Unfortunately however, her agelessness is a result of her vampirism, not the curse that keeps her at the school.
Magical Detective Yue (Negima)
- Thread starter Dragontrapper
- Start date
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- Tags
- negima
Unfortunately however, her agelessness is a result of her vampirism, not the curse that keeps her at the school.
DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I meant that the curse affects her magic and thus her ability to use illusion to make herself look older.
... also where is you avatar from??
Yeah, the school curse does effect her magic and early in the series she uses a lot of alchemy, though she does find ways around the curse limitation throughout the series at the speed of plot.
And my avatar is clipped from a comic by Endling on deviantART.
http://endling.deviantart.com/art/Teef-243683793
Technically speaking I believe the school curse doesn't limit her magic at all. Instead I believe her magic being so severely restrained is due to a separate barrier cast over the school. You can see this in effect in an earlier chapter, where Evangeline manages to temporarily shut that one down and can with in school grounds then use her full power. You can also see this when she manages to temporarily leave school grounds and is also thus not limited.
The school curse itself basically just keeps her from leaving school grounds normally as such I believe, but doesn't do anything else.
Or Nagi did it himself, as it's implied by the end of MSNegima that Negi rescued his father...though UQ Holder has recently cast that end in doubt.
No, I think that's still accurate... kind of. I suspect that the Lifemaker just has a trick to get back at people who defeat them eventually. Might only work if certain prerequisites are met though.
DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
if McDowell is still cursed here... I wonder what will be needed to break it.
though I think McDowell could still be lethal even with out her magic via simple experience. She's been alive since what? the 100 years war? Not only has she seen that trick before she's seen the counter to the trick and the counter to the counter (and the counter to the counter to counter)
Remember her stint during the Festival's tourny?
Dragontrapper
Homeless Draconis
- Location
- A Tower in the middle of nowhere
In case anybody is wondering, Nagi is still MIA in this continuity at this point and McDowell is still cursed - food for thought.
- Location
- The word mines
Dragontrapper
Homeless Draconis
- Location
- A Tower in the middle of nowhere
new chapter!
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"Well, I can't say we weren't expecting something like this eventually." The blonde woman sighed as she watched the investigators of the Special District Office comb over the crime scene.
Yue regarded the woman with a quirked eyebrow. "I didn't realize that we were expecting a murder Kuzunoha." Yue had met the woman a few times before, always when the blonde was operating in her capacity as the head of operations for Mahora's mages – such as right now. Her hair was tied back in a long ponytail, and she was dressed in the same crisp suit that seemed to be one of her trademarks. Her other trademark was the sheathed sword tucked under one of her arms. The swordswoman sighed as she pushed her glasses.
"Traffic between worlds has been increasing almost exponentially since the Lifemaker incident" Her eyes lingered for a moment on the charred circle where the victim had been. "Much of it illegal – and not just coming from the other side. We've had people crossing from this side as well on a handful of occasions and the fact of the matter is that we can't hunt down all of them. One was going to cause a spectacle eventually. We just never expected it to be this...visible." A small frown crossed her face. "None of the contingencies we have in place were ever designed for a debacle of this magnitude."
"Maybe they heard I was in town," Yue suggested. "The guy seemed to recognize me."
"You are somewhat famous on the other side, Miss Ayase." Kuzunoha pointed out. "And not just for your role in the Lifemaker incident."
Yue sighed. "What ever happened to my life being normal?"
"For you," Kuzunoha said with a smirk. "You started middle school in this town." The brief moment of levity vanished as a pair of investigators walked past, both carrying cameras and sample bags. "It seems my week just became quite busy. Takashi will not be happy."
"Plans?" Yue asked. "How have things been with him since Marrakech anyway?"
"He was going to surprise me with dinner tonight," Kuzunoha explained as she pulled out her phone. "As for how we have been – quite well, though I could do with less 'magical girl' jokes. The mileage he has managed from them astounds me."
"Asked if you were off to fight Queen Metalia this morning?" Yue asked.
"luckily no," Kuzunoha replied as she dialed. "This morning it as 'Jewel seeds' instead." she paused for a moment. "I'm not actually sure what that's a reference to, actually."
"Aren't you more of a magic swordswoman anyway?" Toko Kuzunoha was, from what Yue had heard from Setsuna, both extremely level-headed and highly skilled at the Shinmeiryuu sword style – skilled enough to take over as Setsuna's teacher during middle school. It had been the first time Setsuna had been taught by somebody outside the secluded school in the mountains of Kyoto, but Kuzunoha had quickly proven highly capable. The first time Yue had met Kuzunoha face-to-face hadn't really backed up such a reputation – but that had been in a timeline that no longer existed, so she didn't hold it against the sword wielder. Yue watched as the swordswoman quietly talked on her phone for a few minutes before hanging it up with a grimace. "Problems?"
"Just a few," Kuzunoha replied. "And none of them pleasant."
"anything I can do to help?" Yue asked.
"Well..." Kuzunoha actually paused for a moment to Yue's surprise. "Perhaps. I take it you can figure out how useful it is having the Dean of Mahora as part of our cause." Yue nodded. The Dean had considerable pull in the Academy District – including with its police force. "None of that, however, does us any good in this case – we need somebody inside to make sure they don't find anything they shouldn't."
"This can't be the first time magic was involved in an SDO case." Yue said.
"No," Kozunoha replied. "But none of them were this...high profile. Our outside teams are not going to be able to sweep everything for evidence of magic. The only choice is to get somebody inside to take stock of what the Office has recovered."
"And I'm a witness," Yue reasoned out loud. "So they're going to bring me in as a matter of protocol. As much as I'd like to take this pro bono..."
"You will be paid our usual consultant rate." Kuzunoha explained as she pulled out her phone again, likely making a few notes. "I think you will find even the base payment to your satisfaction."
Yue arched an eyebrow. "You have rates for infiltrating police stations?"
"Not specifically," Kuzunoha replied, pausing at her typing. "But we do hire outside help semi-regularly. Miss Tatsumiya for example."
"As much as your confidence is reassuring, Miss Kuzunoha," Yue sighed. "I'm not sure I'm the one you want on this, all things considered."
"If you are still dwelling on that little incident," Kuzunoha snapped her phone shut. "Then you are making a grave mistake. Your record in Ariadne speaks for itself – you are more then qualified for this." She glanced back at the crime scene. "And, it seems, the only option I have left anyhow."
"You're backing puts you in a distinct minority, Kuzunoha." Yue sighed. She hadn't told Nodoka much about it, and Kuzunoha likely didn't have to full story either – Ariadne had kept as much of what happened internal as they could. "Still, a quick job shouldn't be a problem." She finally said.
"Quick is one thing I can assure you it will be." Kuzunoha nodded. "Your only window of opportunity will be when you are brought in for a statement."
"And you think me being brought in for a witness statement will be enough of a window?" Yue arched an eyebrow. "Generally speaking, witness statements aren't taken in the evidence locker. You must be fairly desperate if this actually seemed like your best option."
"You have no idea." Kuzunoha replied. "It is, however, our only option. At the very least, even if you cannot do anything to remove what they have collected, you will at least be in a position to inform us of what they do and do not have. My people should be able to take it from there."
"You're still assuming that I can even get a look at what they've got." Yue pointed out. "Any reason why?"
"Well, you seemed to have been getting along well with that Inspector," Kuzunoha nodded toward Sonoda, who was busy having an argument with a fellow officer of the law. "And you have always been, if anything, resourceful. All we ask is that you try your best."
"So, spy on the Special District Office, try and make sure they don't uncover anything magic related." Yue sighed. "Got it."
"Would you rather that the International Solar System Development Agency be brought in?" Kuzunoha asked, and Yue couldn't help but cringe.
"That would probably end poorly." Yue replied. The International Solar System Development Agency – or ISSDA. To most of the world, they were a multi-national non-profit focused on manned space exploration and cheap orbital access. Their hallmark project, designs for a space elevator, had stalled over the last few years despite the backing of just about every major space agency and aerospace company on the planet in some way or another. Yue wasn't entirely surprised – when two-thirds of the technology needed didn't really exist yet, delays happened. What the rest of the world didn't know about was the vast sums of resources that were being poured by the agency into stabilizing the Magical World and normalizing travel between it and the mundane world. What they had already achieved in those regards was beyond impressive. Not bad for an organization created by a ten-year old, genius or not.
"Agreed." Kuzunoha replied. "While I have no doubt they will learn of this sooner or later, I would prefer it was later. Dealing with them is quite a bit easier when they don't have anything to use to undermine you."
"Kind of like working with the Senate then," Yue shrugged. "So, are you going to need my bank account number or anything?"
"We already have it on file," Kuzunoha replied. "Courtesy your occasional substitution job – that is, assuming you wish to be paid to your local account and not your savings in Ariadne?"
"Local, please." Yue answered. "I came back here for a reason you know."
"Yes," Kuzunoha started as the Inspector started walking in their direction. "But was it the right reason?"
Yue gaped for a minute, trying to come up with a comeback but Kuzunoha had already walked away by the time her brain caught up. Sonoda stopped a few steps from her, looking from Yue to the slowly shrinking form of the swords-woman before turning back to Yue. "Friend of yours?"
"More like a close acquaintance." Yue replied before nodding her head toward the other detective. "Have a fun chat?"
"Not particularly." Sonoda shrugged. "Sure you already guessed but we're going to need you to head down to the station and fill out a statement for us. If you'd follow me..." with little other preamble, Sonoda started making his way out of the square, Yue following a few steps behind.
Yue caught up to him after a few moments, giving him a confused look. "Shouldn't we be using one of the police cruisers?" Her glance briefly shifted to one of several black and white cars parked around the edge of the square with complete disregard to the fact that it wasn't a road. "Aren't they're protocols for this?"
"I didn't drive here," Sonoda replied simply. "and it would take longer to try and get one of them to give me the keys then to just walk there. Besides, have you ever tried to get through traffic around a crime scene? Its a mess." He paused at a crosswalk and shot Yue a grin. "Trust me, this is faster."
"I am not entirely sure if 'faster' should enter into the equation here." Yue replied as the lights changed and the small knot of pedestrians started across the street. "Those protocols exist for a reason."
"And you're telling me you never broke a rule before?" Yue averted her gaze, and Sonoda simply nodded. "Thought so. Besides, I'm escorting you there – chain of custody and all that."
"That's for evidence, not witnesses." Yue pointed out.
"I knew that." Sonoda quickly replied. "Just saying – I do actually know what I'm doing."
"You're boss seems to think otherwise." Yue remarked, recalling what she had heard from his earlier conversations.
"Yeah, well," Sonoda paused as a city bus drove past. "My boss thinks I have 'authority issues'"
Yue quirked an eyebrow. "Do you?"
"More or less." Sonoda answered with a shrug. "I think I just have a problem with paperwork. Would rather be doing my job then writing reports and filling out evidence sheets in triplicate."
"Paperwork ensures proper records are created and that accountability is maintained." Yue rattled off from memory.
"You get fed that line too?" Sonoda asked while he adjusted his coat. "Paperwork, protocols - You're sounding more and more like a former cop by the minute."
"What makes you so sure I'm a former cop?" Yue asked, emphasizing the 'former'. "Maybe I'm undercover."
"You look too stressed to be a cop." Sonoda replied. "I may loathe my job most mornings, but I have it – I know, more or less, what I'm doing with my life. You look like somebody who just got handed their pink slip."
"I've been working as an assistant professor at the University, I'll have you know." Yue defended. "I am hardly unemployed."
"Yeah, but that's not your job, is it?" Sonoda replied. "It might put food on the table, but its not really what you want to be doing, is it?"
Yue studied Sonoda for a moment, letting the crowds flow around her as, after a few steps, he stopped and turned to look at her. "What?"
"You are far smarter than you act." Yue stated matter-of-factually. "So we both know you not only know but understand why those rules exist. Why break them?"
"You ever see somebody go free on a technicality?" Sonoda asked. "That only happens because of your rules."
"Or because somebody breaks them." Yue answered. "Bad police work can kill a case."
"Yeah, well..." Sonoda gave another shrug, turning and starting down the sidewalk again. "Way I see it, bad police work isn't going to get the chance most of the time." the Inspector's pace picked up ever so slightly, and Yue could take the hint as it were, and let the subject drop.
The two continued on for another couple of blocks before Sonoda led Yue around one final turn and brought her face-to-face with what was possibly one of the most impressive buildings in Mahora Yue had seen. Like most of the building in Mahora, it was built in an old european style, with tall pitched roofs that looked like they were designed to shed copious amount of snow, and the entire facade was was adorned with turrets and gables and peaked roofs. Every corner was rounded and the elaborate stonework at the edges of windows and ledges left it an imposing looking structure encased in pink granite. Closer to ground level, the tops of columns were decorated with carvings of every manner of mythical creature. In all, it was the sort of place Yue more expected to see back in Mundus Magicus then here on earth. "Quite the police station." Yue quipped.
"It used to be a post office, if you can believe it." Sonoda explained as he led them across the street and up the steps to the front doors, a pair of imposing dark wood numbers with brass fittings. "After the post office moved out, the district moved a whole slew of its departments into the offices. SDO gets the entire third floor, plus a good chunk of the basement." A gust of wind surged outward and around them as Sonoda pulled one of the doors open, gesturing Yue in first before shutting the door behind them. Inside, Yue found herself standing inside an impressive four-story atrium, the steel and glass arching overhead letting beams of light stream down and gleam off the marble that covered the floor as well as formed the columns that formed the ambulatories of the upper floors. The entire space was colored in reds and cream colors, decorated with more brass along with darker metals and woods. It all would have given the space an air of decadence if it didn't carry its history so well. Instead, the entire space had an aura of opulence instead that only truly aged building could exude.
"You coming?" Yue started at Sonoda's question and she suddenly noticed she had come to a stop in the middle of the lobby without even noticing it. She gave the space around her a second, slower scan before continuing across the space.
"Just...impressed by the architecture." Yue explained as she stepped out of the atrium. "This place has quite the atmosphere." And it wasn't just the building design. The air buzzed with something she couldn't even identify, just at the edge of her senses, and it left the hairs on the back of her neck standing. Every so often, the slightest of sensations danced across her skin, like the smallest of static charges – or something more arcane…
"Well, its an old building with a lot of stories to its name." Sonoda replied as he led the two of them to an old antiqued elevator and tapped the worn enamel 'up' button on the small brass panel. Above them, the old fashioned dial began to tick down floors as the elevator car descended. "It was a court house too, at some point. We've got stories about ghosts, lost rooms, a secret passage or two..." the elevator chimed softly as the car settled to a stop and the doors shuttered open. "...not that I've ever found any."
"So," the antiquated elevator rattled as it slid past the second floor. "Anything strange happen here?"
"Strange?" Sonoda echoed. "By any normal definition, we have something strange happen pretty much daily. But if you're using the Mahora definition..." He shrugged. "Then no, not any more than the rest of town. Why?"
"Just wondering." Yue lied. Any further questioning by the Inspector was cut off as the elevator ground to a stop and the doors rattled open. Beyond them was the level of semi-organized chaos that usually came with earplugs and a lot of stepped on toes. Yue paused for a moment as she tried to figure out how they hadn't heard the racket from the ground. "Busy?"
"Always." Sonoda confirmed has he started down the hall and away from the worst of the crowd. "Murders only make it worse. Come on – we can stop by forensics first. Less chance for my boss to catch me."
"I don't see how forensics has anything to do with taking my statement." Yue argued, but she didn't bother putting much force behind it. If Kuzunoha wanted her to check what they had, then this worked out just fine.
"Well, my office is that way..." Sonoda pointed in the opposite direction, toward the crowd of cops and suspects seated in chairs along the wall or at desks, filing paperwork or getting processed. It looked less like a office space and more like a mob. "...and right past the Chief's office. I'm trying not to given him an opportunity to murder me out a window or something."
"And he would do that why...?" Yue asked as she sidestepped a petite female officer carrying a stack of pastry boxes almost as tall as she was.
"On principle mostly." Sonoda replied as they turned onto a side hallway leading deeper into the building, the walls dampening the sound from the rest of the floor to a soft murmur. Between glass and wood doors, the walls were lined with the occasional set of chairs and, on one side, a trio of vending machines. "And he's in a sour enough mood as it is." Sonoda led them down the hall as he kept talking. "That man really needs a..." He paused as he looked behind him to see Yue staring contemplatively at one of the vending machines. "What are you doing?"
"Get a drink." Yue replied calmly.
"....from that one?" Sonoda asked, slowly.
"Yes." Yue pulled a few coins from her pocket and slipped them into the machine. "I haven't tried a couple of these before." Yue tapped one of the buttons and the machine gave a soft clunk as the drink dropped out of the dispenser.
Sonoda looked at the chosen beverage for a moment. "That's Durian." He stated flatly. "Durian and bean paste."
"Should be interesting." Yue popped the top open and took a small sip. "hmm..."
"Interesting?" Sonoda asked.
"Not bad." Yue replied. "So, where are we going?"
"Right...." Sonoda shook his head, likely deciding that this was one mystery he was better off not digging into for the moment. "Yuji runs the in-house lab – he's a couple doors down on the right. You aren't actually allowed in the lab though."
"A protocol you actually follow?" Yue smirked.
"Only because Yuji is really touchy about people in his lab." Sonoda replied. "And I don't want to get hit over the head with a agarose buffer box again. I assume you don't mind waiting out here in the hall?"
"Does it matter?" Yue asked.
"Not really," Sonoda replied as he approached one of the right-hand doors. On either side of it, the walls had been replaced by glass the extended from around waist height all the way to the ceiling. Inside, lines of stainless steel benches and work tables were covered in all manner of laboratory equipment. Around them, old wallpaper and wood paneling peeked out from where it wasn't hidden by floor-to-ceiling shelves or refrigerators, all in the same stainless steel finish. The door itself was a double door, a small blackish box to one side adorned with only a blinking red light serving as what Yue guessed was the lock. Sonoda fished an ID badge from a pocket and waved it over the pad, and the door lock disengaged with a soft click.
The hallway filled with the buzz of dozen of scientific instruments and computers at work along with the steady thrumming beat of rock music as Sonoda opened to door. The sound cut off almost immediately as the door swung shut and locked again, leaving Yue's ears ringing for a moment at the sudden silence. She shifted to one side, peering in through the wall-sized window in time to see Sonoda give the door one last check before turning to face the rest of the room to say something. What it was, Yue couldn't hear through the soundproofing. Not yet, at least.
She took a deep, calming breath to help focus herself before she began to channel her willpower. It wasn't magic – not quite. Just an interesting little trick she had learned from Asakura, and helped refine with the help of Setsuna. How Asakura came up with it or found it, she had never found out, but she could see how this sort of trick would be useful to an 'investigative journalist' like her. She took another deep breath, focusing her hearing on the room beyond the glass.
"...it, Yuji. Turn down the damn music." Sonoda's voice suddenly rang in her ears, slightly muffled but perfectly intelligible. "I've got a murder to investigate."
"Well, I got the first batch of evidence five minutes ago." A second voice said, accompanied by a young man in a chair rolling into view. He was dressed in jeans and a dark T-shirt underneath the labcoat, straight dark hair cut to shoulder-length. He tapped the cigarette he was smoking on a nearby ashtray for a moment before turning back to Sonoda. "So if you want anything actually useful, come back tomorrow. Heard you set another crime scene on fire."
"It was on fire when I got there." Sonoda defended himself, leaning back against one of the benches. "Anything you can tell me right now?"
Yuji raised an eyebrow. "Avoiding the boss?"
"Just tell me what you have, man." Sonoda said with a sigh.
"Fine, fine." Yuji spun his chair back around, sliding over to one of the other benches. "Haven't had a chance to actually do more than a preliminary check, but I'm not finding any accelerants - or any fuel at all for that matter. All I can tell you for now is that this might be connected to the weird-ass smuggling bust from a week ago."
"Your little pet project with the freaky toys?" Sonoda asked. "How is a murder related to some stupid over-designed toys?"
"All the guys from the bust had the same sort of cloth on them." Yuji explained, pointing to a glossy print hanging on the wall. On it was a piece of dark fabric almost identical, if slightly less damaged than the one from their victim. "Same freaky weave pattern, same funky glyphs all over them. Still waiting on the mass spectrometer to spit out the results, but I'm going to take a guess and say that the ink's the same too."
"Think they were on the same crew?" Sonoda thought out loud.
"Why the hell are you asking me?" Yuji replied as he moved down the workbench to where he was in the process of dismantling something. "I just run the lab equipment. You get to make the wild-ass guesses."
"Fine then," Sonoda grumbled. "Lets assume they were associates. Any reason somebody would want to charbroil him in public?"
"Again," Yuji didn't even look up from where he was fiddling with the strange device. From Yue's vantage point, the lab technician was blocking the view. "Why are you asking me?"
Sonoda rolled his eyes. "You find anything in the raid worth killing over?"
"Just the toy guns." Yuji answered.
"Why would somebody commit murder over some toys?" Sonoda raised an eyebrow.
Yuji finally looked up from his work at the Inspector. "You haven't seen these toys dude." He gestured Sonoda over, stepping to one side so he – and by happenstance Yue – could get a view.
It was vaguely rifle shaped, based on the casing, but bulkier. Most of the device seemed to be encased in some sort of metal shroud about a twenty-five centimeters long and a dull copperish brown. The both ends as well as what had once been the top had been removed, leaving a tangle of metal filaments trailing from the weapon case to the darker metal cap pieces. What might have been the front had some sort of crystal set into the middle, while the back connected into some sort of grip. "The casing is some sort of copper alloy that the Spectrometer can't identify – I've tried twice." Yuji explained. "That alone makes this thing stupid valuable. The insides are just really good gravy." He reached in and plucked a small multi-faceted stone the size of a bird egg from the casing, this one trailing thicker cords of woven metals. "The entire mechanism seems to be built around this – it's a precious stone of some sort. Some kind of exotic species of sapphire, I think. These cords lead down to something that might be a firing mechanism, and seem to be a mix of metals ranging from mundane to stupid valuable. There are more stones and filaments running through the whole thing. The entire piece is probably worth a fortune"
"Any guesses on what it does?" Sonoda asked.
"A wild one would be some sort of actual weapon." Yuji shrugged. "It's laid out like a linear particle accelerator." He punched a few keys on a nearby keyboard, and a computer screen to one side lit up with a diagram of what Yue guessed what the linear accelerator in question. "But I can't find a single power source. Or even anything resembling an actual electronic component. And that's not the strangest part." Yuji swung a large magnifying glass down and brought it over the thick bundle of filaments from before. "See anything strange?"
Sonoda leaned over and peered through the lenses. "Uh...squiggles?"
"They're runes, actually." Yuji replied. "Nordic – at least, somewhat nordic. They don't match any known actual dialect in the databases. And they're tiny – I mean microprint tiny. This sort of stuff requires either high-end equipment or a really, really steady hand. And all the pieces are covered in more of the same. It just doesn't add up."
Yue was only half listening at that point, and hadn't been paying any real attention to the pair for the last two minutes or so since she caught sight of what was on the bench. It would have been at least vaguely familiar to quite a few people who had lived in Mahora back when Yue had been in middle school and fought the Martian invasion during Mahorafest. They were Mage weapons, and high-end ones at that from what Yue could tell. Kuzunoha had said they had been having border issues, and she hadn't been kidding if these sort of things were getting through.
"Still," Yuji continued. "If you want to know anything else, I'd suggest talking to the guys in lock-up." Yuji paused for a moment as he turned in his seat. "Who's the girl?"
Sonoda turned to look toward where Yue was standing and Yue had to remind herself that they couldn't actually know she could hear them. The Inspector just gave another of his annoyingly common shrugs. "Witness from the case. Helped chase down the perp."
"And you brought here here instead of processing?" Yuji asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Hey, I'm just trying to make sure the Chief doesn't kill me." Sonoda defended himself. "And he can't kill me if he doesn't know where I am."
"Did you use your ID to get in here?" Yuji asked flatly.
"uh...." Sonoda hesitated for a second. "...yes?"
"Then he knows." Yuji finished as he turned back to his work. "He's got all the digital locks feeding into his work terminal. If he's as desperate to kill you as you think, then he's probably got your card pegged to send up a flag."
Sonoda paled slightly. "Seriously?"
"Pretty sure he even has the vending machines wired in." Yuji waved one hand in a vague gesture that could have either been a goodbye or a dismissal. "I'll get some nice flowers for your funeral, I promise. Can I have your stereo?"
"No." Sonoda replied before letting out a sigh. "Thanks for the info. Let me know if you find anything else."
"Assuming you're still alive?" Yuji replied. "Sure."
Sonoda let out a snort instead of an actual farewell as we started out of the lab and toward the door as Yue dismissed her listening spell. The last few faint glimmer of magic dissipated a moment before Sonoda stepped out into the hallway. "Sorry about that," Sonoda said to her. "Needed to check on something first."
"Learn anything worthwhile?" Yue asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Really didn't need a cop thinking she was snooping around his station.
"Just that I might need to seriously consider jumping out one of the windows." Sonoda replied. "First thing's first, we need to get out of the hallway before-"
"SONODA!"
"...too late." Sonoda sighed while everybody else on the floor was busy trying to recover from shock, save for the fuming gentleman leaning out of a doorway at the far end of the hallway. "Best that you come too – he might not kill me if there's any witnesses and I can't leave you wandering the station anyway."
Sonoda led them back up the hall, through the still semi-frozen crowd and into what seemed to be one of the nicer offices if dimensions were anything to go by. A large set of windows that formed the back wall provided an impressive panoramic view of Mahora's administrative district, sunlight framing the large oaken desk that dominated the room. The walls along either side were covered in filing cabinets and, further up, framed photographs, accolades and awards. The décor was a lot of dark wood and dark reds in the same shades as the lobby. A fan overhead spun around lazily, but did little to dissipate the smoke from the cigarette being chewed on by the figure looming behind the desk.
"Why..." The figure stubbed out the cigarette in a glass ashtray sitting to one side of a simple brass name-plate on the desk; 'Asahi Yanagisawa – Chief Superintendent'. So, this was the alleged boss. He was anywhere from mid-thirties to his late forties, Yue guessed, a few strands of black hair having started to maybe turn gray. His trimmed black mustache had yet to show any salting and twitched as he tried to control his anger. "Did you break procedure....Again!?" Gray eyes glared over square-framed glasses and only made him look even angrier.
"I decided to prioritize capturing the perpetrator while he was still on the scene." Sonoda replied. "I watched him combust the guy."
"Your primary duty is the protection of civilians," the chief pointed out. "Not play hero! Now sit down."
"I was-"
"SIT DOWN!" Sonoda resisted for a moment before lowering himself into one of the waiting chairs that stood in front of the desk. Now the only one still standing, Yue found the chief's glare directed at her. "And who are you?"
"Yue Ayase," Yue bowed politely. "I was at the scene and assisted in pursuing the perpetrator."
"And I'm going to guess he hasn't taken a statement from you yet?" the chief asked, but Yue was willing to bet it wasn't a question. He just snorted at her answer. "Didn't think so. So you failed to report a crime-in-progress, failed to catch the perpetrator anyway, and then what? Decide to give a witness of tour of the station?"
"Hey!" Sonoda defended himself. "It's not my fault the guy went poof!"
the chief arched an eyebrow. "poof?"
"If I might, sir." Yue intervened. "I can confirm Inspector Sonoda's story. The man simply....vanished." She also knew how he had vanished, but she wasn't exactly going to share that piece of information.
The chief, however, seemed expectedly unconvinced. "Since when, exactly, did people start going..." The chief made little air-quotes with his hands. "'poof'?"
"I believe that sort of question should be directed at me, Asahi." Yue and Sonoda both turned around to see the new arrival. Kuzunoha was in the same suit as she had been that morning, but her sword was now conspicuously absent – not unsurprising inside a police station. The chief's already poor expression soured further at the sight of the well-dressed blonde.
"What are you doing here, Toko?" the chief more or less growled. "Last I checked, this wasn't Administration's problem yet."
"Then you haven't gotten the memo yet." Kuzunoha pulled a small folded piece of paper from inside her jacket, laying it on the desk in front of the chief. "The Dean has gotten wind of the incident and would like to ensure that matters are properly taken care of."
The chief scanned over the memo for a moment before looking up from it, somewhat incredulous. "He's invoking oversight authority?"
"It s the Deans' prerogative." Kuzunoha replied with a shrug. "I take it you want someone floating about?"
"The last thing I need," the chief growled. "Is you telling me how to do my job."
"Then put yourself at ease," Kuzunoha smiled in a way that was more likely to put someone on edge then actually assure them. "I have not been given the assignment, however..." She turned to Yue. "Miss Ayase, could I talk to you in the hallway for one moment?"
More than slightly surprised, Yue simply managed to nod as she rose from her seat and followed Kuzunoha out into the still bustling hallway. Behind them, the chief was too busy sputtering to actually manage to voice a protest as they left his office.
"So," Yue finally voiced after a moment. "What's this about?"
"The situation has become..." Kuzunoha hesitated, "...complicated."
"You aren't kidding." Yue nodded. "They have some high-grade mage weaponry in their lab right now. Converter Rifles of some sort. I didn't realize the smuggling issue was that bad."
"It wasn't until recently." Kuzunoha replied. "That is part of why I am here. Whoever this murderer is, he is well above the usual mage in both apparent skill and displayed power. The Dean thinks we need to have a mage attached to this case for security purposes."
"And you aren't available?" Yue asked.
"Nobody is available." Kuzunoha corrected. "Nobody, except you."
"I thought this was supposed to be a quick job?" Yue arched an eyebrow. She had already lost half her day, even if she was getting a nice paycheck for it. "Now you want to put me on assignment?"
"I wouldn't be asking if I thought there was an alternate." Kuzunoha replied. "And besides, I believe that this is the sort of work that you would prefer."
"I..." Yue's gaze flicked downward. "I don't do that sort of work anymore. I haven't for a while."
"Oh please," Kuzunoha dismissed Yue's statement with a small flick of her wrist. "You are far, far too young for anything to have been 'A while'. What happened in Ariadne was...unfortunate. But you really must stop blaming yourself for it."
Yue sighed. "I don't need the psychoanalysis, but alright – I'll help you. But only because you're a friend – No more of this 'back in the saddle' stuff. I already get it enough from elsewhere."
"Fair enough." Kuzunoha nodded. "Then it would be time to inform the chief of your newly expanded role in this investigation." The two of them walked back into the office, just as the chief and Sonoda finished having what might have been generously referred to as a conversation. Based on the look on Sonoda's face, she didn't think he'd gotten a word in against his boss. The chief for his part, managed to look even more annoyed then he had when they stepped out.
"So," the chief grumbled as he pulled out a new cigarette from the drawer and lit it, taking a long pull from it before he continued speaking. "I take it she's one of yours?"
"Miss Ayase is not employed by the school, if that is what you are inferring. Asahi."
"You know damn well what I mean, Toko, and I'm getting real tired of the games with your people." The chief was angry, but it was a different type of anger than before – less fire, slower burning. A dense, long-lived sort of thing.
"Well," Kuzunoha calmly walked forward, pulling the cigarette from Asahi's mouth and grinding it out in the ashtray next to the last one. "If you were more cooperative, such techniques would not be necessary on our part."
"So leave your lot calling the shots?" the chief spat back with a snort. "Let you run the SDO like you run everything else? Not damn likely."
"As I expected from you, Asahi." Kuzunoha replied. "Which is why the school has decided that Miss Ayase will be serving as our observer."
"Do you really want a kid like her on something like this?" the chief jabbed a thumb in Yue's direction, and continued to talk like she wasn't within ear-shot. "This isn't a pleasant line of work – especially a case like this."
"If you were cleared to see her record, then you would know that such a worry is unwarranted." Kuzunoha assured him. "Trust me when I say though that she is quite qualified for field work."
"Cleared." the Chief snorted as his scowl deepened. "Really tired of hearing that phrase from you, Toko."
"Well, if you cooperated with my people a little more you would hear it a lot less." Toko crossed her arms with a sigh. "You of all people should know me well enough to realize this isn't a power-play."
"A power-play from you?" the Chief arched an eyebrow. "No – only reason you're still standing in my office. My issue is with your people – they still seem to think I can't protect my own damned city."
"My people, as you like to call them," Kuzunoha replied, "Are much better equipped to handle the ramifications of these sorts of events in this District."
"Well, then." the Chief pulled out another cigarette, leaning back in his chair as he lit it to make sure it was well out of Kuzunoha's reach. "Its a good thing I'm not interested in the ramifications as much as catching the bastard who charbroiled somebody in one of my squares."
"Do you have any idea what is happening?" Sonoda whispered as he leaned toward Yue.
Yue, for her part just shook her head as their bosses continued their back and forth. "Not a clue."
"They seem to have a history," Sonoda quipped. "Which is weird, because I've never seen her before."
Any response Yue might have had was cut off as Yanasigawa turned to the two of them. "What are you two still doing here? Take her over to administrative and get her set up with a consultant badge."
Yanasigawa and Kuzunoha watched the Inspector manage an affirmative before leading Yue out of the office. Once the door clicked shut behind them, Kuzunoha slipped into one of the vacated chairs with a sigh. Across the table, Yanasigawa pulled open one of the desk drawers before taking out a pair of glasses and a bottle of amber liquid. Neither said anything as the Chief filled both glasses before sliding one toward Kuzunoha. Yanasigawa took a sip of his drink before finally speaking. "How bad?"
"Bad." Kuzunoha replied curtly. "Worse than either of us – any of us – could have expected." Kuzunoha took a sip of her own drink. "It seems our pasts might finally be catching up with us, Asahi."
"Wars can be like that, Toko." Yanasigawa replied. "But usually people deal with that sort of thing themselves. Why the kids?"
"I'm just trying to keep the world spinning." Kuzunoha shrugged. "I figured you would understand that."
"So you dump your problems onto them?" the Chief let out another snort.
"Trying to protect them?" Kuzunoha arched an eyebrow. "How uncharacteristic of you – and also completely unnecessary. Those two can take care of themselves."
"They shouldn't have to." Yanasigawa replied. "Not over this. But maybe I'm just a fan of paying my own debts."
"You never struck me as the chivalrous type." Kuzunoha smirked. "What's the real reason?"
Yanasigawa shrugged. "Like I said, I like paying my own debts."
"And trying to keep me out?" Kuzunoha asked. "Another debt?"
"Not really." Yanasigawa took another sip of his drink. "I just remember what it was like working with you – as much as I try not to."
"Because of me, or because of what I remind you of?" Kuzunoha asked somberly.
"A bit of both." Yanasigawa leaned back in his chair, eyes drifting over the photographs that hung from the wall. "We created quite a few messes, you know. Doesn't seem right that they should have to clean them up."
"They're two of our best." Kuzunoha assured him. "And they're good people. They'll manage."
"They don't need to be good people." Yanasigawa replied. "They need to be good detectives – and a good detective knows the value of a good question."
"What's your point?" Kuzunoha asked.
"My point is," Yanasigawa studied his glass for a moment before draining it and looking at Kuzunoha. "Let's hope that they ask the right questions."
-----
"Well, I can't say we weren't expecting something like this eventually." The blonde woman sighed as she watched the investigators of the Special District Office comb over the crime scene.
Yue regarded the woman with a quirked eyebrow. "I didn't realize that we were expecting a murder Kuzunoha." Yue had met the woman a few times before, always when the blonde was operating in her capacity as the head of operations for Mahora's mages – such as right now. Her hair was tied back in a long ponytail, and she was dressed in the same crisp suit that seemed to be one of her trademarks. Her other trademark was the sheathed sword tucked under one of her arms. The swordswoman sighed as she pushed her glasses.
"Traffic between worlds has been increasing almost exponentially since the Lifemaker incident" Her eyes lingered for a moment on the charred circle where the victim had been. "Much of it illegal – and not just coming from the other side. We've had people crossing from this side as well on a handful of occasions and the fact of the matter is that we can't hunt down all of them. One was going to cause a spectacle eventually. We just never expected it to be this...visible." A small frown crossed her face. "None of the contingencies we have in place were ever designed for a debacle of this magnitude."
"Maybe they heard I was in town," Yue suggested. "The guy seemed to recognize me."
"You are somewhat famous on the other side, Miss Ayase." Kuzunoha pointed out. "And not just for your role in the Lifemaker incident."
Yue sighed. "What ever happened to my life being normal?"
"For you," Kuzunoha said with a smirk. "You started middle school in this town." The brief moment of levity vanished as a pair of investigators walked past, both carrying cameras and sample bags. "It seems my week just became quite busy. Takashi will not be happy."
"Plans?" Yue asked. "How have things been with him since Marrakech anyway?"
"He was going to surprise me with dinner tonight," Kuzunoha explained as she pulled out her phone. "As for how we have been – quite well, though I could do with less 'magical girl' jokes. The mileage he has managed from them astounds me."
"Asked if you were off to fight Queen Metalia this morning?" Yue asked.
"luckily no," Kuzunoha replied as she dialed. "This morning it as 'Jewel seeds' instead." she paused for a moment. "I'm not actually sure what that's a reference to, actually."
"Aren't you more of a magic swordswoman anyway?" Toko Kuzunoha was, from what Yue had heard from Setsuna, both extremely level-headed and highly skilled at the Shinmeiryuu sword style – skilled enough to take over as Setsuna's teacher during middle school. It had been the first time Setsuna had been taught by somebody outside the secluded school in the mountains of Kyoto, but Kuzunoha had quickly proven highly capable. The first time Yue had met Kuzunoha face-to-face hadn't really backed up such a reputation – but that had been in a timeline that no longer existed, so she didn't hold it against the sword wielder. Yue watched as the swordswoman quietly talked on her phone for a few minutes before hanging it up with a grimace. "Problems?"
"Just a few," Kuzunoha replied. "And none of them pleasant."
"anything I can do to help?" Yue asked.
"Well..." Kuzunoha actually paused for a moment to Yue's surprise. "Perhaps. I take it you can figure out how useful it is having the Dean of Mahora as part of our cause." Yue nodded. The Dean had considerable pull in the Academy District – including with its police force. "None of that, however, does us any good in this case – we need somebody inside to make sure they don't find anything they shouldn't."
"This can't be the first time magic was involved in an SDO case." Yue said.
"No," Kozunoha replied. "But none of them were this...high profile. Our outside teams are not going to be able to sweep everything for evidence of magic. The only choice is to get somebody inside to take stock of what the Office has recovered."
"And I'm a witness," Yue reasoned out loud. "So they're going to bring me in as a matter of protocol. As much as I'd like to take this pro bono..."
"You will be paid our usual consultant rate." Kuzunoha explained as she pulled out her phone again, likely making a few notes. "I think you will find even the base payment to your satisfaction."
Yue arched an eyebrow. "You have rates for infiltrating police stations?"
"Not specifically," Kuzunoha replied, pausing at her typing. "But we do hire outside help semi-regularly. Miss Tatsumiya for example."
"As much as your confidence is reassuring, Miss Kuzunoha," Yue sighed. "I'm not sure I'm the one you want on this, all things considered."
"If you are still dwelling on that little incident," Kuzunoha snapped her phone shut. "Then you are making a grave mistake. Your record in Ariadne speaks for itself – you are more then qualified for this." She glanced back at the crime scene. "And, it seems, the only option I have left anyhow."
"You're backing puts you in a distinct minority, Kuzunoha." Yue sighed. She hadn't told Nodoka much about it, and Kuzunoha likely didn't have to full story either – Ariadne had kept as much of what happened internal as they could. "Still, a quick job shouldn't be a problem." She finally said.
"Quick is one thing I can assure you it will be." Kuzunoha nodded. "Your only window of opportunity will be when you are brought in for a statement."
"And you think me being brought in for a witness statement will be enough of a window?" Yue arched an eyebrow. "Generally speaking, witness statements aren't taken in the evidence locker. You must be fairly desperate if this actually seemed like your best option."
"You have no idea." Kuzunoha replied. "It is, however, our only option. At the very least, even if you cannot do anything to remove what they have collected, you will at least be in a position to inform us of what they do and do not have. My people should be able to take it from there."
"You're still assuming that I can even get a look at what they've got." Yue pointed out. "Any reason why?"
"Well, you seemed to have been getting along well with that Inspector," Kuzunoha nodded toward Sonoda, who was busy having an argument with a fellow officer of the law. "And you have always been, if anything, resourceful. All we ask is that you try your best."
"So, spy on the Special District Office, try and make sure they don't uncover anything magic related." Yue sighed. "Got it."
"Would you rather that the International Solar System Development Agency be brought in?" Kuzunoha asked, and Yue couldn't help but cringe.
"That would probably end poorly." Yue replied. The International Solar System Development Agency – or ISSDA. To most of the world, they were a multi-national non-profit focused on manned space exploration and cheap orbital access. Their hallmark project, designs for a space elevator, had stalled over the last few years despite the backing of just about every major space agency and aerospace company on the planet in some way or another. Yue wasn't entirely surprised – when two-thirds of the technology needed didn't really exist yet, delays happened. What the rest of the world didn't know about was the vast sums of resources that were being poured by the agency into stabilizing the Magical World and normalizing travel between it and the mundane world. What they had already achieved in those regards was beyond impressive. Not bad for an organization created by a ten-year old, genius or not.
"Agreed." Kuzunoha replied. "While I have no doubt they will learn of this sooner or later, I would prefer it was later. Dealing with them is quite a bit easier when they don't have anything to use to undermine you."
"Kind of like working with the Senate then," Yue shrugged. "So, are you going to need my bank account number or anything?"
"We already have it on file," Kuzunoha replied. "Courtesy your occasional substitution job – that is, assuming you wish to be paid to your local account and not your savings in Ariadne?"
"Local, please." Yue answered. "I came back here for a reason you know."
"Yes," Kuzunoha started as the Inspector started walking in their direction. "But was it the right reason?"
Yue gaped for a minute, trying to come up with a comeback but Kuzunoha had already walked away by the time her brain caught up. Sonoda stopped a few steps from her, looking from Yue to the slowly shrinking form of the swords-woman before turning back to Yue. "Friend of yours?"
"More like a close acquaintance." Yue replied before nodding her head toward the other detective. "Have a fun chat?"
"Not particularly." Sonoda shrugged. "Sure you already guessed but we're going to need you to head down to the station and fill out a statement for us. If you'd follow me..." with little other preamble, Sonoda started making his way out of the square, Yue following a few steps behind.
Yue caught up to him after a few moments, giving him a confused look. "Shouldn't we be using one of the police cruisers?" Her glance briefly shifted to one of several black and white cars parked around the edge of the square with complete disregard to the fact that it wasn't a road. "Aren't they're protocols for this?"
"I didn't drive here," Sonoda replied simply. "and it would take longer to try and get one of them to give me the keys then to just walk there. Besides, have you ever tried to get through traffic around a crime scene? Its a mess." He paused at a crosswalk and shot Yue a grin. "Trust me, this is faster."
"I am not entirely sure if 'faster' should enter into the equation here." Yue replied as the lights changed and the small knot of pedestrians started across the street. "Those protocols exist for a reason."
"And you're telling me you never broke a rule before?" Yue averted her gaze, and Sonoda simply nodded. "Thought so. Besides, I'm escorting you there – chain of custody and all that."
"That's for evidence, not witnesses." Yue pointed out.
"I knew that." Sonoda quickly replied. "Just saying – I do actually know what I'm doing."
"You're boss seems to think otherwise." Yue remarked, recalling what she had heard from his earlier conversations.
"Yeah, well," Sonoda paused as a city bus drove past. "My boss thinks I have 'authority issues'"
Yue quirked an eyebrow. "Do you?"
"More or less." Sonoda answered with a shrug. "I think I just have a problem with paperwork. Would rather be doing my job then writing reports and filling out evidence sheets in triplicate."
"Paperwork ensures proper records are created and that accountability is maintained." Yue rattled off from memory.
"You get fed that line too?" Sonoda asked while he adjusted his coat. "Paperwork, protocols - You're sounding more and more like a former cop by the minute."
"What makes you so sure I'm a former cop?" Yue asked, emphasizing the 'former'. "Maybe I'm undercover."
"You look too stressed to be a cop." Sonoda replied. "I may loathe my job most mornings, but I have it – I know, more or less, what I'm doing with my life. You look like somebody who just got handed their pink slip."
"I've been working as an assistant professor at the University, I'll have you know." Yue defended. "I am hardly unemployed."
"Yeah, but that's not your job, is it?" Sonoda replied. "It might put food on the table, but its not really what you want to be doing, is it?"
Yue studied Sonoda for a moment, letting the crowds flow around her as, after a few steps, he stopped and turned to look at her. "What?"
"You are far smarter than you act." Yue stated matter-of-factually. "So we both know you not only know but understand why those rules exist. Why break them?"
"You ever see somebody go free on a technicality?" Sonoda asked. "That only happens because of your rules."
"Or because somebody breaks them." Yue answered. "Bad police work can kill a case."
"Yeah, well..." Sonoda gave another shrug, turning and starting down the sidewalk again. "Way I see it, bad police work isn't going to get the chance most of the time." the Inspector's pace picked up ever so slightly, and Yue could take the hint as it were, and let the subject drop.
The two continued on for another couple of blocks before Sonoda led Yue around one final turn and brought her face-to-face with what was possibly one of the most impressive buildings in Mahora Yue had seen. Like most of the building in Mahora, it was built in an old european style, with tall pitched roofs that looked like they were designed to shed copious amount of snow, and the entire facade was was adorned with turrets and gables and peaked roofs. Every corner was rounded and the elaborate stonework at the edges of windows and ledges left it an imposing looking structure encased in pink granite. Closer to ground level, the tops of columns were decorated with carvings of every manner of mythical creature. In all, it was the sort of place Yue more expected to see back in Mundus Magicus then here on earth. "Quite the police station." Yue quipped.
"It used to be a post office, if you can believe it." Sonoda explained as he led them across the street and up the steps to the front doors, a pair of imposing dark wood numbers with brass fittings. "After the post office moved out, the district moved a whole slew of its departments into the offices. SDO gets the entire third floor, plus a good chunk of the basement." A gust of wind surged outward and around them as Sonoda pulled one of the doors open, gesturing Yue in first before shutting the door behind them. Inside, Yue found herself standing inside an impressive four-story atrium, the steel and glass arching overhead letting beams of light stream down and gleam off the marble that covered the floor as well as formed the columns that formed the ambulatories of the upper floors. The entire space was colored in reds and cream colors, decorated with more brass along with darker metals and woods. It all would have given the space an air of decadence if it didn't carry its history so well. Instead, the entire space had an aura of opulence instead that only truly aged building could exude.
"You coming?" Yue started at Sonoda's question and she suddenly noticed she had come to a stop in the middle of the lobby without even noticing it. She gave the space around her a second, slower scan before continuing across the space.
"Just...impressed by the architecture." Yue explained as she stepped out of the atrium. "This place has quite the atmosphere." And it wasn't just the building design. The air buzzed with something she couldn't even identify, just at the edge of her senses, and it left the hairs on the back of her neck standing. Every so often, the slightest of sensations danced across her skin, like the smallest of static charges – or something more arcane…
"Well, its an old building with a lot of stories to its name." Sonoda replied as he led the two of them to an old antiqued elevator and tapped the worn enamel 'up' button on the small brass panel. Above them, the old fashioned dial began to tick down floors as the elevator car descended. "It was a court house too, at some point. We've got stories about ghosts, lost rooms, a secret passage or two..." the elevator chimed softly as the car settled to a stop and the doors shuttered open. "...not that I've ever found any."
"So," the antiquated elevator rattled as it slid past the second floor. "Anything strange happen here?"
"Strange?" Sonoda echoed. "By any normal definition, we have something strange happen pretty much daily. But if you're using the Mahora definition..." He shrugged. "Then no, not any more than the rest of town. Why?"
"Just wondering." Yue lied. Any further questioning by the Inspector was cut off as the elevator ground to a stop and the doors rattled open. Beyond them was the level of semi-organized chaos that usually came with earplugs and a lot of stepped on toes. Yue paused for a moment as she tried to figure out how they hadn't heard the racket from the ground. "Busy?"
"Always." Sonoda confirmed has he started down the hall and away from the worst of the crowd. "Murders only make it worse. Come on – we can stop by forensics first. Less chance for my boss to catch me."
"I don't see how forensics has anything to do with taking my statement." Yue argued, but she didn't bother putting much force behind it. If Kuzunoha wanted her to check what they had, then this worked out just fine.
"Well, my office is that way..." Sonoda pointed in the opposite direction, toward the crowd of cops and suspects seated in chairs along the wall or at desks, filing paperwork or getting processed. It looked less like a office space and more like a mob. "...and right past the Chief's office. I'm trying not to given him an opportunity to murder me out a window or something."
"And he would do that why...?" Yue asked as she sidestepped a petite female officer carrying a stack of pastry boxes almost as tall as she was.
"On principle mostly." Sonoda replied as they turned onto a side hallway leading deeper into the building, the walls dampening the sound from the rest of the floor to a soft murmur. Between glass and wood doors, the walls were lined with the occasional set of chairs and, on one side, a trio of vending machines. "And he's in a sour enough mood as it is." Sonoda led them down the hall as he kept talking. "That man really needs a..." He paused as he looked behind him to see Yue staring contemplatively at one of the vending machines. "What are you doing?"
"Get a drink." Yue replied calmly.
"....from that one?" Sonoda asked, slowly.
"Yes." Yue pulled a few coins from her pocket and slipped them into the machine. "I haven't tried a couple of these before." Yue tapped one of the buttons and the machine gave a soft clunk as the drink dropped out of the dispenser.
Sonoda looked at the chosen beverage for a moment. "That's Durian." He stated flatly. "Durian and bean paste."
"Should be interesting." Yue popped the top open and took a small sip. "hmm..."
"Interesting?" Sonoda asked.
"Not bad." Yue replied. "So, where are we going?"
"Right...." Sonoda shook his head, likely deciding that this was one mystery he was better off not digging into for the moment. "Yuji runs the in-house lab – he's a couple doors down on the right. You aren't actually allowed in the lab though."
"A protocol you actually follow?" Yue smirked.
"Only because Yuji is really touchy about people in his lab." Sonoda replied. "And I don't want to get hit over the head with a agarose buffer box again. I assume you don't mind waiting out here in the hall?"
"Does it matter?" Yue asked.
"Not really," Sonoda replied as he approached one of the right-hand doors. On either side of it, the walls had been replaced by glass the extended from around waist height all the way to the ceiling. Inside, lines of stainless steel benches and work tables were covered in all manner of laboratory equipment. Around them, old wallpaper and wood paneling peeked out from where it wasn't hidden by floor-to-ceiling shelves or refrigerators, all in the same stainless steel finish. The door itself was a double door, a small blackish box to one side adorned with only a blinking red light serving as what Yue guessed was the lock. Sonoda fished an ID badge from a pocket and waved it over the pad, and the door lock disengaged with a soft click.
The hallway filled with the buzz of dozen of scientific instruments and computers at work along with the steady thrumming beat of rock music as Sonoda opened to door. The sound cut off almost immediately as the door swung shut and locked again, leaving Yue's ears ringing for a moment at the sudden silence. She shifted to one side, peering in through the wall-sized window in time to see Sonoda give the door one last check before turning to face the rest of the room to say something. What it was, Yue couldn't hear through the soundproofing. Not yet, at least.
She took a deep, calming breath to help focus herself before she began to channel her willpower. It wasn't magic – not quite. Just an interesting little trick she had learned from Asakura, and helped refine with the help of Setsuna. How Asakura came up with it or found it, she had never found out, but she could see how this sort of trick would be useful to an 'investigative journalist' like her. She took another deep breath, focusing her hearing on the room beyond the glass.
"...it, Yuji. Turn down the damn music." Sonoda's voice suddenly rang in her ears, slightly muffled but perfectly intelligible. "I've got a murder to investigate."
"Well, I got the first batch of evidence five minutes ago." A second voice said, accompanied by a young man in a chair rolling into view. He was dressed in jeans and a dark T-shirt underneath the labcoat, straight dark hair cut to shoulder-length. He tapped the cigarette he was smoking on a nearby ashtray for a moment before turning back to Sonoda. "So if you want anything actually useful, come back tomorrow. Heard you set another crime scene on fire."
"It was on fire when I got there." Sonoda defended himself, leaning back against one of the benches. "Anything you can tell me right now?"
Yuji raised an eyebrow. "Avoiding the boss?"
"Just tell me what you have, man." Sonoda said with a sigh.
"Fine, fine." Yuji spun his chair back around, sliding over to one of the other benches. "Haven't had a chance to actually do more than a preliminary check, but I'm not finding any accelerants - or any fuel at all for that matter. All I can tell you for now is that this might be connected to the weird-ass smuggling bust from a week ago."
"Your little pet project with the freaky toys?" Sonoda asked. "How is a murder related to some stupid over-designed toys?"
"All the guys from the bust had the same sort of cloth on them." Yuji explained, pointing to a glossy print hanging on the wall. On it was a piece of dark fabric almost identical, if slightly less damaged than the one from their victim. "Same freaky weave pattern, same funky glyphs all over them. Still waiting on the mass spectrometer to spit out the results, but I'm going to take a guess and say that the ink's the same too."
"Think they were on the same crew?" Sonoda thought out loud.
"Why the hell are you asking me?" Yuji replied as he moved down the workbench to where he was in the process of dismantling something. "I just run the lab equipment. You get to make the wild-ass guesses."
"Fine then," Sonoda grumbled. "Lets assume they were associates. Any reason somebody would want to charbroil him in public?"
"Again," Yuji didn't even look up from where he was fiddling with the strange device. From Yue's vantage point, the lab technician was blocking the view. "Why are you asking me?"
Sonoda rolled his eyes. "You find anything in the raid worth killing over?"
"Just the toy guns." Yuji answered.
"Why would somebody commit murder over some toys?" Sonoda raised an eyebrow.
Yuji finally looked up from his work at the Inspector. "You haven't seen these toys dude." He gestured Sonoda over, stepping to one side so he – and by happenstance Yue – could get a view.
It was vaguely rifle shaped, based on the casing, but bulkier. Most of the device seemed to be encased in some sort of metal shroud about a twenty-five centimeters long and a dull copperish brown. The both ends as well as what had once been the top had been removed, leaving a tangle of metal filaments trailing from the weapon case to the darker metal cap pieces. What might have been the front had some sort of crystal set into the middle, while the back connected into some sort of grip. "The casing is some sort of copper alloy that the Spectrometer can't identify – I've tried twice." Yuji explained. "That alone makes this thing stupid valuable. The insides are just really good gravy." He reached in and plucked a small multi-faceted stone the size of a bird egg from the casing, this one trailing thicker cords of woven metals. "The entire mechanism seems to be built around this – it's a precious stone of some sort. Some kind of exotic species of sapphire, I think. These cords lead down to something that might be a firing mechanism, and seem to be a mix of metals ranging from mundane to stupid valuable. There are more stones and filaments running through the whole thing. The entire piece is probably worth a fortune"
"Any guesses on what it does?" Sonoda asked.
"A wild one would be some sort of actual weapon." Yuji shrugged. "It's laid out like a linear particle accelerator." He punched a few keys on a nearby keyboard, and a computer screen to one side lit up with a diagram of what Yue guessed what the linear accelerator in question. "But I can't find a single power source. Or even anything resembling an actual electronic component. And that's not the strangest part." Yuji swung a large magnifying glass down and brought it over the thick bundle of filaments from before. "See anything strange?"
Sonoda leaned over and peered through the lenses. "Uh...squiggles?"
"They're runes, actually." Yuji replied. "Nordic – at least, somewhat nordic. They don't match any known actual dialect in the databases. And they're tiny – I mean microprint tiny. This sort of stuff requires either high-end equipment or a really, really steady hand. And all the pieces are covered in more of the same. It just doesn't add up."
Yue was only half listening at that point, and hadn't been paying any real attention to the pair for the last two minutes or so since she caught sight of what was on the bench. It would have been at least vaguely familiar to quite a few people who had lived in Mahora back when Yue had been in middle school and fought the Martian invasion during Mahorafest. They were Mage weapons, and high-end ones at that from what Yue could tell. Kuzunoha had said they had been having border issues, and she hadn't been kidding if these sort of things were getting through.
"Still," Yuji continued. "If you want to know anything else, I'd suggest talking to the guys in lock-up." Yuji paused for a moment as he turned in his seat. "Who's the girl?"
Sonoda turned to look toward where Yue was standing and Yue had to remind herself that they couldn't actually know she could hear them. The Inspector just gave another of his annoyingly common shrugs. "Witness from the case. Helped chase down the perp."
"And you brought here here instead of processing?" Yuji asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Hey, I'm just trying to make sure the Chief doesn't kill me." Sonoda defended himself. "And he can't kill me if he doesn't know where I am."
"Did you use your ID to get in here?" Yuji asked flatly.
"uh...." Sonoda hesitated for a second. "...yes?"
"Then he knows." Yuji finished as he turned back to his work. "He's got all the digital locks feeding into his work terminal. If he's as desperate to kill you as you think, then he's probably got your card pegged to send up a flag."
Sonoda paled slightly. "Seriously?"
"Pretty sure he even has the vending machines wired in." Yuji waved one hand in a vague gesture that could have either been a goodbye or a dismissal. "I'll get some nice flowers for your funeral, I promise. Can I have your stereo?"
"No." Sonoda replied before letting out a sigh. "Thanks for the info. Let me know if you find anything else."
"Assuming you're still alive?" Yuji replied. "Sure."
Sonoda let out a snort instead of an actual farewell as we started out of the lab and toward the door as Yue dismissed her listening spell. The last few faint glimmer of magic dissipated a moment before Sonoda stepped out into the hallway. "Sorry about that," Sonoda said to her. "Needed to check on something first."
"Learn anything worthwhile?" Yue asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Really didn't need a cop thinking she was snooping around his station.
"Just that I might need to seriously consider jumping out one of the windows." Sonoda replied. "First thing's first, we need to get out of the hallway before-"
"SONODA!"
"...too late." Sonoda sighed while everybody else on the floor was busy trying to recover from shock, save for the fuming gentleman leaning out of a doorway at the far end of the hallway. "Best that you come too – he might not kill me if there's any witnesses and I can't leave you wandering the station anyway."
Sonoda led them back up the hall, through the still semi-frozen crowd and into what seemed to be one of the nicer offices if dimensions were anything to go by. A large set of windows that formed the back wall provided an impressive panoramic view of Mahora's administrative district, sunlight framing the large oaken desk that dominated the room. The walls along either side were covered in filing cabinets and, further up, framed photographs, accolades and awards. The décor was a lot of dark wood and dark reds in the same shades as the lobby. A fan overhead spun around lazily, but did little to dissipate the smoke from the cigarette being chewed on by the figure looming behind the desk.
"Why..." The figure stubbed out the cigarette in a glass ashtray sitting to one side of a simple brass name-plate on the desk; 'Asahi Yanagisawa – Chief Superintendent'. So, this was the alleged boss. He was anywhere from mid-thirties to his late forties, Yue guessed, a few strands of black hair having started to maybe turn gray. His trimmed black mustache had yet to show any salting and twitched as he tried to control his anger. "Did you break procedure....Again!?" Gray eyes glared over square-framed glasses and only made him look even angrier.
"I decided to prioritize capturing the perpetrator while he was still on the scene." Sonoda replied. "I watched him combust the guy."
"Your primary duty is the protection of civilians," the chief pointed out. "Not play hero! Now sit down."
"I was-"
"SIT DOWN!" Sonoda resisted for a moment before lowering himself into one of the waiting chairs that stood in front of the desk. Now the only one still standing, Yue found the chief's glare directed at her. "And who are you?"
"Yue Ayase," Yue bowed politely. "I was at the scene and assisted in pursuing the perpetrator."
"And I'm going to guess he hasn't taken a statement from you yet?" the chief asked, but Yue was willing to bet it wasn't a question. He just snorted at her answer. "Didn't think so. So you failed to report a crime-in-progress, failed to catch the perpetrator anyway, and then what? Decide to give a witness of tour of the station?"
"Hey!" Sonoda defended himself. "It's not my fault the guy went poof!"
the chief arched an eyebrow. "poof?"
"If I might, sir." Yue intervened. "I can confirm Inspector Sonoda's story. The man simply....vanished." She also knew how he had vanished, but she wasn't exactly going to share that piece of information.
The chief, however, seemed expectedly unconvinced. "Since when, exactly, did people start going..." The chief made little air-quotes with his hands. "'poof'?"
"I believe that sort of question should be directed at me, Asahi." Yue and Sonoda both turned around to see the new arrival. Kuzunoha was in the same suit as she had been that morning, but her sword was now conspicuously absent – not unsurprising inside a police station. The chief's already poor expression soured further at the sight of the well-dressed blonde.
"What are you doing here, Toko?" the chief more or less growled. "Last I checked, this wasn't Administration's problem yet."
"Then you haven't gotten the memo yet." Kuzunoha pulled a small folded piece of paper from inside her jacket, laying it on the desk in front of the chief. "The Dean has gotten wind of the incident and would like to ensure that matters are properly taken care of."
The chief scanned over the memo for a moment before looking up from it, somewhat incredulous. "He's invoking oversight authority?"
"It s the Deans' prerogative." Kuzunoha replied with a shrug. "I take it you want someone floating about?"
"The last thing I need," the chief growled. "Is you telling me how to do my job."
"Then put yourself at ease," Kuzunoha smiled in a way that was more likely to put someone on edge then actually assure them. "I have not been given the assignment, however..." She turned to Yue. "Miss Ayase, could I talk to you in the hallway for one moment?"
More than slightly surprised, Yue simply managed to nod as she rose from her seat and followed Kuzunoha out into the still bustling hallway. Behind them, the chief was too busy sputtering to actually manage to voice a protest as they left his office.
"So," Yue finally voiced after a moment. "What's this about?"
"The situation has become..." Kuzunoha hesitated, "...complicated."
"You aren't kidding." Yue nodded. "They have some high-grade mage weaponry in their lab right now. Converter Rifles of some sort. I didn't realize the smuggling issue was that bad."
"It wasn't until recently." Kuzunoha replied. "That is part of why I am here. Whoever this murderer is, he is well above the usual mage in both apparent skill and displayed power. The Dean thinks we need to have a mage attached to this case for security purposes."
"And you aren't available?" Yue asked.
"Nobody is available." Kuzunoha corrected. "Nobody, except you."
"I thought this was supposed to be a quick job?" Yue arched an eyebrow. She had already lost half her day, even if she was getting a nice paycheck for it. "Now you want to put me on assignment?"
"I wouldn't be asking if I thought there was an alternate." Kuzunoha replied. "And besides, I believe that this is the sort of work that you would prefer."
"I..." Yue's gaze flicked downward. "I don't do that sort of work anymore. I haven't for a while."
"Oh please," Kuzunoha dismissed Yue's statement with a small flick of her wrist. "You are far, far too young for anything to have been 'A while'. What happened in Ariadne was...unfortunate. But you really must stop blaming yourself for it."
Yue sighed. "I don't need the psychoanalysis, but alright – I'll help you. But only because you're a friend – No more of this 'back in the saddle' stuff. I already get it enough from elsewhere."
"Fair enough." Kuzunoha nodded. "Then it would be time to inform the chief of your newly expanded role in this investigation." The two of them walked back into the office, just as the chief and Sonoda finished having what might have been generously referred to as a conversation. Based on the look on Sonoda's face, she didn't think he'd gotten a word in against his boss. The chief for his part, managed to look even more annoyed then he had when they stepped out.
"So," the chief grumbled as he pulled out a new cigarette from the drawer and lit it, taking a long pull from it before he continued speaking. "I take it she's one of yours?"
"Miss Ayase is not employed by the school, if that is what you are inferring. Asahi."
"You know damn well what I mean, Toko, and I'm getting real tired of the games with your people." The chief was angry, but it was a different type of anger than before – less fire, slower burning. A dense, long-lived sort of thing.
"Well," Kuzunoha calmly walked forward, pulling the cigarette from Asahi's mouth and grinding it out in the ashtray next to the last one. "If you were more cooperative, such techniques would not be necessary on our part."
"So leave your lot calling the shots?" the chief spat back with a snort. "Let you run the SDO like you run everything else? Not damn likely."
"As I expected from you, Asahi." Kuzunoha replied. "Which is why the school has decided that Miss Ayase will be serving as our observer."
"Do you really want a kid like her on something like this?" the chief jabbed a thumb in Yue's direction, and continued to talk like she wasn't within ear-shot. "This isn't a pleasant line of work – especially a case like this."
"If you were cleared to see her record, then you would know that such a worry is unwarranted." Kuzunoha assured him. "Trust me when I say though that she is quite qualified for field work."
"Cleared." the Chief snorted as his scowl deepened. "Really tired of hearing that phrase from you, Toko."
"Well, if you cooperated with my people a little more you would hear it a lot less." Toko crossed her arms with a sigh. "You of all people should know me well enough to realize this isn't a power-play."
"A power-play from you?" the Chief arched an eyebrow. "No – only reason you're still standing in my office. My issue is with your people – they still seem to think I can't protect my own damned city."
"My people, as you like to call them," Kuzunoha replied, "Are much better equipped to handle the ramifications of these sorts of events in this District."
"Well, then." the Chief pulled out another cigarette, leaning back in his chair as he lit it to make sure it was well out of Kuzunoha's reach. "Its a good thing I'm not interested in the ramifications as much as catching the bastard who charbroiled somebody in one of my squares."
"Do you have any idea what is happening?" Sonoda whispered as he leaned toward Yue.
Yue, for her part just shook her head as their bosses continued their back and forth. "Not a clue."
"They seem to have a history," Sonoda quipped. "Which is weird, because I've never seen her before."
Any response Yue might have had was cut off as Yanasigawa turned to the two of them. "What are you two still doing here? Take her over to administrative and get her set up with a consultant badge."
Yanasigawa and Kuzunoha watched the Inspector manage an affirmative before leading Yue out of the office. Once the door clicked shut behind them, Kuzunoha slipped into one of the vacated chairs with a sigh. Across the table, Yanasigawa pulled open one of the desk drawers before taking out a pair of glasses and a bottle of amber liquid. Neither said anything as the Chief filled both glasses before sliding one toward Kuzunoha. Yanasigawa took a sip of his drink before finally speaking. "How bad?"
"Bad." Kuzunoha replied curtly. "Worse than either of us – any of us – could have expected." Kuzunoha took a sip of her own drink. "It seems our pasts might finally be catching up with us, Asahi."
"Wars can be like that, Toko." Yanasigawa replied. "But usually people deal with that sort of thing themselves. Why the kids?"
"I'm just trying to keep the world spinning." Kuzunoha shrugged. "I figured you would understand that."
"So you dump your problems onto them?" the Chief let out another snort.
"Trying to protect them?" Kuzunoha arched an eyebrow. "How uncharacteristic of you – and also completely unnecessary. Those two can take care of themselves."
"They shouldn't have to." Yanasigawa replied. "Not over this. But maybe I'm just a fan of paying my own debts."
"You never struck me as the chivalrous type." Kuzunoha smirked. "What's the real reason?"
Yanasigawa shrugged. "Like I said, I like paying my own debts."
"And trying to keep me out?" Kuzunoha asked. "Another debt?"
"Not really." Yanasigawa took another sip of his drink. "I just remember what it was like working with you – as much as I try not to."
"Because of me, or because of what I remind you of?" Kuzunoha asked somberly.
"A bit of both." Yanasigawa leaned back in his chair, eyes drifting over the photographs that hung from the wall. "We created quite a few messes, you know. Doesn't seem right that they should have to clean them up."
"They're two of our best." Kuzunoha assured him. "And they're good people. They'll manage."
"They don't need to be good people." Yanasigawa replied. "They need to be good detectives – and a good detective knows the value of a good question."
"What's your point?" Kuzunoha asked.
"My point is," Yanasigawa studied his glass for a moment before draining it and looking at Kuzunoha. "Let's hope that they ask the right questions."
DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
ummm... I think it ate some of the formatting.... spacing namely.
Nice work, and it's good you cleaned up Yue being in the lab. I wasn't annoyed by it in the original given the comedic nature of the source material, but if you're trying to take this in a more "realistic" direction the new version works better.
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
Okay, now I'm really curious about what the hell happened in Yue's backstory.
DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
quite.... but it seems its more heavily redacted then the CIA's last SITREP....
Dragontrapper
Homeless Draconis
- Location
- A Tower in the middle of nowhere
She worked in Ariadne, of course - Special Investigations. Unfortunately for Yue, she's not too keen on politics...
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
Oh, yeah, that'd do it. And now I'm going to be picturing Yue as Karin Murphy from now on. Good job, Dragontrapper.
DB_Explorer
Purveyor of alternate realities.
- Location
- San Diego, California
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Philosophy? Yes
Politics? No
Which means Sonoda is Harry... so the jobs reversed where the one that follows rules is the PI and the rule breaker is the cop.
Who gets to be bob the skull?
Haruna is perverted enough... though I doubt she knows enough on magic.
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
It's too bad Chamo isn't around, he'd be perfect for the role.
Dragontrapper
Homeless Draconis
- Location
- A Tower in the middle of nowhere
shorter than usual - didn't notice that when writing it.
-----
"Name?"
"Yue Ayase"
"Date of birth?" Sonoda asked, in the same semi-bored tone he had been using for the last forty five or so minutes.
"November sixteenth." Yue sighed. She had gone past boredom around twenty questions ago. They had started with her name and age before moving onto the the usual collection of privacy-violating questions that usually came with background checks and job applications at law enforcement or military agencies. She hadn't had to lie per se on any of them yet, but she had little doubt her background investigation would end up with a lot of blank spots. Still, she hadn't had to answer 'Classified Information' on anything yet, but she wasn't counting on her luck lasting much longer.
For the time being, the questionnaire had once again started asking for basics and whatever software they were using wasn't smart enough to remember the answers from earlier and Sonoda didn't seem interested in flipping back through a few dozen pages for the data. Instead, he was just asking her again. "I need a year as well."
Yue let out another sigh. "Nineteen-eighty eight."
Sonoda blinked as he looked at Yue. "You're Twenty-One?" He paused for a minute before turning back to the screen and punching in the year.
"Yeah," Yue arched an eyebrow. "why?"
"Because I've never seen anybody with this many redacted's on the background check." Sonoda replied as he gestured at the screen. "Most people our age don't really have anything. You have stuff, but..."
"Its above your paygrade?" Yue grinned.
"Based on these disclaimers I think it's above the chief's paygrade." Sonoda replied. "What on earth have you been doing?"
"You're fancy database tells you you aren't cleared to know and you think that you can find out just by asking me?" Yue looked at the Inspector. "Has that ever worked for you?"
"Actually," Sonoda chuckled as he tapped a few more keys. "It has. No dice then?"
"I'd sooner turn into an ermine." Yue answered. In this case, she was mostly literal.
"An....ermine?" Sonoda repeated, briefly confused.
"Its a – nevermind." Yue answered, ending that train of conversation before it could start. "Are we done?"
The computer answered for him with a series of shrill little beeps. "Looks like it – just need to print out your consulting badge and papers for the files." A few more keystrokes and a nearby printer whirred to life. "And now for your picture."
"My pic-?" Yue's question was cut off as a small red light blinked somewhere in her peripheral vision, and she turned to it almost entirely on reflex. A split second after she had turned to face it a bright flash filled her entire field of view as another printer – this one much closer – started to print something off.
"Lets take a look at this..." Yue shook her head to clear her vision of the stars she was seeing as Sonoda spoke, and her vision cleared to the sight of him studying a small card of some sort with a grin that, after a moment, started to shrink. "Huh – that actually doesn't look half bad."
"Give me that." Yue reached over the table and snatched the freshly laminated card from the inspector, darting back out of his reach before he could take it back. "Lets see here..." The card was a fairly plain looking affair, vertically oriented with her photograph and identifying information sitting between a the SDO seal below and the word 'CONSULTANT' in over-sized white-on-blue characters at the top. A small chip of some sort was centered at the bottom. She flipped it over, finding some sort of QR code and a magnetic strip across the back. "kind of boring for a badge, don't you think? Does it come with the case?"
Sonoda replied by pulling a small clip and a thin chain from one of the drawers and sliding them across the table to Yue. "You want the fancy case, join the force. Just make sure you keep it visible on you when you're in here – or at crime scenes. It'll let you past the tape and keep them from throwing you out of here. Now clip it on or throw it around your neck."
"Time to go to work?" Yue asked as she rose to her feet, clipping the badge to her jacket before pocketing the chain.
Sonoda got up from behind the desk, snapping his coat back out. "Time to get to work."
Sonoda led them out of the administrative offices and back into the station, after a moment turning down a hall and into an area Yue hadn't seen yet. "So then," Yue started. "Whats the plan?"
"Yuuji mentioned that we had some guys in holding that might have been with our overcooked friend. Figure we should start by talking to them."
"Shouldn't you at least read the files first?" Yue asked.
"What files?" Sonoda replied. "On the case that brought them in? Not really relevant at this point. The files on the murder case? There isn't any yet."
"You don't think you might find anything useful in the files?" Yue asked. "If they were working together, there might be a lead in there."
"Which we can find later." Sonoda shrugged. "The reports aren't going anywhere. I'd rather get my information first-hand. Besides, a good interrogation is way more fun than reading a bunch of files."
"So are you the good cop or the bad cop then?" Yue asked as they turned another corner. The hallway they were on was a series of plain doors with eye-level slit-windows and a small number plate under that, but were otherwise unremarkable. It would have looked like a particularly boring stretch of offices if it wasn't for the fact that all the doors seemed to be made of solid metal.
Sonoda strolled up to the single aberration – a window built into the wall behind which a very bored looking officer was flipping through a book. Sonoda rapped on the window to get his attention. "Lemme take a look at the roster."
The officer behind the glass barely looked up from his book as he slipped a clipboard through the small hole at the bottom of the window. The clipboard was stacked thick with forms, all of them little more than lines to fill in names and holding information for whoever was brought in from what Yue could see. Sonoda flipped through to the latest page, scanning down the names before stopping about half-way through. "This guy – he was brought in on that smuggling bust?"
The bored officer finally bothered to look up briefly at the name before looking back down at his book. "Him and three other guys. Why?"
Sonoda flipped the forms back and slid the clipboard back through the window. "We think he's connected to another case. Can you get him transferred to interrogation room three in five minutes?"
The officer sighed and closed his book before glancing at the clock. "How about ten?"
"Perfect." Sonoda tapped on the glass and gave the officer a wave. "Thanks. Enjoy the book." The guard gave a grunt in response and a lethargic wave as Sonoda started back down the hall.
Yue followed after him. "I thought we were doing an interrogation?"
"Can't just interrogate him in his cell." Sonoda shrugged. "And even I won't screw with regulations about witnesses – way too much paperwork if any of that goes wrong."
"Oh." Was the only reply Yue could manage after a minute. "I should have thought of that."
Sonoda shrugged. "You aren't actually a cop, despite your prodigious crime-fighting skills. Not surprised you don't know police bureaucracy."
Well, her last job gave her a lot more leeway, Yue thought, but she didn't mention that – no interest in being an ermine and all that. "So if we've got ten minutes to kill, are you going to read the case files now?"
"Not a chance." Sonoda replied as the turned the corner and Yue found them near the elevator she had arrived on – in fact, they were on the opposite side of what had been the ridiculous crowd. It had shrunk to a much more manageable mob by now, and with less people Yue could make out the rows of desks that filled most of the oversized room. Sonoda led them down a row before dropping into a chair behind one. Yue slipped into the spare chair opposite him as he pulled a file out of the stack sitting in the box at one corner, dropping it in front of you. "The case file – feel free to take a look."
Yue eyed Sonoda for a moment before picking up the file and opening it the the first couple of pages. The case looked fairly straight forward – the police had been working another case, hunting down members of a ring hawking stolen goods when one of the suspects had offered up information on the whereabouts of some former colleagues who had apparently moved onto greener pastures. The resulting police raid had swept up a trio of two-bit thieves and the collection of strange-looking guns currently sitting in the lab.
The interesting bit was what all of them claimed regarding their employers. The two as described had been a very distinct sounding pair. One of them was a contact of theirs, supposedly having first popped up a few years back. The second was a very familiar sounding tall fellow wrapped in a cloak. "Sounds like our detainees' have met our perpetrator before."
Sonoda leaned over the table, scanning over the file before leaning back with a shrug. "And our victim is probably one of the mover's that the raid didn't grab."
Yue kept reading the file. "Say's here that they hadn't heard from either of them for nearly a month up until a week ago when their contact had them change where they were taking their goods too."
"Does it say anything about the goods?" Yue flipped through the file. It seemed that the 'movers' as Sonoda called them were told never to open the crates. "Well then," Sonoda answered as he rose to his feet. "That just leaves where they were taking them too then. Our friend should have been delivered by now – time to have a chat. Feel free to bring the file."
"I get the feeling you don't like me." Yue quipped as she fell in next to Sonoda. "Prefer to work alone?"
"Feels too much like the Inspector is having me watched." Sonoda replied. "You remind me too much of IA, impressive scumbag takedown skills or not."
"You don't want me to slow you down." Yue realized.
"You said it, not me." Sonoda replied as he stopped in front of a plain looking door, opening it for Yue with a small flourish. "But the day is young – besides, you had a good morning. You've still got some credit left."
What Yue was finding the most irksome wasn't the Inspector's doubt despite the morning – all he had was the word of a woman he didn't know and what he had seen this morning. It wasn't even his slightly condescending attitude – though it really didn't help. It was that she couldn't actually prove his assumptions wrong. She couldn't tell him about any of the cases she had worked unless she wanted to get turned into an ermine. And she really didn't want to be turned into an ermine. Instead, all Yue could do was look at Sonoda for a moment before striding past him and slipping into the only open seat opposite their suspect and dropping the file onto the table before calmly flipping it open.
Their suspect was fairly nondescript – a mess of black hair long overdue for a cut and dressed like almost every other twenty-something. Some people expected criminals to look... criminal-like. Yue had learned it wasn't usually that easy. She said nothing as the suspect studied her. "You're not a cop."
"No, I am not." Yue replied calmly. "Since this isn't a police matter – but you already knew that."
"I have no idea-" He started, but Sonoda cut him off.
"You can save yourself the hot air," Sonoda started walking around the table toward the suspect. "We've seen what you were moving – pretty high-tier stuff for a low-time operation like yours. But we aren't here for the smuggling." The relaxed, but only until Sonoda's next words. "We're here about the murder."
That caught his attention. "Murder!?"
Sonoda reached into his coat, pulling out his phone, punching a few keys to bring up images of the crime scene before turning the small screen to the smuggler. The smuggler's face drained of color. "W-What is this shit?"
"Its what's left of one of your colleagues." Sonoda replied. "He had one of those custom handkerchiefs your lot seem to use for membership cards. Anybody not show up for their shift recently?"
"I can promise you some leniency," Yue chimed in. "That is, if you cooperate."
"Cop's around her don't cut deals." the smuggler replied.
Yue gave him a small grin. "But, as you said, I am not a cop. Any recent interactions with a tall fellow? Likely wore a cloak at all times?"
The smuggler considered the proposition. "I tell you this, you get me a deal? Like those American cop shows?"
"More or less." Yue nodded. "So – I'm guessing problems at work, if he killed one of yours."
"You could call it that." the smuggler replied, still a little uneasy. "No idea who he is, or where he came from. One of our contacts introduced him to us. Told us he needed things moved quietly."
"What sort of things?" Sonoda asked.
"You probably know better than I do." the smuggler shrugged. "We just moved crates in and out. Mostly around the district. There was no pattern to it – sometimes we'd pick up from a spot, then the next week it was the drop off. Other times it was just in the middle of a field."
"What about most of the time?" Sonoda leaned on the desk.
"The base of the world tree." the smuggler replied, leaning back as the Inspector intruded into his personal space. "Or near the lake. A couple times it was under the streets...somewhere. I was never sure where the tunnels were compared to the streets."
"Most of the sewer tunnels aren't large enough for people." Sonoda pointed out. "You'd have to be crawling around the flood control system."
"Unless," Yue added. "You were crawling around some decidedly older tunnels. Tell me, did you ever see temples as you moved through those tunnels? Perhaps see strange lights, unusual caverns? My guess is you probably had to pick up or drop stuff off at that sort of place."
"How do you know that?" The smuggler now looked thoroughly unsettled. "I don't even know what some of those places were! Our contact showed us around the first couple times..."
"I represent certain interests." Yue replied. "And those interests are very interested in whatever you saw down below."
"What about that in-fighting." Sonoda cut in before the smuggler could get too wrapped up in induced paranoia. "You mentioned some...issues at work?"
"Our contact started having us deliver the crates to new places a couple of weeks ago." the smuggler explained. "No more underground spots. These were warehouses or shop backrooms of something – normal places. Not long after the cloak guy showed up and he was seriously pissed."
Sonoda quirked an eyebrow. "How pissed?"
"He threw one of our guys through a stack of crates." the smuggler replied. "He was lucky they were empty. Still ended up being a pain in the ass to explain at the hospital. We told him we were just following instructions from our contact. After that, neither of them showed up. Never saw them again." the smuggler paused for a moment. "There was one other guy."
"Who?" Sonoda asked.
"Never got a name." the smuggler replied with a shrug. "He showed up around the same time we started changing where we delivered to. I figured he was handling things further downstream."
"So he was the new buyer?" Yue asked.
"Or the new middleman." The smuggler replied. "And I don't think the guy in the cloak knew we were selling to the new guy."
"Anything you can tell us about the new guy?" Sonoda asked.
"Just that he looked real jumpy for having as many tattoos on his face as he did." the smuggler replied. "Thats all I can tell you. So...about that deal?"
Yue rose from her seat. "My people will be in touch with you. Until then, you'll remain here in the custody of the Special District office." The smuggler started sputtering something about getting scammed when Sonoda gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Your problem," Sonoda explained. "Is you think you're actually in a position to bargain with her." Sonoda left the indignant suspect as he stepped back into the hall, finding Yue resting her head against the wall. "You alright?"
"Fine." Yue replied. "That sort of act just take a lot out of me."
"That was... acting?" Sonoda blinked owlishly. "Where did you learn to pull an act like that? That was less 'cop' and more 'secret government agent' back there."
"My last job," Yue replied. "wasn't exactly normal. I need a drink."
"Well there's a vending machine down the hall if you want something." Sonoda pointed down toward one end of the hall. "Think they have something eel flavored in there."
Yue chuckled. "Just eel or eel curry?"
Sonoda shrugged. "never tried it. That was seriously an act in there?"
"I've learned that people tend to be more cooperative when they think you can do really horrible things to them and get away with it." Yue shrugged. "Also helps to have a good poker face."
"Thats...vaguely disturbing." Sonoda managed. "Effective though – you think are victim was the contact he kept mentioning?"
"Seems reasonable." Yue replied as she leaned back from the wall, stretching for a moment before starting toward the mentioned vending machines. "Though it doesn't tell us where the shipments were being redirected to."
"Or where to find this other guy he mentioned." Sonoda added, following behind Yue at a leisurely pace as they stopped by the vending machine. "We know who to look for, but not where to find them."
Yue fished a small bauble out of her pocket, along with some pocket change. "I might be able to help with that."
"What is that?" Sonoda peered at the item. "Wait, is that from the crime scene? You were giving me crap about protocol and you stole evidence from a crime scene?"
"You broke your own protocols." Yue replied as she fed the machine a few coins and punched one of the buttons. "I am still well within mine." At least, she thought she was. "Either way, I might know somebody who can help us."
Sonoda leaned against the wall. "You know a guy?"
The machine gave a metallic clank as it dispensed Yue's order. She fished it out of the hopper at the bottom, giving the inspector a small grin as she popped the can of eel-flavored drink open. "I think its time we visited the Bookstore."
-----
"Name?"
"Yue Ayase"
"Date of birth?" Sonoda asked, in the same semi-bored tone he had been using for the last forty five or so minutes.
"November sixteenth." Yue sighed. She had gone past boredom around twenty questions ago. They had started with her name and age before moving onto the the usual collection of privacy-violating questions that usually came with background checks and job applications at law enforcement or military agencies. She hadn't had to lie per se on any of them yet, but she had little doubt her background investigation would end up with a lot of blank spots. Still, she hadn't had to answer 'Classified Information' on anything yet, but she wasn't counting on her luck lasting much longer.
For the time being, the questionnaire had once again started asking for basics and whatever software they were using wasn't smart enough to remember the answers from earlier and Sonoda didn't seem interested in flipping back through a few dozen pages for the data. Instead, he was just asking her again. "I need a year as well."
Yue let out another sigh. "Nineteen-eighty eight."
Sonoda blinked as he looked at Yue. "You're Twenty-One?" He paused for a minute before turning back to the screen and punching in the year.
"Yeah," Yue arched an eyebrow. "why?"
"Because I've never seen anybody with this many redacted's on the background check." Sonoda replied as he gestured at the screen. "Most people our age don't really have anything. You have stuff, but..."
"Its above your paygrade?" Yue grinned.
"Based on these disclaimers I think it's above the chief's paygrade." Sonoda replied. "What on earth have you been doing?"
"You're fancy database tells you you aren't cleared to know and you think that you can find out just by asking me?" Yue looked at the Inspector. "Has that ever worked for you?"
"Actually," Sonoda chuckled as he tapped a few more keys. "It has. No dice then?"
"I'd sooner turn into an ermine." Yue answered. In this case, she was mostly literal.
"An....ermine?" Sonoda repeated, briefly confused.
"Its a – nevermind." Yue answered, ending that train of conversation before it could start. "Are we done?"
The computer answered for him with a series of shrill little beeps. "Looks like it – just need to print out your consulting badge and papers for the files." A few more keystrokes and a nearby printer whirred to life. "And now for your picture."
"My pic-?" Yue's question was cut off as a small red light blinked somewhere in her peripheral vision, and she turned to it almost entirely on reflex. A split second after she had turned to face it a bright flash filled her entire field of view as another printer – this one much closer – started to print something off.
"Lets take a look at this..." Yue shook her head to clear her vision of the stars she was seeing as Sonoda spoke, and her vision cleared to the sight of him studying a small card of some sort with a grin that, after a moment, started to shrink. "Huh – that actually doesn't look half bad."
"Give me that." Yue reached over the table and snatched the freshly laminated card from the inspector, darting back out of his reach before he could take it back. "Lets see here..." The card was a fairly plain looking affair, vertically oriented with her photograph and identifying information sitting between a the SDO seal below and the word 'CONSULTANT' in over-sized white-on-blue characters at the top. A small chip of some sort was centered at the bottom. She flipped it over, finding some sort of QR code and a magnetic strip across the back. "kind of boring for a badge, don't you think? Does it come with the case?"
Sonoda replied by pulling a small clip and a thin chain from one of the drawers and sliding them across the table to Yue. "You want the fancy case, join the force. Just make sure you keep it visible on you when you're in here – or at crime scenes. It'll let you past the tape and keep them from throwing you out of here. Now clip it on or throw it around your neck."
"Time to go to work?" Yue asked as she rose to her feet, clipping the badge to her jacket before pocketing the chain.
Sonoda got up from behind the desk, snapping his coat back out. "Time to get to work."
Sonoda led them out of the administrative offices and back into the station, after a moment turning down a hall and into an area Yue hadn't seen yet. "So then," Yue started. "Whats the plan?"
"Yuuji mentioned that we had some guys in holding that might have been with our overcooked friend. Figure we should start by talking to them."
"Shouldn't you at least read the files first?" Yue asked.
"What files?" Sonoda replied. "On the case that brought them in? Not really relevant at this point. The files on the murder case? There isn't any yet."
"You don't think you might find anything useful in the files?" Yue asked. "If they were working together, there might be a lead in there."
"Which we can find later." Sonoda shrugged. "The reports aren't going anywhere. I'd rather get my information first-hand. Besides, a good interrogation is way more fun than reading a bunch of files."
"So are you the good cop or the bad cop then?" Yue asked as they turned another corner. The hallway they were on was a series of plain doors with eye-level slit-windows and a small number plate under that, but were otherwise unremarkable. It would have looked like a particularly boring stretch of offices if it wasn't for the fact that all the doors seemed to be made of solid metal.
Sonoda strolled up to the single aberration – a window built into the wall behind which a very bored looking officer was flipping through a book. Sonoda rapped on the window to get his attention. "Lemme take a look at the roster."
The officer behind the glass barely looked up from his book as he slipped a clipboard through the small hole at the bottom of the window. The clipboard was stacked thick with forms, all of them little more than lines to fill in names and holding information for whoever was brought in from what Yue could see. Sonoda flipped through to the latest page, scanning down the names before stopping about half-way through. "This guy – he was brought in on that smuggling bust?"
The bored officer finally bothered to look up briefly at the name before looking back down at his book. "Him and three other guys. Why?"
Sonoda flipped the forms back and slid the clipboard back through the window. "We think he's connected to another case. Can you get him transferred to interrogation room three in five minutes?"
The officer sighed and closed his book before glancing at the clock. "How about ten?"
"Perfect." Sonoda tapped on the glass and gave the officer a wave. "Thanks. Enjoy the book." The guard gave a grunt in response and a lethargic wave as Sonoda started back down the hall.
Yue followed after him. "I thought we were doing an interrogation?"
"Can't just interrogate him in his cell." Sonoda shrugged. "And even I won't screw with regulations about witnesses – way too much paperwork if any of that goes wrong."
"Oh." Was the only reply Yue could manage after a minute. "I should have thought of that."
Sonoda shrugged. "You aren't actually a cop, despite your prodigious crime-fighting skills. Not surprised you don't know police bureaucracy."
Well, her last job gave her a lot more leeway, Yue thought, but she didn't mention that – no interest in being an ermine and all that. "So if we've got ten minutes to kill, are you going to read the case files now?"
"Not a chance." Sonoda replied as the turned the corner and Yue found them near the elevator she had arrived on – in fact, they were on the opposite side of what had been the ridiculous crowd. It had shrunk to a much more manageable mob by now, and with less people Yue could make out the rows of desks that filled most of the oversized room. Sonoda led them down a row before dropping into a chair behind one. Yue slipped into the spare chair opposite him as he pulled a file out of the stack sitting in the box at one corner, dropping it in front of you. "The case file – feel free to take a look."
Yue eyed Sonoda for a moment before picking up the file and opening it the the first couple of pages. The case looked fairly straight forward – the police had been working another case, hunting down members of a ring hawking stolen goods when one of the suspects had offered up information on the whereabouts of some former colleagues who had apparently moved onto greener pastures. The resulting police raid had swept up a trio of two-bit thieves and the collection of strange-looking guns currently sitting in the lab.
The interesting bit was what all of them claimed regarding their employers. The two as described had been a very distinct sounding pair. One of them was a contact of theirs, supposedly having first popped up a few years back. The second was a very familiar sounding tall fellow wrapped in a cloak. "Sounds like our detainees' have met our perpetrator before."
Sonoda leaned over the table, scanning over the file before leaning back with a shrug. "And our victim is probably one of the mover's that the raid didn't grab."
Yue kept reading the file. "Say's here that they hadn't heard from either of them for nearly a month up until a week ago when their contact had them change where they were taking their goods too."
"Does it say anything about the goods?" Yue flipped through the file. It seemed that the 'movers' as Sonoda called them were told never to open the crates. "Well then," Sonoda answered as he rose to his feet. "That just leaves where they were taking them too then. Our friend should have been delivered by now – time to have a chat. Feel free to bring the file."
"I get the feeling you don't like me." Yue quipped as she fell in next to Sonoda. "Prefer to work alone?"
"Feels too much like the Inspector is having me watched." Sonoda replied. "You remind me too much of IA, impressive scumbag takedown skills or not."
"You don't want me to slow you down." Yue realized.
"You said it, not me." Sonoda replied as he stopped in front of a plain looking door, opening it for Yue with a small flourish. "But the day is young – besides, you had a good morning. You've still got some credit left."
What Yue was finding the most irksome wasn't the Inspector's doubt despite the morning – all he had was the word of a woman he didn't know and what he had seen this morning. It wasn't even his slightly condescending attitude – though it really didn't help. It was that she couldn't actually prove his assumptions wrong. She couldn't tell him about any of the cases she had worked unless she wanted to get turned into an ermine. And she really didn't want to be turned into an ermine. Instead, all Yue could do was look at Sonoda for a moment before striding past him and slipping into the only open seat opposite their suspect and dropping the file onto the table before calmly flipping it open.
Their suspect was fairly nondescript – a mess of black hair long overdue for a cut and dressed like almost every other twenty-something. Some people expected criminals to look... criminal-like. Yue had learned it wasn't usually that easy. She said nothing as the suspect studied her. "You're not a cop."
"No, I am not." Yue replied calmly. "Since this isn't a police matter – but you already knew that."
"I have no idea-" He started, but Sonoda cut him off.
"You can save yourself the hot air," Sonoda started walking around the table toward the suspect. "We've seen what you were moving – pretty high-tier stuff for a low-time operation like yours. But we aren't here for the smuggling." The relaxed, but only until Sonoda's next words. "We're here about the murder."
That caught his attention. "Murder!?"
Sonoda reached into his coat, pulling out his phone, punching a few keys to bring up images of the crime scene before turning the small screen to the smuggler. The smuggler's face drained of color. "W-What is this shit?"
"Its what's left of one of your colleagues." Sonoda replied. "He had one of those custom handkerchiefs your lot seem to use for membership cards. Anybody not show up for their shift recently?"
"I can promise you some leniency," Yue chimed in. "That is, if you cooperate."
"Cop's around her don't cut deals." the smuggler replied.
Yue gave him a small grin. "But, as you said, I am not a cop. Any recent interactions with a tall fellow? Likely wore a cloak at all times?"
The smuggler considered the proposition. "I tell you this, you get me a deal? Like those American cop shows?"
"More or less." Yue nodded. "So – I'm guessing problems at work, if he killed one of yours."
"You could call it that." the smuggler replied, still a little uneasy. "No idea who he is, or where he came from. One of our contacts introduced him to us. Told us he needed things moved quietly."
"What sort of things?" Sonoda asked.
"You probably know better than I do." the smuggler shrugged. "We just moved crates in and out. Mostly around the district. There was no pattern to it – sometimes we'd pick up from a spot, then the next week it was the drop off. Other times it was just in the middle of a field."
"What about most of the time?" Sonoda leaned on the desk.
"The base of the world tree." the smuggler replied, leaning back as the Inspector intruded into his personal space. "Or near the lake. A couple times it was under the streets...somewhere. I was never sure where the tunnels were compared to the streets."
"Most of the sewer tunnels aren't large enough for people." Sonoda pointed out. "You'd have to be crawling around the flood control system."
"Unless," Yue added. "You were crawling around some decidedly older tunnels. Tell me, did you ever see temples as you moved through those tunnels? Perhaps see strange lights, unusual caverns? My guess is you probably had to pick up or drop stuff off at that sort of place."
"How do you know that?" The smuggler now looked thoroughly unsettled. "I don't even know what some of those places were! Our contact showed us around the first couple times..."
"I represent certain interests." Yue replied. "And those interests are very interested in whatever you saw down below."
"What about that in-fighting." Sonoda cut in before the smuggler could get too wrapped up in induced paranoia. "You mentioned some...issues at work?"
"Our contact started having us deliver the crates to new places a couple of weeks ago." the smuggler explained. "No more underground spots. These were warehouses or shop backrooms of something – normal places. Not long after the cloak guy showed up and he was seriously pissed."
Sonoda quirked an eyebrow. "How pissed?"
"He threw one of our guys through a stack of crates." the smuggler replied. "He was lucky they were empty. Still ended up being a pain in the ass to explain at the hospital. We told him we were just following instructions from our contact. After that, neither of them showed up. Never saw them again." the smuggler paused for a moment. "There was one other guy."
"Who?" Sonoda asked.
"Never got a name." the smuggler replied with a shrug. "He showed up around the same time we started changing where we delivered to. I figured he was handling things further downstream."
"So he was the new buyer?" Yue asked.
"Or the new middleman." The smuggler replied. "And I don't think the guy in the cloak knew we were selling to the new guy."
"Anything you can tell us about the new guy?" Sonoda asked.
"Just that he looked real jumpy for having as many tattoos on his face as he did." the smuggler replied. "Thats all I can tell you. So...about that deal?"
Yue rose from her seat. "My people will be in touch with you. Until then, you'll remain here in the custody of the Special District office." The smuggler started sputtering something about getting scammed when Sonoda gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Your problem," Sonoda explained. "Is you think you're actually in a position to bargain with her." Sonoda left the indignant suspect as he stepped back into the hall, finding Yue resting her head against the wall. "You alright?"
"Fine." Yue replied. "That sort of act just take a lot out of me."
"That was... acting?" Sonoda blinked owlishly. "Where did you learn to pull an act like that? That was less 'cop' and more 'secret government agent' back there."
"My last job," Yue replied. "wasn't exactly normal. I need a drink."
"Well there's a vending machine down the hall if you want something." Sonoda pointed down toward one end of the hall. "Think they have something eel flavored in there."
Yue chuckled. "Just eel or eel curry?"
Sonoda shrugged. "never tried it. That was seriously an act in there?"
"I've learned that people tend to be more cooperative when they think you can do really horrible things to them and get away with it." Yue shrugged. "Also helps to have a good poker face."
"Thats...vaguely disturbing." Sonoda managed. "Effective though – you think are victim was the contact he kept mentioning?"
"Seems reasonable." Yue replied as she leaned back from the wall, stretching for a moment before starting toward the mentioned vending machines. "Though it doesn't tell us where the shipments were being redirected to."
"Or where to find this other guy he mentioned." Sonoda added, following behind Yue at a leisurely pace as they stopped by the vending machine. "We know who to look for, but not where to find them."
Yue fished a small bauble out of her pocket, along with some pocket change. "I might be able to help with that."
"What is that?" Sonoda peered at the item. "Wait, is that from the crime scene? You were giving me crap about protocol and you stole evidence from a crime scene?"
"You broke your own protocols." Yue replied as she fed the machine a few coins and punched one of the buttons. "I am still well within mine." At least, she thought she was. "Either way, I might know somebody who can help us."
Sonoda leaned against the wall. "You know a guy?"
The machine gave a metallic clank as it dispensed Yue's order. She fished it out of the hopper at the bottom, giving the inspector a small grin as she popped the can of eel-flavored drink open. "I think its time we visited the Bookstore."
Still drinking strange flavours I see.
In Mahora? Both.