I'm posting this for someone that wants to remain anonymous
until later. Thanks to Richard Lawson for giving the green
light on this story.
It's a strange little story, hope you enjoy it :)
-RpM
-------
Souji had known it was a mistake to get a job with an
American firm. He had known it. But he had taken the job anyway,
which was why he was currently driving home in a state of very,
very high stress.
Amalgamated Consolidated Inc had no company song. No sense
of community. And the coffee was terrible.
And the upper-management, Americans all...horrible. Geki-san
had goofed a bit on the Likoda account, and the boss had called
him in to yell at him. He had stared straight at him with a nasty
look the whole time, until finally poor Geki was in tears. Did the
boss comfort him, tell him it was all right? No! He looked
_embarrassed_, mumbled something, and left. How unfeeling!
As he glanced to the left, towards a house built alongside a
training hall, a few images registered through the front
windows.
A long metal streak, glinting, being swung in an arc.
Something falling to the ground.
An eruption of searing, brilliant blue light.
And then the car was past. Souji blinked. That had been odd.
He spent the remander of the drive mulling over poor Geki-san,
his uncaring boss, and what the blue flash could have been. By
the time he walked up the steps to his apartment, he still had no
answer.
He tossed his jacket on the sofa, poured himself a drink, and
turned on the news.
"...just arrived at the corner from the Tendo Dojo. We have
what looks to be a woman's decapitated body, lying on the floor
next to her own severed head..."
==================================
D I S A P P E A R E N C E S
==================================
by ???
based on characters created by R. Takahashi and developed by
Richard Lawson. Lawson's work used with permission.
"This is nuts. The case was solved, damn it!"
Detective Okasa paced the floor of her office, slowly wearing a
track into the already-thin carpet, hands balled into fists. Her
partner, knowing this mood all too well, sighed glumly. It was
going to be a long day.
"Maybe he was lying. I mean..."
"No, he wasn't. I'm sure of it." She stopped, sank into her
chair, and turned to face him. "Look, you know me. Have I ever
been wrong about this kind of thing before? The Saotome kid was
telling the truth. Or thought he was, which amounts to about the
same thing." A look of frustration crossed her face, and she
sighed. "Besides, even if he _were_ lying...he can't possibly be
guilty.
"He goes home from his interview with me. He's safe. I just
got done telling him that the deaths of Kuonji, Hibiki, and the
two Kuno nutcases weren't his fault. If he were the killer, he's
just been told he's home free."
"Maybe he didn't believe you..."
"So he kills someone else to get me off his trail? Nope. Doesn't
make sense."
He leaned back. "Look, Okasa, the kid might be a nut. Split
personality, or whatever the term is. Maybe he thought he was
telling the truth, went home, and flipped out again."
She nodded. "I thought that might be it too. But motive aside,
he _couldn't_ have done it. Look, about an hour after he gets
home the emergency dispatch gets the call..."
---------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT OF CALL #235, STATION 5, 3AM 7/5/96
Station: Emergency Dispatch, can we help you?
Caller: Oh yes, yes you can. Ranma-kun's been stabbed in the
stomach, and he's bleeding a bit...
Station: Okay, Miss, where is he, we'll get an ambulance there
right away...
Caller: The Tendo Dojo, Nerima ward, a few blocks down from
Furinkan.
Station: Okay, they're on their way...just stay calm, Miss. Do you
know how to make a pressure bandage?
Caller: Oh yes! I already put on on his stomach...was that right?
Station: That was very good, yes. Now, what I need you to do is...
Caller: Thank you for your help.
END OF CALL
----------------------------------------------------
"The person who made the call was Kasumi Tendo. Everyone we
played it to who had ever heard the girl agreed on it. After
Ranma was stabbed, she went into the living room and called the
ambulance. Just the ambulance. Not the police. As if whatever
had happened was over, and the only concern was getting
Saotome to a doctor."
"Some people are like that, Okasa. So worried about another
person that they don't look out for themselves." He leaned back
in his chair. "And it sounded like this Kasumi was that kind of
person."
The detective sighed. "Anyways, the ambulance arrives about
five minutes later. They hear screams from the dojo, run in..."
-----------------------------------------------------
TESTIMONY OF RENKI KASI, PARAMEDIC, 7/5/96
Okasa: So you heard screams coming from the dojo building?
Kasi: Yeah, a real shrill, bad scream. The kind you, uh, hear at
accidents, when a mother just lost a child.
Okasa: What did you do then?
Kasi: Well, Hikaru and I ran in, to, you know, see what was going
on. We figured that the stab victim was in there.
Okasa: And what did you see upon entering?
Kasi: It was bad, real bad. This girl is the one doing the
screaming, about seventeen or so, just standing there and
shrieking, and on the floor is this other girl, dead, with her head
off.
Okasa: That would be Kasumi Tendo.
Kasi: I guess, yeah. Yellow dress and an apron, and the head's
been set on top of the body, staring out at the door. Over in the
corner is this guy, seventeen, sixteen, with a bandage wrapped
around his stomach. He's just sitting there, looking a little
bleary-eyed, not quite all there. My first thought is that the
guy's on drugs or something.
Okasa: What happened then?
Kasi: Well, I head over towards the guy, and Hikaru goes over to
the girl, when all of a sudden she starts screaming "KASUMI! NO
NO NO! BAKA!" and she runs at the guy like she's going to kill him.
Hikaru and I grab her, and sedate her, and for a bit it was scary.
It was like we were trying to hold down a gorilla, not a teenage
girl.
Okasa: And you then treated Saotome?
Kasi: The kid? Yeah, we got him and the girl to the hospital, and
called the cops and the coroner.
Okasa: You didn't see anyone else around? None of the family?
Kasi: No, but we didn't go in the house or anything. We leave that
sort of thing for the cops, you know?
Okasa: A wise policy. Thank you for your time, sir.
Kasi: No sweat. Hey, catch the guy who did this, okay? That kinda
stuff is just wrong.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
---------------------------------------------------------
"So I arrive, and the body-boys and forensics jocks, and we get
to work. We find plenty of stuff, all right, but the stuff doesn't
make much sense.
"Kasumi Tendo was killed by a sharp, bladed weapon...probably
a sword of some sort. There was no such weapon at the scene.
There was, however, a tanto lying some distance away from the
body, with blood on the blade. DNA says it's Saotome's blood;
that and the shape of the wound say it's the weapon he was
stabbed with. It had two sets of prints on it, his and Kasumi's. In
the main house...at first we thought a bomb had gone off in the
living room. Someone went nuts in there, slashed up everything,
broke furniture...a few things looked like they actually were
blown up, but there weren't any traces of explosive material..."
"So what did the two witnesses have to say? Wouldn't that
clear things up?"
She scowled. "Yeah. Clear as mud."
----------------------------------------------------------
TESTIMONY OF AKANE TENDO, 7/5/96
Okasa: Akane-san? I'd like to ask you a few questions. Can you
tell me what happened yesterday? (Time passes) Akane-san, we
want to catch whoever did this, but we need your help. Can you
tell me what happened?
Akane: Kasumi's dead.
Okasa: I know. I'm very sorry, Akane-san.
Akane: Ranma no baka.
Okasa: Ranma? What about Ranma?
Akane: He just sat there...I came downstairs, there was a noise,
blue light...
Okasa: Blue light? A explosion?
Akane: Someone broke the shogi table. Broke it in half.
Okasa: What happened after you came downstairs?
Akane: I tried to find...something, and I went in, in the dojo,
Kasumi, Kasumi-oneechan. Dead. Dead. Kasumi-oneechan.
Okasa: Akane-san, this is very important. What was Ranma
doing?
Akane: Baka. Baka. He just sat there and held his stomach. Baka.
Kasumi.
Sensei: I'm afraid I can't allow any more questions right now,
detective.
Okasa: I understand. Goodbye, Akane-san.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
----------------------------------------------------------
"Maybe in a few weeks I can get more out of her. Right now..."
"What about Saotome?"
"Oh, he was drugged, all right. Not like the paramedic thought,
though. Someone slipped him a mickey finn, just enough to keep
him awake but immobile."
"So he saw the whole thing?"
"Yes and no."
----------------------------------------------------------
TESTIMONY OF RANMA SAOTOME, 7/5/96
Okasa: So. I hear you'll be fine in a month or two.
Ranma: Yeah. That's what the docs tell me.
Okasa: Want to tell me what happened?
Ranma: Kasumi. She was the one behind the killings. Ukyou,
Ryouga, Cologne...
Okasa: But the Kunos were found to be responsible for that,
Ranma-san. You said so yourself.
Ranma: Yeah, I know. She used them.
Okasa: So you killed her?
Ranma: No. She drugged me, brought me into the dojo, and started
to cut me open. Woulda looked like suicide.
Okasa: But you're alive, and she isn't. Why?
Ranma: I dunno...someone came in, and then...I don't know. I think
the drug was causing me to hallucinate, that and the wound. I
kept seeing more than one Kasumi, and someone shoved her head
in my face after it had been severed...
Okasa: You say you were hallucinating. Is it possible that you
also hallucinated Kasumi as the murderer?
Ranma: I don't...I'm not sure. It seemed so clear at the time, but
now...the painkillers they got me on are making it a bit hard to
focus.
Okasa: Did you kill Kasumi?
Ranma: What? No! I told you, someone else came in and did it. I
think. Everything after she...started to cut me is a bit hazy.
Okasa: Did you see Kasumi use the phone before you entered the
dojo?
Ranma: No. I knocked it over while she was carrying me out, but
she didn't even pick it up off the floor. Why?
Okasa: Because Kasumi seems to be the one who called the
ambulance to come get you. We have a tape of her voice telling
the operator that you had a stomach wound, and needed help. Do
you have any idea why she would have done that?
Ranma: No...not unless she wanted them to arrive too late...do you
know where the Tendos are?
Okasa: They're with Akane. She found the body, and...well, she's
under psychiatric observation.
Ranma: Damn. Is she bad?
Okasa: Hard to say.
Ranma: Damn.
Okasa: If you do see her again, don't mention your suspicions of
Kasumi to her. I don't think she's in a position to handle it.
Ranma: It's a bit more than a suspicion...yeah, I won't tell her.
Okasa: Good. Thank you for your time, Ranma-san.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
----------------------------------------------------------
"He thinks Kasumi did it, huh? The other murders?"
"Yeah. Everyone else says the girl was a living saint. I think
that in between the drug and the murders...he's a little paranoid.
Don't blame him, either."
"So why don't you think he did it?"
"He _couldn't_ have. Look, Kasumi calls for the ambulance and
tells them he's got a stomach wound. Which he did. No way would
he be able to cut her head off while drugged and bleeding to
death." She sighed. "I can't even build up a chain of events.
Logically, things had to have happened in this order; Ranma is
stabbed, Kasumi applies a bandage and calls the ambulance,
Kasumi is killed. But why didn't she call the police? Did she
really drug Ranma, like he says? And who ripped up the living
room?" Her fist came down hard on the edge of the desk. "It
doesn't make sense."
The phone rang, and she picked it up. "Hello?"
After a few minutes, she hung up. "That was the lab. According
to them, Kasumi was killed _before_ the call was made. Which
is, of course, impossible."
"A tape recording, maybe?"
"That answers questions? Nice try."
Silence for a second.
"And what the hell does "Kaeri Ni" mean?"
"Huh?"
"It was carved into one of the bits of sofa."
"Odd."
"Yup."
"Look at the bright side, Okasa. This'll make a hell of a story."
"Yeah. Well, I'm getting some sleep. Maybe something'll turn up
tomorrow."
----------------------------------------------------------
In a rain-swept cemetery, close and yet unimaginably distant
from Okasa's office, blue fire erupted. A figure staggered out of
it, limmed by the flames, and collapsed.
Almost there...
-finis?-
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Converging Series - Act 4 Coming Soon