Chapter 2: Petals Born on Spring, pt. 2

Addressing Claude's question, Mr. Moriyama explains: "It's not an urgent matter: the attack was an isolated one, and we didn't receive any report of further attacks. We just want to make sure we can prevent any, if they do occur.

Furthermore, with a good enough alibi, you girls should inconspicuously travel through Tokyo, and indeed, having you going out sometimes would be benefic for maintaining your disguise... If you were never seem outside of the theatre, that could raise suspicions."

"And about the photographer: we're working on it. It may take some time though, as we try to track him down."

He smirks sardonically, "Stern talk? Feel free to do that! For now, we must know if he has any more, and more problematic, photos; his intention with them is also of concern. Depending on the answer... I'd like to have a personal talk with him~"

As that question is readdressed by Shizuka, he gives her an annoyed glance: "Now listen, we have extraordinary legal powers in here, and by 'we', I mean you girls too. Furthermore, disclosing secret military information to the public is already a serious crime, I'm sure you'd agree."

---

As the questions of why keeping this secrecy pile up, Moriyama stays quiet and pondering for an instant, puffing on his cigar while reclined on his chair.

Finally, he says: "Claude-san is right, we can't allow this theatre, the staff, attendees and technology inside it to be threatened. But besides that, there are... Political concerns you may not know about.

For starters, this endeavor is the stated wish of later empress Kiyomoto, and tacitly upheld by our current empress Shirayuri, but a good part of our cowardly politicians are vehemently against anything like this, seeing it as a foolish waste of resources and dangerous warfare. Not causing scandal among the public is one of the reasons also.

Finally, you may or may not now, our relations with the Russian Empire have been souring over the last years, specially concerning the sovereignty of the Karafuto island (or Sakhalin, for you westerners), where recently huge deposits of tamashishi have been discovered; where their current politicians and military are the starkly opposite to ours, in their warmongering - even though their Czar seems wiser than that and having amiable relations with our empress - if the petalframes went public, along with our research efforts on warfare, that could prove catastrophic, even sparking a war between us."

Giving another puff at his cigar and cleaning his throat, he adds: "I hope that suffices to explain to you the importance of keeping our secrecy."

"Now then, if you find him, I'd like you to bring him here, under arrest."

---

Claude bows.

"Thank you. Understood. It would likely be best if Gozen-san were the one to detain him, as that would remove the need for any of us to disclose our special legal enforcement powers.

In fact, I have to admit there seems to be an oversight on my behalf regarding the full scope of such special powers, and thus I would like to request an opportunity to acquaint myself with whatever relevant documentation and legal writings as relate to my new station and its presentation to the wider public in case of need. Please forgive me, for it seems I have embarked on this voyage without full awareness of such nuances."

Homura spent a moment digesting Claude's points and the new information before she replied, a bit deflated. "I see... Understood. I wasn't aware that our relations with Russia were that bad."

The importance of secrecy was instilled in her now. While she didn't care much for satisfying the politicians, she didn't want harm to come to anyone, which would certainly happen if war ended up breaking out.

"We'll head out soon then and see what we can dig up on these leads. If this photographer is the same guy I'm thinking of, I'm going to enjoy using my 'extraordinary legal powers' on him!" Homura rubbed her hands together deviously, a wicked grin spreading across her face. "It's fine if we bring him in only lightly cooked, right?~"

After a long soak and even longer nap, Shizuka woke up refreshed and ready to go. As ready as she could be, of course, considering the state of her injuries. Still, once she turned five she was taught to never show weakness especially when in uniform, so she gingerly strapped on all of her gear and headed out to Tokyo with the others. It felt like another day at work, although today she was with some eccentric companions.

Once at the scene, she followed behind Chimera with a more relaxed attitude as they broke the ice with the officers. It certainly looked like there was some sort of fight here, but the musician was nowhere around. Luckily she knew a lot of these officers, so getting some info might be easier.

"Otsukaresama~ Do you guys miss me yet? The Steel Petal Division is looking into this attack as well, since shamon are involved. Apparently there's a musician who plays bad music, and the shamon don't like it. Any leads or witnesses who saw what happened?"

"Yes, they sent me along with all these shamon investigators to look around town. It's like science stuff, then they tell the pilots how to fight better. I'm just the bodyguard, and they are the brains."

Shizuka said the last bit with a hint of sarcasm, seeing as her arm was currently in a sling. Although she didn't care for the secrecy aspect of the SPF, she still tried to humor them by using a code name of sort. She also gave the area a quick scan to see if anything stuck out, like a weapon or spooky shamon artifact.

"Mhm, so they fled east, Sergeant? We could follow that slime trial or take a look around for that red haired guy. What do you think Chime-- er... What do you think Detective Roosevelt?"

Homura had been silently digesting the information presented. She suspected this may just be the shamon that escaped earlier, but the amount of destruction seemed rather tame for that. They needed more details.

Her stomach audibly growled. Even though she ate before they left the theater, she was already starving again. I need fuel if I'm going to be thinking hard...

"I'll see if the staff in that restaurant saw anything unusual!" Homura said, splitting off to head into the local restaurant. Despite the state of the outside seating, the establishment still seemed to be open.

Wearing a beautifully disarming smile, she talked with any waiters, chefs and such that were present, trying to charm additional information about the incident from anyone that knew something. She also bought tons of food, just to be courteous. It wasn't because she was trying to get away with snacking on the job or anything...

---

The information didn’t really mean a whole lot to Abenanka, the basics at least. An attack like this could’ve been a monster, or it could’ve been anything else. It seemed a waste to dispatch the pilots to do ground work when they could’ve been training or discussing approaches to situations.

That was what she would’ve said to anyone who asked, but really she’d been enjoying her chance to sleep finally, and when they’d woken her up to pursue the lead she’d met the situation with a frosty response.

She stifled a yawn, listening with one ear when the office mentioned the man. Now that caught her attention, for reasons she hadn’t told the others about yet. When she’d followed the violin’s buyer before, he’d reacted to the magic and her birds had reacted to him. There had to be something going on, but he didn’t fit the description.

Just as she’d been about to ask Homura to ask around for more information, her less surly attitude sure to garner more results, when she disappeared to the nearby restaurant. That left Shizuka and Chimera, or Claude. The latter would be a good choice, but as far as Abenanka was concerned she noticed too much already and had enough on her plate.

Sighing and yawning again, Abenanka wandered eastward looking for anyone familiar.

Claude was physically with the team on the investigation, but mentally distracted, still thinking about the previous investigation - the one where thoroughly and frantically looking through the antiques store yielded nothing of interest, while Homura's direct approach produced results; mixed results, but results nonetheless.

Sigh, maybe I should just coast a bit. If investigation is not my thing, maybe let others do it. Recover my mental energy. After all, it's not like I've been getting the full rest after the recent emergencies anyway.

Claude just barely noticed Abenanka's glance, but kept on musing. It took a few seconds to realise that she walked off. The foreigner hastily walked after her.

"Oh, hey, did you find some useful trail? I have to admit, I am at a bit of a loss how to make myself useful at the moment, so maybe I should at least tag along."

"I see, thank you Sergeant. It's likely a shamon trying to hide, or someone trying to summon them. We'll take a look--ah! Detective wait for me!"

After thanking the police, Shizuka hurried after Chimera along the slimy pathway. Catching up rather quickly, she walked with her hand on the hilt of her sword, although she didn't expect anything to pop out other than some spooked musicians. She noted that Homura, Abenanka, and Claude headed into different directions to look for clues. In the case of an attack she'd have to alert everyone somehow, perhaps a pistol shot into the air would do the trick.

"Chimera-san what do you think about the attack? If it is a shamon maybe we need to plug it's ears up so it can't hear bad music. Or wait, we should plug our own ears to block out the sound-thingy?"

"You mean the guy escaped his hospital room just to play tonight..? That's insane!" Homura chuckled softly, though inwardly she was a bit worried about what would happen if the chef's son played in a crowded pub.

When she was about to leave with an empty belly, she stopped to look back at the young man as he extended her an invitation. Her stomach rejoiced at the thought of yakiniku, but she was conflicted for a moment. Ultimately, she decided she could just leave if it turned out to be a waste of time, so it wouldn't hurt to take the guy's offer.

"Well, if you're talking about that pub up the street, I'd be happy to share a cab with you. Come on, you can tell me all about yourself on the way! What's your name? What do you play?" She smiled at the man, and coyly placed her hand on his arm as she pushed him out the door.

Listening to Chimera, Shizuka thought it could be plausible. Anything could be plausible when it came to the shamon, really. They weren't well known at this point, but hopefully if they caught the red-haired man they would get some more answers.

"Ugh, humans turning into shamon would make things difficult. I liked it better when shamon were just demon things, it made fighting them simple."

She recalled her father bringing her along to a murder scene investigation when she was eleven. Even after that she had to sit in court during the trial, in which both the victim and murderer had their families present. It was messy, to say the least, and her father would always say "being a cop isn't all fun and games!" when she cried.

"But if Gouki is planning this whole thing with cursed instruments, I wonder what his goal is. Guess we will just have to ask him once we catch them playing music again."

Cupping her ears with her hands, Shizuka tried to listen for any distant, horrible music as they walked down the street.

With a better glance, Homura notices that the guy should be in his early 20s, having an unimpressive build and a somewhat above average height of 5'9 (175m), which is still shorter than hers. She also notices how he throws that invitation haphazardly, and looks greatly surprised when she accepts! "Gah! Uh... I mean, great! I'll get ready right away!"

He then offers her a drink before sliding down the counter for half a minute and then, instead of wearing his barman uniform, he's wearing a black jacket checkered in red and purple, over a vibrant silk red shirt with the cuffs folded back, over the jacket; then, as he rolls over the counter (almost falling flat on his face), she can see he's wearing lilac linen pants and light-brown shoes.

"Ta-dam!" He yells with open arms, he's holding a violin case (an object which Homura got quite familiar with lately). Then, as if forgetting her for a moment, he looks up, his hands always in front of him, gesticulating dramatically, "I'm a artist, you see? Or better, a lover of beauty... Everything that's beautiful in this world I adore and vow to protect and cultivate... Receive this sonata, my lady, as a muse receives verses from a poet..."

---

Then, just as Shizuka starts looking for any odd song at the distance, as an irony of destiny, a beautiful melody starts playing inside the restaurant; while some could say it's overly sugary, none could deny an extraordinary show of virtuosity! It's short and lasts for a little more than a minute.

His smug face, as he finishes, is broken as Homura supposedly pulls him by the arm, "Oh, uh... Right, I'm a musician, and also a painter and... Well, photography isn't in my taste, but what can I do, I have a great eye for composition and they pay reasonably..."

"Oh, and the name is Otoya Sawatari, but you can call me just Otoya, hehe~"

Once in the street, they call a cab, and once it comes, he pulls, from the depths of his pockets, a little wallet and starts searching inside it. After a frustrating minute, he just shakes it over the cabby's hand, with a single coin and some dust falling of. "Ahem..." He goes back to his pocket, rummaging hastily through it, pulling another coin from it- a paper flies out along, looking like a copy of a photography... When in flies in a better angle with the light, it could be seen as a photo of Homura! In a pond, soaked and furious.

Soon, Claude realises that Abenanka is not responding, stops, stares at her walking for a bit, then shrugs and turns back towards where the other team members were. That was when Homura and the bartender exited the building, and Claude overheard the familiar name.

That can't be . . .

The foreigner stood and stared, surprised, for a whole minute, at the supposed photographer dealing with the money issue. Only once a photograph flew out of the walled did Claude snap out of it. Suddenly everything added up.

. . . or I guess it can.

Claude walked up to the duo, smirking triumphantly and speaking in a slightly teasing tone. "Well well well, if it isn't Oto-chan, in the flesh. Seems you have lost a thing or two. Would you like to talk about it? Because there sure is a bunch of respectable and charming people who would like to have you over for teatime and a little talk," Claude briefly glances around in search of Gozen for support.