Leaderboard

Far away in the darkness but coming nearer by the second, a bell chimed twice, deep and clear in the choking air, the only sound and solace save the pounding of her heart and footsteps as she fled the ringing, not daring to look back. Deep in the blackness, shadows descended like dangling puppets behind her, reaching out their tendrils and twisted forms to graze her sight. Another pair of footsteps joined hers, swift but calm and measured. They rang out from behind, then echoed through the emptiness until the sound came from all around, sending her heart racing faster as her breathing became loud and labored. She squinted her eyes closed and raced on, stumbling in the unsure darkness and shaking her head. "No... I'm never going back..." "You will return." The voice was no more than a whisper, right beside her ear. It sent a shiver through her as though his breath had grazed her skin, and she shook her head again. "The tiger and the fox must return to their place beside the crow, or the crooked house will fall upon everything they long to protect... You will return to me, Erru." Her blue-grey eyes snapped open, and she drew a shaky breath, swallowing although she felt parched and exhausted. She glanced around, giving a relieved smile as she recognized the room. There were three shelves full of books, two stuffed with mysteries and one dedicated to assorted novels she'd enjoyed reading and re-reading. A writing desk sat against the far wall, set beside the only window, which was shuttered. Erru smiled as she studied her bed; The same scarlet sheets and mismatched comforter lay beneath her, and once again she'd thrown off her plush blanket in the night. "That same dream," she muttered, running a hand through her short ruby-dyed hair. She'd dreamed that same nightmare since the day the Black Organization was overthrown. Shuuichi had said she shouldn't continue to sleep in her old room at the Headquarters, but when everything was falling apart, this solitary base was the only familiarity. Every night the voice returned, telling her that she must return to the organization... but it didn't make sense. It wasn't her father's voice. And it wasn't the voice of any of the members she had known in her ten years spent observing, training with, and becoming a part of the Organization. Erru knew it was silly to put stock in nightmares, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was coming. Her fight against the organization that had corrupted her father and killed her mother and countless others was not over, and she knew there would be more death and worse nightmares to come if she didn't take action against the rising toll of the Black Organization's crimes. Since Kudo Yuusaku had been arrested along with Chianti and Korn, the group had scattered across Japan, its crimes becoming more devastating and cruel by the day. There had been a dozen shootings, three bombings, one bomb scare, and at least three assassinations attributed to the Black Org since its supposed disbanding only a month and a half before. Erru mulled over the crimes as she threw on her blue slacks and jacket, frowning as she mangled the knot on her tie. There had to be a new leader in the organization. Someone had to be pulling the strings. If not, there was a more frightening alternative... If the group was still alive after its leader was incapacitated, it was possible that her father was not the highest ranking leader. The true leader, the mastermind of the most devastating organized crime in Japan, was still out there, unobserved and hiding behind his false life and scapegoats. But if that was so, either Yuusaku was lying for him, or he truly believed he had been in charge of the organization. A shudder passed through her as this thought took root, and she couldn't shake it through her morning routine. By the time she'd brushed her teeth, neglected to fix her hair, and locked the door of the building behind her, she was sure there was someone controlling the criminals... if not the police force as well. When she hopped on the back of Sera's motorcycle, refusing the offered helmet, she sighed and mumbled, "You've only got the one, so you better wear it." "Somebody's having a bad morning," Sera laughed as they turned the corner and stopped in front of Teitan High School. "You forgot to do your hair again." The smile faded as Erru's stomach growled. "You had that dream again?" "It doesn't make sense..." She frowned and stepped off the motorcycle, waiting for Sera to chain it up before adding flatly, "There's still a Black Org. I can't wait for them to find me, Sera-chan..." She looked to her friend expectantly, and Sera sighed, "Whattaya want?" "You'd cover for me if I disappeared, right?" Sera cocked an eyebrow at her former babysitter, smirking. "Of course," she chuckled. "If Shuu-nii got on my case, I'd just say I was as clueless as him." "You would be," she mumbled. "Huh?" Erru blinked, then smiled at the girl. "Um, nothing, I was just thinking aloud. Let's go inside before the bell rings." She put her hands in her pockets and motioned with her head for Sera to follow as she headed into the school building. Inside, they were surrounded in moments by the combined force of their classmates. "Sera-san, have you decided whether to join the MMA club?" "Natake-san, will you help me find out if my boyfriend is cheating on me?" "Masumi-san, Natake-san, are you going to start a detective agency?" Reeling a bit, the two girls laughed and waved off the questions, ducking out of the crowd and into the classroom, where Sonoko and Ran were busy talking. "Oi, Suzuke, why'd ya spread all that stuff about our detective work? I'm supposed to be laying low..." "It's Suzuki. And puh-lease~ Everyone knows already that you're a famous police officer, and about your little FBI gig, and Sera-chan's got a bunch of fans now that they know she's an awesome detective. You two should thank me. You'll get plenty of cases to solve and gratification from all the students, including the guys. Not that you'll become as popular as the Deduction Queen, of course." She gave a self-satisfied smile and laughed as Erru gave an annoyed chuckle. "Uh-huh. Well, I've got 'plenty' of real cases I have to take care of, and if the Black Organization case was well publicized, I need to be that much more careful to keep myself out of the papers until we nab the rest of the group... And high school guys are the LAST thing I want attention from" She frowned at Sonoko, thinking, Definitely the last thing... "Natake-chan, you're wearing a boys' uniform, have your hair a bright, unnatural color, and you're worse than your brother at keeping your nose out of mysteries. If they haven't noticed you by now, they're not going to." Ran gave a sigh and glanced at her friend, giving Erru an apologetic smile. "Don't worry about it, Natake-chan." "Would ya not call me -chan?" "If you stop talking in Kansai dialect," Sonoko interjected. "It's kind of hard to understand from you." "I can't." Erru frowned at her again, grumbling, "I spent a long time living in Osaka. The accent pops out when I'm annoyed." "Okay, let's just sit down, Erru-san... The bell already rang." With a heavy sigh she plunked into her seat, glaring across the aisle at Sonoko. "Yeah, who needs security anyway?" she grumbled sarcastically as she ignored what she figured was a student standing in front of her desk. "-ake." She transferred her glare to the person, then blinked, her blue-grey glare receding into a look of confusion. "Hm?" Amuro waved his hand in front of her face, "I said, 'Hey, Natake.' Are you alright?" Erru gave a curt nod and mumbled, "Yeah, fine," glancing at the teacher before looking back at Bourbon. "You're not an expected visitor... What're you doing here?" Amuro grinned and gave a shrug. "Can't a guy visit his subordinate?" "Hey, you're only a higher rank than me because I spent the past ten years with just the Org, thank you very much!" Tooru stuck his tongue out at her, laughing, "And yet I'm now older than you, AND your superior. Anyway..." His voice changed from teasing to grim, and he motioned for Erru to follow as he left the classroom behind, tossing a paper onto the teacher's desk as the class watched them go. "We've been assigned to investigate something that could be the next Black Org. There's a syndicate rising that calls itself the Crooked House. Mystery fans and wannabe gangsters have started forming up and acting out, committing violent crimes throughout Beika... "We're supposed to infiltrate this group and track down the leader before they start initiating more people... We traced the first wave of initiates to a mass execution that took the lives of 20 citizens last week. You and I will take false identities and take apart this crime group from the bottom up." He opened the passenger door of his car as he finished the briefing, heading to the driver's side as Erru grumbled, "Why do I have to work with you on this? Isn't Shuu-chan in on this case?" Again Amuro's voice became more serious, and he looked at Erru in the car mirror. "No. As of this morning, Akai Shuuichi is officially a missing person..."

The stoplight they had been sitting at flickered to green, and Tooru rephrased his last sentence as he stepped lightly on the gas pedal. "I'm sorry, Amontillado. Akai has truly disappeared this time." Erru rolled her eyes at Amuro's words. "Haha, very funny. We're done faking his death, you know. Shuu-chan just came out of hiding." "And now he's missing. Phone disconnected, no trace of his leaving the country, no clue to where he's gone." Bourbon gave his former enemy an apologetic glance. She frowned back at him and grumbled, "Keep your eyes on the road." Staring out the window at the sunny morning that she now envied, she added, "He and Sera might as well be my siblings... I can't tell her about this, and we're going to find him, right?" "No." With a sigh, Bourbon pulled into a parking space in front of the Hastings Hotel, taking out the key and tossing it to Erru. "This goes in locker 110 inside. Get the room key for number 4869. Inside the room will be instructions on how you are to assume your new identity and what to do once you're ready, and a place to store your belongings. We will be entering the Crooked House separately, to detract attention from our work. I know you've just been cleared to begin service again, but if you aren't ready, you can step out." "What are you saying?!" Erru snapped, glaring at her superior. "We're just going to dismiss this, let Shuu disappear and carry on with this stupid mission!? Are you still upset about the freaking Akemi issue or what!? This is why I hated working for Gin!" "I am NOTHING like Gin!" "You're right! HE at least would have found out if Akai was alive!" She flung the car door open, shouting the last words as she stomped out and slammed it behind her. Without waiting for his reaction she stormed inside, not looking back. Left alone in the hollowness of his car and thoughts, Amuro sighed and watched her walk away, satisfied with her reaction. Flipping open his phone, he fired a text to Akai's new number. "I know you said you have to do this, but she is already upset. We're initiating our work tonight. I'll see you at the fall of the Crooked House, Rye." He deleted the text and number from his phone, already having memorized it, in case Erru or one of the House got ahold of his cell. Another sigh dying on his lips, he opened the driver's door and climbed out of his car, taking the key to his room and looking up at the hotel. On the fourth floor, one of the curtains was open and a figure was looking out. With a knowing smile he waved, chuckling as that curtain was violently shut. "Guess you don't forgive me yet, Amontillado..." Up in her hotel room, Erru glared at the drawn red curtains she stood before, arms crossed and frown plastered on. "How dare that stupid jerk act like it's unimportant! Shuu-chan's totally- maybe... not worth the lives we'll save... I'm sure he's safe..." Now annoyed at her own logic, she scowled at the bag of gear she'd been supplied with. A box of black hair dye, scissors, a few kinds of colored contacts, mask and makeup equipment, and instructions on how to tape down a chest for a disguise made up the kit. She threw out the contacts and makeup, which Bourbon should have known irritated her, and picked up the chest-binder. "I am NOT dressing as a guy! How cliche can you get?! If I did that, Bourbon'd have to cross-dress too!" Fuming, she studied herself in the mirror. Sure, her bright red hair was pretty flashy, but she wasn't about to cut off her signature spikes and pretend to be a teenage boy. "Not a chance," Erru grumbled, studying the instructions on the box of dye. An hour later, a teen boy named Fino left his key at the desk and headed out, dressed in a starched collared shirt and blue jeans. When asked twenty minutes later about the visitor, the receptionist remembered him as a warm, friendly boy with straight, jet black hair and glasses who was eager to hear about the city's attractions. But the most striking things about him were his voice, which was clean and almost feminine, and his light blue-grey eyes. She described his appearance to the person who'd been asking about the latest check-ins, an older man with long silver hair who said he was looking for his runaway daughter, Erru. The woman, Kategawa Yuriko, mentioned having seen the girl he described checking in to the same room that Fino had left. "You don't think they've eloped, do you?" she asked, concerned for the man and the teenagers alike. With a smirk he shook his head, his icy eyes fixed on the number of the room key that had been most recently returned. 4869? So obvious, Amontillado. He gave Yuriko a light smile, replying, "They're just very closely related." Across town, in a small apartment building next to a convenience store, a group of older teens and adults was gathered in the common room. Three beige leather couches and a green cloth love-seat sat around a large coffee table that housed an ash tray, several stacks of magazines, a backpack, a pair of pistols, and two boxes of latex gloves. "The Crooked House is about to welcome a pair of newcomers into our home." A tall boy who obviously thought he was in charge was glowering at a laid back older member, who was smoking and ignoring his superior's announcement. "This is a non-smoking suite, Futari!" "Chill out, Kusakabe. It ain't like the owner's comin' back, man." Futari, a brown-haired man in his early twenties, put out his cigarette with an annoyed frown and crossed his arms over his chest. "So who do we have comin' over today? A pair of newbie recruits, huh?" "Yes. One is a kid still in high school, interested in detective-type junk, who wants to see what our side of the law is like." Futari frowned and shook his head. "Sounds like he won't last long. He hasn't even dropped out, sounds too straight arrow." "I agree. He'll probably have to be dismissed once he gets his first taste of a heist or the assassination assignments." Kusakabe looked around at the others gathered around the couches and table, giving a grin. "The second applicant's a woman with a rap sheet. Says she came to Japan and gave the cops a run for their money in a feigned death back in Europe." A couple of the older House members looked interested. They'd pulled off some robberies, but nothing so big that they'd need to disappear like that. Chizuru, the leader of their east faction, smiled. "It's about time we had another woman join up. What's her name?" Kusakabe returned the smile, shrugging. "We don't discuss those details over the phone, Chizu. She goes by a pseudonym, though." His walkie-talkie crackled and a voice came over the station. "Sir, a Poire Williams is here to see you?" The member who'd been stationed at the front entrance had let in their new recruit. With a grin, Kusakabe held his walkie-talkie to his mouth, replying, "Show her in, Kazuya." Heeled footsteps echoed along the wooden floor as around the corner came Poire. A tall, thin woman who appeared to be around 30, she was tan, had bleach-blonde hair, and wore a little too much makeup. Either she was having a bad week in the fashion department, or her disguise skills were below par for the whole feigned death issue... Her blue eyes lit up as she shook hands with Kusakabe, who smiled and greeted her with a warm, "Welcome to Crooked House, Miss Williams." Her smile turned into a smirk as her phone vibrated in her pocket, announcing the arrival of the text she'd been anticipating all day. Excusing herself from the circle of criminals with a bright wave, she flipped open her phone to read the message. "See you there, Bourbon."