Chapter Text
“Good Morning!”
Atsumu was greeted by Hinata waving and smiling at him. “Morning”, Atsumu called back and dropped his bag onto the floor. It was no good morning after all. Atsumu hadn’t gotten used to living in Tokyo yet, he constantly got lost in the maze of the metro stations. All larger stations were absurdly structured and seemed to be a world of their own. Once you’re in there, there was no escaping. Wakatoshi gave him a stern look from his desk but Atsumu was well aware that he was late. “Something big is going down. Like… huge!” Hinata said and leaned against Atsumu’s messy desk. “Now that everyone is here, briefing room”, Wakatoshi called.
Hinata was right. This had to be big, their briefing room was full, it wasn’t just their squad.
Atsumu recognised an old colleague of his when he had still been a detective in Hyogo. They nodded at each other.
Silence fell when Superintendent Meian Shugo entered the room.
“Thanks for coming today”, he opened the briefing. He pointed behind himself on a map of Japan with tiny red dots showing a line that winded itself like a snake all over the country.
“Since this is a case of national importance, we are joined by the top detectives of the affected prefectures for an exchange of information”, Meian continued.
“Two days ago we have gotten a new lead on ‘The Doctor’”, Meian said. Atsumu sat up abruptly. The doctor? How did they land this massive case?
Wakatoshi had gotten up to run a recap on the situation.
“’The doctor’ has left a trail of bodies from Kagoshima up to Sendai. The victims seem to be selected at random, anything in common so far has proven to be coincidence. He manages to lure them off the streets somewhere, where the crime is not captured on any security camera. He strangles his victims with some sort of smooth object that leaves no fibre, most likely a cord or cable. He washes the victims bodies and then plants them in clean tarpaulins. The victims all show signs that they have struggled against their predator but we could not find any DNA or fabric under the victim’s fingernails. He works with utmost care. Our profiler has suggested that ‘The doctor’ has an urge to kill but once he achieves his goal, he seems almost repulsed by his deed and washes himself clean of it. Due to these circumstance, we have never had a crime scene or any further hint at the actual murderer. The one description of the culprit has proven to be unhelpful and only resulted in his nickname ‘the Doctor’, which… the media has given him. One witness saw a suspicious figure near the third crime scene. She described him as wearing a mask, gloves and a long coat. She couldn’t get a clear view of his face other than the mask. Now, three days ago on 3rd August, Hasegawa Kana was found strangled in a side alley in Shibuya. None of the residents have seen anything suspicious but luckily one of our own detectives witnessed a tall man leaving this very side alley in the middle of the night. We have been able to get a composite sketch”, Wakatoshi said and pinned a picture onto the board behind him. “You will find a copy in your files. He was wearing a mask and gloves, luckily, the sketch is a bit more detailed than our first description”, he added.
It wasn’t a helpful sketch all together, Atsumu thought. Half of the guys face was covered by a mask, like the original description that had earned him that nickname. A deep frown. A few curls that fell into his eyes from underneath a hood. Two moles above his right eyebrow.
“He seems to be around 1.90 m tall. That fits our original profile, which we gathered from the angle in which he strangles his victims”, Wakatoshi continued.
Someone lifted their hand. “That’s not much to go on. This sketch hardly shows more than his eyes, we won’t get a hit in the data basis from that, will we?” a detective from Kagoshima asked. Wakatoshi looked at her with a frown. “No, so far we have not got a hit”, he said slowly. “What’s the big deal then?” another detective asked.
“He has not murdered in the same city twice until now”, Wakatoshi said. Atsumu leaned forward. Now it was getting interesting. “You think he’s originally from Tokyo?” he said out loud. Wakatoshi’s brows furrowed. “It’s difficult to find victim zero but one of his earliest murders happened in Tokyo”, Atsumu recalled. That had been 4 years ago. He had still been at the police academy back then, about to graduate, and had followed the case on the news.
“Or”, Kageyama threw in. “he has another reason to come back to Tokyo. He never stays long in one city, but no one looks twice in Tokyo. It is an easy place to hide compared to the country side”.
Wakatoshi nodded his head softly. “Yes, but we have been lucky again. He was spotted at a 7/11 just yesterday. Bokuto who originally saw him leaving the alley, confirmed that it is the same man”, Wakatoshi said. There it was, Bokuto had been involved in landing them the case.
Bokuto looked very satisfied with himself. Atsumu wasn’t so sure whether that confirmation was reliable. “You recognised him? After seeing him for a few seconds in a dark alley in the middle of the night with half his face covered?” he asked in disbelief. Bokuto’s smile fell. “Of course, I did!” he called. Atsumu noticed that several other detectives looked equally unsure. “He bought hand sanitiser and cleaning gloves”, Wakatoshi threw in. Atsumu pursed his lips. “Could be coincidence”, he said. “No, I’m sure. He has that odd curly hair I would definitely recognise it and those moles”, Bokuto said firmly. Atsumu thought it was rich of Bokuto to call someone else’s hair odd when he himself with his silver-grey hair looked like an owl that had flown through a hurricane.
“We have no evidence against this man, except that he was seen near two scenes of the crime, so we’re staking him out for now. We can't be entirely sure yet that he is our man, but he is our only and therefore our prime suspect. We have to gather information on him and slowly build our case, but he is very careful. We don’t want to spook him. If he leaves the city we won’t be able to find him again this easily”, Meian said stepping forward again.
“In case he does run, we have specially chosen detectives of other prefectures to keep an eye out for him”, Meian said. Atsumu thought that it was odd. Why would he return to Tokyo and stay there? Had he found that it was easier to murder in Tokyo? Had he gotten tired of running around? He surely had to be aware that the police was looking for him.
It was easier said than done to stake out a guy who seemed to be able to disappear at will. For now, they only had to find out where he lived. The team rotated in following the guy so he would not get suspicious. He never went to the same convenience store, avoided touching anything so they could not even sneakily take fingerprints. He always wore a mask that covered his mouth and nose, occasionally he would wear a cap. He was so tall that he should have stood out in the crowd but somehow he did not. Luckily, neither mask nor hats would cover up a trait by which they identified their suspect. Curly hair and two moles right above his right eyebrow. A week had passed and then two but he did not leave town, he stayed. It remained difficult to track him down, sometimes they wouldn’t see him for two or three days and got worried that they had lost him, then he would pop up in a completely different part of the city grocery shopping.
Two weeks after they had been assigned the case, Atsumu and Hinata got lucky one evening. Atsumu had leaned back in the car seat and was chewing absently on his gum while Hinata was sipping on his ice tea. Beginner’s mistake. You don’t want to be hydrated during a stakeout.
“If you have to go to the restroom and he turns up, it’s on you”, Atsumu said. Hinata put the bottle down. “What?” he called. “You don’t drink during a stakeout”, Atsumu said and sat up. He ruffled Hinata’s hair. “You could have told me earlier”, Hinata murmured. But Atsumu wasn’t listening. “There! There that’s him!” Atsumu gasped. Indeed, their suspect had just emerged from one of the side entrances of a metro station. When the light of a street lamp hit his face, Atsumu could make out a sour expression on the tiny part of his face that was visible. “Did he notice us?” Hinata asked panicked. “No, why would he? We’re in a dark car across the street. He’s a serial killer not a magician. He doesn’t have super vision. Let’s go”, Atsumu said and watched their suspect turn a corner. He jumped out of the car, Hinata at his heels as they hurry after him. At the corner they slowed down but as they casually turned into the street into which their suspect has disappeared, they saw him enter a high-rise building. “Oh my god”, Atsumu gasped. “We found where he lives”.
When they reported back, Atsumu was met with the same disbelief he had brought up against Bokuto a few weeks prior. After all this time they suddenly had gotten lucky to find out where he lived? Could that really be the right guy?
Atsumu clenched his jaw. “Of course, it is the right guy! At least it’s the guy Bokuto identified. He has those two moles!” Atsumu called. “Listen, we finally have a chance. We won’t get another one. We must take it”.
Wakatoshi sat there with crossed arms eying Hinata and Atsumu. “We’re keeping tabs on him, it’s easier now that we know where he lives. What else are you proposing?” he asked.
“Surely something stupid”.
Atsumu whirled around and came face to face with his twin brother. “What are you doin’ here?” he asked. “Well, you missed mum’s birthday. She forced me to come and check on you since you don’t answer calls or e-mails”, Osamu said. “She thinks you’re floating in a river, face down”. Atsumu groaned. “But honestly if you were killed, you’d be the type to have their body thrown in the garbage”, Osamu said. Atsumu grinded his teeth.
“Alright, alright. I call her and apologise. I’m in the middle of somethin’ here. It’s an ongoin' investigation, so, no-outsiders. Goodbye”, he said curtly. “Woah!”
Hinata was gaping at them across the room. “There are two Miyas”, he called. “You’re freaking out the newbie. Time to go”, Atsumu said and ushered his brother towards the exit. Open room offices were the worst. No privacy.
“Then I’m takin’ this free onigiri with me”, Osamu said and lifted a bag. “What?” Atsumu called and tried to snatch it from his brother’s hands. “Uh-uh”, Osamu made and pulled it out of his reach.
The elevator doors opened with a soft ding and they were shortly separated by two officers exiting. When they got in, they were finally alone. The doors closed and Atsumu pressed the button for the roof terrace instead of the ground level. “You know damn well I’m not allowed to talk about work stuff”, Atsumu hissed. “Hm”, Osamu made. “You’re all riled up. Are you huntin’ some dangerous guy?” – “Yeah”.
The doors opened and they stepped out. It was early in the day but it was already terribly hot. August was the worst. There were no people out here yet, it was a bit too early for a smoke or lunch break. No one wanted to be seen taking a break so early into the day. They leaned against the hand railing while Osamu unpacked the box of onigiri. He handed Atsumu one with pickled plum.
“You didn’t call mum because you were doin' somethin’ stupid, weren’t you?” Osamu asked. They usually didn’t discuss this stuff. Ever since Atsumu had moved to Tokyo they were talking even less. They loved each other as much as twin brothers could and fought with the same passion, every single time. Atsumu didn’t like the worried undertone in his brother’s voice. He didn’t need his brother to worry for him.
“I was on a stakeout. Nothin’ dangerous, calm down”, Atsumu muttered and took a bite out of his onigiri. They were quiet for a while. “I thought you went undercover or somethin’. Last time you also didn’t tell us and just disappeared for two months”, Osamu said. “Didn’t you say you hadn’t even noticed?” Atsumu asked and stuffed the rest of his rice ball into his mouth. It had been a while since he had tasted something this delicious. He wasn’t a great cook, quite the opposite of his brother. And he had been so busy that so far all his meals had been from the 7/11 or cheap ramen restaurants.
Osamu knew why Atsumu never said anything. What was there to say? Say goodbye in case things went south and he didn’t come back? Make them worry unnecessarily?
“’Samu”, Atsumu murmured as he devoured his third onigiri. “Hm?” his bother made, he sounded as if he had been torn out of his thoughts. “Don’t come back here for a while”, Atsumu said. Osamu frowned. “Somethin’ gonna happen in Tokyo?” he asked. Atsumu didn’t say it. If he wanted to take down The doctor he couldn’t do that with his family popping in every few weeks to check on him.
“Fine”, Osamu sighed. “Don’t get killed then. Or maybe do. I don’t know”, Osamu said and shrugged. “Fuck you”, Atsumu said. Osamu pulled a grimace and left.
Back in the office, the squad had been discussing their new hint. While Bokuto was all for Atsumu’s unspoken prompt to actually do something and not sit around, waiting and watching, Wakatoshi was strictly against it. “We won’t engage. In any case, what exactly was the plan, Miya? Going undercover, trying to… pose as bait?” Wakatoshi asked. “Good idea!” Bokuto threw in. Hinata looked torn. Kageyama, Hinata’s partner, was frowning. “No, I thought of moving into the building”, Atsumu said. “Absolutely not. What are you going to do? Trying to befriend him?” Wakatoshi said and shook his head. “He’ll get suspicious if we keep hanging around that building. If I actually live there, I will have a reason to be there! I won’t try to befriend him, well not right away, but it’ll be easier to gather information on him!” Atsumu called. Wakatoshi kept shaking his head. Like a clock. Tic-tac-tic-tac. No, no, no.
“So we wait until a new corpse turns up?” Atsumu called. “No, we keep tabs on him like I said and we will catch him red-handed”, Wakatoshi said. “I doubt that is going to happen”, Atsumu said through gritted teeth.
It was back to staking out the place, following their mysterious suspect around town. But all the man ever did was going shopping when they saw him somewhere outside. Groceries. Disinfectant agent. New masks. A different shop each time. The only new thing was the number of his flat. 304.
Another week later, Atsumu was ungently woken up by a call. He was called to another briefing, this time it was just him, Wakatoshi and their Superintendent Meian. “Inspector Ushijima has told me about your enthusiasm for this case”, Meian said carefully. Silence.
“I’ve read your file. It is quite impressive. You’ve applied for the sergeant examination?”, Meian continued. “Yes. Thank you, sir”, Atsumu said. He couldn’t help but to feel proud. He knew that he had set records at the police academy and that he had had the best statistics back in Hyogo.
“I think, we should give your idea a shot”.
Atsumu’s head snapped up. “Really? Sir?” Atsumu called. Meian tilted his head. “It is of course a highly delicate situation. We cannot risk our suspect to notice anything at all. Your job would be to report when he leaves the house and when he comes back. Maybe ask a few neighbours about him. But keep a low-profile. Don’t spook him. We will continue our stake out. You’re not to follow him when he leaves the house. You will keep an eye on him when he is at home. Quietly, discreetly. You understand?” Meian asked.
Atsumu opened his mouth.
“It would be useless if I don’t try to gather more information on him”, he said. Meian’s eyes narrowed. “Slowly. At first you will only observe, if and only if, there is a chance to speak to him, you will do so with utmost caution”. That wasn’t how he had imagined it. But it was better than nothing. “Good”.
Meian nodded and handed him a file. “You’re going in as Shibata Makoto, 28 years old. You’re doing home-office for an international designer company. Website design”, he said. Atsumu couldn’t repress the grimace. Couldn’t be any further from his real self.
“Okay”, he said.
It was always exciting to go undercover, taking on a new identity. The spark of excitement when you made contact with the target. But this time he was not supposed to do so. That had put quite the damper on his mood. Nonetheless, here he was, finally doing something. A chance to make contact would surely come...
He was carrying a large cardboard box, an old backpack and tried to drag a suitcase at the same time as he got out of the elevator. With a terrible loud clatter the box fell from his hand and out spilled a wild mess of his headphones, his sunglasses, several loose pens and a metro map.
With a curse Atsumu put the box up and just as he was about to pick up all the things that had rolled out of it, his suitcase fell over with a sound that boomed through the corridor. Embarrassed Atsumu crouched on the floor gathering his things as a door to his left opened abruptly. He could feel the glare before he saw it. “I’m sorry for the noise. I’m just movin’ in. It’s not much, so it’ll be over in a heartbeat –“, Atsumu called and hurriedly got up. He found himself face to face with a tall man, curly black hair and two moles above his right eyebrow. His eyebrows were furrowed.
“H-Hi”, Atsumu said. “I’m Shibata. I’ll be living here now –“. But the man said nothing, he averted his eyes and walked off. Great. Off to a good start. As soon as the man was in the elevator, Atsumu texted the team waiting outside.
Atsumu hesitated then he walked up to the neighbour’s door. Their suspect was called: Sakusa.