Chapter Text
The victim was eighteen.
His body was found on his university campus
He has been dead for 12 hours
He has several stab wounds and his heart appears to have been gouged out
The victim has a record of violence and is a known brawler at a fighting club.
Nirei read the brief report carefully “Do we have a name? More information? Fingerprints?” Mitsuki Kiryu shook his head “The rest of forensics and I are still working on it. Tsuguera is trying to get more information about the boy from the university. I’ve heard some rumours that some bullies killed him or something like that but we can’t be certain.”
“And any camera footage?”
“Anzai said the files were erased completely. You can see John Doe walking and then he looks behind him and everything from there on out has just been erased.”
“You think we’re looking at an inside job? You think that’s why the university is so reluctant to give up any clues?”
“I mean, you’re the detective, Nirei.”
Nirei scrawled the theory down in his notebook. He was sitting on some steps leading onto the central courtyard of Makochi University. Normally, it was quite scenic. Clean paths lined with trees and grass but today, there were flashing lights and police tape surrounding the scene. John Doe’s body hadn’t been touched yet as people in white hazmat took photos and videos. It was the middle of the day so many curious students were walking around, going to classes as a dead body lay there.
It wasn’t a pleasant sight. Blood stained Doe’s white t-shirt and mouth and heterochromatic eyes were wide in surprise as if he was calling out for someone to come save him or if he was screaming a battle cry. The ground around him was red and chunks of flesh were littered around the body, revealing an empty ribcage where his heart should’ve been. Surrounding that central wound were countless other ones. Nirei was no stranger to gore but it always made him feel a little sick.
Tsuguera returned carrying a folder. “So?” Nirei asked, looking up at them as they took a seat next to himself and Kiryu. “His name’s Haruka Sakura. He’s here on a scholarship to study physical education. Apparently, there was a stint where he wasn’t in classes for a month because he was trying to quit smoking.”
“I’ll need to know more about his relationships with people. Who was he friends with? Who was he enemies with? Tsuguera, do you think you could make some posters to put around here and the local area for information? Kiryu, I want the forensic report as soon as you have it. I’m going to go walk around campus and see if anyone has heard anything or seen anything.” Nirei said, jumping to his feet enthusiastically. “Call me if you have anything.” Tsuguera and Kiryu nodded as Nirei walked off to begin grilling people.
“He looked really rough the last time I saw him.” Kotoha Tachibana said, Sakura had frequented her on-campus café, Pothos, so she was familiar with him. “He came in and I asked if he wanted his usual and he said no which is a red flag in itself. He loves food. His eyes were all blood-shot and he just looked really shitty. He said that he was quitting smoking on the fourteenth and then I didn’t see him for two weeks and I tried his dorm but he wasn’t there and I couldn’t contact his phone and then he just winds up dead.”
The café glowed with cozy lighting and potted plants were everywhere. The furniture was dark oak with green accents while lattice windows, placed next to various booths, framed them in soft sunlight as other students chatted away, some worrying over exams, some staring apprehensively at Nirei, likely curious about the death of Sakura or mildly intimidated by the gang of police on their previously peaceful campus or the dead body.
Nirei wrote this down diligently. ‘Last seen two weeks ago. Unable to be contacted?’ The light on the voice recorder glowed red, showing that it was still recording as Kotoha spoke. “So,” Nirei said “Do you know about any places he may have mentioned going or wanting to go?”
“None. Sakura doesn’t have the nicest parents, by that I mean dad. His mother died when he was born. When he first got here, he was absolutely covered in bruises. He was untrusting, closed-off, snapping at anyone but then he warmed up a little. This is the only place he felt safe.”
She tucked her short brown hair behind her ear. “I am curious though. Who raised the alarm? On Sakura’s death, I mean.”
“We don’t know. It was an anonymous tip. I’m afraid I can’t tell you more than that. Nirei wasn’t actually missing out on too much detail. They had received an anonymous phone call about two hours prior to this moment. The caller had been using voice-changing software and a burner phone which Anzai had found next to a cell tower where he’d triangulated the signal from. The SIM card had gone missing. Whoever this was knew how to discard a burner phone without being traced.
“Do you know if he had any friends? Enemies?” Nirei asked, pen at the ready.
“I know that he was friends with this boy who lived in the room across the hall from him. Hayato Suo, I think his name was. Though to be honest, he was only here occasionally with Sakura. You’ll know him when you see him. He’s got an eyepatch and these earrings which I’m pretty sure are antique but you’ll have to ask him about that.”
“This has been very informative, Miss Tachibana.” Nirei said, getting to his feet from the barstool he was sitting on “Thank you very much for co-operating with police investigations. When we solve this, we’ll be sure to let you.”
Kotoha nodded and returned to her job as Nirei exited the café, heading back to where he’d just come from. He’d have to ask Tsuguera if he had Sakura’s dorm because the next step to figuring out who murdered Haruka Sakura was bothering Hayato Suo.