recolle | Look Closer Detective Togusa [Open]

Entry tags:

ouroboros: ikuo ryuuzaki

Look Closer Detective Togusa [Open]

WHO: Togusa and you!
WHERE: Togusa's shiny new office at the Precinct
WHEN: Various points during the month
WHAT: Looking into Retrospec, for what it's worth, but even a dead end is worth something.
WARNINGS: None

The office is so quiet as compared to his old desk out in the middle of the bullpen. It's all a little new to Togusa, but it's conducive to work. He has wasted exactly zero time filling the office space with copies of all his files on Retrospec. Sure, he's got backups at home, and then backups of those backups on his external memory drive? But he wants to keep it away from Hikari, so he is preferring to pore over it all while here.

Mixed in are copies of some of the cases that have involved Retrospec users, whether Togusa was involved in them or not. Dante. James. Yukine Matsuoka. Most recently, Mio Sonozaki. Uninvolved in that case, save for coming across his best friend injured. Togusa knows he has to keep his distance, but he's the the copy right next to the others for the same reason: to watch for when and if they change, and Retrospec works their magic. It's still disturbing to watch his own handwriting turn into words he know he didn't write.

The file folder for October. Malik Ishtar. That one sits front and center on his desk like a loaded weapon, or a sharpened knife hanging over his seat. It sits there each day, untouched, around the rest of his work.

It's all a good cover for his current project. Anything he can get his hands on in reference to Mayor Mayer. His new promotion has given him a little more leeway to pursue investigations, a little less of an eye directly over his shoulder. He is only going to push that luck so far. But so far, the idea that the Mayor is a Retrospeccer doesn't seem to be panning out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Koutarou isn't an unfamiliar sight at the precinct and now he's paying another visit. He's got a lot more free time now that he's on summer holidays and his foster son is doing his own thing.

"Wow, you've got a lot of stuff there. Is that thing collecting dust?"

The file folder in Togusa's hand is immediately abandoned when he sees Koutarou walk in. He drops it and shakes his head. "I use more of this stuff than you'd think. Prefer the hard copy." Sometimes things just look different when they're on pen and paper.

Togusa stands briefly, gestures to the other seat in his office for Koutarou. He is far less worried about his friend to see him up and about, but he still asks, "How are you doing?"

"I don't doubt that." Togusa has a talent to get wrapped up in work too, even if it's completely different from Koutarou's work, and things that he never will completely understand. Koutarou slips into the seat and looks around further from it. "I'm good but idle! How's breaking in your office going?"

"Idle? You? That just means you have time to work on the things you won't sell, hunh?" Togusa teases him gently. He plops back down into his seat, and shifts around a few of the folders so that he can see Koutarou better.

"Well...I had this theory. Retrospec, of course. Didn't pan out, before I even try to explain it." He rocks back and forth a little in his chair, swiveling slightly. The true perk of the new office; Togusa has a spinny chair.

"Short form, I thought the Mayor might be on the Network. But there's zero tying him to any Retrospec staff or even people on the platform."

"Heheh, I guess so." But it's nice to have a break once in a while. Go visit his family a bit more, sleep in a little while, get distracted and not have to think about school.

"Hmmm..." That is not a strange theory, though. "There is no guarantee that he is not involved in any way, he might simply be an observer though. Involved somehow without being listed among the users."

Edited 2018-07-25 14:19 (UTC)

Togusa has to roll that idea over in his mind for a bit. "Hmmm... No guarantee. Yeah. I don't see any ties to the Founding Families, either. But," he trails off.

"It's getting hard to tell what is real evidence and what I'm just jumping on because I hope that it's true. It would be so much easier if he was involved, you know?" Togusa lets go of his chair to shrug exaggeratedly.

"I keep going back to the fact that blueprints for the Retrospec building, itself, were found in City Hall." He'll be glad to take a few steps back and see what Koutarou thinks of where this whole idea started.

Please don't have too high expectations of him, he's only an art teacher, it's his mom and brother who are the smart ones in the family.

"It would be easier, yes. And it's a valid conspiracy theory in this case; as far as we know, it's isolated to this one city, and it seems like there has to be a reason for that."

He comes to think of one thing when Togusa brings up the building. "Does the blueprints still exist? The originals found in City Hall, specifically."

Sometimes, to Togusa, it's a matter of perspective, rather than smarts that will break open a new theory or avenue of questioning. And Koutarou has a very different view of Retrospec and Recolle than Togusa does, so his opinion is important to Togusa.

"We do." He points at Koutarou. "I have yet to back them up to," he taps his own head. He hasn't recorded them on his cyberbrain, or the external memory backup. "But my friend Dante, he's one of the people I know has them. He wouldn't have gotten rid of them."

The smile on Togusa's face turns more mischievous. "Why, you feel like sneaking around the subways to look for an entrance?"

Koutarou's opinion has been manipulated by love and loss, it's not the most reliable.

"No, I didn't mean that. But I was concerned that they would have disappeared when the building did." Things can so easily change after all.

He smiles back, more innocently than mischievously, but maybe that's the same thing in some cases. "Perhaps I do. It would be a little like sneaking around at the university at night again."

But somehow, that makes Togusa value Koutarou's opinion even more. That he's highly considered his opinion with emotion, instead of trying to step back and be 'objective.' Whatever that even means.

"Yikes, I hadn't even thought about that. If the building is gone, does any proof of it retroactively vanish, too. Guess we're lucky that it's no."

"Maybe I should poke Dante, get him to give up the goods. At least guess on a starting point for where we should look around." The excitement is slowly growing in the back of Togusa's mind. To go poking around where they aren't supposed to with his best friend during the one time where it's NOT dangerous? He'd like nothing more in the world.

One could argue that no single opinion can be entirely objective. It is simply an impossibility.

"Mm, we are, but we can't discount the possibility that it might happen."

Koutarou hums. It's a sound that's a mix of amusement and interest. "Perhaps you should, if you want to. But don't be too much of a bother."

Tatsuo drops by one day around lunch, a couple take-out containers from a Japanese restaurant not far from Tribunal Terrace. $8 lunch specials that taste delicious? Yes please.

"So, I've got shrimp tempura and chicken teriyaki. Which one do you want?"

And then Tatsuo notices the state of his cousin's desk.

"What exploded in here?"

Togusa sits up far straighter when Tatsuo enters, leaning forwards eagerly at the smell of food. "Ooh! Shrimp, please! You read my mind, I guess I was almost going to work through lunch. Want me to grab us some coffees?"

He pulls a small face at the question, and then moves some folders around to make space for Tatsuo to put the food on the edge of the desk. "Oh-" a frustrated tone.

"I had this brilliant theory about Retrospec. Didn't pan out, though." Sarcasm, but it's entirely aimed at himself.

"Oh yeah, coffee would be great. I think someone just put on a fresh pot, too."

Tatsuo sets the lunches on the desk and grabs himself a chair.

"What sort of theory?"

Might as well ask so he doesn't go down the same rabbit hole himself.

Give him just a minute, and Togusa returns with a pair of steaming coffee mugs. Tatsuo has enough time to peek through some of the folders, if he wants. Togusa hasn't noticed the changes to the folders, that Kihara's name is no longer on some of these cases...

Togusa hands one of them over to Tatsuo before he sits down, grabbing at a pair of the chopsticks.

"So. You know how we were thinking that some of the people in the city who were kidnapped back in February might be in on it? Or at least that Zee showing up made us wonder that there might be another set of people who had been on the network longer than us? When the Chief didn't pan out, I decided the Mayor was the next step."

Tatsuo does snoop. He knows he shouldn't, but it's not like he's going to tell anyone. He recognizes some of the names, either from the network, or because he's had them as students. The file on Malik though... that one sends a shiver down his spine for some reason. He's back in his seat by the time Togusa returns with the coffee.

"Ah, thanks."

He breaths in the scent of coffee for a moment, but sets it aside without sipping. Unlike some of his fellow teachers, he hasn't developed the ability to drink scalding hot coffee yet. Somewhere between TOO HOT and STILL HOT is about where he likes it. While he waits for the beverage to reach his preferred temperature he snaps the chopsticks in half and opens up his chicken teriyaki.

"Makes sense. There's no way he's not aware of Retrospec on some level. January was proof of that."

Even the heavily redacted version of the file on Malik paints a grisly picture. It would be more worrisome to walk away from that file without feeling anything. But it's something else at play here.

Togusa jabs a chopstick in the air. "But he's not. That's the problem. He might be in some kind of a middle point. We know there were blueprints of Retrospec's original office in City Hall, they had swept through city planning at some point. But at this point, I'm betting that he...just doesn't notice that there's anything wrong with it. Like he's afforded a slight more perspective on the company? But still won't do anything."

"And there's no proof that he's someone else in, whatever you want to call it, Zee's cohort?" A shrug, because that's the part of the theory that is harder to pin down.

Tatsuo taps his chopsticks against the side of his lunch.

"Hmmmmmmm... We do know there's a little bit of wiggle room with how much people on the first layer are able to notice. But it's usually only when things get unstable that they make a fuss over anything. The mayor's always been a touch on the eccentric side, so maybe that's why he is the way he is."

Too eccentric to care if he notices the weird stuff, just eccentric enough to roll with anything he gets caught up in. Like being kidnapped.

Togusa spins slightly back and forth in his chair as he considers. "Eccentric, hunh? He acts more like a small town guy, but he wants to see Recolle become a new hub of commerce or tourism. But dreaming big doesn't mean he's in on a conspiracy." He frowns and sighs deeply.

"Or if he can see it, he isn't reacting to it. Like people got used to Officer Ritter's changes after a little while." He glances up and out the glass of his door, peering out into the bullpen, even though Cleo isn't out there.

"It would have been too easy for him to be in on it, hunh?"

"That's what it is? It's too obvious for it to actually be true?"

Tatsuo sighs and pops a piece of chicken into his mouth.

"So then the Mayor is another red herring."

He swallows the bite he's been talking around and finally takes a sip of coffee. Ah, just the right temperature.

"Not even that, there's just- nothing there." He even holds out the folder for Tatsuo to look at, if he'd like. "Background's normal, used to be into raising horses before he went for political office. No ties to the Four Families, nothing seems to have changed with him. I don't even think this was an intentional red herring, just me with some wishful thinking."

Togusa leans back in his chair some, stopping the spinning motion. "You want there to be a loose end somewhere, a thread you can tug on to get some traction on an investigation, but Retrospec- it's too perfect, too neatly wrapped up."

A pause, as Togusa realizes how that sounds. "Doesn't mean I'm going to stop looking, though."

Tatsuo takes the folder and starts flipping through it.

"The fact that it's so perfect is in and of itself suspicious."

He pauses.

"Wow, that sounded really paranoid just now."

He shakes his head, but keeps flipping through the file anyway.

And for a moment, he's sitting at a different desk with a different folder in his hands. Instead of a background on the Mayor it's a report on a ballistics test. Firearm used, caliber of bullet, rifling comparisons. Conclusion, negative. Firearm tested was not the one used in the crime. He's wearing a white lab coat rather than his usual jacket. And on the desk... is a name plate with his name on it. Tatsuo Kihara, CSI.

It only lasts for a few seconds, but when it's over Tatsuo gasps and drops the folder.

"Oh gods that was new."

Togusa doesn't immediately notice that Tatsuo has faded out, so he snorts and says, "Or it means Shirogane's right about that whole simulation...thing..."

Right as Togusa notices is when Tatsuo snaps out of it, and Togusa startles in his seat. "Whoa! Hey, you all right, there?"

Puts down the chopsticks and starts to move around the desk. "Shit, another memory?" Logical conclusion, usually when someone stares off like that, it's the answer.

"Yes. NO. I...."

Tatsuo realizes his hands are shaking slightly and clutches his knees and he tries to not hyperventilate.

"If it was another memory... it was of another life. Which, I'm heard that can happen, people remembering more than one life. But this, it was here. In Recolle."

He starts to feel vaguely nauseated as the possible implications start to hit him.

A very gentle hand goes to the back of Tatsuo's shoulder, trying to ground him. This one is hitting him very physically. "Easy...easy."

Togusa swallows hard, his throat clicking. That is not what he had expected, and is the least comforting thing that he's ever heard. "Are you sure about that? Another Tatsuo, not Ryuuzaki, not somebody else'e memory in the city? That one's happened before," he is unsure if Tatsuo was 'in the loop' when that one happened, so he has to put it out as a possibility.

The physical contact helps, but he's still very much on edge. Having to deal with Ryuuzaki's memories has been hard enough, but now he might have to remember another Tatsuo?

He lets out a weak laugh.

"I saw a name plate. Tatsuo Kihara, CSI. He must have worked for the crime lab, because he was looking at a ballistics report."

Togusa's eyes go nearly as wide as they can. It's down to the names, Tatsuo's name is Tatsuo's name. So seeing the name is a dead giveaway. "This wasn't from Retrospec."

Togusa frowns, looking so low it's nearly at the floor, as he tries to piece it together. "But Ryuuzaki was a detective, was it- blending the two of you somehow? His memory with your name slapped onto it?"

"That seems a bit odd though... not that this isn't already odd. But I suppose if you mix a detective and a chemistry teacher you'd get a CSI."

Tatsuo thinks for a minute, trying to make the details of the flash clearer in his head, but mostly failing.

"Although... he was wearing a lab coat. I've never seen Ryuuzaki wear one, and I haven't worn one since university."

[Al looks around everywhere, for someone that might be able to piece things together. His brother has changed on him, his family has changed too. He looks for detectives on the internet, and looks at the app for a name that appears on both. This was the address for such a person. Al knocks on the door, nervous, tapping his foot on the floor]

Togusa's office at the Department is still new. Although he isn't Private, he is still suddenly one of the Police's investigators. Enough people filter in and out to see Togusa personally that no one questions Al going back through the Department to find him.

"Come in," Togusa calls out, expecting it to be Matsuoka or Gabranth, but he is very surprised to see a face he doesn't recognize.

"Ah-" Togusa tries to put on a more formal face, and he stands up, gestures to the seat across from him. "Hello. Can I help you?"

[Al looks around as he enters the office, he was never comfortable at police stations. All the cops around make him nervous, considering he has been on the run from them before in LA. He takes deep breaths to try to keep calm]

Hey...Ummm...I hope so? Its...Ummm... Retrospec related

[Being nervous about this, and trying to not flip out in the middle of a police station, isn't doing him any favors. He closes his eyes shut dramatically, trying to take silent deep breaths, while shaking slightly]

Edited 2018-07-23 22:21 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Look Closer Detective Togusa [Open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject