One weeks later....

Basically, my job was to look at what the police found at a crime scene and give them the answer to the crime; how it happened, who did it, the like.

Despite what you see on TV, believe me, it's not nearly as easy as it looks. And it's certainly not solved in an hour. In fact, sometimes cases are never solved.

The fact that a week has gone by already and I still haven't made any definitive progress is proof of that. New information came regularly, but it almost never helped. I still didn't know Beyonds' motives, his goals, his location, anything.

In fact, the only real lead was another strange message left in his latest victim; A twenty-seven year old woman. She had apearently been beaten harshly before having multiple knife wounds inflicted all over her body. The crowning achievement on this gruesome masterpiece was a pole, (2.5 feet long, 1/4 inch wide), driven through her head. There was a piece of paper taped to the pole; it read thus...

"Too think I only Invigerated you miserable Louses, how Lowd I proclamed my warning. If all that You do is Obzerve, to you Untold Deathes I will conduct from my Impereus sanctum. the End will come soon."

Scary, huh? I'd been looking at that one and the first message for a week straight now, determined to finish the puzzle.

Unfortunately, my roommate had other ideas.

"Ai-chan, you need to take a break."

"Huh?" I mumbled, peeling my face off my keyboard.

I'd just pulled another all-nighter.

"I said you need a break," she repeated. "It's not healthy to shut yourself up inside a house all day, looking at...," she made a disgusted face and waved at the pile off case files strewn across my desk, "...that all day."

"This is what I do," I argued drowsily, "it's what puts food on the table, and the thing that keeps you from moving back in with your parents." In case you were wondering, Sakura's parent are more micro-managing than than a champion Starcraft player.

"Regardless," she said, not as detered by my curve ball as I thought, "a girl like you needs to be outside, interacting, meeting boys..."

"Is there a point to all this? I asked impatiently.

"Go shopping. Maybe if you let your head clear a bit you can solve this case faster, and maybe clear that desk off sooner?" she not-so-subtly hinted.

"Maybe you're right, but why shopping?"

"Because we're almost out of food, aho! Or did you not notice all the cobwebs in the cubord?"

"Point taken," I said, raising form my chair. "but I an only carry four bags, so don't expect a feast fit for the Emperor tonight."

"And get some Pockey too. I have something special planned with Raymon-kuu tonight," she called after me as I headed out the door.

I don't even want to know what she meant by that, I thought wryly after I shut the door.

Because, if there's one thing more frightening than than a crazed serial killer, it's the inner workings of Sakura's mind.

.oOo.

I decided to take the bus instead of hailing a taxi. Cheaper fares. I don't know why I did though, I was still feeling incredibly uneasy after my unsettling experience a week ago. However, I knew a shop owner in Tokyo who used to be friends with my parents. After they died, he said they I'd always be welcome with him and his family.

I never took him up on that, but ever since he's always got me good deals on food whenever I see him.

Anyways, I eventually gathered all the things I thought were essential (plus the pocky) and headed to the checkout counter.

"Hi there," a girl of about eightteen said cheerfully. She had unnatural blond hair, even more so then the orange haired kid from a week ago. She so was fully adorned in Goth Lolita that the apron she wore over it did nothing to hide it.

"I haven't seen you hear before," I remarked, trying to make small talk.

"Misa just started working here a few days ago." Her voice was annoyingly high pitched, and the she spoke in the third person equally so. "I've been looking for a job since September- Excause me."

She slid over the counter and walked over to a young boy in a school uniform.

"Conan, I thought I told you not to play with to boxes."

"Sorry Nee-chan. I forgot my comic books at home, so I thought I'd fix the stuff on the shelves."

"Actually, kid," I said, kneeling down next to him, "the owner doesn't like it when people re-arrange the shelves." I whispered into his ear, "I tried that once, and he got so mad, his face turned bright red. Like a police light." The boy chuckled at this.

"Really?"

"Really." The kid beamed and pulled out a magnifying glass.

"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a detective," he said proudly, hold the glass above his head in victory. Then he looked at me again, "Are you a detective?"

"Actually, yes, I am."

"Whoa," the kid was speechless.

"Ma'am," the girl, Misa, said from behind the counter, her hand held out, palm upwards.

"I should probably pay for all of that, shouldn't I?" I asked sheepishly. I patted the boy on the head and went back to my waiting groceries.

I looked at the five digit figure on the register display sighed.

Curse my fervent desire to be well stocked.

"Here," I said, taking out some bills, "take some out for yourself, it is almost Christmas after all."

"But, I can't accept this," Misa siad bashfully. "I have to give you something in return."

"Oh, that's really not-"

"Would you like your fortune told?" she asked cheerfully. "Misa's really good at that."

"Fine," I said, my voice more than betraying my disbelief. Besides, what did I have to loose?

She closed her eyes, and for a moment it looked like she'd fallen asleep.

When she opened them again her eyes were filled with fright.

"You're going to die soon, and the one you seek is closer than you think." Then, without another word, she handed me my bags stared at me until I left.

I think I might actually be in danger.


Thoughts of Beyond.

In the melodious cacophony of the waking orchestra the final player slowly aproaches the final seat, unwilling to pluck the broken instrument in her hands.

She just sits there, the Shell of a soul that once was. Ignorant, she walks toward the begining, molting wings ascend her to the floor.

Soon, the end will make way for the begining.

I wait, ready to cut flower from its' stalk, to give it eternal life.

Soon, my bride will receive her last kiss.

Soon, someone will die.

Soon....