2025-10-26: An Unlikely Assistant
- Log: An Unlikely Assistant
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Tamaki Uchida
- Where: Kuzunoha Detective Agency, Sumaru City/Aoba Ward
- OOC Date: October 26, 2025
- IC Date: August 01, 2012
- Summary: Tsubasa stops by the detective agency to ask Tamaki to look into her father, VP of Kimpara Electronics. Tamaki recruits them as an assistant. ... and promptly has them critique her amateur creative writing.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa... hasn't done very well on their exams the past couple of days. Between Shiryuu's attack on Monday and the trouble they got into yesterday...
... well, it doesn't matter how studious they are, they just can't focus. Maybe... they'll end up eking out a pass. They usually place in the upper third of exam results without even trying that hard, but right now...
Anyway. How much do they really know about their chains?
Detective Akechi is hard at work, Tsubasa knows, investigating the arson at City Hall... but they have a more personal problem, too. And they told that problem to get bent -- witnessed by an officer, even! -- but do they really trust that he'll leave them alone from here on out?
Man, how the fuck are they supposed to trust anything now they know what a boot does to a brain.
ANYWAY, they tell themself, again, more firmly, as they and their dog amble up to the Kuzunoha Detective Agency. There's a lucky cat out in front... and for once, Tsubasa has a hundred yen spare on them. Mementos has been great for their wallet, ninja assaults notwithstanding. "Uh, here," they tell the cat, awkwardly, even though it's just a statue of a cat.
You never know what kind of weird cat spirit is possessing shit like that.
Lance is of course a tosa inu, though she's a touch scrawny for one, despite a few scars. Tsubasa's a boy at Kasugayama, according to their uniform, though the bottom half of their shirt is unbuttoned and tied about their waist in a way which exposes a blue-and-black binder beneath. (It matches their neon blue hair. Hey, wasn't that magenta, cyan, and yellow the other day...?) They also have some dressings on their limbs -- and that's presumably from the fire they were trapped in at Aoba Park. Their deeply fake orange tan and massive amounts of concealer can't entirely hide the massive burn scars across the right side of their body, but their blue and white makeup is bold enough to at least try and draw attention away from it.
"Yo...?" Tsubasa calls out, as they open the door with all due caution. "Uh, you guys cool with dogs, or...?"
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki came in late to work today, though Todoroki was completely understanding about it, given the hectic nature of what had transpired the night prior. She is a level of dead-tired that she has not felt in several years. It was a struggle for her to find the motivation to get out of bed, and she hasn't applied makeup today, which would have at least hidden the dark sleepless circles under her eyes.
As Tsubasa enters, Tamaki's standing over the bookshelf behind her desk, indecisively perusing the spines of the binders and tomes kept there. Several more volumes are pulled off of the shelf and placed on her desk with their pages fully splayed open. Part of her's inclined to take the rest of the day off and really get her head straight, she feels like she's just spinning her wheels here.
Even if Tamaki didn't have her "associate" in the backroom, the cat statue still serves a purpose. It's less about the financial gain, and more just to witness how people treat something that is 1) lower-status than a human and 2) unpleasant or annoying on purpose. It's not a definitive measure of a person, just a quick litmus test.
Tsubasa gets full marks for their response.
Like a shot, Tamaki zips from her spot by the shelf to greet Tsubasa and tries to put on her best smile, despite her otherwise dishevelled appearance. Clasping her hands, she says, "Hiii~! Welcome to the Kuzunoha Detective Agency, where we handle anything from love affairs to ghosts!"
The greeting is something she does now by rote. It's only a moment later when she realizes just who it is! " -- Ah, you again! Seki-san, was it? We're completely okay with dogs! Though do try to keep her closer to the front. How may I help you?"
While she waits for Tsubasa's reply, she takes this moment to pay a little more attention to their appearance. The burns don't escape her notice, and they make sense; Tamaki's done some digging into the supposed Aoba Park arsonist. It takes her more than she'd like to admit to register the boys' uniform and binder, too, but she matches that up with at least one other person she knows.
Finally, she kneels down to grin at Lance and offer her hand out so she can recognize her scent. "And good to see you again, too." She does have an ulterior motive here: does this dog, like the one at Naganaki Shrine, also have Resonance ..?!
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Hey, at least they got full marks for something today!!
Tsubasa reflects that Tamaki looks like shit (as their internal dialogue goes), but of course she would; like, adults don't normally see shit like that either, right?! It's that thought which has them looking surprised to see her attending the agency today; perhaps they expected to see the Chief. "Uh... hey," they offer, eloquently.
"... yeah." Tsubasa nods, confirming their name, and steps inside, plus one dog. Lance is, at least, well-behaved in stores, which as far as she knows this is, because her actual conception is more along the lines of building-that-is-home and buildings-that-are-not-home. Sniff sniff, and she wags her tail and borks in a bright greeting!! ... no Resonance, though. It's like Koromaru is in the top percentage of all dogs...
"It's, uh..." Tsubasa's slower to gather their thoughts than their dog. (Or perhaps they're just nervous to share them.) "It's about my father. Uh, I told 'im to leave me alone, so maybe it's cool now, but... he's in good with the cops, so... jus' worried he pulls somethin' else. I mean --" Tsubasa's voice grows a touch more pressured, as if they're worried maybe they're the one who sounds paranoid -- "I reckon -- it's just suspicious, innit? Or whatever..."
Their arm crosses their body to rub at their opposite arm, scowling as they look aside to scrutinise that shelf instead.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Todoroki may be in fact present at his own larger desk closer to the back, albeit occupied on the phone and occasionally emitting a quiet rumble of instruction or assent here and there.
'Adults don't normally see shit like that either,' no. It's got Tamaki rattled, too. That was on an entirely different level than what she had dealt with so far.
No dog resonance detected. Phew. Some things in this world still make sense. Just a pup who looks like her owner today is showing her care that a previous owner neglected. After letting her scent be known, Tamaki affectionately ruffles the top of Lance's head and stands back up.
Tsubasa explains their purpose for showing up. Tamaki turns more serious and nods, shifting her countenance away from the customer-service facade and the excitement at seeing a dog.
"Your father ..." Tamaki drifts on that word as she digests it; she'll need to consult her notes on what his deal is again. The next bit DEFINITELY grabs her attention, though, and she narrows her eyes to glare sharply in Tsubasa's direction. " -- is in good with the cops, huh? And you'd like either peace of mind that he'll actually leave you alone, or knowledge of if he's actually up to something? Something along those lines?"
The shelf contains several subsections: the top-left has a few colorfully-decorated binders with different patterns and stickers affixed to them: lucky cats, rainbows, chessboard grids ... The next section has a few recent acquisitions from the Cardboard Dragon's selection of Japanese classics, like her newly-obtained copy of an archive of Kanagaki's articles and illustrations from his newspaper. Stuff from the Edo and Meiji eras.
Perhaps unsurprisingly from a metatextual standpoint, Tamaki also keeps a well-worn copy of Natsume Soseki's "I Am a Cat" on this shelf. While it looks like it's been printed within the last decade, it shows signs of age and wear in stark contrast to the other new or like-new volumes adjacent to it.
The next shelf down contains a set of neatly-organized binders which are more professional-looking than the ones on top, no doubt where she keeps her case-relevant notes. The rest is filled with textbooks, reference books, publications on legislation and law enforcement, and written guides on navigating various public databases.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
'I Am A Cat'... Tsubasa remembers it from school, if nothing else. (Like, they heard what Mr. Sneaze was called in the English translation when they were studying it, and ended up losing marks in English class for spelling...) They're not really hip to the classics, but they can at least recognise what those books tend to look like; they've hung out in the Cardboard Dragon enough.
"... yeah," Tsubasa's verbal response lags by a good few seconds. "I mean, I dunno..." They shift on their heels, a touch uncomfortable. "Maybe it's nothin'. Jus'... if it's somethin'... I dunno why he'd wanna knock me off to get his promotion. If there's some big guy out there don't like the look a my face... uh, I oughta know, right?"
Lance whines, pawing at Tsubasa's leg, and they shift out of their closed stance to lean down a little and pet her instead. No Persona, but the dog can clearly sense emotional malaise. Could that, in fact, be a therapy dog?!
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
At Lance's whine, and with Tsubasa's head bent down so they can't see Tamaki, she turns her own head with a worried glance in the direction of the back room's closed door. Seeing nothing amiss, she smiles again and returns to face Tsubasa as if she had never performed that little check at all. 'Therapy dog' seems likely, then. They make a good pair.
Tamaki nods firmly. "I at least think you ought to know, yes. You ... had worked at city hall prior to things going south, correct?"
She folds her arms. "Is it entirely true that you don't know why your father would have it in for you, or do you at least have some inkling? -- and don't take that the wrong way, I'm speaking strictly about any motive he may have. My assumption until proven otherwise is that you don't deserve to be 'knocked off.'"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Hey, Lance loves cats. Let her see the cat. She wants to be friends with the cat. Cat? Cat???
(Woe be unto you, Morgana.)
Luckily, Lance... probably can't tell there's a cat. And Tsubasa definitely doesn't know there's a cat. They just know their dog is worried about them!!
"Uh... yeah." Tsubasa straightens up, folding their arms, as they confirm their link to government. The Arsonist of City Hall was never named in the media -- which is at least part of why they came up with a scary title instead -- given how Tsubasa is a minor. But the identity of that arsonist isn't such a well-guarded secret that it can't be turned up with a little digging, except...
... the Tsubaki Seki who committed the crime had a name more typically given to girls.
Tsubasa doesn't respond well to that name, though, and it's super awkward to point it out, so they just don't.
They look even more awkward, though, under Tamaki's questioning. "I, uh..." They start, gaze shifting around the room; it can't be that hard for the cops to stitch them up, they couldn't act more guilty if they tried. But the last time Tsubasa mentioned a certain name, Umie reacted terribly; the 'New-Know-What' clearly isn't something they can just invoke. "I mean... he hates my guts? Like, uh... he's mad I ain't a girl an' I look like this an' I keep gettin' inta shit. He... really hates when he looks bad, an'... when I got in hot shit over that fire back then he got demoted 'cuz he was showin' bad morals havin' such a shit kid, so... guess he reckons me bein' a little reject's bad for him."
Tsubasa pauses. "Uh, not that he didn't get promoted pre' soon after that. Like -- uh -- dude's fuckin', Seki-senmu now, he won't ever shut up 'bout it." That's the honourific one affords an Executive Vice President; a promotion from there would see him directly reporting to the President himself as the Deputy President.
(Of Kimpara Electronics, incidentally. It's quite a well-regarded company; Kimpara Tower is even named for it.)
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
And Tamaki has done 'a little digging,' indeed. While she wasn't directly present for the Aoba Park fire, she's in regular contact with a few Persona-users who were and who attest that the culprit there was actually the Joker Killer. Tamaki and Tsubasa haven't quite had the chance to directly speak on these matters until now, but they both run in similar circles.
The awkward nature of the full explanation is why Tamaki's only obliquely stating one conclusion from her chain of logic.
"Thank you very much for your candor, Tsubasa-san. There may be those reasons you have openly stated just now, sure, but it may not be limited to those. I suspect you also have other suspicions that are best left omitted." Given where Tsubasa -- as Phoenix -- had seen Tamaki last night, it's probably not hard for them to guess what she means. (Tamaki has no reason to think Tsubasa saw her last night, though -- if city hall and the police are involved, it's just that something smells institutionally rotten to her.)
Tamaki stares at Tsubasa with her tired eyes, still in search of any lead after having felt the harsh sting of failure from the previous night. "If that is the case, it's best if you don't get involved in that mess. I'll let you know my overall conclusions, though."
How can she bring up the topic of the NWO without bringing it up? Well, by disguising it as an offer of alternative payment.
"I can look into what I'm able to. I do have to balance my time with our other clients, though ... and we're a bit tight on funds to consider pro bono work. I'd be more willing to take this on if you can assist us with some tasks to offset the time we'd spend on your case. Do you have any particular school subjects you're good at? It'd be great if we had another set of eyes to help us dig through clerical records."
In short, Tamaki suspects that Tsubasa saw something that they shouldn't have. Maybe they can help her spot more.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"I ain't..." Tsubasa starts, though indeed they ai having other suspicions. "Whatever," they grumble, instead, completely a teenager.
But Tamaki advises them not to get into that mess, and Tsubasa raps their fingers against their arm. "Sure. Tho'... ain't like I'm tryin' to," they grumble. ... okay, sure, they stalked Myunghon a little, but they didn't think it was gonna be like that! They thought they were getting stood over by Ishiba again or something!!
(Tsubasa, those events are ALL connected.)
They do look over to Tamaki, though, when she asks for assistance, and for all the world it seems as though she must have grown a second head. "Me?" They ask, sceptically. "Ain't no one wanted my help for years... I ain't exactly a welcomin' face." It's not hard to imagine Tsubasa failing to find part time work anywhere, when jobs posted for students all tend to deal in customer service.
They regard her suspiciously for another moment, before they volunteer: "I'm sick at stats and maths. Know my way around spreadsheets... that's the shit what got me into this mess to start with, tho'. Uh, an' I'm pretty good with composition an' shit." In the literary sense, presumably, not that legal records have much to do with haiku. "Guess I got a good memory or whatever, too..."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki tilts her head at Tsubasa's aborted protest. "You aren't what? If I overstepped, I would like to hear it. I, ah -- "
She leans against her desk, folds her arms, and looks away from Tsubasa, instead gazing on the lucky cat statue past Tsubasa. "I really would like to hear what you have to say. When I was in high school, the ... adults and authority figures I knew didn't take the concerns of their students more seriously. There was a severe bullying problem that got overlooked to tragic consequences." She returns her focus to Tsubasa and places a hand over her chest, fingers extended so only the tips reach her collarbone. "If I spoke over you just now, then I sincerely apologize."
Upon hearing of Tsubasa's strengths, Tamaki's response is effusive with praise. "Perfect! About your mathematical prowess, at least. I can't give you anything that requires a private detective's license to access, you understand, but I would like you to help me sift through various companies' investor reports and disclosure documents which are publically available for anyone to browse -- if dreadfully dry material. Have you heard of EDINET?"
Less seriously, she furrows her brow, glances left and right, leans in closer, and cups a hand on the side of her mouth as if to shield these conspiratorial whispers from Todoroki. "And if you've got an eye for composition, I would like your critique on some of my own amateur writing."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa glances back to Tamaki, hearing that. "Nah, man, it's jus'... I get suspicious easy. Y'know? So, uh, when ya talkin' like I got more to say... makes me wonder why ya know already."
They shift, a touch uncomfortably. "I ain't got much call to trust a lot a adults," they explain, still quite awkward. "Uh... some're cool, tho'."
AND SOME ARE OUT TO GET THEM! THEY HAVE A WHOLE CHART*!!!
* the chart may or may not look like an anime shipping chart following the advice of one of the adults who isn't trying to destroy them.
"'Course I heard a the Electronic Disclosure for Investors' Network," Tsubasa says, and the fact that they actually know what it stands for means that it's probably not just teenage bravado. "So, uh... if ya reckon I can help or whatever... sure? Uh, I got makeup exams 'til Saturday, tho', an' I'm goin' to Iwatodai for the rest a summer with the Boss... ain't like I can't do that too tho'."
Which also, incidentally, means Tsubasa has someone to hang out with over summer who'll notice if they go missing before they're found two weeks later in a ditch.
Reassuring!
Tsubasa blinks, though, when Tamaki whisper whispers. "Sure," they say, and their voice is as gruff as ever but they at least don't apply as much scepticism to that. They know that creative writing is a delicate venture! "I ain't as good at it as Officer Shimizu or nothin', but..."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki closes her eyes and tilts her head, like she's trying to streeeetch a sore neck. "Yeah, yeah. Just remember my occupation, though, and the 'why' may make a little more sense."
Then she shakes her head in sympathy. "I don't blame you. I'm glad you've at least found some cool ones, though."
About that chart ... well, put a pin in that.
"Excellent! Then I can show you what to look for. Whenever you're available is fine. I have my own vacation plans, too, so I won't be here for a bit." She says her next statement with a sweet tone, tinged with a faint hint of menace. "Do not under any circumstances come here when you should be finishing your makeup exams. Those come first!"
Please don't be like Suou-kun, Tsubasa.
Upon hearing Tsubasa's agreement to look over her amateur writing, Tamaki flashes them a thumbs-up and quickly retrieves one of the sticker-covered binders from her shelf. Specifically, the one covered in lucky cat stickers. "I don't show it to many people, but I'm sure you can appreciate it. I look forward to hearing your suggestions and thoughts on it!"
If Tsubasa doesn't choose to read it right this second, well, its contents are here for later perusal: 2025-10-26:_A_Story_About_Cats
... Tamaki doesn't know about Tsubasa's shipping charts, but this work of hers carries a similar energy to them.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Guess that makes sense..." Tsubasa frowns, and wonders, for a moment, why Tamaki knowing things is more suspicious than Akechi.
... only for a moment, though; Tsubasa doesn't need a licence to figure out that Akechi's their peer and Tamaki is an adult with a job and responsibilities and shit.
(Yes, that's exactly the way the thought goes through their head. Please don't ask how many times Tsubasa swears internally.)
"Uh... bit late for that..." Tsubasa says, and they try to act tough but they're clearly a little intimidated by that MENACE. "B-but it's cool, man, I finished for the day already, I ain't skippin' or nothin'." Well, they're not skipping today. Don't ask them how much they cut class under normal circumstances.
As it happens, Tsubasa does read it right this second. And there are two things to note as they do:
For one, Tsubasa's clearly a speed reader, which might make sense if they were doing baito government work.
And for another... their expression grows quite intense, as they read it, and despite their speed in reading, they linger on that last page for quite some moments.
"I mean -- it's good, man," they say, handing it back carefully. "Third person omniscient works for the like, myth-tellin' or whatever. Reads a bit dry, but it works for the story, it'd muddy shit right up if you made it more personal. Jus', uh..."
Tsubasa scowls. "What's with that ending? The spirit what finally helped that boy is evil? That sucks, man. Someone finally gave a shit an' gave him the power to make 'em cop what they did to 'im. His father an' all them deserved what they got. The sister's guilty, too. If she actually cared, why ain't she ever said shit when it were happenin'? An' I don't believe the mother gave a shit, neither. She loved that prick enough to marry him, and sure didn't love her son enough to stop him. They only cared when there was somethin' in it for them."
Where'd all that venom in their voice come from...?
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
"Good!" Tamaki beams at Tsubasa's assertion that they plan on finishing the rest of their makeup exams. Any hint of her menacing aura completely evaporates.
Tamaki's quite surprised -- albeit pleasantly -- that Tsubasa reads it right then and there. Furthermore, she's impressed with their speed-reading. (And a bit happy that the binder doesn't need to leave this office.)
She reaches out to take the binder back and leave it closed on her desk.
She props up her elbow in one hand and curls a finger in front of her chin. "Hmm. It was inspired by something, but given my distance from the actual events, I felt third-person was best." It isn't really her story, in other words. "Writing from the shrine maiden's point of view feels like it could potentially valorize her for exorcising the boy, but she was just trying to de-escalate a chaotic situation."
The venom doesn't surprise Tamaki in the slightest. She points at Tsubasa, then gives a thumbs-up in agreement. "You're entirely correct about my intended reading of the mother and sister, though. The boy's the most sympathetic figure in there. Things should not have gotten that bad for him in the first place, and the real tragedy is that the village caused him to suffer like that."
Tamaki returns her finger to her chin, curled as before. "My thought was that the spirit had orchestrated things so that the boy would come to them. It planted the seeds at the start by cursing the boy, then reaped the later harvest. ... I suppose you do have a point about how it's simply presumed to be evil, though. That's the element of the story I'm least certain about, and the one I'm most open to changing."
Translation: She has no goddamn clue who told the boy how to make a cognitive space -- I mean uhhhh cast the village into hell. Some detective she is!
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa would have been surprised if she'd wanted the binder to leave her grasp. They wouldn't want people running around with copies of their lyrics. Like, c'mon, there's at least four girl gangs who would gleefully post them up for mocking everywhere.
Still... if this is about that bullying incident Tamaki mentioned earlier, looks like she really did write herself into the story. A shrine maiden, really?
(Tsubasa don't know 'bout how much shrine maidens love cats.)
"Too right he is," Tsubasa agrees, though they're at least mollified hearing that Tamaki thinks so, too. Still...
"The real crime's how the village was so down on cats for like, generations 'n shit," Tsubasa points out, as they reach back to rub at the back of their neck. (Not their head, notably. ... because that would just make it obvious their hair's a wig.) "Like, read to me like that spirit were a stand-in for the cats what had gotten tortured to death an' shit, since when the boy went to 'em for help he got turned into a demon cat. So why's the demon bad and the boy's sympathetic? I dunno, man. Maybe I'm jus' readin' it wrong... but seems to me like the big difference is jus' how we saw the boy's story. Cats gettin' hurt was like, institutional. Maybe makin' a human get hurt like them was just the only way they could get someone to give a shit. Y'know?"
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Yes, really, a shrine maiden. Shrine maidens do love cats. The stickers on the binder, the statue behind Tsubasa, the ... unseen backroom associate ...
Tamaki folds her arms, closes her eyes, and digests Tsubasa's commentary for several long moments. She remains very still as she turns these thoughts over in her head.
Eventually, she nods and breaks the silence, re-opening her eyes to look at Tsubasa. "You're right. I hadn't intended to correlate the 'evil spirit' to the institutionalized treatment of the cats, but I can't blame you for thinking that with the way it was written. It needs an editing pass, for sure. Still, in my head, both elements are present, if not causally related, with the boy being synecdoche for all of the other cats and the spirit as something else non-catlike."
... Maybe this is a bad system for her to keep track of the details of cases she needs to obfuscate if they get so warped in their retelling.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Did you know that a Nekomata Sudou once summoned through his Mark wanted to claw Tsubasa's beautiful blue eyes out and bat them around like little ping-pong balls? Granted, they thought she was a gangster wearing cat ears at the time, but if they ever figure out what's in the back room they're going to have a hell of a time.
Tsubasa considers Tamaki's explanation, though... before their face twists up in confusion.
"Syndi-what."
They'll worry about whether the evil spirit is actually the good guy later they have no fucking idea what that word means. Did Tamaki just make it up or are they stupid or what.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
I knew that! Although Tamaki doesn't. She remains blissfully unaware of that particular surprise. She's more concerned about Lance's reaction than Tsubasa's ...
"Synecdoche. Referring to a larger whole by only naming one of its parts. If I say I need some 'helping hands', for example, I'm not actually asking for just the 'hands.'" Tamaki opens her own and and waves to demonstrate. "I'm instead asking for the people attached to those hands to assist me."
"... maybe I'm misusing the word, but what I mean to say is that the boy was meant to represent the institutionalized treatment of cats, and the spirit was more someone not-a-cat, like ... just grabbing a random example off the top of my head, say, someone in a similar position in society to the president of Kimpara Electronics."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Lance just wants to meet the cat. Let her meet the cat. She wants to be friends with the cat. She wants to play with the cat. Cats should be her friend all times. Lance very good friend to cat.
"So what, like, a figure a speech? Jus' say that, dude," Tsubasa says, fixing Tamaki with a sceptical expression.
... not that anyone's going to take dictation lessons from Tsubasa any time soon.
"C'mon, man, that ain't random," they add, a touch petulant. (They still feel dumb for not understanding a word. Teenagers!!) "But sure, sure..."
They pause. "I dunno much 'bout him, tho'," they add, "'cept his name's Takumi Kimpara, an' he took over for his dad like a decade back or somethin'. Uh. Pretty sure he ain't a vengeful ghost, but I dunno, ain't never met 'im."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
... okay, well, maybe she's really more concerned about the reaction of her "backroom associate" to Lance's presence. Tamaki would very much like Lance to keep her eyeballs.
Tamaki chuckles behind a hand. "Apologies, Seki-kun. It was a word that came up on my own exams in high school, and a lot of my fellow students incorrectly answered the questions about it."
"You're right that it isn't random, but I don't truly mean him in this instance. Just someone of comparable power and influence. I meant it as a merely illustrative example. Like ... a parasite who feeds on cats."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Lance is very fond of her eyeballs. She needs them to make big soulful eyes at Tsubasa while they're eating their chips. Or to look up at them right now! ... more because she's worried about them, though.
"Oh, ya reckon?" Tsubasa wonders. "Eh, it's cool... I'm pre' doomed this round anyway. Had... some shit on my mind last couple nights. Jus', y'know, stuff."
Probably stuff related to the whole someone-tried-to-kill-them-and-their-parents-might-have-ordered-the-hit thing, judging by how they came here.
(Which is technically true, even if Tsubasa doesn't realise how true it is.)
"Like a cat parasite, huh..." Tsubasa shrugs a shoulder, straightening up. "Well, that's cool. Lemme know when you edit it up. Uh, I'd ask if you wanted to leave shit with me, like with those files 'n shit, but guess you'd kill me if I were doin' that in exams week... reckon I'll come by Saturday arvo, pick shit up?"
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki sighs heavily. "You're not the only student I know who's been distracted during exams week, original or makeup. Next semester, yeah?"
"The last couple of weeks for me have been equally hectic, with 'stuff' layered on my own university exams. Hahaha, I probably look like a mess." She gives a tired grin. "And I've still got more in the next few days, too ..."
She trails off and gives a few bleary-eyed blinks at Tsubasa as they continue. " -- yeah. Yeah yeah yeah, we'll -- " A yawn escapes her mouth midsentence, then she retrieves her phone. " -- hum. Here's my number if you want it, just let me know when you're coming by."
Hopefully, they exchange numbers.
"Pleasure speaking with you, Seki-kun. See you after exams?"
After they leave, there's a high chance that Tamaki just outright conks out on her desk face-first.