Two Faced Killer

Chapter 16: Shots Fired

"She's pretty young, don't you think?" K had said to Len as they sifted through files on Neru in the agent's room. "Younger than you."

"Does that really change anything?"

K shook his head and the agent clicked his tongue, pushing the stack of sheets over, making the piles of paper held together by beige rubber bands fall over like a toppling tower.

"Well, you're going to go see her in a bit, right?"

"Yeah," Len nodded and glanced at K. "Hey...tell me something, Kaito."

"What's up?" K leaned back, the flat of his palms pressed against the floor.

"Am I a nuisance?" The agent murmured his words, turning away. "Acting like this, I mean."

K laughed. "Of course not, Kagamine," he swiftly lifted himself to his feet and patted the agent's ruffled mop of blond hair. "I'd be acting like you too, you know."

"Huh?"

"If I was in the same situation, I mean," K spun on his heels and walked towards the window.

"Just use the front door, dammit," Len scowled. K grunted softly, forcing the window open. He slipped one leg out and waved to Kagamine.

"We'll try to trace this one call, m'kay?" K said. "Though I doubt we'll get anything..."

"Maybe a pay phone?" Len tried.

"That'd be nice, but I don't know," K slipped out entirely and looked at Len from the other side of the glass. "Enjoy your evening with the blondie, but don't touch Rin. She's mine."

Len rolled his eyes. "I'm not even going to argue."

"About?"

"About how you shouldn't be messing with suspects."

"I'm a veteran, Len, I get special privileges," K playfully rapped his knuckles against the glass. "Anyways, I'll contact you in a bit, I guess. Or you can do that, I don't really care."

"Right," Len turned away and started stacking the sheets into small piles.

Half an hour later, the blonde was standing out by his doorstep, a hand clasping the edge of his coat over his mouth as the wind whipped by. His other hand held his phone, pressed to his ear.

"Hello?" Neru's voice was on the other end. There was a lot of background noise. Len stepped down the porch steps and onto the sidewalk.

"Hey," he said. "We've got something planned for today, right?"

She giggled. "Right! Let's head downtown. There's lot of shops and restaurants. I bet you haven't even seen most of them, 'cause you're still pretty new around here."

"Yeah," he walked down the street, towards the bus stop. "Where should we meet up?"

One bus ride, a subway trip and half an hour later, Kagamine was standing in a corner by a busy intersection as crowds passed by. They were all talking and minding their own business; downtown at night was where most came to have fun, anyways. nonchalantly, he watched the crowds swim by.

He saw Neru when she was still far away, shivering in her almost-too-small coat. It didn't take long for her to meet his eyes. She smiled and Len forced one back. It wasn't too difficult.

"Hey," she smiled and, once she was close enough, linked her arm with his. "I didn't keep you waiting, did I?"

"Not at all," he said. They started to walk through the crowds. "Say, you weren't here the other day."

"Huh?" Neru turned to look at him suddenly. He tried to read her eyes.

"In history," he went on. "The day we got put into groups for our projects."

"Ahh!" The girl snapped her fingers. "I had to run an errand."

"During school?"

Neru smiled meekly. "It was sort of an emergency. Sorry. Guess I should have told you. I got paired up, though."

"Mhmm," Len nodded. She glanced his way. They kept walking.

"With Yuma," she said. Her eyes flicked over to the crosswalk. "Hey..."

"What is it?"

"There he is!" She started taking large steps towards the crowded crosswalk. The green light had turned on and people had begun to cross. "You haven't met him, have you? Yuma?"

He wasn't sure what to say, so he stayed quiet. She didn't even notice. She just continued dragging him along.

"Hey, Yuma!" She hollered, waving her free arm. Yuma's eyes lit up and he waved back at Neru, still far apart and with crowds in between. He met Len's eyes and held his small smile, though his eyes had clouded over now.

"He's pretty quiet most of the time, but he'll warm up eventually. You know, he never even really goes out to have fun or anything. I bet he's probably running errands or something."

As if on cue, Len saw the plastic bag in Yuma's hand. The top of a loaf of bread was poking out.

"Let's say hi," Neru said. She and Len stepped off of the sidewalk and onto the striped part of the road as they started to cross. Len kept watching Yuma. The boy was checking his watch.

And then he collapsed in the middle of the road.

Len blinked. Someone screamed. Neru had stopped walking, but then, she slid her arm out of Len's and started running towards the body.

"Len, there's blood!" She cried out. Len struggled through the crowds to get a closer look. People had their cell phones out, calling for an ambulance, for the police. The agent didn't say anything: his words were caught in his throat.

Yuma had his eyes wide open, hair falling over his face, his head lying in a steadily growing pool of blood.

The groceries were scattered on the floor. A few apples and a loaf of bread. People were closing in but keeping their distance, too.

"Yuma!" Neru was crying now. Len swallowed. She was his classmate, after all. That would make it worse, no doubt.

Len wasn't sure what to do exactly, but he knew that he couldn't just stand there. Someone had pulled a trigger and that had changed everything.

His eyes started scanning the tops of the skyscrapers. Whoever it was, they would have run off by now. But they had shot the young man with the intent to kill, and they had done just that. They had pulled the trigger and made everything messier.

Police officers started to urge everyone back. Neru sobbed into his sleeve. Len's gaze snapped back to the boy lying in the blood. He couldn't look away. Maybe Neru wasn't the Cause, what with the way she was screaming and crying.

Then again, maybe it was all an act. Maybe her partner, whoever it was, was the one who pulled the trigger at the perfect moment, downing Yuma before Len's very eyes.

But maybe not.

Sorry for taking so long, you guys...I mean it T^T