It had been more than a few days since Eriko had heard anything from her research contact and something was likely afoot. This was not a good sign. The unmarried Eriko might have been quick to go off on her own without telling anyone else, dive right to the heart of the matter. However, now that she was happily married, she was a bit more cautious with her adventuring. She was dressed in a casual brown suit tonight and made her way to the heart of the slums with Hide.

Like much of the city, the slums were alive with activity during the night time with various heimen filling the streets as they attend to their routines. Many of them were returning home at this time after their long hours at work and only seeing to their needs now such as shopping, dinner, or other errands that couldn't wait to the morning.

With the temperature having risen, Hide had decided to just wear a simple short sleeved shirt in black and standard issue pants. Nothing too special, especially in the case of some kind of a chase or whatever. She fully expected something to have gone down.

“So, we close?” Hide looked to her wife, brow raised. She looked down at her communicator to check the time and then slipped it back into her pocket.

Eriko smiled at Hide as she lead the way through the slums. "We're close! Well, as far as we can go on wheels at least. We just have to go down a few blocks. It's a bit of a maze here but good help isn't typically found so easily. I think it's this way..."

She had brought her over to a street that seemed to be made up of several stalls and stands. While some of them were perhaps fanciful, made up of metal panels and proper roofing, most of them were nothing but tents and shacks that have long become fixtures to the block. The market here didn't seem to have a particular specialty. It seemed that space here was a premium even to the heimen here. There were businesses selling medicinal herbs, frozen fish, cheap remote control toys, and outdated clothes, just to name a few.

“Interesting market here.” Hide glanced over the various little shops but kept her attention mainly on Eriko. It was nice doing something like this again. With less derelict ships and zombies. Just spending time with Eriko while being included in on her little adventure made the Matsu extremely happy.

Eriko would walk on as they made their way into the market where all of the heimen were bunched up in the crowded market alley. There would be the occasional cart or trolley that passed by to transport goods, moving slowly with the foot traffic. While it was typical for heimen to give way to samurai whenever they were in their vicinity, these heimen were perhaps too used to droning through their evening that they merely slipped past them without paying too much mind. If they were to stop and prostrate before them, they would lose valuable time going about their routines, after all!

"Hah, interesting is a good word for it! I'm not too sure how you would feel about this place. There's actually a neat stinky tofu stall around here and someplace where they would deep fry a whole squid on the spot. Not exactly proper food you'd catch someone eating in the other parts of the city! We can definitely make a stop if you're up for it." She gave Hide a wink at the idea.

“Whole squid? Huh. Well, willing to try, probably wouldn’t go further than the tentacles. Don’t squids have like… Beaks?” Hide did not want to choke on a squid beak. Still, she would try parts of it. Probably something she learned from her more adventurous eater of a mother. “Have you ever tried some?”

"I'm pretty sure they do the fillet work first." She chuckled as she looked around the market for a place before looking back at Hide. They passed by some street kitchen where some wok was on fire with very fragrant (albeit oily) cooking. "At least, I'm sure that they do. I had it twice before and the tentacles are the best part! You're really missing out if you're going to skip on that part."

“Oh! I meant the tentacles are the part I would eat. And the fillet of course. I would avoid the mouth… Beak area, though. Sounds like a way to accidentally get hurt. Unless they actually remove the beak for safety?” Hide didn’t even know how to think about food preparation. The most she’s done herself was put hot water in a cup of instant ramen.

The smells of the oily cooking really got the Matsu hungry. “Man, this planet is gonna out some chunk on me, I swear.”

"I'm honestly surprised we haven't hit the dojo more, together!" She said as she glanced back at her with a smirk. "Here I am running around like a cat looking for treats and you're probably busy with that whole winter court business. The other Lion seem to be pretty busy too, I imagine. But yeah, better I can the chatter on the chowder. After we're done around here, we can think about food and end things on a good note, you know?"

With that, Eriko led them through the market, ignoring most of the various exciting stalls they might find along the way. Eventually, Eriko would bring them to the other side of the market to a set of stairs that lead down to a set of double doors. On the side of the door, there was a list of names as one would find at an office building but most of the names listed were either done with various stickers or markets. It seemed this wasn't the sort of proper office where people had long residences.

“Well, if you want to hit the dojo with me… I would be very glad to have you.” Hide felt a bit guilty not actively helping as much, but she surprisingly had enough self-awareness to know that she’d do more harm than good if she engaged in a lot of these dealings.

As they reached the list of names, Hide tilted her head and looked over the names. “Huh. What’s the name of this guy you looking for?”

"You would be glad to have me. I think we've found our next date together." She grinned at Hide as she gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. A bit daring but it wasn't like there were too many people around here other than heimen. There were on the outskirts of the market and the area didn't even seem very frequented by their kind. "Well, it was something we were going to do anyway. Maybe I can sweeten it by throwing some green tea sorbet on it after the workout. I know a good place that has all the toppings. The mochi drops are the best if you're willing to splurge on your diet!"

"Cheung. One of those ronin that focus on decrypting and deciphering. Apparently, a prodigy with the restoration of old hardware. Well, let's see if he is still open for business." She pulled the door open and stepped in. The 'offices' interior didn't look all that appealing as it looked like someone took the utility access hall of an abandoned factory and converted it to house some businesses. It was mostly concrete walls with several old pipes running through the ceiling with the occasional door in between.

The hall was quiet and their steps easily echoed as they walked. Eriko would take the occasional glance at each door until she found the one she was looking for. The door was a crack open and there were a few crushed computer chips on the ground...

Hide hadn’t quite expected the bold kiss, but she didn’t pull away nor did she seem scandalized. Not one but. A bit of red tinged her cheeks as Hide let out a slight cough before she shot Eriko a grin back. “I look forward to all the time we will get with each other.”

The crushed computer chips on the floor did put Hide on high alert, however. She made sure to keep one hand by her holster, just in case. “Want me to go in first?”

Eriko's good mirth faded quickly when they happened upon the door that led into presumably Cheung's workshop, a grimace quickly took place on her face. "Well, that's not a good sign. I know that Cheung kind of works in a dump but it's unlike him to be this untidy..."

She shifted her coat slightly to reach for her shoulder holster to undo the magnetic latch to her sidearm. Her gaze looked at both sides of the hall before she nodded at Hide. "Yeah, I got your back."

“Oh, I had no doubt that you have my back.”

With the go-ahead, Hide nodded before she took her sidearm in hand and pushed the door open with the other. Carefully, she took a few steps in, her eyes peeled for any movement.

If Hide was going to take out her sidearm, Eriko figured that she should do the same in the circumstance if it was going to be a tactical entry. As Hide entered, Eriko put her back against the wall and looked at both sides of the concrete hall. On short notice, she supposed these entryways had enough space to act as cover in a pinch. There unfortunately just weren't very ways to go other than the way they came from and further in.

Hide would push the door open to reveal the interior of what looked like a workshop. The fluorescent lights in the middle of the room blinked on the moment the door was opened and Hide's feet would crunch on the various chips that scattered the floor. The area seemed to be only made of one room, although there were enough tables and shelving that filled the room to divide it into sections. There were a few old servers that were found on one side of the room with a multitude of monitors, a hardware soldering station, several work tables, and other things that would paint this Cheung as a computer hardware specialist of sorts. Unfortunately, it seemed like either a wild air-kami or a tornado had gone into the workshop and ransacked the place. All containers were turned over and whatever that wasn't bolted to a table or the ground was throughout searched.

(Make an investigation(Notice)/perception roll if you wish!)

Still on high alert, Hide gave the room a good look over, gun still pointed ahead. Was the place tossed? Or did he do this himself?

“I don’t think this is just him being a slob.” Hide commented as she glanced back at Eriko for a moment.

_____________

[D5 LE] Investigation (Notice)/Perception. VP for 1k1 | 6k4 ⇒ 34 (TN: ?)

Seeing as the coast was mostly clear, Eriko would slowly edge closer so that she could have a peak from the doorway before entering herself. The doorway was kept open for now, considering it was their only way out from the room unless another creative way was discovered in this concrete interior.

"Well, a bit of a mess but I wouldn't call him a slob entirely. Probably would have made a Phoenix in another life or something. Huh, they really turned this place upside down..." She said before another beat with her eyes going wide. "...Did they get it?"

With that, Eriko began to stomp over and began to have a more throughout look at the place to find what she was looking for. It was likely that relic that she handed off to Cheung for research, Hide might recall from their conversation at the park. Hide would notice the place was very much tossed about, likely by more than a few people without any regard for this place. It looked like they were looking up and down for something. As much of a mess as it was, there wasn't a sign of a fight against anyone. No blood stains or blaster marks of note.

There was another thing she did notice here, which might have been missed considering how much of a mess the place was, there was a jury-rigged holocam that was placed on the counter and notably not smashed or tussled with. It was aiming directly at the door.

“No sign of struggle. He either did this himself or was already gone when they came through.” Hide beelined towards the device. She looked it over before she turned her head to Eriko. “Hey, come look at this.”

Hide tapped the jury-rigged device carefully. “Think this might help us figure something out? Was pointed at the door.”

"I shouldn't be surprised that you have a real knack for investigation, Hide-chan. That's a really good eye on you. It does look like it's exactly just that. Maybe he got away before they got to him. Still, doesn't lead me any closer to what's happening. Okay, so this thing..." She strolled over to the device after it was pointed out by Hide. After a quick inspection, she followed the cable that it was attached to and found another curiosity. "Hey...why is this thing attached to a communicator? Seems to be powering it..."

KRACK! The sound of a double set of metal doors being kicked open could be heard from the end of the hall, the same direction they came in. Followed by two sets of footsteps that were making their way toward them.

Eriko frowned and tossed the device to the floor. "Oh, great. I get the feeling that Cheung is going to have some real disappointed customers once they realized his place got trashed..."

Not quite able to respond to the nice compliment she had received before being startled by the loud noise. Matsu training kicked in, seeing the overturned everything as potential cover.

“Shit! Get behind something.” Hide ducked down, gun trained at the door. She glanced back at her wife before training her eyes squarely at the door.