The morning light shines upon the Hokusai estate with the warm summer breeze of the mountains flowing through the room. It has been four days since the Gutai group settled into the Katsushikas's residence. Jiro and Saburo are cleaning up the room as Kazuo prepared breakfast, while Yuko and Ōi are relaxing. Despite their current circumstances, the members of the Gutai group felt some peace in their lives.
"You want to listen to some tunes?" Kazuo asked from the kitchen.
"I call dibs on some heavy metal!" shouted Saburo from the kitchen. Jiro stopped sweeping and glared at Saburo, "Who the hell listens to heavy metal in the morning?"
"It's better than you constantly listening to your stuff." Saburo mocked.
"Kazuo. Just play some folk songs, I can't stand his heavy metal stuff this early in the morning." Jiro continued.
"Okay, two of you. Shut up. I'm just going to play myself some of my own stuff." Kazuo sighed.
Ōi looked at Yuko, "Are they really like this every day?"
"You would be surprised that the three of them are surprisingly more functional while working." Yuko commented.
Much to Jiro and Saburo's dismay, Kazuo continued to play his own songs, humming to the tune of Kid Charlemagne as he cooked omurice for the group. Saburo and Jiro continued to quarrel while cleaning up the garden, as per usual for the two of them. Suddenly, a knock can be heard from the main door, and with that, Ōi stood up and shouted. "Coming! Give me a minute," She jogged towards the door.
"Who's that?" Kazuo inquired. At the question, Yuko glanced at him and shrugged. Moments later, a new figure entered the room — a tall young man with deep blue eyes took center stage, dressed sharp and neatly with a brown briefcase and some luggage on tow. "So," Ōi giggled, "This is Rembrandt! I'm going to call my dad down from the study." Rembrandt smiled back and waved at the rest of the Gutai group.
"Ōi's right," Jiro mentioned, "he does look like a more handsome version of you."
"You better shut your trap before I murder you in your sleep." Saburo replied with his usual brash tone towards Jiro's light teasing.
Rembrandt sat down on the table across Yuko and rested his head. "It's good to be back 'home'." Rembrandt stated while slowly dropping his briefcase beside him, not long after he passed out, asleep from the long trip. Hokusai and Ōi entered the room to Yuko playing games on her phone, Kazuo preparing the omurice on the table and Rembrandt fast asleep. Jiro and Saburo soon joined the rest of the group in the living room after they finished their cleanup.
"That, kids, is Rembrandt van Rijn," Hokusai started, pointing at the sleeping man, "better known by the nickname, Dutch Maestro."
"That's the guy that's helping us?" Kazuo wondered.
"We can start talking once he gets his nap, poor guy had a long flight." Commented Hokusai, "You kids can go have your breakfast first."
After a couple hours of rest, Rembrandt woke up, more energetic than ever.
"It's 1 PM. You fell asleep the moment your head hit the table." Ōi greeted.
"Oh, Ōi. Good morning." He greeted back. Rembrandt scanned across the room and saw the Gutai group, "So those are your friends?"
"They're also the people who are going to work with you." Hokusai interjected, "They also trained with me, like you."
Rembrandt's face beamed to life, "Ah! Hokusai, long time no see!" he exclaimed, lunging himself towards him to hug him.
"Welcome back, Rembrandt." Hokusai spoke, "How is Mercurius doing these days?"
"Same old rivalry with Die Brücke. Netscher and Picasso are both dealing with a case and they took over — a bit annoying, but that's all." Rembrandt calmly responded. Hokusai laughed, "Fritz always giving you trouble, isn't he?"
"I guess I should introduce myself to the four of them." Rembrandt stated, "Name is Rembrandt van Rijn, detective. It's nice to meet the four of you here."
Jiro stepped forward and introduced the members of Gutai, "The name is Jiro Yoshihara, that's Saburo Murakami, Kazuo Shiraga and Yuko Nasaka." The three of them waved at Rembrandt, leaving him giggling a little. The group mingled a little, getting to know each other and exchanging stories.
"Speaking of," Rembrandt spoke while putting his luggage in the guest room, "We should go to the crime scene, maybe we can start seeing what really happened."
The six of them bid goodbye to Hokusai and rode their bikes to the Gutai's hangout spot, though something was off. The area is empty, the blood and the corpse were nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, officer Toshizō was in the area and as he saw them, he waved his hand towards the group.
Jiro approached the officer immediately, "Officer! What happened?!"
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"Apparently some guy decided to clean the place up, not that the police can't do anything, but you can't work on a case without the crime scene." officer Toshizō mentioned.
"That's where my job comes in." Rembrandt smirked, "I can recreate the crime scene if needed."
"Who are you?" officer Toshizō inquired.
"Rembrandt van Rijn, member of the Mercurius Private Investigators." Rembrandt replied.
"The police decided that this matter is not worth pursuing so we'll hand it off to you." officer Toshizō explained. "I would work on it more but, the police don't like getting involved with the business between you Talent users."
Officer Toshizō and the other policemen went back and left the place to the six of them. Rembrandt sighed a little and muttering to himself. "Well then kids, it's just the six of us now."
"Just do your thing and let's get it over with." Saburo chattered.
Rembrandt stood and focused himself, he took a deep breath then shouted, "Night Watch!" a green square glowed around Rembrandt, reaching about 5 meters by 5 meters covering the concrete with a slight green. Rembrandt turned his head and snapped his fingers, "Well, when did this happen?"
Saburo crossed his arms, "Four days ago." Still not really believing in Rembrandt's Talent.
"And what time did it happen?" Rembrandt inquired.
Kazuo answered with some confidence in his tone, "The officer who interrogated me said around 4 AM, judging by the looks of it."
"4 AM, four days ago." Rembrandt cheerfully answered, alright.
Slowly a group of mannequins appeared from the ground, one of them wore a rather distinct outfit. The person had short brown hair, smoked a cigarette and wore a navy-blue trench coat, Rembrandt looked to see the person and comes across a familiar face. The rest of the group were stunned at Rembrandt's Talent, "No wonder he works as a detective." Yuko commented, "With a talent like that, catching a culprit must be really easy."
Rembrandt waved his hand and shouted, "Does anyone here have a phone or a camera? I need help taking a picture of this guy?"
"What happened to yours?!" Ōi shouted back.
"I forgot to charge it on the way here and it looks like its dead," Rembrandt replied. Ōi sighed and approached Rembrandt, handing over her phone for Rembrandt to use. Jiro and Kazuo joined the two looking at the culprits, "You know who this is?" Kazuo asked Rembrandt.
"Kyōsai Kawanabe, a dangerous Talent user." Rembrandt returned while taking pictures of the figure from various angles. "The guy has a lengthy record. 347 counts of larceny, 236 counts of extortion and 143 murders, 144 if you count this one. I worked on a case and met him about a year ago."
"Say, Mr. Rembrandt. Why is only one person not a blank mannequin?" asked Jiro.
"The Night Watch can copy a person's appearance if I've seen them in real life. It's convenient I know but I don't get to decide what my Talent does." Rembrandt replied smirking a bit.
"I'm not surprised, honestly. You're made for this job." Jiro teased.
"It's not my dream, but I don't mind. The pay is good, and I get to meet interesting people." Rembrandt replied. He then looked at the eviscerated corpse of the murder victim, "Poor guy, we'll try to find who killed you." Rembrandt signaled the Saburo and Yuko to come closer. "I know one of the killers, but I'm still missing a lot of things, so I'll try to get on that."
"Tch."
"What is it, Saburo?" Jiro asked.
"Now that we know the murderer, can we get this investigation over with?" Saburo answered.
"What are you implying here, Saburo?" asked Jiro.
"This just feels a little bit . . . overkill." Countered Saburo, "We're dealing with a serial killer and frankly I'm not in the mood to risk my life."
"Well, we still need to do something at the end of the day." Kazuo tried to convince Saburo, "Saburo come on."
Rembrandt sighed then calmly answered "Let me contact my boss, Van Gogh. Maybe he ca- "
"Are you serious? Another person?!" Saburo exclaimed.
"Saburo, calm down." Jiro advised, "Please don't make a scene."
Saburo exhaled loudly, "We barely have money to survive, we better focus on continuing our projects."
"Listen, Murakami, I've been where you've been." Rembrandt tried comforting Saburo, "I lived in the streets before I got this job. We can pull through this; money isn't an issue with me." Rembrandt stops his Talent then walked away to call Vincent van Gogh while Jiro talks to Saburo.
"Saburo, you promised me you won't explode again outside the discussions between the four of us," Jiro told the rather agitated Saburo.
"I know, but... I just feel like we might be dragging this investigation too long, it's just one guy after all." Saburo sternly replied.
"Well, right now we have someone willing to help. So, let's just do our best for everyone, alright?" Jiro continued.
"I'll definitely try to do my best." Saburo then approached Jiro for a hug, "I'm sorry if I annoyed you or the others."
"Relax," Jiro patted his back, "we all have our days."
The two of them walked back to Kazuo, Yuko and Ōi. Yuko was ready to shout at Saburo, but Kazuo managed to calm her down then not long after that. Rembrandt returned telling them about what he knows about the culprit. "Van Gogh told me that he'll send me the contacts tomorrow morning. I can try to trace his movement using my Night Watch."
"How feasible is that plan?" asked Kazuo.
"Depends on how far he went but knowing a serial murderer like him and his gang, I know he must be around the outskirts of Osaka." Rembrandt sighed. "I could probably ask Ōi's dad to ask for contacts later on."
"Rembrandt, let me call my dad and ask." Ōi requested, "Maybe he's free now." Rembrandt handed Ōi's phone back to her and went to walk away to ask Hokusai.
Meanwhile, Rembrandt smiled and confidently spoke, "I can assure you Mr. Murakami, you're in safe hands."
"Don't screw this up." Saburo spoke as he turned away, "I'm not annoyed, I just don't feel like dying young, so to speak."
"When we meet the guy, you're coming with me. You can trust me; I will protect you." Rembrandt stated while patting Saburo's back.
"I'm sorry for exploding at you. I'll try to be better"
"Been there, don't worry about it." Rembrandt assured Saburo.
"Told ya that Saburo had a softer side to him" Jiro commented, giggling a little.
"Shut up, Jiro!" Saburo shouted while running away.
Rembrandt laughed at the scene, remembering spending time with the other members of Mercurius, "Far from home, but it doesn't feel that different." He said to himself, "I'll be with good company, Vincent."
The group continued to joke around until Ōi waved at them and pointed to their bikes. "Dad said he'll ask around!" she shouted from where they parked, "Let's go back now!" The rest of the group followed suit, got on their bikes and left the warehouse, continuing their investigation on the following day.
"Dad said he'll ask around!" she shouted from where they parked, "Let's go back now!" The rest of the group followed suit, got on their bikes and left the warehouse, continuing their investigation on the following day [https://em.wattpad.com/388e8ff3a2fcab9d60ef7ebef64c3078f2523e2d/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f6c4a4163597a32446e774b4266513d3d2d3932363431343638302e313632386235656638666239653665343232313531313233383636362e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]