The door didn't open automatically. A direct authorization code given to the door's keypad didn't do the trick either.
She noticed the door was slightly ajar, just enough to put her fingers through. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the door and summoned all her strength to pull the door toward her. It held still for a moment, but it gave way and opened with a violent grinding sound coupled with Mitsuki practically yelling from the strain on her fingers.
She was aware of the noise she made and quickly looked behind her, and sure enough, a blonde, blue-eyed cadet was giving her a strange look, like he was witnessing a mugging. When he met her eyes, he quickly walked away.
Mitsuki sighed, disappointed with herself.
Inside, she located and flipped the light switch to find what SIFO's base of operations had to offer. "Not much" would be an understatement.
A rush of anger and confusion nearly overwhelmed the unsuspecting detective-sergeant.
There wasn't much to comment on besides the room having that nostalgic scent of an untouched attic. The only other thing needing inspection were the walls.
Then she remembered something Airi had briefly mentioned about the room. It was originally meant to be a recreation and lunch room for the Intelligence Division, whose headquarters were right next door, but it never found any real use.
Mitsuki ran a finger down one of them and was reminded of that one time she had spilled an open bag of flour on the floor of her home as a child, though she knew using this sort of flour in any recipe would send someone to the hospital.
She sighed. "This just won't do."
She walked back into the hallway and approached the nearest wall-mounted communicator. She glanced over the keypad legend before holding down a button to place a call.
"Hello? This is Detective-Sergeant Tsukushi calling the janitorial corps. Can you deliver a set of cleaning equipment down to room 1137-7A?"
"You mean to say you want a team sent over there?" The person on the other side asked.
She grunted audibly. "No, I meant what I said! Send over the equipment!"
She hung up. A minute later, a man was rushing a cart of cleaning materials down the hall towards her. He approached the woman and parked the cart right next to her.
"Here's what you asked for," He announced. " All the implements you could ever want for cleaning an empty room… all by yourself."
He peeked into the filthy room next to them and couldn't help but ask a question.
"So, is there any reason you want to do this yourself?" He asked. "I mean, doesn't a Detective-Sergeant have anything better to…"
Mitsuki stared at the man as if he had asked what color red is. It was a question so pointless and undeserving of her mental capacity that she didn't give the man an answer.
"Fine, keep your secrets," He said and began walking back the way he came. "Just make sure you send it back to room 1221-7A when you're done…"
Episode Four
Proudly Made in the Juraian Empire!
It was a week after SIFO was officially formed, and things were disappointingly slow. The only serious action that the three-member unit has had so far was to move some odd pieces of furniture into their empty headquarters after it had been "mysteriously" cleaned of any dust.
Kagato had not made an appearance since his takeover of the Juraian National Assembly, so the task of tracking him down would not come easily.
Mihoshi slept on the couch in the middle of the room, while the wide-awake Kiyone busied herself with coming up for a lead in the Kagato case.
Occupying her attention was the paper-copy of Lieutenant Ryoji Ishizuka's report to the Superintendent on Operation: Hangyaku that she was holding. This would be a good place to start gathering information, Kiyone thought, since the Lieutenant was present at the operation.
Or so she thought. It turns out Ishizuka didn't know much more than she did about what happened, though she soon realized that it was a given since she, Mihoshi, and Mitsuki were the people that he had gotten his information from in the first place.
Frustrated at the realization, she sighed and carelessly tossed the report onto the small table in front of the couch.
The next moment, Mitsuki came in through the door with a bounce to her step. She looked happy that she didn't walk into an empty room.
"Yeah, I thought I might find you two here. Have you had lunch yet?"
Kiyone didn't even look up at her. "No."
"Tsk, tsk Kiyone! You have to eat something if you're going to be working so hard!" She pulled out a large white cup she was holding behind her back, proudly displaying it to Kiyone like a sport's trophy. "Look, I even made sure to get the spicy kind, your favorite!"
She tossed the cup to Kiyone, who caught it one-handed with her peripheral vision.
Faced with the high demand for low-cost, on-the-go lunch by officers, the Galaxy Police had long perfected the instant ramen cup. For just two Juraian Ryō, an officer could buy a large cup of ramen that didn't require any instructions besides pulling a small cord forward on the cup; that triggered a chemical reaction inside the cup that heated the noodles and broth almost instantaneously.
Kiyone looked at the cup's colorful label before taking a bite of the noodles, and sure enough, it was her favorite brand. "This certainly brings me back to the academy days. Tastes exactly how I remember it too."
Mitsuki nodded in approval and sat down on a chair opposite of Kiyone. "Well, what've you been up to?"
"My job. And hers," She glanced over at Mihoshi, still sleeping despite the smell of fresh ramen filling the room. "Kagato isn't going to be brought in if we're just sitting around here."
Mitsuki nodded and hummed in agreement. Kiyone knew it was sarcasm, of course.
"Sure, you're probably right on that, but let me fill you in on a secret," Mitsuki said. "Just because you feel you're busy and working hard doesn't mean that you're being productive!"
Kiyone was very annoyed by that remark. "Okay, Detective-Sergeant who-obviously-works-so-much-harder-than-me, what do you think I should do?" She propped her feet on the low table and drew her arms over her head, patiently waiting for an answer.
"Instead of giving ourselves busywork that won't go anywhere, I think we should just wait for Kagato to make his move, whatever it is. Then, we pick up the clues, get our guns ready, move in, and arrest him. Simple, don't you think?" Mitsuki asked. She smiled unconsciously, seeming very proud of her suggestion.
"Oh, another of your half-baked plans that 'just work', right?" Kiyone suggested.
Mitsuki folded her arms. "Kiyone, have you ever stopped to consider why I'm the detective-sergeant in this room, and not you?"
Kiyone could feel her blood simmering from that remark, so she stuffed her face with more ramen to keep herself from saying whatever snappy comment she wanted to say.
Mitsuki read Kiyone's body language and changed the subject. "Regardless, maybe what SIFO needs is more manpower. Me, you, and our sleeping princess; we're three women trying to do an entire police department's job!"
"Mhm. Not… a princess." Mihoshi mumbled in her sleep.
"Oh, excuse me, Lady Mihoshi," Mitsuki said jokingly. Like Kiyone, she knew how Mihoshi could talk in a state of semi-consciousness.
"Oh, now that I'm thinking about our case, I just remembered something." Mitsuki continued. "I still have those bombs from the National Assembly stored inside my control cube. Here, I'll show you!"
"Wait, you're going to…" Kiyone started, but Mitsuki had already whipped out her cube and was twisting it like a machine.
"If I can just remember to twist C9 up twice and right three times, not five… here!" Mitsuki said as she worked. Then, two small, star-shaped bombs returned to their dimension of origin and fell onto the table.
Upon seeing the same shape that nearly killed her a few days ago, an incredible feeling of terror overwhelmed Kiyone's senses. Her reflexes kicked in and she suddenly jumped off the couch and darted towards the door, panting frantically while confusing Mitsuki. That full cup of ramen that Kiyone let go of collided with Mihoshi's head and the scalding broth instantly woke her with a loud, "Ahh! Hot, hot, hot!"
"Yikes!" Mitsuki said as she glanced at Mihoshi. She looked back at Kiyone. "Oh, wait Kiyone! It's okay!" Mitsuki grabbed hold of Kiyone's shoulders, stopping her just as the door opened. "Hey, calm down. It's okay, it's okay! It's not going to explode!"
"It's… it's not?" Kiyone asked raggedly.
"No, I eliminated the bomb's explosive components while it was in subspace. It's just an empty shell. Sorry, I guess I should've mentioned that." Mitsuki said innocently.
Meanwhile, Mihoshi stood up and groaned as she saw her uniform drenched in Kiyone's lunch. She looked over at Mitsuki and Kiyone, who both seemed to be too preoccupied to notice her.
"I knew I should've slept on the Yagami!" She said as she carefully stood up and wiped the excess noodles off her face. Try as she might, her uniform had been thoroughly drenched in broth and a few noodles were sticking out of her hair. "I'm getting a spare uniform, and a shower!" She darted out of the room without any notice.
Kiyone turned around and Mitsuki instantly put her hands up defensively, expecting a slap to the face. Instead, Kiyone just pushed past her and sat down again, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Next time… warn me," She said.
"Right," Mitsuki said, nodding.
A knock came on the door. Before either woman could respond, Airi Fujiwara let herself into the room.
"Did something happen to Mihoshi? She just ran past me and smelled good enough to eat. I'll assume it's not Seniwan pheromones."
"No, she had to get a change of clothes. My lunch collided with her hair." Kiyone admitted.
The Superintendent nodded. "How are things coming along?"
"Boring," Mitsuki said, sitting down in an empty chair. "We haven't got much in the way of a lead."
"A manpower shortage, right?"
"You… how did you know I said that?" Mitsuki asked, surprised.
"I just had a feeling that it would've been brought up by someone by now. And speaking of which, I'm happy to announce that SIFO is receiving another recruit."
"Who?" Mitsuki and Kiyone asked in sync.
Airi stepped out of the way and revealed a man much shorter than her, with dirty blonde and mostly uncombed hair, and with dull eyes that look like they could use another ten hours of sleep.
"After a good talk, Lieutenant Ryoji Ishizuka has agreed to lend his extensive knowledge in technology and information warfare to SIFO," Airi explained.
Ryoji scratched his head. "A promotion is a net positive for my career. Though, to be honest, I don't imagine my job will change much."
"Well, I'm sure you're going to be a fun a fun addition to our crew!" Mitsuki said sarcastically.
"I see you're itching to do something, Mitsuki. There's something I want you to look into in Jurai City. A man by the name of Hayao Kawabata- he was a Republican Guard, and he was found murdered a few days ago. Go back down there, cooperate with JCPD, and ask as many questions as you need to. If there's any connection to Kagato, find it for us."
"Okay, Airi," Mitsuki said, saluting. She got up and made for the door, walking out of sight.
Airi nodded and looked back at Kiyone and Ryoji. "Now, onto today's business." She reached into the pocket of her uniform and pulled out her control cube.
A full-length gun painted with white with black lines running on the sides.
Ishizuka walked forward and picked up the gun. "This is one of the weapons that the JCPD recovered from Kagato's men during the hostage crisis. This is an XR-12 Directed Energy Weapon, manufactured by..."
Mitsuki, who could overhear what Ryoji was saying from the hallway, quickly rank back in and snatched the weapon from Ryoji's arms without warning. She looked at it with a childish curiosity as she aimed at the bare wall of the room.
"Oh, so these are the new Ashigaru models that I've been hearing about?" Mitsuki asked. "I've been aching to get my hands on one!"
She noticed there was a small knob brushing against her ring finger. "Oh, this thing has a power range, too? Neat!"
With a turn of the power range to maximum, the plasma cartridge visible from the top of the gun emitted an increasingly bright hue, and an ominous, high-pitched sound started coming from the weapon.
Ryoji was startled at Mitsuki's dangerous curiosity. "Wait! That gun still has a cartridge inside!"
"Oh, what do you take me for, a trigger-happy psycho?" Mitsuki countered, still pointing the gun at the wall.
The next moment, Mihoshi sprinted back into the room, returning from what had to have been an extremely quick shower, and wearing a clean uniform.
"Hey! I'm..."
That loud, sudden announcement from Mihoshi was the last thing that Mitsuki was prepared for. Startled, her reflexes kicked in, and she accidentally squeezed her finger against the gun's trigger. A bolt of superheated plasma shot out and tore through the wall, straight into the Intelligence Divison's command center.
After the initial panic of the discharge, the members of SIFO looked over the damage. Thankfully, no one appeared to have been vaporized, but Intelligence's Colonel Tetsuo Hakodate didn't look very happy having a hole being blown into his command room and especially having one of his computers being fried from the plasma.
"I just fixed that a few days ago," Ryoji said, irritated.
Kiyone stood up and snatched the XR-12 out of Mituski's hand and handed it back to Ishizuka, who immediately removed the plasma cartridge out of the top of the weapon.
"Um… was this a bad time?" Mihoshi asked, sounding rather guilty.
"No, but Mitsuki made it one," Kiyone answered.
Airi had to blink twice and then thrice at the absurdity of what just happened. After the third blink, she was looking at an angry Colonel Hakodate through the new hole in his control room.
"Oh, you know how it goes, Hakodate; things like this happen to the best of us! I'll make sure this is all fixed by tomorrow!" She waved at him innocently, but the Colonel didn't wasn't having it today.
"I think the Intelligence Division will be shifting its operations to its secondary room for today," he said. He saluted the Superintendent and waved for his subordinates to follow him out of the way of Mitsuki's new firing range.
"Of course. Whatever you think is best." Airi replied. She looked back at Mitsuki with scorn.
The detective-sergeant instinctively made for the door to escape the Superintendent's wrath.
"So about my mission… I'll be going to Jurai City now if you don't have anything else to say. I'm taking my ship, not Yagami... um, later!" And she could be heard sprinting down the hall as fast as she could.
Airi shook her head and looked back at Ryoji. "So, I think you were about to say something very important."
Ryoji cleared his throat. "As I was saying. This is an XR-12 directed energy blaster, manufactured by Ashigaru Corporation."
"Ashigaru," Kiyone repeated. "The Galaxy's largest manufacturer of weapons. Alright, I can guess where this conversation is going, so I want to be sure of something." Kiyone said. "These weapons that were recovered at the National Assembly, are we sure they aren't reproductions? There's plenty of those to buy on the black market."
Ryoji nodded. "I had this weapon sent to the Science Division to be examined on the microscopic level, and this morning they gave their results. In terms of its shape and assembly, this weapon is not made from any recycled components or material. It's fresh off the manufacturing line."
"Do the public know about this?" Kiyone asked.
"No. I called the JCPD and got permission to take all of them. They were very willing to let us handle this case all by ourselves."
Kiyone nodded. "So, what exactly do you want us to do?"
"Someone connected with Ashigaru Corporation somehow got these weapons delivered to Kagato. Find that connection, and we might uncover more information about Kagato."
"And Ashigaru Corporation? Are we planning on exposing them?"
Airi shook her head. "If we expose Ashigaru, they'll probably make an excuse for what happened. They won't get in trouble, and we'll walk away learning nothing."
Kiyone nodded in agreement. "I understand. We'll do what we can and report back anything we find."
"Of course you will." Airi turned around and walked toward the door. As it opened, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. "One thing I should mention: if you're going to make an arrest, notify the JCPD, okay? We don't want them thinking we kidnapped someone."
"Yes, Airi," Kiyone said, saluting the Superintendent. Ryoji and Mihoshi reluctantly joined in saluting.
"Very good." Airi looked at the clock on the wall and made for the door. "I'll leave you three to it then. Don't disappoint me."
As soon as Airi was out of sight, Mihoshi asked, "So… what are we supposed to do now?"
Both women turned to Lieutenant Ishizuka for the answer. Ryoji shifted the XR-12 weapon in his hands and looked inside the port for the plasma cartridge.
Without addressing them, he got up and went through the brand new e connecting SIFO's headquarters to the Intelligence Division, with Mihoshi and Kiyone following curiously. The Lieutenant sat down at one of the many computers and immediately started typing.
"Uh… what are you doing, Lieutenant?" Mihoshi asked.
Ryoji didn't respond. To the Detective First-Classes, it seemed as though he had become instantly engrossed with operating the computer. His typing speed seemed almost unnatural; and the man's eyes were constantly shifting to different points on the monitor.
Kiyone's patience with the Lieutenant grew thin and she moved right behind his ear. "Ishizuka!"
Ryoji snapped back into focus, remembering that he had to explain his findings to his partners.
"Yes, um… every weapon has a printed serial number. They're used as identification for things like quality control and anti-theft measures." He explained. "Ashigaru Corporation has multiple manufacturing facilities all across the Galaxy, but there's only one on Jurai; it's in an industrial park on the outskirts of Jurai City.
"Go on," Kiyone said.
He looked closer at the inside of the XR-12's cartridge port. "Let's see here. The Serial ID Number for this is 4565-10-1235. Is that the first part of an address?" He asked himself while typing. "Yes, it is!"
He stood up and walked over to the front end of the Intelligence room. The commanding console that was operated by Colonel Hakodate was his target, as it controlled communications from that room to the rest of Headquarters.
He operated the console with ease and was on the line with someone.
"Hello, Logistics Divisions? This is Lieutenant Ishizuka, from earlier. Those confiscated weapons from Jurai City that you received last week, can you check the serial numbers? Yes, do it right now. So, do they begin with the four-digit sequence 4565? Yes? They all begin with 4565? All of them? I see, thank you." And he promptly terminated the communication.
Kiyone was somewhat impressed by the "So you've confirmed that all these weapons came from a single factory in Jurai City? That's... useful."
"Very useful," Ryoji concurred, oblivious of Kiyone's sarcasm. "Now we know where to look."
Their destination turned out to be Ashigaru Corporation's Megafactory-One, located just outside Jurai City. As it was discovered the last time they were here, parking for such a large spaceship wasn't readily available near where the wanted to go, and walking was simply not an option.
Thankfully, the Galaxy Police Cruiser Yagami came prepared for such a predicament. In its cargo bay was a four-seat landspeeder that was guaranteed street legal on any planet in the Galaxy.
Ryoji Ishizuka was the reluctant driver, having lost a three-way rock-paper-scissors match over which untrained officer would give the vehicle it a shot. At least there weren't many other drivers on the road this far outside the city center.
The bustling cosmopolitan heart of the Juraian Empire seemed like a distant echo as they drove along the outskirts of the city. From here, there was a night and day difference between the city's dirty, congested residential units on one side, and the rolling, picturesque green hills on the other.
Kiyone had read about this stark contrast on their way planetside. The Juraian Royal Family prioritizes preserving Jurai's natural landscape, and in the areas it directly controls-which exclude Jurai City- most of the land is indeed undeveloped nature.
They found the one they were looking for soon enough. Ryoji slowed down right at the short path leading to the building in question's entrance. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the building until they had just passed it, and he stopped abruptly by stomping on the brakes. The three of them jerked chaotically from the surprise maneuver.
"Ah… sorry about that," Ryoji said, scratching his head. "Anyway, we're here. Megafactory-One."
Unbefitting of the name, Megafactory-One was wide, but only a couple stories tall.
Mihoshi looked perplexed. "Strange, you'd think it'd be… more?"
"It's probably an underground facility," Ryoji answered.
"How many employees are working there?" Kiyone asked.
With the small holographic-projector attached to his ear, Ryoji was typing away on his keyboard and finding the answer to Kiyone's question before she could finish speaking.
"One."
Kiyone and Mihoshi looked at him with bewilderment, refusing to believe that to be the case.
Ryoji said it again. "Just one employee is working at Megafactory-One; the factory manager, a man by the name of Hinawaju," Ryoji answered. "You'll speak to him."
"Okay, but what are we supposed to say to this manager that will get him talking, assuming he even had anything to do with this?" Kiyone asked.
Ryoji grunted in annoyance. "Whatever you Detective First-Classes would say in an interrogation; I don't know!"
The Lieutenant went silent for a moment as he stared at his virtual screen, regretting his tone. Then, he shifted in his seat and took out his control cube. He took out an earpiece similar to the one he was wearing and handed it to Kiyone.
"I have an idea," he said. "Put this in your ear. It's both a microphone and a speaker. I can listen in on your conversation, and I'll help you with what to say."
Kiyone fastened the gadget on her left ear. "In that case, why not just tell him yourself?" She asked.
"Well, with strangers, I'm not good at… I'd fumble too much in person." He admitted reluctantly. "You're two are more confident than I am. You're both taller, too."
"He does have a point there," Mihoshi said.
"Are you sure about this?" Kiyone asked.
Ryoji nodded. "Don't worry. What I'm planning, it'll work. I mean, if it doesn't, that would… that would be pretty bad, you know?"
"Uh, yeah. I see your point." Kiyone said hesitantly. She and Mihoshi hopped out of the landspeeder and made for the front doors of Megafactory-One.
No keypad or any security met them along the way inside, and the doors automatically opened for them. Inside, they were greeted with a room with blue-tinted white walls and a low ceiling. There were no chairs, no desks, and no secretaries. For a room designed to be a lobby, it was unsettling to see how empty it was.
They must have walked over an invisible sensor because a large robot suddenly sprouted out of the ceiling. It looked somewhat similar in shape to the Yagami's A.I. Assistant module, a robot shaped like an upside-down mushroom. It had one ominous red eyes that wasted no time in scanning over the two visitors.
Kiyone was familiar enough with Yagami to not be intimidated by this robot and stepped forwards to introduce themselves.
"Um… hello," Kiyone said to the machine. "We're from the Galaxy Police."
The robot did not respond, but its whole body shifted along with the ceiling and moved closer to Kiyone and Mihoshi.
Instinctively, Mihoshi backed away and hid behind Kiyone, holding onto her shoulders.
Kiyone's control cube had, among other things, a pen. She grabbed hold of the unsuspecting item and pressed the button on the end of it. A thin screen extended and unfurled to function as an electronic badge, displaying Kiyone's name, photo, and the Galaxy Police's official seal.
"We have sanction from Jurai's Royal Family to conduct an investigation here," Kiyone continued.
The robot focused its red eye on the item and moved even closer. It shot out web-shaped lasers at the virtual badge, and seeming satisfied, shifted itself toward the other officer.
"Mihoshi, your badge," Kiyone ordered.
Mihoshi reluctantly backed off of Kiyone and showed the robot her badge. Then, it quickly retreated into its hole in the ceiling.
Kiyone shrugged. "I guess we can keep going."
Inside the factory, they found that it was indeed missing something, people. This complex was designed to accommodate hundreds of workers with its wide hallways and numerous break rooms. The silence and emptiness were uncomfortable.
As expected, they found an elevator that took them underground. They then found themselves at the all-important assembly floor. They found layers upon layers of robotic arms moving in perfect unison. Pieces of metal and plastic were constantly being shifted around and combined into larger pieces. They could see weapons being sent into a room for testing. More arms quickly loaded plasma cartridges into groups of ten weapons at a time and made them discharge electronically before sending the approved ones on their way. They eventually reached the other end of the assembly floor, where presumably they were being assorted and being prepared for shipping to a storage area.
They walked past all the sparks and machinery and found a set of stairs that led to an officer with windows to overlook the entire operation. Through an unlocked door, they finally found something organic; a pair of two feet could be seen as they propped up on a table. They belong to a man who was leaning back on his office chair and watching a television broadcast. His "work" table was covered with empty bags of junk food, grease-stained newspapers, and a small picture frame of him and his family. It didn't take a Detective First-Class to figure that his work style wasn't necessarily productive.
"Working hard, I see," Kiyone said out loud.
"Huh?!" The man snapped over at the two women at the door of his office, obviously not expecting visitors.
"Oh uh… yeah, that's right," he answered. "A couple of years ago, Ashigaru Corporation was looking to cut costs, so they went and automated their entire manufacturing process, everything legal that is, thank Tsunami," He said, pointing to himself with his thumb. "So, uh… who are you anyway?"
"We're Galaxy Police, the one and only!" Mihoshi answered. "We just thought you could answer a few questions of ours."
"Like what?"
Mihoshi whipped out her control cube and brought out a genuine XR-12 rifle, the sight of which did not make an impression on the manager.
"Look, I agree that the power range on the XR-12 is an unnecessary hazard, but you'll want to bring it up with the guys at the Ashigaru Building downtown, not me," He said. "Anything else?"
Kiyone nodded. "A few of these were recovered from the National Assembly a week ago. And in case you were wondering, yes, they're genuine, and they were made at this factory!"
The man flared with anger.
"Now what are you trying to say, that I got blood on my hands? He asked. "I resent that! All I do here is make sure the machines are working and they meet the production quotas; nothing more, nothing less!"
Kiyone glanced at the name tag on the man's shirt. "Mister Hinawaju, please don't rush to conclusions. We're not going to accuse you of something ridiculous like that. As my partner said, we want answers. How someone like Kagato was able to procure legitimate Ashigaru products?"
"You might as well ask a fortune teller. I've already made it clear that I don't know anything! Now get out of here!" he ordered, stomping on the floor.
Just then, Kiyone heard a voice in her left ear. Lieutenant Ishizuka was speaking, not to her, but it was almost like Ishizuka himself was trying to talk with the factory manager. She blinked twice and realized what he had in mind.
"Mister Hinawaju, you must understand that we're not trying to frame you, but we're trying to protect you from this case."
"Huh? What kind of nonsense is that?
"Seijuro Asaka is trying to sell you out, frame you as the one who orchestrated this scheme. Treason against the state is a capital crime, you know."
"A-Asaka!? But I… I don't…. how…?" he stammered, "how do you know about Asaka?"
Kiyone blinked twice, listening in to what the voice in her head was saying.
"We'd know, especially since we're the officers that he sent to arrest you. He thinks Galaxy Police will arrest anyone for a price."
Another order came out, and Kiyone whipped out her specialized pen again. This time, instead of bringing up her badge as usual. It displayed audio signals and a man's voice.
"I can't risk Hinawaju being arrested by the JCPD and mentioning my involvement, so I want you two to arrest him and make sure he and he alone 'confesses' to the incident."
"And what are you offering us, again?" Kiyone's voice came out too.
Kiyone herself kept perfectly silent, and without looking she tightly squeezed Mihoshi's hand to keep her surprise under control.
"Five million Juraian Ryō. Enough for the both of you to retire on, I'd think." The man answered. "Of course, I'll be making the payments in increments to not stir any suspicion…"
The recording ended, and Kiyone put her pen away before addressing Hinawaju. "That was Seijuro Asaka, wasn't it?"
Hinawaju's face became pale, and he backed himself into the wall. "Uh… yeah. It's the President of Ashigaru all right. So, that bastard wants me to take the fall for him? I'll tell you everything you want."
Well, about two weeks ago, President Asaka paid me a visit. He brought a suitcase with him, 'my entire year's wage in one box', he said."
"He seems to like this trick," Kiyone commented.
Hinawaju smiled crookedly. "Guess so. Asaka wanted me to do him a favor. He wanted me to modify the machines to produce a few extra weapons with the daily quota, just a few extra XR-12's that wasn't ordered by the company. And last week, he visited again and he just took all of them. No money, though."
"Did he mention why he wanted these weapons in the first place?" Kiyone asked.
He shook his head. "All he said to me was that I'd get my money 'once things died down'. That's all he said to me, so I had no clue he meant that he was going to use them to shoot up the National Assembly!"
"Once things died down," Kiyone repeated. "So he lured you into a false sense of security."
Then she turned to Mihoshi. "We have everything we came here for. Mister Hinawaju,"
She said, glancing back at the man. "Thank you for cooperating with the Galaxy Police. The way I see it, you didn't receive from President Asaka, so you didn't technically commit bribery. I'd suggest you don't do anything that would risk your… 'demanding' job again, understand?"
"Definitely," Hinawaju answered.
Ryoji glanced at Kiyone and Mihoshi as they approached the landspeeder.
"That was an impressive thing you did the voice," Kiyone said as she hopped in.
"That's easier than you think. I just feed some voice clips of Seijuro Asaka into a voice synthesizer. I did it in a few minutes on the Yagami," Ryoji said. Seeing both of them inside, he started the vehicle and drove back the way they came.
Kiyone sighed. She tried bringing up the obvious, but Ryoji was too distracted by his niche talents. "Lieutenant, why didn't you tell us that the President of Ashigaru Corporation was the one behind the arms shipment?" She asked blankly.
"I wasn't that sure, Makibi. Going into this, I was only around sixty percent certain. Now I'm up to eighty-eight percent certain about him."
"Okay, so according to your mental calculator, what's our next move? Are we going to arrest Asaka?"
Ryoji shook his head rapidly. "Oh no, no. Not yet. We only have one chance to do this, you know. If we arrest an important person like Seijuro Asaka and it turns out he's innocent, then that'll be a big... very big problem! We must be absolutely certain that he's guilty."
"And how do we go about that?"
"We need to get close to him. Talk with him. Don't worry, I already have a plan for that, too."
"You have lots of plans, don't you?" Mihoshi asked.
"Only ones that work."
"I don't mean to discredit your … skills Lieutenant, but how did you begin to suspect that Seijuro Asaka of all people was behind this?" Kiyone asked. "It's a very serious accusation to make."
"Oh, that?" Ryoji asked, clearly not expecting that question. "I've been looking into the company's history for the past few years when I found something interesting. A few years ago, the previous CEO, Umeiji Nishimura, was sick and dying. As you might know, per tradition on Jurai, the CEO reserves the right to appoint a successor to his position."
"I didn't know that," Kiyone deadpanned.
"Oh, well you do now," Ryoji said. "So, everyone expected Umeiji to choose Asaka since he's the president… you know, a very senior officer. But instead, he chose his son Kakuji."
"And so Asaka became jealous?" Kiyone asked.
"He threatened to go to a rival company and leak in-house secrets. He must've thought that would scare them, but it didn't. He just gave up after a while. So after reading that I was thinking-"
Kiyone interrupted. "You were thinking that, after digging up some old news from years ago, it was acceptable to fabricate a giant conspiracy in your head about Seijuro Asaka smuggling weapons to terrorists, just because he threatened to leave the company!?"
"It wasn't a conspiracy! You have to understand, the story itself doesn't matter, but I learned that Seijuro Asaka really, really, wanted to become the CEO. I just thought his character was… suspicious."
Kiyone rolled her eyes, unimpressed.
Ryoji sighed. "I mean, think about it from his perspective. If the public knew that Ashigaru weapons were used by terrorists, that's putting a lot of pressure on the company's figurehead... that's the CEO, in case you didn't know. If he were to get removed to protect the company's image, that would be Asaka's chance to swipe the position for himself."
"You could have still been wrong back then. Then we'd be back to square one." Kiyone remarked.
"But I was right, so we're going to keep going," Ryoji countered. "Oh, we're already back to Yagami."
Aboard the ship, Ryoji was fiddling with his control cube. Then, he brought forth two sets of identical clothing and handed them to Kiyone and Mihoshi. Upon inspection, they were discovered to be clothing: grey pants, brown vests over a white shirt, and bright blue ties to add a small bit of flair.
"Put them on."
"What?" the two women asked jointly.
"It's for our operation. Just put them on. I'll… I'll look away if you want."
Kiyone and Mihoshi looked at each other. Their eyes told each other that this wasn't what they expected to be doing, but there was no helping it. They walked out of Ryoji's sight to the equipment room.
Ryoji headed for the ship's cockpit and commanded loudly, "Yuusaku, show yourself."
To his disappointment, the ship's assistant AI module did not appear as per command.
He scratched his head, trying to remember the actual name of this ship. "Yoritake? No... Yoshiko? Yakushima?"
"Yagami!" Kiyone called out from across the ship.
The AI Module sprouted out of the ceiling immediately. With its optical scanner, it identified the newcomer due to his deficiency in height.
"One hundred and sixty… I mean, welcome back, Lieutenant Ishizuka. Are we returning to Headquarters?" it asked.
An annoyed Ryoji grunted and answered, "Not yet," Ryoji answered. "I just want you to place a call into the Ashigaru Corporation Building on my order. The one in Jurai City, you know?"
Yagami blinked it's two large eyes twice. "May I ask why?"
"No."
An awkward silence permeated the cockpit, as Yagami was unprepared for the Lieutenant's answer.
It finally answered. "Well, that order is within my capabilities, Lieutenant. Whenever you're ready."
A few minutes later, Kiyone and Mihoshi returned to the cockpit sporting the outfits clothes that Ryoji gave them. The Lieutenant looked satisfied at the result.
"I'll admit they're somewhat… tomboyish, but they'll do. What's important is that they're less suspicious than Galaxy Police Uniforms."
"But why are dressing up like businesswomen anyway?" Kiyone asked.
"It's not obvious?" Ryoji asked in surprise.
"Not really, no," Kiyone answered.
"Oh, sorry. I thought… nevermind. You two are going to attend a business conference at Ashigaru Corporation's headquarters."
Mihoshi and Kiyone didn't answer. Ryoji took it as a sign that he needed to explain further.
He sighed and continued. "Our goal is to get to Asaka, and we can do that by going where he works, the Ashigaru Corporation Building. You two are posing as representatives of Nambu Electronics. They're a smaller firm, only about a thousand employees. We're just borrowing their credentials for today."
"Lieutenant, that sounds very… illegal, " Mihoshi commented. Kiyone nodded in agreement.
"True, but… well, smuggling weapons is even more illegal," Ryoji countered. "Now, we need to call someone there and arrange a meeting with Ashiaru's board of directors. So, who's going to talk?"
Kiyone raised her hand. "Hold on… what-"
"Thanks for volunteering!" Ryoji interrupted. He gave a thumbs-up to Yagami. "Make the call."
The AI was at work in an instant. After a pause, a male voice came through the unit's speakers.
"Hello, this is Ashigaru Corporation Building in Jurai City. Who I am speaking to?"
Kiyone cleared her throat. Thanks to the lieutenant's impatience, she would have to do this flawlessly without a second of practice.
"Hello, I am a representative of Nambu Electronics." she began. "We're contacting Ashigaru Corporation in hopes we could discuss-"
"Nambu Electronics?" the receptionist interrupted. "I've never heard of them."
Kiyone laughed uncomfortably. "Naturally. We're a smaller firm that operates in Jurai City. You might have to look us up on the Hypernet."
Keyboard clicks could be heard as the receptionist was searching for the industrial firm in question.
"Nambu… Nambu. Oh, there you are!" he announced. "Sorry about that. So, you were saying you wanted to talk to someone?"
"Yes," Kiyone answered. "We have an agreement that we believe will be hard for Ashigaru Corporation to refuse. If you would just let us speak to someone."
"Well, your firm is making an excellent decision to cooperate with Ashigaru Corporation! You'll have to speak with the board of directors to discuss this deal of yours, but I believe there's time for you today. Can I get a name, please?"
"A name?" Kiyone repeated. She smacked herself on the forehead in frustration; just as she was getting comfortable, she forgot to come up with a fake name. Her real name was obviously out of the question.
She gave another quick, panicked glance towards the Lieutenant and Mihoshi.
A casual shrug told her that he didn't take that into account either.
"Yes, a name would be useful for scheduling an appointment," the receptionist said, trying to hide his giggling on the other side.
Kiyone laughed too, stalling for time to come up with a plausible name. However, in the pressure of the moment, she blurted out the first name that came to mind and hoped it sounded believable.
"Ami Mizuno," was her shrill answer. She immediately felt a pain in her chest, and Mihoshi was barely keeping her sudden laughter under control while Ryoji sat confused.
Kiyone felt like she was going to die of embarrassment, but then an epiphany struck. They weren't on Earth or in Japan anymore. So what if she wanted to call herself Sailor Mercury? On Jurai, it's as normal as any other name. She quickly calmed down.
"Sorry, say that again for me? I didn't hear you," the receptionist said.
Kiyone cleared her throat. "My name is Ami Mizuno."
"Ami… Mizuno," he repeated, probably writing the name down somewhere.
"Oh, and I'll also be accompanied by one of my colleagues," Kiyone continued. "Her name is…"
Mihoshi rushed over and started whispering a suggestion into Kiyone's ear, but she instantly put a finger over Mihoshi's mouth before she could finish. The look of anger and embarrassment on her face said everything.
She cleared her throat and loudly answered the receptionist. "Risako Hoshie."
"Okay. Risako… Hoshie," he repeated. "Ms. Mizuno, I can schedule an appointment with the board at three today. Can you make it?"
"Of course, we can make it. Thank you." Kiyone said before hanging up.
Ryoji was fumbling with this control cube but soon produced a folder heavy with the stack of papers inside. "A copy of the business agreement with Ashigaru. It's just Nambu undercutting the cost of making plasma cartridges," he explained. "I only printed one copy, so be careful not to lose it."
"Lieutenant, are you sure that we call pull this off? This is very risky."
Ryoji waved his hand dismissively. "It's not risky. We'll just do what we just did earlier. That earpiece I gave you… you still have it, right?"
Kiyone silently turned her head and showed off the earpiece still in place from earlier.
"Good, we'll just use that again," he said, nodding. Then he glanced at Mihoshi and fumbled in his pockets. He eventually procured what he was looking for: two small thin plastic lids.
"You're going to have an important task, Kuramitsu," he said. "You're going to put these contacts on and look at Seijuro Asaka. That's it, actually."
Mihoshi took the contacts in her hands. "Thanks, but my vision is perfect. Do you have any idea how many carrots I ate on Earth?"
Ryoji slightly tilted his head in confusion. "What's a carrot?" he asked.
"Mihoshi," Kiyone interrupted, "unless you have a severe nutritional deficiency, carrots don't improve your eyesight."
"They don't? Then why else would Tenchi bother growing so many of them if they're just regular vegetables?"
"Who's Tenchi?" Ryoji asked quietly. Unfortunately, both women were absorbed in this abrupt conversation.
"You mean apart from feeding Ryo-Ohki? I don't know, maybe he just likes how they taste?" Kiyone asked.
Mihoshi shook her head. "I doubt it. One time, I ate a carrot right out of the ground and it tasted awful!"
"Did you remember to wash it… with water?"
"Water?"
Kiyone facepalmed. "Nevermind."
Now Ryoji was genuinely curious as to what Kiyone and Mihoshi were talking about.
"Did... did you just say that a Terran is feeding space pirate Ryoko's spacecraft?"
Mihoshi and Kiyone snapped their heads at Ryoji, dead silent and with terrified looks on their faces.
"Ah! We're so sorry, Lieutenant!" Kiyone said. "We don't mean 'that' Ryo-Ohki! You see, one of our Terran neighbors had a pet named Ryo-Ohki. A crazy coincidence, I know!"
"Yeah, it's not like it could transform into a spaceship or anything! Not at all!" Mihoshi concurred.
"Interesting," Ryoji said, shrugging. "Anyway, these contacts I have are another experiment I borrowed from R&D. They're cameras that match the movement of your eyes. Whatever you see, they will see."
Mihoshi nodded, but Ryoji could tell that the officer had no idea why she was doing this.
Ryoji cleared his throat and continued. "If our theory about Seijuro Asaka is correct, then we can prod him with words that will catch him off guard. Your job is to look at him and record him in case this happens."
"Oh," Mihoshi said, understanding her role.
Ryoji turned back to Kiyone. "What do you think?"
Kiyone was unamused. "What do I think?" she repeated. "You should've asked us that before you signed us up to do it!"
By Jurai City standards, the Ashigaru Corporation Building was not as impressive as originally imagined. Standing at the corner of two acute streets, the cylindrically-shaped skyscraper fit in too well with the buildings around it. If they weren't going out of their way to find it, they likely wouldn't have noticed it at all. The front entrance stood in front of them. Ashigaru Headquarters stood in front of them. Kiyone stared at the doors and then above at the sets of windows of the building.
"I still can't believe we're doing this," she said, sighing.
"It's too late to complain, Ami," Mihoshi said. "Let's just do it!"
"You're too optimistic, Risako. Honestly, what is the Lieutenant thinking? Either we do it perfectly, or they'll unmask us and cause a major scandal for the Galaxy Police. It's completely reckless!"
"It's not reckless if we're successful," a familiar voice said in Kiyone's ear. She had momentarily forgotten about the earpiece. Ishizuka could hear everything that they were saying.
"That's not how it works," she countered.
"It's too late to complain, Makibi. Besides, it'll probably only be for thirty minutes at most. How hard could it be?"
Kiyone sighed. "I guess we're going to find out." She turned and nodded to Mihoshi, and both women walked through the doors.
This time around, the lobby room they found themselves in much more presentable, especially since there was a real person behind the front. Two men, one of them behind a desk, were chatting.
"So, do you think having a power range is necessary for our weapons?" the one standing asked.
"Practically, who knows? All that matters is that it sells," his co-worker answered. From his voice, Kiyone and Mihoshi could immediately identify as the receptionist they talked to over the phone earlier.
He then saw two women approach his desk and waved his coworkers off.
Kiyone spoke up. "Ami Mizuno and Risako Hoshie. We're exactly on time."
A quick look at his wristwatch and he realized that she was right. It was time for their meeting with Ashigaru Corporation's board of directors.
He nodded to the two women and got up from his desk. "Oh, good job. You wanted to speak with the board of directors, right? I'll bring you to them."
Stood up and led the two women to an elevator on the far side of the floor. They were bordering on the window, and as the elevator rose Kiyone and Mihoshi could see themselves climbing higher than the other skyscrapers in this part of Jurai City.
Mihoshi was definitely impressed, letting out a faint, "ooooh".
The receptionist was amused by Risako's reaction. "I take it you're not used to cities?"
Mihoshi shook her head. "It's not that. The buildings in Teishang aren't nearly this pretty. They all look the same."
"Teishang? That's on Seniwa, right?"
"It's the capital!"
"Is it? Sorry, I don't know much about Seniwa."
Kiyone pinched Mihoshi. It was suspicious enough as it was for someone like Mihoshi to be representing a Juraian industrial firm, but her encouraging the conversation couldn't be a good thing.
They finally stopped at the top floor, and they were led through several hallways of offices until they stopped at one set of doors. The walls on each end were windows, so they could see the men inside seated around a long oval table. This was their destination.
The only two open seats were the ones that were closest to the door.
The receptionist knocked on the door, and someone inside immediately responded. "Come in."
Kiyone could immediately tell the board wasn't in a serious discussion at the moment, which meant that they indeed scheduled today with their meeting in mind. One man, looking in his late thirties, was seated in the middle, and was in full view from the door. Kiyone and Mihoshi had a feeling that this was the CEO.
He bowed to the man. "Mr. Nishimura, These are the two women from Nambu Electronics that called us earlier. Ami Mizuno and Risako Hoshie."
Kiyone and Mihoshi bowed in turn to the man.
Mr. Nishimura nodded to the women and glanced toward the receptionist. "You didn't say they were young women! What a shame, I could've freshened up somewhat first!"
The receptionist bowed again. "Apologies, but it was an audio-only call. I didn't know what they looked like," he said. He let himself out of the room.
"Thank you very much for accommodating us, Mister Nishimura," Kiyone said.
"Oh, no. I believe the thanks today go to Nambu Electronics," Nishimura explained. "Most smaller firms are afraid of negotiating with us. They have it in their heads that we'll take advantage of them somehow, but it seems Nambu is smarter than that!"
"Yes. We came here just for that."
Nishimura nodded and waved his hand to the two open seats right in front of the women.
Sitting down, Kiyone glanced around the table. On one side of the long table was another man that looked about the same age as Nishimura and didn't look out of place in the room. However, whereas the focus of the rest of the board was on Nishimura, this man was staring directly at the two of them.
Nishimura smacked himself lightly on the head. "Oh, I always forget! That man over there is Seijuro Asaka, Ashigaru Corporation President. He's been here longer than I have, believe it or not."
The President then spoke softly. "You two were lucky that today's schedule wasn't busier."
Kiyone smiled uncomfortably. "Is that so? That's good to hear, I guess."
Nishimura laughed. "Ah, don't mind him. I assure you he's a very capable president, but if we had to pay him to touch up his personality too, Ashigaru would go bankrupt!"
The rest of the board of directors snickered from his joke. To Kiyone's surprise, Asaka didn't seem to mind it much.
She then nudged Mihoshi with her elbow, reminding her of her mission. Mihoshi obliged and shifted herself in her chair so she could get a better look at Asaka without looking too suspicious."
Now it was Kiyone's turn. Even knowing that Ishizuka would tell her exactly what to say regarding the legal mumbo-jumbo, she could feel her heart beating in her throat. She took out the
At the same time, however, Kakuji Nishimura was not at all like they had expected. For a businessman, he was very much relaxed and casual. It would be easier to spin the conversation into a topic that would pique Seijuro Asaka's interest, and that was the goal.
That opportunity eventually. After Kiyone spent around ten minutes carefully explaining the proposal Nishimura asked her a question.
"Tell me, who's the one heading Nambu Electronics currently? I like knowing all of my counterparts personally."
Kiyone paused for a moment, seemingly trying to conjure an answer when in reality she was letting Ishizuka talk in her head. She'd have to carefully time her response by talking in the intervals where Ryoji was in-between sentences. At the same time, she'd couldn't wait too long without arousing suspicion for her stilted speech.
"The factory owner? His name is Hinawaju… or, no. It's Hinotsuki. Kazuki Hinotsuki," Kiyone answered. "Sorry, my memory was failing me."
"Happens to all of us."
Kiyone nodded. "Yes. And, speaking of, he was originally going to schedule this negotiation last week, but he was worried that there would be further incidents regarding that Kagato terrorist. It's a shame that someone like him could get a hold of so many weapons."
Nishimura shook his head. "It is unfortunate, but that just means the government will be better secured from now on. Meanwhile, business for us goes on like clockwork."
Asaka, who had been silent for much of the conversation, scoffed. "Moving along, do we understand that Nambu Electronics is prepared to fulfill its end of the agreement?"
"Naturally," Kiyone said. "Everyone at Nambu has consented to it."
She cleared her throat and looked back at Nishimura.
Asaka nodded. "I have no issues with the agreement and I don't believe anyone else on the board has any either. Mister Nishimura, please do us the honor of…"
Nishimura suddenly stood up, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
"You know, it's funny. For some reason, I took the liberty of bringing one of these with me today," he said as he reached for something inside his vest. To everyone's surprise, he drew a pistol.
"An X-9. Ashigaru's best selling handgun for twenty years straight! Twenty!" he said proudly.
"What? What are you doing with that?" one board member asked.
Nishimura ignored the question and went on about its quality. "It has the proven highest power-to-energy consumption ratio of any handgun, and it's cheap! A perfect specimen of Ashigaru's internal development and testing!"
"That's great, and that's why we're very interested in cooperating with your company… but could you please put that away?" Mihoshi asked, taking her eyes off of Seijuro Asaka.
Nishimura shook his head. "No, I was just thinking. It's… very hot in here! Don't you all agree? Isn't it just sweltering in here?"
One of the board members answered hesitantly. "Not that I've noticed, but we can call maintenance and see if the air conditioning is functioning…"
"No!" Nishimura interrupted. "I… it's too much! I'm suffocating in here!"
He then coughed hoarsely and put a hand over his forehead, catching the invisible sweat before it hit his eyes.
"Mr. Nishimura, please stop this at once! Drop the gun!" another board member called out. He stood up and ran out of the room. "I'm getting security!"
The CEO then around and looked at the window. "This high up, the air is much cooler than on ground level, I think. I'll just…"
He raised the gun and fired three shots into the glass pane, causing most everyone else in the room to panic and run out of the room. Everyone except for Mihoshi, Kiyone, and Asaka remained in the room with Nishimura.
The reinforced glass didn't break, but they made huge cracks in the glass.
"Ah, it is certainly strong. We need to protect ourselves from assassination, after all. Oh, but the glass is weakened. If I could just…"
"Oh, that's not necessary!" Kiyone pleaded. "You must be sick. We can call an ambulance if you-"
She couldn't finish as she was overwhelmed by the shock of seeing what Nishimura did next. He dropped the gun on the floor and stepped back, then he sprinted forward. The glass broke on impact. Kiyone could glance at the flood of euphoria on Nishmura's face as he triumphantly broke through the glass pane, ignorant of that horrible thing that would happen on street level.
The next moment, she stepped back and could hear Ishizuka yelling panicked in her ear.
"What's going on up there, Ami? I heard gunshots!"
"Lieutenant, you might want to look up…" Kiyone said softly.
"What? Oh… ah!"
"What happened?"
Ishizuka panted and caught his breath before answering. "I think I just met Nishimura. I don't think he's very… he's dead! Okay, change of plans! You and Risako get back here right now!"
"On it," Kiyone said.
She turned to Mihoshi, who looked as shocked as the board members at what just happened and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. They quickly left the room and made for the elevator.
As they passed the front the receptionist looked up from his work, surprised. "Oh, you're already done? I wasn't notified to escort you two out of…"
"Sorry, we're very impatient people!" Mihoshi said as she and Kiyone rushed by. "But believe me, Nambu Electronics will be very, very interested in cooperating with Ashigaru Corporation!"
The Lieutenant breathed a sigh of relief as soon as they got back on the Yagami and went into the cockpit. "What did you two do up there?!" he asked.
"Nothing. Nishimura was the one who fell out of a window!" Mihoshi answered while taking off the contacts.
Ryoji grabbed the devices out of her hand. "Well, it certainly wasn't part of my plan. At least we got something out of it."
He then summoned the ship's AI. "Yuu… sorry, Yagami!"
Appearing out of the ceiling again, the mushroom-shaped AI Module asked for the second time today, "Are we departing for Headquarters, Lieutenant?"
"No. Just take these contact cameras and make them… work."
Yagami blinked twice. "I will try and make them… work. Lieutenant."
Taking the contacts for itself, Yagami retreated into the ceiling. On the main screen, a video feed started. It showed Mihoshi inserting the contacts over her eyes.
"Skip to the part where they're talking with the Ashigaru Corporation board of directors," Ryoji ordered.
"Yes, yes, Lieutenant," Yagami said. "Just a moment."
The video sped up by a magnitude of 100, skipping the long trek to downtown Jurai City. Now they were seeing Mihoshi's perspective of the conference meeting. To Kiyone's pleasant surprise, she was not only looking at Seijuro Asaka, but she was doing so with just the right amount of subtlety.
Then came the point at which Kiyone attempted to covertly startle Seijuro Asaka during her conversation with Nishimura.
"The factory owner? His name is Hinawaju… or, no. It's Hinotsuki. Kazuki Hinotsuki," Kiyone said in the recording.
"Pause," Ryoji ordered. "Now rewind by five seconds and play it at half speed."
"Would you like to say please?" the AI asked.
"No. Do it." Ryoji answered.
Yagami sighed again.
As all three officers looked closely at Asaka, they noticed that the President had taken a deep breath and started blinking rapidly when Kiyone mentioned the name Hinawaju.
"He wasn't expecting that, was he?" Ryoji suggested. "Okay, keep playing at normal speed."
Then came the second attempt.
"And, speaking of, he was originally going to schedule this negotiation last week, but he was worried that there would be further incidents regarding that Kagato terrorist. It's a shame that someone like him could get a hold of so many weapons," Kiyone said in the recording.
Again, they looked closely at Asaka. Upon hearing the name Kagato, Asaka looked visibly uncomfortable. He tilted his head down slightly and took another deep breath. Then he shifted himself in his chair and leaned back, probably trying to keep some semblance of control.
Satisfied, Ryoji nodded. "All right, that's enough."
Kiyone folded her arms. "So it looks like we were right after all."
"He tried to hide it, but he couldn't have possibly expected something like that," Ryoji said.
"What do we do now?"
"Now? I think we should arrest him. We just need to find out where he…"
Then a very loud knock came from under the Yagami. All three officers left the cockpit to inspect the noise. They opened the hatch from the bottom of the ship and saw a series of reports with a camera crew nearby.
"Hello, Galaxy Police!" one of them, a young woman, announced.
"Uhh, if you're asking about parking, then we remembered to get a permit from the City of Jurai this time," Ryoji said.
"Actually, we were interested in asking you guys a few questions, since you seem to have some time."
Kiyone and Mihoshi looked at each other and smiled. They then grabbed Ryoji by the shoulders and pushed him forward into the opening. To his terror, he descended from the Yagami to the ground.
"Lieutenant, take a couple of questions while we change back into our uniforms. Try brushing up on your people skills, too," Kiyone ordered.
"What!?"
"We also need to figure out where he lives," Mihoshi said. "We won't take long!"
"Say, you're that Lieutenant Ishizuka from last week, right?" the reporter asked. "What sort of Galaxy Police business are you three on today? Do you know where Prime Minister Torishima is?"
"Well… I guess we're working on tracking down Kagato, just like we were last week. Although last week… we were planning on capturing him there and then. Oh, and Torishima? We don't... we haven't found any trace of him yet."
The reporter nodded enthusiastically. "You know, something terrible happened today. The CEO of Ashigaru Corporation died in a suicide today. Were you aware of that?"
"Oh, that?" Ryoji said, and he instantly regretted it. He just insinuated that he knew about what happened, so now he had to follow through with an answer instead of saying that he didn't know anything. "Well, I heard that he died. And… well, I saw that he died too. I mean, I was standing near the Ashigaru Building when he… well, I saw someone's shadow on top of men and I saw him... Well, I-I got out of the way in time… actually, someone pushed me out of the way. Nishimura -that's his name, I know- he collided on the ground with a lot of erm… noise. It wasn't a pretty sight, I'll just say that."
"Oh, very interesting, Lieutenant! Say, what were you doing in that area in the first place? How does it pertain to your duties?"
"I was there… because I wanted to walk. Yes! I wanted some exercise, and so I was walking! That's all. You know, I grew up in Jurai City and I know about the Densha lines… I just never used them, though. I just prefer walking."
"Would you like to make a statement on the perception of the Densha and other public transportation in Jurai City?" she then asked. "Do you think they're safe for use?"
"Would I? But I haven't lived here since I was eighteen-"
Ryoji and the television could hear the roaring of the landspeeder behind them. Kiyone and Mihoshi, now back in their uniforms, were in the front seat of the landspeeder, and Mihoshi was waving over to him.
"Oh, well it looks like we have somewhere to go. I better get back to work," Ryoji said as he walked toward the speeder. He turned around one last time and said to the crew. "Um, don't follow us. Really."
"Seijuro Asaka lives in Habukuri; a very high-end neighborhood, as you can imagine. We don't know if he's there, though."
"He has to be," Mihoshi asserted. "Where else would he sleep?"
Kiyone was amused by that answer. "Hm, sound logic."
They eventually found themselves at the door of Seijuro Asaka's residence. Indeed as Kiyone mentioned, they were in a very affluent part of the metropolis. It was an island of large houses amidst the sea of tightly packed apartments and skyscrapers. These households even had a lawn, breaking up the monotony of metal and stone.
Kiyone stopped the landspeeder down the street from the Asaka residence.
"Say, Asaka isn't married, is he?" Mihoshi asked.
Kiyone shrugged. "Hopefully not. I want to arrest him in secret." She turned back to Ryoji. "We'll handle this, Lieutenant. You can make sure that landspeeder isn't stolen."
Ryoji grunted. "In this neighborhood? Just say what you mean!"
They walked up to the front door, which, surprisingly, looked much like the types of doors they saw on Earth houses; the type that was opened physically by pushing or pulling instead of electronically moving up and down. To the side, there was an expensive-looking device with a small glass panel.
"Looks like a hand scanner that unlocks the door," Kiyone said. "We won't be able to fool it, but I'll hack into it."
"Can you?" Mihoshi asked.
Kiyone used her control cube and started looking for items. "I'm sure one of these can bypass it. Maybe this thing?"
As Kiyone took out said item and started curiously looking over its various implements, Mihoshi looked up and stared at the white square button on the side of the door.
Kiyone didn't need to look over to know what she was thinking about. "Don't ring the doorbell, Mihoshi."
"I wasn't going to, honest!" Mihoshi protested.
"Shh! Keep it down or he'll hear you!" Kiyone whispered.
Then, as Kiyone was trying to concentrate with the multi-tool in her hand, Mihoshi stood up and softly pushed her hand onto the door. To both of their surprise, it opened.
"Looks like he didn't lock it," Mihoshi said. "We're in."
Kiyone couldn't argue with that. She moved in front of Mihoshi, and both of them drew their guns. Then they moved into the house itself.
As expected, it was lavish and spacious, but it was missing something: Seijuro Asaka. The two officers slowly and methodically searched room after room; kitchen, living room, bathroom, guest room; none of them had Asaka.
That left the bedroom. As they converged on the edge of the door. They heard a loud thud, almost like someone had fallen.
The interior had traditional Juraian sliding doors instead of a lock, so Kiyone simply grabbed the door with her left hand and strongly pulled it back. However, neither of them was at all prepared to see what was inside. There was Seijuro Asaka, lying limp on the floor, and a man was standing over him. Wearing small spectacles, a green robe, and silver hair, he was immediately recognizable.
"Kagato!"
The man in question turned and faced the uninvited guests in silence.
He backed away into a corner of the room.
Kiyone nudged her head toward Asaka. Mihoshi recognized the order and quickly knelt to inspect the President.
She tried smacking him lightly on the face. "Mr. Asaka? Seijuro Asaka?"
She noticed that he wasn't breathing, and upon lifting his head, she discovered bright red marks all over his neck. She realized the worst: Kagato had strangled the poor man to death.
Angered, Mihoshi stood back up and pointed her gun toward Kagato. "You're a monster!"
He then smiled at her realization. He was proud of the deed.
Kiyone took another step forward. "I won't miss this time. I will kill you if you try to escape."
Kagato looked unamused by the declaration. He dropped the smile and looked up at the ceiling. This bedroom didn't have any windows. It was illuminated only by the lights in the hall, as well as the light in the ceiling.
An idea seemed to spring up in the man's head as he held his chin and shrugged. He took off the white glove on his right arms and quickly snapped his fingers.
The lights in both the hallway and the room went out. Kiyone, not wasting a second, fired her gun right to where Kagato was, but in the brief flash of light coming from the plasma shot, she could see that Kagato was no longer in the room.
"Damn!" a frustrated Kiyone said.
Mihoshi was meanwhile trying to snap her fingers to turn the lights back on. After three unsuccessful attempts, she holstered her gun and clapped her hands. The lights went back on, but as Kiyone expected, Kagato was gone. The shot from her gun had struck the back wall of the room, leaving a large burn mark.
"This is… unexpected," Mihoshi said. "You should've shot him, Kiyone."
"Yeah," Kiyone said. She found herself looking around the room, looking for any hints as to what just happened. She looked into a corner of the ceiling and discovered a small cylinder with a lens looking at the both of them.
"A camera," Kiyone said, pointing to the object in question. "Where's the computer linked to that camera?"
They found what Kiyone was looking for in the room next door.
Kiyone turned it on and was surprised but pleased to find out that it required no password for the login.
"Just because you live alone doesn't mean you shouldn't have a password," Kiyone said to herself as she typed along. "Mihoshi, go out and tell Ishizuka to call the JCPD; tell them we found Seijuro Asaka dead here. I'll be out in a minute."
"Should we tell them that Kagato was here?" Mihoshi asked. It was a good question, and Kiyone had to think over her answer for a few seconds.
"No. They wouldn't believe us if we told them that Kagato had just vanished."
Mihoshi nodded and ran out of the house.
The blonde officer looked at the approaching officer with concern. "You... you didn't shoot Asaka, did you?"
"No, but Seijuro Asaka is… dead. Kagato killed him." Mihoshi whispered. "Kiyone wants you to call the JCPD and tell them what we found, minus Kagato."
Ryoji blinked twice at the request before shrugging and pulling out his control cube. "Him? You... found him? Where is he!?"
"He just... left."
Ryoji looked at Mihoshi with bewilderment but realized that she had to be telling the truth. "Today is just getting worse by the hour."
Kiyone walked out of the house herself the next minute and got back into the driver's seat.
"What kept you?" Ryoji said, putting away his cube. He and Mihoshi saw that Kiyone held out something in her hand. It was a small metallic disk, the same type that goes into a computer.
"There was a security camera inside Asaka's house that was inside the room where he died. I downloaded the last hour of footage onto this disk." She explained. "Hopefully we can find out what happened just before we entered his house. Also, what time is it?"
"The time?" Ryoji repeated, looking at the control cube he was holding in his hand. "Um, the time is 5:13."
"Alright. Thanks."
"Lieutenant, I am hesitant to ask if we are departing for Headquarters." Yagami said upon meeting the three officers.
"We are departing for Headquarters," Ryoji said.
"Excellent! Just twenty more minutes and our parking permit would've expired!"
Once in space, Kiyone took the small metallic disk and gave it to the Yagami. "Can you use this?" she asked.
"If I couldn't, I'd request a recall and upgrade." Yagami answered.
Soon, a collage of nine camera feeds came on the cockpit's screen.
"Focus on the one in the bedroom," Kiyone ordered. "We got out of there at five-thirteen… alright. Skip to exactly 5:08 this afternoon, Yagami."
"Yes, ma'am."
Exactly ten seconds after 5:08, Seijuro Asaka walked into the bedroom, untied his tie, and quickly fell on his bed, looking exhausted. However, instead of sleeping. He heard a knocking noise outside in the hallway. He reluctantly got up to answer, not seemingly flustered by how someone got inside after him.
As expected, it was Kagato who came inside.
"What did you do, Kagato?" Asaka asked.
"I killed Kakuji Nishimura," was his nonchalant answer.
"But… that wasn't part of my plan! Why did you…" Asaka, looking flustered, couldn't finish what he was saying.
"The Galaxy Police confiscated all the weapons you let me… borrow. Nobody knows that they were genuine Ashigaru Corporation products." Kagato explained. "Great news for the company, but not much for your plan to generate a scandal and force Nishimura to resign."
Asaka grunted in disappointment at the news. "Just my luck!"
Kagato nodded. "I felt somewhat bad for you, so I took matters into my own hands. After what happened today, however, I don't think it will have made any difference." Kagato said.
Asaka looked confused. "What 'happened' today? I don't follow you."
"Those two women, the representatives from Nambu Electronics, they weren't really from Nambu Electronics," Kagato explained. "They were Galaxy Police officers. I met one of them at the National Assembly, so I'd know. They talked to that Hinawaju fellow at the factory before coming to your workplace, and he told them everything about what you made him do, too."
Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Ryoji couldn't believe what they were hearing. How Kagato could have known exactly what they were doing that day was beyond any of their understanding.
"Even so, there's nothing to fear," Asaka said reassuringly. "Hinwaju's confession is nothing; the police won't take him seriously. There's no real evidence to tie me to anything."
Kagato pointed right at the officer trio- that is to say, the camera that's situated in the corner of the bedroom.
Asaka himself looked over at the device before realizing he was recording his own confession. He got up in a hurry and made for the door. "Bah! I'm an idiot! I'll erase that recording right-"
"There's no time for that," Kagato interrupted. "Those two women, they're outside, although the blonde one hasn't figured out the door is unlocked yet."
Mihoshi looked at Kiyone with concern. "This guy is… creepy."
"What?" Asaka said in a much quieter voice. "Y-you bastard! Why didn't you tell me?"
Kagato shrugged. "I was still deciding if you were still useful to me. The way I see it, you probably won't be able to procure another shipment of Ahshigaru products after today, so… I suppose it depends on your preference. You don't want to spend the rest of your life in prison, do you?"
"Of course not!"
Kagato nodded. "Very well. In that case, I'm going to kill you."
"What-"
Before he could finish, Kagato rushed forward and grabbed Asaka by the neck, then pushed him against the wall. Using just one hand to pin him in place and strangle him, it became clear to three officers that Kagato is much stronger than he appears.
Having seen everything and not wanting to see a murder, Kiyone turned the video off.
Kiyone sighed. "Kagato. Who is this guy?
Ryoji scratched his head. "I'm not sure if we can explain that to Fujiwara."
On their way back to their briefing room, they saw two men lifting a rectangle-shaped piece of the wall- the one with the hole courtesy of Mitsuki- onto a floating platform. They looked inside and saw someone carefully welding a brand new wall section where the old one was just removed.
"All done," he said, standing up. "I don't know what SIFO is supposed to be, but make sure they don't shoot the wall again."
"Of course," Airi said.
As he walked out of the room, the Superintendent was delighted to see her subordinates return.
"Ah, Ami and Risako! Nambu Electronics must be very proud of your negotiating skills!" She said.
"They'll be getting a lot of publicity for the next few days. That's better than nothing," Kiyone said.
Airi nodded. "And what did you find out about Ashigaru Corporation?"
"Seijuro Asaka, President of Ashigaru Corporation, intimidated a factory owner to give him a shipment of weapons that he then sent Kagato's way. He wanted to use the scandal to pressure the CEO Kakuji Nishimura to resign and then take up the position himself."
"Oh? And where is Seijuro Asaka now? Did you arrest him? Does the CEO know about this?"
Kiyone cleared her throat before giving the bad news. "They're both dead. Nishimura went crazy and threw himself out of a window at the top of the Ashigaru Corporation Building; Asaka… was killed by Kagato-strangled to death."
Airi's eyebrows perked up at his mentioning. "Kagato? And how did you know that?"
"We… met him at the scene of the crime- Asaka's home. We tried to arrest him, but… he just disappeared on us. I'm sorry, I can't really explain it."
Mihoshi nodded. "He just turned off the lights, and he was gone! Kiyone even tried shooting him, but he vanished into thin air!"
Airi looked intrigued by that detail. "Anything else?"
Kiyone sighed. "Yes. We reviewed security footage inside Asaka's home, and somehow Kagato knew exactly what we were doing for the whole day. It's like he was watching us plan everything else in person. I… can't explain that either."
Airi was silent, thinking over what to say.
"This wasn't what I was expecting to learn, but we probably learned something even more important about Kagato." She said finally. "Vanishing into thin air, being able to know when he shouldn't know? No one can do that. We'll keep that in mind the next time we see him. You're dismissed for now."
Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Ryoji saluted as Airi went to leave, but she turned around to say one last thing before they left.
"Oh, and Ishizuka, that was a terrific interview you gave this afternoon!"
To be continued...
PREVIEW OF
NEXT EPISODE
"Hey, it's Mitsuki again. I hope Airi isn't too mad about that hole in the wall I made, but for the record, it was entirely that bubblehead's fault for scaring me!"
"Oh well, I have to focus on my mission now. It's funny; we're called Galaxy Police Detectives, but we honestly don't do much detective work. That's is going to change though. I'm being sent to investigate a murder linked to Kagato, but it looks like I'll also be getting some unwanted help along the way. Say, did I ever tell you I was born in Jurai City? Oh, of course not. Who do you think I am, the main protagonist!?"
The next episode of Tenchi Muyo: Miho-Kiyo Complex: Episode Five- "Kushi-Yori Investigations!"
"It's unquestionably going to be the first episode without Kiyone and Mihoshi! You better enjoy it, or else…"
Author's Note #4: You thought I went on hiatus? Well, that's because I did!
I wasn't planning on it, but school, anime, and a temporary dip in passion for this story put this episode on the back burner for the past year. Also, COVID-19 didn't affect my schedule at all. In anything, it's would've given me more time to work on this story, but I just didn't have the interest at the time.
The past few days, however, I sat down and decided that I wanted to finish this for good. While the general concept for the episode had already been written, at least 35% of the episode was stuff that I have written in these past few days.
That said, during the hiatus, I was still working on this episode infrequently and added a lot of story ideas then. However, I subsequently removed much of that because I wasn't sure if they were necessary to include in this specific episode or if they'd fit at all.
I've also sort of been working on this episode and the next one simultaneously at the same time. Kushi-Yori Investigations! is already over 9000 words, but I'm probably going to rewrite much of that before I publish it. At least it's still better than starting from scratch.
And as for the Sailor Mercury joke... fanfiction is a special medium in that it's non-canon status means that the writer can get away with a lot of stuff that couldn't be done in the official medium. Also, I just love Sailor Moon, so I had to do it eventually.
So, if you're interested in this story, please give me any feedback you have, and keep in touch for the next episode of Miho-Kiyo Complex, which I guarantee won't take another seven months to release.