Chapter Text
„I-It wasn’t me! I swear!” the young man desperately shouted.
“I didn’t kill this girl! I don’t even know her!”
Frantically his eyes darted around. Searching in the crowd of onlookers for someone who believed his words. But all he saw were eyes full of distrust, pity and disgust. They didn’t believe him. They really thought he was a murderer. Disheartened, his sight fell on that woman. The one standing beside the dead body of a girl. Her long purple hair swaying slightly in the wind, on her lips a smile full of confidence displayed. She was the one who was responsible for the predicament he was currently in.
A self-proclaimed ace detective with a razor-sharp mind and keen perception. A woman who no criminal seemingly could escape from. Mika Komori had gained somewhat of a reputation in the Devildom recently. She had solved quite an amount of cases which seemed to slowly accumulate ever still. Even some of the police detectives had begun to rely on her clever deductions. Why did such a brilliant woman falsely accuse him of murder?
“That’s enough! You can tell that to the guys at the station!”
The detective in charge grabbed the demon’s arm and yanked it around on his back, causing the man to let out a hurtful cry.
Mika stood a few steps away from them, amused by the scene in front of her. They always tried so desperately to prove their false innocence. Even though they had already lost, it took them a while to admit their defeat. It was funny really. But when the realization finally struck that they wouldn’t get away with their crime – that’s when things really did become interesting.
By now Mika had seen a fair share of criminals dropping their masks. They had been angry, frustrated, hopeless – some even turned downright crazy, having outbursts that rivaled the psychopaths one could see on TV. The variety of emotions people displayed in that kind of situation never failed to amaze the young woman. Frankly, it was probably her favorite part of the job. That and of course the lead detective having to express his gratitude to her for solving the case. This was especially satisfying when he had been acting all high-and-mighty before, branding her as an amateur who was just messing around at his crime scene. The detective on today’s case though had been rather cooperative.
Mika couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed by that. Well, at least she had the killers “demasking” to look forward to, although this one here took longer with that than normal. He couldn’t really still be believing he had a chance to get away with this, could he? Maybe she wouldn’t even get to see any breakdown today at all. What a bummer, she thought.
But right as the detective was about to drag the young demon man into the police car something unexpected happened.
“Wait!” somebody yelled from the crowd.
“That woman’s reasonings are wrong! This man is innocent!”
An excited murmur went through the crowd as people turned to look around, trying to find the source of that voice.
“What is it now?!” yelled the detective, abruptly stopping in his tracks, causing the supposed murderer to lose his balance and fall on the ground. Mika scanned the people around her, eager to find the person who dared to claim her well thought out deductions were wrong.
Her eyes came to rest on a young man with bright blonde hair in a RAD uniform who had stepped out from the mass of people surrounding the scene. His teal-colored eyes were fierce and he held his head high, displaying the confidence to back up the words he had just uttered.
“ Oh ?” Mika started as her lips curled up into a sly smile. “Care to elaborate how you came to that conclusion, oh mysterious stranger?”
This could get interesting. A quick battle of wits might just be what the purple haired woman needed to make today’s work less boring. Without a doubt she would be the one to come out on top with ease, but the way he looked at her was ever so challenging, it sparked a motivation in her to crush this schoolboy’s confidence and make him realize how brilliant she truly was. Mika was already very much looking forward to his apology.
The man nodded and showed her a self-assured smile.
“Oh, I will. But might I ask you to display your reasonings again first? It seems our audience is steadily growing and I believe not all of them were present before.”
The sleuth took a quick glance around them and her opposite was right, there certainly were more people present now and steadily even more passersby seemed to stop at the scene.
She let out an amused chuckle.
“My how considerate of you! I might as well fulfil your request.”
Mika was actually glad to lay out her deductions again. After all it meant more people witnessing her brilliance, thus her fame would grow, resulting in her getting more cases and requests from the police and other potential clients. It was a win-win situation really. Especially with this particular case having been quite simple to solve. She almost pitied the blonde and his pretty face. He really didn’t know what he was getting himself into. What a shame really…
“Achem, well then. If it’s alright with you Detective?” Mika directed the officer in charge.
Although he clearly wasn’t happy by any more of his time getting wasted through her shenanigans, he let out a defeated sigh.
“Fine, fine, whatever. Play that little game of yours. But make it quick, will ya? Some people here actually have important work to do!”
Satisfied with his response Mika gave him a small bow and a warm smile expressing her gratitude. “Thank you Detective. I knew you’d understand the importance of clearing all suspicions. However unjustified they might be. It’s things like these that make working with you so delightful .”
The gruff older man just shrugged at that and gestured for her to get on with it.
“Alright. Let’s start with the basics then, shall we?” she directed at her blonde critic as she strode over to the body. The dead girl lay on her stomach motionless. All life had clearly left her now ever colder growing body. It was hard to imagine that she had been sauntering this street, maybe searching for the perfect new outfit to wear, just a mere hour ago.
Crouching down next to the victim, Mika gently took one of her brown curls into her gloved hand before dropping it again in a fleeting motion. In a calm and impersonal tone, she started explaining her reasonings, displaying nothing of the cheerful and amused attitude she had shown just mere seconds ago.
“The victim’s name is, or rather was, Ganaria. She was a RAD attendant, much like you Mr. Stranger. Likely on her way back from the academy, she had walked down this street, maybe set on buying something from one of the boutiques. However, she didn’t get very far as she was ambushed here by a, as a witness stated, person wearing a long black hoodie – similar to the one our friend over there is wearing.”
Still sitting on the ground, the accused demon gulped at hearing her words.
“This person used an about 10-inch-long knife to stab her several times in the chest and stomach. Luckily, or actually rather unfortunately for Ganaria, he missed her heart just by an inch. Resulting in her having a slow, painful death instead of at least dying quickly. Clutching her wounds, she fell over, landing on the ground on her stomach, where she died from loss of blood after several painful minutes. This brings us to the scene we have in front of us now.”
The teal-eyed demon nodded as he placed a hand under his chin. “I see. One can’t help but pity her. But where is the murder weapon now?”
“It was found wrapped in a red cloth in a trash bin not far from here.”
“Hm, that must be the reason her uniform’s cape is missing.”
Mika raised an eyebrow at his remark. She hadn’t thought he’d be able to deduce that. Maybe this person actually did know what he was doing here. At least to some degree, as he was still clearly false about her accusing someone wrongly.
Taking a few steps towards the body as well, the blonde demon was now looking at her from above while asking his next question. “Who was it that found the body?”
Not liking being looked down upon, Mika got up from her position and just simply gestured towards the unfortunate soul next to the detective.
Her critic raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really now, did he? I sure hope you have more evidence for accusing him than him finding the body.”
The young woman could feel herself getting slightly irritated by his remark. Did he really think her such a simpleton? Crossing her arms, the sleuth took a somewhat defensive stance. “Hmph, Of course not. Only a greenhorn would come to a rash conclusion like that. Look down, Mr. Nit-Picking. Your highly desired evidence is right at your feet.”
At her prompt the blonde looked down to find the name Kramver written in blood on the ground. Crouching down he took a closer look at her right hand, careful not to touch her as he wasn’t wearing gloves. Ganaria had worn long plum-colored fake nails of which two seemed to be stained with blood. They also showed signs of abrasion. There was no doubt that the message had been written with these fingers.
Noticing the nail of her thump seeming to be missing, he raised an eyebrow. Did it become detached at some point?
“Are you looking for this pretty thing here?”
A small plastic bag containing a plum-colored fake nail was being shoved into the demon’s field of vision. Glancing up his eyes met a pair of glinting red ones belonging to Mika who was smirking down at him this time around. She had apparently snatched that piece of evidence from the detective’s pocket. The gruff man didn’t seem particularly happy about that fact though, as he mumbled something along the lines of “that little minx”.
“We found that nail under her body. It apparently got detached while she struggled with her attacker and she later fell upon it.” The woman with the long wavy purple hair stated as she shrugged. But as she noticed the smirk that had appeared on her critic’s face she froze. She didn’t like that expression on him one bit.
“So, I take it that this is your decisive evidence then?” He began as he got up again.
“This bloody writing that says Kramver . Surely, you’re about to tell me that this guy’s name is-”
“Kramver. Correct.”
The accused demon winced at hearing the sleuth saying his name.
“So, you see it is perfectly reasonable to deduce him as the murderer. He was the first at the crime scene, finding the body. He wears a black hoodie, as did her attacker, and the victim wrote his name in her own blood. I’d say that is pretty decisive and-“
“That’s where you’re wrong though.”
“What?!”
Mika couldn’t believe he still dared to say that after hearing everything. Who did he think he was?
Oblivious to her slowly raising anger the man continued with an unwavering look in his teal eyes. “What you’re saying is, that Ganaria was the one writing that message.”
“Ye-“
“Well, for a fact, she didn’t.”
For a few seconds Mika was dumbfounded. What did he mean she hadn’t written that message? Her blood had been used and her fingers were stained. Her fake nails even showed signs of abrasion. Heck, there was no doubt the victim had written it! Mika had checked everything; she was right about that fact. And she would make sure that lemon head would come to that realization too!
Regaining her posture, the self-proclaimed ace detective crossed her arms and put on a challenging smile. “Oh. Alright then, Mr. Smarty-Face. Enlighten us! Explain why Ganaria didn’t leave a dying message. And don’t forget the most important thing: proof !”
Much to her distaste, her opposite didn’t seem impressed by the challenge at all. Putting his right arm on his hip, he flashed Mika a confident smile. “Oh, I will, because you see: Only one version of events is ever true! And I will show you exactly what this phrase means.”