Friendly Foreign Dimensional Exchange Student Spider-Man!: Academia
Blossom Killer
Before, the roof had only three people and a corpse. Now it's filled with perimeter guards, forensic investigators, detectives, and teams of analysts all inspecting the crime scene and the body.
Yaeko, a private investigator herself, gives the crime scene another sweep, waiting for her interns to finish answering police questions.
"So, this victim was Shishido's?"
She turns to see detective Eizo Tanuma walking towards her. He's shorter than she is, almost by a full head.
"Yeah, and one of his best."
Eizo quietly sighs while also smoking. "Let's hope he doesn't turn feral when he arrives."
The detective looks down; the street is filled with spectators and reporters gathered right below them. He drops his finished cigarette on the floor, grinding it with the toe of his shoe. "This is too much. If the list of dead bodies gets any longer, we're gonna have to put a waiting list at the funeral home."
"They haven't slipped." She admitted. "We have nothing to really go off of in terms of a lead."
"And you're certain you'll find one, Miss Umeko?" Eizo questions her.
Yaeko looks directly at the detective. "I will…"
"I said: let me through!"
Both investigators react towards the shout seeing the Lion Hero: Shishido barging through the rooftop entrance. Two cops are thrown to the ground as the hero shoves his way through the police line. Behind him is Hound Dog, another of his sidekicks. Shishido frantically looks around until noticing the long white fabric covering someone. He moves towards the crime scene with wide eyes until a few more police officers try again to halt him, telling Shishido to move back.
"Let the man see the victim." Detective Eizo demands.
While forensics continue with their duties, one of them abides and lifts the top of the cover, revealing the face of Skywalker. Shishido silently stares at the corpse, closes his eyes, and clenches his fists tightly along with a low-pitched feline growl. For Hound Dog, he could not stand to look anymore, turning around while placing a hand to cover his eyes.
"Can you confirm that this person is your sidekick?" Eizo asks, both of them now closer to the crime scene.
The lion-man looks at the detective; his large fang-like mask covers the feelings radiating on the face, but his eyes show deep sorrowful rage. "Yes…"
Eizo takes out another of his smokes from the cigarette box. "Do you need a moment? Well take him to the morgue soon."
"No, thank you. I must inform his parents." Shishido notices the P.I. Hero behind the detective. After a deep breath, he walks towards Yaeko stopping only a few inches from her.
"Is everything set?" The lion-man whispers, with anger in his voice.
Yaeko answers with a nod. "One hundred percent."
"Good." Shishido leaves the rooftop along with his dog-man sidekick.
Noticing her interns wrapping up their reports to the police questionnaire Yaeko begins to move, ready to leave; there's nothing else for her to do here. "Sir Eizo, I leave the rest to you?"
The detective reacts to his name, standing again close to the ledge. "Sure, you can go Yaeko."
"See you again." As she and the students began walking down the stairs, Rumi couldn't remain quiet after what she had heard with the detective and Shishido, thanks to her rabbit ears.
"Yaeko, what were you guys talking about?"
"Stay quiet until we're in my office." Her demand kept the two silent as they followed the instructor leaving by the backdoor, without the media noticing.
They eventually arrive at a tall cylindrical skyscraper with the outer body covered by curtain walls from walking and public transport for several minutes. Entering, the P.I. Hero and her interns stop at a security entrance. There, she forages the pockets of her oversized coat to take out two hand-size plastic cards. "These are the guest entrance passes to this building. They're expensive, so don't lose them or pay the bill."
The two interns take a pass. Following Yaeko, they hover their object on the scanner, giving them the green light to pass through the doors. Next, they take an elevator, slowly lifting them to the thirty-fifth floor. The P.I. Hero reaches a door and opens the entrance revealing a reception area with a young man working at his desk. His straight hair is white, like Mirko's.
The man gets up and bows to his boss. "Welcome back, Lady Yaeko."
"Good afternoon. Bunny Girl, Relaxer, this is Himuro, my personal secretary and assistant. He will escort you to your personal residence in the upper floor, when you're both done settling in, come back here in half an hour. He will show you to my office."
"Hello, mister Himuro." Rumi and Shohei greeted and bowed.
Yaeko looks back at her secretary. "I'll leave them to you."
"Of course, U.A. students, follow me." The white-haired man leaves the reception desk to the elevators.
Now alone inside, the P.I. Hero heads to her workspace, opening another door to reveal a very well-furnished area with a large window framed on the whole room with a clear view of the Ikebukuro district. After leaving her hat and coat on a rack, she sits on her large desk and opens her laptop, beginning to work on it.
After an hour or so, there's a knock on her door. "Lady Yaeko, your interns have returned." Calls Himuro's voice from the other side.
"Let them in." The male secretary opens the door, letting Rumi and Shohei into her office. Both take a few steps stopping close to her desk; Himuro leaves, closing the door.
Yaeko gets up from the desk chair. "Take a seat, you two."
Both U.A. students each sit down on two of the four chairs present.
"Are you both settled in the rooms you're staying?" Yaeko asks.
"Um… sort of..." Shohei responds. It will be strange for him to stay in a place that looks like a luxurious suite.
Although for Rumi, she had no problems whatsoever. "Not yet, but I'll enjoy it a lot."
"Alright then. So, I reckon that you would like to know about what Shishido and detective Eizo were talking about?"
Rumi nodded, while Shohei looked at them, confused. Yaeko presses a remote to reveal an image showing a presentation of a page coming from her laptop on a projector screen. "Before that, let me explain to you this case."
The first page shows photos of eight individuals in diverse costumes with their heroes and real names on the bottom of each image.
She begins explaining, looking back to her interns. "As I mentioned before, someone out there is murdering high profile sidekicks and Pro Hero newcomers here in Tokyo, three of them were planning on leaving their respective agencies to become pros. The third victim made the authorities categorize this as a serial type crime, and it wasn't until the fifth victim that they opened the case to people like me to assist them. With Skywalker, the total now is nine."
The P.I. Hero presses the remote again to change the page, revealing a detailed satellite map with red dots marked on different areas. "The only description we have on this individual is that they most likely do research by surfing the media for their next target. When finding someone having a lot of attention, they kill the person in the ward they are working in or follow their movements when on patrol."
She notices one of her interns raise his hand. "Yes Shohei?"
"How are we certain that this is only one person?"
"Not certain, but the most probable." She responded. "The time difference between the murders are usually a few weeks apart, showing that they take their time in research, moving around between each attack. The way they kill are always the same: a cylinder like object pierces through the person's head instantly killing them."
Yaeko slowly walks to the large window as she continues. "The behavior and strategy of this person doesn't match with any current criminal records, meaning this is a new one on the loose. Which is why I decided to create a plan which has approval by the police and the HPSC."
Pressing the remote again reveals the images of four new faces that both U.A. students recognize. "I convinced some Pro Heroes and their sidekicks willing to help. They'll monitor an area in Tokyo where a few sidekicks and new Pro Heroes have received favorable coverage by the press, like recent newcomer Shield Hero: Crust and sidekick Magic Hero: Majestic. Based on my research, Shinjuku is where I believe is the killer's next place to hunt for their next target."
"Hold on, you're allowed to investigate outside your territory?" Rumi asks.
"For heroes to patrol in other wards or cities, you need the authorization of the HPSC, including have all agencies and law enforcement in that area know about your presence. But since I'm also a private investigator, I do have a few special benefits."
Shohei gets up from his seat. "Is… there any way we can help."
Rumi smiles at her friend's reaction, getting up as well. "Same here!"
"Calm down kids." Yaeko responds while raising her hand. "This is your internship; but you'll be there as observers and lookouts. Strictly non-combat. This killer has taken out full pros. Am I clear?"
The response makes the two U.A. interns beam to each other for being allowed to take part in the P.I. Hero's plan.
"Crystal!" Both U.A. students respond.
"Excellent. And remember, we're calling this person the Blossom Killer".
(X)
"Are you on the roof, Bunny Girl."
"Yes, I am."
Rumi's hero costume is inspired by mixed martial arts attire, with a long-sleeved white skin-tight shirt with purple and yellow trims, a purple legging with yellow and same white lines, pair of black and white fingerless fighting gloves, and black-yellow Vibram FiveFingers shoes.
Seeing that she is alone in the area, Rumi jumps down, kicking on multiple walls of the buildings to make a safe landing. She presses a voice recorder, hides the phone under a trash container, and jumps back to the roof. She lies down stomach side close to the building's edge.
She whispers to her phone. "The recorder is on and placed."
"Alright. Remember, just a photo." The P.I. Hero instructed from the call.
Rumi hangs up and patiently waits. Her current task didn't require visualization of what was happening on the closed-narrow pavement. Instead, she just had to use the hearing abilities of her rabbit ears to know that a man had arrived and stopped right on top of her location. A few minutes later, the new sound of thick boots is walking towards the person in waiting. After Rumi secretly takes a picture of the two men, she can hear their conversation.
"And you sure this is stronger than the others?"
"Absolutely sir, this new one called Trigger, is becoming the new best choice out there."
"Fine… here."
"Pleasure doing business, I assure you will like it."
"We'll see, later."
Both their footsteps went opposite directions, their sounds becoming more distant; it was not until Rumi could not hear both men's movements that she redialed the number, and Yaeko answered the call.
"All clear on my end."
"Come back then, me and Relaxer have confirmed both parties are gone."
Rumi gets up and takes a stretch. She retrieves the voice recorder under the container, stops its registering, and begins high jumping from one building to another towards the others.
For the past week and a half, this task has been of many, Bunny Girl and Relaxer experiencing how Yaeko works as a Pro Hero and Private Investigator. Both learned that she mainly specializes in local criminal and domestic cases, from tracing to undercover work, with everything only superhero-related.
She eventually finds the P.I. Hero and her high school friend on a street crossing and lands between them. Shohei's costume is also practical. A skin-tight long-sleeved black shirt with a yellow stripe covering the sides of the clothing, including the front and back, it's the same with the loose fighting trousers of yellow and black lines, tightened with a yellow martial arts belt. He has black hand wrap covering his hands, a pair of black slip shoes, and sports glasses.
"Got what you needed?" She asks the two.
"Photo of the dealer arriving and leaving, check."
"Same with the Pro Hero, we can return to my office."
With this task done, they began walking back to Yaeko's agency while Shohei rechecked the evidence they collected. "Still, I can't believe he's risking so much to stay active. With how old this guy looks he should be retiring by now."
"My guess he doesn't have enough cash saved for the nest egg, right?" The rabbit girl wonders.
The P.I. Hero explains as she walks. "Or maybe he still craves the Pro Hero lifestyle. With this it should be enough to show to my client, and since it's one if his sidekicks, it's not gonna be pretty when the agency learns about this."
"So, not boring as you thought, huh?" Asks Shohei with an arm nudging at Rumi's torso.
She responds with a whisper to his ear. "Yeah, I guess. Hey, before internship's over, think we could ask Yaeko about the hotel's spa."
"Maybe, although I think we're already getting spoiled from the hotel restaurant's food every day." He chuckles at her, which she also does.
"Hey kids." Yaeko speaking up gets the U.A. student's attention. "After this we got a night patrol today so be ready."
"Sure, where we going?" Shohei asks.
"Shinjuku, it is time."
(X)
The outskirts of the ward are moderately more active at night than the center, with a fair number of civilians walking or driving to return home, heading to their night jobs, or having a fun night.
Shohei is with Yaeko; they are both very attentive to their surroundings.
As they patrol, the P.I. Hero takes out her phone and redials a number, pressing another button on the screen to have the phone on speaker.
"Hey Yaeko." Responds Bunny Girl from the call.
"Where are you right now?"
"I'm on a rooftop two buildings away. Look to your front right." Relaxer and Yaeko gaze above and find a faraway young hero-costumed girl standing on a company headquarters.
"Notice anything unusual?" The older instructor asks.
Rumi takes another look around the brightly lit night before answering. "Nothing, just noticed two heroes or sidekicks moving around."
There is a pause of silence. "Okay, come down." Yaeko responds, no longer looking up deciding to cross a sidewalk.
Bunny Girl looks around one last time and takes a few steps, but she suddenly halts in place. Her ears twitched, and she immediately dropped down to the ground when hearing an object pass by her, zooming very close to the head.
Rumi hyperventilates and shivers from escaping this near-death moment; it was a miraculous dodge. She knew it was a bullet just by the sound, although she didn't see anyone by looking around the skyline.
"Bunny Girl? What's wrong? What was that sound?"
Rumi still had the call with Yaeko active but ignored the questions from the P.I. Hero. Her mind is in full surveillance mode with flexed ears, and her body tensed up, wondering who attacked her. Then that gunshot sound rang again. The moment she heard the speeding bullet, the rabbit girl dashed forward, evading the hit again, which instead landed on the building's roof, causing a small part of the concrete to disintegrate.
"Oh, crap!" Horrified, she realizes the murderer they are searching for is now targeting her.
"Rumi, we heard that! What's going on?!" Shohei shouts to her directly.
Bunny Girl jumps off the building to land on the sidewalk, the instructor and her friend a couple of meters ahead.
"Yaeko! Shohei!" Rumi shouts and runs to them. She grabs with both hands on the P.I. Hero's coat, still breathing heavily from getting away from those near misses.
The instructor looks with concern. "What happened?"
"Call your Pro Hero allies! I just dodge two bullets. It's the Blossom Killer, they're after me!"
Yaeko and Shohei become wide-eyed in disbelief; based on their information, this was not the murderer's modus operandi.
"That's… their victims are sidekicks and Pro Hero newcomers, so why-?" The P.I. Hero stopped after feeling Rumi's hands grasping her coat tighter.
For Bunny Girl, it was those sounds again. This time, the bullet was coming from a different direction, but somehow it corrected itself and flew directly towards them.
"Get down!" She falls forwards while pushing them both. But not knowing where the curving bullet is arriving, it pierces the instructor's lower leg. She screams in shock at the pain.
"Yaeko!" Shohei reacts.
Rumi looked at them and sensed the pedestrians reacting in worry from those gunshots. Also, seeing the fast-bleeding leg, she knew everyone around here was in danger of getting caught by those crazy sniper bullets. Bunny Girl could only think of one option, with her being the new target. "Shohei, stay with her!"
"Rumi, wait!/Rumi, don't!" Relaxer and the P.I. Hero cried in refusal, but it was too late. The rabbit girl jumps in full speed running from one building to another, leaving the two behind.
"Re-Relaxer."
Shohei turns to their instructor, who is now trying to slow the bleeding with her hand. The boy tries to help by placing his hand close to Yaeko's face and activates his quirk. The calming aromas begin to cover her face until she inhales them.
"Thanks, kid." She responds calmly.
Yaeko gets out her phone to press an app that her group uses. After typing the passwords for clearance and pressing a button, her device makes a loud noise, and the screen indicates all phones connected are receiving the alarm and that her phone's microphone is on.
"Attention all heroes and sidekicks, we have a confirmed the Blossom Killer here in Shinjuku! I repeat, we have a confirmed the Blossom Killer in Shinjuku! Any possible sighting of the murderer report to us immediately! They're after my intern!"
(X)
No matter how far she went, the bullets could still track her. The projectiles can somehow turn to keep pursuing their target wherever direction she changes. Rumi has been able to evade all of them thanks to knowing where they were arriving from their sounds of cutting through the air and doing last-second acrobatics to make them hit something else.
"Danm it… it never stops!"
The next problem is how long the rabbit girl's stamina and concentration can last. But she kept moving as far away as possible until she was too far for those bullets to hit her. The next one coming had Rumi evade with a backflip, but she forgot about the hotel's edge, slipping and falling off the side of the building.
"Shit!" Rumi curses in dreaded panic, hearing another of those mysterious projectiles on its way. She will either end up flat like a pancake on the ground, or another sniper bullet finally finds the target.
It arrived towards her within a few meters until a brisk blur got to Rumi, making her suddenly disappear out of sight resulting in the bullet missing the target and piercing instead on the asphalt road. The only thing Rumi saw was pitch black and the feeling of being quickly pulled away from her fall.
"You're safe. Open your eyes." When hearing a man's voice, the rabbit girl finally opens them to see she is now being bridal carried by the High-Speed Hero: O'Clock staring at her. Seeing she was fine, the man let Rumi back on her feet and checked her body.
"Good, no injuries. Are you okay?"
Rumi is nearly panting as she responds. "Perfect, just… need some… breathing."
Being confident the two are safe in this small park, he gets out his phone and contacts the other surveillance members. "This is O'Clock, I found and rescued Bunny Girl. Any heroes and sidekicks close by look around a one-kilometer radius around Ushigome-yanagicho and Yotsuya-Sanchome station."
"Wait, what made you think that's where the villain is?" Asked the confused Rumi.
O'Clock taps with a finger on the side of his head. "I simply sped around and listened to where the projectiles were coming from, which made it easier to condense the location due to the multiple shots being fired at you. I suggest you wait for a sidekick to come protect you and go into hiding."
Before Rumi could respond, her phone rings, and she picks it up to respond, it's Yaeko. "Bunny Girl, contact Relaxer. He left me trying to find you and is refusing my calls. His risking himself going around alone like this, make him stop."
They then hear someone else in the High-Speed Hero's phone. "Ladies and Gentleman, this is His Purple Highness. We lost track of someone suspicious running around between the alleyways, but we'll continue our search."
They both then overhear someone else from a far distance. "Purple Highness, is that you?"
Rumi recognizes the voice. "It's Shohei."
"Yes, it is, and you are who young man?"
"It's Relaxer, I'm with the Private Investigator Hero: Yaeko, I'm checking this parking garage."
"No! Stand down, it's too dangerous."
After hearing this, Rumi panics because His Purple Highness is right. "Shohei, Shohei! Are you there? Answer me!"
Not hearing her friend's voice, she looks to the speed hero. "O'Clock, you gotta take me there with you!"
He raises his hand in disagreement. "I can't, you'll be in danger if you come with me."
But the rabbit girl counters him. "At this rate he won't listen to anyone, but maybe I can convince him to stop, I'm his high school friend in U.A. You saw how I performed back there right? You can trust me."
The speed hero ponders; it may be risky, but this could help the intern student stand down if what she says is true. "Alright, follow me."
O'Clock leads the way while Bunny Girl follows him. As they run, Rumi tries to call Shohei, hoping he responds, which he does. "Rumi?"
"Shohei stop looking around and wait for reinforcements, including me. This person might be using a sniper rifle, one shot and that's it."
"Well, I did hear someone is close by inside a parking lot, but it's fine. No matter who it is, I'll just have to use my quirk, and they'll relax into submission. See you there." He hung up before Rumi could respond.
"Bunny Girl, hold on to me we're speeding up." She does as O'Clock says.
He activates Overclock and goes higher in speed to reach their destination faster. Rumi feels the force of the air hitting her while holding tightly on the speed hero. It took them only a few seconds to reach the parking lot with the three heroes inside. After letting him go, O'Clock looks at Rumi.
"Listen, stay here and be on guard, we need someone to report if the killer makes their escape out of there. Now, call your friend." He instructs her.
But Bunny Girl refuses, pointing upwards. "Are you serious?! We're this close to beat that psycho's ass and I can't leave Shohei up there alone!"
Suddenly, they hear loud gunshots up above to see some third-floor lights switching off. The sound of projectiles continues until the cries of pain ring out, both hear with dismay.
That was enough for Rumi to ignore the High-Speed Hero and make a high jump towards the fight's location, ignoring O'Clock's cry to stop. The rabbit girl arrives inside the third floor to see the area slightly dark due to the electric lighting damaged, hearing someone aching behind her. She looks in shock to see His Purple Highness is on the ground with his back on a car, his torso bleeding out from his costume. Rumi checks on him, including O'Clock arriving instantly thanks to his quirk.
He kneels close to him. "Hold on Purple Highness, we'll get help."
"My… they… the other two…"
Rumi, now worried, moves away from the car to see a person running from afar and takes a jump off the building's ledge. She is about to follow until seeing two people lying on the floor, one is face down, and the other is on his back, each with a small pool of blood around them. Shohei is the one face down with a hand holding his bleeding neck.
The rabbit girl, in disbelief, immediately goes to him. "Shohei!"
Relaxer struggles to respond, his mouth filled with the red liquid. "R-Rumi…"
Then Shohei's head moves downwards, the hand holding his neck let's go lowering down until touching the floor.
She begins to push his body, hoping he awakens. "Shohei? Shohei?!"
Rumi tried to find his pulse but felt nothing. She could not believe it and couldn't accept it. Of all those she cared deeply about, why did it have to be her close classmate and friend? Bunny Girl became trapped in different deep emotions: sorrow, confusion, regret, refusal. Looking at the bloodied one boot footprint that left the crime scene, another feeling surfaced and overpowered the others she had: wrath.
Just as Rumi is about to get up, O'Clock grabs hold of her arm, stopping her from giving chase. "You're still a target! Do you want to end up like them?!"
Ignoring him, she struggles and fights, but he won't let her go, now holding the arm with both hands.
Iwao Oguro holds the urge to chase the killer himself. He deeply whispers empathically from seeing the grieving young rabbit girl he first met not too long ago. "I'm so sorry…"
Soon her anger burns itself out, and she's left crying in the blood-drenched alley, standing beside the bodies of the dead.
Ld1449 as the editor.
Hey, FFDESS fans.
So, we can't imagine what Rumi is going through. Although I'm sure, some of you already knew this would happen.
My apologies for the long delay again. I lost my desire to write for a few months, and after finally working on this, I had to wait for LD's revision to arrive before I could publish it. I hope the contents here were worth the wait for you all.
Based on what I said in the previous chapter, I'll be honest in saying here to expect the next chapter very soon, or you have to wait patiently for the next one.
See you next chapter!