Evening and Winter (夕方と冬)

Unknown Drug, U067

"Can you calm down...?" Chifuyu's hand holding the bottle slumped in exhaustion, "Testing in the lab will take too long and I needed answers right away, I simply locked myself in an empty room in my house and injected myself with this." He told the detective.

"That's so risky, Chifuyu!!" Taylor was triggered, he couldn't believe what the 17-year-old just did.

"It was worth it; can you calm down and hear me out...?" Chifuyu was not in the mood to hear someone nagging or screaming, so Taylor simply hushed himself and sat back down on his chair.

"Okay, tell me what you learned." Taylor reluctantly sat back to listen.

"It's a serum that causes hallucination, extreme fear, and anxiety. Scientifically, this drug might be doing this by reducing oxytocin and increasing adrenaline and cortisol. Anyone could easily threaten and plant the idea that they are extremely intimidating to their victims as long as their victims were under the influence of this drug, and I can assure you, I hardly slept a wink last night. Just being in a silence alone felt intimidating and I even started to hallucinate, it all lasted for a good 8 hours, the restless and anxious aftermath didn't even count. But since I injected myself with this and I am fully aware that I am under the influence, I was able to go through it calmly and smoothly, yet my emotions are all over the place and the thoughts and hallucinations I went through didn't make it any easier either." Chifuyu explained as he closed his eyes to rest them, "But picture this; a random person, kidnapped and then injected with this serum before gaining consciousness, petrified and vulnerable as soon as they wake up. Imagine not aware that you were injected by this serum, you can easily fall for anything." He added.

"What are you implying?" Taylor furrowed his brows, he paused from taking notes of Chifuyu's conclusion.

"I'm implying that what if The Reaper isn't a crazy mastermind like you thought he is? He just threatened his victims to kill and convinced them that he's a monster after injecting them with this drug while they were kidnapped and knocked unconscious," Chifuyu told him with half-opened eyes.

"That is a possibility..." Taylor nodded his head.

"I can see why the victims were traumatized and quickly had mental problems; the influence of this drug is no joke." Chifuyu was taking deep breaths to hopefully take a nap.

"He usually doesn't tell me his theories if he isn't a hundred percent certain yet, does this mean he's actually convinced that The Reaper uses this drug to manipulate his victims?" Taylor thought, "Chifuyu, are you sure The Reaper uses this drug?" he decided to ask the kid himself.

"There's a small chance that I'm wrong, because I never believed such a mastermind exists in the first place." Chifuyu spoke strongly, then continued to take deep breaths.

"Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the hospital?" Taylor was concerned for him.

"What I need is sleep..." Chifuyu turned to his side and face the backrest of the sofa, his back facing Taylor.

"Good afternoon, sir." Jeffrey entered the office an hour later, then stopped to stare at Chifuyu asleep on the sofa near the door. "Aren't you here to help out, Mr. Personality?" Jeffrey grunted as he rolled his eyes.

"Don't bother him, let him rest today." Taylor told his junior just when Jeffrey noticed Chifuyu doesn't appear too well.

"Was he ambushed by another Harvester or something? He doesn't look too good," Jeffrey asked Taylor.

"He experimented on his own last night; he injected himself with the unknown serum."

"Wha-?! Why the hell would he do that?!" Jeffrey couldn't hide his shock.