So here is the new story I wanted to publish yesterday but for some reason I didn't get around to editing. I have the entire thing written so it is just a mater of convincing myself to edit. Editing is always the most heinous part. But anyways, onto the story.
Tsuzuki was lying back in the squishy office chair he had smuggled into the office. This one could be reclined without any fear of falling over. His feet were up on the desk, his head supported by his hands, his eyes closed. Ah, there was nothing in life that was as good as ignoring paperwork. It was made only better by the fact that Tsuzuki was also having an amazing dream.
He was probably drooling. But who wouldn't when Cinnabons and apple pie were present. It was a lovely dream. The apple pie was big enough for him to swim in. And it had Cinnabons decorating the top crust. And the Cinnabons had whipped cream. And there was vanilla bean ice cream on the side with caramel drizzle! Tsuzuki was going to have to enlist the help of Watari to figure out how to make food this big. The Cinnabons were the size of his head!
Tsuzuki dreamt of himself diving into the apple pie. It was warm enough to make the ice cream melt and warm Tsuzuki up like he had dived into a fresh pile of laundry. He began eating his way through the pie, moaning as he took a combined bite of pie, Cinnabon, and whipped cream.
But then, Tsuzuki felt the apple pie turning upside down, himself falling with it. It wasn't long before Tsuzuki fell out of the pie and onto the ground. He yelped in pain, opening his eyes and squinting. His head was wringing now and Tsuzuki was sure he knew who the culprit was.
"Hi-so-kaaaaa!" he whined. Hisoka knew that after lunch was Tsuzuki's dreaming time. It was a time when he could swim through apple pie and eat enough deserts to fill him for a lifetime (not an easy feat).
"Actually, it's me. Hisoka is already in the briefing room," Tastumi said.
Tsuzuki peeked up at the secretary and smiled. "Did you bring me cake?" This lunch break could turn around yet!
Tatsumi shook his head. "You have a case. Come on. If I have to ask you again I'll dock your paycheck." Tatsumi sure knew how to threaten a guy. Tsuzuki was on his feet very quickly. They say the fastest land mammal is a cheetah. It's not. It's Tsuzuki when he's afraid of not being able to eat desert.
"You can't dock it!" Tsuzuki wailed, racing out the door after Tsuzuki. "I barely have enough for desert! I can only get it every other meal! And only one piece!" Fat crocodile tears began to leak down his face. Tatsumi knew how to threaten Tsuzuki. But Tsuzuki knew how to play Tatsumi.
"Maybe if you actually budgeted, you would have enough for desert."
Tsuzuki turned around at the sound at Hisoka's voice and smiled. Hisoka was also easy to convince when it came to desert.
"Tsuzuki, I can hear your thoughts. I'm not getting desert for the next two months. In fact, I'll only be eating foods with green peppers in it." Hisoka brushed by Tsuzuki, his nose turned up.
"No! I hate green peppers. You can't do something so mean, Hisoka!" Tsuzuki cried once more. Though he took this opportunity to relieve Hisoka of some of the folders he was carrying. Why didn't anyone else help with this? The height of the folders was towering over Hisoka's head. Tsuzuki was surprised he hadn't toppled over already.
"Well that's because this case dates back to the 1950s. Of course there's going to be a lot of folders," Hisoka sighed, brushing past Tsuzuki once more and walked into the conference room.
Tsuzuki found his seat and started flipping through the case files. They were all pretty gruesome. All of the victims had committed suicide. Tsuzuki fingered his watch. It was times like these that made the scars burn, reminding Tsuzuki of the sin he had committed. Hisoka slid over a cookie Wakaba had baked earlier. He didn't even turn towards Tsuzuki. Tsuzuki smiled and began munching on the cookie. He wasn't sure how much Hisoka knew about his past. But he wouldn't be surprised to know Hisoka knew more than he let on. He was polite enough to let Tsuzuki tell him in his own time. Not that Tsuzuki ever wanted to tell Hisoka. Hisoka had his own demons that needed to be dealt with before he took on Tsuzuki's.
"They all committed suicide?" Tsuzuki asked.
"After jumping from a moving train," Hisoka clarified. "But, there are no notes from any of the victims, so maybe not a suicide?"
"But if they didn't have anything to write notes on, they may not have left them." Tsuzuki didn't leave a note when he died. He had no reason. There was no one he wanted to talk to.
"You also have to take into account that none of these people were in the book as scheduled to die," Tatsumi said, handing out some more files.
"But there's no real pattern. Everyone is different: different ages, heights, builds, genders, even ethnicity. There's nothing apparent that would connect them."
Tsuzuki shook his head and closed one of the files. A mother jumped off the train with her young child into the sharp rocks below.
"There has to be something that connects them. People don't kill for no reason. There has to be something we're missing," Tsuzuki added.
"Well, the only thing we can find, other than no one being scheduled to die, is the train." Tatsumi pushed his glasses up. "The train they jumped off of is the same. Every time the train leaves the station in Tokyo and travels down to Hiroshima, there is at least one jumper."
Tsuzuki flinched at the nonchalant nature Tatsumi spoke about these deaths. He could never understand how anyone could be so cold towards human lives. He had been working here for such a long time and even he was not able to separate his emotions from the case. It was probably his downfall. But he could never be cold. He could never be ruthless.
Tsuzuki glanced over at Hisoka. The kid had his nose buried in a file. As much as Hisoka peaked into Tsuzuki's mind, he had enough respect to not do it at every instance. Tsuzuki looked down at the file. He supposed there was one person he would be ruthless with, should he meet him again. But not for his sake.
Hisoka put down the folder and huffed. "So I'm guessing you want us to board this train and figure out what's going on."
"Of course. We don't think Muraki is behind it, since some of the dates are before his time." Both Tsuzuki and Hisoka stiffened upon hearing the name. "But just to be sure, we need constant updates from you both. We can't have an incident like the Queen Camilla happening again." Tatsumi said these words as if they were nothing. But Hisoka curled in on himself. Tsuzuki allowed his emotions to calmly wrap around Hisoka. He couldn't comfort Hisoka with hugs like he wanted to. But he could do something to calm him down.
Tsuzuki knew Hisoka was still having nightmares. He knew the kid was still hurting. He knew that Hisoka was having a hard time eating, and was still angry at himself for letting Muraki get away with an even larger loss of life than the last time. But Hisoka was so afraid at letting people down and getting hurt again that he would never accept Tsuzuki's help. At least, not publicly.
Tsuzuki himself was still hurting from the incident as well. The night after he had made sure Hisoka wasn't going to jump out a window, he had gone home and gotten himself spectacularly drunk. He remembered pulling out a knife and wanting to end it all again so badly. It was really only the fact that Hisoka was still alive that kept Tsuzuki from killing himself, well, killing himself permanently.
"Tsuzuki, your shields are down," Hisoka hissed.
"Oops, sorry." Tsuzuki flashed Hisoka a smile and quickly worked on repairing his shields. He wondered how much Hisoka had felt.
"Everything." Hisoka snapped a folder shut.
"Sorry. I'm still not used to be so careful." Tsuzuki said and quickly regretted. Hisoka's body stiffened. "Not that it's your fault." Tsuzuki quickly added. "It's not like you can control it or anything." Tsuzuki laughed nervously. Hisoka could be very sensitive to anything regarding his empathy. He still, after all, believed it was a curse.
"When does the train leave?" Hisoka said abruptly.
"Tomorrow morning at five." Tatsumi handed Hisoka the tickets. Tsuzuki whined about not being able to hold them. Hisoka silenced him with a look.
Then Tsuzuki realized that Tatsumi said five in the morning. "Really? I don't want to get up that early. Can't we just teleport on the train later?" Tsuzuki whined. His question was answered when Hisoka slammed his very bony fist down on Tsuzuki's head.
"Idiot! We can't do that. What if the culprit only shows up at the beginning?" Hisoka scolded. He stood up and scooped the files into his bag.
Tsuzuki rubbed his head and pouted. Five A.M. was too early for anyone to get up, no matter what they were doing.
oOoOoOo
Another stroke. Another brush. Another color. The eyes. The eyes were always the hardest to get.
She ran her hand along the side of the train, singing low. Singing softly. Not many people saw her. Children were usually the ones to point her out to their parents, tugging on their clothes and asking why a lady was walking on the train tracks. A few adults would see her, but those were rare. She trailed a hand through her hair. She could still feel the strands; soft as the day she died. Would anyone else be able to feel it?
The train whistle blew, retreating from the station. She faded into the side of the train and smiled when she felt that presence. She smiled and let herself be taken to him. Seeing him, bright green eyes, corn silk hair, pale skin, he was beautiful. The man he was with wasn't bad either. His eyes were purple. But she already knew who was going to die. Maybe this time she would get her revenge. Maybe this time she could finish her painting.