Demon Sword
A Yuyu Hakusho/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover Fan Fiction by Chester Castañeda
Original Concept by Chad Yang
Everything is about to come together.
Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, and St. Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Sony. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Chapter 24: Smile Bomb (Part 6)
Two weeks after the attack at Genkai's temple, inside the Shinjuku Police Station...
"You're insane, lady. Like I said, there's no way that that overgrown mama's boy is going to be raping anybody, not the least of which someone who's already rejected him countless times before. He, like, Akahito, is more concerned about collecting anime videotapes and model kits than having relations with women. He's completely harmless. Stop this nonsense," Ippei Shimamura, the eldest of all the brothers, admonished Detective Aiko Tsunemoto.
"I like how you conveniently left out the point that he's been stalking Kishida-shi all this time. How well do you know your brother, Ippei-kun? Let me remind you that as recently as four years ago, the Little Girl Murders took place. The Otaku Murderer was also an avid collector of the things you describe. Many known criminals and sexual predators are loners and social misfits."
"You're clueless. Ennosuke is not the otaku in the family! That's Akahito! Ennosuke's obsessed about cartoons, but I'm seriously not buying your bullshit that cartoon obsession can cause people to rape and murder others! By your logic, Akahito's the likelier suspect than Ennosuke, which isn't saying much because even if you can link the nerdy tendencies of those two to a murderer who also happened to be a nerd, it still doesn't prove shit!"
"Oh really? While correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation, in order for something to be the cause of another thing, correlation remains essential. I have reasonable doubt to believe that Ennosuke-kun is guilty of the crimes committed against Kishida Miki-shi in terms of motivation. You say that Akahito-kun is more entrenched in otaku culture than Ennosuke-kun? Then that means that he, more than anyone else in this room, understands Ennosuke-kun's neurotic, obsessive tendencies in terms of an otaku's unfulfilled sexual longings."
"You're walking on thin ice, detective. No one... not one of my sons had sexual relations with that girl!" Kunihiko blustered while Ippei glanced towards Akahito's direction with bulging eyes, as if to mime, 'Defend yourself, dumbass!'
Alas, the fourth brother and third quintuplet of the Shimamura family found himself at a loss for words, his indignation battling with his own shame at being labeled a freak by society ever since Tsutomu Miyazaki... also known as Dracula, the Otaku Murderer, and the Little Girl Murderer... made the headlines nationwide. If anything, Akahito was also quite aware that Miki rejected Ennosuke specifically because of the infamy of otaku.
Detective Aiko worked herself up to a storm, delivering her conclusion with the same zeal as a prosecutor would when presenting his closing argument, which naturally impressed Katsumi Kishida's lady lawyer.
"Besides which, had Ennosuke-kun perpetrated the two crimes, then he'd merely be acting on the compulsive, antisocial behavior of otaku; revenge of a stalker who is incapable of handling rejection like a mature individual. The puzzle pieces fit together perfectly. I wouldn't be surprised if Ennosuke-kun began blaming some sort of 'Rat Man' for his actions during his actual court hearing."
From behind the eye-rolling Natsuki Shinkai, Likka inquired, "What the hell is Detective Lovechild talking about? The 'Rat Man' quip, I mean."
The half-Chinese girl clarified, "'Rat Man' is the alter ego that the Otaku Murderer claimed to have during his trial. He claims that Rat Man was the one who forced him to do his atrocities against his four young victims, the damn pedophile."
"In accordance to police procedure and your own deductions regarding Oogata-shi's testimony, I think you'll agree with me that Ennosuke-kun is beyond the shadow of a doubt the murderer of Kishida Miki-shi." Detective Tsunemoto made her way beside the trembling and tearful Katsumi. "Isn't that right, Katsumi-san?"
"M-My sister had mentioned to me that one of the Shimamura quintuplets who has been harassing her has betrayed her, and if anything were to happen to her, I should go to the police and tell you people everything she's told me." The shaken Kishida daughter withheld a sob, covering her face with her hands.
To everyone's surprise and Detective Aiko's smug satisfaction, the listless Ennosuke cracked at long last, dropping to his knees and screaming till his voice became ragged. "Take me away. I don't care anymore. Just take me away, dammit. I wasn't there for her when she needed me the most."
"Yes, yes. You weren't there for Kishida-shi when your alter ego did those horrible, unspeakable things to her. I'm sure an insanity plea is your best bet at the moment, scumbag" Tsunemoto declared as she whipped out her handcuffs and motioned for both Officers Takumi Hamada and Shigetaka Uye to assist her in arresting Ennosuke.
"Ennosuke-niichan!" Bunjiro cried out in despair and disbelief as even Ennosuke's main accuser, Akahito, almost went ahead and broke formation in order to protect his brother from an otaku-based witch hunt of sorts. However, the brothers all went back to their places once Natsuki started speaking.
"I'm afraid you fell into the same trap as Officer Uye did, Detective Tsunemoto. Look at the lineup again. You'll see that there are more than three people who are telling the truth if it were Ennosuke-kun who did."
"Oh, here you go again. Your lineup of the Shimamura brothers perfectly shows that there are three people who are pointing their fingers at Ennosuke-kun, and they're Ennosuke-kun himself, Akahito-kun, and Houjo-kun because he's saying that it was neither Katsuhiko-kun or himself, so that means he's implying that Ennosuke-kun did it."
"You're forgetting that Oogata-shi said that only three of them were telling the truth, so if it was Ennosuke-kun who did it, then four people are confirming that allegation this time around. Houjo-kun says it was neither Katsuhiko-kun or himself, Goemon-kun says it was not Katsuhiko-kun, Ennosuke-kun says that Bunjiro-kun isn't telling the truth and that he did it, and Akahito-kun says that Ennosuke-kun is guilty. All these statements are true if Ennosuke were guilty."
"I knew you'd pull something like this, you little brat." Detective Aiko hissed as she faced off with the amateur schoolgirl detective. "Didn't you just hear what I said? Motivation, opportunity, and evidence establishing these two are all essential in finding out the true perp. We now have two confessions in our hands now, and I've already presented my case in regards to Ennosuke-kun. If the only thing you have is Oogata-shi's vague testimony, then your dubious argument hasn't got a leg to stand on."
Ignoring Tsunemoto's remarks and the worried tug Likka gave her outfit's sleeve, Natsuki continued. "The suspect isn't that hard to figure out. Out of the five suspects, the brothers only pointed fingers at three of them. In reality, you only have three suspects. You shouldn't be distracted by red herrings like Ippei-san essentially saying that all three are innocent by backing up Houjo-kun's testimony or Ennosuke-kun claiming that a brother of his is lying. By the process of elimination and from Oogata-shi's hint, we can conclude that Houjo-kun is the one who did it."
Houjo shrunk back and looked uncomfortably at the curious eyes that suddenly surrounded him, but a reassuring nod from Katsuhiko kept him from slinking back. "I-I don't know why you're letting that girl derail this investigation of yours, but my statement before is still the same. Neither Katsuhiko-niichan nor I committed those crimes. I'm not sure about Ennosuke-kun because of the stalking thing, but I'm only going with what I know, man."
"Now you're just being ridiculous, young lady. The pattern I've noticed throughout this back and forth is that every time we think up a suspect, there are always quite a lot of people who's telling the truth because of all the contradictory statements. If anything, we may have used the process of elimination, but what if our star witness, Oogata-shi, made a mistake and not one of the conditions produces only three people who are telling the truth?" Officer Shigetaka questioned.
Flatly, Natsuki replied as she shot back a glare at Uye, "Check them. You'll see that only three of them are telling the truth if it were Houjo-kun who's the suspect."
Hearing Uye's lack of a response, the gi-wearing Likka supplied the answer for him. "Let's see, there's Doi-kun who's saying that it was either Katsuhiko-kun or Houjo-kun, there's Bunjiro-kun who's saying that it wasn't Ennosuke-kun, and there's Goemon-kun who's saying that it wasn't Katsuhiko-kun. All the rest of them aren't telling the truth, or are at least mistaken."
"I-Is this true, Houjo-kun? D-Did you really rape and kill Kishi-san?" the slack-jawed Ennosuke queried in such a way that made it seem like he was pleading for a denial. Meanwhile, Katsumi's ears perked up after hearing Ennnosuke's pet name for her sister.
"O-Of course not! Don't believe what that bitch is saying! She came out of nowhere with that karate chick or whoever like some sort of damn clowns from the circus!" Houjo stated, his hands and eyebrows raised way up in seeming surrender. "A-And what about you? Maybe you did it! You're the only one of us quintuplets who actually stalked whoever that dead chick was!"
Ennosuke fell silent once more after hearing his fellow quintuplet's words, his mind abuzz and stymied from the recent turn of events as he questioned his own memories of "Kishi-san".
"I'm afraid that this time around, you are out of line, miss. Not only is your forceful entry into this investigation highly... unprofessional, your deductions are also suspect." The head of the Shimamuras' team of lawyers adjusted his glasses.
"While it is our legal firm's belief that none of the brothers are guilty of anything, your allegations that it was Shimamura Houjo whom Oogata-shi is accusing is preposterous at best. You have no evidence to back that up save for the off-chance that Oogata-shi actually knew what he was talking about when he claimed that only three of the nine brothers were telling the truth."
"Not only that, but Houjo-kun has a girlfriend and probably never met the girl." Officer Uye interjected, happy that people were finally putting the upstart amateur detective in her place by ganging up on her. "I've interviewed students around campus, and the main rumor surrounding Kishida-shi is that she was able to date one of the Shimamura quintuplets. In light of evidence that Ennosuke-kun couldn't possibly have the social maturity to date Kishida-shi, the most likely suspect remains Katsuhiko-kun, regardless of what Oogata-shi may or may not have said."
Detective Tsunemoto joined in on absolutely destroying Natsuki's one deduction as well. "Motivation-wise, Houjo-kun is a blank slate. In terms of the sheer number of people testifying against him, the fact that there are only three people who inadvertently pointed their fingers at him... Bunjiro-kun, Goemon-kun, and Doi-kun... means that the argument of him being the rapist and murderer of Kishida-shi is quite spurious, to say the least. Also, even though Katsuhiko-kun may have the most accusations of the bunch, Ennosuke-kun had better opportunity to perpetrate the crime since the victim herself knew him."
"Looks like they got you there, Natsuki-chan," came Inspector Masaya Taniguchi's take on the matter as he gave the short-haired girl of mixed heritage a fatherly pat on the shoulder. "At best, the only thing you've really proven today is that you've established who Oogata-shi was attempting to accuse and possibly blackmail before he was killed. You're a very smart girl, and you'd make a fine detective in the force one day. However, solving a brain teaser alone isn't enough to help catch the true perpetrator of this crime."
Her eyes hidden by the shadows of her bangs, Natsuki put her hands on the pistol grip of her cane and held it tight as she resisted the urge to tremble in frustration. Nevertheless, this was the exact scenario she envisioned to happen as soon as she solved the mystery behind Akio Oogata's testimony.
"Tsuki-chan..." Likka called out after a minute of stillness on Natsuki's part.
"Indulge me for a couple of minutes," Natsuki requested after bracing herself for a spell, paying no heed to the wordless, cross-armed poses of defiance offered to her by the Shimamura lawyers, Katsumi's legal representative, Officer Uye, Detective Tsunemoto, and Inspector Taniguchi.
"Although it appears that Houjo-kun has the least likely motivation and opportunity to do what he allegedly did to Kishida Miki-shi, that's not necessarily true. From what I heard earlier, Missus Shimamura is quite disdainful of the quintuplets because they're essentially bastards. An allegation of rape by an illegitimate child would mean getting disowned and cut off from the will regardless of Mister Shimamura's protests. I imagine that's the prevailing motivation behind the second crime, at the very least."
"Well, so? If that's the primary motivation for the murder, then any one of us five would fit the description. Try again. Also, where's the proof for all that?" were Houjo's rapid-fire contentions that were reasonable enough to get nods of agreement from the surrounding officers.
"The best place to hide a tree is in a forest. You had a couple of your brothers choose to use the method of providing contradictory answers to keep yourselves from implicating anyone. Then again, several of them had no idea what was going on, but those who did intentionally gave contradicting testimonies to hide the real suspect."
"THAT'S EVEN MORE PREPOSTEROUS! Are you calling my brothers liars, you little poser?" Houjo snarled while Katsuhiko, who was just a brother away from Houjo, acted out shushing signals to his impetuous quintuplet. "If we really did meet together and plan our testimonies out, wouldn't it make better sense for us to make a unified and consistent testimony so that none of us will get the chance of being implicated? Please, tell me you've thought this through."
Natsuki resumed presenting her argument. "Had the police caught the wrong quintuplet, the Shimamura lawyers would've been able to take care of freeing him due to lack of evidence while keeping the real perpetrator from even standing trial... at least, that was the plan. Judging by the back-and-forth accusations of gold digging and sexual promiscuity on Kishida-shi's part, I suspect that that was the story you fed your brothers when pleading to them to go along with your plan."
In a softer yet firmer tone, Houjo asserted, "Again, you don't have any proof of what you're saying. These are fascinating rationalizations and speculations, but if I or any one of my brothers is going to be arrested, it would be in the hands of actual law enforcement, thank you very much."
This time around, Natsuki backed up, turned, and addressed the rest of the mesmerized brothers. "Quite a lot of you must have gone along with this scheme in the hopes of protecting your brother from going to jail. But don't you realize that he's the very same brother who's willing to let Katsuhiko-kun or Ennosuke-kun take the blame for his wrongdoings? He was more than willing to throw Ennosuke-kun under the bridge when he himself was accused of this crime. Do you really want to choose this one brother over two others who are probably innocent?"
Just as it looked like Akahito and Fumio were about to say something in response to Natsuki's guesswork, Katsuhiko stepped forward and said, "That's enough, Natsuki-san! You have no proof behind your accusations and I sincerely doubt you even have any idea of what you're saying. Let's end this nonsense. I'm the one who killed Miki-san. There are no ifs or buts about it."
Natsuki could only raise an eyebrow at that. "Hmmm? You allege to have had relations with the victim before murdering her, right? Can you tell us more about her? Her favorite color? Her favorite band? Her mannerisms? Feel free to tell us, because her sister is here to confirm your answers. I want to know how well you knew your alleged victim before you supposedly killed her."
Katsuhiko glanced to the side and his eyes darted back and forth between the floor and Natsuki. "I... I don't need to answer any of your questions. She's a liar who wants to claim I raped her and that she has my child, so I had no choice but to kill her b-because of the motive you've just presented. I didn't want to be disowned."
Natsuki shook her head. "Please, don't lie anymore. You're terrible at it, and you'll end up contradicting yourself if you continue. Actually, I doubt you've ever even met Kishida-shi, especially when considering your lack of a pet name for her. Don't tell me you randomly killed a stranger for no apparent reason. In fact, you look more like someone who's trying to cover up for your brother's misdeeds. Believe me, it's not worth it, and I sincerely doubt that Kishida-shi is as evil as Houjo-kun portrayed her."
"You know who else might know Kishida-shi's favorite color or band? Her stalker," Detective Tsunemoto interpolated, but her insinuation was then countered by a timely rebuttal of "You do realize that Ennosuke-kun never confessed, right? I'll further postulate that both Bunjiro-kun and Ennosuke-kun had talked about the latter's crush on Kishida-san, which was known to them by the name 'Kishi'."
"That doesn't disprove that it might have been Ennosuke-kun who did it," the detective contended, to which Natsuki replied, "It does explain why Ennosuke-kun claims that Bunjiro-kun is lying even before knowing Bunjiro-kun's testimony; he had an idea what it was going to be and, in a fit of guilt, contradicted it."
"So you're agreeing with me? Doing something in a fit of guilt sounds more like a confession to me than anything else," the adamant Tsunemoto challenged.
"Didn't you hear what I said? He contradicted the truth in a fit of guilt. He's blaming himself for Kishida-shi's death and he wants to take the blame, perhaps believing that his stalking has driven the girl to frame either him or one of his fellow quintuplets for her death. The love of his life is dead and he doesn't want any of his family members to suffer because of what he believes to be his failures; damn the consequences. He wasn't even aware that a brother of his betrayed him, and this betrayal may be too much for his mind to take at the moment because of his severe trauma."
Natsuki put her hands on her back, her cane slung over her forearms, as she paced back and forth the room while all eyes were on her. "In any case, once Oogata-shi took a look at the brothers' testimonies, it was easy to see who among them were telling the truth in his eyes. There was zero chance for confusion if you already know the answer. I'm guessing that Kishida-shi's ex-boyfriend stalked her as well, to the point of perhaps even witnessing the murder take place. Because he's a scumbag, instead of going to the police, he waited for it to unfold because he deemed this as a moneymaking opportunity."
"All right, fuck this cunt; why are you police officers even allowing this bitch to speak? Is this 'show and tell' time at the local kindergarten? Fuck you, you unprofessional pieces of shit," Houjo objected, pointing out the Shinjuku Police's blatant disregard for S.O.P.
"Proof please. I want proof. You have no proof. All you have are half-assed guesses and hearsay. They all sound intelligent and shit, but they aren't any more convincing than all the other arguments presented earlier."
Houjo broke from the Likka-imposed lineup and further exposed, "What I said earlier, I'm sticking with it. I don't know about Ennosuke-kun, but I'm sure that I didn't do nothing to Mikan-san or whoever, and neither did a boy scout like Katsuhiko-niichan. In fact, you even proved that point by exposing his lack of familiarity with the whore. That's good. Hooray for you. But all that shit about us orchestrating our testimonies to contradict? Come on. Get real. The one witness that the victim's sister had is dead anyway. As long as you don't have any solid proof against us, nothing you say will hold any water. Not in this police station, and certainly not in court."
"For someone who has very little proof on hand save for a dead witness's testimony, she actually had a lot of spot-on deductions," assessed a sultry voice from the interrogation room's entrance. As everyone turned, they were greeted with the trench-coated vision of a tall, raven-haired detective with green eyes and sharp spikes for bangs.
Respective greetings of "Uncle Jiji!" and "Sempai!" were uttered by Likka and Natsuki.
"Matsudaira-kun! You son of a bitch; I was just about to fire you for being M.I.A. for days-on-end and making this teenage girl serve as your messenger," the voluptuous inspector hailed his favorite detective with half-serious rage and half-hopeful anticipation. "Please tell me you didn't waste your time hunting for that Kanji Killer and kept your investigation strictly on this case."
Daiji Matsudaira shrugged. "Didn't you get my message? Oogata-shi's one testimony before he got killed checks out. He has been aiming his finger at Shimamura Houjo all along; he might as well said it was him straight out."
"PROOF! You still don't have any proof, coppers! Give me your evidence, or let's see each other in court!" Houjo felt the rest of his legal threats die out upon seeing the emotionless glare from Daiji's eyes; it was as though part of his soul got sucked into an endless void.
"Natsuki-kun already discussed your possible motives, so let's take a look at the facts regarding this case, shall we? You're a ladies man despite having settled down with a girlfriend from a rich and influential family only last year, and you're even one of five identical quintuplets to boot. There's ample opportunity and extra motives for your crimes right there."
"What the hell are you implying, man?" Houjo barked. "Are you trying to cover for your underage girlfriend's questionable conclusions or something? So what if we're quintuplets? What's your point? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Like Natsuki said, the best place to hide a tree is in a forest. You didn't merely use this tactic when you convinced Katsuhiko, Akahito, and Fumio into giving false testimonies that directly contradicted with the rest of your brothers' confessions. You also used it to perpetrate the grievous crime of passion that forced you to murder Kishida-shi in the first place."
"Wait a second. You aren't honestly suggesting...?" Tsunemoto managed to interpose before Matsudaira interrupted her interruption, the male detective knowing too all well his colleague's penchant for derailing a conversation.
"The best way for you to protect yourself from getting caught while cheating is through your own quintuplet. Who's to say that the person who stalked Kishida-shi was Ennosuke and Ennosuke alone? What if you, knowing what you knew of the girl, decided to take advantage of your brother's unwillingness to contact her normally and used his identity to win her over?"
"You don't have any proof of that! Fuck, why would you even think that? This isn't some sort of movie about twins switching places, this is a rape-slay case!" Houjo ground his teeth, his eyes circular and wide as his volatile temper flared. "Besides, we're quintuplets; why are you pinning this preposterous allegation on me when there are four others who look just like me?"
"That was a nice attempt at using the 'Appeal to Ridicule' fallacy, but that won't work in light of all the facts I've gathered. Also, let me remind you, I'm pinning this on you because our first real lead on the case indicated you as the perp." The six-feet-two detective pulled a chair and sat on it with the backrest in front of him, his elbows resting on top of it while he interlaced his fingers together.
"Anyway, I've been interviewing your friends, colleagues, teachers, and schoolmates for the past week since I figured out Oogata-shi's hint. From January to February of this year, your friends and even your girlfriend have noticed that you had a tendency to take regular toilet breaks and rain checks ever since your brother started bothering the deceased Kishida Miki. One of them even joked that you were acting like Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne in the middle of a crisis because of your regular absences from club duty and whatnot."
"That still doesn't prove anything." Houjo huffed as he tossed his head back and let out a chuckle. "It doesn't matter where I went and it has nothing to do with this case."
"Actually, it establishes quite a lot. To further check my theory, I also interviewed various staff and crew from the Shimamura mansion on the west side of Shinjuku, near the Park Hyatt Hotel. Here are the tapes, statements, and interviews I've collected throughout my investigation," Matsudaira declared as he took out the miscellaneous pieces of evidence from his trench coat and handed them over to Inspector Taniguchi.
"Curiously enough, the maid responsible for your laundry noticed that you have less amounts of laundry than before during the date range I indicated, which is strange because you're supposedly the one who changes out of your outfits most often because you're as big of a social butterfly as Ippei is. What's more, she noted that for some reason, Ennosuke has double the laundry. She also once observed that a whole wardrobe of Ennosuke's is still missing, and she found piece of Ennosuke's clothing in your pile and vice-versa."
This time around, Houjo shrunk back as he felt the eyes of four policemen, many lawyers, his brothers, his parents (or his father and stepmother), the victim's sister, and several other people bore right into him. "D-Do you have anything that's not just circumstantial? Don't you realize how ridiculous your theories sound? If you want to know why Ennosuke-kun has more laundry nowadays, then ask him, dammit! He's become almost as much of an otaku slob as Akahito-kun that even he hasn't been able to keep track of what he's wearing."
"I've been wondering why Sakura-san has been complaining about my increased amount of laundry," Ennosuke deadpanned, which shut Houjo up immediately. "I've been wondering why I've had less clothes to pick through since two months ago. The fact that you a smaller pile of laundry although you're always out of the house is also suspicious. Please continue, Mister Detective."
"You have quite the interesting M.O., Shimamura Houjo. In order to cover up Kishida-shi's murder, you made it look like she was killed by the Kanji Killer or a Kanji Killer copycat. In order to cover up any implicating accusation from your group testimony, you asked several of your brothers to intentionally give contradictory statements. In order to cover up your rape of Kishida-shi, you pretended to be one of your quintuplet brothers."
"THOSE ARE LIES! You know what you sound like right now? You sound like a deranged conspiracy theorist! You sound like my brother Akahito-kun when he's talking about his collection of action figures! That's complete and utter fucking BULLSHIT!"
"Valentine's Day."
"...What?"
"I discovered quite a lot of interesting things when I interviewed all the people linked to you during Valentine's Day. For one thing, although all the quintuplets were unaccounted for during the proposed date of Kishida-shi's murder, February 28, you were the only one missing from your home during the date of February 14."
"Of course. I was having a date with my girlfriend. Does this even have a point?" Houjo brusquely cut Matsudaira off, but the detective didn't even flinch as he resumed disclosing his findings.
"You say that you're with your girlfriend? Okay then. Each and every last one of the quintuplets were back at the mansion for a single's party of commiseration along with their little brothers after school." Matsudaira then requested Taniguchi to flip through page 16 of one of the folders.
"From what the hired help told me, Katsuhiko was having a hard time getting over his gold digger girlfriend, nerdy Akahito never even had a girlfriend, the ever-congenial Doi shared his collection of chocolates from admirers and friends alike with his brothers, and Ennosuke had recently been rejected by Kishida-shi after months of stalking." Matsudaira cleared his throat.
"Ah, that reminds me. There's something you haven't told the police yet in regards to Ennosuke's relationship with Kishida-shi. Perhaps it was because of this incident that led him to believe he's responsible for her rape and death... not necessarily murder," Matsudaira remarked.
Ennosuke stirred, but remained silent.
Matsudaira addressed Ennosuke directly. "It has something to do with some of your classmates claiming that they saw Kishida-shi talk to you in a friendlier manner in the last few weeks of her existence before she dumped you. It may have been Houjo's doing, but certainly you would've noticed something amiss when Kishida-shi actually began confirming your existence even though your brother was posing as you all along."
The geeky quintuplet froze in doe-eyed horror upon hearing the horns of the metaphoric eighteen-wheeler truck Matsudaira drove at him. Even though he was at his wits' end and people probably wouldn't believe him and his story, he confessed, "I... we had sex a week before Valentine's Day. I don't know how, but for one reason or another, Kishi-san started to return my feelings. Or maybe it was mixed signals and I misunderstood? I don't know. I'm aware I'm a loser freak and a woman falling in love with her stalker flies right in the face of logic, but..."
The collective gasp of most of those present echoed inside the room. From beside Likka, Natsuki smilingly slammed her open palm with a fist, to the gi-wearing girl's confusion.
"B-But... two days after that, she screamed at me and told me she never wanted to see me again. Then, a few weeks later, I found out that she was killed by the Kanji Killer. I was depressed enough as is when Kishi-san's sister, Katsumi, accused all of us quintuplets for her rape and murder. I had no idea how she got killed, but if she was forced into suicide because of what we did, then I... I... I would've never forgiven myself!"
"That's the reason why you believe that you may have raped Kishida-shi. You've had sex with her two nights before Valentine's Day." Matsudaira nodded before turning towards Katsuhiko. "As for Katsuhiko and the rest of the brothers that Houjo managed to talk to before they offered their testimonies with the rest of the Shimamura siblings, I imagine that Houjo probably claimed Kishida-shi to be a gold digger who wanted to blackmail him for money and ended up dead in the hands of her ex. Katsuhiko was so taken by this story thanks to his past girlfriend's betrayal that he himself volunteered to confess to the crime."
Matsudaira looked Akahito, Fumio, and Katsuhiko in the eyes as he stressed, "Your plan to confuse the police so that all of you would get off the hook from Kishida Katsumi's accusations won't work anymore. Do you really want to protect a brother who'd just betrayed his fellow quintuplet and the woman that he loved? Unless you really want either Katsuhiko or Ennosuke to serve as scapegoats for crimes neither of them committed, I suggest you come clean and let justice be served for that poor, misunderstood girl."
"You are not going to tear our family apart with your lies, Detective!" Houjo met Matsudaira head-on. "Weren't you just saying something about Valentine's? February 14? You were claiming that I wasn't around for my brothers' dumb singles party? Well, that's because I was doing my girlfriend!"
"Please don't lie anymore, Houjo. I've investigated this case thoroughly. There's no escape," Matsudaira warned. "Tell us what happened on February 14 that compelled Kishida-shi to tell her sister that if anything happened to her, she should go to the police and report her rape."
"You've got nothing on me! Fuck you! I fucked my girlfriend on Valentine's Day!"
"Our date was cut short, Houjo-kun. You threatened to break up with me for a night of sex on Valentine's Day, and I refused. I'm not that kind of woman, and we're not at that point in our relationship. You threw a temper tantrum, forced yourself on me, got a face-full of mace, and then left," Houjo's girlfriend declared from behind the door before opening it and letting herself in the interrogation room. "What the hell did you do after I threw you out of my house?"
"S-SET-SAN? What the fuck are you doing here? You have nothing to do with this! Get out of here!" a flabbergasted Houjo exclaimed as he grabbed hold of his hair and tore at it.
"Here's the new rough timeline of events. I want everyone to see this," Matsudaira chirped as he handed his photocopied report even as Houjo began to suffer from some sort of nervous breakdown.
"Set-san? Hmmm. That sounds a lot like 'Mikan', come to think of it. It's funny how you were able to come up with a pet name for your girlfriend that sounds quite like the made-up name you made for a girl you supposedly never met," Natsuki wondered aloud.
At that point, Akahito came forward. "You're right, Detective. Houjo-kun talked us into making those contradictory statements, assuring us that it'd save us from going to jail. B-But... I don't want Ennosuke-kun or Katsuhiko-kun to go to jail just because I went along with my asshole brother's harebrained scheme."
"FUCK YOU, MAN! Don't you dare betray me like this! I never talked to any of you! Fuck, Katsuhiko-niichan, you believe me, right? I never..."
"Man up, Houjo-kun," Katsuhiko told his brother. "It's over. We want to know what the hell you did to that girl's sister. We aren't going to cover your ass anymore. Tell us the whole truth right this instant."
The cornered Houjo backed himself to a bare wall and slowly slid down to a crouch. "Fine. I'll tell you everything. Ennosuke-kun had been stalking Mikan for quite some time, to the point that he almost got in trouble. For the most part, he was an annoyance, and she was just about to confront him when I decided to get into the fun and pretend to be my own brother to show him off and demonstrate how to truly charm a lady. I took his place in pursuing Mikan, but I then put the moves on her as 'Ennosuke' and before you know it, we had a casual fling going on. She's been around the campus, if you know what I mean, and she was looking into the compensated dating scene before I came around. She wanted my money, I know, but then again, I was only leading the slut on.
"She was genuinely scared of Ennosuke-kun's otaku tendencies because of the Otaku Murderer Case back in '89. However, during one of our rendezvous, I wasn't able to show up because I had prior commitments with my girlfriend who was getting suspicious of me and whoever I've been spending my time with. One thing led to another, and Mikan ended up making out with my virgin quintuplet, thinking he was me. Ennosuke was ecstatic that the object of his pestering returned his feelings, but she noticed the difference between him and me because of the pet name thing as well. Like the slut that she was, she dated my clueless brother behind my back while she started drifting away from me and our own dates.
"She eventually confronted me, Ennosuke Number Two, about the situation and how I've lied to her all this time, demanding to know which quintuplet I really was. I didn't want the chick to blackmail me or anything, so I said she should be happy to have two Shimamura brothers after her instead of only one. She didn't like the implications of what I said, of course, but I had no intention of leaving my girlfriend over some bimbo who can't keep her skirt down. I left her, vowing never to impersonate my brother again. In a comedy of errors, because she still wasn't sure who the real 'Ennosuke' was, she ended up screaming at the original Ennosuke who stalked her, which he eventually took to heart, entering in a state of depression of sorts.
"Valentine's Day. My girlfriend was being a frigid bitch at the time and wouldn't put out. Meanwhile, Ennosuke-kun was moping because of the rejection he just took from Mikan rooting from a misunderstanding. I had blue balls, man, and I found out that she fell for Ennosuke-kun bad and wanted to make amends, so I decided to impersonate him for one last time to... well, make amends for him in his place. I figured that they'll get back together, and I'll get to have some pussy.
"It would've been a win-win proposition for everyone involved. When we got together, she was more than willing to make up with 'Ennosuke'. It was a foolproof plan, and I was doing my bro a favor, the way I saw it. We went to a motel and did it. However, I called her the wrong name in the middle of orgasm and she found out that I fooled her. She was angrier than ever before. Unfortunately for me, she had put two-and-two together and she'd been researching about us quintuplets many days prior.
"She threatened to expose me to my girlfriend and the rest of the world for rape and impersonating my brother if I didn't give in to her demands for shush money. So no, I wasn't lying when I told my brothers that she was a gold digger. Anyway, during one Sunday, while my brothers were off doing their own thing, I met with the bitch and gave her what's coming to her. I thought the whole thing would blow over once she was classified as another Kanji Killer victim, but then this shit happened."
"MONSTER! You killed her! The only girl that ever really cared for me, and you fucking RAPED her pretending you were me then KILLED her when she threatened to go to the cops, you fucking coward!" Ennosuke raged as his spittle and spite flew all over, the nearby Officer Hamada catching him before he could strangle his traitorous quintuplet. "She probably didn't ask for money; you made it up because you were afraid of going to jail and getting disowned by Hikaru-san!"
"Mikan. She was called Mikan by her killer. Not Kishi-san. Not Miki-san. MIKAN!"
Just then, from inside her sleeve, Katsumi brandished a homemade shiv and charged at the defenseless Houjo. However, she was apprehended by a hard strike on her wrist care of Natsuki's metal cane, the makeshift weapon clattering on the tiled floor. "Don't do this. It's over. Let justice be served, Katsumi-san. The last thing your sister would want is to see your life ruined."
"Please don't judge my sister," Katsumi pleaded to no one in particular. "She fell behind her studies because she had to work part-time to support me. In order for her to not get kicked out, she did favors for her perverted teachers and earned a reputation. She may be soiled and dirty, but she did it because of me. Please don't judge my sister."
And just as everyone was distracted by the sudden turn of events, the listless Houjo sprang back to life in order to finish himself off with the fallen shiv. The blade was about to pierce into his jugular when he got knocked out by the diminutive Likka's "FLYING KICK!"
From there, the whole room felt dead silent as everyone stared at the might of Daiji Matsudaira's sister-in-law. "What? Don't tell me none of you wanted to do that to this scumbag." She shrugged.
Just outside the Metropolitan Police Department's Shinjuku Police Station, in the evening...
"My friend, if what happened in that interrogation room is any indication, what we're witnessing right now is the destruction of society. Decency is nonexistent and monsters are now feasting upon the weak and helpless. I shall go back to my apartment, retire in my room, get my Walkman, and reflect upon the collapse of civilization and the end of the world," Likka summarized after she and Natsuki had given their statements to the less-than-enthused Officer Uye and Detective Tsunemoto.
"I'd say you're being melodramatic, Likka-tan, but from what I've witnessed earlier, you might not be far off," Natsuki said, her head still spinning from the grueling confrontation they all went through earlier.
The half-Chinese girl smirked and sighed upon remembering that in the end, Detective Matsudaira's brand of in-depth investigation won the day. "We might as well have juggled and did magic tricks to distract the people inside until sempai got there. He's still the one who ultimately solved the case."
"Whatever, little girl; I told you you'd do better with your deductions this time around than the last time. Heck, even Uncle Jiji thanked you for assisting him with the investigation. Granted, Inspector Bulldog wasn't as thankful, but he still let you help because he knew you had the right stuff. You even stopped the victim's sister from committing a crime and ruining her life! It's as if you were born to be a police officer," Likka waxed lyrical even as her half-Chinese friend waved off her praise.
As per the police's S.O.P., Houjo had been put on suicide watch while in police custody. Instead of posting bail immediately, Mister Shimamura decided to let his son stay in prison while he and his lawyers discussed their present options, especially in light of the fact that the protection of Family Court wasn't going to cut it this time for this juvenile delinquent because of the gravity of his heinous crimes.
Furthermore, as the bruised and dizzied Houjo was taken away to jail, his thoroughly embarrassed family members unable or unwilling to do much of anything except promise to bail him out later on before his trial started, the kowtowed Officer Uye switched from his "Katsuhiko is guilty! This is an open-and-shut case!" stance and mocked the perp, saying that he was probably the one responsible for the death of Akio Oogata as well.
Houjo swore up and down that he had nothing to do with Oogata's murder because he planned to instead pay off the goon. However, since he killed the last person he promised a bribe to, it was only natural for the police to take his statements with a grain of salt. Conversely, there was still little to no solid evidence of him committing that particular crime, so it probably would not become part of the charges used against him by Katsumi's lawyer.
In the middle of Inspector Taniguchi wrapping everything up while half-berating, half-congratulating Detective Matsudaira for his unorthodox way of handling the case, Natsuki was able to pilfer some information regarding the murder of Oogata-shi. The skill level used to kill him definitely had the earmarks of the true Kanji Killer, but the deliberate use of the "Hon" character was inconsistent with the usual Kanji Killer cases.
"Between you and me, the first few murders of the Kanji Killer were things he did to mock the police. The more I analyze his earliest crimes, the more convinced I am that his M.O. roots from using the M.O. of others to cover his own tracks," Matsudaira intimated before sorting out his share of the paperwork.
'So this bizarre case ended up cluing me in on the whereabouts of the real One-Eight-Ten Killer after all,' Natsuki considered as she thanked her lucky stars for the inadvertent lead. As a favor for helping Daiji solve the case, she requested Inspector Taniguchi to tell her the details surrounding Akio Oogata's death just four days ago, on March 13.
Naturally, she got shouted down by the pear-shaped inspector right away. However, like always, he was able to relay a couple of facts that he could reveal to wannabe detectives and civilians like her. At the time of Oogata-shi's murder, Officer Hamada was frozen down by an unknown force before being ambushed by, for all intents and purposes, a kappa of ancient Japanese mythology or Springheel Jack of western urban folklore.
Natsuki frowned as she reviewed the Kanji Killer description given to her by the inspector in her mind. The attacker allegedly had eyes that resembled smoldering coal, silver hair, a pallid complexion fit for a corpse, a frightening Glasgow smile with a set of teeth as eerily uniform as the ivory keys of a piano, and a tight black outfit that covered most of his head except for his hair and face. 'He sounds absolutely ridiculous.'
Nevertheless, Natsuki clutched her trusty cane tightly as she prepared for the opportunity to face off with a man that, to her, was the very personification of Mister Edward Hyde: The epitome of humanity's utmost depravity and the basest of mankind's impulses.
"Are you sure you're fine going home by yourself? I get it, you can handle yourself with that weird 'cane-style' kung fu of yours, but I don't want you to again end up walking around in the rain without an umbrella," said Likka as she pushed down the feeling of unplaceable dread at the pit of her stomach over something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
Natsuki gave Likka one of her smiles that didn't quite reach her eyes, which worried the Matsudaira sister-in-law even more. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Likka-tan. I have an escort waiting for me."
From behind a confined alleyway concealed within the large shadows cast by Kabukicho's monolithic structures, near Shinjuku's Skyscraper District...
"We're almost at my apartment, Officer," revealed Natsuki as she rode from behind the masked Officer Hamada on his custom-built, siren-fitted Suzuki GSX-R750. "In fact, you can drop me off now. I can walk from here on end."
"It would be rude for me to leave you here in the middle of an alleyway, young lady. I've already had someone die in my watch, and I wouldn't want you to be the next one to do so," Hamada mumbled from behind his facemask, which prompted Natsuki to bizarrely declare, "Oh grandma, what big eyes you have..."
To Officer Hamada's surprise, the young lady let go of her grip around his waist and jumped off of the motorcycle before it could clear the passage. The policeman ground the vehicle to a halt and called out, "Have you gone mad, young woman? You would've been injured have we been going any faster."
Natsuki merely responded, "Oh grandma, what big ears you have," as she stood from her crouched landing position and dusted herself off.
"I'm not playing games here, Shinkai Natsuki-san. Let me get you back to your apartment already."
"Oh grandma, what big teeth you have." She brandished her cane with her left arm. "I have no intention of leading you back to my home. We're going to face off right here and now. Why did you kill Oogata-shi?"
After a minute's pause, the officer got off his motorcycle, pocketed his keys, and unleashed an uneven cackle that bordered on throwing an epileptic fit. "How did you know that I wasn't Officer Hamada?"
"Well, for one thing, even though you share the same build, you're slightly more muscular than the Officer Hamada I know. I'm surprised the other people in the station didn't notice it earlier and saw through your awful disguise. In any case, for someone who had just gotten through a terrible bout of colds, you look quite strong and sturdy."
The fake Hamada bellowed in cacophonic hilarity once more as he opened "his" vehicle's trunk and took out his weapons of choice: a daisho, otherwise known as a matching pair of an uchigatana and wakizashi. "Is that it? It's amazing how you've lucked out with a mere hunch!" the imposter lunged at Natsuki with his twin blades, but he was then caught flatfooted by how easily the girl blocked and parried his strike.
"The second thing that clued me in is the fact that Officer Hamada was spared by the Kanji Killer in the first place. Out of the Kanji Killer's confirmed seven victims, only one survived; perhaps two if a suspected escapee really is connected to the Kanji Killer case. Officer Hamada wasn't even injured, only knocked out, from what his report suggests."
The Hamada impersonator increased the pressure of his attacks and varied the angles of his slashes, but the athletic female was able to compensate for his aggressiveness by increasing her feints and peppering him with shuddering counterstrikes every so often he overcommitted to any given offensive, which forced him to back off and ease up on his intense onslaught.
"So I thought up two conclusions. One was that for whatever reason, Officer Hamada took it upon himself to murder Oogata-shi in cold blood. Or two, that Officer Hamada had ended up in cahoots with the Kanji Killer and let him kill Oogata-shi. Whichever the case, I never expected to actually be fighting the Kanji Killer himself right now."
He was no match; after years of research on the Kanji Killer's modus operandi, Natsuki had long ago figured out his moves. The horizontal slash represented "Ichi"; the two slashes that diagonally pointed upward represented "Hachi"; the cross slash represented "Ju"; any combination of the three thereof resulted in the formation of the amalgamated "Ichi-Hachi-Ju" characters. As far as she knew, there was nothing the Kanji Killer could throw at her that she couldn't block or counter.
"But you're not the true Kanji Killer, are you? Or rather, you're not the Kanji Killer that the police are looking for. Compared to you, that Kanji Killer was sloppy with his work and left far too many proofs of his existence. You're an expert assassin. You don't usually leave witnesses; if there were any, they'd be injured or near dying. You weren't exactly subtle with your killing tactics, but you would never have left such obvious markings on your victims like some sort of mindless, conceited fool pretending to be a villainous version of Zorro."
'Looks like Daiji-sempai was right again.' Natsuki sighed inwardly as she fell into her impregnable defensive stance and patiently waited for her opponent to open up once more as she unleashed laser-like potshots and counters in the meantime. "The Kanji Killer that the police are searching for is your copycat. You're the original Kanji Killer, a shadow assassin that was too skilled to even be caught by local law enforcement."
The true Kanji Killer attempted employing his signature back-pass technique that he used to catch his greatest opponent off-guard against Natsuki. However, to his amazement and incredulity, the little girl before him showed superior defense and reaction time than the man who defeated him in his past life by ducking under his surprise attack and stabbing the tip of her cane into his throat.
"When you killed Oogata-shi, you even showed off how much you disdained your clone by using the 'Hon' character deliberately instead of the 'Ichi-Hachi-Ju' character he was known for. Now tell me; why did you kill Oogata-shi? Are you attempting to clean up the mess of your own doppelganger? Are you off to kill him instead?"
The Kanji Killer croaked and hacked, but instead of becoming unsettled, he trembled and chortled with what appeared to be growing excitement. "You've impressed me with your detective skills, young lady. You're a very smart girl. You can even fight like a tigress. Xinhai was right about you. You are a handful."
"Son of a...! How did you...?" Natsuki yelled, her perfect stance marred by her own emotionality as she heard a name she thought she'd never hear again. She recovered quickly enough to block fifty continuous slashes from the revitalized serial killer before she suddenly froze in the middle of countering the back-pass technique again as soon as her eyes met his, his shades slipping on the bridge of his nose. 'What's going on? I can't move! What...'
The back-pass slash landed hard on Natsuki's right side, tearing apart her clothing and leaving a messy diagonal gash that went from her lower right ribs, in between her breasts, and all the way to her left shoulder.
"You're right. I am the one whom Xinhai copied. I heard from Hamada that you and that tall detective were calling him the One-Eight-Ten Killer. No, that is incorrect. The character you're referring to is Hei, hence the name of my kenjutsu school, Nikaido Heiho."
Natsuki ended up prone on the ground. Unlike Kenshin Himura who actually had an idea of what the Shin no Ippo was, she wasn't able to move away in time as her opponent kept her paralyzed and stabbed her right in the stomach with his wakizashi. She didn't scream, but her belabored gasp as the air gushed forth her agape mouth spoke volumes.
"Such pain. Such suffering. Such anguish. I can see the lines of jaki flowing out of you in plumes. No wonder he's so strong. No wonder he kept you alive."
"W-What are you talking about?" Natsuki gurgled as she felt the sticky red warmth spread across her undershirt in two different places, her vision a haze of stinging tears and a vignette of creeping darkness.
To be Continued...
Next: The Kanji Killer versus the world.
We're off to find our dreams,
Abdiel