Shi sighed as she read over the speech she had written to announce to the public. She looked up as the chief walked in. He looked down at her desk and sighed.
"Are you sure about your decision here Shi? I don't think the public will be happy." He asked her.
"It is the best option. I think it would be better to do this." She said. "I will release it in a few days." She added. She stood and hid the speech in her drawer, locking it afterwards. She followed the chief out of her office and began to head towards the suite.
"Shi, do you have any explanation as to the cause of death yet?" He asked her suddenly. Shi shook her head sadly. He frowned and sighed. "Well, so long as there are no more kidnappings, we should be OK." She nodded before dressing in her scrubs. She walked into the suite and began her work for the day.
As she finished her final autopsy of the morning, Adachi knocked on the door to the suite. "Hey, wanna go grab a bite to eat? That is, if he's finished with you." He asked, nodding to her patient on the table. She chuckled and pulled down her surgical mask.
"Sure. Just let me stitch him up and we'll go." She said. She quickly sewed the patient shut and put him in a cooler. She stripped off her scrubs. "Did the chief tell you about my speech?" She asked him.
"He said you have one. But he said he doesn't know what's in it. He said you were keeping it secret." He said. He smiled as she stepped out of the suite. He glanced around before kissing her briefly. She smiled shyly and walked off with him. As they did, a cold feeling entered her gut that this was still very far from over.
As they ate, Shi heard her phone go off. "Tawakemono." She said as she answered it.
"Tawakemono-sensei, is Detective Adachi with you? There's been another kidnapping." The voice at the other end said.
"You're kidding me!" She said, getting to her feet. Adachi looked up at her. "Who was it? Wait, Tatsumi? As in the one who fought with the biker gangs? Ok, right. I'll go to the store with him now. I'll meet crime scene there." She hung up her phone. "We need to go to the material store." She said. She headed towards the store, Adachi following behind her. As he took a statement, she watched crime scene process the scene.
"It's the exact same. He seemed to go out then vanished." Adachi sighed as he walked over to her. Shi sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.
"This is impossible." She murmured. The two of them stood aside as the crime scene team left. "Looks like we're in for a long few days." She murmured. They both paused as a young boy suddenly walked up to them.
"Tawakemono-sensei I presume." They said, looking up at her. Shi looked over the stranger.
"Yes. But who are you?" She asked in response.
"I'm Naoto Shirogane. I was asked here by the chief inspector to come and help your investigation. I understand that in order to see the bodies of the two victims, I have to be accompanied by you correct? I offer you information about Kanji Tatsumi in exchange." Naoto said. Adachi went to interrupt but Shi stopped him.
"Very well. But I can't show you the bodies themselves. You will have to make do with my reports." She said firmly. She watched the young stranger consider it momentarily. "Even if you are a detective, without the permission of the victims' families, I am not allowed to show you the bodies." She explained. Adachi nodded his head in agreement.
"Very Well. Should I meet you in the morgue?" Naoto asked.
"I will bring the reports to you." She said. Before Naoto could respond, Shi walked off with Adachi. The two of them headed back to the police station. Shi gathered her reports and headed to the main area. Naoto watched as she walked in and handed over her reports. Silence reigned as the reports were read.
"You still haven't identified a cause of death? Did you perform all the correct analytical tests?" Naoto questioned. Shi bit back a angered response.
"All the correct pathological tests were performed. I even sent the results to a colleague of mine with many years of experience. He came to the same conclusions I did." Shi retorted. Naoto put the reports down and walked off. Shi kept her anger under control but Dojima was fuming in anger.
"What right does that kid have to call us out on our work?" He snapped.
"Let's not focus on that right now. We have a missing boy we need to locate." The chief said, trying to keep them calm. Shi rolled her eyes and walked away, pausing only to pick up her reports.
"If this is our same unknown subject, then the boy may repeat what Miss Amagi did and return to us in a few days." She said.
As if she had predicted it, Kanji Tatsumi returned approximately three days later. Shi sat opposite him, listening to his story.
"And you don't remember seeing your assailant?" Adachi asked him.
"I told ya a hundred times already No!" Kanji snapped. Shi made a note on her own notepad before looking up at Kanji.
"Kanji-kun, can I ask you something? Before you blacked out, was there a strange smell?" She asked. Kanji thought before nodding. Shi wrote something down before standing. "Thank you Kanji-kun, Mrs Tatsumi. A scenes of crime officer will be along to collect your clothing for evidence." She said. She and Adachi bowed before leaving. As they walked towards her car, someone shouted of them.
"Tawakemono-sensei!" Shi turned to see Yu running towards them with his friends. "Tawakemono-sensei, is it true that you are going to give a televised statement?" He asked her.
"One, where did you hear that? Two, why is it so important if I am?" Shi asked. The group glanced at each other. "Do you lot know something? Right, I want to talk with each of you."
"We can't. There's a camping trip coming up this week." Yosuke said.
"Fine. I wanna talk to you all when you come back." Shi said. She got into her car with Adachi and headed off. When they got back, news crews were already beginning to gather.
"You're giving your speech today?" Adachi asked. Shi nodded.
"The disappearance of Kanji put it off. But now I have no reason to put it off. The sooner I get it done, the sooner the shitstorm it stirs up will blow over." Shi sighed. The two of them headed into the station, Shi going to collect her speech. When she stepped out again, all the cameras focused on her.
"Good day. I am Doctor Tawakemono Shi and I am the resident pathologist for Inaba. I am here before you today to give the public an announcement. With regards to the recent events, the pathology department has decided the following. We will not be releasing information with regards to the victims of these events." Outraged cries emerged from the public that had gathered. Questions began to erupt from the press. Shi waited before continuing.
"We in the department agreed that it was in the public's best interest to keep this information private and available only to the victims families should they request it. I understand the outrage of the public but we are doing this with your best interests in mind. That is all, I will not be answering any questions. Thank you." Shi said before leaving the podium. Angered yells and questions followed her as she headed back towards her office. But she couldn't shake the feeling that things were about to spiral out of control.