2026-02-05: Tamaki's Got A Sub-Apprentice Now!?
- Log: Tamaki's Got A Sub-Apprentice Now!?
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Tamaki Uchida
- Where: Aoba - Kuzunoha Detective Agency
- OOC Date: 2026-02-05
- IC Date: Fri, Sep 21 2012
- Summary: Tsubasa approaches Tamaki about working for the Agency more seriously, and gets to hear some of the nuts and bolts.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
After running into Niko at school (Niko doesn't go to school, she was just visiting), Tsubasa's... a bit on edge. They take a different route into Aoba than normal, which baffles Lance, who's used to the direct route. Aroo?!
But no one's following them. So Tsubasa ambles into the Kuzunoha Detective Agency, this afternoon, accompanied by dog; they're wearing a military-green tank top over day-glo orange board shorts, because it's a hot afternoon, with a cyan-white-pink wig on their head today. (Their nails are cyan and white; the makeup on their face is, too.)
They've got a bag slung over one shoulder; once they're inside, and not before, they pull a binder out of it.
"Yo, Uchida-san!" They call out.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
As ever, when at work, Tamaki's in her signature brown-and-beige pinstripe suit. Several textbooks are on top of her desk -- she's in the middle of taking notes from the one that's open.
Upon hearing Tsubasa's entry and friendly call, Tamaki leaps up from her chair to stand closer to the entrance. "Seki-kun! How are you?" Her gaze briefly drifts to the binder -- is that a new batch of data to go over? -- then she kneels down to extend her hand to Lance with a grin. "And hello to you, too!"
"You caught me while I was doing some studying." She gestures to her desk, as if to demonstrate. "And speaking of, I stopped by your school the other day! Finally got to meet one of your teachers, a ... Marlowe-san, I believe? He seemed alright, buuut you'd know more than me about how good he actually is."
Tamaki leans against the side of her desk and places one hand in a pocket while she extends the other in Tsubasa's direction. "What brings you here today?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Cool," Tsubasa confirms, with the kind of idle sassiness of a teen defying the social norms of saying they're good. As for Lance? Lance is ALWAYS at work, and her job is BEING THE BEST GIRL IN THE WORLD. Her tail wagwagwagwags as she thonks her face into Tamaki's hand.
"Marlowe-sensei? He's cool," they say, with their usual gruffness. "Might not realise how th' Man's usin' him, but he means well. Got pulled up less for me uniform after he started tellin' 'em to send me to him instead a detention." Because, of course, Japanese schools are deeply strict about girls wearing skirts, and not particularly understanding of GID in the youth. Tsubasa's at risk of detention for violating the dress code every time they walk into school, since they've definitely rocked up here in their (boys') uniform before.
They hand the binder over. "Got th' data you asked me to go through," they confirm, and, indeed, inside are organised reports on the discrepencies on such standout companies as Morinomoto Steelworks, Chouhounin Incorporated, and Watanabeya and Hinaikawa. They've even used a highlighter to point out exactly where the problems are! For having just gone through public databases, it's really quite talented work... particularly given how they've gone through the past five years instead of relying on the latest numbers.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Lance gets some vigorous PETS in return for her face-thonking before Tamaki stands back up.
Initially, Tamaki's reply borders on absent-minded, as she says, "Good, good -- well, at least about his leniency on uniforms. I couldn't stand most skirts, myself ..." After a beat where she's now fully processed all of what Tsubasa had said, she double-takes and raises an eyebrow. "What's this about him being used, though?"
A thought goes through her head: Am I being used in a similar manner, somehow?
Tamaki accepts the binder from Tsubasa and flips through it to get a rough sense of its contents. "Thanks. Thorough as always, Seki-kun."
After skimming a few more pages in the binder, she closes it again and holds it in front of her, flat against her thighs. She lighlty drums her fingers across it for a few quiet moments as she works up to her next question: " -- hey, so you know, Phoenix got back to me a while back and said you and the Phantom Thieves are cool now." She knits her brow with concern as she looks at Tsubasa, gauging how they react, not just in word and tone, but in body language, too. "I'm inclined to trust them on it, but I don't believe I've heard it directly from you. So do they have it right? Can I drop that worry from my mind for good?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa shrugs. "I ain't got no proof," they allow. "But there's shit he can't say, 'bout shit like th' Joker Killer attackin' school. An'..." And there were those rumours about him brainwashing the student body, but they hesitate, before they bring those up; they figured out it wasn't his fault, anyway. "... it's nothin'," they shake their head.
They're about trying to work through how to bring up the question on their mind when Tamaki points out something they hadn't brought up, when bringing these reports to her before. "Uh." They rub at their shoulder, looking a touch embarrassed. "I ain't said nothin'...? Nah, yeah, we're cool," they say, looking back to her, gesturing with a hand. "Jus' not a world I think 'bout all th' time. But I believe them, it's cool. Uh, not that I mind thinkin' 'bout it," they add, "jus' had other shit on me mind 'side from magic whatevers."
Tsubasa then reaches down to pet Lance, who's trotted over to wriggle at them instead. Dog!!
"Like, uh..." Weirdly, they still look kind of embarrassed. Are they not embarrassed about the Phoenix thing? "I was wonderin'... what I'd gotta do to get ya thinkin' 'bout takin' me on official-like? Been thinkin'.... like... if I keep outta trouble few more years, I can get me licence. Thought I might... wanna learn how shit works, like... doin' this stuff. Uh." Their sneaker scuffs the floor. "Or whatever."
It's no big deal!!! (It's SUCH a big deal.)
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki clicks her tongue. "Ahh, yeah, he probably has to adhere to the public message of an incident being yet another 'gas leak' or something to that extent." She rolls her eyes and waves a hand in the air dismissively as she says 'gas leak'. "I don't like it, myself, but ... At least in my own experiences, sometimes it's in the best interests of the students and faculty themselves."
It'd sure cause problems if everyone and their mothers knew about the truth behind past incidents like the SEBEC Scandal or Snow Queen Crisis. Especially in Tamaki's case, the less people that know about Karukozaka, the better.
That dropped topic didn't really seem like nothing ... but Tamaki doesn't press on it, instead opting to mentally file that curious almost-mention somewhere in the back of her mind.
She shakes her head, but flashes Tsubasa a thumbs-up regardless. "Yeah, that lines up with my impression so far. It just didn't come up. I had been meaning to ask more directly, but I was worried that I would just come across as ... " Tamaki squints off into the distance while she determines which descriptor to settle on. "Overly pointed? Interrogating?"
Tsubasa's mention of 'other shit' causes Tamaki to gesture at her pile of textbooks and chuckle. "You and me both. I've got my own studies to worry about, still."
Then Tsubasa asks about joining up in an official capacity. "Huh." Tamaki curls a finger over her chin and furrows her brow, then briefly turns back towards Torodoki at his desk before returning to face Tsubasa. "It's not my call in the end, but I can bring the prospect up with the boss. I'm still his apprentice, remember?"
Tamaki rubs the back of her neck, then uses the same hand to steady herself as she leans on her desk with a sheepish grin. "It'll be a few years before you can really do anything official to the point where we can hire you, but if that's what you want to do, I'm all for helping get you on that track. I'd be more than happy to give you a rundown on how the profession works and what options you've got."
After a beat, she adds with a grin, "Doesn't gotta be with us, either. We cater to a different clientele, but there's also Akechi's outfit if you'd wanna learn from the 'Prince' himself."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"They said it was gang activity," Tsubasa shrugs, "but, like, legit gangs, not our small-time shit at school. Y'know, the whole.. gettin' everyone worked up 'bout Hirasaka shit." There's a certain element of the media which loves running stories about how dangerous the old town is, and how that danger could come to their Wards, too. ... mysteriously, that kind of reporting always seems to go hand in hand with increased policing...
They wave a hand, when Tamaki shares her worries. "Nah, man. You jus' lookin' out fer me. It's cool." And if they're internally going 'aaaaaa' a little over keeping their secret a secret, no they're not. Look at them! Look at how cool they are!! "... how's uni goin'?" They ask, with a look to her books.
"Oh, yeah..." Tsubasa rubs at a shoulder, as they guess: "But since I ain't licenced or nothin', makes sense I'd be some kinda sub-apprentice, right?" You can't just give apprentices apprentices, Tsubasa! Society will collapse!!
"But like, I could do shit 'round the office. Keep shit straightened out. Uh. Polish the cat?" Remember-nyaing that beckoning statue, Tsubasa turns to the side, takes a couple steps, and feeds it its hundred yen. "Uh, be handy if I could earn somethin', too... can get cash doin' random shit, but it can get kinda hazardous." Read: their source of income right now is raiding Mementos, and if they take a wrong turn in there they get their ass beat five ways to Sunday by a floor full of Dangerous Shadows.
(Except for those days when they ask Hibari if she wants to roll with them instead of going with the Thieves. Hibari, mysteriously, is pretty good at avoiding Dangerous Shadows before they've sunk their fangs five inches into their ass. Thanks, tanuki!)
They fold their arms, loosely. "Heh," they respond to her grin. "Nah, Akechi-san ain't my scene. Like. Respect, but if I wanted a camera on me every day a me life, I'd jus' update me social media more." Akechi is very famous, and that's a sensible reason why anyone wouldn't want to work with him, right? "... 'sides, he's always workin' with cops. Cops ain't too fond a me. Bad vibes."
There's also that teensy-tiny little detail about how Goro Akechi is trying to put the Phantom Thieves away, and Tsubasa and Phoenix are secretly the same guy, but don't worry about that, it's cool. Everything's cool. It's so cool.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Gang activity. Tamaki grits her teeth, then slaps her forehead and drags her hand down her face with a groan. "For fuck's sake -- uh. Pardon the language, but that doesn't sit right with me."
There may be some truth to it if Strega's involved ... but even then, it leaves a sour taste in her mouth. "Wanting to keep places safe is one thing, but if they're just trying to manufacture license to stomp in and knock some heads ..."
Having cooled off a bit now, Tamaki nods -- just looking out. She glances back at the books for a moment, then smiles. "University's going pretty well, honestly. My grades are alright, and it feels nice getting to study some things directly relevant to what I want to do! Psychology, sociology, getting to know the ins and outs of the justice system here ..."
Tamaki nods at Tsubasa's mention of 'sub-apprentices'. "Newcomers to the field generally have to be an apprentice of some sort to start, yeah. A common arrangement is for older folks like the Chief to run the logistics of the show and sub-contract out fieldwork to younger, less-experienced people such as myself."
She turns back Todoroki's way for a moment (a motion becoming frequent enough during this conversation that the Chief might start to suspect he's under discussion), then frowns. "Some of those logistics that he handles are payroll, and that's not my call to make. We're primarily in this to help people who aren't so well-off themselves, and from what I understand, our operating margins are a little tight."
Tamaki waves a hand at the lucky cat. "The donations, for instance? Those mostly go to paying informants. One such tip saved the Death Boss' life from the Joker Killer."
(Her thoughts flash to the effect of something like this: goddamn extortionist demon cat, this is highway robbery!! frickin' lousy pact clause, how about i enforce THESE claws huh?! put 'em up, put 'em uuup!!)
Then an idea strikes Tamaki. Her eyes twitch in the direction of the back of the office, and a devious grin appears on her face. "We are opening a tip line to the general public, though. That might drive down prices for the competition ... and free up enough to pay you with."
She returns back to her normal sunny demeanor and presses both of her hands together as she tilts her head and smiles. "We also have a large amount of requests about one specific case, so if we solve that and make our customers happy, I think we'll have a bit more to work with! You haven't heard anything about reflective surfaces in Rengedai, have you?"
Tamaki's grin turns cheeky as she snickers in reply to Tsubasa's thoughts on Akechi. "I figured. I was joking a bit there. He's quite the exception to the norm -- working on his own as some prodigy not under an apprenticeship, supposedly working as one of those genius fictional detectives from Doyle or Knox's serialized novels, seemingly all style and substance ..."
Her amusement vanishes, but not her overall sense of levity. "But good! Some agencies work closely with the police and act as resources for cases that law enforcement can't or won't take on themselves, some other agencies focus on discovering corporate malfeasance, others try to track down people to reunite families or keep debtors from skipping town successfully, or so on." Her smiles grows nervous as she tilts her head and averts her gaze. "We, ah ... well, the part in our tagline about 'ghosts' helps to draw in people with concerns regarding the supernatural, so we're pretty unusual in that regard."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Yeah. We th' scapegoat. Prolly some shit goin' down... jus' can't quite see th' shape yet." But Tsubasa's been keeping their blue eyes on the news.
"Psychology an' sociology, huh," Tsubasa looks over them. "Ain't those basically th' same thing, jus', like, individually an' in a group?" Well, no, but it's a reasonable interpretation for a teenager.
Tamaki explains the organisational structure, though, and Tsubasa nods. "I'll, uh... make me case," they offer, though that assuredly will go on behind closed doors.
But the tipline! "Yeah, I remember a bunch a adults showin' up to help."
They're pretending they don't know about the extortionist cat, of course, so if their pat on the cat's head is a little more awkward these days that's probably just because they feel kind of stupid pretending a statue is real. You know. Normal teenager things.
"Huh... you'd need someone to go through all those messages, right?" They ask, hearing about the tipline. "Bet I could do that... I'm dece at transcribin' shit." Pause. "So long's it's not English. Can't do shit 'bout English."
But -- reflective surfaces! "Uh, yeah, heard somethin' bout that," they say, because they have a Rumourmonger in Ichika's gang, Tsubasa hears all kinds of things. "Jus', what I heard was you gotta forget 'bout any mirror shit if you wanna have a good day. An' I trust Hibari-chan, so I ain't asked any more 'bout it... guess I oughta go see what's up with that."
Tamaki explains she was joking, though, and Tsubasa flashes a grin, shrugging their shoulders. "Figured. Funny to give you a straight answer." Tsubasa, it's not fun if the straight man is in on the joke!! "Figured he were connected to that other Detective Prince, y'know, Naoto Shirogane... tho' come to think a it, dunno if they even ever met each other. Guess th' media jus' lumped those two guys together."
She goes on to explain their works, though, and Tsubasa tilts their head. "Like th' Joker Killer?" And it's probably no wonder they'd ask about that; they don't have a Persona, their pool of reference for supernatural mysteries is probably pretty small. "Like to get back at that prick. He set me on fire, man! Him an' his cronies! Fuck, man -- you know that fuckin' Niko jus' came an' bothered me jus' today at school? Said she wanted to check if I was alive, got all pissed I didn't understand how there was rules... said her ojisan was gonna come 'round to killin' me sometime, like we're all on this fuckin' list of his." Beat. "Uh. That's th' Joker Killer," they explain, gesturing with an open palm. "She an' her gang, these Strega pricks, they all helpin' him out. Ain't figured out how they report up th' chain, since fuckin' Niko keeps sayin' they don't got no handler... workin' on it."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
"Tsk. I'll keep an eye and ear out." Note to self, hit up Shinjiro for what he might know about Hirasaka's climate these days.
Tamaki wavers a hand. "Ehhh, they're distinct in other ways, too, but that's about the gist of it."
"Ohh, thank goodness." Tamaki slumps over forward and clasps her hands together pleadingly. "I would love it if you could transcribe messages. Just recording other languages is fine by me, the bulk of them are in Japanese."
Tamaki instantly becomes evasive on the subject of the rumor going around. "Y -- yep, th-that's the long and short of it! Be -- careful out there!" she stammers out as she moves right along onto other topics to scrub that out of her active memory:
Tsubasa's comment about any lack of real relation between the two Princes causes Tamaki to pause in thought for a moment. "Well, Shirogane-san's family line has several other famous detectives and he came first, but Akechi had similar ... family circumstances growing up and quickly rose to prominence as well. He might have gotten a different media nickname if there were only one prodigy around."
It hasn't escaped Tamaki's notice that both of the famed 'Detective Princes' are (ostensibly) young men. Does her gender, admittedly among other things, play a role in why she feels so ... irrelevant, relative to the much younger giants in her field?
On the other hand, could she even do what she considers to be her most important work if she were more relevant? Has she managed to find some measure of camouflage within the double-bind around her?
Tamaki snaps her fingers and points at Tsubasa. "Like the Joker Killer, yep. There's an art exhibit soon where we have reason to suspect that he'll be there. I know I'm going to attend in order to try and help catch him. Don't know if that Suzuki-kun kid will be there too, but he ran into the artist that the Joker Killer had apparently commissioned for the pieces."
Tsubasa says they want to get back at him. Tamaki lowers her gaze and sighs. "... yeah, you and a load of other people. I'd bring you along if it was safe for you. You'll have to rely on people like me, Phoenix, the Death Boss, just to name a few." She scrunches up her face as she tries to recall just how many people are in line to get a piece of him.
Most of what Tsubasa had said, Tamaki already knew -- Strega's in league with the Joker Killer, and their members were following Jun around, curious as to why Sudou would be so interested in him. She'd run afoul of Noriaki, though didn't know his name. "I know the Joker Killer works with Strega, but ... I hardly know anything of their ranks. Niko? What's she like?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Cool," Tsubasa nods, firmly. "I can do that... prolly escalate th' shit what seems worse up to ya directly, too." Because, of course, some tips are going to be more time-pressing than others.
"Uh," they blink, as Tamaki stammers. "Yeah." Well, they have bad luck anyway, so...
They fold their arms, thoughtfully, thinking of the Detective Princes. "Yeah," they say. "Guess so." They sure are both young men (definitely, no one fact check this)! It's not exactly a woman-friendly field, they reflect, with sympathy for Tamaki.
(No field is particularly x-gender-friendly, of course.)
"Yeah," they nod. "Hyousuke-kun's gonna be there." They will be too, of course, but they figure it would be suspicious to say that. "Keep an eye on him, yeah? He can be a real hothead."
They shake their head, a hand to their hip. "Totally fuckin' cuckoo, man!" They snap, derisively. "She insists on -channin' everyone, I had to kick her ass ten ways to Sunday to get her to cut that out... even wanted to fuckin' give me a nickname after she tried to set me on fire, man! An' she insists she's innocent 'cuz she weren't th' one with th' flamethrower, fuck that shit, she were stoppin' people from stoppin' th' Joker Killer! She thinks she's your best fuckin' friend after that shit... but she definitely knows somethin', man. Told me how I were someone who reckoned you jus' defeat all th' bosses an' win... she's definitely part a th' whole fuckin' conspiracy. No way she's not."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
"I'd really appreciate that. I'll talk with Todoroki-san about it..." she says of Tsubasa's offer to help around the office, even this early on. It'll be an easier sell once they get a better handle on their finances.
Maybe their genders aren't doing them any professional favors, but maybe she and the Chief can make Kuzunoha be a home for the otherwise overlooked and forgotten. It will if Tamaki can help it, by crook or by hook.
Tamaki exhales out a sigh in reply to Tsubasa's request to watch over Hyousuke. "Yeah, I'm trying to look out for him in general. I'll do the same at the exhibit, too."
Her reaction to Tsubasa's description of Niko is a steely cold stare. She knows all too well that 'winning' isn't just a matter of 'defeating all the bosses'. And Tsubasa thinks she has a connection to the NWO. "That's ... illuminating, to say the least."
"Well!" Tamaki stretches her arms out in front of her to crack her knuckles. "I'll try and compile an overview of the field of private investigation to go over next time, maybe have you shadow me on a few cases as I explain my thought process and what I'm doing. I'll talk to the boss about everything else, too, see what he says."
Odds are that he'll agree.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Appreciate it," Tsubasa nods. They might be a lazy ass, but, well... if it's for the right reasons, they can be hardworking. Besides, sometimes, if you want a shelter for the forgotten you just gotta make the damn thing yourself.
And they nod, again, firmly, when she confirms she's looking out for Hyousuke. "Cool."
Tsubasa, of course, thinks all of Strega is connected to the NWO -- and why wouldn't they be? Their mother called the Joker Killer! Of course they're connected! Never mind that anyone can use the Rumour...
But Tamaki agrees to compile an overview, and Tsubasa actually feels excited about the idea of shadowing her, perhaps not realising that a solid 80% of the job is sitting in a booth eating a burger and being inconspicuous. "Really? That's great!" They exclaim, before they remember that they're totally disaffected, and rub a hand at their neck. "Uh. I mean. That's cool."
They're so cool, you guys, you don't even know.
"Anyway, I better let you get back to studyin'," they add, looking back to her textbooks. "Guess I got shit to study, too... good seein' ya," they lift a hand in a loose wave, as they begin ambling out of the agency, their other hand shoved in their pocket.
(Seriously, there has never been a man or woman cooler than Tsubasa. Look at that exit. SO cool.)