"What do you think?" Nel asks, and you freeze like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. What do you think? Right now the only thing in your head is that you don't
know what you think of this. Any of it, really; you've just been going with the flow…
Cutting off that line of thought before you can go too far off the rails, you close your eyes to try to calm down, and properly sort out your feelings. It feels weird to be asked this at all, for starters; you're completely new to all things magical girl, while Nel seems to live and breathe it; plus, recruitment is their job anyway, not yours. In addition, this could affect how well the others get along, but given how detached you are, (have always been, really) can you really make an accurate judgement? Is it even your place to do so? It doesn't feel right to be making a decision about a matter that will likely affect you the least.
Still… it doesn't feel right
not to say anything, either. Hesitantly, you step closer. "I'm… I'm sure everything will probably work out fine?" The assurance feels fake and hollow in your ears, the most generic and unhelpful possible thing to say; more a question than an answer. Still, it seems to help, Nel's tumultuous swirling gradually dying down.
"I sincerely hope so," Nel sighs, but they do sound relieved. "You're right: I'll keep to the plan, no matter Shimizu-san's misgivings. We've had far less qualified-seeming candidates turn out just fine in the past, after all!" Turning to you, they give a grateful bow. "Thank you very much for your help." You squirm uneasily at the praise, but fortunately they've already moved on.
Returning to their spot behind the desk, Nel shuts the lid on the box of rings with a loud clap, making you jump. "There's one other matter I wanted to bring up, just for a moment."
With a wave of an arm, the window behind them changes suddenly. Blinking in surprise, you realize it doubles as a screen; while you can still see schools of fish outside, there's now a video overlaid on the view. Retreating to the back of the room to take it in more clearly, you realize you're watching footage from a news helicopter looking down upon the city; it zooms in on the river, and you recognize the old bridge you'd visited last night. Right at the shore, there's a wide circle of white, reaching all the way to the first set of bridge supports.
Oh, right. That.
The view quickly switches to a lady newscaster, prim and proper, sitting next to a rather frazzled-looking elderly man. "The strange phenomenon discovered early this very morning continues to baffle local meteorologists." she explains; "While snowy conditions aren't unheard of this time of year, as we settle into early autumn, there's never been such a localized and extreme drop in temperature." Pointing her microphone toward the man, she adds "As our resident weather expert, Kobayashi-san, do you have any theories regarding this incident?"
Frowning to himself, he hesitates before speaking up. "I suspect this could be some previously-unheard of consequence of our ongoing global climate change. Without further data, it is difficult to say for certain; we will keep watch for any repeat incidents, but at this stage it is nothing more than a particularly bizarre fluke of nature." Trying to shrug it off, despite his clear anxiety, he gives a fake laugh. "Perhaps this is just the world's way of reminding us how little we actually understand?"
Reclaiming her microphone, the newscaster nods sympathetically. "And what a fluke, to be sure. It's uncertain if this is likely to happen again, but for the time being no harm has been caused, just confusion." Turning back to the camera, she takes on a somewhat more serious tone. "Now, the ice is already beginning to break up, and will likely finish melting away completely by this evening, so we strongly urge everyone to stay away from the area; the risk of falling through and into the river is extremely high." With a cheesy smile and a wink, (made somewhat surreal by the shark partially visible behind her face) she adds "there's no need for popsicles in this weather!" The meteorologist rolls his eyes and begins to get up, before being cropped out of the frame. "Now, on to other news. As the national election draws nearer, candidates for Prime Minister have begun announcing themselves, leading wit-"
With another wave, the window returns to simply being a window, leaving a somewhat startled shark to swim away in surprise. You give Nel a nervous grin. "Magical Girl prison?"
Nel stares at you uncomprehendingly for several moments, before chuckling. "No, we still don't have that."
"But I'm in trouble, right?"
"Not really," Nel says, and you slump in sheepish relief. "As I said before, there have already been a few monsters just in this city that we had to hide the presence of, before I was able to convince you to join. With the nature of some girls' powers, cases of near-breaches of secrecy are somewhat inevitable, to a certain extent at least."
You're still feeling confused, so they elaborate further. "The reason I mention this now is for future reference; the problem is not the ice, but that you didn't alert me to it. Given you're still learning to use your powers I don't expect you to get rid of it yourself, but if I knew about it before any other humans noticed, we could have found another way to remove it, or at the very least excuse its presence. Swamp gas, weather balloons, reflected light from Venus; there are a variety of possible cover stories."
You raise an eyebrow at that, but Nel moves on before you can comment. "Fortunately, it's only on the local news, and should hopefully go down as an isolated fluke without attracting broader notice…" You sense a 'but' coming."
But I do ask that you be more careful in the future." Ah, there it is.
You nod quietly. "Sorry. I wasn't really thinking."
Even through the obscuring cloudiness of their form, Nel seems to give a warmer smile in response. "There's no harm done; it's just something to keep in mind for the future." You both nod at that, and their tone brightens up further. "I also wanted to congratulate you; it seems you have discovered both of your powers, now?"
Remembering the feeling from last night; contentment and understanding, peace and purpose; you find yourself smiling involuntarily. "I think so, yeah." It feels better to… well,
feel than to think, to forget all about the situation and consequences and just act. "My magical girl powers, anyway; I still haven't sorted out this ghost thing."
"It's progress nonetheless!" Nel encourages. "And while there's still a lot to learn before you can gain full control, this should hopefully help any future encounters go more smoothly, yes?"
"Right, right." Wait, aren't you getting a bit sidetracked? "Anyway, what about my mission?"
Nel halts for several long moments before laughing in embarrassment. "I'd almost forgotten about that. Let's not waste any more time, then! You received my note and understand the situation?"
You nod in confirmation. "Follow the construction worker or the bookstore owner around, and see if they're up to something, right?"
"In essence, yes; that's correct. While there are other clones we've noticed and are tracking, these two have both been here the longest, by our estimation, so it seemed prudent to start with them. Which one have you chosen?"
~~~ .oO◯Oo. ~~~
A few minutes later, you step through another door and into another narrow alleyway. Unlike the one you used to reach the hospital, where smooth metal and concrete dominated the architecture, this place is much more humble, with red brick walls all around. There isn't much to it, just a fire escape, a couple of dumpsters, and a manhole cover, so you waste little time in stepping out into the road to get your bearings.
Smaller trees line the road, providing shade while allowing the sun to still shine brightly down, giving a cheery and comfortable atmosphere to the tight-packed storefronts. With outdoor cafes, music shops, and smaller restaurants, this place of commerce is warm and inviting... and so very very busy. Cars drive past frequently, and the sidewalks are filled with pedestrians, forcing you to hang back to avoid bumping into anyone, despite your invisibility. Suppressing anxiety at the sheer amount of people to avoid, you call on old instincts as the school wallflower to look for gaps in the crowd.
It takes some time to make your way to your destination, but soon enough you're standing before the bookshop Nel told you about. The window displays have a mix of recent releases and extremely old novels, and the door is cluttered with notices about local events and fundraisers; nearly buried beneath them is a sign giving the shop's hours, along with a handwritten note;
An inclusive space, all are welcome here! Please remember that drinks are not allowed, and smiles are mandatory! : P
It doesn't take long to wait for someone to enter, and you quickly follow on the heels of a horribly giggly young couple, rolling your eyes slightly as the man slings his arm over the woman's shoulders, making her titter like a startled bird. Quickly sidestepping away from them, you look over the shop's interior.
One thing you have to give them credit for - this is the kind of place you would have loved to spend time in, had you been aware of its existence. It's cozy and cluttered without feeling chaotic, classy and spotless without feeling opulent; heavy carved-wood furniture and hardwood floors contrasting with welcoming beanbags slung in a corner dedicated to manga, and indirect lighting in the ceiling providing a warm glow. The shelves are packed with books, again a mixture of bestsellers with more obscure releases and a variety of old volumes. The topmost shelves in each case, though, are dedicated to a rather eccentric collection of souvenirs and objects; a buddha statue next to a small scale-model of the Sphinx of Giza, next to a photograph of the Eiffel Tower, and so on and so forth, a sizable clutter that makes it hard to focus on any one thing for too long. Turning around, you find a counter in the back corner, behind which stands your target: Sakamoto Takuya, the owner.
Narrowing your eyes at the man, you drift closer to examine him up and down. He's fairly average-looking, aside from dark-tanned skin giving away his more southerly origins; with black hair cut very short, and clearly in his mid-thirties. He doesn't seem particularly reedy or stocky yet somehow gives the impression of both at the same time, and you note with approval that he also seems to be a fan of sweater vests.
He wears an easy, friendly grin as he patiently watches the affectionate couple. "Is there anything I can help with?" He calls out, but they just wave him off, and exit not long after without buying anything. You carefully watch his reaction, but he just shrugs and sighs without much disappointment, grabbing a feather duster from under the counter.
As he goes about an unnecessarily-thorough dusting spree, you sit down into a far corner, watching him carefully but soaking in the comfortable ambience, letting yourself relax. For his part, once he's done with the lower shelves, he takes a ladder from a backroom to reach the higher ones, and something interesting occurs. From one of the souvenir-cluttered top shelves, he pulls out an object you'd seen without really noticing before. It appears to be a mason jar full of pink lemonade, or something very similar, though there's a layer of brown silt at the bottom. He frowns down at it, stepping down and putting the jar behind the counter before resuming his dusting.
A few shelves later there's another jar like this, and another further down yet from that one; they also have the brown sludge, and also wind up behind his desk. Moving to the opposite wall, he finds the jars concealed there lack the sludge, and are put back in place instead of removed. That discovery seems to take the edge off his disappointment, and he quickly gets back to his normal cleaning, though he still seems a bit less enthusiastic than before. Your brows furrow as you look back over the shelves, noting the jars' locations; there are eight in total, and spaced evenly along each wall, though the three that got removed create a large gap on the one side.
Just as he's finished putting the ladder away again, the bell over the door rings, and another woman enters, arms stuffed with grocery bags. "Nee-san!" Takuya greets her, and she gives him a friendly shove on her way past.
Giving her a quick once-over, you find she's a rather beautiful woman. Her darker skin and blonde hair would give off the impression of being a gyaru, not helped by her rather curvy figure, but there's a sense of professionalism in the way she carries herself that offsets that entirely. Not to mention her outfit, a pale green pinstriped button-up shirt with a long black tie in front, and black jeans that aren't remotely girly, yet which hug her hips well regardless. Her hair is cropped in a short and fluffy bob cut, with one side tucked behind her ear while the other hangs in front of her face, giving her a strangely open yet reserved appearance, and reminding you a bit of Midori and Pallavi. Shaking your head, you focus on listening in to their conversation.
"I'm back, finally. The lines were long; I
told you we should have waited until after lunchtime!" He rolls his eyes good-naturedly at her complaints, while she sets the groceries down on the counter and rolls her shoulders with a wince. "I see we didn't get much business while I was gone…" Spotting the jars he'd set down, her frown deepens.
Scooting behind her to return the duster to its original spot, Takuya shrugs. "Just a couple, and they didn't buy anything."
"Looks like they won't be a couple for long, either," his apparent sister notes with a dark expression. "I'm guessing they looked to all the world like the most inseparable pair?" You frown, leaning intently closer, confused by the accuracy of her guess, which Takuya confirms with a nod. She sighs, taking a seat behind the desk and continuing to massage her shoulders. "Great, one of
those types. At least they didn't stick around too long. You gonna put up new ones?"
"Yeah, I was just getting to that," Takuya says, sounding a little annoyed with her ordering tone. "Rina nee-san, please trust me for a change?"
She just gives him a lazy-eyed grin. "Maybe once you stop relying on
emprunter?" At his exasperated sigh, she finally takes pity, patting him lightly on the shoulder. "Sorry, sorry, I'll let you take care of it. I should get all this put away upstairs anyway, and I can call
règle dame with our
mea culpa. It will be a decent shipment this month, I think, but not what she was hoping for."
Standing back up, she begins gathering up the grocery bags again, only to pause suddenly at her brother's next words; "I take it you didn't have any luck either?" Sighing again, she nods in confirmation.
"Not a clue. I think we're searching in the wrong neighborhood, but it's impossible to be sure until it's found." Huffing in frustration, she adds "Though have you seen what they're saying on the news? It seems part of the river froze over last night, just a small part though, and nobody can tell why. It's on the opposite end of the city, of course; it may be something else to look into."
"May not have anything to do with us, though," Takuya points out. Still hidden in the corner, you raise an eyebrow at the irony. "Anyway, I should let you go make that call, and rearrange things down here." She nods in agreement, gathering up the bags again and vanishing into the backroom; through the open door, you see her back retreating up a staircase to the second floor. Once she's gone, Takuya shivers slightly, mumbling to himself "Better you than me…"
Just as you're wondering whether you should follow her or continue to observe him, the bell rings again, and your attention turns back to the front of the shop. A young boy enters, face concealed behind a baseball hat and hoodie; Takuya smoothly returns to his original cheer as he calls out; "Shouldn't you be in school right now?" The boy just pauses long enough to give him a sullen glare, before marching over to the manga corner to begin scanning the titles. Takuya sighs at the rude response. "It seems a little early in the day for you to be here, is all."
"Lunch period," the boy grunts in return. You frown a bit; that voice seems really familiar…
"Very well, but you'd best be heading back soon!" Finally finding whichever volume he was searching for, the boy yanks it sharply off of the shelf and heads toward the counter to make his purchase. The transaction is short and wordless, Takuya offering an easygoing smile but getting no reaction, as the boy focuses more on fishing out his wallet. You stand up and start heading slowly toward the backroom, but something about the scene bothers you, so you keep watching. "And may I have your name?" Takuya asks, and the boy finally looks up; you stifle a gasp.
"Yukimura Kichirou," your little brother responds.
By the time you've recovered from your shock, the transaction is done and he's already stepping out the door. Glancing back and forth between his retreating form and the stairwell Rina had vanished up just a minute ago, you feel trapped between options.
Where To Go?
> Follow Takuya's sister (You need to learn more about just what's going on here, and listening in on her call may be the best way to do that…)
> Follow your brother (What's he doing so far away from school? You haven't even seen him since your death, and his behavior has you worried…)
