Chapter 1
True Psychic
1 Year ago...
Psychics names have been brought into testing countless of times, shows and other media's make it a duty to prove that there is no such thing as psychics, that statement in itself is a statement that should forever be left unknown, at least that's what I Reima Takahashi a true psychic believes
Currently 27 full time job is being a psychic, only problem is life as a psychic tends to not pay so well and now I'm currently put in a position where I'd have to work at a local retail store
"Hey Reima would you mind telling me if that girl over there likes me?" The man that asked me that had yellowish hair he wasn't well built and landed in the very, very slim side
"Let me see.." I took a look at the girl, she looked as to be on her own little world, just typing away at her phone, from time to time she began to slowly and gently take bites out of her fingernails, gossip? Or love interest? "Not sure though what I can sense is the fact that she doesn't have any lover or anyone she likes"
"So? I have a chance?!" He didn't seem to catch on to the fact that what I said signifies that he does have a chance, but it isn't necessarily my problem as he didn't even bother to pay up for my work as psychic
I clocked out before making my way back to my room, I live on an apartment owned by my sister, in that same apartment we also tend to have a bath house it should be closed by this time, although that closed signed is another way of saying that I reserved it
I began taking off my clothes before jumping in, it was warm, relaxing and best of all it was quiet, as of late I have been under a lot of stress and my sister has already warned me about my overdo taxes
"Damn why can't someone just believe in my damn powers!"
I can't remember much that happened after that night, according to my sister I seemed to have lost consciousness due to the heat in the bathhouse
It was early morning and I happen to click on my remote control by accident, the news came up, a report of a missing lady whom is now founded dead, it was almost as if I struck gold. This was my perfect opportunity to prove myself as a psychic!
The lady was a college teacher, she was last seen getting into her car at the college looking rather tired, the cross lights didn't get anything, meaning the possibility that she didn't go down a road
She had some sort of scar on her neck, she also had lost all of her papers that she placed into her car
I pulled out a map from my drawer, one of my hobbies happened to be making maps
I closed my eyes and visualized myself in the position that the teacher was in
"To think that they'd give me that much paperwork it's gotten me all sleepy"
I open the door of the car and sat down getting ready to drive
"You listen to me carefully!" I heard a man's voice at the back seat I didn't bother trying to look back as he's most likely armed
"Got it, where should I go?"
"Drive over there towards the park"
It was commonly known that the parks don't have cameras, well they used to till some scandal happened with the usage of the films inside the camera
"Perfect, now I want you to take this other gun and start a scandal, got it?" He gave me his second gun.
Once I got a hold of the gun, he placed his gun onto my head as a way to make sure that I didn't do anything out of the ordinary
"I-Im going to shoot." I rolled down the windshield before shooting a shot into the air
A week ago I remembered seeing a report about a shooting happening at the park, since then the cameras have been back
"Go to that car over there, make any attempt to run and I'll shoot you"
"Okay"
"Wait, stay right there" before taking me to the car, the guy opened up some of the compartments inside my car, he grabbed a couple of papers before taking me to the car
We got to the car where ofcourse I was at the driver's seat "You're one of my students, you do know that I can check who's grades have changed right?" I felt a sudden tug on my neck, it was a wire. I couldn't breath
"Argh" I opened up my eyes, I took some deep breaths before contacting the police
"Miss Takahashi? Please come in"
The person welcoming me was the chief of this place, also known as Hana and last name Tanaka
"Miss Tanaka?"
"Please just call me cheif"
"Right, chief I have reason to believe that I might know who killed the teacher"
"Really? Please tell me you're evidence"
"Well, it's more of a feeling"
"Feeling?"
"The spirits are telling me how the culprit is a college student"
"We already checked that route, yet all we came up with is a bunch of kids with their grades changed"
"Can you please line them up? I can maybe sense one of them out?"
"Yeah sure" The cheif didn't really seem to believe in my abilities yet at the same time she most be wishing that this is her last hope
"Thank you cheif! I won't let you down!" The cheif sent me with some detectives over to the line up. I remember the voice perfectly, I should be able to detect the culprit quite easily
1 month later...
Just like that I began getting constant calls to go and help out consulting, so far I have managed to catch 3 culprits due to my senses, The cheif liked me soo much to the point where she assigned me into helping out with the stream killing website, it wasn't big, though the reason they wanted me to help out was so that I can help out in stopping it before it became too big
It was just too bad that I didn't end up being of much help...
"Hello Ms. Takahashi" The man smiled
"Yes?" That was the last thing I remember saying, as after that I can't remember anything I've done, I can't remember the man nor the rest of the conversation that we had
Chapter 2
A Vision as fake as you're job
"Left hand to 3 red" I pushed my left hand toward the 3rd red spot, leaving me on top of Aikawa
"Oh~?"
"Please just go already"
"Really?" She seemed rather surprised that I haven't gave up
"I take games seriously" this was true even though I used to end up losing most of them when I went up against Lia
"I see" Aikawa spinned the wheel, the position we were both in kept on getting weirder and weirder
"Ah-" at the end though the person that ended up losing was noneother than me
"Ha! I beat you!" Aikawa was non stop jumping around
"Tch-" a sudden ring came from Aikawa's phone
She answered the call and put it up to her ear
"Sounds to me like a butt dial" she smiled before upping the volume that way we can both hear what's going on
"Takahashi I want you to help me with a robbery that has occurred, a cashier by the name of Akira ended up dying"
"No need to say more chief! All I need is someone to take me over there"
"Don't worry we will have Miyu and Kai take you right over there"
The call went silent for a bit before Aikawa decided to end it, seems to me like the chief has a new consultant and worse of all its a psychic
"Wow, to believe that the chief will hire someone over us?!" Aikawa was shocked at the sudden betrayal of the chief
"Yeah? Worst of all is that the person she hired is a psychic"
"Yeah I do find it interesting though, the ability to sense things would be quite interesting"
Thats where our conversation ended as we decided to make our way over towards the robbery to show little Ms. Psychic who's boss
"Will you look at that" Aikawa opened the doors to the place to where everyone was surrounding Takahashi
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"What's happening?"
"I'm not sure myself" we were both rather confused as to what we were seeing
"I'm getting something!" Takahashi began standing up, eyes closed and hands moving uncontrollably above the body
"Jeez what is this act?" I whispered to Aikawa
"Not sure, it's kinda cool tho"
"This man, he was involved with the robbery"
A rather shocking theory, one that would need to be 100% as if it isn't, it's bound to have people looking the opposite way, but how exactly did she figure that out?
I walked over to the body
"Oh? I can sense a new presence" Takahashi still had her eyes closed and people were stunned by her display
That wasn't surprising at all though, we announced ourselves and she most likely heard me footsteps
Yet people find this impressive as it's small things that some people may overlook and the fact that they weren't paying any attention when it came to things going on around them
"The names Malliyo" I offered my hand for a handshake then immediately took it back after remembering that she still has her eyes closed
"No need for handshakes" Takahashi smiled
I decided to ignore her and instead take a look at the victims body, he was shot on the back, yet no other observations that I made led me to the fact that this guy was involved with the robbery
"Why do you believe that this man was doing an inside job?"
"Well I can sense that this man was betrayed and was rotten"
"You can sense?.." I laughed a bit before turning to the others who were watching "Do you believe this?!"
"Malliyo come over here" surprisingly enough Kai was the one to call me over
"Do you seriously belive this?!"
"Well no, but she's helped solve number of cases so I'm fine with her whole act"
"But not a single observation that I made led me to that conclusion!"
"She's simply smarter then you" Kai smiled
"Who's side are you on?!"
"The one that solves the cases side"
"Tch" I decided to take my leave bringing Aikawa along side with me
"What's the matter? Seems like you don't really like psychics huh?"
"I'm not sure why I hate them, but what I am sure about is the fact that this psychic is not making these conclusions based on observations"
"Is it possible that she was involved?"
"Not sure"
Both me and Aikawa went our super ways, it was Lia's birthday a week from now, I decided that it would be best to buy some planning materials in advance
I made my way over to the store with a total of 5,000 yen, I decided to allow myself that much money and give the rest to my mother
"Let's see" I was stuck on which balloon to pick, Lia's favorite color red? She never really told me much about herself, she mainly wanted me to figure it out
"Oh someone's birthday?" I heard a ladies voice, that voice came from noneother than Takahashi
"..."
I decided that it would be best to not get myself upset when Lia's birthday is 1 week from now
"Hello? Is this someone special?" She kept on following me, even though I should no interest in talking to her
I decided to erase her from my vision and continued with my shopping, Lia's favorite flavor for the cake was strawberry and she also loved hairclips mainly the pinkish ones
"How come you're not talking?"
I decided to pause for a bit...
I looked at my bag and came to the realization that I must have planned a lot of her birthdays
"Hello? I wanted to get to know you better since we are both working on the same case yknow"
"You're psychic I'm consultant, I didn't get hired for that case, and rather you are the only one working on that case"
"I have heard a lot about you, you've already solved 2 cases"
"Yeah, yet it's very well known that I'm inferior to you"
"Does that make you angry?"
"Not at all, as you can see I'm preparing for someone's birthday, so I don't really mind missing out on some cases these couple of weeks"
"Still you have a lot of potential yknow, after all you're just 17 right?"
"Soon to be 18"
"You're close to being a big boy"
"Please don't ever say that"
Our conversation stopped there, yet something that didn't stop was Takahashi's constant staring
"I can sense that you're not fond of being looked at"
Her prediction is correct, yet it's not impressive as all it takes is basic observations to come up witha conclusions like that
"Well then how about you follow up with that theory and stop looking at me!"
At the end I managed to survive through the torture that was hanging out with Takahashi and managed to understand how much she values the intelligence of both me and the police force
Chapter 3
A Perfect Prediction
It was the next day, I woke up and decided to cross the previous day out on my calendar
Just 6 more days till it's Lia's birthday.
While on my way to school, both Aikawa and I coincidentally walked into eachother, to which we decided to just walk together
"Can't belive I beat you on a game"
"I rarely play that game, so I was already at a disadvantage"
"Really? Well atleast you've played the game, as that was my first time ever playing" Aikawa stuck her tongue out, mocking my defeat to such a newbie like her
"How about we forget about the game?"
"No can do"
"Are you serious?!"
"Yeah, of course we can always have a rematch, though till then I'll enjoy myself"
"Great"
We made it to our school to which we both went to our separate classes
The classes would be easy, if I could manage to pay attention to what the teacher was saying.
it's more and more that I realize how much Lia's death has affected me and my everyday life
"So how was the first half of class?" It was lunch break and me and Aikawa we're going to the roof for our lunch break
"Boring"
"Classic"
We made it up to the roof to where Aikawa decided to pull out her home cooked meal
"I still can't believe that you made all that"
"Want some?"
"No" knowing Aikawa she'd probably spoon feed it to me and while she's at it I wouldn't throw away the idea that she'd chew up the food and then put it in my mouth, a rather disturbing thought
"I got a message from Miyu, supposedly Takahashi's prediction was right"
"How?!" To my surprise Takahashi's outrages prediction ended up being true
"Don't know, although according to Miyu Takahashi told the cheif how we distract her from her visions"
"So we aren't allowed anywhere near the crime scene?"
"Yup"
It was an odd approach for someone who was trying to build up a relationship with me
"I see"
"You're not upset?"
"Nope"
Takahashi is most likely involved someway or another, though in the position I'm in it's unlikely that I'll be able to investigate what she's investigating
"We could just always go to her apartment" Aikawa offered the idea, it wasn't a bad idea
I might not be involved with the case, but who's to say that I can't be indirectly involved with someone who is allowed on the case
Takahashi has a view of people, she views them as nothing more then simple foolish pawns, she constantly puts on a role of a psychic even with the most obvious observations, it's almost as if she believes we wouldn't catch on, as if she's someone way superior
After school me and Aikawa we're supposed to be going to Takahashi's place, although Aikawa had to stay back due to her having after school cleaning duties
I went over to the appartment to sign myself to one of their rooms, while I investigate around the place
"Hello! How may I help you today?!" The lady was energetic
I took a good look at her before realizing how my original plan might not work, her eyes were similar to the ones of Takahashi, twin sisters?
"Uhm, Ms. are you by any chance related to Takahashi?"
"Ah my little sister!" She started clapping an jumping around, overall she was one of those overly energetic types
"I was wondering if I could rent a room for only about a week"
"I'm sorry, but you have to have it for atleast a month"
"I see" I decided to rent the room closest to Takahashi, supposedly that room was just recently left by some other man
I made my way towards the room, before leaving though I took one last look at Takahashi sister, she had a puzzled look
That look of hers was most likely a realization on the fact that I'm way on the younger side, when you compare it to Takahashi who in my guess is on her late 20's and close to being onto her early 30's
I got to my room, it had nice space and it already had a mattress, and a fridge
I took a look inside the fridge and to my surprise there was cans of beer in the fridge
"I can't even remember the last time I've seen a beer" I muttered to myself
Chapter 4
Psychic Is On The Air
People just believe on things that they want to believe in. That's just how us humans work, which is why I, Reima Takahashi will be making sure people will want to believe in me and my psychic abilities
"Hello ladies and gentlemen! Today we have a special guest known as psychic detective Reima Takahashi!" The man's name was Ryusei the maker of this show
The lights went dark as I made my way over to my seat, once I got there the lights turned back on and the roar of the crowd was louder than I expected
"Ms. Takahashi welcome to the show!"
Ryusei shook my hand before sitting on his side of the seat
"So let's get started" Ryusei got a hold of his phone to read the question that the audience had
While Ryusei was picking the questions I decided to take a look at the stands to where I happen to see the lady that was with Malliyo, If I recall her name was Aikawa?
"First question comes from Ishida, he said, how do you're powers help the police out?"
"Well Ishida, my powers help the police out by giving insight that the police themselves can't find"
"You here that Ishida?! Okay next one comes from an anonymous..." Ryusei's expression changed after reading the comment "Well, let's move on to the next one"
The crowd looked rather confused, they also clocked on to Ryusei weird change in behavior as they began whispering to one and other
"Okay this one is good, it's from Aikawa" Ryusei seemed to found a comment that he's rather fine with, though for it to come from Aikawa? What does she want?
I took a look at the crowd to which everyone seemed to have switched positions, everyone's faces were invisible, they were all just a bunch of the same people none looked different from the other
"Aikawa says, how does you're visions activate?"
"..."
"Hello Ms. Takahashi?"
"Huh?"
"Aikawa says, how does you're vision activate?" As soon as Ryusei said that I managed to see a red laser flash across his forehead
I took a look towards the crowd, but nobody seemed to see what I'm seeing
*BANG*
just then Ryusei began to fall backwards his blood began to get closer and closer towards my face, till it finally reached me, covered in Mr. Ryusei's blood. I was left sitting their as the crowd just watched and enjoyed the show...
"Is that what happened Ms Takahashi?" A man that looked similar began talking to me
"..."
"You seem to have forgotten who I am..." The man smiled "I'm you're therapist"
"My therapist?"
"Indeed, I am here to help and understand you, I am here to fix you're nasty thoughts"
"So... what happened isn't true?"
"Not at all" The man smiled before putting his hands over my eyes leaving only a small crack for me to see through
"Sir?"
"Don't worry my love, I'll make sure to treat you with extra care" The man licked his lips, I can't seem to remember his face, all I remember is the conversation he and I had
Chapter 5
I'll treat you with care, but you not
The next day came around Takahashi never ended up coming to her room, though something I did do was do some background checks on her yesterday as well as checked her room, she has payed for some type of therapist yet it's inconsistent
The room of someone can also tell you something about them, and for Takahashi it fits the fact that she fakes a psychic, as the room seems to give a creative atmosphere
I also remembered finding some sort of weird pattern with the books, they weren't exactly in order, but they did seem to continuesly rotate to the right
It goes V5, V6, V7, V1, V2, V3, V4. An overall weird way of rotation.
I opened up the volumes to where at the end of every book Takahashi tends to stamp the day she finished that volume, she finished volume 1, 7 weeks ago, volume 2, 5 weeks ago, volume 3, 2 weeks ago, volume 4, 3 days ago, Volume 5, today
She finished Volume 5 in the morning? I can't seem to find a specific pattern with any of these
I took a look back at the therapist checks to which their dates correlated to the ones where she finished the volume numbers 4 and 5, maybe she has a condition? One where she has to continuesly rotate things?
I decided to open up her fridge, she had a can of beers as well, I got a hold of all the beers and to my surprise the beers could end up being the final piece of the puzzle that I needed
You're a clever one...
It wasn't long after both me and Aikawa decided to formulate a strategy that will hopefully activate Takahashi's ability, that strategy was to make her gain awareness that we know somethings up by having Aikawa ask her how can you activate you're psychic abilities, from there Aikawa would ask everyone to move down one row and for her to end up disappearing and await for Takahashi to hopefully run and catch her right there.
Unfortunately the strategy didn't go to plan as someone seemed to have gotten to Takahashi before we can, and it wasn't to long till Takahashi ended up being found dead on the side of the road, naked with bruises on her arms, breasts, and her legs
The next day came along with just 2 more days till Lia's birthday, it's a sour taste to celebrate something when a woman you once hated but grew to understand her just died, even so it wasn't like I truly knew her, I mean we never clicked necessarily
Is that a right way of thinking?
Is it wrong for me not to feel that bad?
Could I have made a better more secure strategy to save her?
How come she was treated so badly?
I was planning to reveal what I found out the day I was at her house yet it seems like I failed it, I wanted to test It out for myself rather than to just call it in with the police
The truth was that I was the reason for her death and it would only be minutes later till a vod of a stream was sent to me by an anonymous, one that gave the exact same impression of the one that killed Lia, treat the young with care and love and treat the others differently, I don't need to watch Lia's death stream just to understand the fact that she was raped.
My vision of her not knowing why she naked was just my way of coping, it was just my way of avoiding the fact that she was raped, yet she was treated kindly and differently from Reima
Treat the Young with care and love while the others get a different treatment, that's what Reima's bodies telling me, that's what I can see, that's the way this streamer works
What I found back at Reima's apartment was the full story of what was going on.
The story starts with the volumes, Reima had a specific way of rotating the volumes of the books, the times she finished a volume were also times that she'd visit this therapist, I took a look into it and according to Reima's older sister to whom didn't take the news of her death very well although she did manage the courage to tell me how her therapist moved in to the place I was in, which makes sense due to the fact that the beers happen to be bought 1 month ago, the therapist didn't drink any and the departure from their apartment and my introduction was quite close as Reima's sister clearly didn't have enough time to buy new beers, the finished dates from the volumes was most likely something Reima already did even before she met up with the therapist, all the therapist did was make her get used to some rotational pattern. Once he managed to do that he managed to make it have some wierd effect on her brain that would ultimately have her activate her abilities, and by abilities I mean fake hallucinations.
The day that volume 4 finished was 4 days ago, the exact time the robbery that introduced both me and Reima happened, at the same time she and my observations were completely different, the reason for this difference is because at the time she would already be having false visions due to their meeting with her therapist, the same could be said for the day that she was killed, the truth was that this therapist was behind everything. Reima's sister managed to discribe their face, which wasn't of much help after that person she mentioned ended up being found dead, but not in the form of a stream. This therapist killed both Reima and Lia, this man is a man that deserves to die a rotten death, yet this man is a man that I'd never be able to reach, a man that will most likely top what I had in mind just like he did today with Reima....
The fact that everyone was willing to move down a seat.
Did it work to perfectly? Maybe it was pure luck? I can't be thinking whether what has happened it real or not
"I shouldn't be letting him get to my head" I muttered to myself, before laying my head and taking a nap
Chapter 6
Have A Psychic As you're birthday!
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Lia! Happy birthday to you!" Everyone began clapping as Lia took a big bite of her cake
She smiled even though she didn't truly feel happy, she kept on saying about how she wanted a psychic for her birthday yet their parents continued to refuse
"You noticed too" The man next to me was my father he decided to come join me as my mother couldn't make it to the party due to her being taken to the hospital as a way to prepare her for when the day comes where she releases the baby
"Yeah she doesn't seem to happy"
"How about you become the psychic she wanted?"
"Me?!"
"Why not?"
"I don't have their powers"
"Powers don't exist son, all that exists is observations and deductions"
"I'm not sure I follow"
"She's having her 7th birthday, yet she moved in 2 years ago and she hasn't revealed where she's come from"
"Okay so what?"
"Think back to when you first met her and when you first entered her room"
I closed my eyes to remember some of the things she had in her room, all of which connected to the fact that she wasn't born there, from her name to her other wierd things in her room, none of which told me that she was from here
"She moved from America"
"Perfect now just use the tactic that most psychics use, known as Hot Reading"
"And what's Hot Reading exactly?"
"Is a tactic where the psychic collect information to know specific things about that person, after that all they do is put up the act of being a psychic without the person finding out"
"I see"
At the end of the party I ended up deceiving Lia, the feeling of it was weird, I was both proud of myself for being able to pull it off, but I was also somewhat disgusted by my actions.
After that I decided to tell my father, he told me how he understood what I felt and how he'd help me feel better after my mother came out of labor.
That day never came about though, as since then my father has left me with a mix of emotions, emotions I wasn't sure of and didn't fully understand.
At the end of the day I guess that's what made me, well me, I ended up understanding myself as I grew up.
Maybe my father's departure wasn't as bad after all.
Chapter 6
I wish you a happy birthday
The following two days passed by quickly, leaving me with the best day of the year, Lia's birthday
I brought along all the stuff that I bought at the store, a cake and some candles, as well as a gift for her
Her birthday wouldn't have to be celebrated by everyone, I'm sure Lia would be fine with just me celebrating her birthday.
The day was slowly coming to an end, as I was packing up a strange man walks up to me he was quite tall and looked to have some sort of job as a package delivery guy
"You're a friend of my little sister?"
"Huh?..."