YF stood next to Honda after they had checked all the cameras in the area while the latter typed some notes into her mobile terminal. She looked up, tapping her ear with two fingers.

YF muted his connection to Fujii.

“Seems you made the right choice,” said Honda.

“Do we have to talk about this?” asked YF.

“There’s a good many men who ruin their lives by thinking with the wrong head.”

YF sighed, crossing his arms. “Then maybe they’re just not good men. Let’s talk about something else.”

“I said a good many men, not good men,” said Honda. “The issue isn’t about good or not good, but consequences. Nobody does anything with a mind for consequences these days,” said Honda with a half smile. “Or they calculate their little chart of consequences and choose the column with ones they don’t like, then get mad about it.”

YF had heard this talk before. “What’s the issue then? Delayed versus immediate rewards?” asked YF.

Honda shook her head. “How trite!” Shescoffed. “Only miserable people talk like that. No Sakai, people who just delay rewards live a miserable, boring, awful life.”

YF paused to gather his thoughts, eventually admitting to himself that that wasn’t the answer he expected. “That...sounds a bit different from what I thought you were trying to say.”

“No it isn’t, you’re not listening to me again. You’re projecting your thoughts onto my words,” said Honda. “My ex-husband was the same.” She lowered her mobile terminal. “Remember I told you not to make a decision you’ll regret.”

“Then you went on to tell me I made the right choice,” said YF.

“Do you regret your choice?” asked Honda.

“No,” said YF.

“Do you blame anybody for that choice?”

“No.”

“Will you grow bitter for that choice?”

“I…well I don’t know yet.”

“Good answer,” said Honda. “But at least you aren’t bitter yet.”

“No,” said YF.”

“That’s the only reason your choice was correct. Don’t match your assumptions to my words. Listen carefully.”

YF folded his arms and frowned. Honda continued to type onto her terminal, though YF could tell she was just waiting for him to respond. “Thanks,” said YF.

“You also assumed which head I was referring to, didn’t you?” asked Honda.

YF’s eyes wandered to the trees as he tried to suppress his frustration. This was really not the type of thing he wanted to talk about with Honda. “So which one were you referring to?” he asked nonchalantly.

“That’s up to you. But like I told you once before: I was a young woman once too, thirty forty years ago. Wrong is subjective. Consequences are not. Accepting them and taking responsibility for them, also not.”

YF still looked away as he hypothesized internally that Honda was being overly and uncharacteristically profound to cover up some sort of deep seated hurt she had felt from the past. It was conceivable she saw and predicted what could happen between him and Fujii, but try as she might to sound neutral and objective, YF could not shake off the idea that she ultimately thought Fujii was bad news for him. He was getting a rather strange, motherly vibe from her, just about the last thing he would expect to feel from Honda. YF turned to make eye contact with her; could see the distant sadness in her eyes. Feeling that moment of vulnerability and suddenly remembering Kigali’s request, he thought it was good timing to attempt a move.

“Ms. Honda I need a favor.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“The sectarians where the incident happened. They have some advanced vehicle mods. I confirmed it from a trusted source.”

“Your job is the camera audit Sakai, not the murder investigation.”

YF smiled. The old Honda was back again.

“Something funny Sakai?” asked Honda.

“You’re right of course about my duties,” said YF. “But with the chase that happened in Nishida Ward and also possibly some advanced tech involved in duping us, isn’t this a good lead to see what’s going on?”

Honda frowned, nodding slowly. “Go on…”

“While we investigate these mods it couldn’t hurt to prepare the force for any possible encounters. We don’t want to lose any good men and women.”

YF thought he could see her smile at the word. “Get to the point.”

“That same contact would like to strike a deal with the Ward Office to outfit the vehicles, make us competitive against the enemy.”

“You mean make us competitive against the enemy. You’re not Ward personnel,” Honda reminded him.

“Sure sure, but it could help you outrun or apprehend the sectarians,” said YF.

“How many DTKs are you getting out of this?” asked Honda.

“None.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

YF thought for a bit on how to convince her. “I didn’t make a move on our colleague,” said YF.

“That means nothing to me,” said Honda.

YF could tell from her eyes though, that she was lying. “Whether it means anything to you or not, it should be some evidence of who I am.”

“That’s what I don’t have figured out Sakai,” said Honda. “Normal men do things for three reasons: money, women, and power. If you aren’t doing this for money, and there’s about zero chance you’ll get any power, then what is it for?”

“You know I rather like all three of those,” YF admitted.

Honda scowled. “The first thing about talking through deals is to know your audience. I’m not finding your jokes amusing, Sakai.”

“If I can help strike a good deal for the Ward Office and Uraga finds these mods useful, maybe he could help me get in the police force,” said YF. Saying it out loud sounded much stranger than thinking about it. “That’s my angle.”

“Why in the world would he do that?” asked Honda.

“I was hoping you could help me with that,” said YF.

Honda finally shut the screen off her terminal and started to walk off to the car. “I need to think about it.”

***

YF took his receiver from Fujii and examined it. He had imagined multiple times what Erika must have done to it while it was in her custody, though it looked just as it had when he gave it to her.

“Ms. Ueno said she did parameter reduction analysis on the data and some other tests. She agrees there was something odd about the footage, but also couldn’t quite find what it was. She said you will need a specialist,” Fujii reported. She took a sip of her coffee, leaning against the tree while facing The Antelope cafe.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

As he flipped the receiver over again, he thought about why Erika still worked on the case after their previous encounter on the same ground he was now standing on with Fujii. He then concluded it probably had something to do with Reina’s interest in murder cases and some degree of the latter’s persuasion to look into it.

“I have just the specialist in mind,” he said. YF handed Fujii a folded piece of paper. She placed it into her purse. “Not going to look at it? I don’t mind,” said YF.

“That won’t be necessary Mr. Sakai. I don’t mean to pry on discrete communications between you and Ms. Ueno,” said Fujii. She sounded defensive.

“In any case we won’t be doing any analysis ourselves today. We need help,” said YF.

“Yes Mr. Sakai. I’ll finish my coffee and then leave to deliver the note.”

He could hear the annoyance in her voice, something he did not think was possible from her. The two stood there awkwardly in silence, YF wondering what to say or do and Fujii drinking her coffee at the same, slow pace. YF folded his arms. “So you worked late yesterday?”

Fujii frowned. “What do you mean, Mr. Sakai?”

“I was just asking if you got enough sleep, that’s all. Had a hunch you worked late.”

Fujii shook her head. “No, I went back right after the shift.”

Time stopped for a few seconds. YF’s eyes widened; he could not hide his reaction of shock, anger, and surprise. “Son of a bitch!”

***

“You catphished me!” YF whisper-yelled at Honda.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Honda, without changing her characteristic scowl.

“You made it sound like it was just a hunch about...about...things...but in the end it was just you. You were the one messaging me”

“Sakai stop being an idiot. I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I don’t have time for this. Go over the data with Fujii and go home!” she spat as she waved him off with a dismissive gesture.

YF wanted to grab Honda by the coat collar and scream in her face. The humiliation and rage boiled over and threatened to explode. Furthermore, there was nobody else in the office and so Honda knew that Fujii was not there. What did she mean by “go over the data with Fujii?” Was Honda taunting him to go to Fujii’s house? YF calmed his trembling as he realized that he had clenched both his fists such that his nails dug into his skin. If Honda felt threatened at all, she didn’t show it, continuing to type away at her terminal. YF turned and front kicked one of the cafe’s metal chairs such that it fell and banged against the ground. He could see that Honda didn’t flinch as he walked off toward the stairs.

***

YF downed half his fourth beer in one gulp. When he looked up, he saw a woman in a large blue T-shirt and glasses shuffling into the bar with a tired look on her face. Despite her different getup, YF instantly recognized her as the woman who had approached Eiji the night they were in the same bar. She sat down at the far end of the counter and glanced once at him, frowning to indicate that she knew who he was. After ordering her drink, she took out a deck of cards and started laying them on the counter table.

YF glanced at her several times between drinks, though she never looked up at him again. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally got up and approached her with a beer in hand, the other hand raised in the air. “Listen, I’m sorry about—”

“You’re making things awkward,” she interrupted. “And I had a shitty day so I just want to down a few glasses of wine and go to sleep. I’d appreciate it if you leave me alone.”

YF breathed out and turned to go back to his seat. “I get it, have a good evening.”

After making it about four bar stools away from her, he heard her voice call out to him. “You know how to play twenty one?”

YF stopped and turned around. “Sure.”

He tried to make his way to her in as straight a line as possible, sitting at the bar stool next to her but making sure to keep some distance. “So you’re ok with talking to me now?” he asked.

“Well you’re a married dude, you don’t seem like a creep, and maybe it’ll keep the creeps off me if you humor me for fifteen minutes,” she said coldly.

“Yeah I can fill the role,” said YF, taking a sip of his beer.

“And you’ve had too much, put that shit down,” she snapped.

YF put the beer down. “Hai, onee-san.”

The woman smiled widely. “I’m Numata Ayaka, please take care of me.”

“I’m Sakai Yasufumi. Please take care of me,” YF responded.

Ayaka stopped shuffling the deck. “Are you by any chance Ueno’s husband?”

YF drew back. “What? You know her?”

Ayaka slapped the table. “Yeah! We work in the same department. I’m at Seiyo Construction too. Different teams though.”

“She mention me a lot?” asked YF, noticing himself reach for the beer then pull back.

“Yeah, all the time.”

“Even now?”

Numata held a hand to her heart. “That...that puppy dog look on your face when you talk about her is so cute. Anyway, we haven’t talked a lot recently. Busy with projects, though our teams are supposed to collab in a few weeks.”

“I see,” said YF.

“Hit or stay?”

YF looked down at the cards. “Uh...hit.”

“She told me she lives in Itsugo though. What are you doing all the way out here?” asked Numata.

“I was hoping to meet a friend out here. Just stopped by here first,” said YF.

“Good a place as any,” Numata agreed.

“Right.” YF looked around. “What woman picks a bar to hang out unbothered?”

Numata smiled sadly. “I don’t have a lot of group hobbies. Or rather, none. I like to see people’s faces though, and this is one of the better places to do it. Too bad being female makes that a bit inconvenient.”

“What do you see in people’s faces?” asked YF.

“Everyone releases their stress here. Anywhere else people are holding back. At work, at the store, at the gym. But here, people are raw. It’s energizing.”

“Rawness is scary though, and rawness can be even scarier here mixed with alcohol, whether you’re a man or woman,” said YF.

“Sure,” said Numata. “But at some point I felt like I wanted to live more than I wanted to be safe. Seeing the desperation, bitterness, anger, happiness, sadness in people’s eyes reminds me why I’m alive. Everywhere else is fucking depressing.”

“So you don’t relieve your stress by drinking. You relieve your stress by watching people.”

“It’s both,” Numata admitted. “But I’d like to think I drink to go to sleep, and watch people to relieve my stress.”

“So why am I here then? Am I releasing stress through drink?” asked YF.

“That seems obvious. And maybe to talk to some girls,” said Numata with a smirk.

“You’re right about the first, completely wrong with the second,” said YF with a look of triumph. “I came here hoping to get in a brawl with some dude instead of talking to my wife’s colleague,” said YF.

Numata frowned. “Why?”

“Bad day, just like you” said YF. The thought of being humiliated by Honda still boiled his blood.

Numata tsked. “I think you need to find a better way to let out your stress than drinking, fighting, and talking to girls. Hit or stay?”

“Uh...hit.”

“You’re being dumb. You should stay.”

YF actually looked at his cards this time. “Ah right...stay.”

“It’s not attractive,” she said while slapping a card down on her side. “I win.” She collected the cards and started shuffling.

“Why do I care about being attractive? Think it’s too late for that,” said YF.

“I think that’s the problem with married couples, letting yourself go.”

“So what do you suggest?”

She stopped shuffling. “Be attractive to Erika, find something not so cliche to decompress. And most of all, you need to talk to her.”

“Not everything works out when you talk to people.”

Numata set the deck to the side and held the tip of her index finger on his arm. She had a very serious look on her face. “Only people who don’t talk to people they have problems with say that.”

YF looked down at her finger, then up to her. He looked up to the ceiling to buy himself time and fight the urge to take a sip from his half finished beer. It was not just the fact that there was still liquid in the bottle, but also because he had paid for it. At least, that was what he told himself. YF finally brushed the bottle away from him with the back of his fingers. “Thanks, onee-san.”

He saw her smile again.

“Heyyyy cakes,” YF could hear before turning to see a man with way too much to drink approach Numata’s chair. The man placed his hand low on Numata’s seat back.

YF grinned widely. “Some situations call for the cliche ways,” he whispered to her.

The man looked confused, Numata’s eyes widened. “No—” she started.

YF slipped off his chair, wound back with his left shoulder, and pivoted hard to smack the man in the chin with a left cross. When the man staggered, YF switched feet so his left hand was in front.

“What the—”

YF brought his head to the side and opened his arms, diving for the man’s knees and grabbing them, pulling back while pushing with his shoulder to send him to the ground. As soon as the man’s head bounced against the metal floor, YF was on top of him and twisting his body into a left jab with a right cross, repeating the dual combo three times until his own knuckles bled and the man’s nose was streaming with blood.

“Sakai!!!” he could hear Numata scream as she grabbed him by the arm. The pull was not strong enough to take him off the man, but it made him pause and watch as the man groaned in pain. YF got up slowly and rolled his shoulder to take Numata’s hand off of him. His ego now restored from Honda’s humiliation, he turned and left the bar without making eye contact with Numata.

“I hear anybody messes with the lady again, they’re next,” he said as he slammed his bloody hand on the button to open the door.