The R.H Case

Chapter 9

Tora impatiently tapped his feet on the white tiled floor. For starters, he hated waiting. Seconds, he hated hospitals. The smell of disinfects made him want to throw up.

But now, thanks to his job, he was waiting for the past two hours in front the hospital room where his little victim was staying. It was no surprise that he was losing patience.

The victim, six years old, was kidnapped. He was snatched from a very busy market and the job was done so smoothly that the mother, who was with him at that time, didn't notice until the kid was gone. It was like "magic" as the mother stated in her report. What Tora understood was that the whole thing was done by a work of a group of people. One person could not pull off such an incident in a busy market.

Thankfully the team, led by Tora, managed to catch them in just six hours. Now Igarashi Tora was a proud man. He had a big ego. So, when he couldn't catch the main culprit behind kidnapping he became frustrated. Somehow the culprits got to know that their hideout was found out, they fled leaving the kid, trembling in fear, behind.

This was how he ended up waiting outside the hospital room the kid was staying in, and the doctors were constantly telling him to wait a bit more because the kid was too shaken to talk to strangers.

Tora sighed. Why was such a case given to an experienced detective like himself? That he didn't know.

Suddenly, a woman, probably a nurse, came out of the room, "You can go in now." Before Tora could go in she further added, "Please don't force him to talk. He is still in shock."

Tora took a glance at the woman and nodded wordlessly.

Going in, Tora noticed a curled up ball on the bed. It was the kid and he definitely looked frightened. His mom was holding the boy. Her eyes met with Tora.

Giving an understanding nod, the lady softly whispered something to the kid's ear, probably urging him to speak.

Tora quietly sat down on a chair beside the bed. He hated it. He was not good with talking with kids and now he had deal such a sensitive one. No matter how unwilling he was with this case, he did know about post traumas of kidnapping. Even big adults can't take it sometimes, and here he was dealing with a little six year old. Of course, the kid would be scared.

Taking a deep breath, Tora tried his best force out a smile, "Hi, I'm here to help you."

The kid took a quick glance at him before looking away.

"My name is Tora. Igarashi Tora. What's your name?" Tora sighed when he got no answer. He could hear the father, who was standing in a corner all along, letting out a deep breath along with him. Tora concluded that there was no use in running around the bush, "Do you remember the guy who took you?"

As he expected, there was no answer.

"Look, staying quiet won't help. We need your help to find the bad guys, and only you can help." Tora tried again, but he was slowly losing hope and the kid was not even looking up from his mother's embrace at his words, "Anything you remember about him? Anything."

Thinking that he won't get any answers, Tora was about to get up, but he stopped when he heard something.

"Painting." The victim mumbled, softly.

"Painting?" Tora frowned and sat back down, "What kind of painting?" He was relieved to see when the kid slowly turned towards him.

"A painting around the neck."

Painting around the neck? Tattoo…?

Tora's eyes glistened at the new information, but he tried his best to not overwhelm the kid with his questions. Still, he tried to ask further, "Do you remember what painting it was?"

"It was a snake." The kid shut his eyes tightly, flinching at the memory and buried his face back to his mother's embrace.

A tattoo of snake around the neck.

Tora smirked as he wrote the information down in his small notebook. It was a huge clue. Now, he needed to know what kind of snake it was. He looked at the kid still hiding, and refusing to talk. He let out a deep sigh. He had a long day ahead.

Tora cleared his voice, trying again, "Do you… like chocolates?"

"Why did you leave Cedric behind? He could've been a great help." Misaki finally asked the question which was bugging her all along.

Takumi, while driving, quickly snuck a side glance at the lady sitting beside her. After a fight – well not really a literal fight – about who was going to drive, and then deciding it with rock paper scissors, Takumi was quite sure that the lady had lost all her energy, but looked like he was wrong.

To answer her question, he only shook his head.

"Huh?"

He shrugged, "I don't trust him."

"Well, I don't trust you as well." Misaki muttered, more to herself. She folded her hands on her chest. To be frank, she would have preferred being with Cedric than Takumi. At least, Cedric was calm and did not get on her nerves.

"Are you still upset that you lost in rock paper scissors?"

This was it.

"Look-" She took a deep breath, "-you definitely cheated. I was first and you were then late by few sec-"

Takumi could not help but to laugh out loud, which only made her more annoyed. To save his life, he quickly added, "Stop being so competitive over rock paper scissors."

Misaki huffed, "I would've won."

"But you didn't."

"Because you cheated."

"Only you think so."

"Look-" Misaki pointed an accusing finger at the blond, "Do not try to do anything on your own. Let me do the talking."

He chuckled but stopped immediately when her glare deepened. Clearing his throat, he continued with a poker face, "Yes ma'am."

Silence fell upon them- not an awkward one but more like a comfortable one. Takumi noticed that she was back in her own thoughts while looking out of the window, and he could not help but to stare for a few good seconds. She looked a bit tired to him- nervous even, but he knew better than to voice out his worries. He knew that would only lead to her trying to hide her true feelings.

Deciding to keep quiet, he tore his eyes from her and focused more on the road. They were nearing the outskirts of the city. As a result, there were fewer cars and more trees surrounded the road. The day was cloudy, creating a gloom atmosphere. Takumi smiled, he liked such gloomy days.

In few minutes they reached their destination.

To Takumi it felt as if one hour ride went by a flash and he, kind of, regretted not taking a longer route.

"Let's go." Misaki nudged Takumi when they neared the entrance gates as she prepared herself for the coming questions. Her insides were jumbled together, and her palms were starting to sweat at this point.

"Calm down tigress."

As absurd as it may sound, that one sentence from him seemed to have a calming effect on her nerves. Misaki took a quick glance at the blond, and Usui Takumi looked as calm as ever, as if he had everything under his control. At times like this, like rarely, Misaki was glad that he tagged along with her because no matter how annoying he was, he was still good at his job.

The guards at the gates soon stood up at the sight of an unknown car approaching. Takumi swiftly pulled out his id from his pocket and held it in his hand so that everyone could see it, "Officer U. Takumi. Tokyo office. Crime branch. Open the doors. We have some questions to ask."

Misaki noticed how the faces of the guards became frightened as Takumi spoke. Even her jaw dropped a bit, at how fast the air around him changed. Misaki hated to admit but she found it quite intimidating. She was surprised that they faced no more questions before the big metal doors were opened for them. And they drove into the private property but Misaki could not see any villa yet. Even though they were inside the property, they still had a long way to go.

Rich people. She frowned.

"I heard women are often attracted to men who have authority."

With her sweet thoughts being interrupted, Misaki scoffed and turned to look at the smug looking blond, "Are you trying to show off?"

"No." He shrugged before he turned and smirked, "I'm trying to see if you are attracted or not."

Misaki snorted, "Nice joke Takumi." She tucked a loose lock of her raven hair behind her ear and smiled, "Sorry to burst your bubble but I am not."

Takumi pouted playfully and focused on the road, "Too bad."

Misaki frowned. She could never understand how this man went from intimidating to playful in a matter of seconds. He was more like an alien than a human being- she must say.

While she was again lost in her thoughts they reached the villa. Misaki was not completely out of her thoughts, when she got out but was soon pulled back to reality as she felt a strong grab around her wrist.

"Stay behind me."

His word took her completely off-guard. As if she was not already frowning enough, her frown deepened, "I told you to let me do the talking."

Takumi nodded and took a good look at her. She was panicking, which was evident to him. Well, she had enough reasons to panic. After all, she was getting closer to unveiling the mystery of her family. Takumi understood all that but he also wanted her to depend on him a little. "Just for once, let me do the talking."

Misaki did not know what came over her. Maybe it was the softer-than-usual voice of him, or maybe it was her nerves, or maybe it was the fact that she was pulled into a trance as she looked into those pleading emerald eyes- but she nodded.

Takumi heaved a sigh of relief. He did not want to pity her in any way, but he understood her a bit. Takumi had a hard time facing anything related to his family. Maybe, just maybe, Misaki was like that too. Maybe under the façade of a harsh woman who doesn't trust anyone, she was still a teen girl trying to figure out why her family was killed. Before he could stop, Takumi found himself patting her softly on her head.

Misaki's eyes widened when he suddenly patted her head as if she was a freaking kid. She opened her mouth to shout but stopped when she saw the blond smiling tenderly at her. As if the nerves were not already acting up, this time her heart did a flip too. A pretty big one at that.

Before she could form any coherent sentence, she was pulled her behind Takumi, who by now was walking to the big entrance.

A guard was already waiting for them at the entrance and he bowed as soon as he saw them walking towards him.

They did not have to explain anything as the guard directly led them to their living room. Soon, both Misaki and Takumi found themselves sitting under an extravagant chandelier, waiting for the owner to come down. While waiting Misaki could not help but be awe struck by the luxury she was seeing.

"Sorry for making you wait."

Takumi took a good look at the guy who had just joined them. He did not look as old as he had expected, in fact he looked like in his fifties, had a blob of greyish hair and smiled as soon as he saw his guests.

"Have some tea."

In few minutes, the guard – or servant/butler – came forward and pushed two cups of tea in front of them.

Takumi chuckled, "I'm afraid we did not come here for a Tea." He took a look around, "I needed to ask a few questions to you Mr. Kurokawa Osamu."

The owner, named Kurokawa, only nodded. "Ask away."

Takumi was back in his office and this time many thoughts clouded his head but he could not find the missing puzzle to connect all those thoughts together. He had faked an interrogation back at the day, saying that there were some accusations against the owner for not paying taxes but as he had expected they showed all proves that they were innocent.

Takumi sighed, of course he wasn't there for asking baseless questions like that. They were there to observe. Few things Takumi observed that there were traces of soil at some places on the floor. At a house as clean as that finding dirt at few places was weird right?

Then again, it was not something overly suspicious. Even Ayuzawa Misaki was very quiet during their trip back home. Takumi remembered that she had an unreadable expression on her face and when he dropped her off near the café she did even not spare him a glance before walking off.

Very uncharacteristic of her.

Takumi let out a deep sigh. His mind again drifted back to the encounter before, and he repeated the same details – that he had observed before – over and over in his head, making sure he missed none.

Out of a habit, he took a piece of paper and started scribbling on it while his mind operated at full capacity.

Takumi remembered that the ground floor was made of wood, while the first floor was made up of marbles. Also, the security there kind of lacked in his opinion. Such a big property had no electric fence or anything on the walls surrounding them.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice when Yukimura walked into his office.

"Woah-"

Takumi looked up hearing the gasp, and saw a stunned Yukimura standing in front his table holding lots of files. Confused, he tilted his neck.

"You- that looks great." Yukimura explained, his eyes a bit widened due to shock.

Takumi followed his eyes and finally understood what he meant. It was his scribble. "Well I just do it by habit when I'm thinking."

Yukimura put his files down, and still could not believe how Talented the guy was to draw such a detailed picture just out of habit.

"What is that? That looks like the big villa outside Tokyo."

Takumi was not surprised that Yukimura recognized the villa from his drawing. After all, it was quite famous. He nodded wordlessly careful not to give out any unnecessary information.

He got up and put up the picture on the magnetic board he had in his office.

"And what is that?" Yukimura squinted his eyes, trying to figure out the drawing, "An alligator? Or a snake?"

Takumi cleared his throat. "It's a snake. Probably." He did not remember when his hands drew that, for he only wanted to draw the villa. Now, that he thought about it the small tattoo around the owner's hand caught his attention even back then too. It was a peculiar tattoo he must say.

Takumi turned around to see Yukimura still appreciating his scribble. He sighed, that guy was just too easy to impress. "You haven't gone home?"

Snapping back to reality Yukimura looked at Takumi with his huge doe eyes, "Ah no." He shook his head, "Igarashi-san bought a kid here to office. I was told to play with the kid to keep him busy."

The mere mention of Igarashi's name made Takumi frown.

"The kid was kidnapped you see. He is very scared to tell us anything."

Takumi sighed, "It happens."

"Ah!" Yukimura gasped, as if he had remembered something, "Now I remember, I heard some weird rumours about that Villa."

Takumi's ears perked up at that. He turned face Yukimura completely, "What?"

"Well someone reported that lots of truck goes into the villa from time to time, and sometimes all night they stay inside." Yukimura shrugged, "When we asked the owner he just said that he buys furniture a lot but who needs new furniture every week?"

By now, Takumi had his jaw clenched, "Are you sure about this?"

"Well not much people live near there to have solid proof."

Takumi walked up and patted Yukimura on his shoulder, startling the guy. "Good work."

Yukimura was confused. Under the unwavering gaze of Takumi, he found it hard to speak, so he could only nod his head without asking anymore questions.

After nodding back Takumi turned, took up his phone from his table and walked out. Yukimura could only stare at him and sigh. He could never understand what goes on in his mind.

Shrugging he could only go back. He had a kid to play with.

Even though Tora was more of an atheist, that day he thanked the almighty, for he had finally got his victim open up a little and had made the small family come to his office for further questions.

It was night by now; yes it took him that long to convince the little kid to come up to open up.

Making them sit in his office, Tora had gone out to take a quick breather. He took a deep breath in and then let it out- the ritual is usually practised by him to clear his brain.

Standing right outside their office, he saw a familiar Silhouette. It was Usui Takumi.

Before Tora could call out to the guy, he saw the man rushing into his car. He had his phone, squeezed between his ear and shoulder as he turned on the engine, and before long he sped up and drove off.

Tora frowned, "He seems to be in a rush."

Shaking his head Tora clenched his jaw. He needed to finish this case soon so that he could work on the R.H case. He could not let Takumi pull ahead of him. No matter what.

With the new determination, he turned and made his way to the office. His journey came to a halt when he heard some muffled voices.

"Yukimura where's my ball?"

"A-ah d-don't cry. I'm looking."

As if the day is not tiring enough-

Cursing under his breath, Tora followed their voices. He did not know what he thought when he decided to bring the kid to his office. And what were even his parents doing? After such an incident shouldn't they be keeping an eye on their kid?

"What is going on?"

Yukimura visibly flinched a bit hearing Tora's voice. He was hunched down on the floor, probably to find the so called ball as Tora guessed.

"N-Nothing sir. T-the ball-"

"Why is there is ball in-" Tora looked around, "-Usui's office?"

"I-I am sorry sir." Yukimura stammered as he got up from the floor, "I-It rolled into the r-room."

The kid squirmed under Tora's hard glare, and instantly hid behind Yukimura.

"Take the kid and let's go."

Tora turned, ready to get out of the room. "Just need to know more about the tattoo." He was muttering to himself.

"The painting was just there."

Tora whipped his neck immediately as he heard those words coming out of the little guy's mouth. "What? Where?"

Yukimura noticed that Igarashi was starting to scare the little child again. Deciding to take the matters into his hand, he kneeled down to match the height of the six year old and continued in a much softer voice, "Tell us where?"

It seemed to have worked as the boy opened his mouth, "In that room-" He pointed to the room they've just come out of, "-on the board."

Before Yukimura could even stand up, Igarashi Tora was gone from his sight. How could the picture be in Takumi's office? Yukimura's head nearly spun as he thought about that.

Without wasting any more time, He rushed into Takumi's office, only to see Tora staring intently at the scribble Takumi drew a few moments ago.

"That-"

"Where is Usui?" Tora spoke, still staring at the scribble.

"I…I don't know." Yukimura panicked for a moment, "He went out."

"Okay." Tora gave a curt nod, finally tore his gaze from the scribble, and fixed his focus on Yukimura, "Prepare few men. We need to go out."

If you are still reading, thank you. I hope you liked it. Not much of Takumi Misaki interactions but we will get more with the upcoming chapters.

Reviews/fav/follows are always very appreciated.

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