Collab between BCTheEntity and TheRedWatcher - Bisuto Ketsu and Mitsuhide Nobu
In due course, he produced the final version of his report for the mission, and examined the pages on the computer for any misspellings. Once he was satisfied, he saved the file, then leant back in his chair as he looked around the office he’d taken residence in. Relatively clean. Ascetic, perhaps, but not wholly undecorated; he had a few well-watered plants around, and a small picture of his mother at his desk. He’d have included both of his parents, but his father… his father represented a risk of exposure that he wasn’t willing to take.
Otherwise, the place was quite clear of decoration. Cream-painted walls to help prevent distraction, and not much besides. Speaking of which, Ketsu glanced down at his phone as it beeped, checking the message he’d received. Apparently, his senior partner was about to show up… good thing he’d completed his report, then! He emailed it to the appropriate department, then stood and headed for the door of the office. He supposed he’d meet his superior in the communal area of the building.
Wiping a smudge off his glasses with the end of his exposed button down shirt, he looked at his jeans and running sneakers. Senior investigator, pfft. He probably looked like a desk jockey. Placing his glasses back on his face he continued heading toward Agent’s Bisuto’s office. Lucky for him he intercepted him in the hallway.
“Bisuto Ketsu,” he called out in the hallway in hopes that he would hear him properly. Bisuto Ketsu, huh, he was an odd one. Remarkably better than him he’d have to say, at least at twenty-one and his marks.
Ah, perfect timing. And he hadn’t even gotten halfway there. ‘Agent Mitsuhide,’ Ketsu greeted back with a wave, walking up to Nobu with a lazy smile. He always appreciated the man’s bizarre femininity, but the first time he’d so much as mentioned it had ended with a tongue lashing that took minutes to recover from.
As he enjoyed not being punished for friendliness, he’d never said anything about it since. Other than that, though, Nobu wasn’t too bad - not as weird as Grant, but also good at keeping calm and giving orders in a way that Ketsu one day hoped to emulate. Not that he wasn’t entirely capable of staying calm himself, but nonetheless.
‘So, I take it you’re my senior partner for now, sir,’ Ketsu half-questioned, half-stated, offering his hand to shake. He hoped he’d made a good impression in earlier meetings, but there was no reason to lessen that impression early.
“For now Bisuto? Already trying to best me and rank up,” Nobu teased. He just wanted to give him a hard time to see how he’d take it.
Ketsu’s eyebrows rose slightly at the suggestion, lowering the ignored hand. ‘Oh my, I didn’t realise you had
that in mind,’ he teased back, grinning at the First Class Investigator. ‘But if you
want to be bested, we can always fight hand to hand, and we’ll see how that turns out…’
Ketsu laughed lightly to himself before shrugging. ‘Ah, I kid. It’s nice to see you again, Nobu,’ he said, still smiling. ‘How’ve things been since we last talked?’
Ketsu had what Grant lacked, a personality to backup his wit and charm. Though Nobu didn’t have fond memories of the first time him and Ketsu met. He wondered if he should hold that against Ketsu, it was just nice to have someone who knew how to still function as a person around here. He started to believe all Investigators ended up broken minded before they died. That this job took their minds, then their hearts, and finally it killed them.
“Ketsu,” Nobu said dryly, “Things have been a bit hectic. As they are around here, these days. With many mysteries. And you? How have things been with you?”
‘Pretty good,’ he replied coolly. ‘I killed a Chimera and flirted with a certain flower idol this morning. With help in both cases, admittedly, but still.’ He’d have mentioned said idol actually fainting, but that’d be saying too much.
‘Anyways, I take it you have orders for me, Nobu?’ he asked. Actually, it’d be nice to talk a little while longer, but he figured Nobu would want to keep things rolling as quickly as possible.
Nobu raises a brow and gives Ketsu a smirk, “Eager to already get back out there. I heard some things about you earlier today, curious rumors. But no, I do not have specific orders for you.”
‘Uhhhhhhhnoideawhatyoumeansir,’ Ketsu quickly blurted out, glancing from side to side with a mockery of suspicion written on his face.
Nobu gives Ketsu a look.
“We were suppose to meet and greet,” Nobu told Ketsu, “Nothing more. I am just teasing. But you have been getting some talk. Good stuff, around the office.”
‘Alright, fair enough,’ he obliged, raising his hands in acknowledgement rather than defensiveness. ‘I mean, in hindsight, it’s nothing
too fancy. Chimeras aren’t necessarily exceptionally powerful- well, this one was, but that was mostly just raw strength. And in fairness, Seto was the person who helped me out there, so maybe that does or does not…
‘Pardon me, I’m rambling,’ he apologised. No need to make this meeting too odd. ‘Nonetheless, it was an interesting time. Have you done anything interesting recently, Nobu?’
“First off,” Nobu replied, “Help or not, you took down a chimera. Don’t be modest it makes you look like an idiot. You took down a Chimera, wear it like a badge of honor and sing some praise. Makes you more relatable.”
Define interesting? Rank A and Cs didn’t seem near as interesting as taking down a chimera. He was kind of jealous. Ketsu had become the departments golden canary. Seto saw potential in him and Nobu saw why. Though he wondered if it would upset the current balance in the department.
“Nothing noteworthy,” Nobu said, “I haven’t been given any specific orders. But I also don’t like sitting around.”
‘Well, you are my senior partner, so I guess I have to follow orders…’ Ketsu obliged, a bit of a grin making its way on to his face. ‘I just figured, something like that is a mere change of pace for a First Class Investigator, not strictly that big a deal overall.
‘Though… it was interesting, since we’re talking about strength,’ Ketsu mused briefly. The ghoul’s blood was delicious, first and foremost, but that wasn’t something he was about to admit. But other than that…
‘The fight didn’t take too long, but from what I saw, the ghoul didn’t seem all that smart. Or, at the very least, it was wholly non-verbal, and maybe a bit feral from the way it fought. A bit bizarre, don’t you think?’
It didn’t talk and seemed more feral. Nobu gave Ketsu a considering look.
“That does seem like a bizarre circumstance,” Nobu paused, “Have you had lunch already?”
‘Yeah, I went to a coffee place with some other agents,’ Ketsu confirmed. No matter that he hadn’t actually had any food, but Nobu didn’t need to know that at all. ‘From the look of things, it seems like Grant has a new junior partner - a miss Jericho Yuno? I wonder if she’ll get along better than Grant’s last partner did...’
Nobu began to laugh. Jericho Yuno with Grant? What were they thinking? Oh he knew Jericho Yuno, she was a funny girl and there were some people who talked about her due to her eccentricities when she was a desk jockey. More or less what was said about her is her kiddy grab claw as her quinque, not that he didn’t see that as effective, he saw it having many uses. It’s just their personalities were the complete opposite.
Oh he knew Grant. The man didn’t blink and looked like he could star in his own horror flick as the killer. His half face was the half face of some zombie in some B rated horror action thriller. Grant with someone so carefree, it just didn’t mesh.
Nobu cleared his throat, “Forgive me. But, what was Seto thinking? They are more than opposites, they are the polar sides of two extremes.”
‘Not so extreme as you’d think, actually,’ Ketsu countered soberly. ‘I think the plan is for her to benefit from his experience, and he to benefit from her personality. Either way, so far, Yuno seems to be handling Grant’s quirks quite well. No screaming fits or anything.’
Grant benefitting from another person?
“You think Grant benefits from other people Ketsu?” Nobu said, “You know I was on a case with him once. I prefer not to have that experience again.”
Though if Grant had already hung out with Ketsu, it meant Ketsu was in his perimeter. Which meant Nobu might have to deal with him more. Grant is the obsessive type. Once someone catches his interest, he orbits them in someway or another.
‘Well… honestly, I don’t know him well enough to say if he does or not. Sure, his scars are gruesome, and he has his negatives, but he… ah…‘ Admittedly, Ketsu had stumped himself here. What positive qualities did Grant have, again? Had he not paid attention, or was Grant really that much of a jackarse?
‘...he likes J-pop,’ Ketsu recalled. ‘So that’s a thing.‘
Nobu gives Ketsu a look.
“Are you sure about that?” Nobu asked, “I am pretty sure the pink straw he has is a distraction. Grant likes throwing around false clues.”
Ketsu frowned, then scratched his chin in thought. It did seem odd, when he thought about it. Hell, he was sure he’d thought it odd at the time, then brushed it off as “sure, he’s weird enough to have that as a quirk of his”. It hadn’t necessarily occurred to Ketsu that Grant liked playing games with people, was all.
‘Well, he certainly got an autograph from Himehana earlier. Oh, did I say who I was flirting with earlier?’ he realised belatedly. He might’ve just implied who it was, come to think of it. ‘Grant got an autograph off of her, then Yuno and I flirted with her. Good times.’
“Well Grant is not my favorite subject in the world,” Nobu tells Ketsu, “So let’s move on. Let’s go patrolling instead. I hate sitting in the office if I don’t have paperwork.”
‘Can’t say I disagree with that. Let us proceed, sir!‘ Ketsu crowed, cracking his knuckles and his neck. Oh, but he had a good feeling about this patrol. A good time was in the pipelines, he reckoned, and he was already pumped to see what came around… or maybe that was just some lingering adrenaline from his earlier Chimera battle. Either way.
