How the Jackal Got Back His Coat, Part 5
Title: How the Jackal Got Back His Coat
Disclaimer: I don’t own Get Backers in any shape or form. And I do not profit from this in any way that involves currency. And I have to admit that the title is a rip-off of a story of Neil Gaiman's. Special thanks to Conrad J. Gaiser for the invention of the dryer sheet, paving the way for less static cling in our laundry.
Summary: The unthinkable has happened: Akabane Kuroudo's black coat has gone missing. And when something needs getting back, who you gonna call? XD
Characters: Full cast, mostly
Rating: safe
For amethyst_hunter
Part 5 - In Which Another Retriever is Hired
Meanwhile, in the laundry shop:
The proprietor sat in the back room of the shop, unhappily contemplating life. He had ransacked the entire premises looking for the coat and hadn’t even come up with a handful of black lint. He was shaken to the depths of his fabric softener-scented soul. The business had been passed to him from his father, and his grandfather before him, and never, never, never had any item of laundry been lost in their establishment. Not even a single sock. Ever.
There was no problem with replacing the coats. The shop earned enough to not be set back too much by that, and it was the honorable thing to do. But the mere fact that a coat had gone missing was unbearable.
And it would continue to be unbearable, like a persistent unreachable itch, unless he found a way to get it back.
***
Ring.
“Oh, hi, Hevn-san - “
“Gimme that! Yo, Hevn, guess what? We’ve got a job, and it’s easy, and comes with a big fat paycheck without your big fat cut! Did I mention that it was easy? Yeah. So thanks, but no thanks. Find some other sucker to do your dirty work. Miss your boobs though. Buh-bye.”
Click.
“That wasn’t very nice, Ban-chan.”
“Seriously, Ginji, think a little. When hasn’t she given us a job that runs us through the saber-toothed, fire-breathing mill? And asked us to pay her for it?”
“Come to think of it…”
“Told you so. Christ, just how many cars did they tow today? We’ve been here forever.”
***
Click.
Hevn stood in dumb shock for a few seconds before lowering her phone. Ban hadn’t given her time to say ‘hi’ let alone dish out a scathing retort to his tirade. There were days when she didn’t know why she put up with him (aside, of course, from the fact that the Get Backers were the best retrieval team in Shinjuku and she always delivered her clients the very best service).
She counted to ten before dialing another number. The knowledge that her next choice of a retrieval agent would annoy Midou Ban to no end gave her a certain vindictive pleasure.
“Shido-kun?” Hevn smiled into the receiver. “I have a job for you.”
***
An hour later, Fuyuki Shido was at the laundry shop, being regaled with the history of the business, and how the proprietor wanted to pass it on to his children with the name unsullied by the shame of having lost a customer’s clothes. The Beast Master put in the appropriate non-committal remarks and nods (enough so as not to appear disinterested, but slight enough to - hopefully - not encourage more on the subject), while taking the opportunity to look for clues around the premises.
He wasn’t really hoping to find a day-old scent, not with his human nose, and definitely not with all the chemical scents in the place (unless he was very much mistaken, someone had spilled quite a lot of bleach recently), but there were clues other than scent to rely on. Shido flipped through the clean clothes on the rack, sending up a crackle of static. That was strange. He was pretty sure that the use of dryer sheets would take care of that. He ran a hand over a freshly-laundered pile of towels with the same result. An excess build-up of electrical charge…
His eyes narrowed in suspicion. Ginji was the first person who came to mind, but he would never have done something like this. At least, he wouldn’t have on his own.
“Did anything unusual happen yesterday?” he asked. “Any strange customers?”
The man looked uncomfortable. “Well. There was one - a girl, she seemed, um, very interested in having her laundry done, but she went away so quickly and didn’t leave any laundry behind.” He laughed nervously. “Though maybe you shouldn’t pay that any mind. I’m starting to think that I fell asleep at the counter and dreamt it up.”
There it was. The Evil Eye. Midou Ban couldn’t have been any more unsubtle if he had painted the storefront with BAN WAS HERE in bright, fluorescent red letters six feet high. Shido had to take a moment to take it in. While he was of the opinion that Ban had the mentality of a hell-bent five year old, he had a hard time believing that anyone would sink so low.
“Sir,” he told the proprietor (who was a little taken aback by the hint of a growl in his voice), “you didn’t lose the coat. It was stolen. And I know exactly who has it.”
End of Part 5
to be continued...
Disclaimer: I don’t own Get Backers in any shape or form. And I do not profit from this in any way that involves currency. And I have to admit that the title is a rip-off of a story of Neil Gaiman's. Special thanks to Conrad J. Gaiser for the invention of the dryer sheet, paving the way for less static cling in our laundry.
Summary: The unthinkable has happened: Akabane Kuroudo's black coat has gone missing. And when something needs getting back, who you gonna call? XD
Characters: Full cast, mostly
Rating: safe
For amethyst_hunter
Part 5 - In Which Another Retriever is Hired
Meanwhile, in the laundry shop:
The proprietor sat in the back room of the shop, unhappily contemplating life. He had ransacked the entire premises looking for the coat and hadn’t even come up with a handful of black lint. He was shaken to the depths of his fabric softener-scented soul. The business had been passed to him from his father, and his grandfather before him, and never, never, never had any item of laundry been lost in their establishment. Not even a single sock. Ever.
There was no problem with replacing the coats. The shop earned enough to not be set back too much by that, and it was the honorable thing to do. But the mere fact that a coat had gone missing was unbearable.
And it would continue to be unbearable, like a persistent unreachable itch, unless he found a way to get it back.
***
Ring.
“Oh, hi, Hevn-san - “
“Gimme that! Yo, Hevn, guess what? We’ve got a job, and it’s easy, and comes with a big fat paycheck without your big fat cut! Did I mention that it was easy? Yeah. So thanks, but no thanks. Find some other sucker to do your dirty work. Miss your boobs though. Buh-bye.”
Click.
“That wasn’t very nice, Ban-chan.”
“Seriously, Ginji, think a little. When hasn’t she given us a job that runs us through the saber-toothed, fire-breathing mill? And asked us to pay her for it?”
“Come to think of it…”
“Told you so. Christ, just how many cars did they tow today? We’ve been here forever.”
***
Click.
Hevn stood in dumb shock for a few seconds before lowering her phone. Ban hadn’t given her time to say ‘hi’ let alone dish out a scathing retort to his tirade. There were days when she didn’t know why she put up with him (aside, of course, from the fact that the Get Backers were the best retrieval team in Shinjuku and she always delivered her clients the very best service).
She counted to ten before dialing another number. The knowledge that her next choice of a retrieval agent would annoy Midou Ban to no end gave her a certain vindictive pleasure.
“Shido-kun?” Hevn smiled into the receiver. “I have a job for you.”
***
An hour later, Fuyuki Shido was at the laundry shop, being regaled with the history of the business, and how the proprietor wanted to pass it on to his children with the name unsullied by the shame of having lost a customer’s clothes. The Beast Master put in the appropriate non-committal remarks and nods (enough so as not to appear disinterested, but slight enough to - hopefully - not encourage more on the subject), while taking the opportunity to look for clues around the premises.
He wasn’t really hoping to find a day-old scent, not with his human nose, and definitely not with all the chemical scents in the place (unless he was very much mistaken, someone had spilled quite a lot of bleach recently), but there were clues other than scent to rely on. Shido flipped through the clean clothes on the rack, sending up a crackle of static. That was strange. He was pretty sure that the use of dryer sheets would take care of that. He ran a hand over a freshly-laundered pile of towels with the same result. An excess build-up of electrical charge…
His eyes narrowed in suspicion. Ginji was the first person who came to mind, but he would never have done something like this. At least, he wouldn’t have on his own.
“Did anything unusual happen yesterday?” he asked. “Any strange customers?”
The man looked uncomfortable. “Well. There was one - a girl, she seemed, um, very interested in having her laundry done, but she went away so quickly and didn’t leave any laundry behind.” He laughed nervously. “Though maybe you shouldn’t pay that any mind. I’m starting to think that I fell asleep at the counter and dreamt it up.”
There it was. The Evil Eye. Midou Ban couldn’t have been any more unsubtle if he had painted the storefront with BAN WAS HERE in bright, fluorescent red letters six feet high. Shido had to take a moment to take it in. While he was of the opinion that Ban had the mentality of a hell-bent five year old, he had a hard time believing that anyone would sink so low.
“Sir,” he told the proprietor (who was a little taken aback by the hint of a growl in his voice), “you didn’t lose the coat. It was stolen. And I know exactly who has it.”
End of Part 5
to be continued...