Boy, this is turning into a hot mess now. There is a lot if plot armor where Akira is concerned – he’s so strong that you never really feel like he could be in danger himself. But you do feel for a guy just trying to quietly exist who trouble always seeks out, even if he brought it on himself with his career choice. And he’s so deeply entrenched in the darkness that those in his orbit and sucked into the trouble themselves, and for them thee sense of danger seems a lot more real.

In The Fable there are no coincidences, that much is clear. If they get a name, they’re connected to Akira in some way, directly or indirectly. Youko is able to provide Akira the information he seeks about Hinako, being as she’s memorized every murder from the time it happened. It’s probably fair to say he feels guilt over what’s happened to her, since he saw her crying in the car of the man he killed (which afterwards crashed through the wall of the parking garage and plunged three stories). The problem, of course, is that Akira is too socially inept to realize how it looks when he randomly starts scoping out Hinako at the park.

Suzuki, meanwhile, has agreed a meeting with the two odd job men who unsuccessfully tried to take out Kojima. Both sides are looking for into on Fable, but Suzuki isn’t really there to do any trading. He takes them both out, which is fine with Sunagawa since he set the whole thing up and is happy to be rid of them anyway. Sunagawa keeps getting warned not to stick his nose where it’s not wanted, but you get the sense he just can’t help himself. Suzuki brands himself as a pretty formidable figure here, at least compared to the hapless duo.

Kainuma, meanwhile, has steeled his resolve to actually rape Misaki this time. I’m dubious he wouldn’t have chickened out (not out of any sense of decency, mind you) but it’s a moot point as she’s wisely changed her locks. Unfortunately Kainuma being Utsubo’s new target means Misaki is involved in bad shit again – out of the frying pan and into the fire. For the moment she’s incidental to Utsubu – primarily of interest as a means of exerting coercion on Kainuma. And after he and Isaki talk their way into Misaki’s apartment (smarten up Misaki, seriously) and get Kainuma’s SD card, they have exactly what they need. I have no illusions that Utsubo wouldn’t eventually look to exploit her, too, once Kainuma is plucked.

Akira’s interest in Hinako has drawn the interest of Suzuki, who told him about the weird guy watching her at the park. Suzuki calls himself her older brother (both to her and to Akira) but this appears to be strictly in the organizational sense. His brief interaction with Akira is enough to convince the latter that Suzuki is someone formidable, some sort of pro. And he’s not the sort of pro who’d care that Akira is supposed to be on a sabbatical. Once more Akira is involved whether he wants to be or not – and this time he has two women to protect (which he kind of seems to get off on anyway). And possibly even Kainuma too, should he deem that worth his time, as underserving of it as that scumbag is.