Ecstatic couldn't even begin to describe Lisa when she welcomed Tatsuya at her fiftieth floor apartment. It waned when Tatsuya spent the evening laying on her couch without a word, but it at least was replaced by some kind of sympathy and understanding.

The apartment is trying to be a studio apartment - the couch overlaps where a kitchen table ought to be, but it's built with a single room in mind, so the wood is polished and the windows are large - an illusion of space. However, there is a short hallway past the small kitchen, which leads to a bathroom and bedroom. The first night he stays on Lisa's couch, he lays his head on the cushion closest to those doors, allowing Lisa some privacy come morning. The sun doesn't greet him, instead rising behind the building and casting its shadow across downtown Algonquin.

He was already awake before Maya called him and told him she was going to come over - even if he remembered to disable his work alarm, his body wanted to wake. When Maya arrived, Lisa looked less than thrilled, but kept to the kitchen.

Maya wears a brown suit with a skirt - either she's on the clock, or just got home from work. Different than her pink cardigans and t-shirts with cute graphics on them.

"I got you a lawyer," she says, handing a coffee to Tatsuya. He feels guilty taking it. "There's… a catch, though."

Tatsuya sighs into the open slit of the cup, the hot air forced out and blowing against his face. "Feels like there always is."

"I promise it's legal," she assures him, a hand reaching out to grab his arm - almost. She stops herself short before she touches him. "When I spoke to my friend—her name is Eriko, and I promise she's sympathetic, she's the one I had to talk to first—she got me in touch with her business partner, to tell him about the situation."

Tatsuya drinks the coffee too quickly - it burns his tongue, but he barely notices.

"He…" she sighs. "He's kind of a tough nut to crack."

"Attorneys can be appointed to people who get arrested, Maya," Tatsuya replies.

"But you're not under arrest - and you probably don't want to go out and get arrested just to get a free attorney, Tatsuya." Maya frowns, drinking from her own cup - the smell is sweet, far less strong. It's probably tea with plenty of sugar. "He already agreed. He wants you to work for him for a while before he gives you something, though."

"He knows I don't have much time, right?"

Maya scratches her cheek. "Admittedly… he wants to know if you're worth the investment."

"What kind of help are you?" Lisa's voice is sharp and terse, and cuts in through the conversation as she crosses the room, in front of the window. She holds a bright red plastic bottle, one of the bottles that get sold to fitness coaches and energy drink sponsors - the amount that clutter the cabinet above Lisa's sink could give you a bottle for every day of the month. On her face, she glares at Maya, who seems to humble herself.

"It's out of my control," Maya admits, "But all of the work is legal - it's mostly just… helping him out around his office, driving him around."

"So you got Tatsuya a job as a secretary," Lisa says, rolling her eyes.

"Lisa," Tatsuya warns, "Maya's doing a lot to help. Don't get into an argument with her."

"Girlfriends aren't meant to sign you off to random CEOs, Tatsuya." Lisa keeps her glare at Maya, who lifts her head in bold confusion. Tatsuya feels a nervous dread sink inside of him.

"Oh, she's not my—"

"I'm not his girlfriend," Maya says, a grin suddenly breaking on her - incredulous, bewildered. Lisa's frown tightens, but she's marked with confusion.

"What? Then who the hell are you? A friend?"

"Yes? We met back in college." Maya half folds her arms, still with the tea in one of her hands. The grin has morphed to some kind of expression that is trying to hold back laughter. "Boys and girls can be friends, you know-"

"I know that!" Lisa says - louder, more embarrassed. "I'm friends with guys too, you know! I just thought—you're doing a lot, and girls who do that—"

"I'm a lesbian."

"Sorry! I'm sorry! Ugh, I'll go! Sorry!"

Lisa slams her bedroom door a little harder than normal. Maya has brought a hand to her mouth, and laughs behind it.

"Okay—okay, I'm fine," she laughs, grinning at Tatsuya. "Don't worry. I'm used to that."

Tatsuya nods, a little sheepish. "Sorry about that."

"Really, it's okay." Maya takes a drink from her cup. "He wants to see you today, actually."

"Alright," Tatsuya says, cupping his coffee cup and standing up, with Maya following quickly. "Introduce him to me, then."

The Nanjo Conglomerate building is the tallest building in the city, excluding the Rotterdam Tower. Today, it seems taller, and casts a darker shadow over the city.

"No fucking way," Tatsuya mutters - but the wonder is soon replaced with terror.

"I know, it's—really intimidating," Maya says, a hand on Tatsuya's shoulder. "But I swear. He's interested in helping. You just… have to listen to him. Nod and smile. That's all, I promise."

Tatsuya tries to focus on the tallest floor - but he can't even see it. He closes and opens his hands, and then heaves a breath he was holding in. "Are you coming with me?"

"Of course," Maya reassures, leading the hand down his arm to his own hand, and starts to guide him in. Tatsuya's lead feet keep him behind her, but he eventually does move, walking through the heavy revolving doors. The black marble floor inside has been polished this morning, and it reflects the shadows of Maya and Tatsuya.

"How did you manage to be friends with Kei fucking Nanjo?"

Maya shrugs. "Ask Eriko. I knew her first."

"Christ. Fine. Where do we go."

Tatsuya meets three separate secretaries—the front door, the top floor, and then one more outside of two large white doors with golden handles—before he knows where Kei Nanjo's office is. Maya lets go of his arm at the final doors, and two suited men in sunglasses open them to guide Tatsuya inside. He can tell they're armed without looking for the tells on their hips or pockets.

Instead of another long hallway with posters and office doors, it is a sprawling office with rich carpet, shelves both empty and stacked heavy with books, awards, and plaques—the walls are black like the marble, and the paintings are all Japanese in origin. The wealth doesn't surprise him—what surprises him instead, is the door closing behind him being marked with a harsh, feminine voice.

"Don't fuck with me, Nanjo," the woman snarls, her hand slapping the dark wood desk to lean herself in. Two guards, a man and a woman, step forward and hold brightly plated guns towards this woman, both at the side of the scion of Liberty City himself. Kei Nanjo is unfazed by the woman's threat, and the woman herself is undeterred by the weapons in her face. "You keep this bullshit up any longer, and the West Coast will crash right on top of you."

"I'm terrified, Kirijo." Kei's eyes narrow, and he holds up a hand to steady his witnesses. "But your brute force methods won't work on this side of the country. If you want our influence of the Midwest to subside, then you best tighten your hold on those flies you call subsidiaries. They operate far too independently from what your family boasts."

This Kirijo woman leans in farther, and Tatsuya sees the two at Kei's side tense—but she just glares another vicious eye into his own unwavering, fixed stare. Eventually, she leans back, hand still on the desk, but far more rigid in posture.

"I'll take your advice into consideration," eventually comes her reply. "I will expect you to uphold such a statement by my next visit."

"And when will that be?"

Her frown doesn't move. "You will just have to hear from me."

She steps back and gathers a briefcase from down the side of an armchair, which stands before the desk. She stands and turns quickly, marching from the desk towards Tatsuya - she notices him, but doesn't allow him anything else but a stern stare. It gives him the clue to step out of the way, and she reaches for the door.

"Give me a week's notice," Kei calls out, distracted. "I'll have to buy enough ibuprofen to deal with the headache your screaming's going to give me."

Kirijo whips her head around and glares at him, a mane of brilliant red. Then, she opens the door and closes it—roughly.

Kei turns his head towards the door, and seems almost surprised to see Tatsuya. He looks between him, the door, and the guard to his left, and then remarks—

"Who the fuck let you in here?" He adjusts his glasses, and with a pause, shakes his head. "You know what? I don't care. What do you want?"

Tatsuya's bewilderment goes beyond any word he could use in the moment. "I'm—Tatsuya Suou. I was told to—"

"Oh. Christ, the shit Kirijo puts me through, I forgot." He beckons a hand to Tatsuya. "Over here. Sit down."

Cautious, Tatsuya crosses the room, and takes a seat before Liberty City's unofficial sovereign. The seat is more of an armchair, with a plush cushion below and behind him. If he weren't sitting before Nanjo, maybe he'd sit back and get comfortable. But with Kei staring at him from across the desk, hands tented in front of his face, he feels hesitant to do so.

"Suou," he says, looking towards the computer monitor to the right of his desk. One of his hands takes the mouse, and he clicks on something on the screen. "Amano's friend… right. You're the corrupt cop?"

Tatsuya tenses. "Allegedly."

"Sure. I don't care what you did. Didn't do anything to me." Kei rolls his eyes. "So you know I don't give a shit about you. I imagine you don't think much of me, either. Your job is to make me give a shit about you, so I don't think you're a waste of my time." He opens a window on the computer, and glances over the words on the screen. "Did Amano tell you anything about what I want you to do?"

"Desk work?"

"Oh, bless her, no. I have interns to do that." Kei opens up a drawer to his left, and pulls out a small folder. He opens it, but doesn't push it towards Tatsuya—he seems focused on it, himself. Anyone else, anywhere else, he might look around the room. Not here. "I want you to work beside me. I have meetings, arrangements, appearances to meet. You're coming with me. I want to see how you react under pressure."

Tatsuya frowns, and shifts in his seat. "Am I allowed to ask questions?"

"Shoot."

"Why?"

Kei glances up. "It gives me something to base you off of. I'm going to be giving you one of my personal lawyers, and I want to make you worth something." He goes back to looking through the folder—a letter, atop something that looks like a police file. But it's less detailed; like a biography designed like the report. Tatsuya's not going to bother reading it from upside down. "I'd rather refer to you as 'Tatsuya, the cop who did work for me' than 'Tatsuya, the cop who killed Ideo Hazama'. Do you get that?"

He keeps the frown, and his eyes waver to the flat top of the desk. "Don't tell me that's a common story."

"No, but I have my connections." Kei turns the page. "I knew Ideo. I knew Takahisa, too. I didn't like either of them. You—allegedly—shook up this city's power, you know. Businesses opening up, names going to merge…"

There's a smile on his face, but it's anything but friendly. Amused, entertained—but not friendly, or compassionate, or inviting. It's exciting to look at, and it makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up, anxious. "It's kind of funny how you'll never feel that impact."

Tatsuya remains silent.

Kei closes the folder.

"I have a meeting tomorrow, at noon. You'll come here an hour earlier, so I can adequately prepare you. It's just a business contract—you're just going to be passing money between the client and I." Kei passes the folder up to the woman on his right, and she takes it to a briefcase on a chair some distance away. "It's a witness thing, too. It's not going to be hard, but you can do that, right?"

Tatsuya nods. Kei cracks his knuckles, then shakes his hand out.

"Good. You're not useless." Kei looks at his watch. "Do you have any questions? I won't have long."

Following the woman's return to Kei's side with his eyes, Tatsuya slowly shakes his head. "No, sir."

"Look at you." Kei's smirk is as uninviting as it was a moment ago. "Alright. Go. See you tomorrow, Suou."

Quietly, Tatsuya gets to his feet, giving Kei a short bow with his upper body. It feels—like the right thing to do. Like Kei will stare a hole into his back and cut him open through it if he didn't. His feet feel heavy, but he doesn't drag them along the floor to the door. He opens it and closes it close behind him, lifting his head to look for Maya—who is across the hall, phone in her hands.

It makes Tatsuya to check his own. He reaches into his pocket and quietly lifts it, and is moderately surprised to see a notification. Familiar dread returns when he sees Reiji's name. I'm out of the hospital. Pls call me. Says youre busy

He ends up bumping into Maya's knees when he doesn't look where he's walking. Maya lifts her head, and she smiles while leaping from her seat. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Tatsuya says. "Can you come back with me to Lisa's? I might need your help."

"Anything you need, I'll help," she says, with a bright grin.

"Alright," Tatsuya sighs, "You're on speaker, Kido."

"Yes, Tatsuya, I'm feeling great, thank you for asking." Reiji's eye roll is audible with his dry voice. "Who else am I talking to?"

"My name's Maya," she says, holding another cup of tea.

"Who the hell is that?"

"She's helping us out, Kido." Tatsuya rolls his own eyes. "What did you need me for? I was in an interview."

Not the biggest lie he's told recently. He can hear Reiji moving into a seat—slowly. "I kept going through Kandori's emails to find 'King Leo' shit. I don't think it has anything to do with begging for money."

"Where'd you get that from?"

"The way they talked to each other. Kandori must've been his friend, because every goddamn email mentions 'next meetings' and 'tonight's dinner'. Incriminating shit must've been talked about in person, but they were getting along. Mooching off your friend's going to make your conversations a bit more tense than what I'm reading. The topic was money, but..."

"Alright." Tatsuya looks at Maya, briefly—the concern on her face remains, but a deep interest hits her, and she watches his phone with an earnest determination. "So, with that—do you know who 'King Leo' is yet?"

"Fuck if I know. Inaba here has been looking into it, but all we're getting is donations to charities and shit that he's made. Nobody's seen him." He can hear a scratching sound, close to the phone. "Fake name, alright. But it doesn't tell us much."

"You sure it's worth investigating?" Tatsuya asks.

"Of course it is. Who knows what kind of person Kandori was behind the scenes. If anything, I'be got the right to wonder." Reiji takes a breath, against a cigarette. "Can you look into some of it for me? Go digging through police records for anything relevant?"

Tatsuya suddenly feels another sink of dread. Maya notices it—a hand is immediately on his arm, but he gently takes her hand off him before sighing. "I can't. I… was fired."

A moment of silence. "Holy shit...Are you serious? Christ—was it—"

"Yes. It was."

"I... don't know how I can make it up to you. It… was kind of my fault." Another drag of the cigarette. "Look, if—you need anything, like… money—"

"It's fine. I have a place and some money saved." Tatsuya leans into the couch, sighing again. "Awfully responsible of you to help, Reiji."

"You saved my life. Least I could do is help out—after I pay my hospital bills." Reiji sighs, himself. He moves how he holds the phone. "I'll keep looking on my end. If you can help, then thanks. Toudou and I can keep you updated."

"Good luck," Tatsuya remarks, and keeps the phone up until Reiji hangs up. Maya sits a little closer to him, eyes marked by mourning—Tatsuya puts his phone away and leans against the arm rest of the couch, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Well," Maya says, breaking the spell of silence, "He wants you to try your best, if you can help him out. You don't have to."

"I'm already involved in his mess. I might as well."

Maya looks down at her tea, frowning quietly. She settles back against the couch, and Tatsuya looks away, unable to watch her take to silence. He looks at his phone for some time, at his reflection in the black glass.

"Do you know anything?"

"I don't think so. I've never written anything—if you could ask your... friend... about locations-"

"You better not be talking about me," Lisa says, and Tatsuya turns around to the eavesdropper in question with a glare.

"Lisa, I swear, if you listen in on me again-"

"You'll what? You're in my apartment." Her arms folded once more, she leans against the corner of the wall that leads down into the two hidden rooms. "Why is she even here still?"

"Lisa... Silverman?" Maya suddenly interrupts, standing up, fixing her skirt, and pulling up her phone. She leaves the tea on the glass coffee table. "Sorry for being formal, I just think we should properly get to know each other."

Maya reaches out with her brightest smile. Tatsuya follows Lisa with his eyes, and she raises an eyebrow and cautiously takes Maya's hand, and is firmly shaken.

"Maya Amano. I write for United Liberty Paper."

"Uh-huh." Lisa's incredulous look remains, as she looks at Maya closer—bright eyes, bright smile, brushed back hair and a professional grip on her hand. If Tatsuya wasn't weighed down by the burden of the day, he might laugh. Maybe even smile.

"I'm helping Tatsuya with his legal trouble, but also writing about some curious behind-the-scenes truth about the Socialite Murders."

Maya can lie? The murders have a name?

"We were talking about an interesting name we can't source—King Leo. Is there anyone you can think of who might use that name, or anyone who could point us towards him?" The charisma radiates from Maya like warmth from a fire. She keeps Lisa's hand in hers, and smiles so bright her eyes close. Lisa seems lost in the story it tells. Maybe she just likes the idea of being interviewed.

"Well—um—I don't know anyone," she says—almost nervously. "I never met any of the men who—uh—died. But some of my friends"

Maya leans forward and holds her phone out, microphone up. She's not recording, but Lisa's glance down is only a flicker.

"Some—some of my friends go to a club downtown. They perform there and talk about a 'king', but I thought that was just a performer."

"That's fantastic news! What is the name of the club?" Maya shakes Lisa's hand again, and Lisa stares at their hands, confounded, before answering.

"Maisonette 9."

"Lisa, you cannot imagine how much hep you've been to me, and Tatsuya." Maya released Lisa's hand—at Tatsuya's name, Lisa glances at him, like she even forgot he was there. When Maya pockets her phone, Lisa's eyes are back on her. "We'll be going soon—we're going to have to get ourselves over to that club and ask around. We'll be sure to get out of your hair."

"I wasn't—you weren't in my hair, I was just—"

"Come on, Tatsuya. Let's leave Lisa alone." Picking her tea and Tatsuya up in the same pivot, Maya waves a goodbye and winks to Lisa as she leads her companion out. Lisa's hand slowly raises to a confused wave only as the door closes.

Tatsuya looks at Maya and finally speaks. "What the hell was that?"

"Girls like her like cameras. I don't mean that like an insult—I can just tell." Maya takes a sip of her tea. "You can't be afraid to ask the people around you for clues. Anyone could know what you need."

"... Yeah. Right." Tatsuya shrugs, but it seems Maya doesn't notice his distant bewilderment.

"Still—it's interesting our suspect would be at a dance club." Maya stops them at the elevator. "Maybe he's the socializing type. He's probably a charismatic person if he's interesting people at clubs."

"I always considered Maisonette 9 to be a 'young adult' place," Tatsuya says. "The guy who owns it is our age. Kandori certainly wouldn't have been there."

Maya taps her chin. "Maybe there's more people on King Leo's side."

The elevator door opens.

"I suppose we'll see when we get there," she says, and walks into the elevator.