Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 348: Arc 5, - 42: Assistance Required

Avoiding the eyes of the other officers, the three huddled around a sofa in the room. Even with the multiple glances towards the three, the police did not dare bother them as they spoke.

"Feather poisoning a random bellboy and conveniently getting caught after? I don’t trust it one bit," Jotou uttered.

"I don’t think it was much of a convenience, they did say she put up a resistance," the redhead corrected.

"Whatever the case, it’s clear as day my dad didn’t bring us here to see Feather," Fumeko huffed. "One thing it all comes back to is procedure. We’re not working with the law and taking ’precautionary steps’ and waiting for approval."

Jotou glanced to the corners of the room, "Thank hell this world doesn’t have security cameras—yet."

"I can take a guess, but..." Hotaru eyed the blonde.

"Surveillance cameras, their put up in places that need to be watched and record things going by. Like a camera that keeps taking pictures every nanosecond so that people can see it later and know what happened."

While Jotou explained the concept, red strings dashed across the brunette’s vision. She held a hand to her a chin and gazed to the floor, "...The murders, they have to be connected..."

Hotaru’s ears bristled to hear that mutter. "It’s been established, right? They were used by the cult to send directions to their gathering spots, collect a soul and the victims were a part of the cult—assumingly."

Fumeko furrowed her brows and slowly shook her head, "Why do something so elaborate just to give directions?

Collecting a soul’s a lead we can’t follow necessarily, but with how many ghosts there were when we fought, there should’ve been a LOT more murders happening. I think," Fumeko pondered longer... "I think that’s a secondary purpose."

"Like what?" the wolf-girl asked.

"If you think about it..." Jotou spoke. "Your dad and the company are the people who believe the cult might be behind the recent murders. He also said, the government knows of the cult lurking about, which includes the police..."

"But they haven’t connected the two? Seems incompetent of them," Hotaru closed her eyes. "Then again, we’re being more nosy than we need to and it’s probably out of most of their pay grades."

A red string became taut and connected two dots in her mind, "Well that’s it, that’s the psychology of the cult," Fumeko replied.

The two looked down to her.

"Mrs Aetherton already spat it out at us. Even you said it paranoiac, the cult’s meticulous. It’s not a stretch to say they expected the police not to connect the dots.

I mean, before any case would’ve been reported, the runes on the body would’ve disappeared too. Which means, we need to keep an eye out for the next victim; especially if the victims are supposedly connected to the cult."

They had kept their voices low, but Jotou hushed even further, "Find the next victim... Easier said than done."

"Hm, but it all makes sense. Meko, you remember how you left a note for your dad before you left for Kria?" Hotaru recalled.

"Yeah and that worked amazingly..."

"I think she means, he found the evidence to the contrary in your room; so that he didn’t end up on a wild goose chase. We can do the same at the scene of the next murder," Jotou remarked.

"Right," Fumeko let her mind wander. "They’re deliberately leaving the victims as bait for the authorities. If the same victim was missing instead of murdered, the investigation by the police will dive into the victim’s history and everything else.

But if the victim’s right there... the police are chasing a serial killer that doesn’t exist. Even so, it’s only a matter of time before someone digs deeper."

"That doesn’t matter; as long as it can buy the cult more time to operate, that’s more than enough," Jotou stated.

"Then it makes sense why the murder scene is so... you know," Hotaru shivered, "morbid. Some twisted serial killer is a logical conclusion."

Jotou glanced back up from the floor, "The authorities will look at it to build a case and find evidence that leads to a serial killer. Whereas, we’d be looking at the scene with the perspective that the cult is behind it."

"If we get to investigate a new scene of the crime, we might find something the police won’t—like last time," Fumeko glanced around to see if any of the officers were eavesdropping.

Fumeko groaned under her breath, "They’ve got no proof to believe it’s the cult, we’re taking a leap that it is. Hell, we even know it is, we just can’t quite prove it. If we didn’t have to deal with the systems and processes," she sneered at a cop far away.

"It’s expected," Jotou rolled her eyes. "Keeping that Ambrose guy in here since November... It’s why the system rarely ever works—it plays stupid to the obvious and panders to the powers at be.

We know what’s at stake. We know what to look for and what to do. A plan by the cult’s already underway and we’re nearly blind as to what it is or how it’s being done. I say we take justice into our own hands," her gaze narrowed.

"We really shouldn’t interfere with police laws without some sort of adventuring commission maybe?" Hotaru reasoned with a raised brow.

The blonde smirked, "I can just use my authority as the Thundering Blade to say that I was doing it out of good will—if we get caught."

Hotaru tilted her head and her eyes glazed over, "You don’t know what exactly that authority means. In a crisis, sure, you have an overwhelming authority, but in cases where the law is handling it, it’s not, the same."

"So what, we just run around in circles in the living room before we do something?" Fumeko crossed her arms.

"Well... ugh, I’m not saying we shouldn’t interfere, I think we should. But I’m just adding some perspective. Besides, Jotou’s title is for Kria and Cravolta, not Burnetrout."

"It could be-"

"Knock it off," Hotaru’s tail swished into the blonde.

"Okay wolfy, if we’re on the same page, what do you think we should do?"

"Uhm..." Hotaru looked to the brunette. "Hm..." she glanced back up to Jotou. "...Yeesh," she gazed away with a pout and her cheeks a little red.

Fumeko grinned to one side, "What? I pushed you into a corner?"

"Hmph," her tail swished. "I guess we don’t really have other options, lest we give the cult more precious time. Tipping off the police about all of this isn’t the brightest idea." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Cute defeated Aru aside, what’s the next step? How would we even start finding the next victim?" Jotou uttered.

Hotaru blushed and kept her lips sealed.

Fumeko looked to Hotaru, then Jotou. Her mind suddenly flashed to the thought of Tiffany, before she shook her head. She furrowed her brows in focus, "The only reason we got a jump on the cult’s victim and found those runes before they disappeared..."

"The only reason we know ghosts were involved in the first place..." Jotou continued.

Hotaru uttered, "The only chance of finding the next victim..."

_

"Guys! Guys! Guys!" Asobi ran out past the school gates with papers and a big folder under her arm. There were some school faculty walking about the grounds, but much of the school seemed empty.

As the elf’s friends got off the carriage, they were nearly bombarded with the four sheets of paper marked in red. "I passed! I passed!!!" she announced.

Butterflies burst out from behind her in every hue and burst again into tiny fireworks that rained down into a rainbow over her head.

Fumeko took the papers away from her face and glanced- "Ninety-eight? Pass? You aced it," she said, in mild disbelief.

"Hehe!" Asobi smiled.

"Congratulations! You did it! All that hard work paid off!" Hotaru cheered with a wagging tail.

Jotou gave a smile, "Proud of you Sobi, well done." ’On a test made for four to seven-year-olds... yay... Why am I proud exactly?’

"Thank you! Thank you!" she threw her arms out as wide as she could and wrapped them all in a hug.

"Yeah, yeah," Fumeko blinked forward. "You completed the entrance exam, you still got eleven actual exams left. What d’you get wrong on this one anyway?" she checked the four pages.

"Ah, I believe it was spelling the word bull, to which she wrote bool," a low and old voice spoke from behind the gates. A reedy man in a red and black suit walked out.

"Oh, headmaster," Asobi turned. "He watched over me while I wrote down everything. It put on a lot of pressure; if he had a heart attack, I have no clue how to call a doctor or Hotaru. I kept thinking about it while doing the exam," she poked a wand to her cheek.

"Sobi!" Hotaru said through gritted teeth.

"Ohp, sorry," Asobi titled her head. "If you’re really old, it just means you’re really wise!"

The headmaster gave a creaky nod and chuckle, "It’s alright. Ms Asobi has been enrolled and will be taking the, eleven exams in quick succession," his words came out slow.

"Mr Blackthorne, right?" Jotou asked.

"Yes, yes. My, family name has lorded over this, academy, for generations. Ms Asobi, would be considered a prodigy with her marks, but... well.

Being a practitioner of the magical arts, I need to watch over with greater caution to prevent misconduct," he paused in between words as his eyes would dart around, to them, the sky, the pavement...

"How old are you exactly?" Fumeko leered.

"Ah, yes, old, age. What is time, but a measurement of moments passing by the mortal eye? Each year goes by like a minute, like an hour, like a second. Time—time is but an illusion-"

"Old enough to spout that nonsense," Jotou pursed her lips.

He adjusted his spectacles, "Nonsense... No sense, but what is this world if it contains the absence of sense? Nothing truly makes sense on the grander scale. So it behoves us mortals to make purpose of the illusion of time, such as going to school or work."

"Isn’t the time just on the clock...?" a few question marks floated over Asobi’s head.

"It’s a scientific concept to keep track and records of events to be able to help schedule lives and measure maturity. It’s the irreversible sequence of existence of the universe, there’s no illusion to it," Jotou hissed at the headmaster.

"Calm down Jotou, you’ve seen time be reversed before," Hotaru soothed the blonde by patting her back.

"No, time wasn’t reversed, it was all the events and memories within a certain radius that got shunted back—day and night just happened to line up," Fumeko corrected.

"Hmm, Jotou’s wording is ’the sequence of existence’, so if the sequence is reversed, then time’s reversed, yes?" Hotaru pondered.

"Can we go now?" Asobi fluttered her lashes. "Where’s your dad Meko?"

"I recognize you individuals from your, tales from afar. For you all to step onto the grounds of this academy, is a wonderous sight. Especially to see, ah yes, Ms Namora to be successful right after her final test, it is truly commendable and the pride it brings to this-"

"We split off from him for a bit, he’s at the company. We’re gonna go meet him now, there’s stuff we need to talk about..." Fumeko tuned him out.

"Sorry to be leaving so soon Headmaster Blackthorne, but we need to be off. Thank you so much for letting Asobi enrol and for any further documentation, you can just contact me," Hotaru gave a soft curtsy.

Quickly leaving before the headmaster began spouting again, the three explained to Asobi, with some easier terms, what they had planned.

_

"We need you to call her dad, she might be able to get the info on the next victim, if there is one," Fumeko asked of.

"Trust me kid, she’s probably already on it," Kazuo walked around his office, shutting the blinds and checking if the door was locked proper.

"It’d be still a good idea for us to have contact with her," Hotaru stated.

"You all sure about this?" Kazuo pulled down a smaller blind over the door. He turned to the four, "Jotou, you’ll risk public exposure—so will you Hotaru. The information of your whereabouts is somewhat contained for now."

"If your concern is that people might come knocking on your door for us, we have no issue leaving," Hotaru replied, staring right back.

"That’s not an issue, the neighbourhood’s gated and guarded. I’m more concerned of the lot of you tampering with more evidence and calling her... Once her foot’s in the door, there’s no escaping," he replied, with a nigh-haunted look.

Jotou sighed and crossed her arms, "I don’t really mind letting the public know I’m here, it’s a ticking timebomb anyway. Besides, my title should at least carry some weight."

"It’s only a risk if the authorities catch us—otherwise," Fumeko let the rest fill in the blanks.

"Mhm and with all this sneaky scheming, I can make us all look like not us or just go invisible. So hooray for subtle subterfuge! Don’t worry Detective Namora, we got this!" Asobi cheered and made herself go invisible, then visible, then invisible again.

The worry wasn’t exactly going away... He glanced down, to his daughter standing firm once again. So stubborn... That sort of stubbornness could easily lead to-

"Dad, you’ve been conveniently leaving out explanations since last night. If you didn’t wanna help, you wouldn’t be trying to have plausible deniability by doing everything you did today at the police station.

You’ve been leading us to be able to figure it out. So, we think we need to contact her to follow-up on the case; it leaves you as a third party under the law, right Aru?" Fumeko remarked.

"That’d be correct."

"Then you should be fine dad. I don’t know what angle you’re playing at, but I’ll keep you out of it so you don’t get arrested for telling us everything you have," the brunette’s gaze softened, yet narrowed.

Kazuo’s lips parted... But no words came out before he closed his mouth and let out the smallest chuckle. He looked down and walked to pick up the phone in his office.

The rotary dial clinked and dinged as he lifted the phone up to his ear and mouth. It rang, rather loudly, for a few seconds. Then finally, a voice came through from the other end with some static.

"Hello, Phoenix News, journalism department, Alicia Langstirk speaking."

Kazuo cleared his throat, "Hello Alicia."

"Oh, hellooo detective~!"

"..."

"Alright, alright, it’s somethin’ serious."

"It’s about that spook case in Mandrake."

"You’ve got something on that for me!? I’ve got a’pen and paper at the ready, keep goin detective!"

"Alicia, no. I’ve got some people wanting to see you. They’ve got a favour to ask. Can you drop by the company?"

"Mmmmmm-" the shuffling of papers and files came through the phone, "-mmmmmmmm... Gimme thirty, I’ll be there."

"Thank you."

"By the’way, tell the Thundering Blade I said hi~!" the phone cut abruptly.

Kazuo held the ringing phone and blinked for a few seconds... How did she even? He shook his head and set the phone down.

Fumeko looked up briefly, "So, well," two words lingered at the tip of her tongue, but her eyes darted away instead, "We’ll keep you out of it, promise."

"It’s not to save my own skin kiddo," Kazuo replied and took a deep breath. "Me and Morgana—Investigations Co.—will do our best not to get caught giving you four this info.

You worry about everything else. Like what you’re gonna tell Alicia; she is a reporter at the end of the day. So, go prepare yourselves," Kazuo leaned against his desk as he softly spoke.

Glancing at one another, the four left the room. Fumeko turned and met her father’s eyes... Her hand gripped around the doorknob. All she did was give a subtle nod and depart the office slowly.

Kazuo stared at the door, then let his eyes drift around his silent office.