~Time: 7:00 PM~

Heavy and uncaring steps were the only sound that accompanied Hideyoshi aside the rain, which wet his pale hair and made it fall on his equally pale face. The cars passing by every now and then obliged him to distance himself from the street a little, or he was going to take the inevitable risk of taking a shower of dirty water thanks to the wheels of any vehicle crashing against the water.

This man's figure was an imposing one, that was for sure. His large black coat swayed from one side to another, covering an equally black suit with a white shirt and a red tie beneath. Thanks to all the clothes he had on him, it was difficult to see the small bulge on his abdominal area, which was the only proof to tell that he was carrying his obligatory weapon. Weapon that only police officers could carry legally, that is.

His stoic face didn't give it out, but with enough observation it was pretty obvious that Hideyoshi had a bad day. Though, that wasn't much of a surprise either. The life of a police officer, even more of a detective, is filled with unforeseen circumstances and problems that can't just be dealt with from a day to another.

The nasty things of everyday in a big city, yet that doesn't mean that they should happen.

Drugs. Robbery. Murders.

In this case, it probably was murder. Not 1, but 3 dead people in less than a month. If there were words to describe them, it would be unpredictable.

Unpredictable because the victims are not related at all one with another. They didn't knew each other, they didn't have a common characteristic, absolutely nothing that could tie them up could appear, not matter how much they searched. The police department had deemed them as victims of bizarre incidents, coincidences that were too much of a coincidence.

But then, what separated these 3 "incidents" in specific from the rest? What made them special, if they weren't related from the start?

Hideyoshi saw a great amount of the darkest facets of the human madness in the past years as a detective. From a teen who raped and skinned an innocent girl from his class, to a daughter who gouged the eyes out of her abusive mother in a bloody vengeance, and a boyfriend who strangled another boy that interacted with his girlfriend a good number of times, purely out of jealousy. All of them and more gave up to their primal instincts and rage, not for a moment considering that they were ruining other lives. It was easy to break their masks with the right words and gestures, to untap their true nature, simply because they weren't killers at heart and mind.

And because they weren't killers at hear and mind, the murders were too messy. They didn't care about appearances, they just wanted to kill in the fastest way possible. And that is exactly the key to it all.

Shuuji Takatsuki, 18 years. He just had graduated from school and was aiming for a technician career. Disappeared for a week, but it was found in a forest nearby the city with his hands' bones totally broken, multiple concussions on the head, and tree sticks on both eyes.

Reika Mikami, 17 years. Highschool girl with flamboyant looks, and a social butterfly with average notes. For some reason, her house got burned to the ground. What remained of her body showed signs of multiple and grave lacerations, and what could be seen as a knife stab in the gut, but it couldn't be confirmed in the long run. Her family was out that time, so she was the only victim.

Shoji Sakasaki, 27 years. Your everyday business man with a flirty nature. Liked to talk with young girls, but never went further than that. He hanged up himself, and left a solid suicide note. Forensics found multiple syringe stings on his body later on. The liquid injected was a dangerous chemical that made the nervous system go haywire, effectively causing death if there was a long exposure or an overdose. It was deemed as a plan B to die faster, and the case got closed.

All of the deaths were still messy in a way or another, but there was something else.

'They are too flashy' Hideyoshi would repeat constantly when someone asked him about his opinion. Hashiramoto had the reputation of being a chaotic city that harbored some of the cruelest and sickest people in Japan, but even these incidents were a little too much. He couldn't say they were downright murders, product of a twisted mind out there, but he still felt that weird feeling of something not being right nagging on his brain...

Pushing those thoughts aside, he spotted in the midst of the heavy rain his favorite cafe: "Midnight Raven". The sign above the only transparent door displayed the aforementioned name with a green neon light (name that he couldn't still get used to), and behind that same transparent door was a small letter with the words "open" written in it. The establishment was a little far from the center of the city, meaning that ruckus was a strange thing if anything, maybe a few discussions here and there. Hideyoshi found this place very useful to take a breather from time to time after, and think things through before acting.

'Not the best thing, but it'll do'. He thought as he walked inside. As expected, the place wasn't very fancy-pancy in terms of looks, but it certainly was decent to make clients feel comfortable. The floor was that of very polished wood, the same as the walls. There were just a few people scattered around in some of the ceramic tables inside, and behind the counter who was made of the same polished wood of before was the only bartender in the place cleaning a glass. The detective steadily walked to that counter, and sat in one of the chairs before it.

"The usual" He bluntly said while resting his coat alongside without looking at him, as the bartender already knew of him and his tastes. While the man went to another place to prepare Hideyoshi's order, he opted to take out a small, black book hidden on his suit which had important notes of some cases that he had worked on before. If he was going to wait for his drink, better ignore everything else and focus on work rather than nothing.