2025-11-09: Retrieved
- Log: Retrieved
- Cast: Rin Sasaki, Tamaki Uchida
- Where: Kuzunoha Detective Agency
- OOC Date: November 09, 2025
- IC Date: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 (Morning)
- Summary: Tamaki has recovered Kenzo Sasaki's Thread after a surprising amount of trouble during the Dark Hour. Rin arrives for pickup, and of course brings along more questions -- and not all of the answers are easy to hear.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
It's a relatively normal day in the Agency, with both Chief Todoroki and Tamaki at their desks, poring through binders of case files and browsing through computer databases.
The giant golden lucky cat statue near the front of the agency sits as it always does, ever beckoning customers with its paw ...
Of particular note here is that for the last few days, the briefcase of one Kenzo Sasaki which contains one photograph of an ultrasound has been locked in a safe hidden in one of the large cabinets behind Todoroki's desk. After having procured it, Tamaki had texted Rin that it's available for pickup at her convenience.
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
Rin enters the agency early in the morning, with significantly less hesitation than the last time she was here. There is still a weariness in her eyes and body language for anyone perceptive, but not quite the overwhelming exhaustion from before -- she is either settling into something approaching a routine, or has become better at hiding it (or both). A breezy blue-and-white sundress that reaches almost to her ankles; open, low-healed sandals; natural-looking makeup; an assortment of rings and bracelets; and a custom-made black leather handbag over one arm, large enough for a laptop and some other items.
She pauses in front of the lucky cat statue as it asks for donations in its tinny voice, pursing her lips. "You said previously that it 'started talking as the result of a rumor,'" she directs to Tamaki while continuing to look at the statue with a critical eye. "Does anyone ever actually donate? What happens to the funds if they do?" Pause. "And what was the rumor -- 'the statue at the KDA will start begging for yen starting tomorrow?'" This is said lightly and perhaps with just the slightest veneer of skepticism, but genuine curiosity right under the surface.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Like clockwork. "Nya~! Nya~! Nya~! Please donate 1000 yen!"
Tamaki's had several days of rest after the hectic flurry of activity she was involved in, /and/ her university's on summer break so she at least doesn't have to juggle both school and work. (She might have slept overnight at the agency in order to keep watch on the safe during the Dark Hour, though it seems her caution had thankfully been unwarranted.) She is at least back to normal, dressed in her usual brown-and-beige-striped business suit.
At Rin's question, Tamaki and Todoroki's eyes meet. Their exchange is wordless, but there are untold depths to what they say to each other with their mutual glances. Tamaki nods and pipes up hesitantly, "The rumor in question ... was that if you donate enough to the statue, then it'll tell you of yet more rumors within the city. I've seen that happen firsthand."
She pauses, then continues her answer with a nod. "I've seen some high school kids donate. I've even paid out of pocket myself out of ..." Her expression turns to annoyance. "-- Desperation. The information I paid for ended up saving someone's life. The agency is not the beneficiary of the donated funds; a very well-informed associate is."
Having finished her explanation (for now), Tamaki cracks a smile. "And it's good to see you again, Sasaki-san."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
With her eyes on the statue, Rin does not see the look between the pair. Hands folded together, she taps her left hand several times as she listens to Tamaki's explanation. "Mm." After what she's heard already -- and experienced a little bit herself -- Rin is certainly not ready to contest the explanation, no matter how much it sounds like a rather outlandish scam on the surface.
Especially not when she's here to pick up a simple image she paid a private detective to steal back from a thing that is not her husband for the express reason that it is apparently of critical value in expelling the parasite in her husband's psyche (so really, it's one of the less outlandish things she's been prepared to hear out and even accept as true).
"But if the statue is what gives the information, then why does this associate get paid?" Rin asks as she turns away from the statue to approach Tamaki, the edges of her lips turned up in a faint smile. The question is again asked lightly and with a veneer of skepticism, but one might get the impression that it's really asked to try and fish for more answers.
"You as well, Uchida-san," she returns as she takes an open chair in front of Tamaki's desk. With the distraction set aside, her expression and tone become more sober, a little more subdued. "Your text said you were able to retrieve the image?" There's only a moment's silence before she can't resist asking, "How?"
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki clasps her hands together and smiles brightly. "Perhaps if you donate enough, then you can personally see what the relationship between the statue and the associate is. Barring that, I'm sure your imagination can fill the gaps."
At Rin's other questions, Tamaki nods seriously and goes behind Todoroki's desk instead to retrieve it from the cabinet safe. Click-click-cliiiiick, and out comes the briefcase. Tamaki returns to her own desk, places the briefcase on the surface, then gestures for Rin: "Feel free to open it and check."
At the other one ('How?'), Tamaki goes stock still. After a moment, she curls a finger over her chin. "This is one of those things that'll sound outright insane if I explain it directly. I promise I'm not just yanking your chain, though."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
Rin does not persist past the clear deflection on her final question regarding the statue. It was a reach, and she knew it was a reach when she posed it.
She does open the briefcase, flipping quickly through a number of work files that not-Kenzo had taken home with him, perhaps to review on the train home --if Tamaki glanced through them, she would have seen that Kenzo works at The Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University, and that his team recently received a fantastic amount of research funding -- until she reaches the ultrasound image buried haphazardly at the bottom. Her expression darkens visibly as she pulls the image out and closes the briefcase again.
"Uchida-san, if that is the case," Rin begins evenly before letting out a long, slow exhale. She carefully places the image in her bag and then also pulls out a pen and a notebook. She flips through to an empty page but holds it in such a way that Tamaki can't see what has previously been written as she does; then, she looks up and makes direct, unwavering eye-contact with Tamaki. Her expression is set firmly and there is an intense look in her hazel eyes. "Then I wish to hear every detail. Please."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki nods seriously at Rin. "I just felt like I should be clear. I've got my reasons for playing coy about the statue," she shakes her head with a pained expression, "but my reasons for being reticent about ... this ... are different."
Every fiber of Tamaki's conscience is yelling at her to try and figure out how to actually seem sincere instead of doing her usual social engineering saleswoman schtick. The one time where she wants to both be forthright and seem like it, she can't muster it. It always feels to her like it's one or the other.
She curls a finger over her chin again as she considers where exactly to start. "There's a lot of background information on this whole sphere of things, but the most relevant one is the existence of a twenty-fifth hour of the day. Time otherwise freezes. Most technology stops working. Ordinary people remain dormant -- they remain frozen in place, kept in floating coffins until the hour elapses."
While she doesn't look over at Todoroki, she doesn't manage her volume -- this is stuff he's in on, too. "Then you've got people such as myself and a few others. I assume whoever told you about Homunculi is one of us. The term people settled on seems to be the 'Dark Hour.' Time doesn't stop for us. Monsters called Shadows are sometimes out and about during this hour. We're ..."
Tamaki pauses and bites her lip for a moment. "We don't have the luxury of looking away anymore. We get power, but we also get responsibility. I recently had a client die on me because I failed to protect them, and the only thing they did wrong was stumble across information that someone powerful didn't want them to find. Information that they didn't want them to pass onto us."
While it's on her mind, Tamaki fishes out Rin's house key from the safe, too. "So -- my initial thought was that I'd wait until the Dark Hour, open the door to your home, then waltz in and take the photo while your husband's resting in his coffin. In and out, no detection, no electronic alarm systems to worry about, no peeping eyes, just your permission and time being frozen."
Tamaki exhales a rattling sigh. "There was a slight complication, but I can explain that later. I will explain it, but first, I'd just like to check: Are you with me so far?"
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
There is a visible lessening of the intensity in Rin's eyes and the tension in her body when Tamaki begins her explanation in earnest, but no sooner. It is perhaps clear that if Tamaki wanted to deflect Rin cleanly from this matter, that door was closed as soon as she first suggested less-than-natural elements to her retrieval of the image.
Rin listens silently, resting the notebook on her side of Tamaki's desk. It is difficult to tell if she entirely believes the private investigator, but she takes it all seriously enough to begin jotting down notes in quick, neat handwriting. Multiple questions fill up the page in between these notes, but she does not interrupt until Tamaki mentions 'people such as myself.'
"People who are -- Awakened?" Rin asks by way of a quiet, clarifying interjection, as if trying to tie this together with another conversation she's had recently. There's also a slight but visible pause in her writing when the word 'Shadow' is mentioned, as if it is not the first time she has heard the word, but wasn't entirely expecting to hear it again in another context.
She exhales slowly, tapping the desk slowly with a manicured nail as Tamaki comes to a pause in her explanation. Her expression is more of a person trying to form a complete picture of the information she's been given, rather than skepticism or disbelief. "It is -- a lot to take in," the world has given her cause to feel that way a lot recently, "but I believe I am following."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki nods in reply to the interjection. "'Awakened' is the term for it, though I want to be clear that it's not a marker of someone being 'greater' in some sense. In my opinion, all that being Awakened means is that you can face these supernatural elements -- like Shadows -- head-on. I would very much like to return to being un-Awakened, myself, but I'd only be comfortable in doing so when this stuff stops affecting the lives of ordinary people."
She lowers her gaze as she recalls things in more detail, then returns her focus to Rin. "The Dark Hour alone is a lot to take in. There are a lot of different phenomena out there. My own experience is primarily with a different kind of adversary, Demons, and I have woefully little experience with Shadows. Whichever one of us Awakened you speak with, we're going to have our own gaps in our knowledge, as well as our respective areas of expertise."
"A Homunculus is, from what I understand, a variety of Shadow. At least from my limited perspective, Homunculi are a relatively new phenomenon; I'd only heard of them within the last month or two, but I've been Awakened for about five years now. They could have been a thing before that, so don't take my word on that, but I'm learning about them as I go."
Tamaki narrows her eyes. "Occasionally, un-Awakened people remain fully aware within the Dark Hour and lack the means to defend themselves against Shadows, or you may become Awakened yourself. If my experience with your husband's Homunculus is any indication of a larger pattern, then I feel that it's highly important to mention that you should be careful around Homunculi in the Dark Hour -- they initially appear as the same coffin that everyone else does, but they're capable of jumping out of it to attack you by surprise."
Her expression is tense, and her words carry urgency. "Even with all of my experience, I had to flee for my life. I've fought things with inhuman speed and strength, but this was on another level."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.'
Rin smiles wanly when Tamaki mentions the breadth of phenomena in the world. "Yes, I've been...getting that impression thus far," she murmurs tiredly by way of interjection. She pauses in her writing and closes her eyes, taking several long, deep breaths as Tamaki continues speaking. The idea that what she has learned thus far regarding her ignorance of the true nature of the world is perhaps still only scratching the surface -- it's easy to get overwhelmed by the thought of it. But more than that --
"The thought that there is so much of -- all of this," she continues quietly after looking up again, giving a vague gesture with a right hand as if to reference however many supernatural elements might exist in the world. "That even those with years of experience retain gaps. It's... unnerving," she admits, then lapses into silence again as the private investigator drills down into a much more specific concept. And warning.
There is a lengthy silence after Tamaki finishes, during which Rin jots downmore notes before setting the pen down again. "If I had not experienced what I did that night," she finally speaks, folding her hands in her lap and avoiding eye contact, her expression dark, as she makes the admission she could not in front of a teenager. The investigator has also expanded on the list of potential dangers. "If I had not felt what I did that night, and then a second time more recently, more clearly. If I had not found a monster wearing my husband's face in our bed." Pause. "I would not believe you. More specifically, I think, I would very much like not to believe you."
"The thought that these dangers lurk in the world and I have no capacity to defend myself against them is -- terrifying. In a manner that words cannot adaquately convey." Her voice remains steady and does not break as she says this, but it is more than clear in her voice and her body language the very deep impact these updates to her understanding of the world are having.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki folds her arms and looks up at the ceiling as she leans back on her desk. "I'll admit that it's unnerving, but ... the situations we Awaken in and the journeys we go on are often deeply personal." She shakes her head and shrugs at Rin. "Think of it more like this: most of my story's already been told. Because of that, I've got the uncommon-if-not-unique luxury to observe from the sidelines and provide my assistance where I can." She knocks on one of the binders on her desk for emphasis. "Most everyone else, on the other hand, are neck-deep in tackling the issues that affect them more directly.Even among Awakened, I don't think there's any need to understand everything right from the get-go. You just do what you can, one step at a time."
'I would not believe you.' You and like half of the Dark Side of Sumaru forums, she thinks to herself. What she says out loud is different: a laugh, coupled with a tired, wry grin. "Hahaha, I'd very much like to not believe me either. But I wouldn't still be alive if I didn't." She briefly averts her gaze with a pause. "And in my defense, I DID preface my explanation by saying that it would sound insane. I think I'm lucky in that you've apparently heard similar things from other people now."
After Rin's comment about the dangers lurking in the world, Tamaki goes quiet for a few moments. "I don't think that there's ... no defense. These Shadows and Demons seem to originate from very real emotional vulnerabilities. Your husband -- the real guy, the original -- must have suffered from some very real sorrow and grief. That sorrow's what gave the Homunculus a foothold. Even aside from Homunculi, it's never some random act of cruel nature in an alien, uncaring world -- it's always spun from someone's deep-seated desire for revenge, or their unchecked nihilism, or their envy, or so on. Supernatural or not, the danger's there either way -- the only real difference is in how it manifests. Someone's state of mind -- even that of an un-Awakened person -- has a very real effect on the supernatural side of things here."
"I was present for an effort to excise a Homunculus from another person's Atelier. I now know that it's possible, and I have a better idea of the steps to take. I pray you don't ever need such defenses yourself, but there are a good number of us who are willing to help free anyone who's experiencing the same malady as your husband, him included."
Having recalled another detail from that night, Tamaki sheepishly glances away from Rin, turns her eyes towards the ceiling, and quietly admits, "... I might have broken your bedroom dresser while I was trying to make my getaway. My apologies for that."
<Pose Tracker> Rin Sasaki has posed.
Rin only nods silently when Tamaki mentions that her husband must have suffered from some very real sorrow and grief, as if that is a subject deeply familiar to her. But if Tamaki is perceptive, she may notice something like...guilt flicker briefly across Rin's features at the same time. But if so, it is not a subject that she seems inclined to elaborate on at this time. She also picks her notebook up from the desk and folds it over slightly so that she can make some final notes without the possibility of the investigator seeing what she has written, then finally returns it to her bag.
"And I am deeply grateful, Uchida-san," she says quietly. "I would --" eyes damp, unable to hide some of the grief and pain in her own expression now, a few silent tears suddenly escaping. "I would like my husband back. And my home and my life back."
But the following apology elicits a short pause and a small, quiet laugh. Rin shakes her head and almost seems grateful for the distraction and interruption away from darker matters. "Honestly, I always hated that dresser, but I never would have heard the end of it if I'd simply trashed it like I wanted." Beat. "It was a gift from his mother," she adds by way of explanation.
"But thank you, Uchida-san," Rin continues more soberly. "It sounds as if you put yourself in a great deal of danger on our behalf." And rather than ask more questions -- because she's not entirely certain that her mind can wrap itself around any more of the answers -- she moves back to more familiar matters. "How much do I owe you for the retrieval, given the trouble you went through?"
A glance back to the statue, then to Tamaki again, as Rin seems to consider something. "And...does the statue accept parameters?"