Halloween Special: A Musical Halloween Murder Part 1
10 Years Ago:
One night in the human world, everything seems quiet in a forest close by and it appears that nothing can be heard, but the forest animals that roam the night and crickets chirping. A cold air blows through the trees and the full moon shines bright. Suddenly, the sound of a piano can be played in the distance, followed by sirens and voices.
Just at the outskirts of the forest, there is a large fire that is in flames with the mansion of two stories covered in it. The firefighters are doing their best to put out the fire, but it has already gotten too out of control to put it out. Many humans watch in shock to see the fire burning the house and show sadness to hear music being played from inside the mansion.
Inside the burning mansion, there is a human man that is wearing white button up shirt with black suit pants and black well dressed shoes. He has pale white skin and black hair. The man is playing the piano as the flames surround the mansion with no attempt to escape. The debris of the upper ceiling falls with flames as the house continues to burn. The flames engulfed the house with the man inside, never to see the light of day.
Present Day:
One day in Hell, the I.M.P, everyone is sitting in the office with not much to do. Due to the lack of clients, they try their best to keep themselves busy. Loona and Roy play a game on the computer. Moxxie and Millie fix up the office's weapons and supplies. Millie deals with the knives, daggers, and other sharp weapons while Moxxie takes care of the firearms, guns, and such. Blitz is sitting on the couch fiddling with his phone and about to fall asleep. Amara has her guitar as she strums a specific melody and thinks of the lyrics in her thoughts. Then she writes the lyrics in her notebook.
Blitz yawns and says, "Okay people, it looks like we might get many clients today."
"Not many clients today? We haven't had any clients for almost a week. It must be slow or something," Loona says.
"I get it, business has been a bit slow this week. So I suggest we should do something," Blitz says.
"Like what?" Amara asks.
"I don't know. I'm open for suggestions," Blitz says.
"Well, I'm sure there's probably some unfinished work that needs to be done here," Moxxie says.
"True, but you, Blitz, and I already have a lot of the paperwork, and it seems that the company's finances are fine for the time being," Amara says.
Then Roy suggests, "Maybe we can go out somewhere to eat."
"We could also visit your boyfriend," Loona says, and turns to Amara.
"And we can visit Octavia too," Amara says.
"Maybe for going out to eat together, no for seeing that Thirsty Owl," Blitz answers.
"That's not nice. Stolas likes you, you know. And you like him as well." Amara calmly says.
Blitz blushes and turns his head away, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Amara and Roy begin laughing while Loona snickers.
"Okay, let's just drop it. The point is, we have no clients so maybe we should call it a day," Blitz says, annoyed.
Suddenly, they hear a knock.
"I'll get it," Roy says, and walks to the door.
He opens the door to see what looks like a demon, but seems human. His hair is brushed back, but is made of fire. He is wearing what looks like a ripped up button up shirt with ripped black suit pants and shoes. Some spots of his face and his arms have black spots, almost like burn marks.
"Hello," Roy says.
The man looks at Roy and calmly says, "Hmm, it seems the employees are getting smaller these days."
Roy laughs and says, "I'm not an employee, but my sister and the others are."
"I see. I have to assume this is I.M.P.? The Immediate Murder Professionals," The sinner asks.
"You are definitely at the right place," Blitz says, getting off the couch with excitement.
He walks over and presents his hand, "Hi. I'm Blitz. The 'o' is silent."
"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Hijiri. Of course, that is a name that I use here. My real name is. Hīragi Fujikawa," The man, Hiriji says.
"Yeah yeah. So what brings you here today?" Blitz questions.
Hiriji sighs and says, "Okay, I'll just give it to you straight. I want you to assassinate four people who are responsible for the death of me and my entire family. They locked us all in our home and burned it to the ground."
"Yikes," Roy comments.
"And who would those four people be? And what are their connections to you when you're alive?"' Amara asks.
He then brings out photographs.
He pointed to the first one, "Well, there is the Mayor Kogoro Izumi."
The photo shows a man in his late forties with black hair with some parts turning white. He is also wearing glasses and wears a burgundy color suit with a black tie and white shirt under it.
Then points to the next picture, "Hiro Suzamiya, my assistant."
The man has light brown hair with blue eyes, and wears bud earrings. He is wearing a navy blue suit with a light blue button up shirt and dark blue tie.
"There's also Mikuru Aso, she's actually my agent." The client adds, pointing to the next picture.
The picture is of a woman who has fair skin with short curly blonde hair. She is wearing a strapless, sleeveless dress with a white pearl necklace around her neck.
Then points to the last photograph, "And there's Dongwa Chang, runs a music shop, and repairs instruments when they get broken or have trouble."
The man seems chubby with a gray mustache and gray hair, he is also wearing large round glasses, and wears a t-shirt.
"So, these are the guys you want us to kill?" Blitz asks.
"Yeah. They are. Like I said, they killed me and my family," Hiriji answers.
"That sounds awful," Roy says.
Then Amara asks, "Out of curiosity, is there any reason why they could have murdered you and your family?"
"To be honest, I think they wanted to murder me, but I suspect they decided to murder my family in case I told them or to get rid of witnesses. There are some things in my human life that I do not wish to share, and it's hard to bring them up. Still, I want them to regret killing me, my wife, my two sons and daughter. I'm only glad my son wasn't in the house when it happened, but… I don't know what became of him now," Hiriji says, lowering his head in sadness.
The I.M.P Crew look concerned, excluding Loona who is busy playing a game.
Blitz then says, "Okay, so we'll make sure to take care of those assholes and we'll even take pictures of them as proof."
"Thank you. I'll give you my number to be in contact, and I have the money to pay for it now… and well, I hope you don't mind if you can do me an extra favor. I won't mind paying extra if you can at least give me a clue," Hiriji says.
"What will that be?" Moxxie asks.
"If it's alright, I want to know if you can find my son. I… I want to know what became of him. You see, my son, Tadashi, was very sick as a child and was staying at the hospital. If you can at least get information of what became of him. You even send me pictures of how he's doing. I really appreciate it," Hiriji explains.
"Well, we don't usually do stuff like that, but I guess we could make it an exception," Blitz says.
"Thank you, I appreciate it," Hiriji says.
After getting the number of his client and taking the pictures from him, the group brings out their weapons, and other stuff for their job.
Roy then asks, "Hey Blitz, can Loona and I go with you this time?"
"Well, I don't know. We can't have too many of us around," Blitz says.
"He is right. After the little fiasco with those demon obsessed loons, we need to be discreet about it," Amara says.
"And come up with better disguises as well," Moxxie says.
"And Loona and I will need to do better with our human disguises as well," Amara says.
Loona says, "Well, we can still blend in with humans easily enough. Roy and I can tag along and make sure we stay out of trouble."
"Alright, you both can come along, but you gotta take orders," Blitz says.
"Fine," Loona says, rolling her eyes.
"Sure," Roy happily says.
Sometime later in the forest in the human world, the portal from the I.M.P office opens with the group stepping out. Loona and Amara are dressed in their human disguises and are wearing jackets as well. Roy, Blitz, Moxxie, and Millie follow after to be wearing disguises to look like humans.
"Alright gang, the target sent us info that they all were living around here. Let's find them and kill these bastards," Blitz says.
Loona looks ahead, "The town should be in this direction."
The group then walks to the direction Loona points. They walk down the forest path and soon reach the town with no trouble. To their surprise, they see the town is decorated with black, orange, green, red, white and purple decorations. There are a lot of pumpkins, autumn leaves, spiders, bats, ghosts, and other scary and spooky things. There are also a lot of humans wearing different costumes of clothes, makeup, accessories, and other stuff.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Blitz asks.
"Wow! This place looks amazing! Is there some kind of party?!" Millie says, excited.
"Maybe there's some kind of event going on?" Amara suggests.
"Let's go check the place out," Blitz says, interested.
The group then begins to explore town to see the stores and food places have been decorated by the same decorations, pumpkins, and other stuff. There are also plenty of people wearing costumes. They even have some young children going from one place and the other as the other people give them candy and other treats.
Seeing this, Amara says, "Oh, now I see what's going on. I remember reading some books. Apparently, this is a holiday called Halloween. Apparently, the holiday got started when people wore costumes to ward off spirits. Now, it's a fun holiday when kids can get candy from house to house."
"Sounds like my kind of holiday. We can be ourselves and people will think we're in costumes. Best of all, once we're done with work, we can go have some fun," Blitz says.
Just then, Roy notices something, "Hey guys, what's going on over there?
The group turns their heads to notice multiple people seem to be walking towards a specific location. Curious about it, they decide to check it out. They walk over to see a large mansion that seems to be at the outskirts of town. Many of the people walk around the house to the back, so everyone decides to follow. To their surprise, they see a large gathering of people with decorations, tables full of food, games, music, and everyone in costumes.
"Wow! This place looks amazing!" Millie says.
"Looks like we're in the middle of a party," Moxxie says.
"Yeah. And with everyone in costumes and with a large group of people, it's going to be hard to find the targets," Amara says.
"Shit, you're right! It will take us forever," Blitz says.
Loona says, "Amara and I might be able to spot them, but it might take some time."
"It will be better if we split up and search around for the targets," Moxxie says.
"Sounds good. Moxxie and Millie are one group," Blitz says.
Roy turns to Amara, "Hey sis, can I go with Loona."
"Sure, if Loona's okay with it," Amara says.
Loona shrugs her shoulders, "Sure, why not?"
"Then I guess it's just you and me," Blitz says.
With that, the group decides to split up and go in different directions. Millie and Moxxie are looking around the food area to see many people are having food and drinks, even some alcoholic drinks.
"Wow. There are so many different people," Millie says.
"I know, how are we going to find them while they're wearing costumes," Moxxie replies
Suddenly, they hear someone say, "That sure is a grand party you're throwing,Mayor Korogro."
"It's no trouble. I just love to see the happy looks on everyone's faces, and to see how large our community has processed," A male voice says.
Millie and Moxxie take a peek to see the three men. They see one of the men wearing glasses and has a black hair with some white. The man is wearing a black suit with a white button up, shirt, and red vest, he is also wearing a black cloak and appears to have sharp fang teeth.
"That must be him," Millie says.
"Yes. That's Mayor Kogoro Izumi, but we can't do anything while everyone is around. We'll have to find a way to get him alone, but it will be hard because he's a public official," Moxxie says.
Millie and Moxxie watch their target from a short distance, and notice him walking away as he checks his phone.
Meanwhile, Loona and Roy are looking around.
"Dang, there are a lot of people here. It will take forever," Loona says.
"Yeah. I've never seen so many people here since the beach," Roy says.
"Hi," A boy's voice says.
Roy turns to see a young boy who appears to be eleven years old. He has black hair and brown eyes. He is dressed in white pants, and a white robe, and has a black belt around his waist, he is also holding a pumpkin shaped bag.
"Hi my name is Tadashi, what's your name?" The boy replies.
"I'm Roy. What are you dressed as?" Roy replies.
"I'm a Karate Master. Are you a cowboy?" Tadashi says.
"Sure am," Roy says with a smile.
"Sounds cool," Tadashi says.
Suddenly, someone calls out, "Tadashi!"
The group turns their heads to see a woman with black hair in a ponytail, gray eyes, and wears a black dress decorated with purple bats on it, black and purple stockings and flats.
"Hi Aunt Haruka," Tadashi says.
"There you are. I was looking for you. You shouldn't run off like that," The woman says.
"Sorry about that," Tadashi says.
"It's okay, just make sure you are careful," The woman says.
"Okay," Tadashi says.
The woman notices Loona and Roy.
"Hello, I apologize if my nephew gave you any trouble," The woman says.
"Nah. The kid wasn't being annoyed," Loona says.
"Yeah. We were just talking," Roy says.
"Yeah Aunt Sonoko, I kind of ran into them," Tadashi says.
"Alright, but remember to tell me before you go running off. We need to get back to the others," The woman, Sonoko says.
"Okay," Tadashi says.
Suddenly, "I told you I have nothing to do with you! Let me go!"
Soon, the group turns to see two people. One of them is dressed in a white ripped up wedding dress with some makeup, but has the same appearance as the target Mikuru Aso. The other one is wearing a suit, and it's Dongwa Chang, the other target, and he has a scar on his right cheek. The man Dongwa is holding Mikuru's wrist
The man, Dongwa says, "Come on darling, you and I are old friends. Come on! How much money did you owe me?!" and pulls her close to him.
"I told you to let go of me!" The woman shouts in anger.
She pulls her hand away and leaves with a huff. Dongwa Chang grits his teeth and growls in anger and walks away with a scowl look on his face.
"What was that about?" Roy asks.
Sonoko says, "That's Dongwa Chang and Mikuru Aso. I hear they haven't been getting along recently. We need to get going. Hope to see you around."
With that, Sonoko and Tadashi say goodbye to Loona and Roy and head off to meet some relatives. Roy and Loona look at each other with confused looks on their faces.
At the otherside of the party, Blitz and Amara find themselves to see a few people playing music with their instruments. They see the target, Hiro Suzamiya is dressed in a robe that is similar to a priest as he plays the piano.
"Hmm, that's Hiro Suzamiya, that's Hiriji's assistant. And it seems that he's now playing the piano," Amara says.
"Yeah. Like we haven't got that information yet. We just need to lead him to a better spot to off him," Blitz says.
"Careful Blitz, there are too many people around. We need to keep our wits about this. Even though we're acting like people in costumes, they'll know the sound of a gun shot if it goes off," Amara says.
"Fine, fine. You're almost as bad as moxxie when it comes to nagging at me," Blitz says, rolling his eyes.
"Well, someone has to make sure you stay out of trouble," Amara says.
"Right. Anyway, let's go meet up with the others," Blitz says.
A little time later, the group met up together to think of a plan to get their job finished.
"Okay, so we need to find a way to get the targets alone so we can get them off, and we need to do it quietly. There are too many people around," Blitz says.
"So how are we going to do that?" Millie asks.
"Well, Loona or Amara could ask them if they need to talk or something and need to do it privately," Moxxie says.
"Maybe," Amara says.
Suddenly, they begin to hear people talking and they gather at a specific place.
"Hmm, something's going on. Let's go check it out," Blitz says.
Not long, Blitz and the others gather to where the humans in costume are. They look to see that Mayor Kogoro is behind a large tree along with a woman with long curly black hair and wearing a hula outfit close by.
The Mayor announces, "Hello! Is everyone having a great time?!"
Everyone in the audience claps and cheers with excitement. Blitz and the others are interested and simply clap along with them.
Suddenly Roy hears someone calling him, "Hey Roy."
Roy turns to see Tadashi along with Sonoko and a few more relatives. One is a woman with brown burned hair with glasses, and is wearing a maid outfit. Her name is Makoto Sonata. A man dressed like a detective, and three young kids are with them. He is her husband, Seiji Sonata.
"Hey Tadashi," Roy says.
"Glad to see you came. This is going to get exciting," Tadashi says.
"Yeah!" Roy says, excited.
Everyone continues to watch as they hear the Mayor announce, "Now then, it's time to turn on the lights, and let the show begin!"
With that, the lights begin to shine on the mansion along with many of the trees in the area as piano music begins to play a spooky melody. Along with a large tree decorated with glowing fake hanging corpses. Suddenly, the final lights on the tree turn on, making everyone let out a gasp of shock, surprise, and fright. Even the I.M.P Crew are taken by shock. When they see on the top of the tree, there is a man that is hanging on the tree with the noose around his neck and the rope tied to the tree. Everyone begins to scream in terror to see a real human man has been hanged to death. To the I.M.P Crew, they recognize who the man is right away.
"That's Dongwa Chang?!" Moxxie says, shocked.
"But… why?!" Amara says, shocked.
Sometime later, the I.M.P Crew quickly hide close by before the police arrive. The police arrive and observe the body that has been taken down from the tree and is laying on the ground. Everyone is in shock and fear to see the man has been pronounced dead.
One of the officers says, "Dongwa Chang, forty three years old. Owner of a piano Shop. Death caused by being hanged by the neck. Possible time of death is fifty minutes ago. He received a hard blow to the head and was possibly knocked out before ..."
Unknown to them, Amara is above the trees to hear the police report. Amara uses her robotic limbs to hand on to the tree as she hears the conversation of the police officers. She also notices that a piece of paper is laying right next to the body. She continues to hear the conversation about the paper that has been found with the body. Hearing enough information, Amara quickly uncoils her limbs from the branches and flies over the trees and reaches the clearing far in the forest.
"So what you heard?!" Millie asks.
"The man that was found dead was Dongwa. Apparently, Dongwa was knocked out first and was hanged to death while knocked out. They also found a music sheet in the victim's pocket with some music notes written on it," Amara explains.
"Well, at least that one less victim to take care of. Now we can move on to the other three," Blitz says, holding out his gun.
"I suppose, but who could have gotten to the target before we could?" Moxxie replies.
"I don't think it really matters. Maybe someone else got a beef with him as well and decided to kill him for it," Loona says.
"That's possible. I do have to wonder why a music sheet was left at the scene. A dying message, or a message from the killer," Amara says.
"Cowgirl, it's best to leave this to the police asshole on this place. Let's focus on finding the other targets and get our work done," Blitz says.
"Uh yeah. Let's see if we can find the other targets before we lose them," Amara says.
This time the I.M.P Crew decides to stay together as they walk around the city. Many of the people who have been at the party either remain there due to the investigation and questioning, but some had to leave because of their children. The investigation will have to be like this for a while.
"Hmm, it's kind of odd that the man has died before we could have the chance," Amara says.
"I agree. We were supposed to off the guy," Millie says.
Loona then says to herself, "Could that woman have done it?"
The group stops in their tracks and turns to Loona with confused looks.
"What woman?" Amara asks.
Then Roy says, "We actually saw Dongwa with that woman Mikuru sometime ago. The man Dongwa was trying to pressure her to give him money, but she brushed him aside."
"Do you think she could have done it?" Blitz asks.
"I'm not sure. Sonoko said that she hadn't been getting along lately," Loona says.
"Sonoko? Who the fuck is that?" Blitz asks.
"She's the woman we met when we were with Tadashi," Roy says.
"Tadashi? Isn't he Hiriji's son?" Blitz asks.
"Maybe, but it could be a different Tadashi," Amara says.
"Maybe. We could go find them and ask about it," Moxxie says.
The group then decide to look for Tadashi and his family as they try to keep an eye out for their targets. At the kids area, where many kids are playing. They climb on hay stacks, jumping into a small pool of autumn leaves, climb the ladder and ride down the slides, and play on the swings.
Roy turns to Amara, "Hey sis, can I go play with the other kids?"
"Sure. But make sure that I can see you," Amara answers.
"Okay," Roy says, and runs off to play with the human children.
Suddenly, someone says, "Well, hello again."
The group turns to see the woman Sonoko along with Makoto and Seiji.
"Hey, you're Sonoko right?" Loona asks.
"Yes, Sonoko Fujikawa. And the ones behind me are Seiji Sonata and his wife, Makoto. We didn't properly introduce ourselves. Are these friends of yours?" Sonoko says.
"In a way," Loona says.
Then points to Amara, "And in case you don't know, that's the kid's older sister."
"Nice to meet you, and your friends," Sonoko says.
"Hello," Amara says.
Millie then says, "I'm Millie. So that was one insane mess earlier back at the mansion, huh."
"That's right, it was really scary. I never expected this to happen. And it's not something children have to see," Makoto says.
"I'm sure the police will figure out what happened and find whoever did it," Seiji says.
"Maybe, but how could someone get the body up there without anyone noticing? I mean, there were a lot of people," Amara says, thinking.
Moxxie says, "It could be possible that someone assumed they are carrying one of those fake corpses that's already been hanging on the tree."
"Maybe, but someone would have noticed," Sonoko says.
"Maybe, and the culprit would have to be pretty strong to get him up the tree and was able to knock him out without trouble," Amara says.
Blitz asks, confused, "What are you a detective?"
"I would call myself a good reader and being very observant," Amara says, crossing her arms.
"But who would want to kill him anyway?" Millie asks.
Then Seiji says, "Well, I've heard that he got on a lot of people's bad side and that he's been doing a lot of secret business even though he runs a music store."
"Like what?" Loona asks.
"I know it's a rumor, but they say that Chang has been doing a lot of illegal stuff, but there's no proof to confirm it," Seiji says.
Suddenly, they hear someone let out a loud scream of fright. That catches everyone's attention. Blitz, Amara, and Moxxie hurry to the source of the scream to see what it's about. When they arrive at the scene, they see a young woman sitting on the ground.
"What's wrong ma'am?" Amara asks.
The woman lifts her hand up as it shakes in fear, and points towards the source of her scream. When the others look, they are stunned to see Mayor Kogoro has been tied to a large cross with what looks like a wooden stake stabbed to his heart. What's more, pinned to the other side of his body is another music sheet. Amara then brings out her phone and decides to take the picture of it.
Amara looks at him and says, "It looks like he's dead. A stabbed in the heart and he died instantly."
"Shit. This is messed up," Blitz says.
"But who could be doing this, and why?" Moxxie asks.
"That I don't know, but I think… we should find out," Amara says.
After the incident, the I.M.P Crew are with Tadashi and his family to think about the incident. Seiji and his family invite Amara and the others to his home to talk about the incidents. Blitz and the colleagues are beside themselves to see that another target of theirs, Mayor Kogoro, has been stabbed to death with a stake through the heart.
"This is very shocking, first Mr. Chang and now Mayor Kogoro. What in the world is going on?" Seiji wonders.
"I think that's what we all want to know. Two people have been found dead and no one has seen a thing," Blitz says.
Then mutters to himself in frustration, "This is so going to make us look bad on this job."
"Let's not worry about that," Moxxie whispers.
"Either way, we still can be for sure that this is murder, because another music sheet was found next to the victim's body," Amara says, wirting on her note book.
Curious, Millie asks, "What are you writing there?"
"I'm re-writing the music score sheet that was found when the second body was found. I think this might actually be a code," Amara says.
"A code?" Loona says, curiously.
"Yeah. There are some sharps and flats at specific places on the sheet. The sheet music is piano sheet music, since they're assigned the letters of the alphabet to the keys of the piano from left to right. My music teacher actually taught me and my friends this so I should be able to crack it," Amara says.
"Did you?" Blitz asks, curious.
"Yes," Amara says.
"So what does it say?" Loona asks.
Amara then reads her message, "The two shadows are gone, the other two shall go before daybreak. You both know you're next."
"It's a warning," Moxxie says.
"Or a death threat," Blitz replies
"It looks like there's going to be more murders unless we find the killer," Seiji says.
Blitz then wonders, "I wonder if the last music sheet has a musical code as well."
"I actually asked the officer for the music sheet when they came to the scene of the second attack and was able to take a picture of it. So I was able to figure out the code," Amara says.
Then reads, "The code says: The first of the four shadows have been destroyed. The hellfire's grudge has settled. Be aware that you'll never see the light of day once the night comes to an end. Prepare yourself for a tragic end of your evil spill like Von Rothbart."
"Von Rothbart?" Sonoko says, confused.
"Hellfire grudge?" Seiji says, confused.
Then Makoto relaizes, "Do you think it referred to the uh, incident ten years ago?"
"Incident? What incident?" Amara asks.
The three adults look at each other with concern.
Makoto turns to Sonoko in concern, "I'm sorry if this will be painful for you."
"It's okay. I know it's bound to come up someday. I think it had something to do with my older brother. You see, my brother, Hīragi Fujikawa, who was a famous pianist. Sadly, there was a fire that broke out and he along with his family died in the fire," Sonoko explains.
Then turns to Tadashi who is playing a game with Roy, "Luckily, Tadashi was in the hospital where Seiji worked at the time, so his life was spared. However, there's this rumor going around that my brother set the fire himself and killed himself and his family, which myself, Seiji and his family, and many of our relatives refuse to believe."
That makes the I.M.P Crew shocked. What Sonoko explains is different from what Hiriji explains to them earlier. And now two of his targets are being killed. And now the message that's been found at the crime scenes. There are too many questions for them to ignore and need to figure out what the meaning behind these incidents and the messages left behind.
