Police academy had been getting more brutal over the course of the year, the tests getting more frequent and the physicals getting harder. Maka revelled in the surprise of her classmates when she placed in the top ranks for the physical assessments, which was a combination of speed, strength and agility. As hard as she tried to ignore them, she had heard the sniggers and doubt from the others as they assumed she would fail. Even some of the trainers had initially asked her if she was sure this was the path she wanted to take and suggested maybe she try something less physical like a desk job with the force but Maka was determined to pass. By the time Maka arrived to start her shift at the café she was dead tired and her muscles ached from the all the running and climbing she had done earlier. It was clear to anyone who looked at her she needed a good rest and a long sleep.
"You look tired as hell, long day", Maka heard Soul talking to her as she was retying her hair into her signature pigtails. Maka sighed and nodded her head. "How you do all that has got to be the eighth wonder of the world" She laughed, Soul was such a great guy and for the first time since meeting Tsubaki and Black Star she had found a genuine friend in someone. Sure they bickered a fair bit, often got on each other's nerves and Maka had lost count of how many times she had smacked him over the head for comments about her bookish habits or prepubescent sized chest, but he had never doubted her abilities and encouraged her to peruse her dream when she thought she couldn't do it anymore.
Soul looked over at Maka, she was off in her own world again completely oblivious to the fact Soul had been looking at her for the past minute. Not that he was complaining or anything, it gave him a chance to really look at her. He hadn't noticed how big and glossy her forest green eyes were or the way she stuck her bottom lip out when she was thinking. His trail of thought was interrupted when the little bell above the door rung signalling the arrival of a customer. The man who walked through the door looked to be about their age and he paused in the doorway before grabbing a chair from the right side and dragging it across to the left. Soul looked over at Maka, she had an eyebrow raised in confusion. She turned to him and he mouthed the word 'kook' at her, causing her to giggle a little before turning to serve the strange man. Soul took this opportunity to gawk at the strangeness of the man's appearance and attire. He wore what appeared to be an all-black suit with small skull cufflinks and he had black hair with white stripes dyed horizontally across half of his long fringe. Was this some kind of new fashion trend, a hybrid between Goth Business? If so he was not jumping aboard that train, he liked his strange style, complete with white hair and red eyes.
"Large black"
That's all the man said. Nothing else, no hello how are you or anything. Then he dumped the money on the counter and went to stand off to the side leaving Maka to scrape it off the counter. Geez what was his issue. The raven haired boy started to tap his foot impatiently after about 30 seconds and glanced at his watch. What could he be in such a hurry for? It was pretty late, but based off his attire he probably made all his appointments late at night. He decided then and there he did not like whoever this was, he was rude to Maka and an all-round asshole. Soul finished making the coffee and placed it up on the counter. Goth boy quickly walked over and grabbed the steaming drink before hurrying out the door and out of his line of sight.
"Okay well that guy was a complete jerk". Soul had to agree with her. "I wonder why he was in such a rush it was actually kind of suspicious, don't you think" "… I guess, you're the police officer aren't you?" he threw his famous toothy smirk across to her. Maka just narrowed her eyes at him in response and returned to her previous activity of wiping down the bench. A few minutes later Maka paused and exclaimed. "Oh my death, I knew I recognised him from somewhere, Soul that's the Police commissioner's son. I've seen him around the academy a couple of times, he was apparently fast tracked through to become an official officer." Soul stared at her in surprise, what the hell was a high up police officer's son doing running around at this time of night. He wasn't in uniform, maybe he was on a stakeout. Damn he should have tried following him or something just for a little bit to see what he was doing. His curiosity had been piqued.
Maka was just plain confused. What was Police Commissioner Death's son doing? He was incredibly mysterious, the few times she had seen him at the academy building he had never spoken to anyone and only ever went into his father's office. She also had never seen him in an officer's uniform and now that she thought about it that was incredibly odd. She had to start paying more attention if she was ever going to be an officer and get her private investigators license. She couldn't stop thinking about it as Soul drove her home. It had kind of become a thing between them and Maka was very thankful. She walked up the staircase to apartment and opened the door to her apartment. It wasn't very big, but that was okay with her. She didn't need some giant condo, she liked the cosy feel of her place. She walked over to the fridge to find any leftovers she could eat for tea and saw a white envelope sitting in the middle of her dining table. She was positive that hadn't been there in the morning. In fact, she was 100% sure. She began to listen for any noise to indicate another person in her apartment but she couldn't hear anything. She proceeded to check every room and hiding place she could think of, she looked at the door lock, but there were no signs of a break in. When she was sure she was alone, she cautiously approached the envelope and slowly opened it. If there was some kind of poison in it, she would be able to call someone before she died or passed out. Thankfully there was no poisonous or powder substances inside the pouch. Maka emptied its contents onto the table. The envelope was full of photos of various people. There were a couple of Police commissioner Death's son, a strange scarred looking man in a white lab coat and a photograph of her dad. What was a picture of her dad doing in here, she hadn't seen him in years. Lying in her bed Maka couldn't forget about the photos and eventually fell into an uneasy sleep plagued by nightmares.