Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 327: Arc 5, - 21: Nailing the Truth

"Sobi, shut the lights," Fumeko opened up the corpse’s shirt. Asobi dissipated her lights and gave a tilt of her head to the brunette. Jotou knitted her brows and tried to spy what Fumeko searched for.

Below the band of the bra and above the navel—in between the blood blotches and discoloured skin—was a faint crimson glow. They were certainly not letters or numbers...

A single line of a strange set of patterns was, dissipating? Something had been scrawled onto the body and was, for the lack of a better term, burning away bit by bit.

The faint crimson glow was accompanied by faint oranges and yellows around the pattern, eating away at it like fire eating away at wood in a crackling fireplace.

As her eyes sat glued to it, trying to possibly comprehend what it meant, she voiced out, "Jotou, can you draw this? Quickly!?"

"I’ll try," Jotou flipped a page on the notepad and began roughly scribbling the patterns she saw. With her face sparking with electricity, she had barely enough light to see what she drew.

"What’s going on, what happened?" the wolf-girl rushed out of the room with her hands glowing blue.

"Something weird," Fumeko relayed and pointed to.

"It’s disappearing?" Asobi held her nose and only let her eyes go to the pattern.

"Slowly. I could barely see it with the lights," the brunette tried to decipher them.

"I can still barely see it- These are runes aren’t they?" Hotaru cocked her head.

"Runes?" Fumeko looked to her. "You know about these?"

"I can tell a couple of symbols, but I don’t have a clue in the world what these mean. And when I mean a couple, I literally mean I know the symbol for water and necromancy—that’s it, nothing else. But, it’s not like we’ve never seen them before."

"Heh?"

Hotaru poked Fumeko in the head, "Baregout’s shop when we figured out your affinities, remember? And you’d see more runes in imagery in books if you read more."

"Congratulations wolfy, all those books and you still don’t know what the runes mean."

The redhead scoffed almost childishly, "I didn’t say I studied them. But runes naturally follow magic and look what’s happening right here," she pointed to the fading runes.

"Can you two not argue in front of the crucified corpse?" Jotou finished copying the runes.

"It drowns out the smell at least," Asobi backed away from the body and lit the room up with white lights once more.

"D’you find anything in the room?" Fumeko queried.

"Messy sheets, makeup on the vanity, a lamp that worked—nothing out of the ordinary, but no documents either, not even a birth certificate. I’ll have to check more though and there’s another door."

Millimetre by millimetre the runic symbols were disappearing, barely even noticeable under the light despite the shirt no longer being an obstruction.

"How long did it take before your dad found the first body?" Jotou examined her drawing. "Four days? Or better yet, enough time for the runes to disappear completely?"

Fumeko’s eyes widened, "That could be it. And he wouldn’t know," she checked the skin again and realized the disappearing runes left no trace on the skin.

"The bigger question is, why’s it ticking down like it has a time limit? Is it a side-effect of the spell used to kill?" Jotou mused.

"You think magic’s the cause of death?" Hotaru took steps away from the corpse.

"It’s the best guess we have..." Fumeko figured.

The blonde looked to the ceiling and the light bulbs, "Thinking of it supernaturally; the spirit slash ghost was released from the body and then interfered with technology—that explains the broken bulbs, in a sense.

I keep looking at these," Jotou glanced to her copy of the runes, "and for some reason, they look familiar... But, it also looks incomplete."

Fumeko stood on the tip of her toes and peeked at Jotou’s notes, "Incomplete?"

"Yeah, look at it. There’s seven separate shapes and the first one I drew is the one disappearing right now. And looking at it on the body, it’s slightly more towards the right side, as if someone was writing from left to right.

If these are supposed to be runes and I assume they work like letters, it feels like there should be more here, like it’s an unfinished message or word we were too late to get."

"Huh, so we’re a little too late too. Maybe the company has ways of getting whatever’s left of the secret code?" Fumeko frowned and clenched her fists...

How much of the message would there have been if they had arrived earlier? She grumbled and looked to the notepad again, "...Actually, these runes do look familiar..."

"Right?"

Slight annoyance flashed across Hotaru’s face, "We saw it in Baregout’s shop in Kria."

"No, that’s not it," Jotou retorted with a knit of her brows.

"Hmmmmm..." Asobi droned on whilst looking at the runes on the body.

"Wait, you said the ghost was released?" Fumeko uttered.

"Well yeah, you kill someone and you let out a ghost, I’d assume that’s how it works- Wait..." Jotou halted herself.

"If that’s the case, we should’ve seen ghosts flying all over the place in the Last Stand. It must be that whatever magic was used, was the reason a ghost even appeared," Fumeko corrected.

Jotou’s eyes bubbled, "Spirit-mage. The one that attacked our house, he had runes he used to summon the ghosts, didn’t he?"

"That’s it!" Fumeko connected the last red line. "The runes were used to summon the ghost of the victim. That’s the cause of death."

"When you put it that way, yeah, it’s hard not to agree," Hotaru folded her arms. "But I don’t think ’loss of soul’ is a valid cause of death to put on an investigation report."

"It’s not like we’re writing a report wolfy, this isn’t a normal case."

Asobi tilted her head, still staring at the runes while Jotou flipped the notepad to the previous page and started scribbling something.

"I’m still failing to see a motive other than needing a ghost. It wouldn’t hold up in court, much less make sense here. Why this person specifically and the first murder that your dad found?" the redhead looked to the rooms, "Maybe there’s more to find."

"I don’t think you’ll find anything," Fumeko stopped her. "Here’s my theory. The victim complied and any trace of their identity was taken by those guys who came in here.

It adds up with the scene of the crime that seems to have no obvious signs of struggle, the door being locked afterwards, the body having no injuries beyond the parts hammered in with nails."

Hotaru furrowed her brows in thought, "But... that would mean the victim allowed their soul to be taken too."

Fumeko held a hand to her chin, "With the possibility of the cult added into context... That’d make sense, right?"

"You don’t mean..." the wolf-girl stared to her, "The victim was a part of the Deuctus Cult?"

"It’s a theory," she shrugged in reply. "One that makes sense. Unless there’s a rogue spirit-mage running around. But even then, why comply, why have all the theatrics of pinning a body up and why give away personal documents?"

"If you’re sure there’s not gonna be any documents in the apartment... I guess you’d be right. To have your soul willingly torn away from you... How loyal do you need to be...?" Hotaru almost pitied the corpse.

"Just to be sure, let’s check that other door," Fumeko blinked towards it and began unlocking. Hotaru followed behind and entered.

"Hmmm," Asobi compiled her thoughts and a light bulb popped into existence over her hat.

"Uhm..." What the two at the door saw was cabinets and storage space, messily kept. Right by the door was a desk and a chair with papers, ink and a typewriter. The drawers that Hotaru checked were completely empty beyond writing utensils and blank papers.

"Told you so," Fumeko smirked.

Hotaru placed her hands at her waist and narrowed her eyes, "The only reason you asked me to check was because you weren’t actually sure."

"What was that? I couldn’t hear it over how wrong you were for doubting me."

"You little brat, I didn’t doubt you!" her tail spiked.

"What’s going on Sobi?" Jotou turned from the notepad.

"Oh, they’re bickering like children over there," Asobi pointed to the rooms.

"I’m aware of that, I was more so looking at the light bulb over your head," Jotou noticed.

"Like children?" Hotaru poked her head out the room with her hands on the doorframe. Fumeko leered to the elf.

’Guess we feel less remorse with the idea that this was a cultist... If that’s even the case.’ Jotou glared to them. At least they were silent enough to maintain their stealth.

"Oh yeah, the time limit of the poofing-away blood runes," Asobi cocked her head. "It’s not gone yet. Does that mean, it’s not finished? Like, when I need to concentrate with a spell. If the ghosty magic’s not gone yet."

"Then whatever the spell is, it isn’t complete yet, it’s still going," Jotou agreed with a small smile, "Smart. It could be that."

"Spirit-mages don’t use magic or need affinities," Fumeko reminded.

"She’s right, we don’t know how spirit-mages use spells—if it even is a ’spell’. The disappearing runes could mean something else completely," Hotaru sided.

"But it could be that. We don’t know. There’s no reason to rule out that possibility," Jotou retorted.

"So, can we catch the ghost and bring this person back to life?" Asobi asked.

"With the state of the body?" Fumeko peered to the corpse with a raised eyebrow. "I don’t think that’s happening..." She walked closer and examined the fading runes, now down to six in total. "It almost looks like it was written with a small knife or something."

"Did they turn off the radiator to keep the body colder?" Hotaru examined alongside her.

"It’d give a little more time before the body was reported, but it still would’ve been found. It’s lucky whoever found the first body called dad and not the police."

"Do people in Burnetrout usually call a private detective as opposed to the regular police?" the wolf-girl folded her arms.

"You’d be surprised how many home calls he gets from the company. Having the title of greatest detective somehow makes everyone call in for every little thing like a missing cat."

"He’d be really good at finding a missing cat," Asobi replied.

"That’s not the point," Fumeko squinted. Jotou simply scribbled more on the notepad till Fumeko blinked towards her and snuck a peek, "What’re you still doing?"

Jotou showed the notepad; she had drawn a rough outline of the body and the circle, alongside the nails on each end. Above the limbs, she had assigned a number over each.

In smaller scribbles were numbers all over. ’2365, 6523, 3256, 2365, 5362, 6253, 5623, 5263-’ "What the hell do the numbers mean?" Fumeko gave a bewildered expression.

"Five nails," Jotou pointed to the left palm of the corpse, then to the right, "Six nails," she pointed to the left foot, "Three, then two," she stopped at the right foot. "Five-six-three-two—that’s the most obvious one."

"You went from left to right. But technically, that’s the right hand and that’s the left," Fumeko corrected. She skimmed through the chicken scratches of Jotou running through number combinations.

"Duh, but it’s presented like this," Jotou took a step back and got a wider perspective. "When you enter, the body’s facing us. Even so, the numbers then would just be six-five-two-three."

"Those numbers... I feel like, I’ve seen them before," Hotaru took a moment to recall.

"Where?" Fumeko swivelled her head.

"If I knew, I’d be saying," she shut her eyes tight and tried her hardest—it was right on the tip of her tongue.

"Which number?" Asobi’s eyes went down the twenty-four combinations Jotou wrote.

"The first one, I think? Five-six-three-two, Five-six-three-two..." her words became barely a whisper. "Where would I’ve even seen that, it’s so- A map. That’s it, a map, when I guided us here to Mandrake... I think."

"You think?"

"Shut up Meko. Jotou, Jotou!" Hotaru walked forward with her hand out and furrowed brows, "Map, where’s the map?" she still kept her inside voice.

"I’ve got it, I’ve got it, calm down," Jotou fished out a thick folded piece of paper from her coat pocket. Hotaru swiped the map out of her hand and hastily spread it across the kitchen counter. Her blue eyes scanned for the numbers across the map of Dolpool.

"The body was a map?" Asobi titled her head.

"Maybe, but why leave something like that and give a hint then?" Fumeko held a hand to her chin whilst her brows twisted in utter confusion.

"Here," Hotaru nearly stabbed the map with her finger. They all peered over her shoulder. "Marksman’s Wholefoods," there were a few other numbers in the network of buildings and roads.

The numbers five-six-three-two were over a small rectangle alongside a row of rectangles. "It’s a warehouse of the company in Narcissus Borough."

"That’s the company that Meko used to get to Kria so speedily," Asobi uttered.

"It’s not like they’re a service I bought, but why would the nails and this specific numbers connect? Is there one for six-five-two-three?" Fumeko lowered her head onto the map.

"Silly Meko, there’s only four numbers, not six."

Fumeko’s eyes glazed over.

"Not that I can see right now," Hotaru kept searching.

"Does it seem like a coincidence for you?" Jotou smiled.

"It’s worth checking out if anything," Fumeko stood back and exhaled.

"Alright, let’s go! I want to breathe fresh air again," Asobi raised her wand.

"H-hang on," Hotaru folded the map somewhat as she glanced to the other three. "We’re supposed to get here, figure out the situation and report back to the company; that’s what your dad said."

"It’s a potential lead and it could lead to nothing... We don’t know if we don’t check," Fumeko shrugged.

"Don’t give me that and stop smiling—no. This is about your father’s trust, don’t push it this far," the redhead scolded.

"Okay, think about it like this. We’re already late here; the police and even the company goes through proper procedure which could take who knows how long.

By that time, IF there’s anything in that warehouse, it would be gone without a trace. Whereas if we go now..."

Hotaru looked away and folded her arms, "There, might be something..." she was forced to admit. "Or it’s already gone, keep in mind this body’s nearly a day old."

"Then there’s no harm in checking, is there?" Fumeko peered up and pouted with a tilted head. "Pretty please?"

The redhead sighed, "I suppose... Maybe, but-"

"Yeah and we can get even more info for the company! There’s no danger we can’t face!" Asobi coerced more.

Hotaru hummed and muttered...

"Come on firefly~ We’re already conducting an investigation without a permit. What’s a few more broken rules?" her eyes sparked.

"Yeesh, fine, fine!" Hotaru threw her hands up and huffed.

"Yay, let’s please get out of this apartment," Asobi was already at the door.

"Didn’t realize the word firefly would get you this flustered," a half-cocked grin grew on the brunette’s lips.

"I’m not flustered," her voice cracked slightly before she cleared her throat and shook her tail once. "Alright, it’s a bit of a trek to Narcissus, so we’ll need to disguise ourselves and get a carriage again."