“Well, that was a distinct waste of our time.” Reiji sighed, pulling out a battered cigarrete case from his pocket and removing a dog-eared roll-up. As he fumbled for a match a scolding voice from beside him cut in, causing him to wince.

“You know you can’t do that, Detective.” The young woman said, gazing at him sternly, her eyes cold. “This is outside a hospital, you have to respect the health of the patients. Besides, smoking is a filthy habit.”

Reiji bit down on another sigh, as he looked at the junior officer who was accompanying him. She was young, in her late teens or early twenties, and pretty much fresh out of training. Her hair was bunched up into a short ponytail, giving her a stern look, her suit that she was wearing in lieu of her police uniform giving her a bit of a childish look, like she was still at school.

“When you’ve been at the job as long as I have you’ll need to unwind. Smoking helps me do that. It helps me think too.”

“Well Detective, I haven’t been at this anywhere near as long as you, but I’ve been doing it long enough to realise this is a ‘nothing’ sort of case. Some street punks got the tables turned on them. No-one died and their injuries will all heal with a bit of dental work, so why concern ourselves with this?”

Damn she’s cold. A bit of dental work? One of them will have to spend a fortune on having implants to replace numerous missing teeth. Still… “On the surface you are correct, Officer Usui. Normally this case wouldn’t be of interest. But there were a few things that caught my eye.”

“Ugh.” Usui protested. “Being so formal with me, it feels unpleasant, like I’m itchy all over.”

“Hierarchy is important in society, and even more so in the police. If you get promoted to my actual assistant, rather than just being here for training, then we can loosen the formalities.”

“If that’s how it has to be Detective, then that’s how it is. So do enlighten me, just what about this fascinating case caught your eye?”

Damn, cold and abrasive. My daughters are practically angels in comparison.

“At first glance I agree it looks like nothing out of the ordinary. A group of perpetrators, most known to us, starting with petty misdemeanours and gradually becoming more serious, moving from shoplifting and graffiti up to street robbery. Though stepping up to assaulting women is a big jump for them. Still, when you take a second look the discrepancies become clear. A large group of troublemakers, armed with a variety of weapons, all left with serious but not life-threatening injuries. What does this make you think of?”

Usui thought about it for a minute before speaking. “Maybe some sort of gang turf dispute? Maybe the girl involved had protection?”

“Very good. We will make a detective out of you yet.” Reiji approved. “That was my first thought as well, especially as the girl has not come forwards to us. Gangs would be unusual out here in the suburbs, heck, we don’t have any problem with yakuza or anything like that. Having such a group of troublemakers out here is unusual enough. But if it was the case it would require us to deal with it, so I felt it was worth looking into. The last thing we need is gang warfare or yakuza moving in out here. But of course there was one problem with this theory, muddying the waters further.”

“Oh, and what was that?” she asked.

“The phone call we received notifying us of the incident. That would be an unusual move for a turf battle. And the information in the call indicated that a passing vigilante had dealt with them and rescued the girl. Considering the weapons and numbers involved, doesn’t this seem… suspicious?”

“It definitely does.” Usui nodded, thinking. “It stretches belief to say that one person could defeat that many armed opponents, unless they were also armed themselves, I guess?”

“Exactly. We as law enforcement cannot have armed vigilantes spreading chaos throughout Tokyo. I would say it is even more pressing to catch such a problem than it would be dealing with petty criminals. Therefore this case caught my interest.”

“I see, Detective. That does make sense now you’ve explained it. I should have thought of that.”

“Well, your insights will increase with experience. This is why you are paired up with me. As a force we like to make sure the more promising officers have a chance to gain experience with more seasoned professionals.” Plus it might help to smooth off the rough edges of your character. Your grades were excellent during your year of training, but some… issues… were raised about your abrasive personality.

“So, being as that was the case, why was this trip a ‘waste of time?’. Were your speculations wrong?” Usui asked pointedly.

“Not exactly. If anything I am now certain that it was only one, maybe two attackers. But the strangeness of the situation keeps piling up. You would think punks like those would be eager to spill their guts to get revenge on their attackers, but all they would say is that they were very sorry for attacking the girl, and that a man had chanced on them, proceeding to defeat them all quickly and violently. He was accompanied by a ‘scary woman’ who had convinced them to never do such things again.” Reiji sighed. “No matter how I pressed them they wouldn’t tell me anything more, or even describe their assailants, or even the girl they were trying to assault. It doesn’t fit the established pattern of behaviour for such perps, and that makes me both curious and uneasy.” Heck, one of the men is now insisting he has realised he is homosexual and won’t even look at a woman again. That isn’t normal, no matter how you look at it.

“So what’s the next step?” Usui asked. “Without any evidence to go on this is going to be a tough investigation.”

“You are not wrong.” Reiji finished smoking. Looking around for a suitable bin he couldn’t find one, so with another sigh he tucked the used end back into his cigarrete case. “I managed to get clearance for fingerprint analysis of the weapons, as some of the injuries to the victims appeared to be from their own weapons that were snatched from them. Although…” Reiji paused for effect. “… There were several injuries that have so far defied explanation as to how they were caused. The whole situation is like one big puzzle box.”

“It sounds it.” Usui agreed. She then brightened, having had an idea. “Well, can’t we trace the call to the police to whatever phone made it? That shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Of course. That was covered in your training. That was one of the first things we did. The call was placed from a nearby department store. Even looking at around the time the call was placed the store was quite busy, with people coming and going all the time. There wasn’t a camera on the payphone either. I suppose they had no reason to have one, they are more concerned with shoplifters.”

“If that’s the case… they must have had some by the doors?” Usui was showing signs of interest, the puzzle getting her excited. “If we checked the footage around the time of the call…”

Good instincts. “Yes, we did try that. there is a camera pointing towards the doors, though the angle is more suited to view those leaving, which makes sense from a crime prevention view.” He paused, shaking his head. “Unfortunately the angle is not great, and several people around that time were looking away from the camera, talking to others or on their mobile phones. There were also a few people we couldn’t get clear images of, and those we could match had no entries in our database.”

“Damn, that’s a shame.” Usui pouted. “It would be difficult to get a warrant to pull information on them anyway… have you sent for fingerprinting on the payphone too?”

“Of course. Though expecting clear prints on a public phone is a long shot. I know far fewer people use them now that mobile phones are in widespread circulation, but even so I am not holding out much hope.”

As he finished speaking his phone rang. Excusing himself he took the call.

“Oh, I see. Just matches for the victims. A couple of unidentifiable partials? I see.” He kept listening. “And on the payphone too? I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting much. Thanks for your hard work.” With a sigh he rang off the call.

“As expected we could only pull some muddy partials. There isn’t even enough to run through our database I’m afraid.”

Usui frowned. “So what now? Unless we can persuade the thugs to talk we seem to be all out of leads. And while the fear that is keeping their mouths shut may fade over time, even then all we are likely to get is a description. That isn’t a lot to go on.”

“You are not wrong, Officer Usui.” Detective Reiji fished out another cigarrete, ignoring her glare. “Still, my gut tells me there is more to this case than just a vigilante attack. Still, without further evidence we can’t spend more time on it. I’ll come back and interview them one more time before they are released. Other than that, all we can do it keep our eyes and ears open. Sometimes a case can be cracked by simple chance or an innocent mistake.”

There is definitely something going on here. All my instincts from over twenty years in the force are screaming. I will uncover what lies beneath the façade and reveal the truth!