Case Closed (MitsuKou)

Chapter 2

Hanako stood outside the apartment complex looking around trying to spot his partner. When he finally caught sight of Kou he was ready to burade the boy with question but quickly stopping himself at the sight of Mitsuba.

"What the hell happened?"

"I'll explain inside, we just need to get him out of the rain first."

Hanako just nodded and walked inside with the two men, grabbing a chair and pulling it over to allow Mitsuba to sit down. Kou explained what happened, apologizing for not mentioning a witness had a camera. Hanako was pinching the bridge of his nose by the end of the story, letting out a quiet sigh. He stepped away for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts and figure out their next move. Kou looked down at Mitsuba, who had stopped crying, he was holding tightly onto the jacket around his shoulders. He stared blankly at the ground.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course i'm alright." He responded quickly, venom lacing his voice, "I'm not a child who's scared of his own shadow."

"I wasn't saying you were! It's just... you experienced something scary... traumatic even. I know wouldn't be alright if it were me"

Mitsuba didn't bother responding, continuing to stare at the ground for a moment before standing up abruptly. He took the jacket off his shoulders and shoved it towards Kou.

"I'm going home."

"No you're not" Hanako spoke up, walking towards the two men, "I wanna take you to the station and ask what happened."

"What? Why? I was attacked, there's nothing more to it!"

"Not always. Sometimes explaining reveals more truths. Come on, it'll only be an hour. Plus we can get you some dry clothes there"

Mitsuba glared at Hanako, scowling at the man and crossing his arms. He eventually nodded his head, agreeing to go.

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Mitsuba sat alone in the gray interrogation room, taking a sip of the coffee Kou had brought him. The mug warmed up his hands which he greatly appreciated, the cold breeze outside made them feel frozen. Dry clothes were also much appreciated, though they weren't very cute, but it was nice to have them at the moment. After what felt like hours Kou finally re-entered the room with Hanako following close behind. The two detectives sat across from Mitsuba, setting a folder and notebook down on the desk.

"So, what happened?"

"I was attacked, dumbass."

"Be specific." Hanako replied, irritation very noticable in his voice. Mitsuba let out a quiet sigh

"I was walking home when the guy grabbed me from the alley. He demanded I hand over my camera and when I refused he tried to just snatch it away. That led to a struggle and him tackling me to the ground."

Hanako nodded and quietly mumbled 'figured' before picking up the folder. He wrote a quick note and looked back up.

"He probably figured you got him in the background of a picture and wanted to destroy the evidence before we got our hands on it." Hanako pointed to the folder, "this is your record. Says you work as a photographer for the local newspaper, and were recently reporting a small story on a woman named Kojima Kame"

"Ya, that's right... but why does it matter?"

"Well, Ms. Kojima is the name of our victim."

Mitsuba went quiet, his eyes wide. So many thoughts ran through his head. Why would somebody kill her? She was a sweet woman who had donated a ton of money to those in need, that's what the article was about, so why on earth would somebody kill her? Hanako continued speaking

"Why exactly were you at the apartment that day?"

"I was actually waiting for Ms. Kojima... I was supposed to take her picture for the paper, while I waited for her to come outside I was taking pictures of the buildings flowers..."

"I'm assuming you had no idea what she actually looked like since you didn't recognize her body"

He only nodded, looking down at the mug still warming his hands. Mitsuba started to feel sick, the questions making his head hurt and just recalling the sight of her body made him nauseous.

"Could you... tell us what you knew about her?" Kou asked, finally speaking for the first time since he walked in.

"I only know a little..."

Mitsuba started to explain everything he knew the best he could. She donated her time and money to hospitals, the homeless, and children. She was on her way to becoming a nurse. Yet all her dreams were cut short...

"Everyone talked so positively about her in the interviews with her neighbors..." Mitsuba began to fidget with his jacket sleeve, "why... why would someone kill her...?" He had mumbled the last part to himself, the weight of the situation becoming very apparent to the boy at this moment.

"Mm... Alright" Hanako stood up, "we have your number already, so we might call you if we have more questions. For now though, you're free to go home." Mitsuba just nodded and watched the man leave the room. He paused for a moment before taking the final drink of his coffee and standing up.

"Thanks for the coffee..."

"Oh, your welcome" Mitsuba could still hear the loud rain outside, his frown only deepened. He didn't have a car or umbrella, the police drove him here. "Do... you need a ride home?"

Kou knew the answer already, but he figured it was polite to ask anyway. After a moment Mitsuba nodded, Kou standing up and leading the man to his car. The small trip was silent, Mitsuba only speaking up to tell Kou where to go when necessary. Eventually they arrived outside a small house, the lawn being decorated with flowers. Mitsuba reached for the door handle, ready to run inside, but hesitated and looked down at his hands.

"I wanna help."

"W-What?" Kou stuttered, not fully comprehending what the male had said

"I want to help. I want to get my camera back and find the person who attacked me and Ms. Kojima."

"Wait- hold on- you can't just decide to "help" us"

"Well I just did. That camera is to important for me to lose, and Ms. Kojima deserves justice."

"And she'll get justice! We'll figure this out, but I can't allow you to just join in on the case."

Mitsuba had a frustrated look, his cheeks puffed out slightly, he wasn't going to just give up. Finally a thought came to his head.

"He could break into my house and attack me again you know"

"What?"

"Well he was above me... he might think I saw his face."

"Did you?"

"No... but he doesn't know that." Mitsuba gave the blonde a smug smirk, "I live alone, and I'm completely defenseless. I'm an easy target. However, maybe if I was around someone who was strong and knew how to evade someone dangerous..."

Kou stared at Mitsuba, trying to think of any way to refute this point, but at the moment he was too frustrated to even think of a reason. He let out a loud groan.

"Fine! You can come with me..."

Mitsuba stuck his tongue out and laughed triumphantly, opening the car door.

"Good! See you later lame ass traffic earring detective!"

Mitsuba jumped out of the car and ran inside his house before Kou could respond, laughing a little at his own joke. Once the door was closed his happy expression quickly turned sour, he rested his forehead on the door. He wasn't lying when he said he was defenseless, the man breaking into his house was a genuine concern the boy had but he couldn't show any weakness that might change the detectives mind. He let out a quiet sigh and locked the door, knowing when the sun set he was going to have a rough time getting a good night's sleep.