Detective Yamamoto and the Missing Cat Part 1

MONDAY

About three weeks had elapsed since Satoshi Sakamoto last encountered the eccentric detective Hanako Yamamoto, and in that time, Satoshi’s life had yet to return to normal. There were obvious reasons, of course. He was still in the process of rewriting his novel and writing new things. He would not have had to rewrite it at all had it not been for Genji Watanabe, a publishing agent and thief that had attempted to steal his writing. Nevertheless, Detective Yamamoto had gone great lengths to help him and mostly succeeded, save for an accident that necessitated rewriting. His writing aside, Satoshi couldn't yet quit his day job. While it wasn’t awful, it brought with it a mundane boredom.

Satoshi, almost in defiance of his own expectations, missed the company of the detective, or more accurately, the way in which she solved problems. Looking back, it wasn’t that Satoshi particularly enjoyed having his possessions stolen, but trying to recover them added a certain tension to his life that he found himself beginning to miss.

~~~

“Hello? Detective?” asked Satoshi, while knocking on the door jamb at the entrance. As with the last time he dropped by the detective agency, it was in a state of disrepair. He decided to walk in anyways. It briefly occurred to Satoshi that Detective Yamamoto might not be in if she wasn't answering, but he decided he might as well check since he had made the trip out to the office. Walking down the increasingly dark hallway and into the room that Satoshi remembered to be the detective's office, Satoshi fumbled for a light switch. The sudden influx of light revealed that the Detective was actually in the office, albeit sleeping soundly at her desk.
“Detective,” Satoshi said, nudging her gently.

“Detective,” said Satoshi with a bit more force. Her head snapped off her desk and she looked up with bleary eyes.
“Good morning Detective,” said Satoshi. He tried to keep a neutral expression. This was already a bit unorthodox, and it wouldn't help for him to call attention to that fact.

“Who are you?” asked the detective. She seemed genuinely not to recognize him.
“I’m Satoshi Sakamoto.” Satoshi had hoped that this would answer her question, but the look of vague bafflement on Yamamoto's face made it clear that the name wasn't ringing any bells. After a beat, Detective Yamamoto wasn't asking for clarification, but Satoshi knew it was required. “I was a client. My computer was stolen and my apartment was robbed.” The coin seemed to drop for Detective Yamamoto.
“Oh, I remember you! Your apartment was a dump.” This comment rankled Satoshi.
“If you remember me, then you may also remember that the mess was from the robbery. Furthermore, I don't think you have much room to criticize how I live.” Satoshi kicked an empty beer can to emphasize his point. Yamamoto raised her arms above her head and stretched.

“So what do you want?” asked Yamamoto.

“I came to offer you my help.” Again, the detective gave a wordless look asking for clarification. “I thought you might need an assistant, and I suppose I enjoyed trying to solve my case. You didn't make me pay you before, so I thought I could do this.”

Detective Yamamoto shrugged.
“I don’t really need an assistant, but I guess you could stick around. Just don’t expect me to pay you or anything.” To say Satoshi felt disappointed might overstate things a bit, but he definitely hoped for a bit more enthusiasm. It wasn’t about the money either, but maybe Satoshi was being naive expecting a warm welcome.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, thought Satoshi.

Something of his disappointment must have shown on Satoshi's face. Detective Yamamoto turned to face him more directly.

“Cheer up, I suppose I could use someone to clean up around here and do all the boring stuff, stuff I'm too busy and important to do.” It briefly occurred to Satoshi that he had sort of set himself up for something like this. Normally, this sort of tone would have irritated him and he would want nothing to do with someone who talked like that. He did in fact feel irritated, but this was tempered by the detective having helped him before, and essentially doing so for free.

“Even Holmes needs Watson,” said Satoshi blandly, as he tried to keep a neutral expression on his face. Satoshi began to pick up the stray cans that littered the office.

There was a knock at the door. Satoshi looked over to the detective. She made a dismissive waving gesture with her hand.

“Go on assistant, answer the door.” Satoshi wasn't sure he liked the tone of smugness in the detective's voice. It seemed as though Yamamoto quickly got used to the idea of having an assistant to boss around and lord over, even if she was lukewarm initially.

“Come in,” said Satoshi, raising his voice slightly. To his mild surprise, a young girl walked in. She appeared to be no older than twelve years old, and she wore the school uniform to prove it. Her eyes were puffy and red, and she looked as though she had been crying recently.

“Are you Detective Yamamoto?” asked the girl, sniffling between words. Satoshi shook his head and gestured to Yamamoto behind him.

“I’m the detective’s assistant, Satoshi. Is there something we can do for you?” The girl nodded, and she seemed as though she was on the verge of crying again.

“My cat’s missing.” she said. “I looked all over for him, but I can’t find him.” Satoshi puffed up slightly and put on a confident expression at the opportunity to help.

“If there’s anyone who can find your cat, it’s Detective Yamamoto. Now, what does your cat look li-” Satoshi was cut off by a half-full beer can colliding with his back.

“Thank you, assistant,” said the Detective. Yamamoto stood slowly on shaky legs and walked out from behind her desk. She raised her arms over her head and stretched her back until it made a popping noise. Sighing, she approached the girl and walked around her in a circle, staring at her intently. Satoshi felt slightly unnerved, but he decided not to say anything. It wouldn’t do to interrupt the detective, and Detective Yamamoto had not yet steered him wrong. After Yamamoto had made three full revolutions around the girl, she stopped and craned her neck to look down.

“Tell me,” said Yamamoto pensively. “Does your cat like pork?”

“He does.” Yamamoto nodded knowingly. She stood up straight and placed a fist over her chest dramatically.

“Good. I was thinking of pork for dinner. My assistant and I will find your cat. Come back by dinnertime, and we’ll have him here.” The girl's face brightened immediately. Satoshi was heartened that the detective had cheered up the girl, but in doing so, she had made a tough promise.

“Thank you, Miss Detective!” said the girl, before running out the door and leaving the agency.

“By dinnertime?” echoed Satoshi questioningly, after the girl had moved out of earshot.

“That doesn’t leave us very much time.” Detective Yamamoto shrugged and fixed Satoshi with a sly grin.

“We already have everything we need, we just need to find the cat now.” Satoshi looked at her, hoping that she might elaborate further, but it seemed like she wouldn’t without being prompted.

“We know that the cat likes pork.” Satoshi said flatly.

“Correct. We also know we’re looking for an orange cat.” This time, when Yamamoto noticed Satoshi’s look of confusion, she continued.

“The girl had little bits of orange cat fur on her uniform.” This surprised Satoshi. He hadn’t noticed that detail at all. Was this sort of observational power what made Yamamoto such a formidable detective? Even so, that wasn’t a whole lot to go on. Satoshi said as much.

“We know the cat was a pet, so it will have been cared for. We just need to find an orange cat that doesn’t look scraggly, and I know precisely where we should start.”

~~~

Detective Yamamoto led the way and now Satoshi found himself standing out in front of a ramen shop. It broke from the usual pattern of Satoshi’s exploits with the detective in that it wasn’t nearly as broken down as it could have been. As it stood, it looked more like a lived-in, local pillar of the community than a run-down restaurant.

“You think we’re gonna find the cat here?” asked Satoshi.

“Maybe, but there's food,” replied Yamamoto. “Can’t find a cat on an empty stomach.” Satoshi was taken aback. Detective Yamamoto was taking an exceedingly casual approach to finding this lost cat. Admittedly, she hadn’t been overly professional when helping him, but this was different now. Satoshi was in a position where he felt he had to advocate for the client.

“Can’t we eat after we find the cat?” Detective Yamamoto fixed Satoshi with a look that answered his question as she started to enter the restaurant. With a small degree of reluctance, Satoshi followed behind her.

The interior of the restaurant matched the exterior. It wasn’t broken or run-down, but its age was apparent, even if it was well cared for. As Satoshi was looking around, Detective Yamamoto had already sat at the counter and had begun talking to who Satoshi assumed was the proprietor. He appeared quite old, but seemed good natured and jovial. He wore an old, stained apron that looked like it used to white over simple clothes.

“Mornin’ Toji,” said the detective, cheerfully.

“Good to see you again, Detective,” said the man. “The usual?” Detective Yamamoto shook her head.

“I’ll take a bowl of ramen with extra pork today.” Toji turned to Satoshi.
“Good morning sir, what can I get for you?”

“I’ll take the same as the detective,” said Satoshi as he walked up and sat beside Yamamoto. The man nodded and walk off into the kitchen. Once the man was presumably out of earshot, Satoshi turned to Yamamoto.

“Are we really just going to sit here and get some food instead of looking for the cat?” Although the question came out a bit more aggressively than Satoshi intended, he felt that his point still stood. Satoshi hoped, if nothing else, that Detective Yamamoto would have some good reason for what she did.

“Of course not, this is work,” said the detective. “You’ll see when we get the food.”

Satoshi didn’t have to wait much longer, but there wasn’t much clarity to be had. Indeed, the food looked and smelled wonderful, and when Detective Yamamoto had ordered extra pork, there was indeed quite a lot of it.

“The food looks good. What am I missing here?” asked Satoshi.

“The food is good. People like it, I’m sure cats will too.” Detective Yamamoto reached in front of Satoshi for the condiments, but she did so carelessly and her elbow jostled his bowl. Satoshi yelped in surprise as the bowl tipped and teetered off the edge of the counter, spilling directly onto his lap. Satoshi gave the detective a venomous look as he salvaged what remained of the food and made a vain attempt to clean himself up.

“Next time, I'd appreciate a warning before you do something like that.” Yamamoto merely responded with a coy smile that only made the whole ordeal worse, as it now seemed willful rather than accidental. The detective returned to her food and the two of them ate in silence. To Satoshi's pleasant surprise, the ramen was delicious. In fact, it was probably the most delicious ramen he had ever eaten, and certainly the best meal he had had in recent memory. It was just a shame that most of it had gone on his pants instead of in his mouth. But while he savored his impromptu meal, Detective Yamamoto devoured hers.

It's remarkable just how much she eats, Satoshi thought to himself as he gave the detective a sidelong glance. By the time he had eaten about a quarter of his remaining soup, Yamamoto had downed the entire thing. Detective Yamamoto sighed and leaned back slightly.

“Delicious as always, Toji!” she exclaimed. She hopped down from her seat and started making for the door. “Whenever you're done, assistant, pay the man and we can continue with the case.” Satoshi was dumbfounded. She now expected him to pay when getting food like this wasn't even his idea. Nevertheless, dutiful assistant that he was, Satoshi took out his wallet and paid the man. It was definitely an expense that Satoshi hadn’t been expecting and his wallet was definitely worse off for it.

Satoshi walked outside the restaurant to find that Detective Yamamoto stood waiting for him. When she saw he was following her again, she started walking down the street and motioned for him to follow her.

“We’re going to find the cat now, right?” asked Satoshi, somewhat impatient now.
“Almost,” said the detective. “I’ve got another errand to run.”

“Another errand? Can’t these wait?” The detective shook her head.
“Nope, it’s gotta be done now or it won’t matter later.” Satoshi grumbled internally. It seemed to him that Detective Yamamoto really didn’t care about finding the lost cat, or at the very least, she cared about getting lunch or running errands more.

“Don’t worry, assistant. We’ve got more than enough time to find the cat.”

Satoshi was incredulous, but he still kept his objections to himself. He continued to follow the detective down the road, thinking about how to best go about solving this case. He very nearly bumped into the detective, as she had stopped without warning in front of another store. Rather than a restaurant, Yamamoto decided to visit a butcher.

“We’re shopping for more food?” asked Satoshi incredulously as the pair of them stood outside of the butcher shop. Yamamoto nodded happily.

“Can’t have dinner tonight if we don’t buy food now.” replied the detective cheerfully. Satoshi couldn’t help but notice her use of ‘we’ after he had been coerced into paying for lunch. Before Satoshi could say anything or complain further, Detective Yamamoto walked in through the door.

The inside of the butcher shop met Satoshi's expectations exactly. There were various cuts of meat behind the counter, under a glass case, or hanging up. The butcher himself wore a stained apron.

“Good afternoon,” said the butcher.

“Hello!” said the detective. “Do you have any pork belly?”

 Satoshi zoned out as Detective Yamamoto shopped and haggled with the butcher. Satoshi noticed a bit of a pattern, as everything the detective bought seemed to be pork related. In a sense, Satoshi could guess what Yamamoto's reasoning might be. They were told the cat liked pork, and if they had pork on them, this might attract the cat. In all honesty, this seemed like a bit of a stretch to Satoshi. There was no guarantee that they would get anywhere near the cat, so luring it with its favorite food was moot. Satoshi snapped back to the present when the detective started tugging on his sleeve. 

“Here you go, assistant.” She passed him a remarkably full paper bag that was bristling with wrapped cuts of meat. He didn’t feel this was particularly fair that he had to carry the food, but he could only complain so much, as at least he didn't have to pay for it. Without saying anything or complaining, Satoshi followed behind Detective Yamamoto as she bade the butcher farewell and left the shop. Satoshi already mentally resigned himself to run another errand before finally getting to work, so he fell in line behind the detective once more. As it was, the bag obscured his vision somewhat, so he was entirely unprepared for Detective Yamamoto to reach out her arm to stop him.