2026-01-30: Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror
- Cutscene: Wanted! Rumor Demon: The Purple Mirror
- Cast: Tamaki Uchida, Daisuke Todoroki
- Where: Kuzunoha Detective Agency
- OOC Date: 2026-01-30
- IC Date: 2012-09-18
- Summary: A new Rumor has begun to plague Sumaru City with bad luck. Tamaki discusses the workload strain with her boss, Chief Todoroki, and is happy to hear his prescribed solution.
Given the clientele that the Kuzunoha Detective Agency caters to with their tagline about how they handle 'anything from love affairs to ghosts,' it's no surprise that they receive a number of strange requests.
On occasion, those requests entail the elimination or pacification of Rumor Demons: a variety of Demon which is formed from the latest gossip circulating around Sumaru City. While the agency isn't directly involved in the business of tackling those Rumor Demons themselves (except on exceedingly rare occasion), they do collate the requests of their clients to form a bounty board to inform local Persona-users of threats they can tackle in exchange for payment.
The agency is a neutral intermediary in this regard, and in exchange for letting interested Persona-users know of such bounties in the first place, they receive a small cut of the reward once the Demon is confirmed gone, no matter who does it. This aspect isn't exactly recent news and has already been the case for at least several months, but ... there's a new wrinkle in things.
Lately, the Kuzunoha Detective Agency has been getting a deluge of inquiries from clients concerned about bad luck, of all things. News of the Purple Mirror and its curse has spread like wildfire throughout Sumaru City, especially in Rengedai Ward.
A weary-looking Tamaki Uchida answers inquiry after inquiry, phone call after phone call, email after email, even a slew of in-person visits. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. -- yeah, we've been hearing that a lot, the next yearly coming of age ceremony's a few months away. I get you." Hearing the same story for what must be the thirtieth time causes Tamaki to rub her eyes and stifle a yawn. "I'll mark you down."
In a vanishingly rare lull between client meetings, Tamaki drops a sizable binder on the desk of her boss, Chief Todoroki. She then firmly plants her hands on the desk and leans forward to emphasize her irritation with the current situation. "Look, boss, we're getting slammed here. This is on a whole new level of bad. We've gotta do something to get ahead of this."
"Agreed," Todoroki grumbles while stirring a mug of hot tea. "The main problem stems from its abstract, incorporeal nature. Most Rumor Demons manifest in a more immediately physical manner, such as the Cursed Taxi. This will require some investigation first."
Neither of them are willing to name the Purple Mirror in their conversation with each other, lest they reinforce the memory of the words behind the mechanism of the curse.
Despite that, it's a topic which Tamaki can't escape from. She gestures at her own desk by flailing both of her arms in its direction, then to Todoroki's phone and computer. "Meanwhile, our hands are tied with answering folks and keeping track of the pile of bounties. If I go out for some field work, that leaves only you to handle customers, and that's just leaving money on the table." An avaricious gleam shines in her eyes, and she swallows hard. The potential payday is hefty, most of it coming from wealthy families from Rengedai Ward, concerned for the futures of their children who attend the prestigious Seven Sisters High School. In light of that, even the small cut that the agency takes would immensely help out the quiet little two-person operation.
(Two-person? TWO-person?! Don't forget about another member, nya ...) (Well, it's true that Tsubasa Seki helps out in a currently unofficial capacity and that did briefly slip Tamaki's mind as she counted, but she can't remember anyone else!) (... nyaaa ...)
Never mind the fact that each new request more firmly re-asserts the cursed words' position in her brain. She's got her whole life ahead of her, she feels an anxious need to handle this before she graduates, or beyond that, before she becomes another piece of the dreaded 'christmas cake' at 25 ..! Tamaki turns away from Todoroki's desk and nervously paces back and forth as she tries -- and fails -- to push this matter away from her gray matter.
In stark contrast to Tamaki's rising agitation, Todoroki remains the picture of calm. Maybe he just has less to personally worry about at his age, or maybe he simply has more experience in these matters and consequently remains more grounded in his temperament. He takes a sip of his tea before he replies, "You are correct in that we lack the necessary resources and personnel to dedicate to the level of investigation that this would require. Perhaps we could establish a tip line in addition to our already-established 'bounty board'."
Tamaki pauses for a moment to process the suggestion. Once she does, she instantly regains her characteristic sunny mood, and the corners of her mouth twitch upwards to form a cheshire-cat-like grin. She sidles up to Todoroki's desk with her hands clasped and outright beams at him. "Oh, that's a wonderful idea!"
Todoroki closes his eyes and takes another sip of his tea, enjoying it to the fullest. "I know."
In the various channels that she communicates in -- whether it's personally contacting the Persona-users she's acquainted with, posting on the Dark Side of Sumaru message boards, or spreading the word to other well-known Rumormongers -- news of the tip line is out there. There's promise of a small payment for information which the agency can independently verify, and a larger final reward for those who manage to defeat the Rumor Demon and cleanse Sumaru City of its curse once and for all.
Print or digital announcements are covered with stickers of a cartoon smiling lucky cat giving a wink and a thumbs-up, stating:
The Kuzunoha Detective Agency wants YOU to give us information on how to rid the city of its recent misfortune!
(For certain reasons, we are unable to specify the name of the exact cognitohazard in question, but if you know, you know.)
Walk-in inquiries welcome!
Please contact us at:
...
The announcement concludes with the agency's phone number, fax number, physical address, email address, and social media profiles.