Hahahaha I'm still laughing at the reaction. The fuck you to the this is fucking awesome was great :3
Aoyanagi
This case keeps taking twist and turns like it's a damn rollercoaster. Out of the faces taken from the memory scoop that Kougami had to put himself through for a whole day came to absolutely nothing for Izaya. The man we are looking for wasn't within those faces. Shion even aged each face by ten years just to be sure and still nothing.
When we just have absolutely no time we get thrown curve balls, in this case we keep getting constant one thrown right at us at the exact moment we get a slight momentum going. I welcome professor Fukushima to look at all the faces when he finally arrives at four thirty in the afternoon; he looks at each carefully when he picks one up and hands it to me.
"That's the boy." He says as he crosses his arms.
I quickly look over the boy's profile Shion had gotten me earlier. He's still alive and looks like he's still living with his parents at his age which is kind of odd and he is unemployed nor has he have had any previous jobs either and I can see why too? "Are you sure Hideki Yoshida is the one?"
"Yes positive." He answers with a firm tone. Kougami told me that I should have seen this guy when I used to go to the green house with Ginoza but in all honesty I never stopped to even notice the other students that were there.
"Professor it says here in his file that he was diagnosed with moderate to severe mental retardation. It was suggested that he might be suffering from Down syndrome or Autism but he was never properly diagnosed." I inform him not that it seemed to surprise him.
"Now that you mention it he was a bit unusual and I believe his parents came to me for that very reason."
"Alright thank you professor for coming all the way here. This will be very helpful." I tell him as I shake his hand and he leaves. I look again through Hideki's file and this is just a big pile of nothing. It says that he measures six feet, ten inches and weighs two hundred and seventy pounds now. He is quite the giant and I would have considered him a possible candidate to being able to abduct a man of Ginoza's size with ease but with his intelligence there is no way that he'd be able to come up with any of that. He lives in downtown Tokyo and according to his file; he lives with both his parents and has never been employed due to his mental condition. Apparently he can't distinguish what is right from wrong of which is understandable to not want him somewhere in the work place.
A knock on the door takes me out of my thoughts as Mizue enters with a package in her arms. "Inspector Aoyanagi a package arrived. It's not address to anyone but division one."
I take the package, the box is rather light, and whatever is in it doesn't weight much. I quickly inspect the wrapping, there isn't a return address or a name written on the package only that it's especially for division one. I can't bring myself to rip the brown paper enveloping the box; I don't like the feeling I have in my gut as I stare at the package in my hands.
"Inspector?" Mizue asks with sudden concern.
"It's alright; I'll take this to inspector Tsunemori. You worked hard all day, go home early and rest." I tell her as I start picking up the pictures, placing them back into their files.
She offered to help put things together first but I just brushed it off and with that she left. It's been a difficult seventy two hours and I worked Mizue almost around the clock too; she deserves to have a break. Who knows when I'll be able to give her a little time off again.
Chapter 9.5
Akane
Another day has passed and I don't feel like we've done any significant progress. Inspector Aoyanagi took on the task to show the pictures of all the faces to Izaya and professor Fukushima. Izaya was able to come early this morning but he wasn't able to recognize any of them as the guy he met and professor Fukushima only could come much later in the afternoon due to him teaching. I wonder if inspector Aoyanagi got better luck with professor Fukushima than Izaya or if it had all been for nothing.
"Is there really nothing we can do? I mean there must be something?" As much as I appreciate Kagari's enthusiasm right now, there really isn't anything we can go on. All we can do is wait; otherwise we'll just be going in circle.
"If the culprit turns out to be the student Fukushima was talking about then professor Saiga's profiling was wrong." Ms. Kunizuka states.
I look at Mr. Kougami; he's been too quiet ever since we came back from visiting professor Saiga. Okay he's never been the heavy talker but he's never been this quiet before. Even Mr. Masaoka hasn't spoken much since the beginning of this case either; I understand that both are worried about Mr. Ginoza but staying quiet in their own thoughts isn't helping. Both my top enforcers are physically here but not mentally and I need their wisdom badly for this case.
"That's something that's been bothering me. Professor Saiga has never been wrong before when it comes to profiling a criminal so I wouldn't be ready to call his profiling false." Kougami says, his chin lying on his fists breaking his silence since he interrogated professor Fukushima yesterday.
"Mr. Masaoka?" I look at him as I spoke his name. "What do you think?"
"What I think?" He asks while looking at everyone before continuing. "I think we're dealing with two culprits not just one."
"What? Seriously?" I'm not so sure about that, otherwise wouldn't it be easier to catch two criminals? One is bound to make a slip up and expose the other which has not been the case here yet and why even use Izaya to sell his paintings in the first place if he has a partner?
"No matter how you slice it little missy, it is impossible for a single man to abduct his victims without leaving some sort of trace behind." Yeah that's the odd part of all the victims we've found so far. They all disappear without a single trace; no one hears anything or even notices that something happened in the area. The victims were either last seen leaving from work or leaving from their home to go to work. Mr. Ginoza is the first that actually gets abducted right into his own home so why the sudden change in motive? Why couldn't the culprit abduct Mr. Ginoza when leaving the bureau or coming in to work?
"I'm with pops on this one." Kougami voice out as he stretches his arms over his head.
"Yeah but why use Izaya if he has a partner?" I ask.
"Probably because his partner is incompetent without him. We are dealing with two criminals but one thing is for sure one of them is the dominant which is safe to assume that he's probably older too and the other is the submissive one but don't allow the submissive to fool you. He might not be as dangerous as his partner but I'll bet the beast will come out if the other is in trouble." Mr. Masaoka answers my question as he gets up to get a can from the vending machine and comes back to his seat.
"Now that you mention it, it suddenly makes sense." Kagari says as he grabs a sheet of paper and starts drawing something that soon looks like Mr. Ginoza's home layout. "We found Dime in the kitchen here and we know that Gino's bedroom is right at the other end of the condo here. One took care of the dog while the other grabbed Gino while he was sleeping. We also know that Dime's neck was fractured, the stabs must have been done afterwards."
"If Ginoza was sleeping when he was attack that would eliminate any signs of struggle. Professor Saiga mentioned that he believes the culprit to have knowledge in pharmaceutical so we can assume that a drug with anesthesia properties was used on Ginoza." What Ms. Kunizuka says makes sense. Mr. Ginoza can't fight back if he's drugged, and that could easily be chloroform that was used and when he woke in panic it was already too late as the drug took effect.
"Good you're all here!"
I look over my shoulder to see inspector Aoyanagi coming this way with a box wrapped in a brown paper. She doesn't say anything as she places the box right in the middle of the table as she starts pacing back and forth while biting her thumb nail.
"What's that?" Kagari asks as he inspects the package.
"I don't know but its address to division one." She says. Her tone present with anxiety and I start having a weird feeling in my gut as I stare at the box. No one is moving I guess were all feeling the same way, we're all just looking at the box as to who will have the guts to open it first.
Mr. Kougami is the one that gets up and grabs the package. He waste little time ripping the brown paper off the box and opens it. I stand up to look what is in the box when Mr. Kougami just stands there starring at the content, inspector Aoyanagi is pacing back and forth even more. What I see in the box wasn't what I was expecting, without a doubt it was like the others we had found. Mr. Ginoza's portrait painted in blood, I take it into my hands trying to control my hands from shaking. I just can't believe it, so what does this mean? Does it mean that Mr. Ginoza is dead? No this just can't be.
"Kou what is that?" Kagari's question snaps me back to reality as I look at Mr. Kougami holding a small disc in his hands.
"We should bring it to Shion." Kagari states.
We all get up and I place the canvas back inside the box to bring with the other evidence. While we were walking I asked inspector Aoyanagi if she had found anything but she came out empty handed after Professor Fukushima had positively identified the student but turned out to be a mental handicap and it was only when she was putting things away that Inspector Shisui came to give her the package.
I don't get what is the motive of this man. All current evidence shows that his real target had always been Mr. Ginoza and all the previous victims were just practice, also we recently found out that this criminal has been killing people that had previously attacked Mr. Ginoza. Everything shows that this criminal was a long time stalker and admirer but now with this painting, what does it mean and why sends it directly to us? He didn't even bother to sell it like he did to the others, so why?
We arrive at Ms. Karanomori and quickly explain the current situation as we show her the blood painting. She shakes her head in disbelief as she takes the disc and inserts into her computer.
She opens up a file and carefully inspects the content. "It seems it's just an audio recording."
"Play it." I sense malice from Mr. Kougami's tone as Ms. Karanomori starts the recording. The voice that comes out of the speakers is without a doubt Mr. Ginoza's but it's the sounds he's making that sends chills down my spine. The screams and cries of pain are almost unbearable to hear as Mr. Masaoka walks out after listening to the track for five minutes.
Ms. Karanomori stops the track and turns around to look back at us. "The track last an hour and a half." She says nervously.
Mr. Kougami walks away and I quickly follow him, I honestly have no idea what his intentions are right now, he doesn't say anything but I know he's fuming with rage. As we walk we find Mr. Masaoka sitting on the couch in the lobby, I can't even start to imagine what's going through his head right now.
"Pops…" Kougami says as he walks up to Mr. Masaoka, crouching in front of him to meet his gaze. I can hear Mr. Kougami telling him something but I can't understand what he's saying but it doesn't take long before Mr. Masaoka to burst into tears and that really hurts. Seeing him break down like that is heart breaking, we're doing everything we can and it's still not good enough.
I leave Mr. Masaoka to Mr. Kougami and go back to see Ms. Karanomori only to get that audio blast into my ears again. Inspector Aoyanagi is sitting in the far corner holding her head while the others just listen to the audio.
"How's old man Masaoka?" Kagari asks as Ms. Karanomori pauses the track.
"Not good." I answer as I take a seat on the couch.
"That would be any father hearing his kid getting brutally tortured and that's not knowing if he's dead." Kagari says followed by Ms. Kunizuka slapping the back of his head.
What do I do? Chances are that whoever delivered the package was just some random individual that the criminal chose just like he did with Izaya. If we pursue to find this person then we are doing exactly what he wants, to him this is all just a game.
He chooses random people to deliver his signatures or maybe they are not that much random. He knows a lot about his victims, well he knows Mr. Ginoza pretty well. He knew that Mr. Ginoza's security system was lagging or maybe it was done on purpose and he just so happens to use someone who is a technician to get us suspicious of Izaya which was only natural for us to do. He made us take a wrong turn to give him time and that was probably to make the painting and now he's done so what else does he want? On the audio I can't tell what was actually happening other than that Mr. Ginoza was in a lot of pain, his voice overlapped any other background noises.
Thinking back at what Mr. Masaoka said; that he doesn't send his partner to deliver anything because he is probably incompetent and his partner is most likely younger… What if?
"Inspector Aoyanagi. The student professor Fukushima identified, does he have any relatives?" I hastily ask.
"Other than his parents, I'm not sure." She answers as she rubs her temples.
Ms. Karanomori switches screen and opens the database. "What was his name?"
"Hideki Yoshida."
It doesn't take long for Ms. Karanomori to search the name inspector Aoyanagi gave her. Just by looking at his profile picture I can tell that this man is huge, I wouldn't want to be caught alone with him.
"Apparently he has an older brother who is ten years older than he is. His name is Seiho Yoshida with an age of thirty eight. He's no small man either with a height of six, five and weighting at a two hundred and fifty seven pounds."
"Where is Seiho?" I ask Ms. Karanomori.
"Says that he lives with his parents, same as his brother and listen to this. Seiho Yoshida was a P.E teacher in Ginoza's old high school and his father was a pharmacist before he retired, mother was an artist." That would explain where he got his knowledge about drugs and his talent for art but if he was a teacher at Mr. Ginoza's old high school then why didn't Mr. Kougami have any memories of him? In the end professor Saiga called it head on except for the part of our culprit having a partner.
"Was a teacher so he was a teacher there? Where does he work now?" Aoyanagi asks.
"No idea. Looks like he's been changing jobs constantly. The longest job he's had was three years and you guessed it, it was during Ginoza's years in high school." Constantly changing jobs isn't a good thing for him, the more that it makes him suspicious.
"What was the point of sending us that audio? That's what I don't get."
"He wants us to know that he's in control but he also wants to confuse and anger us so we make a mistake." Mr. Masaoka's voice took me by surprise; his expression is stern and hard. Like a wild beast that just woke up from a long slumber and is just anxious to taste blood.
Review, tell me what you think about the new chapter and toodles :3
Oh yeah I changed my Pen Name again. I was LadyKise now LadyGinoza.