Mysteries

Chapter 1

"Shouta, please keep an eye on alleyways near where you'll be patrolling, there's been a few more illegal deals than normal".

The rest of the conversation was fuzzy, thanks to the lack of sleep, but Eraserhead only wanted to focus on that one part. He knew that all he needed to do as extra was to keep an eye out for more illegal activity involving deals and look closely at spaces such as alleyways. Not that hard.

Eraserhead brought his head up, suddenly holding his breath for a bit. The cracking of the snow beneath someones feet in a nearby alley. It was quick, someone was most definitely running away from something or someone. Eraserhead turned to the alleyway. It was connected to a back alley that winded back to a less populated part of town. No stores were there and there was a small forest with a larger one not too far away. There, just past the larger forest, was an abandoned town. Eraserhead jumped onto the railing to have a look. A small boy, no older than 12, was running. He was almost no where near properly dressed for the season.

He wore a thin, dirty red jacket with torn jeans and a black shirt. His previously white trainers were covered in so much mud you'd assume they were brown trainers. He wore bandages on his arms and plasters on his face. He was pale with more dirt on his hands and face with the addition of a little blood. His hands looked slightly gaunt and his expression was dispirited and looked drained of all hope and joy, only fear could be seen on his face, and the seemingly endless stream of tears running down it. His eyes were a darkened yellow, almost dirty gold colour from the lack of hope. And his hair was a bright purple, well it looked that way because a small bit of snow had fallen on his head. His hair was unkempt and full of knots.

He slowed down, slightly bobbing from his quick breathing. One small step, and then a huge thud as he fell to his knees on the thick snow, trembling from the cold and pure fear. He started making a hiccuping noise, as if choking back tears and then finally started sobbing hysterically. More tears ran down his face every second. He then put his arm up to his face and sneezed, gasping for air right after as if he had no air left to breathe. He went into a fit of coughing, then more panic as he heard the sound of shoes meeting metal and it became even harder to breathe. Eraserhead jumped down and brought the boy into his arms with no second thought. A small trembling voice whispered to him
"I'm.. sorry...". The hero rubbed his hand on the boys shoulder as if to warm him up, while simultaneously cradling him in his arms.
"Do you trust me?" the boy looked up at Eraserhead, seeing the emotionless look on his face.
".. I don't.. y- yeah.." the murmur was difficult to hear but before contemplating what he said, Eraserhead jumped up and in between buildings until he got to his destination.

A few days later.

The small boy put an empty rice bowl down on a nearby table, sighing despairingly. He immediately wiped the sad look off his face, replacing it with an intrigued look, after hearing the door open.
"Yusuo.. someone would like to have a chat with you.." the doctor came in, picked up his tray and waiting for the visitor to come in before leaving. The man put his fist on his mouth and coughed. "I am Naomasa Tsukauchi, I'm a detective". Naomasa sat down on the bed next to Yusuo. "I'm here to ask some questions since we don't know much of your background.. please, answer to the best of your ability." Yusuo just nodded in response.

"So.. first question, where exactly did you come from?" Yusuo looked out the window and pointed to the outside
"in a place that didn't look as cool as this place..".
"Are there any specifics?" Yusuo slowly put his hand down.
"Compared to this, it looks abandoned and the people don't look as fancy as they do here". Naomasa furrowed his brow. The only place he could think of that was close enough was the abandoned town just on the outskirts of Tokyo. He wrote down 'abandoned town - possible habitants'.
"How many people would you say live there?" Yusuo stayed silent, looking at his hands and trying to count,
"if that's a bit too hard, how about the amount of children that are there". Yusuos head jolted up
"oh! Uhh.. I think around 9 maybe. But it might be 12" he estimated. Naomasa gently held Yusuos hand and looked at him with a serious expression, slightly startling him.
"I need you to tell me the truth.. okay... who gave you those scars and bruises?" he uttered. Yusuos eyes widened and he started hyperventilating. The detective hugged him and lightly rubbed his arm in an attempt to comfort him. After a long while of this, Yusuo was finally able to tell the story.