At five a.m., the street vendors begin arriving. They come with carts and portable stalls and an immense variety of wares, many with shirts and hats and other items bearing the mon of the Honjowara-gumi. All must prove their identities. All must be checked for weapons. Machiko tours the entire block for a second time, searching for any means by which she might fine-tune the defenses. She hears over her headset the GSG snipers reporting in, all clear. She is barely back to headquarters when she is approached by a district executive, a nervous man from a faction located in Trenton.