He walks through a dark forest of very tall but thin trees packed together so densely that not even a breeze can escape between them. The path before him is laid out by stones, heavily weathered by the elements, covered in dirt and grass, narrow enough for only a few people to travel together shoulder to shoulder. Lanterns hang above him from the bright red torii gates spaced evenly away from each other, illuminating the road both in front of him and behind.
He looks ahead to see that the path continues straight, through a seemingly infinite number of gates, cutting through the endless forest. He turns around to see the same ongoing path behind him. He looks above, spying the countless white dots scattered across the dark blue night sky, and the nebulous shape of the bluish dust that dances across creation. His eyes trace the majestic arm around the cosmic horizon to find his sight drawn to the presence of two extravagant moons – a larger one that's tinted a light red, and smaller one that bears an equally subtle green.
After a generous moment of admiring nature's stellar beauty, he brings his gaze down to the treeline at either side. The eerie quiet prompts a quick assumption that he may be the only living creature within the forest's boundaries. There are no rustling of leaves, nor chirps of any bird or insect, or shifting of twigs or dirt underfoot of anything. However, a small, yellow glow soon catches his eyes. Several trees beyond, hidden behind layers of flora, lurks a beast.
The creature stands on four legs, its white fur reflecting the meager amount of moonlight that manages to pierce the thick canopy above. It begins to step around the trees, its head placed low to the ground. It lurks forward, closer to the road, but still stays off the stone path. It doesn't growl or snarl or bark, but sits quietly with straight posture, like a deity expecting gestures of worship. Its judging eyes are locked onto the lost man, waiting for something, waiting for a reason to act.
He's confused by the creature's presence, but doesn't panic. He senses that it wants him to decide on which direction to go, but such a choice is difficult to make when it's impossible to see what lies at either end of the path; only more dark forest seems to await him. He's struck with the strong feeling that the beast won't budge unless a decision is committed to, and that it won't answer any of the questions he wishes to ask.
He turns his head again down either direction of the aged path, still greeted by infinite torii gates. He stares at the creature once more, its authoritative, piercing gaze demanding him to start walking. It doesn't care in which direction, as it will also have its own decision to make once the destination is reached. But with no way to tell what either direction will lead him to, he must simply follow his instincts, place one foot in front of the other, and pray for the best.
Atreus's eyes slowly open. The first thing is notices is white – the strong, overwhelming white of a sterile hospital ceiling reflecting the bright sunlight that punctures the curtains and illuminates the room. It's something he's woken up to before, two years ago. He still feels the cumbersome post-injury lethargy weighing his body down, plus a dull ache in his abdomen that causes him to remember why he's here in the first place.
He directs his gaze down to his chest, where he notices he's been placed in a hospital gown. He can peek down it to notice multiple pads attached to his chest to monitor his heart. He sees his arms are still attached to him, as well.
“Oh, shit, hey,” a familiar voice speaks up from the side, towards the window to the left. It's Devin, waking up from a nap in an upholstered chair. “Good morning, man,” he gives a tired, but enthusiastic greeting. “Well, I guess I should say 'afternoon.'” He's still wearing the dress shirt and vest Atreus recalls him in, but is now wearing a pair of gym shorts to accommodate his wound, which sees his right thigh wrapped in several layers bandaging. A crutch is leaning against the wall nearby.
“...Hey,” Atreus gives a tired greeting back with a small smile. “Are you feeling okay?”
“You're the one who almost died from blood loss and you're asking me if I'm okay?” Devin responds with a facetious smirk. “But yeah, I'm fine. I'll be on this crutch for a while, but I don't feel any pain right now since I'm currently doped up. How about you? You remember everything from last night?”
Atreus nods slowly. “Yeah, I think so. I remember taking an Automa to headquarters after we were attacked. I think I gave Okada the USB drive, and...” He pauses, trying to recall everything before he finally blacked out. “What happened in the time I've been out?”
Devin takes a deep breath, preparing to recall everything he can. “Well, I called Detective Colter after we split up at Tetsuya's building, like you said. He came by, called in another unit to take care of the Kobashi-kai asshole who shot us, then took me the hospital, only to find out you got here just before we did. I saw Okada here too, so I guess he followed your ambulance. I couldn't stick around to chat, because I had to get this bullet taken out of me. While that was going on, though, Colter took the liberty of calling Ryuji, who showed up in a heartbeat.”
“Are any of them still here?”
“Ryuji is, yeah. He went downstairs to get something to eat. He's been here all morning. Colter and Okada took off together before the sun even rose to look into the documents on the USB drive. Colter said he'd be back later to check in on you, but he hasn't returned yet.”
“So, do you know the damage?” Atreus asks, pointing to his wound.
“Aniki knows, but I didn't think to ask him. I don't think it's too serious though, or else he would've just told me. He'll be back in a few minutes and you can ask him then.”
Atreus nods and pauses, thinking that he might've missed a few important things while he was out. First and foremost, he wants to talk to Colter, assuming he finds out the contents of the USB drive like Devin said he was going to. Other than that, he tries to recall anything else important from last night. After a pensive moment, he becomes wide-eyed with an epiphany.
“What time is it?” Atreus asks with slight urgency.
Devin checks his phone. “It's, uh... 2 PM.”
“Do you know where my phone is?”
“Oh, yeah, all your stuff's in this bin,” Devin reaches down next to the feet of his chair and pulls up a plastic bin containing all of the belongings Atreus had on him when he was brought in by the paramedics, including his bloodied clothes. “Here,” he picks up Atreus's phone and hands it to him.
“Thanks,” Atreus accepts it and turns it on. He immediately opens up his texts to check on the message Max sent him mere seconds before he lost consciousness.
[Don't tell me you went to sleep already,] Max followed up with one more text an hour and a half after her initial one, signifying her disappointment at the lack of a response, and punctuating it with a sad emoji.
Atreus is both surprised and relieved at the lack of urgency in her messages. He had feared that she might've feared the worst, considering his secrecy about his investigation. However, with his current condition, which will be impossible to reasonably hide without being distant physically – something he doesn't want to do – he won't be able to keep his activities confidential anymore. With the time in mind, Max may already be awake, or at least close to waking up.
[Sorry I didn't respond last night. I got caught up in something. Let me know if you're up yet,] he sends a vague first message, intending to break the news to her after she sends a reply.
“You texting your girl?” Devin asks with a smirk.
“Perhaps,” Atreus responds with a similar smile; behind it, however, is a burdening worry that this incident may change her mind on their budding relationship. Though she at first didn't seem to care much about Atreus's membership with the clan, nearly dying may paint a dreary picture of what she may expect for the future even though such dangerous tasks are rare for him.
The door connecting to the hallway slowly swings open, and Ryuji steps in. Upon entering the room, the first thing he looks at is Atreus, and gives a small smile.
“Good, you're awake,” the family patriarch says under a short sigh of relief. “How do you feel?”
“Still a little tired,” Atreus answers. “So do you know how badly I have it?”
“I spoke to the doctor after you were fixed up,” Ryuji begins his explanation by crossing his arms. “He said the bullet didn't hit any major organs head-on, but it did graze your pancreas and spleen. It nearly severed a major vein on its way through you, though; so, you're pretty lucky. You're probably gonna have to stick around for a bit and take some tests before you can go, though. Do you want me to get a doctor in here for you?”
“Nah, not right now. Have you been here since this morning?”
“Yeah, I got woken up by a call from Detective Colter, so I rushed over. I was able to score a nap while we waited for you to come to, though.”
“Have you spoken to him since he left?”
Ryuji shakes his head. “Nope. He left with Okada to look into the documents you delivered and said he'd be back later.”
“I don't suppose I'd be in trouble for anything, would I?” Atreus asks with narrowed eyes, expecting to be reprimanded for something next time Terrence comes by.
“I don't think so, unless we'd have cops around here right now.”
“None of the Kobashi-kai dudes who died last night were killed by your hand,” Devin interjects, showing his readiness to defend his friend from unsavory accusations, should they ever arise. “At the very least, I was there to witness both accounts. Only thing you could possibly be guilty of is... I don't know, excessive self-defense for snapping limbs in really gross ways.”
“Honestly, I think Okada might also be playing a part in wiping away anything that may be pinned on you,” Ryuji adds. “He's a large part of why no one in the Sanada-gumi saw any jail time after the incident two years ago, even though the police tried really hard to find reasons to put cuffs on us despite being the victims of the attack.”
“I don't suppose you know how things are back at headquarters? I caused a bit of a scene when I arrived there,” Atreus asks.
“I've... received a few other calls from people there. Word travels very fast,” the patriarch answers vaguely, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes in apprehension. “They're all worried about you, of course. But, I should warn you ahead of time that word is definitely going to get out about your 'heroism', so expect your fan club to flare up with activity again.”
Atreus sighs at the news. “Can't wait for another year of people giving me dumb nicknames and bothering me with job offers I don't want to do,” he gripes with bitter sarcasm, showing visible disdain for his inevitable rise in popularity – again.
“Well, with your increased value, we might get more work, which is good for the family.”
Atreus nods in reluctant agreement, though the idea of becoming a celebrity a second time among his Sanada-gumi peers feels like a challenge he's less eager to deal with than the tasks that turn him into a celebrity to begin with.
The afternoon proceeds with the three Asano family men continuing casual chit-chat before Ryuji eventually departs to resume his duties as patriarch before his absence interferes with revenue. With the family consisting of mostly young men who are still wet behind the ears, it takes less effort than with others for things to descend into disorganization. Devin stays behind in the hospital, not looking for any reason to stand on his injured leg unless he needs to.
Just after the clock strikes 3 PM, Atreus receives another visitor, the returning Detective Terrence Colter, whose eyes bear a pronounced tiredness about them. One can only imagine how little sleep he's been able to get since last night.
“How are you?” Terrence asks after walking into the room, his eyes half-closed.
“I'm a lot better than I was the last time I woke up in the hospital,” Atreus answers, now past most of his lethargy. “A doctor came in earlier, and told me I wouldn't need a prosthetic pancreas, so I think things are looking up. How about you? Have you been able to sleep at all since I last saw you?”
“Since calling in a team about that mess in Reese-Cole Apartments, I only managed to find enough time to steal maybe three hours' worth of shut-eye, and I'm extremely thankful for it. Trust me.” The detective punctuates his response with a small yawn, which he covers by turning his mouth into his shoulder. “You were probably already told by now, but I after I brought Devin here, I saw Okada, who enlightened me on a few things, and made mention of the USB drive you gave him.”
“Did you see the documents on it?”
“I did,” Terrence nods sullenly. “It's... real heinous shit. It was a bit hard to believe at first, but the handful of names on them were indeed people who worked at Zephir. I cross-referenced them with some old documents at the precinct regarding Kobashi-kai activity from thirty years ago and found some information that suggested that they likely did infiltrate Zephir's business.”
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“What do you plan on doing with it all?”
“Well, the reason I haven't slept yet is because I've been making a lot of calls to different people about it. I've contacted the San Francisco PD and sent them copies by printing out the documents and then dusting off the ancient fax machine, because the DRM on the USB drive is apparently a bitch to crack. Then they contacted the Department of Health and Human Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and even the Federal Trade Commission for good measure, and we've all been having long back-and-forths.”
“So, Zephir's going to be facing consequences soon?”
“Very soon, yes. Hopefully.”
Atreus nods satisfactorily. “Good. What about the phone on the guy who killed Edward? Did anything come of it? Do you know who the numbers belong to?”
“We know who one of the numbers belongs to so far,” Colter says as he holds up his right index finger. “It was actually the guy who tried to kill you after you met with Tetsuya Evans. It's a bit difficult to trace numbers and texts and whatnot back to heavily modified burner phones, but as it stands, it doesn't look like it'll be impossible. We have reason to believe that last number is another Kobashi-kai member or at least someone working closely with them.”
“Did you identify the two guys who tried to kill us?” Devin interjects with a question of his own.
“No, not yet. They had no identification on them, nor did we have their prints or anything else in any of the databases we have access to, so we're pretty confident that both men are Japanese citizens, sent here illegally for dirty work, but we don't know yet how long they've been in the States. It's gonna take a bit of looking into, assuming the phone tracking doesn't lead us to anything. At the moment, however, we have reason to believe the guy who crashed your meeting with Takiyama was the one who killed Marvin Choi and Will Camlin, while the guy who shot you is the one who killed Isaac Noah down in San Francisco.”
“If there are other Kobashi-kai members here, then they'd be smart to pack their shit up and leave the city since everyone knows about them now,” Atreus comments bitterly, feeling nothing but disdain for the longtime rivals of the Sanada-gumi. “But hopefully you find them before they get too far.”
“That's the plan. I talked to Okada about the presence of them in LA, and he didn't seem too keen on the idea on just letting us do our jobs. So, I was wondering, just as a professional courtesy, if you could try to keep the violence to a minimum should you ever come across more of them? I'd like to not have to pick up more bodies around the city.”
“I don't know if you've noticed, but those guys killed multiple civilians and then shot and almost killed me. I'm not terribly eager to be diplomatic with them if I see them.”
“I understand,” Terrence lifts his hands, not wanting to come off as demanding. “I just don't want there to be a repeat of the bloodbath that happened thirty years ago. Now, I wasn't yet living here in LA when it happened, but I looked it up in the few minutes of spare time I had last night, and there were over two hundred murders and five hundred reported assaults linked to the conflict between the two clans, and spread over just two years. I'd like to avoid those numbers.”
Atreus sighs and looks down towards the foot of his bed. “I wouldn't ever want to kill a person, Terrence. I'm lucky I avoided it last night, considering those two assholes who attacked us. But contrary to what you may think, it's not up to me whether or not I use deadly force to defend myself, because sometimes it's the only way to do it. You can't reason with a person who's so dedicated to a cause that they'd rather blow their own brains out than get captured by the enemy.”
“Okay. That's fair; self-defense is all well and good. Just please don't go looking for trouble when you don't need to, okay?”
“I won't. Speaking of trouble, I'm not in any for anything I did, am I?”
“No, you're not,” the detective shakes his head. “You'll probably be questioned some more later, but as it stands, no one's looking at you for murder over those two Kobashi-kai assailants. You have at least one eyewitness that they were both in self-defense, like you talked about.” He points over to Devin.
“You're not going to hold it against me that I didn't tell you about the gun?”
“No. While I still think it was stupid of you to not tell me, it ultimately didn't impede our investigation. No matter how you paint the picture, Takiyama probably never would've come forth to us as quickly as he did to you. If anything, you having your own investigation sped this whole thing up in a way. I acknowledge that.”
“Thanks,” Atreus nods and gives small smile of gratitude. “You helped me out a lot, too. Like letting me leave with the USB drive. I appreciate it.”
“You're welcome. Just know that I didn't have to let you go with it if I didn't want to.”
“I'm aware,” Atreus smiles, feeling like the detective is trying to look tough despite his generosity. “Why did you let me go with it, anyway?”
“Well, because you said you'd resist if I tried to take it. If you did that, then I'd have to arrest you, and I wouldn't want to arrest you.” Colter's expression softens slightly. “You're stubbornly loyal to your clan, but I think you're a pretty decent person, Atreus. I don't know if you think that of yourself, though.”
Atreus isn't sure how to respond to the detective's sudden sincerity. He pauses instinctively to give him an opportunity for a 'just kidding', but it doesn't come.
“Does Edward...” Atreus begins talking, then pauses to rethink this words. “Did Edward have family members? Anyone you'd need to notify of his death?”
“He... He has parents who aren't together anymore,” the detective answers reluctantly, as though he knows why Atreus is even asking this question to begin with. “And, unfortunately, as far as I know, he wasn't on good terms with either of them.”
“...Okay,” the injured gangster lets his eyes wander down to the edge of his bed.
“Don't blame yourself. I know I said you screwed up, but you aren't experienced with this sort of job, and you were only doing what you were told to do. It isn't reasonable to assume you'd do everything perfectly. I've been on the force for nearly two decades now, and I can tell you for an absolute fact that I still fuck things up too from time to time. We're only human.”
Atreus pauses to give a moment of reflection on the detective's encouraging words. Though the gangster doesn't feel like the guilt will leave him anytime soon, he knows he shouldn't dwell on it. He simply wishes he could've changed one small thing about his investigation that could've spared an unnecessary loss of life.
“Thanks,” he utters, giving his appreciation for his visitor's consolation.
“No problem. I'm gonna go ahead and get out of your hair for now,” Terrence says as he turns to the door. “I have a lot of things to do, as you can imagine. I'll pay you boys a visit at your office if I need to ask some questions.”
“Yeah, see you around,” Atreus bids the detective farewell as his large frame disappears behind the door.
“Well, shit, I guess that's it,” Devin speaks up from the chair. “If he's handling everything we can't do ourselves, then I guess you've done everything you could.”
Atreus nods. “I guess so.”
“I wonder what Okada's gonna give you as a reward.” Devin strokes his cheeks, and his eyes glint with high expectations as if he'd be the recipient of any such reward, himself.
Their discussion is interrupted by a familiar tune. Atreus's phone screen flashes on, and it seems like he's receiving a call. He grabs it and raises his eyebrows.
“Speak of the devil; it's him,” he says before swiping his thumb across the screen and bringing it his ear. “Hello?”
“Watanabe-kun?” Okada's voice responds, adopting the low, formal voice he usually has. “Ryuji told me you were awake now. How are you feeling?”
“As fine as I can be. I can't leave the hospital just yet, though.”
“You take all the time you need to rest. You deserve it,” the senior advisor drops his authoritative tone for a second to give his praise. “Did Detective Colter drop by again?”
“Yeah, he just left.”
“I assume he explained everything about the documents?”
“Yes, he told me about the phone calls he had to make and such. I assume it all means that everything about Zephir and their involvement with their project is going to be taken care of in an above-board fashion by the government?”
“Seems that way. We were both extremely shocked when we finally looked through everything. The two of us have prosthetics too, so you can imagine it made us quite aggravated.”
“Me too,” Atreus nods, recalling the anger he felt when first looking through the documents. “You were able to make a copy, right?”
“Yes. The USB's security measures disabled copies to other storage devices, but it was still possible to print the documents, so I did that and gave the drive itself to Colter. I've also organized an emergency meeting for this evening, where I'll be showing the senior family leaders the documents and go over the return of our Kobashi-kai friends.”
“Do you... think this might lead to another war? Like the one thirty years ago?” the bed-ridden gangster asks with reluctance, hoping for peaceful answer, no matter how unlikely.
“I highly doubt they have thousands of members hidden in the shadows around here, so no. But we can't expect to get rid of them again without even the slightest bit of bloodshed. Thankfully, I hadn't joined the Sanada-gumi yet when the worst of the war was going on, but I was old enough to now remember the news of more murders being committed and vicious beatings being dished out almost every day. It became so common, it stopped being news.”
“I see...”
“But don't let it worry you. Once my meeting with the others concludes tonight, everyone will be on alert, and hopefully things will be as they once were with little violence. Right now, you should take the opportunity to heal from your wounds – focus on yourself. You've proved yourself, again, to be one of the most dependable, capable people in the entire clan. Once your status has reached a peak, it'd be effortless to ease you in to a leadership position later.”
“...Thank you, oyaji.” Atreus bows his head instinctively even though Okada can't see it. However, a pang of apprehension strikes him again at the mention of his 'status' within the Sanada-gumi. “Can I... ask you something?” he asks carefully.
“What is it?”
“Why me? Wouldn't there be plenty of others more suitable to lead?”
“I don't trust people who are too eager to seize power, as they mostly tend to do it for themselves. I approached Ryuji about this, but he's adamant on staying as no more than a family head, taking in younger members and having them do odd jobs and menial work to keep them away from the more unsavory parts of Sanada-gumi business – giving them an avenue to make money without getting their hands too dirty. It's admirable, but too risk-averse.”
“As someone who works under him, you don't consider me too risk-averse, either?” the wounded gangster asks, confused at the train of thought.
“Atreus, you jumped onto a grenade to save the chairman and I two years ago, and just last night you took a bullet to protect the clan's interests. I wouldn't call those actions risk-averse at all. You have the balance I'm looking for – the combination of selfless clarity and the willingness to dive into danger when necessary.”
Atreus doesn't respond. Instead, he ruminates on his superior's words for a moment. Does he truly have the clarity Okada wants? Edward Takiyama's face flashes in his mind – a man who is now dead because he lacked foresight. He wasn't able to protect the one person who contributed the most to the investigation, so how can he be expected to do it on a larger scale?
“But don't dwell on it too much right now,” Okada continues. “This is something that won't truly matter for another several years, at least. You have more than enough time to iron out any doubts you might have.”
“...Yeah. You're right...” Atreus agrees with a sullen tone.
“For now, I'm going to let you get back to resting. I just wanted to call and let you know what's going to be happening. Oh, and before I forget, I sent you your reward for accomplishing the task I gave you. Check your bank balance; it's from both the chairman and I. I'll be suggesting to the other senior family leaders to pitch in as a gesture of thanks. I'll speak to you later.”
“Yes, oyaji. Talk to you later,” the injured gangster ends the call in the midst of confusion about the reward.
He quickly opens the banking application on his phone to check his account, and his eyes widen at the sudden appearance of multiple zeroes. A whopping sum of one hundred thousand dollars had been wired a few hours ago, and with the mention of other family heads pitching in, more will be expected to come. Atreus is shocked his bank account wasn't flagged for suspicious activity. He had never received such a reward for one job before, and isn't sure of how he'll even spend it. He almost wants to call Okada to give it back, but that would be considered disrespectful. Thus, he quietly opts to sit on the money for now.
“So what'd he say?” Devin asks.
“He's going to call a meeting and discuss the Kobashi-kai presence with other family heads. Let's hope we don't have a war on our hands,” Atreus answers, not mentioning the money, though Devin will probably have creative ways of spending it.
“Shit,” Devin utters under a sigh. “Well, I doubt there's that many of them hiding around, otherwise we would've found them sooner, right?”
“Probably. Maybe Colter will find them before we do.”
A pleasant tone sounds off, interrupting the discussion. It's Atreus's phone again, but this time it displays an incoming text instead of a call. It's Max, finally responding to the message he sent about an hour ago.
[Hey, I just woke up. What happened last night? What came up?] Max asks, still totally oblivious to Atreus's situation – not just the fact he was nearly killed and is currently in the hospital, but about Zephir, the Kobashi-kai, and the looming threat of a potential gang war. He stares at her message, envious of her lack of knowledge on the entire situation, wishing there was some way to not tell her of any of it.
[I got into an incident last night. I was visiting an acquaintance, and was attacked by someone. I was shot in the stomach. I'm in the hospital right now,] he types out the message, but doesn't yet send it. He re-reads it multiple times, questioning if he should go for the blunt approach, or maybe dance around the subject more. But, if she visits, he'll be able to explain everything in detail regardless.
“Oh, shit, Ami is back from vacation tomorrow,” Devin's delighted voice is heard as he stares into his own phone. “I wonder what she'll think about by injury. Maybe she'll treat me extra nice the next time I see her?” His face lights up at the idea of receiving special treatment from his favorite hostess. One wouldn't even think he had just gotten shot in the leg mere hours ago.
Atreus looks back at his message and considers his relationship with Max. He likes her. He likes her a lot. When his relationship with Reiko ended, he felt very conflicted after having initially thought she was being selfish, but at the end of the day, he found that her worries of being in a long-term relationship with a gangster were perfectly reasonable. He's been given a new chance at romance, but how can he expect to defend his 'career' as he rests in a hospital bed?
Max hadn't shown much care about his membership with the Sanada-gumi before, but this situation will almost certainly force her to reconsider, especially upon learning he was close to death. He thinks of the time Okada talked about how most leaders in the clan are unmarried and finds it difficult to make time for romantic endeavors, himself included. He also thinks of Okada's goals of taking Atreus under his wing to prepare him for leadership, an ambition that Atreus himself isn't sure he wants, yet life in the Sanada-gumi is all he knows at this point. And what of this re-emerging conflict with the Kobashi-kai, a rivalry that spans decades? Is his place in this war not yet over?
What does Atreus want? To continue his life with the clan, or to break away and strive for 'normalcy' as a civilian? Is it impossible to somehow achieve both? Perhaps he's thinking too much about it, and Max still won't mind? Even then, there's no guarantee she won't reach a certain limit. So many questions pertaining to his future continue to swim around his head, bashing against the walls of his skull, desperate to be answered, yet he has none for any of them.
Hoping for the best, Atreus presses his thumb down on the 'send' button.