Look Closer Detective Togusa [Open]

[standalonehuman]

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.

Comments

[wordcarvings]

"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?"

[standalonehuman]

"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."

[wordcarvings]

"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."

[standalonehuman]

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.

[wordcarvings]

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."

[standalonehuman]

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?"

[wordcarvings]

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."

[standalonehuman]

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.

[wordcarvings]

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."