As Sae Niijima sat down in a snazzy bar, jazz music faintly playing in the background as she sipped a glass of wine, placing it down next to a half-full whiskey glass, a ball of ice bobbing up and down as the man sitting next to her sighed in relief, the burning sensation of drinking the high strength booze passing into the blissful haze of drunkenness, the attorney started to wonder if there was anything more here.
What had started as a clumsy attempt to get the two of them in a relationship had turned to something a lot more casual as both she and Akiyama relaxed around each other, but she couldn't help but notice how frequent these evenings out, complaining about how much their latest clients (no names or specifics, they were still professionals), were becoming. It wasn't as if the drinking was a constant either: they were both just as likely to order water or a soft drink over a meal as they were to hit the booze. But this was the second time this week that they were spending the evening together, by Tuesday. Maybe it was just the alcohol talking to her as she ran her finger over the wineglass, half listening to Akiyama's latest attempts to make his small firm appear as legitimate as possible "...So I got this message from one of the schools. They want me to let a student in for a week and I'm like... what the heck am I going to do with a kid? I can't put them on anything important and handling client's data is way out."
"You could do what the police did last year," Sae suggested "There's probably something menial to do, that's what happened to my little sister and she could have done the jobs that the detectives were doing better than they could"
"You'd think so, but there's really nothing to do that me and Hana aren't already doing, and a lot of it is really sensitive stuff. There's a reason there's ethics exams in most training courses... I mean no-one pays attention to them afterwards."
"Same here." The former prosecutor chuckled.
"Yeah, but the principles still there and you know a kid's gonna run his mouth the moment he sees something cool." the financier whined as he knocked back the rest of the drink.
"They're eighteen, not ten year olds trying to convince their friends that they found a way to bring Aerith back from the dead. They've got some maturity," Sae replied, adding an extra "Well some of them do." a few seconds later.
"Who's Aerith?" Akiyama asked.
"Oh... never mind." Sae retracted. That was another thing that was adding a wrinkle to any potential relationship: he was at least ten years older than her, maybe fifteen. He was a full adult when the Millennium Tower blew up (for the first time) while she was still in school, if she was any younger it would have seemed creepy in the way young woman hanging around significantly older men with more money than a small country tended to be creepy. But she wasn't that young any more, and she hadn't felt it for longer still, and Akiyama didn't exactly act like he was coming up to what would be considered a pretty good cricket score. "I'm just saying, they're not that young. You can trust them a little to be more than coffee bitches."
"Yeah, I get it," he shrugged, holding up a finger as he slid the empty glass back down the bar "It's just there's no real gap between 'things that are actually important' and 'things that are super confidential'. I mean, would you let someone you didn't know handle case files? Even cold ones?"
"No way," Sae conceded as she finished her own drink, the background music fading into a haze as the wine did it's thing.
"Exactly, it's real tricky to find something for anyone to do, let alone someone who isn't old enough to drink." Akiyama concluded as a replacement glass slid towards him with a little slip of paper attached with the running total of how much tonight's rant and whinge-fest was going to cost them.
"Although..." Sae pondered, rapping her knuckles on the bar to order another for herself "You could just say... screw it and have him do practically nothing."
"Huh?" the financier looked up, the receipt now stuck to his thumb
"It's a career week, everyone who's ever done one knows they're awful and pointless. It's more of a test to see who's smart enough to act before they get stuck doing something menial, so if he or she didn't then well... that's life, you think it's gonna be smooth then you get screwed and stuck doing things you hate for people you hate more." she explained, brain abuzz with recalled spite at her own experiences.
"Eeesch... harsh." Akiyama winced.
"I know..." she sighed as she looked down at the fresh glass of wine, her reflection barely visible in the dark red drink, an awkward silence forming as they both stared into the booze for answers that weren't coming.
"So..." Akiyama started, trying to get the conversation going again as the ice clinked in the glass.
"So...what?" Sae asked back.
"So... is there anything you wanted to do tonight? Karaoke maybe? Bit late to grab any food, restaurants are closing and I got banned from all the Smile Burgers in Tokyo."
"You got banned from Smile Burger?"
"Wasn't my fault!" Akiyama protested "But yeah... I did. Stupid thing, it was late night and I wanted a milkshake."
"Do the milkshake machines ever work in there?" Sae chuckled. Some things apparently never changed.
"Exactly, so I was stuck waiting for them to try and get them working and these guys burst in, shoulder me out the way and start their order like I'm not there. Me, being the genius that I was at god knows what hour, decided that I wasn't going to let this stand so I coughed politely... then they recognised me. Turns out they were a bunch of thugs hired by a local Loan Shark who thought an independent trader like myself was cutting in to their business."
"Oh god..." the attorney groaned.
"So, long story short one guy takes a swing so I fight back, next thing I know the guy at the counter's stammering at me to get out because you're not supposed to put a guy through the crappy plastic tables even if they've got a chair. So I found out. Didn't know that was a rule, there weren't any signs." Akiyama continued as Sae just burst into laughter.
"Akiyama," she wheezed "Look, if you're going to make up a reason why you got banned from a fast food place, can you at least make a more convincing one?"
"What did I say?" Akiyama said, briefly snapping out of the haze. He'd hung around people like Kiryu for too long where they could share that kind of crazy world stories, Sae wasn't part of that world.
"That you beat up a bunch of goons in a Smile Burger while waiting for a midnight milkshake."
"Ah, right. I think that's a signal that it's time to start moving." Akiyama coughed, it was probably better to rub that sort of thing off as a product of being sober enough to talk but drunk enough to not realise what he was saying was true or not.
"Alright, last drink then walk back to the taxi rank?" She asked.
"Last drink." he agreed.
The walk back wasn't as simple as they had intended, the bar, while very pleasant, was a right arse to get to and from. For one it was up on the fifth floor of an office block with no elevator access: as though people who couldn't climb stairs never needed a drink and that those who had too much were capable of negotiating a dimly lit stairwell. For two, it was practically the most annoying place to get a taxi from at late night: the nearest rank was three blocks away following the main roads and they were filled with late night activities that the already buzzing Akiyama and Sae didn't want to lose another couple hours to. So when Akiyama said he knew a shortcut, Sae followed, not caring how overdressed both of them looked for a dingy alley. At least the close walls were much needed support for when their heads started spinning.
"Are you sure this is a short cut?" Sae asked as they took a turn.
"I'm sure. I used to use this alley all the time." Akiyama assured her, taking a confident lead.
"I'm just going to check the map on my phone..."
"Look, if I'm right, we should be coming up to a little backyard lot and it's just the other side of that."
"Can't get a signal..."
"It's fine, see. We're already at the... backlot..." Akiyama trailed off as he walked into the concreted square, five men in heavy dark purple coats, lounging around near a fire escape "Excuse us gentlemen." he said, trying to move through in an awkward silence. Sae sticking close to the financier with a stiff look.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's the hurry, man?" One of them asked, casually sauntering over to the not-couple, pointedly blocking the exit.
"Sae, stay behind me," Akiyama whispered before looking up at the man in the way "Oh you know, places to be. Trying to get a cab. You gotta get there fast on nights like these or you're waiting in the rain for ages."
"That's no problem, I'm sure one of us can give you a ride later." The apparent ring leader dismissed as the rest started to circle around, chuckling as they did so.
"You're already dressed for a good time anyway, so let's get started huh?" One of them joked, reaching out towards Sae with a sinister smile. Akiyama's eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of what was happening, his body tensed and in an instant, the offending goon who had tried to grab the attorney's arm was now slumped face first against the wall, giving a pained groan before collapsing down on the ground out cold from one kick.
"What the hell!?" One of the less confident thugs screamed out, staggering back in shock as everyone stared in surprise at to what just happened, and most surprised of all of them was Akiyama.
"Uh... Sae?" He asked nervously as the former prosecutor pulled her foot back down from driving the thug's skull into a wall. He was about to do that.
"You- you'll pay for that!" The ringleader declared as he tried to push past Akiyama, only to find himself soaring through the air as the financier swept his legs out from under him.
"Guess we're doing this then!" Akiyama declared, raising up his fists as one of the jacketed hooligans reached around for something to use as a weapon, settling for an old bicycle that he struggled to handle.
The fight was short, brutal and beautiful in a terrifying way. The two drunken professionals moved in a manner halfway between a Taekwondo exhibition troupe and dangerous pit fighters as they spun, kicked and smashed through anyone who was still trying to threaten them. By the time it was over, the group had limped away, carrying their stricken friends over their shoulders as they tried to keep their noses attached to the rest of their face. Breathing a sigh of relief as their foes scurried away, Akiyama leaned back against the wall, trying to make sense of it all "You okay Sae?" he asked, only for a yank of his blazer to pull him down into a sudden kiss.
The former prosecutor pulled away as quickly as she'd start "Yes I'm... I'm fine, just was a bit of a rush..." Sae breathed as she moved back, trying to stand back up straight, at some point one of the heels had come loose "A real... real... rush."
Akiyama was left dumbstruck against the wall, his alcohol infused brain trying to process what just happened "That... it... usually is," He eventually settled for as he held out his arm for Sae to lean on as he led them to the taxi rank.
"Promise me," Sae began as they strapped themselves in the back of the first available cab, giving the order to head to Sae's home first "That you won't tell anyone what happened."
"I'm good with confidential." Akiyama nodded, a dopey grin forming on his face.
"Good." Sae agreed, taking deep breaths as she tried to compose herself.
"But... aren't you going to ask me something?" Akiyama asked as Sae re-tensed up. "Do you still think I was lying about the milkshake story?"
The attorney couldn't help herself as she burst out laughing. "Oh god... you were serious weren't you..." she wheezed
"Not completely seriously. There was only one guy," He joked, earning a playful shove on the shoulder as the street lights flickered past. "So... when do you want to start talking about what happened?"
"I don't know," Sae admitted "a lot happened at once."
"Well, when you do. You've got my number, and know where I work."
"Thank you, Akiyama." She smiled as the taxi pulled up to her apartment complex, stepping out as he waved her good night before slumping back into the taxi, head spinning as he paid up more than enough to take him home. Not that he was going to get that much sleep tonight.
A/N: Been a long time since this got looked at, huh. Well hopefully there's still an audience for it and I'm sorry for neglecting this part of the Yakuza/Persona trilogy for so long that the new games threaten to lock it into a non-canon hole rather than a 'possibly-canon because the timelines didn't stretch this far' hole.