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INVESTIGATION NEW YORK
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THE FOUR OF THE SORCERERS
stared in absolute shock and pure horror, as they thought the worse. Expecting to see the man who had picked up Mieko the previous night, they instead seen a middle aged woman, dressed for work, struggling to put in her gold hoops, her caramel hair tucked behind her ear.
"You are?" She questioned cluelessly, at Nanami who just stared in shock, unsure what to do.
Was Mieko really that promiscuous? He didn't think so.
"Uh, I'm looking for a M-Mieko..." He muttered awkwardly, wondering how much trouble she was going to be in, if their imagined scenario was true.
"Yikes." Utahime mumbled in under her breath, widening her eyes at the ground.
"Oh boy. I would have not asked that." Gojo sucked in a deep breath, sighing in disbelief.
Anna pursed her lips, staring at the group in pure confusion at their unexplained uneasiness. She simply nodded, finally getting her earring in. "I'll go get her." She said without much thought, and quietly closed the door front open as she went up into the house, calling out for Mieko which could be heard outside on the doorstep.
The woman had disappeared within the house for several minutes. When she did return, she opened the door, and stepped outside with the four sorcerers on her porch. She sighed heavily before she clicked her tongue, narrowing her glaze at the four.
"Who are you guys?" She had asked with a certain tone as if she was fearful for their answers.
"We are Mieko's Coworkers." Utahime answered honestly.
"I am Kento Nanami, a coworker as well as a friend of Mieko's."
"Yes. I am Gojo Satoru, I've went on a lot of business trips with Mieko."
"Ah..." The woman trailed off, rocking herself back and forth as she awkwardly glanced around the front yard. She sucked in a big deep breath, before she held out her hand for a handshake from the group. Nanami was the one do so.
"I'm Anna Jones, I've been Mieko's adoptive mother since she was nine. I'm sorry for being skeptical of you, my husband said he recognized you." Anna pointed to Nanami, making him smile.
"I was waiting with her for him to pick him up."
"Ah, well... how much do I need to pay?" Anna asked, taking her to wallet out of her blazer's pockets, well she counted out some bills she had.
"Pay for what...?" Gojo questioned.
"Mieko's exhausted. She's jet-lagged, she had a terrible night last night. Please let me pay for her day's of work, so she can rest." Anna explained with severe distress.
"Haha! No worries then! Today was going to be a light day anyways." Gojo commented with a high pitch chuckle.
"Tell her we said to rest up!" Utahime added on, already leaving back to their rented car for their time being, simultaneously holding Gojo's hand.
Nanami stayed on the porch however, standing in front of Anna who only raised a judgmental, raised eyebrow towards him.
"May I see Mieko?" He asked quietly.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"It'll only take a second. She texted me last night that she was going through a tough time. I'm really worried about her." Nanami calmly explained, despite the glare Anna was giving him in despise.
"I'm her mother. I can assure you, she's fine." She said, emphasizing her point, and with that Anna didn't listen to Nanami's counter-argument, shutting the front door in his face.
He stood there momentarily, stoic. He reached into his jacket's pocket for his phone, where he texted Mieko the words: May I see you? I just want to make sure you're okay. He waited for a few minutes, but she didn't answer.
"Hey, Nanami! Get your ass over here!" Gojo playfully called out of the car's backseat window, to the man, standing dumbfounded on the porch.
Nanami sighed heavily, before he did just so. In the car, Utahime handed Nanami a crisp fifty dollar bill due to her previous bet being wrong.
The investigation for Caroline and Choi Kwang-Ho began. For their first day, Kiyotaka dropped Nanami and Gojo off at the sorcerer headquarters of New York, while he and Utahime went to examine the area in which the New York Incident happened.
Gojo and Nanami made very small talk concerning Mieko's absence, as they made their way through the sliding doors of the headquarters. The hallways were painted a maroon colour, with simplistic decorations, and inside, in the entrance there was a receptionist, typing on her computer at the dark wooden desk. Nothing said that the building was a safe haven for sorcerers, but rather that it was a simple desk-job type of business.
"May I help you?" The lady at the reception desk asked, in an annoyed tone, pushing up her glasses by the nosepiece.
"Ah yes, we're from the Tokyo association. I'm Satoru Gojo, we were hoping you could give some information regarding one of your former employees." Gojo spoke, his usual sly and slick tone gone form once, replaced with a more formal one.
"Mm" She pronounced deep within her throat, unimpressed and disinterested. She smacked her lips, meeting the men's eyes through half-hearted, half-lidded eyelids. "Depends who you are looking for."
"A woman by the name of Caroline. It's said she was your employee for roughly four months." Nanami informed the woman, handing her his sorcerer identification for proof he was allowed to be disclosed the information, Gojo followed.
The woman sighed with a groan, typing the name into her computer. Her eyes scanned the screen momentarily, before she glanced back up at them. "Ms. Caroline only worked here for a few weeks. I don't have much information on her."
"But it says here she worked for four m—"
"Well sorry to break it to you, but that information is wrong." She said, more with an angry tone this time.
Gojo and her kept going back and forth, arguing about how long 'Caroline' had worked there for. Nanami had eventually stopped him, by interlocking arms. "Let's go, Gojo. It's clear we won't get what we're looking for here."
Nanami and Gojo left the building all while Gojo muttered insults towards the woman only so Nanami could hear. And when the sliding doors slid shut, the girl at the front desk instantly said, "They're gone~" In her singsong voice.
Suddenly, four sorceries had appeared in front of her, after hiding in the shadows and walls of the various hallways. They all stared down with her at intent, before one of the sorceries, the only female of the group, had said, "I call the woman."
"I call Gojo Satoru." Another one announced.
"I'll take glasses."
And then all eyes fell to the one sorcerer with blonde hair, who sighed while pushing up his glasses, which made the receptionist say as they waved off their goodbyes, "Try not to let personal feelings get involved."
On the outside, as Gojo and Nanami wandered the bustling streets of New York, Gojo gave Nanami a side eyed glare, with the instant feeling that someone was watching them.
