Hanae opened the door and in stepped a young woman that appeared to be Kumitada’s age or slightly younger. She was a brunette with a large forehead and hair in severe curls that almost reached her shoulders. Physically the girl was somewhat small. She was shorter than average, which perhaps explained why her chin remained a hair up at all times. Her figure was modest and slender; if she had been a doll Kumitada would have been worried about the slightest touch knocking her over and breaking her.
Kumitada didn’t need to be an assistant detective to be able to tell what her occupation was. She wore a sky blue dress with frills at the sleeves which ended above her elbows and the hemline which extended nearly to her ankles. Over top of the dress was a pastel-yellow apron with a nametag reading “Suzume” clipped over her left breast. The detective didn’t recognize the uniform, but his training told him it had to be some restaurant or café nearby.
“Welcome to the Kuwabara Detective Agency,” Yukiko announced enthusiastically as Hanae guided the newcomer to the couch in the middle of the room that Kumitada had just vacated.
“Would you like me to get an ottoman? I’m sure your feet could use the rest,” Kumitada said.
The client looked surprised. “How did you know I walked here?” she asked, fixing her unusually light-brown eyes upon him.
“You came here wearing your work uniform; since you didn’t take time to change I assumed you were on a lunch break. Traffic is too heavy this time of day to drive somewhere and be reasonably sure you’d be able to return to your workplace in time.”
The assistant detective felt Hanae’s cold hand on his shoulder. “Enough showing off for the clients, Kumitada.”
Suzume looked down at the firm’s business card in her hand, which featured a picture of a smiling, happy kitten. “Are you Detective Kuwabara then?” she asked.
“Nope, that’s me,” Yukiko replied cheerfully, giving no hint of being offended that the client simply assumed the detective was male. “My assistant Kumitada-san is still in training. How can we be of service?”
“Well, my name is Suzume Toshimaru. I’m… not actually sure this is a good idea, but I saw your card…” She held it up for the detectives to see. “…and I thought it couldn’t hurt. ‘No ‘cat’astrophe too small.’”
A wide, almost Cheshire-like grin broke out across Yukiko’s face as she saw the picture she herself had picked out to represent the agency. “Isn’t that drawing adorable? The moment I saw it I thought…” The enthusiastic detective trailed off as she caught sight of a severely disapproving look from Hanae.
“I mean, yes, that’s one of ours.” Yukiko confirmed.
“T-That’s good… I guess. You see, I work at the Spring Day Café about two blocks down the road. And across the street from us, there’s this large tree.”
Kumitada fumbled for his notepad, eventually fishing it out of the inside pocket of his suit coat. He was slightly annoyed to see that Hanae had produced her notes and had recorded the information down already.
“Well, two days ago I noticed there was this cat sitting on one of the upper branches of the tree. I went to go see if it was in trouble but it seemed perfectly happy up there. So I went on with my day assuming someone would come by looking for it but no one ever did.”
Kumitada wrote down ‘cat stuck in tree (happy)’, then peeked to see that Hanae had transcribed Suzume’s testimony word for word. Meanwhile, Yukiko struck a pose and nodded encouragingly, although Kumitada was fairly certain it was partly to hide the fact that she was lousy at taking notes.
“What was really… unnerving, was that the cat never stopped watching me. No matter where I was on the patio or when I looked up, its eyes were on me the whole time. I know it may seem like it was too far away to know, but I could tell!”
“We believe you, Miss Toshimaru,” Kumitada said while making an unwritten note in his cranium about the client possibly having mental issues. “Go on.”
“Please, call me Suzume. Well, I went home and came back to work yesterday, and the cat was still there. I don’t know if it had been there the whole night or not, but it wasn’t in distress or anything! Again I tried to lure it down, but it just ignored what I said. It watched me all yesterday too, and I told myself last night if it was there again today I’d tell somebody about it.”
“Well, you chose the right people,” Yukiko declared affirmatively, startling the waitress. “We’ll get to the bottom of this peeking tomcat.”
“That’s peeping, Yukiko-sama,” Hanae corrected her.
“Really? I don’t have much money, and I know this all sounds a little crazy…”
“It sounds like a mystery!” Yukiko declared, thrusting her fedora out in front of her. “You have nothing to fear, Miss Toshimaru!”
“Please, call me-“
“The Kuwabara Detective Agency…” Yukiko rolled her fedora down her forearm, knocked it up into the air once it past her elbow, then snatched it and clamped it down securely on her head with her hand. “…is on the case.”
Wed Jan 04 20:15:40 2012
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