pslplz | Futureverse

In contrast to his partner, Ran shows no signs of even deceptive amusement over their latest assignment. The fact they've been called at all doesn't sit well with him. With no suggestion of foul play, there are only two reasons for a pair of homicide detectives to visit the crime scene. Either someone in the department thinks there's more buried here, which means they're dealing with a smart one, or their attention is a consequence of the victim's status, in which case Ran dislikes it on principle.

"I don't know whether to hope you're right or not." It would at least mean they weren't wasting their time, but what a stupid reason to kill someone.

The lift chimes pleasantly and opens a path for them down the walk to the man's home. He hopes that CSI is still there to talk with. It would certainly be helpful to get some updates on what's already been found.

"Not, I should hope," Yagyuu says. This time, his amusement is real. He has a feeling Fujimiya would agree. After all, the only thing lost in that case would be a few hours of sleep. It's not that Yagyuu wishes to avoid actual work...but one sleepless night is an easy price to pay in exchange for the knowledge that perhaps humanity is not so malicious after all. At least this once.

The unit is easy enough to find; the door is wide open and the CSI crew is already there processing the scene. Yagyuu pauses at the prep area to slip on covers over his shoes and gloves on his hands.

"Shall we?" he says with a nod toward the beams of police tape sealing off the scene from civilians.

It is perhaps too late to salvage Ran's faith in humanity. If the answer were Not, it would mean that they'd been sent out over politics. Either way, their involvement was a product of corruption.

Either way, the man was dead and not coming back.

He nods to his partner and steps through the beams, already scanning the area both for a look at what's there and to seek out someone for a fill-in on details.

[ooc: ending this tag here for now... next time we talk I have some ideas for possible CSI agents to work with Naru and maybe talk with Yagyuu once Ran gravitates over to a sibling for deets! Open to adding more to this later once we've plotted.]

The scene inside looks like a flurry of activity, with people tagging any possible evidence for collection. Yagyuu assumes (correctly) that the room has already been captured by VR holocam, for an accurate recreation to be played back in the future. But nothing will really substitute for the actual thing, which is why he and his partner are here.

He begins, of course, with the body. It lies prone in the VR simpod, still attached to the various neural transmitters, as he was likely found. The machine purrs on standby mode. Yagyuu steps up to the body and takes a cursory look.

"No apparent struggle."

He takes the dead man's hand and turns it over. There are slight crescent shape marks on his palm, where he gripped his fingers too tightly.

"Marks indicate pain stimulation, not inconsistent with symptoms of neural overload."

Ran's gaze moves to the group of people gathered near the kitchen discussing findings, including his sister and youngest brother, who he waves to on his way to the VR station. He foregoes the body inspection-- Yagyuu has an impeccable eye for details on his own. Instead, he'll check over the equipment.

"No indication of tampering or missettings on the device."

The room is a bit messy, but no more than one would expect for a room in active use. Really, the only thing out of place by the looks of things is the presence of a corpse. It doesn't mean no foul play happened, but if that is what happened, this was carefully planned and tightly executed.

He heads to his sister, sliding one hand into his coat pocket as he does.

"What do you think, from what you've seen?"

"Aaaah. Ran! They told me they were calling you in. Ha."

Hange grins widely, looking maybe a little too enthusiastic for someone standing just a couple meters away from a dead body. Outside of the morgue, the crime scene is exactly her comfort zone. This is where it's at. Clues to find! Bodies to pick over! Maggots to play with! Though unfortunately, the last of these is not present in this case -- not enough time for the critters to make their entrance. It's also a shame there's no blood spatter to analyze either. She loves that sort of thing.

She leans in and says in a confidential tone: "I told them to."

Naru snorts.

"You just wanna dissect the guy's brain," he says.

Hange looks almost offended, but she's not, really. (After all, Naru speaks the truth: she would love to see what a brain that's been fried by neural-link looks like up close and personal). She waves her hand through the air dismissively.

"Nonsense. I think there's foul play."

Naru is probably right. Hange is quite suited to her job-- some might say too much so. She has a natural fascination and curiosity in matters of dead bodies. It seems like her to want to investigate this one considering the unique cause of death.

"It is strange that the equipment doesn't appear to have any malfunction in it. Naru, did you find anything amiss with it?" Naru was more of a gamer-- Ran suspects he's given it a more thorough look already, and would be better equipped to know when something was off with it.

"You don't have to be so dramatic about it," Naru says teasingly to his sister. But this is pretty typical of her. She always had a flair for excitement and drama, which would be cute if it weren't for the fact that blood and guts were mostly the things she found so fascinating.

He turns back to Ran.

"I'm still running some tests! But these things have lots of safeties in place, you know. I haven't heard of one frying a brain since they've come on the market for mass consumption."

"Which is why I have to open his head and see what's happened to it!" Hange interjects. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

Edited 2016-09-08 00:42 (UTC)

Ran nods to Naru's explanation. That sounds about right. Consumer markets are regulated fairly well when it comes to health and safety. It technically isn't impossible, but it would certainly be bizarre if the machine were somehow responsible.

"We should check for foreign substances, too." Another point in favor of an autopsy, though certainly a more mundane one than Hange's angle.

"Mmm, foreign substances," Hange muses, like it's something she dreams about. Things that don't belong, she loves that kind of thing. What is it? What's it doing there? What does it mean? Nice puzzles to figure out. Every little stray piece of hair or body fluid has a story to tell.

She steps in and throws her arm around Ran's shoulder and grips it.

"Find me something special, Ran. I'm dying to run tests."

Ran briefly spares his sister a soft sidelong glance. He's less concerned with her eagerness and more concerned with the case itself. That said, he's inclined to recommend an autopsy anyway. They were performed on bodies whose cause of death was far less mysterious than this one. To him, finding nothing would be the strongest argument for taking a deeper look.

"We'll see what we find."

"That's my brother!" Hange exclaims, smacking that shoulder with great enthusiasm. "You've got good instincts, I'm counting on you."

Naru pouts with exaggeration.

"What about me?"

"I count on all of my brothers! And partners of brothers!" she says, raising her voice in Yagyuu's direction.

Yagyuu cocks his head from across the room and grins.

It's a good thing he's used to those hearty claps on the back... Hange is stronger than she looks, and possibly stronger than she realizes. After a moment of considering his younger brother's bid for attention and Hange's response to it, Ran's eyes twinkle in Naru's direction, and he passes that shoulder smack on to him.

"So you better get to work."

"Yup, get to it, kiddo," she says teasingly to their younger brother. Naru pfffts and turns back to the machine and starts fiddling with it.

Meanwhile, Yagyuu has popped over like a very clever partner and is arching his brow at them.

"You want your partner back? Go, go. Do your detective things!"

"Don't mind if I do," Yagyuu answers smilingly. "I hope I'm not intruding on your family reunion."

Ran inclines his head towards Hange in a gesture of parting and turns back to his partner.

"What did you find?"

"Nothing particularly obvious," Yagyuu says, his expression sobering a little.

"But that doesn't mean there's no foul play. I think we'll have to wait on the forensics for this one. Your brother and sister seem to have things well in hand. Perhaps we should do some canvassing of the neighbors while we're here."

Ran nods his agreement to the suggestion.

"I want to speak with some friends and family, too. At the earliest opportunity." They would be more likely to know about any conflicts in the victim's life. But for details pertaining to the immediate environment, like suspicious presences or unusual details, the neighbors were a better source. And it was practical to speak with them while they were already there.

"I think so, too. Perhaps first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, shall we get started on this floor? I imagine the commotion has woken a few of the neighbors, at least."

Yagyuu smiles. Banging on people's doors at this hour of the night is not particularly gentlemanly, but this is a possible murder investigation. Yagyuu can be quite firm about such things, when so much is at stake.

"If it hasn't, that's about to change," Which is Ran's way of saying Yes, let's.

He turns from the apartment entrance immediately to the left and bangs on the nearest door.

"National Police Agency." Because at this hour, no sensible person should be opening the door to anyone else.

Futureverse

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