"So we're going to Wakiya Heights, right?” Devin asks.

“Yeah. If we're only going to Takiyama's apartment and look around, it shouldn't take long,” Atreus answers monotonically, focusing his rigid stare at the pavement. “You don't have to worry about it cutting into your money collecting time.”

“Hell, if I knew I was doing some internal clan investigations, I would've called in sick. This shit is way more exciting.”

Atreus scoffs at the idea. “As if Ryuji would let you do that.”

Before they can lull on the sidewalk long enough to potentially be spotted by more passing police officers, their automated cab pulls up to them quickly and smoothly. They enter it with light feet, more than willing to start putting some distance between themselves and the arrest-drunk forces that are likely hassling the unlucky Hoshino family.

Their silver, logo-struck ride takes them to the western section of Kyoba, which is noticeably less decorated with vibrant lights and neon holograms due to being more industrious in nature. The houses and apartments in this particular area are pressed up against a sports motorcycle manufacturing plant, one of the few in the country that still hires humans instead of having an exclusively automated production line, so more citizens here are laborers instead of businessmen and women – blue collars instead of white. At the very end of one particular residential street is Wakiya Heights, a three-floor, red brick complex. Aesthetically, it looks closer to an old fashioned boarding house, though maintains a clean, modernized structure and shape.

The two yakuza step out of their vehicle and onto the rough sidewalk that has definitely seen less maintenance than the skillfully placed and thoroughly cleaned concrete slabs and asphalt of the district's busier entertainment streets. Though a plus side to the neighborhood is that it isn't nearly as cramped, with buildings having a bit more breathing room and not touching shoulder to shoulder.

“Room 308,” Atreus says aloud to remind Devin and himself.

They cross an open, waist-high steel gate between the short concrete walls, walking along a stone path that cuts through the patchy but still green front yard to approach the entrance. Inside the empty, vinyl tile-laden lobby, their options for progress are limited: the staff room near the back, or the stairs or elevator to higher floors. With no reason to bother with the former, they step towards the elevator and call it down, taking the free moment they have in the meantime to check the mailboxes against the wall. Atreus traces the row dedicated to third floor rooms, and soon sees 308, which has the name 'Edward Takiyama' over the keypad. Next to the mailboxes is the apartment call box, its touchscreen and camera anticipating incoming usage, though the gangster ignores it in favor of a surprise visit.

The elevator releases an audible ding in its arrival and its opaque glass doors slide open to reveal an oblivious and shocked young woman who immediately notices the shine of Sanada-gumi pins. She sheepishly walks past them, quietly hoping to not draw any sort of ire despite being a total stranger to them, and the men enter the elevator, hitting the number '3' on the panel once inside.

“Are we gonna bust in?” Devin asks. “If he's involved with the murder, or knows something in general, he might freak out and escape if we just ring the bell.”

“I guess we'll have to.”

The elevator doors slide open upon arrival at the third floor, and the two men step into the barren hallway, their path laid before them by a red carpet and off-white walls. They walk past multiple solid oak doors of unrelated rooms before finally reaching the one with a brass '308' screwed onto it. Instead of knocking or hitting the bell button, Atreus slowly presses his left ear against the door, hoping to hear faint rumblings of someone inside.

“Is he in there?” Devin asks in a hushed voice.

“I think I hear a TV,” Atreus answers, able to pick up only the muffled noises of commercial narrations punctuated by unnatural pauses. “Get ready,” he says while taking his head off the door and beckoning his partner to stand behind him.

The augmented man places his palms flatly against the wooden surface of the threshold, one over the doorknob, and one below it. He begins to gently apply pressure to the door, causing a faintly audible sound of the wood beginning to bend under the incredible strength of his arms. Once he reaches a specific level of resistance that allows the door to still stand without yet being forced open, he releases a sudden burst of power that flings the door open with a crash, breaking the latch and sending splinters forward into the room, practically making the door fly off its hinges entirely.

Devin is the first to rush in, quickly scanning his surroundings for Takiyama's presence, going immediately from the entry, to the living room, then down a short hall leading to one bedroom and one bathroom. However, there's no sign of anyone, not even a sign of someone escaping as the men entered the apartment. Atreus slowly walks in afterward, passing the small kitchen to the left and taking his time to examine the disheveled living room. Its royal blue carpet has a few questionable stains, and the coffee table has a messy plethora of electronics, drinks, and leftover food on top of it. The sounds he heard before breaking the door open were indeed coming from the television, which has begun playing a random martial arts movie.

“He's not here,” Devin announces as he walks back from the hallway. “I don't think he escaped through the windows or anything, either. They're all closed, with curtains drawn shut. Guess he hasn't been here since yesterday. What do you want to do?”

“Let's look around for anything that can help us take the next step,” Atreus calmly instructs. “If he really is the one who killed Camlin, look for a gun. Otherwise, look for any sort of personal belongings that could give us a hint as to where he might be. You take the bedroom and bathroom, I'll take the kitchen and living room. Be thorough, but don't trash the place.”

“Got it.”

Devin returns down the short hallway and first enters the bedroom. He inspects the unmade bed by flipping the blanket up to see what's underneath, then doing the same to the pillow and mattress itself, leading him to check underneath the bed entirely, where he discovers only shoes and dust. He checks the standing dresser, pulling out each of its five drawers and rummaging through the folded clothes – undershirts, boxers, socks, pants, towels – and even a polished wooden clamshell box containing many different strains of cannabis, only to come up with nothing yet again. He throws open the closet door and swings each hanging article of clothing along the rack, going through jackets, hoodies, and dress shirts. Anything with pockets, he feels.

Multiple shoeboxes are pressed up against the back wall of the closet, along the floor, and Devin starts to open each one individually, finding only nicer, more expensive shoes in most of them and unrelated miscellaneous items in others, particularly old, discarded electronics. The shelf above has a single briefcase, which he places on the bed and opens, discovering a collection of legal documents, old receipts, old debit cards, a high school diploma, and Takiyama's social security card. With nothing of note inside, Devin neatly reorganizes everything and places them back where we found them.

Meanwhile, Atreus has begun his search through the kitchen. Before he even begins to touch anything, he carefully eyes every inch of the room, searching for any potential sign of recent, strange activity. Only crumbs on the countertops and unwashed dishes in the sink are in plain view. With nothing odd immediately standing out, he begins to open and inspect each cupboard, not bothering to remove anything unless necessary. He even goes out of his way to look inside the refrigerator, which may be a strange place to find any clues, but he doesn't want any stones left unturned. Unfortunately, he's only greeted by the sight of leftover fast food, condiments, and unopened soft drink bottles. The freezer gives him more of the same, but with a lower temperature.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He moves over to the living room. The clacking of his shoes against the white tiles of the kitchen become muffled thumps of steps against the shabby blue carpet. His first point of interest is the black leather sofa, which is clearly aged and likely secondhand, evidenced by irreparable wear of the surface of the fabric, but otherwise free of tears and holes. He lifts one end of it and pulls it away from the wall to see if anything's hidden behind it, but spies nothing but more carpet. He places the sofa back in its original position and begins sliding his hands between all cushioned seats of it, hoping to hit something solid. Unfortunately, he feels nothing. Finally, he checks underneath, in the half-inch gap of space left between the bottom and the floor, using his phone's light to give him visibility. Again, he sees nothing.

Atreus moves over to the entertainment center that the television sits on. It's a mere three tier stand with no cabinets or drawers, so it's easy to immediately see that nothing of note other than the television itself, gaming consoles and disc players sit within it. He goes as far as to even check behind the entire display, but of course finds only a dense layer of dust.

Finally, the gangster steps towards the coffee table between the sofa and entertainment center, where a messy cluster of many different items cover almost the entirety of the surface. Most of it is empty bottles, cans, and leftover food, which makes him a bit hesitant to touch it even though his hands are no longer made of flesh. He opts to carefully examine the mess by eyesight, soon noticing the glare of the ceiling light above reflected by a glossy surface not part of the matte table, partially hidden underneath a turned over volume of some manga. He pushes it away to find an item that's extremely important to everyday life that he didn't expect to discover: a smartphone.

Atreus picks it up, hearing the thumps of Devin's footsteps moving from the bedroom to the bathroom behind him. He presses the power button on the top side of the device, and is greeted by an unlock screen, asking for a six-digit passcode, and denoting that it's only step one of three.

“Devin.” Atreus calls out.

“Huh?” Devin answers, poking his head out from the bathroom.

“I found a phone.”

“Oh shit,” Devin utters as he leaves the bathroom and approaches his partner. “Does it have anything on it?”

“No idea,” Atreus bluntly responds with a shake of his head. “He has extremely tight security on this thing. It needs a six-number code, then a fingerprint reading, and then an eye scan.”

Devin heaves a sigh, “Fuck. We could brute force the code, but we can't really do anything about the fingerprint or eye scan. But if security is so high, then something important must be on it, don't you think?”

“Well, it's his personal phone, so a ton of important stuff can be on it, but it doesn't mean any of it would be important to us. Though it's strange he just left it here if that were the case.”

“What do you wanna do? Take it with us?”

“We probably should, but how do we expect to open it up?” Atreus lifts his gaze up from the small screen that's practically mocking him with a blank keypad. “I don't think there's anyone in the Sanada-gumi equipped to crack open a random phone. At least no one that I'm aware of.”

“I... actually might know a guy,” Devin responds with obvious reluctance in his voice.

“Seriously?” The augmented man looks at his friend with a renewed sense of hope. “How?”

“A dude I met on Black Iron VR.”

Atreus furrows his brow and narrows his eyes in suspicion, “...Seriously?”

“I know it sounds fishy,” Devin lifts his hands defensively, quietly conceding that it's not an ideal idea. “But I've seen him work his magic before, and he talks about all sorts of hacking stuff in the guild chat with other members.”

“That's great and all, but does he even live here? In Los Angeles? And do you trust him?”

“Not just in Los Angeles, but here in Kyoba. And yeah, I've met him in person before already. I've known the guy for over a year. He's a little talkative and overexcited sometimes, but he's as smart as they come.”

“You've known this guy for a year and never mentioned him to me? You sure we can trust him for something like this? Remember why we're doing this in the first place,” Atreus remarks with a near scolding tone, still looking quite unconvinced. “This is something that affects the entire clan, you know.”

“Hacking isn't just a hobby for him. It's also his job. He's a white hat,” Devin clarifies. “But he also likes to mess around with and modify all kinds of gear and devices, including phones. When he talks about it around me, it all sounds like Greek or some shit, but I know a tech-savvy dude when I see one.”

“Fair enough, I guess,” Atreus somberly breaks underneath Devin's passionate case in favor of his hacker guildmate. “It's not like we have much of a choice, anyway,” he examines the phone and realizes something important. “Before we go, I should take out the battery just in case. Don't want any sort of tracking components on while we have it.” He flips the phone over to remove the brushed aluminum back panel and take out the lithium battery, and places it and the lighter, battery-less phone in different pant pockets, “So when can you talk to this guy?”

“He has a habit of not always picking up his phone, so after my money collection, I can head back to my place and get online. He's usually on the game by then. I can tell him about our situation and set something up. If he's not busy, we might even able to meet up with him tonight.”

“Well, I'm on bouncer duty over at Crown, so it'll have to be pretty late.”

“That's fine,” Devin easily waves off time concerns. “Dude stays up until sunrise, anyway.”

“I should also let Bessho know that we stopped by. I told him I'd let him know if we found Takiyama. He's probably waiting for me to contact him.”

“Are we going back to the Hoshino family's building? The cops might still be there.”

“No, I'll send him a text. Let's get out of here first, though.”

Atreus beckons Devin to follow him out of the apartment before they're discovered by curious neighbors, making sure to close the door behind them as they leave – at least as much as they can, considering the door's latch is completely obliterated. On their way out, Atreus uses his own phone to contact Bessho via text message.

[Went to Takiyama's apartment,] the message reads, [had to break in because no one was there. He seems to have left his phone behind.]

Less than a minute after sending it, he receives a response from Bessho, [What the hell? He's not really the flaky type. I'll talk to my boys and see if they know where he might be. Thanks again for checking up on his apartment for me.]

[No problem,] Atreus's reply states, [let me know what places your men tell you, and I'll continue to look for him. I have nothing better to do, plus I have his phone anyway.]

[I appreciate it, brother. It's probably best that someone outside the Hoshino family looks for him anyway. The cops are breathing down our necks. Most of them just left a couple minutes ago and even took some of our guys for good measure, but their drones are still buzzing around outside. We're gonna have to keep a low profile until further notice, and you should probably keep your distance for the time being.]

[Think it's possible to send a guy or two down here to keep watch and see if he ever comes back to his apartment?]

[I might be able to do at least that much,] Bessho gives an unsure response after a pronounced pause. [If I find out anything regarding his whereabouts, I'll shoot you the details.]

By the time the short exchange is complete, the two men find themselves outside of the apartment complex already, crossing the front yard again to make their way to the sidewalk.

“What do you wanna do now?” Devin asks as they approach the pavement.

“Can't really do much until we crack this phone open or know where Takiyama might be,” Atreus responds with a halfhearted shrug. “Guess we might as well go back to the office and let Ryuji know what we've done so far. I'll let him hold on to this phone until we know what we're going to do next. Also, you cover this next ride, I paid for the last couple.”

“Aw, man,” Devin gripes and childishly throws his head back.

“Don't act like your bank account's got nothing but lint in it. I saw you eyeing Detective Colter's cigar like you'd buy a box of your own as soon you got home,” the sharply observant gangster lectures.

“Alright, alright,” the defeated one concedes and pulls out his phone to summon a ride.

Soon after, their transportation arrives and the men begin their ride back to the Asano family office to give Ryuji an update on the day's events and let him hold on to Takiyama's phone for safe keeping. Once there, Devin prepares and leaves for his money collecting job for Koda Loans, and Atreus kills some time before another night of bouncer duty begins at Crown. With two potential ways of continuing their investigation – either waiting for details on Takiyama's whereabouts or cracking open his phone – the two would-be detectives wait and see which will happen first.