1730/Routine Home Lives

Routine Home Lives
Date of Scene:	13 July 2016
Location:	Naru Osaka's home
Synopsis:	Naru gets someone asking about her association with a missing person. Except it's not Misa they're looking for.
Cast of Characters:	Kunzite, Naru Osaka

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Kunzite has posed:
The knock on the door comes Wednesday evening, a little more than a half-hour after Naru's return from the library. Nobody's mentioned coming over to check up on her, but it's not as if that never happens...

Naru Osaka has posed:
It's already been a Day, and Naru is in comfies, sprawled on the couch. There's a little frown as the knock comes on the door, but she's getting up, padding over on bare feet and cracking it open to see who is there.

Because bad guys don't generally knock, right?

Kunzite has posed:
The Who Is There doesn't look like a bad guy. It's a woman around Naru's mother's age, dressed in an anonymous black suit -- a conservative skirt rather than trousers, the whole thing well-fitted and of good material and her jewelry neatly chosen, but still, she looks like more or less anybody.

She also looks a little tired, but it is evening, and maybe it's been a Day for more than Naru.

All the same, she finds a smile when the door is cracked, and bows to it in lieu of being able to see clearly through the crack. "Good evening," she says politely. "I'm Tomoko Nakayama. Would you happen to know if Naru Osaka might be in?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Er." Naru opens the door more at seeing someone entirely unfamiliar, and a grown up rather than another teen. "Good evening." Naru bows a little, autopilot kicking in. "What can I do for you, Miss Nakayama?" Polite is crowding out skeptical, but there's a healthy dollop of wary even still.

Kunzite has posed:
Even a grown-up who is not trailing black fog and a Wraith! After today, that might have been a serious concern.

"It's very quick, I promise. I won't take much of your time at all." Miss Nakayama unfolds a piece of paper and shows it to Naru. The picture is not the best -- it's one that somebody took on a cellphone camera at the Crown, then filtered through a news broadcast. The angle is a good one for Naru and Misa's faces, not so good for Mari, and Kazuo is still towering over the three girls rather than seated.

Mari's fairy, of course, is not visible in it at all.

"Would you possibly be willing to tell me how you know the people in this picture?" she asks. "One of the children in this picture has been missing for a very long time, and it's very important that the family find out what happened."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh!" Naru blinks, and her voice registers surprise as she looks at the paper. Clearly not the conversation she was expecting to have this evening. "Uh. Well Misa I recognized a little from school, I remembered that she'd been missing. She was a little out of it, she said she had somewhere to go when she left us though." Naru frowns a little. "I should have followed her, I suppose. Make sure she actually had somewhere to go."

Kunzite has posed:
"But sometimes we feel like we have to trust our friends' word," Miss Nakayama offers. "Especially when they've been through so much." She hesitates, just for a moment. "Did your other friends know her from school, too? Or from somewhere else?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru shakes her head, reaching out to point. "Neither of them go to our school. She goes to another school, and he's graduated." She indicates Mari and Kazuo in turn. "I have to admit, I didn't know MIsa very well at all before she went missing. We're not in the same class." She frowns a little, thoughtful. "What organization are you from?"

Kunzite has posed:
"Mitakihara Consulting. We specialize in finding missing persons." A business card is produced and offered, but the woman continues, "You can look us up and call to confirm that I really do work there, if you'd like."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru reaches for the card, glancing at it. "Who hired your firm?" She asks, curiously and then there's a shy little smile. "Forgive me for being skeptical, it is probably entirely unfair to you or your company."

Kunzite has posed:
The card matches what the woman's saying, but then, that's no guarantee that it's telling the truth either. (And no guarantee that it isn't.)

"That's not normally something we're allowed to discuss," Miss Nakayama says, and her tone is professionally apologetic. Still. If she's admitting that she's from an agency... "But in this instance -- Hiroshi Takeba is very worried about his son."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pauses a moment, thinking on that a few and then quirking her head. "Does Mister Takeba think that there is a connection between Misa's disappearance and his son?" She asks, her tone as simply curious as it ever might be.

Kunzite has posed:
"It's certainly possible," Miss Nakayama says. "But there's such a thing as coincidence, too." She smiles for a moment -- it doesn't make her look any less tired -- and adds, "But you'd know better than I would, wouldn't you? Was Miss Sakagami there in the boy's company? Did they leave together?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I have a feeling you probably know more than I do." Naru counters with an apologetic little smile. "Miss Sakagami left alone, while the rest of us were still eating, even." She frowns a little. "I haven't seen her since, either. Which is also concerning, and makes me think she was lying to me on the whole 'having somewhere to go' thing."

Kunzite has posed:
"But at least her family knows she was safe then. That must mean a great deal to them." Miss Nakayama hesitates. "You mentioned that the other girl goes to another school. But -- what about the young man? Do you know if he has somewhere safe to stay?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I would argue that calling her safe then is probably overstepping things, considering how concerned I was for her, even during the conversation." Naru points out and then nods to both questions. "To the best of my knowledge, both of the others have fairly routine home lives."

Which is a really well done lie, unless one counts regular destruction, frequent apcolypses and evil clones to be part of a 'routine home life'.

Kunzite has posed:
"Miss Osaka..." Miss Nakayama draws a breath, then folds the picture carefully again and puts it away before looking at Naru directly. "Please, you must understand. I don't know what he's calling himself, but that young man, Kazuo Takeba, has a history of violence, delinquency, and possible drug abuse. His father was so very proud when he managed to make it into university despite all of that; but the boy disappeared from school. This is the first time in years that anyone's been able to identify him. He has medical problems that affect his stability, and he hasn't been treated for them in five years. Please. If there's anything you know that can help his father find him, it's very important. For his sake, and for the sake of everyone around him."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru is quiet as she looks at Miss Nakayama directly, listening to that litany of all the ways the Kazuo is entirely different from the Kunzite she knows. (And a few ways in which he is not.) "Thank you for your care and attention to this, Miss Nakayama. I have your card." She holds it up, to remind them both that she has it. "If I have more information for you, on Kazuo Takeba, I will be sure to call."

Kunzite has posed:
Miss Nakayama breathes out a sigh, and her shoulders slump just the slightest bit more. "Thank you very much, Miss Osaka." She bows again, and steps back away from the door.

It won't be until she's safely out of sight, not just of the apartment but of the entire block that it's on, that her shoulders will straighten again, and the corner of her mouth turn up in a little smile. Who'd have thought they'd ever be able to bill time on this one again?

Naru Osaka has posed:
The defeated look, and heavy sigh doesn't pursuade Naru to spill any extra beans. Almost as if a nosy investigator at her door is pretty much the least of the challenges for her evening. Or possibly that the emotions required to be stirred by such a bit of acting got eaten earlier. One or the other.

Naru shuts the door, and takes one of those slow deep breaths. She locks the door, and then heads over to start the puttering around of getting ready for bed. There's a glance to her phone, considering it a moment and then she shakes her head a touch. "I'll just add it to the list to talk about tomorrow. I'm going to need an agenda at this rate."