Global Phenomenon

"Hahaha! Ha-HAANAEEEE! Sto- STop!!!"

"Hanae? You have to call me by my name first!"

"HirirOMI!"

"Big sis Hiromi to you!"

"Ehhhh! But isn't it too early? Hahaha, okayy!! Big sis! Big sis!!"

...

..

.

"Hah hah hah" Hanae was puffing.

"Well then, does he come home straight after school?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes."

"Do you mind if we just wait here?"

"Please do!"

Hanae blushed.

"It's been a while since I've talked to someone friendly..."

"... Thank you."

"No, thank you..." Hanae replied as she pulled the Koala March boxes close to her chest.

"So why do you need my brother's help?"

"... How much do you know?"

Hikaru listened to her story and noticed Junpei kept half of the story to himself which wasn't surprising since she's just a little girl.

"That's most of what we know. We'd like your brother to join us to protect everyone and beat the bad guys."

***

Officer Hiromichi and Officer Arata were driving away from a crime scene to what was most likely another crime scene. They were solemnly silent in the car. Even Hiromichi who usually talked was uncharacteristically quiet. Or in another perspective, characteristically quiet as the situation was grave and only someone who was often strange would say anything in this situation.

Since the assault on the police precinct, everyone - no matter their ranks - were going through the busiest point in their entire lives. Not even a terrorist bomb threat could compare.

They had the cop killer's ID but nothing remarkable was found except for the fact that he was a Shinto priest.

Shinto is a polytheistic belief including the worship of numerous divinities, known as kami, or sometimes jingi.

Shinto ("the way of the gods") is the indigenous faith of the Japanese public and as old as Japan itself. It remains Japan's significant religion close by Buddhism. Shinto doesn't have an organizer nor does it have hallowed sacred writings like the sutras or the Bible. Publicity and preaching are not basic either, because Shinto is deeply rooted in the Japanese people and traditions.

"Shinto divine beings" are called kami. People become kami after they kick the bucket and are loved by their families as hereditary kami. The kami of exceptional individuals are even revered at certain holy places. The Sun Goddess Amaterasu is viewed as Shinto's most significant kami.

Toxicology tests of this "divine priest" revealed traces of bath salts. Hiromichi practically cheered "yes!" in the emergency operations centre (EOC) room in the precinct but regretted after the words left his mouth.

Everyone including Senior Officer Aina, the most provocative policewoman in the force and Hiromichi's crush stared at him with varying looks. Some of them mentally facepalmed themselves while others looked down on him.

Since Aina sits at a social hierarchy position much higher than her rank, the competition for her affection is stifling. The forerunner being Arata who she has been walking into and making a conversation with.

However, it was more embarrassing in front of Sergeant Mitsunobu, Chief Inspector Katsunori and the Chief of Midori police station - Superintendent Kazushige. They who stood at the front, the entirety of their facial expressions could be seen by Hiromichi.

On the bright side, he thought that while he doesn't have the "muscle" as Arata does, the brains will surely win Aina's heart as intelligence was generally viewed as a better quality to have in a romantic partner.

Doctors who did the tox screen at Yokohama Shinmidori General Hospital which is the closest to Midori ward had detected no drugs in the blood initially. On the suggestion of Hiromichi, they found traces of synthetic cathinones (bath salts) as its detection is not included in routine urine and blood drug screens.

Still, the side effects of the drug were at odds with the description of the attack on the precinct. The doctors had sent the blood samples to research laboratories and after a while, the hospital contacted them back and relayed the researcher's discoveries.

The chemical was based on bath salt but seemed to be a new concoction that was highly unstable. This seemed to be the cause of the unnatural increase in strength. It was like bath salts but ten times worse.

The police force was forced into overtime work after the Genji massacre, like citizens drafted into the military. The most shocking thing about the massacre was the lack of bodies and there was no trace of Genji ever since that night as if he had disappeared off the face of the Earth.

Crime rates specifically violent assaults and the number of missing persons cases have risen globally at a disturbing rate. All of this happening on the night of Monday.

The world was slipping into anarchy and no one had an explanation for it. Since the Genji massacre might have connections to the chaos that was happening, it was treated as a high-profile case and also because the trail has gone cold from presumably a lack of competency, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau (PSB) has stepped in.

The PSB is an authority of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department responsible for public security with locale over the Tokyo city. It has a power of over 2,000 officials.

In the Japanese police association, just the Metropolitan Police Department turns into "the bureau" where the security police branch becomes independent. Tokyo is viewed as a special case since it had been working with the Japanese National Police Agency for a very long time since they share the same location.

The PSB isn't what could be compared to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), despite a few claims about it. It doesn't worry about ordinary crimes. The focal point of the PSB are activities which compromise national security and so, their purpose is a lot like the Special Branches of British and Commonwealth police forces.

Hiromichi was ecstatic that his theory about bath salts was correct and he believed that it was helping the PSB spearhead their investigation. He could be the person who helped solve the mystery of a global phenomenon.