The Day After

The smell of construction, commerce, and garbage made a perfect cocktail for the senses, it was something the students of group one were accustomed to within their two weeks so far on assignment in Star City.

Occasionally, the strong smell of freshly home fried foods would often overwhelm the natural cologne of the illustrious tourist location, such as the food stand that Yuki and Alex found themselves at on this beautiful Saturday morning.

This had been the energy they've been running off of the past two weeks, not quite what they would hope for, but with the accessibility, it was the most obvious selection.

"What—you kids again, what y'all want this time?"

"I'll have a hotdog." Yuki said.

"Hm? The usual then, I'm guessing?"

"Well—" Yuki paused, and glanced over at Alex, looking for confirmation for the usual order, but only saw him lost as if he were stuck in a dark cave. "What happened to him?" Yuki thought, then continued "—just make that two."

"Alright, the usual it is." the man said as he began to place two hotdogs on a frier within his food stand.

"What's up with you?" Yuki asked Alex.

"I don't know… I just can't help but feel bad…"

"Feel bad, for what?"

"I... I just froze…" Alex paused, grabbing his head as if a harsh migraine suddenly struck him, then continued "I feel bad... Martin sent us home after he saw me frozen... I wanted to do more than that…"

"Why… why can't I get this out of my head…" Alex thought, the unrecognizable carcass had stained his head stronger than wine.

Alex was confused, as the pieces that were once transparent soon transitioned into stained glass. How could he make the stains go away before it becomes permanent? A question that consumed his consciousness faster than a dose of morphine.

He was slowly being consumed by darkness, the hopes of mount Olympus soon became nothing more than something in the clouds, something that was simply out of reach.

It was up to him to find out whether the anchor was indestructible or not, but the appearance alone was enough to sink even the largest ships.

"Two hot dogs are ready for y'all!"

"How much for a pack of montibus?" Alex asked, questioning about a cheap pack of cigarettes that sat behind the man within the food stand.

"15 Loons." the man said, loons were the main currency within Kashitama, and the most dominant one within the world.

"He smokes?" Yuki thought, then said "I'll cover it."

The two headed back to the motel with Yuki eating both hotdogs on the way back and Alex barely finishing one cigarette.

They headed straight for a conference room where they usually meet up with the others (besides Anastasia, who makes it her priority to not be as social as the others within the group) to discuss objectives and tasks that they've completed or will complete later on in the day.

Yuki and Alex walk in, and to their surprise, Martin is standing on the opposite side of the room in front of a whiteboard, it seems as if Yuki and Alex's entrance broke a silence within the room.

"Sir?" Yuki said, surprised at Martin's appearance within the conference room, a place he's never stepped foot in, let alone the motel to begin with.

"Good, you guys are finally here. Here's what we have so far on the murder last night." Martin said as he placed a bright-colored folder onto the table that everyone was seated at. The folder seems empty from the outside.

"Do we have the weapon?" Anastasia asked, the others are surprised that she actually showed up as well, this may be Martin's doing having her here to begin with.

"We do have a weapon, but we also believe there might've been a second weapon that wasn't at the scene." Martin said, then asked, "Yuki, Anastasia, what did you two learn from the witness yesterday?"

"He said that all he saw was blood, but clearly, he was still in shock." Yuki said.

"So nothing that we don���t already know… Great. How about you two? Find anything?" Martin asked, angling his question at Olivia and Kaso who were sent to see if there were any other people who witnessed the murder last night.

"No, we didn't find anybody else…" Olivia replied.

"This is nothing…" Martin thought, then said, "So all we really have is what the killer left there and the body…"

"Did you run the weapon for any prints?" Vivian asked.

She looks somewhat better than how she did last night, at least the vomiting stopped for the time being.

"Yeah, and nothing there too, the Killer must've been wearing gloves or something." Martin said, he couldn't quite understand how someone can be so careful yet completely reckless at the same time.

"Shouldn't we be doing something, shouldn't we be out there looking for whoever did this?" Yuki abruptly said, confused as to why they're still conversing when a cold-blooded murderer remains at large here, clearly his view on the process of justice wasn't fully developed yet.

"It's not that easy when we have nothing to go on… all we really have that's helpful is the fabric found on the body and underneath the victim's fingernails." Martin replied.

"Do we even know what that is yet?" Kaso asked.

"No… not yet…" Martin replied, his hopes of getting more information was now a shot in the dark, a hopeful pull but having ended up with the shortest straw.

"So what exactly are we doing here?" Vivian asked.

"All we have left is to go over—" Martin said before he was abruptly interrupted by his phone buzzing on his side, before he answered, he finished his words "—Go over the crime scene photos for now, I'll be back." Martin finished, and exited the room, answering the phone call in the process.

"Wow, this sucks." Yuki said, clearly disappointed that they're left to scavenge for details on paper that weren't initially looked for at the scene.

Martin took the phone call in the hall just outside the conference room, clearly it was important enough to eject him from the hopeless meeting with group one.

"So, what is it?" Martin was a little irritated, but he wasn't one to let his emotions get the better of him, often remaining as emotionless as he possibly can, something that he wished he could take back by now.

Once you've delved yourself into the darkness, after some time, you miss the sunshine.

Martin sometimes questioned his own thoughts and morals, sometimes he couldn't differentiate his own thought process from that of the convicted killer, the only positive to the despair is, fortunately, he's merely stuck in the grey.

"Sir, the fabric on the victim, it's cashmere. The victim wasn't wearing any cashmere, so it must be from the killer's clothing."

"We have nothing on our end, anything else over there?"

"Not really, sir… other than the fabric, we have just as much as you do, sir."

"Hmph… whoever did this isn't your average killer, he covered his tracks, and he did it well…" Martin said, then thought "Just how the hell did he do it, I can understand if the body was cleanly cut up, it would only express his careful character, it's as if he let something else loose, and then properly put it away before he finished himself… he killed the victim as if this was personal, but nothing adds up so far… just what the hell are we dealing with here… "

"Well, we'll just have to wait until we can get something new, and quick, because I fear he may do this again, and soon, sir."

"He may? A person like this will do this again, it's all a matter of location at this point, and opportunity…" Martin thought, then slammed the wall in frustration, for the first time, he was personally challenged.

He was at the thirty-foot brick wall, and something out of the ordinary happened, it didn't fall over as it usually does with one blow. Whoever this was, they weren't someone Martin would like to meet just yet.

"I wish we had more than this…" Martin exclaimed.

Martin didn't know whether to smile or continue being frustrated with the challenge that fell into his lap, it was as if he was given a one million piece puzzle, how should one react to such a challenge?