DAY ONE
There was a palliative hush of tranquility that hung in the air of late January as if the entire world had gone on a quiet pause. Each breath blows heavily into the atmosphere, warm carbon dioxide counteracting the frigid oxygen that squeezed around every mass. Each step sticking to the concrete sidewalks below that lay buried underneath the blanket of snow underneath. The snow was enough to stick to the bottom of your feet, coating the bottom of your shoes in white condensation.
Until a gust of wind sent papers fluttering into the air, earning a soft gasp into the air as two hands flew into their directions. Attempts to catch the papers occurring as one of two appendages was still holding onto the file that had opened due to the wind, cursing quietly as the male behind the two hands tried to take back the private papers that were now out of their respective file.
Saihara Shuuichi eventually managed to gain a hold on his papers again, sighing with quiet relief as he carefully reordered his papers in order to make sure he would be prepared for his meeting that would begin in half an hour from now. Now, most people in the detective business would know him for working underneath his uncle, a man who, alongside his aunt, had become his guardian after his parents decided that taking care of him and their careers at the same time, but he had quit working underneath him once he had decided to move out of his old town and move to Osaka.
He had been living here on his own since he was eighteen, now being a twenty-one-year-old male living on his own. It had been a good bit of work managing to assure his guardians that he would be alright on his own, and it had been a tearful goodbye once he had moved across the country. Despite this, Saihara had been quite successful in terms of work, having earned a steady job. Since he had managed to add onto his resumé that he had worked under one of the most profitable detective agencies in the northern part of Japan, it hadn't been difficult to land a job here.
Where he worked was the Saishu Investigations agency, a very developed agency here. He had landed the job over a few individuals, and now he worked as a primary investigator despite his age. Though it wasn't as if he was incredibly young versus the other employees. In fact, there was one woman he had been working with who happened to be only a few years older than he was. However, she was so much more experienced than he was, so maybe that explained why he looked up to her. It's not like she minded, but still.
There was also a friend of his from high school, who had decided that she would work alongside Saihara after getting out of her previous job. She seemed to like the idea of the job, though she had lingered in Tokyo first, so she was someone he occasionally held contact with. Sometimes she would come to work under the Saishu's administration, but it was mostly for cross-company events and such. She would be coming to work here soon, once she passed the training she was taking under his uncle. He had been more than happy to help after learning about her friendship with his only nephew.
Now then, why had Saihara simply decided that he would take a car and reduce the effect of the wind and snow and whatnot. Well, after the heavy snowfall that had occurred overnight, which was extremely rare for Osaka, it had caused them to block off the roads so that they could be salted and the ice could be gotten rid of. Which meant he had to walk in the cold weather before a major meeting.
Which made it quite a burden for the young man, who had been trying to hurry along the process. Checking his watch, it seemed he had taken a good few minutes to just get his papers back, so now he was down to fifteen minutes. Clicking his tongue as he broke into a run, already feeling his inexperienced muscles begin to burn as he did so. After never taking part in PE besides the mandatory events required to earn a grade, it was of no surprise he was going to more than likely regret this decision. The last time he had run had been to catch a culprit who had been running away after being caught by one of his coworkers. He hadn't been the one to catch them, but he had been close.
Amidst the beauty of the city and snowy weather to the hectic attempt to arrive at his destination, something was being found out that was about to wreak havoc on the lives of not only the Saishu agency but a few individuals in Tokyo as well.
「⚝」
Saihara had somehow managed to break a sweat despite the bitterly cold weather that had enveloped him outside before he arrived, the narrow two-story building faded by the absence of the sun in the sky. There was no doubt the sky would be at least somewhat clearer come tomorrow and the roads would be busy again, but for now, the entire city had become lackluster from that. But that didn't mean anything to the male, who considered this just another business day as he opened the door, fingertips pinkened even more as the cool metal pressed against his bare hands.
He was immediately met by Chen Asami, an older woman who worked the front desk. She usually oversaw things such as paperwork and phone calls from numerous individuals in the area who were hoping to file something under investigation. She was quite a nice lady as well, having made it her own idea to set out a bowl of mints and other assorted goodies. Sometimes they would have younger children come inside who had managed to get away from their parents without meaning to, so it helped calm them down while others were able to get a hold of the child's parents. Chen was quite good at calming down kids, actually, always crediting her familiarity with her own kids and grandkids. She was an angel to talk to.
Due to the shortage of time to talk to her at the moment, Saihara had to make it quick, giving her a quick "good morning" which she gleefully returned. He was reminded that the meeting was about to start any minute, nodding. The air was as tense as it had been for the past few weeks, however. The smiles were tight and there were bags under both of their eyes. It was the one-month anniversary. It had been one month since it happened, and no evidence had even turned up to help with the case. They were stumped.
Saihara quickly slipped into his private office, one of the only individuals to hold residence on the first floor. Since the size was compressed slightly by the main area, most of the others worked upstairs alongside the business rooms and meeting area. There was a corkboard on the wall beside his personal computer, which was laced with numerous pictures of his most recent case. The case he had been assigned less than one month ago after proposing he take the case. He wasn't the only one, though. They had one more individual here working on it, as well as a few individuals in Tokyo. Most people had suggested that they might never be able to solve it considering how little had emerged regarding evidence, but he couldn't lose like this. They still had some great detectives on this case, so there was no way they could lose.
He set his paperwork on the desk, plucking the few papers he needed for the meeting as well as a few he had left here overnight. He hadn't wanted to bring everything home last night, but at the same time, he really had been hoping that he could work longer on this case. The most fundamental part of a missing person's case was the first seventy-two hours, and they weren't in that regimen anymore. As far as they knew, they'd find a body any moment now, but they couldn't risk that. They couldn't risk anything happening to someone this close to them.
With all of his belongings settled, Saihara left his room, shutting off the lights as the door shut behind him. Taking a right turn to the staircase, hurrying to get up each step. He was nearly late by the time he stumbled into the meeting room, waving as he took his seat at the second chair to the end. Mostly everyone was already here, but the chair at the head of the table was empty. It had been empty for some time now, which made the confusion as to why become buried down by something else. Fear. Fear that it had been one month since they had seen their boss, Tantei Pari, and they hadn't found a single inkling that suggested she might be found, let alone alive.
As the chatter in the room had died down, their stand-in boss finally took her position, sitting down gracefully as she looked up at the crowd with her purple eyes. Miss Kirigiri Kyouko, who, despite her being only two or three years older than Saihara and exponentially youthful compared to anyone else here, held much more experience. He was never quite sure what led to her holding so much understanding compared to everyone else, but it was nice to know someone his age was there. Even if it scared him of the possibility that he was nowhere near what level she was at.
The gathering was quite like any other meeting he might have been a part of, starting off with the role call. He was usually second to last minus Tantei, but due to her absent status, it left him as the final name said before they could follow through. Kirigiri hadn't slipped up once by calling her name while it was on the list, though the first time she had been labeled their current boss, she had looked over her name at the very least. It had been sufficient to confirm that she might not be just as cold as he always speculated she was.
There were open discussions about what case everyone was following at the moment, as well as the distribution of new cases for those who had cracked their most recent. Some were placed together for cases, while others were left alone with their own case. But everyone needed to earn their paycheck, so everyone had to work. Which explained why some people had to explain and go over things in groups, trying to not overlap each other or repeat things. It made the youngest a little happier he was never paired up with anyone. That was usually devoted to people whose behavior showed that they couldn't be trusted independently at the moment, and he was one you could refer to as a goody-two-shoes.
"Saihara-kun." His name being called, last as always, made him jump in the subtlest manner. As always, the one thing that kept him from being higher in the ranks. His anxiety. It had gone down a good quantity since his high school days, but he still held a prominent part of it. It explained why Kirigiri's eyes locked in a reprimanding way that made him mentally flinch. But they were thoughtful as well; understanding. "We all know you were entrusted with a currently... sensitive case, but would you like to tell us about your current progress?"
He straightened his papers against the desk as he stood, clearing his throat as he nodded. "As everyone knows, I was entrusted to investigate the disappearance of Tantei-buchou. We didn't officially take the case until the beginning of this month since we were taking a break for Christmas in order to allow for some of our coworkers, we were not here to take the case until January sixth, eleven days after she was last seen in Tokyo's Shinjuku City leaving her parent's home in the area. She was visiting family due to the holidays as well as to check on her brother's status."
"With that, we lost the first seventy-two hours, which are known to be most crucial in a missing case. I've tried to contact the police in both Tokyo and in neighboring areas, but they haven't seen anything. All cameras in the city turned up negative as well. This can be considered very odd considering Tokyo is a big city and must have many cameras, but with the holidays having been in session, there was simply no way for us to distinguish it. At least, that's what they told me when they gave me the footage from all of the cameras."
He picked one piece of paper up from the stack, placing it in the middle of the table. Where one picture was circled in red marker, circling a specific individual walking down a street. "After carefully analyzing each of the videos over a long period of time, I found two frames that suggest we may know where Tantei-buchou was last seen." This made many people notably look up, seeming astounded. Both in the fact he had managed to find this information, and that he rummaged through hours of camera footage just to come up with two pictures. But two pictures were more promising than one.
"At 10:21 pm, she was spotted entering the Kabukicho region, just under an hour after what we believed was her last sighting. I find it strange that she left an hour earlier and took almost that much time to walk only 350 meters, but we have to consider the fact that her parents are quite old and could have very easily gotten their memories mixed up. There is also the fact that she may have stopped by somewhere else sometime between these two pinpoints. And we all know how family is, talking to each other for who knows how long."
He flipped the page over, turning to one more snapshot. "At precisely 11:32 pm, just over two hours after what we believed to be her last sighting, we can see her stepping outside of an alleyway between these two buildings." He pointed over to the picture. "Between the Supesubaka Apartments complex, and the Chijo Women's Strip Club. Which is an area only a few meters from the line between Kabukicho and Shinjuku City."
"Now then, I made a small map of what we believe to be her last movements before she inevitably went missing." He flipped to the next sheet, where a small map was encompassed with a route provided in a darker pen. "Tantei-buchou was last spotted leaving her family's home at approximately 9:25 pm, but we're guessing that there was a bit of error in the estimation due to her parent's age and current status. Between now and 10:21 pm, which is fifty-six minutes after she left her parent's home, she was spotted by a nearby camera entering the Kabukicho region. It is rather odd that she took fifty-six minutes to travel an estimate of 350 meters, but we can conclude from this that she must have stopped somewhere else in that time. We can get in contact with local businesses in that area to prove these factors, but it seems it would be our best estimation."
"Between 10:21 pm and 11:32 pm, which are one hour and eleven minutes apart, she managed to make it to this alleyway between the Supesubaka Apartments complex and the Chijo Women's Strip Club. This is only 225 meters from where she was spotted in her last appearance, which further suggests she must have stopped by somewhere. We can guess that this was when she was last seen due to a lack of footage, where her latest footage took place two hours and seven minutes after she supposedly left."
He placed the paper back into his pile, straightening them again in front of his seat. "I've made contact with both industries entailing our situation and asking whether or not they would be comfortable with me conducting a phone interview and am currently waiting for a response back. Due to the exponential drive between here and Tokyo, I believe it would be better off to do that rather than anything else. I've also made contact with my uncle's agency to see if they could find anything else out and currently have a few members there working on it as well. However, since today is the one-month deadline between her disappearance and the present, I believe that our chances of managing to keep them working for long are slim to none."
Saihara sat back down after his final declaration, earning a solemn nod from the others. As much as he detested this case, he knew the others must have loathed it more. He hadn't served here nearly as long as they had, so he couldn't imagine how unbearable this was for them. They had worked with Tantei since she first achieved the position as an investigator fifteen years ago. She wasn't that old, only being in her older 30s. Now she had gone missing, which had left the mood withered. He felt just as guilty, but he knew he couldn't relate to their amount of anguish.
Kirigiri stood up as Saihara was finally settling himself back down, her customary frosty aura instantly earning everyone's attention. "Everyone is doing well and making good progress with their cases. However," he began, hands crossing in her lap. This was where she began gently reprimanding everyone, reminding them of what they were supposed to be doing and where to develop their skills. Things about indications of where to continue or look or minor things they forgot to investigate. Until her attention went back to the final male, who stiffened slightly under her gaze. Until he was met with a polite smile. "Good work, Saihara. Make sure to not be afraid to do things like getting second interviews if necessary. With it being a month, I believe you know now we're more than likely looking for a body now rather than a person." That made everyone stiffen, considering how straightforward it was. But it was true. After seventy-two hours, it was more than likely that Tantei was deceased.
With that, the silver-haired female raised her hands, gesturing for everyone to stand. "Meeting adjourned." With that, everyone stood up, already getting ready to leave when the unimaginable happened. The one thing that was going to earn a reaction out of everyone. Where our mystery would begin and set off a rollercoaster of events. Because Chen, the secretary from before, knocked on the door, opening it immediately as she seemed incredibly pale. Which earned everyone's attention. She was always so rosy, and yet now she seemed terrified. Which was probably self-explanatory as she trudged over to Kirigiri, whispering to her. The younger of the two had a notable shift in character, her face dropping as a shadow seemed to overcast her features.
As Chen left, seeming to be in tears, Kirigiri took a moment before looking to the crowd again, where her eyes directly landed on Saihara yet again. "Saihara-kun, please be ready to accompany me as soon as possible to Tokyo." As his mouth opened to ask why the entire predicament roared down onto him. Why Chen had been so frantic as she entered the room. Why Kirigiri seemed to darken slightly. Why he was suddenly being addressed to Tokyo, where his case was taking place. She nodded, looking straight at him. "Correct. They've found the body."
「⚝」
author's note::
this is definitely shorter than my normal chapter, but we need some exposition.
anyways, welcome to the story! since i haven't seen much of any saimota fanfics on wattpad, i decided to take it upon myself to write it. this is going to be both a murder mystery and a romance since i want this to be as intriguing as possible.
fair warning, kaito won't be coming in until part two. he'll be mentioned later, though. i promise that.
also, i've never written for kyouko, so i hope i did well with her.
this story will have a major number of original characters, mostly because i don't wanna kill characters i love and it makes it easier to do things. it shouldn't be too bad, as the major roles are still reserved to our two boys.
anyways, make sure to comment or vote! those help me feel inspired to write more for you guys.
signing off, salem/sal
june 18, 2021