Superintendent Arano, full name Arano Ryoko, was a mature woman in her late twenties or early thirties.
The feeling she gave Kamiya Mirai was 'strong'.
She was not in her uniform but wearing warm plain clothes. However, at first glance, the feeling she gave was that this person was probably engaged in the work of a police officer or an inspector.
Once she spotted Kitagawa Tera, Arano Ryoko quickly approached him and handed over the paper bag with clean clothes. She then said, "Kitagawa, you found a murder scene again?"
Arano Ryoko looked around the lake park and added the word 'again' subconsciously.
She added the 'again' because this Kitagawa Tera discovered too many murder cases without leads or murder scenes in the past half month.
There were already five large and small cases.
Arano Ryoko made an exception and gave her private number to this high school student after considering how he was a 'strong spiritual phenomena magnet'.
"Just you alone?" An unexpected look of dislike appeared on Kitagawa Tera's face when he did not see anyone behind Arano Ryoko.
"And who caused that?" Arano Ryoko flicked the ashes of her lady's cigarette casually, bemused by this kid's look of dislike.
It was not a simple matter to become a police officer. Moreover, her team had been too busy with the cases Kitagawa Tera gave them these days. She would have to request permission from her superiors if she wanted to mobilize more manpower. Of course, the most impact factor was that she had yet to see the crime scene. She could not just mobilize people based on the words of a high school student.
"Hey, kid, you're chasing after these cases every day and adding on to Ryoko-neesan's workload instead of studying or going out for dates…" Arano Ryoko said as she took two steps forward. Only then did she see Kamiya Mirai hiding behind Kitagawa Tera.
Oh? Arano Ryoko showed an intriguing smile. "Kitagawa, is she your girlfriend?"
Without waiting for Kitagawa Tera to answer, Kamiya Mirai smiled sweetly and replied in a soft voice, "Yes, I'm Tera-kun's girlfriend. Ryoko-oneesan can call me Mirai."
The words of a woman were as deceptive as a ghost.
Kitagawa Tera glanced sideways at Kamiya Mirai, but he could not be bothered to argue with her.
He stepped up and went straight into the matter.
"This incident might be related to the serial murders I reported more than ten days ago. It's in the back of the cabin. You can go in and see for yourself."
"Ah… I know." Arano Ryoko sniffed.
A light bloody smell mixed with a strange smell permeated the air.
It was the smell of dead bodies.
…
What happened next was unexpectedly simple. Arano Ryoko called her colleagues to clean up the crime scene. She then brought Kitagawa Tera and Kamiya Mirai to the police station to record their statements and drove them to a nearby drink store.
"From the method of murder and the gender of the victims, it's possible that perverted serial murderer became active three months ago. Of course, we can't rule out a crime syndicate. Everything will have to wait until the results from the forensics department."
Arano Ryoko was not so crude that she would smoke in front of two minors. While chewing gum, she said, "It's similar to the female corpse you found ten days ago. The perpetrator first used a blunt tool like a steel pipe or a bat to hit the head of the victim violently and then used superb surgical techniques to take the arm away—Um? Is there something you'd like to ask, Kitagawa's little girlfriend?"
Arano Ryoko looked sideways at Kamiya Mirai with her hand raised.
Kamiya Mirai lowered her hand and asked curiously, "Why isn't there a possibility of it being an imitation, Ryoko-oneesan?"
The question made Arano Ryoko smile.
"The reason for excluding an imitation is because we haven't announced the existence of this psychopath to the public. However, I suppose we won't be able to suppress it any longer after the bodies discovered at the lake park. We police are incompetent and thus can only get the residents to be more careful outside. Especially female high school students with cute faces like yours, Mirai-chan."
Arano Ryoko continued, "I don't know the reason, but most of the victims are female high school students in their teens."
"Oh my, Ryoko-oneesan. But I have the protection of Tera-kun." Kamiya Mirai clung onto Kitagawa Tera's arms shamelessly, looking as though they were in love.
"There's only so much information for now, right?" Kitagawa Tera ignored Kamiya Mirai.
"Yes, I'll let you know once I have more information. Kitagawa, you have to be careful as well. You've appeared twice at the scenes and might become targeted by the murderer."
"I'll pay attention." Seeing that he could not obtain any more useful information, Kitagawa Tera nodded and drank the lemon juice in hand. "School will start again tomorrow. I still have some matters to deal with, so I'll take my leave first."
"What a rascal who won't commit himself without a clear goal." Arano Ryoko's headache came again while looking at Kitagawa Tera's fast disappearing figure.
Kitagawa Tera had always been this way. He was too calm and old fashioned, making it difficult for her to communicate with him.
"Is your boyfriend the same at school?" Arano Ryoko asked with restraint.
"Hehe…" Kamiya Mirai's eyes rolled as she thought about Kitagawa Tera's demeanor at school. She touched her smooth chin.
Kitagawa Tera's current behavior could no longer be explained as a change in personality. He was like a totally different person.
The two of them chatted for a while longer under her guise as Kitagawa Tera's girlfriend.
Kamiya Mirai also got to know an unknown side of Kitagawa Tera from Arano Ryoko.
The heavily bullied Kitagawa Tera seemed to have changed into an entirely different person during winter vacation. He assisted in locating crime scenes and even helped the police arrest suspects.
When she heard Arano Ryoko describe how Kitagawa Tera had once subdued a fierce criminal, Kamiya Mirai could not help but widen her eyes.
She did not recall that Kitagawa Tera could do something like this in school. Punishing murderer with his bare hands? Kamiya Mirai harbored some expectations for school starting again tomorrow.
The sky gradually darkened. Arano Ryoko exchanged numbers with her and then thoughtfully drove the little girl back to her home
"Be extra careful about your surroundings these days. It's best not to be involved. However, you still have to be vigilant since you were at the scene today as well. It wouldn't be strange for you to be noticed by the murderer. Remember, call me immediately if something strange happens. I'll be there as soon as possible."
"Thank you, Ryoko-oneesan." Kamiya Mirai stood at the gate of her three-story house and politely waved goodbye to Arano Ryoko.
Only after Arano Ryoku drove away from her sight did she heave a small sigh of relief and fumble for her keys.
I got some really good information. Kitagawa-kun actually has that kind of side to him… Kamiya Mirai's thoughts jumped, feeling the curiosity that could not stop surging.
There was someone so peculiar right beside her, so how could her curiosity not surge?
Kamiya Mirai finally found her keys and opened the door.
Kamiya Mirai's little white rabbit slippers lay scattered untidily at the entrance.
The house was swallowed up by darkness. At the end of the long entrance was a staircase leading upstairs to the toilet. The whole house was quiet.
This was expected. Kamiya Mirai's parents usually worked until late at night, so it was normal that no one was home.
This extremely normal scene made Kamiya Mirai stop in her tracks.
Her hands and feet froze. A chilling sensation filled the atmosphere, causing her body to shiver.
Someone was here!