A Detectives Regret

Today was just another day for the Super High School Level Detective, Kyoko Kirigiri. Or so she had assumed, that is. Kyoko started her day by waking up at 5:30 and readying herself for classes. At 7:30 Kyoko had been showered, clothed, and was on her way to the dining hall to meet up with her classmates for some breakfast.

As she approached her destination and her hand reached for the door, she was stopped. Jin Kirigiri, the headmaster of Hopes Peak Academy and Kyokos father had stopped her in her tracks. Also scaring the shit out of her but, he didn't know that.

"Good morning father." Kyoko turned and faced her father as she spoke.

He said nothing, merely motioning for her to follow him. She followed his silent request and entered the headmasters office.

When Kyoko and her father had entered his office she was surprised to see two men unknown to her she only assumed were waiting for an audience with her.

"Kyoko this is Detective Matsuda and Officer Ohno. They've come to request you for a case so far deemed unsolvable."

Kyoko nodded, showing she understood and shook hands with the officer and detective, greeting them with proper courtesy.

"You see Detective Kirigiri, as of late there has been an increase in murders around the area. They all seem to be linked to one person, and the corpses being discovered have been rather... familiar." Officer Ohno said before being interrupted by his colleague.

"Have you ever heard of the Jack the Ripper case, Miss Kirigiri?" Detective Matsuda asked swiftly.

"Yes sir I have. The prostitutes who died by having their throats slit and abdominal mutilations which followed."

"Correct. It seems a Jack the Ripper of sorts has sprung up once more. Only this time, the victims are all men."

Officer Ohno handed Kyoko a file. "Take a few minutes to scan through what we've collected so far, if you will."

Kyoko took the files and spent several minutes looking over everything before resuming conversation.

"Six deaths of male high school students in the area so far. Cause of death is a slit throat on all six victims which have also appeared to have some sort of abdominal mutilation, connecting each death. Each death three days from the last? This is absurd, do you have and suspects so far?"

Kyoko questioned the detective, handing the file back to the officer before her. Detective Matsuda shook his head.

"That's the issue, we have no eye witnesses and nothing to connect anything to anyone. This is why we need your assistance."

"I see." Then something in her head clicked.

"Didn't these victims all go missing just before they died? But their corpses are all in different locations... Is there a connection for any of the locations thus far?" She questioned.

"The bodies all turned up in unoccupied homes. Upon further investigation we discovered that each houses previous owner passed in the home within the last year. There are two more homes that fit the same criteria, but we would like for you to examine the scenes and assist us on this case."

Kyoko analyzed the case in her head before speaking once more.

"If the last death was two days ago that means somebody may go missing today, only to turn up dead tomorrow. This has to move quickly. I would suggest a patrol on each of these locations and be constantly checking to see if another boy goes miss-" Kyoko was cut off suddenly as Sayaka Maizono rushed into the headmasters office in an extreme panic.

"HEADMASTER KIRIGIRI MAKOTOS GONE MISSING PLEASE COME LOOK!" She frantically tried to catch her breath and tried to calm down.

"Sayaka calm down. What makes you think he's gone missing?" The headmaster placed a form hand on her shoulder and asked her in a concerned voice.

"S-somebody must have snuck I-in. One of his shoes is o-on the g-ground and his room is a m-mess."

The idol began bawling, barely choking out her words. "I-I went to h-his his room. I know something was w-wrong when he was late th-this morning for breakfast. I-I went to check on him when I f-found his d-door was unlocked and he was n-nowhere to be found."

Officer Ohno and Detective Matsuda whispered to each other quietly before informing the rest.

"Miss Kirigiri I am to take you to the most recent crime scene once your classes are over for today and the Detective will get teams on each unoccupied home as you suggested earlier. We'll begin looking for Makoto right away, please do not worry."

Officer Ohno reassured the crying idol as he and the detective exited the room quickly. Kyoko was shocked. How had someone she'd seen a mere 12 hours before be missing? She shook her head, clearing the thoughts temporarily from her mind.

"Come Sayaka lets go to class, Makoto will turn up. You heard the officer, they're already starting their search." Sayaka wiped away her tears and nodded, walking out of the headmasters office with Kyoko guiding her. They walked to their classroom and class began soon after their arrival.
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4:07 p.m. That was the time Kyoko arrived at the previous crime scene. With Makotos disappearance being the talk of her class, she couldn't help but be incredibly worried for her dear friend all day. Her mind had drifted constantly, but now it was time for her to do all she could to close this case without another death.

However, after a thorough search of the house Kyoko had found absolutely nothing of use and all that was left was the corpse. Kyoko spent a solid thirty minutes inspecting the victims corpse when finally she found something of use.

"Officer please pull up the coordinates for 35.7 139.7." The Officer did without question despite it being a weird request.

"It's a beaten up old warehouse, Miss Kirigiri." Kyoko hmmm'd And removed her gloves so they could be rinsed off later.

"This may sound weird but so found to coordinates etched into the corpse. Perhaps the It's here to throw everyone off, but I'd suggest having someone watch it to be safe." Officer Ohno nodded and thanked Kyoko for her find.

"You May head back to the academy miss, we'll inform you on what we find but we thank you for what you've found."

Kyoko mumbled a "my pleasure" or something along those lines and walked out without another word.

When the night came and it was time for Kyoko to head to bed, she performed her nightly routine in utter silence, the room feeling off.

Most nights after Kyoko had changed, just before bed Makoto would knock on her door and enter once she allowed.

She often took out her braids and brushed her hair out as they talked together, but tonight was so different. Makoto was in an unknown location and for the first time in a very long time, Kyoko let her fear get the best of her.

As she took out her braids and brushed her hair, a tear rolled down her cheek. And then another. Eventually she was whimpering quietly and crying until she eventually fell asleep at her vanity.

The next morning Kyokos father pushed open the door and shook her awake. He told her to get dressed and head to the warehouse she'd discovered the coordinates to yesterday.

She complied and hurried along, taking a cab to the warehouse. When she arrived she not only saw police cars, but an ambulance as well. The ambulance was receiving something, or someone inside a body bag.

As she exited the cab and looked into one of the police vehicles windows, she saw the man she assumed to be behind the murders cuffed and inside the car.

Detective Matsuda approached Kyoko with a look of happiness, yet regret on his face. "Thanks to you Detective, we now have the killer under control, however we were too late to get the boy. By the time we had apprehended the murderer, Makoto Naegi, Super High School Level Luckster was already dead."

Kyokos covered her mouth with her hand and held back tears. Her friend was dead, and though she helped to apprehend his killer, she couldn't save him. From then on, Hopes Peak Academy was never the same.

The End