Houka was in his office at Probe. Kaneo Takarada and a blonde man wearing a lab coat were sitting next to him.

"Hello, Mister Takarada," said Houka, "I'm glad you could come. This is my friend, Doctor Shiro Iori."

"Pleased to meet you, Mister Takarada. I'm a microbiologist. I'm researching biological warfare."

"He's quite skilled at mutating bacteria and viruses. He experiments on the homeless sometimes. It runs in the family. His grandfather on his mother's side- I think his last name was "Soroi"- was involved with Unit 731 in World War II. And now his son- Shiro's uncle- works for Kiryuin."

"Doctors, why are you telling me this?"

"I'm just making small talk, Kaneo. Anyway, Shiro is trying to create a contagious virus that mimics a combination of HIV, necrotizing fasciitis, and cancer. What did you call it?"

"Shinra-Koketsu."

"Why should I care, Doctors?"

"Well, Kane is already funding his research, but it's just not enough money. So, we need you to help out."

"And why would I do that?"

"Greed, of course. Greed and power. We unleash the virus on Honno, then we tell the government to give us weapons and money. If they don't, we unleash it again somewhere else. Kane's already supplied us with military-grade weaponry and all of his men, so the government won't try to stop us. If you join us, you can have whatever you want, Kaneo."

"You make a convincing offer, Doctor Inumuta. I'm in."

At the police station, Mako had finally got some DNA from Hellhound's first victim.

"Hey, Ryuko! I got something!"

"What is it?"

"I found a small bit of saliva in the victim's wounds. Usually, Hellhound would've used some kind of acid to destroy the DNA evidence, but he missed this little bit of saliva. I ran it through the database, and there were no results."

"But Sanageyama's in the database."

"Exactly. He lied."

Elsewhere, Satsuki walked into SCOURGE. Ira was at the bar.

"The fuck are you here for? I ain't hirin' anymore. I replaced my old bitches."

"I'm a rich person in a whorehouse, why do you think I'm here?"

"Aight, I get it. Hey, ain't you Kiryuin's kid?"

"Yes, and I'll pay double if you keep your mouth shut."

"Deal. I got a bitch ready for you right now. She's in the back."

Satsuki gave him the money, and went into the back room. She found Nonon lying on a bed.

"Oh, uh, hi," said Nonon. She was happy that she finally had a female customer.

"I remember you. You saved my life."

"After I broke into your house."

"You still saved me. Is there any way I can repay you?"

Nonon smiled. "I can think of a few things."

About 2 hours later, both girls were naked and exhausted.

"Holy. Fuck. That was the best sex of my life."

"Thanks. Am I the first girl you've fucked here?"

"Yeah. By the way, I live at Symphony Apartments. It's next to Blade Apartments, the one with all the crime scene tape around it. Hellhound used to live there."

"Again, thanks for saving me from him."

Nonon wrote something down on a piece of paper and gave it to Satsuki. "Here's my apartment number and my phone number. You can thank me again some time."

Satsuki smiled. "I'd like that."

When Satsuki left the building, she didn't notice that Houka was standing outside of it.