𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 ⁚ 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 ❮ 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗔 ❯

1-2

DAY ONE (CONTINUED)

Saihara wasn't sure what part of his day it had been where it went so terribly wrong. Maybe it had been hearing the news about the case and that he'd be stuck in a car with Kirigiri Kyouko for six-and-a-half hour drive to Tokyo. Maybe it had been when you decided that he would present the current evidence he had compiled between the beginning of the month until now. Maybe it had been arriving to work that morning. Had it been when he had dropped his papers in the snow before eventually arriving. Could it have been waking up that morning?

The issues could compile themselves over the span of days and weeks, but that didn't help with the main issue. Tantei Pari was now officially classified as deceased. After exactly a month of searching, they had found her body. Either way, he hadn't had time to ask Kirigiri above the case before she had hurried off into her office, leaving Saihara behind to answer the sudden questions his coworkers decided to flock him with. He never did good in these situations, breaking into a nervous sweat just hearing all of these questions. About how he hadn't found her body sooner, why he hadn't gone to Tokyo personally, things as such.

As much as he was skilled in this line of work, he was used to being looked down upon for his age. Being the youngest person here at twenty-one, the constant critique and criticism enough to make him self conscious. Maybe he had been hoping to accomplish something when he had taken on this case above everyone else. Maybe he had wanted to learn the whereabouts of her before anyone else so that he could finally earn a reputation here. A reputation that wasn't only being known for accomplishments made at his uncle's agency back in Tokyo.

It made sense that his expectations would be shattered like that. When were they not? Even if he had wanted to solve that case, he knew it sounded selfish. He had known Tantei the least out of everyone here, having only been working here for two-and-a-half years now. Mostly everyone else, besides Kirigiri, had known her on almost a personal level. He should've been hoping she'd clone back okay. And yet now they were going out to Tokyo to report to the crime scene. The crime scene where his own boss had been found dead. Nothing could feel worse than knowing that he didn't have any possible chance of bringing her back to them anymore.

Saihara didn't want to think like that. He'd been trying for years now to get his anxiety better than it had been in high school. Which was why he had spent some time in his office while he was packing in order to not focus on the impending doom that might be facing them in Tokyo. He hadn't been there since he had stopped working with his uncle, but that didn't mean they didn't maintain contact. They had been their sister agency while they were working on this case and he had been the major link.

Which must've meant that they were the company who inevitably found the body. Either that or somebody nearby could smell the corpse or something of a similar matter. That happened sometimes, so he just had to hope it might not be that. If it was, that meant her body had been wherever they had found it for a long time. She could've been as dead for as long as a month. But was that possible? They had scoured the entirety of places she might have been between here and there for days and yet nothing had turned up. They had interviewed everyone who had last seen her, from her parents to people within similar companies. It was unbearable to think about, but anyone could have murdered her. That was something you learned once you saw children kill their parents or siblings kill each other.

Taking his spot in the passenger spot of Kirigiri's car, he sent the silver haired woman a small gaze of appreciation. "Thank you for taking me, Kirigiri-san," he told her, trying to manage a smile for his higher up. However, he knew that the effort was in vain. "But do you really need to come to Tokyo with me? It's over a six hour drive."