He'd been roped into another thing. But maybe it was something simple and straight forward.

And what did it have to do with Isawa Shin?

Shion has quickly stopped by at the Inn to feed and play with Stray and Kurikoo for a while, leave some of her stuff from the Con and get what she thought she might need - computer, recording equipment and other gadgets. Thinking about it for a while, she got her Shamisen as well. You never know
...

Having made sure the animals would be fine and everything was ready, she made her way to the address Mal-Chin had given her. She texted Mumei again on the way, smiling a bit at how the message came out, and hoped for an answer as she pressed the buzzer and waited.



OOC:
* Shin, 新
** Shinkin, 真菌
*** Shinri sect, 真理

A chime rings.

The door unlocks.

She opens it, walks to the door of the right apartment, rings the bell. "Asako-sama?", she says tentatively, checking if she's in the right place.

The Room



He answers before too long, backing up and bowing. "Suzume-san, welcome!"

When she enters, it's a relatively plain apartment, although a neat pile under the foldable table has the costume from Fan-Con and a drone deactivated there. A couple holo recorders rest on the table as well.

He's got a computer set up at his desk, speakers playing a song she's never heard at low volume.

She bows respectfully and asks for permission to enter before leaving her shoes and blade at the door.

"Asako-sama. Pleased to meet you in person", she says in a gentle, if relatively flat tone. She then takes a quick look at the apartment and the things around, then sets her eyes at the speakers and keeps quiet for a moment, hearing the tune. "Nakauchi-san mentioned you were into music", she says, smiling slightly.

"So...", she then says, getting her things off her back. "Has she said more to you about... this? I was just exchanging some messages with her."

"Hai. I'm currently trying to convince the radio station to play my song, Persistence." He shrugs. "But not everyone enjoys the usage of sounds assembled into music."

"But I'm not sure what thing you mean."

"I see!", she says, focusing on the music for a while and trying to feel it. "I got a feel of the music scene here, a bit in a Yasuki-owned bar and in the Kayama... but not much. You think people here are more... traditional? Like more focused on... pop, and tried and true styles I mean?"

She then sets her backpack in front of her, ready to fish her computer and equipment out.

"As for... this thing. Has Nakauchi-san mentioned.... zombie fungus? There's been some talk of that for a couple days. Now... there was zombie fungus kimono attack on an Utaku and Matsu yesterday. Nakauchi-san healed the Utaku after the fact, and... the Matsu rode the wheel, sadly... So... that Kimono, it was Isawa Shin's doing."

She stops for a moment with an "I know how that may sound" look, but she sounded serious.* After some time to let that sink in, she continued, with the same impassive, but serious tone.

"So... there's some people who heard someone saying something.... very specific. In another context - zombie fungus related as well, if I got it right. Now, these people think that someone may be Shin. But they'd like to make more sure, so... Nakauchi-san asked if we can recreate what Shin would sound saying that sentence. Will only be used so that those people can confirm if Shin's who they heard. I trust Nakauchi-san on that. I know it's an odd one, but... it may be important to confirm if there might be someone else behind that, you see..."

OOC
*D9 LE - Sincerity (Honesty)/Awa fluff: 4d10o10k3 23

"Hai, more traditional. There's not a lot of time on a frontier to develop new styles of music, but I want to try and create something that has the spirit of Asakaze in it, so to speak."

A head shake to the question. "No, I haven't heard anything about a...zombie fungus. You're suspecting this Shin in starting it?"

She smiles a bit at his answer regarding the music. "I can totally understand that. When... when we're done with this, I'd like to see your take on it, if you wouldn't mind showing it."

Her face then gets serious again, and she nods affirmatively. "Hai. Nakauchi-san healed the Utaku. The kimono and the attack were Shin's doing. I wouldn't doubt their word there."

"Wait, the kimono was a problem?" He's simply confused, seeing as he had not heard anything about this before now.

The look in her face is still blank, but serious. Despite what she's saying, which sounds either horrible, or hilarious. Maybe both.

"Eh... yeah. I know how that must sound, but yeah. At least part of the problem."

She gets her comm, quickly answers a message and swipes down to find another one.

"The description was... eh, sorry for the bluntness, but - a Maho-made fungal kimono. Shin-made. And if I got things right Shin was there himself."

A grimace.

"Do we have testimony or anything placing him at the scene?" He starts poking about on his computer to load the editing software.

Her face is impassive, but she seems more and more serious. Comm still in hand, she looks at him again.

"Could double-check with Nakauchi-san. But from what I understand, the Utaku was attacked by the kimono he made... and by Shin himself as well. So... it'd be the Utaku's testimony placing him there. The Matsu who was also attacked passed.... so.... "

She then types another quick message before getting down to get her computer out.

After just a moment, the comm beeps and Shion looks at the screen, her eyes creasing a bit, but her face keeps mostly blank. She types a short answer, then looks at Mal-Chin while she gets her things.

"Eh... not too far from what I said. Utaku-sama said Shin invited her and Matsu-sama to where they were attacked. And he commanded... something. That killed the poor Matsu. Zombie Kimono's apparently fueled by his... magic or something, too. So... testimony is Utaku-sama... and it all sounds pretty bad if you ask me."

"Hmm."

He starts a search. "I may have some access that you don't have, being local, let me see what recordings and such exist."

She nods. "That makes sense. I've done some looking around, but more might be better." She then swipes on her comm again.

"So... I assumed recordings with words and phrases similar to those we need might help. Failing that, at least similar sounds." She stops at a particular message. "So... the sentence those people heard and think it may have been him is this:"

She starts to speak slowly, word by word, as she also selects the text to copy it and save it somewhere else.

"I tire of this, kill them now, they'll replace the others."

She grimaces a bit after saying it, but goes back to her blank face quickly enough. "So... this... is what we're aiming for"

OOC
Tassu had mentioned Use computers TN 10 to find an appropriate recording, and TN 20 to do the actual splicing. We could do a cooperative roll, and I think Shion would be more help that way than rolling - she could probably hit the TN 10 consistently, but not TN 20 (and I've fried my Void for today already). We could hit him or Boogie again if we have any other questions or ideas... otherwise, you roll with Shion's help, maybe?

"Have we done any sort of search to find out who Isawa Shin works with, that we might target for testimony? Why are we trying to fake a message?" He asks, concerned for the method.

(OOC: Mal-Chin is at 7k4 for Use Computers, if TN is 10/20, he should be able to do either. Also, I'm not certain if we can do it while we're here together. Can we check if one of us can use this slot to find the text and the other to splice it?)