Chapter 7.3 : Flesh

Staring at the famous manga artist who had just managed to blow his brains out on his watch, Takashima Kenji let out a gulp, feeling sweat fall down his forehead.

"I'm finished," mumbled Kenji as he mechanically took out his cell phone from his pocket, thoughts swirling inside of his mind.

Although the police would also be blamed for Hirai Kazuo's dead, Kenji will probably bear the brunt of the trouble.

Just thinking about his future caused Kenji to take a peek at the gun lying on the floor.

Without any warning, Kenji slapped himself, with a look of horror o his face.

"Don't make rash decisions," mumbled Kenji as tears fell down his face, thankfully though, Kenji had managed to destroy that dark thought, at least for now.

After a few moments, Kenji then called his superior, Sawaya Takashi.

What followed Kenji's explanation of what happened was a brief silence, followed by his phone beginning to shake, as the middle-aged Takashi suddenly began screaming at the top of his lungs.

Even as Takashi got in his car and began moving towards Kenji's location, his screaming did not stop ringing in Kenji's ear.

Of course, as Kenji was listening to the continued cursing, he could not place his full attention on the corpse, nor could he further examine it, allowing it to sit unattended beside the ventilation shaft nearby.

...

Staring at Takashima Kenji, who was standing in front of him, Sawaya Takashi couldn't help but take in a deep breath, trying his best to not let his anger get the better of him.

Ignoring the impulse to beat his subordinate to a pulp, Takashi began questioning him.

"Did you see him take out the gun?" asked Takashi as he moved his eyes, looking at the two policemen who were placing the suicide weapon into a ziplock bag.

"No sir, I just heard a loud bang, causing me to turn around and look at him, and to find him lying on the floor, dead," said Kenji as he lowered his head.

Hearing Kenji's words, Takashi couldn't help but clench his fist, trying his best to resist the impulse he was feeling at the moment.

"Wh-y had you turned your back towards a dangerous criminal?" asked Takashi, gritting his teeth as he stared at his idiotic subordinate with even more anger visible in his eyes, causing him to stutter his first word.

"No reason sir," said Kenji, shaking his head as sweat filled his forehead.

Just as Takashi was about to continue his beatdown of Kenji, another policeman standing nearby spoke up, holding a ziplock bag in his hands.

"Sir, should I take this to the station?" asked the policeman, as he slightly raised the ziplock bag holding the bloodied gun into the air.

Hearing the words of his subordinate, Takashi once again calmed down, saving Kenji.

"Go ahead, just make sure to not mess this up as well, If this weapon is lost, I don't know what will happen," said Takashi as he waved his hands, causing the policeman to nod.

"I understand sir, I will take the utmost care in ensuring the safety of the evidence," said the policeman before walking away.

It seemed as though the policeman took Takashi's attention off Kenji, as the former looked towards the two paramedics, one young and one relatively old, which were carefully placing the dead body now covered by cloth onto a stretcher.

Suddenly, the knees of the young paramedics slightly buckled, making him lose his footing, causing the old one to grit his teeth, trying his best to keep the stretcher up.

Thankfully though, Takashi and Kenji were standing nearby, paying attention, and after only a brief moment, they helped the two place the stretcher on the ground.

Staring at the young paramedic in front of him, who clearly wasn't under his jurisdiction, Takashi couldn't help but clench his fist once again.

"Did something happen? Were you injured?" asked the older paramedic, staring at his younger colleague with worry on his face.

"I'm not injured, but..."

The young paramedic did not finish his sentence, as he pointed toward the ground behind Hirai Kazuo.

As one might expect, the ground behind him was fully stained with blood, but even so, if one looked at it, they would clearly notice what the young man was talking about.

A line.

A line of blood moving upwards from where Hirai Kazuo's body was laying on the floor towards a vent, entering it.

The moment every single person on the scene saw that line of blood, they froze up, questions appearing in their mind.

Well, all except for one.

By now out of pure instinct, Takashi turned towards Kenji, a vein appearing on his forehead.

"Did you see this when you investigated the body?" asked Takashi, clenching his fist tightly, even more, anger brewing on his face.

"I didn't investigate the body," said Kenji, causing three more veins to appear on Takashi's forehead.

"What were you doing?" asked Takashi as the older paramedic approached him, clearly concerned with his condition.

"I was talking on the phone with you sir, and by the time the conversation had ended, you had already arrived," said Kenji whilst lowering his head.

Hearing Kenji's words, Takashi suddenly stopped himself, some anger appearing on his face, but this time, unlike before, this anger was directed toward himself.

"Sir, try taking deep breaths, you need to calm down, otherwise you may cause harm yourself," said the older paramedic as he approached Takashi, patting him on the back.

Hearing the words of the medic, Takashi took in a few breaths, slowly calming himself down, before suddenly turning his attention to the body, as well as the young paramedic attending to it.

"Sir, I think you need to see something," said the young paramedic, staring at the back neck of the body.

Hearing this, the older paramedic suddenly ran towards him, before freezing the moment he saw it.

A small hole, clearly not created by the bullet, in the back of Hirai Kazuo's neck.

...

Whilst this was happening, a small flesh bud was slowly bud surely crawling it's way through the vents of the building, when suddenly, a hand suddenly cut through the steel vents, gripping it.

Staring at her flesh bud, which had made it's way back to her, a faint smile couldn't help but appear on Diana's face.