#master detectives archives: rain code

[snivyartjpeg]

i'd like to think it cheered him up a bit

[ayakayuchan]

Day 1: Hurt /Comfort | Healing

“You dont need to keep everthing to yourself, you can cry when you feel sad. When you need me, i’ll be here. You are not alone anymore…”

_____________________________

So…

I decided to try participate @raincodeshipweek (i was already thinking about doing fanart lol)

[wildfire317s-oc-box]

Raincode Alternate Timeline idea: Mrs.Furio lives timeline

In this timeline Mrs.Furio (Yakou's wife) would somehow manage to avoid her murder attempt until just before the blank week mystery where, knowing that Dr.Huesca is trying to kill her; she would go to the fake blood test in some type of disguise and with an alias having already put in her two weeks notice. She would get her blood drawn which would then be used to produce her homunculus on accident or purposefully but made to seem like an accident depending on whether or not she had made friends with any of the lady peacekeepers or any of her fellow lady scientists who would have enough access to sneak it into production while Dr.Huesca was distracted with planning Mrs.Furio's murder. Dr.Huesca would be successful in his next murder attempt while she was getting her belongings from her desk which would be right before the Homunculi escape. After the blank week mystery Mrs.Furio wakes up at the submarine along with Yakou finding everything just a tad bit messier than usual and not remembering anything from the week before like her husband and the rest of Kanai Ward's residents. Makoto having found a way to manipulate Dr.Huesca into leaving Mrs.Furio alone, respects her two week's notice. Over the next three years with Yakou's love, support and negotiation skills Mrs.Furio also becomes a detective of the WDO who also lacks a forte and works exclusively at the NDA. During the time that Vivia, Halara, Desuhiko, Fubuki and Yuma are around everything goes mostly the same way but with Mrs.Furio helping Yakou keep an eye on their "work-kids" as the "work-mom" and naturally getting dragged into their shenanigans until chapter four.

At which point Yomi having gotten sick of Dr.Huesca's crap has hired Fink the slaughter artist after finding a convenient note mentioning where to find him, and Makoto having figured out Yomi's plan has brought Yuma along to "solve" the "mystery" and take the advantage to get Yomi arrested. However the plan goes astray due to Mrs.Furio getting a bad feeling about where Yuma is running off too which lead's to Yakou and her rounding up the rest of the detectives and going to go find him. At which point Kurumi tells them that Yuma was going with Makoto to the Amaterasu HQ and that according to the peacekeeper's Fink the slaughter artist was going after Dr.Huesca. All of them knowing how Yuma is decide to go and get him or at least go help him before he gets in over his head and ask Kurumi to keep an eye on the submarine. Once there Desuhiko gets all of them into their disguises and split up into pair's to go find Yuma; Desuhiko with Yakou, Vivia with Halara and Fubuki with Mrs.Furio. At some point before Desuhiko, Yuma, Fubuki and Mrs.Furio meet up to and go to check on the doctor but after the chief splits up with Desuhiko and Yuma to create a distraction for them, Yakou circles back around after distracting the peacekeepers and happens to overhear that Dr.Huesca left his intercom's microphone on and happens to overhear Dr.Huesca's plan to escape by pretending that Fink had somehow snuck in and that he was under attack to lure Yuma and the other detectives in, kill them with the toxic gas, frame Fink as their killer and using the sulfuric acid to make one of them a body-double. And Yakou being Yakou decides that he CANNOT allow that to happen, and makes the impulsive decision that he needs to get to Dr.Huesca before Dr.Huesca can get to the people he cares about even if that means drawing the ire of both Yomi and Fink. Skipping forward to just past Dr.Huesca's murder at Yakou's hands using a knife that looks suspiciously similar to the one Fink uses in a storage closet near the doctor's lab (placed there incase yomi needed to go with plan B) to around the time Yakou gets stabbed, Instead of blocking out his face on the picture of him and Mrs.Furio he uses his blood to leave one last message "saved you-". At which point most of the rest of chapter four continues as usual. But it is revealed in what phantom-Yakou says that he was trying to protect them all. However i feel like the change in storyline would also change phantom-Yakou's design, like a large tower-shield instead of a whip, shove-attacks that are easily dodged and do minimal damage at best, his design warped and shifted as to hide who he is entirely as though ashamed, never looking directly at Yuma or Vivia as if he cannot bear to look them in the eye after what he did.

Then skipping to chapter five Makoto places a body-double of Mrs.Furio along with the body-doubles of the other NDA detectives but her note's mention the pill she was working on before she quit and a "hidden" message as to where to find it and the respective research papers on it but otherwise it goes as normal.

Then during Yakou's dlc only the ending changes with Mrs.Furio revealing that she had snuck into the restricted area to get Yakou and give him the pill that Yuma retrieved for her with Makoto's help.

[michimi-maidenvelekblog]

So, out of curiosity. I have noticed some random posts about plotholes around Rain Code (like Fake Zilch being able to leave Kanai Ward, to name one ig) and I encountered one that made me question even more...

In reddit I found an ask saying: How did they replicate tattoos (like Yakou's) into the Homunculi? Because tattoos and piercings are not things that are natural from your body, you get them by own choice during any moment of your life. Some suggested that perhaps Yakou and a few others who also got tattoos and piercings had them made in those three years after the Blank Week Mystery and before the game.

Now, meanwhile that's a valid possible answer, the one question that raised for me is... How did they get the clothes for ALL homunculi between the blood test and the first homunculi created? Because you can lie your way around the blood test with the 'it is for a potential disease', but like, how do they asked for clothing? Unless Amaterasu had time to buy all clothing?

And also, unless my memory is wrong, according to the game (correct me if not), homunculi revive after 24 hours, but the original Dr. Huesca said that they did the 'die and revive' test of them along with the failed attempt to fix their reaction towards the sun in the lapse of 14 hours (actually, even less because by that time, the homunculi were already bersek). So, do defective homunculi revive earlier than possibly Makoto, who is a perfect homunculus, would if he died?

Those are my random questions for plotholes (unless there is an in-game explanation that I ignored??)

[chengfagshi]

His waist looks very grabbable.

[sailor-moon39]

Vivia is definitely the fan-favorite.

[hopeymchope]

Rain code has an embargo in it, justonegamr & other lpers can't post anything passed Chapter 4 (and it ended on a cliffhanger to!)

You know, I actually get why they'd do it. Story-heavy games like Rain Code are unfortunately exactly the kind of game that many people will choose to just watch instead of playing it for themselves. You have to do *something* to make people actually want to play it... especially when they spent so much more time and money to develop this game than they ever did before with a Danganronpa or a Zero Escape or an A.I.: The Somnium Files. They need this game to actually make money.

Honestly, letting people post up through Chapter 4 seems like a LOT of game that they're allowing be freely spoiled. I would've expected even less... I'm only up through the investigation of Chapter 1 (which is, in fact, the third chapter you play thanks to "Chapter 0" and "Prologue" preceding it), and I've been playing it for a few hours every day since Saturday!

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

like honestly just give your non binary characters traditionally "gendered" features. just do it. it's not like being androgynous ever stopped non binary characters from being misgendered.

frisk undertale and kris deltarune were androgynous and are only ever referred to by "they/them" and ppl are still arguing over how the "main character is not the player but their own person" message didn't apply to their genders bc they refuse to wrap their head around different pronouns. raine owlhouse was paraded around as "disney's first ever nb representation" by everyone and their mother but bc they have short hair other countries dub them as male. this also happens to most anime nb characters bc of how japanese pronouns work. halara raincode literally has the color scheme of the non binary flag AND their in-game profile says that they, and i quote "have no specified gender" AND several characters remark on it in the actual game but bc theyre voiced by a female voice actor ppl still call them a woman.

like literally at this point just give your nb characters huge tits and a massive beard. if ppl refuse to accept the existence of non binary characters in media, then there is no way to make a character non binary "enough" to convince them otherwise. no matter how much you hammer in their androgyny in an attempt to detach them from "male" and "female," there will be people determined to assign gender roles to any trait you give your character.

creators being hesitant to give their non binary characters traits that could be associated with a binary gender is why every goddamn genderqueer character that the creator wants you to take seriously in popular media has shoulder length hair and a board-flat figure and a perfectly neutrally pitched voice. like. just do what you want at this point. the character is non binary because your story said so and people who misgender them would have done that no matter how androgynous they look.

[elina-sakura]

Okay, the fact the top ten characters list came out in Japan happens to have all of the characters in my list as well (albeit in different orders) is kind of funny to me.

Top Ten Favorite MDA Characters

Note: I am referring to both canon and fanon elements, and the ranking is not because of negative emotions but my feelings and preferences.

Major Spoilers for the entire game by the way

1. Yuma Kokohead

Of course, I love the little amnesiac ‘trainee’ full of anxiety. I just love anxious characters who have to struggle being the hero of the story in such dangerous situations. He just makes the perfect candidate for hurt/comfort stories. I love the relationships he has with the Nocturnal Detective Agency, I love how he wants to help everyone (even if he doesn’t have the best tact), and I love his angsty moments in his head (I love me some good angst). And when we learn of his true identity in the end, it really shines a light on his character more both outside and in-game. All of his flaws and the impacts to the story he made and the struggles he had. But most importantly the connections he made with others, the core part of the entire game and his character, is what makes me love him so much.

2. Yakou Furio

I don’t know why I’m so hyperfixated on this character. Maybe it’s because he’s the mentor character of the protagonist, and ended up giving me father-figure vibes to me with Yuma. Despite his flaws, he is such a good character who has been through so much, yet cares deeply for the people he loves and the city itself. And protect the detectives he took in, even with how much trouble they cause. But Chapter 4 and post-game is where I really start to appreciate him with his backstory revealed and how far he’s willing to go for the ones he love. Here’s to hoping he returns in post-game contents or hopefully sequels.

(NOTE: This is purely my preferences. I do not want to cause discourse or make people feel bad who ship Yuma and Yakou romantically; you guys do you with Yumakou and I’ll be happy with Yakou Fathero).

3. Makoto Kagutsuchi

Okay, this is where we really get to spoilers here since it happened post-game, but he became my favorite character right to the top three just because of who he is. An enigma who holds the secret of Kanai Ward, who created the mysteries in his hands, yet his motivations and heart was only filled with good intentions (despite having to make human meat buns). A young man who had to hold the secret for so long all on his own, try to fix many problems that weren’t actually his fault, finding purpose and his own identity outside of his original, and his relationship with Yuma as a whole. Complex, morally grey characters always catches my interests, especially when they are the antagonists.

4. Desuhiko Thunderbolt

I know, shocking. My favorite out of the four Master Detectives in the NDA is the perverted Superstar Detective, but when you look past the trope (and Chapter 2 and that one DLC scene as a whole) you would see there is a lot of depth to his character. He’s kind of the only one (confirmed so far) who had a pretty normal childhood and actually has relatable struggles a lot of people can probably relate to (being a shy and possibly bullied kid who wants to be a better version of themselves), who desires to be a Superstar and a detective at the same time and doesn’t want to be just one or the other, and is an all-around cool guy and loyal friend who could get along with people when he isn’t being a creep or overly obnoxious. It’s just too bad the writers seem to think the pervert trope would be a good way to add comedy when his obnoxious and goofball nature would probably be enough to get some comedy out of him. I want to hope maybe the writers would make Desuhiko less of a pervert in the future, but I’m not gonna get my hopes up. I just hope people can possibly see through the trope to see the real Superstar under the gross exterior (metaphorically-wise).

5. Kurumi Wendy

I’m honestly surprise she’s high on the list, but with how much I try to expand her character and how much fics I want to do with her, I’d say she definitely made it to the top five of the list. Kurumi is someone where I see a lot of potential in her character, but the writers ended up underutilizing her. She’s a high school informant who lost her grandfather to the overarching mystery, and her best friend a few months ago, and finds a special connection with Yuma and become one of his supporting partners alongside Shinigami. There’s a lot of potentials with her character, like seeing how the losses of important people in her life affected her, how she lives as a high school informant, and see her feelings on detectives and her relationship with Yuma, the new friend she feels a connection with and someone who gives her hope. But unfortunately, the writers end up making a bigger focus on making her the love interest of Yuma, and outside of that, make her an exposition dump. Heck, even in Chapter 5, I’m pretty sure Makoto only brought her with Yuma so she could tell him the informations needed to solve Kanai Ward’s Ultimate Secret, and discover that she and everyone else are Homunculi. It’s honestly sad because there’s so much to her character that could have made her stand out on her own, and I wish was utilized more.

6. Fubuki Clockford

Fubuki is such an adorable character and kind of relatable to me in being an airhead (though not to the extremes as she is). She’s kind and friendly to her peers, and is very imaginative as well when it comes to what she hears, like believing the sky is the ocean (if you look at it from an art perspective, it would be pretty cool). And especially her inner struggles on how she recognizes how slow-witted she is and how her time power leads her distraught when she’s not able to prevent the terrible outcomes she witnesses. Chapter 3 really shined a spotlight on her character, and one of the few spots that makes Chapter 3 worthwhile.

7. Halara Nightmare

Now this is a character I feel I have a lot in common with, specifically in real life. I tend to be rude and asocial (though only if I’m tired and overworked). I don’t like to be physically touched at all unless I give permission and told a head of times. I prefer to work alone when it comes to my work (in this case, my schoolwork). And I am definitely, sadly allergic to cats, especially since I feel connected with cats in personality at times. So I can relate to Halara in some aspects even though I sometimes am off-put by how harsh they are with Yuma in Chapter 1. I understand it’s because they want Yuma to figure things out for himself since he needs to quickly relearn things as a Detective and get to work on solving Kanai Ward’s Ultimate Secret (if anything, I commend them for putting in the effort to give some teaching to Yuma in some ways), and in hindsight they were working as an assistant to Yuma so they must have felt they shouldn’t have to do the job for Yuma (which I can’t blame). But sometimes they get a little too harsh and I just feel bad for Yuma.

8. Vivia Twilight

He is definitely an enigma of his own that interests me (though probably not as much as everyone else). A character who’s of his own agency and his own agendas and interests, and I love that kind of morally grey characters. Especially in Chapter 4 and the DLC where we got to know him more. And I enjoyed how he was a rival to Yuma for Chapter 4 who challenged the beliefs in discovering the truth, and that he was the only one who truly knew about Yuma and Shinigami. I honestly wish there were more interactions between the two after that. It really would have feel like their relationship would have been so unique and deep and interesting. And his relationship with Yakou really felt special after the DLC revealed their backstory together.

9. Shinigami

It’s usually kind of rare for me to like and be interested in mascot characters. And Shinigami surprisingly wins me over. At first, she definitely annoyed me with how she doesn’t exactly empathize with Yuma’s predicament sometimes and her callous nature with murderers sometimes (specifically in Chapter 2), but I can also understand that that’s her major flaw: lack of empathy. She’s a Death God whose natural job is to reap souls and uphold the concept of death. So of course, she’s not gonna understand whenever someone is stressed or feels empathy even with criminals. But that’s what make her character arc that leads to Chapter 4 all the more special. The previous murderers she reaped were those she barely got to know of, Yuma included, so it’s understandable to have a detachment with them, but the chapter 4 culprit was someone both she and Yuma knew, someone that really does make her understand his breakdown.

10. Pucci Lavmin

Pucci was one of my favorite Master Detectives I was looking forward to getting know. She’s a young woman (who may be close to Yuma’s age) who loves cute stuff like teddy bears, has sensitive hearing and gets snappy when too many people talk, and has a resting b!tch face. Seriously, I connect with her so much in these elements, and even thought she was going to be the female deuteragonist that we’ve seen/gotten from Danganronpa. So I was crushed when I learned she died and it was real and not a tutorial trick or something. It’s why she’s on the bottom of the list. She didn’t have as much screen time and development with her. Yes, including Kurumi, the real deuteragonist, who even though was underutilized at least had the groundwork for what kind of developments she could have had.

[onebadnoodle]

at the whims of a death god

[euarchontoglires]

kodaka games: big tiddy girl: do you wanna touch my boobs 😏 protagonist: uhhh…no…? *blushing*

uchikoshi games: big tiddy girl: do you wanna touch my boobs 😏 protagonist: hell yeah! protagonist's female partner: i will have your head on a stick if you even take so much as one more step towards that woman big tiddy girl: here's my cat his name is boobs

[snivyartjpeg]

Yuma Month Day 26 - Role Swap

god i was excited for this one. it first started off as a joke, but the more i thought about it, the more interesting this swap became. so here's my massive lore dump of changes that'd happen in the story beneath the cut (spoiler warning):

i think, fundamentally, yuma and yakou are very similar characters. they're both very protective and kindhearted, with a strong sense of justice and a penchant for attracting terrible luck. because of this, some things would remain the same, such as the NDA's dynamics with their doormat chief as well amnesia!yakou's massive unpaid intern energy. i think yakou would be pretty similar to how he behaved in the light novel- a bit more optimistic and naive, like yuma. but there are two key differences between them that'd make this a different story, especially in ch 4: yuma has a forte, and yakou is very selfish. so here's some changes:

yakou's wife is his shinigami now, as you can see, while shinigami is yuma's dead wife. i think mrs furio would act cooler than shinigami. she'd still be playful, but she takes her job more seriously. also she hands yakou the solution keys normally without throwing up. they still have to do the dance and mouth sword thing tho. and the other stuff. that's just death god protocol

shinigami (or in this case the unnamed Mrs. Kokohead but i will still be calling her shinigami for convenience sake) was a scientist at amaterasu who studied forensics and thanatology instead of regenerative medicine. this also means that the pill she gives zombie yuma is not going to bring him back, but instead grant the zombie homunculi a peaceful, painless, but permanent death

speaking of zombie yuma, he's the homunculus now! yakou is 100% human and also doesnt have a forte. he's still number one, but instead of having a forte he's just that good at solving mysteries

yes this means makoto looks like yakou now. sorry makotoheads. i think he'd have really long, shaggy hair dyed to be like. idk. black or something. also he's more clean shaven bc stubble with a mask on is a sensory nightmare

yuma still cant cook. he subsists entirely on takeout, meat buns, black coffee, and beer. he's still in a lot of debt and under a lot of stress and his personality is essentially "what if canon number one just gave up"

he doesn't smoke though. he tried once and got into the worst coughing fit

imma say it right now. kurumi is not a love interest. yakou likely disguises himself as a faculty member instead (also i think one of the teachers gets a crush on fem yakou bc i just know she'd be hot)

ANYWAY what about chapter 4? im SO glad you asked! because here's where things get spicy!

so, lets start with the dead wife. shinigami catches onto huesca's inhumane research and she's just as adamant about bringing the truth to light as she always is. she blows the whistle, so he blows her up. yuma investigates, but they dont let him look any further, yada yada, yuma stews in his misery for five years

yomi sends in the evidence to motivate yuma to kill huesca, and makoto lets it happen because a dead huesca would be convenient. he even introduces the hitman, fully expecting yuma to make use of him

yuma doesnt. in fact, he wants to kill huesca with his own hands. and now that these detectives are here, he can do it and even return alive. the thing is, he doesn't want to put them in danger, so he chooses to do almost everything alone (sound familiar?)

his plan is simple:

ask desuhiko for a peacekeeper uniform. desuhiko trusts him enough to take "i want to investigate kanai ward's ultimate secret by infiltrating their ranks" as an answer. he does, however, let yakou know about this as an offhand comment before the mystery ever begins

hold fubuki's hand. it doesnt really matter how. she'll gladly allow it because she's fubuki. he stores her time powers and heads out the sub. yakou also learns this as an offhand comment played off as a joke (maybe fubuki affectionately comments about how she never expected the chief's hands to be so soft... idk. there has to be some way for yakou to have this as a future clue)

use his peacekeeper status to sneak into amaterasu HQ and demand a functioning ama-pal from that one creepy researcher

use ama-pal + fubuki's borrowed powers to bypass huesca's security. sneak the bot past the hard-of-hearing doctor and press the button to shut off security

this would probably alert huesca, but since the doctor never received a warning, yuma has enough time to rush in and stab him before he realizes what's going on

leave HQ while still in uniform, dispose of the disguise once he's safe, and return to the NDA like nothing happened. success!

soooo.... yakou, on that same day, decides to investigate amaterasu HQ with makoto

all the while, vivia has his suspicions about yuma's actions and keeps an eye on him in spectral mode. he... basically witnessed the whole thing, so he gets up off his ass and decides to follow yakou to the lab because he has a Very Bad Feeling about this

just like canon, he senses the death god and deduces that our protag has been killing off murderers, and so he wants to protect his chief as well as his peace and quiet (his dynamic with yuma would be the same as his dynamic with yakou, since it's entirely believable for yuma to treat vivia with the same kindness yakou did)

yakou tries to speak to huesca, but surprise! security is disabled and he's dead in the lab! no one else at amaterasu liked huesca enough to check on him, so yakou and makoto are the first ones at the scene of the crime. yakou, of course, decides to start investigating this murder

vivia somehow sneaks into the lab (dont ask me how) and confronts yakou, threatening him with his boxcutter and adamantly imploring him to stop pursuing this particular mystery in the same way he did yuma in canon. unfortunately, this attracts attention, and now they're in trouble (maybe even yomi's there to fetch his files). at this point, yakou has enough solution keys, so he panics and goes right into the labyrinth (and maybe others can enter for another reason that isnt coalescence idk)

so... they go in the labyrinth... vivia tries to stop him every step of the way, until the answer is right in front of them

yakou kills yuma with his own hands. there's no stab wounds or toxic gas to leave any doubt. yakou begins to question what good his justice really does. it doesnt even save them from their predicament, just like the other deaths. instead, makoto ex machina comes in to save them, and hands yakou a small black box

when they return to the agency, everyone is heartbroken over their chief, who seemingly died out of nowhere. fubuki tried rewinding time, but to no avail. halara tried everything to wake him up, knowing it's futile. desuhiko stood aside, feeling completely helpless. and yakou and vivia return looking like they just came back from hell

they barely get the chance for a funeral before the knockout gas trap activates... you know the rest

AAAAND SCENE! so that's my extremely long winded lore dump about this au. i thought about it Way Too Much but god it's so interesting to me. i love these characters and swapping them was immensely fun

[ayakayuchan]

Day 2: Dancing | Domesticity

-------------------------------

Sorry. i'm soo late

I wanted to do every day of RainCode Ship Week but unfortunately I couldn't.

So today i'm going to do day 2. This is a short story I wrote, even if it's small, I hope you all like it :)

@raincodeshipweek

[wildfire317s-oc-box]

A sweet apology

A Master Detectives Archive: Raincode Fanstory

SPOILERS WARNING: spoilers for chapter four, chapter five and chief yakou's dlc!

Trigger warning: mentions death, mentions murder, mentions technical cannibalism, mentions kidnapping (or detective-napping?), mentions alcohol use, mentions ghosts, swearwords.

A.N: This is a PLATONIC friendship-fic between Desuhiko Thunderbolt and Vivia Twilight. After the event's of Dr.Huesca's murder, the chiefs death and being kidnapped and separated from Yuma and Kurumi, Desuhiko realizes that he had been kind of a jerk towards Vivia the day before and decides to raid Makoto's pantry and attempt to make amends while Halara and Fubuki keep an eye on Yuma. While they are apart Vivia makes a few interesting discoveries.

Cast and text colors: Desuhiko Thunderbolt, Vivia Twilight, Halara Nightmare & Fubuki Clockford

Honorable mentions: Yakou Furio, Mrs/Kaguya Furio, Makoto Kagustuchi

The last thing Desuhiko remembered before passing out and waking up in this rather fancy looking apartment that he had to assume was that Makoto guy's was coming back to the agency from the most recent murder case and mourning the chief's death. He remembered Halara answering a call from Number One before a terrorist attack took out the WDO headquarters and Number One with it, and thsn some sort of gas pouring out of that little box Makoto gave Yuma. He sat up and rubbed a sore spot on the back of his head where he presumably hit his head on his chair. Looking around the room Desuhiko found that Halara and Fubuki were already awake and...Where were Kurumi, Yuma and Vivia? "Um...Where are the others?" He asked, finally speaking up and blinking away the fuzziness in his eyes. Unlike Fubuki, Halara did not look up from where they were hunched over what looked like a monitor. Fubuki answered sounding very distressed "Yuma and Kurumi are in danger but Vivia is right here-" She was about to gesture to Halara's other side before seeing that the sleepier detective had vanished and started to panic. "-Huh?!? Oh no Halara, Vivia got taken too!" "Calm down." Halara commanded, finally speaking up. "He said something about feeling tired and wandered off to find somewhere to take a nap about ten minutes ago..." they explained, admittedly they were concerned that Vivia had decided to take another nap so soon after waking up from being knocked out but they supposed he was actually running off to use his forte.

"Okay...Wait what kind of danger?!" Desuhiko asked leaping up from the couch he had been unceremoniously dumped on and bolting over to the monitor, nearly crashing into Halara after half-tripping over the coffee table. The screen was split into a five by five grid of several different camera feeds, almost like a security system and Yuma and Kurumi were running around inside what looked like some kind of factory. "They are fine for now, I'll let you know if anything to concerning happens but for the time being I need you to go check on Vivia" Halara replied before shooing him away. "Why? And why can't Fubuki go check on him?" Desuhiko asked a bit annoyed as he crossed his arms. Admittedly he was still pretty pissed at Vivia because of his behavior during Dr.Huesca's murder case regarding the chief..,granted they had gotten a bit close through talking about their pasts and interests when Yuma or one of the others wasn't dragging them into something and he was used to him being stand-off-ish when it came to emotions but being out right cold and unfeeling about the whole thing was not cool. "Because the last thing we need is for all of us to be spread out across the penthouse without telling everyone where were going incase something dangerous happens and because I need her to be over here incase Yuma gets in over his head so she can turn back time and hopefully he makes a better decision" Halara responded not in the mood for his grouchiness before Fubuki chimed in "Thankfully this place has energy drinks" she explained, simultaneously dissuading his concerns about her getting too worn out and eliminating his excuse of giving her a break. Desuhiko groaned dramatically before sulking off to see where Vivia disappeared to.

After a few minutes and growing concerned as to where exactly Vivia was hiding, Desuhiko finally found him sleeping curled up into a ball at the bottom of a closet. He knelt down and was about to wake him up, but he noticed something he never thought he would see. Vivia's cheeks were wet and judging by the unmistakeable streaks of black mascara and purple eyeliner, he had been crying in his sleep. Desuhiko sat beside him, what was left of his anger and annoyance towards the taller detective dissipating and being replaced with guilt, if he was weak to a woman's tears he was weaker still to the tears of a friend. "I guess I probably shouldn't have gone off on you like that or called you coldhearted back there huh..." he muttered at Vivia's sleeping form. He sat there quietly and wondered what had made Vivia of all people start crying, even if it was in his sleep it wasn't normal for him. Could he have seen something heart-shattering while using his forte? Maybe, but he figured that what he had said earlier also had something to do with it. "I dont know what you're seeing right now but I'm going to try to cheer you up when you wake up" he stated sounding determined before getting up, closing the door until its only open a crack and making his way back to Halara and Fubuki.

"I found him, Apparently he decided to take a nap in a closet back that way" Desuhiko explained, gesturing back the way he came. Now it was time to broach the more difficult subject...He never was good at doing that but it had to be done since neither Halara nor Fubuki seem to have noticed, May as well just come right out and say it. "I think I managed to hurt Vivia's feelings...What should I do?" Desuhiko blurted out without really thinking of how to explain himself. "Huh?" Fubuki asked her confusion as to what the jumble of words that flew from his mouth at mach three even meant evident, "What makes you think that?" Halara asked sounding nonchalant as usual. Now that the hard part was out of the way Desuhiko took a deep breath before explaining himself a bit slower. "I think that I accidentally hurt his feelings yesterday when I exploded on him and especially when I called him coldhearted after the chief...died..." he said, wincing a bit "-And I want to apologize and at-least attempt to make him feel better but I don't know where to start." He continued, as hesitant as he was to ask Halara for help considering he would probably go into debt; this didn't feel like something he could just brush off with a simple "Im sorry for earlier". "Am I to assume this is a request?" Halara asked despite the majority of their focus being on the screen. "No I'm not paying you, jeez what happened to questions between friends?! Princess any idea's?" Desuhiko whined in response. "Well...My parents always had our servants make chocolate chip cookies for me when I was upset" Fubuki suggested helpfully. "...I'm not even going to try to unpack all of that right now, but thanks for the idea" Desuhiko replied a little bit baffled by her response before bounding over to what he correctly assumed to be the kitchen and starting to raid the pantry and cabinets. Assuming that he was a normal person; the least Makoto could do was let him use whatever baking supplies he had to attempt to make cookies.

For some reason he was mildly surprised to find a recipe book for cookies as well as everything to make chocolate chip cookies scattered about the kitchen. "What are you getting into?" Halara questioned from where they remained perched at the monitor after hearing cabinet-doors open and shut as well as various containers and bags being jostled around. "Oh you know, matches and cigarettes...I'm making cookies what did you think I was getting into?" Desuhiko asked sarcastically while depositing what he had found onto the countertop nearest to the oven. After dragging the already open recipe book over to where he had set himself up, Desuhiko started going through the cabinets and drawers he hadn't yet gone through to find some measuring spoons; which he found after a few tries. "I mean it's the least that Makoto, presumably; could do after knocking us out and dragging us here." He continued his thoughts aloud as he found the measuring cups and followed the instructions which he found to be specific to the point of being weird, and started to pre-heat the oven first. "Don't burn yourself or set anything on fire, all of the doors are electronically locked and despite their reformation I doubt the peacekeepers would make their way here in a hurry." Halara warned, finally but momentarily looking away from the screen only to give Desuhiko their most intimidating death-glare yet. "Gotcha, gotcha I will not burn myself or set anything on fire" Desuhiko swore holding up his hand in a mock-oath before continuing to preheat the oven to the specified temperature. As he measured everything out and mixed things together his thoughts wandered to what Vivia was seeing while using his forte.

Vivia floated around what looked like an abandoned laboratory in his ghost form. As cheesy as it sounded it was in fact what they had all come to at-least suspect. Everyone besides themselves and Yuma were semi-immortal creatures known as homunculi. It almost reminded him of something out of one of his sci-fi-horror novels. He was originally planning on following Yuma and Kurumi around to keep an eye on them but while Yuma was distracted talking to the imposter from the Amaterasu express and Kurumi had wandered off, Vivia happened to spot a familiar beige raincoat with those all to familiar patterns of fabric paint and other more colorful sew-on patches. He decided to follow the zombified-homunculus that had once been the chief, and the first person who ever gave a single damn about him. He wondered if Yakou was still in there somewhere or if he was more or less a wandering corpse like most of the others. He didn't really care that this Chief Yakou wasn't the original, he was still his Chief. Then Vivia's thoughts wandered to the day before when he could feel his eyes welling up and wanting so badly to let the tears fall but for some reason he couldn't..."Was it what little pride I had left that stopped me in an attempt to stay strong for Yuma and the others? Or was it shame in my knowledge of what had truly happened that made me feel as though I was not allowed to mourn? Or am I truly as numb to death and coldhearted as some of the others believe and I'm fooling myself?" He wondered to himself, "which is it...?" He wasn't sure but seeing Chief Yakou like this and being more aware of all of the pain he had been through especially during his final hour made the tears well back up and this time Vivia was helpless to stop them from falling. Like a sorrowful child, he wrapped his spectral arms around the chiefs stiff shoulders in an attempt to give him the hug he should have given him while they were all in the mystery labyrinth and to his surprise, Yakou spoke. "Vi-...vi-..a...?" He asked in a broken, crackly voice that sounded like he was struggling to speak even that single word, catching the phantom detective off guard. Could Yakou sense his presence somehow? He was kind of tiptoeing the line between the realms of the living and the dead so Vivia supposed it wouldn't be too far out of the realm of possibility. "Yes Chief it's me...I'm here...." Vivia murmured through sniffles and trying to sound reassuring. But could Chief Yakou even hear him or just sense him? He wondered as he floated around him. Vivia was unsure of his feelings but whatever he was feeling only made the tears fall heavier.

He could feel his actual bodies ears perk up slightly. Was someone talking to him? Vivia wondered who would be attempting to talk to him while he was sleeping. As far as he knew Desuhiko was still understandably unconscious considering he had somehow managed to hit both his chair and then the ground head-first when they were knocked out, Halara was busy keeping an eye on Yuma and Kurumi, and Fubuki had most likely forgotten where he disappeared to. It probably didn't matter...if it was anything dangerous they would probably just shake him awake instead, despite his desire to die. Vivia stayed by Yakou's side for a while longer before noticing he was not the only spirit here. There was the ghost of a woman about Yakou's age, with long purple hair watching him with a saddened expression. She actually looked like the woman in the photo that the Chief had on him, perhaps she was the same woman? Vivia glided over to her and asked "Do you happen to know the chief?" With a slight head-tilt. The woman smiled at him softly and nodded, "I do, I'm his wife; Kaguya Furio...and you must be Vivia. I would hear him talking about you and the others to Yuma whenever I went to check on him." She explains. The pair talked for a while as they kept an eye on Yakou, and eventually the topic of Desuhiko calling Vivia out on his lack of visible emotion during the last case and generally chewing him out came up and passed. Evidently Desuhiko's words had stung a bit but it was only really hitting Vivia now so it was amplified.

After a while of trailing after the chief and talking to his wife's spirit, Vivia had a sense that his feelings about the situation were growing clearer and supposed he could understand where Desuhiko was coming from; As far as either of them knew at the time they had all just lost the chief forever and everyone besides him had dropped their facades, even Halara. So thinking about it now Desuhiko's little outburst made sense. "Maybe hearing that the chief is...not completely dead...might help him calm down?...then again it may just rile him up...again...what should i do...?" Vivia wondered aloud before turning to Kaguya to see if she has anything to say. "Well...If you don't say anything about it when you get back to the others, Yuma probably will..." Kaguya states trying to be reassuring. "True...though knowing Desuhiko he would probably suggest trying to break in to get the chief...and judging from what I have seen so far that would not be a smart idea...hopefully he has cooled down enough to take the danger into consideration..." Vivia voiced his concerns but ultimately decided that he would tell the others, He believed that the chief retained just barely enough of his mental faculties to recognize his fellow detectives and refrain from attacking them if they hypothetically were to come looking for him, it was the other zombified homunculi that he as concerned about. "My forte will reach its limit soon...I should head back...So long Chief...please take care of him miss Kaguya..." Vivia explained before turning to leave.

To nobodies surprise, by the time he was done mixing the ingredients and had gotten the dough on the baking pan; Desuhiko had somehow gotten the upper half of the front of his hoodie and the lower half of his face covered in flour and had several small globs of dough and a couple of chocolate chips stuck to his face. "Hey princess can I borrow you for a sec?" He asked around the baking-spatula he had used to scrape the majority of the dough from the sides of the bowl, which was currently crammed into one side of his mouth. After getting a nod from Halara, Fubuki quickly darted over being careful not to trip. "Yes Desuhiko? What's the matter, did you get attacked by some kind of flour monster?" Fubuki gasped looking at his current appearance curiously and slightly alarmed "What? No, I just wanted to get a second opinion on the cookie dough" Desuhiko explained, trying not to harp on her, he was the one who had accidentally dusted himself with the flour by stirring too hard after all and considering all of the weird shit master detectives see on the job especially on this one he's not to certain how far out of the realm of possibility fubuki's weird thoughts might be. Desuhiko handed her the whisk which was resting in the bowl. "Won't eating the dough make us sick with...what was it again? Something about salmon?" Fubuki asked at first concerned but then confused. "Salmonella? No, unless those eggs were brought here straight from the hen that laid them which is already unlikely enough as it is; that is actually extremely unlikely." Halara chimed in before deciding to take a quick break while Yuma was in an area that looked to be just outside of Kanai ward judging by the lack of cloud cover. "Third opinion works too" Desuhiko shrugged as Fubuki eagerly took the whisk from his hand while Halara snagged the bowl which still had some bits of dough in it before returning to the monitor.

"Oh these are very good though i do still think they would be better baked" Fubuki chirped happily narrowly avoiding getting her lip piercing caught in the whisk multiple times. "Not the best but they aren't horrible..." Halara added from where they were once again perched in-front of the monitor they were watching Yuma on. "So they don't taste like Yuma decided to help?" Desuhiko asked jokingly, he had to rag on his man just a little bit because c'mon who messes up cooking fried rice of all things so badly that Chief Yakou who was not only the resident food lover but was also almost always hungry, wouldn't eat it? "Why would it when Yuma isn't here?" Fubuki asked looking at him with a very confused expression, probably having forgotten that contrary to his profile; Yuma sucked at cooking. "Decidedly...Fubuki come back over here please, Yuma looks like he is heading back into the factory..." Halara responds before waving Fubuki over, who rejoins them at the monitor. With that Desuhiko slides the baking pan into the oven, being careful to not accidentally burn himself and set the timer. The last thing he needs is to injure himself while in a situation where he may need to disguise himself and the others. But what to do now? The cookies were baking and there was no use watching them, Halara and Fubuki were hogging the space in-front of the monitor and Vivia was asleep and doing who knows what as usual. After a moment Desuhiko wandered over to where he spotted his bag, opened it and began digging through it in an attempt to find something to entertain himself with. "My "totally normal" and "not at all dirty" magazines perhaps? Nope! Nope, Definitely not! I do NOT want the others to know I had those on me at all times and i do not need to give myself an accidental nosebleed. Again..." Desuhiko mentally scolded himself for not just leaving those magazines back at his hotel room as he shoved them further into the back of his backpack and continued looking through his backpack. "My notebook maybe? Nah I don't really have any ideas to write down or draw out at the moment and I don't really feel like hopping into my bag just to find the pen i accidentally left in my other pants." He sighed and reached for his guitar, pulled it out of his backpack, grabbed the pick from its internal pocket and sat on the floor beside his bag. He strummed a few practice notes before deciding to practice his playing with the song "Sincerely Me" from that one musical that he had seen a while back.

After strumming out a couple of songs, getting bored since he didn't really have an audience, stealing a couple of pastries that looked like they were from that cafe in ginma district to snack on, and checking the oven at-least ten times; Desuhiko FINALLY heard the timer on the oven ding and darted over to the oven and nearly burned himself when he went to grab the pan of cookies without an oven-mitt on but thankfully remembered when Fubuki turned around and asked if he was forgetting something. It took him a moment to realize that she probably just used her forte to make sure he didn't accidentally hurt himself. "Thanks for the save Princess" he calls over to her after removing the pan of cookies from the oven and setting them on the stove. "You're welcome Desuhiko, don't forget to let them cool" Fubuki chirps cheerfully as a bewildered look crosses Desuhiko's face. Did he really mess up that badly last time? Or did he mess up and then either she or Halara messed up? He shook those thoughts from his mind, those screw-ups were in the past...kinda, but either way they weren't important and asking Fubuki to explain any further would either be like listening to a toddler describe a bad dream or like listening to a horror story being told in a voice that would better fit talking about something normal. After about two minutes and deciding he can't wait any longer, Desuhiko digs through a couple drawers, finds a spatula and moves the cookies onto a random, clean plate that he found in one of the cabinets. A couple broke during the transfer but he figured he could save the ones that broke for himself, Fubuki and Halara. Mostly himself though since he did the majority of the work. Desuhiko hummed as he thought, He may as well do a second taste test just to double check. Unsurprisingly the cookies, while not as hot as they were; were still fairly hot, but damn they were good. "How are they?" Halara asked after hearing him muttering swears while picking up the broken cookie pieces. "My fingers are burning but I don't care" Desuhiko replied rather pleased with himself and the fact that he had not accidentally burned anything. He then heard a set of familiar quiet but shuffling footsteps coming from the hallway.

Vivia re-entered his body just in-time before his forte reached its limit and blinked awake. He laid there allowing himself to wake up a little and make his final decision to tell them about the chief's situation after Yuma is safe. He quietly clambers out of the closet, yawns and stretches himself out a little and having taken a nap in a more cramped space than usual he hears his joints and back snap and pop. He then takes notice of the rather sweet scent wafting down the hall from the kitchen area. "How strange..." he muttered to himself before deciding to investigate curious as to what was made and who made it. Vivia shuffled down the hall trying to get his legs to "wake up" and stop feeling like they were made of TV static. "Oops, busted" he heard Desuhiko say followed by that familiar, playfully mischievous laugh that he had heard to many times when the disguise detective decided to use his forte to play a prank on himself or the others and got caught in the act. "Hm?" He hummed curiously before spotting the plate of cookies and the small stack of cookie pieces that remained on a baking tray. "Did you...make these?" Vivia asked looking at Desuhiko with a fairly confused expression. "I..erm..shit..ah..I wanted to apologize for being a huge jerk yesterday...so I made these for you.." he heard Desuhiko struggling as he tried to explain himself, unable to meet Vivia's curious gaze and quickly holding out a cookie for him to grab. Vivia blinked slowly before carefully taking the treat that had been more or less nearly shoved in his face and taking a bite. He all to quickly remembered that he had not eaten since breakfast the day before and practically inhaled the pastry. "Thank you..." he murmured awkwardly as he grabbed a few more from the plate as a peculiar note on the counter caught his eye. "You welcome, just try to actually taste the next one will ya" he heard Desuhiko huff as he grabbed the broken cookies from the pan and went to plop back down on the couch. Vivia nodded, took a large bite of another cookie, swallowed and announced that a note was left for them and he continued to read the note aloud decided to take the plate of cookies with him as he walked:

"To the detectives of the Nocturnal Detective Agency-

I apologize for the rude surprise, However this particular situation is one that Yuma has to take care of without your assistance or at least without the assistance of your forte's but do not worry I have set up a monitor displaying the live security camera feed of the restricted area where Yuma and Kurumi currently are. I do not intend to harm him, Kurumi or any of you, however I am armed incase I need to defend myself. That said my penthouse is yours to use for the time being, I suggest taking a dip in the jacuzzi as some of you may be sore due to rough, unexpected landings and the trip up here, you needed to be stacked on top of each-other so everyone would fit in the elevator. You have most likely already figured this out but the doors and windows are locked so please refrain from anything involving matches, lighters, cigarettes and generally open flames. - Makoto Kagusuchi" Vivia flopped onto the couch beside Desuhiko as he finished reading and set the note down on the side-table beside them. He couldn't see anywhere that would be more comfortable for him to tuck himself away out here and he felt to lazy to wander back to the closet so he stayed flopped across the couch, stealing most of it.

Vivia was about to reach into his coat and start reading one of the handful of books he kept stowed away in his internal pockets when he noticed Desuhiko staring at him incredulously. "Hm?" He hummed toward the disguise detective curious as to why he was being stared at. "I'm just now realizing that this is the first time any of us have actually seen you use a couch or sit on anything besides the floor in general." He listened as Desuhiko explained himself, understanding that this was probably a little weird for all of them considering he usually tucked himself away either under the piano at the hotel or his preferred spot the fireplace back at the agency. Even when they were riding in those rafts for at least an hour during the marunomon bank heist case Vivia was perched on the floor. "I didn't see anywhere more comfortable to place myself and I dont feel like going back in the closet...I'm sorry if this is unusual...". Vivia glanced away to find that while he and Desuhiko were distracted; Fubuki had gotten up from where she was sitting beside Halara and was looking through Desuhiko's bag for something. Moments later, Vivia watched as Desuhiko's gaze followed his own and the sight caused the shorter boy to cry out in alarm "Hey! What are you doing in my bag?!" Before leaping to his feet and dart over nearly tripping over Vivia's long legs. After which Vivia decided to bury himself in one of his books and only caught snippets of the following conversation. "Oh I was hoping you had a swim suit I could borrow Desuhiko" "I might but why?" "The note mentioned a jacuzzi, thats one of those cute little pools right?" "Technically...Wait dont tell me you were actually going to trust the guy who dragged us here to not try something!" "But you trusted the food he had lying around so-?" "Okay fair bu-" Vivia did not catch the rest as he found himself dosing off again.

When Vivia next woke up there was a bright light shining directly into his eyes, a loud siren blaring outside, what sounded like a comedy movie as well as a lot of splashing and laughing from one side of the room and Halara was shouting about something on the other. He covered his eyes and blinked them a few times before realizing that the blindingly bright light had been the light of the sun released from behind the heavy blanket of storm clouds that Kanai ward was notorious for. Looking at his surroundings Vivia quickly deciphered what been going on during his impromptu nap; Halara being the most responsible out of all of them had unsurprisingly remained glued to their spot by the monitor and was grumbling about someone being an idiot and pressing a big red button that "clearly should have been left alone", while Fubuki and Desuhiko had apparently found a wine cabinet or something similar and had decided to get drunk in the jacuzzi. At least Desuhiko was tipsy, Fubuki on the other hand seemed to be handling the alcohol well and was mostly sober. To him it sounded like they were playing a game of sorts with the movie they were watching where if one of them laughed at the movie they would get splashed. Since Halara seemed like they were too stressed to want anyone near them right now and Vivia wanted to get out of the sun, he decided to join Desuhiko and Fubuki in the jacuzzi. He was caught off guard when Desuhiko spotted him walking over and tossed him a pair of black and purple swim-trunks that he had already pulled out of the bag just in case with a drunken smile and cackled out "There ya go Viv-! Go change and come join us!". Vivia nodded before stalking off to find a bathroom to change in after which he heard Desuhiko boldly call out to Halara "hey Halara how about you stop stressin' over somethin' you cant do anything about and come relax for a bit". He soon returned, joined Desuhiko, Fubuki and surprisingly Halara in the jacuzzi and decided to let himself relax. In listening to Halara muttering into their drink he found out that they had decided to join the fun because the last thing they needed was to give themselves an aneurysm and they had changed into a single-piece swimsuit in the apartments bedroom. The movie that Desuhiko had found buried somewhere in his bag was a comedy movie that was more or less watching what its like to play dungeons and dragons from the perspective of the player-characters and was something they could all enjoy, they were at a part about the main group of characters confronting a small castles worth of french knights who were rather creative in their insults. This would be where both Makoto and Yuma would find all of them drunkenly giggling at the movie and cracking jokes while completely soaked and their makeup smeared before Yuma coursed them back into their normal clothes and dragged them back to the hotel mentioning something about Makoto having work to do.

After the whole ordeal with Yuma and Makoto, and all of what was really going on being revealed to all of Kanai ward, it was time for the detectives to pack up and head home. Desuhiko yawned as he opened the door and entered the Nocturnal detective agency for the last time this trip. He figured that since he didn't find Vivia sleeping under the Piano like usual that morning; the phantom detective had decided to stay the night in the agency for the last night there. Desuhiko walked down the stairs being careful not to stumble and found Vivia exactly where he had expected him; back to being curled up in the fireplace, his suitcase wide open and having only one stack of books half as tall as the suitcase itself, a handful of various travel-size toiletries and literally nothing else. Vivia had evidently gotten cold at some point and stole the blanket off the chiefs bed causing Desuhiko to shake his head as a sad smile crossed his face. "Geez did he even finish packing?" He wondered aloud keeping his voice hushed as he glanced around the room, surprised that he found or rather didn't find anything else that looked like it belonged to Vivia and considering that as far as any of them were aware he opted out of getting a room at the hotel and was technically supposed to be sharing a room with Fubuki since she was the only one who could both afford to and would be willing to pay for a room with two beds; Desuhiko shrugged and guessed that he had finished packing before sitting on the floor beside the fireplace setting his bag opposite him. He knew that Halara and Fubuki would join them once they woke up but didn't feel like waiting for them to wake up to head to the agency, he hadn't actually even had breakfast yet and just grabbed some for himself and Vivia. He sighed as he folded his arms behind his head and waited for Vivia to wake up. It had only been a short while and this water-logged city was already on its way to making a ton of big changes, Desuhiko could just kind of sense it and it felt kind of bitter-sweet. The city was finally improving but most of the people who wanted to see it improve the most had died just before the start, the citizens of Kanai Ward wouldn't need a big shot like him around much longer as a detective or otherwise because they would grow to have their own and finally the big secret about the whole place was out to everyone who needed to know it. He sighed as his thoughts drifted to his main man Yuma, He had noticed when he first entered the sub but now that he thought about it he wasn't surprised that Yuma had already left; this whole trip had been a wild ride of mind fuckery for all of them but especially for him however he knows that Yuma is stronger and more stubborn than he realizes...it doesn't stop him from worrying about him though. "Eh he's a tough kid he'll be fine, shit he was Number One before all of this after all" Desuhiko mutters to himself with a shrug.

After a couple minutes of waiting Desuhiko finally acknowledges his quietly growling stomach with an annoyed grumble and digs the breakfast he had grabbed for himself out of his bag. He ate quietly while debating whether or not he should wake Vivia up or let him keep sleeping. He hummed softly before taking a sip from a vending machine boba-tea he had gotten himself when he heard Vivia speak up from just behind him. "Oh you're here already..." Vivia observed, startling Desuhiko and nearly making him snort boba tea out of his nose "Geez!" Desuhiko exclaimed coughing a little until he regained his breath before continuing "yeah I am...I didn't see you under the piano like usual after I woke up so I figured I'd bring you breakfast" he explained as he pulled what he had snagged for Vivia out of his bag and held it out to him. Desuhiko and Vivia stared at each-other for a bit before, much to Desuhiko's relief; Vivia takes what he had brought for him and starts eating. He would be lying to himself if he denied that he was worried about Vivia and had inadvertently taken over the chiefs position of making sure he had eaten and had something to drink at least once a day and was generally taking care of himself, despite definitely being more pushy about it. Desuhiko had even managed to convince Fubuki and Halara to help him help Vivia, and surprisingly Halara was treating this as a favor between friends. But now the chief was on his mind which brought forth a question, one that had been gnawing at his mind for a bit; "Hey Vivia when you were using your forte while we were stuck in Kanai tower, Did you happen to see the chief?" Desuhiko asked before taking another drink of his tea. He waited while Vivia worked out how to respond and after a moment he answered, "I did...He had more control of himself than most of those in the restricted area...and he was in one of the safer areas of the restricted area when I checked...however it is still to dangerous for anyone who is not properly prepared due to anyone else who may be wandering around...". Desuhiko sighed mildly annoyed "I figured as much but I still got my hopes up...D'you think he'll be alright? We all saw that the zombified homunculi with less control of themselves dont seem to care who they're eating as long as they're eating...".

Vivia thought about Desuhiko's question, on one hand he knew that the chief had his wife looking out for him but on the other the chief did have a tendency to accidentally get himself into trouble much like the rest of them. "I think so...as danger prone as he may be...He has someone special to him looking out for him from the other side..." he finally answers. "Who? Is it the lady from the picture?" He heard Desuhiko guess before taking a bite of a pastry he had gotten himself. Vivia chuckled softly "First try...your powers of deduction are getting better" he jokingly teased. Vivia sighed softly as he thought, should he bring up the medicine that miss Kaguya had so emphatically talked with him about before he explained that he was not able to interact with the physical world while using his forte? He could not use the riddles he was so used to speaking in with Desuhiko, he had to be fairly blunt and plain-spoken with his words. Vivia sighed again before deciding to bring it up, "His wife did mention something rather interesting...She mentioned a medicine she was working on before her assassination...She worked in regenerative medicine and was working on a project that would help heal and regenerate damaged and dead braincells...theoretically it could fix zombified braincells...and if I remember correctly she mentioned something about there being a prototype in her lab within the restricted area...". Desuhiko was giving him that look again...that look of shock and confusion that usually comes after saying or doing something absurd before the disguise detective squeaked out an exasperated response, "Why didn't you mention it sooner?!?". "I wanted to be sure that Makoto would actually go through with his promise to make Kanai ward a better place before trusting him with this information..." Vivia explained his fairly sound reasoning, considering Makoto's part in everything that happened. Vivia had his eyes shut in a slow blink as he lazily attempted to blink away the sleep in his eyes, but he heard Desuhiko's defeated sigh. He had a fair point and Desuhiko knew it, he decided to continue. "-And I knew if I mentioned it sooner, You and Yuma would talk yourselves into ""jail-breaking"" him before taking your safety into consideration...and then Halara would insist on going with to keep you both safe, Fubuki would get taken along just incase...and because you are all dear friends of mine I would end up going along as well..." Vivia explained before shifting around in a small stretch before making a suggestion "If I recall correctly Makoto mentioned something about seeing us off, I'll mention it to him then..." he stated before opening and taking a long sip from the vending machine coffee that Desuhiko had grabbed for him.

The pair fell into semi-comfortable silence while they ate and it wasn't too long before they heard the hatch open and heard Halara and Fubuki coming down the stairs. They all knew Kurumi wanted to see them off and it was decided that they would wait for her to say her goodbyes before heading home, besides it would give them more time to make sure that everything was packed and gave them time to (semi-begrudgingly in halara's case) exchange outside of work contact information so they could keep in touch as friends. They soon said their goodbyes, Vivia held true to his promise and they all departed Kanai ward for their respective homes and next mysteries.

[en-chi-la-da]

what if when i started things i.... finished them??? 🤔🤔 whoah.... 😳

[chengfagshi]

I think Yomi should wear a skirt and show off his legs. He's so pretty. And maybe his thighs would be covered in bite marks and hickeys by fake Zilch and Makoto.