The Sum of Our Parts / Face the Music
The chair behind Sokichi Narumi's desk spun lazily. Akiko stared blankly up at the ceiling.
She'd barely slept the night before. After they'd barely made it away from that fight alive, Wakana had used her magic library to figure out how Sokichi's jetski/motorcycle operated. (Akiko never did get the chance to return the boat she'd borrowed.) It had also been Wakana who'd figured out the way back to the Narumi Detective Agency and Wakana who'd looked up how to pick the office lock in the dead of night. And then Wakana had collapsed in one of the chairs by the door while Akiko flopped into the chair behind the desk, and they'd both tried and failed to sleep.
Akiko didn't even know who the client was that had asked Sokichi to save Wakana. After giving up on sleep an hour ago she'd tried looking through his files and found nothing. The only real option was to wait for the client to show themself—but how would she know the real client from someone following them and trying to steal Wakana back?
The chair spun slowly toward the wall and then back out to face the office. Wakana was standing in front of the desk, hands on her hips.
Akiko screamed, practically jumping out of her skin. "D-don't sneak up on me like that!"
"I'm hungry," Wakana pouted.
"Then get something to eat." Akiko waved toward the little kitchen area of the office.
Wakana wandered toward the kitchen with a confused look on her face. Akiko sighed and slumped forward onto the desk.
The desk was nice and neat. There was a typewriter right in front of her. To one side was a phone that looked straight out of the 1940s, but upon closer examination proved to have a caller ID display and a number pad rather than a dial. To the other side stood a row of books held in place with bookends.
She plucked out one of the books. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler? She didn't know her dad was into Western novels. She didn't know a lot about her dad, really. And now that she had the chance to find out...
The book slipped out of Akiko's hand. She buried her face in her arms.
The girl in the white nightgown opened the refrigerator.
There wasn't much there. A jug that said milk sat on the top shelf, the white liquid inside it almost depleted. Beside it was a carton that read "One Dozen Eggs", but only three were still inside. There were some vegetables in the bottom compartment. That would be simple, she decided. She decided on something long, thin, and orange. It wasn't the plain white rice she usually had for every meal, but it would suffice.
Nibbling on the carrot, she replayed the previous night in her mind. "Wakana". That commander had called her "Wakana". She mouthed the name to herself, but it evoked no sense of recognition.
She... Wakana... looked over at the desk. The girl she'd come home with was lying there motionless. Had she gone back to sleep?
Her name was Akiko Narumi, and this was the Narumi Detective Agency. Wakana knew more about this girl and this little office after ten hours than she'd known about the organization in... she didn't even know how long she'd been there. Although she wasn't really clear on what a detective was supposed to be. Somebody who "fights bad guys", Akiko had said. Apparently somebody who retrieves missing objects for clients, Wakana could deduce.
She could look it up. Her eyes went wide as she realized this. She could look something up just because it interested her—not because she was being told to for a production order.
As Wakana stared in awe down at the vegetable in her hand, a knock came at the office door. She stifled a shout into something more like a squeak. Akiko bolted to her feet.
Even without wearing that Driver they knew were both thinking the same thing. We've been followed.
When no answer came, Noriko Sugiyama knocked again.
Finally the door inched open. Noriko could see a woman's eye peering through the crack. "Who's there?"
"I—" Noriko stammered. "I'm here to see Detective Narumi. I need his help."
"With what?"
Noriko huffed indignantly. "With finding my little Noodle! Is this or is this not a detective agency?!"
"Just a sec." The door shut again. Noriko could hear the sounds of footsteps and muffled voices speaking. Just as she was beginning to consider turning around and finding some other detective to help her, the door opened once more.
The person standing there was definitely not the cool, hard-boiled Sokichi Narumi she'd heard so much about; it was a rather short woman with her hair in a ponytail. "This is the Narumi Detective Agency, but—"
"Where is Mr. Narumi?"
"He's, um... not here right now. I'm his daughter, but..."
"Then you can help me in his place," Noriko decided. She pushed her way into the office and retrieved a photograph from her purse. "This is Noodle. She's been missing for two days, you see. It's very unlike her to just up and run off! I suspect foul play."
Ms. Narumi took the picture and scrutinized it. "...this is a snake." A mostly-white snake with a mottled brown pattern. Cute, but still a snake.
"That's right! That's why time is of the essence. In this weather..."
"I'm sorry, but—"
Noriko bit her tongue and counted to three. "Obviously I'll compensate you for your time."
Ms. Narumi's eyes lit up. "Oh, really? Well, I don't know the standard rate for missing pet cases off the top of my head, but—"
"Five thousand yen up front, five thousand more when you find her, and an additional daily rate of five thousand," Noriko suggested. "How does that sound?"
She could practically hear a cash register go off in Ms. Narumi's brain. "You got yourself a deal, lady! Wait here, I just need to get something to write with... Okay, what's your name and how do I get in touch with you?"
As she followed Ms. Narumi to the desk in the back of the office, Noriko was sure she could see an eerie, glowing green light through the crack in the bathroom door.
Akiko was all smiles for the first time since this whole mess had started. She gazed lovingly at the photo of Noodle that Ms. Sugiyama had left behind. Noodle the snake—more like Noodle the walking bag of gold.
The door to the bathroom opened and Wakana stepped out. "Tch."
"What?"
"Your priorities are so obvious." Wakana plopped down into the chair behind the desk and spun around once. "Taking a case just for the money when you have no training as a detective? You'd sell me back to the organization for the right price."
Akiko's face turned red. "Those are two different things! And besides, I thought you wanted to stay there anyway!"
Wakana shrugged. "I don't have anywhere else to go. Maybe I should go back."
Akiko sighed in exasperation. "Don't be so hasty. I mean, I won't stop you if you want to, but..."
"Good. But I don't want to."
"What do you want?"
Wakana was silent. She was silent for so long that Akiko started to feel awkward about it.
"Hey, help me find this snake. Can you look that up in your whatever-Library?"
Wakana rolled her eyes. "I can, but that's stupid. Find it yourself."
Akiko's cheeks puffed up. "Fine, I will!" She grabbed a notebook off of her father's desk and marched toward the door.
This kind of was stupid, but now that she'd taken the case she couldn't back down. The reputation of Sokichi Narumi was on the line. After Akiko found Noodle she would close down the agency. It was only right.
Finding a lost snake was harder than Akiko had thought it would be.
The first tactic she tried was asking around in the owner's neighborhood. After several people looked at her like she was crazy, one little girl mentioned having seen Noodle slithering northward. But there were no leads beyond that.
Akiko stood at an intersection, leaning against a street sign, and sighed to herself. What had she gotten herself into? Who even looked for missing snakes?
"Merry Christmas!"
Akiko flinched as a small paper bag was thrust into her face. She took the bag and blinked in confusion at the man who'd handed it to her. He was older than middle-aged, dressed in a Santa Claus suit save for shorts that showed off his legs—which would have made sense in summer, but this was December.
Wait, no... today was actually Christmas, Akiko realized. With everything that had happened in the past day she'd almost forgotten.
"You're new in town, aren't you?" Santa said. "Consider this a welcoming gift!"
Akiko raised an eyebrow. "Not a Christmas present?" She finally opened up the bag and looked inside. There was a pinwheel with rainbow-colored spokes, a deck of playing cards, and a pen with a little pinwheel-headed cartoon character printed on it.
Santa laughed. "Just call me Fuuto City's year-round Santa-chan. Day in and day out I scour these streets in search of anyone in need of a present."
At that statement, a light bulb flicked on in Akiko's head. He'd even been able to recognize her as an outsider, which meant... "You get around a lot, right? So if I needed some information..."
With a conspiratorial chuckle, Santa held out his hand and rubbed his fingers together. "I just might be able to help you out, Miss...?"
"Narumi," she answered as she dug in her messenger bag. "Akiko Narumi. Ah, here." She retrieved the object she was looking for, a green house slipper, and used it to slap Santa's hand away. "Don't you think I should get some kind of newbie special? First time free?"
"Oh, you're good," Santa groaned. He cradled his wounded hand. "Wait, Narumi? Do you know Sokichi Narumi?"
"He—he's my dad." Akiko knew she'd have to report what happened eventually, but right now if she even started to think about it she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it. Before Santa could ask, she pulled out the photograph of Noodle. "Have you seen this snake?"
"Ahhh, little Noodle!" Santa exclaimed. "Just last week Miss Noriko came out with him draped over her shoulders like a boa. He's such a cutie-pie!"
Little Noodle. A cutie-pie. Draped over her shoulders like a boa? Akiko wrinkled her nose.
"You mean have I seen him since he's gone missing, though, right? No, I haven't. But I have seen something else verrrrry interesting." Santa grinned.
Akiko tilted her head. Santa held his hand out again.
"Jeez!" She slapped him upside the head with the slipper, then dropped two 100-yen coins into his hand.
"Is that any way to treat a valuable informant?!" Still, Santa pocketed the coins. "Fine, fine, I'll consider it a welcoming-committee discount. Anyway, I've seen a lot of other snakes headed in the direction of Windy Park."
"What?"
"Like they're gathering for a snake convention! Ooh, wouldn't that be something?"
Akiko shuddered.
"But they only move at night," Santa went on. "The park is closed after sunset, so nobody knows what goes on there after dark!" He waved his hands as if to say Ooh, spooky!
"I see..." Akiko managed a grin. "Thanks for the information! I guess I'll head there after dark, then..."
Santa saluted her. "I'm looking forward to working with you in the future, Miss Narumi! Your father has always been one of my best-paying supplicants."
"Heh... right."
She started back toward the Narumi Detective Agency. She had to prepare. No, she needed a nap.
The office was empty when Akiko returned.
Her first instinct was to panic. But she gathered her composure enough to shut the door behind herself before she called out Wakana's name.
There was no response. But with another look around, Akiko realized something was amiss. A door set into the left wall was open. She hadn't even realized that was a door.
She peeked inside. "Wakana?" Akiko walked down the yellow spiral staircase and took in her surroundings. Was this... a garage? There was a metal grate-like walkway above her, dry-erase whiteboards lining both the near and far wall, and... some kind of huge tank? Her dad had a tank?
At least now she knew where Wakana was—standing in front of that tank, peering at it curiously.
"Whoa." Akiko stared at the tank. "What is this thing?"
"Rotation-Interchange Base SkullGarry," Wakana replied. "I've already processed a lookup on the model. The strange thing is, I can't access any information on the person who designed it."
"Eh? Really?"
"There's some sort of block in place. The same thing happens when I try to look up the organization I was... with."
Akiko was impressed that Wakana had apparently been doing that much reading while she was gone. "I see..."
Wakana folded her arms and stomped her foot. "It's so dumb!"
"But you could look this SkullGarry thing up?"
"Yeah... You can drive your father's motorcycle into here and change the back out for other parts. Don't you remember? It's how I switched the ski part out for the bike part last night."
"You did?" Akiko's memory of the night before was, admittedly, a little shot. She remembered fighting off several Dopants. She remembered getting caught in some kind of basement and their transformation breaking apart. And then they'd transformed again, but this time she'd been the one to pass out. And she didn't remember much after that besides a whole lot of blood. When she came to, she was on the back of her dad's motorcycle with Wakana driving. But she did seem to remember some kind of giant skull face. "Ugh, thinking about all that just makes my head hurt."
"Of course it does. You do have a lesser intellect," Wakana replied in a sing-song tone.
"What the heck?!"
Wakana stepped lightly toward the stairs. "I mean, you can't help it. Maybe you're perfectly average for people who aren't me." She shrugged.
"Weren't you just talking about how you can't even look up whoever made this tank?"
"Oh, and you can?"
Akiko huffed. She darted ahead of Wakana and ran up the stairs before she could. Wakana cocked her head.
"A-anyway!" Akiko exclaimed. "I need to find some cheap hotel so I can take a nap before tonight."
"There's a couch in there." Wakana nodded behind herself.
"Oh." She stepped back onto the stairway, which was a mistake. By the time she was halfway back down she had to find a way to maneuver around Wakana.
"Eek—watch where you're going!" Wakana exclaimed. She shoved at Akiko and pushed past her, nearly sending her tumbling over the railing. It was just sheer luck that Akiko was able to find her balance in time.
"That should be my line!" Akiko shot back.
Wakana huffed. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and stormed out into the office.
Under any other circumstances, Akiko would have followed her and given her a piece of her mind. But right now, she really needed some sleep. The lecture could wait.
After a few hours' sleep Akiko was ready. She took a quick shower, armed herself with her trusty messenger bag, and headed for Windy Park.
Windy this, windy that. Akiko could swear that every place of note in Fuuto had wind or kaze somewhere in its name. Not that it wasn't warranted, she admitted, shivering. Her light jacket wasn't enough for this city's winter.
"Heeeere, Noodle," Akiko called softly as she tiptoed through the wooded park. Her hair was blown askew by another gust of wind, this time accompanied by a melody of some sort.
Wind chimes?
No, it sounded more like... a flute.
Akiko froze in her tracks and strained her ears. She couldn't accurately gauge the distance of the music, not in this wind. But she thought she could tell the direction it was coming from. She turned and inched that way, ears perked.
The melody grew more intense, and so did the rustling of the leaves on the ground. But they weren't being moved by just the wind, Akiko realized when she looked down. Moving through the leaves like waves through a lake's surface... were snakes. Dozens of snakes.
Akiko shrieked.
The music stopped. And at the same time, the snakes stopped moving forward. Many of them remained where they were, but some turned to slither off in another direction.
A low, gruff voice called out, "Who's there?!"
"Eep!" Akiko pressed herself against the backside of a tree and covered her mouth.
A long moment passed. Finally the music started playing again—a different tune this time, more hectic. Something wrapped around Akiko's ankle and dragged her, screaming bloody murder, out from her hiding place. She grabbed at the ground, but nothing could stop the snakes.
Yes, they were snakes. A snake had grabbed her and a bunch of other snakes had grabbed that one and they were pulling her like some kind of horrible living rope.
The snakes dumped her on the ground in front of a bulky brown Dopant. It was sitting cross-legged with a basket of some kind in front of it, holding a flute-like instrument in its hands, and appeared to be wearing a turban on its head.
"Wow, talk about your tacky stereotypes," Akiko muttered as she pushed herself to her feet. "Are you the one who kidnapped Noodle?"
The Dopant barked out a laugh. "Such a ridiculous name for one of nature's most majestic creatures! Once I've liberated the snakes of Fuuto—"
"Oh my god. What kind of stupid evil plan is that?!" Akiko dug in her messenger bag. She was in luck. In her post-transformation fugue the night before, she'd apparently stuffed the Driver in there. This whole business was really weird, but she couldn't think of another way out of this situation.
The Dopant gasped when she set the Driver around her waist.
He wasn't the only one to react in shock. She could also hear Wakana's thoughts reverberating in her mind. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"There's a Dopant! Um, can you hear me? Eek!" A huge snake lunged at Akiko. She barely managed to dodge aside in time. She tossed her messenger bag away after grabbing one of her Gaia Memories out of it.
"There's no way I'm doing that again! Take it off!"
"I'll die if I do that! Just help me out, okay?!"
She felt Wakana's growl of frustration. After a moment, the Claydoll Memory appeared in Akiko's Driver. She pushed it down and shoved in the Memory she'd grabbed.
MUSIC!
"Eh? Not Diamond?" Well, it was too late now.
CLAYDOLL! MUSIC! A slightly different tune emanated from the Driver. The armor surrounding Akiko's body was different this time: The same beige and maroon on the right, and a soft purple with white trim on the left. There was a bow shaped like a harp in Akiko's left hand and a quiver full of arrows strapped to her back.
"This is different..." she muttered.
The Dopant played a tune on its flute and a hoard of snakes lunged at them. Akiko tried to dodge to the left and Wakana tried to dodge to the right. The snakes hit them head-on and sent them reeling backward. From out of nowhere, Akiko could hear a discordant sound like somebody tangling up a harp's strings.
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm trying to fight! Quit messing me up!"
"You're the one messing up!"
The Dopant laughed. "Are you supposed to be threatening? Go get them, my babies!" It played another tune and the snakes formed themselves into the shape of a fist.
"Argh...!" Wakana lifted their right hand and flung a ball of energy at the fist. The snakes dispersed.
"Don't hurt them!" Akiko exclaimed. "Noodle could be in there!"
"Tch! They're attacking us, you idiot."
"But—"
The Dopant played the same tune as before. This time, both Akiko and Wakana knew that that meant and were able to dodge out of the way before they could be hit.
"Lemme try this out," Akiko said. It was strange; she didn't know the first thing about archery, but she somehow seemed to know exactly what she was doing when she drew an arrow from her quiver. She pulled the Music Memory out of her Driver, jammed it into a slot on the back of the arrow, and took aim. A sound like a chord being played on a harp came from the bow, and the arrow began to glow with the same energy Wakana used in Claydoll's blasts.
MUSIC! MAXIMUM DRIVE!
Akiko and Wakana shouted wordlessly in unison as the arrow fired. It struck the Dopant in the chest and exploded, sending a number of snakes flying.
"Ughhhh!" The two-in-one warrior cringed. Akiko shrieked when a snake landed right on her, but she managed to get a good look at it before she could fling it away. "Noodle! There you are!"
Without a word, Wakana undid their transformation, leaving Akiko alone in the middle of a field full of snakes. She allowed Noodle to loop around the back of her shoulders as she tiptoed toward the fallen Dopant.
He was just a person, now. A middle-aged man lying unconscious and twitching. The shattered pieces of a Gaia Memory lay beside him—the label bearing a snake shaped into the letter C and the word "CHARMER" visible.
"This case is closed," Akiko said to herself with a proud nod. "Let's get you home, Noodle."
Saeko Sonozaki stood in her office, flipping through the report that had been handed her.
"Setbacks due to the loss of... that asset are inevitable," stated the flimsy-looking researcher. His voice wavered. "But we're making up for them as best we can. And as you can see, the black market research shouldn't be affected at all."
Saeko paused on one page. "What's this one? 'Charmer'?"
The researcher cringed. "Ah, well... I assure you, Miss Sonozaki, that purchaser appears to be an outlier. The Memory is working as predicted, but..."
"But it was sold to an idiot. That's not your fault. Fetch that new salesman for me on your way out, would you?"
"Of course, Miss Sonozaki, of course." The researcher nodded and scurried for the door.
Saeko flipped the report shut and slammed it down onto her desk. Imbeciles. Every single one of them.
After returning Noodle to the home of Noriko Sugiyama, Akiko reflected that she could have squeezed an extra day's fee out of her by waiting until morning. The snake had been surprisingly friendly.
Ah, well. Lesson learned.
There was more pep in her gait than there had been before when she entered the Narumi Detective Agency. "I'm back~" she called out. "Nice job out there, Wakana! We really kicked that guy's butt!"
Wakana was leafing through a book she'd plucked off of the bookshelf. A real, physical book. She looked up when Akiko called her name and clicked her tongue against her teeth. "I'm not doing that again."
"Eh?"
"I mean it." She set the book down and placed her hands on her hips. "Never. It's disgusting, just—being in your body! Having you rifle through my thoughts like that!"
"But I wasn't—"
"You could have!"
"But I didn't!" Akiko strode across the room. Wakana turned away from her with a huff. "I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out. If it wasn't for you I couldn't have wrapped up that case."
Wakana eyed Akiko warily. "Is that really all?"
"Well, it was." Akiko chewed on her lower lip. "The thing is, I don't really understand what's going on here. But my dad obviously knew a lot about it, so I... I want to get to the bottom of this. I want to know what the heck all these Dopant things are doing and why. But that means I might have to fight them again."
"You can fight them on your own." To emphasize her point, Wakana slapped the Claydoll Memory down onto the desk. "Find another Driver if you have to—one that doesn't use me as spare parts."
Akiko threw her hands up in exasperation. "It's not like I'm forcing you or anything! I just—"
"Oh, you're not? Good." Wakana stepped around Akiko.
"Where are you—"
"Earlier you said I didn't have to stay here. I'm taking you up on that." She stopped at the door with her hand on the knob. "You can fight all the Dopants you want without me."
"Wakana!"
Wakana had a point, though. It wasn't up to Akiko whether she stayed or went. All Akiko could do was stand there and watch helplessly as the girl in the white nightgown disappeared into the night.