2025-08-31: Crime and Punishment
- Log: Crime and Punishment
- Cast: Myunghon Yeo NPCing Officer Ishiba and Sergeant Ezoe Sakaguchi, Katsuya Suou, Tsubasa Seki, Shinjiro Aragaki
- Where: A train station, Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru
- OOC Date: August 31, 2025
- IC Date: July 04, 2012
- Summary: The aftermath of Myunghon's assault for those who remained when the Dark Hour ended.
- Content Warning: Police violence and abuse, transphobia/misgendering
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
12:01 AM
--BANG
Officer Ishiba's gun is deafeningly loud and post-discharge, given that firearms probably are one of the devices that suspend during the Dark Hour as well. But Officer Katsuya Suou is... either not there, or unharmed, one of the two, and that's the first thing he sees -- and he looks positively spooked by that.
After all, to him and Tsubasa, not a single second has passed.
"What..." Ishiba looks flabbergasted. "How'd you..."
He looks around, and starts looking even more confused. His alcohol-soaked brain is struggling to keep up. "Where'd everyone else go? That bitch-- that bitch ain't here..." He's casting his eyes around harder. Shinjiro, the guy he struck several times with baton and pistol, is still here, as is Tsubasa.
"What the fuck ever! You'll do! You're all coming with me to the station, I'm gonna pick off every single last one of ya--!!"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
12:01 AM
If he'd been able to be honest, there would have been a great deal many more places Katsuya Suou would have rather been than 'here'. But this never was a choice, as far as he was concerned. Leaving two minors, not to mention anyone else who happened to be nearby once the Dark Hour ended, with the intoxicated and armed officer was out of the question.
Katsuya's not standing in the place he had been before. But can Ishiba trust his senses, with how much he's drank tonight?
"...Ishiba-san. Lower your weapon," he says, as if he hasn't just been shot at.
He's had an hour to consider what happened, in truth.
"You are very fortunate that you missed," he tells his colleague. "Now drop your weapon, or I'll be forced to disarm you. Shooting at a fellow officer with intent is a serious crime." As long as Ishiba's attention is on him, of course, he's not paying attention to the other two.
And they have had an hour to think about what to do next.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"W-wh--" Tsubasa stammers out, when Katsuya disappears with the retort of the gun. They glance around, briefly and manage to sight Katsuya, not bleeding out in a heap, but they can't take their eyes off of Ishiba for long. ... that gun is still dangling from his fingers, after all.
Where -- where did everyone --
it happened again.
How can Tsubasa believe they're not nuts when they keep -- blacking out, or -- or whatever the fuck? Somehow, they're still standing, but...
"J-just be cool, man!" Tsubasa tries to reason with him, desperately, raising their hands up. This is of course the exact wrong thing to say, when Katsuya is trying to keep Ishiba's attention off the youth, but Tsubasa just isn't in a good mental space to absorb that.
Their mental space currently sounds a bit like this:
fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
As the Dark Hour starts to fade, Shinjiro stands up from where he was sitting against the wall, and slowly starts walking. He stops as soon it fades, in a different position from where he was... he doesn't even remember where he last was at this point.
"Guess that's the power of Magic Bullet Teleportation," Shinjiro says somewhat quietly with extraordinarily bitterly dry humor, as Ishiba demands they're coming to the station. One might expect him to fight, but...
As Katsuya instructs Ishiba to stand down, Shinjiro steps forward.
His reaction is to place his hands behind his back and turn. If he fights, or tries to get Tsubasa out of there, the other teen might get shot. Katsuya might stop them, too. He doesn't know the other cop well enough to predict him, even if he seemed very sympathetic.
"If you're going to cuff me... go ahead."
Shinjiro would be shaking, but he's had an hour to prepare. He spent it emotionally grounding himself, knowing that this was a choice he made... and in a way, deserved.
He could handle it. He just needs to de-escalate immediately, and getting him to put down the gun to grab his cuffs was a good enough way to do it.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
It's really true. Katsuya did teleport. His firm advice that he just simply *missed* and he should drop his weapon holds a lot of weight. Ishiba's feeling really pressured. "You upstart... little!" Tsubasa calls for cool, and unfortunately, their speaking up *does* draw attention to them, and also brings with it the terror that the gun is swiveling their way, whether he's expecting to shoot or not.
Shinjiro calls it teleportation. It must be true, right? But then he reaches behind with his arms... and Ishiba snarls. "You making fun of me?"
Just as it seems like they're at an impasse...
"My my."
A calm voice cuts through the night, and another officer appears from around the corner. Katsuya might recognise him -- Sergeant Ezoe Sakaguchi. His suit is dark and slick; he has round glasses and slicked-back hair. Everything about this man in his 30s feels deliberate.
"I said I'd step out for five for a smoke break, Ishiba-san, and I come back to hear a gunshot? And what do we have here, hmm?" His voice is in control, with an undercurrent of slipperiness beneath it. His look rests on Tsubasa for about three seconds. "Heh... I see. Fancy meeting you here tonight, Suou-san. What brings you out here to Hirasaka? This isn't your regular beat..."
Ishiba yells, "They attacked me, Ezoe! They--"
"Oh, I'm sure. But neither Suou-san nor I can overlook this flagrant violation of our firearms code, and your drunken misconduct, now can we?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Tsubasa reacts as anyone might, reappearing into this sort of situation. "Seki-san, everything is under control. Please remain calm!" he calls out, which is a bold statement considering that the other cop is still brandishing his gun. "Ishiba-san. Please put down your weapon." Stay calm. Don't make any sudden movements.
And give him a distraction. As discussed, Shinjiro offers himself up: if Ishiba's going to cuff him, he has to put down or holster that gun first. But, alas, it would seem that Ishiba is far too riled up to be 'simply' distracted.
Shit.
Perhaps it was too much to hope for a 'simple' end to this. As Ishiba swings his firearm back at the juveniles in the room, Katsuya's noticibly tensed up. How many more bullets are in that chamber? Probably, it was fully loaded: he can't be as lucky as that tonight. He's going to have to--
A voice rings out before Katsuya has to try to do anything dangerous again.
Katsuya, perhaps unwisely for a tense situation, looks in the direction of that voice. "Sakaguchi-san!" Something approaching relief has flooded into his voice. Sakaguchi, he doesn't know him well. They're not in the same department. But it's someone else, somehow who just might be able to help balance the current situation.
...If only he could feel like Sakaguchi were not treating him like an unexpected complication, that is. "I had an assignment to investigate the circumstances around the Takagi Building case," he explains, glancing sidelong at at Ishiba. "I was not far from here when I heard the sound of an altercation here and investigated. He--"
Ishiba cuts him off, accusing the two of them of assaulting him. But there's more than that. 'Ezoe'? How well do they know each other?
And... how much should he say? If he calls out his assault of Myunghon, he could put them in danger. But if he doesn't mention it and Ishiba brings it up, it'll look like he had something to hide.
"I am afraid the circumstance is worse than mere violation of conduct, Sakaguchi-san," Katsuya starts. "While attempting to calm the situation, as you confirmed by your own statement, the weapon was discharged. Fortunately, no one was struck."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Katsuya tells them to stay calm, and Tsubasa swallows, and tries their level best to stop shaking. God, yeah, they think, PLEASE put down the fucking gun --
HE DOES NOT PUT DOWN THE FUCKING GUN,
"B-be cool!" Tsubasa yelps, again, quailing on the spot despite all Katsuya's advice. They just -- they really hate that gun coming into their space like -- like yeah he missed Officer Suou but what if he don't miss next time and --
(Though... of course it isn't teleportation. That's just -- crazy talk.)
Shinjiro's giving up, though, and Tsubasa's eyes widen as they see the way Ishiba snarls at his movements. "H-hey, careful--!" They snap, in strained warning, because they don't want Shinjiro to get shot because he made sudden movements.
But... "fuck," Tsubasa swears, lowercase, when another cop shows up. A cop -- looking at them, and they really are not having a good time over the course of those three seconds, oh god, does he recognise them?? Tsubasa's busy scouring their head trying to think if they've run into this pig before, and they don't even realise, in their panic, that their strangled response to Ezoe just makes Ishiba's story more plausible.
Luckily, Tsubasa knows something very important from all their youth crime: you never talk to the cops. It's about the only thing shutting them up, as Katsuya tries to explain the situation.
... they've still got their hands up, though.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Nothing like that, officer," Shinjiro responds, internally grimacing at his inability to make the plan work immediately, and only turns back around when another officer arrives. He furrows his brow.
Who the hell is this?
An unknown factor... but perhaps a de-escalating one. That's what mattered. Shinjiro wasn't sure what'd happen now, but...
He lets Katsuya handle it.
Doesn't say a word, doesn't try to defend himself, instead...
Shinjiro turns to Tsubasa with his head. All he says, almost at the volume of mouthing, before turning back to the cops is...
"Thank you."
Because of their interference, and everyone else's, Myunghon will live.
Even if the very act of getting arrested will be a death sentence for Shinjiro. It just matters that Tsubasa hears the words.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
It's true, Tsubasa. That Fucking Gun isn't going out of sight yet, which perhaps makes Katsuya a little bit difficult to believe at this point. Katsuya calls for him to lower his gun again, and between that and Ezoe's arrival...
"Shit..." *something* clicks in Ishiba, and he puts the safety back on and puts it back on the holster in his jacket. The Danger Device has now left the immediate vicinity. Though the threat of total number of Danger Devices has only gone UP, now hasn't it, with another cop on the scene?
"Hmm." That's all Ezoe has to say on why Katsuya's here, like it's nothing more than an idle curiousity to him. "And you..." He tilts his head for a moment, and Shinjiro's already offering in a 'please-cuff-me' position, so he does a quick pat-down and--
"Oho?"
He pulls out a small film canister of unmarked drugs from Shinjiro's pocket. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Ezoe's look is nearly a smirk as he looks to Shinjiro. "Do you have any defence for this, young man? I'm afraid even for a juvenile, drug possession has a... myriad of consequences."
"Hey, what about that girl, huh?! She attacked me!" Ishiba barks, still misgendering Tsubasa.
"I see. Is that the case, Suou-san? Given the situation, we should take her in as well. For safety..." Ezoe's head turns to one side. "Have you had any kinpira lately, Ishiba-san?"
"The fuck are you--" Ishiba stops mid-sentence. Oh. Oh. There's a sudden shift in his demeanour, though he doesn't like it. Why he suddenly changes gears because Ezoe mentioned simmered, shredded carrots to him is a real fuckin' mystery, though.
(It's because Kinpira is the not terribly concealed nudge he makes to Kimpara Electronics. Can your Logic catch that?)
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
It would probably help if Ishiba put the gun down. Somewhere deeper within him, Katsuya is really, truly sweating, however he might to the outside world transmit the idea that he has it under control (even if no one is actually buying this for a second).
"Seki-san," he says again, because he knows that the more they quail the more likely that Ishiba could overreact and do something permanent. It's not their fault of course-- but it doesn't change the calculus of the situation even a bit. If he can't get through to Ishiba, he'll have to do something drastic, and he doesn't know what happens after that.
(He says nothing about bullet teleportation in the moment, for how could he?)
But, fortunately, this isn't where it all ends.
Something seems to click for Ishiba. Katsuya can hear the tell-tale click of the safety, and a small, quiet exhalation escapes him: relief, finally some sanity has returned to this situation. It's holstered, at that.
Just like that, it seems like the situation is settled. Ezoe steps up to Shinjiro, who remains in a position of surrender, and pats him down. He finds something. "...Drugs?" Katsuya wonders aloud, his attention shifting from Shinjiro to Ezoe and back again. He doesn't know about them: what they're for, or even what they are. He seems nothing less than bewildered that they're on his person in the first place.
But what about-- Tsubasa?
Katsuya's attention turns back towards Ishiba. Is that true, Katsuya is asked. And--
And it's not right. This isn't Just. But he can't keep ignoring Law and Truth: what they'd done was a crime, and he can't just lie about what he'd seen with his own eyes.
"Yes, that was what I saw," he says, unable to look right at Tsubasa in this moment. "He was attempting to defend his friend," he does explain, leaving the identity of the friend deliberately ambiguous, but in so doing also has just made a miscalculation in Tsubasa's gender identity.
...Kinpira? What is...
[LOGIC]: [Heroic - Success] No. Of course he doesn't really mean 'kinpira' at a moment like this. Don't you remember reading in the paper the other day some news about a particular company? Kimpara Electronics. That must be it. But... why? And what's Seki-san's connection to it?
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Shinjiro... thanks them, and there's a complex emotion on Tsubasa's face, hearing that. Like... they're totally doomed, but...
But he woulda killed Myunghon if they hadn't been there, right?
But... everyone told them to run... like, them, specifically, and... everyone else disappeared. There was something about them having two minutes. Two minutes to what?
Two minutes to... everyone disappearing, they guess.
... if it's more of that weird magic shit, which Shinjiro's definitely wrapped up in, then...
Tsubasa has this weird sinking feeling that Shinjiro could have gotten away if only they'd been able to make their legs move.
Katsuya tries to reach them, though, and Tsubasa swallows again, setting their jaw as they try their very best to shut the fuck up. ... they can't help the shaking, though.
At least -- at least Ishiba puts the FUCKING gun away. Tsubasa still doesn't know shit 'bout safeties, but they at least know that if it's holstered it's gotta be harder to fire.
But Ezoe pats Shinjiro down, and something twists in Tsubasa's gut as he pulls pills from his pocket. They bite their lip to avoid saying anything to that, even though it's like, the most unfair shit?
They can't help but snap, though: "I ain't a fuckin' girl, pig!" ... which really doesn't make them sound any less like the sort of youth who'd attack a cop.
But Ezoe starts asking the pig about carrots, and something twists, in Tsubasa's gut, because they recognise the wordplay. ('Eat your kinpira,' their mother used to say, 'or your father will have trouble at work'.) Something desperate crosses over their expression, "D-don't --", and it's easy to think they're protesting being hauled into the station.
They scowl, when Katsuya rats on them, though of course he'd made it quite clear he would the whole way through so they can't really be that mad at him. (It's like... if you give a cop scorpion a ride across the river, and he books you in the middle, that's kind of on you, right? Scorpions gonna scorp.) "That pig was beatin' a civilian for no fuckin' reason," they spit out. "He was gonna kill 'em. So yeah, I grabbed the fuck and hauled him back before he could crack open someone's skull! And I ain't sorry! E-even if you're gonna call my fuckin' father about it, I don't give a shit!"
There's a way their voice trembles as their brave declarations reach the peak which suggests they do give a shit, though.
... but where does their father come into this?
(Of course they hear that Katsuya has their gender wrong too -- but, frankly, if he's going to be wrong they'd much rather he be wrong in that direction.)
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
As Ezoe approaches to patdown Shinjiro, he grimaces, but has no recourse. The pills are taken out... and Shinjiro's expression is more resigned than anything.
"None you'll accept," he says. If he says they're medicine, what good will it do him? They're nothing legal either way.
Shinjiro doesn't make eye contact with Katsuya. Too much guilt. This guy tried to help him, and now... there's nothing he can do.
It's when Tsubasa angrily and defiantly says what happened, that Shinjiro finally exhales, even as he waits to be cuffed. "They're telling the truth," he says. He's able to have a sense of calmness, so hopefully Ezoe is reasonable enough to listen, even a little.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Ezoe's look is carefully on Katsuya as he betrays that bewildered look on his face. If it means something, he's not sharing. "Is that so?" he says, regarding Shinjiro's drugs. "Regardless, we're going to have to take you in on this account, sonny. Nothing personal." He says that, but there's a non-zero amount of relish he takes in it, as he pulls out his cuffs and then snaps them shut on Shinjiro's wrists. He's being gentle about it, at least.
Ezoe doesn't need physical violence to assert himself, unlike Ishiba.
Two minutes to what? These blackouts are just getting more and more confusing, aren't they? People disappearing and reappearing where they shouldn't be, people just being GONE entirely -- and it isn't just them, either, this time, is it? Ishiba was positively just as shocked. Is this the first time Tsubasa's experienced a Dark Hour blip with another witness experiencing the same oddities?
Tsubasa protests Ishiba, and there's a snort -- and a weird look to Katsuya as he uses he pronouns for Tsubasa. "The fuck," Ishiba finds himself grunting again. Then, because he is the creature he is, the transphobia comes out again: "Don't you get in on all this queer shit too, Suou. Nothing good comes of it."
Ezoe's dark smirk as Tsubasa recognises his wordplay is subtle, but he makes sure they can see it. "You're doing the right thing, Ishiba." Which right thing, though? "I'm sure Seki-senmu will look upon it favourably."
That suffix, senmu -- executive vice president -- clearly doesn't refer to Tsubasa Seki. He's using the title deliberately to rub it in further, though.
But the topic of what Tsubasa's done is conveyed as defence of another from Katsuya, and Shinjiro reinforces that. Ishiba looks like they're ready for another fight about it, but he catches Ezoe's look towards him. "Still, that's assault of an officer, kiddo." Wow, they've even pulled back the misgendering, probably on account of that 'kinpira' tip, without realising that he didn't have to pull back that far. He is just a goon without the details, after all.
It probably doesn't feel good that someone is being less transphobic on account of father, though, does it.
Ezoe gestures to the car. "Are you coming back to the station with us, Suou-san? We should move. It'll be annoying if the citizenry come out after hearing that gunshot."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Shinjiro doesn't try to make excuses. Oh. So it is... drugs. Katsuya says nothing, watching the young man as he refuses to make eye contact.
Just like that, the cuffs snap around Shinjiro's wrists. It was always going to come to this conclusion the moment Shinjiro decided to stay behind and accept the consequences. Katsuya had warned them, but... that fails to give him anything close to satisfaction in the moment.
Ishiba seems displeased by the pronouns Katsuya has opted to use for Tsubasa. Katsuya has also noticed that there's no protest from Tsubasa on his usage. Aha. So he was right before. "It has nothing to do with me or with you," he tells Ishiba, readjusting his own sunglasses once. "A young person deserves correct address as well. That is all." That's all it is, really, in the end.
There has been a transgender municipal official in Tokyo, hasn't there? It shouldn't matter, as long as someone can do their job well. It has nothing to do with him.
At least, that is the way he thinks about it.
Their... father. Seki. That reaction from Tsubasa. There's almost a connection here, but it doesn't quite click. Katsuya doesn't have eiditic memory: he doesn't have a flashbulb recollection of the article in the paper. If he did, the connection might well spell itself out for him in a heartbeat, but...
Damn. He had sort of hoped (even as much as all this lying by omission is also causing him some moral grief) to keep Myunghon out of this, but it was probably a faint hope from the beginning. Eventually, Ishiba was going to bring them up, or Katsuya would be put into a position where he couldn't attempt to dodge the matter any longer. When Law and Truth come into conflict with Justice, something must give. One must lose to the other. And while he would throw his lot in with Justice as much as he's able... ...he is still an officer of the Law, and beholden to Truth and his duty thereof.
But when Ezoe mentions 'Seki-senmu', then it all comes together. Even Ishiba's sudden 'politeness' (if one could call it that) to Tsubasa makes sudden, terrible sense. So, that's how it is... Katsuya understands it a little too well now.
Is he coming back to the station with them? "Yes. I will want to provide an account of what happened." He glances around them all. The streets are still quiet, but... someone would have heard. So what can he do but nod? They do not need to deal with curious or worried civilians just now. "Indeed, Sakaguchi-san. I am ready to depart."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Shinjiro's... probably better at not talking to the cops, honestly. Tsubasa's kind of a hothead.
Ezoe says it's nothing personal when he cuffs him, but... yeah, Tsubasa's not buying the bridge he's selling, either.
... even if they're... apparently confused.
Their breath hisses out of their teeth, as Ishiba insults Suou for that queer shit. "Hey, fuck you! Least he's tryin'!" They snap, in support of Katsuya, because they can recognise that he's making some effort to be respectful. Even if he doesn't entirely get it, he's makin' an effort, which is something that only becomes clearer when he insists they deserve the correct address. If it were a better situation, they might let him know there's a more correct word to use, but... well, it's nice he gives a shit.
And Ezoe says that horrible Ishiba is doing the right thing, and Tsubasa feels sick to their stomach, even before Ezoe invokes their father. "... shit..."
Why do they look like they're about to cry, hearing about what their father's going to think of this?
"Whatever," they mutter, pressing their lips tightly together. It's assault of an officer, who cares?
... it doesn't feel good, though. Especially not knowing how their father would have encouraged them to call them a girl.
They'll comply with the officers, at least; if they want to cuff them, that's whatever, too. ... it's not like they could stop Ishiba from shooting them even if they had their hands free.
They look down, follow directions, and try to keep a tough expression on their face.
Even though, shit, their father's gonna hear about this...
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
At least the cuffs are gentle enough. Shinjiro simply makes a 'tch' sound, but it's not about his arrest.
It's about how they're treating Tsubasa, how he can tell they're both scumbag cops. Katsuya doesn't seem like he is, especially with his defense, but what can he do?
What can anyone do in this situation?
At the very least... Shinjiro doesn't consider it like he's giving up to die. No...
He did something good in the end. The others can take care of Myunghon from here.