PART ONE

Araiah took her glasses off, and returned to typing. After a moment, she scratched a blue-furred ear and then the top of her blue-haired head in that order. The glasses went on again. There was more typing. She sighed. The glasses came off for a second time.

Outside, the majority of Kyoto was beginning to turn in for the night. Shops were closing, parents were calling in their children, food beggars began to return home, the vast majority unsuccessful in their efforts. Midori no Umi had already peeked over the horizon, shedding her light over the city. Araiah paid no attention to it, Midori was just one more sign she had lost track of time.

Unlike many of her sisters, Araiah liked the sound of a keyboard. The extra effort she had had to go through to get a volumetric keyboard that made noise was well worth it. The tapping kept her awake.

The glasses came up from the ashwood desk to her orange eyes again. Through them, her eyes studied what she had written.

It is my pleasure to invite such a promising young Agent...

Araiah had written, rewritten, edited, cut out, and even restarted this same line for the past day. It wasn't good enough yet. She had to be convincing. She didn't trust herself to get it right; persuasive writing had always been a weak point of hers. She wanted to get it right the first time; she needed them to want to join her unit.

...young Agent to Unit Four, of the Special Investigations Division of the Yamatai National Police. We are an elite unit of investigators that handle the worst cases in the Empire, at home and abroad...

An all-volunteer division, where the danger was all too real when dealing with slavers, serial killers, or cult nutjobs. A Unit whose name meant "Death". "Shi". "Four". Unit Four. Unit Death. It was as unlucky as getting hit with Kaserine.

Araiah needed them to want to come. The difficult part wasn't asking them to volunteer, it was getting them to volunteer and be dedicated. She needed to get it right the first time; she couldn't afford to have to work on people to get them to stay -- there would be too much time wasted.

There was a case coming. She could feel it. The glasses came off.

...and abroad. You would receive higher pay, cases with a generally larger profile, and your experience would improve your chances of promotion. We need you. We want you. I have attached the proper transfer papers, along with a waiver statement that is required to join Special Investigations.

All you need do is fill it out, submit it to your YNP office, and within a day or two we can have you working in Unit Four.

Signed,
Lieutenant Araiah
Special Investigations, Unit Four

A letter arrived in the YNP the next day:

Almost immediately afterwords, an internal memo arrived from Unit Six.

ON
Kyoto, 2:30 PM YST

The office was darker than it should have been; Araiah had forgotten to turn on the lights, happy enough with the morning sun's light streaming through to light her own desk at the center of the room. Now the sun had passed through to the sky, leaving the office shadowed. Vertical lines of light carved through the darkness in straight lines starting from a small volumetric module projecting a computer screen and keyboard.

Araiah sat, scrolling through a document she had read. The door to her office slid open un ceremoniously, revealing a young man with blonde hair holding a medium sized cardboar box with some basic office equipment staked neatly inside. He was wearing a neatly pressed uniform and a wide-eyed stare.

"L-lieutenant Araiah?" He asked, peering around the office.

"It's customary to knock, you know," Araiah said, head propped up on one arm. She had folded her glasses and taken to tapping one end lightly on the desk, and didn't bother to look up at the wide-eyed agent.

"Oh, I know. Sorry." The young man replied, shaking his box briefly to illustrate. "My hands were full. They told me to take my stuff from my desk today." His face fell slightly at the mention of it, but Sashi kept up his stance. "This is the office of Lieutenant Araiah, though, right?"

"Down the hall." She made a shooing motion.

"Oh, I'm really sorry. Forgive me for interrupting your work, Miss." The younger man replied almost immediately, attempting to bow profusely without spilling the contents of his box. This didn't work out so well for him; with datapads, folders, papers, pencils, electronics and other items quickly making their way to the floor around him.

"Oh, not again." He moaned, dipping down to gather his items.

"You alright, guy?" Araiah asked, taking interest at the sudden clattering of items.

"Oh, certainly." Came the reply, "This is the third time I've done this... I could've sworn I had the right office number this time, too."

Araiah facepalmed, considering the implications. She had been trying to be funny -- play a trick on her new agent -- but in light of his earlier mistakes, it was suddenly a mean-spirited prank. "Oh, you do have the right office. I was just trying to be funny." She didn't get up to help him, however.

"In that case," He began. Momentarily, he had gathered all of his effects and placed the box on a chair in front of the desk before bringing his body tight into a tall salute, "Sashi Tamayamo, reporting for duty, Lieutenant!"

Araiah faked a startled jump. "Oh shit, I just had flashbacks. This isn't the military, Sashi-san, please don't salute me." She then pointed to a desk wedged up against the wall that had the window. "That's yours. Get your stuff all stored away."

"Right away!" Sashi replied cheerily, and strode over to the desk. It took him very little time to shuffle it all into the middle drawer. "Is there anything else, Lieutenant? I was told you'd want to interview me." Sashi was also told that his job was on the line, but he kept that much to himself.

"Oh. Yeah. They said something about me assessing you. I was actually just reading your file; heavy stuff, Sashi-san. Also, go ahead and use my name with the '-san' or '-sempai' honorifics. Can't be too familiar, eh?" Araiah closed down her computer and sent a mental command to the office AI to turn on the lights. It wasn't as advanced as a ship's AI, but it worked wonders for the largest YNP building in the Empire.

"Hai, Sempai." Sashi bowed again, "I just didn't want you to think I wasn't aware of your rank."

"That's fine. Go ahead and take this seat here in front of my desk," Araiah said, slipping on her glasses. Now in the light, it was very clear who she was and what she looked like: orange eyes, long blue hair and blue-furred ears that were easily missed in shadow. With the light washing over Sashi was well, it became very obvious just how straight-laced he was. He wore his uniform despite not having to, and kept his blonde hair neatly trimmed and parted. His youthful blue eyes had a look of determined exhuberance about them, even as he apologized for his mistakes or squinted to adjust to the new lighting. Sashi complied with Araiah's orders as soon as he finished adjusting to the new light, and took his seat calmly, smiling easily. His sitting position was notably stiff and perfectly upright. One could balance a limosine on his head, given the chance.

"Now, you said you read my file, Araiah-sempai." He said, his hands fussing with the pleats of his slacks.

"Hai," She said, leaning back and steepling her fingers. "It was some heavy reading. What do you think about your service with the YNP, Sashi-san?"

"Well," He replied, his eyes wandering to the cieling, "I've always tried my very best on each case, and I've never let my personal life into my work. I'm always staying after hours, and I love evidence!"

"So you don't have any regrets?" She asked, maintaining her pose.

"W-well, if it's about my last case..." Sashi suddenly looked downtrodden. "I wish I hadn't crashed into that monument. Or let the guy get away..." There was a pause in his exposition. "They said I should've waited for my partner. So I guess I wish I had done that, too."

Suddenly, the determination was back again, "But he was getting away, Araiah-sempai! I had to try!"

Araiah cocked an eyebrow, and an ear twitched. "Why did you join the YNP?"

The answer was simple for Sashi, and he'd known it for years: "To fight injustice in the Empire."

"Sashi-san, your test scores were very good. Did you know that?" Araiah asked.

"I had never really paid attention to it, really. But that is how I managed to find a position in Unit Six, Sempai. I could've been somewhere else, but I wanted Special Investigations... and Unit Six is... was my dream job." Sashi explained, now going back to his downtrodden expression.

An ear twitched again -- flicking to one side but shooting back to its original position. "Is there something wrong with other units?"

Sashi seemed taken aback for a moment before nervously responding in a stammering tone, "No! N-not at all, Araiah-sempai! It's just that their case record, and the members, were all so spotless, and I wanted to be like that, too. I want to make Yamatai safe for everyone! Um, except for people who like to break the law."

"Sashi-san, I'd like to know which you'd prefer: for me to lie to you, or to tell you the truth. I'm nice like that -- I give people options." Araiah leaned forward, placing her elbows on the edge of the desk and sitting her chin on top of her interlaced fingers.

"Ah. Well." Sashi seemed to be slightly confused. He spent a moment nibbling on his lip before blurting out, "Tell me both! The truth, then the lie! That way I can know in the future what you mean when you want to be nice. You won't have to hurt my feelings, then, right?"

"I believe that you're naive and altruistic; no one is 'spotless', Sashi. That said, welcome to Unit Four. I'm bringing you under my wing, I'll teach you all the right things." Araiah said, offering a hand to shake. Sashi took her hand into both of his and clasped it firmly, all-the while standing and bowing respectfully before letting go.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Araiah-sempai!" He said, the relief palpable in his tone, "I promise you won't regret this. I will not disappoint you, Miss."

"Wonderful. Would you mind making some space for a while, though? Maybe go get some coffee. I have an analyst coming in next and..."

END

ON
Kyoto, 2:45 PM YST

Araiah watched the young agent leave for the coffee. Hopefully he wouldn't realize that there were no working coffee machines on this floor of the office, and would decide to go somewhere else for it. Either way, she would tell the office AI to lock the door once the Analyst came in. Which should be right about -

A short Yamataian girl walked into the office. One could easily tell that she was still fairly young, most likely in her late teens. Her blondish-brown hair hung parted, tucked behind the ears with some of it still hanging in front of her shoulders. Once she entered, she located the person that she was there to speak to before knocking on the open door to make her presence noticed.

"Count on a woman to remember her manners -- come in, sit down." Araiah gestured to the chair in front of her desk, flashing her brightest smile all the while. The Analyst's file said she would be easy to work with.

The girl cleared her throat a little before approaching and sitting down. Her hope was that her interviewer would already have read her file, but then again she wasn't really sure how many interview she had already gone through today... or had left to go through. Thus, an introduction was necessary.

"Good afternoon ma'am. Hayami Sierra reporting for an interview to Unit Four of Special Investigations. I received a letter requesting me to apply for a position, so here I am." Sierra returned the bright smile that her superior had given her.

"Right. We'll cut to the chase: you're an Analyst, and I need an Analyst. Why did you join the YNP?" Araiah asked, leaning back in her chair and steepling her fingers.

"To be honest..." Sierra started, but paused a bit. "I'm not entirely sure. I'm interested in gadgets, tech, that kind of stuff; but working in a manufacturing job like my parents just sounded so....boring, ya know?" Sierra began to nervously twirl her fingers through her hair a bit. "I just figured that this would a be a more interesting field of work. Do some more adventurous tasks, meet some interesting coworkers," she said that last part with a slight hint of infatuation. She paused and waited for Araiah to respond.

"Why did you choose Special Investigations for your first assignment -- you were informed about the dangers, right?"

"Of course," Sierra responded after a moment. "But again, its really the same reason. I don't want to be stuck at a desk looking at statistics about the rate at which citizens let their pets crap in the Yamatai National Parks. I want to do something more interesting and alive. Besides..." she paused as she leaned in. There was a slight grin on her lips, "SI probably has the hotter guys around."

Araiah blinked. She was beginning to understand why the Analyst was so socially agreeable, besides her youth. Actually, almost entirely because of her youth.

"Well. Some are certainly attractive. However, I would like to warn you that while you are on duty, you will not shame yourself or the uniform you wear -- understood?"

Sierra frowned a bit at the blink she received. It was the moment of hesitation, like her Lieutenant, or her hoped-to-be-Lieutenant, had second-guessed her choice. It was like she was second guessing letting Sierra onto Unit Four. It was rejection all over again. Rejection...

Trying to cover her brief moment of sadness, she put on another perky smile as she responded. "I can assure you that nothing will happen while on duty that you wouldn't do yourself. However, I can't make any promises about off-duty." Again, she stated this last part with that slight emphasis again, that little hint of subtext.

Araiah shrugged. "What you do off-duty is none of my business. You might want to rephrase your first sentence though; I'm no angel myself."

Araiah paused a moment, then asked another question. "What do you expect your job to be like?"

Sierra put on a bit of a pouty face. "Well I can't help it if I follow the example set by my superiors." It was clear she was used to getting her way. "But none the less. I am just hoping for something not at a desk, which I know sounds wierd for someone who works with computers. But it is what it is, and I figured this was the most likely place for it to happen."

"Well, you're not far from wanting what's going to happen: I will drag you to crime scenes. I will tell you to scan evidence, take pictures, run searches in the field. When we're not in the field, I'll have you run more advanced searches and research on suspects. You'll probably have the same long hours I work; coffee will become your addiction. I'll make you one of the busiest Analysts in the National Police if I can," Araiah explained.

"Ooooh ooh ooooh!" Sierra began to get a little giddy now. It was clear her current mood didn't stick for very long. "Like that SA-CIS show. That's my FAVORITE! I can assure you that I'm up for it. Although, coffee has already begun an addiction, so there's no need to worry about that." Sierra had the biggest smile on her face by this point.

"Right, well, I'm glad you're up for the job. Please call me Araiah-san or Araiah-sempai; calling me Lieutenant will just get you a blank look. Similarly, while on duty you should call
Tamayamo-san Tamayamo-san, -sempai, or Sergeant if that's his preference. He's currently the junior agent and my partner for the time being."

"Looks like first-name-basis is out of the question," she said with a bit of a pouty face again. "Well, I'm sure I can manage to live with that. So, where should I set up?"

Araiah pointed to the desk against the opposite wall of the window. "There, across from Tamayamo-san. I only gave you those honorifics to use because I can't speak for him directly. If we all work together for a while they may change. Anyway, I already have a case lined up for us, so as soon as Sashi-san returns..."

"One last question," Sierra started, again with that subtle tone and emphasis. "Is he cute?"

END

A Ping sounded on Araiah's computer as a new message popped up on her screen.