Crystal Spark

Chapter 12: The Legs

It had been five weeks since Keomi and Dazai's meeting on the dock and with each passing day Dazai only found more dead ends. His entire web of informants were turning up blanks and it didn't seem as though anyone other than the Boss knew where the girl was. The wisp had blown away like smoke and all of the assassinations had stopped. Wherever the girl was, Dazai could not find her.

While he had been trying to track her he had spent considerably less time at the agency. His mind went back to the dock more than he cared to admit. He was sure that his own protege was right, if given the opportunity he imagined Keomi and himself would get along well. He didn't know if she had always been that way or if the mafia had changed that much of the girl.

But he was certainly drawn to her.

It was his first time walking into the agency in several days and yet it had seemed like he hadn't left at all. He slipped into his chair with a big goofy, and more importantly fake, smile.

"What's wrong Atsushi-Kun!" Dazai yelled scaring the poor boy who had been standing next to Ranpo half to death.

"Dazai-San, please don't do that!" Atsushi retorted but Dazai was looking towards Ranpo trying to figure out what the pair was working on. He tilted his head at Ranpo digging through his pockets and throwing a piece of candy towards the man.

"The President has us looking at a serial killer who they haven't been able to catch in the past couple weeks." Ranpo replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Does the person have an ability?" Dazai asked with renewed interest, while the wisp hadn't resurfaced, perhaps she had adapted a new way of killing.

"Nope, but they are still quite prolific without one."

Meanwhile in a completely different part of the city on an abandoned rooftop a figure stood allowing the wind to whip against themself. The figure was dressed completely in black with the only skin showing being their eyes and their ears. A mask covered their mouth and their hair blew with the wind as it cascaded down in waves.

No one would be able to tell that same figure had more than thirteen daggers on their person. Or that they had three guns also hidden where they were easily accessible. Or at least, they wouldn't know until it was too late. If they were unfortunate enough to be on the person's list.

The figure sat down flipping out the list, a list that had almost seventy-five names on it, and scratched out the seventieth name. They pulled down their mask knowing that they were alone and let out a small sigh. It was so hot in this outfit that the Boss had given her.

In the last five weeks Keomi had killed seventy people and she would kill five more before she could finally return home. Each had the same parameters as the last. All she was given was a name, no other information to go off of to find the person. She could not use her ability to kill them, for those at the agency most likely knew her ability even if it stumped the police. The kill could not be traced back to the mafia in any way.

The final and most crucial rule: She had to make the body entirely unidentifiable.

"Whose lucky number seventy-one?" Keomi question flipping to the final page of her list at last, "Subaru Kuta."

Keomi ran through her mind wondering why she had heard that name before. "Kuta." She mumbled as her mind vaguely recalled someone with that name. She mumbled it over again and again closing her eyes trying to force herself to remember.

Keomi never looked at the other names until the next on her list was complete. However, the surnames jumped from the page like a taunt. The last five names all had the same family name: Subaru.