Seeing people try and solve the little mysteries I've created is the most rewarding experience, as I've learnt over the past few chapters. I'd like to thank, for the xth time, the following:
mrsLlawliet162, MissMomo11, Aki.X596, Violet Masen-Clearwater, Jen and candy-is-epic
for their constant support and motivation.
7
Onslaught
"The victim's name is Takashi Hitomi, a 16-year-old schoolgirl who had returned to Japan after a two-week long holiday in the United States. She has been found at around 8 PM, but specialists predict she was murdered at least an hour earlier. There are no witnesses, but after watching the video recordings from the day Takashi Hitomi had gotten off the plane 5 days ago, she was seen with a woman. The police had not yet identified the perpetrator, but we will air the main suspect's photograph right now." The female reporter vanished and a full-sized picture of Kaosu appeared on screen.
It was a blurry screenshot from the camera record. She was walking with Takashi Hitomi, but the camera was zoomed to focus on her face. Her complexion was a tone or two lighter than what L had seen. Her hair was pitch black and her lips were not red, but light pink. The light make-up made her look a few years younger, which made it easy to mistake her for Hitomi's friend.
"Anyone who is able to recognize this person is asked to contact the police right away."
Watari turned the TV off. He set the remote control on the table and threw a glance at L, who was curled up in an armchair with his thumb brushing against his lips. His eyes were wide open and unmoving.
"L…" the old man said with a hint of worry. "What now?"
"Her photo is in the newspapers and on TV," the detective stated after a second of silence. "Inspector Ichigawa and his men will have to deal with people calling them, declaring that they have seen Kaosu at some point. It will not be helpful, not in the least," then he remembered something. "Watari," he called, fishing something out of the pocket of his pants. "Could you do some research for me?"
"Of course," the man took the piece of paper and walked over to one of the computers. "Is it a name of her victim?"
"Her first victim, yes," L said, remembering the melancholic-like state Kaosu was in when she was telling him that story.
Watari nodded and began his search. L sat back deeper into the armchair, trying to put the pieces together. The case was going disappointingly slow and he had trouble telling whose fault was it. He thought he was hot on her tail, and then the woman who calls herself Kaosu goes and proves him wrong, again. It was beginning to be frustrating.
After half an hour of fruitless thinking, L reached for his cell phone and was about to call Inspector Ichigawa to discuss the latest event, when Watari spoke up.
"Stacy Ward, age 15, went missing ten years ago."
L's head perked up. "Where did she live?"
"In Trenton, New Jersey. Her parents called the police when she had not returned home by midnight and they could not reach her. The search lasted a few months, but eventually, the police turned out to be helpless in finding her. She was not seen since."
"She was fifteen… One year older than Kaosu." L muttered before addressing Watari, "Check her school and show me every photo you can find."
The man nodded again and after a few seconds, Stacy Ward's school photograph popped out. As expected, Kaosu was not on it. Watari picked the pictures of one year younger students. Kaosu was not on them either.
"She is not on her class photo or was attending a different school," L mused. However, after searching every school in the city of Trenton, he did not found a 14 year old girl that could be Kaosu.
"So she was absent that day." He stated. "Remarkable luck."
"You believe it was all luck?" Watari questioned.
"At such early stage, yes, it must have been. She was absent on the day the photographs had been taken, and a few days later, she killed Stacy Ward."
"A fourteen year old killer…" Watari suppressed a shudder, instead shaking his head sadly. "Unbelievable."
'Remarkable luck,' L repeated mentally. 'But now she's done relaying on it alone. You know I will catch you, Kaosu, but the question is… When?'
-
L could not believe it. He had so many clues - so many! - and yet, he had nothing. It felt like Kaosu was staring at him with that intense green, expectant gaze, grinning like a kid, sitting right next to him and being out of reach at the same time. Inches, mere inches away. He reached out to grab her and she scooted away teasingly, laughing. As if it all was a game.
A game…
play the game dot com.
"You're still here?" Kaosu's teasing smile greeted him. "You know, for the greatest detective, you're pretty slow."
The other laptop, the one he had been using to track her location with, beeped suddenly. He shifted his attention towards it and his eyes widened slightly.
Error.
Page not found.
'Getting better at clearing your tracks, are you, Kaosu?' the detective traced his lips with his thumb. 'No matter. You may outsmart a computer, but you will never outsmart me.'
"There is only one way your situation can end, Kaosu," L uttered calmly after a short pause. "I will catch you."
"I never thought otherwise. It's just… I'm at the end of the road, Detective. My creative streak is slowly coming to an end, just like this case should have," her pretty face twisted into an angry expression. "But you're all so fucking slow…"
"You seem frustrated," L decided to push her further.
"I am!" she slammed her hands on the table and pushed her chair back, leaning closer to the camera. Her sleeveless shirt was low-cut and showed a bit of her lacy black bra. "I am frustrated, because a serial killer is on the loose, and no one's doing anything!"
"That serial killer," L continued in his calm, unmoved tone. "Is you."
Kaosu stared at the camera lens, straight into L's eyes. His wandered a little down, eyeing the skin of her chest the top was not covering. The small piece of her bra.
"Detective," Kaosu spoke calmer than before. "I warn you - if you won't do something soon, I'll disappear, becoming the Nameless Girl once again. I will not be quiet, but you will never hear from me."
And suddenly, she slumped, sighing tiredly and running a hand through her dark blonde hair. She did an emotional 180 degree turn on him, just like that.
"I didn't mean to threaten you… I'm sorry." Another sigh. "I really do feel frustrated, I guess…"
"It is unusual for a killer wishing to be caught." The detective admitted after a few seconds of silence.
"Uh huh," she breathed, a tired smile sprouting on her blood red lips. "I always was a little… how did you put it? Ah, unusual. That's a pretty word for 'fucked up', right?" she chuckled softly. "Detective… You are…"
Her eyes lit up unexpectedly as her full vigor returned in the blink of an eye. "Hey, hey!" she called out, her voice on the verge of breaking with cheery laughter. "Is your TV on? Turn it on, now!"
L did not question her demand - he simply took the remote control and turned the TV on. Just in time to see the broadcast from Sakura TV concerning the unknown killer of Takahashi Hitomi… and, according to some mysterious files, several others.
"The files were delivered to the Sakura TV at around 6:55 PM and brought some light upon the case of Takahashi-san's murder."
'She understands Japanese,' L noted, hearing the reporter's clear Japanese and Kaosu's excited expression.
"According to them, the perpetrator is also suspected of committing more murders. The number reaches seven victims and consists of Takahashi Hitomi, an unknown illegal immigrant, police officer Kuroda, the Fujimoto family and American detective Ken Anders. On an attached note, there are hints of murders committed outside of Japan. The police forces remain silent about it and deny comments."
"Ha!" Kaosu cried out in triumph. "They deny commenting! Of course, what would they say?" she laughed again.
"Kaosu," L spoke. "Do you understand Japanese?"
"Huh? Oh, a little bit. I can say a few words too, but I can't read for shit," she chuckled again. "As if you people couldn't use the same letters like the rest of the world."
"Nice bra."
Kaosu blinked, caught off guard. Then, surprisingly, a slight blush appeared on her cheeks as she stared at the camera, too stunned to say anything. She regained her composure shortly and smirked coyly, fluttering her eyelids.
"Why, Detective," she purred seductively. "If that wasn't a direct hit, I don't know what is."
L's lips twitched upwards, and he immediately asked himself why. Finding no answer, he continued, "It is a very popular model at the moment, sold in only one place in Japan. You had bought it in one of the stores in Kyoto where you are at the moment. It appears to be quite expensive, so there is a slight possibility that you had used a credit card to purchase it. If so, you had to leave a name. Even if it's a false name, which I expect, if you use only one credit card bearing that one false name, it would be very easy to spot you, making you a moving-sitting-duck, so to speak. I can create a list of all your whereabouts, which could prove to be a strong lead."
With a feeling of deep, smooth satisfaction, the greatest detective sat back and enjoyed the mixture of expressions reflecting upon her face.
-
Kaosu was left speechless once again. She sat in an uncomfortable chair, in front of her laptop, staring at the tiny build-in camera with wide eyes. 'That Detective…' she thought, her awe overcoming the shock. All of a sudden, she strongly wished she could see his face, no matter what.
"I suppose," her voice was still a bit shaky and she cleared her throat. "I suppose you would see it ridiculous - incredibly idiotic, even - if I asked you to turn your camera on for a moment, wouldn't you?"
The other end was silent as she stared at the blank screen of her laptop, not expecting anything at all.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, L spoke.
"If I did that, it is you who would think of me as an idiot."
"As if you care what I think," Kaosu shot back half-heartedly. "I'm a serial killer, remember? It doesn't matter what I do until I kill someone."
"It does to me."
Her eyebrows shot up, and so did the temperature of her face.
"As a detective and your pursuer, everything you do matters. Everything you do is important, everything is connected."
Connected. The list of her whereabouts. The page address. The room whirled around before her eyes, making her dizzy.
"Kaosu?"
Oh yes. He could see her. He watched her. Kaosu shook her head, making the world stop spinning, but now everything was double.
"I-I'm sorry. I'm feeling a bit… Uh,"
"What is it?" after a second, he added. "Am I getting too close?" it sounded like he was correcting himself.
"Wha? Oh, yes, yes you are." Kaosu managed a weak smile. 'He sees me. He sees me like this. He cannot see me. I have to… I have to…' "You are getting closer, Detective, just… do what you do and everything will be…"
'Fine.'
"Everything will go according to your plan." She finished, sounding much stronger than she felt. "Until next time, Detective."
She logged out.
15 minutes later, Kaosu was on the streets of Kyoto, swaggering through the small crowds, desperate to regain the control that had somehow slipped out from her firm grasp. He had taken the control from her.
Another 10 minutes later she had found her control somewhere near the hotel she was currently staying at. She regained her control by taking it from someone else.
The man was found a while afterwards and was identified as Hideyoshi Satoru. The ghostly paleness of his skin and the slit throat indicated death by blood loss. Other wounds on his body were done after his death as they did not bleed intensively. Whoever had done it wanted to silence the victim first, before giving in to the pure rage and confusion.
However, the body was found a few hours too late. Kaosu was already on her way to Tokyo with a strange sensation at the pit of her stomach. She stared through the window, not seeing anything through the curtain of red that was over her vision, her hands clenching the fabric of her pants and relaxing every now and then.