A/N: i hope you've been excited over these recent updates - i know i have been! we're definitely in the home stretch now, as things start to heat up. i thank you so much for reading this story up to the end, and i promise the next installment ( yes - it might be hard to believe, but this is still just part one of a three part trilogy! ) will come with just as many updates, action and drama!


The marble floor of the lobby has been polished recently. Its lustrous shine reflects a dull outline of Tatsuya as he walks along it, head lowered to avoid the seeking eyes of the Masked Circle's workers. They lack the masks, but he sees their uniforms, and the shapes of their lapel pins. There is a woman around his age at the elevator who smiles coldly at Tatsuya, gesturing him to step inside.

"The King requires your assistance posthaste," she says, her voice dull and icy. "He is rather furious."

Tatsuya feels a sickness in his stomach. "Do you know why?"

"An enemy has wronged him. You will be given the full details at the penthouse."

She doesn't join him in the elevator. It closes shut, and leaves Tatsuya to stare at himself in the steel reflection once more, before pressing the top floor's button. The ride is silent, and it's different to experience. The elevator feels cramped, more than any other elevator he's been in, and he tries to mute his gnawing anxiety deep in his chest with careful breathes.

There are a number of doors in the hallway he steps out in, but two guarded individuals gesture Tatsuya forward, to the one directly across from the elevator. When the door opens, the bright sunlight casts through wide office windows. The shadow of King Leo casts over him when he steps inside. King Leo turns around, and though his mask remains on—the fury is clear.

"Wait one moment," he snarls into his phone, and slams it on the top of the desk. To his right is Lady Scorpio, her head down to a black tablet, distracted. King Leo gestures Tatsuya inside, and to close the door. "You. Sit down, Suou."

Tatsuya does just that. He sits down in an armchair before the desk, and King Leo rests his hands on the surface, close to a small alarm clock radio. He can hear him take careful, deep breaths, muting the rage that burns beneath the lion's mask. Tatsuya imagines the Star Junction with masked pedestrians, watching him drive up north. Before he can confess—

"Give me the tablet," King Leo says to Lady Scorpio, lowly. She nods, opening a specific application and handing it over on the desk. He turns the volume up on the recording application, and as a showtune-style jingle comes to an end, the host of the recording's loud voice billows through the tablet.

"This is Weazel News! To start off our entertainment recap, we're going to be diving into the mysterious life of Liberty City's most beloved actress, Junko Kurosu, and the recent discovery of an affair, that had allegedly been going on for several months!"

Tatsuya almost looks up at King Leo He keeps his eyes on the tablet instead, at the sound waves rising and falling. The hostess continues.

"It has been rumoured for years that the Glass Mirror star has harboured a number of illicit relationships separate from her marriage to entrepreneur Akinari Kashihara, but only recently has one alleged boyfriend spoken out on his mistress' secret life! Posted to his social media page, the radio host only known as Brown has begun to leak valuable information regarding his time with the actress! Here's just a clip of the man's claim!"

Tatsuya finally does react, furrowing his brow as a voice echoes. His voice is impossibly clear, like a new sheet of glass, but something about it reminds Tatsuya of obnoxious high schoolers who think they're funnier than they really are. Maybe it's the way he leads his words with a cut off laugh.

"—Because you know, it's all secret, behind the doors, but damn, the things she does behind those doors! And I don't mean just in the bed—" 'Brown' pauses, most certainly winking at whatever he figured to be pointed at him,"—but where all that money comes from! Girl's loaded, and she's got the whole city paying her!"

It returns to the news broadcast, and Tatsuya can see King Leo's shoulders tense.

"When comments online begged Brown to elaborate, he promised to leak everything on this upcoming Friday show on his radio channel, Vice City FM! Any listeners are encouraged to record his tell-all and submit it to—"

King Leo slams his hand into the tablet to stop the recording Lady Scorpio, though icy and reserved as ever, hurriedly pulls the tablet away from him, before he crushes the screen.

"This was from Monday's broadcast," King Leo says, bitterly. "I cannot have this fool claim to know my associate so dearly. Miss Kurosu is a close confidant of our group, you understand."

Tatsuya nods. He tries to ignore the thought of the Aquarius mask watching him from a corner in the room.

"You will kill him." King Leo moves a hand to the alarm clock radio, leaning forward on it. The plastic makes a quiet groan beneath the force of his weight. "This evening, he has delegated his confession to begin at five-thirty. Kill him while the broadcast occurs."

Tatsuya grips his knees, and looks to the clock to avoid looking at King Leo's large mask. "I understand."

"Ensure he is recording. It will be a reminder to the enemies of our group." King Leo looks over to Lady Scorpio. "Give him the location while you lead him out. That is all, Suou."

Lady Scorpio rises, and adjusts her brilliant blue scarf as she walks towards Tatsuya, tablet still pulled to her chest. Tatsuya quietly rises and follows her, his feet heavy and threatening to drag. She opens the door for him, then closes it, mask down turned to the tablet.

Tatsuya watches her. Her silence is potent, and even when it is only them in the hallway, he can only hear his own breathing. She eventually turns the tablet over to him, showing him an online map of a residential neighbourhood.

"He broadcasts from Alderney," she says, and immediately Tatsuya realizes how young she sounds. "Which is rather ironic, given his affection for the city. Regardless - he lives in Leftwood. I will send you the proper address when you leave."

"Is he that much of a threat?" Tatsuya asks.

Lady Scorpio shrugs. "Admittedly, I think it is a waste of time. But what King Leo decrees is what we do. He has a deep fondness for miss Kurosu."

Tatsuya nods, but his head feels heavy. Lady Scorpio pulls the tablet back to her, and she looks through Tatsuya.

"Get going. You don't want to be late." She almost pushes him into the elevator, her hand firm on his shoulder. When the doors close, she turns away. Tatsuya pulls out his phone and waits for the doors to open on the bottom floor.


"I understand the problem here."

"I would hope you do," Tatsuya mutters into his helmet's receiver, as his bike waits at a red stoplight. Kei sighs deeply on the other end of the call, and Tatsuya can imagine Liberty City's sovereign lounging on a balcony high above the city, begrudgingly sitting up from his lounge chair. Good.

"I don't need your sarcasm, Suou." Kei takes a sip of some drink offered to him. "What's his radio station, again? Vice City FM?"

"Yes." The light turns green.

"Never listened to it. Yamaoka—turn it on," Kei says, his voice muted for a moment as he gestures. Distantly, electronic pop from decades past plays, and Kei hums. "Seems 80s to me. From the sound of him, he doesn't seem that much older than us, so I assume he just likes the genre."

"Does that mean anything?"

"For Christ's sake, I'm having a conversation with you. And they say I'm the one with no personality." Another sip, and the ice clinks together in the glass. "I'm going to call your friend, Naoya Toudou. You won't have enough time to drive all over the city to pick him up and then get to the place on time for the broadcast, so just come to my building."

Tatsuya looks at the street he's on, and then merges into a turning lane to reach a more familiar street. "How are you going to do that?"

"Don't worry about it. When you arrive, you're obviously not going to kill this man. Bring him into my custody. Even if he doesn't want to—maybe when a real Circle member jams a gun up his ass, he'll get the message."

Kei's remark relieves him deeply, and he sighs quietly into the receiver. "Alright. Do we bring him to you?"

"Yes. Yamaoka will be present at the pickup—he will take him to me. The last thing I wanted to do today was protecting some 'indie radio host', but—"

"Think of this as our first step to defying the group," Tatsuya interjects, and frowns at the road. "You are thinking of what to do, right?"

"Yes, Suou. Plans are underway. All I require are the resources."

"I hope you're being honest."

"If there's one thing I am, Tatsuya, it is that I am a honest man."


It's a helicopter. A large, sleek helicopter with a large 'N' on its two doors.

He tries not to be impressed. He tries very hard.

Naoya is—somehow—at the tower before he arrives, and grins at him when Tatsuya opens the door to the helicopter pad. Kei Nanjo is examining something on his phone, and then turns it off before lifting his head to Tatsuya as well.

"Nice to meet you here," Naoya says.

Tatsuya tries to smile, but it feels uneven. He nods instead. "Must be nice, being drove by Nanjo."

Naoya looks back at the helicopter, laughing. "I wouldn't say drove."

"We don't have time to chat," Kei says, "it will take you at least half an hour to get to Alderney, land on the Booth Tunnel, and then drive to where you have to be. Yamaoka is driving there, but there will be a car waiting for you."

He wants to ask something, but doesn't. However, Naoya does, incredulous. "Do you have a personal garage in every borough in the city?"

"Of course I do," Kei remarks, almost confused. "Who doesn't?"

Naoya looks at Tatsuya, the humour gone from his eyes. Tatsuya simply nods, almost in disbelief.

He's never rode in a helicopter before. The headset is heavy on his head, and crushes his hair almost worse than his bike helmet. He watches Kei back up from the helicopter pad, who in turn watches on with folded arms until he is a distant figure against the Nanjo Tower roof. The city is even smaller this far up, greater than any balcony he's looked down from, and they move fast.

He can't imagine Kei feels this way every time he enters the helicopter. He wonders if Kei knows how to fly, if it's something he decided to pick up like any other hobby, or if the helicopter sits on the top of the building, its pilot waiting to drive it every time he hears the scion is in the building. Tatsuya realizes he doesn't like the idea of massive wealth as he watches Liberty City move.

The city crawls beneath them, a blue haze from the brilliant sky obscuring the details from below. He only recognizes some parts of the city, certain neighbourhoods from above that wind into unfamiliar sections he's been to but can't identify.

He does, however, notice the Alderney border in the distance, and the corner of the island that serves as an exit for the Booth Tunnel. Descent is slow, much slower than flying, or even take off. Tatsuya's almost forgotten Naoya is sitting next to him when he turns his head, but Naoya looks as mesmerized by the height and motions of Liberty City as Tatsuya. Another helicopter pad comes into vision eventually, landing just short of the shoreline to the river. When Tatsuya removes the headphones and steps from the helicopter, his balance feels wrong for just a moment. He breathes in the smell of vile river water, and grimaces.

It does not take long for suited Nanjo representatives to breach the chain linked fence and approach Naoya and Tatsuya. They gesture for them both to follow, and from behind their dark sunglasses Tatsuya can feel their stern gazes. Beyond the fence is a black Kuruma, and they usher the men inside, where Yamaoka smiles brightly in the rear view window.

"Good afternoon, master Suou," he says, jovial. "Allow me to bring you to your destination."


They park at the corner of Sacramento Avenue. Down the street is Franklin Street, but they step out on to the side walk instead. It would feel wrong, even if he knows there will be no blood shed. Tatsuya takes out a cigarette and lights it almost immediately, sighing a plume of smoke, looking down the road to his left. He feels a wave of exhaustion, but he closes his eyes tight enough to burn the static behind them to wake himself up.

Tatsuya beckons Naoya to follow, and they begin their walk down the road. He takes a drag of the cigarette before offering it to Naoya, who considers for a moment before accepting the exchange. As he struggles to breathe in the nicotine, Tatsuya pockets his hands.

"We're going to be bringing him back to him, right?"

"Yeah. He's going to park down the road and wait." Naoya grimaces as he pulls the cigarette away, and offers it back to Tatsuya. "I know you smoke, but Jesus. Kick me if I ever pick it up."

Tatsuya puts it to his mouth, and he finds himself smiling quietly. "It's a bad habit. I won't let you."

"Thanks," Naoya says, coughing the last of the smoke out of his lungs, into a closed fist. He keeps the grimace, but seems to relax from the strain. He frowns, peering ahead. "Wait—who is that?"

Tatsuya tosses his cigarette to the ground, stepping on it as he lifts his head. A man leans against a car in front of the target home, smoking his own cigarette. He lounges against the hood of his car, eyes to the sky. When the two men approach him, he lowers his head to look at them.

"You're Suou, aren't you?" he asks, and then glances to Naoya. "You allowed to bring friends?"

"He told me I could," Tatsuya lies, and then puts his hands in his pockets. "I, uh, wasn't told you would be here, though."

"Name's Youichi." The man lifts himself off his car, holding the cigarette between his teeth. "Don't think we need more than two here, but whatever. Get over here—it's almost five-thirty."

Youichi walks around his car to the back door, and pulls a green gym back halfway out the door. As Tatsuya and Naoya cautiously approach, he holds out two familiar masks stacked together, similar to the Joker design worn by those in service to the King. Once Naoya takes them, Youichi takes out a pistol and holsters it in his hooded jacket's large pockets. Naoya exchanges a concerned glance with Tatsuya, who stares at the masks.

"Afraid I only brought two," Youichi says, and holds out the other gun to Tatsuya. "Guess you can keep watch. What's your name?"

"Toudou."

"Alright. Suou, Toudou. Get those on, and then we go in."

The mask is heavier than he expected it could be. It is carved from a thick plastic, and is painted with extravagant colours—his own is purple and red. The black straps are heavy on his head, but it fits comfortably on—which makes him uncertain. The smile on Youichi's mask, though wide and stretching from eye to eye, is nothing but cold. He closes the door, walks the two men up short concrete steps to the front door, and kicks it in.


"I know what you're all waiting for," he grins into the microphone, leaning on a table that has been the receiver of many coffee spills and unfortunate accidents. His hand hovers over a soundboard, thumb itching to play a whistle. "'Brown, handsome, our man, why won't you get to the goods?' And I say, wait, good-looking, I get performance anxiety."

In his very expensive leather swivel chair, he leans himself back, kicking his feet up on to a designated spot on the desk for just the gesture with a wild laugh. He holds out his arm to look at his nails, pursing his lips. "But lets cut to the chase—what do I have that is so interesting, Junko Kurosu wanted to get all up on my jonny?"

Something creaks in the house. Whatever. It does that. It might be the cat.

"So with today's episode of Brown Talks, we're going to dig deeper into Liberty City's best kept secret since the Hanamura warehouse scandal!" He throws his legs down and leans forward, slamming on the soundboard to play a personally mixed song. "I know, I'm already so funny, clever, talented, and the most handsome man this side of the country, why wouldn't every guy and gal drop to their knees and beg for just one day together? That's where we begin… the courtship of your favourite host…"

The next sound is a horror stint, also personally mixed. "So let me start us off with reassuring you all, I've got the deets: you already know it wasme—yeah, yeah it's me, so listen. Back in January of 2013, when your boy was in his most humble beginnings as Alderney's favourite—"

Someone's at the door. The floor creaks in such a way that it can't be the cat. Hidehiko turns his head, lowering the volume on the mixer in front of him. "Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen, someone's breaking in on our gossip time."

He removes his headphones and slowly—carefully—walks towards his office door. When he opens it and peeks his head out, the force of the door being thrown open is enough to shove him back, and a hand grabs for his throat, guiding him to the desk. His back slams into the white desk, and whatever scream he tries is suffocated out of him.

"W-Who are you?! Are you her husband or something?!" Hidehiko gags, scratching at the powerful hand wrapped around his throat. A wicked smile stares back at him, clownish and unsettling—the gun pressed to his cheek scrapes against the skin. "C-C'mon, man! Let's talk!"

"Consider this a warning," the man says, a deep and vicious voice from under the grinning mask. "For anyone who threatens to leak our secrets."

A gun's trigger is a violent sound, ripping through the room and breaking through flesh and bone. Hidehiko drops to the floor with his arms over his head, crashing into disorganized cables and the desktop computer tucked under the desk. He squeezes his eyes shut as the barrage of bullets breaks the electronics above him, sparks and blood falling down on top of him. It's over as soon as it began, with the door swung open and silence sweeping through the room.

Hidehiko opens his eyes and lifts his head. The masked man's body is on the floor, viciously torn holes up his back and one in the back of his skull. His blood drips from the edge of the desk, as the rest spills into the old carpet. He can hear the hum of broken radio equipment, sparking occasionally. In the doorway are two more masked men, and he has to look between their raised weapons and the dead body to truly process what happened.

"Did you just kill your buddy? Did you just break my radio?!" In a flurry of confusion and anger, Hidehiko kicks the body in front of him trying to scramble up. "Take those stupid things off or I'll—"

One of them takes his mask off—Naoya throws it to the ground in total disbelief, and runs across the room to the man still on the ground. "Hidehiko? You're—you're still using—"

"Naoya?" Hidehiko's voice tries to hold on to the fear, but his mouth breaks into a grin, like a dead body doesn't sit beside him and the kneeling man. "Are you—dude, you just James Bonded that dude! He wanted to kill me? Shit, how long? Am I a wanted man?"

Tatsuya removes the mask over his head, then kneels and gathers Naoya's. He places them on the desk separate from the blood, mindful of the sparks that occasionally leap from the damaged equipment. He pockets his pistol, before looking down at Hidehiko and Naoya.

"Do you know each other?"

"Uh, yeah, Naoya's my best pal!" Hidehiko grins, leaning back on one hand. "Been a while, though. You been good? How's Maki treatin' you?"

"She's fine," Naoya says, scratching his head. "Hidehiko—do you know who was coming for you?"

"What, the people you dressed up as?" Hidehiko shrugs, and then starts to get up on his feet, Naoya following. "Not a clue. Was it Junko's husband?"

"A little more than that," Tatsuya says, examining the body of Youichi Makimura. When the other two men rise, he kneels. "Do you know of the Masked Circle?"

"No shit, what do you think I was going to say?" Hidehiko looks over to his computer, and despair spreads over his face. "C'mon, did you have to smash this stuff?! You know how long it took me to get half of these things?!"

Naoya looks down at his pistol—more of a revolver, a large and bulky weapon most certainly given to him by Kei Nanjo—and frowns. "Sorry. We had to stop him."

"Man… it'll take ages to get Vice City back on her feet…" Hidehiko looks at Tatsuya, curiously. "You're Naoya's buddy?"

"Tatsuya Suou."

"Alright, Tatsuya—when's the replacement coming?"

Naoya sighs, and puts a hand on Hidehiko's shoulder. "You need to come with us. The people who sent us want you dead, and they wanted to hear it."

Hidehiko's expression darkens, as horror comes upon him. "Jesus Christ, all because Junko Kurosu sat on my face?"

"We don't need to hear the details," Tatsuya mutters.

"Shit, this is like witness protection or something!" Hidehiko laughs, suddenly pushing past Naoya. "Lemme get something before you put me in those secret hotels, or wherever they go. Man, this is fucking cool."

Hidehiko almost skips over the still warm body, then grabs the open door frame to spin himself out. Tatsuya looks towards Hidehiko's exit, then up to Naoya, raising his brow.

"Where'd you meet?" he asks.

"When I was living in Florida," Naoya admits, "He's a big fan of Vice City's whole… vibe. He moved up here after we split up."

Tatsuya's brow doesn't go down. Naoya seems to realize what he said, and then scratches his head, looking away and paying more attention to the cat that has seemed to wander in.

"We should be going," he says, but then looks back at the body. "What are we going to do about him?"

Tatsuya looks at Youichi as well. He reaches to his bloody hair, and peels off the mask as careful as he can. Blood spills from the inside of the mask, its stark white interior now stained a brilliant red. He takes the gun from under Youichi's hand and holds it out to Naoya. The scent of blood is thick as he draws close to the body, adjusting the arms with as much of a fleeting touch as he can.

"It's not going to fool anyone I worked with," he admits, "but if no one knows who he is, then it should buy us enough time."

"For?"

"Ending our alliance with these people. Kei says he's working on something." Tatsuya rolls the body over, the twisted pain of Youichi's expression revealed for both of them to see. "Go make sure Hidehiko's ready. We shouldn't stay."

"I'll call the driver," Naoya says, and exits the room just as Tatsuya stands up. Tatsuya looks down at the body, at the crooked fingers and blood swelling in the open tears of his jacket, and then at his hands. They are stained, lightly, with Youichi's blood, and they smear against the white masks when he gathers them in his hands. He shuffles out of the room, looking down at the curious calico wandering at his feet.

Hidehiko has an arm over Naoya's shoulders, wearing a new bright purple jacket and gaudy orange goggles on his head. "Ready when you are, gentlemen. Don't worry about Kanzato there—he doesn't bite."

The cat roams over to his ridiculous owner, who kneels and allows him to climb up, who sits comfortably on Hidehiko's shoulder. The cat watches Naoya curiously—and when Tatsuya approaches the two, he looks towards him. Tatsuya looks at the cat, skeptical, and then sighs.

"Is the car outside?" Tatsuya asks, and Naoya nods. "Then get in there quickly, both of you."

With a hand up in the cat's fur, Hidehiko strides from his front door, ignoring the damage to the wooden frame. The black Kuruma sits in front of Youichi's car, and both Tatsuya and Naoya take pause.

"Shit," Naoya mutters, "I forgot he drove here. We can't leave it."

Yamaoka steps out of the vehicle to pull open the door to Hidehiko and his feline companion, looking at the two men. "Is there a problem, master Suou?"

"The car—it belongs to… the Circle member," he says, looking back into the house. "I'll go get the keys. I'll drive it into the city."

"No, no—do not concern yourself with that," Yamaoka says, a hand raised. "Master Suou, I will drive the vehicle somewhere secluded. If it is crucial to your plan, then allow the Nanjo family to assist some more. You may drive my vehicle."

Tatsuya looks humbled. "Thank you, Yamaoka."

"I'll get his keys, then," Naoya says, turning back to the house. "Get in the car, Tats. Someone's definitely called about those shots."

Tatsuya nods, and then climbs into the front of the Kuruma, adjusting the extraordinary comfortable leather seat to accommodate for his legs. In the back, Hidehiko has his legs spread out on the back seat, cat relaxing in his lap. With only the cooing of Hidehiko to keep him company, Tatsuya finds himself soon drumming his fingers on the wheel out of frustration.

"How long have you known my boy Naoya?" Hidehiko asks from behind him.

"Since high school," Tatsuya replies, dull.

"Wait, are you the buddy of his he left back here?"

"Most likely."

"Damn, he talked his ass off about you all the time. Missed the hell out of you! Must've been nice wanting to see someone again. I've just got my sister out in Los Santos—and you, of course, little rascal. Oh, not you, Tatsuya, I'm talking—"

"The cat." Tatsuya grips the wheel. "I understand."

"Atta boy. You like cats? I'm way more of a cat person than a dog person. Lookit him, sweetest thing around, unlike—"

He continues. He does not stop, even when Tatsuya starts to look up at him through the rear view window with a viciously cold stare. Hidehiko doesn't notice, instead looking between the door of his home and the eyes of his cat, lazily petting him with a wickedly irritating grin.

"—then I was like, look, Masa, just because your dog's got the biggest nads at the dog park doesn't mean I want to pet him, right? Dude was so irritated, like I just called his radio tacky and irritating, which it is, by the way, I just didn't say it right then, but I did say it before, so maybe he was pissed at that? Who knows, guy's such a load of—"

The passenger door opens. Tatsuya stares holes into Naoya when he sits down, who looks at him incredulously.

"Yamaoka's going to drive the car to the garage," he says, like nothing has happened. "Everything alright?"

"Chatting to your old buddy here, Naoya," Hidehiko says, his grin just getting wider. "Kanzato and I are ready to go."

Tatsuya turns the keys of the car so furiously, the engine squeaks. He pushes his foot on the gas, and the initial lurch doesn't stop the knowing smirk lingering on Naoya's face.

"Hey," he says, looking back to Hidehiko, that smirk fading. "I'm sorry this is happening, Hidehiko."

"You kidding? I already told you, man, it's like I'm in witness protection and I'm about to meet all sorts of secret spies and shit."

"It's not as glamorous—we're not secretly government spies. It's the Nanjo Group."

Hidehiko almost slips out of his seat, Kanzato leaping from his lap to the other side of the car. "Kei fucking Nanjo sent you?! Dude, WHEN did you start rubbing elbows with the richest man in the goddamn country?!"

"I think Kouetsu Kirijo might be richer," Naoya remarks, and Tatsuya looks at him with a bizarre, incredulous look.

"No, no way, dude, Nanjo is like, ten times richer." Hidehiko fixes his tacky goggles and sits in his seat properly once more, staring at Naoya. "He's got swimming pools in his swimming pools. He rents out entire movie theatres and then doesn't go to the movie. He probably wipes his ass with thousand dollar bills."

"Those don't exist," Tatsuya says plainly, a little louder than necessary.

"Psh, you don't know that. What if Nanjo personally gets dollar bills with his face on it? Wait, what if he prints dollar bills with his enemies on them, and then wipes his ass with those? That'd be fucking hilarious."

They're hitting every red light imaginable. Tatsuya doesn't look away from the road, but he can feel Naoya's eyes linger on him.

"Regardless," Naoya says, in between Hidehiko's rambling, "We're going to bring you to him. He's going to put you under safe custody until we can get these people off all of our backs."

"Are they messing with you, too?" Hidehiko asks, kicking his leg back up on the seat to allow his cat to crawl back. Naoya's eyes flicker between him and Tatsuya, and even though Tatsuya doesn't look, Hidehiko's frown worsens.

"It's complicated," Naoya admits, "But it won't be for long. I don't know when we're going to act, but…"

"You need me, I'm your man," Hidehiko says, pounding a fist to his chest. "No, I'm serious, dude. I know how to use a gun. I've got a punch that can knock your lights out. Kicking ass and taking names, that would be a lot more fun than waiting to show my pretty face in public again. Even if the hotel I get is real sweet, shit, you think I could still update my LifeInvader while hiding? Aw man, pretending to be dead's gonna suck—"

Naoya leans back in his seat, glancing at Tatsuya once again. The droll of Hidehiko fills the backseat, including his commentary to his cat, but Naoya still mutters through the incessant rambling.

"You two kind of sound alike," he says. Tatsuya wants to push him, but just grips the wheel tighter.

"Say that again," he warns, "and you're walking home."