IKAHO TOWN, SHIBUKAWA, GUNMA, JAPAN

AUGUST 24TH

18:00

The inspector was returning to the arcade, he had already reported the crime and secured the entrance, the police should be on their way here right now. The old man approached me so that between the two of us we could quickly search the room and try to find any clues that might be important to report to help in the investigation. The arcade room had 3 walls, the same three were shoji, translucent rice paper panels, and wooden frames that are used as sliding doors and windows, used to divide the space and rearrange the rooms as needed, but none of them had been moved since long ago, when they configured the room to be an arcade. The missing wall is where the room connected to the main hallway of the lobby, on the other side is where the main dining room of the hotel was, to the right are the stairs to the rooms, and to the left to the lobby next to the entrance. In the room there were 6 video game machines, 3 on each wall on the sides, the ping pong table was in the center, where he was playing with Haru. After that, at the back was another table with two chairs to put things or eat, which in fact had a bottle of sake on it, a decorative planter in the corner, and on the other side of the eating table were 4 massage chairs, 3 unoccupied and one where the victim was laying.

[https://i.imgur.com/MDXs8N7.png]

The body was sitting on the massage chair, which was still on, he was wearing a yukata, the same one that all the guests of the hotel were wearing, including me, as it is traditional in Ryokans, this is provided to each guest to wear during their stay because of its comfort, he had no personal belongings, he had a smoky cloth over his face, but there was no pulse in his body and he was cold. I had not seen his face, but from his physical complexion, he looked like a man in his 30s or 40s. As I was paying attention the inspector spoke behind me while he was also looking at something.

"Okay, so what do you think, girl?"

"Anything special to highlight?"

"I don't know, it seems pretty weird to me actually."

"No sign of a robe, no sign of a struggle, no sign of a heated discussion or a surprise."

"It's like the guy just sat there and died."

"Cardiac arrest maybe? Who knows, from the looks of it he looked healthy, but there's no way of knowing without an autopsy."

"The sake bottle is a little out of place on that table, but maybe he brought it himself and was drinking from it before he used the chair."

"So you don't think it was a murder?"

"Like the bottle was poisoned or something?"

"Look, I know I'm in trouble all the time."

"But that doesn't mean that every single thing that happens is my fault."

"This doesn't have to be a murder, it was probably something much simpler"

"Maybe he was bitten by a snake, maybe he went into cardiac arrest, maybe he was allergic to air, maybe the chair itself electrocuted him, maybe he hit his head while he was lying down."

"Wow, I really didn't expect that from you."

"You're pretty quick to think of any possible situation without ruling anything out."

"Have you worked as a police officer before? Have you done investigations before?"

"Well, it's work stuff."

"Although I was usually on the other side, and not exactly in the police force."

"...."

"And it wasn't normal police either, more like military police."

"...."

"I once had to kill a colonel of the Alliance in a base in France to get a couple of documents"

"That you were not on our side?"

"Well, you know what, forget about it, it must have had something to do with Adelis."

"But well, it is because of your own work that I am asking for your help."

"For example, if you were the one who committed the crime, how would you try not to be found by the police?

"Which part do you think is the most complicated?"

"Well, that depends on how premeditated the move was."

"If you planned the situation well and carried out a really calculated plan and executed it on time, then it will be hard to get caught"

"But if you had to do it in a hurry to be discovered before doing the real crime, it is more difficult but manageable."

"Now, if the one who did it was an idiot who did it without knowing what he was doing, let's say he got angry with someone and did something stupid, well, then everything is worth a shit."

"There would be no way to make it look like an accident if the victim looks like a grated cheese"

"So what about this one"

"It would fall into the category of premeditated very well planned, wouldn't it?"

The inspector's questions seemed a little strange to me, but well, most likely he was talking to me as if I were a friend or treating him at least, he just didn't know how to relate to someone much younger and different than him, I guess. But just to do him a favor and to think of it as a premeditated plan, I checked the body a little more. I took a pen and tried to move the victim's fingers, but I couldn't, his body was extremely tense. And that's when the whole situation clicked inside me.

"This guy is stiff as fuck"

"..."

"This is not good"

"Rigor Mortis?"

"Undoubtedly"

"Rigos Mortis begins to appear 2 hours after death."

"The massage chair was still on when we arrived."

"Each massage session lasts 30 minutes."

"So at the very least, this guy got here after being dead for two hours."

"...."

"This is not the real place of death."

"Will the police notice?"

"Not necessarily, if there are no witnesses to report the chair being on or how the guy got here."

"Perfectly could have been a cardiac arrest and no one used the chair for 2 hours until we got here and played ping pong."

"....."

"....."

"Look, I promised you I'd take care of Haru."

"But this is ridiculous, this is way out of line"

"When you invited me here I thought it would be for a trip between school friends."

"I thought you wanted me to help Haru forget about what happened with the Yakuza by standing next to her to talk about anything like what happened at the onsen."

"This is completely different"

"Come on Elise!"

"You owe me! Do you know how many deads I had to hide because of you?"

"Ten, ten bodies that I had to alter to hide the little fox girl that destroyed the place!"

"Or what about the surveillance cameras, you squeezed in about 10 seconds of video that I had to erase?"

"Come on, that was a lot more work than this."

"All you have to do is stand next to Haru and keep her talking about your butt like you did a while ago."

"Shut up about my ass!"

"You are the last person I would ever imagine talking about it in the world!"

"What you're doing here is mixing family, work and private matters!"

"Look old man, I consider you my friend and as a friend, I'm telling you that this time you've screwed up big time!"

"The kind I didn't think you could Mr. retired from the CIA."

"It is because you are my friend that I am asking you for this favor!"

"In fact, you have done excellent so far."

"The only thing you have to do is to do nothing."

"Just leave this to the police and let them take care of everything."

"You just go with Haru and spend the rest of the night talking nonsense."

"You're good at that."

Sirens begin to sound in the distance.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"I don't know how you've done it so far, but if you keep it up it won't be long before Haru discovers the truth about her beloved grandfather."

"As stubborn as that girl is, she's about to find out the whole truth about my story with her incessant amount of questions."

"Soon I will no longer have anything to throw a hook at Haru to divert her attention"

"Come on, I'm sure you can use something"

"Someone like you sure has a thousand stories to tell and hide."

"Why don't you tell him about that giant sword you use and pull out of thin air?"

"I'm sure she'd be pretty excited to know about it"

"Okay, you win."

"It's not like I want the cops marking me as a witness either."

"Good luck with your thing."

A little angry I left the old man behind and returned to the room with the others just moments before the police arrived at the hotel.

The inspector will have booked two rooms in the hotel, a small one for himself and a slightly larger one for the girls to sleep in together. I have to admit that at first, it seemed strange to me when he said that he could only get the separate rooms, but really separate, like 4 other rooms between ours, but with what happened I can see that it was chosen on purpose. When I opened the door I found Haru and Tamamo playing cards. But the second she saw me, the granddaughter came running towards me and grabbed my arm to get me to come in as soon as possible, it seemed that she wanted to talk to me.

"At last, the star of the team has arrived!"

"Well? What happened? How much information were you able to get?"

"Get information?"

"Information about what?"

"About the murderer!"

"Several guests have already mentioned it."

"You were with Grandpa, so come on, tell us what you know!"

"Ok, it is true that someone was found dead"

"But that doesn't mean they were murdered."

"It could have been anything, most likely it was a medical situation."

"And I just happened to be standing next to the old man."

"Come on, don't play dumb"

"I know you and Grandpa have been working together for a long time!"

"Ever since that day when he looked for you in the cafeteria."

"And the time when you both were in Kabukichō."

"Grandpa is a good detective and you're a ghost hunter, demon hunter, Yokai or something like that."

"I'm sure you've run into the police several times."

"So it wouldn't be strange if my grandfather called you to ask for help in an emergency such as the appearance of a dead person."

"Look girl, don't play the know-it-all when you don't really know anything."

"Right now I'm stuck with you today mainly out of obligation."

"Second, I don't like the police around, it makes me nervous."

"I'm not designed to be a public figure and I don't need to explain why."

"Appearing near a crime scene is not something I like and I prefer to avoid it."

"Third, and if you really appreciate the image you have of your grandfather, you'd be much better off letting this go."

"Just calm down and let the Inspector handle this, he's done this a bunch of times, hasn't he?"

"This isn't a series of kid detectives solving crimes like on TV."

"We'll let the police do their job as it should be done."

"How can you say that!"

"In front of us we have a crime that must be solved!"

"We have to help my grandfather!"

"We have to investigate this as best we can!"

"The assassin could be loose near us at this very moment!"

"Oh yes, really close"

"So close that you can't even imagine it."

"And it's sure to be a plot twist as well, something unexpected."

"Oh! maybe the person we least suspected was possible is the real culprit!"

"By any chance, a new character will appear conveniently introduced for this new chapter."

"Oh and don't forget the part where we split up for no reason in different parts of the hotel so that the killer will try to kill one of us!"

"Also the part where you try to convince me with dog cookies will be missing?"

"Wouldn't you do it for a foxy snack?"

"....."

"....."

"Are they the ones with cheese?"

"Of course"

"....."

"Agh, ok, we'll see what we can do"

"But it will be 10 cookies this time!"

"Ten! But last time it was only three!"

"Last time there wasn't a dead body or the police"

"All right, it's a deal"

"...."

"So what shall we do?"

"To be honest, I have no idea."

"The police won't let us go near the arcade to look and I don't think they'll lend us their notes either"

"Also, it's not even confirmed that it was a homicide"

"Don't worry, I have a plan for that"

"Tamamo is a real Kitsune, isn't she?"

"You can certainly transform yourself to pass as a cop."

"I'm sure you can get some information like that."

"Then the arcade is closed, but the dining room is probably not."

"We'll just go there to observe,"

"And to not make it too suspicious, we'll need your help, Elise."

"I need you to eat a lot but slowly to make time while we observe and write everything down."

"You know, I'm beginning to think that being around us for so long is influencing you too much Haru" Tamamo said worriedly

"Shhh!"

"Can't you see there's free food involved!"

"I'm already hungry"

"And you Elise should start eating less."

"As long as you keep thinking with your stomach, it won't be long before you'll be so big that you won't be able to move."

"!!!"

"Where did you hear that?"

"A little mermaid told me"

"Something about there being a job that only some girls had a unique job that involved not needing to move much and ......"

I grabbed Tamamo's arm quite hard.

"AND YOU'RE GOING TO SHUT UP ABOUT IT OR I'LL RIP YOUR LIMBS OFF MYSELF!"

"I am very sorry Danna-sama"

"My insolence was enormous with such a sensitive subject."

"I don't know what I was thinking about doing something like that, surely the time that had passed had made me forget about it."

"I will deeply reflect on my rudeness"

"Agh, stop it"

"You sound like Stella"

"...."

"Oh,.... well, you.... you... you know I was joking, right?"

"I ... I would never do something like that to you, even if I was really angry,"

"At least not to you."

"...."

"It's just that, well, you know, it kind of freaks me out and when I'm like that I just say the first thing that pops into my head."

"Yes of course I know that when you are .... "stressed" you tend to have a loose tongue and talk like an angry foul-mouthed sergeant from the army"

"Obviously, I know you didn't really mean it that way."

"But nonetheless, the fault is still mine for making the initial provocation of such a reaction."

"What! To hear Tamamo say Danna-sama in such a serious and non-playful way."

"And Elise apologizing for something she did in a sincere way."

"I didn't think I'd be alive to see it."

"You two straight-up look like an old married couple"

"Stop it"

"I'm old but not that old"

"All right, we'll try to play along."

"But if your grandfather says no, it's game over."

"I'm not gonna go against the old man"

"And don't expect too much from this either, the truth is nothing good will come of it"

"Oh, come on"

"If I get into trouble, I trust you to rescue me."

"I know very well that you know how to fight, that's what you usually do, isn't it?"

"I mean fighting werewolves, vampires, and similar things like that must be pretty tricky, surely a couple of humans with guns would be easy for you?"

"What I am afraid of, is the image you have of me."

"You are taking too lightly the fact that you interact with supernatural creatures like us"

"Well yes, maybe you two aren't exactly human."

"But even though you two are kitsunes, I legitimately think of you two as my two best friends."

"Only you two still stand by me and talk to me confidently despite how much I keep bothering you with my questions."

"It can't be!? Haru is aware of how annoying she is?"

"Today it's raining cats and dogs holding hands."

"Moron"

"I thought we were having an emotional discussion after listening to you and Tamamo talk like lovebirds!"

After waiting a moment to decide, the three of us went down to the dining room to watch what was going on. But the police had now installed another pair of shoji in the arcade, so that the room now had 4 walls, probably to avoid curious people like us and to better preserve the scene while the investigations were being carried out. Still, there was an open section with yellow police tape, from which Inspector Yamamoto could be seen talking to several detectives even though he was still wearing his yukata. He caught a glimpse of us and did not seem very happy to see us in the dining room while our food was being delivered. Tamamo on the other hand took a picture with her cell phone of a policeman, so she could pay more attention to how morphs and impersonates a policeman. Surprisingly though, while we were still watching, a couple arrived at the hotel, where it seemed that by bad luck they had stumbled upon the news of what had happened. I would have even believed them if it wasn't for that damned Akane, who was there with another guy.