[Kozak]

"Please, feel free, though your supervisor will likely be very unhappy at receiving a call at such a late hour, especially for something they've already been informed of.  But I understand completely.  You're probably wondering why I'm here now, instead of having come earlier.  Well, Renraku wishes to avoid any undue media attention on the matter, especially considering it has yet to be a full day since the tragedy.  And on that matter, I trust you gentlemen won't mention any of this to the press?  I'm sure you can appreciate the need for silence, and Renraku will of course be willing to show their thanks."  Kozak raises his eyebrow in suggestive manner at the last few words.

Cha 5 + Con 4 + First Impressions 2 - 11d6.hits(5)=5
Also, I'm not actually going to pay them.  Just hinting at the possibility.

[imperialus]

The security guard's shoulders seem to slump slightly. "You are right Ayasaki Sama.  Please, allow me a moment to find the file you require."

After a few seconds, a file transfer request pops up in your PAN.  Interestingly it is fronted by a form written legal letter demanding that you keep the material in confidence, and not distribute it outside of New Dawn Security or the Japan Rail system.

When you open the file you see the security camera angled towards the door that the Oni went through.  Like in the video from Stormfront you see her push her way to the front of the crowd.  Upon reaching the doors there is a hicup in the footage and suddenly the doors are open and the Oni has disappeared onto the tracks.  The file is obviously missing a few critical seconds but finding out whether or not someone hacked it on the fly or it was done after the fact will take some digging.

[Operator]

Operator dropped his beverage can into an appropriate recycling bin, reviewing the Stormfront recording offered to him by Spirit. He glanced briefly at Aishuku, then looked back to the train platform's doors.

@Private Chat 552375
"Both Jojin-san's residence and the office for Simply Clean are located within Yokohama. If you need to stop for breakfast, I suggest you pick one restaurant on the way there and pray that the industrial zones aren't upwind."

Just as Operator subvocalized his response, something in the video caught his eye - the opening doors. I don't have to be a train employee to understand that this is a serious liability. He rewinded the video two times, watching it again to verify that he wasn't simply imagining things.

"Minna-san, this recording shows the train doors opening a few seconds before the train arrived."

[Kozak]

"Domo.  Be sure that I'll make favorable mention of both of you to my superior and yours."  Kozak leaves, speaking into his subvocal as he turns his back.

<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<Got it.  Meet outside in a few.  Don't want to attract attention from the guards.>>

[Scarecrow71]

Aishuku stands and stretches, yawning wide for the cameras.  He bends over a couple of times, his hands on his lower back, to make a better impression of stretching out tired muscles.  Sub-vocally, he replies into the commlink.

<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<On my way out right now.>>

He walks over to the stairs, fumbling with his commlink, still trying to pull up news clippings about the Oni's contract for the sports-plex.

[Ympulse]

Spirit waits outside the rail station, seated in the Dobie, mentally reviewing the events of the evening after seeing that the security footage was hacked. This Kozak seemed to be competent, which made Spirit's outlook for the mission slightly brighter.

<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<I will be heading back to the house shortly, anyone care to join me?>>

[imperialus]

@ Operator:  As you finish looking at the gate, even going so far as to casually walk by it once or twice you don't see any damage whatsoever.  Heck, the paint is barely even scratched.  Whatever caused the gate to open was almost certainly not brute force like was said in the news reports.

@ScareCrow: There is very little information on A Simple Clean.  A very basic matrix node owned by the company explains the services they offer, claiming that their 'human touch' makes them superior to an automated cleaning system and that they specialize in cleaning offices and commercial properties.  All of their employees are bonded with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and there are a half dozen or so testimonials from small businesses you've never heard of talking about how wonderful they are.

As far as the sports plex contract goes you manage to find a single human interest story talking about the contract from several months ago.  It was written by a small news net talking about how the company was making 'great strides' towards improving the reputation of metahumans in Japan and that Kusbana's friendly demeanor and good business sense was doing very well improving the reputation of Oni.

[Operator]

@Private Chat 552375
"Nothing more for me to discovere here; the gate has no signs of damage. No chipped paint, no warps, no consistency with the 'official' story. Shall we get breakfast prior to an appointment with Akio-san?"

Operator turned to exit through the subway entrace, keeping a relatively straight face for the cameras.

[Scarecrow71]

Aishuku walked up the stairs, listening to the conversation intently.  He watched the video sent his way of the subway footage as quickly and discreetly as he could, silently agreeing with the rest of the team that the footage looked iffy at best.


<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<I'm going to head to the business to snoop around there a bit.  I'll drive - it's what I'm good at.  I'll swing the van around the corner to the east.  If you're going with me, meet me there in about 5 minutes.>>


Aishuku then walked casually to where his van was parked, and drove nonchalantly to where he instructed the others to meet him, picking up whomever was waiting.  As soon as they were all in the van, he pulled up a map showing directions from his current location to Kusbana-sans office, again taking the least visible route.

[Kozak]

<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<I shall join you.>>

Kozak walked to where Aishuku had indicated, and stepped into his van when he arrived.

"We can go over the footage while you drive."

[Ympulse]

Confident that he was going to be alone staking out the parent's home, Spirit decided that since he by himself would be of no use against a team of cleaners, he would follow Aishuku-san's lead, and went to the business, using a different obfuscated route than the van. He felt a bit uneasy leaving a possible loose end go, but without proper backup, he wouldn't accomplish a thing if that possibility did come to fruition. Besides, the information gathered from the business would most likely be just as-if not more useful than that from grieving relatives.

<<@Private Chat 552375>>
<<I will meet you there, I want to bring my own vehicle, in case I need to leave earlier than expected>>

Since the streets were less-than-packed, Spirit let the integrated pilot system take care of the route he had programmed into it, and went over the StormFront video, analyzing it in detail to see if there was anything more to glean from it than was readily available on the security footage

Perception 2 + Intuition 5
4 hits, no glitches

[imperialus]

Sigasru Ward, Yokohama 03:20 h

Kozak Spirit and Aishuku (along with anyone else who goes with them) have an uneventful drive to Yokohama, Kozak and Aishuku in the van with Spirit keeping his distance on his monocycle.  The only excitement is the construction crews on one of the overpasses that have the road reduced to one lane.  Upon entering Yokohama the high rises of Neo-Tokyo give way to the fire and earthquake damaged structures of Yokohama.  Power is sporadic here and your matrix connections are fuzzy at best.  Operator, if you're along for the ride you get a vauge sense of unease...  Something is not quite right here and you get a weird sense of... "sadness" or "loss" that you can't quite put your finger on.  This is the closest thing to the barrens that Japan has on the main island, but even here it lacks the aura of menace found in other slums across the world.

Upon arriving at the building housing the offices for "A Simple Clean" you find a simple office tower, largely undamaged by the earthquakes that rocked the city 10 years ago.  No lights are on anywhere in the building and everything appears quiet.

[Operator]

Operator climbed into the front passenger's seat of the van, nodding in acceptance; a utility van was unlikely to draw much attention to itself. He quietly reviewed the footage, letting Kozak and Aishuku discuss it in further detail. StormFront showed him all he needed to know; the subway and police authorities would lose face if they publicly admitted that the door systems were bypassed and used as an accessory in Kusbana's death.

Once they entered into Yokohama, his expression shifted from impassive observance to mild bewilderment. Operator leaned forward to inspect the ravaged district, gazing amongst broken buildings lining the road. What the hell am I feeling? I know what happened here, but this.. isn't the same as knowing. It feels like something else. The tower belonging to "A Simple Clean" survived the Ring of Fire disaster mostly intact, giving Kusbana's business viable office space.

He studied the tower's entrance, thinking back to the intermittent power feeds within the district. “In my opinion, I wouldn't trust maglocks here if the building is on the local grid without its own generators.”

Making a visual Perception test to notice anything amiss. 10d6.hits(5) = 4
If applicable, also making a Security Design test regarding what door locks and other safeguards would be taken. 6d6.hits(5) = 1

[Scarecrow71]

Once Operator and Kozak were in the van, Aishuku programmed the route into the computer and let the pilot program take over.  He moved into the back, sitting opposite Kozak, and pulled up the video on his commlink, letting the holo-trid display so they could look at it in detail.

"I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at here.  I can see the doors open slightly before the train arrived, but their isn't any visual evidence of Kusbana-san being pushed.  In my opinion, the video has been changed to prevent anyone from seeing the truth."

When they got into Yokohama, Aishuku merely looked disinterested in the locale.

Reminds me of home, actually.  The only difference between my apartment and this area is that I PAY to live there.

As they pulled up in front of the building, Aishuku began unhinging the cover to the smuggling compartment he had in his van.  He pulled out his armored jacket and his roomsweeper, dropping the heavy pistol into a holster sewn into the underside of the left arm.  He also pulled out 3 thermal smoke grenades, dropping them into one of the pockets in the jacket.  He also studied the entrance of the building, looking for guards and anybody else that might be around.

"Well, we are here.  Building appears to be empty.  Are we waiting for an invitation, or are we going to go in unannounced?"

As he says this, he puts the lid back on the compartment, completely hiding its existence in the floor of the van.

Visual Perception
12d6.hits(5) = 4

[Kozak]

Kozak watched the footage on the display Aishuku brought up.

"I agree, there isn't any evidence that Kusbana-san was pushed, but notice the hiccup in footage.  This is security footage, not some trid.  My guess is someone tampered with the footage, but we'll need an expert to go over it to be sure."

As they pull up to the building, Kozak watches Aishuku equip himself. 

"Expecting trouble?"