Encounters - A Kagiheya / Maou crossover (Part 3)

[barbosa2007]

Chapter 2: Kindred Spirits

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Kishi Yusuke, Fuji TV, and TBS; not me.

Spoilers: Almost the whole of Kagiheya episode 3

Word count: 2093

Synopsis: A Kagiheya/Maou alternate universe. Naruse Ryo enters Friedman & Serizawa as an up and rising criminal defense lawyer.

To start from the beginning, go HERE.

Junko  was busy drafting a legal advice to Nissen Trade when her phone rang. The shrill beeps that were emitted from her mobile indicated that the call was from Serizawa. With a slight foreboding that her workload was about to increase, she picked up the phone.

“Aoto-kun, I’m at the police station and I need you to do something for me.” Serizawa’s brusque tone hinted that he was annoyed, which wasn’t an unusual state for him to be in.

“The police station!? Serizawa-san, are you in some sort of trouble?” Junko’s near shout caught the attention of Mizuki, Serizawa’s secretary, who was in the neighboring cubicle.

“No, I’m not. I was just called in as a witness to a murder investigation.” Serizawa’s voice turned from being brusque to sounding irritated. 

“A MURDER!?” Junko’s exclamation drew more curious secretaries to her cubicle. “Don’t worry, Serizawa-san, I’ll do everything in my power to get the police to release you! You can tell them that you reserve the right to remain silent until you get to see your lawyer! I’ll be there straight away!” Junko began to rapidly stuff her belongings into her bag.

“Aoto,” Serizawa tended to drop suffixes when he was exasperated. “Keep your voice down! I said witness, not suspect. I don’t need a lawyer! And even if I did, I’d rather be representing myself than to have you come fetch me. Your job is to go get that fella.”

“That fella…?” Junko was clearly puzzled.

“Yes, that fella. Apparently Takewaki, the murder victim, died in a locked room.”

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Mizuki eyed Junko inquisitively as Junko quickly gathered her files and organizer. “Going off on another one of your dates?” she asked.

Junko nearly dropped the pile of folders she had been balancing on one arm. “What?”

“You know, with that techie geek? Robocop in glasses?” Mizuki offered. 

“Please stop calling him Robocop. And no, I’m not going on a date. I’m helping Serizawa-san gather information on a case in which he’s a primary witness.” Junko sensed an impending migraine.

“Oh. I see,” replied Mizuki who had a thoughtful look on her face.

“Okay, see you later!” said Junko as she grabbed her bag. Before she could run off, Mizuki pressed an item into her hand. Upon closer examination, Junko realized that it was a tube of lip gloss. That was cherry pink in color.

“I thought you might need it. You know, if your lips… get dry or something.” Mizuki told her with a mischievous wink.

Junko was running late, so she waved her hands in mock surrender and dashed out of the office.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

She met Enomoto at the hotel lobby upon reaching the scene of the crime. He gave her a brief nod in acknowledgement and together they made their way up to the locked room where the murder had occurred. 

As Enomoto checked the door and windows, Junko interviewed the detective on duty. 

“The victim died with the door chain latched on the inside.” Detective Ukaji spoke in a surly voice and looked like he needed a shave and a shower. “The victim was stabbed in the back with a common pocket knife. The wound was fatal and he died from the subsequent blood loss.”

Junko held up a hand to cover the lower part of her face. Detective Ukaji could really use a bath. And he would benefit from brushing his teeth, too. “What was the estimated time of death?” she asked.

“We’ll have to wait for forensics to confirm this, but our current estimates put it within the past 5 hours.” replied the detective.

“Excuse me.” Enomoto’s soft tenor carried across the room.

Junko turned to face Enomoto, only to find him lying on the floor, face down. The juxtaposition of Enomoto’s body against where the victim had lain was strangely complementary. “Enomoto-san, what are you…?”

“Could you open the door for me, please.” Enomoto spoke in his usual deadpan.

“I’ll do it,” offered the detective. 

Ukaji stepped over and placed his gloved hand on the door handle. One could only guess what was going through Enomoto’s mind as the detective stared at him with a raised eyebrow. He then yanked the door open with enough force to cause a nasty bruise on Enomoto’s head, but fortunately the door’s movement was hindered by the door chain, which had been latched.

Enomoto did not even blink.

“Thank you.” The bespectacled security expert quickly rose to his feet and proceeded to examine other parts of the room. 

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Back at the office, Junko put the finishing touches on the advice she had been working on before she was interrupted by Serizawa. Her boss was out for another mergers and acquisitions meeting, so he probably wouldn’t be back for the day. Junko still had to get the report of the crime scene analysis from Enomoto and she couldn’t afford to be sloppy in her work. As she keyed in the last sentence on her laptop, Junko was suddenly aware of a figure standing by her table. 

Naruse’s look was neutral as he skimmed through the draft she was working on. “You seem to have covered all angles in this advice. That’s nicely done, Aoto-san.”

Receiving compliments from Serizawa was like pulling teeth from an alligator, so Junko flushed with pride from Naruse’s praise. “It’s nothing!” she hurriedly countered.

“I’m assuming that you’re done for the day? Shall we go then?” Junko only then noticed that Naruse was carrying his briefcase, as well as a bouquet of stargazer lilies.

“ ’We’? ” she asked. 

“Serizawa-san told me to join in the investigation, since the victim was an important client to our firm. Furthermore, I’ve always had an interest in murder mysteries,” explained Naruse.

“Really? You didn’t seem the type.” Junko confessed.

“I’ve always wondered what it was like to commit the perfect crime… Not that such a thing exists, but I’m amused by the concept.” said Naruse as they began to walk out of the office. “By the way, are we headed towards the police station?”

Junko shook her head. “We need to head towards Tokyo Total Security. That’s where Enomoto-san, the locked room mystery expert, works.”

“Enomoto…” echoed Naruse. 

“Naruse-san, can I ask you a question?” said Junko as they walked out of the office building.

“Sure.”

“Who are those flowers for?”

“Oh, you mean these.” Naruse looked down at his lilies fondly. “I’m visiting my sister at the hospital after this, so I bought her favorite flowers.”

“That’s nice!” said Junko with a wide smile. Inwardly, she tried to suppress a pang of disappointment.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Entering Enomoto’s office was akin to visiting a private museum. Dozens of ancient locks, picking tools and security devices adorned the walls in a strange contrast with the state of the art software and equipment he used for breaking security codes. Due to a deal he secured with his boss, Enomoto was granted the use of an entire basement for his research. It was an agreement that both parties were secretly happy with, since Enomoto had no desire to interact with his colleagues. On the other hand, his colleagues found him overly obsessed with work and couldn’t carry on a decent conversation with him without talking about locks.

“Enomoto-san!” Junko raised her voice, in anticipation that he was listening to his earphones again. “Enomoto-san, you there?”

Naruse took in the room silently as he observed the working environment of the acclaimed security expert. Despite the fact that the office was filled with all sorts of the locks, wires and cages, the items seemed to be in their proper place, which hinted at the methodical and organized nature of its occupant. 

Enomoto was seated at his desk and placing a miniature version of the victim into the model room which he constructed. He turned around when Junko plucked his earphone from his ear, and pulled out a chair for her. 

“You must be Enomoto-san. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Naruse gave a slight bow. 

Enomoto turned to face Naruse directly. Then he blinked, the only indication of his surprise at the unexpected newcomer. He wordlessly pulled out another chair for Naruse.

As Enomoto switched on his miniature camera, he began his deductions. “If the murderer had intended to rob Takewaki-san or even kill him from the beginning, why was the door chain latched? That is the greatest puzzle.”

“Wouldn’t it be possible to latch the door from the outside?” countered Junko.

“It is possible to latch and unlatch the door from the outside. In the event of latching the door chain, you would only need a thin L-shaped piece of metal. However, there was no evidence that such a tool had been used.” 

Junko’s eyes brightened as she smacked her fist into her palm in an Eureka moment. “I got it! The door chain was latched by the murderer from the inside! The murderer then escaped through the window!”

“That isn’t likely as the windows were fastened in place, and showed no signs of being tampered with.” Enomoto commented, as Junko’s shoulders slumped over in mock disappointment. The two amateur detectives looked at the model room, perplexed, until a voice broke their chain of thought.

“Excuse me for interrupting, but perhaps the victim was the one who had latched the door?”

“Why do you say so?” asked Junko.

“You see, if he had been assaulted near the door, perhaps his first reaction would be to push the assailant out of the room and lock that person out,” reasoned Naruse.

For the second time that day, Enomoto turned to stare at Naruse. People often felt uncomfortable when Enomoto looked at them, simply because they couldn’t figure out what was going on in his mind. Naruse, on the other hand, didn’t seem bothered. He returned Enomoto’s gaze with a placid smile.

“…you have a point.” said Enomoto after a moment’s silence.

Naruse continued his deductions in a pleasant tenor. “That would explain the position of his corpse. If Takewaki-san had latched the door chain himself, then his body would be facing the door.”

“You’re right!” Junko exclaimed excitedly.

“And because he was stabbed in the back, there’s a high probability that he trusted the murderer enough to turn his back towards him or her.”

“… her?” Junko said hesitantly.

“Since there doesn’t appear to be any sign of a struggle, Takewaki was probabl– “

“Probably taken by surprise. So either a woman or a man he knew could have done it.” said Enomoto, finishing Naruse’s sentence.

“And after stabbing him, the assailant fled the scene, leaving Takewaki-san fatally wounded. Takewaki-san…” Naruse continued.

Enomoto gazed at the miniature Takewaki in his model room. “Fearing that the assailant would return, he latched the door chain. However, he eventually fainted due to the blood loss.”

“So Takewaki-san was unable to dial for help using his room phone.” said Naruse, completing the hypothetical scenario.

Junko’s eyes went wide in awe at the rapid exchange between the two. “I see…” she said, the only comment she could offer at the duo’s deduction.

Naruse was in his element. “And now that we’ve established the means and opportunity, we’re just left with one thing.”

“Motive.” Enomoto turned from his model room to exchange looks with Naruse and Junko.

“The MOM, yes? It would probably be a good idea to investigate the people who might have bore a grudge against Takewaki-san.” suggested Naruse. 

“And take down their alibis,” added Enomoto.

Junko felt like she was back in college and having a conversation with her professors. “Do you mind if you could slow down a bit? I’m trying to take notes here.”

Her comment earned a sheepish apology from Naruse, while Enomoto simply looked away.

“Oh dear, I’ve got to go,” said Naruse as he looked at his watch. “I’ll need to make it in time for my sister’s visiting hours.”

Naruse’s proclamation caught Enomoto’s interest. “Visiting hours…?”

“She’s currently staying in the hospital. Please excuse me.” Naruse left the basement as the sweet scent of lilies lingered in his wake.

Junko continued to ponder upon the case until her train of thought was interrupted by a loud sneeze. Startled, she turned to Enomoto. Enomoto began to sneeze uncontrollably. “Are you alright?” Junko looked on with a worried expression. “Your eyes seem to be watering badly. What’s wrong?”

“It just struck my mind. I’m allergic to pollen.”

Junko’s eyes tinkled in amusement as she chuckled. “Come on, you obviously need some fresh air. Let’s go to the cafeteria.” 

Still sneezing, Enomoto allowed himself to be led by Junko out the door.

Author's note: C & C are greatly welcome! The names of three Arashi singles have somehow managed to sneak into this fic. Kudos and virtual cookies if you can find them!