The answer was Takami Kiyohito. Aki was his late master's daughter.
Before she quite knew she was doing it, Aki began to talk about her relationship with her father, and about what it had become after her parents divorced. To Yashiro's surprise, Kiyohito had always spoken well of the work. Being a brave, in her father's telling, was something worth being.
When she asked him what his own reasoning had been for becoming one, Yashiro found himself back in his own past.
Seven years ago, he had dropped out of high school for personal reasons and had then been thrown out of his parents' house, which eventually led to him running errands for some dark lord in Ikebukuro. During one of the intense fights between braves and his boss's people, Yashiro found himself suddenly unemployed, because Kiyohito had eliminated his patron. Left with no other options, he somehow managed to force himself into the position of Kiyohito's assistant.
According to Aki, that probably explained why her father had always carried such a lofty attitude towards those weaker than him. She also mentioned that Kiyohito had always spoken happily about Yashiro — about how talented he was, which had shown in the many battles he had fought.
None of it made sense to Yashiro. The master he had known was weak-willed, a coward and cautious to the point where he could be cold-blooded and ruthless when it suited him.
On top of that, it was that same Kiyohito who had said that being a brave was the lowest kind of scum there was, and who recommended to anyone who would listen that they stay away from the business altogether.
It had been years since Kiyohito passed away, and Yashiro was still convinced that being a brave was terrible business. So he argued the only conclusion available to him: that Kiyohito had been lying to his daughter.
Aki argued back that Yashiro was a good brave, because he helped people.
In striking contrast to every word he had said that night, as Aki stood there defending her father's ideals, Yashiro intimidated her into going home already. His head was starting to hurt. He began thinking about getting to Ed's bar as fast as possible, where he hoped to meet his friends, drink, eat pizza and play cards.
He walked in and met Sarah, who immediately began asking him where he had been and why he was late.
Unfortunately for him, Ed told her that he had gone out to get something to eat before leaving suddenly with Malta. Since it was too late for Yashiro to make it back home, he argued it was best that he simply ate here instead.
As for Sarah, she had only wanted to make sure he was safe and sound, which struck Yashiro as surprisingly normal behaviour from a girl who looked like a delinquent. Having complimented the student on that, he moved on to talking about her ability to sense the strength of an enemy — which Sarah said her father had always called a threat-level sensor.
Considering that she had not flinched in front of the chimera and had frozen in front of Levi, Sarah admitted that she had indeed been afraid of Levi. Yashiro told her that she was too kind to become a brave, and that she should therefore quit.
Seeing that she was not willing to do that in a million years, he assured her that his late master had also assured him that it was fine to be afraid of an opponent — as long as she could control that fear before it cost her her life, which was something a person only obtained through experience.
In that regard, Aki stood as the exception, since she threw herself into fights with no fear at all. Thinking about her irritated Yashiro enough that he had to ask Sarah what exactly the girl's deal was. Sarah said that Aki bragged a great deal about her ability to read other people's minds. However, since she could not tell what people were thinking to begin with, she used the ability on them without meaning to.
If anything, Sarah did not know much about Aki, but she still seemed like a nice person to work with — despite being a weirdo who butted into other people's business without warning, and who turned up to help with things that had absolutely nothing to help with.
While the two of them were talking, Joe came in with a blank face, refusing to talk or to hear anything, least of all about his job.
Seeing that, Yashiro assumed Joe must have made a mess of the job. Joe recovered enough composure to finally speak.
Seeing that Yashiro was oblivious to the news that morning, Joe told him that a corpse had been found in a back alley in Shinjuku, and then went on to lay out the details of the injuries on it, including half of a dragon's mask — exactly like the one Levi had worn in her fight against him.
Little did Yashiro know that the corpse they were talking about was Ishino's. For a second he could not believe it at all.
A few years ago, Ishino had asked his friends what any of them would do if they, or one of the others, died, given how daunting their line of work was. Joe had laughed it off, on the grounds that he was invincible.
Malta had not thrown the idea out of his mind, exactly. He had wanted to die with a large bang. He was not willing to give it up just like that, and he was never planning on being sentimental about it either.
As for Yashiro, he had been of the same mind as Malta, which had led Ishino to conclude that he would make sure whoever eventually eliminated him would carry the glory of it on their lips for the rest of their days.
Back then, Yashiro had believed they were all putting on a facade of toughness, because all four of them wanted to seem impressive to each other. Now their resolve was about to be tested.
The day after Ishino's death, Yashiro stayed in contact with Joe about their fallen comrade's records. The police were still holding them, Joe said, but they would be ready by tomorrow if anything changed.
For his part, Yashiro concluded that Count Cross of the Six Senses was a bust — his people proved to know nothing about what had happened to Ishino.
Then Joe told him about the half-dragon emblem that had been found on the body. It belonged to a gang that had been dealing E4 substances to other dark lords. Yashiro assumed that Joe had got that from Matsugi.
He was right. And it was that same Matsugi who had sold Ishino to the Half-Dragon.
The two of them agreed to meet at Joe's garage on Tuesday.
Yashiro was about to get himself a hamburger when Malta came in carrying a surprise that could never have been broadcast anywhere, and then expressed his disappointment that he could not bring the man's associate to the same fate, which Yashiro argued against. For all that he had spent years claiming he wanted to see the underworld for exactly what it was, the sight in front of him now left Yashiro close to throwing up.