Beastars: A Symphony of Life

Chapter 64: A New Batch of Players

How early was it? Too early, that's all Masumi knew. She had dragged herself from her bed when the call came in at four in the morning. She could barely see when she drove to the crime scene, her eyes were so groggy. She had a massive hangover, as she had drunk herself to sleep last night. It was too much. Everything. She had been having nightmares filled with bits of brain and mangled corpses. The masked demon taunted her every second she was asleep and every second she was awake from her subconscious. She didn't want to sleep, but she needed to. On top of that, she needed to speak with Adler at some point. Maybe it was time they started working together. She carefully pulled up to a curb and parked. She looked in the rearview mirror and slapped herself in the face a few times to wake herself up before popping a mint in her mouth. Hopefully masking the alcohol that was definitely on her breath. She breathed hard through her nose a few times, hyperventilating before stepping from the car with her usual stoic posture.

"If I had a breathalyzer I don't think you'd need to breathe into it that hard to get a positive reading," an officer said.

Masumi snapped her eyes at the fox, who backed away a bit.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking around for the crime scene.

"In the alley," he said.

Masumi followed, trying not to show how uncomfortable it made her feel. Another body, another alley. She hoped she wouldn't get flashbacks. As she rounded the corner, it couldn't be helped as the images flashed in her mind, causing her to seal her eyes until they passed. She then carefully opened her eyelids to look at the scene. It actually wasn't that bad, but she still felt a little queasy. The body was sprawled on the ground and seemed to have been beaten to death. The monitor lizard was lying lifeless on the wet pavement. His skull had been smashed in and the blood was leaking out his nose onto the road, swirling in with the water.

"The murder weapon was a lead pipe," the fox said. "We found it next to the body coated in blood. We can only assume that it's the same from the victim."

"Who is the victim?" she asked, swallowing her minor panic.

"Seitaro Onaga," the officer said. "Former member of the Dokugumi and according to our criminal informant, current member of the Jade Hybrids."

"So this wasn't Razor?" Masumi asked, a little relieved and a little unsettled. Two murderers, great.

"I thought that was obvious," said a cursinu mix dog breed. He wasn't dressed in formal police attire, and had on instead blue jeans and a plaid button-up shirt tucked into them with a black belt. Over this he wore a dirt green jacket. A nice looking watch with a fake leather band sat on his left wrist and he wore worn brown boots. Nice ones too, but not too nice. The kind of shoes one wore to casually appear well off.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" she asked, stepping forward. "This is a crime scene."

"Special agent Wiru Gureamu," he said, holding up a badge that hung around his neck. "I'm the criminal profiler sent to assist with the case."

"Who called in the feds?" Masumi asked the fox.

"The Beastar," the officer answered. "He sent for them right before-"

"Okay," she said, cutting him off with her hand. She turned back to the agent, but his eyes were closed. He looked like he was in a trance, one that shouldn't be broken.

"What is he doing?" she asked.

"What he does," someone else said.

Masumi looked over to a small group of animals in suits. Three more feds.

"It's best to just let him finish," the wolf said. "He's too far into it."

The police chief watched as the brown speckled dog snapped his head up from hanging and his eyes opened. He was definitely in some sort of trance. He looked around, but not actually seeing anything. He walked to one end of the alley and turned to face the scene.

"I came across Seitaro," Wiru said, walking back towards the scene, acting out as he moved. "I recognize him, but don't know why. At this point I am able to process where I know him from based on his scent. I grab a metal pipe, and try to keep it hidden behind my back. The lizard didn't see me pick it up and doesn't suspect me. As we pass each other, I spin and land a blow to his back. This doesn't have the desired effect of him falling and he turns to me. He lunges, and I swing again, landing a hit to his face which sends him flying into the dumpster, the metal scraping him. I'm into it now. I don't know what I'm doing but I keep wailing on him. Over and over and over again."

Masumi closed her eyes and turned away, reminded of Yahya's death.

"He now lays dead at my feet," the canine continued. "And I stand here, momentarily in shock. I've been standing here too long and run off, back the way I came."

Wiru snapped from his trance and turned back to everyone.

"This was a first," he said. "He's never killed before, and probably never will again. A momentary lapse in reason and judgement."

"That means this is your case," said one of the other three feds, the rhinoceros. "If you find him before he kills two more, he's all yours. We're going to need everything you have on Razor."

"Sure," she said, eyes still on the special agent Gureamu.

"It's rude to stare,'' he called from down the alley, pulling on a plastic glove.

Masumi averted her eyes.

"Do you have any evidence bags?" he asked. "We have a tuft of fur."

He reached down and produced the hairs.

"He must have scraped himself on this pile of broken bricks," he said. "Might want to run it."

"Wiru," the bear called. "We have more important matters to see too."

"Yeah," the agent said, standing and carefully walking past the scene and past Masumi. The horse watched as the agents stepped into a shared car and drove off.

"All that from a few pieces of evidence?" she asked.

"Has a ninety-five percent accuracy when profiling," the fox said.

"You looked into him?"

"No. The other feds told me."

Masumi looked back to the scene.

"Have Kira run the fur when he gets in," she said, walking back to her own car. "Let's focus on this and let the feds try to catch Razor."

"Where will you be, ma'am?" the officer asked.

"In my office," she responded. "Hopefully catching my missing sleep."

And looking into that agent, she thought to herself. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the canine sent her blood running cold and her nerves went on high alert. There was something off about him. And she could've sworn she saw his face somewhere else before. Something didn't sit well and she would find out what it was and why it made her already queasy stomach churn.