September 25th

Hellen exited the taxi and walked. She looked at the top of the bar house to read the sign that said “Bigdunk.”

“How nostalgic.” mumbled Hellen.

Hellen entered the bar, the aroma of beer and liquor covered the whole place. Sounds of men laughing like wolves and chattering like bees resounded. Her eyes scanned the place and soon enough Hellen’s eyes found Mew. She was in front of the bartender counter, lying on the counter with her face.

“Oh, jeez” mumbled Hellen and arrived next to Mew. She gently shook Mew’s shoulder.

“Hey, you okay?” asked Hellen but Mew only grumbled in response.

“Mister what did she drink? How many cups?” asked Hellen urgently.

“Five cups of wine.” said the bartender.

“And you gave it to her?!” grunted Hellen.

“Hey, she is an adult. Showed me her id and everything. 21 years old.” said the bartender carelessly as he cleaned his cups.

“Ugh, Mew, what the hell happened? You said you were going to retry the case. Why did you drink so much?” asked Hellen, annoyed.

Mew only wept in response. Hellen sighed and lifted her body up from behind.

“I’ll be taking her away now.” said Hellen.

********

The car arrived in front of the apartment and Hellen exited the car with Mew on her shoulder.

The two of them walked slowly towards the flat and entered.

“Hey, which floor do you live in?” asked Hellen.

“It’s…pointless.” said Mew with sadness.

“What?” asked Hellen.

“Hori…died.” mumbled Mew weakly.

Hellen was dumbstruck for a moment.

“What?!” Hellen asked more aggressively this time.

“She was killed…I know it. They lied. She wouldn’t commit suicide.” grumbled Mew.

Hellen pondered in shock for a while but decided that deductions would have to wait. After going up inside the elevator Hellen reached the door and ringed the door.

Succi opened the door with a shock.

“Mew, what happened?” asked Succi in shock.

“She got drunk. Aside from being utterly wasted, she seems heal…no, she probably isn’t.” said Hellen with a sad face.

“Did something happen to her? Is there any bruises on her?” asked Succi.

“It’s not that. Succi, did you hear? That Hori died?” asked Hellen.

“Y-yeah. The two of us went to the women’s prison to visit Hori on the 23rd . But the guard there said that Hori…died.” said Succi with a disgusted tone.

“When did she die? When did you last see her?” asked Hellen.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“We last visited her on August 26th. She was sad and told us that she got bullied in prison by the other inmates. But I didn’t think she would commit suicide because of that. We told her about how we were going to retry her case by appealing to the supreme court, it was scheduled in October. And…she looked hopeful.” said Succi.

“When did Hori die? Did the guard say anything to you?” asked Hellen.

“He didn’t. Mew yelled and inquired but a bunch of guards came in and drove us out. The guy did say he didn’t know. He only knew that the inmate named Hori Sushihara died.” said Succi as he looked down.

“I can’t even blame Mew for acting like this.” said Hellen as she looked at the drowsy Mew who was sitting on the chair and lying against the wall.

Hellen grabbed ahold of Mew’s shoulders and said “Please Mew, I know it’s tough for you. But you gotta live on. I know life can be cruel but I heard from someone and I think it’s the right thing, that you should love yourself and care for yourself. You loved Hori for who she was, so surely you can do that, right?”

“Y-you’re so annoying.” grumbled Mew.

Hellen smiled at her and hugged her tight. Mew was silent, her eyes half open.

Hellen and Succi carried Mew into her bedroom and put her on the bed.

“This can’t be right. I know our country treats people who have been sentenced to death like trash. But we all deserve to know what happened to her. The truth.” said Hellen with an irritated look.

But she quickly shook her head and said “You look after Mew. I’ll try to find what really happened inside the women’s prison. Whether it was an actual suicide or not.”

“Okay” said Succi and nodded.

*******

September 26th – Monday

Hellen put the paper on the table and pushed it forward towards Klancy. He grabbed it and read it.

“This is a paper requesting that our team should investigate into the supposed suicide of Hori Sushihara who was inside the women’s prison in Luvia district.” said Hellen.

“Luvia district? That is quite far away from the district that we correspond to.” said Klancy.

“Sir, I personally want to investigate this case. Plus, I am acquainted with the victim from being involved with the case that sentenced her to death. And I had been in contact with the victim’s family even after the case ended so I have a chance to actually know the truth compared anyone else. But I also require the assistance of our team. Please, allow us to investigate into this case.” said Hellen.

“Hmm. I’ll tell the Captain about it. But first let’s check the database. See if the case is already solved. If it’s in Luvia district and happened inside the prison, I would imagine other squads will be on the case immediately.” said Klancy.

Klancy wrote on the computer searching for “Hori Sushihara”. The search engine processed for a while and a screen popped up.

“It’s the report we did on Tenma Sushihara’s case. And…there doesn’t seem to be anything else.” said Klancy.

“What, what do you mean? Mew told me that she heard Hori committed suicide from the jailors in Luviana women’s prison.” said Hellen with surprise.

“Well, there is nothing here. Are you sure everything is alright? with Mew’s head, I mean” said Klancy.

“I don’t doubt her!” grunted Hellen.

She angrily walked around the office and turned to face Klancy.

“I’m going to investigate Luviana prison myself. Klancy, I need a warrant to investigate Luviana prison” said Hellen.

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do” said Klancy.

********

September 27th - Tuesday

“Well, I was afraid something like this would happen. But my request got rejected by Maksym” said Klancy as he put the notice on Hellen’s table.

“What was the reason for rejection?” asked Hellen with surprise.

“The supreme court said there was nothing going on inside Luviana prison. It’s a private prison, so naturally you can’t just barge in without a good reason. They said that our teams need to take on different more important cases. Such as the break into the supermarket and stealing of food supplies last Sunday.” said Klancy.

“Ugh man. Non murder cases aren’t fun. Do they seriously want us to find some hungry hobo who just wanted to eat delicious meal for free?” grumbled Fushichin.

“It is important that we find robbers and bring them to justice. It’s a crime after all” said Klancy.

“Only a crime in capitalism.” said Fushichin with a groan.

“You can complain and get fired. Or you stay and you work.” said Klancy with a frown.

“I don’t care what you say. I wanna find the truth of what happened to Hori! Klancy, please try to get the permission again. And if you can’t get it, I simply think we should investigate even without the approval of the higher ups.” said Hellen confidently.

“We are only going to investigate cases that are assigned to our squad. You need to chill and know your place! You’re just a small amateur detective assigned into a regular police squad which there are thousands of. Don’t think you have the right to order people here around deciding which cases to solve. I’m sick and tired of you playing hero all day. Get to work!” grunted Klancy.

Hellen gritted her teeth and frowned. She quietly walked over to her desk and sat on the chair with crossed arms. They quietly worked on their computers until Klancy ordered them to go out to get in the cars to reach the scene of the crime where the burglary happened.

Hellen walked with the team down the stairs with grumpiness.