"Nothing More Deceptive Than An Obvious Fact"

Part 1

"Did you hear?! The boss got arrested again!"

Shinobu sighed exasperatedly and ran a hand down her tired face. "What did he do this time? Let me guess--he was hanging up flyers again?"

Akira, Mamoru, and Genta looked at each other nervously. "You tell her," Mamoru whispered to Genta, fiddling his hands.

Shinobu raised an eyebrow and awaited an answer, hand on her hip. "Well?"

Genta looked like he'd rather be anywhere but here, but he took a deep breath and met Shinobu's gaze. "He...Uh...He kind of..."

"...Got charged with murder..." Akira finished off abruptly. "We know the boss is innocent, but--"

"WHAT?!" Shinobu exclaimed, eyes widening. Then she groaned and shook her head. Yelling at her fellow gang members wouldn't do any good right now. "Let's go to the Police Station so I can try to get him out of this. You can explain what happened on the way."

---

His day started out just like any other, boring and predictable. The Tenryou Commission had plenty of work for him to do, as per usual, but since none of it interested him, he was currently "slacking off," as his dear colleague Kujou Sara liked to say.

Shikanoin Heizou was currently walking along the docks of Ritou, humming with his head turned up to the sky. The Commission had plenty of smaller cases for him to work on right now, but they were all boringly simple. Why they thought he should waste his time with such trivial matters, he'd never know. Finding hidden, stolen goods that a criminal wouldn't reveal the location of; determining where a very elusive thief would strike next; things like that. Matters so small that it felt almost like an insult that he was asked to get involved with these so-called "cases". He needed something new, something big, something exciting.

Much to the extreme annoyance of everyone who knew him and worked with him, Heizou had a hard time taking anything seriously unless he was personally interested in it. Though he could solve much of what the Tenryou Commission gave him to work on in minutes flat, he'd put it off until it was strictly demanded of him. As he liked to say, "Any one of you would take weeks to solve this, so you can wait a few days from me. What's the rush?"

He was constantly at odds with others due to his seemingly careless and often rude nature, but he didn't mind. It wasn't like anyone could push him away, they would all be useless without him. No one could argue with the results he produced.

In the back of his mind, Heizou already knew where the stolen goods were and where the thief would strike next. A brilliant mind such as his was capable of unconsciously piecing information together (for the painfully simple cases, at least), so that when the time came for him to reveal all, he'd have the answers without even really consciously thinking about it.

"Boring, boring, boring," Heizou sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't realized that he was now standing feet away from the Bantan Sango Detective Agency.

Ah, Detective Sango. She liked to say that Heizou wasn't a real detective, due to his many unconventional methods. Well, that's what she claimed—Heizou figured a great portion of her dislike of him was based more on his personality than his methods.

He wondered if she'd gotten any interesting cases lately...Probably not. Though she occasionally dealt with more serious crimes, it seemed like most people came to her for lost pets or martial investigations these days. Unlike him, she was more than happy to take those cases for the right price.

But unlike her, Heizou didn't always make people pay for his services. The Tenryou Commission always had to pay him, of course, but when potential clients came to him with interesting enough cases, just the fun of a real investigation was payment enough for him. Besides, at his age, he didn't care too much for money. He made enough working for the Commission, he didn't need any mora from the side cases.

Honestly, he didn't really care about the mora at all. He took an interest in crime for the fun of it. He considered it more of a hobby than a job, though he was every bit the genius detective he claimed to be.

Heizou kicked a pebble and watched it roll down the street. If nothing interesting caught his attention soon, he might actually be desperate enough to work on the stuff Kujou Sara assigned him.

—-

Shinobu paced around the small office in the Police Station, trying to stay calm. She was usually great at being professional in these types of situations, but this was too much.

"You'll be able to get the boss out of jail like usual, right?!" Akira asked hopefully, hands pressed together.

Shinobu sighed and slumped her shoulders. "I'm not going to lie, things aren't looking great. It's going to take a lot more to get him out this time."

Genta wanted to believe that that wasn't true, but he heard what that tengu Kujou Sara said too. It was bad, really, really bad. Things were looking hopeless for Itto. He was charged with murder, and even though no one had distincly seen him, there were multiple pieces of evidence that suggest that he did indeed commit the grave crime. Strong pieces of evidence that even Kuki Shinobu would find exceedingly difficult to refute. It was looking like Itto would be locked up for a very, very long time.

But maybe...Maybe someone well-versed in the law (like Shinobu) wasn't who they needed right now. Maybe they needed someone else's help, someone who could prove the Tenryou Commission wrong about Itto.

Inazuma City was famous for its masterful detectives, afterall.

"I-I have to go," Genta said suddenly. He ignored Shinobu and the others calling after him as he quickly left the Police Station. He was headed for the Bantan Sango Detective Agency.

---

"I'm really sorry, but if you can't pay the fee, I can't help you," Detective Sango said, a slight frown on her face.

"Are you sure you can't lower the price just a little bit?" Genta pleaded. He didn't have much mora, no one in the gang really did, but the only way they were going to get Itto out of trouble at this point was with the help of a detective.

Sango shook her head and crossed her arms. "It's like I said, this would be a difficult case and our difficult cases are always more expensive. We can't make any exceptions. If you come back with more mora, I'd be more than happy to take the case."

Genta hung his head in defeat. There was no way he'd be able to round up enough mora for this. Even if he asked everyone in the gang to contribute to the fee, he doubted they'd have even half the amount they needed. This was hopeless, completely, utterly hopeless.

"I'll-I'll see what I can do," he muttered. Without another word, he walked away, trying to wrack his mind for another plan. There had to be something else they could do.

Genta turned around the corner, deciding to meet the others and see if Shinobu had any better ideas, but then yelped in alarm as he crashed into someone also rounding the corner. "Hey! Watch where you're--"

"You just came from Sango's little detective agency, didn't you?" the stranger asked as soon as the two stepped apart from each other.

Genta's brows furrowed in confusion. "I--"

"And let me guess." The stranger smirked, which only made this little encounter all the more confusing. What was with this guy? Well, kid more like. He couldn't have been older than what, 15? 16? "You couldn't afford whatever price Sango named, so now you're wondering what to do. Well worry not! I, Shikanoin Heizou, will take your case."