Chapter 27

Yesterday was just… intense.

There were still many harpies to participate in our 'little party', after all, there were just over 3000 for lack of space in the palace.

The total number of harpies in my realm counts in our records at 5604.

Even though they were all faithful, about 900 of them still refused to do any perverted activity with me, either out of fear of losing themselves in the midst of pleasure or for a myriad of other reasons.

Lya is the face that represents this avant-garde that refuses to accept these shameful sides of itself.

Unfortunately for her, this small group of hers would only dwindle with time.

Seeing their sisters having fun, it was only a matter of time before they all submitted.

Wow. Thinking like that, it seems like what Rias had said about me is actually real. It's like I'm a big bad wolf looking for sheep.

After managing the mess a bit, I managed to distribute the system to the rest of the harpies and this time I skipped the alternative of another 'party'.

Index had reached a new level of processing power.

Remember, using the Cluster method, each person who received my system would add operational capacity to [index].

That's why I was developing another kind of interface bound in [index]. An interface aimed at another target audience, humans.

But unlike the system my harpies use, this one was more limited, and if anyone wanted to gain power.... They would have to work hard for it.

People in that interface only have access to the status screen, and a store I created that they can exchange fictional currency for spells and knowledge. What none of them would know was that an imperceptible part of their minds would be used to house the index and thus automatically benefit me.

It's a big ambition that I have planned, unfortunately it wasn't ready yet.

Aaahh! It was hard not to think about my dear harpies, I miss them.

"You look suspicious," said a kuudere voice and with a sharp look in my direction.

"UH? K-Koneko-chan?" I give her a confused look.

"Hentai," the white haired girl said, before looking away, ignoring me.

I laugh awkwardly, but deep down I thought... How did she notice that? Did she have a perversion radar or something? It makes no sense.

"Looks like Koneko-chan has made a new friend," Akeno smiles widely in our direction and the white haired girl just continues to enjoy some sweets.

"Akeno," Rias interrupts as she places a portable blackboard in front of us and says again, "Don't bully them if possible. Ahem --- Ummm, I need all the minds here at full capacity."

The redhead wore a black women's suit, in the front pocket an attached pen, glasses and holds in her right hand a long wooden ruler.

What was the need for cosplay? I didn't understand.

But I wasn't complaining about enjoying that amazing view.

Look doesn't hurt, sorry Oppai Dragon.

"As much as it pains me to say –" Rias sighs in a brief pause and, "Sona has the upper hand. We've gathered as much evidence in the last couple of days as possible, but she got most of it for herself first."

The redhead had changed her tone and way of speaking, getting into the character of an older and more experienced teacher. But I could still see her good spirits. She was confident of winning.

The chances of the killer being Hikimage are extremely low. I've analyzed his profile carefully over the last few days and I can see something...

He was like me... a recluse

It hurt to admit it but it was true.

If you were to look at our human history, a lot of inventors and scientists were or at least had their anti-social moments. Newton was a loner, as were tesla and many others. Another example in this world was Ajuka, another inventor who also stuck in his laboratories for his studies.

If you come to think of it, although I've had a lot of battle experience over the last few months, the periods I gained the most power were acting like a recluse, developing new skills within a house/apartment.

A Hikikomori.

That said, I wouldn't solve this case in hopes of the culprit really being my nemesis.

Not.

This was an opportunity for me to show a little valor, but not enough for the devil's heirs to insist on me joining their peerages.

"Ummm, Rias-senpai," I say 'shyly' interrupting the redhead's presentation of evidence.

"Huh? Sato-kun. Is there anything you'd like to add?" Rias wonders if she had forgotten something. .

Kiba and others also look at me to see what I had to say.

"Well --- You said that most murders are paralleled and within 10 km from subway lines, correct?"

She looks at her own drawing on the board with a thoughtful face and says, "Yes."

"Soooo," I look sideways at each other shyly, as if I can't stand their questioning stares, and say, "Subway operating hours run until midnight. The murders take place from this period or even later, around one or two o'clock in the morning. He or she is a careful person and would not choose moments of little movement but periods of greater crowding to blend in better."

The most plausible hypothesis is that he was getting around while it was still daylight, during the most common business hours.

"Hmmm, that makes sense," Kiba pondered before looking at me confused, "But I still don't see how that can help us. There are countless people who use the subway every day. We don't have a face, nor a name that can give us any direction."

"We don't need one, at least not yet." I said with a small smile, as if I'd found a sudden confidence.

I had really managed to hold their attention.

"What's so weird about this killer? Aside from all the deaths stuff of course."

"Hmmm," Rias tried to summon her inner detective, but she came to a conclusion and muttered under her breath to herself, "Do I run out of my detective powers away from Kuoh?"

Yes it had to be this, she thought.

"Let me answer --- He wasn't filmed even once."

A silence broke in the room.

"Not once. Where's the logic in this? Is he some kind of Mister M? We're in Tokyo -- Although there isn't a camera on every corner, it's strange to think that through so many murders not once was he filmed. "

"Vampire," sighed Akeno upon realizing what had always been obvious.

"Maybe a dhampir," completed Rias.

"I mean~," I rubbed my cheeks shyly and explained, "At least from what Kiba-sensei explained to me... There are gods, werewolves, vampires and a multitude of races running around. Their folklore is well known and I built this theory on that."

"But of course. How come we never thought of this?" Rias says aloud to herself.

"The deaths never had bite marks and no presence of supernatural energy. We never considered such a plausible possibility. This explains the deaths being by mutilation and so bloody." said the redhead in contemplation.

Vampires had a fondness for blood and such violent deaths could be explained with that.

This also explained why the killer chose to move so few kilometers away from the train tracks, which had a race whose nature didn't like to walk in sunlight.

"Wonderful," Rias lights up a new gleam in her eyes and says happily. "We have a new direction, now we need on~"

"We don't need any more clues, Rias-senpai."

"Mm?" She looks at me confused.

Although finding the killer to be a vampire is a promising start--this would still be far from the solution from her perspective, but it seemed like I once again surprised her.

"The forensic diagnoses that you yourself reported say the deaths were bloody, but the amount of blood spilled and present on the corpses add up perfectly."

"Pervert-senpai, very insightful," Koneko nodded to herself.

"Hey! I'm not a pervert," I said indignantly in her direction. "I prefer the term super pervert."

Koneko looks at me with a tense face.

"He's not feeding on the victims," ​​said Kiba, recognizing what I meant by that.

"Certainly," I nodded at him.

"So," the blonde looks towards the map drawn on the blackboard and says, "he must be feeding on other targets without necessarily killing them. In a totally sneaky way."

I nodded at him and, "I would try to investigate the bars and clubs near the locations and times of the murders. Try watching the security cameras at the entrance and look for a gap in the queues, maybe this will help us find him, "I tested this hypothesis.

Rias smiles at me and holds a paper in her hand.

She was probably alerting her family members scattered around the city

Hours later a result came out of it.

The security camera at the door of a nightclub showed a very suspicious empty space in the queue, as if someone was there, but the cameras couldn't register it.

"Akeno," Rias said to her queen who was already on her notebook, "verify the ID of the woman who entered just before our suspect."

"Yes, I was already doing this." Akeno said with a smile.

After identifying the woman who previously entered our suspect.

Rias runs towards the paper list she got from the club's entrance records and there it was...

Goda Junichi.

In several other bars and clubs close to the murders we checked the list and in most of them that same name was present and 'coincidentally' the order of his name matched the strange emptiness of the images.

(Author's note: Vampires do not appear in footage, video or mirrors.)

Rias smiles brightly and says turning her attention to everyone, "Would anyone like to go to a party?"