The DICE roll

Act Three.

As Shuichi hopped into the bus, the tension of being followed grew on him. He had never felt so alone, and yet watched at the same time. 

He took a deep breath and attempted to push his feelings down. He only felt that way because of this new case, Shuichi convinced himself. He wasn't entirely wrong, cases did tend to give him some displeasure.

He sat down on an empty seat, and started to look over the files again. He slipped his hand under the notes, and held the blurry picture in his hand. 

It looked strangely familiar.. With his purple hair tied back into a short pony-tail, and a purple checkered tie wrapped around his neck. Strapped to his head was a scratched up clown mask, and he wore a long white cape that was ripped at the end. 

Shuichi let his arm fall onto his lap, and let his muscles relax. He felt extremely tired. His eyes started to follow the sights zooming past him, and began to fall asleep.

Suddenly, he felt the feeling again. He jumped slightly, and looked to the right, thinking someone would be there. But, nobody was there. The street was empty. He felt as though he was missing something. Unlike the constant regret of the game, this was new. 

He sighed. How does one focus when they have to unmask a thief.. Shuichi thought to himself, even though he knew the majority of people didn't know the answer, or even how he felt. Just to fulfill his purging feeling of being watched, he checked to the right of him. And surely enough, nobody was there.

He heard the bus stop. He clumsily grabbed his things, and slowly stepped off the bus. He waved goodbye to the driver, and then turned to his apartment complex. He smiled, because of this familiar zone he called home. 

Shuichi took the elevator upstairs, which took him a while, because he was on the top floor. He then walked into his apartment, which conveniently was the first one in line. He entered his room, and placed his file on the desk. 

Everything felt relatively normal. The same old microwavable mac and cheese, the same old ding, the same old dinner. He was pretty hungry, given that he hadn't had lunch. He sat down at his desk, and waited for the burning hot mac and cheese to cool down. While he waited, he read over the notes one more time.

"Culprits charges.. Suspect for multiple killings.. Likes games.." Shuichi realized he missed something, and mumbled the line to himself. "He is known to travel around tall buildings, and especially museums." 

His fingers followed down the rest of the line. "He is known for "flying" around Tokyo, and rarely travels to America.." He paused, and thought about something. "Tall buildings.." 

Shuichi pulled out his laptop, and smiled to himself. "Skytree.. In Tokyo. This is perfect..!" Shuichi said to himself, standing up, almost knocking over his food.. He shoved the mac and cheese into his mouth, and put his uncle on the phone.

The figure stood. Staring. He couldn't see the detective's face, because of the angle he was at. But he knew this detective was different. He snickered to himself.. This was going to be fun.

"Shuichi. It's 4 in the morning, why have you called me so late..?" His uncle said, sleepily. Shuichi looked over at the clock, and immediately started apologizing. Then, proceeded to explain the situation. "So, I believe he's headed there." He concluded.

"Then we better get going. Get some sleep, and then tomorrow evening we'll meet up at the station, and head out. Sound like a plan?" Shuichi smiled weakly. "Of course, see you in the morning." He hung up, and flopped onto the bed.

"Goodnight, me." Shuichi said to himself.

Goodnight, detective..