Author Notes: Hohoho~ A second SebNeu fic from me lol. This time is a semi-collaboration between me and the awesome Someya – she helped me refine my plot and discuss the finer details to keep the characters in character! THANK YOU LOADS. 3 But to be honest, I don't think I really liked how this turned out; this is a problem on my part since I don't think I could properly 'express' the plot we had originally come up with. I phail. D8
Disclaimer: I don't own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro and Kuroshitsuji or anything related to it.
"Is there some sort of trick involved in this case? I mean, we've got the criminal on video, the method of murder, common points between each murder… But so far we've still got no idea on how the criminal transports himself so quickly to another crime scene and how he leaves the scene without being seen at all." Yako studied the information laid out of Troy, a finger tapping gently on her cheek as her eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
"A trick?" The demon leaned back in his chair and scanned the papers, "If there's no trick, then it's a mystery not worth eating, you brainless thing of a living creature."
Despite him saying that, Neuro truly had no idea how the criminal could have committed all his crimes at such inhuman speed. In the string of murder cases, they had many common points – the way the victims died, the mysterious means by which the criminal employed to exit the scene, the fact that the victims were owners of black cats and the disappearance of their pets. It was odd how the criminal would allow himself to be captured by the security cameras and yet be unidentifiable by police and him alike. His thoughts drifting back to the detail about the culprit's inhuman speed and the hint of untraceable departures, a string snapped in his mind.
What if the murderer wasn't human to begin with?
"Neuro?" The blonde girl inquired when she saw her demonic boss' eyebrows fly up in realization and uneasiness.
Rising to his feet, the bicolour haired man pushed the window behind him open and leapt into the city, leaving no explanation behind for his slave who frantically tried to gather all the scattered papers before they flew out the window after the demon.
Before long, Neuro was standing at the very point of Tokyo Tower, his emerald eyes shut and his breathing slow and calm. As the wind ruffled his hair, the golden hairclips clinking against one another, Neuro sifted through all the various auras that the residents of Tokyo emitted. Not the office workers. Not the housewives. Not the children. Then there was a faint ghastly song of a raven and the flutter of wings; but there was something special that surrounded the animal's existence, however when he searched for it again, it had vanished completely. During the next few minutes of probing for the presence of that bird, Neuro was defeated by vexation and impatience. Thinking it no longer possible to find that raven, the bird demon let his eyes flicker open, a look of unsatisfactory etched in his eyes.
Just when he thought that it might be him mistaking it for something else, there was a purr that echoed in his mind. He could feel the raven's distinct eyes staring at him at the back of his mind, its razor sharp talons digging into his shoulders. When Neuro turned a little to look behind him, amongst the hustling bustling of the city's traffic and noisy streets, the demon spotted a familiar face. But when he narrowed his eyes to focus more on the figure, it was gone.
A light mocking chuckle resonated in him, "Catch me if you can, parrot."
"Oh? A challenge is it?" The demon in the startling blue suit mused, "Accepted with gratitude."
That same day another three murders were committed at record time. Neuro had received messages and calls from Yako asking about his absence but he had ignored them all. There was no point in examining more of the murders when they're all the same. A human covered in scratch marks with two fatal injuries which left a detached limb lying around and a lolling head on the ground, a closed room murder, the footage of the criminal captured on tape and the disappearance of the black cat. Other than that, absolutely no evidence was left behind whatsoever. Neuro could almost taste the mouth-watering aromatic mystery on the tip of his tongue and yet he couldn't grasp it at all to his frustration.
Wandering the lit streets and alleys of Tokyo, the mystery eating demon could constantly feel a cat's keen eyes drilling into him, persistently observing him no matter where he went. At one point, Neuro's slowly deteriorating demon stamina left him wanting to sit down. Selecting the rooftop of a tall office building that was not exactly a skyscraper; Neuro heaved a sigh as he plopped down on the cold cement and stared aimlessly into the distance. Upon feeling something furry brushing against his arm, the demon looked down to see a black cat with bright yellow eyes purring and nuzzling him. Picking up the curious creature under its arms, Neuro stared into its golden syrup eyes. Suddenly the animal snapped out of its daze, hissing and scrambling in his hands until Neuro let it go and it scampered away, melting back into the shadows.
"You really mustn't be too rough with my sweetheart like that." A voice smooth like silk said from behind the multi colour haired demon.
Standing up from where he was seated at the very edge of the building where it turned and dropped hundreds of feet at a vertical angle until it met with the ground, the said demon turned around and said, "I was already being as gentle I can with fleabags like those, Sebastian."
Sebastian gave let a facsimile of a smile spread across his face. The scarlet eyed man peered over the edge of the building and scanned the cityscape.
"Solved the mystery yet?"
"No."
"Odd. I thought you would've had your meal by now."
"Perhaps because the culprit isn't willing to reveal anymore clues for me to understand the trick he used in the case."
"Did you try negotiating? I do have an offer, but it depends on you."
Neuro's half lidded eyes settled on his companion with interest. "Hmm? Let's hear it."
"I'll aid you in order to fill your stomach and you give me something I want in return." Sebastian stated as he left the black cats clambering over one another and stood beside Neuro. He cast him a languid look, "Your choices are limited, parrot."
Neuro stood rooted to his position, considering the arrangement. If he got the information, he would be able to eat his snack. It was a win-win situation. No, wait. 'I'll aid you in order to fill you stomach'. Does that mean he's not actually the culprit? But he was the one who suggested the entire ordeal and all evidence and the case's missing pieces all point to him, an existence far superior to the human race like himself.
As he considered the bigger picture, Sebastian watched the taller demon ponder for a while before he stepped away from the edge and waved casually in a lazy manner that irritated Neuro to no limit, "I've got better things to do than wait around for you to make your decision, so I'll hear your answer later."
Just as the raven haired man was about to twist the doorknob of the door which led back down to the lower floors, a black gloved hand slammed hard into the door, keeping it shut. Releasing his hand and turning around to face decisive green eyes with an eerie glow, Sebastian smiled again.
He hated that blood curdling smile. Neuro despised every fibre of that demon who could easily outsmart him if he wished to do so. And he hated how he always gave into that arrogant and proud attitude of that infuriating intelligent thing of a demon – it wasn't the first time that he's had to submit to Sebastian for the sake of his growling stomach. It was the same trick each time; use a bait to get him interested, receive the benefits and then reveal that the entire thing was a lie. Neuro knew all this and yet he kept getting tricked by the same plan, over and over again.
Sebastian reached out and gave the white scarf wrapped around the mystery eating demon's neck a firm yank so that they were face to face, "Made our decisions have we? Then let's move on to the next step of the deal."
In the end, it was exposed to be yet another trick that Neuro had fallen into.
The criminal wasn't Sebastian, but some petty housekeeper and a group of carefully assembled accomplices with black cat fetishes who like the animals, were careful with not leaving a single trace or hint behind at the crime scene. Firstly, the housekeeper would be seen on the video tapes going to her employer's apartment and being let in. Then when the cat owner had his or her back turned while in the kitchen, the housekeeper then proceeded to use whatever was in the surroundings to knock the victim out after using a cloth inside the household to prevent her fingerprints from being left behind. Following this, the culprit would drag the unconscious victim into the corridor near the door and proceed to chop off the victim's head in one swift swing with a cleaver that she brings along in order to ensure that the victim is dead and would not make any noise. Then the housekeeper would cut off a limb of her choice. Another clue that Neuro had failed to notice was that all victims were avid gardeners and owned gardening tools. The murderer then uses a rake to create the image of scratches on the body. Because the housekeeper was a woman, she wouldn't have the strength to carry the victim and hence during her dragging, many objects would be left awry; to conceal this fact, she then utilizes her skills as a housekeeper to fix the crime scene until it was the same as before. As for the effect of a closed room murder, the criminal did not need to close all windows to create this effect. Simply leaving them in their original states would be sufficient as the crime scenes were usually in slightly older buildings more than twenty stories high with all apartments of the building in use. All the residents in the building had stated that they didn't hear nor notice their neighbour die. It didn't seem like any of them were lying either. Before departing, the housekeeper had printed her fingerprints on things she would've used if she was truly doing her job. With everything set up, the criminal then changed into unstained clothes and took the dirtied ones with her and left, knowing she wouldn't be locked out of the apartment because the door was fit with a deadlock, meaning she could easily leave the door unlocked from the inside.
In between the culprit's next visit and her last visit, an accomplice would then go to the victim's residence, feint a visit and then after a while, leave. After a few days she came again, the culprit rang the bell as usual but received no answer. With knowledge that the hallways are under surveillance from security cameras which were unable to record sound after researching beforehand, the housekeeper then called her employer which was futile as she knew. Then she would knock on the door instead which would then become banging against the door until she would then push down on the door handle and stumble into the apartment and 'discover' the victim's body. The black cat would then take its chance to escape after a few days of starvation once catching a whiff of delicious cat food outside the building in the back alleys where it had been placed previously. Then she would then act panicked and then after 'snapping out of her daze', seemingly call the police when she was calling her accomplice with their shared fetish to go fetch the animal from the alleys. Then the accomplice would call the police to inform them of the discovery.
The truth behind the inhumanly possible speedy transportation of was a trick of simply having her accomplices murder in the same method but with different circumstances; for example, a prostitute accompanying her customer home at night or something similar to gain easy entry to the apartments. Essentially, they led up to the same culprit but the plan was executed by different people.
The smart crimson eyed demon had once again to the chagrin of Neuro, used information to his advantage and manipulated his mind again. It was in situations like this that the emerald eyed demon found his gifted intellectual brain be rendered entirely worthless. Not to mention that this time it was a simplistic mystery of a low grade and that he had been over thinking about all the time; that only made him angrier with himself. But on the other hand, he always had his slaves to take this dissatisfaction out on anytime, any day; Neuro found that just by thinking about it, his mood lightened up a little.