Blue women’s flats and a long white dress covered in blue flowers… yup, that was definitely the target. She was casually walking through a clothing store looking at various things. Despite how much she was looking, she didn’t seem to have any intention on buying anything. Still, she was awfully carefree wasn’t she? If he wanted to, he could grab her right now.
          He followed the woman out of the clothing store that was in the middle of a mall. She ignored the rest of the stores and headed for the exit. Once outside the mall she headed down the street, her long straight black hair swaying back and forth as she walked. He hid in a side alley as the woman stopped in front of a building and looked back. Had she noticed him? She looked around for a bit before going into the building she was standing in front of. The man waited for a moment before coming out of hiding and walking down to the building his target had gone in.
 
          A cafe?
 
          It was lunch time, but this still didn’t bode well.
 
          Is she meeting someone here?  he thought.
 
          Pushing away his thoughts for now, the man entered the cafe with his head down. Looking up momentarily to find his target, he put his head down again after locating her and walked over to the side of the cafe she was in. The man sat down at a table that was behind her and observed her. She was alone but seemed to be waiting for someone.
          Five minutes passed, then ten. Maybe she wasn’t meeting someone after all? Just as he thought that, a man walked up to his target’s table. He greeted the woman before sitting across from her at the table.
 
          A man?
 
          It wasn’t someone he recognized. He felt his heart speed up for some reason. This was really bad. The man began to regret coming here, but it was already too late now. He was here, so he would do what he came here to do. He continued to watch as his target interacted with her companion. They were having a conversation about something but he couldn’t hear what they were saying from where he was. Things continued on in that way for roughly half an hour. During that time both individuals ordered food and drinks and seemed to be merrily enjoying each other’s company. Neither realized they were being watched.
          Just as he was preparing himself for another half hour of watching the two, the man with his target stood up. They seemed to be saying their goodbyes as they smiled at one another. Did the man offer to see her home? He watched as his target shook her head. Well that was one good thing at least. Things may have gotten even more complicated if she had accepted. His target was finally alone once more in the cafe. She finished her drink and then stood to leave as well.
          The man blocked his face by holding up an opened newspaper as she turned to walk out the cafe. Feeling he had let her get far enough ahead, he put the newspaper down and got up to follow her. As he casually strolled out of the cafe while considering how he should proceed, he heard it.
 
          “It’s not nice to follow people around you know.”
 
          The man was caught completely off guard. The familiar woman’s voice paralyzed him for a few seconds before he turned to see his target staring at him. She had waited for him off to the right side of the cafe’s exit so he hadn’t noticed her at all.
 
          “When did you notice?” he asked.
 
          “From the very start,” she answered.
 
          He found that hard to believe, and it must have shown on his face.
 
          “Why the skeptical look? I am the sister of the great detective Toshiya Sokuchi after all,” she said while grabbing a hold of the man’s arm.
 
          The two of them began walking toward the nearby train station.
 
          “I don’t recall anyone ever calling me great,” said Toshiya.
 
          “Well I just did, so there,” said his sister.
 
          That’s right. His name was Toshiya Sokuchi. He was a private detective here in Yuyusura. The woman he had been following for the last few hours was his little sister, Jiniza Yamaguchi.
 
          “So, why were you following me? Don’t tell me you just wanted to watch your cute little sister all day,” said Jiniza.
 
          “Who was that guy you were with?” Toshiya asked.
 
          “Oh, him? That was one of Shinta’s friends.”
 
          Jiniza said it casually, but that didn’t make Toshiya feel any better.
 
          “Why are you meeting your husband’s friend while he’s at work, Jini?”
 
          Jiniza looked up at her older brother as they walked. His short, perfectly groomed hair was the same color as hers, but his eyes were black unlike her hazel ones that she inherited from their grandmother.
 
          “You’re not jealous are you? I’ll always be your little sister.”
 
          Toshiya ignored her joke.
 
          “Are you going to answer the question or not?” he asked.
 
          “If you must know, we were making plans for Shinta’s birthday. Two weeks go by fast you know.”
 
          Toshiya looked at Jiniza with surprise.
 
          “That’s it? Really?”
 
          Jiniza looked back at him equally surprised.
 
          “What did you think it was about?”
 
          “Ah… er…”
 
          Toshiya hesitated. Of course he couldn’t tell her why he had been following her.

###

          Earlier that same day. Toshiya had woken up, showered, and put on a black suit that he didn’t wear a tie with before going to his detective agency in the north district. He had barely managed to go inside and begin preparing a light breakfast when someone came bursting through the front door.
 
          “Toshiya, I need your help!!”
 
          It was his brother-in-law, Shinta Yamaguchi. He was wearing a button up white shirt and black slacks. His short black hair was well kept like Toshiya’s and his dark brown eyes were covered by his glasses. He looked like he was greatly distressed.
 
          “What’s wrong?” asked Toshiya.
 
          “It’s Jiniza, something’s going on with Jiniza!!”
 
          Toshiya’s eyes widened a bit.
 
          “What? What’s wrong with Jini? Is she hurt?!”
 
          Shinta momentarily looked confused.
 
          “No, no! It’s nothing like that!”
 
          Toshiya regained his usual composed look.
 
          “OK, I think you should calm down and explain things from the beginning, you had me worried there,” Toshiya said while motioning to his desk.
 
          “I’m sorry, it’s just that… that…”
 
          Shinta sat in one of the chairs in front of Toshiya’s desk without finishing. Toshiya, coffee cup in hand, sat down in his chair behind the desk before noticing something.
 
          “Sorry, can I get you some coffee?” he asked.
 
          Shinta shook his head weakly and Toshiya noticed he had tears in his eyes.
 
          “I-I’m fine.”
 
          “Are you sure? You look like you’re about to cry, man. Is this about Jini? Tell me what’s going on.”
 
          “W-Well… she’s been acting really strange lately…”
 
          “How so?” Toshiya asked before taking a sip of his coffee.
 
          “Well, like, the other day I came home from work and noticed a receipt for a cafe near our house on the kitchen counter. I got curious and asked her about it but she started acting really secretive. It was weird, but I shrugged it off as nothing serious.”
 
          “Then?”
 
          “Then yesterday I saw one of my friends I haven’t seen in a while and he said he saw me and Jiniza at a cafe the other day. He said he wanted to come say hello, but he was in a hurry.”
 
          “So?”
 
          “So… me and Jiniza haven’t been to a cafe together in over a month…”
 
          Toshiya’s eyes widened slightly.
 
          “So it wasn’t you?”
 
          Shinta shook his head with a sad expression on his face.
 
          “Did you ask her about it?”
 
          “Yeah, but when I did she got all secretive again. She wouldn’t even tell me who she was there with.”
 
          Toshiya rubbed his hairless chin as he began to think.
 
          “Toshiya… I think… I think Jiniza is cheating on me!!”
 
          Shinta’s voice cracked as he said so and he put his head into his hands.
 
          “Wait, what?! Don’t you think you’re overreacting a bit?! I mean, Jini loves you!”
 
          “But what if I’m not? What if she’s really…?”
 
          Toshiya shook his head.
 
          “No way. I’ve known Jini all her life, she wouldn’t do something like that. If she was cheating on you, you’d know, because she would tell you herself.”
 
          Jiniza was straightforward like that, or was it simply her lack of tact? Either way, she wouldn’t have the wherewithal to participate in a secret affair. That being said, that made her actions all the more unusual. What was she hiding?
 
          “M-Maybe you’re right… but I have to know! And that’s where you come in!” said Shinta.
 
          “Huh?”
 
          “You’re going to follow Jiniza while I’m at work today and see what she does!”
 
          “I am?”
 
          “You’re a private detective, right? Isn’t that the kind of stuff you guys do? Please, Toshiya! I’ll pay whatever you want!”
 
          Toshiya sighed. Shinta wasn’t wrong. He had tailed more than one person before but… this was different. This was his sister. He didn’t believe she was doing anything underhanded, but what if he was wrong? Would he betray his sister for a check?
 
          “Will you do it?” asked Shinta.
 
          Toshiya thought for a moment.
 
          “I’ll do it.”
 
          Shinta’s eyes lit up.
 
          “But I’m not going to charge you. I’m only doing this to prove to you that Jini isn’t cheating on you,” he explained.
 
          “Thank you, Toshiya!”

###

          “You’re being weird, Toshi,” said Jiniza.
 
          “Sorry,” said Toshiya.
 
          Toshiya didn’t like withholding things from his sister, but he also couldn’t betray his client’s trust. He decided to stay quiet about everything that was going on.
 
          “Hey,” whispered Jiniza.
 
          “What is it?” asked Toshiya.
 
          “Do you see the looks we’re getting? They’re probably thinking we’re such a cute couple.”
 
          Jiniza giggled. Toshiya hadn’t noticed until she said something, but a few people here and there did give them looks.
 
          “Don’t say that, it’s weird,” said Toshiya. “Besides, whose fault would it be if they did assume that?”
 
          Jiniza was still firmly holding Toshiya’s arm as they walked. It was an innocent gesture, but it couldn’t be helped that some might interpret it a different way.
 
          “You’re not happy to be the envy of the guys around here?” asked Jiniza.
 
          “Am I invited to the party?” Toshiya asked in an attempt to change the subject.
 
          “Why wouldn’t you be? It’s going to be great!!”
 
          “How so?”
 
          “I can’t say yet, but we have something AMAZING planned!!”
 
          “Sounds fun.”
 
          “Doesn’t it?!”
 
          “I hope whatever it is isn’t physical in nature. Don’t forget you have my niece or nephew in that stomach of yours.”
 
          “Yeah, yeah, Uncle Toshiya,” said Jiniza with feigned annoyance.
 
          Jiniza was three months pregnant, but you wouldn’t notice it from looking at her because she wasn’t showing yet. They continued walking and soon the brother and sister arrived at the train station.
 
          “Heading home?” asked Toshiya.
 
          “No way! I’m going back to the agency with you!”
 
          “What?”
 
          “You’ve been following me around all day, it’s time I returned the favor!” explained Jiniza.
 
          Toshiya put his head into his right hand.
 
          Why did I agree to tail her again?  he wondered.

###

          Around the same time at the Yuyusura police department in the central district. Nia was at her desk looking over papers from her previous case. It wasn’t anything serious, just a burglary attempt at a home. The intruder was caught by the home’s occupant and turned over to the police. Nia just had to verify all of the information on the report. As she was doing so, Hiura walked over to her desk.
 
          “Got a second, Tatsumi?”
 
          Nia put down the paper and looked up at him.
 
          “Sure, what is it?”
 
          “It’s about our current case.”
 
          Nia’s face became serious. She had been assigned to the mysterious murder at the run down building along with Hiura and Eda. Since she didn’t have a partner, she was regularly asked to help out others with their cases if there wasn’t one she could handle alone currently available.
 
          “A few things have come to light,” continued Hiura. “First, the victim’s name is Akio Kido.”
 
          “That was fast, it hasn’t even been a day yet,” said Nia.
 
          “We checked to see if any people had been reported missing recently, and his name came up. After that it was just a matter of contacting his family for verification,” explained Hiura. “They were pretty devastated as can be imagined.”
 
          Nia nodded. It couldn’t have been easy for them to see him in that state.
 
          “Apparently he was a university student. The last time they heard from him, he said he was going to be going out with some friends. We got the name of one of the friends and Eda is currently following up on that lead.”
 
          “Wow, you two are really on this. I need to start carrying my own weight.”
 
          Hiura smiled.
 
          “It’s fine. I know you’re still in the process of finalizing your last case. Besides, it was just leg work, no need to bother you with it.”
 
          “What you really mean is that you’d rather let Eda handle it to get some firsthand experience, right?”
 
          Hiura’s smile got even bigger.
 
          “So you saw through me?” he asked. “At any rate, that’s where we stand currently, but I also have some other stuff to share with you.”
 
          “What is it?”
 
          “Forensics and the medical examiner worked throughout the night and got us some interesting information. First, we found nothing of significance at the scene. No prints, no blood other than the victim’s, nothing.”
 
          “So they were careful,” said Nia.
 
          “Very. But we did manage to glean something from the body itself.”
 
          “Oh?”
 
          “Apparently the victim’s head and limbs were cut off with a power saw.”
 
          Nia made a strange face.
 
          “I know what you’re thinking. We don’t understand it either. The building had no power, so the best we could come up with was that the perpetrator had to have used a portable generator of some sort.”
 
          “Seems like it was a carefully planned murder.”
 
          Hiura nodded.
 
          “And that’s not all. The medical examiner surmises that the first cut was likely the wound to the abdomen. The reason for this being that a local anesthesia was used in that area of the body. No other part of the body had it, and naturally there would be no point in having it if you were just going to cut off one of the limbs first,” explained Hiura.
 
          “But…”
 
          “Why? That’s the million dollar question,” said Hiura.
 
          “But this is good right? Wouldn’t that mean it’s someone with access to something like that? Someone in the medical field maybe? Couldn’t that help narrow the suspects?” asked Nia.
 
          “Not necessarily. In this day and age you’d be surprised the things people can get ahold of if they want to bad enough. It’s definitely something to keep in mind though.”
 
          Nia nodded.
 
          “Lastly, it’s probably not surprising, but the victim died of blood loss. It likely didn’t take too long, but his last moments couldn’t have been very pleasant. By the time the head was severed, he was already dead.”
 
          As Nia took in all of Hiura’s information, Eda walked in through the front door.
 
          “Sir, I talked to the victim’s friends!”
 
          “Just Hiura is fine. What did you find out?”
 
          Eda walked over to Nia’s desk.
 
          “They confirmed that they were all together a few nights ago at a night club. Apparently they lost track of the victim at some point during the night but didn’t think too much of it. They figured he probably just met a girl or something. When closing time came and they still hadn’t heard from him, they got a bit more concerned, but after calling him several times and having the call go immediately to voicemail they just decided to go home. They said they were worried something might have happened, but didn’t want to jump to any conclusions unnecessarily. It wasn’t until the next day when the family contacted them that they knew something was wrong.”
 
          “Hmm… and how did they come across to you?” asked Hiura.
 
          “They seemed genuine to me. I didn’t feel like they were hiding anything.”
 
          Hiura thought a moment.
 
          “Assuming they were telling the truth, it’s likely that the victim first came into contact with the killer at that night club,” he said.
 
          “That’s a lot of potential suspects. And there’s not going to be an easy way to track them down,” said Nia.
 
          “Did they say what night club it was?” asked Hiura.
 
          “The White Tiger in the south district,” said Eda.
 
          “Sounds fancy,” said Nia.
 
          “Do you have an address?” Hiura asked Eda.
 
          “I do.”
 
          “Great. I think we should pay them a visit.”
 
          Hiura turned to Nia.
 
          “Coming?”
 
          “I can’t let you do all the work, right?” answered Nia.
 
          She grabbed her black suit jacket and left the police station together with Hiura and Eda.