He also was somewhat uncomfortable with the way Nanami was acting with regards to Saotome. While she was a genius manipulator, and a true asset to the force, he felt she was somewhat flighty, and was concerned that her interest in him could be the beginnings of infatuation. She was, after all, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl.
Masamichi merely hoped that Nerima could withstand a non-covert operative's extended presence; while the district was unusually resilient due to an unlikely collection of events (not the least of which was Mishima Heavy's presence on the north side of town), it housed such oddballs as Principle Kuno. Masamichi himself had authorized a transfer some months back of a new teacher to Kuno's school -- a teacher with a power that could have been dangerous to schoolchildren.
The Hawaiian-dressed man had comported himself fairly well during the meeting to allow the transfer, considering that Masamichi was certain he was a nutjob. Despite his feeble arguments, the disciplinary records of a few of the students were remarkable. They were so thorough, they even included students who didn't attend the school. A new class had been created, something Kuno called, 'Structure re-arrangement'. All students who participated were considering to be 'enrolled' for the purposes of having disciplinary records.
Really, Masamichi reflected, drawing a puff from his cigarette while watching Nanami tremble nervously across the desk from him, it was the outstanding number of unfulfilled detentions, demerits, and punishments that had impressed him the most. Certainly it could be difficult to discipline a student who didn't attend, but the biggest offender....
He furrowed his brow in thought. "You know, come to think of it," he muttered, glancing back through the school records he'd pulled up on Saotome. "Ah," he sighed. "Okay. I do remember hearing about this Saotome. He's supposedly a real bad egg. A punk, and a discipline problem. I'll want you to keep a very close eye on him, but because he's dangerous, I'm going to need to see to it that you're kept safe."
That in mind, he decided to send the most calm, collected, and thoughtful person on the force in to back her up -- with permission to level entire city blocks if required. Sagara Sousuke was those things. Admittedly, he had a penchant for overreaction and destructiveness, but Masamichi was confident that Makoto and Nanami would be able to keep him in line. In fact, Nanami would be required to pay some attention to Sousuke at almost all times, which would prevent her from getting herself into any truly ... compromising situations with the Saotome boy.
"You'll have Sagara-kun with you," he decided.
The color drained from Nanami's face, and she said nothing. Masamichi took another pull from his cigarette, when Makoto stumbled through the doorway, looking over his shoulder irritably, and then closing the entrance behind him. "Sorry," he said, looking back up at the department manager. "Trouble with the elevator, Sir."
Masamichi grunted, and snubbed out his cigarette. "Processing give you any other details?" he asked. "What are we up against."
"Is there any other way we can do this?" Nanami finally asked. "Um, Sir? I'm not questioning your judgment or anything, I'm just ... uh ... Mini-May isn't that bad, really."
"Hold that thought," Masamichi advised, as Makoto unburdened himself of a sheaf of folders, which he sat on the man's desk.
"Okay, here's what we've got for your interview subjects, Nanami-chan," Makoto said, opening the top folder. "Tendo Akane, heir to the Tendo school of Anything Goes Martial Arts." He shrugged slightly, and held up a school picture of the girl, dated two years previously and illustrating her long dark hair. A more recent picture showed much shorter hair. "Mother, deceased, father currently resides at the Tendo dojo in Nerima. Named Tendo Soun, he's listed for various petty crimes -- theft, vandalism, minor destruction of property, a few instances of peeping at women in baths ... he was an accomplice of someone named 'Happosai'. The most recent one of these was twelve years ago, and while he's listed, no one with a valid suit is pressing charges."
Masamichi grunted, while Nanami sighed, settling in to listen. "Interesting. Anything else?"
Makoto shook his head. "Nothing critical. Her attendance at school has been getting worse -- a few weeks ago she went to China inexplicably for two weeks. Records say that her father called in to say that she'd been kidnapped. Apparently that just happened again today at the tower."
"Right," Masamichi muttered, leafing through Akane's school records, and then shuffling everything back into the large manila envelope. "Next?"
Makoto pulled out another envelope, this one showing a picture of the purple-haired girl with the bonbori in the Chinese dress. "Here's a Chinese citizen, her great-grandmother is actually a diplomat, and her immunity has been extended to this girl," he warned.
Nanami and Masamichi both frowned. "That seems rather ... liberal," the supervisor finally said.
The camera-man and research flunky shrugged. "This is just what I found, I'm sorry, Fujisawa-san. I don't know who set that up yet." Masamichi gestured for Makoto to continue. "Ah, she's a skilled fighter, and has participated in a number of local tournaments, as well as some from father away ... a three-legged hot spring race, Martial Arts Delivery race.... Mother is unknown, father is named So Pu, but uses the alias 'Soap'. Her name is Shan Pu, but she goes by 'Shampoo'. We really don't know much more than that. Well, there is one detail, but I'll save that for the moment."
"I don't like surprises," Masamichi murmured. Makoto ducked his head, and the man sighed. "Just go on," he sighed.
"Right," Makoto mumbled, putting the pictures and few papers he could get back into the envelope, and moving on to the next. He pulled out a picture of the brown-haired girl in the okonomiyaki-seller's uniform. "This is Kuonji Ukyou, grandmaster of the Kuonji school of Martial Arts Okoniomiyaki--"
"Oh, man," Nanami groaned. "Why is it always fast food ninjas? That takoyaki-guy with the pet squid and his safe-cracking scheme with that puppet-wielding nutjob are probably behind this!"
Masamichi considered this, while Makoto blinked. "I doubt it," the man finally decided. "I'll have someone look into them anyway. Go on, Mizuhara?"
"Ah ... so, her attendance is probably the best of any of the 'problem' students at the school, though her grades aren't much better than average. No surviving parents or other family." Makoto coughed quietly, then pulled out three pictures, showing all three girls next to one-another. "Now, all three of these girls have at some point been engaged to someone named 'Saotome Ranma', which is the next file I've got."
"Good," Masamichi and Nanami said together, eager to see what Makoto had found.
Makoto shuffled the papers so that everything was one again stored in an envelope. "Now," he said, setting out a picture of a handsome boy with dark hair in a pigtail, a picture of a very cute girl with red hair in a matching pigtail and outfit, and then a third picture, this one of a smaller girl with black hair in a skirt and blouse. "This is Saotome Ranma," Makoto explained, pointing at the boy. "This girl also claims the same name. I'm not sure what their relationship is, but I can't find a lot of information about her -- I'm guessing that it's an assumed name. She's participated in his stead in several tournaments where males weren't allowed to participate."
"And this girl?" Masamichi asked, pointing to the dark-haired child.
"Ah ... that would be Ranma's adopted daughter."
"He's seventeen!" Nanami protested, rifling through the paperwork before Masamichi or Makoto could catch her. "How can he adopt someone?"
"Like I said," Makoto said apologetically, "I don't know who set this up, only that it happened."
"Anything about her?"
"Nothing out of the ordinary, really. Her father died in a lab explosion, recently leaving her orphaned. She was picked up by Saotome, and then enrolled in a school near his," Makoto offered with a shrug.
"I see," Masamichi said after a moment of thought. "You two prepare for tonight's attempt. I'm going to go ahead and brief Sagara. Send him in on your way out."
Head hanging in defeat, Nanami trudged to the lobby to do as she had been told.
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(Posted Thu, 28 Jul 2005 18:25)
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