Beginning
“Detective Saihara,” his secretary, knocked on his office door, “there’s someone that wants to see you.” Shuichi stirred awake from his sleepy state. He had been busy the whole last night and was also lacking sleep as a whole. Owlishly he blinked at his secretary who had the patience to repeat herself.
As he made his way downstairs Shuichi was trying to make himself look a little more presentable, chugging a cup of coffee simultaneously. Admittedly that was what he'd been drinking for the past hours, but some things just needed to be accepted the way they were.
In the small front hallway, that doubled as an entrance for the detective agency, stood a very small woman, or girl Shuichi wasn’t sure, with bright red hair and a witch hat with a fitting outfit. In her eyes was a look of terror and fear, and her small frame shook.
“Are you Detective Saihara?”, she asked. Shuich nodded into his coffee: “Yeah, that’s me. What’s your name, Miss? What can I do for you?” She collected herself for a moment. Then with conviction she said: “My name is Himiko Yumeno. I would like to have you investigate the murder of my fianceé”
That was the thing that woke Shuichi up on this, now not so fine anymore, Saturday morning. It wasn’t that he wasn’t familiar with murder cases, afterall a murder case earned him his title of Ultimate Detective, but it was more the specialty of the person he shared his Ultimate title with.
After he got some awkwards pats on the back to help with his cough from Yumeno he horsley replied: “Why don’t you take this case to the Kirigiri agency or the police, then? We’re a very small agency and-”
“No,” Yumeno interrupted him, “I first brought it to the police office two weeks ago, but they called me this morning to tell me they dropped the case. I didn’t get any information besides that.”
Shuichi pondered his mind for a while. The only thing he currently needed to do was file paperwork, something the detective would rather avoid. So nothing that would interfere with a case like. He told Yumeno he would accept her case and ledger further into the small building.
In the back the two reached a room that was in use for talking with suspects, witnesses and people who requested his detective work. Yumeno belongs to the latter.
Collectecting a new notebook and somehow even finding a pen Shuichi sat down across from his client.
“Yumeno-san please tell me everything you know so far. Everything you deem important for this case. I will ask questions when I seem fit, but generally will not interrupt you.”
“Nyeh. Okay… The person I think got murdered was my fianceé, Tenko Chabashira. She went out on Wednesday two weeks ago. She told me it was to meet up with an old friend. She never returned from the trip. Thursday morning I went to look for her. I found her corpse in front of the building she gave lessons at.”
“What kind of lessons?”
“For Neo-Aikido. It’s a form of self-defense for women Tenko developed.”
“Thank you, please continue.”
“So… I immediately went to the police. I told them the same story and they accepted the case. I got questioned, I think Monday of this week, if Tenko had a history of mental illness or any enemies.”
“What did you say in that interview?”
“Tenko never told me of anything like that. In fact he was the one who helped me with that. I also said that Tenko may have made some enemies through her way of interacting with men.”
“… her way of interacting with men?”
“Nyeh. Tenko wasn’t… fond of men. The reasons she started Neo-Aikido in the first place was to help women defend themselves against ‘degenerate males’ as she called them.”
“Anything else you want to say?”
“No, nothing at the moment.”
“Can I ask you some more questions about the day you found her?”
“Yes.”
“In what state was the body? Anything that jumped your eye?”
“She was oddly placed. It looked like she was supposed to be sitting on the stairs. Also her clothes were wet. Which is weird, because the days before I had watered my garden a lot, because not a single drop of rain fell.”
“Were her clothes torn or removed?”
“No, everything was still in place, but a little bloodied.”
“Bloodied?”
“Yeah… I forgot to mention that. She had really small cuts all over her body and large one on her neck. There were also some Latin letters cut into her wrist.”
Shuichi stopped his writing. Latin letters… depending on what they were it could be a word or even a number. He flipped to the next page and placed his notebook and pen on the table between them.
“Can you still remember what they look like? If so, maybe write them down on the page.”
Yumeno nodded and scribbled something down. Between each letter she paused as if trying to remember what they looked like.
She turned the notebook around and pushed it back to its owner.
LXXXVII
That was most likely a number, Shuichi taught. He needed to check that with a friend who knew more what each letter meant. Nonetheless it was a good thing to know.
Turning back to the page he had been using before he looked at Yumeno once more.
“Thank you for that. I think it could be a help. The last thing I wanted to clarify is this: You mentioned that she was your fianceé. Society is trying to improve, but do you think it could have been an act because the relationship between the two? For example parents that aren’t happy with that? Exes? Anything like that?”
“No… I don’t think so. We met last year in Junior High School and started dating not too long after. Tenko told me back then I was her first relationship.”
“And parents? Or other relatives?”
“She left her household. Her views were too opposing with her family’s. She moved in with a friend she knew rather far away from her parents. That’s when we met.”
Twirling the pen between his fingers Shuichi went through everything again mentally. No, he first needed to check with the police to get information Yumeno wouldn’t be able to know.
He stood up and urged Yumeno to do the same. The two went back into the entrance where Shuichi collected a piece of paper from a small pile.
“Yumeno-san please write down your contact information here, so I can inform you about future developments and ask when I need clarification for something.”
When Yumeno had jotted down a phone number, email and address Shuichi wished her a hopefully better Saturday.
So, first off I need to check in with the police, he thought turning back inside. He collected his coat and hat, bid his secretary a goodbye and walked to the police station.