Just for the Anarchy | OumaSai AU

The First Encounter

Shuichi's POV

The sun shined directly onto my face and gently woke me from my comfortable sleep. I sat up and stretched, checking my phone for the time. 11:58 am. Not bad, but still much later than I would've liked to have gotten up. Guess that's what I get for staying up till almost  7 with a stranger. Kokichi. The punk gremlin that made me blush about a million times over during a very long smoking break. 

Speaking of which, I coughed for about 2 or 3 minutes straight, crying because I've never chain-smoked before and it destroyed my throat and lungs. Well, I deserve this.

After getting up and getting dressed in a simple and plain suit (making sure I didn't forget my hat), I sauntered down the stairs to the kitchen. Taka was nowhere to be found, but a small note was on the island counter next to a full coffee pot. 

'Shuichi - I left for the agency office, you can choose to review the case at home or there, but I should remind you there are far more resources at work than at my home office. I'll see your lazy ass soon.'

I read through the note while pouring myself a cup of lukewarm coffee, which I drank as I gathered together whatever I might need and hopped in my car. It took maybe 15 minutes or so to get to the agency and park, all the while I tried to focus my thoughts on the phantom thief case and not on the purple-haired liar. Thankfully, my train of thought was interrupted when my uncle whisked me into an office the second I stepped through the front doors.

"Finally, I see you still have your highschool habit of sleeping in." 

"Not really, it was just this onc-"

"Nevermind that, we just received another clue from the prick himself." Taka released my wrist and pushed me toward an oak desk with piles upon piles of paperwork on top of it. He walked around the right of it and brushed some loose papers off to the side, revealing a black and sleek looking business card. He held it up to me and I carefully took it, inspecting both sides thoroughly.

On the front was an emblem similar to the classic theatre masks of Comedy and Tragedy, one half of what appeared to be a clown face was smiling while the other half was crying. Below this symbol was a 4-digit number, 2341 to be exact, written in purple and glittery ink. Interesting choice. Upon the back was a single sentence:

"i lOok forward to oUr NExt rendezvous Mr detective...kidding! You're far too dull, if you don't mind, could you please send a less boring and pathetic playtoy? thanks~"

"I hate giving this ass what he wants, but lucky for him he sent that right after you took over the case."

"Playtoy...that's not disturbing at all."

"Can you see why we've already burned through every other detective? Nobody has the patience to deal with this child for more than two break-ins."

I hummed before asking about the digits on the front.

"At first we assumed the digits were the time of the break-in, in this case, 11:41, but that's never when he actually shows up, so it's hard to say if they hold any meaning whatsoever. Any time we've been on location when he struck seems to be a coincidence."

"What about the bizarre capitalization on the back?"

"Again we haven't figured it out. At first, we assumed that each capital letter would spell out a bigger clue, yet it's always nonsense. Like here, it would read 'Ounemy'. Anyway we rearrange it, it remains gibberish."

Somehow I doubted that, there had to be some hidden word or name in the jumble of letters.

"Good luck Shuichi...and if you do manage to solve that, stay safe, ok?" Taka placed his hand on my shoulder in a reassuring and yet commanding way. I nodded before I left for an empty office to work in.