Bel: Created page with "'''Log: Thorns Grow''' '''Cast:''' Ichika Kawase, Goro Akechi '''Where:''' Greenhouse, Kasugayama High School '''OOC Date:''' July 25, 2025 '''IC Date:''' June 15, 2012 '''Summary''': ''Goro Akechi seeks out the Thorn Boss for the discussion of an important--and personal--matter. He knows more than she expects.'' ---- Ichika Kawase has posed. Ordinarily, the greenhouse is a perfectly nice territory to hold. Sure, it's kind of bust..."

2025-07-26T02:40:36Z

Created page with "*'''Log: Thorns Grow''' *'''Cast:''' Ichika Kawase, Goro Akechi *'''Where:''' Greenhouse, Kasugayama High School *'''OOC Date:''' July 25, 2025 *'''IC Date:''' June 15, 2012 *'''Summary''': ''Goro Akechi seeks out the Thorn Boss for the discussion of an important--and personal--matter. He knows more than she expects.'' ---- <Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed. <poem> Ordinarily, the greenhouse is a perfectly nice territory to hold. Sure, it's kind of bust..."

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*'''Log: Thorns Grow'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Ichika Kawase]], [[Goro Akechi]]
*'''Where:''' Greenhouse, Kasugayama High School
*'''OOC Date:''' July 25, 2025
*'''IC Date:''' June 15, 2012
*'''Summary''': ''Goro Akechi seeks out the Thorn Boss for the discussion of an important--and personal--matter. He knows more than she expects.''

----

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ordinarily, the greenhouse is a perfectly nice territory to hold. Sure, it's kind of busted, and sure, the gardening club is defunct, but there are still things growing here. ...But one of the things that ''was'' growing here is now a bit of rumpled dirt, and Ichika remembers when it was flowers instead. Presumably some other gang has decided to send a message while they weren't looking. Ichika will have to answer it, of course, if she can find out who it was. ...They usually don't fail to make their identities known even ''this'' long.

So it is that the Thorn Boss is sitting in the greenhouse, brooding at some dirt. Her uniform is exactly as she usually wears it--midriff out, skirt long. She is ''very'' tall. And her hair is down.

And she's thinking.

She happens to be alone here for the moment; she had Shizuko and Shuyo head out to get information, and Tsubasa is presumably busy with... something.

But she stands out anyway.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
The Student Council of Cuss High had called upon Goro Akechi to again solve a minor school mystery, at least, that's the excuse he gave for being away from Sevens on this day.

The case of a Panty Thief in the Gym locker room, wearing a mask from the protagonist of Matador re:fancio when they were caught rummaging around in a girl's locker.

"It was Ikeda Masaru wearing the Matador Mask."

Well that was fast!

Akechi checks his watch, as he scribbles something in a small notebook, before closing it decisively and pocketing it, "There's no need for me to confront the culprit. Just inform the various female bosses tomorrow so that they can administer justice as they see fit."

He made certain to left the Student Council office between the bells, and used the most discreet exit he could find to get out back... en route to the greenhouse.

Still he went to the effort of not being seen on the way. Interruptions can be useful, but he'd rather not today.

Ichika would hear the door to the green house opening... and a boy walking in. He's quite handsome. His Sevens Summer Uniform neatly pressed, sleeves rolled up to his elbows his tie just loose enough to imply he's been working hard today.

His hair is messy in that way that implies, infuriatingly, that he doesn't even have to try, to look like the boy next door.

"Ichika Kawase, the Thorn Boss, I presume?"

In his right hand is a brief case with the logo of his detective agency, an encircled capital A, and a dot.

He smiles affably, "... I've been wanting to meet with you, would now be a good time?"

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
There's such a thing as cruel and unusual punishment, Akechi, even for terrible crimes.

But that's tomorrow's problem. Today's problem is that Ichika hears the door open, and turns towards it. She doesn't expect to see him, and so Akechi may see something very interesting when she first sets eyes on him: that instant, clear fight-or-flight reaction to seeing the Sevens uniform on a boy. Ichika's eyes widen almost imperceptibly--and then she quahses that down, because he's not ''him'', he's just a cute boy from Sevens, someone totally different. And she's a Boss. So she straightens her shoulders.

"Right," Ichika answers, standing up. And then--ah. The briefcase...

"Goro Akechi," she confirms. "...Tsubasa-kun mentioned you."

She shrugs. "I guess now is fine. I'm not doing anything else at the moment."

She has a mix of that way of speaking--the rough tones of a Boss compared with the more polite speech of a Nice Girl.

"...Take a seat if you want. There's places."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
He'll shed as many tears for him as he has pity.

Oh wait, guess those eyes are remaining dry.

Akechi says nothing in that moment where Ichika goes through a myriad of emotions upon seeing him. He simply keeps smiling, those brown eyes upon her.

She's a pretty enough girl he thinks. The ones who are suffering on the inside always are.

"They did? Aha... I'm glad. That prevents any misunderstandings from stepping on your territory unannounced."

He does as he's bid, putting the briefcase down, eyes having already found the spot on the floor with the least dirt...

... in seiza. As if that were the proper etiquette for the moment. "Why thank you." He says with a smile, easy-going... before he asks.

"As you likely already know, I'm Goro Akechi, a Detective... and a rather excellent one, if I do say so myself."

His gaze lowers subtly, as if in deference and respect.

"... I'm here to discuss the matter of Eiji Kamiya with you, more specifically, the injustices you suffered at his hands."

But then his eyes raise ever so slightly, his brown eyes peeking through the gaps in his bangs as he watches her.

"And still suffer... if I don't miss my mark."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
He seems so ''nice''. But then, so did Eiji. ...At the same time, Tsubasa vouched for him. And they wouldn't have if...

"Yes," Ichika answers, her speech trending back a little towards her pre-Boss days in the wake of this particular visitors. "That could be a problem otherwise."

She blinks when he sits so politely, opening her mouth slightly and then closing it again. She takes a seat, and the overall effect is as of a leader entertaining a petitioner, because of the way he's seated.

An excellent detective. "I've heard of you," Ichika confirms. She has; she doesn't actively follow him, but it's hard not to notice him in the right circles.

But that deference and respect don't blunt the way she freezes up entirely having heard that name from someone who isn't herself.

So he'll see that, while he looks at her. Fear and guilt predominate in her expression, for whatever that might mean. "They..."

"They didn't mention him, did they?" she says quietly.

"Why are you..."

Her fingers curl. She is pale.
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
"Most have." He says with a smile, "A consequence of being asked on TV so often." Indeed, he remains in seiza, head just subtly bowed as she freezes.

Though that doesn't mean he doesn't witness it. "They didn't." Akechi replies, which would be a lie, if he didn't immediately follow it up with...

"... I did."

Which is certainly more the truth. ''He'' brought up the injustices Tsubasa's boss has suffered.

His tone however, goes from serious, to something more serious, and if Ichika doesn't miss her mark...

... a little angry, beneath the surface. It's hidden in the words, but there.

"To put it plainly, it's because I would like to witness despicable scum like him - who tries to escape responsibility by framing his victim, face actual justice."

He thinks that much at least, will have Ichika's attention. For now though, he waits for her response.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
TV. Of course. She does watch some TV, after all.

But Akechi brings it up, and his statement seems fair enough--because he's the one who brought it up. "You?" she wonders. Then why does he know? The questions race through her mind as she watches him and listens. Everything in her world is more present; she can sense his anger, under the surface, by the way his tone changes. By the subtle parts of his expression. Just like she knows exactly how wide the greenhouse is, is familiar with the stone seat underneath her, can feel herself breathe.

This is not a subject she often broaches with near-strangers.

"You..."

It has her attention, all right. She remembers to ''keep'' breathing a moment later--and then, bitterly, "It's a bad idea."

"...I'm not even supposed to talk about it," she sighs. "...His dad already got to the police. If they'd have even listened in the first place regardless, and that I doubt."

"...Just like he got to the schools, to the principal..."

Her shoulders sink. "It's dangerous. For you."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
Akechi doesn't react to her sudden panic, the shift in her breathing, the downswing of emotion into depression. He stays in that position.

"Perhaps so... some say I'm full of bad ideas. The police for example, whenever I expose their corruption."

Akechi replies smoothly, casually, "They say it tarnishes their reputation... that it upsets the public to know they can't count upon them for their protection."

And now his eyes lift to her, and there's something unflinching in that gaze, "But my 'Justice' cares nothing for reputation... wealth... position. Only the truth... and the truth is, that you were wronged by Eiji Kamiya."

The corners of his lips turn up ever so slightly in a smile, "I understand how it might concern you what he would do if they knew we spoke - then... how fortunate it is that we've never met. After all I found out about his father's dealings without ever speaking to you or your friends and subordinates in the first place."

...

"Is that not enough to prove that I stand a chance of seeing that you receive the justice you deserve?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ichika is still listening; she can't do much else at the moment, without just running away outright. And that, she's not willing to do. Not in her own territory.

But he answers, and he mentions the corruption of the police. ...That they already don't like him. That--

"Your 'Justice', huh...?"

The truth. Ichika feels an island in that panic, and lifts up her eyes to meet that unflinching gaze again. She notices something like a smile.

"...I don't care about upsetting the public," Ichika says, and there's something hollow in her voice--but not hollow empty. Hollow delicate, like a bird's bones. "Or about reputations."

"...All right," she says. "You learned all this without talking to me, somehow. I'm... interested in how. Even... Even his friends haven't made a big show of talking about it."

"But yeah. If you're willing to make the police mad already..."

She thinks. "If you think more about how it 'ought to be' than how it is..."

"OK," she settles. And for all that the last few moments might have made her seem completely beaten down--for all her panic and depression--there is a small spark of defiance still there in her eyes, that flashes as she asks, "What do you need from me, then?"
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
He can tell right away that he's hooked her, that he's appealed to some notion of fairness - right and wrong - or at least spite, a desire for vengeance almost immediately.

"How convenient then that neither do I."

He says with a small tilt of his head, which only shows off that smile of his further.

As she expresses interest in how he learned of this, and... he gives her an answer.

"It's not particularly difficult to investigate police corruption when you have the resources I do. When one believes they're above accountability... they tend to make careless mistakes with the money."

Akechi reaches for a notebook in his pocket, and opens it up, turning the pages, one after another.

"In this case it was five officers, including a Police Captain making sizable deposits around the day of your hospitalization... right before evidence was destroyed, and the police made several recommendations to the prosecutor's office and your family that they not go forward with this case."

His eyes scan the page as he deciphers the coded shorthand of his notes in real time, "A sizable donation was made to Gekkoukan High as well, one that bought them a favor from the administration in the case of your dismissal. Naturally, this wasn't reported to the school's Chairman."

Akechi clasps the notebook, which has the same logo together, and looks over the top of it at her.

"... The unfortunate reality is no prosecutor will take a case without it being airtight. And with the evidence destroyed - that makes it exceedingly difficult. That is where I come in, making certain they have a 'smoking gun' so to speak."

He slides the notebook into his pocket, "They won't bring his case to court, unless we can prove criminal conspiracy... and with no witnesses to the destruction of evidence, merely the incident report following, it would take the equivalent of a full confession..."

He trails off at that implication before then smiling at her, "But that isn't to say there's no hope. If we were able to prove a charge that was linked to the injustice done to you... then we would have our conspiracy. With that in mind..."

There's a poignant pause, as he looks her in the eyes...

"... Do you know anything else that he might be involved with, in Tatsumi Port Island? Any lead at all might turn up exactly what we need."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Which one? It's hard to say. Maybe it's some of all of them. But Ichika is not so crushed that she'll turn away from a real chance to do something. ...She has that much will in her--that much rebellion.

He's still smiling, and it's attractive, but that's not what she's focused on. He instead explains how he learned it. They make careless mistakes with money...

"Ah," she says. "Five of them..."

Part of this inevitably means reliving that truama--reliving those experiences. But she weathers it, to har what he's saying. Especially...

"...Mm. Yeah, they tried to get me into Gekkoukan," she remembers. "Where my sister goes."

She listens, then. He's got branding, anyway--the notebook, the briefcase.

"...?" A smoking gun. A confession.

"A charge. Just something linked," she repeats dully. And then she shakes her head. "...I..."

"I don't know," she says. "His father never talked business with me. Eiji had a lot of friends, but... He didn't like it when I asked too many questions, so I... didn't."

She looks down, and sighs. "...Don't think I didn't catch that. A 'confession'," she repeats. "Maybe they're legit. Those Phantom Thieves. ...But I don't want 'somebody' to get justice for me."

"I want to be involved. I want... to have a hand in it. I know there's not much I can..."

She thinks about it, then. That place she saw. The Palace, though she doesn't know those words for it.

"I..."

"I might have something. But I have to do some checking first. Check my... records."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
'Don't think I didn't catch that.'

Akechi had simply been watching her go through the motions of responding until that moment. "Hm?"

His eyes flick up to her, as she then invokes, "Ah." The smile drops from his face, entirely.

"... I'd suggest that you not rely upon the Phantom Thieves and their perverse sense of justice. For starters, because they're criminals whose methods are unknown... but we do know to a certain degree that they can warp their target's minds - giving someone who may feel no regret at all... a deep sense of guilt and shame."

His affect is quite carefully neutral in this moment, "If they had it their way, Eiji Kamiya might confess with his own mouth and turn himself in - but he will believe it is because he deserves it."

There's a certain intensity to the way he stares at Ichika, "Would that really satisfy you, as his victim? If I were in your position, I would want him to hate every moment of what comes next... of his disgrace, his punishment, for the rest of his disgusting life."

It is perhaps an ''ugly'' emotion that the Detective Prince communicates to her, but it's also raw, and real.

His justice wants Eiji Kamiya to suffer.

And he's suggesting that should she go through with trying to solicit the Phantom Thieves, that his only suffering would be a sense of remorse and regret - that isn't even truly his.

"Anyway, I can't imagine that you have a reliable means of contacting them, as their identities are unknown..."

He doesn't even mention the Phan-Site, because ''obviously'' Phantom Thieves wouldn't ''really'' be active and solicit targets from postings on social media sites right?

"... so, I'd prefer to utilize my own methods. If you're able to check into these matters safely then... I'll get to work, as soon as possible."

A beat.

"There's no fee of course... not for a contemptible individual like him."

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
The smile drops. Maybe that means he's going to show something more real. Ichika wonders about that--why he's all smiles. But she gets that much. When he mentions the Phantom Thieves...

"...Hm." She considers that some more. "I wasn't planning to," she says first. "...That's how it is, huh...?" Criminals, that doesn't bug her. But that intensity?

"..."

"No matter how he feels, no matter what he does..." She hesitates, and meets Akechi's eyes. "...It won't..." She can't quite bring herself to say it at first. "It's not what he feels that matters to me," she admits. "I want him to suffer. That's true. But that's not the most important thing to me."

"...I want him to know I had a hand in it. I want him to know ''I'' did something."

"...So you see," she says, "I can't rely on the Phantom Thieves for that. Even if they get 'justice', it wouldn't be... mine. So don't worry about that, Akechi-san. I'm not going to go to the criminals you dislike, either."

A look down. "...It's why, at first, i thought..."

She shakes her head. "Right. Your own methods. ..."

"...What do you know?" she asks. "About what he did to me?" Her voice goes quieter. "Why would you..."

she trails off. "...That's it, isn't it?" she wonders. "You hate him, too."

"I don't know why. But you hate him. For your own reasons, too."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
Akechi eyes her as she says she wants him to know she had a hand in it, as what's important to her, "You're sure?" He asks, in a delicate tone, "It's been quite painful to you, even reopening these matters."

And if it sounds concerned, it certainly might be. She is the Thorn Boss, but she is someone who has suffered an incredible amount of trauma, being betrayed by the man she loved.

A man whose child she carried.

A man who she thought she would once marry.

"I do understand, however... it's a position that I can respect, as a detective, I wouldn't be satisfied leaving the pursuit of justice up to others."

She asks what he knows about what he did to her, and Akechi's eyes lull to the ground for a moment, as if he's far away in this moment.

He doesn't answer, until she mentions that he hates him too. That's when his gaze lifts fractionally to look through his bangs at her, with a single visible eye.

"It's not as if he's done anything to me... I've never met the man."

There is hesitation, even in the neutrality of his current tone. Like he's not certain what he even should say, but then he makes a spur of the moment decision and continues, it's soft, perhaps even a touch vulnerable...

"But what he did to you is something that I take personally all the same. Let us just say, my mother was in a relationship once with a low-life of a man. When he got her pregnant with me, he swiftly discarded her, and ruined her reputation... this left her in a state of despair that would ultimately lead to her death."

... why is he even saying this much? Why does he even sound mildly apologetic?

"I'll thank you not to mention this to anyone else... but that is why I wish for Eiji Kamiya and those who enabled him to live in disgrace for the rest of his days for what he did to you."

Offering her 'Justice' is perhaps the only form of apology he can allow for her... but he would be lying if he claimed that it wasn't personal in this regard for him as well.

</poem>
<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
He can tell, of course. Ichika isn't surprised; he's a detective. And maybe he is concerned, but...

"I'm sure," Ichika said. "I'd go through that... for 'justice'. Even if it won't..."

"Even if it doesn't change anything. It matters."

But he understands, and she nods. "It's like that," she agrees, though she doesn't know much of being a detective. She knows something else, though. She learns something she wouldn't have learned if she hadn't asked.

"Mm," she answers first. He's never met him. But...

She listens. She is not a suspicious enough person to wonder if he's saying this for a reason; if she were, maybe what happened to her wouldn't have happened. ...But maybe so.

"...I see," Ichika answers, and she feels for this woman she doesn't know immediately. He'll thank her to...

"Thank you," Ichika answers quietly. "I needed to know. ...In that case, I'll accept your help. I..."

She bites her lip hard, hard enough that it hurts. "I..."

"...I've thought about it a lot. How it might've gone. How much worse it could've gotten. I know... that something like that doesn't come out of nowhere." Her voice is so quiet that it's almost inaudible. But only almost.

"Even so... And even though I never got to meet her, I..."

"I loved her," Ichika murmurs. "I'll never forgive him."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
She says she's sure, but is she ready? Can she really face the monster that did that to her?

Well, it's a question he asks himself, even if the circumstances are far different.

"... Thank you for your trust." Akechi says after several long moments, and begins to get up from his kneeling position.

"I still would have pursued the man, even if you asked me not to - you just never would have been involved in the eventual prosecution for unrelated crimes." He says because indeed, he wants her to know that this ''is'' personal to him.

If it's personal, then she can trust him. However, he's lifting his brief case when Ichika notes...

'I never got to meet her.'
'I loved her,'
'I'll never forgive him.'

Of course you did
Stupid woman

That is the insanity of women. Loving a child which only would have ruined her life, when there's no reason whatsoever to love them.

He knows it first hand, from a woman who loved a child who was only a blight - a curse upon her existence.

She doesn't even realize how fortunate she is

He keeps his expression carefully controlled, "I understand." He does - or at least he believes he does.

His mother probably told herself she loved him even as she let the chair fall from beneath her.

The note she left said as much.

"I won't ever forgive him either."

Is he even talking about Eiji anymore?

It takes him several arduous moments to shift from her current position, to look up at her, from his pocket, he produces a business card, which he grips to the side, and bows.

"I've written instructions on the back for how to safely contact me if you feel like he's monitoring you... if you find anything at all..."

He finally manages a smile at her again, "... Well, I promise that I won't fail to live up to my reputation, Kawase-san."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Ichika Kawase has posed.
<poem>
Ichika isn't ready, but she won't let that stop her. It needs to be done.

Ichika shares something deep and private and painful, and Akechi seems to listen. But first, he mentions what would've happened. She nods. "I see. So, you'd have done it either way..." Which means she can help, or have it be done without her.

What does she understand, and misunderstand? It's hard to say, because he says he understands, and Ichika watches him for a long moment.

"...If you really do," she answers, "Then I'm sorry."

Who would wish that on someone else?

"Good."

Then, as he moves, he takes the card... she reaches out, and--

This is the real proof. She's not just some punk. Because:

She takes the card with both hands, and inclines her head. "...I'll let you know," she says.

"Good luck to us both."
</poem>

<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
<poem>
"Yes." He admits, "Though - if I can do it with your consent and cooperation, all the better. If he were arrested for an unrelated crime, his crimes against you might never come to light."

He looks at Ichika with a certain somberness, as he continues, "And that would be hardly Justice for you."

He doesn't reply... on if he really does, he's said enough already, far too much really. Even the people on TV never get to learn this part of him.

It's a part of him too close to the core of who he is.

Too close to that dark and loathsome individual who inflicts violence for his own self-satisfaction.

But it doesn't matter what he is, it matters only that he achieve what he set out to do.

She takes the card respectfully, and his smile is almost apologetic, like he didn't have both hands to offer it in the proper etiquette.

Not with his brief case already held up. "The Thorn Boss..." He comments quietly, as he looks away, "They say every Rose has them." It's a line from a Western song at least, it's also a fact.

"... It's a title that suits your current self well." He says, complimentary. Though perhaps it's a back-handed one.

It implies she didn't before. If she didn't learn to have thorns. Then one way or another, she'd let herself be destroyed by contemptible men.

"... I've never been one to rely on luck. And I hardly intend to start today." He says, with a smile that seems a little smug, like he's recovering from it, "But I'll wish you luck... with enough of it, perhaps you'll see your wish come true after all."

What does he mean? Why... letting him know that it was ''her''.

He steps out of the greenhouse, and looks at the knees of his slacks critically to make sure there's not too much dust, before walking more overtly through the school grounds.

If he's stopped for being a Sevens Student right now by someone who wants a fight, he'd rather enjoy that turn of events in his current state of mind.

</poem>

[[Category:Logs]]
[[Category:Season 1]]
[[Category:Season 1, Episode 1]]

2025-07-25: Thorns Grow - Revision history