2025-08-04: A Helpful Adult
- Log: A Helpful Adult
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Reiko Shimizu
- Where: Hirasakan Streets
- OOC Date: 2025-08-04
- IC Date: Wednesday, June 20 2012
- Summary: Reiko takes Tsubasa home, the evening after that attack on Kasugayama... and Tsubasa ends up telling her about all the awful things they've had to endure, lately. It's NOT fair, but Reiko is willing to help them, anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
The hospital calls Reiko to pick Tsubasa up early in the evening, the day after the horrific attack on Kasugayama. Staff tell her that the youth's suffered second-degree burns and a mild concussion, and while their confusion has largely abated, it would be... better if they were to go home to their family.
(Tsubasa, of course, strongly protests this, and nursing staff once again have to remind them not to swear at them.)
The key point the hospital makes, before they leave, is that Tsubasa must stay out of trouble for the next few weeks. If they suffer another blow to the head, what would otherwise be an uncomplicated and complete recovery could become devastating. This news of course makes them terribly foul tempered, though they're not about to tell Reiko that it's because they know what Eiji looks like now and there's a good-sized part of them which was hoping to get out of here and immediately march up to him with a bokken or a baseball bat.
They're sent off with some followup care dates that Tsubasa is cautioned several times to actually attend. Tsubasa sits in Reiko's car, once they escape, and thanks to Ichika's visit they're at least in their usual boardshorts and belly-cropped tank top -- if one which is more curved than they'd like, because the hospital wouldn't let them bind that shit down, said something about how they'd 'break their ribs' or 'get pyew-moan-ya' or whatever the fuck they were on about. They also have a new wig, long messy bleached hair streaked with cyan and magenta and yellow. (That's Ichika's work, too.)
"Uh," they start, their weight shifted forward against the lock of their seatbelt to try and take the pressure off of the burns on their back. "Thanks for, uh... pickin' me up. Just... already had to make my father look at me once this month... don't reckon he'd be happy if I wasted his time again."
Normally, it would seem entirely unrealistic for a father to be mad at his child for witnessing such horrific gang violence as was visited on Kasugayama yesterday... but Reiko knows a thing or two about the standards Hanzou has, compared to most of reality.
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
Reiko took note of it all, of course. She is professional around Tsubasa, most of the time -- but professional around them means being warm, friendly, and attentive. She takes notes so she can call them, follow up, and make sure that Tsubasa gets to their follow-up appointments. Staying out of trouble...
That will be a little harder.
Now, though, Reiko sits in the driver's seat and pushes up their glasses on their nose, and looks sideways at Tsubasa. She smiles at them.
"No problem," Reiko says. "I'm happy to come get you, any time."
She knows perfectly well what Tsubasa's father is like. She doesn't care for him much; she tries to keep that in check, because her anger with him shouldn't be Tsubasa's problem.
"You're okay, Tsubasa-kun?" she asks, looking at them. She can't quite keep from looking worried.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Oh no, Tsubasa's going to get calls. ... well, it could be worse.
Besides, they know she is happy to look out for them, weird as that is to Tsubasa. Like... she definitely would have gotten fed up with them before now if she was gonna, is how they tend to think.
But she asks if they're okay, and -- "Yeah," they answer, automatically, and Reiko's surely been doing this long enough to know to wait out a canned response like that. Beat, beat, "... I mean... not... really..."
They shake their head, looking over to her. "B-but I'm fine, really! Don't -- don't go back and tell them, okay? Shit, man, Dr. Inoue was saying my shit flared up and everything... I don't wanna get crammed in a ward for the next whenever. I-it wasn't that weird. I'm cool."
They were trying to save a kid who was gutted with an axe and they got attacked with fire it was definitely that weird.
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
Reiko does, in fact, wait out the canned response.
She looks back at Tsubasa, and then she hesitates for a second. But then she nods, as her lips draw down into a frown. "It's okay if it scared you. I'm a police officer, and fire and an... axe?" she asks, as if she isn't sure she read the report right. "That would scare me."
She looks back ahead, at the road, and starts the car. She drives a blue 2007 Toyota Belta, with none of the bells and whistles. The slight rattle in the steering wheel -- as the car starts rolling forward -- is almost comforting to Reiko, now.
"I'm not going to tell them," she says. "Don't worry, I promise. Just... you know." She looks looks sideways at Tsubasa. She smiles and it's a little embarrassed. "I got a little worried."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"It was this fuckin', axe on a chain or some shit, that goth lolita from hell was whippin' it around like nobody's business," Tsubasa relates, and all of those words strung together sound insane, but who knows what gangs get up to in this day and age?
Rattle, rattle... Tsubasa ain't gonna diss on Reiko's car. It's cool she has one. ... they don't have their licence yet, anyway, on account of their life getting upended.
Reiko's embarrassed, though, so Tsubasa looks down at the seatbelt they're clutching to try and stop it from pinning them to the seat. (They might not be severe burns, but that just means they hurt.)
"I wasn't tryin' to start shit," they swear, in multiple senses of the word. "Just -- heard this chick screamin' and -- like -- y'know, I'd just run into that fuckin' Yasuda-san the night before? So it wasn't... like, I can't just ignore that. But they were tryin' to get the Death Boss into the basement, the --"
Tsubasa stops, though, and it's a good thing they just went to the tanning parlour recently, because at least Reiko can't see the way they pale. "Uh... dunno who it was, really, just... they wanted to toast him. That kid, don't reckon he even did nothin', just got... that axe shoved in his gut, and... didn't even say nothin', he just made this awful, noise. But they were throwin' Molotovs, or somethin', I dunno, I was freakin' out... Kashihara-kun's the one who knew what to do about him. Wasn't like I was any use in the fight, couldn't do shit, like, threw a chair at that crazy goth and she straight cut it up in the air, kicked one of them and just landed on my own fuckin' back... wasn't like I could catch myself carryin' that kid." Well, that explains the concussion.
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
Reiko looks sideways at Tsubasa and stares at them for a second. Are they exaggerating? This sounds like the sort of thing that would be an exaggeration. Except, Tsubasa did go to the hospital with burns and a concussion, and there was some kind of fight as Kasugayama, and...
She stays quiet, though, as they explain more. Her eyes widen at first; then, they narrow with consternation and consideration in equal parts. "How awful," she says. "I'm... glad you stepped in, Tsubasa-kun. Sometimes it's important to get involved, when something terrible could happen."
The pause is as effective a 'but' as any.
"Know when to go for help, okay?" Reiko says. "I don't go into dangerous situations without back-up. Getting help isn't foolish, cowardly, or doing nothing."
Another beat. "Also, it's an axe. Holy shit."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Too right!" Tsubasa exclaims, when Reiko concludes the way she does. They're not that difficult to work with, it turns out. Being willing to swear with them is much more effective than telling them to stop.
They huff out a sigh, though, shoulders sinking. "I mean -- I did, I -- there was this Ogre chick, saved me from one of those catty girls sayin' she wanted to claw my eyes out, and for some reason there were a bunch of adults there too, like --" but Tsubasa just said an Ogre came to help them, and they must hear how ridiculous that is.
"... uh... I mean... they said I got kinda crazy in there. I was... makin' stuff up, like... like I even thought the guy who came to kill the Death Boss was the Joker Killer, stupid, right? But -- but I mean, it wasn't all, like -- like your big sis was there too, you know, the cool one!" And given that they call her ane-san, like some kind of thug, it's probably easy to guess which of her sisters is the cool one.
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
Reiko isn't above swearing. She doesn't do it often, but she is capable of such things. Someone wielding an axe seems like an occasion for it.
"That's... scary," Reiko says, with a frown. "I'm glad she was able to help you--" Even if Reiko isn't sure that they should be calling a girl an ogre.
But, focus on the bigger problems.
Her eyes widen at the mention of the Joker Killer. "That's--that's just a rumor, but... it makes people act out," Reiko says. Even if she sounds unsure. Then, though, her lips purse. She frowns.
"Wait. Shinobu was there?" she asks. "What was she doing there? Sh-she's okay, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa might not have communicated that they were talking about an actual Ogre. Or at least... someone in a very good costume. But that's not important, right now, because --
"H-hey, red light!!" Tsubasa yelps, first off, because making a COP do a CRIME is only funny if they don't like the cop.
A moment later, they take a breath. "Yeah," they say, keeping their eyes forward now, just in case. "She was... way stronger than me, seemed like she actually got some good hits in..." Not that Tsubasa was paying a lot of attention to the fight, between their naked panic and their attempts to save a boy they barely knew. "But... she was tryin' to protect us, so... she got her ass kicked pretty bad. I mean, she didn't stay down, but..."
Their attempts to help Reiko focus on road safety are tragically overwhelmed by their guilt, as they look down at their lap. "Sorry," they say, subdued. "I shoulda pulled my own weight."
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
"Ah--shoot!"
Reiko doesn't always cuss, though.
When she slams on the brakes, it makes the car lurch to a stop. Reiko lets out a sigh, and then she looks sideways at Tsubasa. She blinks at them, and she frowns as Tsubasa describes it. She smiles a little, then, even if it's a touch sad.
"...sounds like nee-san," she says, quietly. "She always liked to protect people. And she's good at it. I'll have to check on her." She looks sideways at Tsubasa, then she shakes her head.
"Don't be sorry, okay?" she says. "You didn't let me down. It was a really dangerous situation."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Shhhht," Tsubasa cuts off their own swear, as they lurch in the seat. They're not going to give Reiko shit for that. (Ow.)
"... hope she's okay," they say, instead. "Dunno why she was there, but... maybe she saw the shit that exploded or somethin'." That's a logical reason why a bunch of adults just showed up to fight the definitely-not-the-Joker-Killer, right?
Right.
But Reiko insists that Tsubasa didn't let them down, and Tsubasa nods, slowly. "Sure," they say, a touch more delicately than they'd like. "... yeah. It was. It was..."
Oh no, why are they tearing up again, this is the worst.
"Why does all this bad shit keep happenin' to me?!" They demand, as if Reiko has an answer. "First my fuckin' microwave gets busted, then my shithead ex steals my hair, then a bunch of weirdos bust into the school lookin' to kill people, what the fuck?! It's not FAIR!"
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
"That... that sounds like her," Reiko admits, with a sigh. "She doesn't really look the other way."
Of course, the same could be said of all three of the Shimizu (and now Watanabe) sisters.
Case in point, she looks over at Tsubasa -- and there's a moment where she doesn't respond. It's because she pulls off into a parking lot, and stops the car there. She reaches a hand over and rests it on Tsubasa's shoulder.
"It isn't fair," she agrees with them. "Tsubasa-kun, sometimes... sometimes everything happens, all at once. It's okay to be angry and upset and frustrated at it. It doesn't make sense, and... that's why it can hurt even more."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Ayame didn't look the other way, either. But Tsubasa doesn't sell her out, because they have so many emotions, man, probably no one in the history of creation has had as many emotions as they do right now.
(What? Everyone feels this shit sometimes? No, that can't be right.)
There's a moment when Tsubasa stiffens, reflexively, when Reiko puts that hand on their shoulder. (They can probably guess what they're anticipating was about to happen, just on instinct.) But they breathe out, and sag down, looking down at their seatbelt.
"... I got real freaked out when they said they were ringin' my father," they admit, settling on one thought in the thousand rattling around in their head. "He'd blame me for gettin' wrapped up in this to begin with... probably just think I was gettin' involved in worse shit. He..."
They quiet, for a moment. "... last time I had to ask him for anythin', he hit me," they admit, at length, and just as quietly. "And this shit, like... he'd just be disappointed I didn't fuckin' die, y'know? He woulda been happier if I got set on fire proper instead of just my hair lighting up and -- and I just -- got an axe through my face or, or whatever!"
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
"I don't blame you at all. Your father... I don't like how he sees you, Tsubasa-kun. You deserve better than that," Reiko says. "And I wish I could say that... that maybe he'd handle it better. But..."
She looks at them, then she nods. "You went with your gut. And you asked them to call me. It's okay to be upset about your dad, but you did the thing that you thought was best."
Then, she frowns. Part of her wants to report it. She hesitates at that, though.
"If he ever hits you again -- or you want to do something about him hitting you," Reiko says. "Tell me, and we'll talk about the ways that can go. And if you don't, or you need some place to stay... that's okay, too."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"But he wouldn't," Tsubasa completes Reiko's sentence, miserably. Still -- they called Reiko, instead, and they nod. "Y-yeah. I... I owe you one." It's still weird, to them, that someone is in their corner, but at least they were able to ask her for help on this one.
Still -- it's a tough situation. "It wouldn't matter," they shake their head, grasping at their seatbelt. "Like -- like he said -- I got my ass beat earlier in the week, so even if someone saw the bruise, they'd just say I got it from bein' a no-good punk." Which means he hit them where they'd already been hit, just to paint an even worse picture of the man. "No one would believe me... that's what he said. Though, I mean, he said a lot of shit." Sniff. "Called me a girl."
Of course he did.
"It's probably gonna get worse," they guess, trapped under the weight of it all. "Like, it always does... maybe one day he'll really get sick of me and just kill me himself instead of tellin' me to do him a favour. So long as I embarrassed him, it's gonna be like that... until I can prove the shit at City Hall wasn't my fault." That's new -- Tsubasa's always taken responsibility for their arson, at the very least. But, "If I can't do that, he'll never forgive me..."
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
'Bastard,' Reiko thinks.
"That's awful for him to say and do," Reiko says. She looks sideways at them -- and then she frowns. "Listen, Tsubasa-kun... things can get better. Things do get better. It doesn't feel like it right now, but you're upset and you're hurting. But remember that things will get better, okay?"
Then, she looks down for a moment. "If... if he's trying to hurt you, tell me. I'll come over."
Then, Reiko looks sideways at them. "For City Hall..." She swallows. "...We'll need to find some evidence of what happened. The system isn't fair, if it thinks you're guilty."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
It is, at least, validating to hear a responsible adult affirm all that; not that they wouldn't trust Ichika with their life, but, like, Reiko knows shit, she's an adult.
"It don't feel like that," they grump, when she tells them it will get better. "Feels like -- it's all ruined, and -- I'm not worth it anyway!" Tsubasa is far from the only unwanted child in Tokyo, but they're a wretched example of where that attitude gets a young person.
"... but... sure. I -- I'll try. Kinda hard to tell, it just happens..." There's more revealed in their fears than they think there is, as they wonder whether they'll have time to ring Reiko before their father goes from threats to action, but they at least sound a little relieved she cares.
They glance over to Reiko, biting at their lip. (It's still painted blue; they didn't let them throw out their makeup, while they were dumping out their clothes. They need their makeup on to have any hope of showing their face outside, particularly their concealer.) "There was," they start, and amend, "a guy, uh, he has this idea that Psychotic Breakdowns are -- like -- there's people who can cause them to happen. And... like... some dudes did that to me. Like, to cover shit up, or whatever... he thought maybe the Phantom Thieves mighta done it before they revamped their image." They shake their head, and insist: "I-I know it sounds nuts, but if it really wasn't my fault, there's gotta be something to the numbers not adding up!"
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
"You're worth it," Reiko says, with a firm shake of her head. "People failing you doesn't mean that you failed them, Tsubasa-kun." She looks at Tsubasa, though, and frowns. The thought occurs to her, too.
"If... if you're worried, you don't have to go see him. Or go see him alone. I can come with you," Reiko says.
She blinks, though, as they explain. That makes her tense up -- someone might have caused them to have a Psychotic Breakdown? The Phantom Thieves, even? That gets the detective mindset going. Even if she can't imagine how such a thing would work.
"I'll... I'll see if I can find anything, okay?" she asks. "I believe you. Maybe... maybe there'll be something I can find out."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"What?" Tsubasa blinks, looking over to gawk at Reiko for a moment, like she's grown another head. It would almost be funny, if they weren't so shocked at the idea that failure doesn't run both ways intrinsically. "Huh."
Hang on, they have to process the idea that their father is failing them. Yes, like six people have already told them that, but listen, it shocks them every time.
... don't bring up how sad that is, it's embarrassing.
"You'll come with me... okay," Tsubasa nods, slowly. "Maybe he won't be too bad if you're there... it'd look bad."
There's nothing he likes more than appearances.
Still... Reiko believes them, and that, more than anything, really helps. "Sure," they nod, and make some attempt at a smile, anyway. "Uh, let me know if you can, I know there's probably shit you can't really tell me since it's work or whatever..."
They breathe out, then, in a long sigh.
"Hey, uh... dunno if you're too tired after doing that shit all day anyway, but... you wanna walk Lance with me before you head off? Like, she's gonna be beside herself after I was out two days in a row, so..."
And Reiko might even learn, during that walk, that Tsubasa illicitly crashed at Ichika's after they ran into their exes from hell.
Tsubasa, you've GOT to stop telling all your crimes to a cop.
<Pose Tracker> Reiko Shimizu has posed.
"Just let me know," she says, "and I'll be there."
Reiko knows well what sort of effect having a police officer present can do. And even with 'respectable' citizens, it can create a pressure -- just a different pressure than the ones t the edges of society.
She looks sideways at Tsubasa. She nods at them. "Yeah. But... if I can, I'll tell you. And I'll see what I can find."
Then, she looks again at Tsubasa. She smiles, then, and nods at them. "I'd love to!" she says. "It's always good to see Lance."