Fukawa closed the door behind them both, and they were standing in the street before Togami heard her growl.
"Oooooh! I can't believe that p-pointless man was s-so rude and unhelpful!"
Togami turned to face her, looking at her with a nod. "...my sentiments exactly. He thinks he knows everything and everyone in the town inside and out and can't deign to give a man's death the gravity it deserves." He pushed up his glasses. "Pathetic."
"P-pathetic!" she repeated, crossing her arms. "And what was w-with him calling you that weird n-name?"
Togami briefly pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "A lack of decorum on his part."
He glanced sidelong at Fukawa. "Fukawa-san, I worked with a detective agency for a number of years as an assistant to one of their top detectives. Given that the name 'Togami' carries such weight in the world, I constructed an identity for use in the field that wouldn't interfere with the casework. It's all official, registered...but in those circles I'm known as Polaris P Polanski. That's what's on my license, and that's what he stubbornly insisted on calling me."
Fukawa blinked, and some of the frustrated anger on her face cleared to curiosity. "O-oh! So... ts your under cover name?" she asked in a low voice. "D-don't worry T-togami-sama I won't share it with anyone. I can't b-believe that stupid small town i-investigator would act so shamefully."
"That's right. It's my undercover persona. I haven't had cause to use it lately...but it was quite useful at the time." Togami said, before patting her shoulder. "I appreciate your discretion, unlike _some_ people."
Fukawa made a soft noise as he touched her, flushing heavily, and looked at the ground. It seemed like she was likely to melt into a puddle the moment he touched her. "Th-thank you, Togami-sama... i-it's just common courtesy of course!"
"Of course," he agreed with a trace of amusement. "You're welcome. It _is_ common courtesy. But are you alright?"
"H-huh?" she flushed deeper, glancing up at him, and waving her hands in protest. "O-of course I'm fine, Togami-sama!"
"Is that so?" He smirked as he glanced down at her. Why not tease her a little. "You seem a little flushed. Do you need to take a moment to cool off?"
"S-sorry about that!" she protested quietly. "I-i'm fine! I won't slow you down!"
She took a deep breath and tried to compose her shaking self.
Togami shook his head with a quiet chuckle. "You won't. Maybe the cold, sobering atmosphere of a doctor's office will help you shake it off?"
_It appears Fukawa-san is exceptionally easy to tease._
"I-i'm sure it will, sir," she agreed, straightening up, and clasping her hands in front of her.
"Well then." He put his hand on the door,r. "Come along, assistant. We've got a doctor to wring some information out of."
She smiled at him rather dazedly, and the two of them entered the doctor's office.
It was almost identical in layout to the inspector's office next door, but it seemed someone here had spent a little more time furnishing the area. There were a couple of folding paper walls with handsome murals of flying birds, potted plants, and a small zen fountain in one corner.
However, in this office, there was no one at the desk.
"Hm..." Togami strolled inside and looked around. "Comfortable atmosphere, wouldn't you say?"
"W-way more so than the last office," Fukawa nodded.
The door at the far side of the room clicked open. "Good afternoon?"
Byakuya glanced over and nodded his head. "Good afternoon. My name is Byakuya Togami. I'm here for details about the body of Abe-san."
The door pushed the rest of the way open, revealing a tall, rather lanky man with long, shaggy black hair pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a lab coat over a black shirt and jeans.
"Oh I see. Welcome to my office, Togami-san."
Togami approached the desk and favored the man with a nod. "Thank you. Now...you're the town doctor for this town, are you not?"
"That's correct. I'm Daisuke Uchikawa," he said, leaning against his desk. "Are you a relative of Abe-san?"
"I'm his employer." Togami corrected, pushing up his glasses. "Uchikawa-san, I'm investigating his death on behalf of the Togami Corporation."
"I see… I was wondering if anyone was going to come after him. I do remember seeing his ID tag when I looked at the body."
"Indeed. This is the first we heard of there being a problem," Togami admitted with a frown. "And it was only after we arrived that we heard he'd died."
"I'm sorry to hear that," the lanky doctor offered amiably, nodding. "I believe there was an attempt to contact employers or relations, but our phone and internet lines have been out for days now. Its been very disruptive"
"Due to the storm, I imagine?" Togami asked , leaning on the desk. "Well...regardless, I'm here now, and I'm afraid I have to get to the bottom of this."
"Quite understandable. Admirable even. How can I help you?"
"I"ve come to get the autopsy notes, and to request to look at the body myself if at all possible."
"Of course. I have the notes all printed up. And if you'd like to come into the back, I can show you the body. It's a bit... hmm... unpleasant of course."
Beside him, Togami's assistant paled visibly.
"I've seen corpses before in my time." Togami said with a sigh, glancing at his assistant. "...Fukawa-san, if you don't want to see the corpse, you have permission to wait in the lobby. Perhaps try and see if the Inspector can give us any further details."
"I-I'm not so good with blood," she admitted in a low voice. "B-but I can push through it i-if you needed me to take notes or something, Togami-sama..."
Togami raised his eyebrow, before sighing. "Come with me, but the moment you feel unwell, you have permission to leave. Understood?"
"Y-yes sir, thank you," she squeaked.
Uchikawa-sensei stepped aside, beckoning them in through the back door, into a bright white combination surgery and morgue area.
Togami stepped inside the room, and prepared himself.
Corpses were never easy to look at.
There was a lot of surgery equipment, machines, a couple of gurney's- one of which Uchikawa pushed out of his way- and the back wall with a few metal drawers set into it. Uchikawa gripped a drawer, and it rolled open.
Togami could hear a soft noise of controlled distress from Fukawa behind him.
Togami looked over his shoulder at her. "Are you sure you're going to be alright with this, Fukawa-san?"
She took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm sure."
The slab rolled out of the drawer with metallic rushing noise, and Uchikawa unzipped the body bag.
There could be no mistake. The pale, chilled face of the corpse belonged to Taro Abe, and his throat had been cut most violently. Fukawa made another soft noise behind him, and he heard the sound of her shoes as she took a step backward.
Togami waited until the body bag was entirely unzipped. "Have you checked the body over for prints?"
"With inspector Akagi, yes," he nodded. "Unfortunately he didn't really have anything on his person that would hold a good print. I believe Akagi-san said none were found."
Behind him, Fukawa slipped a notebook out of her purse, and staring stubbornly at it, rather than the body, took down what the doctor had said.
"Gloves, please." Togami requested. "I'm going to take a look myself- see if there's anything I might pick up that was missed."
"Are you a medical man, Togami-san?" Uchikawa asked curiously, handing him a pair of blue gloves from a dispenser.
"Not officially. But I've picked up a bit from my time as a detective's assistant."
He took the gloves and slipped them on, before leaning in to look at the neck wound.
Uchikawa had been right about there not being much on his person that would hold a good print. Aside from his bloodied clothing, Abe-san didn't have much on his person at all. When Byakuya examined the man on the slab, all he was able to see was a man who he had known, who's life had been brutally, and perhaps senselessly cut short.
"Damn." Togami hissed softly through his teeth. "No chance of a print then-and no personal items?"
"I'm told nothing was found with the body aside from his ID," Uchikawa nodded. "I believe the inspector supposed he might have been mugged."
"Yes, I heard. 'by a Vagrant'." Togami shook his head. "But we don't have any evidence of that. Was a murder weapon found? This could have been done with a knife, potentially.."
"No weapon was found to my knowledge," Uchikawa said, shaking his head.
Fukawa made a soft noise from behind them. She squeaked out a question. "I-is the cut ragged, or i-is it smooth?"
Togami leaned in, and took a very close look at the wound, "Hmmm..."
The edges of the wound were smooth, but there was a sudden change in direction mid-way through the slice.
"Smooth, but..." he mused thoughtfully as he peered at the awful wound. "It changed direction very suddenly partway through."
"I-I see..." Fukawa bit her lip. "I-if its smooth, its likely that the weapon was a knife, or something else meant for cutting..."
"Possibly a sickle , or some other edged tool or weapon as well. It'd have to be something agile enough to switch directions."
"A sickle...interesting thought," the doctor nodded pensively.
"Isn't it?" Togami shook his head. "The weapon can be anything with a blade, provided it' small enough to change direction mid-slice."
"I'm making a n-note of your observation, Togami-sama," Fukawa nodded, carefully scribbling in her notebook.
"Thank you, Fukawa-san." he said, as he looked at Abe's body with a frown. "..I wish there was more I could glean from the body-do you know who found him, doctor?"
"I'm not certain, actually," the doctor said.
"Um, Togami-sama, m-maybe its in the notes that the inspector gave us?" Fukawa offered.
"Good point, Fukawa-san." He said, pulling them out and finally taking a look at their contents.
The two sheets of paper seemed to be the initial police report, and the autopsy report. The police report did indeed have the name of the person who had found the body. One 'Jun Takeda'.
"Jun Takeda. Does that name sound familiar, Doctor?"
"Ah, Takeda-san," the doctor nodded. "No surprise that it would be Takeda, now that I think about it. Always about early in the morning, that one."
"An early riser then?" Togami asked, tapping the paper. "Where might I find the man?"
"At this time of day?" he considered. "Probably still down by the lake."
"Noted. We'll take a driver and see if we can catch him. Thank you for the help, Doctor. I'll be back if I need to take another look at the body."
Uchikawa nodded, and zipped the body bag up. "Certainly. Ah, if it's after the dinner hour however, I may not be in the office of course."
"Of course." Togami nodded. "Just make sure they don't bury the man until we're finished, hm?"
He chuckled. "If I didn't let Nuriko-san have him for the funeral today, I'm not about to do anything else with him, right?"
"Precisely." Togami nodded with a small smile. "Thank you. I assume...Nuriko-san that priest?"
"Indeed she is," Uchikawa nodded. "Did you meet her yet?"
"..." Togami raised his eyebrow "I believe so. What does she look like?"
"I suppose her most striking feature is her white hair," he said. "And she hangs about the shrine all the time."
"Ah yes...we did meet her then. Lovely woman, if...cryptic." Togami nodded.
_Hm, at least now I have a name for when I have to find her again.._
"That's about how I would describe her, yes," the doctor chuckled. "She wanted to bury the body, but I insisted we wait for someone to claim it."
"For that, Doctor, I'm appreciative." he said with a nod. He paused before continuing. "...she warned me that investigating his death would put me on a dire path. Do you have any idea what she might have meant by that?"
"I'm afraid not." The doctor shook his head. "Nuriko's always warning about dire portents and the doom of the town and all that. But I'm a man of medicine, you know?"
"It sounded like drivel to me, but there was the off chance she was trying to...warn me, I suppose, of some mundane danger."
"I'm afraid if she was, I don't know anything about it."
"Indeed. Thank you for your help, doctor. We should hurry along and see about the witness. Have a good day, will you?"
"Oh I always do my best, Togami-san. Good luck to you and your charming assistant on your investigation."
"We appreciate it very much." Togami said with a thin smile, before he waved to Fukawa "come along, charming assistant. We have a witness to catch."
Fukawa flushed deeply as both her boss and the doctor smiled at her, her pen trembling in her hands.
"Y-yes, Togami-sama! Lead the way!" She followed after him as they headed out of the office and back onto the streets of Mashinnomura.
Togami stepped out into the street and looked towards the lake, judging the distance as he did.
"Take a few breaths of the fresh air, Fukawa-san. Try not to faint."
He couldn't help but tease her _a little_
She swallowed, and did take a large breath of air.
"S-sorry..." she mumbled. "Like I said, b-bodies..."
The lake wasn't too far. They'd have to walk down to near where the inn was again, and go past where the fence was standing.
He waved for her to follow as he headed back towards the inn, nodding as he went.
"Not so good with corpses and blood, I take it...that's...fair."
She followed after him, still taking a couple of deep breaths. "I-I guess as an investigator you have some experience with them..."
"Some, but they never get any more pleasant to look at. Especially when you're familiar with the face."
"That's right, he was your assistant," she said, paling further. "That must be a-awful, Togami-sama, I'm sorry..."
"it's- Togami was quiet a moment before he finished, "alright…. Abe-san and I began working together two years ago, after my time with the agency."
He brushed his hair away from his face as he walked, folding his hands behind his back. "We had gotten to know one another fairly well, he was a good man-a good assistant too-and I'm left wondering what it is that my family sent him here for that lead to this."
"I see," she replied, nodding quietly. "I-if you knew him for so long, it's certainly important to find out why he died like this."
"Exactly." Togami said, staring out at the lake ahead. "I intend to find out _exactly_ what happened, and _who_ was responsible. I won't let Abe-san die in vain, and I certainly won't let his killer escape justice."
The pair came back down to the bend in the road that would lead to the inn. In front of them was a rambling wooden fence that marked the area off for car traffic, but not for foot. A gravel path led down the rolling hill toward the shore.
"A-and I'll help you, sir," she said. "I-i'm sure I won't be able to fill his place, but I'll do my best."
Togami looked at her as he paused at the lip of the gravel path. "Fukawa-san. ...thank you. I expect and hope for your best effort. Use it to carve out a place of your own and excel."
He put his hand on the gate and pushed it open. "I look forward to your help."
She flushed and got a dazed look in her eye before she shook it off and snapped upright.
"I won't let you down, Togami-sama!"
"good, Fukawa-san, good. Now come along, We have a fisherman to meet."
She followed him past the gate, and down the little path through the park-like slope toward the shore. As they approached they saw a small shack, and a little wooden pier with a figure distantly at the end of it.
Togami hurried down the path as fast as decorum and caution allowed, making his way towards the pier and across the shore.