MHA: Jigsaw Reborn

Chapter 6: A New Case

(A/N: I'm really excited about the upcoming chapters ahead. The current arc that takes place before the events of Season 1 consists of 25 chapters, and each one is so juicy. I just cannot wait to type them out! Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the chapter!)

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[2 Days Later]

[Narrator's POV]

The police station was brimming with activity as usual. Officers scooted past one another through the small walkways between office cubicles as they held their paperwork and coffee for the afternoon, chatting amongst themselves and passing time.

Some on the other hand were writing up reports for their seniors or detailing with phone calls on the police hotline, but nothing too serious had occurred such as a villain attack. More often than not, for at least today, the most distressing thing was an elderly lady calling for help as her cat climbed a fairly tall tree.

But out of all the policemen and women in the building, there was one in particular who seemed more focused than the rest of his peers. As a Japanese man, he was above average in height and had short, black hair accompanied by somewhat rectangular black eyes.

And as part of the Police Force, the man wore his standard uniform but always wore his iconic tan overcoat and matching hat, as a true detective could. The man was none other than Naomasa Tsukauchi, Musutafu's finest detective with a knack for detecting lies.

The detective sat in silence, his arms crossed and on his desk as he observed the handful of papers that were spread an even distance apart. Though the file landed on his desk only yesterday, he didn't open it until moments prior due to other priorities.

Tsukauchi read through each paragraph carefully as his coffee on the coaster was getting colder minute by minute. If it wasn't for one of his coworkers noticing how stern he looked, the detective could have sat like this for hours.

"Hey there, Tsukauchi," his associate called out casually, holding some coffee in a styrofoam cup in his right hand. "That's the file I tossed ya the other day, no?" he asked curiously, tilting his head before shuffling behind Tsukauchi's swirling chair to take a glance at the files he was reading.

Tsukauchi could only nod and hum at the question. "You're right, man," he spoke calmly, reaching for a sip of his coffee before it got too cold. "It's... interesting to say the least..." the detective said, finding the proper words to describe the case before trailing off at the end.

"Really?" Tsukauchi's coworker asked, his curiosity peaked even more. "Man, I don't remember the last time you sounded like that when a case landed on your desk. It's surely been a couple of years, no? What's it about anyways?"

"That's the thing... I don't know," the detective could only shrug his shoulders, moving his swivel chair and standing up to face his coworker. It was a habit of his to face people directly when he was talking to them as he found it quite polite. Then again, it was a small trick he was taught by a senior years ago when interrogating someone that could have seeped into his everyday routine.

"Well, for start, a concerned citizen made a call a few days ago noticing a trail of dried blood leading from an abandoned warehouse near the edge of Musutafu. Naturally, we sent an officer to investigate who did find a much bigger, albeit dried up, pool of blood in the centre of the warehouse next to an odd metal chair bolted to the floor."

The coworker raised an eyebrow. "I take it lab results have come back regarding whose blood that is?" Tsukauchi nodded. "Analysis showed that the blood belonged to an individual named Shinohara Yuki, a 27-year-old male with a previous criminal record for thievery and robbery. As for his quirk, it was called bladed arms. Quite self-explanatory."

Tsukauchi took another sip of his coffee, as did the coworker. "So the criminal was probably being interrogated by another," the coworker stated, the detective humming in a way that implied that he agreed with his statement, but not quite.

"That's what I thought too, until..." Tsukauchi turned towards the desk and picked up a singular image from the array of papers. He gave the image to his coworker who took a glance at it before confusion hit his face.

"A bunch of knives stacked in such a peculiar order... all bloodied no less..." the coworker was left speechless at what he was seeing. Out of all his years working in the Police Force, never has he seen such an odd sight before.

"We believe that this set of knives was originally attached to the chair seen in this image right here," the detective gestured to another image on his desk, showing a metal chair that had an extra rod which jutted out the back of the chair.

"With the fact that the chair had arm and leg restraints, coupled with the belief that this separate piece was attachable to the chair..." the coworker was quick to connect the dots that the detective was filling in.

"A torture device..."

Tsukauchi's face was grim. He was well aware that in rare cases, there were criminals who tortured people. Whether it be for fun, for revenge, or some other reason, it was wrong, but not unheard of. But this was different, and he knew it. There was something else to this case that didn't quite sit right with him.

In all his years of being a detective for the Police Force, stories from his seniors back when he was nothing but a newbie, and even the textbooks he read in academy training, there was not a single case where a person went to the lengths to create a device like this for torture.

"It's highly unlikely and overkill if it was information this unknown assailant was after. It's much more efficient from the perspective of a villain to use your quirk to beat the info outta ya. And this assailant appears to be somewhat good at mechanics considering how the trap was made. However, whoever this guy is... is certainly a professional at keeping their tracks hidden. Not an ounce of evidence that gives us any clues..."

The two of them stood in silence as Tsukauchi's coworker absorbed all the information that the detective had pieced together thus far. "Something sinister is afoot, that I can assure you, Tsukauchi..." he spoke solemnly, finishing his coffee and chucking the styrofoam cup in a trashcan not too far away.

The detective could only let out a deep sigh, putting one hand on his forehead as the other reached for the paper he gave his coworker earlier, and lightly tossed it back onto his desk.

"You certainly are not wrong, my friend. I just got a bad feeling that this is just gonna be the first of many crimes like this. I think our only solid lead now is the presumed victim, Shinohara Yuki. Hopefully, we can get some CCTV footage of him in the area and previous reports on his criminal activity."

The coworker agreed with Tsukauchi's words, nodding in approval. "I'll be sure to keep note of that, detective," he said as he started to leave to complete other errands. "Oh yeah, you want another cup of coffee?" he offered Tsukauchi, who shook his head left and right.

"I'm good, but thanks for the offer," he spoke, smiling and giving a slight bow out of respect. His coworker did the same before leaving Tsukauchi to his own devices. The detective sat back on his swivel chair, took another look at the papers on his desk, and sighed before collecting them all and placing them in a neat stack.

"I really have a bad feeling about this..."

(A/N: And so the plot thickens with the inclusion of Detective Tsukauchi! The chapter was a little short, but I'm sure the next chapter will make up for it! Take care!)