Quick, sharp breaths and sharply snapping footsteps break the silence in the long hall of a mostly empty house. A trail of scarlet blood is left behind, dripping from the victim's abdomen as he tries to get away from the slow, level steps of his attacker.
His legs weak and starting to feel like lead, dragging him down till he trips, sprawling on the ground as his attacker draws closer, the sound of expensive boots on the floor at a brisk, but nonchalant pace. Tears falling down as he begins to scream, begging for mercy.
"I think the most enjoyable thing about humans is the sweet, desperate begging they do on the brink of death~" His attacker is amused, and he catches a glimpse of the man's face. Almost demonic red eyes, pale skin, and short black hair. He burns the image into his brain, screaming one more plea before..
A fatal stab..
"What do you w- A what?!" The previously laid-back officer stands from his chair at the sudden news of someone being fucking murdered.
"S..some officers found a body- well a- a part of one- In the- the woods a few m-miles from that Orihara's place outside the city- They found a h-head.." The noticeably scrawnier officer explains anxiously, trembling so hard that his thick framed glasses slip down the bridge of his nose.
"Do they know who the victim was?" The taller and higher ranking officer runs his hand through his coarse, bleach blond hair. They haven't had to deal with a literal murder in months and months, and now this, this just came out of total fucking left field.
"Th-they identified the head as Kida Masaomi's, h-he was a student at Raira academy.. they- They couldn't find a body though.. A-and his head.. H-he had an eye missing- S-Shizuo!" Unable to stop his superior, the smaller of the two quickly follows him out.
"The body was near Orihara's place, right? I'm going to question that insufferable slimy little TICK..!" To be truthful, Shizuo has never met this Orihara, but he's seen him on tv, and that 'holier-than-thou' smirk the man wears, along with the nasty, smug lilt to his voice. Orihara, from what he knows, is beyond wealthy, and he damn sure talks about it a lot.
"S-Shizuo! Orihara has nothing to do with the murder, I'm sure of it!"
Beast mode. That's what everyone in the station calls it. And Shinra's just set it off again.
Grabbing the bespectacled man by his collar, Shizuo pulls him forward till he's mere inches from his face.
"Guilty or not fucking guilty, he lives right fucking there, and he could give us some information." Shizuo growls. Beast mode must be less extreme today, since he just releases Shinra from his grip, and walks out, out of the building and gets in his car. He pulls out and is driving away before anyone can come with him.
It's around 45 minutes before Shizuo reaches the gates of Orihara's extremely not humble abode. It's not long before he's let into the gates.
As he's walking from his car to the entrance, god knows how far it is, he feels a slight chill up his spine at the quiet and foreboding atmosphere of the grounds. If the kid's body was found a few miles off from the house, there's a chance it could still be on the grounds.. He starts to grow suspicious towards Orihara. He reaches the actual damn house after a few minutes more of walking. He gives the door a solid knock, waiting for someone to answer.
"Yes, yes, I'm coming- Ahh~ A police officer? My my, what could I have done, Officer?"
"Officer Heiwajima Shizuo, Ikebukuro Police Department. I just need to ask you some questions. In case you were unaware, parts of a teenage boy's body were found near to your property." Shizuo tries to stay calm, despite this man oozing with snobbish, all knowing composure.
"Aah, a police officer came all the way from Tokyo to speak to me?" Orihara smiles with just the faintest hint of wickedness, not even reacting to the explanation of the Kida kid's murder.
"The victim was from that area, so of course we'd be on the case.." Shizuo says under his breath, more to himself than to Orihara. This guy is seriously fucking creepy..
"I see~" Orihara catches him off guard, "Well, if you're going to question me, you ought to come in."
Since Orihara isn't a legitimate suspect, Shizuo can't drag him down to the station for questioning, so he's got to question him here. He takes a second to survey Orihara's body. Thin and small, around four inches shorter than Shizuo but probably at least a bit muscular, with short black hair, pale skin that suggests he's never left his home (When he really often does), and red, red eyes. He's dressed in a black vest, tie, and pants, and red shirt. Shizuo notes that those are colors one wouldn't notice blood on easily. Now I'm just being paranoid, he tells himself as Orihara lets him in.
He surveys the foyer for anything amiss, trying to be discreet so Orihara won't be suspicious of his suspicion. Nothing's really wrong, at least not till he catches a glimpse of a small patch of something red on the floor.
"Ah, my maid must've hurt herself and forgot to clean up the blood." Orihara doesn't flinch at Shizuo's notice of the blood on the floor, and talks of his maid as if she's below human, or a lowly slave. The thought of someone being SO disgusting, that they could treat someone like that makes Shizuo's blood boil. "Ahh, no matter~ Come in, have a seat. How do you take your coffee?"
"I don't," Shizuo says firmly, a deadpan expression forming on his face that rivals the famous one of his younger brother.
"That's rather rude, I'm only trying to be hospitable. Now, how do you take your coffee?" Orihara's lips curl into a disturbing smile.
"Plain," Shizuo says simply, having zero knowledge of coffee. He calmly comes to a stop with Orihara in the lavish living room.
"Have a seat, please~ My maid will be in to give us our coffee soon." Orihara smiles, taking a seat and folding his hands in his lap. As if she was explicitly called upon, a woman with long, dark hair, dressed in a plain and modest maid's outfit. Shizuo studies her, no sign of an injury that could've made her bleed. His brows furrow in suspicion. Orihara is most likely lying.
"Ah, there you are.. Namie~" Orihara seems to struggle to call the maid's name up, but quickly shrugs it off as if it was nothing. "Can you get two black coffees for me and my guest?" Fake kindness just oozes from Orihara's smug voice.
"Yes Sir," Namie, the maid says, her voice dry. She slowly leaves the room, unaware that Shizuo is observing her for something like a limp.
"Hm? What do you want with my maid?" Orihara's nasty voice draws Shizuo's attention back to him, and he remembers that he's here to question Orihara, not to search around his house, just yet.
"Whatever. Well, Mr. Orihara, would you happen to have heard anyone screaming or similar sounds in the last few days? Sometime last night probably." Shizuo turns back to meet Orihara's smirking face.
"Ah, I was hoping we wouldn't have to talk about the murder~" Orihara sounds like he doesn't really mind talking about the murder of Kida Masaomi, almost like it excites him. "As someone who harbors quite a love for humanity, it's always truly terrible hearing about a murder~"
"Answer my question, Orihara," Shizuo snaps.
"No, I haven't heard screaming or anything of the sort," Orihara replies. He's smiling far too much for someone talking about murder.
The maid comes back in, and sets down two cups of coffee on the table. Having a paranoid suspicion it could be drugged, Shizuo doesn't touch his coffee. Rude or not, he doesn't fucking trust this bastard. Orihara seems rather displeased that he doesn't take the drink.
The questioning continues, with Orihara completely denying he knows anything about the murder, and Shizuo growing less trusting of him (which says a lot, since he barely trusted Orihara from the start).
It's an hour or so before Shizuo can't come up with anything to ask Orihara, and with a polite but stiff 'thank you for taking time to let me question you', he walks out of the manor, heading to the gate.
With clouds starting to roll in, hinting at the start of rain soon, the place is even more disturbing and foreboding. He makes it back to the gates without a hitch, and gets in his car. Slowly pulling out, he leaves the Orihara home for now, heading back to the police station in Ikebukuro.
When he arrives at the station, the rain is falling in merciless torrents, and there's a bike laying on the ground by the door into the station. Running in before he gets soaked, he sees a short, scrawny teenage boy who somewhat resembles a younger version of Orihara. The kid is sobbing hysterically, and Shinra and one of the other officers Kyohei, are trying to calm him down.
"C-can you p-please t-tell me w-what happened!? I-I know y-you know what h-happened to Masaomi!" Shizuo's eyes open wide when he hears the name the kid says. This poor kid, his friend was murdered, and he doesn't even know.
"I-I'm sorry, we- Shizuo! You're back!" Shinra seems to melt in relief when he sees Shizuo standing dripping wet in the doorway.
"What's going on here?" Shizuo asks wearily, watching the panicking Shinra, exhausted and silent Kyohei, and the panicking kid they're dealing with.
"S-Sir, please!" The kid starts off on another panicky tirade, "I-I need to know w-what happened t-to my friend! H-he disappeared!"
"What is his name?" Shizuo asks, hoping his firm tone will calm the poor kid down.
"K-Kida Masaomi.." Shizuo goes tense at the name. "Th-that's what they did too!" The kid sobs, pointing at Shinra and Kyohei. Suddenly, his crying just.. stops. The kid stares down at his feet, completely silent.
"If you.. won't.. tell me.. I have my suspicions.. I'll go find Masaomi's kidnapper.. or killer myself.. And make them pay.." The kid's voice is shaky and uneven, and at a slow pace, he starts off for the door. Shizuo steps in front of door.
"Kid. You're staying here until we can get someone to pick you up," Shizuo says with a tired sigh.
"I have a name, Sir.. It's Ryugamine Mikado.." His voice is still solemn and uneven, but he's calming, and it's unnerving.
"Okay then.. Do you have anyone we can contact?" Ryugamine shakes his head.
"My parents are... Busy.. Sir, please let me leave. I can take myself home." The kid reminds Shizuo of Orihara, just with anxiety instead of wit. And oddly, Shizuo has nothing against him.
"If nobody can pick you up, I'm going to at least drive you home." Shizuo comes up with a compromise which Ryugamine begrudgingly says he'll agree to. Shizuo takes the kid out to his car, and lets him in, and they pull out from the station, rain still pouring down.
"Do you know the last place your friend was before he went missing?" Shizuo feels bad, but decides to question the kid anyways.
"H-he went to visit his girlfriend, she's a live in maid for this wealthy man outside of town.." Ryugamine says softly, and Shizuo immediately knows he means Orihara. The creepy tick must have more than one maid, since there's no way a high schooler would date someone in her twenties like that Namie woman.
"What is his girlfriend's name?"
"Mikajima Saki.." The kid says softly. "I-I think.."
So Orihara definitely has two maids, Shizuo deduces. "So you haven't heard from him since he went to see her?" Ryugamine nods at this.
"Yes.. And can you please tell me what happened to him..?"
"I'm real sorry, kid, but... We found your friend's body yesterday in the woods by the Orihara place.." Shizuo swallows hard, waiting for the reaction.
"O..oh.. I h-had my suspicions.." Ryugamine is quite shaken up at the words, but he doesn't panic much. "A-ah, um.. we're here.. Thank you, Sir.."
Unsure about just leaving the poor kid, but basically having to, he lets him out in front of the apartment building. It's a pretty nice building, so at least the kid definitely lives with people. Shizuo watches for the kid to go inside the building, before driving off to return to the station, the car radio almost drowned out by the rain outside.
As he goes up in the elevator, Ryugamine Mikado thinks about the words of the police officer. If Masaomi's body was found near to Orihara's.. Then there has to be at least a little chance Orihara is guilty! No matter what the man says, Mikado is now convinced that Orihara is one hundred percent guilty. He wants this man to know of his crime..
"Orihara Izaya is going to pay.."