Dragon's Pride

Complications

Detective Noberai stares at the smoldering husk of what, just yesterday, used to be a small motel. The forensics team carefully makes their way through the thin layer of ash that covers everything, raising cameras to document their findings every few seconds. What are they taking pictures of, exactly?

The bodies. Or what's left of them, in certain cases.

The state some of them were left in makes him silently glad for the ash since it hides a good deal of the blood splatter. And there's definitely a lot. A rough estimate puts it as ten dead, though it might be more. There's certainly enough limbs scattered around to account for more.

He sighs as he walks towards the back of an ambulance so that he can question the manager, who's reportedly unharmed. But before he can get there another person dressed in a beige trenchcoat meets him, causing him to scowl. He recognizes the man, how could he not? He's practically being advertised as the epitome of detective work!

That's not to say that Detective Tsukauchi was promoted through nepotism or anything, he worked just as hard as anyone else. Noberai knows that. The man is committed to his job, and had even refused several better paying jobs under private contractors or the government. He can respect that.

No, what he dislikes is how everyone sings his praises just because he has a quirk 'perfect for detective work'. He tries to ignore talk like that, but there's only so much you can do when it gets brought up whenever stations have to work together. What makes it worse is that it's not even the man's station! Every station except his own talks about how amazing his quirk is!

But he supposes it's not really Detective Tsukauchi's fault. From what he's heard from people who've actually met him, the man is respectful and doesn't overly rely on his quirk. No, that's not what has him scowling.

What has him scowling is that he's sure Tsukauchi being here means one of two things. Either he's going to try and take over this case -which is completely ridiculous since this is nowhere near his prefecture- or he's going to make this much, much more complicated.

He schools his expression as they exchange nods. "Detective Tsukauchi."

The man grimaces slightly, an interesting reaction to a normal greeting. "I see my reputation precedes me. You are?"

Noberai raises an eyebrow questioningly. If he was sent here then his precinct should have given him the details he needs. "Detective Noberai. I'm the one taking the lead on this case. Unless someone reassigned it to you...?"

He blinks, taken aback before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head after giving it a shake. "Ah, no. Sorry, I guess it is a surprise for me to be here. I wasn't assigned, I just finished meeting up with an old friend and saw the cordon, so I came to see if there was anything I could do. Didn't mean to step on any toes."

Noberai's shoulders relax, and he allows a small smile to twist the corners of his lips as he pulls out a large notepad more in line with a sketchpad. "Well, I know that feeling well. No harm if you just happened to be nearby. I was just about to question the manager of the motel, if you'd like to join me?"

Tsukauchi's own lips twitch in displeasure, having been asked far too many times to sit in on other detectives' interrogations. But since he literally walked into this investigation he's not really in a position to complain.

Of course, that's not Noberai's intention. He just feels like it's polite to offer since he's there.

The two of them approach the manager, who's looking at the motel with blank eyes while clutching the shock blanket around his shoulders tightly enough that his knuckles are turning white. Noberai clears his throat to get his attention and the man jerks before turning to them with a frown on his face.