Curious Things Afoot (Open/Duel?)

[Haruna Shizuoka]

Earlier this morning, Haruna had found an odd stone on her desk. It was after she'd shuffled through her paperwork and checked several things that she'd found it as well. She was the only one who had the key to this office and she'd made sure it was locked up tight when she left the night prior... It certainly was suspicious. There was also the eerie feeling that it gave out. A certain aura. A certain... pride. For whatever reason, it gave Haruna a need to exert whatever power she'd had as the head of Kaiba Corp. To show off that she was the president for a reason. It was something that was hard to describe. And her hired assistant, Alan, was nowhere to be seen for some odd reason. It was time for her to exert her power to gain more. And to get to the bottom of this. Something was happening. And she found the root of everything happening tended to be at her academy. Her academy.

She'd taken her private jet and landed at a remote area near the beach, making sure to set up the security guards so no one could hi-jack her jet and to bring the odd jewel with her. She remembered assigning Alan to the island to investigate the previous incident. Several students were killed, another severely burnt, and a classroom left in shambles, along with the disappearance of the "Abandoned Dorm." It was time for Haruna to take the task of investigation up upon herself. She'd had her Duel Disk on her, just in case someone wanted to mess with her. And, right now, she was a force to be reckoned with.

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

A private jet? How showy. Zephyrus had access to a private jet of his own; several in fact, as he was the sole male heir of the impressive old wealth of the Dunavant family. But he never intended to show off his wealth by flashing it in everyone’s face in the form of big turbines and shiny fuselages. For the most part, he was more than contempt to maintain an impressive, low key veneer. Leave it to the nouveau riche to throw their weight around as if they were children stuck in a padded room.

Given that it was the Kaiba Corporation president, and Kaiba Corporation ran the Duel Academy, Zephyrus figured it was only appropriate for him to head out and meet her. He was, after all, interested in seeing just what was up with the visit, and if it concerned the academy, he was likely curious about at as well. Even though he was the antisocial bureaucrat of the academy staff, he was still—in his own way—concerned with the fate of the academy. The school was, after all, still his alma mater.

So with reasoned and confident steps, he strode up towards the Kaiba Corporation president. As someone who was completely familiar with the ways of the ultra-rich, being of that class himself, Zephyrus conducted himself according to all of the established etiquette expected from someone of his social standing. He dressed well, he moved with excellent posture and confidence, he exuded an understated sense of superiority that came off more charming than threatening or supercilious. After he finally made it to the pier to meet the executive, he tipped his hat and offered a brief smile, “Well, what brings Miss Shizuoka to the academy?”

[Haruna Shizuoka]

Haruna had noted the person in front of her. She couldn't deny that she knew that face. One of the more powerful people who are involved with the academy, Zephyrus Dunavant. He was also the Assistant Headmaster, an ex-Pro Duelist, and someone that Haruna found was a little creepy here and there. Though, she had to admit that he'd had the good looks to back up his personality, sporting a long do and a face that most women would swoon at the sight of. But Haruna was here on business.

"Well Professor Dunavant, I can't just visit the school that I've invested my time and money in? After all, it is the holidays and I just want to see how things are. You have no qualms on that, do you?"

Haruna put on a slight smile and walked towards him, hips swaying as per the usual way they had swayed and her eyes traveling up and down his frame, almost as if she was examining and measuring him up. She figured that he was a capable man and would assist her in her investigation of what was happening at this school. Usually, according to previous incidents, the appearance of strange objects in her office led to odd occurrences here. As a result, it was time for her to take a more "hands on" approach to all of this. She wouldn't let her now missing Alan to do it for her this time. No, she would handle this one with her own hands.

"By the way, Professor, would you happen to know anything about a jewel of some sort? Marble-esque in size and shape and holding a red and white hue."

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

She wanted to just visit? Somehow, Zephyrus could tell that the explanation hardly seemed to fit the circumstances. He would have pressed further, but he figured that he would simply deduce the reason for her expedition later, or—should he have the desire—after a few more cursory questions. Whatever the reason for her visit, it was something that she did not wish to discuss with even a high ranking member of the staff, which only seemed to intimate to Zephyrus that she had motives that she did not want to share…

“But of course,” the Obelisk advisor replied with an elegant smile, a sidestep, and a gesture of his hand to usher the Kaiba Corporation president and her staff past him towards the island, “I would never interfere with your… explorations.”

Zephyrus had figured that Kaiba Corporation would have had a number of plants already at the academy. In fact, Zephyrus had narrowed it down to a few candidates. Maybe it was that unusual Franken Stein figure, or perhaps that too-bossy-for-her-own-good Amy Morrison, or, even, perhaps the too-short-to-appear-as-a-threat Alan Padmore. In his most recent observations, the assistant headmaster had been leaning towards the last option.

He took a few steps alongside Haruna while she walked past and down the pier. Perhaps there were a few things that he could glean from the conversation. She must have figured that he was a valuable resource, and it was certainly true; few things happened on the island without Zephyrus hearing about it. But trying to pry information from Zephyrus often required a crowbar and a lot of muscle. The man was about as cryptic as they came.

“A marble jewel?” He mused, eyes skirting up in ostentatious introspection, “I may have seen such a curiosity before.”

[Haruna Shizuoka]

"'May have seen,' Professor? Don't tell me you haven't, because I've seen these things all around town, so they must be here at the academy as well too, no?"

Haruna noted his wording and figured that, apparently, he wasn't willing to give out the information that she sought without her having to pry it out of him. As a result, she chose not to pry onto any more matters, figuring that she wouldn't want to do the work to pull the information out of him. She was feeling far too lazy for that anyways.

""So, besides that, how are you? Are the children behaving?"

Of course, she'd had a general idea of how students were acting. After all, Alan gave her the reports every so often. Of course, she hadn't decided to take a look upon it for herself until now. Thankfully, there was a lack of paperwork during the Holidays because most of what was done for Kaiba Corp was to sell more Duel Disks and customize a few as well, and that was something she didn't do herself. It gave her time to do other things, such as right now. And, for that, she was thankful.

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

All around town? Zephyrus wondered if the young CEO had truly thought the whole thing through. If Duel Academy was far enough from Domino to require a private jet, why should she assume that everyone on Duel Academy kept up to date on the daily going-ons of the town? Granted, Zephyrus did have the means to visit Domino as frequently as he would have liked, but the academy itself was remarkably dead, as most of the students had returned home to their families over winter break. The island hardly had that many people remaining.

It was a fact that Zephyrus did not hesitate to point out. He gestured with his hand, doing a slow horizontal sweep with his palm, “Well, as you can see, Miss Shizuoka, there are not too many people left on the island.”

With few children on the island, Zephyrus could also hardly tell if they were behaving or not. He supposed that even if they were misbehaving at the moment, it was more of an issue for their parents, rather than anything that the administrative staff at Duel Academy could worry about. Instead of making a quip, Zephyrus decided to offer a soft shrug, and continue walking alongside the Kaiba Corporation executive.

“The children have acted like children,” Zephyrus answered. There was that incident with the abandoned dorm, and the hearing that he had opted not to attend because he found the entire matter frivolous, and then there were those camera reports of ‘demons’ invading the island and taking over student bodies, but aside from the usual supernatural shenanigans, it was nothing that he had felt was too out of the ordinary. “There have been a few incidents, I suppose.”

[Haruna Shizuoka]

"With so few people, that now gives me room to investigate a bit without being discovered, ne? Certainly a lot better for investigation on my own."

Haruna figured, that if everyone off of the island had the jewels, the jewels must have been rooted from here, especially with the odd way she'd found hers. A locked-door case. And, with the way things were happening now, she couldn't rule out the supernatural. The academy was just a magnet for supernatural things. As such, it was something worth investigating.

She'd looked over at Zephyrus with a curious eye again. She didn't know why he was hiding things from her, whether it was on purpose or it was because it was how he was, but she figured that the best source of information now was to go straight to the top. Headmaster Gale. With any hope, he was still on the island, relaxing with the rest of the staff that lived here. Or was perhaps taking care of paperwork. She'd noted to herself that she'd take a visit to his office at least one while she's on the island.

"I suppose these few incidents are worth looking into on my own. I figure that self-investigation is better than just doing paperwork in my office at HQ all day. Speaking of which, don't you have any plans for this time of year? Particularly because I find it odd that you were here to welcome me."

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

Zephyrus quirked an eyebrow at her explanation. He wondered if she was being serious or not. Did she really expect that her celebrity would not get noticed if she were amongst fewer people? Did she really expect to have a more successful investigation with fewer leads? Any good detective would have gladly told her that having more people about meant more leads for her investigation. And anyone could tell you that there was a safety in numbers. A celebrity incognito amidst a crowd would never draw as much attention as one walking in to a room filled with just a few admirers.

Her explanation had Zephyrus wondering just how long she had been famous. Zephyrus always ran from celebrity, as he found it something entirely distracting and otherwise pointless. But he knew quite a few people, especially from his old wealth circles or from the Pro League that welcomed any amount of attention or notoriety. ‘There was no such thing as bad press’, or so they claimed. That line of thinking never appeased him.

He shrugged though. If she would like to investigate what the rest of the staff had already investigated, she was certainly welcome. Otherwise, she would have had to believe that the staff in place at Duel Academy ultimately proved incapable of concluding accurate findings from these ‘incidents’ if she wanted to personally look over the material. After all, even though Zephyrus hardly bothered with executive meetings and management portfolios, he knew from experience that there were a million and one other things that could seize a CEO’s attention.

“If you wish. Sometimes, a little patience trumps initiative,” Zephyrus mused. He had not really bothered with the ‘demon’ excursion. For the most part, the demons had been dispatched so quickly and so easily that they had all fallen within the span of a week. Unfortunately, his peers had reacted so strongly that they seemingly forgot all of the more curious phenomenon that had occurred in the years since the discovery of Duel Monsters. There had been plenty of ammunition for the supernatural.

“I have a few plans,” he added succinctly. His younger sister, Adelphie, was still scheduled for a few more matches this season, and they would have to postpone any celebration until New Year’s. The delay did not really bother Zephyrus much, as he had always considered Christmas a frivolous holiday where he received needless material gifts rather than shared in any communal sentiment. “Besides, I couldn’t possibly play the role of the staff member that skips town when everyone else remains, could I?”

[Haruna Shizuoka]

"Perhaps, but I'm just not the waiting type, Professor Dunavant. And, if you aren't going to assist me, then I will just continue this investigation elsewhere."

She was going to head elsewhere anyways. The pier wasn't exactly the best place to investigate with the lack of people there anyways. She'd wondered just where everyone was, mostly the staff members though. She knew, through records, that there were still some on the island and she wanted information. The information that Zephyrus wasn't giving her. As a result, she was pushed to ask him something else.

"Would you at least guide me to the location of other staff members so that I can begin the questioning? Perhaps there is someone else here who will give me information about other things."

She'd continued walking, just about reaching the end of the pier and the beginning of the road to the academy, where she would soon find what she was looking for. She wanted to figure out the mystery of this marble and where it came from. Whether it was from one of the Shadow Sciences teacher, or if she would get her information from the librarian, it would just have to be something she'd discover on her own.

[Zephyrus Dunavant]

Zephyrus shot the other woman a look, as if her question was one of the most ridiculous things in the world. It was hardly his job to keep tabs on the other academy staffers. He was not on the academy to babysit, after all. He perhaps could have been more receptive, but she was asking things that no one could have reasonably answered to any level of investigative satisfaction. If this was the way that the president of one of the largest multinational gaming corporations conducted her business, it was—he unfortunately admitted—rather disappointing.

“I assure you, the academy is extending their best effort to assist you. If you have any inquiries, I shall do my best in answering them,” Zephyrus answered calmly, completely unfazed by the executive’s impatience. She seemed to be a young, impetuous bureaucrat, and not someone who operated with enough finesse for his tastes.

Really, he wondered if the executive could hear the absurdity in her own ‘investigation.’ She came out here, with all of her pomp and pretense, in her private jet, onto the pier and demanded answers to questions that no one really even knew existed, and wanted to conduct an investigation over the case of some marbles. What a marvel those marbles must have been.

If this was really about the demon invasion, she was clearly several weeks too late. Zephyrus would have imagined the Spirit Festival was something that was altogether more worthy of investigation than some too-little-too-late probe into demons and the supernatural. If this was about Spirits, she could have just easily been forthright about her curiosity over them, instead of needing to barge in so inelegantly. So, he concluded, the only sensible thing that Haruna would have wanted to investigate would be those mysterious trinkets. The only alternative was, of course, that the Kaiba Corporation president was altogether insensible. He would have preferred if it wasn’t the latter.

“Do you mean to suggest that these… marbles… have great significance?”