Posting from the Holiday Inn DFW North, room 232, the night before AnimeFEST
begins....
This one is not my fault, I swear!  My roommates made me do it!



The Silence of the Hentai
Plot:  Tom Hayes, Sky Rigdon
Execution:  M A Davis / Miko


       Inspector Haruka of the Nerima Ward looked over the crime
scene one more time.  He paused to light a cigarette, then puffed
at it thoughtfully.

       "You been in Nerima long, kid?" he asked, idly.

       "No, sir," inspector Kenji replied.  "I just transferred in a
week ago, sir.  I'd heard all of the stories, but I never thought... I
mean this is... is _wrong_ sir.   It's weird and it's wrong."

       Inspector Haruka nodded in silence.  He flicked on his tape
recorder and spoke into it.

       "Suspect is a short, balding male, age unknown but appears
to be well over sixty.  Suspect was found tied to a lamppost.  He
appears to have died of suffocation, although the body also
appears to have been beaten by various blunt objects...."

       "It looks like he was hit by a truck if you ask me, sir," Kenji
said.  "Maybe several of them."

       "I know what it looks like," Haruka said, turning the
recorder off for a moment.  "Trust me, Kenji, once you've been
working Nerima for a while you'll understand.  You find people
beaten like this all the time, and it's never anything as simple as
vehicular hit and run."

       "His face," Kenji said.  "I've never seen such a look before.
Sheer terror, but at the same time, a look of almost pure joy...."

       Inspector Haruka took another puff on his cigarette, then
stared off into the distance in contemplation.

       "We'll want to check the local school," he said.  "Furinkhan
High.  Talk to the students, especially the girls."

       "Sir?  If you say so, sir."

       "Oh, indeed I do," Haruka said.  "This case isn't as
mysterious as it first appears, Kenji.  In fact, think we'll get to the
whole truth without too much difficulty...."

       Kenji looked back at the victim's body and shuddered.

       "Imagine," Kenji said, "having 30 pairs of panties stuffed
down your throat.  It sounds inhumane!"

       "Oh, I don't know," Haruka replied.  "If you ask me, he died
a happy man...."


FINI