Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

    Reigen was driving his beat-up sedan (he got from winning a bet with a junkyard employee) along the cracked road that led to his office. After everything that happened with Mob he told the kid to take some time off, knowing that was the right thing to do. However, on the business side of things others in his field would've advised against it. His funds were running low, so much so that he had to lay-off Serizawa because he couldn't pay the poor man. After the display of destruction made possible by the psychic powers required for exorcisms. . . its safe to say his clientele was significantly reduced just in the past couple of months.

    He parked across the street and lethargically pulled himself out of the car, up the stairs, and into his office chair. He leaned back earning a squeak from his chair, taking a deep anxious breath he opened his email. Eyes scanning through the mountains of spam and notices for late fees he hoped against hope there were at least a couple clients that could get him through next month. 

    'There's gotta be some shmuck with a knot in his shoulder or "mysterious" stained carpet I can help in here..' Regrettably even after refreshing and double checking a couple times the struggling businessman's email had nothing but bad news for him. The only new email being from the landlord of the building sending the bill for outstanding bills. 

    Reigen choked on the air that had suddenly thickened around him. He leaned into his palms and slid his trembling fingers into his messy blonde hair. "Seriously Reigen... again?" he muttered to himself. He remained in that same sullen position, shadow dancing against the wall when the occasional car would pass in the night, for an indiscernible amount of time.  He likely would have remained in that same position were it not for his old landline beeping out the ringtone he'd really never heard because he always picked up so quickly. This time he let it ring out, a rather unimpressive brring brring brring, until it hit voicemail. He was surprised the old thing was even still able to do that.  'Don't be the landlord... don't be the landlord'  he wished to whoever might be there to grant him just one break to find his feet again. 

Then a static-y, no doubt from the phone' quality, voice broke out, "Mr. Arataka it's unfortunate I was not able to reach you this evening-" Reigen unsurely lifted his head from his palms, hair tussled into a mess, but shocked that it truly wasn't the disappointed voice of the landlord he tuned back in, "My name is l/n with the Cathartes business group. We had a business proposition for you and would like to meet at your earliest convenience, please reply with your preferred time to 090-5555-XXXX. Good Night." 

Reigen hurriedly scribbled the number and business name on the back of an old takeout menu and held it up in front of him, clutching it with both hands as if it would somehow cruelly slip away from him. A sliver of light from the emergency light highlighted the name, "Cathartes. . . why does that name sound familiar?" He shook his mouse to wake up the screen and thoughtlessly closed his email that was previously his priority to explore a new lead. He clacked in the name and immediately a wall of news articles, along with their official website, loaded into view. 

"Cathartes Case Suddenly Dismissed"

"Prosecution Drops Cathartes Allegations"

"Cathartes Business Group Requisitions Land In South Seasoning City"

"South Seasoning City...?" Reigen's office was located in the Southwest of the city, "That's not far from here." He tried looking more into the content of the dropped case but any site that might have previously had information was popping up 'Sorry, this content is unavailable' messages. He could smell that something was fishy, a perk of being in the business of fooling people, but he also didn't know how much of a choice he had. On one hand he was in desperate need of some help, and his pride ached at the idea of asking his former employees Serizawa or Shigeo for assistance. On the other if they really were a fishy group, it was clear that they had enough power to really put him out. 

Against what he knew his friends would have told him to do, he decided to comply and just try and lie low. All that was left was to decide where in his tragically empty schedule to ask them to meet. 

"Would it seem too desperate to schedule for tomorrow night...?" He squinted and shook his head, "like I have time to worry about seeming desperate, I am desperate." He whipped out his token flip-phone and punched in the number, "tomorrow 5pm" his text was brief but in reality he would've been talking his mouth off he was so nervous. 

SEND

"Well that's that then..." He once again leaned a squeak out of his chair, before deciding he was too antsy to be sitting down. 'Should I get my suit laundered?' He opened the door to the familiar empty staircase with only a couple functioning stair lights. Before closing the door to his lonesome office behind him, he sent out one other text asking them to meet at a local restaurant of their choosing. He figured adding "local" would end them up somewhere not too fancy, since anything local to his office was still in the same sketchy part of the city. He climbed down the dangerous stairstep affirming his choice to change locale one stride at a time. He got outside and slid into the dilapidated sedan, he got out his wallet and pulled out a couple of coins. Just enough to get his suit nice and lined up. 

He put the car into gear and optimistically drove off to the cheapest laundromat that he could hit before returning to the office to get some sleep before tomorrow. 

Chapter Text

Y/n dunked her leather gloves deep into the cold soapy water and rubbed them carefully against her palms just enough to get the blood out of the textured surface. She sighed and pulled her hands out of the water, flicked the water off of her fingers, and dried them on the hand towel hanging next to the professional kitchen style sink. She left the gloves be and turned to face the rest of an almost entirely spotless restaurant kitchen, aside from the people lying on the floor. They were not chefs, well not entirely.

She stepped easily over the groaning men and grabbed a folder laying on the floor after being dropped during the skirmish. It was information that her job with the Cathartes requested for their upcoming city-wide expansion project. She tucked the folder under her arm and went back to the sink and tugged on the chain releasing the plug and watched as the tainted water drained away somewhere she didn't have to think about. It was unfortunate her favorite gloves were all wet now. . . but realistically it actually wasn't much of a problem. A pink aura surrounded the gloves and they lifted into the air. They quickly snapped and were rung out of any remaining water or soap. 

"Perfect." She slipped the fresh gloves back on and walked casually out the service exit where her company car was waiting. She dropped the tan folder into the passenger seat and then took her place in the driver's seat. It was a well taken care of black Mazda, she was a valued asset and the people she worked for had just the kind of money to spend on her. 

She wasn't always loyal to just the Cathartes though, in her more wild teens she was all over the map. Literally running all around the country doing odd jobs she'd let anyone hire her for. It started with smaller stuff, like stealing something or more private investigator-type work, but after increasingly more wealthy people began to hear about her abilities she was soon wrapped in with hit jobs or espionage. All of that led to the Cathartes family getting a hold of her information and offering her a long-term contract. 

Now here she was, casually strolling into a glamourous high-riser to drop this folder off to the higher-up who had requested it.  The job had been a bit longer and more complicated than the usual quick takedowns or "recruitments" she was well-known for. 

She quickly rapped on the door with her knuckles entering after hearing a soft, "Come in." The man she was meeting today was the underboss of the Cathartes Business Group, Salvatore Cathartes. The nephew of the current Don, and the man responsible for managing y/n's responsibilities and her contract (along with a few other contracted workers). His strong silver brows and similarly styled silver hair paired with his strong frame had caught her attention the first time that they had met, but after so long it just became the norm. "Hand me the folder" he demanded. She could tell he was a bit on edge today, since he was not usually this short with her, but in her eyes it was understandable with a new large project suddenly dumped on his shoulders. 

She dropped the folder onto his desk and watched him immediately begin to flip through the pages containing millions of dollars worth of insider strategic materials. She herself was not permitted to read those same pages, but she'd be a fool if she didn't at least know what she was maiming people to acquire. Salvatore then stopped and glanced up through his eyebrows at her. "Yes, sir?"

"You know I asked you to call me Sal, y/n"

She hesitantly repositioned her hands, "Yes, Sal?"

"Much better. I have a new task for you." He sat back from the folder and rested one ankle on his knee, arms on either side of him on the armrests. She knew not to ask, and just let him keep talking. "I'm gonna send you down to the Southwest, for some. . . recruitment opportunities lets say. All I need you to do is drop these," he slid some enclosed envelopes towards her, "off with some of the businesses down there." 

The task, verbally, seemed simple enough but a simple execution certainly would be less than adequate. She approached the desk and grabbed the stack of envelopes, "Understood." She began to exit the room before being stopped by Sal leaving one last comment. 

"-and y/n?"

"Yes, Sal?" 

"smiling now and again won't kill you." He cruelly teased her, he knew she was more of the serious type when it came to work. 

She winced, before turning her neck to look at him, "I'll keep that in mind." Then she marched away in disdain. The Cathartes had treated her very well for the past year and a half but, the underboss was certainly. . . eccentric. He had a taste for messing with his employees, and while it was never truly harmful, he had somewhere along the line taken a liking to her in particular. 

She popped all but one of the envelopes into the glovebox of her car. She sat in the drivers seat, holding an envelope with a phone number and the name 'Reigen Arataka' noted down on the back. She decided getting on top of calling all these people and scheduling with them would serve her best. This was the most... administrative task she had been given so far. An indication of Sal's increasing trust with her allowing her to do more than some dirty work on his part. After dialing in the number it rang. And rang. And rang until she was redirected to voicemail 'seriously?' she thought to herself.

"Mr. Arataka it's unfortunate I was not able to reach you this evening I hope the night is seeing you well. My name is l/n with the Cathartes business group. We had a business proposition for you and would like to meet at your earliest convenience, please reply with your preferred time to 090-5555-XXXX. Good Night." She ended the voicemail and replaced the envelope with another one from the glovebox. 

After finishing her third call she received a message from Arataka scheduling for tomorrow night and asking for a local restaurant. "A bit desperate are we?" she joked to herself. She replied in confirmation and with the name of some coffee shop her GPS said was nearby. 

Chapter Text

Reigen groggily lifted himself off of the couch in his office, allowing his thin blanket to slip away and to the side. He slowly blinked and ran a hand through his hair. "That meeting is tonight, huh." He yawned and pulled himself up onto his feet. His eyes caught his freshly laundered suit, that took his last change, hanging from the handle of his large filing cabinet. "This better not be a scam. . ." he muttered as he grabbed his toothbrush and unbuttoned his pajamas. 

At the same time, y/n had been awake for a couple of hours already. The meeting with Reigen was the soonest that any of the businesses on that street had scheduled anything. At the moment she was just coming back from updating Sal on what her schedule looked like for the week, and picking up a stack of Sal's business cards. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, those cards are really only used by the employees on the "clean" side of the business. . . AKA all the regular civilians who had no clue about the underbelly she found herself working for.

It was clear Sal's intention in contacting the less than legitimate businesses found on that side of the city had something more than profit motivating it. But what could it be? Her first step would have to be doing a bit of research on the area in the meantime before the meeting with Arataka. Instead of heading home, she made a U-turn and inputted Bar Happy Trail into the car's GPS. 

As it began to steadily approach noon Reigen was getting antsy, wondering if he should prepare something for the meeting. He sat down in his office chair just as he heard a knock at the door. He shot up and stood in front of the door, 'That's gotta be a customer' He told himself. He took a deep breath and then opened the door to reveal- "Serizawa?" Reigen took a step back inviting Serizawa into the room and he gladly stepped in. 

"Hello, Reigen-san sorry for dropping in without calling.." Serizawa scratched his neck nervously and sat down at the only table in the place that wasn't a desk. 

"No its uh- It's alright." Reigen closed the door and confusedly sat down across from Serizawa. He really hoped he wasn't here with any concerns about suddenly getting fired or worse about his pay. Reigen knew that if he asked for more pay or even to get hired again... Serizawa was one guy he had a real hard time saying no to. How could he? Serizawa was practically a human-shaped doggy. 

"I really just wanted to check in on you" Serizawa commented quietly, Reigen's heart dropped, "It seems like things got pretty rough after Mob-kun had that accident, and y'know I was worried about you." 

Those words stung in Reigen's ears. Even after learning so much from Mob, Reigen still couldn't fight his individualistic nature. Part of him really longed for some true companionship but... he was a conman through and through in his own eyes. Not the kind of guy to spend a whole lot of time worrying about. So, as Reigen does, he put up a front to protect himself. "Oh no no, really don't worry about me, things are really looking up these days. Business is booming, honestly." Reigen looked away, shrugging his shoulders and flicking his hands about as he spoke. 

Serizawa looked around as well, at the same old bland walls and cracked tile. He was having a hard time believing Reigen, but he had also worked with him long enough to know when he was trying to pull the wool over someone's eyes. Even though it was clear that no customers had been through in a while, "That's- That's great Reigen in that case I guess I was worrying for nothing" Serizawa deflected. He wasn't the most socially adept guy, and confronting liars was a particularly sore spot for him. He pressed into his knees to pull himself up from where he was sitting, watching as Reigen stood up alongside him as well. 

"No hard feelings about letting you go? You know getting out there in the world and getting all kinds of experience looks better on a resume-" Reigen was sweating now, part of him was scolding himself for lying to someone as nice as Serizawa who was only offering him a hand, but the abandoned fool in him swatted that hand away before he could even think of grabbing it. 

"Uh well yeah I suppose so.. you would know. I actually starting working at an office on the North side of the city, it's been treating me pretty well." Serizawa did like the job, just not as much as he liked working with Reigen. 

"Looks like both of us are heading to bigger and better places then, huh. One of these days we should grab some lunch or something?" Reigen glanced at Serizawa but regretted it immediately when he sensed the pity in the other man's eyes. 

"Yes, we should, Reigen. But if you're really doing alright then I should get going.. my boss is expecting me back from my lunch break soon." Serizawa started for the door. 

"Oh-" Reigen was simultaneously sad and relieved to hear he was going, "yeah haha you should head back.." Reigen approached the door and opened it for him. Serizawa offered his hand for a handshake, and Reigen took it keeping a straight face and holding back his internal frustration. 

Serizawa firmly shook his hand and made a point of meeting Reigen's eyes, "It was good to see you.. Please call me if you ever need anything, you know I'll always be your employee in one way or another." 

Reigen took a sharp emotional breath and withdrew his hand, "Yep! Yeah! If I need anything." Serizawa's eyes lingered looking for hesitation in Reigen's demeanor but failed to find it and left unceremoniously. Reigen quickly closed the door and drew in as much air as his lungs could hold, closing his eyes and breathing out. "I need a drink. . ." He pulled his suit jacket over his shoulders and checked himself in the bathroom mirror. His look was sullen but he just re-combed his hair and left knowing there wasn't much he could do about the rest of him. 

Chapter Text

y/n walked into the bar, unsurprisingly empty because it was the middle of the day. Perfect for her needs. Not many knew of what else this place sold aside from alcohol. Luckily for her, in her years in the industry she stumbled upon this place through a former colleague's recommendation. An information den unlike any other. Perhaps because it was so close to several train lines/bus routes along with the central location, the man who worked here as the "Advisor", as he always introduced himself, always had newer and more accurate info than any other place she had visited across the years. 

She strolled up to the counter, the bartender knowing what to expect of the only regular customer during the afternoons holding back until she ordered the info. "Good afternoon, sir" she commented as she sat down on the plush bar stool. 

"Good to see you again, Miss" he said as he shined a glass, "looking for your regular?" He asked. 

"No... this time I'm looking for information on the Southwest part of town." She grimly answered. He looked surprised for a moment before composing himself again, she had never ordered anything other than details for specific target. Quite the change. 

"That's a bit broad..." he thought, "you'll probably be better off meeting him in the back this time." The bartender lifted the employee entrance gate and goaded her in, she stepped behind the bar and followed him up the back stairs into a traditional Japanese style room. She examined her surroundings carefully, having never been in this part of the bar before. She had only ever bought compiled folders to pick-up a couple days after ordering, and only seen the Advisor's face once by chance. The bartender commented through the shoji door, "you've got a visitor, sir." 

"Send them in" A gruff voice commanded. Following the command the bartender obediently slid open the door and y/n stepped in cautiously. She saw an older man with scruffy facial hair and a tied back mane dressed in a tightly wrapped Fundoshi sitting at a small tea table. She met his intimidating gaze for permission to join him at the table and he nodded her on. "Finally putting a face to a name. You've been a loyal customer for so long, I'm glad to see that you're still alive after freelancing for so long." His voice changed to a warmer and more inviting tone, like what she'd imagine a loving grandfather would sound like. It was truly off-putting. She knew that he knew more about her than even her current employers did.

"I appreciate your service's reliability throughout the years." she bowed to him. "I'm looking to learn more about the Southwest part of this city." 

"A new assignment from Salvatore Cathartes, I assume?" His gaze pierced her, she knew she couldn't lie in this situation. He already knew what she was looking for and what she was doing. 

"Yes, sir." She replied obediently. Being reluctant with him would be nothing but a hinderance, and cause problems for her later down the line. He smiled at her response. 

"Well then, let's talk." 

Reigen's sedan sputtered to a stop in a small parking lot a couple buildings down from his favorite bar. He parked very carefully because the only open spot was next to a very expensive looking Mazda, meaning very expensive to even scratch. In his eyes it was no different than the other pubs lining the street, but after stopping in here throughout the years when he was feeling down he felt uncomfortable giving his business to anyone else. He slammed his door shut with a bang, otherwise it wouldn't lock, and sauntered over giving up on being inconspicuous about drinking during the day. When he ducked through the entrance he spotted the familiar bartender wiping the counter. 

The bartender looked up, not expecting any visitors, but recognized Arataka as soon as he came in. About a year ago after his career took a turn the two became pretty familiar as Reigen slurred out his financial and reputational woes. The two made knowing eye contact and the bartender began fixing him a lemon sour as Reigen sat down in the same seat y/n was in minutes ago, and positioned his chin on his propped up palm. "Nice seeing you again." Reigen muttered out wistfully. 

"A bit unfortunate it's the middle of the day though, sir" the bartender quipped back. 

"heh, yeah." Reigen sighed, "pretty pathetic after the last time I was here."

"Well, if it's any comfort, everyone's got problems they want to drink away in the middle of the day. You just happen to be the only one actually doing it." The bartender shrugged, then placed down his drink with a lemon slice ordaining the edge of the glass. 

"Thanks..." Reigen answered, picking up the drink and sliding the man just enough cash to cover it. 

Upstairs y/n had been talking to the older gentleman for a good twenty minutes, learning more than she thought she could even remember but not daring to try and note anything down. Afterall, every word of it was a valuable commodity that only she was privy to in the moment. Of what she had heard though a couple things stood out. One, the Felis family, her employers nemesis, was supposedly in charge of that part of town so she'd have to be more cautious than she thought communicating with it's residents. Two, every business there was renting their operating space from the same company Reidon, who employed several different landlords to disperse both the labor and any suspicion of monopoly. 'Reidon.. I'll certainly need to remember that and look into it more myself.'  

As their conversation came to a close she placed a sealed orange envelope with funds to cover everything she had learned. "Thank you for the information sir." She lifted herself from the ground and opened the door in one smooth motion, stopping as the Advisor made one last comment.

"You should consider whether or not involving yourself with this is really worth that contract price the Cathartes bought you with." He warned. 

She nodded silently and left, knowing that even if she wanted out now Salvatore would kill her before letting her work for anyone else. 

Reigen heard a door slide closed above him and subsequently footsteps down the staircase he didn't even know was attached to the bar, until he saw a woman with an aura he had never felt before step into the room. He couldn't break his eyes away from her even when she met his eyes as well and stopped in place. A part of him desperately wanted to leave the bar and get away from her and the other ached to ask her name. He did neither of those things as she broke eye contact and left without a word. "Just who is she. . ." He lingered on the memory of her presence as he finished his drink. 

Chapter Text

Reigen finished his drink after sipping on it candidly, waved goodbye to the bartender and returned to his office to clean up a bit and try to prepare himself for a few hours before the meeting. 

When the time came, Reigen needed only stroll down the block to the well-lit evening coffee shop. He curiously stepped in through the doorway, adjusting his pink tie away from his neck nervously. 'Don't mess this one up now. . Reigen..'  A quick glance around the room led him to sauntering over to the only table not occupied by two or more people, conveniently in the only booth without a window and not particularly bright corner. There was a woman facing away from him with a very serious aura sitting there, he gulped before inquiring, "Are you the one I'm supposed to be meeting here... ma'am?"  

- - - - 

Approximately an hour before their scheduled meeting time, y/n arrived to begin her usual meticulous planning. Her first step was checking out the area around the shop: roads, alleys, nearby businesses, etc. She felt the need to be particularly cautious because of being in enemy territory. Not something she hadn't done before, but this time she wasn't supposed to be fighting anyone. After scoping out the surroundings carefully for approx. 30 minutes she uneventfully made her way inside, politely greeting the employees noting that she would make her order after her associate arrives. She tugged her cliché long black coat off of her shoulders and laid it across the top of the seat adjacent to her in the booth. She slipped the envelope addressed to Reigen out of it's inner pocket and fixed her eyes on his name meticulously penned across the front. Her mind wandered to Sal and the look in his eyes as he almost excitedly slid the stack of these across to her. It wasn't long before her thoughts were interrupted by a smooth voice, returning her to business mode. 

- - - - 

She stood and looked him in the eyes, recognizing him immediately from the bar- extending her hand respectfully nonetheless. Reigen was a tad less nonchalant about it, visibly pausing and slowly blinking awkwardly at her before extending his hand as well, in turn, to shake it. "I am she, thank you for meeting with me." She greeted.

"Likewise, I appreciate you meeting with me on such short notice- nowhere else free on the ol' schedule though. I'm sure you understand me," he fronted to her laughing nervously, force of habit.

"I'm sure I do" she responded seeing right through him, she thought, and containing her mild amusement at his attempts to either impress her or try to sweeten whatever deal was coming his way- if not both. She gestured smoothly to the seat, then easily claimed her own spot across from him. Reigen had to admit to himself that her presence was even stronger seeing her face-to-face, and he was thrown off kilter after recognizing her from Bar Happy Trail. 

'what was she doing in the back though...' he quietly wondered to himself. 

"Not to be short but I do think it best for us both to get right to it," she slid the labeled envelope across the table to him, not removing her eyes from his face for a second- carefully analyzing his reaction long after he had broken eye contact with her. Reigen tentatively picked up the letter, glancing back up at her as he did so but looking right back after noticing the repressed curiosity in her eyes. Her reaction and overall persona had already thrown him off, but mysterious letters at business meetings were a new one for him; he raised an eyebrow upon revealing the contents. 

"A contract..." his penetrating stare taking y/n by surprise as he delicately placed the contract upon the tabletop, pinning it underneath his elbows as he leaned into his interlocked hands. His trusty dress shirt pulling across his shoulders and tightening across his usually unassuming figure. His entire persona had shifted away from her initial impression of an inexperienced fool to- almost to an energy similar to that of Salvatore- it raised flags for her to say the least. "What do you- or I suppose your boss- want from me, miss... l/n if I remember." His caustic and penetrating gaze threatened her, just what did that contract say?

Y/n internally cursed Sal for not properly informing her of just what he was trying to do in this part of town and with the business owners. She could almost see his infuriating grin, it was clear that he found amusement in making things harder for her. However, this was her first meeting and regardless of Salvatore Cathartes her pride would not let her start things off with failure. Time for some Michelin star level bull-crap. "The Cathartes Group is looking to do some strategic expansions into this area. The reason I am here is to establish essential footholds before the official launch of the development project."

Reigen blinked slowly at her, gears turning, before leaning back into his seat, releasing the paper from his weight and- from her perspective- sliding back into his customer service bootlicking persona. "What a wonderful thing to be a part of then!" He responded, y/n still unable to decipher what he was thinking. "I'm afraid a few of the details in this contract here will require deliberation on my end, and approval from my rental company, however" he seamlessly lifted himself from his seat, slipping the contract into his pocket in the process. Y/n followed him in standing up, shaking his hand, then standing in shock watching as he walked out of the shop and eventually out of view. She wasn't a conversationalist per se but had to admit to herself that he was very skilled at talking himself out of things. Still thinking over what just happened she vacantly grabbed her coat and bought a drink on her way out, respecting the employees in her own way. It was not long before she was zooming off to the other side of town to report in to Sal whatever it was that just happened. 

- - - - 

Reigen locked his office door behind him, not bothering to switch on the lights before sinking into his moderately musty couch, flicking his lamp on as he did. He pulled the folded up contract out of his pocket and laid it out on the coffee table, resting one elbow on his leg as he loosened and removed his token pink tie. He haphazardly tossed it to his side as he slid his hands over his face and sighed deeply, the sordid paper catching his eyes between his imperceptibly calloused fingers. That was certainly not how he had scripted out that meeting in his head. 

Chapter Text

Reigen had kicked smoking a while ago, when he met Shigeo- or at least mostly. In this painfully empty room and looming decision kicking him in the face stress led to muscle-memory flicking on his lighter and slipping a cigarette between his lips. He mindlessly breathed in the smoke, fixing his eyes on the contract. Holding it under the overworked lamp he carefully read every word and clause crammed onto that page. Underneath what he recognized as intentionally distracting jargon, because he used the tactic often himself, he grew suspicious of a few chief points. 

- He'd be assigned a "Interest Protection Advisor" 

- They'd offer him office space in one of their north buildings

- and an exclusive nomination into the Cathartes Business Sponsorship program, he made a mental note to check that out later. 

Aside from the $1500 one-time signing fee, things were looking good. He did suspect an expectation of Quid Pro Quo, though. It was a suspiciously sweetened deal, but he had to admit they knew what they were doing by coming to the struggling businesses of this block. He had no doubt many of his fellow tenants would be hopping on this train as soon as possible. He couldn't  shake the unsettling sensation hanging over him that something was off. . . his intuition was raising flags everywhere. But. . . 

Sigh "What choice do I have..?" Reigen mumbled to himself as he leaned back and took a long drag, no doubt settling the scent of smoke into his recently cleaned suit; but that was far from his mind now. Truthfully, aside from his intuition, the contract was well-written and did provide him many protections if he were to pull out. Reigen pulled himself out of his seat against the resistance of his reluctant muscles and carefully plucked one of many pens, from a collection of meticulously acquired freebies, out of the container and quickly scribbled on the corner of an old paper to make sure it worked. "Let's sign this thing." As he signed the final line of the contract he heard a familiar gait approach the door and knock. 

- - - - 

It wasn't many days before Y/n had completed the same process with a dozen other business-owners from that area, however, currently she was holing herself up in her car instead of attending the umpteenth contract signing. Her hands rested on the leather steering wheel, clamming up, as she groaned in annoyance. She knew she was doing a good job up to this point, all of the businesses she had managed to convince into signing-on. Well almost every business, the man she had met with earlier that same week, Reigen Arataka had not only not gotten back to her yet but had left a notable impression on her mind. The way his gaze had darkened in a moments notice and just as quickly retreated raised flags for her. There were only a handful of people she wasn't able to get a read on, Sal, The Advisor, The Don, and now. . . a strange washed-up business man. 

She wiped off her hands and started up her car, not before inputting that same business man's office address. As she drove over her phone hummed out the disappointing sound she assigned to messages from Sal. She wasn't quite done yet, so that must mean he had an update of sorts for her. '. . . I'll check it after I lock down this last part.' 

She found a sufficiently hidden spot to park a few buildings down from Reigen's place, and stepped out locking her car with the fob as she walked away. Ever since she signed on with the Cathartes things had been a bit. . . redundant? She wouldn't say that her career path had ever been particularly interesting to her, but the variety of clients and locales had at least kept her stimulated in between. However, she had been stuck in Seasoning City for what felt like ages and aside from her current task, she was mostly in charge of killing a few thugs here and there. Something about Reigen was stirring up intrigue and curiosity in her. Both killers to anyone in this business, so she actively denied her interest in the man.

Furthermore, she knew that Sal knew she is capable of more and had a large portfolio standing behind her as evidence of that. She couldn't shake the feeling that this new job had something to do with that. . . 'what is this- whatever it is- going to evolve into?'

She sauntered up the stairs to his office, noticing a couple of flickering or out-right broken stair lights as she did. The building was eerily quite. Not that she necessarily expected business to be booming, but not even any of the other offices seemed to have any visitors. Or even lights on? Something was becoming increasingly wrong with this picture as she climbed, but the growing suspicion was confirmed when she finally reached his floor and a door was flung right open clinging onto it's hinges. 

She confirmed with the nameplate that it was in fact Arataka's office, before stepping into a disarray of papers strewn about the floor, a poorly loved couch's cushions cut open, and general chaos very obviously created by someone looking for something. But what? It was clear whoever it was was long gone- blood? She stepped behind the desk and the metallic rusty smell of blood hit her before she even saw the single splatter painting the side of the beaten drawer and floor. She had hoped that she would be able to meet with Sal with good news closing the final contract. This new escalation had very different plans, and a part of her that she couldn't identify ached as she hoped Reigen Arataka was somehow still alive. 

She took photos of the scene, before cleaning things up to avoid public attention and headed out to inform Sal.

- - - - 

Reigen grimaced as he pulled open his sore eyes, one aching with the familiar feeling of a black-eye and an unrelenting sting on his right arm.