recolle | Left-Behind Trace [Open]

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Left-Behind Trace [Open]

WHO: Togusa and people!
WHERE: The hospital, oops.
WHEN: January 7th and onwards.
WHAT: Togusa got shot, he's in the hospital, and finally knows how his Other got shot.
WARNINGS: Discussion of violence, medical treatment, and the like.

The news probably didn't take long to reach a lot of people. Togusa got brought to the hospital with a gunshot wound. Togusa's official story is that he got shot stopping an opportunistic mugger trying to steal things in the chaos of the fire. So what actually happened?

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Tatsuo gives Togusa a Look for a second. Because you are supposed to be resting man. But he remembers the boredom of having to recuperate from this, so after a moment he gets up and retrieves Togusa's keys.

"Did you have that on your desk at work? Because I feel like I've seen that before... Though, it was before I got Japanese back, so all I could tell was that it was listing something."

As in when him and Fynn catified his desk.

Togusa has to think about that, but he makes an 'ah' sound and vigoriously nods. "Yes! I remember it now, it was so weird. It was before the mailbox, so it just showed up mixed in with things on my desk. I might not have paid attention to it, except it was blue." When nothing else was.

Togusa lets out a laugh. "Hey, I'm the one that's supposed to have the photographic memory now, how come you remember that so well?"

"Because when I happened to see it coincided when you desk got covered with cat pictures."

It makes for a great point of reference. And with that, Tatsuo ducks out of the room to go get said blue binder.

There is a beat pause, before Togusa's peals of laughter follow Tatsuo up the hallway.

Someone (likely Koutarou) has already been through Togusa's apartment. The temperature is turned down, and Daisuke has been whisked away for doggie pampering until Togusa gets out. The binder is right where he said it would be, given a dubious place of honor right next to the copy of Catcher in the Rye.

Togusa is awake again when Tatsuo returns, but he clearly napped for a bit.

Tatsuo takes a quick look in the binder, now that he can actually read it. Lists of names and dates. What it all means though, he'll have to wait for Togusa to enlighten him.

"So, who are all these people?"

He asks, laying the binder on Togusa's bedside table.

Togusa reaches over and moves his water cup so he can plop open the binder to a random page so they can both see.

"Uh-hunh. Okay, look at this. Name, date. Lot of dates. It's the same person coming back a lot. And then," he points to a value that he had no concept of.

"Dosage. Got to be the guess, if you're right, and there was some other treatment for cyberbrain sclerosis."

"That is some pretty meticulous record keeping. But it makes sense if this was something experimental. You have to know if what you're testing is working or not."

That still doesn't explain the 'raid' though. Tatsuo frowns as he tries to fit the pieces together. A treatment for a serious neurological disease; current treatment: the very thing that causes the disease in the first place. A ledger of patients and treatments and treatment dates. And an attack on where this was all taking place? Something is fishy...

"What are we missing?"

"Good to know some things don't change with the Japanese government," Togusa idly responds to Tatsuo's comment. Meticulous recording and then memorization of facts and figures is pretty standard for what he remembers of Japan.

"If the substance was something illegal, I don't know why the other Togusa would be helping them out. The usage of a drug enforcement squad as the cleaner agents points to some possible government corruption, and that would get Section 9's involvement," Togusa points briefly. "He's been involved in cases involving Cabinet Members."

"Maybe he came at this from reverse."

Tatsuo more or less follows Togusa's train of though.

"You mean maybe he was investigating a corrupt official and they traced back to this... cyberbrain sclerosis group?"

"Or something similar," Togusa nods. "I can see it happening in that way, you know? There haven't been any personal memories on it, so it has to be work-related. It's a case."

He looks down at the book. "And then, as soon as he went to the hospital.. she was the first one there." He has no idea how much the two of them have discussed this with Tatsuo, but he's sure as hell going to broach the subject now.

"Mariko. Or, the version of her I'm seeing."

She was the first one there.

Tatsuo knows who Togusa means before he says it. He's suspected for a while, since September. He has a few pieces that he's fit together, more or less. But it's not his life and not his world, so he's refrained from feeling any sort of expectation. If they want to tell him, they'll do it in their own time, not his.

"You worked together. But she wasn't your partner, since that honor goes to the Big Guy. Supervisor?"

Because when a cop goes down, who else is going to talk to him first?

Togusa slowly nods. He thinks he's said this before, but these words come out every time he mentions what is going on between himself and Mariko. "I haven't tried to ask much. I don't want to treat her like, like he's the answer to all the questions I have about what I'm seeing."

"When he is giving reports, or asking permission to follow a lead, she's there. When he's in the field, doing something dangerous? She's there."

"Except this time," he settles a hand on his side, "she wasn't."

"And then I did the same thing, and Mariko wasn't there. So if she's feeling double the guilt, I don't want to make that worse."

It's not exactly a roll Tatsuo would expect to see Mariko in. She's always been so fiercely independent as long as he's known her. And yet in both lives she's chosen (or ended up) in a profession involving investigating.

"For one, you didn't know you were going to run into killer robots this time, and I doubt past-you knew the DEA was going to shoot up that office. So how could Mariko, in either life, have known to be there? For another, you can't be everywhere at once, and you know it. Mariko knows that too."

Togusa points with a single finger. "Uh-unh. Mariko knows that I can't be everywhere at once, but you want to try telling her that she can't? Or, she might know it, but she doesn't feel it."

There's a world of difference between intellectually knowing something was not your fault, and for carrying the burden of emotional guilt anyway. Mariko and Togusa are both well-trained in finding ways to pick that rock up.

Tatsuo sighs and drags a hand down his face.

"You're right. She is absolutely like that. She internalizes so many things."

Why are so many people in his life like this? Togusa and Mariko and Matt... And let's be real, Tatsuo, too, though he'll generally deny it. He just likes to think he's more selective over which millstone he hangs around his neck.

"The best thing you can do right now is get better. And then the next time you decide to go poking around in a pocket universe to wear you fancy body armor."

Togusa settles deeper into the bed. "Yes, dad." A joking smile. "I don't think anybody's letting me out of the house without that armor for a few weeks."

He perks one eyebrow. "Although, most people would tell me to stay out of pocket universes altogether." Luckily, Tatsuo knows Togusa too well to try to give him that instruction. The sign of a good friendship.

Yes, Tatsuo does know better. Because even though he's not wild about venturing into these pocket universes, he'd hate it if someone told him to stay out of them. That's his decision to make, just like it's Togusa's decision to make.

"It's only because you're a grown ass adult and I'm not actually your father that I don't."

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Left-Behind Trace [Open]

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