recolle | 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

"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."

Look Closer Detective Togusa [Open]

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