Kyo Watanabe drove his car to the side of the road. He stared into his rear view mirror and looked at himself. "You can do this. It's just another case." He nodded again, then got out of the car and followed the path before descending a bank. After a few bushes, he reached a place. The old tar had some cracks and at different places weeds were pushing upwards. He thought he saw something, so he pulled a flashlight from his pocket and flipped it on. "Masuda-san!" The-high school student knelt beside a blood-spattered girl and stared at her. She didn't respond to the call in the least. The police chief approached. "Masuda-san. It's me, Watanabe. Narusegawa-sama sends me."
"I know. I heard the phone call." He shone at the dead girl, and Yuna flinched. She looked up at him. "What do we have to do?"
Kyo noticed another girl at the canal entrance. He shone over. "Your sister?" Yuna nodded. "You have to tell me what happened. I have to know all the facts before I can plan how to cover this up."
"Did you cover up the death of my family too?"
He clenched his left hand into a fist. "Yes."
"Hm." Slowly the girl got up, then told him from the moment when Yukiko had called her. Kyo listened attentively, nodded from time to time, or asked questions about more details. She omitted that Yui had murdered the oni, but blamed herself instead. If he knew about the tension between her and Yukiko, it wouldn't surprise him. And if someone was going to be punished for Yukiko's death, it wouldn't be Yui. She may have failed to save Yui from being transformed, but she would never stop protecting her sister.
"Okay. I'll take a quick look at the scene of the fight. You can wait here if you want."
Yuna nodded, so Kyo went alone. From her story, he knew that he couldn't miss the room. After a few minutes, he stood in the entrance of the vault. All around were lights on the walls, which donated a little light. Immediately, he noticed a school uniform and a Katana scabbard on the ground. He put on a pair of white cloth gloves and fished a laundry bag from the inside of his jacket. He shook it open and let the uniform disappear into it. The Katana was also somewhere, but he wanted to take both together when going out.
With the flashlight in one hand and the laundry bag in the other, he marched into the center of the room, constantly checking his surroundings. He noticed the slowly melting ice, which was an indication of oni involvement. Between the rubble, he discovered another school uniform, which he bagged. Also a Katana, which belonged, judging from the color of the grip band, to the scabbard at the entrance. Yuna had said that she had used it to kill Yukiko. From experience, Kyo knew that there was no evidence left to verify her testimony. He also found a damaged handgun, which Yuna had used according to her report. Of course he could have fingerprints taken, but what for? The goal was to blur tracks.
In the further search, he stumbled over a few cut ropes. Since Yui Masuda was held hostage, they probably belonged to her. He also stuffed them in the bag and again made a round through the room, before he collected the Katana and went to the exit. The bloodstains had to be eliminated, but he had his people for that. He brought the Katana together with its scabbard, then marched outside.
Yuna Masuda had knelt again next to her dead friend and waited. She had to go through a lot. His forehead wrinkled. He had seen how much Yukiko had raged in there. Yuna seemed uninjured, but how could that be possible? He would have understood if she had killed the oni in surprise. Most oni died either because they were killed by another oni or because of accidents. That a human kills an oni was extremely rare. Especially in a direct fight.
Also in other aspects, the course of this cleaning mission was unusual. Narusegawa-san had said nothing about how he should deal with Masuda-san. Usually he only had to help coordinate the testimonies, but right now he was thinking about keeping her out of the picture at all. He only needed an explanation for the dead girl and Yui Masuda.
He cleared his throat before addressing Yuna. "I'm back, Masuda-san."
"Good."
"How do you feel?"
"Fantastic," she growled.
"You don't seem to be in shock. That is very extraordinary."
The girl stared at him from below. "Just do your job and make sure my sister gets to the hospital as fast as possible. Send her to the University Hospital."
He hesitated, then nodded. She struggled to her feet, blinking tiredly at him. "What now?"
"I have your Katana with me." He briefly presented the sword. "I have a plastic tarp in my trunk to carry the dead girl."
"Can I help?"
"I have to bring the two girls and the laundry bag to my car. You can carry the bag if you want."
Yuna slowly shook her head. "I'll take Yui."
"Isn't she a little heavy?" the police chief doubted.
"No problem." She went to her sister and picked her up, then came back. "Show me the way."
"Okay." Together they went to his car, where Kyo opened a door so Yuna could drop the blonde in the back seat.
Carefully, she stroked her cheek. "Don't worry, Yui. Everything will be fine."
"You can wait here, Masuda-san."
"I'll help you."
"That's not necessary, Masuda-san."
Yuna snorted. "It's faster. I want Yui to get to the hospital. As quickly as possible."
"Good." Kyo put the Katana and the laundry bag in the trunk and pulled out the tarp, whereupon they returned to Hikari. He unrolled the plastic, then pulled the dead girl on it before wrapping her up.
Just as he was about to lift the tarp, Yuna said, "Let's do it together."
"That's really not necessary, Masuda-san."
"She was my best friend." They stared at each other until Kyo nodded. Then they picked up the body in the plastic and carried it to the car to place Hikari in the trunk. After the lid was closed, the high-school student said, "This isn't your first time, is it?"
His mouth tightened before he shook his head. "You also come over very callous. Are you Yakuza?"
Yuna grinned crookedly. "Heh. This always catches up with me." When she saw his questioning look, she shook her head. "Forget it."
"All right. Get in." As soon as they both sat in the car, with Yuna getting into the backseat to her sister, Kyo said, "I need to talk on the phone. I need information what kind of incidents happened tonight. Then I'll decide where to bring the two to get them into the system."
"Okay."
The police chief dialed a number and tapped his left index finger against the steering wheel. "Niwa, this is Watanabe. The washing machine is broken again. One skirt was damaged and another destroyed. We can dispose of them separately or together. My wife doesn't know about it. What do you have for me?" Kyo cocked his head. "I'll wait a minute." He looked over his shoulder at Yuna, who was taking care of Yui. His interlocutor answered and told him. "Really? Must be destiny. No, that's perfect. Tell Shiraishi that I'm coming. He should wait. We put everything together from the beginning." He looked back at Yuna, who was watching him. "I'll call you back as soon as I'm there." He ended the call and entered something on his on-board computer. "That's perfect." He squinted backwards via the rear view mirror. "Sorry."
"Just drive. Let's hurry." He nodded and drove off. Both were silent on the way, with Yuna continuously stroking Yui, who looked like she was sleeping. When the car stopped and Kyo turned off the ignition, the high-school girl peered out. "The pension?"
"You need to change your clothes and stuff what you're wearing in the laundry bag in the trunk."
"No!" Yuna protested. "You should finally take Yui to the hospital!"
The police chief breathed deeply. "While you're bathing and changing your clothes, I'll drive to the scene and arrange everything. Then you can come directly to the hospital. Or I'll pick you up if you wish." As much as Yuna didn't want to leave her sister alone, the plan seemed thoughtful. She nodded, kissed Yui on the forehead and got out. Kyo followed her to the trunk, unlocked it and handed her the laundry bag. "Put everything in this sack. Your uniform, underwear and also the shoes. I have to burn everything."
"Great. What should I wear on Monday?"
"I'm sure as the Takagi heir, you can afford a new school uniform, Masuda-san." Kyo grinned, but when he saw Yuna's scowl, it faded. "Or so."
"You're right. Okay, I'll take care of it. Hurry up. I'll come to the hospital afterwards."
"Okay. See you later."
The police chief waited until Yuna had disappeared through the front door, then rashly drove to the coordinates on his on-board computer. He could see the scene of the accident from afar. A car had been driven head-on into a wall and had tilted sideways. A little way off, a police car parked. He stopped at the back, got out, and headed for the accident vehicle. "Shiraishi!"
On the roof side of the vehicle, a policeman rose. He was a lot older than Kyo. "Police chief. What do you have?"
"A dead and an unconscious girl. She seems uninjured. Have you already notified the emergency call?"
Shiraishi shook his head. "No. Niwa said that I should wait. The driver is already dead anyway. So far no one came by."
Kyo stopped beside him and looked into the car. "Why are you even here?"
"I was on my way home when I discovered the car. I called Niwa to make a report, when he said he had you on the line because of the washing machine."
"Well. Proposals?"
"We have a free hand. Passenger, or at the wrong time, in the wrong place."
Together they crept around the car and studied the accident. "Okay. The dead girl is in the trunk. Let's hurry up." They went over, got Hikari in the tarp out of the car and carried her over.
As soon as Kyo pulled back the tarp, Shiraishi said, "The injury doesn't fit." He bent down, put on latex gloves, and examined the wound. He tilted Hikari aside and felt her back. "The lungs were pierced. She choked to death, the poor thing."
"What do we do?"
The older policeman let his eyes follow the street. "The driver definitely lost control. We just don't know why." He walked a bit the other way. "You will not like it, but in a magical way, it all fits together."
Kyo followed him. "What do you have?"
Shiraishi pointed to a fence. "The car rammed the girl and threw her on this. The jamb is a bit too wide because the wound was caused by something conical, but for the extra money you pay me for the job, I'll make sure it fits."
Goose bumps spread on the arms of the police chief as he envisioned the implementation. "You must have seen some terrible things, Shiraishi-san."
"Have been on duty for a long time." Shiraishi looked up at Kyo with a raised brow. "So?"
"Do what you need to do."
The older one grinned. "We have to do that together. Alone, I can't get her up there." Kyo nodded, whereupon they returned to the corpse and dragged it over with the tarp. Each grabbed the girl by one arm and then heaved her up. "And now we have to jerk her down, otherwise the post will not pierce the whole wound."
"That's totally sick."
"Do you have a better idea?" The younger policeman shook his head.
"Forgive me, please." They performed their maneuvers, which was accompanied by a crack.
Shiraishi carefully made sure that the post came out at the top. "Perfect. Next we have to disperse the blood from the tarpaulin. If she bled to death here, we need blood." He rolled the tarp to a narrow tube. Then he put the tip on the post and let it run out. "Damn it. It's partly dry already." Shiraishi laid down the tarpaulin. "Okay. I have another idea." He scurried over to his vehicle. After half a minute he went to the accident car. Kyo kept looking around. That took way too long. It was a miracle that no one else had come by so far. The older policeman reappeared next to him, holding in his hand a bottle filled to one-third with blood. He exchanged a look with his boss. "What? We need solutions."
"All right," Kyo agreed. He watched as Shiraishi spread the blood.
"Good. Now the unconscious girl."
"What are you planing?"
Removing the bottle and tarpaulin, Shiraishi said, "If she's really just unconscious, it could be from a shock. She saw what happened to her friend."
"Well. I'll get the girl and bring her here. Alert the paramedics."
"Understood." They jogged over to their cars. Kyo took the bottle and tarp and stuffed it into a garbage bag he had in the trunk. He then pulled Yui out of his car and dragged her over to Hikari. The image of the girl hanging on the post, he would probably never get rid of. Fortunately, so far he didn't have to arrange the deaths of children. He couldn't look any longer and dumped Yui on the roadside. Shiraishi came back. "No. She can't lie there. Notice the angles. If she's lying there, the car would have caught her too."
"Maybe she came by later. Maybe the girls don't know each other." Kyo thought that the dead girl was Yuna Masuda's best friend. They probably knew each other after all. "Hm. We have to assume that they knew each other. What do you suggest?"
Shiraishi looked around again. "She had to tie her shoe." He ducked and pulled on the laces of Yui's sneaker. His eyes slid along the path. "Over there. The dead girl was waiting here, got caught by the car and hurled at the post. She just had extreme bad luck."
"And I was lucky that our best forensic scientist was here and also serves in my special unit."
Shiraishi grinned. From a distance they already heard the sirens. "You should go, chief. I'll take care of this."
"Roger that. Thank you very much."