You savour your coffee for a moment. It
is pretty good, mellow and not too heavy but just enough to leave a lovely aftertaste... You blink, turning to Yuri.
"Miss Ito?" you ask curiously. "What kind of coffee is this?"
"Ah, they call it a blonde coffee on the menu?" Yuri tells you.
"... huh," you say.
"Is there something wrong?" Yuri asks.
"No, no, just a stray thought," you say, giving her a reassuring smile. You take another sip of your coffee. Hot, strong, blonde, and sweet. That
is rather how you like it. You hum quietly, thinking over the situation.
Gerrymandering. Is that the right word for what this Toshimichi Akane does? Reverse gerrymandering, where people are shifted about instead of redrawing voter bloc lines to suit the ruling party? Maybe, maybe not. And you can't help the niggling worry of carrying capacity... hopefully Akane does it to ensure that groups can support themselves, but you worry.
Speaking of carrying capacity and Witches, you stretch out your senses.
Metis.
Agatha.
Brizo.
Kurenai, Terumi, and Yuri respectively. You tuck those sepulchral whispers,
impressions, away to the back of your mind. The best way of ensuring that you aren't caught out by infiltrators, but it's rather morbid still.
"Do you have any more questions, Miss Vee?" Kurenai asks.
"Ah, yeah," you say, smiling brightly. "Sorry, I got distracted for a bit. Right. Uhh... First of all, why do people want to unseat Miss Toshimichi? Personal grievances or general authority issues or just wanting the power or something else?"
"All three? Each group has its reasons," Kurenai replies, shrugging. She frowns in thought, tugging on a loop of her hair. "I would say that they tend
mostly towards personal grievances."
"Except the Meiji group," Yuri offers. "Fuck
them."
"What's wrong with them?" Sayaka beats you to the punch, leaning forward with a curious look.
Yuri exchanges a look with Kurenai. "Honestly?
No idea," Yuri says. "They're just..." She waves a hand, as if searching for the right word.
"Constantly, consistently belligerent," Kurenai supplies. "They
barely abide by the peace in Tokyo, honestly." She shakes her head. "Nobody likes them, and I don't think
anybody's looking forward to when they come up in the rotation again for hunting partner trade."
"... is it a
recent thing?" you ask.
"Within... the last few months or so?" Kurenai says.
"Half a year, just about," Haruki says. He frowns and counts on his fingers for a moment before nodding decisively. "Just over half a year, actually. Six months."
"Anything
happen six months ago?" Sayaka asks, stirring her milkshake idly with the straw. Which would have been your follow up question, anyway.
"I'm not sure," Kurenai admits. She glances to Yuri, Haruki, and Terumi. "Any idea?"
"Hm..." Haruki frowns, and shakes his head. "It would have been-"
"-two weeks after we started dating," Yuri says. "I came home in a
mood, remember?"
"Yeah, you never really elaborated on it much," Haruki says. He frowns, and takes a sip of his coffee.
"I didn't, no, but that was... One of the Council meetings. I think?" Yuri frowns, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Miss Toshimichi pulled her aside at some point, and... I think she was ejected from the meeting. Sorry, it's been a while. Oh, Terumi?"
The tiny girl peers up through her silver fringe, smiling shyly, and gestures at Yuri. Japanese sign language, you recognise.
Could you please help me translate for the nice lady? she asks.
You wave a hand at them to catch their attention, and sign right back at Terumi, smiling.
No need, I understand you, you say.
Terumi visibly brightens, beaming at you.
There was a lot of anger, she signs.
The Meiji group.
"Aaagh, just because
you can speak sign language doesn't mean everyone can," Sayaka grumbles, elbowing you in the side.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm not very good at it either," Haruki says with a shrug.
"So I'll speak and sign at the same time," you say with a shrug, and continue in sign
and out loud.
So... there was a lot of anger with the Meiji group? Were you there?
"Wait, so both you and Miss Ito were there?" Sayaka asks. "I thought there was just one representative?"
"Terumi wasn't with our group at the time," Yuri offers. "She used to be North Tokyo, but her family moved. That's, uh, the Kita and Arakawa wards area, more or less."
"And we're not actually limited to sending just one representative," Kurenai adds, raising a finger. "I gather they decided it would be good to have Terumi's impression of the Council."
The girl in question nods vigorously.
I didn't like them much, Terumi says.
But I was there. There was a lot of anger and fear, and then Miss Toshimichi took her aside. They called the meeting in the first place, about the death of one of their members? And... I don't remember the rest. There was a lot of anger, a lot of fear and a lot of shouting.
"... But you don't remember what caused it in the first place?" Sayaka asks, listening to your diction of Terumi's speech. She directs the question to Terumi.
Terumi shakes her head.
It was a long time ago.
"And before you ask, I never really got to listen in to most of it," Yuri says. "I got there at the tail end of things. Uni classes and all, you know? At that point it was all shouting and noise. Thankfully, no actual violence, but no, I don't remember, either."
Six months isn't that long ago, you can't help but think, but... Terumi
is young. And utterly adorable, with the way she raises her mug with both hands to chug the hot chocolate. But it's still something to investigate.
"Ah, well. Thank you, Miss Ito, Miss Konno," you say. You sign your thanks to Terumi as well, and she gives you a shy smile in return. "So... on the topic of the Meiji group, are there... voting blocs or things like that? Are the... violent groups a coherent bloc?"
"Not particularly," Kurenai says, frowning. "The Council doesn't really... rule on as many topics as you seem to think? It mainly governs how our different territories are set up and hunting disputes - handling new magical girls is part of that."
"If you'll accept an outsider's opinion," Haruki adds. "It's not a government. It's a semi-democratic mediating body aimed at keeping the peace here in Tokyo, somewhere for magical girls to air their issues and to apply pressure to groups
before they become problems."
"And it's worked so far," Yuri says with a shrug.
"So what specific kind of things
does the Council handle?" you ask.
"Eh, as I said - hunting rights and border disputes," Kurenai says. She gestures with her palms, pushing them close to each other. "Tokyo is
packed, and it seems like every week, a Witch escapes across a boundary to a neighbouring team's area. The Council makes sure this stays
fair without raiding other groups."
"... y'know," Haruki says thoughtfully, scratching his chin. "I never really thought about it, but that's exactly it. The Council
isn't a government - but many think that it
is, or it
should be. Kurenai, you've been to the Council more than Yuri. What do you think - do those groups want Toshimichi to intervene
more?"
"Frequently," Kurenai agrees. "I... hm, no, and then again, yes. They try to wield the Council against
other groups, which is pretty much a mark of the session turning to shit unless Miss Toshimichi puts her foot down. Which she doesn't do much."
"Which suggests that at least
some of them want to take over the Council so that they'd be in the driving seat, as it were?" you ask, frowning. "Say, just curious - what
are Miss Toshimichi's powers?"
"No one's actually sure," Kurenai says. "It's one of the big mysteries. We know it lets her have some pretty powerful surveillance, given how much she always knows, but she's actually been able to keep it a secret all this time. Which is impressive, if you think about it."
Sayaka catches your eye, quirking an eyebrow at you, and you shrug. You're not sure about that, either. The fact that nobody seems to
quite remember details is a little odd, you agree, but now might not be the best time to probe it. Maybe if you could phrase it delicately.
Yuri snorts. She seems faintly amused. "We're actually in a fairly good spot here, I think," she says. "Hunting-wise, I mean. We've got a decent-sized territory and we're by the sea, so we don't get people poaching our Witches too much. And so we don't really need the Council to help us that much."
"Huh," you say. "Moving on... what do you actually
do if the rules are broken by someone? Or what does the Council actually do?"
"Oh, generally the surrounding groups send a delegation, plus the Chiyoda group," Kurenai says. "Not much more needs to be done than that. Simply having twenty magical girls show up on your doorstep is... an experience in and of itself."
"Possibly even two experiences at once, all bundled up into one ultra-terrifying experience," Haruki says. "What? I'm just saying. That much power, in a tiny little package?"
"Behave," Yuri says, and grins. "Not like
you complain about it normally."
Haruki shrugs, grin matching hers. Sayaka rolls her eyes, and you resist the urge to join her. You're probably just as bad with Mami.
Terumi waves to catch your attention, and starts signing at you.
"Never had to resort to fighting that you can remember, huh?" you say, echoing her words. "That's... actually really good to hear."
"No one really
wants to start a war in Tokyo," Kurenai says. "Not even Meiji or Sumida."
"We like to joke the beer makes them all mad," Yuri says with a grin.
"Uhh." You blink. "The beer?"
"Asahi brewery headquarters!" she tells you. "Riiiight there in the middle of their place."
"Ah... OK," you say.
Yuri pouts at the failure of her joke.
"Soooo a visit to the Skytree's out of the question, I suppose?" Sayaka says.
"Oh, Miss Toshimichi's real big on letting passing magical girls, y'know, pass through," Yuri says. "Provided you announce your intentions ahead of time. Same with magical girls wanting to move around, generally speaking. Tokyo's a big city, but we can't really expect to, uh,
not have to travel around. Imagine if we couldn't go to Ginza or something."
Ginza is... a big shopping district, as you recall.
"That makes sense," you agree.
"So that's all..." Sayaka holds her hands out, as if weighing things against each other. "So there's friction, and there's groups agitating for change, leadership, and benefits for themselves. But nothing's ever come of it, because all of you manage to police each other effectively?"
"Eh..." Kurenai's gaze flickers to Yuri and Terumi. Both shrug. "That does sound reasonably accurate, yes."
"Right, then," you say. "So, about my offer. I don't... look, again, it's offered freely. To
everyone, and I don't actually demand anything. Helping people is what I'm here
for, and I know I can do a lot of good."
"Not every group deserves it," Kurenai says calmly. "It's just that we can't decide
which group."
"
Every group deserves it," you snap before you can rein in your anger. You can feel Sayaka bridling, right beside you, and Terumi flinches back. Kurenai, on the other hand doesn't back down, meeting your gaze steadily.
"Logistics," Haruki says. "Everyone's running on constrained logistics, scarce resources - Grief Seeds. I... yes, I'm perfectly aware that Grief Seeds are important. But even assuming you could fairly distribute what you're offering to everyone, it means that
any given group becomes walking WMDs."
"What do you plan now, Miss Vee?" Kurenai asks.
[] Ask to meet Chiyoda
[] Ask more questions...
- [] About specific groups?
[] Discuss this with...
- [] Sayaka (pull her aside/telepathy)
- [] Mami
- [] Homura
- [] Madoka, Hitomi
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
=====
Aiming for a Thursday update, and aiming to finish this section of talking here in one or two updates!
