Atreus quietly recalls the days before the Asano family existed as its own entity. He, Ryuji, and Devin were members of the Akiyama family, which was a subsidiary of the Hoshino family, but wasn't large enough to have any real participation in hits. Back then, Ryuji had little respect for authority, as the family patriarch, Stephen Akiyama, was a brown-noser who was desperate to climb up the clan hierarchy with little respect to his own men. He was the type of leader who was far too focused on simply bolstering his own standing, and often failing due to his consummate ineptitude.

Eventually, the family was simply absorbed into Hoshino's, and Akiyama was exiled from the Sanada-gumi for his long history of incompetence, and Ryuji took the opportunity to simply start a family of his own with the money he had saved up and connections he established during his time under the disgraced patriarch. Obviously, the first men he took with him into his new family were Atreus and Devin. Now, Ryuji has a spotless reputation that's essentially the exact opposite of their former leader's. While he doesn't have any interest in seizing higher power within the clan, he maintains respect from his peers for being reliable and honest, which is what allows the Asano family to make money doing jobs on behalf of others.

After about an hour of listless hanging about, Atreus stands from his chair. “I think I'm gonna call it a night and head home – eat some dinner there. It's been a minute since the last time I was able to just relax in my own apartment; I've been too damn busy.”

“You do potentially have a big day tomorrow,” Ryuji replies, referring to the meetings with Stephanie Ferro, Kyang-chul Song, and Tetsuya, in that order. Some Atreus anticipates more than others. “Best to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”

“Yup. I'll see you guys tomorrow,” Atreus gives his farewell while approaching the exit.

“Later, man,” Devin's goodbye is heard as the augmented man steps out into the hallway.

As Atreus makes his way out, he retrieves his phone and summons an Automa to be prepared for him by the time he reaches the sidewalk. He crosses the lobby, where, as usual, several younger members with nothing to do greet him with deep bows and loud 'good nights'. As he steps out into the neon-lit scenery of past-midnight Kyoba, a silver car pulls up with the expected punctuality the driverless taxi service is known for.

During the paced ride back home, the augmented gangster has a lot to ruminate on; many events throughout the day have given him things to think about, both pertaining to the murder and otherwise. He thinks about Ryuji's small outburst after hearing of the meeting with Song, something that rarely happens unless the man feels personally slighted. It also doesn't necessarily come as a surprise that he secretly hates it when Okada commandeers Atreus for periods of time without giving any real explanation beforehand. He always did seem subtly agitated every time he needed to act as a middle man between his own lieutenant and the senior advisor. The news of a sudden meeting with a potentially dangerous man at a high position in the Blue Star must be the straw that broke his back on the matter.

Atreus also reflects on the admission that Okada is setting him up to be an eventual chairman. He feels as if he should have had a greater reaction than he did, probably happiness, as almost any other clan member would express upon being given such news. However, all he could offer was silent reluctance. He doesn't want to dwell on the matter, because as Okada said, it's something that won't come to fruition for years, but it's an ambitious future that's being planned for him by someone else, and he isn't sure how to feel.

Before he realizes, Atreus has left the busier streets of downtown Kyoba behind and finally pulls up to his apartment complex, Yazawa Commons. He leaves the vehicle and slowly walks up the exterior staircase leading to the second floor veranda. When he reaches the top and looks down the path, he spots a familiar scene: Reiko leaning against the railing, smoking an electronic cigarette in a sweater and shorts. He pauses, unsure of whether he should take the opportunity to engage in small talk, but soon entertains the idea that maybe it can ease his mind away from the other subjects swimming around his head. Thus, he approaches her.

“Hey,” Atreus gives a blunt greeting, joining her in leaning over the rail. “You're off early.”

“Hey there,” Reiko returns with a small smile. “I only had a half-shift today, then stopped by the market on the way home. What have you been up to today?”

“I had to go around town and meet a few people, so I was a little busy for most of the day. I'm glad I had the day off from Crown to lighten the load,” Atreus vaguely, but honestly summarizes his day while he retrieves his own electronic cigarette from his pocket.

“Did you enjoy your date with Max?” she asks with a smirk of questionable intent.

“You knew about it?” he freezes before his lips touch the matte black casing of his e-cigarette.

“Yeah, she sent me a pretty enthusiastic text on her way home from Joji's.”

“Oh,” Atreus experiences a short flashback to the sudden kiss before Max departed. She was definitely under the influence of those vodka-based mixed drinks, and in her inebriated state, must've contacted Reiko about it. “Does she... know that you and I used to date?”

Reiko nods. “After you and Devin left Crown a few nights ago, you left a pretty good impression on her, and I sort of mentioned it in passing. I expected her to go after you, but not so... aggressively. The girl really likes to strike while the iron's hot, which is sort of something I was never able to bring myself to do.”

Atreus takes a puff of his cigarette, the blue light at the foot illuminates as he inhales. While doing so, he thinks about the latter part of Reiko's final sentence, unsure of what she might be referring to, or where the sentiment comes from.

“Also, I want to apologize for the customer at Crown last night,” she brings up the obnoxious patron who forced Atreus to squeeze an empty wine bottle with his bare, synthetic hand. “He was an asshole, but unfortunately, he spends a ton of money at the club, so we need to tolerate his behavior as much as we can.”

“Who was that shit heel, anyway?” Atreus wonders, growing aggravated at what transpired at the club that night. He had thankfully forgotten about it until now.

“His name's Ryan Dobashi, he's just some real estate mogul, but he inherited his so-called 'empire' from his far more famous and successful father,” Reiko explains the source of the young, sleazy man's hubris with her own share of disdain in her voice. “He's just a case of a spoiled brat who thinks he's self-made, but actually isn't. He comes from old money, plain and simple.”

“I take it that's not the first time he's been to Crown, then?”

“No, he stops by every once in a while – every few weeks or so. So you won't be seeing him often.”

“Hopefully I won't see him ever again if I can convince the manager to let me go. I was only supposed to be a temp, but I've been there for a month already,” he gripes before taking another long puff.

“You don't want to make steady money from a normal job?” Reiko turns her head up to look him in the eye, as if she's ready to make a point.

“Don't start,” Atreus shuts down whatever she wanted to say. “I'm not suited for bouncer work or anything like that. I don't want to wait around and cross my fingers for trouble to be caused just so I can get blood circulating to my legs after standing in one spot for four hours, listening to rich guys talk shit.”

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“How do you think I feel? I'm the one who has to sit there and pretend I care. At least you get to stand in silent judgment with that scowl on your face,” Reiko playfully pokes Atreus's cheek. “Don't think I don't notice you holding back the desire to punch some of them.”

“I almost wish they'd cause problems just so I can.”

“With these things, you'll just put them in a coffin,” she reaches out and rests her hand on Atreus's right forearm, her thumb softly caressing the matte exterior.

He's a bit surprised at the sudden contact, but doesn't retract his arm. He's barely able to feel her touch, anyway. There's a pause among them, and Reiko seems to stare pensively at his synthetic limbs, but it's unsure if whatever she's thinking about is actually related to them. After a pronounced moment, she retracts her hand and takes a deep breath.

“I'm moving to a different apartment building next week, on Friday,” she reveals as she stares down at the street.

“Where at?” he asks, unmoved by the information as if he felt it coming.

“Only a few blocks west, at Moonray Apartments.”

“That's a pretty high class place. I'm jealous.”

“Yeah, it's nice,” Reiko nods at the street in front of her. “I'm only getting the smallest room they have available, but it's more than enough for just me. The lease for my apartment here isn't even over for another month and a half, but when Moonray had a studio open up, I needed to grab it as soon as possible, because they're usually gone again overnight.”

“Do you need any help moving stuff? I can't guarantee I'll be free, but I can try to make some time,” he offers his sincere assistance.

“I know you can't guarantee you'll be free,” she responds with a bittersweet smile. “I already hired movers to help, so I'll be fine. Thank you, though.”

There's another lull in the conversation, and the two begin to stare out to the streetlamp-lit street below in melancholy. Now that he knows Reiko is moving out, he's overcome with the sudden feeling that he has many things to say – or apologize for – but he isn't sure how. Before the silence becomes too awkward to bear, he simply says what comes to mind first.

“I'm sorry about... how distant I've been acting since we broke up,” Atreus nervously announces his regret in plain terms, unable to turn to face her out of guilt. “I know we both said we wanted to stay friends, but... I've been acting stubborn about it, and even though it's been almost a year and a half, I still can't help but take things to heart sometimes,” he finally turns his head to look her in the eyes. “I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry too, Atreus,” she confesses her mutual feelings, returning his sad gaze with her own. “We had a great thing going, but... my feelings about your career choice pushed me to cut things off without warning. I know I blindsided you, and I always felt bad about how I did it.”

“You have every right to be wary of having a boyfriend who's a career criminal,” he concedes with a sigh. “It made me think a lot about my romantic prospects as a member of the clan.”

“As far as I can tell, Max doesn't seem to mind that much – or at least as much as I did,” Reiko remarks. “So don't take my lack of tact as something that any girl would do. I just... let my doubts get the better of me, and they made me act before I could think. I don't blame you for anything. I didn't think I had the right to pry you away from the lifestyle you knew.”

“I wouldn't want to force you to stick around if you weren't truly comfortable with it. I know there were moments in the past year and a half where I would suddenly become irritated, and it was because it felt like you were saying things you didn't mean, particularly about seeing other people.” Atreus explains some of his past behavior, quietly aware and insecure about how childish it seemed.

“Honestly, in some cases, I didn't mean it. But I tried to force myself to talk about it, because I thought it'd make me feel better, but it didn't. All this time, I just... wanted to finally apologize for ending things as abruptly as I did.”

The gangster flashes a small smile. “Well, I accept your apology.”

“And I accept yours,” Reiko responds in kind, giving a smile of her own, which she punctuates with a deep, loud breath. “I'm glad we finally talked about this.”

“Me too,” Atreus agrees with a nod. “It's sad it took us a year and a half despite being neighbors the entire time, and coworkers for the last month.”

Reiko utters a small giggle. “We're so immature... So, now that you've gone on a proper date with her, do you like Max?”

“You want to know about that now?”

“I think I'm more comfortable with it, now that we've cleared the air,” she gives a wry smile and a shrug that doesn't inspire much confidence.

“Well, yeah, I do. She's easy to be around,” Atreus attempts to answer sincerely, but tactfully.

“That's good. She seems to like you a lot, too. Are you going out again soon?”

“I'm sure we will eventually, but we didn't set anything up when our date ended earlier. Maybe in a few days or something. As I'm sure you can imagine, it's difficult for me to plan these things ahead of time, considering my job.”

“You seem a lot busier than now than you ever were before,” Reiko asks with her brow furrowed in equal parts worry and curiosity. “I noticed you left Crown a couple hours early. If you don't mind me asking, what've you been up to?”

“I... received probably the most important task I've ever been given, and it's not something that can be done overnight,” Atreus tries to gives an explanation that emphasizes the severity of his mission, while also steering away from specifics. “It's nothing violent, or anything that'll get me thrown in prison for the rest of my life – I think – but... a lot of people are counting on me. It's kept me extremely busy, and having shifts at Crown on top of it hasn't made it any easier.”

“I see,” she casts her eyes down, knowing that it's futile to ask for details, because she won't receive any. However, she still sympathizes with him. “Well, whatever it is you're doing, I hope you don't work yourself to the bone.”

“I wish I could say I won't, but–”

“I know,” Reiko interrupts with another bittersweet smile. “You can't guarantee it.”

“Yeah,” Atreus nods, giving a melancholic smirk of his own. A pang of guilt strikes him as he realizes how many times he must've said that to her in the short window they were together, and he silently prays he isn't forced to do the same to Max.

“You're a person who always does what he says he's going to do, and that's a quality of yours that's both very admirable and sometimes frustrating,” she suddenly gives her blunt feelings on his personality with yet another smile – not one with sarcasm or belittlement behind it, but a sense of somber reflection.

“I know,” he agrees with a timid nod, acknowledging her thoughts.

“But I still wouldn't change that about you,” Reiko, despite her complaint, looks up at him with an earnest, encouraging expression that succinctly summarizes her lack of regret in the time they spent together.

“Thanks,” Atreus responds with a grateful smile. There's another short pause in the conversation, and, taking this as an opportunity to end the night on a positive note, he pushes himself up and off the veranda railing as he takes one last puff of his cigarette. “Well, I'm gonna call it a night. I'm glad we finally talked about things.”

“Me too. We should've done it sooner.”

“I'll see you later.”

“Yeah,” Reiko says softly with a nod.

With that, the gangster turns and unlocks his front door, and enters his apartment, closing the door behind him. After crossing the threshold, he can't help but let out a long, generously drawn-out sigh of relief. For the first time in what feels like forever, he senses a weight has been lifted from shoulders instead of piled onto it – the cathartic sensation that he had finally closed a chapter on his life that had been left open for a year and a half, and with no feelings of regret to stay with him.

Now in the comfort of his own home, Atreus takes his time for the remainder of his night eating a fulfilling dinner, taking a long shower, and relaxing on his own sofa while playing his first short session of Black Iron VR in a few weeks, inspired by the passionate display of dedication shown by Tetsuya a couple nights before. Though his time limits him to do only a few menial tasks and fetch quests, he relishes his tiny vacation in the dense, living virtual universe.

Before the clock strikes 3 AM, he sends himself to bed, where he shortly wrestles with his thoughts on the busy day's events, and nervously anticipates the beginning of an equally busy day in the morning.