Chapter 8: Seed
Fumi Murata gazed at the time on the computer screen. It was fast approaching midnight, and she still wasn't done finalising the memorandums that her boss, Genryu Tachibana, had asked her to be ready first thing in the morning. She had watched through the night as every other person in the administration office gradually departed, as they successfully completed their own work, until she was the only one left. At least some office gossip earlier when there were other people in the room had kept her from feeling lonely, but now all she had left was this computer screen in the knowledge that she probably wouldn't be leaving before 2 AM at this rate. She drank another glass of water before realising a visit to the bathroom was in short order. She pulled herself from the table, feeling the imaginary chains might as well be real, and headed for the nearby restroom down the corridor. She flicked the light switch on, which didn't help ease her feelings of isolation much. She walked down the corridor, her own footsteps echoing uneasily, until she reached the door to the restroom. She pulled a set of keys out of her pocket, keys that one of the last cleaners to leave had left her in case of needing to use the facilities, and walked in. She fumbled about near the door and located the light switch for the bathroom. She looked at the mirror that stood above the sink area, and didn't like what she saw. She was only twenty nine, but judging from what she saw in the mirror this job was ageing her fast. She wondered if Mr Tachibana appreciated the long overtime hours she took to keep the firm running. She sighed in resignation knowing her night still had a long time to go, and entered one of the toilet cubicles. Her muscles relaxed as she relieved herself. It was relieving to her body, but then all of a sudden a very unpleasant scent accosted her nostrils. It smelled like mould.
"Yuck, did the cleaners not even do their job?" She sighed quietly to herself. She was just about done when she felt a strange sensation on her arm. Lifting it up so she could take a look, she didn't know what to make of what she saw; a strange greenish goop had splashed near her shoulder. Not knowing what to make of it, she looked up at the roof, and saw that there was some kind of leak from the corner of one of the panels. She didn't know what to make of the substance, but it was pretty clear it was the source of the unpleasant, mouldy odor. She would have to report that there was something blocking the ventilation system. As she stood up to finish her business, she heard a scraping above her. She looked up again, and screamed, only for a moment, before it was cut short by a long putrid arm covered in green slime wrapping itself around her head and neck. Her legs kicked fruitlessly as she was dragged up through the roof panel. One of her shoes went flying against the door, the last thing she remembered was hearing a deep heavy breathing, before blackness set in.
Jun Fudo sat down after finishing a protracted photo shoot that would be part of a cellphone ad campaign. It wasn't the kind of work that she typically did; and overall she found it tedious. During the shoot, she wasn't the focus of the camera. The phone she held in her hand was, and she felt more like a glorified accessory, incidental and just there to draw attention. Even though in most of her work she was selling clothes, at least she felt like part of the reason she was hired to do as such was her own presence. Here, she was like a third wheel. That also described her feelings about why she had to take the job in the first place, because this one wasn't standard through her agency. The blonde haired tyrant was here as well, keeping a close eye on her hunting dog under cover as her agent for the day, and that this whole charade had a different purpose. Asuka had briefed her by phone that a number of suspicious disappearances had been recently occurring among the staff of a PR firm based out of a skyscraper in Marunouchi. The initial police investigation made some strange findings, which included plant like matter found in the building and evidence that at least one employee record had been falsely manipulated. They quickly handed things over to the HA based on this evidence. Asuka wanted to investigate the firm via subterfuge in order to try and ascertain if a Devil Beast was involved without giving things away. And so Asuka had arranged a liaison between Jun's agency, and Tachibana PR, reasoning that it would be a good way to get close to the matter. She watched Asuka from her seated spot on a corner sofa discussing things with an older gentleman and a woman next to him, who was probably his PA. The only joy she had was seeing Asuka, the COO of the Human Alliance in a plaid skirt ; she had to take would little satisfaction she could get.
After the discussion ended, and the older gentleman walked off with his PA, Asuka walked up to her and motioned her to follow her to a quiet corner.
"I've managed to arrange what I wanted to today. I'm going to need you tomorrow night; the two of us will be attending dinner with Genryu Tachibana, his wife, and his son Genichi."
"I take it you have reason to suspect one of them?" Jun inquired. Asuka gave a hesitant shack of her head.
"We don't have much to go on, and we need to find a starting point. I'm fairly certain this creature is territorial; most are. So I do believe there's a connection to the firm. I paid attention to some of the gossip going around today whilst you were doing the shoot. Genryu wants to find the right fit for his bachelor son. And from talking to him, I'm confident he would approve of you." Jun felt extremely uncomfortable with what Asuka was asking her to do; it was one thing fighting monsters, but asking her to take part in a deception designed to betray someone's trust, to violate their privacy based on the completely unsubstantiated feeling they might be a devil beast felt a step too far. A lot of this must have been written on her face, because before she even found a reply;
"You tempt others every day with the images of you plastered around all of Japan. If you didn't get some satisfaction from that you would have taken a different career path. Don't bother trying to bring your morality into it now." Jun lost her nerve, Asuka always knew how to shut her down. "Good; you understand your role. We can't just rely on you getting close enough to try and identify by scent anymore; we've seen that's unreliable at best. We need to get you into their confidence; hopefully by that will you be able to find our mark. Make sure you come dressed to seduce, I'd say bring along the predator inside you, but you're obviously never seperated from it." Jun glared icily at her before getting up to leave. Asuka called to her as she left the set.
"Kogare will text you the details, be there on time." Jun absorbed that without looking back.
The following day, Jun realised she would need to buy an outfit suitable for the task Asuka had assigned her. Given it was Saturday and Kazumi was free, Jun had asked her if she wanted to come along on a shopping spree in one of the more glamourous malls in Ginza.
"Wow, Jun," Kazumi exclaimed, "I wouldn't normally shop here myself, this place is all top-of-the-line, I don't make this kind of money."
"That's understandable, you just work part-time. I've been doing very well lately, so I wanted to treat us both. Let me know if you see anything you really like, I'll cover it."
"Are you sure, Jun? I really don't want to impose," Kazumi replied.
"Don't be silly, you've never imposed. I could always spend more money on myself today than you, if it makes you feel better," she winked, "besides, we're supposed to be glamorous, right?"
"Awesome," Kazumi cheered, loosened from the restraint of responsibility. Jun gained a great deal of joy as they spent several hours trying out different clothes and cosmetics in all the various high brand stores. She allowed herself to be free of responsibility for the time, and simply enjoyed the moments. By the end of the shopping spree, they'd bought a number of cosmetic sets, perfumes and clothing ranging from full dresses to jackets and shoes. Kazumi also insisted that they took a photograph of both of them standing in front of a large advertising canvas in the store's front window, because the subject was Jun herself. She had drawn some eyes whilst they were in the store, and had even been offered some small complimentary gifts by one of the clerks. Jun could tell Kazumi was very impressed by that; which gave her a strong feeling of accomplishment. Probably the most enjoyable part though was simply watching Kazumi try on the different clothes, because Kazumi herself seemed to be having such a great time. Eventually however she did have to choose suitable attire for her mission.
"Kazumi, can I ask a favour?" She asked nervously.
"Yeah, any time Jun, what is it?"
"I've been invited to a dinner date tomorrow," Jun explained, "and I want to attract attention. I'm going to try a few things on, I'd like you to help me pick something out." Kazumi tilted her head.
"Really? I had started to wonder if you would ever make time in your life for dating." Jun blushed, and shrugged. Kazumi laughed gently.
"Of course I'll help, it's the least I could do." Happy with Kazumi's reply, Jun started browsing for evocative dress wear, intentionally picking things up that she would normally reject on the basis of being too aggressively sexual. She didn't particularly judge anyone who liked that sort of thing, she just felt it wasn't for her. When she had a number of different options amassed with a shop clerk who attended the dressing rooms, she started trying various different garments, and showing the results to Kazumi just outside the dressing area. It wasn't long before Kazumi started noticing a common theme.
"I have to say I'm a little surprised; I always thought you'd be too shy to show off this much skin outside of your work," she eyed Jun up and down, with what Jun took as deliberately comical leering.
"Do you think I might be trying too hard?" Jun asked. Kazumi shrugged.
"Maybe. I mean, I don't think you should need to try hard if you want to attract anyone's attention. Give me a second." Kazumi walked into one of the various aisles and returned promptly carrying a set of clothes, items which were of much more plain in appearance and modest compared to the various low-cut and garish clothes that Jun had been trying on before.
"Try these, see what you think. And before you come out to ask me, why don't you see for yourself in the mirror first ?" Jun took the clothes and went back into the changing rooms. It took a few moments for her to realise what Kazumi meant; she had been skipping that part, being too needful of approval from another standpoint. As she got dressed into the new set, she found herself in the mirror; an embroidered white shirt, cream denim jeans, and the feeling that what she was seeing was how she wanted to see herself. Kazumi called to her from just outside the cubicle.
"I think all you would need is just a few simple extras to give the look a little bit more flavour. Try these out." Kazumi passed her through a violet muffler, an elegant pair of tan shoes and a dark leather belt with a rather unique round buckle." Jun was impressed with Kazumi's judgement, the spoke of wisdom beyond her years when it came to aesthetics. But it also helped her realise that if she was going to do what Asuka wanted, she needed to do it on her own terms.
"How do I look?" She asked Kazumi having finished adjusting all the items. Kazumi give her a thumbs up.
"Perfect. Just finish it with a couple of nice earings, use a little bit more in the foundation department, you'll knock anyone out. When you came out dressing kind of ah... provocative, you blushed way too much, and I don't think it's pity you're looking for, right?"
"Right," Jun agreed. "Well, we still have some time, after I get all this paid for, how about we go get some coffee, my treat?"
"Sure, sounds good." Kazumi nodded enthusiastically.
After they had sat down inside a café, and made their orders, Kazumi beamed as she looked at a gift Jun had just bought her in its felt box.
"Thanks Jun, I had a great time today. I still feel a bit guilty though, for you to spend this kind of money on me. Especially this brooch, you shouldn't have bought this just for me." The brooch was in the shape of an elegant swan, and made of high quality silver according to the specs given inside the jewelry shop. Embedded in it were lovely dark sapphires. It was so pretty and immediately had attracted Kazumi's attention. It had also been expensive enough to make her gasp, yet Jun simply bought it for her then and there.
"That's the attitude of a responsible adult creeping in," Jun replied in good humour, "And there are times where we have to be that. But there are times where we have to be carefree. I wanted to give us both the chance today, so don't worry about it. You'll have plenty of time for your worries in the future, believe me."
"Yeah, I think I see what you mean," Kazumi replied, as carefully deposited the brooch's box inside her bag. "I can't wait to wear this on a night out. One day, I want to treat you to something like this."
"I look forward to it," Jun replied happily, "but don't worry. I only wanted to give you a token to show what you mean to me Kazumi. Cost wasn't even a factor." There was a lovely moment where silence and appreciation passed between them, but it was quickly interruped. Kazumi noticed the smile disappearing from Jun's face as a phone in her bag started ringing. Jun quickly took the phone from her bag to see who the caller was.
"Sorry Kazumi, I need to take this somewhere private. I'll be back shortly," Jun said as she got up.
"Sure, don't worry about it, "Kazumi replied. The agitation Jun displayed at times like these was hard not to notice, but she didn't know what to make of it. She spaced for a moment, looking towards the ladies bathroom where Jun had gone, then turned her head to see a the back of a man in a long biege coat she thought was familiar for some reason sitting at a table nearby. A moment later it hit her who he was.
"Mr. Sakazawa?" She said after standing up and approaching the man. He turned around in his chair.
"Oh, Miss Takiura, I didn't expect to run into you today."
"That's mutual. You're not following me, are you?"
"What? Of course not, why would you think so?" Sakazawa's reaction did not strike her as guiltless. As well as that, Sakazawa was conspicuous by his absence at her parent's wake despite his claims of being a friend of her father's.
"I don't know, but I will say if you are, you had better stop. I don't know if its me or Jun you're stalking, but its disgusting." Sakazawa did not meet her eye.
"I have reasons..."
"I don't care. I don't want to see you again, if I do, I'll call the police." Sakazawa stood up.
"Alright, I understand. You won't see me again, I promise. It was never to do you any harm, though."
"Just go." Kazumi watched as Sakazawa made himself scarce, and sat back down in her chair. A few moments later, Jun returned.
"Is anything wrong Kazumi?" She asked in concern.
"No, nothing," Kazumi replied, doing her best to shake off her discomfort. "Are we ready to go home now?"
"If there's not anything else that you want to do; we could go."
"Yeah, I think I'm done. I just really want to go home now." On their way back home, by train, she couldn't help but notice that Kazumi wouldn't look her in the eye, even though they sat together. She wondered if it had been something she said.
The restaurant that she and Asuka had been invited to that evening, an exclusive Italian restaurant also in Ginza, was impressive; and frankly outside of her normal pay bracket. It didn't take very long as they waited to be tabled that Asuka commented on Jun's dress choice for the evening.
"Playing this a bit modest, aren't we?" She said passively, but no less aggressively.
"I'll do as you ask, if that's what you're worried about," Jun responded casually, "Hunting is about subtlety as much as it is violence." Asuka eyes widened, and she nodded in approval.
"You're learning fast, don't you think you were born to be what you are?" To that Jun stayed silent. The way Kazumi's demeanour had suddenly changed earlier that day was on her mind. By the time she was ready to leave for this appointment, Kazumi had started acting normally again, but she still found herself concerned. Not that she wanted to share those concerns with Asuka. The waiter, an impeccably dressed gentleman, returned.
"I apologise for the wait," he bowed, "We had to rearrange some tables due to some late reservations. You will be tabled at number five, if you please follow me." Asuka led Jun as they followed the waiter and sat down at one of the centrepiece tables.
"I imagine your fellow guests will arrive soon, in the meantime feel free to order anything from our wines list." Asuka took the list from a stand at the centre of the table and made an order for some strong red wine. Jun asked for Chardonnay. They waited around ten minutes before the Tachibanas arrived to join them. Accompanying Genryu was his wife, a middle-aged woman with a terse countenance and a frown seemingly permanently etched on her face, and his son, who unlike his parents wore glasses; and looked very uncomfortable in his business suit and bowtie.
"Well now, Miss Asuka, Miss Fudo, it's a pleasure to see you both again," Genryu Tachibana said.
"Mutually," Asuka responded as she stood up and shook his hand. Jun followed, noticing that when she shook Genichi's hand that it lacked the firmness of his parents. Something about him really didn't belong, and he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. She could understand that. It made it easier for her smile at him to be natural, rather than fraudulent.
"I'm glad to make your acquaintance, Mr Tachibana. May I call you Genichi?" Before the son could respond, his father interrupted.
"Of course, this isn't business after all. I take it the reverse is true?"
"Yes, Lan," Asuka chimed in with her first name.
"Nakiko" Mrs Tachibana said rather frostily.
"Jun," Jun said to Genichi, as everybody sat down.
"Well Jun," Genichi finally having a chance to say something whilst his parents ordered their drinks
"My father told me you were contracted to appear with our current clients in their ads. But that's all I know, really.
"It's a gig," Jun replied casually.
"No need to be modest, my dear," Genryu said, "You've been making a lot of waves. People told me after seeing some of your work that we could make some excellent use of it to help our current clients, and everybody was very happy with you. I mean, they did say you are a bit quiet, but the quality of your work is excellent. Felt the least I could do as the head of the firm was show our gratitude with some old-fashioned hospitality." Jun blushed, something that she was simply prone to when absorbing compliments. And she thought some of them were even genuine, even knowing the man's ulterior motives. She looked at Nakiko, and found her difficult to read.
"Well now, are we all ready to place an order?" Asuka asked the table.
As the meal wore on, Jun focused most of her attempts at conversation directly at Genichi. He was shy, but slowly he opened up, when she found he had a keen interest in talking about his childhood. There wasn't much of a gap in their age, although Jun growing out in the countryside meant she wasn't as familiar with some of the things he talked about enjoying, which seemed like an eclectic mix of cartoons and comics. She listened and feigned as much interest as she could, even replying to Genryu when he observed that she would likely be bored by the topic that she wasn't. It wasn't hard to see why his father somewhat disapproved however; Genichi didn't really show much of an interest in business, and seemed to be distant. Jun wondered if that's how she often came across to people. She realised that Asuka's plan wasn't going to work unless she took some direct action.
"Genichi, would you be willing to come take a walk with me? It's rather stuffy in here." Genichi looked at his father, before rather awkwardly standing up.
"Yeah, sounds good."
"I think that would be for the best," Asuka observed, "We'll stay here; we still have some business to discuss. You two, go stretch your legs." It rather frustrated Jun that when Asuka had to put on a veneer of being normal, she was extremely convincing at it. She led Genichi outside of the restaurant. The sun was just preparing to set. Genichi stared up at the reddening sky.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Jun commented.
"Yeah. There's a park nearby, should still be open," Genichi remarked. Jun took that as a positive sign; he was interested in her, even if he didn't really show it. She gently hooked one of his arms and they started walking.
"Well, you're not really like any of the other girls my dad's tried this with," he said nonchalantly.
"I imagine. I can't say you're quite what I expected either," Jun replied.
"I work hard for the firm, I do my best. But dad is really old-fashioned on how he views life outside of work, and he thinks I should be projecting a similar image." Jun nodded her understanding.
"I kind of got that. I came as a favour for my agency, Miss Asuka was upfront to me about what this was for. I never really came with any intent to be anything other than myself." They entered the park as their conversation continued, stopping when they neared a children's play park where some kids were still playing.
"They'll have to go home pretty soon, will be dark before long," Jun remarked, as a ball flew over a fence, landing on the footpath just in front of them. Genichi reached for the ball and tossed it back at the children who had been playing with it.
"Must be nice though, I spent most of my childhood at a boarding school, and when I was at home, studying. When I did get free time, I was mainly limited to the grounds of our home, so TV and comics were a relatively big thing for me. Sorry if I got a little bit nerdy on you earlier about it. "
"Not at all, I can somewhat identify with that. I was often sickly as a child. My mother read me stories a lot."
"What does your mother do?" Genichi inquired, "Sorry if that's prying too much."
"No need, she's a doctor, working in the US currently."
"Really? I mean no offence by this but when I was told you were a fashion model, I wouldn't have assumed your mother was a doctor."
"I'm guessing because when you've been in this situation before, the type of women fit a certain archetype, am I right?"
"Right, they're usually socialites, I mean, I guess you at least work for a living. Most of them don't." They approached a tire swing hanging from a nearby oak tree. Jun sat down on it, and motioned for Genichi to push her.
"Arent we a little bit old for this?" He said wryly.
"How about just for the second we're not?" Jun replied airily. She enjoyed the rushing of air on her face as Genichi pushed her. Of all the things that could have possibly happened, the last thing she expected was to have this much fun.
The following day, Jun sat as her regular make up artist, Asami worked on her face; today's job was back to the familiar, modelling clothes and cosmetics.
"It's been a while since we last saw each other, Jun. How are you keeping?" Asami asked brightly.
"Fine, I suppose," Jun responded curtly.
"Still a woman of few words," Asami replied, unperturbed, as she leaned into apply eye shadow. "You weren't always this aloof though."
"Sorry, I know," Jun lowered her guard, "Just been working a lot lately, it's tiring." Before Asami could reply, a soft knock emanated from the door. "Come in." Jun recognised from the knock that it was likely her agent. She saw in the mirror as he opened the door that he was also carrying a bouquet of flowers in his arm.
"Yuasa, you shouldn't have," Asami teased, causing him to noticeably blush.
"These were sent for you, Jun," he said, "Will I leave them on the table just now?"
"Sure, thanks, Yuasa. I'll be ready soon, talk to you again after the shoot?" Yuasa nodded and exited, closing the door.
"It's funny," Asami said, as she went back to her work.
"What is?" Jun asked obliviously.
"You don't see it? He acts like a schoolboy around you, always has. I'm not too surprised to see him a little put out that someone else is sending you flowers."
"Nonsense," Jun laughed, "You're seeing things."
"I'm on the 'outside looking in' part of this industry. Jun, there are things that I get a much more clear view of than you do."
"Be that as it may, I would prefer not to discuss this kind of thing," Jun said firmly. Asami shrugged, not taking it harshly.
After work, Yuasa offered to take Jun home. She accepted, carrying the flowers that had been sent to her that day. Expectantly, they were from Genichi Tachibana. They contained an invite to a small function taking place at the offices of Tachibana PR that evening. Asuka would approve, it hadn't taken her very long at all to find a way to get into the premises with a clear cover. Not that she knew what she was going to do there, but one thing at a time. Yuasa was uncharacteristically quiet. On these drives he would usually goad her into a conversation, but not this time. "It doesn't bother you, that I got these from someone today?" She inquired without any tact.
"Of course not. Why would it?" Yuasa answered calmly. Under most circumstances, he wouldn't have betrayed anything about the fact that he wasn't being entirely truthful. But maybe because she wanted to know if there was a doubt there, she sought it. Using her enhanced senses she picked up on a tell tale tic, an odd twitching of his index finger and thumb on the steering wheel; and also that his breathing was slightly irregular. Just ever so slightly, mere human hearing wouldn't have been able to pick up on it at all.
"Please Yuasa, I don't mind at all if you'll be frank with me."
"Honestly Jun, there's no problem. The flowers were delivered to our offices by mail order, said on them clearly who they were from. Nothing suspicious, nothing out of order. I would only have reason to be concerned if everything wasn't above board."
"All right." It wasn't an entirely satisfactory answer, but she also knew when pressing any more wouldn't do any good.
Per the instructions given in the invitation, Jun called the offices of Tachibana to ask for them to send a driver when she got home. Before the driver would pick her up she had time to have dinner with Kazumi and make sure she was fully prepared. She also reported the developments to Asuka who instructed her to engage as many people as possible in conversation among the staff and to keep her eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. Thinking about the real reason she was going soured her mood, so she tried not to dwell on it. It didn't really work.
"I hope you have a good time, Jun," Kazumi had said as they ate together. The sincerity made her wince inside. Genichi Tachibana seemed like a kindred spirit to her in some ways, that moment in the park felt sincere on his end, and somehow that made things worse. She didn't intend to move forward with any kind of relationship with him, or anyone, not with her situation being what it was. Well, that evening she was going to do what Asuka instructed, and deal with the cards that fall. There wasn't much else she could do. Kazumi saw her off as she got into the car; the driver held the door open for her to enter. There was no going back now.
The drive to the skyscraper in Marunouchi took about forty minutes. Rather than drop her off at the front door of the building, the car drove down the tunnel into the building's underground car park.
"An aide will be waiting for you, they'll take you up the elevators to the right floor," the driver told her.
"No offence, but isn't this a little bit irregular? I feel like I'm sneaking into the building." The driver shrugged.
"Not sure why, but the security's tightened up a bit in the whole building, not just Tachibana. I think they're just following the policy of the premises right now. I don't know much about it, I just get hired by them now and again."
"Makes sense I suppose. Thank you anyway," Jun said as the car came to a stop and she released her seatbelt to get out.
"You're welcome," the man tipped his hat and drove off. As the driver had said, there was indeed an aide waiting for her nearby the elevators. She was an officious looking woman, hair contained in a tight bun, but young, still in her early twenties.
"I imagine you would be Jun Fudo, but if you don't mind; can I see your invitation?" She said
in no tone to suggest that she cared about what Jun may have minded. Jun simply took the invite from her pocket and handed it over. The aide took a moment to glance over it, then handed it back.
"I'm Fukiwara. Follow me" she said curtly. There wasn't much physical resemblance, but apart from that this woman reminded her all too much of another woman in her life she couldn't stand. She wondered if all secretaries were like that. As they headed to enter one of the lifts, the aide stopped for a moment outside one that had a large poster on it declaring that it was out of order.
"It's been weeks..." Jun heard the woman mutter under her breath. The loss of control was only for a moment, then they entered a working lift on the opposite wall.
"This is just a small office party, you understand. Tachibana Senior decided it would be good for morale, as our workload has been heavy as of late. He thought it would be more efficient to hold it here for a few hours. There won't be much, if any drinking, and many of the staff will probably stay afterwards to continue with their workloads. I'm simply telling you this now because you're probably used to much more exciting fare. I'm actually rather surprised you even came."
"Yes, I suppose it's strange when you put it like that. He was gracious enough to send me an invite and I don't mind attending. I don't have the most exciting life. Modelling is not all glamour, take it from me." Fukiwara glanced over.
"No, maybe not. I didn't really give it much thought. Sorry, I know I'm being very taciturn tonight. It's not fair to take it out on you." Jun was a little surprised, but it seemed her initial impression of Fukiwara was a bit hasty.
"Working hard and feeling a bit unappreciated maybe?" She observed.
"Perhaps," Fukiwara said gaily. "What I would ask of you though is to follow my direction and keep to the premises of the office. Keep in sight. It's for your own safety, I can't really talk about why, but it would be irresponsible not to at least let you know. The most I can say is we've had some incidents that the police are investigating."
"Oh, I see. Yet you're still open, doing business and having office parties?"
"Very much Tachibana Sr.'s doing," Fukiwara sighed. "Life must go on, we still have jobs to do," she said in a mock impersonation of her boss. Jun found herself much more endeared to Fukiwara for it.
"All right, don't worry I won't go exploring," Jun replied. That was a total lie, but she could take care of herself. She did very much appreciate the concern however, she didn't get much of it these days.
"Miss Fudo, I'm really glad to see that you've come," Genichi Tachibana welcomed as Jun and Fukiwara disembarked the elevator. The main administration office of Tachibana PR was a large square room with various cubicles organised around the outer edges. It looked like usually there would also be more cubicles at the centre, that had been temporarily cleared away. Instead, in the middle of the room was a set of tables carrying a modest buffet. Surrounding the table were a number of the staff, more women than men, and all of them still dressed for admin work. Despite that, the general atmosphere was quite relaxed, with groups of two or three individuals occupied in conversation with one another. Jun's arrival garnered some attention, particularly from some of the male staff for a moment before everybody resumed as if she wasn't there.
"I invited you to this little party because we have a number of big contracts coming up and to be brutally honest, I really don't know when I'll next have any free time at all, but I wanted to talk to you some more," Genichi remarked a little sheepishly.
"Sounds like your father works you to the bone," Jun replied, "But I appreciate the invite. I do go to soirees in my industry sometimes but I kinda find those stifling a lot of the time. This seems a lot more laid-back."
"Mind if I introduce you to some of the staff then? Some of them are definitely curious why a successful fashion model would ever step foot in here. Of course, you're already acquainted with Ms Fukiwara?" Jun turned to the secretary and nodded.
"She's my father's PA, and an excellent worker. If it were up to me she would have the night off, but unfortunately she can't even hang around here for a while."
"I'm afraid Tachibana Jr. is right, I have various contracts to pore through. I brought you up here Jun as a favour, but I have to get back to work. I hope you enjoy tonight however, it was nice meeting you." Fukiwara bowed, and both Jun and Genichi returned the gesture. Then Genichi held an arm out to direct Jun to the first group of staff.
"Thank you." Jun used the opportunity to pay attention to both the smells and the physical characteristics of each of the staff as she was introduced in turn. The first group were quite unremarkable, a plain but pleasant woman named Makiko and a pair of men both in their late twenties she were to guess, Kashiro and Tetsuo. She was pretty certain there was nothing unusual about any of them. This pattern continued as Genichi to go through each group in turn. It wasn't long before she was quite convinced that if there was a devil beast on the premises, they weren't currently in the room. Not that that was absolute proof of anything, as the incidents at Shibuya Life and with Hitomi Konno had shown. After the rounds of introductions had been finished she sat down with Genichi along with a plate of buffet food.
"You look a little tense," Jun, Genichi observed, "Anything wrong?"
"Oh, probably just a little leftover stress from work. If I can be completely honest, I'm not used to the kind of gigs you hired me to do."
"My father told me you were perfectly up to the task. He was very pleased with your work. I get you might have jitters over it, but don't worry. I've heard it's quite a boon to land you, because you don't seem to be available to just anybody these days."
"Really, I didn't realise people were talking about me that way," Jun forced a smile, "but, I realised that being willing to do anything and everything in this job can get you seen as nothing special. So when I started turning down offers, I started getting more exclusive chances, with higher pay. It seems to be how it works, I guess that's what they mean when they say work smart, as well as work hard."
"I think my father is open to the idea of signing you on to some of our grander opportunities coming up. I think he's going to make you a really generous offer, and to be blunt, he has other motivations for doing that over simply hiring a suitable candidate."
"He thinks it'll entice me to maintain the connection with you, right?" Genichi nodded.
"And I want you to know that at least for me, I don't expect you to do anything. I'll make sure that you get those offers regardless. I hate office politics, I really do, and his expectations aren't fair on you."
"I find your honesty really admirable. And honesty is the right thing for any kind of relationship," Jun said, aware deep down of her own bitter hypocrisies.
"Including a working relationship I find." Genichi replied.
With the ice broken, Jun and Genichi continued their conversation into less formal topics, small talk about their jobs, and their current life situations. Jun treaded lightly around the subject of living with Kazumi, but did say that she had taken her in due to what had happened to her parents.
"A gas explosion? That's awful. It sounds like your friend was insanely lucky to survive that herself, her guardian angel must have been there for her."
"I suppose that's one way of putting it," Jun replied uneasily. "I'm hoping that when she finishes school she can decide on she wants to do going forward and can support herself with that."
"For what little it means I wish her luck," Genichi offered sincerely.
"Thanks, I appreciate that."
"If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'm going to need to pay a visit to the men's room. Be back in a minute." Genichi headed to the staff toilets. As Jun watched him walk away, she was approached by the woman called Makiko.
"Hi, was wondering if I could have a moment of your time?" She said rather awkwardly. She nodded in response, and Makiko gestured for the pair to find a quiet corner.
"I don't want to frighten you," Makiko said quietly, "but you have a right to be told this." Jun leaned in , very curious what the woman had to say.
"There's been a bunch of strange goings-on. A friend of mine, Fumi Murata, was working here a few nights ago, really late. She hasn't been seen since, her family reported her missing. And she's not the only one. I also heard both an electrician and a janitor who work in the building but not for us disappeared too."
"Really? When did all this start?" Jun quietly asked.
"I'd say a few weeks ago, the first person was an intern called Natsuki Sato. She was working under Ms Fukiwara as a trainee. The police have been up and down the building a few times already, and as far as I know didn't find anything. I don't really know what to make of it but I'm planning to hand in my resignation just as soon as I can get an offer somewhere else. Genichi's a nice guy, and this probably doesn't have anything to do with him, but I suggest you think twice about ever coming into this building again after tonight." Jun nodded, indicating that she was taking what she was being told seriously.
"Makiko, do you have any idea when that lift that's currently out of order broke down?" She asked, wondering if there was anything more to it.
"Now that you mention it, I would say just after the day Sato was last seen in the building. That's an odd coincidence, but I'm fairly sure the police would have checked it out."
"Thanks Makiko, I suppose I can understand why Genichi would be coy about it, I'm going to choose not to blame him, but I'm probably going to refuse any offers his his father makes me. It does sound a little too risky to be hanging around here."
"Yeah, Tachibana Sr. knows a lot of people are thinking about leaving because of all this. He's promised us big pay rises from the major contracts he's managed to get hold of, but I get the feeling he has hardly told those clients about our problems. If the firm collapses, I don't really know what Genichi is going to do. If you really like him, I'd suggest trying to talk him into leaving, because this frankly is a sinking ship, and he knows it. He's just too stubbornly loyal to his father."
"I don't know if I should get involved in his business like that. But anyway, thanks for letting me know all this."
"Don't mention it, I'm tempted to just go home right now really, screw this place."
"Then do that," Jun urged. "I think that would be for the best." She saw an opportunity to guarantee some people wouldn't be in harm's way tonight if a devil beast surfaced, she was taking it, "and I would even say maybe you should talk others into it. Tell you what, I'll talk Genichi into heading to his office, I imagine its upstairs?" Jun waited for Makiko to confirm before continuing, "It'll give me a chance to talk to him privately about leaving, and if any of you guys want to leave, well he won't be there to try talking any of you out of it."
"Fukiwara will though, it won't leave her notice. But I suppose there's not much she can do, other than tell Tachibana Sr. tomorrow. Yeah, thanks Miss Fudo, for understanding our whole predicament."
"Don't mention it." Jun looked towards the direction of the bathrooms to see that Genichi was approaching. Feeling like wasting no time, she walked forward and held him under an arm.
"I feel like we could better get to know each other in private," she said, hoping that she sounded suggestive without overdoing it; it wasn't a way she was used to being, "maybe up in your office? We wouldn't get disturbed in there, right?"
"No, no I suppose not. If you head up the stairs, it's the second door on the left, here's my keys, be discreet if anybody sees you. I'll follow, and just let everybody know here that I plan to continue with my work tonight."
"Sounds good," Jun took the keys and headed through the door to the stairwell.
When Jun entered the office, she took a moment to assess the scene; and there was absolutely nothing unusual about it. There was a laptop computer closed on the desk. Willing to take the risk, she quickly opened it, but it was powered down. She sighed, wondering what she was even doing. What did she expect to find? She couldn't look in any filing cabinets or drawers because even if it wouldn't take much effort to break them open, that would hardly go unnoticed. Aside from the laptop, there was a framed photograph, of Genichi with his parents. Looking closely, Jun guessed he was around twelve or thirteen years of age. She heard the door click open, and decided she was fine with the way in which Genichi found her.
"Happier times," Genichi said, "father wasn't so much of a workaholic and mother was a lot more approachable."
"You do look quite different," Jun observed she placed the photograph back. "Look, I don't know if anything between us could work out, as I'm hardly in a great place in my life either, but if you're unhappy here you shouldn't stay." Genichi walked around the table and picked up the photograph himself.
"My father is convinced the company is going to pull through all of this, but I also think he's rather delusional. My mother does too. I don't see much else I can do, rather than go down with the ship. I've given him so much already, I just can't do it." Just then, a knock resounded from the door.
"Tachibana Jr., I thought you'd better know, everybody downstairs is leaving."
"Okay Ms Fukiwara. Don't try to stop anybody. You should probably go too, we can figure things out tomorrow."
"I'll stay, you'll need help when your father hears of this," Fukiwara replied from outside.
"You're a good woman, I appreciate it."
"Just buzz if you need me, I'll be at my usual post." Genichi shook his head solemnly.
"Well, Jun, it's been very nice to meet you, it really has. But I don't want to drag you into my family's problems; it just wouldn't be fair."
"I guess that's just how it is. Thanks for the invitation. I just need to go to the ladies room, then I'll leave."
"Sure, I'll get you a ride home, shouldn't be a long wait."
As Jun entered the bathroom, she entered a cubicle and pulled out her phone. She dialled for Asuka, and received a prompt answer.
"You have a status report?" came her cold response.
"I've come up empty. I haven't seen any signs or any leads, and Genichi has basically made it clear that he doesn't want to move forward with any kind of relationship with me. I don't have a pretense for being here any longer."
"I expected more, Jun," Asuka replied curtly.
"Asuka, you didn't give me anything more to go on than get into this office and look around. I've done that, what else do you expect me to do?"
"Well, after he thinks you've gone, head back, get in again somehow. If you have to break something, do it, just don't be seen."
"Right, tear the place up but don't be seen, Asuka, we don't even know if there's anything to find, and I'm surprised you're asking me to take such a risk." Asuka sighed.
"You have a good point. Alright, we've come up empty tonight. We'll need to figure something else out. I'll place watchers on the building; but you do understand, Jun, that someone else will likely be killed whilst we wait."
"If I saw any way to prevent that right now, believe me I would take it." Just as she finished that sentence, she froze for a moment when she noticed something just at the edge of her peripheral vision; something was dripping from the roof onto the floor. She looked up, and found her vision filled by the sight of a horrific green, slimy thing. The phone dropped, clattering along the ground and underneath the door of the cubicle as Jun wrestled with thick slimy vines that attempted to ensnare her. She had no idea if Asuka heard anything, and right now that wasn't her immediate concern. As the creature, which barely held the shape of humanoid form, lowered what must have been its head towards her, she realised what it was about to do; suffocate her either to death or to unconsciousness. And so she had no choice. As her body triggered the transformation, she had the strength to tear off the vines from her arms and neck, and she backed into the cubicle door smashing through it completely. The creature made horrendous cries of pain, that sounded neither human nor animal. It sprang for her again, and this time she was more prepared. She batted aside the vines and then swiped the creatures torso with her claws. Yellow ichor began dripping out the wounds, and immediately the creature, instead of further continuing the battle, clambered its way with surprising speed back up the roof panel that it had entered from. Jun looked around in a state of panic for the phone.
"Asuka," she said as she picked it up with her clawed hands, "The target has made itself known." Asuka was still on the line.
"Alright, when I lost you I mobilised a crew, what's the situation there?"
"It's some kind of weird blob, plant based maybe. It's dangerous. It's crawled into the ventilation system of the building, and trying to follow it would be suicide."
"It's not going to be easy to find then, but we can trap it maybe, now we know what we're looking for. Easiest way to get everybody out the building is the fire alarm, hit it then stay somewhere safe until your backup gets there; though if someone sees you I am going to have to ask you to detain them; physically if need be. If there's any witnesses we'll have to isolate them."
"That's awful, I really don't want to have to do that, Asuka."
"Then don't be seen."
"I..." Jun began when she heard screaming; male screaming. She was pretty sure it was coming from Genichi's office.
"Have to go," she hung up and left the phone by the sink, before running out into the corridor slamming the fire alarm on the wall. However, she heard Fukiwara coming up the stairs.
"Genichi!?" She shouted up. Jun reacted quickly and tore at the door handle; breaking it so that it wouln't be easy to open from either side, then she yelled through the door, trying to mask the deeper edge to her voice as best she could. Fortunately the fire alarm that was ringing through their ears helped with that.
"Ms Fukiwara, its a fire. Get out, I'll try and help Genichi if I can but everybody needs to get out the building now," she couldn't help but roar the last word, but fortunately her demand was enough
"Right, right, please, make sure you get out, alright?"
"Don't worry about me, just go." All of that occurred in a matter of seconds, and Jun worried that was still too long to save Genichi from the creature. As she began to run for the office door, the creature, carrying an unconscious Genichi seemingly engulfed in its disgusting body, came out, and upon seeing her bounded up the corridor. Jun gave chase, and as she rounded a corner she came to the elevator doors; one was forced open and there was a trail of green slime suggesting exactly where the creature had gone. She would need to waste a few more moments, but she quickly ran back to obtain her phone and re-contacted Asuka.
"Jun?"
"It's gone down an elevator shaft, I think it's gone beneath the building. I'm going to try to follow it down the shaft, it's taken Genichi. I need to try to save him."
"Jun...alright, there will be consequences for this; but I know you'll do it anyway regardless of what your orders are, let's not waste anymore time. You'll have backup soon."
"Confirmed." Jun dropped the phone on the floor, sprouted her wings and descended down the shaft.
She found her instincts to be correct; the shaft descended down beneath the ground floor. It was almost certainly the shaft had been marked as out of order; if the police believed that the condition of the shaft would have meant a potential physical risk, then they'd think twice about checking it out properly. But then it begs the question; what was the identity of this devil beast? She was still at a total loss for that, but one way or the other she was going to be finding out soon. She landed on the actual elevator at the bottom floor, and lowered herself through the open roof panels. The doors there were also forced open and the slime trail continued. It was extremely dark; she had some degree of sight but it was far from ideal. She followed the pitch black corridor more by scent of the trail than by sight, and when she finally entered what seemed to be a disused storage room, she balked. The room was covered in slime and contained three giant cocoon-like structures. Taking a closer look, she found the victims that Makiko had talked about, a woman and two older men contained within each mound. She knew there was nothing she could do for any of them, they were all deeply comatose. There was nothing else to do but continue further into this nightmare. She continued following the trail of the creatures 'blood' which glistened in the dark through another portal. Up ahead, emanated a soft glow. Low level light felt like ambrosia for her eyes, but as she finally reached the end, what she saw gave her no succour. Before her, was a titanic mandragora that dominated this underground lair. Roots from its base stretched out in all directions. Kenichi had been released by the now dying slime creature, and was curled up in fear in a corner of the room. Yellow ichor oozed from the panting creature on the ground, so pitiable. The bud of the great nightshade opened, and a humanoid form partially emerged from it, resembling a Dryad of myth, her skin a light shade of green, with roots sprouting from the sides of her head into the great body.
"Who are you?" Jun demanded.
"You mean who I was, I should think," the dryad answered. "Why don't you ask him," she pointed at Genichi with a look of absolute loathing on her face. Jun walked up to the man cowering in a foetus position in the corner, and decided maybe she should revert her human form temporarily.
"Genichi, look at me," Jun said gently, "What is she talking about?" Genichi looked up to see Jun standing entirely naked before him, however he was too terrified for that to mean much.
"I... I, don't know..." He stammered.
"LIAR!" the Mandragora immediately roared. "TELL HER!"
"She's Sato, she's Natsuki Sato," Genichi stammed, trembling in fear and unable to make eye contact with Jun.
"The first victim? What happened?" Jun asked, everything still making no sense to her.
"I, I killed her. I hid the body down here." Hearing this shocked Jun to her core.
"...Why?" Was all she could say in response.
"She, she was pregnant, by my father. She was going to blackmail him, she threatened to tell mother, she was gonna destroy everything he'd worked for; I did it to protect him." After hearing this, Jun stood up and looked towards the creature she had mortally injured.
"Yes, it is what you think. You murdered my child." Jun felt like she wanted to vomit. She moved away from Genichi. Several of the roots covering the room started to move and wrap around his limbs. Crying, he was picked up and brought before the woman he had murdered.
"My child knew I needed food to survive and grow, and if it wasn't for your interference, outsider, things would not have come to this yet. I had intended my revenge to devour this whole building."
"Jun, please, help me, for the love of God don't let this happen to me!" Genichi yelled pitifully. Jun looked at him with disdain and turned away. She heard his cries of agony turn into shrill howls, as his bones cracked and his flesh ripped; with a final snap, he was torn limb from limb.
"What now?" Jun addressed the creature that was once Natsuki Sato.
"As I consume more flesh, I can give birth to more thralls. I will grow, I will keep growing until there is no more room to grow."
"You're driven by instincts. Your desire for revenge was the only thing left human in you."
"It would appear so," Sato acknowledged.
"I have to stop you."
"Then it must come to this," Sato brought her roots to bear. Jun transformed her body again as the roots wrapped around her body; with her claws she was able to tear through some of them, with her strength she was able to resist being lifted so easilly. Her ability to resist however did not quite match this creatures terrifying strength. Jun found herself flung into a wall, cracking through the plaster. Before she could react, the creature grabbed her again and flung her across to the other wall.
On impact she realised that she had been thrown into a fuse box; her body mangled the outer casing, and expose the inner workings. As the creature once more made a grab for her using its vine like roots, Jun smashed into the fuse box with her hand and grabbed exposed wiring in the wall. The jolt was incredibly painful; but it wouldn't kill her, at least not before she got the results she wanted: electricity poured through her body, through the roots into the main body of the mandragora. Sato howled in pain, and did try to let go, however Jun grabbed a root and coiled it around her arm, denying Sato release. Few seconds later, and the body of the mandragora burst into flames. Jun let go of the wiring, and collapsed, hearing the dying cries of the Devil Beast. Smoke rose from her own skin, but her burns would heal. Sato was going to be far less able to recover than that. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the squad of soldiers that Asuka had promised burst into the room, led by Yamazaki. He quickly assessed the situation and ordered the men in his squad who carried flamethrowers to finish the job that Jun had started. Yamazaki then approached her. The harsh glow of the flames lit up his face.
"What the hell happened here, Fudo?" He asked, "I was told you came down here after Genryu Tachibana's son. Well, I take it that's him," he pointed to the remnants of Genichi's body, "You didn't have much luck rescuing him, did you?" Jun stood up and walked away with out an answer.
"Asuka is going to expect a full debriefing, Fudo, and you better tell her everything," he yelled after her. When Jun reached the elevator shaft back up to the surface, she saw the tether that had been used to allow Yamazaki's squad to descend down here, and would be used for them to ascend again. It was not something she needed, as her wings allowed her an easy path back up. At the top, Kogare stood with a few guards.
"The hero of the hour emerges; but you don't have Tachibana with you, I notice. Where is he?" Jun grimaced.
"Down there. He got what he deserved."
"Really? Your debriefing is going to be really interesting. Maybe there's hope for you yet." Jun glared at her with disdain. She just wanted to go home, she wanted to cleanse herself of this horrific mess; but after this she didn't know if she would ever be clean again.