Matsuzaki stood at the head of the conference table, flipping through a heavy stack of reports and transcripts. Most of the pages were insultingly short. "We have tried to cross examine lists of regulars at local gyms and students at elite schools and haven't come up with anything. We also had a few officers interview the principals of the magnet schools to see if they had any groups of problem students and we, yet again, came up empty." He exhaled heavily through his nose, glaring at the papers in his hand. "Finally, we decided to just do random interviews with the gym goers to see if they had noticed any groups of young girls that tend to hang around the gym together. There were a few, but most of them were outside of our age range of interest," he explained, letting the stack of papers fall onto the table with a thud. "Pretty much everything we could find came up with a dead end, so we are going to need new ideas, people."
"Sir, has the group of officers you sent out to tail them come up with anything yet?" One of his officers asked tentatively.
"No," the chief snapped. "It's only a small handful of officers and they haven't been able to follow them. Apparently they move too fast on foot and following with a large vehicle would be suspicious."
Naomasa raised his hand, catching his attention. "Well, why do you have only the officers out trying to track them?" He suggested. "I mean I know heroes are supposed to catch criminals, but they are able to track them too. Why don't you want heroes to investigate them?"
Matsuzaki was shaking his head before the other officer even finished speaking. "Are you an idiot?" He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It is our job to investigate and collect evidence. We bring people in when we can, but giving every aspect of our job over to heroes would make us useless." There was a pause as he gave Naomasa a long, hard look, almost sneering at him. "I don't know about you, but I have a family to feed. Besides, the two most capable heroes we have on this case are both fucking high school teachers so they already have too much on their hands to do an effective job at anything. Seeing as both Midnight and Eraser-Head couldn't beat the group of them."
"Should we request the commission for any higher up heroes? If our current theory is that these are children, we shouldn't be slacking off this much," Naomasa pressed on. "It is our job to maintain order. I've worked with Nemuri and Aizawa many times and they are both extremely capable heroes." He gestured over to where the two heroes normally sat. They were absent today, but their seats hadn't been claimed by anyone else. "If they couldn't catch them, then I imagine any of our officers are going to have a hard time, and there definitely aren't any other heroes on this task force of their caliber. I am also extremely uncomfortable with your decision to leave the heroes out of this meeting." Naomasa looked again to the two empty seats beside him and rose from his chair, standing at equal height to Matsuzaki. "This is supposed to be a joint task force, so they should be made aware of everything on the police side. Just as they provide all the information they can to us for the heroes side. You would do well to not impede on mutual respect and trust when running a task force. I don't know how you usually do things in this division, but you may want to reconsider."
The chief didn't sway. Instead, he doubled down, clenching his fists at his side and straightening his back until he again had to look down to meet Naomasa's gaze. "Well, it makes sense for a quirk crimes division to keep in such close contact with heroes. We don't usually need that same sort of relationship over here," he said firmly. "I know that you and Eraser Head have worked on several cases together, including one with another vigilante group before. I don't care what your personal feelings on heroes are. My division is heading this taskforce. Do not question the way in which we run things here in street crimes."
"You know, we really should be putting an active effort to always improve Hero and Police interrelations," Ryuu interjected, standing up from his chair. The other officers turned to look at him, some with confusion, and some with annoyance. "We both work to bring justice to wrong doers and would both be useless without each other. Having a separated system of justice between those that bring in villains and those that detain and prosecute them helps with checks and balances." He held his hands out at his side, using one to gesture towards Matsuzaki, and the other pointed towards the vacant heroes' chairs. "If police were to run everything we would eventually face threats we would be unable to handle. If heroes handled everything they would be viewed as hypocritical dictators for telling others not to use their powers. The checks and balance system we currently have set up works the best for society which is why we need to always be working together towards greater efficiency. Our wages are paid by the citizens, so our focus should be to optimize everything we can on our path to delivering justice and maintaining freedom." He paused, looking over the reeling expressions of everyone in the room as they tried to catch up to what he was saying. "Also while I have your attention, we should also consider adding more public outreach programs to help build our community relations. It would be a fantastic way to build up feelings of security besides just catching criminals."
The officers stared at him in silence, looking between themselves to get confirmation that no one else knew what the hell he was talking about. Matsuzaki rubbed his forehead, plopping down into his chair. "... Ryuu … Get. OUT!" He roared, pointing towards the door with a stiff arm.
"Thank you for your input Ryuu," Naomasa said gently. "It's clear you have a great sense of morality. If you ever want to get moved to the quirk crimes division just send me an email." He extended his hand for the officer to shake. "You would be a wonderful asset."
Ryuu shook his hand. "Oh, thank you, sir. As much as I would love to do that, I feel my work is better spent here in the street crimes division." He smiled towards Matsuzaki, who was sending him a death glare from between his fingers. "We can be overrun at times and your division already has an excellent reputation. If I'm being honest, the main reason they keep me here is so that I can keep this division out of lawsuits. The higher ups say I am, quote: 'Great at public relations.'" Grinning proudly, he straightened his posture. "I'd like to think it's thanks to my degrees in ethics and moral philosophy! Some people say it's a waste of money, but I think it's invaluable in this line of work! I also really felt like I've been building up quite a rapport with my colleagues here and I know they would miss me too much if I left."
Matsuzaki suddenly stood up again, leaning over the table to grab Naomasa's hand. "You can have him anytime you want." He squeezed his hand a little too hard and gave him a desperate, pleading look. "Naomasa. Please. Take him. I wouldn't mind at all. You were completely right about improving hero and police relationships and this is the man to do it." The chief put a hand on Ryuu's back and shoved him towards Naomasa. "He definitely belongs on your team."
"Well, ultimately that is up to Ryuu," Naomasa stuttered, rubbing the back of his hand. "Like I said though, if you ever want a new job, just reach out."
"Yes sir, I'm just so happy in this division at the moment. I hope you understand." Ryuu bowed politely.
Matsuzaki's pleading expression snapped to one of rage. "Ryuu. You're fired."
"Sorry sir, you don't have the authority to do that," Ryuu chuckled. "See that, that's a little inside joke we have going on! He knows he can't fire me but he just says it anyways. You know they say comedy really helps to build a good atmosphere."
"Uh huh." Naomasa looked between the two, his brow creased in concern. "I see. Anyways, let's get back to the case."
"What the hell?" Logan mumbled to herself as she stumbled across a file that was entered into Jeanist's network earlier that day. She took a few minutes to look over the details before she pulled out her cell phone and started scrolling through her contacts.
Logan: Hey! Matt! How are ya? Long time no talk. Got an odd question for you. Remember that gang that fucked up Brian's dad like three years back? Do you know whatever happened with that situation.
Matthew: Yeah, it's been a hot minute hasn't it? I'm good. Bit of an odd question to reappear from the void with.
Logan: I'm great. Also, I know, I'm just curious. Something reminded me of it and I don't have his number.
Matthew: You weren't even over here when it happened, so I'm surprised you even knew about it to be honest. As far as I know, they caught all the guys that did it. Apparently it was just a small local gang and they caught all of the members. Turns out they were a borderline cult with their rituals. Reason they went after Brian's dad was because of a gambling debt. They did a few more crimes in the few months before they got caught, but they fell off after that. For real though, what made you think about this all of a sudden.
Logan: I remember hearing a lot about the attacks over social media when my timeline was still very American. God that was terrible. I mean I don't have any republican friends but they still end up on my timeline. I'll never understand. Anyways, I saw someone with his thumb and pinky cut off and it reminded me of their weird bird foot shit. That's why I was just curious if anything happened to them.
Matthew: Ah. It's probably just a coincidence then. Maybe some kinda factory incident. Like what happened with Kate's mother. She got a huge settlement though. Maybe even a whole percent of your family's net worth.
Logan: Oh shit really? What happened to Kate's mom?
Matthew: Oh yeah! I suppose you wouldn't have heard because they couldn't post anything about it during the lawsuit. Anyways, her mom's arm got fucked. It got caught in a machine and it pulled off her forearm. It wasn't even a cut it just got ripped right off the joint. They couldn't even reattach it because the nerves all got torn and the arm was completely crushed. It was pretty gnarly.
Logan: Yikes.
Matthew: Yeah the money was really good though. Anyways, we haven't chatted in a few months. Anything else been up lately? You don't have a boyfriend or anything yet do you?
Logan: Nope, no boyfriend. Anyways, I gotta go. Something interesting just popped up and I've gotta do some digging before I need to get started on my homework ;)
Matthew: Alright Ms. Detective have fun. Though you might need to work on your lying, I know you don't do homework ;)
Logan quickly searched through her messages and opened up her "Main Bitcheses" group chat.
Logan: Everyone! Get over here ASAP. Don't ask questions, just come.
Rei: I just got out of my internship and I'm fucking exahused. Do I have to?
Logan: Yes. Yes you have to. My spidey senses are tingling.
Etsuko: Isn't that copyrighted or something? That's gonna be a lengthy legal battle.
Logan: Oh actually, never mind. False alarm.
She quickly closed out the chat and opened up another one.
Logan: Okay so I messaged the wrong group chat. Anyways, everyone get over here fast!
Matthew: Uh. This isn't a group chat.
Logan: Goddamnit. Sorry Matt my recent messages are all out of order atm.
Third time's the charm. Logan actually took the time to check the name of the chat before she started typing this type, sending a message to her "Main Bitches" group chat.
Logan: Everyone get to my house now.
Izumi: What, you don't want Etsuko to be involved? That's rather rude…
Logan: This is related to our extra curricular activities that she doesn't know about. Now come on, get you asses over here ASAP.
Logan quickly pressed a number she had on speed-dial and lifted the phone to her ear. "Berlusconi, I have an emergency. I need your fashion skills. I've got a party tonight and absolutely must have you design some costumes for me and my friends. I will text you the details…. Did you get them?... Wonderful! We need them to be as authentic as possible! We need to be the stars of the party. Not to mention I want to win the group costume contest…. Can you get three costumes done by today?... Are you sure you can really have them done in two hours?... Oh, you know I would never doubt your skills Berlusconi… Alright! Love you darling, I'll arrive with my friends for fittings in about two and a half hours… Ciao!"
Rei knocked on the door to Logan's house and stepped back, waiting for her friend to answer. The door swung open a second later and Logan walked out, letting the door close behind her. "Okay. We are here," Rei said. "What do you need?"
Logan started down the driveway, her friends falling into a step behind her. "Good. Glad you came so fast. Let's go, people. My driver is waiting." A long black car had pulled up alongside the curb, waiting patiently for the girls to get in. Once they'd all climbed in, Logan leaned forward to talk to the driver. "Reynolds, take us to Stephanie's boutique please?"
"You sure are going full on rich girl today…" Izumi noted, opening up one of the mini fridges in the back of the limo.
"We don't have time for public transport," Logan said defensively. "We have a lot of shopping to do and we have to travel three cities away in less than two and a half hours."
The ride felt a lot shorter than it was, in the back of that car. They each had their own personal TV to watch, and snacks were abundant, so time flew as they made their way to the higher-end of the shopping district. Once they exited the limo, Logan sauntered into the door of a cute little boutique. "Stephanie! Darling! How are you?" She said, walking around the front counter to hug the woman behind it. "It has been too long. My friends and I would like some of your finest wigs. We have a party tonight and everything you make is always of the highest quality!"
Stephanie nodded and turned to size up Rei and Izumi, who were hanging back in the entrance. "Alright, I have a few options ready to go. What are you girls looking for?" She gestured for them to come forward, a welcoming smile on her face. "Bold? Natural? You already have the blonde bombshell look covered."
"I was thinking darker hair," Logan answered for them. She rested a hand on Izumi's shoulder. "Browns to Blacks? I think a waist long light brown wig would look great on Izumi here. Rei, perhaps a short pixie cut in chestnut? I was personally thinking about going for a Pixie cut as well, but I would like it in black."
Stephanie tilted her head. "That most definitely isn't your usual order. You are generally one for the more bright and bold colors."
"Yes, well. You are the only place in town that can make such vibrant wigs look like natural hair. I just decided that some more natural high quality wigs are lacking in my collection." Logan smiled casually.
"Well, would you like to take a look at anything else?" She offered, gesturing to the glittering displays of jewelry. "I got a few jewelry pieces that I know you will love. Gemstones mined in Brazil. All come with certified authenticity."
Logan leaned in to look more closely at the jewelry on display. "Oh you know that I could never resist. Show me what you've got for me."
"Lovely! This collection is pure 24 karat gold with titanium quartz crystal pendants," Stephanie said, pointing out different pieces set out in the glass case. "The full set is going to be only two million yen. Quite the deal. I also have a set made with pure silver and sapphire. Quite high quality. The full set for this one is going to set you back three million yen."
"Ooooo. Quite a bargain. I'll take both!" Logan said instantly.
"Wonderful. Let me grab those wigs for you to try on. While I package these up nicely for you. If you would like the pixie cuts a little bit shorter I can trim them up for you as well!" She moved towards the back of the shop as she spoke, carefully handling the items Logan had purchased. She picked two wigs off of the shelf and handed them to her.
"Would you also find their shades in your stage makeup collection?" Logan asked, walking over to her friends and giving them their wigs. "We've got a costume party tonight. Hence the needs for wigs and makeup."
"Costume party?..." Rei mumbled to Izumi as she pulled the wig on.
"I'll be honest, I blacked out after we got into the limo and found out her driver's name was Reynolds," Izumi mumbled back, impatiently trying to get her wig to sit straight on her head. "Also, I hate long hair."
"They look wonderful on you, girls," Stephanie said, reaching over to fix a few stray locks of hair on Izumi's wig. "Now, I got the lightest shade possible for Izumi here, so it's going to be hard to find a concealer light enough to contour with. Rei here has a few shades up and honestly with how much coverage with foundation she has, she should be able to use Izumi's as a lighter contour. Izumi could use Rei's foundation as a bronzer for contouring too. This shade here is Rei's bronzer." She turned around to look at Logan. "I assume you are all good on makeup for the moment? You were in here just last week for more, but if you want a resupply, I've got plenty of your shades in stock."
Logan looked her friends up and down with a satisfied smile. "Alright, perfect! That should be all that we need. Thank you so much Steph!"
"Oh, no problem, Honey." Stephanie affectionately squeezed her shoulder as she passed the girl on her way to the cash register. "Let me go ahead and ring this all up for you. Want me to just use the account you have on file?"
"Yes I do. We are in a bit of a rush though, so we must be going. Go ahead and leave yourself a hefty consultant tip from me, darling," Logan said, grabbing her things and turning towards the door. "Come on girls, let's go, Reynolds is waiting and we have places to be."
"Alright. What party are we even going to anyways?" Rei asked as they exited the boutique.
"We will talk about it on the way." Logan said, looking down the street until she spotted her limo. She flagged it down, and the vehicle quickly pulled up in front of them. The three girls climbed in. "Reynolds, take us to Berlusconi's would you? Thanks." The driver nodded and Logan sat back in the seat, pushing a button to raise the privacy screen between him and the passengers. "Okay babes. We are going to break into the police station."
Izumi and Rei looked at each other, then back at Logan. "Uh… What?"
"We are gonna break into the police station," she repeated.
Rei leaned forward in her seat. "You do realize that we are wanted criminals at the moment, right?"
"No." Logan smirked, holding up a finger to stop her. "The Sideline Squad are wanted criminals. We are gonna be police officers."
"Great, so you want us to be wanted both in and out of our suits," Rei groaned.
Izumi quirked a brow. "Why do we even need to go there physically? If you want information or whatever why not just hack into the system?" She folded her arms across her chest. "That's like your specialty. Rich girl, Gamer, Hacker. That's your whole personality."
"Well, that would be a grand idea if I needed police files." Logan rolled her eyes. "In this case, I need to actually speak to someone, and let me tell you, it's much easier to sneak into the holding area of a police station than a prison."
"Why would we need to talk to someone at the police station?" Rei asked.
Logan sighed, looking between the two of them before she answered. "Listen. I've got a really bad feeling and I want to check up on it just to make sure." She paused, catching the concerned look emerging on Rei's face. "It probably isn't anything, but I came across something alarming."
"So you want to literally break into a police station?" Izumi asked in disbelief. "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I'm sorry, but this is too crazy. Even for you."
"Relax," she assured her, leaning on the leather armrest at her side. "We have this. There is a simple barcode system for entry. I will just send you a virtual card with a barcode and you can scan your phone for entrance. You were right. I can just hack whatever information I need and I did." She winked at Izumi. "We are going to look completely different, have as realistic uniforms as humanly possible, and we should be easily found in the system. As long as we don't draw a lot of attention to ourselves, we should be fine. The street crimes division is currently in a massive task force with quirk crimes. That means there are plenty of people that don't know each other yet from different divisions. Nobody will question it." She smiled to herself and pulled out her phone, scrolling through the information she'd gathered as she talked. "As a side note, they seem to be pretty lost at the moment when it comes to clues. At least with what has been entered into the system. Unless they have notes by hand, we seem to be in a really good spot. Though I will be honest their logging system is straight out of the 80's, and I mean the 1980's not the 2080's."
Rei gave a sharp sigh and rubbed her forehead. "Alright. This is still so stuipd. Have you seen Izumi? She looks about twelve. I mean she is going to stand out regardless."
"Relax." Logan dismissed her concerns with a small wave. "I'll throw a little make up on her. She will look like she's in her early twenties in no time. Add a bit of stuffing to the bra. It'll be fine." She reached down to grab a drink out of the mini fridge between the seats. "I'm used to sneaking in and out of places. Did you forget I have like twelve fake IDs? If anything, this is the most prepared I've been."
"This is also the place that you would be most likely to get caught. Sneaking into bars and sneaking into the police station are two very different things." Rei pointed out.
"Listen. The key to getting in and out of places without being noticed is by acting like you are supposed to be there. Don't show any hesitation." Logan cracked open her drink and sat back, thinking for a moment as she sipped her drink. "You know I actually had a friend back in America who got caught trying to steal a T.V."
Izumi snorted. "Why is telling us about someone you knew who got caught going to motivate us?"
"Because the only reason she got caught was that the store was on high alert," Logan said pointedly. "She had stolen over thirty T.V.s before. One time she even walked out of a hardware store with a chainsaw and nobody said anything. The key is that she just acted like it was completely normal."
"Maybe that was due to the incompetence of the security rather than the talent of your friend." Izumi flatly suggested.
Logan shrugged. "Perhaps it was a mix of both," she admitted. "Regardless, we are going to do it."
"Alright. You better make me fucking unrecognizable. You also had better take off the cams for all the times we are in the building." Izumi relaxed in her seat again.
"They are probably going to notice if the cams go down. Besides we will be hella disguised. No way anyone will recognize us or even be able to get an approximate age range. I'm telling you, sneaking into places is one of my many specialities." Logan smiled confidently. "I mean, there are some clubs that have extremely tight security that I have managed to get into without issue. As long as we keep our cool, this will be a walk in the park. Just don't talk to anyone unless it's absolutely necessary." She opened up her phone again and started typing." Also I'm gonna send you a couple of pictures from people in the directory. Just the higher ups that you wouldn't have an excuse to not know the name of."
Rei checked her phone when the information came through, giving the information a careful look-over. "You know, honestly, this feels even more badass than normal vigilante stuff that we do," she said as she scrolled through Logan's notes. "I mean we are like secret agents except we have no authority and face severe repercussions for our actions."
"Yeah. What guy are we looking for anyways?" Izumi asked. "You still haven't given us any real details as to why we are going."
Logan straightened herself in her seat. "There is a criminal there who looks like he had a run in with some people from an American gang that went inactive a couple years ago. The wounds in the file I found on Jeanist's network looked fresh though. The gang was called the Scavengers. They have a whole vulture type thing going on." She made a little flying motion with one hand. "They were the group that attacked a kid I went to school with in America. It happened after I left but it was all over my socials."
"You said they are inactive right?" Rei raised a brow. "Why would you think that they would come back to attack some random Japanese guy?"
"I don't know. He had his thumbs and pinkies cut off, though."
Izumi winced. "It could just be a coincidence right? I mean a factory incident or something of the sort. It seems like a bit of a stretch to me."
"That's just it though," Logan replied, shaking her head. "It's not just one. Etsuko was texting me earlier today while she was bored at the cat agency. Apparently she was going through files and she saw something that she was was 'fucking gross.' Take a Look at this." She pulled up an image on her phone and flashed it at the other two. "Notice anything about this guy? Anything at all? Anything revolving around some missing fingers?"
"Well. That's very graphic. Those wounds look… Fresh… Even so, it could still be a coincidence and even if it isn't it's probably not some group from America," Rei said, looking away from the photo.
Logan sighed, slipping her phone back into her pocket. "Well, even if it isn't related to the American group, it is still a pattern which means it could be an organization. It is our job to deal with organizations."
"It's definitely not a job," Izumi snapped. "We don't get any money. Also we are kind of wanted by the police which is why we are for some fucking reason trying to break into the place we should stay as far away from as humanly possible."
Logan raised her hands to calm the other girl. "They won't have any way of knowing that we are in the Sideline Squad even if they do find us. At most we would get in trouble for trespassing in a government building," she reasoned. "Plus, as long as we keep from being physically caught our faces will look unrecognizable unless our makeup is taken off. Not to mention the fact that no matter how high tech cameras get, for some fucking reason CCTV is always the worst quality humanly possible." She let out an irritated sigh and tossed her hair over her shoulder, then reached for one of the bags they'd picked up at the boutique. "Now let me get to work on your makeup Rei. It'll take some time. I'm gonna reshape your nose with some putty and use some specialized tape to change up your jawline and eyebrow shape. Covered in some foundation and concealer it'll look perfectly natural."
"Uh. Okay, I guess…" Rei muttered, leaning towards her.
"Holy shit. These costumes are insane," Izumi marveled, rubbing the fabric of her shirt between her fingers. It was almost too realistic- replica police uniforms, perfect down to the last detail. How long had Logan been planning this, exactly? "Is this the same guy you got your halloween costume from last time? The like, Cinderella ball gown that was made with entirely real crystals."
Logan beamed proudly, reaching over and fixing the edge of Rei's collar. "Yep. That's my man. Isn't he wonderful? Just a short phone call and he can finish anything in a few hours."
"A few hours? He did all of this in a few hours?" Rei asked in disbelief.
"Yep," Logan said, nodding. "Now. I need to get to work on my makeup. You two are already unrecognizable, but it's going to be hard to stop my shining natural beauty from seeping through any makeup I apply." She pushed a button on the console by her seat, causing a small mirror to pop up from it. She went right to work on her makeup, perfecting tiny details that the other girl's couldn't see.
"Of course it is." Rei stared at herself in the mirror, reaching her hand up to her face but stopping just short of actually touching the makeup. "This nose, though. Seriously. It's a little bit umm. Large."
Izumi stared at Rei's face as well, leaning left then right to look at her from different angles. "Yeah, well, I've known you for years and I wouldn't be able to recognize you at all. Plus it doesn't look unnatural. You just look a bit… genetically unfortunate."
"Oh, you're one to talk," Rei scoffed. "The eyebrows she gave you make you look like a man."
"Yeah well. I look like a twelve year old boy anyways. At least she made me look old enough to be a police officer," Izumi said, shrugging.
"It still doesn't help your height."
"Oh, I'm sorry not everyone is 5'5"," Izumi retorted.
"Yeah well not everyone is 5'0"," Rei teased.
"Ladies. Ladies," Logan said, still hyper focused on her makeup. "You are both short. Calm down."
"Oh, don't even get me started on you Logan," the other two replied in unison.
Logan restrained a smile as she reached back into her makeup bag. "Yeah, yeah, just calm down. I'm just gonna finish up my eyeliner and I'll be done."
"YOU LOOK THE EXACT SAME!" The other girls roared.
"No, I would never wear such intense eye shadow," she corrected them, looking at her reflection with distaste. "Absolutely not. Besides, covering beauty of this caliber just isn't possible. I've tried. My natural looks just always shine through."
"Why. YOU!" Izumi growled, attempting to launch herself out of her seat.
"No!" Rei jumped forward to catch her, struggling with the smaller girl. "Izumi down. Izumi heel. Izumi, stop trying to draw a unibrow! How are you this fucking strong you tiny devil."
Logan pushed Izumi back at Rei, growling in frustration. She dabbed at a tiny smudge of black eyeliner that had gotten rubbed on her cheek during the attack. "Oh god damnit, Izumi. Now I'm gonna have to cover this shit up with concealer so I don't need to start again." As she reached for her makeup bag, the limo suddenly jerked to a stop, sending both Rei and Izumi flying at Logan. They caught themselves before their faces hit the seat, so they wouldn't have to sit still for another one of Logan's makeovers. "Alright. We are here," Logan said, helping the other two pick themselves up and fix the new wrinkles in their uniforms. "Let's get ready to go. I made sure he stopped us down the street. Everyone have your key cards ready on your phone. We want to look as casual as possible. Remember we belong here."
"Okay. Whew. Let's do this. Take the elevator to the fourth flour. Down the hall. Two rights and then a left," Rei mumbled to herself as they approached the building.
Logan casually rested a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, babe. You belong here." She nodded to another officer as he passed them.
Izumi gave the officer a stiff wave, but he hardly paid them any mind. "Man, they should really get to know their coworkers better."
"I feel like a kid playing dress-up," Rei sighed, straightening her posture as they entered the building.
Logan smirked. "You are a kid playing dress-up." Once they'd passed the lobby, she casually scanned her ID to pass the security checkpoint. The receptionist gave them a disinterested look-over as they passed. Her eyes only lingered on Izumi for a moment before she went back to typing away on her computer.
"Damn," Izumi whistled. "These disguises are magic."
"So, that makes Logan a witch," Rei replied. They turned a corner, starting down the hallway that led to the extensive officer-only area. The offices and conference rooms were fairly packed, but no one did much more than wave at them as they passed. As distracted as everyone was, they might have been able to stroll in here in their vigilante costumes without anyone batting an eye.
Izumi paused as they passed a conference room that was packed with officers, who all poured over a table overflowing with photographs and documents. "I don't get it. I thought the police, like, didn't actually do anything."
"Maybe they're just acting busy?" Logan suggested. "Like we do in mathematics."
Rei huffed indignantly. "Hey, I actually try to get good grades."
"I know," Logan said with a disappointed sigh.
Izumi snickered, "Nerd."
They took another turn, following the signs on the wall that led them right to the elevator. Despite the noise coming from one of the rooms adjacent to it, the hall itself was empty. Rei allowed herself to breathe a small sigh of relief. The three girls headed right for the elevator, keeping the same casual pace they'd infiltrated the building with. "See?" Logan said smugly as she pressed the up button on the elevator. "Act like you belong, and no one looks twice." As she spoke, the elevator came to a stop in front of them, and the silver doors slid open to reveal an older man with a creased brow standing on the other side.
"Excuse me," Matsuzkai said, glaring at Logan.