Inside a driverless taxi that he summoned from the sidewalk in front of Joji's soon after Max's departure, Atreus is on the way to Sanada-gumi headquarters to meet with Okada about whatever discovery his contact in the Blue Star, Lee, has made about the potential sale of VF+ ammo cartridges within the Korean gang.

The gangster's mind is swimming with various thoughts of the night, mostly fantasies of how his prematurely ended date could've resolved if he had no other obligations. However, he forces himself to concentrate on the matter and hand, recalling a mention of 'complications' regarding Lee's information from Okada in the short phone call they had earlier. It spins many questions for him to consider as his ride weaves through the untamed traffic of Saturday night Kyoba.

[I'm on my way right now,] Atreus declares his approach in a text message.

[Alright. I'll be in my office, as always. I'll have tea prepared, too,] Okada answers back with immediacy. The mention of tea being prepared ahead of time leaves Atreus to ponder how long this meeting might be.

After a lengthy ride to the southeast corner of Kyoba through the dense streets, the self-driving taxi parks in front of the Sanada-gumi headquarters. Atreus exits and greets a guard standing dutifully in the booth next to the gate, who allows the gangster inside. He walks with urgency and purpose through the parking lot and into the lobby, where over a dozen members of different families are seen idling about. Justin, the sole being standing rigid at the reception desk, day in and day out, is still there, as expected.

“Good evening, Atreus,” the synthetic man greets with stiff, subtly inhuman delivery. “Mr. Okada is expecting you.”

“Thank you, Justin, I know,” Atreus gives a curt greeting in return, waving off the android's words as he passes by and makes a beeline straight to the elevators.

When he reaches the top floor, he walks through the wide corridors of black and royal blue, silently ruminating on the fact that he's traversed these halls more times in the last four days than in the prior six months. He soon reaches the door to Okada's office, guarded by yet another tall, wide-bodied man who stands aside and allows Atreus through to knock on the door himself. It swings open almost the instant his knuckles hit the surface of it, and his first sight is Rachel, Okada's personal android, beckoning him in.

“Hello, Atreus. Please, come in and have a seat,” she stands to the side and gestures toward the black sofa near the center of the room. Okada himself is already seated in the adjacent chair.

“Evening, Watanabe-kun,” the elder man greets his subordinate. “Take a seat. Sorry to ask you to come on such short notice. I hope I didn't interrupt you during anything important.” The tiny light inside the iris of his right eye illuminates and spins around the circumference of his pupil. “I see you drank alcohol recently. An evening out with the boys?”

“Something like that,” Atreus concedes as he sits on the sofa, but stays vague, as there's no use in trying to argue with Okada's augmented eye.

Without being told, Rachel hovers over the tray holding a hot ceramic pot of green tea, and pours some into a matching cup, which she quietly hands to Atreus, who carefully accepts. The drink is still fresh, noticeable thanks to the clear steam practically billowing upward.

“So, did Lee tell you who sold the ammo cartridges?” Atreus restates the question he asked over the phone as he brings the rim of the cup to his lips for a slow sip.

“Well, before I get to that,” Okada says as he readjusts himself in his seat to prepare for what the younger man expects to be a long-winded explanation, “let me rewind things a bit for context. I called Lee in the morning to tell him about our predicament. As I mentioned in the text I would later send you, he swore up and down that he knows nothing of the Blue Star organizing a murder on Sanada-gumi territory.”

“Just to be sure, you believe him when he says that?”

The senior advisor nods. “I do. Lee's been quite proactive in maintaining a positive relationship between the gangs, so if he says he has no personal knowledge of any scheme or ploy to frame us for murder, I trust him. Now, after that call, he immediately began digging things up – trying to get in touch will all of the Blue Star's black market vendors to get his hands on receipts pertaining to illegal ammunition sales. Eventually, he found out who, specifically, sold these VF+ rounds you told me about, and, well, this is where the 'complication' I mentioned over the phone begins.”

Atreus furrows his brow in curiosity. “Is the vendor being uncooperative?” he asks before taking another slow sip of his steaming tea.

“In a way,” Okada tilts his head and redirects his eyes for a brief instant before beginning his explanation with obvious reluctance. “As it turns out, the the vendor in charge of black market weaponry works directly under another officer who's at the same level of the Blue Star ladder as Lee, and he's blocking our contact from getting any details about recent transactions.”

“Who is this other officer, exactly?”

“His name is Kyang-chul Song.”

“I... feel like I've heard that name before, but I'm not sure where.”

Okada heaves a small sigh. “Well, to put it bluntly, he's one of the harshest critics of the Blue Star's truce with the clan.”

“Oh, so he's one of the guys who hates us and actually wants war? Great,” Atreus immediately becomes annoyed, commenting in a clearly facetious manner. “So what's it going to take to get this guy out of our way? Or are we going to need to give up on this lead?”

“Actually, Lee managed to reason with him, and Song is willing to hand over his man's receipts on one condition.”

“And that is?” the augmented man narrows his eyes in suspicion, fearing the worst of whatever deal the mind of this warmonger has conjured.

“Song wants a private meeting with whomever is in charge of investigating this murder on the Sanada-gumi's behalf, so he can hand over the information personally.”

Atreus freezes; he becomes a statue as tries to process what his superior just said. A private meeting? With the person investigating the murder on behalf of the clan? Isn't that him? He has to walk into the lion's den in order to continue his job?

“A private meeting... in Jeonju?” the younger man snaps out of his stupor in time to ask for clarification.

“Yes, in Jeonju,” Okada answers with a gentle nod but bleak eyes.

“And the person going to this meeting would be... me, right?”

The senior advisor nods again.

“...Hold on,” Atreus places his cup, still steaming and half-full, back on the coffee table. “You want me to walk into Jeonju, as a member of the Sanada-gumi, and have a private meeting with a Blue Star officer who might want to tie me up and feed me to the nearest mountain lion when he sees this pin flashing in the light? Are you serious? Did you agree to this meeting?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“...I did,” Okada admits with shaky constitution. “He's in possession of potentially crucial evidence we need to continue our investigation and solve this murder before the police do, and he knows it. He knows he has the power to make the demands in this situation, and if we try and push too much, he could destroy it out of spite.”

“He could have me killed out of spite!” Atreus becomes increasingly angry as the conversation draws on and he has to listen to Okada's justifications for putting him in potential danger.

“No, he won't,” the elder man tries to calmly but firmly reassure his subordinate. “I told Lee that if you were to attend this meeting, I expect you to contact me immediately after it finishes, and if I don't hear from you, I'm going to assume the worst. He's going to pass that warning on to Song, and it should serve as a reminder to him that the Sanada-gumi has the power to crush them overnight. We might not start a war over evidence of a murder we didn't sanction, but we can start one over the death of someone who saved the chairman's life. If we can't protect you, we'd be admitting that we don't care about loyalty.”

“Instead of the loyalty that avenges my death, I'd prefer being given the loyalty that doesn't almost guarantee my death to begin with.”

“Do you have any other way to get your hands on those receipts? Because if you do, I'd like to hear it,” Okada lifts his hand in an expectant shrug. “This might be the most important lead we have in this entire investigation, especially if hacking that phone doesn't bear any useful information. Do you want to give it up? Do you want to throw away this lead?”

“...No, I don't,” Atreus sighs and gives up on further debating the matter, begrudgingly accepting the circumstances. “So when is this meeting supposed to take place, then?”

“Lee said he can organize something as early as tomorrow night. If it's any consolation, he also plans to help guarantee your safety when you're there.”

Exhausted by the short argument, Atreus grabs his tea again and leans back. “Can't believe I'm marching onto Blue Star's front porch just to confirm whether or not they sold some god damn bullets. Christ,” he takes a sip to help calm his nerves.

“I know it's annoying. But it's just a one time thing.”

“I just hope that whatever I get there actually leads to something substantial,” Atreus relinquishes a sigh before suddenly straightening his expression again in sudden remembrance of something he wanted to ask. “By the way, since I'm here, I was wondering if it would be possible for you to set up a meeting with one of the Atmos employees you're still in contact with.”

“I probably can. Why?”

“Well, I think I should dedicate some time to figuring out a bit more about Will Camlin's private life, but I can't really do that by going to his home to talking to his friends or family, because I might scare them, or run into police on accident. I think coworkers are probably distant enough for me to get some details without risking much.”

Okada takes a deep breath to pause and consider it. “I think I can help with that. My main contact over there right now is a woman named Stephanie Ferro, who's the secretary of the senior vice president. In her position, she gets to put her ear against the door of every major board meeting while also keep an eye on activity among the entry level employees. She's the one who sent me Camlin's CV the morning after the murder happened. She's been very reliable.”

“Great. When's the soonest you can set something up?”

“Well, she's off on Sundays, which is tomorrow, so I can see if she's available for something in the afternoon, before you head to Jeonju. I can't promise she'll accept, because she's very careful about not being caught, but I'm sure she can come around if I offer her a little bonus on top of what I already pay her.”

“And how much do you pay her, if you don't mind me asking?”

“Let's just say that getting Camlin's info hand-delivered cost me the equivalent of a week-long vacation in Italy,” Okada admits with a self-deprecating grin. “That's not an estimation, either. She knew exactly how much to ask for.”

“Sounds like she has a bright future ahead of her.”

“If she were an actual member of the clan, she'd probably have my job by now, I'm sure.”

There's a lull in the conversation, which gives Atreus the opportunity to take another sip of his still-warm green tea. In his short moment of reflection, he realizes he was so caught up in his date with Max, and the disappointment he felt in cutting it short, that he forgot about the unknown visitor to Takiyama's apartment, and Detective Colter's visit the Asano family office.

“I don't know if Ryuji's already contacted you about these already, but a couple of interesting things happened today about the case.”

“Such as?”

“Well, first off, I met up with Bessho, from the Hoshino family, and he told me that he has a couple guys staking out the apartment building of Takiyama, the guy who owns the phone. A shady visitor showed up in the dead of night, and they were able to take a picture of the guy, but not a good one.” Atreus takes his phone, opens the photo, and hands it to Okada, who closely examines it.

“You're right, it's not a great picture,” the elder man laments the low quality due to the deep zoom and lack of nearby light. “I assume they don't know anything about him other than his appearance?”

“That's right. They don't even know for sure if he's Japanese or not. Ryuji pointed out earlier that he isn't wearing a pin, which might not make much a difference since it's standard practice to take your pin off when you're trying to keep a low profile, but it might be worth keeping in mind.”

“So there's no clues as to why he showed up there?”

“Well, after this mystery man left, the guys staking the place out went to check the apartment again, and the doorknob was busted, meaning he likely broke in. But when they looked around, they didn't see anything out of place. So, my initial assumption is that he went there to find Takiyama and probably kill him, because if it were anything less than a hostile visit, breaking the door in likely wouldn't have been necessary.”

“That seems like a sound theory,” Okada comments as he hands the phone back, “but that's only because there's little to go on. Keep in mind that it's entirely possible to break in with malicious intent that still isn't necessarily murder. If you focus on that too much, it might blind you to other motives. And what of Bessho's men? Are they still going to stake the building out?”

“He said he'd keep them there, yes, and if the guy showed up again, he'd let me know.”

“Good. What else happened today?”

“After my meetup with Bessho, I went back to the office and, eventually, we got a visit from some cops.”

“The police?” Okada leans forward slightly, initially worried by the news. “Who? And what for? There shouldn't be any reason to suspect the Asano family had any involvement.”

“It was Detective Colter, the guy we cooperated with way back, after the incident, and his partner. Apparently it was an off-the-record visit, so to speak. They just asked some questions and wanted to try and see if we knew anything they didn't, because it seems they're just about as clueless as we are at the moment.”

“Really?” the senior advisor raises his eyebrows in surprise at the news. “I figured they would've had a significant head start over us, given things like the drones and such.”

“Actually, he admitted that the drones didn't pick up anything that night.”

“How is that possible?”

Atreus gives a shrug. “The drones run on strict routes, and apparently the murder happened in the short duration where there was a blind spot.”

“That's interesting,” Okada strokes his cheek with piqued curiosity. “That would suggest that the murder may have been initially intended to be a deliberate meetup between Camlin and – I can only assume – his murderer. Otherwise, it'd be far too convenient of a coincidence.”

“Exactly, but we don't really have anything concrete to suggest it was his murderer he was meant to meet up with. Other than that, we still have to find out why a meetup was supposed to happen there to begin with.”

“I take it this is why you want to start digging into Camlin's personal life?”

Atreus nods. “Yes, it is.”

“Well, it's as good a reason as any. I'll be sure to let Stephanie know tomorrow morning, and hopefully she's free. I didn't discuss Camlin with her that much, but she did seem to know him personally, so I'm fairly confident she'd be willing to cooperate.”