“Oh, so serious!” Tatsuya jabbed at his partner, closing his eyes to mock her meditation with a tone deaf [i]OM![/i] 

	“Uh, Tatsuya-sama, please keep your eyes on the road!” Issoji pleaded.

	“Calm down.” Tatsuya rolled his eyes, exhaling sharply through his nose like a brat put on time-out. Issoji glanced over to Setsuna with grave concern, winking a message to her private neural inbox: ‘They’re so unprofessional! Is this really what the Shinsengumi are like?’ 

	Tatsuya cleared his throat, and for a moment, Issoji feared he somehow read the message. No, that would be impossible since he doesn’t have a cyberized brain, right?

	“The Skullfire Gang,” Tatsuya began, snapping his fingers in front of Rukia’s face, which meant ‘feet off the dash!’ after turning the radio’s volume down, “Are a real piece of work. Probably the worst batch of cultists we deal with here in Edo Tokyo. They’re divided into multiple sects, and the one we’re about to meet is the most vicious of the bunch. The Orochi. Black Market cyberization, real kooks that body mod their faces into Hanya masks. They took over Kenshin’s main R&D facility and kidnapped Uesugi’s daughter, Akani, for ransom.”
	
        “What are their demands in exchange for Akani Kenshin?” Issoji asked. 
	
        “For the release of their leader, Bozen Sakai, currently held in stasis somewhere in Kenshin district.” Tatsuya nodded. 
	
        “Bozen The Butcher, he’s still alive?” Issoji’s heart started racing again. 
	
        “So you know your mass murderers. Good.” Tatsuya gripped the wheel as they made their descent into the district. Much like the other areas, the Kenshin District had a color theme to differentiate itself from other parts of the city. Its neon blues were so stark in contrast to its neighboring districts, and the haziness radiating from it made the entire sector appear submerged underwater. 

        While the sharp lighting can be auto-adjusted for people with ocular implants, bio types like Tatsuya have to wear LED Glasses to dampen the intensity. And because of his Diogene enhancement from the war, he has to wear a specialized prescription since his normal vision was still in peak human condition. He reluctantly shoved the shades over his eyes, anticipating a joke from Rukia.

        “Speaking of murders, the optical implant industry must be making a killing off these stupid lights. Did you know over 60 percent of the city’s population had to get ocular surgery because of these damned things?” 
	
        “Forgive my brashness, sir, but going back to what you said earlier, Bozen Sakai killed over three hundred people!” Issoji frowned. He was clearly bothered by this revelation, but most especially disturbed by his mentor’s lackadaisical attitude about the matter. “Why hasn’t he been executed for this heinous act?”  

        “Still on about that, eh? Look, you’d have to ask Chairman Useugi yourself. All of those murders happened in Echigo-Niigata. His territory. Unless there’s reason for The Shogun to overrule his jurisdiction, the Kenshin Corporation dictates how they carry out his sentence.” Tatsuya glared back at both the young man, and Setsuna, through the rear view mirror. Issoji tried not to laugh at how ridiculous he looked with those ‘sunglasses’ on. “But that’s none of your damn concern! Focus on the task at hand. When we rendezvous with Kenshin’s Chief Enforcer, I expect you to be at your best behavior!” 

       “Yes, sir! Forgive me, sir!” Issoji said, winking another message to Setsuna’s inbox. This time, instead of a text, he delivered a gif of an old blind man wearing sunglasses, waving around a walking stick in a frenzy. Laughter was a nice escape route to calm the nerves, and having another greenhorn on the job to share a joke with was comforting.  

       “Ha!” Tatsuya said at random. In that moment, Issoji’s heart sank into his stomach. His eyes caught sight of a thin wire popping out from behind Tatsuya’s collar. It was attached to the drop-socket on the back of his neck. The cable ran underneath the driver’s wheel, where a netbox was most likely installed. [i]Did he hack into my neural network[/i]? Just then, Issoji received a notification from his inbox, which was also CC’d to Rukia. Issoji gulped, hesitated, then opened the message that read: 

[center][i]Not bad for a blind old man, eh?[/i][/center]