Part 1

“Ji-san, we are here.” The chauffer informed the old man. The chauffer was just one of the many body guards assigned to the old man. He wore the typical black suit and white shirt with dark goggles.

The car stopped in front of a police barricade.

“Hey! Don’t park your car here! This is a crime scene!” A police man shouted out at the driver as he walked up to the majestic and luxurious Benz. As the police man neared the darkened window of the driver’s seat, the window pulled down slightly and the chauffer handed over his badge to the police officer.

The policer officer peered at the badge with disdain, who did this big shot consider himself to be? Not even lowering the window to see the driver’s face?! Like hell I will let you park where you please.

As the police officer opened the badge and read the identification’s contents, his face went pale with fear.

“I apologize for my rudeness Sir!!” The police officer quickly spoke up as he hastily handed back the badge. “Please feel free to park where you please.”

The chauffer slipped his hand through the window gap and took back the badge. “How far is the northern entrance from here?” The chauffer asked.

“You are at the southern entrance, Sir! If you take a left from here and then right and first right again, you will reach the Northern entrance. If you walk through the park, it is a straight path.” The policer officer replied with sweat beads gathering on his forehead.

“Thank you for your assistance, officer.” The chauffer replied as he closed the window. “If you don’t mind could you ensure no one approaches us for the time being?”

The officer readily nodded and left the area to watch the perimeter.

“Ji-san, how would you like to go?” The chauffer turned his attention to the old man.

“I think I will go for a walk. It looks like a nice day to go for a walk.” Ji-san replied.

The chauffer made a complicated expression at Ji-san’s words. “You know right how much trouble we are getting into this because of you? You already got rid off all your guards since the hospital. Now, you are leaving me behind as well….if this matter was reported to the higher ups, do you have any idea how much trouble I will get into?”

Ji-san smiled while saying, “Then make sure you don’t report this to your masters, Radcliff-dono.”

“Please stop joking around, Sir.” The chauffer sighed as he unlocked the door. “I will meet you at the northern entrance.”

Ji-san silently nodded as he exited the black Benz.

“So this is where it happened.” The old man muttered to himself as he stared at the park. The once green park was now completely burnt to charcoal black. The only colours in the park were the yellow police barricade tapes that hung all over the place. The once lively park was no longer filled with children laughter and mothers scoldings but hushed whispers of police officers at work.

The old man took a moment to absorb all the details he saw. His eyes went slightly moist as he reconstructed the horrific incident in his mind. He could barely glimpse into the past but it was enough to make his heart tremble. The old man shuddered as he imagined women and children screaming in pain as the explosion ripped through the air.

While lost in his thoughts, the old man began walking through the park. Strange as it would seem, but the presence of the old man completely vanished. None of the officers in the park even realized there was an old man strolling through the park. Even if they stared at the direction of the old man they would not be able to see him. The old man slowly made his way to the northern entrance of the park.

*Swish*

There was a subtle change in the wind direction. No one noticed this change but it brought the old man to a standstill. His right eyebrow was raised as he observed his surroundings carefully.

“I see…” The old man muttered to himself; inaudible to others.

Walking steadily, Ji-san left behind the officers who were taking samples of the soil and reached a lonely spot in the park.

“Reveal yourself.” Ji-san spoke calmly in his elderly voice.

The old man waited patiently, but seeing no movement, he reached into his vest pocket and flung out two black objects. The old man’s delicate arm swung like a whip and his actions were fast as lightening.

“ARRRRGGHHH!” A shrill scream filled with pain could be heard.

“Come out. I maybe an old man but my senses have only grown sharper with time. This was just an introduction, make me wait any longer and you won’t live long enough to scream.” The old man calmly spoke as he revealed a colossal killing intent.

Sensing the enormous pressure the old man was giving of, those who were stealthily tailing Ji-san were trembling in fear. This old man was the real deal. If he wanted he could truly kill them all in the blink of an eye. Obliging to his command, three people emerged from their hiding spots. All of them appeared suddenly as though they were wearing invisibility cloaks. A fourth person limped out from the shadows – there were two kunais stuck in his thigh; he was the man who screamed in pain.

The three uninjured men quickly knelt in front of the old man. The fourth one limped over before struggling to kneel down. Once all four bowed in front of Ji-san, the leader spoke, “I apologize for our rudeness. I was unaware that a great elder was visiting the site.”

The old man’s eyebrow twitched slightly at the mention of the presumed title ‘great elder’. “You guys….you are from the Fujiwara clan?”

The four men nodded in agreement. Then the leader spoke, “May we know from which great clan is the great elder?”

“Hmph!” The old man snorted as he refused to answer the young man’s question. Clearly, the old man held these men in contempt for rudely tailing him. Ignoring the man’s question, Ji-san scratched his clan, “If it’s you guys, then you were not involved in this?” Ji-san asked while eyeing the ninja like attire of the four wore. The men were masked in black clothing from head to toe – their attire was that of ninjas. Even the way they moved and hid themselves was like ninjas.

“No, great elder. We have been asked by our clan head to investigate the site.”

“Well?” Ji-san probed.

“…”

“What did you learn.” Ji-san asked irritably.

“The police officers have found traces of explosive fuel. This is not the handiwork of someone from our world.” The leader quickly revealed as Ji-san applied some extra killing-intent pressure.

“Ho….so this is incident is unrelated to us.” Ji-san muttered as he was lost in his own thoughts. “Well, then you boys should get back to your work. I have somewhere I need to be.”

The men sighed in relief as Ji-san left them alone (and alive).

“Captain, who was that man?” The injured man asked as he clenched his teeth in pain while the Captain pulled out kunais from the injured man’s leg.

“Argh…” The injured man moaned quietly, letting out no more than whisper when the kunai’s were pulled out.

The captain ignored his injured comrade and stared at the weapon in disbelief. “We need to head back to the clan and report this matter to the clan head immediately!”

“Why?” The other three asked in unison. Their investigation had been interrupted in between, so naturally, they didn’t want to leave till they completed their investigation. Every second that passed by the captain’s face was being drained of his blood, them being left alive could only be explained as their good fortune. After a short pause the captain spoke again, “That old man was the Old Sly Fox!”

“Whaaat!” The other three men exclaimed in shock.

“See the engraving on this kunai.” The captain showed his squad members. “These are markings of the Old Sly Fox. If the Old Sly Fox is involved in this matter then the clan elder and head need to be informed immediately.”

The three men nodded in agreement and they disappeared like a black blur.

Part 2

“You had me worried, Ji-san.” Radcliff complained as he noticed the old man in the distance, slowly walking to the northern entrance. “I thought you encountered some difficulty during your stroll.”

“Hohoho….youngsters these days…. worrying about the elders….such good manners.” Ji-san merrily replied.

“No, please stop joking around, Sir. I was only worried about my job.”

“So you say….is this where they found her?”

“Yes, Ji-san. I compared both police and medic notes. The woman named Tsushima Sui, was found here. Her children were located lying twenty feet from here.”

The expressions of the old man softened as he examined the dried puddle of blood on the ground. Ji-san knelt slightly as he touched the ground.

“Anything out of the unusual?” Ji-san asked as he examined the dried blood puddle carefully.

“Umm….there are some police notes and references here about a pigeon which led the officers to the woman….”

“A pigeon you say?” The old man asked with some amusement in his voice.

“Yes, a pigeon….” Radcliff replied with a frown as he stared at images of the crudely written hand notes on his phone. “That is what it says here….maybe the officer was drunk?”

Ji-san continued staring at the dried puddle of blood which belonged to Sui. It was in this exact spot Sui lay when she had fainted from loss of blood. “Anything else?” He asked.

“No.” Radcliff replied back.

Ji-san slowly stood up and gazed at the surroundings.

Radcliff could only frown as he tried to guess what the old man was looking for. More than that Radcliff was eager to know why the old man was interested in this matter. How was this woman, Tsushima Sui, related to the old man? Normally, the old man stayed out of mundane affairs such as this – but this time it was different. The old man was abnormally interested in the terrorist act. Although, Radcliff was uncertain the old man could learn something new from a crime scene visited by hundreds of people before them. As per Radcliff, the old man was just foolishly wasting his time and trying to pass himself off as the next Sherlock Holmes. But still….a nagging thought kept coming back to Radcliff, the old man did have an excellent nose when it came to looking for trouble…

Unconsciously, Radcliff followed Ji-san’s line of sight, as he stared at the shops in front of him, his brain unconsciously noticed something wrong with the shops behind him. Being a trained agent, Radcliff was trained to spot irregularities in situations and patterns. Radcliff continued staring at the shops for a while and then it struck him. His mouth opened slightly in astonishment. “This….”

Ji-san had noticed the irregularity in the first glance. The two men were currently staring at the shops opposite the northern entrance to the park.

“Looks like you finally noticed.” Ji-san smirked.

Radcliff nodded his head in agreement. He had been parked here for a whole five minutes and he didn’t notice this big of an irregularity - all the shops in the vicinity suffered tremendous damage from the shockwave of the blast, as per the police report. The display windows of many shops shattered from the impact of the shockwave…yet here in front of the northern entrance there stood a single shop completely undamaged. Both shops on either side of it were in tatters….yet this shop stood in mint condition as though it never here when the explosion happened. Nobody but these two men noticed this oddity because it was a completely irrelevant detail. After all what could a pristine condition shop possibly have to do with a terrorist act?

“How can this be?” Radcliff asked in disbelief. Radcliff silently walked up to the shop and tapped the glass as though he were inspecting the quality and make. Finally after some time he spoke up, “This is ordinary glass…just like the other shops….then how is it that it isn’t destroyed?”

Ji-san stayed silent, he could only piece the information in front of him.

Could it really be coincidence that the only undamaged shop in the area also just happens to be the one that lay exactly behind Sui? Even if Sui acted as a barrier, preventing the shop from any damage…didn’t Sui herself escape with minor injuries?

Ji-san went back to examining the spot where Sui was found.

Strange…the dust here is quite settled…unlike elsewhere…

Suddenly the old man recollected his words at the hospital with a frown on his face;

Truly a miraculous escape, eh?