freshprints | IC Inbox

It's more like I'm asking you to not hold anything back.
I may be just starting out, but I'd be happy if you treated the café like you would any other.
So perhaps not intentionally "difficult," but certainly not "easy," either.
If I'm to make it into a place worth the struggle it took to get started, it wouldn't do to make a sub-par first impression.

I'll keep that in mind if I need to send you anything urgent, though.
But I wasn't aware that you had your own personal secretary, Kirigiri-san.
You must be up to quite exciting things yourself!

A thorough and objective review, then. That's the type of thing I'm best at, I think. I've never much been one for flattery, but observations come easily to me — both positive and negative.

He's not my personal secretary. He's

He's taken it upon himself to look out for me. It's a consideration that I welcome, generally.

I'm rather glad for that. If we're being observant...
From my perspective, you appear more of the sort who would take it upon yourself to keep an eye on other people, instead.

But in any event, it's good to have people who look out for you, in turn.
All things considered, this may go without saying...
But that sort of company, and that sort of kindness, is quite invaluable in my opinion.

Were it not for just that sort of consideration, I wouldn't be so close to opening, after all.
I owe each of my friends a debt, in that regard.

Your perspective isn't wrong. I usually feel most comfortable on the outskirts watching others, but — since coming here, I suppose I've started to be drawn into the crowd, as it were.

You have a number of friends here from your home, don't you? I met a few of them, briefly. How many are there in total?

I believe you're already familiar with Mako-chan, but we've also been living with another friend from home, Violet Yoshizawa.
Down the hall in their own apartment are two more, Akira Kurusu and Yusuke Kitagawa...
And though I hesitate to use the word "friend" to describe him, there's another associate I know from home here: Goro Akechi, for a total of five.

At home, our group was nine in total, plus our black cat...
So we have slightly more than half of us present, here.

Every friend group has one of those, doesn't it? The person who's among you, but you would hesitate to call them a friend.

It's striking how similar that configuration sounds to my own class. We had fifteen in all, though it's only myself and one classmate here at present, plus Nanami-san from a different class but the same school.

Akechi-kun and I, in particular, have somewhat complicated history.
I'd not like to delve too finely into the specifics, but he's someone that I find rather difficult to speak with.
I do empathize with him. Far better than I would like to, even. And in a sense, we're comrades, working towards similar goals.

But he's also quite set in his ways. The gap between us is quite vast, and he's not the sort of person who will meet me halfway.

Mm. I can't claim to understand your precise situation, of course, but I've certainly met people like that before. That sort of uncompromising person...it almost makes it worse to be similar to them, because of how you can see so easily how you might get along, if only they would bend a little.

One of my classmates is like that. Our backgrounds are relatively similar, but his need for superiority quickly becomes tedious.

That actually sounds a bit like Akechi-kun, funnily enough. He's admittedly a rather clever person, sharp-witted and keen...but when someone calls themselves something like the Detective Prince, one can't help but want to outsmart them a bit, wouldn't you agree?

...I'm sorry?

A "Detective Prince"? What in the world is that supposed to mean?

Back home, Akechi-kun actually had a fairly substantial following as a media personality, you see.
Despite his age, he worked rather closely with the police on investigations of special cases...which garnered him a fair bit of recognition.
He would frequently appear on talk shows and the like, to explain his deductions and opinions on current crime trends. He actually won the poll for most requested guest to appear at our school festival by a wide margin.

He certainly has no shortage of charisma, in front of a camera.

Did he really? What a disgrace.

I imagine he must think that makes him very impressive, boasting a media following. I wonder if he knows that any real detective would consider exploits like those an embarrassment, rather than something to be proud of?

My, you haven't even met him, but you've already managed to make such an astute reading of his character...
Very impressive, Kirigiri-san.
Personally, I agree with your stance, though. I don't believe that the act of finding the truth should be a spectacle...but, as you seem quite aware, there are people who clamor to put a spotlight on such things.

In some fairness to him, though, the case he was trying to solve was one that, by the nature of it, attracts a fair bit of attention.

That's all the more reason for him to stay out of it, Okumura-san. The brighter the light shone, the longer the shadow thrown. There's no excuse.

More likely than not he's the sort who couldn't resist the allure of attention. How unprofessional.

I suppose that's also a rather fair assessment. I'm certain anyone who solved the case would have received no shortage of prestige, after all.

So, can I take that to mean that if you were tasked with apprehending a group of Phantom Thieves, the sort who announce the targets of their heists via calling cards, you would handle the situation silently?

I would be glad I was dealing with thieves, and not with killers who announce their murders via calling cards.

Regardless, what could I possibly gain by giving in to a media spectacle in a situation like that? The thieves are already making a play for attention. For a detective to participate in that same spectacle just adds notoriety and legitimacy to the thieves' crimes. What sort of amateur would cheerfully hand such thieves more of what they're after?

Ideally, I wouldn't even let the thieves know they were being pursued at all until I already had them.

Perhaps that's the intent? The more notorious the thieves become, the more esteem their captor will undoubtedly receive, once they're finally unmasked. Isn't that right?

Your approach is the one that I believe someone concerned with bringing the thieves to justice would prioritize.
But if giving the thieves attention is part of a larger ploy, it's not so amateurish to let them garner some level of infamy, is it?

That depends on whether I find the ploy itself amateurish.

A professional's interest is in the truth. Whereas I would expect someone concerned with solving particularly notorious cases to be a person less concerned with the immediate case, but rather fixated on a more distant goal that they're advancing toward. Which begs the question of what that goal might be, and how personally selfish it is.

I'm not so hypocritical as to pretend that I wouldn't or haven't done something similar. I simply had the decency to be ashamed of myself for it.

I can appreciate that point of view. In your eyes, that integrity is part of what distinguishes an amateur from a professional, then?

That's a rather noble ideal to hold that line of work towards, Kirigiri-san.
It would be quite nice, I believe, if all "professionals" held themselves to it.
The "Detective Prince" can likely learn a thing or two from you!

It's certainly a significant part of it. I would call it "pride", because that's the way the concept was taught to me. Our pride is in the superiority of our methods, and one of those methods is doing what we do unseen, unconcerned with glory or acclaim.

Will I meet him at your soft opening? Perhaps you could seat us together — I imagine we'd have a great deal to talk about.

Or perhaps it'd be better if you didn't, since you said you wanted your soft opening to go smoothly.

While I did invite him, and a bit more formally than I invited you, at that...I wouldn't be surprised if he neglected to make an appearance.
In the alternative, if he were to arrive, I believe he would keep to himself, in my company, so I doubt there would be any true conflict.

As I've mentioned, the situation between us is complicated.
I can't blame him for keeping himself at arm's length from me...
But I do think we could get somewhere, if he didn't.

I understand.

If he does put in an appearance, I hope you'll point him out to me. And if there were some sort of problem, rest assured I would be at your disposal for resolving it.

I'll be sure to give you the best introduction I'm able, should I catch you two in the same room. I have little concern that there will be any issues either way, though.
I have no shortage of faith in your professionalism. You've more than proven that much, Kirigiri-san.
Between both of our skillsets, I believe everything will turn out just fine.

By the by, did the flower survive your trip home?
I thought it was rather fitting for you, admittedly.
Cosmos often means something along the lines "harmony," or "modesty"...
But a white cosmos, specifically, stands for "grace."

[ ! ]

It did survive. I've been looking around for a method of preserving it, actually; I'm fond of flowers, so it was a welcomed gift.

You can't possibly be referring to my dancing, though. You far surpass me in terms of grace.

Is that so? I wasn't aware of that...
Had I known, I would have been happy to show you the flower bed I've been tending to...
While it's not quite on par with the ones I had back home yet, I certainly can't deny that I've been making progress.

As for your grace, your dancing is simply part of the whole, so to speak.
In both ballet and daily life, you have quite a natural way about you, Kirigiri-san.

IC Inbox | noctiumrp

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