2025-10-17: A Teenager, Not a Monster
- Log: A Teenager, Not a Monster
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Katsuya Suou
- Where: The Cardboard Dragon
- OOC Date: October 17, 2025
- IC Date: July 27, 2012
- Summary: Katsuya, intending to see if any new cards are in at the Cardboard Dragon, finds that Myunghon is out but that Tsubasa is in (and technically skipping). They end up having a short chat about recent matters, such as Tsubasa's recent predicament and delayed exams, and Tsubasa sets him straight on their pronouns.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa, with the Cardboard Dragon's help, has gotten some more of their stuff hauled over to the old safehouse -- including, as it happens, the massive stack of homework Julian gave them today. They've taken some of it with them back here, though...
... as they sit at the lounge, with that homework backed up against an old book they've stolen to be a makeshift writing surface. They go over the revision with a scowl across their face, still wearing the Kasugayama boys' uniform incorrectly, with the bottom half of their shirt unbuttoned and tied about their midriff; there are dressings on their arms and legs and across one shoulder, but they're still clearly wearing their neon blue and black binder, under their shirt. (Today, their hair is magenta, cyan, and yellow.) Technically, there's still an hour or so left of school, so no one's actually here right now -- but Tsubasa felt better hanging out here to work on this shit instead of being alone at home.
(Well. Safer, really. Even if there's not much going on in the Cardboard Dragon right now, they're pretty sure they could call someone in if they started hollering.)
Lance is here too, naturally, lying down beside her kibble and water bowls to catch a little dognap. She won Myunghon over, and now has snacks at the store.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
THE LAST TIME KATSUYA SUOU WAS HERE...
He learned about the terrible secret of space, or well, the third floor that Myunghon makes their home. There's black mold and it's barely furnished and the roof is coming down, and he's pretty sure that they could die up there come winter (nobody tell him they've already survived one winter up there already, his heart can't take it). They won't move out, though, and fixing up the place would cost money that none of them have (no, not even him as a homicide detective: even mitigation isn't going to be enough with that much damage to the walls and roof). So, you know, it's yet another problem to stew over that he can't at all solve.
But in the meantime, he's come by to check 1) that they haven't died yet and 2) if there are any new skill cards that have come into stock. It's not that he enjoys being so mercenary about all this, but... it might be the only thing standing between life and death someday, and he aims to be prepared.
"Hello? Yeo-san, are you in?" he calls out, opening the door to step inside. The lights are on and the store is open, so things here are probably well, but--
"Seki-kun. I did not expect to see you here," he tells them, apparently mildly surprised to see them. "Ah, I see. So you're catching up on your homework. That's good. Please, do not mind me. I was merely stopping in early to see if Yeo-san was here."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa, tragically, doesn't know about Myunghon's living situation. If they did, they sure wouldn't have taken them up on moving out of their shitbox!!
But mysteriously, sometimes adults keep their own struggles from the youth.
Someone does come in, though--!! And Tsubasa looks over the back of their shoulder (because they are of course sitting on the couch lengthways, and just be happy they haven't draped their legs over the back, they're a teenager, they can't sit on chairs right as a rule) to confirm the sound of Katsuya's voice.
"Sergeant Suou...?" Tsubasa asks. "I ain't skippin'," is the first thing they say, "uh, I mean, guess I am, but ain't no point bein' there right now, sooo..."
They hold up the paper they're scrawling on to show him what's going on, and then finally turn themself around to lean on the backrest instead of the armrest. "Yeah," they confirm, with a nod. "The Boss's dad yelled at 'em, so they let me take exams next week, since I woulda missed half a them otherwise... Marlowe-sensei gave me last week's homework so I could try'n catch up."
Tsubasa leans forward, to put the book and paper and pen down on the coffee table. "They ain't in right now," they tell Katsuya, as Lance picks herself up to amble over and greet him with a sniff and a mighty wag of her tail. "No biggie, so I just stuck around..."
Pause. "Uh. That's Lance," they explain the scrawny tosa inu, as she issues a happy bork. "It's cool, she's friendly. Uh... hey," they add, a touch awkwardly, "you got a sec?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Shouldn't their feet be on the floor? At least their shoes are off...
Katsuya, it should be noted, did sit on chairs and couches properly as a teenager, but there's a saying 'the exception proves the rule' for a reason. This is Katsuya we're talking about, and he wasn't much different as a teenager.
"...At this time of day, I believe this would normally count as truancy," he informs them. But he goes on. "...That is, if we were not in the middle of your final exam period, and if you had not just spent an extended period in custody. I assume that you are completing your exams at a later date?" Tsubasa confirms his exact suspicions, and he nods, as if satisfied. "Good. It would not be fair if you were to take your exams at the same time as the students that had been allowed to attend classes. I'm glad to see you are working on catching up." Well! Look at that, he can be not so bad sometimes, for a hardass. Then again, he knows that they hadn't been the culprit, and it's entirely the fault of his department that they're in this catch-up sort of situation in the first place.
So Myunghon's not in. "Ah. I see. Then, please excuse me. I'll return another time--"
A dog is rapidly approaching his location.
"...Ah. I think I saw you before. Maybe?" he wonders aloud, before reaching down to pat Lance on the back of her head. No dog allergies, at least, and she is friendly. "Lance, is it? ...It's good to meet you," he tells the dog, as if he were introducing himself to another person and not an animal.
But, does he have a moment?
"...Yes, I do. My shift does not start for several more hours. Is there something you need, Seki-san?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Of course! Tsubasa is a teenager, not a monster. They're not going to put their shoes on the couch.
If you ask them, they'd tell you that Katsuya leapt out of his mother's forehead fully-formed at thirty-something or however old he is (ancient, probably???). Like. You know how there are some adults where you can visualise how they might have been as teenagers? Yeah, there's those adults and then there's this guy, who isn't straight-laced because he'd get mad at how laces need to be crossed together to get tied up when they ought to be even straighter.
That's not to say they don't like the guy, just, you know... he's such a cop. But it's fine, he's an exception as far as cops go, too.
Besides, he at least gets it. (Tsubasa was a little scared he was going to insist they ought to have... like... gotten in a time machine to take the exams at their proper time period or something, but on reflection, he'd probably object to violating the rules of time or whatever.) "Y'know... the Boss was sayin' it sucked I didn't get a chance or nothin', an'... if I'm gonna bomb 'em it oughta be legit?"
God forbid a teenager actually say they were scared they'd get locked out of even getting results for one of the exam periods which is going to determine the rest of their future.
Lance wags her tail mightily as she gets pets, with a happy BOOF. That's dog for being happy to meet him, too!!
"I jus', uh..." Tsubasa starts, rubbing at the back of their neck. "Look, when we first met, uh... I ain't been fair to ya back then? Like, I thought the cops or whatever didn't give a shit 'bout what my father was doin', but... I jus' kinda dumped it on ya then bolted, an'... ain't like it's the kinda crimes you work on or nothin', so I guess it was, I dunno, surprisin' or somethi'... innit? Jus'..." Their awkwardness is only escalating the more they try to admit they didn't even give him a chance!! "You been tryin' to do right by me, so... like, it's cool, uh... you're pre' alright, for a cop," Tsubasa settles on, hitting maximum awkwardness somewhere around there.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Alas, if Katsuya could hear their thoughts, he would be extremely depressed. He's only twenty-five, he's not old just yet!
But she's sort of nailed the reason he's been having some issues at his workplace: indeed, it's the reason he's been stuck with the night shift so often lately. He's the sort of person who was born to be a cop, but also is far too fair-minded to be a cop. The latter is something he might not have realized yet, or at least, is resisting the realizaton thereof. Bad enough that his department is corrupt, bad enough the stain on the family name...
Still, for all that he clings to the straight and narrow like it might hurt him to bend the rules, he doesn't just see things as black and white. Whether or not he likes it, he has to acknowledge the grey in Tsubasa's situation. If he'd only been able to spring them earlier, then there'd be no need for this now. He can't fault someone for trying to make an honest go, even if by rights they should be taking their exams right now. To fair and to be lawful, he's starting to realize, can sometimes be two different things.
"Hmm. Your boss seems to be quite thoughtful," he remarks, reaching down again to pat Lance on the head. He's not a dog person, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like them, either. After all, the mascot of the Konan Department is a dog!
But Tsubasa finally does spill their guts and Katsuya straightens to look right at them. They have a lot to say, as it happens, and at least some of it's an apology.
And at least some of it is--
"You... think that I am 'alright'?" For a cop, is the qualifier, but he scarcely seems to notice. "I... I see..." He seems taken aback. It's like he's surprised and... a little bit happy? Somehow? "Then, I must make my own apology. I made an assumption about the sort of person you were when we had first met. I was... certainly mistaken," he settles for. "Moreover, for what you endured due to my colleagues, I am very sorry. It is fortunate we were able to secure evidence to help support your innocence."
Some of his colleagues may never forgive him for it. Are they the ones on the take? Or is it simply because he turned against them, in a sense? That much, he can't tell.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Yeah, see, he's twenty-five, he's ancient.
... Tsubasa would respect the work Katsuya's putting into his philosophy, though.
(And Lance respects getting all the attention she deserves. Which is all the attention in the world!! Look at her butt getting wagged by her tail, she is having a GREAT DAY.)
"She is," Tsubasa agrees. "That's why she's the Boss." Should Tsubasa be talking about the fact that they have a Boss -- vis-a-vis being in a gang -- to the coppiest cop who ever copped? Look, it's fine, he's cool.
(For a cop.)
At least Katsuya seems... like... not mad at them about it??? Tsubasa wouldn't have blamed him if he was mad about it, they were kind of a dick, but being kind of happy is definitely better than that. "It's cool, man," Tsubasa assures him. "I get assumptions a lot. It's no big deal. An', like... it ain't your fault some of those guys are pricks. Seems like ya actually tryin' to protect people or whatever, you ain't like them..."
Because of course Officer Ishiba isn't protecting anyone, in Tsubasa's eyes, except maybe himself.
"You, uh... you wanna sit down or somethin'? Kinda seem like the kinda guy that runs around everywhere an' forgets to chill out..." Tsubasa pauses. "Wait, I mean, uh -- shit, I'm jus' bein' a dick again, uh -- jus'... pretend I said that nicer." The concern for Katsuya's feet is real! Tragically, so is saying every little thought that runs through their head because they're still nervous.
"Uh, speakin' 'bout assumptions..." Tsubasa rubs at their shoulder. "It's cool you been callin' me a guy, like, rather get grouped with the dudes than the other way 'round if I gotta be, but, uh... I ain't neither. It's -- it's called 'X-Gender'," they barrel forward. "Like -- when someone puts an 'F' or an 'M' in their gender marker, fuckers like me wanna put an 'X' in there, like, 'not applicable' or whatever. It ain't, like, one thing, like -- there's some X-Genders what reckon they're boys sometimes and girls other times, an' there's other ones what reckon they got a third gender outside a both those two, an' folks what reckon they oughta be a mix of both the normal genders at once, an' like... then there's dudes like me, what opted out entirely and don't wanna be gendered at all." They pause, fingers drumming on their shoulder. "Uh, maybe it's weird to tell you somethin' like that, jus'... seemed like you were tryin' to do right by my gender too, y'know?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Don't tell him that, he'll immediately shrivel up!
He's had a lot more cause to think about his beliefs in the last couple of months. No, he's not about to turn his back on his profession or do anything else quite so reckless as that, but he's had food for thought and as such has been interrogating his own beliefs accordingly. It's just that he'd known that law and order are not as simple as that, but it's one thing to know something and another thing to understand it.
Case in point.
They had been difficult about it, but honestly, not much more difficult than his own brother. What's more, what he's learned about their home life (to an extent) and other bits and pieces has made him a little more... better-disposed towards granting them some level of grace, especially considering that he'd been a little rough with them in their first encounter, too. "I am only doing my job as a civil servant," he says; he's been getting that a lot, lately, though, and that's also been something he's found himself dwelling on. Surely the state of the police isn't as bad as that? He can't be the only officer who cares about protecting the people of this city. Isn't that why someone would become an officer in the first place?
That it could be about 'power' hasn't yet occured to him.
But, shouldn't he take a load off? He's going to be on his feet again plenty enough again soon. "I-- yes. I suppose I should...?" he hazards, thinking again about how his own father had complained about lower back problems when he was young and how in time he'll be in similar straits. "No, it is quite alright. It is true that you, er... could stand to be more polite, but it is also simply the way you are." He's got, as friends, the likes of Ulala: Tsubasa is only a few degrees (to the way he sees it) more coarse than she (and that's only if you discount the fact that Ulala can swear like a sailor in certain circumstances).
Speaking of assumptions.
"Er--" Katsuya says, seeing the shape of this statement as it comes trotting over the horizon. "Actually, I ran into a friend of yours, Kawase-san. She told me that you prefer 'they'. I--"
But Tsubasa's still talking, explaining what it means. Not both, in the way he'd loosely assumed, but more like 'none of the above'? Or, actually, sometimes it can be more complicated than that. He sits there, stiffly, staring right into the middle distance as he tries to take it all in. "I... I see..." he says at last. "I had assumed-- I am familiar with 'transgender', you see, er-- there is even a transgender member of the Setagaya Ward assembly in Tokyo," he explains, of whose election was really his first exposure to the concept. "We are a modern society, and there are all sorts of people in it. We all must be able to get along. Treating them with respect is... well," he says, fidgeting with his sunglasses (perhaps they're not the only nervous person here), "it is what we must do also as a polite society." He doesn't get it, not really, but it someone says that's how they want to be addressed or treated, then. That's the end of it, as far as he's concerned.
"...Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way..."
Ichiba comes to mind, for instance.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Civil servants... ain't all like that," Tsubasa points out, softly. "Plenty of rot in City Hall... when folks like my old boss Nakajima-san get strung up for shit he ain't even did." Kenta Nakajima was a politician in City Hall with a particular interest in representing Yongen-Jaya -- until he was found guilty of embezzlement and jailed in connection with a case of arson at City Hall.
(And that's the arsonist, right there on the couch.)
It may or may not be strange to hear Tsubasa talking about civil servants as if they're not completely divorced from their life and living, though.
"Ain't much for polite," Tsubasa shrugs. "Sorry. Don't mean to be disrespectful or nothin'," despite not being polite?!, "jus' kinda my thing."
But... the Boss told him that, huh? Tsubasa at least thinks better than to connect Ichika as that Boss to Katsuya. "Cool that she told you, tho'," they add, afterwards, having dodged a bullet that they're inevitably going to trip over later, but at least later isn't now!! "She'd know. She's like, my best friend... dunno what I'd do without her."
Tsubasa folds their arms, loosely. "Yeah," they nod. "GID's gettin' more eyes on it these days. It's cool you're cool with us. Uh, don't worry 'bout not gettin' the details, tho'... X-Gender shit ain't known quite so much. An' it's hard to like... say that's your thing sometimes, there's folks what ain't so respectful. Even if you're pretty sure they'll be cool, can't never be sure... like, I figured my mom at least would be cool with me, she at least wanted me growin' up, but she was just as bad as him." Tsubasa scowls down at the coffee table, their arms folding a little tighter. "She was real upset, 'cuz she wanted a daughter. So she jus'... let him kick me out, didn't say nothin'... it's whatever," they insist, shaking their head. "Was like a year back, it's old news now."
... the difficulties which X-Gender individuals have disclosing their gender might be insight which helps Katsuya in the future, too, even as they get caught on what happened when their disclosure went wrong. Though, here's the question: if disclosure is so scary, why is Tsubasa so loud?
(Maybe they just have nothing to lose.)
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
What can he say to that? Perhaps, in some sectors, it's the case, but... he still can't accept that most people are like that. "Kenta Nakajima, wasn't it..." he muses aloud. Guilty of embezzlement. He'd thought nothing of it then, but that's a familiar charge to him now. "..." He fidgets, again, with his sunglasses, as if in thought over the matter.
"Evern so..." is what he says to them, in the end.
Perhaps he's immature, thinking about it like that. Tatsuya had blown up at him about 'arresting' the Joker Killer. It might not be possible. But he also doesn't think that he's mistaken to try.
He shakes his head, though, as Tsubasa apologizes again. "Do not worry about it. So long as you try, that's sufficient. Besides, I..." He trails off, considering at the last moment that it might be unkind to throw Ulala under a bus. "Actually, never mind."
Fortunately for the both of them, he's parsed Ichika as a friend and not some sort of gang leader (let alone Tsubasa's Boss). "Yes. I think she was looking out for you in her own way. She was very worried about your safety. I reassured her as best as I could." With the caveat that there were still unknowns in Tsubasa's case, and that he didn't want to promise her the moon and stars only to not deliver. Even with the evidence, it wasn't a sure thing. Once someone is arrested, after all...
This time, though, it had worked.
This is not the sort of thing someone just tells anyone. He's a detective: getting someone to even mention that they are involved in certain scenes in this city is an endeavor, even if he has enough hearsay to suspect as much. It isn't even as if being 'a part of those scenes' is the thing he's interested in: all he wants to know sometimes is if an individual knew the victim, but the fact is that some of the pressure people have faced over the years makes his job harder for no reason.
It's none of his business, is what it is. It shouldn't be his business: who someone loves or how they want to dress or how they want to be addressed shouldn't be any of his business, outside some basic level of civility. But here Tsubasa is telling them about how their own family reacted when they opened up to them, and... it hadn't gone well.
"I see," he says at last, his gaze somewhere down by his shoes. "I am... sorry, it was like that." He's never been rejected by his family like that. Even Tatsuya isn't-- it's not the same thing at all. To have someone you should be able to trust turn on you like that: he really only can guess what it's like.
He still doesn't get it, admittedly, but there are a lot of things, he reflects, that he doesn't entirely understand which remain still an integral part of this world (like weather patterns and prediction: he has some rudimentary knowledge but he doesn't understand how they're made).
He reaches down then to pat Lance if she'll have it.
"Thank you for telling me, Seki-kun. It is... good to know." Even if Ichika had gotten some of that information to him before, he's at least able to contextualize it all a little better.
He considers that, about them: if they don't have anything left to lose, perhaps it does... explain a lot.