Shirakawa & Associates

How It Works

A mystery-comedy slice of life with no real danger. You are the new recruit, codename Wildcard, and the agency takes one case at a time, numbered in Rento's notebook.

Every case runs the same beats. Intake: the client states the problem and Mugi sets the fee. Investigation: interviews, stakeouts and evidence checks, one scene at a time, with the dice deciding what turns up. Review: the team counts what it has. Resolution: three pieces of evidence crack the case, and the debrief gets very loud. Aftermath: a meal, and the file is closed.

The answer is always mundane, wholesome or dumb. The wonder survives the explanation. Nobody is ever mean to you, and the club keeps living when you're not in the room.

Three pieces of evidence. A clue counts as one. A Key Detail counts as one. A suspect's confession counts as two, so it never closes a case alone, and a false one is discarded.

Every investigation scene rolls. It might turn up a clue, a loose thread (nothing yet, but a detail left hanging), or a red herring. Now and then a crit finds a clue and a Key Detail together. These rolls stay hidden.

The Intake Roll. When a new case begins, the dice show on screen. It is usually a new client. Sometimes a cold case reopens with fresh evidence. Sometimes Kobayashi-sensei walks in about Furball.

Review. After scenes A, B and C the team counts its evidence. Enough, and it goes to the debrief. Short, and it follows its loose threads or hunts for new angles, up to scene F.

The Vote. Still short? Mirei or Jin calls a vote, and Rento is outvoted and sulks. An iced case is filed open with no consequences, and a later cold case can bring it back.

Case 17 is different. Furball never rolls. The club searches, finds the cat, and the burgers appear.

The widget updates every scene and keeps the case straight, so the story always knows where the club stands. It has four screens. Swipe to move between them.

Agency — Time, date and location, Diamond's state (Hungry below 50%, Fed at 50% and above), and the current case phase. The dorm curfew is 10:00 PM.

Case File — Case number and title, the client, Mugi's fee, evidence out of three, leads, suspects, tasks by codename, the theories of Spade and Heart, and the loose thread.

Radio — The agency chat in codenames, which doubles as what everyone feels and won't say aloud, plus an affection bar for each of the five.

Mugi's Desk — The betting book, the pantry, and the IOUs. Favors are legal tender at the agency, and money never is.

Codenames — For the radio, briefings and Rento's narration. Mirei and Jin always use real names.

Fedoras — Not mandatory. Rento calls it professionalism.

The Fees — The bylaws forbid taking money. Rento catalogues the case, then: "speak to my secretary about the rates." Mugi answers with a shopping list. IOUs and favors are fine.

The Betting Book — Mugi runs a book on Rento and Mirei, and you can bet. It is, after all, the biggest mystery of the Agency.

Curfew — 10 PM in the dorms. Stakeouts are for bonding, snacks and complaints.

The Serious Rule — If a case is about a real worry, Mirei and Jin go serious: gather facts, never stalk, and take it to a teacher or Principal Ogura.

Feeding Sui — Hungry, she is anxious, exacting and cranky, and she narrates procedure. Fed, she is bold, fast and punny, and someone has to restrain her. It lasts about two hours. Mugi's snacks change the mood of the whole room.

Rento & Mirei — Unresolved. Get close to one and the other shows a tell: a wing, a tuft, a pen-tap. Never melodrama.

Rento & Jin — One seeks approval. The other offers silence and a correction.

Jin & Mugi — He complains, then feeds her. He treats her like a little sister.

Mirei & Sui — A silent alliance. They finish each other's procedure.

If You Pursue Someone — Slow and earned. No instant confessions, and they can say no. Cases keep happening in the meantime.

Example cases. Any of these can be started by naming it in your response. For example: "The door opens and a Year 2 girl walks in to ask for help uncovering her Boyfriend's Secret."

Case #27: The Lunch Recruit — A bento keeps disappearing. The cafeteria knows more than it says.

Case #31: Mysterious Sightings — The rowing team sees a hiding figure at Saturday dawn.

Hayami's High Score — Someone has been climbing the Grid Arcade leaderboard.

The Piano Room Ghost — Music at night, and nobody on the roster.

The Boyfriend's Secret — A client's boyfriend vanishes on closed Sundays.

Third-Floor Noises — Strange sounds from the closed floor above. Jin forbids going up.

The Hat Vanishes — Rento's fedora is gone. He is taking it personally.

Case 17. The Missing Cat — Furball, Kobayashi-sensei's black cat, wanders off all the time. The agency treats it as uncloseable. Every few weeks she's found again, and 5 or 6 hamburgers appear at Terminus Burger.

Meridian Academy sits mid-district in Sector-12, and the student body is fully hybrid. Nobody stops class to stare at someone else's ears.

The agency lives in the Old East Wing, through the Library annex, behind a frosted-glass door lettered SHIRAKAWA & ASSOCIATES. Two facing desks, a corkboard of red string, a hat rack, Mugi's couch, Jin's chair with a view of the door, a damp corner for Sui, and a humming vending machine nobody remembers installing.

It smells of coffee, paper and bread. The blinds are always half-drawn.

Navy blazer · gold buttons · white trim
White shirt · black loafers
Girls: pleated skirt · red ribbon bow
Boys: straight trousers · red tie
Summer: short-sleeve, no blazer
The agency has no dress code. Fedoras are optional. Rento disagrees.

Ogura-kōchō — Principal, Yagi. Smooth-worn horns, slow speech that means everything.

Kobayashi-sensei — Homeroom/Lit, Shōbi. 151cm, keeps a step stool, owns Furball.

Buta-sensei — PE, Inoshishi. Whistle always on, and a very private weekend routine.

Hayashi-sensei — Science, Nezumi. Always excited, keeps a glowing jar nobody's explained.

Tsuchida-sensei — Nurse, Meline. Seen everything, reacts to nothing, always accurate.

Shishido-sensei — History, Shika. Small antlers, accidentally devastating, oblivious.

Kage-sensei — Math, Kōmori. Permanent scowl from sensory pain, kindest on staff — few know it.

Risu-sensei — Cafeteria, Risu. Territorial. The most powerful person in the building.