"I'd appreciate if you toned your voice down a bit, Itemi-san. People who are allowed to visit usually do not enter through the window." Mana noted to her surprised and hazed person of interest.

"Seeing people who should not present in places they are very much present in makes a man question if he is insane. It just so happened just I may have been insane when I decided to shoot series of blades at a bunch of people robbing this town all by my lonesome. Given my impressive track of insane thoughts on sane mind, it was especially difficult to understand if I was sane or not…" Itemi lamented, toning his voice ever so slightly but still husking it out far too loud for Mana's liking.

The magician approached him and sat down by his side, calming down the pair of awakened patients present in Itemi's ward at the same time who were woken up by the disturbance. Another pair was still resting despite it, they may have been knocked out too good for awakening. Had Mana's sense of smell been intact, the smell of medication would have told her that information, for now, just glimpses of their baby-like sleep would have sufficed.

"This is not about that. I did feel a bit betrayed about you running off on your own like that as I would not have expected the best paperwork guy on the Force being the loosest cannon as well, that being said, I am here because of the paperwork you used to file while Okasune-san did the dirty work…" Mana clarified it.

"I was a tough bastard. It may not have looked like it but… I was sitting on drugs and alcohol, my rope of life all throughout the cold winter road. It would have been tough numbing the pain for a guy to whom painkilling food pills were nothing else but candy with the goop that Shukuba Security called coffee." Itemi grumbled, scratching his floaty and tired looking eyes.

Mana caught on what the officer meant to say with that. Itemi was certainly an oddball given that he communicated in this odd manner but he was not outright insane. His body had built up such a tremendous tolerance for painkillers during his career of self-prescribed cures of all ills in the shape of elixirs and food pills that only an elephant-sized dosage would have done the deed of numbing his pain in the hospital. That meant that Itemi would be in the constant floaty and drugged state throughout their conversation.

"We're chasing after Raitoncide. You filed plenty of crime scenes, you recorded and booked all of testimonies and evidence, such as it was. We're flying on instinct but I am leaving after tomorrow and I have until then to end this. If I don't catch a guy that Shukuba Security failed to find for months, possibly years." Mana tried to keep it short but given how much Itemi had sat out due to his hospitalization it was quite difficult.

"It was foolish of her to come here. She could have easily just scanned all of the reports, all of the documentation, she saw enough of it to notice that I was involved in doing most of it. Not that there was much to find. When a guy fires off superheated lightning bolts and fries everything he touches, only so much evidence is left behind…" Itemi growled in pain. Sitting up escalated the conflict between the overdose of painkillers and the sharp pain.

"So all the bodies were incinerated?" Mana scratched her chin deep in thought. She found it hard to believe that someone could have left not a single trace being as careless and pompous of his own power as Raitoncide was. The killer had made a fatal mistake in assuming he was the only side of the conflict making plays and moving their figures across the board. A person who always stays one-step behind could not have fooled the Security for this long unless he was merely lucky.

"It was the stuff nightmares of drug trips were made of. Talking about this while high on painkillers may not be the best thing in hindsight. It's like yelling about the goods on sale before the person asking you to keep them safe hasn't even crossed the street yet. Bodies were either completely charred up or left with gapping holes, the edges completely singed, killing them of shock or simply by blasting a vital organ out." Itemi said in his own unique manner.

"His lightning bolts were too fast and focused to incinerate the victim sometimes. I guess it depends on the force he channels, how he wants it to come out." Mana summarized the conclusions she drew from Itemi's ramblings. "His abilities are still baffling to me. He fired off lightning bolts far surpassing any Lightning Release jutsu I have seen, bordering on the speed of natural super-lightning. Something of that intensity and heat should have changed shape into plasma long ago… Obviously if they were some sort of jutsu he could control their shape artificially but then I have to go in loops and explain their speed again. I can't figure out if his abilities are using natural electricity or Lightning Release charges."

"If the brat thought those were her only problems, she had another thing coming. Despite Raitoncide never having been caught, not all of his crime scenes even made that much sense. Some had completely unrelated piles of ash and lightning marks branching over the place, several of them had burnt down completely despite arson usually not being his specific kink." Itemi sighed, sometimes it was a good thing he could not keep anything inside even when he wanted to.

A guy beside him growled out loud in irritation. Mana's presence in the ward must have been disturbing his rest.

"Random lightning marks and expulsions of heat? That could be similar to that attack on my way here… He just disappeared dissolving into lightning as if he became electricity itself running away to safety." Mana snapped her fingers.

"Attack? I guess it was a bit selfish of me to assume that the town would stop having fun without me. People dissolving into lightning, firing supercharged heat blasts with extreme electric charge and manipulating the forces of nature at will was never this town's thing. Maybe that's why Raitoncide was never found. I wanted to be surprised hearing that name but deep down every corrupt bastard in that HQ knew they were lucky to get to use that witch hunt as an excuse of being rid of him while all the honest ones never stopped fearing when the arrogance of the corrupt ones would come out into plain view and the nightmares marked with lightning continued." Itemi grumbled.

"Perhaps it is better that you stayed down. I was betrayed by the coachman, the Security Force may just be corrupt again or maybe it was another Transformation Jutsu, at this point it's all too tangled to know for real. All that is important is that you found a safe place to sit this through. We may not see one another after today, at least I will know that no one else will die. Get better soon, Itemi-san." Mana bowed her head low before moving in to leap out the same window she scaled up through.

"I sure hope I never see you again…" one of the patients who slept near Itemi and was forced to listen into the conversation exclaimed in sarcasm and irritation due to his health sleep having been interrupted.

Mana could have stayed there longer, tried working out more information maybe. None of it would have been worth the risk though. The grumpy patient was quite right to be outraged, she was doing more harm than good and the flashes of light coming from the nurses patrolling the floor were becoming more frequent signaling that the husky disturbance in noise was noticed. Staying just to exchange thoughts further would have been more risky than the potential reward to come of it would have been useful.

What she found out after receiving general, somewhat altered by his drugged state, ramblings from Itemi gave Mana plenty to think about before she confronted Raitoncide tomorrow. Hopefully with the appropriate amount of Lubber as the magician began to think that her remaining chakra and the battle-worn body was not fit enough to carry her through such a battle otherwise.

Her attempt at understanding and rationalizing everything only lead Mana to drawing the conclusion that Raitoncide's abilities were both natural and ninjutsu related. How else could have his attacks possess all the incredible speed of natural lightning while at the same time granting it the breath-taking power of a ninjutsu technique and controlling its shape and consistency just like one perfectly.

Ninjutsu. Mana simply could not accept the idea that her opponent dissolved into sparks of lightning and travelled away like his own body was comprised of electricity. This was something no ninja she knew could do. Even if a ninja could have pulled something like this off, they would have to be either an exceptional illusionist, which meant that the escape was entirely illusionary, or far larger and more epic in rank than Raitoncide could have ever become. It was a ninjutsu, naturally. But what kind of ninjutsu could have allowed a man to escape like that after changing their shape? There was a reason why Mana could only pull off her Flower Petal Sanctuary as an advanced genjutsu technique.

There was simply no way for someone's body to dissolve into electricity and not die. The fact that Mana could not wrap her head around this magic disappearance trick ticked her off to no end. There was no way to do so for a human, anyway.

But what else than a human could Raitoncide have been? Mana was absolutely sure that she was not dealing with some supernatural chakra entity all of a sudden. Someone like Synth or the Nine Tails may have been able to pull off a vanishing trick like that since they were more entities of pure chakra than anything else but not an ordinary man.

"Could the Nine Tails have even pulled something like this? We were too involved in escaping with our lives to ask it." Mana thought to herself before her mind began wrapping around another concept.

There was another purely chakra-based construct that was not as powerful as a Lesser Demon or a Tailed Beast, that was to say so powerful it broke any attempts at bringing it up, but very much capable of such a dissolving trick. It was clones. If the clone would have been loaded with Lightning Release chakra and was given birth by a technique that placed corporeal clones into existence instead of illusionary ones, it was possible for it to dissolve releasing all of that stored chakra in such a manner.

The more Mana thought of it, the more sense it would have made. Back when they first fought, the magician had caught Raitoncide unprepared with an attack and almost took him out, forcing him to rely on a jutsu he would have rather kept stored to survive. He clearly knew she was dangerous for someone of his skill to engage and yet he was desperate to wear her down, not knowing that well of her state when he engaged her. A jutsu that created corporeal clones stored with elemental affinity chakra would be high ranking, if Mana's reading memory served, approaching A-Rank even, but certainly more plausible than Raitoncide being a chakra entity.

It was not even that tough for someone far below Jounin level to use A-Rank jutsu anyway. The Diamond Hand had access to the black market which meant he could have got his hands on a scroll with the jutsu stored inside it, then absorbed it using his Lightning Release storage seals. His chakra signature is very distinctive in color and feeling but not large enough to muster up the resources for an A-Rank jutsu by himself. That meant he had spent that resource just to wear Mana down…

Raitoncide was afraid…


"I'm back…" Mana declared after walking all the way to the Security HQ. She expected to see few people present, if anyone, given that the workday had officially ended about an hour ago. Strangely enough, multiple officers the names of whom she did not know, Shira and Thumb were still present and nodded or bowed in acknowledgment of her statement.

"I thought you were going to kick the old geezer's ass for running loose cannon on you, what did he have on you to come at you?" Thumb teased Mana acknowledging that the battle signs on her were still visible.

"I think we may be compromised. The coachman took me into an ambush. There were too many people there for us to handle so I did not bother booking them in." Mana scratched her sore sides. The magician stretched out her freezing cheeks and rushed to the end of the office to heat the kettle for some tea.

"The coachman? We took the coachman, we were driving across the town after all searching for Lubber. I apologize, I figured you'd use your superhuman speed to travel." Shira bowed in genuine apology.

While she should have been pissed that some Diamond Hand jerk managed to park his carriage in the Shukuba Security grounds while the entire force was busy transporting Muriya and keeping Index contained and her abilities sealed away at all times, Mana was rather much more happy about the fact that Shukuba Security was not compromised.

"So was the loony paper guy worth the venture?" Thumb looked at Mana.

"You could say that. It was not exactly in what he said, he was quite high on drugs, but the meeting was a little stimulating. I have a general understanding of Raitoncide's abilities and I am inside his mindset, as much as I will get, anyways." Mana confirmed after turning the kettle off and filling her cup with hot water. She settled down nearby Thumb and Shira and started sipping from her cup a tad too fast given that the water inside was boiling so recently.

"We did not manage to acquire as much Lubber as you said you needed, Sorceress-san." Shira reported, the sudden nature of his strict and by the book report made Mana jump up and spill a bit of tea over the table. Luckily enough there were no papers there to damage and she was lucky enough not to burn herself with it either.

"As much?" Mana lisped as her burnt by the hot tea tongue was difficult to handle so she had to ventilate it outside its intended location.

"Affirmative, we managed to find two-thirds of the intended quantity and its has proven to be quite elastic and very molding friendly. With a little love we can make it circle around a small building." Shira confirmed. "Do you know where we can find Raitoncide yet? It would be easier to manage the material if we knew what length it needs to be, that is to say, the specifications of his hideout."

"I can track him. As a serial killer his chakra signature reeks of malice and I have caught whiffs of it multiple times. When he attacked me in the ambush I sensed the direction in which the lightning scurried away in as well. Knowing that he will be needing a lot of electricity to store his seals up we can use both the natural properties of electricity and town plans to trace him. We do not need to make it that specific either, as long as we are within two hundred meters of his location, I'll sense him quite clearly." Mana sighed, finally feeling like her tongue was good enough to continue hastily gulping down her tea.

"Shit, I'm thankful you're not on my tail." Thumb winked at the magician's direction.

"That is impressive, ma'am, but what do you mean by "natural properties of electricity"? Was Raitoncide not using ninjutsu to kill?" Shira wondered.

"He was using both at the same time. It's an interesting and very high-skill combat style but as long as it is the only thing he was honing his entire life, it is not outside the realm of possibility that he has mastered it. The electrical fields of his storage activity will produce powerful electromagnetic activity which we can track with a simple compass, hopefully." Mana snapped her fingers.

"The power of his abilities must be scary for those electric fields to overpower the natural magnetic forces." Shira's stare became stern all of a sudden.

"Oh, it is. That Lubber should do wonders though. Natural electricity will hardly count towards what it can insulate so in the end it should all even out." Mana emptied her cup before jumping on her feet and rushing towards the door.

"Excuse me, you have places to be?" Thumb raised an eyebrow.

"It would be wise to conduct several experiments if the Lubber will be able to serve its purpose…" Shira advised. "Unlike you ninja, our men will not be able to even see what's going on when all those lightning flashes will start buzzing about."

"You won't need to. All of you are staying outside. I'll confront Raitoncide alone. No one else will die on my watch." Mana declared with determined and stern enough eyes to match those of Shira's.

"I would like to argue with you about that when you return, ma'am." Shira bowed his head, knowing full well that Mana would be gone behind the doors not too long after he finished that sentence.

There was one more place Mana had to visit before tomorrow started. The day when she would settle this matter with the Diamond Hand once and for all. If she was to end up dying while doing her best to grant peace to this pleasure town, she may as well have crumbled the by far largest stone on her chest before doing so. Being on the verge of death with regrets in her heart gave Mana some perspective. It was an experience she would rather not go through again.

Mana knocked her knuckles against the door of a small family home in the housing district of Shukuba a good forty minutes later. The light that lit up in the corridor leading up to the door could have been seen through the white linen covering small areas of the door. Mana's breath stopped instinctively when the young man opened the door, looking a bit confused to see a girl he had only seen on posters before in his life. He may have not even recognized her at first as while Mana was famous, her face was not easy to pinpoint without her signature stage attire.

"I'm here about your wife, Maizoku-san." Mana rubbed her numb elbow in hesitation to proceed with the talk that she had to get off her chest. It would not be pleasant but it had to happen, for her own sake.

"Is the Security so disorganized now? They already let me know…" the face of Toiya's husband shook despite his honest attempts to maintain a strong image.

"Yeah, I am aware but… I figured that maybe you'd want to talk about that. There are things I need to say as well. If you don't want to hear them, that is fine." Mana looked away. She began feeling like coming here was a mistake. What did she think he would say? Why would Toiya's husband just welcome the brat whom his wife died saving inside his own home? Or maybe it was just the self-preservation instinct kicking in, demanding on a sub-conscious level that Mana left this demeaning and painful situation behind and stopped diving back into the depths she was sinking in not too long ago.

"Please, come in…" the man stepped aside letting Mana enter, the cold was getting inside the house and the magician heard a little baby crying from further inside the house. A sound that usually would have invited feelings of joy and pride of the family's achievement and dedication, the most amazing bond that can tie people together now only made breath get stuck inside Mana's throat like one of those explosive balls stuck with kunai on the sides to work as shrapnel.

The sizzling of the burning fuse kept going inside her mind, who knew which direction it was going, who knew when it would go off…


Author's Note: It's a bit weird how experimental this arc ended up being, as I look back on it after it is approaching its final chapters (it should be, anyway :D). It was always supposed to be just this short 5-10 chapters experiment on me doing some homages and some parodies to noir as a style that ended up really stretching out. As I look back I find it hard to imagine how I ever planned to stuff all of it into just 10 chapters as this arc is mostly what I envisioned it story-wise, it's just that execution has gone a bit wild at times.

I did a lot of weird stuff and experimenting with storytelling (it may not be really evident though) in this arc and while I did not receive much feedback about how any of my readers feel about this arc, I myself have pretty strong feelings about it. I kind of treasure it and what I tried, both the goods and what I thought had failed in it. I find it as a lovely little experiment and as such it will always be remembered with some fondness to it, even if it may not be an interesting read to a reader (I would presume...).