"You are under arrest for the assault and battery of Mai Zenin," the officer said dryly.

"Excuse me?"Maki asked.

"Ms. Mai Zenin has provided significant evidence in her claim that you assaulted her last night," the officer responded.

"Mai? I haven't seen her in ages," Maki lied, resting her elbow in the opening of the window. The officer furrowed his eyebrows.

"Ms. Zenin, I'm gonna need you to come with me," he gestured to the two other officers to come to the doors.

"Woah, woah, woah," Maki said as they pulled her out of the car. You watched petrified as they pulled her hands behind her back, cuffing her and pressing her against the hood of the car. "You have the right to remain silent..." the officers voices trailed off from your mind.

Another officer came around to your side of the car, opening the door and pulling you out before reading your rights to you. You stood frozen as he pulled your hands behind your back, staring at Maki.

"Hey, hey! " Maki yelled, turning back towards the officer behind her. "She doesn't need to be arrested, she doesn't have anything to do with this," she insisted.

The officer sighed, gesturing to his partner to let you go. He released your wrists, and it took you a moment to process what had happened and step away from him. You shook your hands out, trembling as you watched them walk her to the police car.

They opened the door, pressing a hand to the top of her head and ducking her into the car. As she got in, she turned and smiled at you, never breaking eye contact.

How was she so calm?

"Nobara!" she called, and you nodded, knowing what she meant. You pressed a hand to your mouth as you watched one of the cars drive away.

"What's your name?" the officer asked, turning to you. You parted your fingers over your mouth to speak to him.

"Uh, Y/N," you answered, glancing up at him for a moment before looking back at the asphalt ground.

"Y/N," he sighed, placing his hands in his pockets. "You're young, probably in college right? So what is a nice girl like you doing hanging around a girl like that?" He propped an arm up against the roof of Maki's car as you only answered him with silence.

His question posed a valid point. You saw Maki's violent side. Maki had guns. Maki had enemies. Maki ran an underground poker ring, which meant she was messing with dangerous people. Maki was playing a dangerous game, and you realized you had now become a part of it.

If you would've been arrested with her, it would've gone on your record forever, and taken away so many of the career opportunities you had worked so hard for. You cold only imagine the rest of the things that could happen.

But at the same time, she was a sweetheart. She was kind, down to earth, and there was something about her that drew you to her, regardless of who she was. You knew her motivations were from her family, wanting to protect the people she cared about. And most of all, you knew she was trying to change for you, for Nobara, for everyone around her.

"Uh- I don't. She's- she's not 'A girl like that'," you responded.

"Okay," the officer breathed, retreating back to his car. "You get home safe, okay?" he said, opening the door and getting in.

"Thanks," you managed. You watched as he drove away, standing there alone in silence for a few more minutes. A soft breeze pushed past your face, running through your hair and pushing the fresh cold tears streaming down your face to the side. You collected yourself, taking a deep breath before getting in the drivers side of Maki's abandoned car. You locked the door, finding the keys she had left in the cup holder.

You reached a shaky hand down to your pocket, taking out your phone, finding Nobara's number and dialing it.

"Hello?" she asked, voice raspy as if she had just woken up.

"Nobara," you near whispered, the sting of tears pricking at your eyes. She sensed the discomfort in your voice immediately.

"What's wrong?"

"Maki," you managed.

"Where are you?"

"I-I don't know."

"Send me your location, now."

She arrived 10 minutes later, car speeding to park next to you. By that time, you had pulled yourself together, unlocking the door of the car and letting her climb in.

"What the hell happened? Why are you in Maki's car alone?"

"She was teaching me to drive, and the cops came up here and arrested her. They said the charges were assault and battery of Mai, and they tried to take me to the station too, but she told them I didn't have anything to do with it."

"What else did she say to the cops?"

"She told them she hadn't seen Mai in years, and oh-" you found the brown key you regognized from Maki using it, and opened the floorboard compartment. "-she hid this down here before they came up," you added, handing the briefcase to her.

She opened it, looking through the contents. "Good, good. Most likely, Mai has no hard evidence, and the fact that Maki hid this from the cops is fortunate. The guns aren't registered and there's at least 20 grand in here."

You raised your eyebrows, looking down at the case in her hands. Twenty thousand dollars? That was a semester of tuition.

"Thanks for calling me Y/N," Nobara sighed. She looked a bit disheveled, but her demeanor was anything but. Her orange hair was ruffled a bit, and you noticed she was wearing the same clothes from the race last night, in addition to a few dark marks on her neck. "Let's go drive down to the station."

She gestured to her baby blue car.

"And just heave Maki's car here?"

"I'll have someone pick it up," she said as the two of you got into her car. She took a deep exhale. "You okay?"

You nodded. "Yeah. I was just hoping we could put all of this behind us. Maki and I talked a lot last night, and she told me about everything and apologized to me."

"She told you about her past, and her family and all that?" she asked, glancing over at you as she drove. You nodded. "Wow, the only other people that know about that are me, Itadori, and you," she breathed. "well, and Mai."

Your hands sat in your lap, fidgeting with your rings.

"Where did you end up last night?" you asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh," she chuckled. "I just ran into an old friend from high school."

"And he's the one who left those hickeys on your neck?" you teased. Nobara fake gasped at your observation, placing a hand to her neck.

"She," she responded.

"Oooooo," you coed, raising your eyebrows. You both laughed.

"I'm glad you and Maki worked things out yesterday."

"Me too," you agreed.

"But-" Nobara added taking a deep breath. "-if you're gonna stick with her, there's gonna me more of all this."

You understood that. You knew the kind of life Maki had, but you also knew what type of person she was. And that was a person you wanted to keep in your life.

"Yeah," you agreed.

Nobara pulled into the parking lot of the station. A large sign across the wall of the building read "Tokyo Police Department."

When you walked in, it was bustling with people.

"Nobara," the woman at the front desk greeted. She knew who Nobara was already.

"Hey," Nobara responded.

"Maki's in holding right now. Have a seat, and once they finish questioning her you can go talk to her."

Nobara nodded, leading you over to the waiting chairs. You stared at the wall as you waited, bouncing your leg up and down. There were framed photos of officers. One of a blonde, reading Commander, and another of a woman reading Detective Utahime Iori.

"She's probably talking to Iori right now," Nobara said, noticing your observation.

You lowered your voice. "How do they even have any evidence against her? No one was there, and she had her clothes and mine cleaned afterwards."

"Someone could've been taking a video," Nobara suggested. "Don't you think it's a little odd that Mai would come after you like that knowing Maki was nearby?"

"So you think it was a set up?"

"Nobara Kusagi?" a low voice boomed before she could answer. The two of you stood up, walking over to the officer, name tag reading "Captain". He led you down a hallway to a room, with a small window in the door where you saw Maki sitting at the table. her hands were cuffed to the metal table as the door opened, and her face perked up when she saw the two of you.

The cold metal chairs pressed against your bare thighs as you sat down, Nobara sitting next to you and resting her forearms on the table. She leaned over to whisper to you. "All the conversations are recorded, and you're most likely going to be called in as a witness, so don't say anything about the incident."

You nodded, and she gestured for Maki to speak.

"Thank you," she said first. "They uh, they showed me a video of me hitting Mai."

"I knew it," Nobara said. "Momo was probably behind the camera."

"Yeah, they set me up. I pleaded self defense, and they want to question Y/N to see if it checks out," she said, looking up at you.

"Okay," Nobara breathed. "That's good. Y/N, if you just tell them exactly what happened, it would be fine." You nodded as she looked over at you, placing a hand on your knee to keep it from bouncing.

"They wanna keep me here for tonight, but bails set at 5 grand for tommorow," Maki added.

You pressed your lips together, but your mouth gaped open when Nobara said said, "No problem, i'll have it transferred"

The metal cuffs on Maki's wrists clinked as she tried to reach a hand out to you, but she couldn't. You reached yours to hers, placing it on top.

"Y/N, I'm sorry," she apologized.

"It's okay," you said, squeezing her hand lightly. "They set you up, and you made a mistake. We're gonna work it out together just like I said remember?"

The corners of her mouth tugged into a soft smile, and she nodded.

A loud buzzer sound accompanied the opening of the room door.

"Times up," the officer said. You gave Maki a warm smile as you left, passing Detective Iori on the way out.

The two of you went out to Nobara's car.

"How many times as she been arrested?" you asked, buckling your seatbelt.

"Not as many as you would think," she laughed. "A couple times for possession of marijuana, once for LCD, uhhh illegal gun possession, trespassing at the smoke spot we used to go to — I got arrested for that one too— and breaking a window at a bar, but really that was Itadori and she just took the blame for him. I think that's it."

"Jesus," you sighed.

"Yeah but, I promise it's not as bad as it sounds. She's never done jail time, she just makes dumb decisions."

"What about the guy she shot?"

"Oh, no one ever gets the police involved with that shit. They'd basically be snitching themselves out for gambling."

"Gotcha," you said, trying to ignore how calm she was about saying all of this.

"Here," she said, taking her dab pen out of the side door and handing it to you. "It'll calm you down, I see your leg bouncing over there."

You stilled it.

"Thank you," you said, taking a hit. Just like Maki, Nobara was kind.

"Do you want me to take you home? Or you can crash at my place," she offered.

"Uh, yeah yours sounds good, if that's okay."

A few minutes later, she was opening the door to her apartment, which was exactly as you expected. A large, open space like Maki's, but with brighter decor. You looked at the clock on the wall that read 3 PM.

"You hungry?" she asked, walking into the kitchen.

"I'm okay, I ate a couple hours ago," you responded, sitting down on the white couch.

"Okay cool, I'm gonna make something, so make yourself conftorable, if you want a change of clothes my closet is in my room. When the sun sets I like to go outside and smoke, so you're welcome to join me," she smiled.

"Thank you Nobara, for everything."

"It's no problem, Y/N. And I like having you around, you're smart and honestly, I think you're good for Maki, as dumb as she can be sometimes."

You smiled, laying down on the couch. Before you knew it, you had drifted off. When you woke up, strands of the gold sun illuminated the room. You sat up, seeing Nobara sitting outside through the glass doors.

You slid the door open, the cold fall air greeting you as you stepped outside and sat down. She offered you her pen, and you took a couple hits, looking out at the sunset.

"Maki told me you two met at a boxing ring," you inquired, turning to her.

She laughed, the sun casting a pink glow over her face as smoke poured out of her lips. "Yeah, I did," she responded. "I used to make so much money off those things."

"How did you get into it?"

"Well, I aced high school, and I wanted to take a gap year to save up for college. Got into the fights, then the racing, and then I got a little sidetracked with all the scamming stuff, so here we are," she responded, gesturing out to the view of the city. You sat in silence for a few moments as another breeze passed by.

"You know, there's something about you that makes me want to explain my whole life to you," she laughed. "Like you're so easy to talk to."

You blushed, thanking her for the compliment. "Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"Maybe I should start with how my hair is dyed then," she said, gesturing to her head.

In the next hour, you learned she went to high school with Megumi, who is in college, she loves boxing and she's bi.

"What about you?" she asked. "Why biochem?"

"I wanna do agricultural science," you explained. "Like, help farmers with strategies and stuff."

"That's sick," she said, tapping you on the arm.

A few hours later, the two of you feel asleep on her bed.

_____________

When you arrived at the station to pick Maki up, she looked better than you expected. Her hair was disheveled and she had on the same clothes from yesterday, but she still had a smile on her face when she saw you and Nobara. They uncuffed her, and she walked out to the two of you, pulling you into a hug.

"Y/N L/N," an officer boomed. You recognized her as Utahime Iori. "We need you for questioning."

You nodded, turning back to Maki and Nobara as you walked away.

"Don't lie, tell them exactly what happened," Nobara said patting your on the shoulder.

"We'll wait here for you," Maki called.

You sat down on the familiar cold metal chair, a large light hanging over the table and illuminating the dim room.

"So," Iori said, sitting down and putting a stack of papers on the table. "I'm just gonna ask you a few questions about Friday night."

You nodded, shifting in your seat.

"We're you under the influence of any drugs?"

"Yes, just marijuana."

"Did Ms. Zenin, excuse me, Mai, say or do anything that suggested she was trying to assault you?"

You took a deep breath to keep yourself from scoffing. "Yes, she forcefully dragged me away to a secluded area, threatened me with a gun, and said she wanted to 'scare me'" You placed your hands on your lap to keep them from shaking, even though you knew what you were saying was right, it was still intimidating. Utahime wrote down what you said.

"Okay, and Maki saw this and physically assaulted Mai?"

"No, no she was defending me." you blinked a couple times.

"Well, based on the video evidence we have, it seems she did a little more than self defense. It shows you standing off to the side before you yelled at her to stop, then there was some type of verbal altercation. Is that right?"

"Uh, yes."

"What type of relationship do you and Maki Zenin have?" she asked, continuing her writing.

"Her girlfriend I think — I mean i'm her girlfriend."

The questions droned on for another half hour.

"Okay I think that's all we need," Iori finished, flipping the pages of her clipboard over. "I think Maki overdid it, but it's a little suspicious how there just happened to be a video of all of this happening. I'll talk to the Commander and give you a verdict."

You nodded, getting up from your seat. The fluorescent lights greeted you as you walked back out to the lobby, Maki and Nobara standing up to greet you and Maki pulling you into a hug. Iori followed after you.

"I'm going to talk to the Commander, but it's looking good for you Zenin," she announced. She thanked her before the three of you sat back down and waited a few more minutes for her to come back.

"Mai Zenin?" the commander asked. He pulled the three of you aside. "Listen, we're letting you off this time." The three of you exhaled. "I don't wanna see your face around here again Maki, you're young, stop getting yourself into trouble. You're on probation, so if you break any laws, or you'll be convicted." Maki nodded hastily. "I'll set you up with a probation officer. Be happy Iori over there advocated for you."

The three of you left the station, getting into Nobara's car.

"Fucking Momo," Nobara murmured, turning the ignition. She glanced up at you and Maki in the rearview mirror. "You two better not be doing anything weird back there."

The two of you laughed, and Maki laid down across the seats, placing her head on your lap. Nobara and you scolded her as you gently brushed your fingers through her hair, happy that she was out of the police station and back with you.

"Itadori parked your car in the garage at your appartment, I'll take you two there," Nobara announced.

"Oh, Y/N has class tommrow, so she has to go home," Maki added.

"It's okay," you responded. "Just drop me at Maki's and I'll get an Uber or something-"

"No way," Maki interrupted, sitting upright and looking at you. "I'll drive you home."

"Never seen you acting so cavalier Maki," Nobara teased.

"Yeah, whatever," she said, rubbing the back of her head. You smiled, laying your head on her shoulder.

_______________

She kept her promise, driving you home and walking you up all the flights of stairs to your apartment.

"I'm gonna get that elevator fixed," she said, out of breath as you reached your floor. You laughed, opening the door as she followed you in.

"I had this whole day planned out," Maki sighed, putting her hands in her pockets as she took her shoes off. The two of you sat down on the edge of your bed.

"Well," you smiled. "We can make it up next weekend, and you-" you said, poking a finger to her chest "-need to stay out of trouble for a while."

"Yeah," she agreed, reclining onto her back. You did the same, staring up at your popcorn ceiling. The two of you stayed there for a few moments, just enjoying each others company.

"What's it like spending a night in jail?" you asked, breaking the peaceful silence.

"Rough," she responded, laughing a bit. "Group cell, metal benches, shared toilet. All that."

"Geez," you sighed. "Well, I'm glad you're back home now."

She paused for a moment. "You told the detective you were my girlfriend?" she asked, turning her head toward you and making some of her hair fall onto your forehead.

"I did," you admitted. "For the sake of the investigation, that's all."

"That's all?" she asked.