4 Chapter 3: Partners

3-1

Another paring session huh?

Why can't the old man just stop pairing me with people who are incapable of matching up to my skills. My previous partners were all the same; they're just all talk.

I hope this old man would just give up.

When I reached his office, the windows were covered with blinders for some reasons. Is he planning to kill me? Well that is a little too out of character for him to do.

Because of him being a humble old man, If he was planning to kill me then he would do it without any person's life risked. That's the kind of person I see him.

When I then approached the door, I noticed that it was already open and the smell of alcohol was seeping out of the room. When I entered the old man was sitting on his usual document filled table drinking his favorite branded rum. I then closed the door behind me and walked towards a seat that was prepared for guests, and it also came with a small table with an ash tray that was already prepared.

The old man really knew me so well.

I then lit my cigarette with my lighter and puffed a good amount of smoke and exhaled it back up, I then broke the silence.

"So, who are you pairing me to this time?"

"You'll see." He said with a cheerful smile as if he was confident that this person he picked would be a different one from my previous ones.

I then leaned forward to get some ash out of my cigarette and into the ash tray.

I don't know what is going on and what was going to go down but I'm pretty sure this old man thought that he had something good in store.

The room was akwardly filled with silence that we can hear people's conversations outside and people's footsteps as they pass by. I still didn't know why he chose to cover the windows but I didn't really bothered to ask since he would probably just turn down my question anyway.

It was getting really annoying how we have to wait for this other person, I can already sense that this person is too irresponsible to be my partner.

After moments of waiting, the door finally opened.

The figure that went inside was a familiar one, she was pretty short and she also had her hair tied up to the back and she was also reeking the smell of soy sauce.

It was the newbie.

Please don't tell me I'll be partnered up with her.

"Sorry for being late, I- uh- was cleaning myself." She stuttered, I then looked at the old man and raised an eyebrow, but his face was towards the direction of the young woman.

"It's okay Elsie-chan." He said with a smile disregarding the smell she was carrying.

As if she just noticed me she suddenly was startled, she then bowed to my direction and stayed were she were.

"Take a seat Elsie-chan." The old man said pointing to the seat in front of me. Elsie then followed his instructions and sat down,

"Rui, meet Elsie-chan your new partner," yep I pretty much see that coming. I didn't really know if the old man was being dumb or drunk.

"Huh?" I said with an half-assed tone.

"You see, Elsie here have a really good credit when it comes to her detective and physical skills and I thought who would be better to be her partner than our best detective in town, Satou Rui." He said winking at me in the end of his sentence, I then placed both my left index finger and middle finger to my temples and asked,

"Are you dumb? Even my previous partners died despite doing their job for a year or two and know your telling me that a newbie is my newest partner!?"

"I might be dumb but I think this is a smart move," He said with his same facial expression as before.

"How is this smart?" I asked pointing to the direction of the girl.

"Now, now. Listen to me just a second, this is a win for both sides,"

"What do you mean by that?"

I replied.

"How am I supposed to finish my sentence if you keep interrupting me," he said with a hind of annoyance showing in his face.

He sighed then continued.

"You said you never had a good partner before, you see I sense great skills from this child and maybe she can be a big help on future cases that you'll be working on."

As he said that my brain automatically forced my face to turn around to the girls direction. Now looking closer she seemed like a nice and obedient girl, I think she could be useful. But now looking at her she looks a little familiar, but I then noticed her eyes.

It looked like she was crying.

I didn't know if it was from earlier or it just happened right now, if it was the latter then it wouldn't be a surprise.

It looked like the old man also noticed this that he then addressed the issue,

"My, did you cry Elsie-chan?"

he said comfortingly.

"Uh- N-no I didn't." she replied with a weak smile.

"If you have a problem then you should talk to me Elsie-chan." The old man said with a big smile which Elsie made a little happier.

As the old man told Elsie some stories which she was just nodding to it. I then lit a cigarette and started thinking: why was she covered soy sauce?

I can pretty much make a blind guess and say that the woman that scolded her earlier got mad and dumped soy sauce on her, pretty sure that's what happened but I'll keep it to my self for now.

"Katsuragi-san you forgot to tell me what benefit would I get from being partnered up with Satou-san." The girl suddenly asked, which caught my attention.

The old man then smiled and drank a small amount of rum and said,

"People who are taught only follow the techniques and instructions that the teacher taught them but a master who let's the student discover on its own but still helping him a little bit will make the student better than his master in the future, when a man follows the law~"

He's just making stuff up at this point, you don't really know where he is trying to take this conversation to, he didn't really thought this through.

He's looking at me, I'm pretty sure that's my cue to interrupt but I'm going to ignore it for now to see how far can he take his babbling to, but despite his words not making sense Elise was listening so hard, she looks up to the chief too, huh?

The second time the old man gave me the look I then jumped in to save him,

"Get to the point old man." I said in a tone that sounded like I was trying to act but wasn't really trying, like an actor in rehearsal getting tired of repeating his lines over and over again.

The old man sighed in relief as he was freed from his own mess, he then replied with a more understandable statement,

"My point is getting taught by Rui, the best detective in the town can make you better." He said confidently and rubbed the bottom of his nose as if he won a match of chess.

"Ahhhh I see, such wise words as expected from the chief!" Elsie said enthusiastically.

How was that wise and she should really stop praising him, she's making the old man's ego inflate more.

"Fine, you can be my partner." I said which made Elsie-chan smile like a little child that was given ice cream.

"That's all for today Elsie, go back your desk and wait for Rui's instructions." Instructed the old man.

"Yes, sir!" she said bowing down to me and then the old man.

I then opened the door for her to make sure she goes to where she is supposed to be and won't linger near the door and hears the conversation that me and the old man was having.

After confirming that she left, I then closed the door.

"So what's up with the blinders?"

"You see, there are people that I don't want hearing this." He said filling up his glass with rum, he then gone down to get something under his desk.

Every move he take, makes me more nervous than before.

He then revealed an ice box and placed it on top of his desk, and inside were all ice.

He then added ice to his glass and filled it with rum, he then got another glass and did the same thing.

After that he puts down the ice box and passed me a bottle of rum, which I politely accepted.

My heart was beating fast and my senses were all tingling as if something was about to happen, I was at full alert and was ready to kill the old man if he tries to kill me.

But then he broke the tense atmosphere,

"You see I heard that people that are from the organization called "The Mafia" which is full of gang lords, drug lords, king pins and any other stuff related to that are doing up to no good."

"What do you mean? They we're already up to no good."

"This time its worse. Remember the Demon Worshipers?" He said placing down his glass and placed both his elbows on the top of the table and made this fierce looking pose, he looked so intimidating that you can't really believe that this person that I'm currently faced with is the same person who was just rambling just a moment ago.

"Yeah, the cult who wished to bring back the demons." I said taking a sip out of my rum.

"The mafia and the demon worshipers are joining forces to revive the demon lord Lucifer."

Once I heard that I immediately looked at the old man, and thought that this info if true would really be bad.

"Apparently there are police officers that are part of the mafia so we can't really have them hearing this, that's why you're the only one I'm entrusting this with."

"I see,"

"And Elise is somehow connected to all of this." Now it all makes sense, so he's asking me to protect or have an eye on her.

"Do you mean she's part of the group?" I said.

"No, not really. She's just related to group not part of it."

"Huh?" I said trying to put everything together and figuring it out on the spot.

"Anyways I want you to protect her in the time being." He said then drinking everything on his glass.

"And where did you get this info?" I asked,

"I don't know it's just like I know, it feels like something or someone has told me about it but at the same time there is isn't. I know this confusing but I just know it, you know?"

I get what he was feeling, I get that kind of feelings sometimes whenever I'm hunting, I called it Ultra Senses and every demon has it, the stronger you are the stronger the senses. It's like a voice is telling you something in your head or your body just immediately knows what is about to happen. I'm pretty sure I experienced the same thing the old man was experiencing.

I don't know about people who has abilities but apparently those who have abilities are actually demi-demons, in short people who have demon blood, so maybe they also have Ultra Senses.

Plus there's really no reason for the old man to lie about all of this, so there's no choice but to trust him.

At that point of time the room was filled with tense atmosphere and silence, I was nervous and my heart was beating fast by just thinking about Lucifer, the demon who wiped out half of the population.

"Your job is to investigate who these people are and once we identify then we'll have to either capture them or kill them on command. But before that take Elise somewhere to eat."

The tense mood was broken by the old man's last words, I then thought why would I take the soy sauce covered girl to eat.

"And why would I do that?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I'll pay the bill." He said. He then reached for his pockets and gave me a credit card.

"Don't expect to have remaining money on this credit card." I said after turning around and then opened the door, the old man then replied.

"Oh I wont." I haven't seen his face but It felt like he was smiling.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to be a mentor.

"Rui, don't be to harsh to her." He said before I left.

3-1

As I entered the office I immediately saw Elsie cheerfully drawing something on her table which was just behind the opened door, basically she was the first person you'll see as soon as you close the door and enter the room.

I then approached,

"Oi, the chief said-" as I spoke, I noticed the figure she was drawing. It was a really good drawing of me and the old man as angels, which was pretty ironic in my case. I was really dumbfounded that she has this talent, it was like an illustration that you would see on a museum and such.

I the looked at her and as soon as I was about to open my mouth I was again surprised, when I saw that she had her eyes closed while drawing the insane picture, its like seeing a cripple walk.

I then caught her attention by stopping her hands.

For some reasons her mood completely changed, she raised her head slowly to check who it was and when she saw that it was me her face reddened, I didn't know what was happening.

I then retrieved my hand and then announced, "Chief caught on to your problems and asked me to take you somewhere to eat."

We then started to leave the building.

"How did the chief know?" she asked while awkwardly trying to fix her self for some reason.

"I mean it's pretty obvious, plus he is the chief after all then it isn't really that surprising if he knows." I shrugged.

"That would make sense, anyway," she then clears her throat. "I-is t-this a date?" she stuttered.

"I don't know what you are talking about." I said, I didn't know if she was being sarcastic or something but that was just dumb.

"Oh," she responded with an awkward smile.

After going through the hallway we then arrived at the front area of the police station, the place was still full of people and for some reasons the woman I saw crying earlier was still there and it seems like she hasn't gone home yet, she was there acting depressed and was just sitting on the waiting area without a single motion.

Ran out of hope,huh?

I then brought my attention to parking lot which was just right across the street, and looked at Elsie,

"What car do you drive?" I asked since I didn't want to drive at that time, it was such a waste of energy.

"I don't actually know how to drive, hehe." she said in a tone of defeat as if her weaknesses were shown. Her reply was actually really rare, since most of the people of her age can drive.

"Tsk, being useless already." I said clicking my tongue, which made Elsie a little down.

I then proceeded to go to the direction of my car,

"By the way how old are you?" I asked stopping myself on my tracks.

"20, why?" she said which was surprising since she doesn't look her age.

"Most people your age are starting families and here you are still doesn't know how a car work." I said.

"Right?" she said with a laugh, she probably thought that that was a joke but it was meant as the opposite; it was an insult.

"How about you Rui-san? How old are you?" she asked out of curiosity, normally if people asks me about my information then I would have to refuse to answer but since I asked first then I have to.

"25." I said while getting closer and closer to my car.

"WHAT? THAT'S A LIE RIGHT." She yelled.

"No I'm not lying and can you keep it down." I said. We were then only about 15 feet from my car.

She then hopped right in front of me and began inspecting my face, this annoyed me a little bit but I'll try to keep my patience.

"You sure don't look like your age." A pump of hot blood came running through my veins when I heard her hypocrisy.

"Looks who's talking, and by the way you are getting in my nerves." I said while a vein pooped out of my head but still kept my patience.

The reason why I wasn't scolding her is because I sense the old man watching from a far which was a little annoying and suspicious at the same time.

I then walked in front of my car and got in the driver's seat and Elsie got in next to me on the other side.

"Your car looks much cleaner than I expected." She said wiping her fingers across the seats, which I didn't saw the point of her doing that. And by the way I always clean my car weekly.

I don't know If she also sensed the old man watching and she was just abusing that opportunity or her personality is just like this but either way she was pretty annoying.

"Anyway, so where are we going?" she asked.

"Somewhere." I said as vague as I can be.