2025-10-31: Unintentional Cruelty
- Log: Unintentional Cruelty
- Cast: Tamaki Uchida, Sojiro Sakura
- Where: Kuzunoha Detective Agency
- OOC Date: October 31, 2025
- IC Date: August 03, 2012
- Summary: A 'Public Security Intelligence Agency officer' comes to ask Tamaki about the source of an information leak. No one gets held up at gunpoint this time.
(|======================== Kuzunoha Detective Agency =========================|)
-=================================================== Sumaru City/Aoba Ward ====-
The first thing that greets visitors to Kuzunoha Detective Agency is a giant
golden lucky cat statue that, with its left paw raised, bids a hearty welcome to
customers and opportunities alike. Inspect it, and a mewling voice will ask for
donations: 100 yen from students and other children, and 1000 yen from adults.
A pair of dark couches that frame a coffee table have an excellent view of the
massive HDTV and dual stereos on the far right wall. On the far left wall are
shelves upon shelves full of books, none of which definitely can slide to one
side. A large desk with a lamp and computer stands in front of it. This is where
the portly older ex-gumshoe, Chief Daisuke Todoroki, makes his business, as...
blessed... by the agency's original owner. He investigates (and will spread) all
manner of rumors to find out the truth (and change reality), assisted by veteran
Persona User Tamaki Uchida.
The back room is nothing special; it has a stove and a sink, so it's a simple
task to always have tea ready for customers. There's a bathroom there too, but
it seems like it's always occupied. Don't ask who's in there, meow.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
It's late in the day at the Kuzunoha Detective Agency. The lucky cat statue is silent: Tamaki has had a bad go of it over the last few days and can't stand the noise today. Chief Todoroki's already gone home. Only the apprentice detective, Tamaki Uchida, remains in the office, and she's in the middle of packing up her things to leave.
And doing some desk clean-up, too: getting rid of a take-out container, several cans of GEORGIA coffee, a now-empty first-aid kit ...
It's just about closing time, and she's getting ready for a much-needed break. That Jun kid brought in some lavender, and that gave her the idea to go visit Kaori Aromatherapy tonight. Freedom's only a few minutes away.
She has no idea what she's in for in just a few moments.
<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.
Sojiro Sakura, as far as anyone was concerned he was out of town, visiting old friends. He even posted a few fishing photos of him and said old friend in some fishing gear heading into some mountains.
This would of course mean that the man who just walked into the detective agency is absolutely not Sojiro Sakura, this man has a black fedora pulled down to hide his face, and is wearing a black suit with a black tie, neither of which seem to be a neat fit to old gentlemen. The outfit screams Public Security (Japanese FBI).
Said gentleman stands at the entrance of the detective agency a moment, his head slowly moving to take it all in. Loudly he clears his throat to try and get the attention of whoever is around before speaking up, "I'm here from public security, looking for a detective Uchida-San. " A badge is retrieved from the pocket, flashed and then returned. "We have some questions."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki pauses her cleanup to give the man a welcoming bow and smile. "It's just me here tonight, but hello. I happen to be apprentice detective Tamaki Uchida. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."
The presence of Public Security raises some red flags in her mind, though she tries to not show any external hint of fear. Her smile stays on, though it may grow slightly strained with tension as her mind races.
If she'd committed a crime, then she'd risk delaying her full PI license by another five years -- and just last night, she had gone into someone's home during the Dark Hour (with the permission of one of the homeowners) to retrieve an item of importance. Could his visit be about that incident? That's some very quick turnaround time if so.
Or is this man simply posing as Public Security? His suit doesn't seem to fit, and she's curious to see the number on that badge.
On the other hand, while the agency is a private one, sometimes they do take on assignments that the police lack the resources for. This visit could very well be for something of that nature, though she would have expected local police, not Public Security.
"How may I help you? Do you require our assistance for a case?"
<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.
Sojiro straightens for a moment at the sight of his, well whatever she is, tattle tale maybe. He hadn't even fully processed what the situation is and that is really why he came here today. Standing for a moment he tries his best to assess the person infront him, besides, past experience has taught him that the silence can cause discomfort. Discomfort usually caused quicker cooperation.
After another couple of beats he finally speaks up, "It has come to the attention of my department head that you had received certain information regarding a project. A project related to something referred to as Cognitive Psience. " The old man reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a notepad, taking out a pen from the rings of the notebook. " We would like to understand how you came into information regarding a classified project."
Sojiro scribbles some words onto the notebook and then looks up, "Does your superior need to be contacted, or are you able to manage these questions?"
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Oh. Cognitive psience. Is that all? That's better than she was expecting.
The young woman here is still in university, having graduated high school just a couple of years ago. An apprentice. A greenhorn. While she's not a seasoned detective, she did ace her Criminology exam last week.
Information-gathering does fall entirely in line with the PSIA's duties, as far as she knows. That aspect of his story checks out ... but something else seems amiss.
Tamaki ever-so-slightly tilts her head to the side to better focus on the man before her with a single eye. "Classified? I had thought it was merely discredited pseudoscience. There are some research papers on the topic which were once publicly-available, but they've all since been retracted. I perused some archived copies, I can get you the URL of the site where I had found them."
As she speaks, she further recalls that the government had rather aggressively cut funding for any programs which had been researching cognitive psience. With this man's presence, she begins to grow a little more suspicious that this man's visit could be something of a similar nature.
"I will freely admit that I was recently looking into the topic. How did you become aware that I was?"
<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.
At the mention of it being discredited and the detective's confusion on it's classification Sojiro relaxes a little, at the same time he is kicking himself for making a rookie mistake, he gave more information then intended. He was never told any of it was public, he had only been aware of a couple of data breaches and then the lock down on the information. None of it was suppose to be out there anymore.
So, he does what he knows to do, he ignores the question and just takes notes.
That is until he gets to a question he has to answer, "I am sure you are aware on how information gathering is done. You know a person who said something to someone and suddenly your boss is giving you a headache to find answers. In this case we heard through a chain of people that you had this information. We are looking for your source." He even gives a heavy sigh at the end.
Stepping forward he reminds her with a gentle verbal prod, "So you mentioned a website with the research you found?"
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki nods politely and begins to explain her perspective on the chain of events. This should be a straightforward affair ...
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=158e3Bh6o2Q
- Testimony Begin -
Calmly and comfortably, Tamaki proceeds: "An acquaintance of mine, Ayame Watanabe, had been looking into information that could potentially be useful to stop the Joker Killer. We have a good number of other clients who seek the exact same thing. Based on several of my own personal experiences in the past, cognitive psience seemed like it could actually be relevant, despite how it's been largely discredited as a legitimate scientific discipline. As outlandish as that may sound, it's the truth."
Tamaki curls a finger under her chin and gazes out of the corners of her vision as she continues: "So I started going through those papers to gather the names of researchers who had been credited. My intent had been to interview them, or to point Watanabe-san and others to people who could assist us. I was not initially sure of who to contact first, but ..."
She closes her eyes and smiles cheerfully at the recollection of several particular memories. "In my discussions with Watanabe-san, we had gotten into the topic of food. Ask anyone who knows me: I'm quite the gourmand and the fan of many fine dining establishments. She had mentioned a curry and coffee place known as Le Blanc, run by one Sojiro Sakura. Over at the Jolly Roger, I had recently paired a meal of curry with a fruity and sweet alcoholic drink in order to complement the spices. I have been meaning to visit Le Blanc myself for quite some time, as I'm sure the smoky, roasted taste of black coffee nicely pairs with the curry's mixture of buttery, earthy, and spicy flavors." Tamaki flashes a grin after she finishes her description. Now she wants curry for dinner again.
She places her hands behind her back and keeps going. "I had been looking through the family registry for the names of those researchers. My intention was to contact their families if the researcher in question was difficult to otherwise contact. I had noticed on the family registry that one Wakaba Isshiki had a daughter who had been adopted not by Isshiki-san's surviving family members, but by Sojiro Sakura, the very same proprietor of Le Blanc. Given that Watanabe-san had already been introduced to him, and that Isshiki's daughter had been adopted by him, indicating a level of closeness to him beyond her other family members, I figured he was our best bet for questions on the topic, even if he may not have been a researcher himself."
She is wholly unaware of Sojiro's job previous to Le Blanc, but Sojiro doesn't know that.
"It didn't have to be him. Without that inroad, I would have thrown a dart at a list of names."
Tamaki shakes her head as she concludes. "As far as I'm aware, that's the end of it. I haven't heard back from Watanabe-san yet. The chain goes from myself, Watanabe-san, Sakura-san ... then from there to whoever had sent you, though I have no idea how many layers are in between that."
- Testimony End -
"As for the URL, it's on an SFTP server ... if I may return to my desk for a moment, I can retrieve it for you."
<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.
Sojiro looks at the detective as she explains the situation and he continues to write down the information. It's chicken scratch short hand but it totally means something to Sojiro at the very least. At the mention of the Leblanc, he stops and simply listens for a moment. Normally he'd be impatient, but for now he is wistful.
The mention of Wakaba's daughter also causes him to pause for other reasons. In some ways he knew he was hiding in plain site, but in others he thought they wouldn't be this easy to find. Maybe they should have gone abroad.
At the mention of the SFTP server he nods and gestures towards a desk, is it hers, who knows. It's not like he works here. "No problem I am going to review the notes while you do."
He reads his notes over and over before he asks , "That was Sojiro Sakura correct? I seem to need to work on my shorthand, can barely read my own writing. " Sojiro follows Uchida-san over to the desk.
"So the research you found had Isshiki-san's name on it, I presume?" Another question asked, though this one Sojiro doesn't know the answer to.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki's too wrapped up in remembering the taste of that Jolly Roger curry to notice this PSIA agent being wistful in front of her.
While family registry information is available to parties such as local authorities and private investigators and includes adoption records within the last five years, the rest of the events in question were a matter of mere serendipity. If Ayame hadn't been a customer of his, then finding Sojiro would have been a more difficult matter, and Tamaki would have selected a different researcher, like she said.
"Sojiro Sakura, yes. That's correct." She gives the man in front of her a slight bow, then takes a seat at her desk and boots her computer back up to demonstrate and navigate to the SFTP server. Several directories exist within it: one of them contains .pdfs of the papers which academic institutions had published in that brief flurry of activity in 2009 before the crackdown on the topic started roughly a year later. The others relate to other crackpot theories: one about how the sun we have today was replaced by an artificial one during the 1980s, one on the 'Kirijo Timer' and how their consumer products supposedly have a programmed date at which they stop functioning entirely, another with eyewitness accounts of attacks on the public by cults ...
At no point does she try to retrieve anything from her desk.
"There's a contact I have via the dark web who's compiled these papers to prevent them from being lost entirely." Tamaki curls a finger over her lip as she pauses. "I'm unsure how well your tracking capabilities are, but even I'd be hard-pressed to find them."
She opens one of the .pdfs and turns the screen to the PSIA agent. "This is the paper that had Isshiki's name on it." And there it is. It's nothing too outlandish on its own, and it elaborates on electronic signals of the human brain and what kind of technology can measure the readings ...
Tamaki rests her chin on a hand and leans on her desk. "I have a vested interest in this topic, myself. I've been a part of two incidents during my time in high school where I have reason to suspect that some of the principles of cognitive psience may have come into play. I also have reason to believe that they're in play when it comes to the Joker Killer, and he's utilizing aspects of it in order to carry out his attacks. Once is a coincidence, twice is happenstance, but ... three times is a pattern."
She doesn't elaborate out loud, but she means the Karukozaka High incident, blamed on a gas leak and largely thought to be the product of mass hallucination. Then, later, the Mikage-cho incident and the SEBEC scandal. Those weren't mere conspiracy theories -- she was there when they had happened.
She sighs. "If it was truly classified, I had no idea. Myself, Watanabe, and the others ... we can't just sit by, keep our heads down, and do nothing. We don't have that luxury anymore. So ... my thought is to fight fire with fire."
Wide-eyed with anticipation, she turns to the agent. "Unless you mean to tell me the incidents I had personally witnessed in high school are also classified. You're not here to clean me up, I hope?"
<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.
Sojiro takes down a few more notes and the URL, checking it thrice. At the mention of the dark web contact, he has to wonder for a moment, if she could be the one behind all this. It would totally be something she could do but, she knows how dangerous it would be. They had talked about this. Still perhaps she could help solve the source of the problem.
Sojiro closes the notebook and then pockets it, "Truthfully speaking I think you are fine and have no liability in the matter. One cannot be held accountable for something they find on the internet if they didn't put it there. I am sure this is just someone in cyber screwed up, and now here I am trying to see how big of a mess has been made before someone loses their job." A beat is given before he fishes a cigarette from his jacket, but respectfully doesn't light it. "Sides I am to old to be a cleaner anymore."
Walking towards the door he stops and adds, "Look, the stuff I understand about that stuff it is about as powerful as the belief in willing someone to not have cancer or to make someone who has pissed you off, head explode. You and your friends can dive into it all you want, but sometimes a gas leak is just a gas leak. Maybe it was planned, maybe it was an accident, but I bet it was just a gas leak. "
Sojiro tips his hat as he resumes his walk to the door, "Have a good day detective, I doubt we will meet again."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
THAT sets her off. Whatever polite facade she had before, hearing her own experiences be dismissed as mere gas leaks and chemical explosions causes something in her to boil over.
Tamaki steps to the side of the agent and puts her foot against the bottom of the door to keep it from opening. Her glare is fierce, but her voice remains collected. "With all due respect, agent, it most certainly was not 'just a gas leak.' Before you go, may I see your badge number so I may note it down?"
The one time it'd be useful to reveal the agency's backroom associate of the Nekomata she has a pact with, it isn't here ..!
<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.
Sojiro is startled and for the first time she is probably close enough to see under the fedora. He blinks at her for a moment at her sudden politeness had gone away, which catches him off guard. "My badge number?" The question is more confusion on the current shift of the mood then actually anything.
He grumbles for a moment as he is inconvienced, and doesn't take out his badge right away. He takes his notebook down, "One second." He scribbles down a few characters and then a series of numbers and tears the page out of the notebook and hands it to her. This is followed by flashing the badge again, this time slower with his hand covering a lot of the badge but the number is there and matches what is on paper.
Sojiro waits for a few moments before he puts the badge back in his pocket, "Anything else I can do for you detective? "
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
With her eyes still narrowed in a scowl, Tamaki takes the paper. She folds her arms and begins tapping her other non-door-blocking foot. "May I also see your badge fully unobscured by your hand, please? It should have your name and photograph as well, to my knowledge."
She's keenly interested in knowing if the PSIA indeed has a legitimate interest in concealing the truth from the public ... or if the person in front of her is an imposter.
"At least two people have been missing for years. The lives of an entire city were endangered. I have my doubts that Isshiki's death was a suicide. You can't intend to have me believe that your agency has the public's best interest in mind if you're going to insist on the convenient cover stories for those incidents. Surely protecting people and informing them of the danger takes priority over quietly glossing over something that would be a problem for the government? People like you are the reason I went into the private sector instead of law enforcement proper ..!" (And on and on and on she goes.)
For all the tongue-lashing that she might be giving him ... she still doesn't have any reason to think the man in front of her may be Sojiro himself.
<Pose Tracker> Sojiro Sakura has posed.
Sojiro stares at the lady for a moment and starts to reach back into his pocket before he hears his own thoughts echoed back to him about Isshiki. This gets her a stare from under the brim of the hat that may call into question that joke about him having been a cleaner in the past.
"Listen here, I was on the team that investigated her death. I know it was a suicide. I do not intend you to believe anything, that is the benefit of having agency. You can CHOOSE to believe whatever the hell you want, just as you chose to skip the academy and just be a detective." Sojiro's tone is somewhere between seething and cold, and more impressively doing it all with the unlit cigarette in his mouth.
Finally he reaches into his badge and tosses it on the nearest flat surface that is out of Uchida-san's reach, "There's my badge mail it back to me when you are done dusting it for prints." Then he grips the door and works to stare her down about whether she lets him open the door or not. If she relents Sojiro will duck out of the office.
If she forgoes the door for the badge it will look official, though out dated. The name on the badge is Jouji Nakata, and the only thing wrong with it is that it is about 2 years expired, near the same time frame of Isshiki's death. The picture is a picture of Sojiro, though younger.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki glares back at Sojiro, not willing to budge an inch. She can't honestly claim that she isn't scared on some level, but that's the thing with her: she's had plenty of practice in pushing that fear aside. She's had to stand up for other people who can't do it themselves, and that's what fuels her defiant streak in this moment.
She grits her teeth when he calls her 'just' a detective. That hits home a little bit, especially since she's even lower on the hierarchy: she's an apprentice detective. It takes her a moment to maintain her composure, but she just as coldly replies, "I suppose we do both have the agency to believe what we do, sir."
Tamaki glances over at the badge which had landed on her desk some distance from the door, then quietly removes her foot and steps aside. That seems to have calmed her down. She gives him a polite bow, then steps aside. "Thank you. I don't mean to keep you any further, and I would like to apologize for my outburst."
It doesn't take her long to put together 1) the expiration date 2) Sojiro Sakura's gap in employment history 3) the foundation of Le Blanc a few months later. -- oh god, and she brought up Isshiki, too, right in front of -- no wonder he was glaring at her. The realization causes her to clap a hand over her own mouth in shock, in embarrassment, in mortification! She didn't know she was being so cruel.
If he left as soon as she stepped aside, then he's probably approaching the edge of earshot by the time she realizes. She opens the door and shouts, " -- I'm sorry about some other things, too, sir!" in what might be vain hopes that he heard that.
She doesn't intend to chase him down, though, and she plans to give that badge a closer look. She had originally planned to file a complaint with the PSIA, but with this new information having come to light, she may instead just mail it back.
She might instead pay a visit to Le Blanc itself when it reopens, but ... she has her doubts that she'd be welcome there. (And so she mourns at -- among plenty of other things -- having screwed herself out of a delightful culinary experience.)