“You have arrived at your destination,” the driverless taxi's on-board AI announces in a human-like voice but a subtly stiff delivery.

The disembodied voice snaps Atreus out of his sullen daze, and he exits the car to enter the Asano family office, where he makes his usual path through the lobby to take the elevator up. He reaches the top floor, and walks down the hallway and into Ryuji's office, where he's greeted by the usual two faces in the usual spots.

“Hey, man,” Devin gives an initially casual greeting, but quickly turns more serious as he notices his friend's crestfallen expression and downcast eyes. “Hey, is something wrong?”

The question grabs Ryuji's attention, and he looks away from his computer monitor to see the somber face of Atreus, who slowly takes a seat in the recliner and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He doesn't answer the question immediately. Instead, he precedes it with a drawn out nasal sigh.

“...Marvin Choi is dead,” Atreus eventually responds.

“What?” Devin asks, not initially understanding the severity of the statement. “You... you're talking about the guy you mentioned to us just last night about meeting? Right? The dude who brought the killer to a Blue Star vendor to buy the VF+ cartridges?”

Atreus nods. “Yes. That guy.”

“And he's... dead?” Devin emphasizes, still perplexed at the suddenness of the news, possibly assuming that his friend may even be mistaken somehow. “Are you being serious right now? The dude you spoke about last night as if he were still healthy and ready to talk is dead?”

Atreus takes a deep breath. “Yes,” he repeats himself, this time more firmly.

Devin isn't sure how to process this information. He leans back in the sofa and his expression becomes blank. Ryuji, who had been listening, looks similarly confused, but manages to chime in with more questions of his own.

“Atreus, how do you know this?” the family head asks.

“I got a call from Lee this morning. He said he and Mr. Han – the vendor and Marvin's boss – had been trying to contact him all night, so they finally decided to just go to his apartment. They found his body there. I... I even went over there to verify it myself,” the gangster hangs his head during the last sentence.

“You saw Choi's dead body?” Ryuji repeats, feeling a prompt influx of conflicting emotions.

“Yeah. Lee and Han were there, already looking through the apartment for clues, but they couldn't find any.”

A lull in the conversation falls on the trio and silence envelops the room. Atreus is overcome with feelings of helplessness, while Devin and Ryuji are totally flabbergasted. The latter two started the day with somewhat high expectations regarding the continuation of the investigation, but what they feel now is nothing short of feeling like a soft, shag rug was pulled out from beneath their feet to reveal jagged rocks underneath, and they've fallen face-first.

“I guess I don't need to ask this, but... how did he die?” Devin forces out the first question that comes to mind, though he's already certain of the answer he'll receive.

“Two shots to the chest, one to head, same as Camlin. And with VF+ rounds too.”

“Jesus, the guy didn't even try to make it look like an unrelated killing.”

“He was definitely dead for a few days, as well,” Atreus adds, looking back down towards the floor with an empty expression. “He was almost certainly killed within twenty-four hours after Camlin. His body was... grey. He was already starting to rot.”

“Fuck, man.” Devin heaves a sigh and rubs his forehead nervously.

Another silence befalls them as they're struck with invasive thoughts of all the ways this might negatively impact the investigation. Ryuji pushes himself away from his desk and stands. He walks to the sofa and sit down next to Devin, on the side closer to Atreus, putting himself between his two most trusted men and friends. The family head leans forward with a stone face and slightly clenched jaw.

“Atreus,” Ryuji speaks in a low voice that's somehow authoritative but also soft, like an elder brother, coming from a place of worry, trying to console a lost sibling. “Do you want to continue this investigation?”

Atreus's first instinct was to nearly say 'of course I do', and he slightly opens his mouth to say as much, but he can't force out the words. He pauses, thinking of the consequences of his pursuit for the truth. Last night, before going to bed, he had only considered the danger of this job in passing, not taking the likelihood of getting caught in the killer's crosshairs very seriously. However, after seeing the unknown culprit's dedication to tying up loose ends, he's been forced to consider his safety. He's grazed death once before, but was brought back – though not without permanent damage – and he isn't sure if he can survive a mortal encounter again, specifically with a person who is directly targeting him.

“Don't think about the fact that Okada gave you this job,” Ryuji continues. “Don't think about stuff like 'duty to the clan' or anything. Just think about what you want here.”

“Would Okada even let him walk away from this? Just like that?” Devin asks, looking unsure of the idea of simply quitting while the investigation is this far in.

“I'm sure he'd be disappointed, but I'm also sure he'd understand. He knew Atreus didn't have any experience with this sort of thing when he asked him, so he can't complain if Atreus wants to stop. I might not appreciate the way he dove in and took Atreus under his wing without even talking to me, but he's not a fool.”

“I guess,” Devin concedes before looking at his friend reassuringly. “But, listen, man, if you do want to stop, then I won't blame you. It really does feel like shit's suddenly gotten way more dangerous than I figured it would. Like, the murder might even be connected to a major data heist on one of the biggest corporations in America, orchestrated by a hypothetical third party we don't even know exists. And the killer's going around tying up loose ends like Marvin? And that so-called 'witness' wants to meet up with you? All this shit sounds super shady. I'll admit, I was naive enough to think this would be cool at first, but now? Not so much.” He punctuates his point with a reluctant and worrisome shake of his head.

Atreus looks at the deeply concerned expressions in the eyes of his two closest friends. They have nothing but the best intentions for his well-being, and he wants to be able to put their worries to rest by saying he'll stop, because a tiny voice in his head does believe it's a good idea. But, much to his – and soon their – chagrin, a louder voice sounds off in his mind that can't stop when he's gotten so close, possibly closer than the police are. He takes a deep breath and finally lifts his head to face his peers.

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“I agree that this whole thing has grown to look more threatening than it did only a few days ago,” he opens up with agreement on the heightening dangers before taking a very deep, slow breath. “But I... I don't think I can stop right now,” Atreus confesses as if he were admitting to something deeply hurtful and humiliating.

Ryuji hangs his head and lets out a small sigh, disappointed by the answer he just received, but also not totally surprised by it.

“Are you sure about that?” The patriarch presses, wanting to be sure of his friend's will. “Are you positive, beyond a shadow of a doubt that you understand what you're getting into, and that you're willing to face whatever – or whoever – might come for you? There's nothing in this investigation for you, specifically. You're not high enough on the clan ladder to be truly affected by whatever might happen if you just walk away. You're not even thirty years old yet.”

“I'm sure,” Atreus answers firmly with a resolute eyes. “And I don't feel like this is just about the Sanada-gumi anymore. Someone out there might want to steal vital health information on millions of augmented people – civilians. That group includes me, as well. This is way bigger than the clan now, and the consequences could go above and beyond the top guys of our gang losing a ton of money.”

“But we don't know that for sure,” Ryuji argues, not willing to let the discussion go so easily. “All we have is guesses. Maybe Camlin being the head of network security was just a coincidence in the grand scheme of things, and Atmos's data doesn't actually matter.”

“The police can handle this, don't you think?” Devin interjects, implicitly taking his boss's side.

“The police are almost certainly looking at this under the assumption that it's Sanada-gumi's doing, and not just because Camlin was killed in our territory,” Atreus responds with more fervor than before. “Lee and Han said they intended to call the police about Choi's body after I left the apartment, because they want to be transparent with them and hopefully cooperate, but a dead Blue Star member might just be used against us and make them set their sights on us even harder. But if that ends up not being true, and no one in the Sanada-gumi had anything to do with it, then they're ignoring whoever the real culprit is.”

“But what if you continue and the culprit is someone in the Sanada-gumi anyway?”

“If it is, then I'll go straight to the cops myself and hand over every bit of information and evidence I have, if that's what Okada wants. I just want to look into this in my own way and on my own terms. I'm aware of how dangerous this could be. I'm aware the answers I seek might not be answers I want to hear. But I'm far enough into this to feel like I can't back out now.”

Devin leans back as a deeply conflicted expression bleeds out onto his face. Ryuji hangs his head and nods lightly, not personally eager to allow his friend and trusted subordinate to continue pursuing this investigation, but still understanding nonetheless.

“...Alright,” the family heads hesitantly concedes. “I can tell you want this. Badly. It's rare for you to fight so hard for something. So...” He lifts his hands in an exaggerated shrug. “I'm going to continue to leave you to it.”

“You sure about this?” Devin asks, partially surprised at how easily the boss gave way.

“I'm sure,” Ryuji responds with a nod. He places a hand on Atreus's shoulder and leans in for an intimate, but stern stare. “Listen, man. I know you're a smart guy. I know you won't do anything without considering the consequences first. But just do me the favor of being extra careful, okay? Can you do that?”

Atreus nods meekly. “I can, aniki,” he answers in a near whisper.

“Good.” Ryuji relinquishes his hand and stands up to return to his desk. “So, what are you going to do next?” he asks as he resumes whatever business he was attending to before Atreus arrived.

“I'm not really sure. I think my only move right now is to just wait until the witness calls me again,” the gangster detective responds, taking Takiyama's phone out and placing it on the coffee table in front of him.

“Do you have any idea when that might be?”

“No. He just said he'd call sometime today. I might have to be playing the waiting game yet again.”

“Now might be a good time to go over any evidence you might have on hand again.”

“I don't really have much on hand except Camlin's autopsy and that picture,” Atreus comments and he takes his own phone out and goes over what he's kept on it. Soon, he sees the short security feed clips of the the unknown man walking through the lobby of Takiyama's apartment building. “Oh, yeah. I forgot about these security videos.”

“Security videos?” Devin asks, intrigued.

“The ones from Takiyama's apartment building, of the killer walking through the lobby. I said they were useless because he totally obscures his face, so I didn't actually show it to you. Here.”

Atreus hands his phone over his friend, who plays the clips one by one, multiple times. He even brings the screen mere inches from his face to try and catch any easily missable details, but ultimately shrugs and hands the device back.

“Yeah, it just looks like he's pretending to rub his eyes or forehead or something,” Devin dismisses the footage. “He totally covers his face with his hand from the right angle too. He definitely did his homework about that place. Trying to identify him from that is definitely pointless.” He leans forward to grab the remote control for the wall-mounted television that's resting on the coffee table while he makes one last observation. “I gotta hand it to him, though. Doing that is a hell of a lot less shady-looking than just walking in with a full-on ski mask or some shit. But I guess wearing gloves in the middle of May might also be strange.”

Atreus is suddenly captivated by the last sentence. He had noticed the unknown man's gloves in the video and pictures before, but he had simply assumed that the presumed killer wore them because it was just standard procedure to do so when seeking to do a hit on someone. However, he's just now decided to question what else could possibly warrant the use of wearing gloves when visiting a mark's home. He stares at the paused video on his smartphone screen, specifically of a clip that catches the man exiting the building from the perspective of the camera over the entrance, allowing for full view of the front of his body. He brings the screen closer to his face for a moment, but quickly grows impatient with the lack of detail, and decided to unfold the device into tablet form, granting the ability to watch the video on a larger screen.

The five-second clip plays over and over again in a non-stop loop. The mysterious man simply walks from the elevator and through the front doors in the most casual manner possible while remembering to conceal his face inconspicuously by pretending to scratch his eyebrow or some seemingly benign action. If Atreus were there, in person, he'd probably assume the man was a tenant. However, now that he knows better, he wants to scour every pixel of this footage to search for something amiss, something he wasn't able to catch before.

Atreus spends the next several minutes closely eyeing every corner of the video, going so far as to stop it and move it forward and backward frame by frame. However, no matter how much he looks, he doesn't notice anything strange or distinguishable about the nameless person's clothes or form. The studious gangster decides to switch over to one of the videos of the man entering the complex now, before he reached Takiyama's apartment. Again, Atreus decides to focus on the front of the man's body, and again, he spends several straight minutes closely examining every frame of the five-second clip.

Already feeling exhausted by his repetitive search, but also feeling confident in the existence of a hidden piece of evidence within, he moves on to the next video to repeat the process. This time, he picks a video of the man walking to the elevator from the perspective of the camera over the entrance, now allowing a view of his back. Atreus immediately begins to study the man's attire again, and is immediately struck by a strange shape against his lower back, underneath his long-sleeve shirt.

He compares the sight to the later recording, where he's seen exiting from the elevator, from the perspective of the camera over it. Then, it hits him. The reluctant detective's eyes widen with a game-changing epiphany. He promptly shoots up from the recliner with unexpected energy.

“Aniki,” he calls out to his boss while still staring at his phone, attempting to sound calm, but is clearly excited by something. “Mind if I use your computer?” he asks, but already begins to approach the desk before an answer can be given.

“What? Why?” Ryuji can barely utter the two inquisitive words before Atreus commandeers his keyboard and mouse, and plugs his phone into the computer.

“I just need to watch these videos on a bigger screen. Devin, you come here, too,” Atreus beckons his puzzled friend over, who complies and practically leaps off the sofa.