SakuraApril 27, 9:42 pm, Tokyo, j.a.pan
Sakura had been thinking a lot lately. Mostly about how the Internet Cafe they were living in has terrible coffee, but also about Detective Kiritaka, occasionally.
She sighed as she watched her cup fill up with bland coffee. The detective was the only link she had to the police department, and she had thoroughly burned that bridge already. Her other link to the police was Jason (an obvious no-go) and a couple of mics she planted on a a car a few weeks back. But those mics had already ran out of batteries.
Besides, anything she found from there wouldn"t be usable in a story. That was another whole headache to figure out: what information did she actually have that was usable.
She took her cup, thinking. The only thing she had that was anywhere close to convincing was the video. That and the hard drive, but the hard drive wasn"t proven to be anything yet.
The problem, Sakura thought as she took a sip of her terrible coffee and walking back to her little cubicle, was the ethics. She wasn"t sure how it would turn out of she published doc.u.ments that she basically stole from a giant corporation.
On the one hand, the corporation had to be exposed if they were doing something immoral. For that, crossing certain lines were necessary; it wasn"t like the corporation would give up its secrets willingly. It"s not like every organization has a Deep Throat.
But how far would Sakura be willing to go?
She sighed again, looking at the screen. On it was a little bar, loading up slowly. It was at 94% right now. Without closing the window for it, Sakura brought up a word doc.u.ment. She read over it, a pit forming in her stomach. This was the plan to get information out of Detective Kiritaka, and Sakura did not like it.
It wasn"t as if she had a specific reason why either. She could argue that it was against journalistic ethics, but honestly she had already done a lot worse. It just...felt bad. Like she was using someone. Even if it was someone like Detective Kiritaka, Sakura didn"t feel like he deserved it. Sure, he was sleazy and terrible, but he wasn"t a horrible person.
Aside from the prost.i.tutes and the hostess clubs and the whole...police corruption thing.
"Maybe he does deserve it a little," Sakura thought ruefully as she put her headphones on.
"Okay, I"m back," she said, adjusting her mic and expanding her Discorp window.
"Cool. Tell me again why I have to crossdress?" Said Michi unenthusiastically.
They were both actually at the same cafe, but there hadn"t been any cubicles together, so they had to speak through the internet.
"You really don"t," said Sakura, rolling her eyes. "What you need to do is distract him for a while."
"Then why did you suggest crossdressing?"
"We were brainstorming. We could use any of the other ideas you or I came up with."
"But none of them were as good as crossdressing," Michi said. Even just through voice, Sakura could see him pouting.
"Then come up with a better idea," said Sakura dryly.
Michi didn"t say anything for a while, then sighed.
"Why do I have to flirt with a straight guy," he grumbled. "Disgusting."
Sakura rolled her eyes again, but she could relate. Her interactions with straight men often left her feeling drained too.
While a lot of Sakura"s research was left at her apartment, which she was sure was still being watched, she did remember a lot of what she had found. Especially the stuff she dug up in the first few weeks about the detective. He had been her only lead for quite a while. A lot of that information stuck.
And a lot of that information was about the kinds of places he frequented after hours.
The plan was actually quite simple. Michi would distract the detective while he was out at a bar, and Sakura would use her powers to steal his phone, attach one of Bunta"s listening devices to it. Since the detectove was working with Jason, they probably spoke a lot and discussed their jobs.
At least that was the hope.
"Is this really how you do your journalism?" asked Michi at one point. "Just randomly going after people without knowing if it"ll work?"
"How dare you suggest that I actually know things?" said Sakura sarcastically. "I know absolutely nothing. That"s why I go and try to find things out."
Michi didn"t really have an answer to that, which pleased Sakura. He was getting kind of annoying lately, but that was probably just because they were always around each other now. And they were practically homeless.
Sakura checked on the little loading bar: 100%. Finally.
"Alright, I"m ready," said Sakura. "You?"
"Why can"t you just illusion yourself again?" Michi asked instead of answering.
"Cause I can"t," said Sakura. "I"m not good enough to illusion while doing other, contradictory things at the same time. Yet."
"You don"t have to illusion yourself and steal the phone all yourself," Michi countered. "I can do the stealing."
"Okay, first off, it"s not stealing," said Sakura. "We"re just taking and modifying the detective"s phone."
"And two, yes, I can illusion myself, but then I won"t be able to illusion you. And that means you"d probably be discovered the minute you steal the phone out his back pocket."
They had been over this already. Sakura didn"t get why Michi was complaining so much. He was the one who wanted to do something about this. Not to mention, he was also the one who agreed that the crossdressing plan was the best one to go for. Why was he complaining now?
"Alright, alright," he sighed. "I"ll get changed. Meet outside."
Sakura unplugged the USB cord from the computer and stuffed the small device in her handbag. She walked out to the entrance of the Internet Cafe.
Twenty minutes later, a flat-chested woman in a slinky red dress and killer eyeshadow walked out of the cafe. Sakura looked up and down Michi"s womanly form, eyebrow raised.
"I"m not wearing fake b.o.o.bs, you cannot make me," said Michi, his voice still the same.
"I"m can"t give you my b.o.o.bs, I grew these myself," said Sakura blandly, taking a couple tissues out from her handbag. "Just stuff a bra, it"s not like he"s getting in there anyway."
"You sound like a pimp," Michi grumbled, taking the tissues and doing as he was told.
Sakura watched, an odd sense of nostalgia overcoming her. She remembered her first bra...and the first time she needed it. She smiled oddly as Michi finished stuffing his bra.
"There. Better?" he said, disdain clear on his face.
For the third time that night, Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Come on Michi," she said. "A night of degeneracy awaits."
Despite his bad mood, Michi cracked a smile at that one.
The two of them set off, using public transport to get to their destination. They arrived about ten minutes later, groups of men ogling them as they walked.
"It"s just for tonight," Sakura whispered to Michi. "You"ll be fine once we"re done."
Michi didn"t say anything. He had a permanent frown on his face, one that hadn"t budged since some old guy touched his b.u.t.t on the train. Sakura refrained from clicking her tongue; she needed Michi to be in a good mood for this.
"Michi, we"re here," she said as they approached the bouncer at the entrance of the bar. "You sure you"re up for this?"
"What do you mean?" he snapped.
Sakura bit back her retort.
"I mean you look like you"d rather eat your own toes," said Sakura somewhat truthfully. "If you don"t want to do this, you don"t have to."
Michi gave Sakura a look of barely concealed rage, stopping dead in his tracks. He seemed to be struggling to find the words.
"Just...never mind. I got this. Let"s go," he said, walking over to the bouncer.
G.o.dd.a.m.nit. There was no way the bouncer was gonna let them in if Michi"s face was all frowning like that. Sakura quickly rushed up to the him to try and salvage the situation.
But to Sakura"s surprise, the bouncer simply let Michi in. He didn"t even card him. Even more shockingly, Michi giggled girlishly, touching the bouncer"s arm. He shot a look back, dropping the smile and raising an eyebrow, before disappearing inside the bar.
Okay. Sakura had to admit; she had underestimated Michi. She quickly followed him, flas.h.i.+ng a smile to the bouncer. She was in only a couple minutes later.
The bar was a quiet, cla.s.sy type place. Cla.s.sy in the sense that it had booths in the back for people who wanted to drink in a group, while the front was just like a regular bar.
From her research, Sakura knew that Detective Kiritaka liked going to the back. He often went to the back with a friend, and a whole bunch of girls. Sometimes, he picked the girls from the bar. Most of the time, they came in with him. As for what they did in the back of the bar, Sakura had never really been interested enough to find out.
As soon as she walked in, she immediately spotted the detective. He was sitting with a girl at the bar, obviously chatting her up. Unfortunately for him, it didn"t seem like she was buying what he was selling. Her body language was all off; arms crossed, looking away, basically looking like she wanted to be anywhere but right there. Not that it stopped the detective. He was used to women reacting that way to him. At least, that"s what it seemed like to Sakura.
She spotted Michi almost immediately after, heading straight towards the detective. Sakura blinked in surprise; he was moving a lot faster than she had expected. Then again, he had been complaining this whole time. He probably just wanted to get this all over and done with.
She watched as Michi sauntered over to the detective, sitting a couple seats down from him. He ordered his drink, glancing over at the detective, and the girl he was. .h.i.tting on. The girl seemed to catch Michi"s eye, and they seemed to come to some sort of understanding.
Sakura was impressed. With the girl"s help, Michi managed to get the attention of the detective, then started putting the moves on him, smiling coyly and acting shy. With the detective"s attention now on Michi, the girl quietly slipped away, shooting a grateful look at Michi as she went by. Sakura was astounded by how easily Michi managed to get all this done.
She shook herself out of her amazement. This wasn"t the time to be impressed by Michi"s skill of seduction. She had a job to do.
First, Sakura made sure she knew where the detective"s phone was; on the desk, near his drink. Easy.
Next, she walked up to the bar, then casually strolled towards the flirting couple. As she pa.s.sed by, she quickly grabbed up the phone.
At that exact moment, Michi giggled.
Sakura snuck a look back at the detective. He didn"t seem to have realized that his phone had been taken and replaced with an illusion. Perfect. Sakura sat down at the bar, ordered a water, and began to work.
She took out the USB cord and device, then connected it to the detective"s phone. Immidiately it lit up and displayed a loading bar. 0%.
Sakura spent the next ten minutes waiting for the app to download onto the detective"s phone, all the while sipping her water and sneaking glances at the detective and Michi. She had already disguised her face so that he would not recognize her, but she still kept discreet. She didn"t want him to think she was actually checking him out.
That said, Michi seemed to be doing a good job at keeping his attention. Sakura could tell that the detective was very into this. He was laughing and joking freely now, not even bothering to hide the way his gaze traveled all over Michi"s body. Sakura felt dirty just watching him.
Michi seemed to brush it all off though, as if he didn"t notice. There was no way he didn"t though, Sakura could see it in the slight disgust in his eyes. She wished the app would load faster, if only for Michi"s sake.
Ding!
Finally, it was done. Sakura immediately packed her things and walked past them again, dropping the phone back in its place. She headed straight for the exit, not looking back until she was almost there.
To her shock, Michi hadn"t left the bar yet. If anything he was leaning more into the detective, flirting with him harder. Sakura squinted in confusion. What was this?
And now they were getting up together. The detective had his arm around Michi as he giggled girlishly, making eyes at him. The two started heading towards the back.
Sakura felt like her brain was melting. Was she having a stroke? Did her powers grow wildly out of control and were now affecting her vision? Had someone drugged her water?
What was going on?
Whatever the case, she couldn"t let...whatever this was...just happen. Sakura immediately bounded towards the nauseatingly clingy couple.
"Mi..kun!" she said, grabbing Michi by the shoulder and turning him around. "Oh my gosh, it"s really Mi-kun!"
She squealed excitedly as Michi just stared. Sakura embraced Michi as if they were old friends.
"...Sakurchan," said Michi awkwardly. "How...surprising...to see you here."
"I know, it"s my first time coming to a bar like this," Sakura laughed. "You know me, a country b.u.mpkin. I mean, you are too, but you look like such a city girl now Mi-kun!"
Sakura laughed and Michi joined in just a second too late.
"Is this your boyfriend?" Sakura suddenly asked, as if noticing the detective for the first time. She smiled widely at him; the face she had now was not hers, so she wasn"t worried about him recognizing her.
That said, she didn"t expect him to ignore her completely.
"Your friend, Miku-tan?" he growled into Michi"s ear. Sakura forced her eyebrows to stay put, lest they fly off her forehead from shock.
Michi made a non-commital noise of agreement.
The detective looked at Sakura up and down, giving her the creeps.
"She can come, if she wants," he said, moving around Sakura and dragging Michi along with him.
"Might need a bag for her face though."
Michi giggled, and Sakura actually raised an eyebrow at this. So it seemed like Michi actually wanted to go into the back room with the detective.
But why? Hadn"t he been against this whole thing this whole time?
But he also was the one who wanted to do something, so…
Sakura sighed. She couldn"t make head or tails of Michi"s motivations. It looked like the only way to find out what he wanted, was to follow him into the back room.
Reluctantly, Sakura trailed after Michi and the detective.