullshit,” said YF.

“And second,” said Uwada, growing more serious. “I expected you to stay out of the firefight. You were supposed to take cover until it was over. Sure you’re a better shot than I thought…particularly for a Sentinel but…that was not something I could have known.”

In the back of his head, YF knew it was reasonable that Uwada did not think YF could properly use a gun; Sentinels were not exactly known to be proficient with firearms. But that did not help the fact that Uwada was clearly looking down on him with an expression that made YF want to raise the muzzle and pull the trigger. But YF knew that if he did that he would lose Erika forever. It was something that almost did not matter in the moment — was he not losing her anyway? But the image of her face that had slowly become a fading memory for weeks suddenly rose clear to his mind. YF lowered the pistol to his side.

“You and I came from a time when men settled their differences with the fist,” said Uwada, clinching the cigarette between two fingers, shaking. “But now with the prime minister’s new initiative guns are going to flood the streets. A black eye and a few loose teeth will turn into one man dead and the other jailed.”

YF holstered the pistol. “It’s not like your kind didn’t stab or beat people to death.”

“You ever beat someone to death Sakai?” asked Uwada. Somehow it sounded more inquisitive than condescending.

YF thought back to the memory of Hiroyuki and Saru standing over the dead man in the alley. “No,” he said.

“You’d be surprised how many times people won’t go through with it. Punching a man hurts your hand, as I’m sure you know. But beating a man…most of the time you beat him up bad and shake and drink on it later. There’s time to change your mind. Stabbing you usually end up cutting yourself too. Knives don’t come with guards these days like they sometimes did during the Age of Elements. Blood is slippery, you lose your grip. Cutting yourself usually makes you forget about finishing the task. Not worth it.”

“So what’s your point?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard that we call ourselves the gokudo, the extreme path. I think it’s a misnomer,” said Uwada. “Life is much more complicated than that. A person can’t always walk the extreme path. Think about it. Dead men don’t pay protection money.”

“Do I even have a problem with dead men anymore?” YF thought. He ruminated over the things he was doing for Reina and Viper Sect with the sole purpose of getting rid of his brother. He thought about how easily he had drawn his pistol at Uwada. These days, it felt like YF was walking the extreme path further than most of the gokudo.

“Uwada.”

“Hmm?”

“Are we on the right side?”

“Careful now,” Uwada cautioned. He dropped the cigarette on the ground and crushed it with his heel. “You’re still falling into the extreme path without even realizing it.”

“So you think the point is not whether or not we’re on the right side.”

“I think I do things for my family, my community, my brothers,” said Uwada gesturing toward Mizuno. “It’d be nice to do the right thing along the way, but remember that we live, kill, and die for love, family, and community. That’s ultimately what lies in the heart of most men. Used right it can save the world. Used wrong, it can cause chaos.”

“And you think the boss is using it right.”

“Too many questions,” said Uwada. He motioned with his head toward the car. “Come on.”

YF dropped his cigarette as well and stamped it out. “It’s something to think about,” he conceded in an emotionless tone. “Could you drop me off at the station?”

“Sure.”

***

The next week Saru, Mohan, Beef, and Ken came to visit YF at his new condo in Nishida City — sometimes individually, and sometimes all at once. They spent all of Earthday drinking and playing card games until Mohan reminded them that they needed to go back to work when the weekend was over. It was only then that the five started to seriously plan for the bachelor party. After an exhaustive search and continuously refreshing several net sites, they were finally able to find a vacant cabin for the weekend before Eiji’s wedding located in the west facing toward the home island. The other four decided collectively that since YF had planned the event so poorly and because he was the best man, it was up to him to drive all six of them to the destination.

During the week when everyone who had a job was working, YF found a rental van that would fit the whole party. The rest of the time before the trip he then spent puffing vape boxes and surfing the net.

The morning of the trip everyone but Saru showed up on time at the rendezvous point. The five of them then drove all the way to Lydia’s club to retrieve a very sweaty and hungover Saru.

YF had to down two large cups of coffee to pull him through the first hour of the trip to the west. But despite that, he was not the reason they pulled into their first stop. He felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Need to piss bro,” said Eiji.

“All right.”

YF pulled over to the side and let everyone who was awake out, which turned out to be everyone except Saru. When he stepped out of the car himself he found himself instantly craving a real cigarette.

“There’s a vending machine for refills over there you know,” said Eiji upon emerging from the bathroom.

YF walked over to the vending machine and looked through the options, all of which were mediocre. He then swiped his receiver over the scanner and tapped a number, waiting for it to drop before pulling it out. YF shoved the cartridge into his vape box and then took a drag from it, blowing out.

“I thought you weren’t really into these,” said Eiji. He frowned. “Also, since when did you splurge on recreational stuff?”

“Things just keep getting crazier and crazier,” said YF. He eyed the brand on his vape box. Sure it wasn’t the poor man’s box, but it was hardly the high end stuff. It was then that YF recalled Eiji’s boxes being mostly cheap, half beaten scraps of metal.

“Yeah. I know.” Eiji pulled out his own vape box with a dent in it and took a drag, blowing out. “You seen Erika recently?”

“Not for a while.”

“Think that’s the problem.” Eiji sighed. “You know, it’s ok if you don’t come on this trip. Maybe you should go out to Ikusa—”

“I’ll be fine man,” said YF, knowing that he was definitely not.

“Man can’t be without sex too long, trust me,” said Eiji. “I’m already itching for it.”

“What’s a sexless life going to do to anyone?” YF scoffed. “Half the men in this country wouldn’t be functioning based on what you’re saying.”

“Let me tell it to you straight,” said Eiji puffing out. “Most of the trigger happy guys in the force rub one less out than they should. And fuck about a quarter of what they should or don’t fuck at all. It’s dangerous running in a stack with these people. When I make sergeant, I’m forcing everyone to masturbate twice in the evening. Once before breakfast, once after. Need at least double the dose of blood subs too.”

“Probably best spoken behind closed doors…but I see what you’re saying,” said YF.

“Kaede isn’t going to care if you tell her.”

“Looks like you found your woman then.”

Eiji nodded slowly. “But I get why you play things straight man. Keep doing it. Just find some other outlet. Drugs. Beat up the drug dealers. Something. It’s the guys you can’t see their vent that scare me. Those are the guys that show up to shift change with a Condition 0 gun, two extra magazines, and four grenades.”

“So incidents like Sixth Precinct don’t faze you?” asked YF.

“You mean that guy that shot up everyone in the office before blowing his brains out?”

“Is there another Sixth Precinct incident?”

“Listen,” said Eiji. “I get why people on the net shit on traditional vices. Drugs, fucking a bunch of girls, gambling. Yeah it’s not a good look.” Eiji inhaled so much smoke he started coughing. “But the vice nobody talks about is the vice of too much negative information. People are addicted to that shit. And that messes with you the most. It’s an addiction that gives you no outlet. When you fuck a girl you feel at least one second of relief before the regret when you realize you don’t love her. But doom scrolling man? No release. Everyone needs to drink, fuck, and jerk off more.”

“Makes you wonder if those sex meditation priests have a point. Not the worst cult idea,” said YF.

“Damn straight.”

“You two talking about jerking off again?” asked Mohan, placing a large hand on Eiji. “Careful man,” he said looking at YF. “He’s only got one solution to everything. Problem is depleting yourself of yang force means you need a lot of milk and beef to replenish it.”

“Carbs. That’s all you need Mr. Salesman. Not everyone can buy all the meat they want,” Eiji quipped.

“I might buy all the meat I want but it still won’t make me pull my meat as much as you,” Mohan countered.

“Let’s get going,” said Beef as he walked past them.

Mohan backhanded YF in the shoulder. “Gotta ask Beef if the extra protein helps him get off.”

“Yeah fuck you,” Beef muttered under his breath.

Eiji grinned and pocketed his vape box. “Yeah I’m sure we’ll have more of this to talk about up on the mountain. Let’s go.”