Amalgamated Consolidated Inc had no company song. No sense of community. And the coffee was terrible.
And the upper-management, Americans all...horrible. Geki-san had goofed a bit on the Likoda account, and the boss had called him in to yell at him. He had stared straight at him with a nasty look the whole time, until finally poor Geki was in tears. Did the boss comfort him, tell him it was all right? No! He looked _embarrassed_, mumbled something, and left. How unfeeling!
As he glanced to the left, towards a house built alongside a training hall, a few images registered through the front windows.
A long metal streak, glinting, being swung in an arc.
Something falling to the ground.
An eruption of searing, brilliant blue light.
And then the car was past. Souji blinked. That had been odd.
He spent the remander of the drive mulling over poor Geki-san, his uncaring boss, and what the blue flash could have been. By the time he walked up the steps to his apartment, he still had no answer.
He tossed his jacket on the sofa, poured himself a drink, and turned on the news.
"...just arrived at the corner from the Tendo Dojo. We have what looks to be a woman's decapitated body, lying on the floor next to her own severed head..."
================================== ================================== by Mike Loader -
Based on characters created by R. Takahashi and developed by Richard Lawson. Lawson's work used with permission.
-
"This is nuts. The case was solved, damn it!"
Detective Okasa paced the floor of her office, slowly wearing a track into the already-thin carpet, hands balled into fists. Her partner, knowing this mood all too well, sighed glumly. It was going to be a long day.
"Maybe he was lying. I mean..."
"No, he wasn't. I'm sure of it." She stopped, sank into her chair, and turned to face him. "Look, you know me. Have I ever been wrong about this kind of thing before? The Saotome kid was telling the truth. Or thought he was, which amounts to about the same thing." A look of frustration crossed her face, and she sighed. "Besides, even if he _were_ lying...he can't possibly be guilty.
"He goes home from his interview with me. He's safe. I just got done telling him that the deaths of Kuonji, Hibiki, and the two Kuno nutcases weren't his fault. If he were the killer, he's just been told he's home free."
"Maybe he didn't believe you..."
"So he kills someone else to get me off his trail? Nope. Doesn't make sense."
He leaned back. "Look, Okasa, the kid might be a nut. Split personality, or whatever the term is. Maybe he thought he was telling the truth, went home, and flipped out again."
She nodded. "I thought that might be it too. But motive aside, he _couldn't_ have done it. Look, about an hour after he gets home the emergency dispatch gets the call..."
TRANSCRIPT OF CALL #235, STATION 5, 3AM 7/5/96
Station: Emergency Dispatch, can we help you?
Caller: Oh yes, yes you can. Ranma-kun's been stabbed in the stomach, and he's bleeding a bit...
Station: Okay, Miss, where is he, we'll get an ambulance there right away...
Caller: The Tendo Dojo, Nerima ward, a few blocks down from Furinkan.
Station: Okay, they're on their way...just stay calm, Miss. Do you know how to make a pressure bandage?
Caller: Oh yes! I already put on on his stomach...was that right?
Station: That was very good, yes. Now, what I need you to do is...
Caller: Thank you for your help.
END OF CALL
"The person who made the call was Kasumi Tendo. Everyone we played it to who had ever heard the girl agreed on it. After Ranma was stabbed, she went into the living room and called the ambulance. Just the ambulance. Not the police. As if whatever had happened was over, and the only concern was getting Saotome to a doctor."
"Some people are like that, Okasa. So worried about another person that they don't look out for themselves." He leaned back in his chair. "And it sounded like this Kasumi was that kind of person."
The detective sighed. "Anyways, the ambulance arrives about five minutes later. They hear screams from the dojo, run in..."
TESTIMONY OF RENKI KASI, PARAMEDIC, 7/5/96
Okasa: So you heard screams coming from the dojo building?
Kasi: Yeah, a real shrill, bad scream. The kind you, uh, hear at accidents, when a mother just lost a child.
Okasa: What did you do then?
Kasi: Well, Hikaru and I ran in, to, you know, see what was going on. We figured that the stab victim was in there.
Okasa: And what did you see upon entering?
Kasi: It was bad, real bad. This girl is the one doing the screaming, about seventeen or so, just standing there and shrieking, and on the floor is this other girl, dead, with her head off.
Okasa: That would be Kasumi Tendo.
Kasi: I guess, yeah. Yellow dress and an apron, and the head's been set on top of the body, staring out at the door. Over in the corner is this guy, seventeen, sixteen, with a bandage wrapped around his stomach. He's just sitting there, looking a little bleary-eyed, not quite all there. My first thought is that the guy's on drugs or something.
Okasa: What happened then?
Kasi: Well, I head over towards the guy, and Hikaru goes over to the girl, when all of a sudden she starts screaming "KASUMI! NO NO NO! BAKA!" and she runs at the guy like she's going to kill him. Hikaru and I grab her, and sedate her, and for a bit it was scary. It was like we were trying to hold down a gorilla, not a teenage girl.
Okasa: And you then treated Saotome?
Kasi: The kid? Yeah, we got him and the girl to the hospital, and called the cops and the coroner.
Okasa: You didn't see anyone else around? None of the family?
Kasi: No, but we didn't go in the house or anything. We leave that sort of thing for the cops, you know?
Okasa: A wise policy. Thank you for your time, sir.
Kasi: No sweat. Hey, catch the guy who did this, okay? That kinda stuff is just wrong.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
"So I arrive, and the body-boys and forensics jocks, and we get to work. We find plenty of stuff, all right, but the stuff doesn't make much sense.
"Kasumi Tendo was killed by a sharp, bladed weapon...probably a sword of some sort. There was no such weapon at the scene. There was, however, a tanto lying some distance away from the body, with blood on the blade. DNA says it's Saotome's blood; that and the shape of the wound say it's the weapon he was stabbed with. It had two sets of prints on it, his and Kasumi's. In the main house...at first we thought a bomb had gone off in the living room. Someone went nuts in there, slashed up everything, broke furniture...a few things looked like they actually were blown up, but there weren't any traces of explosive material..."
"So what did the two witnesses have to say? Wouldn't that clear things up?"
She scowled. "Yeah. Clear as mud."
TESTIMONY OF AKANE TENDO, 7/5/96
Okasa: Akane-san? I'd like to ask you a few questions. Can you tell me what happened yesterday? (Time passes) Akane-san, we want to catch whoever did this, but we need your help. Can you tell me what happened?
Akane: Kasumi's dead.
Okasa: I know. I'm very sorry, Akane-san.
Akane: Ranma no baka.
Okasa: Ranma? What about Ranma?
Akane: He just sat there...I came downstairs, there was a noise, blue light...
Okasa: Blue light? A explosion?
Akane: Someone broke the shogi table. Broke it in half.
Okasa: What happened after you came downstairs?
Akane: I tried to find...something, and I went in, in the dojo, Kasumi, Kasumi-oneechan. Dead. Dead. Kasumi-oneechan.
Okasa: Akane-san, this is very important. What was Ranma doing?
Akane: Baka. Baka. He just sat there and held his stomach. Baka. Kasumi.
Sensei: I'm afraid I can't allow any more questions right now, detective.
Okasa: I understand. Goodbye, Akane-san.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
"Maybe in a few weeks I can get more out of her. Right now..."
"What about Saotome?"
"Oh, he was drugged, all right. Not like the paramedic thought, though. Someone slipped him a mickey finn, just enough to keep him awake but immobile."
"So he saw the whole thing?"
"Yes and no."
TESTIMONY OF RANMA SAOTOME, 7/5/96
Okasa: So. I hear you'll be fine in a month or two.
Ranma: Yeah. That's what the docs tell me.
Okasa: Want to tell me what happened?
Ranma: Kasumi. She was the one behind the killings. Ukyou, Ryouga, Cologne...
Okasa: But the Kunos were found to be responsible for that, Ranma-san. You said so yourself.
Ranma: Yeah, I know. She used them.
Okasa: So you killed her?
Ranma: No. She drugged me, brought me into the dojo, and started to cut me open. Woulda looked like suicide.
Okasa: But you're alive, and she isn't. Why?
Ranma: I dunno...someone came in, and then...I don't know. I think the drug was causing me to hallucinate, that and the wound. I kept seeing more than one Kasumi, and someone shoved her head in my face after it had been severed...
Okasa: You say you were hallucinating. Is it possible that you also hallucinated Kasumi as the murderer?
Ranma: I don't...I'm not sure. It seemed so clear at the time, but now...the painkillers they got me on are making it a bit hard to focus.
Okasa: Did you kill Kasumi?
Ranma: What? No! I told you, someone else came in and did it. I think. Everything after she...started to cut me is a bit hazy.
Okasa: Did you see Kasumi use the phone before you entered the dojo?
Ranma: No. I knocked it over while she was carrying me out, but she didn't even pick it up off the floor. Why?
Okasa: Because Kasumi seems to be the one who called the ambulance to come get you. We have a tape of her voice telling the operator that you had a stomach wound, and needed help. Do you have any idea why she would have done that?
Ranma: No...not unless she wanted them to arrive too late...do you know where the Tendos are?
Okasa: They're with Akane. She found the body, and...well, she's under psychiatric observation.
Ranma: Damn. Is she bad?
Okasa: Hard to say.
Ranma: Damn.
Okasa: If you do see her again, don't mention your suspicions of Kasumi to her. I don't think she's in a position to handle it.
Ranma: It's a bit more than a suspicion...yeah, I won't tell her.
Okasa: Good. Thank you for your time, Ranma-san.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
"He thinks Kasumi did it, huh? The other murders?"
"Yeah. Everyone else says the girl was a living saint. I think that in between the drug and the murders...he's a little paranoid. Don't blame him, either."
"So why don't you think he did it?"
"He _couldn't_ have. Look, Kasumi calls for the ambulance and tells them he's got a stomach wound. Which he did. No way would he be able to cut her head off while drugged and bleeding to death." She sighed. "I can't even build up a chain of events. Logically, things had to have happened in this order; Ranma is stabbed, Kasumi applies a bandage and calls the ambulance, Kasumi is killed. But why didn't she call the police? Did she really drug Ranma, like he says? And who ripped up the living room?" Her fist came down hard on the edge of the desk. "It doesn't make sense."
The phone rang, and she picked it up. "Hello?"
After a few minutes, she hung up. "That was the lab. According to them, Kasumi was killed _before_ the call was made. Which is, of course, impossible."
"A tape recording, maybe?"
"That answers questions? Nice try."
Silence for a second.
"And what the hell does "Kaeri Ni" mean?"
"Huh?"
"It was carved into one of the bits of sofa."
"Odd."
"Yup."
"Look at the bright side, Okasa. This'll make a hell of a story."
"Yeah. Well, I'm getting some sleep. Maybe something'll turn up tomorrow."
In a rain-swept cemetery, close and yet unimaginably distant from Okasa's office, blue fire erupted. A figure staggered out of it, limmed by the flames, and collapsed.
Almost there...
-finis?-