Note: Misaki Mei and Sochiro are from the manga and anime Ghosttalker's Daydream. You do not have to read that to understand this chapter, and I haven't decided if they will be ongoing characters. I have one one other fanfic on the series, but it's not for younger readers.
Sakura: Knight of the Clow
Chapter 35: Going Public
The news reader continued, "The supposed 'Knight' was caught on live TV showing what appeared to be supernatural abilities."
The now aired many, many times clip of the cloaked figure commanding a wind spirit to bind the sludge monsters aired. The way the cloak worked it made it impossible to see the woman's face, though you could see the bird-staff and get a sense she was female from her general body shape.
"While there were rumours that it way merely sa publicity stunt for a new film, reports from police and emergency services confirmed it actually happened," the news reader added. He sounded just a bit annoyed, since this station was one of the ones that had run the 'faked' stories.
Clearing his throat he added, "The Japanese Government has released a official statement on these events."
A stiff looking official appeared on film, looking very uncomfortable. Clearing his throat he said, "In light of recent events, the police and security services will be re-opening unsolved cases and what were considered 'crank' reports."
"Have you contacted The Times for information?" a reporter called.
The older man looked like he was gritting his teeth. Clearly they did NOT like the idea a newspaper reporter had gotten the jump on them. He replied, "Yes, we will be working closely with the times, and their staff, in this matter."
There was a barrage of more shouted questions, including "Will the government officially recognize the supernatural in general?" but the segment cut off there.
"Of course," the news reader briskly continued, "we will update this story as more facts become available."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"So, we're going to have a meeting with government spooks?" Tomoyo asked wryly, sitting with her boss in the editor's office.
"Apparently," Kaho agreed, "two folks from the Living Envirnoment Division. Seems they've used that agency to look into similar stuff before now."
"That's an odd name," Tomoyo blinked.
"I suspect they didn't want anyone knowing what they actually were doing," Kaho noted cynically.
Before Tomoyo could answer Mei-lin buzzed the intercom. "Your one thirty appointment is here, ma'am," she said formally.
"Send them in," Kaho ordered, mildly amused.
The pair that entered the office were both as expected and unexpected. The man came across as a typical salaryman, and appeared to be in charge. Identifying himself as Soichiro, he seemed polite but serious as he sat across from Kaho.
The woman, however, seemed entirely unsuited to government work. She was an albino, interestingly enough, with white hair, pale skin and the oddest red eyes. She was also in a dress that was VERY tight and short.. quite inappropriate for a government type.
"Misaki Mei," the woman introduced herself, "professional medium."
"Verging on small," Tomoyo noted impishly.
Misaki snickered. "I get that alot," the short woman shrugged.
Sochiro cleared his throat. "You received our credentials, ma'am?" he asked Kaho politely.
"I did," Kaho conceded, "but it doesn't actually explain what you do very well."
"Because admitting on paper that you're ghost busters tends to make people give you odd looks," Misaki noted.
"Makes sense," Tomoyo agreed. "So how do you...?"
"Functionally I let the spirit control me, we find out why it's lingering and convince it to go," Misaki summarized.
"That's got to be frightening," Kaho offered.
Misaki shrugged, "You get used to it."
"That doesn't sound too useful against the sorts of monsters that are turning up," Tomoyo observed.
"Oh no, we're not fighting them," Sochiro said quickly. "We're just at the data gathering stage, our superiors will assess the next step."
"Somehow I'm not filled with confidence," Kaho noted as she passed copies of their files over. They were keeping the originals, of course.
"I'm hurt," Sochiro sighed.
Misaki ignored that as she reviewed the files on some of the creatures they knew had turned up, as well as historical stuff they couldn't solidly prove. "Nasty stuff," she noted mildly. "Are there any hints on how to fight them?" she asked.
"Police reports and other sources seem to show conventional guns are ineffective," Tomoyo told them, "and against the slug things last week, guns did nothing."
"Do, just swords and medieval weapons," Misaki concluded. "That's gong to suck. And our bosses are NOT going to be happy."
"I know conventional pistols don't work," Kaho noted, "but had anyone tried military grade weapons? A machine gun might do it."
Tomoyo tried to remember if Sakura had mentioned anything like that. She thought not. "It might be worth a try," she agreed.
"Anyway, thank you for the information," Sochiro bowed slightly as he added, "we'll contact you again, I'm sure."
"If this goes public, we want first dibs," Kaho warned as they left.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Father is going to have a fit," Misaki noted as they headed out to the car.
Misaki's father was a powerful Japanese politician, and he was NOT going to be happy seeing these reports. His fellows were expecting a 'easy' solution to this monster situation, but just looking at the news reports they could tell it wasn't going to be that. And these files made it look even worse.
"They aren't going to expect US to fight these things, are they?" Sochiro asked as they reached the car and their waiting driver.
"No, though we might end up supervising things," Misaki noted thoughtfully.
"Oh joy," the normally cowardly Sochiro sighed.
"Mr Sochiro," their driver got out and opened a door for Misaki, "and Lady Misaki. Things went well?"
"Fairly well," Sochiro got into the passenger seat up front.
Misaki climbed in the back as she grumbled, "DO you HAVE to call me Lady?"
The attractive blonde winked as Haruna Tamura added fake innocently, "Would you rather I call you mistress?"
Misaki growled as Sochiro chuckled. In Misaki's side job, she worked as a professional dominatrix. Why? Because it paid substantially better than government work, and she found she had a knack for it. Amusingly before she started out as Sochiro's assistant, Haruna had been a customer of Misaki's. And now teased her a bit about it...
"Where to?" Haruna asked as she started the car.
"Back to the office. We'll need to write up a summary then pass the reports up the chain of command," Sochiro decided.
"Aye aye," Haruna said cheerfully and they drove off.
"What do you think, will your father successfully recruit this 'Knight?' Sochiro asked Misaki, both aware of their boss's plans.
"I really, really doubt it," Misaki said honestly.
To be continued...
Notes: Short chapter is short. Sorry. Will pick up on Sakura next chapter...
I was originally thinking of using Phantom Quest Corp as the government supernatural group, but in the series canon PQC is VERY publically known and has been involved in many newsworthy incidents. So I would have to explain why they hadn't turned up in the story earlier.