damned_institute | Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant

Yuffie took the long way around, practically making it a tour of the entire town. She collared--not literally, since the nurses would've thrown fits--a few random citizens along the way, asked as many inconspicuous sounding questions as possible, and then moved on. Wash, rinse, repeat. Sneaking a few covert glimpses into stores and windows confirmed what she'd been talking about with Sam earlier; no dates, no explicitly mentioned locations outside of the town itself… how weird was that? Even the most insular of towns back on Gaia would've coughed up some kind of connection with the outside world.

It was almost like a living ghost town.

Well, maybe she was just thinking too hard. Maybe she was throwing shuriken too hard at the wrong target. Back home, she had a concrete frame of reference. Here, she couldn't take anything for granted; she had no local or international knowledge whatsoever. All she could try to do was get a profile of the immediate area and build it up and out from there. Theories were already budding, popping up like weeds hit by Quadra-Haste, but without facts to back them up, theories were like sand in a desert.

Not that she didn't want to share those theories, sand or not. She did. A lot.

Once she'd developed a viable mental map of the place (as viable as she was gonna get given the time constraints), Yuffie swung back around and jogged back to North Street. From there, she took the alley; a quick right turn; slow to a trot, and there. Her cheeks were tinged pink from the cold winter air, and they stung as she poked her head in through the door.

Okay, so maybe she was a little early after all. That was cool. Very cool. She had some time to set things up, to pretend that she wasn't hideously under prepared for this lunch date. Stepping into the warmth, Yuffie surreptitiously cased the place out as she headed to a table. Homey, in a way that almost reminded her of some of the up-and-coming rural towns. Automatically seeking out one of the more strategic seats--one with a good view of the rest of the restaurant, and one that didn't leave her totally vulnerable to mutant chairs or murderous sandwiches--she made herself comfortable, whipped out a few crumpled pieces of paper and a pen, and began to jot down her findings.

[Closed to Edgeworth.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well I'm sure he'll be more than willing to multitask," Sanae said wryly as he took a bite of his steak. Hm...not too bad. This was American steak after all. "But he'll figure out that usurping your position will have to wait until we're all back in Japan. Not much good being Composer if there's no Game, after all."

The barista smiled knowingly. "And also no good if no one's following you." That was the one problem with Minamimoto: he encouraged absolutely zero loyalty. Sure there were always the ambitious types he could take advantage of, like Konishi, but eventually even those guys turned against you.

"More than likely... ah, it's a shame that this place isn't a Game." Joshua would have preferred it that way, to be honest. He had clawed his way up, and the enjoyment of fighting for one's life for tangible results had a simple thrill that he never had gotten bored of. This place, though, offered nothing of the sort. Nothing at all.

Still, Mr. H. had it right on its head. Minamimoto was brilliant and driven, but he couldn't get anyone to truly believe in him. Not like Sanae believed in Joshua, or even as Neku had. That was an underlying problem that would always undermine his efforts. "Still... I will have to deal with him at some point. I don't have the luxuries here like I do back home."

Sanae frowned as he considered the situation. He'd given this a lot of thought lately - even more so since he had to make sure both sides stayed on somewhat good terms with him. (Was it possible to even be on good terms with Sho Minamimoto? Maybe if you were a megaphone...) Any way he looked at it, though, it always seemed like an inconvenient mess.

"I'd say a good short-term plan is to avoid any unnecessary contact and keep his mind focused on taking down Landel. Then we can move a little more freely since he won't be breathing down our backs. But if we ever come into conflict with him, we're gonna need some back-up...and hope he doesn't have any." The scary possibility was that Minamimoto, dangerous as he was, would attract equally dangerous "friends". The last thing he and Joshua needed was a crazed Reaper with extra brawn behind him who simply liked to just punch things every once in a while.

"Hm... actually... I think that in order to keep Minamimoto focused on Landel, contact might be a positive thing." Joshua tapped his chin thoughtfully, considering his contact with an amused look in his eyes. "After all, even I was left disoriented by this place. By manipulating a few key factors, he might be thrown into an entirely different equation, as he'd say."

After all, Minamimoto was a brilliant mind, but he was extremely straight-forward. He was almost incapable of thinking laterally, which had been the death of him at least twice now. Third time, perhaps, was a charm.

Ah, and then there was the topic of 'back-up'. "I've got a prospect or two lined up... of course, I'd be much more at ease if I knew that you had some other friends to call on."

"You think, huh...?" Sanae laughed. "Well, if coming from an unexpected direction works, what the hell. I'll leave it to you, Josh." In a way, he'd already "made contact", although he personally wouldn't enjoy any further lunch dates with Minamimoto.

And oh. Right. Friends. "I'm working on the 'friend' thing. Got a few potential people; I just need a little more time to reel 'em in." Jiraiya he could maybe count on - Godot as well. There was also Donna and her interesting friend...he'd have to look into that more deeply.

"Well, it's worth a shot, at least. Anything to get him out of our hair." While it was fun to poke fun at the Reaper, Joshua was not looking forward to encountering him in a dark hallway, especially considering how utterly callous most of the patients seemed to be. Best to try to nip this problem in the bud, as it were.

Still, only a 'few' potential people was quite disappointing. Joshua knew that Mr. H. was better at that sort of thing than he himself was, but so few potentials and nothing solid was a bad sign. "Mm... well, I suppose we'll both have to work harder on getting them on our side."

"...oh yes, and before I forget." Joshua leaned his chin on his hand, grinning and giggling in his usual, very suspect, manner. "If you happen to find a good forgery expert, try to send him my way, would you?"

Sanae sighed and finished off the rest of his lunch. "It's a little difficult with such limited contact, but I'll definitely have better results to show next time we get a chance to talk." He raised an eyebrow. "And I'll make sure to keep a weather eye out for the particular...talent you've requested."

Forgery expert required, huh? He'd probably end up being someone a tad suspect - not that Sanae was unused to dealing with a shadier crowd. Still, it always took a little more effort to convince them to join a definitive side.

"I knew I could trust you, Mr. H." Joshua giggled as he said it, but in this case, it was more 'I am happy so it's giggle time now!' rather than 'This is your final giggle before a vending machine lands on your head.' He was certainly pleased that the older-looking man was going to keep his eyes open, and if anyone could manage that, it would be the one and only Sanae Hanekoma.

Not that Joshua would say as much in so many words. Instead, he concluded, "Some time tomorrow, then? I'll need to tell you how Minamimoto and I work out, anyway."

"Well of course, I mean...I'm your guy, right?" Sanae grinned: it was good to know that Josh genuinely did trust him. Nothing was worse than two friends who couldn't even depend on each other.

He scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, just let me know over the board or something when you want to meet. I'll follow up pronto."

"Is that even a question to ask?" Joshua giggled again, honestly amused at that. He did trust Mr. H.- one of the few people he gave that trust- and he knew that somehow, if anyone could do what Joshua asked, it was this man. After all, especially during the last Game, his fate had rested in Sanae's hands, and it had all ended well.

...for the most part.

For now, though, he nodded. "I will."

Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant

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