Point of No Return

Chapter 1

"He's a friend of mine. I've known him since high school." His gaze seemed to harden at his own words.

"We'll find out who did this, Hanai." Skylee reached over and rested a hand on his shoulder, but he stubbornly refused to relax at all, despite Skylee's talent of calming people down.

"According to the file, the victim caught a glimpse of the perpetrators face, but didn't recognize him. The perp is in their late teens or early twenties, and the perp's gender has not been identified." Kirisawa spoke into the intense silence that had settled over the room. "Apparently, First Unit had received a letter prior to the attack."

"A letter? What did it say?" Hanai asked with restrained anger in his voice, and Skylee quietly retracted her hand from his shoulder.

Kirisawa just sighed, and he looked down at his desk awkwardly. "It said, 'someone will be murdered in Shinjuku in the next two days.'"

"If they received a death threat, why didn't they stop this from happening?!" Hanai yelled angrily as he balled his hands into tight fists.

"According to them, they didn't know if it was real or some prank, and they don't have time to check out every little note they get." Kirisawa firmly shoved his hands into his pockets, masking his frustration.

Hanai's anger flared before he took a deep breath and calmed himself. Skylee gently took the case file from Kirisawa, and he didn't protest giving it to her.

Skylee frowned as she picked up a note from the file. "It seems they also received a second death threat, which reads, 'Someone will be murdered in Roppongi in the next twenty-four hours. I'll kill them this time.'" She looked at the note thoughtfully before giving it over to Hanai, who scanned it with a hard expression.

"Sounds like he's for real this time." Tennoji sighed, uncharacteristically serious.

"Before, it was within two days..." Asano hardened his stare as he looked over the letter. "...and now it's within twenty-four hours."

"He's purposely choosing areas with lots of people to make finding him difficult." Kyobashi commented angrily, and Eiki nodded in agreement.

"He's challenging us to find him." Eiki crossed his arms in disgust.

"We have to prevent this murder." Halle and Skylee spoke in unison, and that broke the tension somewhat as they guys looked at them.

"Oh, we do that sometimes. We're just so similar." Skylee explained sheepishly.

"Well, that's gonna get old fast." Tennoji commented sarcastically. Skylee punched him in the arm, and he flinched.

"He seems like an amateur killer, not a perfessional..." Hanai commented, unaffected by our playful banter and staying on track. "The way he included 'I'll kill them this time', makes it sound like he lost his nerve last night."

"An amateur..." Asano exhaled as he looked at the floor in thought.

Kirisawa decided to cut back in at that moment. "First Unit wants our help by interviewing possible witnesses in Shinjuku and searching for this guy on the streets of Roppongi." Kirisawa looked up from the file. "Mitchell, you'll be partnered with Hanai, and you'll both be going to Roppongi. The rest of us will be canvassing Shinjuku."

"Yes, sir." Everyone nodded simultaneously.

I just stared at Hanai in horror out of the corner of my eye. Didn't Skylee say this was the one guy in Second Unit with the biggest ego...?

Oh, fantastic. They would just get along swimmingly.

Suddenly, Kirisawa reached out and stopped him. "Hanai."

"Yes?" He asked, already back to his old self as he looked at Kirisawa and his partner Skylee with curiosity.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Kirisawa looked remorseful as he gave Hanai a slap on the back.

"We'll make sure we get this guy." Skylee added with a strong smile, and she had determination shining in her eyes.

As I watched them talk with Hanai, I smirked mischievously as I thought to myself that Skylee and Kirisawa would be good together.

"It's okay, I know." Hanai replied coolly. "Mitchell, let's go!" He yelled as he walked out the door.

"Oh, wait, what?" I jumped and quickly motioned to follow him out the door. "Oh, I'm coming!"

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Yay, the first chapter's done! I know this chapter was in Halle's point of view, but because my friend Serena has a book about Halle in Hanai (which you should all read btw!) this book will focus more on Skylee and Kirisawa's relationship, but there will still be Halle and Hanai moments, I promise!

In case anyone wants to know, yes, the real Serena-Daniels is afraid of elevators, so I thought that would be kind of funny to put in there since these characters are supposed to be us. Love you Serena! 😋❤️