Akiyama's receptionist was not happy to see them.
Some of that probably had to do with the way Daphne glared at him—the dark circles under her eyes made worse by a night in a cheap motel as Mephisto had arranged a train ticket, but not a place to sleep. The rest of it was most likely his memory of the couple of days he'd spent running errands for Rin when they'd been here at the beginning of the week. He didn't look too keen to be the sandwich guy again.
"Mr. Okumura…Major Okumura…" Stunned, he rose slowly to his feet. "Um, is there something I can do for you? You're back so soon…" They'd only been gone a day. It felt like a month, considering what had happened.
"Is Director Akiyama in?" Daphne asked. "We've been sent to 'collaborate.'"
"I'll check. The Director doesn't usually come in on Saturdays…"
He started out of the room, and his pace turned into an all-out bolt when he saw the look in Daphne's eyes. The second the receptionist was gone, she turned that look on Rin. Her teeth were bared.
"I swear to god, if she's not here—" Daphne interrupted herself with a growl, wringing her hands in a violent motion. She stalked over to the seats in the reception area and threw herself into one. "I hate Mephisto, that pompous ass…"
She was still grumbling when the receptionist returned, his face pulled into a grimace. Akiyama wasn't in. The kid made eye contact with Rin; Rin made a quick phone call gesture with his hand. The receptionist nodded and flew to his desk to pick up the phone and dial. "She'll be in at noon," he scrambled to say. "Is there anything I can get you in the meantime?"
"No, that's all right. We'll be back at noon," Rin replied and herded a belligerent Daphne out of the office before she could protest.
Daphne's eyelids felt like heavy sandpaper every time she blinked. This was not how a person was supposed to live. She and Rin ran themselves ragged as it was on their ordinary schedules, never mind the hell they were put through under extenuating circumstances. They'd gone to Miyajima, discovered a murder, attracted a demon, investigated the Hiroshima field office, brought the demon back home, nearly been drowned by it, fought some ghouls, and then been shipped back to Hiroshima to dig around in the dirt some more all in a little over a week. By noon, Daphne was too tired to even be angry about it. She went quietly with Rin to the director's office and let him take the lead.
"…was surprised to get the call that you'd returned," Akiyama was saying as Daphne tuned back in. The three of them were seated around her desk. "Do you have new information on the investigation?"
"No, but we've been sent back to collaborate with you on that," Rin said. "Some of our superiors thought we left the case too early."
Akiyama shifted. Her mouth twitched. "Well, that's a relief," she said, but Daphne had never heard a person sound so insincere in all her life.
"What was the nature of the infraction that earned you a post in a distant and unimportant field office?" she asked.
Both Akiyama and Rin blinked at her, astonished. Daphne didn't care. She didn't even care enough to sit up straight. She looked dully across the desk at Akiyama, slumped down in the chair with her chin nearly resting on her chest. Akiyama stammered for a moment as she looked for an answer.
"I…I'm a Tamer," she said. "A Doctor and a Dragoon as well, but a Tamer primarily." Her expression turned stony. "I was involved in a series of research experiments in the field that failed. As the head of the team, I shouldered the blame. Is that sufficient?"
"What kind of research were you engaged in?"
"We were looking into how the bond between a demon and an exorcist is manifest."
"And your findings?"
"Inconclusive."
"Huh."
Sitting up, Daphne drew Helen of Troy from the back of her neck. She held the blade up for Akiyama to see and the woman's eyes flicked from the shining metal to Daphne's face in undisguised discomfort. Daphne opened her fingers to display Helen of Troy stuck to her flat palm perpendicular to the floor. Akiyama's mouth fell slightly open.
"Perhaps you'd like to study me?"
Akiyama swallowed. "We…ah… We researched Tamer links to their familiars," she said, and her voice trembled. "Not demon swords."
"And what did you hope to achieve?"
"A means of artificially creating that bond," Akiyama whispered.
Daphne slipped Helen of Troy back into the seal on her neck and relaxed in her chair. She regarded Akiyama for a moment. The woman turned her gaze down at her desk. A director in any field office, even one this far south, shouldn't have been so easy to intimidate. It was a wonder she'd been able to recover a tenable position at all. Daphne folded her arms.
"You were unsuccessful, I take it?"
"What does any of this have to do with the investigation at hand?" Akiyama asked, having apparently been pushed too far.
"Any information on personnel currently employed by this office could be of value to the case," Daphne replied.
"Well, why don't you go read the research reports, then?" Akiyama snapped. "All the information you could ever want about my failure is more than available."
Her cheeks had flushed and she sucked a sharp breath in through her nose. She let it out slowly while Daphne gave her a smug smile. After a moment of silence, Rin chimed in.
"Director Akiyama, we're sorry for the loss you've experienced, and we're sorry for the intrusion of the Tokyo office, but please understand that we want to solve this case just as badly as you do. Is there anything you'd like to tell us?" He smiled at her, but she looked away.
"No."
Rin looked at Daphne. "Major Okumura and I will be on call if you need us. In the meantime, I think we'll get to work."
Akiyama said nothing in reply. Hesitant, Rin stood and Daphne followed suit and they left her office together.
"I think you could have been a little more subtle," Rin whispered.
"Got the job done, didn't I?" Daphne replied.