Haruki's Heir

CHAPTER 02 A DREADFUL NOCTURNAL

April 02, 2010

00:00

It was raining hard that night, when Kindaichi wake up from a sudden loud thunder storm. He feels thirsty at that time but got scared to go out of his room and start staring at the window, one minute later he stand from his bed and turn his feared into courage and slowly walk toward the door and open it. He go straight to the kitchen to get water, right after he finished drinking his water a man with soak shirt, a long beard with scary eyes as if a monster ready to eat you alive appeared from nowhere. A young boy who doesn’t know the man left him confused and blurted.

“Who are you?”

“How you got in?”

“Are you a robber”. hiding his fear.

The man didn’t answer even once instead, he walk toward the boy, Kindaichi who felt unease about that person tries to widen their gap the man simply extend his hand to reach him. Kindaichi sudden scream wake his parent, they look each other for a second before they start rushing toward the sound. They found out that their son is being held by the unknown man and holding a knife pointed toward the neck of Kindaichi.

“Kin-chan are you okay? Did he hurt you”.

“No, I’m okay mom”.

The man who keep silence start a demanding Haruki.

"If you don't want me to hurt you son then follow as I say!!". Aggressively stating.

The man spoke his native language which is Japanese.

"Japanese?" In Haruki's mind.

"Now that I think of it, this man looks familiar".

"Have we met before?". Confirming his doubt.

He smirk and didn't respond then...

"You, bring 5,000,000 right now!!!or else I kill your son!!”. Threatening Haruki.

"Agk!". He froze where he's standing.

Thinking for a moment if he really needs to it and leaving his wife and son to that man, then a sudden faint image of a man crying.

What was that?". In his mind, still standing.

“Haruki!!”. tapping haruki's shoulder.

Haruki is back to his senses. He stare at the man for second.

"That's a lot of money, no bank are open at this hours". Making excuses.

"Hmm, aren't you a detective yourself? Why don't you figure it out!!".the man shouted.

"Don't worry I'll take care of your family". the man said while smirking.

"Ridiculous!why would I trust a crimi..."

Yuki hold his arms to interupt him in finishing his word.

"Huruki, please do as he say, don't make it any more worse as it be". Yuki' lean to his shoulder as she cry.

"Yuki...but...". Sad voice.

"Please go, I won't let this chimpanzee hurt our son or even me, so go".teary eye.

Its against his will but he had no choice but to go for the of his son and his wife.

"I promise I'll be back with that money in hand".reassuring his wife.

Haruki rushed to the front door and yanked it open, braving the stormy night as he headed towards the closest bank that was open 24/7. But as he drew closer, his hopes sank - the bank was closed due to a promotion party.

Frustrated and desperate, he wracked his brain for a solution. Suddenly, he remembered that there was another bank open around the clock, but it was further away from his house.

He sprinted towards the other bank and burst through the doors, drenched from head to toe.

"Excuse me!" he gasped, catching his breath. "I need to withdraw 5,000,000 yen, urgently."

The lady behind the counter looked at him, startled by his soaking wet appearance. "That's a lot of money," she said, frowning in confusion. "Can I see some identification please?"

Haruki's patience was wearing thin. "Please make haste," he said, his tone growing angrier by the second.

The lady jumped at his sudden outburst. "Y-yes sir," she stammered, quickly typing away on her computer.

As Haruki waited for the transaction to be processed, he couldn't help but overhear the lady's whispered comment.

"A handsome guy like you shouldn't treat a girl like that," she muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Haruki snapped, turning to face her.

The lady's face turned red with embarrassment. "Oh, nothing sir," she stammered. "I just meant that the transaction will take some time to process, so please take a seat and wait."

Haruki sighed heavily and turned to look at his watch. An hour had already passed since he had left home. He leaned against the wall and waited impatiently for his money to be dispensed.

While in their house, Yuki doesn't lower her guard at all.

"Kin genki?".asking his son.

"Hai, I'm alright mom".sleepy.

You, why don't you put away that knife? What if you unintentionally hurt him?!".worried.

Yuki approached the man and attempted to strike up a conversation. However, the man didn't show any interest in talking to her and instead just frowned before unexpectedly grinning. This deepened Yuki's worry.

After 120 minutes, the withdrawal was finally complete. The staff approached the Haruki again with the five suitcases of money. "Ah, excuse me sir. Sorry it took so long when you needed it the most. The staff did their best to gather this money. So, if you don't mind, will you tell me... Eh?" The staff didn't finish her question as the Haruki left without a word. She adjusted her glasses and returned to her work.

Another 40 minutes later, Haruki arrived home and rushed straight to the kitchen. The unknown man saw Haruki soaking wet and catching his breath before smirking. Thunder roared repeatedly in the background.

“I see, you'll do everything for your son, huh?” the man said before starting to laugh.

“Put that suitcases down and move backward!” Haruki demanded, sounding angry.

Haruki and Yuki slowly walked backward as the unknown man walked towards the suitcases, still holding Kindaichi. As soon as he reached the suitcases, he smirked and started stabbing Kindaichi in the back as part of his real plan. Yuki and Haruki were frozen with shock.

From what they saw, they started rushing towards Kindaichi, leaving the unknown man with a wide-open door, just as he expected. He started walking towards the front door with a devilish grin on his face. As he reached and opened the door, the house was surrounded by police.

“Surrender! You've been surrounded by the police,” the officers shouted.

The man was confused by how fast the police had arrived.

Haruki had called the police before he rushed back to his house after withdrawing his cash.

Kindaichi was carried to the hospital along with Yuki, while Haruki stayed to talk to Inspector John Smith, a 45-year-old man about 175cm tall. Inspector Smith liked to wear a hat and detective costume and had a slightly overweight appearance. Haruki had previously helped Inspector Smith to unravel an impossible case and had calmly stated the trick used by the murderer.

Inspector Smith stated that the man's identity was Makoto Hirai, 45 years old. Haruki had once handled his case.

It was August 16, 2005, back in Japan. While Yuki was preparing to deliver her son, Haruki was at a murder scene helping the police to solve a locked room murder case. He revealed that the son of the homeroom teacher was the killer. He had murdered the secretary of Prime Minister Kyo Shiratori, a 35-year-old man who was 180cm tall. He had hair covering his handsome face and wore glasses.

Haruki revealed the tricks used and named the killer: Yamagishita Hirai, 28 years old and 178cm tall. He was a teacher at Tokyo University, had newly cut hair, narrowed eyes, and thin lips. Yamagishita kneeled to the marble floor while crying and admitted his crime. He claimed that Risa Mouri, 26 years old and 172cm tall, who was also a teacher at Tokyo University, with curly hair, always wore glasses, and red thick lipstick that much her beauty, and Minister Kyo Shiratori were cheating on him, which drove him to murder her.

As the police were about to arrest Yamagishita, his father stepped forward and claimed to be the real murderer.

“Sir, I’m telling the truth. I’m the real killer, not my son. Please arrest me!” he exclaimed.

But Yamagishita's father's confession only confused the situation even more. “Detective Haruki, my son is not the killer!” Yamagishita's father desperately admitted.

Despite the father's confession, the police were hesitant to let him take the blame for the crime. After all, they had already gathered significant evidence against Yamagishita.

“Sir, we appreciate your confession, but we have reason to believe that your son is the murderer,” Detective Haruki explained to Yamagishita's father.

Makoto, who had been watching the events unfold, was sobbing uncontrollably. He couldn't believe what was happening to his family.

The news of the high-profile murder and the subsequent arrest of Yamagishita was broadcast internationally, and the case quickly became the talk of the town.

"It’s been 10 years since Yamagishita hung himself in his own cell when the police found out," Haruki said, remembering that scene.

"That must be the reason why he followed you all the way here, to avenge the death of his son, Haruki," the inspector replied.

In the middle of their conversation, Haruki's phone rang, interrupting them. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Yuki.

"Wait, Inspector. I’m just going to answer this," Haruki said.

"Take your time," the inspector replied.

"Hello, Yuki. How’s Kin-chan?" Haruki asked.

"Haruki, please come here. Kin-chan is…" Yuki's voice trailed off. "Kin-chan is in critical condition."

"What?! Wh-what happened?!" Haruki asked, his voice rising in panic.

"Just come here!" Yuki said urgently.

"O-okay, I’ll be right there."

"What happened, Haruki-kun? You're white as a sheet," the inspector said, noticing Haruki's distress.

"Inspector, can you bring me to the hospital? Kindaichi is in critical condition," Haruki said, his voice trembling.

"What?! Okay, let's go!" the inspector replied.

They both ran straight to the car and made their way to the hospital.

"Kin-chan, be safe," Haruki whispered under his breath.

Thirty minutes passed before they arrived at the hospital. Haruki, feeling worried, rushed toward the room where Kindaichi was admitted. There he found out that Yuki was hugging Kindaichi with tears all over her face and the doctor was just standing there, doing nothing. Haruki walked slowly, as if he didn't believe what he saw. As he got closer, he saw his son with pale skin and not breathing. Tears suddenly fell from his eyes without him realizing he had already been crying, with his wife by his side.

"Mom? Dad? Why are you crying? I'm still alive," Kindaichi said, trying to touch his parents but failing. As he grew more confused, he moved closer and saw that he was lying on the bed. Kindaichi finally understood that he couldn't touch his parents because he was already dead, that he was a soul.