Scroll 8 { Keeps Getting Better }

The Shiritaka's residence stuck out like a sore thumb, having being practically wrapped around with restriction tape in order to prevent unauthorized outsiders to enter. It looked very much like a ribbon on a child's birthday present.

It was a common looking house. Aside from all the police cars surrounding it, it looked no different from any other house in Tokyo.

It was scarcely believable that a murder had taken place in this very household.

"It.... it looks so normal." Feather commented, scanning the house up and down. "...if you don't count all the policemen."

"It's best not to always judge a book by it's cover." I said forthrightly. "Now... Shall we head inside, then?"

"Right." She nodded firmly, taking a step forward.

"You there," as if on impulse, one of the policeman greeted snobbishly, holding out his gloved hand and blocking Feather's path. "No unauthorized persona allowed."

I sighed. People always seem to like getting in our way.

I pulled out my ID card and airily waved it under his nose, an icy gaze in my eyes.

"We are authorized." I said bitterly in a matter-of-fact tone.

The uniformed man studied my ID card in clear surprise, glancing at me to Feather and to my ID card back again. "O-oh. I apologize for my impudent behavior, Miss Hope." He stuttered, bending over to preform a half-bow.

"Mmm." I snorted uncaringly.

"It's alright, Sir. I'm sure it was an honest mistake." Feather spoke up, flashing the embarrassed man a small smile. "It happens most of the time."

Sadly. She didn't have to say it so proudly. Society just didn't want to accept the fact that not only middle-aged men with hair loss problems can be detectives.

"It's an honor to be working with you both. I've actually heard a lot about your work, Miss Hope." the policeman rambled on, attempting to mend the patch.

"Yeah, obviously you haven't heard enough of me to recognize who I am." I retorted, refusing to spare him the painfully deep sarcasm. I walked past him huffily.

I didn't come all this way to listen to some pathetic excuses.

We entered the house and made our way straight to the living room where the crime scene was. Even more blue-uniformed men were running around busily, absorbed in the intense and serious atmosphere.

Some of them turned away from whatever they were doing to look at me for a few seconds as I crossed the room. I paused at the center of the room to examine my surroundings. Shades of red split all over the carpeted floor caught my eye almost instantly, where the victim spent his last moments on.

I was lost in thought as I rubbed my chin, not moving from my spot. There were white outlines of the victim's body where he previously laid, sprawled out onto the floor backwards.

I beckoned Feather closer with my right hand.

"Go take some pictures of the scene," I told her, shoving a small digital camera into her hands. She nodded and obeyed without any questions.

I moved on from studying the tainted carpet to the rest of the room, memorizing every inch of the place mentally. Then, I turned to one of the policemen and tapped his shoulder.

"Excuse me, may I have a copy of the Autopsy report and a list of the other suspected murderers?" I requested. The man shot me the typical weird look before hesitantly digging inside a file that he was holding.

"Here... you can have these soft copies." He said and handed me a few sheets of paper.

"Thank you."

"I've got the pictures you wanted, Lady Hope!" Chimed Feather's cheerful voice. I turned to look at her and nodded.

"Good work." I complimented her. "Now, let's get out of this boring dump."


xXx


"What's that, Lady Hope?"

"The victim, Seiji Shiritaka's autopsy report." I replied, my eyes glued onto the piece of paper in my hands. I sank back into the passenger's seat, my eyes half closed.

"Apparently, He died at 7:50pm almost instantly last night. He was struck on the side of his head with a metal broom."

"Sounds painful."

"Indeed." I shifted a bit and took out the list of suspects that I had received earlier and showed it to Feather.

"There are apparently three more potential suspects of Seiji's murder aside from Mari-san," I told her, flipping the pages. I showed her three pictures of three different people.




"The first one," I pointed to the girl with fiery red hair, "is Megumi Kato. Also known as the older sister of Mari Shiritaka. She works as a waitress in a nightclub. She's deemed as a suspect because it seemed that she was dating Seiji for a certain period of time before he got together with Mari. They broke up after a nasty argument over an unstated reason and left each other on bad terms. Soon after, Seiji fell in love with her sister, who we all know is Mari, and confessed. Mari accepted his confession, thus the start of their relationship."

"The second picture... is someone called Haru Kinoshi. A college of Seiji. Also deemed as a suspect. He was also some sort of rival for Seiji. Recently, before all this, they had been fighting for a promotion and Haru lost to Seiji hands down. Who knows what feelings he holds inside because of this now. Also... it's said that he has some sort of crush on Mari-san."

"Why weren't the two arrested and kept in the detention center?" Feather interrupted, looking at me with her sky blue eyes.

"Lack of proof." I said. "Plus everyone is pretty damn sure that Mari's the one who did it. Why not? I mean, she lived with Seiji, if she wanted to kill him, she could've done so anytime."

A look of vexation washed over Feather's face. "Then.... it won't be as easy to clear Mari-san's name as I thought."

"Hmm."

I heard a long, depressed sigh from Feather and I stared at her wordlessly. She blinked at me and just smiled weakly.

"... I'm sorry. That was a negative thing to say. I know that you won't fail no matter what, right?" She attempted to sound happier, giggling faintly.

I didn't respond and closed my eyes.

She seemed to be satisfied with my silence, and didn't press further.

I could hear the sound of rustling papers and my eyelids lifted lazily to find Feather studying the pictures of suspects again.

"Um.... what about this third person, Lady Hope?" she asked, showing me the third picture.

I looked at the descriptions of the suspects that was written on a separate piece of paper.

"Cho Shiritaka. Daughter of Seiji Shiritaka."

"D-d-daughter?!" Feather suddenly yelled. Her outburst must've scared the taxi driver because he made a sudden sharp skid to the left.

I held onto the door handle tightly to prevent myself from falling over and gritted my teeth.

"Sorry!" Feather apologized to the Taxi driver before switching her attention back to me.

"Yes, daughter." I confirmed her outburst in a strained tone.

"Umm.... what is she doing there?" She asks softly. "She couldn't have possibly..."

"Anything can happen in reality." I cut her off and fixated a hard look on her. "You should've known better by now."

She look as if my words had shot her right in the head. She hung her head in embarrassment.

".... yeah...."

"Um, Ladies, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think we're here." The taxi driver looked over his shoulder at us and gestured to the outside.

"Thank you." I thanked him without much emotion, getting out of the cab while Feather handled the tab.

There, we stood in front of the house of Haru Kinoshi.

I did the honors of knocking on his door.

I heard a deep, muffled voice shout from the inside followed by the sound of footsteps. "Coming!"

The door opened and the man I saw from the picture appeared before my eyes. "Yes?" he asked, surprised to see me. This time my ID card was already in my hand.

"Haru Kinoshi. We're here to investigate." I told him, raising my ID to his face.

His expression quickly faded to one that looked annoyed. "Again?" he groaned to himself, shaking his head. "I keep on telling you all, I didn't do it."

"It won't hurt to go through just another round of questioning, would it not?"

"I guess not." The man sighed in defeat, running his fingers through his hair. "Please," He said, moving to the side to make way for us. "Come in."

He lead us to his living room and told us to make ourselves comfortable on the sofa as he retreated to the kitchen to return minutes later with a tray of iced tea in his hands.

"Thank you." I thanked him and received the glass with both hands.

"No problem." He said casually, handing Feather a glass too.

He sat in front of us, his fingers laced together.

I sipped my tea without showing any care, ignoring his lingering look.

"So... what would you like to ask me, Miss..."

"Hope."

"Ah. Miss Hope. Yes, well, what is it that you want?"

I placed the already half empty glass onto the coffee table in front of me.

"I'm sure you know very well why we're here, Mr Kinoshi."

"Yes.. it's about Seiji-san's murder, isn't it?"

He sounded so calm about it. He didn't seem like he was hiding anything... or perhaps... it's just an act?

The possibilities were endless.

He shook his head again. "I didn't do it. I can swear my word on it."

"Mmmm." I ignored his words and started my questioning. "About your relationship with Mari Shiritaka-san...."

"Oh, Mari-chan. Ah, hm, well, I really do feel bad for the poor girl... being locked up for something she didn't commit."

"You don't think she did it?"

"How can I? She was such a sweet, young girl. So kind-hearted... never could've hurt a fly. She deserved so much better. Never knew what she saw in Seiji... Never will either..." he trailed off, a distant look behind his spectacles.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I see... and I understand that you and Seiji had a small... 'competition' before all of this? And he was the one ending up with a promotion instead of you."

He pulled out of own little world and blinked before shifting his spectacles. "I see where you're going with this Miss Hope.... and like I said, I did not, I repeat, I did not murder Seiji-san. I am a man of common sense, and I don't really think it's logical for me to go on and take his life just because he got the promotion instead of me. If he got the promotion, it just simply means that he's better than me. Nothing more. It's nothing much to fret about, anyway. In this world, it's either you win or lose. I think feelings like greed or revenge are just simply...." He paused for awhile to think. "What's the word, now? Overrated?"

I was busy watching the water droplets roll off the cold slippery glass as I listened to him babble on and on about his interpretation of the world. What a boring man.

"What do you think about jealousy, then?"

He chuckled at my persistence.

"My, you're quite stubborn. When I told the previous investigators this, they were all pretty much convinced. Is there anything I can do to prove that I'm not guilty?"

"I'm afraid not," I said, watching closely as a few more droplets slid down the glass. "As long as there is no solid proof of your innocence, there would always be a chance that you might be the murderer. I cannot afford to let that chance slip by. However... if there isn't any proof that you are the murder, there is nothing much I can do, either."

"True." He grinned weakly.

"I'll tell you what. Since I am not the murderer and wish to prove it myself, I'll help you in anyway I can to catch the real murderer. Have you heard of Mari-chan's sister, Megumi Kato?"

"Yes. She's also one of the listed suspects."

"And I suppose you've heard of Megumi's and Seiji's bitter past relationship?"

I nodded once.

He shifted his spectacles with his index finger.

"Blinded with rage, Megumi never did forgive Seiji-san or Mari-chan for that. She took it as if Mari-chan had betrayed her. In fact, she's probably still fuming about it now. The two siblings haven't spoken to each other for almost an year now. Poor Mari's been trying to patch things up again, but Megumi just shuts her off like a complete stranger. I don't know Megumi well, but if you think it's worth while to have a little talk with her, I can gladly give you the address of the nightclub she works at. She should be working right about now, so even if you try her apartment, she probably won't be home."

"That's fine... but... since you don't know Megumi well, why do you even have her work place address?" I asked with a skeptical look.

He smiled brightly at me.

"...That's because every single piece of information about Mari-chan's life, including information about her family members, is like a precious treasure to me!"


"..................."


I wrote down the address of the nightclub Megumi worked at and left without a single word more.


xXx


"What a freak." I mumbled. We were, once again, in a cab on the way to a nightclub known as 'Black & Gold'.

"I admit... he did kind of give me goosebumps, but he seemed pretty innocent, don't you think?" Feather added in her thoughts.

"It's too early to say that right now... I still have to investigate further before coming to any conclusion."

We soon arrived at Black & Gold. The place really lived up to it's name. The whole goddamn place was themed Black and Gold. The chairs, the walls, even the dance floor and spotlights... they were all painted black and a tacky, cheap shade of gold.

The choking smell of cigarettes and alcohol wafted to my nose.

Loud, deafening music boomed over the room, sending a migraine straight to my brain and I cringed in annoyance. Some imbecilic guy over the speakers was attempting to rap nonsensical English words and was failing. Badly.

The worst part was, the place was packed full of people, mostly skimpily dressed girls and unhygienic boys that looked like they were highschool dropouts, rubbing up against each other, dancing like nobody was watching.

Well, I tired not to watch. I just pray that I don't get out of here blind.

"It's so noisy in here!" Feather tried to yell, but the music drowned her words out.

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her with me to the bar.

"What will ya be having, Miss?" the bartender asks, leaning forward onto the counter. He was using a cloth to wipe a cocktail glass as he spoke to me.

"Actually, I came here to look for Megumi Kato. Do you know where I can find her? It's important." I tried to make myself as audible as possible.

"Oh, ya lookin' for Meggy-chan, huh? Important business, you say? Well, she's somewhere around serving drinks. If ya like, I can go search for her for you. Just wait at that empty VIP room over there." He pointed at a door at the corner of the room.

"Thank you."

The room was like a graveyard compared to the chaos we just indulged in. It was decorated in the main theme, black and gold, but seemed more high-class and fancier somewhat.

"My ears hurt." Feather moaned. She rubbed her templates with her fingers and frowned. "And I think I just got groped by someone!"

The door suddenly flew open and a woman wearing 5-inch high heals strutted in, her black dress flowing behind her.

She looked at us with her cat-liked eyes and shut the door nosily behind her.

"Are you the two girls that wanted to see me?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"We're here to ask you some questions about the murder of Seiji Shiritaka."

The woman's eyebrows knitted together at the sound of his name. Anyone could easily tell that she had some sort of grudge towards him.

Looks like Mr Kinoshi was right about the part where she still didn't forgive Seiji.

"What? What do I have to do with that good-for-nothing bastard? Anyway, I think he deserved what he got."

"That's exactly why we're here in the first place." I crossed my legs onto of one another and stared directly into her eyes.

"Hmph. So what? You think that I did it? That I murdered the moron?"

"Exactly." I replied bluntly.

She snorted and shot me a heated glare.

"I didn't do it." she said.

"Do you have any proof?" I countered back.

"Look, kid. I don't have the time to participate in any of your silly games." she huffed.

"This isn't a game, Miss Kato. Murder, as far as I'm concerned, is quite serious." I said, still staring into her eyes. I could tell that she felt nervous and adverted her eyes away from mine.

"I would like you to tell me more about your dispute with Seiji Shiritaka."

"Look... I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"


"It's not a matter of whether you want to or not. You have to."


"You're.... really pushing my buttons, kid."


"I don't see the harm in answering some questions. And... I am not a kid." I stated the last part dully, as if it was the simplest statement in the word.

Frustration suddenly emerged onto her face as she stared hard at the ground, clenching her fist.


"I... hate that guy so much.... but... F-fine. Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"I'm glad that you see things my way, Miss Kato." I rubbed my triumph in her face as I got out my phone.

She glared at me but I brushed it off, paying more attention to my phone.

"Let's start... What do you think about the victim, Seiji Shiritaka?"

"Do I have to repeat myself over and over? I hate the guy! Dead or alive, I still hate him! He's a good-for-nothing jerk!"


"Yes, well, but you probably didn't feel this way before, am I right? Afterall, you two were a couple once and you probably--"


"Enough." she cut me off halfway. "Don't remind me. That cheating, lying, no-good jerk... always playing with me... Never taking me seriously... I bet he cheated on me lots of times too... Asshole..." she growled, looking provoked.


"Yes, yes..." I agreed absentmindedly, not even bothering to look at her. "I'm sure he did..."


She was about to shout something at me when I stopped her with another question.

"What do you think of Mari Shiritaka, or... should I say, what do you think of your sister?"

She wasted no time in responding.

"She's as much as an asshole as he is. If not, maybe worse. She's a traitor and a backstabber." She paused for awhile before adding, "I hate her."

I could've rolled my eyes at her over-the-top flaming.

".... tell me, Megumi-san, do you have anger issues?"

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Let's move onto the next question..."

"Do you think that your sister is the murderer?"

"Truthfully... I find it surprising. Didn't think she'd have the guts to do such a thing. But anything can happen. In fact, she probably is the murderer."

"Where were you yesterday at 7:00pm to 8:00pm?"

"I was here, working."

"You couldn't have been working." I pointed out. "From my research, this nightclub only opens on weekdays, and yesterday was Sunday, it was the weekend."

A look of shocked slapped over Megumi's face.

"Since when did you do research, Lady Hope?" Feather asked, blinking in curiosity.

"About 5 minutes ago," I replied, referring to the access to the internet my phone was capable to pull off. "Ah, I've reached level 7."


'..... she was playing games all this while?' Megumi and Feather thought in unison.


"So tell me, Megumi-san, were you really at work? Because like I said, wouldn't the club be shut tight yesterday? I find it hard to believe that you'd be able to work here."


".... I...." she glared down at the floor.


"Were you lying?"


"No! I'm telling the truth!" She immeditely shouted, raising her head. "Fine, okay... the club was closed... but I was here. But I can't tell you why."


"That makes you very suspicious-sounding, Megumi-san."


"Whatever, I don't care."


I glanced up momentarily to observe her reaction. She seemed to look more and more uneasy.

"W-whatever... I didn't do it...." she said, as if she was trying to reassure herself.


The air seemed to grow slightly tenser.


"but... maybe I would've have. That bastard deserved everything that he got! Yeah, I would love to just take something and bash it against that thick skull of his." she spat, venom dripping from every word. Her feline-like eyes were flashing with anger.

We all sat in a temporary silence.

....



'CONGRATULATIONS! You've completed the game!'


"Ah, I won."


"......"


xXx


We were now standing outside of Black & Gold, finally being able to escape the annoying rap music and bloody idiots.

"Ah, Megumi-san didn't look too happy with us..."

"Doesn't matter. We can see her in court tomorrow." I looked at the dark sky. The street lamps had already been turned on and the streets were filled with zooming headlights. "It's getting late. You should sleep early, Feather."

"Ah... is Miss Hope.... worried?" Feather gushed with an oversize smile, an overjoyed - yet somehow creepy looking- sparkle glittering in her eyes.

"..Not really."

The strange glint in her green orbs quickly faded and so did her smile. Shot down with disappointment.

"...but your presence is still very important to me. I cannot have you to oversleep under any circumstance, understood?"

"H-hai!" The abnormal sparkle returned as fast as it disappeared. She turned around and pumped her fist in the air, cheering mentally. "I'll do my best!" she said to herself in concrete determination. "You should also get a good night's rest, Miss Hope!"

"No... I think I'll stay up to do some more research and investigating to get ready for tomorrow.."

she turned around and faced me again. "Are you going to speak with the last suspect, Miss Hope?"

"I can't." I shook my head. "She's been taken into custody, since no one is there to take care of her now. It's highly unlikely that they'll let me speak with her at this point of time."

"Oh.... I wonder what kind of person Cho-chan is?" the blond said thoughtfully, putting a finger onto her chin. "She looked pretty distant in the picture."

I looked on as the cars zoomed by, the yellow headlights blinding.

"Who knows..."

Three of them were suspects.
And any one of them could be the murderer.

Just the thought of it... made this case just a little less boring.

This mystery was just like a puzzle game, and I've got all the pieces in my hands.

Now, it's just about how I go about in fixing them into place..

If I just play my cards right... I'll definitely win this little game in the end.

We'll see, hmm?