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Battered and bruised. He was hurt again. Shin was pathetically trying to run away in whatever alleyway he found himself in, grasping at gutters or boxes or anything in reach. He was supposed to be trained in fighting or at least protecting himself, but his lack of strength led him away from many physical activities. It’s not like it was his job to chase around wanted criminals when he was only armed with two blades and a handgun. He’d even managed to lose most of his weapons somehow. Now, after this near twenty minute-long chase, he was down to one pocket knife.
The watch on Shin’s wrist said it hadn’t even been an hour, despite it feeling like three. He was called to a crime scene almost at midnight for another gruesome murder which had occurred. He still took to investigating everything as usual in spite of how drained he felt. While talking to a coworker, he noticed a silhouette looming, off to the side of the scene. He quickly grabbed his coworker’s gun to rush after the figure while yelling at the people present to not follow him. He was too tired to think rationally. In hindsight, he really should have dragged somebody with him. Now he was going to die alone in a dark corridor, with his body probably maimed.
The guy he was chasing after ended up chasing him instead. Shin was in pain physically from all the cuts and bruises he hadn’t been able to avoid, but this person was not helping his psyche, either. He seemed to always be two steps ahead of Shin. The first thing he did when Shin saw him again was take his gun from behind. This dazed him for a moment, but gave him time to spin around and look at the man’s figure. The man was tall and wearing all black, along with a black mask covering his face. His hood was down, exposing dull green hair - or at least it looked green in the dead of night. Fear flashed in Shin’s face as the man ran further down the alley. He almost didn’t want to follow the cloaked figure. It must’ve been Midori.
Shin had only seen outlines of Midori in pictures, and only grainy and dark pictures of him. He was told the man was tall, with green hair and piercing eyes, and the mask he wore was near impossible to break through. The higher ups let him know of this danger, and he was told to flee on sight of the man. When he questioned why, he simply got the response of “Even we don’t know the extent of what he can do. And after ten years... It’s just not worth trying to catch him anymore.” When Shin first went out into dangerous places to get more information on cases, he mentally noted anytime Midori was brought up. The deeper he went, the more horror he could see in people’s faces when they discussed the man. He quickly learned that he did not want to run into him, especially when he himself is a semi well-known detective who Midori is surely aware of. But curiosity can be hard to resist, and Shin still wondered a lot about the serial killer.
He snapped back to reality and kept chasing despite his fear, fully knowing he was being led like a lamb to the slaughter. He relied on the thought that his teammates would know something was awry and hoped that they would somehow track him down, but no help came forth. He snatched a switchblade from his pocket and clutched it as if it were a lifeline to safety. Running. Running... Turning a sharp corner had bumped him straight into Midori, who had abruptly stopped sprinting. Shin’s reaction time was pitiful, but he still managed to hold the knife up as a threat before he had regained some stamina. Midori grabbed his wrist with one hand and easily bent it out of Shin’s grip with the other, before he pointed the blade towards Shin. All Shin could think of in a panic was to keep running, and so he turned around, maneuvered his wrist out of Midori’s hand, and ran.
After that was a blur. Midori was standing there with the knife when Shin left. Then he was right behind him a few minutes later. Eventually, he couldn’t keep track of where Midori was anymore. When he tried to look for building names or street signs, he saw Midori. When he saw people in the far off distance, Midori was in front of them. And at every encounter, he would have to endure another slash on his arm, another bruise on his leg. He was getting less and less mobile by the second.
And now he’s here. In an alley being chased by a murderer. Not even able to say bye to his friends as he collapses on the ground. Why was he acting so reckless earlier? He could have at least had some of his team follow him. But he knows they’ll listen to him. They won’t come to his aid if he tells them not to. Especially if they can’t find him. Right now, know one knows where he is. Except for himself.. and…
“Haha, you’ve collapsed from exhaustion? Really, I’d think a detective as good as you would have a bit more endurance.”
“.........”
Shin knows this guy isn’t stupid. He even waited until Shin couldn’t run anymore to finally speak to him. Shin couldn’t just play dead, but he couldn’t move either. He couldn’t even calm his breaths to normal, instead gasping for air as he lay panicking. It was terrifying; bordering death on a night when he was supposed to be asleep by now. He had so many regrets about this one night, and he didn’t have time to think of any more.
“Aren’t gonna talk? That’s a shame. I’ve barely seen you in person, y’know.”
Barely? So he’s seen Shin in person? How many times was “barely”? Shin didn’t want to think of how many times he saw him. How many times Midori must’ve been there in the shadows, peering over corpses or looking through crowds. Barely... Even “barely” can be so much.
Midori stepped closer.
“Honestly, I think we could’ve gotten along in some universe. Sadly, not this one. I’m sure you’re interesting to talk to, though!”
Gotten along? He thinks they could have gotten along? Last time he checked, Shin was a detective who specialized in solving unknown cases, including a handful of murder, and Midori was a killer who relishes in torturing his victims with leaving next to no trace of his existence. Does Midori really think that such different personalities and professions would ever get along?
Midori bent down next to him.
Shin can’t die like this. Not pathetically lying on the ground while someone he’s never even met before decides to take his life. He brings his left hand to his chest and balls it up, trying to make it look like he’s holding another blade, despite knowing this won’t fool the man. He slowly pushes his body up with his free and balled hands, while Midori stays there, unmoving. Shin’s eyes make their way up to the mask beside him, and the mask’s black holes bore into his. Shin waits a beat and says “You still... haven’t killed me?”
Midori harshly pins Shin’s right shoulder to the brick wall behind him, causing him to wince. He squeezes Shin’s palm, making it open to reveal nothing inside.
“I like to play with people before they die. Intriguing people like you are even better! I think I’ve had my fun with you though.”
He could do nothing but stare as Midori moved his right hand to his throat. Midori tightly gripped Shin’s neck and then stood up, still holding strongly onto Shin. He couldn’t breathe. He started clawing at Midori’s arm with wide eyes as he held him higher. Soon his feet weren’t touching the ground. He was gagging and coughing, desperately trying to get out of Midori’s grip. His efforts were in vain, however, as the tall man didn’t budge an inch.
Midori stared at him. “Aha... still trying to fight? Not accepting your death?” He took out the switchblade he nabbed from Shin earlier. “Sorry, detective, you seem really off your game today, too. Maybe it wasn’t a fair fight.” He slightly raised his arm. “I wish we could chat longer. I have things to attend to though.”
Shin was on the ground again, dropped by Midori. Right before Midori was finished speaking, Shin pulled out his last pocket knife. His last hope. He swung his knife at Midori as Midori slashed Shin with his. Shin couldn’t tell if it was shock or pain or something else, but he was quickly let go of, and fell on the ground. He felt the wound on his face to see how bad it was. Midori obviously didn’t expect a knife at his own face, considering the cut he made was barely deep. The detective snapped his head up to Midori, still needing to keep his eyes on him. But he saw Midori just staring at something in his hand.
At first he thought he saw scrap metal in his hands, but ruled it out as a possibility. Where would metal come from? He moved to look at Midori’s face which he still couldn’t make out in this darkness but... wait... his face?
Shin could see his face?
But then... that would mean he was holding...
“...ehehe...“
Shin couldn’t see his eyes, but he thought he could tell what Midori was feeling.
“Ahahaha!! In my whole life, this mask had never been broken! Nobody! Nobody’s ever broken it! Ever!!”
He was thrilled.
Midori turned back to Shin with the face of evil and a smile of wonder.
“How!? Surely it can’t be as simple as a sharp blade! What did you do!? How did you cut it!?!”
Now Shin understood why people emphasized his eyes. He was lucky to be seeing them with delight right now. If Midori wasn’t wearing a mask when this started, Shin would’ve frozen up the second he saw his face.
Shin didn’t know what to say. “Does.. um... are you not going to kill me..?”
Midori paused his glee for a moment and thought. Then, “Hmmm... no, I suppose not right now. Though I’ll certainly be following you closely since you’ve seen my face and all!”
Shin was at a loss for words. All this for nothing? Almost getting killed at midnight and he comes out of it with nothing but wounds and someone new to be stalking him? It sounded like Midori kept excitedly talking on and on about his mask but jeez.. Shin didn’t want to think about anything anymore.
“Hey heeey! Are you paying attention to me? Whateveeer. Ehehe.. I should probably go get this fixed anyways. I spared your life, m’kay? Don’t die from just sitting here.”
As Midori left, Shin wondered if he could get his phone out to call his coworkers to pick him up. It’s not like he was likely to die from “just sitting here”, as Midori had said, but it wouldn’t be very fun to deal with moving around in the morning, compared to now while his adrenaline is still faintly there. He barely got out his phone from his inner pocket and wondered why it was so hard to reach in the first place. He keeps it hidden so it doesn’t get stolen, but it’s not like he’d get kidnapped and the kidnappers would just leave him with all his belongings like that and not check everything. He turned the phone on. It’s been a while since a password change, maybe he should get to that. But remembering a new password is so hard, and he doesn’t want to deal with that again. Has anyone seen this password anyways?
He passed out before he called anyone.