2025-09-23: To Catch A Killer
- Log: To Catch A Killer
- Cast: Katsuya Suou, Ayame Watanabe, Maya Amano, Ulala Serizawa
- Where: Parabellum, Aoba Ward, Sumaru
- OOC Date: September 23, 2025
- IC Date: July 15, 2012
- Summary: Team Whoop-Ass talks shop about the Joker Killer at the bar. Katsuya reveals he believes that the killer is Tatsuya Sudou, while Ulala ends up volunteering to be bait to stop him.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He had arranged for a meeting as soon as it was feasible. This is the sad fact of adulthood: a greater threat may well stalk the streets of the city (and beyond!) but they all do need to work their day jobs (and sometimes, for someone in Katsuya's line of work, the night shift too).
Or, rather, he should expand that statement a touch, actually. They all have their various daily obligations, and for some of them, that's work.
For Ayame, it's family.
Meeting here at Parabellum seemed easiest for Amano and Serizawa's work scheduling, and it was either here or the detective agency with that in mind.
The bar, at least, is a familiar space for most of them: it was here that Baofu had explained to them the stakes, including the probable identity of #501, and where Maya had made a fateful decision.
They sell guns here now! It's probably fine.
Katsuya's already arrived and found them a table to one end of the room. Conveniently, there are four seats. He's taken a seat, paging through a small notebook: he still uses a flip phone out of stubbornness and thus takes his notes by hand.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Right! Ayame doesn't have what would be recognized universally as a job... but she still has a lot of work to do for her family. That does mean that daytime is often the easiest time for her, but it's not the only time she can make work--especially with Ikkaku coming home at a more reasonable hour now and then. She could've invited them to her house... but then there's the risk of the children coming in to listen about horrible serial killers.
Besides, inviting Ayame to a bar is fun!
So she arrives soon after Katsuya, looking around pleasantly and then finding the table, walking over. "I haven't been out in one of these in a while," she admits conversationally as she moves to sit down. "It's got a lot of atmosphere, doesn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
It's not hard for Maya Amano to miss the detective sitting solo at a table for four. Her lips pull up into a grin as she quickens her pace to join him, clutching the strap of her crossbody bag. Mr. Bun-Bun bounces from where she's fastened on the strap's d-ring with each of her steps.
Before she can reach the table, another woman joins him (oh, is that the newbie?), but Maya's doesn't stop to take in the new person. She can do that once they're all there and chatting.
"Hey, Photographer-san!" Had it really been that long since she'd seen Katsuya in the flesh? Well, it wasn't that long ago, was it? She turns her attention over to Ayame. "Watanabe-san, right?" Maya flashes her a welcoming grin. "Maya Amano, Coolest's number-one reporter!"
Clearly, Maya is in a good mood today!
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
IS ULALA LATE AGAIN?!
Oh, no, she's over at the bar. She hasn't hit the table yet, and indeed takes a few minutes over there, as if talking to a bartender. She'll get over there eventually.
Eventually, though, Ulala arrives at the table! Carrying a tray of drinks. She sets it on the table before nestling into a seat.
"Sorry! Was getting us all drinks! I guessed for you two, so please, enjoy!"
Maya gets her usual - a fruity cocktail, something refreshingly sweet.
Katsuya gets what appears to be the sweetest drink on the menu. She can tell you're a sweet tooth, Katsuya.
Ayame, meanwhile, Ulala had to guess based off how she drinks her coffee. Something bitter, but still really popular, not very sweet.
And for Ulala, it's a whiskey cocktail, something nice and strong.
"Photographer-san, huh? Are you into photography, Katsuya-san?" she asks Katsuya, before turning over to Ayame. "I like this one a lot. You can even..." she whispers, "buy guns."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
It's possible they could have all gone to the Watanabe household. But then, they would have had a very different problem outside 'someone could eavesdrop', which is that children could eavesdrop, and that's just not an outcome that Katsuya would care to bring into the world. So to the bar it was!
There they are. He glances up, closing but not putting away the notebook; he might want to refer to that later. "Amano-kun, Watanabe-san. It's good to see you both." Where's Ulala, though?
There she is. She had been ordering drinks. Including, one for him!
It's a very sweet drink, yes. It's also, as Katsuya regards it, a very... pink drink. "Ah," he says, regarding it studiously. He would have preferred a beer, but he's not sure they have any here. He doesn't go out drinking much, even with colleagues. Still-- he shouldn't be rude, should he? "...Thank you, Serizawa-kun."
It's (technically) fine, he'll find the taste more to his liking than what he'd ordered the last time.
Photographer. Oh yes, that's right. He'd nearly let it slip his mind again. Amano had invited him along to the opening of Peacock Silk--
Which also, he remembers, she would have heard 'that nickname'. Which has since been dwarfed by the new nickname.
Sometimes, you can't win.
Is he a photographer on the side? "Well..." Katsuya hazards, "Not exactly." You should just say 'no', Katsuya.
But more to the point--
"Amano-kun, this is Watanabe-san. I explained the situation before. The incident at Kasugayama hasn't been the only recent attack. Without doubt," he says, shaking his head, "there will be others. ...And, none of us have made headway on our own, I believe. I think we must take what Baofu said to us more seriously. I had not wanted to believe it without my own evidence, but I think we no longer have any choice. It's entirely possible that the Joker Killer is... the son of the Foreign Minister, and the same who was responsible for the spate of arsons and murders ten years ago."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Photographer! Ayame looks with some interest to Katsuya. A hobby? "Right!" Ayame answers Maya, and smiles. "It's lovely to meet you! A real reporter!"
Then she accepts a drink. "Gosh, when was the last time I had a drink?" Ayame laughs. "Thank you, Serizawa-san." But she pauses with some alarm. "Buy.. really????"
Guns!
Ayame is kind of scandalized by this. But Katsuya greets her, and she smiles at him. "Photography, though! Don't be so modest!"
Still, soon, theya re on to business, and... Ayame listens carefully. There will be others, Ayame has to agree. "The--Really?" Ayame says, surprised, her eyes widening. "...That's..."
"That goes very high up, doesn't it...?"
Arsons and murders ten years ago. And the Foreign Minister.
Ayame is kind of daunted by this.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Thanks, Ulala-chan!" Maya accepts the drink from her roommate and sits down. She's about to explain the story of Katsuya-san the Photographer, but before she can start the tale, he is straight to business. He's very serious about his job, Maya thinks. Well, so is she!
"So how are we going to prove it?" she asks. "If Baofu doesn't have anything ironclad, maybe we can start asking the other Rumormongers?"
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
Katsuya got a pink drink! It fits him, Ulala thinks. "Yeah, don't be modest. A guy like you needs hobbies," she says about photography before taking a sip of her drink.
But, he has intel! As he explains, Ulala's brow furrows. Ayame seems daunted... "It's alright, Watanabe-san. He could be the Prime Minister himself in a paper bag and we'd still kick his ass." A pause, as she glances over to Katsuya. "...but I assume you wouldn't be providing this to us if you didn't have something, right, Katsuya-san? This..." A pause. What was the foreign minister's name...
She blanks entirely. "Ah, well... so we gotta track down some crazy rich trust fund kid, right? That'll be annoying."
But, a glance to Maya... "Shouldn't we keep this to our vest? This is the kind of info that probably gets people 'cleaned up'."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He has hobbies! ...It's just also that none of them are taking photos. There's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't catch his eye. But are people going to assume that's what he's into, now?
Eyeing the drink Ulala has bought him, he picks it up gingerly and takes a sip.
It's... good? Maybe a little too good. Aren't drinks like this the ones that usually pack a punch? He'll have to be careful, or he'll be sorry.
That's right, they sell guns here. Katsuya just looks evasive as they're brought up, almost like he's guilty about something.
"It does. Given the dark rumors follow the Foreign Minister, I hate to admit it, but he is not alone in this, either." Katsuya has some idea of how deep this rabbit hole could go, he just doesn't know who's on the take among the force. Or who among his colleagues he can trust.
"Well..." Katsuya hedges, his evasive glance giving him away. "Perhaps... I have not been entirely honest. In truth, I was approached by another. This person corroborated Baofu's information to me in private, and claims to have seen the face of the killer during an arson ten years ago. If this statement can be trusted," and judging from the look on his face, Katsuya rather does for some reason, "then, without question, it's the son of Tatsuzou Sudou." He pauses, fidgeting with his sunglasses.
"That is to say, Tatsuya Sudou." A man whose name is pronounced like his own brother's. "However... he has been confined to the Morimoto Sanitarium for the last ten years."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"You're good friends, aren't you?" Ayame notes of Ulala and Maya, and smiles. She agrees with Ulala's encouragement, too. But... as to the trouble...
Ayame takes some more of her drink. "That's reassuring," Ayame says to Ulala. "I'm still in, either way--even if our enemies are powerful, we're doing the right thing."
The drink will give her a little extra courage anyway. "...Hm. So you have extra information," Ayame says. "So, your source prefers to remain anonymous?" She can accept that, but she is going to press it. "Tatsuya Sudou..."
"So either he's escaped without being noticed... or something weirder is in play," Ayame confirms of Sudou.
'Cleaned up'. "You'd be surprised what you can hide," Ayame says. "Proving it might help, but... I'm sorry, Suou-san, but I don't think the police can handle this matter. Even if we prove the link, it will only harm one of our enemies; the Joker will still be at large."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Maya wraps her fingers around her cold drink, beads of condensation wetting her palm. She hums to herself, thinking. That's quite a twist if she's ever heard one. Not only the Foreign Minister's son, but the Foreign Minister's son who was also committed.
That'd make it tricky for him to get out.
"Really good friends," Maya says to Ayame while she works things out in her head. "Since high school. So let's get to be good friends soon, too!"
Maya already considered Katsuya a good friend and they hadn't known each other that long at all, either!
"A place like a sanatorium would have cameras, right? Is there any way we might be able to get access to them? Or access to someone who has access to them?"
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
Ulala doesn't mind Katsuya's guilt. Instead... "Yeah," she says about Maya to Ayame, though there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it guilty look of her own, given the topic at hand. She quickly focuses on the business at hand. "Tatsuya Sudou... your source must be good if you trust them that much. But..." A pause. "Ten years.. he's been active way too long! We need to stop the bastard."
Maya gets a nod about the cameras, and Ayame about the police. "It's gotta be weirder, right? He's already a guy who can answer you calling your own phone, according to the rumors." A consideration, taking another drink. "Maybe we can go to the press once we have enough proof? Two birds with one stone. Maya's already a journalist."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
They are good friends. He can't think of anyone he's had as close as friend for as long as they have. Not that he's jealous, per se, but...
"Yes. The modus operandi -- the means by which the individual acted -- is much the same in both incidents. The only change now is that he appears to have forgone starting fires entirely," he tells Ulala. "It must be the same person. Why someone else would chose to do such a thing... I can't fathom it."
So his source perfers to be anonymous? "For now," Katsuya confirms to Ayame. At some point, he will likely have to bring them all into this. Since a large portion of it comprises somewhat private details, insofar as it doesn't affect their investigation, he'll demure at this time. "At the very least, I will speak to my source about this, first."
So he's escaped without being noticed, or...
"All I can tell is that there is still a person listed as residing there by that name. It's certainly possible that he could have escaped some time ago, and that his father is covering it up. It stands to reason that with his father's wealth and influence, he could directly control anyone working there to keep it a secret."
"But," Katsuya continues, frowning, "It's also possible that may still be at the sanitarium. ...If this is true, then it may be the power of 'rumors'. He has the ability to 'appear' suddenly, as we have all seen for ourselves. It's completely illogical." Katsuya shakes his head. "And yet, we've seen plenty of illogical things. I do not think that he is skulking around in some normal manner. If the rumor says that he 'can kill anyone', then..."
Then it's trivial. Then, he'll find his victim, wherever they are. Even if he's still locked up in a sanitarium.
Ayame doesn't think that the police can handle this, and Katusya's shoulders slouch. Even he looks a little bit crestfallen. "I hate to admit it... but you are likely right, Watanabe-san. If we don't have more information... Right now, they won't believe a word I say about the matter. If we found something definitive enough, perhaps we could use that." There are other authorities beyond Sumaru. If what Akechi had said to him was true, then it would give them another avenue-- but he has to be sure he has everything, first, or certain aims will remain forever out of reach. No, they have to proceed with care, or the guilty ones will elude him forever.
He... sighs.
"This is where it gets complicated. Since it's likely that the staff there are... being bribed, going in through the front door won't be possible." Or at least, not for Katsuya. "Furthermore, I don't even know if our Personas will work there." But, the cameras? "If there were some way to access them remotely, perhaps. ...Can Baofu do something like that?"
Or do they know someone who could sneak inside under, well, false pretenses to plant something that would grant them access?
And then, they go to the press? "Well... that might depend on what we find, and if it's strong enough," he demures, the thought about what could happen if they can't find 'solid' evidence echoing in his mind.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"I'd like that," Ayame answers Maya. She's a very bright woman! Ayame likes he so far. But, on the matter of the cameras--Ayame entirely misses the guilty look from Ulala for the moment, instead hearing Ulala's talk about ten years.
And of course, "Right." It must be something strange. But if Maya's a journalist, and they might have proof...
"I wonder why he stopped setting the fires?" Ayame has to ask. Still, "That's fine. Do what you need to do, Suou-san."
"I think that's the most likely scenario," Ayame says. "It's illogical, but it's obviously also true."
Ayame feels bad for making Katsuya feel bad, but, "So we've got a facility that we don't really know how to get into, are probably ordinary people at, where the employees probably don't want to be helpful..."
"Hm. I don't have any skills like that, but..."
She considers. "We could lean on some poeple in the community. There has to be someone sneaky enough."
"But... Don't underestimate how things can be covered up. I mentioned the SEBEC incident before--it was covered up very thoroughly, to the point that most people don't realize it was something at all. So we can't rely on 'sunlight' being enough."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Maya strokes her ear with her finger, the way she does whenever she's really deep in thought.
"Well... there's one way we can catch him. But I don't think anyone's going to like it."
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
Katsuya explains that it's probably illogical, that the cops won't help, and that the staff is likely being bribed. "Well, we could go to Rumormonger Merry... or another skulduggery type." She muses, but she doesn't quite like it as the only solution.
Ayame says about the SEBEC incident, and there's a grimace... "Right. But as much as the guy deserves to be stopped, what else are we supposed to do?" She wants to kill him internally but also wants to capture him realistically. It's difficult.
Maya, though... "Ma-ya! You can't just leave us on a cliffhanger! Tell us what the thought is!" A pause. A pauuuuuse. Oh no.
"...Maya, you don't mean we should lure him out, do you...? There's only one way to do that..." Her heart skips a beat. Oh nononononono.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
To be fair, Katsuya missed it, too. It's only on reflection that he'll realize it, and wonder, what might have been.
But in the moment, he's focused primarly on the topic of the Joker Killer. Taking another careful sip from his too-pink drink, he nods when Ayame mentions the fact that the fires have stopped. "Yes, I'm wondering about that, myself. I suppose we would have to ask him ourselves." Which is a rather fraught issue, isn't it?
But that's the long and short of it, as Watanabe puts it. "Yes. We cannot get in easily or confirm what is on public record. I suppose it goes without saying that the hospital records could be falsified..." It's possible that someone could go through the trouble to try to get work there and wind their way in, but if Sudou's hooks are into the place as deeply as Katsuya suspects they might (and Akechi certainly felt they were) then it won't be as simple as that. In the best case, they'd be caught and rejected in the interview process. In the worst case, it could become a trap. ...He hates that he's begun to think this way, too...
So they'll have to find someone who can sneak in.
"There is the possibility of taking the forest path up to the facility," he says, "but that runs the obvious risk of encountering the sanitarium security once we get close. We could be arrested for trespassing." And the same would be so for anyone else who tried to get close.
Rumormonger Merry? "That's possible," he allows, but the look on his face says it all. "...However, given her recent injuries, I'm hesitant to get her involved," he says. "Still, if someone has any advice, that is... possible," he says again. As reluctant as he is to rely on someone like Baofu, he's just as reluctant to rely on 'Merry', if for somewhat-related-but-also-different reasons.
Ayame, though, mentions the SEBEC Incident. "Yes... so you have said. I have been thinking about that. It feels somewhat similar to what we're going through now. There should be some people who were more deeply involved. If this situation is similar, perhaps we could go to them for advice on how to proceed."
Maya cuts right to the chase, though: there is one way they can catch him. Katsuya has tensed up. He's already guessing, isn't he--
Ulala speaks what he's already thinking.
"You don't mean... call him ourselves?"
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Rumormonger Merry! "Yes," Ayame agrees. But she drinks more, too--and frowns, thoughtfully. "Yes... and he wasn't in the mood to answer questions last time."
"Right... i'm not eager to risk a run-in with security..."
Still, "Mm. i don't want to put them in danger, either..."
But the people of the Incident? "I could... maybe try that," Ayame says. "It might be a good idea. But I'm hesitant. The people who were involved... they deserve a chance to live their lives, too."
Maya's idea, though...
"You're right," Ayame says to Maya. "I don't like it."
"There has to be a better way than that."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"It might be dangerous, but we're hitting one hurdle after another here. By the time we confirm whether or not he is foreign minister's son, someone else may die."
Maya's eyes flicker down to her drink, but her expression quickly shifts to more determined. "If we can come up with a way to catch him, something that'll ensure 100% that his victim won't become one... I think we should do it. We don't have to involve anyone else and put them in danger, either." Which was a concern of everyone's, including Maya's!
"And if anyone's worried about it, I'll volunteer as victim!" Maya winks. "If the Joker Killer thinks he's going to be able to get rid of me, he's absolutely mistaken!"
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
Ulala is parsing what Katsuya's saying about Merry. A nod. "I see..." And then to Ayame, "Might be a good idea to check in with any who might seem the type?"
But, what Maya says... confirms that she wants to call the Joker Killer. That's one thing. But when Maya says she'll volunteer as victim, Ulala feels as if she's having a heart attack. If she had never called that day... would it be like this? Could have they continued a normal life as roommates?
"No, you won't," Ulala says, *firmly*. "If you insist on doing this, I'll do it. You've been through enough, Katsuya-san's a cop, Watanabe-san's a mother."
It seems like a ploy to get Maya to back down, but what it really is... is guilt.
Downing her drink and setting it on the table... "But we can find a plan. Time's of the essence... but we don't have to rush into it!"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
He takes another sip of his drink. What is in this? Lime juice, and the color is likely cranberry (with sugar, he's sure) ... but what else?
"Yes," he says, of the SEBEC Incident. "Do you know anyone who was directly involved, or where they might be found? I can't think that it could be as simple as asking on Darkside about it. ...Could it?" It seems a little too easy, and that's assuming that they can even trust everything they read on the BBS.
But Maya's hit the nail on the head, and Katsuya sighs. "You're correct, Amano-kun. The longer we take, the more lives that are in danger. We need some definitive way to get to the killer, or to find the evidence that will allow us to put this to an end."
But what does that look like? If they can't storm the sanitarium, and they can't pull evidence from another source, then--
Well, there is one way to get an immediate audience with #501. But there's a reason no one among them has tried it since they learned about the way the rumor works.
But the longer they dither, the more people are put in danger as the rumor continues to circulate. Maya announces, then, cheerfully, that she'll do the dirty business.
Katsuya's own reaction is immediate. He leans forward, just about rising from his chair. "Absolutely not! He has already said that he intends to kill you. Don't you think that-- I won't let that happen! I--"
Fortunately, before Katsuya offers to do something profoundly stupid, Ulala intervenes. He stares at her for a long moment. "You... you are correct," he says, settling slowly back into his seat against the chair back. "As an officer of the peace, I cannot... behave that recklessly. Still, to call the Joker Killer yourself. Are you certain, Serizawa-kun?" Because it's not as if they can ask Ayame, who has children, and he's not sure that Baofu would 'ante up' simply because if it were feasible for someone to do it alone, their mysterious ally would have already done it.
"At least... you will not be alone. Of that, I promise."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"I'll... put out some feelers," Ayame says of the people involved. She doesn't want to just reveal them, after all, and she isn't quite sure...
But she might be able to find them.
Maya has a point, though. Ayame sighs. "All right," she says. "I can't, of course. As you say. ...Besides, I think I'm already on his 'list'."
"But..."
"I feel the same as Suou-san, but I'll back you up, if that's the choice you make. I'll be ready."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"You absolutely won't be alone!" Maya echoes the sentiment of her two newest friends. "Team Whoop-Ass is going to catch the Joker Killer and put an end to his game, once and for all!"
Let's think positive!
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
Thinking positive is absolutely off the table for Ulala, but she can pretend. As the others say they'll support her if she chooses to do it, she drums her fingers on her other hand. "...let's do it. The faster we're done, the faster we can return to semi-normal lives. It's not like we're going to lose, right?" She has a confident, easy-going smile, like this is something she's confident she can do. After a few moments, though...
She stands up. "I'm going to get another drink. Anyone want me to order a second?"
As she steps away from the group, the worry on her face becomes palpable only once she's turned around. She doesn't want to die... but it's better she's the target than the others.
They don't have sins on their heads.