Cutscene: Coercion
Characters: Katsuya Suou, Ryouma Tanekawa (NPC)
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
Aoba Ward
Department 4 Headquarters
Fog, heavy and sticky, clings to the sides of the buildings in the city. It's been a bit of a wet early spring thus far, and it shows the most in weather patterns like this.
It's made for an earlier 'evening', if one can call it that, the fading light from outside the city muted and toned down nearly to the point of no return. It's warranted the use of lights even at this hour, as two men stand before a long table in one of Department 4's meeting rooms.
One, Ryouma Tanekawa, Yoko's doctor, who wears a suitably grave expression as always. The middle-aged man is dressed comfortably but professionally in a sweater and slacks, relaxed enough for his patients but still leaving little doubt about his role at St. Dymphna's. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches the man standing next to him. Katsuya Suou must be about half Tanekawa's age, give or take three or five years, though given the man's sober demeanor, it might not be difficult to mistake him for older.
In his hands, Katsuya holds a set of papers, which currently hold the bulk of his attention, in a careful and precalculated way. It's exactly like if someone were trying very hard not to look at or pay attention to someone else, perhaps if they were most concerned about the other person making a certain comment.
Slowly, Katsuya shuffles through the papers, the compilation of the last few weeks' worth of notes and observations. The hard copy, if one pleased to call it that much.
"Here we are," he says, handing the papers in Tanekawa's direction. A whole three sheets, it seems, for this topic. "This details the activities myself or staff observed. As you can see, we haven't recorded any outbursts or unusual activity. In fact, she's been relatively stable since early February."
Tanekawa, silent, his expression a pensive one, takes the papers from him, and slowly begins to shift through them himself. For the first time, his attention is anywhere but Katsuya Suou.
"Hmm," Tanekawa murmurs, flipping over to the next sheet. "Then this is improvement? What does this mean in the long term?"
"It's... complicated," Katsuya says after a moment, that pause itself an awkward one. He glances away from the doctor, "This doesn't necessarily mean that she /is/ improving, merely that her current status is better that it was before. It takes time to recover. I believe, if the patient in question can improve their willpower..." Slowly, he exhales a sigh. "...In any case, I will continue to monitor it."
He stands in silence as Tanekawa continues to review the papers, some of the anxious tension that had come before visibly retreating.
"...I wanted to ask you one question, detective," the doctor says at some length, still perusing the information on the last sheet.
Katsuya glances over at him. "Yes? What is it?"
"Have you spoken with him yet."
The look he directs right at Katsuya, as if he could stare through him, coupled with the tone of his voice -- it's not a question. "Last month, I asked you to go see my colleague."
Katsuya takes a small but steadying breath. "...No," he admits.
Those papers are set down on the table, quite forcefully so for a man like Tanekawa. Like a raptor circling in on its prey, all of the bespectacled doctor's attention is focused on Katsuya now, who has frozen there in space. "I believe I /had/ told you that before then, as well, several times over. Detective Suou, just what do you think you are doing?"
If a man his height could appear to shrink, he would be doing a good job of it right now. "Doctor, please listen... It's a complicated matter, so I've been--"
Tanekawa cuts him off entirely. "No, that's enough! If you keep this up, I will report you! I don't know to who, but I will report you!"
Katsuya finally moves, to take a step backwards. If Ryouma Tanekawa could kill with looks alone, the stare he's leveling at Katsuya would count at least as murder two. From the look on the detective's face, just about anything would be preferable to this right now. He looks like a cat that has just seen its carrier lying out in the hallway.
"You may have forgotten it, detective, but I am a doctor! I will not stand by and let you continue like this! Do you understand? You," and he actually goes so far as to point at Katsuya here, the distance all that spares him from a finger jabbed right into his chest, "Are endangering the health of your colleagues by not caring for your own health! Even Yoko-san has mentioned a change in YOUR behavior!"
By this point, Katsuya's shoulders have begun to droop. Bit by bit, he seems to be in the verge of withdrawing from the older man even more than before. "I know. I simply don't... I can't..."
Tanekawa sighs, closing his eyes for a moment. "Detective... You may feel that it is a weakness to see a psychiatrist." When he reopens them, it's to peer over at Katsuya. "However, if you were suffering from repetitive stress injuries to a joint, you would see an orthopedist. The psyche also becomes injured or ill. Do you understand?"
The detective looks away, his gaze averted somewhere towards the ground. "I... know that. When I was doing research on her condition, I did read about that..."
However he might try to shy away or remove himself, Ryouma Tanekawa seems intent on not letting him get away with even a little bit of that. "Then you realize just how serious a matter this is? Look at me, detective." For all that his volume might have decreased, he's hardly any less direct or pointed in his statements. "I will call you on Monday. I want to hear from you that you called my colleague before then."
Katsuya finally, slowly, lifts his head. "...All right," he says at last, all the weighty resignation of a man consigned to death row.
It earns him a long, steely gaze from Tanekawa. If ever a stare could ferret out half-truths or lies...
Just like that, he seems satisfied, in the way that only a disapproving father could ever manage. "I want to talk to you about Yoko-san's scheduled activities for the next week," he says, not even missing a beat. "If she has been improving behavior-wise, then we may be able to..."
