Detective Yuki

5. Amaterasu

1.       Amaterasu

The facade of the Tokyo police department headquarters appeared intimidating to most. A long dark brown building with five square floors overlooked by a tall central tower, where the sergeant was based. Yuki and Aibo entered the station, with dozens of people processing papers, cases, and criminals in temporary custody. The chatter of clicking typewriters and jabbering of ringing telephones made this Yuki's perfect area for organized disorder. Secretaries darted out of every room and officers were raring for their next cases, all with friendly acknowledgement of Yuki, their star performer and key ally in the fight against crime plaguing the city. after scaling the steep staircases to the top of the central tower, the duo reached the office of the sergeant. 

Larger than most, it had a bird's eye view offering the city, and a large wide wooden desk carrying photographs of his family, walls dotted with medals, swords and previous awards garnered in his twenty-eight years on the force. Aibo guarded outside as Yuki spoke with her superior.

"you asked for me sir?" she began.

"Yuki, we have a serious problem on our hands. As you may know, there was a massive explosion at Senbi Motors yesterday evening, we all fear for him. Since that explosion, and for the last twelve hours, Tokyo police has been getting multiple accounts that Senbi has mysteriously vanished without a trace, and civilians are getting attacked by horrific creatures of the night. I have only heard about monsters like this before in the words of myths and fiction. However, this is real life, and people are dying because of it, not to mention this Ashman we got news about. Seeing that you are one of the finest detectives in the history of the force, here is your new assignment, find out where these creatures came from and send them back to hell where they belong. We have got accusations of terrorism and revolution on our heads, so this assignment is of the utmost importance" the sergeant elaborated as he gave Yuki the complete red case file regarding the recent string of fires and murders by mysterious entities.

"good luck, Yuki" the sergeant saluted her as she exited the room.

"so, what did he say?" Aibo asked Yuki as she strolled out of the office with a book sized file in her hands.

"I need you to read me the last thing you can find in that file relating to the Ashman" Yuki ordered her attendee, who rushed to the back of the file, where it said the Ashman was last recorded just before dawn near an airport in Haneda, just south of Tokyo.

"we are going to Haneda" Yuki directed.

"why are we going after the Ashman?" Aibo wondered.

"because our primary target is the Ashman, and he is probably the only link we have between the explosion at Senbi Motors and the disappearance of Senbi himself" Yuki reasoned as they raced out of the outer Tokyo suburbs, in view of the azure waters, wild forests and rugged shrubland of Tokyo bay.

Stopping off at a grassy open airfield by the sea, biplanes and aircraft of all sorts were touching down on the runways.

"alright Aibo, first we need to ask someone who works here if they saw anything suspicious" Yuki led the way to a middle-aged attendant in a white uniform working on a plane engine in the hot summer sun.

"excuse me sir, have you seen this person around here?" Yuki inquired with the man, who was stunned by the resemblance of the creature on the newspaper Yuki was holding to the creature he had seen.

"yes, I did. It came in this morning in fact. I was writing a letter to a relative of mine up north, when I saw this tall black being, covered in soot and dust, big bright yellow eyes, and leaving footprints all over my runway. I stood for a second, but he simply walked over to one of our planes and took off. I had no clue what he need it for, but he has not returned since. I only saw hum head out across the bay" the man recollected to the two.

Yuki then returned to the car and took out her bag, containing the riddle in Senbi's handwriting and walked back to Aibo.

"did you find something, miss Yuki?" Aibo pointed out.

"I read this message from inside the mask, and correlated it with the tale of this Ashman, and it seems that he is the only one of these monsters who scheduled an international flight. The riddle said oceans apart for the next phase, meaning that if the Ashman was like any other monster they would have swam or flown with wings, but he took a plane. No monster in their right mind would use an airplane to get out of the country. My guess is that the Ashman is one of the monstrous creatures now terrorizing the capital, but why would he try to leave on an airplane?" Yuki explained to Aibo.

"follow me" Aibo ordered as Yuki followed his lead toward the other side of the airfield, and a new western seaplane with a rustic steel finishing and a red circle on the side surrounded by grey metallic sheets, propped up by four large wheels against the bottom of the plane.

"wait here. I will be right back" Aibo ordered further as Yuki remained with the aircraft as Aibo returned with two extra cans of fuel for the flight ahead.

"are you sure you know how to fly one of these things?" Yuki worried to Aibo.

"of course. I trained in the army, remember?. Besides, if the Ashman went in a small plane, it probably would have crashed into the ocean by now. We will be able to land on the water in this and inspect the wreckage" Aibo intelligently proposed.

"clever thinking" Yuki acknowledged as she boarded the plane and Aibo drove it aloft over the end of the runway, and out onto the open waters of Tokyo bay. Yuki had never been on a plane before, and usually she would have taken a boat or bicycle to get around during cases.