2026-01-26: Whispers in the Dark
- Log: 2026-01-26 Whispers in the Dark
- Cast: Ren Amamiya, Futaba Sakura, Morgana (NPCed by Ren)
- Where: Leblanc, Yongen-Jaya, Tokyo
- OOC Date: January 26, 2026
- IC Date: Sunday, September 16, 2012
- Summary: Ren and Morgana have a conversation about rice balls and their next target for a change of heart. Someone listens in and gets ideas.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's going to be a busy Sunday for Ren Amamiya today. It's been a busy weekend in general, really, but today in particular they're doing training in the morning and eating a big sushi dinner in the evening. They've already done their regular morning workout in their attic room, and right now, they're nursing a cup of home-brewed coffee, breathing in its scent as they sit at Leblanc's counter. It's sufficiently early that Sojiro hasn't yet come by to open up shop yet--which is fine. With their recent life and cooking lessons, Ren can make their own breakfast, and has. A plate of onigiri rest on a plate in front of them as they sip: one tuna, one salmon, one umeboshi. All of them are gently rolled in nori furikake for flavor, color, and ease of holding.
Morgana's helped himself to the tuna one--though he's mostly interested in the filling, he's eating the rice and nori strips too. "Not bad," he remarks in between choppy little bites. "But not great, either. Just about normal for a rice ball."
"How often do you eat rice balls?" Ren wonders mildly in between bites of the umeboshi onigiri. Their damp post-exercise towel is draped around their shoulders.
"Often enough to tell the difference! And let me tell you, you could do a lot to elevate this filling," Morgana scolds them, waving a paw. "The rice is under-seasoned, too! Don't think you can just mask that with the furikake!"
Everyone's a critic, Ren thinks with mild humor. But they know, from tasting their own onigiri, that he's right. They could do better. This rice ball is merely okay, not impressive. Honest feedback is really important, too. "What would you want to see, then?"
It's a normal enough conversation for the youth and their "cat," and never mind that anyone who happened to be listening in would hear Morgana's side as "MEOW meow MEOW meow MEOW meow MEOW MEOW MEOWWWWW" or something similar. Or that anyone who happened to be listening in would have to be doing so from another building away, since right now the only people in Leblanc are Ren and Morgana.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
It has been less of a busy weekend for another party involved. Somewhere close, yet impossibly far away.
Saturday had been pretty rough, and other than eating some still-warm curry that had been dropped off, she hadn't done very much. Just laid on her side for about an hour; then she'd dozed off. Clock check afterwards revealed that it was already after 1800 and there wasn't much reason to do much else.
Flip through the news sites, not really reading them.
Niconico for twenty-two minutes. Nothing.
Revisit a previous project - but it wasn't as if there was much to do. Disconsolate poking. It ate some time and she could put on something worth listening to, watching, and enjoy *THAT*. There was a two-hour block of gaming before it got to be too much and she had to lay down, because the desert map of that tanks game reminded her of the Egyptian theater in the war which reminded her of -
- anyway, by the time she got back up, anime was on.
So that was alright.
After that she'd felt up to some coding and that was starting to get stale and frustrating and boring when she heard clattering. Dishes moving around in the feed. It wasn't Sojiro, based on an auditory sample, and so Futaba huddled up in her seat and put on an NHK feed, turned down low, to keep her eyes busy as... she listened.
Clatter, clatter.
Meowing. Jeez, Futaba thinks, not for the first time. That's a chatty cat.
Futaba puts the other can of the headphones back in and listens in. Ren's talking with the cat. They've got a nice voice, at least. Even if they're just talking with the cat.
It occurs to Futaba -- what does that cat look like? A brief consideration of getting a camera in there. It probably wouldn't be hard to get something up in a corner, maybe over one of the sides -- yeah, she thinks further, putting it over the kitchen'd be stupid but if it was -- was --
Futaba hugs her knees a little harder. Her cheek rests against one knee. She stops thinking about it and listens in. When'd I eat rice balls last?
Huh, Futaba thinks after a momentary riffling through her memories. Twenty-six days.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Whatever is going on a couple of blocks away may as well be on the other side of the planet to Ren and Morgana.
All the way over in the Sahara Desert, as it were.
"Hmmm... Tuna's of course best fresh and raw. You'll taste that for yourself tonight," Morgana says, tail undulating to underscore the confidence in his voice. (Morgana has been hype for sushi for days. The plus of having so many members now is that they'll need tables instead of counter seating, and therefore can reasonably sneak in a not-a-cat.) "If you made your onigiri like a take on a maki roll, that could stand out while still feeling classic!"
"That's an idea," Ren admits, leaning their hand on their chin. "Sushi-grade tuna is really expensive, though." Though maybe that would impress a certain Detective Prince...
"Not to worry! The proceeds of Kamiya's Treasure are going towards tonight's dinner, but the next Palace's Treasure can fund your sushi-style onigiri!"
"That'll be a long wait," Ren says wryly. "Even if Tsubasa were to get us the details on Furudate tomorrow, we'd still have to actually go through his Palace and change his heart first."
"True, but the fine things in life are worth waiting for!"
"Any cheaper ideas on how to elevate onigiri come to mind?"
"It'd be more worthwhile to think about how to track down Furudate first! You'd rather act as a phantom thief anyway, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah... but Tsubasa seems like they're having a hard time of things right now." Ren frowns. 'Right now' isn't the term, is it? Tsubasa's suffering is constant and ongoing. Yet--hell, even with their paranoia, they're doing way better than before. Even Ichika said so. Maybe they're overstating it. "Then again, they're safe now, so there's no rush."
There's something in the tone of their deep voice that implies they're trying to convince themself of that more than they actually believe it.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
That's an idea. Sushi-grade tuna. Futaba's lip quirks up for a moment. Haha, of course the cat's gonna want tuna. Kitties love fish. That and milk. No, a moment of recollection comes further: you don't want to give 'em much milk. A taste is OK, but they don't digest it like humans can.
And --
Ah, Tsubasa, one of the others, Futaba thinks.
Parallel processing goes on. Multiple simultaneous channels.
Huh, they make miso that way up in Aomori, do they? Neat. If they're showing a traditional family, then based on the analysis of the way that a lot of NHK filler documentary pieces go, that must mean most miso is made industrially. Just how much miso would there be?
Well, population peak last year of 126.5m. Everyone loves miso soup... but you wouldn't be eating it *literally every day*. What's a good guesstimate? Let's say eighty percent at any meal, Futaba's calculating further. Average of three meals per day. 303.6m servings of miso per day. Each bowl is -
A memory of a hand coming down with a spoon full of that rich caramel-colored material and dipping it into a bowl, turning it widdershins and letting it spread out. It's a nice hand. She looks up from there and can see the eyes of --
Her head shakes once. Details on Furudate. Palace, heart change. Futaba pushes one can closer to her ear, leaning slightly towards it.
Cheaper ideas on how to elevate onigiri. Use eel! That'd make sense (thinks Futaba). Eel isn't cheap but it's got a range, she presumes, and unlike tuna there's no ultra-premium class. If you're already making unagidon-- yeah! If you're doing an unagidon special you're gonna have trimmings -- no, Unagidon they'd just give you the whole filet-
I'm hungry, thinks Futaba abstractly.
But that's all around the edges. Tsubasa's having a hard time right now. They're safe now, though. Something's weighing on Tsubasa and it has to do with Furudate. Furudate's a candidate. Hum.
Which Furudate? Most of Futaba's irrelevant thoughts are now focused on one of two things:
1. Filtering through permutations of how you could write 'Furudate' that she has seen. A couple from newspapers... that guy (? confirm this) doing that new volleyball manga that's gotten buzz...
2. Just what is Ren saying? Diagram it: Tsubasa :biteyface: Furudate? Furudate = masc, so that rules out 7 possible individuals, or 9 if you include businesses or train stations... Why would Tsubasa be investigating a train station in Iwate? No, has to be a person.
A target.
Change of heart. Why do they change hearts?
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Futaba is correct: cats, after kittenhood, are lactose intolerant. Even kittens you want to give cat milk, not cow milk. Unfortunately, Ren has been known to give Morgana milk, specifically hot milk cooled down to room temperature...
Fortunately, Morgana is not a cat, and therefore not lactose intolerant, so he's okay. But she wouldn't know that.
At least there's no milk right now...?
"Hmmm... You seem worried," Morgana observes, his tone lowering into something reluctant as his ears slink back.
"Yeah," Ren admits, something audible in their own tone. They take a moment to take a long sip of their coffee, then set their cup down with a faint 'tup.'
"No point in forcing all the work on Tsubasa, then," Morgana says, ears and voice lifting with positivity. "How about we look into it some too? What was that company Furudate was associated with again?"
"Hold on, let me double-check." They reach into their pocket and pull out their journal. Flipping through the pages, they find the correct one and read aloud, "Furudate Development Industries' Daichi Furudate. Likely a part of the New World Order. Lives in Shibuya; has a lot of property in the area." Ren frowns over the top of their journal at Morgana. "He might be trying to buy up property here in Yongen-Jaya, too. Tsubasa warned me about that. I haven't overheard any of the neighbors talking about it, but it might be a topic for behind closed doors."
"Hmmm... We could take a more aggressive approach on that. Ask around, instead of hanging back and eavesdropping. Maybe Dr. Takemi would have some insight, too," Morgana suggests.
"Good idea. I'll mark that down." Ren takes a moment to grab the pen they hook on the side of their journal and make a note of that. "Of course, we're getting together with Tsubasa and the others tonight, so maybe they'll have news that makes this a moot point."
"It's always better to think of what you can do than sit back and wait for things to happen," Morgana replies.
Ren quirks a slight smile. "Touché."
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
That 'yeah' came out of nowhere, thinks Futaba.
And then -
For a single animating moment Futaba wonders if Ren, if the Phantom Thieves, are *espers*. Did they just *read her mind*?
The thought is, for a brief dizzy moment, liberating. Thrilling. A revelation of some genuine truth instead of the murkiness of - of -
If they *can* read my mind, Futaba thinks, then...
Fortunately, even as much of her thoughts sink into that familiar black cloud, her ears keep working. Thank you, Charles Darwin and the power of NEURON ACTIVATION.
* Furudate Development Industries
* Personal name Daichi, family name Furudate - founder? inheritor? hunch inheritor but close shave
* Residence in Shibuya (company is successful)
* ?? New World Order ??
* property owner
* here yongenjaya heitthey are HERE looking HERE
The black fog shifts away.
Is it gone? No, but it's moving.
The tracks split and the largest one, the real high-traffic express line, is running on and straight ahead. Daichi Furudate is a threat. To Tsubasa, although she can't figure out the details -- but Tsubasa is an ally of the Phantom Thieves!
A target for the 'Palace' they're talking about -- someone who might receive the "change of heart" --
They're nosing around here!! The nerve of them!! As if it isn't bad enough they have to --
New World Order.
Futaba reaches out with one hand to grasp her mouse. Without looking, she spawns three new windows and arranges them, tossing one onto the over-view monitor. She has to work pretty slow with one hand, but she can start the searches -- 'Furudate Development Industries,' 'Furudate Daichi + commercial property,' 'furudate + residential property' - without looking. She looks away from the interview with an old man talking about 'the spirit of miso' and brings that hand down to grasp on the edge of her desk, turning herself around.
No rush. She's still listening. A briefly-entertained stray thought from nine days ago may be getting a new lease on life.
(A secondary, much tinier train of thought is contemplating the prospect that Ren is communicating with that cat 'for real,' like a programmer ducky. Except, Futaba reasons further, if they were a telepath and the other Thieves weren't, why would they need to meet? Even if their powers were limited - hm - maybe the Thieves all have different powers? - no, this is looking unlikely. Besides, a cat brain is the size of a walnut.)
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
For one thing, Tsubasa isn't just an ally of the Phantom Thieves, they ARE a Phantom Thief. But that's a nuance that Futaba might have trouble discerning with how the topic comes up in Leblanc only sometimes.
For another, cat brains are the size of a walnut and thrice as wrinkled!!!
...More seriously, she could install a camera over there to get visual feeds, get more information. But that would involve Leaving The House and Going Outside. She could potentially hire someone on The Internet to do it for her, but could they really get that done without Ren or Sojiro noticing?
Perhaps most seriously of all, if Ren Amamiya, secret Phantom Thief, is actually an esper, they do not audibly react to her would-be revelation.
There is no explanation either of what the 'New World Order' is supposed to be. Looking that up on the internet won't get any hits either--unless she digs in the Darkside of Sumaru forum. But that's later. Right now, the searches she is running on Daichi Furudate will get her some fairly obvious information about a rich man who is a titan in land-owning and property businesses. Digging deeper will take more time--but not that much, because she's Futaba Sakura. She'll find the dirt.
"I'm not going to have time to look into this today anyway. I've got training with Yoshizawa after this, and then tonight we're going to Gatten Sushi." (That's a restaurant over in Rengedai Ward, Sumaru. Why is Ren going all the way there for sushi? Why is he saying "I" and then "we"? Maybe he means he's going there with this Yoshizawa?) "So let's see what Tsubasa's got, and then we'll go forward from there. No need to put the burden of research on them, but no point in making them feel like they're not doing enough, either."
"Fair enough," Morgana says. "Feel better?"
"...Yeah," Ren admits, this time voiced warmer, lighter.
"Good! Then let's finish up breakfast. You don't want to keep Yoshizawa waiting!"
"Right," they agree, and get back to eating and drinking.
<Pose Tracker> Futaba Sakura has posed.
Futaba keeps listening. The taskrabbity nature of a cut-out hasn't occured to her. Maybe if all was well and she simply sought to stay within - or if she needed to install a camera in a PC cafe in South Korea -
Well, no, she'd just 0wn a webcam on someone's machine, tbf.
Ren's talking more. They're training with Yoshizawa, then... sushi? Gatten is imaged and riffled through, but it's a tangent; something caught in the net but not the target. Leaning forwards, Futaba's eyes close again. Listening.
Meeting Yoshizawa and (implicitly?) Tsubasa. At this Gatten Sushi place.
This is horrible, thinks Futaba. I'm just listening in to them.
This work they're doing... why are they doing it, anyway? But whatever else is there... isn't this just another glimpse of how much kindness is in the heart of Sojiro?
Unless he wants to raise kids but knows I'm --
An uneasy feeling passes through Futaba. She might have thought it was in fact the manifestation of Ren's hidden esper powers -- maybe a reminder of 'I CAN HEAR YOU' -- but the chill and the queasy lead-blanket feeling...
Futaba's hand goes over to mash the volume button on her keyboard, macro'd to shortcut. The mrowrorrwrowrrr of the kitty. Breathe a little.
'yeah,' Ren said. An affirmation. Following up? This kind of thing - is hard for Tsubasa, thinks Futaba blearily. It's like squinting through a grease-covered window but it's another sighting. Something coming together. Hard for them... but...
What a chatty kitty, Futaba thinks, and she doesn't turn around.
Confirmation.
Then just the quiet sound of clinking dishware, and not much of that.
Futaba tabs into a browser where she had a dance remix Flash video set on loop and unmutes it. Don't turn around, she tells herself. Don't --
Look it up, Futaba tells herself. Look up this guy. You already put it on the list in your head, so check it off before you turn around.
(When she does get up, two hours later, she doesn't see anyone else. She only hears a little, as she shuffles her way out to go to the bathroom. It might have even been someone else, or the TV in Leblanc, or the wireless signal on these headphones having cross-talk with another house.) (Give it time. There are only so many possibilities.)