2026-02-12: Detective Prince, Meet Detective Peasant
- Log: Detective Prince, Meet Detective Peasant
- Cast: Tamaki Uchida, Goro Akechi
- Where: Konan - Main
- OOC Date: February 12, 2026
- IC Date: September 24, 2012
- Summary: Akechi catches Tamaki as she's just about to make a grievous error as one of her clients is about to outfox her. Grateful for the assist, she offers to repay the favor, but the one he suggests may be a bit more dangerous than she'd prefer.
(|=============================== Konan - Main ===============================|)
-================================================== Sumaru City/Konan Ward ====-
Konan Ward is right up on the ocean, which could be considered one of its best
features; Ebisu Beach is but a stone's throw away for those who live here in one
of the many local apartment complexes, like Lunar Palace. The presence of the
Konan Police Department might make one feel safer too, though there's bad rumors
about nasty things lurking in the abandoned factory. All kinds of businesses are
available at the Seaside Mall.
The Aerospace Museum to the south, right next to the beach, is a great place to
take young kids on a field trip--they'll be able to learn all about the history
of aviation with tons of model planes and even a built-to-scale replica blimp
that rumors claim is real and can fly. Surely that's just children's
imaginations running away with them, though.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
For Tamaki Uchida, today is a normal day at work, just like any other. One of her cases has her tailing the boyfriend of a client who she suspects is cheating on her. This is fairly standard fare for the Kuzunoha Detective Agency's mundane set of cases -- not everything can involve rumors and demons. Sometimes, they just have to take work that pays the bills, no matter how unglamorous it is. Her attire today consists of a grey button-up blouse and cool red tie, beige trousers with a black belt, black loafers, and sunglasses.
She waited for his security shift at the Aerospace Museum to end, followed him to a restaurant where he was on a date with another girl just as the client suepected, tailed them both to his apartment ... that's all there is to it, surely. Job's done, all she has to do now is report back, right?
What Tamaki doesn't know yet is that her client isn't exactly being ... truthful about her aims. The agency does try to vet their clients as thoroughly as they can, but sometimes, something still slips through. The 'boyfriend' in question is actually a member of the police, employed by the station right here in Konan Ward. They've never met -- the client's in league with some unscrupulous elements looking to find out the addresses of members of the police in order to harass and blackmail them.
She places her digital camera in her bag, turns around from the apartment complex, and starts heading towards the rail station, none the wiser to the truth.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Detective - P5 The Animation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hMdL9SX3nE
Step. Step. Step. Each one met a relaxed cadence. A boy in a Seven Sisters' uniform passes Tamaki Uchida by. It's possible she caught a glimpse of his face, but just as likely not.
A few moments later, a younger boy about eight runs up to Tamaki and- "That guy wanted me to give this to you." As he places a slip of paper in her hand, and points past her at the turning form of the boy in the Seven Sisters Uniform.
As he turns, the light of the sun reflects off the side of his silver briefcase, which is an odd accessory for any high schooler to have.
The slip of paper says:
Your client isn't exactly being truthful to you.
Follow me if you'd like to know more.
All marked up in a red pen, like a teacher might use to grade papers at school. It's all very dramatic, isn't it? Like something out of a TV drama, or a crime procedural.
Yet, the boy is still walking at that relaxed pace, like he never even saw Tamaki Uchida in the first place, turning the corner of the apartment complex, heading down towards Ebisu beach, or more precisely, towards a row of out of the way benches for people to sit themselves upon to look at the sea.
And it's at one of them that's framed by the shadow of a great willow tree obscuring view of it, that he sets his briefcase down, and has a seat, as he waits, taking out his phone, and tapping upon the keys with gloved fingertips.
It's only when Tamaki approaches that he smiles, and says, "I'm glad you took me up on my invitation. I'd offer a hand- but it's better that I not stand back up quite yet."
... It really is the Second Coming of the Detective Prince himself, Goro Akechi.
"It's not impossible that you're being watched yourself at the moment. Hence the theatrics."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
"Oh -- er, thank ... you?" Tamaki initially seems puzzled as to why some kid's giving her a note. Her confusion ramps up further after she raises her sunglasses to read it, then it becomes tinged with alarm as she glances back to catch that silver briefcase.
Keep your cool. Act like this is normal. She grins widely at the kid. "Aha! I see now, thanks for the heads-up! Be a good kid and stick with your parents, though, alright? Or older sibling ..." She looks around to make sure that the boy has someone looking after him before she runs off.
She didn't catch his face, but by this point, she can hazard a guess as to who that guy with the suitcase is. She changes her route to follow him in the direction of Ebisu Beach, eventually finding him by that bench under the willow tree.
As Tamaki stands by where Akechi's seated, she removes her sunglasses and places them in her purse with a sigh and a tired smile. "Afternoon, Akechi-san. Mind if I take a seat, too?"
She curls a finger over her chin. After a beat, she asks, "And what exactly do you think I've gotten myself into here?"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"I'm heading home now!" The kid says, a thousand yen richer for the 'errand'.
Akechi smiles in that affable way of his. "Of course you may, Uchida-san." He says, keeping the briefcase between them as if it were a barrier between the genders.
Nothing untoward is happening, nor is intended it seems to say. And it's a cultural certainty that no one likes to place their bags or brief cases on the ground anyway, for the same reason you don't leave your shoes on in homes.
"Straight to the point I see." He chuckles as he opens up his briefcase, "Well, I can hardly blame you. Your 'client' is currently dating a member of the Kanagawa-kai, a local Yakuza family." And pulling out a photograph, he reveals a monochromatic photo of the same woman who hired them, kissing a man who's shirtless, revealing extensive tattoos, which he hands over.
"And the man you were hired to track down was in fact a member of the local Konan PD, working his second job as Security for the museum."
Raising a hand into a shrug and a sigh, he keeps explaining further, "Given the recent passage of Yakuza Exclusion Ordinances, I fear they're attempting to skirt the law by using your agency in order to do 'Opposition Research' so to speak on members of the Sumaru Police. If I had to guess, it would be for the purpose of extorting them for greater freedom to conduct themselves within Sumaru City."
Placing his hands together, fingertips joining, he smiles, "I considered it something of a 'professional courtesy' to warn you. After all, it was not due to any lack of due diligence on your part- I merely have the advantage of working on several organized crime cases with the Prosecutor's Office."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
When it comes to detective work, Tamaki actually isn't one for theatrics, herself. Her own career path hews more closely to the standard route than that of the 'Prince' sitting before her: go to university, get some relevant training, apprentice underneath an older private detective and accumulate experience from the jobs he subcontracts out to her. If he's a one-of-a-kind artisan masterwork, she's one of many outputs of a mass production assembly line.
Detective Prince, meet Detective Peasant.
If she's being entirely honest with herself, every so often, she does feel a pang of envy towards him and how he's outpaced her by leaps and bounds in terms of ability and status. People seem to take him far more seriously than her. Some part of her wonders if it's just his fame that does it, or if the same dynamic would play out between her and a hypothetical male colleague who was her junior.
The sting of jealousy retreats once more as she reminds herself of how they differ -- she doesn't see their agencies as competitors, but as establishments which serve different niches. (In fact, sometimes she's had to recommend that a client instead go to Akechi's agency, whose skillset and focus seems more tailored to what they were asking for. Professional courtesy goes both ways.)
She got into this line of work to help the people who would otherwise fall through the cracks, the ones who society pays little mind to. Her own domain is the unsexy, the boring, the banal, the mundane -- that's where she can do the most good. Let the prince have his limelight.
...
Of course, people exist who may try to take advantage of the kindness she extends to them. It was inevitable that it'd happen someday.
Tamaki takes a seat on the other side of Akechi's briefcase and leans back to rest her head in her arms with her eyes closed. "Thanks. If anything, I could use the breather; been on my feet all day."
'Straight to the point, I see.' Tamaki quirks an eyebrow and glances over. "I mean, we could exchange pleasantries if you want. Something clandestine-seeming as this doesn't strike me as the time for idle chitchat, though."
The sight of the photograph and the bad news about her client garners a heavy sigh from Tamaki as she moves her hands to rub her eyes underneath her sunglasses. "Shit. Good looking out, I appreciate it. Last thing I want to do is become an unwitting accomplice. We're trying to pull ourselves out of that quagmire, you know?"
By 'we', Tamaki means the private investigation field in general, not any specific agency. Most agencies largely benefit from the mythologized image of the great detective archetype ... and took advantage of it. It was only in recent years that Japan started more tightly regulating the profession to crack down on that kind of behavior.
She turns her head in Akechi's direction. "If there's any way we can repay the favor, let us know, yeah?"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Well he'd certainly claim to be an artisan masterwork, at least. That is the image he puts forward... indeed, here he is, showing how much better of a Detective he is, while making excuses for Detective Peasant's ignorance of the matter.
One would almost swear he does it on purpose, but that'd be silly, wouldn't it? Why would such an accomplished Celebrity Detective have any reason to do so.
Especially given the courtesy she's shown his own agency!
"Then by all means, take a load off. Long stake-outs do take their toll..."
Before her joke of small talk elicits a chuckle, "Well I suppose not. Though it would potentially give someone else sore feet for a change with a long enough conversation." He says with a broad smile.
Poor Tamaki, understanding that her kindness was taken advantage of. "Yes maintaining our image has become rather challenging in recent days." He offers sympathetically, "Not everyone can appear on television to give their side of the story when a scandal arises. And your client's story was flawless- was it not? You cannot be expected to investigate all of your clients just as much as the people they hire you to surveil yourselves... there just aren't enough hours in the day, or the resources..."
Or money for that matter, how many man hours would it even take???
"I'll keep that in mind... although, perhaps I might take you up on that sooner than you might think." He says with something of a smile, as he crosses his arms and leans back, "After all, we are not merely colleagues in... this field, if you understand my meaning."
As he mimes with a hand, the motion of gripping a mask, and putting it on. And just like that, the memory of whom he is might click to Tamaki, of the boy with the Crimson Tengu mask and Band Major like outfit.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki should probably view Akechi's gesture with at least some amount of skepticism. However, she's just glad to discover that her client duped her before any negative consequences could come of it. The combination of her fatigue and gratitude nearly -- nearly -- override her critical thinking.
If Miho hadn't commented about a week ago on how she was glad that Tamaki wasn't willing to violate Yua's privacy just to curry favor with her, then it likely would have completely escaped Tamaki's notice.
She just barely manages to hold onto some awareness in this situation.
At Akechi's offer for conversation, Tamaki considers it for a moment, then snickers good-naturedly. "Nah, nahhh, I'm just as mentally exhausted as I am physically. Rain check?"
The mention of a television appearance elicits a wordless groan from Tamaki; she doesn't relish the thought of having a media presence in the slightest. As he points out the impossibility of catching everyone who might take advantage of the Kuzunoha Detective Agency's goodwill, given the tradeoffs involved, her expression softens. "That is true, I shouldn't blame myself too greatly here ..."
Tamaki's quick to catch onto his meaning. She did see him in Eiji Kamiya's Palace, that's true -- her reaction was mixed, to the say the least, some combination of 'aw, come ON why didn't I think of that, smug jerk' and 'god damn it that was actually pretty cool'.
That wasn't her first inkling that she'd gotten about his involvement in the supernatural world, however: Tsubasa and Phoenix, independently of each other, had relayed to Tamaki that it was him who initially told them the Phantom Thieves were responsible for their Psychotic Breakdown -- a misunderstanding that's now been cleared up, by all accounts.
... It's always struck her as strange since she had first heard about the correction. He was the source of the misunderstanding in the first place, but how was he wrong? It doesn't seem befitting of a Detective Prince to put forward an idea he wasn't entirely certain of and jump to a hasty conclusion.
No, Tamaki thinks that sounds more like the kind of blunder that she'd make.
She's in no position to press him on that particular issue right now. As much as she's dying to know right this second, caution is warranted, even if outright suspicion isn't. No, she has to remain on the defensive: keep her king on the back line, castle up, conserve material for the endgame.
Tamaki chuckles and grins widely as she bends forward to rest a hand on one of her knees. "Oh! Well, sure! Do you mind if I ask you if there's anything you can tell me about it now, or are you just going to keep me in suspense? There's a lot going on right now, you see, so it'd help my focus a bit."
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"Well if you insist." He says with that 'cheerfully smug' expression at the idea of taking a rain check on that.
Indeed, it is true that one should not blame one's self. That Akechi knew at all was a function more of short cuts using his abilities. Perhaps he's a gifted enough Detective to have done that without, but, he didn't!
It was a blunder, now wasn't it? However... he does have a good cover story, quite believable. One has to understand the nature of people entering the Metaverse in depth though.
Perhaps it was thus crafted mostly for the Phantom Thieves, in order to have an alibi they'd have a hard time poking holes in.
Tamaki does catch his meaning of course, and he smiles more broadly as she asks if he's going to keep her in suspense, as he begins to chuckle.
"Oh? Are you certain you're not too mentally exhausted for it?" He teases, obviously unseriously, before he grins, "Very well. It's a simple matter, really. Perhaps you've even heard of it... a niche discipline known as Cognitive 'Psi'-ence."
He enunciates the word to make it clear he's not just doing clever wordplay or the like. "From what I understand, there was a time when it was 'All the Rage', around the time you transferred to St. Hermelin's actually."
Wow! He's really done his homework on a 'peasant detective'. However, it's nothing unusual, is it not? If he knew about her client, then why wouldn't he look into the investigator? And well, it's even less unusual given that he's a Persona User.
He then places a hand upon his chin, "Then mysteriously, nearly all traces of it vanished from the 'Zeitgeist'. Overshadowed by a certain Scandal..."
He doesn't really need to say which one.
"... I was wondering, as someone highly experienced in this world, if you might keep your 'ear to the ground' when it comes to the matter of any related materials. It might be key to understanding how a... 'certain organization' has come into power."
He doesn't even bother to say which one.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
It's probably nothing. Just a grain of sand irritating some part of her mind, just a pebble stuck in her shoe. There's no grand army hiding behind the fog of war -- and in fact, it's likely just mere fog. No one's perfect, even Akechi's capable of a slip-up. It's probably fine. She's overthinking it. It's fine.
Tamaki waves a hand dismissively. "I'm too tired for socializing, but I have enough juice to get to brass tacks. Hit me."
And then he hits her with it. Uh-oh. She lowers her sunglasses to fit more firmly on her face and comments, "Cognitive pseudopsience, you mean?" She smirks at her own joke, feigning mockery ...
... but as he continues, that smirk of hers shrinks further and further until it's vanished entirely. By the end of it, her expression is completely neutral.
It's probably not nothing.
"Look, I was on the sidelines for whatever happened at St. Hermelin." Tamaki looks away from Akechi, suddenly finding great interest at the sight of the shoreline. "Apparently I conked out while the air conditioning system went haywire. Hell, I think even Yokouchi-san the salesman over at Gatten Sushi has a better firsthand account than I do."
Rumormonger Toro, in other words, was more relevant to that whole affair than her. That's fine by her count -- swing and a miss. The fact that he knows that much about her is enough to make her sweat a little, but it does make her wonder how much he knows about the events in question, the SEBEC Scandal and the Snow Queen Crisis. It does worry her that he might know about the others who were actually involved; Maki, Masao, Eriko ...
What would really spike her heartrate is if he lets on any knowledge about the events at Karukozaka, prior to her time at St. Hermelin. No one else gets to know the truth of what happened, that doesn't get to see the light of day and risk being altered by reality-warping rumors. It should remain in quarantine, safe from the outside world's contagion. There's no way he knows about any of that, right? ... right?
She lowers her voice and hunches forward, covering her mouth as she leans her face into her hands. "I did stumble on some old research paper for it -- probably one of the earliest, most preliminary ones -- and as a layperson, I couldn't really make proper heads or tails of it. I ended up endangering others because of it -- someone pursued us and attacked us for what I stuck my nose into."
They wanted to scare her off. If it were just her, it wouldn't have worked. Her curiosity got Sojiro involved and led to his Awakening -- a bittersweet occasion, by any measure. In the end, she inflicted that on him, so she thinks. She blames herself.
"I've got half a mind to forget about the whole thing and move on. I'm not giving you a hard 'no' here, just saying that it warrants caution. A light poke stirred up a hornet's nest, and I just want to prepare you for that possibility. I can't guarantee your safety nor mine."
She hangs her head. "I've already had a few informants die on me. I'm willing to help, just ... making sure you know what you're getting into."
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"In a manner of speaking..." Akechi answers with a contrast between serious gravity and jest at the idea of it being pseudoscience, "...indeed, wouldn't trying to quantify the supernatural by scientific method be so impossible, that one might call it pseudo-science."
He watches her expression diminish into neutrality. "Is that so?" He answers her, "And yet, by all accounts, you were still rather experienced by the time it began..."
Who blabbed!?
"... Curious." He murmurs, like a Detective might in a TV drama, where he understands that he's missing something, but doesn't quite know what it is.
Could it be a mystery he'd actually consider poking at!? How would he even investigate it, if not through Tamaki herself?
Perhaps there's no way he could ever discover the truth, but it's enough to be anxiety-inducing, perhaps. What Detective isn't drawn in by the allure of a good mystery?
Tamaki's greatest shield perhaps, is the fact that she isn't. A girl in her university years, being trained to be a peasant Detective. There's nothing special about her at all.
Or is there?
He then gives her a surprised look, "The one that was posted on the Dark Side of Sumaru?"
A pause.
"... I see. It was what prompted me to ask, though I did not know you were part of that."
He lies, and in this matter he lies well at least, because he knew he was going to have to lie in advance for this matter, and practiced for it.
However, as she offers her answer, he nods, "Well, if it's that dangerous, then I'd consider that rather too much for me to ask of you, don't you think? ... A rather unequal favor to uncovering fraud on the part of a client. I wouldn't want anyone to risk their lives unnecessarily for the sake of my investigation into this New World Order."
Instead he takes out a business card, and pops open a pen, writing a number on it. "Put it out of your mind for now... however, if something does happen to cross your path on its own?" He then caps the pen, and passes it over across the bench with both hands, "This has the number of my current burner cell."
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki takes it right back to levity. "Yeah, like performing surgery with a steak knife instead of a scalpel."
Akechi's mention of Tamaki's experience by that point surprisingly doesn't unsteady her. She's well-known enough that it's no surprise to anyone that she's Awakened, that something, somewhere, sometime must have happened. She's openly said that she Awakened five years ago. That's all anyone can know, at least by her estimation. "That's true, I'll give you that much."
She folds her sunglasses and hangs them on the collar of her blouse. "It's a big world out there. Every time I think I know most of what there is to know, the rug keeps getting pulled out from under me. Some part of me thinks that our little corner of the world is only aware of an infinitesimal amount of the supernatural's full scope and history."
... how many years did Nameless say he's been there in the Velvet Room? Several hundred?
It's a tense moment when he utters that 'Curious,' of his, a searchlight passing over her hiding spot ... then it continues past, at least for now.
Tamaki's always been the sidekick, the bystander, the apprentice. Reiko Akanezawa was the main character of that old story, Naoya and his crew were the main drivers of that pair of incidents, Todoroki's the boss of her workplace today. She wouldn't say that there's nothing special about her, she's just not as special in the same sense that a stagehand isn't as special as the actors.
Her breath catches in her throat when he mentions the Dark Side of Sumaru forum post. "... Yeah, I took that poster up on their offer. No idea if they caught any flak for it, though."
She glances down at the business card, then picks it up with both hands and gives him a bow. "I'll keep an eye and ear out. I'll also say this: that Palace was far from the first time that I've encountered the concept of someone's 'ideal' world. No two verses are the same, but they rhyme suspiciously often."
Tamaki returns to her normal cheerful disposition. "Is there anything else I could do that's closer to an equivalent favor? I do still obliged to repay your courtesy in at least some fashion, after all!"
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"I couldn't have put it better myself."
Akechi enjoys performing surgery with a saw blade rather than a scalpel, quite literally, however he's not about to get into that...
"... I'd agree with that myself." The Detective Prince says of the idea of it being an infinitesimal amount of the supernatural's full scope and history, "It would be quite egocentric of us if we considered what happens to us to be all there is, right?"
Except, he is that egocentric. He does believe he is special. After all, he's had the Metaverse to himself since just after SEBEC until last April, his own personal Playground.
But it suits his purposes to let others think he's not.
Will he look into the mystery, won't he? It is difficult to say. However... a Detective is defined by there being a mystery that only he can solve, isn't that correct?
"Hopefully they haven't been harassed. The administrators at least are quite good on dealing with security threats to those who try to track down their posters."
As she takes the card, she speaks of it being far from the first time that she's encountered the concept of someone's 'ideal' world.
"Yes... I'd come to a similar conclusion. Especially with the recent discovery of the so-called 'Kingdoms'. If Palaces reflect an ideal of 'Warped Desire' then what do Kingdoms then reflect?"
He seems to ponder that for a time, before indicating, "Food for thought, perhaps, once we know more of their nature."
That cheerful disposition, it certainly elicits a cheerful smirk from him as well. "Perhaps instead, we might simply agree to exchange information regarding such realms with each other from time to time. I'm an expert in the Metaverse, having explored it for six months longer than even the so-called Phantom Thieves of Hearts."
A beat.
"... Though recently I discovered that there was someone who has wandered that realm longer than I." He murmurs, as he seems to drift off, troubled by it.
"A conversation for another time. I shouldn't keep you any longer. A lady does deserve time to put her feet up after a long day, wouldn't you agree?"