Tokyo Detective Chronicles

"The bathroom is over there."

Fushimi pointed to the hallway: "The clean towels are in the cabinet, on the top shelf."

"Thank you, senior!"

Hayakawa Chiho bowed dramatically at a 90-degree angle, her tracksuit jacket slipping down slightly due to the large movement.

She quickly pulled it up and jogged across the living room, leaving a trail of light mist on the floor from the damp pantyhose, which soon disappeared.

The bathroom door closed with a soft "click" from the latch.

Soon after, the sound of a shower began, the rushing water muffled through the door.

Almost at the same time, the shadows in the living room began to creep.

Beyond the glow of the paper lanterns, in the courtyard, in the corners of the walls, and in the corners of the ceiling.

Tiny, twisted shadows coalesced into a shape.

Paper umbrella demon, cat demon, fox, shadow woman, jorōgumo... all the big and small demons that had been hiding during the day now revealed themselves, crowding every door and window of the room, but none of them were willing to come in.

They made no sound, but stared at Fushimi with eyes of various shapes, their expressions quite complex.

Fushimi rarely brings strangers home.

Not to mention she was a beautiful girl soaking wet, and the first thing she did when she got home was take a shower...tsk tsk...it inevitably makes them have all sorts of wild thoughts.

They all had that gossipy look on their faces.

"Sir...is that your new girlfriend?"

A paper umbrella fairy floated to the window, its umbrella twirling twice, its voice as faint as a mosquito's hum:

"That girl is very pretty, but I still support you being with Lady Karin..."

The tanuki beside them suddenly frowned, looking at the paper umbrella spirit in disbelief:

"Uh, did you take money from Lady Karin...? Ugh! Waaah!"

"..."

"Sir, what about Miss Hoshizaki..."

The woman in the shadows emerged halfway from the corner of the wall, her voice low and menacing: "Have all these years been for nothing?"

Fushimi looked up and glanced at him.

On this day that is not an unlucky day, all the monsters, big and small, that usually live scattered throughout Tokyo have gathered together.

It's likely that they gathered here to compile the information they collected because they had just issued a request to investigate miscarriage-related issues yesterday.

And then this scene unfolded.

"You guys have a lot of free time?" Fushimi put down the bag he was holding.

"Not idle at all!"

The paper umbrella spirit quickly covered itself and the raccoon whose mouth it had covered, saying, "We were just passing by! Just passing by!"

"Yes, yes, just passing by!"

The cat nodded vigorously, "Meow, Lady Karin asked us to summarize the investigation results for her, we're leaving now!"

"Where is the rosewood?"

"A few monsters in the east have caused some trouble. Lady Karin is cleaning up the mess and will be back later."

Just then, Jorogumo cautiously moved to Fushimi's side, knelt down close to him, and whispered with a seductive expression:

"Would you like me to hold off Lady Karin for a while, so that it might be convenient for you...?"

As she spoke, she glanced in the direction of the bathroom, raised her hands, stuck out her tongue, and made a gesture that was quite inappropriate for children.

"..."

Seeing that Fushimi didn't react, she smugly pulled out a small pink medicine bottle of unknown composition from her person:

"This comes from someone's body. If you give it to that girl to drink, she'll..."

This time, you'll get the benefit, sir.

Fushimi's eyes twitched, and he turned to Jorogumo with a dangerous smile.

"Cough cough..."

Seeing this, Jorogumo shuddered, had no choice but to get up, wave her hand, put away the illegal medicine bottle, and retreat repeatedly, saying:

"Then, sir, I shall take my leave now!"

The little monsters nodded in unison, then slunk away into the shadows. Some of the ignorant ones who wanted to stay and watch the fun were dragged away by the other monsters.

In less than half a second, the living room returned to silence.

To Fushimi's surprise, not a single one was left... These guys are really...

He shook his head helplessly and walked towards the low cabinet in the corner of the living room.

The cabinet was painted with dark red paint, but the edges were peeling and chipped, revealing the original color of the wood underneath.

He pulled open the bottom drawer, inside which were several items wrapped in silk cloth, neatly arranged: the candle on the head of the woman of the hour of the ox, the mask of the prayer, and a rosary broken in two...

These are all keepsakes of monsters.

Take out a piece of red silk cloth, unfold it, and you'll find a Tengu mask inside.

The mask was made of wood and painted with bright red paint. It had an exaggeratedly long nose and two dark holes in the eye sockets.

Fushimi picked up the mask, walked to the porch, and hung it on a nail on a pillar.

Then I went back to the living room, sat down at my desk, and waited quietly.

The wait wasn't long.

About three minutes later, the paper lanterns in the courtyard flickered gently.

Without a sound of wind or footsteps, a figure silently landed under the eaves.

The newcomer was a young man, who looked to be no more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old. He was wearing a dark blue haori and had a pair of black wings on his back.

His face wore the same tengu mask that Fushimi had hung on the porch, except that the tip of his nose would twitch slightly with his breathing.

"Brother Fushimi."

The young man's voice came through the mask, muffled and tinged with the sound of yawning:

"It's this late, is there something you need? I have a drinking appointment with some juniors from Kurama Mountain tonight..."

"Yes, something came up unexpectedly."

Fushimi interrupted his complaint: "I'd like to ask you to come with me to the school tomorrow to find out the source of this strange fragrance."

He then handed the glass bottle containing tea dregs to Tengu.

"A strange fragrance?"

Tengu took the glass bottle, shook it in front of him, and said, "Tomorrow... I do have some time, but..."

He brought his signature long nose close to the bottle opening.

In that instant, his entire body froze.

A rapid gasp came from beneath the mask. Tengu suddenly took a half step back, as if burned by something, and released his grip. The glass bottle was about to fall, but he swept it back into the air with a wing and caught it steadily.

He shook his throbbing head.

"Cough cough, what the hell is this smell... It's sweet and cloying, and it even smells like corpses."

"The scent of corpses?"

"Well... it might not necessarily be the scent of corpses."

Tengu brought the bottle closer to its opening, this time much more cautious: "It smells like... some kind of medicine made from rotten placenta? What a disgusting smell."

"But for humans and some monsters, it might be a good calming medicine."

Sedatives?

Fushimi frowned. Takeda-sensei had been troubled by leech monsters before and had sought help from many people. Perhaps this was one of them?

Could it be that it actually has nothing to do with leeches?

No, it's too early to draw conclusions.

Even the Tengu doesn't know exactly what this thing is...

"But that's not the key point."

Tengu's voice became somewhat strange. Then he turned his head, his empty eye sockets scanning the living room, his wings unconsciously spreading slightly.

"The key point is that you already have the same smell in your room."

Fushimi's pupils contracted slightly.

How is that possible?

Fushimi was almost certain that he had never smelled anything similar before today.

Moreover, it was in his own home.

Are you sure?

Immediately following the gaze of the tengu, Fushimi noticed that in the entrance hall, Hayakawa Chiho's black handbag was placed against the wall.

A bad feeling suddenly rose in my heart.

yes……

Fushimi suddenly understood.

How could he not have thought of that?

That strange fragrance was masked by the stench of sewage emanating from Hayakawa Chiho... This girl was the source of that smell.

Only this handbag escaped unscathed and wasn't splashed with dirty water.

Otherwise, even a celestial dog might not be able to smell it.

His attention was distracted by the sight of Hayakawa Chiho being bullied, so he didn't connect the two events, and he also didn't expect things to happen so coincidentally...

"Contact me again if you need anything, and don't forget to help me find some good wine."

"Um."

The tengu, who was in a hurry to go drink, did not intend to stay any longer. After saying goodbye to him, he flapped his wings and flew away.

Fushimi stood up and walked towards the entrance.

Now is the best opportunity.

Hayakawa Chiho is taking a bath; the sound of water is still going on, and she probably won't be out for a while.

He needed to confirm, to find out, what connection this suddenly appearing girl had with Mr. Takeda's matter.

I crouched down and gently unzipped the backpack.

The movements were very light, almost silent.

Notebooks, textbooks, pencil cases, wallets...

These are all everyday items for ordinary high school students.

He flipped through the notebook's inner pages; they were neat class notes. There were only a few pens and an eraser in the pencil case.

There were only a few thousand-yuan bills and a student ID in the wallet.

In the photo on her student ID, Hayakawa Chiho is smiling at the camera, and nothing seems amiss...

Fushimi put the items back exactly as they were.

He then leaned closer to the schoolbag to examine it more closely.

Only after being reminded by Tengu did he notice that the scent was indeed evenly distributed on the surface of the handbag, especially on the inside near the back.

This means that the owner of the backpack carried it for a long time and was active in an environment filled with this strange fragrance.

The smell is completely absorbed by the fabric fibers.

Just as tea canisters absorb the aroma of tea, wardrobes absorb the smell of mothballs.

He was about to reach his hand into the hidden compartment...

"Fushimi-senpai?"

The voice came from behind.

Fushimi's body stiffened.

The sound was very soft, but it sounded quite terrifying to him at that moment. He slowly turned around, making his movements as natural as possible, while using his body to shield the schoolbag on the ground.

"What's wrong?"

Hayakawa Chiho stood outside the bathroom door.

Due to the limited field of vision, she seemed not to notice Fushimi's actions.

Hayakawa used only a small towel to cover her body, barely covering her chest and inner thighs, revealing large areas of wet skin, with water still dripping from the edges.

Her hair was wet and draped over her shoulders, water droplets sliding down her collarbone and into the gaps in the bath towel.

Her skin was very fair, with a faint pinkish hue in the steam rising from the bathroom.

"that……"

Seeing Fushimi staring at her, she smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "Does your family have... clothes I can borrow temporarily? Mine are all soaked..."

Fushimi's mind went blank for a moment, and his gaze lingered on her for an extra second.

In that very second, he didn't notice the girl's skin or her figure.

It was in the area not covered by the towel.

Obvious bruises and marks on the shoulders, collarbone, arms, and waist.

Some edges have turned yellow, indicating old wounds, while others are still fresh dark red, indicating recent injuries.

The most noticeable feature is a wound about ten centimeters long below her left collarbone.

It's not deep, but the edges are red and swollen, clearly indicating it wasn't properly treated. Today it was splashed with dirty water again, causing it to crack open again, and there are even signs of slight infection.

Although it has scabbed over, you can tell that the injury was quite serious.

Hayakawa Chiho noticed that his gaze was fixed on the wound, and somewhat shyly pulled up the towel, which barely covered her body, to cover the injury below her collarbone.

But they ignored the area below the waist and abdomen...

Those parts that should have been more private and should never have been seen by classmates they had only known for less than three hours were instead openly exposed.

It was as if, in her view, the wounds on her body were something more worthy of being covered up than her naked body.

She smiled shyly.

Fushimi couldn't imagine what the girl had gone through, nor could he understand why she could still laugh.

He then realized what was happening and quickly looked away, saying, "I'll go get you your clothes. You... go back to the bathroom and continue showering."

"Oh well!"

Hayakawa Chiho obediently retreated into the bathroom, peeking out before closing the door to add, "Thank you for your help, senpai!"

The door closed.

Fushimi stood there, listening to the sound of water coming from the bathroom.