13 A 'Murder' Case

Ding dong!

"And that's all for today, you're all dismissed." Takanashi Rie bowed as her students greeted her out in return. Since she didn't want to bother anyone else in the classroom, she decided to take her leave as soon as the bell started. And furthermore, the only thing in her mind right now was that she needs to catch the next train. It was an exhausting day and a nice can of beer for tonight was what she was looking forward to.

"Another murder, you say?" Akagi Takeshi, the red-haired kid, continued the topic of the day as he caught up with all the guys who were exiting the classroom.

"Yeah, this time, it was a man found bloated in the sewers. As usual, it was never reported in the news but it had a huge headline in the newspapers. They never provided any photos though." Haru relayed the information from the newspaper clipping he had in his bag. "There was no cause of injury and some even considered it as suicide. However, the investigators overruled it as murder since he had internal injuries. Those injuries were not something you'd normally get in the sewers so the investigator concluded that someone killed him before dumping him in the sewer."

"Still, that's inhumane, to say the least. I mean, the body was dumped in the sewer just so it would be bloated when the police find it?" Shiki commented.

"Yes, and that's the second time a mysterious murder has happened."

"I know right, what on earth happened in this city."

As usual, Yuuta silently separated from the group, masking his presence so that Shiki won't trail him and find out about his secret. It's been at least a year ever since he started going to the underground but he still can't get used to the thrill he feels every time he prepares for the fight. 'It's because of the underground that my perception skills have gotten more accurate. If it weren't for the constant life and death struggle over there, I would have remained weak. I can't let history repeat itself.'

'Things are different now. I'm strong. Having a fight with a featherweight champion is proof of that.' Yuuta clenched his fist in enthusiasm. His hands were starting to get cold and his breathing quickening, but all of those were just signs of how excited he was for the upcoming fight. After all, this was the first time he will get to the big stage.

Before he knew it, he already found himself to the mysterious staircase on one corner of the city. No one paid attention to it. But that's a different case for underground fighters. To them, what lies beyond the other end of the staircase is a battlefield where their fighting prowess is severely tested to the limit. Once you get there, you have a fight. And there're only two options, or rather, final results in a brawl. Either you achieve victory and triumph over your foe, or suffer a defeat and a beat-up body.

A perfect replica of a place where the strong eats the weak. That's what the underground is.

Yuuta opened his bag as he took a deep breath to calm his tingling nerves. Pulling out a mask that covered the entire upper half of his head like Daredevil, he grinned to himself. "I'm ready"

...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, approximately three miles away from the underground.

"So this is how it looks like, huh. And here I was, thinking it was a dreamy place." A bony and angular man with a pointy nose and a creepy grin walked on the sidewalks of the city. He was carrying what seemed like a scythe on his back but no one paid attention to him.

The scythe was of purplish color and it seemed to harbor great resentment towards its surroundings. The passers-by felt a sheer coldness from their feet up because of it but they couldn't pinpoint where it came from. After all, the scythe was unseeable to the naked eyes.

"Shut up, remember what we came here for." A girl wearing regular clothes uttered as she rolled her tongue on the lollipop she was eating. "This thing, what do you call it again? It tastes funny."

"That's a loli... I think." The bony man answered. "Why would they call that a loli... it doesn't even look like one."

"Maybe there's a rich history about this funny food. It tastes weird but somehow likable, as expected of this place. In any case, have you found him?"

"No, not yet. I swear... aren't the quests getting more and more impossible? What level are you in now?"

"Trade secret, I'm not about to tell you my level unless you tell mine fir— oh, speak of the devil. He's here." The bony man pointed his bony fingers towards a figure from afar.

The bony man and the girl picked up their pace at a moment's notice. As for the man who was standing a few meters from where they were, he was kneeling on the ground, dejected. He turned his head after hearing some noise behind him and that's when he noticed the two figures running towards him.

"Oh, Magnolia, Ripper, you've caught up." The man greeted as he forced himself to smile.

"Yeah, BUT! Enough about that! What were you thinking?! You can't just run away like tha— " The girl, Magnolia, screamed but she stopped short as she saw what was in front of the man.

"Herald-san..."

"Yeah, we were too late. They're getting more slippery than we thought." Herald sighed as he took another glance towards what was on the ground.

The man looked as if he was in his thirties— no, early twenties. However, it's a bit unrecognizable because of his mangled body. It's as if someone put the person in a giant's mouth and he was chewed. His left leg and right arm were missing and aside from that, half of his face was torn to shreds. He didn't look human at all. In fact, he looked like his body just passed through a paper shredder. It was a truly gruesome sight that Magnolia and Ripper felt like puking as their stomach churned.

"Good job, we have to return now. Otherwise, we might break the balance of realities." Herald said. Although he was saying something straight out of a fantasy novel, he wore a straight face as if he were serious.

"Yeah, it's not always a good idea if we involve ourselves with the police. I'm not good at explaining sciencey stuff after all." Ripper shrugged as he followed right behind Herald.

"Shut up, we all know it's all fun and games until the police get involved."

"Or until someone goes on a rampage and starts massacring these innocent human beings," Herald added. "That aside, we really have to return now. We can't stay here any longer."

A siren could be heard from afar.

By the time the police arrived at the scene, there was no one around. It was the third time a mysterious murder has happened in the city and they still don't have any leads as to what happened to these people. Every single time, they would assume that it was murder but the deaths were becoming weirder and weirder that they couldn't believe a psychopath had the gall to do it. First, it was a man who was buried alive under asphalt, second, a man who was found dead and bloated in the sewers, and third, a man with his whole body mangled as if a dog chewed him and spat out his remains.

"What do we tell our Chief?" One of the policemen asked, troubled.

"Take a few pictures, record every single inch of that body, and then we make a report to the Chief. No one will touch the crime scene." Another policeman said. "After that, let's wait for the investigators and detectives to see what happened to this poor man.

"For real, something didn't just happen to this man. This is just... inhumane is an understatement, you know." A third policeman said to himself as his stomach churned. Unlike Magnolia, Ripper, and Herald before, this policeman wasn't able to take in the gruesome scene in front of him and he puked on the sidewalk.

"Even I'm having a hard time trying not to puke. It's all right, kid." The first policeman patted him on the back.

"I'm sorry, if I had known we will see something like this during our patrol, I wouldn't have eaten a lot." The third policeman said as another round of puke exited his system. "Who would do something like that... "

"Trust me, kid, I've been working as a policeman for twenty years and this... this is the worst murder I've ever seen, if it can even be considered a murder." The second policeman said opening a candy to ease his nerves. After a few seconds of staring at the candy, he decided to throw it onto the nearest bush. "Man, I can't even stomach eating candy in front of this scene. This is madness."