Kantorou Mashashiba and Akira break from the ruined warehouse district and dive under the bridge. Concrete towers loom overhead, slick with river damp and old soot, while traffic grinds past like a constant iron river. Ahead, a huddled camp of tarps, crates, and oil drums glows in the shadows.
A man steps out from the gloom. Toda Kiyoken is broad-shouldered, weathered, and hard-eyed, with the posture of someone who has ended fights for a living. His gang watches from behind him, still and wary.
Toda Kiyoken
Well now. That face is trouble. Asura, ain't it?
Kantorou Mashashiba
He knows us. Good.
Akira shifts half a step closer to Kantorou, keeping himself between him and the campfire light. The dripping bridge pillars throw everyone into stripes of shadow and amber, as if the whole place is hiding something.
Toda Kiyoken
You can stand there bleeding, or you can talk. Make it quick, before somebody noisy hears you.
+ Scene Quest Added
Talk to Toda Kiyoken
“"Need a spot to lie low patch up. our hideout was compromised, real shit show Toda" *Kantorou hands him some cash* "For the trouble"”
FAILURE (Fair Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Kantorou Mashashiba
Need a place to lie low and patch up. Our hideout is burned, Toda. I can pay for the trouble.
Kantorou offers the cash. Toda does not reach for it. His eyes flick once to the billfold, then back to Kantorou’s face, weighing the offer like a knife in his hand.
Toda Kiyoken
You come in bleeding and smiling like that, and you think money makes it simple?
Toda Kiyoken
No. He is here for shelter, or for a test. Either way, someone is already hunting him.
One of Toda’s men shifts near the crates. Akira notices at once, her shoulders tightening as she glances toward the tarp wall and the dark beyond it.
Akira
Someone’s been sniffing around this bridge all night. If they followed you here, we’ve got a problem.
Toda finally closes his hand over the money, but he does not pocket it. He turns the cash between his fingers, then points with it toward the camp’s deeper shadows.
Toda Kiyoken
You can stay. For tonight. But first you tell me who took the bag, and why your trail leads straight to my doorstep.
Quest Complete
Talk to Toda Kiyoken