Chapter Text
Adachi just got out of prison.
He had been in his holding cell for 3 years. 3. Years. They still didn’t know what to do with him until a few weeks ago. He admitted to the crimes. But obviously, “I threw them into the TV and let my red samurai kill them” was not something anyone wanted to touch prosecution wise. And all those scrape marks and bruises from his accidental trip to the TV world 2 years ago slowed down the investigation so much that he might as well have been a permanent resident, clogging up police time and money. So there he stayed. Even when he was let out by Sho, he went right back. He’s following the rules of this world, after all.
Until Dojima talked to him.
Adachi admits that despite everything, he still had a soft spot for Dojima. He was fun to talk to, at least. Came by every so often. He even brought Nanako a few times, just because. She brought him food that didn’t taste like it came out of the Junes garbage can. Maybe that’s why when Dojima visited him one day with an offer, he took it. Hardly even thought about it until Dojima left.
It looked like a simple deal. Adachi gets shipped off to Tokyo to help on a case. Adachi helps solve the case. Adachi gets out of his holding cell and back to society. Dojima didn’t tell him the specifics of the case, but Adachi knew he was just the fall guy, just in case. They couldn’t find the culprit? Well, the police serial killer from way out in the boonies was on the case. Let’s blame it on him! So, knowing this, why did Adachi accept?
He didn’t know.
Maybe he had gone too soft. Maybe this was a way of "Abiding by the rules”, by using the plea deal that was available to him. Maybe it was the move from the middle of nowhere back to a big city. He couldn’t tell. But it was far too late now. If he backed out of it, it would just cause a hassle for the police force, which might make a potential prosecution even harder for them. And he would still follow his philosophy. He still lost. Pure and simple. No killing for fun, no causing chaos just for the sake of being bored. He would actually do his job. And once he got free? Maybe go to an office job. Put those years of studying with no social life to good use. Or just start drinking.
The trip to Tokyo was boring. There wasn’t much to say about it. He sat in the back of a police car the entire way there, occasionally hearing snarky remarks about how lucky he was and whatnot, but otherwise a very boring ride. Once they got there, he got his ass booted out of the car and showed his “generous” living quarters. A small apartment. The only comfort of it was the fact that Adachi wasn’t paying the rent. After that, he got a cheap phone, then was told to go to Tokyo District Special Investigation Department, specifically the Public Prosecutors Office, in about an hour, or he would get shipped off to jail. Then, they just… left. No ankle monitor, although he was sure his phone would be tracking him anyways, and no talk about what he would even be doing.
Well… guess he had time to think about the deal now. He was split on his decision. On the one hand, this was cheating his game. He lost, and he just got a get out of jail free card. That half thought he was breaking his rules. The other half said that he was abiding by the rules of this world. It wasn’t like he jumped through the TV again and started running. He took a real, honest way out of the situation. At least… real and honest right now. Who knows what he would actually be doing.
“Guess I should get everything sorted.” Adachi signs, standing himself up and looking around the apartment fully. As expected, the bare minimum. His living room had one recliner facing a small TV, his kitchen had a stove and microwave that looked like it would break at the slightest inconvenience, and his bathroom was very, very cramped. The bedroom gave him the luxury of a side desk, but made up for it with a bed made for people about half his height. The entire apartment was smaller than the front room of the textile shop back at Inaba. Although, again, he did deserve this for losing his game.
He decided to start walking to the Investigation Department half an hour before he was supposed to be there. He couldn’t do anything in his apartment anyways. The refrigerator wasn't even stocked, so he couldn’t even eat. He was guessing that’s why they didn’t bother tracking him. He’d probably be going paycheck to paycheck to get some food, and he already heard whispers as he walked to the station from the crowds around him. Calls of “Is that him?” or “I can’t believe they let him out…” followed as he walked through Tokyo. So it's not like they wouldn’t hear if he was in a suspicious area, or even left Tokyo at all. No better security system than the public.
Eventually, he arrived at the Investigation Department. As soon as he got inside, he was thoroughly screened, then promptly shoved in the elevator to go up to the Public Prosecutors Office. After being led along a long hallway, he was shown the door to his new boss: Sae Niijima.
“You’ll be reporting here for your work.” The security guard that led Adachi said. “If she informs us that you missed any of your days, you will be in violation of your probation. Am I clear?”
“Yes…” Adachi sighs, pushing open the door and walking inside the office. He had a feeling that he’d be missing Dojima as a boss soon. He closed the door and looked around his new work space. It wasn’t too bad. A nice desk, with a decent view of the city. He could definitely get used to working here, especially compared to the shit views Inaba had to offer. Eventually, he cleared his throat, causing Sae to look up from her desk.
“There you are.” Sae sighs, straightening her posture and looking at Adachi. “Sit down.” Adachi pulls out the chair across the desk and obliged. “Good. Now… you know why you're here, right?”
“Plea deal.” Adachi says, leaning forward. “Those detectives were probably sick of me clogging up their time, weren't they?” He smiles. “What’s a police officer like me even doing in the Investigation Department anyways? Seems like a waste.”
“Those…” Sae grabs some papers and puts them in front of Adachi. “Are the exact questions I asked when I was told you’d be working with me. And the answers I got weren't all sound.” Sae’s face is full of absolute disdain as she talks. Well… makes her and Adachi about even. She reminded Adachi of Dojima. Except with none of his charm and all of the aggressions. He also could pull less verbal punches against her, because he had no idea who she even was, or what they were doing. Well… that sounds like a good place to start, doesn’t it.
“Well, what am I going to be doing here?” Adachi asks, to which Sae points at the papers.
“You will be investigating these people. The ‘Phantom Thieves’. And, by proxy, the mental shutdowns.”
Acachi picks up the papers and starts reading.
…
What kind of TV show plot is this?
“They ‘steal’ peoples hearts, and then they suddenly confess to the crimes?” Adachi smirks, shakes his head. “Are you sure they aren’t just threatening them?”
“That is exactly what we are trying to figure out.” Sae says, giving him even more papers to read. “Suguru Kamoshida. And Ichiryusai Madarame. Both high profile figures, both of which got calling cards, and both of which where near suicidal when they confessed. I, and many others at the office, do not believe that’s a coincidence.”
“...and what do you want me to do about this?” Adachi asks. “You don’t even have a profile of who these people are. Your evidence folder has a picture of a cat in it.” He laughs, showing Sae the picture of a black cat with a calling card in his mouth. “And I thought my case was hopeless.”
“You are being called here exactly because of your ‘hopeless’ case.” Sae says, her voice getting lower. “You confessed to your crimes of 2 murders and several attempted murders, along with a charge of conspiracy to murder, with your confession being that you threw them into the TV. Am I correct?”
“That’s the one.” Adachi meets Sae’s eyes, tapping his fingers against the table. “If you look closely, though, you’d notice that these two suspects seem to be alive. So-”
“That is not the point!” Sae raises her voice, causing Adachi to jump. Man… she really is like Dojima. “The point is, your case has almost untraceable evidence that is still being disputed as we talk, even after your confession! An almost untraceable way to do these deeds, with no ordinary way to find out the perpetrator… sounds familiar? It sounds a lot like a more disturbing version of a mental shutdown!”
“Well, you put it like that…” Adachi sighs. “I guess so. But what do you plan on having me do?”
“I want you to investigate both the school that Kamoshida worked at and Madarame’s shack.” Adachi is about to interrupt before Sae quickly adds “You will be accompanied by one of my subordinates to the school, that is not a solo job.” She takes a deep breath, then continues. “We will give you copies of the calling card for you to look at. And I want you to find out how and why this is happening.”
“That simple, eh?” Adachi sighs, picking up the papers and putting them into a folder. What a pain in the ass…
“I will be honest, Adachi, I don’t expect much.” Sae admits. “But those above me seem really panicked after the recent incident. And they want us to put away the case as quickly as possible. You most likely also were chosen as an opportunity pick.”
“I thought as much.” Adachi says, putting his hand back on the table. “The scary guy from the boonies fucked up the case, so it wasn’t your guys’ fault, right?”
“Yes… but you're also a way for them to act like you’re being ‘reformed’. You might be a low profile case, but after the plea deal, you have taken the news by storm. The peculiar incident really stands out. Which reminds me…” Sae hands him a… poster?
“Meet and Greet TV show… you can’t be serious…”
“It is in the plea deal. It’s a way to offer… publicity… to your apparent reformation. You’ll be with someone I work with, Akechi.”
Great. He might as well just be a roadside attraction right now. Sensing Adachi’s growing annoyance, Sae slides him a check.
“I will be giving you these every week, as long as you follow the plea deal.” Adachi picks up the check. It’s more than he thought he would get. It also means he would actually get fed, which is great news. He never thought that he’d be excited to eat cabbage again. The check put Adachi’s mood back at apathy.
“Got it. Go there and give a nice pep talk about how great and generous you guys are, and get my money.”
“You probably won’t be doing that. You’ll probably just be asked about your case. As I explained…” Sae goes through her desk, then pulls out a newspaper. “You are quite popular in your own way.”
Adachi picks up the paper and starts reading. He is front page news, apparently. Must’ve been a slow news day. But he guesses that a serial killer turned government lapdog would have interested him if he was still an actual citizen, so it’s not like he can fault the newspaper much.
“I thought I was done getting grilled on the specifics of my case.” He grunts, giving the newspaper back to Sae. “When do you want me to go to this?”
“You will go tomorrow to get more specifics about what will happen during the interview. Then the day after will be the actual interview. Oh, and there’s a student trip to the set tomorrow, so don’t disturb them. Other than that… report after the interview so we can get the actual investigation started.”
Adachi nods, picking up the papers and walking out of the room. He hears a loud, drawn out sigh as he leaves.
“I feel the same.” Adachi mumbles under his breath.
Adachi makes his way back to his new apartment and looks over the papers some more. It’s all the government equivalent of stalling. They have nothing. Some facts about the people these Phantom Thieves targeted, some ‘connections’ that lead nowhere, some more pictures of the black cat… and that’s all. They also gave him a copy of the calling cards. The only thing that he could possibly draw from them was that 1, the people that sent them knew them personally, and 2, they really didn’t like who they sent them too. What they talked about in the card was a level of scrutiny that Adachi could only dream of striving to. Especially the rougher one addressed to Kamoshida. The picture looks like it was drawn by Nanako using her left hand, but man was it detailed in writing.
None of that really helped though. For multiple reasons. What sort of connection would even be drawn between the two? None of the students working under Madarame also went to Shujin Academy, the papers said as much. And why would the people causing these mental shutdowns suddenly be sympathetic to a sexual assaulter and a plagiarist, when they didn’t give a random train driver the same privilege? Those two facts don’t work together at all. Maybe the government is just trying to link them together for convenience?
Adachi sighs and puts all the papers back in the folder, then chucks it across the room. Well, there is one more thing he needs to try before going to buy food…
He walks over to the TV. Looking around the apartment just in case, he puts his hand up to the screen. As expected, it goes right through. But he doesn’t want to go all the way, in case he can’t get back. Just a peek…
He puts his head through the TV just briefly. On the other side, as expected, is a distorted version of Tokyo. Perfect. He gets his head out of it and straightens himself up. So that is an option they could’ve used for these shutdowns. But he’s not using it himself.
He’s getting slightly more into the case than he thought. Mainly because it could really screw up the process if he both gets incarcerated and these mental shutdowns happen again. That would probably be enough for the police to just assume it isn’t Adachi, and let him go. Cheating the game again. Which would not happen. After preparing himself, Adachi walks out of his apartment to buy groceries and get ready for an interview the next day.
Adachi never felt as bad for high school kids as he did when he was watching their “field trip” while waiting for the preparations to start. They were telling high school kids what commercial breaks were and ratings. Like they were all 6 years old. Even Adachi knew they were getting snuffed. He got to go to an aquarium at that age. Right about when they started performing manual labor for the station is when Adachi got whisked away to prepare.
Well… “prepare”. They gave him a list of the questions they’d ask him (because they weren’t letting the crowd ask) and told him that any misstep means probation is violated, then got him out the door as soon as they could. Like he was going to kill them if they were in the same room together for too long. He also met the Akechi kid that he was told about. He kind of reminded Adachi of Yu. A real do-gooder. But at the same time, that smile really didn’t reach his face in Adachi’s option. It kind of reminded him of his own smile.
“…but do not worry, I’ll be taking center stage for the most part.” Akechi was saying as they walked down a hallway, with Adachi having tuned him out a few minutes ago. “Just answer the questions on the sheet, and you will be fine.”
“Yup, gotchya.” Adachi yawned, looking down at the kid. “I hope they don’t expect a spectacle, because I’m just giving them what I did.” They walk down the hallway in silence for a while, until Adachi hears a kind of loud, very annoying voice.
“Oooh, I know a place!” The voice got louder as he walked. “I wanna go to that huge pancake-looking place we passed on the way here! It looked delicious! What was that?”
“Oooh, you mean Dome Town?” A slightly less annoying voice appeared. That voice, however, got Akechi’s attention.
“Hm?” Akechi looks at where the voice is coming from. “Adachi-San, do you mind if we take a detour?”
“…guess not.” He did. “And don’t bother with the ‘san’. I’m not someone you need to respect.”
Akechi nodded, then picked up the pace, walking way faster than before to catch the tail end of the conversation. Adachi was barely able to catch up as he heard Akechi butt in.
“Excuse me…” Akechi started, cuing Adachi to cut out most of the conversation. But not all of it. What he did notice was that the high pitched voice from earlier was not there. At all. Did that kid leave or something? Adachi vaguely overhears Akechi ask about pancakes, which confuses everyone, and that means the conversation was almost over.
“No matter. Well-“ Akechi is about to leave before Adachi hears the blond woman gasp.
“Wait, is that…” the blond woman seems to panic as she looks at Adachi.
“Oh, him. Yes, you might have heard of him on TV a few weeks ago. This is Adachi.” Akechi says. “He will be with me on tomorrow's show.”
“Hm?” Adachi finally starts paying attention. “Oh yeah, that’s me.”
“Who is he?” The blond man responds this time. “He some kind of important dude?”
“Oh, only a serial killer!” The bold woman says. “Two women and multiple attempted others, right??”
“That’s me.” Adachi says, giving a smile and throwing up his arms to really play it up. “Don’t worry, I’m reformed. At least, that’s what the show wants me to say.”
“Why’d they let someone like you on a show?” The blond kid asks, the shock clear in his face. “They’ve gotta be stupid…”
“I assure you,” Akechi says, “Adachi will cause no harm to you or others. We’ve made sure of it. Now… shall we get going?” He looks at Adachi.
“I’ve got to go this way to sign out of the station.” Adachi sighs. “Safety’s their top priority and all that.”
“Then I will see you tomorrow.” Akechi smiles and walks away, leaving Adachi alone with the 3 students.
“Well… best get going.” Adachi starts to walk, feeling both of the blond students glare at him. As he walks by the black haired student, however, he notices something about his bag.
It has a cat in it.
“What?” Adachi stops and turns back to the black haired kid. “Are they making your cat do stunts tomorrow?”
“You mean Morganna?” The black haired kid asks. He seems much more calm about Adachi than the other two. “No, he just gets separation anxiety, so I bring him with me.
“Oh.” Much less of an exciting answer that Adachi was expecting. He’s about to turn away when…
“He looks pretty scary, Ren…” Adachi is about to give a remark before he realizes that none of the kids in front of him said that. The cat did. “Might want to stay away from him.” The cat continues.
…was he dreaming? No, he just saw it talk. And actually, now that he thinks about it, it looks a bit like the cat with those cards. The fur and eyes match. And if it can talk… it might be like that stupid bear Adachi had to deal with, where it’s smarter than it looks. And the kids nearby, including the owner of the cat, went to the same school Kamoshida worked at.
“Well, have fun.” Adachi finally says, walking away from them. “And don’t expect much tomorrow. I’m basically just giving my police report as an interview.” With that, he walks away. But while he walks, he gives a genuine grin.
He’s pretty sure that he found a lead.