Yesterday had been a pretty mild, nice day.
Today was a completely different story.
First off, I woke up a lot later than usual. As I rushed out the door, I tripped onto my doormat and spilled my coffee, which was one of the only things that was keeping me awake.
I had had one of those dreams again the night before. Though they were increasingly uncommon over time, when I did have them, they were particularly vicious. I woke up screaming, but only because the floor beneath me was vibrating courtesy of my downstairs neighbor's impatience with noise. I was convinced he had a particular broom that he used specifically for jabbing my ceiling.
I had been underwater. It was going deeper, deeper, deeper still, until the pressure made me want to explode.
I couldn't be sure if that's what actually ended up happening in the dream, but either way I ended up dead. So it goes.
When I got to work I was immediately called to examine the scene of a pretty brutal murder that had been discovered in the hours that I was struggling to get to work and make up for lost time, so I had to leave right off.
I arrived at the scene, and gulped involuntarily. Gunshots, I thought to myself. I could smell the powder in the air, which means there were definitely a lot. Heiji came over and greeted me before giving me the details.
This part seemed completely normal, but the whole entire time there was this ridiculous fly zooming around my head that was virtually impossible to kill. I had showered that morning, so why was this damn bug following me around? Every time I thought I had him killed or at least scared him away, he came back for a second and then abruptly disappeared, not only annoying the hell out of me, but also making me look like a registered psychopath.
I went by normal protocol, took samples, examined the body, bagged things up. Now all I need to do is spend the rest of the day in the lab. In order to make up for the time I had been out that morning, I stayed behind while everyone else on my floor went to lunch.
I sighed warily as I examined the cell structure of a rather inconclusive piece of evidence that I still hadn't quite figured out. My eyes bugged out from looking at it for so long, so I pulled back and rubbed my face. Water, I thought. Maybe there'll be something to eat in the lounge's fridge. Just a quick break.
I gasped when I nearly ran into a big, burly man that looked pretty…well…murderous, actually. His eyes blazed with fury, and he had his hands balled up into fists.
"H-hello, sir. Can I help you with something?" He observed me carefully, leaning in to get a good look at my face before he wrenched me up into the air by the collar of my lab coat. I struggled against his grip and he growled with vengeance.
"You let that bastard get out of what he did to my wife." My eyes widened; who the hell was this guy?
"L-Let – me go." I rasped, and I managed to kick him where it hurts. He dropped me to the floor and I sprang up to reach the nearest phone. Just as I finished dialing 110, however, he was behind me again.
"You'd better come with me, you filthy skank." His voice rumbled with such a low timbre that I had no idea how to respond to such intimidation. My stomach did burn with the skank comment though, so I retaliated.
"You'd better watch your mouth." I launched a good, solid punch into his gut, to which he 'oomfed' uncomfortably. I reached for the phone again and pressed it to my ear. "Hello? Hello, I need someone to send -" the man kicked me in the back hard enough to send me straight into the wall. I crumpled to the floor, the breath completely knocked out of me as the phone hung from its receiver idly. Distantly, I could hear the 110 operator calling hello? Hello? Miss? Is everything all right?
"I'll let it go for now, since you're quite the beauty. But that behavior doesn't go over well with me, so you'd better learn pretty fast. My wife certainly did."
"W-What did I do?" I cried, completely exasperated.
"What did you DO? YOU LET MY WIFE DIE UNRECOGNIZED, DAMMIT. THE MAN THAT KILLED HER OUT OF JEALOUSY WAS NEVER PROVEN GUILTY BECAUSE THERE WASN'T ANY CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE. SOUND FAMILIAR?" He bellowed this at me hotly, while I remained on the ground, not entirely sure what to do at this point. Though I certainly had my strength, this man was at least a foot and a half taller than me, and was quite possible 4 times as wide.
"You need to calm down, sir. Everything will be fine, but you need to stop this now," I emphasized sternly. His nostrils flared before he grabbed me roughly by the wrist and began to drag me along violently towards the exit.
"You're comin' with me. We're going to take care of this nonsense. You WILL find conclusive evidence, GOT IT?"
"N-No!" I protested, yanking against him; he wasn't about to let go. "LET GO, ASSHOLE." I screamed. He reached around and wrenched my arm behind my back, lifting me up to a standing position while also nearly breaking my arm.
"AAAACK -" I winced in pain. He pushed me ahead of him.
"You know what I said about that kind of talk."
Today definitely wasn't a good day.
Ogawa Ichiro's POV:
"Ogawa-sensei, could you check with this patient really quick? I haven't gone to the bathroom all day." M coworker, Suzuki Kiyomi begged earnestly.
"Uh – sure. Where?" She pointed at the room, and I went to check it out. Inside was a man of about 50 years, with a tube attached to his nose that helped him breathe.
"Hello sir." I picked up the chart that hung on the end of his bed and glanced at it. "Mr. Kiyomizo. How are you doing today?"
"I'm alright," he answered lazily, patting his thighs. "I'm telling you doctors, I'm perfectly fine to go back to work."
"It says here you had a heart attack not more than 2 days ago, sir," I objected, taking my stethoscope from around my neck to listen to his heart and lungs.
"The Kiyomizu family has always been a strong one. Heart attacks can't kill us!"
"So your family has a history of heart attacks then? Heart disease maybe?"
"I suppose you could say that."
"Well you seem alright for now. I'll send my resident in to evaluate in a bit, okay? Just relax and don't have any more heart attacks." He smiled at me as I left the room.
Just another day in the hospital, I thought. I glanced at the clock as I walked down the hallway towards one of the receptionist desks on this floor: it was 7 at night.
I had already dealt with the emergency I was paged for, which ended up lasting nearly all day, and I had also helped out my coworkers…
Time to go home, I decided. After grabbing my stuff and changing out of my scrubs, I walked out of the entrance to the hospital.
…And was promptly greeted by none other than Hattori Heiji.
"Ichiro-san! I've been looking for you! Don't you answer your phone anymore?"
"…Not when I'm working, genius." He shot me a look.
"Something happened to Kokone." My eyes widened.
"What? What's wrong?"
"She's been missing since about 1 this afternoon. There was a call to the 110 operators – they played me the recording. It sounded like someone was threatening her and ended up taking her somewhere. All we have to go by is a voice right now."
"Well aren't there cameras in the front of the building? See who entered last!"
"…The problem with that is that no one entered through the front at the time of the call. A group of people left, but they all work there and were going out for lunch. Come on, Kudo and I are already working on the case." I followed him as we ran to his car.
Once we reached the headquarters, Kudo was already sitting in front of Heiji's computer, listening attentively.
"Hello, I need someone to send -" a loud crash ensued.
"I'll let it go for now, since you're quite the beauty. But that behavior doesn't go over well with me, so you'd better learn pretty fast. My wife certainly did."
"W-What did I do?"
"What did you DO? YOU LET MY WIFE DIE UNRECOGNIZED, DAMMIT. THE MAN THAT KILLED HER OUT OF JEALOUSY WAS NEVER PROVEN GUILTY BECAUSE THERE WASN'T ANY CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE. SOUND FAMILIAR?"
"You need to calm down, sir. Everything will be fine, but you need to stop this now,"
"You're comin' with me. We're going to take care of this nonsense. You WILL find conclusive evidence, GOT IT?"
"N-No! LET GO, ASSHOLE. AAAACK -"
"You know what I said about that kind of talk."
Silence.
"Any luck?" Heiji asked earnestly.
"His case seems distinctly vague. I'm not sure we can identify it."
"Yeah I don't really remember this case at all. There has been more than one case in which the murderer doesn't have enough evidence to be put in jail."
"Have you been to the place it happened at?" I asked.
"The crime lab? Yeah, I went there. Do you guys want to see?" Just as we were about to get up and follow him back to his car, there was a phone call.
"Hello, Osaka Prefecture." a female officer answered. "Ahhhh? Hattori-keiji!" She held out the phone to him, a panicked look on her face.
"This is Hattori Heiji." He was calm at first, but then his expression turned to rage. "Where is she?" he seethed. "A le?" He looked at the phone in confusion, then handed it back to the female officer.
"He wants us to put someone in jail for him. This guy isn't all that bright, I'm guessing." He shook his head. "Someone find the location of that number, I'll look up the case." Heiji returned to his computer and typed a few things in.
"Is she alright?" I asked. He glanced up for a moment.
"…We need to find her." I didn't like that answer. I couldn't even describe what I was feeling during all of this, because there were no words. There never were when it came to Kokone's everlasting ability to get into trouble. All I knew was that this guy was probably going to be beaten to a pulp if she ever got the chance, and that thought brought a tiny bit of hope to my currently frazzled state of mind.
"Ahh, here we are. This guy is so dumb. Hey, did you find where that number came from?" He called out to that female officer. She nodded, and came over to hand him the address written on a slip of paper. Looking back and forth between the computer and the paper, he finally grinned that determined and egotistical grin of his.
"This is it. Alright, let's go. We'll need a few cars for back up!" He said to no one in particular. People started to get up and follow him out the door to their cars. Kudo was close to Heiji as they discussed how they would approach the situation, while I was trailing behind.
Everything was a blur of sirens and flashing lights as 4 cop cars in total sped down random streets leading to a roughed up looking home that was separated from the actual city, so it seemed. When we surrounded the house, the guy immediately opened his door to check out the source of all the noise. Everyone piled out of their cars, a few with their guns aimed at the man.
"You're under arrest for abduction, Aoki-san!" Hattori yelled with a smirk on his face. He just loved to win. "Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head!" The man didn't obey, but was being closely surrounded by various police officers that had to fight to get him cuffed. I couldn't wait any longer.
"Ichiro-san!" Kudo called after me. I didn't check to see if they were following me as I pushed through the crowd of police officers attempting to get the brute to cooperate. The house was a mess, and smelled of rotten food. I scrunched up my nose and surveyed the living room. It was dark, but there were clothes that obviously did not belong to any male – especially of this guy's size – lying on the floor in heaps. My insides simmered.
I heard water running, but it wasn't just a sink. More like a bathtub, I guessed. A bathtub?
"Kokone?" I called in exasperation. I barely missed tripping on her lab coat as I hurried towards the noise. Her pants, and then her shirt made a trail towards what I assumed was the bathroom. The door was locked.
"Ichiro, you should have -" Heiji started, almost scolding me. I wasn't really paying attention though, and proceeded to ram the door open with my shoulder. Sure enough, the bathtub water was running, and there she was.
Her mouth was taped shut, and her arms were tied in front of her so that they formed an X symbol, as if she were warding off evil. Her eyes were closed, and she was pale. The water was at her shoulders now, but she appeared to have already taken a dip in the water, as her bangs were plastered to her face. She lay limply against the wall, only moving by the water's will.
"Kokone!" I gasped, rushing forward. I turned off the water and reached in to pull her out. Ironic, I thought in the back of my head. She had said she didn't care if I saw her naked, and now she almost was, with only her bra and underwear on. I had her cradled against me as I tried to wake her up.
"Hey, wake up. Kokone!" I stuck my fingers against her neck and felt her pulse; it was rapid and uneven, but that was typical of her condition. "Hey, come on now!" I pulled the tape off as gently as possible, and now she was starting to come to. She moaned for a second, then her eyes flew open and she coughed up water. She was shaking.
"Can I get some blankets or something?" I yelled out to no one in particular. I looked up to find Heiji, Shinichi and another female officer ready to help out.
"C-Couldn't f-f-find the e-evidence," she whispered, her teeth chattering.
"You'll be alright, you're just cold. Does anything hurt?" My shirt and part of my pants were soaked, but I hardly noticed.
"H-He wants t-t-to k-kill someone."
"Who? Who does he want to kill?" She shook her head and coughed again.
"Here, I had some blankets in my car," The female officer from before came over and knelt to our level, holding a neat stack of them out.
"Thanks," I said as I took one and shook it out, wrapping it around Kokone as best as I could while I was still holding her. "Hey, Kokone, does anything hurt? Did anything happen?" She shook her head, but winced as I shifted her around.
"What hurts?"
"N-N-Nothing. Where is h-he?" She asked. She was becoming more aware of her surroundings I noticed, and with this awareness came anger.
"He's being arrested, don't even worry about him." She struggled against me and got up with the blanket still tightly wrapped around her, then shoved her way through Heiji and Shinichi, who were both a little red in the face from embarrassment. We followed her out there.
The man was about to be shoved into the cop car when Kokone got out there, holding her clothes that she picked up angrily on her way out.
"You good for nothing, piece of – I OUGHT TO THROTTLE YOU," she screamed. The officers looked at her like she was insane, while the man just grumbled something in return. "KIDNAPPING ME AND TAKING MY CLOTHES OFF? I HOPE YOU ROT IN JAIL, YOU BASTARD." She threw a series of other, rather colorful Korean curses that even I had never even heard before as she strode over to him, kneed him in the crotch and gave him a good punch in the side. He crumpled the ground, and she was about to deal another blow to him when I grabbed her shoulders.
"Okay, he's going to jail," I urged. She fought against me, and I tried to keep her blanket tight around her; it was starting to fall off. "Let's go now, come on." She continued to speak in her native language, but I only caught a few words that I'd rather not repeat.
"Hattori, can you drive us back to her apartment?"
"Uh – yeah, sure." He and Kudo were trying to avert their eyes, even though Kokone was covered up for the most part. She huffed and puffed as she got into the car, slamming the door behind her. I got in on the other side while Heiji and Shinichi took the front two seats.
"Giving me crap about his stupid wife and her stupid love affair. Why are men so STUPID." She let the blanket fall as she slid her shirt put on her blue button up shirt. I tried not to look but…
Give me a break, I have hormones. Next she struggled to get her pants on while still seated.
"Men are PIGS. DIRTY, FILTHY, DIGUSTING PIGS." Everyone stayed silent, unsure what to say. We were all men besides her, but it's not like we could actually object to what she was saying after what we just witnessed.
"So you're alright then?" I checked.
"I am woop-dee-FREAKIN PERFECT." I took that as a yes. She suddenly swatted at something in the air. "AND THIS DAMN FLY. I'M ABOUT TO HIT SOMETHING." I unconsciously scooted away. Heiji was trying not to laugh.
"What's so funny, Heiji!" He bit his lip to keep from smiling. "And Kudo, get a grip, it's not like I haven't seen you naked…" She crossed her arms and looked out the window, still blazing. Heiji couldn't handle it any longer as he burst into laughter.