Mass release 9/10
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Thanks to the persistently high crime rate, the Japanese government had finally begun to take forensic science seriously. The number of forensic professionals was steadily increasing, preventing tragedies like those in Unnatural Death.
When it came to autopsies, they were the experts.
One officer came over to Himeno with a troubled expression and reported, "Inspector, the autopsy is still underway, but… there's a problem. You need to see it for yourself."
"What is it?"
Himeno recognized him—a seasoned officer, probably named Hayakawa. Not someone who'd normally be so unsettled. What could it be?
Following Hayakawa to the surveillance room, they began reviewing footage from before any witnesses arrived:
The two security guards seemed to greet someone at the front door, which opened—but no one could be seen entering. Even as they spoke, it was like they were talking to thin air.
The rest of the footage was the same.
A long-haired blond man stood respectfully beside the sofa, as if someone invisible were seated there. He remained still as he watched seven others fight to the death.
On the third floor, the camera showed Endo Makoto seemingly speaking to thin air. His reaction when he entered the elevator was like he had seen something unspeakably terrifying.
"What's going on?"
Such absurd footage made Himeno frown deeply.
Araki Finance had been her target for a while. She had tried to gather evidence against them through Tsuruta Kusako, but before she could begin her investigation, the entire gang mysteriously died like this?
Everyone seemed to have fallen into a cursed illusion, with no survivors.
'Someone hacked the surveillance and erased themselves?' That was her first thought. She asked casually, "Any witnesses?"
"Unfortunately, no. No one saw who entered Araki Finance. Not even the street cameras caught anything suspicious."
"Inspector Himeno, there's more—this way."
Leaving the surveillance room, Hayakawa led Himeno to the third floor—to Endo Hiroshi's personal office. The room had no cameras. Several forensics officers stood awkwardly in front of the door. On the white wall, someone had spray-painted a suffocating message in red.
This time, it wasn't the blood-red M.
Instead, it was—
[Kira]
"What is this?!" Himeno was both shocked and enraged. "Is this a provocation against our police force?"
Kira, derived from the English word killer, means assassin, but in Japanese, it can also be understood as shining.
A shining killer...
At this, Himeno confirmed what she had thought. It wasn't an illusion; someone had hacked the surveillance system and committed a bloody crime at Araki Financial Company.
"Damn it..." Himeno clenched her fists. Even though these people were scum who deserved to die, they should only be executed after receiving legal judgment. Not through vigilante justice by this person who calls himself Kira.
Such an act was undoubtedly a contempt for the Tōyō Keisatsu (East Japan Police), a contempt for the law! And the perpetrator was just as guilty as the people they killed!
Hayakawa Aki stood by, raising his doubts. "Detective Himeno, even if 'Kira' hacked and altered the surveillance, it couldn't have been done in such a short time."
It should be known that they had rushed to the scene immediately after receiving the report. From the surveillance footage, Kira entered the Araki Financial Company no more than ten minutes prior.
Killing ten people and altering surveillance in a mere ten minutes?
It sounded somewhat fantastical.
"So, it was a group effort?" Himeno's expression grew grim. "Even though these guys were scum, their sticks and knives were real. To inflict such kills in ten minutes...the perpetrators must really be highly trained assassins."
"Plus the surveillance alteration... It seems a formidable group has arrived in our Chiba."
Himeno narrowed her eyes, seemingly deep in thought.
"Chief, reporters are swarming outside, what should we do?"
"What to do? We wait for the higher-ups to arrive."
Himeno shrugged helplessly. Ten deaths constituted a major casualty incident, too significant for a small chief like her to handle.
They had to wait for higher-ups to unify the public statement.
As if remembering something, she instructed, "Don't reveal anything about what happened in this room!"
She was referring to the [Kira] sprayed on the wall.
Provoking the police? Trying to gain notoriety this way? Himeno wouldn't let him have his way.
However, as she gave her order, one of the forensics team members' eyes flickered, clearly harboring other intentions.
The salaries of grassroots police officers in Tōyō aren't high, and they live a high-pressure 727 lifestyle, so more or less, they all leave themselves an escape route. Selling information about cases to reporters is clearly a good way to make money.
The bigger the case, the more valuable the information.
And this Araki Financial Company Incident, which would become a widespread designated incident, would undoubtedly be a hot topic recently. So, the information would be very valuable!
The young officer muttered to himself, "Thank you, Kira."
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Ryōgi Shiki (Ryōgi Shiki) wore a red leather jacket, held a sheathed short sword in her arms, and wore London boots. She sat in the back of a taxi, gazing out at the rapidly receding scenery.
She had received a new request from Aozaki Tōko.
[Large-scale bloodshed in Chiba, investigate]
"She really knows how to make people work," Ryōgi Shiki grumbled.
Aozaki Tōko was her guide in the world of the supernatural, managing an agency called [Kara no Kyōkai], and Ryōgi Shiki was, for all intents and purposes, an employee there.
She had been gravely injured and hospitalized due to an accident previously. Upon waking, she had awakened the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, and it was Aozaki Tōko who taught her how to use these eyes, and together with Yagami Light, saved her from the suicidal gloom.
That's why the young lady of the Ryōgi family, who wasn't lacking in money, would tirelessly and without concern for reward complete Aozaki Tōko's requests.
Ryōgi Shiki took out her phone. It displayed a video sent by Aozaki Tōko, playing the footage initially captured by onlookers.
Upon seeing the content, Ryōgi Shiki's brows furrowed slightly. The densely packed blood-red letter M immediately conveyed a sense of madness.
L Across the screen and time, she seemed to see a gracefully dancing Shinigami, wantonly manipulating lives in the lobby.
This guy...
Ryōgi Shiki's pupils constricted, and she subconsciously activated her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.
Extremely dangerous!
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