The Slicers

Part 3: The woman

"Welp... looks like we are the only ones left" said Kazu in a dominant voice, like he always did. "Not like I was expecting anything else" he added whilst smirking at the crew.

"I blame it on Aruta he was the first guy to pull out a gun." Sillesto said with an evil, very carefully adjusted smile and indirect eye contact with Aruta.

He however did not take the lightly to Sillesto's little tease, proceeding to adjust his body posture, raising his view onto Sillesto's skull mask before slowly looking down onto his guns and finally starting to speak.

"Well, look at Mr. All Confident here." he slowly raised his voice, "may I remind you, that you have no more bullets in those guns? Thanks to you, we are now in an even more tight spot now," he calmed down and started speaking again before a confused Mirko could even hope to say anything.

To him the situation was truly bizarre, not only had he not heard a single gunshot whilst in the back but also didn't expect a massacre of this magnitude once he would return to the front of the bar.

Then Aruta started speaking again, "Well whatever...", Mirko looked at Aruta with a dropped jaw, probably thinking "What do you mean whatever????!!!", but before he could voice any of his concerns Aruta finished his sentence, stating "So what did you guys find out?"

It was probably at this point in which Mirko realised that it was no use trying to get information from Aruta.

After Mirko calmed down from his shock, Sillesto started sharing his findings, "The barkeeper seemed to be impressed by me, well after the shooting started, anyway, he told me my old gang is behind this. It's weird considering I cannot remember an incidence where the boss ordered a stabbing of some random woman, it seems too unrealistic to be the actual truth. So I doubt it is very truthful."

As Sillesto finished his statement, Aruta stepped in looking surprised at Sillesto's statement, already declining it with just his disapproving look on his face. "Well, Sillesto, that was in the past. I talked to 2 nice gentlemen in the VIP area. Both private investigators, which were ordered around by the KBPD, which is probably why they were surprised when I showed them my fake ID as I obviously didn't know about their operation." he mumbled to hide his embarrassment, "They also indicated that your old mafia clan is behind this, at least from what they could find. I haven't checked out the files yet, though, so I have no clue what they were investigating exactly. But well, it's not like I could ask them anymore, hmmm?" Aruta leaned forward, with an odd feminine energy, looking right into Sillesto's eyes with an angry face. Sillesto however wasn't bothered by it and instead responded with a shrug and an innocent unknowing pose.

As the air got hotter and tension between the Slicers increased, Kazu stepped in and shared his view on the situation. "By all respect I have for you Aruta, I both think that you are both talking nonsense. The woman simply killed, tragic, but this is Kirora Bay. And yes before you say stabbings of this magnitude are a rarity, let me tell you again though, WE ARE IN KIRORA BAY. People die here daily, so why this case? What is the government hiding from us that we should know? I had a 'smooth talk' with two gentlemen who were fighting over a woman's death. It was apparently related to the stabbing. No more detailed information, though. Well, they are dead now. Thanks by the way, Sillesto." Sillesto looked at Kazu, let loose a laugh with a hint of thank you, "Anyway, there's no reason to double down on this case."

Aruta looked shocked, Sillesto like he hadn't done something wrong, and Kazu like he knew every truth in the world. Mirko on the other hand was just confused by the situation, what in the world is going on? He thought to himself. Instead of leaving it at thinking, though, he wanted to know, so he stepped in as the last person with any clues.

"Ok, can you all just shut up now and fuck the case for a moment?" Mirko had the others shocked with his sudden burst of aggressive energy, making them all taking a step back. "Why the hell are all people in this bar dead? Why did I not hear any gunshots when I gathered clues from what seemed like employees, and why is it suddenly a trend to doubt Aruta?" all looked at him in shock. Aruta stepped up to him and put his hand on his shoulder, then went behind him and started talking.

"Ok so I was investigating two people in the VIP, Kazu was outside having a 'smooth talk', Sillesto played with the bar tender and fired shots, clearly not knowing that alone is already an invitation for more violence, he then seemed to threaten the bar tender which made all the drunk people upset and fire shots. No idea how you missed all that, but I'd rather wanna know what you found out."

Mirko looked at Aruta, still in complete awe but tried overshadowing it by replying "Well, it's simple, actually. There were two guys, one of them went back in the staff only room and talked about a job being done, but also that they are being watched already. The other guy in the back the said that he is just paranoid because a person named Artulu vanished. Apparently this guy leads a gang and commits a lot of crime around this area, but seemingly being untouchable."

Aruta immediately lid up, as if he had an idea, by striking a thinking pose. "I think I have an idea, but it needs more time. If what you say is right, then maybe this Artulu gang is what we are looking for, but it may also be something else entirely. We don't have the evidence yet. Alright Slicers, you worked well today, but I think for now we have hit a roadblock. You are dismissed, for now. I will see if I can find something that may help us connect these hints, until then." In a hurry, Aruta left like a little child, leaving everyone awestruck.

"Then I will go as well now." said Sillesto bluntly. "Not so quick little man!", Kazu put his hand on Sillestos shoulder, preventing him from going any further. "You completely fucked us over, and you knew it, at least admit it!", Kazu said aggresively into SIllestos mask. "So what?" he just replied. "You little..." Kazu tried saying before Mirko interrupted, "Kazu, stop that! He is a Slicer. Even if he did it, I highly doubt you can just lock him up for it. I think we should talk to Aruta first and focus on the case first." Kazu turned around to Mirko, "Fuck this case, how can you defend him like this??", "Kazu, I am not defending him! I'm just saying there is no point to doing this.", Kazu let go of Sillestos shoulder, letting him go. "Well then, until later" Sillesto walked away.

Kazu looked at Mirko one last time, "Whatever..." and left as well. "Wait, hold up" Mirko screamed after him. "Nah, fuck this." and continued walking away. Mirko was the only Slicer left now, he looked upon the dead bodies and broken windows with corpses and glass shards all over the ground. He then just left, feeling an unease and a felt like something was odd about the entire thing. For example:

How did THIS happen so fast???

Why would Sillesto do this?

Why this case?

Why did he not hear any gun shots?

Mirko decided it would be best to leave the questions open for now and just take some rest. Maybe the answers will all fall into place soon enough.