A Beautiful Mirror Covered in Bloodlust

Unraveled Past: Is There No End To This?

-Flashback-

--March 3, 2006--

If only this night were spent with family, friends and acquaintances. If only that were the case. All of that would mean so much more for Daichi Tomoe, in these frightening last moments of his life. A soft melodious yet ravenous tone gently strokes the end of Daichi's left ear. In his state of shock his body lays cold onto the surface of a musty field. A garden filled with a diversity of vegetables has surrounded him. A figure in the near distance from which a sound is heard, creeps closer towards him in a haunting manner. The tears flowing from the eyes of speechless Daichi suggests that he was hoping he might have died from the hard fall he had taken. Unfortunately, he has not the ability to resist. His eyes are moving about, pyschotically, as the figure draws near. He cannot bear to look at such a thing. The question he wants to ask at that very moment in time is "What are you exactly!?" But being in extreme agony his desperation has only increased. "Stay away! Stay away!" His eyes were pleading as he remains still in his position. Anything or anyone he wishes so badly to see and be able to use, hoping that he could free himself from this accursed life with whatever he could salvage aside from himself....He tries to break free from his paralysis and hopes for an end of the suffering his eyes are forced to bear witness to. Even biting his tongue was a possibility he would not have allowed to pass, if chance were to allow him to do so. The singing drew closer and closer. "Please! Stay away from me! Whatever you are! Take my family! My children! My wife! But please don't come near me!" Is what he wanted to say at this point in time. His eyes were bleeding from the amount of strain he had placed on them, hoping he could blind himself, merely by forcing the muscles in his pupil to pop. He began to lose consciousness in amidst his struggle, but, before he was able to do so...he saw something peculiar. Even in his current state of helplessness, he couldn't help but remember his initial task as a messenger. When his eyes caught a more avid sight of his surroundings, he realizes something. "That's it! That's why the 'Stench' only came from --" were the last thoughts Daichi ever thought of as he fell unconscious and soon after....pass away. This was the night in which the curtains of deceptions and falsehood had been removed, when it was now certain that a killer involving the intense odour known as the 'Stench' really does in fact exist.

All of these events had taken place a few years before the arrival of James. How much has his hometown changed, and for the worse it seems, over these past ten years. Yet still, there are absolutely no further clues that would hint the ending of this cynical case. After all this time the 'Stench' only grew stronger and stronger. Those of whom went missing were deemed dead without any search whatsoever. This carried on as tradition. Any friends, family members or employees who randomly disappeared without a trace were a people forgotten. This time, it wasn't because of orders made on behalf of the government, especially since there was no more government; rather, it was the fear that people had of a potential killer that lead them to care solely of their own well-being. There are the rare cases when a mother who's child had not been found yells publicly in the streets of the village, "Anyone! Please, has somebody seen my baby!?" The rest of the villagers simply ignore her, even though some may carry sympathy in their hearts for a person who has been standing in one area and shouting day after day begging the people to tell her if they had seen her child. It is only when the lifeless eyes of such a person subconsciously stands before the people exhausted, but out of habit, continues to plead; that there are chiefs in the village who call out for any medical support and take this person away for a therapeutic treatment. When that happens, the village once again goes about its daily activities. However, brought to attention, was a lead to once again cracking open this puzzle of a case. Unfortunately, the only one who was a witness to this discovery had been admitted into a mental institute. A hospital in charge of those who lost their sanity beyond the hopes of recovery.

--April 4, 2007--

Okahama's residents are beginning to move past their losses that involved the Mayor's dirty work. A guide to slay demons , a book on exorcism and the hidden facts of mind reading, have now become the three categories of knowledge in which the very foundation of the education system for Okahama's students has been built on. In an enclosed house of a widower and in a land surrounded by undomesticated animals, a young man by the name of Aki Yakushima is humming to himself as he silently studies the art of skepticism. "Isn't it finally time...you return...James?", He whispers, longing to be reunited with a dear friend of his.

On one Thursday afternoon, moisture in the air crafts a cloud of fog over the village of Okahama. Oddly enough, the people never cared to ask why the thick coat of fog had a maroon colour to it. But then again, why would they? When the smell of blood has been thriving off of their intoxicated atmosphere for a few years now. The 'Stench', once again, found a more definitive way to prove its existence. Only a few days later, something unusal happened, the amount of disappearances happening in Okahama had completely stopped. For a few months or so, the people had assumed that the killer must have left the village, thus, allowing a carefree environment to once again prosper in this community. Had they known that only a few weeks after a certain incident the disappearances would increase and that the 'Stench' would become a health issue for the people, they would not have let their guard down.

--Aug 9, 2007--

A group of men who are drunk, nearly to the point of collapse, take a daring feat. They decide to head towards the farmhouses up North in their light-headed state. They make there way slowly pass the Kagamine residence while holding onto each other for support in their wobbly condition. "Hey guys! Don ya thin we shoul- take a look it whatz inside those farmmmz up there," utters a man from amongst them while letting out little bursts of hiccups. The men decide to go ahead and head all the way out to the biggest farm that lies behind a small house. Their eyes have become a bit hazy but as they latch onto the withering bark of an old and unsteady door, they hear a creaking sound echo across the small cabin-like house. The door of the cabin is weak enough to let a five year old pull it open even if it possessed a lock. They check inside and see scattered dust particles around a fireplace and a few objects lying onto its wooden floor. They realize it doesn't look as skeptical, rather, it seems to be like a perfect setting for an old man's retirement home. They decide it was about time to go ahead and take a look at the actual farm behind the cabin. A few animals were present in the farm, but one animal was innumerably large compared to the others, this animal is the boar. Pigs that are wrapping themselves in the coolness of the sticky mud. A few of them seem to be playfully rolling around as they observe the men gaze directly at them. A sudden gathering of these animals are surrounding a patch of mud, the men try taking a closer look to find out what it is that the animals were attracted to. Their state of drunkenness has started to wear off a bit and they cover their noses in realization of the smell of this 'Stench'. One of the men stick their head as far as they possibly could from up above the fence surrounding these creatures. A few brief seconds after he grabs a quick look at what the pigs were surrounding, his eyes broaden and his throat is left parched all of a sudden. Sweat starts covering the surface of his forehead, he pulls himself back a few centimeters and turns his face around right as he let loose an entire meals worth of food and booze. The others, a witness to this, start panicking and soon after, they realize what he had seen. They all try racing down the hill back into the village as far from the farmhouses as possible. What there eyes had seen was a scene unlike any other, the pigs were feeding off of a human carcass' remains; mainly the fingers of people that were of different shapes and sizes.

The next morning, these men had reported their discovery to the Chief's office. Perhaps a clue to their whereabouts of the missing residents of Okahama had been found. Although this was the case, there had not really been any investigation due to the fact that there were no licensed detectives left in town.

-Flashback-

--May 9, 2006--

Frail drops of rain gently touch the surface of Okahama's land. A crow's croaking is heard as far as the distance of a mile. The night arrives at its last remaining hours and the village is as silent as a predator is when targeting its prey. The owls are feeding on the remains of their meals while showing cunning interest for the events that are about to unfold before their very eyes. A sensational vibe drizzles its way throughout this intriguingly suspicious of a night. The fearless, mysterious and intuitive Detective Yakushima finds his way towards the back alleys of the house of the Kiwasawa family. He steadily makes a movement when he realizes that their are several fields of vegetables tied all the way up towards a few farmhouses near these alleys. The Kiwasawa family seems to be sleeping. Unlike most the other villagers, Yakushima had done his research; the Kiwasawa family had been living off of the provision of these fields. That was why they had no need to go near the central part of the community for their needs. However, on basis of socially active behaviours, it was clear enough to see that being part of the community at large is not a matter of concern for this family. Thus, the rumours that were spread about the Kiwasawas being murdered were mere assumptions. Even though all of this made sense to the Detective, there was a little bit of dirty work he had to do. That was to dig up some files on information about the history of this family. All he found up until this point were a few family problems that involved physical harassment and mental abuse. That information that was collected didn't have much to do with the younger couple, Keitsuke Kiwasawa and Alice Johanna; the father and mother of the two children, James Kiwasawa and Reina Kiwasawa. It was true that James and Reina were mixed blood and that ultimately, being half European played a bit of a toll on the family; due to the fact that they didn't feel as welcomed.

Yakushima knew quite well that a small group of people from the village welcomed this family as their own, and that the children had made some connections and ties with other younglings during their blossoming age of early childhood. Beyond that amount of information, Yakushima knew no more about the younger family members. However, there were incidents involving abuse that had occured at least two decades ago with the mother of Keitsuke Kiwasawa, Rin Takadashi. The grandmother of James and Reina. Around the year 1986, Keitsuke's father, Kyuosuke Kiwasawa, had fallen ill. Shortly after he was diagnosed with his sickness, he had passed away. That left Keitsuke's mother in a state of depression, but during Keitsuke's early years as a toddler and all the way up to the age of twenty five, around the time his father had fell ill, a lot of arguments and physical abuse would be done to his mother. She was severely injured in some cases, but not until one time an emergency was called for, where she had no other choice but to be taken to a hospital. Her husband was questioned as to why she had all those bruises on her, and that's when the truth leaked out. Unfortunately, reports made mention of the fact that Rin didn't want her husband to be jailed because he was the only one she had. Seeing as how the village's people relied on one another and never really bothered to jail many people because of the low crime rates, the Chief's decision was to make Keitsuke make an oath and imprint it in writing. That he will never commit such treacherous actions again towards his wife, and that if he were to do so, the penalty would either be to be banished from the village or a life sentence in jail.

All of this was found on record, but still there was something not quite clear. How come the Kiwasawa and Kagamine families have not been early victims of the killer if they were the closest to the 'Stench'? And where exactly did the 'Stench' begin? People know there was a 'Stench' but have no clue as to where the source is. All of the time spent siding with the Mayor was Yakushima's way into getting the confidential documents on these families. All of his investigation so far brought him up to this point where he is now, and that is, the land behind the Kiwasawa's house. Right behind the field of fruits behind the Kagamine's residence is a steep hill, piled up with too many stones. Based on the Intel gathered on the Kagamine family, it wasn't very easy to determine whether or not they would be suspects. As for the Kiwasawa family, too much is still yet unclear, however, a few other signs that were discovered opened a gate to a few possible scenarios.

Yakushima is getting ready to head over to the field of trees hidden behind the Kiwasawa residence. He swiftly passes through a field of grass. A sudden perspective clicks into the head of Yakushima, "That's it!" He exclaims as his eyebrows raise from their position when he snatches a quick glance at the field of fruits near the back end of the Kagamine family's house. A few hinged branches of medium-sized lemon trees begin to peak the interest of Yakushima. A few drops of water dripps down the point end of a few lemon hanging on to a frail end of a branch on a tree. The fruits looked rather ripe, this would definitely be the case, because of the abundance of rain occuring quite often lately in the village. Although there might be light drops of rain pouring down from the vastness of a heightless sky, a sense of realization enters the mind of the Detective even in his unbearable soaked clothing. He places a procedure mask on to his face protecting himself from the overpowering odour of the 'Stench'. Yakushima heads closer towards the strengthening clutches of the rampant smell of rotten yet somewhat fresh reek of blood. His belief as to who the suspect really is, changes. The Kagamine aren't that innocent after all, was what he was thinking at that very moment in time. His conclusion was that, to mask the smell of the blood the lemons were used to cover the odour with a aromatic scent. Seeing as how these fruits were located adjacent to and behind the house of the Kagamine family. Yakushima decides that he might have found out who exactly were the real perpetrators of the continuous disappearances; and that there might be hidden dead bodies around the house of the Kagamine family. Before he searches for what he believes to be more carefully hidden, he heads out towards the area where the 'Stench' hadn't been masked at all, rather is the most compelling. Yakushima glides past a few tightly composed Sakura trees. That's exactly when he sees what he had thought to have been behind the gardens of the Kiwasawa residence, a tall and massive farmhouse. There was a dusty old cabin upfront the large farm which catered a few wild animals. He deduced that to throw the suspicion off of themselves, the Kagamine family purposely had taken advantage of this area of land behind the Kiwasawa family's house.

This was still a possible scenario, nothing official had been proven yet. He walks slowly up towards the large farm behind the cabin, no doubt about it, the 'Stench' seemed to have been getting more tenacious as he made his way closer towards the farm. Around the front end of the farm he had found a few stacks of hay, and an uncountable amount of boar enclosed within a small parameter surrounded by fence. How are all of these animals being fed? And why are most of the animals on the farm, pigs? These were some of the questions that popped into the head of Yakushima. "Something doesn't add up", he whispers while observing the farm thoroughly. He heads over to the very last place of his investigation of this farm, the rear entrance. He chokes on his breath when he realizes that the odour's intensity just doubled. A silver chain was wrapped around a few locks dangling on the entrance, the Detective scouts his surroundings and finds an axe resting in the bark of a chopped piece of log. With a bit of struggle he manages to pull the axe out of the wood, jerking it out of its place using brute force. He sways back a bit violently, but before he could get a good balance in his feet, he chucks the axe right towards the lock on the rear entrance. The chains are now broken, and the locks are now split in two. A slightly hollow sound is piercing it's way through the ears of Yakushima as he gently opens the entrance doors. A look of panic and distress takes hold of Yakushima as his eyes gazed out at the horrifying display of mangled bodies. Blood, puss and organs laid splattered across every knick knack and corner of this place.

So many bodies, some piled over others, yet some, hanging from the ceiling of the farm as their limbs twist about left and right. A nauseating feeling rushes through the stomach of Yakushima. "I finally found the bodies", he thinks to himself as he restricts his glance towards his own hands. Suddenly, Yakushima's vision blurs and he looks as though he is about to collapse. "Get it togeth--", he utters as his balance starts to shake out of place a little. "I have to tell the Chief about thi--", he articulates while beginning to feel more and more drowsy. He turns around slowly while latching on to the corner of the farm's entrance. Suddenly, his eyes meets with the eyes of another human. He starts breathing a bit more heavily and he seems to feel a bit dazed, "Wait!... You aren't th-- killer.. It can't be! Things don't add up! But ho--", he painfully shouts while coughing violently. He begins to weaken. "I must get out of here and quickly warn the village", he thinks to himself as he falls unconscious; setting his eyes upon the needle of a syringe drawing closer to him before he collapses to the ground.

--A few days later--

-May 13, 2006-

Around the afternoon of one Friday morning near the Western district of Okahama's village where the Chief's department is located, Yakushima is found loitering around the entrance of the department's building. His eyes seem lifeless and his body looks as if it were anemic. He whispers to himself as he fiddles with his fingers, "I need...I need...I need". These are the words he keeps repeating. He seems to be in a world of his own, distanced from his surrounding realities. Sitting on a patch of grass, he seems in awe of his surroundings. "Sir, Detective Yakushima has returned. He seems to be waiting outside", a new recruit to the village's officers by the name of Tensou Hishimora, informs the chief head of the police department. "Well, call him in already!! We've been looking for him for a few days now!! Damn that pesky little brat!!" Shouts sixty five year old Juinichiro Fujimora, the chief of the police department.

"Actually si--"

"What is it now!? Just call him in already!"

The curtains to the window lodged right in front of Chief Juinichiro's office is flipped open by Tensou. "Tch...Send him off for some treatment. They got to him before we had the chance to know any sort of information, this is our fault." Juinichiro regretfully admits as the both stand silenced while staring at the condition of Yakushima. Later on this evening when the Ibarashi Mental Institute takes Yakushima away from the entrance of the Chief's building, Tensou and some other members of the department notice piece of paper slipping out of the Detective's breast pocket as his body is carried carefully away. They had all come to bid farewell to the only Detective known to Okahama; however, it seems as though they might not have lost hope after all.

It was recorded in that piece of paper, a few signs hinting at the case of the one behind the 'Stench', but still, the Detective's whereabouts as to where he was during the scene of his private investigation had remained unknown. Almost a year later, the men who came back to inform the Chief of what they had seen uphill in a farmhouse far up North, wasn't of any use either. The fact that they weren't at all that sure as to where they were going that night in their drunken state proved to be of no reassurance. All of these events that occurred until the year 2007 were about two years before James had returned to Japan. Ever since Yakushima was admitted into medical care, the Chief and his department had no way of bringing forth more leads on this case, and unfortunately, the disappearances continued. There was one thing though, the piece of paper left behind by Yakushima. He had recorded, in terms of his pre-planned knowledge, a collective amount of information before he started investigating the actual premises of where the crimes had taken place. But, before he lost his sanity, only a few bits of information was written on the small piece of paper. Three to be exact. Firstly, the paper said, "The farmhouse up North". Then it said, "A misleading scent" and lastly, there was a message left specifically for the Chief and department. "If for any reason I don't come back to you in the state I was in before I left, to investigate, then do not ever go near the Northern district of Okahama." To the Chief, that last part of the message seemed irritating. He knows how careful and well prepared Yakushima is before he takes on an investigation. He realizes now that what he is facing isn't any run in the mill murderer; rather a murderer who has replaced all sense of humane behaviour with a viscous animal instinct to kill.

-June 7, 2008-

"Hey, it's about time you head home Tensou. You've done enough for today." The Chief speaks gently while advising his trusty assistant.

"Just about to call it a day Sir!" Tensou exclaims, as he is just about done wrapping up his fair share of the work for the day.

It's been about two years now since the incident with Yakushima, and still there are no ideas that the Chief could think of which would enlighten the village to the reasons behind the start of this entire incident of the 'Stench'. The Chief takes a look outside through the shudders of his window. A beautiful moon watches over the village of Okahama.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

At the entrance of the building a knock is heard. " Perhaps Tensou might have forgotten something? And why the knock? Walking in to a public service department like this would be something more commonly expected, so that means it couldn't be Tensou." The bewildered Chief is questioning himself as he carefully makes his way towards the door. In a precautionary manner he opens the door, only to his surprise, he finds no one out there.....at first....

Before he could make his way back into the building he caught sight of an object resting near the entrance at his feet. A bowl that had a few words smudged in blood, "I see your struggle dear, but no need to worry. It'll all be over before you know it.".....

TO BE CONTINUED....