[IC] Fu Sonzai no Gensō: An Urban Fantasy Mystery RP

[Dblade26]

Finally! A real case was at hand, and this time their employers weren't just any mages, they were rich mages! Even better, it was a search for some mysterious item, with plotting and intrigue and big complicated schemes! Best of all, they might even be dealing with some kind of Phantom Thief!. Jun had always wanted to test his skills against someone like that. After all, a worthy criminal was the test of any true detective's skills!...or at least, Jun thought so. Needless to say Jun was excited to get going on this first case in a while.

"What are we waiting for! Let's go let's go let's go! This case could be biiiiig stuff, and the sooner we get to the scene of the crime the sooner we can get all the details and solve this case! Then we can use the case money to buy all sorts of rich people stuff! Like ice cream floats!" Jun wasn't actually sure what an ice cream float was, but he imagined it to be a big parade float like he'd seen on TV a few times, but made of ice cream and covered in hot fudge.

[Blondie]

Hirako's ears twitched after Toshiko finished presenting the details of the Agency's latest case. Nothing all that peculiar. At first glance this looked like a simple robbery, but within this world a simple robbery was impossible. Not in a world where vampires serve tea to sentient cats. For starters, the house that was robbed belonged to Magi. Not only that, but the only thing that was stolen was one item - what Toshiko claims the family called an "heirloom." Hirako was skeptical, his yellow cat-eyes reflected this. When magic was involved, nothing was ever simple, everything was more difficult.

With grace, Hirako jumped off the shelf he was laying upon and brushed between [b/]Mearii's[/b] feet. She had asked the right question, and Hirako reiterated the same inquiry. Looking up at Toshiko, he spoke up.

"The heirloom in question, I have a feeling there is more to this object than simple monetary value. Did these magi say as much or...?" The black cat's voice trailed off, leaving the rest of the team to infer where his thought process was going. Work like this was always troubled by half-truths and outright lies, not just from the accused, but from the victims themselves. He wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, and knowing Toshiko, she knew the same. The big question was, if this item was magical in some way, what kind of magic was it capable of? But he was getting ahead of himself. He had a habit of letting his mind jump to conclusions when it came to important artifacts, he had a complex history with them...

[Ontos]

Kei jerked slightly upwards when the cat spoke, though he realised his hypocrisy in doing so. It would have been more shocking if the walls pulled themselves from the ground, complained about Toshiko's smoke and ran off.

He watched the walls quite eagerly. Nothing was going to catch him off-guard now.

A few seconds later, he sighed at his own facetiousness. He heard every word of Toshiko's explanation, but it was only now that he begun to think things through. The mere thought of the Daidouji's conflicts with each other made Kei roll his eyes hard. Mages could hardly get along, but it served them right. A gleeful spread across Kei's face, for all the wrong reasons. Jun's and Mearii's excitement was infectious, and it sort of made Kei want to go to the scene as well. Seeing the upset faces of mages betrayed by other mages sounded like an interesting thing too.

"Let's go there, Ando-san," said Kei. The smile on his face was not innocent, but it seemed to matter very little at this point.

[Rune_Alchemist]

Thankfully the job seemed like an easy one. An open and shut case, as they say. Just got to find the family member who stole it, get a confession, get the item back, and put the guy behind bars. Or if he resisted, end him. Of course, she doubted it'd be as easy as that. Nothing was ever easy. Not particularly something she liked. Half of her wanted to just let everyone else do the work and her put in a minimal amount of effort. Of course that'd probably make the others very unhappy with her, not liked she cared what they thought, but it'd be best to not have everyone not like her, if they didn't already.

"Might as well get this over with." She stood with a sigh, not the least bit surprised by the Daidouji's fighting with their own family. That was always a constant no matter what year it was. Mages were always fighting with each other one way or another. If they weren't trying to be sneaky about it, they took more direct, violent means. At least this hadn't escalated to outright fighting yet, though that might be fun to watch, it'd just mean more work for her. "We leavin' soon?"

[RolePlayerRoxas]

With the tray now replaced upon the table, Tomoya silently listened to the details of their case, frowning a little. It was a curious scenario, indeed. To be able to breach the presumably-extensive, or at least effective, security of this mage family and steal their most treasured item? Not only did that require extensive knowledge of the defenses, but possibly of the house's layout, maybe even the family's schedule...

"A member of a branching family would be the most logical suspect," Tomoya muttered thoughtfully, a a hand placed on his chin as his brow furrowed, "Though I suspect even they would not have extensive knowledge of the Daidouji's security. Their home, though..."

There wasn't really enough information for his musings to progress far, unfortunately. Too many scenarios and unanswered questions. Then again, if Detectives could determine the outcome from the get-go, there'd be no need to do any actual investigating. At least he could immediately rule out his own employer. That particular vampire was the type who would steal something if she wanted it and had no desire to actually pay... but Tomoya was damn sure she also had no idea about the Daidoujis, their security, heirlooms... not to mention she'd learned her lesson the last time he'd caught her following whims like that with no consequences to her actions.

...The sooner we can begin our investigation, the quicker I can focus on work, Tomoya thought with some disdain.

[VitaVitaAR]

Jun's enthusiasm, while not outwardly expressed by Toshiko, was... there. Though not as strongly. A job, from a rich family of magi... it was precisely what she needed at this time. That last purchase had really, utterly destroyed her funding. Certainly she could afford basic needs... but she lacked much money to spend on anything else. And there was that... curious book that had captured her interest...

Taking a final drag on her nearly-spent cigarette, Toshiko began to address the questions that had been asked of her.

"We'll begin with investigating the scene of the crime, Gekkou-san," she replied. She crossed the room and drove the spent nub of her cigarette into an ashtray on the central table, discarding it. Toshiko folded her arms beneath her chest. "We'll split up and perform separate investigations after interviewing the victims."

And there... there was the often-surprising voice of her often-confused-for-a-pet-cat employee. His guess was a likely one, something that Toshiko had suspected herself. It made her wary, to say the least. Not wary enough to decline the case, but wary enough to be very careful when retrieving the stolen item. The Daidouji family, all dozen-or-so branches of it, was... a dangerous assortment of individuals. If it really was the work of one of the many branches, the case could potentially become much more hazardous then simply tracking down a thief. "Neither Daidouji Kenji nor Tomoko clarified if the object was magical. But I strongly suspect that it may be. We'll have to wait and see if they're willing to reveal its nature themselves or not. But don't worry, even if it is I'm not about it let any of you get hurt."

Toshiko made her way to a set of hangers near the door, reaching up to grab a tan longcoat and remove it from its spot. After pulling it on, she turned to face her assembled employees and adjusted her glasses.

"Now, I can give anyone who needs it a ride to the mansion. The rest of you will have to follow me there. I doubt anyone could miss it, when we get there. No-one that rich ever buys an understated house. It's practically a requirement."

Toshiko smirked, slightly. It put her in mind of her own family's home. But, of course, she hadn't been back there in years. After a few moments, her more genuine smile returned.

"Are there any more questions?"

[Raineh Daze]

During the brief phase of people's talking to themselves, Hanako had downed her tea--and was regretting it due to the resultant burning sensation--and headed for the stairs to get some more clothes to put on. It would be a really bad idea to go outside without any shoes on, and she wanted to get her coat because of the weather. "Aunt Toshiko, please wait until I get back!"

With that, the child ran up the stairs, coming back down a minute later,coat hanging off of one shoulder and shoelaces still undone, ready to be drenched and trodden on if she didn't do them up in time--which was quite likely, she still wasn't that good at this whole 'tying knots' thing.

[Dblade26]

At the mention of people even potentially getting hurt, Jun stopped jumping around so much and paused to think for a minute before looking up at Toshiko. "Wait just a second before we get going please." Then, oddly enough, he took off both of his shoes, slipped an ofuda out of his pocket and into each one, then did the same for the inside sleeve of his own coat before putting his shoes back on again. Without stopping to think about i or being asked he also bent down and tied Hanako's shoelaces for her so they wouldn't get stepped on or muddied up in the rain on the way to the car, grinning and patting her on the shoulder before turning back to Toshiko and giving her an enthusiastic thumbs up!

"Now we're ready!...I think."

[Rin]

"Unfortunately not, little one," Ryuuzaki said to Hanako, her hand moving to the small girl's shoulder. "This one has other business to attend to currently."

The samurai listened as Toshiko explained the current case, although all she really needed to know was that something important had been stolen. She hadn't been hired for her detective work, after all; Toshiko had hired her for her body. She was strong and skilled with the blade, and was mostly going to be sticking around in case the situation turned violent. Hopefully, it would not... After all, despite her indomitable fighting prowess she cared little for violence, and wished that this would have a peaceful conclusion.

Time would tell whether her wish would be granted...

[Rune_Alchemist]

"None here." Etsuko impatiently replied. The case seemed to be easy enough. Despite her apathy towards her work, she was pretty good at it, at least she thought she was. Most of it - questioning and dealing with witnesses wasn't her strong suit at all. She was better at investigating the scene, tailing people, finding physical evidence, that sort of thing. Hopefully that's what she would be able to do while the others would handle the witnesses. She would probably do that anyways, unless she got a direct order from Toshiko to not to. Even then, she could probably slip away easily and get away with it without Tosh becoming too upset with her.

"I'm ready, so can we get going so I can get back to being lazy?" Etsuko's impatience was getting worse, and if these guys didn't get it in gear soon, she'd go there herself and get a head start. Or go back to her apartment and sleep for however long she wanted too.

[VitaVitaAR]

Given the silence, it was easy for Toshiko to tell that no-one had any further questions at the moment. With a nod, Toshiko turned to the door. "In that case, let's get going."

Toshiko headed out the door. Outside, the sky was the same utterly dreary grey it had been the whole day. It was rather dismal, but Toshiko wasn't really one to care too much about the weather in most cases. At worst, this made it somewhat more difficult to cast certain spells, if they were necessary. But for the most part, Toshiko's flames were fed with her mana, as opposed to the normal sources. Water was usually not an issue. She was far more concerned with the job. Success dictated whether or not she got paid, after all. The item was likely supernatural in some way, though that suspicion was so-far unconfirmed. The only real way to uncover the truth was to get it out of the victims or to find the item itself. The method of theft... now there was a difficult one. Not a single spell disrupted, no-one in the house alerted at all? She suspected plenty of the alert spells targeted the other branches of the Daidouji family... though for the moment, that was an educated assumption.

She needed to investigate to find the real truth.

Toshiko walked over to her car. It was a large vehicle, a dull red van. Hardly the most impressive car, but it did its job. She needed to get places, it got her to those places. There was enough room for most of her employees... though fitting all could be a bit of a tight fit. It would fit Jun and Hanako, as well. This wasn't a violent case, so bringing them could be useful. She'd keep them safe, regardless.

Toshiko pulled open the door to her van.

"Alright, everyone, climb in. We've got a case to solve."

There was a worrying absence that many of the new employees would not be aware of.

Toshiko had no driver's license.

[Raineh Daze]

Hanako obediently trooped outside, passing over the already-occupied front passenger seat and sliding into the middle of the rear-most seats, carefully fastening her seatbelt before the other employees could get in and make it impossible, one way or the other. It was only then that she realised that her normal seat was occupied--by someone that hadn't even been inside the agency, no less! Of course, once she realised who it was, the girl stopped worrying; Yumiko was her aunt's friend and therefore perfectly allowed to show up at random.

"Are we going somewhere fun, Toshi?" Yumiko asked, carefully placing her basket of flowers down and making sure it was closed, "Organising a day out for school children? There are a lot of people around today."

[Dblade26]

"I'm not a school child, I'm a dectective and a youkai hunter!" Jun protested as he slid into a seat next to Hanako. Well, he was a school child really, but it was important to be a professional when you were on a case and today definitely seemed like a professional day to the nine-year-old. He liked Yumiko considering she was generally nice and usually smelled like flowers instead of cigarette smoke, although truthfully since he mostly associated that particular smell with home these days he didn't hate it nearly as much as he pretended.

As he buckled himself into his seat he pulled out another ofuda from the pocket-dimensional depths of his jacket pockets and slapped it onto his seat belt where it glowed slightly before sticking in place, then did the same to Hanako's seat belt. once that was done he suddenly seemed even more excited than he'd been before, wriggling in his seat despite his earlier attempts at professionalism.

"Are we gonna go soon? I wanna see this mansion!"

There were other reasons he was excited for the trip, but he'd lived with Toshiko for long enough that they didn't seem worth mentioning.

[RolePlayerRoxas]

Silently and dutifully, Tomoya entered the van, thankful that the less-than-optimal weather was... well, optimal for him. Vampires may not be lethally allergic to sun rays, but it was still a bother for even a brief exposure to occur. Unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough to ignore it for much longer than a few seconds, so the clouds were welcome.
Taking a seat and fastening himself, he noticed the new presence in the front. After a second's glance, the butler said, "Er, hello there? I take it you're an employee, too?"

He was already taking his flask and Emergency Teacup from within his coat. If there was one thing Tomoya made sure of, it was that you damn well better greet someone with a cup of tea. It was just polite to offer the Greatest Drink Ever, after all.

[ERode]

Her colleagues pretty much asked the same question that Mearii had written down, that regarding the 'importance' and 'usage' of the family heirloom that was stolen. A simple question, but a useful one, and one that couldn't be answered before they started to properly question those of the Daidouji household. With most questions settled, Mearii stood up once more, waving off Toshiko's offer for a ride to the mansion. The Daidouji mansion wasn't too far away, and the gumiho did not like to die. Pushing her arms through the sleeves of her jacket and then zipping it up, she slid her hands behind her neck and drew her hair out from underneath the collar of the jacket. Watching as the others left to get into the deathtrap of a minivan, Mearii called out, “Toshiko, I will be running there, so apologies beforehand if I arrive late.”

And with that done, she ran off, away from the nightmarish, claustrophobic experience that was sitting in a van jam-packed with others while Toshiko swerved through the streets like some psychopathic twelve year old.

[Rune_Alchemist]

"Lets get this over with so I can go back to sleeping and drinking." Etsuko said in a slightly irritated voice as she climbed into the Van. It would be quicker than running, not that she objected to taking the long way to getting out of work, but she didn't fancy getting drenched in rain on her way there. For all she knew, it could start down pouring the moment they left. The rain slightly made her mood better, as she had always liked it since she fought better in it, but it was ruined by the noisy kids in the van. Maybe it'd be worth getting soaked just to get away from the annoyance known as human children. She had to admit to herself though, she was slightly looking forward to seeing this mansion. Maybe it was just her old habits, but she was eager to see what all this place had stored in it. Maybe, once she was done playing the good guy she could come back and...relieve these people of some of their problems. The thought made her chuckle to herself a bit.

[Ontos]

Kei silently got into the van, taking a backseat and watching the rest of the group carefully. Though the idea of that quickly faded from his mind when he saw the smiles on Hanako and Jun's faces. They were excited. He tried not to be excited, considering how much he hated getting out of the house, but the frown on his face couldn't hold onto any negative emotions in his mind.

With a silent, slightly content grin, like a cat finding a warm place to rest, Kei leaned back on his seat. He didn't even think about putting the seat-belt on. Not that he ever used one, considering that Yukinaga never drove.

Why would he worry? There were no signs that Ando was a semi-suicidal driver who considered speed limits a suggestion.

[Tachi]

Kaede was somewhat hesitant as she exited the building. In her mind, any time someone asked her to get in their vehicle for the first time, there was the constant fear that they would be one of those characters that drives like an utter lunatic. Of course, this fear instantly disappeared when she saw the children get in without any issues. Surely if her employer were that kind of character, they would've been traumatised by that sort of driving, shaking with fear...or at the very least, they'd cheerfully compare Toshiko's driving to a rollercoaster.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she got in the van. As she buckled her seatbelt, the bespectacled teen caught sight of Jun attaching an ofuda to his own and Hanako's. She blinked a couple of times and then asked the obvious question.

"Um, why are you doing that?"

She wasn't quite back to fearing for her life. After all, TV made a big deal about traffic safety sometimes, right? It was entirely possible that the child had simply seen a PSA or a cheesy old sentai team and decided to take the extra precautions.

[VitaVitaAR]

Toshiko faced forward. She turned the key, and shifted gears, pushed down on the gas...

Moments later, the van was off. And surely carried about two feet into the air when it hit a bump. Toshiko had never taken driving lessons. How she obtained a license was... actually, she had no license. Toshiko had no time to bother with such mundane things, at least she didn't feel like she did. And so, the redheaded mage had never even taken a single driving lesson. No, she learned... on the fly, so to speak. Ando Toshiko could drive! Her driving, on the other hand, was rather... unique, to put it simply. She never got in accidents, but this was mainly because the other drivers gave her a great deal of space.

Toshiko tore down the road and managed to, already, crash several lights.

[Raineh Daze]

"You got employees?" Yumiko asked, apparently not acknowledging the driving in any way other than to avoid the hot tea that came perilously close to drenching her hair. She'd been through it before, and in a much faster car. This had no ability to intimidate her any more. Sadly, it had also entirely removed the thrill from rollercoasters, as they were so... tame and predictable in comparison, "Ah, I'm not an employee, Butler-san, just a friend."

Hanako, of course, was completely used to this; it was basically the only form of driving she was used to. In fact, she had produced some paper--and crayons--stuffed in a pocket on the back of one of the seats, and was doing her best to draw. Not all that well, since she lacked a flat surface and the van kept moving, but it was a valiant effort. It was unlikely, though that most of the employees would be taking the ride anywhere near so calmly as these two.