Japan, Tokyo, Toshima City, 08:27
SLAM!
The chief slammed his hand in outrage, throwing the files that was laid on his table towards Reiji who showed an expressionless reaction.
"What the hell is this Reiji?! Are you telling me this is all the information you can get in the past few weeks?!" Yelled the head chief at the investigator. Dealing with the strain of murders had taken it's toll on the entire police force and has been putting every single personel on edge.
Around seventy years ago in Japan a few years after the events of world war two, mysterious murders had started occuring in the heart of Tokyo. These murders were what the media called unusual, since the bodies of their victims were killed in strange ways. One victim was murdered as if a bear had clawed at their body and another where they had their blood completely drained from their bodies.
Hanagami Reiji who had been the lead investigator in solving the crimes in Toshima city, just like the rest of the country had shown little success in unveiling the identity of the mysterious killers. Those who were there to witness the crime scene knew the killers were extremely experienced, no trace could be found anywhere near the area. As if they cleaned the entire place except for the body itself.
"With all due respect sir, this case is-"
The head chief though, didn't want to hear any excuses "I don't fucking care, you better get this case done faster or you're out of the team" The chief sends the investigator out of the room and slammed the door behind him.
Reiji stood at the door motionless before going back to his desk and continued to type away at his keyboard.
"Mr.Reiji, you're gonna collapse if you keep working like this" His assistant, Claire stood next to him with a cup of coffee in her hands, feeling pity towards his senior that was always getting scolded.
The tired man looked blankly at her. "Claire, why are you here? Doesn't your shift start at three"
She didn't answer, she just pointed her finger towards his desk. Reiji followed her finger to an old clock that was stationed next to some books, it's blade pointing towards the number four.
The man stared indiferently "Oh, it's been that long already?"
The rest of his co-workers looked pitifully at the poor assistant that had the unfortunate fate of being that man's caretaker.
The station had been overwhelmed by request in the past few years ever since the increased incidents of murders. But out of all the officers, Reiji has always been the one who did the most amount of work compared to others. However none of his colleagues could blame him for working as hard as he does, cause two of the victims of the murders were his wife and unborn child.
The problems didn't just stop there. The number of the police force that had left the field had drastically increased in the past year from the increasing fear that they might be murdered too.
So even if he ever did decide to quit, chances are the culprits of the murder will never be found, he simply had to stay if he wanted to have a chance to take revenge.
Reiji took the coffee from her hand, drinking the entire cup in a few seconds. He thanked her and continued to work on his computer.
Tired of his stubbornness, Claire took his hand and pulled him away from the monitor.
"No more, Mr.Reiji you have to get some rest, you have been working for over a day without stopping, if this keeps on you'll die from exhaustion before we even get a clue to the culprit"
Seeing that she was unwilling to listen to anymore excuses the investigator can give, he relented and sighed at her overly protective nature.
"If my daughter didn't die maybe she would have ended up like you..."
Startled by his sudden claim Claire hurriedly apologized, bowing her head at her superior in guilt "Eh!? I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you-"
He got off his chair and pat her head in consolation. The entire station was dumbfounded, the newbie was able to get the rumored 'Ruthless Investigator' to show affection.
'Is it because she's a young girl?'
'It's probably because she's a young girl'
'It's definitely because she's a young girl'
Everyone thought simultaneously.
Reiji glared at his co-workers as if he heard what they were saying, while the others just looked the other way whistling their way out of his dark stare.
Without another word he left the station and after a long time of sitting, his face was met by the intense ray of the sun, and for a moment blinding his sight and scorching his skin.
After a brief moment he looked around the neighborhood and noticed that there were no citizens crowding near the station. 'maybe today is finally the day where we don't get any murder reports' that's what he hoped for at least, but of course an investigators job was not to complain, that was the job of the citizen, for people like him his job is to solve their problems.
He stretched his sore body from working non-stop for the past three days. After finally getting some rest after a long while he wondered the last time he ate real food, for the last few days he had only been surviving off the canned tuna that was brought from his house, and since it was nearing it's expiry date he had to only eat that three times a day for every meal just so he didn't waste any food.
He wandered towards the nearest grocery store, which was about two miles away from the station, entering through the door a wave of cold air crashed into his body, sighing in relief Reiji relaxed his body embracing in the cold atmosphere.
The store clerk looked at the investigator with indiference seemingly used to these type of antics.
He noticed her stare and raised his hand in an attempt of greeting "Hey Noa"
Noa was the owner and the only worker in this particular store, this place get's almost no visitors since it's quite hidden in between multiple alleyways, but since this place was always quiet Reiji decided that this was the perfect place for him.
"Reiji, another all nighter?" She looked at him blankly completely familiar with the interactions that she's had with this particular individual, he stared at her with a look that says, 'yes, and I want the usual'
This was also another reason that he liked to visit this place, the owner was the same type of person as he was. Both didn't like to talk and prefers quiet areas without any people around, especially in the busy city.
Without another word she grabbed a quick serve beef bowl from the fridge and stuck it in the microwave and a can of cold brew coffee. No words were exchanged during the entire process, but the silence was substituted by the constant beeping of the microwave.
A few minutes later and Noa handed Reiji his order, in return Reiji handed her the exact amount of money needed to pay as this was basically the only thing he would order when coming here.
Before he left he gave a slight bow to the clerk. Exiting the store Reiji walked around searching for a calm spot to eat his food, preferably someplace far away from any noises that might ruin this rare occasion of a meal before it got cold.
Luckily it didn't take long for him to find an empty park. Normally places like these were filled with children and their parents, but now the city felt like a ghost city. The increase of crimes in Tokyo had spread here and the once crowding city is now an empty metropolis.
Searching around, Reiji sat himself down on a nearby bench, opening the beef bowl that Nao had heated up.
But before he could enjoy the warm meal a cry came from the distance, a cry that sounded like a young boy...