Book 2 Need for Speed (5)
Just from looking at the first few pages, Tilarnas eyes opened wide and her shoulders shrunk. She probably wouldnt feel that shocked even after looking at a completely destroyed and minced corpse. Matoba felt a bizarre sense of guilt, but he then thought that maybe it was still an important experience to have.
This was Vice after all. They didnt only deal with drugs and weapons. They also dealt with pornography and investigated around it. Even though uncensored pornography was perfectly legal, underage performers and downright violent or abusive acts were completely prohibited. Matoba even once had to binge watch 300 porn DVDs for three days straight to fully understand what was and wasnt illegal. The first thirty minutes were pretty fun and exciting, but the remaining sixty hours were pure hell. It was almost like a miracle that he didnt go completely insane after watching so many neverending sex scenes nonstop. For a second he thought he never wanted to see any female genitals ever again in his entire life. To the point where for the following week he couldnt even see the steamed buns or seashells sold at his local Japanese restaurant, because he suddenly felt an uncontrollable urge to vomit.
Speaking of which, if he had become permanently impotent after that, would it count as a work-related injury?
Tilarna started trembling all over
So something this lewd and disgraceful I cant believe it. You people truly are barbarians. Youre absolutely insane. Whatever. Your dad and mom did it as well when they had you. Thats a lie!!
Tears were drawing at the corners of her eyes, as she raised her voice. She looked as if someone had just shown her proof of her parents committing a vile, heinous act.
Dont you insult mother and father! I wont forgive you for it! Mother would mother would never something like this Right, okay, I got it, I got it. You were born out of a cabbage patch. Or perhaps youre the result of mitosis like a bacteria. I think thats the most logical explanation. Lets just leave it at that, so just look at a few of them if you want to. Got it? This cant be something like this it absolutely cant be true
Tilarna kept turning the pages of the porn magazine, as she tumbled backwards, falling defeated into her seat while muttering more incoherent sentences. She was truly an empty shell. Matoba felt a little sorry for her, but in the end this was an experience that most people had to go through eventually, so hed let her be.
But more importantly
It really looked like she was at the level of a middle school kid, or even lower than that. He thought that at most her face would turn completely red, and she would get a little confused, but he never expected to be that hopeless. Did she really think storks carried babies to their parents or something? With this he finally understood the reason Tilarna acted so defenseless at home all the time. Generally speaking he had been bluntly telling her to not come near him whenever she started doing as she pleased, but now he knew that he never fundamentally understood what it truly wouldve meant if he had actually approached her somehow.
Doesnt this just mean that Tilarna is basically a kid?
So basically, Semanians themselves are
Ah, I get it
It had been going on for a while, and it seemed like the theft incident was just a part of it all. In any case, the first thing he had to do was gather the crew that would be helping him out. Matoba started looking around the office.
Out of the less than twenty desks around the office, about half were vacant at the moment.
He locked eyes with Camie and Jamie who were laughing nonchalantly.
Detective Cameron Estefan and Detective Jamie Austin. Both of them were women. Camie had black hair and was of Latin American descent, while Jamie was blonde and was of English descent. Both had a style fitting for models, and just the space between both of their desks was completely radiant because of them. Because of a recent mission, they were dressed in expensive name brand clothing.
Hey Kei Huh? Hows Tilarna? Is she doing well? Do you mean because of the previous mission? Shes just full of complaints.
Then Jamie laughed and fixed her curly blonde hair.
I see. Thats pretty reassuring to hear. Why? Dont worry about it. It seems like youre having it rough, but hang in there. Alright.
He replied bluntly and continued his search for other people. As he turned his back to them, he could hear Camie groan for some reason, and then he could see her innocently laughing with Jamie about something. He didnt really get it, but maybe they had bet on something.
After that, Matoba tried to ask for help from several other coworkers that seemed to have some time, but in the end they all ended up running away. They would say that they had plans, or that they had a lot of paperwork to do later, or that they had a huge investigation about this dealer a little later, and so on and so on.
Have I always been this unpopular around the office?
He thought. Generally speaking he always gave his best and was energetic at work, and he thought he had done a pretty good job at being a sort of manager when the previous boss before Zimmer left the spot vacant. No, this wasnt a matter of popularity. It was just that most people didnt want to do this specific job, and were trying to run away from it.
And then came his savior. It was Tony.
He had just arrived at work for the day, and was greeting everybody in a good mood. Matoba approached him directly in a stride.
Hi~ Kei. Hey, Tony. Youre looking better than usual today. That necktie looks great on you. Oh, thank you. Just choosing this specific one took more than thirty minutes, so Im really happy you noticed it But at the same time that greeting gave me a terrible vibe from you. Is that so? Do you have some time, Tony? Sure. I already went around the entire place, so all I have left is some paperwork to do I think they finally got a new coffee machine. Come on. Lets go and talk there
Kei truly is the worst. Sneered Tony as they were walking through the Police HQs parking lot. I thought he was actually being nice for once, with that tone of his. But a porn stealing gang? Isnt it just a group of middle school kids or something? In any case, isnt it odd? Do you guys really get so desperate about seeing naked women all the time? I mean, I think thats pretty normal. At the very least, I dont mind.
Replied Godunov, Tonys partner who had also been dragged along for this mission, completely indifferent to the discussion. The huge Russian man rarely ever got truly angry. He was usually a laid back guy, who would even remain calm when things went south during an investigation.
They got in their Gabriole Citroen, and then Godunov asked after getting in the driver seat.
So are we going to do as Kei said? I guess so Since he said he would be the one going around asking about it. Were just going to have to wait for them to take the bait. I really want to get this over with though.
After getting Tony and Godunov to help him with the porn stealing gang, Matoba had divided their roles in the investigation.
Matoba and Tilarna would be going around asking for information. They would visit the few injured people at the printing offices, look at the security cameras, look at porn distribution routes and info well, that kind of work. Tony and Godunov would help them out whenever they had the time, but their main goal would be acting as bait.
They circulated a rumour about a man wanting to buy a lot of porn magazines, and they were hoping to catch the gang if they fell for it. There was also the possibility that Matoba and Tilarna would be recognized by the guy from the porn stealing gang, so in the end Tony and Godunov ended up going.