Chapter 15: Re-opening Old Wounds to Fix the New Ones

The frosty air bit the ends of my fingertips as I sat beside the door in wait for the person I was looking for, I had been here since dawn but I endured it since I had few options left to resort to. To be completely honest, I had no idea if he'd even show up today, so my entire plan was risky.

The faint tapping of shoes on the concrete alerted be that someone was coming, and low and behold my savior had arrived.

"Hikaru? You've been missing for days, what are you doing sitting here in the cold like that?" Kaito asked, lending me a hand. Swallowing my thoughts, I politely took his hand and let him help me off the curb.

"I didn't have any better options, and I couldn't come in because my key card as well as everything else was stolen." I replied, averting eye contact.

He looked taken aback for a moment before pulling out his key card and unlocking the door.

"Were you robbed?" he asked, holding the door for me.

"Not exactly..." I said, nervously toying around with a lock of my blonde hair.

I didn't really want to explain everything to Kaito or even really be around him right now, but If I wanted to get Kanoe and my belongings back that's what needed to be done. We walked through the hallway and sat down at a table beside the wall.

"I know it's not my place to ask you this, but what happened? You just up and left without a word and now a week later you've just shown up again looking like you've been through hell." Kaito said, narrowing his gaze.

"My roommate and I were abducted by some really bad people, I managed to make it out alive but he's still in there and I can't get him out by myself." I answered.

"You're pulling my leg, aren't you? That's not funny, Hikaru, and you know it."

"You honestly think I would sit outside the door, in the cold, for hours so that I could pull a prank on the guy who forced a kiss on me?! Do I look like I'm laughing, Kaito?!" I snapped, glaring at him from across the table.

"Nai..." He responded, hanging his head.

"I went to the police station and they completely shut me down, I suspect the guy responsible has his roots deep in the government and doesn't want a dirty record." I said, clicking my tongue in annoyance.

"You know how insane this sounds, right? I mean, a corrupt government? Come on, how do you expect me to believe any of this?" Kaito said, casting me a pitiful look.

"I'm a medical examiner, not a mythologist. If you think I'm making this up, then I have proof. And it's not pretty."

"What proof? I don't see any evidence sitting in front of you at the moment, are you high or something?" He asked, folding his arms against his chest.

"I'm not intoxicated, I can show you my proof but you'll have to drive me there." I replied.

"Alright, I'll believe that you have some sort of evidence but this better not be some kind of trick or I'm leaving."

"Deal."

______________________________________________

"Park here." I said, undoing my seat belt while Kaito pulled over.

"This is just a random alleyway, where's the evidence?" Kaito asked, taking off his seat belt.

"Just get your a$$ over here." I replied, hopping out of the car and walking into the alley.

I turned the corner and immediately spotted the dumpster I had woken up in last night, hopefully the body would still be here. Then I can get fingerprints.

I walked up to the dumpster and looked inside.

"THEY'RE GONE?!" I exclaimed, Kaito running down the alley to catch up.

"What are you yelling for? And... what the hell are you doing?! Get out of the dumpster!" Kaito said, trying to pull me out of the empty dumpster I had just dove into.

Then, something snagged my attention. A fingernail lodged into the crevice in the bottom of the dumpster.

"Kaito, let go. I found something! Get me a pair of gloves and tweezers." I said, Kaito letting go of my shirt.

Kaito pulled out the bag of tools I had told him to bring and pulled out what I asked for. He handed it to me, and I put the gloves on.

"What'd you find?" He asked.

"The evidence."

I used the tweezers to carefully pull the nail out of the crevice. It still had a bit of blood on it, good.

"Hand me a plastic bag, please." I said, holding my hand out. Kaito placed a small bag on my palm, I opened it and shoved the nail inside.

"Here's your evidence, let's take it back to the morgue and run some DNA tests. I'm willing to bet it belongs to someone who's gone missing in the past week."

"Ack! Is that a fingernail??? Wait- how'd you know that was gonna be in there?!" Kaito asked, taking the bag and holding it like it was a dead mouse.

"It's not gonna bite you, Kaito, it's just a nail. And I knew it was in there because this is where I found a corpse last night after blacking out." I replied, climbing out of the dumpster.

"WHAT?!" Kaito exclaimed, almost dropping the bag.

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you the entire story... well, long story short, my roommate and I were brought to a torture room and I hit the assaulter in the face, making him get pissed off and knock me out. And when I woke up, I found myself in this dumpster laying on top of a deceased woman." I said, brushing the dirt off my pants.

"You think you could've mentioned that earlier?!"

"Would you have believed me?"

"No..."

"Then there's your answer." I said, shoving my hands in my pockets, "Now lets get this tested and see who the unlucky victim is."