Is It Okay Not To Preservethe Crime Scene?

Chapter 27 — Is It Okay Not To Preserve

the Crime Scene?

After hanging up the phone, the first thing Yogiri did was grab a drink of

water, since he hadn't eaten anything for the past two days. He was still quite

hungry but, perhaps because he had slept so well, he felt full of energy.

Yogiri stepped out of his room. The hallway was empty, but according to

Tomochika there was something invisible out there. As he concentrated on the

corridor in front of him, a black haze became visible, stretching out diagonally

towards Tomochika's room.

It wasn't a concrete display of killing intent, and it was rather faint since it

wasn't aimed at Yogiri himself, but it was enough to tell him that something was

there. Despite his appearance in the hallway, though, there was no reaction from

whatever it was. It likely had no idea that it had been detected.

Yogiri unleashed his power at that invisible foe. He heard the thud of

something falling to the ground, and after a short while, the body of a girl

appeared face down on the hallway floor. Without bothering to confirm any

further details, Yogiri stepped up to Tomochika's room and knocked on the

door.

"It's me."

The door immediately opened, a timid Tomochika peeking around it. "Hurry

up! Get inside!" She must have been on guard against the enemy. Yogiri

complied without complaint.

"You were right, there was someone out there." Yogiri lowered himself into

one of the guest chairs.

"Wait, you could see them?"

"No, but I could see their killing intent. They were hiding diagonal to your

door. Apparently, they weren't interested in me at all because they didn't react

when I stepped outside."

"Mokomoko said something similar, that she felt some hostility aimed at me.

But I don't remember doing anything that would make someone hate me that

much."

All the enemies they'd encountered had been killed by Yogiri. Tomochika really hadn't done anything.

Fool. There is no way anyone could tell which of you two was responsible

just by watching you.

"But in that case, it's weird for them to only be focused on her. Doesn't that

make it seem like they're out for revenge or something?" While that was his best

guess as to why she was being targeted, he didn't have any concrete reason for

someone wanting to take revenge against Tomochika specifically.

"Well, I'm glad you came, but what do we do now?"

If you insist I leave you two in peace, then I suppose there's nothing I can do.

Enjoy yourselves!

"That's not what this is about!" As Tomochika's face flushed for seemingly

no reason, Yogiri cocked his head in confusion. "Anyway, what do you think we

should do?" She was clearly trying to avoid a particular topic, but that was fine

with him.

"Ah, right. Let me borrow your phone." Standing up, Yogiri called the front

desk. "There's a woman who's collapsed in the fifth floor hallway. She might

need help." After delivering that succinct message, he returned to his seat.

"What? What happened?"

"It would be weird for me to act like I didn't see anything. There's no way

they'd believe that I didn't notice a body lying there."

There hadn't been anyone in the hallway to witness the death, but it was best

to try and curb suspicions now. Yogiri had decided to take the most natural

course of action, just to be safe.

"A body?"

"Yeah, I killed them."

"Already?!"

"If they're going to turn invisible and hide themselves, there's not much else

I can do, is there? Whatever was going on, it was just too suspicious. Getting rid

of them was the best course of action."

"Maybe that's true. But aren't you interested in why they were targeting me

in the first place?"

Indeed, I am interested in the background of this case. It would be quite a

nuisance if this was the work of an organization and not just an individual.

"That's fair, I guess, but the only thing I can do is kill. I'm not really that

good at interrogating people."

As much as he had experimented with holding back his power, it really

wasn't well suited to interrogation. He would need to fully show and explain his power to use it as a threat, and since the damage it inflicted couldn't be healed,

there was no hope for the target to be saved in the end. And torturing someone

without using his power didn't really seem like an option against an opponent

who could turn invisible. Who knew what other powers they had? Putting their

own safety first by killing their adversaries was simply the best option.

"Now that I think about it, it's still kind of strange to just leave her like that."

As Yogiri stepped out of the room, Tomochika followed him. The staff had

yet to arrive, so the girl was lying exactly where he had left her.

"I suppose you would think she'd only collapsed if you saw her like this."

"Maybe it's not my place to say, but you're pretty cool-headed, aren't you?"

Despite seeing far more gruesome corpses in their short time together,

Tomochika didn't seem especially bothered by any of it. Yogiri would have

expected a girl like her to be much more shaken up by the experience.

"I guess I'm used to it. Though I think that's pretty strange too."

People eventually die. The daughter of a school of martial arts can't afford to

be shaken by such trifling things.

"I don't think it's anything quite so deep as that, and I've been plenty scared

— huh? Hey, do you think you should be messing around like that?" As she was

looking at the body, Yogiri had crouched down by the fallen girl, casually

flipping her face up. "My point is, shouldn't we preserve the crime scene?"

"Trying to help someone who's collapsed in front of you shouldn't be

suspicious."

The dead girl had blonde hair, done up in twin tails.

"Huh, I thought so. This is one of Tachibana's companions," Tomochika

noted. "This one was Erika, from his Bodyguard Unit."

"So the culprit is Tachibana then? Either way, this is pretty bad. Now it looks

like we're picking a fight with him."

Or perhaps it would be better to say that Tachibana was picking a fight with

them, although in the end, Yogiri had still thrown the first punch.

I do not know the extent of a Dominator's powers, but it would be best to

assume he is aware of the status of his subordinates.

"Tachibana was staying in this hotel too, right? So the first thing we should

probably do is go somewhere else."

As they were speaking, the hotel staff arrived. Someone who looked like a

doctor was with them, and helped them to load Erika onto a stretcher. Since

there was no sign of foul play, they didn't have any sort of law enforcement with

them.

Yogiri and Tomochika decided to get out of the hotel while they had the

chance.