Amai Shi
Chapter 6: Five Claw Theory
Written By AnimayWriteY0
[Next Morning at Shibumi Residence]
For some time now, Sanada had barely managed to shake off the uneasiness from his head. Something about that dream he witnessed last night must have been some sort of sign. After all, these events occurred right after he had touched the butterfly hair clip found from the shoreline of Katsuya River. Knowing that it's close to morning time, he made sure that his early wakeup call didn't disturb his sister and grandmother. Luckily, they didn't come barging in his room immediately and asked if he's okay.
So, with that Sanada slowly gets up and casually readies himself for another day at his police job. So, he did his usual morning preparation of getting cleaned and wearing his usual-colored short sleeved white shirt, over a brownish green blazer jacket and black slacks. The stern eyed Sanada goes downstairs and into the kitchen to help himself with some breakfast made by his grandmother once she had woken herself up before him. The moment Sanada took a sip of coffee he caught the attention of Himiko whose strangely joyous, even more so after that day when she was attacked.
"Himiko? Did you have some sort of good day yesterday? I figured you did, since you seem to be back at your usual happy again. Though you do seem to be even more gleeful…" The stern older brother tilts his head as he folded his arms waiting for his little sister's response.
"Ohhhh I just happened to have a swell time hanging out with another friend of mine." Himiko replied with a bright smile, she indeed had fun with someone but considering the fact that she witnessed her brother's angry outburst towards Ryumo, she'd rather keep this a secret. Sanada raises an eyebrow as he placed his coffee mug down on the table while being a bit intrusive towards her obviously vague response. "Another friend? Oh good someone who I barely know of. Himiko who are these people you're meeting?" Oh, that can't be good her brother is starting to get suspicious, as Himiko scratches her cheeks while nervously giggling. "Ohhh just someone who I texted other than Kanatoshi San, I mean it would be weird to just have one friend to chat with all day every day. No, that can't be it. "Well, uhh, ehehe I always wanted to try and meet people who are nice to others. And give them a chance to hang out with me." Himiko realized she just made this even more awkward. Even her grandmother just stood there with a proverbial sweat drop running down behind her head.
The older brother twitches his eyes as he got up and shook his head in utter shame for his little sister. "Hm? I assume that it must be a boy, it's too obvious that you may be hanging out with someone you like, aren't you?" He narrowed his stern eyes at Himiko to read what her eyes are telling him. Having done that, he does indeed tell that his sister is hiding something from him. "If I may ask, did you get yourself a boyfriend already?" Sanada smirks as he makes a crackling chuckle at Himiko's poor performance in hiding her true intentions.
"O-Onii chan! Don't be mean!" Her incredulous reaction had left both Sanada and Sajime chuckling, leaving the embarrassed brunette completely uncommunicative from the rest of the conversation, however she is mitigated that her brother hadn't found out just who exactly she's hanging out with. If she told him outright there's absolutely no doubt her brother would forbid her to meeting with Ekijo San.
"Oh dearest me, I had never imagined my young granddaughter to find a young strapping lad she falls head over heals with, how cute." Sajime continues her blatant teasing as she turned her attention to Sanada and seem to catch on to his wariness. "Sanada dear, is there something bothering you? You seem to have been very distant from having our normal conversation as family?"
"H-huh? Oh well, I just happened to have a bad dream that's all" Dream? More like a torture chamber, his thoughts have never felt so profaned, those graphic images, the figures that played their roles in the scenes from that dream, and that blood curdling laugh in the end have left a painful mark in Sanada's thought process. Also leaving him so many questions that riddle through his mind, he even wonders if that dream had anything to do with the open case. For now, he ensured his grandmother that he can handle these events as usual.
"Okay dear, just don't push yourself too hard, it's best not to stress yourself while working. Oh that reminds me, you don't work today, right?" Sajime thought as soon as she glances at the calendar.
"Yeah, but I would have to head over at Division 3 headquarters to see what my team had found after the discovery of Ai. I already called Jingo san to pick me up here to take me back to our workplace." Sanada sighs at the fact that he must also treat Jingo to breakfast over at a place called Cafe Hassui, which is not too far from his family's home. But before he could excuse himself from the dining table to meet his cop partner, Sanada went over to both his grandmother and sister with a gentle hug. "Take care you two I'll be back home before you know it." Sajime and Himiko smiled as they gave him the same treatment. "Stay safe!" Both said. After putting his shoes on and waiting out for a police car he immediately saw his investigation confidant arriving. He turned his attention to Himiko and lets her know that she can go out as long as she lets him know afterwards.
"O-okay I will." Her response plus her reaction had given her brother a slight suspicious glare seeing how quickly her mood and tone had mellowed down to a more deflated attitude. This indeed happened on several occasions, but she couldn't really do anything about it, after all she has been through sticky situations that had to involve her brother keeping her out of trouble or getting hurt. She just doesn't want to hurt her brothers' feelings about his support but she just wishes she can at least do something that is outside of her brother's care.
With that Sanada goes in the car while Himiko and Sajime waved at the two detectives goodbye. And so Sanada and Yakimori are off going straight to their first stop, Cafe Hassui. Sajime turned her attention to Himiko and left a sigh of concern. Obvious, she can tell Himiko doesn't want to let her brother know who she's been hanging out with, the boy who had attacked her a few days back.
"Himiko, I know that you really want to spend your time with friends other than your brother, but are you sure this Ryumo fellow is that much of a kind person like you said?" She puts her hand softly on her granddaughter's shoulder. "It would have been best to fill him in on what you have been doing. Yes, there are chances he won't allow you to be near him after you told him the truth but keeping this a secret, he will eventually find out the truth and your relationship with your brother may be in jeopardy." Sajime asked hoping her granddaughter understood the underlying risk she's willing to take just to spend her time with Ryumo.
Himiko looking down and turn to her side feeling totally at fault, yet a tad bit upset. "...I just don't want him to put so much work and attention on me, it makes me feel guilty every time he had to suffer more and more for my sake. Grandmother can you keep this a secret from Sanada? I know it is strange of me to do this, but I want to at least experience what I want to do." She looks up at her grandmother assuring she'll keep her secret.
"You have my word dear. Hmm? Is that your phone?" She noticed a loud vibration coming from Himiko's back pocket. "Oh umm...let's see..." She clumsily tried to grab her phone out of her back pocket and checks up on her notifications seeing that her friend Miyazu has texted her. Himiko unlocked her phone and looked into her conversation with Miyazu. "Grandmother I'll be upstairs, okay? I need to talk to Kanatoshi San."
"Alright dear, let me know if you need anything." Sajime proceeds to pick up the dishes from the dining table and starts washing them. After that Himiko kept her eyes locked onto her phone while going upstairs. Once Himiko entered her room, she notices that her friend Miyazu wanted to hang out with her again. She and Miyazu had just hung out the day before yesterday. Given she and Miyazu had been pretty close in terms of friendship, there comes a point where personal space needed to be addressed with her. And each message she sent seemed to be quite tedious. Not that she doesn't want to, but Himiko just couldn't find time for everyone requesting her to spend the day constantly. There wasn't much of what she wants to do either. With that she finally replied to her impatient friend who has been messaging her every 2 minutes.
"J-Jeez, slow down Kanatoshi San, I'm not that good at texting with a small keyboard than you do…" Himiko placed a tired emoji next to her texts. After sending her response to her shock after 5 seconds in, Miyazu responded immediately.
"Oh sure, slow on keyboards. I have been typing and texting for a living since I was a kiddo." Miyazu responded with 5 annoyed face emoji's in a row.
"Woah, that's um...well rude... sorry if I had been unresponsive for the last few minutes ago…" Himiko was quite flabbergasted at that sudden change in mood coming from that text response. It was as if she's texting a totally different person behind the other end. "Did Miyazu have a bad day? She's clearly exhibiting some aggressive conduct behind those texts." Himiko thought hesitantly waiting for Miyazu's next reply.
"Nahhh it's cool, I figured since it's a good day outside I was hoping you would like to be hanging out with me today?
Himiko sweat drops delaying her next texts, she didn't want to come off as being mean by refusing her friend's request. But she still remembered that they had just spent quite a long time doing so much stuff during their last hang out. Himiko bluntly texted her feelings about this. "I don't know, I really don't have the energy to go out. Besides, I wanted to have some time for myself once in a while." Himiko placed a stressed emoji next to her text.
"Right! Right! Well, I hope you get some me time. But it looks like you have something going on? Mind letting me know of what is bugging you girl? Or is it you somehow spent time with that Ryumo kid? Why were you with him yesterday?"
Himiko realized that Miyazu just happened to spill the beans the moment she pointed out that information right in front of her. Himiko eyes widen due to the fact that Miyazu somehow knew what she was up to during yesterday, that made her felt creeped out. That was a private meeting with Ryumo, how could she know of that? So Himiko kept her secret to her as well given how much invasive her friend's becoming. "I'm just going to spend my time on my own for a while, if that's alright with ya Kanatoshi San." Himiko mistily texted trying not to be in depth to detail on her day, but the moment she texted that message she was given a reply that brought the brunette to a staggering daze.
"Oh, now it's like that, does that mean I'm no longer a friend of yours?! You're bored of me now!? I can't believe this! You know what just go and do what you want…I'm out!" That, that was so different. Miyazu's ranting message had Himiko in a dissenting visage. Now things have gotten even more complicated for the brunette, keeping a secret from her brother and now this uncharacteristic effusion from her best friend Miyazu.
She couldn't tell if she's hurt, upset, or guilty of this but one thing is for sure. Himiko should just had been more direct like her older brother, then none of what she's doing would cause all this drama towards her brother and her friend Miyazu. With nothing left to do she lays on her bed subjugating herself from this difficult predicament. That is, until another call emerges from her phone.
Blankly staring at the notification, her hollow eyes lit up full of life knowing it is Ryumo calling her. Once she picked it up both she and Ryumo started to chat in humorous conversations, once they're close to done talking Himiko requests Ryumo if he wants to meet her at Hirosawa Pond, of course he accepts. This signals Himiko to get ready as she wears her casual clothes for outdoors and sets off to meet with Ryumo Ekijo.
At Cafe Hassui, Sanada and Yakimori are seated inside the cafe waiting for their food, since Sanada already had his fill, he ordered a small bowl of hot and sour soup with an ice water beverage. As for Yakimori he ordered the Neapolitan spaghetti with iced coffee brew for his beverage of choice. Once the two detectives are given their food, they ordered they've taken their time savoring their meal, Sanada is the first to speak after half of his soup's been consumed.
"Jingo San, have you been able to notify Fujisawa San the news of her daughter?" He stirs his half left over soup with his spoon casually while awaiting his detective comrade to reply only to watch him gorge down on the pasta dish with little to no manners. This horrendous table side manner have caused a couple of eyes turning their direction. Sanada twitches his eyes from such a disgusting display coming from Yakimori.
"Ru Gnoww...I wuash Dach Ae, Hash..zuum shhtuff…." Yakimori talked with his mouth still full of pasta noodles hanging making it hard for Sanada to even understand what he's talking about. "Dude can you talk without having to stuff yourself? I mean you are making this uncomfortable…" He looked around while other customers have locked their gaze at them. "Plus, this food was made to eat with manners man..." He stated with brutal honesty.
Having slurp the remaining noodles while getting a napkin to wipe down the sauce stain still visible on his face. "Sorry, I can't help it man, I have been so hungry I just can't help but eat my food however I want. Anyways what I said earlier, I hope that whatever we got from Ai's autopsy would help us pinpoint some clues that lead to the truth. Oh, and don't worry Fujisawa San has given us her consent on analyzing the corpse."
"Good, at least I don't have to ask, I even called her myself to bring me a few things to Kinki Ward office. Back at the case, what can you make of the 5 scars on her body though?" He tries to find possible outcomes of Ai's fate. "I'm getting a big hunch we missed something from the pictures and documentation in the folder...Given that Ai's body was found from the Katsuya River. "
The toothpick chewing officer scratches his head out of frustration trying to think of what the significance of the scars mean. "I don't know, it just felt like she dealt a great deal of pain after each of those wounds…I was hoping you got a few scenarios that can lead to something. I mean you're the most logical and creative one who can dish out any sort of possibilities to this."
Sanada rolled his eyes and sighed, but overall Yakimori is right, he's the one who has been successful at theorizing outside perspective. To Sanada he happens to actually believe his own ability to reenact said scenarios from what little clues given to him. With that idea he gives his first theory of Ai's supposed suicide scenario. "My first theory would have to do with a Doppelganger trying to imitate the person's identity with physical appearance. Someone who is obsessed with the image of another person they grow an interest in, to live out his/her life as the person the targeted, this could correlate the need to get rid of the real person in order to preserve their own identity of replicating their intended target."
"Huh?...That's actually not a bad theory but that doesn't really change how Ai was found by Katsuya River and the pictures shown her body at an embalming chamber room being preserved for her burial.
Sanada scratches his chin while he points out a flaw to those pictures. "Well, actually I did call some of her former friends and relatives if they have attended to Ai's funerary service but shockingly enough, they were unaware of her death nor did they even get any notifications from each other about it. The only person who knew of her death was her mother." Sanada grips his fist. "If you ask me, I feel like Division 5 forces are all in on this conspiracy."
Yakimori raises an eyebrow somewhat confused but tries to summarize this in his own words. "So you're saying…someone had some sort of agenda on taking over Ai's identity to make a whole new life as someone they're not? And Division 5 has a hand in of keeping this secret to the public?"
Sanada shrugs. "Can't be too sure but that's all I can theorize from this...but I have a good hunch that this theory would be irrelevant soon after we get the results." He finishes his drink and soup placing a good tip for the waitress to collect after the payment's done. "Alright let's get going Jingo San."
"Roger that partner. Kinki Ward here we go." He starts the car and gets it running as he and Sanada are off straight to their workplace.
[At Uzumasa 12:34 P.M.]
Time has passes by, Himiko is currently walking along the streets of Uzumasa to catch up with her next bus stop on course for Hirosawa Pond which is by the streets of Sagahirosawacho. She wears her usual turtleneck long sleeve tan sweater with her knee length skirt added with a nicely fit dark stockings on her legs and wearing a furred long brown high heel boots to match. As for her face she added a faint but noticeable black eyeliner while leaving her lips natural, for her hair she tied her shoulder covering hair to a more upward spiky end. She hasn't really felt herself due to her restrictions of being able to interact with anyone else other than Sanada, Sajime and even Miyazu.
She also wondered what her friends deal was when she let out a tantrum for specifically no reason after Himiko wanted to spend time on her by herself. It's like she was talking to a completely different person from her experience by the last conversation she had with Miyazu. She does realize something; the majority of her time have been spent hanging out with her brother and Miyazu. This is her chance to do things what she wants and by her own terms.
"I just hope this is a good idea...but I really need this right now I really want to live being myself once in a while..." She thought while taking a deep breath. Her own actions of actually keeping this a secret from Sanada and Miyazu may be selfish but she's old enough to know it's time to make her own decisions. She even contemplates the consequence of being out without the permission of her older brother. But as she looked at the bag full of her own homemade boxed lunches she smiles and knows that she's aware of this.
Even though she and Ryumo have precisely started out at the worst possible meeting, Himiko could tell now that it was all just a huge misunderstanding that got out of hand. Despite that, their little conversation by text and their meeting from the supermarket is what made her change her view with Ryumo. He's after all not a bad person, and she finds him quite cuteshe he acted shy and playing hard to get. Himiko is excited yet nervous at the same time. To her, this could very well be her first date with someone she actually likes.
Once the bus stopped at the designated area. Himiko steps out of the bus and sees the pond up north from Sagahirosawacho street. She strolls towards that direction which is a block straight at the park of Hirosawa while looking to see if Ryumo is around. So far, she hasn't gotten much of anyone who resembles spiky haired boy from the distance as a bunch of people are hanging by the entrance way of Hirosawa Pond. She looked up her phone and catches a new message from Ryumo. It says that he's wearing his usual attire but added a brown coat with a furred hood. With this she tries to find Ryumo with that extra description. Himiko took a look at her right and found Ryumo leaning on the entrance post at the other side.
"Hi Ryumo! You look nice in that jacket!" She leaves a gentle and sweet smile holding the bag safely to keep the boxed lunch from tilting themselves from an angled point to avoid any spills.
"Hmm?….U-uh oh hi Hi...miko..." The spiky haired young man lost his thoughts for a moment to witness Himiko's look. Of course, she wears her usual casual clothes like she did, but he noticed a few differences, she is wearing a turtleneck sweater with vertical linings which is different from her normal sweater. She wears dark brown high heel boots that actually fits her clothes of choice. Her hair style is a huge plus, instead of having her hair go down naturally she tied it to the far left with having her back spiked hair pointed upper right. The young man flushes his cheeks into bright red blushes but tries to seize his flustering expression by covering his cheeks with his left hand only to end up hearing Himiko chuckle from his initial reaction.
After he calmed down, Ryumo finally gain some courage to find his wording about Himiko's choice of attire for this meeting. "You look pretty good...um I like how you did your hair; it matches your clothes well." What was he saying, she looks so stunning? "Oh, I see you brought food for this meet up. Luckily I was hoping you did because I brought this with me." Ryumo sets down the blue gym bag down on the floor and opens it, the young man took out what looks like a sheet mat used for picnics.
"Awww! That's perfect! We can definitely enjoy our lunch with a bit of extra comfort. You're so resourceful Ekijo San!" She lets out an energetic smile then sets the bag of food on the sheets nicely and carefully while she took a seat on the covered ground. Once Himikp takes out the box lunches she began the conversation about Ryumo's day. "Ekijo San how was your day been going? I can surely tell you have been thinking about this meet up than me."
Ryumo scratches his head chuckling owlishly about how she's obviously honest of how she perceived him. "Yeah, I was looking forward to this meet up not only because I have nothing better to do but I do want to get to know you a little bit more. So, what did you bring this time?" He can smell the delicious food from the bento boxes which indeed had caused his stomach to growl intensely.
"Hehe can't wait to chow down, aren't you? Well, what I made this time is what you'll see once I undo the lid." The brunette did just that, once unraveled the box is shown with 4 separated gaps holding steamed rice for the large pocket, the other over the far left holding what looks like teriyaki pork slices, the third with 5 pieces of sushi rolls, and lastly one holding a nice salad. "I made these just for us to enjoy and I did them right before I went off to meet you here. Go ahead dig in!" She hands him some chopsticks mannerly.
"Thanks! I most certainly will. I really appreciate this Shibumi San!" The young man gorges down on some rice added with a few bits of pork which made his cheeks flush red yet again from the sudden burst of scrumptious food he's consuming. "Oh! I must say you make the best food ever! I can't get tired of eating this! How did you cook so well?"
"My brother taught me how to make different dishes with some of his recipes I learned. I'm usually the one who makes food for us more often now due to my brother having to work long hours from his job. He rarely has any energy left to cook, he does sometimes but not too often." Himiko lets out a guilty smile.
"You really idolize him, I bet. Man, you must've been so lucky to have someone who will always stick by your side when you need it the most..." Ryumo Sighs as he then grabbed the bag and takes out 2 ice cold water bottles and hands one to Himiko who herself is eating as well. "Here, we can't eat without something to drink on the side."
"Thanks, Ekijo san." She uncapped the bottle and starts sipping some of the chilling water to help quench her thirst after she had eaten some of her food. "Well, I owe my brother so much for looking after me ever since our mother died after my birth. He had to be the parent when he was just 5 years old at that time."
"You serious?! Wow that's….crazy!" Ryumo was astonished at how committed Himiko's brother was to even look after her in such a vulnerably young age. "I guess life tends to be hard on anyone these days." After the last bite of the food, he sets the box down feeling satisfied of his hunger. "Thank you for the meal, Himiko San. It's so delicious."
Himiko blushes while giggling at his compliment. "Hey no problem! I enjoy our time together here." She glances at the pond as it sparkles due to the suns reflecting over it. "Thank you for inviting me to this. Hmm?" She noticed Ryumo stoic expression looking her way but not fully as she wonders what's wrong. "Ekijo San what's wrong why are you looking like that?"
"Three guys are approaching our way." He stands up immediately and walked past Himiko going towards the three hooligans.
[At Kinki Ward Department, an hour before Himiko's meeting with Ryumo.]
Once Sanada and Yakimori arrived at Kinki Ward Department, they are immediately met with Kei in front of the entrance. As soon as the two got out Kei ran up to them letting them know that the research team had finally gotten the results of Ai's corpse by the use of MRI scans. With that, the two police officers looked at each other and nodded as Sanada, Yakimori, and Kei went into the building to meet with the others in the gathering center to discuss said results. Sasiki is the first to inform everyone, he sets down a few papers on the desk preparing to narrate the findings with his colleagues confirming that Ai was indeed murdered.
"Seeing the viewings of what this is, it looked like Ai has been stabbed with 5 different types of bladed weapons on 5 specific places on her body. Each one being placed from different sides of the arms and legs the most prominent one was on the neck. Each wound was stabbed by these said blades." Sasiki then show case the murder weapons that were used to stab Ai. A scissor, an ice pick, a kitchen knife, a concealable 3-inch switchblade, and a scalpel. Of course, her body was left in the body bag for a few weeks, meaning that she must have been killed near the end of June." The group are talking about why there has to be 5 different murder weapons being placed in those specific spots on her body. "There's more to this, it seems that her prominent stab wound has miraculously missed her vital spot, the jugulars on her neck with the ice pick.
"Then that would mean the theory of homicide from a scornful spouse is out of the picture." She lets out a frustrated sigh at the possibility of her case to be unlikely. Obviously if it were to be it though, then the placement of the stabs would be taken at a completely different manner, an uncontrolled angry person wouldn't force his time to distinctly place different weapons on those precise stab wounds. It would simply just be that said person stabbing the other repeatably with just a single weapon in a brutal manner. "No way an angry unstable person would spend that much effort to effectively stab their target at those places."
"Indeed, in fact Ai was held tight against her will from some restraints to keep her from moving too much." He points out the big hand cuff wrap markings on her wrists along with her legs. "Sanada, do you have any theory of this? Sanada?"
He scans the pictures and documents for a while and came across something strange, the picture's background, the walls are more like makeshift wooden walls plus the embalming preserve, there isn't any other connected it's just a single one. Mortuaries and Hospitals have ones where they have multiple chambers interlocking between one another. What's more, the individual who stood by the corpse may have intentionally block the view of the wounds to make sure no one is getting any sign of clues. Sanada then caught Sasiki's call, so he turned his whole attention to Sasiki.
"You found something about those pictures?" The red headed officer asked. "Yes. Here everyone this is what I discovered" With that Sanada shared the photo to the group and to their absolute dismay Sanada's discovery had led the group in complete silence, not because of the evidence found from the picture but having to miss out this precious clue the moment they took a look at it. "My thoughts of this after what I found; I theorize that Ai must have been used as a sacrificial pawn for some satanic ritual by some cult fanatics. Here..." He grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen and proceeded to draw a picture of a full human body with the marks from five places on the body resembling Ai's wounds. He even starts to connect them to form a pentagram looking formation. "If I recall, I fear there is something more to this..." He even fell back from his previous experience from the dream he had that the weapons were shown and it's the exact same bladed ones being displayed from the office. "I believe the Ai from the pictures isn't really Ai but an imposter setting herself in that position. And that individual is involved to this tampered evidence."
Suddenly Sasiki blurt out another revelation. "Hey, hold on...that, this sounds like the very same story that Ryumo boy has been mumbling about during my interrogation a few days back. Same goes for one of the prisoners who happened to talk about this similar story." This brought everyone's attention especially Sanada. "What?! Can you further explain about that?" Sanada becoming curious to Sasiki's claim.
"This is from another case regarding to a prisoner named Jazu Kiwani who had been sentenced for life in prison for first degree murder on a young girl name Inami Toshiba. This was taken place 10 years ago before I was in this police force. You see he and Toshiba were actually couples until she disappeared 2 weeks after she decided to visit a friend of hers. After she returned, according to Jazu she had somehow changed into a bitter young girl and showed contempt to him as well as a change in career path." Sanada catches those sentences with wide eyes and shock, wait that sounded so familiar.
"Hey isn't that what happened to Ai as well?!" Everyone looked at Sanada with very similar expressions. "This isn't a coincidence; this is exactly how Ai's case went….Sasiki please continue."
"Alright, Jazu mentioned about a legend of Mu-Onna, a Japanese vengeful spirit of a mother who would do everything she can to protect children but in return she would have the capability to absorb them in order to gain information from said children. He even mentioned that there's a ritual that can be performed under different conditions, Jazu calls this the Mu-Onna Five Claw Revival Curse or the Five Claw theory…" After saying the rest Sasiki scoffs after such a ridiculous claim thinking it's just some lame excuse for Jazu for his heinous crime.
"Did Ryumo mentioned that as well?" To that, Sasiki nods confirming Sanada's concern. Suddenly out of the blue, Sanada has gotten a call, he picks up and chats. After a minute his expression changed from stern to sheer panic. "What!? Where!? At Hirosawa Pond!? Okay I'm off!" He hung up and rushes out to the main entrance.
"Hey! Sanada where are you going!?" He rushes after him and manages to get in the car with Sanada, as the panicked detective immediately drives directly at the location of Hirosawa Pond near Sagahirosawacho street. Once they arrive, Sanada immediately ran to the entrance way of the pond, he sees a crowd of people gathering to watch something that happened within the park. His partner hastily rushes straight through the crowd. "Damn it Sanada, slow down!"
"Move it people! Police officer here, clear out the scene immediately!" He forcefully budges some of the people just to get through and manages to meet up with his sister here. "Himiko! You're okay!" He hugged his sister tight and instantly took notice of Ryumo and the three thugs in a pile, what's more another body bag by the left of them. "What's going on here?! Why are you with Ryumo?!"
"O-onii chan..I umm…..he protected me from those three men….they said they were after me. Ryumo protected me with his life from them..." She's clearly shaken intensely as her brother kept her secured around his arms. "Is that so…" The worried brother looked at Ryumo. Instead of showing anger, Sanada felt extremely grateful for his contribution of keeping his sister safe. "Ryumo I give you my thanks for keeping my sister safe...thank you so much!" This in turn took both Ryumo and Himiko by surprise.
After asking a lot of people to move respectably unlike his panicky cop partner. Yakimori took deep breaths due to how he tried to keep up with Sanada's worry for his sister. "Man...you gotta chill dude….you may end up becoming the next Olympic track champion if you keep running off like that..." He took a deep breath, but before he can talk to Sanada he turned his undivided attention toward the body bag. He moved closer to take a quick glance, Yakimori uses some gloves and unzipped the bag. What he saw made him go completely numb and aghast. "S-Sanada...you really should take a look at this!..."
Sanada looked over to see Ryumo's stunned reaction and turn to Ryumo. "Ekijo San can you do me a favor, look after Himiko for me while I'll check that out? I'll be right back..."
The young man blinked twice and hesitantly nod. "Oh umm..sure.."As Sanada went straight towards Yakimori location where he's staring at the body bag. The stern eyed detective witnessed the corpse himself, as he glanced at the body, he too felt the same reaction, this girl. Is the same girl he saw from the dreams. Then to add more sting to such a discovery his partner described the victim to be none other than Inami Toshiba. What's more just like what Sasiki mentioned and Sanada's theory coming together. Inami's corpse has also gotten the same stab wounds in the exact same places.
"N-No way...it's the girl from the nightmare…!?" Sanada's eye pupil shrinks the more things fall in place from each discovery. "What the hell is all this?!"
To Be Continued.