This is a fanfiction, meaning that all events and occurrences in this story are all fictional and all are part of my imagination. Any resemblance to actual life events and people, living or dead, are all purely coincidence. I am not, in any way, affiliated to Snow Man members or Johnny’s Entertainment so I do not own the Snow Man members mentioned in my fanfiction.
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A team of police, investigators and forensics surrounded the house.
“The identity of the victim?”, a police in his 50s asked.
“Miyadate Hiroyuki, 35 years old. Program manager at Toshiro Tech”, a young policeman next to him answered.
“Who is the first discoverer?”, the old man continued.
The young policeman points his index finger to a lean man who’s sleeping on a sofa.
“He brought me here asking for help and as soon as I opened the main door and we saw the corpse, he fainted”.
Meguro Ren. This is the name of the young policeman. After 4 years in a police academy, Meguro is a freshly appointed police officer. He was assigned to the criminal investigation team after the seniors acknowledged his skills and abilities as an investigator during his internship. Today is his fourth case as an official investigator.
Meguro was on his way back home from hanging out with his friends. They ate at a nice restaurant and went to karaoke after that. Ahh it was a fun night.
He was just carefreely walking down the street when suddenly he was surprised by a man in white clothes rushing onto him and more surprisingly, squeezing him in a tight hug. The man was visibly shaking.
“Please help me…”, the man whispered.
Before Meguro can even asked what happened, the man hold his hand and pulled him to the direction of a 2-storeys house. The name “Miyadate” is carved at the entrance.
When they arrived at the entrance door, the man looked hesitant. Meguro saw that the man was panting hard too. Seeing the frustration on the man’s face, Meguro volunteered to open the door. What he saw beyond the door was a bloody body of a man lying down on the floor. He heard a thud. When he turned back, the man in white was already on the floor, fainted.
A cute, pink-haired forensic officer approaches Meguro and his superior.
“The cause of death is organ failure from stab wounds. Seems that he was killed instantly as the stab wounds reach his heart. He was stabbed another 6 times in other parts of the body. The weapon is nowhere to be found”.
He continues while holding up a huge toolbox, “We have finished taking the fingerprints and collecting evidence. We’ll go back first to analyze these at the lab.”
“Good job, Sakuma. We’ll reach out to you later”, said Meguro’s superior, Iwamoto, while patting his hand on Sakuma’s shoulder. Sakuma nods and makes his way to the entrance door.
Meguro hears a groan. Seems like the man in white had awake.
“You go get his statements. I’ll look around the house a little bit more”, urged Iwamoto to his junior. Meguro nods and walks to the said man. Meguro examines the man – pretty tall but not as tall as him, soft features and lean. Doesn’t look like he could murder anyone but Meguro shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. The man in white looks up at him with his big eyes.
“Hello. I’m Meguro from Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. It’s a scary coincidence that you brought a police officer to a crime scene”, Meguro greets. He held up his notebook, “The victim has been sent to the hospital for post-mortem. Now, kindly introduce yourself and what is your relation to the victim”.
The man in white sits up properly. “My name is Abe Ryohei”. Abe looks sadly at the floor where the victim was found dead. “I was taken in by the Miyadate family since 7 years ago after my other family members passed away. You might know about the mass murder using poisonous gas at a wedding ceremony 7 years ago. It was the wedding of my relative. It was supposed to be a joyous celebration, but that day turned out to be my worst nightmare”. Abe covers his face with his both hands, “I was supposed to be there too but fortunate…or unfortunately, I have a high fever that day so my parents didn’t allow me to attend the wedding. The bride was my close relative too.”
Meguro sits down next to Abe and soothes his back. Meguro vividly remembered the case. It was the talk of the whole country back then. It turns out that the perpetrator was the bride’s ex-boyfriend, who was so obsessive of the bride. He can’t believe the fact that his ex-girlfriend left him for someone better. Abe calms down a bit and continues, “I still have other relatives, but they live in other countries and it didn’t seem like they would like to take me into custody. Miyadate-san was my father’s best friend. He offered to take me into custody as my official guardian, however, I’m keeping my family name, Abe. I was only 16th at the time. I was yet to reach the age where I may engage in legal rights and responsibilities. That’s why a guardian was needed. Or else, I thought I would be able to survive by myself at least for a few years with the wealth my late family has left behind.”
Abe takes a deep breath and turns to Meguro, “It’s only me and Hiroyuki-niisan who live in this house. The other family members live at Edogawa. We moved here 2 years ago, because it’s nearer to my university and his workplace. Hiroyuki was my foster brother. Today he arrived home earlier than usual. I was in my room when I heard slamming sounds. When I went down, I saw niisan was surrounded by a pool of blood”. Abe paused, hugging himself, “I saw a man. He was wearing a black cloak with a joker’s mask on his face. He was holding a bloody knife. He ran up to me too, but I was able to get away. He chased me throughout the house and when we entered the library, I used all my strength to push the big table onto him, towards the fireplace. The fire was still on when it happened. He finally left the house by cracking the window there with his back in flames. That’s when I immediately ran up to the front door and met you”, Abe finishes.
Meguro writes down everything in points and asked, “May I know what do you study at university?”
“I’m currently a post-graduate majoring in Informatics in the Department of Science and Engineering”, Abe answers, with light in his eyes.
Meguro is stunned for a while. “A genius, I see. I never like Science”.
Abe laughs a little, “For me, Science is the tool I use to understand the world around me. It provides logic and sense and order in what might otherwise seem chaotic”.
Meguro just smiles and stares at the man beside him. Abe has a nice smile.
Inspector Iwamoto seems to have finished his rounds and come up to them. Meguro showed him the notebook. Iwamoto-san sneers, “Anyways, until we can prove the existence of this masked man you talk about, you will be regarded as the prime suspect of this case. You said it yourself too, that only you and your niisan live here.”
Abe puts his head down. The way this man speaks hurts him a little. “I understand, inspector. I will cooperate”.
Everyone turns their heads to the door. There’s a man, probably the same age as Abe.
“Ryota!”, Abe runs up to this “Ryota” and envelopes him in an embrace, just like what he did to Meguro earlier.
“I saw the police tape in front of the house. What happened?”, Ryota asked.
“Niisan is dead, Ryota. He’s dead. He was killed by a Joker! The Joker tried to kill me too, but I escaped from him”, Abe answered, still embracing Ryota. Ryota soothes Abe’s back in circles with his hands, “Thank God you’re safe”. He then moves his attention to the two officers in front of him. “I’m Miyadate Ryota. Hiroyuki’s cousin. You might be wondering why I came here this late at night, but this is normal. Sometimes I swing over after work before I go home to hang out with Ryohei and Hiroyuki.”
Abe releases himself from the hug and nods, acknowledging Ryota’s statement.
Meguro doesn’t know why but his detective guts is telling him that there is something fishy about this Ryota guy.
“Hang out? What do you guys do?”, Meguro questioned.
“What do we do? Just normal things people do during hang out. Eat, drink, play games, storytelling…” Ryota answers, looking strangely at Meguro.
Meguro nods, “Just routine question. Don’t mind it. Anyways, where do you work at?”
“I work as a chef at Juicy Diner near here”, answered Ryota.
“Ahh Juicy Diner! I’ve eaten there once and the steak was so delicious. I shall come over again some other time. Hmm, ok, what about your home? Is it near here?”
“Yeah. Just a 10 minutes’ walk from here”.
“Yeah. My parents work outside the city, so I live alone here”.
Meguro finished writing more points in his notebook. “I think it’s good that you came here, Miyadate-san. We would need to seal this house to preserve the crime scene and to avoid any evidence being tampered with. So would you kindly bring Abe-san to live with you for a while? We will try our best to solve this case as soon as possible”.
“That would be no problem. We’re no strangers to staying at each other’s place and sleeping on each other’s bed”.
Meguro flinches and he can also see his superior lift his eyebrow. Was the last part necessary to tell? But Abe doesn’t show any discomfort with Ryota’s words.
“The house is also not in a good condition for you to live in now”, Inspector Iwamoto adds, pointing to the direction of the broken window of the library.
Meguro turns his head in the direction of Abe and Ryota when he sees Ryota caressing Abe’s face. “Come, let’s pack your things and we can go home. You need rest”, said Ryota.
Meguro is feeling that doubtful instinct again. As if a danger is going to come. What is this unsettling feeling?
“Well then. I think that’s all for tonight. Thank you for your cooperation. We shall keep in touch with you guys until the case is closed. I’ll ask the security police to keep an eye on you two so be quick with the packing. We shall take our leave now. Have a good night”, Inspector Iwamoto exits the premise, ushering Meguro to follow suit.
Meguro turns back and look one last time to the disappearing figures of the two men inside the house.
“Keep an eye on them”, Meguro hears Iwamoto-san says.
“I know you are suspicious of them too. Let’s dig more on those two later. There must be something in their private lives that could serve as a motive for murder. That Abe guy, he is studying Informatics he said? There could be a relation with Miyadate Hiroyuki’s job at the tech company”.
Iwamoto-san sighs, “Good job today, Meguro-kun. You must be tired. Have a good rest tonight and I’ll see you tomorrow at the HQ, alright. My house is this way. Be careful on your way home”.
“You too, sir. Good night”, Meguro bows till his superior is a few distance away.
“The estimated time of death is between 8:45pm to 9.30pm last night. According to the length and width of the wounds, the murder weapon is probably a 12-inches cooking knife. No other abnormalities were found in the body”, Sakuma explains. “We also analyzed other evidence inside the house but no other fingerprints aside from Abe-san and the victim was found”.
“Hmm. Is he lying after all?”, Iwamoto-san thinks.
“However~”, Sakuma sing-song. “We found footprints outside the house near the broken window”. Sakuma pushes forward a photo of a footprint. “Size 9 shoes.”
Meguro and Inspector Iwamoto look at each other.
“We have checked the shoes in the house. Seems like both Abe-san and the victim share the same shoe size – size 10. So…where does this size 9 came from?”, Sakuma suggests, with a smile.
Meguro doesn’t understand why but he suddenly feels relieved.
“Come to think of it, when I looked around the house last night, I saw that all the knives were in place in the kitchen. So there is a possibility of someone else breaking into the house and killed Miyadate-san with their own knife”, Iwamoto-san utters.
“12-inches cooking knife is pretty heavy, so the perpetrator has to be someone that has huge hands and stronger built. Probably someone who is used to cooking with that heavy knife”, Sakuma adds.
Meguro’s mind immediately goes into thinking Miyadate Ryota.
“I know what you are thinking Meguro-kun. We can meet Miyadate Ryota later to confirm our suspicions, but we are yet to find concrete evidence. What about data from Miyadate Hiroyuki’s phone and laptop, Sakuma?”
“The data analyst team is currently working on it. I will report to you with our findings at the soonest!”
“Great! Thanks for the update, Sakuma. Come Meguro-kun, we’re going to Juicy Diner!”
“Welcome to Juicy Diner!”
Meguro and Iwamoto-san was greeted by a bubbly waitress. “For two?”, she asks.
Meguro holds up his right hand and brings out his police badge from his coat pocket. “We’re from the police. I believe there is a chef here with the name of Miyadate Ryota. May us see him?”
The waitress nods and calls for the said man.
Miyadate Ryota comes out of the kitchen, looking dashing even in chef’s uniform. “Good afternoon, officers. Please come with me over here”, he greets and bring both the policemen to the corner seating.
“Please have a seat”. He then brings out two glasses of water for the policemen before he sits down in front of them.
“Any updates on the case, officers?”
“A bit. We’re here to confirm several things with you. Were you working last night?”, Meguro questions.
“Yeah. I worked till closing time last night. You can ask the other staffs too”.
“Ok. Next, may I know your shoe size?”
Ryota lifts his eyebrow. “I’m a size 9. But why?”
“We found footprints that doesn’t match the shoe size of your cousin and Abe-san”.
“Ok. May I know the shoe size?”
Ryota freezes but immediately regains his composure. He laughs.
“I see. So I kinda become the main suspect now, is it? Haha ok ok I understand. It’s understandable that you guys are suspicious of me. But officers, he was my dearest cousin. I will never hurt him or Ryohei. And I have no reason to murder him at all”.
Meguro snickers. “Don’t take it to heart, Miyadate-san. Again, it’s just routine questions. We need to check every nook and cranny so that we won’t overlook any possibilities. As you mentioned just now, you were working here last night. So if you are the murderer, we have to knit the loopholes in your alibi”.
“You’re right. Well then. I’m leaving the rest of the investigation to you, officers. Please find the killer soon. For Ryohei’s sake”. Ryota smiles, as if challenging the officers in front of him. Meguro doesn’t like that.
“How was Abe-san?”, Meguro queries.
“In trauma, I guess. I was woken up by his scream last night. He was dreaming of “The Joker”. He said the Joker is coming to get him. But I managed to calm him down soon after. Other than that, he’s ok. I can see he was trying to be as normal as possible this morning. Even though I can still see sadness in his eyes. He must be trying his hardest to accept this situation he’s currently in. I told him he doesn’t have to attend his classes today and just take a rest but Ryohei being Ryohei, he doesn’t want to. Ahh he always made me worried”.
Meguro realizes that when it comes to Abe, Miyadate Ryota’s tone turns fond. He doesn’t like this either.
“Ok. We will come back if anything else comes up. We might visit Abe-san too in the near future. Thank you for your cooperation”.
Both policemen leave the diner after confirming with the staffs, the whereabouts of Miyadate Ryota the night before.
“Miyadate Hiroyuki’s last LINE chat was with his colleague. About work-related things. However, he made a call to Kitayama Rintarou an hour before his death”, Sakuma reports, when both Meguro and Iwamoto-san returns to HQ in the evening.
“Who is this Kitayama Rintarou?”, Iwamoto-san asks.
“He is Abe Ryohei’s university lecturer”.
“Hmm? What is the relation between the deceased and this university lecturer?”
“From the LINE chats with this Kitayama-san, we found that this Kitayama-san is currently doing his PHD. Once he had used Abe Ryohei’s research findings in his thesis without consent. Abe-san eventually found out about it when his findings were deemed plagiarized during a presentation. Abe-san confronted the man, but he ended up getting assaulted. Maybe Abe-san reported this to Miyadate Hiroyuki so the deceased tried to take care of the matter”.
At this moment, there is a call to the office. Meguro picks it up.
“Miyadate Hiroyuki seemed to have done extensive research on this guy. The night before the incident, he sent Kitayama-san a threatening text message – saying that he knows other mischiefs Kitayama-san had done. He even attached some evidence. This guy is disgusting. He even offers “Sex-for-grades” with his students”, said Sakuma while scrunching his face.
“Hmm. So this Kitayama-san is afraid of Miyadate-san exposing his wrongdoings so he killed him, is a possibility, isn’t it? Alright! Looks like we have a new suspect. We shall investigate this university lecturer soon. Thanks again, Sakuma. You’re really helpful”.
“Sir!”, Meguro yells. Both Iwamoto-san and Sakuma turn their heads to him.
“We got a call from a crime scene in Chuo ward. The victim’s name is Kitayama Rintarou”.
The crime scene is inside an apartment on the 5th floor of a 7-storeys apartment building. The dead body of Kitayama Rintarou is lying on the floor of his living room.
“Similar modus operandi”, Sakuma starts. “Deep stabbed directly to the heart followed by few more stabs on random parts of the body. We will find out if it’s the same weapon once this body gets examined for autopsy later”.
Meguro looked around the house. From the photo frames on the desk, he can deduce that the deceased is still unmarried. There are only photos of the deceased himself and together with who might be the deceased’s parents. There are also numerous certificates on the wall which indicate his achievements. Meguro sneers. He wonders how many of these certificates the deceased actually achieved with his own hard work and effort.
Meguro moves to the bathroom. Only one toothbrush. He can confirm that the deceased lived alone. He walks to the kitchen next. Nothing else seems out of order aside from a jug of orange juice on the counter, along with a bottle of sleeping pills beside it. A jug? Means that the deceased was going to serve the juice to other people. Means that…the deceased was waiting for someone. He immediately shouts from the kitchen, “Sakuma-kun! Take a photo in the kitchen later. There’s a jug and sleeping pills. Suspicious!”
He can hear Sakuma replies with, “Roger that!”
Meguro hears a familiar voice and rushes out from the kitchen. Abe Ryohei is standing at the front door, with both his hands covering his mouth, looking shocked. Meguro doesn’t understand why his heart skips a beat.
“Abe-san? Why are you here?”, Meguro approaches him.
“Sensei texted me this afternoon. To meet him here…”
Abe breaks eye contact with Meguro. “That is…”
“Is it about the research findings that he stole from you?”, Iwamoto-san queried. Abe freezes. “We already found out about that from the data of your niisan’s phone. Do you know that your niisan was checking the background of this sensei of yours till he was able to get hold of some evidence of other misconducts that this sensei had done? We believe that your niisan was trying to expose this dude’s dirt after what happened to you”.
“Ohh niisan…”, Abe falls to the floor, he’s visibly crying now.
Meguro reaches down to hold Abe’s shoulders. “Let’s talk outside, Abe-san. Show me the message you received from Kitayama-san this afternoon”.
Meguro brings Abe to sit down in the lobby of the apartment. Abe shows him the message. It reads: “Come to my apartment at 8pm. I am terribly sorry for my actions previously. Let’s settle this out in peace.”
Meguro cringes reading the message. Settle in peace, my foot!
“I can’t believe that niisan actually went a long way to bring justice to what happened to me”.
Meguro looks at Abe. The man has his right hand on his chest.
“Can you tell me more of what happened? And do you know about other unpleasant things that your lecturer had done?”
“It was a month ago when I found out about sensei’s fraud. I came to confront him at his staff room. It was a frustrating experience. I was humiliated in front of other scholars. I wasn’t aware that my findings were already published under sensei’s name a week prior. The scholars who attended the presentation already read through sensei’s research paper, so they called me out for plagiarizing”. Abe hugs himself before he continues, “I never heard of any bad reputation about sensei. I know why after I went to his staffroom that day. He gave me a drink. I drank it. Then I feel dizzy. Then suddenly…He was…He was on top of me…He was…He was touching me everywhere. Then he told me to wait. Then he shoved his phone in front of my face. Thankfully there was a part of my mind that was still on alert. I know where this is going. I know what he’s going to do. With all the strength I had left, I pushed him, I kicked him and I ran away. I ran till I reached home. It was long. I might’ve run for about 30 minutes. But I didn’t feel tired. I didn’t feel anything other than sadness and disappointment. And my mind was already in haywire that I don’t even gave any thoughts of what other people might be thinking seeing me at that moment. Niisan just got back home so I bumped into him in the living room. I cried in his embrace. He asked me what happened. I told him my hard work is ruined. I told him my lecturer stole my research findings. I told him if I were to start with a new research topic, I might have to extend my university period. I might have cursed sensei some more or told niisan several other things too before I exhausted myself to sleep”.
Meguro clenches his fist. The jug in the kitchen…Kitayama might be planning to do the same thing again tonight. What a disgrace!
“Ever since that day, I avoid meeting him. I didn’t attend his classes. It was only this afternoon that we finally contacted each other after a while. But Meguro-san. The fact that sensei was killed too…Means that sensei wasn’t the one who killed niisan, right?”
“That’s right”, Inspector Iwamoto suddenly appears before them. “Both of you, follow me to the control room”.
“This is the CCTV recording from the emergency staircase”. Iwamoto-san then point to the black hooded figure on screen. The figure was walking slowly till there was a point that he was walking closer to the camera that the CCTV could capture the figure’s face. Abe gasps. “It’s him! It’s the Joker!”
The Joker was captured at every level’s staircase from the bottom to the 5th floor. The Joker stopped in front of Kitayama’s room and rang the bell. For a second, the Joker looked like he moved his mask upwards to his head, but the CCTV couldn’t capture his face as his head was covered by the hoodie. Kitayama opened the door, and the Joker went in.
“One thing we know now is that Kitayama-san knows who is this Joker”, Iwamoto-san states.
Few minutes later, the Joker was seen going out from Kitayama’s apartment with his mask on. The Joker looked at the CCTV for a while – as if mocking the police who are going to find out about this later.
“Come to think of it…Meguro-kun, who was the first discoverer?”, Iwamoto-san asked, looking like he was just reminded of something.
Meguro shakes his head. “An unknown person. The emergency hotline receives a call from the victim’s phone, saying that Kitayama Rintarou has been murdered at his residence. The caller was using a voice changer and before the staff could ask for more details, the caller hung up. So the staff forwarded the call to our division. Also, when Sakuma and the forensic team arrived just now, the door was unlocked. We suspected that the Joker was the one who made the call”.
Inspector Iwamoto sighs. “This is troublesome. By the way, Abe-san, where were you before you came here?”
Meguro lifted his eyebrow. Such is a life as a detective. You got to be suspicious of everything!
“I was at the university since the morning. I went here straight from there. I walked here together with my friend, Fukazawa before we part ways halfway through. I can give you his number if you need it…”
“I see. I’m sorry if you feel uncomfortable with me treating you like a criminal, but I hope you understand that it’s my job to suspect anyone, especially if they are directly involved in a case”.
Abe shakes his head and cracks a little smile, “Don’t worry, Inspector. That firmness is what makes you a respectable inspector. I understand”.
“Good. Let’s recap what we know so far. Miyadate Hiroyuki threatened to expose Kitayama Rintarou’s malpractices, so we suspected that Kitayama was the one who murdered Miyadate-san. However, that wasn’t the case because Kitayama was murdered in the same way Miyadate-san was murdered. From the text messages, we assume that both of them never had a direct meeting with each other. Which translates to no one else knows that these two knew each other. The only thing connecting both of them is you, Abe-san. But we won’t exclude the possibilities that either of them might have told someone. Say, have you ever heard your niisan talking to someone about Kitayama-san?”
Abe shakes his head. “I didn’t even know that he was researching sensei’s background and his past offenses. He might have done it in private”.
“What about Miyadate Ryota? Does he know about what Kitayama-san did to you?”
“Yeah, obviously he knows. He’s the next person after niisan that I would talk to about my problems”.
“How was his reaction when you told him about Kitayama-san?”
Abe glances at Inspector Iwamoto. His eyes are glowing with, probably anger. “What’s this? Are you suspecting him?”
Iwamoto-san raise both his hands up, in a surrendering pose, “Like I said, it’s my job to suspect everyone”.
“Why would Ryota killed niisan though? They’re cousins, for God’s sake! A close one too! They thought of each other as their own siblings. Me too, he’s like a brother to me too. Remember that the Joker was going after me as well? Ryota will never do that. Ryota has always been caring. He never hurt me. It’s impossible for him to be the one doing these murders”.
“Ok Ok calm down, Abe-san. We actually visited him this afternoon and he has an alibi for last night. Iwamoto-san was only making sure that we won’t overlook any possibilities”, Meguro interferes, sensing Abe was feeling offended. “But you should answer his question though, how was Miyadate Ryota’s reaction when you told him about Kitayama-san?”, Meguro asked again, in a soft tone.
Abe sighs. “I’m sorry I got emotional. Ryota is important in my life. I don’t want to lose him too”.
Again, Meguro doesn’t understand why it feels like a storm is raging in his chest. Ouch!
“Hmm…How he reacts? Ryota is not the type that shows his feelings much. I think he might’ve just asked me to calm down and said that karma will bite back while pulling me into his embrace. Yeah. I think that’s what happened. That’s so Ryota. May I know why you ask?”
“Is that normal? I mean, we saw how he treated you last night. It’s that…it’s unusual to see two grown up men being that affectionate with each other, you know…”
Abe finally comes to a realization and blushes, “Ahh…That…Umm…It’s habit, I guess. Because we’ve been together for so long. The first time I met Ryota was on the day I was adopted into the family. I was still emotionally unstable, I felt overwhelmed by lots of things happening at the same time, so I remembered I was crying most of the time within the 3 months after the incident. Ryota’s parents are always busy with work so almost every day, Ryota will come over to our house to play. We all lived in Edogawa at the time. The Miyadate family owned a huge plot of land where all the families lived in one area. So our house, Ryota’s house and the other relatives’ houses are all within the same area. Anyways, it’s always Ryota who calms me down when I have my breakdowns. It’s always Ryota who came to my aid when I was faced with troubles. Ryota didn’t talk much, he just envelopes me into his embrace. And I find myself feeling relaxed, all the time, with him just doing that. And I think I had become dependent on him emotionally since that time…”
Meguro is speechless, listening to Abe’s explanation. Inspector Iwamoto clears his throat. “Alright. Do either of you have a partner? I mean, romantically”.
Abe shakes his head. “Neither me, Ryota or niisan is in relationships. We always tease each other about this. When will each of us have a girlfriend? But we all agreed that for now, we are still too busy to commit to a relationship. So yeah, none of us has any girlfriend”.
Iwamoto-san nods. “That was a touching story, Abe-san. Thank you for cooperating with us tonight too. We will reach out to you again if there’s any updates on these two cases. Meguro-kun, please send Abe-san home. Now that we confirmed that the Joker is real, I’m afraid he might come to attack Abe-san next. Follow him till the entrance door”, Iwamoto-san ordered.
“I’m sorry for this inconvenience…”
“No, no, not at all! It is my duty!”
Abe gives a small smile, “Thanks…”
Meguro thinks he’s in love. Yeah. He must be.
People say you’ll feel butterflies in your stomach when you are crushing on someone and yes, that’s exactly what Meguro is feeling right now. Other than that, he is feeling some other crazy emotions! He is feeling uncontrollably giddy at Abe just saying “Meguro-kun” and is feeling shy to look at the said man eye to eye. Another crazy thing he thought is that…He just met Abe-san last night! Can a person really fall in love in that short amount of time?
“Meguro-kun, turn right at the next intersection. Then it’s the second house on the right”.
Abe leads him to a huge 2-storeys house at a high-end residential area. Meguro is flabbergasted.
“Uhh…So Miyadate-san lives here all alone…?”
Abe laughs a little. He understands the look Meguro is giving. “The Miyadate family is pretty wealthy. However, they aren’t involved in any huge businesses or anything so not many people know about the family name”. Abe reaches out to touch Meguro’s left hand on the steering wheel. Meguro gulps. “Thank you for sending me home tonight. As you can see from here, there’s no one lurking around so it should be safe. You don’t have to leave the car. I can take my leave from here. I hope you will be able to catch the culprit soon. Good night”.
Abe turns around before he can open the door. “Yes?”
“Here is my card. Please call me if you find anything strange, ok?”
Abe gratefully accepts the card. “Will do. Thanks”.
Meguro waits until Abe enters the house. Abe even waves at him before he closes the door. Meguro gladly waves back.
Meguro doesn’t drive home yet. He drives and parks his car at a side where he can monitor the house. He’s determined to protect Abe-san. So he keep a lookout for any suspicious figures around the house.
About half an hour later, he sees a figure coming out to the veranda on the 1st floor. It was Abe-san – now already changes to more comfortable clothes, an oversized white shirt. He’s gazing at the sky above, looking at the stars. He had a melancholy expression on his face. Meguro decides that it is such a breathtaking view. A sudden poetic thought comes up on his mind – we are looking at the same stars, yet you are so far from me. Oh no. He had turned gloomy too. He quickly switches on the radio to distract himself from unnecessary thoughts.
At a little past 11pm, Miyadate Ryota arrives home. Abe, who is still on the veranda waves down at him with a wide smile on his face. Meguro can see Ryota waves back and running fast towards the entrance door. In a moment, Ryota is there on the veranda too. They hug each other, a “normal” thing they did and Meguro notices that Ryota doesn’t leave his hands off Abe’s waist for a long time. Looks like they talk a bit before Ryota escorts both of them back into the house. Meguro tightens his grip on the steering wheel before he drives off. Damn, ugly jealousy!
“How are you, son? I’m worried about you. I’m sorry I can’t visit you”, Abe’s foster father can be heard from the other side of the line.
“Don’t worry, father. You’re not in good health. Please, don’t stress yourself. I’m fine, really. I’m staying with Ryota now. We can protect each other. I’m sorry for niisan’s passing, father. You must be sadder, since niisan is your biological son. I’m really sorry, father…”
“Shh…I am indeed sad, son. Which father will not be sad when his son was taken away from him? But it already happened, son. I can’t bring him back to life even if I want to. What I can do now is to just be strong for him and to pray that the killer to be caught soon”.
Abe slowly laughs. His foster father is really strong-minded. As expected from a retired army. Abe always admires his foster father’s wisdom. Miyadate-san is the most patient man Abe has ever met.
“We will have a funeral for Hiroyuki after his body is released. I hope by the time, justice will be served. I’m glad Ryota is there in Tokyo too. Please take care, both of you”.
“You too, father. I will call you back later. Bye!”
“Bye, son”. The call ends.
Relief is a feeling Abe has after calling his father. Feels like some burdens from his shoulder are removed.
Abe is packing his bags to be brought to the university soon when his phone rings. It’s from an unknown number. He picks it up. “Hello”.
“Ryo~hei~” A deep, creepy voice answers. “Ryo~hei~”. Abe feels chills on his spine.
Abe quickly switches on the voice recording app on his phone. “Hello. Who…Who is this?”
The voice on the other line keeps on repeating his name.
“This is not funny. Come on, who are you?!”
The person on the other line creepily giggled. “You look so beautiful in white, Ryohei”.
That sentence makes Abe vigorously check his surroundings but there’s no one in sight. “You’re the one who killed niisan and sensei, right? What is your motive?”
“What’s so funny?!”, Abe’s voice turns more agitated.
Suddenly there’s the sound of an explosion from outside the house. He screams. It shocks him.
“Hehehe… That’s my present for you, my dear. Expect more from me next time”. And the call ends.
Abe looks out at every window, but he can’t see any figures around the vicinity. When he peeks at the front garden, there is a bouquet of flowers and a “Jack-in-a-box” doll on top of the table inside the gazebo. Perhaps the explosive was put inside the “Jack-in-a-box” and the doll pops out when it exploded. It is not wise to go outside by himself now. He takes out Meguro’s business card and swiftly dials the number.
Meguro miraculously finds another link between Miyadate Hiroyuki and Kitayama Rintarou. The name is Fuji Ichiro. The name comes up in both Miyadate and Kitayama’s contact list. Meguro is about to check Miyadate and Kitayama’s previous chats in case there are any chats with this Fuji Ichiro guy, when his phone rings. “Hello, Meguro speaking”.
“Meguro-kun, it’s me Abe”. Meguro instantaneously stands up from his seat.
“Abe-san? Is something wrong?”
“He was outside the house. He just called me. He left a bouquet of flowers and a “Jack-in-a-box” outside the house. There was an explosion too…”
Meguro’s mind grows alert hearing the word “explosion”. “What?! You’re still in the house, right?”
“I am. I’m supposed to go to university now but…”
Meguro cuts his sentence. “Stay there! I’m coming. Don’t open the door to anyone. Anyone, ok? Even the people you know!”
“Ok, Meguro-kun. Drive safely”. He hung up.
“What happened?”, Iwamoto-san asks from his desk.
“The Joker was at Miyadate Ryota’s home. He called Abe-san”.
“What?! Hey! Don’t go alone! You don’t know how strong the man is if you were to encounter him. Take Hikaru with you!”
Meguro runs to the Security Operations Department in search of Iwamoto Hikaru, his superior’s son.
“Hikaru-kun! You have a task from your father, let’s go!” Meguro shouts, from outside the department.
A tall man with a nice built, stern-looking face, neatly gelled side parted hair, looking dashing in full suit walks fashionably towards Meguro with both hands in his pocket.
“Abe-san, you may open the door now. I’m outside”, Meguro requested by calling Abe.
The door opens soon after. Abe observes the surroundings outside.
“We’ve checked till the backyard. There is no one around. I’m Iwamoto Hikaru. Nice to meet you”, Hikaru casually introduces himself to Abe and hold out his hand for a shake. Abe shakes his hand.
Meguro inspects the items the Joker left behind. There is a note in red ink attached to the doll. It says, “You are mine, Ryohei”. What kind of sick game is this?!
Abe peeks through Meguro’s shoulder. He gasps when he sees the note. The Joker is targeting him after all. He shivers when he examines the bouquet of flowers. A combination of Red Camellias, Azaleas and Yarrows. In flower language, it means “You are a flame in my heart, you are in danger, I love you for eternity”.
Hikaru whistles. “Looks like you got a secret admirer, huh?”
Meguro shushes him. “Be sensitive. His brother and teacher got killed by this man!”
“Ehh~~~ Alright, alright. I’m sorry~”, he might be apologizing but his tone sounds insincere. Abe doesn’t take it to heart. People have different characters after all.
“We’ll take these to Sakuma-kun. Now come, Abe-san. We’ll drop you at your university”, Meguro ushers Abe to the backseat of the police car.
Abe plays the recording of the Joker’s call in the car at Meguro’s request. Hikaru is driving.
“This can be filed as a stalker case. Looks like he’s following your every movement. The problem is he’s still invisible to us. We have no idea who this stalker is. We don’t know who we have to protect you from”, Meguro states, frustratingly.
“Hmm. For now, it’s risky for you to go anywhere alone, Abe-san. You should be accompanied at all times. I suggest you stick with your trusted best friends to go with you anywhere in the university. The more the better. We can’t exclude the possibility that your closest friend might be the culprit. You can’t trust even your closest friends now. Avoid secluded areas. Call Meguro if you find anything strange. Also, he can fetch you from and to university. Just inform him of your schedule. And I suggest you stay with Meguro until your partner is home”, Hikaru advice, with a serious expression while Meguro gives him a side-eye. “What?”
“I’ll take your advice. I’m sorry for troubling you…”
“Don’t be sorry. That’s what the police are for. To protect the citizens from danger”.
The car is now entering the small road leading to the university. It’s still a little far from their destination though. So not many people and cars are in this area during non-peak hours. Just like at this moment…
Out of nowhere, a hooded man wearing Joker’s mask suddenly jump out directly in the middle of the road.
“SHIT!” Shocked, and in an attempt to evade the man, Hikaru rapidly turns the steering wheel to the right. The car crashes into a fence wall of a house, causing immense damage to the front of the car. All men inside the car are thrust forward from the impact and air bags are deployed.
“Ugh…” Meguro’s field of vision is tunneled for a while. He sits up straight and takes a deep breath before he regains full vision. He looks to his side. Hikaru seems to have fainted. Then he hears the sound of broken glass and Abe’s scream.
“AGHHHH! STOP! LET ME GO!”
The Joker breaks the window of the backseat and grabs Abe’s hand, pulling him out of the vehicle.
“Abe-san!”, Meguro is still a bit dizzy and he’s struggling with removing his seat belt. When he is finally able to get out from the car, he sees that the Joker is having a hard time pulling Abe into a van parked near there. Abe is flailing so much to remove himself from the Joker’s grip. He runs up to them but before he can reach them, Miyadate Ryota suddenly appears to save Abe from the situation.
Ryota grabs the Joker by the shoulders from behind and throws a punch to the Joker’s head. The Joker punches Ryota back and when Ryota evades the punch, the Joker runs away from them all. Meguro lets out his gun and aims it at the Joker’s legs. He pulls the trigger.
“AGHHH!” Bullseye. The Joker falls to the ground.
Both Meguro and Ryota run up to the Joker. The Joker tries to get up when suddenly, he starts to cough vigorously, then he holds his neck with both of his hands. Looks like he choked. Both Meguro and Ryota stop in their tracks. In a split second after, the Joker falls back down. The two men continues to reach the Joker.
“Oi! You are under arrest for an abduction attempt!”, said Meguro, breathing heavily. He crouches down, shaking the Joker but there is no response. He turns the Joker around first and removes the mask. A young man he never seen before and Ryota also looks like he doesn’t know the man. Meguro shakes the Joker again. “Oi! Wake up!” At that moment when his face is close to the Joker, he feels no breathing. Meguro stops his action. It can’t be! He checks the pulse on the Joker’s neck and wrist. Inexistent. The Joker is dead.
It takes about 15 minutes before the ambulance and police force arrive at the scene. Hikaru is already awake by this point, helping Meguro inspect the van while Miyadate Ryota accompanies Abe at the backseat of their damaged police car, getting medical attention. The main doctor declares the Joker is dead and takes him away by ambulance. Meguro finds the Joker’s wallet inside the van and identifies him as “Fuji Ichiro”. Meguro suddenly got reminded of the mutual contact he found in the previous two victims’ contact list. He checked his mobile phone for the data. Indeed, it’s “Fuji Ichiro”.
“Thank God you’re safe, son, Meguro-kun!”, Inspector Iwamoto approaches them both near the van.
“Yeah. It’s unfortunate that the perpetrator is dead when we captured him though”, Hikaru said.
“Hmm. Run me down what happened and who is behind this Joker?”, Iwamoto-san implores.
“We were on the way to send Abe-san to his university when the Joker suddenly appeared in front of us. Hikaru tries to evade the man, sending the car crashing. The Joker attempted to kidnap Abe-san by pulling him into this van but before that happened, Miyadate Ryota suddenly appears. They had a little fist fight before the Joker tried to run away. I shot his legs and he fell. We saw that he was like choking, and when I finally reached him, he was already gone”, Meguro explains in detail. “The man is identified as Fuji Ichiro, a post-graduate at the same university as Abe-san. I did my research at the HQ before I came here, this name actually came up in both Kitayama-san and Miyadate-san’s contact lists. But I still haven’t checked what is the link between the three of them”.
“Good job, Meguro-kun. After listening to your story, I become more suspicious of this Ryota guy”, Iwamoto-san whispers. “After they receive medical attention, we shall bring both of them to HQ for statement. Hikaru, son, thank you for helping Meguro-kun today. You guys should seek medical attention too. You never know what side effects you will be having after the crash”.
Meguro and Hikaru nod. “We’ll go to the hospital ourselves after we got the statement from Miyadate Ryota and Abe-san”.
Ryota and Abe are sitting side by side inside the interview room of the Tokyo MPD. In front of them are Iwamoto-san and Meguro, notebook ready as well as ready for questioning.
“Abe-san, do you know a man by the name of Fuji Ichiro?”, Meguro starts.
Abe is thinking. “Umm…I can’t recall anyone by that name. May I know who he is?”
Meguro puts a photo of Fuji Ichiro on the table. “This…is the Joker”.
Abe gasps. “Ehh…? But…I didn’t know him. Why is he after me?”
“He attended the same university as you. A post-graduate too”.
“Ahh…then, we might have come across each other. But really, I didn’t know him”.
Meguro leans back on his seat. “We find his contact in both your brother and your sensei’s phone. We will analyze their chats, if any, to find out what could be the motive”.
“He knows my brother?”, Abe asks, looking confused.
“Don’t worry, Abe-san. Our team is very efficient. We will find the relation between them in no time”, Meguro assures him.
Abe smiles and says a soft “Thank you”.
“About you, Miyadate-san. Why were you there at the crime scene?”, Inspector Iwamoto questioned, his tone stern and looking suspiciously at the man in front of him.
“Ryohei informed me about the explosion at the house. At first, I offered to take him to university but he said that he had already called the police so they would be the one to accompany him to university. We kept on texting until Ryohei said the police has arrived and we ended our conversation”, he pulls out his phone from his pocket and shows the policemen the chat between him and Abe.
“I was obviously still worried. So I tracked him using “Find my Iphone”. When I saw that he wasn’t moving from the location for a while, I rushed to the scene”, Ryota explains calmly.
“Wha…When did you set up that feature on my phone?”, Abe asks him, clearly surprised.
“Last night when you were sleeping. I’m worried, Ryohei. If it’s not for my work, I don’t want to leave you alone. I’m afraid that things like today happened”, Ryota softly says while caressing Abe’s left hand with his right. Meguro decides that Miyadate Ryota must enjoy showing his affection towards Abe-san in public. “Does that answer your question, Inspector?”
Inspector Iwamoto gave him a look. He’s not satisfied with Ryota’s answer just yet. “Hmm alright. Where were you before you arrived at the scene then?”
“When Ryohei called me, I had just finished shopping for ingredients. I was at the diner. My workplace and Ryohei’s university are not that far, if you’re wondering how I rushed to the scene on time”, Ryota finishes his statement.
Truth be told, Iwamoto-san is still very wary of Miyadate Ryota even after the explanation. His stories are too perfect, too calculative. Something is definitely fishy about the guy…
Inspector Iwamoto looks at the clock on the wall.
“Ok, I guess that’s enough statement. Thank you for cooperating with us again today. I’m sorry that you had to go through the experience of getting in a car accident in a police car, Abe-san. I’m glad you didn’t suffer any fatal injuries”.
Abe shakes his head, “No no! I should be the one apologizing for putting Meguro-kun and Hikaru-san’s life at risk. Since I was the target after all”.
“Hmm…I think we won’t bother you so much anymore now that the Joker is dead. We will contact you again probably if we need further information and when we have settled the three cases. You may take your leave now. Have a pleasant day”. All the men shake hands.
Before Ryota and Abe leave, Abe turns to Meguro. “Thank you so much for all you’ve done for me, Meguro-kun. Here, a little token of appreciation from me. I hope you can keep it with you always. Hehe.”
Abe hands over a flower bouquet charm to Meguro. It’s a combination of blue and white flowers.
“They are blue violets and gardenias”, Abe mentions, and somehow, he suddenly looks shy. “You can search for its meaning later. Until we meet again”, Abe bows and left towards the direction of Ryota. Meguro’s heart rate speeds up and he can’t utter a single reply. He is so happy to receive something from Abe-san. However, during the whole interaction just now, he could see, from the corner of his eye that Miyadate Ryota was glaring at him. He doesn’t know why but he’s pleased with that reaction.
Back from Tokyo MPD building, Ryota brings Abe for a meal at Juicy Diner and persuades him to stay at the diner until Ryota finishes work so they can go home together. Abe has a productive rest of the evening, peacefully doing his university work at the corner seating of the diner.
When they arrive back to Ryota’s home, Ryota takes a bath first while Abe continues doing his assignment some more. After Ryota’s done bathing, Abe strides to the bathroom and has a relaxing, long bath.
Abe gets out from the bathroom after about half an hour. He is only in his boxers, and he sees Ryota reading a book on the bed. Abe opens the wardrobe, rummaging its inside for his nightwear.
Ryota turns to him, acknowledging.
“When the police finally settle everything about niisan’s murder later, I believe I can return to the house. I will not bother you anymore hopefully sooner”, Abe casually comments.
He finally pulls out his signature nightwear, an oversized white button-up shirt. While buttoning up his shirt, Ryota suddenly hugged him from the back.
“Ahh~” He startles when Ryota bites his neck.
He nervously looks to his side. “Ryo…Ryota?”
Ryota looks up at Abe while helping him button up his shirt. “Why are you in such a hurry to leave me? I don’t mind if you stay here forever. I love your company”. After Abe’s shirt is fully buttoned, Ryota buries his head into Abe’s neck, inhaling the smell of a freshly bathed Abe.
Abe smiles and raises his hand up to pat Ryota’s head. “Stop behaving like a possessive boyfriend. I’m tired. Let’s go to sleep”.
Ryota chuckles and let go of his Ryohei. Oh he doesn’t know.
Meguro is in cloud 9. He searched for the meaning of the flower charm as soon as he got back home last night. He found out that the flowers mean “Secret Love”. Could it be? Meguro animatedly punches the air before he covers his face with both of his hands. He’s excited just thinking about the possibility that his feelings are reciprocated. If that’s the case then he should look for clues and more evidence fast so that the cases will be settled – then, he will be able to meet his Abe Ryohei.
“Yosh!”, Meguro is very motivated now.
“Ding-dong! May I come in?”, Sakuma slides open the office’s door.
“Welcome, Sakuma!”, Inspector Iwamoto greets, gesturing for the pink haired man to enter.
“Good news or bad news? Which one do you want to hear first?”, Sakuma asks.
“The good one”, Iwamoto-san answers.
“Ok! I shall report to you what we know so far~ Fuji Ichiro’s cause of death is heart failure. Ahh you must be thinking how could a healthy young man like him have a sudden heart failure, right? Because that’s what I thought too. If the deceased is an old man I will conclude it just there but since this is a young man, it is pretty suspicious especially for someone who has no history of heart diseases nor inherited conditions. So we checked the stomach contents very carefully. There is still quite a volume of material left in the stomach, meaning that the victim had his meal just before his death. Seems like he had a burger. We took a sample and Walla! Poison. We believe this is the kind of poison that doesn’t killed you right away. It stays in the body for a few hours before the toxin spreads throughout the body especially to the heart, causing a heart attack. The poison might also speed up its action from vigorous activity. Like running”, Sakuma explains, while passing all the relevant documents to Iwamoto-san.
“Poison? Did he took it voluntarily or was he unaware that he was consuming the poison?”
Sakuma claps. “You should hear his story then. So let’s start with how he is connected to both Miyadate Hiroyuki and Kitayama Rintarou”.
Meguro passes a chair towards Sakuma and gestures to him to sit down so he can report his findings comfortably.
“All the information I’m about to tell you is gathered from these 3 people’s LINE chat. Fuji Ichiro was Kitayama’s student and he had been sleeping with the sensei since a month ago. He was doing this to gain information and firsthand evidence of the sensei’s misconduct. He would always make the sensei drank lots of alcohol because truth always came out when a person is intoxicated. And it looked like the sensei wouldn’t remember anything when he sobered up. Fuji then passed whatever information and evidence he gained to Miyadate-san. We can’t be sure of the nature of Fuji and Miyadate’s relationship though. The first chat between those two was Fuji telling Miyadate-san that he’s willing to provide Miyadate-san with information regarding the wicked sensei to help Miyadate-san with his brother’s case”. Sakuma shows the printed copy of the LINE chats.
“However, we came up with one possible reason why he was doing this. Look!” Sakuma shows them the wallpaper of Fuji’s phone. It was a candid photo of Abe! Meguro throws a questioning look at Sakuma.
“Uhuh. Next, look at his gallery”. Sakuma opens the photo gallery of Fuji’s phone. It was full of Abe’s candid photos! Photos of Abe in lectures, Abe reading book at a cafe, Abe playing the violin, Abe working with other people, Abe at a flower garden, Abe at the museum, even Abe stargazing at the balcony of his house in his inviting nightwear, and many more…
“He even wrote poems and stuffs, fantasizing about being together with Abe-san. Hear this:
When I loved you, the whole world became my enemy;
I rejected the whole world, and choose you today;
You’re my persistence, my passion;
I’m heart burnt; you’re my addiction.
What do you think? He can write! I like it!” Sakuma recites dramatically. Meguro can feel a headache coming.
“So you mean…This Fuji…is obsessive over Abe-san that’s why he’s willing to help Miyadate-san to expose Kitayama sensei? Ok, I got the connection but if that’s the case, then why did he kill Miyadate-san? It just doesn’t make sense”, Meguro questions while rubbing his temples.
“Ahh~ That leads us to the bad news I’m going to convey to you today”.
Sakuma takes a deep breath. “Fuji Ichiro…is not the Joker that killed both Miyadate and Kitayama”.
Inspector Iwamoto and Meguro stared at each other.
Sakuma repeats, “Fuji Ichiro is indeed Abe-san’s stalker, but he was not the Joker that killed these two people. Why? Because his footprints don’t match with the footprints we found at the first and second crime scenes”. Sakuma puts down the printed copy of the forensic results on top of the table.
Meguro is trying his hardest to make sense of Sakuma’s words. What is this plot twist? He thought they were already moving towards the end of the investigation. “Ehh…Ehh? So you mean…Fuji Ichiro was not the killer, correct?”
Sakuma nods. “From here, we can assume what happened: the real killer knew about Fuji’s obsession towards Abe-san, possibly persuades him to be the Joker with the reason so that he can acts on his fantasy towards Abe-san since this Fuji guy is quite withdrawn, feed him a meal with poison, then finally, wait for him to die”.
Meguro thinks hard. “Hmm. It’s a pretty foul proof plan, if not for the footprints. But still, we are nowhere near finding out the motive behind the murder. I have a suspect in mind. In my point of view, it must be him pulling the strings behind all this. But we have no solid proof other than that his shoe size matches the footprints found on the crime scene”. Iwamoto-san and Sakuma know who Meguro is referring to.
“Don’t you think he is over-protective of Abe-san? Maybe he wanted to remove whoever posing a threat to Abe-san’s life. But that doesn’t explain why he would kill his own cousin. And why would he chase Abe-san? Ugh! This is so confusing!” Inspector Iwamoto aggressively scratches the back of his head.
Meguro’s phone rings. The caller ID shown on the screen named “Abe-san”.
“Hey, speak of the devil”, Sakuma comments.
Meguro shushes Sakuma and picks up the call. “Yes, Meguro speaking”.
“Meguro-kun…It’s still happening…”, Abe is talking in a really soft voice, as if whispering as well as in fear, from the other side of the line.
Meguro frowns. He suddenly had a bad feeling. “Can you explain what’s happening, Abe-san?”
After a long pause, he can hear Abe take a deep breath and says the next line frantically, “Someone sent me frightening letters. With candid photos of me. I’m afraid, Meguro-kun! What should I do?” Abe-san is sobbing now.
“Hey, hey, calm down, Abe-san! Ok, listen to me. Take a deep breath. Do it together with me. One, two, breathe in~~~and out~~~ Let’s do it one more time. One, two, breathe in~~~and out~~~ Ok, tell me where you are. I’m coming as soon as possible”.
“I’m at the university’s lab. Today is the weekend so there are not many people on campus. And I’m alone here inside the lab. It’s on the west side of the campus. I’m so scared to even move now Meguro-kun. I feel like I’m being watched. I’m sorry to trouble you but can you come to the lab? I’ll send you the location”, Abe whispers, trying to sound calm but Meguro can hear fear in his voice. Probably fear that this conversation will be heard by “that” someone.
“No problem, Abe-san. I’ll move now. Ahh! If it’s ok with you, please keep this call running. Hopefully it will lessen your fear knowing that I’m here, listening to you, ok?”
“Alright. Thank you, Meguro-kun”.
Abe puts his phone down on top of the table and takes another deep breath. At least he feels relieved after talking to Meguro-kun. He sits down on the stool then rubs his temple. He gazes at the cardboard box with his candid photos and creepy “love” letters in red ink inside it. Abe would think of these words as romantic, if not delivered to him this way.
“You’ve resided in my heart”
“After awakening the magic of desire, you’ve made me crazy”
“You’re stealing my peace, taking my sleep away”
“I’ve written your name on the walls of my heart”
“My heart is restless, jealous – when someone looks at you”
“The moonlight of your love, has settled in my eyes; The fragrance of yours, has settled in my breaths”
“The fire that is burning in my heart, didn’t extinguish even with many rainfalls”
“This intoxication and silence, this distance and helplessness, these heights and depths, these riddles and blockers; Love is a difficult thing”
“If this is madness, then I want to remain mad today”
“This longing doesn’t let me be far from you, even when I am at a distance”
Abe shakes his head. No, he can’t be weak. Whoever does this to him must have some mental issues. Any sane person will approach the one they like with kindness and affection, not by instilling fear. He gently slaps his cheeks, “Focus on the work now, Ryohei”, he reminds himself. He puts the box aside and restarts his experiment.
His peace is short lasting as he is disturbed by the sound from the announcement speaker resounds throughout the lab. “Ryohei~”
He gasps. He is indeed being watched! He looks around frantically. Then it occurs to him that if the perpetrator’s voice can be heard from the speaker, means that the man is currently in the broadcast room. The problem is…he doesn’t know where the broadcast room is! His body is in a “Fight or Flight” mode now. He brings his phone up to his ear and in a shaking voice, he asks, “Meguro-kun, can you hear that?”
A screeching sound can suddenly be heard from the speaker, followed by the person dark chuckling from the other side. That person continues with singing: “Secret~ I’m a secret~ I’m hiding here and there in the smoke~ Yes, I’m incognito~ Secret~ I’m a secret~” Then he lets out a big, evil laugh before it turns silence.
It feels like the calm before the storm, Abe hates this.
He can hear Meguro utters “Shit!” from the other side of the line. “Hold on! I’m nearly there! Don’t move from there, ok?”
Abe hopes Meguro will arrive soon. He feels paranoid. He tries hard to be as calm as possible and carefully cleans up the apparatus he uses for his experiments just now. After that, he packs his stuffs and anxiously tapping his fingers on the desk, waiting for Meguro. After a while, he hears footsteps coming nearer. The person knocks on the door. Abe has a bad feeling. But he braves himself, “Meguro-kun?”
The door is roughly opens…by a man in black, hooded, and with a Joker’s mask on his face. The man is holding a knife on his gloved, right hand.
“AGHHHH!” Abe screams. Then he throws whatever apparatus near him towards the Joker. The Joker slaps the equipment away and it breaks on the floor. Abe runs within the lab. Trying to block the Joker from reaching him as much as possible. There is only one entry and exit door. He must go in a circle before he can get out of the room. Fighting the man head on is not a choice since the man looks like he has stronger built. He could be stabbed in a flash. Abe is glad that he can still somehow think rationally in this situation.
“How do you like my presents, Ryohei? Don’t break my heart~”, the Joker speaks out in a Joker-y tone.
Few more steps till Abe reaches the door. The Joker seems to be aware that Abe is aiming for the door, so he fastens his pace. Abe manages to push the anatomy model near him towards the Joker before dashing out of the room. “HELP!”
The laboratory is located in a secluded area, 15 minutes’ walk from the main campus. People say it’s an ideal location for horror stories – what’s with a long tunnel before the entrance and the buildings are literally inside a forest. Today, Abe unfortunately experiences that horror. Enhance with the fact that it is currently raining and stormy outside.
Abe is running towards the tunnel when he turns around. The Joker is catching up to him. “AGHHH HELP!” He sprints as fast as his feet can go.
“Abe-san!”. Meguro is racing towards him.
“Meguro-kun!” Abe quickly hides behind Meguro as soon as he reaches him, while Meguro shoves his gun out in the direction of the Joker.
The Joker stops in his tracks then turns around, making a run from it. The Joker is running to the left to the right, not allowing Meguro to get a perfect aim. When the Joker finally reaches the end of the tunnel, he turns back around to look at both Meguro and Abe. The Joker makes a salute pose before he jumps headfirst towards the bush on the right. Meguro grabs Abe’s hand and runs in the direction where the Joker disappeared. No traces, no movements. It’s as if the Joker had disappeared into thin air.
Meguro opens the backseat door of his car then ushers Abe to enter. Meguro follows, entering the backseat as well. They are soaking wet from the rain. Both of them pant hard, tired from all the running. Meguro holds out a bottle of water towards Abe. “I’m sorry I don’t have any towels but here, water. You must be tired from all that running”.
Abe gladly accepts the water. “Thanks”.
Meguro stares at the view of Abe gulping down the water. He is certainly feeling something. He quickly averts his gaze away.
“I’m sorry for making your car wet. And thank you for your help back there”.
Meguro lets out a tiny smile. Abe-san is apologizing and expressing his gratitude for the trivial things.
“You are mentally strong, Abe-san. With all the things happening around you, you’re still able to do things as per normal. I mean, with your niisan’s passing, I thought you might be grieving all the time – at least for this period. And it’s understandable if you do”.
Abe snickers. “I am grieving. I am still grieving. I only let out my sadness when I’m by myself. I have to be strong. For me, life must go on. Excessive sadness is not good for anyone’s mind. Plus, I’m not good at not doing anything. We need distractions to steer away from thinking about sad things all the time”.
They sat in silence for a while, didn’t know how to continue the conversation. Abe is now hugging himself while rubbing his arms with his hands in an attempt to keep himself warm.
“Umm…I have searched the meaning of the flowers”, Meguro starts.
Abe turns his head towards him first, before he realizes something and blushingly looks away. “Ohh…you do?”
“Yeah…” Meguro is feeling awkward now. What should he say next?
Meguro turns his whole body facing Abe. “Abe-san, I feel the same”.
Abe gazes at Meguro in disbelief. “Ehh?”
“Umm…How should I say this? I…Whenever I see you, I have this jittery feeling in my belly…Uhh…Like a flutter of electricity runs through my body…My palms sweat more than usual…Umm…Whenever we part ways, I longed to see you again…I don’t know…I mean…Those are signs that I’m in love with you, right? I’m sorry that I’m not good with this kind of thing…”, Meguro confesses fast, stuttering in between sentences. He is looking anywhere but Abe.
Abe laughs softly. He finds Meguro looking so cute right now. “I’m glad”.
Abe reaches out to hold Meguro’s hand in his. Meguro stops panicking. Abe gazes at him directly in the eyes. Meguro is sensing a change in atmosphere. He unconsciously moves his gaze towards Abe’s lips. So tempting, he thinks.
As if listening to Meguro’s mind, Abe licks his lips. Meguro gulps.
“Nee, Meguro-kun. You know what people do after their confession is accepted?”
Before Meguro can answer and gives any reaction, Abe moves forward, claiming Meguro’s lips.
The kiss starts slow as Meguro is still in a daze, not believing this is happening. But as Meguro already makes sense of the situation, he dominates the kiss, turning it into a hungrier, passionate kiss. Meguro had his hand at the back of Abe’s head at this point. They broke the kiss for oxygen. Meguro watches as Abe’s expression turns sultrier, with cloudy eyes and his inviting lips slightly parted. He is about to initiate the next kiss when a ringing from Abe’s phone interrupts their moment. Abe quickly moves away from Meguro before answering the call. Meguro curses in his head.
“Ryohei! I’m sorry I didn’t pick up your call earlier. Was busy in the kitchen. Anything you want to let me know?”
“Umm…Ryota…The Joker is not dead yet”.
The other line is silent for a moment. “What do you mean the Joker isn’t dead?”
“He was here. He sent me scary letters and photos of me! He also tried to kill me again! But thankfully, Meguro-kun saved me”.
Silence again. “Are you ok, now? Is the officer with you?”
“Yes, I’m alright. And yes, Meguro-kun is here”.
“Can you please pass the phone to him?”
“Sure”. Abe passes his phone to Meguro. “Ryota wants to speak to you”.
Meguro takes the phone. “Yes, Miyadate-san?”
“Ahh Hello officer. I would appreciate it if you could send Ryohei over to Juicy Diner. I’ll make sure to keep an eye on him so that nobody can hurt him”.
Meguro doesn’t know what comes over him at that moment. Perhaps, jealousy? Maybe this is how possessiveness feels like too. He replies with, “I think it would be best if he is under the supervision of the police at the moment. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to keep Ryohei safe. Well then”. He ends the call. He also put Abe’s phone in silence mode.
Abe is dumbfounded with the way Meguro answered. “Hey, why did you…Hmph!”
Meguro pulls Abe into a tight embrace and roughly slams his lips onto Abe’s. They continue to kiss, without caring that there is another call made to Abe’s phone.
Meguro drives both of them back to his house. Meguro lives in an upper-middle apartment in Shinagawa City. “My home is not as luxurious as the Miyadate’s. I hope you don’t mind”.
Abe chuckles. “It feels homey. I like it”.
Meguro is glad. “Make yourself at home. Let me take a towel and a change of clothes for you first”. Meguro dashes into his room to find the towel and clothes for Abe. Abe is standing still at the entrance, afraid to make the apartment wet from his soaked clothes.
“Ahh Here! The bathroom is over there. Take your time in the bath. I’ll cook dinner”.
Abe scrunches his face. “Umm…What about you? You’ll catch a cold if you keep wearing that”. It is simply an innocent statement, but Meguro thinks otherwise. Meguro slowly approaches Abe till Abe’s back hits the wall.
“What? Is that an invitation?”, he asks, seductively.
Abe is confused. But once he realizes, he vigorously shakes his head and runs inside the bathroom. His heart beating fast. He can hear Meguro’s laughing from outside.
“Hey, I’m kidding! You’re so adorable! No worries! I’ll dry myself and change into fresh clothes! Remember, be careful of what you say, Ryohei~” Meguro said the last sentence in a suggestive tone.
Abe emerges out from bath about 20 minutes later. He is still embarrassed about what happened with Meguro just now, so he prolongs his time in the bathroom. But he thought that Meguro-kun probably needs to use the bathroom soon as well, so he went out after 20 minutes of dealing with his emotions. Meguro gave him a black silky pajama set. It’s a little big on him, both top and pants. But Abe doesn’t mind. Abe forgot about his emotional situation when he smells food. He walks to the kitchen. He is presented with a view of Meguro’s back. Meguro is now wearing new clothes – a simple white T-shirt and comfortable pants. He’s making fried rice.
“Tastes nice as well. Have a seat”.
Upon seeing a drink station, Abe walks to the said place. “I’ll prepare the drinks. What do you want?”
“Hehe being helpful on our first date. I like it. You’re a good husband material”, Meguro teases.
Abe throws him an annoyed look. “Awww you’re cute when you’re angry too”, Meguro continues to tease. “Anyways, green tea for me”.
Abe laughs softly. Return his attention to the drinking station. “Then, I’m taking the rose tea, ok?”
Deep inside their hearts, both of them enjoy this domesticity.
Meguro and Abe sitting facing each other at the dining table. “Itadakimasu!”
“How was it? Good, isn’t it?”, Meguro proudly asks.
“Hmm! It’s delicious! It’s amazing that you can cook like Ryota does!”
Meguro’s smile falters, unknown to Abe. Speaking of Miyadate Ryota, he suddenly remembers about the Iphone tracking.
“Ohh about Miyadate-san…Did he…The Iphone tracking…?”, Meguro unable to form a sentence but Abe gets the hint.
“Ahh that! I switched the feature off last night. That Ryota, he did that without my permission. It drains my phone’s battery, you know! Ohh he must be worried. I should inform him…”, Abe is about to get up to get his phone when Meguro grabs his arm from across the table. “Meguro-kun…?”
“I know I’m being selfish…but can I ask you to not talk about other men when we are together? Especially Miyadate-san. I’m sorry, I…I’m feeling agitated whenever you mentioned him. All the way here I was trying hard to distract you away from your phone. Don’t worry too much about Miyadate-san. You heard what I told him in the car, right? That you’ll be under the supervision of the police. He’ll understand. I’m sure of it”, Meguro explains, desperately.
Abe’s eyes soften and link Meguro’s hands with his. He lays his cheek at the back of Meguro’s hand. “I’m sorry. I understand. Come, let’s continue to eat before the food gets cold”.
Just like that, they continue eating and have small talk, getting to know each other better, throughout the dinner.
“Tomorrow is Sunday. You have any plans?”, Meguro asks while flipping through the TV channels.
“Hmm…Not exactly but I’m planning to continue working on my thesis”.
“Such a hard worker, aren’t you?”
“Hehe what about you, Meguro-kun? In you scope of work, I believe you still have to go to work if needed even during weekends, right?”
“Such is a life of a police officer. Our family has to be understanding with our job too”.
“Hmm…”, Abe nods, agreeing. A vinyl player at the edge of the room suddenly catches his attention. “Hey! An antique vinyl player!”, he exclaims, excitedly hopping towards the thing.
“Ahh That’s used to be my grandfather’s. After his death, my father said that I can have it. So I take it with me to this house”, Meguro also goes towards the vinyl player. “Let me make you listen to my favorite songs”. Meguro then rummages through his collection of vinyl.
Meguro brings out a classic vinyl of a Canadian singer, Dan Hill. The song track is “Sometimes When we Touch” from 1977. He inserts the vinyl onto the player. The song resounds within the apartment. Abe is peacefully enjoying the song when Meguro stretches his hand towards him. “May I have this dance?”
Abe snickers. So cheeky of him! He accepts Meguro’s hand for dance. He links his right hand with Meguro’s while he adjusts his left hand on Meguro’s shoulder. Meguro on the other hand, has his right arm on the other’s waist. They start dancing to the beat.
And sometimes when we touch
The honesty's too much
And I have to close my eyes and hide
I wanna hold you 'til I die
'Til we both break down and cry
I wanna hold you 'til the fear in me subsides
Both of them got deep into the song that in their subconsciousness, they start to do more than just dancing. Meguro closes the distance between them, staring at each other’s eyes and he can feel that Abe’s left hand now roams around his body. They didn’t kiss just yet. Simply continue the staring contest, while their breaths mingling with each other.
Meguro lost his patience first. He claims Abe’s lips, gently this time, before their tongues start fighting for dominance, in which Abe predictably loses. Swayed by passion, Meguro leads Abe inside his bedroom, without stopping the kiss. Only when they reach the bedroom that they break the kiss for oxygen. Abe looks at Meguro with his hazy eyes – it ignites a fire Meguro doesn’t know he had inside him. He swiftly picks Abe up and gently throws him on the bed. His Ryohei looks so alluring right now. Meguro wants to ravage him. He got major aroused right now.
Meguro crawls on top of Abe, ready for a feast when Abe blocks his face with both of his hands. “No. Don’t”.
Meguro stops in his tracks. “Do you want me to stop here?”
Abe peeks out. He shakes his head.
“Then, what do you want?”, Meguro softly asks. “I won’t do things you don’t want me to. So tell me what you want”, he caresses Abe’s head.
“Umm…I want you…but I don’t want…I mean…I don’t know…”, Abe hides behind his hands again.
Meguro gets the hint. He chuckles. “You’re so cute, Ryohei. It’s ok, we can take it slowly. We won’t do it all the way today”.
Abe lets out a little laugh. He’s glad that Meguro understands.
Now that Meguro confirms Abe’s desire, the sensual mood resumes. He reaches out to take the necktie he wore to work yesterday from the chair in the room. Then he crawls back on top of Abe, takes both of Abe’s hands away from his face before tying them up with the necktie. He brings the tied hands on top of Abe’s head.
“Trust me. I won’t betray your trust”, Meguro reassures. Abe nods.
Meguro then takes off his clothes, revealing broad shoulders and abs that shows how Meguro frequents the gym. Abe licks his lips.
Meguro proceed with unbuttoning Abe’s pajama top, one by one, while they’re having a staring contest again. After that, Meguro swiftly removes Abe’s pants. Abe was panting sensually throughout the whole action. Meguro lays back to admire the beauty in front of him. His Ryohei, with an unbuttoned top that reveals his attractive body, and underwear, with his hands tied above his head. It’s as if he’s unboxing a present. Meguro moves forward now to firstly, bites Abe’s earlobe. “Ahh~” The action emits a luscious moan out of the other man. Good step. Next, he moves to kiss Abe’s forehead, then both of his eyes, down to his nose, skips the lips, directly to the chin. Then he moves to kiss Abe’s collarbone and bites his neck, which results in Abe’s arching his back from the pleasure and he moans again. Meguro moves down to play with both nipples with his fingers for a second, which emits another pleasurable moan from the man beneath him, before he places kisses on the abs.
Meguro uses his fingers to trace the area below the belly. “Ahh~~~”
Abe lets out a long moan while arching his back. So he feels the most pleasurable right there. Meguro smirks. He moves down to caress both of Abe’s thighs, also biting the inside of Abe’s right thigh. Abe squirms. Meguro holds both of Abe’s legs in place again and continues kissing down to his feet. Meguro had kissed all over Abe’s now aside from his lips and obviously, the private part. He’s satisfied with this today. They can take this slowly. He can explore more of his beloved’s body next time. Now he moves back up to claim Abe’s lips, passionately while his hands roam all over the other man’s body. When they break the kiss, Meguro moves back to place airy kisses on Abe’s collarbones and neck while his fingers traces over the area below the belly. Not long after, he hears a lewd chanting of his name.
“Meguro-kun…Ahh~ Meguro-kun… Ahh~ Ahh~ Ahh~~~”
Only the sound of their pants can be heard right now. Even the music outside had long stopped. Abe finally reaches his climax.
Meguro smiles and unties the bind on Abe’s hands. “You’re so great. So beautiful”. He gives Abe a peck on the nose before he moves to his wardrobe, pulling out a fresh boxer and putting it at the edge of the bed. He also takes a tissue box from his work desk then puts it on top of the boxer. Abe sits up. The afterglow causes Abe to take a little while to be able to think rationally again. He just keeps on staring and following Meguro’s every movement. Meguro walks to the door. He turns around and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this in the bathroom”.
When Meguro returns from his “business”, he finds Abe already asleep on his bed. Meguro let out a smile. He wishes that time will stop to let him enjoy this happiness a little bit more. He doesn’t want to think about his work, his commitments, just yet. He just wants to spend more time with his Ryohei – falling in love again and again with every little new things he knows about the other person.
Before he can switch off the light, Abe suddenly jolts up from his slumber and lets out a fearful scream. Meguro quickly moves over to envelope Abe into his embrace, while whispering, “It’s ok. It’s ok. I’m here. I’m here. No one can hurt you, ok?”
Abe, who is awoken by a nightmare, tightly hugs Meguro back. He is sobbing.
“It’s the Joker again, Meguro-kun! He’s coming to get me again!”
Meguro steps back and wipes the tears off Abe’s face.
“Shh…He won’t be able to hurt you now. I’m here. I’ll protect you”.
Abe pushes himself towards Meguro’s chest, holding him in a tight hug again. After a while, he calms down. “I felt someone caressing my face in my sleep. At first, I saw my dad. I missed him. I took that hand in mine. Then I felt that hand moved away. I followed that hand when I finally felt something cold and metallic. When I looked up, the Joker was staring at me! I’m afraid, Meguro-kun!”
“Shh…Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. I’ll make sure to expose who is behind the Joker next time”.
Abe then falls asleep in Meguro’s embrace.
Meguro is not sleeping yet. He has been silently watching Abe’s sleeping face for the past hour. Now, he wants to go to the kitchen. He’s suddenly thirsty. It takes a few attempts before he successfully removes himself from Abe’s embrace. Abe is hugging him like he is his teddy bear. He chuckles at the thought.
After he finished drinking, his eyes caught Abe’s phone lights up on the living room’s table. He picks up the phone and sees that “Ryota” is calling. Meguro picks up the phone.
“Ryohei! Thank God you finally pick up! Listen, don’t do this again! You don’t know how worried I…”
“This is Meguro speaking”, Meguro cuts Ryota’s frantic lecture. “Ryohei is already asleep right now”.
Silence. “Is that so? Where do you let him stay now, officer?” Meguro doesn’t know how to describe it, but he feels as if Ryota’s tone turns tense.
“My home. Don’t worry, Miyadate-san. Until we catch the Joker, I’ll keep Ryohei safe. I hope the Joker can reveal himself soon”, Meguro emphasizes on the last sentence, as if challenging. “You should go to sleep too, Miyadate-san. It’s late”.
“…You can send him home tomorrow, officer. I have an off day tomorrow so I can look after him”.
Meguro lifted his eyebrow. This man doesn’t give up. “I’ll tell Ryohei later. He can decide if he wants to go home or stay here. Good night, Miyadate-san”. Meguro ends the call.
Meguro feels like he wins.
Abe wakes up to a view of someone’s chest. The memories of last night return to his mind. A warm feeling is engulfing his chest. He looks up to a handsome sleeping face of a man he loves.
After a while, Meguro opens his right eye. “Do I look that handsome?” Sneaky! Meguro is already awake!
Meguro then playfully pokes Abe’s sides. “Ahh!”, Abe squeals.
Meguro widened his eyes. “You’re ticklish there!” He pokes Abe’s side again. And Abe squeals again.
They end up playfully wrestling each other before the day officially starts. Ahh how they wish this will last forever.
“Meguro-kun, I’m going back to Ryota’s house today, alright? He said that he’s taking the day off today”.
Meguro frowns. “But…” Meguro moves around restlessly, desperately trying to think of an excuse to not let Abe leave his place. He sighs. He gave up thinking of an excuse and just told the truth. He puts his arms around Abe from the back and kisses his neck. “But I don’t want you to leave. Say, what about we go to Miyadate-san’s house together for you to pack your things up for the night?”, Meguro suggests.
Abe snickers. “Officer Meguro, it seems that you’ve taken your job seriously, hmm? Officers don’t usually let their protected persons stay at their own homes”.
“Hmm…whose fault is that? You’re guilty for seducing an officer to let you stay at his place”.
“Hehe Alright then. Let’s go”.
When Meguro and Abe arrive at Miyadate Ryota’s home, the said man surprisingly wasn’t at home. Abe rings the bell numerous times, but nobody answers. “Hmph! This Ryota! He said he’ll be home all day”, Abe complains while rummaging inside his bag for the house key. “Maybe he’s going to the convenience store for a while. I’ll text him later. Come in, Meguro-kun”.
Both Abe and Meguro turn their heads to the scene at the other side of the road. A thief is running away after stealing a woman’s purse.
“I’ll come back later, Abe-kun!”, and Meguro sprints towards the direction of the thief.
Abe shakes his head. He goes into the house and immediately up to his room. He unconcernedly packs his things and when he’s done, he brings his small suitcase back down. When he arrives downstairs, he can see a black shadow from the corner of his eyes. He thought Ryota is back.
“Ryota? Where have you…AGHHHH!”
Standing in front of the entrance door, is the Joker.
The Joker bops his head before he charges towards Abe. Abe left his suitcase and darts into the closest room he sees – the guest room. The Joker manages to somehow catch up to him and he’s stuck in his left hand so that Abe won’t be able to close the door. Abe forcefully pushes the door so that it could more or less hurt the Joker’s arm and hopefully made him give up. At the meantime, Abe can make out a golden chunky chain bracelet the Joker wore on his hand.
After a few attempts, the Joker finally gives up and Abe slams the door shut, locking it as well.
The Joker is slamming the door from outside. In Abe’s panic state, he first thought of calling Meguro but when notices that the slamming has stopped but the lock of the door as if the lock is being picked, his mind comes up with an idea of opening the window, so that the Joker will think that he had escaped outside. While actually, he’s still hiding, inside the room.
The door finally opens. The Joker notices the window opens wide and it seems that no one is in the room. Abe is actually hiding inside the closet, covering his mouth with his both hands. After a minute, he can hear rushing footsteps going far and far away. Once he makes sure the sound is totally gone, he immediately comes out from his hiding place, dashing to the entrance door, then goes outside.
“MEGURO-KUN! MEGURO-KUN!” Abe shouts with all his might.
However, who emerges soon after is Miyadate Ryota instead. He runs up towards a hysterical Abe, holding Abe’s shoulders, asking him what had happened.
“Ryota! Ryota! The Joker was here! The Joker…” Abe pauses.
Ryota has moved his hands to caress Abe’s face. That’s when Abe notices the bracelet that Ryota is wearing. It’s the same bracelet he saw on the Joker.
Miyadate Ryota follows Abe’s line of vision. He finally realized. Abe steps back from Ryota.
Ryota suddenly grabs Abe harshly by the hair, bringing him back inside the house.
“AGHHH! RYOTA! IT HURTS! STOP!”
Ryota tosses Abe onto the sofa in the living room relentlessly. He then crawls on top of Abe and forcefully kisses Abe on the lips.
Abe is struggling to push Ryota off him, but the kiss makes him breathless and his movements falter after a moment. When Ryota finally let go, he lovingly caresses Abe’s face again. He’s drunk with this view of Abe with his hazy eyes and plump lips.
“How long should I wait until you ask the state of my heart?”, Ryota whispers.
Abe is unable to think straight. Ehh? Is Ryota the Joker all this time? “But…why?”, Abe softly asks.
“The reason is you. The reason is always you, Ryohei”. They are still in their position. Ryota just inches his face closer to Ryohei.
“I didn’t mean to kill Hiroyuki-niisan, Ryohei. But you know what? I saw it!”, Ryota harshly cups Abe’s chin in his hand. Abe flinches. “I saw what niisan did to you! He forced himself on you, wasn’t it?” Ryota raises his voice.
=== A day before the first incident ===
Ryota informed Abe that he’ll be visiting Abe’s house as usual after work. Abe would leave the entrance door unlocked around the time Ryota would usually be coming, which is around 10.30pm – 11pm so that Ryota could freely came into the house.
Ryota came a little later than usual that night because cleaning the diner took longer than usual as they are short-staffed that day.
“Hello~”, Ryota greeted, but no one answered.
He then tried to be cheeky and surprised either Abe or Hiroyuki, whoever he saw first. So he tiptoed inside the house quietly. However, he was the one to be surprised instead.
Ryota heard a soft moan. He walked slowly in the direction where he heard it.
It seemed to come from the music room. The door was left slightly ajar too. Just enough for a person outside to peek in.
Ryota’s blood boiled. Abe was bent over at the edge of the table, holding himself up with his elbows, while Hiroyuki-niisan was behind him, straddling his Ryohei’s legs.
“Ahh~ Stop~ What if…What if Ryota sees? Ahh~ He’s going to arrive soon…”
“Hmm? Then let him be. He’s a man too. He’ll understand that men have needs. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get both of us tonight”.
“Ahh~ No~ Ahh~” Abe was a moaning mess at this point.
“Hmm? What is this? Do you get excited by the thought of being seen by Ryota?”, Hiroyuki teased.
Ryota watched the erotic display in front of him until both of them reached the climax.
“And then I went back to the entrance and greeted you guys aloud, as if I didn’t see anything. That’s what triggered all of this, Ryohei! I am in love with you since forever! I always make sure to show my affections towards you, but you never noticed! At first, I was ok with it. So what if you don’t love me the same way? I can still love you silently, protecting you from afar. But to see in front of my eyes, my cousin who doesn’t even love you as much as I do, did “that” to someone I love – It’s too much! It’s not fair!”, Ryota explains exasperatedly.
“I can’t sleep that night. I toss and turn on my bed but the image of you and Hiroyuki-niisan keeps on appearing in my mind. I called Hiroyuki-niisan the next morning. I told him that I want to discuss what to do on your birthday. He said he’ll come back early from work and that we should discuss it before the usual time I visited the house. My mind was already not in a right state, Ryohei. I indeed planned to kill him that night, but the rational part of my mind also told me to wait and listen to Hiroyuki-niisan’s explanation. If my judgement said that he should be killed, then I’ll kill him right away. And that’s what happened”.
=== Nearly an hour before the first incident ===
“Sawamura-kun. I already prepared all the ingredients here, the broth is still boiling over there. I’m going to the loo. You know me, “No.2” can take a long time. Ughhh my stomach hurts”, Ryota hurriedly removed his apron and chef hat, and rubbed his belly, faking a stomachache.
“Hahaha! Yeah, sure! Take your time. I’ll take care here”, Sawamura-kun laughed heartily and allowed Ryota to go.
Ryota obviously didn’t go to the loo. He was rushing to Abe’s house to meet Hiroyuki and initiated his plan. He brought a knife from the diner and wore the hooded long jacket on the way, as well as the Joker’s mask.
He arrived at Abe’s house in no time. He knew that Hiroyuki-niisan unlocked the door for him so he quietly sneaked into the house. He saw his cousin in the living room. He sneaked up behind his cousin quietly and touched his cousin’s shoulder. Hiroyuki jumped in surprise.
“Shhhhh…”, Ryota raise his index finger to his mouth then slipped off the mask.
“Oh my God, Ryota! You scared me!”
“Hehe what do you think of this concept for Ryohei’s birthday?”
“What? Haha he’ll freak out!”
“By the way…I saw it”, Ryota was now staring at Hiroyuki darkly.
“You and Ryohei. Last night”.
“Ahh~”, Hiroyuki pointed at the music room, then looked at Ryota as if asking for a validation. “Haha is it a problem to you?”
“How long? Is he ok with it?”, anger is evident on Ryota’s face now. His volume also rose.
“Ryota~Ryota~ You do understand that men have needs, right? And that boy is available within my beck and call, at least in this house”. Hiroyuki took a sharp breath before he continued, “I did it with others too, outside. But no one had ever left me as satisfied as he does. You’re a Miyadate, too. You can try to ask him if you want. You understand what I mean, right?”
Ryota sees red. So Hiroyuki was treating his Ryohei like a toy, wasn’t it? It disgusted him!
His mind decided at that time. He would end his cousin’s life.
When Hiroyuki walked past him to go to the kitchen, he took the knife out from his pocket and in a flash, stabbed his cousin directly at the heart. Hiroyuki was still able to turn around to look at Ryota. In his last moments, he was still able to slightly fight back by grabbing Ryota’s shoulder then pushing him to the wall, which caused Ryota to push Hiroyuki back to the wall on the other side before Hiroyuki fell dead on the floor.
“My hands were trembling, Ryohei. I can’t believe what I have just done. I have no backup plan as well. And you…You’re not supposed to see what happened there that night. I got panic when I heard your footsteps going down the stairs. I quickly put on the Joker’s mask, and I decided to just play the villain at that moment. I have no intention of killing you, Ryohei. I will never”. Ryota releases Abe’s jaw. He takes Abe’s right hand and leads it to his back. Abe can feel uneven skin texture. “You did this to me that night, Ryohei. I left the house with a burning back. But I was pleased with it. This is the mark that you left on my body”, Ryota smiles wickedly and kisses Abe’s hand.
Abe shivers. Ryota loves Abe’s reaction. He then moves forward to trail kisses from below Abe’s ears down to his collarbone.
“Ahh~~~”, Abe lets out a delicious moan.
“Hmm…You’re so sensitive. Hiroyuki-niisan really taught you well”, Ryota comments, amused.
Abe squirms. He doesn’t remember when it started, but what he knows is that he can never say no to his niisan’s requests. Perhaps because he is indebted to the Miyadate family, that he is willing to give his body to pleasure his niisan. And as his niisan said, men have needs. And Abe himself got his needs fulfilled by doing it with his niisan. His niisan never forced him if he didn’t want to, never used the Miyadate’s name to manipulate him into doing it and they always done it safely. He thought it was a silent agreement between both of them.
Abe tries hard to focus on Ryota’s statements. Ryota is still ravaging his neck. With a shaking voice, he continues to ask, “Ahh~ What about Kitayama-sensei? Why did you kill him?”
Ryota abruptly sits up. “Hmph! He’s the one that was very deserving to die! He made me sick! He did not only hurt you by stealing your hard work, but he also tried to do sick things to you! Just thinking about it irks me!”
“I knew that he was waiting for you at his condo that night. I got the information from Fuji-kun. So I came to him before his appointment with you and killed him”.
“About Fuji-kun”, Ryota snickers. “He’s simply beneficial for me. About a month ago, I accidentally caught him in the act of stalking you. He took so many candid photos of you when he was dining at Juicy Diner. At the time, you just complained to me about your sensei’s mischief. I thought it was a blessing. I could use this man to help you. So I approached him – told him that if he wanted to help Ryohei, then he had to help me gain information about the wicked sensei and passed it to Hiroyuki-niisan. I knew that Hiroyuki-niisan will do his best to bring justice to what happened to you. It’s in his character after all”.
“Remember the day you were attacked inside the police car? That was my plan to deceive the police into thinking Fuji was the killer for both cases. I gave Fuji the Joker idea, to scare you. You don’t know that he had sick fantasies involving you. So I let him do what he want to you. I asked him to share his plans so that I could initiate my own plan afterwards. He came to the diner, I served him a burger, a poisoned one. He must’ve felt betrayed when he saw me on the scene that day. But I don’t care. I knew he was going to die after all”.
“Stop! Ryota!”, throughout the entire time of Ryota retelling his stories, he managed to unbutton Abe’s shirt and unfasten his belt, pulling down the pants to his thighs. Abe’s attempts to push Ryota away from him are in vain. Ryota is too strong for him. “Then why did you keep the role of the Joker? Why did you keep on scaring me?”
Ryota uses his fingers to trail along Abe’s body from the chest to below the belly. Abe arches his back, feeling the pleasure. “No~”
“Why? Because you look so spicy when you’re scared, Ryohei. Whenever I remembered how you look that night when Hiroyuki-niisan died, I got turned-on. How helpless you look. It excites me! It made me want to protect you and ruin you at the same time”.
Abe is stunned, hearing all of this. He can’t think at this moment. He wishes that a miracle will come his way soon and save him from this predicament. He can feel tears threatening to fall. He brings both his hands up to cover his face. The shock leaves him with no more energy to fight. “Please let me go, Ryota…”
Ryota hears a clicking sound from the back of his head. He turns around. He is face-to-face with a gun, pointed at him. Then he sees the angry face of Officer Meguro.
“You’re under arrest for the murder of Miyadate Hiroyuki, Kitayama Rintarou and Fuji Ichiro”.
Ryota sighs. He stands up, facing Meguro. “So this is it? Then it’s game over for me”. Ryota gazes at the coffee table near him. There is a paring knife on it. He dashes to the table to get hold of the knife. He then positions the knife to his neck. Then a gunshot was heard. Meguro shoots Ryota’s arm, dropping the knife to the floor. Ryota screams in pain. “Just kill me, officer. I better off dying than living without seeing Ryohei”.
When Meguro returned to the house, the house was silent. Maybe it’s his detective instinct, but he decided to look behind Miyadate Ryota’s house first. How shocked he was when he saw the black hooded long jacket and the Joker’s mask on the ground! He tried not to react brashly. He quietly walked to the back of the house and found the back door leading inside through the kitchen, was unlocked. He walked into the house and eventually heard Ryota and Abe’s voices. His eyes widened when he saw the condition Abe was in. But then, it seemed that Ryota was confessing his crimes. So he moved further in, closer to them and recorded the whole happenings until he confessed about his perverted fantasy towards Abe. The two of them were too occupied to even notice that Meguro was there the whole time.
With that, Miyadate Ryota is arrested and there’ll be no more Joker in Abe’s life.
It doesn’t take long for the judge to decide on the sentence to be made on Miyadate Ryota.
There was enough evidence, plus, Ryota also plead guilty to the crimes.
Abe was looking at Ryota sadly. Even though Ryota had hurt him, he still feels sorry for the man. Ryota will always be his best friend, no matter what. When Ryota walks past him, guarded by the police on his sides, Ryota stops. He looks back at Abe and bitterly smiles. “Happy birthday, Ryohei. Come visit me always”.
27th November – this date will always remind him of the hauntings of the Joker, aside from his birthday.
Few days after Miyadate Ryota was sent to jail, the police released Abe’s house and his niisan body can now be collected from the morgue. The Miyadate family is obviously devastated with both the death of Hiroyuki and that the perpetrator was actually, Ryota. Still, they prepared a funeral for the late Hiroyuki at their hometown at Edogowa, and Abe invites Meguro to the occasion. “It’s a good opportunity to meet my family”, Abe said.
And when Meguro asked why, he saw the other man blushing. “If you are to be my partner for life, isn’t that the ideal thing to do?”
And Meguro can’t stop himself from pouncing on after that. This man is too cute too handle.
Abe introduced Meguro to his family as the policeman who helped him during the whole ordeal and now, they had become “friends”. The conversation he had with the family is mainly regarding Ryota’s case. After the funeral, Meguro asked Abe if he wanted to accompany him for a walk first before he excused himself for the day. Abe accepted the invitation. Before they leave the graveyard, Miyadate-san, Abe’s guardian, stopped them. “Meguro-kun, we’ll be having a belated birthday dinner for Ryohei later. Please, stay with us”.
Hmm. Seems like he’ll be staying until dinner then. Meguro accepted. Abe then led him to the park nearby. They strolled around the park, enjoying the scenery and the moment. A date.
“Happy birthday, Ryohei!”
Meguro stares lovingly at the smiling Ryohei. The man is now surrounded by the other excited family members, taking turns to take photos of/with him with his birthday cake. The room was decorated with balloons and a banner on the wall which says, “Happy Birthday”.
“Meguro-kun!”, one of Abe’s cousins calls out to him. “Come here, take a photo with Ryohei”.
Meguro awkwardly walks to Ryohei’s seat.
“Stand behind him, Meguro-kun. Awww don’t be too stiff! Hmm…it’s better if you move to left. Now put your right hand on Ryohei’s right shoulder. Yes! Ok, that’s nice! Ready~ Say Cheese~”
The cousin then hands him the polaroid.
First photo with his beloved. He’s going to treasure this forever.
The celebration ended pretty late. Meguro didn’t expect to find himself getting comfortable with Ryohei’s family so easily. It’s a warm family, and Meguro hopes that he can build a family like this too in the future.
Abe accompanies Meguro to the train station. Before they parted ways, Abe thanked Meguro for the day.
“Thank you for coming here today. I’ll be staying here till the weekend. See you in Tokyo next week?”
“We should! Thank you for inviting me too. Your family is so warm and welcoming”.
“I’m glad”. Then Abe looks down shyly. Seems like he wants to do something, but he hesitates.
“Hmm? Anything you want to tell me?”
A peck on Meguro’s cheeks. It was so fast that Meguro thought, did Ryohei just do that?
“Umm…I hope you don’t mind me doing this…from now on…”, Ryohei’s face is all red now. Ahh this man is so cute that he’ll be the death of me, Meguro thought.
Meguro then brings Ryohei’s head forward, kissing his forehead. This is his reply.
“I’ll text you. See you next week, love. Good night”.
They waved and parted ways.
This is a story about obsession. About how dangerous a man could become with obsession. How obsession will ruin and eventually destroy you.
Do everything in moderation. Don’t love too hard, don’t trust too much, don’t overthink, don’t hold on too tightly. Because that too much, can hurt you so much.