Notes: Makoto's finally here, but there'll be more characters to introduce~
To be honest I was really worried about how to write the personalities of the main characters. For example, I didn't want to make Haru really cold or mean, but then again you have to admit he isn't the most sociable character. Anyway, I'm going to do my best to keep everything balanced :')
Fun fact: I actually do not like cop shows. Everything I learned about the police comes from two years' worth of knowledge from Law class. Cop shows rank pretty low on the stuff I like. 4/10, somewhat recommend! But it's okay; I enjoy writing stories about them OuO
Anyway, thanks for all the comments, likes and favs; they make me smile every time I write. Thanks for taking the time to read!
Disclaimer: I do not own Free!. Any similarities in events or characters living or dead are entirely coincidental.
Enjoy!
"My name is Makoto Tachibana. I'm a Private Investigator living and working in Samezuka City, but I was on a regular police force for five years. I've been doing a bit of freelance for a while now, but I still help the police out whenever I can. It's a pleasure to meet everybody!"
He's doing the wife smile again, Haru thought crossly to himself, watching as Nagisa, Rei, Mikoshiba and Amakata nearly swoon over the brunet's sweet demeanor. It'd be easier to stay mad if Makoto weren't actually such a gentle person in reality. He probably still fed stray kittens bits of canned tuna on his way home every day.
"And we're all very glad to have Makoto-san on our team, aren't we?" Sasabe added, clapping the brunet on the back. There may have been a pointed look shot in Haru's direction, but he pretended not to notice. Sasabe really ought to give him more credit; he was a professional, after all. Personal matters would barely influence anything.
"Right then," the Commander said, clearing his throat. "I'll trust you kids to play nice for the rest of the day, okay? Got things to do, cases to solve…" and then Sasabe was gone, waltzing back to his own office in the other building, and Makoto was instantly swamped by his brand new admirers.
"Waaa, you're so cool, Mako-chan!" Nagisa said with shining eyes.
"Can you tell us about some cases you've solved?" Rei asked excitedly.
"Are you single?" Amakata demanded.
Mikoshiba let out a loud laugh and Makoto chuckled, scratching his cheek.
"Maa, I'm not that special, really."
"Excuse me," Haru interrupted. "I'm going to grab a photocopy of the case file and we're going to get started when I get back, alright?"
His voice was even but his tone left no room for argument, which the others picked up quite easily even if they all ended up pouting and pulling puppy-eyes. Ignoring Nagisa's patented sad face expression, he squeezed past Rei and Mikoshiba to exit the office.
"Ne, Haru-chan seems kinda wound up lately," Amakata sighed. "I wonder if he's sleeping enough?"
"He has been a little distant lately," Nagisa mused. "Probably because he's a meanie workaholic who likes to hog cases to himself!"
Makoto laughed at that, his eyes rather fond. "That sounds like something Haru would do."
"Have you met before then?" Mikoshiba asked curiously, and the PI's smile faltered ever so slightly.
"Er— we've met in the passing."
"Really?!" Nagisa gasped. "Why didn't Haru-chan mention anything?"
"I'm sure he'll tell you in his own time," Makoto said gently.
"That's true," Rei mused. "Haru-chan-san is a rather private person."
"What did I say about adding -chan and -san to my name, megane cop?"
"Wah! Haru-chan, we didn't even notice you!" Nagisa shrieked, clutching at his chest.
"How you passed the preliminary exams is still beyond me," Haru muttered as he squeezed back into the office. "Rest of you, get out. We need to get Makoto caught up with the case."
With a lot of hurried side shuffling and a rather mopey Nagisa, soon there were only three left in office 2W. A small table in the corner of the room had been hastily cleared off for Makoto to work on, and it was almost comical to see the PI squeeze his 6' frame into a purple plastic folding chair.
"Here's a condensed version of the notes," Haru said, handing Makoto the folder. "The Pirate killed his first victim four years ago, in March 2009, a business owner named Hiroshi Miyazaki, who was suspected to have been embezzling money from his company."
"All of the victims are wealthy people," Makoto murmured, flipping page. "Is that his agenda?"
"Yes. The Pirate targets very rich people. Over two year's time all of his nine victims have been high profile persons, such as government officials, business owners, stockbrokers, entertainment stars, and socialites."
"But he only kills them if he thinks they're bad people!" Nagisa added.
"What do you mean, 'bad people'?"
"The Pirate does his research," Haru explained. "Usually his victims are people who earned their wealth through illicit methods such as corruption, making others suffer for their own benefit, or riding on their rich parents' coattails."
"Like Aiichiro Nitori," Makoto said. "The Pirate killed him just because he grew up in a rich family?"
"Yeah! Mako-chan's really smart," Nagisa cooed, propping his chin up on his hand. Makoto blushed.
"Anyway, after he kills them the Pirate usually steals a ton of money off the victim, hence his nickname. We've only managed to track down one account before, but we're sure there are many more we haven't found. He's a very nasty killer too; usually he knocks the victims out with a blow to the back of the head and then drowns them before dumping the body elsewhere. He also leaves a clue behind that usually hints who the next victim is, like a breadcrumb trail or a treasure map."
"And he cuts off their right hand!" Nagisa tacked on, imitating chopping movements. "He sticks a hook on afterwards, like Captain Hook from Peter Pan."
"Well… he's a right piece of work," Makoto mumbled. "What a creep."
"We've had several false leads in the past, the most memorable one being a telemarketer from a small company. He turned out to be a devout worshipper of the Pirate's work and almost seemed to want to take the mantle up himself. Unfortunately, he was rather as rather convincing con and we went on a wild goose chase until we found out he wasn't the killer."
"What happened afterwards?" Makoto asked, and Haru felt himself clam up. Before he could think of a strategic response that would answer Makoto's question without giving too much away, Nagisa beat him to it.
"Haru-chan cornered him with four other officers!" the blond said dramatically. "The guy tried to confess to the crime but Haru deduced that he was lying and tried to get him to back down. The guy didn't like being called a liar, so he shot Haru-chan!"
"Nagisa!" Haru hissed as Makoto's jaw unhinged.
"You got shot?!" the brunet cried.
"I got shot two years ago," Haru corrected vehemently.
"Haru-chan was grievously injured," Nagisa said mournfully, latching onto Haru's arm. "He almost died!"
"It was only an abdominal wound. Stop exaggerating."
"Are you better now?" Makoto asked, seemingly unable to prevent his motherly instincts from kicking in. "Abdominal wounds are serious business, a lot of the vital internal organs are located in that central area and Sasabe-san mentioned that this is the first time you've gone for field work—"
"I'm fine," Haru stressed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Really. I got better and actually passed the required fitness test, unlike some people."
Nagisa stuck his tongue out.
Makoto looked conflicted for a moment, like he didn't want to drop the subject, but eventually he said, "And then the Pirate stopped killing?"
"He stopped killing. He basically vanished without a trace, until now, two years later. We couldn't find any type of clue on Nitori's body, so either he's changed his methods…"
"Or what?" Makoto asked wearily.
"Or Nitori was a warm-up," Haru said quietly. "A public declaration that he's back, and that he'll kill again."
"Jesus," Makoto muttered, and Nagisa made a face. "So the only question is where and when he'll strike next."
"Yes," Haru agreed. "It's going to be a bit of a waiting game from now on."
Makoto fell silent, his expression thoughtful. But before he could say whatever he wanted to, the door to the office burst open without warning and made them all jump. Mikoshiba ran into the room, his expression grim.
"They found another body," the sergeant said, panting. "Down by Iwatobi Courthouse, ten minutes ago."
"You've got to be joking," Makoto exclaimed in disbelief as all three of them leapt from their seats and grabbed their coats, scrambling after the redhead.
"Looks like we won't have to wait after all," Haru said dryly. "Lead the way, Mikoshiba."
Rei was on crowd control again, but this time the situation was serious enough for Nagisa to bypass the constable without a fuss. A small crowd had gathered, their mutterings humming through the air like a bunch of buzzing bees. An officer lifted the yellow tape for the three of them to pass, and after turning the corner the body was found slumped in a secluded section of the courthouse parking lot.
"What do we know?" Haru demanded, pushing up his sleeves.
"The security guard that found him recognized him as Kyo Mizuno," the officer said. "He's a well-known lawyer here."
"He's a criminal lawyer," Haru clarified. "Even I've heard of him."
"Doesn't he only work for rich people?" Nagisa asked, scribbling furiously away on his notepad. "He got that famous stockbroker's son off for drunk driving and narcotics possession three months ago!"
"Well, he'd fit right into the Pirate's radar, wouldn't he?" the DI muttered as they finally came up to the body. Underneath the dark blue tarp was indeed a young man in a fancy suit lying face-first on the pavement, an awful bruise on the back of his neck and his right hand replaced with a hook.
"Good grief," Makoto frowned. "That's disgusting."
"His wallet's been emptied!" Nagisa called, poking at an expensive leather wallet lying by the lawyer's side. "It looks like credit cards are missing too."
"Get somebody onto those," Haru replied, carefully lifting the edge of Mizuno's jacket without touching the fabric. There was blood on the lawyer's chest and the upper half of his body and head was still wet.
"Haru," Makoto said suddenly. "Look here."
Makoto was pointing a Mizuno's intact left hand, where were two crudely made necklaces using painted cardboard and string were stuffed into his palm. Reaching into his pocket to pull out his pen, Haru kneeled next to Makoto and tugged the necklaces up for a better view. Two circles hung from the simple craft store string, and on each circle, there was a familiar design on both of them.
"Hang on," Makoto frowned. "That's the London 2012 Olympic logo!"
"That's it," Haru breathed. "This is the clue, who the next target is. He's made the Olympic medals— he's going after an athlete!"
Makoto quickly pulled out his phone and opened a browser. "An Olympic athlete that participated in the London games," he summarized.
"He's painted both medals gold," Haru said. "The target would've placed first in two categories."
"Right," Makoto said, tapping away.
"If we can find out who it is, we can send guard details!" Nagisa said excitedly, popping up next to Haru. "We can catch the Pirate!"
Half-formed plans of sending people out on a manhunt were already floating in the back of the detective's mind, but an odd feeling in his gut made him pause.
"Something's not right," he said. "I'm missing something."
"There are seventeen athletes who won two gold medals in the 2012 games," Makoto said.
"This guy is smart. He's playing with us, taunting us," Haru muttered, chewing his lip. "He wants to make us mad."
"Hey, what's that on the other side of the medal?" Nagisa asked suddenly, pointing. The blond reached over and flipped pieces over, revealing two different designs on the back with a series of numbers scrawled beneath. Instantly, Haru felt a wave of realization wash over him.
"Oh, no," he groaned.
"What? What is it?"
"The medals are different, and this is the real clue. The Olympic logo narrows the list down, but look; this one is the swimming logo and that's the rhythmic gymnastics one. The numbers are the winning time for the swimmer and the final score for the gymnast. The Pirate's given us two targets!"
"Why would he do that?" Nagisa asked, confused, as Makoto cleared the search bar and started typing again.
"Like I said," Haru muttered, yanking the tarp back over the body. "He wants to taunt us."
"I found it!" Makoto said. "But— ah— you guys aren't going to like this."
"What do you mean? Who are they?" Haru demanded, leaning in.
"The gold medalist in swimming is a man, and the rhythmic gymnast is a woman," Makoto said, holding up the phone. Side by side on the screen were two redheads, both wearing tracksuits and holding their medals at the Games.
"Rin and Gou Matsuoka. The Pirate's next targets are siblings."
Notes:
Surprise! Rin and Gou will make an appearance soon~ I wonder if they'll survive?
I was actually going to make Rin the villain in the very early stages of the story, but I like him too much. (◡‿◡✿) Maybe killing him off will be better! (⊙‿⊙✿) Am I driving anybody insane yet?
Thanks for sticking with me thus far!
Ta,
Laurie