Review Responses:
Sugar Spice Rush: I felt that Matthew was close enough to Masquerade since the two names start with "Ma" but now that I think about it, I really should have just kept Masquerade. I wish I would've explained it better in the last chapter, but the two of them just met this year in college so I wouldn't consider them 'close friends'? Oh, I've been wanting to watch Criminal Minds! Unfortunately, I don't have Netflix but I've heard a lot of people raving about it! (・∀・)
Innocent-Diamond: Hmm...Masquerade majoring in Criminal Justice seems a bit ironic to me...especially since Season 1 was mostly about him obsessed with becoming the best Bakugan brawler through evil ways. Ooh, thank you~! That seems like a good location for the two of them to find some clues/insight on Alice's death...(*ゝω・)ﾉ
cherry-tree-of-life: Ooh, thank you for the recommendations~! Yep, Shun's working on a *really* cold case but who knows what he'll find? ( ﾟoﾟ)
Guest: Ooh, that sounds interesting! I'll definitely check it out~! (o^^o)
SoapyDopey: Thank you so much for your kind words~! ｡^‿^｡
Chapter 4: A Helping Hand
"You've got to be kidding me." Were the first words that came out of Matthew's lips as he let out an incredulous scoff. "Shun, what are you on-"
"The entire school year that you've known me, how many times have I joked?" The raven-haired male drawled sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. Well, he supposed that the other male took it better than he expected. After all, it wasn't everyday that you hear a friend telling you a supernatural occurrence that happened to them. "Look, I know that this sounds ridiculous-"
"What do you mean, 'sounds ridiculous'?! That is ridiculous!" The blond huffed in desperation. "Look, Shun, if you're really that desperate, I guess you could stay in my dorm for a little while longer-"
"Matt, I'm serious." The computer science major paused, which caused the psychology major to stop midway through his rant. "The rumors about the spirit of the girl in my apartment are true."
"You've got to be kidding me." Matthew repeated once again, running his fingers through his blond hair. He looked to find Shun as stoic as ever with an arched eyebrow raised at him. "Okay, so you're not kidding. But what are you going to do? This case hasn't been touched in nearly forty years. The detectives back then couldn't even solve it, so what makes you think that you are able to solve it?"
"Forty years ago, technology wasn't advanced as it is today. If we could get a hold of the evidence left behind at the crime scene and use technology from today, I'm sure we'll be able to solve the case." Shun responded back simply.
"Okay, so you got me there. Yes, we do have better technology than they did in the 70's, but where and how are we going to get the evidence? It's been forty years. Don't you think they're going to throw away the evidence at some point?" Matthew argued back.
Shun was silent for a split moment. He hadn't thought about it that far yet. It was a 'spur-of-the-moment' situation, especially since he didn't want to upset Alice, and without thinking it through, he made her a promise that he wasn't even sure that he could keep now that he thought about it.
"Not now. The professor's coming in." Was what the raven-haired male finally responded as he pulled out his laptop from his backpack as their biology professor walked into the classroom.
"Touché." The blonde scoffed as he followed suit with taking out his laptop as well. Looks like he's going to have to pry it out of Shun as soon as class was over...
xoxo
"Hey, where are you going?" Matthew asked as he followed Shun. Biology was their last class of the day and more often than not, they would hang out either somewhere on campus or at Matthew's dormitory.
"To the police station. Maybe they have still have some of the evidence of the crime scene still there." The raven-haired male answered as he continued walking, pulling out his phone in the process to find the location of a nearby police station.
"You're not really going to do this, are you?" The blond groaned in frustration, although he continued following Shun. "Shun, we have midterms and finals coming up soon! Are you seriously going to do this now?"
"Consider it a break from all of the studying." He answered back coolly, although he hadn't been busy cramming as most of the other students that he saw around campus.
Matthew groaned loudly once more. "If I fail probability and statistics, my grandfather's going to kill me!"
"Does that mean you're helping me with this 'ridiculous' case then?" The computer science major smirked slightly, although he was grateful for the other male for somewhat agreeing to help him solve it.
"Don't rub it in." The psychology major scoffed, although the grin on his face gave him away. "Now, where to?"
xoxo
"What are we going to say?" Was the first thing the blond male questioned as the two of them stood outside of the police station's doors. While there were a couple of other police stations around Wardington, they decided that the police station that was the closest one to the school's campus had a higher chance of possibly having the evidence than the other police stations. "Yes, hello officer. We're investigating the death of the girl who died in Magnolia Apartments, do you mind giving us the evidence obtained from the crime scene?"
"This is exactly why you're not meant to be a literature major." Shun sighed. "And besides, what kind of police officer would just give away crime scene evidence to us?" Matthew did bring up a good point, though. He forgot to take into account that nobody in their right mind would willingly reopen a murder case just because of two college students who asked, especially if their majors had absolutely nothing to do with criminal justice-
"Do you two need anything?" The two college majors turned around to find a dark bluenette woman in a long sleeved dress that reached her ankles. Although they had just met the strange woman, there was an aura about her that screamed both graceful elegance as well as danger.
"Are you currently working in the law enforcement field?" Matthew was the first one to speak up. When they first met in biology, Shun was wary of the blond male. The other male had strong confidence in himself, but there were at times when he was more arrogant than he was confident. And in that exact moment, the raven-haired male was silently grateful for Matthew's confidence.
The female laughed, though it sounded sinister more than anything. "I do, of course!" And with that, she reached into a small black handbag that rested on her shoulder and pulled out an ID card. "Sellon, parole officer. And you are?"
"I'm Matthew and this is my friend, Shun. And it's...nice to meet you, Miss Sellon." The blond male forced a polite smile whereas forcing one would be too difficult for Shun in regards to someone like Sellon, so he opted for a small nod instead. "We would like to speak to a police officer, that is all."
Sellon laughed once again. "Have you not seen my ID card clearly? I am an officer. What would you like to speak to me about?"
"In regards to a homicide case." Shun finally spoke up. He was hoping that Sellon wouldn't be interested in a grotesque case such as a homicide case and would kindly leave the two of them alone, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't give up.
"Oh, a homicide case? Which one?" Her dark green eyes lit up and it was obvious that the mention of the murder case piqued her interest.
"The case about the foreign exchange student who was murdered in her own apartment." Matthew answered.
The female paused for a moment, as if she was in deep thought before she spoke. "Oh yes, the so-called spirit residing in Magnolia Apartments. I assume that you all know that those rumors about that apartment was false, yes?" They hesitantly nodded at her question. "If you know that those rumors are false, then what do you need to ask?"
"We were wondering if there was any evidence obtained from the crime scene that are still here in the police station." Shun responded, hoping that she would just answer them with a 'yes' or 'no'.
"And why is that?" The parole officer raised an eyebrow, to which the raven-haired male sighed internally.
"I live in Magnolia Apartments and one of my neighbors is an elderly man who used to live in the apartment next to the girl who died. He was lamenting about how her death was so tragic and I was wondering if there was any evidence left from the crime scene so that the case could reopen." The raven-haired male replied, coolly. He was quite impressed with himself for managing to think up of a lie right on the spot, although the initial part of the statement was true.
Sellon scoffed. "The case hasn't been touched in over forty years and there has been little to no evidence that could even remotely help with solving the case. Please do not waste your time with such things." With that final statement, the female walked past them and into the police station as the two college students could only stare at her retreating figure.
Matthew sighed. "Well, we tried. Don't be so upset, Shun. I'm sure there are other ways we could solve this case. Who needs the police anyways?" Shun had to scoff a bit at his friend's words of encouragement as they walked towards the direction of their school, but he couldn't help but feel disappointed. The police station was his only hope of giving Alice some closure but now that they've just been shot down, what could they do now?
xoxo
"Oh, hello, Miss Sellon, I didn't see you there. How are you?" A disheveled brunette male asked as he handed Sellon a cup of coffee. Joe Brown was a criminal justice major at Wardington University and had hopes of becoming a police officer. When the Wardington Police Station were having interviews for interns, he immediately jumped on the opportunity to learn directly from the professionals.
"Oh, Joe! You will not believe what just happened to me! I ran into two college students on my way in here and they were asking for the evidence on a murder case! But it wasn't just any murder case, it was the foreign exchange girl's case!" Sellon laughed as she took the coffee cup from Joe.
"Oh?" He asked as he handed out another cup of coffee to an officer that walked past them. "What are their names?"
"Matthew and Shun, if my memory is correct. Oh, but why does it matter? They are wasting their time worrying over a case like that." Just then, a silver-haired male with somewhat spiked up hair approached Sellon. "Oh, Anubias. Is something the matter?"
"We've got another case-oh, thank you, Joe-and we need to go now." Anubias turned on his heels and started to walk off, but not before grabbing a coffee cup from Joe.
Sellon sighed. "Well, I must be going now. I'll talk to you later, Joe!" She waved slightly as she rushed to catch up with her co-worker.
"Bye, Miss Sellon!" The brunette male called out before he placed the tray of coffee cups on a nearby table. Fumbling, he managed to get his phone out of his jean pockets and go through his list of contacts before he pressed on the number he needed to call. Pressing on the call button, he tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the other person on the other line to pick up.
"Hello, Detective? I think the case is going to be reopened." Joe smiled as he looked out a nearby window. Looks like he's got some detective work to do to find this Shun and Matthew first...
End of Chapter 4.
Note: Whoop whoop~! It didn't take me a year to update this time! :;(∩´﹏`∩);: Anyways, yay, new characters~! Joe is an intern at the Wardington Police Station, and my reason for why he's a criminal justice major is kind of bizarre... In Season 1 of the anime, I felt that he was the most...responsible one out of all of the Brawlers (besides Marucho, Shun, and Alice, of course) so with that in mind, he became a Criminal Justice major, LOL. I honestly had such a hard time deciding about Shun's major, but Innocent-Diamond's Sound of Affinity (if you haven't read it yet, please do! Innocent-Diamond is a queen!) had Shun majoring in the STEM field and I drew inspiration from that~! Anyways, summer's here and I will definitely be writing a lot more, so stay tuned for updates on my other stories as well~! Bye bye~!