2026-08-22: A Fleeting Snow
- Cutscene: A Fleeting Snow
- Cast:Katsuya Suou, Captain Shimazu, Chief Togashi
- Where: Konan Police Department
- OOC Date: 08/22/2026
- IC Date: 12/28/2026
- Summary: Karma cuts both ways, and no good deed goes unpunished.
- BGM: Persona 2 Eternal Punishment - Reminiscence (Sorrowful): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKA4vyE7PiY
Fat-flaked snow falls from the sky across Sumaru City. If Katsuya is any judge, this snow won't survive the following day, once the storm has reached its end and once the sun rises again.
It's rare to even see snow in December, rarer for it to do more than dust the city, rarest yet for it to last more than a day, if even that.
He stands for a moment outside the police department, his gaze somewhere above and to the horizon.
So that was it. Indefinite leave, with pay. Any further involvement with the case, and the chief would...
"So. Do you have anything to say for yourself, Sergeant?"
Captain Shimazu does not wait for a reply. Instead, his gaze is severe as he continues, "You were ordered not to involve yourself with the Joker case. Instead, I have reports from concerned citizens about your recent 'activities'."
Katsuya tenses, interjecting at last here: "Sir, that was because--"
A single look from the other man in the room is sufficient to silence him.
Captain Shimazu, the man in charge of the area-wide investigation into the Joker killings isn't the only one in here, after all. So great is Katsuya's error that Chief Togashi himself, the head of the Konan Department, is present.
In other words, his father's former partner when he was a detective, and Katsuya's own mentor.
Katsuya stands ramrod straight and looks away from the chief, ashamed.
He remains completely silent as Shimazu continues. Shimazu sighs, shaking his head. "Then there's the matter of that girl. With the collected evidence linking her to at least one of the murders, she should have been placed under arrest and interrogated immediately. Instead, she was put into protective custody. A determination that you, as an officer uninvolved in the murder investigation, lacked the authority to make."
It's here that Katsuya, thus provoked, speaks up again: "Sir, she's a child!" he blurts out. "Furthermore, the evidence is circumstantial--"
"If I wanted your opinion, detective, I would have asked for it," Shimazu says, cutting him off. "I've heard enough. This entire affair is a waste of my time." He turns his gaze towards Togashi, as if to hand the matter over to him.
"Let's bring this to a conclusion," Chief Togashi cuts in. "It's unfortunate, but I don't see any way around it. Sergeant Suou." Katsuya snaps to attention, his focus entirely on his chief and mentor. "In light of your actions, I have no choice but to relieve you of active duty and place you on paid suspension, effective immediately."
Katsuya looks no less than shell-shocked.
"That can't be..." He shakes his head, fiercely. "Wait, listen to me! What's going on with these people isn't normal--"
Togashi cuts him off. "The decision is final. And if you should interfere again..." The Chief speaks with finality of what will happen, without having to say it aloud.
It's understood.
Yes, it is understood. If he probes any further, the chief will have his badge.
Indefinite suspension... so that's really what this has come to. Turning his head as he lingers outside the place that had been his workspace for so many years, he just catches the voices of two officers. They must be taking shelter from the fleeting storm in the lee of the building, but their voices carry to where he's standing.
"They keep telling us to 'check the crime scenes again'. There isn't anything else to find. It's almost like they're stalling. Do they really not have any leads...?" one officer wonders.
"Hey, be quiet," his partner urges him. "Be careful saying something like that in front of the big shots."
Akechi had warned him, he supposes. It's the corruption within the department here that's staying the hands of the rank and file officers. So long as Tatsuzou and the rest of the New World Order can pull their strings...
...then, just as he'd confessed to Maya, they can't rely on the police at all.
Now that he's on suspension, the chances of him finding out who might be among the involved parties has dwindled to zero.
He walks away from the building, his shoes crunching in the half-melted slush.
Officer of the law or not, though, he still has a duty to the people of his city. Even if he'll lose everything, he can't stop here, even if they try to make him. The winter wind that sweeps through the city might be cold, but the flame in his heart burns just as hot as ever.