Next morning, the mother and son went to the police station. Surprisingly, they didn`t have any report about someone that went missing. Not yet. Police officers were sent to retrieve the victim`s corpse before the witness was interviewed. Meanwhile, Takumi asked to see all the missing and murder cases recorded.

“Wow kid, hold up there. You won`t be able to understand the documents, let alone finding something. You might be big, but what you`re dealing with is a serial killer! Don`t get involved in these things, it`s the police`s job!”

“I understand. But at least I want to know where he has been active lately so we can avoid the area. Or do you want us to blindly walk around at night and fall prey to the psychopath?

”Ah, shouganai.[can`t be helped] Keep the documents clean OK?”

He was taken to the storage room. A female officer blocked his way in with a nervous expression [to any new readers, remember this detail]. He was only able to read the files he required, nothing more.

(Geez, what`s with all the secrecy? The police should be wary of criminal, not me.)

Going through the files, he didn`t find anything new. However, the numbers of missing reports overall were much more than he had imagined. Suddenly, one case caught his attention.

It was not a murder, but a case of the offender being killed. It happened seven years ago, in a poor part of the suburbs.

(The offender was killed in an act of self defense. The victims were a woman named Sougo Kura and her son, Sougo Kyoya…)

Takumi`s brain whispered to him: ”The second murderer couldn`t have been human.”

(The offender`s body was seriously damaged. One of the victims used a pencil to defend themselves, evident from the thing still sticking out of his thigh at the time they found his corpse. The offender carried a syringe in his pocket, and was later used by the victim to attack him. The cause of death was repeated stabs to the face and a deep cut that ripped the windpipe. Other injuries were: a stab to the thigh, various bruises and…)

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“Kuso!”[Fuck!]

“Sougo Kyoya… What the fuck are you… Only 9 years old and you…”

He searched for more. There was another case of rape where the offender also got arrested. The victim was a girl, but the one that disabled the rapists was a 12 years old child. He alone suppressed 2 adults and continued to rampage as the neighborhood went out to check. Then the police was called. The child`s name was Sougo Kyoya.”

“How the fuck didn`t they put this into that bastard`s record? The police are slacking off!”

The cold was resonating with the shrieking wind, creating an atmosphere that repelled humans from going outside. Snowflakes rained from the sky, before the wind shoved their face into some random objects on the street. On the bright side, it made humans stuck closely together, giving them their needed Christmas atmosphere. Even families like Kyoya`s were united around the kotatsu [google it pls], drinking hot chocolate and watching TV. Still, it was an unusually cold winter night.

Meanwhile, Takumi was still lost in his deductions. His brain worked at 100%, jumping from one clue to another. But nothing really pointed that Kyoya was the second culprit. Feeling frustrated, he recalled what his mother said about the incident.

(Aliens…)

He turned on his desktop and started searching.

(1, the serial killer had a hiatus in our test season, but recently started again. That`s all the clue that pointed to Kyoya. 2, they spared Kaa-san, meaning that they do have some method to select their target. 3, that method probably has something to do with aliens…)

Typing a few random things, he didn`t get any wanted results. Takumi fell into a trance again

(If the first human is a rather crazy one, then he would need some sort of motivation to continue his killing spree. Something like pure pleasure won`t do: he did not rape any of them, nor were there any sign of semen on the scene. If not sexual, what else can drive a human so crazy…A sense of duty! Right! Samurai used to gut themselves on their master`s orders. If the second one was smarter, which Kyoya seemed to be, that one would be able to manipulate the killer like his puppet. The motive of the second culprit? Not necessary. He wasn`t even human to begin with!)

Then, Takumi typed “Astronomical event, Christmas”

The results were just as he expected.

(Star of Bethlehem. Heh, nice one Kyoya. They are Christians too then… So, he must have told his henchman something about this star that only appears on Christmas. And then told him that Aliens would invade us from the star or something. Too obvious!)

At that very moment, his phone went off. Picking up a strange number, he heard a distorted voice:

“The park… Now…”

Takumi eagerly went to prepare for the battle. Little did he know, the wind had blown his thoughts a little too far, making him miss some crucial details that might reveal the real criminals…