Shiena couldn't help but fidget. Her legs were shaking under the table as she watched the man put a fourth sugar into his coffee. Wasn't he worried about diabetes? Old people sometimes… real sugar addicts.
After a fifth sugar, the old man stirred his coffee and took a sip, seeming satisfied with the diabetic-inducing flavour.
"Uh… Inspector Kurodo?"
"Please, you can just call me Kurodo."
"Right… uh, Kurodo, what did you… want to talk about with me? And why here?"
"Well, you see, I feel safer in a public area. And I love this café," he replied nonchalantly as he took another sip of coffee."
"Safer? Do you think I'm dangerous or something?"
"Not you specifically, but that girlfriend of yours, certainly."
Shiena's heart skipped a beat.
"My… girlfriend?"
"Yes. I'm talking about Takechi Otoya, of course."
Now Shiena's heart was racing like crazy.
"I don't know what you're talking about-"
"There's no need to hide it from me, Kenmochi-san. I'm not here to judge you. Takechi-san is a pretty woman so I can't blame you for falling for her charms, hehe."
Somehow, Shiena felt that this comment was weird coming from an old man.
"Takechi-san is a master manipulator who deceived and tricked many women, so you wouldn't be the first one to fall for her trap."
"She's not my girlfriend… anymore," Shiena corrected.
"Right. Was it before or after it was revealed she was the infamous Jack the Ripper of the 21st century?"
"... Before, obviously. Who would want to date a psychopathic serial killer?"
"Of course. It would have been troublesome if you still dated her even after learning the truth, right?"
Shiena didn't like where this was going. She felt like Kurodo was suspecting her of something.
"Are you insinuating that I'm still dating Takechi?" Shiena asked bluntly.
"Of course not. But perhaps you know where she is, is what I'm wondering," he replied with a sly smile.
"Why would I know that? She tried to kill me… If I knew where she was I'd tell the police right away and stay as far as possible from that psycho!"
"I didn't expect anything less. But you can't blame this ol' man for trying."
Shiena really started to dislike him.
"Then, I guess I'll take my leave-"
"Not so fast, Kenmochi-san. There are still some details I'm not quite sure of."
"... What now?"
"You were working for the police, right? As a support technician?"
"... Yeah?"
"You were falsely accused of being Jack the Ripper of the 21st Century and declared criminally insane then sent to an asylum, isn't that right?"
"... Uh-huh…"
"It's safe to assume Takechi-san is the one who framed you. So what I'm wondering is why did it take you so long to realize she was Jack the Ripper? According to my source, you were in a relationship with her before and after getting framed for murder. Isn't it weird you didn't have any suspicions of her for months? And how did you finally realize who she truly was? And is there some third party involved in all of this?"
Shiena gulped. This damn old bastard- he was much more clever than he looked like. She will have to fool him with something other than logic.
"What do you want me to say? Yes, I was stupid! I have a naive and gullible idiot who fell in love with a monster! I got deceived for months like a fool! Is that what you want to hear!? Are you here to humiliate me and rub salt in my wound!?"
It seemed to have worked, judging by Kurodo's guilty expression.
"That wasn't my intention… I just needed to be sure. You see, I probably hate Takechi-san as much as you- if not more."
"Uh?"
"Anyway, please let me know if you find anything out about her. Like if she tried to contact you or anything," Kurodo said as he handed his card to Shiena. "Please."
Shiena remained silent for a moment before she nodded.
"I will."
"Thanks, Kenmochi-san," Kurodo said as he stood up, smiling weakly at her. "Please stay safe."
The inspector walked away, leaving Shiena conflicted about how she felt about him- as well as herself.
Shiena made herself a third cup of coffee. She hadn't slept all night and didn't intend to go to bed for a while. Her body couldn't stop twitching and her eyes felt terribly dry but she still refused to go sleep- no, she couldn't fall asleep.
Ideas and thoughts were running so fast in her head that she simply couldn't relax or take a break. She needed to go to the bottom of this.
She needed to find Otoya.
Shiena was still analyzing the list of recently hired female florists that she had managed to shorten from thousands to a few hundred names. It was still a lot but she had managed to eliminate at least half of the names.
Then, a specific name caught her attention.
"Hasami… Kenko?"
Hasami.
Scissors.
"Could it be… no, that would be way too obvious… she couldn't possibly…?"
Kenko.
Ken-ko.
Ken.
Shiena had a gut feeling that there was some kind of meaning to the name. Ken was a masculine name written with the kanji 健, meaning "strong" or "healthy". The second kanji in the name, 子, meant child and was often used for feminine names. Therefore, Kenko was most likely meant as a feminine equivalent for Ken.
It didn't seem that deep, so why Shiena had a feeling this name was important?
Kenko… Ken… Kenko… Ken…
Healthy, strong, healthy, strong…
Which other name had the same meaning as Ken?
Shiena immediately started a research with those keywords. She got a name result pretty quickly:
"There is also a theory that the name is Celtic in origin, meaning "healthy, strong, full of vital energy" (compare the Welsh word 'iach', "health"), from a putative Ancient British 'Yakkios'."
Shiena froze when she saw which name it was making reference to.
Jack.
… Jack.
Jack the Ripper…
No, it couldn't be… right?
Then Shiena realized,
Ken, Kenko.
Jack, Jackie.
Oh. My. God.
It couldn't be a coincidence, right? It had to be Otoya, right?
She chose her alias based on the nickname Shiena gave her.
Shiena's heart started to race and her cheeks felt warmer.
"Otoya… is still thinking about me. She still cares about me…"
Crunch!
…
What was that noise? It sounded like someone stepping on something crunchy…
It must have been her imagination…
Right?
Yet Shiena had a bad feeling. She needed to check, just to be sure.
Carefully, she exited her room, slowly opening the door first to take a cautious look.
She didn't see anyone. She sighed in relief and as she turned to go back into her room, she noticed something on the floor.
A crushed bag of potato chips.
Shiena felt something pressing against the back of her head.
"Don't move," ordered an assertive female voice.
The brunette froze instantly. She could feel a barrel right behind her head. Her mouth and throught started to feel dry as her legs were now trembling.
"Who… who are you?" Shiena asked with a shivering, hoarse voice as she tried to turn around.
"I said don't move!" the voice insisted, prodding Shiena's head harder.
Shiena winced and let out a weak cry as she raised her arms in a sign of surrender. Somehow, she felt like she heard this voice before but couldn't tell who it belonged to.
"Good. Stay that way."
Shiena heard a click. Like a gun getting ready to be used.
"What… what are you going to do to me? Who are you!?" Shiena panicked.
"It's better for you to not think about it and behave. It will be over soon."
Shiena could feel a cold chill down her spine. This person was here to kill her. Without even seeing the face of her murderer or knowing her reasons, she was going to die.
Her heart racing like crazy, Shiena simply couldn't accept this fate. Not after being so close to finding Otoya.
"Why are you shooting me in the back? If you want to kill me, do it while facing me!" Shiena suddenly exclaimed.
Silence. Shiena closed her eyes, reluctantly accepting her fate. But it never came.
She wasn't shooting her.
Shiena opened her eyes. She could still feel the gun behind her head, but it seemed like… it was shaking? As if she was… hesitating.
This is how she understood the whole truth.
"You can't face me, don't you? You don't have the guts to look at me right in the eyes as you murder me in cold blood, isn't it?"
Still no answer and Shiena could barely feel the gun anymore. She got it right.
"You're not a cold-blooded killer, am I right? You can't look at your victims while assassinating them. You need to kill them in the most indirect way possible. Like with explosives, for example. But given I live in an apartment, you couldn't just blow me up. Not if it means causing collateral damage. Not only are you not a cold-blooded assassin, but you're also not heartless either. That's why you shot her in the back, right?"
"... What… what are you talking about?"
"You were ordered to kill her, weren't you? But you loved her so you couldn't bring yourself to shoot her in the front… so that's why you shot her in the back… and missed any vital spots."
"... I… I don't know what you're talking about-"
"I'm sure you do," Shiena said as she turned back. "It took me a while to recognized your voice. Sorry, I don't remember your name, miss Shutou's wife."
The black-haired girl looked shocked by Shiena's deduction, still clenching her gun but not aiming at the brunette.
"How did you-"
"I remembered your voice. I recalled you as Shutou's wife. I also know Shutou was shot in the back but that, miraculously, no vital points were hit. I had a feeling the culprit couldn't face Shutou and avoided actually killing her, so it wasn't a stretch to think it was someone close to her… like her own wife, for example."
The black-haired girl remained silent as if she didn't know what to answer to that.
"So, were you sent by Black Guild to get rid of me just like you were supposed to with Shutou?"
The other woman's eyes widened.
"So you know… about Black Guild…"
"Yes, and that you are most likely the assassin in the guild specialized in bombs."
The black-haired girl clenched her teeth.
"As I was told, you know way too much… But you are wrong on one detail."
"Oh? And what could it be?"
"I wasn't sent by anyone to kill you."
"Eh? Then… why do you want to kill me?"
The black-haired girl's eyes glimpsed with anger.
"Takechi Otoya."
Shiena felt her heart skip a beat.
"W… What about her?"
"Suzu got injured because of her. She's the one who snitched on Suzu. I promised her that I would make her pay for that. And now that I have finally found you, it's time for me to honour my promise."
She aimed back at Shiena, this time looking determined to do the deed. Shiena's heart was racing like crazy but she tried to keep her composure and not show her fear.
"What, don't tell me you want to get revenge on Takechi by killing me? Ha, that's so funny!"
"I don't see what's funny about that."
"You want to hurt Takechi, right? By killing me? But you made a critical mistake here."
"Oh? What mistake?"
Shiena's gaze suddenly turned cold and gloomy.
"That Takechi actually cares about me."
The other woman went silent and Shiena continued her rant.
"Takechi tried to kill me! You'd only do her a favour if you finish the job for her. She manipulated me and abused me and then stabbed me and left me to die! Do you really think she cares for me? No! If you kill me, the only thing you'd get from this is a thank you card from Takechi. Talk about a revenge…"
The black-haired girl seemed bothered by this statement.
"No, it can't be… I know she cared about you…"
"Please, if you want to shoot me, do it. Don't hurt me with those words. I know she doesn't. She just wanted to use me and threw me away as soon as I wasn't useful to her anymore. They all do…"
The assassin still looked hesitant so Shiena decided to give her the coup de grace.
"Shutou… I'm sorry, for what happened to her… Takechi threw shade at her because she helped me- no, she saved me! Without Shutou, I would still be in that asylum, drugged against my will or even worse, dead. I owe Shutou my life… Do you really want to take it away?"
Her hand was shaking now and she finally lowered her aim.
"Fine. For Suzu's sake, I will spare you. But first," she said as she got closer to Shiena. "Do you know where Takechi is?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? No, I don't know! Why would I know where my attempted murderer is? And if I did, I would have made sure she ended up in jail where she belongs a time ago."
The woman looked suspicious for a moment until she put her gun away.
"Very well then. Sorry for the disturbance, Kenmochi. I won't bother you anymore."
Without saying anything more, the black-haired woman left the apartment. Shiena let out a deep sigh of relief, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. That was a close shave. Even if she didn't technically lie, she still hid information. She felt somewhat bad but, at the same time, it was what saved her life.
Anyway, one of the statements she said was about to come true. She knew where Otoya was, and she intended to find her before anyone else, be it the police, AKA, Hitsugi, or even Suzu's wife.
Galaxy Brain Shiena
ps: Hasami is the Japanese word for scissors in case you didn't get it.
