KDA Office: Michi, Maki, Haruko, Chiaki, Aki, and Yu walk into a cafe and… (bad joke)

( – Sumaru – Kuzunoha Detective Agency – )

An unassuming location in Kameya Alley, the Kuzunoha Detective Agency’s role in Sumaru’s society – and beyond – far extends past its unimpressive appearance and small amount of allotted space. It is where Chief Todoroki, Tamaki Uchida, and Tadashi Satomi (…when not being chased by assassins) overlook the clerical functions of the agency.
A small office with a slow rotating fan above that needs replacing and two small blue couches in front of two giant stereos hooked up to a flat panel TV, this is not a place for many people to meet at once. It only takes a look at the two desks and the giant bookshelf cases behind them to truly give a hint at what goes on here. With an impressive backlog of information on just about anything, to say they have a finger on just about every popular murmur of Sumaru and beyond is not an understatement. It is here where investigators of all walks of life pool resources and information 
together to determine how to solve the next pressing issue.  A gold lucky cat statue by the entrance talks if spoken to and frequently begs those who come by and visit for money. This must reflect in the owner’s tastes, as a black cat often lounges around the office, making itself at home. Past a small kitchen lies a door to the restroom that refuses to open.
Absolutely no one is allowed back there.

Haruko Fukui [KDA] <Astraea>

<Pose Tracker> Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
It’s an average day in Sumaru City, the sun is high above the city at the 12 o’clock position and what clouds there are in the skies are sparse. It’s one of those summer days that isn’t overbearingly hot, but it’s warm enough that many people are choosing to stay inside and turn on the air conditioning. Inside the Kuzunoha Detective Agency’s Sumaru office, on this particular day, it is rather empty – occupied only by a scant few members. Three in fact, at the moment. Narukami Yu and the newest KDA member, Haruko Fukui, and a nondescript KDA agent as well – the last of whom is sitting behind one of the empty desks eyeing some manner of paperwork.
 Yu has taken a seat upon one of the agency’s empty couches, and is presently leaning back into the couch… staring silently into the ceiling fan overhead. Whether he simply enjoying the breeze, or thinking about something particularly important, is anyone’s guess. He’d come here with Haruko today to show her around the place, but could only manage to get so far as the couch thus far.

<Pose Tracker> Haruko Fukui [KDA] has posed.
 Haruko is sitting behind a desk, going over old paperwork; reading reports and mentally filing all this data away. It may be the most boring thing ever, until someone realizes most of this paperwork is /years old./ Then ‘may be’ should be replaced with ‘is.’ Excluding the part where Haruko doesn’t seem to be bored…
 “Hey, Narukami-Sama?” She asks after settling upon a particular report, “Why are there doodles on this report?” Asking the /important/ questions, truly. “Doesn’t seem like they add anything.” She shrugs and places it to the side, moving on to the next report on the stack…

<Pose Tracker> Michi Aomori [KDA] has posed.
 The door, it opens. In strides Aomori Michi, intrepid investigator. Today’s ensemble is a dark green sundress and a white button-up sweater, currently unbuttoned. Also a hat of the fedora persuasion: legend has it that Michi never enters the agency proper except when she’s wearing the hat. “I have a new report to turn in! Sorry about the doodles on it,” she says to nobody in particular, “but I got bored writing it.” She tromps up to the desk behind which may be found Haruko, pauses, blinks. “Are you a new secretary? …did we have an old secretary?”

<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura [K] has posed.
Chiaki comes to work at this point. Chiaki is a long story but ultimately, well, Maki’s ‘shadow’ Pandora created a doppleganger of Chie, and she turned out to not be that bad?, and rather than be ‘DoppleChie’ her whole life she took on the name Chiaki largely because Tadashi thought it was her name–and now she works here at the office, collecting rumors and helping out with the less thrilling KDA cases. She presently lives with Yukino.
Yawning as she enters, she spots the various individuals gathered and says, “Woah, busy day, hehe?” She grins.
Maki steps inside a moment after. A young child (Aki) seems to be walking in beside her, too. Judging from her detective cap and magic cape, she seems to be a magical detective (Laureline) today. Aki’s story is also annoyingly complicated.
“A new hire or–well, I guess I don’t come in enough hehe…” Maki admits.

<Pose Tracker> Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Yu raises his head, suddenly, as Haruko calls his name. “..Doodles?” He raises an eyebrow and stands up from the couch, promptly moving across the room toward where Haruko is to take a gander at what she’s inquiring about.
 It’s as he’s walking across the room, that Michi and Chiaki – accompanied by Maki – enter the room. Hearing what Michi says about her doodling habit, Yu says to Haruko whilst stil looking in Michi direction, “Well, that explains that.” At this point, though she’d entered, Yu had yet to notice Chie’s odd dopplerganger’s entrance.. but then he does, and he finds it more than a little befuddling. “….Chie?” … upon closer inspection, however, she did not behave like Chie AT ALL. Therefore, he surmised, it must be a coincidence…
 Answering the question about whether that KDA had a new secretary, Yu shakes his head, “No. She’s a new member.” And a dutiful one at that…

<Pose Tracker> Haruko Fukui [KDA] has posed.
 Haruko raises an eyebrow at Michi’s exclamation… and then the question, and she shakes her head with a tinge of amusement in her eyes. “Fukui Haruko. I’m a new member, as Narukami-Sama says.” She smiles faintly and offers a slight bow to Michi.
 Then the other people come in and Haruko watches them enter, she smiles faintly at Maki as well as Chiaka; but doesn’t address them at this point, waiting to be introduced to them first. Haruko smiles sweetly as sin at Michi, “So I heard you like to doodle…” Gaze turning towards the report she had just put aside. “Kind of unprofessional, wouldn’t you think?”

<Pose Tracker> Michi Aomori [KDA] has posed.
 “Oh, I’m not a professional.” Michi beams, bowing right back. “Aomori Michi. It’s nice to meet you. I just help out with my free time, doing… you know. Detective things. Detect…ing things. Secrets. Things like that.” She waltzes over to one of the filing cabinets, opens it up and puts the report she’s carrying into it. Michi’s reports go in their own file. It’s because they’re important, you see, and so they only get looked at if the situation is important enough to merit reading her reports. Chiaki, Aki and Maki all get a friendly wave. “Hey guys. How’s it going?” And she pauses, looking over at Yu. “Have we met? I think I should know you.”

<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura [K] has posed.
“A new member huh…” Maki says, “That’s pretty cool. It’d be nice to see the KDA hoppin’ again, it usually seems to, y’know, take it easy since so many rescues have been done but–”
“Hey I’m right here–” Chiaki complains, poking Maki in the nose sharply with a frown. “Nice to meet you!” Chiaki waves over to Haruko. “Chie not in today, I see huh–” Well that pretty much settles that.
“Doodle huh…?” Maki looks towards Michi, grinning widely. “Why didn’t you say that before? Gosh, Michi. You know I’m a professional artist– I could’ve helped you out, y’know!”
“He’s your boss, doofus.” Aki smirks at Michi as Maki sets her down. “Anyway–” Maki begins.

<Pose Tracker> Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Having realized that people were beginning to come in, and he could no longer lounge around as he had been doing, he moves around the back of the desk Haruko is stationed at and kneels in front of a beige filing cabinet. It would be rude after all, to relax while everyone else is working. Pulling the bottom drawer of the file cabinet open by the silver metallic handle until it rolls to a stop, *KeeerKLUNK*, he reaches into the filing cabinet and begins to go through the documents contained within. Perhaps he could find some information regarding the latest on the murders…
 Hearing Haruko’s rather direct verbal stab at Michi’s professionalism, Yu reaches upward and attempts to grab at the fabric of Haruko’s clothes. Providing he manages too, he’d be giving it a bit of a tug, and silently shaking his head as if to say ‘don’t go there!’ in as friendly a manner as he can.
 When Michi walks over toward the Cabinets and speaks to him, however, he turns toward her… still kneeling at the base of the cabinet he was searching… and looks up. He then offers a polite nod of his head. “I’m sure we have… I come in and out of here pretty often.” Just in case though, he offers, “Yu Narukami. I’m from Inaba.”
 At Aki’s ‘he’s your boss comment…’, Yu rubs the back of his head nervously… “Something like that…” He didn’t really know what else to say. 

…After a few moments, having turned back toward the filing cabinet and found the latest file on the Inaba case.. Yu closes the cabinet and stands to his full height, offering a sidelong glance to Maki and Chiaki. “Nice to see you two, having a good afternoon?”

<Pose Tracker> Michi Aomori [KDA] has posed.
 Michi blinks, then blushes. “I have a boss? I thought Kobayashi-senpai was boss? Is there another boss?” Michi stares at Yu for a second, blushing a little redder than before. “Oh. Well. Hi. Aomori Michi. It’s nice to finally meet you. Boss?” The last is said with a crinkled brow, of the ‘not sure if that’s the right mode of address. “But I need to go check on the frogs. I’ll be right back.” She walks off into one of the side-offices of the building.
 Frogs?

<Pose Tracker> Haruko Fukui [KDA] has posed.
 Haruko seems to be quite non-plussed by Michi. Quite so. She shakes her head surprisedly and looks at the others, but whispers something in Yu’s ears. “Is she … broken somehow?” After that question, she looks at the other two. “Nice to meet you as well, but I fear I missed your name…?” It’s directed at Chiaka; her attention soon turning to face Maki, “Is there something we can assist you with today?”

 <Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura [K] has posed.
Maki presses her hand into her forehead. Christ, Michi, she thinks. She also thinks the Japanese equivalent of Christ, Michi. And then the Mexican version. She lowers her hand and says, “Well–no? I mean, all things considered, it looks like my friends got into a lot of rough trouble, and I couldn’t help ’em! So I feel pretty shitty, more or less.” She has trouble lying to Yu so he gets to have the basic truth. “Anyway,” Maki shakes her head. “You might want to keep your eyes open, there’s gonna be more shit over this, maybe for real this time.”
Wait–frogs?
Aki meanwhile examines Haruko, looking over her thoughtfully.
Chiaki on the other hand. “Uhh–Chiaki, you know!! Ha ha– Man we really gotta find that killer right? It’s what I’d say if I was Chie, which I’m not, I’m Chiaki, which is a totally different person! Ha ha ha!” She rushes over to some filing cabinets to busy herself.

<Pose Tracker> Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Cracking open the file he’d fished out of the cabinet, Yu begins to slowly thumb through the papework contained inside – his eyes scanning pages in a hasty manner. *Flip, … flip, … flip, …* Page after page is examined in this fairly hasty manner for a few moments, as he tries to ascertain which ones were dated most recently.
 Haruko Fukui drawing near enough to whisper in his ear does startle Yu tremendously though, sufficiently enough so that he fumbles and drops whichever page it was that he was holding. The page falls into the folder unneatly, and then skids off of the edge… falling noisily somewhere between Yu and one of the other filing cabinets.
 “Broken…?” He replies shortly, given Haruko a quizzical look. “No… I don’t think so.” He shook his head slightly, and looking toward where the paper fell, adds.. “She’s perfectly healthy. I think.” Of course, being Yu, he assumes she’s referring to the girl’s actual health and not her state of mind.
 Turning his fog gray eyes toward Maki and away from the paper on the floor, almost as soon as he’d looked, Yu takes a moment to process what she’d said and then… smiles in a knowing manner. “I bet.” He says, remembering how he felt when the murders in Inaba began ocurring, “It’s rough… worrying about others.” … All told, Yu appreciated the truth more than pretty lies so this revelation was totally okay with him. Acknowledging Chiaki, indirectly, as he proceeds to go after the paper that got away… he says.. “Yeah. I hope we find him soon too.” Or her. Maybe it was a her. That was a hard idea to swallow but…

<Pose Tracker> Michi Aomori [KDA] has posed.
 Michi wanders back into the main room with a satisfied expression. “They’re doing just fine” she declares, appropos of nothing so much as frog. She looks around the room and tilts her head to one side. “Who’s missing?” she asks: her tone is, if not serious, at least aware of the tenor of the idea of ‘someone is missing.’

<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura [K] has posed.
HA HA HA TOTALLY NORMAL.
Chiaki meanwhile wonders if because she has the memory of vowing to find the killer if it’s actually part of her duty to find the killer ahhh no of course not she’s trying to be a new person, after all. That’s what allows her to /be/ a person.
“That’s great!” Aki says cheerfully. “Frogs should be taken care of.” Her eyes narrow. “Permanently.” And then she laughs. “Just kidding, frogs are awesome. So are slugs.”
Maki scratches her head, and glancesr towards–hey where’d she go!? “…I thought you guys only had /one/ ninja.” She complains audibly. It seems Haruko may have some ninja in her. It’s an incredible thing.
“Nevertheless, just wanted to warn you about awll that! It’s nice seeing you again, though!” Headbobble.

<Pose Tracker> Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Yu, having gathered the paper off off the floor and placed it back in the folder, turns to face Maki again and smiles. “Yeah, it’s good to see you too. Thanks for the info also.” He nods, slightly, then and closes the folder in his left hand… resealing as well. He was starting to figure out that, as things were getting busy in here, he’d probably not be able to get the tranquil atmosphere he’d need to absorb it just yet.
 Acknowledging Michi as she returns to the room, apparently still on about frogs, Yu decides to finally ask her about that particular issue… “Frogs? What about them?” He then proceeds around the left side of the desk he was behind, and makes his way back to the couch.

<Pose Tracker> Michi Aomori [KDA] has posed.
 “I found some frogs. They’re in an aquarium in that other room. I’m going to take them home soon, but I needed to ask my mom and dad first.” She grins, rubbing the back of her neck. “Sorry I didn’t ask permission first. I just needed somewhere to keep them. Would you like to see ’em? They’re really cute.”

<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura [K] has posed.
Maki says, “I’d love to see them!” And she even seems to mean it, smiling brightly as she offers her opinion on the matter. Chiaki meanwhile looks absolutely horrified at the mention of frogs and their slimy slimy slimy–
“Let’s go!” Aki agrees happily.

<Pose Tracker> Haruko Fukui [KDA] has posed.
 “I… I think I’ll stay here, I’ve got these reports; you see?” Haruko tells Michi after she comes back from her sneaksy visit to the toilet. “I don’t have much time left until my parents expect me back home. I know it’s only a short walk, but…” She rolls her shoulders into a faint shrug as she walks back to the desk, continuing to go over the stack of reports she had pulled out…

<Pose Tracker> Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Befor having even reached the couch, Yu finds himself stopped abruptly in whatever he was doing for the second time today by something someone had said to him. Turning on his heels with that beige file folder still in hand, the graying youth gives Michi a long… silent… ‘what in the world’ look. Then, cutting through the awkward silence abruptly, comes.. “Huh? … Oh, I see. Well…” How exactly should you respond to that? He knows pretty well that people who run this place will definitely not like the idea that people are using agency property for the storage of their pets. “…Okay, let’s go look.” He kind of, just hitches a ride on Maki’s excitement and decides to make it a non-issue. If she got them out of here before anyone noticed, it was cool right?
 Giving a silent, sidelong, glance to Chiaki complete with pregnant pause – probably evn as the others are walking off – Yu asks, “You alright?”
 He does offer a nod of acknowledgement to Haruko though.. when she mentions that she’ll stay behind, “I’ll be back to help soon.”

<Pose Tracker> Michi Aomori [KDA] has posed.
 Michi nods good-naturedly to Haruko. “Okay. It’s nice to meet you, though: welcome aboard!” She leads everyone into the next room over and indeed there’s a little aquarium in the corner with two small frogs in it. She points in turn. “That one’s Kero-chan. That one’s Nyoro-chan.” Croak and wiggle, apparently. “I got them with the money from my last paycheck before I had to quit my part-time jobs. I mean, other than this one. I don’t know if this counts as a job or not, since I’m volunteering. I like to think it’s important.”

<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura [K] has posed.
“I will help with reports!” Chiaki says helpfully. “And I am totally fine and also invincible. Go ahead, Narukami! Ha ha ha!”
OFF TO FROGS.
“Nyoro–that sounds like a cat, hehehe…” Aki snickers.
“Is…naming a frog ‘Kero’ really appropriate–” Maki wonders aloud. “Ah–but they /are/ cute–!!”

<Pose Tracker> Haruko Fukui [KDA] has posed.
 While the others are off looking at frogs, Haruko finishes reading the last report for the day. As she departs, she leaves a small note behind on the desk. ‘Going home –Haruko’ And that’s pretty much it, not saying goodbye today; just slipping out while the others aren’t paying attention…

<Pose Tracker> Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Following shortly behind the departing group of people eager to see frogs, Yu takes the time to lay that they each file folder upon the desk that Haruko is working behind before departing. He’ll be back to get them later, after he’s done supervising this… frog show? Offering an affirmative nod to Chiaki after she declares that she’s fine, Yu then proceeds through the doorway into the room where Michi’s frogs are being kept.
 Standing over the aquarium, silently, watching the frogs – still quite young apparently – Yu listens to Michi explain their names and her financial situation. “Ah..” He says finally, “Yeah, they’re pretty cute. … Do you need a job though?” Taking care of oneself, much less pets, was not easy with no income. Lowering his gaze toward Maki then, as he waits for Michi’s response, Yu smiles contentedly at her excitement. He’s kind of glad he didn’t scold Michi now for bringing them here.. “Well, I guess the ‘Ny’ bit does call to mind a cat call.” The ever famous Nyaaaaaaa~ is, of course, what Aki’s referring to he assumes.

<Pose Tracker> Michi Aomori [KDA] has posed.
 Michi shakes her head. “My parents said I had to quit my jobs after I did something stupid. They want me to spend more time on my classes.” She doesn’t sound too bummed out about it, merely stating a fact. “But maybe when they say it’s okay again? I’ve got all kinds of uniforms from my old jobs. They’re not stolen,” she adds quickly, “I just always bought them with my first paycheck.” She beams. “I like having fun uniforms.”

<Pose Tracker> Maki Sonomura [K] has posed.
“Mm, you remind me of someone,” Maki tells Michi. “But you know, it’s pretty weird that they don’t want you having a job–I mean, that’s more responsible than attending classes and is a bit more useful, at least if you’re working your field, but part time work is pretty useful too.” She shrugs her shoulders. “Anyway, if you want to help out at Hiiragi, I wouldn’t mind paying you–keeping it a secret too, though it’d be in Sumaru, so–”
She Chiaki waves after Haruko.

<Pose Tracker> Yu Narukami [KDA] has posed.
Yu gets an amused grin on his face as Michi mentions enjoying collecting uniforms. Well, no surprise there. A lot of Japanese girls loved clothes… and cosplay. “I bet.” He says, looking down into the aquarium tank again. “That’s not all that hard to imagine.”
 Yu does, also, listen in to Maki and Michi’s conversation but… as he’s not being addressed he doesn’t interject anything. Instead, he opts to watch the near-tadpoles swim around in the back of their enclosure. Seems they’re avoiding getting too close to the glass everyone is near..
 After a while of being in the room with the frogs, listening to girls talk and watching aquatic creatures swim aimlessly about, Yu heads out toward the desk Haruko was working at to fetch his file and stares silently at the empty space she’d left for a moment before saying, “Oh… I guess she went home.”

<Pose Tracker> Michi Aomori [KDA] has posed.
 Michi offers Maki a smile. “Thank you for the offer. I’ll keep it in mind if I can convince my parents. I really don’t want to go behind their backs, you know.” She stands up, a look of surprise on her face. “Oh. I should get going, actually. I just remembered they wanted me home.” Another sheepish little grin. “It was nice to see you again, Sonomura-san, Sonomura-san. And it was nice to meet you too, Boss.” Grin and wave aaaaand out the door.

… and with that, the scene came to a close. Yu and the two girls, Maki and Chiaki, spent some time at the agency chatting and getting work done. That was all she wrote.

(Never did take care of that darned agent! Oh well, we were all dog dead tired and the scene got broken oddly in tbhe middle and was filled with long pauses. So it was kind of messy anyway. Also I somehow missed Maki NPCing Aki a lot. But that happens with three people plus three NPCs. – Yu)