Gojo clicked his tongue. Ten minutes after the fitting, he was already feeling bored. Waiting outside the office for the Section 7 Investigators, Gojo used Limitless to idly float his badge. A temporary badge. One made of cheap alloys and metals, easily broken if punched hard enough. Spinning it around the top of his hand, he sat on a plush couch with fine black leather.
Gojo sighed, pulling the hem of his pants up. His ankle monitor flashed a green light every five seconds, always on schedule. His brow furrowed. Just why?
The door beside him opened. Hikaru walked out, mouth stuffed with a cigarette. Gojo turned towards him, hand still holding his pants. "I thought you didn't smoke?"
"Candy."
Gojo nodded, dropping the hem. Hikaru walked over, a file in hand. He waved it at Gojo's face, Gojo's mop of white brushing with the breeze. "Get in the office. We're gonna have a mission briefing. Don't worry, the snack plates are full."
Gojo stood up, taking his time to stretch. "So, what's this case about? Anything cool involved?" Gojo stopped, taking in a breath. "If it's boring, I might just stay in."
Hikaru continued munching, grabbing his arm and pulling him in. "Eh, you're still forced, so don't back out now, otherwise, we'll really put you in jail."
Gojo followed, letting himself be guided. "Wow, how harsh?"
He stepped in, seeing a long table, occasionally broken up with plates full of sweets. A projector was right overhead, illuminating a white wall. People in uniforms whispered to each other, ignoring the two. Brooke and Sun from earlier sat opposite each other, both holding files.
Hikaru waved at the man on the left side of the table, holding various sorts of papers in his hand. "Evening, Ueda. Got the rookie here today. Worry, though, since this guy's all brawn no brain."
Gojo gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. "Do you have no heart? How cruel!"
Hikaru sighed, his fists curling and uncurling. Resist it! Resist it! You still remember that grudge from earlier, so you can do it!
Hikaru sighed, holding the bridge of his nose. Satoshi looked at them, hands holding the papers unsteady. "Uh, you two are certainly a pair."
The two of them walked to the middle. Hikaru settled down on one of the chairs, while Gojo moved to the front of the long table, practically in front of the projection.
Gojo looked around the room, seeing familiar and unfamiliar faces, all while grabbing a plate for his seat. Hikaru looked at him once.
"Yeah, yeah, so, can you, like, explain to the newb what the whole operation is about?"
Satoshi nodded. "Hm, sure. Oh, just wait for a moment though, as a Lead Investigator's going to come soon."
Right as he said that, the door opened. A young man walked through, his hair the same color as Dan's. Hikaru snapped his cigarette, hooking the end with his finger. "Speak of the devil."
"Attention!" The man shouted, his hands behind his rigid back.
All of the personnel inside stood, as still as statues.
Except Gojo.
The first one, near the door, started their introductions.
"Sato Kaito, Section 8, Cuatro Squad Subjugator!"
"Kimura Kenji, Section 7 Investigator!"
"Lion Brooke, Section 7 Trainee Operator!"
"Endo Aiko, Section 7 General Operator!"
"Sun Myung, Section 7 Trainee Operator!"
"Ono Fuji, Section 8 General Inspector!"
"Ueda Satoshi, Section 7 General Investigator!"
"Tetsukawa Hikaru, Section 7 Supernatural Investigator."
"Ike Men, Section 8 Quatro Squad Watcher!"
As the last one went unsaid, all eyes turned to Gojo, still sitting. Arms were resting against the backboard of the chair, a smirk on his face. "Gojo Satoru, yo. Uh, yeah, Section 7 Temporary Operator. I think."
A silence washed over the room. All of them looked at Gojo the way someone would look at a man going to their death. Hikaru stepped in, pulling Gojo up and forcing him to bow. Second time this day.
"Ahaha, I'm truly sorry, Sir Shuu. This one is under my care, but it's only been his first day here, so mind giving him a lil' slack?" Hikaru leaned in and shout-whispered. "Hey! What the fuck are you doing!?"
The man, on the other hand, simply didn't react. Instead, he walked over to Gojo and Hikaru. A wolfish grin reached his face. "Hah, so this is the newbie Dan's pulled this time. Then it was Rui, that brash little girl, next, Xie Quan, that paranoid little dog, now, it's this one. Gojo Satoru. Satoru?"
Shuu scoffed. "Your name means to perceive, yet you can't even perceive the situation you're in. When facing someone of a higher rank, show respect. How ridiculous. Bark on your way down."
Gojo wrestled out of Hikaru's grip, cracking his fingers with only a hand, Kaneki style.
"New one, actually original this time."
Shuu scoffed, stepping forward. He was roughly the same height as Gojo, only a little taller, a two-inch difference. He stuck his forehead against Gojo's, a small gap between the two, his voice hoarse. "What? Never had someone deal with your shit before?"
"Nah, I dealt with them all the time!" Gojo pushed harder, a crackling sound coming from Infinity.
Shuu eyed the gap between them and the sparks. "A barrier? Heh, fitting for someone with a punchable. I'd assume you wouldn't want your pretty little face all bruised up?" Shuu pulled away, Gojo stumbling before catching his fall with Blue. "I mean, yeah? Most people wouldn't want their face to get hit."
Shuu's grin sharpened. "And most people don't talk to their superiors like that first day on the job." Resting a hand on the table, Shuu raised his other, palm open.
"I'm not most people."
"Then why'd you say most people wouldn't want their face beaten? Idiot."
Gojo sat back down, casually grabbing a Hershey's and popping it into his mouth. "So? Thought this was a briefing, not a dick measuring contest."
Shuu laughed, a remote handed to him by Ueda. "Ah, that's a good one. Always the ones with shit personalities with the slightest bit of humor."
"Then which personality's the funniest?"
"None. Only a dog is hilarious. Teach them tricks, and you'll laugh your ass off." Shuu pressed a button on the remote, and the projector changed from just a white light to something else.. A map of Yokohama and its wards, with the Kohuko, Midori, Aoba, and Tsuzuki wards being highlighted in a red overlay from the other wards' blue sheen.
"At ease. Sit down." All the others seated themselves, their postures straight. Shuu gave them a final glance.
"Case M-03-9043-SP." He began, walking up to the front, snagging a black stick, and pointing it at the reddened sections. Shuu's voice was more blunt, more professional, like a switch had been flipped. "Sixteen missing people. None found, no DNA, no traces. Codenamed 'Impromptu Phantom.' Over the course of twenty-nine days, sixteen missing people, ranging from teens to working adults, have gone missing near these areas."
He stopped, giving a look over of the entire personnel. "This cluster of wards is the designated wall districts of Yokohama, Aoba, bordering Tokyo, and Kawasaki's own wall districts. The airship ports there are mixed with the other jurisdictions of the cities. A mixing pot of activity and cargo."
The projector clicked again. Aerial photos, blurry and grainy. Buildings upon buildings were stacked upon each other. Pipes, windows, balconies, ventilation shafts, and AC units dotted the concrete mosaic of walls like gravel on uneven pavement. Large openings and docks with steel support beams were engraved on the walls, metal wires and hooks holding ariships by their hulls. Smoke and smog filled the photographs, blurring them even more.
Gojo straightened, his face a mix of shock and excitement. It really is a parallel world! They just took some ships and put balloon blimps on them and called it a day!
Shuu looked at him, his face contorting into a frown. "Hey, sit down. If you want to get SPID's fastest layoff record, then go ahead and continue." Gojo shook his head and quickly sat down. He leaned towards Hikaru, covering the side of his mouth with a hand. "Pst, do people really put balloons on boats and believe they fly?"
Hikaru glanced at Gojo, a confused eye scanning the sunglasses-wearing teen. "Haven't seen an airship yet?"
Gojo nodded.
Hikaru sighed and procured a piece of paper and a pen from his jacket. On it, he wrote, 'Ship is fluid sailor. Air current is fluid. If ship is made for water fluid, then air fluid works if balloon.'
Gojo nodded. Hikaru nodded. Then he picked up the paper and crumpled it. Shuu noticed. Of course. But he didn't make note of it; he just continued.
"These wall districs are currently receiving the Shin-Yokohama minor currents leading into the Kanto open current, with no major current down the line. 34 days ago, a freight-class docked at the Mochi-chi Dock, located on the 70th floor of the Midori general dock area, not the private dock area."
Shuu stopped as Ueda raised his hand. "You?" Ueda stood up. "Sir Shuu! This case has many similarities to the 3076 case 2 years ago! Their MO is very similar, as they have been shown to target that specific age demographic."
Shuu nodded, clicking another button. "Yes, Investigator Ueda, but you left out one crucial detail. Was that the case 3076 case was a Noise case. This time, we have high reason to suspect it's human-made."
Ueda sat down as Ono spoke up. "Why?" Shuu looked at the table, pointing the stick at a picture. The freight-class airship. "This freighter here is a standard container carrier. The label seems to suggest that a foreign company owns them, but checking with the dock workers leads to no company website or any sort of company handle, as their phone number on the hull brings up a random caller. The ship is likely privately owned, marked with a fake brand to pass off as a commercial ship."
Shuu continued, checking their faces. "This area is also controlled by the highly notorious Snow Country. Due to the current absence of their leader, Yan Qing, the group has fractured into several factions, each controlling a piece of their own pie. Rebels are in control of Kohoku, Tsuzuki, Aoba, and Midori, while the loyalists control Asahi and Seya. Their loss of Tsurumi at the hands of Arahabaki, turning Tsurumi into a 'dead zone' where no gang controls it, has also made the rebels more reckless."
Endo spoke up. "So it's likely that the freighter is a ship affiliated with them. But I remember that their main operations are gambling dens and smuggling of goods and not... human trafficking?"
Hikaru, on the side, pushed his silver hair up. "Rebels. They grew reckless as Tsurumi was one of their main wards, now lost to Arahabaki. Iron Turbids and Marchen fought over the ward, with Turbids losing. He must be desperate enough to resort to human trafficking to build up influence. Sir Shuu, does this mean?"
Shuu stopped, a grim look on his face. "Which means, we are to board the freighter, and to retrieve any of the missing persons if possible. Combat is expected."