"I'm here to get you for the night shift." Seryu informed him.
"Seryu, I think you got it wrong. Captain Ogre didn't plan me into the night shift. Neither are you, if I remember the duty rota correctly." Tatsumi slowly stood up from his seat.
"It was a last minute call before the Captain closed his shift."
"But I just worked a full shift…"
The girl put a hand on his shoulder with that uplifting smile of hers. "Ogre said that you'd not have to work tomorrow, if you pull through the night shift."
Tatsumi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Give me a moment."
"I'll wait outside." Seryu vanished behind the door.
Hachirō gazed at his colleague with a frown. Hiroe glanced up at her father in perplexion as though she could feel the shift in his demeanor. "It's your first night shift, huh?" He stammered.
"Yeah." Tatsumi bent down and laced up his boots. "It's just another shift. I'll be fine." A drawn-out yawn escaped his lips. "I could pass out on the stool…" The young man forced himself back on his wobbly feet.
"Good thing that Seryu's there to keep ya company. You two must be on your guard." Hachirō reminded him in an atypically serious tone.
"Is it that bad out there at night?" His hand rested firmly on the hilt of his katana.
The vice-captain led him away from the table and lowered his voice. "The evil scum feels safe at night. Is probably what Seryu would say and she ain't wrong."
"Plus Night Raid, I get it. I've already had an entire day of that 'evil scum' so it can't be much worse, am I right?"
The older man put his hand on Tatsumi's shoulder. "Just watch out for each other, will ya?" He repeated with raised cheekbones. "And grab another coffee down the road. It's gonna be a long night."
"Alright, will do. Thanks."
"Here's the omurice I packed for your friends." Ayano handed him two sizable plastic boxes.
"Thank you so much." The teenager made a polite bow. "How can I make this up to you?"
The woman waved her hand in dismissal. "Don't mention it."
"And remember, you're always welcome here." Hachirō offered with his genuine and slightly goofy smile across both his cheeks.
Tatsumi's lips curled up into a bright, innocent grin. "Thanks. I'm happy to hear that."
"Alright, better don't keep Seryu waiting or she's gonna start the shift without ya."
The younger officer saluted. "Have a good night, vice-captain Hachirō. You too Ayano and Hiroe."
The small girl emerged behind her father's leg. "You too, Tatsumi."
He headed outside and joined up with Seryu.
"Can we stop by at my place before we start the shift? I need to drop this off or we'll either have arson or two starvation cases."
His female colleague chuckled. "Ah, that's alright. And make sure to greet Sayo and Ieyasu for me."
"Will do."
Tatsumi entered the small living room, the creaking noise easily masked by all too familiar bickering piercing through the door to their bedroom. How he hasn't been called to his own home yet by the neighbors due to disturbance of peace was a sheer miracle at this point.
"Oh, man…" The poor teenager sighed, silently placing the two boxes on the wooden table. "Hope that's gonna make them happy."
And just like that, he was off to work again…
The duo patrolled the streets of the traditional district illuminated by dim lights to the side.
"We must stay vigilant, Tatsumi. The evil scum is preying on the law-abiding citizens from the shadows." Seryu admonished him as she walked with what seemed like twice the speed that he could muster.
The other officer yawned. "Why can't the scumbags just sleep like normal people though?"
The girl raised her clenched first. "Evil never sleeps! It is our duty to protect justice at all times by vanquishing evil!"
"Yeah…almost forgot." He sighed. Both of them had already pulled an entire shift. But while he was about to pass out on his legs, Seryu was still going strong. That girl's fiery optimism was truly something to behold. How was he ever supposed to match her?
Suddenly, a colleague came sprinting at them. "We've got trouble. I need you on a scene." The man guided them to a small home near the plaza. He opened the paper door to reveal a man lying on the bloodied tatami mats with a kitchen knife dug in his back. He was neither moving nor breathing. He was just lying there face-first without making a single twitch.
"Holy crap, he's dead!" Tatsumi exclaimed. Hand rushed up to hold in the vomit that forced itself up. For a few moments, the room faded into a distant haze and tilted upside down several times before it came back into something resembling reality.
"Officer?" A pair of familiar glasses intently stared at him.
The young man opened his eyes again. "Sheele? What are you doing here?"
She was eerily calm as she had been this afternoon. The woman stroked through her long, purple hair with a sweaty smile. "I live here, I think…"
Seryu moved on unperturbed and commenced with taking witness accounts. Or at least attempted to. Sheele's friend merely sat there with wide eyes, barely reacting to Seryu's questions. Nor the repeated wave in front of her face.
"Sheele…what happened here?" He turned the body's face over with his gloved hand, tightly clutching his nose. "Wait…Isn't that the gangboss who threatened your friend?"
"Yes, Daiki…He was drunk and choked Akiko. So I took the knife from the kitchen and rammed it in his back so he'd stop." Sheele regaled him with the details and not a single deviation in her tone.
The male officer mustered a small, weary smirk. "You're amazing, Sheele. You can tell me all this with a straight face while I'm about to puke my dinner on the floor."
Tatsumi turned his attention to his female colleague. "I dealt with the victim earlier today and he was possessive of her to put it mildly. He probably tried to get his girlfriend back by force and crossed the line by laying his hand on a woman. Sheele just did the right thing and protected her friend. I think that's what happened here." He proceeded to scribble most of that down on his jotter that was starting to run out of paper.
"Seems like it."
The boy glanced at the corpse once more.
"Her friend just confirmed what your witness said. It's your average self-defense case. Let's get this cleaned up here." Seryu commented. "It's not like we have evidence hinting towards anything different. The bruises and the red spots on her neck indicate as much."
"Hey! Step off! This is a crime scene!" Their colleague on the outside shouted.
"Oh c'mon, man. We just wanna make sure that lightning struck the right one." A younger male voice replied.
Another young man spoke up. Probably a friend of his. "Yeah and don't act like you're gonna miss that son of a bitch. He's been causing the police embarrassing amounts of trouble so rejoice and let us in."
"This is a crime scene. Step aside!" The guard repeated himself with that same stern tone as the first time.
Seryu took out the knife and grabbed the legs. "Don't just stand there, Tatsumi. The guy's almost twice my size."
"Sorry!" Tatsumi awoke from his three second slumber. He grabbed his shoulders, gazing straight back into the deceased gang boss' disbelieving eyes. The officer gently closed them and continued carrying the heavy body through the night with his partner. "Where are we going?"
Scornful whistling resounded from the two gang members.
"There goes the cleaning crew. Good riddance."
"The snake's head is off now. Boss Kazuma's gonna be jumping in his seat right now."
"Yeah, the district is ours for the taking."
Seryu stared at them as they walked off laughing. "Bring him to the morgue. I'll handle these guys real quick."
"Seryu! Wait…" She already sprinted towards the pair of thugs and jumped them like a starving wolf in the middle of winter. One already laid on the ground, the other took a vicious right to the temple. He too went down under a hail of fists hammering down on his face. And during all of this she was grinning across both her cheeks.
"Seryu! Stop! You're gonna kill him!" Tatsumi dragged his colleague away from the bloodied, unconscious gangster. "What are you doing? These guys didn't do anything!"
"I enforced justice! That's our job. This criminal scum belongs behind bars." She reprimanded him and dusted herself off. Her wicked smile had been replaced by a slightly bewildered, intent stare at her less experienced colleague.
"You can't just…you can't just beat someone half dead because they pass you on a street!" Tatsumi raised his voice, almost yelling at her.
Seryu glanced to the side and pursed her lips. "Captain Ogre said this is okay."
"Wait…" The male officer raised an eyebrow. He glanced at the two victims and back at the woman's bloodied fist. "Let me get this straight…Ogre said doing all THIS is okay?" He pointed at the gashes for emphasis, raising his voice again as he maintained a serious stare on his colleague.
"Yes."
Tatsumi threw up his hand and rolled his eyes. "Of course he did." Deep inhale. He put both of his hands on her shoulders and mustered a soft smile. "Look, Seryu…I know some of them deserve this but you'll get yourself in big trouble if you overdo it. Please promise me, you'll go easier on the crooks in the future unless you absolutely have to do this, ok?"
Seryu balled up her fists. "I will preserve justice. And if it is warranted, I will retaliate with the full force of the law."
At least that wasn't a straight up 'no'...
"Anyway, let's get the corpse to the morgue. These two folks are gonna find their way home by themselves." The young woman returned to her usual bubbly tone and grabbed the legs of the deceased gang boss once more.
After they handed the body over to the coroner, they returned to guarding the streets.
"Are you shittin' me? Break the fucking door open, you stupid mongrel!"
The duo chased after the hectic shout that was most likely supposed to come out as a whisper.
"Fuck's sake! What if the cleaning crew comes sweeping by?" The crook with the crowbar in his hand hissed back at his pig masked partner. A bird, a monkey and a horse stood behind the two attempting to break into the closed jewelry store.
"They're gonna, if ya take another fucking month to get your ass in gear. Everyone's waiting."
"Could you fools please scream louder?" Tatsumi shouted from further back.
"Fuck! The pigs showed! Make a run for it!"
"Screw it! We're gonna beat their asses!"
The 5 five thugs charged at the two officers. The pig mask threw a sloppy punch at Tatsumi. The officer took the invitation and shoved the falling crook into the monkey to his left.
Bone snapped.
"Seryu! Don't-"
The clown with the crowbar swung at Tatsumi. The metal grazed the side of his head, nearly digging into his temple. Suddenly three crooks appeared in front of him and returned back into one several times as his field of view wobbled and tiled all over the place.
"Aaaaargh!"
Another wild swing battered his leg. The officer stumbled into the criminal, dragged him down onto the ground and managed to punch him out through the thick haze in front of his vision. A second excruciating scream of agony rang in his ears.
Tatsumi hobbled towards the remaining two thugs and kicked the first unconscious with his battered leg. He slammed the other against the next best lantern post and back into the cobblestone pavement. The policeman cocked back his fist, aiming to smash through the suspect's busted visage.
"Tatsumi! Good job."
He glanced at Seryu and then back at the man in his grip. He was not moving an inch. "Wait…the dude's already out cold." Tatsumi let him drop on the ground alongside his loaded fist.
Deep breath.
The adrenaline subsided and with it came a throbbing pain. But at least the confusion within cleared up. "Let's get these idiots locked up, while they're napping." Tatsumi bit down on his teeth and dragged the thugs through the streets to the next best jail.
"Are you alright? Maybe you should really go home early and rest your leg." Seryu offered as she walked next to her limping colleague.
"I think I can tough it out. I'm just gonna need some ice after this shift is over."
"Let's head to the department and stock up on handcuffs again. Ya can never have too many."
"They can't even make 'em fast enough because we're bringing in that many crooks."
Seryu snickered. "As it should be. The unjust scum behind bars."
"Just wait until they tell us to go soft on crime. 'Our jails are full! Please Tatsumi! Seryu! It's too much! We can't take it anymore! Please stop doing your job so well!' I bet you. But we're gonna keep 'em comin'."
"Haha, you have a glowing fantasy." The girl let out a hearty chuckle.
"Imagine it…Ogre suddenly comes strolling into the office and says: 'Guys, the higher-ups want less incarcerations. Just take a big, fat vacation y'all. And if you happen to bump into crooks, just let every other thug bail. Don't worry, it's gonna be fine.' Yeah, sure…" Tatsumi joked in a pathetic attempt to mimic his Captain's gruff voice.
Seryu cracked up again, nearly dropping the suspects she dragged along. "Would you do it though?"
"Hell no. You?" He answered with a straight face.
"I mean…if Captain Ogre gives orders, he always does it for a reason, no? Whenever I see injustice committed against law-abiding citizens, then I will rush to their aid." She gazed back at her colleague.
"I suppose that's not wrong. That's our duty after all."
The two police officers got their group of criminals locked up and were about to march back on the outside with new sets of handcuffs.
A colleague approached them. "Could you two check this address? There have been multiple complaints about noise at night."
Seryu glanced at what he just scribbled down. "That's in the red light district. What were the complaints? Noise regulations aren't as tight there."
The slightly older colleague shrugged. "You know…noise. Neighbors hearing screams and things being tossed for months on end now. Sounds like your average domestic for all we know."
"Alright, we're gonna check it out. Thanks."
The two officers arrived at the designated address amidst the glowing streets of the red light district.
Tatsumi yawned. "Here we go again. At least we didn't need to walk much."
"You get used to it. The red light district is part of the traditional district. This should be it." Seryu glanced down at the piece of paper. She moved the door aside to reveal a woman hanging from the ceiling. The unmoving victim received her new guests with a wide eyed stare that mirrored absolute shock.
"Everything's alright…shhh…daddy's here." Faint whispers come from the bedroom. Seryu gave her colleague a brief nod. Tatsumi slowly stepped into the dimly lit room. "We are police officers. We have been called here because neighbors complained about noise."
"Thank god you're finally here." The father let go of his children and stood up slowly. The daughter was still weeping and shivering. The slightly older son just sat there with an empty stare. Again, the same sensations as prior had already kicked in though not as severe this time.
Tatsumi inhaled and closed his eyes. "I know this may seem cruel right now, but I need to ask you some questions."
The man nodded repeatedly. "No. I don't blame you, officer…you're only doing your job."
"So…what happened here, Mr. Horimiya?"
"I just picked my kids up from my parents and then…you know the rest."
Tatsumi raised an eyebrow. "Actually I don't."
"You dense? I walked in and found the mother of my children like this."
The officer pulled out his jotter. "Any idea how this happened? Did your wife have any trouble or enemies?"
"Not that I knew."
"Perhaps someone holds a grudge against you and that's his way of sending a message."
He was neither blinking suspiciously often nor trying to dodge his gaze. "I have lived a happy life with my family and never crossed anyone."
"With all due respect, sir. Could it that she committed suic-"
The man's forehead twitched. "I ensured my wife was happy. I gave her no reason to do this."
"Alright, I understand. Where were you before you picked up your kids?"
The son has turned to holding his little sister. His wide-eyed stare remained fixated on the officer.
The father pinched his forehead. "At work obviously." He hissed at the officer questioning him.
"Where do you work? In case we need to check."
"I own a casino in Hana plaza. You might want to try your luck there."
Sigh exhaled. "Funny…And people saw you?"
"Yeah, ask my employees. If you'll excuse me…my children."
"We will be leaving shortly with the body."
"But my wife needs a funeral!"
Again, Tatsumi scribbled everything down diligently. "With all due respect, Mr. Horimiya. As long as the circumstances of your wife's death are unclear, we are obligated to investigate. If your wife has been murdered by someone, you'd want us to catch the killer wouldn't you?"
He folded his arms and pursed his lips. "Alright. Catch that animal. And do it quickly, officer."
Tatsumi bent down and patted the boy, who had just lost his mother. The officer turned to Seryu, who had untied the woman. "Found anything?"
"Not really. The whole place looks like a mess."
"Any traces of a fight? We could kick suicide out then."
"Hm, I don't think so. There aren't any defense scars."
Tatsumi wandered through the room. Kitchen utensils aimlessly laid around, a chair was kicked over and glass shards were scattered over the floor. "If she didn't defend herself, then someone sure as hell went berserk in here. Let's take her back to the morgue."
The police officers left the apartment. "Theft maybe? What did the father say?" Seryu inquired.
"He said he has no idea. Mr. Horimiya was at work, picked up the kids and walked in on this. He owns a casino, so perhaps someone figured he better rob someone with stacks of gold in his hands."
"So he has an alibi. Then it was probably theft and the wife was an unfortunate collateral. When I catch this criminal scum…" Seryu's knuckles gave off a faint crack.
"Did it look like theft though? The living room and the kitchen looked like it but the bedroom was in perfect order. If the killer was really after their jewels he'd have looked there as well. And the way the wife was killed…it doesn't fit thieves. They'd rather kill her quickly, grab what they can and leave before they run into the husband or anyone else who could be dropping by. They wouldn't bother doing all this. The killer wanted to send a message most likely."
Seryu glanced at the hand of the victim. "She still has her ring and her necklace. Theft wasn't it then. If sending a message was the goal…could it have been a gang? I doubt a violent maniac just happened to drop by and broke into their house."
"Looks like it. They probably wanted something from Mr. Horimiya and when he refused they came for his wife."
"Then we should take a look at his casino. It should still be open." The two walked further in silence. "Tatsumi, are you alright?"
His eyes widened in perplexion. "Yeah, I am."
"It's just that…it's been your first two bodies. And they weren't pretty to look at."
"I'm still going strong." Tatsumi responded. He took a deep breath and his gaze sank. "It's just…the kids. The son stared at me the whole time. They'll grow up without their mother."
The two officers handed in another corpse and returned to patrolling through the red light district.
"Let's go to the casino. I roughly know where that is. No. The other way, Tatsumi." Seryu dragged her exhausted colleague to the right through the next tight alley.
"I swear, I'll be sleeping the next three days after this shift is over."
"You can only sleep the next day though."
"I know…" The officer pouted helplessly as he walked along.
"Officers! Over here!" A lasciviously clad young woman called the two. She was smoking a cigarette with her shivering hand. And so was her entire body. The way her kimono emphasized her chest and left her back open, she could have only been a prostitute.
"How can we help you, Miss?" Seryu offered and wrapped her arm around the woman.
"My friend…there's a body. I'll show you."
The prostitute guided the two officers further down the street past the 'pleasant recluse' brothel into a small alley. "I found her there." She couldn't bear to look at the mutilated lump of flesh in front of them.
"Dear god…" Tatsumi exclaimed and took a step backwards. The corpse was drowning in a pool of her own blood, the blue shade of the kimono drenched in a layer of red from the wide slashes made across her chest.
At the very least, the clean cut across her neck probably ended it near instantly. Even all of her fingers were hacked off.
"Is this your friend?" Seryu walked the other woman a bit away from the corpse. She forced smoke from her lips.
"Yeah…We're working in the brothel over there. Yumeko probably just came off her shift…"
"Seryu, come over real quick." Tatsumi called her over and knelt down. "Getting her to the morgue will be fun…we're gonna need a bag. Maybe it was a disappointed client. Apparently, there's men like this out there."
"Villainous scum. They deserve just punishment."
His hand quickly stroked across his face. "It's an overkill. At first glance it could have been some maniac. But the cuts are precise and the fingers are off. Perhaps the fingers are a message. Like the wife hanging from the ceiling. It could have been something personal."
"It could have been anyone for all we know."
"There won't be any punishment if we don't crack our brains and figure out what kind of animal did this."
"Yes! I will do my best."
Tatsumi stood up and approached the living prostitute. "Excuse me, miss. Did your friend have any enemies or trouble?"
"Not really. There were neither disappointed clients nor anyone that was obsessed with her. We treated everything professionally. "
"Alright…perhaps trouble with a gang?"
"No…not that I knew." She responded and took a deep breath. "Please promise me you'll catch that monster, officer. I don't want to fall victim to a prostitute hating maniac."
The policeman glanced at the mutilated corpse and then back at her victim's friend. "I promise."
Once more, the two officers dumped a disfigured body into the morgue and returned to the rest of their shift. Currently they have been resting in a park, watching the sun paint the sky in a gentle mix of yellow and blue.
A yawn escaped Tatsumi's lips as he leaned on his colleague's shoulder. Seryu gently stroked through his brown, spiky mane. "It's been your first night shift. You did great!"
"Really? I'm dead tired. Thank god I don't need to work today…"
"Don't say that! Evil never sleeps!"
The tired man chuckled. Even now she was filled with energy, driven by the eternal hunt against injustice. "Evil might not, but I do allegedly."
"I guess…our shift is over. And fighting the evil scum half asleep ain't no good." A tiny yawn slipped her lips.
"Let's call it. I'll walk you home and then…" Tatsumi stood up and escorted his colleague back home. Silently, he entered his own home. He made sure to discard his armor quietly down to his boxers. His two friends were still sleeping soundly, so he just laid next to them in his futon and let his exhaustion take over.
A/N: Next chapter "Kill the psychology"