Chapter Text
Thunder rolled across the moonless sky as rain began to patter against pedestrians below. Among them, a dark brunette opened a black umbrella, shielding his straight hair from the drizzle as he marched down the slippery street to an apartment complex.
He paused at the sight of a stray, its jet-black fur soaked. With a quiet sigh, he scooped the poor thing up and took a brief detour to the nearest pet shelter. He carried the umbrella and held the cat in his offhand against the harsh winds. His hands strained to keep both the umbrella and cat from slipping from his grip. Once the feline was taken off his hands he left towards his original destination.
On his way to the apartment, a noise ripped through the night's silence.
A gunshot echoed through the streets. He sharply turned to the sound area of origin and his eyes landed on a darkened alley. A leg lay stretched beneath the dim light of a nearby streetlight. The rest of the body was painted into a shadow. There was no time to catch a figure, Wifies could only hear retreating footsteps.
He stepped beneath the streetlight. He blinked once, then twice attempting to make out the body.
The man was dead.
That was what the papers had concluded when Wifies later compiled his account of the night. Most people would have called the police immediately, but Wifies had been closely following the news when it came to all these recent murders. They all added up to something, and he knew it wasn't just coincidental. He wanted to find out the truth for himself, even if that was a bit selfish. Not to mention, no 'average' killer would leave a body like that - so visible. The man began to form a theory of his own.
And so on another rainy day, Wifies began his walk to an office building nearby. He had heard from a couple of his friends that a young man around their age was a private investigator and his office resided in said building he was headed to. Despite the P.I being young, Wifies had heard stories of the man's cunning wit. The rain continued pouring down on the umbrella, his loose black jeans started to get a bit wet but luckily his big dark grey knitted sweater hadn't.
Once inside the office building, Wifies pushed his umbrella open and closed to get rid of most water droplets on it. Quickly he fixed his hair, as much as he would hate to admit it, he didn't want to seem like a guttersnipe walking into an esteemed P.I's office. The building was managed with taste, the lights overhead warm, and vegetation grew in tall vases near dark auburn leather sofas. After talking to the front desk lady, Wifies sat down on a sofa and silently awaited the lady to tell him when he could go up. His legs kicked back and forth while his pale fingers subconsciously gripped the leather below him. In a quick moment he was informed he could go up now.
Wifies went up flights of stairs, the walk up seemed longer than his walk to the building; finally with his exhausted legs he rang the doorbell of an office and ran a hand over his forehead. Soon the door was opened by a man who happened to be shorter and seemed much more tired than how Wifies looked.
The young man had wavy brunette hair with little colourful wings on the sides of his head. the colours of the wings were green, blue, orange, and yellow. They were bright and warm toned, which matched his already warm brown hair. His eyes seemed to have segmental heterochromia with some parts of his iris being blue, brown, and green. "Hello?" The man spoke. His outfit consisted of a white collared top, loose black dress pants and a café au lait coloured vest with a large dark brown jacket on top.
Wifies opened his mouth to speak, "Hello, my name is Wifies. And I heard you're a private investigator...?" Wifies prayed he wasn't wrong about this. The awkwardness that would come if he was, was something he hoped not to experience. The wings on the young man flinched for a millisecond. The brunette looked at him and gave a slight smile, "Yes, I am... My name is Parrot; you want to come in?" he gestured towards the inside and stepped aside to make way. Wifies curtly nodded and walked in. Wifies noted that Parrot seemed almost as awkward as him…
The office was small but nicely furnished. It wasn't anything too outstanding, but it wasn't exactly a minimalist's room. There were a couple of small jasmines growing in dark brown pots. They sat in line atop a bookshelf filled with more folders and binders than actual novels or things of the sort. In the corner was a spruce desk and a chair scooted behind it and another in front. The one scooted behind had a stack of papers on it, Wifies tried to catch a peek at what they said but the handwriting was far too scribbled to make out words. Wifies sat down on the seat in front of the desk while Parrot sat down on the seat from behind but immediately stood up with a noise of surprise. He quickly turned around looked down only to see the stack of papers left behind. He grabbed the papers and put them in a random binder on his desk. Parrot promptly sat down after.
"So what made you come to me?" Parrot cleared his throat awkwardly, "Hm? Oh— well I heard from some friends of mine that mentioned a very good investigator," Wifies paused his sentence as he looked at the man's little bird plush, which sat next to the binder from earlier, "Which happened to be you." He finished. Parrot gave the man a friendly smile, "Seems my fame has exceeded my abilities..."
The brunette eyed a stack of papers from clients on his desk. Wifies continued, "I need a detective because, I've recently come across a murder." Was that the right way to say it? Wifies didn't know but he did know he couldn't play charades with the man. "Oh?" Parrot looked, not shocked? "Well, do you remember seeing how the victim was murdered?" Parrot asked. Parrot felt the urge to correct Wifies and say he was a private investigator but didn't since they had only just met. Wifies shook his head and then paused, "Wait you mean how they died? as in… a gun? a knife?" Wifies quickly asked. Parrot gave a nod. "A gun then." Wifies specified. "Do you know what kind?" Parrot asked, taking a sheet of notebook paper, he had handy and began writing down things. "No." Wifies responded sheepishly.
"Well how come you came to me instead of the police?" Parrot asked as he tapped the pen on his desk. "I believe it's a part of the series of murders of that recent serial killer that's been in the papers. The murderer kills at night and with a gun, sure not much to lead with but it's also been known that the killer has been not too subtle about his murders." Wifies started as Parrot began to write a little more. "Well, lucky for you, I've gotten another person give me a report on this." Parrot gave a small scoff, "Oh." Wifies looked curious as to who else would have this idea of his.
"If I'm being honest, I've been stuck on this case for a bit myself. Police records haven't been put out yet on this case." The brunette sighed as he took out a binder and checked over a few pages. "If you ask me: I say it's not out yet because they want to hide the gravity of the situation." Parrot looked up expecting the young man to say something. "Allegedly." Wifies hummed in reply, resisting a slight chuckle.
"Well, I'll help you out with this but for now, you might wanna steer clear of the streets, at least during night." Parrot spoke. Wifies understood why, though it was a shame because he enjoyed taking evening walks in the cool air. "Oh, by the way I saw the silhouette of the person who murdered the man… I think." Wifies mentioned his sightings to the investigator as if it were something forgettable. Parrot´s eyebrows furrowed quickly, obviously a bit startled at the fact Wifies hadn't mentioned it earlier, "Well, how did they look?" he asked quickly. "Hm, shorter than me." Wifies stood up and brought his hand to his chin. "Skinny." he added - then sat back down, "Nothing else was visible." Wifies said plainly.
After a bit of conversation, Wifies had left the building and headed back towards his apartment complex. the rain had cleared up by now and though the sun wasn't out, it was much brighter. As Wifies walked, he mulled over the facts and had heard people point fingers at it maybe being Flame since he was a convicted killer. Of course, many other theories existed since a killer isn't a one-off thing.
Flame was known for once brutally sent an entire gang to the hospital, where at least two of them hadn't made it out- completely on his own. He had the strength and the training to completely ruin someone's skull. He claimed it was an act of self-defense, and he had evidence to defend his claim, as cameras showed detectable traces of who fought first through silhouettes. The judge still ruled this out as manslaughter, as 'too much force was used' for it to be self-defense, therefore he received a three-year sentence. Once he got out, people made sure to never address the guy or to never make him angry in any form, yet Flame protested he changed— although this was an old case. Wifies wasn't a strong believer in this theory. Of course, he didn't have the full scope of whatever occurred, but he felt it would be stupid for a convicted (now free) criminal to kill again. Afterall, had Flame not realised the judge would not back his claim the next time?
Once the dark brunette got home, he kicked off his shoes and walked to his small bedroom. After jumping onto his bed, he remembered the fact he didn't have classes today. Filled with joy he gave himself the luxury of taking a nap.