The Phantom's Identity
A pair of voices could be heard, one screaming in agony, the other sobbing loud and hard as if despair had completely engulfed them.
In the Underground of Tokyo, inside a room which looked like something straight out of a horror film, was Rokuko Hinata whom wailed and sobbed pathetically as her victim lay strapped to a cold metal table shrieking in anguish.
She had only just begun her treatment, the removal of finger and toe nails, she was soon to begin the extraction of skin. This she would do as carefully as she could manage as to keep the skin in only two separate pieces. Before she could remove the epidermis she would have to wipe the tears from her eyes, and allow her victim to take a few breaths.
"…Gah…Wh…Why?" Rasped the woman. "…Are you crying like that? Wh-" she coughed. "Why… Ugh… Are you even doing this?"
Rokuko's crying stopped mid-sob, she straightened suddenly. The woman's eyes widened a fraction as she saw Rokuko's once tear streaked face turn completely blank, void of any remorse as she looked down on her with cold eyes.
"Why do you human's always ask 'why'? It should be obvious shouldn't it?" Rokuko's tone was cold and intelligent then, it had completely lost the sluggish reluctance it usually held. "I'm only giving you what you expect of me." She began to explain. "Humans expect ghouls to be monsters, and so here I am. A monster doing the very worst I can to you. How am I? Have I lived up to your standards?" The woman took in a sharp breath.
"So… You've been crying like that just to mock me then!" She accused as her own eyes began to water. Rokuko laughed at that as she smiled down on the woman as she would a longtime friend.
"Not at all. The reason I sob is because… Well, I think we all know a grinning, foul mouthed, psycho-bitch has been done to death. Same goes for the stoic ones who don't even bat an eye at the torture they bring to others." Rokuko began to sob in a deceitfully sincere way. "… A murderer who's bogged down by depression and is brought despair by her own actions should be new enough right?" She lifted her scalpel.
"… D… Don't worry… You'll die of shock not long after I start…" Rokuko choked.
The woman was rendered completely speechless. What was she to say to such a girl? Could there be any reasoning with her?
"… Pl-please…" She began. "I-I have children!" Rokuko's sobbing worsened.
"… I know…" A tear landed on the woman's hand. "…I know all about them…" The woman's eyes widened. "… Ren, six years old and Haruka, eight years old, though she'll be nine tomorrow won't she? I… I even know where they go to school…" She was only instilling more fear into her victim. She didn't have any plans of harming the children… Well, not unless you count the heart break they would experience after Rokuko finished skinning their mother alive… Along with…
Shinohara gritted his teeth as he looked on the scene. He and Juuzou had received a call early that morning, another victim of the Phantom.
The crime scene was a household in a small neighborhood. Pinned to one of the living rooms walls was the skin of the mother of the house, who'd gone missing the evening before, along with a handmade Happy Birthday card which had been pinned in the center of the skin.
The card was immediately inspected. It was likely that the Phantom was a woman due to the smooth cursive of her writing and the unnecessary curls in her lettering.
Juuzou stared at the skin, a finger raised to his lips. Then the whistling came, he whipped around, but didn't even catch a glimpse of the ghoul.
"You mean it's still on the property?!" Shinohara questioned as he to heard the continuous whistling. "Find it!" He ordered and the Investigators scattered, looking about frantically.
Juuzou listened closely to the whistling, eventually he raised his eyes to the ceiling. Above were low rafters, and he was sure the whistling was coming from there even though no figures were present.
"Shinohara-san!" Juuzou called to his mentor. "Give me a boost!"
Once Juuzou had explained where the whistling was coming from, Shinohara cupped his hands together and boosted Juuzou to the low rafters. He climbed onto the wooden planks easily, following the whistling he discovered a vintage tape recorder wedged between two smaller beams, a light whistle playing on repeat coming from the device.
A note was taped to the recorder in the same girly hand writing as the birthday card. Juuzou's name was written in large curly letters on the front of the folded note, the inside read: you'll meet the same fate.
Not surprisingly, a large grin took to Juuzou's lips. How interesting this ghoul was becoming! Hopefully she wouldn't disappoint him when the time came for them to battle.
Rokuko sighed as she left her living quarters. Her accommodations were below ground; however, they were not at all connected to the ghoul-made underground maze.
The studio of which she lived was one of many in the underground, rented and owned by Awakusu. Most who lived in such places were undesirables, gang members, drug dealers, wanted criminals, you name it they lived there. Rokuko was an undesirable as well, she was a ghoul though she wasn't in hiding or anything, she didn't need to be since her face had never been seen by the Doves.
Rokuko began to stroll from her apartment, through the long circular hall. As she passed the doors of other residence no sound was heard, not a single voice rang out.
The underground living area held many rooms for its residence, and each room was soundproofed. The rooms were made so for the rare occasions when the Awakusu had to conduct 'meetings' or make 'deals' in an undisclosed location as such.
Due to the soundproofing of each room it was hard to say whether the living arrangement was chaotic or not. How could one know if no sound could be heard from beyond the front door? But, even if it was chaotic it wouldn't matter. If any illegal actions, such as murder, were committed in the underground apartments and a resident were to witness it no one would speak up. They were all undesirables and so if a resident were to rat someone out, if they were to call the police, then the snitch would likely receive jail time as well. Even if they didn't, a member of the underground would take care of them. Snitches weren't welcome in places like the underground.
That's why Rokuko lived there. She could come and go as she pleased with whatever suspicious items or luggage she wished without having to worry about a 'Good Samaritan' stepping forward and getting her caught.
She wasn't the only ghoul living there either. She glanced at a grimy door with the faded numbers 012 crudely painted just above the doors peephole. Nagakawa Maou… That old man had been in the underground living area for far longer than she. Rokuko had expected the man to be territorial and force her to leave, instead he'd been welcoming and even offered to treat her to dinner. She declined. Just because they were the same species and he had feigned a socially acceptable attitude towards her didn't mean he should be trusted.
Sluggishly climbing the metal-grated stairs to the heavy, rusted door which opened to the surface, Rokuko sighed. She was getting bored, she glanced back at her book bag, frowning as she caught a glimpse of her masks yellow grin from inside. Perhaps she would do more than whistle tonight, she sniffled pathetically. That poor boy.
Just as her hand touched the cold metal handle of the door, it flew open and hit the concrete wall of the stairwell with a loud clank, causing the noise to reverberate through the circular underground. Rokuko cringed at the noise, and was quick to retract her hand once the door had flown open, holding her palm close to her chest. She noticed that her heartbeat had sped up slightly from the surprise, however it quickly began slowing to its normal pace.
"Good evening~!" Rokuko lifted her dull eyes only to find her newest target standing in the doorway above her. Juuzou Suzuya grinned down on her, then thrust as knife at her face. She didn't bother dodging, luckily for her the knife came up short of her nose. They stood in silence for a moment.
"… Um… Could you… Move aside so I can get through?" She questioned with a sniffle. How interesting that her prey had come to her! It certainly wasn't what she expected, then again such actions were the very reason she chose to make an investigator her next target.
"Eeeeeh? You're not even a little bit scared?" Juuzou pouted as he waved his knife at her.
"… I've… Seen people pull knifes like that… A lot…" She sighed. "The shock kind of… Rubs off after a while..."
"Oh?!" Juuzou suddenly thrust his face at her the same way he had his knife. Only that time Rokuko was surprised, she stepped back automatically and ended up tumbling down the stairs, bouncing all the way to the bottom. Juuzou giggled. "What a clumsy girl!"
As she picked herself up from the ground she only sighed. Wow he had managed to spook her… Suddenly she felt as though he would be more of a nuisance than a pleasure.
"… That hurt you know… It wasn't nice either…"
"Ah, sooorry~ sooorry~!" He sang as he bounced down the metallic stairs taking two steps at a time as his slippers flicked against his heels. "But I really couldn't resist!" He hopped just before her feet. Rokuko sighed again before getting to her feet.
"I'm actually here on business!" He cheered as she looked down at him with sad eyes and raised brows.
"Juuzou!" An older man hurried down the stairs. "You weren't supposed to come in here!" He scolded with a deep frown. In truth, the two had only come for reconnaissance, but of course Juuzou had to go do his own thing. "I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble, Miss." He bowed politely. Once he righted himself he noticed how unusually lanky the girl was. Her height made her seem weirdly thin, like one of the characters from a Tim Burton stop motion film.
"…Trouble… If anything, then I would be troubling him… I'm always in the way… I would be better off as a corpse…" She mumbled pathetically. Shinohara's mouth fell open slightly.
"Woooooooooooow." Juuzou's tone was bland. "Deeee-pressing! De-press-ing! De-press-ing!" He cheered.
"Cut it out!" Shinohara growled. "I hate to bother you Miss, but-"
"… Hate to bother me? Why would you I deserve to be bothered since I'm wasted oxygen."
Silence.
Now she was just doing it to make them uncomfortable.
"… But… " Shinohara continued. "We're looking for a man by the name of Nagakawa Maou." Rokuko's felt her teeth clench. That damn old man was being suspected by doves? She would kill him herself!
"… Nagakawa… I'm sorry I don't know who that is…"
"Eeeeeh?" Juuzou bent backwards looking at her upside down. "You don't know your own neighbor?"
"… I don't like to socialize much… Besides can you blame me? Look at where I live…" Juuzou was quick to right himself.
"One point goes to: Clumsy Girl!" He exclaimed.
"… That's a mean thing to call me…" She sighed. "Guess I deserve it though… What with my existing and all…" Juuzou huffed as the awkward atmosphere created by her self-deprecating words became too annoying for him to smile through.
"Alright, alright, we get it! You're emo! Weren't you going?" He questioned. Rokuko laughed inwardly, so he'd finally given up on his pep huh? About time.
"…Yes…" She looked to Shinohara. "May I go…?" The slightly taller man was all too happy to let her by. Once she had successfully drug her feet up the steps and closed the heavy door behind her, the two investigators released a tense sigh.
"Why was that emotionally exhausting?" Shinohara wondered aloud. "Let's get back outside." He said as Juuzou groaned.
"But reconnaissance is so boring!" He whined.
"Maybe so, but it helps up discover information direct contact can't provide." The two began up the stairs.
Juuzou couldn't help but smirk at his mentor's words. Oh how he wished he could tell Shinohara that 'direct contact' had given him a strong hunch as to who the Phantom ghoul was.