The Morgue

Four people walked down the corridor to the morgue. The diener led the front followed by the victim's relative who was slightly behind and two policemen at the back. The diener kept the entrance to the morgue open to the three men.

There is an eerily chill upon entering the room as if the cold is coming from the silver metal surfaces. The diener quickly walked ahead and led the men to the cold lockers.

He stood next to one with his hand ready on the locker handle. He looked at the husband of the victim who only stared at the locker and gave no response. The diener felt that he was too traumatized and pulled out the tray without the suspense.

The body was cold but not blue. The wife had died almost 2 hours ago. There was a large gaping wound in her arm. There were bite marks all around the large holes that seem to resemble human teeth markings. The wound was so large that it was more like a half-eaten chicken drumstick, with the bone shaved at the centre.

The paramedics had explained that she died from blood loss during the drive to a hospital. They had given a tourniquet and a blood transfusion, but it was too late. It wasn't even possible to compress the wound as it was huge and irregularly shaped.

The witness who found her had said he saw a man flee from the scene upon seeing his car lights.

There was no reaction in his face let alone his eyes. Rookie officer Arata did not miss this. He stared intently at him. Sergeant Mitsunobu also saw this including Arata's stare.

He gave a bump to Arata's upper arm and said, "Genkei-san, can you confirm if this is your wife?"

"Yes."

…

Genkei's apathetic reply made it hard to interpret his meaning.

"You mean yes, this is her?"

"Yes."

"Genkei-san, thank you for coming down here. We are sorry for your loss." Mitsunobu said with sincerity.

"Yes."

…

Mitsunobu glanced at Arata's unchanged expression.

"Then, we best be going now."

The two exited the morgue.

"Can I stay here?" Genkei asked.

The diener had been working here for over a decade now. His experience let him divide people into two types. The people who bawled their eyes out and those who looked stoic. Genkei was the latter. More than the public thought, it was quite common to be numb when one was traumatized. Those people often couldn't feel a full range of experiences and emotions. He had heard that it was better to cry than it was to feel numb. Those who felt nothing were truly dead inside.

However, the diener was a bit surprised at this request. He thought that this would turn into one of those rare sights where the tough-guy act would break down and show his soft side. The policemen who left would never get to see this side. They wouldn't know the full mortuary experience a true morgue staff would know despite their frequent visits to the morgue.

"Of course, take as much time as you need."

The diener walked off to give him his privacy and thought about the bits of tears on the floor that would greet him later.

***

The flowing black hair looked like petals while his creamy white face looked like the centre disc of a flower. Chiho felt her heart flutter.

'Ah! What am I doing! I can't fall for him again.' Chiho thought. Aimi was fine with Chiho's feelings as it was a part of what bonded them together. One could say that all the fans of Hikaru were sisters-in-law.

However, Chiho felt it was wrong to tell Aimi that she was over him but then actually still like him. She also said that she would fully support her. It felt like she was cheating on her best friend. How could enjoy taking a walk with Hikaru when this was only possible when Aimi had gone missing?

She shook her head. Then saw Hikaru looking at her.

"Sorry, I was distracted for a bit."

She wondered what he was thinking to have stopped suddenly. Could he really be behind Aimi's disappearance? Was he leading the way to Aimi out of a guilty conscience but was having doubts? She knitted her eyebrows again as her quest enlivened her.

As they walked, Hikaru saw a bouquet of flowers, two mandarins and a banana on the ground leaning next to a Sakura tree. He followed it with his eyes and thought that his father must have done it overnight.

Chiho traced what Hikaru was looking at and spotted the offerings. She remembered that Hikaru's mother died in a car accident two years ago.

'So that's why…'

Chiho knocked her head with both knuckles of her hands repeatedly. She felt so stupid for overthinking things. While she was distracted, she didn't notice that Hikaru was taking a glance at her.

'She's peculiar. If I didn't know, she could pass as a parasite.' He thought.

***

Hikaru sent a thought down his body then he felt movement from within. Like a series of waves caused by muscle contractions, Aimi's phone popped out of his arm into his hand.

It was deformed as if it was melted. There were bits of his white skin mixed inside as if ice cream went in it.

He pulled the phone apart from the middle and was surprised that his flesh was merged with the phone. It was unusable. He could absorb inorganic material like he did with Aimi's clothing. A thought suddenly struck him.

He sent the same thought through his body and pieces of the phone came out. He compared the two phone pieces at the corners and realised that they were identical. he hadn't removed them from storage, but he had manufactured them. He tried again but nothing else came out. Had he run out of raw material?

"Hikaru, I've added Chiho's address so that we can end your inconveniences. Would you like to join her house raid?" Daichi spoke to him after the meeting had just finished.

"Actually, I'd like it if you spare her family for a little longer."

Daichi's face was unmoved but Hikaru sensed he was curious.

"I'd like to test something on her."

"One of your abilities? That's fine."

"Can I also please be excused from tonight's raid? She's waiting for me outside."

Daichi thought for a moment.

"You are excused, but only if you come to the gym tomorrow afterschool."

"The gym? Sure… Are you going to test my abilities?" Daichi smiled when Hikaru had caught on so easily. Hikaru thought that the gym was used for physical activities, there wasn't much else Daichi would have planned with the gym.

"You, and others."