thicker than the mind | dazai o. ✓

eight.

"Holy shit..."

Even though the bay looked as before, the yellow crime scene markers ruined the whole 'normal' image. Another thing that made the scene worse was that those yellow markers didn't even reach to 10. Meaning, there were less than 10 evidences to this case; making it harder for a usual detective in the police force.

"This is..." Yuzuru looked at his friend with a serious tone, "Weird, isn't it?" Taiyo didn't respond back and just looked at the ground filled with yellow markers.

"We tracked down everything we could. Apparently, the victim was deemed to have been chased here on the bay. We don't know any reason as to why he suddenly died when we couldn't find a single trace of a different footprint on the sidewalk." Atsushi's eyebrows furrowed at the weird evidence. Cases like these have happened before, but Atsushi was utterly confused since it's his first time here.

"Then he could've been killed with a far-ranged weapon?" Atsushi suggested as he had his arms crossed.

"We've thought about that. See, our victim ran out to the orpahange all the way here, and when we traced his steps back, we couldn't find a different footprint than his." Yuzuru put his hands in his jacket pocket.

"How far is the orphanage?" Taiyo decided to join in on the conversation, "Just a block from here."

She furrowed her brows as she came up of something, "Being hit by a far range object from the orpahange to here is a bit of a miss." Yuzuru and Atsushi listened as they both nodded their heads, "If the kid was hit by a far-ranged weapon, then it had to be so advanced to have reached him at the bay from a block away."

"You're right. That's why we're having so much trouble here. We found less than 10 clues, and we can't even know how he got hit from such a far distance." Taiyo narrowed her eyes. She always did that when she thought of something to do.

"All right, Yuzuru. You give me and my partner something to think of, okay? We'll try our best to find more leads. You're right, this is an absolute mind-fuck." The captain chuckled as he nodded and left the two detective alone.

"Any thoughts, Atsushi?" Atsushi played with his fingers, thinking of a way to solve the mystery. He shook his head, thinking hard to help the case in anyway.

Taiyo turned around and decided to get a close look at the crime scene with yellow markers. A woman with dirty blonde hair tied into a messy bun neared her once she stepped near the first yellow marker, "You must be Kurishima from the ADA, right? I'm such a big fan of your work!" The strange girl said, making Taiyo stutter and question her antics, "Thanks...?"

"Me and my partner are here to check some things up." She continued, the girl jumped, "Of course! Here, a tour."

"Kitaro Yuu, a sweet kid who has a love for everything insects and is the smartest person in the orphanage. Kitaro was said to be just writing something down on his notebook until he was ambushed and ran all the way here." The blonde said, looking into her clipboard while glancing at the poor kid's body, "We're hoping that you could help us with finding out this substance."

The duo nodded as they followed the girl. Taiyo felt sick to her stomach. Not only was this girl very positive about this whole scene, and the fact that she was giving them a tour of a dead child's crime scene, it didn't feel too moral. She was suspicious of the girl, but decided to go nonetheless.

"We'v found footsteps, a broken ballerina figurine, a music box, and a bunch of rocks piled into one place." Taiyo and Atsushi looked at each other. Well this was certainly a different kind of evidence mixture. The other 3 have nothing in common, although Taiyo hoped they did.

"Let's take a look Atsushi." He nodded and followed his partner, "Wait we're still not done with the—" Taiyo raised her hand, "No thank you. You've done enough" She said as she walked away with Atsushi.

"A broken ballerina, a music box, and a pile of rocks?" Atsushi muttered under his breath, "I wonder what tune the music box plays." Taiyo's ears perked up, "You're right! Maybe the song could be a lead!" Taiyo walked to the yellow marker number 4, the people being alert when they saw her rush up to them.

Atsushi stuttered, "W-Wait!" He catched up while panting, and Taiyo spoke up immediately, "Kurishima Taiyo from the ADA, may I ask what song the music box plays?" The people looked at her, "We found this near the waters and it might be wet, so I don't think it will play soon—" Taiyo shook her head, "Nonsense."

Taiyo grabbed the music box, and without waiting, turned the handle, "Eh?" The music box started playing, "The Flight of the Bumblebee." What a  strange tune to play on a music box. Usually music boxes were used for lullabies or a Hogwarts theme song, but a 10 year old having a 120 year old music piece in a tune box? Highly unusual.

Taiyo furrowed her brows even more, "What? Why the hell would a 10 year old kid have this?" The forensics said that they found the fingerprints of Kitaro on the music box, making it possibly his.

"Hmm. Then the rocks..." Taiyo almost dropped the music box before an employee caught it, then Atsushi rushed to her side again, "You think these got any significance too, Atsushi?"

Atsushi nodded his head, "They did find his fingerprints here too so, maybe, yeah."

Taiyo crouched on the floor, thought of something. Although it may be a bit farfetched, it was worth every try.

"Hey, blonde girl!" The said girl turned around quickly, abandoning the person she was talking to, "Y-Yes?!" Taiyo cupped her mouth, "How many stones did he gather?" Blondie replied back with at least 20. Taiyo's idea sparkled even more.

"Alright Atsushi, here's what we're gonna do. Get that music box, open it, then take out the main machine." Atsushi hesitated, "We need gloves first, Kurishima-san!" She sighed as she agreed for gloves then Atsushi rushed to a near table and grabbed some surgeon gloves, "Okay! Follow my lead Atsushi!"

◎

The sun was setting, people were getting in cars and trains to go home and go to their loved ones— a normal and tiring day, especially for our detectives.

"Man, I cannot believe my idea worked!" She exclaimed out as Atsushi nodded and took a bite of his crepe. He felt guilty for Taiyo having to pay, but he couldn't say no for he was hungry as well.

The two were sitting on a bench near an amusement park. The sky had an orange tone to it, hitting the buildings and streets making the whole area orange-like. A crepe was the perfect snack for this atmosphere.

"I'm surprised too. I couldn't have thought that the music box would guide us to a main lead." Atsushi pointed out. You see, once Atsushi took out the music box back to the scene, Taiyo noticed that there were some sort of pattern. She used the stones Kitaro had piled up and made a small track leading to a big lead. Yuzuru gave a big thanks to his friend, and they said his squad would take it from there.

"Thank you for helping me today, Atsushi." The albino jumped and looked at the woman, "N-No problem, Kurishima-san!"

Taiyo chuckled at his flustered state and just hummed. She looked forward and thought of a great idea.

"How about we get another crepe. Whad'ya say?"

hey hey hey! how are yall? updating has been slow so i apologize :( BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING THIS BOOK TO 500 READS AND 60 VOTES AND #10 ON BSD ISTSHSHDS imma cry rn ♡

yours truly,
vel.