The girls exchange looks, then look at Subaru. "He doesn't mean the Ōta I think he means, does he?" asks Tamiki.

Subaru sighs. "Yeah he does. They're on the case."

"Wow," breathes Naoko. "That's, uh. That's something."

"Yeah. But good, probably. And if Inori was detained... then they have something to do, which is good. The whole thing could end today."

The girls look dubious but don't contradict him and decide to change the subject to something lighter.

Subaru has a hard time paying attention to class for the rest of the day, and to the extent the "miasma" is affecting him he's thankful for it; he's really not in the mood for the alpha teenager version of socialisation. Tōkan texts him when he and Inori's parents get to the precinct, and then much later when Ōta Makino is out of the interrogation room with news. There's something about his texts that makes Subaru think he finally made the connection between the lawyers and Subaru's ex, which he guesses was to be expected, really. But Tōkan doesn't press, and Subaru doesn't go there either, and they end the conversation on the note that Subaru wants to be told of any further developments.

When Aoki arrives at the restaurant he's having dinner with Subaru at he says without preamble, "So your boy's managed to charm the pants off Mother, too."

"—hello to you, too, Aoki, nice to see you, how was your weekend?"

The omega waves a dismissive hand and flops down onto the chair across the table from Subaru. "She's having a little bit of a 'never meet your heroes' moment with Yamada, though."

"Oh?"

"Not, like, awfully so, she said he was very headstrong and stubborn and that that's good because he wouldn't get bullied by cops or lawyers or anyone."

Subaru smiles, a bit. "But also getting him to cooperate is like trying to herd a cat. A feral cat. A hungry feral cat who has just noticed you're made of meat."

"—that's evocative. Something like that, yeah, she didn't say so but she never says shit, I just guess it anyway." Shrug. "She's optimistic, though."

"That's reassuring."

"Yeah, there's like obviously money involved—not that she can say that, not to Kokonoe or the Yamadas—but money can only do so much." He smiles, a thin predatory smile that would be jarring on Aoki's boyish face if it didn't somehow also perfectly fit. "Spinning a story can do a lot more. Mother knows how to tell a story, and Father knows how to find the best people to listen."

Subaru shivers. "Your parents sound terrifying, you know that?"

"Oh, they are. You really don't ever want to be up against them." He sounds very proud. "There are a couple of people in the country who could put up a fight, in some cases, but none of them would take this case, not even if Kokonoe Tochima himself is the one backing—why are you pulling that face."

"That snake," Subaru hisses. "That slimy snake."

"Context for the uninformed?"

"It is Kokonoe Tochima who's behind all this, fuck."

"...Kokonoe Tochima is trying to go after his son-in-law?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, that's too assholish even for an alpha."

Subaru shakes his head. "He could not countenance his son dating an omega. A poor omega—middle class, but to Kokonoe Tochima everyone else is poor—and one with such a reputation besides."

"So he wants to put Yamada in jail?"