It was early in the morning; the young detective had his coffee before dashing off for work. Mizuki quietly followed him without saying a word. Along the way, the violet detective yawns several times, dark eye bags appeared underneath his eyes.
"Didn't you went to bed early last night?"
"Yeah I did, I'm just tired that's all" he lied.
He has been up the whole night and only gotten two hours of sleep before he had to wake up 7 in the morning. He spent the whole night searching for more clues until he fell asleep on his laptop.
"Matsuoka, here's the report on the site where they found him" Tatsuya said as he handed over a folder as he was about to exit the office. The violet detective flips through the reports as Mizuki peeked from his shoulder. He frowns.
"What is this?"
"Yeah, that's all they could find, unfortunately the storm from that night washed almost everything away including the evidence or any traces of the possible attacker on Mizu"
Mizuki tried reading what was in the file but Matsuoka quickly closes it before he can read a single word.
"This might be one of those cases that can't be solved"
Tatsuya sighed as he leans against the door frame, eyeing the younger detective. Matsuoka bit his lower lip before stuffing the file into the pile of file he is holding in his other arms. He left the office.
"It can be solve, with leads or not. I will solve it"
~~~~~
It was somewhere 11 in the morning,
Matsuoka finally arrived to the scene; it was under the bridge nearby the riverbank, roughly 10 minutes drive from the closest 7/eleven store, while it took Matsuoka around one hour to reach the scene from his office which located at the heart of the city. Several yellow police strips surround the area.
"Why are we here, Rin?"
The detective was busy looking around, while Mizuki follows him from behind.
"It's the place where we found you"
Mizuki halted. Matsuoka bends down to the ground where Mizuki original body was found laying. While cursing in his head, he tried looking for more clues. One thing he hates is finding clues that might not even exist.
"Damn fucking rain washed everything away"
"OI, Mizuk—"
He stops, upon noticing the ghost froze at the spot he floats. He walks closer, Mizuki looks pale, his lips were trembling, and his sea blue orbs were wide. Matsuoka tried waving his hands in front of the ghost, not receiving any responds. Until, Mizuki screamed in pain, Matsuoka almost jumped.
"OI, MIZUKI. WHAT'S WRONG?"
He tried touching Mizuki but to his vain, his hands went through the ghostly body. Mizuki were not responding, he curls into a ball while holding his head, his orbs shuts close. Matsuoka were not sure what to do, he could not touch the boy neither getting through him.
"MIZUKI!"
~~~~~
"You shouldn't give up on swimming just because you defeated him…"
Flashes of a swimming pool, flashes of water splashing, flashes of him giving a dolphin key chain, flashes of someone smiling at him, flashes of someone large warm hand handing him over a towel with a bird like looking emblem on it
"BECAUSE OF YOU, I COULDN'T SWIM ANYMORE!"
Flashes of his head being hit by something so heavy and solid, flashes of someone kicked him in the stomach, flashes of someone stepped onto his right shoulder, flashes of him screaming in pain, flashes of a dolphin key chain swinging on a bag pack, flashes of a familiar large hand grabbing his collar, flashes of hatred in those orbs.
"Thi..is…is not…you…"
It was then; Mizuki heard someone kept calling him in between those flashes.
"MIZUKI!"
It was a while later, Mizuki finally snapped from whatever just happened. He gasped for air. His hands were still trembling. He could feel his head pounding.
"Mizuki, are you alright?" a worried voice asked him. Slowly he opens his eyelids, ruby orbs looking at him worriedly. He blinks a couple times, and then he looks at his see through hands. He frowns.
"I'm…fine…" he straightens up.
"What happened, you screamed all of a sudden"
"It's those…flashes…again…"
Matsuoka straightened up; he lit up a cig and leans against the wall. Mizuki were staring at the ground, drilling a hole into it, his orbs were filled with confusion, and it was something Matsuoka never seen, ever since he met the boy.
"I'm here to listen; it might help us with the case"
The ghostly teen looked hesitated, and then he floats closer to the detective.
"I saw a swimming pool…I gave someone a dolphin key chain, a large hand handing me over a towel with a blue-ish bird on it…"
"Were that is all you seen?" Matsuoka started to jolt down notes into his small notebook.
"Someone hit me on the head, stomach, everywhere…" he held his shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"I must have done something very wrong to someone that…it was my fault he couldn't swim anymore…"
Matsuoka eyebrows knitted. "What do you mean He?"
"I don't know…it's just in those flashes, he told me that It was my fault that he couldn't swim…he tried crushing my shoulder…so much hatred in his eyes…"
Seeing the ghostly could not go on anymore, he chucked his cig into the river and head back to his car.
"Come on, it's almost lunch"
Mizuki nodded, as Matsuoka drove off from the scene.
"At this point i can confirm that, Mizuki is a swimmer, the possibility that he has been attacked was due to whatever 'fault' he did in the past to his attacker, as for the dolphin keychain and the bird emblem on a towel…I guess this is better than having nothing as a clue"
~~~~~
At the café,
Matsuoka was busy eating and researching on his laptop. Mizuki stayed silent. Several students were at the other side of table.
"I wonder if I went to school when I was alive…"
Clad in their school uniforms. The girls were wearing a blue coat, a black and red stripes skirt, a red ribbon tied onto her collar and a white dress shirt, as for the male were wearing a blue coat, a dress shirt, brown pants and a green tie.
"A green tie…"
Matsuoka, who was too busy focusing on his screen, did not realize the ghost was trying to tug his shirt.
"Rin…look over there"
"Hmm, didn't I tell you not to talk when there's people ar-"he noticed the green necktie on the male students not far from him. He looked at Mizuki.
"Is that the tie you saw?"
Mizuki nodded, the violet haired detective quickly went towards the students.
"Hey, which school ya guys from?"
The students blinked and looked at each other, then to the detective that is standing at the side of the table.
"Uhm…Iwatobi High School…"
"Listen, you guys recognize a student with this descriptions', a male, around 17 years old, black haired and blue eyes, I believe he should be in the swimming club"
They shook their head. "Our school doesn't have a swimming club; it has been disbanded two years ago, as for the guy, I don't think I have seen him around"
"How about the school emblem, what was it?"
One of the female students took out a bird looking key chain and showed it to him.
"That's the bird I saw in my flashes"
"Iwatobi-Chan, that is our school emblem, I think every club has Iwatobi-Chan on almost of their uniforms or gears, you can have that if you want"
After a while, Matsuoka left the group of students and immediately went back to the office.
~~~~~
"Ah, welcome back, how was it?" Nagisa approached the detective. He has been ignored. Matsuoka immediately turns his PC on.
"Iwatobi Swimming Club…"
Mizuki stayed afloat behind him, watching the detective doing his work.
"It has been disbanded due to an inner conflict between the members. The captain of the club has to resign from the swimming world due to heavy injuries on his shoulder…"Matsuoka frowns as he stretched his arms up.
"If it was roughly 2 years ago…then there is a possibility that Mizuki was in the first year…but inner conflicts…?" Then he starts fiddling with the keyboard a little more.
Nagisa enters his office with a cup of coffee. After placing it on the table, he went next to Matsuoka.
"How come you're looking up on Iwatobi Swimming Club?"
"Looking for someone"
"I can help if you want; after all, my cousin was in that school swimming club years ago before it got disbanded"
Matsuoka orbs lit up. He quickly turns around and looked at the teen-looking detective next to him. After receiving the contact number, he quickly dialed Nagisas' cousin.
~~~~~
"It's Matsuoka Rin from the same department your cousin, Nagisa Hazuki worked in; I have several questions for you, if you have the time to spare"
"Eh, I didn't do anything wrong did I?" a male voice asked on another line.
"No, you didn't. It's regarding on one of the case I am working on. Do you still remember who the captain of the swimming club is before it got disbanded?
"Hmmm…I think it was Tachibana, he left the school after the club has been disbanded and the fight he had with that student"
Matsuoka jolted down the name. "Do you remember the student name and Tachibana full name and a student with this descriptions a male, around 170 cm, black hair and blue eyes ?"
"I don't know, there is a lot of students with those descriptions and i'm sorry i can't remember Tachibanas' full name, it's been a long time after all"
He sighed after he hung up the call.
"Another dead end…huh"
~~~~~
"It's me again"
A sigh was heard from the other line.
"What is it now?"
"Check your email; I will need it by tomorrow morning"
"As always, you asked for the impossible. No matter, you'll be receiving it by tonight at least along with the request you have sent in yesterday"
Matsuoka chuckled.
"As expected from the best info broker, Ryugazaki Rei"
"Tch, you owe me a lot on this one" The detective laughed it off. Ryugazaki sighed.
"As your childhood friend, I have a piece of advice for you on this case; you have to face your own fears in order to solve this"
"Fears…huh?"
The call ended.
Mizuki, who has been listening to the conversation, looks at the detective who seems to be exhausted.
"Fears, does Rin fear something?" he slowly floats towards the detective.
"Rin"
"Hmm?"
"What's wrong?" Matsuoka opens his eyelids and looked at the teen.
"She would be around his age if she's still alive…" he thought.
~~~~~
"ONICHAN!" a small girl with a long violet hair gasping for air, as her arms flaps onto the water trying to stay afloat.
"KOU, HANG IN THERE!"
Matsuoka tried to swim as fast as he can against the raging river. His shoulder, his lungs and his body hurts from the streams as he tries to swim towards his sister who seems to be blobbing above and under the water.
"KOU!" his breath hitched, the moment his sister disappears from his sight.
"KOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
~~~~~
"Rin, what's wrong?"
Matsuoka snapped from his thoughts, after hearing Mizuki calling for him. He sighed after noticing the time; he then packed up his files and grabbed his coat.
"It's nothing, let's go home, we're done for today"
~~~~~
Matsuoka opens the door that he kept tidy and locked from everyone, after making sure Mizuki is asleep. He grabs onto a small photo frame. His orbs softened. A picture of him and a smaller girl that resembles him back in the younger days.
"If only I was strong enough to save you back then…Kou"