A/N: This chapter is ridiculously short and I apologise for that. On the plus side, it's the shortest chapter in the story, so expect longer chapters from now on.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Tecmo and Team Ninja. Please don't sue me.

BREAKING CHAINS

Chapter 5

Hitomi ended up purchasing two muffins for Eliot and herself before leaving the diner. She decided to bring up a new conversation regarding their case as they walked along the busy sidewalk.

"We still need to interview Rig, Jann Lee, Bass, and Lisa," she said. However, she noticed that Eliot didn't seem to be paying any attention. Instead, he let out a few depressed sighs and looked at the ground in defeat.

"Are you okay?" Hitomi asked.

"Not really," he finally admitted. "I have never been so mean to anyone before… I can't believe I just insulted a woman. I'm pathetic."

Hitomi was surprised at how much Eliot was beating himself up over the situation. However, she was honestly more surprised with Ayane's reaction. She had never seen the purple haired teen become so emotionally hurt before. She had to admit that it was kind of strange. It was also weird that she would admit to already knowing who Eliot was.

"I wouldn't beat myself over it if I were you," Hitomi told him. "Ayane doesn't really care about what people say. She will get over it in a few hours."

"I really hope so," Eliot said with a sigh. He then decided to change the conversation. "Anyway, about the case… I think we should talk to Rig next. He lives next door to you, and he apparently disappeared from the gym that night."

"Alright. Let's go and find him right now."

When they arrived at the top floor of the apartment building, both Hitomi and Eliot heard a loud, upbeat tune coming from down the hall. They headed near Hitomi's room but stopped just a few feet down. They were currently standing in front of Rig's room.

Eliot covered his ears since the music seemed to be too loud for him to handle. Hitomi then remembered what Rig had told her when she was unpacking her belongings yesterday morning.

"Rig likes to play his music out loud whenever he's home," Hitomi explained to him.

"I can tell..." Eliot mumbled.

Hitomi couldn't help but snicker at Eliot's displeasure. It was clear that the British man preferred a quiet atmosphere. Nevertheless, Hitomi proceeded to knock on the door loudly a few times. She hoped that the bartender would be able to hear the banging through the deafening music.

"Come in!" they heard his voice yell from the other side.

Eliot placed his hand on the doorknob and quickly turned it. The inside of Rig's apartment was almost similar to Hitomi's. Instead of a red and white interior, his was white and blue. He was currently occupied with his training and Hitomi noticed that he was wearing the same black sleeveless hoodie from yesterday. At this moment, he was lifting a pair of dumbbells as he attempted to perform multiple squats at the same time. Once he realised that the two officers had come to visit him, he quickly dropped the dumbbells and turned the music off. It was clear that he was expecting someone else.

"Uh, sorry about that. I thought you two were the landlord… What can I do for you both?"

"Hey, Rig," Hitomi greeted. "Eliot and I just wanted to know your account on what happened during the night of Rolande's death."

"Rolande's death?..." Rig questioned. "Oh, right, the plant woman… Uh, I can't remember much, but I went to the gym to train that night."

"Did anything unusual happen at the gym?" Eliot asked.

"Not really," Rig replied. "I ended up getting into an argument with that Jann Lee guy… We were arguing about who was the stronger man. Stupid, I know… But yeah, we were swapping insults back and forth until Bass intervened."

"Okay. And what happened after that?" Hitomi asked, writing everything down on her notepad.

"Nothing. I decided to go home and calm down. I was too ashamed to face anyone else. Most people in this town are already wary of me, so the fight clearly didn't give them a good judge of my character..."

After when Hitomi wrote down Rig's account, she looked up at him. His nervous attitude gave her the impression that he wasn't telling the full story.

"Did you hear any weird sounds that night? Like, any screaming or even the trash cans being knocked over?"

Rig shrugged. "Uh... Not that I remember. Plus, the music is really loud and you can't really hear anything else in there..."

After explaining his situation, Rig gulped and took a quick chug from his bottled water. Hitomi looked at him with curiosity. There was definitely something else going on. However, she continued to write his account down without a word.

"Is there anything else you want to add?" Eliot asked.

"... No. I have nothing else to say."

"Well, that's it for now, then. Thanks for your time, Rig," Hitomi said. She then exited the room with Eliot following close by.

Now that they were in the hallway, Eliot immediately covered his ears with his hands again since Rig had turned on his music once more. They proceeded to head downstairs and outside the building in order to have a proper conversation that wouldn't cause any headaches.

"Do you believe Rig's story?" Hitomi asked the British man once they exited the building.

"To be honest?… No."

"Me, too," Hitomi agreed. "He's probably our biggest suspect so far."

After the events of Rig's interview, Hitomi and Eliot decided to go back to the police station so they could type down all the information they had gathered from the suspects today. Once they did so, they printed the documents and added them to Rolande's investigation folder. The rest of the day involved brainstorming as well as coming up with multiple theories for each of the remaining suspects.

Hitomi was woken up the next morning by a random blast of music. Looking at the alarm clock on her bedside table, she noticed that it was almost 6:00am. She decided to get up since she knew she wouldn't be able to drift back to sleep. As she headed into the kitchen, she could hear a slight grunting noise coming through the wall, so she assumed that Rig was exercising again. She, too, needed to exercise, so the karateka made plans to walk to the police station today instead of driving her car.

After preparing and eating her breakfast, Hitomi changed into her uniform and made her way over to the police station. It ended up being a busy day which consisted of her and Eliot discussing about the possible motives for the suspects once more. Even so, Hitomi still couldn't understand why anyone would kill Rolande. From what she knew, everyone seemed to like her. The karateka eventually came to the conclusion that Rolande was just simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On her way home, Hitomi was happy to spot a familiar face from afar. She called out for Jann Lee who was about to enter the gym. He stopped at the mention of his name and looked at Hitomi with a blank expression as she ran over to him.

"Jann Lee!" she called out once more. "I need to talk to you!"

"About?..."

"About Rolande's death," she slightly huffed as she came to a stop. "Do you... Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead, but make it quick. I need to train."

"Alright," Hitomi said, preparing herself. "Did anything strange happen that night?"

"Kind of," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was training that night when I got into a fight with the new guy. It got pretty heated until Bass showed up. After that, I went home."

"Do you have an alibi that can confirm this?"

"I don't think so," Jann Lee answered. "I don't remember running into anyone on my way home."

"Okay, that's fine. Thank you for your time."

Hitomi excused Jann Lee as she looked down and proceeded to write the newly given information on her notepad. When she looked up, she realised that Jann Lee was still standing in front of her.

"Was there anything else you wanted to mention?..."

"Uh yeah, actually…" he began. "I'm not sure if this is important, but I noticed later throughout the night that a dumbbell went missing. Rig was around that area most of the night… I think he probably stole it and didn't want anyone to suspect anything."

Hitomi's eyes widened at Jann Lee's account. She knew that Rig was acting awfully suspicious back at his room. It also didn't help that the missing dumbbell was most likely the murder weapon. Either way, she decided to ask what colour the missing dumbbell was since most of them are usually black or silver.

"Do you know what colour the dumbbells are in the gym?"

"Green and yellow," Jann Lee answered.

Hitomi could feel her heart beating faster than ever. The missing dumbbell in the gym was definitely the murder weapon. However, she decided to cover her shock with a smile.

"This information might be very helpful," she said. "Thank you for telling me."

"No problem. If you have any more questions, just call me." And with that, Jann Lee made his way into the gym.

As soon as Jann Lee was out of sight, Hitomi frowned. She couldn't deal with the amount of shock she was experiencing right now. Without thinking twice, she decided to go across the road once more and visit the diner. Once when she was inside, she was relieved to see Leifang. The Chinese woman frowned when she saw her best friend and hurried over to her. She knew something wasn't right.

"Is it about the case?" Leifang asked.

Hitomi nodded. "I might be onto something. It doesn't look good for a specific person right now. I really hope I'm wrong, though…"

Leifang placed both her hands on Hitomi's shoulders. She gently shook them. "Then investigate some more. Don't accuse anyone until you're completely sure. I'll do anything to make sure your first crime case is successful, okay?... Anything."

Hitomi smiled at her dramatic friend. Leifang was the only person who knew how to cheer her up. "You're the best, Leifang."

"I know," she said, flicking one of her braids. "Anyway, are you staying? Maybe we can catch a movie later, or something."

"That sounds great, but I'm really tired. I think I'll pass."

"That's okay," Leifang smiled. "Go home and get some rest. You deserve it."

Hitomi smiled at her best friend one last time before leaving the diner. As she began to walk home, she couldn't help but think about Jann Lee's account. If Rig had been near the dumbbells the whole time, then that means he easily could have swiped the murder weapon. Even so, she was now determined to get more evidence and put the murderer behind bars.

A/N: Uh oh! Things don't look too good for Rig right now... Maybe Hitomi can find another suspect soon.

On another note, this chapter was so hard to edit that I was actually becoming frustrated (and I'm a very patient person). With that being said, I'm going to try and edit the next chapter quickly because this one was so short. Let's hope it will be much easier to edit.

...

INVESTIGATION PROCESS #1

Time of murder: Around 11pm

Place of murder: Behind Maxwell's Gymnasium

Murder Weapon: Dumbbell

Who found the body: Zack

...

INVESTIGATION #1 SUSPECTS (UPDATED)

Hayate: [Suspect because of a drug theory] Claims he was at home arguing with Ayane during the incident (cleared by Ayane)

Lisa Hamilton: [Suspect because of a drug theory]

Rig: [Suspect because he was at the gym that night] Claims he went home after his fight with Jann Lee. No alibi.

Jann Lee: [Suspect because he was at the gym that night] Claims he went home after his fight with Rig. No alibi.

Bass Armstrong: [Suspect because he was at the gym that night]

Mila: [Suspect because she was at the gym that night] She was training in the spare boxing room with Zack until 1:30am (cleared by Zack)

Zack: [Suspect because he was at the gym that night] He was training in the spare boxing room with Mila until 1:30am (cleared by Mila)

...

INVESTIGATION #1 CLUES (UPDATED)

~ Rolande was murdered around 11pm - earlier confirmed by Leifang.

~ A few daisies were found near Rolande's hands - is there a motive? Was she going to sell them as her own?

~ There were a few fallen trash cans near her body - did she fall over them while she was being attacked? Were they already like that? Did someone else kick them over?

~ Rolande's face, head and ribs were hit so much that she was unrecognisable - the murderer must be strong.

~ A dumbbell was found at the scene of the crime - there is blood all over it. Confirmed to be the murder weapon.

~ A dumbbell went missing from the gym that night - Jann Lee states he saw Rig near the dumbbells the entire night.

...

Reviews would be appreciated. Until next time!