I AM SO SORRY!

I've been working on a bunch of new stories recently and I've been putting this one off.

:(

Since I've finished my latest fic for D Gray man, I'll try to focus more on this!

As a heads up, I'll probably shift the style around a little to match my new stories. Writing will all the dates and times was fun at the start, but now it's just extra work.
I'll also be skipping any boring parts of the story, as I prefer not to just transcribe the manga.

Below I've included the beginning of the chapter from months ago.
Sorry.

Thanks for reading.

And Sorry again.

~Cheese Wizzard

Tokyo

2:34pm

30/6/XXXX

Agasa Residence

The one billion yen criminals have not been found? Where is the threesome?

The large article covered the entire front page, complete with fuzzy images of the three robbers, their faces covered with ski masks.

"Look, I finished it!" Agasa-hakase waved a pair of black glasses, exactly like mine, in front of my face.

"Huh?" I grab them, looking expectantly at Agasa-hakase for an explanation.

"They're my criminal-pursuing glasses!" Agasa-hakase grins, clearly exited.

"How do you use this thing?" I take my glasses off and peer through the 'criminal-pursuing' glasses.'

"Just press the button on the side!"

I feel my way to a small button on the left side, clicking it. Immediately a small antenna pops up on the same side and a bright display appears over the lens. A sonar looking pattern, marked with compass directions* and other graphs/ stats. A red light appeared, flashing and moving slowly across the display.

"Wow! What's this light flashing on and off?"
"I stuck one of these transmitters on a stray cat! It looks like it's probably in the dump, two kilometres east of here…" Agasa-hakase held up a round sticker with a round lump in the middle.

"Stick one of these on someone and you can find wherever they are, as long as they're inside the 20 kilometre radius… You can just leave it here most of the time…"
He leaned over and stuck the tracker onto my coat's middle button.

"Oh, so it's like a sticker!" I guess that makes sense.

2:40pm

"Call me again if you make anything else!" I waved goodbye to Agasa-hakase as I headed back to the Mouri detective agency.

"Alright! Send my regards to Mouri-kun!"

3:05pm

Mouri Detective Agency

"Please Mr Detective… please find my father!" When I walked in, a girl was pleading with Oji-san.

"Y-Yes…" Mouri-san and Ran-neechan stood shocked, not even noticing when I walked in.

"My father works away from home in Tokyo, but he's been missing for the past month…And he quit his job at the taxi company… I had police look for him as well, but they couldn't find him anywhere."

"And so you came to me…" Oji-san leaned forward, clearly curious about the situation.
"Yes, I've been absent from my school is Yamagata to look for him…" She looks down, clearly distressed. After pausing for a moment, her head shoots back up as she continues.

"There's no one else for me to ask, Mr Detective!"

Oji-san nods. "I understand… Let's get started!"

3:13pm

"Did he have any odd habits?" Oji-san scribbled down on a small notebook, taking down everything the girl said. The questions he's asking were kinda funny…

I looked at Ran-neechan who was making two cups of tea, most likely for Oji-san and the girl.

I look down at the transmitter stuck to my middle button.
Hehe, if he'd had this transmitter on him, it'd be easy to find him!

Ran-neechan made her way over to Oji-san, still questioning the girl.
Maybe I could test it. But not on a cat like Agasa-hakase… That's it I'll test this thing on Ran-neechan to see how well it works!

I follow her over to where Oji-san and the girl are sitting. I reach over, with the transmitter ready on my finger to out on the back of the shirt. I'd almost got it when I fell something on the ground.

I realise, too late, that it was a power cord! My foot catches in it and I fell myself falling over.

"Uwa!" I wave my arms around, trying to regain my balance which doesn't seem to be working.

I then fell over completely onto the couch. I look up, and see that I've fallen on the girl's lap.

Oops.

I check my hand for my transmitter.

Uh oh.

The transmitter is stuck on the side of the girl's watch. Just I reached to grab it, teardrop fell of the face of the watch. I look up at the drying girl.

"My mother died when I was little, my father is my only relative… If something happened to him, I…" She started sobbing and I immediately moved off the couch to give her some space.

I guess the transmitter will have to wait.

5:00pm

It'd taken ages, but Oji-san finally let the girl go. I wish I knew her name, but Oji-san had kicked me out pretty quick…

"Thank you so much. I'll get in touch everyday." She seemed calmer as Oji-san, Ran-neechan and I saw her off.

"It's okay Masami-san!" Masami-san? That must be her name. "My dad is a great detective! He'll find him right away!" Ran-neechan waved goodbye and, as I watched Masami-san go, I saw a faint smile.

7/7/XXXX

One week later

Mouri Detective Agency

"I-I'm very sorry…"
When I got home, I saw Oji-san talking on the phone to someone. Ran-neechan stood a little ways away. I heard the TV going on in the background, but disregarded it so to hear what Oji-san was saying.

"Yes… Not yet…Yes…" Oji-san slammed the phone down and Ran-neechan spoke up.

"Masami-san again?"

"Yes…the third time today."
She must be pretty upset, it's already been a week since she came in.

"Shit…" Oji-san looked pretty upset too…

Ohh! The difference has gone from 4 lengths to 5! It's all over! Goukaiteiou has won 5 consecutive victories!

Goukaiteiou? I thought back to when Oji-san had been questioning Masami-san…

"This is my father, Hirota Kenzou. 170cm tall, Age 48."

"And the cat?"
"That's my father's pet cat, named 'Kai'. He really likes cats. He has three others names 'Tei', 'Gou' and 'Ou'."

"I see so he lived with cats…"

Weren't Hirota-san's cats…

Kai, Tei, Gou and Ou…If I rearrange them… I grab a notebook sitting next to the TV and write the four names down.

I knew it!

"Eh?" Ran-neechan stood behind me, checking out what I had written.

"Of course! That's exactly right! Hirota-san must love horse racing!" She grabbed the book, taking it over to Oji-san.

Oi…

"Look! He named all his cats after a horse! I'm sure we'll meet him of we go to the racetrack!"

Huh? I don't think that's how it works Ran-neechan…

Tokyo Horse Racing Track

10:55am

8/7/XXXX

"Wow! This is the first time I've ever been to the races!" Ran-neechan looked around excitedly.
The place was crowed and full of screaming people watching the race.

"We've gotta hurry and find Masami-san's father." Ran-neechan started across the stands, looking around.

"How are we going to find him in this huge crowd of people?" Oji-san grumbled as he was pulled along by Ran-neechan.

"Ah…" Ran-neechan looked a little discouraged at the amount of people in the stands.

There had to be hundreds of exited and screaming people, around half male and around the age of Masami-san's father.

"Ahh!" Ran-neechan shouted and pointed to a man sitting close-by reading a newspaper. Oji-san and I quickly focused on the man.

"Is that…Masami-san's father?!" That's impossible! I guess we got lucky.

"I'm a great detective, aren't I?" Ran-neechan grinned down at me before looking to her father.

"Don't go near him, we'll follow him and find out where he's living." Oji-san took a few steps back, sitting on an empty seat. I looked at Ran-neechan.

"Yeah, alright…"

We sat next to Oji-san pretending to watch the race.

When Masami-san's father, Hirota-san stood up and moved to leave, we followed him all the way out of the track and outside. Luckily, he didn't take a car and walked home, so, we followed him the whole way.

Mouri Detective Agency

2:34pm

8/7/XXXX

"Thank you very much, Mr Detective! You've found my father!" Masami-san burst through the door, still panting.

"Uh, yeah." Oji-san seemed surprised, he was fumbling with his suit jacket, trying to put it on quickly.

"You sure came down here quickly, I just told you a while ago."

I guess that makes sense, it's only been five minutes. She must've been nearby.

"I was so happy, I practically flew! So, where is my father?" Masami-san stepped inside and excitedly moved closer to Oji-san.

"In a cheap apartment over in Nerima…"
"Really? So he's still in Tokyo?" As the two talked, I notice that Masami-san looks a little different.

"Hey, Ran-neechan? Doesn't she seem a little different from before?" I point at Masami-san, too distracted to notice.

"Her clothes are more grown up and it looks like she put on makeup."
Ran-neechan pauses, looking at Masami-san, before answering.

"She must be dressed up because she's seeing her father today!"
"Hmm.."

But hadn't Masami-san come in a hurry? She must've already been dressed up when Oji-san called her, or else she wouldn't have turned up so fast…

Apartment building

Narima

2:55pm

8/7/XXXX

"I-I looked all over for you…Otou-san!" Masami-san shouted the last bit at her father, who was coming out of the two-story apartment building.

Oji-san, Ran-neechan and I watched as Masami-san ran up the stairs to embrace her father.

"Otou-san!" Hirota-san looked very shocked, almost scared.

He did go missing, probably to get away from his family…

"I am in your debt." Masami-san bowed before turning to her still frozen father.

"Now, I expect some explanations!"
Masami-san lead Hirota-san back into his apartment, her arm protectively around his waist.

"Just leave it to me and these cases are over in a snap!" Oij-san laughed loudly.

But, he didn't really do anything, did he…?

As I turned to leave, I noticed a suspicious looking man, wearing sunglasses and a trench coat. He seemed to notice I'd seen him and quickly walked away.

"Who's that?" Oji-san stared at the suspicious man, adjusting his coat as he exited the street.

Mouri Detective Agency

12:13 pm

15/7/XXXX

I'm sorry, but the phone number you have called is not in use. Please hang up and try again.

"That's weird…"Ran-neechan held the phone to her ear as she talked.

"What's wrong Ran-neechan?" I ask. I wonder who she's calling…

"No matter how many times I call, I can't get ahold of the girl…" Ran-neechan moved to dial again.

"That girl?" Oji-san asked, now standing.

"You now, the one who came here a while ago asking to find her father…Hirota Masami-san!"

"Ah, the one who cmd all the way from Yamagata…" Oji-san stood next to Ran-neechan as she picked up a piece of paper with a phone number.

"Are you really sure this is the right number?" She showed the number to Oji-san.

"She wrote it herself, so it should be, but… she was always the one who got in touch with us, so i never actually called the number either…"

"Do you think she might have gone back home…?"

"Or she might still be in that apartment with her father…or else…" Oji-san crossed his arms, stepping away.

"Maybe her anther ran away from her again…" I interrupted.

"That's a possibility…when that old man saw his daughter, he looked pretty surprised." said Oji-san said with an idiotic smirk on his face.
"Stop joking around!" Ran-neechan slammed to phone down on the receiver.

"I've got a bad feeling about this… I'm going to that apartment!" Ran-neechan ran to the door, Oji-san and I quickly followed her outside.

12:36 pm

"He…He died…?" Oji-san stared at the landlady who'd just delivered the news.

"Is this true Ms Landlady?" Oji-san shouted, clearly distressed.
"Yeah…I found him hung up by his neck last night… it caused such a scene…"

"Oh..no…" Ran-neechan put her hand to her mouth in horror.

I just stared up at the landlady as she continued talking.

"It's such a bothersome story. It's going to ruin our reputation here…"

"What happened to that man's daughter?!" Oji-san lunged forward at the landlady, shouting inches from her face.

"Daughter?" She asked, clearly confused.

"Hirota Masami-san, the one who has been searching for him!" Oji-san shouted.
"Why? Did he run away from the family?" The landlady still looked confused. "I dunno, he was kind of a weirdo anyway…he paid for a years worth of rent beforehand and he told me not to ask him any questions."
"A year's worth…" Oji-san muttered.
"And he paid in brand new bills too, I thought he might have been just a runaway." The lady continued. "But if his daughter did come to him, she might've been murdered somewhere too…"
"Murder?" Oji-san repeated. "But didn't Hirota-san kill himself?"

"When the inspector came to look at the body…" The lady explained. "He said this was a murder."

1:12pm

Tokyo Police Department

"Yeah, that's right." Inspector Megure agreed. "It was a murder. After he was strangled to death, he was hung from the ceiling."
"But that's impossible…" Oji-san muttered.

"We found fingerprints not belonging to the victim on the rope and ceiling." Inspector Megure added. "This was a murder. I'm sure of it."