"Can you calm down...?" Chifuyu's hand holding the bottle slumped in exhaustion, "Testing in the lab will take too long and I needed answers right away, I simply locked myself in an empty room in my house and injected myself with this." He told the detective.
"That's so risky, Chifuyu!!" Taylor was triggered, he couldn't believe what the 17-year-old just did.
"It was worth it; can you calm down and hear me out...?" Chifuyu was not in the mood to hear someone nagging or screaming, so Taylor simply hushed himself and sat back down on his chair.
"Okay, tell me what you learned." Taylor reluctantly sat back to listen.
"It's a serum that causes hallucination, extreme fear, and anxiety. Scientifically, this drug might be doing this by reducing oxytocin and increasing adrenaline and cortisol. Anyone could easily threaten and plant the idea that they are extremely intimidating to their victims as long as their victims were under the influence of this drug, and I can assure you, I hardly slept a wink last night. Just being in a silence alone felt intimidating and I even started to hallucinate, it all lasted for a good 8 hours, the restless and anxious aftermath didn't even count. But since I injected myself with this and I am fully aware that I am under the influence, I was able to go through it calmly and smoothly, yet my emotions are all over the place and the thoughts and hallucinations I went through didn't make it any easier either." Chifuyu explained as he closed his eyes to rest them, "But picture this; a random person, kidnapped and then injected with this serum before gaining consciousness, petrified and vulnerable as soon as they wake up. Imagine not aware that you were injected by this serum, you can easily fall for anything." He added.
"What are you implying?" Taylor furrowed his brows, he paused from taking notes of Chifuyu's conclusion.
"I'm implying that what if The Reaper isn't a crazy mastermind like you thought he is? He just threatened his victims to kill and convinced them that he's a monster after injecting them with this drug while they were kidnapped and knocked unconscious," Chifuyu told him with half-opened eyes.
"That is a possibility..." Taylor nodded his head.
"I can see why the victims were traumatized and quickly had mental problems; the influence of this drug is no joke." Chifuyu was taking deep breaths to hopefully take a nap.
"He usually doesn't tell me his theories if he isn't a hundred percent certain yet, does this mean he's actually convinced that The Reaper uses this drug to manipulate his victims?" Taylor thought, "Chifuyu, are you sure The Reaper uses this drug?" he decided to ask the kid himself.
"There's a small chance that I'm wrong, because I never believed such a mastermind exists in the first place." Chifuyu spoke strongly, then continued to take deep breaths.
"Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the hospital?" Taylor was concerned for him.
"What I need is sleep..." Chifuyu turned to his side and face the backrest of the sofa, his back facing Taylor.
"Good afternoon, sir." Jeffrey entered the office an hour later, then stopped to stare at Chifuyu asleep on the sofa near the door. "Aren't you here to help out, Mr. Personality?" Jeffrey grunted as he rolled his eyes.
"Don't bother him, let him rest today." Taylor told his junior just when Jeffrey noticed Chifuyu doesn't appear too well.
"Was he ambushed by another Harvester or something? He doesn't look too good," Jeffrey asked Taylor.
"He experimented on his own last night; he injected himself with the unknown serum."
"Wha-?! Why the hell would he do that?!" Jeffrey couldn't hide his shock.
"Shh!" Taylor reminded him and Jeffrey froze after rapidly placing his hand over his mouth, then sped towards the table.
"Que diable??! Is he crazy?! Why?!" Jeffrey whispered to Taylor, screaming with his head voice.
"He told me lab testing would take too long and he wanted answers as soon as possible," Taylor replied, "I didn't expect him to do that at all, I'm as shocked as you are... I shouldn't've let him keep a bottle..." he facepalmed and shook his head.
"I can't believe it..." Jeffrey's head slumped as he deflated on his stand.
"But Chifuyu told me everything he experienced from the influence of that drug, he said it was worth it, and I hate to agree myself..." Taylor sighed as he showed Jeffrey the notes that he took of everything Chifuyu told him, "He also hypothesised that The Reaper is using these drugs on his victims to become hitmen and kill." He added.
"So, The Reaper isn't a crazy manipulator?" Jeffrey was still reading the 3-page notes while listening to his senior.
"That's what Chifuyu believes now, and apparently he never believed such a crazy mastermind to exist in the first place." Taylor leaned his back against his chair as he folded his arms, "The Reaper's just using drugs to plant the image of him as a monster onto his victims, making them vulnerable and easily manipulated." He added.
"You believe him just like that?" Jeffrey asked him.
"You know Chifuyu, he doesn't tell me his philosophies unless he's certain about them." Taylor reminded him.
Taylor sighed after many hours alone in the office organizing documents and making phone calls, exhausted and stood up from his chair as Chifuyu moved his sleeping position to face upwards. Taylor approached the 17-year-old and stared at him, observing him and his state at the moment.
"His dark circles aren't gone yet; has he really been sleeping?" Taylor mumbled as he patted Chifuyu's head, "Good grief, I still can't believe he did that to himself..." he sighed heavily as he walked out of the room, then came back with a blanket to cover Chifuyu with before going back out to take a shower.
Chifuyu opened his eyes not long after and he ruffled his hair as he glanced up to the wall in front of him, checking the clock while there was no sign of light from the curtain covered windows in the office.
"My head still hurts..." Chifuyu mumbled as he stood up from the sofa and left to make food in the kitchen.
"Chifuyu?!" Taylor wasn't expecting to see him awake.
"Oh, hey, old man." Chifuyu greeted him back with a slight smile, but paused with his eyes slightly widened a second later.
"What? What's wrong?" Taylor glanced behind him, where Chifuyu was dazed at.
"Sorry, I think my head is still messing with me." Chifuyu placed his left hand over his left eye as his head slumped, "I'm still hallucinating apparently, which means this drug lasts about 15 hours long, with a slow drainage of affects." He added, but Taylor hurriedly paced towards him and grabbed his arm.
"Enough, go rest in the spare room. Right now," Taylor told him firmly, "You're going to hurt yourself; I'll handle the food and give them to you soon." He added.
"I'm fine, old man. Stop nagging so much, I can handle this just fine." Chifuyu sighed as he averted his eyes.
"Do you need to look into a mirror, right now?! You've still got dark circles under your eyes and you're pale! I never thought you could be so reckless, so at least ease me by taking better care of yourself and rest!" Taylor turned strict abruptly, as if scolding his own son. "You want to go on your own or do I have to drag you to rest? Your choice," he continued, while Chifuyu paused in surprise for a few moments.
"Ha-ha, I never imagined to get scolded by you, old man..." he sighed with a slight smile.
"What do you mean by that?" Taylor grunted lightly.
"Yet I'd say, I really missed it... You sounded just like my dad just now," Chifuyu grinned, but his pale face made him appear so miserable. "D'accord, d'accord... I'll go sleep..." he surrendered as he lightly pulled his arm for Taylor to let go of him, and he walked to the spare room to rest.
"I sounded like his dad, huh...?" Taylor thought as he turned to the food Chifuyu was cooking just now to continue it for him, "His smile just now, it's the first time I saw him smile like that..." He was in deep thought as he heard a door open and close from a distance, and Chifuyu threw himself onto the bed in the spare room where he slept in many times in the past.
"Is this the final and finished form of the serum though? If so, it really is no joke... the power and advantage over the victims isn't something to be underestimated. Once I find and erase him, every last one of these drugs has to be burned into ashes." Chifuyu turned his head and stared at the small bottle in his hand for a moment before keeping it back in his jacket pocket, "But, I'm thinking that he's not killing Japanese people without a reason. There must be a goal he's trying to achieve by eliminating Japanese people here, is he trying to lure someone out? Is he trying to send a message? Is he doing this for someone? I'm starting to think his reasons are something of that sort," he was deep in his thoughts as the night continued.
***
Taylor stretched his arms above his head and walked down the hallway as he yawned, going to the kitchen to make morning coffee but was intrigued and confused when there was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen.
"Morning, old man~" Chifuyu turned his head from the stove to greet Taylor with a grin, the dark circles under his eyes were gone and his face was fresh as it usually is in the morning.
"Did you sleep well?" Taylor couldn't hide his smile of relieve.
"Yeah, I've never felt better before." Chifuyu responded with a smile, "Honestly, I never thought you would care so much about me, old man. I'm so touched~" his smile turned into his naughty ear-to-ear sneer.
"You sure are in a good mood, huh?" Taylor snorted in slight irritation, "It's the usual Chifuyu again..." yet he smiled again a second later.
"But I guess I did worry you badly, sorry about that." Chifuyu added as he turned back to the stove, his tone of voice turned gentle and apologetic.
"It's alright..." Taylor sighed as he approached Chifuyu, "What are you making?" he was curious.
"You don't know? It's Okonomiyaki, even your daughter knows." Chifuyu's expression turned sardonic again and abruptly, making Taylor's irritation resurface.
"Alright, listen up, young man! If you plan to do anything hazardous again, you have to let me know beforehand, understand?!" Taylor decided to scold him again, "What you did was too dangerous, Chifuyu." He added while the 17-year-old rolled his eyes.
"Yes, sir..." Chifuyu replied sarcastically as Taylor walked to sit on the dining table.
"He's back to his usual mischievous and mood-swing-filled normal self, I'm so relieved..." Taylor folded his arms as he sighed, "Still, I didn't expect him to experiment on himself so easily, almost like being drugged up isn't something new to him." He thought as Chifuyu turned off the stove.
"Good morning," Jeffrey opened the door to Taylor's office.
"You're finally here, Jeffrey." Taylor stood up from his chair to take his coat and hat, while Chifuyu turned his head to Jeffrey.
"Morning, Jeffrey." He greeted Jeffrey with an oblivious expression.
"Hey, you...!" Jeffrey stomped to him in anger, then wrapped his arm around Chifuyu's neck to pull him under his arm. "Putain! You little bastard! What were you thinking?! Huh??!" he was roughly rubbed his knuckle on Chifuyu's head.
"Ow, ow! Stop that, you're hurting me." Chifuyu complained, but he was not even trying to free himself and tapping Jeffrey's arm.
"Do you think I care?! You gave me a heart attack!" Jeffrey released him with a slight throw.
"Aww, were you worried about me too~? That's cute of you..." Chifuyu smirked pridefully, he was pretending to be in pain just now and it made Jeffrey clench his fists.
"Like hell I was worried about you! Did you ever think how Mr. Anderson would feel before you injected yourself with that drug?! I bet not!" Jeffrey shouted.
"Hmm? So, what if I didn't~?" Chifuyu chose war.
"You-!!"
"You're such a joy to tease, Jerry."
"Enough, you two..." Taylor was starting to get used to seeing the two argue.
"S'il vous plaît! Can I punch him just one time, sir?!" Jeffrey raised his fist.
"Why ask him? I personally don't mind, but I'm afraid you won't ever be able to even scrape me." Chifuyu smirked and arrogantly walked out of the room.
"Curse you-!!" Jeffrey knows what Chifuyu is capable of and he won't stand a chance against him, and Taylor just sighed when the argument finally ended, for now at least.
"You're here, Mr. Anderson." Emma welcomed Taylor when he arrived in the police office with Jeffrey and Chifuyu, she squinted her eyes sharply when her eyes met Chifuyu's. "I heard what you did, Tsuguha, I honestly didn't expect you to do something so foolish." She told him.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Chifuyu responded lazily and entered the office, quickly headed to the underground confinement on his own will.
"Oh, you're Tsuguha Chifuyu, right?" a woman in a lab coat greeted him, walking from her small set-up in the confinement.
"You are?" Chifuyu furrowed his brow as Taylor, Jeffrey, and Emma stopped behind him.
"Forgive my rudeness, I'm Doctor Teresa Chase." The woman introduced herself.
"Chase?" it wasn't the first time Chifuyu heard that family name, "Your sibling?" he turned to Emma.
"Yes, she's my older sister." Emma responded.
"Now I'm interested what the future has to offer to little Eric," Chifuyu smiled slightly, "So, you're the one in charge with the unknown drug, right?" he asked the doctor.
"Exactly, I've been analysing the contents of the serum for some time now, I've named it U067. And since Mr. Anderson also reported to me the results of your experiment, I've kept those results in mind." Teresa responded with a smile, "Still, I am curious how The Reaper use these serums on their victims." She admitted.
"Do you want me to demonstrate?" Chifuyu offered, his sombre tone of voice made everyone pause.
"Chifuyu-"
"It's not what you think, old man. I was planning to do a different experiment," Chifuyu interrupted Taylor to correct him before the detective could continue, "Tony Alfred is here, right?" he asked.
"Why?" Emma asked him.
"I shall demonstrate to you exactly how The Reaper manipulates his victims, or at least, in my certain opinion." Chifuyu reluctantly explained, "Any prisoner will be fine, just give me someone to demonstrate with." He added.
"Get Tony Alfred down here," Taylor told Emma.
"Understood," she nodded and walked away to do as her senior said.
"This serum would honestly be a good medium for interrogation, you can simply make them scared of you and they will tell you everything." Chifuyu said it so lightly as he took one of the drug-filled syringes on the table that it scared Taylor, "But as we know, the aftermath of the serum is damaged mental health and it's cruel in general." He added.
"But you seem to be just fine," Teresa seemed to be very interested in Chifuyu.
"That's because I shut myself in my house, where there's only silence and me, doctor." Chifuyu reminded her, "If I was facing someone ill-hearted while under the influence, it'll be a totally different story, wouldn't it?" he smirked at the doctor, and she was captured in his mysterious demeanour.
"I'm telling you! I don't know anything!" Tony was secured on a chair in a confinement room by Emma and one of her men, they walked out as Chifuyu entered the room and shut the door behind him, leaving only him and Tony in the room and those outside only able to observe them through the big see-through window.
"It's just you and me now, Tony Alfred." Chifuyu smirked before rapidly knocking him unconscious with a blow to the back of his neck and pierced the needle of the syringe in his other hand into the man's neck, he pushed the drug into Tony's system with his thumb and threw the syringe to the edge of the room after it was empty.
"That was so aggressive..." Jeffrey mumbled.
"But he hit him behind his neck, so he won't be knocked out for too long." Teresa said, observing closely through the window with Emma, Jeffrey, and Taylor.
"He's waiting so patiently and quietly, what is he going to do?" Taylor thought as he watched Chifuyu, he stood in front of Tony with his arms folded and his eyes locked onto the unconscious man.
"There are points I want answers to; will it be different to those who had experienced the drug and first-timers? Will he be more immune to the affect or would it affect him the same? Also, will it last just as long as I did?" Chifuyu thought as he waited for Tony to regain his consciousness, "The drug kicks in in around 3 minutes and he's been out for 4 minutes now, so it will be in full affect once he wakes up. This drug will be in full affect in 8 hours and will slowly drain in 7 hours, then the victim will be fully fine after a good 7 hours of sleep." He kept his eyes on Tony, as he waited in the silence of the room.
"He hasn't laid his eyes off of him," Jeffrey said in awe.
"This tells me he's genuine and confident in his believes, he knows exactly what he's doing." Taylor replied.
"It's been 5 minutes now and according to Tsuguha's report, the drug is supposed to start working in 3 minutes. But what if it doesn't? Then the experiment will be a failure," Teresa asked the senior detective as she looked through the copy of Taylor's report on Chifuyu's experience.
"He was kept awake by the drug, he forced himself to keep track and note every detail during the entire experience, doctor." Taylor assured her, "A mind as sharp as his, can't possibly make such a foolish mistake." He added with a strong voice, showing the amount of faith and trust he has on the 17-year-old.
"I've never seen Mr. Anderson put that amount of faith on someone before, this boy must be not some arbitrary person." Teresa thought as she turned back to the room in front of her.
"W-Where am I?" Tony finally regained consciousness, and the observers outside the room paused when they saw the expression change on Chifuyu's face, his eyes turned chilling and menacing accompanied with a sadistic smile.
"Is he going to interrogate him?" Taylor mumbled, it was Chifuyu's specific mood and facial expression that only surfaces when he intends to interrogate someone.
"Hey, look here already." Chifuyu grabbed Tony's hair to force him to face upwards to him, and Tony immediately turned pale when his eyes met Chifuyu's.
"The drug is already in affect!" Teresa was surprised.
"You have blood on your hands, do you remember? You murdered your own significant other," Chifuyu began his interrogation, and Tony is already in horror. "Why don't you admit to your crimes already? Because if you don't, I won't let you off the hook so easily, I'll make you scream in pain until you admit it. Actually, I can easily do that right now." He smirked.
"Don't! Please!!!" Tony was rebelling on his chair, "I'll tell you anything! Please, don't hurt me!" he was begging for his life.
"He's really in character..." Emma was stunned by Chifuyu's performance.
"Very well, now I want you to answer my questions, and I don't want to hear or see an attempt to lie." Chifuyu was shaking Tony's head with his grip onto the man's hair, "Why did you do it?!" he questioned firmly.
"Because Marie is a nuisance, and I just wanted her to leave me alone so I can be with Ruby!"
"What did you use for the murder?!"
"A kitchen knife I took from her kitchen!"
"Did you dispose the clothes you were wearing that day?!"
"I drowned them in the Paris River!"
"What did you eat before you murdered her?!"
"A-A ham sandwich! With coffee!"
"Do you know where ink comes from?"
"I-I don't know!"
"Huh?" Taylor noticed how the questions were starting to get off topic.
"Wait a second..." Emma and the others were catching on that Chifuyu was starting to blurt out nonsense.
"Did you drink any water today?!"
"I did, I did! But I can't remember how much! I'm sorry!"
"How many times did you go to the bathroom today?!"
"7 times!" Jeffrey looked away to hide his tightly shut smile and was holding in his laughter at that point, while the other three were paused in confusion.
"Alright, I'm done with you." Chifuyu released his grip on Tony's hair with a light throw, then knocked him unconscious with a strike to his abdomen. "See? This proves my theory, doesn't it?" Chifuyu had a smug smile on his face when he finally turned to the see-through glass.
"Yes, it does, Chifuyu..." Taylor was still speechless together with Emma, while Jeffrey just overcame his will to laugh.
"Interesting interrogation, Tsuguha." Teresa gave a hesitant praise.
"It just proves that the victims are completely vulnerable while under the influence of this drug, willing to do whatever they're told." Chifuyu said as he placed a hand on his hip, his voice echoed in the sealed confinement room. "I'd say, this is a big discovery and valuable result for me." He smirked ear-to-ear as he tilted his head slightly, his silver chain earring swayed and made a subtle noise.
"It is indeed, the mental state of Tony Alfred definitely matches The Reaper's victims we have in confinement. This concludes that The Reaper does indeed use the U067 serum on his victims to manipulate them," Teresa was taking notes as she declared.
"But the investigation is not over yet, he needs to be monitored until tomorrow." Chifuyu added as he folded his arms in front of his chest, "According to my experience; the drug kicks in in around 3 minutes, it will be in full affect in 8 hours and will slowly drain in 7 hours, then will be fully gone after a good 7 hours of sleep. I want to know if it will be different between first-timers and experienced victims, will the experienced ones will last as long as first-timers, and will the results of this trial be the exact same as mine. If there's no difference, then it's a type of drug that does affect and disappear completely after without leaving any change in the human system." He explained.
"Impressive, Tsuguha. I will definitely keep an eye on him," Teresa was impressed and continued taking her notes on the papers attached to her clipboard.
"Also, don't forget to put him in a soft room and secured in a body suit." Chifuyu reminded, "When I come back to see him, he might be really scared of me." He smirked mischievously.
"You're really proud of yourself, huh?" Jeffrey's shoulders slumped, and Chifuyu walked out of the confinement room with a proud smile.
"Mr. Anderson!" an officer came running to the group, "We just received a report that Earl Alexandre's daughter are taken hostage for ransom!" he informed them.
"Charlotte?" Chifuyu was coolly surprised, "Have you tracked down the location where the ransom call made?" he asked the officer.
"Phonebooth 53," the officer responded.
"Understood," Chifuyu didn't think twice to sprint out of the underground area and out of the building, then jumped on the roof to begin speed traveling through his usual high ground route.
"We have to move too," Taylor told Jeffrey as he puts on his hat and started pacing rapidly to the stairs.
"Yes, sir!" Jeffrey followed his senior, leaving Emma to handle the experiment with Doctor Teresa.
"Can you let Charlotte go? Charlotte's father is close friends with a senior investigator, and that senior investigator has a personal assistant you wouldn't want to mess with!" Charlotte was annoyed but kept her polite demeanour.
"Shut up before I decide to tape your mouth shut, missy." One of the men holding her hostage in a storage house told her, "Earl Alexandre will definitely give us money for his beloved daughter soon, right~?" he smirked and took out a knife to show Charlotte.
"Mr. Anderson will totally come for Charlotte! Or even worse, Chifuyu will!" Charlotte was confident.
"Is the prodigy investigator the one you're talking about? Because I'm sure he's busy right now," another man chuckled, but the glass next to them abruptly shattered a moment later, and Chifuyu made his entrance by kicking the armed man before landing in front of Charlotte.
"Chifuyu!" she was delighted to see him.
"It's random for you to be kidnapped, huh, Charlotte?" Chifuyu smiled to her, to calm her down.
"You bastard!" a man threw a knife at Chifuyu.
"Whoa, there." Chifuyu easily dodged the knife thrown, then he easily knocked the man unconscious with a single kick to the abdomen. "10 in total? You really went all out for this ransom... but it would be hard to split the money into 10, don't you think?" Chifuyu smirked confidently.
"Charlotte!" Taylor jumped out when Jeffrey stopped the car as soon as they saw Chifuyu with Charlotte in front of the storage house, "Thank goodness you're alright," the detective sighed in relieve.
"The kidnappers?" Jeffrey asked Chifuyu.
"In there, they're all tied up with a rope I found in there, so it's fine." Chifuyu pointed his thumb to the opened door behind him, where the two officers could easily see the kidnappers tied together with a rope.
"Thanks for rescuing Charlotte, Chifuyu." Charlotte thanked him, "Charlotte hasn't seen you in a while, he-he... What a reunion, huh?" she chuckled.
"Definitely..." Chifuyu's voice faded away as his eyes widened when his eyes noticed a dark silhouette in an alley not far behind the other three. "Sorry!" he reacted by throwing the three aside with a kick when the silhouette launched towards them, leaving Chifuyu to take the blow and was thrown together with the dark silhouette.
"Ow!" Jeffrey lifted up his head from a pile of hay, he and the other two didn't catch Chifuyu's warning because of how quick it was.
"What the-?!" Taylor held Charlotte in his arms as he sat up to turn his head, and he saw a figure with a familiar appearance pinning Chifuyu to the ground by his neck. "A Harvester?!" Taylor was shocked, followed by Jeffrey and Charlotte.
"Where is 03?! You imprisoned him, didn't you?!" the Harvester's figure is exactly the same as the second Harvester who ambushed Chifuyu, the one who tranquilized Lucas. The less built figure was unmistakable among the other Harvesters he had encountered, but he was much faster this second encounter.
"04, huh?" Chifuyu glanced to the shoulder of the Harvester, "Are you talking about the Russian guy? Yeah, he is in prison." Chifuyu was trying to break free from Harvester 04's grip.
"Chifuyu!" Taylor took out his taser gun.
"Stay back!" Chifuyu shouted, making Taylor, Charlotte, and Jeffrey frozen in the distance. "You really don't know when to give up, huh?" Chifuyu kicked the Harvester to free himself, and the two of them took out blades to fight with.
"You'll pay, you bastard!" the Harvester launched towards Chifuyu, his speed caught Chifuyu off guard and the Harvester managed to throw him metres away and crashed into wooden boxes. Chifuyu quickly jumped away before The Harvester pierced a blade through his chest, with blood oozing out from the cut on Chifuyu's forehead. Chifuyu jumped and landed a few blows to the Harvester with a surprise burst of speed, kicking the Harvester's weapon far away and his opponent's black mask cracked. "Tch! He's still as fast as ever!" the Harvester was getting overwhelmed.
"This Harvester has to have tranquilizers with him, I have to watch out about that." He remembered from the last encounter he had with the same Harvester, "There it is!" he saw a small needle stuck out from the Harvester's grip.
"You're done for!" the Harvester launched towards him, Chifuyu prepared to dodge but his own blood went into his right eye and he reflectively closed both of his eyes from the pain. As a result, the Harvester succeeded to inject his sedative into Chifuyu's shoulder. The Harvester kicked Chifuyu away to create distance between them, and Chifuyu fell onto the ground in two seconds after the tranquilizer was injected. "Knocked out already? Pathetic," the Harvester walked closer to Chifuyu and kneeled in front of him.
"Chifuyu!" Taylor pushed Charlotte into Jeffrey's arms and took his gun out from his pocket, but out of nowhere, Chifuyu swung his blade in his grip and sliced the Harvester's throat. The deep cut made blood splatter everywhere and the enemy shouted in agony repeatedly while grabbing onto his neck as Chifuyu pushed himself up to sit down, his enemy collapsed in his own pool of blood in just a matter of seconds. Jeffrey covered Charlotte's eyes to prevent her from witnessing the scene, while Jeffrey himself was trying his best not to throw up. "Chifuyu!" Taylor finally jumped to run to Chifuyu.
"Call the armour vehicle now!" Chifuyu told him as he placed his blade back in its sheath tied on the right side of his waist.
"Jeffrey!" Taylor turned to Jeffrey.
"Y-Yes, sir!" Jeffrey made Charlotte turn around with her back facing the scene, and he quickly ran to the phonebooth nearby to make a call to the police office.
"Old man, is he dead?" Chifuyu asked as Taylor kneeled next to him.
"Yeah, he is." Taylor didn't even examine the body, but he caught Chifuyu in his arms before Chifuyu hits the ground, unconscious from the drug he was injected just now.
In a few hours, Charlotte reunited with her father and the kidnappers were quickly sent behind bars. Meanwhile, Chifuyu was taken to rest in the infirmary of the police office and the harvester was taken to have his individuality identified. Chifuyu hasn't woken up from the sleeping drug and was quietly asleep on the bed, and Teresa just finished examining him when she walked out to Taylor outside the infirmary with her clipboard.
"He might take an hour from now to gain back his consciousness," Teresa informed Taylor, "His injuries aren't critical, but he's gotten injured worse after against Ruslan Makarov, I'm sure Tsuguha will handle them just fine." She added.
"That's a relieve..." Taylor sighed in relieve.
"But there is something that I find odd about him," Teresa stole Taylor's full attention again, "You said that he fell to the ground as soon as he was tranquilized; pretending to be unconscious, caught the Harvester off guard and managed to finish his opponent. Then he fell unconscious around 2 minutes later, is that correct?" she wanted to make sure.
"Yes, that's exactly what happened." Taylor nodded.
"According to my analysis of the drug from the tranquilizer dart Tsuguha was intoxicated with, it's an extremely high dosage of Propofol; which is a general sleeping drug. And at that dosage, it's supposed to knock him out instantly, it would take the exact seconds when he faked his unconsciousness. So, he was supposed to actually knock out, but he didn't." Teresa explained to Taylor, "Instead, he lasted for a good 2 minutes before knocking unconscious. And that could only mean, that he has quite the immunity to Propofol." She added.
"He has a tolerance to Propofol?" Taylor was surprised.
"Exactly, and quite high from he of the amount of time he lasted." Teresa nodded her head, "This also means that he had experience with Propofol and by how high his immunity is to this drug, he had to have been drugged by this sleeping drug many times before." She continued.
"W-What...?" Taylor was speechless.
Chifuyu opened his eyes when the sun was nearly setting and he sat down as he gathered his full consciousness, a moment before Jeffrey opened the door.
"You're finally back, Tsuguha." Jeffrey sighed heavily.
"Why do you have to be the first person I see?" Chifuyu complained as he rolled his eyes.
"Hey, stop that or I'll lock you up in here!" Jeffrey hissed, "Mr. Anderson already left to go back to his office at his residence and I was told to take you home, so tell me where you live already." He folded his arms as Chifuyu stood up to take his brown jacket placed over a chair next to the bed.
"Can your car climb?"
"Huh?" Jeffrey paused in confusion.
"I live on high ground, so there's no point of you trying to take me home." Chifuyu told him, "I can go home myself," he added, but Jeffrey grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
"Fine, then I'll take you to Mr. Anderson's residence." Jeffrey told him.
"What's up with you? You're scaring me," Chifuyu turned to give Jeffrey a creeped-out expression, knowing Jeffrey usually does not care about him at all.
"Impoli! You're injured! Now shut up and get in my car!" Jeffrey finally roared, Chifuyu eventually gave up and just lets Jeffrey drag him outside the building and to the car.
"Hey, Jeffrey." Chifuyu broke the silence in the car out of boredom.
"What?"
"Do you still live with you parents?" Chifuyu was gazing out the window of his seat next to the driver.
"I live with my grandparents right now; my parents work at a police division abroad." Jeffrey replied.
"Oh? Where?"
"America,"
"Interesting..." Chifuyu sighed lightly, "You've been an investigator for only six months, right? You have to start getting used to corpses, buddy, I saw you nearly threw up when I sliced the Harvester's neck." He advised the junior investigator.
"Well, do you not feel anything?"
"Moi?"
"Yes, you. Did you not think that you just murdered someone?" Jeffrey grunted.
"Oh, you're right..." Chifuyu leaned his head to the headrest, looking up to the ceiling of the car.
"He is really indifferent about it... and he did have a really cold expression towards the Harvester, he was honestly someone diverse, is he always like that in combat? Or don't tell me he's so calm about it because he'd killed someone before..." Jeffrey thought.
"I don't know what to feel about it, I vaguely remembered what it felt like since I was fighting the sleeping drug." Chifuyu replied, "At least we got two Harvesters out of the way, only two left to go." He shrugged.
"Maybe you're too indifferent about it!" Jeffrey screamed in his head, as he continued to drive. Chifuyu dazed out the window, he had noticed this morning that the atmosphere was colder than usual, he checked the calendar and noticed it was so close to winter.
"Winter, huh...?" Chifuyu thought, looking out the window to the night sky.
***
The winter season has started, the cold weather was starting to take over the warmth. Taylor just sat down in the living room to enjoy warm tea and breakfast when he turned on the television, the same time as Chifuyu arrived to the residence.
"Morning, old man." Chifuyu decided to lounge down in the living room with Taylor, he sat down in the centre of the sofa with his legs crossed.
"How are your injuries?" Taylor asked him.
"Je suis très bien~" Chifuyu grinned mischievously, just when the news of another robbery with 'The Alabaster has made a comeback' as the headline showed on the television in front of Taylor, and the detective turned to Chifuyu once again with sharp eyes.
"You really are fine, huh?" Taylor was visibly irritated, while Chifuyu sneered.
"You can't blame me; I was forced asleep until p.m. yesterday, it was hard to sleep last night." He shrugged, "Besides, I want to enjoy the cold a little before snow covers everything." He added.
"Oh, about the sleeping drug-" Taylor suddenly paused midway.
"Stop trying to pry into my life already," he remembered Chifuyu's demand he spoke with a cold voice.
"What about it? It's just Propofol, isn't it?" Chifuyu raised a brow.
"Y-Yeah, it is. Never mind," Taylor stopped himself and forced an awkward smile, "Anyway, give this a read." He handed Chifuyu a folder.
"Was this just reported?" Chifuyu asked, judging by the thinness of the folder.
"Yeah, a man has gone missing and was last seen two days ago." Taylor sipped his tea, "Reported by his housemate, and was last time seen running in the Paris Park." He told Chifuyu, who was reading the documents in the folder.
"A public area? Looks like it won't be easy to track down the perpetrator," Chifuyu said, "I'm going to check out the park, see you later, old man." He placed the folder on the coffee table as he stood up to walk away.
"I'll send someone to accompany you," Taylor told him as Chifuyu left the house.
Chifuyu was busy doing his own thing, observing and walking around the park in search for trails or clues left behind, bending down and squatting once in a while to look closely to the ground.
"What is that boy doing?"
"Japanese people are weirdos, huh?" Chifuyu heard people whispering about him as they were passing by, but he couldn't care less.
"Better being a weirdo than being rot-hearted like you people," Chifuyu just rolled his eyes as he was mumbling to himself while observing the grass closely, "All you can do is watch and pass by, the thought to help never cross your stupid minds, selfish bastards." He continued to growl in a low voice, but a pair of feet stopped in front of him a few seconds later.
"Have you found anything so far?" Jeffrey asked him, holding two bottles of cold tea in his hands.
"Huh??" Chifuyu's face abruptly changed into a disbelieve-filled expression, "Darn that old man, why did he send you?" he looked away as he grunted in complaint.
"You're supposed to be grateful! I came all the way here just to look after your ass!" Jeffrey threw one of the bottles at Chifuyu, "Drink that, you've been here for two hours, right?" he ignored the fact that his toss left a red mark on Chifuyu's forehead.
"Thanks..." Chifuyu reluctantly thanked him and drank half of the bottle in a few seconds before continuing his observation.
"You're not going to rest?" Jeffrey folded his arms in front of his chest, "You're still recovering from your injuries, you shouldn't push yourself." He reminded Chifuyu.
"I'm literally just walking and looking around," Chifuyu turned to Jeffrey to give him a lazy look, "Still, I appreciate your concern~" he suddenly smirked ear-to-ear, and Jeffrey gritted his teeth instantly.
"Seriously, why did I come here??" he mumbled as he watched Chifuyu from a distance, "Do you need any help?" he reluctantly offered his assistance.
"You're just fine standing there, geezer, you're just going to mess up the clues if there are any." Chifuyu told him without turning his head.
"You little-!" Jeffrey was upright offended, stomped one of his feet on the ground.
"It didn't help that it rained earlier this morning, the rain probably washed all of the traces that might be left behind." Chifuyu thought as he squatted in front of the bushes with the bottle filled with half-cold tea in his hand, then he sighed lightly as he looked down to the ground just a second before a drop of water from outside of the cold bottle that he was holding dripped to the grass he has his eyes on, his eyes widened slightly when that drop of water landed on a brown-stained grass and the water dissolved the brown stain. "Blood?!" Chifuyu's sharp eyes saw that the stain faded into a wine-red colour when the water dissolved the brown stain. Chifuyu paused to stare at the stan for a few moments before looking up to the bush in front of him, behind the bush were trees surrounded by bushes and a few signs that informs visitors to not go to the protected trees.
"What is he looking at? Did he find something?" Jeffrey was watching Chifuyu squatting and still, then saw Chifuyu rapidly stuck his hands into the bushes and pulled his hand out a few seconds later.
"The bushes are soft and my hand is unscathed," Chifuyu thought, looking down to his clean hand. "That means, nobody could randomly get hurt from these bushes." He looked back up to observe the bushes.
"What the hell is he doing?" Jeffrey mumbled as he saw Chifuyu stand up to observe the bushes, and the 17-year-old quickly noticed how the bushes in front of him were slightly damaged compared to the others. "Hey, where are you going?!" Jeffrey shouted to him when Chifuyu suddenly ran to the sidewalk.
"I'm going to take a look from a different angle!" Chifuyu shouted back as he continued his run and jumped to a light post, then onto the roof of a building across the street of the park. From that height, he could easily see there are two damaged parts of the bushes surrounding the trees; one of them was the area where Chifuyu was just at and the second was right across from the first. The damage on the first didn't have leaves left in front of it, but the second one does, it would be the same results if someone were to go through the bushes. Chifuyu's eyes followed the direction from the first and the second, which lead to an alley between two houses. Chifuyu jumped down and sprinted to the alley, Jeffrey quickly ran to catch up to him and he found Chifuyu standing near a big trash bin in the alley.
"What is it?!" Jeffrey joined Chifuyu when he saw Chifuyu's reaction to the smell as soon as the lid of the bin was flipped open. "Augh-!" Jeffrey was also caught off guard by the smell, both of them covered their noses.
"This is definitely the smell of a decomposing body," Chifuyu remained calm, "Call backup, we might be dealing with a body here." He told Jeffrey.
"Got it!" Jeffrey sprinted out of the alley to find a phonebooth, also to escape from the dreadful smell.
Taylor arrived with a number of officers and an ambulance to secure the crime scene, and the officers took out two black plastic bags from the bin to open them. It was a terrible shock when there were human remains and body parts in the bags, yet incomplete and without the head.
"Take them in for testing, this might be the man we're looking for." Taylor told his men; they were outside the alley.
"Yes, sir!"
"There's a blood stain too, test it too." Chifuyu handed one of the officers a zip-lock bag with a stained cotton bud in it, it was a sample he took from the grass he found earlier. "For once, I'm glad you came, Jeffrey." Chifuyu grinned to Jeffrey.
"You are...?" Jeffrey was bewildered.
"I said what has to be said, I'm not going to repeat my compliment." Chifuyu rolled his eyes as his grin turned into his mischievous sneer.
"Grr! Why are you making your compliments sound so expensive?!" Jeffrey growled.
"Can you two stop that already...?" Taylor sighed heavily, "Still, I didn't expect you to find leads so soon." He turned to Chifuyu.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Jeffrey started the train, but the rest I figured out on my own." Chifuyu rolled his eyes as he placed a hand on his hip.
"Really? Good work, Jeffrey." Taylor smiled to Jeffrey.
"I'm not sure if I can be proud when I don't know what I did to help..." Jeffrey was clueless.
"I can assure you; I appreciate that you gave me a cold drink." Chifuyu sighed lightly, "I'm going to scram now, I'm not in the mood to deal with the journalists and reporters." He added when he saw a crowd coming their way, he jumped onto the closest roof and disappeared in a flash.
"It's not that you're not in the mood to, you're never in the mood to." Taylor sighed, knowing all this time Chifuyu always bolted before the journalists and reporters come ever since Chifuyu handled his first case.
Chifuyu went back to his home and laid down on the rooftop, looking up to the afternoon sky with exhausted half-opened eyes.
"I hate twilight... It just reminds me of that nightmare," He mumbled as he turned to lay on his side, avoiding looking up to the sky. It was under the twilight sky when his family was murdered and when his sister was assaulted and murdered, all in front of his deep-blue eyes. But as his train of unforgettable memories go, there was another event that took place under the same twilight sky. He remembered running away before getting knocked unconscious, then waking up in a different place.
***