Deep in the still temporary police station, Yamato was in the morgue with Mamoru. The site of the previous station was now cleared of debris and human remains, and it was there where they planned to take a stand and rebuild.
It was current problems that had Yamato frowning, though. "You read the background?" He asked Mamoru.
Stone-faced Mamoru shook his head. This death had him completely rattled. "I don't have to. I go to university with him. He was a year below me in the pre-med program."
Yamato looked up from the body of the dead man and looked at Mamoru in concern. "I'm sorry."
"I don't understand," he simply replied, unable to say more.
"The report on him doesn't lend any clarity either. He's a healthy twenty-one-year-old with no history of drug or alcohol use. His roommate even insists he didn't even drink occasionally, not liking the idea of losing control."
He then stepped away from the body and picked up a brown file. He then walked it over and handed it to Mamoru. "This might explain more."
Mamoru opened the file and noticed it was a toxicology report. "Fentanyl? This doesn't make sense. No one starts with fentanyl. Desperation for a better high drives people to use that."
Testing him, Yamato said, "People buy drugs laced with it all the time."
Flipping through the whole report, Mamoru shook his head in response. "It was the only drug in his system. It wasn't laced with anything."
"Very good," Yamato praised. He then moved on to his next point. He walked over to his filing cabinet, unlocked it, and pulled out a file that had been hidden by laying it flat beneath the other files. "Read this one."
Doing just that, Mamoru's eyebrows furrowed as he examined it. "This person died of the same batch of fentanyl."
"Rat," Yamato corrected.
"What? He turned on someone?"
Yamato chuckled at the misunderstanding. "No. He wasn't a rat. It is a rat. The rodent variety. This is the report for the rat that Shingo found when he followed the Dark Kingdom and Terra members."
"But what does he have to do with a criminal organization?" Mamoru asked, pointing to the dead man on the table.
"Luna worked her computer magic and discovered the building is actually a palm reading business that just opened yesterday. We believe it's a cover for one of Beryl's endeavors."
"But why would a straight-A pre-med student be mixed up with that kind of drug? If it had been cocaine or amphetamines, it would make sense that someone taking difficult classes would abuse uppers, but fentanyl? That doesn't compute."
Yamato gave Mamoru a kind smile. "Your brain works so efficiently it's impressive. The world hasn't jaded you yet, so you haven't come up with the depressing but most likely conclusion. To be fair, though, you weren't there last night when we came up with a working theory as to why the Dark Kingdom and the Terras are working together and not killing each other."
"And what was that?" Mamoru asked, intrigued by the mystery of it all.
"Our thought is that Beryl is using her mind control on them to keep them from attacking each other. Now, put yourself in his shoes. That should be easy. Let's say you're a pre-med student who is feeling the pressure of your studies. Why would you go to a palm reading shop?"
Mamoru rubbed his forehead and sighed in frustration. "To find out how a test was going to go, or even if I picked the right career."
"I agree," Yamato said, encouraging Mamoru to think deeper. He then prompted. "What if you were told a horrible future?"
"I would be desperate to do anything to change that future."
Yamato nodded. "Even take something that you don't know what's really in it?"
"I would never!"
"I know. But pretend you're this man," he said, pointing to the body on the table.
Mamoru frowned down at his former schoolmate. "If I was desperate. But drugs?"
"Why would he think they were drugs?" Yamato pressed again.
"People don't just…" Mamoru looked up at Yamato sharply. "No. Please tell me I'm wrong."
"I'm not sure you're right, but I have come to the same conclusion."
Sinking onto the nearest chair, Mamoru said, "It was magic laced with drugs. She's giving people mind-control potions and hiding its effects with drugs. You can't have a group of people acting odd with no discernible reason. Their behavior will just now be chalked up to drugs they unknowingly took."
"Correct. The problem is. I expect more bodies in my morgue before they figure out that the dosage is wrong."
Two more bodies were delivered an hour later.
Hatori missed the old days of phones that you could slam down in anger. He hung up the phone without any ability to vent his fury and leaned back in his office chair.
There were three dead bodies in the morgue, and all they had in common was that they were overachievers who died of a drug overdose. That and they were painfully young. There was a twenty-one-year-old male, an eighteen-year-old female, a twelve-year-old female, and three confused grieving families.
He snatched up his phone and dialed his aunt. "Usagi," he said when she answered her phone immediately. "I was wrong. Screw police protocol and my desire to do everything by the book."
Her voice came clear and firmly over the phone. "Can you live with what I'll do?"
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I really can. I just don't want the innocent to keep dying. I can live with the rest."
"Announce the connection between the palm reading shop and the fatal overdoses in forty-five minutes. That will be enough time for what I need to do."
"Thank you."
Motoki flushed with happiness when Reika entered the arcade and headed to sit at the counter. He smiled at her as she made her way over and then returned to taking table three's orders. Once they were delivered to the kitchen, he joined her out the counter.
Reika grabbed his hand as he began to wipe down the counter and stopped his motion. "You don't need an excuse to come over and talk to me." He blushed when she didn't drop his hand.
"It's a nervous habit," he blurted out. He wished he hadn't admitted that instantly.
"I make you nervous?" she asked playfully. Then Reika removed the towel from his hand and laced their fingers together. "Good."
He blinked, startled by her words and actions. "I don't understand."
"You're cute when you blush and look nervous."
He swallowed hard, completely lost on what to say, but nerves made him speak. "Cute?"
Rolling her eyes playfully, she said, "I had a big scare recently, which put my life into focus. And now I'm even more determined to get what I want. One of those things happens to be you. I checked your schedule, and you're not working tonight. Take me on a date."
Motoki found that discovering her feelings about him helped his brain to catch up with what was happening. He was overjoyed, and now his mind was working on overdrive. "I know a great romantic place to take you. Six o'clock?"
She grabbed his phone, held it to his face to unlock it, and then pulled up his contacts. He then watched as she entered her phone number under the contact name of "Hot Girlfriend."
"Text me, and then I'll send you my address. I live in an apartment by myself near the university I go to."
"By yourself? That isn't hard after what happened?" He asked, worried for her.
"Sure," she admitted readily. "But I'm not the kind of girl that would let that stop me. Plus," she leaned in and whispered, "Living alone has its benefits when you have a sexy boyfriend." She then slowly raked her eyes over his body.
Motoki coughed out in surprise, having choked on his saliva a bit. "Tonight?" he squeaked.
She locked eyes with him and then licked her lower lip seductively. "I'm a woman that knows what she wants. No pressure on your part, though."
Motoki was relieved he was behind the counter, he was achingly hard for her, and he didn't want to broadcast that in the place his family owned. Pushing through his shock, he decided to be as upfront about everything as she was. "Can I stay the night?"
"Definitely."