The Four Leaf Murderer

chapter 02

We continued playing for a while when I heard another noise, the sound of something falling on the floor.
Before you ask, no I don't have a cat or any kind of pets.

I finally convinced myself that it had to be because I had been in front of the screen for too long, but I still wanted to finish the game anyway. So I waited.

"Arghh… I lost again" I said, sighing and putting the controller in front of me leaning on the back of the couch.

"I don't know how you manage to lose every time, Hajime." said Chiaki, still staring at the screen.

"That's because you're too good at video games," I said as I got up from the couch,

"That's enough games for me, do you want something to drink?" I asked her while stretching.

A moment passed before she answered the question.
"I'll have a soda." She said, still staring at the screen.
"Okay," I said as I left the room and went to the kitchen.

When I got to the kitchen, something disturbed me, the light was on and I was sure I had turned it off this morning.

I then closed the lights and I then turned them back on disturbed, that when I noticed that the french window was opened as well.

Maybe Chiaki is right, this case is tiring me out,' I thought as I took a soda from the fridge for Chiaki and an orange juice for myself.

I closed the french window before I went back into the living room where Chiaki had stopped playing.
"You're not playing anymore?" I asked her, sitting next to her, with her soda and my glass of orange juice on the low table.

"No, remember I promised I'd help you with your investigation if you agreed to play with me." She said as she took her drink.

"Really?" I asked her in surprise, I didn't think she was serious about it.

"Yeah, why would I lie about that." She said, then she added.
"So where are you at with your case?" She said as she looked at the stack of documents on the table.

"Well…" I said, taking a file and explaining to her where I was, I also took my computer for work.
Chiaki is very smart, she's always from great help.
.
.
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"Mann, that assassin is really like a ghost, he leaves no trace," I said desperately.

"You shouldn't be discouraged, watch that." She said as she showed me a map of the city.

"What's that?" I asked wincing.

"All the crimes committed by our man took place in the city, in places pretty close to our neighborhood," she said, drawing a circle around the city map.

"Yeah, I figured that was probably a coincidence, I mean our neighborhood was never known for being the quietest," I said as I looked at the map.

"Yes, but now we know something, that he's not far away from us," She said trying to cheer me up.

"Maybe if we find more clues about him, we could anticipate his next murder and catch him in the act." She said confidently.

at that moment I felt a wind breeze touch me and move some objects on the shelf behind us.

"Maybe you should close the kitchen door." She said, looking in the direction where the wind came from.

"But, it's already closed!!" I claimed.

"I'm not so sure of that." She added.

"Okay, I'll go see," I sighed irritated as I got up.

I entered the kitchen again before I stepped back without moving, my eyes opened widely when I saw that the window door was open, I walked towards it in quick steps.

"I was sure it was closed!" I said in a loud voice.

"Hajime, are you okay?" I could hear Chiaki shouting from the living room.

"Yeah..its nothing!" I answered.
'She'll think I'm crazy of I try to explain that.'

I sighed and locked the door, before I joined Chiaki.

"Hajime?" Chiaki asked as she saw me coming.

"Yes, what is it?" I said I'd took place with the files.

"Can you read me everything you know about the case, maybe we overlooked something important" She said with a serious look.

"Really?" I asked.
"Yes..they always do that in videogames with detectives."

"All right then," I said as I took a file in hand…

"So, until now the killer only went after young adults in their twenties, they all stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife, the murder weapon has never been found. The victims were killed in their domicile, and an envelope with a four leaf clover was found everytime at the crimes scenes, we still don't know what it is supposed to mean.
And as you said he is probably someone from the city." I stopped as I was reading.
Chiaki nodded, so I continued.

"The first victim is Hiro Hagakure, he is a 23 years old male, he was found dead in his domicile laying on the floor of his living room, the body was found by one of his friends Kiyotaka Ishimaru after being missing for three days. weed, had also been found in the basement." I said before stopping to catch my breath, Chiaki stood listening.

"The second victim is Akane Owari, she is a 21 years female athlete, she has been found dead in her kitchen,
standing against the wall, She was found by her coach and friend Nekomaro Nidai after having missing two training sessions in a row."

"The third victim was Jin Kodama, a 22 years old adult, he was found dead in his room with his music on after the neighbors called the police for complaining about the endless music coming from his house."

"The fourth and last victim is Ibuki Mioda, a 21 years old famous guitarist, she was found dead by her friend in her garage sitting on a chair with her electric guitar in her hand," I said then stopped to wait for Chiaki's approval.
She nodded and said "anything else?"

"Well, we don't have much to connect the victims between them, except that Akane Owari and Ibuki Mioda knew each other."

"Do you have anyone's account?"

"Yes, but honestly it doesn't lead to much, the last person who had seen Hiro Hagakura apart from Ishimaru when he found him were his friends on the night of the murder who was gone for a walk. For Akane Owari, the last person to see her was Nekomaru Nidai during their last training. The last person to see Ibuki Mioda were members of her girls-only rock band."

"Did you talk to Ibuki's rock band members?.."
Asked Chiaki, she already knew for Ibuki's death, they used to be friends in High School.

"Yes, they were also shocked to hear about her death, according to them nobody would have wanted to kill her, because "everybody loves Ibuki", and…they all have had an alibi for the time of the murder, they were apparently all together that night."

"I see.." said Chiaki thinking.

Rinnngg…