Ren walked into the pawnshop to get the paper records from the shop owner. Hopefully, something in them would help him identify others who bought the daggers.
"Detective," the older man called to him as he walked into the front door causing the bell to ding. "I have gathered the receipts you asked for. Let me go in the back and get them." He disappeared behind a curtain separating the back from the customer area. Ren waited patiently browsing the cases in front of him to pass time.
He was looking at several silly pins. There was a whole collection of them. One, in particular, caught his eye. It reminded him of a certain someone.
"Here is everything you asked for," the shop keeper said coming back through the curtain holding a box. Ren looked away from the case to the man carrying over the box. He placed it in front of Ren for him to briefly look over the contents.
Ren fumbled through the paperwork to see if anything caught his eye immediately. "I didn't think to ask before, but do you remember who brought the set of daggers in?" He asked as he looked over one receipt.
"Now that is a fella I'll never forget. Strange looking he was," the shop keeper told Ren.
Ren stopped checking over the paperwork to look up at the store owner. "What do you mean strange looking?" He asked tentatively.
"I've never seen a fellow like him. His hair was completely white. That's strange, but you do see it from time to time if you meet enough people. What was unique about him was his eyes were also white. I was glad when he left," he told Ren shivering slightly at the memory of the man he found creepy.
"That's descriptive. Thank you for the information," Ren said keeping himself as calm as he could. "I should get this box back to the station to check over everything properly," he grabbed the box as he spoke.
"Sure thing, detective. If there's anything else you need, be sure to let me know," the owner said to him. As Ren was about to walk away, the pin in the case in front of him caught his eye again.
"Actually, how much are you selling these silly pins for?"
Ren walked towards the building remembering the description given by the pawnshop owner and the kidnapped kids. All of them spoke of a man with white hair and white eyes. Max reported a similar looking man coming in and out of the building ahead of him that held the symbol of the flower.
If Max wasn't mistaken, this would be the first location found before a crime happened linked to HIM. Ren didn't think Max was mistaken especially once he got close enough to pick up the scent he was looking for. He's been here.
Ren checked behind him to the other side of the street. He saw Kyoko following Max into a building. Good, they don't need to be in harm's way. He pulled out the pistol strapped to his side keeping it pointed down and tested the doorknob. It wasn't locked. Strange, why wouldn't he lock it? Wouldn't he want to keep people out? Ren entered the building cautiously.
He walked into a stairwell. The stairs went up several flights without any doors to exit from. Finally at the top, Ren found a door. It had a small window that allowed him to look through. What he could see on the other side of the door wasn't much. An area that looked like it could be a bed, food wrappings, and clothes thrown around.
The contents of the room weren't suspicious, but the smell was overwhelming. There was no mistaking who used this room. Until he walked into this building, Ren was hoping he was mistaken. That HE wouldn't be in town. But he couldn't deny who this smell belonged to. His worst nightmare had come back to haunt him.
Ren took a steady breath before kicking down the door. He scanned the room in seconds. There wasn't much to it. Other than a small bathroom to the left, there was nothing more than he'd seen from the window. Ren walked around the room looking for anything that stood out. As he neared the back of the small room, a new smell assaulted his nostrils.
He wondered briefly how he'd missed this smell before. Then he realized he'd been so overwhelmed by smelling HIM other scents were blocked out. But he couldn't ignore the smell with its source strewn out before him. Bloodied clothes littered the back corner. They were stacked away from the other clothes. Presumably to maintain some level of cleanliness. Ren would have to wait for the forensic team to go through the pile to find out who's blood was on them and just how many articles of clothing there were. He guessed the blood came from around 6 different people based on the different smells he was picking up. But the scents were so mingled it was hard for him to tell. It could only be from two people for all he knew.
Ren pulled out his phone to call in the crime scene.
Kyoko followed Max into his home. He lived on the first floor in an apartment building. It definitely was not a high class building, but it looked livable. It didn't smell and was reasonably well kept.
Max opened his door calling out for his mom, "Mom, Mom, we have a visitor," he said to the air. Kyoko walked in behind him into a kitchen area. A small round table was in the center of the room with the kitchen to the left. The living room was just beyond that. Kyoko could see an opening to a hallway on the right but nothing beyond that.
"Max? Did you bring a friend home from school?" A woman from down the hall called excitedly. Kyoko had to school her face to prevent from being rude. She was not prepared for the sight of the woman who stepped from the hallway.
She was blonde, rocking the bed head look, wearing a leopard print, tight, short dress. Her look included fishnets and heavy makeup.
"Mom, did you forget to wash your makeup off before going to bed again?" Max asked her when he saw her. He was unphased by her getup otherwise.
"I suppose I did," she said touching her face. "I should go do that and then meet your friend." Max's mom turned towards Kyoko before heading back down the hall and stopped. "Who are you? You are definitely not a high school student," she said surprised.
Kyoko realized she probably seemed like some type of predator to the mother in front of her. She didn't know the story of what happened. All she saw was that an adult followed her precious 14 year old son home.
"My name is Kyoko Mogami. I'm a reporter from LoveMe. I've been shadowing at Star Point Church this past week. Max has helped me out a lot. It's so nice to meet you," Kyoko blurted out trying to explain her relationship to the young man in the room.
"Mom, this is the woman I've been telling you about. The one who was exposed during the school festival and then had the stalker yesterday," Max said calling from behind her.
Kyoko noticed he was rummaging through a woman's purse before pulling out what he was looking for. "Here Mom, your makeup remover. Go wash up and then come join us."
"Sure, honey," his mom said grabbing the makeup remover from him. Before she headed back down the hall she looked over at Kyoko. Her face wasn't full of distrust as it was before, but still not trusting.
Kyoko stared after her for a moment before focusing back on Max. She remembered him putting water in her purse without the usual male discomfort towards a woman's purse. So that's why he's so comfortable around women's things. He's close to his mom. But what was that getup?! As Kyoko walked over to join Max in the living room, she remembered something that West said.
"You can just whore out your mother to get the cash. That's all she's good for anyways."
Kyoko startled at the memory of his harsh words and looked over at Max. He saw the question in her eyes.
"Yes, my mom's a prostitute," he told her calmly. He walked into the kitchen to fill a pitcher with water and get cups for everyone.
He's rather nonchalant about that. Kyoko couldn't help but feel shocked. She'd never met a prostitute before.
Max's mom came back into the living room with her makeup removed. She also put a bandana in her hair to hold it back from her face. She sat down on the couch and motioned for Kyoko to join her. Kyoko sat down next to her trying not to let her face give her shock away.
"Max tells me you had a stalker. Aren't they frightful?" She asked Kyoko. "I've had a few. They've always gotten scared off after Max shows himself and speaks up. Men like that don't like having teenagers around, especially ones who speak their minds," she told the younger woman.
"Yes, it was frightful. He came back today even after Max got in his face yesterday," Kyoko remembered her fright from the morning of worrying about whether or not Max was okay. My God! I have to apologize for putting Max in harm's way! Kyoko quickly got off the couch and did a dogeza to Max's mom. "I'm so sorry for putting him in danger like that! He could have gotten hurt. I'm an incompetent adult who couldn't keep him out of my problems." Kyoko yelled out with her head to the floor.
"Oh dear, by that definition I'm a horrible parent," Max's mom told her. That's not what I meant to imply. Kyoko thought to herself. "You can't stop him from jumping in. He's going to do what he wants," she told Kyoko. "So get back up on the couch, dear."
"Yes,…" Kyoko said hesitating as she stood back up. She didn't know her name.
"Oh, how rude of me, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Pearl," she said pulling Kyoko back down to the seat next to her.
Max joined them in the living room carrying a tray with a pitcher and cups. He set it down on the coffee table in the middle of the room.
"Max, why did you grab 4 cups? There's only 3 of us," Pearl asked him.
"There's actually one more, Mom. A detective drove us home," he told her finding himself a seat on the floor next to them.
"A detective?! Max, what happened?" She asked with worry.
Max and Kyoko launched into the story of the stalker and how Ren showed up to scare him off for good. Kyoko mentioned that he was across the street following up on a lead for a case he was working on. Once he was done, he would come to get Kyoko to drive her home.
As they finished their explanation, Kyoko's phone went off. "Speaking of Ren," she said out loud as she checked her phone. "Oh," she responded quietly as she read his text.
"What is it?" Max asked her.
"He found a crime scene," Kyoko told them. "I should go join him. It's my job to report on these kinds of things," she said as she stood up making sure she had all of her things. "It was nice to meet you, Pearl. Max, I'll talk to you later," Kyoko gave her goodbyes trying to rush out the door.
"Wait, when will I get to see you again? Aren't you done working at the church after today?" Max asked her.
Kyoko turned back to him before reaching the door. "I'm not sure. But you have my number. You can call me anytime," she told him smiling before grabbing the door and heading out. Kyoko left Max and his mom behind as she walked out of the building and made her way across the street. She found Ren waiting outside the door next to the flower symbol.
"You should stay with Max and his mom," Ren told her.
"No way," Kyoko responded. "I was your shadow last week remember? It's part of my job to get the perspective of what you do," she said defiantly.
"Kyoko, this isn't like last week's case. It's a whole new ball game," Ren said to her with his arms crossed leaning against the wall.
"What do you mean?" Kyoko asked him.
"What's inside this building is likely related to the string of murders my supervisor mentioned last week. The one about the attack dogs," Ren said jogging her memory about the mention of a serial killer in the city.
Maddog watched from the alleyway as Kuon spoke to the woman in front of him. He arrived home while Kuon was still in the building, but he'd caught his scent from the car and stayed downwind in the shadows to hide his presence. Finally, Kuon found the clues and knew he was in the city.
He watched as the petite woman walked across the street over to Kuon. He smiled gleefully when the wind blew. He knew the scent coming off her. It was very familiar to him. She was pregnant with a child from their clan. The father could only be Kuon. He was the last one.
Revenge was going to be very sweet.
I'm back! Sorry I was gone longer than I said. It's been very busy for us. We ended up moving twice. Inconvenient but good since this second place is way bigger and we're more comfortable than we would have been in the first place. My husband landed his dream job and started school full time. My toddler broke her leg. Don't worry, it's already almost fully healed. We also had to put a kitty down (not Jack). It's been a whirlwind.
While I didn't post a new chapter in February, I was working on the story. I went through all the old chapters fixing grammar problems. I found a small inconsistency between a couple of chapters that needed addressing. I also changed Rori Takarada's job title. He's chief of police, not captain. I couldn't think of the right term to use for him when I first wrote the story. As I was rereading, I realized Chief of Police is a title better suited to his role.
I'm modeling Max's relationship with his mom off of the one in Toradora between the male lead and his mom.
I'm not sure if I'll stick to Friday's as my update day. I'm updating on a Tuesday because it's been so long. Next week's chapter might be on Friday and it might not.
If you ever want to know the status of the next chapter, feel free to drop in discord. I was updating my progress in there over the last month for the few who've joined the chat. Link can be found in my profile.
Thanks to everyone who was commenting during my hiatus. I appreciated knowing you all were still eager for the next chapter despite the break.
-Besma0003
PS: I'm dropping a pic of Max's Mom's outfit in Discord for anyone who would like a visual. I suck at describing clothes.
