Chapter Text
Despite the fact that roughly 1% of the population was thought to be vampires, very few people actually knew anything about them. History was written by the victors; after all it was often easier to depict them as immortal monsters of the night when trying to convince people to drive them from all of society. The stories paint them in such an unflattering light that most people can’t even imagine that they could live near one, opting instead to follow the widespread beliefs that vampires had all been separated from humans somehow. Some even think they’ve gone extinct. It’s hard not to believe the stories when it’s all you’ve ever heard. This made it even more shocking to Akechi when he ended up befriending one. If you had asked the detective even a few months ago what he knew about vampires, ‘bloodthirsty, immoral, dangerous,’ or even ‘murderous’ would be at the top of his list and yet here he was, on the train to Yogen-Jaya, visiting such a creature of his own volition.
Stepping off the platform onto the quieter streets of Yogen-Jaya, Akechi found himself retracing the same path he always did. If his informant was a creature of the night, he was a creature of habit. He had hardly stepped foot in one of the many forgotten alleyways before the subtle rustling of fabric could be heard above him.
“Sorry to arrive on such short notice Kurusu-kun,” He announced, seemingly to himself, in hardly more than a whisper amongst the shadows. “I have another job for you and-”
“Already?” A soft, almost silky voice called out behind him, biting at the air with an exaggerated whininess. A boy about Akechi’s age wearing a sleeveless fitted vest, black dress pants, and his distinctive leather jacket stood staring at him, a friendly smile adorning his face despite the annoyance in his voice. “So I take it your previous suspect suddenly offered up some information.”
Across the past couple of months several suspects known for being impossible to link to their crimes had become a lot less careful with removing evidence, seemingly out of nowhere. Be it less precautions taken and simply leaving more for the police at the scene of the crime or confessing to their wrongdoing straight up, the toughest criminals to crack were slowly being faced with justice.
“Right to the point as always, ‘Joker’. Yes it seems that another criminal has become sloppy in their methods. I’m sure you have nothing to do with this of course.” Akechi said, returning the boy’s familiar smile.
“No of course not,” the vampire responded, leaning against the wall. His quicksilver eyes seemed to shimmer and likely not from the starless night above. “So, what do you have for me?”
Akechi simply hummed an acknowledgement before pulling a careful folded page from his seemingly endless jacket pockets. “Kaneshiro. I’m sure you’ve heard the name before. He’s been a thorn in the side of the police for ages and yet, he remains as elusive as ever.”
“I’ve heard of him. That’s quite a big jump from your previous requests, detective. Most of the people you’ve shown me before now could have been his subordinates.”
“True. However this seems to be your speciality ‘Joker’ so I figured if anyone could handle it, it would be you.”
‘Joker’ only hummed in response looking up into the sky over their abandoned ally. The city glow was just strong enough to drown out the stars but too weak to illuminate the inkiness above them. “This sounds awfully dangerous, detective. What makes you think I’ll help?”
“You will.”
“Oh? And how can you be so sure?”
Akechi just smiled at the boy in front of him, being met with a resistant smirk instead. He shrugged and put the file back into his jacket. “I suppose I can’t. However I seem to recall something similar happening last time I came to visit; and here we are yet again.”
“Here we are again…” the vampire muttered. “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”
~***~
“Junya Kaneshiro was recently taken into police custody after lists of those he was allegedly blackmailing were suddenly leaked. More information is to be released throughout the day, police officials say.”
“So, they finally caught the guy?” An older man muttered over the counter to the nearly empty cafe. “I heard he was targeting students around your age. You better not have been on that list, kid.”
“I’m glad you have so much faith in me Sojiro.” Akira replied with an amused smile, taking another sip of the coffee that had been offered to him. He placed it down next to his now empty plate, looking back up at the TV. “I’m just glad none of my friends are on his list.” He said, looking down at his cup.
Sojiro nodded in agreement, looking back up at the clock. “You better head out soon if you don’t want to miss your train,” He added, taking Akira’s plate with him back into the kitchen.
“It should be nice to have a normal day today.” A chipper and much younger sounding voice said. A black and white cat smiled up at the ravenette as he chugged down the rest of his coffee. “I hope Akechi realizes how much you’re going out of your way for him.”
“Kaneshiro was dangerous. I can only protect so many people at a time,” He said quietly, trying not to draw too much attention from his guardian. “My arrangement with Akechi is nothing more than the cherry on top.”
“I will never understand what compels you to spend so much time with humans,” The cat replied, his ears twitching slightly as his simple smile gave little away. However, Akira was quite aware of his familiar’s stance on the issue.
“You’re too careful Morgana. The world has changed since your last partner.”
“If you say so….” the cat mumbled as Akira picked up his school bag and made his way out of the cafe to greet the world.
The world seemed to over-enthusiastically greet him too as the sun beating down on his skin caused a wave of fatigue to instantly wash over him. He had to hold back a growl building in his throat as he glanced up at the cloudless sky.
-----
“Junya Kaneshiro was recently taken into police custody after-”
“How does this keep happening? This is beyond a simple stroke of luck by now,” A tall, silver-haired woman stated to the younger brunette beside her. “Surely you must be wondering the same thing as me by now, Akechi-kun.”
“Hmm and what do you mean by that Sae-san?” The detective said with a short laugh.
“All of the sudden master criminals are slipping up left and right. There must be some connections. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now but Kaneshiro is too big of a target to dismiss my theory any further.”
“It does seem a bit too perfect I suppose. Although I don’t see what the issue would be with someone helping to get criminals arrested.”
“Maybe not yet but I have trouble believing anyone would make this much of a stir out of entirely pure intent. I want you to look into it Akechi-kun.”
“Me? Are you sure? If your worries are reality then this would be quite the powerful suspect I’d be investigating. Don’t you think we should hold off a bit?” Akechi knew this day would come. Sae-san was a smart woman; there was no way she’d fail to notice such a clear pattern. However Akechi wasn’t about to throw his informant under the bus. Not when the boy was so useful to helping in his cause.
“No. I’m sure of it.” She almost instantly picked up on Akechi’s unease and her normal business face softened slightly. “Don’t worry I’ll be looking into it too. I can back you up if you need help. But we don’t know what kind of being we’re dealing with here. The sooner we start looking the better.”
That was the opposite of Akechi’s worry. If anything that put his source of information even more at risk. He just nodded and muttered a goodbye before returning back to his work. He’ll have to make sure he compensates Akira well for this job.