Day 8 Chapter 28
New
- Location
- Around here
[X] Plan: Over-the-Phone Check-In
You don't want to be thinking this, but your current methods haven't worked to root out the problem nearly as well as you'd first thought. Causing chaos isn't good enough. You need to make examples of the people in the wrong. But, what sort of danger would you be putting the rest o the city in by calling out the corruption and making its knowledge publically-known? Mitakihara is already on thin ice, can you really afford to adopt such a drastic tactic You know you've compared yourself to Batman before in jest, but what would Batman do in this situation? Bruce Wayne had to root out corruption in Gotham's police force as well, but real life isn't like in the comic books, and Batman never had to deal with a society of mages waiting to doomsday the entire city for revealing one too many of their secrets.
You sigh as you ask yourself "What should you do?" because it's not a question whose answer comes easy to you. The best you can do is come up with a plan of action and stick to it, hoping that you can keep the city safe from the worst of it when the dam finally breaks.
"Don't you think we should give the girls a call?" Minako's question takes you out of your thoughts. "You said those cops were talking about them, right?" she asks. "Don't you think it would be a good idea to call them and make sure our girls are safe?"
"Good idea," you say. Briefly, you can feel your mind weighing out how it would be best to approach calling your daughters. You don't have a problem with calling both of them yourself, but with two of you present it doesn't make sense to have one person calling two people while the second person does nothing. So you figure it's best if you and Minako split up the labour and each call one of your daughters. But who? Well, it's obvious, isn't it? Sure, you both love both your daughters equally, but it's no secret that you and Minako each have one daughter you're closer to than the other. So you know right away which of your two daughters would rather hear from you, and which one would rather hear from Minako. "I'll call Homura and tell her, and you call Kirika."
There's one more reason you want Minako to call Kirika, and that's- "I think she owes you a phone call regardless, since you let her stay with Oriko. It's the least she can do. You're just making sure she's safe on top of making sure she's following the rules you both agreed to."
Minako smiles at your suggestion. You know she loves both of your daughters and would have gladly taken the call for Homura if you had said so, but you both know which of your daughters you're each closest to. You want that to change: you want to have a closer relationship with Kirika than you already do, but two factors make that hurdle so much harder for you. For one, you're a relative newcomer in Kirika's life. You're her father, yes, but you've been her father for less than two years, while Minako has been her mother for seventeen. It's simply no contest. For two, Kirika doesn't share the same master-servant bond that you and Homura share. You can't talk to her through her mind, you can't share your senses with her, and her presence isn't keeping you here in the present. You love her just as much as you love Homura, sure, but you're cut off from Kirika in way you simply aren't cut off from Homura.
So you'll call the younger of your two daughters, while Minako calls your eldest. "Hey, Homura, do you have a minute to talk?"
"Sure, what's up?" You chose to call Homura on her cell phone for two reasons. The first is that, after tonight's incident, you wanted to make sure you actually got to hear her voice, and not just the echo of her voice inside your head. Second, not picking up her phone would have told you immediately that something was up. Best case scenario, she's too busy exploring her relationship with Madoka to pick up the phone. Worst case, and she's been abducted. A failed phone call into a telepathic message would have given you more information beyond that. But you don't have to worry, because Homura does indeed pick up the phone. "Archer? Did you need something?"
You didn't even realise you had been hesitating. "Sorry," you say to Homura. "I was just thinking, is all." You briefly explain the situation to Homura, the corrupt cops you and Tomoe encountered when you took her to get her hair cut, and how they talked about selling her and Kirika. "I just wanted to make sure you were safe after that."
You don't hear the sounds of the Kaname household coming from Homura's end of the phone. She must have stepped out somewhere quiet in order to take your call. "I can't say I blame you," Homura responds. "I'd be… Well, I'm furious now, but in your shoes I'd probably be worried sick for Kirika and myself. I'm fine." You breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing that. "I'm still here at Madoka's place with Assassin. How is Kirika? Is she safe?"
Unspoken by Homura is the part two of her question: "If Kirika following mom's rules, or are she and Oriko getting themselves into trouble?"
"Minako's the one who called Kirika," you say. "Since I haven't heard anything bad from her, I'm assuming that means Kirika is also safe." You'll also assume it means Kirika is following Minako's rules and not getting into trouble with Oriko. "I'm just… I'm glad you're all right, Homura. I'm glad Kirika is all right too. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to either of you…"
"It would take more than a few corrupt cops to take down Kirika or I," Homura replies. Now, you know Kim is fielding more than just corrupt cops, and as far as you're aware Tomoe is the only one who's managed to take one down entirely on her own, without any sort of backup from her servant before. So sure, Homura or Kirika could take down a cop or two, but what if they'd run into one or more of those arthropod puppets? Don't be stupid: if that had happened, Homura would have called for you, and Kirika would have called for Berserker. "But regardless, I'm grateful for the concern. Thanks, dad."
"Don't mention it," you say. "Just… Promise your mom and I that you'll stay safe out there. Especially when you're on your way home. Okay? This city's gotten dangerous, and I know I won't be there to walk home with you when you're done at Madoka's place."
"Hopefully Assassin is at least enough of a lady to walk me back when we're finished." Homura says that within earshot of Assassin at her own risk. "I'll talk to you later, dad."
You and Archer hang up on each other, and you exit the toilet to return to Madoka's bedroom. You'd stepped out for a moment in order to take Archer's call in private, but now that he's confirmed your safety – and you've confirmed both Kirika's safety and her alleged obedience to mom's rules for staying with Oriko – you'd like to head back to oversee the rest of Madoka's lesson. You'd like to believe that it's going well, but you're hopelessly biased when it comes to Madoka, so- "What is that?"
"It's… A fish?" While Assassin is waving around the sheet of paper Madoka has been practicing on, you're given a flawless view of the fish Madoka has drawn in lieu of the Othala rune. "I mean, it already looked kind of like a fish to begin with, if you turned it on its side, so I thought I'd just make it look a bit cuter, is all." Well, it is a rather cute fish Madoka has drawn. But then again, you're biased.
"Be that as it may-" You notice how Assassin stops herself from outright admitting that Madoka's fish is cute. "Invoking the runes is not an artistic pursuit: it's a scientific one, or as close to a science as we could manage back in our ancient times." Assassin whacks the fish-paper with the hand that isn't holding it. "I understand the intent behind this… Fish, but when it comes to magecraft, every single line counts. It might look cute to you, but these added lines for the eyes, the fins, the scales… Any one of them could drastically impact the way your invocation of the rune is conjugated, and thus alter the magic you're trying to coax from the rune." Assassin sighs, and she hands the fish-paper back to Madoka, saying in a softer tone "Look. I just want to make sure you understand all this before I actually start you on invoking the rune. I know you're more of an artistic person than a scientific one, but drawing… Fish, isn't going to help."
"Right," Madoka says as she accepts the fish-paper from Assassin. "I'm sorry, it's just… Well, I got a little scared thinking about it. What if I put too much into it, and I made a barrier that was so strong it just pushed everyone I wanted to protect out of the way?"
Assassin's face scrunches up. "All right then," she says, "We'll scratch Othala for now and more on to Uruz. That's another one Lancer's master is proficient with, and it's another one I think you'd be well-suited for. I'm also unaware of how you could apply healing magic to cause harm, so even if you accidentally overloaded it you'd be fine." You don't need to tell Assassin that cancer is basically the body's ability to heal going into such overdrive that it crowds out everything else. You don't want to dash the positivity she's showing Madoka, and you don't want to scare Madoka into thinking she could cause cancer in someone by healing them. "Now, the same basic principle applies, but the rune is…"
Once you've confirmed that Madoka's lesson is going well – that was a cute fish. You'll have to ask Madoka later if she plans to keep it, or if she'll let you have it – you decide to excuse yourself and step out to make another phone call. Hopefully this time you don't end up going overboard. You dial, and the first thing you hear as your beat cop contact picks up is the sharp intake of breath: fear. "Um… It's… Quite late, ma'am. Did you need something from me?"
Moment of truth. Can you remain yourself while you're speaking to this man?
You hold in your sigh of relief when you say "Yes, I did," and it's your own voice you hear leaving your mouth. "My father was accosted by a pair of your fellow beat cops not too terribly long ago," you say. "Of course, they had Yakuza ties and weren't afraid to flaunt them, until my father and a friend of mine he was escorting put their good word in. But, in doing so, it's now come to my attention that the problem of police corruption in this city runs deeper than just a few high-ranking officers who are corrupt."
"I… I'm sorry to hear that, ma'am. If it means anything to you, I don't think it came from my koban."
"Where it came from matters less to me than the fact that it came at all," you say. "So, whenever you get the chance – tomorrow, ideally, as soon as your shift starts – I want you to start giving either me or my father any information you can find about corruption in the force's lower ranks. If you have anything you'd like to tell me now, I would greatly appreciate that also."
"Um… Right now… I can tell you that there definitely is something going around the beat cops and koban sergeants. I don't think I'm in a position to name names at the moment, but once I am, I'll start giving you what I'm able to."
"Good," you say. "Wonderful. I look forward to receiving your first report. Hopefully I can expect to hear something from you some time tomorrow?"
"It'll depend on what I'm able to find, and when," the cop replies. "I'm sorry. It would be easier to give you written information than it would be to just rattle off a list of names, I think. Is there a way I could get you or your father a printout, rather than having to call you back?"
"Physical evidence would keep better…" you muse. "But its value will depend on the quality of the information you're able to bring to me, obviously. A printout of every officer and beat cop on the city's entire force wouldn't be nearly as useful as one that highlights specifically who's involved."
"I'll do the best that I can."
You hope he does. For his sake. You take your leave of your man on the inside, and return to Madoka's room hoping to see some additional measure of improvement from her now that Assassin has moved her to a different rune, but- "What the hell is that?" "A bear...?" "A bear! What the hell do bears have to do with Uruz?" But it doesn't look like anything has changed from where you last left them.
Assassin takes you aside after she and Madoka both decided to call it a night. You made sure to thank the Kanames several times for allowing you to bring Assassin over to tutor their daughter even though they had never met her before. "If she's someone you trust, Homura, then we'll trust her to do the best she can teaching our daughter," had been what Kaname Junko said to you. You hope she and her husband enjoy the wine you asked Assassin to buy for them. They had better for how much trouble it was getting Assassin to be pleasant about it. But regardless. You're not here to muse about the Kanames. You're here because Assassin took you aside. You hope it's not bad news, but- "Your pink friend is actually doing a really good job," she says. "It might not have looked like it from your perspective, but she's really got the core concepts down, a lot quicker than I thought she would. I just..." Assassin fumes, looking like she's about to tear her hair out when she admits "I just can't get her to stop drawing animals around the runes! She thinks it's cute-" It's cute. "-But I'm worried that if she tries it when we're ready to do a live test, it'll backfire and seriously hurt her."
[ ] Taunt Assassin like her master would. "Aw, that's cute. You act all tsundere, but you really do care, don't you?" She's used to it
[ ] Assure Assassin that Madoka will take her lessons seriously when it's time for live tests. That she's doing as well as Assassin says is what's convinced you
[ ] Agree with Assassin that it's a problem in spite of Madoka's rapid growth. You'll be sure to talk to her about it tomorrow
After you're done here, do you
[ ] Call Kirika and check in with her. You trust mom and dad, but you don't trust Kirika
[ ] Go for a walk and try to run into some corrupt cops yourself: maybe you can scare them into submission like your other contact
[ ] Head back to Tomoe's building without going out and doing anything else
-[ ] Go straight to your parents and reassure them that you're still safe
-[ ] Pay Tomoe a visit and check in with her before going back to your parents (and also to scope out her new hairstyle)
--[ ] Confront Caster about why he wasn't there to protect his master earlier in the evening
-[ ] Pay Matou Sakura a visit and see how her work is coming along
--[ ] Ask Medusa if she's made any progress wrecking Kirika's bike
[ ] Other (write-in)
You don't want to be thinking this, but your current methods haven't worked to root out the problem nearly as well as you'd first thought. Causing chaos isn't good enough. You need to make examples of the people in the wrong. But, what sort of danger would you be putting the rest o the city in by calling out the corruption and making its knowledge publically-known? Mitakihara is already on thin ice, can you really afford to adopt such a drastic tactic You know you've compared yourself to Batman before in jest, but what would Batman do in this situation? Bruce Wayne had to root out corruption in Gotham's police force as well, but real life isn't like in the comic books, and Batman never had to deal with a society of mages waiting to doomsday the entire city for revealing one too many of their secrets.
You sigh as you ask yourself "What should you do?" because it's not a question whose answer comes easy to you. The best you can do is come up with a plan of action and stick to it, hoping that you can keep the city safe from the worst of it when the dam finally breaks.
"Don't you think we should give the girls a call?" Minako's question takes you out of your thoughts. "You said those cops were talking about them, right?" she asks. "Don't you think it would be a good idea to call them and make sure our girls are safe?"
"Good idea," you say. Briefly, you can feel your mind weighing out how it would be best to approach calling your daughters. You don't have a problem with calling both of them yourself, but with two of you present it doesn't make sense to have one person calling two people while the second person does nothing. So you figure it's best if you and Minako split up the labour and each call one of your daughters. But who? Well, it's obvious, isn't it? Sure, you both love both your daughters equally, but it's no secret that you and Minako each have one daughter you're closer to than the other. So you know right away which of your two daughters would rather hear from you, and which one would rather hear from Minako. "I'll call Homura and tell her, and you call Kirika."
There's one more reason you want Minako to call Kirika, and that's- "I think she owes you a phone call regardless, since you let her stay with Oriko. It's the least she can do. You're just making sure she's safe on top of making sure she's following the rules you both agreed to."
Minako smiles at your suggestion. You know she loves both of your daughters and would have gladly taken the call for Homura if you had said so, but you both know which of your daughters you're each closest to. You want that to change: you want to have a closer relationship with Kirika than you already do, but two factors make that hurdle so much harder for you. For one, you're a relative newcomer in Kirika's life. You're her father, yes, but you've been her father for less than two years, while Minako has been her mother for seventeen. It's simply no contest. For two, Kirika doesn't share the same master-servant bond that you and Homura share. You can't talk to her through her mind, you can't share your senses with her, and her presence isn't keeping you here in the present. You love her just as much as you love Homura, sure, but you're cut off from Kirika in way you simply aren't cut off from Homura.
So you'll call the younger of your two daughters, while Minako calls your eldest. "Hey, Homura, do you have a minute to talk?"
"Sure, what's up?" You chose to call Homura on her cell phone for two reasons. The first is that, after tonight's incident, you wanted to make sure you actually got to hear her voice, and not just the echo of her voice inside your head. Second, not picking up her phone would have told you immediately that something was up. Best case scenario, she's too busy exploring her relationship with Madoka to pick up the phone. Worst case, and she's been abducted. A failed phone call into a telepathic message would have given you more information beyond that. But you don't have to worry, because Homura does indeed pick up the phone. "Archer? Did you need something?"
You didn't even realise you had been hesitating. "Sorry," you say to Homura. "I was just thinking, is all." You briefly explain the situation to Homura, the corrupt cops you and Tomoe encountered when you took her to get her hair cut, and how they talked about selling her and Kirika. "I just wanted to make sure you were safe after that."
You don't hear the sounds of the Kaname household coming from Homura's end of the phone. She must have stepped out somewhere quiet in order to take your call. "I can't say I blame you," Homura responds. "I'd be… Well, I'm furious now, but in your shoes I'd probably be worried sick for Kirika and myself. I'm fine." You breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing that. "I'm still here at Madoka's place with Assassin. How is Kirika? Is she safe?"
Unspoken by Homura is the part two of her question: "If Kirika following mom's rules, or are she and Oriko getting themselves into trouble?"
"Minako's the one who called Kirika," you say. "Since I haven't heard anything bad from her, I'm assuming that means Kirika is also safe." You'll also assume it means Kirika is following Minako's rules and not getting into trouble with Oriko. "I'm just… I'm glad you're all right, Homura. I'm glad Kirika is all right too. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to either of you…"
"It would take more than a few corrupt cops to take down Kirika or I," Homura replies. Now, you know Kim is fielding more than just corrupt cops, and as far as you're aware Tomoe is the only one who's managed to take one down entirely on her own, without any sort of backup from her servant before. So sure, Homura or Kirika could take down a cop or two, but what if they'd run into one or more of those arthropod puppets? Don't be stupid: if that had happened, Homura would have called for you, and Kirika would have called for Berserker. "But regardless, I'm grateful for the concern. Thanks, dad."
"Don't mention it," you say. "Just… Promise your mom and I that you'll stay safe out there. Especially when you're on your way home. Okay? This city's gotten dangerous, and I know I won't be there to walk home with you when you're done at Madoka's place."
"Hopefully Assassin is at least enough of a lady to walk me back when we're finished." Homura says that within earshot of Assassin at her own risk. "I'll talk to you later, dad."
You and Archer hang up on each other, and you exit the toilet to return to Madoka's bedroom. You'd stepped out for a moment in order to take Archer's call in private, but now that he's confirmed your safety – and you've confirmed both Kirika's safety and her alleged obedience to mom's rules for staying with Oriko – you'd like to head back to oversee the rest of Madoka's lesson. You'd like to believe that it's going well, but you're hopelessly biased when it comes to Madoka, so- "What is that?"
"It's… A fish?" While Assassin is waving around the sheet of paper Madoka has been practicing on, you're given a flawless view of the fish Madoka has drawn in lieu of the Othala rune. "I mean, it already looked kind of like a fish to begin with, if you turned it on its side, so I thought I'd just make it look a bit cuter, is all." Well, it is a rather cute fish Madoka has drawn. But then again, you're biased.
"Be that as it may-" You notice how Assassin stops herself from outright admitting that Madoka's fish is cute. "Invoking the runes is not an artistic pursuit: it's a scientific one, or as close to a science as we could manage back in our ancient times." Assassin whacks the fish-paper with the hand that isn't holding it. "I understand the intent behind this… Fish, but when it comes to magecraft, every single line counts. It might look cute to you, but these added lines for the eyes, the fins, the scales… Any one of them could drastically impact the way your invocation of the rune is conjugated, and thus alter the magic you're trying to coax from the rune." Assassin sighs, and she hands the fish-paper back to Madoka, saying in a softer tone "Look. I just want to make sure you understand all this before I actually start you on invoking the rune. I know you're more of an artistic person than a scientific one, but drawing… Fish, isn't going to help."
"Right," Madoka says as she accepts the fish-paper from Assassin. "I'm sorry, it's just… Well, I got a little scared thinking about it. What if I put too much into it, and I made a barrier that was so strong it just pushed everyone I wanted to protect out of the way?"
Assassin's face scrunches up. "All right then," she says, "We'll scratch Othala for now and more on to Uruz. That's another one Lancer's master is proficient with, and it's another one I think you'd be well-suited for. I'm also unaware of how you could apply healing magic to cause harm, so even if you accidentally overloaded it you'd be fine." You don't need to tell Assassin that cancer is basically the body's ability to heal going into such overdrive that it crowds out everything else. You don't want to dash the positivity she's showing Madoka, and you don't want to scare Madoka into thinking she could cause cancer in someone by healing them. "Now, the same basic principle applies, but the rune is…"
Once you've confirmed that Madoka's lesson is going well – that was a cute fish. You'll have to ask Madoka later if she plans to keep it, or if she'll let you have it – you decide to excuse yourself and step out to make another phone call. Hopefully this time you don't end up going overboard. You dial, and the first thing you hear as your beat cop contact picks up is the sharp intake of breath: fear. "Um… It's… Quite late, ma'am. Did you need something from me?"
Moment of truth. Can you remain yourself while you're speaking to this man?
You hold in your sigh of relief when you say "Yes, I did," and it's your own voice you hear leaving your mouth. "My father was accosted by a pair of your fellow beat cops not too terribly long ago," you say. "Of course, they had Yakuza ties and weren't afraid to flaunt them, until my father and a friend of mine he was escorting put their good word in. But, in doing so, it's now come to my attention that the problem of police corruption in this city runs deeper than just a few high-ranking officers who are corrupt."
"I… I'm sorry to hear that, ma'am. If it means anything to you, I don't think it came from my koban."
"Where it came from matters less to me than the fact that it came at all," you say. "So, whenever you get the chance – tomorrow, ideally, as soon as your shift starts – I want you to start giving either me or my father any information you can find about corruption in the force's lower ranks. If you have anything you'd like to tell me now, I would greatly appreciate that also."
"Um… Right now… I can tell you that there definitely is something going around the beat cops and koban sergeants. I don't think I'm in a position to name names at the moment, but once I am, I'll start giving you what I'm able to."
"Good," you say. "Wonderful. I look forward to receiving your first report. Hopefully I can expect to hear something from you some time tomorrow?"
"It'll depend on what I'm able to find, and when," the cop replies. "I'm sorry. It would be easier to give you written information than it would be to just rattle off a list of names, I think. Is there a way I could get you or your father a printout, rather than having to call you back?"
"Physical evidence would keep better…" you muse. "But its value will depend on the quality of the information you're able to bring to me, obviously. A printout of every officer and beat cop on the city's entire force wouldn't be nearly as useful as one that highlights specifically who's involved."
"I'll do the best that I can."
You hope he does. For his sake. You take your leave of your man on the inside, and return to Madoka's room hoping to see some additional measure of improvement from her now that Assassin has moved her to a different rune, but- "What the hell is that?" "A bear...?" "A bear! What the hell do bears have to do with Uruz?" But it doesn't look like anything has changed from where you last left them.
Assassin takes you aside after she and Madoka both decided to call it a night. You made sure to thank the Kanames several times for allowing you to bring Assassin over to tutor their daughter even though they had never met her before. "If she's someone you trust, Homura, then we'll trust her to do the best she can teaching our daughter," had been what Kaname Junko said to you. You hope she and her husband enjoy the wine you asked Assassin to buy for them. They had better for how much trouble it was getting Assassin to be pleasant about it. But regardless. You're not here to muse about the Kanames. You're here because Assassin took you aside. You hope it's not bad news, but- "Your pink friend is actually doing a really good job," she says. "It might not have looked like it from your perspective, but she's really got the core concepts down, a lot quicker than I thought she would. I just..." Assassin fumes, looking like she's about to tear her hair out when she admits "I just can't get her to stop drawing animals around the runes! She thinks it's cute-" It's cute. "-But I'm worried that if she tries it when we're ready to do a live test, it'll backfire and seriously hurt her."
[ ] Taunt Assassin like her master would. "Aw, that's cute. You act all tsundere, but you really do care, don't you?" She's used to it
[ ] Assure Assassin that Madoka will take her lessons seriously when it's time for live tests. That she's doing as well as Assassin says is what's convinced you
[ ] Agree with Assassin that it's a problem in spite of Madoka's rapid growth. You'll be sure to talk to her about it tomorrow
After you're done here, do you
[ ] Call Kirika and check in with her. You trust mom and dad, but you don't trust Kirika
[ ] Go for a walk and try to run into some corrupt cops yourself: maybe you can scare them into submission like your other contact
[ ] Head back to Tomoe's building without going out and doing anything else
-[ ] Go straight to your parents and reassure them that you're still safe
-[ ] Pay Tomoe a visit and check in with her before going back to your parents (and also to scope out her new hairstyle)
--[ ] Confront Caster about why he wasn't there to protect his master earlier in the evening
-[ ] Pay Matou Sakura a visit and see how her work is coming along
--[ ] Ask Medusa if she's made any progress wrecking Kirika's bike
[ ] Other (write-in)
