Before you some tell me that I've made an error. Aoyanagi's partner is Mizue Shisui. I think Mizue wasn't an inspector in season 1 I'm not sure but anyway I don't know much about the other inspector so I decided to just stick with her.
Aoyanagi
Finding one man shouldn't be that hard to do in this day in age and yet this one is like a ghost. He's unemployed and therefor meaning that he is most likely homeless but every abandoned part of the city I've searched this morning I've come up empty handed. No matter how many people I've shown Izaya's picture to none of them could tell me that they had seen him in the area most had no idea that he even existed to begin with.
The company he used to work for have not yet heard from him since he was sent home last year. Apparently he hadn't been fired like the report had said on his file but he was suspended to get treatment due to a tragedy that had occurred in his life but all that his former boss knew about him was that he never went to therapy.
"Izaya Hinamiya is a talented technician and I will be more than happy to take him back but he must first get therapy." The man had said, he seemed rather disturbed when I told him that he was a prime suspect for a series of murders and that he was also the main suspect for another disappearance of a man sharing the same criteria as the other victims. He could not believe that Izaya would ever go to that point, that yes his job performance had dropped but he was a kind and gentle man that could never bring any harm to anyone. Further to say his former colleagues had the same opinion of the guy and they never had a problem with him but what we have as evidence says otherwise.
When someone's crime coefficient rises the individual becomes mentally unstable and unpredictable… None the less whatever is his deal he'll have to spit it out once we have him in custody that is if we can get our hands on him first.
I look around the office one last time just to make sure I didn't miss anyone earlier, which seems to be everyone. "Excuse me… Umm inspector?" A shy voice takes me out of my thoughts and by surprise, I didn't even hear her walk up to me nor did I even notice she was standing next to me until she spoke. She's a rather small young woman with light brown hair that could have been mistaken for a teenage girl dressed in simple office attire, holding a stack of paper work against her chest.
"Yes may I help you?" I ask. She seems rather nervous so I give her a smile to try and make her at ease.
"Mr. Hinamiya moved with his younger sister a while back. I don't know if he still lives with her, I haven't seen him or heard from him in a month." She says in a low tone that sounded a little childlike.
"You spoke with Izaya Hinamiya a month ago? How did you communicate with him and how was his behavior?" Finally someone that actually has some information about this man. I try not to sound too eager as not to scare her off.
"We had coffee at the cafe. He seemed more relaxed more like his old self and that he was feeling better." She answered with a little enthusiast.
"Did he mention anything about going into therapy?" I ask.
She shakes her head with a frown on her face as she spoke. "I asked him about it, he said he did not feel ready to go yet but that he was feeling much better."
"Alright, thank you for the information." Like that she walked away doing back her usual work.
Followed by the two enforcer I brought along with me I make my way out of the building as I call Shion for some information about this sister of Izaya's and about her current whereabouts. About five minutes later, Shion had sent me the information I needed. Her name was Asami Hinamiya, five years younger than her brother and the file says that she works as a free lens photographer living at Tokyo, Shin Chiyoda-ku, Hitotsubashi, four-seventy-D… Not sure if that is just a coincidence or not that she lives in the same complex as Ginoza and if I recall correctly the enforcers of division's 1 Yayoi Kunizuka and Shuuhei Kagari questioned the residents of the complex when they investigated Ginoza's home.
"Inspector?" Hatano voice his concern taking me out of my thoughts.
"Nothing, we have our man to pick up." I order as we exit the building, walking back to the car and the paddy wagon, the enforcers quickly enter as I walk to the car once the doors closes and I know they can't get out. I waste no time calling Mizue to bring the rest of our enforcers and to procure a warrant to search Asami Hinamiya's condo, and I tell her to wait for me at the destination and to standby while I get there.
This explains why no one saw anything, four-seventy-D is on the same floor and if I'm not mistaken by memory it's right at the end of the same hall as Gino. I must say it's not very smart of him to abduct someone so close from their own home but what I still find strange is that by what is in the file; it says that Asami lives alone. It's either that he once lived with her at some point or someone did not do their job correctly when submitting this file. There's also the chance that Asami never submitted a form about her brother being with her either, if so that is even more of a reason to be suspicious.
I ignite the car on; insert the destination in the navigation system as I get a call from my partner. "Mizue what do you have for me?"
"I got the warrant as you requested and I'm on my way to the scene." She answers.
"Good. Do not enter the complex until I arrive is that understood?"
"Yes, understood." She confirms before hanging up.
Two enforcers would normally be enough to subdue one single man but in this case I just can't take this chance. I have no idea what's the exact situation over there, there could be some chances that Asami could be held in some sort of a hostage situation and if Ginoza truly is there, things can turn sour way too fast to gamble.
The car starts to slow down as I arrive at my destination, the paddy wagon stopping behind and not too long after Mizue arrives. I put on my inspector's jacket and take my dominator out of its charger. The enforcers without a word do the same as Mizue joins us with the two other enforcers.
"Our target is Izaya Hinamiya, he is a thirty six years old man and he is suspected to be an extremely dangerous individual that has already murdered five men and has abducted his sixth victim. We need him alive; the stun baton is the best option to capture him alive." I quickly brief my team before heading in the complex.
"What about the sister?" Mizue asks as she takes her stun baton in her hands to check if it is working properly.
"Stun her if necessary. Do not put your guards down for a second." I reply. In this situation we can't afford to make such a mistake. The smallest of a slip up could cost one of us our lives.
As usual this place is calm, everything is peaceful, the building exterior and interior is clean, almost too clean and the people we meet greet us as if they've seen inspectors and enforcers on a regular basis. I can't even imagine how much it must cost to live in the region of this city but Ginoza was lucky, his condo used to belong to his grandparents until his grandfather passed away and his grandmother was admitted to a retirement home years ago. The crime rate in this section of the city is extremely low which was a major reason why Ginoza wanted to stay here, but when you think about it no one here even suspects that they could be walking right next to a murderer.
The fourth floor is quiet as we get off the elevator passing Ginoza's temporarily vacant home, his door had to be fixed after Kougami kicked it open and is now decorated with MWPSB's yellow ribbon alerting everyone that a crime had occurred here.
What really happened that night? What happened when I left? Did it happen not long after or later? Just knowing that I was the last person to have seen Ginoza alive hurts, how could I have failed to see that something was wrong here? I came to visit Ginoza so often I should have picked up on the slightest of difference but I didn't and I can't help but feel like it's my fault and for that I won't stop until I see Ginoza with my own two eyes, I'll catch this man no matter what I have to do.
Seventy-D, this is it… How it will turn out will all depend… I knock on the door, patiently waiting before a woman opened the door. Without a doubt she's Izaya's sister alright, the resemblance is much too accurate to mistake it.
"Can I help you?" She asks.
"I'm inspector Aoyanagi, this is my partner inspector Shisui and our enforcers. We have a warrant to search your condo." I say as I show her my inspector's badge including the warrant Mizue procured.
"Sure what for?" She asks as she opens the door allowing us in. Her condo resembles that of Ginoza's on the way it is layered out. The living area, dining area and kitchen are an open space with a hall leading to a bathroom and two bedrooms. I have to say her style of décor could use some work, this is surely not Ginoza's home that's for sure. To think that a man would have a way better décor sense than a woman and what is worst the décor is made by hologram. Ginoza's old style décor that should be beaten by a hologram that should be perfect can't even come close but so far I can't see anything worth noting. We bring in the forensic bots just to be certain, so far so signs that Ginoza has even been here or that Izaya is even here either which pretty much figures.
"Excuse me but what is the police doing searching my home? I have the right to know!" There was no hiding the anger and frustration in her voice as she spoke not that it bothered me much unlike Mizue, this is our job and I'll do it thoroughly.
"I have information that Izaya Hinamiya lives here. Is that information correct and where is his current whereabouts?" I ask.
"Yes he's my brother; he's staying with me until he can get his life back together. Why are the police searching for my brother?" I guess her concern is understandable anyhow I can tell that she has no idea what's going on. I have a feeling that we actually came here for nothing.
"We believe that he murdered five men and has abducted his sixth victim twenty-four hours ago." Her eyes widen as I said the word murdered. Immediately she starts defending her brother in a panic while Mizue tries to calm the woman down telling her that he is merely a suspect and that we must speak with him to prove his innocence. That the least helped to calm her down a little when the door opened as a man entered closing the door behind him with bags in both hands. His expression went from joyful to confusion in a middle of seconds as his eyes trailed the forensic drones then to me, my hand tightly gripping my stun baton if he tries to run away I'll stun his ass right here and now he won't even have the time to open the door.
"Izaya Hinamiya I am inspector Aoyanagi I will ask you to please come with me to the MWPSB for interrogation about the murder of five men and the abduction of a sixth victim."
"Woah you've got the wrong guy! I've never killed anyone in my life. This is all a misunderstanding I swear it is." He says as he walks to the kitchen placing the bags on the counter.
"Then you won't mind coming to the MWPSB for questioning then." Surprisingly enough he isn't trying to put up a fight as he allows me to cuff his hands behind his back telling his sister that he'll be back soon.
This interrogation is going nowhere and to make matters worse his hue is clear and his psycho-pass is a sixty seven considering that he lost his wife and daughter three years ago it's really not that bad. That alone would have been enough to make someone a latent criminal and that he was suspended a year ago for poor performance sure can't have helped his hue but he seems to be in perfect mental health considering that he hasn't seen a therapist yet.
"Mr. Hinamiya tell me where you were late night of October fourteen and early mornings of October fifteen?" I ask.
"I already told you I was with my sister, helping her with her photography. To help her in choosing a background for her next photo-shoot. How many times must I say it?" There was frustration in his tone as he spoke but it was neutral still, never losing his cool no matter how many times I asked him the same question just in different context. So far, he answers them all the same, no matter how much I try to trap him he sticks to the same story.
I take a file and carefully place a picture of each victim on the table in order and then under each one I place a picture of their corps under the respective victim. "These men were stalked for thirty days before being abducted and were tortured for another thirty days until they died of blood lost; they had their blood completely drained out of their bodies. Now another has been abducted, where is he?"
"I don't know any of those men! I haven't killed anyone; I lost my wife and daughter. I know how it feels to lose someone you love, someone that is your whole world. Do you think I'd kill someone and place others in the same misery I've been the past three years?" Tears start flowing down his face as he spoke. He isn't lying to me, even without monitoring his psycho-pass he's being completely honest but I have to push on, it still doesn't matter if he didn't do the murders it doesn't change the fact that he sold those paintings which had been made with the victims' blood.
"Wait a second…" His voice was low as he dried the tears with his hands off his face as he took the picture of the last victim. "I sold a painting about three weeks ago, it looks a lot like him… Actually they all look like the people in the paintings I sold." His expression was filled with horror and then quickly turned to guilt as he held his head in his hands.
"That's how we acquired your face at the museum. You sold five paintings of murder victims." I answer quickly taking out pictures I took of the blood canvas. "These paintings were painted with the victim's own blood. If you did not murder these men then who did and how did you get your hands on these?"
"All I know is this guy came to me a year ago. He told me that he was an artist and that he had a painting to sell but he didn't have the time so he told me that he'd give me twenty percent of how much the curator would be willing to buy if I agreed to sell it for him. I didn't see a reason not to; it didn't seem like a bad idea at the time."
I study the man in front of me as he sit up straight, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "Got a name for me?"
"No." He shook his head as he answered. "Just the initials he went by. Just N.G that's it. But he was a young man; I'd say maybe twenty seven or twenty eight at best."
"Did this man ever come near your sister's complex?"
"No not that I know of." Not really the answer I was hoping for. It still does not answer how he managed to abduct a man without having anyone noticing. He had to go to the fourth floor and go to the elevator or take the stairs. No matter how you slice it there is no way he could have done this on his own, he would have been seen.
"If you saw this man again, in a picture or video. Could you identify him?"
"Yes, yes I'm certain I could." At least that's a little comforting but in the same time disappointing that we still don't have a solid lead to go on. I got nothing.
I get up and give Izaya my hand to shake which he eagerly took as I gave him a farewell but that we would need his cooperation again soon, that did not seem to bother him much rather to the contrary he wanted to help in any way he possibly could. I exit the interrogation room coming face to face with Masaoka, can't say he was the one I wanted to see right now. I don't have any good news to give him; we are just back at step one again with absolutely nothing except that the guy uses Ginoza's initials as his identity to sell his paintings to art buyers.
"It wasn't our guy inspector?" He asks as he follows me down the hall.
"No it wasn't… Are you not surprise Masaoka?" I ask him as I try to study his expression, he's trying so hard to have a poker face but it's starting to slip.
"I had my doubts but nothing to back it up with. I had to sit back and see what would unfold." He replies, stopping at the lounge to sit on one of the couch.
I take out two cans on juice, giving one to Masaoka as I join him. "Izaya told me that the guy is a young man that gave him the paintings is around my age and he uses your son's initials. What do you think about that?"
"What I think? I think this won't end well…" I can see the pain in his eyes as he spoke those words. Even though he won't admit it, this case is hard on him mentally. He's not his best right now, the Masaoka I know would be better than this. He just can't think straight, he must always be thinking about Ginoza and that hurts his performance but I also can't blame him either. If I ever have a child and I find myself in his shoes I honestly don't know what I'd do, I'm not even sure if I could even do anything, I know I'm strong but I think I'd break apart if this would ever happen to me.
"Masaoka I know this is hard but we need you to smell out this guy like you always do. We really need that right now, Kougami and Tsunemori will most likely have information to share to us from professor Saiga but we need your mind here. We'll get Ginoza back, that I promise." I say as I place my hand on his shoulder; he doesn't say anything other than taking my hand with his right hand. I remember when I was a rookie inspector and I got a case that didn't turn out well Masaoka was there to give comfort when I needed it most, now when he needs it most it's my turn to be there. We're all human in the end; no matter how much we try to hide it we can never escape it. Most of the time we forget that enforcers are humans too that have seen just too much and lost it all…
I know how you are all wondering about Gino so it was just natural that I write another chapter without Gino and the lunatic :3
Review and tell me what you think. If you are too shy you can always Anon review or send me a message on my tumblr ;)
Toodles.