Chapter 2: Elementary
Shoseki Rusui loved her job. The library at UA High was one of the most extensive in the entire country. Although she appreciated the empty library, it peeved her that the students didn't appreciate the treasure trove of information that they had access to. In fact, the students and the staff were the only ones who had access to the library, so Rusui wholeheartedly believed that they should take advantage of their resources.
"Good morning," Rusui looked up from her book to see a student walk in. Haikei Moji, a quirkless student from class 2-C. Rusui's quirk, "Wired" allowed her to directly transfer information from a computer directly to her brain. As such, she had the entire UA student roster stored away in her memory.
Moji was the textbook definition of generic. With brown hair and brown eyes, it was almost as if he was made to blend in. That is, if quirks didn't exist. In a world where people come in all shapes and sizes, being 'normal' made you stick out like a sore thumb.
"Ditching class again, Moji?" Rusui asked. Moji had been spending the past few days in the library, religiously reading any history or nonfiction book he could get his hands on. He would stay as long as he could every day, forgoing his classes. If it were any other case, Rusui would chastise a student for ditching, but from what she's learned, Moji was being bullied for his quirklessness, so she figured he could stay in the library. At least he would be safe.
"It's nice to see you too, Shoseki-sensei," Moji deadpanned. The two got along well enough. Moji was a smart kid and always asked insightful questions. Occasionally, Rusui would sit down with him and they would talk about what he was reading. Somehow, Rusui was always the one walking away more knowledgeable.
"So, what are you going to read today?" Rusui asked as she moved away from the counter to follow the young man to the history aisle. She was surprised when he had read the entirety of "The Dawn of Quirks" by Shigaraki Rekishiya. Rekishiya's works were always daunting reads. He was a historian who specialized in the pre-quirk era, "The Dawn of Quirks" being the only publication that didn't fall under his specialty. Rekishiya didn't care about making his work easily understandable, claiming in an interview that if a reader couldn't understand the material, then they don't deserve to learn the contents of his books.
"Oh, this is a good read!" Rusui picked out a red book and presented it to Moji. "A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyale. His works are some of the best in this library."
"I see," Moji's lips pursed, as if he was remembering an unpleasant memory.
"Is there something wrong?" Rusui tilted her head.
"No… it's just that I'm…" Moji paused as if to search for the correct term, "intimately familiar with that particular work."
"I see," Rusui placed the book back. An awkward silence settled over the two.
"Say, does this library have any records of famous criminals within the past 100 years?" Moji asked, finally breaking the silence.
"Ah, I know just the book for you!" Rusui spun around and skipped off, Moji following silently.
"Thank you again," Sherlock Holmes smiled at the young librarian before leaving the building. It wasn't hard to find a student who routinely ditched class and assumed his identity to get access to the UA library. As soon as he was out of sight from anyone who could have seen him as Moji, he deactivated his Noble Phantasm and assumed his normal form.
He had been living off the generosity of a homeless shelter for a place to stay, but it was high time that Sherlock found actual employment. He discerned that this body did need food and sleep, but not as much as a normal human would. As he walked down the sidewalk, he saw a newspaper on the ground. The detective picked up the paper and took a look at the front page.
Musutafu Murderer still at Large!
By: Chitose Kizuki
Just last night, the Musutafu Police force found another body laying bloody in the alleyway with a bloody letter 'M' smeared on the wall. The body has been confirmed to be 27 year old Goku Hitomi, a humble convenience shop worker. Among the 14 murders that have been confirmed to be carried out by the Musutafu Murderer, the only common factor between them was that they lived in the city of Musutafu.
"We suspect that they have some sort of stealth quirk," Musutafu detective Tsukauchi Naomasa says in an interview. "They've been at large for over two months and the only thing we know about them is their calling card. The killer wants to be known, but at the same time, they can completely cover their tracks."
When will this Musutafu Murderer be brought to justice? With a quirk as potent as theirs, will they ever be caught? Only time will tell.
Along with the small article was a large picture of the calling card plastered on the wall. Even though it was in black and white, Sherlock knew that the letter was drawn in blood. He looked up from the newspaper to see that he was in front of a small cafe.
Maybe I could go for some coffee, Sherlock reasoned to himself. With the pocket change he had, he could afford a small cup of the gods. When he walked in, he was pleasantly surprised by the homey feel. Everything seemed wonderfully authentic from the nice, wooden chandeliers to the handwritten menu above the counter.
As Sherlock looked at the menu, he slowly started to smile. When he's in need of a clue, he could always rely on his Noble Phantasm to give him a hand.
Tsukauchi Naomasa was just about ready to tear his hair out. It's been two months since the Musutafu Murderer made their first appearance and the only lead they had was their calling card. They couldn't even identify whether the killer was a man or a woman.
"You should really take a break, Nao," Tsukauchi looked up from the files to see Sansa Tamakawa offering him a mug of coffee, "You're good to no one if you overwork yourself like that."
Truth, A tick mark appeared on Tsukauchi's forehead as his quirk confirmed the truth. At times like these, the detective wondered if his quirk had a personality of its own.
"Thanks, officer Sansa," Tsukauchi took the mug off coffee and took a sip, basking in the warmth of the drink as it spread throughout his body. "I just… the sooner this murderer is caught, the better."
"I know, but there isn't much we can do with what we have," Sansa admitted with a sigh.
"Detective Tsukauchi," The door opened again to reveal a fresh-faced intern, "there's someone looking for you at the front desk."
Great, Tsukauchi thought. Ever since his interview with Shoowaysa, there have been people hounding him for more information, even if he didn't have any.
"I'm coming," Tsukauchi grumbled as he stood up and left his office. The person on the counter was a sleek, tall man wearing a suit. His black eyes were cold and calculating as they locked with Tsukauchi's.
"I found your murderer," The man simply stated as he placed a file on the counter.
Truth, Tsukauchi's jaw dropped as his quirk confirmed the man's statement.
He picked up the file and started to look through it. The first page was an image of the bloody M from the newspaper, followed by several examples of the letter drawn with other substances, such as chalk and marker. He continued to flip through the pages to see a profile of a man. Geji Tsukuru, a man who worked at a local cafe. Apparently he was the artistic designer for the cafe, handwriting all the menus and designing all the advertising. His file also showed sociopathic tendencies, not caring for much of anything except his art.
"How did you find him?" Tsukauchi asked, at a loss for words.
"Well it all started at the cafe, where I noticed the capital M in the Musutafu Special Blend on the cafe menu looked surprisingly similar to the one on the newspaper," The man started to explain. "I then ordered a muffin and asked for a knife to cut it. After that, I went to the site of the murder and matched the stab wounds from the victim to the knife at the cafe. All things considered, it was quite… elementary."
Truth, Tsukauchi's quirk confirmed his story. A few questions made themselves present in Tsukauchi's mind.
"How did you get access to the site of the murder?" Tsukauchi asked.
"My quirk," The man's figure started to shimmer. After a few seconds, Tsukauchi was staring at a perfect imitation of himself, "It lets me disguise myself as others."
Lie, The response from the detective's quirk confused him. Even though the man showed his quirk, Tsukauchi's quirk registered his response as a lie. Something told Tsukauchi that he wouldn't like what happens if he continued to push for answers, so he decided to move on.
"What is it that you want?" Tsukauchi decided to ask. Despite his desire to believe the man gave him this information out of the goodness of his heart, the man's calculating nature told him that his hopes wouldn't come to fruition.
"Simple. I'm looking for employment," The man replied. "I am something of a specialist when it comes to detective work, and I feel like my expertise would be more than fitting in a place like this."
Tsukauchi paused to think. This man was extraordinarily sketchy. He just drops in with more info on a killer than the entire police force could gather in two whole months and just asks for a job. As suspicious as it seemed, this man had the potential to do a lot of good in the city. If his skills as a detective were as good as he claims, then Musutafu would be a much safer place.
"What is your name?" Tsukauchi asked his final question.
The man simply smiled, "My name is Sherlock Holmes."
Ryuko Tatsuma, otherwise known as Ryukyu, was doing her nightly rounds as a hero. Her rank was quickly rising, mostly in part due to her influence on children. She always had a soft spot for children, and children loved dragons, so her ratings would shoot up due to the younger votes. Despite that, she was still a hero, and she did her rounds like any normal hero.
The streets were the quietest they have been since she started. Ryukyu hadn't seen a single criminal in her three hours of patrolling. She would usually find at least one person trying to break the law at this time.
Maybe some other hero took care of everything before I started, Ryuko thought to herself. As she continued to walk down the street, a small child showly came into view from an alleyway.
Why is a child out this late? Ryukyu made her way to the child, only for her eyes to widen in horror as she saw blood dripping from multiple parts of her body. The little girl didn't seem to be limping, but there was too much blood splattered throughout her body to determine whether there were scars or not.
"C-child," Ryuko hesitantly approached the child. Her voice was soothing and calm, but Ryuko couldn't completely mask the fear and worry. She wasn't scared of the child, but she was scared for the child. She had to resist the urge to scoop the child up and make a mad dash to a hospital. Any sudden moves would most likely scare the child who was most likely already traumatized.
The small child turned to look up at Ryuko. Her tattered, black cloak absorbed the color of the blood well, but it didn't hide the blood splattered across her face. The small girl looked up at the pro hero with emerald eyes that caused Ryuko's heart to break. She didn't need an empathy quirk to see how broken the poor girl was. How lonely she was.
"A-are you my mommy?" The girl asked.
Ryuko's heart tugged. As she knelt down and scooped the small girl up with a comforting smile, only one thought crossed her mind.
Rumi's going to kill me.