The next morning was a weekend. Destiny still felt bad about Tanoshii, so she was convinced that she would have a bad weekend.
She sat in her living room, on the floor, wrapped in a blanket. "Poor Tanoshii..." she sighed, pulling the blanket up further over her head.
Unexpectedly, at that moment the phone rang. She picked it up, "hello...?" she answered, very unenthusiastically.
"Destiny? It's Annelise! What're you up to?" Annelise's cheerful voice rang through the speaker, brightening the gloomy atmosphere of the room.
"Oh, nothing. Mourning the tragic loss of my old partner" Destiny said, rather sadly.
"Nothing, then? Well, I was going to check out downtown Tokyo. I'm new here, and I could really use a guide. Since you're not doing anything...?" Annelise said, hinting rather obviously.
"Alright, sure. Meet me...on the corner of ninth and Sakura" Destiny said, looking out her window.
"Okay! I live just near there! I'll be there in half an hour, if you're ready" Annelise said.
"I'll be there" Destiny said shortly, though her mood was vastly improved.
"Great! see you then!" Annelise said, hanging up.
In half an hour Destiny was standing at the corner of the two streets, waiting for Annelise. The sound of plastic, ball-bearing wheels reached her, and she turned around to see Annelise standing on her scooter, grinning.
"Am I late?" she asked, stopping in front of Destiny.
"Nope, right on time!" Destiny said, smiling back at her, "I see you brought your scooter; excellent. This is much faster than walking and healthier than driving" she said, pointing to hers.
She had customized it herself; neon pink and green, with her initials D.W.M, on the handlebars.
"I love yours! so flashy!" Annelise said, grinning.
"You can get yours done too, you know" Destiny said, putting one foot on hers and turning in the direction she intended to go.
"Right behind you, Destiny! Lead the way!" Annelise said, immitating her.
"Great!" Destiny said happily, kicking off from the sidewalk. She decided to take the long way, turning down a familiar street. It was beside a park, which was in full bloom. The cherry trees, littered the streets with pink petals, which swirled around in the slight breeze. "Hang on to your handlebars; this is a big hill!" Destiny said, cresting the top of a hill and stopping.
"Really?" Annelise asked, looking over the edge to confirm it.
It truely was the tallest hill within the city limits, and Destiny planned to go down it.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Annelise asked nervously, still looking down.
"Safe? No! Of course not! But if it was safe, it wouldn't be fun!" Destiny giggled, pushing off and speeding down the hill, one foot on the brake just in case.
Annelise bit her lip, and followed.
After several long detours, mostly for sight-seeing purposes, Destiny and Annelise came to where they were going. A small, out of the way bistro, on a busy street.
Most people would overlook it, but Destiny folded up her scooter, pulling the strap on the bottom (which was currently built in to all models) over her shoulder, and walking in.
Annelise followed, and was amazed. "Wow, this place is so nice!" she said, smiling.
"It is, isn't it?" Destiny sighed happily, sitting in her favourite chair.
The comforting atmosphere was enough to make Annelise forget about her harrowing experience, flying down the hill and almost forgetting to stop.
"Oh my gosh! Then what?!" Annelise asked, her eyes wide.
Destiny giggled, "And we...we...I can't say it! We accidentally knocked the whole thing down!" she said.
They both burst out laughing.
They had been talking for hours, really hitting it off well.
"Man, that sounds like fun! I should hang out with you more often!" Annelise said, still grinning.
Destiny smiled back, though nowhere near as exuberantly. "Yeah. Gosh, I miss Tanoshii so much...reflecting on the fun times we had together..." she sighed, staring into her cup of tea sadly.
Annelise looked at her concernedly. "I hope you're not blaming yourself for it too much" she said, putting a hand on Destiny's.
"Well, I don't...really know anymore. It is sort of my fault. But then again..." Destiny said softly.
"At least you're accepting your responsibility and helping to find him. Most people I know wouldn't lift a finger in helping the police with finding their lvoed ones" Annelise smiled slightly.
Destiny blushed furiously, "he is not my loved one!" she said defensively.
"I didn't mean it in that sense...but...maybe you did love him?" Annelise asked.
Destiny paused for a moment to think, "perhaps...I'll admit that I liked him. Not sure if I'd say I loved him. That might be taking it a little too far" she admitted.
"well that's alright then. As long as you did care for him" Annelise smiled, looking satisfied.
"Great. Thanks Annelise, now I feel slightly worse" Destiny said, suddenly realizing something.
"Why did I do that? I'm sorry!" Annelise said, looking embarrassed.
"Because; if we never find him, I'll never have gotten a chance to tell him that!" Destiny frowned at her.
"I'm sorry!" she repeated, smiling guiltily.
*
Tanoshii sat on his own, feeling very depressed. "I still can't believe...she would just move on...that's not at all like her" he thought, frowning slightly.
The door opened, and Zola walked in, smiling happily, "Zdravstvutye, captive boy!" she said, walking up to him.
"Ohayo, Zola. What have you come to tell me now?" he asked, looking up at her, "are you going to try to kill my best friend again?" he asked.
"Not quite. She does miss you a lot, zhough" Zola rolled her eyes.
Though his face remained indifferent, Tanoshii's attitude suddenly brightened. "So who ARE you going to kill?" he asked.
"Do you, by any chance, know of a Dr. Meika Yokorobi?" Zola asked.
"Not Meika! Oh, she's so nice!" he sighed, looking said again.
"But she knows of Abunai. Not much, mind you, but she does know. And ve cannot let her know any more. So we 'ave to kill her" she said, smirking.
"I'm going to miss her" he sighed.
"Vell, it is really not up to you, captive boy" she said, walking out of the room.
Tanoshii waited for a moment, then hung his head. "How many people have to be killed?" he muttered, looking to the floor. "I have to find a way out of here"
He looked up, to the ceiling, and smiled brightly, "Des, I knew you cared" he said, grinning.
*
Destiny woke with a start to a shrill noise, somewhere in the vicinity of her coat pocket. "What...?" she said, sitting up.
"You fell asleep. What is that?!" Annelise asked, getting annoyed with the noise.
"My cell phone. This ringtone is super high-pithed. and because you lose the ability to hear higher pitched tones as you age, this ring tone is only audiable to younger people. it's HQ" Destiny explained, flipping open her phone. "Hello?"
"Migoto, we need you and Colfer down here right away. We have...a situation" Yasashimi's voice eminated from the tiny speaker.
"Alright, we're on our way. But don't expect us to be in uniform" Destiny said, hanging up.
"What was that about?" Annelise asked, looking curious.
"Yasashimi needs us down there a.s.a.p" Destiny muttered, standing up.
"Alright then, let's go!" Annelise said, jumping up as well and following Destiny out the door.
In minutes, Destiny and Annelise came to HQ, and ran inside as quickly as they could. "Alright Yasashimi! We're here!" Destiny said, grinning.
"Wipe that smile off your face, Migoto. This is no smiling matter" Yasashimi said, frowning.
The smile slipped off her face, to be replaced by a worried look, "It's not Tanoshii, is it? Tell me he's not dead" she said shortly.
"No, no word from Yamato yet. It's Meika" Yasashimi sighed. Meika was one of very few officers Yasashimi was on a first-name basis with.
"Oh?" both girls said unanimously.
"Yes. Meika's been killed. We're not sure why, but we're sure how and we're probably sure who" he said.
"Well, how, then?" Destiny asked curiously.
"We'd like to help any way we can, Sir" Annelise said, nodding.
"She was shot. But the interesting thing about that, Migoto..." he said, trailing off.
"What?" Destiny asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The same bullet casing was found when you were almost shot as earlier today at the scene of the crime" he said. At the slightly confused looks on their faces, he added, "Yes, whoever they are, they're using bullets. Old fashioned and trackable"
"Well, that'd odd...d'you think it could be Abunai?" Destiny asked.
"That's what we're going with. Look at this" Yasashimi said, picking up the sterile plastic container that held the bullet casing.
"It's got those symbols on it. We're certain it's Abunai" he said.
Destiny studied it carefully for a moment, then nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that Meika is dead. She was a fine officer. But do you think this could help us at all in our search?" she asked.
"Yes, in fact. Take that down to CSI with Colfer and find Aidoru. He can help you with that" he said, motioning to the door.
"We'll get right on it" Destiny said, leaving immediately.
Annelise lingered for a moment, "Sir..." she said, trailing off.
"What is it, Colfer?" Yasashimi asked, sounding a little annoyed.
"I hope you don't take Meika's death too hard, Sir. She wouldn't have wanted you to be sad" she said, quickly walking out.
Destiny and Annelise went downstairs, to the Crime Scene Investigation department. Things in CSI were much more hands on than the rest of the force. Destiny always hoped to someday work there, but she had to get past the boring beat work first.
"Izuko!" Destiny called, opening the door to the room where most of the CSI officers hung out when there was nothing else to do.
Izuko Aidoru usually stayed there. He was so high up on the senority and experience, though he was fairly young, that he rarely was assigned to anything.
Annelise looked around curiously, but Destiny walked right over to him.
"Izuko, we've got a job for you' she said, slapping her hands down on the table in front of him.
He looked up at her, and smiled brightly. "Migoto! you've been promoted, I see. Any word on Tanoshii?" he asked, looking happy to see her.
"No, no word on Tanoshii. And yes, I've been promoted. But we've got something we need to discuss" she said, completely serious.
Izuko looked over her shoulder at annelise, who was looking over everything in the room. "Who's that? your temporary partner?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Annelise Colfer. But please Izuko this is really important" Destiny said, rolling her eyes.
"Okay, fine. Since you insist...gimme that" he said, pointing to the small, clear box, still in Destiny's hand.
"Oh, right" she said, handing it to him.
"Follow me, you two" he said, walking out of the room.
Izuko led the girls into a very empty, sterile looking room. "Put on a pair of gloves or get out" he said, snapping the elastic wristband on his left hand.
"Right. what're you looking for?" Destiny asked.
"Hmm.." he muttered, not much of an answer. The two watched intently, though it was rather dull. Izuko looked very closely at the casing, and sighed. "I can't tell anything from this. I need the bullet" he said, turning to Destiny, "D'you even have it?"
She shook her head, and he rolled his eyes. "Go to forensics and get it. Please" he said shortly, pointing out the door.
"Right! Going!" she said, dashing out.
He shook his head, and turned to Annelise, "A word of advice; don't turn into another Destiny. One is enough" he said, smirking.
"Oh, on the contrary! I find Destiny to be highly intelligent in her own way, and a very fun person to be with. I'd love to be like her, but I'm far too proper. It's just the way I was raised" Annelise said, smiling.
Izuko grinned again, "You know, you're alright, for a rookie" he said, dropping the bullet casing back into the container.
Annelise blushed, though it was hard to tell with her skintone. "Thanks" she said shortly.
"Maybe I should go upstairs more. I've never seen you before" he said.
"Well, maybe it's just that I haven't gone downstairs" she said, still blushing.
Destiny rushed back in at that moment, slightly out of breath but smiling nonetheless. "I got it! It took a while but I got it!" she said, placing the new container on the table carefully.
"Brilliant!" Izuko said, instantly taking the bullet out. He studied it carefully, looking over every square milimeter.
"Find anything?" Destiny asked quietly.
"This bullet was fired from last year's model of a huge Russian company's version of a sniper rifle. The gun has been fired five times. The firing pin in it has a very slight chip on the left side" he said, in as little time as he could manage.
Annelise's eyes widened, and Destiny smirked. "See? He's the best" Destiny said.
"How do you know all this?" Annelise asked.
"I've memorized all the patterns of the striations on every type of bullet from ever kind of gun. And the chip thing is just obvious" he said, shrugging.
"You make it sound so easy, Izuko! It took you years to learn all that!" Destiny said, rolling her eyes.
"But it was worth it!" I'm getting paid more than you!" he said smugly, sticking out his tongue at her.
"Enjoy it while you can, Izuko. I'm coming after you" Destiny said dangerously.
"I'll believe it when I see it. Now what d'you want me to do?" he asked, leaning on the table.
"Now...I guess we have to look for who bought it last year. Or whenever. Can't we track it like that?" Annelise said, taking a guess.
"Annelise, not to rain on your parade but we already know who has it. We have to track them. And who'll be taken out next" Destiny said.
"Oh, right" Annelise smiled embarrassedly.
Going back to the scene of the crime, Destiny and Annelise wondered exactly what they should be looking for,
"So...what're we looking for?" Destiny asked.
Izuko rolled his eyes, straightening up from looking through a rather large bag of something. "Evidence, idiot! Whadya think?" he said, sounding slightly annoyed.
"But what?! Nobody ever told us!" she yelled back at him, frowning.
He opened his mouth to respond, holding up a single finger. Not finding the words, he closed his mouth again and dropped his hand. "Right. Of course. How could I forget?" he muttered, sighing heavily. "We're looking for..." he began, but was interrupted by Annelise.
"Is this evidence?" she asked, pointing to a set of tire tracks.
Izuko dropped to his knees next to them, and ran a gloved finger across one. "Vulcanized rubber tires? That's different. What are these guys thinking?! Everything is out of date! Makes it so much easier to follow them!" he said, slapping his forehead.
"Maybe that's the point" Destiny said, breaking a short silence.
The other two looked at her quizically.
"Maybe they're leading us on. Trying to get us to do what they want. Maybe it's..." she said, trailing off.
"...a trap" Izuko finished for her, his eyes wide. "Destiny, did Meika know about Abunai?" he asked, turning to her and standing up.
"Yes" she said shortly.
"And did Tanoshii know about Abunai?" he asked.
"Yes..." she said slowly, not seeing where this was going.
"Well; it seems to me that everyone who knows about Abunai has been on the hit list. We need to monitor everyone who knows around the clock, and see if anyone is killed again, or otherwise" Izuko said.
"Oh! That makes sense! Izuko, you're brilliant" Destiny smiled.
"I know I am" Izuko said airily, smiling proudly.
