...Right.
Let's get this over with.
---------
I really can't understand why I made the decision to come out here tonight. I mean, seriously I could have waited until say tomorrow to do all this. Well, I'm already here, so I suppose there's no use in going back now. Be a waste if I did, and besides, I already rang Keine's doorbell more than once so I'm guessing she'd be pretty pissed to see someone just ding-dong ditched her this late at night. Still, it's fucking cold out tonight, I can practically feel the hairs on my arm standing up even when they're covered by my coat. They say some broad by the name of 'Letty Whiterock' is responsible for Winter, if that's the case then she needs to take a long walk on a short pier, because this chill is ridiculous.
Fortunately, I don't have to wait outside for very long as the door to Keine's home opens up about midway letting me see the half asleep school teacher in her evening attire and her bed hair. Still, I gotta say, even though she's looking kinda rough, those pajama's she's sportin still do here some good in the looks department; the copious valley of cleavage behind that partially buttoned pajama shirt is the first thing my eyes focus on when I see her come into my sights. Oh right...I'm here for business, better rethink my priorities then. "Oh, Detective..." Keine drones sleepily as she rubs her eyes and yawns, attempting to wake her mind up. "...What brings you here?"
"You mind if I come in for while, ask a few questions?" I ask feeling another shiver run done my spine thanks to the bone chilling air. "It won't take long." Keine looks a little confused as to why I wish to question her, but, being the good sameritan she is, she opens the door a little further and allows me inside her abode.
Thank Kanako, I'll finally be out of this cold air.
---
Keine Kamishirasawa, the schoolmarm and history teacher at Gensokyo Elemetry School, and the supposed 'protector' of the Human City for as long as many could remember. Although, President Yukari pretty much calls the shots in Gensokyo, it looks like Keine has her place for running the Human City even though she remains a simple school teacher. A rather odd poisition at best, a position the Government wanted to do something about it (because, let's face it, if you have enough power behind you, the government bigwigs suddenly hate your guts), but the civilians insisted on keeping her in charge of the cities protection. The main reason for that is that Keine has done a great job of keeping the city safe from the wild youkai back in the olden times so the people have come to trust her enough to let her do what she will in terms of security and other matters.
In regards to her relationship with Akyu; the both of them, supposedly , go way back, although whether Akyu was a student of Keine's or a simple friend isn't really known amoung the public, although the odds of both these notions being true isn't too far off either.
Keine had went off to brew up some tea for the both of us, so I just sat tight and wait for awhile, in the meantime taking in the scenery of her house and all that. I have no real understanding as to why people in Gensokyo always insist on making tea for every little occasion they have in the home. Even if you're only stopping by just for a 20 minute visit, someone just HAS to make tea for it. Well, I'm not really complaining about it, especially since the tea being made is usually rather good I hear. I don't usually drink tea myself, I drink more beer then I do tea. Something I should probably cut out now that I think about it...
"I hope you don't mind green tea, it's all I have until I buy more later on" Keine says as she brings in the tray of tea, I shake my head in response and she nods, taking a seat across from me and pouring the cups of tea. "Anywhom, did something happen, Detective?"
"Yeah, something did happen," I answer, giving my thanks for the tea and taking a sip. Just as I thought, it's damn good. Warms my system up too, just the kinda thing a guy needs when he's on the job this late at night. "I'm sure you're familiar with Heida no Akyu, right?"
Keine nods as she drinks her share of tea.
"I see...well, I would ask you to sit down for this, but you already are...heh." It's really tough to tell someone their friend just kicked the bucket. I don't always get stuck with this sort of thing, so it didn't always cross my mind. "Anywho...Akyu was murdered tonight, by an unknown assaliant."
Keine freezes mid sip of her tea, and brings her cup down to speak. "Murdered?" I nod to confirm the truth on the matter, as painful as it is. "...I see, she is a fraile individual so it's common for me to see her death, but...murder..." Her tone is that of the expected sadness one would feel when losing someone close to them. However, she doesn't seem all that shaken up by it.
This type of thing would normally come off as suspcisious to anyone who didn't know of Akyu's 'ability' (for a lack of a better word) of remembering anything she sees, which includes people. Supposedly, when Akyu dies, she'll reincarnate later on, but loses a bigass chunk of her normal lifespan in the process. When she's born again, Akyu retains all her memories from her previous life (or should I say lives), so she'll pretty much remember anyone she's met prior to her death. In Keine's case, it would be like having Akyu go away for awhile and coming back some years later as if nothing had ever happened. Nothing would have changed between them except for the fact that she died recently. It's actually sorta trippy if you stop and think about it; sitting down and saying 'oh wait, I died that day didn't I?'
I swear, if I was one of those outsider guys I wouldn't believe a lick of this stuff.
"And you say the suspect is unknown for now?" Keine spoke up breaking the silence that had settled between us.
"Well, yes and no. Normally, we would look at you as the possible suspect, being you're usually around Akyu, and well you get where this is coming from..." It is a common instinct to place the blame one the person who was around the victim prior to their murder, but as it was said before, that doesn't always equal a suspect in the case, especially if they have a solid aliby that checks out with the authorities.
"Yes, I do, and I assure you Detective I had no hand in Akyu's murder," Keine replied, her tone making it clear to me that she meant what she said. Not that I needed a reason to doubt her. "I don't think I could ever bring myself to harm another human...especially not Akyu..."
"That part I know," I remark "However, this also opens up a chance for me to hopefully pick up some clues as to who actually murdered Akyu."
"I'll tell you all I know, although I can't say it's alot..." Keine commented. "So where should I begin?"
"Well, just tell me about the day before, and if you saw anything out of the ordinary that may have led to Akyu's death tonight, any info you have on the matter is key in cracking the case and catching the perp." I answer as I sit back and await what possible answers this could bring up.
Keine places her finger to her chin in a thoughtful gesture, glancing downward for a moment before she finally spoke with her story. "Well, she did go to Kourindou to buy that new ink that's been popping up lately, Akyu doesn't usually go there often, but she says there's alot of interesting supplies there for her writing. When she got back to the city, she stopped by the school for awhile to talk, and at around 7:50 I saw her off...that was the last I seen of her since then." Keine pauses as she attempts to recall anything else that may've happened, unfortunately she runs a blank and comes to end her story when she spoke again. "Otherwise, I didn't see anything or anyone out of the ordinary, I'm afraid."
Again, no dice on getting answers. To be honest, I was expecting Keine to know a little bit more about what may have happened to bring about Akyu's murder, but it looks like I was wrong. "I see..." I take another sip of tea and remain silent for a bit, even though it looked like there wasn't any means for Akyu to be attacked something was still nagging at me; There were obvious signs of a struggle, and there was blood spilled about in the room, which means someone had to have attacked her that night. However, one thing that doesn't quite fit is that no one seemed to recall seeing anyone enter Akyu's room (let alone the house) prior to her death. The keys to unlocking the mystery are there...I just haven't found them yet. In anycase, I'll have to dig deeper into this tomorrow...it's getting pretty late, hell it IS late.
"Everything okay?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, just thinkin' is all..." Spacing out isn't what I should do alot, but when your line of work requires alot of thinking and pondering then it shouldn't come as a surprise that you'll loose track of the things going on around you. "You sure you don't know anything else?"
"Positive," Keine nods before she spoke again. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you alot of information, it's been rather hectic at the school lately and I haven't had much that time with Akyu; What with the papers I had to grade, getting the hang of that new computer network they're trying to install and then there's the cultural festival that's coming up..."
"No no it's fine, if anything I can understand work getting in the way of things." I reach into my coat pocket and hand the teacher my card, which had my phone number (work, home, and cell) located near the bottom. "Here's my card, if you see or hear anything regarding the murder, gimme a call."