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[standalonehuman]

Togusa

This is Togusa. Feel free to message me at any time.

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[godcards]

[ Early on the morning of August 27, the user Alpha#03012216 rolls into Togusa's inbox with the following message: ]

I found the person who managed the Towers. They are aware of Zee as a person, but not really who is he or what he does. They believe him to be involved in something like real estate. Pays his bills on time. Isn't seen very much, even prior to this little incident.

So it's a dead end. I couldn't get into his office.

[standalonehuman]

Thank you for checking. Disappointing, though. Maybe he is somewhere outside of the city.

I'd tried to stake out the building, after he first joined us, and I can't catch him going in or out.

[godcards]

Maybe he isn't real.

[standalonehuman]

But I've seen him.

[godcards]

How could you be so certain it's him? Anyone can lie.

[standalonehuman]

All right, so someone who has access to some of Retrospec's monitoring uses that office, and the same someone has used that office twice a few months apart. Isn't it easier to just use the real guy?

[godcards]

Normally I would agree with you, but this is Retrospec we're talking about. Rational, straightforward thinking isn't something they've proven themselves capable of.

This person you saw, did he say his name was Zee? Or are you being presumptuous?

[standalonehuman]

[All right, Togusa is actually pulling up the footage. Still unchanged.]

He did.

Retrospec's thinking makes sense to them. They're operating on some principles that we don't understand, but they think they make sense.

[godcards]

This is still incredibly suspicious. I rather like my Fake Zee theory until proven otherwise. It'd be easier for him to disappear that way too...

Go on, ask me who I am. Will you believe me if I tell you?

[standalonehuman]

Fake Zee Theory works if Retrospec wanted to disappear him. But from their follow-up message, I thought they wanted him found. He vanished on them. Harder for him to fake his identity on their platform.

Not impossible, though.

Oh. So it's a game now. Why wouldn't I believe you?

[godcards]

Let me ask you this: If you wanted to find someone... Like maybe a criminal... Wouldn't YOU want them found too? No one really knows how Retrospec operates, but just because they aren't content to sit back and let Zee slip away doesn't mean that he's very well innocent. Retrospec may not be responsible for his disappearance, but he disappeared for a reason. He might have information that they want, for example...

Anyway. It's actually quite the opposite... I'm under the impression that you give people the benefit of the doubt. Which is nice and all, but you could stand to be a bit more scrutinizing when it comes to cases like this. Aren't you a cop?

[standalonehuman]

You think Retrospec is trying to get us to do their dirty work for them. I am a cop, so then let me be scrutinizing.

If Zee were going to cut and run, would he have discussed his plans over Retrospec's own network, knowing he was being monitored? If his plan to set up some kind of counterwave was going to harm them, would he have done the same?

If something has gone wrong, I almost think he wants to be followed, thus why he mentioned his plan to anyone at all before he left. But not enough for us to be able to find him immediately.

And Retrospec can't find him, or they would be subject to whatever it is that's happening to us right now.

[godcards]

Retrospec has a history of relying on its users to complete tasks for them. My suspicions aren't unfounded, you know. They get tied up easily. Do we know if any of their members are even real? Without an office building, they very well might not even be part of this plane of reality.

I don't think it's as simple as Zee working for or against them. I might have before, but twisted situations like this don't just arise over nothing.

[standalonehuman]

Joanne. I helped rescue her from an unreality twist, back in July. Brought her back here with everybody, she was in the same physical place as me.

If Maurice isn't real? That's a damn hard commitment to a con if he's not real. I saw where he lives, inside Retrospec headquarters. All the little personal touches around the place. He's working on playing chess, likes science fiction, studies math.

[Has a massive figurine collection but Togusa's not gonna drag him for that one.]

My theory was more of a mistake than an intentional going against. That what Zee is attempting is going to do something he doesn't expect, but it's too late for Retrospec to tell him because he's gone. Incompetence and mistakes is usually an easy bet with Retrospec, too.