Liars and How To Find Them

I : Prologue ; I'll Get There

A/N: So uh, this takes place in another timeline that isn't :Re's. Sure, somethings still happened, like the steel beam incident, but you'll find that not everything adds up in this timeline, and that's f i n e if you ask me.

"Yasushima wants to see you in his office, (L/N)." A colleague said, peeking her head in your booth. She gave you a sorry look, instantly telling you what your boss wanted to go over.

"Oh boy." You sighed, putting down the paperwork that you were doing to head up to your superior's office. You walked through the oddly empty hallways, silently making your way to the dreaded place.

It was becoming a monthly thing (and you didn't like it).

Once you knocked, a barely audible 'enter' allowed you to open the door. You peeked inside before actually stepping in. "You wanted to see me, sir?" You started, making your way to the older man's desk and standing in front of it.

He nodded, ripping his gaze away from his computer to take a look at you. "How have you been, (L/N)?" He asked. Crap, that was probably the dark circles under your eyes...

"Good, sir." You politely nodded. "A bit tired, but being in the CCG, I didn't expect anything less."

"And how are the investigations?" He inquired. You knew where this was going.

"I'm still trying, sir." You assured. "The binge eater still hasn't resurfaced-- I believe they're dead --and I'm still contacting Ami's parents in order to gain more information on their daughter."

"The two investigations must be taking a lot from you, (L/N)."

"I can keep going, sir! I have for years, and I'm not planning on stopping now. Ami's parents deserve to know what happened to their daughter and who was responsible for her disappearance. They need closure." You were practically begging, but you needed to figure it out on your own. You won't be able to sleep at night if this doesn't get resolved.

"(L/N)," Your mentor started, sighing. "You've been working on those two cases for almost three years. At least give them to someone else." He insisted. You tried so hard not to roll your eyes at him. You tried so hard.

For years, you had been working on it and if he thought you'd just give up now, he was wrong. You're not the type to give up so easily, and you don't aim on becoming it. You deemed yourself a fighter, someone courageous that strives to obtain justice. You've been known for your cunning, your strategies, your intelligence, basically everything that makes a great investigator. Giving up now would just prove that most of that was bullshit.

Sure, the last three years had been tougher, considering you could barely find evidence for the two cases you were assigned, but the absence of proof doesn't prove absence itself. You lived by that philosophy. Besides, it's not like you had no clues at all. You just mean that in three years, not much was known. Not enough to form some concrete theories.

You knew Ami was lured into the ghoul restaurant in which she was killed. You knew the location of her death, and that she was indeed dead. You knew the person who lead her there was probably a ghoul, which she trusted. And things started blocking there, considering you hadn't been in contact with the girl's parents in a long while.

On the binge eater's side, not much was known there either. You had a feeling that because they hadn't popped up anywhere else remotely near Tokyo, they had completely left the premises (or Japan itself). Not that it was a good thing. It actually was a terrible thing considering the fact that they're still a threat to humanity. The only thing you knew about them is that they're a rinkaku type, and possibly female. Even there, it was just a theory.

To be honest, you were lost. But you wouldn't give up, even if things were looking really, really grim right now. You wouldn't give your rivals (because yes, like all other investigators here, you had rivals) that kind of satisfaction. Because deep inside, you felt like things were going to make sense one day. And your gut feeling told you that that certain day was getting close...

"I'm sorry, Yasushima-san, but I want to keep the cases. I'll figure them out, I just need time and patience." You assured with as much confidence as you could muster up.

"(L/N), a good skill to have is knowing when to bail." He answered, looking at you with sympathy. "No one will judge you. If anything, you'd get a good reputation, knowing that you gave it your all-"

"Sir, you don't understand." You sighed, approaching his desk as if it would help him understand your point of view. "I worked on this for three years and right now, my senses are telling me that I'm getting close to something. I don't know what exactly, but I just feel like any day, I'll literally bump into the solution."

Before your boss could say anything, you continued. "Please, give me three more months to find another piece of evidence."

The man sighed before giving in. "Don't drive yourself mad." He warned as you excused yourself from his office, not even bothering to hide your smile. You'll make sure that he wouldn't be disappointed. These cases needed to be resolved, and you were the one who was going to do it.

At this point, you might just be doing it for self satisfaction, actually.

You opened the office door and stepped out, quickly closing it behind you. A few seconds after you heard the wooden object slam on its frame, someone had roughly bumped into your side, causing you to stumble to the side, obviously struggling to keep your balance.

Luckily, you had barely managed to win your fight against gravity, but hearing the stranger's exclamation, he wasn't as privileged as you.

"Sorry for bumping into you." You apologized, looking down at the male who was sitting on the floor with files scattered all around him.

You couldn't deny the fact that he was easy on the eyes. Even pretty, if you were honest. He had jet black hair covering his right eye. His left one seemed to hold a certain softness, which was proven to be unique when paired with the small mole under it. His skin tone appeared to be pale, but maybe that was due to the fact that his entire outfit was black, save for his red tie. All in all, the guy was so pretty.

"I should've watched where I was going!" He said, waving you off and getting on his knees to collect his mess. You crouched down and helped him out, feeling like crap for doing this to him.

"We'll just agree that we were both at fault." You answered, earning a soft smile from the male. Once you had gathered all the papers in your area, you stacked them up and handed the pile to him, who thanked you for your help. "If you ever need help with reorganizing them, I'm on the third floor."

"That won't be needed, I promise." He insisted before extending his hand and introducing himself. "I'm Furuta. Nimura Furuta."

"(Y/N) (L/N)." You answered, shaking his hand and flashing him a friendly smile.

"It's so nice to meet you, (L/N)-san."