The loud ringing of your alarm jolted you out of your sleep. You glared at the digital red numbers across from you from underneath the covers, wanting to get some more sleep.
11:15 am.
You stared at the numbers blankly, before you shot out of bed at lightning speed, remembering what was happening today.
"Shit!" you cursed as you flung the covers off and quickly changed. Thank god you had prepared your outfit in advance. A (f/c) blazer and pencil skirt with a white shirt and a pearl necklace.
"The meeting's at twelve! I'm going to be late!"
You finished changing and stumbled toward the bathroom to brush your teeth, fumbling with the clasp of the necklace and cursing.
After you were done, you practically flew down the stairs to the kitchen. You finished an apple in record time for your breakfast and grabbed your purse on your way out the door as you slid your high heels on.
The train station wasn't too far from your house, so you speed-walked there as fast as you could in two-inch high heels.
When you got there, you realized you had just missed the train. Groaning, you checked the timetable and discovered you only had to wait two minutes for the next one to arrive.
You were quite tired, so you bought a coffee from a nearby vending machine and quickly chugged it in the two-minute wait for the next train.
Right on time, the train pulled into the station. The wind generated from the speed made your hair whip away from your face and made you squeeze your eyes shut.
You heard the hiss of the brakes and the train doors opening to let passengers out. Once the last of the passengers had gotten out, you bolted inside, wanting to secure a seat for yourself. No way were you going to stand in two-inch heels for who knows how long.
You found a seat and quickly settled into it. The doors shut, and the train jerked to life, slowly moving out from the station and toward the next destination.
You checked the train route posted above the doors. A green light indicated where you were now and a blinking yellow light indicated the next stop.
Ok, I'm the second to last stop. Good to know.
Since you still had some time before you arrived, you settled in and stared out the window at the passing landscape.
You hadn't exactly recovered from Saguru's death. Far from it, in fact. You felt as if you had the weight of the world on your shoulders and no one was around to help you with the burden. The world seemed bleached of all color and all the life, to your eyes, seemed to have been sucked away, leaving an empty husk in its wake.
You let out a deep sigh, your heart heavy and pained.
You needed a break.
Pulling out your phone, you dug put your earbuds and plugged them in, wanting to listen to some music to relax.
Saguru used to do this all the time when cases were overwhelming him, you thought as you shuffled your playlist and settled on something that suited your mood. It was mainly classical music.
The steady click-clack of the train passing over the rails made you sleepy and soon enough, you fell asleep.
***
You awoke with a start out of nowhere, out of breath. Your body had just done the fake-fall thing, jolting you awake with a burst of adrenaline.
Immediately, you checked the train route again. Your stop was next and you were rapidly approaching it.
"Crap!"
Gathering your belongings, you unplugged your earbuds and shoved them into your purse. You got up and stood by the door, freshening up your appearance while you waited.
The train pulled into the station, slowing to a stop. The doors slid open and you shot out, not wanting to waste any more time.
11:45 am. You'd be able to make it barely in time.
Walking out of the station, you saw the police department building immediately. It was huge and shiny, glinting brightly underneath the afternoon sun.
"Geez," you grumbled as you made your way across the street and walked in through the sliding doors. "How am I going to find my way around here?"
A flash of purple by the reception caught your eye.
"Ms. Sato!"
The said woman looked up at the mention of her name, her face instantly brightening at the sight of you.
"Ah, (y/n). Nice to see you."
You shook her hand and followed her toward the elevators.
"I thought it'd be a good idea to wait for you. This place is built like a tv station."
"It was. Thanks for waiting," you said as the doors slid shut behind you two. Miwako pressed the button for the fifth floor and leaned against the wall as the elevator jumped into motion.
The doors slid open with a little ding. You both stepped out and you followed Miwako as she led you around the floor. You almost lost her multiple times with all the twists and turns the enormous building had.
Finally, you arrived in front of the conference room. Miwako held out her police badge toward a scanner by the door. You heard a loud beep and a click from the door, indicating it was unlocked. She pulled open the door and held it open.
"After you."
You stepped inside, thanking her, and took the seat next to hers, which was conveniently open.
Glancing around you, you gulped nervously. Everyone around you looked so... tall and scary. Not to mention serious as well.
Miwako must've picked up on your disease. She discreetly scooted her chair closer to yours.
"Don't worry, they look scary but in reality, they aren't. They're all big softies inside."
You snickered quietly at the last part.
At that moment, the Chief Superintendent and Inspector Megure walked in, making the entire room go silent. Saguru's dad noticed you and gave you a slight nod to acknowledge your presence.
"There might be... pictures sooner or later, (y/n)," whispered Miwako.
Pictures? you thought. Wait...
You kept your eyes focused on the table in front of you as some officers turned the projector on, while others wheeled a whiteboard in. A sealed envelope was sitting a few feet ahead of you. You wondered what the contents were.
"Thank you all for being here today."
You looked up to show your respect and attentiveness but kept your eyes off the projector screen. Your vision wandered off somewhere else and zoned in on a random spot on the wall.
Your mind glazed over the beginning of the meeting but snapped back to attention once a stack of papers was plopped down in front of you.
"Right. So, does everybody have a copy of the official investigation report?"
You glanced down at the stapled stack of papers and picked it up, leafing through the contents. It wasn't very long, about four pages.
It's this short? Aren't these supposed to be longer?
"Yes, they're usually much longer, but there was so little evidence to go off that this was the final length."
You turned around to stare at Miwako who had just whispered the answer in your ear.
Did she just read my mind?
"Read through it later since we've got a list of suspects rounded out."
Already?
Inspector Megure cleated his throat and picked up the envelope you had noticed earlier.
"We got in contact with Scotland Yard and asked them for a complete list of criminals Saguru had arrested, incarcerated and alive. They sent the list over, which we cross-referenced with a list of plane passenger lists within the past six months. It took us a long time, but we were finally able to narrow down a list of potential suspects."
He reached into the envelope and pulled out a photo, sticking it to the whiteboard.
"Turns out there are a surprising amount of criminals who are out of jail. Even more so is that a good chunk of them are in Japan right now. Whether they're here on vacation or otherwise, I don't know, but that doesn't mean we won't exclude them."
"The first and most suspicious suspect is a man by the name of Terrence Jones. He was an arsonist that terrorized the West Yorkshire Urban Area for years until he was finally caught two years ago. It was well known that he harbored a grudge against Saguru, so much so that he orchestrated many attempts on his life while in prison. He's supposed to be on a life sentence, but he somehow managed to break out of jail. He got on a flight using a fake passport and the police have no idea where he is now. There's currently an ongoing search for him."
You gulped at the tiny, grainy picture of him. There was a distinctive burn mark stretching across the left side of his face, leaving a trail of red, shiny skin in its wake. You weren't sure how somebody with that distinctive of a face could stay hidden for so long.
"Second up is a woman by the name of Elizabeth Keller. She's a serial killer that arbitrarily struck mainly the city of Liverpool. Police found her hiding out in Hokkaido a few days ago and arrested her, but it's unknown whether she committed the crime or not. They interrogated her for hours, but she wouldn't say anything."
A serial killer and an arsonist. Delightful.
"We have two more suspects. The third one is a businessman named Magnus Campbell. He specialized in white-collar crime and frequently slipped out of the grasp of law enforcement thanks to his money and connections until Saguru gained enough evidence to throw him into jail."
And a wealthy businessman who specializes in white-collar crime. Saguru, just how much danger did you put yourself in?
"And our last suspect is, uh..."
The mood in the room suddenly changed. It was tense, nervous even.
"It's quite convenient, actually. They're in the room with us right now."
Inspector Megure stuck his hand into the envelope and drew out the last picture, tacking it to the whiteboard.
You felt your heart drop into your stomach as fear washed over you. A cold sweat washed over you at the sight of a picture of yourself staring back at you.
"The last culprit is Ms. (y/n) herself."
We literally have no idea what Saguru's past was like, so I had to make up a bunch of names for the criminals.
Sorry about not updating. I downloaded Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and I kinda forgot about everything else.
😂
Word count: 1800 words
Page count: 16 pages