Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! In Japan, Valentine's Day is a day for women to give chocolate to the men in their life. Of course this means sweethearts, but usually it means friends and co-workers, too (obviously, you get nicer chocolate for people closer to you). Now, lest you think the men have it easy, they're supposed to reciprocate on White Day, March 14, with white chocolate and other gifts. I think they have Valentine's Day first so that the men know who they have to get stuff for. :-)
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for my eternal Valentine...
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February fourteenth was, so far, an ordinary day. Wake up, take a jog, go to work, the Chief calls a briefing . . . Batou was waiting for everyone to arrive when Paz walked in carrying several grocery bags. He dumped them on the table without comment, and Borma leaned forward to take a look.
"Chocolate? Oh, is today Valentine's Day?"
"What! All of this is yours, Paz?!" Batou's eyebrows raised in astonishment. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I am." Paz shrugged.
"Yeah. Eat what you want."
Togusa reached for a piece, taking a moment to admire the red ribbons and the card that said, "愛しい人の為に". Another card read, in English, "love explosion!" "Wow, you're going to have a lot of work to do on White Day," he commented.
Paz looked to the side, lips pressed together, eyebrows furrowed in his characterstic expression of non-expression.
". . . not really."
Aramaki entered the room, still silent from Paz's comment, and as the briefing began, the day began to take a slightly-less-than-ordinary turn.
"Last night, there was an intruder inside Section 9."
The briefing room erupted into uncharacteristic surprise."What!"
"Is that even possible?"
"Are you sure it wasn't just the cleaning crew or something?" Aramaki stood, silent, eyes hard, waiting to regain their attention. Slightly embarrassed, they quieted down and waited for him to resume.
"The cameras detected a slight amount of movement that appears to be a thermoptic camo residue." One of the red-suited technicians pushed a button, and a short clip of the office hallway played. Sure enough, they could see the characterstic ripple of thermoptic camo, though it was very slight, and the shape was not distinguishable.
Aramaki continued, "That is the only evidence we have. The logs show no records of anyone unauthorized entering or exiting the building at that time."
"What about somebody authorized?," the Major asked, seriously.
"No one at all, between the time you left at 2300 hours and the time the cleaning crew arrived at 0500. This video is from 0300." He cleared his throat. "Our scans have not detected any large-scale explosives or other malicious material, but there is still a possibility that the intruder could have left something malignant behind. Ishikawa, Borma, I want you to examine the computer system logs, to see if there was any activity there. Saito, Pazu, take a look at the security records, and see if the cleaning crew saw anything. Batou, Togusa, I want you to do a physical search of the premises for forensic evidence or foreign material. Major, I want you to check the computer systems to make sure no data or systems were compromised." He glanced around at them, watching for their affirming nods, before adding, "I don't need to tell you to be careful -- the perpetrator could still be in the building. Now find out who did this, and why." As he left, and the other members of Section 9 began to dissipate, Batou stretched and stood up, looking over at Togusa.
"Well, detective, where do you suggest we start?" Togusa paused for a moment, then answered,
"The only place we know the intruder came through is the office hallway from the video, so let's look there." Batou nodded,
"Sounds good. Mind if I stop by my office to check my messages? I'm expecting someone to get back to me about the Miyamoto case."
"No problem." Togusa followed Batou to his office. As he was about to sit down, the former detective noticed an unfamiliar object on Batou's desk.
"Looks like you've got an admirer" He pointed to the heart-shaped sweet sitting in a gold-leaf trimmed box on a red doily on Batou's desk. "Maybe I shouldn't ask . . . but who's it from?" Batou looked up from his computer in surprise.
"What? Chocolate?"
"It is Valentine's Day, you know." Togusa smiled slightly, a little nostalgic for times of secret admirers and mystery chocolates on Valentine's Day. He knew he would find a meticulously homemade chocolate bonbon in his lunchbox, just like every other Valentine's Day for the past eight years. Not that it was a bad thing -- he knew his wife probably spent more time than she should on it, and he appreciated it and the secure love it represented. It just wasn't quite as exciting. Batou squinted in puzzlement.
"Huh, I guess it is . . . but who would send me chocolate? It's not like her," he stopped, then continued, "It's not from the OL's, is it? No, they're not programmed to do things like that." He stared at the innocuous brown lump. Togusa bent closer to take a look and asked,
"Does it say who it's from?" Gingerly, Batou picked it up, looking underneath it and lifting the box.
"Doesn't seem to be any message . . . Wait a minute, you don't think this is from the intruder, do you?" Batou set the chocolate down carefully, and was about to lick his fingers of the chocolate residue, but stopped and wiped them on the doily instead.
"What, you have a secret girlfriend who would sneak into Section 9 to leave you chocolate for Valentine's Day?" Togusa couldn't resist the jab.
"No! I mean, what if it's poisoned, or contains a nanovirus, or a tracking beacon . . . I don't know, I can think of all sorts of nasty things an enemy could put into a piece of chocolate." Togusa nodded thoughtfully.
"That's true . . . I'll take it down to Forensics and have them take a look at it," Togusa suggested, producing a plastic bag from his pocket and scooping the chocolate, box, and doily inside.
"All right; I'll search the rest of this room" As Togusa left, Batou examined the desk more closely. He thought maybe a few papers had shifted, but it was hard to tell . . . until he pulled up the visual record from his artifical eyes of the previous night, and compared it to the current state. Yes, a few papers were shifted slightly, but everything was still there. Nothing confidential was on the papers, so it didn't matter if an intruder had seen them, unsettling as it was. The chocolate couldn't be from her . . . could it? She's never been the type to remember holidays like Valentine's Day, much less take the time to buy something as frivolous as chocolate for anyone . . .
He laughed, silently. If it had been Motoko, there wouldn't be any trace at all. The fact that there was any evidence meant it was definitely someone else . . . assuming the chocolate and the intruder were related.
Examining the rest of the room, he couldn't see any other signs of disturbance. He was just looking at the door frame when Togusa got back.
"Hey, Batou, they said that as far as they could tell it looked like normal chocolate -- but they're going to run a few more tests, just in case." Togusa stepped closer to see what Batou was looking at.
"Togusa, take a look at this -- this doorway didn't have this dent in it before."
"Yes . . . it looks very fresh," Togusa noted, looking around for other evidence. A little further down the hallway, Togusa pointed to a section of the opposite wall at about shoulder level.
"There. Looks like another scrape of some sort -- it's very straight, though it's pretty short. And here, on the floor -- there's a black skid mark"
"There's another scrape on this wall over here . . . there seems to be some sort of paint residue on it." Batou glanced around, looking at the hallway from an investigative standpoint. "This is where that security video was from, so it's probably a clue to the intruder." Using a pair of sterile tweezers, Togusa carefully scraped the paint into another plastic bag. Pulling out a magnifying glass, he scrutinized the tiny scrap carefully.
"It looks . . . blue?"
"Blue paint? Why would there be blue paint . . . " Batou trailed off, examining the paint scrap closer, and replayed the security video of the thermoptic camo. That round shape . . . that blue color . . . He wasn't sure whether to laugh or groan. "Well, Togusa, sounds like we have some suspects to question in the hangar."
The two investigators barely had time to step out of the elevator before they were accosted by hyper Tachikoma.
"Batou-san, Batou-san!"
"Nice to see you too, Togusa-kun!"
"Do we have a fun job today, Batou-san?"
"Did you find anything . . . interesting today?"
"Shhh! It's supposed to be a secret, remember?!"
"You've caused a lot of trouble, you know," Batou said seriously, addressing the whole group but focused mainly on his Tachikoma.
"Uh-oh . . . was that a bad thing to do?," the Tachikoma raised its arm questioningly. "We heard that Valentine's Day is a day for giving chocolate to men you like. . . is that incorrect?" The Tachikoma's head drooped a little, giving it a pouty look. Batou sighed,
"No, that's what the day's for. But your sneaking around had everybody worried that there was an intruder."
"Oh no!"
"That's not what we wanted at all!"
"We thought you'd be happy!"
"I told you you were too big to fit through there!"
"Hey, 'it's better to have thought, and counted, than to have never loved at all', right?!"
"That's not how the saying goes!"
Batou interrupted them before they could really get off track. "Anyway, thanks for the thought, but you know you're not supposed to leave the hangar by yourselves. So . . . just remember that." They nodded enthusiastically, and he and Togusa headed up the elevator. The Major's voice on the comlink came in suddenly.
"Batou, Togusa, have you found anything?" They looked at each other, and her serious, urgent voice contrasted with the ingenuous naivete of the Tachikoma suddenly made the whole situation was just too hilarious.
All they could do was laugh.