The two walk the length of Yongen-jaya's streets for some time, sullen in their silence. Akira doesn't bother asking any questions.

"The thing is," Iwai finally says, "if the police are there, they'll figure out I was there too."

"The blood," Akira replies.

Iwai pats the spot on his arm where Sugimura's driver had cut him. "That's the pain with cops. You can try to outsmart them, but you can always count on them to find the one thing you don't want them to."

"Uh-huh," Akira mutters. All he wants is to sleep one last night before he goes and ends everything. "I'm going to go to the police and confess to being a Phantom Thief. That'll-"

Iwai's guffaw is short, mean, and not what Akira expects to hear. "Think you'll be protecting everyone that way, eh? You don't learn, kid. I'm starting to think you never will."

"I don't need a lecture from you." Frustration gnaws at him. He's going to put himself back in that box, and Iwai is making fun of him for it.

"Yeah, you do." Iwai turns to him. He sticks out a finger and prods Akira in his chest, hard. "Say you go to the cops and tell 'em you're a Phantom Thief? Then what? Do you think they're going to believe you when you say you did it all on your own? You called your little organization 'the Phantom Thieves.' They're never going to believe it was just you. It doesn't matter what you show them, or how you say you did it. They'll keep looking. And they'll be patient. Because they'll know they were right. They'll break you and make you give up everyone. It'll-"

"No way," Akira says. "I would never do that."

Iwai plows ahead as if he hadn't heard him. "It'll take some time, but it'll happen. You'll sing like a bird, and then everyone goes down." He crosses his arms. "You've got no idea what you're in for once you go inside. Think the few weeks you spent in juvy were bad? It's a whole other world where you're heading, kid."

"I can-"

"What? Handle it?" Iwai shakes his head. "I said the same thing, the first time I went under." He steps closer to Akira. "I'd already knocked more heads and cracked more skulls than you ever will, Akira. And it only took them nine days before they broke me. Before I started sobbing and telling them what I knew. The cops will play with you for a bit, and maybe you'll fool them. The lawyers will dick around with you, and maybe you'll trick them too. Then they'll bring in the professionals. And them, you won't fool. Because they can't be fooled. They won't be fooled because they're convinced you're trying to fool them. You'll always be trying to fool them, even when you're not, so they'll keep up the pressure. They'll keep up the questions and all the other fun little things they know how to do. You'll run out of lies, so you'll start telling the truth and they'll thank you for it but still think you're lying. They'll keep you talking until you've run out of lies and truths both, but they won't stop." A faraway look appears on Iwai's face. "They don't ever stop."

Akira doesn't know what to say to this. All he can manage is, "It doesn't matter. They're about to find us if they haven't already. If I can take the hit, then-"

"Then you'll save your friends for all of about a month, at most. But they'll go down. Maybe Kaneshiro learning he kept a Phantom Thief as an associate will piss him off so bad he'll target you on the inside. Then, he'll target me for suggesting you in the first place."

"So, what am I supposed to do?" Akira demands. "Hope they won't find me? You already said they'd figure out you were there. There's nothing else we can do!"

Iwai scowls at him. "If you knew how to think, kid, you'd know that wasn't true. And that's going to be a problem if you're going to be a criminal." Akira stares at him. Iwai rolls his eyes and sighs. "Fine. I'll spell it out for you. You keep your damn mouth shut. If you reveal yourself as a Phantom Thief, you'll ruin not just your life, but the lives of everyone associated with you."

"Then what do I do?"

"Listen," Iwai snaps. "You don't do anything." He lets out a long sigh. "But I can turn myself in."

Akira can only stare at him. "Wh-"

"My blood is at the scene. If they don't have it now, they'll have it soon. The found that building thanks to the texts on Rin Sugimura's phone. But, those texts don't have anything to do with the Phantom Thieves. They're just inviting the little shit out for a bit of blackmail. So, I go to the cops, confess to trying to blackmail the kid by lying about having his fiancé, then tell them how his bodyguard driver or whatever cut me, then made off with him. I've got no connection to the Phantom Thieves. But I do have a connection to the yakuza and have enough knowledge of Kaneshiro's dealings to pull this off. If I come out and say it, a known criminal, then there's a much better chance they'll halt their investigation. Much better than say, you acting like a fucking idiot and admitting to being the leader of the Phantom Thieves."

"No." Akira shakes his head. "There's no way you're doing that. You can't take the fall for-"

"Take the fall?" Iwai asks. "Kid, I was there. I chloroformed Sugimura. I fought with his bodyguard. My blood's there. I've got the links to Kaneshiro. I've got the connections. I'll say that when I heard about how he'd died, I came forward because I didn't want to get associated with his death. It's a legitimate excuse. I can also nudge them in Kaneshiro's direction."

"If you do all of that," Akira continues. "Then that'll paint a huge target on your back. Kaneshiro will try to have you killed on the inside."

"Well, shit," Iwai replies. "Then I guess you better hurry up and change his fucking heart then, huh?"

"This won't work," Akira says, without knowing why. "It can't. Blackmail is-"

"Yeah, it's pretty serious. But if I'm lucky, my confession will get me some leniency." He shrugs. "Or not."

A sudden rage suffuses through Akira then. "You can't do this. It's-"

"I should've figured the cops would ping the phone records," Iwai replies. "You should've known that too, but I've got experience with them. I should've realized that was a possibility. So, we both fucked up. The difference is, my going down will be a hell of a lot safer than you going down." For whatever reason, a smile crosses his lips. "Don't look so mad, Akira. Everyone fucks up. You gotta learn from it."

Neurons fire blindly within Akira's mind, his thoughts a whirling mess of nonsense and frustration. "And what about Kaoru?" He shouts. "You're just going to leave him?" For whatever reason, this makes him even angrier. "He's your son, and you're just going to leave him?"

The smile fades. Iwai deflates some. "Kaoru's not mine. Not really." He shrugs. "His mom was a prostitute. Drug addict too. She had a thing for an abusive underboss in the Dragon. She gave birth, got herself killed. No one knew what to do with the kid. I don't know. I'd seen some shit by that point. Thought it would be messed up just to sell him off or have him grow up in that environment." He laughs. "It was fucking stupid. I had no idea what I was doing. But, the Boss understood. He's got a kid. A daughter. He let me leave." Iwai flexes his hand. "And I got to keep all my fingers. Kaoru doesn't know about any of this. Guess I gotta tell him now."

"You... you did all that for Kaoru? He wasn't even your son?"

Iwai shrugs. "The kid had no one, you know? He needed someone to watch out for him."

Akira remembers a single piece of paper with the words, I'm sorry, I can't do this, scrawled across it. He looks down at the concrete. "This isn't right. Kaoru needs you. I can't-"

"If I don't, once Kaneshiro's done with us, he'll go after Kaoru. That's just how he operates. Don't think I'm doing this because I like you so much, Akira. You need to change Kaneshiro's heart. That's the only way my son stays safe. And the only way I can help is by taking all the blame from the Sugimura job." He sighs. "Kaoru will be mad. He's old enough to make some decisions, and I've set aside some money for him." His lips press together until they're a small, thin line. "I'm going to ask you to help him. He'll need someone out here." He nods his head towards the alleyway. "And ask the Doc to help too. She's one mean chick, but she's solid." He chuckles. "If you guilt her into helping, she will."

Akira shouldn't feel jealous. He should feel a million other things right now, but outrageously enough, what he feels is abject jealousy. Focus, a part of his mind screams at him. We might've just gotten our life back.

Maybe he had, but it didn't feel right. There was no ebbing away of tension. No weight lifted off his shoulders. There has to be something else he could say. Some way he could get everyone out of this mess. No sound left him.

"I'm pretty good at reading people," Iwai tells him. "And you ain't hard to read, Akira. I had you pegged the second you and blondie stepped into my store." He chuckles. "You should probably work on that if you want to be a thief worth a damn. I can see what you're trying to do, but trust me, there's no other way out of this."

"I can't accept that," Akira says, meekly. "It's not fair that you should go down for my mistake. It's not fair that Kaoru should lose his Dad."

Iwai looks up towards the dark summer sky. "Yeah, well, no one ever said life was going to be fair. Even close to fair. We're all born with a certain set of cards, and we play them as best as we can. Most play them like shit, which is what I did. As I see it, this is the universe balancing the scales for me. All the shit I did? I got by without much going wrong. Prison time? Sure. But that was expected when you're in the yakuza. But I did get all that time with Kaoru. I guess it's time to pay up."

Akira closes his eyes. "I'm sorry," he mumbles.

"It's okay, kid. I'll get out someday. Remember, I only attempted blackmail. It didn't actually work. So long as they don't pin his death on me, I should be okay. If you change Kaneshiro's heart, that'll take care of the Dragon pushback. Then, you and Kaoru will be safe." He takes a deep breath and releases it in one long, hard push. "I'm serious about taking care of Kaoru, Akira. He's not going to understand. He's going to be upset and I don't know if he's going to lash out by being a punk or doing something else stupid, or if he'll cave in on himself. Fucking teenagers. So... just help him out." He checks his watch. "And it's about time I get going. I need to talk with him. I'll head over to the police station tomorrow. Swing by Untouchable sometime tomorrow, yeah? Kaoru will be around, I'm sure. Take him out for a soda or some shit." He reaches out a tentative hand and pats Akira on the shoulder.

Akira feels very small. Very unworthy of all this. "I don't know what to-"

"You don't have to say anything," Iwai says. "I'm protecting my son. That's what you do when you're a father. You protect your son." He clears his throat. "I should've done a better job showing you how to handle shit. Guess I'm sorry about that too, Akira. I don't know anyone to recommend. All my friends are shitheads." With that, he turns and starts walking down the street. He lifts a hand over his head, without looking back. "See you around, kid."

Akira watches him go. "Thank you," he calls after him, but Iwai doesn't respond.

#

Tae Takemi sits, not behind her desk, but in repose upon one of the examination tables of her clinic. The office is blessedly silent.

She is, not for the first time since receiving her moniker of 'Black Death,' exhausted. But this exhaustion feels wrapped around her bones like a cast, plastered to her skin and the flimsy structures beneath. Her mind tries to collect and analyze the many things she has learned in the past few months and lets herself look towards the future in a way that few tend to. Better to stay in the present. Better to deal with the immediate. She cannot keep this up. She cannot keep covering for Akira Kurusu. Cannot continue to be privy to all this Phantom Thievery. Her initial bargain already feels like some nonsensical agreement concocted with no real forethought. Takemi knows her chemistry; she knows the side effects of her medicine are in line with Akira's few experiences. Better to cut everything off, now. To move on. To gamble everything one last time on the goodwill of men she knows have none.

Takemi takes a deep breath, and rather than exhales, lets her jaw droop open so the air just sort of leaves.

She hears the door of her building open and close. It's late, and she can only guess who it is. Takemi sits up, swings herself around, and exits the exam room with a sharp, "One second," that she calls out towards the waiting room.

Munehisa Iwai greets her with a deep-set scowl, hooded eyes, and a low grunt that might've been a, "Doc."

Several things traverse their way through Takemi, some conscious, others not. At the sight of this man who resembles nothing more than an aging guard dog who never received enough scratches behind the ear, Takemi feels shock, frustration, unimpressed annoyance, and chooses to ignore the electric quiver of excitement in the pit of her stomach. She knows how he looked at her and how he looks at her now. It is much the same look men have given her since high school. It is much the same look men gave her in college, then medical school, and later on the job. It is much the same look she spent so much cultivating a taste in hard rock and punk to dissuade. When she was younger, her refusal to dress appropriate turned off those more cultured gentlemen who wanted to turn her into a girlfriend or (worse) wife. The music helped with the remainder. It was hard to maintain arousal when you've got some eighteen-year-old with a lousy haircut screaming obscenities into your ear over ugly guitar riffs.

Still, the look Munehisa Iwai gives her is not the same, even if it is much the same. When they had stared one another down on that dark street the day he'd asked - through Akira, the nerve - to watch his son, she had seen beyond his rough lacking of a shit to give, that he was intrigued by her. But it came across less of, 'I am interested in you, now what?' and more, 'I think you're hot, what'cha gonna do about it?' And Takemi will not admit to her conscious mind that she likes this, even though a strong contingent of her subconscious is pumping its fists and doing backflips and high-fiving itself.

Tonight there is something else about him, though. Takemi experiences the faintest inkling of betrayal that her presence - he came to see her after all - is not enough to warrant the same response in him. So, with a bit more force than she feels and wants to explore, she crosses her arms and asks, "Yes?"

There follows a confusing tale that Takemi struggles to comprehend at first. Not because she does not understand the words he is saying. She knows what 'arrested' and 'blackmail' and 'DNA' and 'turn myself in,' mean in a vacuum. Strung together, they weave something akin to an overly elaborate painting that everyone else seems to understand, but she's left standing in the gallery, tilting her head from side to side, trying to see what the fuss is.

"When?" She finally asks.

"Tomorrow morning," he tells her. He shrugs. "Actually, in a few hours. I gotta talk to Kaoru, first."

Anger overloads whatever else congeals inside her brain. "You haven't told your son yet?"

"Don't snap at me," he growls back, eyes burning. "I had to square some shit first. You think that's a conversation I want to have?" He deflates a fraction. "Sorta the reason I'm here."

Takemi's mind is still moving in one direction, and she doesn't process his last sentence. "What's going to happen to him?" She blinks. "Are you sending him to your family?"

At this, Iwai manages to bark a laugh. "Even if they were still alive, I wouldn't send him to them. Better the foster system than those leeches." He lifts his index finger. "A free tip for you. Good, healthy families don't churn out people like me."

"Guess not," she mutters.

He grins, wolfishly at her, and Takemi desperately wishes they could keep that up. The dumb banter between people who want something from one another, even if they can't articulate what, whether honestly or not.

"Kaoru's a good boy. And technically I'm not affiliated with the Dragon Syndicate anymore. Anyone with them could confirm that. If I throw myself at the mercy of the judge, there's a chance I could recommend a place for him to go. He's got no one else, see? No mother. No grandparents. No family. Just me. And I adopted him, so if I'm gone, he has to go back into the system. Unless the person I recommend would be willing to take him in until he matures into a proper adult."

Takemi shakes her head. "Who would be willing to do that?"

Iwai stares at her. "I got someone in mind."

comprehension arrives like a shot of scalding whiskey down her throat. "Oh, fuck you."

"I'm not gonna beg," Iwai counters. "But please."

"You want me to take your son?"

"He's thirteen. And a half. It'd only be for another four and a half years. Or until I got out."

She throws her hands into the air. "Are you joking?"

He's scowling at her now. A real mean one. "I thought you liked him?"

"That doesn't mean I'm going to adopt him!"

"It wouldn't be a goddamn adoption!" Iwai shouts. He takes a step towards Takemi, and for a moment, she almost shrinks away, but she holds her ground. If this man wants to do something to her, there's not much she can do about it, but she doesn't think he will. Iwai slaps his chest, a bravado Takemi has seen men express before. "Kaoru's my son! Understand? He's my son!" The fight leaves him, and his hand falls to his side. "He's my son," he repeats as if the words are some new taste on his tongue that he's found intriguing and worth a closer examination. "And I have to do this. You'd think I'd ask this if there was some chance I didn't have to?"

"This is silly," Takemi chides. "There's got to be-"

"There isn't," he says, softly but with finality. "The police will find my blood at the scene of Sugimura's 'attempted blackmailing.' If I don't confess, they ping the damn phones that stupid brat was stupid - and yes, I know I'm repeating myself - to use, and he'll be up shit creek too. Akira gets arrested. I get arrested. Kaneshiro has no one stopping him from going after Kaoru. For bringing a Phantom Thief into his lair, I wouldn't be shocked if he kills Kaoru, then me, then Akira in order. And yes, he can do all of that." He looks down at his feet. "But if I go down, I take the heat off Akira. I let him do his Phantom Thief thing and stop Kaneshiro. He can put an end to all this. I can't do anything for Kaoru out here." He left the rest of the implication out of his speech.

Takemi replies, "So long as I agree to take care of him."

Iwai shakes his head. "This plan doesn't hinge on you, Doc. If you don't want him, you don't want him. Not like I can force you to take in my son. I'm only asking this because you're a responsible human, and I don't have anyone else to ask. Akira sure as shit can't do it, though it'd be fitting if he could." He straightens. "Take some time. Not too much time, but some. I'll make my recommendation to the judge, and that'll be that. If you agree, maybe he'll let it happen. If you don't, then Kaoru goes into the foster care system. I ain't here to guilt you, but that's the way it is."

Takemi tries to find some line of reasoning yet unexplored and latches on to one. "It might not be that easy," she mutters. "There are things you don't know about me."

"Like that whole 'Black Death' thing?" Iwai asks. He shrugs. "Don't look so shocked. Did you think I'd leave my son with you without learning all I could?"

"You could've asked me," she replies.

"When?" He asks. "Over dinner?"

She eyes him up and down. "You don't seem like the kind of person to take women to dinner."

A smirk emerges across his face. "Normally, I just take them back to my place."

Takemi laughs despite herself. "Fuck you," she says, shaking her head, giggling. "Fuck you, seriously."

Iwai takes another step closer to her, but Takemi feels nothing resembling a threat from him. He looks her in the eyes for what feels like the first time. There is something underneath them, something she can see that he wishes he knew how to excavate and show her. "I don't know how things would've played out if they'd gone differently. We both know Akira's big secret, and I guess that makes us allies, or whatever. Maybe, in some other life, we..." He trails off, reached up and rubs the back of his head. "Shit. Look. I've never had to ask this before. I don't know how you're supposed to do it. Please. Doc. Tae." He shuts his eyes. "Please. Help my son."

##

A/N:

Happy New Year! It's still December 31st, but I wanted to wish you all the best in 2020. With a New Year will - hopefully - come new Crimson! Thank you very much for reading this story, it means a great deal to me.

Also, shout out to Professor Mark Ramseyer of Japanese Legal Studies at Harvard Law School for answering the questions I posed about Iwai's decision and the possible ramifications. He truly did not have to indulge me, but he did, and I am extraordinarily grateful. Hats off to you, sir!

Best of luck to you all in 2020, and I hope to hear from you soon!