[Repost] Part 17
By the time Phoenix stumbled his way back to the central offices, his headache had developed into a full-fledged migraine. He let Maya guide him to a desk, where he sank gratefully into a chair. “Wow, he really did whallop you!” said Maya. She dug around in the detective’s desk, looking for aspirin. At least, Nick sure hoped she was looking for aspirin. “I haven’t seen you that beat since … um … “
Nick made a vaguely pained noise in response. No matter what he’d presented, be it evidence or reasoning or even pontification, Adachi hadn’t budged. Perhaps that was his fault for attempting psyche locks this early in the case … or maybe his client was really that tough of a nut to crack. Running out of energy with the magatama usually didn’t result in this kind of headache; he had the sneaking suspicion that Adachi had been aware of Nick’s “helper” somehow, and had deliberately allowed him to use up more energy than he usually did chasing after false leads.
And then there’d been that face, too. The brief flashes where Nick had thought he’d seen something else staring out of Adachi, a masked figure cracked with red and black lines…
“Found one!”
Maya passed over a small red-and-white-dotted object, which Phoenix squinted at. It read “Jelly Belly” on one side. “… Maya, this isn’t aspirin.”
“Of course not!” she replied, beaming. “It’s a jelly bean.”
“Jelly …”
Maya nodded vehemently. “Mia always gave me jelly beans when I started getting a headache! She said headaches are caused by de-sugarization.”
( I … could almost see that, ) thought Nick. ( But right now I’ll take the water and the aspirin, thanks. )
“Mr. Wright?”
Nick looked up. A stack of paperwork stood in front of him. … wait, no. Phoenix shifted from side to side, trying to get a better look at person carrying the stack of paper, but no such luck; all he could see were a couple of skinny arms and tufts of brown hair. “More information for the case, sir. Could you - oof, my arms - take the manilla envelope on top, please?”
He had to stand in order to reach it, but at least it was on the top; Nick didn’t really want to try extracting the envelope from somewhere in the middle. “Thanks,” he said, trying very hard to mean it. His headache kind of made that difficult.
Meanwhile, Naoto found herself at the center of her friends’ attention. They’d all clustered around her quite closely at first, which had been more distressing, but as they had moved out into the main office, only Kanji flanked her, with the rest of them standing back to ask questions. “You seriously had to translate for that bastard?” said Yousuke. “I hope you made him sound psychotic.”
“I carried out my duties to the best of my ability.” She paused. “Although he did seem to become more unsettled as the interview went on.”
“I still wanna know how he got all the way here,” sighed Chie. “Are you sure you can’t tell us?”
Naoto nodded. “Unfortunately. The situation is delicate, politically. Besides that,” she added, a bit more quietly, “I am uncertain of their reasoning to begin with.”
“We know Doujima-san is here too,” said Yukiko. “He came with Detective Gumshoe.”
Another slight nod from Naoto. “I’m not surprised,” she said. “They’re currently partners, after all.”
“S’gotta be hard,” said Kanji, frowning.
On the other hand, Yousuke just eyed Gumshoe, who was wrapping up the tour with wide, almost flailing gestures and a little too much exuberance. “No kidding. Do you think they’ve got Doujima-san holed up with him too?”
“He didn’t tell you?” Naoto said, blinking. “Considering the situation, it made far more sense for him to stay with-”
“Naoto-kun!”
Naoto staggered forward sharply, unbalanced by the sudden addition of one Kujikawa Rise. The idol wrapped both arms around Naoto, squeezing all the air out of the smaller girl. “Kujikawa…san?” she gasped, trying very hard not to fall over.
“Rise-chan’s here too?” Chie said. “No way!”
The group converged on Rise, everyone yelling and chattering in one big cacophony of excitement. First came the background details: Rise’s involvement with the new Steel Samurai movie, Naoto’s translation duties, and the summer program. Only after they’d gotten that settled did they move on to more serious topics.
“Murder,” said Yousuke, in lowered tones. “You saw it, right -?”
“Adachi’s in prison here,” hissed Chie. “I mean, I think the American police are kind of out of their league here-”
Naoto cleared her throat.
“- with all due respect,” she added hastily. “I mean, it’s not like you can really explain that kind of thing, right?”
“A fair point.”
“You know what this means, right?” said Yousuke, excitedly. “We’ve got to get the investigation team rolling again. Perfect sendoff!”
Kanji rubbed at his head. “I still got a couple years left.”
“Yes, but this really could be the last time we’re all together,” added Yukiko. “It certainly couldn’t hurt.”
Yousuke’s expression darkened. “Not all together,” he said. “Man, I really miss Souji.”
Rise clapped her hands together. “Oh, that’s right! I forgot to tell you.” She beamed with pleasure. “Souji’s -”
“Ooh, ooh, is this a secret meeting?”
“Teddie!”
Teddie wormed his way in next to Rise, beaming up at her in response. She rewarded him with a hug of his own. “Ahh, the joys of youth~” he said, snuggling in closer to her.
“Are you done translating?” asked Yukiko, glancing back at where the tour group had been. The students had dispersed by now, leaving the safety of the group to poke at things in the office or just find a cool spot to sit. The blond student sparkled to himself and took the Blue Badger’s measurements, much to Kanji’s distraction.
“Yep!” said Teddie. “Mr. Gumshoe says the rest of tonight is free time! And he invited us to come back with him and Doujima-san.” He puffed out his chest a little. “He says that I~ am a godsend!”
Yousuke groaned. “Yeah, yeah. We get it already. You’re magical.”
“It’s useful!” said Rise. “English is really hard to get right, you know.”
“Ohhh, yeah. Betcha it’ll come in handy when we start investigating.” Chie rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
“So we are investigating.” Teddie beamed. “I knew it! Leave it to me to sniff out all the clues. Since Sensei isn’t here…”
Naoto cleared her throat again. “I wish to make a statement on that subject-”
“What are you kids planning?”
Doujima suddenly loomed above them, blocking out the glare from the office lights. Several members of the group flinched guiltily. “Nothing,” said Yukiko, avoiding his gaze. “We just happened to run into Naoto-kun and Rise-chan, so…”
“We’re coming back with you and Mr. Gumshoe!” said Teddie. “He said we could, you know?”
“He did?” Suddenly, the detective looked even more tired than he had a few moments ago. He shot a vaguely venomous look at Gumshoe, who waved back. “We’re not going to have enough room in the car,” he said. “I’m already bringing back guests.”
“Guests?” said Yousuke.
Doujima angled his head back, looking at the desk where Phoenix was currently fighting off a migraine. “We’re consolidating the investigation somewhat, given the lack of translators available. So he’s coming along to dinner tonight.”
“Huh?” Kanji’s focus snapped back to the conversation at hand. “We’re going somewhere?”
Once again, Doujima looked incredibly exhausted. “After I take care of a few things,” he said. “First of which being a smoke break.” Walking towards the door, he pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket.
Yousuke followed after him, with the rest of the group falling into place behind him. “Where are we going?” he asked.
The detective stepped outside. It was late afternoon by now, still hot, but considerably more shaded, with the shadows of buildings and trees making long lines in the sidewalk. Several more cars were parked in front of the building now, with various people milling out and about and around; Doujima angled towards a silver van parked at the end of the row. “Back to where I’m staying,” he said, lighting a cigarette.
“Staying…?” said Yukiko.
“With family.” He moved, allowing them a better view of the van itself … and there stood Seta Souji, holding a set of car keys and leaning against the car door as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Souji!”
Their leader had just enough time to blink before they rolled him up in their giant katamari of reunion.
Nick made a vaguely pained noise in response. No matter what he’d presented, be it evidence or reasoning or even pontification, Adachi hadn’t budged. Perhaps that was his fault for attempting psyche locks this early in the case … or maybe his client was really that tough of a nut to crack. Running out of energy with the magatama usually didn’t result in this kind of headache; he had the sneaking suspicion that Adachi had been aware of Nick’s “helper” somehow, and had deliberately allowed him to use up more energy than he usually did chasing after false leads.
And then there’d been that face, too. The brief flashes where Nick had thought he’d seen something else staring out of Adachi, a masked figure cracked with red and black lines…
“Found one!”
Maya passed over a small red-and-white-dotted object, which Phoenix squinted at. It read “Jelly Belly” on one side. “… Maya, this isn’t aspirin.”
“Of course not!” she replied, beaming. “It’s a jelly bean.”
“Jelly …”
Maya nodded vehemently. “Mia always gave me jelly beans when I started getting a headache! She said headaches are caused by de-sugarization.”
( I … could almost see that, ) thought Nick. ( But right now I’ll take the water and the aspirin, thanks. )
“Mr. Wright?”
Nick looked up. A stack of paperwork stood in front of him. … wait, no. Phoenix shifted from side to side, trying to get a better look at person carrying the stack of paper, but no such luck; all he could see were a couple of skinny arms and tufts of brown hair. “More information for the case, sir. Could you - oof, my arms - take the manilla envelope on top, please?”
He had to stand in order to reach it, but at least it was on the top; Nick didn’t really want to try extracting the envelope from somewhere in the middle. “Thanks,” he said, trying very hard to mean it. His headache kind of made that difficult.
Meanwhile, Naoto found herself at the center of her friends’ attention. They’d all clustered around her quite closely at first, which had been more distressing, but as they had moved out into the main office, only Kanji flanked her, with the rest of them standing back to ask questions. “You seriously had to translate for that bastard?” said Yousuke. “I hope you made him sound psychotic.”
“I carried out my duties to the best of my ability.” She paused. “Although he did seem to become more unsettled as the interview went on.”
“I still wanna know how he got all the way here,” sighed Chie. “Are you sure you can’t tell us?”
Naoto nodded. “Unfortunately. The situation is delicate, politically. Besides that,” she added, a bit more quietly, “I am uncertain of their reasoning to begin with.”
“We know Doujima-san is here too,” said Yukiko. “He came with Detective Gumshoe.”
Another slight nod from Naoto. “I’m not surprised,” she said. “They’re currently partners, after all.”
“S’gotta be hard,” said Kanji, frowning.
On the other hand, Yousuke just eyed Gumshoe, who was wrapping up the tour with wide, almost flailing gestures and a little too much exuberance. “No kidding. Do you think they’ve got Doujima-san holed up with him too?”
“He didn’t tell you?” Naoto said, blinking. “Considering the situation, it made far more sense for him to stay with-”
“Naoto-kun!”
Naoto staggered forward sharply, unbalanced by the sudden addition of one Kujikawa Rise. The idol wrapped both arms around Naoto, squeezing all the air out of the smaller girl. “Kujikawa…san?” she gasped, trying very hard not to fall over.
“Rise-chan’s here too?” Chie said. “No way!”
The group converged on Rise, everyone yelling and chattering in one big cacophony of excitement. First came the background details: Rise’s involvement with the new Steel Samurai movie, Naoto’s translation duties, and the summer program. Only after they’d gotten that settled did they move on to more serious topics.
“Murder,” said Yousuke, in lowered tones. “You saw it, right -?”
“Adachi’s in prison here,” hissed Chie. “I mean, I think the American police are kind of out of their league here-”
Naoto cleared her throat.
“- with all due respect,” she added hastily. “I mean, it’s not like you can really explain that kind of thing, right?”
“A fair point.”
“You know what this means, right?” said Yousuke, excitedly. “We’ve got to get the investigation team rolling again. Perfect sendoff!”
Kanji rubbed at his head. “I still got a couple years left.”
“Yes, but this really could be the last time we’re all together,” added Yukiko. “It certainly couldn’t hurt.”
Yousuke’s expression darkened. “Not all together,” he said. “Man, I really miss Souji.”
Rise clapped her hands together. “Oh, that’s right! I forgot to tell you.” She beamed with pleasure. “Souji’s -”
“Ooh, ooh, is this a secret meeting?”
“Teddie!”
Teddie wormed his way in next to Rise, beaming up at her in response. She rewarded him with a hug of his own. “Ahh, the joys of youth~” he said, snuggling in closer to her.
“Are you done translating?” asked Yukiko, glancing back at where the tour group had been. The students had dispersed by now, leaving the safety of the group to poke at things in the office or just find a cool spot to sit. The blond student sparkled to himself and took the Blue Badger’s measurements, much to Kanji’s distraction.
“Yep!” said Teddie. “Mr. Gumshoe says the rest of tonight is free time! And he invited us to come back with him and Doujima-san.” He puffed out his chest a little. “He says that I~ am a godsend!”
Yousuke groaned. “Yeah, yeah. We get it already. You’re magical.”
“It’s useful!” said Rise. “English is really hard to get right, you know.”
“Ohhh, yeah. Betcha it’ll come in handy when we start investigating.” Chie rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
“So we are investigating.” Teddie beamed. “I knew it! Leave it to me to sniff out all the clues. Since Sensei isn’t here…”
Naoto cleared her throat again. “I wish to make a statement on that subject-”
“What are you kids planning?”
Doujima suddenly loomed above them, blocking out the glare from the office lights. Several members of the group flinched guiltily. “Nothing,” said Yukiko, avoiding his gaze. “We just happened to run into Naoto-kun and Rise-chan, so…”
“We’re coming back with you and Mr. Gumshoe!” said Teddie. “He said we could, you know?”
“He did?” Suddenly, the detective looked even more tired than he had a few moments ago. He shot a vaguely venomous look at Gumshoe, who waved back. “We’re not going to have enough room in the car,” he said. “I’m already bringing back guests.”
“Guests?” said Yousuke.
Doujima angled his head back, looking at the desk where Phoenix was currently fighting off a migraine. “We’re consolidating the investigation somewhat, given the lack of translators available. So he’s coming along to dinner tonight.”
“Huh?” Kanji’s focus snapped back to the conversation at hand. “We’re going somewhere?”
Once again, Doujima looked incredibly exhausted. “After I take care of a few things,” he said. “First of which being a smoke break.” Walking towards the door, he pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of his pocket.
Yousuke followed after him, with the rest of the group falling into place behind him. “Where are we going?” he asked.
The detective stepped outside. It was late afternoon by now, still hot, but considerably more shaded, with the shadows of buildings and trees making long lines in the sidewalk. Several more cars were parked in front of the building now, with various people milling out and about and around; Doujima angled towards a silver van parked at the end of the row. “Back to where I’m staying,” he said, lighting a cigarette.
“Staying…?” said Yukiko.
“With family.” He moved, allowing them a better view of the van itself … and there stood Seta Souji, holding a set of car keys and leaning against the car door as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Souji!”
Their leader had just enough time to blink before they rolled him up in their giant katamari of reunion.