In the times when Haru is alone, when it's only her and her reflection in a bathroom mirror, or in the quiet of her own room, she can admit the fear to herself. The nauseating, blood-rushing, lizard brain terror that churns up inside her like a tidal wave, ready to engulf her and drag her into an ocean of inky black.

She knows it is something that allows her to be controlled. She knows the science of fear, and how it affects her body and mind. She knows the math of it.

It still terrifies her. She can forget about it for a while, bury herself in the affairs of Mako-chan, the Phantom Thieves. Push her own problems away to another day. It's more fun that way. More fun to live, however briefly, in a world where her future isn't the bleak landscape she knows it to be.

But fantasies end.

Life finds you, even when you don't want it to.

She doesn't want to hope because she doesn't want to be let down.

Haru steps out into the summer afternoon.

Makoto had gone on ahead to meet up with her contact. Haru had needed a bit more time to steel herself.

If she revealed those messages to the police, if could spark a lot of unpleasantness. Things could get ugly. Mean. Dirty.

But what else can she do?

Because, despite knowing that there's a slim chance of this working, Haru lets herself hope. Even as the fear sinks through her. Even as it gnaws at her. She's going to try. She'll try and rid herself of Rin Sugimura, once and for all.

She takes a deep breath, turns in the direction of the station, and begins to march.

She makes it a few yards before Sugimura grabs her, drags her into an alley, and fits a rag wet with something over her mouth.

Then she's gone.

"Um," Makoto starts. "Officer Kagawa?"

Hideotoshi Kagawa looks up at her, and for a brief second, there's no recognition. She sees the years hanging off him like gravity, and wonders, If my father had lived, would he have looked like this?

Then, life injects itself back into his eyes. The frown shatters into a smile and the man drops his phone onto the table and lifts his hands high into the air. "Mini-Makoto!" He cries. Makoto can feel the eyes of distracted cafe-goers on her back, but she pays them no mind.

"It's good to see you," she says, and bows.

Officer Kagawa pushes himself half out of his seat, bobbing his head in a close approximation of a bow. His laugh is a bellow from his belly. "It's been too long. Too long. I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch. The job pays havoc on your personal time." He pats his stomach. "Not to mention your diet," and he howls again. "How are you? How's your sister?"

"Sae's good," Makoto replies, eyeing the chair across from him. "May I sit?"

"Absolutely," he says, gesturing. "Please, please."

Makoto sits and smiles at this man who worked alongside her father for so many years.

"Heard she's really making a name for herself at the SIU," Kagawa whispers, as if the information were confidential. "She put away that bastard Kamoshida, yeah?"

Makoto nods. "Yes, she was involved in the prosecution of that case." Though, now that I think about it, wasn't that a conflict of interest? She shakes her head. She didn't have the time to think about that.

"How have you been?" She asks.

The man shrugs. "Eh. You know. The job is the job. It takes its toll." He picks up his phone, smiling, and runs his fingers across the screen. "Here, check it out!" He turns the phone towards her. Two smiling little girls grin up into the screen. "Look how big they got!"

Makoto wants to swallow, but stops herself. She had forgotten Officer Kagawa had children. "They look healthy," she replies, and wants to kick herself at the dumb response.

His smile breaks for a moment. "Well, that's thanks to their mother. Living out in the mountains, you know, they got a lot of clean air. Not like this place." He waves his hand in a slow circle above his head. "This place is a cesspool. Not somewhere kids should grow up." He frowns. "No offense."

Makoto shakes her head. "No, it's quite alright." She doesn't ask the obvious question, why his children are living with their mother somewhere out in the mountains. "I'm sorry to reach out to you like this. I know you must be very busy."

He grins. "I'm never too busy for Akihiko's kids."

Makoto stiffens at the sound of her father's name. It's strange. She hasn't heard it spoken in so long. It's always been 'Dad' or 'Father.' Never 'Officer Akihiko Niijima.' She can't stop herself from swallowing this time.

Her reaction must be obvious, because the glee fades from Kagawa's face. "Three years already." He sighs. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but that's not enough time to forget."

"No, it's not."

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"Like I said, I'm fine." Makoto tries to reply with cheer.

He shakes his head. "No, you didn't say anything. You said your sister was good. I'm asking how you are."

Confused. Scared. Angry. "I'm alright," she says. "Really. But I did want to ask you something." She puts herself back together and says, "To be honest, my friend and I need your help."

She tells him the situation. Spells it out, as clear as she can make it. He listens, asks no questions, and when the story is complete, he leans back in his chair and sighs.

"Geez," he mutters.

"Do you think you can help us?"

"Your friend is Haru Okumura, as in Okumura Foods?" Makoto nods. "And her fiancé is Rin Sugimura, as in the Sugimuras?" Makoto nods again. "Geez," he repeats.

"I'm sorry," Makoto says. "I know it's a lot to ask, but we're out of options and we don't know what else to do. Sugimura has been leaving her these disturbing messages. I'm afraid that if we don't get the authorities involved, and soon, she may be in danger."

Kagawa drums his fingers across the table. "These messages, you have them?"

"Yes."

"And they're clearly from Sugimura's phone? It's clearly his voice?"

"They are."

"Why come to me?" Kagawa asks. Makoto blinks at the change of subject. "Why not take them to your sister?"

"Sae..." Makoto starts, but cannot finish. What could she say? Sae's intervention only made things worse. She focuses on Kagawa's face. And this? Will this make it worse too? "I came to you because of your relationship with my father. I wanted to give the evidence to someone I could trust."

Kagawa reaches up and digs his thumbs into his temples, rolling them slowly, slowly, slowly. Then, he lets out another sigh that grows in volume until it turns into a groan. "Alright, fine. I'll help."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." He leans forward and taps the table with his forefinger. "But you need to be aware of what you're doing, yeah?"

She stares at him. "What I'm doing?"

"The Sugimuras aren't people the police can just shove around."

Shove around?

"We'll need to be smart about how we go about this. Rin Sugimura, from what I've heard, is a little shit. But his father's a big player in politics. This may come back to bite you in unexpected ways."

Makoto shakes her head. "I'm prepared for that. So long as my friend is-"

"Are you? Are you really? Because one thing they could do, and I'm just spitballing here, is ruin your sister's career."

"Wh-what?"

Kagawa drops his head in exasperation. "Mini-Makoto, tell me you thought about that. Your sister is a Public Prosecutor, heavily involved in the SIU. The SIU relies on the goodwill of political factions. If Sugimura decides he wants to pay you back for his son's stupidity, then he could make an enemy of them." He shrugs. "Then again, the SIU is backed by some powerful people. But, the SIU could also decide that they'd rather not get into a pissing match, and just can your sister right there and then."

The words are barbs, cutting into her. "But that... that's not-"

"Fair?" Kagawa asks. He doesn't elaborate. They both know what they could say. Your Dad got hit by a truck. What part of that was fair?

Her father's friend sets both hands on the table and expels a good amount of air. "Look, I'm sorry. I just want you to be prepared for what could happen. Politics and law enforcement don't generally go well together." He leans forward. "Why don't you let me hear those messages?"

Makoto nods. "R-right. Haru is bringing them. She should be here any minute."

He arches a brow. "She didn't come with you?"

"I had a few errands to run before I came here. She'll be meeting us soon."

Kagawa frowns. "How about you try calling her, then? To see where she is."

Makoto nods and pulls out her phone. There are no new messages. No voicemails. Nothing. She dials Haru's number and holds it up to her ear. It rings and goes to voicemail. She tries again. It rings and goes to voicemail.

Makoto begins to feel the dread creep into her.

She tries again. It rings and goes to voicemail.

She lowers the phone and texts a message.

MAKOTO: Haru where are you?

She waits. No response.

"No," she whispers. "Oh, no."

Iwai stands behind the counter, as always, hat low across his face. He counts a few yen across the counter. Flip, flip, flip, flip, as he lays them down.

"Good haul?" Jessikah asks.

"Mnnn," the older man replies. He takes up the bills once more, counts them again and, evidently satisfied, shoves them into the register.

"So," Jessikah says, suddenly very conscious that this is her first conversation with the man where she's been aware of his past. "What's up?"

Iwai doesn't look at her. He moves out from behind the counter and heads down one of the aisles. "Hey," he growls out. "We're closin' early. If there's anyone in here, time to go."

No response.

Iwai continues his inspection, stepping around and over merchandise. When he returns to the front, he still doesn't look at Jessikah. He goes to the door, and locks it.

Hoo boy, Jessikah thinks. Her mind begins to race. What did Iwai want with her?

"I don't believe in excuses," Iwai finally says. "But that doesn't mean I don't believe in regret." He turns to her. "Anyone who ever tells you that they've lived a life with no regret is a damn liar."

"Uh, okay."

"We all do things. Things to survive. Things we think we need to do to survive." He straightens at this last part. "It's one thing to regret, it's another to shy away from it. I am what I am. I did what I did." He moves a step towards Jessikah, and his foot bumps against a loose box. He stumbles a moment, and scowls. Then he lifts his head and looks at Jessikah. "What'd you think of me?"

Jessikah stares back at him. "I don't know much about you."

"I asked you what you think of me, not what you know about me."

Jessikah sticks her hands in her pockets, and frowns. "You let some shady kid pawn a bunch of stuff off in your perfectly legitimate store. You get that same kid burner phones and gadgets that are possibly illegal. Sometimes you tell her how to use them. You also asked that same kid to watch your son while you went to some strange meeting, and you haven't told her what that's about yet." Jessikah musters herself up, and says, "So I think you're sketchy as shit, but I don't think you're a bad person."

No need to bring up the yakuza connection. Who knew what Iwai would do if Jessikah mentioned that, 'Oh yeah, and you also used to be in the Dragon Syndicate.'

Iwai grins then, but it is a painful thing to look at. "You need to understand that sometimes you don't have good choices. That sometimes your choices are shit."

Jessikah does not like where any of this is going. "Look, if this is about me babysitting Kaoru again, you can just go ahead and ask, it's no big de-"

"Dammi," Iwai spits. "Get serious."

Jessikah lifts her hands. "Okay, sorry. Bad joke."

Iwai frowns. "I don't mean to snap. Look, you got family?"

Jessikah swallows. "I do."

"What're they like."

"Rather not talk about it."

Iwai guffaws. "That bad, huh? Maybe we got some things in common after all. My mother was nuts. The bad kind of nuts. Drinking. Drugs. Sleeping with anyone who had two coins to rub together. All with me sitting in the kitchen, thinkin', 'When's dinner coming?'"

Jessikah averts her gaze. "Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah," Iwai says. "Yeah." He scowls. "I did... I need your help," he says. He reaches out and places a hand on Jessikah shoulder. "I did something. For Kaoru. And it-"

Jessikah's phone vibrates. She reaches for it.

Iwai swats her hand away. "Ignore the damn phone."

The phone rings, Jessikah answers. "Jessikah!" Makoto's voice, but manic and high.

"Makoto, what's happening?" Jessikah asks.

"Jessikah," Iwai growls. "I need to tell you-"

"can't reach her," Makoto is saying. "We were going to meet with an old friend of my dad's, but she's not answering and I don't know where she is. She isn't answering."

"I'm on my way." She lowers the phone. Looks at Iwai. "I have to go."

"This is important, kid, you don't-"

Jessikah isn't listening. She shoves the door open, " So is this, i will be back shortly," before taking off down the street at a sprint. "Makoto?" She says, phone back to her ear. "Tell me where you are."

Haru's eyes flutter open to catch the receding back of Sugimura as he walks away from her. The door to his car is open. Haru tries to take in her environment. They're in some big parking garage.

Panic slams into her like a wave. It pushes the dreariness out of her veins and she starts fumbling around with her pockets.

Phone? Phone? Where was her phone? She rips it from her pocket.

No bars. She tries to call, but nothing happens. She sends a text to Makoto, a hastily constructed string of words that mean little, but it rejects.

Wherever they are, her phone is useless.

She begins to shake. She's trapped here. There's no way out.

She hugs her knees to her chest. Squeezes her eyes shut. Someone, help. Help me. Get me out of here.

You already have a way out, says a voice. She opens her eyes.

The phone.

She pulls it out. Still no bars. But she was wrong. There was still something she could use on it. She digs through her brain for all the information on Palaces Jessikah had shared.

Sugimura has a Palace. His Palace is his car. I'm in his car! If she could get into his Palace, she would disappear from reality. She had no idea what to do then, but at least she wouldn't be here.

Haru pulls up the app. Shifts to Sugimura's name. I need his distortion, right? What he thinks his car is? "Castle," she whispers.

"No Match Found," says the phone.

"Mansion," Haru whispers.

"No Match Found."

"Palace,"

"No Match Found." Because of course that isn't right. That's just another type of Castle, Haru scolds herself. Think!

"Garage," Haru whispers.

"No Match Found."

Think, think, THINK!

Muzaki, reaches the car, and throws the already slightly ajar door wide open. He stands still, frowning.

He turns back to Kaneshiro. "Boss?"

Kaneshiro walks up to him, and his enforcer steps out of the way. Kaneshiro bends down and peers inside. The car is empty.

" Well now..." Kameshiro says looking back at Haru's kidnapper.