𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤, 𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕠 𝔻𝕦𝕤𝕥 |ℍ𝕒𝕜𝕦𝕓𝕒 𝕊𝕒𝕘𝕦𝕣𝕦|

二: ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥 𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝔹𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤

The blue and red flashing lights of the police cars outside the window were mere smudges and blues of color in your eyes. The crackle and hiss of walkie-talkies coming to life and the strict voices of police officers shouting orders at each other were muffled whispers in your ears; cold and distant, as you stood in the doorway, numb with shock.

Saguru was dead.

He had been strangled to death last night while his housekeeper and the rest of the staff were asleep. His body was found this morning when Saguru didn't come down for breakfast. His housekeeper had gone upstairs to investigate and found him lying in bed, clearly dead.

You slowly blinked, watching the officers going through Saguru's normally organized room. Right now, it was a total mess as they forced open cabinets and drawers, looking for any evidence.

His housekeeper was a weeping mess off in the corner. You wanted to comfort her, to say something reassuring but didn't know how. Besides, you were grieving yourself.

The phone call had come in at around seven-thirty am when you were getting ready for school.

The moment you heard the words saying he was dead, you dropped everything, grabbed the keys, and sprinted toward his house. Part of you was hoping it was some sort of sick joke, that it wasn't real. Saguru, your boyfriend and detective extraordinaire couldn't be dead, right?

How wrong were you. You had arrived in record time, five minutes later, but they had already hauled away the body by them.

And here you were now. Standing in the doorway of his bedroom, watching as the best in the task force were combing through his room.

You caught sight of the waddling gait belonging to Inspector Megure. He was walking toward Saguru's parents. You quietly snuck over to eavesdrop in on their conversation.

"Superintendent General, Mrs. Hakuba, the autopsy results just came back. There was no trace of poison or anything out the ordinary. From the autopsy, we were able to determine that the time of death was approximately eight hours ago, at twelve am."

You checked the time. It was 8:05 am.

"Were there any more details you were able to determine?" asked Saguru's mother. Inspector Megure coughed and cleared his throat.

"It seems as if he died a painless death, save for the extensive bruising and crushed trachea. The person who killed him knew what they were doing. He was probably knocked out within ten to fifteen seconds and dead within the next five minutes. It must've been uncomfortable, but the death was instantaneous. There was no blood involved either."

"And the murder weapon?" asked Saguru's dad.

"We haven't found the specific one, but judging from the shape and width of the bruising on his neck, it seems to be from one of his ties."

The Inspector shook his head and sighed.

"There's barely any evidence to go off of. We've been combing through his room for the past hour or so and almost nothing has turned up. This case is going to be incredibly difficult to solve."

You eyed the mahogany desk sitting by the large, French window and fingered the keys in your pocket.

"There are security cameras surrounding this whole property," pointed out the Superintendent General. "Did you get anything from those?"

The Inspector shook his head again. "Unfortunately, all the cameras were disabled."

Saguru's mother took notice of you at that moment. Running toward you, she pulled you into a tight hug, sobbing into your shoulder. You squeezed your eyes shut and hugged her back. You had long since run out of tears to cry. Wiping your nose, you tried not to break down in front of her and tried to focus on her blonde hair the exact same shade as Saguru's.