Business as Usual (Susan & Rui)

With Rui's high-speed movement Susan would not be able to grab him with her arms or crook even if she had predicted that he would attempt to run past her toward the only exit in the room. Well, only exit unless he were to jump from the windows but she had doubted he would do so. It would be dangerous and he would be seen by virtually anyone and everyone and lose his advantage. Adrenaline coursed through her system as he took the better escape position but she had to be careful or risk the civilians getting caught in the crossfire. The shorter woman did not react to the Terrorist's surprise other than to run a few quick mental assessments over the situations. He may or may not be a demon or a terrorist, but she made the assumption that he himself had assumed she did not possess any abilities and that he would have gotten away with whatever twisted endeavor he sought to perform. Why he would attempt to do so here of all places was beyond her but it aligned with what she had learned about the malicious actors within the television studio the night of T's attack. Thinking for a half-second longer she guessed his intent, that if he could shut down the elevator and kill her inside of it and escape himself through an emergency hatch her body would not be found until the elevator was fixed and he was long gone, but he had made the mistake in choosing his first target. She would not blame him, Susan was the last person anyone would expect to hold Cadet status without prior knowledge of such... but this was a theory and she would not relay this until this could be proven.

Susan walked toward him cautiously with her staff before her body as the civilians vacated, prepared to react to his movements instead of anticipate them before he... surrendered himself. She took pause and assumed this was a trick of some sort as she had been fooled before, but continued to walk toward him with her Soulbound before her until she came to the proper distance. Crossing her staff over her body with her left hand she would grab his open right hand with her right and cut her crook between the two of them to prevent him from attacking her with his left, then using the leverage to press it on his neck and maneuver his hand to the small of his back which she would be able to do easily if he did not contest her. With his arm in position she dismissed her Soulbound in her left hand and tried to grasp him by the collar, placing her forward foot between his as she stood behind them and attempted to kick his feet apart to make him stand straddled and limit his ability to move as she forced his head lower and placed him an uncomfortable position.
"Do not resist and you will not be harmed further," she spoke powerfully, much more powerfully than she normally managed, "Attempt to escape and I will be forced to take drastic measures, is that understood?"

The suited and armed men would find them in this position when they arrived if all were to transpire as Susan made attempts to. A wave of relief flooded over the businesswoman as she regained control of the situation and she found it apparent just how hard she had been breathing and not only from physical activity. Her chest rose and fell quickly but it was important for her not to show weakness in this moment, it would be what the terrorists wanted: to cause a scene and make government officials look incompetent. At their inquiry Susan would press her weight on Rui's collar to force him even lower and kick his feet further apart, nearly holding him aloft by the back of his jacket so she could remove her arm from his in order to grab her badge and produce it which she would do slowly and after announcing her title. From this position it would be easy for her to sweep a foot and take him to the ground if he made any sudden movements and he would not have the footing to twist free.
"Cadet Susan Groves, Class 2," she announced, flashing her badge across the crowd and holding her arm out for one of the men to take it should they feel inclined to verify her status. The suspect spoke before she could give her own explanation of events but he managed to confess in that same breath, so she would give her reasoning.


Susan would look down to Rui, taking his arm again if hers was free.
"Any sudden movements from you without prompt will be considered a hostile act and will be swiftly dealt with. You will be searched for identification when more officers arrive on the scene, until then you will follow instructions. Is that understood?"

"...Hank, check the tapes for the elevators. Make sure to make a separate copy for the Cadets." As the situation was being explained, the man known as Hank furrowed his brows together at these turn of events. There really wasn't anything he liked about this situation at all. Cadet interference was something that made things really uncomfortable. But if what the Cadet was saying is true, then there's nothing they can do much about it. At least they would just make a second copy of the security tapes and hand it off to Class Zero. What he really didn't like was what came through his earbud. The guard blinked in shock as he talked into it while pressing onto the device with a finger. "Ma'am? We have the situation under control. Are you su-- Very well, understood."

Taking his finger from the earbud, he addressed Susan succinctly. "Director Avaritia wishes to see you both. Allow my men to hold him. Cenk, Max. Cuff him and bring him with us."

From the wall of guards and close to the guard, two more guards walked into the center of the now-dead commotion and began to draw near Susan and Rui. They would grab Rui tightly by his arms before cuffing him behind his back while still holding on to them. Despite the suits, the A.S.S.W. would realize the muscular nature of these men and how tough these cuffs were. There was no means of escape. At least, not easily with the horde of guards beginning to circle around them to even close off the path to the elevators. "Please follow us."

The horde and the head of the guards began to move. With them, in assumption, would Susan and Rui. Despite the on-looking civilians, the closed wall continued to move and eventually they would reach another elevator before using it. They would be moving down as they could notice by the elevator's movements and monitor. The duo would eventually be led into a hallway past a pair of glass doors. Finally they reached a door to what looked to be an office. The head guard knocked on the door. "Please come in."

He opened it and ushered both Rui and Susan inside with two other guards coming inside. The office was modern, but not remarkably big. In the center of it was a woman who seemed to have been waiting for them with an expectant smile on her face.


The guard nodded and gestured his co-workers. Almost immediately the cuffs were off of Rui. Yet the rest remained near the door should anything happen. Even should they be Cadets, their guard wasn't down under any circumstances. The chairs pulled up for both and offered to them at the District Head's bidding. Whether or not they took their seats, Avaritia began towards them in hers.

Rui almost snorted at Susan's description of him as dangerous. He desperately wanted to make a silly joke about it, but he forcibly restrained himself from doing so. Julius's words kept on echoing repeatedly in his head. Words about not making trouble. He decided then and there to go to a batting cage sometime in the future in order to work off his excess energy. As a result, Rui's actual response was a little more restrained than normal, "Uh. Okay. You're the boss?" However, it was quickly cut off by the group of men surrounding the two, putting some VERY WELCOME distance between Rui and Susan, and putting him in some handcuffs that were surprisingly not as uncomfortable as Rui expected.

As the group led Rui to locations totally unknown, he turned towards the two men escorting him, "So uh, Cenk and Max, right? Long day for all of us, huh?" He doubted he was going to get a response. But it was more of an instinct than anything else. The unquenchable instinct towards small talk. It made logical sense from a certain perspective. If he was nice and friendly, he assumed the guards would at least not be pushy and rough as they brought him to...wherever they were going.

Once they had arrived at their destination, it made a lot of sense. The radio chatter made a lot more sense. Rui actually found the calm woman to be very relaxing. Once the guards uncuffed him, Rui gave a quick smile to them, "Oh, thanks Max. Thanks Cenk."

Thus he did take a seat. One thing did strike him - the woman seemed to know that he was a Cadet. He didn't particularly respond to her addressing him as Officer Terui. He didn't exactly hide being a Cadet, but he didn't exactly show it off to anyone either. Ironically, much like Ms. Groves herself. There were many benefits to discretion. Very few of which were revealed today. Though the best advantage of being discrete is that nobody expected him to do Cadet-like things. So it means that whenever he actually did so, he was vastly exceeding expectations. Rui felt it was important to set the lowest possible expectations for himself at all times. He wondered if he was successful at this.

One positive outcome of being discrete about his Cadet status, is that nobody had to know about the possibility of a Cadet attacking another Cadet. Which would be awkward in the public eye. Then again, the incident might not have happened if both of them knew the other was a Cadet. Then again, Avaritia's reference to Rui's Cadet status was quite subtle, so it was possible that someone might not even catch it.

As a result, the boy almost let his guard down - until Rui thought he heard something: "JULIUS??? Oh no. Oh noooooo." That was the last person Rui wanted to bother. He wasn't exactly sure why, however. It just seemed wrong to disappoint Julius. It was like disappointing a father, which was actually an activity Rui never really got to experience in real life. He was weirdly more scared of this possibility than the quite possibly very dangerous woman in front of him. The dual threats demanded quick, decisive action. And being on his best damn imaginable behavior. Rui even ended up sitting in a very polite fashion, with his knees closely knit together and his hands on his lap.

As a result, Rui spoke up first, "Oh yeah, uh, good morning, Ms. Director. I'm sorry for taking time from your busy schedule." Rui loved titles, because you could default to them if you couldn't remember someone's name. Moreover, the title told Rui that it was a terrible idea to tell this woman anything but the absolute exact truth of what he remembered. His face looked a little confused, but honest as he continued, "Well...I'm not all that sure what happened? Officer Groves asked me about my personal history with uh, what's it called?" Rui was hunting for the word. "...claustrophobia? Claustrophobia. So I mentioned a relevant criminal incident I was involved in." He paused just very briefly, "Eer, not as a criminal, I mean. I was a kid." He gave a slight confused frown, "Anyways, then she attacked? Sorry for not remembering much more. It was all a blur after that."

He gave a slightly bashful smile, "Well, I guess if there's camera film, it doesn't matter that much if I'm kinda dumb." Even on his best behavior, Rui still retained a few Rui mannerisms, such as when he tilted his head and knocked on it with his knuckles to pantomime being bad at remembering things.

"As you wish. I will hand him off to you," Susan would nod. As she had spoken Susan would not completely remove herself from Rui until at least one other hand was placed upon him, and she would immediately retreat to allow security to do their jobs just as she had done hers. She brushed off her suit as they placed handcuffs on him, vexing about her new sports coat she had recently bought being scuffed from all the violence. The businesswoman resolved to never again purchase a coat for over $100 as long as she remained within Class Zero.
"Understood." As prompted Susan would follow the men as they walked, taking quick steps to keep pace with their long strides as she sped-walked along with them. Her eyes would not leave Rui as they traveled, using the wall of bodies to guide her steps and keep her relatively center with the group. Her stature may have been vastly different from the large men around her yet her attitude did not, and she carried herself with the same level of purpose and professionalism as the rest of security.

As the troupe entered the office Susan would not stray very far from Rui's save to vacate herself from the path of security with a sidestep. She would remain watchful over him with a hawkish glare and would not speak until Rui took his seat, where she visibly relaxed and took to standing just as the armed men around her would with her hands folded before her, upright and alert although either far less or far more imposing considering the difference between her and them.


Her reason for standing was not to show disrespect nor any sort of defiance as someone with more jurisdiction in this situation, but it would be easier to respond to sudden attack or escape from a standing position. Susan was also able to assess the situation for what it was and Avaritia's superior sneer coupled with her toying assertions. She could feel a creeping in the back of her head, a tepid mix of both fear of having made a grave mistake, fury for not having been informed of this development, and insult for the events that had transpired as they had. Of how she referred to the Prince and how she made such bold accusations so lightly Avaritia was clearly the one with the power here and reveling in her superiority of this gaff. It was politics, something Susan was quite familiar with. Or she would not have invited them here, it was an odd request to do so. She would need to tread incredibly lightly.

But Susan would stick to her guns despite the Director's hints otherwise. Firmness could be appreciated in these dealings and the shorter woman had evidence to support her claims to the contrary. She would, of course, let the suspect speak first so she could find any contradictions or make accusations.
"I-I believe there may have been some miscommunication, ma'am," the businesswoman started, unfortunately letting her stutter through despite her focus.


Her composure did break when Susan's mind flitted back to how he... h-he moved... but aside from that her expression remained stoic and she stayed straight on point. She would normally make promises to remedy this situation yet Susan could not realistically do so, it was not up to her. It would be up to her Captain and how he interpreted events.

"I... see." Admittedly the District Head didn't seem to quite 'get' Rui Terui. His mannerisms were quite strange. True, she was able to identify him by his name and appearance, but that was only on the scant information she was able to retrieve on such short notice after his recruitment into the Cadets. Aside from the rather eccentric behavior, Avaritia took greater interest of this Susan Groves. The woman found herself listening to her intently. In the midst of taking notice, it was easy to tell the Cadet before her was a delicate flower in her own right. The tell-tale need to take up a professional visage to hide and to bury their deep insecurities and vulnerabilities. Avaritia wondered what to do with them as she nonchalantly twirled a fountain pen in her fingers. "なんて面白い, I was so sure of my sources reporting of his induction. Then again, he must be a rather recent recruit. I suppose the last night's events were rather taxing to our dear Highness. After all, it was a rather bloody affair from what I heard."

She found herself looking rather pensive of the news. How Superbia received her unceremonious end at the very tip of the Nameless Guard's blade. Out of all of the District Heads, she found the deceased Head the more understandable out of the bunch. While it was the entry to a much more interesting set of events, her passing was rather... "Officer Terui. This is not my place to reprimand you for your unnerving actions, but could you explain why you've chosen this series of actions? A lot of it does sound extremely suspect and very much unlike the Cadet conduct Julius demands from you, I'd imagine."


The head guard nodded and pressed on his earbud to give the orders in a low voice. While he was doing this, the woman then pressed on a button on her office telephone. There was an audible beep and a small blinking red light emitted from it. "Yes, Ma'am?"

"Emma, dear. I am expecting his Highness. Has he come by yet?"

The voice in the phone responded. "Not yet, Ma'am. I will usher him to your office when he does."

"Thank you. Please have the security team send me the security recordings of the second floor near the elevators when they've finished making their copy." The District Head let the connection cut off as her finger released the button and the red light dimmed before turning dark and unlit. "I believe we may be lucky to actually review the footage ourselves before our esteemed guest arrives. Until then..."

As Rui heard Susan's story, he only grew more confused. It sounded like nothing that he remembered. Yet, she did not seem like she was lying. In fact, she seemed so convinced of herself, that Rui even slightly wondered if he was a Cadet. What if he simply hallucinated the entire Awakening process? What if the Julius he knew was only a figment of his imagination? He would pay very close attention if Julius showed up, just to double-check his memories. Moreover, the District Head really knew where to jab it where it hurts, by mentioning his exacting standards.

That being said, Rui was not entirely sure what "unnerving action" Avaritia was referring to. First however, Rui expressed a brief amount of surprise at Avaritia's aside, "あら？日本語をしゃべることができるの？母語話の?" He was about to go further before he stopped himself, realizing that he was expected to give an answer to everyone in the room to Avaritia's inquiry. Preferably in a way most people could understand, "Oh, yeah. Anyways, about that... First, Rui assumed that she was asking why he had surrendered as Psyche Terrorist.

"Uh, so okay, maybe I can't say with 100% certainty anymore, because uh, Ms. Groves is like actually really convincing. But I can still say with 99.99% certainty that I am not a Psyche Terrorist." He coughed again to conceal whether that was a joke or not, before continuing, "In fact, I'm the opposite! A Cadet! I think. But, uh, I doubt Ms. Groves would have believed me and stopped if I told her that. So surrendering as a Psyche Terrorist seemed the fastest way to end the violence-chaos-disorder-fighting-randos-getting-hurt. And based on what we do with Terrorists, that would send us both straight to smarty people who could clear up any issues. Like you know...you."

It was a disjointed explanation, but Rui think that more or less summed up his thought process. His actions also might make a lot of passerbys believe he was a Psyche Terrorist, but that wasn't so bad. That probably sufficed for an explanation...unless she was asking about...any of the things that Susan described? They still seemed quite confusing to Rui and his face made that show. He had no idea what to make of Susan's entire testimony. Every part of it in the elevator seemed absolutely bizarre. However, he figured he could explain his reasoning starting from the last thing he did - pantomiming a neck-snapping. The smarty person in front of him would clearly figure it all out.

He put his finger on his chin to demonstrate a very pensive stance, and started describing the exact same story Susan told, except from his apparently very different perspective, "Oh, well, the last thing on the elevator I remember was she asked me about a past uh, event that happened to me, and like uh, the atmosphere in the elevator got a lot grimmer when I described it. Probably because it was a grim story, I guess, and then she told a joke about it, maybe to lighten to mood? But I didn't 'get' her joke. Anyways by then, it's way too late to laugh. That just makes things more awkward. So she seemed like about to apologize for it, which is totally a double-downer. So figured I should stop that, cause I didn't want to make her feel emotionally uncomfortable. So I tried to re-describe the event but like, in a really upbeat, positive way that showed I wasn't super-bothered by it. You know, ちょう明るくて元気に！" He gestured with his hands a little at the end to show that using hand gestures made already energetic, cheerful statements more energetic and cheerful in his mind. "Anyways, sorry for um, not being super-eloquent. I'm still a little out of it."

The businesswoman shivered slightly as Director Avaritia spoke, filling herself with doubt and rotten memories. She closed her eyes for a second longer when blinking, her heart speeding up. She could feel the bullet ripping through her brain again. There could be no denying that the bank manager held knowledge that Susan did not, already aware of things outside of her own sense of information long in advance such as Rui's name. However, being an esteemed government official, Susan could no longer question her course of action. With her knowledge and Rui's presence within the bank already he would have been arrested walking in the door or otherwise shot on sight, but there were things she did not account for such as his behavior and her own reactions to such. The shorter woman found herself disturbed as she was dissected, it reminded her of how "T" had outwitted her and her knee-jerk reaction was to push back, hold her ground, and maintain some semblance of control over this situation which she had just now lost. She had no choice but to give ground but she would not relent all of it, the operation and its safety was within Avaritia's jurisdiction but the defeat and capture of malicious supernatural actors belonged to Susan and she would remain dutiful and staunch in such.

"Thank you for your insights ma'am and I mean no disrespect but I will continue to assess this individual as a suspect," she would resist, "...until it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is otherwise, I have overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Regardless we will sort this out shortly." Of course, she would not reveal that even should he be a Cadet he could still remain a potential threat, though a recent Cadet would be unlikely to belong to the threat she sought. That being whoever was responsible for the information leak, and the possibility of terrorist mental influence similarly did not escape her. But this was not something she wished to speak about outside of Class Zero. She had made a vow against it.

Susan clicked her tongue at the exchange of what she recognized as Japanese, understanding the word Nihongo straight away. The more intelligence she gathered the more offput she was put off by the deranged individual yet she would not be surprised considering his profession. He was an excellent brown-noser. Yet these individuals could be tricky as she had experienced and it would be difficult to sway her from her strict frame of mind.
"No ma'am, but were that the case that would be my own station," she started, turning her frosty gaze toward Rui. As a superior officer, if that were true, a tongue-lashing would be warranted.


Though much existed what vexed her most is the locale and assumption of how terrorists were handled. Avaritia should never have born witness to this event period, it being her own place of business or not. She should have no need to deal with these things and more importantly it was not her responsibility. It was that of Class Zero, this intrusion was an embarrassment. Even within the government there happened to be loyalty within one's own organization, Susan understood that better than anyone. She did not comment on Rui's final justification of his actions, not even to contest his claims. She had already established him as a liar with poor memory and would allow him to contradict himself. It would speak more than she ever could. In better states Susan would feel sorry for Rui and his obvious derangement, that his brain did not function in normal ways and she would seek to find him help in this domain. However her previous experiences cast paranoia over her and she would be wary that this may be his intent, she would give no more ground than she already had.

"Thank you ma'am. I give nothing less than my best," she answered Avaritia's compliment sternly and without any change in her expression. It would be noted she had records up to her employment history though she would not be surprised if the Director had spoken with her boss at any point and her name had been dropped. He had been angling to use her connections with the government as a power move to further ingrain Salem Ltd. within the government and this would only sell his idea, though he had a habit of showing his hand early. Outside of this Susan would make the assumption that Avaritia kept records on what could be known as "important people", herself being one as a Cadet. With this in mind she would not mention her educational history at all and wait for it in order to obtain confirmation of this suspicion, as it was also public record. She probed deeper as would be the power move but Susan would not falter here nor show curtness. She would remain professional as always, never wavering or displaying weakness if she could afford it.
"Self-improvement, Director," she spoke with an empty, dutiful look, "I am proficient in my career path and while I do enjoy the work I perform and have shown competency I am not fully satisfied with it. This is an avenue in which I can perform a vital public service while improving on existing skillsets and forging new ones. I was not challenged enough and in the right ways, ma'am." This was a lie. Or rather not speaking the truth. While her statement was not false her reason was much more personal than that, and more direct. Susan... was not happy with her situation and sought improve herself to remedy this, the Cadets being a fine choice. For all the work she did and the accomplishments she made they never filled her ever-growing inner void. They did not fill the emptiness of an empty home nor did they soothe heartache. Within the Cadets she could be at peace that at the minimum the work she performed was important and valued instead of success for the sake of it. She craved that sense of belonging.

"Not a problem, Officer. With dear Julius approaching, I can say justly that the truth is merely imminent. You may continue as you are." Avaritia didn't seem at all annoyed at Susan's approach. She then had a passive expression on her face as she had to listen to what else Rui had to say in his own defensive explanation of the events. There was a sternness to Susan's reproach, just as it was to be expected of a Cadet of her station. "Something among those lines, Mister Terui. The homeland does leave a small ache in my heart, but that is a discussion for another time. As Officer Groves stated, your decisions have created quite a troubling stir. I do hope for your sake that you will heed her. Otherwise, I foresee difficult times in your career, Rui Terui."

Really now. She remembered when the inner city Cadets performed their job admirably when it was just the previous Psyche-Terrorists the Nameless Guard and Julius brought in. But with her Highness' prodding, it truly seemed less than ideal elements finally decided to put an end to that wonderful professional streak the Cadet captain and his previous coteries carefully crafted. It must be tough to have to handle so many newcomers these days. "I see. The Cadets are quite an excellent choice. Surely Julius will find ways to keep you preoccupied to your satisfaction. It is indeed curious why you chose the Cadets of all institutions for a challenge when there are other means, but I digress. I don't mean to dig so far, Officer. Curiosity is a bad habit of mine, I'm afraid. Segueing from my meaningless ramble, it appears the security footage is here."

The Director noted a notification in her computer. Clicking on it expanded a message and a file. Another click quickly downloaded the content before following with another that expanded into a wide video player. Avaritia turned her computer monitor towards the Cadets to watch. It played the entire events that happened starting from the time Rui and Susan boarded the elevator until the moment the guards began to circle them. Even the time when the elevator went dark, the screen went green for a night vision effect to show the full extent of their actions. Of course, even their voices were recorded.


Even after reviewing the footage, she didn't seem at all angry. Perhaps, somewhat morbidly amused by what just transpired. It was clear that this newcomer Cadet wasn't exactly human unless he had some ridiculous neck flexibility that was rather unheard of. She began spinning her pen between her fingers again. "It appears to me that while Cadet Susan may seemed to have overreacted to some... "generous" perspectives, it is harder to blame her for having something so bizarre occur in her presence. I will defer to Julius in this matter."

As if on cue, her phone buzzed. "Ma'am. His Highness is here."

"Please bring him in." she sighed after pressing the button again to dismiss her. Avaritia gave a small and quiet smile towards the duo, as if she was content for knowing the full extent of the event herself. After all, an interesting opportunity popped up for her thanks to these two. It didn't take long for the door to open again before the guards ushered in not one, but two guests.

Rui didn't respond in the slightest to Avaritia's berating. For a simple reason. He finally concluded at the end of the day that this Susan Groves character was completely beyond his comprehension. As a foreign entity, she was to be treated with respect but kept at a distance. Her motivations in particular were utterly alien to Rui's. In particular, the notion of the self as an autonomous entity that needed justifying, improvement, and consideration seemed bizarre to him. Of course Rui had an ego, as did every Persona user imaginable, but openly talking about it seemed remarkably embarrassing. He would have blushed at Susan's speech if he was capable of unconsciously blushing.

The entire situation reminded Rui of the concept of the knowledge problem in economics. In many cases, even if there is an optimal economic plan to organize an entire society's economic activity, it is extremely difficult to imagine that one person could have that information with their bounded rationality, especially when such knowledge (in particular, represented by prices) is likely distributed among a variety of actors that wouldn't communicate with each other outside of the price system (ex., merchants don't tell each other how much things are actually worth).

In a similar way, even though there might be an ideal way for Rui to respond to Avaritia and Susan, Rui figured that his limited knowledge set, the knowledge of one person, was thoroughly insufficient for Rui to formulate an actual good response. He remembered a finance conference where one speaker made a similar argument about counter-cyclical spending: "it's good if we can do it right, but we can't, so we might as well not try." Interacting with Susan Groves seemed to follow a certain logic.

As a result, Rui surprisingly just nodded at every statement directed towards him, but otherwise sat silently without comment, while deeply resisting the urge to make a spastic statement. Up until the point when two individuals, including when a certain Prince that Rui recognized, walked into the room. He inwardly groaned. "There's no way this day gets better for me."

"Thank you, ma'am." No thanks were necessary for this of course, Susan did not need permission to act wary of a potential suspect. It was quite clear that she indeed know him to be a Cadet through her self-assurance but she did not know everything and the... make-up adorned individuals... of the previous night and their known tactics she assumed to be highly classified. Risk and doubt still existed, and she would need to remain steadfast in her jurisdiction in order to save face for Class Zero lest she be told otherwise. She remained silent for the Director's own compliments yet unperturbed by her probing, Susan was aware that Avaritia would be of the type that would. But there were key things that the businesswoman would not want to admit of her choice, both personal and embarrassing. To be truthful she... did not expect to be placed into her current position. Susan had expected to be performing more analytical and office work rather than be on the front lines though she could see the value of this and adhered to the belief that her ability to understand and interpret situations would be equally useful in direct combat as well as within headquarters. Such a mistake would not be revealed, it would show weakness and at this juncture she could afford to show none.

But the traces of such weakness would flit across her anyway. Susan became more visibly uncomfortable as they watched the security footage, both as a reminder of the event and the alien feeling of observing herself become a completely different person than she identified as. And it also revealed a potential problem that chased a shiver up the short woman's spine. Would she be believed? Julius was aware of her... of her condition... and he may interpret her as unfit despite her insistence to the contrary. She would accept no fault in this situation, she believed she had acted in a manner befitting a Cadet given her information and situation. She could feel her stomach drop at the announcement of Julius's arrival and her mouth grew dry in his presence.

His inquiry would not be directed to herself but Susan would feel the need to retain at least a little control of her situation and inform him directly, at least on the surface until this could be probed deeper.
"W-welcome sir, ma'am," she greeted as she turned to meet them, referring to Maria being of a higher rank from her lower one despite their familiarity. She would be on trial here, pleasantries were out the window. "Thank you for arriving on such short notice sir, I-I would have contacted dispatch directly but circumstances did not permit me from doing so. I will cut to the chase sir, I was involved in a situation involving this individual behaving erratically and displaying supernatural influences. I was assisted by Director Avaritia and her forces in quelling the situation." She would expound no further as she was not addressed. Susan would wait for her moment, leaving the cogs in her head to turn in order to salvage this situation in case the worst result was revealed.

When Julius clearly addressed Avaritia to explain the situation, he didn't expect Susan to answer. But when the District Head's face didn't seem at all perturbed by this interruption, he said nothing as his Cadet gave the report, or at least a very scarce summary of it. Where Susan left off, Avaritia immediately picked up afterwards. "The pleasure was mine. However, it appears to be a misunderstanding, Julius. Before we review the security tapes, can you verify Rui Terui is a Cadet under your wing?"

"Yes. He certainly is as he joined last night." Julius handily supplied the confirmation with a brief nod at Rui. It was hard to tell what the Cadet Captain was feeling past his composed and blank features. It seemed to obfuscate whatever disappointment or annoyance that might exist in him. Though he pushed up his glasses with a finger, allowing the fluorescent light to glint off his glassware as soon as he noticed the widening smile on Avaritia's face. "It appears despite my warnings to Cadet Terui to behave himself, he seems to have inconvenienced you. My apologies."

She moved her finger to the mouse again. The marker that streamed the events in the elevator was brought all the way back to the beginning of the scene. Before clicking on the play button like earlier, the woman replied with a low chuckle. "No need, your Highness. I can certainly understand a few understandable hiccups in duty, especially if they are of little consequence in the grand scheme of all things. After all, I believe last night's events weighed heavily on you, didn't they? I can only imagine the heartache."

Julius remained silent on the matter as Avaritia continued smiling. She pressed play again and allowed the scene to unfold completely for the Prince and the Nun. He watched almost passively throughout the whole thing. While Maria seemed to look at the whole thing in askance before looking back at Rui, truly doubting if he were human at all. Sure there were some oddballs, but this really helped to top the list of something creepy. Or at least close to. Though making it to that list was the least of anyone's problems, especially Rui.


"For someone who initially joined the ranks to ensure peace and order to prevent so-called "hikki-NEETs", you are quick to act in contrary to your goals. Explain your behavior to me right now, Cadet." His order to Rui was calm and collected. It betrayed nothing from him. But his brief command and stern aura that was beginning to radiate from his person. It was an order that cannot be ignored with all eyes on him now. Avaritia remained quiet as the Prince was starting to pull his weight around now. And so did Maria as he allowed him to do his work.

Rui luckily had a great deal of time to prepare a well-composed answer, largely because he had used his previous period of silence contemplating how to respond the expected inquiry from Julius. The only thing that had really surprised Rui was how much Julius had actually remembered from his own awakening. He was under the impression that he usually had to try pretty hard to be memorable...if he wanted to be remembered.

As previously, he had long figured that there was essentially no way for him to cogently explain his interaction with Susan Groves. He had long figured that the quicker and more vague his explanation of his encounter with Susan, the less incriminating it would be. After all, they do say in a certain country that anything a defendant says, will be eventually used against them. In the general realm of business, admitting guilt played a similar purpose.

He quickly saluted Julius and answered, "Sir. Understood. Cadet Groves and I appear to have a fundamental difficulty in communicating with each other." That was an oddly terse sentence from Rui, as his terseness continued, "As you've seen, this led to a misunderstanding. Where she then attacked me. As to the specific misunderstanding: I've not reviewed the tapes enough to summarize. At least not well."

Rui frowned, "Yes, it looks like I'm expected to defend myself here. But I simply can't explain Cadet Groves's actions. So any explanation I give here would be totally uninformed or dishonest. And I'm not going to waste your Highness's time with that bullshit."

Rui had a very good idea of what had happened in the elevator from his perspective. He still didn't quite know how to explain both Susan's behavior and her speech. As a result, he didn't bother and simply moved onto everything after that.

"That being said, I first tried to put distance from Cadet Groves. Both me and others. However, she then showed off her credentials. And sought to arrest me. To minimize the high chance of harm or death to the both of us and others, I complied." Rui's look hardened significantly. Quite simply, he had also earlier concluded that explaining was essentially not a helpful activity, especially if he had tried to present the facts in a neutral fashion. Julius had already seen the facts. He was ready for the first time in a very long time, perhaps years, genuinely argue. "Any other option would have been absurd. Absolutely utterly totally absurd.

He flashed Susan a glance to try to remember the encounter better, before moving his eyes back to look at Julius, "The other options were one - defend myself. Which means trying to stab Cadet Groves in a non-lethal manner. That's a stupid idea. Or two - start a violent chase escape. Which means way more bystanders, way more crossfire."  Rui oddly seemed to be much less offended by the fact that he was attacked than the notion that he should have responded in turn.

Rui circled back to summarize his explanation, "So in short, a violent, deadly confrontation took place. From miscommunication. Or inability to do so. Both in ways beyond my comprehension. I then took steps to end that confrontation without crossfire bystander harm. Which would have been an irreparable scandal for the entire government. Explanation concluded."

Rui forcibly suppressed his urge to add a cheery note at the end of his sentence, but he simply did not want to interact any more with any of these people. Being cheery, energetic, and all of that was when you wanted to be memorable and thus interact with people more, both in reality and in their memories. He did not want to be memorable right now. Moreover, considering their inability to essentially agree on anything, he especially did not want to interact anymore with his fellow Cadet.

She could feel the weight in the room as Prince Julius began to exert his authority, relieved it was not pointed toward her in the least though she could feel she was on thin ice for speaking out of turn as she had. Her captain did confirm that Rui was indeed a Cadet though a very recent one, and she extrapolated just as Director Avaritia had that the Prince was under a lot of pressure to forget this detail at the morning examination. She clearly understood the implications of this, and that it was a failure of leadership yet Susan would not hold him accountable for what would be known as a relatively minor mistake that escalated. He was human and she could understand that. Susan closed her as the video was played repeatedly, taking a quavering breath with her discomfort of it. The look on his face as he broke his own neck would visit her in her nightmares.

She clenched her fists and became quite tense as Rui spoke, indignant with his dodging of the question and misconstruing facts and even going insofar as to implicate her in the attack as if this were in any way, shape, or form her fault. To anyone paying attention Susan became visibly furious, tensing and breathing harder as she shook slightly. But she would not become intransigent, especially in front of someone outside of Class Zero. This would be something to be handled in-house and Director Avaritia's involvement was incredibly unfortunate. She swallowed her anger... but she would not speak to defend her position until called upon. Though she would speak up to clarify a glaring misconception before it got out of hand.
"That statement is false, this was not a deadly encounter, sir," she corrected, "No casualties were sustained." The rest she would wait for her turn to explain herself if it came to that, however she felt there was little need to do so. She would allow Terui to dig his own grave and lie in it. All other details she would provide if it came time for her to do so, but she felt that her Captain could form his own conclusions and her testimony was unnecessary.

The room was still silent as he allowed the Cadet to explain himself. But the more Rui talked the more it brought out that "pointed look" towards the newbie's direction. Like before, it was purely difficult to tell what the Captain was feeling at this very moment as he didn't even bother to interrupt the A.S.S.W. The Prince held up a hand in Susan's direction to quiet her down, especially with the stern look on his face telling her to behave. He didn't want to hear it. Not right now, at least. And besides, he got everything he needed to know from the footage Avaritia kindly delivered. Without even bothering with any kind of pleasantries, he bluntly thrust out another question at Rui. "Why did you try to snap your neck in front of Susan Groves? In a dark enclosed space no less? Why were you trying to scare her?"

For all of his kindness in allowing troublesome elements inside the Cadets, he believed in redemption. Everyone, perhaps even some of the worst criminals out there, was redeemable if they tried. It was the act of trying that he wanted to keep believing in them. But Rui, even after that warning on that night, apparently had trouble keeping in line with the situation. He would be given reprieve so as long as he continued to try. Though it appeared it would be a long way until this Cadet could even get to a satisfactory level of conduct. But this situation, especially in a District Head's domain, weighed heavily against Julius and he was no fool to not even realize this.

"You will be put under the supervision of Class One Maria Woodsworth. She will oversee your conduct more closely from hereon and you must report to her every morning in person. Any Cadet activities you take part in, you must have Maria involved as well. Otherwise, you may not participate. Class Zero lecture classes and other such activities to improve yourself are excluded. In fact, I want you to attend each and everyone of them. I expected more from you. But it appears you need much more help than I previously believed." He gave a nod towards Maria who didn't even seem at all nonplussed at this arrangement. In a lot of ways, he felt bad for the young Cadet. Even with Alex, he rarely gave this much responsibility. Mostly due to the young boy's brash immaturity for the most part and for his youth. Maria, on the other hand, she was able to consistently give results ever since her induction in the Cadets. As much as it was a punishment for Rui, it was also more of a test for Maria to see if she could meet the challenge.

New Floating Weakness:

"And you, Cadet Groves." Julius began as he turned towards Susan's direction. Even despite most of this was Rui's fault, there was something about Susan that needed to be addressed. Even after what happened in T's domain last night. It was a concern that needed to be solved. He paused for a brief moment, as if deliberating what is the best choice to make here. But it didn't take long for him to finally come up with the words for her. "See me in the Class Zero building in the afternoon. You and I have much to talk about."

Avaritia looked at Susan curiously. What exactly did Julius have in mind for this one? Surely there must be some kind of punishment. Maybe nothing to the level of Rui's. It made her wonder what laid in store for the Cadet. But she knew better than to test Julius' temper to needle into it. "I take it that would be all, Julius?"

"Unless you have other issues that must be raised." the Prince replied. But he seemed ready to end this aftermath of a lackluster shit show. First having to deal with emotionally and mentally disturbed Cadets promised to be a horrible day. Now having to deal with a troublemaker made it even bitter.


There were very few people who knew what the District Head was talking about. Maria seemed to raise an eyebrow, she was just as confused as the rest of the guards here. However, Julius even with his calm demeanor, appeared a little glum. "I can't guarantee it. But I may try, depending on the success of your... 'proposal'."

"That's all I ask." The smile returned on her fact, wider than ever.

Susan's reassurance was not warranted it seemed, and one movement was all it took from the Prince to get her to immediately shut her mouth. She shivered uncomfortably as he cast his icy glare in her direction.


She would not speak again, not even for affirmation. She should not have spoken the first time and certainly not the second time, though she couldn't help to correct misgivings before the situation was further obfuscated. Her once professional facade had completely shattered and was replaced by her easily cowed, easily intimidated anxious self as she stood nervously in waiting. Her heart beat quickened and thumped in her ears. He picked up on something she would have brought to attention and as he asked his probing questions. It was nothing that she herself would not have suggested with a major difference, she had planned to offer take charge of Terui herself to prove herself capable of leadership... but there were circumstances that were not favorable to this as addressed in his next comment.

She paled as he addressed her, frightful for their future discourse. She knew what it would be of, and she was honestly terrified of having it. Susan did not want to be seen as unfit, she wanted to be capable, and these obvious problems as far as her emotional and mental well-being went were affecting her in ways she could not reign under control. That itself scared her, and it scared her even more that she would be deemed a liability because of that.


Susan took to unconsciously wringing her hands. In Prince Julius's presence she could not maintain her false sense of confidence despite the implications, though this did not bother her as much as how she could not prevent herself from becoming nervous and allowing it to show. As predicted Director Avaritia was attempting to play this angle and she was not helping the situation and was one of the ones to begin it. She remained fretting in anxiousness as she awaited her Captain's next order, far too uneasy to do or say anything other than what was directed.