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Chapter 7 - The Early Bird and the Second Mouse
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Brrring - Brrrring.

It was very early in the morning when Katsuya Suou's old-fashioned alarm clock jumped and jitterbugged across his bedside table. The young officer did an admirable job of ignoring the din for almost five whole minutes - at which point a rumpled and rather surly teenager slammed open the door to his bedroom. A string of half-formed oaths dripped out of the boy's mouth as he stalked over to his brother's bed, ripped all the bedcovers off in one fluid motion, and left just the way he had come, sheets and blankets still in tow. Katsuya groaned and rolled over, one hand feeling around fruitlessly for the coverlet. Eventually his eyes drifted open and he noticed that his bed had been stripped and the alarm clock had danced itself right off the table onto the floor, where it was bouncing around with joyful noise.

He winced and tried desperately to remember how to move. He tugged himself over to the edge of the bed with his fingertips and slapped around until he located the clock. He grabbed it and beat it brutally into the carpet until it shut up, its happy voice strangled in mid-ring. His arm hung limply over the edge of the mattress and he silently congratulated himself on this triumph.

Ten minutes later he had managed to drag himself to the shower, which went a long way towards reintroducing him to the world of the living. His brain slowly rolled into motion as he scrubbed off a surprising amount of grime left over from the previous night. After the shower, a thorough tooth-brushing, and a slightly haphazard shave, he emerged from the bathroom feeling almost human. It was quite an improvement.

It's going to be a long day, he thought wearily as he lurched into the living room.

Tatsuya was sprawled on the futon, wrapped up in the stolen blankets and clutching them possessively in his sleep. Katsuya grinned and tiptoed into the kitchen to put on some coffee. He watched his brother sleep as it percolated, comforted by the familiar muted popping sounds of the coffee machine. Tatsuya was roused slightly by the activity and rolled onto his stomach with a belligerent groan.

Katsuya hurried to turn the machine off and poured the pot full of dark brown liquid into his work thermos. He fished a carton of cream out of the fridge and poured a good helping of that - along with an inordinate amount of sugar - into the coffee. He closed the thermos tightly and shook it up, producing by homemade alchemy the sweet elixir of life that he enjoyed every morning. For most people it would have been intolerable, but for Katsuya it was an unquestionable necessity.

He tiptoed past his brother again, to the front door this time, touching the top of of the boy's head lightly as he passed the tangled pile of long limbs and blankets. Tatsuya stirred slightly and yawned, making a little noise as Katsuya pushed open the door. He closed it gently behind him and locked it as quietly as he could. Poor kid, he thought with a grin. Life is so hard!

He whistled under his breath as he strode down the steps away from their apartment. The street was still almost empty except for a few other suits on their way to work, and the sun was barely peeking above the horizon. The cool city dew hung in the air for lack of anywhere else to go, and it chilled him even through his jacket. Still, it was a lovely morning and he made easy work of the walk to the station.

Katsuya always started his mornings early. For one, he loved the hour or so he had to himself before the other officers and the secretaries started to trickle in. He needed the quiet time to nurse his coffee and prepare himself mentally for the day. Today though, he had another reason to show up early.

"Good morning, Shiro," he said lightly, nodding to the sleepy-looking man behind the counter of the station's garage.

"Mornin' Officer Suou," the man yawned. "Need a car today?" He pulled out a big white binder and flipped it open to a page of little clear envelopes, each containing a tagged key.

Katsuya nodded. "Do you have one available?"

Shiro laughed gruffly. "Hell, it's not even 6 a.m.! You got your pick, whatever one you want." He thought for a moment. "'Course, they're all the same, so it's a dubious opportunity at best, doncha think?"

Katsuya grinned. "Well, you know what they say about the early bird. I want something unmarked."

"Pah," Shiro said, pulling out one of the keys and writing something in his book. "The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. Am I right?" he grinned and handed over the key.

"When you're right, you're right," laughed Katsuya. "No trap today though, just questioning a couple of kids."

Shiro chuckled and shook his head. "Don't underestimate kids; trust me, I got three of my own." He winked. "Good luck getting them worms!"

Katsuya waved over his shoulder and made his way out to the parking lot. The tag on the key pointed him towards car #12, a fairly new plain white Honda. The roads were still quiet; however, as the sun pulled itself reluctantly over the horizon, commuters and students began trickling out of apartment buildings and dorms. A particularly long red light stopped him and he pulled a folded paper out of his breast pocket.

The previous night had been long and tiresome. After the police team had arrived at the school, he'd spent almost forty-five minutes bickering with two very unhelpful administrators over access to the attacked students' personal information. When he presented them with legal papers that granted him the right to see their records, they had agreed grudgingly and then proceeded to stall him out with as much red tape as they could muster. The files in question were looked for, found, promptly lost and then found again, declared to be out-of-date, then checked by at least three different people to ensure that they were in fact all in proper order. When at last they handed the papers over to him, he was feeling like he might have had better luck just knocking on every door in Sumaru City.

Miss Amano, of course, had no more success wrestling with the school than he did, and her press papers weren't enough to grant her any privilege. As a personal favor to her, Katsuya had gone back to the station and spent another forty five minutes negotiating with a very stubborn fax machine. By the time he'd gotten the thing to acknowledge his presence and actually send a copy of the files to her instead of blank pages, the day had long since rolled over and he was aching to go home.

Now, as he waited for a troupe of young schoolgirls to cross the street, he looked over the fruits of his labor. He hadn't had time to analyze the boys' academic records yet; those would have to wait. Right now he was only interested in their names and addresses. He just wanted to ask them a few friendly questions about what had happened the day before.

The first boy's name was Kisho Ito, and according to the school records he was living on the outskirts of the city with his mother. Katsuya made good time getting there, thanks to the early start that allowed him to avoid most of the rush hour traffic. When he arrived, he was a bit surprised by the upscale complex they lived in. He had been half-expecting a run down apartment building, since the mother was single, but instead he found that they shared a large, expensive-looking condo with a pristine white door. He hesitated, checked the paper to confirm the address, and then knocked boldly.

"Just a minute, please!" Someone shouted from inside. He heard a thump, then the sound of something scraping close to the door. A lock clicked and it swung open, revealing a startlingly pretty but much disheveled woman. Her short hair was held out of her face by a green headband, and from the comfortable clothes she was wearing and the coffee cup in her hand it seemed that she had only just gotten up. She smiled. "Can I help you?"

Katsuya blinked. "M-Miss Ito, I presume?" he stuttered out. "I'm Detective Suou, I'm here to talk to your son about the incident at the school last night." He paused, slightly embarrassed by her appearance. "I'm sorry, did I come too early? If I disturbed you, I can come back later."

She laughed easily. "No, it's alright. I normally would be dressed by now, but as you can see…" she stepped aside so that he could see into the condo. Boxes were stacked everywhere, and a fluffy blue loveseat was parked right in front of the door. "…we just moved in, and I was working on getting everything unpacked. Come on in, watch your step there, and don't mind the mess."

He followed her in, somewhat disarmed by her kindness and easygoing nature. He had been expecting at least a little resistance; after all, how many mothers are used to dealing with police officers banging down their doors in the middle of breakfast? He suddenly felt awkward and ashamed for coming at such an early hour, and grateful that Miss Ito was so accommodating. Without really understanding why, he felt immediately endeared and indebted to her, as though she had just done him a great favor.

She invited him to sit at the table and have some coffee while she changed into something more appropriate. When she came back out, wearing a light green t-shirt and jeans, he had already drained half of his cup. She fetched her own and sat down across from him.

"I woke up Kisho," she said, taking a sip. "He'll need a little time to get moving, though. I don't think he slept very well and he's still recovering from yesterday." She tried to smile, but Katsuya could see worry lines in her face. She put her cup down and toyed with the handle.

Katsuya nodded. "Thank you. Maybe you can answer some of my questions while we wait for him." He took a small notebook out of his jacket. "Do you know anything about what happened yesterday?"

She leaned back. "Well, he got into a fight, didn't he? That's what the school nurse told me. He was wrestling with his friend Hideki, and it went too far." She put a finger to her lips and looked up. "I wonder, do you know how Hideki is? He didn't get badly hurt, did he?" A sudden fear crept into her eyes. "Is that why the police are involved?"

"From what I know, the other boy is not seriously injured," Katsuya said reassuringly. "Please don't worry, Miss Ito, your son's not in any trouble. We just want to make sure everything's on the up-and-up, and that he's..." he paused, "...alright."

She smiled in relief. "Ah, that's good to hear. Of course it wouldn't be anything serious. I don't know why I was worried."

They talked lightly for a while before Katsuya could muster the courage to ask where Kisho's father was. She admitted easily that she didn't know. "I was always raising Kisho alone," Miss Ito said, a touch of pride in her voice. "I was very young. The father didn't want anything to do with it, and my family was ashamed and wanted me to give the baby up. I didn't want that, so one day I took all the cash out of my dad's wallet and ran away." She looked into her cup wistfully. "It was hard, and I missed my family, but I got work and managed to scrape by."

He tilted his head, an obvious look of surprise on his face. "This is a very nice place. How..." he paused. "That is, what do you do?"

She smiled wryly. "You're wondering how I could afford this condo on a single mother's salary."

Katsuya blushed and nodded. "The thought had crossed my mind."

"Well, if you must know," she raised her cup to her lips. "I've had a little success as a writer."

"Oh, really?" he smiled. "Would I know any of your work?"

She hesitated. "My first name is Sumi."

Katsuya's eyes widened in sudden recognition. "Sumi Ito," he said slowly. "The very one that writes all those popular mystery novels?"

"That's me," she grinned, somewhat embarrassed. "For the first few years of Kisho's life I worked as a librarian. It didn't pay well, but they were nice enough to let me bring him in with me." She took a sip of her coffee. "I always wanted to be a writer. Every night I worked on short stories and sent them to magazines, but they were always rejected. I'm afraid I wasn't very good at the time."

Katsuya nodded. "But clearly, you improved and became successful."

Miss Ito paused and pursed her lips. "Actually," she leaned over the table conspiratorially. "This may sound crazy, but did you ever play fortune-telling games when you were a kid? Like things that were supposed to tell your future?"

He sat back and looked at her levelly. "I suppose that I have," he said carefully. "Why?"

She flushed. "Well, when I got pregnant with Kisho, I wanted to know what would happen to me, so I played this game with two of my girlfriends. It's embarrassing to talk about," she said with a little laugh. "But a voice spoke in my head and told me not to worry, that I would be successful if I followed my dream."

Katsuya nodded. Another persona user, he thought. There are more of them than I had imagined.

"So," she continued. "I kept trying to be a writer, and when things got difficult I just thought of the voice and it made me feel better. Maybe it's some kind of meditative thing," she mused, resting her chin on her hand. "But I still play the game sometimes, and I feel like it gives me inner strength. Good fortune, even." She laughed and looked down. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

Katsuya smiled. "No, I don't think so at all."

He was about to say more when a very sleepy young man emerged from the hallway. He was of medium height and handsome, with a lovely face like his mother's, and he was wearing a white t-shirt and loose jeans. His palms were bandaged and Katsuya noticed that he was favoring his right leg. He stopped a few feet from them.

"Mom, who is this guy?" he asked bluntly.

She smiled and stood up. "Kisho, this is Detective Suou. He's here to ask you a few questions about the fight you were in yesterday. Detective Suou, this is Kisho." She collected their coffee cups and put them in the sink. "You two can talk while I run some errands. Be good," she said, pointing a finger at her son. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

Katsuya watched her go, feeling a twinge of regret when she left the room. "Your mother is an amazing woman," he said with a smile.

Kisho crossed his arms. "She tends to have that effect on people," he said warily, then stepped forward and took a seat at the table. "So what are you here for? This doesn't concern the police. Or are you just here to gawk at my mom?"

Katsuya swallowed his grin. So that's how this is going to be. "Kisho," He leaned forward, all kindness fled from his expression. "I'm curious about something. Why didn't you tell your mother what really happened?"

The boy looked back at him blankly. "I don't know what you're talking about." His eyes seemed sunken in the morning sunlight that came through two glass patio doors.

"Of course you don't." The young detective leaned back in his chair and took out a cigarette. "Mind if I smoke?" he asked, lighting up.

"Yes."

He exhaled and a cloud of smoke drifted around his head. He tossed the pack and lighter across the table. "Help yourself."

Kisho looked at him warily, then reached over and snatched one out. His hands shook as he lit it, but steadied after he had taken a few long drags. They sat in silence for several minutes, tendrils of blue-gray smoke curling around the kitchen and lingering in the corners of the room.

Katsuya was the first to speak. "Tell me about your injuries."

"They're not so bad. I fell on my hands and knees and they're scraped up." He held up his hands to show the bandages. "We were just wrestling, you know? Mom just wanted me to stay home today so she could keep an eye on me."

"What about your leg? I saw you limping."

The boy bit his lip. "I just hurt my foot a little. It's no big deal. And it's not Hideki's fault either," he added hastily.

Katsuya shook his head. "No one is accusing you or your friend of anything, Kisho." He snubbed his cigarette out into a napkin. "Believe it or not, I want to help. I'm certainly not here to antogonize you."

Kisho sneered. "I don't need your help, okay? I can handle a couple scraped knees."

The detective's lips curled into a smile. "Oh? Did you sleep well last night, Kisho?"

The boy paled. "I... I slept fine. Not that it's any of your business."

"No nightmares, then?"

His eyes hardened. "Look, officer. I didn't do anything wrong, and I don't know what you're getting at. I don't have anything else to say, okay?"

Katsuya gave him a long, intense look, then shrugged and stood up. "If you say so," he said. "Thank you for your help. I'll just show myself out."

He made his way to the door and opened it. A sudden thought made him pause and turn around to look at Kisho, who was still sitting at the table, his chin resting on his hands. Sunlight was coming in through the glass doors full force now, and a square of light illuminated the kitchen wall. It gave Katsuya an idea.

He closed the door and stepped quietly into the path of the sunlight. The shadow of his form appeared darkly on the wall next to the table. Kisho looked up and immediately jumped out of his chair, sending it skittering across the tile floor. He backed away from the table, breathing in short, ragged gasps. "No," he said softly, almost pleadingly.

"What's the matter?" Katsuya's voice startled him and he whirled around, his eyes wide and scared. "It's just a shadow." The boy stared up at the officer for a long time, his chest rising and falling, while he caught his breath and composed himself.

"Jesus," he said, running his hands through his hair. "Jesus."

Katsuya moved out of the sunlight. "I found myself wondering," he said quietly, "what could have scared a sturdy young man like yourself so much that you scrambled to get away on your hands and knees?" His voice softened. "What did you see yesterday, Kisho?"

The boy buried his face in his hands and sank to the ground. "The girl," he said in a small voice. "She followed us there, trapped us on the roof. Me and Hideki, we -" he hesitated. "We knew her, y'know?"

Katsuya fell to one knee and put his hand on the boy's back. "Who was it? How did you know her?"

"I - I don't..." Kisho hugged himself and looked up at the young officer. "Promise you won't tell Hideki I told you?"

"I promise."

He let out a long breath. "Her name is Mai. We met her after school this one day. Me and Hideki were pretty bored and so we thought we'd play with her a little." He bit his lip nervously. "We would, like, follow her home and stuff. Just try to freak her out I guess. But it was always harmless, I swear..." Katsuya looked at him gravely and he averted his eyes. "At least, it started that way. One day we actually went into her house when her parents weren't there. She yelled at us to leave, but..." he trailed off.

Katsuya held his breath. "You molested her," he finally said, hardly able to hide his disgust.

"It wasn't like that!" the boy insisted. "I mean, we both fooled around with her a little, but she could have stopped us. She really could have," he said sullenly.

I somehow don't think she felt that way in the face of two boys twice her size. "How many times did this happen?" Katsuya asked quietly.

Kisho said nothing, just looked straight ahead with an intense expression. "I dunno, once a week or so for a couple of months," he finally said. He gave the detective a pleading look. "You have to understand, she was our girl. We even swore not to tell anyone about the stuff she did with us so she wouldn't have to worry about her reputation. We were looking after her!"

Katsuya said nothing, just looked back at him evenly. After a long silence, Kisho spoke again. "She stopped showing at school a couple of weeks ago. We didn't think much of it, but after a few days I went to her house with Hideki. To check on her," he added hastily. "She wasn't there. We talked to her parents, pretending to be classmates, and they said she'd run away." He looked down. "That was the last we heard of her until yesterday."

"Then what happened? What happened yesterday?"

The boy shuddered slightly. "It was just a normal day. We had class and everything and after school we went up to the roof to smoke. The janitor knows we go up there, but he's cool and doesn't get bent about it." He gave a little nervous laugh. "Anyway, we were up there when we heard the door open. We turned around and there she was, but it was like... it was like it wasn't her. She was still in her uniform and she looked darker somehow, like an underexposed picture."

He was quiet for a long time, lost in thought. "Hideki started joking, giving her shit about playing hooky. He walked up to her all easygoing like he was expecting her to just be her normal self. But he hadn't gotten two steps before there was this horrible flash of light." He clenched his eyes shut and quivered with fear. "Oh god, it was so bright and terrible... I was blinded by it, so I fell to my knees and covered up my face. I -" his voice faltered. "I pulled myself away, but behind me I heard Hideki start screaming. He just screamed and screamed and I just -" his voice broke and tears started to stream down his face. "I lost it, you know? I just lost it."

He sniffled and wiped his face with his bandaged hands. "I don't know what happened next. I guess someone heard all his yelling and came up after us. The light just faded abruptly and I was finally able to open my eyes." He fell silent, staring sadly into the empty space before him.

Katsuya swallowed, his throat suddenly dry, and asked, "What did you see?"

Kisho turned and looked into his eyes. His expression was both sad and afraid, fearful and reverent. "Her face," he whispered, as though it was all he needed to say. "I saw her face, twisted in a smile I never saw her make before." He shook his head. "I never saw her smile before."

A heavy silence fell over them. Eventually Kisho spoke. "Officer, can you protect us from her? Or from... whatever it was that we saw yesterday?"

Katsuya stood up and thought for a long time. "Kisho," he said solemnly. "I can no more protect you from that being than I can protect you from yourself." He extended his hand and helped the boy up. "Its greatest strength is your greatest weakness, and only if you can face that weakness can you ever hope to defeat it. I can't help you with that, nor can anyone else. Only you can do what you must now do. Do you understand me?"

The boy looked down and his eyes filled again with tears. "I - I don't think I can. I can't face this."

"You have to," the young detective said. "Otherwise it will torment you for the rest of your life." He reached out and touched Kisho's shoulder. "You made a mistake, and you have to atone for that mistake now. Once you do, the demon you saw will be powerless to hurt you."

There was a pause. "Where do I start?" he asked tentatively.

At that moment the door swung open and Miss Ito came through with an armful of grocery bags. "Kiiisho!" she called out from behind them. "Come help with the groceries!" She dumped them on the table with a little grunt and turned to see the two of them standing in the living room. "Oh!" she said, flushing. "I'm sorry, Officer Suou, I didn't realize you were still here."

Katsuya nodded in her direction and then turned back to Kisho. "I think that might be a good place," he said gently, gesturing over his shoulder to the busy young woman.

The young man looked past him to his mother. A sad smile crept onto his face. "It'll kill her," he said softly. "As far as she knows I've never done a bad thing in my whole life."

"She's stronger than you might think," Katsuya said with a knowing smile. "And for that matter, so are you." He patted the boy's shoulder. "Good luck, Kisho Ito." With that, he turned and made his way to the door.

As he was about to step through, he heard Kisho clear his throat. He turned, but saw that both mother and son were in the kitchen, out of his line of sight. "Mom," he heard the boy say, "I have something I need to talk to you about."

Katsuya smiled to himself and closed the door quietly behind him.

* * *

He was back on the road, on the way to Hideki Ishida's house, when his cell phone started beeping. He slowed and fished it out of his pocket. "Suou here," he said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Katsuya?" It was Maya. He was so pleased to hear her voice that he didn't notice the worry in it.

He smiled broadly. "Hello, Miss Amano! What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to thank you for sending the students' files to me last night, but I'm afraid I have some bad news as well."

"What is it?"

There was a pause. "I contacted the Ishida family about Hideki. I wanted to talk to them about the incident, maybe arrange an interview..."

He cut her off, irritated. "Wait, I thought I asked you not to talk to either family until I had a chance to question the boys."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but Katsuya -" he heard for the first time the concern in her voice. "Hideki Ishida is dead. He killed himself last night."

The young detective said nothing, only stared at the car in front of him, trying hard not to swerve off the road. "...I'm sorry," she said again, and the line went silent.

Oh, he thought simply, and as soon as he could he pulled over to stare numbly out at the passing cars.