Chapter "The detective" is longer than i expect so i will post the first half of it this week and hopefully the the second half in next week.

Tokyo

Isobe Murai's private detective office

"I have already told you, Isobe-san. My daughter would never do that. "

The man still refused to accept the truth no matter how much evidence was presented in front of him. As the head of the sales department of a large import-export company, the father of two beautiful and talented children, receiving the respect and envy of his colleagues and neighbors, Takata Mizuko obviously considered himself the right to deny any truth he didn't like and it was really bad when it slowly becomame a habit. Men had to take a stand, the detective admited, but stubbornness wouldn't do any good for anyone.

Takata came knocking on the door of Isobe's detective office last week in a state of confusion and despair to ask the detective to find his daughter Miki Mizuko, who had just gone missing a few day before. Miki was a third year student of Yabe high school, with outstanding academic records, talented in archery and had won first place in a archery contest for teenagers under 14 years old in Tokyo. She was loved by her friends and teachers because of her gentle, humble nature and because she has never shown depression before the incident, Miki's sudden disappearance after school on Tuesday was a big shock.

"I understand your feelings right now, Takata-san. As a father, I don't want to believe my daughter can do that either " Isobe lied and pushed Takata a stack of photos he had taken after four days of investigation. "But these things don't lie."

Despite the gruesome theories like kidnapping or being as blatant as getting lost or suddenly having amnesia that Takata in turn used to explaine his daughter's disappearance, he still couldn't explain why half of Miki's clothes, the food in the refrigerator, and money in his credit card suddenly vanished like a puff of smoke.

"She ran away from home." Isobe repeated his conclusions. "Your daughter had pre-purchased her train ticket to Adachi four days before disappearing, withdrawing all the money on your credit card at 6:00 pm on Monday and boarding the train at 4:20 pm on Tuesday with a person named Hirato Kenji. This was what I saw in Adachi a few days ago "

The young couple was enjoying their best moments, Miki had probably never been that happy in her life, never been more radiant and this was like a punch that shattered Takata's illusion. Completely contrary to his thoughts on the painful misery that Miki was suffering, the girl seemed to be very content with her new life.

"Hirato Kenji, you son of…." The father picked up a picture of the couple sitting in the cafe, his hand shook in anger. "Have you investigated this bastard yet?"

The detective sighed and took out the small notebook from his coat pocket and began to read, feeling that he had made a mistake when taking this job:

"Hirato Kenji, 25 years old, resident of Mino District and had lived at some other places in the city. According to my investigation, he is not a native of Tokyo but his hometown is still in Kanto province. He just came to town two years ago and worked part-time at the department store until last week. Right now he hold a job in a seafood restaurant in Adachi. "

After reading the report, thing happened as Isobe had predicted. Takata turn his hand into a fist and slammed it down on the table:

"Why don't you intervene? Why don't you bring my girl back here? " The man said with a accusing tone "Did I not pay you enough?"

"Takata- san…." The detective lowered his voice, put off his half-smoked cigarette on the ashtray and gently reminded the man "I am not a police officer, I am a detective. I don't arrest people, I just investigate them and perhaps like those in Tokyo police station, I found this young man not guilty. "

Isobe leaned back against his soft armchair and enjoyed the amazement on Takata's face as his prize of victory. These people were exactly the same, a bunch of idiots who always thought they could fool him easily. Didn't they really think Isobe would want to know why they didn't go to the police first instead of hirring a detective to find their precious daughter?

"How ... how did you know?"

"Takata, I respect you and I don't think you're a fool" The detective said, "Someone like you must have noticed Miki wasn't kidnapped in the first place and the previous reaction of your told me that you know who Hirato Kenji is. Am i correct ?"

Completely defeated, Takata slumped into his chair, both of his hands wrapped around his wrinkled face. He confessed everything. The police had taken his case and discovered a goodbye letter from Miki in the drawer so they decided not to investigate further. Having no other choice, Takata came here to meet Isobe, hoping the 42-year-old detective could create some kind of miracles.

"I don't understand, I can't understand." Tears rolled down the man's cheeks. "Why did she do that? Throw away her future to follow that orphan with no prospect! I do not understand."

Isobe understood, he knew the reason very well but he had no way of explaining it to Takata or the majority of Japanese. He used to live abroad, following American troops around the world for 15 years and enjoying his youth in the way it should be enjoyed. He understood the value of free will and independence, which were unfamiliar with traditional cultures that deeply rooted in Japanese society. It was not too difficult to imagine the academic pressures and expectations that Takata has imposed on Miki over the years and sympathizeed with her desire to escape.

"What should I do, Isobe-san?"

"Try to talk to your daughter." The detective replied, "I can give you Hirato's home address, but when you get there, you have to talk as her father, not her superior. Believe me, it will do you some favor"

"But…"

Isobe raised his hand and interrupted. " If you didn't try then how you knew it wouldn't work, Takata - san? This is the best I can help you now. "

He then sees Takata off the door, wishes the man good luck and returns to his desk to wait for the phone of today's main costumer, a mysterious costumer with a deep pocket. She was a beautiful, well-educated, sophisticated 28-year-old British woman who came to see him last month and made some very strange requests. Isobe intended to refuse, but 200,000 yen per week was not a small amount, moreover the things she asked him to do were simple and nothing seemed to be too dangerous though he did not understand the real reason behind them.

"Oy, Isobe-san."

The door of Isobe Murai's detective office burst open and a familiar figure appeared at the entrance. Tatsuda Harunobu, 24 years old, with hair as red as Oni (Devil in Japanese folk tales), slanted shirt, Jacket over his thin shoulder, waving to him with care-free attitude before clumsily stumbling over a stack of document placed near the door.

"Damned! You're a mess, Isobe-san. " The young man grumbled, "When was the last time you cleaned the office?"

"That was the time when you came here and sitll sober. Where did you go last night, Kiddo? "

Tatsuda said nothing. He just smiled faintly and walked over to the row of sofas for Isobe's costumer near the bookshelves and lied down on it, making himself at home.

"Red Dragonfly." The young man said, "Big brother Yamada wanted me to be there when he met a business partner."

That jackass Yamada again! An complete jerk from head to toe but also wise enough to take advantage of guys like Tatsuda with vain promises. He said he would introduce Tatsuda to the leaders of Nakano family if he helped him with some errands but it's been three years now and although Tatsuda had already taken a knife for him, the promise had yet to be fulfilled.

"And how does big brother Yamada think of your efforts?" He asked, though he had knew the answer "Good? I hope so."

Tatsuda raised up, his eyes showing dissatisfaction. "Isobe-san, I know you don't like Big Brother Yamada but ..."

"I understand, I understand." The detective threw his hands. "I'm just worried for you."

Isobe was quite cautious when it comes to Yamada because Tatsuda has a strong loyalty to this guy. The specifics were not clear, but according to what people said , many years ago, when Tatsuda's mother was seriously ill, Yamada was the one who paid for the treatment until her death. A debt like this was hard to pay in full and every time Isobe thought about it, he felt bad for his young friend's dim future.

"Let drop the topic here, ok? I don't want to begin my day by arguing with you ." Tatsuda took out a cigarette from his pocket and brought it to his mouth "I'm free today, do you have something for me to do?"

Isobe smiled and glanced at his old desk phone. "Only our dear miss Collena, but I dont have budget to pay for customer service ."

The mysterious woman called herself Collena but Isobe didn't think she used her real name nor did he believe in the ridiculous story of secret that could bring a nation to its knees that she told him. Seriously! She must have been thinking that this Isobe was just born yesterday probably.

"Are you still working for her?"

"Money is still transfering steadily into my account so I have no reason to stop."

Tatsuda sniffed and lit his cigarette, the scent of cheap cigarettes filling the detective office.

"If I were you, I would have refused in the first place. That woman makes me feel uneasy. "

If only he had felt the same way about Yamada then it would be a blessing, Isobe sadly thought.

"And ignoring 200,000 yen a week? You must be joking." Exclaimed the detective, "The hell I would do that."

"Better that than not knowing what to get into. Aren't you curious about the thing she asked you to do? I mean, you haven't met any clients like her before, right? "

Contrary to what Tatsuda thought, Isobe was curious, very inquisitive to be honest and at times he thought that the desire to discover the mystery that lied behind was the real driving force for him to continue the job, not money. It was a strange thing for a foreign woman to come to his office and it would be even more strange that she did not ask him to find someone or investigate a case but instead, every Monday morning, She would called Isobe and give him a name of a station along with series of numbers that he easily guessed it was the numbers and password of a locker.

"Maybe you don't know, but this is not the first time I've been entrusted with protecting a valuable item." Isobe rested his feet on the table. "Year ago, There was a woman coming here and asked me to keep some photos proving her husband's cheating and your big brother Yamada also asked me to hide some documents that he has yet to retrieve."

"But none of them ask us to send the item to every major newspaper in Tokyo in case they stop calling." The young man point out "Don't you find that suspicious?"

Isobe raised his eyebrows, amused by Tatsuda's question, "Let's say I find it suspicious but according to you, why did she do that for, huh?"

The red-haired young man crossed his arms, trying to utilize every brain cell in order to come up with an answer. This was what he liked about this guy. Though he didn't spend a lot of time at school and was living on the streets most of his life, Tatsuda always tried to use his brain to solve problems before reaching for his fists. It was just a shame that no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to find the answer. Isobe had tried all theories, even the craziest ones, and still couldn't figure out the woman's true intentions.

"Who knows?" Tatsuda turned his head to look out the window and hissed through his teeth "Maybe she thinks she's in danger? What about someone threatening her? "

Isobe replied with a smile, "It is possible."

"Possible? Possible? That is all you can say ?! " He exclaimed, "I really don't understand how you can act like nothing happened."

"If what you think is correct, then it wouldn't help much if I panic, right?" The detective calmly explained, "We have no evidence that she is in danger except for your speculation. The police will not send their men to investigate something just because a random private detective has a speculation and even if they wanted to do so, where should they start? We don't have any pictures of Collena and have no idea where she is and the worst thing is, I'm not even sure if her name is Collena. "

"What about the red Toyota? We have its number plate, don't we? "

The detective had played the role of the real gentleman and saw Collena off to her car. The happiness of accompanying a beauty was doubled when he discovered a few more interesting details about his client. Despite claiming to be British, Collena must have lived far away from home for a long time to confuse the position of the driver's seat and the fact that she had to adjust her seat proved that there was another person frequently using this car, a men who had a rather short body stature.

"Yes, but the police are only allowed to access the database if the car is involved in a case and as you can see, there are no cases here." Isobe suddenly had a bad premonition, his voice grew cold and gloomy. "Not yet at least."

"Heaven!" The young man smiled wryly, "You scare me at times, Isobe-san."

"You should prepare yourself mentally for something like that, Tatsuda. The world is full of scary people and things that make you shit in your pant. "

"Yet I has a feeling you're enjoying it."

"Do I enjoy it?" The detective was surprised, wondering if it was true or not but then he sighed "Well ... I guess you're right."

Collena and the mysteries surrounding her evoke the feeling that Isobe used to have when he was still with his unit. The suspense and tension of walking into hot and dusty neighborhoods, where his enemies hiding at every corner with a gun aimed straight at his chest and behind each door can be an IED, a 13 year old kid with an AK that tripple his age in his hand or simply a woman baking her bread for lunch. That was what Isobe wanted when he was at Tatsuda's age. The need of something adventurous, challenging his limits, seeing and touching the world with his hand and eyes, becoming a hero, things that Japan and the JSDF could never give the young Isobe so he left the both of them and set out on journery to land across the Pacific ocean.

"It reminds me of the old days." Isobe added, "Sounds a bit stupid it may but it's the truth"

"You mean when you were in Iraq?"

The detective nodded and there was an amused expression in Tatsuda's eyes, the redhead pressed on:

" You always try to evade my questions whenever that topic come up. It's clear that you dont want to tell me about the time you spent with the Americans. I wonder why? "

"I have my own reasons, Tatsuda."

One of the reasons was his shame. After 15 years, he returned here, the place that the detective had been so hurry to leave and buried himself in a 10-square-meter office searching for angry teenage girls who ran away from home but still he had to feel lucky because he was still alive and free. A sad ending to the American dream and as if putting salt in his wound, Isobe was ordered to jump onto the lifeboat before the ship sank, leaving his comrades behind and running like a coward, spitting on the honor, the living principles of the Japanese part left in him.

I shouldn't have followed that order, he thought bitterly. Lamb is a good commander and a respectable man, but he doesn't understand that living with torment was not the life that Isobe desired.

The other reason was even more important. Things he knew, though not as much as Lamb or Dora, were enough to cause both himself and Tatsuda serious trouble if they fell on wrong ear. CIA had long been known for being extremely ruthless at preserving its secrets and Isobe had no intention to see if the rumor were true or not.

Ring… Ring… Ring… Ring… Ring

The ringing of the phone interrupted Isobe's thoughts. The detective glanced at his watch, surprised because now was just 8:30 am. Collena told him she would call to his office at 9:00 am on Monday and for the next four weeks, the woman followed the schedule with the precision of a machine.

"Well… this is a bit weird." Isobe picked up the phone, "Hello, this is Detective Isobe of Murai investigator office."

"Hello, Isobe-san. Sorry for calling at this hour, I just hope not to interrupt your work. "

It was Collena as he had expected but something was not right here. It was not that she was using the suffix "San" when talking to him nor because there was a little rush in her voice, but it was because she spoke Japanese, the kind of Japanese that had no accent, with grammar and sentence structure were so perfect that no one would know she was a foreigner.

"Don't worry, miss. Private detectives don't usually have many customers these day. Economic crisis is a tough time for people like us but I think you have known this already, giving that you have been living in japan this long. "

"You don't seem surprised."

"I always well prepare when serving customers that are full of suprise like you." He chuckled "Okay, may I know why I had the honor of witnessing your language skills today?"

"It's simply because I don't want some people to hear this conversation."

"And those people are ..."

"The less you know, the better, Isobe-san. My sincere advice. " Collena gently warned him, "Luckily this is probably the last time you have to risk your head."

"So does that mean I'm going to read something cool in the newspaper?" The detective interpreted that statement in the most obvious way, "Why now, I wonder?"

"Because I say so, Isobe-san"

She was a hard candy. Cold, decisive and careful. Layers of defenses that were strong enough to repel any of Isobe's attacks. However, if all the years roaming around the world had taught him something, it was that every defense had a gap, every careful person would sometimes make mistakes.

"2-1-0-0-1-9-0-6" said Collena. "That's the lucky number for today."

The detective quickly wrote down the numbers into his small notebook before pointing out the obvious fact, "I guess you won't tell me the station name."

" Your guess is half right. At ten o'clock tomorow, I'll give you the name of the station so… "

Caw… Caw… Caw… Caw… Caw

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud noise on the other end of the line. Although it was quite sudden, Isobe could still recognize it was the cry of a bird that the Japanese called Karasu, or a crow in English, a creature that was so intelligent to the point they became nuisance. Crows were not uncommon in these part of Japan, but they usually did not gather in large flock and made such chilling noise like these ones, at least Isobe had never seen this kind of behavior from them in the city.

"Where are you?" Asked the detective"I don't think you're in town,"

Realizing her own mistake, Collena's voice became grumpy. "ten o'clock tomorow on, Isobe. Money will be transferred to your account in full by the end of the week. That's all."

The woman then immediately hung up, knowing that the detective would have more undesirable discoveries if their conversation prolonged. A wise move to make but unfortunately she had given him too many clue to begin with.

"Tatsuda, can you bring me the cadastral map of the city here?" The detective pointed at the bookshelf after he hung up the phone. "It's next to those garden design books."

The redhead man stood up, his face showing clear dissatisfaction. "Is it Collena? Damn it, that's why I don't like you messing around with her! "

"I know, i know. Map, please. "

The map was spread out on the table. The detective leaned down, his index finger groped around the area north of Tokyo and stopped at a small district where the Kanto Plain and Abukuma Mountains intersect. A sparsely populated countryside with nothing notable except that it had a considerable amount of agricultural land.

"Shino? What's she going there for? " Isobe frowned, "Rent a place in the countryside to avoid attention?"

"What are you saying, Isobe-san? I do not understand." Tatsuda scratched his head. "Why do you think she's in Shino?"

The detective looked up at his young colleague and slowly replied, "Crow. I hear their cries in the phone, a few dozen at least. "

"Crow? What is wrong with crow, huh? There's nothing short of those thing around here. "

"True. But they never form a large flock " Isobe pointed out, "At first, I thought she was sitting in her room or using a phone boot because it was so quiet, but after hearing the crows, I knew I was wrong."

Noticing Tatsuda's confusion, he continued his explaination "If the number of crows is that large, there must be enough food for them, a lot of food. Think about it, which countryside in Tokyo meet that demand? "

"Let's see…." The young man tilted his head to one side. "An area where rice, pumpkin and watermelon are grown? I remember reading a magazine saying they enjoyed such things. "

Isobe tapped his finger on a small area of the map where uneven rectangles were next to each other:

"The area below Mount Shino is all agricultural land. There is a high chance Collena is there and if we leave now we will probably find her. "

"We?" Tatsuda gasped and shook his head violently. "No way. The hell i would do that. "

Isobe crossed his arms and smiled meaningfully. Being Tatsuda's unofficial boss for the past two years has taught him a lot about this guy and one of them that money worked well in building his courage.

"No? So what do you think about 10 thousand yen? "

"The answer is still no."

"Then how about 12?"

The young man seemed a bit wavered. "Hey, don't think you can do the same trick on me again."

"15,000 yen."

"You are such a asshole, do you know that Isobe-san?" Tatsuda cursed under his breath and then flatly announced "20,000 and I will take this job."

"20,000? Now, now, dont be that greedy, my dear fellow. I never paid those chick at Honeybee more than 10,000. "

"You didn't ask me to serve wine and sit on your lap, right? 20,000 is still cheap compared to the risk i have to take! "

After a tensed negotiation, Tatsuda agreed to do the job for 16,500 yen but on the condition that Isobe would cover his food expenses. Not a bad price for a great discovery in Isobe's career as a detective and it would be even cheaper considering the joy this investigation had brought to him.

"Go to Big Brother Yamada's place and rent a car for me," said the detective. " Remember to choose something decent this time, please. Every car that you had picked before deserve to be taken to the scrap yard "

"I know, I know." The young man lamented frustratedly as he put on his coat "God, you grumble like some old women these day, you know that?"

While waiting for his colleague to bring his car, Isobe unlocked the drawer under his desk and pulled out a sports bag, which he always carried along when he received an important job that required him to live temporarily on the street for a while.

In the bag was an EOS M50 digital camera with outstanding night photography, a standard US military binoculars, a pair of field boots, walkie-talkie, camouflage cloak, UV light, clean blankets and clothes. Most of these items were hard to find in Japan and had cost Isobe a lot of time and money, but considering the cost he had to pay, they were nothing compared to the final equipment. It was a roughly 7.7-inch long object with a stainless steel slider, a memento of a glorious era that had long gone and would likely get Isobe in trouble if the police found out he was possessing it.

A Sig Sauer P299, 45 APC version dedicated to US special force, had been brought here from the US through the Yakuza smuggling ships. Private detectives in Japan did not have the right to carry guns and if Isobe remembers the law correctly, even possessing a knife was too illegal . However, no matter how strict the law was, it would be powerful enough to stop Isobe. In the first place, the Detective had no intention of dying in that narrow dark alley at the hands of some random thug after he had survived everything that was thrown at him in the middle- east, so despite all difficulties, he had to get a weapon for personal defense, even if that meant building relationships with a scum like Yamada.

"Let hope that I won't need to use you."

Isobe checked the pistol's ammunition and safety before shoving it into his jacket pocket. It had been a while since the last time he carried weapon, so his movement was a bit awkward, but still the detective was confident that when the time came, his killer instincts would return.

"Isobe-san, Isobe-san"

The detective heard Tatsuda calling his name downstairs and immediately knew something was wrong. The guy had only been out for about five minutes so it was impossible for him to come back from Yamada's place. Besides, he was not alone. No matter how careful that stranger was, the detective still heard his footsteps in his cramped apartment.

"Who is it?" Isobe asked, "If he was a customer then tell him I'm busy today."

"No. He said he was your acquaintance, he was from… Spe… what was it called again? Specter! Yes, he said he was from Specter. "

Specter?

Isobe's heart skipped a few beats upon hearing that word, his muscles tense and the tips of his fingers freezing. The reflexes that was forged through years of combat immediately activated, the detective quickly approached the window and looked down at the street below. There was no car that parked in front of his house and on the other side of the street there were only housewives chatting in front of the convenience store. Birds were still singing on the the sakura tree near the bus stop and somewhere out there was the grumble of old man Mamoru at his metalhead son in the traditional Japanese five-room house.

A typical monday morning in the neighborhood of Hiranaga.

"What the hell is this?" He turned toward the door. "A visit of a old comrade?"

Isobe dismissed that theory hastily. On the advice of his commander Lamb, he cut all contact with everyone in the unit before quietly returning home and living a simple life, so it was nearly impossible for anyone to know he was here except for people that no longer walked among the living like Lamb.

The second theory sound more gloomy. Those men in dark suits were so fed up with the fact that there was a Japanese runing around with their great secrets so today would be the last day he could see the sun. Isobe looked outside again, planing a good escape route in case he had to jump over the window, but then he gave a bitter smile. What was he thinking? If they came all the way here to kill him, there was no escape plan that would be considered to be good.

The detective slowly slipped his hand into his pocket, his callous fingers resting on the P229's stock, trigger and hammer, fully sensing its weight and balance without a hint of awkwardness. .The killer instinct had returned to him at last, but in the most unexpected way.

"Show him the way up here, Tatsuda." He said aloud, in order for any other idiot lurking around here to hear, "I don't like keeping old friends waiting."

The distance from the desk to the door was 4.5m while the P229 was extremely effective against soft target below 30m, so Isobe was quite confident that just one bullet was enough to knock out the stranger. What was worth worrying right now was his quickdraw skills. When he was still in his prime, Isobe was never considered to be good enough and after seven years, his skills must have been unbelievably rusty.

However, that wasn't the worst problem at the moment. Tatsuda was likely to be eliminated as a reluctant witness to an assassination no matter the result and Isobe had no way of stopping it, unless that operative mercifully allowed the redhead to leave before doing his job which unlikely would happen. Isobe didn't mind dying, honestly he didn't at all. He had lived a full life, seeing many things that few could see, had no wife or children to take care of and was willing to move on without any regrets but Tatsuda was…

"Whoa! You have a lot of scars, man. If you join Big brother Yamada, I'm sure he'll make you his deputy, no kidding. People on the street like us consider scars as achievement. I too got one on my hip but unlike your case, i can't show it to people all the time"

Damn it! Think… think, you idiot.

If Isobe didn't want Tatsuda to get involve then he had to think of something to get him out of here as quickly as possible. The two of them reached the end of the stairs. The red-haired man opened the door and entered the office first in a rather excited mood, followed closely behind by a man with a quirky appearance in a black Puffer jacket. The baseball cap covering half of his face and the sunglasses didn't provide Isobe much information on his unexpected guest except those scars Tatsuda mentioned before were in fact not scars.

They were burns. Too many burns to be honest. Nearly entire of the skin from his neck to his left cheek was covered with burns, making Isobe wondered what had happened to the man.

"Hey Isobe-san, I met your friend on the way to the car rental service. He speaks Japanese quite well, even though his pronunciation is a bit off. " The red-haired man patted the stranger on the shoulder, grinning. "You saw me coming out of here, didn't you, you ...? Oh my bad, I haven't even asked what your name is. "

The detective frowned, pretending to be dissatisfied. " Slow down, kid. No need to be rush. First, let invite our guest some tea, would you agree?"

"Tea?" Tatsuda's eyes widened. "You don't like tea, Isobe-san."

"Suddenly I feel i would love to have some of it. Don't you mind buying me some nice tea bags?" The detective took out a 2000 yen note from his pocket and push it into Tatsuda's hands "Buy some Bento boxes and whatever you like."

"Seriously, Isobe-san? What is wrong with you today? A few cans of beer in the refrigerator will do just fine. Or do you want some coffee? I'll go to the kitchen and make ... "

"I really want some tea right now, Tatsuda."

"But…"

The words died on the young man's lip as soon as he understood the meaning behind the detective's strange behavior as well as the tension in the room. Being a bright person, it wasn't hard for Tatsuda to realize that Isobe didn't want him here.

"Oh .. alright, if you insist."

The redhead nodded silently and retreated to the door, not forgetting to glance at Isobe's "friend" with the cautiousness of a cat who smelled of danger.

"Will you be alright, Isobe-san?"

"Why won't i be?" The detective laughed, "Off you go then. Chop chop"

Contrary to what Isobe feared, the stranger neither objected to letting Tatsuda leave the scene nor used the guy to put more pressure on the detective. A strange move for an assassin, making the detective wondered if this was a tactic to keep him off guard.

"I always have a feeling this day will come." Said Isobe, his right hand still nicely tucked inside his jacket pocket. "The Japanese call it retribution, an ancient Buddhist concept of punishment for past sins and all one can do is to repent to receive forgiveness. I have no regrets about what I have done nor ask for forgiveness, so it will be reasonable if I die at your hands today, don't you think? "

The man remained silent, his face look like a soviet plaster statue, not even had a bit impress with the detective's impromptu monologue. This guy was no ordinary man, Isobe admitted, even the most well-trained soldiers would never be so calm when they were about to kill people.

"However ..." He smiled wickedly. "' If 'is a big word."

In an instant, the P299 gun was pointed straight at the stranger's chest. 1.5 seconds, Isobe's best performance up to now, so good that he couldn't believe he had pull it off himself.

"Raise your hand over your head and turn around," The detective ordered. "Do you hear me? Raise my hand over your head and turn around or I will open fire. "

But the stranger did not obey his order. He didn't resist nor expressed concern, fear at the threat on his life. At first, Isobe was still amused by his opponent's courage but very quickly, his admiration turned into confusion. There was something very unusual about this man, something horrible hidden under that glasses and burnt skin that Isobe could not understand. His calm demeanor didn't come from the courage and confidence of a person going into the fight with a backup plan or arrogant idiot who think he had victory in his hand. Isobe had seen these kinds of bastard before, so he was sure this man wasn't one of them. It was as if he was not afraid of death because his whole body was almost an empty shell, a walking corpse, a creature that no longer cared about its own survival.

"Don't push me too hard, man."

The detective raised his gun up, aiming right at the opponent's head. The head was not an ideal target. Anyone who had ever undergone military training would tell him so but instinct told Isobe that this monster wouldn't simply go down by a bullet in the chest.

"Last chance, buddy."

The stranger utilized his last chance very well. With a slow and smooth movement, he took off his cap, revealing his burned hair and a surgical scar running from his forehead to his ears. Isobe had seen many injuries in his life, some more serious than others, but never had witnessed such a horrific head injury. The wound was located in the very sensitive part of the skull and judging from the size of the scar, it was a miracle that this man was still alive.

"Isobe "

The stranger called the detective by name, his voice as cold and distant as his appearance, a ghost with no past, easily paralyzing the people around him with fear. However, Isobe Murai was not paralyzed by fear. His hands trembled with a shock that ran through his body like an electric current.

In horror, the detective realized which ghost the voice belonged to.

"You..." Isobe muttered under his breath, trying his best to calm down. "How ..."

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

The man took off his sunglasses and looked at Isobe with his gray eyes, so gray that they could be consider as black. He used to be familiar with those eyes and loved the sadness and tragic heroism they carried, but now he found in them nothing but emptiness. Although it sounded unbelievable, the man standing in front of Isobe had no resemblance of the commander he once knew, as if the best parts of him had long gone and left behind an empty with the most wicked seeds of human soul.

"Lamb!? Is that really you? How are you still alive? "

"I'll explain, but first I want to ask what you're going to do with that thing." Lamb pointed his finger at the P229. "Did you realize the safety is still on?"